Frost shines on Qingcheng

The inner city was brightly lit, and the ministers rushed to the main hall one after another with congratulatory gifts. No one dared to miss the auspicious time for the banquet.

Shen Shuangzhao was no different from the past, still wearing a simple and plain outer shirt, walking slowly from Qingshuang Hall to the main hall.When she walked to the corridor outside the main hall, she suddenly looked up and saw Luo Ji coming from the other side.

"It's Sister Shuangzhao." When Luo You saw her, she was very excited, clamoring to get out of Luo Ji's arms.Luo Ji had no choice but to put her on the ground.As soon as she was free, Luo You ran towards Shen Shuangzhao like a wild horse running wild.

Shen Shuangzhao bent down/body, with a doting smile on her brows and eyes, as soon as she stretched out her hand, that small body threw herself into her arms.

"It's been a long time since I saw Sister Shuangzhao, You'er misses you."

The soft and waxy voice made Shen Shuangzhao full of love and affection, hugged her and kissed her cheek: "I miss you very much too, You'er has grown a lot taller."

"When I grow taller than you, I will hug you instead." Luo You said seriously.

"Little fool." Shen Shuangzhao gently scratched the bridge of her nose, "Is it just you and dad?"

Just as Luo You was about to answer, Luo Ji walked over: "The city lord was seriously injured a few days ago, I'd better carry this child." He made a gesture and carried Luo You back.

"Sovereign master, please come here safe." Shen Shuangzhao showed no expression, "However, for such a grand banquet, your lord, why don't you see the suzerain's wife accompanying you?"

Luo Ji smiled, and said: "She contracted a cold a few days ago, and came to Shuilan City after a long journey. Considering her health, she will not accompany her this time. I believe my sister can understand."

Shen Shuangzhao looked directly into his eyes, paused, and wanted to say something but was interrupted by Luo Qi.

"What are you talking about so vigorously?" Luo Qi, dressed in a lake blue dress, walked up the steps of the main entrance.

Shen Shuangzhao retracted her gaze from Luo Ji's face, and explained: "I happened to meet Sect Master Luo, so we chatted for a while."

Luo Qi looked at her, and then turned to Luo Ji.Luo You was terrified when she saw Luo Qi, her little head was buried in her father's arms and she didn't dare to move.It was still Luo Ji who reminded: "You'er, Auntie is here, why didn't you say hello?"

Luo You held onto his clothes tightly, and it took a long time before she reluctantly raised her head, and called out aggrievedly: "You'er has seen aunt."

"Come down quickly, how can there be such a greeting?" Luo Ji ordered with his voice pressed down.

Luo Qi didn't have the heart to argue with the child too much, and said, "Okay, why not get angry with the child. She is still young, so just teach her slowly." After speaking, she took a special look at Shen Shuangzhao, obviously speaking to her Listen.

Shen Shuangzhao deliberately turned her body sideways, not wanting to pay too much attention to it.

"Okay, don't stand at the door, go in. It's time for the banquet." Luo Qi walked into the hall first after speaking.

Luo Ji and Shen Shuangzhao were still standing at the door, they looked at each other and walked in without saying anything.

The following banquet was no different from an ordinary banquet except for a few flattering ministers giving congratulatory gifts.

Shen Shuangzhao sat on Luo Qi's left side, didn't say much the whole time, just poured himself wine blindly.Luo Qi looked at her from time to time, and she just toasted her.

Because Luo You was sitting beside him, Luo Ji didn't drink much.And because he was thinking about tonight's action, he didn't dare to drink more.Seeing Shen Shuangzhao drinking one cup after another, even his cheeks flushed, his heart began to beat.

"Today is my sister's birthday, my younger brother would like to offer you a toast, wishing you..."

All she said were those few polite words, Shen Shuangzhao automatically blocked the outside voices that had nothing to do with her, lowered her head, and poured wine for herself.

"I haven't seen you for a long time, and I just take this opportunity to catch up on the old days, City Lord Shen, I'd like to toast you." At some point, Luo Ji walked up to Shen Shuangzhao with a wine glass and a wine bottle.Shen Shuangzhao raised her head, looked at him and then at Luo Qi, and stood up reluctantly after dawdling for a while.

Luo Ji looked at her with a smile, and there was still something hinting in his eyes intentionally or unintentionally.Shen Shuang remained expressionless, holding the wine glass and waiting for him to pour wine for herself.Luo Ji held up the wine bottle and was about to pour wine for her, but accidentally slipped his hand, the bottle fell down, and the spilled wine splashed Shen Shuang all over his body.

"I didn't notice it for a while, so please forgive me." Luo Ji hurriedly apologized, and called the maid to wipe her wet clothes.

However, Shen Shuangzhao didn't seem to appreciate it, and subconsciously glanced at Luo Qi on the high seat.Luo Qi took a sip of the wine, savored it carefully, and looked at them calmly.

Shen Shuangzhao frowned irritably, with displeasure on her face, she dropped the wine glass and said coldly: "The clothes are wet, I'll go back and change."

The city lord left the table first, and the ministers below naturally talked about it. "Okay, let's do what she wants." Luo Qi's words made the scene quiet, "Let's continue."

Luo Ji returned to his seat and sat down, drinking in silence, thoughtful.Luo Qi sat on it, looking at him coldly through the crowd.

Shen Shuangzhao came out from the main hall, followed by two maids.She walked and they followed, she stopped and they also stopped.Unbearable, she scolded: "Who allowed you to follow me?"

Although the maid could sense that she was in a bad mood tonight, it was the first time she was scolded by the city lord, she immediately took two steps back in fright, and hurriedly knelt down.

"It's just going back to change clothes, why should you follow me every step of the way? Wait here, I will come back after changing clothes." Shen Shuangzhao said in a bad tone, even a little sullen.

The maid looked at each other in dismay, not daring to let Shen Shuangzhao go back alone, and not daring to disobey the order to continue to follow her, she blinked and found that Shen Shuangzhao was no longer there.

After getting rid of the maid, Shen Shuangzhao took his time to pick a path that was dimly lit or even dark.Her face was quietly and silently submerged in the night, and it was impossible to see her expression clearly at this moment.

Since it was Luo Qi's birthday, all the people in the inner city went to the main hall except for the patrolling guards and a few maids on duty, and there were even fewer people staying in Luo Qi's sleeping hall.Shen Shuangzhao has lived in this inner city for so many years, and she can find the way with her eyes closed.It is not difficult for her to enter Luo Qi's bedroom.

In the sleeping hall, there was only a faint light flickering from a candle that was about to burn out. Shen Shuangzhao's footsteps were very soft, but she walked in step by step with her back straight.She stood still beside Luo Qi's bed, facing the dark bed, and vaguely remembered the scene when Luo Qi slept with her arms around her when she was a child.However, that was definitely not a good memory for her.Thinking of the same bed she shared with her recently, the stiffness and anxiety made her extremely unsteady in her sleep.She can't love Luo Qi at all, she can't be imprisoned by Luo Qi's side for the rest of her life, if...

In fact, there is no "if", everything is already doomed.

She came back to her senses, leaned down and started groping in the dark to find the token that Luo Ji had mentioned.After fumbling around the corners, I finally found a gap in the dark grid.She took out the dagger, inserted the blade into the gap and pried it hard, and the cover of the secret compartment came loose.Shen Shuangzhao stretched out her hand, and she really touched a sign.

She straightened up and wiped the token with her sleeve. With the faint light, she could vaguely see the pattern of two water dragons hovering on the silver token.That should be it.

However, Shen Shuangzhao was not happy at all, and there was no trace of emotional change on her face.

She was sitting upright on the edge of the bed with her eyes closed, and her fingertips were stroking the lines on the token over and over again. No one else knew what was going on in her mind at the moment.At the end, she smiled slightly with one corner of her mouth raised.

Footsteps and human voices could be heard outside the door one after another. The light from the torches held by the guards and the lanterns in the hands of the maids also shone in from outside the door. The orange light fell on Shen Shuangzhao's side face, while she was still sitting calmly. by the bed.

"Come out." The footsteps and human voices suddenly disappeared, and Luo Qi's cold and sullen voice was especially loud in the night.

Only then did Shen Shuangzhao slowly open her eyes, and looked down at the silver token. She didn't seem surprised by all this.

Luo Qi stood in front of everyone through the door: "You did something wrong, just admit your mistake to me and promise that there will be no next time, and I can pretend nothing happened."

The smile on Shen Shuangzhao's lips deepened, and she said: "But all of this has already happened, will you let me go?"

"That depends on how you do it."

"No matter what I do, will you give me freedom?" From now on, she was afraid that even the right to move around in the inner city would be deprived.

Luo Qi's expression was serious, and the feeling of being deceived and betrayed also tortured her.After paying so much, he almost dug out his heart and put it in Shen Shuangzhao's hands, but it ended up with Shen Shuangzhao treating her like this.Thinking about it this way, the tenderness towards Shen Shuangzhao was all wrong.

"I tried to give you back a little bit of freedom, but you didn't want it." Speaking of this, Luo Qi was almost heartbroken. She is also a person of flesh and blood, and she will be hurt and heartbroken if she is deceived by someone she loves deeply.

Shen Shuangzhao stood up, and walked out the door step by step as she did when she came in.She opened the door and walked down the steps, and what she saw was Luo Qi's cold face.

Luo Qi stared at her, and then shifted her gaze to her hand. She looked at the token and said sarcastically, "I got it, are you happy? Do you think you can finally join forces with this idiot to get rid of me?"

Shen Shuangzhao's eyes passed through her, and saw Luo Ji being held around his neck with swords by several guards, his eyes were full of unwillingness and hatred.She didn't say anything, and after looking away, she lowered her eyes to look at the delicate token in her hand, her words were very calm, and she asked Luo Qi, "Is the token real?"

"Really. Aji didn't lie to you. If you can get the imperial guards and Lu Qingrong's troops, you may really be able to overthrow me. It's a pity that 'maybe' is just a hypothesis. Now, already There is no such possibility." Luo Qi squinted his eyes and told her word by word that she had lost and had no choice but to beg for mercy.

Shen Shuangzhao chuckled, straightened her back and raised her head, Luo Qi, who was much shorter than her, could only look up at her.Shen Shuangzhao raised his hand, let go in front of her, and the token fell to the ground.She raised her foot again, crushed the token with her foot, and said calmly, "I don't care."

Luo Qi asked mockingly again: "Where's your Lu Qingrong? It's all at this juncture, why hasn't he shown up?"

Speaking of this, Shen Shuangzhao walked towards Luo Ji, the guards surrounding her were about to attack, but Luo Qi raised his hand to stop her.She walked up to Luo Ji: "Speaking of Lu Qingrong, I have to apologize to you now. In fact, I haven't mentioned a single word to her about the cooperation between you and me. Even I was with her that night on the island in the middle of the lake. Seeing you after the tryst was the last time I saw her. After that, she probably returned to Shahai, and I never contacted her again."

Luo Ji was offended by her, it turned out that he had been deceived by her all along.His eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth with hatred. He shouted: "Shen Shuangzhao! You shameless liar! Why? Why did you do this?"

Shen Shuangzhao shook her head: "Because your sister knows everything, instead of letting your and my subordinates sacrifice in vain in this senseless coup, it's better to let everything go. Too many people died because of me..."

Luo Qi suddenly grabbed her skirt, and asked through gritted teeth: "Why do you torture me like this? Since you know that I know all about your private affairs, why do you still have a tryst with Lu Qingrong, and why do you deliberately pretend to accept my love?" look?"

Shen Shuangzhao let her grab him, and wrote lightly: "What about you? You know that I have a tryst with Lu Qingrong, and you also know that my obedience to you is all fake, why don't you expose me?"

Luo Qi felt like a stick in his throat, even if he had the answer in his heart, he would not say it.But the more she thought about it, the more she hated her, and finally stretched out a hand and slapped her hard.

"We are all pretending to be deaf and dumb, just to deceive ourselves, so as to obtain a little happiness that is difficult to obtain, or has never been obtained." Shen Shuangzhao seemed to have lost consciousness, and the slap on the face did not feel any pain.