Ganlin Palace.
Zhu Yunxuan sat on the couch, glanced at the Western clock in the corner from time to time, feeling restless and restless.
Until Gao An's voice came from outside the hall: "Master Guo, please go this way."
Zhu Yunxuan stood up abruptly, her heart beating suddenly in her throat, Gao An had led Zhu Yunjing around a screen and appeared in front of him.
Zhu Yunxuan seemed to be locked in place, with her eyes wide open, she looked at Zhu Yunjing who was approaching with a smile without blinking. Zhu Yunjing walked up to him, raised her hand, and patted his shoulder lightly: "Ah Xuan has grown up."
His younger brother, who was a head lower than him when he left Beijing, is now as tall as him.
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes turned red instantly, and he said loudly: "Brother..."
Zhu Yunjing sighed helplessly: "I have become the emperor, why do I still cry so much, let people outside see it, but there is no majesty."
Zhu Yunxuan finally came back to his senses, rushed forward, hugged Zhu Yunjing forcefully, sobbing loudly: "Brother, you are finally back..."
A quarter of an hour later, when tea and snacks came, Gao An led all the palace people to retreat. The two brothers sat on the couch, looked at each other, wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start. .
After a short silence, Zhu Yunjing spoke first: "I brought my two children with me. I have been outside the city for the past two days. I came to Beijing only after the rebellious parties in Beijing were taken down. I brought the children first. Send them to He Huailing's residence to settle down, and bring them into the palace in a few days to show His Majesty."
He said with some regret: "I also want to help His Majesty suppress the rebellious party, but the child is too young to leave it behind, and my status is not good to show my face in front of people, so I will cause you trouble."
"I know..." Zhu Yunxuan nodded, "Brother, how have you been all these years?"
Zhu Yunjing's demeanor is much more calm than before, with a smile on his mouth all the time, which is quite different from the appearance in Zhu Yunxuan's memory: "It's good, I really know how big this world is when I go outside, and I can see it with my own eyes. It's a blessing to see it, not to mention that I have a title and a child, and I don't have to worry about everything, I do business at sea, and I can go to sea to see it when I'm happy, and I live very happily."
Seeing his ruddy complexion, looking forward to him while talking and laughing, Zhu Yunxuan knew that what he said was not a lie, his elder brother had a good life these years, and that was enough.
After a few jokes, the estrangement that hadn't been seen for many years was swept away. They are the closest brothers, and they will not become unfamiliar because of the barrier of time and distance.
Zhu Yunjing took a sip of the fruit on the snack plate, and said with emotion: "It's been a long time since the taste of this palace snack fruit. Yuan Bao hasn't tasted this one yet. That little greedy cat must like it."
Zhu Yunxuan smiled lightly: "You can just bring some to him later, or why not just bring him into the palace tomorrow and let me meet you?"
Zhu Yunjing responded with a smile, and asked casually: "You have been on the throne for two years, why haven't you got married yet? This matter cannot be delayed, and the position can only be stabilized if there is a successor."
The smile on the corner of Zhu Yunxuan's mouth froze for a moment, and he wrote lightly: "It's not urgent...it's not yet time."
Zhu Yunjing frowned lightly, staring into his eyes: "Ah Xuan, did you encounter any difficulties?"
As soon as he arrived in Beijing yesterday, he first met Shu and Princess Dachang. The aunt and nephew chatted for a long time, and Princess Dachang sighed all the time when she mentioned Zhu Yunxuan, saying that he has had a hard life these years, and he has not been relaxed since he became the throne. His temperament has changed a lot , Ask him to enlighten his younger brother more. Zhu Yunjing was skeptical at first, but after seeing someone today, she really understood what the eldest princess meant when she said that she had changed a lot.
In the past, his younger brother was always quick-witted and rambunctious. He was carefree and even heartless. He was the most carefree and innocent person in the palace. How could he be like this now? But it is full of worry and melancholy, if it is said that it is because of the burden of political affairs, but now that the traitors in the court have been eliminated and the power is in his hands, he still seems not to be happy.
"...No, the chaotic party has been quelled, so what can be difficult."
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes wandered, and his words were full of hesitation. How could Zhu Yunjing believe it: "Ah Xuan, since you were young, when have you successfully lied in front of me?"
Zhu Yunxuan slightly pursed the corners of her lips, speechless, Zhu Yunjing looked at him quietly, and suddenly asked after a while: "That King Zhao, how do you plan to deal with him?"
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes flickered: "He has exercised power, manipulated the government, and he should be dealt with according to the law."
Zhu Yunjing drank tea, and said slowly: "In my opinion, he dared to put the emperor under house arrest and conspired against him. It would be easier for him to behead the capital, so he should be quartered and executed by Ling Chi."
Zhu Yunxuan was slightly taken aback: "He didn't put me under house arrest, it was just a play I made, not to mention he was considered to have made meritorious service in the past..."
"In the eyes of the subjects of the world, he tried to put His Majesty under house arrest and failed to rebel. Even if he had made great contributions back then, he would not regret his death."
Zhu Yunxuan bit her lip unintentionally, and was speechless, Zhu Yunjing put down the teacup in her hand and sighed: "Ah Xuan, are you reluctant to part with him?"
"… I don't."
"You have," Zhu Yunjing said firmly, "Your eyes tell me that you are reluctant."
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes slowly turned red: "I don't want to..."
Zhu Yunjing's eyebrows frowned even tighter: "You never mentioned Liang Zhen in the letters you sent me at the beginning, but then you suddenly said that he helped you ascend the throne. Curious, why did he want to help you, his identity... "
"No, he wasn't, the late emperor made a mistake." Zhu Yunxuan told Liang Zhen's life experience with a wry smile. Before Zhu Yunjing came, he had been hesitant to tell him the truth. It must be very uncomfortable to treat him as a stepping stone for a wronged illegitimate child, but after thinking about it, he still feels that his elder brother should know the truth of what happened back then.
Zhu Yunjing was stunned for a moment after hearing this, but there was no look of loss on his face: "Actually, I guessed it a long time ago, but I didn't expect that the late emperor made a mistake in the end, and recognized the enemy as his parent-child, which can be regarded as retribution... It's just that. First of all, Liang Zhen shouldn't be helping you, so why did he choose to help you in the first place?"
Zhu Yunxuan lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, and said in a hoarse voice: "I made a deal with him, he helped me get the throne, and I... be his confinement."
Zhu Yunjing's eyes widened in disbelief, and she slammed her fist on the table: "Are you crazy?!"
"I have no choice, only he can help me, without him I can't sit in this position at all..."
Zhu Yunjing stood up abruptly, took two steps back and forth angrily, went forward and clasped Zhu Yunxuan's shoulder forcefully: "Look at me! Tell me why you did this?! I want you Go fight for the throne, but I didn't tell you to choose such a method! If it doesn't work, you can fake your death and leave, I can save you, so why do you insist on humiliating yourself like this?!"
"It's useless," Zhu Yunxuan looked at him with tears, "Brother, you know that if I don't get the throne, neither of us will have a way out. No one can tolerate us, especially you, Dingguo He can't protect you either."
"If you want to save me in this way, I'd rather die!" Zhu Yunjing was angry and annoyed, her eyes moved down and landed on Zhu Yunxuan's abdomen, her pupils shrank fiercely.
He didn't pay much attention to it just now, but now he suddenly realized that Zhu Yunxuan's figure and walking posture were a little weird. Others might not be able to see it, but he had given birth to two children himself, so how could he not know what it meant? : "Your belly..."
Zhu Yunxuan looked away, seeing that he had acquiesced, Zhu Yunjing was completely stunned, and sat down slumped after a while, unable to even get angry, his eyes turned red: "Did he force you?"
Zhu Yunxuan gritted her teeth and did not answer, Zhu Yunjing raised her hand, and slapped herself hard on the face: "I was wrong, if I knew this, I should have taken you with me back then, why did I call you Go fight, what have I done?"
He regretted it, he really regretted it, he knew that getting the throne would force Zhu Yunxuan to pay such a price, he would not agree to anything.
In these years, most of Zhu Yunxuan's letters to him reported good news but not bad ones, and whenever he encountered any difficulties, he always talked lightly, or even didn't mention it. Although he knew that Zhu Yunxuan would have difficulty walking alone in Beijing, he never thought that it would be so difficult for him.
"Brother, you don't have to be like this," Zhu Yunxuan held Zhu Yunjing's hand in a panic, and stopped his aggressive behavior, "I don't regret it, isn't it good now? I've become the emperor, and everyone who is damned is dead Well, Liang Zhen is in prison, and he can't do anything to me anymore."
Zhu Yunjing raised her eyes and stared at him: "Then why are you still reluctant to kill him?!"
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he murmured in a low voice: "No... I will deal with him."
It was not until dusk that Zhu Yunjing came out of the palace. He Huailing, who had been waiting for him at the gate of the palace for a long time, saw his embarrassed expression and his eyes were red, and went forward to hold his hand: "What's wrong?"
Zhu Yunjing suddenly pulled out the saber pinned to his waist, and stabbed more than a dozen swords at the palace wall in front of him as if venting.
When he had vented enough, He Huailing embraced his shoulders from behind and pulled the sword away from his hand. Zhu Yunjing gritted his teeth: "Where is that bastard being held? I'm going to chop him up now!"
He Huailing put the saber back into his waist, and pulled him into the carriage: "Let's talk while walking."
On the way back home, no matter what He Huailing asked, Zhu Yunjing just kept cursing Liang Zhen over and over again. He Huailing had no choice but to remind him: "King Zhao has His Majesty's disposal, but in my opinion, His Majesty may not really want him to die. .”
Zhu Yunjing was even more angry when she heard the words: "Stop talking nonsense!"
He Huailing shook his head, recalling the unspeakable look in the emperor's eyes when Liang Zhen was taken down in Ganlin Palace that day, and sighed: "The authorities are just deluded."