As time goes by and the clouds change, two figures, one black and one white, stand on the top of the mountain again. The jokes from those years are still ringing in my ears, but the once carefree boy has quietly changed his appearance.

Today, one of them has become an unfathomable emperor, and the other has become a general who has endured humiliation and burdens. Even if they return to their old place, all they have left is heavy defense and cold confrontation.

The surrounding Yulin troops finally retreated into the woods under Zhao Yan's scolding. Xiao Du turned his gaze away from the backs of those people, raised his chin arrogantly, and clenched the silver bow in his hand.

The light reflected from the bow and arrow by the sun made Zhao Yan squint slightly, but he was not worried that Xiao Du would hurt him, because he knew the man in front of him too well: even if he could disregard their past friendship, he still had tens of thousands of lives of the Marquis' Mansion and the Xiao Family Army on his shoulders, and he would never act rashly.

So Zhao Yan smiled slightly and said, "How did Chongjiang know that I would come here today?"

Xiao Du said, "I just guessed that your Majesty would come to Zhongshan to hunt on his birthday, so I took a shortcut and waited here in advance. Who knew that I would alarm the Holy Chariot? Your Majesty will not punish me, will you?"

Zhao Yan pretended not to hear the sarcasm in his words, and only sighed: "More than ten years have passed. Back then, you and I rode horses and hunted in this mountain. How happy it was. Everything seems to have happened just yesterday."

Xiao Du's face was filled with more sarcasm, and he said, "Your Majesty, why do you have to be so hypocritical today? I came here today to find out one thing, and I ask Your Majesty to tell me the truth for the sake of our past friendship. Have you participated in all their plots over the years?"

Zhao Yan had not expected that he would be so direct. His expression turned a little ugly, and then he just sighed deeply without answering.

Xiao Du saw the answer from his expression. Even though he had thought about this possibility thousands of times, he still felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife. He tightly grasped the handle of the bow, but his fingers could not stop shaking. He said, "Very good, you really know everything. It turned out to be you..." He gritted his teeth and could not say any more.

Zhao Yan suppressed his sorrow and turned to look at Xiao Du quietly. This was his brother, they had the same blood. When his mother told him the news with hatred, his first reaction was relief. It turned out that they were really brothers, no wonder they were so close and tacit. But his mother slapped him and shattered his fantasy. She pointed at him with her blood-red nails and roared: "Remember, this country is yours, no one can get involved! That bastard should not have been born, he must die!"

Until the battle of Pingdu Pass, the Queen Mother deliberately ordered Xia Zheng to delay the delivery of supplies, hoping to trap Xiao Du to death in Shuyang City. He knelt in her bedroom and begged bitterly for a whole night, hoping that she would let his brother live.

Early in the morning, Queen Mother Xia walked out with her long robe trailing on the ground and a cold expression on her face. She held her head high and did not even look at Zhao Yan who was kneeling on the ground, but just took him to a place.

That was the Jingyang Palace where the deposed crown prince once lived. The deserted palace was indescribably cold and eerie. Wild grass covered the bricks and no sunlight could get in. Occasionally, a few rats would escape, stomping over the broken porcelain bowls and gnawing on the corpses of indistinguishable insects.

Zhao Yan felt a chill at the bottom of his feet. He never knew there was such a scary place in the palace. Queen Mother Xia looked at his frightened eyes and said coldly, "This is the place where the former crown prince, your uncle, hanged himself. He was once second to none, but in the end, he still ended up in a desperate situation, killed by his own brothers. Since ancient times, no one has ever gotten the throne cleanly. Think about it carefully, do you want to choose the throne or this cold palace? Remember this, if you are a little soft-hearted, you will be the one to die!

Zhao Yan didn't remember how he fled from Jingyang Palace. He had many nightmares that night. One time, he saw Chongjiang being disemboweled by the enemy at the border, and another time, he stabbed a knife into his heart with a ferocious look...Finally, he woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, looked at the deep and boundless night, and silently told himself: From now on, on this road to becoming an emperor, he will no longer have friends or brothers.

So Zhao Yan closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, there was only indifference in his eyes, and he said: "If possible, I also hope to be a brother with you for life. It's a pity that fate plays tricks on me. I just did what I should do." He did not make any more excuses for himself. Since he had chosen to climb onto the throne that could only accommodate one person, he had no right to say that he had no choice.

"What about Yuan Xi?" Xiao Du couldn't help but blurt out, his face red as he said, "You guys want to deal with me, why do you want to involve an innocent woman! After all, her last name is Xia!"

Zhao Yan thought of that smart and stubborn woman and felt a little bit sorry for her, but he just said calmly: "This is not my idea, but I have always known about this. The Queen Mother does not want you to give birth to a legitimate son, so she arranged it a long time ago to sacrifice a daughter of the Xia family to marry, and she also had to make sure that she could not get pregnant."

"Really?" Xiao Du tried hard to hide the sadness in his heart and said coldly, "How can you guarantee that I won't divorce her and marry another wife?"

Zhao Yan smiled bitterly and said, "They didn't expect you to find out about this so quickly. The dosage of medicine they used is very difficult for the imperial physician to detect. But even if you divorce your wife and marry someone else, they will definitely have a way to deal with it. I guess Prime Minister Xia will take this opportunity to attack you and find a way to deal with you."

Xiao Du did not speak again, but just stared at him for a long time. Suddenly, he put down the silver bow, folded his hands into his sleeves, and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for telling me the truth. Today is Your Majesty's birthday, so how about I give you another great gift?"

Zhao Yan saw the cold light in his sleeves, and his heart trembled as he took a step back. At this time, he saw Xiao Du dragging out a tiger-skin cloak from the bushes behind him. He widened his eyes in surprise, and saw clearly that the cloak was made of the fur of the tiger king they captured together that day. Xiao Du's hand flashed with cold light, and in an instant he split the tiger skin in half from the middle. Then, he heard Xiao Du say word by word: "Since this tiger skin was hunted by your majesty and me together, I should not have it all to myself. Today I will return this half to your majesty, and from now on you and I owe each other nothing."

Zhao Yan tried to keep his face calm, but when he saw the tiger skin split in two, he couldn't help but feel tears in his eyes. That was the gift he had fought for with his life, and he seemed to see that his youthful days of bright clothes, vigorous horses, and sincere treatment were destroyed by him.

Once you cut off your relationship, it’s hard to turn back!

Xiao Du ignored the emotion in his eyes, just picked up his tiger skin and climbed onto the horse. Suddenly he remembered something, raised his whip into the air and said, "But your majesty can rest assured that I, Xiao Du, will only have Xia Yuanxi as my wife in this life. And, I will personally take back all the harm you have done to her!"

Zhao Yan raised his head suddenly, and saw Xiao Du's tall figure blocking the sunlight, with an air of looking down on the world. At that moment, he suddenly felt a little scared, and almost wanted to call the Yulin Army guarding the forest to kill him immediately. But he knew very well that if Xiao Du died, the border would be in chaos, and the Xia family would become more fearless, so he couldn't kill him yet.

Zhao Yan stood there in doubt for a long time, until the Yulin Army came to ask whether he should return to the palace. He regained his composure, got on his horse, glanced at the half tiger skin on the ground, and said coldly, "It's useless. Throw it away."