Concubine De knelt in front of the statue of the Queen Mother, took the note and slowly opened it. On the note, a seven-character poem was written with charcoal: "Xishu is cold in the water, the breeze is gone, and the east looks at the pearl of Jiao's claws, who can pity the sorrow of half a life"

When Concubine De saw this poem, her eyes widened, staring at every word on the note in disbelief. With a frightened expression, he didn't come to his senses after a while.

"Niangniang, Niangniang, what's wrong with you? Is there someone disrespecting you again? The slave maid is going to call someone and arrest her and punish her" Qiu'e saw Concubine De's frightened appearance, so she hurriedly asked.

"Wait. Where is this woman now?" asked Concubine De.

"She's in the woods outside the temple gate, do you want the general to get her over now?" asked the guard.

"Quick, take the palace to see her," Concubine De said hurriedly.

"The Last Will Do Duty"

The guards led the way, and the palace maid helped Concubine De and came to the woods outside the temple together. Looking around, there was no one to be seen, so Concubine Nade asked the guard, "Where is the woman?"

"I was still here just now, why didn't I disappear all of a sudden?" the guards also looked around.

At this time, Concubine De took the initiative to open her mouth and shouted into the woods: "May I ask which old man wants to see me?

After shouting, I saw Yi Dan slowly walk out from behind a big tree. She shouted softly at the woman in front of her who was dressed up in luxury and had elegant manners: "Sister Zihan"

Concubine De heard Yi Dan's call and quickly turned her head. I saw a noble woman dressed in gorgeous costumes, which caught Yi Dan's eyes. Her dignified and beautiful face, although she is twenty-three years old, has white skin, tender lips and clear eyebrows, and is not inferior to the twenty-eight-year-old woman. really inherited her Shu female mother, the beauty of heaven and man, indescribably beautiful. No wonder the three fathers and sons of the Zhu family, in order to covet her beauty, did whatever it took to covet her beauty, and even fought to the death.

So Yi Dan rushed at the woman in front of him again and shouted softly: "Sister Zihan, is it you?"

Concubine De took a few steps closer to Yi Dan's side, carefully identified it, and still didn't recognize who Yi Dan was. So she asked, "Who are you, girl, have we met?"

"Sister Zihan, have you seen the note I wrote to you?" Yi Dan asked.

Concubine De looked at Yi Dan suspiciously, nodded lightly, and replied, "Well, I see." In just twenty-eight words, the sorrow of my life is clearly explained, who are you?"

"The word 'sorrow', it seems that I wrote it wrongly, it should be the 'hatred' of hatred, right? Sister Zihan" Yi Dan asked tentatively.

Concubine De frowned, and looked at Yi Dan curiously and cautiously. Yi Dan observed the subtle changes in the expression on Concubine De's face, and saw her confusion and doubt. So he asked again: "It seems that you are really Sister You Zihan, right?"

When Concubine De heard this, she was shocked, frightened, and puzzled and said: "In this world, few people know my original surname, may I ask the girl who you are?"

"That's right, it's you. Sister You Zihan, do you remember the family surnamed Yi who lived in Chang'an City?" Yi Dan asked.

Concubine De looked at Yi Dan's unfamiliar face and said softly: "Do you remember, so many years have passed?"

"I... I am the daughter of the Yi family," Yi Dan looked at Concubine De's face and said softly.

Concubine De's eyes widened, she shook her head, and said incredulously: "No, it can't be, as far as I know, everyone was pushed down at that time... Not a single one is alive."

"Yes, everyone was pushed off the crocodile lake, including me. But at the last moment, it was my master who saved me from the bottom of the cliff, he taught me martial arts, and raised me. I'm the only survivor," Yi Dan said.

Concubine De stared at Yi Dan's face with wide eyes, and asked with a hint of surprise: "Really? I thought that no one would live, it was so hard for me to believe it."

"That's right. Back then, my brother was thrown into a cage by those two demons and ruthlessly executed. I remember that Sister Zihan cried and said to them, 'I have nothing to do with them, please don't kill me, I can make cattle and horses for you as slaves and maids' You were eight years old at the time, you should remember it better than me, right? I believe that no one in this world remembers this sentence except me, right?" Yi Dan said to Concubine Nade word by word.

"That's right, that's right, it's what I said, and every word is still in my ears" After that, Concubine De hurriedly stepped forward again, touched Yi Dan's face, and said excitedly: Are you really Xi'er? Are you really alive? I can't believe it, it's incredible."

"Thank you for remembering my name, I thought you had forgotten all this" Saying that, Yi Dan gently pulled Concubine De's hand away, with mixed feelings, so he continued: "But the former Xi'er has long since died, and my name is Yi Dan now, the Dan of Peony"

Concubine Nade said with tears in her eyes: "How can you forget? Xi'er, I'm sorry! I was so scared, I was afraid that I would be thrown into a dog cage like your brother... Hey, I... Can you forgive me? Can you forgive me for my cowardice and greed for life and fear of death?" Concubine De asked Yi Dan crying.

"I have never hated you, because you were just a helpless child like me, how could I blame you?

"Thank you, thank you for being considerate of me," Concubine De nodded when she heard this.

"But there's one thing I can't figure out," Yi Dan said.

"What's the matter, Xi'er, what do you say?" said Concubine De.

"You were just a kid at the time, and it was your instinct to survive, so you can't blame it. But when you grow up, why don't you leave those demons? Have you forgotten the hatred of the heavens and the sea?" Yi Dan asked.

When Concubine De heard this, she turned her head and said to a few palace maids and guards, "You all go down first."

"But Niangniang, the last general is ordered to protect Niangniang's safety," said the guard.

"This palace is fine, catch up with the old people, listen to the words of this palace, go down first," Concubine De ordered.

So, the retinue obeyed the order and withdrew. Concubine De turned her head and continued to say to Yi Dan: "Back then, on the way back from Dongwang Mountain, I met Zhu Wen's original partner, Mrs. Wei Guo. It was Mrs. Wei who saved me, accepted me as her niece, and in order to protect me, she passed me on to Zhang Guiba. But when she learned of what her son had done, she was so angry that she vomited blood and died. Later, I still couldn't escape the clutches of Zhu Youqi, who raped me for several years before sacrificing me to his father, Zhu Wen. Later, Zhu Youqi killed Zhu Wen for the throne, and not long after that, he was killed by his younger brother, the current emperor."

"Of course I know that this father and son are the culprits who killed my whole family in the first place," Yi Dan said angrily.

"The emperor is very good to me today, he does not dislike my past, but accepts me, so I did not leave," Concubine De continued.

"Your father died at the hands of Zhu Youzhen's father, Zhu Wen, and you still accepted his canonization and became his concubine?

"I know I'm sorry for him, I recognized Zhang Guiba as my father, and I won't have the face to see my father after I die. Even on this mid-year festival, I didn't dare to burn paper for him to worship, so I could only kneel in front of the queen mother and confess. Xi'er, I'm not a good woman, my body, my soul has long been trampled into pieces, maybe this is God's punishment for me, this is the arrangement of fate, I can only accept my fate..."Concubine De cried and said.

"It's just that you are willing to accept your fate and don't know how to fight for it. You can be yourself, and you can escape from the demon's cage. Although I mourn your misfortune, I am also angry with you, Sister Zihan," Yi Dan continued to reprimand Concubine Nade.

"I... I have no way, unlike you, who have martial arts and skills, and can wander the rivers and lakes and be free. I don't have any ability to survive, I can only try to please the emperor, live by his little reward and favor, I am destined to be a prisoner of the palace in this life, I can't get rid of all this at all" You Zihan cried and said.

"It's not that you won't go, but you don't want to go, and if you do, I can take you away now. Get out of here, leave Bianzhou, go" With that, Yi Dan reached out to pull You Zihan's hand.

You Zihan broke free of Yi Dan's hand and continued to cry: "That's right, I really wanted to leave before, but now I don't want to leave. I can't change this fate, and I don't want to change it anymore, I've already accepted my fate, can you leave me alone?"

"Why? Why do you want to be so willing to degenerate and recognize a thief as your father? willingly serve the three demons of their father and son," Yi Dan rebuked.

"Because there are people here that I care about, and the emperor treats me very well, and I have more honors than many other women in the palace. I also have a son and I care about her so much that I don't want to leave them. So Xi'er, I'm sorry! I can't go with you," Concubine De cried and explained to Yi Dan.

"Sister Zihan, can you live a solid life in the face of that mad murderous demon every day?" Yi Dan asked.

"After the emperor ascended the throne, he grew up and became sensible. He has a calm personality, few words, and likes to associate with Confucian scholars, and is no longer as nonsense as before. Xi'er, if anyone is not guilty, will you forgive him once?" You Zihan pleaded with Yi Dan.

Yi Dan said in surprise: "Forgive, Sister Zihan, if these two words come out of someone else's mouth, I may still be able to understand them." But I didn't expect it to come out of your mouth. Have you forgotten all those bloody scenes? The sea of blood is deep, the sky is high and the sea is deep, and you will never forget it. How can you easily say the word 'forgive'? What's wrong with you? Is it really that important to you that much to you about prosperity and riches?"

"No matter how much you hate him, what's the use? He is now the emperor of Daliang, holding the world in his hands, what can you do with him? On the contrary, if I am by his side to restrain him, just like the lady of Wei Guo did when she restrained Zhu Wen, I believe that he will not do anything hurtful to heaven and reason, Xi'er, please believe me?"

"Sister Zihan, I really didn't expect that I finally found you, and you became like this. Since you defend him so much, I have nothing to say. As the saying goes, 'the way is not the same', so it seems that we can only part ways from now on, as if we have never met today."

"Xi'er, I'm sorry, I have too much self-help and helplessness, can you please be considerate of me?"

"Don't talk about this, everyone has their own ambitions, cherish goodbye!" With that, Yi Dan turned around and walked towards the back of the big tree.

Seeing Yi Dan leave decisively and ruthlessly, Concubine De stood in place for a long time before she came to her senses, so she began to walk back slowly.

And just now, when Yi Dan was chatting with Concubine De. Mu Tongfei and the believer came out of the woods, dragged the last palace maid in the evacuation team into the woods in a daze. Yi Dan returned to the woods, and at this time, Mu Tongfei handed over the clothes that had been ripped off the palace maid. He handed the costume to Yi Dan. Yi Dan hurriedly took it and said, "Well, it's good for you, Brother Tongfei" After saying that, he quickly put on the clothes of the palace maid and combed the same hair accessories.

Mu Tongfei handed over a dagger and said, "Bring this with you, if you don't have a weapon, how can you assassinate it?"

"A note just now has been checked again and again by the guards. The palace must be more searched, and there is no need to bring daggers. However, even if I can't kill the faint king, I will still chop him to serious injury," Yi Dan said.

Mu Tongfei nodded, put away the dagger, and then took out a note from his arms and handed it to Yi Dan. Yi Dan asked, "What is this?"

"The map in the palace, you can take it," Mu Tongfei said.

"Well, thank you, Brother Tongfei! I hope that we can meet again" Yi Dan looked at his mother Tongfei's face and said tragically.

"Okay, you have to be careful," Mu Tongfei advised.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," Yi Dan turned and left.

And Concubine Nade hurriedly returned to the Queen Mother Temple, and said to the personal maid: "It's late, hurry up and drive back to the palace."

With that, Concubine De sat on her shoulder, was lifted by the eunuchs, and began to go back in the direction of the palace.

Yi Dan also came out of the grass, followed the team with his head down, and without saying a word, he followed Concubine De's shoulder and went in the direction of the palace. At this time, her heart faintly ignited the tragic and eternal poem written by Ma Qian of Taishi Company in "Historical Records: Biography of the Assassins": "The wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return..."