"My Lord."

At this time, a white horse galloped over here and stopped in front of the Shili Pavilion. Mo Jiu, who was on the white horse, turned over and dismounted. He bowed and reported to Chu Yuanchen with a slight breath: "Master Wei Xiu and his men encountered bandits and were delayed on the road."

Chu Yuanchen had already asked Mo Jiu to wait for them on the road in the morning.

"Bandits?" Sheng Xiyan's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously looked at Chu Yuanchen.

"Some time ago, a group of bandits from Yizhou entered the capital, about 20,000 people." Chu Yuanchen told her simply, "In Yizhou, bandits have been appearing for several years, and they have become quite large in recent years. They occupy the hilltops of Yizhou and rule the country. Last year, there was a drought and then a cold winter. People were displaced from all over the country, and the power of the bandits gradually grew. These bandits in Yizhou may be relying on their own strength and want to take over the world. They have been active in the capital these days."

"Except for Yizhou, there are bandits everywhere in Dayong, but those in Yizhou are the closest to Gyeonggi."

This group of bandits had already been active at the border between Yizhou and the capital last year, and now they are becoming even more rampant.

In theory, the imperial court should have comforted the people and released food long ago, but the emperor was busy trying to find ways to reduce the power of the princes and seize military power in the northern border, and had "no time" to pay attention to it. This led to a surge in the number of refugees. The refugees had nowhere to go, it was difficult for them to settle down, and they were extremely hungry. In order to survive, some of them simply became bandits, burning, killing, and looting everywhere.

After Xiao Shuo came to power, he actually took a series of measures to comfort refugees, release food for disaster relief, and crack down on bandits, but after all, the time was still short and there was no immediate effect.

In fact, the Great Rong Dynasty had already been riddled with problems. It was only maintaining a superficial prosperity and could collapse completely at any time.

Sheng Xiyan said nothing, just looked at him.

"Don't worry." Chu Yuanchen said, "Mu Bai's martial arts are good, and they have more than ten guards. A group of bandits is just a mob, nothing will go wrong."

Since Mo Jiu was able to come back to report the news, it meant that there was just a little trouble and there might be too many bandits.

If the situation was really too dangerous, Mo Jiu would not have come back alone at this time. He would at least risk his life to bring Wei Xiu back.

Sheng Xiyan believed in his judgment, but when she thought of Jue'er, she couldn't hide her worry and uneasiness.

Chu Yuanchen could naturally see it, so he said, "I'll take you to see it."

Sheng Xi was surprised for a moment, then nodded in agreement quickly.

Sheng Xiyan left Xigui where he was. Just in case, Chu Yuanchen kept Mo Jiu as well and sent someone to send a message to the palace to dispatch some guards.

After asking for the general direction, Chu Yuanchen took Sheng Xiyan on the Wuti and ran all the way.

According to Mu Bai, they encountered the bandits halfway from Zhouyuan Town to the capital. They were walking on the official road when they were suddenly ambushed...

The black-hoofed horse had great range and ran very steadily. Even though Sheng Xiyan was not good at riding, she did not feel the ride was too bumpy or uncomfortable. In less than half an hour, they reached the place where they were ambushed.

Looking around, the surroundings were in a mess. It was obvious that a fight had taken place. There were some arrows scattered around, and there were sporadic bloodstains. There were several corpses lying in the grass. Judging from the way the corpses were dressed, they were obviously not from the Zhenbei Palace. They must be bandits.

After a careful observation, Chu Yuanchen said, "Judging from the traces of wheels, horse hooves, and fighting, they should have gone that way." He pointed in a direction and said, "Let's go."

Seeing Chu Yuanchen's calm face, Sheng Xiyan's heart gradually calmed down. She believed in his judgment and didn't ask anything. She just said, "Okay."

Wuti continued to run with the wind, and this time, after running for only a cup of tea, he heard an increasingly loud noise ahead. From the sound, there were at least a hundred people, interspersed with rude curses.

Chu Yuanchen picked up a heavy bow hanging on the side of the horse and said to Sheng Xiyan who was sitting in front of him, "Don't panic." There was a soothing power in his tone.

Sheng Xiyan stroked Wuti's mane, turned around and smiled at him.

Wu Ti continued to move forward, and soon, Sheng Xiyan saw hundreds of bandits surrounding a small pavilion. There were also a few people in the pavilion, but their faces could not be seen clearly from far away, but there were two people standing on each side of the pavilion, one holding a bow and the other holding a sword. There were already more than a dozen corpses lying on the ground, forcing the group of bandits to unable to get close, and they did not gain anything good.

If they were well-trained elite soldiers, they would not be afraid of life and death and would rush forward. Relying on their numerical advantage, they would most likely be able to break the defense. However, the bandits are just a mob, and it would be fine to let them shoot arrows from behind, but no one would be willing to risk their lives.

Chu Yuanchen smiled faintly and said, "Mu Bai picked a good place."

"Set fire!" A burly man, who was obviously the leader of the gang, said fiercely, "I don't believe they can hide here!"

Chu Yuanchen smiled slightly, picked up the longbow, put on three feather arrows, and pulled the bowstring like a full moon.

He performed this series of movements effortlessly, as if flowing water, and the bow and arrow seemed to be a part of his body.

call out!

The arrow left the bowstring, making a sound of breaking through the air, and shot out forward.

Three arrows were fired in quick succession, aiming at three different targets, killing them in one blow.

The bandits were so focused on the small pavilion that they didn't notice them approaching until three of them were shot by arrows and fell to the ground. Only then did they realize that someone was attacking them.

For a moment, they were all shocked.

The leader was the first to react, shouting, "He must be in cahoots with them!"

"He's alone."

"Kill him first!"

He doesn't take women seriously at all.

The bandits, who were used to bullying the weak, saw that Chu Yuanchen was alone and immediately surrounded him aggressively, especially those with bows and arrows, who drew their bows and shot arrows one after another.

Dozens of feathered arrows were fired at them.

Chu Yuanchen pulled the reins, and Wuti almost moved in unison with him. The black horse ran flexibly from side to side and moved forward in a curve, easily dodging the arrows. This was not difficult for Wuti. When on the battlefield, facing the enemy's overwhelming feather arrows and iron arrows, it still faced the difficulties head-on without fear at all.

Wu Ti galloped towards the pavilion. Chu Yuanchen held a heavy bow in his hand and shot every arrow he could. Several bandits fell to the ground one after another.

Chu Yuanchen was able to come and go freely among thousands of troops, so why was he afraid? What's more, there were only a few bandits. With Sheng Xiyan around, Chu Yuanchen restrained himself a little. He first fired a series of arrows, and then when he had already rushed into the middle of the bandits, he quickly drew his bow and sword.

His right hand trembled slightly, and the long sword trembled in the air, making a buzzing sound.

Chu Yuanchen flipped his palm and held the sword at his side. As the black hoof galloped, the sword drew a beautiful arc at the side of his body, and immediately a splash of blood flew.

Then, he made a sword flower with his right hand and swung out the sword sharply. With the sword light flashing, the long sword in his hand moved as fast as lightning.

With every move he made, someone was killed before his horse's feet, and he was invincible.

The sky was broken by screams of agony.

But within a few breaths, there were more than a dozen corpses on the ground. The bandits were completely shocked. They thought this man was here to die, but it turned out that he was here to kill them.

They are scared.

Someone quietly retreated, and as soon as he retreated, several others followed.

The leader shouted in dissatisfaction: "Let's go together and take him down first!" After saying that, he took several steps back, his eyes full of fear.

The crushing force from this power made it almost impossible for him to muster up the courage to resist, and his legs were shaking like sieves.

Chu Yuanchen's powerful attack also forced the people in the pavilion to turn defense into offense.

Mu Bai rushed out with two guards and coordinated with Chu Yuanchen's attack, killing the bandits so much that they became timid and had no morale.

The bandits knew that a tough guy had come and they dared not stay any longer. The leader shouted in panic, and the others had already wanted to retreat, and now they had no intention of staying at all.

The mob turned around and ran, fearing that they would be caught if they were slow, and each ran faster than the other.

"Your Majesty." Mu Bai clasped his fists and saluted.

The guards all saluted one by one, and no one asked if they wanted to chase after him. There were only about ten of them in total, and they had people to protect. If they wanted to chase after him, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?

Mu Bai ordered people to clean up. The bodies of the bandits needed to be buried or burned on the spot, otherwise it might cause plague. Some feather arrows also had to be collected, so they stayed in the pavilion for the time being.

Chu Yuanchen helped Sheng Xiyan off the horse. Sheng Xiyan noticed at a glance that there were two young men of similar age in the pavilion. One of them was wearing a short brown shirt, with his shiny black hair tied into a ponytail that flew behind his head, and he looked energetic.

"Brother Yan?!" Sheng Xiyan exclaimed in surprise.

Sheng Yan grinned and said, "Sister! Why are you here?"

Sheng Xiyan noticed the blood on his body and frowned slightly: "Are you injured?"

Sheng Yan shook his head at first, but fearing that his sister would scold him, he said honestly, "Sister, it's nothing, just a superficial wound."

He raised his hand and saw a wound on his forearm, with a little blood seeping out. Judging from the amount of bleeding, it was not serious.

Sheng Xiyan nodded and shifted her gaze to the young man standing next to Sheng Yan.

The young man was wearing a blue straight-collared shirt, his hair was tied up with a bamboo hairpin, he was tall and slender, and had a handsome face. He was looking at everything around him calmly and was not startled by the fighting just now.

The young man and the lively Sheng Yan stood together. The two were almost 50% similar in their features, but their temperaments were completely different.

"Brother Jue?"

Sheng Xiyan took a step closer to him in a daze, and with a hint of trepidation, she called him tentatively.

"Brother Jue?" Sheng Yan also said, then looked at the young man, his eyes showing surprise and then joy, and blurted out, "You are my younger brother!?"

"Sister, is he your younger brother?" Sheng Yan was so happy.

He is about the same age as Sheng Jue. In his memory, his stepmother was very gentle. When he went to pay his respects in the morning, she would keep him and let him play with Sheng Jue. Whatever Sheng Jue had, he also had. Sometimes, his sister would get home from school early and come over to take them to play in the garden.

Later, Jue Ge'er disappeared...

Sheng Yan stared at him from left to right, then circled around him, looking him up and down. The more he looked, the happier he became. He asked, "Do you have a birthmark behind your ear?"

"Can you let me see it?"

"Just one look, one look is enough!"

Sheng Yan stared at him with burning eyes.

Wei Xiu had never seen anyone as friendly as him. If it was someone else, he would not want to pay attention to him. But this person had just saved him and was injured because of him.

"There is a birthmark," Wei Xiu said. His voice was clear and very pleasant to the ear.

"younger brother!"

Sheng Yan rushed over to hug him, but Wei Xiu calmly took a step back.

Sheng Yan missed the target, but he was not annoyed and looked happy.

Well! My brother has grown up and is shy now!

After Sheng Yan's interruption, Sheng Xiyan finally calmed down her fluctuating emotions, walked forward, and asked cautiously, "Is your name Wei Xiu?"

Wei Xiu nodded.

"Do you still remember..."

"I don't remember." Wei Xiu shook his head.

Chi Yu had already told him what had happened, so he had no doubts. He had nothing, and the Wei family was not a prominent family, so there was no point in lying to him.

He knew from a young age that he was not his father's biological son, but his parents treated him very well, so he just treated him as their biological son.

Sheng Xiyan was not disappointed. After all, so many years had passed, it was normal not to remember it.

She smiled and said, "It's okay, we'll talk about it slowly after we get back."

Sheng Xiyan asked the others, "Is anyone injured?"

"Miss Shengda, they are just superficial wounds, nothing serious." Mu Bai bowed and replied, then he reported to Chu Yuanchen, "Your Majesty, we suddenly encountered this group of bandits on the way. There were so many of them that we had to retreat for the time being."

If it were just Mu Bai and his group, they would have nothing to fear, but this group included Chi Yu and Wei Xiu, as well as Chi Yu's old servants and Chi Yu's grandfather, a total of more than ten people, all of whom were powerless.

Naturally, the guards had the priority to protect them, so from the beginning, they had no desire to fight and focused on retreating. Mu Bai was familiar with the terrain and had led them here, calculating that the bandits would not dare to risk their lives, and Mo Jiu would be able to bring reinforcements quickly.

"It was when we were retreating to the pavilion that Master Wei was accidentally injured by a stray arrow." Mu Bai bowed his head, "Please punish him, Your Majesty."

Chu Yuanchen's face was slightly gloomy, and Mu Bai lowered his head even more.

He has always been clear about rewards and punishments, and no one gets lucky.

"No." After hearing this, Wei Xiu shook his head and said, "I left their protection circle without permission. It has nothing to do with them."

Chu Yuanchen raised his eyebrows. He had just noticed that Wei Xiu's expression was unusually calm. They had been chased by the bandits for such a long time. Even Chi Yu's face was pale and his breathing was unstable, but Wei Xiu did not change at all. At first glance, it seemed that he did not reveal any unnecessary emotions. However, Chu Yuanchen also noticed that when Sheng Yan called him brother, his little finger trembled slightly. It was obvious that he was just using reason to cover up his emotions.

interesting.

Chu Yuanchen smiled slightly and asked, "What are you looking for?"

Wei Xiu looked at him and thought: He judged that I was looking for something based on just one sentence from him?

Chu Yuanchen said: "You are smart, you should know what you can do and what you can't do."

Knowing that there are bandits, but still running away, this is not what a smart person would do, unless there is something more important than life.

"This is it." Wei Xiu took out a piece of silver from his sleeve pocket and handed it over.

This is an ordinary silver ingot. Chu Yuanchen took it in his hand and looked around. There was a government seal on the back of the silver.

This is official silver.

Chu Yuanchen asked, "Is this the official money used by the imperial court for disaster relief?"

Wei Xiu nodded and said, "The bandits are not an accident. They are instigated and bribed by someone."

Chu Yuanchen asked with interest: "How do you say that?"

Wei Xiu only said four words: "We have more people."

Chu Yuanchen smiled at Sheng Xiyan and said, "This boy is interesting." Smart, calm, and to the point.

There were only a hundred or so bandits in total, and they didn't have many boxes and cages, nor were they a caravan, so they were not "fat sheep". The guards were dressed in the same way and carried bows and swords. They were obviously martial artists, and only a blind person would rob them.

What's even more unusual is that after encountering a tough opponent, he didn't run away, but chased him all the way.

Seeing that they all understood without his explanation, Wei Xiu felt that it was very easy, so he continued: "The Wang family received the task of repairing the dike two years ago, and the court allocated money. The dike that was repaired last year was washed away by the flood, and it was full of mud and sand."

"Wang Qinghe again?" Chi Yu was so angry that his face turned red. He said angrily, "When we were in Jiangnan, he wanted to kill Xiu'er, but he failed several times. Now that we are in the capital, they still dare to mess with us."

"Wang Qinghe?"

Sheng Xiyan's mind moved, as if she had heard of this name before.

Chu Yuanchen explained: "The wife of the Jiangnan academician was surnamed Wang, and Wang Qinghe was her brother."

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether he can pick up the silver or not, but if he gets injured because of picking up the silver, it will definitely make them pay more attention to this matter.

This guy was smart. He calculated that he would not be hurt too seriously. He knew the right measure and expected that even if he was exposed, they would not be upset with him.

"So you were going to pick up something." Sheng Yan said carelessly, as if to say, "Although I didn't understand, my brother is really awesome."

Chu Yuanchen raised his eyebrows and asked, "Brother Yan, why are you here?"

Although Chu Yuanchen usually smiled at them, when Sheng Yan saw him, he immediately stood up and answered obediently: "The imperial guards are on holiday today. I happened to meet him on my way back."

By the time all the injured had their wounds treated, the area had been cleaned up.

Chu Yuanchen put away the silver ingot that Sheng Jue handed over, and said, "Let's go back to Beijing first."

Passing by Shili Pavilion, they picked up Xigui and Mo Jiu first, and then the group returned to the capital. On the way, they met the reinforcements brought by Ji Mingyang. Chu Yuanchen asked him to deal with the bandits, so that they would not become violent after being frustrated and rob the nearby villages.

By the time they arrived in the capital, it was already three quarters of an hour and the city gates were about to close.

Chu Yuanchen asked Mu Bai and the others to go back to the mansion first. Chi Yu's grandfather was old, frightened, and a little tired, so he also went back to the house first.

Chu Yuanchen took the others to a restaurant and said, "It's getting late, let's go have a good meal first."

Chi Yu knew that he wanted to say something to Wei Xiu, so he readily agreed.

When they arrived at the restaurant and ordered some dishes, Sheng Xiyan couldn't wait to ask before the dishes were served: "Jue... Master Wei, do you still remember your childhood?"

Wei Xiu shook his head, his tone flat: "I don't remember."

It's not like he has completely forgotten it. In his fragmented memories, there was a very pretty woman who held him in her arms and whispered softly to him. He also played with others, and someone held his hand and gave him a beautiful rabbit lamp. But these faces are already blurry and he can't remember them. Occasionally, when he thinks of them, his heart will be warm.

Wei Xiu said, "I just know that I am not my parents' biological child. My father has never hidden this from me."

"The birthmark behind your ear..." Sheng Xiyan asked cautiously, "Can you let me see it?"

Wei Xiu took the initiative to lift up his hair, revealing a heart-shaped birthmark behind his ear.

Yes.

Sheng Xiyan could never forget this birthmark.

"This is not a birthmark." Sheng Xiyan said, "It's a burn. When you were little, your mother accidentally burned you. She cried in frustration."

When she said this, her voice choked up a little.

Wei Xiu subconsciously touched the back of his ear. He couldn't see there, but he heard from his parents that there was a red mark behind his ear, which might be a birthmark.

Sheng Xiyan stared at him blankly, trying to find any traces of his childhood on his face.

At this time, Qian Sui was brought over. He bowed respectfully, stood stiffly with his hands behind his back, and did not dare to look around.

"Ayan, this is the human trafficker that Madam Qian hired. I asked someone to take him to Madam Qian in prison to identify him. Madam Qian confirmed that Sheng Jue was sold to him at that time." After Chu Yuanchen finished speaking, he said to Qian Sui, "Look, is the child you took away from Madam Sun here?"

Qian Sui would go to Jiangnan every few years, and occasionally he would go to see the child he had sold. His eyes quickly swept over the people in the private room, and he immediately spotted Wei Xiu and recognized him immediately.

Qian Sui quickly said, "Yes, it's him."

Sheng Xiyan's tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily curled up.

Found it!

I wonder if my mother in heaven can see that she found her brother.

It took her two lifetimes to finally find her brother!

Qian Sui was taken away, and Sheng Xiyan looked at Wei Xiu and said, "Jue Ge'er, I am your sister."

Sheng Yan also shouted happily: "Brother!"

Wei Xiu's expression did not change, in stark contrast to Sheng Yan's excitement. He looked at the two siblings and said, "My name is Wei Xiu."

Sheng Xiyan: “…”

Wei Xiu said, "I really don't remember anything from the early days. You said I was Sheng Jue, and I believed it, but," he emphasized, "now I am Wei Xiu."

He looked at Sheng Xiyan, then at Sheng Yan, and then said calmly: "The Sheng family should not be short of children. My parents only have me as their child."

What he meant was that he believed they had not deceived him, but despite his belief, he was not willing to return to his ancestral home and go back to the Sheng family.

"Brother." Sheng Yan said, "Even if the Sheng family has many children, Sheng Jue only has one."

Wei Xiu sighed slightly without leaving a trace: "There is only one Wei Xiu."

His parents raised him and taught him to be well-educated and sensible. He will offer incense and worship for them and avenge them!