"Hey! Hey! What are you thinking? Look at how happy you are! "
A guard next to him nudged him with his shoulder. The man was tearing into a fat pheasant as he mumbled, "The captain is asking you a question. Didn't you just come back from Nanyang? What's it like over there?"
Yang Fan saw that everyone was looking at him and hurriedly smiled. "Our place is very different from here. Once you go out, you can see the endless sea. Whether it's day or night, you can always hear the sound of waves. The wind there smells fishy when it blows on your face, and you can smell it in your nostrils …"
Yang Fan told them the story of Southeast Asia. Many of these guards had never seen the sea in their entire lives, so they were very interested in the customs of the South Sea.
Yang Fan said, "The water there is very clear. The water is a few feet deep, so clear that you can clearly see the sandy beaches, reefs, colorful corals, and all kinds of fish at the bottom of the sea. There are also many sea turtles on the beach. The sea turtles will dig a hole on the beach and bury their eggs in it, letting the sun shine on them to hatch the hatchlings. When the hatchlings are born, they will automatically rush to the sea. There is a large, densely packed area … "
Everyone was listening with great interest when County Commandant Zhu Bin appeared with a frightening face. "Look at the time, and you're still making a racket here! Who allowed you to do this? If anything goes wrong, you won't be able to bear the consequences. Disperse, disperse, all of you disperse! "
A captain went up to greet him with a smile and whispered a few words. Then, he wrapped the leg of a roasted wild duck with leaves and stuffed it into Zhu Bin's hand. Zhu Bin snorted and swaggered off with the wild duck.
The captain heaved a sigh of relief and waved his hand. "Alright, alright, everyone disperse. Yang Fan, stay behind and extinguish the fire. Be careful not to cause a forest fire!"
Everyone took their unfinished food and dispersed. Yang Fan was the last to leave. He extinguished the fire and covered the ashes with some soil. Only then did he carry the roasted rabbit and slowly walk back.
In the distance, Wu Zetian's bedroom was brightly lit. Yang Fan knew that Shanghai Wan'er was also living there. Yang Fan stopped and looked at the cluster of lights in the distance, sighing softly. Once the window of feelings was opened, the mountain would no longer be a mountain, and the water would no longer be water. One would have an additional layer of cognition and feelings than before.
Since he was young, he had been carrying too many things in his heart. For a seventeen-year-old boy, this was undoubtedly a little too heavy. He always carried it alone, and he could only carry it alone, because he had no one to share his burden with.
Now, he suddenly hoped to have a gentle embrace to lean on, a gentle woman to listen to him pour out the fatigue in his heart, or nothing at all, just snuggling in that embrace and sleeping soundly. There was no doubt that Shanghai Wan'er was now the person he longed for.
The spring night breeze on the mountain was still a little chilly. A gust of wind blew over and woke Yang Fan up from his thoughts. He looked back at the bonfire that had just been buried and could no longer see the slightest bit of light. So, he prepared to return to the barracks to sleep. When he raised his head, he saw a figure in the distance.
The night was vast, and from where he was, he could see the round moon in the sky as big as a wheel. In front of the moon was a big tree, and that person was sitting on the horizontal branch of the tree, looking at the moon and drinking alone. The wind blew her long hair, and it fluttered.
The silhouette of her body was very beautiful. Under the bright moon, the edges of her body were covered with a layer of mellow luster, so even the outline of her facial features could be easily recognized. This jade-like person was Xie Xiaoman.
Yang Fan walked over curiously and circled around the forest until he reached the tree. The rustling sound of footsteps could be heard clearly by Xie Xiaoman at the top of the tree. She looked down and saw Yang Fan looking up at her, the bright moonlight shining on his face.
"Hi!"
"… …"
"Alone?"
"Are you not a human?"
"Haha, Miss Xiaoman is really unruly, it seems that you are not in a good mood."
"Go away!"
Yang Fan laughed, but did not walk away. Instead, he bit the rabbit leg in his mouth, jumped up, and climbed up the tree trunk like an agile ape. Xie Xiaoman looked at Yang Fan climbing up like a monkey, and said in surprise: "I didn't know you were so good at climbing trees, you are not much worse than my Elder Brother."
Yang Fan said: "You have an Elder Brother?"
Xie Xiaoman said: "Why can't I have an Elder Brother?"
Yang Fan laughed: "That's true, I also have an Elder Brother, I also have a younger sister!"
He turned around and sat down on the trunk, swinging his legs: "Why are you sitting here alone?"
Xie Xiaoman ignored him, grabbed the wine bag in her hand, raised her head, and took another big gulp of wine. Yang Fan could smell the alcohol, and could not help but frown: "Why are you drinking so much alone, are you in a bad mood?"
Xie Xiaoman still did not speak, Yang Fan said: "You are the Empress' bodyguard, be careful not to let people smell the alcohol, they will find trouble with you."
Xie Xiaoman glared at him, and said fiercely: "You are annoying!"
Yang Fan sighed, and handed over the roasted rabbit, saying: "Don't drink, eat the roasted rabbit, it is freshly roasted, it is still warm and fragrant."
Xie Xiaoman looked at him, silent for a long time, then took the roasted rabbit, brought it to her mouth, and put it down: "Today, I was ordered to arrest two people."
"Oh?"
Xie Xiaoman's hair was tied up in a ponytail, a lock of hair hanging in front of her forehead, blown by the wind, passing by her eyes from time to time. Under her hair, her eyes were as bright as the stars, and Yang Fan could faintly see a trace of sadness in her eyes. Yang Fan could not help but lower his voice, whispering: "What is it?"
Xie Xiaoman said quietly: "Those two people, they are the Crown Prince Zhang Huai's only two remaining sons."
Yang Fan was slightly moved: "The Empress's biological grandson?"
Xie Xiaoman nodded lightly: "Lai Junchen reported the two princes, saying that they cursed the Emperor's father, it was treason, and the Empress ordered an investigation. I thought that they would be arrested and interrogated. Unexpectedly, General Qiu Shenji surrounded the palace, and after capturing the two princes, he whipped them to death on the spot! "
Xie Xiaoman smiled, under the cold moonlight, her smile was a little sad: "I am the Empress' personal guard, there are some missions in the inner guards that I do not have to do. I've killed people before, but not many, and I've never killed an unarmed and defenseless person. "
"Yes!"
"The two princes, one is eleven, the other is only eight …"
"Yes …"
"They were in front of me, being ruthlessly whipped by the Wire of Hardware. The whip was full of hooks, and with every lash, a large piece of flesh and blood would be scraped off. At first, they would still cry, but later on, they could no longer make a sound. Only when the whip landed would their bodies twitch a little. When they breathed their last, it was a bloody mess, and they were unrecognizable. "
Xie Xiaoman's eyes were bright, and there was a faint glint of tears.
She said in a low voice: "In the past, I heard people talk about some of the princes and ministers being punished. The heads of the ministers rolled on the ground, the family members who were not slaves were chained, like cattle and sheep herded in herds; the people who were banished far away were placed in prison carts, their necks were torn by the large chains, and blood flowed everywhere the cart went …
Prince Huo Li Yuanguo was seventy years old, and he died in a prison cart for ten days. Prince Li Xu of Jiangdu was beheaded in Jiangdu, Prince Li Yuanjia of Han and Prince Li Lingkui of Lu were ordered to commit suicide, and Prince Li Yuanjia's three sons were all beheaded. Prince Li Shen of Ji has always been a good ruler, but he was also exiled to Bazhou, and died on the way, and all five of his sons were beheaded. And Prince Shu … "
Xie Xiaoman took a deep breath and said: "I have heard of these things before, but hearing is one thing, and seeing it with my own eyes is another. I still can't forget the way those two children looked at me, I know they begged me to save them, but there was nothing I could do …"
Yang Fan said coldly: "You did not kill them! Whether you went or not, they all had to die! The Empress wants to proclaim herself the Empress, so Li Tang's Princes must all be killed, the senior statesmen and ministers loyal to Li Tang must all be killed, and those who can give hope and expectation to Li Tang's people must also be killed! In this regard, what did Li Tang's Imperial Family do? Hoping that she would be the fish that escaped the net! What did the civil and military officials who received the Li family's salary do? They begged for their own future and wealth! What did the feudal vassals do? They have a lot of troops in their hands, as long as it doesn't affect their interests, they don't care what the Emperor's surname is. You're just a little girl, why bother looking for trouble! "
Xie Xiaoman looked at him in a daze, his series of 'killing' made her hair stand on end. But thinking about it carefully, wasn't this the Empress's actions these past few years? Wasn't this the reaction of too many people?
Yang Fan said softly: "You are just a bodyguard, with or without you, these things would have happened. You don't need to take these responsibilities on yourself. There are many injustices in this world that you can't shoulder."
Xie Xiaoman looked at him in a daze and asked: "If it were you, would you be indifferent?"
Yang Fan said coldly: "I only know that it's not my responsibility! If I had the ability to save him, and it wouldn't have implicated me, but I didn't help him, perhaps I would be condemned by my conscience. Otherwise, I would not be like you, sitting here and drinking! The one who wanted to kill was the Empress, the one who guessed the Emperor's intention was Lai Junchen, and the one who fawned over the execution was Qiu Shenji. What does it have to do with you? "
Xie Xiaoman tilted her head and thought about it. What he said seemed to make sense, but also seemed to make no sense. She wanted to refute, but her head was dizzy after being drunk, and she couldn't think clearly.
Yang Fan looked at her cute and naive appearance. That charm vaguely resembled his younger sister and felt even more pity in his heart. He reached out to touch her hair but suddenly remembered that this was not his younger sister. If he extended his hand, she would kick him off the tree. He hurriedly withdrew his hand and softly said: "Silly girl, don't think too much. Go back and drink a bowl of soup to soak up the hangover, then soak in a hot bath and have a good rest. You are an imperial bodyguard. As long as you do your job well, don't let your imagination run wild."
Xie Xiaoman nodded, and said charmingly: "Yes! It sounded quite reasonable. At least, I felt much better now. You don't look too bad. "
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