It was the seventh day in the desert.

The endless yellow sand, under the white thorny sun, is like gold has been crushed, and it is spicy and dazzling. Layers were stacked into mountains, one after the other, covering the remaining brilliance between heaven and earth.

Li Yuanqi pursed his chapped lips, as if he had tasted a trace of blood. Looking back at the dwindling grain and grass in the camel baskets, and the increasingly unsteady pace, I suddenly felt that this would swallow the sky into the yellow sand in my belly, and perhaps bury them.

For the past two days, he has been wondering, who is so anxious to kill him, is it her, or he? Or was it the last thing he wanted to doubt? He thought that all these years of forbearance and clumsiness were enough to dispel their suspicions, but he didn't expect that the success of the past year or two was just a superficial calm, just waiting for such an opportunity, killing him with one blow, and letting him disappear into this world quietly.

But it doesn't matter now, when he found out that Xiang Yin looked suspicious two days ago, he probably guessed that he was going to peel off his skin and flesh this time, but he didn't expect the person with the knife behind his back to be so vicious. Xiang Yin secretly destroyed Sinan and the map at night, and when he was discovered, he was about to escape, so he bit his tongue and died on the spot.

At this moment, where they are and where they should go, no one dares to pat their chests to understand. Nowadays, it can only follow the direction of the red sun, all the way to the west.

Originally, it was only a three- or four-day journey, passing through a corner of the great desert to Qiuzi, but now, it has traveled twice the distance. There was no way out of the way, and the grain and grass could not hold back the way they came, and the team of men and horses was exhausted, barely supported by the thought of survival.

The sun was getting stronger and stronger, shining directly overhead, and the shadows imprinted on the sand were getting shorter and shorter, and they were moving in unison on the ground. Li Yuanqi narrowed his eyes slightly, trying his best to sit between the humps, but suddenly saw a shadow redder than the sun on the high sand dunes in front of him, floating faintly with the wind, and he couldn't tell for a moment whether it was a god or a ghost.

The red shadow seemed to have spotted them, and stood up suddenly, forming a human figure, the jade face that could not see clearly the eyebrows and eyes was like a shining white porcelain, and there was a fiery red sand fox at his feet, which also stood up suddenly, and screamed mournfully. Probably startled by the cry of the sand fox, the camels in the convoy wandered restlessly. Li Yuanqi was also shocked, only to feel that his eyebrows were congested, and the fire that had been baked by the heat for days rushed straight to his temples, and his eyes were dark.

Where is this? It seems to have gone back to the time I was six years old. All around him was water, pouring into his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. He was churning up and down, trying to call for help but couldn't make a sound, and suddenly saw two figures in green shirts in the lake, facing his direction, and said in a low voice: "I think he is almost there, he can go back to his life." ”

At that time, he didn't understand the meaning of that sentence, he was just angry, couldn't these two stupid minions see him in the water? And now, when he was at that time, it seemed that everything was clear again, it turned out that at an age when he didn't even understand the meaning of imperial power, his life had been hung on the cold tip of the knife that led to it. And that was the first time he felt a deep fear of this, as if he was gradually losing control of this body, and almost thought that he was going to die here.

Suddenly, the scene changed, and he was lying on the soft collapse of the concubine's immortal palace. Yes, fortunately, he was found in Nanhua that year, and he was in a hurry to tell his father, dispatched the Yulin camp, and finally saw the floating tapestry in the pond, so he rescued him who still had one breath left and sent him to the immortal palace of the concubine.

After being in a coma for a long time, when I opened my eyes, I saw a cloudy mist full of warblers, which was something that only the most favored mother concubine could use, and the concubines of a slightly lower grade could not afford to make clothes. At that time, he was both proud and took it for granted. Her own mother, Concubine Pei Shu, is gentle and virtuous, and she is a first-class beauty in the world. Uncle and father have known each other in Weiwei, and they have been close friends since the time of Long Qian. Therefore, everyone in the world says that there is a concubine in the Pei family, and there is Pei Xiang outside, like cooking oil in a blazing fire, so not majestic!

He is also quite favored by his father among the princes, and even the eldest son of the queen is not as likable as him. He was five years old, but he was always only the eldest son of the emperor, and his father never let go of his mouth and became the crown prince. At that time, he didn't understand the difference between the crown prince, he only knew that his father always smiled and said: "Qi'er is the most like me", and the prince always nodded at him and praised: "The sixth son of the emperor is quick to think and will achieve great things." The ministers and palace people were extremely deferential in front of him, and when they looked down, they were all smiling faces. At that time, he thought that he, Li Yuanqi, the life of the six princes of the Central Plains, would always be so happy, happily like riding a thousand-mile horse given by his father and emperor through the prosperity of Tiandu City every day!

"!" A tearing cry made him have a splitting headache, and somehow, he suddenly stood in front of his mother's sickbed again, watching her face gradually lose its vitality, until his eyes were completely gone. The palace people were crying and kowtowing, kneeling on the ground one by one, looking sadder than him, but they didn't know how many of them were afraid that the crying would not be true enough, so they bent down to cover up this hypocrisy. He remembers every detail of the scene of that day, because it was from that time that he thought that he would always be happy in life, like a horse losing its front hooves and falling into the abyss.

In a trance, he was behind the curtain of the imperial study, watching his father push the twists and turns of a case to the ground. After the death of the mother's concubine, the impeachment of the Pei family came like snowflakes in June. The second uncle was angry and worried about his family in Beijing, and he returned to Beijing with a team of personal soldiers regardless of the holy decree. In this way, the rumors of Pei Jia's ill intentions were confirmed. The father reluctantly ordered the house to be raided, but found out the secret correspondence between the eldest uncle and the second uncle. It is said that 1510 on it is written on which day to return to Beijing, which day to carry out the assassination, how to cooperate with the outside and how to stabilize the situation and ensure that the six princes ascend the throne. In the end, the Pei family and the whole family, except for Li Yuanqi's half of the bloodline, disappeared.

Somehow, I sat in the teahouse that I passed by on a private visit that day, listening to the storyteller munching with red lips and white teeth. Many years later, this period of the past was written into the book, and after tea and dinner in the streets and alleys, it became the consumption of the flat-headed white-clothed people. Hearing the sentence "I want the Pei family, who was powerful in the world and was in the sky, was defeated in the end to only a piece of grass", the peddlers grinned, bared their teeth and spit out a breath of cold air, and sighed without knowing how true or false it was, "This world is true, thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi", and then threw it aside and continued to bow their heads and busy with their own livelihoods.

But for Li Yuanqi, this sentence is the blood of hundreds of his relatives, the unexplained grievances of the Pei family, and the danger of his life in the next twelve years. And this pain can only be borne by him, the only "grass" left by the Pei family. There is nowhere to tell, no one dares to speak, only day after day, year after year, day and night, in the heart of the slightest strand of restraint. But I didn't think that it would be digested into the bone and marrow, and I would not be able to escape from this overwhelming pain for a moment. And on his face, he must always have a gentle smile.