Outside the dungeon, Su Pingchuan was pacing back and forth. Hearing a noise behind him, he quickly turned around.
The woman's expression was unclear in the darkness, and she walked straight past him until he called out to her.
"Your face is covered in blood."
Xiao Nanhui paused, raised his hand and wiped his forehead, only to see a little blood stain on the palm of his hand, which must have been splashed when he killed Yan Zi just now.
In fact, when she left the dungeon just now, she had wiped the blood off her hands, but she didn't care about her face.
The uniquely sticky feel of human blood still lingered on her fingertips. Back when she was on the expeditions suppressing bandits, blood stains were something she dealt with most often. Sometimes she couldn't close her eyes for nights, and with nowhere to wash them off, the stains would always cling to her body. But she had never felt as nauseous as she did today.
Su Pingchuan noticed her silence and took the initiative to speak.
"Now that you've had your revenge, do you feel relieved?"
She stood there motionlessly, without looking back, her figure exuding a solemn and murderous air of autumn.
"It's not as good as drinking a cup of wine with the Shrike."
"There will be." He paused, lowering his voice, "There will be people who can drink with you."
The breath that was stuffy in the chest was exhaled and turned into a cloud of white mist in the night. I don’t know whether it was the polluted air in the dungeon just now, or the sorrow on Douchen Ridge that night.
Xiao Nan turned around, and Su Pingchuan was looking down at his waist.
She finally noticed that the other person had been looking down at the burning incense in the sachet around his waist since the beginning.
Many noble children in the capital city knew how to tell time with sachets, but it was a bit inappropriate for a man to carry such a thing, so she thought that a martial and shameless man like Su Pingchuan would definitely not carry it.
Not wanting to embarrass the other person, she took the initiative to look away.
"General Zuo, if you have anything else to do, go ahead. I know the way from here to the palace gate."
Su Pingchuan said nothing, just stared at her, and after a long time he slowly lowered his gaze.
"Is this the armor-removing sword?"
She touched her waist and nodded.
For some reason, there was not much joy or surprise in Su Pingchuan's question. Instead, she felt that he was just making small talk.
He took a half step closer, as if taking a closer look at the sword.
"Master actually gave you this sword. I've been her disciple for many years, and she never even let me touch it."
Xiao Nan thought about it, took off the scabbard and handed it over.
"Then... do you want to try it?"
This time it was Su Pingchuan's turn to be stunned. He seemed to really want to say a few more words to her, but he never expected that the other party would make such a suggestion.
They had met each other a long time ago, but they really got to know each other during that ridiculous competition.
But as she told Li Yuanyuan, there was no winner between her and Su Pingchuan.
The young prince finally let go of the sachet and hesitantly took the sword. However, at this moment, a voice sounded not far away. It was the blue-clothed servant beside Prince Xuanyuan.
"Master, the prince is waiting for you in front."
She saw that Su Pingchuan's face had faded like a withered leaf in winter, and then he lowered his eyes.
"Give me another cup of tea."
The servant stopped talking, but did not avoid the situation either. He just stood quietly about ten steps away.
Su Pingchuan held the scabbard with one hand and slowly drew out the sword with the other.
Under the autumn moon, Jie Jia let out a clear chant. The sword was as bright as snow, and it was completely different from the one that had been buried in a tomb for many years.
"Nice sword."
He sighed sincerely, then stood up with his sword and struck in the air.
The young man's face still vaguely showed the high-spirited spirit of a man of the world. His eyes were bright, with a kind of righteousness that had not been infected by the court or oppressed by power. His body movements were about 70% similar to Li Yuanyuan's, and his aura flowed like a rushing river as he opened and closed his movements, but there were also two or three points of difference.
She privately believed that those two or three points were Su Pingchuan's unique qualities: half childish, half sincere.
In the past, she had some prejudice against him. During duels, she always wanted to beat him, so she never really appreciated his swordsmanship. Now that she really took a good look, she realized that he was actually quite good with the sword. Li Yuanyuan was indeed a good master.
After the sword dance, Su Pingchuan still stood there, reluctant to sheath the sword in his hand.
Not far away, the young servant in blue clothes was urging again in a low voice.
He finally slowly put the sword back into the scabbard, and the bright sword body was swallowed up by the scabbard bit by bit until the last bit of light disappeared.
"Thank you, Lord Xiao, for lending me your sword."
She took the armor and tried to make the present moment more cheerful.
"General Zuo, you are too polite. We can discuss this with you some other day."
He looked at her for a long time before nodding gently.
"good."
From the first time he met her, to his reunion with her, and then to the life and death they went through, his feelings for her changed from being ignorant to being clear. He suppressed many emotions in his heart, but he never lied to her.
But just now, he knew he had lied.
In three months, he will celebrate his twentieth birthday.
Before his coming-of-age ceremony, his father asked him to make a choice: remain in the army or join the imperial court. While it might be called a choice, there wasn't much he could do. His father knew him all too well, understanding that beneath his lonely and rebellious heart lay a lingering bond to his family. While the connection to the palace wasn't particularly strong, the connection to the Mei family ran deep.
The Mei family has already lost its place in the court, and the attitude of the royal family towards military generals will inevitably become ambiguous after Bijiang is pacified. If the Mei family does not want to end up being abandoned after the rabbit is dead, it needs to find new shelter as soon as possible.
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