bodyguard

The third day of December.

The palace was very lively today, it was the time when it was snowing heavily, and the magnolia branches were covered with a thick layer of snow, which was really beautiful.The palace maids and guards kept coming and going in various palaces, shuttling back and forth, and the rustling sounds brought a lot of popularity to this winter day.

I used to tidy up the prince's things before, but after half a year, they have been moved, and many of them have to be found now. I was sweating profusely when I searched for things.

There are several palace people around the prince wearing today's formal attire, he has become much calmer lately, and he is not too excited to be crowned soon.

I opened another grid, and finally found the jade pendant that I had given successively, fastened it on the crown prince, and straightened his collar.

He kept a calm face, allowing me to fiddle with him.

The palace man next to me handed me a gem-studded Longshouyi knife, and I put it on the crown prince.

The prince turned around and looked around, and walked up to Zhang Ai.

There is a horizontal knife on the low table, which is the one I took off because of the inconvenience.

The prince shook the horizontal knife and turned around: "Don't feast, I see that your knife is very good, can you lend it to Gu for a day?"

I nodded and said, "Of course."

He took out the Yi knife and replaced it with the horizontal knife.Another man took another scabbard, put the ceremonial knife in it, and handed it to me: "You can use this for now. Let's change it when I come back."

It was almost time, he left Yichun Palace surrounded by a group of palace people, got on the carriage, I also got on the horse, and followed the carriage to the Ancestral Temple.

The ancestral temple is an important place, I can't get in, I can only guard the prince's carriage outside the ancestral temple.

The crown prince came out at dusk, and when he returned to Yichun Palace, it was already the time when the crown prince finished his meal and washed.Palace people withdrew from Yichun Palace one after another.

The prince was not asleep yet, standing beside a three-color cabinet looking for things.

I said: "What is the prince looking for? Come here, sir."

He turned around and smiled, holding something in his hand: "I'm looking for this."

It was a forehead guard decorated with beautiful jade. The material of the beautiful jade was clear and the carving was exquisite.

He moved closer to me, sprayed his warm breath on my face, and tied the forehead protector on my head: "I haven't seen you wearing any accessories on weekdays. You practice martial arts, and you wear a wipe." The amount is just right."

He moved a little further away, looked at me for a moment and said: "You are just right to use this. When you leave the palace in the future, I will not be by your side. You must also remember to wear it every day. When it wears out, when will you come to Taijing to look for it?" Me, I will give you another one, and you and I can also use this to meet."

I just nodded slightly.

Where is there any future meeting?

But in five or seven years, I will leave this world.

However, saying this at this time would be too distasteful, so I had no choice but to say: "It's getting late, His Royal Highness should go to bed early."

He smiled softly: "It's the last night, Bie Yan is willing to sleep with Gu Gu for another night?"

There was no dream all night, when I woke up it was dark, I finished dressing lightly, and was about to leave Yichun Palace, when a voice sounded from behind: "Farewell, don't you want to leave without saying goodbye to Gu Dao?"

I turned around, and the prince was standing in front of the screen in a snow-white coat.

I had no choice but to cup my hands and said: "There is no time to go, the prince should not read it."

"Come here." He took something from a coat rack on the side.

I walked over, he bowed slightly, and tied a jade pendant on my belt, it was the one he used yesterday.This thing is very precious, and it was given to him by the crown prince and mother, it is very meaningful, I should not accept it, but it is useless to persuade him at this time, he will definitely not listen to it at this moment, so I do not refuse.

"Okay, let's go." He took a step back, lowered his eyes, showing a sad look that was different from usual.

"It's still early, the prince should go back to sleep. The minister is gone, the prince takes care."

I arched my hands to him, and opened the door of Yichun Palace, the wind hit my face with slight snowflakes, I turned around and closed the door, and the snow-white figure looking at me was perfectly blocked.

Magnolia beside the steps trembled in the night wind.

When can we see magnolia blooming again?

Stepping into the night, I went straight out of Taijing all the way.

Three days later, I stepped into an inn in a small town near Taijing.

A few days before I left the palace, I was so busy preparing for the crown prince's coronation ceremony that I was dizzy. On the day I was about to leave, I actually forgot to change the knife back. Fortunately, I didn't forget it for a long time, and it was only a few days' journey back.

The inn was very large, the only decent inn in town.Before I entered the door, a waiter took the reins from my hand and led the horse to the stable for me. After I paid the silver taels after entering the door, another waiter came up to welcome me and enthusiastically led me to the room.

I asked the mistress for two dishes and ate slowly in the room, probably because my clothes were too simple, the window of the room arranged by the mistress was so clever that it faced the stables and smelled like horse manure. My meal was very tasty.

When the food was almost finished, there was a sound of horse neighing in the stable, I got up and poked my head out slightly, and saw the Xiaoer who led the horses and several people dressed as warriors led a dozen horses in in a mess.

After a while, I heard a loud sound of going up the stairs. The enthusiastic young man led about a dozen or three people up, four or five of whom lived in the remaining vacant rooms on my floor, and a few others. upstairs.

I smelled something familiar from this group of people.

Many years ago, when I was still young, Master often went to various sects to have banquets. Because I was the youngest, he often took me with him when he went to banquets.I remember I once went to a small sect, the head of the school was a handsome and joking person, but his younger brother always had a cold face and never talked to those of us who attended the banquet.The master said that among the brothers, the older one practiced Zhongzheng and peaceful exercises, while the younger one practiced Yin and cold exercises. Human beings were influenced by the methods they practiced, so their temperaments were quite different.I felt very strange at the time, so I was deeply impressed.Now after many years, I still remember the aura of the pair of senior brothers.

The dozen or so people who came in just now had an aura similar to that of the senior brother.

People who practice Taoism seldom set foot in the rivers and lakes, so I don't know why these dozens of people came to Taijing together.However, their sect's martial arts are not very exquisite, and these few people's cultivation is even more superficial. There are many gods and men in Taijing, and they can't make any big waves if they think about it.

I told Xiao Er to put away the dishes, wash up and then lay down on the bed. I was really tired from running around these days, and I didn't care about going to sleep at night after sleeping, so I'll talk about it after getting enough sleep.

After a good sleep, it was already dark when I woke up. After dinner, I couldn’t fall asleep again, but I had nothing to do, so I had to turn on the lamp and lie on the bed to look at the stars outside the window.

It's cloudy tonight, the moon is not very bright, and there are only a few planetesimals, barely shining.Lying alone in the inn late at night watching the stars, my life is quite bleak.

Probably God couldn't bear to watch it any longer, and the sound of footsteps walking up and down upstairs began to sound continuously.

Hey, I don't know what happened to the old man upstairs, and he is not afraid of sore legs when he walks up and down in the middle of the night.

After a while, there was only a "squeak", the old man who had been walking just now stopped, and there was another sound of footsteps coming from far to near, and then fell silent within a few breaths.

About a quarter of an hour later, footsteps sounded again, this time from near to far. After the "squeak", there was no more movement upstairs.

I didn't hear the sound of going up and down the stairs. I think it was someone from the inn looking for my brother upstairs.After the surroundings became quiet again, I lay comfortably on the bed, and I didn't know how long I lay there, and fell asleep again in a daze.

When I got up the next day, there was heavy snow outside the window, and the sky was dark and white.I forgot to close the window last night, and the cold wind blew in the snowflakes all over the place. The carbon in the house had already been extinguished, so the snowflakes did not melt.

I thought the snow would stop at night, but unexpectedly it fell intermittently for a long time. When the sky cleared and I led the horse through the city gate, it was already five days later.

After the snowfall, there were not many pedestrians in the capital, and the Chinese New Year would be over half a month away. There were many vendors on the streets, and many officials came to Beijing, making the city more lively than usual.

I found an inn closer to the palace, thinking about sneaking into Yichun Palace tonight and getting the knife back.

The prince's temper is getting weirder now.I reckon that he did the knife change on purpose. If I saw him directly wanting to change the knife, he would have fooled him. Why don't I change it quietly by myself. It will take a few days until he finds out, and I'll be out of Beijing by then , It will be difficult to find me again.

By the way, I can also return the jade pendant he gave me.

After I made a plan, I waited for the sunset, had dinner, and waited until half past Haishi before going out.

At this time, Taijing had already had a curfew, and I hid in the shadow under the wall, avoiding the patrolling Jinwu guards all the way, climbing over several palace walls, and finally arrived at Yichun Palace.

Less than ten days later, Yichun Palace was covered with a thick layer of white snow, still resplendent and majestic, but I was a little strange.

At this time, the lights in the palace had not yet been turned off, and the warm yellow lights shone on the snow, reflecting light from the stars.I hid in a hiding place out of the light of the lights, and bided my time.

It's the time of the prince, I don't know what the prince is doing, but he hasn't gone to bed yet, those who want to come to Chunbao don't dare to persuade him, they all let him spoil his body.

I was hiding outside Yichun Palace, the cold wind was blowing into my bones, and when my clothes were almost frozen hard, the lights in Yichun Palace had just been turned off, and all the maidservants waiting to serve had left, so I waited for a while, guessing the number of people in the palace. I was already sound asleep, and when I stood up again, I vaguely felt the sound of hard objects rubbing against my clothes.

I stepped forward with luck, skimmed the snow a few times, and landed in front of the palace gate. The condensed air formed, pulled out the door latch, and gently pushed the palace gate open. A gust of hot air mixed with the familiar scent of incense rushed towards my face.

There were a few palace servants sleeping outside who were going to serve at night, I closed the door carefully, walked around them and walked in.

The crown prince has always put some important things in his three-color cabinet, but the length of the horizontal knife cannot fit into the three-color cabinet, so I searched in the hall with anger, but I couldn't find it. When I was in a hurry, I suddenly glanced at the screen, and a thought floated up.

The prince, he wouldn't put that knife by the bed, would he?

I walked around the screen, a knife was leaning against the bed, the metal decoration on the scabbard was reflecting light slightly.

The palace people didn't persuade him, the prince of a country put a knife beside his bed when he slept, and if the news spread, he might be read by Yu Shitai again.

The curtains on the bed were not drawn as usual, and the prince's hands could be vaguely seen outside the brocade quilt.

I took out the jade pendant from my bosom, warmed it with the palm of my hand, then put his hand into the brocade quilt, and stuffed the jade pendant under his hand.Everything was in order, and the two swords were exchanged just now.

I don't know how he feels when he wakes up tomorrow and sees the jade pendant and the knife.But I think it's better than me.

I took one last look at him, turned around and stepped into the snow.