Hearing Xi An's question, Lin Qingbai's heart tightened suddenly, and he reprimanded Xi An in secret.

"No nonsense."

But as soon as he finished scolding Xi An, he felt even more sad.

He sat on the spot, his chest heaving violently, feeling as if he was pushed to the ground by someone and forced to face this cruel question.

What if Xi An can't come back?

He didn't dare to think about it.

This can't happen either.

Lin Qingbai's fingers clenched into fists, and it took him a long time to calm down. He raised his right hand tremblingly to hold Xi'an's face, and the pulp of his thumb gently rubbed Xi'an's cheek.There are many, many emotions flashing in it.

Sadness, heartache, worry...

All the emotions turned into the endless soft light in Lin Qingbai's eyes, reflecting his tearful eyes and his heart aching.

At that moment, none of the answers mattered.

Xi An closed his eyes, just like when he was a child, and gently rubbed his cheek against Master's palm, obediently like a puppy.

Thousands of words were stuck in his heart, Lin Qingbai clenched his teeth, but his eyes became more and more red, and finally he said in a soft voice: "I am waiting for you, I have to come back..."

The date of the expedition was set at the beginning of February, and the time was rushed.

These days Xi An frequently rushed to the palace to discuss with General Chu about the expedition, so busy that he didn't even have time to pack his luggage.

Lin Qingbai was alone at home, always worried, so he and Aunt Lian packed Xi'an's luggage, but they were always afraid that something would be left behind.

In this way, until the day before Xi An's expedition.

That night, Lin Qingbai and Xi An had dinner in the palace.

The emperor specially prepared a practice banquet for Xi An and General Chu, and invited the princes and ministers in the palace, and the tables and seats were full of delicacies from mountains and seas.

After the emperor toasted the two of them, the banquet became much more free.

The ministers talked and flattered each other, and General Chu and Xi An were the protagonists today, surrounded by people.

Lin Qingbai has a high status and is also a prince, so he sat on the high platform of the palace, looking down at the bustle below the stage, but felt like an outsider.

"Xiao Shi." The emperor called him.

Lin Qingbai raised his head to look at the emperor, and replied, "Brother Huang."

"I see that you have been absent-minded all night, but are you worried about tomorrow's expedition?" The emperor asked with hazy eyes after drinking a little too much.

Lin Qingbai didn't know how to respond. When he was silent, the emperor waved his hand and said, "Xiao Shi, you can rest assured that I have prepared a hundred thousand soldiers and horses for General Chu and Xi'an for this expedition.They are elite soldiers and strong generals, who will surely protect their safety."

Lin Qingbai replied with a faint smile, "Thank you, Brother Huang."

After the emperor finished speaking, he turned around and went drinking with other princes and ministers.

Maybe Lin Qingbai was too boring, everyone around was joking, but no one talked to him.

He was the only one sitting in the seat, not drinking or joking, and even eating very little of the delicacies in front of him.

Lin Qingbai turned his head again and looked at Xi An who was under the stage.

Xi An is completely different from him.

Several ministers spoke to him courteously while holding wine cups and smiling.

Xi An also responded with a smile, without losing his grace in every word, and the ministers chatted happily with him while talking and laughing.

The atmosphere of the whole banquet was cheerful, and there was no way to see that 100,000 people would go to Qianzhou tomorrow to fight against the Chizu tribe.

Lin Qingbai looked down at the wine cup on the table, raised his hand and drank the wine in the cup.

The smell of wine was strong, Lin Qingbai's eyes turned red as soon as it entered his throat.

Lin Qingbai had never drank alcohol since he came to the world, let alone how Bai Xu's drinking capacity was, so he let go of it simply because of this banquet today.

After drinking the first cup, there is a second cup.

When Xi An finally finished dealing with those difficult ministers, he raised his eyes to look at Lin Qingbai, and his face suddenly darkened.

Lin Qingbaiyi

Look, she drank too much wine, her cheeks were pale pink, her head was resting on her hands, and she was staring at Xi'an in a daze.

Now Xi'an doesn't care about rules or irregularities.

He pushed away the cup changing from the minister beside him, stepped onto the high platform in two steps, walked up to Lin Qingbai and squatted down.

"Master." Xi An called Lin Qingbai softly.

Even if Lin Qingbai was drunk, it was the same as before, but his reaction was slightly slower.

He slowly raised his head, looked at Xi An, and said, "En?"

Xi An's brows were wrinkled into Sichuan characters, and he asked: "Master, how much have you drunk?"

Seeing that Lin Qingbai's eyes were in a trance and he couldn't answer, Xi An directly picked up the jug on the table and shook it.

There was only a little wine at the bottom of the whole jug.

Xi An put down the jug heavily, turned around and walked in front of the emperor without saying a word, and said a few words with cupped hands.

Then he returned to Lin Qingbai, bent down to support Lin Qingbai's arm, and said in a low voice, "Master, let's go home."

Lin Qingbai's eyes were watery, and he looked at the prosperity lights under the high platform dimly.

The ministers in the audience were still drinking and having fun, and many people were still staring at Xi An.

He was already in a daze of drunkenness, but he still patted Xi'an's arm, and said in a low voice: "Today is your practice feast, it's not right."

Xi An didn't care about these things, he said: "Master, I have to go back to the residence tonight to prepare my luggage, I have already explained the reason to the emperor, there is nothing wrong with it."

Hearing what Xi An said, Lin Qingbai didn't say anything more.

Maybe he really drank too much wine, he just felt dizzy when he sat down.

Now when stand up, feel that legs are weak and feet are weak, and can't even stand up.

Lin Qingbai staggered and almost fell to the ground, Xi An quickly grabbed Lin Qingbai's narrow waist with quick eyes and pulled him into his arms, only then did he stabilize Lin Qingbai's body.

"Master, you drank too much."

The young man also drank, with a slight alcohol smell on his body, and his palms were hot on Lin Qingbai's waist.

His deep voice made Lin Qingbai know that his little apprentice was unhappy even though he was drunk.

Just like that, Xi An helped him out of the hall, and along the way, people kept coming forward to toast Xi An and Lin Qingbai.

No matter how big or small these officials are, Xi An changed his smiling face just now, and calmly ignored the toasts from the people around him.

When the two were about to leave the hall, General Chu came over with a wine cup and called Lin Qingbai to stop.

"Lord Yun."

Lin Qingbai paused.

In this practice banquet, only the emperor and general Chu can not slack off.

General Chu was always forthright, and he walked up to the two of them and said with a loud smile, "King Yun, why do you have to leave before the banquet is over?"

Before Lin Qingbai could speak, Xi'an replied first: "General Chu, my master drank too much and is not feeling well. I have already asked the emperor for instructions to go back to the residence first."

When General Chu saw it, he was drunk, his face was flushed, his body was staggering, and he didn't listen carefully to what Xi An said.

He patted Xi An on the shoulder vigorously, and said to Lin Qingbai: "Lord Yun, I'm ashamed to say that, I have always looked down on literati like you before, thinking that you are only scheming every day.But I didn't expect that you could teach such a heroic boy who dared to fight against the enemy at a young age. I have also introspected for a long time, old man, and found that I had a one-sided understanding of people before, and my vision was narrow."

General Chu is a man of temperament, what he said was very generous.

Lin Qingbai stood up straight with Xi'an's support, and replied: "General Chu is over-reputed. General Chu killed enemies outside and fought for the country. No one has dedicated more to our Fu Dynasty. We and General ChuIt’s really incomparable and not worth talking about.”

General Chu sighed, waved his hand and said, "No reputation! If it weren't for a master with such a heart, how could such a heroic apprentice come from?! Forget it, I will go to Qianzhou again tomorrow.When I come back alive to see the prince, I will toast the prince a glass of wine, all the wars in the past are melted in the wine,

Never mention it again!"

The glass of wine was handed in front of Lin Qingbai, Xi An took a step forward, trying to stop the glass of wine, but Lin Qingbai raised his hand to block it.

The wine was poured so full that it almost overflowed the glass.

Lin Qingbai took the wine from General Chu.

The two clinked glasses, Lin Qingbai raised his glass, put the wine cup to his mouth, closed his eyes and drank the wine in one gulp.

The spirits are fishy and spicy.

The glass of wine that he drank was spicy from Lin Qingbai's mouth into his abdomen almost instantly, pulling his abdomen with slight pain.

Lin Qingbai didn't show any abnormality on his face. He gently broke away from Xi'an's hand that was supporting him, picked up the flagon and poured a cup of wine, then raised the cup and said to General Chu: "This cupWine, let me respect General Chu instead."

This time Xi An's face became even more serious, and even General Chu paused.

Anyone could tell that Lin Qing didn't hold his liquor well, and he was almost unsteady after drinking.

What's more, Lin Qingbai is the emperor's younger brother, a direct bloodline of the royal family, born cold, and never exchanged cups with others at banquets.

Just now General Chu offered him a glass of wine, and he was willing to drink it to give General Chu enough face.

Now no one thought that he actually poured another full glass of wine to toast General Chu.

At this sight, even all the officials in the hall looked sideways at the two of them, discussing in low voices with their heads bowed.

"Master, don't drink any more." Xi An suppressed his voice to stop it.

Lin Qingbai ignored it.

He tried his best to ignore the dizziness in his head, the weakness of his whole body, and the tingling pain in his stomach. He just held up the glass of wine with both hands, and said with a faint smile: "General Chu, Xi'an is still young.After all, this is his first time on the battlefield, and he has never experienced a big scene, if he offends the general in the days to come, as his master, I will first apologize for him here."

Lin Qingbai has a noble status, and he rarely said so many words in one breath, let alone apologized so humbly.

At this time, he was wearing a blue gauze uniform and a white silk waist, standing in the hall, with water in his eyes, and said in a difficult voice: "It's just... that swords have no eyes on the battlefield.I really encountered difficulties, and I hope that General Chu can see that he is my only apprentice, and save his life when he has spare energy...."

Xi An's pupils shrank sharply, and he turned his head a little bit, those dark eyes were fixed on Lin Qingbai.

Lin Qingbai has a slender neck and a straight nose. Among the noisy surroundings, he is the only one who is clear and light, with a thin smile on his mouth, and his whole body feels fragile, but he looks like a lonesome girl whose branches are about to fall on a snowy day.Cold plum blossoms.

I saw him saluting the wine cup upwards, with that fearlessness as if even if he was holding poisoned wine, he would drink it with a smile.

"I would like to thank General Chu first. I will serve this glass of wine as a respect."

After finishing speaking, Lin Qingbai closed his eyes and poured all the spirits in his hand into his mouth.

Drank it down.