After Mingcheng left, Yunchuan didn't bother to eat breakfast and immediately went out to find Yang Qingyuan. He needed to tell him the news immediately.
As soon as he reached the place where the guests rested, he found that Yang Qingyuan was already standing at the gate of the residence, being stopped by several guards. Yun Chuan waved and ran over quickly, saying: "He is a friend of this princess, please let him come over."
Several guards looked embarrassed and reported in a low voice: "Princess Yunchuan, King Yelu has asked the visiting guests not to move around at will. This..."
"I reported it to King Yelu. This man was handed over to me. I will take him with me and will not let him move around." Yunchuan did not allow the guard to argue.
Seeing Yun Chuan's determined expression, the guard stopped embarrassing Yang Qingyuan and opened the gate to let him pass. Yun Chuan quickly pulled Yang Qingyuan to a place where there were few guards, and asked with concern: "Have you eaten in the morning? They didn't make things difficult for you last night, right?"
Yang Qingyuan was a little unaccustomed to this sudden concern. She was startled and said, "I've eaten. How about the century-old snow lotus? We have to get the snow lotus back now?"
Yun Chuan put his index finger to his mouth, made a "shh" sound, and whispered: "Yesterday's hundred-year-old snow lotus is fake." Yun Chuan told Yang Qingyuan what he learned, and Yang Qingyuan's eyes gradually darkened, and his brows lightened. Twitching slightly, "Are Mingcheng's words credible? Let's go to Shangdu Khan's yurt to get it now?" Yang Qingyuan interrupted Yunchuan and said.
"As for Mingcheng, we can only take a gamble now. Let's go to my uncle's yurt to get the small box back, and then find an opportunity to go to Shangdu Khan's yurt," Yunchuan said.
"It's not too late, let's go to your uncle's place." Yang Qingyuan learned last night that the entire century-old snow lotus was missing, so he guessed that there must be something else inside. He didn't expect that so many changes would happen overnight, but he knew The matter was urgent and he couldn't mess with things. He nodded in agreement with Yunchuan's method.
Yunchuan knew that his uncle Helian Qiji had the habit of practicing martial arts every morning, and his uncle would definitely not be in the room at this time. Yun Chuan resumed her princess dress, and of course she didn't have to hide. She dismissed the guards at the door and walked into her uncle's room with Yang Qingyuan.
The layout of the room has not changed at all, and the boxes are still in the same place. Yun Chuan stood guard at the door of the yurt. Yang Qingyuan opened the suitcase and rummaged through it for a long time, but he didn't see the small box. Even the clothes the two of them wore last night were gone. fly. Yang Qingyuan secretly thought, "No," Helian must have been abandoned and found out. Maybe he was waiting for them in a corner to fall into his trap.
Yun Chuan turned around and saw Yang Qingyuan who had been overturned for a long time, and ran over quickly, "What's wrong? The things are gone?" Yun Chuan rummaged through the suitcase, becoming more and more anxious, "I obviously put it at the bottom, how could it be discovered? Already?"
"Yunchuan, what are you looking for?" Just when Yunchuan was worried, a familiar voice sounded. Yunchuan felt like thunder in his ears, and there was a "bang" in his head, and he realized that he had been deceived and caught. Upright. Yun Chuan raised his head helplessly, looked at his uncle with pleading eyes, and weakly called out: "Uncle, morning!"
At this time, Yang Qingyuan had already stood up straight, without any fear or nervousness, and looked intently at the General Tusang in front of him, Helian Qiji, who had been a hostage in Dawei for twenty years. In fact, he was not a stranger to him. When Helian Qiji was still in Dawei, in addition to meeting him a few times every year at several major banquets and sacrificial ceremonies in the court, Helian also gave him several gifts. Ci Yuwenhan would occasionally stay for a few sips of the wine brewed by him. The wine "Xiqiong" is one of Helian Qiji's rare confidants. I remember that after a New Year's Eve banquet five years ago, I was returning home from Yu Wenhan's residence. On the way, I met Helian Qiji, who was alone and sad in the heavy snow. That was the last time they met and talked in five years.
"I heard that you will be able to return to Tusang in the next year. Why are you still so sad?" Yang Qingyuan was seventeen years old at the time and was already serving in the capital's guard camp.
"Twenty years have passed, things have changed, and I have become a superfluous person in this world." Helian Qiji held a pot of wine in his arms and took a swig.
"Do you hate them?" Yang Qingyuan understood Helian Qiji's loneliness and hardship in the palace for the past twenty years. He lived in the northwest corner of the palace, with three cabins and a small courtyard, and only two servants to take care of his daily life. The summer is scorching hot and the winter is cold. There are only two hours a day when you can leave the house and walk around in designated places in the palace. At other times, you are not allowed to leave the house without the emperor's permission. Although he and Tu Sang often exchanged letters from home, the letters had to be read by a specialized person before they could reach the other party's hands. In the end, they became just a few words and a formality. In this cold palace, most people thought that he was just a chess piece lost by Tu Sang, without any value, and they didn't even have time to look at him when they met him by chance. There were only a handful of people willing to chat with him, and Yu Wenhan was one of them. After Yu Wenhan knew that he liked drinking, he gave him several bottles of newly brewed wine to comfort him, which also gave him a rare warmth in his life in the palace.
"Which one of them are you referring to? If I say I don't hate, will anyone believe it?" Helian abandoned Ji, who was nearly forty years old at the time. He had spent his best years in the sky, and the years had ruthlessly covered him. His hair has faded, and there are fine lines at the corners of his eyes. He is no longer the high-spirited young man he once was, riding a horse and shouting to his beloved girl: "I want everyone in the grassland to know that you are mine!" His brother Weedon Khan praised him for spending twenty years In exchange for the prosperity of the desert, he could live and work in peace and contentment, but all he did in the past twenty years was just drink to the moon every day and waste his time. He will not be included in the historical records, and he will not be included in the hearts of the people. Even Relatives and lovers will gradually forget about him.
Meeting again five years later gave Yang Qingyuan a glimmer of hope. Although it was just a cup of wine, there was finally someone he knew well.
"General Helian, you are well!" Yang Qingyuan took the initiative to salute, neither humble nor overbearing.
Yun Chuan's eyes widened and he looked at Yang Qingyuan in surprise. He tugged on his sleeves with his hands and didn't understand why he was so calm.
"I haven't seen you for five years, but you are getting older!" Helian Qiji smiled softly, found a seat to sit down, and waved his hands to them, indicating that they were free to do so.
"Uncle, you guys know each other!" Yun Chuan finally breathed a sigh of relief as he remembered that his uncle had been in Dawei for 20 years. Unexpectedly, he and Yang Qingyuan were old acquaintances.
"Tell me, what are you looking for when you come to me?" Helian Qiji's face suddenly turned serious, and the scar on his left cheek left when he was young and fighting immediately became more abrupt.
"We, we went to the wrong place." Yunchuan did not expect that Helian Qiji would change his face immediately, and was speechless for a moment.
"Where do you think this is?" Helian Qiji squinted his eyes and looked at Yun Chuan with murderous intent.
"Uncle, why are you so fierce?" Helian gave up on such a fierce look. Yunchuan had seen it in his training ground and when punishing soldiers, but he had never seen him look at him with such a look. .
Yang Qingyuan stood aside and thought carefully about the uncle-nephew relationship between the two. It didn't seem like "his uncle loved him very much" as Yunchuan himself said.
Helian stood up, picked up a package from the couch, and threw it in front of Yunchuan. Two sets of clothes of Yuezhi tribe guards fell to the ground, and some disguise props were scattered around. Yunchuan looked at it and was surprised. Knowing full well, it seems that pretending to be stupid won't work.
"Let's talk, are you two the two guards who sneaked out last night?" Helian Qiji asked coldly.
"Uncle, you are so awesome, you can see it all. I just said that my uncle is the smartest person on this grassland!" He has been seen through, so he can only use sweet words to deal with it.
"Although the head guard of the Yuezhi tribe is stupid, he is not stupid enough to make up two people. I have been waiting all morning, but I didn't expect it to be you!" Helian said.
"I knew uncle loved me the most! Uncle, how did you find these clothes!" Yun Chuan breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that his uncle didn't want to punish him at all, so he came over and took Helian Qiji's arm with a smile. asked with eyes closed. This uncle she only met five years ago, although he looked serious and had sharp eyes, he was never angry with the three siblings, or even Yun Xi, and even taught him archery himself. Yun Chuan was extremely proud when he mentioned this uncle. After returning to Tusang for five years, he was invincible and powerful in all directions. He never took anything by force, was not greedy for women, and was not tainted with evil. Yun Chuan felt that this was actually true. He is a cold-faced "Scarwolf" with a righteous heart.
Helian Qiji snorted, remembering that when he opened the box to get the jade buckle last night, he found that the box had been turned over by someone, and then glared at Yun Chuan: "If others don't know, don't do anything except yourself!"
Yun Chuan stuck out his tongue, spread the palm of his right hand, and said with a smile: "Uncle, do you want to return that thing to me?"
Helian abandoned Ji but ignored Yun Chuan, looked at Yang Qingyun who had been standing aside for a long time, and scolded: "Do you know what the consequences of stealing a century-old snow lotus will be? Qingyun, although you and I are not close friends, we still After getting acquainted, if you want to provoke a conflict between Tu Sang and Huang Bei, there is no need to involve Yun Chuan."
"Uncle, this is none of his business! And we only took three petals." Yun Chuan pulled Helian Qiji's sleeve and explained hurriedly.
"You don't understand the conflict of interests between ethnic groups, doesn't Qingyuan understand?" Helian Qiji said angrily.
"General Helian, I have no intention of provoking any conflict, but I must get these three petals of snow lotus, no matter what method I use!" Yang Qingyuan looked at Helian Qiji without fear.
"What if there are no more hundred-year-old snow lotus in this world?" Two men who were twenty years apart had the same stern expressions. One had gray hair on his temples like cold light pouring down, and the other's eyes were as cold as a thousand-layer ice lake.
"What did you say?" Yang Qingyuan asked coldly, eyes flashing with cold light.
"Can't you see that what's in this box is an ordinary snow lotus? How can Huang Bei direct and act in such a good show of a thief shouting to catch the thief?" Helian Qiji sneered and took out Yunchuan's small box from his body. He said opening the box.
The light in the yurt was bright, and the petals in the small box could be seen very clearly. These were indeed three common snow lotus petals. Yunchuan took the small box and took a look. The texture and color of the three petals were the same as those seen at Wei Xu's place last night. The similarities are similar, which further confirms my conjecture. Yun Chuan handed the box to Yang Qingyuan and tentatively asked Helian Qiji: "Uncle, are these hundred-year-old snow lotus really gone?"
"What do you want this snow lotus for?" Helian Qiji ignored Yunchuan's question, and his sharp eyes swept across the two of them and fell on Yang Qingyun's face.
Yang Qingyuan held the box in his hand and kept silent, "Uncle, I just made a bet with Yang Qingyun. If he can get the three-petal hundred-petal snow lotus, I can agree to his request. It's that simple!" Yunchuan couldn't explain the reason and prevaricates randomly. road.
Although Helian Qiji had only known his niece for five years, he also knew Yunchuan's temperament. Because his appearance was very similar to the queen's personality, he was regarded as the apple of his eye by his brother. He was not afraid of anything, nosy, and could follow others. It is not impossible for others to make this bet. But this Yang Qingyuan has a cold temperament. In his mind, he has no other hobbies except protecting Prince Ping Yuwenhan. It is impossible for him to play such boring and troublesome tricks with Yunchuan. Helian Qiji looked at Yang Qingyun and was about to speak when the guard outside the door shouted: "General, I have something to report."
"Come in!" Helian said abandonedly.
The guard came in and reported: "Huang Bei sent a message not to investigate the theft of the century-old snow lotus. He said that everything is focused on the Yunshi Conference. The snow lotus issue will be postponed for the time being and will be dealt with after the Yunshi Conference is held."
Yun Chuan was secretly happy when he heard that Ming Guo actually kept his word and canceled the matter. So is the snow lotus clue she mentioned also true? Yun Chuan was anxious, so he pulled Yang Qingyuan and said "goodbye" before running out. Helian Qiji stopped these two people, stopped talking, paused for a while, looked at Yang Qingyuan and waved his hands and said: "Forget it, I don't have the energy to mess around with you. I have to greet visitors from all walks of life at the south gate at noon. Let’s go.”
After walking out of the yurt that Helian had abandoned, Yang Qingyuan hurried forward. Yunchuan could only trot to follow, panting slightly and said: "Qingyun, wait for me, we can't go in like this, we have to find a way to get Shang Du Khan just needs to lure him away."
"I'm responsible for diverting them. Please go in and take out the snow lotus. If I can't get away, you must help me send the snow lotus to Xiayi." Yang Qingyuan replied without thinking. Yun Chuan looked at Yang Qingyuan's generous back, revealing his perseverance. With persistence, he couldn't help but quicken his pace and follow behind. When he was approaching Huang Bei's residence, Yang Qingyuan stopped Yun Chuan: "I'll go there first, and you hide behind Huang Bei Khan's yurt and wait for an opportunity." After saying that, he handed the small box to Yun Chuan and said, "Please."
When Yang Qingyuan was about to leave, Yun Chuan grabbed Yang Qingyuan and asked in a low voice: "How do you lead him away? It's better for me to go, they don't dare to fight with me."
Yang Qingyuan shook his head and refused to argue: "No, we can't always let you take risks. Your uncle is right. Once something happens to the Centennial Snow Lotus, it will easily turn into a dispute between your ethnic groups. You'd better not let this happen. It’s better to be in the light.”
Before Yunchuan could react, Yang Qingyuan strode towards Shangdu Khan's residence, leaving Yunchuan to wait nearby.
Yang Qingyuan swaggered to the side of Shangdu Khan's residence, pretending to be nervous, looking around, and soon successfully attracted the attention of the guard outside the door.
"What do you do?" The guard stopped in front of Yang Qingyuan and asked.
"I, I'm looking for someone!" Yang Qingyuan deliberately increased his voice.
"Who are you looking for?" The guard looked a little impatient.
"I just saw a man from the Central Plains walking past, and I came here to find him. Don't stop me!" Yang Qingyuan started talking nonsense righteously.
The guards looked at each other. They all said that they had never seen anyone from the Central Plains passing by here. Looking at Yang Qingyuan, they felt that this person came with bad intentions. However, they did not want to make the Khan angry in the yurt early in the morning and wanted to drive him away quietly. He pushed directly, but Yang Qingyun stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.
Yang Qingyuan stood up from the ground, suddenly furious, walked over and grabbed the collar of the guard who pushed him, frowned angrily, and shouted loudly: "Why are you pushing me? I am the honored guest of Dawei you invited, how dare you be so indifferent to me?" Li, I want to report to Shangdu Khan!"
"What distinguished guest? Don't you even look at where this is? This is not your Dawei, and this is not a place for you to show off your power!" Although Huang Bei formed an alliance with the Wei Dynasty, and the Khan was named the King of Northern Xinjiang in the Wei Dynasty, but this is not the place where you show off your power! The desert is not a glorious thing, and Huang Bei soldiers naturally don't want to be mentioned.
"What's your name? If you dare to be rude to Dawei's distinguished guests, I'll report it to Shangdu Khan in a moment and ask for an explanation!" Yang Qingyuan pointed at the leading soldier and said angrily, "We in Dawei are not kind to you. Is this the hospitality etiquette of your desert people?" Yun Chuan hid in the corner and witnessed all this, watching Yang Qingyuan blowing his nose and staring, with one hand on his hip and one finger pointing, pretending to be domineering, and unconsciously It's a bit funny. If she hadn't been on a mission, she would have really wanted to go out and give some advice. This posture was completely bluffing, that is, to deceive the mindless guards.
As expected, the guard was aroused and grabbed Yang Qingyuan by the collar. Several guards immediately surrounded him and pressed him step by step. They said contemptuously: "If you want to be a distinguished guest, go back to Dawedang. This is not your territory! Don't say that." I didn’t warn you, if you act like a rogue here again, be careful I won’t be polite to you!”
"Let go!" Yang Qingyu pushed the guard holding his collar to the ground with a backhand, and then showed weakness and was severely restrained by other guards' hands. The guard who was pushed down got up, patted the dust on his body, raised his fist and punched Yang Qingyun in the face. Yang Qingyun turned sideways, and the guard jumped away, and was ready to pounce again! When Yang Qingyun saw this, he kicked his feet wildly. The guards on both sides couldn't hold him at all, so they all wanted to go forward and beat him. The scene was chaotic for a while, and he fell into a mess.
"Oops, who are you hitting? Hit me on the head!" shouted several of the guards who were pressed inside.
"Hold him down! Why are he so stupid!" the guard on the perimeter yelled.
"I want to see Shangdu Khan! Shangdu Khan!" Yang Qingyuan shouted at the top of his lungs inside.
Yun Chuan looked at the chaotic scene and saw Yang Qingyuan covering his head with both hands from the gap in the crowd. From time to time, he grabbed the arms of several guards and pulled them forward. The guards either hit the wrong direction or were thrown down hard. At most, I only ate a few mouthfuls of dust.
As expected, this move had an effect. All the guards here were lured over. The guards' shouts continued to increase. Shangdu Khan finally walked out slowly with his waist straight.
"What's going on! You are acting as guards so early in the morning!" Mingcheng's angry voice sounded, and Mingcheng, Shangdu Khan, Prince Bayin, Princess Nata and Wei Xu walked out of Shangdu Khan's room one after another. General.
The guards panicked and stood up in a hurry, all with their heads lowered in disgrace. Yang Qingyuan, who finally stood up, patted the dust on his body and sneered: "Shangdu Khan, is this how you entertain Dawei guests?"
"Isn't this the Central Plains man who came with Princess Yunchuan yesterday? How come he was so gray! Which of you did it!" Nata recognized it at a glance and looked at the guards and asked.
Mingcheng seemed to have thought of something, looked around, and smiled slightly.
Shangdu Khan looked Yang Qingyuan up and down. He was very familiar with Yang Deshou, the chief minister of the Wei Dynasty, but he had never met his son. However, the father and son looked very similar, but Yang Qingyuan was more indifferent. I think that when I joined Dawei, it was mostly due to Yang Deshou's lobbying and matchmaking. I and Yang Deshou had also called themselves brothers and they had known each other for a long time. Although he is now the second largest ethnic group in the northern desert, many people privately accuse him of betraying his ancestors for glory, which makes his feelings towards Yang Deshou gradually become complicated.
"Are you Yang Deshou's son?" Shangdu Khan asked in a hoarse voice.
"That's right! I often hear my father talking about you and praising you as a powerful hero in the north, with good command of the army and strict control. When I saw you today, I really impressed this junior." Yang Qingyu saluted and replied softly.
"As expected, he is Yang Deshou's son. He is unreasonable and will not give in to anything. His sarcastic skills are not inferior to your father! Then tell me, why are you here? Why do my guards push you down? Land?" Shangdu Khan looked at Yang Qingyuan with a domineering aura and asked with a half-smile.
