Chapter 139: Just a Thought
"How many people did you bring with you?"
"Not much, ten thousand."
Xihe suddenly paused and asked suspiciously, "You're leading 10,000 men to attack the border? Are you crazy?"
There are a total of 90,000 troops guarding the border, plus the garrisons from other nearby states and counties, totaling about 120,000 scattered troops. Xiao Mingxuan should lead 10,000 troops to attack the border, but it would be like an egg hitting a rock.
Xiao Mingxuan remained silent.
Xihe threw away the pen and narrowed her eyes slightly. A guess came to her mind, but she didn't dare to confirm it. "Even if we add the 30,000 cavalry from the Northern Desert, it's still not enough. Are you really going to attack the border? Or is it for..."
"I want to see you."
Xihe was stunned.
The air froze instantly, and the surroundings became eerily quiet.
"What?" Xihe asked the question before his brain did, and he realized it belatedly and felt stupid.
"I didn't intend to attack Tianshuo. I just... wanted to see you." Xiao Mingxuan lowered his eyelids, looking like a child who had done something wrong. "I am the Prince of Beili. Unless our two countries establish diplomatic relations, I can't reach the Tianshuo Imperial City. But I really miss you, so I led 10,000 troops to the border. I knew the news would definitely be passed back to the Imperial City, and you would naturally follow, so that I could see you."
Xihe remained silent for a long time.
She suddenly asked, "Did you interfere in my aunt's affairs?"
"No!" Xiao Mingxuan knew the seriousness of this question and said carefully, "Initially, I just wanted the princess to be defeated and then spread the news back to lure you here. I really didn't interfere in the subsequent events. The princess's death really has nothing to do with me."
Xihe didn’t say “believe” or “disbelieve”. She leaned on the windowsill, not knowing what she was thinking.
Suddenly, she looked up and stared at Xiao Mingxuan. Their eyes met. She wanted to see something from the other's eyes, but in the end she got nothing.
"Let's not talk about this for now, let's think about how to repel Bei Mo."
Xihe's expression was no different from before, but Xiao Mingxuan keenly noticed that the other party's nerves were gradually relaxing.
He knew that Xihe had already believed most of what he had just said.
He slowly raised the corners of his lips and lowered his head, hiding the frightening depth in his eyes.
After they roughly drafted the charter, Xihe put away the rice paper and planned to take it back to show Zhao Chengning.
"Cooperation is just my idea. Ultimately, whether or not to do it depends on what Daddy and Big Brother think."
Xiao Mingxuan nodded, "Okay, I'll wait for your news."
Xihe drank a few mouthfuls of hot porridge and felt very comfortable in her stomach. "Are you still living here?"
Xiao Mingxuan hummed, "I have nowhere else to go, so I have to live here. How about you take me in?"
Xihe smiled and said, "I'll take you in? Are you really not afraid of being beaten to death by the eldest and second brothers?"
She dared to guarantee that as soon as she brought the person back to the general's mansion, Zhao Chengning and Zhao Jinyuan would come to the door with knives in hand.
Xiao Mingxuan sighed, "Then I'm so pitiful, everyone wants to kill me."
Xihe was amused by him, with a smile on her face, and she felt her whole body relaxed a little.
Xiao Mingxuan stared at her in amazement, "Xihe, how long has it been since you laughed so happily?"
Since arriving at the border, the little girl had always smiled before speaking, a faint smile on her face. However, Xiao Mingxuan knew that it was just a mask, a way of being polite. After the eldest princess died, it was difficult to see a real smile on her face again.
Xihe was stunned for a moment, trying to recall the last time she felt so happy. Perhaps because it had been so long, the memory was already blurry. "I don't quite remember, it was quite a while ago."
"The silly girl who only knew how to be happy before has now become full of sorrow. Time really is unforgiving." Xiao Mingxuan sighed.
Xihe pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You deployed your troops outside the pass because you wanted to see me. If Beimo withdraws its troops and the crisis is resolved, will you... also withdraw your troops?"
Xiao Mingxuan drank a cup of tea, played with the cup in his hand, and after a long time, he slowly said, "Yes."
Xihe's heart felt like it had been struck hard. She opened her mouth, but her voice was hoarse. "What about your revenge? Are you not going to take it?"
The death of Xiao Mingxuan's mother and the decline of his mother's family are a hurdle between them.
"Xihe." Xiao Mingxuan suddenly called out, "I thought about it all night last night."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Which is more important, missing you or hatred?" Xiao Mingxuan's eyes were vague. He looked downstairs and saw people coming and going on the street, walking together and heading towards the distance.
"So what results did you get?" Xihe's voice trembled a little.
Xiao Mingxuan smiled and shook his head. He didn't answer, but instead talked about something else. "Xihe, I can't let you go, so you should pay for the wrongs your father has done with your whole life. How about that?"
Xihe closed her eyes, then suddenly burst into laughter. She opened her mouth and choked out, "Okay, I'll pay you back."
In this confrontation, Xiao Mingxuan finally retreated.
I will use my whole life to smooth out the wasted half of your life.
Xiao Mingxuan put down the cup and hugged the little girl in his arms, "Okay, my little girl, stop crying, okay? If you keep crying, I'll kiss you."
Xihe stopped crying immediately and even took a few steps back. She was crying and laughing at the same time, her face flushed. "How could you... kiss me?"
Xiao Mingxuan raised his eyebrows, a playful smile on his face, "I don't know which little guy kissed me every day when I was a child, and cried when I was not allowed to kiss him. Later, when I grew up, he kissed me and I ran away, and I couldn't find him again."
Xihe quickly argued, "You...you shut up!"
Xiao Mingxuan chuckled, and immediately received a glare from Xihe. "Okay, okay, I won't say anything more. You're still so shameless."
"Brother, that's enough!"
When the familiar name was spoken, both of them were stunned.
At that moment, I felt that the sound of the wind in my ears had stopped, and only the faint audible sounds of the two people's heartbeats remained.
Maybe it was because they had talked it out, but neither of them felt awkward. They just felt as if they were in another world, but also quite relieved.
Xiao Mingxuan patted the little girl's hair as he did when they were little, "Xihe, we will go back to the past, we will definitely go back."
Xihe blushed deeply, and quickly pushed the person away and ran out, "I'm leaving first, wait for my news."
Xiao Mingxuan looked at Xihe's receding figure, and his smile gradually faded and became deep.
If Xihe looked back at this moment, he would see a familiar Xiao Mingxuan.
The iron-blooded emperor who is decisive and murderous in "The Emperor's Strategy".
*
Xihe kept smiling until she walked out of the restaurant.
Qing Yuan asked curiously, "Master, is there any good news?"
"It's not a happy event, but it's a thought." Xihe said with a smile.
If everything goes as I just said, there might be a future that I have imagined countless times.
"As long as the master is happy." Qing Yuan was no fool. She could guess that Xihe's improved mood had something to do with the person inside, but as a subordinate, she only needed to give a brief explanation and not ask any more questions. "Master, do we still need to continue monitoring Beili?"
Xihe straightened his expression slightly, looked up at the restaurant, and said, "Let's continue."
"I understand."
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