Chu Zhixia sat under the eaves with a plate of salted plums in his arms, and a charcoal basin was placed at his feet. Chu Zhixia ate with bulging cheeks, like a little squirrel. Yuzhu sat next to her and sighed, and the more she looked at her, the more worried she became.

The wind and snow outside the corridor became tighter and tighter, and the boundary between night and day was not clear.

"Can you stop sighing?" Chu Shixia said helplessly, "You will make me feel that today is my first seven." ”

"Phew!" Yuzhu shouted one after another, glaring at her, "Tong Yan Wuji is blowing in the wind, don't talk nonsense!" ”

"Phew, bah, bah." Chu Zhixia licked the residue on his fingers and snorted perfunctorily three times.

"The slave maid is just worried, the eldest lady has never been wronged or suffered since she was a child, if she goes to the imperial capital, even if the prince and the second son have the heart, they will not be able to take care of it." Yuzhu said worriedly, "People are under the eaves, and they have to bow their heads, what can the eldest lady do in the future." ”

"The soldiers will come to block, and the water will cover the earth." Chu Zhixia picked up a plum and stuffed it into Yuzhu's mouth, and patted her bulging cheeks with a smile, "Yuzhu, don't be afraid, the eldest lady will keep you safe." ”

Yuzhu was Chu Zhixia's personal maid, longer than Shen Zhou's days by her side. Chu Zhixia went to the room, and the jade beads handed the ladder; Chu Zhixia beats people, and jade beads are set in sacks; Chu Zhixia was beaten by Chu Mingyan, and Yuzhu shed tears for her.

Therefore, Chu Zhixia went to the imperial capital, and Yuzhu must also follow.

Yuzhu laughed angrily at her incomprehensible appearance, and said half-teasingly: "Yes, yes, the eldest lady can do anything." ”

Chu Zhixia pinched her face with a smile on her face, and was about to tease her for a few words, when there was a knock from the maid at the door.

"Miss, Childe told you to go to the study."

——

Chu Mingyan's study is a small three-story building, with all kinds of passes, city defenses, military secrets, and lone ancient books, heavily guarded by heavy troops, and water cannot be splashed. In the past, this was just a place for Chu Mingyan to read books, but now it has become an important place to discuss political dignitaries in the clouds.

Dozens of bird cages hang outside the study, waiting for the return of carrier pigeons at any time. The illiterate mute girls fed the pigeons, and when they returned to their cages, the dumb girls would ring a brass bell to tell someone to come and pick up the letterhead.

When Chu Zhixia passed, everyone inside and outside the study was dismissed. Chu Mingyan sat alone by the charcoal fire, with an empty chessboard in front of him.

"Big brother." Chu Zhixia called him in a low voice.

"You're here." Chu Mingyan opened his eyes, and his thick and slender eyelashes left a dark shadow on his pale skin, "Sit down." ”

Chu Zhixia wanted to rub his eldest brother's shoulder and sit down, but he glanced at him lightly and got goosebumps, so he sat opposite him instead.

"Mr. Liang said that the scenery of the imperial capital is different from that in the clouds, and I should send someone to teach you etiquette, so as not to be looked down upon in the future." Chu Mingyan said, "I also think I should teach you, but etiquette is not necessary." Let me ask you, do you know why the imperial capital has to ask our Chu family to send someone over? ”

Chu Zhixia thought for a while and said: "Because our Chu family, headed by Yunzhong County, is entrenched in the four northern prefectures, and has 300,000 elite soldiers guarding the border passes, and has never been defeated. The Chu family is powerful, and there are people in the court who are uneasy? ”

"Yes and no." Chu Mingyan shook his head, "Think again." ”

Chu Shixia pondered for a moment and pondered, "This matter is led by the regent, could it be that our family has offended him?" ”

"That's not right." Chu Mingyan still didn't nod, "Think again." ”

"I can't think of it." Chu Zhixia sat on the ground in annoyance, not sitting down.

"I ask you, what's the regent's last name?" Chu Mingyan was slow.

The regent Chen Bang is the younger brother of the current Queen Mother's mother, and the current maternal uncle. He was only ten years old when he ascended the throne, and the court was full of treacherous circumstances and different people's hearts, all relying on the iron fist support of the regent, so that he could settle down and sit firmly on the throne.

"Empress Dowager Chen?" Chu Shixia still didn't understand, "But the harem can't interfere in politics, what does this matter have to do with the Queen Mother?" ”

"Xiao Changle, when is it that the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, relatives are not allowed to interfere in politics, and eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics? This court is no longer just a court of scholars and scholars. Chu Mingyan knocked on her forehead, "You flipped through the newspaper of the mansion for the whole year last year, and the regent and the first assistant all moved, but the biggest move was Jinshang." ”

"Do you want to be pro-government?" Chu Zhixia suddenly realized.

Chu Mingyan nodded in approval, "If you want to be pro-government today, what does it have to do with our Chu family sending people to the imperial capital, do you understand?" ”

"The regent...... Chu Shixia felt a chill, "it was the regent who transferred the contradiction between him and Shoufu to the contradiction between the imperial capital and the border pass." He wants to unite with Shousuke, and he is also reminding Shousuke that if he controls the government today-"

Then they're all done.

On the side of the couch, you will not allow others to snore.

What's more, after so many years, the regent and Shousuke have not only slept soundly, but have simply squeezed Imajo into the corner of this couch, and any grievances can only knock out teeth and swallow blood.

"It is only when a greater threat is felt that two people who are at odds will briefly turn enemies into friends." Chu Mingyan picked up a sunspot and put it under the "Tianyuan", "Changle, this is the first truth that the eldest brother taught you." ”

Chu Zhixia felt dazed and frightened, this was something that her brother had never taught her.

Power and intrigue outside of swordsmanship and the art of war.

The heavy fate pressed on her shoulders, Chu Zhixia suddenly thought that she was standing on the city wall of the Snow Pass again, in front of her was the Beidi people who were pressed by the soldiers, and the Zhenbei Wangfu behind her was full of white spirit flags.

This time, she couldn't go back.

Chu Mingyan silently looked at his sister's little face, and there was a sour softness in his heart.

"From today onwards, you will come to the study once a day. I'll teach you once, and you'll do it next. It wasn't until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month that you and Mr. Liang set off for the imperial capital. ”

"Yes." Chu Zhixia took half a step back and bowed across a chessboard, "Changle leads the elder brother's teachings." ”

"You can only win this game."

Changle, my brother originally thought that you could live freely in the sun in this life, and you don't have to understand people's calculations. But the world is impermanent, and my brother only hates himself now for not being able to teach you more, and teach you more.

——

There is a special product called Hanmei brew in the clouds, and even in the harsh winter when the water is dripping into ice, it must be poured with snow water before drinking. After the cold plum is brewed into the throat, there is a line of burning heat, and the faint fragrance of plum blossoms penetrates into the lungs.

"Good wine." Mr. Liang turned the large white porcelain cup and carefully examined the clear liquor, "The dignitaries and nobles in the imperial capital look down on the bitter cold place in the clouds, but the cold plum brew produced in the clouds is hard to find in the imperial capital. ”

Mr. Liang sneered and didn't say anything more, just looked at the messenger who was kneeling on the ground, "The letter sent to the imperial capital should be faster." Before leaving, the prince said that he would see the good news before the year, but don't delay the good mood of the prince's New Year. ”

"Yes!"

"Go ahead." Mr. Liang said with interest.

In addition to Mr. Liang, there was also an attendant sent by the palace.

The chamberlain was wide and fat, and walked like a piece of dough, and the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were playfully curled in a flattering arc before he spoke. It's just that the road from the imperial capital has been bumpy all the way here, and the inner servants are not adaptable, vomiting and diarrhea, and they have been lying in bed for more than ten days and can't get off.

Mr. Liang was extremely bored, and when he thought of this colleague, he asked casually, "How is the white waiter?" ”

"Mr. Hui, Bai Neishou still can't get out of bed today." A staff member said.

"Why can't you get out of bed," Mr. Liang said with a mocking face, "he just received an errand, and he didn't dare to come forward to offend the king of Zhenbei." The grass on the wall, the two ends fall, such a person dies the fastest. What, a eunuch, can you expect from him? ”

The staff was noncommittal, and said, "But King Zhenbei does have some skills, I didn't expect him to be so young." ”

Mr. Liang pushed open the window, and the wisps of cold wind drifted in, and a few snowflakes floated in the wine glass, "Don't you know? The old king of Zhenbei has made great achievements, but he is very unparticular about women, and this king of Zhenbei can't say how many lives of his brothers and sisters there are. ”

The prince of Zhenbei was prosperous, and when Chu Mingyan had just inherited the title, many "homeless" brothers and sisters came to the door, crying bitterly and begging the eldest brother to allow him to recognize his ancestors and return to his ancestors.

And those people, it didn't take long for them all to disappear.

At the beginning, the king of the old town north had just died, and the regent in the imperial capital had the intention to control the hub of Yunzhong County.

But the regent didn't look down on Chu Mingyan's weak health, and thought that he didn't have a few years to live, and he was afraid that he would not be able to handle it, and the second son of the Chu family was a reckless man who killed people like cutting vegetables, so he turned to support the eldest son of King Zhenbei's concubine.

Mr. Liang was entrusted with the important task by the regent this time precisely because he was the intermediary who contacted the concubine back then, and he was one of the few people in the imperial capital who knew anything about Yunzhong.

To this day, Mr. Liang still can't help but feel numb on his scalp.

That year, the regent lost all the spies in the clouds, and when the news came out again in the clouds, it was Chu Mingyan who went to the imperial capital to confer his honor. The concubine who took the money from the regent, the person who took the regent, not only failed to snatch the title from Chu Mingyan, but buried himself.

After all these years, the regent has never given up looking for him, but there is no clue.

"Even if you sit in this position, you don't necessarily have to sit for long." The staff snorted contemptuously and gloated, "His appearance as a tuberculosis ghost is afraid that he won't last a few winters." How can such a person be worthy of being the king of Zhenbei? ”

"For so many years, the king of Zhenbei has never married or had children, unlike the old king of Zhenbei. Chu Mingyan is probably not unwilling, but he is just beyond his power. After all, his body is like that, and it is impossible to say whether he is playing with women or women playing with him. ”

A group of men burst into laughter, shaking the snow on the eaves.

On the ridge of the roof, the sunken boat lay on his back and stretched out his hand to the sky, and the snowflakes seemed to bury him. His long eyelashes were covered with frost, and the corners of his lips did not curl in the corners, and he listened indifferently to the lewd mockery of the room.

A snowflake was held in his hand, and the cold touch was piercing.

The snow in the clouds is as cool as it is outside the gates.