Cloud Flag Hunting Over Qing Han

Ji Mingxiu was weak after all, and after all this ordeal, he was so sleepy that he could hardly open his eyes.

"Go to sleep, Your Majesty."

After Gu Zian carefully carried the person to bathe and scrub, he patiently wrapped the quilt tightly around him, feeling an indescribable sense of comfort and warmth in his heart.

He waited contentedly for a while like this before he came out of the tent, only to find Xu Yan still standing outside, pacing anxiously.

"General."

Xu Yan saw Gu Zi'an coming out, and walked up to him quickly without even having time to greet him. He lowered his voice and questioned him.

"Is the person inside His Majesty?"

Gu Zi'an raised his eyebrows, looked back at the tent and asked back.

"Have you been here all this time?"

"What?" Xu Yan was stunned for a moment, then he reacted, his old face flushed red, he stammered, "No... I was standing far away, I didn't hear anything!"

Fortunately, he was not misled by Gu Zi'an. He quickly came to his senses and asked again in a low voice. His tone was not very nice and could even be considered an inappropriate accusation.

"Don't interrupt me, is it His Majesty?"

Gu Zi'an looked at Xu Yan, who was about to jump up and down in anxiety, and narrowed his eyes inexplicably without saying anything. His Majesty did not believe him, but believed Xu Yan's words. Although he promised His Majesty not to punish Xu Yan, it was always okay to give him a small warning.

"you!"

Xu Yan was so angry at Gu Zi'an's almost acquiescent attitude that his eyes went dark. He no longer cared about hierarchy and pointed at Gu Zi'an's nose and cursed him.

"Gu Zi'an, you are so bold!"

"That's His Majesty, how dare you! How dare you!"

Xu Yan felt like he was about to pass out from anger. He held his chest in shock and anger, trying his best to control his voice.

"How could you humiliate His Majesty like this!"

What humiliation! Gu Zi'an frowned and said nothing, thinking that Xu Yan was the top scorer in the imperial examination after all, so what kind of words were he saying?

On the other side, Xu Yan was still very angry and kept complaining.

"That day I thought you had just woken up from a coma and that you had done such a heinous thing because you were so confused. I took the trouble to keep it a secret for you."

"How could you do such a thing just for the sake of momentary pleasure?"

"How can you be worthy of the Gu family..."

Xu Yan turned around and saw Gu Zi'an's increasingly dark complexion, and gradually fell silent.

No matter what, Gu Zi'an is now a marshal who holds great power over the three armed forces. Even if we really want to deal with him, we should do it slowly and not act rashly.

Thinking of this, he softened his voice again and tried to comfort her.

"Your Majesty is young and weak, but he is the emperor after all. Even if you succeed by virtue of your temporary military exploits, what about the future? If you don't consider yourself, you should consider the reputation of the Gu family."

"Besides, His Majesty came to the Northern Frontier alone without caring about you being injured this time, which shows that His Majesty is a soft-hearted person. You should apologize to His Majesty and say that you were just confused for a moment. As long as you are sincere, His Majesty will definitely see your repentance."

"What do you say, General?"

When Xu Yan said this, his heart was bleeding. At this moment, he felt that he was no different from those treacherous officials who formed cliques for personal gain and bullied their superiors and oppressed their subordinates.

It was a pity that Gu Zi'an didn't really appreciate this. He just remained silent for a while. Who knew that Xu Yan was thinking about something else. But as long as he knew that Xu Yan had no other thoughts about His Majesty, he felt relieved. He didn't care about anything else.

He glanced at Xu Yan indifferently and warned in a low voice.

"Don't go and say anything nonsense in front of His Majesty. Keep this matter to yourself."

Just now, because Xu Yan had rashly barged in, he hugged His Majesty for a long time to comfort him, and His Majesty finally believed that Xu Yan had not seen anything. If Xu Yan had really exposed it to His Majesty, His Majesty would have been so embarrassed that he would probably not be able to get into His Majesty's bed for several days.

"...I obey your command."

Xu Yan looked at Gu Zian deeply and said nothing more. When he turned and left, his lips were still trembling, and it was unclear whether it was because of the cold or anger.

He has said everything he can and cannot say, and the rest depends on Gu Zian's own choice.

*

At dusk, the sky was bright and dark, but I could see a bright moon in my arms.

The old snow from the previous few days had not melted yet, and was reflected by the cold moonlight, creating mottled fragments of light.

Gu Zi'an followed the footprints on the snow and found Ji Mingxiu who was watching the moon alone.

Your Majesty rarely wears a round-necked, narrow-sleeved outfit, and a red leather belt tied around her waist makes her look even slimmer.

"Why are you out here wearing so little?"

He shook out the cloak in his hand and draped it over Ji Mingxiu from behind, then gently hugged His Majesty and gave him a light kiss.

Although they had won a great victory, he had been in a coma for several days, so the celebration banquet had been put on hold. Moreover, the original military regulations were limited, so it couldn't be a big one. But His Majesty felt that this battle had been fought for a long time, and now that the outcome of the battle was decided, it was indeed time for the soldiers to celebrate. With His Majesty's oral order, the entire army had been busy with this matter in the past few days.

"They always feel uncomfortable when I'm at a party."

Ji Mingxiu knew who it was without turning around. He leaned back with the support of Gu Zi'an on his waist and made up an excuse.

In fact, it was not entirely an excuse, but he was the one who was uncomfortable. Even though he had been the emperor for a year and had attended countless banquets, big and small, he still didn't like that kind of scene. It was noisy and chaotic, and he always forgot his own name.

"What about you? You are the protagonist, how come you sneaked out?"

He left first, using the excuse that he couldn't hold his liquor. Gu Zi'an couldn't possibly say that he couldn't hold his liquor either. Who would believe him?

"I am not."

Gu Zian hugged the person tighter, buried his head in his shoulders and denied it in a muffled voice.

The banquet in the distance was getting more and more exciting, which was both separated from and integrated with the tranquility of the moment, making him recall the moonlit banquet when he left Tiandu.

The scenery is vaguely similar to that of old times, but the people have changed.

Is it sad and tender, or lingering and affectionate?

He suddenly felt very happy. At that time, he could not imagine that today he could hold His Majesty so tenderly, almost as lightly as in a dream.

Ji Mingxiu raised his head and glanced at Gu Zian with an inexplicable expression. His eyes clearly said, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing..."

Gu Zi'an smiled, but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the meow of a cat under his feet.

He glanced down and saw a small black cat circling around his majesty's legs, rubbing against him affectionately.

"So cute!"

Ji Mingxiu leaned over and gently picked up the kitten, rubbing its soft little belly naturally.

He had never seen a live kitten in his life. When he was a child, he heard from the palace servants that it was because his mother didn't like cats, so his father ordered that no one in Tiandu City was allowed to keep cats.

"Its name is Xiao Hei. It was probably a cat raised by a family near the border. They abandoned it because of the war, so it followed the army and ate and drank for free."

Gu Zi'an felt a little jealous when he saw Xiao Hei, who was acting coquettishly and rolling around in His Majesty's arms. This little thing was usually very arrogant, and the soldiers in the barracks had to depend on its mood if they wanted to pet it. How could it be so picky and only knew how to seduce His Majesty?

"Okay." He stretched out his hand and lifted Xiao Hei out of your majesty's arms by the back of his neck. He said righteously without changing his expression, "It rarely takes a bath on weekdays, so it's very dirty. Your majesty, please don't touch it."

Xiao Hei seemed to understand that Gu Zi'an was insulting it. It turned around and gave him a claw, then nimbly disappeared into the night.

"How's it going? Are you okay?"

Ji Mingxiu quickly pulled up Gu Zian's hand. There were three not-so-obvious scratches on the back of his hand, but fortunately, it was just a little skin breakage and no bleeding.

He looked at the scratches and felt an inexplicable discomfort in his heart, as if something was wrong, but he couldn't remember what it was.

"It's okay. Xiao Hei still has some conscience."

Gu Zi'an felt even warmer in his heart when he saw His Majesty anxiously staring at his minor injury. He then held Ji Mingxiu's icy fingertips and gently blew on them.

Perhaps the atmosphere at the moment was just too good, as gentle as a deep swamp that one could easily fall into if not careful. Gu Zian suddenly had the courage to lay it all out. He lowered his eyes to look at His Majesty's long eyelashes and spoke tentatively.

"I saw that at the banquet today, Your Majesty and several captains had a very pleasant conversation and they hit it off right away."

"Really? Then... maybe we are destined to be together..."

Ji Mingxiu didn't look up and responded vaguely, but he quickly realized that Gu Zian couldn't possibly be unaware of what he had been doing these days.

Hit it off at first sight?

His eyebrows turned colder, and the gentleness in his eyes faded a little.

He knew that Gu Zi'an was testing him, but he was also subconsciously avoiding Gu Zi'an.

Power is a sharp sword. If you hold it tightly, the ground will be covered with wind and frost; if you loosen it, blood will flow.

"Yes, I got along well with several of the captains right away."

Ji Mingxiu lowered his eyes, withdrew his hand, and stepped back half a step. His pale lips now looked even paler, and in the sky that had not yet completely darkened, he actually showed a hint of heartless sadness.

When a ruler is not a ruler and a minister is not a minister, it hurts others and oneself.

He turned and left without saying anything else. He believed that Gu Zian could understand what he had not yet said.

Besides, this is the best ending, isn't it?

"His Majesty."

Gu Zi'an stepped forward and hugged Ji Mingxiu from behind. He saw the tenderness in the emperor's eyes gradually turn into ice, and he realized that he had guessed right. However, if this matter was not spoken out, it would always be a thorn in the emperor's heart.

"Do you see that long flag?"

Ji Mingxiu looked in the direction he pointed. It was the military flag standing in the center of the entire camp. A black dragon was printed on the red background, flying precariously in the wind.

He had heard from Xu Yan that Gu Zi'an would carry this long flag every time he went to the battlefield, and only when the flag was in sight would the horses and chariots appear.

"These are your three armies."

Gu Zi'an's voice was scattered in the wind, floating with the wind, like a tough and tenacious seed, planted in the vast rivers and mountains in the desert smoke, filling up the gullies where the wind and cranes cried.

"These 400 million soldiers are all sharp swords in your hands."

"I am also the blade in your hand."

"Just for you."

“Keep going.”