The wisteria flowers in the courtyard bloomed, pressing heavily on the shelves, like a waterfall of purple clouds pouring down.

Shen Zhou held the sword in his arms and leaned on the flower stand and fell asleep. The low-hanging eyelashes swept a thick shadow on his face, and the overlapping shadows of flowers fell on him, and the beautiful spring light was not as good as the flutter of his eyelashes when his breath rose and fell.

"Forgive me for taking the plunge, what the hell is the sinking boat?" Yan Jue asked in confusion.

Yan Jue had never heard of such a person in the Chu family, the Chu family was thin, and there were only three Chu Zhixia brothers and sisters in the Zhenbei Wangfu lineage. But Shen Zhou's words and deeds are free and free, never groveling, not like a subordinate.

"It's my junior brother." Chu Zhixia replied vaguely, "What I want, did the little marquis bring it?" ”

Yan Jue took out a thick file, "It's all here." ”

This is a roster that records in detail the names, family backgrounds, and dependencies of all the people in the Yulin Guard.

"Miss Chu, what do you want this for?" Yan Jue couldn't help but ask.

"My lockdown will end tomorrow, but I haven't received any resignation yet. Come to think of it, the Yulin guards of the Sanwei Institute are going to fight me to the end. Chu Shixia smiled, "Naturally, I have to do some countermeasures." ”

"I've wanted to ask for a long time," Yan Jue smiled bitterly, "In front of the Xuanzheng Palace, Miss Chu was humiliated, and the trouble reached this point of inextricability, is it still under your control?" ”

"Just kneel, what kind of humiliation is it?" Chu Zhixia quickly flipped through the roster, and memorized the important names on it, "Heaven and earth are pro-monarchs, kneeling in front of the emperor is nothing. There are many things that are more important than dignity in human life. ”

These words are not like the words that an arrogant eldest lady can say, but like the tone of an old man who has tasted the warmth and coldness of the world and the impermanence of the world.

Yan Jue was stunned by her neat answer.

Chu Zhixia repeated the names several times in his heart, as well as the illustrious family represented behind the names, and then threw the roster into the charcoal basin. The flames burned the roster to ashes in an instant, sending up a plume of black smoke.

"In the current situation, does Miss Chu still plan to subdue Yu Linwei?" Yan decided to change the question.

"What does the little marquis think is the most important thing in the army?" Chu Shixia did not answer the rhetorical question.

"Money, grain, horses," Yan Jue replied in one breath, "Military merit? ”

"It's loyalty." Chu Zhixia said, "The imperial capital is very good, but the imperial capital is too good." Prosperous dreams, gentle townships, such a place cannot test 'loyalty'. The loyalty of iron fighting, the friendship of life, grow in the blood of the border pass. ”

Chu Zhixia paused when he said this.

She remembered the wind and snow in the clouds, the iron horse, the golden horse, and the glacier. Bonfires lit on the ice field, and the soldiers' armor shimmered with light and blades.

"Fortunately, I won't take them into battle, so I don't need such loyalty for the time being. Our relationship is simply 'profitable'. Chu Zhixia said eloquently, with a pair of cunning eyes under her feathery eyelashes, "But in the imperial capital, such loyalty is enough." ”

——

Jade Fang.

It had just rained, and the broken moonlight was reflected on the wet streets.

"Isn't her surname Chu, what's the big deal?" Deng Mian was drunk and shouted aggrievedly, "My Lanling Deng family is also a big family, so I don't look down on people!" ”

The person holding Deng Mian was hit in the face by the drunkard's action of raising his arms and shouting, and his head was dizzy. Deng Mian reluctantly turned around and grabbed his collar and asked, "Is this son really useless?" ”

"How can it be, it's her Chu who knows Xia and doesn't know Taishan." Yu Linwei replied hesitantly, being sprayed by the wine in Deng Mian's mouth, and just wanted to smash this person to the ground with one punch.

But he couldn't.

Deng Mian is the only son in the family and the son of Dali Siqing, which is not something he can afford to offend.

"If she hadn't saved my life, I would-have—"

Deng Mian didn't finish the second half of his sentence, and helped Yu Linwei to vomit violently. Yu Linwei couldn't dodge, and was rolled by the filth he poured out. Yu Linwei let out an "hey", and in a fit of rage, he still held back and didn't push the person to the ground.

The drunk man was so heavy that he hung on Yu Linwei in a drowsy state, and the sour water on the side of his mouth rubbed against Yu Linwei's collar again.

A plain white hand suddenly picked up Deng Mian from behind and threw him on the cold and wet ground. Yu Linwei's body was light, and he looked at Shen Zhou in front of him in astonishment—he recognized this beautiful face, the person who followed Chu Zhixia's side.

Shen Zhou tilted his chin at him, turned and left.

Yu Linwei was stunned for a moment, and then realized that Shen Zhou was asking him to go with him.

"That'...... What should Deng Mian do? Yu Linwei hurriedly stopped.

Heavy glanced impatiently at the man on the ground, grabbed the clean clothes behind his back and dragged the man away.

——

Chu Shi Xia An sat peacefully in the private room drinking tea, when the door was suddenly pushed open, and a figure slammed on the ground with his face facing the ground.

Chu Zhi Xia Meifeng jumped, "Where did you pick it up?" ”

Shen Zhou didn't answer, and sat down by the window by himself.

Yu Linwei, who was in an embarrassed state, walked in, and Chu Zhixia saw at a glance what was going on, and handed him a handkerchief. Yu Linwei didn't know what medicine she was selling in her gourd, but she still grabbed her handkerchief and wiped the upper of her shoes vigorously.

"Did your mother make you shoes?" Chu Zhixia asked seriously.

Yu Linwei looked at her in surprise and denied, "It's my sister." It's been a long time since my mother died. ”

Chu Shixia changed his words and said, "Mourn." ”

"How do you see that?"

"This kind of fabric has long been used in the shoe shops in the imperial capital, although it is soft, it is too heavy, not light and flexible enough, and the texture is not good-looking." Chu Zhixia raised his chin and looked at the stain on his shoulder, "You don't care about the dirtier and more conspicuous places on your body, but you shine your shoes first, it can be seen that these shoes are made by your very important person." ”

Yu Linwei looked at her with a look full of curiosity and pity, and said, "Miss Chu is different from us people. ”

But I'm still wasting time with them here.

"You don't belong to the 'we' you say," Chu Shixia said, "In front of Deng Mian and the like, you are also an outsider. ”

Yu Linwei was silent for a moment, "So what? ”

"Your surname is Cheng, Nanyang Cheng is not a big family, your grandfather has climbed the official position of a captain because of his good sycophants. Your father is only a petty official, and you are just a slave in the Sanwei Office. Chu Shixia said it lightly, neither with contempt nor contempt, and stated this fact without any emotion.

"So what?!" Cheng Yuan gritted his teeth and glared at Chu Zhixia fiercely.

"Not very good. Whoever you are a slave to do it, why not do it for me? Chu Zhixia handed out a glass of wine, his eyes were cold, "At least my Chu family doesn't use family background to determine the nobility of people, and I will never abandon you if he becomes an official every day." ”

"Rank and knight? You? Cheng Yuan sneered, "This is the imperial capital, not your clouds." ”

"Don't you believe me, can you trust Your Majesty? This is the imperial capital, the imperial capital of the Bai family, even if it is the Chen family for a while, it will not always be the Chen family. ”

Chu Zhixia's tone was rebellious: "If you want to be a pawn of the queen for the rest of your life, and you want your sister to be married by your father to a child of a high family as a plaything, and you will be an official who is not high or low, and you will live your life, then you will get out of this room." ”

"Otherwise, take my wine."

Cheng Yuan stared at the glass of wine in her hand, which was fragrant and fragrant, and it was a "drunken chunnon" worth a thousand gold.

It's a drink he can't afford.

Only during the Chinese New Year, my father would bring back a small pot of drunken chunnon and fold a cup for him. Every year, my father has to taste the drunken chunnong, and the drunken eyes look at the sister who is gradually slim and say, when she grows up, we can enjoy happiness.

And my sister and Cheng Yuan were only silent.

Cheng Yuan's mother jumped into a well and died.

A Cheng Yuan still doesn't know his name, his father's boss fell in love with his mother, who still has charm, but he hinted at a few words in vague words, and his father offered people with both hands.

It was also spring, and it didn't take long for Cheng Yuan to hear the news that his mother had jumped into a well and died.

The well was not far from Cheng Yuan's house.

Did she ever want to come back? But what can she do when she comes back, will she be sent back by her husband who is bent on clinging to the powerful? Her son and her daughter could not be relied on, and the only option she had was perhaps the well.

"I believe in you." Cheng Yuan took the wine in Chu Zhixia's hand and drank it all, the wine glass fell to the ground with a crisp sound, "The king is rich and noble, I will fight with you with my life." From today on, I will be your lackey of the Chu clan in the clouds. ”

Cheng Yuan knelt on one knee and lifted the saber from his waist above his head.

"Our Chu family doesn't have dogs, that's true. Your life, power, and wealth are all in your hands. Chu Zhixia took the saber and said solemnly.

——

The next day, the largest gambling house in the imperial capital.

The sky is blue and white, but the gambling house is dim and tight. The air was filled with the smell of sweat, and the voices of people were louder and louder. Everyone's eyes were spinning with wobbling dice, and the gold and silver were covered with a hazy glow.

"Buy and leave, buy and leave!"

"Lend me a little more, and I'll be able to transfer the next one."

"Ancestor bless, I will definitely turn the tables on this one!"

A slender shadow squeezed into front of the table, and with a "snap" pressed the dice cup under the bone-thrower. That hand is white and slender, with a warm-colored Buddha bead on his wrist, which can easily tug at a man's heartstrings.

"I guess this one is big." The man under the cloak smiled and untied the cup.

Six dice, three fives, three sixes!

Without waiting for the gamblers surrounding the table to be ecstatic, the young Yu Lin Wei who circled the table wanted to run out in a panic, but they were squeezed by the gamblers who rushed up and couldn't move.

"What's the panic?"

Chu Shixia took off the hood, and his fingers buckled at the bottom of the dice cup, and a small dark board bounced inside.

The others were dumbfounded.

"Two more bets, and your pants will all lose to this group of Yu Linwei." Chu Shixia sneered, "Great Zhou Law, officers are not allowed to gamble, and those who violate it will be given fifteen canes." You not only gamble, but also make a thousand, should you say that you are worthy of Yu Linwei? ”

"Chu Zhixia, what are you here to stir up troubled waters!"

Annoyed and angry, Yu Linwei pounced on a tiger and almost crossed half of the gambling table to punch Chu Shixia in the face. A figure came out of Chu Zhixia's side, smashed the back of his neck with the handle of the knife, and pressed the person on the gambling table.

"Cheng Yuan, you traitor!" Someone banged on the table and shouted.

Cheng Yuan was indifferent.

"Keep your mouth clean." Deng Mian, who was squeezed into disheveled by the crowd, also came out, pointed at the man and threatened, "Finger me boss again, I'll let you go home bare-bottomed tonight!" ”

"I'll just tell you how she found here." Someone gritted his teeth, "Deng Mian, did you break her brain?" ”

Chu Zhixia raised his hand and smashed the dice cup on the man's face, and the sound was crisp.

"Yu Linwei seized the gambling house, and no one else retreated."