sixty two
At the end of May, the weather in the capital was already very hot. Although summer had just begun, it got hotter earlier than in previous years.
This time of year is also the most difficult time for the Shadow Guards. They have rough skin and thick flesh, and are extremely cold-resistant. They also have internal strength to protect their bodies. They can still be active and active after squatting in the snow all day long, but the scorching sun is shining in the sky in summer. It won't be easy.
In the past, You Shu would hide in the grass under the shady trees with his brothers to enjoy the coolness. It was often so hot that he wanted to lie down on ice cubes to cool off. Ice in ancient times was very precious, and most people couldn't afford it, let alone shadow guards like them. , I can only count on the canteen to occasionally shave some crushed ice to satisfy my cravings.
But this year was different. Xiao Weixin was not willing to let You Shu suffer under the scorching sun again, so he simply detained him in the house and was not allowed to go anywhere. You Shu was sitting comfortably at the desk, with a basin of iced watermelon in front of him. There were large basins of ice in the four corners to cool off the heat. The room was as cool as autumn, no worse than the air conditioner.
Everyone likes to enjoy themselves, and You Shu is no exception. But he still felt guilty. The brothers were squatting under a tree not far away and suffering, while he was enjoying himself in the house. Thinking about it, he felt guilty.
"Don't you like it?" Xiao Weixin wondered why Xiao Shu was so absent-minded because the watermelon served this year was sweeter than in previous years.
You Shu held the watermelon, and the refreshing coolness from under the skin penetrated into his heart. He raised his eyes and looked at Xiao Weixin, shook his head and said, "It's nothing, I'm just worried about those brothers." He sighed and said, "I am We have the same status, and I am enjoying myself here while letting them bask in the sun, and I feel a little ashamed."
"What's the point?" Xiao Weixin frowned, "Sooner or later you will come to me. There is a huge difference in status from them. You will be a serious master in the future. How can a master feel sorry for his servants?"
You Shu opened his mouth and wanted to say that your idea is wrong, but this is ancient times. Even though Xiao Weixin treats him differently, there are limitations of the times. If you tell him about respect for equality and other things, he will probably feel that he is There is a hole in the brain.
"We are all human, and it is normal to be considerate of each other." You Shu bit the melon and said softly, "If I had not been lucky enough to be favored by the prince, I would be nothing more than a servant in the eyes of the prince, even if he died, he would not be worth mentioning. "
Xiao Weixin was stunned for a while and said subconsciously: "How can you be the same as them?"
"What's the difference?" You Shu finished a piece of melon in three mouthfuls and sighed: "I am also a Shadow Guard."
Theoretically speaking, training a shadow guard requires a lot of time, energy and money, definitely several times that of an ordinary servant. However, the reason why shadow guards have a low status is mainly because the purpose of their training is shady.
The nobles sometimes rewarded and punished their servants. If they were in a good mood, they might release them from a humble position to gain recognition and reuse, but few masters were willing to let the shadow guards go free. He would rather kill them than let them go. After all, the shadow guard has too much information in his hands. Who knows whether he will betray his former owner in the future.
You Shu felt sorry for them in his heart, and he also quietly thought that if he could really do something big and regain his freedom in the future, he would also go back and do something for his colleagues who were still in the dark.
Xiao Weixin saw some melancholy on his brows and probably knew what he was thinking: "The original intention of Xie Feiyuan when he founded the Shadow Guard Camp was to protect my mother and concubine. He was the boss of the former number one killer organization in the world. It’s no problem to start a business and train new people.”
"If you really can't let it go, I can promise you that I will give them their freedom after I finish my work."
You Shu suddenly looked up at him, his eyes trembling and disbelieving. This is already a huge kindness for a superior person, especially Xiao Weixin, who is a sensitive and cautious person. For him to say this, it shows that he really wants to please him.
There was a smile in Xiao Weixin's eyes, "When I ascend the throne, there will be no need for the Shadow Guard Camp to exist anymore. It will make no difference whether they are killed or retained. If I kill them as soon as I take power, it will appear that I am ruthless and ruthless. More What's more, Xie Feiyuan doesn't say anything, but he still cares about you in his heart. "
You Shu felt so happy, and suddenly he really had hope in life. He restrained himself from showing a too depressed expression, but he still couldn't hide the smile on his lips: "Your Majesty, you must take your words seriously, and you must never break your promise!"
"Of course." Xiao Weixin chuckled, "I will never lie to you."
You Shu was in a good mood and his appetite was instantly satisfied, and he ate up the remaining half of the watermelon.
Ying Wu, who was squatting under a tree not far from the house, sighed: "This is life! Look, we are all human beings. The third child can win the favor of the prince and enjoy the good food and drink in the house. The rest of us are only qualified to live in this hot house." Like a dead dog."
"well."
Yingsi held grass in his mouth and swayed Erlang's legs, and asked with a smile: "If you have the good looks of the third child, you can enjoy yourself."
"I'm not bad either." Ying Wu scratched his head, "When it comes to appearance in our camp, the third child ranks first and I rank second. There's no objection to this, right?"
"Bah!" Ying Si rolled his eyes, "You're nothing, even Xiao Shi is more handsome than you!"
Ying Wu snorted, thought for a while and then said: "Do you think our prince is serious about his treatment of the third child? I have never seen him treat anyone so favorably. Those supplements in Miss Huachun's hand, It's like running water into the third child's stomach, it's all a lot of money!"
Ying Si thought for a while and said in agreement, "Is it possible that Lao Ba's crow's mouth really showed his spirit?"
"Don't mention that bastard." Ying Wu raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his head, squinting at the sun, "Speaking of which, it's been more than a month since Lao Ba left. Why is there no movement at all?"
"Who knows." Ying Si said absently, "There is a rebellion in Huzhou, maybe they are trapped there."
The two chatted for a while, and soon the sun began to set.
The two people in the study were having tea when Wangchen hurried over and said, "Your Majesty, there is really something going on with Li Liang!"
Xiao Weixin nodded slightly and exchanged tacit glances with You Shu.
That night, Xiao Weixin asked You Shu to stare over there.
You Shu waited near the house outside the city for three hours. It was not until the moonlight rose above the willow trees that a faint sound came from the house. With the sound of the door creaking open, You Shu relied on his good 2.5 vision to see the figure of the old thief Li Liang flashing past.
He waited until the door was closed again before he came out of his hiding place and followed him quietly.
He had been to that house once before, and he could still remember the route, so he easily found the study with candlelight. There were several guards who looked like guards outside the study. You Shu did not dare to step forward rashly, so he hid in a tree and continued to guard.
Sure enough, another person was walking quickly from outside. Through the moonlight, he could clearly see that the person was dressed in a Central Plains uniform, but his footsteps were rough and heavy. It sounded like someone who was good at using brute force, unlike the walking habits of Central Plains people.
The guard at the door just nodded to him and let him go. You Shu thought for a while, picked up a broken branch from the tree and threw it out. When the guards heard the noise, they thought someone had broken in and hurried over to investigate. At that moment, the moonlight was obscured by dark clouds blown by a gust of wind. You Shu took advantage of these few seconds to take a risk and climbed onto the roof from the corner of the wall.
There was no one on the top. You Shu carefully uncovered a small piece of tile and leaned over to listen. Through the small gap in the tile, he saw a man from Xirong hand Li Liang a piece of parchment, and Li Liang also took out a piece of parchment from his sleeve. The envelope was handed over, and the two seemed to be exchanging some tokens without much verbal communication.
You Shu heard the Xirong man at the top say "Waiting for the good news from King Khan" in blunt Chinese, and then he strode out of the study. In the same hurry as when he came in, Li Liang stuffed the letter into the room. I stayed in my underwear for another half an hour before carefully leaving.
When he got on the carriage again, You Shu followed him to the deserted wilderness, jammed the wheels of the carriage with a trap he had made in advance, and then neatly stunned all his guards and servants, raised the door curtain and left with an evil spirit. Go in.
Li Liang suddenly looked up and saw a terrifying masked man in black standing in front of him. Before he could shout, he was kicked and knocked unconscious by You Shu. You Shu stepped forward and took out the parchment hidden in his inner clothes, and then He tied Li Liang up again and drove his carriage all the way to the palace.
The carriage returned to Prince Ling's Mansion before dawn. You Shu confirmed that no one was following him before entering through the back door of the Prince's Mansion.
After sneaking Li Liangti into the study, Xiao Weixin took the piece of parchment and read it under the lamp for a while. You Shu stepped forward and slapped the unconscious Li Liang awake, and said in a cold voice: "You're not awake yet." Come?"
Li Liang trembled and opened his eyes to find that the person in front of him was Prince Ling. He was stunned for a moment. He never thought that he had been cautious enough and still leaked the news.
"It seems that you have not received the attention of the new Khan King." Xiao Weixin said sarcastically, "What he wrote here are all empty words to perfunctory you. I am afraid that none of the benefits he promised you will be fulfilled by then. ”
"I really want to know that you secretly contacted Xirong in private and betrayed the old thief Xia Mao'an. Does he know?"
Li Liang's face turned pale all of a sudden. He didn't care to understand why Prince Ling appeared in front of him. He shook his body and begged: "Please forgive me, please don't reveal this matter to the Prime Minister!"
"Xiaguan, Xiaguan is just confused for a moment."
Although they are brother-in-law, Li Liang has been peaceful and obedient for so many years and was used as a shield by Xia Maoan, but as time goes by, who doesn't want to stand out? Li Liang is a hypocritical person who always pretends to be cool, but at heart he is even greedier than Xia Mao'an. He can't wait to replace him and become the most powerful person in the entire capital.
But he had neither the background support nor the astute brain. Xirong only used some tricks to successfully lure him into the bait. King Khan promised him that as long as he was willing to cooperate, he would be granted the title of prime minister when the matter was completed. .
Although Li Liang also knew that this might be a trap, he wanted to overpower Xia Mao'an so much, and was so coaxed by the beauty sent by Xirong that he surrendered not long after, which was extremely stupid.
Although Xia Mao'an also colluded with Xirong, he certainly didn't know that Li Liang had crossed him privately and had contacts with Xirong.
From this point of view, the new Khan King was really ambitious and made good calculations. He fooled both sides at the same time, but Li Liang was much stupider than Xia Mao'an. There were loopholes in his methods, and he was caught.
Xiao Weixin smiled slightly, with a bit of coolness in his eyes, and said sarcastically: "Master Li usually looks upright, but he turns out to be an ordinary person with seven emotions and six desires. I really thought that you have nothing to do with worldly affairs."
Li Liang broke into a cold sweat.
Xiao Weixin snorted and said, "But don't worry, since I specially invited you late at night, I will naturally not inform the Prime Minister about this."
Li Liang trembled, but there was no happy look on his face. He knew that there must be a sequel to this matter.
Sure enough, Xiao Weixin said again: "Since you can cooperate with Xirong, there is no reason to refuse me, is there?"
Li Liang suddenly raised his head, "What do you mean, Your Majesty?"
Xiao Weixin smiled softly: "I am not interested in the affairs between you, and I am not interested in whether you are the prime minister or not. I only want to get rid of Xia Maoan. From this point of view, don't we have the same goal? Come on? If I take my revenge, Mr. Li will also get what he wants, the best of both worlds."
Li Liang was not sure whether this man was telling the truth. He had never paid attention to a weak and idle prince, but now he really couldn't see through Prince Ling and couldn't tell what he was thinking.
Seeing his hesitation, You Shu stepped forward and pulled out the dagger from his waist and placed it on his neck. "My lord, you'd better think carefully before speaking. Swords have no eyes."
Li Liang's neck felt cold, and the blade was about to cut his skin. When he raised his eyes, he saw an unreadable smile on Prince Ling's face. I thought about it for a long time and decided that if I didn't agree, I would die right now. If I agreed, I might be betrayed by him at any time. The only reason is that he acted a little impulsively this time and was dazzled by the benefits in front of him, causing others to take advantage of him.
After much deliberation, he finally agreed without any hesitation. Survival was the most important thing right now.
You Shu secretly sneered. Since ancient times, this kind of weakling has been the most looked down upon. He has no character at all. He still thinks that he is a scholar and is not even a cannon fodder.