After a long time, Qiao took out the tablet belonging to "Huo Pingchang" and stared at it for a long time.
"Zhengze has been without a father since childhood. He has always believed that his father is a great hero..."
She told the story slowly, and Helian Yu knelt in front of her, also staring at the tablet.
"After he was born, he was also very interested in wielding swords and guns. He followed A Yan to learn, and clamored to become a hero like his father..." Speaking of the past, Qiao smiled, but there was some sadness in her smile.
"But I didn't want to. I didn't want my husband to die and my son to become a cold memorial tablet like this." She gently stroked the name on the tablet. "Later, as he grew up, he noticed my concerns and decided not to join the army. Instead, he decided to become a civil servant in the capital..."
"I know, Zhengze gave up because of me... gave up standing on the battlefield like all the ancestors of the Huo family..." There was a hint of guilt in her eyes.
A man should have ambitions. Huo Zhengze knew that his father, uncle and cousin were all fighting on the battlefield.
The Huo family was born to defend their country. But he still chose to stay for his mother.
Helian Yu lowered his eyes and murmured, "Is he... okay now?"
Qiao smiled and shook her head. "After the portrait incident, he was devastated and locked himself in his room for several days and nights."
"Later, Ah Yan came back and saw him, and he finally cheered up..." She sighed slowly, "What else can we do? If he doesn't cheer up, is he going to die?"
She turned her head and looked at the tablets. "I want to, too... but there's such a big Huo family. We can't just abandon everything and leave all the burdens on A Yan alone."
Helian Yu felt a tightness in his heart and a soreness in his eyes. He wanted to say something, but the words turned into three words:
"sorry……"
Qiao looked up, glanced at Helian Yu, touched his arm with her thin hand, and shook her head.
"Good boy, it's not you who should say sorry, it's Huo Pingchang."
There was a hint of relief in her eyes.
"Now that you've returned here, I know your mother must be a well-educated person. She has taught you very well."
Did Mrs. Qiao ever resent the woman who "stole" her husband?
Of course I was resentful when I first found out that Huo Pingchang had married someone else.
But these days, she gradually figured it out, maybe that woman was completely unaware of it.
Huo Pingchang is not worthy of the trust.
Having abandoned his first wife and left him with an orphan, it might not matter to him who he marries and has children with.
All that matters is the position of power he desires.
Qiao patted his hands and said, "Seeing you is like seeing another Zhengze."
He was the man who was supposed to stand on horseback like the ancestors of the Huo family.
Helian Yu looked at Qiao's slightly cloudy but shining eyes, and tears couldn't stop flowing out.
He thought of the time when he went to see his mother before leaving. His mother was lying on the bed, holding his hand with a haggard look, and said to him with the same tired but relieved expression,
"Good boy, do what you think is right..."
At this moment, he hated his father in his heart.
If it weren't for him, neither family would have turned out like this.
He looked at the tablet in Qiao's hand and asked, "Can I take it with me?"
Qiao handed the tablet to him. Helian Yu knelt down, moved back a few times, and kowtowed heavily to Qiao.
Then he stood up and left, taking the tablet with him.
When he reached the gate of the ancestral hall, he looked back one last time.
The lights are always on, the pines and cypresses are evergreen, but the heroic souls are restless.
He let out a light breath and stepped out of the threshold, his steps becoming much firmer.
…
After leaving the Huo family, Helian Yu did not speak to Xie Wanqing again because Mrs. Xie was still there.
He returned to Zuixianju and packed his things.
Actually, it was nothing. The things he brought with him were left at the Huo family, and when he left, he just changed the tablet.
He wrote a short letter and gave it to the waiter, asking him to pass it on to Miss Xie the next day.
After doing all this, he left alone under the cover of night.
The next day, when Xie Wanqing came, she learned that Helian Yu had left only the letter and left. A trace of loneliness flashed in her eyes.
She took the letter, returned to the carriage, and read it again.
The content of the letter was very simple. He just thanked her for taking care of him for the past two days, explained that he was going back, and asked her to write to him if she had the chance to go to the northwest.
Xie Wanqing looked at the contents of the letter and thought of how Helian Yu looked when he came this time.
For some reason, she felt heavy in her heart.
She always had a premonition that this might be the last time they met...
The maid beside her said to her, "Young lady, Master Helian is from Northern Qiang, so you will naturally never see each other again."
Xie Wanqing thought of the Dragon Boat Festival that day. The four of them sat by the river, drinking and lighting lanterns, having a great time.
But in the blink of an eye, everything seemed to have changed.
She lifted the car curtain and looked up at the sky.
She remembered that Helian Yu told her that he had an eagle named "Jinghong".
"A startling swan..." She murmured a line of poetry, "Once a startled swan reflected my shadow."
…
In Linhua Palace, Concubine Shu received a secret letter.
When she saw the handwriting on the letter, she couldn't help but straighten up, and even dismissed Zhao Ma Ma, took the letter into the inner room and opened it.
The content of the letter was simple:
Huo Yan has not been eliminated before, and he is a problem now. He is a source of worry for both of us. Let us eliminate him together and help our great cause.
There was no header or footer on the letter.
But Concubine Shu knew whose handwriting it was.
Because more than ten years ago, before the Battle of Wind Valley, she also received a letter with the same handwriting.
The letter told her that someone in the Huo family had betrayed the country and that if the news got out and aroused Emperor Xuan's suspicion, the Huo family would collapse.
At that time, many people knew that Yuan Zhao and Huo Yan, the young general of the Huo family, were childhood sweethearts and were in love with each other.
It seems that His Majesty will grant a marriage between Yuan Zhao and Huo Yan after returning from this great victory. By then, Yuan Cheng will be tied to the Huo family, which will be even more powerful.
Concubine Shu had been trying to instill in Emperor Xuan the idea that Yuan Cheng was too powerful and a threat to the throne, and was trying to find ways to sabotage the marriage.
That letter came at the perfect time.
In the Battle of Gale Valley, the Huo family was really defeated, and Yuan Zhao, because he pleaded for Huo Yan and the Huo family, ruined his own marriage and was promised to an unknown prince consort.
But for more than ten years, Concubine Shu never knew who wrote the letter to her.
She originally thought that the news that the Huo family had surrendered to the enemy and betrayed the country was just fake news.
But after the portrait incident came out, she had some vague guesses in her mind.
Who would know before the war that someone in the Huo family had defected to the enemy and still want to bring down the Huo family?
Combined with the letter in his hand, the blade on the letter pointed directly at Huo Yan, and Concubine Shu's guess was confirmed.
She sneered and put the letter into the candle flame to burn slowly.
"Yuancheng, ah Yuancheng... Without Huo Yan, what are you going to use to compete with my Heng'er?"
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