"Ma'am, please come down and rest for a while."
The young man quietly rubbed his sore waist and buttocks. In order to avoid possible pursuit, he followed the escape route given by Mr. Yan An, but it was a bumpy road. The carriage had no shock absorbers, and after driving for a day and a night, his waist was almost broken.
"Thank you, Xiaolang."
The woman's voice was gentle.
The child said in a baby voice: "Thank you, brother."
Jumping off the carriage, the young man stretched out his hand to the woman, wanting to take the child: "The young lady is very weak, let me hold her."
The child obediently stretched out his hands and lay on the boy's not-so-broad shoulders, watching his mother take out dry food and water bags from the carriage, and the three of them had a simple meal. The child sat on the boy's left arm, and his free right hand checked the map given by Yan An.
He said, "We can reach the next place in three hours along this road. Mr. Yan An said that he buried some money there, which is enough for us to eat and wear for the next few years. Fortunately, we have silver and enough dry food, otherwise how can we survive."
As he was talking, he realized that the woman looked pale, so he stopped talking. Alas, he was still a little confused. He didn't know why Mr. Yan An liked him and entrusted such an important family to him. Isn't this a joke
Which outsider doesn’t know that he is Zheng Qiao’s “male favorite”
Because he looks like Zheng Qiao when he was young, he is pampered and spoiled. Although he considers himself a "filial son", normal people think that he and Zheng Qiao are in the same boat. However, Mr. Yan An takes an unconventional approach and seeks help from a "favorite" in the eyes of outsiders.
Isn’t this outrageous
It's outrageous.
At this time, the child in his arms asked, "What are you thinking about, brother?"
The young man said, "I miss your father."
The child's black eyes seemed full of confusion.
Why does she miss her father
The young man sighed, and the woman heard the noise and looked over.
He hesitated and asked, "I really don't understand. Why me? It's not that I look down on myself, but I can't read many words, and I don't have any skills. I'm just a pretty face... Is it because Zheng Qiao 'favors' me?"
The young man didn't know why he was so confused. When Yan An came to ask him to take care of his wife and daughter, he agreed. When he came to his senses, he wanted to slap himself twice - escorting them out of Qianzhou to seek refuge with old friends, not to mention how the king Zheng Qiao would react to his betrayal, just the chaos along the way, he was a young man with two women and children, he was definitely a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
Why did he give up his wealth and glory and wade into this muddy water? Although he was upset, the young man had no intention of betraying the mother and daughter and sending them to Zheng Qiao. Instead, he doubled his days and hurried along the way according to the map.
Looking back, I feel confused.
Leaving means that he will have to give up his wealth and stable life and step into the war and chaos outside.
The future is uncertain, life and death are hard to predict.
Now he wanted to understand why it was him.
Are you very familiar with Mr. Yan An
"Although I admire Mr. Yan very much and appreciate his efforts for the common people, this does not mean..."
After talking for a long time, he was still at a loss for words.
The woman thought for a while and said, "Perhaps it's because you and Zheng Qiao are similar in appearance but not in spirit. Zheng Qiao sees you as a compensation for his own 'past', but you and he are two different people after all. You have a conscience, but he has lost his conscience."
The boy understood half of what he heard.
The woman said: "Perhaps in Xingning's heart, you are a fellow apprentice who still has a 'conscience' and will not stand by and watch you die..."
The young man was completely speechless. Oh my god, he had become the substitute of "Young Zheng Qiao" in the minds of these two brothers
But the woman's next words immediately dispelled all his dissatisfaction: "Zheng Qiao is beyond help, but you still have a future. If you continue to stay there, your future will be bleak. If you change to another place, you may have a chance to fight for the sky. Your future is limitless."
Two people with similar appearances take different paths. Zheng Qiao is determined to go down one path, while the boy in front of him who looks like Zheng Qiao in his youth still has a chance to fight for a bright future... These two are like "junior brothers" who make different choices at a fork in the road.
This may be a little selfish of my husband.
The boy blushed.
"Me? Can I?"
It was not easy for a butcher's son to live this long in this world, not to mention the future, which was too far away. As for scholars like Mr. Yan An, who could control the world with a wave of his hand and use the people as chess pieces, I dare not even think about it.
The woman said, "The world is not settled yet, so why can't we do it?"
The boy blushed slightly and his eyes avoided glances shyly.
When the woman saw this, her heart ached again.
She and Zheng Qiao are classmates.
But she likes to stick to Yan An. They are childhood sweethearts. Her friendship with Zheng Qiao is also because of Yan An. She and Zheng Qiao are not close in personal relationship. But no matter what, they have spent a carefree time studying together. Zheng Qiao also used to be shy and innocent.
There's absolutely no going back.
Her husband might not come back either.
Thinking of this, tears welled up in my eyes.
Before the tears rolled down her cheeks, her tender and warm little hands wiped away one teardrop and she said crisply, "Don't cry, mother."
"Yes!" The woman clenched her teeth, "Don't cry, mother."
It was difficult to force back the tears.
Seeing this, the young man sighed.
He didn't know what Yan An was going to do. Seeing that he was risking everything and entrusted his important wife and daughter to him, he thought it was a life-or-death situation. He took a short rest and continued on his way before it got dark. He couldn't let his guard down.
The empty forest entangles the setting sun, and the cold birds fly to the deserted garden.
It was dusk and the sun was setting in the west.
The palace was unexpectedly quiet under the cover of night.
The only sound in the air was the crackling of burning candles.
Zheng Qiao had a revelry with the civil and military officials yesterday until the moon set and the stars sank, and the sky was pale before he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, it was all hazy outside the palace, and he had wasted another day. He rubbed his swollen and painful forehead, frowned, and endured this torture.
"Someone come—"
He called out, but no one in the hall answered.
"Someone come! Are they all dead?!"
He couldn't control his anger.
Still no one answered.
Zheng Qiao opened his eyes and stood up.
Only then did he realize that the palace was strangely empty and quiet. Apart from the breathing of the palace maids and eunuchs, there was no one else here except himself. Zheng Qiao was keenly aware of something wrong, and after a hangover, his lazy daze was swept away, and his eyes were sharp and murderous.
"Get out!"
Something is wrong with this space.
Someone did something.
After a while, a figure slowly approached the entrance of the hall. As the figure gradually became clearer, the jade pendant on the person's waist could be heard jingling, and the hem of his clothes made a pleasant sound, like a piece of music. Only when the figure came closer could I see it clearly.
Zheng Qiao remembered that the last time he saw Yan An, he was extremely thin, his clothes were empty, his face was haggard, he looked sick, and his hair was gray. This was a sign of aging, and for a scholar who was protected by literary spirit, it also meant decline.
More than twenty years older.
Where is Yan An in front of me
The body is upright, with broad shoulders and narrow waist.
Three thousand black hair and handsome appearance.
He was dressed in a brocade Confucian robe and had a familiar sword on his waist. His brows showed the sharpness of his youth and he was full of vigor and vitality.
There’s something wrong with this person too!
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