In the cold winter, the narrow alleys and low eaves have accumulated a thick layer of snow.

Hua Qingxue felt very cold even though she was sitting by the fire, she lowered her head and sighed in her hands, and continued to wash the clothes in the wooden basin.

Bang, bang, bang!

A sharp knock came from outside the courtyard.

Hua Qingxue's face turned white suddenly!

She stopped, turned her head to look at the broken wooden door outside the courtyard, and for a moment, she couldn't even hold her breath.

…… Bang, bang, bang!

The knock on the door came again, this time, mixed with a childish voice—

“…… Open the door! It's me! ”

This voice didn't seem to want to alarm others, the volume was suppressed very low, Rao was like this, and it was also heard clearly by Hua Qingxue.

Hua Qingxue felt that the heart she had lifted slowly fell, she threw away the wet clothes in her hand, stood up and took a few steps out of the threshold, and came to the gate of the courtyard.

Crunch –

Hua Qingxue opened the courtyard door with a narrow slit.

There was a little boy of seven or eight years old standing outside the door, he seemed to be not lightly frozen, he was shrinking his neck at the moment, his hands were clasped to his chest, his little face was blue from the cold, only his nose was very red.

Hua Qingxue immediately reached out and dragged him in.

Bang! The courtyard door was reopened.

As soon as the little boy entered the yard, he ran into the house, and he ran to the edge of the stove, wishing that his whole body would be attached to it.

Hua Qingxue, who followed into the house behind, grabbed the little boy's collar without saying a word, and dragged him to the side of the kang, "Be careful that the stove bakes the snow on your clothes, take off your clothes and go to the kang first." ”

The little boy looked sideways, and sure enough, the snow on his shoulders and sleeves had turned into water, and his clothes were wet.

He pursed his mouth, and while taking off his outer clothes, he complained: "This coarse fabric is really not a good thing, I have a pure white brocade fox fur, which is worth a thousand gold!" The rain and snow fall on it, and as long as it blows lightly, it will fall! How can you get your clothes wet like this......"

Hua Qingxue ignored him, turned around and sat back by the stove, and continued to do laundry.

After the little boy took off his outer clothes, only a single layer was left inside, he climbed onto the kang, wrapped himself in the quilt, and exhaled softly in comfort.

"It's so warm...... Where did you get the money to burn the kang? ”

Hua Qingxue shook her head, "If you have the money to burn the kang, you might as well buy a few catties of meat, I just wrapped the leftover charcoal ash in a rag and stuffed it into the quilt." ”

When the little boy heard this, he stretched out his little hand and touched the quilt around, and sure enough, he touched a few soft wraps through the sheets.

"There's still residual heat, and we'll replace it with new charcoal ash when it's cool." Hua Qingxue said, her eyes glancing at the small stove by the kang.

The amount of carbon they can buy now is limited, and it is only enough to burn this small stove, but if it is to burn the kang, it is far from enough.

The little boy looked at the stove blankly, looking a little confused through the warm yellow spark.

Hua Qingxue saw it, and was a little unbearable, after all, she was just a child, where had she suffered such a crime.

Hua Qingxue called him: "Li Jingnan? …… Feed! Li Jingnan! ”

Li Jingnan came back to his senses and found that Hua Qingxue was calling his name, and immediately put on a fierce appearance and shouted: "Bold! You wretch! How dare you call His Highness by his name! ”

Hua Qingxue saw that he had recovered a little bit of energy, put her mind at ease, and she just rolled her eyes at Li Jingnan's scolding, and then continued to wash her clothes.

- That's right, at this moment, the little boy curled up in the quilt on the kang is none other than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who is extremely noble.

As for how Hua Qingxue got involved with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it had to start from a month ago.

A month ago, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sneaked out of the palace and took a group of secret guards to Panlong Mountain at the junction of Daqi and Daliao.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Qi made too much noise in Panlong Mountain, and in the end the news leaked and attracted the soldiers of Daliao...... The next development can be described as nine deaths and a lifetime, Li Jingnan secretly went out of the palace, and there were not many people with him, the Liao soldiers chased and killed all the way, and the secret guards suffered heavy casualties, and finally Hua Qingxue took the prince to disguise himself as a sister and brother into Renqiu City, and then escaped from the pursuit of the Liao soldiers.

Renqiu City belongs to Mozhou, and it has been ceded to the Liao State a year ago, and the Liao soldiers never thought that the prince of Daqi would not flee to the territory of Daqi, but to their territory.

However, it is precisely because this place has been controlled by the Liao people, so it is easy to enter the city and difficult to get out of the city. Now, Li Jingnan only hopes that those secret guards who escaped death can send his news to General Fu who is stationed at the border......

If the news of him doesn't get out...... Could it be that he is the prince of a country, and he will be trapped here all the time? How long will you be sleepy? Two months? Trimester? …… Or a year? ……

Li Jingnan couldn't help but shudder.

"Don't be cranky, the more you are afraid of something, the more you will come." Hua Qingxue said faintly on the side.

Li Jingnan glared at Hua Qingxue angrily, "You woman! Even if you have a strange accent, you can say some crooked things all day long! ”

Hua Qingxue rubbed the clothes in her hand and replied: "It's not a crooked theory, it's Murphy's Law, Edward Murphy's famous statement." ”

"What does that mean?" Although Hua Qingxue always had some nonsense coming out of her mouth, Li Jingnan was also very curious about these children.

Hua Qingxue smiled casually, "Actually, there is no special meaning, this sentence is just explaining a life phenomenon, for example, some things are always useless, but once you lose it, you often have to use it." For example, the more you fear what will happen, the more it will happen in your life......"

Li Jingnan didn't make a sound on the kang, he thought for a while before he said, "When I want to use something, there will be palace maids and guards to find me...... However, once my father tested my endorsement, I only had that paragraph that I didn't memorize, but my father happened to draw that paragraph for me to memorize...... That's a little bit the same thing you mean. ”

After Li Jingnan finished speaking, he seemed to think of something interesting again, and a sweet smile appeared on his face, "Another time, my sister and I sneaked out of the palace to play on the street, and we were always worried about being recognized, but in my heart I felt that it was unlikely, after all, Shengjing City is so big, how could it be so coincidental?" …… As a result, I finally met Uncle Sanhuang in a shop...... At that time, Uncle Sanhuang's eyes were so shocked that they were about to fall...... Haha......"

Smiling and smiling, Li Jingnan's expression slowly cooled down, he stared at Hua Qingxue's hands in a daze, and suddenly said, "Don't wash it, your hands are almost rotten, it's so ugly." ”

Hua Qingxue was stunned, she looked at her hands, although there was a stove roasting, but she had to wash several pots of clothes every day, and her hands were already red and swollen from the cold.

However, it's just red and swollen, so you can't say it's ugly......

Hua Qingxue looked at Li Jingnan and thought, what are you afraid of...... It seems that he heard bad news outside today.

"You went out today, did something happen?" Hua Qingxue asked him.

Li Jingnan's little face tightened, and he said after a while: "...... The bodies of the seventh and thirteenth were hung on the city gate. ”

Hua Qingxue gasped.

"Sooner or later, they'll find me...... I'm going to die...... They're going to hang me up like they did......" an eight-year-old with only deathly despair on his face.

Hua Qingxue looked at Li Jingnan's almost numb little face, and only felt that her heart was about to be pinched.

She walked over and took Li Jingnan into her arms, patting him lightly on the back, "There are still sixteen, don't you often show off with me?" You said that Sixteen, though the youngest, is the most clever one...... As long as Sixteen sends the news that you are in Renqiu City, someone will definitely come to save us. ”

Li Jingnan did not refuse Hua Qingxue, he buried his whole head in Hua Qingxue's arms, and his voice was already choked: "I killed them...... It's me who is too naïve, Panlong Mountain is so big, just a dozen of them, how easy is it to find a weapon all over the mountains...... I killed them......"

Hua Qingxue knew that Li Jingnan must be crying, but she didn't know what to do, and continued to gently pat his back.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been forcibly calm for a long time, but in fact, he has long been panicked...... This is not a mistake, after all, he is just a child, but he is such a noble identity, he doesn't even dare to shed a teardrop, and now that he finally vents his emotions, Hua Qingxue is relieved.

Hua Qingxue didn't want him to continue to think about those dead secret guards, so she led him to think elsewhere and asked, "What kind of weapon is it?" Are you sure it's on Panlong Mountain? ”

Li Jingnan shook his head in Hua Qingxue's arms, his voice muffled, "I don't know very well, this is ...... It was divination before his father's illness, he said that there was a weapon hidden on Panlong Mountain, which was extremely powerful and could be used as a weapon for the country, and he also said that this weapon must not fall into the hands of the Liao people, and asked me to find it. ”

Hua Qingxue was dumbfounded, she never thought that the little prince had fallen into this field just for a divination? A prophecy?

But she thought about it, although this divination was unreliable, it was a mistake to save her life, speaking of which, she really had to thank the emperor of Qi State, otherwise, she would have frozen to death on the mountain now......

Li Jingnan suddenly raised his head, his two dark eyes looked directly at Hua Qingxue, and there were still half-dried tears on his face, "You must think I'm ridiculous now, don't you?" ”

Hua Qingxue hurriedly shook her head.

Li Jingnan snorted coldly, obviously not believing it, "It's normal that you don't believe it, the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty don't believe in my father, and even the queen mother said that my father is full of divination, and he is already stunned...... Once I heard the ministers say that if it weren't for my father's indulgence in these sideways, Xi, He, and Mo would not have ceded to the Great Liao. ”

When Li Jingnan said this, an extremely sad look appeared on his face, "However, that is my father, everyone in the world can not believe him, but I can't disbelieve him!" My father said that there are weapons in Panlong Mountain, and there must be them! Panlong Mountain, the weapon of the country...... I'm going to have to find out! ”