Chapter 64: First time out of the palace

Time flies!

Xue Youran recalled the short time they had spent together, her eyes slightly sour.

If she had taken the initiative and expressed her feelings to him before he left for the war,

would the ending between them be different?

However, it was useless to say anything now.

Fortunately, after entering the palace, the emperor did not force everyone to sleep with him, but favored Shen Chaoyan alone.

This was already very good.

This was fate, and she only hoped that he could find a good man and live a happy life, and then she would have nothing to regret.

Xue Youran is not a person who likes to nitpick. Knowing that Shen Yushu returned safely, the worry in her heart has been put down. "Sister, I will leave the palace to offer sacrifices in a few days. Then we can stand together and talk."

Shen Chaoyan was stunned. "It's not the end of the year, why do we have to offer sacrifices?"

Does the royal family usually offer sacrifices to their ancestors at the end of the year?

Xue Youran lowered her voice, "Sister, you don't know that the emperor's biological mother died on May 17th."

When Shen Chaoyan read comics, there were very few descriptions of Sikong Yan in the book, and there was no mention of his life experience.

Therefore, she didn't know that the current queen mother was not Sikong Yan's biological mother.

So Shen Chaoyan immediately used the heavenly book to check the relevant information.

It turned out that Sikong Yan's biological mother, Queen Chunrui, was in poor health and died of illness on May 17th more than ten years ago.

After her death, the late emperor appointed her sister Xie Qionghua as the heir, and raised her two legitimate sons, the eldest prince and the fourth prince Sikong Yan, under Xie Qionghua's lap.

The late emperor's original choice for the crown prince was the eldest prince.

Before the crown prince was appointed, the late emperor sent the eldest prince and the third prince to the border for training, and the 14-year-old seventh prince also asked to go to the border.

Unexpectedly, Huaguo suddenly invaded, and Daxia was unprepared.

When the two armies fought, Daxia's soldiers were strangely poisoned, and the third prince was captured on the spot.

In order to save the third prince, Xue Zhongming's four sons and the eldest prince all died in the fierce battle, and the seventh prince was shot in the chest with an arrow, seriously injured and unconscious.

The third prince was finally rescued with only a few minor injuries.

However, the seventh prince was seriously injured and died on the way back to Beijing.

Of the five sons of the Xue family, only the fifth son, Xue Zheng, survived.

Although Daxia won the battle, it was a tragic victory, and many good generals were lost.

The late emperor was worried about the death of his young son, and his health was getting worse day by day.

Later, he appointed the fourth prince Sikong Yan as the crown prince.

The empress dowager has only one daughter, the ninth princess, and she has always treated Sikong Yan as her own son.

Every year on the anniversary of the death of the late queen, the empress dowager would go to Yuhua Temple to pay tribute to her deceased sister.

As the day is getting closer, this year is the first year of Sikong Yan's accession to the throne, and he should lead the concubines in the harem to Yuhua Temple together.

Shen Chaoyan knew that such a sacrificial ceremony would be very boring, and she wished that Xue Youran would accompany her. "Okay, let's stand together."

Xue Youran stayed in the Feiyan Palace until the evening. She led the palace maids around her and left only after listening to Lugua telling them about how the emperor promoted several generals and awarded them gold, silver and fertile fields after welcoming them back.

Although Xue Youran never mentioned Shen Yushu in the subsequent conversation, she listened more seriously than anyone else when Shen Chaoyan and Lugua talked about Shen Yushu. She

is also an infatuated one.

Shen's Mansion, study.

After dinner, Shen Yushu learned from his second brother that Xue Youran was sent to the palace by an imperial decree, and he crushed the teacup in his hand on the spot.

"Ah! Why is this cup broken?"

Hearing the sound of porcelain breaking, Shen Linfeng rushed over nervously and grabbed Shen Yushu's hand, "Brother, your hand was cut by a piece of porcelain!"

Shen Yushu lowered his eyes and swept over the fingers on his hand that were cut by the fragments, and said nonchalantly, "It's a minor injury, no harm."

"How can that be? You have just been conferred the rank of General Dingyuan of the fifth rank by the emperor, but you are the darling of our family! Don't move here, I'll go find a doctor!"

Shen Yushu raised the uninjured hand and pushed it on his forehead, "By the time you find the doctor, my wounds will have healed!"

To be honest, Shen Linfeng suddenly lost so much weight, which is far from his previous image of being fat.

Shen Yushu had just come back, and for a moment he was not used to facing this face that was 60% similar to his own.

Shen Linfeng watched his back as he strode into the study, and hurriedly chased after him, "Brother, where are you going?"

"Going back to rest." Shen Yushu turned his head, pointed his finger in his direction, and tapped it lightly in the air, "Don't talk to me, a grown man nagging, it makes my ears hurt."

After saying that, he ignored Shen Linfeng's hesitant expression and left.

Although he had been at the border for so long, everything in his room was the same as before. Every two days, a servant would come to clean it, keeping it clean and tidy before he left.

Shen Yushu walked around the closet and stopped in front of the table by the window.

He opened the drawer underneath and took out a white handkerchief from the drawer.

The white handkerchief looked very clean and well-kept, but the edges had turned slightly yellow over time.

This handkerchief was given to him by Xue Youran five years ago.

At that time, he was among the top three in the imperial examination, and there was a great possibility that he would become an official in the court.

However, he turned around and worshipped Xue Youran's uncle as his teacher to improve his martial arts.

The following year, he won the first place in the martial arts examination and became the number one martial arts champion.

That day, Xue Youran quietly disguised herself as a guard and followed her uncle to the martial arts scene.

When Shen Yushu won the title of number one martial arts champion and walked off the stage, she took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and stuffed him a white handkerchief and asked him to bandage the wound on his hand.

She only left a sentence, "Wrap the medicine quickly, don't leave a scar," and ran away in a hurry.

At that time, Shen Yushu pinched the handkerchief and found that there was a bottle of good medicine in it.

In fact, it was a minor wound and he didn't even feel the pain.

When everyone else was cheering for him for winning the first place, only Xue Youran noticed a scratch on the back of his hand and

silently worried about his injury.

The high-spirited young martial arts champion probably fell in love for the first

time at that time. Unfortunately, he came back too late.

Thinking of this, Shen Yushu couldn't help but clench Su Pa's hand...

May 16, the day before the sacrifice.

Sikong Xian ordered Ye Hanqin and Shen Yushu to lead more than a thousand soldiers of the Yulin Army to protect the Queen Mother and the concubines and go to Yuhua Temple together.

Knowing that she had to get up early the next day, Shen Chaoyan went to bed early.

In Guiyun Palace, Xue Youran tossed and turned for a long time after learning that Shen Yushu was on the list of people going to Yuhua Temple.

It was not until dawn that she fell into a light sleep.

Before dawn, Shen Chaoyan was pulled out of the quilt by Lugua, who washed and dressed her.

She closed her eyes and let Lugua torment her.

When she reunited with Xue Youran, she yawned and asked, "Sister Xue, what did you do last night? Why are your eyes so dark?"

Xue Youran immediately touched her face nervously, "Do I look haggard now?"

Shen Chaoyan immediately guessed the reason for her insomnia, but did not point it out, "It's okay, I brought a beauty bag, you can put on some makeup later to cover the dark circles."

Xue Youran thought about it, and suddenly shook her head and said, "Forget it, it's not appropriate to wear too heavy makeup for today's sacrifice. However, I will buy a beauty bag some other day!"

"Don't buy it, I have several sets! When we come back, you can go to my place and get them."

When the empress dowager's gift was delivered to the palace last month, Shen Chaoyan also asked Shen Linfeng to bring her a few sets of cosmetics.

"That's so embarrassing."

"Who are we talking to? Don't be polite to me! Besides, I only have one face, so I can't use so many beauty bags."

Xue Youran thought about it and didn't refuse. "Okay, then I thank my sister in advance."

At the exact time of Mao, Sikong Yan's sedan chair walked out of the main gate of the palace.

Even though it was still early, the road was still crowded with onlookers.

They stretched their necks, wanting to see the emperor's face.

The soldiers in armor were arranged in two teams, with three horses in the front.

The three young men on the horses were handsome and elegant, just like the handsome and elegant young men in the novels.

At this moment, Shen Chaoyan, who was sitting in the carriage, was very excited. After all, this was her first time out of the palace after marrying the tyrant.

She opened the curtain and looked outside.

Her sight swept across the mighty Yulin Army and fell on three conspicuous tall horses.

The three people riding horses, in addition to Ye Hanqin and Shen Yushu, the other one was Qi Yingmo.

Shen Chaoyan stared at the line of character profiles above Qi Yingmo's head, frowned, and immediately became alert.

She remembered that Qi Yingmo's name was not on the list of guards going to Yuhua Temple.

[Heavenly Book, why is Qi Yingmo here? He is not going to harm my eldest brother again, is he? 】

Heavenly Book: [No, Qi Yingmo failed in his mission at the border, and the Third Prince asked him to meet at Yuhua Temple. Their target this time is no longer Shen Yushu, but you, the host! 】