Apart from following Li Chengjing to worship the ancestors during festivals, Li Qishen had only entered Xuanyuan Hall once, and that was because he was upset after being slandered by the Crown Princess, and he had to find a place to swallow his hatred. So this time when he entered the hall again, looking at those dark tablets at the door was a bit fresh.
He stood at the palace door for a while. The eunuch in the palace felt strange and approached tentatively: "My Lord, is this... what's the matter?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to come and take a look." Li Qishen had a good memory. He remembered that the person who came forward was the chief of the Pingxing Emperor. Now it was a strange eunuch who looked less than 20 years old. He asked casually, "Where is Chief Zhong?"
"You still know Chief Zhong?" The eunuch was stunned, then lowered his head, "Chief Zhong was old, and it was cold this year, and he didn't survive the winter... He passed away before the New Year."
Li Qishen was slightly stunned, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
He and Zhong Qingman didn't have much affection for each other. If they had to talk about it, it was just a chance encounter and they had exchanged a few words. Given Zhong Qingman's age, he wasn't sure if the old chief still remembered him. But the moment Li Qishen heard the news, he suddenly felt a subtle emotion, like sadness and regret.
Some people seem to be like this, there is no fate, they just meet by chance, and when they hear from each other again, they are already separated by life and death.
Li Qishen was silent for a moment: "Go down."
"Yes." Apart from the spirit tablet and the eternal lamp, there was nothing in the Xuanyuan Hall. It was obvious that Li Qishen was not the reincarnation of a rat who stole lamp oil. The eunuch thought it was better to keep out of trouble and withdrew.
Li Qishen walked straight into the hall and sat down in front of the spirit tablet. In the past, he knelt upright, but now he was much more casual, with his legs stretched out, not like he was kneeling to worship his ancestors, but rather like he was sitting leisurely in his own bedroom.
Facing a row of silent memorial tablets, he completely relaxed. The first words he said were about the resentment that had been buried deep in his heart: "When I heard the news, I was actually very happy. They abandoned me in Chang'an City and ordered people to kill me, but I was the one who survived."
"I never thought of snatching anything from them, nor did I think of climbing to that position. The emperor is just a machine. How many people stuffed into that shell have a good ending?" Li Qishen raised his head slightly, his eyes sweeping over the memorial tablets one by one. The names written in gold powder on them could form a long list in the history books. The historians praised them lavishly, while the people, with both reverence and curiosity, speculated about their secret past, hoping to find some clues of their entanglement with women.
But none of them had a good ending. They died of old age, or at least of illness, so they were not killed in the middle of the night. But who would be comfortable in their old age? They moved between Taiji Palace and Daming Palace. The Daming Palace was so high that it could not relieve rheumatism and headaches. No matter how carefree they were when they were young, they were trapped in a small world before they died. All they could see was the vermilion palace walls.
Li Qishen knew that he couldn't escape. He made this decision, and it was destined to end like this. "I once thought about leaving here, even if it was to go to Tuyuhun to herd horses, it would be more comfortable than here. But it's a pity that they wouldn't let me. They always felt that I was thinking the same as them, and I would feel uncomfortable if I didn't cling to the throne."
"Some people always like to suppress me, afraid that I know something they don't know; some people secretly trip me up, afraid that I can go far... They all hate me. But what did I do wrong?" He thought of Murong Feique again, and the heavy rain sounded in his ears again, with the smell of wet blood in the wind. Li Qishen's voice was still low, and no one could hear it except himself, but his tone suddenly became strong, fierce and questioning, "Is it my fault that I was born with half Xianbei blood, or is it my fault that I was born into the Longxi Li family?!"
He stared at the tablet, took a deep breath, swallowed the resentment that surged up, and relaxed his eyebrows. In an instant, he was calm and composed again, like a beautiful jade sculpture. Li Qishen spoke softly, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him, "If that's the case, then you can't blame me. I still want to live."
He took one last look at the spirit tablet, smiled lightly, then stood up and walked out.
The eunuch in charge of cleaning Xuanyuan Hall had been waiting outside since he left. When he saw Li Qishen coming out, he was stunned for a moment: "...Prince?"
"Nothing, time to go back."
The eunuch was puzzled and had no idea why Li Qishen came here, but he was not so bad at reading people's expressions that he did not ask any more questions. He just bowed his head and saluted: "Farewell, Prince."
Li Qishen responded, walked past the eunuch and headed towards the Changsheng Palace.
When he walked away, the eunuch recalled the two glances he had just taken and felt that something was wrong.
When Li Qishen came, he looked solemn, his brows slightly furrowed, his eyes far away in Xuanyuan Hall, as if he had thousands of worries that he couldn't express, but when he left, he looked relaxed, as if he had finally figured something out, and as if he didn't care at all. The same face, with a slight change in expression, it was as if he had completely changed into a different person.
The eunuch thought of some nonsensical and strange stories, shuddered, wiped his face, and went into the hall.
**
The Palace of Eternal Life.
After all, it was the emperor's bedroom. It was one thing to go in and out when the rebels were pressing in, but it was another thing to go in again now that the situation had calmed down. Cui Shi thought that Li Qishen would move back to Qingsi Palace or even return to the Prince's Mansion, but he didn't expect that he would still live in Changsheng Palace. He was a little confused, and when he sat down opposite him, he couldn't help but said, "Why are you still living here? Didn't you complain to me before that you didn't want to sleep on your father's couch because it was disgusting, and you could only sleep on the floor behind the table, which made you uncomfortable all over?"
"Can you write an imperial edict?" Li Qishen ignored the question and threw it back.
"Edict?" Cui Shi was puzzled, thinking he had misheard. "The one drafted by the Secretariat?"
"Yes." Li Qishen glanced at him, "The Secretariat can write, can you write?"
"… Of course!" Cui Shi almost choked. He didn't know martial arts, nor did he like it. He could make a living in Chang'an City by writing poems and verses. There was nothing he couldn't write.
Now that Li Qishen had said this and even brought up the Secretariat, Cui Shi felt that Li Qishen looked down on him and was inevitably a little annoyed. "It's just a necessary procedure to go through the Ministry of Personnel and the Secretariat. If we only talk about what's written above, it's nothing more than four-six parallel prose. What's there to be afraid of? Not to mention me, you can do it too."
"I'm too lazy to write." Li Qishen could indeed write, but he didn't like to write fancy things. In the army, he wrote manifestos in extremely concise prose. He pushed the paper and pen on the table over and said, "Come on, write."
"What?"
"Write an imperial edict that will allow me to replace the bedding on my father's couch with my own."
Cui Shi was shocked and looked up at Li Qishen: "You..."
"We have paper and pen. Let's make a rough draft on the paper first?" Li Qishen said calmly, and put the rolled silk on the table in front of Cui Shi. "Or maybe Mr. Cui can write directly on the silk?"
"... No, Prince, are you really...really planning to do this?" At this point, Cui Shi would be stupid if he didn't understand. His whole body was stiff, his tongue couldn't move smoothly, and he stammered, "His Majesty is still in Chengdu, you...if he makes a scene, the situation will be...have you thought about what to do?"
"Whether this edict is issued or not, he will make a fuss. Instead of waiting for him to come back, we might as well seize the opportunity." After so many years, Li Qishen probably figured out Li Chengjin's thoughts.
Now the rebels are still there, but they have just retreated temporarily. They should have rested internally and continued to pursue and suppress the rebellion externally. But with Li Chengjing's narrow mind, once he returns to Chang'an City, the first order he will probably issue is to kill Li Qishen and the Jiedushi who supported him when defending the city. When that happens, the rebels can come back again. Li Qishen is not so magnanimous and cannot say that he is doing it for the people of the world, but at least he does not want the soldiers who are determined to die outside the city to die in vain.
"Now that the crown prince is dead, I am the only one left in the direct line. Do you think I should do it myself, or find a young child from the royal family who is easier to control?" Li Qishen asked an obvious question, and before Cui Shi could answer, he said, "Write it."
"The imperial edict needs to be sealed, but the imperial seal is not here, and the seal of Princess Danhua is too small. It would be inappropriate to put it on top." Cui Shi hesitated. "What should we do?"
"Whether the seal is stamped or not, what does it matter? I don't want them to see the jade seal above, I want them to know." Li Qishen didn't bother to care about what kind of seal was stamped, "Anyway, it's all about usurping the throne, do you really think so seriously?"
Cui Shi was stunned, then realized. Li Qishen was not a legitimate successor at all, so who cares about the procedure, just climb up first.
He thought about it, looked at the paper and pen on the table, then looked at Li Qishen, and hesitated again.
Li Qishen didn't understand what Cui Shi was hesitating about. He was confused for a moment, then suddenly figured it out. Although he could guarantee that there would be no mistakes, if there were any changes, he would certainly die, and Cui Shi, who wrote the edict, would also be beheaded.
He asked Cui Shi to come to the palace to write this edict, purely out of habit since they had studied together when they were young. He did not like to write complicated parallel prose, so he always left it to Cui Shi. Cui Shi's imitations were always very lifelike, and Xu Xuguang praised him several times.
But now is not the same as before. Li Qishen knows how heavy this pen is. He was silent for a moment: "If you don't want to write, go back. Don't worry, I will never embarrass you. I will write it myself."
Seeing that he was about to take the pen, Cui Shi quickly grabbed the pen. He had just written half of the draft in his mind, so how could he not write? He cleared his throat, glanced at Li Qishen, then looked at the empty inkstone, and said suggestively: "Prince, look..."
Li Qishen understood, but when the time came, he could only let Cui Shi take advantage. He picked up the small pot next to the inkstone, poured some water into it, and picked up the ink stick: "Okay, I'll grind the ink."
The author has something to say: Xiao Cui: It’s rare for me to turn over and become the master (I’m so happy)
Alas, the harvest is dropping like crazy, and I feel abandoned_(:3)∠)_Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-29 18:28:56~2019-11-30 12:16:37~
Thanks to the little angels who threw the grenades: Yu Hehe 1;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: No Return Date, No Candles in the West Window, and Daxi 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Chi Chi 32 bottles; I Want to Change My Name, Bo Yan Qing Lan, Tai Ping You Xiang 10 bottles; 34033837 6 bottles; Peach Blossom Rain, A Peach in Summer, Da Xi, The Cat Who Listens to the Alarm Clock 5 bottles; Nanmoyuan to 3 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!