The night was gloomy, the clouds cleared, and the moonlight was as cold as water. Zhuge Yue slowly lowered his bow and crossbow, watching the Shengjin Palace prison cart getting farther and farther away, he did not leave for a long time.
This long night is finally coming to an end.
The sun had already risen, and the sunlight came in from the high skylight. There was a bright streak, with fine dust constantly rising up, floating gently in mid-air. There was a soft, cracking sound, so small that if you didn't listen carefully, you might think it was the sound of a mouse crawling over the grass.
Chu Qiao sat against a wall with her eyes closed, as if she had fallen asleep. But behind her, there was a hand moving slowly, holding a small stone, and carefully polishing it on the earthen wall.
The sun rose and then slowly set, the hustle and bustle outside gradually subsided, and the cold night covered the bustling imperial capital. The patrolling jailer looked back and forth twice, then yawned and retreated. The moon was hollow, and the night was getting dark. There was a muffled bang, and a large piece of clay brick fell into the grass.
"Yan Xun..."
A faint voice sounded slowly, and it seemed so crisp in the dead silence of the prison.
Chu Qiao turned her face and looked at the cell next to her. She saw a young man in white fur leaning against the opposite wall, sitting in the dirty withered grass with his legs outstretched generously, with his eyes closed, as if he was sleeping.
"Yan Xun." Chu Qiao lowered her voice and called out cautiously.
The boy's eyelashes fluttered slightly, he opened his eyes, looked around in confusion, and suddenly saw the child's clear eyes, he was overjoyed, crawled over after a few strokes, smiled at the hole, "Girl, you are so smart."
"Fool!" Chu Qiao hurriedly shouted, "Keep your voice down, don't be heard."
"Oh," Yan Xun imitated her and looked around, then turned his head and smiled foolishly, showing his white teeth, "Girl, don't be afraid, my father will definitely send someone to rescue us , They guys dare not do anything to us."
"En." Chu Qiao nodded lightly, without answering.
Yan Xun frowned, "Hey, you don't believe me?"
"How dare I?" Chu Qiao stuck out her tongue, curled her lips and said, "But your father is here to save you, I don't have such a capable relative."
Yan Xun smiled when he heard the words, his eyes sparkled like stars in the sky, "Don't worry, I won't leave you alone, just follow me from now on, and I will protect you."
A warm current suddenly rushed through his body, and the eight-year-old smiled lightly, with a bright smile, and nodded, "Then why don't you treat me to something delicious when you go out, I'm almost starving to death."
"No problem." Yan Xun agreed, "You can choose whatever you want to eat, as long as you can name it, I will get it."
At some point, it suddenly snowed heavily outside, and the snowflakes floated in from the high skylight, and with the cold wind, they swept the icy cell bitingly. Chu Qiao was about to speak when suddenly her whole body trembled and shivered. When Yan Xun saw it, he hurriedly turned his face, and saw the child's clothes were thin, his face was pale and his lips were purple from the cold, he immediately became nervous.
"are you cold?"
"fine."
"You must be freezing to death if you wear so little."
Yan Xun stood up suddenly, took off the big fur from his body in a few strokes, squatted down and wanted to stuff it through the hole, but unfortunately the big fur was too thick and couldn't even get a sleeve through. Chu Qiao quickly pushed his clothes over, "Stop making trouble, it will be terrible if you are found out."
"What if I'm found out?" Yan Xun snorted coldly, "When I get out, none of these people will let me go."
"Let's wait until you are ordered to go out to say such cruel words." Chu Qiao mocked, raised her head slightly, and looked very disdainful.
Yan Xun snorted unconvinced, "Just wait and see."
The prison cell was getting darker and colder at night, Yan Xun leaned against the edge of the cave, and suddenly said: "Girl, stretch out your hand."
"Huh?" Chu Qiao was taken aback, "What?"
"Your hand," Yan Xun said while gesticulating, "stretch out your hand."
Chu Qiao frowned, "What are you going to do?"
"Don't ask," Yan Xun called impatiently, "If you tell me to stretch it out, just stretch it out."
Chu Qiao muttered something in a low voice, then stretched out her slender arm, and stretched a small hand that was blue from the cold along the hole, grabbed it in mid-air, shook it, and asked softly: "What are you doing?" What are you going to do?"
The cold little hand was suddenly held by someone, the boy's hand was slightly bigger, while holding her hand, he kept breathing, his eyes were bright, but his movements were clumsy, he asked while breathing: "Is it better? Is it warmer?"
The night is gloomy, the moon is as cold as frost, the snowflakes outside are drifting more and more anxiously, and they float in along the skylight, covering the dark and cold prison. The child sitting against the corner was suddenly a little stunned, and his big watery eyes were slightly sore. She nodded vigorously, but suddenly remembered that the person opposite could not be seen, so she said "um" in a slightly nasal voice.
"Hehe," Yan Xun said happily with a chuckle, "Girl, what's your name? I heard the fourth child of the Zhuge family called you Xing'er. Is this your real name?"
"No." The child replied in a low voice. The warmth like lake water was continuously transmitted from her arms, and her blood flowed little by little. She leaned against the wall and said softly, "My name is Chu Qiao."
"Chu?" Yan Xun frowned, and stopped unconsciously, "Aren't you a child of Cao Jing Yidian, former official warehouse? Why is your surname Chu?"
"Don't ask." The child's voice was very low, but with a trace of unspeakable solemnity, "Yan Xun, no one knows this name yet, I only told you one person, just remember it, don't blame me." Someone else will tell."
Yan Xun was taken aback for a moment, and then suddenly realized that it might be some family secret, and it would be disgraceful to tell it out, and suddenly felt a little bit of happy satisfaction in his heart, secretly thinking that she even told herself such a secret, isn't it just to take him Be your own? He quickly patted his chest and promised: "Well, don't worry, I won't say anything."
"Then what should I call you?" The boy frowned and said, "How about I call you Xiao Qiao?"
"No," Chu Qiao suddenly remembered the beauty of Soochow during the Three Kingdoms period, and frowned and objected, "Don't call it that."
"Why?" Yan Xun asked suspiciously, "Then can I call you Ah Chu?"
"Hmm..." Chu Qiao thought about it for a while, then nodded, "Okay, let's call it that."
Yan Xun laughed, "Ah Chu!"
"Um."
"Ah Chu!"
"heard it."
"Ah Chu! Ah Chu!"
"Are you done yet?"
"Achu, achu, achu!"
…
"Ah Chu, that hand."
Chu Qiao obediently withdrew this already warm hand, and stretched out the other one. Yan Xun hugged her arm, heaved a few breaths, and found that his hand was also cold, so he simply pulled off the clothes on his chest, and put Her hands were tucked in along the clothes.
"Oh!" Chu Qiao let out a low cry, and immediately wanted to shrink back.
"Haha," Yan Xun laughed, clutching tightly but not letting go, "It's a big advantage, I promise to have fun in my heart."
"Virtue!" Chu Qiao snorted, her small palm pressed against the boy's chest, the night was so quiet, she could even feel Yan Xun's heartbeat, so powerful, it beat again and again. The boy is very thin, but he has been riding horses and practicing martial arts all year round. His body is very strong, and his chest is full of well-defined muscles.
Yan Xun held Chu Qiao's hand, sat down against the wall, and said in a gentle voice, "Achu, when this matter is over, you can come back to Yanbei with me. If you have anything to worry about, I found someone to do it for you. This world is so chaotic, where can you go as a little child? When you meet bad people, you may even be bullied. Don’t think you are fierce, because you have not met the real If you meet such a villain, and I don't have me by your side to protect you, you will definitely suffer."
Chu Qiao leaned against the wall, with dry straw under her feet, and white snow flying in front of her. Her eyes seemed to see so far, but they seemed to be limited to the area in front of her. Where did she want to go? Maybe she didn't know it herself.
Didn't hear Chu Qiao's answer, Yan Xun continued: "I don't know why, I just want to help you. When I saw you for the first time on the hunting ground, I thought this kid was very funny, obviously so little , but it happened to be so fierce, so I couldn't bear to attack. I have been in the capital for so many years, and this is the first time I have lost to that bastard Zhao Che, and I hold my breath just thinking about it."
The drum of the third watch suddenly sounded, and it was transmitted from a distant street. The young man's voice seemed a bit ethereal, faint and distant, "Ah Chu, Yanbei is very beautiful and rarely fights. In summer, there are green pastures everywhere. My father, my elder brother and my third brother often go to fire on horseback. I was hunting wild horses on Leiyuan. At that time, I was still young, only seven or eight years old, and I couldn’t ride a big horse. My elder brother gave me a pony cub born by the king of the hunted horse. I was always very angry and felt that he looked down on me. Actually Later, I gradually understood that he was just afraid of hurting me. The third brother has the worst temper and always fights with me. When he gets angry, he lifts me up high and shouts that he will throw me to death, and then the second sister They would rush up and beat him with a whip, and they started to fight. Although the third brother is strong, he can't even beat the second sister. I looked down on him at the time, but now that I think about it, maybe he doesn't want to fight with the second sister. .
"In winter, there will be heavy snowfall in Yanbei for more than a month, so we will go to the Shuobei Plateau. There is Huihui Mountain, which is high and steep, and there are many hot springs on the mountain. My mother is from Biantang, and she can't stand the cold in the north. It's not very good either, we always live in the palace next to the hot spring for half a year. We always sneak out of the school behind our father's back and go to see her, but when we get there, we find that the father has already left He stayed in the palace ahead of us."
The moonlight was bright and shining, and the young man's face suddenly became so gentle, a warmth that Chu Qiao had never seen before.
"Ah Chu, our Yanbei is not like here in the imperial capital. Fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, and husbands and wives can all become enemies. There are scheming plots everywhere, greed for profit, rotten singing and dancing and starving people everywhere. In our land in Yanbei In the world, there are few wars, no refugees, everyone can eat enough, and slaves can live according to their own wishes. Ah Chu, come back to Yanbei with me! There, you can live better, and I will protect you , no one can bully you anymore, no one can point an arrow at you anymore. I will take you to Huoleiyuan to hunt wild horses, and I will take you back to Huishan to see my mother. She is a very gentle person. You will like it her."
The air was so quiet, only the boy's low-pitched words were speaking quietly, the thinly clad child suddenly felt very warm, she raised her face, and seemed to see the Yanbei that Yan Xun said, and saw the green grass , I saw the snow-white and crystal Huihui Mountain, saw the galloping wild horses, heard the hearty laughter of the teenagers and the wind of freedom.