Pick all the cold branches

It was late at night when the fourth prince Jia Yu slowly opened his eyes on the sickbed, looked at the faces weeping with joy, and spoke quietly for a long time.

"Xiao Niang stayed. Everyone else went back to rest. Let's talk about the rest tomorrow."

He insisted on letting everyone retreat, leaving only Xiao Hengwu to serve in front of him.

Xiao Hengwu quietly closed the door and turned around, then knelt down in front of his bed without saying a word.

Jiayu's forehead was still stained with cold sweat, he turned his face and glanced at her, and sighed weakly, "Did you do anything that required you to kneel?"

Xiao Hengwu almost pressed his face to the ground, "His Royal Highness, Heng Wu realized that he was wrong, Heng Wu didn't mean to deceive His Highness."

In fact, if she didn't say it, Jia Yu didn't intend to mention it.

He hadn't opened the letter sent by his second brother, but he had figured out most of the things the moment he bumped into Chen Shiqin.

When Chen Shiqin left Beijing, he must have gone to Nanzhili to preach the decree.But it is not enough for Duzhu Chen to attach so much importance to him, even to travel south in person, just to be suspicious of Zhang Siyuan's late return and to put pressure on him. He didn't dare to pretend to others, and he was even eager to see his second brother's reaction when he received the order with his own eyes, so that he was willing to go out of Beijing for this trip.

Then such a decree will definitely not be good news for the second brother, it is very likely that the second brother will be "demoted" from Nanzhili to other places.It is impossible to grab a fertile land like Huguang, which may not be possible to grab, and it is mostly a place with rough and difficult roads in the northwest.

But is this really the original intention of the father?

Is it such an unreasonable imperial decree that forced the second brother to decide to protect himself, or did the father actually have other deep meanings that have been conveyed to the second brother?For example, through Zhang Siyuan.

What exactly did Zhang Siyuan take away after a few more days of delay?And who was it given to?In fact, there is no need to say anything.

But no matter what the truth is, before the second brother returned to Beijing, there was not much difference. When the real life and death were really decided, after that.

These things should not have been the second elder brother's turn to order someone to send a letter to inform him.Obviously, he, a person in Beijing, should have known about it in advance, so he should have prepared for the second brother.

But he was kept in the dark until today.

He didn't know, not only because Chen Shiqin deliberately hid it from him, but also because Xiao Niang didn't fully tell him everything she learned in the palace.

The information Xiao Hengwu provided him was all fragmented, like a vague suggestion, mixed with various ineffective interferences, and often missing the most crucial fragment.He could only spend time putting it together, and when he was finally close to the truth, it was already a step too late.

This may be because Xiao Niang is still somewhat awkward; or because she is not mature enough, and can only search in the chaos with wild intuition, and it is inevitable to miss and misjudge; or because he does not trust her enough. It affected his mother, as well as other people around him, so it gave her too many difficult obstacles to overcome...but no matter what it was, it didn't matter much.

He has missed a great opportunity.

If the father deliberately set up a bait to lure Chen Shiqin out of the capital, then the few days when Chen Shiqin was not in the capital should have been the best time for them to arrange for the second brother to return to the capital. Frankly speaking, Commander Jin Yiwei It's time for a replacement to sit in the position of the envoy.

But he didn't know anything, he missed the opportunity in vain, and bumped into Duzhu Chen who was returning to Beijing, causing such ridiculous troubles.

At this moment, the father was probably so angry that he scolded his useless son in his heart, he was stupid and dull, and he could not be trusted.

During the day, he watched Chen Shiqin force Huang Long to death, and felt a chill in his heart.No one understood what he was thinking.Even my uncle didn't understand.In the eyes of others, Huang Long is nothing more than a dog, why should he be so embarrassed by a dog?Only he himself understood how tragic and desperate his heart felt at that moment.

He couldn't even keep Huanglong.

He can't even keep his second brother's dog, so how can he guard the two doors for his second brother?

He was afraid that he was almost going to kill his second brother because of his stupidity.

But first of all it was his fault, that he had no ability to control others.

In the past three years, he clearly knew what kind of situation he was in, but he couldn't even firmly grasp Xiao Hengwu, let alone the various entanglements in the county palace.

The second elder brother is not in the capital, but the officials and servants of the third department and the seventh office of Prince Jing's mansion are still calm and undisturbed, even if they are stared at by the Dongchang guards every day, they still stay at the palace like family members In the past three years, the golden soup has been like gold, and Ren Dongchang has no way of saying how to block it—until today, because he killed Huanglong.

The second elder brother is as loyal and brave as Tong Qian and Yu Qing, and there are thirty guard brothers who sacrificed their lives for loyalty, no matter whether they go north or south, they will never hesitate to die.

The second elder brother went out of the customs to the north, and he was able to stand up in a battle, subdue the army in northern Xinjiang, and go south to Zhejiang. Even an old fox like Hu Jingcheng resolutely turned to join him.

As for the second elder brother who is thinking about "picking up all the cold branches", there is no need to mention it.

Even if it's A Cui, no matter how upset he is, no matter how much he looks down on this "Ms. Cui", her words and deeds, her loyalty to the second brother, he can't control it.

Even his own county palace is a mess, who else can he control?It's really just that they are arrogant and willful because of their status.

He always thinks that the second elder brother has devoted all his efforts and sacrificed a lot, but the second elder brother has always avoided him with his true feelings and refused to respond to him, feeling extremely wronged.The fact is that the second elder brother has protected him too well for so many years, made him self-willed, and pampered him, which is why he has been raised so ignorantly and self-righteously. When it comes to critical moments, he becomes more and more weak and weak.

He and his second brother are really far apart.

And for him like this, not to mention being a trustworthy sibling of the second brother, it would be good if he could not be held back, there is no way for him to keep up with the pace of the second brother.

Why did he expect his second brother to have his place beside him?

Fortunately, it is not too late.

His father must have paved the way for him.

The outcome is undecided, and he has not lost completely.

At least he has now got rid of Chen Shiqin's eyeliner, and it is still unknown who will win the battle next.

And if he wants to win with one blow, he can no longer make mistakes.

He can only do more and better than the second brother.

If the second brother can do it, he can do it too.Even if the second brother can't do it, he will do it.

Otherwise, to the second brother, he was always just a superfluous burden.

Jia Yu leaned on the couch silently, the long silence made him look more and more like a man carved from ice, with a perfect face but no warmth at all.

That appearance frightened Xiao Hengwu, and he almost got up to test his breath.

But Jia Yu suddenly loosened his teeth and covered his face with a sigh.

"You're not wrong. I'm not good enough."

Xiao Hengwu stared at him blankly, as if he couldn't understand for a moment, and it took him a long time to bow his head down again.

"Your Highness is a good man. Your Highness saved my life. But I failed His Highness's entrustment..."

Her voice was hoarse, with a hint of mournfulness.

She even said he was a good man.

Little did he know that the last one who said he was a good man almost died in the blink of an eye.

Jia Yu almost laughed out loud.

The chill in front of his heart almost froze even himself.He turned his face to look at her, and heard a familiar yet unfamiliar snort.

"Actually, when I let you go when I was in Suzhou, I never thought that you would come back alive. I mean it."

In fact, there was no expected answer.

He looked down at the woman lying on the ground, saw her slowly straighten up, and heard the uncontrollable tremor in her voice.

"But I came back alive. Your Highness just did what he had to do. Even if His Highness doesn't want me to go at that time, what can I do?"

She is indeed like a grass that has been overwhelmed by a strong wind, even if the wildfire cannot burn it out, she will always stubbornly raise her head again.

"Don't you think I lied to you and used you?" Jia Yu raised her brows with a vague expression.

Xiao Hengwu shook his head vigorously.The crumbling bun in the chaos of the day did not have time to recomb, and the black hair was stuck to the corners of the forehead and eyebrows with wet cold sweat, but her eyes became more and more black and white.

"If your Highness needs to use me, please use me to your heart's content. Whether I am a pawn or a sword for His Highness, is it better than a little embroiderer who was threatened and used by the eunuchs and then killed her mouth and threw her body in a mass grave?" Is my mother even worse?"

Her pale cheeks were dyed with intense blood, and the ups and downs of her chest swallowed the slight tremors on her shoulders and fingertips, but she gritted her teeth and looked up at him, and finally straightened her waist.

Jiayu was in a trance for a while.

"But what do you want?" He thought for a long time, then asked her in a low voice: "What can I give you, in exchange for you treating me like this?"

Xiao Hengwu was obviously stunned for a moment, as if he never thought that he would be asked such a question.

No one cared before, and she thought no one would care, what exactly does she want...?

Is it glory and wealth?

Or do you love it?

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that they are not.

When she was almost desperate and thought that there was no way out, Fourth Highness gave her a place to stay, kept her by his side, and protected her.Of course she was grateful.She was even in a trance for a while, thinking that it was admiration, a woman's nostalgia for the hero who saved her life and took good care of her.

There seemed to be light on the body of the Fourth Highness, it was not so bright and pure white, but it was shocking, inexplicably attracted her, made her feel familiar, and she couldn't look away.

But is that really love?Is it greed and delusion, hatred and ignorance that please one person?

After much deliberation, she didn't think so.

She also once stood quietly in the corner and saw His Highness the Fourth Highness focusing his hot and intense eyes on another person.The kind of loneliness that would rather give up everything for one person is different.She felt different.And what she was thinking, from being provoked by Lu Shiquan in the Weaving Bureau at the very beginning, the only thought in her heart that was eroding her like a nightmare, gnawing at her constantly, and making her frightened like a weak beast, was just the painful pain of the past, it was Fear of the unknown.

She was indeed no longer afraid of death.But she wanted to live like that, to live well.

Xiao Hengwu couldn't say a word.

Tears kept pouring from his wide-open eyes, slipping into his mouth before they could be wiped away, with boundless bitterness.

Jia Yu looked at her in silence for a long time, watching how long it had passed since she lost her voice from crying until her tears dried up, until she finally stopped sobbing.

"Stand up." He quietly stretched out a hand to her, his pupils were as flat as lakes, "Come here. Come closer to me."

Xiao Hengwu hesitated for a moment, but still stood up shaking.

Her legs, which had been kneeling for too long, were numb and numb, and she was trembling involuntarily. Her legs were so weak that she almost fell on him. sit down.

Her body was still stained with the blood splattered during the day, which made her nervous and embarrassed, and she could only tightly hold a ball of blood that had solidified into black and lowered her eyes.

But Jia Yu suddenly grabbed her wrist.

He didn't have much strength, but he still staggered her, and finally fell to the edge of the bed.

"This sachet, have you opened it and looked at it?" Jia Yu took out the sachet sent by Concubine Wan Gui, and handed it to her.

Xiao Hengwu was slightly taken aback, looking at him inexplicably.

This means "nothing".

"You open it now."

Jia Yu calmly stuffed the sachet into her hand.

The sachet was very soft to the touch, it didn't look like it was filled with dried herbs, but it was bulging, presumably it was filled with something else.

Xiao Hengwu held the sachet in a daze, and it took him a while to suddenly understand.

"There are some things that mother doesn't tell you, not because mother doesn't believe you, but because I don't believe you. But mother still puts such an important thing in your hands."

The voice of His Highness the Fourth Highness is still in my ears, neither soft nor heavy, neither fast nor slow, although there are many tired and hoarse, but the words are firm.

But she was completely in the mood to listen.

In my mind, it is like oil paint, which dissolves in water, and it is colorful and mixed.

The voice of His Highness the Fourth Highness was close to his ears, yet seemed out of reach.

"I didn't believe in you before, it was my fault. What I did wrong in the past, I will never do it again from now on. But you have to follow me, not only to be my pawn and sword, but also to be my eyes, ears, Mouth……"

His hand brushed her brows, eyes, ears, corners of her lips... like the wind, like a feather, like a soul-stirring monster.

"Your Highness—" she finally exclaimed in shock, trembling like a fish caught by a kite eagle.

But he suddenly pressed her slightly chapped lips with his fingertips, not allowing her to make a sound.

"All of you must be mine. Only mine. You must confess to me, and I will not allow you to hide anything."

He stared at her, looking straight into the depths of his soul, and saw her.

Xiao Hengwu felt out of breath.

After fumbling with trembling hands for a long time, he finally managed to untie the first tie on his waist.

She closed her eyes tightly, and slowly peeled off the clothes one by one, blood-stained and flawless, as if peeling off layer after layer of scales.

And finally, what lies before the honesty is the softness and scars that are densely intertwined when he jumped off the cliff from the top of the mountain and after the struggle of life.