Chapter 117 Chapter Thirty-Nine

For two whole days, Li Ce didn't step into the harem. The momentum in the front hall was getting bigger and bigger. The forces of all parties seemed to hide in the dark on purpose, only waiting for one person to break the tranquility of this place before rushing into this place. palace gate.Fortunately, the arrival of Zhao Chun'er finally disturbed the still water of Tangdu. Li Ce's wedding ceremony is getting closer. Just as Li Ce and Chu Qiao expected, Daxia did not make any statement about Li Ce's rude repatriation of the Ninth Princess Zhao Yan, but decisively sent a peace mission. Running wildly to arrive, only one day later than Zhao Chun'er, with a more majestic style, still a little more solemn than before.The envoys of the two countries held a warm banquet at the Imperial Palace in the Tang capital, as if nothing had happened before. The thriving and lively scene immediately dispelled the worries and speculations of the people about the war.

However, only a few people clearly understand that Li Ce's reckless behavior is obviously not the same as this, the scenery and peace are only temporary, and the slap on Daxia's face, the remaining pain and future troubles left behind may be more serious. It took a long time to see clearly. In this way, Chu Qiao stayed in Tang Palace for another two days, her body recovered more than half, and her spirit became more refreshed day by day.Li Ce found a lot of elixir for wounds, the wounds have no scars, and even the old wounds have healed seven or eight out of ten. After many days of conditioning, his complexion is much better, and it is no longer the same as before Skinny, ready to fall.

Zhao Chun'er would come to Bian Tang to marry him, which was really beyond Chu Qiao's expectation. Emperor Xia has many heirs, and there are six or seven princesses of the right age. It is a bit far-fetched to send a princess who was separated in the chaos to marry his relatives.But the officials of Bian Tang were obviously a little surprised by Zhao Chun'er's arrival. Hundreds of pens in Yushitai waved their flags and shouted, praising the historical significance of Bian Tang and Da Xia's marriage. The friendship between Bian and Tang in Daxiahe seems to go back to the ancient times. I completely forgot who knocked down the gate of Bian and Tang, took away the eighteen prefectures of Hongchuan, and forced the royal family of Bian and Tang to retreat in a hurry. The emperor was trapped at the gate of the country and lost the entire northwest barrier.

After all, for Bian Tang, who paid attention to the distinction between bloodlines and scholars, Zhao Chun'er's status as the only biological daughter of Empress Muhe of Great Xia still won her a lot of attention. But there is one thing that others don't know, Chu Qiao frowned slowly, lightly pinched the green gauze of the window curtain with her pale fingers, a gold leaf was stained on the center of her eyebrows, which added a bit of beauty. Zhao Chun'er was insulted in the chaos that day, and now she is no longer perfect.As a Princess of Great Xia, she may not need to verify her identity like ordinary concubines before she is selected, but once she is in the same room, with rich experience like Li Ce, it is impossible not to notice it.

Of course, even if Li Ce finds out about this, it is impossible to pursue Da Xia afterwards.After all, Daxia's princess slept in Li Ce's bed, and afterward, he, a vagabond, ran out and said that this woman was not a virgin, and no one would believe it.What's more, Li Ce has always been strongly opposed to this marriage. This incident may be regarded as another nonsense by Li Ce. With Li Ce's intelligence, he will not go out and publicize that he was raped. Even if she wears an oversized green hat, Zhao Chun'er will get married smoothly and have such a status.But as an unclean and pro-princess, one can imagine her future fate.

And with Zhao Chun'er's personality, would he really willingly endure all the humiliation? Chu Qiao secretly kept a little careful, but unfortunately, her worry could not be expressed. Even though she knew all of this was wrong and had an inextricable friendship with Li Ce, she couldn't help it. To expose Zhao Chun'er's sore feet, even though she once treated her harshly, she still couldn't do such a villain's tricks. The situation here in Bian Tang became more and more chaotic, but Chu Qiao calmed down carefully, and no longer rushed to leave the palace. After all, if you can't leave quietly, then it's better to stay here safely and wait for the opportunity. For the current plan, you can only wait for Yan Xun's arrival with no change.

At night, when a cool breeze blew up, Chu Qiao was wearing a soft shirt, sitting in front of the carved window cage, the night wind gently lifted her clothes, making her a bit cold. Footsteps sounded slowly from the corridor outside. There was only one person, and the person who could come here at this time would not be the second choice. Sure enough, within a short while, Li Ce was wearing a navy blue gown, his face was slightly red, with Reeking of alcohol, he stood at the door and looked at her, but didn't come in. Chu Qiao looked back at him, and saw that his footsteps were slightly heavy, as if he couldn't even stand up, she quickly got up, walked to his side and wanted to help him, but as soon as Li Ce stretched out his hand, Li Ce suddenly pulled her Sitting on the threshold, she lowered her head, pressed her forehead heavily on her shoulder, and murmured wearily, "Qiao Qiao, I'm exhausted."

Chu Qiao was stunned for a moment, she stretched out her hand in the air, suddenly not knowing what to do. The night wind blew, and the fragrance of Du Ruo wafted faintly between the breaths. Li Ce's sleeves were embroidered with light gold, and the fine stitches were as smooth as water. Chu Qiao took a deep breath, and then asked softly: "Li Ce?" Ce, what's wrong with you?" Li Ce shook his head and did not speak. Chu Qiao asked tentatively: "Is it because of the marriage with Da Xia? You don't like Zhao Chun'er?" Li Ce still didn't speak, Chu Qiao sighed helplessly, then sat next to him on the threshold, letting Li Ce lean on her shoulder, without making a sound.

At the beginning of autumn, the air of twilight grass is faintly filled, the new moon outside the window looks like a new eyebrow, faintly through the window, the silvery white light leaks all over the ground, the palace lantern is dark purple, flickering and fading indefinitely, candle tears drip Drops, slowly flowing down the silver-white candlestick. The chirping of the autumn insects made the room feel deserted. After all, this empty palace has not been inhabited for a long time. "Qiao Qiao, did you send someone to look for me the day before yesterday?" Li Ce said suddenly, his voice was a little low, but he was no longer as tired as before. He sat up straight, his eyes were dark and bright, as if the soft man before was not him.Chu Qiao knew that his weakness had passed, and now he was the invincible Prince Bian Tang again.

"Yes," Chu Qiao nodded, "I want to leave." "Okay, I'll send someone right away to take you to Yanbei tomorrow." Li Ce nodded without hesitation, and said in a deep voice. "No, I don't want to go back to Yanbei for the time being, I still have things to do here." Li Ce frowned slightly, and he looked at Chu Qiao fixedly, exploring and thinking a little more habitually, Chu Qiao said: "You don't have to guess, I'm waiting for someone, as for this person is Who, you don't have to ask." Li Ce smiled slyly and said, "I'm afraid you are going to go out of the wall with Yan Xun Hongxing on your back, Zhuge Si is coming soon, are you looking for him?"

Chu Qiao gave him a blank look impatiently: "Just guess." "You'd better be careful," Li Ce leaned on the doorpost, and said, "I can still protect you under my nose, but it's hard to protect you when you go out. People from Daxia have entered the city. Yan Chu has learned that you are in the palace, how much people in Xia hate you, I don't need to remind you." Chu Qiao nodded, and suddenly thought of Zhao Song with a broken arm, her face was dull for a while, and she said softly, "I understand." Li Ce squinted at her, saw that she was silent, stood up suddenly, grabbed her hand, and said loudly, "Go, I'll take you to a place!" The night fog is gray and white, and the dim palace lanterns are hidden in the darkness, like balls of warm fire.Li Ce, in plain robes, took her hand and ran with big strides. The night wind passed through their hair, light and fluttering, like the finest brocade gauze. Came to a courtyard where Chu Qiao had never been before, walked through flowers and willows all the way, stepped on the dew in early autumn, turned through a few small doors, opened a clump of green willows, and suddenly a clear green lake appeared In front of you, you can see the lotus leaves piled up, covering the sky and covering the sun. The plain white lotus flowers look like snow sculptures under the moonlight, and the fragrance is compelling and intoxicating. Chu Qiao was stunned for a moment, she turned her head and asked, "How did you do it?" Li Ce smiled, took her hand and squatted down, stretched into the lake, Chu Qiao let out a soft cry, very surprised. Li Ce smiled proudly: "I'm smart. I sent someone to bury the lotus root in the ground early in the morning, and then brought in the water from the hot spring. The flowers bloomed overnight." Chu Qiao covered her mouth with a smile and said, "It's amazing, money can make ghosts turn mills, power can make mills turn ghosts, you have money and power, so even the Flower God has to listen to you." "Money can turn ghosts around? That's a new saying." Li Ce smiled and said, "Go, come with me." The two walked along the stone path all the way to the lake. Li Ce was obviously very familiar with this place, and took Chu Qiao all the way to a small boat under the faint moonlight. The boat left the shore slowly, and slowly slid into the clear pool of the green lake. The breeze comes slowly, with the fragrance of the first blooming lotus, the smoke and water are ten miles away, mighty and mighty, thousands of wind lotuses are hidden in the water vapor, the moonlight is like washing, clear and shining, shaking quietly like a broken mirror. The boat shuttles between the green lotus leaves, and the big lotus flowers are pushing left and right, with an almost extravagant sweetness.Chu Qiao is a woman after all, she brushed a few white lotuses with her hand, curled her eyelashes, and smiled quietly. Li Ce let go of the oars, sat on the bow of the boat, did not speak, just looked at her silently, the palace lanterns in the distance were reflected in the pool water, large swathes of silk red and yellow floated on the clear water, as beautiful as after the rain rainbow. Chu Qiao turned her head, smiled at Li Ce, and said, "Li Ce, thank you very much." "Thank me? Thank me for what?" The man's eyes were curved and raised slightly, carrying a bit of depth and cunning unique to men.His eyes are half-closed, and the dim light is shining, it seems that many things are hidden, and many things are also covered up. "Thank you for taking care of me these days. If it weren't for you, I might have died." Li Ce smiled slightly: "Then you should really thank me, the kindness of saving my life is extraordinary, or you should not leave, stay in Bian Tang and promise with your body." The flowing water was soothing, and there was a faint sound, and their sporadic words were hidden in the ten miles of wind and lotus.Chu Qiao raised her head and said with bright eyes: "The beauty of the lotus is that it emerges from the mud without being stained, and is clean without being demonic. I think I can still think and speak like a normal person after being with you for so long, that is the lotus flower." the spirit of." Li Ce held his heart and sighed: "Qiao Qiao is so talented in poetry, it really makes me more infatuated." Chu Qiao looked up at the light moonlight: "You are obsessed with too many things, being too greedy is not a good thing." Li Ce stood up, his light robe and sleeves fluttering in the wind, and he said in a casual tone, "There are some things that you can't get by force anyway, so I had to try my best to take a few more glances." Chu Qiao was a little startled, and said calmly: "The lotus can bloom again if it loses, but you forced them to open another pond, which is already rare." Li Ce nodded and sighed softly: "Yes, it will open again next year." The boat is swaying, the duckweed is divided and gathered together, light as a feather, drifting slowly with the current. "Yanbei is very cold." Li Ce suddenly sighed softly: "It is said that it snows all the year round, and it is rare to see flowers. It is a place of ice and snow." Chu Qiao raised her head, looked at his slender back, and said in a brisk tone: "Chunlan Qiuju, each has its own specialty, Yanbei's wilderness is like snow, and icebergs like washing are rare sights. If one day you get tired of watching Jiangnan Yanyu, you might as well put the horses on the frontier and go back on the snow, the beauties on the Yanbei plateau will definitely break your heart as you expected." Li Ce was taken aback for a moment, his expression lost for a moment, and then he smiled loudly and said, "You still know me best, and you always know how to think about me." At this time, there was only a bang, and the boat lightly touched the shore. The pool was not that big, but after such a while, it came to an end. The two got off the boat, and then slowly walked towards Mi Heju.The moonlight shone on them, so white and desolate, a little bit bleak, the shadows of the two fell on the ground, shadowy shadows, constantly overlapped, separated again, overlapped, separated again, and finally became more and more separated. Far, after all, those are two shadows, moreover, they have never been involved in one place. In the blink of an eye, he was already at the door of Mi Heju.The two stood there in a moment of awkward embarrassment. Li Ce lazily leaned against a pomegranate tree. The bright red petals were like rouge, and they covered his whole body in a flurry. It was bright red, and the distant lights shone over, making her more and more in a trance for a moment. Li Ce yawned lazily, and said, "It's too late, I probably won't be able to get up tomorrow morning." Chu Qiao nodded: "You're just lazy. I heard Qiu Sui say that you haven't put on your boots this morning, and Emperor Tang got angry because of it." "Why are you talking about that?" Li Ce waved his hand, and then said: "I really don't want to get up early, can't the early morning be moved to the afternoon, please, please. How about this, I will send someone to take you out of the palace tomorrow morning, and then you Just go out and fend for yourself, and I won’t send you off either.” Chu Qiao nodded: "I won't bother you sir." Li Ce smiled and said, "Alright, this trip is a long way away, you should take care of yourself, if..." At this point, there was a little bit of unspeakable obscurity suddenly, Li Ce laughed at himself, then turned around, with a faint line on the corner of his mouth: "If one day, you feel that the weather in Yanbei is unbearable, you can also consider going back to the south of the Yangtze River to recuperate , although it is not as majestic as the desert, nor as grand as the grassland, it is warm and suitable for living.” The corner of Chu Qiao's mouth was bitter, and she smiled softly: "People have joys and sorrows, and the moon has cloudy and sunny cycles. The things in the world are based on chance." Li Ce shook his head, and said softly: "I also hope that you will never have that day, so you can do it yourself." Suddenly there was a trace of inexplicable sadness in my heart, Li Ce's figure gradually drifted away, Chu Qiao also turned around slowly, the moonlight shone between the two of them, the white light that was empty gradually spread, and finally enveloped the whole lonely court.