Chapter 7: Chen Yu rides a donkey to look for a donkey!!!
Qi Xin was very familiar with that voice, but the tone was not as gentle and persuasive as before, and it actually exuded a sense of alienation that could not be ignored.
Zheng Qi——is that Chen Yu?
Chen Yu, Chen Yu, Chen Yu... She didn't know how many times she repeated it in her heart.
The person who was indifferent to me at first but later became my master and accompanied me day and night, was he Chen Yu?
Her feet suddenly softened, and she fell down again after just breaking free from her restraints. She looked eagerly towards the source of the sound.
"Zheng Qi," with a massive bow slung over one shoulder, stood calmly atop a towering horse tinged with red. His face was pale, still a touch of sickly, but his amber eyes no longer held a trace of laziness. Instead, they shone with a blade-like brilliance she had never seen before. The smile still lingered on the corners of his lips, giving him a somewhat alluring aura.
Qi Xin's mind suddenly exploded with a buzzing sound, her lips stretched wide with disbelief, and she stared at his legs intently.
Could he ride a horse? Wasn't he wandering around the barracks in a wheelchair? Was he pretending to be disabled?
He Lianjin, who was already suppressed, also had this question. He screamed, and the sound was like the wail of a ghost:
"Isn't your leg already disabled? How could this happen? How could this happen? Ah——"
"Zheng Qi" obviously didn't bother to pay attention to the farce over there, and walked straight towards the bewildered Qi Xin. He knelt on one knee in front of her, looked at her for a moment, and then hugged her trembling body tightly in his arms, whispering softly in her ear:
"Xiaojiu has suffered, Master is here to take you home—"
Chen Yu's eyebrows and eyes remained the same, but he didn't seem to be the same as she remembered.
Qi Xin usually saw many descriptions in the vernacular novels, but these were, after all, folk fabrications, mixed with both truth and falsehood, and could not be fully trusted. Even Zhaowen Pavilion Mi Xin, which she herself thought was more credible, recorded very little about it. How strange!
Therefore, her main understanding of Shen Yu came from her mother, Empress Yuan.
Chen Yu's biological father, the Old Duke, and Emperor Shengde have a close relationship. It was the oath that the Old Duke made to the prince when he was a child and was his tutor that they would protect the country together. This made the Old Duke willing to spend half his life in the military.
When Shen Yu was young, the old Duke was busy with his campaigns and had no time to care for his family. Empress Yuan, however, was childless at the time, and Shen Yu was so cute, Empress Yuan took pity on him and took him into the palace to care for him.
As Shen Yu grew older, his temperament became increasingly cheerful. Fearing he might develop the unruly tendencies of the children of aristocratic families, Empress Yuan sent him to the Zhaowen Pavilion to study poetry, literature, etiquette, and policy writing. Shen Yu was exceptionally intelligent, with a photographic memory, and he won the Empress's favor.
The old Duke had no desire to see his only son, like himself, spend his life in the military, living on the brink of death. He considered that if Chen Yu truly had the talent for scholarship, he could take the Autumn Examination. Da Sheng valued civil service over military service, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his current title was earned at the cost of his life.
The young son has done nothing wrong. There is no need for him to follow his old path.
However, Shen Yu received a message from his father at the border, asking him to study harder so that he could show his talent in the next autumn examination.
He went all out and directly presented the poem "Beacon Rises" which he had composed when he was depressed to Emperor Shengde. Empress Yuan could never forget it. At the age of twelve, Chen Yu already had such courage:
Desert sand washed and guarded Ningbei,
The solitary smoke rises and calls my son.
How can I lament that my father's orders are still in force?
Stay in a corner and hide the truth.
In the morning I read books and in the evening I watch banquets.
I cry for the wine in my busy youth.
I only hope that the Holy Spirit will listen to the people's wishes,
Go to the stars and stabilize the country.
After that, Shen Yu received the Holy Order and joined the Ningbei Camp of the National Protection Army with full justification. The old Duke was caught off guard and almost fainted from anger.
But after all, Chen Yu has lived in Shengdu for many years and has never experienced real life outside the Great Wall.
Therefore, the old Duke issued an order that once he entered the camp, the Duke of Jingguo's son, Shen Yu, would no longer be present, and all the generals and comrades must be treated equally. He wanted Shen Yu to experience the hardships of the army and then ask to return to the capital.
But Shen Yu endured them all, and through daily training, he gradually became the best in the army.
He was arrogant and carefree, like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger, and he did not care much about the cause and effect. Instead, he spent his days on the battlefield, reckless and leaving no grass wherever he went.
Every time he returned to the camp in triumph, he would be scolded by the old Duke, who said that he was so impatient and ignorant that he would be defeated on the battlefield sooner or later.
Several years later, these words turned out to be prophecy.
Of course, that was after the old Duke passed away.
The death of the old Duke remains an unsolved case to this day.
At that time, the Western Dan Kingdom, west of Sheng State, was invading. The commander of the Dasheng Imperial City Army had died suddenly, and the entire army was in disarray and demoralized. The Jingguo Army stationed far away in Ningbei was unable to move, so they had to replace the commander of the Imperial City Army at the last minute.
Emperor Shengde trusted no one, so he had no choice but to send a pigeon overnight to recall the old Duke Jingguo. After all, Shen Yu had been with the Jingguo Army for several years and was familiar with it. It would be difficult for him to lead an unfamiliar army into an unknown battle. Only the old Duke Jingguo had trained the Imperial City Army for a period of time in his early years and led them to Nanling before the new commander took office.
After receiving the order, the old Duke Jingguo led the Imperial City Army to the western battlefield day and night...
Soon, news came that the deputy commander of the Imperial City Army had returned triumphantly with the hostage, and the old Duke's sacrifice was not in vain, but surprisingly, his body was not found.
However, Emperor Shengde did not investigate the matter further. He gave the old Duke a posthumous title of "loyal and brave" to appease the public, and later accepted the hostage sent by the surrendered Kingdom of Xidan.
Rumor has it that Emperor Shengde has relied on the Old Duke to fight for many years, and the Old Duke's prestige in Sheng has been growing day by day. Now that the world is at peace, Emperor Shengde can take advantage of the unrest in this small country to kill two birds with one stone, get rid of the Old Duke, and incorporate his National Defense Army.
Some even said that Emperor Shengde had always been on good terms with King Xidan, and this was just a case of the dog being abandoned after the rabbit was dead.
Chen Yu was heartbroken and in disbelief. He secretly rushed back to Shengdu and questioned the reason why the old duke died in battle under the palace wall. However, what he faced was the Emperor Shengde's pursuit of responsibility for abandoning his post without permission, and then he was imprisoned in the imperial prison.
During this time, Empress Yuan persuaded Shen Yu several times in prison and finally saved his life.
Chen Yu was completely desperate and said that he was deeply sinful. He made a silent plea and asked to be stationed at the Ningbei border and never return to the capital.
Empress Yuan was naturally worried and often sent letters to Ningbei. In the early days, Chen Yu would write back to express his gratitude for his care as a child and his rescue from the imperial prison, but then he disappeared without a trace.
The rest were what Qi Xin learned from the secret reports of Zhaowen Pavilion, including some fragments of information about the three branches of the Ningbei National Defense Army established after Chen Yu returned to Ningbei, and the scorn of the people of Shengguo for him after the theory of Jiang Yue fermented.
So when Qi Xin first met Chen Yu - Zheng Qi, his drastically changed personality made it impossible for her to connect him with the unrestrained Chen Yu in her mother's memory.
My mother always said that the Dasheng royal family owed the Shen family a debt of gratitude...
Everything that happened seems like a lifetime ago.
Zheng Ba had questioned Shen Yu's attitude towards Qi Xin earlier in the farmer's courtyard. Even if she were Princess Jialing, it would have been enough to rescue her. Why did he take her in and teach her archery? The Dasheng royal family was so heartless, so why did he still wade into such troubled waters?
At that time, he only said that he wanted to repay Empress Yuan's kindness - perhaps, this was what he thought at the beginning.
But after spending a few months together, Chen Yu unexpectedly discovered that Qi Xin was not a pampered person in the deep palace, nor did she believe the rumors. Instead, she had her own opinions and even believed in him without hesitation.
His heart was moved, and he breathed a sigh of relief from years of exhaustion. He had a thought of staying with her in the farmyard. Perhaps he had been lonely for too long. Now he only wished to amuse her on weekdays to relieve her boredom. They could talk about the future later.
Of course, he might be born with bad luck, and even God couldn't bear to see him live a good life. He couldn't get rid of the dark past, and couldn't keep the people and things he missed. Before he could figure out how to face Qi Xin with his true identity, things had come to this point.
Qi Xin was a little confused about whether to laugh or cry——
How could Marshal Shen, who was feared by the Yue Kingdom, become lame?
How could I have been fooled?
Whether it was to get rid of the stigma, track down the blood pill, or do something else, why was Chen Yu so defensive? How could he know that he wouldn't clear his name after recognizing him?
He must have to sleep on straw and eat bitter food here, and see me like an ant on the hot pan trying to find him. He must think he is so noble.
In this way, every time he was attacked recently, he probably had a plan in mind and took precautions in advance.
Qi Xin was so choked that he couldn't speak, and a feeling of warmth surged into his eyes.
During these days, she had been in danger many times, tortured by blood pills, escaped death, and had broken bones and cramps, but she never bowed her head. But now, when she met Chen Yu again, who had torn off the label of "Zheng Qi", she actually had the urge to cry.
Shen Yu knelt on the ground for a while, seeing that she ignored him, and when he raised his eyes, he saw her like this.
He was so panicked that he felt a little helpless.
In the past, whenever he was humiliated, he would immediately fight back.
Even if his father had died in battle for no reason, he would have risked his life to get to the bottom of it. Later, during his years living in Ningbei, he seemed to have gained insight into the complexities of the world, and gradually he began to understand those things that he had once despised.
However, the word "helpless" has never appeared in his Shen Yu's dictionary.
He believed in never regretting a move. No matter what happened, instead of wasting time repenting, it was better to find a solution as soon as possible. Maintaining a clear conscience amidst the silt was already a difficult feat, so why add unnecessary distractions?
But he didn't know that there is such a kind of people in the world. Even if they have been trapped in the underworld for a long time and disguised themselves as cold and evil ghosts, they can hardly suppress the resonance in their hearts, the good of friendship and the evil of hatred. Only with the tiny light of fireflies can they clear the chaos to the dawn.
Perhaps, even Qi Xin didn't know that she herself was that kind of person.
Shen Yu straightened his body and caught a glimpse of the marks on Qi Xin's neck where she had been strangled by the assassin before Zheng Ba arrived. He trembled as he reached for the bruises on her neck. The mottled purple bruises pierced his eyes, causing them to ache.
In full view of everyone, he gently rubbed her skin there with his thumb and whispered, "Does it hurt?"
Qi Xin reacted, pulled away his hand that was hanging loosely around his neck, and squeezed out a few words stiffly from between his teeth:
"Don't worry, Lord Jingguo."
After she finished speaking, she stared at Chen Yu intently, as if she wanted to stare a hole in his forehead to see what was inside.
Chen Yuxing stood up unhappily, laughing at himself:
Well, the little girl is in a bad mood again, and it may be difficult to coax her for a while.
Then, he turned around and strode towards He Lianjin. He had to find someone to vent his anger and resentment.
When He Lianjin saw him approaching, he screamed like a mad dog and tried to break free from his restraints.
Shen Yu glanced at him sideways and spoke condescendingly, "How come the Sixth Prince hasn't made any progress in all these years? No wonder your second brother's position as Crown Prince is so secure."
The author has something to say:
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ps——
Sixth Prince: Hiss, I’m not also a part of your play, am I?
Chen Yu: What do you think?
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