At the foot of Hengshan Mountain, in front of Li Yan's mansion.
A group of angry people surrounded Li Yan, constantly accusing Niu Jinxing of treason for having an affair with a Jurchen.
Although Li Yan had explained for two or three hours before, his mouth was dry and his cheeks were stiff now.
But he still kept a smile, took pains to explain the "misunderstanding", and claimed that the rebels would never form an alliance with the Jurchens.
Because Li Yan had a high prestige in the eyes of the people, everyone left with doubts after hearing his words.
Unexpectedly, just after this group of people left, another group of people came after hearing the news, so Li Yan repeated what he had just said.
It wasn't until the darkness swallowed up the last trace of light that the people gradually dispersed, and Li Yan also let out a long sigh.
At this time, he suddenly saw the red lady with incomplete armor and a lonely look standing not far away, looking at him quietly.
Li Yan was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly walked over and hugged the red lady in his arms, but did not ask any questions.
The red lady neither spoke, nor hugged Li Yan as before, but still stood quietly.
The night was darker now, with no moon or stars, only the cold mountain wind roaring wildly.
Li Yan felt the red lady's body trembling slightly, and hurriedly hugged her tighter, while quietly turning around to block the direction of the mountain wind.
When Li Yan slowly turned around, the red lady's body suddenly tensed up, and then her whole body suddenly softened, as if she was as soft as if she had no bones.
Li Yan noticed the change in the red lady, a flash of panic flashed across his face, and then he increased the strength of his arms.
It was just that he was afraid of hurting the red lady by using too much force, so he hurriedly reduced the intensity.
Although it was just a simple tightening and loosening, Li Yan's forehead was already covered with sweat, and his clothes were even wet on his back.
Afterwards, the two stood quietly again, silent.
After a long time, Li Yan felt the red lady's hand slowly raising and hesitantly hugging his waist.
Only then did Li Yan feel more relaxed and whispered: "It's okay, just come back, just come back..."
When the red lady heard this, her body suddenly trembled sharply, and then she retracted her hands to her chest and pushed Li Yan away hard.
Li Yan was caught off guard and retreated continuously, almost falling to the ground.
When the red lady saw this, a look of worry flashed across her face.
However, when she saw that Li Yan was not injured, she quickly walked towards the three private houses with "Li Mansion" plaques hanging on them.
Li Yan watched the red lady disappear from the house with a worried look on his face, and then glanced at the empty street with some reluctance.
After confirming that there was no one else, he let out a long sigh and walked in slowly.
When he didn't see the red lady in the living room, he couldn't help but be surprised.
Because in the past, when the matchmaker was dissatisfied with him, she would argue with him in the living room. Sometimes she would even get angry and have discussions with him.
But something like today has never happened before.
Then he remembered that the Red Lady had warned him with a smile before setting off last time, saying that it was the last time to help Li Zicheng. If she still couldn't succeed, it would be God's will, and he would have to retreat with her.
Li Yan didn't pay too much attention at the time, thinking that the Red Lady was dissatisfied after being squeezed out by Niu Jinxing and others because of the expedition, so she acted coquettishly towards him. Now it seems that the Red Lady is serious.
Thinking of this, the sweat that he had just dispersed broke out again.
Sure enough, when he rushed to the bedroom, the matchmaker had already packed her bags.
But when he was tying the package, he seemed a little absent-minded, and his originally cunning eyes were looking at a painting on the wall with a gloomy expression.
That painting depicts a young man who is high-spirited and ready to fight. Naturally, this young man is Li Yan, who was painted by the red lady herself not long after they met.
Originally, the red lady was not good at painting, but in order to paint this painting well, she asked many old painters for advice.
Even in order to obtain the true biography of some old painters, the Red Lady even disguised herself as a bandit and threatened them, and finally painted this painting.
The red lady stared at the painting for a long time. She once stood up and wanted to take it off, but in the end she didn't touch it and just stared at it blankly.
Seeing this, Li Yan walked over slowly and hugged the red lady from behind.
This time the red lady didn't push him away, she still stood quietly and looked at the painting silently.
At this moment, Li Yan didn't dare to move because he was worried that his movements would irritate the red lady.
In this way, after a long time, Li Yan felt the red lady's body gradually softening, slowly leaning into his arms, and his heart relaxed a little.
"Do you remember what I said before setting off?"
At this time, Lady Red's gentle and sad voice sounded.
When Li Yan heard this, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
However, he knew that he must not irritate the red lady at this moment, so he said gently: "I remember, of course I remember."
"I will definitely take you to live in seclusion. Then we will find a place with beautiful scenery to live. You will teach Xiang'er embroidery, and I will teach Chun'er how to practice martial arts..."
The red lady couldn't help but have a dreamy smile on her face after listening to Li Yan's words.
But when Li Yan saw the red lady's smile, he was not as happy as before, but secretly complained.
"Okay, sir, let's go rescue Yan'er now, and then go to Chang'an to pick up Xiang'er and Chun'er. By then..."
"What are you saying, Yan'er is not dead?"
Li Yan was a little surprised when he heard this.
The red lady turned to look at Li Yan and said, "Who told you that Yan'er is dead?"
There was a burst of joy in Li Yan's heart, and then he shook his head and said: "No, I saw you so sad just now, and I thought Yan'er had..."
The red lady was a little disappointed and said: "Yan'er is fine, she was just arrested by Chongzhen. This is also my fault..."
After listening to the red lady's story, Li Yan hugged her tightly and comforted her: "You are not to blame for this, it is Chongzhen who is too cunning. Don't worry, I will definitely rescue Yan'er and avenge you! "
The red lady was about to nod subconsciously, but she suddenly broke away from Li Yan's arms and said angrily: "Didn't you agree to live in seclusion with me? Why, you still have to work hard for Li Zicheng?"
Li Yan saw the angry look on her face and cautiously explained: "Madam, I am not working for your majesty, but I want to rescue Yan'er. After all, Ma Chongxi has defeated Huang Degong now, as long as we..."
"Li Yan, you are still daydreaming. Do you think Li Zicheng can succeed?"
"Actually, you know in your heart that Ma Chongxi has fallen into the Xing family's scheme, and defeat will be a matter of time, but you just refuse to admit it."
The red lady interrupted Li Yan's words loudly, sneered, and continued angrily: "Do you know why I didn't disarm the landlords, but used Liu Wenbing to capture Gong Yonggu? Because I found that there was something wrong with Song Xiance. If I continue Going down will only make us lose faster!"
"As for what happened today, do you think it was just a misunderstanding? Niu Jinxing is just a civil servant, but he has more generals than you, a military general. Do you know what this means?"
"And why do you think I am forcing you to live in seclusion? Am I selfish? No, I am afraid that you will be killed by them. Do you understand that?"
Li Yan was stunned when he heard this, and said apologetically: "Madam, it's my fault for letting you endure so much by yourself, I..."
Seeing that Li Yan was not surprised by her words, Lady Hong asked with some surprise: "You know all this?"
Li Yan nodded and said, "I have known about Niu Jinxing's collusion with the Jurchens for a long time. It was only to protect the overall situation that I did not expose him."
"As for what you are talking about about Song Xiance, I didn't know it before, but since he strongly requested to transfer Liu Zhong and Liu Rukui, I already guessed that he had different intentions."
When the red lady heard this, she said with a look of disbelief: "Since you know everything, why are you still unwilling to leave me? Do you really want to die with Li Zicheng?"
Li Yan shook his head and said: "No, we may lose this battle, but we will definitely not die!"
"Before attacking the capital, I was also worried that after losing the battle of the capital, we would be defeated and unable to save the people of the world."
"But after the real defeat, I realized that the defeat in the capital was not terrible, and it didn't even matter if the subsequent battle of Guangling failed."
"Actually, these defeats are not a bad thing, but a good thing, because we have been so successful in the past few years that His Majesty and some ministers have been dazzled by the victory and have become a little forgetful."
"But since the defeat in the capital, I found that your majesty has begun to reflect on his behavior. His behavior is very different from before. If he loses again in the Guangling battle, his majesty may learn from it more painfully."
"At that time, Your Majesty will be able to eliminate evil spirits and restore glory, so that we can create a peaceful and prosperous age for those suffering people!"
Hearing this, Lady Hong looked at Li Yan with some horror and said, "So you did this on purpose today, right?"
Li Yan wanted to deny it, but when he saw the red lady's angry and affectionate eyes, he swallowed back the words that were on his lips.
He hesitated for a while before nodding: "Yes, but I am already prepared. Niu Jinxing simply..."
But when he saw the tears on the red lady's cheeks, he couldn't help but stop and looked at the red lady with a guilty look on his face.
For a moment, there was silence in the bedroom.
