Yezhao Sandbar

Ah Xi stood in front of the curtain, her eyes were as fixed as an abyss, she couldn't see the sorrow and joy on her face, and she couldn't clearly see the sorrow and joy in her heart.It also makes people feel sad, like the bitter cold and deep snow at midnight, the transparent wings of cicadas cannot bear the desolation of darkness.

Duan Qianmo's tightly knit eyebrows twitched invisibly. Sima Qing was angry because of Duan Qianmo's attitude, and was also happy to see Sima Ye. Standing still for an eternity.

But for a moment, Ah Xi took two light steps forward, and bowed to apologize, "My lord, calm down, I'm a little greedy for alcohol, I drank a few more glasses, and I missed the time, please punish me."

Unexpectedly, Ah Xi, who was not good at words, would show respect and humility when thanking her. Duan Qianmo felt an indescribable feeling in his heart. He didn't understand why he felt this strange feeling whenever Sima Qing and Ah Xi were together. Passing by inadvertently from time to time, people are not very disturbed.

"Forget it, come and serve me."

Axi came over, picked up the jug and refilled the two people at the table. Sima Qing never took his eyes off him. Taking advantage of the time to refill the wine, he asked Axi: "Your complexion is not good. are you sick?"

"No, I just drank too much wine." He lowered his head and answered, only briefly glanced at Sima Qing.

"I will come here every month from now on." Sima Qing glanced at Duan Qianmo, "My lord promised to bring you with me every time, do you want anything from me? Esong gave me a piece of mink fur on the festival day. , I see that you are suitable, and when it is sewn into a waistcoat, I will bring it to you next time."

Duan Qianmo pursed his lips and smiled, his smile was cold, "Could it be that my Xifan prince's mansion will be short of clothes and food and treat the subordinates badly? I want to trouble the servants of the palace of Yueshi Wangji."

Sima Qing raised her eyebrows coldly, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, don't be angry, and Sima Qing doesn't think that the palace will treat the long-time worker badly. It's just my heart that I gave him something."

"Intention?" Duan Qianmo said with a sneering smile: "It depends on King Yueshi's heart, whether he can accept it or not."

"What do you mean?" Sima Qing's eyes were filled with anger.

Duan Qianmo raised his eyebrows and smiled, and said slowly: "Don't forget his identity. He, Axi, is the long-term worker you sent to the palace to sign the contract. Do you want him to serve the master in mink fur that is priceless?"

Sima Qing was about to refute, but Axi's eyes signaled that he was being impatient. Sima Qing suppressed her anger and looked away.

The meal was finished in a dull atmosphere. Duan Qianmo was originally a smooth-faced person who was good at mediating, but today he was not in the slightest mood. A few people went downstairs and left the lobby, and the snow that had been resting outside seemed to be heavier.

"It's snowing heavily and the road is slippery. Why don't you just stay overnight in the palace today, and I'll send a team of guards to take you out of Jiayuguan tomorrow."

Sima Qing was a little hesitant. Going to the palace would allow him to stay with Sima Ye for one more night, but it was a little inappropriate for him to be the vassal king and the lord of other clans. He was thinking about it. Seeing Axi winking at him, he had no choice but to decline: "Thank you, my lord. The kindness is just that there are many affairs in the clan, and you can't live without people for a day, so let's say goodbye."

Duan Qianmo didn't want to keep him, he watched him board the carriage with his hands behind his back, and watched the carriage surrounded by the guards of the Yueshi Royal Court disappear into the snow, and then Axi helped him get into the carriage waiting outside the restaurant.

Axi jumped onto the carriage and sat next to the driver. Before coming, he took off the cloak Yunwu gave him in the carriage. This time the cold came from the soles of his feet, and his cheeks were sore from the north wind.

After driving for several tens of feet, the coachman, who was fully armed with a hood and mask, glanced at him, and asked loudly against the wind, "Did you come out wearing a jacket?" Thinking of something, he said, "I remember that you had a big cloak on you before you got into the car. The north wind is too strong, and it will be unbearable if you wear less."

Ah Xi straightened her chest, and replied, "I'm not cold!"

In the warm carriage, the nine-turn glazed lamp was shining brightly, and Duan Qianmo, who was reading a book lazily, had a sneer on his lips.

After returning to the palace, most of the lights in the house were turned off, leaving only a few servants who were on duty at night. Yunwu was waiting outside the gate with a fox fur cloak in his hand. Zi's ​​Axi, although the prince treats Axi hot and cold on weekdays, he never treats him harshly, and he is not easy to ask questions when he has doubts in his heart. When Duan Qianmo opens the curtain, Yunwu sees that although his expression is the same as usual, but he followed him. For many years, I guessed it from the half-smile expression.

"Longjing and I are waiting in the lord's room, you go down first." As soon as he entered the inner courtyard, Yun Wu let Ah Xi go down.

Duan Qianmo glanced at her unhappily, meaning that the master didn't speak, it was the girl's turn to make the decision, Yun Wu put her fingertips to her lips, and smiled apologetically, Duan Qianmo turned pale and went straight into the bedroom.

Ah Xi stood under the eaves of the porch, looking at the light flickering on the window paper of the dormitory. It must have been lit by a candle. The tumbling meteor deviated from its orbit and slammed down from the sinking curtain, and landed on the face, but it couldn't melt for a while.

When the cold reached freezing point, he no longer felt cold. He wiped the snowflakes off his face, and slowly entered the room.

He laid out a thick stack of "Six Secret Teachings" and put it on the couch, packed up the unlined clothes he wore when he came here, and the jacket on his body, presumably even a dignified prince would not care about it.

After sitting by the bed for an hour, he opened the door, turned around and closed it gently. There were only a few lanterns lit in the mansion at night, and they swayed lonely in the wind. The dim light blurred the shadows. He stepped on the snow. The shadow in the backyard passed through the rockery in the backyard, and turned out from the backyard wall.

Thanks to the New Year's Eve approaching, the Wangfu's guards were not strict, and he was able to leave the palace quietly without disturbing anyone.

He looked back at the big banyan tree that was higher than the courtyard wall, then turned and disappeared into the snowy night.

"My lord..."

In the carriage in the dark part of the back alley, the mist hesitated to speak.

Duan Qianmo glanced at her indifferently, and said quietly: "You act prudently, and this king will not doubt you, even if Mao Jian told this king about things about A Xi before you."

Yun Wu couldn't understand how he was warning. Even if Ah Xi had doubts, it wasn't necessarily aimed at the prince. She didn't say anything, but she just wanted to give others a chance to discuss it in the long run.

Duan Qianmo put down the curtain, and the inside of the carriage was so dark that he couldn't see his fingers. Yunwu heard him pinching his knuckles, and the knuckles were very slow. The crisp sound of the knuckles was very clear in the dark carriage, and it took a while to talk to himself. : "If you don't tell me, is this king not aware of it..."

Yun Wu's eyebrows twitched, but he saw him lift the curtain and jumped out of the carriage.

"Follow me and take a look!"

Duan Qianmo's tone was decisive and cold, and immediately the iron hooves outside the car crushed the deep snow, and with the sound of hooves, Duan Qianmo and the three guards drifted away.

It was about to dawn, and there were still six hours to go to Jiayuguan. On the snow-covered official road, a horse broke through the snow and galloped towards it.

"My lord, the man who met him was a middle-aged man who looked Han." The guard clasped his fists and reported without dismounting his horse.

Duan Qianmo's two eyes exposed outside the mask narrowed slightly, overlooking the boundless white official road, the beautiful eyes that have always looked forward to amorous feelings, but now they are condensed in the coldness of thousands of miles of ice.

Wufu has been with him for many years and knows his temperament well. King Rongrui is a romantic man in the imperial capital. He has no ambitions or achievements. In the treacherous emperor's house, "Chunliang" is the knife that kills himself.

He can spend a lot of money for a confidante smiling, and he can also make a concubine turn into a dead bone in an instant.

Wufu said in a deep voice, "Go ahead!"

The guard bowed his head and said, "According to the sword on the man's waist, he should be from Jianghu."

Wufu hesitated for a while, and asked in a low voice: "My lord, are you really with the Seven Kings?"

Duan Qianmo sneered and said, "What do you think?"

"Subordinates don't know."

From the mouths of the two assassins escorted back from the Gobi Inn, it was found out that the group of people who wanted to put Duan Qianmo to death were the killers of Jiangnan. After deliberation and combing, the brows gradually became clear.

Uncle Qi Wang resigned from his official position under the pretense of recuperating, and moved his family to Jiangning Mansion, which is warm in the spring river. However, the identities of those killers were concealed, and the affiliated organizations were not found. They will not be dispatched on a large scale. Since Duan Qianmo is going to be killed, the only possibility is Uncle Seven.

Duan Qianmo didn't believe that the seventh old prince who was in charge of the two departments of the industry and households would be willing to say goodbye to Fengque and move to Befu. It was just that Duan Zimo was in power. Jiangnan has another grand plan.

If they want to take Jiangnan, the Seven Kings must first quell the worries of the Northwest, and then launch a rebellion wholeheartedly to take the fertile soil of Jiangnan.

That day in the Gobi, he was suspicious of Sima Qing who came to rescue him, but he didn't expect that Ah Xi, who was dedicated to strengthening the Yue family for the Lord, was the one who colluded with the Seven Kings to take his life.

On that day, the strange thing about the disappearance of the carriage that Ah Xi was riding in, and he did not return home until the next day, he was not sure, but now he couldn't help but not believe it, this slave's defection was a mockery of his royal power, and it was a trust in him ridicule.

Whoever dares to touch his Nilin, don't blame him for being merciless.

The continuous heavy snow gradually became smaller, but the whistling of the north wind did not stop. The bone-soaked snow foam was blown by the gust of wind and dozens of spinning giant dragons roared ferociously in the vast snowy field.

Ah Xi started to have a fever that night, and walked quickly against the wind for a whole day. He was going back directly to the Yueshi royal court, but because of a group of people following him, he had to change his itinerary and planned to go back to the old residence of his master. Going west through Yumen Pass, you can use the complex terrain of the Gobi ghost town to get rid of the people behind.

"Come on, drink some water." The middle-aged man handed over the water bag, stopped his horse to look at him a few more times, but felt that his face looked gloomy, and he said, "Let's rest here, I'll build an ice cave to block it." Feng, let's go tomorrow."

Ah Xi sat straight on the horse's back with her back propped up, her mask covering her nose, and her exhaled breath was held inside, as if locked in a kiln for roasting. He pulled the mask and took a sip of water, saying: "Or Hurry up, I want to get rid of the group behind earlier."

The man knew that he was stubborn, so he didn't persuade him much, and the two went on the road again, heading for Yumen Pass.

The heavy snow that fell for two days in a row covered the vast Gobi beyond recognition. Duan Qianmo and his party followed the traces for a day and a night, and finally found the trace. Only then did they find that this place seemed to be outside the Yumen Pass.

"There's a ghost town ahead." The man slowed down his horse, waiting for Ah Xi to catch up.

"Yeah." Ah Xi forced himself to hold his breath, "Go in!"

There are huge boulders and rocky mountains inside, and it is difficult to distinguish the way in the sunny weather, let alone such a ghostly weather. Although Ah Xi grew up here, the man is still a little worried, and he is sick, and he may have an accident.

Just as they were about to speak out to persuade them, there was a sound of iron hooves in the wind behind them. The two turned their heads, only to see that the person who had been following them all the way finally lost their composure and followed up.