There is a gazebo in the backyard of Princess Luojing Zhaoning's Mansion.

The octagonal roof is paved with green tiles and slightly rolled up.

Eight intricately carved wooden pillars support the cornice, and the paintings are lifelike.

Princess Xiao Wanjun of Zhaoning sat in the center of the pavilion, holding a thin book, reading intently. A wisp of breeze blew, stirring a few strands of green silk on her sideburns, revealing a pair of phoenix eyes that were both heroic and charming.

She was dressed in a dark blue embroidered dress, which hooked the curves of her full and wonderful figure; A chain of jade beads hangs around her neck, showing the fairness and delicacy of her skin.

Since Emperor Tianxing personally took over the affairs of the Great Qi Dynasty, Princess Zhaoning suddenly became idle. She finally had the time and energy to read some books on spiritual practice.

At this time, what she was reading was a transcript of "Seven Styles of Burning the Sky".

Although Princess Zhaoning is a mortal, she has a far beyond ordinary people's comprehension of the cultivation classics, and she knows the characteristics and effects of many exercises by heart.

Only this "Seven Styles of Burning Sky", she has seen it many times, but she can't understand the mystery of it.

At the same time, her own brother, Xiao Shangzhen, the fourth prince, was lying in the grass not far away with several servants, staring at the two crickets in a wooden basin and biting each other.

They held their breath and didn't dare to blink their eyes, for fear of missing any wonderful moments, and they clapped their hands from time to time.

Sometimes, Princess Zhaoning is very envious of her younger brother.

Obviously, the Great Qi Dynasty has lost half of the country, and it has reached the critical moment of endangering its survival, but he can still play here carefree, and he is not bothered by the war and the national crisis at all.

Although she temporarily relieved herself of heavy government affairs, whenever Princess Zhaoning heard that the land of Daqi was gradually falling, and more and more monks chose to defect to Gu Xu, she would still be sad and irritable.

As the minutes passed, one of the crickets in the tub gradually showed a tired expression. Its movements became more and more sluggish, as if even the green armor on its body had lost its former luster. The other cricket took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, its sharp tentacles and powerful hind limbs unleashing deadly bites and blows again and again, never giving its opponent a chance to breathe.

Gradually, the tired cricket was no longer able to fight back, and its body began to wriggle and tremble incessantly, until finally it completely exhausted all its strength and collapsed weakly at the bottom of the tub, no longer moving.

Xiao Shangzhen and the servants beside him jumped up from the ground and let out a deafening cheer, cheering for the victorious cricket. Their eyes gleamed with excitement, as if they had witnessed an epic battle.

"Xiao Shangzhen!"

At this moment, Princess Zhaoning frowned slightly, and stopped her younger brother in a cold tone.

Xiao Shangzhen, the fourth prince, was about to run around with a wooden basin, and he couldn't help but be stunned when he heard the sound, and his footsteps suddenly stopped.

"Sister......

He turned around and looked up, a look of surprise.

Because Princess Zhaoning has no talent for cultivation, she has always pinned her ambition to fight for the Tai'a Sword on this younger brother of the same father and mother, and since he was young, she has disciplined him in an extremely strict way, always telling him to practice and urging him to practice martial arts.

Xiao Shangzhen is a lazy and playful character, and has always refused to accept her sister's harsh requirements.

In the Laoshan ruins, the cultivation was abolished due to the ingestion of the "Devouring Pill", which may be a disaster like the sky falling for others, but it is a relief for Xiao Shangyuan.

My sister finally stopped strictly disciplining him and no longer forced him to carry out that boring cultivation. He can fight crickets, play with spinning tops, release paper kites, and bow with his servants to his heart's content......

Xiao Shangzhen hadn't seen such a stern look on her sister's face for a long time.

Princess Zhaoning habitually wanted to reprimand him.

But when the words came to her lips, she sighed softly, and her attitude softened: "Daqi is already crumbling, do you know?" ”

Hearing her sister's worries, Xiao Shangzhen didn't show too much panic, but said perfunctorily: "I know."

"If your father doesn't succeed in stopping Gu Xu, you will go from the fourth prince of Great Qi to Gu Xu's prisoner," Princess Zhaoning's brows furrowed even tighter, "But you don't care about the battle situation at all, and you still have the leisure to fight crickets here." ”

"I'm just a wasted person who has no cultivation," Xiao Shangzhen said calmly, "It's a big deal to surrender to Gu Xu, maybe he can still make me a 'second guest and three ke', and be a happy idle prince." ”

"Two guests and three ke" is a kind of political etiquette system of the Great Wilderness Imperial Court. Whenever a new dynasty was established, in order to show its benevolence and generosity and inherit the orthodoxy of the previous dynasty, it would often open up to the remnants of the royal family of the previous dynasty and give them princely titles and fiefdoms.

For example, after the Great Qi Taizu unified the world, he named the two mortal younger brothers of the last emperor of the Great Chu Dynasty as "King Anding" and "King Nankang".

Princess Zhaoning took a deep breath.

She had long expected that Xiao Shangzhen didn't care about the survival of the Great Qi Dynasty - maybe in this kid's heart, who would call the shots in this country was far less important than who won or lost between the two crickets.

But when she heard his words, she still stared at him for a long time, unable to speak for a long time.

"Perhaps, Gu Xu is not as 'lenient' as you think," after a long silence, Princess Zhaoning said slowly, word by word, "His temperament is much more tyrannical than it seems." ”

"Huh?" Xiao Shangzhen's eyebrows raised slightly, a little surprised, "When I first went to Laoshan, the attitude of 'Vermilion Bird' towards me has always been quite friendly. Aside from breaking my winning streak in the 'Dao Realm', he doesn't seem to have done anything unreasonable—"

"—He imprisoned your eldest brother in the palace and tortured him every day," interrupted Princess Zhaoning, referring to the gossip she had recently heard from the palace soothsayers, "It is said that you can hear your eldest brother's cry for mercy in Cuiwei Palace from far away. ”

"Really?" Xiao Shangzhen only felt incredible, "Why did he abuse my brother?" Could it be that you want to torture your brother to find out some important information?"

"Not only that," Princess Zhaoning continued, "Chen Yanping of the Chen clan in Xiangyang took his sister Chen Suhui to join him after leaving the family, but Gu Xu did not appreciate it, and threw Chen Yanping to Hedong, let him work in the pit with a group of dirty homeless people, and took this opportunity to take Chen Suhui for himself.

He also took out many famous sects in the northwest region, cut off the heads of those sect masters and elders, hung them on the city wall to show the public, and ransacked the treasure troves of those sects.

"If you and I fall into his hands, it may not end well."

Hearing this, Xiao Shangzhen was dumbfounded for a moment, and the wooden basin in her hand inadvertently fell to the ground, and the winner cricket inside had long been missing.

Although he and Gu Xu were in the same "Shenji Battalion Reserve" before, they didn't spend a lot of time together.

In his mind, Gu Xu's image gradually changed from the gentle, humble and polite genius monk in the past to a tyrant who was unscrupulous and abusive. (End of chapter)