oath
After the year.
The hustle and bustle of the world disappeared, and in the howling cold wind, the world inexplicably revealed a sense of bleakness and desolation.
Yuan State, the capital.
A scream suddenly tore through the silent night, and flames shot up into the sky. The raging fire instantly engulfed the mansion and spread rapidly outward.
Immediately afterwards, screams and cries suddenly exploded.
In the houses facing the street, the people who were awakened ran out barefoot with their hair disheveled and without caring about anything else.
“BOOM—BOOM—!”
In the dazzling flames, the pitch-black ghostly shadow swayed and stretched to the extreme, and the charred pillars and beams fell down one by one, and the ruins collapsed rapidly.
Thick smoke rose up, and figures rushed into the depths of the smoke and ran out in panic.
"The fire can't be put out—this fire can't be put out—!"
…………
“This is too much!!!”
"Bang!"
The soup bowl and porcelain spoon flew out and broke into pieces on the ground. The old emperor's old and skinny face instantly became hideous and distorted.
He fell on the bed, his body twitching constantly, only his shriveled arms danced flexibly and angrily, pounding the bedding heavily.
Crash——
The palace servants serving nearby immediately knelt on the ground in fear.
“Go, go!”
The old emperor's cloudy eyes were nearly spitting fire with rage. His hoarse voice, as if thick with phlegm, roared at the palace servants nearby, "Go tell them to get out of here! That bunch of good-for-nothings, tell them to get out of here!!!"
“Yes, yes!”
A group of palace servants ran out of the hall in panic, tumbling and crawling, and rushed into the depths of the thick ink.
Almost at the same time, pairs of dark eyes suddenly opened in the darkness.
brush--
The orange lights lit up one by one.
One after another, neatly dressed figures filed in silently. Their faces were serious and cold, and their eyes were slightly lowered to the side, as if they were in deep thought.
Firelight and darkness intertwined, and there was a sea of people kneeling inside and outside the hall. They lowered their heads expressionlessly, solemn and dignified, like ancient ghosts.
"Come here, come here..."
The old emperor on the bed twisted his head, his facial features slightly distorted, his cloudy eyes suddenly widened, staring at the man in black not far to the side.
The man in black looked at him indifferently, stepped forward, and slowly knelt down beside his bed, holding up his robe.
His black clothes made his body look even darker and his white even whiter, and the tassels of Five Emperors' coins hanging on his ears were the only bright color.
Under the overlapping orange-red flames, the tiny flickering lights on the tassels of the Five Emperors' Coins were extremely gorgeous, which in turn made the expression on his face look cold and unpredictable.
The old emperor suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm.
He held on tightly, using almost all his strength.
The skinny and shriveled fingers made a "crunching" sound, almost breaking through the layers of sleeves and piercing into his flesh and bones.
"I want you to swear..."
The old emperor stared into his calm, dark eyes with his cloudy eyes, gnashing his teeth and shouting, "I want you to swear that you will not succeed to the throne until you capture ten cities of the Lin Kingdom..."
Ten cities? !
The right time, place and people are all essential. People say that we should go with the flow, but the speed is not up to us!
The people behind were shocked.
In the front of the crowd, Jiang Jingyuan slowly raised his head and looked forward.
The candle flame crackled and jumped and burned.
There was an oppressive silence in the hall.
It was as if a huge, thick dark cloud was pressing down on everyone's heads, silently emitting a terrifying sense of oppression.
In front of him, the black-clad figure kneeling beside the bed did not change his posture. He did not do as he was told immediately, nor did he say anything else. He remained silent and quiet.
Jiang Jingjian stared at the face in front of him with his dark eyes, neither dodging nor avoiding.
The face was old and thin, with obvious bones, and spots scattered on the densely wrinkled skin.
The facial features on this face were so distorted that they were twitching slightly, as if in extreme anger, his cloudy eyes were trembling wildly.
The old emperor exerted more force in his hands and roared:
"I want you to swear!"
"You swear!!"
"You cannot ascend the throne unless you lead the soldiers of Yuan Kingdom to capture ten cities of Lin Kingdom!"
Jiang Jingyuan looked at the scene in front of him, his eyelashes blinking slowly.
Suddenly, she seemed to realize something and turned her gaze.
In front of him, Rong Yejin turned his head and looked over.
Their eyes met for a few moments.
Rong Yejin turned his head calmly, and Jiang Jingyuan lowered his eyes without any expression.
Deathly silence spread, no one spoke, and everyone inside and outside the hall quietly waited for the oath of the man in black in front of them.
"good."
Jiang Jingjian spoke slowly, his voice calm but with a hint of chill, like the first hint of spring. "I swear."
"Heaven and earth bear witness, I swear that I will not ascend the throne until I lead the soldiers of Yuan Nation to capture ten cities of Lin Nation. I will never... break my promise."
Jiang Jingjian closed his eyes lightly.
The old emperor loosened his fingers little by little, "Okay, okay..."
He suddenly threw his hand away, his head tilted sideways and slowly sank into the pillow. He stared at the man in black in front of him with wide eyes, a turbid tear rolling down his eye.
"good--"
As if a last burst of energy, the old emperor roared with full force in his hoarse voice, as if filled with phlegm:
"good!!"
In the darkness of night, inside and outside the palace, all the ministers bowed their heads and kowtowed.
Only the girl knelt down abruptly but did not kowtow. Her eyes were as dark as the abyss, and no emotion could be seen. Her gaze gently fell on the figure in front of her.
Five years ago, Jiang Jingjian watched her by the lake, all wet and surrounded by wolves, and unable to move because of the hands holding her back.
Five years later, she was in the palace watching Jiang Jingjian kneeling in front of her and swearing word by word. An invisible hand weighing the pros and cons held her down, unable to move.
Watch, watch, listen, listen...
This is the human world.
This is a cage.
At this moment, the sky suddenly became as dark as thick ink dropped into water, diluting it and slowly turning gray at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It’s a new day…
The beginning.
Jiang Jingyuan did not step forward.
Jiang Jingjian stood up slowly, and the people kneeling behind him made way for him.
He turned around, dragging his intricately layered embroidered black robe, and walked step by step along the road.
When passing by Jiang Jingyuan, he stopped and stretched out his left hand to her left shoulder.
Jiang Jingyuan looked up when he caught a glimpse of the hand out of the corner of his eye.
The ends of the hanging Five Emperors' Coins tassels fluttered lightly, and strands of slightly messy black hair were casually hooked on his cheeks. Jiang Jingjian turned his head to look at her and curled the corners of his mouth at her.
In the hazy shadows, the pair of dark eyes flashed with tiny lights and contained a smile.
"Jiang Jingyuan is leaving."
Jiang Jingyuan remained silent, put his hand on his sleeve-covered wrist, stood up, followed him from the side, and walked out.
Walk into the clear and hazy sky.
Walking out of the palace, it was as if I had passed through some kind of barrier and entered another world, with the sound of birdsong and human voices coming from afar.
Carriages and horses rumbled past on the almost deserted streets.
Outside Princess Changsheng's mansion.
"Jiang Jingjian."
Jiang Jingyuan suddenly called out to the man in black who was turning around to leave.
"Huh?" The man in black turned around blankly after hearing this. He looked at her and blinked in confusion. After a pause, he said as if suddenly realizing something, "Do you want me to stay with you?"
He subconsciously raised his arms. The intricately embroidered sleeves were creased with creases that were obviously caused by hands, making them look a little messy. "Then I'll go change into clean clothes first."
After saying that, he put down his hand and walked into the mansion.
The attendant next to him was the first to notify them to go in.
Jiang Jingyuan pursed her lips slightly and followed him inside with mixed feelings, her head slightly lowered.
She actually wanted to ask Jiang Jingjian if he felt bored staying in the capital... if he wanted to leave...
But there is no point in asking such a question.
Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. If you give up now, what will the past mean? Even if you want to leave, what will you do in the future?
Since it cannot be solved, then don't ask, don't say, don't remind——
Be determined to move forward, no matter how tired you are, your heart will be firm.
Once you have doubts and wake up, your entire past and beliefs will collapse.
Shhh——
So keep quiet and don’t ask.
It is impossible for a person to be completely clear-headed throughout his life. Everything passes by in a daze.
Let it go.
Beside him, Jiang Jingjian turned his head and glanced at her silently.
Jiang Jingyuan, stupid.
Asking for trouble.
Jiang Jingjian paused and turned sideways subconsciously to get closer to her, but suddenly he remembered something and stopped abruptly.
The fluttering sleeve of her outer robe almost touched her light golden sleeve, and then slowly fell down.
"Let's change this outfit first..." Jiang Jingjian felt disgusted.
After all, he had been with Jiang Jingyuan for a long time, and his clothes were dirty, so he felt a little awkward and uneasy.
I don’t know if it’s an illusion or something, but I can faintly smell a strange smell on the clothes.
The two of them were silent all the way and went to shower and change clothes.
Half an hour later.
The sky was bright, and the bright white was tinged with golden light.
Outside the window, the chirping of birds suddenly became louder, one after another, long and loud.
Jiang Jingyuan walked into the room, looked up, and when his eyes met the black-clad figure waiting in front of him, his calm heart was suddenly filled with complex and indescribable emotions.
If Jiang Jingjian hadn't been in charge of the capital, would she be able to run around so freely?
That way, even if she was outside, a few words from people in the capital could force her back.
Why was she able to wander around freely? Perhaps it was because she had support and a way out. At worst, she could return to the capital to recuperate for a while, then pick up some more things and be able to wander around again.
In fact, she is now...
There is no difference from Jiang Yunshu and the Jiang family in the past...it's just that Jiang Jingjian is more inclined towards her now.
There was no reason for her to ask one person to be another's solid backer, but she couldn't help but worry, what if, what if Jiang Jingjian one day...
Then Jiang Jingyuan's fate will not be much better than Jiang Yunshu's.
But she couldn't ask Jiang Jingjian to remain unchanged forever.
Every person and every soul is independent. Why should one person or one soul be nice to another person or another soul?
Win-win cooperation and exchange of interests must be one of them, right?
Jiang Jingyuan lowered his eyes, pursed his lips, and felt an inexplicable pain in his throat.
That’s right, that’s right, that’s right. You can’t ask for so much. It’s too much.
"Jiang Jingyuan..."
Suddenly, everything in front of him darkened, and Jiang Jingjian's sighing voice sounded above his head.
Jiang Jingyuan didn't look up, and even buried his head lower, with the corners of his mouth tightly pursed and slightly turned down.
The black hair slid down from her shoulders and swayed beside her cheeks.
Dispirited.
It’s like a child who has been wronged outside, and when he returns home, he pretends nothing happened in front of his family, and only starts crying when he is alone in bed.
Jiang Jingjian didn't force her. He felt so complicated that he felt a little funny. He let out a light and quick silent laugh and said:
"Jiang Jingyuan, you're not a fool, are you...?"
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