The two armies quickly crossed paths, and the defeated Huoyun Army was surrounded. Even from a distance, Chu Qiao could still see the fiery red warhorse of Huan Huan at a glance. She rode forward quickly, but was immediately stunned by what she saw.
Huan Huan's clothes were torn, his fiery red cloak was stained with blood, there was an arrow stuck in his lung, and his body had several knife wounds. He was lying in the arms of a female general in her thirties, breathing weakly.
"What's going on?" Chu Qiao jumped off her horse and half-knelt in the mud. She frowned as she looked at Huan Huan's horrible injuries and turned around to shout, "Military doctor! Where is the military doctor?"
"Lord Chu!"
When the female general saw her, tears welled up in her eyes and she cried, "The emperor wants to kill our princess. General Xiaohe has been killed in battle, and the princess has been ambushed..."
"Xiao He..." A weak voice suddenly sounded, and as the lungs vibrated, a mouthful of blood suddenly spit out from Huan Huan's mouth. The female general was horrified when she saw this and pressed hard on her wound with her hands, but she couldn't stop the bright red liquid from flowing out.
"Xiaohe..." Wan Wan frowned in pain and called out softly. Her face was pale and she was already unconscious.
In a trance, she seemed to be dreaming one dream after another. She vaguely saw Xiaohe's happy and cheerful smile, the beacon fires, and Xiaohe carrying her on his back trekking across the vast snowy plains, telling jokes to her as she cried on his back, and comforting her over and over again, saying, "Wan Wan, you won't die, you won't die. Whoever dares to kill you, I will bite him to death."
"Xiao He, Xiao He..." Tears flowed from the corners of her blood-stained eyes. With her heavy breathing, blood gushed out like an unstoppable spring. She cried sadly in a coma, Xiaohe is dead, Xiaohe is dead, Xiaohe was killed by him!
"Princess! Princess!" The female general hugged her and cried, her voice sobbing like a mother animal whose cub had died.
"Wan Wan, what do you think we should do after the war?"
"After the war? My brother is the emperor, and I will be the princess. Then I can choose the most talented man in the world to be my husband, haha!"
"Nympho! You have no conscience. Go find your man!"
Sharp pains came over her bit by bit, as if her heart and lungs were being squeezed hard. She couldn't breathe, and blood foam blocked her throat. She opened her mouth, but spit out more blood. She opened her eyes dazedly and looked around bewilderedly. She saw the vast sky, bright red flowers, and a white eagle in the sky.
Yanbei, Yanbei...
I have been fighting for you all my life, but why did you abandon me?
The young girl frowned in confusion, turned her head slowly, and saw Chu Qiao. Her expression suddenly froze, and she stretched out her hand with difficulty, as if trying to grab something. Chu Qiao tried hard to hold back her tears, and hurriedly held her hand, choking with sobs as she said, "Wan Wan, you have to hold on, the doctor will save you."
Wan Wan held Chu Qiao's hand so tightly, so tightly. Suddenly, she lowered her head and bit Chu Qiao's wrist viciously. Blood instantly spread between her teeth. The subordinates on both sides screamed in horror. Chu Qiao looked at her numbly, but she only saw the overwhelming hatred in Wan Wan's eyes.
"Why? Why?" Huan Huan screamed heartbreakingly, her mouth full of blood, her eyes red, and she shouted at her fiercely, "Why are you killing us? Why are you killing us?"
"Princess! Princess! That's Master Chu!"
The female general held her and called out loudly, but she could no longer hear. Huan Huan's eyes were bloodshot and he shouted frantically: "What did we do wrong? Why are you killing us? You are so ungrateful! You are so cruel!"
Chu Qiao stared at her blankly. The wound on her wrist was sharply painful. Her face was pale and she vaguely remembered how she looked when she first met Wan Wan. The girl snuggled up to her and generously gave her the King Horse. She waved her little fist and said that if they won the battle, she wanted Chu Qiao to accompany her to Bian Tang. She also pointed to a horse named Atu and asked it to testify. She looked cute and cheerful, like the wind that roamed the Yanbei Plateau all year round.
"I hate you!" A mouthful of blood spurted out, and Huan Huan burst into tears, and then her voice became lower and lower, "Xiao He, Xiao He..."
Xiaohe, Wanwan wants to marry you, but where have you been?
Xiaohe, I want to come to see you, you have to walk slowly, my leg is injured, you have to carry me.
Xiaohe, I haven’t had breakfast yet. Can you make me some roast lamb leg?
Xiaohe, Xiaohe, Xiaohe...
The sound of her screaming finally died away, and she lay on the cold ground, her fiery red skirt like a gorgeous flower. She was still so young, only twenty years old, her young eyes were always bright and her skin was as white as mare's milk. She fell asleep like this, sleeping forever on the land for which she had given her whole life.
Chu Qiao's heart was already numb and dying. Wave after wave of impact cut her into pieces. She stood there biting her lip, looking at the corpse. She felt like she was thrown into an icy abyss.
Yan Xun, what have you done?
"Sir!" He Xiao walked over calmly and said in a deep voice with no expression on his face, "He's here."
He was no longer willing to address him as His Majesty. Chu Qiao turned her head slightly, and the army made way for them like a tide. The early morning sun shines on the majestic army on the opposite side, like a dark ocean. The young emperor was surrounded by the army in the center. He was wearing a jet-black robe with a gold dragon pattern, his black hair was tied up, his eyes were like frost, his nose was high, and he was looking over with half-squinted eyes.
Two years had passed, and she finally saw him again. But why did Chu Qiao feel as if she had never known him before? The man in front of her was so strange. His appearance, his identity, his behavior, his aura, everything was unfamiliar. Suddenly, she realized that the man in front of her was the emperor of Yanbei, and was no longer the penniless boy in Zhenhuang City who depended on her for life.
"Ah Chu." A low voice came from the silent wasteland, accompanied by the cold wind, and blew into Chu Qiao's ears.
Yan Xun looked at her with eyes as deep as an ancient well. Two years passed between them. As time went by, they finally met again, but in such an occasion.
Perhaps, regardless of fate or worldly affairs, their inner persistence in human nature and attitude towards life have already destined them to walk on such opposing paths one day. Yan Xun's heart suddenly became an empty wilderness with a strong wind blowing in it. He looked at Chu Qiao and wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed it all up. He just asked slowly with the majesty of an emperor: "Are you going to be my enemy again for these irrelevant people?"
Unrelated person?
A faint sneer and mockery appeared at the corner of Chu Qiao's mouth.
Without Mr. Wu, how could you have obtained the full financial support of Yanbei when you were imprisoned in Zhenhuang, and have been able to plan and act for eight years to cultivate your own power?
Without Miss Yu, how could you escape from Zhenhuang City, jump out of that cold cell, sit on the land of Yanbei, and become the king who has power over the world today?
And Huan Huan, she is your last blood relative in this world. She has trusted you and followed you for many years. She is your closest sister.
Will there be a day when I, Chu Qiao, stand in front of you and become such an irrelevant person?
She didn't know how else to react except to sneer. She was like a doll whose heart had been torn out. She looked at him with cold eyes, looking at the man whom she had once spent all her efforts to love and support. She felt that the past was just a big dream, unrealistic and imaginary.
She used her loyalty and love to get the current situation. The man who once vowed to love and protect her all his life has now raised a butcher knife to her head. Surveillance, suspicion, exploitation, and exclusion, these were all the rewards he gave her. He threw out so-called wealth and glory to tempt her like rewarding a dog, but he didn't know that in her eyes, those were nothing but dirt. The cause and belief she fought for were nothing but a disdainful dream in his eyes, an excuse and a scam he used to deceive the ignorant people.
So what about the emperor? So what if he is the emperor above everyone else? In her eyes, he will always be just a man who once loved her but now completely let her down.
He blamed her for falling in love with someone else, but she didn't know that without his coercion and design, she would always be Ah Chu who loved and respected him. It was he who threw her away step by step and forced her to recognize his true face and appearance. How could there be any betrayal?
Yan Xun, it took me ten years to get to know you and myself clearly. The past has all drifted away like the east wind. I no longer have any attachment to you. All that is left is endless pain and regret.
"Achu, have you forgotten the oath you once made?"
Yan Xun's cold voice rang in her ears. Chu Qiao smiled coldly, raised her eyebrows in disdain, and said lightly: "Since you have already betrayed our former dream, why should I still stick to my oath to you?"
It was as if a sharp arrow suddenly pierced Yan Xun's heart, and the cold wind blew in, bringing a slight pain.
Finally, she said these words. In the past, even though she felt unwilling and resentful, she always kept these emotions in her heart and faced everything he did in silence. Now, the world was bleak and desolate, and she finally said these words in front of him.
"Yan Xun, from now on, you and I will go our separate ways and have no connection with each other. Whether you live or die, whether you become a king or a loser, it has nothing to do with me anymore. Similarly, it is no longer your turn to comment on my affairs."
A strong wind blew, lifting the corners of Chu Qiao's clothes. Her face was cold and her pretty face was as white as frost. Her eyes were like the snow on the snow-capped peaks, coldly reflecting all the love, hatred, and grudges in the world, and isolating all the inappropriate emotions thousands of miles away.
At that moment, Yan Xun suddenly realized that perhaps he was about to lose her forever. This thought made him panic, and he said in a low voice: "Ah Chu, are you so heartless?"
"Yan Xun, stop talking about love." Chu Qiao looked at him indifferently and said calmly, "You don't deserve it."
Time is passing so fast, and the vicissitudes of life stir up the spark of fate in the encounter of eyes. Eleven years are enough for a tree to grow into a good tree, for an era to fall, and for an emperor to rise. Time was so ruthless, like a cold knife that cut off all the past between them and scraped a deep gap in their memories.
A pale war eagle flew across the sky, its wings ferociously spreading across the horizon, blocking out the golden sun.
Twenty thousand guards in black iron armor slowly drew their swords, and nine thousand Xiu Li soldiers who were on high alert looked at them expressionlessly. A long wind blew up from the flat ground, as if an ancient sacrificial tune was being chanted in a low voice.
The sky and the earth were filled with a murderous aura. The flying birds could not bear to watch any longer, so they flapped their wings and flew away. Only the ferocious vultures were left circling in the sky, as if waiting for a feast after the bloodbath.
Yanbei, you are not my resting place after all. I have run and struggled for you and exhausted all my efforts, but in the end I just pushed you from one fire pit to another.
A strong wind came howling, blowing up the girl's hair. Everything became empty and blurry. The world is so big, why should we focus our eyes on one place? If your heart is cold, who can hurt you?
Ah Chu, I will protect you...
When was it that someone whispered in her ear?
Ah Chu, believe me...
She closed her eyes, held back the last tear, and when she opened them again, everything was clear. The sky is desolate, eagles are flying across the sky, ten years have passed in a flash, who is struggling through it? Who is watching coldly from the sidelines?
Goodbye, Yan Xun.