After Shen Ruoyu returned to Beijing with Zhong Kexi, he couldn't take care of his home, so he went straight to the palace. That's when he discovered something that made him feel embarrassed. The silver and red tasseled armor that the Son of Heaven had rewarded him with was nowhere to be found. He and Zhong Kexi didn't have a few things with them, and they were missing the most important outfit for marching and fighting, but neither of them knew when they lost it. Shen Ruoyu pondered for a long time, and then realized in horror that he must have lost it when he fled from the rout in the melee of Zhengcunba; There is only one possibility. The Yan army's sneak attack was sudden, and he hurriedly got on his horse and fled for his life before he even had time to put on his armor.

It was the first time he went to the battlefield, and he experienced such a veritable embarrassing situation of losing his armor and abandoning his armor, and he didn't know how to explain to the Son of Heaven for a while. Fortunately, since the beginning of the Ming Empire, the military attachés of the imperial court have the habit of "military attache uniforms", and they are all influenced by the elegant style of the general Xu Da. More often, the generals who went out to return to the dynasty were not draped like He Fu when he triumphed in Luchuan, but like Shen Ruoliao at this time, he wore a literary uniform to see the Son of Heaven; Emperor Jianwen, who was full of Confucian anger, was of course pleasing to the eye.

After some decent condolences, Zhu Yunwen announced that the court officials present could retire. When only the eunuchs and palace maids were left in the Qianqing Palace, the Son of Heaven immediately happily pulled Shen Ruoliao and ran into the Dongnuan Pavilion, sat down and asked:

"You've worked hard; How does it feel? ”

The Son of Heaven treated himself with such great enthusiasm, Shen Ruoyu didn't expect it at all, and was a little stunned for a while.

He said honestly: "Your Majesty, we lost the battle, and I lost all the clothes and armor you gave me. ”

Zhu Yunwen said: "It's okay, you don't have to take the small defeat to heart." - Lost your armor? He was slightly stunned.

Shen Ruoyu said: "Your Majesty doesn't know, and the general's words are not true. We fought a great defeat, and we lost more than 100,000 troops. Not only did he not eliminate the living force of the Yan King, but he watched the Yan army grow stronger and stronger; Not only did he not defeat Yan Jun, but he gave the other party a laughing stock. All my armor was lost in the process of escaping, please punish your majesty. ”

He told the Son of Heaven in detail the ins and outs of the Battle of Beiping. Zhu Yunwen listened, his face turned pale, and he asked softly:

"Why didn't you write to me when you got back to Texas? I thought it was a trivial battle; Why did the general deceive me? ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "The general is actually not deceiving you, he just didn't explain the seriousness of the matter. After all, a battle was fought for two months, from late autumn to cold winter, and it was not easy for the 500,000 army from top to bottom, and they all suffered a lot, not to mention the heavy casualties. ”

This remark may be appropriate for others, but it is purely sloppy in front of the emperor to exonerate Li Jinglong. What is the character of Emperor Jianwen, everyone in the world knows that Li Jinglong is the emperor's cousin, of course, no exception. He knew very well that even if he told the emperor that King Yan had already crossed the Yellow River and hit the Yangtze River, there were still 100,000 people left in the imperial court's 500,000 army, and the most Zhu Yunwen could do was to dismiss him, while crying bitterly and helplessly. This benevolent emperor would never be angry with his innocent soldiers; He cares about his family and face, and he will never take his own life, and he will not even take his title, and he Li Jinglong will be safe and sound. And the reason why he still wants to hide the truth, in addition to wanting to continue to be this general, I am afraid that he also feels a little embarrassed.

Shen Ruoyu also has a little understanding of the details of the general, after a battle of Beiping, of course he knows that General Li, who was the first to abandon the army in Zhengcunba and only cares about his own life, has absolutely no love for soldiers as he said. However, he still defended Li Jinglong in front of the Son of Heaven. He knew that even if he got rid of Li Jinglong, the Son of Heaven would not take any measures against Cao Guogong, and all the consequences could only be to make himself and Cao Guogong have a feud for no reason, and Cao Guogong is the founder of the country, and he is Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, Zhu Yunwen's cousin, who can be described as a big tree with deep roots in the court, although he is deeply favored by the Son of Heaven, but he has no power at all, and even many people have been secretly staring at him, wanting to overturn him behind his back. The result of forming a feud with Li Jinglong can only be that he can't eat and walk around. He's not that stupid. His ultimate goal is to replace Li Jinglong as the general of the Southern Army, so now he must curry favor with Cao Guogong.

In any case, Jianwen is Jianwen. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, could see Shen Ruoyu's heart at a glance, and he couldn't tell half a lie in front of the prince. However, Zhu Yunwen kindly accepted his overall defense for Li Jinglong, and was willingly and ignorant of being beaten by him like this, while constantly comforting him and saying that victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and it doesn't matter if you lose a battle, and the responsibility is not yours, of course I will not blame the innocent soldiers.

Not only that; Because of the confinement of face, Zhu Yunwen still decided to issue a decree to praise Li Jinglong, who lost the battle; As the emperor's trusted and favorite supervisor, Shen Ruoyu naturally went without saying that he was given a banquet by the emperor at that time, and was promised by the Son of Heaven that he could receive at least one more year's salary.

It was evening when I got home; As soon as he entered the door, Shen Ruoyu saw Dou'er jumping into the house in a panic, shouting:

"Madame, ma'am, the lord is back!"

Shen Ruoyu frowned and walked into the house, but was taken aback; Nangong Qiu was sitting up from the bed with Dou'er's support, his head was wrapped in a cotton cloth, obviously sick, his cheeks were sallow, when he saw him, his eyes were bright, but he was far from being as lively as usual, he opened his small mouth, and he hadn't made a sound yet, and the tears had come down in a hurry, blocking the sound, and he whimpered.

Shen Ruoyu panicked all of a sudden, threw herself on the side of the bed, grabbed her and shouted:

"What's wrong with you? Qiu'er, what's wrong with you? You were fine when I left, why did you get sick? Haven't you always been pretty honest? What is it? ”

Nangong Qiu was obviously aggrieved to the extreme, and couldn't help but throw herself into his arms and cry. Shen Ruoyu glanced at Dou'er complainingly, and blamed:

"You're sick like this, why don't you invite a doctor to come and see it?"

Dou'er secretly looked at Nangong Qiu, bowed her head and didn't dare to speak. Nangong Qiu stretched out his hand, clenched his fist and hit him hard, crying at the same time:

"It's not all your fault, you always hate doctors the most, so I don't let them find doctors. If I hadn't missed you, I wouldn't have gotten sick...... You know how to go home......"

She cried and beat him at the same time, her strength was really good, Rao was sick, and she actually beat Shen Ruoyu's chest painfully. He let her smash it, and anxiously instructed Dou'er:

"Why don't you go get a doctor? The best doctor, please! I really can't do it, so I went to Tai Hospital to find Dai Sigong! - Come back!! ”

Dou'er had already stepped out of the room, startled, and looked back at him.

Shen Ruoyu looked at the maid's petite body, sighed, and said, "You better tell Husheng immediately and let him go to find it; It's getting dark, what's the matter with you little girl all over the street? Let Husheng go and come back quickly; You go and boil the pot of water. ”

Nangong Qiu continued to liquidate him: "Do you have a conscience, if you are by King Yan's side, how about my grandfather to treat me...... You should be your general, you should kill, go and force King Yan and Niangniang to death, why are you so ruthless......"

"Qiu'er! Shame on you? Shen Ruoyu scolded helplessly, "I said earlier that you should think clearly, but now you regret it?" Do you want to divorce you now, send you back to Beiping, if you like to follow King Yan, go with him, what are you doing with me? ”

One sentence frightened Nangong Qiu; Hong Zha immediately put it down, and the tears magically stopped. She immediately hugged Shen Ruoliao's neck, coquettishly lay on his shoulder, and muttered:

"I don't! Don't drive me away, people miss you so much, you complain for a while, why are you so serious...... If you are so few, I beg you, don't leave me ......"

Shen Ruoyu wanted to capture the old man: "I knew that I would see you throw your face when I came back, it is better to let the Mongolian cavalry of King Yan trample me to death on the battlefield, and I will have a reputation as a good man, it is better than trying to escape from death, and I will be scolded by my daughter-in-law as soon as I enter the house; If you hate me, I'll just be a good person to the end, and I'll take you to Hong Jiang now. ”

Nangong Qiu tore off the cotton cloth on his head, threw it in his face angrily, and scolded:

"Talking nonsense like this again! If you know it early, you can die if you want to! Brother Hong has never been here, Brother Jing also said that he is afraid of letting others talk about you behind his back, all people think about is you, you only have yourself in your heart, do you have a conscience? ”

Shen Ruoyu softened: "Good Qiu'er, as soon as I say that, you will take it seriously; Can I still not believe you? I've been gone for more than two months, do you know how much I miss you? As a result, as soon as I entered the house, I saw you lying on the hospital bed and suffering, can I not be in a hurry? So I panicked. I don't feel sorry for you. ”

Nangong Qiu was coaxed into tears by him, and happily got into his arms, chattering non-stop. Husheng soon returned with a Langzhong. Na Langzhong gave Nangong Qiu a pulse, looked at the sick number a little strangely, and then said to Shen Ruoyu:

"Madame is fine."

"Fine?" Shen Ruoxiao was slightly stunned.

Na Langzhong nodded: "To be exact, it should be that Madame has recovered." There is no need to prescribe medicine; Get a good night's sleep tonight and you'll be fully recovered tomorrow. ”

Shen Ruoyu looked at Nangong Qiu in surprise; In a flash, Qiu'er had changed from the haggard face he had when he first entered the door to a radiant and vibrant face, and he couldn't help but disbelieve Lang Zhong's words.

He thanked Lang Zhong, gave him money, and asked Husheng and Dou'er to send the doctor away. Then, he sat down in front of Qiu'er, looked at her for a while, and smiled helplessly:

"Goblin, are you playing tricks on me again? You see that you are living a child now, and you can't wait to go to the house to uncover the tiles, where is the illness? ”

Nangong Qiu blushed and said: "It's all about the problems you are worried about, of course it's good if you come back." Do you know how scared I am, afraid that you will suffer hardship, and even more afraid that you will be injured and have an accident. Are you hurt? If so, don't hide it from me. ”

"Don't worry, I'm invincible to all poisons, invulnerable, King Kong is indestructible, invincible martial arts in the world, arrows will turn in front of me, where is it so easy to get hurt?"

Nangong Qiu said: "You are Gao Xiaojun, the king of Lanling, and the enemy can't bear to hurt you when he sees you." ”

Shen Ruoyu paused slightly, looking at the expression on her face, she couldn't help blushing again. He pinched her cheek.

"Silly girl; Lie back to sleep for me. You are just sick, and it is so cold, you have to sweat profusely, be careful of catching a cold. If you have anything to say, let's talk about it when you go to bed tomorrow. ”

Nangong Qiu obediently lay down, and soon fell asleep and snored. Shen Ruoyu lay down beside her, all thoughts and unhappiness were left behind, he was very relieved that he was rarely in such a good mood, and he didn't want any questions to disturb this peaceful joy. He gently held Nangong Qiu in his arms, and soon fell asleep, dreamless all night.