--March 16, 23rd year of Hongwu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Anle Wangfu--

Xie An was caught by the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion of the Eastern Army and was taken to the Donggong Mansion, and Li Shou knew about it.

At first, he was quite worried about this matter, and even thought about arranging for Xie An to leave Jijing quietly to avoid the limelight, until Liangqiu Wu sent someone to convey her meaning to him.

[In the future, he will no longer be a guest of your Anle Palace, let alone your scholar......]

The words in the letter were not written too explicitly, but the vague meaning he wanted to express, Li Shou could still guess it to some extent.

"Good luck, boy!" Sitting behind the desk in his study, Li Shou shook his head with a sigh.

As the ninth son of the current emperor, Li Shou is also seventeen years old this year, one year older than Xie An.

And today, he changed into a light green gold-trimmed Chinese dress, embroidered with splendid flowers and birds, which lined his elegant temperament, but even so, compared to his brothers, Li Shou was not too favored by the emperor.

The reason is that he is just the prince born to the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty on a whim when he was drunk and luckily with a palace maid.

Because of this embarrassing identity, Li Shou has been blinded since he was a child, even his biological father, His Majesty the current emperor, is quite cold to him, perfunctorily named him a king of peace and happiness, and gave him a mansion on Chaoyang Street in Jijing, and has never cared about it since.

The entire Ji Kyoto knows that Li Shou, the ninth prince of the Ninth Emperor, is just a prince who has royal blood but has no chance to take the throne, because of this, any talented scholar will not choose to come to him, and Xie An is the first person......

Because of this, although they have only been together for a short period of three months, Li Shou has long regarded Xie An as a confidant, even if Xie An was questioned by Donggong Mansion a few days ago, he still insisted on Xie An, fortunately, fortunately, the situation has not developed to that irreparable point, after all, he is a small Anle Palace, how can he be one of the four towns of Jijing and the opponent of Donggong Mansion?

"Now, Wang Dan, that kid can be regarded as soaring now!"

"Hehe," on the chair a few steps away from Li Shou, a scribe with a scroll in his hand smiled, shook his head and said, "Lord Xie, this is not an ordinary man, he is a man who said to His Highness that [he would rather be the head of the chicken than the queen of the ox], how could he ignore His Highness because he coveted the power of the Donggong Mansion?" ”

The scribe was seven feet tall, emaciated, pale, and his eyes were sunken, and he always looked indescribably haggard, and from a distance, it looked like a clothes rack, but his eyes were quite energetic.

Undoubtedly, this person is the only remaining henchman next to the Nine Emperor Prince Li Shou except Xie An, a scribe who once served as a staff member of the crown prince Li Wei, Wang Dan.

"Heh, that's what I said!" Li Shou smiled, stood up, put his hands behind his back, and sighed, "Even now, I don't know how to evaluate this sentence, it seems to be unambitious, but in fact it is ......"

"Wisdom, in fact!" Stroking the long beard on his chin, Wang Dan chuckled and said, "Everyone said that the prince was powerful, and everyone went to defect, but they didn't secretly think about it, as the prince of a country, how could there be a lack of people to give advice?" No matter how talented you are, I am afraid it will be difficult to be appreciated, let alone reused; On the other hand, His Royal Highness, at this time, is out of power, there is a lack of available people around him, as long as he has a little talent, he can be reused by His Highness, but unfortunately, there are few people in the world who can see this matter clearly...... After all, there are many icing on the cake, and there are few people who send charcoal in the snow, but I don't want to think about it. -- The Bird's Ambition! ”

"Comparing that kid to a bird, that's a bit too much, isn't it?" Li Shou said with a smile.

Wang Dan shook his head slightly, sighed, and said, "Lord Xie is a person who has been frustrated!" ”

"You hold him up too high," Seeing Wang Dan's look of admiration, Li Shou shook his head with a wry smile and said, "You don't get along with him for as long as I do, what kind of person that guy is, I know too well, he is not the kind of saint you guessed who does not eat the fireworks of the world, greedy for money and lustful, lazy, opportunistic, if you want to say that there are any advantages, I am afraid that only the word benevolence and righteousness are left......" He who was secretly ridiculing Xie An did not notice that Wang Dan's gaze at the door of the study gradually became a little weird.

Because he saw that Xie An was standing behind Li Shou with a black face, if he really saw it, it was not difficult to see that the green tendons on Xie An's forehead were trembling and beating.

"What's wrong?" Perhaps noticing Wang Dan's strange look, Li Shou looked puzzled.

I saw Wang Dan pretending to cough, signaling the direction of the door with his eyes, and following his gaze, Li Shou saw that Xie An was standing at the door, staring at himself with a smile, and spit out a sentence like gritting teeth.

Li ...... Longevity! ”

"Yo, Xie An, why did you come back so soon?" Li Shou greeted with a little weakness.

The muscles at the corners of Xie An's mouth tugged, and he said with a smile, "Ah, it's good to say, I finally coaxed that person and relieved me of the [grounding] punishment, I'm not afraid that you will worry, come back and take a look, I really didn't expect it, what else do you say is like a brother, I don't slander me like this?" - Okay! Make friends like you! ”

Perhaps feeling the endless resentment in Xie An's eyes, Li Shou unconsciously took a step back and said, "What a coincidence, Wang Dan and I praised you just now, ......" As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Wang Dan, who raised the scroll in his hand to cover his face, nodded slightly, and could see that he was a little weak.

"What are you boasting about? - Praise me for being greedy for money and lustful? Lazy? Prefer to be opportunistic? The only advantage is affection? Xie An pursed his lips and sneered.

"This ......" A drop of cold sweat broke out on Li Shou's forehead, and he said seriously, "What's wrong with loving money, the ancients said, [Thousands of miles of officials are only for money], what about being lustful?" [Zi said, color eating also]! As for what is lazy and opportunistic, doesn't this praise you for being resourceful and able to think of a more labor-saving solution every time? ”

"......" Xie An looked at Li Shou, who was reversed black and white, speechlessly, and said helplessly, "Three months ago, you didn't speak so well......

"Isn't this the red who is close to Zhu and the black who is close to ink!"

"Is this a compliment to me? - Well, I'll take it as well! As he spoke, Xie An looked up at Li Shou, the two glanced at each other, and suddenly said with a smile, "Finally picked up a life and came back!" ”

"Ahh Li Shou nodded heavily, looking at Xie An's eyes, full of relief and relief.

Feeling the trust between the two of them that did not need to be expressed in words, Wang Dan smiled slightly, when he was a staff member next to the crown prince Li Wei, he could not feel this kind of affection.

After a little greeting, Li Shou asked the cook in the house to fry a few dishes, warm up a few pots of wine, and talk about wine with Xie An and Wang Dan, after all, Xie An has been away from the house for three days, Li Shou and Wang Dan have some topics to talk about with Xie An, and the most important of them is the owner of Donggong Mansion, Liangqiu Dance.

In the midst of the staggering, Xie An recounted his experience in the past few days, and when he said that he had made a marriage contract with Liang Qiuwu, Li Shou gasped.

"What? She...... General Wu made a wedding vow with you in the small ancestral hall in the backyard of the mansion, in front of the spiritual position of the previous heads of the Liangqiu family? ”

"Why are you so surprised?" Xie An said with a strange expression.

"You guy......" Looking at Xie An's calm face, Li Shou shook his head with a smile, and said with emotion, "General Wu is a female general who is deeply trusted by her father, one of the four towns in Jijing, and now that the old Liangqiu Gong is not in Jijing, she is a veritable leader of the Liangqiu family, but you kid can form such a good relationship with her...... It's really envious of others! - I thought he was going to tear you apart......" he muttered in a low voice.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Obviously, Xie An heard Li Shou's last muttering, rolled his eyes angrily, and said, "You seem to be happy to see me die?" ”

"At least the roots of my ears can be cleaner......" Li Shou showed an innocent expression.

"You guy......" Xie An gritted his teeth hatefully.

"Okay, okay," Wang Dan smiled and pulled down Xie An, who was holding his arm, and then said with a straight face, "In general, Lord Xie is a blessing in disguise this time, so it will also help His Highness's great cause......

Seeing Wang Dan talking about business, Li Shou also put away the joke on his face, frowned and said, "What does Mr. mean, the Donggong Mansion will favor me because of this?" As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Xie An.

Since it was a serious discussion, Xie An didn't joke with Li Shou anymore, touched his chin, shook his head and said, "I don't think so, dance...... cough, according to my observation in the past few days, her character is very stubborn, and she is also very principled, she said that the four towns of Jijing are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the crown prince, so I don't think she will help in this matter! - And, as you should know, I don't dare to confront her......" He said as he looked at Li Shou with a slight apology.

"Indeed, the ancestors once established this national law, the four towns of Jijing, shall not interfere in the establishment of heirs......" Li Shou nodded suddenly, but he couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

"It's not right for His Highness and Lord Xie to think so," Wang Dan shook the chopsticks in his hand and said in a low voice, "Even if General Wu is hindered by the law of the country and can't help us, but for the sake of Lord Xie is her husband, she will more or less look at us differently......"

"What's the difference?" Li Shou asked in wonder.

"Your Highness, think about it," glanced at Xie An, Wang Dan put down his chopsticks and explained, "In the past, the palace and the Shenwu Battalion of the Eastern Army had no intersection, so there was no friendship, even if His Highness was the prince, those soldiers would probably not be more polite to His Highness, but now it is different, I think that General Wu will inevitably inform the lieutenant general of the center of her army, so as not to have a conflict between Lord Xie and the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion in the future, just like last time...... And the generals of the Shenwu Battalion, who learned of the hidden secrets, will inevitably be polite to Lord Xie, and by the way, they will also treat His Highness like this...... And others don't know so much, they see that the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion treat His Highness politely, and they must have something in their hearts, this is called [borrowing]! - Even if General Wu can't take the initiative to help us, His Highness will have a great benefit! ”

"That makes sense!" Li Shou suddenly realized and nodded again and again.

Seeing this, Wang Dan said to Xie An again, "I don't know if Lord Xie has seen the four generals of the Eastern Army's Shenwu Battalion?" ”

"Yan Kai, Chen Gang, Xiang Qing, Luo Chao? - Except for Luo Chao, who stayed in the barracks all day and didn't see him, the other three have seen each other a few times......"

"How's the friendship?" Wang Dan asked.

"Friendship......" Xie An thought about it with his wine glass, and said, "In addition to Chen Gang and Second Brother Chen's very bad attitude towards me, Brother Yan and Third Brother Xiang are quite friendly, well, the one who has the deepest friendship is still the third brother Xiang Qingxiang!" ”

It's good to go to the Qinglou together, call women, eat flowers and wine, this kind of relationship is iron, right?

"Very good!" Wang Dan stroked his beard and nodded repeatedly, and said with a smile, "In this way, Lord Xie can ask that Deputy General Xiang to recommend the generals in the army to His Royal Highness, you must know that Deputy General Xiang is the deputy general of the Shenwu Battalion of the Eastern Army, and he naturally gets acquainted with many generals in the army on weekdays, if His Highness can win over one or two of them, our strength will definitely increase greatly!" ”

Xie An tilted his head and thought about it, then frowned and said, "Third Brother Xiang is also a righteous person, and it should be no problem for him to introduce a few generals he has acquainted, the problem is that most of the forces in the army belong to the fourth prince and the crown prince, and it is not so easy to move those generals to take refuge, right?" ”

"That's what worries me the most!" Wang Dan sighed when he heard this, and then shook his head and said, "But no matter what, at least let's get acquainted first, Wenchen is quite scheming, and his thoughts are not easy to show on weekdays, but the martial artist is much more straightforward, if His Highness can have a few drinks with him, maybe he can have a little turnaround......" He sighed, shook his head and said, "But this is the right way, the best way is to give His Highness the opportunity to personally lead the army and make meritorious contributions on the battlefield......"

"It's not that simple!" Xie An pouted and said, and Li Shou, who was beside him, also smiled bitterly.

"That's it, after all, it's a good start, by the way, Lord Xie just said [grounded], what's the matter? Could it be that General Fei Wu has put you under house arrest these days? Seeing that Li Shou and Xie An were too disappointed, Wang Dan raised his glass and diverted the topic.

"It's hard to put into words, if I hadn't used all my skills, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to get out today......" Xie An said with a sad face.

"What's going on?" Li Shou frowned when he heard this, and said with some doubts, "As far as I know, General Wu is also a reasonable person, as long as you explain the dance that day, it shouldn't be difficult for you...... No, since she has made a marriage contract with you, and it stands to reason that she has given up that day's ball, why should she [ground] you again?" ”

"Well, who knows, that strange woman's thoughts are very incomprehensible......" Xie An looked away a little weakly, he was embarrassed to say that it was because he went to the Qinglou with Xiang Qing to eat flowers and wine, and also called the prostitutes to drink as a companion, but he was caught on the spot by the annoyed and angry Liang Qiu Wu.

"Really?" Li Shou looked at Xie An with some distrust, he knew Xie An too well, in his opinion, it was probably Xie An who did something that the dance general could not tolerate, so she ordered Xie An to be grounded in the mansion.

“……”

"You didn't do anything superfluous, did you? For example, flirting with the maid in her house...... "Li Shou has an expression that I know you very well."

"You guy! - What does this have to do with you having a copper coin?! Xie An rolled his eyes angrily, immediately changed the topic, looked back at Wang Dan, and asked seriously, "By the way, Brother Wang, have you heard of a woman named Changsun Xiangyu?" ”

"Eldest grandson Xiangyu?" Wang Dan's expression became solemn.