Xu Nankui woke up and was also sick, and this illness lasted for three whole days.

The snow also fell intermittently for three days and two nights.

During this period, Xu Huaijing seemed to be as usual, but Princess Xu Huai noticed that he was more silent than before, and the whole person seemed to be empty, and he entered a kind of cautionary defense very paradoxically.

On the night of April 14, the two lay in the middle of the quilt at a wide distance as usual.

When we eat at the same table, there are occasional brief conversations.

All in all, they got along pretty well.

Princess Xu Huai tonight couldn't help but want to break this tacit understanding.

She thought, now that she and Xu Huaijing have one interest, this person has not been right in the past few days, seeing that the imperial brother will be driving Dicui Mountain tomorrow morning, there are some things that must be asked clearly, just in case.

Yes, it's just for that reason, and it's not worrying or distressing.

The lights in the bedroom have been extinguished, and I can barely see my fingers.

The tent floats with the fragrance of flowers and honey, which is elegant and refreshing, and mixed with a touch of honey and sweetness.

The fragrance in this tent is quietly added to the breath belonging to two people, and the three flavors are blended, and it has become a quiet and soft different kind of Xinning.

Princess Xu Huai knew that the people beside her were not sleeping, so she opened her mouth and called softly: "Xu Huaijing." ”

"Huh?"

"Something isn't quite right about you these days. Don't like snow days? ”

The night is magical. It often makes people not feel like themselves, or makes people briefly reveal their truest selves.

Some words are not said during the day, but after nightfall, it seems that they are not so difficult.

After being silent for a long time, Xu Huaijing said: "It is said that the day my biological mother passed away, it was a snowy day. ”

Princess Xu Huai was stunned.

As far as she knew, Xu Huaijing's biological mother, Qian Baoci, died of a postpartum blood collapse that failed to treat her.

At that time, Xu Huaijing was only a few days old, and according to common sense, he had no memory. Even if there is filial piety to the biological mother in mournful remembrance, it should not be such a strange state in recent days.

"Could it be your father," Princess Xu Huai carefully considered the words, trying to soften the meaning of the words, "Every time it snows, I will anger you?" ”

"Perhaps." Xu Huaijing's voice was shallow and soft, and he couldn't hear joy or sorrow.

Princess Xu Huai couldn't bear it, so she changed the topic: "You said that tomorrow it will be dealt with by the family law." What is the family law of the royal family of the Xia Kingdom? Anyway, it's the prince of Kaifu, and he won't let you be beaten in front of the prince and the important ministers of the clan, right? ”

"It's wattles, not boards. will not be in front of the clan relatives and important ministers. ”

That means he's going to be beaten tomorrow. But the royal brother will save him some face, and this fight will not be watched by his two royal brothers and the uncles of the royal clan, just let them know.

This answer made Princess Xu Huai's eyes slightly sour.

As soon as they are born, they will be in the limelight, and being beaten will make them the talk of others. If they fight too much, they will become weaker in the hearts of others, and it may be difficult to accumulate authority in the future.

But judging from Xu Huaijing's attitude, he was not beaten once or twice.

Princess Xu Huai had heard that the Xu family was used to being crazy.

Almost every generation of royal brothers who sit on the dragon chair have done something that seems to outsiders to be willful to the point of madness, which makes the royal families of other countries amazed.

In the past, she thought that the emperors of the Xia Kingdom only occasionally did not follow the routine in national affairs and court affairs. Who would have thought that the current Emperor Xia would not have a sense of proportion in the family affairs related to the emperor's heir.

Xu Huaijing is an adult prince who opened the mansion, and he has the merit of stabilizing diplomatic relations with marriage externally, and he also has the contribution of supervising the army on the battlefield and going into battle in person internally, so he has to be beaten for a matter that should not be his responsibility, and he has to make trouble that his imperial brothers, clan relatives and uncles know.

This is excessive.

Even if he only goes through the motions a few times, if the news spreads, his majesty as a prince will be somewhat frustrated.

Princess Xu Huai pressed the depression in her heart, and asked calmly: "Do you have to suffer this beating before the matter can be over?" ”

She could figure out the imperial brother's intention to push Xu Huaijing to carry the black cauldron.

"For the royal brother, this is the easiest and most labor-saving."

In the dark, Xu Huaijing's words were clear and cold, like beads that had just burst out of the snow. It's cold to the core, but it's hard and stubborn.

"And I, I'm a pawn."

He knew that tomorrow's fight would make him lose something, but he didn't plan to get out of it.

The royal brother doesn't value him, he has no choice.

Princess Xu Huai stared at the top of the tent, and actually had some sincere admiration for Xu Huaijing.

has been helpless since childhood, but he can come to this day step by step. Come to think of it, he's amazing.

"Xu Huaijing, if I say I will help you, do you believe it?" She asked softly.

"I don't believe it. Need not. ”

Few people will really help a prince who is not loved by the emperor, has no future, and has a strange and difficult temperament.

Princess Xu Huai didn't try to convince him to believe in herself, she just smiled: "Do you know what you have been like for the past two days?" ”

"Like what?" His tone was cold and indifferent.

Princess Xu Huai slowly closed her eyes and murmured like a dream: "Like a lonely young beast, squatting alone beside the trap in the snowy day with scarce food. ”

He knew it was a trap and knew it hurt to jump, but he needed the food in the trap.

But what he really needs is a partner.

It is a partner who can give each other's backs and hunt hand in hand.

That night, Xu Huaijing had a dream.

In the dream, he was very small, and he was kneeling on his shoulders in the ice and snow. Someone was beating him with a large bundle of thorns that went beyond the rules of the "royal family law".

It was as if I could hear the sound of countless tiny thorns piercing through the clothes and piercing the skin on the back.

He knew that it was useless to struggle, so he could only try his best to let the soul enter the void. In this way, the pain felt will not be so clear and intense.

At the worst time, it was just a faint smell of blood.

But he soon discovered that this time was a little different.

The smell of blood is not the smell of blood, but the aroma of flowers and nectar. The refreshing elegance is mixed with a touch of sweetness.

It's both strange and familiar.

Suddenly, he heard an ethereal soft voice with a smile behind him: Xu Huaijing, if I say I will help you, do you believe it?

In Xu Huaijing's memory, when he was young, many people said that they would help him.

But every time he knelt in the snow and was beaten and tortured, he couldn't wait for someone to save him.

Later, he gradually understood that when others say, "I will help you", they are only out of sympathy and politeness, and they do not take it seriously.

Because no one thinks he's capable of giving something in return.

The soft smile behind him is still asking, do you believe it? Do you believe it?

He didn't know who he was talking about, but he never looked back.

He was afraid that when he looked back, he would find himself alone kneeling in the ice and snow, and he would be as disappointed as many snowy days like this before.

The voice is still asking, do you believe it?

He was overwhelmed, and finally responded softly in his heart: I want to believe it, but I dare not believe it.

He was disgusted with this feeling of not being in his control, and finally, he woke up from the dream, and Princess Xu Huai was sleeping next to him, Xu Huaijing gently tied up Princess Xu Huai's hair and got up quietly.

Against the silence of dawn, he entered the palace.