"I have committed a heinous crime, and I am ashamed of my sins to you and the princess. Only death can atone for my sins."

The simple handwriting on the yellowed paper is as profound as the most difficult words, making it difficult to understand.

Xiao Du put down the paper and rubbed his brows in annoyance. He had been turning over and over the twenty-one words on the paper for a long time, but he still couldn't figure it out. He stood up, walked slowly to the window, and pushed it open to let the cool air in to sober himself up.

It was already deep autumn, and a drizzle was falling. The gardenia tree, which had once been full of fragrant flowers and leaves, now had only a few lonely dead leaves hanging on the treetops, which were shaking under the cold rain and looked quite desolate. When would the person who was reading under the tree come back?

Raindrops fell from the eaves, splashing into small puddles on the ground. Xiao Du unconsciously scanned the puddles with his eyes, and suddenly he was startled. Puddles... ink marks... Why did Aunt Cai leave so many ink marks on the blank spaces of the paper? He once thought that they were caused by her panicking and scribbling. But if this letter was a message she left deliberately, she must have written it after careful consideration. How could she allow any stains on it?

Xiao Du stretched out his hand to hold the window frame, his knuckles turning white from the force: Perhaps what Aunt Cai wanted to say was not hidden in the words, but in these ink marks.

He turned around abruptly, picked up the piece of paper again and looked at it carefully. Sure enough, he found that those seemingly random ink marks seemed to be arranged in a certain order. But how could he explain it?

The incense burned and went out, but Xiao Du was still lost in thought. The paper was wrinkled in his hands, and he couldn't help muttering, "What do you want to say?" At this moment, a sudden noise came from outside the door, interrupting his thoughts. He frowned slightly, and before he could say anything, he heard the servant outside the door shouting, "The Marquis has ordered that no one is allowed to enter without his permission. Hey! You..."

Before he finished speaking, the door was pushed open. Xiao Du's anger turned into joy the moment he saw the intruder. He quickly put away the paper, stood up and greeted him with a smile: "Uncle Feng! When will you be back?"

The man at the door was a burly man with a red face and white beard. He pushed away the boy who was shouting and trying to stop him like he was chasing away a fly. The boy was so anxious that his face turned red and he was about to complain, but when he saw the Marquis's attitude towards this rude man, he had to suppress his resentment and walked out muttering to himself, closing the door.

The man walked in, lifted his robe and sat down, saying, "You have so many rules in your house. Everyone insists that the Marquis does not see guests. If I wait for them to pass the message, I don't know how many hours I have to wait, so I just came in by myself." Xiao Du just smiled nonchalantly, walked up to him and poured him a cup of tea, saying, "I heard from my father that you were going to the capital, but I didn't expect you to come so soon. Why didn't you notify us in advance?"

The man picked up the teacup and drank it all in one gulp. He glanced around and said, "Why? You don't welcome me?"

Xiao Du smiled and shook his head. While refilling his tea, he said, "If it weren't for Uncle Feng fighting his way out of this bloody situation in Nujiang Valley, I would have died long ago."

Recalling the iron horses and golden swords of the past, the man suddenly felt a lot of emotion. He put down the teacup, slammed the table and shouted: "What kind of tea is this? It tastes so light that it tastes like a bird. Let them get a pot of good wine, and you and I can have a few more cups and reminisce about the past."

This man's name is Feng Yan, a captain of the Xiao Family Army. When he was young, he followed the old marquis Xiao Yunjing to fight everywhere. After Xiao Du entered the army, he was taught and trained by him. He can be regarded as half of Xiao Du's master. Some time ago, he had asked the court to take off his armor and return home. This time he came back to the capital to see his old friend. He was born in the countryside and was promoted only because of his military merits and the appreciation of the old marquis. Because he stayed at the border for many years, he was used to speaking and acting rudely and never cared about etiquette and rank. Therefore, Xiao Du did not mind, but felt a little cordial. He immediately ordered the servants to prepare some wine and food. The two drank and chatted, as if they were back in the army.

After three rounds of drinking, Xiao Du saw that Feng Yan was already drunk. He poured wine for him and asked, "Uncle Feng, what are your plans for returning home this time?" Feng Yan often said that people who joined the army didn't know if they would have a future after today, and he didn't want to bring trouble to a good girl, so he didn't even have a wife in these years. Therefore, Xiao Du was always worried that one day he would leave the battlefield and lose his home, and he wouldn't even be able to find a thought.

Feng Yan raised his head, his tongue already a little unsteady, and said: "I am a lonely man, what can I do? I used the money I saved these years to buy a farm in my hometown, and then I will hire some people to take care of it, rent it out, and live a stable life for a few years." He picked up the wine glass, his eyes were a little hazy: "I only hope that there will be no more wars in this life, so that most of my life will not be wasted."

Xiao Du's nose suddenly felt a little sour: how many veterans had spent their entire lives at the border, guarding the people and territory of this country with their flesh and blood. Some of them died on the battlefield, some returned to their homeland with injuries, and in the end, not even their names were left behind.

He then picked up the wine glass in his hand and drank it all, his eyes slightly red, and said: "Cheers to Uncle Feng! The Xiao family army owes you!" Feng Yan shook his head drunkenly, and suddenly stared at Xiao Du with a sharp gaze, saying: "Chongjiang, are you really willing to stay in this capital forever and never return to the battlefield? Since you entered the army at the age of sixteen, I knew that you were born to belong there, so I deliberately made things difficult for you, hoping that you could become famous and establish your prestige as soon as possible. I didn't expect that you did better than I thought."

Xiao Du thought of the past and found it a little funny. As he laughed, he felt a little sour in the corners of his eyes. He just shook his head and whispered, "I'm not going back. I can't go back..."

He didn't say anything more, and Feng Yan didn't ask any more questions. The strong smell of alcohol in the house overwhelmed the incense. If you add some aroma of barbecue and mare's milk, it would be the smell of the frontier. Xiao Du's eyes became deep in this smell, and Feng Yan seemed to be drunk.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his hands could no longer hold the wine glass, and he spoke with a loud tongue: "Just now... I went to see the old marquis, and he said that you have been hiding in your room all day long because your wife ran away." He suddenly slammed the wine glass on the table and said loudly: "A real man... A commander of an army, is dying for a woman, what a lie! It's really a waste of Uncle Feng's teachings..."

Xiao Du thought: You don't even have a woman, so of course you don't understand. But he still smiled and comforted her: "Dad, you are exaggerating. It's not because of a woman. I just need to think about some things that I can't figure out."

Feng Yan smiled slyly and said, "Uncle Feng didn't come here empty-handed this time. I brought you a gift. I'll put it in your room. Go back and take a look. By then, all your problems will be solved."

Xiao Du thought it was a bit strange, but he just thought he was talking drunkenly and didn't take it seriously. Feng Yan suddenly became excited and kept urging him to go back to the room to check. Xiao Du couldn't persuade him, so he had to order the servants to arrange a guest room for Feng Yan and help him go there to rest after he had drunk enough.

When Xiao Du walked back to his own yard, he found that the maids and servants guarding there all had strange expressions. They were whispering to each other, but when they saw him coming, they glanced into the room with meaningful smiles on their faces.

Xiao Du suddenly became curious about Uncle Feng's "gift". He walked forward and pushed open the door. At this moment, the servants guarding the door immediately dispersed, leaving him standing there in a daze staring at the bedroom that looked normal.

Xiao Du felt a little puzzled. He strode in and looked around but didn't find any so-called gift. Just as he was wondering, he suddenly discovered that the quilt on the bed was arched high and was rising and falling slightly.

There is someone on the bed! Xiao Du was startled for a moment, then frowned: I didn't expect that Uncle Feng, an old bachelor, could play such a trick. He really thought that he couldn't live without a woman, and that he could just put a woman in his place to satisfy his worries.

He couldn't help but feel angry and amused. Finally, he shook his head helplessly and shouted to the door, "Xiaochun!"

Xiaochun was chatting with the maids outside the door with a cheerful look on his face. When he heard that the Marquis was calling him in, he was stunned for a moment. Then he ran in quickly, secretly glanced at the bed, and asked tentatively, "Marquis, what do you want me to do?"

Xiao Du pointed at the quilt with a cold face and said, "Take the man out of here."

Xiaochun was so frightened that her face turned pale. She hesitated and waved her hands, saying, "This...can't be lifted, can't be lifted!"

Xiao Dunong raised his eyebrows and said, "Why are you rebelling? I told you to lift it, but you dared not to do so."

Xiaochun's face was almost wrinkled into a bitter gourd, and she muttered in her heart: I dare not lift her even if someone asks me to. She quickly walked over with a smile and said: "My Lord, listen to me, this person really can't be carried away! She is..."

Xiao Du waved his hand impatiently to interrupt him and said coldly, "I don't care who she is, get her out of here! If you can't bear to part with her, just carry her back to your room."

Xiaochun opened his mouth wide and almost burst into tears. He was so scared that he almost fell to his knees. He stammered, "I dare not... I dare not. Lord Hou, please take a look at who is in there."

Xiao Du stared at him suspiciously, stretched out his hand to pull back the quilt, and just as he glanced at the bed, he suddenly froze there with his eyes wide open, his heart pounding.

Yuan Xi was lying inside with a face full of anger, staring at him fiercely, her eyes seemed to contain a sword. After Xiao Du was shocked, he was a little ecstatic, his mind was empty, and he didn't even know what to do with his hands and feet. When he came to his senses, he quickly put down the quilt, kicked Xiao Chun with his toes, and said fiercely: "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"

Xiaochun finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and complained in his heart: "You should have listened earlier if I told you earlier." But he smiled apologetically and said: "It's all our fault. We wanted the Marquis to come and see it himself so that he could give him a surprise." He thought of what the Marquis had just said when he brought it to his room, and he was immediately frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. Next time, he must not try to play with surprises so easily, or he might even lose his life.

Xiao Du had no time to argue with him at this moment. He just stared at the face in front of him whom he had missed for a long time, and casually waved his hand behind him and said, "Get out of here!" Xiaochun felt as if he had been pardoned. He quickly bowed and slipped out, and closed the door for them.

Xiao Du gazed at the person lying on the bed tenderly, but saw that her eyes were filled with more anger, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Then he realized that she seemed to have been acupunctured! He quickly leaned over and untied her acupuncture points.

Yuan Xi was robbed for no apparent reason. She was already terrified, and then she was thrown here for no reason. She just heard him say something about carrying her away. She was already filled with anger, and now she finally let out her anger. She sat up and yelled, "Xiao Du, you shameless bastard, you are just as unreasonable as the stupid bird you sent here!"

Xiao Du had a lot to say to her, and he had practiced countless times for the next encounter between the two of them. But at this moment, he was stunned by her string of angry curses. After a while, he caught her topic and replied in a daze, "Bird? What bird?"