Empress Chu

The child nodded triumphantly: "Grandpa Huang really likes me." He leaned closer to his mother and lowered his voice, "Ms. Zhao doesn't like me, and she wants Grandpa Huang to like me too, but Grandpa Huang ignores her."

The princess hurriedly signaled to her son in a low voice: "You can't talk nonsense where your majesty is."

"I know." The child hugged his mother tightly, "I never talk nonsense, except by my mother's side."

The mother is the safest place in the world. The princess smiled softly, and sat down with her son in her arms. The mother and son talked, and they couldn't bear to go to sleep late at night.

"Mother, didn't you say Uncle Three is here? When can I see him?" Xiao Yu asked.

The third uncle, Xie Yanfang, was the person mother often talked about. He was smart, beautiful, and omnipotent. Although he had never seen him before, he had become the person most familiar and admired by children.

The princess hugged her son and smiled: "He is coming soon, you have to study hard, and when the third uncle comes to see you, he will definitely test you. After taking the test, we found that our Yu'er is as smart as him. I was really shocked." !"

Yu'er giggled: "I must scare uncle three once! Two times! Three times!"

The palace lady smiled and turned off the lights around her: "As soon as I see your highness, the young lady can't finish talking. What's the rush, let's talk about it tomorrow."

The Crown Princess smiled and pinched her son's cheek: "I can't finish talking to Ayu every day."

Ayu giggled, lying on the bed, holding her mother's hand: "Mother, then tonight I will tell a story that is too long to tell."

The princess smiled and said hello, and leaned beside her son, telling stories in a soft voice.

The maid didn't say anything anymore, leaving only a night light behind, and retreated. Although the lights were dim, there was no loneliness in the gorgeous palace.

Mother and child are accompanied by each other, relatives depend on each other, this day is not difficult.

……

……

At night, in the deep mountains of the remote border county, there are no gorgeous palaces and bright lights, and it is pitch black. Occasionally, night birds fly by and make frightening calls.

Across layers of dense forests and mountains, a wooden house stands on a cliff of a mountain peak. At this time, the closed door reveals a dim light.

The lamp flickered for a while, and a girl seemed to come out of the darkness, knocking on the door loudly.

"Auntie, Auntie." She said anxiously, "Zhong Changrong has gone to Beijing."

Chapter 63 Mountains

The door of the wooden house opened, and the night rushed in, and the oil lamp jumped, covering the person sitting at the table like a shadow.

The shadow was slender and seemed to be blown away by the wind.

The girl who ran in stopped her feet, made her breathing slow, and lowered her voice: "Auntie, I am sure that Zhong Changrong is going to the capital, and I have also inquired about the county, and the officials are scolding General Chu, saying that he does not know. With my own status, I am going to Beijing to anger His Majesty again."

The figure in front of the table was silent for a moment: "He hasn't sent anyone to the capital for many years."

Her voice is soft and pleasant.

The girl clenched her hands and snorted: "Whether he sends people to the capital or not, no one will know about him. Officials in the county and the city don't even know his real skills."

The female shadow smiled slightly: "Xiaoman, what I mean is that he hasn't let Zhong Changrong go to the capital for so many years. Zhong Changrong is his right-hand man, and he won't leave easily."

Xiaoman snorted, but she wasn't too happy, and muttered: "It's been so many years and we haven't had any contact with each other. Who knows if Zhong Changrong is still his right-hand man."

The figure under the lamp is silent.

Xiaoman suddenly panicked, scolded himself in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Then, what is Zhong Changrong doing in Beijing?" An idea occurred to him, "Did you go to pick up Chu Zhao?"

After she finished speaking, she was beaming with joy, admiring her own intelligence.

"That's right, I must have gone to pick up Chu Zhao."

"Auntie, Chu Zhao is coming back."

The figure under the lamp shook his head: "Azhao didn't ask Zhong Changrong to escort him when he left. He just picked him up, and he didn't ask Zhong Changrong to pick him up. It must be not that simple."

The figure stood up in a flash.

"There must be something else, and this matter must be very important, maybe it will threaten Ah Zhao, so Zhong Changrong is allowed to go."

As he spoke, people paced around the room, and with a gust of wind, the weak oil lamp went out with a puff, and the room was completely engulfed in darkness.

Xiaoman raised his hand and slapped himself on the face, why did he mention Chu Zhao!

"Auntie, are you thinking too much? What can happen?"

"It was all right back then."

The figure in the darkness stopped, and said faintly: "Back then, he didn't let Zhong Changrong go to the capital to meet the emperor."

After that, people went out.

"No, I'm going to ask him what happened."

But one foot stepped over the threshold, and the other stopped, and the tall and slender figure remained motionless in the night.

"I said that I will never step into Luocheng in this life, and I will never see him again."

She murmured in a low voice.

"He did what he said, and kept Ah Zhao to raise him, so I will also do what he said."

This is what I said, and it really made my aunt suffer.

In fact, Xiaoman doesn't quite understand. When it comes to doing this kind of thing, for people like them, it's just casual talk. She tells her sisters and brothers seven or eight hundred times a year, and more than 900 times she doesn't do it. arrive.

However, thinking of the matter between her aunt and that person, she didn't dare to ask more questions.

Just looking at the back standing between the threshold, Xiaoman, who is young and knows nothing about sorrow, can feel sadness.

"Auntie." She called, "Then let's go to the capital."

The frozen figure moved, to the capital?

"It's about not stepping into Luocheng, but it didn't say that you can't step into the capital." Xiaoman felt more and more that his idea was good, and his eyebrows were beaming. "Let's go to the capital too, and we can know what Zhong Changrong is going to do by staring at Zhong Changrong, and we can also see him." It's Chuzhao."

See Chu Zhao.

Counting the days, in fact, it has only been more than a year, but it seems like a lifetime.

To the capital——

Lift the other foot and step through the door, one step, two steps, three steps, faster and faster, the slender figure is like a sharp sword about to split the night.

The mountain road is rugged, but to her, it is like walking on flat ground.

Xiaoman ran to keep up.

"Auntie, slow down." She couldn't help shouting.

The running figure stopped after the words were spoken.

"Xiaoman." She said, "I can't go."

Why is she yelling slower?Xiaoman raised her hand again and slapped herself. Is it really like what the third brother said, she is a crow's mouth?What can be said to be bad?

"Auntie." Xiaoman said hastily, "Don't worry about the village, with everyone here, nothing will happen. Those officers and soldiers are stupid, they only dare to shout, and they don't even want to enter the mountain. We came out, but they ran away instead. "

"I'm not worried about the village." The figure said softly, "I can't go."

What is that worrying about?Is there anything more worrying for my aunt than Chu Zhao?Xiaoman was puzzled.

The figure stopped talking, turned around, and took Xiaoman's hand: "Xiaoman, take someone to the capital."

Xiaoman said: "Me? I can't do it."

"Xiaoman, Auntie knows, thank you for your hard work." The female voice was low, full of apology, "You have never gone out before, such a long way."

Xiaoman exclaimed: "Auntie, what are you talking about? I'm not afraid of hard work. Besides, why haven't I been out of the house? I haven't been to the 29 villages in the eight cities of the county. It's enough to go back and forth to the capital twice."

The female voice laughed: "I know, Xiaoman is very powerful."

Xiaoman was a little embarrassed, and held the woman's weak and boneless hand: "Auntie, I mean, why don't you go in person?"

The woman shook her head: "No, I don't want to see her."

Xiaoman sighed in her heart, what a crime, the person she clearly thinks about day and night all the time, but she can't see her.

"Okay." She nodded, "Auntie, I'll take someone there and I'll handle things, don't worry."

The woman held her hand tightly and shook her lightly: "Although Xiaoman is young, I am most at ease in handling things, and my aunt is very grateful to you. It is my aunt who has worked hard for you for Ah Zhao. You are also a child—"

Xiaoman stomped her feet: "Auntie, stop talking, I'm not angry at all." She stretched out her arms and hugged the woman, "Auntie, you miss Azhao, but for more than ten years, I have been the one who has enjoyed your doting, I was born When I came down and cried at night, it was you who hugged me night after night. I didn’t like to eat when I was a child. Dressing up, what you gave me is something A Zhao never got."

Without waiting for the woman to speak again, she let go of her hand, turned and ran away.

"Auntie, just wait, I will go to see Ah Zhao for you."

In the dark night and the rugged mountain road, the little girl was like a sensitive deer, jumping among them, and soon disappeared.

Birds chirped in the dense forest, and soon there were more and more birdsong, and the majestic and huge mountains shook.

The night wind stroked the dress, and the slender body seemed to be blown up and flew away in the next moment.

But the woman stood steadily all the time, looking at the distance beyond the layers of mountain shadows.

"Azhao, mother is sorry for you." She said softly, "I left you behind when I was a child, and I still want to leave you now. Mother is worried about you, but mother is even more worried. He—"

He first sent his daughter to the capital, and then sent his most trusted and reliable brother to the capital. Is something going to happen to him?

Chapter 64 Road Bandits

Border counties are vast and sparsely populated. Except for a few checkpoint counties that are prosperous, other places have been depressed due to years of war.

A group of businessmen on the road hurried.

Three carts of goods surrounded more than 20 bodyguards, who were fully equipped with swords, guns, bows and arrows.

"Hurry up." The lead bodyguard urged, "Otherwise, we won't be able to make it to the city when it gets dark."

The businessman in the team is very young, with a bit of casualness: "If you can't make it to the city, you will sleep in the wild. I am not spoiled at home. I have suffered a lot. I have traveled to the south line and the north line. It is common to eat and sleep in the open. .”

The bodyguard smiled wryly: "Young Master Sun, it's okay to eat and sleep in the open air in the hinterland of the Central Plains, but this county is not good. Bandits are rampant. Without the protection of the city, it is very dangerous."

The businessman sat up straight: "Is it true? Doesn't it mean that Bian County has not been fighting for a long time and is safe?"

"It's true that there is no battle, but here are poor mountains and rivers, and bandits are rampant." The bodyguard said.

The businessman recalled the city he had passed through before: "There are so many officers and soldiers, don't they arrest the bandits?"

"Take it." The escort raised his whip and urged the horse, "I can't finish it. Besides, the officers and soldiers are used to defend Xiliang, and they don't want to use their strength to arrest bandits."

The businessman sighed, thoughtful, and his expression became a little nervous: "Then, let's hurry up."

A group of people yelled to urge the horse-drawn carriage to gallop, but when they arrived and crossed a hill, a group of people and horses appeared in front of them, waving big knives in their hands, and laughing strangely.

"Good luck today—"

"It's been a long time since so many people have passed by on our road."

"Well-wishers passing by, please give me some money."

Seeing this group of people and hearing the weird laughter and screams, the expressions of the bodyguards and merchants all changed.

"Back, back." The leading bodyguard said hurriedly, and led the bodyguards to form a defensive formation.

The young businessman still had some expectations: "They want money, give them money - I have encountered bandits before, just give them money."

The bodyguard shouted: "Young Master Sun, the bandits here are not so easy to talk to. They want money, but they also want lives. They can strip clothes and eat human flesh."

This is not a bandit at all, but a wild beast. The young businessman's face was pale, and he no longer had the indifference before.

"Drop the cargo, drop the cargo," he yelled, running back in a hurry.

The bandits had already surrounded them with strange screams, and the arrows shot by the escort's strong bow caused several bandits to fall off their horses.

It really is an inhuman beast.

Despair appeared in the eyes of the bodyguards, it seemed that this time there was more danger than luck.

The young master who was being escorted to flee was hit by the flying stones—these bandit weapons even had stones, and they hit his shoulders, and he fell off his horse with a loud cry—

He kept rolling with his head in his arms, avoiding the horse's hooves.

There were more screams and people fell off their horses.

It's over, the young merchant curled up on the ground, and he made this trip deliberately to fight for his family property. He didn't expect to die here, even if the family property belongs to him, what's the use, he can't enjoy it even if he is dead——

Tears flowed from the eyes of the young merchant, and a big knife was faintly visible on the top of his head——

But at this moment, there was an even louder sound of horseshoes and a buzzing sound of piercing through the air.