Tianhe twenty-one year winter, light snow.
The guards guarding the sky prison hadn't changed their shift yet, and Chi Mao stood upright at the door, his face was so cold that he lost consciousness.
In the wind and snow, a faint figure came, dressed in brocade clothes and jade belt, wearing a black cloak, and when he got closer, he realized that the person holding the umbrella for him was actually a palace guard.
The man stopped in front of the prison, and the guard put away his umbrella and showed his token.
The jailer immediately wanted to kneel when he saw the sign, and was supported by others. He raised his head and only heard the elegant man say: "No need, you will lead the way."
The jailer he pointed to walked along in response, wondering inwardly.
It has been a long time since the Royal Sky Prison has held people. This time, the prisoner is a felon who is sure to die. Not to mention the officials who were imprisoned in the past, but the one who fell off this time, the charges alone shocked the whole court.
Alas, who would have thought that the famous and loyal Marquis of Zhen Guo would have an unworthy descendant who formed a party and conspired against him? If it weren't for the conclusive evidence—the fourth prince was demoted to a commoner at his desk, and King An Le, who was brutally poisoned, hadn't woken up yet, no one would dare to believe it.
Not long ago, Little General Ling was the hottest son-in-law candidate in the imperial city, but now he is afraid of avoiding it, which will implicate the decline of Zhen Guohou's mansion, and he may never recover.
At this juncture, the prince must avoid suspicion, and the important ministers will not interfere, so it is impossible to guess who this master is. The jailer took a peek at the man who was behind, stopped and bowed politely, "Master, this is the place."
Ji Bei nodded and said nothing.
"... I know the rules, and I won't make it difficult for you." Yuan Bao called the jailer in a low voice cleverly, and led him out, leaving Ji Bei alone.
The sky prison was dark and damp, with a musty smell of hay on the ground, which was extremely uncomfortable.
The black figure sitting in the corner moved and slowly raised his head, his messy black hair was sticky and matted, covering his face, only revealing a pair of cloudy eyes.
There is no memory of high-spiritedness, and there is no trace of vigorous ambition, but the moment he saw the man in front of him, his eyes lit up, and the hatred in his eyes seemed to be nailed to Ji Bei's body as if it had materialized.
The most beloved son was injured by him and has been in a coma until now. Xiao Hui will never let Ling Rui feel better. You don't need to look to know that there must be many scars under the torn and dirty prison clothes. Ji Bei smiled, but he only hated being hurt too much. Light, not bad enough...
"Ling Rui, enjoy what I give you in return." He looked down at the embarrassed people on the ground, with a cold tone, "If it wasn't for you..."
On the day of Beidi's night attack, he recalled it once, and it hurt once, but it was like masturbating himself, and he could clearly see the temperature of Xiao Xiangnan's blood, and the touch of his palms on his face hadn't subsided yet.
Everything happened too fast, from Ling Rui forcibly knocking him unconscious from the tent and taking him away, to Yuan Bao following behind to rescue him, to... and then to witnessing his lover's clothes in bright red, crying blood, and collapsing from exhaustion —He suddenly felt that he was in a dream, and there was at least one confession he had been waiting for for a long time, adding sweetness to the bitterness.
Xiao Xiangnan was looking for him, and this fact made him shamefully happy, but in the face of the price of loss, he didn't want it.
He couldn't forgive himself, let alone Ling Rui.
It would be more satisfying to let him suffer, let him fall from the clouds of glory, and become a street mouse despised by everyone, than to kill an enemy, let alone someone like Ling Rui? Deprive him of his power and status, puncture those glory and pride, and teach him that life would be worse than death!
"Ji Bei..." The man stared at him, and rushed forward, the chains rattling, "Why did you want to kill me!"
"I harmed you? None of the crimes you committed are untrue!" Ji Bei looked at him coldly, "You owe Nan'er, and I will get it back for him!"
Ling Rui froze, and suddenly burst out laughing, the corners of his eyes were a little wet, and his appearance was crazy.
Ji Bei didn't say any more, and turned around to go back and forth.
"Ji Bei—look at it! Xiao Xiangnan is dead! He can't wake up like a vegetable, you know! Hahaha—he's dead!"
Ji Bei didn't stop, seeing the jailer rushing up to meet him, he said: "... tell him to shut up."
"Yes Yes."
Yuan Bao glanced at the depths of the prison, gritted his teeth, and said, "Such vicious people should be chopped up and fed to dogs! If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't..."
"Okay," Ji Bei interrupted him in a deep voice, "Let's go to the palace." The ten fingers under the sleeves were trembling, and they couldn't hold back even though they were clenched tightly.
God is merciful, Xiao Xiangnan was seriously injured and comatose, and did not leave him, even if he has not woken up, he would like to stay with him for the rest of his life;
But Ling Rui didn't mention it, he even forgot that maybe one day, one day when he was not around, Xiao Xiangnan lost the possibility of waking up in his dream.
He felt panicked, so he urgently wanted to see Xiao Xiangnan, to make sure he was still there.
The more he walked into the palace, the faster Ji Bei's heart beat. Seeing many palace maids and guards hurrying past, the usual scenery seemed to have changed.
No, he thought calmly, impossible.
"What's going on here?" Yuan Bao muttered suspiciously, and suddenly called out, "Yu Jia! There are so many imperial physicians!"
Ji Bei's mind went blank for a moment, and he rushed to the Anle Palace without hesitation.
The guards at the door stopped him, and when he was about to question him, the eunuch next to Xiao Hui came out, and said with a smile: "Young master, come in, I have been waiting for you for a long time."
Ji Bei was stunned, only then did he realize the joy in the palace, his heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly walked towards the house.
"Father, these imperial physicians are trying to torment your ministers, you can't..." The delicate voice stopped suddenly, and the pale person on the bed looked straight over.
He was seriously injured and lost a lot of weight, and he was not as stunning as before. Ji Bei wanted to laugh and say something, but his throat seemed to be choked, and he couldn't say anything.
"Hey, let's all go out," Xiao Hui patted Xiao Xiangnan's hand and ordered, "I'll come to see you later."
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Xiao Xiangnan paid for his acquiescence to the two with his life. If it hadn't been like this, he would have had to go through many twists and turns to allow Ji Bei to be with his son.
After all the people in the room cleared up, Ji Bei stepped forward and sat by the bed, quietly staring at the face in front of him, and stretched out his hand to touch it cautiously.
Xiao Xiangnan snorted: "Why, do you think I've become ugly?"
"... Nan'er," Ji Bei said softly, "I'm afraid you won't wake up."
"... I am a good man and a good man," Xiao Xiangnan held his hand and said, "Besides, I won't let you... such a corpse!"
Ji Bei saw him getting more angry because of his blushing, smiled slightly, grabbed his hand with his backhand, pulled it to his lips and kissed it: "I'm waiting for the day you fulfill your promise."
"Bastard." The little prince blushed even more, and cursed in a low voice.
The snow outside has stopped, and the sun is shining warmly on the thin snow; the surroundings are quiet, except for the whispering in the room, which is vague and warm.
In the spring of the twenty-fifth year of Tianhe, Jiangnan.
The drizzle is drizzling, the willow color is like smoke, and even cloudy days have their own charm.
With great difficulty, Ji Bei left Ji's family in the imperial city and took his daughter-in-law to the south of the Yangtze River to play in the mountains and rivers. As a result, he lost his wife while walking.
It stands to reason that he doesn't need to be too anxious. After all, he has encountered the loss of the little prince no less than a hundred times in the past few years. Anyway, it is a surprise that he can find it by himself or be found every time. There is no danger.
Ji Bei sighed, a little helpless, but this place is unfamiliar, if the little prince is really lost, it will not be so easy to find, and with that damn face, he will be anxious no matter what he thinks.
The two of them left the inn together, intending to see the famous Liyue Lake in the area. It was raining on the way, and the young prince insisted on buying an umbrella from a stall passing by alone, but he never came back.
It was a straight road, but somehow it diverged for him.
Ji Bei on this end was looking for someone, and Xiao Xiangnan on the other end was also worried, holding an umbrella and standing still by Liyue Lake—Let's go? I'm afraid I'll pass by Ji Bei unintentionally; don't you want to leave? I was also afraid that Ji Bei would never be able to find him here.
It was raining, and there were scattered pedestrians by the lake, and after a while, looking around, Xiao Xiangnan was the only one left by the lake filled with water vapor.
He hesitated for a moment, and was about to take a few steps to try his luck, when he saw a black figure running from the mist from a distance, and only when he got closer did he realize that it was just a boy in his teens, and the surprise that had just appeared disappeared in a blink of an eye. .
The red dress was very eye-catching in the gray sky, and it was not unreasonable for the boy to look for him.
Judging by his attire, this child should come from a good family background, with exquisite appearance, ruddy complexion, and well-bred. Xiao Xiangnan threw the other umbrella in his hand to him, and said in a non-gentle tone, "Hold it yourself."
Song Yao held the umbrella in a daze, recovered his senses and quickly opened the umbrella, looked up at Xiao Xiangnan silently—that face was painted by the water vapor, the lips became more bright red, the hair became darker, and the eyes were moist, making him look at Xiao Xiangnan again and again. Fascinated.
"What are you looking at?" Xiao Xiangnan reached out and pinched his face, and asked impatiently, "Which family are you from?"
"I...my name is Song Yao... from the Song family."
It's the same as saying nothing, Xiao Xiangnan raised his eyebrows, and said: "Are you lost? Are you ashamed to be such a big man?"
Song Yao blushed, looked at him, and then mustered up the courage to stammer and say: "You, you are also lost, bigger than, bigger than me, shame on you!"
"..." Children are really not interesting at all.
Xiao Xiangnan snorted, turned around and looked into the distance as if he didn't hear it.
"...Hey," Xiao Xiangnan lowered his head suspiciously when the corner of his clothes was pulled, and Song Yao hurriedly let go of his fingers and pointed to the other side of the lake, "There is a brother over there who seems to be looking at us."
who? Xiao Xiangnan blinked and looked to the other side, there was a vaguely familiar figure, he thought for a while, it seemed that Ji Bei was wearing blue clothes in the morning, he waved his hand and shouted, "Ji Bei!"
As soon as he finished shouting, he dragged Song Yao and ran over, and finally hugged the child up because he thought the child was running too slowly. Song Yao yelled in fright.
Ji Bei stepped forward quickly, took Song Yao and hugged him firmly to the ground, scolding him, "You're not afraid of falling on him," he said, stroking Song Yao's head, holding his hand to hold up an umbrella for him , "How did this child meet?"
"I have a measure." Xiao Xiangnan pinched his sleeves, frowned, "He said he was Song Yao from the Song family—your clothes are all wet, will you catch a cold?"
Ji Bei looked at him with a smile, and said, "It's okay, let's send him back first, fortunately, he belongs to the Song family, a rich man in the south of the Yangtze River."
Xiao Xiangnan didn't say anything, it was his acquiescence.
The two walked quietly side by side, and Song Yao obediently followed beside him. The silence made people feel peaceful for no reason.
"Ji Bei," after walking for a while, Xiao Xiangnan suddenly called him.
"Um?"
"... ... how did you find me?"
Ji Bei looked at him sideways, and said with a slight smile, "Nan'er likes red clothes the most, but they are easy to find."
"..." Xiao Xiangnan stared and stopped talking, turned his head aside and sulked.
His mind has always been unobstructed, and he is not happy when he doesn't hear the good things he wants to hear. Ji Bei leans close to his ear, his voice is soft like raving:
"Where are you, I know."
- Quarter north to south.
——In my whole life, I am destined to be towards you and spoil you, and I am willing to be content with my destiny.
——end——