Although it was the middle of the night, Gu Xuan still couldn't sleep. He stared at the beams of the house for a long time, and finally sat up, lit the lamp, put on his clothes, and went to the window. The bright moon is like frost, the clear scenery is infinite, the official post is near the river, and the cool breeze carries the water vapor, which goes straight into people's clothes. The fishing fires in the distance were dotted with the river waves, the waves crashed on the hull, and the foam under the moonlight shone with a silvery white light.

He stared at the lights in a daze, not knowing whether it was because of the trance caused by his inability to sleep, or if the darkness made them particularly dazzling, and he even felt that the sparkling waves were a little dazzling. The long night and darkness will always make the people in it be infected by inexplicable emotions, and the thoughts that are not even perceived on weekdays will take advantage of the night, like the weeds that grow vigorously in early summer, menacing and irresistible.

"What were the eldest brother and Uncle Chu discussing at that time?"

"Does it have anything to do with me?"

The person and the object during the hunt are still vividly in his mind, although Gu Xuan has the pleasure of raising his eyebrows, his chest is still very blocked. Instinctively, he was suspicious, and his heart was upset, so he picked up the cup beside him, lay on the edge of the window, dipped his fingers in the leftover tea, and drew circles repeatedly.

"Is it related to him?"

As soon as the thought came to him, even he stayed for a moment. The matter has come to this point, if you are still suspicious of Shen Zi'an, I am afraid that it is too wolf-hearted. Gu Xuan's eyes suddenly appeared in front of him, the appearance of the child following behind him, His Highness on the left, and His Highness on the right, couldn't help but feel funny, couldn't help but look at it, and said in a sharp voice to learn Shen Zi'an's tone, "Your Highness will bully people, and he doesn't feel sorry for us at all." Before he finished speaking, he was already leaning forward and leaning back happily, "If Zi'an knew that I arranged him like this, he would lose his temper again." ”

Although he said this, Gu Xuan didn't mean to stop at all, until a few tears were forced out and his stomach was angry, so he reined in a little, covered his waist and belched. After a while, the smile on his face gradually faded, and there was a faint feeling of guilt in his heart.

"I'm afraid I'm wrong to blame him."

He sat up straight, straightened his color, let out a sigh, and was about to put the cup back in its place, and then went back to bed and barely slept for a while. Before he could stand up, he saw the undried handwriting on the window.

Shen Zi'an.

Gu Xuan was very surprised, he didn't know when he had written this name so many times, and he didn't know why he wrote it. The sound of striking sounded outside the window, one slow and four fast, and it was already five watches.

"He must be sleeping soundly."

Somehow, Gu Xuan suddenly missed Shen Zi'an.

When he returned to Pingjing City, it was already afternoon, and Gu Yan set up a celebration banquet in the Taiping Hall as usual to feast on the ministers. There was only an hour before the dinner began, and Gu Xuan saw that the time was really in a hurry, so he couldn't, so he had to go directly to Shunyang Palace to meet his mother, and then send someone to the residence to get a change of clothes.

Mrs. Zheng was originally teaching Gu Qingping to read, but when she saw Gu Xuan coming, she hurriedly put down the things in her hand, walked up quickly, grabbed his arm, and looked him up and down carefully, "I heard that the king praised you?" As soon as Gu Xuan wanted to speak, Gu Qingping trotted into his arms, hugged his waist and shouted crisply, "Brother." Gu Xuan hadn't seen his mother and sister for many days, and now he couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard Gu Qingping calling him delicately, and couldn't help but hug her, touching her head while looking up at Mrs. Zheng, "Thanks to my two companions, I just won a little bit of my father's favor today." ”

"I heard from people, those are two young masters with some backgrounds." Madame Zheng frowned.

Gu Xuan said with a smile, "Don't hide it from your mother, one is the son of General Shen, and the other is the son of Dr. Mei." ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, her brows tightened, so she took Gu Xuan's hand and walked straight to the inner room, and then said, "The king didn't want to see our mother, but now he points out to your two children as companions, I'm just afraid of ......."

"Mother is too worried." Gu Xuan thought of the little caution he had when he was hunting, and couldn't help but smile even more, "If it weren't for Shen Zi'an, I would have to get into trouble again today." ”

Mrs. Zheng didn't believe it at all, and just wanted to persuade a few more words, but Gu Qingping pulled Gu Xuan's sleeve and asked, "Brother, who is Shen Zi'an?" ”

"It's one of my companions."

"What is a companion?"

"A companion is a child who reads with me."

"It turns out that my brother can still read." Gu Qingping's face was full of surprise.

Gu Xuan just drank a sip of water to moisten her throat, and when she heard this, she almost didn't squirt, reached out and flicked her head, and said angrily, "What are you talking about." ”

Gu Qingping also giggled, and after a while, he pursed his lips and asked, "Then my brother has a companion, will he not come to play with me?" ”

"Why, I'm free another day, and I'm going to bring those two little companions over to meet you."

Before he could say anything for a while, a maid came to inform him that the clothes for the dinner had been delivered. As soon as Gu Xuan came out of the house, he saw a little eunuch waiting at the door with his clothes. Seeing him come out, the temple people hurriedly greeted him and said with a smile, "This is the clothes that His Highness wants." ”

Gu Xuan thanked him and was about to turn back, only to hear the temple man behind him laugh, "Shen Gongzi asked when you will go back." ”

"What did he say?" Gu Xuan subconsciously turned around and asked.

"I didn't say anything, but when I went to get my clothes, he asked you where you had gone and when you were going back."

"That'...... Is the wound on his face healed? Gu Xuan hesitated for a moment, but still spoke.

"This minion didn't pay attention."

"Tell him, I'll go back when I'm done."

The little eunuch received the order, and was just about to withdraw, when Gu Xuan stopped him again, "What's your name?" ”

"If you go back to Your Highness, the slave is surnamed Rong, and the single name is a Xing character."

On the Taiping Palace, singing and dancing were leveled, and a group of princes and nobles surrounded Gu Heng and others to flatter them, as usual. The difference is that from time to time, someone brings a wine glass and wants to pay tribute to Gu Xuan, saying that it is the second highness's Tao Wuluo, which is really convincing. "That is, yesterday, my father praised me a few words." Gu Xuan's mouth responded, and the white eyes in his heart had already turned to the sky. finally sent a few people away, and just wanted to return to their seats, but inadvertently met Gu Heng's eyes.

Contempt.

Disdain.

Undisguised.

It was only a moment's effort, Gu Heng turned his head, changed to a faint smile, and continued to talk about the past and the present with the ministers around him. Gu Xuan stayed with his mouth open for a long time, but finally pursed his lips, buried his face in the bowl, and took a few bites of rice.

I don't know how long it took, a year, a month, or half an hour, and the celebration banquet finally came to an end. Here, Gu Yan just called someone to prepare a car to go back to the palace, and over there, Gu Xuan got up and was about to leave.

"It's still early, and those two kids shouldn't have slept yet." Thinking like this, Gu Xuan couldn't help but speed up his steps a little more, and he was about to rush back after taking a shortcut. As soon as he walked onto the path, he was stopped from behind.

"What kind of book is so interesting that you don't have time to tinker with that pile of scrap metal?"

Gu Xuan looked back, and sure enough, it was the eldest brother Gu Heng, so he had to reluctantly answer, "But I saw some ......."

"What did you see?"

Seeing that Gu Xuan didn't speak, Gu Heng had a little more teasing tone, "You said it." ”

"Why is the eldest brother so aggressive." Gu Xuan lowered his head, unwilling to look at him.

Seeing him like this, Gu Heng laughed and said, "I thought you really had any ability, but it turned out that you still didn't have any ability at all." After that, seeing that Gu Xuan was unwilling to answer, he asked repeatedly, "No, you are so capable that even your father dares to deceive." This is the crime of deception, but you probably don't even know how to write the words "deception". ”

"Who taught you this? Your mother doesn't have that power. ”

"Your two companions? Shen Zi'an? ”

When Gu Xuan heard this, he raised his head sharply and stared at his eyes. Seeing this, Gu Heng sneered, "That seems to be the case, it's ridiculous to say, his eldest brother is still my companion." I'm going to meet that little boy another day and see what kind of great man he is. ”

"Don't touch him."

"If I want to move him, what can you do?" As he spoke, he grabbed Gu Xuan's collar, approached his face, and laughed softly.

Before the words fell, only a "pop" sound was heard, and Gu Xuan punched him on the left side of his face. Before he could come to his senses, he was punched in the jaw again. I saw Gu Xuan grab his shirt in turn, press him against the wall, gritted his teeth and said word by word, "Don't move him." ”

Although Gu Heng was punched twice in a row, his mind was already a little unconscious, but he still struggled to break free from Gu Xuan, and took advantage of the gap to hug Gu Xuan's back, and his knee hit his abdomen fiercely. Although Gu Heng didn't usually practice martial arts, he was two years older than Gu Xuan, and after a while, he reversed his initial disadvantage and rolled on the ground with him to fight.

The patrolling forbidden army heard the movement and hurried over to check the situation. Seeing this, the two had no choice but to let go. Gu Xuan got up from the ground embarrassedly, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, watched the firelight from far and near, and glanced at the eldest brother who was still lying on the ground, turned his head and left.

stumbled along the way, and when I returned to Changming Palace, it was already the third watch. Gu Xuan saw that the lights had been extinguished, and although he was a little disappointed in his heart, he couldn't help but be happy. Pushing open the door in the dark, I heard a familiar voice from the room, "Your Highness is back?" ”

Gu Xuan fixed his eyes and saw that beside the slightly dancing candle flame, Shen Zi'an was wearing a coat and was sitting on a chair and smiling at him.

"Why did His Highness come back, Changjing is asleep." As he spoke, Shen Zi'an picked up the candlestick and wanted to welcome Gu Xuan into the house. As soon as he got closer, he saw Gu Xuan's face covered with mud and blood, and couldn't help but be shocked, "Your Highness, what's wrong?" ”

"It's fine." Gu Xuan said with a smile.

"And said it's okay, how can it be okay? I'm going to call the doctor. With that, Shen Zi'an was about to go out. Who thought that as soon as he raised his foot here, he was grabbed by Gu Xuan and pulled into his arms violently.

The candlestick fell to the ground, and the flame shook a few times, but finally went out.

The room was plunged into darkness again.

"Zi'an, I may be older, and I will be sent to the border by my father."

"A good man should serve the country with his body, and I will accompany His Highness." Shen Zi'an hesitated for a moment, and also reached out to touch his back.

It's like two fish foaming at each other in a dry pond.

"I'll probably be there for the rest of my life."

"Then I'll be there for the rest of my life."

"Zi'an." For a long time, Gu Xuan called.

"Huh?"

"Your Highness, this title is too alienating, I am five years older than you, if you want, you can also call me brother."