When night falls, everything falls silent, there are no pedestrians walking in the streets and alleys of the capital, and the snow on the ground is very smooth, and there is no trace of being trampled on. As the New Year approaches, bright red lanterns are hung outside the doors of each house, giving off a gentle glow during the cold winter months.

The night was deep, and dark clouds obscured the last of the moonlight. When you look up at the sky, you will feel that it is like a black curtain, covering all the light. White snowflakes fell from the dark sky, and soon fell into another black curtain - the earth. Maybe it's the efforts of the snowflakes, or maybe it's the retention of the earth, in short, the snowflakes stay on the earth, and the black earth turns white, shining in the dark night.

When the snowflakes fell, I don't know if I ever stayed under the soft light of the red lantern, because I was greedy for the light, because I was greedy for the residual warmth. And his greed is her.

Xia Zimo stood in front of the secret door leading to the Xiangfu tunnel with his hands, and the dim light hit his body, taking advantage of his melancholy mood, there was a sense of sadness.

He knew that through this door, he would be able to enter the world of Qiu Luoxue, and he would be able to see the people he desperately wanted to see. But there was no him in that man's world, and he was destined to be without him from the beginning.

"Although the slave doesn't know what happened between His Majesty and Prime Minister Qiu, it's not a way to do it. Your Majesty has been standing here for several nights, go as you want, and don't grieve yourself. Jin Fu couldn't stand it anymore and persuaded him.

"There's no reason to go, let alone go. It's as if it's deadlocked. Xia Zimo said in a deep voice.

"It was a snowy day. The scene of plum blossoms flying in the snow was beautiful, but I didn't appreciate it, I only cared about sadness. ”

Recalling the scene of that day, Xia Zimo felt like yesterday, and the sentence "You are not destined to be the person I am looking for" in his memory still sounds so heart-wrenching.

"I regret it because I'm so sad, shouldn't I have asked something like that that day?"

"However, even if you don't ask, it's the same ending. Between us, we have never found a breakthrough. ”

Xia Zimo spoke his heart, because he was standing with his back to Jin Fu, so he couldn't see his expression, and could only hear his sadness from his tone.

Qiu Luoxue sat on her bed, although it was late at night, she couldn't sleep. She took out the night pearl given to her by Xia Zimo and looked at it again and again. The Night Pearl is encased in a delicate box, and when the box is opened, the light of the Night Pearl colds the room, and when the box is closed, the room returns to darkness.

She opened the box and closed it, and the room was bright and dark. She may not have noticed her movements, because her mind was on Xia Zimo's body.

"It's so aggrieved and wronged. It's too unusual, why is it him, how can it be him, it's impossible, why are you still tempted? Qiu Luoxue muttered.

So late at night, there was another group of people who had also not slept, gathered in a room, as if plotting something.

"Tomorrow's heaven sacrifice ceremony will be held in the southern suburbs, I will find a way to let you go to the sky sacrifice ceremony, and then the important matter entrusted by King Chen will be handed over to you." The person who spoke was a father-in-law, and he could still appear outside the palace so late at night, so he must also be a person with status in the palace.

"I'm tired."

Another male voice rang out, a little hoarse. He was wearing a black cloak, and his hat was pressed so low that his face could not be seen clearly.

The ceremony is held at the altar in the southern suburbs, where the altar is a circular altar, and the ancients believed that the sky is round, so the round altar represents the sky. The altar sits in the north and faces south, surrounded by a red palace wall, decorated with green glazed tiles, this red palace wall is called "sub-wall", and there is a gate around each side.

The outermost part of the altar is a two-story circular wall, the middle is a three-layer circular stone altar, the upper table is surrounded by a table top stone, and there is a circular "Tianxin Stone" in the center. Its outer ring is nine stone slabs, and then the outer circle is 18 pieces, and nine pieces are incremented in each circle in turn, until "ninety-nine" eighty-one pieces, meaning "nine heavens".

On the day of the ceremony of sacrificing to the sky, Xia Zimo led hundreds of officials to the altar early, and the procession of sacrificing to the sky was huge, and the people gathered in the streets and alleys early in the morning to watch. When Xia Zimo's dragon drove by, all the people knelt down and shouted long live.

Xia Zimo is wearing a big fur today, wearing a gown, wearing a crown with twelve crowns hanging from the front and back, sitting upright in the step, more majestic than usual.

When he arrived at the altar, Xia Zimo walked to the Tianxin Stone. He has a big gyu in his waist and a jin gyu in his hand, and he stands facing west on the southeast side of the altar. At this time, the drums sounded in unison, and the officials were solemn.

This ritual is mainly to sacrifice to the Emperor and pray for a good harvest next year. Every step of the ceremony was carefully choreographed. Xia Zimo and Jiang Guifei performed a sacrifice and prayed for the people. The ritual process is long and complicated, and there is little fun to be taught.

Qiu Luoxue stood at the head of the hundred officials, watching the process of the ritual with a blank face, and from time to time she would scan the surrounding environment. Take a look at this imposing altarpiece.

While looking around, Qiu Luoxue suddenly found a familiar face, a person who would never appear here.

"Why is he here?" Qiu Luoxue meditated in her heart.

But the other party only focused on the ritual of sacrificing to the sky, and did not look at Qiu Luoxue. Ah, no, it's not so much about the ritual of sacrificing to the sky, it's about paying attention to Xia Zimo. He watched Xia Zimo's every move intently.

Qiu Luoxue was thinking about the other party's intention to appear at the ceremony of sacrificing to the sky, when she was disturbed by the voice of the eunuch on the side, and the man said, "Prime Minister, it's time for the fire ceremony."

The so-called fire ceremony is to light the sacrifice to the Emperor of Heaven, which is of course done by Xia Zimo, who is the Son of Heaven. Qiu Luoxue's task is to hand over the torch to Xia Zimo.

Grease torches are plunged deep into the furnace, and grease and fire collide and burn. Qiu Luoxue slowly walked to the altar with a torch and handed the torch to Xia Zimo. A blazing torch rested between the two, and they met each other close for the first time in days through the firelight.

After Xia Zimo took the torch, he turned around and threw it into the sacrifice, and there was firewood under the sacrifice, which was easy to burn when it came into contact with the fire. As the fire grew larger, the smoke billowed into the sky.

When all the officials were immersed in the ritual of worshipping the heavens, many arrows suddenly came out of nowhere. Everyone exclaimed, and Qiu Luoxue was even more frightened, not knowing how to react. Fortunately, Xia Zimo pulled her aside in time.

In addition to Xia Zimo and Qiu Luoxue on the altar, there is also Jiang Guifei. But at the moment of life and death, Xia Zimo chose to save Qiu Luoxue. This made Jiang Guifei angry, and she became a little more disgusted with Qiu Luoxue from then on.

"Escort, escort." Jin Fu shouted loudly, and soon the Royal Forest Army came out, but the assassin attacked Xia Zimo one step ahead of them.

Xia Zimo was surrounded by several assassins, although his martial arts were not weak, but he was powerless without weapons. Fortunately, there is no problem with self-preservation, but it can't be delayed like this.

The Guards are on the periphery of the altar, and it will take a while to rush over. The guards who entered the altar were unarmed, and the smoke from the altar was billowing out, which was very disadvantageous.

Qiu Luoxue was arranged by Xia Zimo to hide in a relatively safe corner, as long as she didn't go out, there would be no danger. But in the smoke, Qiu Luoxue saw an assassin stabbing Xia Zimo with a sword. At that time, Xia Zimo was dealing with other assassins, and he had no time to notice the danger behind him.

"No, you can't."

Seeing that Xia Zimo was in danger, Qiu Luoxue rushed to his side almost without thinking.

Cai Ying was one of the assassins, and he had been keeping an eye on Xia Zimo, because his outfit today was brightly colored, so he could find Xia Zimo quickly even under the thick smoke. Finally, the opportunity came, a gap appeared behind Xia Zimo, and he did not hesitate to stab Xia Zimo with his sword.

But he didn't expect that a person suddenly appeared and stood in front of Xia Zimo. At this time, the wind blew and blew away the smoke, and he saw that the person was Qiu Luoxue. Memories of the past came back to him.

"Cai Chikun definitely didn't expect us to come here." Xia Ziyan said.

"Today's matter, I would like to thank Lord Yan for his help." Su Mufei said.

"......" What followed was a conversation between them, which Cai Ying didn't remember very well, because he was in pain and nervousness at the time.

On the orders of his father Cai Chikun, he led a delegation to congratulate the new emperor of Nanliang on his accession to the throne, and by the way, sent the sixth prince Su Mufei back to Nanliang. The journey went smoothly, but when he was out of the border with Kitazawa, he was attacked by assassins, and the mission was destroyed, and he was seriously injured. Only then did he understand that it was all a conspiracy.

Feeling humiliated and grief, he decided to do everything in his power to kill the person in front of him, even if he could only kill one.

So he clenched the sword in his hand and forced himself to open his eyes. But as soon as he opened his eye, he bumped into the other eye. What kind of eyes are they? Clear, simple, with infinite tenderness.

is obviously a man, but he has a pair of eyes that make people confused. He also learned later that the person who met his gaze was Qiu Luoxue, the prime minister of Great Qin.

"Shh Qiu Luoxue made a silent gesture to tell him not to make a sound.

Then she glanced at the person who was chatting behind her in a panic, and carefully took the sword in Cai Ying's hand. He shook his head at him and told him not to be impulsive.

"What are you doing?" Nie Yuan saw Qiu Luoxue squatting on the side of the road and asked.

Qiu Luoxue panicked in her heart, she knew that if she let them know that there was still a living mouth, she would definitely not let it go, so she hurriedly covered Cai Ying's eyes with her hand and said:

"Because it was too sudden? You can't even look at death, blame the pitiful. ”

Cai Ying knew that Qiu Luoxue was helping him, although he didn't know why she was doing it.

"Oh, it's so desolate here, let's go." Qiu Luoxue said again, and quickly pulled Nie Yuan away after speaking.

It was precisely because of Qiu Luoxue's actions that day that Cai Ying survived. Today, when Cai Ying was shocked by the clear eyes of Luoxue in the last autumn. Seeing that he was about to stab Qiu Luoxue, it was too late, so he could only do his best to deflect the blade of the sword and avoid her vital point.