It turns out that I too have been robbed.

Pei Ruzhou discovered early on that people in the Forbidden Army were more gossipy than each other, probably because they were younger, and they couldn't hide anything.

After this Muxiu, as soon as he returned to the Forbidden Army, Pei Ruzhou heard from them—the rumors about himself and the prince in Fengcheng, not only did not seem to calm down in the slightest, they even became more outrageous.

"Boldly say what Xie Yusi has, I can't eat you up." Pei Ruzhou asked a young man who had a good relationship with him in the imperial army and asked him.

As for the young man in the red brocade robe, he looked puzzled at first, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Then don't you say that I told you?"

"sure."

After finishing speaking, Pei Ruzhou put his hand on Xie Yusi's shoulder, took a jug of wine, and walked with him to the small pavilion not far away.

After arriving there, the young man named Xie Yusi scratched his head and said cautiously: "That's...they said that you and His Royal Highness the last time Mu Xiu...coughed and coughed in the restaurant..."

Hearing the words "last time Muxiu" and "restaurant", Pei Ruzhou's eyebrows slowly frowned.

After all, that time, the relationship between the two of them was extremely unpleasant.

However, Yu Si suddenly got stuck here and stopped talking, Pei Ruzhou asked again: "What does 'cough cough' mean?"

Seeing Pei Ruzhou's questioning, Xie Yusi couldn't help showing a surprised expression of "You really want to ask this", after a pause, he still scratched his head and said, "That's right, you guys were... in a restaurant. , His Majesty even sent someone here."

Pei Ruzhou frowned slowly. Eunuch Lin did come that day, but his going to the restaurant was not the reason everyone imagined.

However, Pei Ruzhou naturally couldn't tell this matter.

Most of the Forbidden Army are the noble sons of the capital, and their martial arts can only be said to be passable.And Pei Ruzhou, who was stared at by General Zhenxi to practice martial arts back then, although he can't be said to be a peerless master, his skills are far beyond ordinary people.

Xie Yusi feared and admired Pei Ruzhou.

After he finished speaking, Pei Ruzhou suddenly fell silent, and Xie Yusi paused for a moment, and couldn't help but add: "... Anyway, the rumors are pretty good, it just so happens that His Royal Highness and Mr. so they all said..."

Xie Yusi didn't say the latter words, but Pei Ruzhou had already filled in silently in his heart.

They all said that they are the second Ning Congling?

Pei Ruzhou's face became a little ugly, and seeing him like this, Xie Yusi also shut up and dared not speak.

……

This time, the rumor spread faster than Pei Ruzhou imagined.

Not only among the nobles of Dayi, but even among the people, there are rumors.Pei Ruzhou vaguely felt that someone should be fueling the flames behind this.

But he has only been in Fengcheng for a few months, and he is only 17 years old. Even if he feels this way, Pei Ruzhou can't find out who this person is in a short time.

Under such a background, Pei Ruzhou went to Huazhang Palace again after a few months.

It was different from when he came to Fengcheng just last year, this time Pei Ruzhou went to the palace with the Imperial Army to perform official duties.

This day is the birthday of Emperor Dayi, and it is also the Longevity Festival that is often called by the people.

In Dayi, Wanshou Festival is an event that is more important than Yuan Day.Pei Ruzhou, the forbidden army who was originally guarding outside the imperial city, was also transferred to the imperial palace in advance.

Pei Ruzhou is the son of the Great General Zhenxi, and he has performed very well in the imperial army in the past few months, this time he was directly sent to the emperor's side.

noon.

There wasn't any shade outside the imperial study room. Although the sun wasn't too strong these days, after standing for a while, Pei Ruzhou still felt hot and boring.

When he was young, he grew up in the Zhoulanguan military camp.

In Pei Ruzhou's opinion, the real frontier barracks are much more interesting than the Forbidden Army in the imperial city.

...I don't know when I will be able to go back.

Just as Pei Ruzhou was thinking about the life of returning to Zhoulanguan, the door of the imperial study room suddenly opened.

The familiar figure of Eunuch Lin appeared in front of Pei Ruzhou.

"Mr. Pei, Your Majesty wants you to go in." This time, Eunuch Lin's tone was very rude and polite. Although Pei Ruzhou was not very familiar with the other party, after hearing Eunuch Lin's words, he realized that he was entering the palace this time. Nine out of ten times, there is nothing good about the study room.

"Okay." Pei Ruzhou bowed lightly to Eunuch Lin, and walked in with him.

The moment he entered, the tall carved wooden door of the imperial study creaked and then slowly closed.

It was clearly noon, but there were only a few lights on in the imperial study room, and it looked extremely dim. Coupled with the dark wooden floor, Pei Ruzhou felt that the atmosphere was extremely depressing.

Eunuch Lin retreated silently, and Pei Ruzhou stepped forward to salute the emperor.

Dayi's military salute is to kneel on one knee.

Here Pei Ruzhou knelt down for a while, but there was still no sound in the imperial study room.After a long time, Pei Ruzhou's legs had already started to go numb, as if there were little ants slowly crawling from the ground to his calves.

Beads of sweat had already appeared on Pei Ruzhou's forehead, and just when he was about to lose his hold, finally there was some other movement in the imperial study.

The emperor slowly put the memorial in his hand on the table.

"I heard that you have been very close to the prince recently."

Hearing this, Pei Ruzhou's heart sank.

Sure enough, the rumors had reached the emperor's ears.

He quickly raised his hand, clasped his fists and bowed to the emperor, saying: "Return to Your Majesty, the humble minister and the prince..." They were not familiar with each other at all.

Pei Ruzhou really wanted to say that directly, but when the words came to his lips, he could only say: "It's just an ordinary relationship between monarch and minister."

After finishing speaking, the emperor remained silent for a long time, and finally said after a while: "I have always admired and valued you, and I hope you will not do anything that disappoints me."

Pei Ruzhou saw from the corner of his eye that when he was speaking, the emperor lightly pressed his finger between his eyebrows, looking very impatient.

Disappointed?

Hearing this, Pei Ruzhou couldn't help being a little angry.I obviously didn't do anything, why did you throw your son's blame on my head?

"I never." Just when the emperor thought that Pei Ruzhou would admit his mistake, he suddenly said this very bluntly.

And the man who just picked up the memorial again finally turned his attention to Pei Ruzhou again.

In fact, the emperor knew that Pei Ruzhou and the crown prince definitely had no special relationship.It's just that he can allow the prince to have an unclear relationship with a counselor like Ning Congling.But he would not allow the prince to do the same with the generals who will be stationed at the frontier in the future in Dayi.

With the face of the royal family here, he naturally couldn't name the prince explicitly, and could only push the matter to Pei Ruzhou.

He always felt that although Pei Ruzhou was a little simple, he was also a smart person, and he would not fail to understand what he said.

However, he did not expect that the young man in front of him would be so uncooperative.

Speaking of which, this was the first time the emperor saw Pei Ruzhou wearing red clothes. At this time, the young man kneeling on the ground was tall and straight, and his originally delicate and dazzling eyebrows became more and more brilliant against the red clothes of the forbidden army. .

Seeing this, the emperor froze for a moment.

He suddenly swallowed back all the words he wanted to say just now, and turned to Pei Ruzhou: "Fengcheng is different from the frontier fortress, you can't practice anything here..."

What does the emperor mean by this?

Pei Ruzhou finally couldn't help but look up at the other party directly.

But the emperor said as if he didn't see this look: "After a while, go back to Zhoulan pass."

Pei Ruzhou:! ! !

Anyway, he stayed in Fengcheng for nearly a year, knowing that in the eyes of most noble children, going from the Imperial Army to Day Lan Pass is no different from being exiled.

But Pei Ruzhou was different from the noble boy who didn't want to go to the frontier. He wanted to go home from the first day in Fengcheng.

Now that the emperor wants to go back early by himself, it is too late for him to be happy.

Hearing this, Pei Ruzhou quickly saluted the emperor.

And the emperor didn't seem to want to see him anymore, so he waved his hand casually when he saw this, and told Pei Ruzhou to go down.

"Hiss..." Pei Ruzhou hurriedly saluted and stood up, then dragged his numb calf and walked out of the imperial study.

At this time, it happened to be the time for the handover of the imperial guards outside the study, Pei Ruzhou didn't stay here any longer, and went to the station not far away together with the others.

Before entering the courtyard, a familiar figure appeared in front of his eyes.

It's Qi Baili.

Qi Baili has already left the palace to build a mansion, if not for the Longevity Day, he would not have entered the palace at this time.

"Like the day."

The moment Pei Ruzhou saw Qi Baili, the other party paused for a moment, and then walked towards him quickly.

This small courtyard had been abandoned for a long time, and it was recently renovated for the Longevity Festival.However, the temporary repairs did not bring much change to this small courtyard.Compared with other places in Huazhang Palace, this place is indeed a bit bleak.

"Bai Li, why are you here?" Pei Ruzhou also turned around, and took two steps towards Qi Baili.

But in these two steps, Qi Baili found that Pei Ruzhou's legs seemed a little abnormal.

"What's wrong with your leg?" The first thing he said when he came forward was to ask this.

"Oh... I just knelt in the imperial study for a while." Pei Ruzhou replied casually, "Your Majesty is going to send me to Zhoulan prison." There was a bit of joy in his tone.

For others, going to Day Lan Pass is a bad thing equivalent to exile.But Pei Ruzhou was not.Knowing that he could go home, he couldn't help but share this matter with Qi Baili immediately.

Unlike happy Pei Ruzhou, upon hearing these words, Qi Baili suddenly stopped in his tracks, and the smile just now disappeared.

what happened to him?

Pei Ruzhou paused for a moment, then asked casually, "You don't mean to miss me, do you?"

What he never expected was that after he finished speaking, Qi Baili, who was standing across from him, first looked into his eyes... and then really nodded.

...wait a minute, I'm just asking casually.

If it was normal, Pei Ruzhou would definitely not care.

But in the past few days, he was involved in a rumor of broken sleeves.

Seeing Qi Baili's expression, three words suddenly flashed in Pei Ruzhou's heart: ...No way?

Stop, stop, stop thinking about it!Pei Ruzhou quickly interrupted his thoughts, readjusted his mood and looked at Qi Baili.

However, he saw... the way Qi Baili looked at him at this time was complicated like he had never seen before.

"Yes," Qi Baili nodded slowly, "I don't want to leave Ru Zhou."

If possible, he wanted to use all means to keep the person in front of him—this wish that had been deeply buried in Qi Baili broke ground at this moment.