Chu Qiao laughed dumbly, "Look at your behavior, how can you be an emperor?"
"Who said that the emperor can't be stingy? You don't know how hard my life is. If I want to spend a little more money, those old men will complain to me all day long, saying that there is a severe drought in the east and people are starving in the west. They wish I could eat cabbage stalks every day. None of them are good people. This little money was saved by me from the cracks in my teeth. You don't know how to be grateful, and you are still laughing at me?"
The sky in Bian Tang was extremely clear, with not a single cloud in sight. The sunlight shone on Li Ce's fox-like eyes, making him look even more cunning.
She sighed for the civil and military officials in Bian Tang's court, "They must have been unlucky for several lifetimes to have met an emperor like you."
Li Ce sighed and shook his head, "Qiao Qiao is so cruel. If you leave without saying a word, He Xiao and the others will fight me to the death."
When He Xiao was mentioned, Chu Qiao was suddenly stunned. She thought for a long time before she slowly said, "Li Ce, the soldiers of the Xiu Li Army will be entrusted to you."
"They are all men, why are you entrusting me with this?"
Chu Qiao ignored his nonsense and continued, "In the past few months, I have been thinking, am I wrong? I was too naive. I thought I could change this society and establish a relatively civilized social system. It's not like what the big associations say that the world is for the public. I just want the poor to have a bite to eat and not have to be slaves. I hope you people in power can make a set of laws for the lower class people. No matter who they are, don't kill people casually. I know that society will not advance rapidly, but there will always be people who try to guide it to take a small step. As long as we take small steps, we will take a big step sooner or later.
"At the beginning, I didn't have such a great ideal. I just wanted to escape and live a good life. But when I met Yan Xun and heard him talk about Yanbei, my heart gradually came alive. I thought that my coming to this world might be valuable, or maybe it was God's will. However, my wish was shattered because I was too arrogant. I thought I had great power and could change a lot and protect many people. But in the end, I found that my power was very small. My relatives and friends left me one by one. Not only could I not protect them, but I also killed many people."
Li Ce frowned and wanted to speak, but was stopped by Chu Qiao. She looked at him and said in a deep voice: "Li Ce, I am not a good leader. The soldiers of the Xiuli Army have no faith. Their faith is me. But my existence has caused them to fall into danger and war again and again, causing them to bleed and die. The system and life I promised are beyond my reach. I only saved them once, and I shouldn't have been so selfish as to let them charge into battle with me and get hurt. Now I think that if I had obeyed Yan Xun and disbanded the Xiuli Army, then perhaps many of them would not have died, would have married and had children, and would have lived well."
Chu Qiao's voice was a little choked. She pursed her lips, her eyes slightly red, but she still smiled and said: "People don't have to do anything big in life. Marrying a wife, having children, and living happily until old age is also a way. It's a pity that I woke up too late. They are dead. No matter what, they will never live again. My hands are covered in blood and I can't wash them clean."
"Qiao Qiao?" Li Ce frowned and said in a deep voice, "This is not your fault."
"But I have a responsibility that I cannot shirk."
Chu Qiao whispered, "They believed in me and followed me, but I couldn't protect them. They died one by one, and I couldn't even bury their bodies properly. Do you know? Every night, I could hear them crying in the cold wind. They said they wanted to go back to their hometown and see their elderly parents. They were so young, some were only fifteen or sixteen years old. They should have been acting like spoiled brats in front of their parents, but they died on the desolate ice field for me."
There was no trace of joking on Li Ce's face anymore. He looked at her worriedly, his heart aching.
"Li Ce, please help me and take good care of them. If you are worried, you can separate them, give them some leisurely jobs, let them marry and have children on your land, and live a good life. Don't go to the battlefield again. For soldiers, there is no victory on the battlefield. Victory belongs to the generals, and what belongs to the soldiers is only killing and death."
Li Ce nodded with difficulty, looked at the pale and thin woman, and asked softly: "What about you? Do you still hate Yan Xun? Will you return to him?"
"I don't hate him anymore." Chu Qiao shook her head slightly and smiled calmly, like the breeze by the lake in March. "In fact, you don't know that he is the one who suffers the most. I have witnessed his hatred and pain with my own eyes, and the humiliation he has suffered. Those things are not something that bystanders can understand. I cannot measure how much hatred he has in his heart. Now that he has come to this point, even though the way he did it was wrong, it was fate that forced him to this point. Everyone has the right to choose the path they want to take. That is his path. Although I cannot agree with it, I respect his choice. In this world, who can be absolutely right, and who can say who is completely wrong? It's just that we all have our own persistence and bottom line. We can't go together, but it doesn't mean we have to go the other way and become enemies."
"What about Zhuge Yue? Why don't you stay with him? He has done so much for you, don't you love him?"
"Love? Maybe." Chu Qiao chuckled, "In fact, I don't know what true love is, but being in love doesn't necessarily mean being together. Sometimes, letting go is also a kind of love."
Chu Qiao raised her head slightly, and the wind blew on her smooth forehead. At that moment, Li Ce seemed to see a magnificent light flash across her calm eyes, so dazzling and fascinating.
"After all, he is the elder Sima of Daxia, equivalent to the Minister of Defense. How can he be with someone like me?" She murmured, "I know that if I want, he will give up all these honors for me. But Li Ce, if that's the case, is it really good? He suffered a lot and went through hardships. Finally, he broke the shame imposed on him and got everything he has today. He is different from me. Even if the country is corrupt, , his family is cold, but he has a family and a country after all. I understand that sense of responsibility, that burden that overrides love and freedom. If he abandons everything and follows me around the world just for the sake of loving me, do you think he will be happy in the future? No, he is a man, and a man should have his own world. When he gradually matures and grows old, he will understand all this and feel fortunate for his choice today.
"Besides, I'm tired too." Chu Qiao lowered her head and looked at Li Ce with a smile, "I've worked hard for more than ten years, and I don't have the courage to continue walking a path I can't see clearly. I'm also a woman, and there are times when I want to take a break."
"Qiao Qiao," Li Ce sighed and said helplessly, "I can't stop you, right? You've made up your mind to leave, right?"
"Yes." Chu Qiao said seriously, "Don't worry about me, I will live well. This world is not only for the royal family with great power. I will be a commoner and live without burden and responsibility. Life will be easy. I can do whatever I want and go wherever I want. I have longed for such a life for many years."
"Will you come back then? Come back to see me once in a while?"
"Of course." Chu Qiao smiled and said as a matter of course, "You are my most important friend."
Li Ce reached out and rubbed her hair randomly, and said with a wry smile: "You made me sad."
Chu Qiao stood up and walked to Li Ce. Li Ce also stood up. Chu Qiao opened her arms and hugged him, saying softly: "Li Ce, I'm leaving. The situation in Simon is getting more and more chaotic. You have to be well and don't let me worry."
Li Ce felt upset, but he still said in a cheerful tone: "What can happen to me? I am the great Emperor Bian Tang, who can do anything to me? Besides, I am so handsome, who dares to waste the gift of nature and bully me? You are the only one in the world who doesn't know the value of things."
Chu Qiao couldn't help but laugh and said, "Well, you are so handsome that Leonardo would be so ashamed that he would jump off the building and commit suicide if he saw you."
"Who is Leonardo? What a strange name. Is he a foreigner?" Li Ce asked with a frown.
Chu Qiao couldn't help but laugh, "It's a foreigner, a very handsome foreigner."
"It's outrageous of you to compare me with a foreigner."
Chu Qiao laughed, the sound echoing in her chest, "It's getting late, I'm leaving."
Chu Qiao no longer rode a horse, but rented a carriage with Meixiang.
Li Ce stood under the phoenix tree with a smile on his face, wearing a red robe. He looked as handsome as he said.
"Qiao Qiao, be careful on the road. If you can't get married before you are thirty, you can come back to me."
Chu Qiao got on the carriage, opened the curtain, waved to him and said, "Thank you for your good wishes. I will definitely marry myself before I turn thirty."
The carriage went farther and farther away, the blue cloth curtains finally closed, and gradually disappeared at the end of the road with withered sycamore trees.
"Your Majesty, do you need to send someone to protect Miss Chu?" Sun Di pondered for a while before asking in a deep voice.
"No need." Li Ce shook his head slowly, turned and walked towards the city gate.
Everyone has the right to choose the life they want. Qiao Qiao, go ahead. A corner of the tent was lifted up, and what suddenly came in was not only the dazzling sunlight but also the aroma of roasted bacon. Jingjing frowned, turned over, and opened her eyes drowsily, obviously not fully awake yet. The morning breeze brought a hint of refreshing sweetness, which immediately dispelled the strong smell of medicine in the tent.
Chu Qiao did not raise her head. She supported her forehead with one hand and held a black agate chess piece between her index and middle fingers of the other hand. She kept hitting it on the white jade chessboard, making crisp sounds that were frequent and monotonous, and faintly annoying. She seemed unaware. The chessboard was filled with disorderly patterns, but she hesitated and could not make a move for a long time.
"Miss, everyone is ready." Meixiang stood at the door and said with a smile.
Chu Qiao's brows were slightly furrowed into a "川" shape. Mei Xiang's voice quietly echoed in the air, but she did not respond. Just when Meixiang thought she hadn't heard it and was going to say it again, she suddenly pushed the chess pieces apart, turned around and said in a deep voice: "Tell everyone that from today on, we have to work day and night to get ready."
Chu Qiao and the others left Xuefu City yesterday, and now they are on their way to Tangjing.
In a blink of an eye, two years have passed. After leaving Tangjing that day, he had not gone far before he was caught up by Du Ping'an and his sister Du Jingjing. He had no choice but to take the two children with him.
Because she had a child by her side, Chu Qiao gave up her plan to wander around, and instead went to the south of Bian Tang, where she found a small town with beautiful scenery and relatively quiet to live in, with a mild climate and a peaceful life. Because it is very close to Meishan, the tomb of Emperor Bian Tang, the public security has always been very good and there are few bandits.
Moreover, this place is the hometown of Mr. Shenmo Bai, a great scholar from the Bian Tang Dynasty, and Mr. Shen's ancestral home is also here, so the academic atmosphere is very strong. Students who are about to take the imperial examinations often come to visit Mr. Shen and visit the mountains, rivers and historical sites of this small town along the way.
Over time, the city was called Xuefu City.