Step by step onto the deck of the Radiance, Clifford's mood slowly became heavy. He could always see that although Li Xuanji was here, his heart was not tied to him for a moment. Although he never knew who the man in Xuanji's heart was, he always knew that such a person existed. Because no matter what he does, he can't really smile, and the smile he gets in exchange is not from the heart, just a polite smile.

Last night, when he learned that Li Xuanji was taken away, he went crazy and took his servants to look for him, and now when he learned that the kidnapped Li Xuanji was on the Radiance, he slowly understood that it was the Taiping Army in the West Temple who sent someone to pick up Xuanji. In China, only the Taiping Army of the West Temple had the ability to silently take people out of the British merchant district, and only they could let the latest merchant ships of Jardine Matheson hide people.

Sure enough, when he walked into the cabin, he saw Li Xuanji standing behind King Xi, she was a little ashamed to hide behind King Xi, her face was full of uneasiness and shyness, as if she had been caught raped in bed. But the king of the west stood in front of her like an iron tower, covering her fierce gaze for her. King Xi is still so calm and calm, just like when he first saw him, the momentum that makes people bow their heads is still strong.

Clifford took a deep breath, his face became a little ugly, he slowly pulled out the talisman short gun from his waist, pointed at the king of the west in front of him, and said lightly: "I want to duel with you, only the victorious can have her!" ”

Clifford may be the latest art, but in the aristocratic tradition of the Rothschilds, male family members must learn enough skills to defend themselves, including fencing, boxing, horsemanship, and shooting. Although Clifford didn't know the best of them, he was still proficient in these skills, otherwise he would not have come to China quietly alone.

And in Clifford's eyes. It's normal to use a duel to win over a loved one. Westerners have always maintained the tradition of dueling, and when there is a conflict between two men that cannot be resolved, they use duel to solve it. The comparison between the two sides is not reasonable, but the speed of drawing the gun and the accuracy of shooting. The two sides involved in the duel are willing to gamble and lose, and will never draw their guns first because they are greedy for life and fear of death, and will not invite friends to help them win the victory like the Chinese people. The onlookers also made a cameo appearance as a referee with peace of mind, as a "numb" spectator, as if the two dueling people were not gambling on their lives, but on a cow.

Duels have always been a part of Western life, and it's not just literature. For example, the three hormonal musketeers in Alexandre Dumas's "Three Musketeers" are looking for someone to duel everywhere. In fact, in medieval Europe, this primitive method was very popular to resolve disputes, and even more than a hundred years ago, some people used this way to resolve conflicts between the two sides. One of the more famous duels is the duel of the Russian romantic poet Pushkin, who died in 1837 in a duel with Dantes, an exiled soldier. Another famous Russian poet, Lermontov, was shot and killed in a duel four years later. Russia lost two talented poets to a duel in four years, which can be described as a huge loss.

Xiao Yungui was not surprised, he had seen such a gentlemanly duel between foreigners in Shanghai. He also knew how Pushkin lost his life in a duel, although he did not understand this kind of duel for lovers in the West. Is the aiqing that comes from this way real? But Xiao Yungui still admires this simple and crude way. Maybe people are a kind of animal, and animals use this way of fighting when they fight for mates, and the law of the jungle seems to be applicable to competing for lovers, but Xiao Yungui thinks that this is not the way to fight for aiqing.

Li Xuanji's face was pale when she heard this, and she mustered up the courage to stand up from behind Xiao Yungui and stop between Clifford and Xiao Yungui. Blocked Clifford's muzzle with his delicate body, and said in a trembling voice: "Clifford, please don't do this, you can't hurt him." ”

Clifford's face turned even pale. His blonde hair trembled, but he still said with extreme restraint: "Duel between men, please get out of the way!" Only one of the two of us will be able to take you out of here alive today! ”

Xiao Yungui saw Clifford's resoluteness, and only felt that he said the duel between men very loudly, as if to remind himself not to lose the man's spirit and face. Xiao Yungui hesitated a little for a moment, did Pushkin do the right thing? Having given up his life for Aiqing, Pushkin would have lived longer without that duel and would have been able to bring more heirlooms to the world. But Pushkin finally chose to gamble with his life and career, to gamble on aiqing, or that was just for the sake of a man's face.

Now he is the king of the west, and there are millions of soldiers and civilians who follow him behind him, as well as his lover who needs to be taken care of, and the unborn child, in addition to these, there is also the power in his hands. The basis of all this is the life of the king of the West, if he loses his own life, how can he continue to have those things? Should he bet his all, or should he choose a sensible avoidance?

Life is spent in constant choices, sometimes you choose the right one, the road of life can be smoother, if you choose the wrong one, life may be dark. Although it is cruel, if you don't make a choice, you never know what will bring you after the choice, so the unknown life choice question is a charm of life, the charm of the unknown!

Xiao Yungui's hesitation did not last long, his eyes saw Li Xuanji's delicate body in front of him, his slender arms were open in front of him, and his emaciated shoulders trembled slightly, at this moment he didn't hesitate anymore, he gently pulled Li Xuanji's hands back, stood in front of Li Xuanji, and said lightly: "Okay, I promise to duel with you!" ”

Some people may think that Xiao Yungui's choice is very irrational, he is even betting on the lives of millions of people to make a bet on this duel, if the West Temple loses the King of the West, the chaos in Sufu Province will come, and the imbalance of the power system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will also be in advance, and it is not alarmist that millions of people will die because of this.

But if Xiao Yungui chooses to hide behind a woman to avoid the duel, then he will not be able to raise his head for the rest of his life. Chinese people always say that the eldest husband can bend and stretch, and it is not too humiliating to use Han Xin's crotch humiliation to cover up temporary submission, but in Xiao Yungui's view, if a king loses his dignity, he will no longer have the style of a king. Even if Han Xin can endure it again, the name of the crotch husband will always follow him for a lifetime, and Han Xin's kingly spirit of competing for the world has been lost when he was humiliated by the crotch, so he was just a general later. But if Han Xin was not humiliated by his crotch, maybe his life would have been lost a long time ago, and even the generals would not be able to do it. So the choice of life is sometimes so cruel and helpless, Xiao Yungui and Clifford will block all they have, can they have a third choice?

Just as Xiao Yungui slowly pulled out the short gun at his waist, Li Xuanji suddenly pulled out the sword on Xiao Yungui's waist, and the cold light rested on his snowy and white neck. Her eyes were full of tears but firm, and she looked at the two men and cried in a trembling voice: "Don't, you two don't duel, whoever dies, I won't agree." It started because of me. I'm the last person who deserves to be in the world, if you really want to duel. I will die before you! ”

Clifford panicked. He roared like an angry lion: "This is a matter for the two of us, you must stand in the middle?!" "Clifford and Xiao Yungui have forgotten that they are competing for an Oriental woman, for thousands of years, although Oriental women are delicate and virtuous, not as bold and enthusiastic as Western women, but they are all in their bones the unique tenacity and unyielding of Oriental women. Western women may be happy to see two men duel for her. But Li Xuanji, an oriental woman, would never be a spectator, she bravely stood between the two men, and Hengjian used her life to stop this meaningless duel in her opinion!

Xiao Yungui stepped forward and wanted to wait for an opportunity to snatch the long sword, but Li Xuanji immediately took a step back. The long sword was closer to her skin, the snowy blade had pierced the delicate skin, and the eye-catching blood beads were down the spine of the sword, and her gaze was already firm and resolute: "Put away your short guns!" I'm not a woman worthy of you! If you don't put away your guns, I'll die in front of you!" ”

The two men looked at each other helplessly, if they lost the woman in front of them, their duel would really be a meaningless duel, so they slowly put away their short guns.

Clifford said softly, "Will you put your sword down first?" Where you want to go and who you follow, I promise you, as long as you don't hurt yourself. Although Clifford's words were soft, the hatred for King Xi from the corner of his eyes did not escape Li Xuanji's eyes.

Li Xuanji, who has been with Clifford for a long time, knows Clifford very well, his humility, his courtesy, and his enthusiasm are all limited, he is always a dignified man, he will not let go of his rival, especially in this helpless situation, let him give up what he loves. Li Xuanji has seen Clifford's painstaking pursuit of a work of art, he can even put down his dignity and bend his knees to beg the owner to transfer the artwork, he is very possessive of what he likes. So although he said that he promised to let him leave, he must have received other revenge.

In order to make Xidian lose an arm in exchange for a strong enemy, Li Xuanji asked herself if she couldn't be so selfish. This is also the difference between Eastern women and Western women, Western women may only consider their own feelings, while Eastern women are accustomed to being submissive and wronging themselves to fulfill others, which is a virtue that has been formed for thousands of years and is not a virtue.

The long sword did not leave her neck, but Li Xuanjilian moved quietly, she slowly looked at the body of King Xi and walked to Clifford's side, followed by a glance back at Clifford, and whispered: "I promised you to go back to England with you, I will not go anywhere." "Persistence and identification, no matter how difficult the road ahead is, as long as they are identified, they will persevere, which is also one of the virtues of oriental women.

Then Li Xuanji looked at the King of the West with tears in his eyes, and said word by word in Chinese: "Your Highness, you can come in person, Xuanji is already very happy, but you are the King of the West, the King of the West who is a military and civilian soldier of the millions of soldiers in the West Temple, you can't abolish the great cause of restoring the Han for the sake of a woman, I don't deserve you like this." ”

Xiao Yungui interrupted her in a deep voice: "You don't have to worry, even if Clifford and I turn against each other in the future, I'm not afraid, Xuanji, you come here." ”

Li Xuanji slowly shook her head with tears in her eyes and said: "Your Highness, you are a person who does great things, and you must not abolish major things for the sake of your children's private feelings. Maybe my Highness and I are fated to be inseparable, Your Highness take care. "Resignation is also a virtue of oriental women, but this virtue is the most worthy of criticism.

Xiao Yungui felt his heart ache for the first time, and he couldn't even control his breathing, it turned out that Aiqing's premise was to care about the gains and losses, he didn't see the benefits and losses clearly, but his heart really didn't want to be a cold-blooded and ruthless king, a king who could send his women out in exchange for benefits. Maybe the world needs this kind of king, because he can exchange the minimum price for the greatest benefit, but Xiao Yungui really doesn't want to be such a person, he would rather be angry at the crown.

It's a pity that Li Xuanji broke his wish, and she made a third choice for him, this woman who was only eight years tall and forced to smile left with Clifford for him and the West Temple, leaving Xiao Yungui with only the saber stained with red blood.

Soon after, there was a beast-like roar from the cabin of the Radiance, and the roar was so miserable and sad that it made the Qing and British troops who were still facing each other on the dock stunned.

Li Xuanji, who was dragged away by Clifford, kept crying and didn't dare to look back, she and Clifford ignored Bao Ling, Ronglu and others, after getting into Clifford's gorgeous carriage, Li Xuanji wiped away her tears, smiled brightly, looked at Clifford, who had been holding the neck wound for her, and said softly: "Clifford, we will get married when we go back to England, and I will forget him." Clifford finally smiled, but he didn't know that the true feelings were pressed deep in his heart, and on the surface, giving up and resigning to fate were just the virtues of oriental women. (To be continued......)