Placid Chang'an

Su Cen sat in the carriage and stared out the window. At dawn, the city of Chang'an was still relatively quiet. At this time, the only people wandering the streets were early-rising vendors, clients who had just come out of brothels, and gamblers who had stayed up all night in casinos. All living beings live in their own way.

"Master Su, do you know who Xiaoshizi is?" Qi Lin interrupted.

"Huh?" Su Cen returned to his senses slightly, "The eldest son of Beiliang King Xiao Yan, the eldest son of Beiliang Prince's Mansion."

"Do you know why he came to Beijing?"

Su Cen didn't know what Qi Lin was going to say, so he could only continue to reply: "There is a censor participating in the Beiliang King's support for his own strength, intending to rebel."

"It's not intentional." Qi Lin said.

Su Cen was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened.

It's not intention, that's... reality?

Qi Lindao: "Ten years ago, the Lord destroyed Ashina's tribe, which was considered to have wiped out the main force of the Turks. However, in recent years, a side branch of Ashina's subordinates has reorganized the grassland forces, and there is a tendency to move around again. The Liangzhou spy came back to report after a narrow escape. , Beiliang King Xiao Yan has already colluded with Turkic Ye Humoji, if he hadn't feared that Xiao Yuanchen was in our hands, he might have turned against him long ago."

Su Cen obviously still found it unbelievable, and asked: "If so, why didn't the imperial court send troops?"

"Because there is no proof. A team of spies only came back with one of them seriously injured and died after speaking." Qi Lin paused, then continued: "You know that the Xiao family has guarded Liangzhou since Emperor Tai|Zu came to power, The branch is huge, and it is involved in the Anxi Dufu Mansion and Beiting Duhu Mansion, rashly raising troops without evidence will only cause turmoil in the entire Longyou Dao army, and on the contrary, it will give Xiao Yan a reason to rebel."

Su Cen lowered his eyes lightly, and said slowly: "He asked you to tell me, right? You said all this because you wanted to save Xiao Yuanchen."

"Xiao Yuanchen can't die." Qi Lin saw the unhappiness on the man's face, and slowed down his voice, "How did your interrogation go today?"

"It wasn't directly caused by him, but it has something to do with him."

"Whether it is or not, people are killed by him."

"Huh?" Su Cen was taken aback, then raised her head suddenly.

"Whether a person is a homicide or not, he must become a homicide. Xiao Yuanchen can't die, because the master wants to use him in exchange."

"In exchange for what?"

Qi Linning glanced at Su Cen before saying, "The Beiliang Army has the right to control."

The deployment of the Great Zhou army has always been controlled by the soldier talisman. Only when the talisman king is combined into one can the troops be dispatched, but there is one army that is an exception, which is the Beiliang army stationed in Liangzhou.Liangzhou is located at the border between the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Turks, and there is an army guarding it all year round. To support such a team, the imperial court has to pay a large amount of military salary every year, but it has to.The territory of Liangzhou is desolate, and the people are starved of food, so they are all called into the army to eat the royal salary, and it can be hereditary from generation to generation. It has already become a huge network of relationships, and outsiders can't get in at all.Therefore, the Beiliang army only recognizes the commander, not the soldier talisman. If the commander leads them to rebel against them, they will naturally rebel.

This is what Li Shi wanted to trade Xiao Yuanchen for.

"I didn't ask you to tell me," Qi Lin said, "I didn't say anything, because he was afraid that you would make things difficult."

Su Cen opened his mouth slightly, but then fell silent again, keeping his mind on it, who knows if what this person said is true or not, he was tricked by him last time.

It was just dawn when the carriage arrived at Xingqing Palace, and Su Cen was led by Qi Lin to King Ning's bedroom.

Su Cen frowned: "Here again?"

He still has lingering fears from the experience a few months ago. He is really afraid of this place, and even more afraid of the people in the room.

Qi Lin couldn't help but say, and said directly to the room: "Master, people brought it here."

"En." There was a reply from inside.

Su Cen could only bite the bullet and push the door in.

The man was sitting in front of the window wearing only a ochre-colored tunic, his hair tied up by a maid. His profile was deep, his black hair was like a waterfall, and he couldn't look straight at the sun in panic.

Su Cen stopped and watched quietly. This person seemed to be like this all the time, attracting people who couldn't look away but didn't dare to approach him, like a burning fire in the dark night. He knew that approaching would kill him, but he just couldn't let it go.

Thinking about it this way, he has repeatedly acted like a cat with fried hair in front of this person, aggressive and full of righteous indignation, nothing more than trying to attract people's attention.

Seeing the person coming from the bronze mirror, Li Shi smiled lightly, "It's so far away, are you afraid that I will eat you?"

When someone came up, he asked again, "Do you know how to tie your hair?"

After retreating from the servants, Su Cen took the sandalwood comb on the table, one strand at a time, carefully.

The blue silk was like a juan, icy and smooth, Su Cen looked at the three thousand silk in his hand, and suddenly felt relieved.Life is nothing more than this, chasing what you want, loving what you want to love, regardless of the shackles of the rules, treating others and yourself, and having a clear conscience.

"Have someone else combed their hair?" Li Shi asked.

"When I was young and ignorant, I always made my father angry. Every time the old man wanted to start a family law, I would wait outside the door early in the morning for the servants to wash and change clothes, and then he would stop beating me after reading in the study for a few days. "

"You are clever," Li Shi smiled, "What have you done?"

"It was nothing more than skipping classes at school, contradicting my wife, and borrowing my elder brother's "Peach Blossom History". I was searched by the old man before I read it. I chased me for three miles with a cane, but I still escaped." Su Cen wore a high bun, tied it tightly with a belt, and crowned it nine times, "However, there are some people who can't escape."

Li Shi signaled him to continue.

Su Cen continued: "When I was 19 years old, I went to Beijing to take the exam. It was the first time I left Suzhou. I was very interested in the things in "Shan Hai Jing" and "Zhi Guai Lu". On the way, I met a like-minded friend. The two hit it off immediately, dropped the book case, and traveled outside for a year. After returning, they were almost disabled by the old man."

Li Shi also smiled, and asked, "Why didn't you take the exam?"

"Maybe it's because I was young and frivolous. I think I will definitely be admitted in the scientific examination. I was bound in Chang'an City right after I came out of Suzhou. I haven't played enough. I don't want to be covered with shackles and be unable to move." Su Cen leaned close to Li Shi, looking at the radiant and restrained face in the bronze mirror, he suddenly had an urge to tell this man what he had experienced and seen in the few years of his first half of his life. There is a huge gap between people, but he just feels that he understands.

So he said again: "I don't regret even being beaten up. After traveling to famous mountains and rivers and seeing all kinds of worlds, I know what I really want. People are poor but ways are endless. The way has an end."

Li Shi laughed, "What a 'do your best and abide by your own way and you will end', no wonder you have such a heart."

"What kind of heart?"

Li Shi got up and scratched the person's nose lightly, "Naive."

Su Cen frowned, just about to refute, but then thought about it, isn't it naive?What he did before was so naive.He took the court clothes, raised his head and smiled at people, his bright eyes seemed to be shining with thousands of brilliance, "What's wrong with innocence, I'm going to walk all the way to show you."

Li Shi smiled lightly, noncommittal.

After the waiter finished dressing up, Su Cen took a step back and looked at it carefully, then smiled with satisfaction. This person was indeed born to wear this outfit, with seawater, river and cliff make-up, flower gauze and python clothes, and the demeanor of a prince looking down on the world.

Li Shi opened his hands, and Su Cen consciously went up to him to straighten his collar and sleeves, and said with a smile, "It looks good."

"I stayed up all night, my eyes are red, I'll take a rest here."

Su Cen refused, and frowned, "But I still have to go to the Yamen."

"Let Qi Lin ask you for leave."

Su Cen pouted: "I've been taking leave every day since I took office, you're afraid that people won't know that I entered Dali Temple through the back door."

Li Shi laughed, and squeezed his chin when he finished laughing, saying that he would go through the back door when he came back.

Knowing that it is impossible to get out of Hukou today, it just so happens that he is really unwilling to go to the Yamen today, not to mention that Zhang Jun will definitely have to drag him to instill in him the philosophy of life that more things are worse than less things, and the mother and son His body is still in the corpse temple, and he didn't get Xiao Yuanchen's solution, so he felt ashamed to face these two people.He simply didn't get entangled in this issue, and changed his direction: "Then I won't sleep here either."

Li Shi frowned: "Then where are you going to sleep?"

"The one I used to live in is pretty good... Hey, you!"

Before he finished speaking, he was picked up by the waist and carried all the way to the bed before he was put down. Li Shi wrapped him up in a blanket and said, "Just sleep here."

The tone is not heavy, but it is beyond doubt.

Su Cen's temper also improved, and he kicked off the quilt again and again, and sat up stubbornly, "Xiao Yuanchen has slept before, I won't sleep!"

Li Shi smiled and looked down at him: "Who told you that Xiao Yuanchen slept?"

Who else, your confidant!Su Cen complained viciously: "Qi Lin."

There was a soft knock on the window outside the door, "I never said that."

"You..." Su Cen fell silent for a moment, Qi Lin did not say that Xiao Yuanchen was sleeping here, he just repeated twice "The lord is asleep"...

At that time, he was still in the mood to tease him, Su Cen gritted his teeth secretly, he will get revenge for this revenge sooner or later!

Knowing that he was being tricked, he still needs to save face, Su Cen forcefully said: "It's not here or somewhere else, the red mark on his neck hasn't disappeared for several months."

Li Shijun raised his eyebrows, "What does it have to do with me having such a blushing birthmark?"

"...Birth, birthmark?" Su Cen blushed, feeling that she had lost half of her life in this one day, so she pulled off the quilt obediently and covered her, facing the bed, "I, I'm sleepy Don't...don't you still have to go to court? Don't...don't delay the hour."

Li Shi laughed out loud, without concealing the playfulness in his smile, rubbed his head again before leaving.