After returning to her tent, Qi Changyi's face was still red.
Li Yu waited until Pei Zheng left before he dared to poke his head out, "Your Highness, Lord Pei didn't do anything to you, did he?"
Qi Changyi stuttered, "No, no."
Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief. It was not that he had any prejudice against Lord Pei, but this man had too many criminal records and he was not trustworthy.
"Your Highness, please go to bed early."
Qi Changyi tidied himself up and lay down on the bed.
His mind was still filled with Pei Zheng, who was unusually gentle tonight. He took him horseback riding, took him to watch the moon, kissed him on the edge of a cliff where the wind was howling, and looked at him with deep eyes.
The more he thought about Qi Changyi, the more restless his little chest became. He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. It was not until the second half of the night that he fell asleep because he was extremely sleepy.
When I woke up again, it was almost afternoon.
Li Yu brought in the food and said, "Your Highness, do you want to go out and take a look? I heard that Lord Pei hunted more prey than anyone else today, and the Emperor is very happy and has given him a big reward."
When Qi Changyi heard this, he felt so proud that he straightened his body and walked out of the tent with Li Yu.
There were indeed a lot of people gathered in front of the emperor's tent. Qi Changyi's automatic search and positioning was activated, and he saw Pei Zheng standing in the middle of the crowd at a glance.
He still held the bow and arrow in his hand, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and listened to the emperor's reward with a smile.
Amul, who was standing next to him, had a look of indignation on his face, but he could only watch coldly as the emperor of the Celestial Empire and his most favored minister performed a ceremony between the monarch and his subjects.
The hunting ended just like that. Amul wanted to take this opportunity to humiliate the weak princes and young masters of the Celestial Empire, but he didn't expect that Pei Zheng would steal the limelight in front of the barbarian envoys.
The huge hunting team returned to the palace. Although Qi Changyi was still reluctant to leave, he had no choice but to return to his bedroom, a place that was like a cage.
On the second day after returning to the palace, an imperial decree opened the door to the prince's bedroom.
When the imperial edict came down, Qi Changyi was sitting in the courtyard, weaving little rabbits with the dogtail grass he had gathered. He filled a stone table with them and gave them names, "Xiao Xiao", "Bai Bai", "Tu Tu"...
The eunuch holding the golden silk cloth stood in front of Qi Changyi and said in a sarcastic tone, "The imperial edict has arrived. Prince Qi Changyi, please accept it."
Everyone in the palace ran out and knelt respectfully on the ground beside their little prince.
"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, hereby decrees that the Crown Prince Qi Changyi be chosen as the candidate for the marriage with the barbarians in the southwest. He is to accompany the envoy Amul to the barbarian lands and leave today without delay. From this moment on, you must regard the friendship between our dynasty and the barbarians as your future mission and devote yourself to it until your death. I decree this."
What, what? Marriage
The meaning of marriage alliance is to travel thousands of miles to a completely unfamiliar place and be mortgaged to another country or tribe as a political tool.
Qi Changyi didn't understand many things, but he understood the meaning of the imperial edict. His father wanted him to marry the barbarian leader and go far away to marry!
"Your Highness! Your Highness! What can Your Highness do in such a barbaric and barren land like the barbarians?"
"Wuwuwu, Your Majesty, is this asking us to go and die?"
"Eunuch, was the imperial edict delivered in error? How could it be our highness? It's impossible!"
Several eunuchs and palace maids burst into tears, unable to believe it and at the same time feeling extremely sorry for the little person kneeling on the ground without moving.
The eunuch also softened his heart a little and handed over the bright yellow imperial edict, "Your Highness, accept it."
Qi Changyi then raised his head, his eyes red and his lips bloodless, "Eunuch, is this true? Did the emperor personally issue the order?"
The eunuch gave a look, and the palace maids who were following him and holding various items came forward and brought up all the silks, satins, jades and gold bestowed by the emperor.
"Your Highness, look, the reward has arrived, how could it be fake? Whoever dares to falsely convey the imperial decree behind the back of our emperor will lose his head."
Qi Changyi took the imperial edict and nodded, "Thank you, eunuch."
The eunuch looked at him as if he had lost his soul, sighed, and turned away with his men.
Li Yu walked forward crying, trying to pull up Qi Changyi who was still kneeling on the ground, but she had no strength to do so.
He said to the other servants who were still crying, "Come here and help His Highness up."
Qi Changyi moved his legs and tried to stand up, but just as he stood up, his legs suddenly went weak and he fell to the ground with a thud. Large scratches appeared on his hands and blood immediately oozed out.
Several people hurried over to help him up. Li Yu couldn't stop crying, "Your Highness, please stand up. You should stand up first. The ground is cold."
Qi Changyi seemed not to feel the pain in his hand. He stretched out his arm to pick up the imperial edict that had fallen on the ground. After picking it up, he held it in his arms, sat on the ground and buried his face in his knees.
Several servants were standing around, but Li Yu dismissed them and stood guard by himself.
The little guy's shoulders began to shake violently, as if he was crying and out of breath. Only low sobs and whimpers could be heard.
He cried for a long time, probably because he had no more strength to cry, and the shaking of his shoulders gradually weakened, but he still did not move. He curled up on the ground like a small ball, like a little animal that was injured, helpless, and trembling in pain.
Qi Changyi slowly raised his head, his porcelain-white face was covered with tear stains, his eyes were swollen like walnuts, and his lips were bitten by him, which did embellish the paleness with a bit of enchanting red.
"Xiao Yuzi." The voice was a little hoarse.
Li Yu cried, "Your Highness."
"Father, why did he do this? Does he not want me anymore? Am I too stupid? Did I make him angry and embarrassed? So he wants to throw me away and never wants to see me again."
Crystal clear tears flowed from the corners of Qi Changyi's eyes again, falling down in big drops.
"I really, really tried hard to become a better person, but my father still doesn't like me."
Qi Changyi unconsciously clenched the imperial edict in his hand. Every word on it was like a cold and sharp blade stabbing into his heart.
The blood in his hand stained the silk cloth. Li Yu saw it and quickly pried open his palm.
"Your Highness! Your Highness! Don't use too much force, you'll get hurt!"
But Qi Changyi seemed to be deaf to all that was said. She just kept talking to herself while crying.
"Father has disliked me since I was little because I was too stupid. My fourth brother was much smarter, and the other brothers were also very capable. Only me, no one liked me. They all said I was stupid and were unwilling to play with me."
"Brother Tang was the first person who was willing to talk to me and play with me, but then he left. He had to go to the border to fight, and then I was alone again."
"But fortunately, Brother Pei showed up later. Although he was fierce and scary, he always came out to protect me and save me every time someone bullied me. He was also very gentle sometimes. I liked him very much, but he didn't seem to like me that much."
Li Yu tore off the hem of his clothes, wiped his tears in panic, and bandaged the wound on Qi Changyi's palm to stop the bleeding. "Your Highness, don't say it, don't say it.
Qi Changyi's eyes gradually became empty. He stared at a place not far away for a long while, and then suddenly smiled with the corners of his mouth. He looked so sad and desperate, but his smile was so warm and beautiful.
"Xiao Yuzi, I miss my mother. It would be great if she were still here. Every time she blew on my wound, I would stop feeling the pain."
"After my mother passed away, I became very able to endure pain. Actually, it's not like that. I am still afraid of pain, but I told myself to endure it, otherwise my mother would see me in heaven and would worry about me."
Li Yu couldn't bear to listen any more, so he stood up and said, "Your Highness, please wait for me. I'll get some ointment and apply it on the wound so it won't hurt so much."
After saying that, Li Yu ran into the hall and rummaged through the drawers to find the ointment that Doctor Jiang had left behind. After finally finding it, he ran out of the door, only to discover that Qi Changyi, who had been sitting on the ground, was nowhere to be seen.
Qi Changyi walked alone in the huge imperial palace, holding the imperial edict that determined his fate in his arms.
He walked to the gate of the palace where the emperor handled state affairs during the day.
He wanted to go in and ask his father if he really didn't want him anymore, but the guards at the door stopped him.
"Your Highness, the Emperor has ordered that he will not see you. Please go back."
Qi Changyi's eyes became hot and he tried hard to hold back his tears. He nodded silently, walked to a place not far from the palace gate, and knelt down.
If the emperor doesn't want to see him, he will kneel here and wait until the emperor leaves the palace.
But I knelt outside the palace gate until dark, but still couldn't see the emperor.
His knees were numb from the pain and the blood on his hands had dried up in his palms, but all the pain was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
During the time that Qi Changyi was kneeling, the emperor actually knew all along. He spent a long time reviewing memorials, and one of the ten was about the prince's marriage.
Although an order had been issued not to make the matter public, all the ministers impeached Pei Zheng for his desperate move.
The eunuch who was serving him brought the teacup and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, you have been kneeling for a long time. It looks like it's going to rain outside."
The emperor put down his brush and ink, pinched his brows, and sighed, "Although he is a little stupid, he has the same personality as his mother, very stubborn. Well, let's send him back later."
As he was talking, it started to rain heavily outside. The rain was so dense that it looked like a curtain and he couldn't see anything clearly.
The little figure kneeling outside the palace gate was soaked by the rain. He felt cold to the core and could not even kneel steadily, but he still refused to leave.
An umbrella suddenly appeared above his head, and a man in a white robe stood beside him, the hem of which was wet with dirty rain.
"Go back." Qi Changfeng said while holding an umbrella. He had been watching from the side for a long time and his father had made up his mind not to see him.
"If you keep getting wet, you'll catch a cold. The day after tomorrow, you'll be traveling with Amul and the others. It'll be a long and arduous journey, so you must take good care of yourself."
Qi Changyi's nose was sore, "Fourth brother, I won't leave. I want to see my father. I want to see him once. I want to ask him to take back his decision."
Qi Changfeng couldn't bear to hear his suppressed crying voice, "Father won't see you, and it's impossible for him to take back his order. Besides, this is not what Father meant."
"Not Father? Then who is it?"
Qi Changyi seemed to feel a little better. So, his father didn't care about him at all, right
"It's Pei Zheng."
—A loud thunderclap struck the sky.
Qi Changyi's body suddenly stiffened and his eyes widened slightly in disbelief.
impossible.
impossible.
Impossible.
It can be anyone, but it can’t be Brother Pei.