Nan Yi and Xie Sui'an stood under the corridor, watching Qi Bing brazenly walking through Wangxuewu. It was a foregone conclusion that Xie Queshan would take over the Xie family.
Xie Queshan came out of Xuanying Hall. Nan Yi couldn't stop Xie Sui'an, so she rushed forward first. Nan Yi didn't dare to face Xie Queshan. He hesitated for a moment and stopped in an inconspicuous corner.
Xie Sui'an stopped in front of Xie Queshan and stared at him with scarlet eyes. There was still a glimmer of hope in a corner of her heart, hoping that Xie Queshan would say something to explain his treachery, but he just looked at her quietly, calm and confident, and it had nothing to do with him.
Xie Sui'an finally couldn't bear it anymore and slapped Xie Queshan on the face with a loud "snap".
The Qi soldiers were startled and wanted to stop Xie Sui'an, but Xie Queshan raised his hand and stopped everyone's actions.
"Xie Chaoen," Xie Sui'an tried her best to suppress the trembling in her chest, but as soon as she opened her mouth, tears still flowed down. She had no choice but to hold back the slightest bit of anger, which also showed her own powerlessness, "What are you doing to me?" How much hatred the Xie family has, can they all be directed at me?"
No one saw that Xie Queshan's hands were tightly clenched into fists under his long sleeves. He had to work harder to act as if nothing had happened.
The year he was born, the late emperor ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world. "Chao'en" means to express gratitude for the favor of the court. Since his treason, this name has become a joke.
His real name was like a mantra that cut into his heart every time he said it.
Xie Queshan paused, ignored him, and started to leave. Xie Sui'an stood in front of him stubbornly with red eyes.
"Kill me, and I will pay for your mother's life. Don't hate me anymore. Let your third uncle go, let your father go, and don't destroy the Xie family, okay?"
Xie Queshan's face was as cold as ice. He seemed to be angry too. He didn't even look at Xie Sui'an who was pleading: "Xie Sui'an, it has nothing to do with you. You just need to stay well and don't do anything. If you dare to die, I will Let your mother be buried with you."
Xie Queshan waved his sleeves and left, leaving Xie Sui'an standing there in vain.
Xie Sui'an stared blankly at Xie Queshan's back, not even noticing when Nan Yi came to her side.
She murmured: "My father should not have made that decision that year... It would be better to let the whole Xie family die in Lanzhou than to be close to each other now and not to be enemies..."
——
The fifteenth year of Yongkang, Lanzhou thirteen years ago.
Xie Queshan was fifteen years old that year and Xie Sui'an was only ten years old.
The news that the Qi people were attacking the city with heavy troops was secretly sent to the hands of Xie Jun, Duke of Changning. The imperial court had already planned to abandon Lanzhou and protect the city, but there was still an unknown singing and dancing in Lanzhou city.
After much hesitation, Xie Jun decided to move his family south.
However, it was top-secret news that the imperial court had abandoned Lanzhou. The army had been transferred to Dadingguan. Only some elite sergeants were left in Lanzhou to consume the Qi troops. The main force tried its best to protect the pass.
If the Xie family made too big a move, they would not be able to hide it, which would cause panic and chaos among the soldiers and civilians in the city. The Qi people would also get the news that Lanzhou City was empty and attack Dadingguan.
In the end, Xie Jun took the excuse of a city outing and left from the mountain road with only his relatives in three carriages, leaving all his servants at home, maintaining everything in the Xie family as normal.
This move was tantamount to throwing the people of Lanzhou City and all the servants of the Xie family under Qi Ren's swords and guns, but Xie Jun really had no better choice.
When the sea and rivers are clear, people can sympathize with beggars on the street, but in troubled times, it is not the time to give up one's life. When people are far or near, they are far away from each other.
When I left home that day, Xie's mansion was also in a mess. Everyone thought they had notified the less favored Third Yiniang, but no one informed them. By the time everyone discovered that Xie Queshan and his mother were missing from the carriage, they had already left Baili Land in Lanzhou.
It was impossible for the carriage to turn back, so Xie Jun could only send his close guards back to pick up Xie Queshan and his son, but outside Lanzhou City, the Qi people were already approaching the city.
It took the Qi people three days to break through the city gate and found that Lanzhou was just an "empty city" in name only. They became even more angry and massacred them wantonly.
Xie Sui'an no longer knows what happened in the city.
Everyone thought that the mother and son died in the war, and even prepared to erect a tomb for them. However, just a year later, Xie Queshan took his mother to Wangxuewu in Lidu Mansion.
The young man from a wealthy family has gone through many vicissitudes of life and his clothes are in rags. He remains silent about what happened during this year, but the wounds on his body reveal the hardships and hardships along the way.
At this point, there is still no room for redemption.
After all, Xie Queshan was young and vigorous, and it was inevitable that he would resent his father in his heart. However, his mother repeatedly warned him not to be resentful towards his parents. If he returned home alive, it was the blessing of the Bodhisattva. Mrs. Xie also intervened and asked Xie Jun to apologize to Xie Queshan in person. The father and son reluctantly shook hands and made peace.
Xie Queshan felt uncomfortable staying at Xie's house after all, and his escape also gave him new insights and ambitions.
On his way to escape, he received help from Shen Zhizhong, who was then the Privy Envoy of the Yu Dynasty. Soon after returning home, he joined Shen Zhizhong's command and joined the army to fight against Qi.
He joined the army for three years and made many military exploits, and for a time he became famous as a young general. However, the imperial court negotiated peace with the Qi people, and Shen Zhizhong was recalled to the court. For a hundred years, the Yu Dynasty emphasized literature and preached that everything was inferior except for reading, so generals were not reused. Therefore, Xie Queshan planned to return to Tokyo with his mentor Shen Zhizhong, take the imperial examination and become a civil servant.
At this time, rumors spread out from nowhere in the Xie family that San Yiniang had been kidnapped by bandits when Lanzhou fell, and her body was no longer clean. The three of them became tigers, and the description became darker and darker. On a sunny spring day, the third aunt swallowed gold and committed suicide to prove her innocence.
Xie Queshan got the news and went home for the funeral, only to see the coffin of his mother who had been docile all her life. Those who commit suicide cannot enter the ancestral graves and can only be buried in lonely graves in the wild.
This year, Xie Queshan was only nineteen years old. Furious, he slashed open the plaque of the Xie family's ancestral hall with his sword, and severed ties with the Xie family from then on.
In the same year, Xie Jun was exhausted mentally and physically. Knowing that he had sinned deeply, he resigned from all official positions and fled to Buddhism to devote himself to worshiping Buddha.
At that time, Xie Suian's heart was still towards Xie Queshan. She even secretly ran from Lidu Mansion to Bianliang, Tokyo to visit her brother, vowing that he would always be her third brother. Xie Hengzai dragged his sick body back and forth between Tokyo and Lidu many times, drinking and chatting with Xie Queshan.
Xie Queshan even made two close friends, Pang Yu and Song Muchuan. The three of them often drunkenly composed poems on the Yanyu Bridge under the moonlight, and their fame spread throughout Tokyo, and they were known as the "Three Heroes of the Yanyu".
Although Xie Queshan broke away from his family, during those three years in Tokyo, with his teachers, his friends, and his brothers and sisters, he was still a high-spirited young man.
Everyone thought that as time passed, he would slowly forget his hatred.
However, as the Qi people made a comeback, Xie Queshan, who had just finished the provincial examination, had no time to wait until the day when the results were announced, so he was ordered to go to Youdu Prefecture to fight against the Qi people.
One month later, the Shocking Spring Incident occurred, and the news of Xie Queshan Touqi returned to the capital. His name was personally removed from the imperial examination list by the officials. No one knew how the talented young man with both civil and military skills did in the examination. If What kind of life will it be like if he returns to Beijing safely?
——
The young man's ups and downs in the first half of his life slowly unfolded in front of Nan Yi with just a few strokes. Those who hear it feel shocked.
Nan Yi looked up in a daze, it was already sunset.
In the story Xie Sui'an told, she heard Pang Yu's name. It was a story of romance and friendship, which was completely different from the tragic scene where her best friend turned against her and turned against her.
Nan Yi felt an unknown sadness in her heart. No one knows what he was thinking during those three years of drinking and singing, and how he could give up everything he had in the past and become a traitor without looking back.
"He...does he have any difficulties?"
Nan Yi asked uncertainly.
