The years I was in the human world

"Why are you unhappy?" Chu Zhaoli tilted his head to look at Lu Zhouxue and tentatively tugged at his sleeve.

After school, Lu Zhouxue kept pursing his lips. Chu Zhaoli leaned over to kiss him, but he pushed her away by rubbing his head. Seeing Lu Zhouxue's calm expression, Chu Zhaoli felt a pang in his heart. Somehow, he felt that Lu Zhouxue seemed angry.

"I'm not mad at you." Lu Zhouxue took the boy who was carefully observing his expression into his arms and rubbed him, explaining, "I just don't like what Chu Zhaowu said. It's as if you were destined to be the innocent victim who paid for other people's mistakes. She took it for granted."

Naturally, Lu Zhouxue felt even more distressed for Chu Zhaoli. How much had Chu Zhaoli been forced to endure during his absence? No one knew.

Lu Zhouxue just inadvertently recalled an incident that happened a long time ago in the old capital of the Undying Nation. He and Xiao Fengzhuo were trapped in the Qingjun Temple. The latter was trapped in an illusion and complained in every word: "I want to usurp the throne? What a joke. Chu Zhaoyun's wolfish ambition is written on his face. Why would my father care? Why would the court officials care?"

"So you're unhappy about this. I was wondering what it was." Chu Zhaoli put his fist against his chest and laughed. He looked at Lu Zhouxue with a smile and said, "Chu Zhaowu, she actually had no choice. Of course, I don't mean to excuse her. After all, she wanted to drag me down with her, didn't she?"

Seeing Lu Zhouxue glaring at him in dismay, Chu Zhaoli quickly held him down, gritted his teeth and smoothed over his words, continuing, "Remember the Li Lanyin I mentioned earlier?"

Lu Zhouxue nodded.

Chu Zhaoli: "Chu Zhaowu and she are cousins, but later Li Lanyin entered the immortal sect. Li Xiuyi was unwilling to be outdone, so she forced Chu Zhaowu to climb up, but she had no talent, so she had to change her goal and fight for power. Because of these reasons, she is actually quite competitive."

"It's a pity that I didn't gain much power, but I lost my future." Chu Zhaoli sighed, took a sip of the tea in his hand, then smiled at Lu Zhouxue, "So, I'd better be at peace. Given my father's mind, if I make any mistakes, I will end up in a miserable way."

"You also know that he treats you badly." Lu Zhouxue touched his hair lovingly and his attitude softened.

"Mianmian, I'm not a piece of wood, how could I not know?" Chu Zhaoli laughed.

The two chatted leisurely and leisurely, but the world outside the palace was not as peaceful as this.

After the second princess received her fief, she naturally moved out of the imperial palace and lived in the princess's mansion. It seemed that because she was about to go abroad to marry, she gradually began to behave unrestrainedly and no longer seized every opportunity to win over court officials and fight for power like before.

Today he went to Qinlou and Chuguan to listen to opera, and tomorrow he would entertain handsome young men from various families. There were even rumors that he was keeping a concubine, and for a while he became notorious, even overshadowing Chu Zhaoli, who had been the talk of the streets for many years.

And this is indeed the case.

"Chu Zhaowu, are you planning to continue to degenerate?" Xie Fu led people into the princess's residence with great momentum, and swept the wine on the table with her sleeves. She almost pointed at Chu Zhaowu's nose and scolded him, "Look at yourself now, what do you look like?"

At that time, the second princess was lying on the man's belly and having fun with others. When she saw Xie Fu rushing in, she was still drunk and stared at her for a long time. Then she raised her glass to her, smiled and said, "Afu, are you here to have fun with me?"

Xie Fu became more and more angry when she saw her like this, but she suppressed her anger and didn't explode. She glared at the man Chu Zhaowu was leaning against and shouted, "What are you standing there for? Get off now!"

The man hurriedly excused himself. The people Xie Fu brought cleared out the messy and irrelevant people around. She didn't hesitate to pick up the cold tea next to her and splashed it all over Chu Zhaowu's head and face: "Are you awake?"

Chu Zhaowu was not actually drunk enough to lose consciousness. After all, she was a princess of a rich family, so she would not lose her composure completely. After Xie Fu splashed her with wine, she naturally sobered up a little. She wiped her face and did not pursue the other party's offense. Instead, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I can't bear to see you degenerate like this." Xie Fu said coldly, "You almost don't know what day it is."

"Degenerate? I'm about to go and marry a foreign prince, so I can't enjoy myself for a few days?" Chu Zhaowu sneered and asked, "Then what do you think I should do, Afu? Continue to please my father, the court officials, and you?!"

Chu Zhaowu's voice suddenly rose in the second half of the sentence, and it was obvious that he had been complaining for a long time.

Compared to her hysteria, Xie Fu seemed much calmer. She kept looking at Chu Zhaowu with a calm gaze. After the latter calmed down and shut up, she slowly said, "Isn't it just a marriage? Is it worth it for you to be depressed and live in poverty?"

It's easy to talk without any pain in the waist! Chu Zhaowu didn't know what to say, and could only snort coldly:

"What do you know."

"I'll go for you."

The two voices rang out at the same time. Xie Fu still looked indifferent, but Chu Zhaowu widened his eyes in astonishment and muttered unconsciously: "...What a joke..."

She didn't believe that there would be a fool who would jump into that fire pit on his own initiative.

"Father has agreed. I will go to the palace to ask for permission to marry Wu Xian in a little while." Xie Fu continued calmly, "I came here today to advise you not to give in to decadence. It's just a marriage, not a big deal."

After Xie Fu finished speaking, she turned around and left decisively, leaving Chu Zhaowu half drunk and half awake staring at her departing back in a daze.

A few days later, the New Year was approaching and there were many things to do. In order to avoid being too busy to handle all the things, the decree of marriage was issued before the New Year was over. The decree did not mention the specific name, but only said: "Princess Xiwu is gentle, modest, intelligent and decent. She should go to the north to make friends with the country."

Along with the imperial edict came three thousand loads of dowry, which passed through the long street in a grand manner and were all included in the marriage ceremony.

"Three thousand carriages of red dowry, after all, it's the emperor marrying his daughter. Even if it's a marriage for a foreign alliance, it's still a grand occasion." At that time, Lu Zhouxue and Chu Zhaoli were dressed up and watching the excitement at the wonton stall outside the palace. Looking at the grand procession in front of them, they couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that the emperor really loves your sister."

"The one who is to be married off is not the second sister, but Xie's legitimate daughter, Xie Fu." Chu Zhaoli brought a bowl of wontons to Lu Zhouxue and handed her a pair of chopsticks. Hearing his sigh, he smiled and explained, "Xie Fu is a close friend of hers. This time, we have come to ask for permission to marry on her behalf."

"The emperor and Li Xiuyi bought some of the three thousand dowries, and the rest was mostly given by the noble families for show." Chu Zhaoli pointed to the end of the team that was gradually going away and said, "Some of it was Chu Zhaowu's own savings over the years."

Chu Zhaoli: "She has always been stingy, but now she is willing to give it all out. It shows that she is still sincere. It is worth it for Xie Fu to help her."

Now that the princess for the marriage had been chosen, the day of leaving home and country was imminent. It was already extremely humiliating that thirteen cities had been captured by the Wuxiang people, and the marriage procession could not show any weakness, so the choice of the person to escort the bride was also very difficult.

As the one being married off was his own sister, Xie Yang asked for permission to send the princess to Yanmen Pass without the emperor saying anything. As Xie Fu was marrying on behalf of Chu Zhaowu, the Chu royal family had to show some appreciation. However, marrying off was a great humiliation, and not only the princes, but no one from the royal family volunteered to send the bride.

They even made excuses to the emperor's request, either claiming that they were too weak to travel long distances, or using the excuse that the prince had not expressed his opinion, so how could they, the royal family, interfere? The emperor was so angry that he flew into a rage in Chengming Hall.

Chu Zhaoli listened to Xie Yang's indignant words in Changle Palace: "Afu was willing to give up her future to marry for the sake of the country, but these royal family members were so good that they didn't even want to send her off. Where do they put my little sister's reputation?"

He sighed, poured a cup of tea for the indignant Xie Yang, and advised: "Little General Xie, calm down. I will go to ask for permission from my father tomorrow. I am at least a prince, so it should not be considered an insult to Miss Xie."

Chu Zhaoli didn't come here to perfunctorily appease Xie Yang. He really went to ask for the emperor's order early the next morning. The emperor looked at him with mixed feelings and remained silent for a long time, as if he was unexpected. He finally sighed, patted Chu Zhaoli on the shoulder, and said "OK" three times in a row.

"Chen Ping, look at my sons. They always fight with each other all the time, but now when the time comes, the most reliable one is actually the eldest son." The emperor looked at Chu Zhaoli's back and sighed. For the first time, he felt that he seemed really old.

……

Without having time to spend the last New Year with her family, Xie Fu put on her wedding dress and got on the carriage for the marriage. Mrs. Xie wiped her tears and grabbed her daughter's hand, telling her: "Afu, it's bitterly cold outside the Great Wall, and the Wuxian barbarians are vicious. Please take good care of yourself."

"Mom, don't worry. I know I will never let anyone bully me." Xie Fu patted her mother's hand and comforted her.

"Don't be afraid, Afu. In just three years, your father will train the best soldiers and welcome you back to the court in glory." Xie Ling promised with a stern face, but he couldn't help his tenderness and his eyes turned red.

"Don't worry, father and mother. I will definitely send my little sister to the border safely." Xie Yang got off his horse, helped the tearful Madam Xie up, handed her to the maid, and then bowed to Xie Ling and said, "Father, we are leaving now."

"What are you looking at so intently?" Lu Zhouxue waved in front of Chu Zhaoli's eyes. Chu Zhaoli quickly came back to his senses, grabbed his hand and kissed it, then said absentmindedly, "Nothing."

"If you are not happy to come, why force yourself?" Lu Zhouxue said.

"I'm not unhappy." Chu Zhaoli said, his eyes still on the Xie family members who were saying goodbye in the distance, "I just feel a little sad. Parents and children of ordinary families are like this."

Lu Zhouxue was silent. He knew that Chu Zhaoli had always been upset about the emperor's harsh treatment of him. Now it seemed that it had become an obsession: "Don't think too much. Don't I love you enough, huh, dear boy?"

"..." Chu Zhaoli glanced at him leisurely, and then chuckled, "So this is what Mianmian was thinking."