Shouwangfu hosted a full moon banquet for Xiaojun. It was sunny at noon. Soon after the banquet was over, the sky above my head suddenly became overcast. At dusk, snow actually began to float. At first, it was only small broken snowflakes, and then it became bigger and sooner. The place was covered with a thin layer of white. A carriage left in front of the palace gate, turned a few corners, and headed towards Duke Wei's mansion.
Guo Boyan opened the cotton curtain, and a few pieces of snow were blown over by the wind and fell on his face, quickly turning into a bit of coolness. Guo Boyan touched his face, stared blankly for a moment at the thick calluses on his fingertips, and then lowered the curtains to cover up that gloomy face like the sky.
The carriage stopped in front of the palace.
Guo Boyan jumped out of the car and glanced at the Prince Shou Mansion in the distance before striding into his own mansion. First go to greet Mrs. Tai, come back and change into a homely robe, hold Mao Ge'er and listen to his wife Lin's talk about the full moon feast of the little princess, and watch his wife smile when she mentions her daughter's skillful return to Princess Rui.
It was snowing heavily outside, and the interior was warm. This was his home, the comfort and wealth he had exchanged for his half-length army.
Guo Boyan does not allow anyone to ruin the family, including his proudest and most respected eldest son.
After dinner, Guo Boyan asked Lin to go to bed first. He took two things and went to find the eldest son alone.
In the winter moon season, after the short dusk is a long dark night, it is still early, Guo Xiao can't sleep, leaning on the bedside to read the history books. Hearing that his father was coming, Guo Xiao immediately put down his book, straightened his robes and went to the main room to greet him. Guo Boyan had already come in, and a thin layer of snow had fallen on his hair and shoulders. He flicked it casually, looked at his eldest son and asked, "Have you not slept yet?"
The father and son looked at each other, as if everyone knew what the other was thinking, and it seemed that they couldn't see each other clearly.
"Just finished eating, I'm going to read a book for two quarters of an hour before taking a break." Guo Xiao said truthfully, and ordered Ah Shun to prepare tea.
"Serve the wine." Guo Boyan stopped Ah Shun and said.
Surprised, Ah Shun looked at his master subconsciously, Guo Xiao nodded and asked his father to sit on the warm couch in the second room, but Guo Boyan moved to the main seat in the main room and was drinking outside. When he entered the room, the door curtain of the main room was picked up and placed on the door panel. Ah Shun didn't dare to put it down. The cold wind rushed in on the winter night, and the original warmth was dissipated in an instant.
Guo Boyan sat down towards the door, thoughtful.
Guo Xiao glanced at his father and also looked out the door. Under the eaves of the porch, the cold wind whirled and danced wildly with snowflakes, colliding in no direction, disorganized, but there was nowhere to hide under the dim light. Snowflakes fell on the door, and gradually piled up a layer. Ah Shun came in with just warm wine, and instantly left two footprints on the thin layer of snow.
"Go to the courtyard to guard, and don't allow anyone to come within three feet of the upper room." Guo Boyan said lightly.
"Yes." Ah Shun nodded and stepped back with a dignified expression. He stopped three feet in front of the door, with his back to this side.
Guo Boyan turned sideways, lifted the wine jug, and filled the two wine bottles on the table by nine points. Putting down the jug, Guo Boyan picked up a bottle, looked at the eldest son on the opposite side, and said, "This bottle is dedicated to the ancestors of our Guo family. Without their blessings, our father and son would not have the wealth and glory they are now."
Guo Xiao touched the wine bottle with his father, and said solemnly, "What my father said is."
The father and son sprinkled the wine on the ground together.
Guo Boyan put down the wine bottle, Guo Xiao got up, and filled it up again respectfully.
Guo Boyan raised the wine bottle, looked up at his son, and said with a smile: "This bottle is a father to respect you, and to celebrate my son's death, there will be future blessings."
"Thank you, father." Guo Xiao raised the wine bottle with both hands and threw it away.
After the bottle was finished, Guo Boyan took the lead and picked up the wine bottle. After filling the bottle, he did not drink in a hurry. Instead, he looked down at the wine bottle and said after a while, "Kneel down."
Without saying a word, Guo Xiao lifted up his clothes and knelt in front of his father, kneeling on the pool of wine where he worshipped the ancestors of the Guo family.
Guo Boyan turned his head and looked at his son calmly: "Do you know why your father asked you to kneel?"
Guo Xiao lowered his eyes and said, "The son knows that the son is at fault, no matter how the father punishes him."
At the age of 21, he is a general who has been on the battlefield and shed blood, and is a real man. Guo Boyan knows very well that he can no longer use his father's majesty to force his son to do anything. Now they are just men to men, and he can only use Reason persuades the son. His body didn't move, Guo Boyan asked in a deep voice, "Can't let go of that obsession?"
Guo Xiao was silent and acquiesced.
As expected, Guo Boyan's chest rose and fell. After a while, he leaned back in his chair feebly, closed his eyes and said, "That day, your life was in danger, and I couldn't sit back and ignore it because of my father, so I promised you one thing against my heart. My father doesn’t regret it, it’s just that I’m not alone for my father, behind your grandmother, your mother, younger siblings, and the entire Guo Gongfu, I can’t let the Guo family’s three families be implicated by you alone, even if it’s a possibility.”
"My son understands." Guo Xiao raised his eyes and looked at the man on the seat calmly: "If the father can acquiesce to the son's heart for Jia Ning, the son will be content, and there is no need for the father to do anything for me." He never thought about it. Desperate to rob her, if the price of getting her is destined to make everyone in the Guo family suffer, then he would rather give up.
Guo Boyan guessed that his son had another plan, but he couldn't think of any solution for his son. The son and An'an were in a dead end, and the son had no chance of marrying his daughter. Regardless of the investigation and revenge of King Shou's robbed concubine, after his son robbed An'an, there were three ways to go. The first way is to hide An An in the Guogong Mansion, but the Guogong Mansion has many eyes, and the news is too easy to expose. The second way, the son hides An An outside, but as long as the son goes out to see An An, he will definitely be discovered by someone with a heart. On the third way, his son took An Anyuan to Gao Fei to hide his name, but both of them are good-looking.
If they had to be together, Guo Boyan could only think of one way, that is, he first arranged for his son to die. After his son was disfigured and left incognito, he waited for the opportunity, and when King Shou took his daughter out, he designed an accident by himself, causing King Shou to die in an accident and getting rid of the powerful people who wanted to find out the whereabouts of his daughter. At the same time, find a corpse to replace her daughter with suspended animation, and then take her daughter to a remote place.
But such a price was too tragic. Guo Boyan didn't believe that his son had succeeded because of his self-harming appearance, and his appearance was ruined. How could his son coax An Anxin to follow him willingly? Guo Boyan forced the marriage of Lin because he had confidence in himself and believed that he could win Lin's heart, but if there is no such assurance, if they are sure that they can only be grudges and torture each other, then Guo Boyan will definitely not shoot.
Guo Boyan didn't tell the eldest son what he had in mind. He only stated the threat of his son's plan to steal people to the government, and then took out two long and narrow boxes from his arms and handed one of them to his son.
Guo Xiao took it with both hands and opened the box. Inside was a dagger with a sharp blade.
Guo Boyan stared at the eldest son and said, "Even if you plan carefully, as long as you have the possibility of being caught, it will bring disaster to the Guo family. The only thing a father can promise you is not to interfere with you and rob people, but Before that, you must self-destruct and leave the Guo family with fake death, and from now on, anything you do has nothing to do with the Guo family."
Guo Xiao looked at the dagger, his breathing gradually became heavier, like a beast trapped in a cage, his eyes were red, and he was fighting with the invisible shackles.
"If you begged An An to me before she got married, and if your life was at stake at that time, maybe you could remain anonymous, but now she is Princess Shou, so she has to do this for her father." Guo Boyan stared at his son, Slowly opened another box and took out a post with the birth date of the eldest son written on it.
"If you are reluctant to look, reluctant to be proud and rich, and reluctant to tell your grandmother to send a black-haired person in vain, then you will completely die of that heart, set a marriage a year ago, and get married as soon as possible." Guo Boyan's voice was handed over to the eldest son. Sternly said, "These two roads, you choose one tonight, and once you choose, there is no room for turning back."
Guo Xiao raised his head, his eyes turned upside down, and he made no secret of a son's resentment towards his father.
Guo Boyan was unmoved, only said: "You can really leave the Duke's Mansion for An An, don't blame your father for abandoning you for the Duke's Mansion."
Guo Xiao glared at the father in front of him, his fair face was already flushed, and the blue veins on his forehead were exposed, because the two paths his father gave him were dead ends. He ruined her appearance, and she would never give her heart to an ugly and terrifying man. He would not ruin his appearance. With his father on guard, he would never have a chance to take action.
If I had known this, on the day he was injured, he should not have shown it in front of his father!
The young son's expression was even more chilling than the snow outside the door, but Guo Boyan sat in front of his son like a mountain and waited patiently, then watched his son's face gradually turn pale, watched his son slowly put down the dagger, and took it That birthday eight characters. Everything was as he expected, but Guo Boyan could not feel any gratification, he only felt that his heart was pressing down on a mountain, extremely heavy.
He picked up two bottles of wine, handed one to his son, and said tiredly, "This third bottle, I'm going to be overjoyed."
If the son chooses the path of disfigurement, what he respects now is the father-son relationship between the two of them for 21 years.
Guo Xiao didn't take the bottle of wine, and clenched his birthday. Guo Xiao smiled bitterly and said, "Father, my son has one last request."
Guo Boyan stared at his son and said, "You say it."
Guo Xiao let go of the crumpled birthdate, his stiff shoulders suddenly relaxed for a long time, his eyes were lowered, his voice was vicissitudes: "My son can't marry the person he really wants to marry, but he doesn't want to marry anyone casually, my cousin has been obsessed with me for so many years. , I want to ask the emperor to grant marriage."
The niece Princess Duanhui
Guo Boyan frowned instinctively. Princess Duanhui was raised by the emperor and Concubine Shu to be unruly and willful. She is definitely not a good candidate for a daughter-in-law. If she gets married, she will probably find her in trouble. The only thing that suits her son is that Princess Duanhui has a strong temper and can absolutely control her son, let alone marrying her. An An who went out was the maid next to her, and my son probably wouldn't have a chance to steal it.
While hesitating, Guo Boyan thought of the steward's report, saying that Princess Duanhui went to Yihexuan to visit her son today, and threw herself into her son's arms regardless of the presence of the servants, and cried a lot. The son's heart has been given to An An. If other women want to take it back, they must pay more, and they must first have the same infatuation.
Guo Boyan vaguely saw a glimmer of hope. His wife is a smart person. With the support of him and Mrs. Tai, it is more than enough to deal with a little girl. As long as Princess Duanhui can tell her son to get lost, there are some minor problems, and he doesn't mind.
"Duanhui is your cousin. If you marry her, you must treat her wholeheartedly, otherwise you will not be able to explain to your aunt." Guo Boyan said solemnly.
Guo Xiao let out a sneer and looked up at his father: "Father doesn't believe me? Do I need to swear again?"
Guo Boyan's face changed greatly. The last time his son swore to pierce his heart with ten thousand arrows, he was interrupted halfway through the oath. This time, Guo Boyan would rather his son continue to lie to him than to gamble with his son's hard-earned life.
With mixed feelings, Guo Boyan picked up his son, patted his shoulder, and finally shook his head, leaving only a long sigh before leaving.