After several months of trekking, Prince Qing Li Chengqian and his party finally returned to the capital from the distant Nanzhao Kingdom. The official roads outside the capital were not paved with loess, but were sprinkled with clear water. The green and black stone roads were flat on the ground, welcoming the return of the prince. The dense willows on both sides of the road nodded slightly with the hot wind, signaling to the prince.
Outside the city gate, the crown prince was greeted by the court officials, Chinese military officials, and the three princes who stayed in the capital. After the ceremony, the prince gently helped the two elder brothers and the younger brother up, held hands and looked at each other. Without choking, she said goodbye gently.
The eldest prince looked at the prince with concern, and after confirming that this difficult journey did not cause too much torture to his younger brother, he began to feel relieved. Like everyone else, he was wondering why his father entrusted this job to the prince, but his status was different from others, and he was indifferent, so he didn't want to think too deeply. Anyway, it has nothing to do with him, as long as Cheng Qian is fine.
And the second prince, who had been silent in the palace for nearly half a year, greeted the prince's return with his trademark smile, but there was something else in the smile, which penetrated into the prince's heart bit by bit. The prince smiled at him, nodded, and said nothing.
Li Chengqian took the hand of the third child, looked at the quiet and well-behaved face of the little boy beside him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The current situation has developed to this day, but the youngest brother has faintly become his biggest opponent. It is really hard to understand.
He suddenly thought again that the new ruler of Nanzhao Kingdom seemed to be as old as the third child, his heart suddenly trembled, and the hand holding the third prince subconsciously loosened, but the index finger was not fully raised yet, He reacted, and held that little hand gently and earnestly again.
The prince knew that his third younger brother was much smarter than the snot-nosed country master in Nanzhao, not to mention his teacher was Fan Xian. It's just that the eyes of the third prince looking at the prince are so calm, far beyond the calm that a child should be, and there is no other emotion at all.
Several dragon sons stood outside the city gate, each with their own thoughts, the prince lowered his head slightly, looked at the lonely shadows in the sun, and thought sadly, it seems inevitable that father and son will kill each other, so brothers and feet must also be chopped off each other Come and chop
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The prince enters the palace, salutes, answers the letter, kowtows to the emperor, and returns to the palace.
The first procedure was as normal and smooth as stipulated by the Ministry of Rites and the Second Temple, and there was no problem at all. At least no one would find the slightest abnormality in the expressions of His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince. It was just that people noticed that His Majesty seemed a little tired and did not keep the Crown Prince. Talking a lot in the Taiji Hall, he didn't look like a son who hadn't seen him for nearly half a year when he came home, so he let the prince go back to the East Palace.
Led by eunuch Yao, the prince came to the gate of the East Palace. He looked up at the newly renovated East Palace, and couldn't help but sigh in surprise. The fire burned, and it has only been a few months, but it has been restored as before... It seems that the father really doesn't want to make things too sensational.
He was startled suddenly, turned his head and asked Eunuch Yao: "I...want to pay respects to the Empress Dowager later, I wonder if it is possible?"
Eunuch Yao was taken aback. He was in charge of sending His Highness back to the East Palace. Naturally, he was secretly monitoring His Majesty's consciousness. He had to ensure that the Crown Prince returned to the palace, so he could only stay in the palace. For this reason again, Eunuch Yao couldn't say anything at all.
He gave a wry smile, slowly leaned down, and replied slightly: "Your Highness scared the slave, you are the master, and you are going to visit the queen mother, how can you ask the slave?"
The prince smiled bitterly, without saying anything, he pushed open the gate of the East Palace, but when he entered, he subconsciously glanced at the location of Guangxin Palace. He knew that his aunt had been imprisoned in a separate courtyard of the imperial family, guarded by people from the Overwatch Council. The Guangxin Palace that he was familiar with and longed for... was already empty, but he still couldn't help but look over there greedily. I took a few glances.
Eunuch Yao watched the Prince's expression carefully and unobtrusively.
The prince, however, acted as if he didn’t exist at all, staring at that place in a daze—he thought to himself, people live in this world, there are always so many demonic obstacles, but they don’t know who is possessed by the demon, who is crazy, he thought The words my aunt said made my heart start to jump. Yes, people are crazy, the world is crazy, and everyone in the royal family has crazy factors. If you want to own this world, you must Crazy to the end.
Contained by his madness, he turned around again, smiled gently at Eunuch Yao, and closed the gate of the East Palace.
According to theory, the action of closing the door is naturally performed by the court ladies and eunuchs. It’s just that the number of eunuchs and maids in the East Palace today is far less than the number of eunuchs and maids in the etiquette system. A few months ago, hundreds of eunuchs and maids in the entire palace disappeared without any reason. No one knew where they went. There are many eunuchs and maids, but these novices are obviously a little nervous.
With so many people dying in the palace, they couldn't hide it for long, but none of the courtiers dared to ask questions, one is that this is not something they should care about, and the other is that the courtiers are also afraid of death.
Along the way, there were maids and eunuchs knocking on the ground to pay their respects, but no one dared to step forward to wait on them.
The prince laughed at himself, entered the main hall, and then... frowned and sniffled, because he smelled a very strong smell of wine, a strong and disgusting smell of wine floating in the most honorable place of the Qing Kingdom. in the palace.
The light in the hall was a little dim, and only a few high foot lamps were lit. Li Chengqian was startled, and looked back, and then saw a familiar woman lying on the couch. On one side of the screen, a big leaf from the inner warehouse The fan was shaking again and again, fanning the breeze and dispelling the suffocating smell in the hall.
The woman was wearing a luxurious palace dress, but the decoration was very bad, her hair was a little fluffy, she was holding a jug in her hand, and she was pouring wine into her mouth, her eyes were full of haggardness and despair.
Pulling the big leaf fan was a little eunuch who couldn't see clearly.
Li Chengqian frowned in disgust, but then sighed, with a trace of tenderness and pity in his eyes, and walked forward. He knew why his mother became what he is now, and he also hated the other party's pretending to be mysterious. Once the incident happened, he was in a panic, but she was his mother after all.
"Mother, the baby is back."
The half-drunk queen was startled, and rubbed her eyes for a long while before realizing that the young man in front of her was her own son. After a long while, she burst into tears, sat up staggeringly, and threw herself in front of the prince. Holding him in his arms, he howled, "It's good to be back, it's good to be back."
The prince hugged his mother's body, and said with a harmonious smile, "I've been away for several months, and my mother is worried."
A gleam of joy flashed in the queen's eyes, and she said inarticulately: "It's good to be alive, it's good... I thought... I'll never see you again..."
Ever since His Majesty sent the crown prince to Nanzhao, the queen's mind has been immersed in despair. She has been husband and wife with the emperor for twenty years, so of course she knows how heartless and terrifying the man on the dragon chair is. She thought the prince Going south this time, it will be difficult to come back. Seeing his living son at this time, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and found a glimmer of hope amidst despair.
The prince laughed at himself, hugged his mother, patted her on the back, and said a few words of comfort. The empress still doesn't know why the emperor suddenly gave up the prince, and the prince didn't tell her the truth. Although the royal family is crazy, they are doing pretty well in terms of filial piety.
Therefore, the prince does not intend to tell his mother how many dangers and difficulties he has encountered along the way. If there is no help from someone secretly, even if he can come back alive, he will be lingering on the sick bed, and it will be difficult to recover.
Not long after, the half-drunk queen gradually fell asleep in the prince's arms. The prince carried her to the couch, pulled her on a thin embroidered scarf, waved his hand to stop the eunuch who was pulling the leaf fan, and took the leaf fan himself. A round palace fan began to fan the queen carefully.
I don't know how long he fanned it, but after confirming that his mother was asleep, the prince threw down the round palace fan, sat beside the couch in a daze, buried his head deeply between his knees, and did not raise his head for a long time.
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He raised his head, his face turned slightly pale, his eyes drifted to the side, looked at the only eunuch in this empty and lonely palace, and asked: "Your Majesty often drinks alcohol these days?"
"Yes." The little eunuch came out from the shadow, knelt down and saluted very respectfully.
Seeing the raised face of the eunuch, the prince was taken aback, frowned immediately, and said with a slight mockery: "There are more than a hundred people in the East Palace, and now you are the only one who is still alive."
That eunuch was none other than Hong Zhu, the head eunuch of the Eastern Palace back then. A trace of guilt appeared on Hong Zhu's face, he lowered his head and said nothing. At this point, all the servants of the East Palace were silenced by the emperor's decree, and he was the only one alive, which has explained all the truth.
Although Hong Zhu never told the emperor, he did tell Fan Xian, and all these things seemed to be caused by this, so the guilty look on Hong Zhu's face was not fake, his days in the East Palace, Both the queen and the crown prince treated him well, especially the queen who was very gentle to him. These days, he followed His Majesty's strict order to serve and monitor the queen secretly, watching how the mother of the country turned from disappointment to despair, and used alcohol to anesthetize himself day and night. It is inevitable to feel a little unbearable.
The prince looked at him quietly, suddenly laughed sadly, and said to himself: "At first I thought you had offended Fan Xian, so my father drove you here. The person who came out of the study... Then is the enmity between you and Mr. Danbo real?"
"It's true." Hong Zhu lowered his head and replied, "It's just that slaves are the people of the Qing Kingdom, so naturally His Majesty's order comes first."
The prince didn't know why, but suddenly became furious, grabbed something beside him and threw it at it, and cursed: "You eunuch, you also call yourself a citizen!"
The thing thrown was the round fan he had fanned for the queen earlier, it was light and useless, it didn't hit Hong Zhu, it floated down beside Hong Zhu, and landed on the lower lapel of the eunuch's clothes.
Afraid of waking up the empress, the prince calmed down his panting with great difficulty, and looked at Hong Zhu with resentment: "It seems that His Majesty really likes you... Knowing such a big thing, he actually saved your dog's life come down."
Hong Zhu kowtowed twice, and asked with some doubts: "Your Highness, what's the matter?"
The prince came to his senses, and after a long silence, he suddenly said: "The East Palace today is no longer what it used to be. What are you still doing here? If you want to leave, I'll tell Father."
Hong Zhu's expression was a little hesitant, and after a while he gritted his teeth and said, "Your servant... wants to stay in the East Palace."
"Stay in the East Palace for surveillance?" The prince lowered his voice and said sarcastically, "The whole palace is full of eyeliners, why do you care about one more?"
With the development of the situation today, the prince knows that His Majesty is going to abolish him after all. If that is the case, why is he still pretending in this secret palace
"The slave wants to serve the queen."
After the prince was silent for a while, he suddenly sighed, with a look of pity on his face, he looked at Hong Zhu and said, "Xiu'er died too?"
Hong Zhu who was kneeling on the ground trembled, and after a long time, nodded sadly.
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"What's going on in the palace these past few months?" The prince looked at Hong Zhu quietly and asked a question that logically would never have an answer.
Hong Zhu was silent for a long time, and then said: "Your Majesty has gone down to Hanguang Hall a few times, and every time he came out, he was not very happy."
With a smile on his face, the prince felt a little more relaxed, looked at Hong Zhu with admiration and said, "Thank you."
Hong Zhu lowered his head and said, "I dare not."
The prince sat on the side of the couch and began to think. The father obviously did not tell the truth about this matter to the empress dowager. Although the emperor is all over the world, no one dares to stop him, but an emperor like the father is still troubled by a trace of mental ties with.
For example, face like straw paper, such as the word filial piety.
Qingguo pays attention to governing the world with filial piety, so the emperor put himself in a cage.
Li Chengqian clenched his fists slightly, knowing that he still had some time, and that his father would need time to arrange his speech if he wanted to abolish him. Even if the Eight Offices of the Overwatch Council wanted to create that kind of rumor, it would not be that simple.
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"Xiu'er is dead. I don't know how Hong Zhu feels." Fan Xian said softly, "If he was an ordinary eunuch, he might not think too much about it, but I know that Hong Zhu was never a simple eunuch. He has read books and opened his mind, so he talks about grievances and love... After all, the reason why Xiu'er was killed is my problem and his problem. Hundreds of deaths."
He frowned: "For His Majesty's ruthlessness, it seems that our imagination is still lacking. Well, even if Hong Zhu doesn't hate me, he must hate himself. Will there be any trouble?"
He said okay again, and then said sadly: "But the deaths of those hundreds of people were always caused by me... Yes, I am a very ruthless person, but after all, I am not a monster like Uncle Wuzhu , I still feel weird. I told Haitang before that if I kill dozens of people or hundreds of people, I may not even blink my eyes, but I can't be the emperor because I can't kill tens of thousands of people. In my presence, I can remain calm."
"The emperor wanted to abolish the crown prince because I secretly influenced it...Of course, even if I didn't influence it, this incident would eventually break out." Fan Xian shook his head, "But now I want the emperor not to abolish the crown prince so quickly, why? ? Isn’t this boring and absurd? What am I afraid of?”
"After the oil is cooked in the fire, there are leftovers from the cold pot..." He laughed self-deprecatingly, "If the prince's second eldest princess is finished, I will be the leftovers, even if His Majesty really loves me and is willing to take me with you I'm going to fight a big world... But you also know that I am a pacifist, um, a hypocritical pacifist, I don't like to fight, I have done so many things in the past two years, isn't it just to maintain the current state ?"
"So I have to delay, at least until I'm ready, I can't let the emperor enter the track of preparations, then let the boss lead the army, let me be the supervisor, and enter the Northern Qi and Dongyi, and the sword is full of dead souls... This kind of iron blood It’s sad to think about the day.”
"This is the main contradiction lurking, and you know it."
After Fan Xian finished speaking, he put away the piece of paper in front of him, put him back in the box, and then began to sigh, annoyed by his own curiosity, and couldn't help but copy his mother's letter every time. Take it out and read it again, but every time you read it, it is troublesome to death.
He was in Hangzhou at this time, in Huayuan, the big box at the door was still open, and the snowflake silver inside was shining beautifully.
Like Fan Shangshu, he also learned to speak to a piece of paper, but his father did not have the ability to speak to a portrait, so he had to speak to a letter.
There are many things that cannot be said to others, and the only people who can talk to them are not around, so Fan Xian has a hard time holding back. For a while, he even regarded Wang Qinian as the best listener, but in order to prevent old man Wang from being influenced by his own words Frightened into a heart attack, he finally stopped mentally tormenting Pharaoh.
Uncle Wuzhu is not here, if not, Wan'er is not here, Haitang is not here, even if there are thousands of words, who will I confide in? Where can I get support for those who are rebellious and do not tolerate the thoughts of this world
Fan Xian began to gradually feel that sense of loneliness, the meaning hidden in the old lady is lonely.
And he also had unprecedented self-doubt about his second life. (, If you want to know what happens next, please log in, there are more chapters, support the author, support the original!)