In the distance, the sun in the col had collected its last shred of heat of the day, and the red and purple sunset was gently pulled by the evening breeze, covering half of the gray-blue sky. I patted the dirt off my hands and turned back. The sky gradually darkened, and the mountain wind blew a little cooler on the body. Less than three feet away from the entrance of the cave, I met Wuxian and Qi Hou who had returned from foraging.

Qi Hou carried two bulging water bladders, a few branches full of wild fruits in his left hand, and four washed small fish on the long sword in his right hand.

Seeing me, Wuxian raised his sword at me.

I smiled and carried the rattan cat waist into the cave.

In the cave, Ah Yu and Chen Pan were sitting facing each other with wide eyes.

"Girl, you're back, suffocating me." Chen Pan was relieved to see my shoulders collapse.

"Chen Shizi woke up?" Wuxian bent down into the cave and sat down beside Chen Pan with a smile, "The prince is hungry?" Let's eat a few fruits first! He stretched out his hand and handed a branch containing five or six wild fruits to Chen Pan's hand.

Chen Pan put away the cynicism when he talked to me before, stretched his sleeves, and straightened his body: "I am now a prisoner of Brother Zhao, and Brother Zhao doesn't need to be so considerate of me." If Brother Zhao wants to ask about today's dense forest blockade, I have already told the girl, today's news is reported by the secret agent in the clan, as for who betrayed Brother Zhao when, I don't know. If Brother Zhao plans to threaten my father's withdrawal with Pan's life, it would be even more wrong. There are twenty-eight men in my Chen Mansion, and one of me died, and there are three sons in law from my mother. The Chen family is not worried, there is no better son than me. ”

"Hahaha, the prince thinks too much, if compared with his younger brother Chen Liao, Wuxian would prefer that the next sect master of the Chen family is you cherish Hualang Chen Pan. As for the reason why I kept my son by my side, it was very simple, it was just to threaten Chen Yi alone, and the rest had never thought about it. Wuxian chuckled, broke off a fruit from the branch and put it in Chen Pan's hand, "Actually, for today's Liuzhou crossing, Wuxian would like to thank the prince for his help." ”

"Thank me?" Chen Pan frowned.

"The secret report that leaked our whereabouts hasn't been handed over to Zuo Xiang yet, right?" Wuxian looked at Chen Pan and said with a faint smile.

"Chen Heng doesn't know about us?" The shirtless words blew my mind. So, what Chen Pan and Chen Cheng said before was a lie?

Wuxian turned his head to look at me, and said slowly: "Before His Excellency and I left the palace, Chen Heng had already fallen into the obstacle we had set up. He entered from the east gate, and then personally led the Chen family's 1,000 army out of the north gate to pursue Kan Zhi and the Qi Marquis pretended by the temple people. If he knew this secret report, then even if he had doubts in his heart, it would be impossible not to fortify Liuzhoudu. The crescent halberd array that intercepted us in the dense forest today, as far as I know, is just a team of soldiers that Chen Shizi keeps privately on weekdays. Now, we are trapping the son of the world in our hands, and Chen Wei must be afraid. As long as he didn't report to Chen Heng, Chen Heng might not know that it was not Qi Hou himself who fled all the way with Youxiang. ”

Chen Pan on the side suddenly clapped his hands and laughed when he heard this: "Brother Zhao is really like watching the fire." It's just that you don't underestimate my Chen clan too much, even if your father doesn't come, the rest of the Chen clan will catch up with you sooner or later. Although Chen Yi is loyal to me, he is not a fool and will be at your mercy. ”

"At the mercy? Who else can be at the mercy of the shirtless now? I just hope that Chen Yi can be dumb for three days for your life. After three days, if we can escape, we will let you go. Before that, please take care of the prince and don't try to regenerate the branches. ”

"Brother Zhao, don't worry, I have been following the girl every day these days and letting her do so many tricks and feet in secret, and now I have let her look at me, not to mention the branches, even if it is a small bud, I can't come out." Chen Pan laughed twice, lowered his head, grabbed the wild fruit in his hand and took a bite hard.

On the other side, since Qi Hou entered the cave, he sat in the corner and silently wiped a wound on his waist with water. He didn't talk to Lu Ji, who abandoned him, and he no longer questioned Chen Pan, who was plotting rebellion, he sat quietly like this, as if he was one with the stone wall behind him.

"Your Excellency, let me come!" I took out two white grass roots from the vine, picked a few white pubescent flower spikes and gently pressed them against Qi Hou's wound, "The flowers of this white grass root only bloom in June, but I happened to find a clump." Using it to make a knife wound is the fastest and easiest, don't worry too much, you can sleep peacefully tonight, and the wound will clot tomorrow. ”

"Well, thank you." Qi Hou didn't seem to be used to saying these words, so he gently brushed his head away after speaking.

"Tonight, I took turns keeping vigil with Wuxian and Ah Yu, and your Excellency rested in peace. Maybe you don't have to wait until dawn for reinforcements to arrive. I tore a few slightly cleaner strips of cloth from my cuffs and carefully bandaged Qi Hou's wounds, "Your Excellency and Madame should eat something first, and when we have enough strength, we will be able to hurry tomorrow." ”

"Ah Shi is right, in the next few days, I'm afraid it won't be easy. Take care of your body. "Shirtless walked up to me and whispered to me for a dagger.

He washed away the blood stains on the dagger with the water in his bag, and then spread a few leaves on the ground and put the four small fish on it: "Your Excellency, although this stream fish is not delicious, but now that there is a fire in the forest, I am afraid that it will attract chasing soldiers, so I can only wronged you first." So saying, he knelt down, and with great dexterity he peeled off the fish of the brook with his dagger, as he had done at the Little Accord that day.

"Keqing, hurry up! Today, it is the widow who has affected you, where does the widow still have the face to eat the fish you made! Qi Hou raised Wuxian with red eyes, "Today's Chen family's rebellion is caused by the widow's immorality and incompetence on weekdays, and the widow is ashamed." Qi Hou bent down and grabbed the skinless stream fish, put it to his mouth and bit it fiercely, "Eat, only when you are full can you have the strength to escape, and only when you are full can you have the life to recapture the widow's country!" ”

The stream fish was fishy and had many fine bones, and the thin bones pierced the corners of Qi Hou's mouth, but he didn't realize it. In the small pavilion, before eating the fish, he also deliberately asked the temple people to remove the gold plate and replace it with the painted plate of the fish leaping lotus pond, in order to appreciate the light and transparent characteristics of the fish. But now, he didn't care about the smell of food, he grabbed the raw fish that was still bloody, and ate like a prisoner who had been starving for many days.

"Junshang" had been sitting on the pyre, looking at Qi Hou in a daze, Lu Ji suddenly cried loudly. When she was in Liuzhou, the lady of Qi Guojun had already woken up, but Xu was frightened by the severed head and hand in the dense forest, and she didn't say a word from entering the valley to entering the cave. But at this moment, she looked at Qi Hou, who was eating raw fish in front of her, suddenly stood up, staggered a few steps forward, fell at Qi Hou's feet, and cried bitterly: "Your Majesty, you are the monarch, you can't be like this."

Lu Ji may be crying for Qi Hou's downfall at this moment, or she may be lamenting the misfortune of her fate, the more she cries, the more sad she becomes, the more desolate she becomes, and in the end, even Qi Hou cried with her.

When the sun rises, it is still the monarch and mother of the nation worshiped by all peoples. By sunset, he had become a fugitive who was exhausted. What else can they do but hug each other and cry?

I quietly withdrew with Wuxian and Ah Yu, and Chen Pan's identity was embarrassing and had to retreat.

Outside the cave, half of the remnant sun was still making its last struggle on the mountain top in the west, and the flickering Chang Geng Star had quietly hung up in the sky. Distant mountains and trees, everything was enveloped in a purple-brown halo by twilight, I leaned on my shirtless shoulder and looked at the tired birds in the forest who had returned late in twos and threes, and muttered: "Hongyun'er, do you blame me?" ”

"Blame you? Do you blame me? Shirtless asked with his chin against my forehead and a smile.

"What do you blame?"

"And what am I going to blame you for?"

"Blame me for causing trouble, and having more complications."

"You're planning something big, what's wrong? If my father knows that you have worked so hard to help him succeed in the future, he will definitely reward you well. Wuxian squeezed my hand and laughed at himself, "Today is a mistake in my plan, and you are scared." ”

"It's not your fault" Qi Hou and Lu Ji's cries echoed faintly in my ears, and the suppressed, painful voice evoked my sorrow in such a dusk. I leaned on the shoulders of the shirtless and smelled the blood and sweat on his body, and I felt sad for a while.

Without reinforcements, he and Ah Yu would have no way to drag Chen Pan to take Qi Hou and Mrs. Qi north to Gaowan City. But when the reinforcements came, it was very likely that Chen Heng's spies were hidden inside, which then attracted Chen's pursuers. Such a contradiction, such a predicament, if he is so tired that he loses his life for me this time, then what should I do

"I was wrong, I knew I was wrong. If you can't be safe, what's the use of me wanting peace in the three kingdoms" The more I thought about it, the more sad I became, and the more I thought about it, the more I regretted it, and finally I could only bury my head in my arms and cry.

"Hey, after all, I'm still a child, why are you crying? We may not be able to lose now! Caressing my head, "Where can things in this world go as they should?" You used to anticipate accurately and plan deeply, so you didn't allow others to guess correctly once and trip you? ”

"No reinforcements, no reinforcements, no reinforcements, it's a dead end, me"

"Which one says it's a dead end? Things are not as bad as you think, don't cry, plainly let Chen Shizi see the joke! ”

"Zhao Wuxian, I didn't laugh at her. I just didn't know she had the appearance of such a little daughter. Chen Pan's voice came from beside me, and I hurriedly wiped away my tears and raised my head.

"Alas, what a crying face that can break people's hearts!" Chen Pan glanced at me faintly, raised his head with his arms and sighed, "Zhao Wuxian is not dead yet, you will cry, if I die in your hands this time, I don't know if any of the more than sixty concubines in my family will shed two sincere tears for me." ”

"If you die, someone will cry for you!" I wiped my face twice with my hands and said angrily.