Zhou Ranzhuo took Xia Jingyan's hand and got out of the carriage. It was originally a very warm and sweet scene, but no one noticed that Xia Jingchen stood in front of the door of Prince Xia's Mansion with wide eyes waiting, and he had no choice but to be pulled out to wait together.
Xia Jingsheng and Xia Jingxuan.
The moment Zhou Ranzhuo and Xia Jingyan turned around and saw them, their legs almost gave out and they almost knelt down.
"It's been eight days and you still know how to come back!"
Xia Jingchen swung his sword and slashed at Zhou Ranzhuo. Zhou Ranzhao ran away when he saw this. After all, a good man will not suffer the consequences of his eyesight.
On the long street, one behind the other ran very fast.
"You bastard Zhou Papi! I regard you as my brother, so you run away with my sister!"
Xia Jingsheng, Xia Jingxuan and Xia Jingyan looked at each other from a distance, their hearts trembling: "Zhou Ranzhuo, take care..."
The result was that Xia Jingchen took him back and gave him a scolding. Of course, the main scolding was Zhou Ranzhuo, his precious sister. He just said a few words and that was it!
Then, Xia Jingchen was cruel and used his privilege as an elder brother for the first time, grounding Xia Jingyan for half a day. What? Zhou Ranzhuo? Half a year! This is too light!
Xia Jingyan felt sorry for himself, so he no longer relied on his brothers to not punish him. He reluctantly said goodbye to Zhou Ranzhuo and returned to Yuqing Pavilion.
Just as he was bored, Zhao Qichen's carrier pigeon flew into the house. Xia Jingyan thought that Tianzhu Pavilion must have sent the message, so he immediately opened the letter and read it.
"Yan'er, Mr. Zhou has returned from Tianzhu Pavilion with a letter. There is no doubt that his hometown is in Zhonggu beside the Yi River in the Nanjiang River. He and Gu Yun are ancestral cousins and they only met each other. The person who hurt you and framed Mr. Zhou is not yet known, but it is suspected that he is from the Beijiang Qi River.
The royal family, Tianzhu Pavilion's secret agent in Qi State said that King Qi also had a similar problem, and King Qi seemed to have a grudge against Mr. Zhou. He also heard that you were on good terms with Mr. Zhou, so he was afraid of the power of Prince Xia's palace, so he did not dare to ask for someone. The news
That’s it for now.”
After Xia Jingyan read the letter, he was completely relieved, burned the letter, and wrote back to Zhao Qiechen:
"Brother Qiechen, there is no need to investigate. Ranzhuo confessed to me that he was following me at night, but there was another reason. I just went to Nanjiang. What Ranzhuo explained to me is exactly the same as the investigation of Tianzhu Pavilion. There is nothing to doubt.
Yes, it is obvious that King Qi wants to cause panic. Otherwise, which dead man would be so stupid and reveal secrets so easily? We have been paying attention to King Qi recently."
Xia Jingyan drew another smiling face on the paper, tied the letter to the pigeon's foot, and then let the pigeon fly away. What followed was another difficult afternoon.
Although time without your sweetheart is difficult, time will eventually pass.
In the evening, Xia Jingyan was about to have a rest, but he heard a noise in the courtyard again. He quickly turned over and raised his sword, and when he went to the window, he saw that it was Zhou Ranzhuo who had climbed over the wall.
"You... why are you here!" Xia Jingyan quickly turned off the lights and lowered his voice and said: "Ranzhuo, if you come out during the lockdown period, my brother will punish you! If anything happens, please tell me and I will look for you.
That’s all!”
"Yan'er, I miss you!" Zhou Ranzhuo suppressed a smile, calling Xia Jingyan to come closer, and kissed her secretly.
At this moment, the sound of the maids on night watch could be heard in the corridor. Xia Jingyan quickly pulled Zhou Ranzhuo into the house to avoid being discovered.
"Yan'er, I'm cold, give me a hug." Zhou Ranzhuo smiled and hugged Xia Jingyan into his arms.
"Oh, okay..." Xia Jingyan felt a little disappointed for no reason. After hugging him for a while, he gently pushed Zhou Ranzhuo away.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Ranzhuo felt aggrieved.
I braved the ban to come to Xia Jingyan at night, but I was rejected!
"Ranzhuo, you came at the right time. You asked me to confess a lot, and I also have some things... that I need to confess to you." Xia Jingyan lowered his head and pulled Zhou Ranzhuo to sit on the edge of the cave.
"What's the matter, Yan'er?" Zhou Ranzhuo took Xia Jingyan into his arms.
He saw Xia Jingyan's eyes full of sadness.
"Ranzhuo, I want to tell you..."
Xia Jingyan hesitated again and looked back at Zhou Ranzhuo's clear eyes. She couldn't bear it...
"Ranzhuo, what kind of person do you love me? I am the lady that outsiders want to see, and I am the one who wants to be untainted by the secular world. But you also heard that I am not such a person..."
Zhou Ran was stunned. By the way, there was also the matter of Tianzhu Pavilion. Xia Jingyan was the sect master of Tianzhu Pavilion.
Xia Jingyan left the couch and walked to the window next to the table. He took a pair of sharp scissors on the window sill, then returned to the table and picked up a pot of green plants in full bloom.
"I'm not a delicate and delicate princess. I don't know how to play music, chess, calligraphy and painting, because I don't think it's of much use to me. Ran Zhuo, maybe you think the palace is powerful, but
There are some things you still don’t know, and the palace is also in crisis."
Xia Jingyan said as he trimmed the green plants at hand.
"The Wang brothers have always been upright in the court, so they have offended many of the former emperor's old ministers. Most of the Xia family's current situation is due to the old relationship between the father and the late emperor and the Wang brothers' desperate efforts to defend the country. But now, the father
He has passed away, and the Wang brothers are still young, so there are always people who are eyeing the palace."
"Although it seems that the world is peaceful now, in fact, there are undercurrents everywhere, especially the royal family and officials, which are even more deadly. I am not afraid to tell you that today Emperor Yuan is ignorant and ignorant, obsessed with beauty and not doing his job properly, and he is also a treacherous minister.
It’s not easy for the palace to maintain this world like this. Every time I go out at night and pass by, I can always see the lights on in Brother Wang’s pavilion, and one or two coughs can be heard from time to time. As a younger sister, I feel heartbroken.
, but I don’t know how to help.”
"Female family members are not allowed to participate in politics, even the princess. Brother Wang never discusses official matters with me. He says he is afraid that I will be involved in danger, but I am not afraid. I just want to help Brother Wang, but always, I also
I couldn't change Brother Wang's mind, so I had to send him tea, snacks, etc., but I always felt that I was useless."
"Until one day, I went out to hunt. A nobleman in the palace thought that I was too busy, so he deliberately abandoned me in a deep valley and did not allow the servants to come to me. I was not afraid and thought of walking back alone, but...
By chance, we were able to save the people from Tianzhu Pavilion in the valley."
"I was too young at that time, and my martial arts skills were poor, but I was very courageous. At that time, Brother Qiechen led the people from Tianzhu Pavilion to avoid being chased by another sect, but they were blocked by another sect in the valley. Brother Qiechen
Gradually they were defeated, so they were all kidnapped and thrown into the mountains. The leader of that sect said he wanted to starve everyone in Tianzhu Pavilion to death, so he tied them up and left, leaving only two people waiting to collect the bodies."
"It just so happened that I saw this scene and couldn't bear the loss of so many people's lives in front of my eyes, so I helped out. I spread some Mongolian sweat medicine and knocked down the two guards. I rescued brother Qie Chen and the others, and gave them directions down the mountain.
On the way, Brother Qiechen said at that time that he was the young master of Tianzhu Pavilion, and said that such a great kindness would be repaid in the future. I didn’t take it seriously at all. Who knew that Brother Qiechen actually came a few days after I returned home?
I am a retainer in the prince's palace, and he also said that he would do his best to repay me in Tianzhu Pavilion."
"I thought about it, but I didn't know what Tianzhu Pavilion could do for me. I was about to refuse, but at the right time, I heard Brother Wang and his second brother complaining about an old minister of the late emperor who used his power to buy a concubine. That concubine
If the concubine doesn't want to, he will beat him to death, but after all, it is someone else's family matter, and Brother Wang has nothing to do with it. In the officialdom, that person is also aggressive, but it is a pity that Brother Wang will not be able to get rid of him for a while, because there are too many involved.
, Ranzhuo, you know, I can’t see Brother Wang being unhappy..."
Hearing this, Zhou Ranzhuo's doubts about Xia Jingyan seemed to be cleared up in an instant.
That’s how it is…
"I took action and begged Qiechen brother to use Tianzhu Pavilion's dead men to kill that man... At that time, my brothers were still wondering who could kill the second-rank minister of Zhongzheng. The capital was bustling for a long time. More than a dozen officials were investigating the matter. I
I was really scared, and I avoided anyone who said this, but Brother Qichen didn’t have any trouble at all, and told me that no one would know.”
"It turned out to be the case later. Even the people sent by Brother Wang privately could not find out the work of Tianzhu Pavilion. Later, more people were killed, and I was no longer afraid. I killed everyone who blocked Brother Wang and his brother's path.
No one...all, all...no one escaped."
Xia Jingyan turned sideways, his hands trembling as he pruned the green plants.
Zhou Ranzhuo saw her bloodshot eyes and hurriedly walked forward, stood beside her and hugged her gently.
Suddenly, Xia Jingyan grabbed Zhou Ranzhuo's hand tightly, and Zhou Ranzhuo was startled.
"Ranzhuo, do you think I'm scary?" Xia Jingyan said word by word. She looked at Zhou Ranzhuo with wide eyes and tears fell.
"Ah?" Zhou Ranzhuo didn't react for a moment.
"In the eyes of my brother, I am innocent. When I am around you, I have to pretend to be innocent. But in fact... my hands are covered in blood..."
Xia Jingyan groped with his hands, quietly wrapped his arms around Zhou Ranzhuo's waist, and leaned into his arms.
After so many years, Xia Jingyan is tired of pretending.
"Brother Wang and my elder brother never allow me to kill unless they are forced to do so. They always avoid me when they sentence people to death, for fear that I will be frightened. But they don't know that I am never afraid. I have killed enough people to make a pile of corpses."
The mountain is a sea of blood. What I'm afraid of is that they dislike me..."
"How could it be? Yan'er, the prince loves Yan'er the most, and the marquis and the general also regard you as their fate. They wouldn't do it." Zhou Ranzhuo patted Xia Jingyan on the back.
At first, Zhou Ranzhuo really thought that Xia Jingyan was a bit scary, but then he thought about it, it was only so compared to other women. If he were replaced by these desperadoes like himself, what did Xia Jingyan do? Who would not?
After thinking about it for himself, Zhou Ranzhuo felt that Xia Jingyan's remarks didn't matter.
"Then knowing this, will you still love me as before?" Xia Jingyan lay in Zhou Ranzhuo's arms, holding his sleeves and whispering.
"Of course." Zhou Ranzhuo touched Xia Jingyan's black hair.
After hearing this, Xia Jingyan felt relieved, slowly let go of Zhou Ranzhuo, pulled him to sit down, and continued to prune the green plant.
Only then did Zhou Ranzhuo notice that except for the main branch, the rest of the green plant was almost wiped out by Xia Jingyan. How could it be pruned like this?
But he would soon know that Xia Jingyan's purpose was not to prune branches at all.
"Ranzhuo, don't tell Brother Wang and Brother, let alone outsiders, keep this as our secret, okay?" Xia Jingyan's tone suddenly became calm.
"Okay." Zhou Ranzhuo responded.
"Ranzhuo, I admit that I am a crazy person. For this family, for my brother, for you, I can do anything. I can't help my brother with government affairs, but those who block his way..."
Xia Jingyan paused and moved the scissors to the main branch of the green plant.