Yun Chuan paced, thinking that Yang Qingyuan must be as worried as she was at this moment, but it was getting late now, and if she went to find him, she would also cause him a lot of trouble. At least she was free to move, so she had better figure out the situation by herself first.
Yunchuan sighed, adjusted his sore shoulders, straightened his makeup, and returned to Huang Bei's residence again. After only an hour, Huang Bei's residence was already silent, with only patrolling guards walking around, as if the snow lotus had just been stolen had never happened. Yun Chuan was confused, so he grabbed a guard and asked, "Where is Huo Ming, King Zuoxian?"
"Reporting to the princess, King Zuo Xian has completed the search and is currently in General Wei Xu's yurt." the guard replied.
"The search was completed so quickly? Have Xuelian been found?" Yun Chuan asked in surprise.
"It seems not." The guard replied.
"Okay, you go on patrol." Yunchuan waved his hand and glanced at Wei Xu's yurt. There were lights in the room, and five or six figures were reflected on the yurt. Yun Chuan touched his cheek and walked towards Wei Xu's yurt.
After waiting for the report from the guard, Yun Chuan walked into Wei Xu's yurt and saw Huo Ming, Bai Ren, Mingcheng, Wei Xu, Nata and Bayin sitting together at the table. It seemed that Nata and Bayin still didn't trust Mingcheng. Check.
"Sister Yunchuan, why are you here!" Bai Renbeile asked.
"I am also considered a member of the younger generation, and I also want to do my part. How is it going? Is there any result?" Yunchuan glanced at the six people, and the atmosphere was strange.
Bai Ren shook his head and mouthed towards Mingcheng and Bayin. Only then did Yunchuan realize that Bayin and Nata's eyes were burning, and they looked bored with Mingcheng, while Wei Xu still looked resolute and sat quietly.
Yun Chuan saw that several people were silent and the atmosphere was deadlocked. He couldn't ask directly, so he had to make insinuating remarks: "Has the cause of the arson been found out? If someone set the fire deliberately, I guess it must be related to the theft of the snow lotus."
"It has been found out. It was just an accident. Several roasted rats were found in the residual fire of the ruins. The rats should have knocked down the lights and caused the fire." Bai Ren looked at Yunchuan and said softly.
Yun Chuan breathed a sigh of relief, but he obviously didn't agree with Ming Cheng's disdainful eyes. He must have thought that Huo Ming didn't want to waste Zhou Zhang anymore on the fire, so he found an excuse to talk about it, but he finally cleared the relationship. , is also a good thing.
"So how is the investigation of Xuelian's matter?" Yun Chuan approached Bai Ren and asked in a low voice.
"We have searched the residences of Huang Bei and Xia Yi but found nothing. We have also sent people to search other residences." Bai Ren whispered back, "They just had a quarrel with Princess Mingcheng, and now we don't know what to do. Woolen cloth?"
It turns out that we just experienced a confrontation, no wonder the atmosphere here is so tense. Yun Chuan looked around and saw a square black lacquered box at the head of the bed, with snowdrops carved around it. Judging from the size of the box, it must have been used to support century-old snowdrops. Yun Chuan stood up and walked over, gently opened the lid of the box, and a burst of cold air spurted out. He stretched out his hand into the box, and the cold air felt like it was piercing his bones. It turns out that this is the secret of preserving snow lotus for hundreds of years. Yunchuan remembered that the small box Shengze gave him had a slight air of air-conditioning when he opened it. He couldn't help but wonder where Shengze got the small box. Could it be that Xia Yi had learned this trick?
Yun Chuan blew in the cold air and vaguely saw a red silk scarf in the box. He reached out and took it out and asked, "What is this?"
Princess Nata stood up and walked to Yunchuan, glanced at the treasure box and said: "Our century-old snow lotus cannot see light or water to prevent the cold from condensing into water droplets, so the snow lotus needs to be covered with a silk scarf. We set out the day before yesterday Before coming here, I personally inspected the snow lotus, but unexpectedly it was stolen as soon as I got here!"
"The snow lotus still needs to be covered with a silk scarf?" Yun Chuan thought to himself. The snow lotus covered with a silk scarf was surrounded by mist and was very hazy. It was indeed difficult to distinguish the true from the false. If Huang Bei used this trick to hide the truth from the sky, then it is possible that the one Yang Qingyuan saw was not a real century-old snow lotus.
"Sister Yunchuan, when the snow lotus entered our tribe, Brother Huo Ming and I also confirmed that there was indeed a snow lotus in the treasure box." Bai Ren said softly.
"The maintenance of snow lotus is not just as simple as covering it with a silk scarf. My father or General Wei Xu is usually in charge of it personally. Although the snow lotus can be left in the treasure chest for three days, I am really worried that it will be deliberately destroyed." Bayin worriedly said.
"I heard that centuries-old snow lotus has always been kept by the princess?" Yun Chuan wondered why Mingcheng was so favored, why was he not even qualified to keep the snow lotus?
Suddenly, the atmosphere felt a little awkward and there was total silence. After a while, only Princess Nata sneered. Yun Chuan glanced at Mingcheng, who had a look of contempt on his face.
Yunchuan put the silk scarf into the treasure box and looked around. The yurt was neatly arranged and there was no trace of being disturbed. There was a huge snow lotus in the vase on the counter in the corner, which was white and bright. Yun Chuan walked over and touched it gently with his hand. The petals were pale pink and slightly moist.
"General Wei Xu, this snow lotus must have been picked not long ago. It's so beautiful!" Yun Chuan asked softly.
"Yunchuan, your curious look has really not changed at all!" Mingcheng stood up, took the snow lotus and inserted it into the bottle, "We are now discussing how to investigate next. Please, princess, please don't cause any more trouble, okay?" "
"We Huangbei people have snow lotus wherever we live." Wei Xu waved his hand and said.
"Oh, I remembered it. I seem to have heard that placing snow lotus flowers in the residence is also a symbol of the status of the Huangbei people. I blame my ignorance." Yunchuan sniffed the snow lotus and said jokingly, "It's better to have Huangbei land. I thought I would have to travel across mountains and rivers to see snowdrops once. You can all pick them and enjoy them as you like."
Yun Chuan raised his eyes and looked at Wei Xu, only to see that his eyes were staring at the snow lotus in the bottle. Yun Chuan took out the snow lotus again, with an innocent look on his face, and said delicately: "General, can you give this to me? "
When Mingcheng was about to step forward, Wei Xu reached out to stop him, nodded and said, "Take it if the princess likes it. But if you want to enjoy this snow lotus for a few more days, you need to change the water frequently and take good care of it."
Yun Chuan smiled and thanked him. Mingcheng glanced at Yunchuan, brushed the hair on his forehead with his hand, and said tiredly: "My princes and princesses, what do you think? Is Khan still waiting for me?"
Bayin laughed contemptuously, stopped Mingcheng with his hand and said, "Just now, the princess was searching various places with great fanfare. After searching Huang Bei, you didn't advocate the search. Now the guards are still searching the residences of Tusang and Xiyu. Why are you impatient to wait?"
Mingcheng's phoenix eyes raised slightly, and he glanced sideways at Bayin, a little impatiently: "I just made it very clear. At first, I wanted to intimidate them into handing them over. Now if we go to search in a big way, , will definitely make the person who steals it impulsive and destroy the snow lotus. However, if you don’t listen to the advice and insist on searching, then search it.”
"If you can't find the century-old snow lotus, what's the difference between lost and destroyed?" Nata's cheeks turned red and she was already a little impatient.
"What's the use of finding the destroyed century-old snow lotus?" Mingcheng said coldly.
"The intact century-old snow lotus is left in that box. What's the use of even giving up a piece of it to save a loved one who is seriously ill?" Nata pressed forward step by step.
"Report!" At this moment, two guards came in and reported back, "We searched the residences of all guards, attendants, and maids, and there was no trace of century-old snow lotus."
Huo Ming patted himself and stood up, waved his hand for the guards to retreat, and said, "Look, we also checked everything at your request. What's next?"
"Uncle Wei Xu, we trust you the most, please tell us how to handle this matter." Bayin asked.
Wei Xu patted Bayin on the shoulder and said, "Let the princess report this matter to the Khan before making a decision."
"Uncle Wei Xu!" Bayin looked at Wei Xu in surprise.
"Uncle Wei Xu, my father has already handed over this matter to you. You can make the decision and ignore others. Besides, if she hadn't arranged for guards to guard your yurt, the century-old snow lotus would not have disappeared." Na Princess Ta took Wei Xu's hand, looked at Mingcheng arrogantly and said, "I would like to ask Princess Mingcheng, why didn't you arrange for guards to guard you in the first place?"
"Nata, you don't have to be so aggressive. Your father is aware of the deployment of the guards. Now that you are raising an army to accuse me, do you want me to bear the blame for the loss of a hundred-year-old snow lotus? It seems that you will be disappointed!" Mingcheng was completely disdainful. Nata's attack, it seems that she has long been accustomed to this kind of difficulty.
"You! You just hate that your father listened to my advice and didn't let you take care of the Centennial Snow Lotus. You seem to be enthusiastic about the Centennial Snow Lotus, but in fact you are vicious and wish you had lost it long ago." Nata sneered when she saw Mingcheng's indifferent attitude.
"Princess, the Centennial Snow Lotus is a sacred object of our clan. If you don't let me take care of it, it's too late for me to thank you. However, I heard that because your father didn't move the Centennial Snow Lotus to save your mother, you mentioned more than once that 'The Centennial Snow Lotus is This waste should have disappeared a long time ago." Mingcheng replied calmly.
"You, you are slanderous, you are not worthy at all..." Nata suddenly jumped to her feet.
"Nata, at this time, we must not mess around. We have searched what should be searched. The next step can only be from the outside. We must not act too hastily." Wei Xu interrupted Nata and patted her shoulder, as if He said patiently like a father.
Seeing Wei Xu pretending to be loving, Yun Chuan couldn't help but feel disgusted when he thought of Mingcheng's ambiguity with him.
"But, how to check the peripheral area?" Nata asked with a cry.
"This requires the help of King Zuo Xian!" Wei Xu turned around and said.
Huo Ming nodded and sighed: "Our three major clans have been looking forward to it day and night, just looking forward to working together with Huang Bei. If the century-old snow lotus is lost here, it is obvious that someone does not want our four major clans to come together again. This We must not let go of the little cockroach-rat breeder. We have blocked all exits, and have also begun searching in the surrounding mountains, forests, and bushes. We will definitely get to the bottom of it. I will inform you of the results tomorrow."
"Brother Huo Ming, brother Bai Ren, are you just leaving like this?" Nata blinked her eyes and said aggrievedly.
"Nata, I know you are worried about Centennial Snow Lotus, but now that the matter has come to this, we can only look inside and outside. What Princess Mingcheng said makes sense, why should you jump over the wall if you are anxious? It will not be good for Snow Lotus if we push you too hastily." Bai Ren Seeing Nata's face flushing anxiously, she couldn't help but persuade her.
"Bai Ren, let's go." Yunchuan yawned and pulled Bai Ren away. Bai Ren watched Nata hesitate to speak, then walked to the curtain and said slowly: "Sister Nata, I will definitely find out tomorrow. If someone really dares to plot evil against the century-old snow lotus, my father will not forgive him." Nata He lowered his eyes and raised his eyes to glance at Bai Ren. His crimson face pouted, and he lowered his head again.
Yun Chuan glanced at Bai Ren, then came over and comforted him: "Sister Nata, keep your spirits up, there will be more things to do tomorrow. By the way, how about you keep this snow lotus for me overnight? I want to give it away. .I will go to see my father later, so as not to cause him to blame me for causing trouble."
Although Nata was upset, she nodded helplessly when she saw that Yun Chuan actually took the initiative to show her kindness.
——————————————————————————————
The three of them in Yunchuan walked towards Tu Sang's residence.
Bai Ren asked: "Brother Huo Ming, I think Princess Mingcheng is really as Nata said, and she is no longer as anxious as she was at first?"
Huo Ming smiled and said: "There is a word called 'bluffing'. The effect has been achieved, and the result is not important."
Bai Ren said angrily: "To do such a thing with the sacred objects of your own clan is really unworthy of the Immortal God."
"Haha, when my grandfather attacked Huangbei, Shangdu Khan was still as old as me. He was seriously injured and refused to use century-old snow lotus to heal his wounds. In the end, he had to seek refuge with the Wei Dynasty for reinforcements, which solved his predicament. But Now, the century-old snow lotus is lost, but he is resting in the yurt by himself, and sending a woman to stir up trouble is not as good as his own two children, which is really impressive." Huo Ming said.
What Huo Ming said is true, this happened more than 40 years ago. Shangdu Khan was only twenty years old at the time and had just taken over the position of Huangbei Khan. At that time, Huang Bei developed rapidly in the hands of the old Khan and was the strongest among the four major clans, followed closely by Tusang. The old Khan died suddenly, and the major tribes in Huangbei were dissatisfied with the young Khan who had just taken office, and internal strife broke out. When Yunchuan's grandfather met Tai Khan, he took the opportunity to attack Huangbei. Shangdu Khan was surrounded by enemies on all sides, so he retreated steadily and was unfortunately seriously injured.
According to the situation at that time, Shangdu Khan could have used the century-old snow lotus to heal his wounds, but he flatly refused: "The century-old snow lotus has been passed down for hundreds of years. It is a sacred object of our clan. If I lose even one point because of me, I will not be able to stand in the world. I am Khan, I am willing to fight to the death and live and die with Huang Bei." These words allowed Khan Shangdu to regain his support and arouse the fighting spirit of his soldiers. They actually fought their way southward under heavy siege and obtained the victory by vassaling Dawei. Reinforcements finally preserved the power in the south. But because of this battle, Tuosang became the first overlord of the desert.
Shangdu's experience can be described as mixed reviews. The tribes that surrendered to him praised his bravery and heroism and called him an "iron-blooded warrior"; those who did not obey him looked down upon him for surrendering to Dawei, which was an insult to the name of a desert warrior. . But for Huang Bei at that time, there seemed to be no other choice. At that time, the four major ethnic groups were often engaged in battles. If defeated by other ethnic groups, Shangdu Khan might not even be able to save his life; and Dawei supported a desert ethnic group to attract people's hearts. Shangdu Khan surrendered to him, not only his status was guaranteed, but he could also respond to his requests.
This is indeed the case. Although Huang Bei, who was attached to the Queen of Dawei, paid tribute to many beauties with medicinal materials every year, he still received silk, jewelry, and grain seeds from Dawei. Huang Bei developed rapidly, had no worries about food and clothing, and no longer had to fight and plunder outside. A scene of abundance. As for the tribes that had betrayed Huang Bei, Shangdu Khan relied on the power of Dawei to pursue them all the way and wiped out a large amount of blood. In order to protect these tribes, Lotai Khan fought against Huangbei and Dawei for ten years. Later, Tai Khan defeated the Central Plains in a great war, and his youngest son Helian Qiji was forced to go to Dawei to serve as a hostage for twenty years. This gave the desert more than twenty years of peace.
In the past twenty years, Tussang Khan Weidun succeeded to the throne, and based on the principle of "harmony", he neither relied on nor opposed Dawei, strengthened mutually beneficial trade, helped Xiayi and Xiyu develop together, and created the grassland prosperity and stability for the first time in nearly a century. However, Emperor Dawei is now old and does not want to waste money and people. He just needs to restrict each other and live in peace. In this environment, Huang Bei, under pressure from Dawei, gradually interacted with the other three major ethnic groups ten years ago. It is said that the past is like smoke, but whether this story of being buried with bones has really blown away by the wind, only the tribal leaders know best.
"But haven't we and Huang Bei gotten along well in the past ten years?" Bai Ren asked in surprise. It can be said that the generation of Yun Chuan and Bai Ren grew up in peace and wealth, and the tribal elders were also quite polite to the younger generations who did not participate in the ethnic affairs. At most, the wars they had seen were small uprisings among some tribes, or petty quarrels with Wei Chao that were sometimes intimate and sometimes confrontational. What accompanied them was more laughter and play among tribesmen of the same age, working together to grow together.
"They have medicinal materials and we have minerals. We each get what we need." Huo Ming waved his hand and said, "You all go back and rest early. We will watch tomorrow's show tomorrow."
"Brother Huo Ming, are you saying that Huang Bei is really going to make a big fuss tomorrow?" Bai Ren asked uneasily. Starting from noon tomorrow, people from all walks of life will arrive at the Yuezhi tribe one after another. He doesn't want anything big to happen here. trouble.
"The general trend of the world is that if we divide for a long time, we will unite, and if we unite for a long time, we will divide. It's time for us to make a fuss." Huo Ming shook his head, looking free and easy.
"But..." Bai Ren was still uneasy.
"Don't worry, I will definitely make their good show fail!" Yun Chuan patted Bai Ren on the shoulder and said, "Also, brother Bai Ren, I have to remind you that Nata is a smart girl, but she is too strong. It’s not a good thing.”
"Sister Yunchuan, me, Nata and I have never..." Bai Ren's face turned red and his words were incoherent.
"It's okay, I'm a gentle lady. I'm just worried that you can't handle such a strong woman." Yunchuan said with a wink.
"Uh..." Bai Ren was speechless.
"Yunchuan, what are you planning to do tomorrow? Your girl's family will be less involved in this matter." Huo Ming took Yunchuan's hand and said caringly.
"Brother, this matter has been messed up by Huang Bei. You don't care about me anymore, right?" Yunchuan broke away from Huo Ming's hand, put it on Huo Ming's shoulder, and replied swaggeringly. Went to rest in the yurt.
