"Major General Xue is afraid that he didn't recognize the wrong person, right? I never knew anyone from the Eastern Qi Kingdom," I said firmly, "besides, I was very uninhibited when I was young, climbing houses on walls, hunting birds and rabbits, and I didn't look like a girl at all, and I didn't hide it from the princess, I have been in the south for more than ten years, and no son has taken a fancy to me, let alone refuse a smart and beautiful princess for a girl like me." ”

Her eyes fluttered, and her eyes were shining: "Lord Qin, how many county lords in your southern country are named Qin Buxian?" ”

“…… I'm the only one. ”

"That's it, he personally said that his sweetheart is the county lord of the southern country, named Qin Buxian." She lightly tapped the tea case with her fingertips, and said with a smile, "Lord Qin doesn't need to be so flustered, in short, it has been many years ago, Xue Mo is no longer in this world, and this princess has already let go." ”

I shuddered, "He's gone?" ”

"yes."

"Killed on the battlefield?"

Xing Ran shook her head slowly, a smile on the corner of her lips, I couldn't see her joy and sorrow, I only heard her voice say lightly: "You may not believe it, it was Wan Qishu who let him die, and he had to die." ”

Ben Shoufu couldn't help but shudder: Looking at such a pure Wan Qishu, why is there such a ruthless method that can force Xue Mo to death?

Xing Ran seemed to see my doubts, so he picked up the teacup, gently closed his eyes to the window, and his thoughts returned to the Dongqi Kingdom of the year.

……

Xing Ran sent an envoy to Jinguo, but failed to borrow a single soldier, so he returned to Dongqi. After going back and forth, the ship traveled for seven days, and when they arrived at Dongqi again, the war with the Japanese had subsided.

She stood at the south pier of Weihai City, looking at the billowing smoke that had not yet dissipated on the horizon, and she was in a trance. When I turned around and asked the people next to me what was wrong, no one could answer.

Xue Mo didn't come to pick her up, and the person who came to pick her up was Wan Qishu. He sat in a tall and ornate carriage with carved gold leaf on the hub and a silver pattern embroidered with crane on the curtain—a new gift from the Emperor of the Eastern Qi Dynasty.

The six-year-old lifted the curtain and glanced at her on the pier, the gaze cold and misty, gloomy and lonely, like ashes sprinkled after a fireworks, and like a person who had dispersed after a sudden halt to a tune. She was stunned for a long time, and suddenly thought that at this time last year, Wan Qiyi passed away, and when she looked at him from a distance in the carriage, she saw such a person and such a gaze.

As she walked over, the men in the carriage lifted the curtain and held out their hands to her.

For the first time, she didn't give him her hand, lifted her skirt and stepped into the carriage herself.

"Is Dongqiguo still there?" This was the first question Xing Ran asked after he sat down.

"Yes." Wan Qishu replied.

"Where are the thieves?"

"About 200,000 people were killed and wounded, and the rest fled back to the Japanese kingdom."

"What about the 100,000 soldiers killed and wounded on the East Coast?"

"There were no casualties."

"How did Xue Mo do it?" She was shocked, and then she was ecstatic, "He clearly said that the odds of victory were not good, but you can see that he put down the trouble without a single soldier!." ”

Wan Qishu's gaze was very calm, Yaoyao glanced at the smoke wreckage on the sea, did not answer Xing Ran's question, just wrapped her robe, and said softly, "Your Royal Highness Princess, you have returned to Dongqi safe and sound." ”

"Yes, sister, I'm useless, I haven't been able to borrow a soldier."

"In the future, you can make your own decisions," he paused, looking up at her mishefully, "Congratulations." ”

Xing Ran raised her head suddenly, seven days ago, she didn't listen to Wan Qishu's advice, and took the initiative to take the order to go to Jinguo to borrow troops, she thought that Wan Qishu would laugh at her, because the result was expected by him - but Wan Qishu didn't laugh at her, but congratulated her on being able to decide her own marriage in the future.

But she wasn't happy at all.

She remembered Xue Mo's words:

"Princess, not all men want to be a colt, and not all men should like you. Even if you are indeed smart, you are indeed beautiful. But you still have a chance, don't you, as long as you come back, you can still ask Your Majesty for marriage, and you can also let me be your concubine. ”

"Brother Xiaoshu," she pretended to laugh lightly, looked at him and asked, "who do you think I should choose as a colt, sister?" ”

The thin and long eyelashes of the person in the eye fluttered slightly, but did not answer her immediately.

"Do you think this princess is as worthy as Major General Xue?" She asked again.

"It's better for the princess not to think about Major General Xue."

She thought it was funny: "Why, because he doesn't like Princess Ben?" ”

Wan Qishu was silent again, his face was so flat that he couldn't speak, as if this matter had nothing to do with him. In fact, she also knew that this matter really had nothing to do with Wan Qishu, and she should not discuss this matter with a six-year-old child, let alone expect to get pertinent advice from this six-year-old child.

She finally smiled, leaned back on the soft cushions of the carriage, and sighed to herself, "It should be very hard to marry someone who doesn't like you, so this princess ......"

"Because he must die." The person beside him spoke, his voice as cold as an ice cave in the depths of winter, and every word seemed to lead people to fall into it until it was overcome.

Xing Ran turned his head suddenly, his eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe that this sentence came from a six-year-old child, so he confirmed tremblingly: "Xiaoshu, what did you just say?" ”

"I said," he looked at her unscrupulously and unreservedly, but his tone did not carry the slightest emotion, which made people feel extremely terrible, "Xue Mo, you must die." ”

Xing Ran was shocked, quickly covered his mouth, lowered his voice and shouted, "Don't say it!" Don't tell anyone else that kind of thing again! ”

It's called how she is not afraid. The soldiers of the entire Dongqi Kingdom are only from the Xue family, her father has been the emperor for fifteen years, and he still has to listen to the advice of the Xue family everywhere, let alone Wan Qishu, a six-year-old child whose father is dead and has no background.

After calming down for a while, Xing Ran slowly lifted his hand away from his mouth, "Sister believes that you will have such a ability in the future, but please, dispel this thought, you, I, and my father can't touch them, we need him to help us protect Dongqi." ”

But he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed Xing Ran's wrist, the strength was obviously very small, but it made Xing Ran feel heavy, he said, "Princess, no one can help you protect Dongqi, except yourself." His Majesty is pure-hearted and has few desires, advocating the rule of inaction, and refusing to make a decision when things are not coming; One of the two princes is addicted to calligraphy, and the other is obsessed with music, both of them have no worries about their consciousness, and they will probably not be able to achieve a climate in the future; Only the princess always thinks about the southeast coastal defense and is keen on the development of ordnance, and the military power of the entire Dongqi Kingdom will sooner or later fall into the hands of the princess, and it must also fall into the hands of the princess, and the sooner the better. ”

"So," she said in a trance, almost not recognizing the young man in front of her, "this is the reason why Xue Mo must die?" ”

He let go of Xingran, and his face returned to calm, as if what he was talking about now was not the life and death of a young soldier, but the snow drifting in the north of the desert, the smoke and rain in the south of the Yangtze River, the rice paper meeting ink, the strings stirring up the wind, and fluttering so lightly that there was no trace-

"Yes."

She asked Wan Qishu seriously: "Brother Xiaoshu, you knew it at that time...... Do I rejoice in my heart? ”

He straightened his sleeves and said nonchalantly, "What does it have to do with me." ”

Xing Ran didn't give up: "If it has nothing to do with you, why do you want to do this?" ”

He seemed to smile, but it was fleeting: "The princess should know that the people of the Wan Qi family will not live long." From the age of two, my father taught me as hard as he could. Did you notice that the piccolo he carried with him was often replaced? That's because I didn't meet his requirements, and he often discounted the piccolo when he beat me. He forced me to recite the fifteen laws of the Eastern Qi Dynasty and forced me to go to death row to witness the ten tortures, in order to let me enter the court as soon as possible and assume the responsibilities and glory of the Wan Qian family. ”

Almost at the same time, Xing Ran thought of the rumor about Wan Qi's family: Wan Qi's family has been the phase for generations, and most of them are good at using treacherous methods, Xu is a reincarnation, and most of the men in Wan Qi's family are short-lived.

She remembered Wan Qishu's grandfather, and then her father—as if neither of them had lived past the age of twenty-five.

"I don't have much time in the first place, and if I don't have the slightest achievement after death, how will I go to see my grandfather and father under the Nine Springs. Now, Xue Mo is holding me back, and I don't have time to spend it with him. He raised his chin and whispered as he looked at the tassels hanging from the roof of the car.