"Your Highness, Miss Nao has been hiding in the side hall and crying since she arrived."
Because of Liu Yuan's affairs, Zhou Chen went to meet with Liu Hui to discuss. As soon as he returned to the palace where he lived, Xie Chong hurried over to report,
Zhou Chen said with a serious face: "I know, I'll go over and see her now."
The news of the death of the former Taifu Fu Guang had spread. He knew that on the one hand, Kao Shiyi was sad because of Kao Guang's death, and on the other hand, she was also sad because she had escaped from the sea of suffering. Her brother Kao Feng was deeply trapped in it, but she was helpless, so
Even more sad.
When he saw Shi Yi, she was huddled in the corner, sobbing constantly, her face covered with tears, completely ignoring her own image, sitting on the ground with her hands on her knees.
Zhou Chen walked to her side, squatted down slowly, without saying a word, just stretched out his hand, turned her body gently, and embraced her lovingly into his arms.
"It's okay, I'm here."
One word made Jia Shiyi cry even louder, and she hugged Zhou Chen's body tightly with both hands.
"Master, I want to go back to Xizhou, I want to go back to Xizhou, I want to go back to Xizhou."
She said she wanted to go back to Xizhou three times in a row. You can imagine how uncomfortable she felt. She still preferred Xizhou to Zhongzhou.
Although in Xizhou, she often waits alone, but it is a waiting full of hope, and there are also masters, brothers and sisters who love and protect her.
In Xizhou, besides being lonely and waiting, she was more happy and free.
But here, she was not free to do anything she wanted. Even when she cried, she only dared to hide in the master's palace and cry.
She is a girl with rich emotions. When she saw the hardship and tragedy of her brother Feng, she felt the same and felt extremely sad.
Zhou Chen hugged her and comforted her softly: "Okay, as long as you want, I can take you back to Xizhou at any time. Xizhou and Nanchen Prince's Mansion are also your home and our home."
The two of them just hugged each other, Zhou Chen had no intention of letting go, and Shiyi didn't let go either. They kept hugging Zhou Chen tightly, as if she would not be sad only in Zhou Chen's arms.
I don't know how long it took, but the sound of footsteps was heard. Xie Chong, who walked in, saw the two people hugging each other, and his face changed slightly.
"Your Highness, Sanniang is here."
Zhou Chen and Yu Shiyi slowly let go of each other. The tears on Yu Shiyi's face were still there, and she looked at Zhou Chen pitifully.
"Master, I don't want to go back."
"Okay, I'll go out and talk."
Zhou Chen took her aside to sit down, and then walked out of the palace with Xie Chong.
When they walked out of the hall, they saw Sanniang standing there. Next to her was a woman who looked younger than her. She was the fourth lady of the Sanniang family.
"Your Highness."
"Third Lady."
Jian Sanniang asked straight to the point: "Your Highness, Shi Yi can be here."
Zhou Chen replied: "Yes, but it is not appropriate to meet at this time. Give me a few days to persuade her."
Before Sanniang could speak, Siniang and Wenji, who was on the side, said in a dissatisfied tone: "Although Your Highness is Shi Yi's master, she is a foreigner after all, so you should leave her to us."
Zhou Chen looked at her: "This should be the fourth lady of the Niao family."
Wenji replied expressionlessly: "Yes, it's me."
Zhou Chen nodded and said: "Although Shi Yi is the daughter of the Miao family, she is also a member of our Nanchen Palace and a disciple of my king. She has also lived in Nanchen Palace for several years. During this time, what she heard
Everything I heard, saw, and learned came from the palace, so I know her better than you do. For her own good, it would be better for her to stay here now."
Wenji immediately wanted to refute, but Sanniang was the first to say, "Brother passed away just now, and Siniang and I were really busy with the internal and external affairs of the Mansion, and had no time to talk with Shi Yi in detail. Back then..."
She wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't speak. She just said: "Your Highness and Shi Yi, please explain. Thank you."
After saying this, Sanniang and Siniang turned and left.
After they left, Xie Chongcai asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, isn't this Siniang just following..."
"Well, I was engaged to my uncle."
Zhou Chen naturally knew about the entanglement between Siniang and the former King Nanchen. In fact, he couldn't say who was right and who was wrong. He could only say that it was fate.
Back in the hall, Ji Shiyi was still sitting there uneasily. When he saw Zhou Chen coming back, he immediately looked over.
"I have already agreed with your mother that you will stay here for the next few days, and they will be busy with the affairs of the Miao family."
"Thank you, Master."
"You don't need to thank us for our relationship."
"Um."
Ji Shiyi finally smiled, which comforted Zhou Chen a lot.
Xie Chong suddenly walked in and reported that Gao Huaiyang was asking for a meeting. This made Miao Shiyi, who had just laughed, stop the smile on his face and look at Zhou Chen nervously.
"My relationship with her is not what the world thinks. If you are worried, just listen behind the curtain."
After comforting Shi Yi, Zhou Chen walked outside to see Gao Huaiyang.
Gao Huaiyang's purpose of coming to Zhou Chen was naturally to survive. The reason why she was released by Qi Zhenzhen was because of Zhou Chen. Qi Zhenzhen had a relationship with Zhou Chen in the past and wanted her to become Zhou Chen's pillow and use her to monitor Zhou Chen.
Chen.
Zhou Chen also knew that Gao Huaiyang had a bad fate, so just like Zhou Shengchen in the plot, he refused to marry her and made it clear that he would not bring her back to the palace.
"I will not marry you. In my palace, there are only maids in the courtyard of Shiyi. Other than that, there is no need for maids, so I will not take you back to the palace, but I can send you to
Where is my sworn brother, King Ping Qin..."
Gao Huaiyang, who just wanted to live, was disappointed that she could not become Zhou Chen's woman, but when she heard that Zhou Chen was willing to help her, she naturally agreed to Zhou Chen's proposal and was willing to go to Pingqin County.
Before Gao Huaiyang left, he met with Gao Shiyi and personally apologized to Gao Shiyi, because Gao Shiyi's father was killed by the Gao family. Although it had nothing to do with her, she was born in the Gao family after all. Now the only remaining member of the Gao family is Gao Huaiyang.
She was betrayed, so she wanted to apologize to Jia Shiyi.
What Miao Shiyi regretted most before was her father's disappearance, but she had no resentment towards Gao Huaiyang, the daughter of the Gao family, let alone forgiveness.
Today, Kao Shiyi's mood fluctuated greatly. Zhou Chen stayed with her all the time, and Kao Shiyi was able to sleep peacefully because of Zhou Chen's company.
In the first morning court after the palace coup, Liu Hui could be said to be the first to take charge of the family. He showed the emperor's style, met with Xiao Yan, named Xiao Yan the King of Fengyang, and wanted to keep Xiao Yan in Zhongzhou.
However, Xiao Yan refused, saying that he would rather follow Nanchen Wangjun. Although Liu Hui felt a little uncomfortable, he still agreed with a smile.
However, Liu Hui made a request, hoping that Zhou Chen could keep military advisor Xie Chong to teach and assist him.
Zhou Chen, who already knew that this would happen, was not surprised, but Xie Chong was surprised. Although he was considered a royalist, he had long since lost the idea of assisting the emperor and just wanted to stay in Nanchen for the rest of his life.
Wang Jun, if he can be buried in Xizhou in the end, he thinks it will be the best ending.
So he was shocked by Liu Hui's request.
After the morning session, Xie Chong approached Zhou Chen.
"Your Highness."
Zhou Chen nodded silently and asked: "The military advisor has made a decision?"
"Yes, His Majesty is still very young now. Your Majesty may need veterans more than His Highness."
Xie Chong did intend to assist Liu Hui, but he also felt that if he stayed in Zhongzhou, he might be able to help Zhou Chen.
Of course Zhou Chen understood what he was thinking, and said in a deep voice: "Military advisor, it has been more than ten years since you and I left Zhongzhou. I know what kind of person you are, and I know why you want to stay, but I
I still want to say that you don’t have to stay.”
Xie Chong said nothing. Since he had decided to stay, he naturally would not hesitate any longer.
Seeing that Xie Chong didn't speak, Zhou Chen also understood what he meant. He didn't want Xie Chong to stay, but he just didn't want him to end up like the one in the plot.
But after all, Xie Chong is not his subordinate. He cannot decide whether to stay or leave in one word. He needs to respect Xie Chong, even if he knows that the result may not be good.
That's just the way it is with some things. Even if you know what will happen in the future, you can't change it just by saying change it.
"Okay, since you decide to stay, I promise you."
Although he agreed to Xie Chong, Zhou Chen went to find Xie Chen alone late at night, that young man who was extremely good at fortune-telling.
"Your Highness came to me to ask me to tell fortunes for my adoptive father?"
"yes."
"Hasn't His Highness always believed in fortune telling? Is it because my adoptive father is very important to His Highness, that's why I asked His Highness to do this?"
"That's right. In fact, I have a hunch in my heart that if the military advisor stays, there will probably be bad results, but I still want you to do the math. Maybe there will be different results."
Xie Chen remained silent, silently picked up the tortoise shell copper coin, and began to calculate using the six-line hexagram.
But after learning the hexagram, he didn't speak for a long time. When he didn't speak, Zhou Chen understood what he meant.
"I have always believed that man can conquer nature."
Xie Chong said silently: "What His Highness said is true. Hexagrams are just hexagrams and may not be accurate."
Zhou Chen smiled and patted his shoulder, and said softly: "In the future, we should try to do as little fortune-telling as possible. I heard that people who leak secrets will have backlash. Rather than asking you to tell fortunes, I want to see you live healthily."
.”
Feeling the concern in Zhou Chen's words, Xie Chen had no expression on his face, but he was very moved in his heart. He could survive only because of Zhou Chen. He had deep feelings for his adoptive father Xie Chong, but he had deep feelings for Zhou Chen.
Gratitude is never lacking.
Zhou Chen determined the time to leave Zhongzhou, which was three days later.
Before leaving, Zhou Chen specially accompanied Jiao Shiyi to play around in Zhongzhou City, and then went to Jiao Mansion to pay homage to Jiao Guang, and told Jiao Siniang why the former King Nanchen broke off the engagement.
The night before leaving, Zhou Chen found Xie Chong.
"Commander, we are leaving Zhongzhou tomorrow, but I still don't trust you, so I have made some arrangements. I will ask Zhou Quan to stay to help you, and leave a team of elite soldiers."
In the plot, Zhou Shengchen left behind Qin Yan, but Qin Yan was plotted by the Queen Mother Qi Zhenzhen, and finally betrayed military advisor Xie Chong, causing Xie Chong to die tragically.
Zhou Chen, who knew the outcome of the plot, naturally could not stay, so he chose another general. Although his ability was not as good as Qin Yan's, he was loyal to Nanchen's palace because he was an orphan adopted by the Nanchen royal army.
Xie Chong showed gratitude: "I am deeply grateful to you for your highness's kindness, but you really don't have to worry about me. Your Majesty is kind-hearted and will not hurt me."
Zhou Chen said: "I'm not worried about him, I'm worried about the Queen Mother."
"The Queen Mother?" Xie Chong's eyes were sharp, obviously he didn't expect Zhou Chen to mention the Queen Mother.
Zhou Chen said in a deep voice: "The Queen Mother has no virtue or talent, but she is also very ambitious. Your Majesty is so kind. I am worried that she will be deceived by the Queen Mother. Military Advisor, there are only you and me here. I will tell you the truth.
In fact, the best option is to imprison the Queen Mother or even get rid of her, otherwise she will cause chaos sooner or later."
"Your Highness, are you a little too worried?"
Although Xie Chong also felt that the Queen Mother had no talent or virtue, but now that Her Majesty was able to govern personally, he felt that the Queen Mother was not yet capable of wielding power over the entire government.
Zhou Chen said: "Military advisor, I know the Queen Mother better than you do, so I left Zhou Quan for you. If it comes to a last resort, for the sake of Beichen, you'd better persuade His Majesty to get rid of the Queen Mother."
Xie Chong looked horrified, hesitated for a moment, and nodded heavily.
When it was finally time to leave, a group of people came to say goodbye outside Zhongzhou City.
Zhou Chen said goodbye to Xie Chong, Yu Feng and others respectively, and finally looked at Yu Shiyi.
Nao Shiyi showed reluctance and said softly: "Master, when my filial piety period is over, I will return to Xizhou."
"Okay, then I will wait for your return in Xizhou."
In fact, when he said goodbye, Zhou Chen had already said it when he and Yang Shiyi visited Zhongzhou City that day. In front of so many people today, he naturally wouldn't say too much.
Zhou Chen took Hong Xiaoyu, Zhou Tianxing and others on their horses and left. As they were leaving, a group of people suddenly came to the city gate and made way for their team.
Zhou Chen looked over and saw that the leader was a middle-aged man who was dressed somewhat like a foreigner. He found that the other person was also staring at him.
'King of Taiyuan, Jin Rong?'
Seeing this man, Zhou Chen guessed his identity. In the plot, it was this Jin Rong who joined forces with Liu Zixing to kill King Xiao Nanchen.
Now that Liu Zixing is dead, the plot has changed drastically. I wonder how Jin Rong will cause trouble next.
However, although Jin Rong had military power and ambition, Zhou Chen did not take him seriously. After all, he was not Zhou Shengchen. If he really wanted to play dirty tricks, he would not be merciful at all.
"drive!"
There were 30,000 troops when he came, but less than 30,000 when he left, because not only did he leave a team of soldiers and horses for Xie Chong, but he also left a thousand men for Jian Shiyi.
But there are still more than 20,000 troops, so the return journey is not fast.
On this day, before it got dark, Zhou Chen asked the large army to stop and camp on the spot to rest.
In the camp, Zhou Chen and Xiao Yan were sitting together drinking.
The original military advisor Xie Chong stayed in Zhongzhou, but a new military advisor had already taken up his post, namely Xiao Yan, the newly crowned King of Fengyang.