The mission that led the eldest lady of the Chu clan in the clouds was assassinated on the way, and a scholar and staff were dead and crazy. This news arrived in the imperial capital faster than the eldest lady herself, some people were shocked and some were angry, and they were shocked that someone dared to brush the regent's beard, but it was the regent himself who was angry.

"Could it be Chu Mingyan who did it?" The staff hesitated to ask.

The regent Chen Bang was more than forty years old, and he had a pair of sharp eagle eyes, and he always looked at people obliquely, giving enough contempt. He was wearing a dusty plain robe, and at first glance he looked like an old scholar studying hard in an alley, and there was no wealth at all.

"If it is Chu Mingyan, no one in the mission will stay, and the news that has entered the imperial capital should be 'The eldest lady of the Chu family has been assassinated, and no one in the mission has survived'." Chen Bang groaned, "This method is full of loopholes, but I am a little uncertain." ”

"That group of eunuchs is safe and sound, could it be that His Majesty did it?"

"This is a stupid trick that the naïve majesty would come up with, but even if he wants to do it, he has to have someone at his disposal." Chen Bang shook his head, "It won't be him." ”

"The daughter of the Chu family enters the imperial capital, which is also the wish of the first assistant, so if you think about it, it won't be him?"

Chen Bang didn't speak this time, but turned his head to look out the window at the winter snow that was gradually melting.

"It's also possible that it was the Chu woman's own hand."

The staff was a little hesitant, "A fifteen-year-old girl, murder?" ”

"What Chu Mingyan taught, what kind of belief in men and good women? From top to bottom, the Chu family is a wolf cub. Chen Bang snorted, "I'm getting more and more curious, what is the baby sister who is covered by the Chu family brothers." ”

The regent has countless elite soldiers and strong generals, and a Mr. Liang is nothing. But it also depends on the owner to beat the dog, and the regent has been in charge of the government and the opposition for nearly 20 years, and it is the first time that he has been clearly brushed face.

——

Chu Shixia lifted the corner of the curtain, and as far as the eye could see, the majestic shadow of the imperial capital stood in the sky. The sun was still half below the horizon, and the morning sun gilded the gray city with a holy white light.

Yuzhu carefully untied the strip of cloth that Chu Zhixia had wrapped in the palm of his hand, sprinkled it with new medicinal powder, and wrapped it again with a clean strip of cloth.

"The eldest lady is really, the prince told you to cherish yourself, and you just got a hand injury just after you left the north of the city." Yuzhu complained softly, "When you were a child, you practiced swords, and you never broke such a long skin. ”

"Yuzhu, the eldest lady has a headache." Chu Zhixia fell on the couch, wrapped himself in a blanket, and said lazily, "I'll sleep for a while, and you call me when I enter the imperial capital." ”

Yuzhu sighed and could only respond.

Chu Zhixia slept in a daze, and vaguely felt that someone was brushing away her falling hair for her. The man's fingertips were covered with calluses, which made her itch a little, and her low-hanging eyelashes were long and thin, thick as a curtain.

"Sinking boat." Chu Zhixia muttered, grabbed his finger and said, "Don't make trouble, I'll sleep for a while." ”

The man froze, and reached out his other hand and patted the back of her hand.

So Chu Zhixia quickly fell asleep again.

She woke up again, not someone's hand in her hand, but a small packet of delicately sweet and sour candied cherries. Chu Zhixia smiled, and immediately heard the noise of people outside the carriage.

"Miss, don't come out." Yuzhu whispered through the car curtain, "It's a little troublesome, but it'll be fine soon." ”

Chu Zhixia turned a deaf ear and lifted the curtain of the car.

Under the gate of the imperial capital, there are interrogating soldiers on both sides of the road, vendors setting up stalls, children of nobles sitting on tall horses in riding uniforms, and ordinary people lining up to enter the imperial capital one after another.

The most eye-catching thing was the funeral procession blocked in front of Chu Shixia's carriage.

The man at the head was dressed in linen and filial piety, kneeling on the ground and crying so much that his liver and intestines were broken, holding a spiritual seat in his hand. The man behind him held up the white spirit flag and threw handfuls of paper money to the rhythm of his mourning.

"My brother is a scholar who does his duty, and this time he welcomed the eldest lady of the Chu family into the imperial capital, but he was ordered to go, and he didn't know where he violated the taboo of the Zhenbei Palace, and he was going to die in a foreign country!" The man looked up to the sky and wept bitterly, "My poor brother, you are so dedicated to the well-being of the people, why are you here, brother! ”

There was a lot of discussion in the crowd, and the hilt of Drinking Jianxue's sword pressed against Yuzhu's shoulder, pushing her aside. Chu Zhixia was dressed in a plain white dress, like a piece of edelweiss, and landed at the dusty city gate. She walked slowly to the man, and for a moment she looked like a member of the funeral procession.

The man's gaze fell on the sword, and he swallowed, so nervous that he forgot to speak.

"You said your brother died in a foreign land?" Chu Shixia smiled slightly, "My Chu clan in the cloud has guarded the border pass for more than 100 years, and most of them are soldiers who died outside the pass for the people of the Central Plains and no one collected the corpses. 'Under the whole world, it is not the king's land', where the people of my Great Zhou are buried, they are not foreign lands. ”

The man was stuck, and stammered: "Your Chu clan is resentful, and you don't dare to offend Your Majesty, so you will use my innocent brother to vent your anger......"

"Your brother is Mr. Liang?" Chu Zhixia glanced at the spiritual position, with a bit of sadness on his face, "Mr. Liang sacrificed his life to protect me, which really moved me. So, how can I bear to let Mr. Liang's family not even see him for the last time? ”

The man looked at her blankly, not understanding what she meant.

"Did your brother die at my hands, why don't you ask him personally?"

As soon as Chu Zhixia raised his hand, the guards lifted up the coffin covered with straw mats at the end of the team. The sour smell of decay came to his face, and the man immediately realized what was inside, and before he could get up and run away, Chu Zhixia had already grabbed his back collar.

"Run for what?" Chu Zhixia leaned into his ear, and said lightly, "Aren't you your brother, and your eyes are going to cry blind?" Why don't you give you another coffin and let your two brothers reunite underground? ”

The man heard the heavy killing intent in her words, and remembered that the Chu clan in the clouds had been murderous living Hell Kings for generations, and his legs were paralyzed to the ground, and he didn't even have the strength to speak. Chu Zhixia ignored him, drew his sword and inserted it into the gap between the lid and the coffin, and picked open the coffin lid.

A half-decomposed corpse was revealed, and he lay curled up in his coffin, fat white maggots wriggling in the folds of his skin.

"Mr. Liang is righteous, Chu's Moxue is grateful, and originally planned to bury Mr. Liang, but I really don't know why Mr. Liang's brother sang this today." Chu Zhixia didn't seem to be able to smell the foul smell, and held the coffin and said bitterly, "Even so, Mo Xue is willing to raise his family for Mr. Liang." ”

The man stumbled and tried to say more, but he couldn't spit out a complete word, and fell to the ground and vomited.

Chu Zhixia let out a sneer in his heart.

——

The Autumn Leaves Mountain Residence was rewarded by the first emperor when the old prince won the great victory of the Northern Expedition. Every year Chu Mingyan will rest here when he goes to Beijing to report on his work, and there are still a few old people in the house, and when he heard that Chu Zhixia entered the imperial capital, he cleaned the house early.

"The people brought by the eldest lady are all settled, but those coffins, I don't know what to do with them?" The steward asked, "Do you want to send someone to ask the regent?" ”

"Ask what regent," Chu Zhixia said casually, "Aren't these people officials sent by the imperial court, and what do they have to do with the regent?" ”

The butler said in horror, "Yes, the old slave has lost his words." ”

"It's okay, it's all buried."

Chu Zhixia waved his hand to signal that he could go, and lay on the beauty couch to close his eyes and recuperate.

Before she entered the imperial capital, she encountered this drama put by the regent, and if she didn't catch it well, the Chu family would be infamous, and Chu Mingyan would inevitably be poked in the back by civil officials in the court. This imperial capital is full of clouds and all countries come to court, but it is not a prosperous and gentle township.

Chu Zhixia sighed in his heart, and suddenly heard another breath coming from the beam.

Shen Zhou rolled over lightly and sat down next to her.

"Shen Zhou, are you afraid of me?" Chu Zhixia opened his eyes and turned his head to look at his lake-like quiet eyes, "I killed someone, planted blame, and reversed black and white, are you afraid that I will go crazy one day and kill you too?" ”

Shen Zhou thought for a while and asked, "If you kill me, will you erect a monument for me?" ”

Chu Zhixia was stunned by his question, and replied in a daze: "Will it?" ”

"What is written on the stele?"

"Write ......"

What to write? Shen Zhou has no family, no hometown, and even no surname. He grew up in the clouds, but he has no attachment to the clouds, can the clouds be regarded as his hometown? He is a duckweed without roots, a wandering flying canopy, the world is big, but there is no place for him to live.

"If you don't know what to write, then write 'Chu Zhi Xia Li'." Shen Zhou didn't know what he thought of, and his smile was a little sad.

You don't have to write my name, if there are traces of you in front of my monument, this life will not be in vain.

Chu Zhixia got up from the couch suddenly, held his face with both hands, and looked at him closely. At such a close distance, the faint smell of frost and snow on Shen Zhou's body rushed to her nose defenselessly, and Shen Zhou had no way to avoid her forced gaze.

"I'm not going to kill you, never. Shenzhou, I won't erect a monument for you, we all have to return to the clouds alive. ”

Shen Zhou was stung by the sharp light in her eyes, and nodded her head in refusal.

——

Zichen Palace.

The Zichen Palace is full of large and small flower pots, and the whole palace is smoked by charcoal fire to warm like spring, and the hydrangeas, iris, and orchids are delicate and beautiful.

Bai Shan waited in front of the table with low eyebrows, and retold the farce at the city gate in the daytime.

"What a 'under the whole world, it is not the king's land'," the emperor behind the table rolled up his sleeves and waited with a pot of orchids, and sighed lowly, "Chu Mingyan raised a good sister." Good courage, good strategy. ”

Bai Shan was quite eye-catching, and hurriedly touted, "The king of Zhenbei is loyal and brave, and the third girl of Chu is not inferior to men, and it is the blessing of the emperor to have the Chu family guard the border for His Majesty." ”

The emperor shook his head, cut off a flower leaf, and said with hatred and anger, "Chu Zhixia's daughter can say such things, but my emperor is full of the regent's eagle dogs, and it can be seen that everyone who enters the court and participates in politics is something." ”

Bai Shan was stunned, and only after a while did he say with relief, "Your Majesty's Ninety-Five, as long as Your Majesty wants to, you will definitely be able to make great achievements." Of course, the regent has the merit of following the dragon, and under the wrath of His Majesty, he also has to avoid your edge! ”

The emperor was slapped by his sycophant, and said happily: "If I announce that Chu knows Xia to meet tomorrow, will the Chu family get carried away?" ”

"Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace, whether Your Majesty sees it or not, it is not something that others can put their beaks on." Bai Shan showed a white and fat smile and said softly.