The regent raised his hand and fell again, and Mrs. Ye and General Ye retreated, leaving only Chu Shixia and the regent behind the screen.

Through a screen, the girls who gradually sat down chatted about each other, as far away as if they were separated by distant mountains.

Chu Shixia sat at the last seat, and the regent sat on the chairman, and the two looked at each other silently across a whole dining table.

Chu Shixia didn't speak, and at this time, when she spoke first, it seemed that she couldn't wait, and she was very passive. Chu Mingyan taught her that even if she was so anxious that she scratched her ears and cheeks, she couldn't show herself in front of people, and she would rather be a dumb person than show her shortcomings.

If you don't move, others won't be able to see how many hole cards you have; You are not in a hurry, it is someone else who is in a hurry.

"Did your brother really say that, or did you know that Mrs. Ye didn't know your mother, and you lied to her?" The regent was the first to ask.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Chu Zhixia smiled and said, "Why are you here, the Ye family invited me, it won't be for you, right?" ”

The regent said expressionlessly: "I am old and in poor health, and I will take leave with Your Majesty after a while." I haven't been out for a long time since then, and this may be the last time I'll see you. ”

"Don't you have anything to ask me?" Regent Road.

Chu Shixia looked at the celadon pattern in his hand, and said lightly: "I'm afraid you have something to tell me, right?" ”

"You're holding your breath." The Lord Regent sighed.

"Young and can afford to wait, what is there to hold your breath?" Chu Zhixia smiled.

"The Akiba Mountain Residence where you live now, do you know when the first emperor rewarded it?" The regent asked.

Chu Shixia recalled for a moment and said: "My father won a great victory in the Northern Expedition thirty years ago, and the first emperor rewarded it. ”

"Earlier, in fact."

——

in the cloud.

Chu Mingyan personally went to the kitchen to cook a bowl of noodles, with green onions and golden noodles. Light three incense sticks in front of the spirit, bow respectfully to the spiritual seat, and then take out a pair of chopsticks and put them on the bowl. Chu Mingxiu stood behind him, and when he saw that he was thinly dressed, he added another big coat for him.

Chu Mingyan blocked his hand, folded his hands, and said to the spiritual position: "Ah Niang, it's almost Chinese New Year's Eve." This year, I also want to bless Changle with peace and smoothness, and Chang'an without illness or injury. This winter, there is another heavy snow day in the clouds. ”

Chu Mingxiu couldn't help but say, "Big brother, why don't you ask for yourself?" ”

"What do I ask for?" Chu Mingyan said lightly, "I can live to this day because my mother is blessed by the spirit of heaven." ”

Chu Mingyan's milk name "Changsheng" was taken by Shen Yu herself.

According to the nurse, Chu Mingyan was born with a blue complexion, his mouth and nose were blocked by filth, and he almost couldn't survive. It was Shen Yu who snatched Chu Mingyan from Wen Po's hand and hooked out the filth in his mouth with her fingers, so Chu Mingyan let out the first cry.

The doctor said that the child could not be fed, and even if he hung his life with the best medicinal herbs, he would not live to be twenty-five years old.

After so many years, although it was hard, I also stumbled and lived to be thirty years old.

And the one who gave him the name of eternal life died early.

Chu Mingxiu knelt down with a thud and snorted three earth-shattering sounds at Shen Yan's tablet, which made Chu Mingyan couldn't help frowning. Chu Mingyan said with a little disgust: "What are you doing?" I don't have two brains, what should I do if it comes out again? ”

Chu Mingxiu turned a deaf ear and said reverently to Shen Yan's spiritual position: "Ah Niang, please bless your eldest brother with neither a headache nor a brain fever this year, and no longer need to take medicine as a meal, he can eat three bowls in one meal, and live to be a hundred years old." ”

Chu Mingyan laughed and slapped him on the back of the head, "Are you making a wish with A-Niang here?" ”

"I went to the battlefield at the age of sixteen and lived steadily to this day, and I must have been protected by my mother. You're still sick, but you didn't ask for it. Chu Mingxiu pulled him up from the wet and cold ground, "Don't kneel, can A-Niang not bless you just because you knelt for a while?" Tomorrow you have knee pain again. ”

A piece of fragrant ash fell into the noodle bowl that was gradually cooling.

Chu Mingyan stood up and wiped the spiritual position again, as if he was in love. Chu Mingyan rarely shows an expression of attachment or something, he sits in this position, but if he reveals the slightest liking, there will be countless people to please him, which will bring a lot of unnecessary trouble.

He is the stele of the Zhenbei Palace, guarding the Chu family for eternity, and he doesn't need to be like a person or a child.

"I miss it so much, why didn't you keep one when you burned the portrait in the first place?" Chu Mingxiu asked a little sourly.

There were many portraits of Shen Yu in the Zhenbei Palace, but from the day Chu Zhixia became sensible, they all disappeared overnight. Chu Mingyan personally put away those portraits, burned them one by one in the snowy night, and looked at them while burning, as if he wanted to leave his mother's appearance in his memory at the end.

"Keep one, and then Changle chases you every day and asks, 'Is this A-Niang, where did A-Niang go', can you bear to lock her up for a few days?" Chu Mingyan asked lightly.

Chu Mingxiu couldn't help but defend himself: "I also love her too, okay!" Where there is a child who is not noisy, I have been very patient with her! ”

Chu Mingxiu's fingers brushed over the words "Shen Shi Yu", and his fingertips were painfully touched by the sharp edges of the spiritual position.

"Anyway, Changle can't get it, why should she keep remembering it? Instead of letting Changle know that she has a mother who loves her very well, but she can't hold or touch it, it's better to let her mother become unimportant to her. ”

In this way, there will be no pain and suffering in more than ten years of longing.

Won't be like him.

"Sometimes I really feel that you are very partial, big brother." Chu Mingxiu complained quietly.

Chu Mingxiu flicked on his forehead.

——

The Northern Expedition began in the twenty-first year of Emperor Ling, that is, twenty-five years ago.

At that time, Akijo was just an unfavored prince, and the regent's ambitions had not yet been revealed.

Those who repaired history books in the Great Zhou Dynasty, wrote excerpts, and talked about romances had mixed reviews of this northern expedition.

Some people say that this battle broke the backbone of the Beidi people, so that their tribe became a plate of scattered sand, and they did not dare to invade south; Some people also say that the army in the clouds is reckless, and this battle has added honor to the Chu family, but it has also cost the people and money.

A vague thought flashed in Chu Zhixia's heart - Chu Mingyan was born in the twenty-first year of Emperor Ling, and when he was born, King Zhenbei resisted the enemy outside the Yongxue Pass, and he failed to personally guard the birth of his eldest son.

"When Emperor Ling ascended the throne, he was already old and weak. When he was still an idle prince, he liked to ask immortals and ask questions, and he was bent on trying to live forever, and there were many monks in the palace. Once a person has tasted power, it is difficult to extricate himself, and the Spirit Emperor is the same. He was reluctant to have such authority, so he pursued immortality even more fervently. ”

There was contempt in the Regent's voice, and he was obviously disdainful of Emperor Ling. The only role of the Spirit Emperor for this wise and skillful regent was to give him a nephew so that he could enter the court.

The Spirit Emperor also died in the end of the immortality he longed for, I don't know which time the pill went wrong, or maybe it was the toxins accumulated in the pill in his body that finally crushed him. Emperor Ling finally died at the age of twelve, a year after the victory of the Northern Expedition.

"You think that the Northern Expedition is us fighting the Beidi people, but in fact, the thirteen tribes of Beidi at that time had already united and supported the Khan of the Qingying Department as the 'Great Khan', and they wanted to go south in one fell swoop. The Northern Expedition was the first to strike, and it was also a last resort. ”

Chu Mingxiu once said this paragraph when he lectured Chu Zhixia on the art of war, and the spies in the clouds buried their bodies under the grassland, and they couldn't stop the thirteen tribes from uniting with all their might. My father was a ruthless and decisive man, and immediately decided to go north, taking the lead before the trust of the Beidi people was firmly established, and shattering the alliance with human lives and blood debts.

"But the northern expedition is a major event, and with the power of the four northern states, you can directly attack the imperial capital."

The reggent's knuckles tapped on the table, and Chu Zhixia's heart trembled.

Chu Zhixia came up with a conjecture that made her gnash her teeth.

"So Emperor Ling ordered your father to send your mother, who was pregnant with Liujia, to the imperial capital. It's called care, but it's actually a hostage. ”

"The first person to live in Mt. Akiba was your mother."

Chu Zhixia looked up at the regent, and bloodshot streaks burst out of his eyeballs. She realized that things would definitely not be so simple, if she had just been a hostage in the imperial capital, Chu Mingyan would not have been silent for many years, and the regent would not have to go to great lengths to bring her over.

"Your mother has been dead for many years, and many people say that they have a weak relationship between husband and wife, your father is lucky, and your mother has no one to rely on. It was only later that they forgot the past because it was too unbearable. In fact, your parents can be called a husband and wife, and the king of Zhenbei made this decision with a lot of determination. ”

When the king of Zhenbei married Shen Yu, he had already inherited the throne. How could an unidentified woman marry into the Chu family as a concubine? All you can rely on is love.

Therefore, Chu Mingyan was born with the expectations of the king and princess of Zhenbei, the eldest son of the Zhenbei Palace, and the heir to the throne of the prince. There are so many concubines in the backyard, Chu Mingyan has never paid attention to them, and so has the king of Zhenbei.

"What the hell are you ...... What do you want to say? ”

Chu Zhixia's mind flashed a lot of thoughts, maybe her mother was injured when she was pregnant with her eldest brother, so her eldest brother was not in good health; Maybe it's because the days of the Autumn Leaves Mountain Residence are too long and difficult, and the eldest brother will be in the womb.

But the regent brutally tore open her naïve imagination and said word by word: "When your eldest brother was just born, Qin Tianjian claimed that his life was 'unspeakably precious'. The priest in the palace couldn't develop an elixir, so he pretended to be on your eldest brother. Fang Shi thought that the Spirit Emperor would be jealous, but the Spirit Emperor was completely crazy, and really carried Chu Mingyan, who was still in infancy, into the palace. ”

Chu Zhixia slammed the porcelain cup, and the broken porcelain pieces pierced her hands with blood.

"Your brother is not congenital deficiency at all, he was tortured by the priest in the palace before he was weaned, and he tried the medicine for the Spirit Emperor as soon as he could swallow. He lived like this for five years, until the twenty-sixth year of Emperor Ling, when your father won a great victory in the north. ”

"He wouldn't have survived today."

The regent said lightly, but every word was like a hammer on Chu Zhixia's head.

The pain spread from Chu Zhixia's palm to his heart, as if it had been cut by a thousand knives. She stared up at the Regent without saying a word, her teeth rattling.

The regent said that this kind of lie was meaningless, and Chu Shixia only needed to contact Chu Mingyan to know what was going on. And if this matter is fake, Chu Mingyan has no need to hide it.

What's the use of telling a lie that is destined to be exposed?

Unless everything he says is true.

"Now, you understand?" The regent got up, patted her on the shoulder and said quietly, "The Bai family owes you the Chu family, and the surname Bai is not worthy of your allegiance." ”

"How can you know so well about my family?" Chu Zhixia breathed heavily, and the corners of his eyes were bloody.

The regent then smiled, "How do you think Emperor Ling died, your good father doesn't have a share?" ”

This sentence is very clear and deadly. What is the crime of killing the king, Chu Zhixia has not been unscrupulous to this point.

Chu Zhixia did not respond.

The regent admired the irrepressible anger and hatred in Chu Zhixia's eyes with satisfaction, he knew that Chu Mingyan was a good brother - and fortunately, Chu Mingyan was a good brother. If Chu Mingxiu, who was called the "Living Yama King" in the army, was here now, it would be the same.

The Chu family will die at the hands of the Chu family after all.