return to peace

"There is a beautiful person, clear and graceful. Her mother must want her to be a beautiful girl."

Chu Lingshang stroked the sleeping little girl's hair, with pity in her eyes.The little girl still didn't know it, maybe she was a little tired from playing before, she lay in Ji Fan's arms, her little face flushed from sleeping.

"I heard from the mother who brought her in the palace that the former queen was not favored. The emperor never saw her daughter after she was born. She didn't even name her. The name was chosen by the queen herself. It was called Wan. The queen died soon after giving birth. Passed away, this princess who was born in the first line has never seen her father and king again, and she has been raised by a close nurse until she is more than three years old, Chen Jingxuan probably forgot that she has such a daughter." Ji Fan gently scratched the child face, and took her into his arms again.

"Miss Xiao is kind to you. We should take care of her blood. If it weren't for this time to deal with the old man in the Chen Palace, the king asked you to go and have a look. It is estimated that the child has been placed under house arrest with the old man in the palace. I don't know how."

"Chu Zexi has promised to entrust her to my care, and the nun who has taken care of her for the past few years has also let her go out of the palace to enjoy her old age. The child is still young, and when she grows up, the parents of the family, the troubled times of the country, etc. know it or not. , I always want to protect her for the rest of her life."

Ji Fan recalled that in the main hall at that time, all the old people from the Chen Palace were kneeling and weeping mournfully. Only this child was following the old mother, wearing plain clothes and wearing two With a small braid and a pair of big eyes, he looked at everything around him timidly.Somehow, as soon as he saw her, he thought of the person he owed the most in his memory.He walked up to the girl, knelt down, and asked her softly, "What's your name?" The girl hid behind the nanny again, without speaking, and after a while she poked her head out to look at him, Nuomuo replied : "Wan Wan."

The nurse next to her finally panicked, and kept kowtowing for mercy: "General, the princess is still young, she doesn't understand anything, please let the princess go." The young child couldn't help but let out his voice when he saw someone close to him like this. cry.

Ji Fan got up and left the hall. When he stepped out of the threshold, he glanced back. The child was snuggling in the arms of the old mother, sobbing, but looking at him with big moist eyes, he was even more determined. own ideas.

He personally went to Chu Zexi and begged him to hand over Princess Chen to him and treat the old nanny who raised her kindly.Chu Zexi was no longer the boy who was at odds with him, he agreed without asking why.But when Ji Fan was leaving, he said something that made Ji Fan pause: "If I have as much in Ling Shang as Empress Xiao in your heart, I will be content."

Ji Fan turned around and saw his loneliness, and asked, "How do you know that you don't hold much weight in his heart?"

Chu Zexi felt as if his heart had been bumped suddenly. He wanted to ask again, but Ji Fan had already left.In fact, he knew in his heart that he had a lot of weight in Chu Lingshang's heart, but it was not the kind he wanted.But once in a while, I found out from other people's mouths that my sweetheart attaches great importance to me, and I still couldn't help but have a delusional desire to be in full bloom.

He was in Chu Lingshang, and Xiao Yonghuan was in Ji Fan. In fact, Ji Fan and him knew each other well.

Concerned in the heart, has nothing to do with affection.

The unification war that the world has been waiting for for more than a hundred years has finally come to an end. The former high-spirited King Chen was quietly locked in a dark and cold dungeon. His black hair was scattered and his face was haggard, but there was still an inviolable royal arrogance hidden between his brows.

The century-old iron chain outside the iron gate was unlocked, and there was a clanging sound for a moment, the heavy iron gate was pushed open, Chen Jingxuan looked over, and there stood Ji Fan and a little girl outside the gate.Ji Fan changed into plain clothes and wore a plain white shirt with wide sleeves. His hair was pulled loosely behind his head, and he had the vigor of Chu Lingshang. Just like when I was a teenager.

He led the girl who was wearing a pink shirt with two pigtails and walked in. The girl seemed a little timid, she stopped and walked, looked at Chen Jingxuan with a chain on her feet, and then looked up at Ji Fan.

Ji Fan bent down, picked her up, and said softly, "Don't be afraid, he is your father."

When Chen Jingxuan, who had been watching them all the time, heard this sentence, he couldn't help taking a step forward, and the iron chain on his feet rattled.

Ji Fan walked up to Chen Jingxuan, put down the little girl, the girl looked back at him, took a step forward timidly, raised her head and shouted timidly: "Father."

Chen Jingxuan, who hadn't even shed a tear when the country was subjugated, blurred his vision in front of the "Father King".He stretched out his hand to touch the child's head, but he retracted it in mid-air, and asked softly, "What's your name?"

"My name is Chen Wan, and Nanny Lan calls me Wanwan." The girl paused, seemed to hesitate, and then asked curiously, "Are you really my father?"

"Yes, I am your father." Chen Jingxuan finally couldn't bear it, and stroked the little girl's hair.

"Then why have I never seen you?"

Chen Jingxuan never thought that one day, he would be questioned and speechless, and it would be his own daughter.

He silently hugged the girl into his arms, and said with a sob: "Father is wrong." He didn't feel sorry for Xiao Yonghuan, but for this daughter whom he had never met before, his only flesh and blood suddenly fell apart when the country was ruined and the family was destroyed. A surge of guilt and remorse arose.He thought of Chu Zetan's child who was killed before it was fully formed, and hugged the girl even tighter, his face wet with tears.

The girl was held in his arms obediently, Xu Zhen was born with the nature of a father and daughter, and she didn't resist at all.

Ji Fan stood aside, looked at Chen Jingxuan's appearance, and suddenly thought, if he and Chen Jingxuan hadn't turned against each other, Xiao Yonghuan would not have let him go, and now the emperor and empress are singing in harmony, and their sons and daughters are at the knees.But this is just an assumption, things have come to this point, in fact, there is a certainty, he and Chen Jingxuan are destined to be different people.

"Ji Fan, thank you." Chen Jingxuan handed the little girl back to Ji Fan, and for the first time since the years of separation, he sincerely expressed his thanks.

"Miss Xiao is kind to me. I will take good care of Wanwan. You don't have to thank me. I brought Wanwan here this time to say goodbye to you. This may also be the last time you and I will meet."

"Where are you going?"

"Ling Yu and I are both tired, now the world doesn't need us anymore, we should live our own lives."

"I really admire you."

"You could too, but you don't want to."

"You know, I have no choice. I don't fight for power. It is impossible for Chen Jingyu to let me go."

"There will always be a way, and now, you don't have to make excuses for your ambition."

"I am ambitious, but this ambition is also for the world, for the glory of Chen Guo for a hundred years."

"That's why you sacrificed the lives of soldiers from five cities in vain to deceive Xiliang into the hinterland. Would you rather sacrifice [-] soldiers in vain than to have your so-called dignity?"

"Once the generals are successful, all bones will be wiped out. Wars are based on sacrifices. If it weren't for you, this war would have ended long ago."

"Even if you win, you can't be a wise monarch, and you can't bring blessings to the world. Conquest is in your blood. In order to win, you can sacrifice your people and your lover , what you want to fulfill has always been your own ambition. We have come to this point because from the beginning, we are not the same kind of people. Maybe these differences were once blinded by the friendship of young people, but as time goes on, after all, the estrangement becomes more and more Deeper and deeper."

Chen Jingxuan stared at Ji Fan in a daze, speechless because he knew deep down in his heart that what Ji Fan said was actually true.

"Let's say goodbye today, we will never see each other again, so please do it yourself."

The little girl had been listening to their comings and goings half-understood. Hearing this, she couldn't help pulling Ji Fan's hand, looking back at Chen Jingxuan, and asked innocently, "Won't the father come with us?"

Ji Fan picked up the little girl, and before he could speak, he heard Chen Jingxuan say: "Father made a mistake, I have to think about it here. After being Wanwan, don't come to see Father again."

"Why?" the little girl asked puzzled.

"Because..." Chen Jingxuan's tears, which had been suppressed, almost burst out of the eyes because of the girl's innocence: "Because, my father wants you to be happy, and you won't be happy here."

"Wanwan is happy. Wanwan is very happy to see her father. In the past, the nanny always told Wanwan about her father. Wanwan has always wanted to see you."

Chen Jingxuan covered his eyes, reciting his words, his shoulders trembling.

"Ji Fan, take her away."

Ji Fan looked at his dejected back, and his heart was full of desolation.He hugged Chen Wan and walked out, the brothers who used to be like brothers were buried behind his back.

"Father, Wanwan will come to see you again."

The heavy door was closed, and the last thing I saw was Chen Jingxuan turning around with tears on his face.

When Ji Fan walked out of the dungeon, it was already dark.The lamps in the corridor of Miyagi were lit one by one, and Chu Lingshang waited quietly outside the door of the dungeon, with his back to them, watching the dimming sky in the distance.

As soon as Chen Wan saw Chu Lingshang, she shouted excitedly, "Changshang."

Ever since Ji Fan called Chu Lingshang once, the little girl couldn't read the two complete words, so she became addicted to calling "Chu Lingshang".Chu Lingshang was wearing a black robe today, adding a layer of coldness to his whole body, but when he heard the little girl's waxy voice and turned around, he felt the warmth of a spring breeze again.

He and Ji Fan looked at each other, neither of them said anything, but they both knew in their hearts that it was time to end.Chu Lingshang got out of the sedan chair, Ji Fan hugged Chen Wan with one hand, and put his other hand on Chen Lingshang's shoulder naturally. The two big ones and one small one walked slowly along the long palace road, the palace lanterns on both sides turned Their shadows stretched very long.