Ning Que decided not to go upstairs to read for a day. Instead, he would take Sangsang to visit the princess and kill someone along the way. Sangsang didn't really like this decision. It was not because she didn't like killing people. She had seen Ning Que kill too many people since she was a child. She didn't feel anything about it. She just didn't like that Ning Que still refused to rest for a day in such a physical condition.
Although the little handmaiden was in a bad mood, the noodles with fried eggs were still delicious. The reason why Ning Que didn't put pepper or green onions in the noodles was not because of punishment, but because he often felt nauseous and vomited these days. His stomach and intestines couldn't bear the spicy seasonings, so he had to eat something light.
After eating the noodles with fried eggs, Ning Que washed his feet with hot water until they were almost red. Then he comfortably fell onto the bed. Sangsang washed her little feet with the remaining water, then poured out the foot washing water and climbed onto the bed. She separated her slender legs and rode on his waist, beginning to massage and soothe his mind.
After confirming that he had fallen asleep, Sangsang gently sighed and raised her right arm to wipe the non-existent sweat on her forehead. She knelt to the other side of the bed, got into her own quilt, and fell asleep with her face against the powder box of Chenjinji Cosmetics Store.
In the middle of the night, she was awakened by Ning Que's painful moaning and rolling. She rolled out of the quilt and got out of bed. Stepping on her old shoes, she skillfully used the tip of her toes to pull out the copper basin under the bed. Then she sat beside Ning Que and patted his back with her small hands, sometimes rubbing him from top to bottom.
Ning Que lay on the bed with a pale face. He stretched half of his body out and kept retching toward the copper basin below. His eyebrows and eyes were twisted together, showing that he was in great pain. The food he had eaten before had passed through his stomach and intestines, so he vomited the two cups of hot tea he drank before going to bed, as well as some gastric juices and bile.
Since he began to read books in the Academy, he had been tortured like this several times every night. It not only made his body weaker, but also made Sangsang extremely tired during the day.
Every time he fell asleep, the ink characters that he read in the old library during the day would turn into a thick, dark monster, emerging from the deepest part of his mind. Wielding spears and swords, the monsters would swell up rapidly and converge into a big ship, constantly surging in his mind. The blue sea was surging with stormy waves, making him extremely dizzy. His chest and abdomen were filled with disgust, and he had a strong urge to vomit.
It seemed like a nightmare, but Ning Que was very clear that it was not a dream. It was just the aftermath of the surging interaction between the characters written by the Divine Talisman Masters on the second floor of the old library and his spiritual world … in a mysterious way.
Enduring this torture every night, if he could remember those ink characters, it would be a reward for his efforts. However, what made him feel extremely disappointed and even infuriated was that when those ink characters were wreaking havoc in his mind, it was as if he was suffering from aphasia and word recognition disorder. He clearly saw those ink characters appear clearly in front of him, and they looked so familiar, but no matter how he opened his mouth, he could not read them, and he could not recognize what they were.
Every day in the old library, he painfully read books that he could not understand, and every night in the Old Brush Pen Shop, he felt dizzy and uncomfortable looking at the characters that he could not recognize. It was not just one day, but many days. If it was someone with a slightly weaker willpower, he might have already given up. But for Ning Que, this kind of inhuman pain and torture was the best opportunity he could find in his 16 years of life. Unless there was no hope in the end, he would never give up.
There was a saying that the person who understood you the most was your enemy. This saying was not wrong. In this world, the person who understood General Xiahou the most was definitely Ning Que. However, this saying was not complete, because no matter how one thought about it, the person who understood you the most was still you. Ning Que knew himself very well, so he knew that he would never turn back until he was at the end of his rope.
He was not worried that his life would be in danger. The female professor had been sitting quietly by the east window. He knew that if there were no accidents, he would insist on going upstairs and reading until his body became weaker and weaker. Therefore, he had to make the most of his time and cross off as many names as he could from the list.
The second name on the oilpaper was: Chen Zixian, the former deputy general of the Xuanwei General.
…
…
As the most favored princess by the emperor, Li Yu lived in the Imperial City all year round, but she also had her own mansion in Chang 'an. The next day, Ning Que and Sangsang were led to the Princess Mansion in a secluded place in the Southern City.
Today, she was wearing a red and black short skirt. The middle skirt was embroidered with beautiful large and strange flowers. Coupled with the deep collar, the skirt had a slightly mountainous feel to it that hung down to the back of her feet, making her look luxurious and extraordinary.
"Where is Ning Que?"
Only Sangsang walked into the back of the Princess Mansion.
Li Yu slightly frowned and looked at the little handmaiden who was brought in by the eunuch. Then she smiled and walked forward to hold Sangsang's slightly cold hand. She said softly, "I haven't seen you for a long time. You little girl, why don't you come to see me?"
The eunuch was slightly surprised and changed the topic. But the eunuch did not dare to neglect and reported with a bitter face, "That guy insists that there is a difference between a man and a woman, and that it is disrespectful to see the princess in private. So he insisted on waiting outside. Now Mr. Peng is talking to him in the duty room."
Sangsang let her hand hold and explained softly with her little face, "Young master has not been feeling well recently."
Li Yu slightly lowered her eyes to hide the faint disappointment and anger in the bottom of her eyes. She no longer cared about the mud-like lad and took Sangsang's little hand to the flat couch. She laughed and said, "I don't know where your mischievous young master got his strength from recently. He runs to the second floor of the old library every day. How can he be feeling well?"
"Your Highness, I think the young master is quite amazing." Sangsang spoke for Ning Que very seriously.
Li Yu shook her head and chuckled. She stretched out her hand and knocked on Sangsang's slightly black forehead. She said, "Little girl, you only think about that young master all day long. You don't even think about how he looks like a decent young master. Speaking of this, I feel indignant. Ning Que really doesn't know how many generations of luck he has accumulated to be able to pick up a capable and diligent girl like you."
As they spoke, the two women, one big and one small, bent their knees and sat on the soft couch with their legs crossed.
The fate between people was really wonderful. When Li Yu first saw Sangsang in the City of Wei, she felt close to her and pitied her for being ordered around by Ning Que. On the journey back from the grassland, Li Yu often talked to her as a maidservant. She really had some affection for her. Since Sangsang grew up with Ning Que, she did not have too many concepts of seniority in her mind. She simply felt that Her Highness was a good person and was willing to be close to her.
Li Yu asked Sangsang about their experiences after they arrived in Chang 'an. Sangsang honestly told her about the trivial matters such as opening a bookstore and taking examinations. Li Yu was thinking about the relationship between Ning Que and Chao Xiaoshu. Suddenly, she felt that Sangsang's little hand was cold and rough. Looking at her slightly black face, she could not help but feel pity for her. She said, "I will let you get rid of your slave status and stop following Ning Que. You can come to my mansion and be a steward. How about that? I don't want you to serve others. You just need to manage the affairs of the mansion for me. "
…
…
In the front yard of the Princess Mansion, outside the guardhouse near the rockery pool, Peng Yutao frowned and looked at the pale lad on the chair beside him. He could not help but say, "You were so brave at the Northern Mountain Road. Why are you so pale and weak now? What's going on? Did you become a good-for-nothing after studying in the Academy for a few days? "
Ning Que smiled and leaned lazily on the bamboo chair to bask in the sun. He looked at him and said, "Your Excellency Peng, you saw the bustle in the old library that day. Now that I think about it, it's still a little mysterious. It's no use mentioning it. By the way, where are those grassland barbarians? And since you and the guardsmen have made contributions, why are you still in the Princess Mansion? "
"The barbarians brought back by the Princess from the grassland have been specially recruited by His Majesty into the Yulin Royal Guards. You know that the Tang Empire has always had such a rule. The Yulin Royal Guards are mostly foreigners. As for us … "Peng Yutao smiled and said," We followed Her Highness to fight and rush back from the grassland. We are really unwilling and worried to leave her side. The palace has the same idea. So although I am now the deputy commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, I mainly follow Her Highness. "
The deputy commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion was a truly important position. Ning Que congratulated him repeatedly, and then suddenly thought of the fight at Spring Breeze Pavilion that night. He could not help but be slightly startled, thinking that this position was probably vacated that night.
Although the palace had tacitly allowed Peng Yutao to still follow Princess Li Yu, he was after all the deputy commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion. Especially recently, the Valiant Cavalry Battalion of the Yulin Royal Guards had been shaken and purged, so he was extremely busy. After chatting with Ning Que for a while, someone from the battalion said that there was something important to deal with. He apologized to Ning Que twice and hurried away.
Some of the guardsmen and barbarians who followed Princess Li Yu had now joined the Yulin Royal Guards, and some had returned to the palace. At this time, the guardsmen in the Princess Mansion basically did not know Ning Que. But seeing that deputy commander Peng Yutao was so polite to this lad, and knowing that Her Highness had specially summoned him, no one dared to be disrespectful to him.
Ning Que knew why the dignified deputy commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion was so polite to him. He had saved everyone's lives at the entrance of Northern Mountain Road, and the Tangs respected heroes very much. Both sides had forged a friendship through fighting on the journey. More importantly, perhaps Peng Yutao had already sensed that the Princess had the intention to recruit someone again.
This was also the reason why Ning Que did not enter the back garden of the Princess Mansion today. Now the focus and goal of his life were on revenge and the Academy. He dared not get close to the struggle of the upper class of the empire. And based on a cold guess in the bottom of his heart, he subconsciously wanted to stay away from Her Highness.
Although he had been dragged into the struggle of right and wrong after the battle with Chao Xiaoshu that rainy night, whether he was willing or not, he was very clearly aware that he was still just a nobody. It was okay to follow Chao Xiaoshu to fight in Jianghu at night for the palace, but to jump out of the gutter and directly confront those big powers, a nobody like him could die inexplicably and quietly at any time.
Just like the General's Mansion that had been destroyed, or like Zhuo Er who had closed his eyes under the wall not long ago.
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