This shadow guard, you are enlightened

A few hours ago, I just understood Zhuo Ying's intentions, and now I heard the "like" said by the other party himself.

Xing Chenmu felt that he had dug a big hole for himself, looked at Zhuo Ying's reddish ear tips, as if all the blood in his body was rushing to his heart, and clamored to rub him into his arms, but the remaining reason told him Can't do that.

He could only endure and restrain, forcefully suppressing all impulses back into his body.

Zhuo Ying didn't understand Xing Chenmu's inner struggle at this time. He looked at the other party who was suddenly silent, and saw complex emotions that he couldn't understand in those extraordinarily deep eyes, like the turbulent undercurrent at the bottom of the lake, swallowing people at any time.

But Xing Chenmu quickly closed his eyes to hide all the waves.

"I don't care how others treat me." After a long time, Zhuo Ying heard the man in front of him say: "It's enough to get Zhuo Qing's love."

After all, Xing Chenmu failed to hug the person he loved, but he knew that he would always remember this day, remember the affection in Zhuo Ying's eyes, remember this sentence of liking, and also remember the corners of his eyes that were moist because of restraint in Xuan Ming Palace.

He thought that in the future, he would hold this person in his arms upright, and allow him to love him forever.

And in order for this day to come sooner, no matter how many risks and uncertainties there are in the plan, he is unwilling to wait any longer.

# # #

On the day Xing Chenxiu left Luancheng, Xing Chenmu did not go to see him off. He arranged for two teams, one team mixed with the team transporting grain, grass and weapons to the Zhenbei barracks, and the other team guarded Xing Chenxiu in disguise in the dark.

On the contrary, Xing Chenxiu still remembered his fourth brother's birthday, and before he left, he sent someone to the palace to send a congratulatory gift, which was peach blossom wine that had been brewed in the altar for exactly 20 years.

After Xing Chenmu rejected the proposal for the Longevity Festival from the Ministry of Rites, this matter was brought up again in the early court. Xing Chenmu's attitude remained unchanged, but the courtiers were divided into two factions with different opinions. They argued endlessly about this, and in the end no one could persuade Xing Chenmu to change his mind.

A month later, the team of shadow guards sent to secretly escort Xing Chenxiu back to the imperial city, they did not know the true identity of the person being escorted, they just dutifully escorted him to Changyu safely, and saw with their own eyes that the other person was led by Zhenbei General Wei Yan Those who returned to the barracks stayed there for another seven days to confirm that no one had returned, and then returned to the palace to report the news to Xing Chenmu.

Based on Xing Chenmu's understanding of his brother, since he has a way to let Wei Yan take him away, he must be sure to hide his identity and stay in the army, but in fact, Xing Chenmu wants him to reveal his identity at a critical moment, monitor Wei Yan was just an excuse.

Xing Chenmu waved people to step back first, and stared at Dongmei outside the window in a daze.It seemed that everything was slowly advancing according to the plan in his heart, but he didn't feel very happy, and the anxiety in his heart became heavier instead.

A few days later, when Xing Chenmu went to Zhengquan Palace to greet the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager asked, "Why haven't you seen Xiu'er enter the palace recently? Your Majesty sent someone to visit Yong'an Palace, Aijia is really worried about his health."

Xing Chenmu's heart tightened.

Xing Chenxiu's biological mother was kind to the Queen Mother. Back then, the former emperor left the palace in low clothes and had a secret love affair with Jiangnan folk women. However, the trip was in a hurry and he did not stay in Jiangnan for long. It was Xing Chenxiu's biological mother, that is, Queen Chen, who remembered this matter after returning to the palace. They sent people to the village to inquire, and only then did they save the queen mother who was almost sunk in the pond because she was pregnant out of wedlock.

The Empress Dowager was brought into the palace and named Concubine Shu, but she had no background and had difficulty gaining a foothold in the palace. It was Empress Chen who took care of them all the time so that their mother and son could survive.

After Xing Chenxiu's biological mother passed away, Concubine Shu has always treated Xing Chenxiu as her own, and even taught Xing Chenmu to hide her edge and not to compete with his brother Wang for the crown prince.

It was also because of this that when Xing Chenxiu took medicine and pretended to be poisoned, neither of the two brothers dared to tell Concubine Shu, who is now the Empress Dowager.

If the Queen Mother knew their plan, no matter how good it would be for herself or Xing Chenmu, she would definitely not agree to let Xing Chenxiu take the risk.

It's just that neither Xing Chenxiu nor Xing Chenmu had imagined that more than ten years had passed since the concealment.

After a long time, Xing Chenmu lowered his eyes, concealed the guilt in his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Wang is fine, but it's been cold recently, so Brother Wang took people to the south to avoid the cold. He left Luan City a month ago. I came to the palace once, maybe the queen mother doesn't remember."

This statement was actually discussed in advance by Xing Chenxiu and Xing Chenmu. Even Xing Chenxiu had already prepared a letter to the queen mother to report her safety, but he didn't want to lie to the queen mother again. He deliberately didn't mention it when he came to pay his respects last time. Throw it directly to Xing Chenmu.

Xing Chenmu was also helpless, after all, he sent people to the northern border by himself, so he had to bite the bullet and take on this drudgery.

"That's why Xiu'er entered the palace last time? Why didn't you tell Ai's family?" The queen mother was a little surprised, but after a while she said: "It is true that Luancheng has been colder recently, and Xiu'er has been bored in the mansion all year round. Your health is not in good shape, so it’s good to go out for a walk, it’s just a long journey, do you have someone to take care of you?”

"Don't worry, Queen Mother, the sons and ministers are all taken care of. Counting the days, Brother Wang should be passing through Gusu at this time."

The Queen Mother nodded, and felt relieved.

This Xing Chenmu was talking to the Queen Mother, while Zhuo Ying and the others did not dare to slack off, they quietly stood guarding not far behind him.

When Zhuo Ying was by Xing Chenmu's side, she always had no distractions, she paid full attention to the movement around her, and basically never took her eyes off Xing Chenmu.

But this day was different, his eyes deviated a few times, and he couldn't help but pay attention to the female officer who was waiting on the side.

Liu Yudai, Zhuo Ying clearly remembered her name, because she was once a female official serving pen and ink in Xuan Ming Palace.

The Chengyang Palace has always been served by eunuchs. Since Xing Chenmu ascended the throne, there have been almost no female officials. As far as Zhuo Ying knows, the only time was when Gongsun Jing and Ning Jie entered the palace.

Because of this, among the female officials in the palace, Liu Yudai became the one who had the most contact with Xing Chenmu.

After Gongsun Jing and Ning Jie entered the palace, the female officials serving in Xuanming Hall changed. Zhuo Ying didn't see Liu Yudai for a long time, but he didn't expect Xing Chenmu to arrange her for the Queen Mother.

Liu Yudai's father used to be an official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but he was dismissed and investigated because of a mistake. It was not a big deal and did not implicate his family, but Liu Yudai, who had already entered the palace at that time, had nothing to rely on.

She entered the palace at the age of 13 and is about to turn [-] now. She was able to serve the Holy Majesty in Xuanming Palace because of her own talents.

Ever since Xing Chenmu confessed that he had a crush, Zhuo Ying had thought about countless possibilities, and among them, Liu Yudai was the most likely one who fit all his descriptions.

Zhuo Ying didn't dare to think about it any further, and kept all her emotions in her heart, concentrating on protecting Xing Chenmu.

# # #

It was already late when we returned to Chengyang Hall, Xing Chenmu passed on the meal, and called Zhuo Ying to order: "It's getting late, you can take someone to eat first."

"Yes."

Zhuo Ying arranged for the shadow guards inside and outside the hall to temporarily change shifts, and they hurriedly ate some food and were about to return, but happened to meet a subordinate who came to look for Zhuo Ying.

Ever since he knew that Ning Yuan was related to the Shangqing Temple incident, Zhuo Ying had been sending people to secretly monitor Ning Jie's every move in the palace, and the person who came was one of the shadow guards sent.

More than a month ago, Ning Jie was very peaceful in the palace. Apart from learning the rules of the palace with the mother, she went to Xuanming Palace to serve the pen and ink every day. It was not until this morning that she approached a palace maid.

The maid has been in the palace for two years, she has always been a rough envoy maid who sweeps the courtyard, until a few months ago she was assigned near the Xuanming Palace, she looks no different from other rough envoy maids.

After Ning Jie met the other party today, she chatted with Yan Qing while serving in Xuanming Palace, and soon saw Yan Qing went to look for the maid.

Yan Qing came to Xing Chenmu's side earlier than Zhuo Ying, and Zhuo Ying had heard a little about him.

I heard that Yan Qing was originally a young eunuch who was serving Zhaoyi in the empress palace. Because of a mistake, he knocked over the tea on Zhaoyi's body and was almost beaten to death by the eunuch in charge. Xing Chenmu was only four years old at that time. Running around in the palace happened to save him.

Concubine Shu is kind-hearted, and after learning about this, she asked Zhaoyi for someone, and asked the little eunuch to play with the young Xing Chenmu.

Counting the days, it has been nearly sixteen years now.

Yan Qing is not a very smart person, but fortunately he does things neatly and properly, so Xing Chenmu left him around, and he was promoted from a young eunuch all the way to the head of the palace.

Apart from Zhuo Ying, Yan Qing can probably be regarded as a rare person in the palace that Xing Chenmu is willing to trust.

Zhuo Ying didn't dare to speculate on this matter, so she just asked his subordinates to call out the life experience of the court lady and all the records after entering the palace.

The matter was of great importance, Zhuo Ying temporarily left the other shadow guards outside the hall, and returned to Chengyang Hall alone to report to Xing Chenmu.

Xing Chenmu only thought for a while when he heard this, and said, "Go and tell Yan Qing to come in."

The author has something to say: Well, I want to say something for Zhuo Ying, why Zhuo Ying's feelings for Xing Chenmu are slow.

In fact, it has something to do with his childhood environment. As mentioned before, he is an orphan. First of all, he lacks the link of family education.

Just like if you grow up in a healthy family, you will know that your parents love each other like this, and you will have a general understanding of the relationship between men and women.

Zhuo Ying grew up in the palace with the former shadow guard commander (there is no TV or novels for him to understand), and he has no access to concubines in the harem, at most it is the former emperor, but the former emperor is in the palace. His eyes are affectionate and ruthless, but it makes him less likely to think about the emperor in that way, let alone a man.

·

He only learned the relationship between a monarch and a minister from the former shadow guard commander, so he was loyal to the emperor from the beginning, and he also preconceived that the emperor treats him differently from others because he trusts him. It is good for him to find that he likes the emperor. Let him understand that Xing Chenmu treats him well because he likes him, this is a bit too difficult, o(*////▽////*)q, so he has to learn slowly (slowly open up)