Luo Shuangyi lay on the snowdrift and gouged out Chu Zhixia. Chu Zhixia was lying on the snow and coughing violently, almost spitting out his lungs, pointing to the snow cave under him and unable to say a word. Luo Shuangyi seemed to have expected it, dug down without saying a word, and dug out a sinking boat.

Shen Zhou grabbed Luo Shuangyi's hand and climbed up, and as soon as he climbed onto the snowdrift, he slapped Chu Shixia heavily in the face.

Chu Zhixia grabbed his collar and scolded in a low voice: "You don't want to die?!" You lifted me up, what if you die? ”

Shen Zhou didn't say a word, grabbed the hand she was holding her collar, and kissed her directly on the lips.

The other Nine Assassins lay on their stomachs like moles to burrow in the snowdrifts and dig out the people below.

"How can there be snow quicksand all of a sudden?" Chu Zhixia slapped Shen Zhou's head, turned his head and asked Luo Shuangyi, "Before the snow quicksand happened, I heard a sound from the mountain. ”

"We followed your group, and when we reached the halfway point of Uzeki Road, I spotted a group of people on the hill. They seemed to have buried gunpowder under the snow, and when we met, they directly detonated it. Luo Shuangyi said straightforwardly.

Half of the location of Maoguan Road is not easy to retreat or enter. The Nine Shadows Assassins found the raised rocks to hide from the snow and quicksand, but the person who detonated the gunpowder looked at death and calmly watched as he was swallowed by the overwhelming snow and dust.

"The Beidi?"

"Central Plains people."

Chu Zhixia cursed, "Damn Bai Yu, I must kill him." ”

Chu Zhixia staggered to her feet after scolding, and Shen Zhouyan quickly helped her.

"Hurry up, it's already in the north of the country, I'm afraid my eldest brother has received the news of the snow quicksand in Maoguan Road." Chu Zhixia's face turned pale, and he said without a preface, "He is not in good health, and he can't bear it." ”

The horses had been buried in layers of snow, and there had just been a snow quicksand, and any slight tremor would cause a second snow quicksand. Chu Zhixia's pace of progress had to slow down, and Shen Zhou instructed Luo Shuangyi to try his best to save people, and then follow Chu Shixia's footsteps.

——

in the cloud.

Bai Yu sat in the private room of the teahouse, pushed open a small window, and looked at the brightly lit Zhenbei Wangfu from afar. The red lanterns at the entrance of the Zhenbei Wangfu were taken off one by one, like some kind of ominous omen. Bai Yu couldn't hide his joy and poured a glass of wine, and inadvertently bumped into the reflection in the wine.

The baby's face with a sweet smile was scarred and terrifying.

When Bai Yu stabbed the regent to death, the runaway carriage rushed down the cliff with him. His face was scratched by wooden thorns protruding from the left and right, and he was bleeding profusely. Baek Huan's guards rescued him from the carriage, and the knife he held in his hand was still stuck in the regent's body.

That was the first time Bai Yu had killed someone with his own hands.

It turned out that it was not difficult.

Bai Yu's admired and trusted grandfather retreated with the remnants of the army, unwilling to turn back to save the captured Bai Huan. When Bai Yu learned everything, the hatred for the regent in his heart even exceeded the hatred for Chu Zhixia for a time. It was the regent who pushed Bai Huan to rebel against the usurpation, and the person who abandoned Bai Huan was still the regent.

Chu Zhixia was the executioner of Bai Huan's death, and the regent was the initiator of Bai Huan's death. In Bai Yu's eyes, they all deserve to die.

So Bai Yu killed the regent, took the regent's token and hibernated in the north for a long time, waiting for the Beidi mission to come as promised.

"Chu Zhixia, you kill my brother, I kill your brother." Bai Yu raised his glass to the Zhenbei Wangfu with the white lantern hanging, "Isn't it fair?" ”

——

Chu Zhixia rode his horse and rushed into Cloud City.

The merchants on the street were so shocked that they stepped back, looking at the familiar and unfamiliar back in surprise. Chu Zhi swept outside the Zhenbei Wangfu like a summer breeze, and when he looked up and saw the white lantern, he couldn't help but weaken his knees, and almost fell to his knees.

"Miss?!" The porter recognized her and exclaimed.

"Why are white lanterns hung?" Chu Zhixia barely got up, and rushed in like a fly without a head, "Who let you hang up?!" Take it off for me! ”

As soon as Chu Zhixia left Maoguan Road, he was told by the officers and soldiers guarding outside the official road that "the life of the king of Zhenbei is in danger, if there is any trace of the eldest lady, report it to the clouds immediately." Chu Zhixia rode on the horses of the disaster relief officers and soldiers, and rushed to the clouds without stopping for a moment, but he was still one step too late.

Shen Zhou, who followed closely, hugged the crumbling Chu Zhixia, held her wrist and said, "I'll take you there." ”

Shen Zhou still remembered the road to Zhenbei Wangfu, but even if he didn't remember, he should know where to go at this moment. When the plain and white-clothed maids saw the two, they all got out of the way. A human wall of civilians, military generals, staff, and doctors creates a path to the place where power is changed and where death is imminent.

Chu Zhixia smelled the strong smell of medicine.

Chu Zhixia violently broke away from Shen Zhou's hand and threw himself into the house.

Chu Mingxiu, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, woke up from his lifeless state, glanced at Chu Zhixia, and then said to the person on the bed earnestly and excitedly: "Big brother, Changle is back." ”

Chu Zhixia forgot how he got to the bed.

She lifted the hanging bed net, knelt down in front of the bed, and looked at Chu Mingyan's plain white face soaked in cold sweat, only to feel that the world was spinning for a while. Chu Mingyan was much thinner, the flesh on his cheeks was completely emaciated, and only a layer of skin wrapped around the bones was left on his hands.

Why did you lose weight like this?

How did you boil yourself up like this?

Chu Mingyan opened his eyes and looked in her direction, his pupils dilated.

"Is Changle home?"

"Changle is home." Chu Zhixia tightly grasped Chu Mingyan's completely warm hand, and said in a trembling voice, "It's Changle who has gone home, brother, look at me." I'll never leave the clouds again, I listen to you, I'll never leave again. ”

Chu Mingyan laughed softly, and there was a moment of light in his dim eyes, "Is it the illusion of returning to the light?" ”

"It's not a hallucination, it's me." Chu Zhixia grabbed his hand and put it on his cheek, and hot tears fell down, wetting Chu Mingyan's cold fingers, "Brother, I'm going home." I've come back from the imperial capital. ”

Chu Mingyan couldn't hear her voice anymore.

"Why are you crying again?" Chu Mingyan's fingers curled slightly, and he said in a weak voice, "Chang'an, don't bully your sister." ”

"Brother? Elder brother! Don't sleep, look at me. Chu Zhixia looked at Chu Mingyan's drooping eyelids a little bit, and eagerly covered his hand, trying to pass on a little warmth to him - just like when she was young, she bumped into Chu Mingyan's arms with full of enthusiasm and warmed his hands.

"It's all my fault, I'll never go to the imperial capital again, I'll listen to you." Chu Zhixia spoke incoherently, and tears swept messily across Chu Mingyan's wrist where his pulse had stopped, like countless transparent knife marks, "You open your eyes and look at me, I beg you." ”

Chu Mingyan did not answer.

"Brother?" Chu Zhixia shouted quietly, like a child who had done something wrong.

It's like a world away.

Shen Zhou hugged Chu Zhixia from behind, and gently covered her hand holding Chu Mingyan, "Changle, you broke the eldest brother's hand." ”

Chu Zhixia was shocked like an electric shock and let go of his hand. Chu Mingyan left a few cyan finger marks on his hand, with a faint blood color at the end. Chu Zhixia was like a puppet with a severed silk thread, standing up in a daze by Shen Zhou, away from the sleeping Chu Mingyan.

"Let Big Brother sleep." Shen Zhou said.

This sentence slapped Chu Zhixia's scattered three souls and seven spirits back into his body, and the heart that suddenly returned to its place became painful as if it were rebellious.

Chu Zhixia watched in a daze as Chu Mingxiu sorted out Chu Mingyan's clothes, stuffed Chu Mingyan's hand back into the quilt, and put it on his lower abdomen - it was Chu Mingyan's napping posture, which was rigid and upright. It seems that the next moment, Chu Mingyan will lift the quilt and stand up, holding a cup of strong tea and giving orders to his subordinates.

Outside the house, there were also officials of all sizes in the north of the country.

Chu Mingxiu finished everything and stood up, but he stumbled violently and almost fell to the ground.

"King Zhenbei, Xu."

——

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Xuande, Chu Mingyan, the king of the north of Dazhou Town, Xu.

In the records of the Great Zhou History Books, Chu Mingyan is an outlier of the Chu clan in the clouds.

The Chu clan in the clouds is brave and martial, and the kings of Zhenbei in the past dynasties are also heroic and warlike characters. But Chu Mingyan is not even a Confucian general, and he is even weak and sickly, and it is difficult to continue. He seems to have only silently managed the military and political affairs of the four northern prefectures, and his greatest contribution to the defense of Beidi was his unconditional support for Yongxueguan.

As a result, there was a fierce dispute between the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty over the decision on Chu Mingyan's nickname. Some people say that Chu Mingyan himself is not good at force, and it seems inappropriate to give a military attache a nickname; Some people also say that the other identity of the king of Zhenbei is the commander of the army of the four states in the north of the country, and it is even more absurd if he is called a civilian official.

In the end, it was Emperor Bai Ziche himself who personally issued an order and gave him the nickname "Wu Zhao".

The holy news is Zhouda, and it is said that Zhao.

——

In the first year of Xuande, the second day of the first month.

The palace of the king of Zhenbei erected a white spirit flag to announce the death of the king of Zhenbei in all directions. There was no joy in the city, every household spontaneously hung white lanterns, large and small merchants closed their doors for several days, and the powerful did not dance and play silk and bamboo to show their condolences.

Chu Zhixia knelt in the mourning hall and quietly threw the paper money into the brazier, his movements sluggish.

In front of her was Chu Mingyan's coffin.

"After he came back from the imperial capital, he fell seriously ill and never recovered. I can't eat, I can't take medicine, I vomit what I eat, and I can't sleep with headaches all night long. Mr. Feng Shui said that it was a ghost and a god, so I held a sword for him all night, and he barely fell asleep for half the night. ”

Chu Mingxiu stood behind her, his voice soft and ethereal.

"Then I heard him talk in his dreams." Chu Mingxiu's voice was painful, "He's calling the names of the two of us, panicking." It's hard to imagine that someone like him could be flustered. The next day I chased him and asked, and he said that he had dreamed last night that we both died outside the Yongxue Pass, and there were no bones left. ”

"Shut up." Chu Zhixia said softly.

"He's been waiting for you to come back." Chu Mingxiu insisted on going down, "He heard news from the imperial capital that the new emperor was willing to let you go home, and he was happy for several days. That day, he took medicine and didn't vomit, and drank two more bowls of soup. Although the illness is still not better, it is still better than before. ”

"I'm telling you to shut up." Chu Zhixia gritted his back molars and said.

"Changle, there are only two of us in this family." Chu Mingxiu said in a daze, "Do you want to leave?" ”

"Where are you going?" Chu Zhixia didn't look back, facing Chu Mingxiu with a hard back.

"It's good to go anywhere." Chu Mingxiu said, "If you don't leave, you will have to guard the snow pass." ”

"Then I'll go and guard the snow pass."

"Don't be stubborn, if the eldest brother is still there, he ......"

"But he's gone now!"

Chu Zhixia jumped up unbearably and shouted at Chu Mingxiu, his words in a messy order, "He's dead!" In his life, for you, for me, for the clouds, he boiled himself to death! I've done so much, I've endured humiliation, I've licked blood on the tip of my knife, I've killed so many people, what is it for? What have I done all these years? ”

Chu Zhixia looked at Chu Mingxiu's haggard face, suddenly shed tears, and said, "I didn't save him back...... I don't have a big brother anymore. ”

Chu Mingxiu took Chu Zhixia into his arms and hugged her tightly, like holding a fragile baby, to protect her from all the wind and snow.

"Cry, just cry."

Chu Zhixia finally broke down and cried, like a wounded beast, crying to break his heart, liver, spleen and lungs. Chu Zhixia lay in Chu Mingxiu's arms, crying hoarsely, as if he wanted to cry all the strength of his body until he unloaded.

Chu Mingxiu's tears fell on the top of her hair one by one.

"Second brother, I'm sorry." Chu Shixia cried and said, "Don't be angry with me. ”

The candles on the mourning hall flickered, as if there was a wind passing by.

——

Qingzhou, a fireworks shop.

When the workshop owner was taken out of the bed, he was still naked with white flesh and skin.

The uninvited guest very unceremoniously threw him a thin shirt, tied him like a pig, and threw him in the snow with a sackcloth in his mouth. The boss was so cold that he looked left and right, and the shopkeepers of all sizes in the workshop were tied up, and even his mother-in-law was not spared. The boss broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that the government had raided the black workshop, but he didn't expect that these people were even more vicious than the officers and soldiers.

There were several people standing in the courtyard, all dressed in black and wearing silver ghost masks.

"I have limited time, either answer my questions obediently, or I'll send you on your way."

Shen Zhou drew his sword and stuck it in the snow, and the sword light was clear and cold.

The owner of the fireworks shop nodded again and again, indicating that he knew everything and said everything.

"These people bought gunpowder from you, right?"

Luo Shuangyi unfolded a few portraits. Most of the snow on Maoguan Road has been cleared, and Luo Shuangyi and his men dug up the five people who detonated the gunpowder, and it was not surprising that they were all corpses. Shen Zhou ordered the faces of the five people to be painted, and took the portraits to inquire about the news on the black market.

"Don't lie, I'll know." Shen Zhou said, "Nod or shake your head." ”

The boss nodded sharply.

"How many of them are there?"

Luo Shuangyi pulled out the sackcloth from the boss's mouth, and the boss replied politely: "Six." There was also a man with a scarred face, whose throat seemed to have been injured, and whose voice was unpleasant. However, looking at the figure, he should be in his early eighteen. Hero, are you here to seek revenge? You give me a loose one, and I will draw his portrait for you. ”

Luo Shuangyi pinched his throat bone and warned: "The head of the house didn't tell you to speak, so you shut up." ”

The boss felt a suffocation and nodded with difficulty.

"Scarred?" Shen Zhou frowned and threw another portrait in front of him, "Is that this person?" ”

The boy in the portrait has a harmless baby face, and the corners of his lips are slightly upturned when he is not smiling.

"I don't recognize it." The owner was honest.

"Where have they gone, where have you traded them, and with what?" Shen Zhou asked.

"I really don't know where they went, they came to the door with gold to make a deal." The boss couldn't stand the cold and said, "Heroes, did they commit something?" But it shouldn't be, just a little bit of gunpowder is enough to make a string of firecrackers, what can you do? ”

Shen Zhou knew that he couldn't ask anything, so he waved his hand irritably, motioning for Luo Shuangyi to shut his mouth. Shen Zhou walked out of the black workshop and looked at the silent snowy night in the north of the country.

"Will Bai Yu come in person for this kind of thing?" Luo Shuangyi asked behind him, a little skeptical.

"He'll definitely come in person." Shen Zhou said, "Mo Xue killed Bai Huan, and he wanted to kill his eldest brother with a tooth for a tooth." Do you think he will let go of the opportunity to admire Mo Xue's pain? ”

Luo Shuangyi was silent.

"Tomorrow, notify the government to copy this black workshop, and if I can't find out, let them check it. Send all of our people out and find the man he said had a scarred face. ”

"Yes."