Jade Moon

Chapter 16: Qiushui [fifteen]

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Eight-stone grid bow, the string glue is very hard, red lacquer is applied on the body of the sandalwood bow, and the rhino horns are painted on both ends. Taking a slight breath, he opened the bow like a full moon. Two hundred steps away, a little red heart of the swan, in the scorching sun, looks like a big and bright blood-colored flower, splashing eye-catching colors.

The arrowhead was aimed steadily at Hu's heart. When he was five years old, when he learned to shoot arrows, his father taught him how to draw a special small bow. Bai Ling's tail feathers were right in front of her eyes, too close, blurred like a ball of snow-white velvet flowers, and her whole body was like a bowstring, twisted tightly, as if she could burst out of strength at any moment.

"My lord," Xia Jinhou stood with a bow, his voice was very low, "The bell and drum have just been passed in the palace, and the eldest son of the emperor died of illness."

The feather arrow was as swift as a shooting star, with a low whistling sound, and it went away very quickly. The sound of "Duo" penetrated deeply into the center of the scorpion, and several confidant internal officials waiting on both sides clapped their hands loudly and shouted. He looked at the quivering feather arrow in the middle of Hu's heart, and a lazy smile appeared on his lips. There is nothing to live with, he is the proudest prince, everything he should have, will be owned again.

Xia Jinhou was hesitant to say anything, but stopped: "My lord, and... there is another news from Qingliang Hall that Concubine Shu has had a miscarriage."

Hearing a "pa", Xia Jinhou's whole body trembled, but it was Prince Rui who slammed the red bow in his hand to the ground. He was so angry that he remained silent instead, and the eunuchs standing around were stunned. Xia Jinhou turned his face to signal, and the eunuchs hurriedly retreated just now. Prince Rui slowly raised his face, squinted his eyes to look at the flowing clouds in the sky, the scorching summer sun was extremely strong, and there was a brilliant gold in front of his eyes, like a big canopy of gold powder bursting, and thousands of powders scattered into his eyes , stinging so much that one could hardly keep his eyes open. How dare she, how dare she... He never thought that she would have such a heart, he almost thought viciously, but he underestimated this woman. After a while, he turned his face back, the usual laziness reappeared on his face, and his voice was also laziness as usual: "Okay, very good. She is so self-determined and self-destroying the Great Wall, don't blame me for helping her when the time comes." Not getting started."

Xia Jinhou said: "My lord calm down, according to my servant's humble opinion, this matter may not be concubine Shu's own initiative, I'm afraid that the 'Han Zhu Wan' medicine used by the empress has accumulated a lot of properties, and the accident happened just now." Prince Rui pondered Said: "It takes six or seven months for this medicine to be effective. It stands to reason that it shouldn't start so early. If she is lucky enough to give birth to the child, she will be an idiot and mentally retarded. If she already knows the medicinal properties of 'Hanzhu Wan' , that's why the king really underestimated her." Although there was a slight smile in the corner of his mouth, Xia Jinhou couldn't help feeling cold in his heart.

At dawn, the Qingliang Hall was extraordinarily quiet amidst the dawn. The maids guarding the watch came and went on tiptoe, blowing out the red and tearful candles on the candlesticks. The on-duty imperial doctor changed, and the voice was very soft during the handover, just whispering. Rushuang woke up from her drowsiness, her limbs and every inch of her bones seemed to be shattered into fine powder, and then gathered back up little by little. His mind was not very clear, but he remembered what had happened in an instant—a strange pain slowly lingered out from his body, like corrosion, eroding out bit by bit. She was like in a nightmare, her whole body was like a feather, she was so frivolous that she didn't even have the strength to open her eyes, and she tried her best to utter a few vague words, which she didn't even know came from her lips. What is the trembling voice

The maid's voice was soft and far away, as if it was buzzing through an empty room: "Your Majesty, Lord Long Live has just left, and Prince Yu is here."

Prince Yu heard that there was an accident in the palace, so he entered the palace yesterday afternoon to see him. But Rushuang was on the verge of death, and the situation was dire, so the emperor didn't leave an inch, so he couldn't summon her. At daybreak today, when Concubine Shu saw a slight improvement, the emperor summoned Prince Yu.

Although the eldest son of the emperor was only three years old, because he was the only son of the emperor, he was very beloved, and when he died of a sudden illness, the emperor was naturally very sad. What's more, the matter of concubine Shu, the emperor lost his second son within a day, heartbroken, and concubine Shu's life was hanging by a thread, he stayed up all night, his handsome face was frighteningly pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was haggard all over People are out of shape.

Seeing the emperor's appearance, Prince Yu felt anxious, called "fourth brother" and stopped talking. The emperor looked at him in a daze, and after a long while, he said: "I will leave this matter to you." Prince Yu hesitated for a while, the emperor gritted his teeth, his face was almost deformed: "Both the eldest son and concubine Shu were murdered. , you have to find this person for me, even if you eat his flesh and sleep on his skin, it will not eliminate the slightest bit of hatred in my heart."

Prince Yu is in charge of the inner court guards. Although the matter involves the palace, such a poisoning and assassination incident is also his duty. So he saluted silently, expressing his obedience, and the emperor walked back and forth in the hall twice, then stopped abruptly, his temper frenzied: "Once the person in charge is found, I will play back immediately, and I will personally kill him alive!"

In fact, Prince Yu has already started to investigate this matter, yesterday he rushed into the palace, first of all, he ordered the inner mansion to order all the maids and officials who attended the banquet yesterday to be guarded, and the imperial cooks in the imperial dining room were also placed under house arrest one by one. Then every food removed from the banquet, especially the green plum soup that Concubine Shu and the Crown Prince had used, was sampled and sent to the imperial hospital for poison testing. After tracing it down, they went through interrogation and drug testing all night, but found nothing.

Early this morning, Prince Yu retreated from the front of the imperial court. Hearing that Wu Youyi, the head of the inner government who was in charge of this matter, reported this, he pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked: "Didn't you use ice in the green plum soup? Have you ever tested it?" Qingmei Soup is a cool and sweet thing, and ice cubes are added when eating. Wu Youyi suddenly realized, and said again and again: "Thanks to the advice of the prince." Immediately ordered someone to trace the ice used that night. All the ice used by the imperial kitchen comes from the inner cellar, the poison could not have been pre-prepared, it could only be tampered with in the process of fetching the ice, so the person who fetched the ice was held accountable.

The person who went to get the ice was Zhaogui, an internal official of the imperial dining room. He was already trembling with fright before he was tortured, and kowtowed his head like garlic: "Your servant is wronged! This servant is wronged! My servant took the ice, and I never dared to delay on the way " Wu Youyi was very patient, and asked: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, speak slowly if you have something to say, think about it carefully, have you met anyone on the road?" Zhaogui thought for a long time, then mumbled: "No Who are we going to, we are on an errand, and others know that we have to go back quickly to get the ice, and they dare not come up to talk to us. Besides, the concubine Shu suddenly said that she wanted to use green plum soup, and there was no preparation in the imperial dining room. Master Hu Hurriedly sent me there, I hurried all the way, how dare I talk to others?" Speaking of this, he suddenly said "ah", and said, "Your maidservant remembered, Zhang Qimin from Xiande Palace, he also went there that day. The one who fetched the ice saw that the servant was in a hurry, so he gave the ice that he took first to the servant."

Xiande Palace is where Concubine Hua lived, Wu Youyi's face darkened, and he asked: "Don't remember wrongly, talk nonsense, say one wrong sentence, and the head on your neck will be gone." Zhao Gui almost cried out: " Director Wu, how dare I talk nonsense about such a thing?" Wu Youyi comforted him, and immediately went to report to Prince Yu. Yiwu had righteous intentions, and Zhang Qimin should be questioned immediately, but Prince Yu had some scruples, he only replied: "Since it involves Concubine Hua, this matter needs to be cautious."

So Prince Yu went to play the emperor's song in person, and the emperor was furious before he finished listening, "I forgave her once, but she still doesn't know how to repent."

Prince Yu said: "Concubine Hua has a special status, please ask the emperor to send Zhang Qimin to ask to understand, and then deal with it." This sentence is bad, because he originally meant that Concubine Hua is temporarily in the sixth palace, and she is the same as the mother of the country, so she should be cautious . But the emperor thought that he meant to remind himself that the father of Concubine Hua was Hua Lin, the great general of Dingguo, who guarded Hong and Yan states, and the court relied heavily on him. The emperor was furious, and said: "Can I be coerced like this?" He got up in a flick of his sleeves, and immediately sent an order to drive to the Hall of Xiande.

Concubine Hua was not in the Hall of Virtue, because Concubine Han had an accident with the eldest son of the emperor, she would not drink or eat, looking for life and death, looking like a madman, Concubine Hua had to accompany her to guard the spirit in Jingren Hall, trying her best to comfort her. At daybreak, the eldest son of the emperor Xiaoyu, Concubine Han was crying and fussing, and wanted to touch the pillar to commit suicide. After finally persuading her to come down, the internal officials outside the door had already announced one after another: "Long Live Lord has arrived—"

Concubine Hua hurriedly ordered someone to do her makeup for Concubine Han, and she greeted her out of the palace gate to pick him up. She had already seen the emperor walking quickly, surrounded by the eunuchs. Seeing her kneeling at the bottom of the steps accompanied by the court ladies, the emperor was about to burst into tears: "You have the face to come here?" Concubine Hua saw that his gaze was as cold as ice, unfathomably cold, and hearing this, she felt terrified and trembled. Said: "Concubine..." The emperor had suddenly exploded: "You are a vicious woman with a vicious heart. You poisoned the eldest son of the emperor and murdered the concubine Shu. I will not tear you into pieces today. I am sorry for the futile death." Concubine Hua's face turned pale with fright, and even her voice changed: "Your Majesty, this concubine has been wronged. No matter how ignorant and ignorant this concubine is, I will not murder the eldest son of the emperor."

The emperor's voice suddenly became cold. Although he was standing under the bright sun, his voice was as cold as nine winters: "I endure it as much as I can, thinking that you were my side concubine when I was living in the feudal domain, and you can be regarded as a poor wife. , so I saved a moment of benevolence. How did the imperial concubine die, do you think I really don't know?"

Concubine Hua's eyes showed a look of extreme horror, her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a word. At this moment, I suddenly heard someone crying loudly behind me. It turned out that it was Concubine Han who broke free from the support of the maid and ran out of the palace gate. Seeing the emperor standing in front of the steps, Concubine Han threw herself down the jade steps, knelt down and hugged the emperor's leg, just burst into tears. The emperor was already irritable and angry, but hearing her cry miserably, calling her son's baby name over and over again, his heart felt even more sad. The internal officials rushed to help, but they couldn't get up. The emperor looked at Concubine Hua coldly, and said: "Even if you are not your own flesh and blood, I still call you 'Mother Concubine', how can you do it?"

Concubine Hua said: "The concubine was wronged, and the concubine will never murder the eldest son of the emperor." Concubine Han was confused, pointed at Concubine Hua, and screamed: "It's her! It's her! She wanted to poison Concubine Shu to death , who would have killed my Zhu'er, my poor Zhu'er..." After finishing speaking, he whimpered and started to cry again, "Zhu'er, I'm sorry for my mother, I'm obsessed with my ghost, after hearing this For a woman, let her poison you, who would have thought that the murderous concubine Shu would give you a bowl of soup too, how would you know..." She cried and said like crazy. Concubine Hua sternly said: "Concubine Han! You are really crazy. Why did I poison Concubine Shu?" Concubine Han gritted her teeth and said, "You are the madman. I'm afraid that the emperor will make me the crown prince, and advised me to make a plan early, so I poisoned the banquet... Your lord, what she said to the concubine that day, the concubine remembers clearly..." She burst into tears again, "Zhu'er Ah, it's all because of my mother that I killed you..."

As if the emperor's eyes were about to burst into flames, he pulled out the long sword worn by his attendant, and threw it at Concubine Hua's feet with a "choke", and said: "You are so dead, I will bury you according to the imperial concubine's ceremony, and I will not let your father and brother die." Shame." Concubine Hua's body softened and she passed out, although the court ladies and officials knelt down on the ground, no one dared to help her. The emperor said: "Order Wu Youyi to imprison him." He turned around and left without looking back.

When Prince Yu saw the emperor leaving in a rage, he already knew something was wrong, but even though he was a pro-vassal, it was inconvenient for him to enter the inner hall of the harem without permission, so he had to wait for the order in the Qingliang Hall with great worry. It was so easy to see the umbrellas waving from a distance, and the internal officials surrounded the emperor when he came back. He knelt there upright, and bowed with a long body: "My brother, please calm down the emperor's anger. There are many doubts about this matter. Please let the emperor allow Dingluan to investigate and deal with it."

The emperor didn't answer, because Wu Youyi had already rushed back to his life. Holding a bright long sword in his hand, he kowtowed and said in a stiff voice, "Long live, Concubine Hua has committed suicide."

Prince Yu never expected that there would be a sudden change in just a short moment, and his expression changed drastically. The emperor saw Wu Youyi kneeling on the ground, with blood dripping from the edge of the sword he was holding, he sighed slowly, and said sadly: "The constant misfortune in the palace is probably due to my widowed virtue and poor fortune." There was something to say, but seeing him looking lonely and haggard, he swallowed the words again, and only called out: "Fourth brother." The emperor said: "It's hard for you, old seven."

With a simple sentence, Prince Yu almost shed tears, hurriedly restrained his mind, and reluctantly said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to think too much, all the aftermath can be left to your younger brother."

There are many so-called "aftermath" things. The eldest son of the emperor died young. Although there are common cases of funerals, the emperor was sad and decreed to posthumously posthumously the eldest son of the emperor as "Prince Xianhui", so the Ministry of Rites had to search again. The funeral of the posthumous prince. Although Concubine Hua tried her best to cover up her death, rumors gradually arose between the government and the public, saying that she murdered Prince Xianhui, so she was bestowed with death by the emperor. So to stop the rumors and try to comfort the Hua family, it became an urgent need to "clean up the aftermath". There is also Concubine Han, the birth mother of the eldest son of the emperor. Since the death of the eldest son of the emperor, she has been insane. Sometimes she is sober and sometimes confused. When I was confused, I hugged the pillow to death and refused to let it go. I called the pillow "杼'er", and I didn't want to hold it in my hand all the time when I was eating and drinking. The emperor had no choice but to order someone to send Concubine Han back to Xichangjing, which was another "repair". As for Concubine Shu, Mu Shi, although she recovered her life from the gate of hell, her body is extremely weak, and the imperial doctor changes shifts every day, and she is often in danger.

This day, Rushuang's mind cleared up a little. She was seriously ill, so thin that her entire face was pointed, like a small apricot stone, her eyes gradually opened, without any of the splendor of the past. The emperor was overjoyed to see that she finally woke up. Rushuang was in a trance, seeing his haggard face, she wanted to raise her hand, but she was powerless. The emperor hurriedly leaned down, only to see her smile sadly, and after a long time, he finally said: "You are thin." These three words are like fluff, so light that there is hardly any strength, and they are entangled in the heart, Soft and thin, it gave birth to a strange feeling of powerlessness. The emperor suddenly felt sad, and said with a smile, "You've lost weight too." Rushuang closed her eyes, and seemed to fall into a deep sleep again. The emperor was afraid of waking her up, and was about to leave quietly, when she heard her voice very low, calling out to her. He said "Dingchun", for some reason, he didn't dare to agree, she said like a dream, "I'm sorry."

Dingchun, I'm sorry for you.

who is it? Zeng Yingying was in tears, so sad and hopeless, just looking at him like that.

The heavy rain created fine white water vapor, as if a hundred rivers were rushing down from the sky. Through the dense rain curtain, the golden colored glaze of the nine palaces gradually blurred in the eyes, like a flooded reflection. His fingers were slightly cold, and the sleeves of the Nine Dragons Kejin robe were filled with sweet and bitter fragrance, as if the coolness of the rain was touching her face lightly. He finally let out a long sigh: "I just want to know, after all these days, don't you have any sincerity at all?"

She didn't answer.

The past is a cruel river, every wave sparkles, and the broken rocks below rise. Those sharp past events were cold and hard, but there was always a moment of tenderness, just like that day when she suddenly turned around in the heavy rain and finally fell into his arms.

So gentle, with the long-awaited happiness and hope, and endless rain and tears, she raised her face, clearly still smiling with tears in her eyes, and threw herself into his arms. Let the rain and tears wet his clothes.

Once, so tightly, so tightly, I had happiness.

He almost spent more than twenty years of his life before he found happiness.

I never thought about losing, so I was caught off guard. Only then will the heart be pierced, and the pain will be remembered forever.

Thought it would never come again.

Rushuang's voice was small and low, like a fluttering feather, being driven by the wind involuntarily: "I want to go home."

The emperor held her in his arms, she was so thin that it seemed that only a handful of bones were left, so brittle that it would shatter if squeezed. He let out a sigh of relief, and said: "Then let's go home - go back to the palace."