Chapter 71 Chapter 71 Regret

A large area of ​​Xie Yunzhou's face was rubbed by the rough palace wall. Although he had applied medicine once during the day, the injury was on his head and face after all. In the evening, the medical officer came again and carefully used a soft handkerchief dipped in liquor to clean and change the medicine for him.

The strong liquor seeped into his skin and flesh, causing a stinging pain that made him gasp in pain.

"Young Prince, please bear with it." The medical officer's heart skipped a beat, his expression tense, but his hands kept moving. "Although the wound isn't deep, it's on the face after all. If it's not treated properly, I'm afraid it will leave a scar."

The newly applied ointment had a cool feeling, temporarily suppressing the burning pain. Xie Yunzhou responded lazily, looking up and letting the medical officer do whatever he wanted, but his eyes involuntarily drifted to the window frame, looking towards the other side of the palace wall.

I don’t know what Jiu Niang is doing.

After being detained in confinement for more than a month, he actually had some plans in mind.

His second elder brother was a man of upright character and kind-hearted, but unfortunately he died young. However, Zhao'er inherited his intelligence and kindness. As long as he is well cultivated, he will be able to take on important responsibilities in time.

What the emperor needs now is to use him to contain Li Zhen, so as to prevent Li Zhen from being the only adult prince in public and causing unrest in the court. As long as he can suppress Li Zhen and let Rong Zhao'er grow up a little, everything will be easy in the future.

She just wanted ordinary clothes and a stable life, so why couldn't he give her that?

But just in the past one or two months, the emperor issued a death order, and the imperial guards were more strict against him than against thieves. There were checkpoints inside and outside the palace walls, and he couldn't even get out of the imperial city.

Lu Chen was guarding her very tightly. The followers he sent out could not get close to her, let alone take her away.

Whenever he thought of the bite mark and the words "Madam will take care of it personally" that Lu Chen had said before leaving, his heart felt like it was being stabbed by poisonous needles again and again, making him furious.

He should have been more ruthless today, kicking Lu Bingyan in the heart a few more times, making him lie on the couch for two months, so that he wouldn't have to hang around her all day.

The more he thought about it, the angrier Xie Yunzhou became. His temples were throbbing with anger, and suddenly with a "crack", he broke the armrest of the armchair.

The medical officer was startled and quickly advised him not to move.

Xie Yunzhou gritted his teeth and endured it again and again.

As soon as the wound was treated, the emperor called the eunuch over and ordered him to go to the Funing Palace to discuss matters.

As soon as he entered the hall, the emperor was sitting behind his desk reviewing memorials. At this moment, the little grandson Li Zhao had just finished school and was sitting obediently beside him, reading with his grandfather.

Seeing him come in, Li Zhao's eyes lit up. He put down the scroll in his hand, stood up and greeted him, calling out crisply, "Uncle!"

Li Zhao will be eight years old this year, at the age when he is chubby and cute. He looks like his mother but not his father. His eyes are big and round like black grapes, which is very adorable.

Xie Yunzhou smiled, asked Shangshuang how he was, picked him up and weighed him.

Li Zhao saw that he had a wound on his face and couldn't help but asked with concern: "How did your face get hurt, uncle? Does it hurt? Zhao'er will blow on it for you." As he said that, he puffed up his cheeks and blew air on his face carefully.

Xie Yunzhou felt warm in his heart and was about to tease him, but he heard the official slowly put down the imperial pen and snorted indifferently, "Zhao'er, you must give your uncle a good treatment. Look, this has ruined his appearance."

Xie Yunzhou's expression froze slightly, and he pretended not to hear anything.

The official looked at him deeply, then turned his head and told Li Zhao: "Zhao'er, go out first. Grandpa has something to say to your uncle."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhao hurriedly struggled to get off Xie Yunzhou, straightened his expression, and saluted in a formal manner.

He was about to leave the hall to find the nanny, but was stopped by Xie Yunzhou.

"Zhao'er isn't a child anymore," Xie Yunzhou said with a smile, "If there's something important going on, why not let him listen too?"

The official frowned slightly, glanced at him, then looked at Li Zhao, and finally waved his hand in tacit approval.

Li Zhao immediately straightened his small body, stood aside properly, and looked tense.

"According to spies, the old Western Qiang King fell seriously ill last year and is likely dying. Perhaps worried that his second son, Li Baoji, would not be able to defeat his uncle, he intends to have him propose marriage to our dynasty and bring back a daughter of the royal family. You should be aware of this."

Xie Yunzhou's expression froze slightly. "What are the emperor's plans? Do you want to agree?"

The official nodded, "Not bad."

Xie Yunzhou's expression changed suddenly, and his knuckles clenched until they turned white.

At that time, his father, Duke Xu, was guarding Weizhou. The Qiang people tricked him into attending a banquet under the pretext of peace talks, but they set an ambush at the banquet. His father was hit by an arrow in the chest. Fortunately, his old subordinates fought to protect him and he escaped from the siege. However, the arrow was poisoned and his father was seriously injured. He was in a coma for more than ten days and nights before he barely survived. From then on, he suffered from a chronic illness and shortened his life.

It was the Li Baoji brothers who devised this vicious plan that day.

Later, he and Li Baoji's brother met again on the battlefield. The Qiang were defeated and wanted to make peace, but with such a deep hatred, how could he agree? He personally led the light cavalry in pursuit for seven days and seven nights, without removing his armor or resting his horse, all the way to the Snow Mountain Fort, where he shot the Qiang under his horse, which only then relieved his hatred.

Li Baoji witnessed his brother being killed and hated him to the core. After that, they fought several times, big and small, and the hatred between them was deep.

But now it seems that the marriage is a foregone conclusion. This group of Western Qiang people killed his Great Zhou soldiers and plundered the people of Great Zhou, and now they want to marry the young lady of Great Zhou. How can such a good thing happen in this world?

The emperor frowned at his son's expression and said in a deep voice, "I know you have a grudge against him, but keeping Li Baoji and his uncle in check will benefit the stability of the northern border. This matter is of great importance and cannot be neglected in the slightest."

As he spoke, he looked up at Xie Yunzhou and rapped his knuckles heavily on the imperial desk. "The Western Qiang envoys will arrive in the capital soon. Even if they intend to provoke you, as long as it doesn't hurt the reputation of the state, you must endure it!"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. Xie Yunzhou felt a surge of depression in his chest, which made his temples throb.

He gritted his teeth and endured it again and again, but in the end he couldn't hold it back anymore and sneered, "Since Your Majesty has such intentions, I have been under house arrest for a few days, and a few more days won't hurt. Why don't you just lock me up? Wouldn't that save you a lot of trouble?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air seemed to freeze for a moment, and there was silence all around. The candlelight crackled and exploded into sparks.

Li Zhao also instinctively held his breath, not daring to breathe.

The emperor raised his eyelids and glanced at Xie Yunzhou's face. Suddenly, he uttered a soft "Oh" and said as if he suddenly realized something: "You are blaming me for having you locked up. It delayed you from going to compete with your cousin for a woman."

Xie Yunzhou's face turned pale in an instant, and his jawline was tense.

"Don't forget, the Western Qiang envoys are coming to the capital, and there will be a music banquet after the state banquet. Didn't that kid from the Lu family just request an imperial edict? When the time comes, your beloved, as a third-rank lady, will naturally come to the Forbidden City to express her gratitude and be included in the palace banquet."

The official changed the subject, tapping the table with his knuckles. "As long as you behave yourself and don't cause any trouble... I can arrange for you to meet her."

Xie Yunzhou suddenly raised his head, his eyes shining, "Daddy..."

Upon seeing this, the official raised the corners of his lips slightly, then quickly tightened them and snorted coldly from his nose.

If you have something to do, call your father. If you have nothing to do, call the government.

Li Zhao was still young and didn't understand the subtlety of the situation, but he was keenly aware of something unusual and his eyes couldn't help but shift back and forth between his grandfather and his uncle.

The official caught a glimpse of this and smiled warmly at his grandson, "When the time comes, Zhao'er will also go to the banquet with Grandpa to see the world." He deliberately glanced at Xie Yunzhou and said calmly, "Let your uncle teach you what it means to be patient and have a knife hanging over your head."

**

At nightfall, the inn was completely silent. A cold moon hung like a hook above the branches of a withered tree, and a chill wind blew through the window lattices, making a whimpering sound.

Although Xu Chong had been away from Beijing for more than two days, his group did not walk fast on the road. It was not until this evening that they had traveled a hundred miles and arrived at Zhongmu County Post Station, where they rested for a while.

He washed up and went to bed early at night, but he did not sleep well. His dreams were full of fragmented illusions.

He dreamed that Lu Boyuan died in the inner prison of the Imperial City. He sat high on the platform, watching the body being carried out. The clothes exposed under the white cloth were torn, and blood seeped out from between his fingers, dripping drop by drop onto the snow.

In the blink of an eye, he dreamed that his mansion was hung with white banners, paper money was flying in front of Zhou's coffin, and the buzzing sound of monks chanting was chaotic and hazy.

Suddenly, the sky spun and all he saw was snow falling all over the sky, just like the day he left Beijing. Shiliu Niang was holding the donkey cart to see him off, crying all the way. At the end, she was staggering and her silk stockings were covered with snow and mud.

“Daddy——”

Shiliu Niang was raised in luxury since she was a child. Now that he has been banished from the capital, she has no father or husband and lives under someone else's roof. How will she live in the future?

The bloody corpse in the dream turned into Shiliu Niang.

His heart suddenly started beating rapidly, and Xu Chong woke up from his dream with a layer of cold sweat on his back. It was not until he saw the simple official post room in front of him that he breathed a sigh of relief, and his heartbeat gradually calmed down.

It's just a nightmare.

At least he saved his life and was only demoted. Even if he was temporarily trapped in Leizhou, as long as he kept a low profile and waited for the future, he would not be afraid of the wind changing.

Xu Chong covered his aching chest and coughed a few times, then slowly turned over and called the servant outside the door to bring him some hot tea.

At this time, he couldn't help but sigh. Fortunately, Li Zhen spent a lot of money to arrange for the escort before the trip. Although he had to be escorted on the road, he could still have a servant to serve him along the way.

But after waiting for a long time, no one responded.

"Where's the person? Did he fall into a deep sleep?"

Xu Chong frowned and shouted twice more, but still no one responded. Seeing him reduced to such a state, how could a mere servant dare to be lazy and negligent?

He suddenly became angry. He got off the couch barefoot and strode around the lattice fan. He was about to scold the servant, but he saw that the narrow couch was empty. Where was the servant?

He reached out and touched the narrow couch, and found that it was still warm, as if he had not returned home at night. His anger subsided a little. He was about to turn around and pour himself some tea, but suddenly he realized something was wrong.

The surroundings were completely silent, and not even the snoring of the escort team leader next door could be heard. He listened intently for a moment, and a sense of alarm gradually grew in Xu Chong's heart. He turned around, picked up the tongs by the charcoal stove, and tiptoed to the door. Surprisingly, he saw the servant slumped in the yard, motionless, as if he had fainted.

Xu Chong's heart trembled suddenly, and he slowly raised his head, and saw a tall and vigorous figure standing in the yard, staring at him silently.

The man came against the moonlight, half of his face was hidden in the darkness, and the other half was coated with a layer of moonlight, making it impossible to see his expression for a moment, revealing only a pair of cold and sharp eyebrows.

A chill instantly ran up his spine from the soles of his feet. Xu Chong subconsciously clenched the tongs in his hand, "What are you doing here?"

Lu Chen glanced at his hand movements and sneered, "Why do you ask when you already know the answer, sir?"

Xu Chong's throat tightened slightly, and he barely managed to straighten his back. He shouted, "Wang Zhonggan is already dead, what else do you want? Back then... I did stand by and watch, but I wouldn't let you kill him!"

Hearing this, Lu Chen's eyes grew colder, and he sneered, "My husband, you're treating me like a three-year-old child. At this point, right and wrong are no longer important. I'm here only to claim my life, not to solve the case."

A layer of cold sweat broke out on his back, and fear gradually grew in Xu Chong's heart. His fingertips couldn't help but tremble slightly. "How audacious... This brat is really ruthless!"

"You're so kind." Lu Chen pursed his lips, his voice calm but as if tempered with ice water. "To be honest, it was all thanks to you, my husband. You used all the connections to have me exiled to Taozhou, and you repeatedly instructed the Privy Council to seize my military merits. I was surrounded by military thugs and villains. If I hadn't been so ruthless, how could I have surrendered and returned to the capital?"

Xu Chong felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. His hands and feet felt cold and stiff. He barely raised one hand to hold onto the door frame to maintain his posture.

Lu Chen took out a small gourd bottle from his bosom and threw it at his feet. His tone was so calm that no fluctuation could be heard: "Take this medicine, and I will leave you with an intact body."

It was more like the mercy and forgiveness bestowed by the Asura of Hell. Xu Chong paused for a moment, looking stiffly at the medicine bottle at his feet.

Seeing his surprise and doubt, Lu Chen didn't hide it at all, and sneered: "My father endured seven days of torture in the Imperial City. How could you die so easily when it comes to you?"

In an instant, sweat broke out on his back, Xu Chong's mouth and tongue became dry, and his whole body began to tremble.

He was well aware of this guy's abilities. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so wary of him and tried to win him over. Not to mention that the two escort leaders had probably been knocked unconscious by him, even if they were still there, ordinary guards would be no match for him...

Needless to say, since he could wait until he left the capital a hundred miles away and then chase him overnight, it meant that he had already made all the plans. The boy had a cruel heart and had been suppressing his hatred for his father for many years. He would not be able to escape death tonight.

Just now, he was still thinking about the turn of events, his comeback, and Li Zhen ascending to the throne... But now, there is no turning back.

At this point, any further struggle would be futile, and you would end up with your head and body separated in vain.

After a while, Xu Chong picked up the medicine bottle stiffly, poured out the pills with trembling hands, and then closed his eyes, made up his mind, tilted his head back and swallowed them.

Lu Chen looked at him coldly, his gloomy handsome face hidden in the moonlight.

The drug's effects quickly took effect, sending a sharp cramping pain through his stomach. Xu Chong's vision went black, and he couldn't help but think of Shiliu Niang and Zhou's pale face, swollen from the river water. He swallowed hard, enduring the pain as he asked in a trembling voice, "Where's Rong Niang... Rong Niang is completely innocent, and only has true feelings for you... You killed her parents... And, what will happen to her now?"

"As long as she doesn't cause any more trouble in the future, I won't touch her."

How could anyone accept this answer? Xu Chong couldn't help but think of the day Zhou's funeral, the little girl's red, panicked eyes, how she had happily gone to find the so-called "Brother Bingyan", and the nightmare he had just had...

All kinds of feelings mixed together, mixed with the increasingly intense pain in the lungs, making people just want to seek quick relief. The fear in the heart accumulated to the extreme, but instead gave birth to tremendous resentment and anger. I just wish I could make the person in front of me suffer a hundred times more, so painful that I regret it.

"Lu's little boy..." Blood foam oozed from the corners of his mouth, his fingers dug deep into the snow, his face as ferocious as a ghost: "I remember... your first wife was pregnant last year..."

Lu Chen's body suddenly froze, and the blue veins on the back of his hand holding the knife slowly emerged, protruding inch by inch under his pale skin.

"Come to think of it..." Xu Chong panted, narrowing his eyes maliciously, "If this hadn't happened, you would have become a father by now..."

Before he could finish his words, he suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood. After a short gasp, he burst into maniacal laughter. "You finally got your revenge... but in return... your wife left you and your son died. Was it worth it? My son from the Lu family, how does this feel...? Hahahaha..."

Wife divorced.

The son died.

His head was buzzing, and a sharp pain that pierced his heart and bones suddenly swept through his body, as if countless ice needles were piercing his bone marrow. Lu Chen almost couldn't bear it and his body shook violently.

He raised his hand to cover his chest, gritted his teeth, and swallowed the fishy-sweet taste that surged into his throat. He squeezed out a sharp shout from between his teeth: "Shut up!"

Xu Chong's vision had long been blurred, and he could not see his expression, but he could hear the pain in his voice. He finally felt a little happy in his heart, "I don't know, ahem, your child... is it a boy or a girl... my life is not in vain... not in vain! Hahaha——"

"Shut up!"

The last shrill laugh came to an abrupt end. Under the moonlight, a cold light suddenly appeared, and an arc of warm blood suddenly spurted out, and then sprinkled onto the white snow.

Lu Chen stared at the distorted face on the ground, his hand holding the knife shaking uncontrollably, his knuckles clenched until they turned blue and white, making a crackling sound, almost crushing it.

The fields are vast and the cold wind is howling.

The inn was dead silent, so quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat echoing in his chest, each beat heavier and more painful than the last, like a blunt knife slowly cutting into his flesh.

Over the years, he had imagined the scene of killing his enemy with his own hands countless times in his mind, but when this blood feud was settled so easily, he did not feel any pleasure at all. There was only an empty confusion in his chest, and only an inexplicable pain that kept rising up.

Is it worth it?

He broke her heart, harmed their child, and made her suffer so much. Was everything he got in return worth it?

The world was spinning before his eyes. Lu Chen slowly raised his hand to his chest, clenching the fabric with his five fingers, and his knuckles were so tight that they almost dug into his flesh. But even so, it still couldn't relieve the severe pain in his chest. The pain was so severe that he was dazed, and he suddenly remembered a small incident from the past.

In the great victory of Taozhou that year, he made a great military achievement. The Privy Council sent an inspector to investigate, and he had to meet with his superiors and ask questions in person.

When she learned about this, she secretly pawned her only two hairpins in exchange for a few strings of silver, which she used to make him a brand new official robe, a full set of brand new copper-plated belts, and black leather boots.

Before going out, she happily helped him tie the leather belt, turned around to get the sachet and sword, hung them up one by one, and stood on tiptoe to put on his headband. Her smooth and warm fingertips touched his forehead little by little, and she carefully straightened the scarf strap.

He lowered his eyes and silently watched her wandering around the room, busying herself with work. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and a few strands of hair were stuck to her temples by sweat.

Everything was packed up, and she finally felt relieved. She looked around for a few moments, and after a while, she couldn't help but raise her hand to touch the old wound on his shoulder, muttering softly, "The sooner we can find a way out, the sooner we won't have to endure this hardship again... It's heartbreaking to see."

She didn't know that the inspector was Xu Chong's man, and this military achievement was destined to be taken away by others.

She only knew that this matter was extremely important to him, so she did her best to make him stand in front of others with dignity.

Silly girl.

The many trivial things from the past slowly surfaced in his mind, like a blunt knife cutting flesh and drawing blood, and it seemed as if it was asking him, Lu Bingyan, do you regret it? Do you regret breaking her heart and killing your child?

How not to regret.

He regretted it.

But who can return that concubine to him?

Lu Chen's eyes became hot, and boiling liquid gushed out uncontrollably. It felt as if his heart was hit hard by a thousand-pound hammer. The pain made his breathing stagnate, his legs suddenly lost strength, and he fell straight into the cold snow.