The capital of Southern Chu, the city of Diyun.

Outside the closed palace gate, all the houses and alleys are as usual, the lights are on, the cooking smoke is curling, and the city is in a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere.

And in the palace, which was only separated by a wall, there was a bloody storm.

"This matter requires the second princess to come forward, and the princess asks for condolences and focuses on the overall situation. ”

In the Ligong Garden, the dim candle flame reflected the old man with golden hair in front of her, Gao Xue tried to keep herself as calm as possible, but fear was like a poisonous snake in her heart, and her body couldn't help but tremble.

Five years ago, when the three families joined forces to overthrow the Xiong Clan's tyranny, this person should be on a par with Gao Qiang, who later ascended the throne, but just because of his evil and gloomy face, the elders called him "not like a human king" and excluded him from the candidates for the new monarch.

After ascending the throne, Gao Qiang may have felt that he owed him something, or perhaps in recognition of his merits, he was named Dazai Kunshi, and his status was second only to that of the monarch.

And now, this chilling face stared at Gao Xue calmly, although the attitude towards her on the surface was respectful, Gao Xue knew in her heart that maybe the other party would offer a glass of wine in the next second.

Just now, news came from the harem that the queen had been "martyred" for the king of Southern Chu and committed suicide by poisoning.

"My father and eldest brother are dead, and now my mother is dead...... Will I be next?" Gao Xue looked at the other party's cold and expressionless face, so nervous that she almost lost her breath.

"Princess, the country cannot be without a king for a day, please mourn the princess, without further ado, you should quickly send a letter to the fourth prince on the border of southern Xinjiang, asking him to come back and succeed the monarch. The old man's patience seemed to be a little less, and there was a faint fierce light in his originally cold eyes.

Gao Xue was so frightened by this look that her heart almost jumped to her throat, she knew that this sentence should have been said to the queen mother half an hour ago.

She calmed down as much as she could, and forced her composure: "According to the ancient system of the law, the elders and young are orderly, and the third brother Gao Fei should succeed him......"

"Gao Fei murdered the monarch and rebelled, brutalized his father and brother, his crime should be punished, how can such a vicious and vicious person succeed the monarch!" The yellow-haired old man finally raised his eyelids, his eyes showed a cold light, and he said: "The old minister has issued a wanted notice for the whole territory, we must arrest this thief as soon as possible, pay tribute to the ancestors, and avenge the princess for killing her father and brother." ”

When Gao Xue heard this, she felt a chill down her spine, and her teeth couldn't help chattering, of course she knew that the third brother would never do such a great evil, this was just an excuse for the yellow-haired old thief to rebel. I secretly thought in my heart: At the moment, I can only stabilize the anti-thief, paralyze the other party, and then find a way to contact the third brother Gao Fei, and then make plans in the future.

"Good...... Good ......" Gao Xue was still trembling with frightened eyes, but this time it was half real and half pretended, compared to his own queen mother, he still lacked that trace of courage and aristocratic pride after all.

"The queen mother has fulfilled her integrity, so let me keep hope. Thinking of this, Gao Xue lowered her head obediently, and the tears that she had endured for a long time finally flowed silently, at this moment she suddenly felt a sense of relief, but she knew in her heart that a moment of compromise may bring lifelong humiliation, for the royal family, this is something more terrible than death.

It was getting late, and there was a miserable howl in the Flying Kite Mansion of the Third Prince of Southern Chu, and on the desk of the fragrant elm wood in the mansion, the two young sons were drinking each other.

One of them, dressed in gorgeous brocade, square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, stubby big nose, two small beards, he is the eldest son of Zhu Ning, the current Southern Chu State Teacher, Zhu Long, this time he was ordered to arrest the "main culprit" of this rebellion The third prince Gao Fei, but unfortunately after a long time of investigation, he still found nothing, so he had to bring someone to the third prince's mansion to torture the servants and female dependents, making a sad noise outside the door.

And the other little man kept frowning, his eyebrows and eyes were quite similar to this Zhu Long, but his figure was much thinner, he was Zhu Ning's second son, named Zhu Lan.

"Big brother, after all, the Kite Fei Mansion is a relative of the royal family, and such humiliation and cruelty is not good after all. Zhu Lan persuaded.

"What's wrong? He is now a rebel and thief who kills the king and rebels, everyone will be punished, his relatives and dependents, he should be ......" Zhu Long didn't finish speaking, but was interrupted by Zhu Lan stretching out his hand: "Big brother is cautious, the first king is also Gao Fei's relatives. ”

Zhu Long didn't want to continue to dwell on this topic, so he changed the topic and asked, "You came back from your father, do you have any new arrangements?"

"My father asked the second princess to write a letter to the south, so that the fourth prince Gao Yuan would return to the capital to succeed to the throne. ”

"My father still can't bear that face. Zhu Long said contemptuously.

"This is not only the face of my father alone, but also the face of the entire Zhu family. ”

"The face of the Zhu family?" Zhu Long sneered, "Five years ago, my father led us to attack Diyun City, and the tyrant Xiong Yu set himself on fire and died, this throne should have belonged to my Zhu family back then, and those old immortals did not order Qiu Shan for a hundred years, but they suddenly appeared in the palace that day, saying that the father is not like a human king, and he wants to put that Gao Qiang on the throne, since that day, my Zhu family has lost all face!"

Zhu Lan was silent, and Zhu Long continued: "I think the Gao family secretly ordered Qiu Shan to find the people of the Elders' Council early in the morning, but pity us for fighting desperately on the battlefield, and finally let the allies put it together. ”

Zhu Lan shook his head: "The elders of Nanchu, they are all people who have cultivated into the realm of transformation and are close to demigods, because the aura in the human world is no longer enough to maintain the consumption in their bodies, they have lived in seclusion on Lingqiu Mountain thousands of miles high for hundreds of years, ordinary people, how can they affect their decisions, eldest brother still don't talk nonsense again." ”

Zhu Long snorted coldly and said, "The matter has come to this, why does my father have to do this extra thing to find that nerd to come back and be the king." ”

"The fourth prince has been in the army for five years, I'm afraid it's not what it used to be, to be honest, I don't know what my father's intentions are, obviously the prince already has an heir, and he can be established as the new king. ”

"It's not that I'm afraid of gossip, setting up a young lord to succeed to the throne, and having ill intentions or something. I think that when my grandfather Zhu Ziliang was alive, our Zhu family was also a powerful family, so why should we care about the gossip of others!"

Zhu Lan was noncommittal, but said: "Father also instructed us to block Diyun City overnight and arrest Gao Fei, in addition, we must also find out the reason for Gao Fei's mysterious disappearance today, and my father also asked us to send someone to keep an eye on the people of the Yan family in the north." ”

"Keep an eye on the Yan family?" Zhu Long asked, "Does my father think that the Yan family dares to intervene at this time?"

"When the tyrant Xiong Yu was overthrown, it was we, the Gao family and the Yan family who contributed the most, and the Yan family had been unwilling to be subordinate to others before, and now that the monarch is newly mourned, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not take advantage of the fire to rob. At this time, if the Yan family finds Gao Fei before us, first appoints him as the monarch, and then accuses us of slandering Gao Fei, with Gao Fei's reputation, we may fall short. ”

Zhu Lan stood up and paced two steps, and continued: "Father asked us to keep an eye on the Yan family, also to arrest Gao Fei to make plans, the news of the succession of the fourth prince has been released, this is equivalent to cutting off Gao Fei's back road to the south, since ancient times, how many royal relatives have killed each other for supreme rights, not to mention that now one is the next monarch, and the other is a rebel who killed the monarch and rebelled, Gao Fei resolutely did not dare to take risks, so his most likely choice was to go to the Yan family." This can explain why my father chose to go near and far and set up the fourth prince to succeed him. ”

Zhu Long nodded, and asked again, "Will he flee to other countries for help?"

"The Eastern Qingqiu Kingdom and our Southern Chu have been at war for many years, and they have almost become a feud, and the Southern Chu royal family will inevitably die if they flee there; the northwest is a small and barbaric country, and it is difficult to become a big weapon; most likely, it is to go north to Wuxian Kingdom, but if you want to go there, you still have to go through the fiefdom of the Yan family, so it has become the only choice to win over the Yan family. ”

Zhu Lan stared into Zhu Long's eyes and said, "Big brother, you take the heavy troops of the yellow-robed forbidden army of the Guogong Mansion to be stationed in the north of the city, closely search for Gao Fei, and at the same time look at the Yan family, I want to find out the reason for Gao Fei's secret disappearance, hoping to find some clues from it." ”

Late at night, the princess's bedchamber.

The guards and palace maids on the night of the night were sparse, and there were terrible cries of night owls outside the window from time to time. In the princess's boudoir, a candle flame emitted a faint light, and a soft sobbing faintly came from the pale cyan glass tent.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the boudoir. The knock on the door was not urgent or loud, but it was still clear in the quiet of the night. The crying in the glass tent gradually stopped, and so did the knocking on the door outside the window.

Silent.

There was no movement in the room, the people outside the window didn't seem to be in a hurry, and the knock on the door didn't sound again, but the people didn't seem to leave.

After a while, a slightly crying girl's voice came from the tent: "It seems that something is wrong to visit the woman in the boudoir late at night." ”

There was still silence outside the door, and it seemed that the visitor had waited deliberately for a while before he replied softly, "Second sister, it's me." ”

As soon as the words fell, the door opened, Gao Xue ran out barefoot with big red and swollen watery eyes, she quickly looked at the uninvited guest, then grabbed the person's hand and dragged it into the room, while dragging it while probing her brain and looking around: "Don't come in quickly, how dangerous!"

This visitor has a white face, angular eyebrows and eyes, a small beard sticky on his lips, wearing the clothes of the prince's entourage, and carrying a small baggage, which is the third prince Gao Fei, who has been missing for a day.

"It's cold in spring and cold on night, so hurry up and put on your shoes and put on that fox fur coat. Gao Fei looked at his sister, who had been haggard for a day, and couldn't bear it, so he helped Gao Xue back to the bed and sat down, and took the coat that hung on the side.

Seeing that her brother was fine, Gao Xue finally breathed a sigh of relief, but tears couldn't help but flow down, and she whispered softly: "Why are you dressed like this?"

Gao Fei didn't answer, but said: "My brother came to visit late at night, I came to bid farewell to my sister, and now the situation is sinister, I am afraid that in the future, I will only rely on my sister to mediate in the palace, you must take care!"

Gao Xue shook her head, and her pretty face with rain looked a little pale: "The old thief Zhu Ning has framed you as a thief who killed your father and brother, and you want to be succeeded by the fourth brother, and you have also sent heavy troops to block the north gate, where else can you go?"

Gao Fei's eyes were like torches, and he said categorically: "I'll go find the fourth brother." ”

Gao Xue held her brother's hand tightly with both hands, and said in a mournful voice: "That old thief forced me to write a letter to persuade the fourth brother to come back and succeed to the throne, and also fabricated more than a dozen evil deeds in the letter to blame you, the fourth brother has been sent to the army since he was a child, and he has not spoken to us a few times in a few years.

Gao Fei still said firmly: "In this way, I want to go even more." If we don't go, our brothers and sisters will be killed, and if we go, there will be a glimmer of hope. ”

Although Gao Xue was full of grief and anger at the moment, she also understood the current situation very well, Gao Fei also shook her sister's hand hard, and comforted: "Second sister, don't worry, I have confidence." The fourth brother will not be our enemy, Zhu Ning never thought that I would come to a dark adventure to find my sister, nor did I dare to venture to find the fourth brother. ”

Gao Xue barely squeezed out a smile: "You, it's always so unexpected." ”

Gao Fei nodded, put down the burden on his body, and carefully handed it to Gao Xue: "These things will be handed over to my sister for safekeeping, and my sister may be able to use them later, I'm leaving, the palace is difficult, sister take care!"

Gao Xue took the burden, and the moment her palm touched the thing, Gao Xue knew what was inside.

"Wait!" Gao Xue waved his hand to stop Gao Fei, put his fingertips into his mouth and bit it down hard, took out a roll of silk silk and wrote down eight words: "Brothers work together, don't forget the blood feud!" After writing, he stuffed the silk silk into his younger brother's hand, and said gently but firmly: "Take it to the fourth brother and tell him that the second sister will be waiting for you in the capital!"

Gao Fei solemnly took the silk silk into his arms, he stared at the weak woman with messy hair and pale face in front of him, and under the candle flame, for a moment, he felt as if he was looking up at a goddess dressed in the glow.