The little boy with a tiger's head poked his head out from the side of Princess Li Yu, glanced at it curiously, sniffed, followed the appearance of Sangsang, buried his head in her arms, and rubbed his little face wildly, and the snot on his face rubbed against her clothes.

Li Yu took out his handkerchief and wiped it a little awkwardly for the little boy, without showing a trace of disgust on his face, and then turned his head to Ning Que and said indifferently: "Follow me after you go to Chang'an, I will give you a good future." ”

Ning Que had already guessed the identity of this barbarian boy, but he didn't expect the princess to love his stepson so much, especially the small action of wiping his nose for him, which made his perception of this highness change slightly, thinking about these things, his reaction couldn't help but be slower, and he was slightly stunned and responded: "Your Royal Highness the princess, after I arrive in Chang'an, I will go to participate in the admission examination of the academy." ”

Human beings will hear a lot of different meanings for the same sentence according to different interpretations, this sentence sounds like Ning Que is saying that he has no time to serve His Highness, or it can be heard that he euphemistically refused, with a little pride in it: Entering the academy naturally has a future, and His Highness does not need to bother.

"Are you sure you can really take the admission test smoothly, and you can pass the admission test smoothly?" Li Yu looked at him coldly and said: "Although I Datang is a scholar based on talent, but this word is very particular, if you think that talented people can find a place to display their talents, why did Mr. Liu in the previous dynasty be so stupid as Qinglou I." ”

Ning Que looked at her delicate eyebrows and said seriously: "I also understand this, so I hereby implore the princess to help me remove those obstacles that should not be there, I only hope that I will not lose the opportunity to enter the academy because I am poor." ”

Li Yu looked at him with undisguised suspicion, and was silent for a long time, wondering why this young soldier would refuse his solicitation so calmly and directly.

You must know that she is the fourth princess of the Tang Dynasty who is most favored by the emperor and loved by her subjects, with Ning Que's status today, being able to get in touch with her so closely is already a blessing that she has cultivated for eight lifetimes.

After a long silence, she said indifferently: "I promise you, because I owe you." ”

After saying this, she lost interest in talking to Ning Que, and looked at the fire in front of her in a daze with the little boy in her arms, her eyes gradually became wet, at this time, the old man Lu Qingchen next to the fire was meditating on his knees, and the guards on the other side had fallen asleep, and the forest night was deep, and occasionally the birds that were awakened by the stars chirped twice.

Ning Que looked at the crystal water in her eyes in surprise, and followed her gaze, only to find that she was looking at the corpses of the guards and grassland barbarians piled up in one place by the road through the fire.

Thinking that she wiped the snot of the little boy before, and seeing her sadness for her subordinates at this time, Ning Que's impression of Her Royal Highness the princess changed again, and silently thought that even if she was an idiot, she was still a humane idiot.

Sang Sang lay on his knees and fell into a deep sleep, and only him and Li Yu were left with their eyes open by the fire. The two of them sat quietly like this, and suddenly the little barbarian boy broke out of her arms, rubbed his eyes and said that he couldn't sleep and wanted to listen to the story, Li Yu looked embarrassed, thinking that the stories he listened to in the palace when he was a child had long been forgotten, and how could the novels of talented and beautiful women that he loved to listen to when he was a girl be told to children?

The little barbarian boy didn't make much noise, just looked at his nominal mother unwillingly, looking a little pitiful, Ning Que smiled at Her Royal Highness the princess who was in embarrassment, and coughed lightly twice.

"The wheat is golden and the oats are green...... One by one, the eggs broke apart, but the largest one never moved...... Mother Duck looked at the big and ugly child, watched it swim in the water, and said proudly: Look, it is not the hateful spit-stolen chicken, it is my own child. ”

"But it's so ugly that it's pointed at everywhere you go...... The wild duck said that as long as you don't intermarry with the ducks of our tribe, it doesn't have much to do with us. ”

"One night, when the beautiful sun was setting over the western heath, the ugly duckling saw a flock of great birds flying up from the woods, the ducklings had never seen such a beautiful thing, they were white and shiny, their necks were long and soft, and they spread their beautiful wings and flew into a warm country. ”

"One winter, the ugly duckling was surrounded by several whooper swans, and it was ashamed, it felt that it was so ugly, and yet the whooper swans gently pecked at its feathers...... Suddenly, it saw how beautiful it was in the pool...... When spring came, the sun was incomparably warm, and the lilacs drooped their branches into the water in front of it, and the people watched it dance and sing with joy, and shout merrily: Look at that beautiful swan!"

Ning Que took a piece of charred wood, randomly sketched lines on the ground next to his feet, lowered his head and smiled and told a very old story, this story is so simple, but it is so sad and happy, the little barbarian boy lay on the princess's body and stared at it and listened, Li Yu himself gradually listened to it, Sang Sang woke up at some point, she heard it when she was very young, but she still listened quietly, with a childhood smile on her face.

The night was darker, and the children who listened to the story finally fell asleep, Li Yu was silent for a long time and suddenly said: "Your story is too profound, Xiaoman can't understand it, but I still want to thank you, thank you for reminding me of these things...... I will treat him as my own child like that duck mother, I will be proud of him, and after returning to Chang'an, I will never let him be ridiculed and discriminated against by others, as for whether he can soar into the sky like a swan in the future...... That can only depend on his own future creation. ”

Ning Que scratched his head and smiled, and said: "Actually, I didn't think about it so much, this is the story I told to Sang Sang when I was a child, she always felt that she was dark and ugly and had low self-esteem, so I made up such a story for her to comfort her." ”

"Anyway, it's a good story. Li Yu looked at him with a smile and said: "The ugly duckling who was looked down upon by others, with his own efforts, finally became a respected and loved white swan, which is very inspirational." ”

Ning Que's hand holding Jiao Zhi stiffened slightly, raised his head to look at her and said seriously: "You are wrong, this story will only make many people feel desperate, because the ugly duckling will not become a swan, it ...... It was supposed to be a swan. Just like Your Highness and the little prince in your arms, the real ugly duckling will always be the ugly duckling. ”

Li Yu looked at the young man's face quietly, thinking about this passage, and vaguely understood something in his heart.

......

......

(Chapter 2 is about eleven o'clock.) ）