Many people came to pay their respects at Qiao San's funeral.
But these people may look sad on the surface, but how many of them are sincere in their hearts?
Qiao Si did not close his eyes to rest and kept kneeling in front of the coffin, just like when the princess passed away.
So stubborn that it makes people feel distressed.
Zhang You and the others did not try to persuade her anymore, but just stayed by her side, silently accompanying her, which was worth a thousand words.
During the funeral, many people came and went, and Qiao Si was in charge of all of them. He was busy from day to night, from dusk to dawn, for three days in a row.
During these three days, it drizzled in the capital. The sky was gloomy and the air was filled with the smell of damp earth.
It was not until the third day that the sky cleared up. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the courtyard, climbing up the coffin in the mourning hall inch by inch, and the last ray of light also illuminated him.
Qiao San's body cannot be left for long.
Qiao Si planned to have Prince Qiao follow the funeral procession to Dingzhou, away from the capital.
They had a big fight.
In front of Qiao San’s mourning hall.
Zhang You and the others stood guard outside the door to prevent outsiders from approaching.
In my ears, I could hear Qiao Si crying.
"Why don't you want to leave? You'll only become my weakness if you stay here!"
"I know you've shouldered too much. It's my father's incompetence that's brought you down... But I can't retreat any longer. I owe it to you to fight for a future..."
"But I don't need you to give anymore! I just want you to be safe!"
"Xiao Si, this isn't just your responsibility. You don't have to shoulder it all by yourself. You still have me. Father will protect you. This time, he will..."
"...I don't want you to take any risks. You're all I have. Mother and brother...are both dead...I can't lose you again...do you understand? I can't gamble. Every day in the capital, every moment, I live under their surveillance. How can I bear to see you stay and take risks again?
Father...I beg you...please leave the capital. This is my only wish..."
Qiao Si's struggle and pain all depended on him. She had already made up her mind to die. She just didn't want the person she cherished to be hurt in the slightest.
How could Prince Qiao not see her struggle?
He also wanted to agree.
But in the past two years, he is still losing.
Sacrifice Qiao Er's marriage, sacrifice Qiao Si's happiness, sacrifice Qiao San's life...
He endured...
He just wanted to be a loyal minister who could stabilize the country, but the world forced him to rebel.
He could no longer bear to see his children pay the price of their lives for this.
"...You've worked so hard over the years... I understand what you're asking for, and I've considered what Yue Ting said.
It's just that my father's earnest teachings over the years, teaching me to be a good minister and a loyal general, teaching me to serve the country and the people, I just practiced it from beginning to end...
Xiao Si... believe in father, father will not be stupid again, father will protect you from the wind and rain... you are not alone..."
Zhang You looked through the crack in the window and saw Qiao Si crying in Prince Qiao's arms, tears all over his face, like a bullied child who needed his father's support.
Zhang You looked at them, his thoughts drifting away, and he vaguely remembered what they used to look like.
It's been too long.
She could only remember the warmth they felt when they held her little hands, and the warmth the sun shone on the three of them.
Their appearance has long disappeared in the long river of time.
Zhang You blinked away the tears in her eyes.
I'm sorry.
This time, I might have to follow Qiao Si and take risks, and won’t be able to take good care of myself.
The argument inside was replaced by low crying, and Qiao Si seemed to be persuaded by him and agreed to let him continue to stay in the capital.
By nightfall, Zhang You and the others realized that it was just a delaying tactic.
Yes.
How could Qiao Si change his mind so easily?
What she feared more than losing her own life was seeing her loved ones die one by one in front of her.
Qiao Si hid it from Prince Qiao and arranged the people in the chess club, planning to leave Qiao San's body back to the ancestral tomb in Dingzhou when Prince Qiao sent him there, and let Qiao Er take care of him.
In Dingzhou now, Qi Ce and Qiao Er should have already grasped most of the power. With them around, there is no need to worry about not being able to protect Prince Qiao.
Qi Ce pretended to sever ties with Prince Qiao and deliberately made things so awkward with them just to confuse the emperor.
Fortunately, after Dingzhou was attacked, Qi Ce turned against them according to the princess's plan before her death. Otherwise, given the emperor's suspicious nature, he would not have allowed him to seize power in Dingzhou so quickly.
The chess club was originally managed by Qiao San. After Qiao San's death, everyone who stayed in the palace listened to Qiao Si.
Only after Qiao Si finalized the follow-up matters was he able to take a brief rest.
She has been staying in Prince Qiao's mansion these days.
There was no hostess in Prince Qiao's Mansion, and no one was there to handle Qiao San's funeral, so Qiao Si came back to take charge.
Li Guanghan also came here these days.
After paying her respects, he advised Qiao Si to mourn less and not to work herself to death.
Qiao Si just listened to him expressionlessly without answering.
He would come to see Qiao Si every day, but would leave soon.
Qiao San’s death is a knot in Qiao Si’s heart.
During the days of dealing with Qiao San's funeral, the people sent by Qiao Si to gather information also came back. The information they brought back was similar to what Li Guanghan said.
After Qiao San and Lu Zhanting followed Li Guanghan to victory, the emperor ordered them to be recalled, and they quickly began to organize their troops and return.
When they were passing through the valley on the border of Yanzhou and Liangzhou, they were ambushed by a group of bandits. Because of the difficult terrain and their disadvantageous position, they were quickly defeated.
Li Guanghan led most of his soldiers out of the ravine. Qiao San and Lu Zhanting, seeking to evacuate the remaining men, fled into the forest deep within the ravine, where the terrain was complex and intricate. When Li Guanghan sent for a search and rescue operation, they only found the bodies of Qiao San and a group of soldiers.
The remaining thieves were all captured by Li Guanghan and executed on the spot.
According to Li Guanghan, that group of thieves were the scattered soldiers of Chiyan State in Tangye. They took the risk because they were unwilling to see Chiyan State defeated.
But how could it be such a coincidence that they knew the army's return route and so coincidentally had weapons to fight against it?
Qiao Si focused on sending people to investigate the clues about this group of people, and found out that they were indeed the Chiyan people, and the reason they had news was because the news came from the palace.
When Qiao Si found out, he was in disbelief.
Zhang You knew that Qiao Si had already sent men to closely guard them within the capital, and there was no way they could pass on a message under her watch. But reality reminded her that it was her negligence that had led to the ambush. She struggled for a long time, stunned, and ultimately ordered the Anbu to continue searching for Lu Zhanting.
She desperately wanted to know the truth, not these seemingly plausible results. She always felt that there were clues behind this that she had missed. If she could find Lu Zhanting, she would know what really happened.
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