Nine years of auspicious charm, the eve of Chinese New Year's Eve.

"I heard a rumor recently."

Pei Zhang stood in the snow, only one head was exposed all over his body, but he did not look bloated, but had a bit of a long body, which attracted frequent girls to look at him at the gradually lively lantern party.

Chu Zhixia held the loose bun, and there was only one jasper hairpin between the hair. She put a silver-gray crane feather on her shoulder, and painted carmine plum blossoms on her full and white forehead, which made her more and more colorful with ice and snow.

Chu Zhixia's critical gaze wandered among the cute lanterns on the stall, as if he was dealing with a unique problem, and he replied to Pei Zhang's words casually.

"What rumors?"

"Your Majesty has a son who has been exiled to the people and is about to be recovered." Pei Zhang looked at Chu Zhixia fixedly and said.

"It's not a rumor." Chu Zhixia sighed, took out a small and delicate box from his sleeve, handed it to Pei Zhang, and motioned for him to open it.

Pei Zhang opened the small brocade box, and a dragon blood jade ring was lying quietly on the golden brocade.

"I just came back from the palace, and this is what His Majesty asked me to give him. His Majesty intends to announce to the world at the ancestor worship ceremony for the crown prince and write his name on the jade plate. Chu Zhixia snorted helplessly, "Your Majesty even thought about the title and took the 'Jin' who only lived under the East Palace." ”

Pei Zhang's body shook and almost threw the jade ring to the ground. Chu Zhixia looked faint and took out money to buy a fat-headed fish lantern and took the jade ring back into his sleeve. Pei Zhang met her calm eyes, and couldn't help but feel bitter and bitter in his heart.

The emperor's move was a favorite, but also a fire.

Bai Ziche and Chu Zhixia have been plotting for the position of the East Palace for many years, living and dying together, advancing and retreating together, just because Bai Ziche can give Chu Shixia the result he wants. But Shen Zhou, who obeyed Chu Zhixia Yan, turned into the emperor's favorite son, and even faintly overpowered Bai Ziche.

"You and Your Highness ......," Pei Zhang's voice was difficult.

"My Highness and I have a bloody alliance."

"Don't be stupid, you and I both know that the oath is nothing more than a lie waiting for time to verify." Pei Zhang said, "If Your Highness really has a different heart with you, what should you do?" ”

Chu Zhixia let out a soft breath of white air, letting the snow particles fall on her thick and slender eyelashes. After a while, Chu Zhixia's tense expression suddenly relaxed, and he smiled as if relieved. Pei Zhang's heart throbbed, he had never seen Chu Zhixia's smile like this, like a traveler who had trekked through thousands of mountains and rivers finally decided to rest, his eyes were clear and tired.

"I have known Shen Zhou since I was seven years old. He used to be a little mute, he didn't know how to hurt, he didn't know how to be sad, he gave him what to eat, he went wherever he was told, he was very beautiful and very easy to deceive. My master said that Shen Zhou will never learn human feelings. ”

Chu Zhixia's eyelashes trembled, and his smile was like a wave of water flowing in the middle of a bright spring day.

"My master is wrong."

"In the third year of auspicious charm, the envoy of the imperial capital came to the clouds to select hostages. Shen Zhou said to me, the ends of the earth, the sword mountains and the sea of fire, he walked with me. He is a person who does not know how to flatter, flattery, and occasionally does not mean anything, but he never tells lies. ”

Chu Zhixia paused word by word, and said decisively and affirmatively: "The Chu clan in the clouds will never be a thief." If Your Highness suspects that I am disobedient, even if I am cut by a thousand cuts, I will show him my true heart. My talent and learning, my reputation in history in the future, and even my life can be sacrificed for the people of the world. But you can't sink a boat, only a sinking boat can't. ”

——

The moon is in the middle of the sky.

Chu Shixia walked to the closed door with the fathead fish lantern, and reached out to gently brush the frosty door panel. As long as Chu Zhixia wanted to, she had a hundred ways to enter this room. But the people in the room refused to make contact with the outside world for ten days.

Like a small snail, it retracts under its fragile shell when it is touched.

Chu Zhixia placed the lantern in front of the door and sat down with his back against the door panel. Chu Zhixia did not have the demonic hearing of the Nine Shadows Assassins, and the closed doors and windows of this room were like a sinking boat covering the dead heart, only a dull beating sound.

"Shen Zhou, I'll send you home."

Chu Zhixia tilted his head slightly, looked at the snowflakes falling with the moonlight under the eaves, as if staring at those beautiful and indifferent eyes, and said: "At the ancestor worship ceremony, there will be assassins attacking the emperor and the crown prince, if you come to the rescue, the assassins will stab a sword three inches under your heart." I have prepared the body of a death row prisoner with a body similar to yours, and Yuzhu will take you from the cliff of the back mountain, through the ghost market waterway, all the way south to Guangling, and then turn back into the clouds. ”

The auspicious clothes of the King of Jin have been painted by the weaving division, and the cloth, silk thread, Dongzhu, and ring Pei should be secretly recorded and sent by Pei Yao, and drifted straight down to the south of the Yangtze River. In a few days, there will be an identical auspicious dress on the corpse of the death row prisoner and will be in the sea of fire.

Chu Zhixia took a deep breath, felt a little cold, and slowly curled up to hug himself.

"I know you don't like it here, and you don't like the Emperor. In the future, you will never be afraid again. Chu Shixia whispered, "I will never let you be scared again." ”

The door was suddenly opened, and Chu Zhixia's back leaning was empty, and he almost fell on his back, but he was grabbed by the arm of the person behind him and pulled him into his arms. The door slammed slam shut, and the cute fathead fish lantern spun around in place.

Shen Zhou's movements were rough, almost scratching Chu Zhixia's arm. Chu Zhixia's back was tightly pressed against the door panel, and Shen Zhou held his cheeks with both hands, and raised his head to breathe at him. Shen Zhou looked down at her without saying a word, his breathing was messy, and his eyes were as black as paint. Chu Zhixia looked at his curled eyelashes and moist pupils, she wanted to smile, but she wanted to cry for a while.

"You already knew." Shen Zhou's voice couldn't hear joy or anger, and his thumb gently rubbed Chu Zhixia's rose-colored lips, "That's why you asked me that day if you wanted to find my family back." You are so entangled and miserable because you don't know whether to tell me the truth or not. ”

"Yes, I already knew." Chu Zhixia did not shy away from admitting.

From the moment he handed over the Dragon Blood Jade Ring to Cheng Yuan, Chu Zhixia was ready to endure Shen Zhou's questioning, reprimand, and even complaining or hatred. The dragon blood jade ring involved a series of old things, which made the emperor and the Chen family completely tear their faces, forcing Bai Huan to break the cauldron and rebel. And from beginning to end, the most critical and core sinking boat did not know anything.

Chu Zhixia is a stubborn person who doesn't hit the south wall and doesn't look back, and hits the south wall to the end. Chu Zhixia's last slight soft-heartedness disappeared when Shen Zhou said "I don't want to".

Even if you owe everything, you will never regret it.

"Are you using me?" Shen Zhou's voice trembled a little.

"Yes." Chu Zhixia saw the tears in those eyes, like rain on the edge of the leaves, clear, soft, and burst at the touch of a button.

Shen Zhou seemed to be having trouble breathing, and took a few deep breaths before he forced down with difficulty: "Then why don't you continue to lie to me?" You obviously know that as long as you coax me, just say a word, I will obediently call the emperor father. You're so smart and you've deceived so many people, are you still afraid that you won't be able to fool me? ”

Chu Zhixia was silent.

"Why did you arrange for me to escape, why didn't you use me to the end!" Shen Zhou seemed to be doing his best every word, "Chu Zhixia, have you become a little mute now?" ”

"If you don't want to go back to the cloud......"

"I don't want to listen to this." Shen Zhou's tears dripped down, and his voice was hoarse and aggrieved.

Chu Zhixia looked at him steadily, and continued with a heartfelt heart: "Do you like Jiangnan?" Jiang Qiao's business in the south is now doing very well. ”

"I want to hear you say that you like me, and I want you to say that you are reluctant to let me stay here to endure hardships and suffering, swords and swords, bloody wind and rain. You obviously never wanted me to bend in front of the emperor, and you were more afraid than anyone else that I would be recognized by him. Why don't you say this, why do you always think about it for my good! ”

"Always"?

Chu Shixia almost suspected that Shen Zhou's brain was broken.

"Will I be better off if I hate you and forget you?" Shen Zhou whimpered in pain, "Why do you always leave me? ”

"What are you talking about, when did I 'always' leave you behind?"

Chu Zhixia's heart ached, and he stretched out his hand to wipe away Shen Zhou's tears, but he was so good at crying that he couldn't wipe it clean, and his face was wet.

"The Nine Shadows Division is what you want to get back, and the head of the Luo family is what you want to do, why did I leave you behind?" Chu Zhixia frowned unconsciously, patiently and gently coaxed, "Don't cry, I didn't want to drive you away." ”

Shen Zhou stopped talking, just silently shed tears. Shen Zhou and Chu Zhixia's foreheads collided, their breaths smelled each other, and wet tears rubbed Chu Zhixia's face, as if the distant summer had penetrated the rain from time.

"I'm scared."

"I was just a lonely ghost, I learned for a long time, how to cry, how to laugh, but I couldn't learn anything. The emperor cried so sadly in front of me, as if I were his very important person, that I felt nothing but fear in my heart. If he knew that I was such a person, if he knew that I would kill people from the time I was sensible, would he still cry for me like this? ”

"If I were his son, would I never be able to go back to the clouds for the rest of my life?"

"If one day, he promises to let you go back to the clouds, on the condition that I stay in the imperial capital. Would you say yes? ”

The sinking boat chattered, with a slightly nasal voice.

"It's also possible that he saw that you liked me too much, so he married me to you." Chu Zhixia stroked the tears on Shen Zhou's face, and pretended to be relaxed.

"We live in Akibayama and grow a large yard of flowers, which bloom from spring to autumn, and are not lonely in every season; Cheng Yuan's sister promised a good family, and we gave her a big red envelope; Pei Gongzi came to me every once in a while to play chess, talking about the general trend of the world, like a chess piece in a plate; Jiang Qiao occasionally returned from Guangling, bringing chilled lotus seeds and water chestnuts, counting the accounts at his fingertips, and the gold was like flowing water. ”

Shen Zhou's heart ached violently for some reason in Chu Zhixia's calm and warm narration, and he grabbed Chu Shixia's hand violently and shook his head subconsciously.

"Don't you want to marry me?"

"Yes." Shen Zhou said.

"But you're not a bird in a cage."

Chu Zhixia was stunned, smiled indifferently, and said, "I have been here for a long time." ”

"I have a thousand words today, and I will find time to make up for it later."