Xie Wangzhi felt a slight pain on his forehead, his eyes full of surprise. He didn't react for a moment, and his arm was suddenly pulled. He fell forward and crashed into the arms of the man in front of him.
Li Qishen quickly released the hand that was holding her, and changed his position, to cross her waist, and put his other hand around Xie Wangzhi's shoulders, holding the girl down, just close to her heart. He put his chin on her shoulder, and his long eyelashes fell, covering the slight floating light in his pupils.
“… Let me hold you for a while.” He said softly, “Just for a while.”
Li Qishen was never a timid person, but he was not frivolous either. He would always tease Xie Wangzhi at the right time, and stop when she blushed, and would never go any further. This was the first time he took the initiative to do this, with his body close to hers, but without any hints. He just felt that he was really tired and wanted to find a place to rest.
Having stayed in the princess's mansion for a few days, Changning would not bring it up on his own initiative, but with so many guests coming and going, Xie Wangzhi had heard a few things and knew that the situation was not good. Thinking back to what Xie Zhou had said at the time, he could guess at how predicament Li Qishen was in.
Xie Wangzhi felt distressed, but he had no choice but to respond softly: "Okay. You can hold me as long as you want."
Li Qishen said "hmm" and hugged her tighter.
As soon as his arms were retracted, the two of them got closer. Xie Wangzhi could clearly feel Li Qishen's heartbeat, which almost broke her heart. She stood obediently, letting Li Qishen hold her for a while, before tentatively raising her hands and patting him lightly on the back.
Li Qishen felt the soothing pat on his back and lowered his head again, rubbing his nose against Xie Wangzhi's shoulder. He was clearly a tall and straight man, and he rubbed his nose against his body like a coal ball rolling around.
Xie Wangzhi's heart softened: "What's wrong with you?"
"Hmm," Li Qishen was silent for a moment, then said sullenly, "You look like my mother."
"… "
Xie Wangzhi was silent for a moment, and moved the hand that was originally patting his back to the front, firmly pressed on his shoulder, and slowly pushed him away. She deliberately frowned and pretended to be slightly angry, "If you say this again, I will never let you hug me again."
"I was wrong." Li Qishen was very sensible and even took two steps back to show that he would never do anything rash.
Seeing his usual smile, bright and clear, but with a hint of cunning in his eyes and brows, Xie Wangzhi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as well.
However, Li Qishen did not let her be happy for long. He put away his smile and said seriously: "Leave Chang'an City and be with Changning."
"Why are you saying this all of a sudden?" Xie Wangzhi was puzzled, and then at a loss, "Leave... where can I go?"
"Shuzhou." Li Qishen had already planned it. "Go back and tell Changning that it's my intention. She will understand. The road from Chang'an City to Shuzhong is still accessible. There won't be any rebels before Chang'an City falls. There's still time."
"Chang'an City... can't be saved?"
"I'm afraid it can't be saved." Li Qishen cruelly revealed the truth. If Li Chengjin could listen to the court officials, perhaps the situation could be stabilized. However, he only thought that he was right. Luoyang City was in danger, and Chang'an City could not be saved. It was nothing more than a struggle to survive.
Li Qishen smiled and said, "That's why I let you go. Let's go to Shuzhong now."
Xie Wangzhi was not so stubborn that she would not live and die with Chang'an. She only thought about Li Qishen: "What about you? What will you do?"
"I can't get out." Li Qishen said calmly, "And I said I would die in Chang'an."
"Then I won't leave either."
Li Qishen was slightly startled, and then said as if jokingly: "It can't be for me, right?"
"It's not just for you." Xie Wangzhi ignored the teasing and looked at him seriously. "I can leave, but my father and brother will never leave with me. If you don't leave, I can't abandon them and you and run away by myself. Besides, I have to trouble Princess Changning. I tried to test her a few days ago, and I always feel that she doesn't want to leave either."
Li Qishen didn't expect Xie Wangzhi to say that. He licked the corner of his mouth and wanted to say something, but finally swallowed his words back and didn't interrupt her.
"Besides, if I go to Shuzhou, will Shuzhou be safe? If Chang'an really falls and the people are displaced, I'm afraid the rebels will attack Chengdu next. What's the difference between dying in Chang'an and dying in Chengdu?" Xie Wangzhi anticipated the worst outcome and lowered his eyes. "If it really comes to that, I might as well die with you in Chang'an."
She paused, and actually managed to smile easily, "The timing is bad, we can't sleep together in life, so this can barely be considered sharing a grave in death, so I have no regrets in death."
Xie Wangzhi's words were so calm that they sounded like love words, and they were sincere and heartfelt, but Li Qishen was terrified. The girl in front of him clearly didn't understand how cruel life and death were, and she wouldn't try to please him, but her words cut into his heart accurately, making him want to frown and scold her for her nonsense, but also want to hug her and absorb the only warmth in this life.
After a long silence, he finally let out a barely audible sigh: "... How stupid."
"Are you stupid?" Xie Wangzhi heard it, suddenly reached out, grabbed Li Qishen's arm, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his lips accurately.
Li Qishen was startled, his pupils shrank, but he could only see the girl's face close to him, her eyebrows were beautiful, her eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, her eyes were closed, and her eyelashes were clearly visible. In fact, she didn't know how to do these intimate actions at all, but just to show her love, she didn't even know to pry open her lips, and foolishly pressed her lips against his.
The girl's lips were soft, and her breath carried a faint fragrance. Li Qishen felt that there was a flower between her lips, and it was a newly blooming flower, swaying in the spring breeze.
Unfortunately, he was destined not to see the spring of next year, and this flower could not wait for him to pick it.
Li Qishen also closed his eyes and gently rubbed her for the last time, like a lover parting with his lover, or like a believer touching a statue of God. He took two steps back, and when he opened his eyes again, his expression was gentle, and he said softly, "Go back, this is not a place to stay for long."
"... Yeah." Xie Wangzhi was reluctant to leave, but it was useless. She gathered her cloak and was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly stopped, took something out of her hair, and stuffed it into Li Qishen's hand, "Then I'm leaving."
She took one last look at him, her eyes calm, but that look was like a deep pool, hiding a thousand reluctances and attachments. But Xie Wangzhi didn't stay after all, she lifted her hood to cover her beautiful and indifferent face, and hurried out.
Huo Jun and Pei Wen were only the raft that brought Xie Wangzhi into the mansion. When they saw her leave, they naturally would not enter the courtyard again. They did not say goodbye, but just took the unfamiliar girl out as they did before.
Li Qishen stood in the empty courtyard for a while before returning to the couch and lying on his side. His expression did not change, but the thing in his palm revealed his hidden thoughts. He held the thing too tightly, causing his palm to turn white and leaving deep marks.
It was a gold hairpin that had been untied from a strand of hair. The top had a few pieces of extremely thin gold foil, shaped into the shape of flowers and clouds, and the end was sharp and pointed, and had to be engaged with another strand of hair to be firmly pinned on the hair. This strand was in his hand, and the other strand should be teetering in Xie Wangzhi's hair.
The first thing the Jinwu Guards did when they arrived at the mansion was to collect all the sharp weapons that Li Qishen could come across. There was not even a vase or a porcelain bowl left in the room for him. He could practice shooting as usual in the morning, but he had to use an unsharpened wax gun, and there were fully armed Jinwu Guards watching him. As for people like Huo Jun who came to visit the mansion, they would of course be searched, and not even a blade could be brought in.
After being trapped in the mansion for more than ten days, the first thing Li Qishen touched was a golden hairpin, which looked like a token of trust, or a weapon sent in to conceal his presence.
He stared at the hairpin in his palm for a long time, and took out a purse from the place close to his heart. After more than a year, the cloth used was not good, and the stitching was not good. Even though he always wore it close to his body and hid it in his clothes, the seams still broke in several sections, the fabric faded, and the embroidery became fuzzy. The face of the coal ball on it was blurred and a little deformed. It no longer resembled the agile black cat beside the couch, but looked particularly funny.
But Li Qishen just liked this purse and treasured it. He carefully put the golden hairpin in his hand into it, tightened the opening, and put it back in his arms, still close to his heart.
He put his hand on it, as if he was measuring his own heartbeat through his purse and clothes, or as if he wanted to embed the gift from Xie Wangzhi into his body.
The wind blew gently through the courtyard. Li Qishen listened to the rustling sound of the grass and trees when they were blown, and slowly closed his eyes. He had developed a habit in the Tiande Army. He always slept well, but now he curled up for the first time in a long time, like an unborn baby hidden in the mother's womb.
**
On March 9, the 16th year of the Xianyuan reign, Luoyang City was captured. The defending general refused to surrender and was captured and died for his country. The rebels, who had been lingering outside the city for several months, entered Luoyang City and the first thing they did was to plunder the property and treasures in the Eastern Capital. The gold and silk in the palace were first divided up, and then the rebels broke into the homes of officials and civilians, robbing property and women, and killing those who refused to obey.
The fires in the streets burned for three days, houses collapsed, and all that could be heard in the smoke and dust was wailing. In just a few days, the Eastern Capital, where the Queen had lived for a long time, became as dilapidated as the cities that had been conquered before.
On March 14, the rebels attacked Tongguan, and the defending general retreated and joined forces with the remaining Tiance Army that had retreated to Tongguan to block the enemy.
On March 23, the emperor issued an imperial decree, ordering the garrison commander to go out of the city to meet the enemy. The garrison commander refused to obey and remained in a stalemate with the rebels.
On April 3, the emperor issued three consecutive edicts, forcing the garrison commander to leave the city or he would be executed. The garrison commander had no choice but to lead the garrison troops out of the city to meet the enemy. At the west plain of Lingbao, they were lured into the mountain road and encountered an ambush, which caused the garrison commander to be defeated and the army to fall into chaos. The Tiance army wanted to fight again, but the garrison commander saw that the Tiance general was dead and the remaining troops were not enough to defeat the enemy, so he quickly ordered the remaining troops to retreat to Chang'an.
On April 5th, Tongguan was captured.
The author has something to say: I! am! updating! again!!! Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-23 11:59:34~2019-11-23 18:01:38~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: blair 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 5 bottles of Linyu; 1 bottle of 123;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!