"If those noble ladies in Kyoto City knew that you could suffer so much because of a woman..."

"Between me and her, there is only willingness and never any grievance." Xie Lan didn't like this statement, so she interrupted him, "When you meet the woman you like in the future, you will understand how I feel at this time. .”

The moon didn't know when it climbed up the window, and the bright moonlight poured into the room and shone on the two of them.

Xie Lan had always been cold and unapproachable, but now his body felt a little softer. Xiao Shuo knew that it was the tenderness he had reserved for Tao Yaoyao alone.

They didn't know that there was a woman standing at the door opposite. The woman had been standing here the moment they closed the door. She heard all the conversations they just had, but she didn't say anything from beginning to end.

After the room fell into silence, she turned back to the house.

In the dark room, Tao Yaoyao didn't want to light a lamp or go to bed, so she found a corner, squatted on the ground, curled up, and rested her chin on her knees. All that flashed through her mind were the moments between her and Xie Lan. drop.

Xie Lan said that as long as he likes, he can change anything.

In fact, she is the same. It's a pity that there are too many unclear things between them, and these things can only be resolved after going to the border.

Boom, boom, boom.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and she subconsciously looked up. Just when she was wondering who would come to find her at this hour, she heard a familiar voice, and then she fainted.

"Master, it's bad, Miss Tao...is missing."

What?

Xie Lan felt his head buzzing for a moment. When he came to his senses, he rushed into the opposite room, leaving only a desolate room. There was still unfinished tea on the table, the mattress was cold, and there was a shoe on the floor...

"Search, even if we turn over the entire state capital, we still have to find her."

The guards rushed out, and the sonorous and powerful footsteps soon alerted the other guests in the inn. Some of the bolder ones quietly opened the door and took a look outside, while the less timid ones closed the door tightly.

Downstairs, the waiter was dozing off when he suddenly heard rapid footsteps upstairs. He looked up and saw a dozen men in black leaving the inn at a very fast speed.

They are well-trained, and each of them has a knife in his hand. At first glance, they are Lianjiazi.

But, when did these guests come to the inn? At first the waiter thought he had seen it wrong. He rubbed his eyes and took another look. When he was sure he had seen it correctly, those people had left the inn and scattered in two directions, and quickly disappeared into the night.

"Who do you think captured Miss Tao?" Upstairs, Xiao Shuo looked at the secret guards leaving and spoke.

Xie Lan's expression was solemn, and his whole person exuded the aura of "do not disturb strangers." He was silent for a while. Just when Xiao Shuo thought he would not speak, he raised his hand and revealed the jade pendant in his palm.

"When did you see this thing?"

Xiao Shuo entered the house with him. Not only did he not see the jade pendant, he also didn't see him picking it up.

"Did the guards around you give it to you?"

"No. That person left it specially for me." When Xie Lan was about to close his palms, Xiao Shuo reached out and took out the jade pendant, and then saw the word "Chu" on the jade pendant.

"Is it the Chu family?" Xiao Shuo frowned, "Could it be that the Chu family got the news and took Miss Tao away here?"

If the Chu family took her away, they could rest assured.

The Chu family is indeed dangerous, but there is no doubt that they sincerely love Tao Yaoyao.

But Xie Lan didn't look relieved. After saying this, he turned and left.

"where you go?"

"Find someone."

An hour later, Tao Yaoyao woke up in a separate courtyard. She rubbed her sore neck and stood up. Looking at the unfamiliar room, she suddenly remembered what had just happened, and then looked around with a wary expression.

"Are you awake?" A low, slightly familiar voice came from the side. She subconsciously looked over there and saw a man who looked similar to Chu Wulang walking over with a cup of tea.

"Why, you don't recognize fourth brother anymore?" The man smiled and put the tea cup into her hand. "When you were a child, your favorite brother was me. Time flies so fast. You have grown so big in the blink of an eye."

Chu Silang was as gentle as jade, and he was dressed like a scholar. People who didn't know better thought he was really a scholar.

But the calluses on his tiger's mouth and the steady bottom of his body reminded her that he was a practicing master.

He is always smiling, seems easy to talk to, and it is easy for people to trust him. But now that she is not the original owner and knows the Chu family's thoughts, naturally she can't really associate him with being independent from the world.

"Fourth brother." Tao Yaoyao took the tea cup but did not drink it. "Why are you here? And why did you bring me here. King Dingbei and the others..."

Tao Yaoyao wanted to say that Xie Lan would be worried if he took him away like this. Halfway through his words, he quickly shut up, as if he was worried about something.

Seeing this, Chu Silang reached out and touched his forehead, and said with a gentle expression, "Our little girl has really grown up, and now she knows how to protect her sweetheart."

Tao Yaoyao blushed immediately when he did this.

"Fourth brother..."

"Okay, okay, fourth brother, I won't make fun of you anymore." Chu Silang pointed to the teacup in her hand and reminded her, "Drink it quickly, it's a tonic."

Tao Yaoyao's hand holding the tea cup paused.

"What's wrong?" Chu Silang looked at him with a puzzled expression.

After Tao Yaoyao hesitated, he said, "Fourth brother suddenly came to see me from the border. He should know what happened in Kyoto City, and you should also know that my medical skills are pretty good.

The fourth brother has a calm temperament, but because he is with his grandfather and leads troops all year round, he likes to test things around him without knowing anything about them.

So, is this cup of tea also a test for me? "

She smelled something was wrong when she took the tea cup. She was really frightened at first, thinking that the Chu family had murderous intentions for her, but then she thought that compared to poisoning, they had a better chance of success if they did it directly. big.

Chu Silang is so smart that he shouldn't be unaware of this truth, but he didn't do this. Instead, he chose something that she was very good at.

Since then, there must be something fishy here.

Later, after careful analysis, she discovered his thoughts.

"The little girl we are holding in our hands has really grown up." After Chu Silang stared at her for a while, he took the teacup in her hand and placed it on the table next to her.

Then hearty laughter echoed throughout the room.

"Then why don't you guess again about what grandpa asked me to come to you in advance?"

Tao Yaoyao tightened her grip on the quilt slightly, and then asked nervously, "Fourth brother, are you doing this because of my mother?"

Although Tao Yaoyao didn't say it clearly, everyone is smart. Chu Silang understood the meaning of her words, but he did not answer her question.

"We'll talk about this again when you guess what grandpa means."

Chu Shiro seemed to be obsessed with this issue.

Tao Yaoyao frowned, she was not the original owner, and the original owner was afraid of the Chu family, so her memory of them was actually very vague. In her impression, she only knew that they were very good to her.

But because they are not in Kyoto city all year round, these good things can only be reflected in material terms.

As for the real situation of the Chu family, she didn't know anything about the Chu family's thoughts.

All she could think of now were the things she had thought about during this period.

The Chu family is so smart that they wouldn't know this, but since they know it, they still want her to guess, probably because they want to see how much she knows and her attitude towards this matter.

Thinking of this, Tao Yaoyao smiled bitterly.

She appears here, alone, even setting up everything to go to the border. Doesn't that explain her attitude?

"Fourth brother, do you still remember when I was bullied by my servants when I was six years old?"

Tao Yaoyao did not answer his question directly, but talked about what happened when she was a child.

Chu Silang was not in a hurry and cooperated with a smile.

"At that time, you told me that in addition to being a young lady from the Tao family, I was also a girl from the Chu family. It doesn't matter whether the Tao family cares about my daughter. What's important is that the Chu family will always be my backer.

Fourth brother, does this sentence still count now? "

The smile on the corner of Chu Silang's mouth slowly disappeared, replaced by an indescribable emotion. He stared at Tao Yaoyao for a long time, and Tao Yaoyao thought he had discovered something.

Just when she started to feel guilty and uneasy, Chu Silang laughed again.

"As expected, she is a girl from my Chu family. She has a good memory. Yaoyao, fourth brother's promise to you will never change, but there are some things that you are still young and don't understand."

"If fourth brother doesn't tell me, I naturally don't understand. Didn't fourth brother also say that I have grown up? Why don't fourth brother try to talk to me? Maybe I can help you and the Chu family."

When Chu Silang heard this, his face suddenly changed.

"You help us?" A cold and unhappy voice sounded, and then he seemed to be afraid that Tao Yaoyao would be frightened. He suppressed his displeasure and restrained his emotions, "How do you want to help us? Conspiracy is a major crime against the Nine Clan. I know. There are more than a hundred people in the family.

The Chu family's army numbered more than 100,000. We were both prosperous and devastated.

Yaoyao, do you really believe what the dog emperor said?

If it hadn't been for him back then, you would have been born without a mother, and our Chu family army would not have been trapped in the camp ravine and suffered heavy losses. "

When talking about these things, Chu Silang's eyes were filled with hatred.

The young master, who just now had a face as gentle as jade, now looked like an evil ghost crawling out of the Shura Palace, with a look so ferocious that people would be afraid just by looking at him.

Tao Yaoyao suppressed her fear and comforted him, "Fourth brother, is there any misunderstanding here?" Seeing Chu Silang kicking him, she quickly changed the subject, "Even if His Majesty is a foolish king, how innocent are the people of Jingguo?"

"Are they innocent?" Chu Silang sneered, "My Chu family has been stationed at the border for a hundred years to protect Jingguo's country and ensure that the people live and work in peace and contentment, but what do we get in the end?

When the war started, we were the heroes of Jingguo. Once the war ended and we asked the court for food and grass, we became the villains who plundered their people's wealth and anointment.

They only saw how brave our Chu family's army was and how they drove foreign enemies from the border, but they couldn't see what these soldiers paid behind the scenes.

Border officers and soldiers, how many people narrowly escaped death and their bodies were wrapped in horse leather. In the end, there was not even a coffin.

Their families had no way to sue for even a few taels of silver in pensions.

This is our Majesty, and these are the people you are protecting. Yaoyao, Mr. Teach us to read the books of sages and teach us how to survive. But when you really grow up, you will find that if you want to live a good life, it is useless to rely solely on passion.

This will only make life difficult for the people you care about. "

Chu Silang was just a weakling, but at this moment, when he was talking about these things, he was like a dying old man, with a pair of eyes filled with vicissitudes of life filled with stories.

Tao Yaoyao looked at him like this and suddenly couldn't bear it.

The young masters in Kyoto who were about the same age as him thought about how to spend their days, how to bully others, but her relatives were already in despair.

To be honest, His Majesty is indeed not a wise king today.

She had seen the things Chu Silang said in history books and on TV.

In addition to being traitors, these people were also her relatives. After she knew these things, she really couldn't say a word of persuasion anymore.

But... the purpose of her coming here this time was to persuade them to give up their previous ideas.

And once they surrender, the best outcome waiting for them is to disarm and return to their fields.

For a soldier, weapons are their life, not to mention the Chu family who have been stationed at the border for generations. Their bones are filled with the blood of fighting on the battlefield.

Letting such people disarm and return to their fields would be crueler than killing them.

"Have you ever told His Majesty these things?" Tao Yaoyao hesitated several times before finally saying this.

Chu Silang said with a face full of ridicule, "Do you really think we haven't said anything? I heard that you have been closely related to the palace recently, so you should also know a lot of things that His Majesty did back then.

He and the Queen were married. Even if the Xie family was not the Queen's real family, it was still the place where she was raised. Your Majesty wants to kill all the Xie family just because they are too powerful.

Yaoyao, the foundation of the Chu family is not much weaker than that of the Xie family, not to mention that we still have an army of hundreds of thousands.

Do you think His Majesty will let us go even if we have no other thoughts?

Even if His Majesty lets us go now. Will whoever ascends to this position in the future let us go? Let’s not talk about others, it’s King Dingbei. You keep saying that he likes you more than anything else.

Yaoyao, you are too young to understand that love is the most useless thing in the world.

When you understand, you will know that these are just your experiences, and the only ones who will accompany you in the end are our relatives. We are the people who love you the most in this world and will never betray you. "

In just half an hour, Tao Yaoyao heard a lot of things that she had never known before, which made her originally full of confidence now look confused.

She understood every word Chu Silang said, and she also knew the Chu family's concerns, but... Jun and ministers have had countless indescribable sufferings since ancient times.

What the Chu family encountered was also encountered by military generals in the past dynasties. Could it be that others would become traitors because of unfairness?

If the king is not wise, then find a wise king to be the master of the world.

But the people are innocent.

The fourth brother said that the people were unwilling to feed them with food and grass, which she did not agree with.

The army's grain and grass are supplied by the national treasury, while tax collection is a matter of the Ministry of Household Affairs. There is no direct relationship between the two. Why is the fourth brother so resentful towards the people?

Tao Yaoyao asked, but Chu Silang refused to continue talking about this matter.

"Grandpa knew that you were here, and thinking that you hadn't seen each other for some years, he asked me to take you to live in a border detention center for a while. If you like it, you can stay there.

As for what Tao Shi'an did to you, don't worry, I will send someone to find him to settle the score. "

"No need." She might have resented Tao Shi'an in the past, but with so many things happening during this period, she had taken revenge on the Tao family. As long as they didn't take the initiative to provoke her in the future, she would not easily provoke them.

Just think of it as a clean slate of past grudges.

"What? I can't bear to leave." When Chu Silang talked about this, he felt a little dissatisfied.

Seeing his misunderstanding, Tao Yaoyao smiled and shook her head, "They and I seem to be relatives, but in fact we are the most familiar strangers in the world. You and I are relatives.

I don’t want to hate anymore, because hating someone takes time and energy. And a person only has so much time and energy. If I give it to them, I will owe it to others.

I don't want to let down the people who are good to me. So I removed people from my world who were not important to me. "

After not seeing each other for many years, this sister has become open-minded and matured a lot.

After seeing that she really had no grudges, Chu Silang naturally agreed to his proposal.

"We will set off early tomorrow morning. You have a good rest tonight."

Chu Silang was resting next door. Tao Yaoyao couldn't sleep at all, but she didn't dare to leave, fearing that Chu Silang would know if she made any movement.

She looked up at the moon outside the window, thinking about Xie Lan.

He should have known about her disappearance, and he should be looking for her all over the world now.

He would be sad if he couldn't find her.

However, as time goes by, no matter how deep the relationship is, it will fade away. What's more, there is nothing unforgettable between them, and she has countless troubles now.

He is not a person who likes trouble. After experiencing so many changes, what he likes most now is silence.

In the past, he had to come back to the border because of her. Now that they are separated, I hope he can let go as soon as possible.

If he doesn't come, maybe she will... feel more at ease.

This night is destined to be a sleepless night. In the next room, Chu Silang didn't sleep either. When it was almost dawn, the guard came in and reported, "King Dingbei has brought people to find him, and he is now at the foot of the mountain."

Chu Silang looked at the oil lamp that was about to burn out, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "He really did not disappoint me. Please inform me and set off immediately."

Tao Yaoyao was about to lie down when he heard some movement next door and quickly got up.

At this time, there was a knock on the door.

"Yaoyao, get up, we are about to set off."

So early?

Tao Yaoyao glanced at the sky and nodded, "Okay, I'll be there right away."

A quarter of an hour later, Xie Lan led people into the other courtyard, but the other courtyard was already empty.

"Master, the tea in the tea cup is still warm, and the cup on the bed is still warm... They probably got the news and left early."