Fine snow mixed with cold rain fell on the fields outside Chang'an, sneaked into the dreamy street corners and alleys, and wet the roofs and eaves of every household.
Pei Xiaoyuan rode alone in the deserted night, as if walking in an empty city, without any obstruction. Even the teams of night patrol guards he met turned a blind eye to him, as if he had never existed. Only after passing by him would they quietly turn back, either anxiously or suspiciously, to look at his back.
A palace gate with two tightly closed doors gradually appeared at the end of his sight. The horse's hooves stepped on the wet street where the rain and snow melted on the ground, and continued to lead him forward, and finally came to the front of the gate and stopped.
This was the outer gate of the imperial palace, which received the awed gazes of countless Chang'an people passing by on the street in front of it every day. Together with the city tower, it was ten feet high, with a vermilion-painted door, decorated with gold nails, and a pair of gilded animal-faced door knockers with huge rings in their mouths, fully displaying the grandeur and majesty that a gate of the imperial family should have.
It was also outside this gate that many years ago, a mother led her son to kneel before it for a long time. All they asked for was the forgiveness of the person in a high position behind the gate, so that a group of angry people could have a chance to live.
At that time, I was not qualified to mention the truth.
To this day, there is still no answer to what the truth is.
He dismounted and touched the left ear of the Golden Crow. This was to tell it to go back to where it came from. It was almost psychic, and had been trained by him until now, and it was almost connected with his mind. However, this time, the Golden Crow just shook its head and stood quietly, refusing to move its hooves. He gave the order again, and the Golden Crow seemed to be hesitant, and raised its hooves a few times restlessly, knocking lightly on the hard stone pavement outside the palace gate, making a few ethereal knocking sounds.
Pei Xiaoyuan held the sword upside down and tapped the horse's buttocks several times with the handle of the sword, and shouted "Go" in a low voice. The Golden Crow Horse burped twice, raised its hooves and jumped up, finally following his instructions and galloping towards the Tianlong Stable in the north of the city.
As the sound of horse hooves faded away, he raised his arm and knocked on the door knocker.
The palace gate opened in response and lay open in front of him, revealing to him a long, endless, dark palace corridor covered with wet snow.
"Young Master!" "Si Cheng!"
At this time, several shouts of panic and anxiety rang out from behind. Pei Xiaoyuan paused and turned his head, and saw a dozen people appearing from the darkness in the distance across the cross street, running towards him. In addition to Chen Shao, Gu Twelve and others, there were also Liu Bo and five or six other people who were his former right-hand men in the government office.
"Young Master, think twice! If you are implicated because of the previous incident, we will take the blame and die, but you are a precious person, how can you take such a risk!" Chen Shao knelt down and bowed his head heavily to the ground. Gu Twelve also knelt down.
"Si Cheng, don't be impulsive! There is room for everything! Although I don't know what happened, even if the sky falls, Si Cheng can go to the princess! She is the most soft-hearted, as long as Si Cheng opens his mouth, she will definitely help!" Liu Bo was also very anxious, and he and his men knelt down and begged.
"There are more than just a few of us! If it weren't for the curfew that makes it inconvenient to gather in large numbers, many people in the outer guards would have been forced back. Otherwise, they would have followed too!" Liu Bo said again.
Pei Xiaoyuan was silent for a moment, straightened his clothes, and bowed deeply to the group of his father's old subordinates and subordinates opposite him. Then he stood up and said with a smile: "This matter is not what you think. Don't worry, I just went to ask for an audience with His Majesty, why would it come to this!"