After fighting alongside Chao Xiaoshu on that rainy night, he is now part of the game despite his wishes. Still, he knew very well that he was still as insignificant as ever. He may be qualified to fight for the imperial court side by side with Chao Xiaoshu in the dark night, but if he dares to step out of the light in the darkness and face a truly powerful person, he is likely to disappear from the earth without saying a word.

is like the general's mansion that was slaughtered many years ago, and like Zhuo'er who leaned against the wall not long ago to breathe his last breath.

Thinking about those things that he couldn't fully understand through his own wisdom or experience, Ning Que slowly closed his eyes in the sunlight. He began to reconstruct Zhuo'er's dark face in his chaotic mind, to strengthen his confidence in sorting out his random frustrations. The bright spring sun shone on the rock formations in the antechamber of the princess's mansion, on the bamboo chairs, and on his body, neither too bright nor too warm. It gradually dispelled the chill of spring that had accumulated in the old library.

"Are you basking in the sun? But... My mom wouldn't let me do that.

A crisp voice came softly from behind his chair. Ning Que opened his eyes and looked back, only to see a little boy's face poking his head out of the rock formation. On his slightly dark and healthy face, there were two patches of red like apples, and his long eyelashes were really beautiful, and his expression looked a little timid.

Ning Que looked at this little black face, and inexplicably thought of Zhuo'er, and a bitterness surged in his heart. He got up from his chair, bowed slightly to the little boy he hadn't seen for a long time, and said, "Hello, little prince."

That timid little boy is Xiaoman, the stepson that Princess Li Yu brought back from the grassland. On the way from Weicheng to Chang'an, Ning Que had a lot of contact with this little boy, especially after the bloody battle on the Beishan Road.

"Why won't Your Highness let you, my little prince, stay in the sun?" He asked with a smile.

"Mom said it's easy to get a tan." Xiao Man looked at Ning Que seriously and explained: "I am my mother's son, the grandson approved by His Majesty, and the proudest nobleman of the Tang Empire. So I can be black, but not too black.

Ning Que couldn't help but scratch his head when he heard the little boy's answer. He could imagine the difficulty of adapting to this boy from the grassland after he came to the prosperous Chang'an City, but he never imagined that His Royal Highness would be so strict with the education and care of the little boy. He smiled and explained, "It's not too bad to spend some time in the sun.

The little boy looked around the quiet antechamber and found that the instructor's palace nanny and maid did not know that he had sneaked in. Then, with a happy glint on his face, he jumped onto the bamboo chair and grabbed Ning Que's sleeve. He glanced at Ning Que thoughtfully, raised his little face, and asked, "Can you tell me a story?"

Ning Que was taken aback, he didn't expect the little boy to recognize him, and even remembered those fairy tales around the campfire. Looking at his anxious eyes and the quiet antechamber, he thought that he had nothing else to do but bask in the sun, so he sat down on a bamboo chair, beckoned the little boy to sit next to him, and said, "I don't know how to tell stories." The ones I talked about last time should be called fairy tales.

Xiao Man asked curiously, "What is the difference between a fairy tale and a story?"

"The story is complicated, but the fairy tale is very simple and happy," Ning Que replied.

"I want to hear fairy tales," Xiao Man said with a happy smile.

Ning Que couldn't help but laugh when he thought of the picture from the past. "That's what I'm good at," he said.

Xiao Man approached and listened intently.

Ning Que thought for a while and said to him, "You are the little prince of the grassland. So, I'll tell you a fairy tale about the little prince, okay? ”

Xiao Manle said happily: "Okay, good."

Ning Que lay on the bamboo chair and looked at the sky. "There are pythons in the forest, and their heads are really big. They swallow their prey directly into their stomachs without chewing after hunting, and will sleep for a full six months to digest the food in their stomachs.

Xiao Man's eyes widened and he said in horror: "It's terrible." Didn't you say that all fairy tales are happy?

Ning Que glared at him, feeling that this little boy was not as good as Sangsang back then, and said, "Don't worry, this is just the beginning...... Hearing this story, I became more interested in what was in the forest, so I drew a picture based on my imagination. In the picture, a large python swallows a large beast. I showed the picture to the other adults and asked them if they were scared. They all said, 'Why do hats scare you?' '”

"I understand. You draw the python as the edge of the hat and the giant beast as the center. Are your photos not pretty? Xiao Man clapped his hands excitedly.

"I didn't draw a hat, but a python that swallowed a beast. Those adults don't understand, just like you don't understand. I simply drew the belly of the anaconda. Ning Que was speechless for a moment, but continued to speak.

Xiao Man looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Isn't the fairy tale about the little prince?" Where is the little prince?

"It's coming out soon," Ning Que explained, "he'll be out in a moment."

...

...

It didn't take long for those palace instructors, nannies, and maidens to finally arrive in the antechamber here, and the princess had just finished her memories with Sangsang. Ning Que took the maid's hand and fled as fast as possible under the eyes of suspicion and dissatisfaction, ending their visit to the princess's mansion.

Walking in the quiet streets of Nancheng, Sang Sang was constantly slapped on his thigh by the big black umbrella tightly wrapped in coarse cloth. The master and the maid walked silently along the way, and Sang Sang suddenly said casually: "The princess is a good person.

Ning Que looked up at the sky separated by the plain trees above the street, and saw the gloomy clouds, he said, "It's going to rain."

This is what people call a conversation without a head or an end. Sang Sang wanted to say something, but Ning Que didn't. Therefore, the former blurted out a sentence without a head and a tail, and the latter looked up at the sky and said that it was going to rain.

"Young Master, why don't you like her?" Sangsang stopped and looked up at him.

Ning Que felt the need to let the little maid know her true thoughts. He hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't think she's a good person in the traditional sense, even though she's really nice to you."

Sang Sang didn't know why he was so stubborn on this issue, she asked seriously: "If Her Royal Highness the Princess is not a good person, then why did she go to the grassland, why is she so good to Xiao Man?"

Ning Que looked at her quietly, and suddenly said, "If she is a good person, then why did she go to the grassland, why is she so good to Xiaoman?" I don't think all the stepmothers in the world are bad people, but I've never seen a stepmother who values Xiao Man's life more than her own.

Asking the same question, Sang Sang seemed to be proving that His Highness was a good person, while Ning Que was using it to prove the opposite. She wanted to know what he wanted to say and looked at him in confusion.

At this moment, in the late spring, light rain began to fall over Chang'an City. Ning Que took the big black umbrella from his back and opened it. He moved on and then said, "When things aren't right, they're often evil. His Highness's stepmother is so young, could it be that her motherhood has suddenly grown strongly? It seems that it is still too early. I think it's empathy. She is transferring her love for Chanwoo to the boy...... In this case, how sad she felt for Chen Yu who was resting on the grassland.

"Only a border army like ours knows what a great master Zen Yu is. So, how could such a superior person be murdered and usurped by his idiot brother?

"Young Master, what exactly do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is that His Highness will regret it for the rest of his life, because Chanwoo is the one who truly loves her, and he is the only one who dares to truly love her."

"I don't understand."

"It's okay."

Sang Sang was silent for a long time, and suddenly spoke: "Do you think the princess is the one who killed Canyu?"

"It seems that the general stupidity in your life is an excuse for laziness," Ning Que replied indirectly.

Sang Sang lowered his head, walked under the black umbrella, clenched his little fists slightly, and asked, "What evidence is there?"

"There are a lot of things in this world that don't need proof.

Ning Que looked at the drizzle outside the umbrella and said, "Not only can she defuse the attacks of some villains in the empire, but she can also show weakness in the battle with Her Majesty and gain Your Majesty's mercy." What's more, she can win the respect of the people of the Tang Dynasty, and she can even show her strength on the grassland. However, it is impossible for her to stay on the steppe forever, because His Majesty is old, and the heir to the throne needs to be confirmed as soon as possible.