The courtiers made a statement for the execution of Qi Xiujie for more than half a month, but Li Jintian remained unmoved from beginning to end, but instead restored Qi Xiujie's position as a noble lord.
Every night, he would dream of returning to the lonely and deep palace, and seeing Qi Xiujie kneeling in front of his tablet and crying, the grief was so suppressed that even if he sat on the throne of the queen, he would not be able to see a smile in his eyes. Torturing his nerves again and again. He thought that Qi Xiujie would live happily after his death, but found that he also became a walking dead. The only thought that motivated him to live was to avenge himself.
In this way, it is a blessing to take one step first, and those who stay behind are trapped in boundless pain and despair and cannot be liberated.
The Qi family did their best to restore the country. Most of the people were killed and injured in the battle, and the rest were only the old and the weak. Qi Xiujie also committed suicide after burying the bones of his late husband, failing to enjoy any glory. Every time Li Jintian wakes up from this dream, his chest hurts.
He really wanted to see how Qi Xiujie was doing, but he felt timid and guilty, so he could only live in a tangle every day. Before he knew it, he had already believed in those two dreams, but he would rather disperse the entire harem for Gao Min. This relationship could not be faked, so he would remain silent until the Gao family made an arrogant act.
On this day, the courtiers finally stopped, no longer asking the emperor to execute the remnants of the Qi family, but expressing concern for the frequent attack of the Xiyi people. Li Wang first stood up and begged the emperor to send troops to Xiyi, followed by Gao Lang, and then the Manchu civil and military.
Li Jintian originally intended to conquer the Western Barbarians, and when he was in the court, he said that he would form an army as soon as possible.
"Dare to ask if the emperor has a suitable general?" King Li bowed and asked.
"No, Aiqing can recommend a few for me."
"Wei Chen recommended General Gao Min Gao, does the emperor think it is suitable?"
When King Li said this, the courtiers were shocked. Everyone knows who Gao Min is, and everyone knows that he was a fierce general guarding the border before entering the palace. However, he is already the emperor's person now, and he has given birth to a prince, how can he mix with the sergeants again? What a formality this is!
Some people wanted to stand up against him, but they saw Gao Lang take a step forward and vigorously promote his younger brother, and he even called it "a virtuous person who does not avoid relatives." Li Jintian's love and tolerance for his younger brother has no bottom line, and it is precisely because Gao Lang knows this that he will make such a bold proposal with King Li.
Li Jintian can tolerate Gao Min without any bottom line. This is true, but that was in the past, and now Li Jintian is like a person walking blindfolded and suddenly the gauze is ripped off, and he can see the situation of the court and the harem clearly.
Those courtiers who wanted to oppose silently retreated to their original positions when Gao Lang spoke up. It can be seen that the current court situation has become a hall of speech between Gao Lang and King Li. His emperor is just a decoration. Just nod. Nine out of ten of the harem beauties have been dismissed by him, and the few left behind are also due to having children. They have no holy grace, and they all depend on Gao Min's breath to live.
The harem of the former dynasty has completely become the world of the Gao family, where should he place the emperor? And why did King Li recommend Gao Min? What is the relationship between the two of them in private
Li Jintian's heart was burning, but his face did not show at all, Wen Sheng said that he would need to consider for a few days before making a decision. Gao Lang and Li Wang are no longer aggressive, anyway, they know that when Li Jintian returns to the harem, Gao Min will naturally have a way to get him to agree.
Gao Min was trapped in this high palace wall, and he was tired of it for a long time. As soon as Li Jintian went to court, he came to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and begged Xiyi to be in command.
Li Jintian refused on the grounds of taking care of the child, but he still didn't give up, knelt down and said coldly, "The emperor once said that if you want me to walk side by side with you, the so-called walking side by side is to trap me in this golden wire cage. To be your pet? I can die for the emperor, but the emperor can't even satisfy me?"
He raised his eyes to look directly at Sheng Yan, his pupils were full of unwillingness and resentment, and that resentment continued from the previous life to this one, and it could be said that it was accumulating and could not be dispelled. He had planned to open his heart to accept Li Jintian, but he didn't expect the other party to forgive Qi Xiujie for no reason, which made his resentment boil again.
At the same time, he hated himself like this, and felt that he couldn't fall into the whirlpool of competing for favor like a woman and live without dignity. He wanted to put on armor, pick up a sword and halberd, and set foot on the free and vast land of the frontier.
If the two can sit down and talk earnestly, they will definitely be able to untie the knot. But right now, Li Jintian was stabbed by the resentment in his eyes. He thought that after covering it for three years, even a stone could be covered with heat, but he didn't expect Gao Min's heart to be harder than a stone. He turned out to hold resentment for the various things in his previous life, and was not willing to accompany him to death. This resentment might drive him to do things that hurt him, and he was powerless to resist his injury.
Li Jintian was horrified, and suddenly felt that the idea of being reborn and wanting to live a good life with Gao Min was really stupid. He fixedly stared at Gao Min for a while, and finally walked away.
Li Jintian wandered aimlessly in the palace, and unknowingly came to the Zichen Palace, hesitating for a long time before stepping in.
Qi Xiujie was standing behind the desk practicing calligraphy, with his head lowered, unable to see the expression on his face. He was very surprised when he heard the Gong Rentong pass, his eyes were full of disbelief and flattery.
"The sinner joins the emperor." He knelt down respectfully.
Li Jintian didn't shout, but looked at him with unfathomable eyes. After a while, he asked slowly, "Have you been doing well recently?"
"Report to the emperor, the sinner is doing well."
Li Jintian was slightly startled when he heard the words, is this a good time? Is living in an empty palace with neither luxurious ornaments nor personal servants equivalent to a cold palace? Yes, compared to the terrifying Heavenly Prison before, isn't it very good
A sense of guilt hit his heart again, making Li Jintian feel a tightness in his chest. He picked up a chair and sat down, waved, "Get up."
Zhou Yun Sheng didn't move. After hesitating for a moment, he replied in a hoarse voice, "There is something in the heart of the sinner that cannot be resolved, so I dare not stand up."
Li Jintian seemed to know what he was going to ask, and his face became gloomy, but he still rubbed his eyebrows and said tiredly, "If you have any doubts, just ask."
Zhou Yun Sheng kowtowed cautiously, with a sad tone, "Dare to ask why the emperor wanted to destroy my Qi family? What did we do wrong?"
"Your father secretly colluded with King Xuan to commit a rebellion, don't you know?" When he said this, Li Jintian felt a wave of emptiness in his heart, and he did not find any evidence of wrongdoing when he cleaned up the Qi family. Now he is not sure whether his decision to seize Qi's house is right. He wanted to find the answer, but he was afraid to touch that answer.
The light in Zhou Yun Sheng's eyes disappeared for a moment, and then his face was like withered. Feeling ashamed, he knocked his head several times in succession, and choked out, "So it turns out that the sinful minister has no knowledge of this matter. The sinful minister has no face to face the emperor, please let the emperor give the sinful minister a death!" A heavy thud broke his forehead.
Li Jintian hurriedly stretched out his hand to pull it, and definitely looked into his eyes. His pupils were so dark and pure, apart from shame, silence, despair, and guilt, there was no trace of resentment. He wiped out his family by himself, but he had no resentment and was willing to die. His friendship with himself is probably no less than that of Gao Min.
No, this is wrong, he has more friendship with himself than Gao Min. In the last life, although he had a reputation for being arrogant and domineering, he was the most submissive in front of him, and he never disobeyed the slightest bit. It is rare for Gao Min to accompany him to death, but he was able to live in humiliation and do everything possible to avenge himself, and the torment he suffered in his heart was probably worse than death.
So in the end, he couldn't hold on, and he couldn't enjoy the glory he should have enjoyed, and hanged alone on the beam of the Zichen Palace.
Seeing the person in front of him who was so humbled into the dust that he had completely destroyed his will to live, Li Jintian felt his heart twisted. In the last life, he thought he loved the wrong person, but he was not; in this life, he thought he loved the right person, but it was not. Qi Xiujie did everything for himself, but said nothing, but Gao Min always talked about the kindness of his previous life, for fear that he would forget it.
He has made two mistakes in succession, and now he has been unable to take back his full of affection from Gao Min, and he feels that he is extremely sad. But Qi Xiujie, whose heart was ashes, was thousands of times more tragic than him.
Both of them were badly tricked by fate.
In contrast to Gao Min's indifference and resentment, Li Jintian felt even more guilty towards Qi Xiujie, who had no complaints. He pulled the man up forcefully, sat down on the chair, and warned cautiously, "I don't blame you, you have to live well," after a pause, he added, "I will take good care of you. What do you want? , I can make up for it."
Zhou Yun Sheng's deadly eyes leaked a ray of light, and he hesitated, "Is it okay for a sinner to have a child?"
Li Jintian was stopped by him again. He knew that Gao Min poisoned Qi Xiujie as soon as he was reborn, because he suspected that the death of the emperor in his previous life was the work of Qi Xiujie. Li Jintian pretended not to know, and secretly cooperated with him. Qi Xiujie's body has been completely destroyed, and there will be no children at all.
In the last life, in King Xuan's harem, Qi Xiujie also destroyed his body in order to avoid giving birth to King Xuan's evil seed.
This is simply a bad account. Li Jintian had a splitting headache, and he was even more afraid to face Qi Xiujie.
Qi Xiujie seemed to have noticed his hesitation and added, "The sinner didn't mean to want a biological child. The sinner's family committed such monstrous crimes, and the sinner dared not expect the emperor's favor. Now in the palace There are many children who have lost their mothers or their fathers, and the sinner only wants to adopt one. The sinner is alone..."
His humble words were like a dull knife, cutting Li Jintian's heart one by one. He understood what he meant. He was alone and lonely. If there was no consolation, he was afraid that he would never want to live like the previous life. How much Li Jintian hated Qi Xiujie before, how much guilt he felt now, he hurriedly fled after saying "take your pick", his face flushed red, as if he had been slapped dozens of times.
Zhou Yun Sheng returned to his expressionless face as soon as he left, raised his hand to wipe the blood on his forehead at will, and laughed coldly. His personal palace servants have been hypnotized and are loyal to him. At this time, they all bowed their heads and did not see anything.
Li Jintian fled back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation in embarrassment, staring at a table of memorials in a daze. The memorial at the top was presented by the supervisor of Qin Tianjian, with several titles listed above, which were carefully selected for Gao Lang, the Duke of the early Jin Dynasty.
Among them, the three characters 'Yu Guogong' were deliberately circled with the imperial brush and Zhupi, which obviously means Gao Min. Duke Yu, in the dream about the second generation, wasn't Gao Lang named Duke Yu? Does this mean those dreams are real
Li Jintian's hand was shaking when he squeezed the memorial, and then he threw it out fiercely. But it was too late to regret it now. The fact that Gao Lang was about to be promoted to the Duke was known to all civil and military officials, and in order to please Gao Min, he gave a mansion regulated by the Duke early and let the Gao family move in.
Right now, Li Jintian seems to have swallowed hundreds of flies, neither swallowing nor spitting. He poured several pots of herbal tea in succession, and then suppressed his tumultuous emotions. He heard someone outside the hall tell him that it was Gao Guijun's personal maid who asked for an audience.
"Come in." Li Jintian felt more and more anxious, but still didn't drive anyone away. He was really hard on Gao Min.
"The servant has seen the emperor, and the master asked the servant to come over and spread the word, saying that Qi Guijun went to the imperial study without authorization and wanted to bring a prince back. I asked you how to deal with it?" The servant's face was filled with anger. Obviously, she felt that Qi Xiujie was not qualified to raise the prince.
"What to do or not do, let Qi Guijun adopt the prince is what I mean, who dares to object?" Can't cure Gao Min, and can't cure a little servant? Li Jintian's tone of voice was very cold.
The maid was in a big accident, and seeing the evil spirit in the emperor's eyes, she quickly pleaded guilty and left.
At the door of the imperial study, Zhou Yun Sheng and Gao Min were facing each other.
Even though he has endured various tortures in the sky prison, this man's spine is still so straight, and his eyes when looking at people always have a kind of aloofness. But what was he so proud of? The Qi family was long gone, and he was the only one left to survive dragging his ruined body.
Thinking of this, Gao Min smiled contemptuously, but before the smile fully bloomed, the palace maid whispering in his ear made him pale.
Zhou Yun Sheng pursed his lips, cupped his hands, and said casually, "One step ahead." Then Shi Shiran stepped into the imperial study.
"I don't know what magic trick you cast to get the emperor to let you go, but I will never let you have a better life!" Gao Min said coldly, as if he felt that his cruel words were no different from those of the women who were fighting for favor. His face became more and more ugly.
Zhou Yun Sheng sneered and walked away. Of course, he wouldn't trespass into the imperial study while his husband was teaching. At this time, it was lunch break, and the princes were eating in the side hall, so there was no need to avoid it.
Said to be adopting one at random, but in fact, he already has a goal, and it is the future new emperor Li Xuyan who is the most capable and loyal supporter of the sixth prince.
The sixth prince's name was Li Xudong, and his mother-in-law was a dancer sent by a small border country. His status was very low, and he died just after giving birth. Li Jintian came back from the rebirth, and only saw Gao Min and the fifth prince born by Gao Min in his eyes. He had no feelings for other children at all, and he didn't care about their lives.
The sixth prince came from a humble background and had no one to take care of him, so one can imagine what kind of life he lived in the palace. Now he is still a pitiful bully. In the future, he will kill the three palace people around him because he can't stand the abuse, which will attract Gao Min's attention and sympathy, and then he will be adopted and taught by his side.
Li Xudong has a ruthless temperament, but he also repays his kindness. Since then, he has been loyal to Gao Min and his son. When he was fourteen years old, he followed Gao Min to fight in various places and made great military achievements. It can be seen that he is a very talented person.
Since he wanted to raise him, he naturally had to choose the strongest one among the group of cubs. Although the other party was already thirteen years old and had independent thinking ability, Gao Min was able to raise him well, and Zhou Yun Sheng didn't believe that he would not be able to. What's more, it doesn't matter if you are not familiar with it, he has a way to destroy the other party.
After thinking about it, the side hall has arrived, and the open window wafts out the fragrance of rice. Li Xuyan was flattered and flattered by the companions of the princes, and he had a feeling of being surrounded by stars. There was also a thin prince who hid in the corner with a lunch box and devoured it, as if he was hungry.
"Eat your brother slowly and be careful to choke. This braised pork ribs is here for you." Li Xuyan is precocious and good at communicating. No one will be offended and no one will be left out in the cold. praise.
The emaciated prince, Li Xudong, hurriedly covered the food box, showing an embarrassed expression, then bowed his head and thanked Li Xuyan repeatedly, saying that he was full.
In a corner that no one saw, he pulled his lips and revealed a very ironic smile. But if Li Xuyan was really interested, how could he not see his embarrassment? With his unique status, he doesn't need to add food to him every day, just a word or two to those attendants can greatly improve his situation, but Li Xuyan didn't, and chose to watch from the sidelines.
This falsehood made Li Xudong nauseated.
Zhou Yun Sheng, who was standing outside the window observing secretly, couldn't help but laugh. He thought that Gao Min and his son had captured Li Xudong, but now it seems that is not the case. Also, Li Xudong is useless now, how can he attract Gao Min's attention? I have to admit that Gao Min still has some eyes on people. Li Xudong is a wolf cub who will bite people, but if he is mature, he will be loyal to the Lord.
He walked in, and all the princes and companions saluted him, except Li Xuyan. He didn't care either, and walked straight to Li Xudong's side, forcefully flicking open the food container he had tightly covered.
"Old brown rice, boiled cabbage in water, is this what you use for lunch?" The lunch box had already been eaten clean, but Zhou Yun Sheng could tell what was inside by smelling it.
Li Xudong looked up at him blankly, not knowing how to respond. He couldn't understand why Qi Guijun paid attention to him.
"Where's your attendant? Tell him to come in." Seeing that the sixth prince didn't answer for a long time, Zhou Yun Sheng tugged at his ear.
Only then did Li Xudong come back to his senses, his ears slowly turned red, and he murmured, "The attendant is eating in the bamboo forest outside, and I will come to clean up later."
Zhou Yun Sheng waved his hand, and the palace servant immediately walked out of the side hall, found the attendant of the sixth prince, and brought his unfinished food box with him.
Zhou Yun Sheng glanced at him and said with a sneer, "Big white rice, stewed chicken, and four seasons seafood soup, you have eaten a lot. I ask you, are you a prince or he is a prince?"
The attendant was so frightened that his legs trembled, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed and begged for mercy, but Zhou Yun Sheng ignored it and took Li Xudong and walked straight away. In the eyes of outsiders, he is still a culprit. Dealing with a slave will inevitably lead to all kinds of gossip, so he should leave the person to Li Jintian to deal with, and let him stand up for himself by the way.
"Qi Guijun, I, I have class in a while, and I will be angry if I leave at this time." Li Xudong said while rubbing his hot ears. Such a gesture of intimacy has never been experienced since the day he was born.
"What class are you going to take, move to Zichen Palace with me. From now on, you will be my son." Zhou Yun Sheng touched the sixth prince's head.
Due to malnutrition, the sixth prince was much thinner and shorter than the fifth prince, and looked only in his early ten years. But in fact, the two are the same age, they are already thirteen-year-old young men, and their birthdays are only a month or two apart.
"Being your son?" Li Xudong was so surprised, he unconsciously held the hand on his head.
"Yes. Although my family has been destroyed, it is more than enough to protect you. I am alone, and you are young and lost. How about we two depend on each other from now on?" He bent slightly and looked back seriously.
His eyes are very clear and bright, there is no false concern, only a sincere invitation. Dependent on each other, the four words that should have been slightly desolate, but he said it with a warm feeling. Li Xudong dreams of a relative who can depend on each other. His eyes were red, but he stubbornly did not cry, and nodded fiercely.
The young man raised his head and smiled, and his face, which had gathered all the colors of the world, was dazzling under the sunlight. Li Xudong was stunned, and laughed stupidly.
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the chief eunuch came to reply in time when he heard the news, "Report to the emperor, Qi Guijun has picked the sixth prince."
"Sixth prince? Why not the twelfth prince?" Li Jintian felt very strange. In the last life, the Qi family hid the Twelve Princes and supported him in the throne. In this life, he thought that Qi Xiujie would make the same choice.
After all, the Twelfth Prince is only six years old, and he is the youngest prince. He has not yet formed an independent personality and thoughts, so he is more mature than the Sixth Prince.
The head eunuch took a breath and replied cautiously, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? The Twelfth Prince has already gone."
"Go? How come?" Li Jintian was suddenly shocked.
The chief eunuch leaned down and explained tremblingly, "Three years ago, the fifth prince was poisoned and fell into a coma. You called all the imperial doctors to Tianchen Palace for treatment. It happened that the twelfth prince was infected with the cold... That's it, that's it."
Although the chief eunuch did not make it clear, Li Jintian already knew that the reason for the delay of the 12th prince was because the imperial physician only cared about the treatment of the fifth prince. The only child who continued his bloodline and the throne in the last life was gone? After being hidden by the Qi family for five years, the child who had to do everything in his power to keep it was gone
A huge sense of panic hit Li Jintian's heart, as if his throne was also in jeopardy. He thought that in this life, everything was going in a good direction, but it seemed that he was wrong. He thought everything was under control, but in fact everything was getting out of control.
Li Jintian couldn't help trembling, but he didn't know that this was the reason why Zhou Yun Sheng had implanted the Twelve Princes in his memory. All he wants is his panic and doubt. When Li Jintian didn't care, he could naturally walk side by side with Gao Min to share the world. When he cared, Gao Min did everything wrong.
Humanity is such a fragile thing.