Shan Chao put down the jug steadily, looked at Empress Wu, and made a gesture of please.
Empress Wu almost admired him a little bit, but she didn't show this emotion, she just smiled: "More than half a year ago, a big case happened in Liangzhou. The horse thieves were all beheaded to close the case. However, when the memorial was sent to the capital, Commander Xie felt that there was something wrong with the local government, so he asked the order of the palace, and went to Liangzhou in person in disguise, and pulled out dozens of officials who had colluded with corruption in one fell swoop. people."
"When he came back, he followed this girl by his side, saying that he met him on the way to investigate the case... Of course, only the two of them know the specific details of this 'meeting'."
"Commander Xie is very caring about that girl from the Yang family. He not only keeps him with him all the time, but also often asks for some new gadgets in the palace to give to her." Tianhou changed her tone and joked: "This palace has a rare For the python-shaped jewelry carved from lapis lazuli, because Yang Miaorong took a second look, Xie Yun really asked for it confidently... I am too embarrassed not to reward it, it is really annoying."
Shan Chao closed his eyes slightly, then opened them again, and said flatly: "The Empress of Heaven cares about her ministers, and her virtuous reputation spreads throughout the government and the public, so she will naturally reward her."
Candlelight burned the luminous pearl, and Shan Chao's silhouette showed a tough silhouette at the feasting palace banquet, like a rough and firm rock outside the Great Wall, which remained motionless in the wind and rain.
Empress Wu let out a long breath from the bottom of her heart, and seemed to feel a little emotional again.
"—In the blink of an eye, you are no longer young. In the past eight years, you have fought east and west, but you have not even managed to make a home. I really feel a little indebted..."
Shan Chao said: "The last general is ashamed."
"I will pay attention to the ladies in Beijing, and I will find you a flowery and beautiful family member who suits you." Empress Wu's eyes flickered, and she smiled again, but this time the smile seemed a little more sincere: "Nor In vain for you to fight for... for the loyalty of the country!"
Shan Chao got up and said, "Thank God for your trouble."
His voice was decent and steady, without even a trace of waves, like a calm and vast lake.
However, no one could hear the turbulent undercurrent under the deep water.
·
Yang Miaorong asked softly, "What's wrong with you?"
Xie Yun turned down another wave of colleagues who came up to toast with tea instead of wine, and coughed twice, his brows seemed to wrinkle a little, but he waved his hand: "It's nothing, I'm a bit annoyed by the quarrel, I'm going out for a walk .”
Yang Miaorong immediately got up to follow, but Xie Yun signaled her not to move: "It's windy outside, you just stay."
"Then put on your fur robe..."
Xie Yun nodded to indicate that he knew, and walked around the tables behind him very unobtrusively, and walked out through the side door of the palace.
The shengxiao, dancing and music are swaying in the wind, and they can be heard clearly from such a long distance. Xie Yun stood by the pond for a while, feeling that his chest was filled with the icy cold air of the Daming Palace in the deep winter. Under the stinging pain of the freezing cold, the old wound on the side of his heart that was pierced by a knife did not seem to hurt so much. .
I make a mistake once or twice every winter, and this year it's time to drink Mafeisan again.
Xie Yun twisted his hands and moved his wrists, turned around, and stopped suddenly.
Under the eaves not far behind, a tall and silent figure was standing there, casting a silent shadow in the dimness, and the same hoarse voice came over: "Since you have gone to Liangzhou, why didn't you come to me?"
Xie Yun seemed to be taken aback for a moment, but then asked calmly, "Why did I go to you? I didn't go there for you."
The moonlight moved westward, finally revealing half of Shan Chao's silhouette. The pupils under the slender and straight sword eyebrows are deep and shining, and the lines are cold and merciless, completely different from eight years ago.
Although he also had a tough side back then, most of the time he carried the lingering eagerness and urgency of young people. Now that eagerness has turned into a more introverted and forbearing power after countless Shura battlefields and bloodbaths of life and death, only faintly revealing clues from the gleam in his eyes.
Xie Yun's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he withdrew his gaze and walked towards the other end of the porch, but at the moment he passed by, Shan Chao suddenly reached out and grabbed his elbow tightly.
"Four years ago in Qinghai," Shan Chao said in a low voice, his voice was obviously very stable, but for some reason, it made people tremble in the bottom of his heart: "Before stationing in Dafeichuan, the Holy Lord appointed me and Guo Daifeng to station in the camp , No civil and military personnel in the Manchu Dynasty spoke; only one person strongly objected in front of the imperial court, asking me to attack the dark sea and dangerous land with Commander Xue, and that person is you."
"After defeating Guo Daifeng and returning to Beijing, the Holy Majesty thought of his father and brother who died on the battlefield, and wanted to convict him for a lighter punishment; only one person counted out Guo Daifeng's eight serious crimes in public, including disobeying military orders and missing a fighter plane, and finally forced the Holy Majesty He has to be reduced to death, and that person is also you..." "So what?" Xie Yun asked back: "I have a political dispute with Guo Daifeng, so it's only natural for me to take advantage of the opportunity to add insult to injury?"
"No," said Shan Chao, "it's not because of this."
Shan Chao's pincer-like hand exerted force, forcing Xie Yun to turn sideways and look at him at a close distance, even the breath of each other brushed each other's cheeks.
"After Qinghai's defeat, I was promoted and transferred to Qiuci. At that time, the Anxi Dufu was weak, and the people above were often neglected because of this, and the military salary was often delayed. After Xiao Siye asked people to walk around the capital, only you In the name of Empress Wu, the household department was secretly warned, and since then, the food and weapons shipped to Kucha have never been late..."
Xie Yun's lips moved, as if he wanted to refute something, but Shan Chao lowered his head slightly. In this way, the distance between them got closer, even the tips of their noses almost touched, and there was no way to hide any slightest emotion in each other's eyes: "Empress Wu is in charge of the government alone, and you are actually one person under ten thousand!" On top of that, why is it necessary to go out of Beijing personally for the Liangzhou governor’s corruption case?”
Xie Yun said coldly: "I just can't tolerate sand in my eyes."
"So," Shan Chao looked at him and asked softly, "Why do you occasionally find among the firearms that have been sent to Qiucha in recent years that have not been cleaned by sandpaper, the private marks of the Beiya Imperial Army?"
Xie Yun didn't answer.
The surroundings are so quiet, the songs and laughter from Changle Palace are indistinct, the moonlight and lights shine, and there is soft broken light rippling on the pond.
Shan Chao released the five fingers holding Xie Yun's elbow, and stroked his smooth and cold side face upwards, as if stroking a precious piece of porcelain that he longed for but never dared to touch.
"For so many years, I have always missed you in my heart..." Shan Chaofu asked in his ear, "Do you miss me?"
Xie Yun raised his hand and tapped his left side of his heart, and said coldly: "Every winter when it happens, I miss you a lot and want to kill you."
He waved Shan Chao's strong arm, raised his foot and walked towards Changle Palace. But before he took two steps, his shoulders tightened, and Shan Chao grabbed and pulled him back, and then he bowed his head and kissed him heavily!
Xie Yun was stunned for an instant, so much so that he loosened his jaw, and his lips and tongue were forced to intertwine. The thick and vigorous masculine aura seemed to carry the distant wind and sand, enveloping him in an instant, pouring into the limbs and bones along with the swallowed saliva.
For all his life he could not remember being kissed. Maybe it was there in that secret and dim cave eight years ago, but his memory of that night was so chaotic that he couldn't remember it afterwards anyway.
-Snapped!
Xie Yun pushed Shan Chao away with one palm, with such force that Shan Chao hit the stone pillar with his back, making a muffled bang!
"Eight years haven't cured the disease in your mind?!" Xie Yun snapped, turned around and wanted to leave. But then Shan Chao grabbed his hand, pulled out the dagger from his back and stuffed it into his palm, and then pulled his palm, so that the tip of the knife pointed directly at his chest: "Then you want to kill me to pay for your life?" ? Come on, don't you want my life?"
Xie Yun wanted to let go and throw away the dagger, but his five fingers had already been tightly grasped by Shan Chao's broad and powerful palm, and he couldn't even retract it in a hurry, and was caught by Shan Chao and stabbed at his own chest.
"My brain is sick. I have been sick since I was in Mobei ten years ago. Don't you know?"
"Let go!"
"Why bother hanging me while marrying someone else, why don't you just stab me to death?"
"Shut up and let go!"
"I want to pay you the rest of my life. If you don't want it, then you should want my life, right?!"
Xie Yun slapped him and slapped Shan Chao over the head firmly.
With a bang, Xie Yun dropped the dagger to the ground, his chest heaving rapidly.
"As long as you stay in the capital," his expression could almost be called gnashing of teeth: "In a few years, someone will kill you, and you don't even need to dirty my hands..."
Shan Chao held Xie Yun's slightly trembling fingers, and turned to look at him.
Under the moonlight, the man's handsome face was so handsome that his eyes flickered slightly, as if overflowing from the dark abyss, unstoppable warmth.
"Well," said he, "I shall not go anywhere without your order."
Xie Yun suddenly felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.
He knows that in getting along with people, if one party occupies an absolute dominant position in front of the other for too long, then no matter how the world changes and the time changes, he will habitually maintain a condescending attitude, just like himself that day Saw Shan Chao in the Khotan Mission in the Sifang Pavilion.
However, today he suddenly realized that this kind of superiority is actually very fragile.
Eight years of fighting on the battlefield is enough to awaken the innate but long-suppressed desire for aggression in Shanchao's blood. Under that more mature and handsome face, his soul has undergone an earth-shaking transformation. It has become rigid, firm and powerful enough to completely break away from Xie Yun's control.
But he still chooses to express himself in an almost submissive posture, like a beast hiding its sharp claws and lowering its head seemingly docilely.
— This unreasonable contradiction is what makes Xie Yun shudder the most.