A black shadow pierced the dawn and fell on the porch. It approached the door and knocked hastily. The door creaked inside and opened the door. The night watchman looked sleepy and asked impatiently, "It's still dark, why are you in such a hurry?"
The hidden guard who knocked on the door said, "Boss delivered the news that the emperor has passed away."
The housekeeper suddenly woke up, shivered, turned and walked towards the bedroom, before reaching the door, the door was pushed open first. Chen Ruoyin stood in the middle with her hair disheveled, her pajamas were thin and pure white, like a fierce ghost not to be trifled with.
He didn't sleep well, and when he heard the movement, he got up, drooped his eyelids and said, "Do you have a letter?"
The housekeeper lowered his head: "Master Xiang, the emperor has passed away."
The person who delivered the message was the boss of Tuan Hun Nine Pythons, Chen Yi, who led troops to guard the palace gate, which was arranged by the prince when the manpower was changed. Chen Ruoyin listened, as if she didn't hear clearly: "What did you just say?"
The housekeeper repeated: "Master Xiang, the emperor passed away at Yinshi."
Chen Ruoyin said "Oh" for a long time, finally felt the cold, shrugged his shoulders and shivered, he muttered, the emperor died, and returned to the room while muttering, staggering, as if stepping on an uneven surface. on the mountain road.
"Master?" the butler called out. Chen Ruoyin ignored it, as if he was being haunted, the housekeeper hurriedly followed him in, prepared hot water, cloth towels, and official hats, just like every morning in the good old days.
Suddenly, birds were singing loudly outside the window, like mourning.
Chen Ruoyin shook violently, woke up, and murmured: "The emperor is dead, how can the truth not show his face." He gradually laughed, and then he was very happy, "The truth is going to the palace to see the emperor off."
After washing, changing and getting dressed, Chen Ruoyin swayed the wide sleeves of the court dress, stroked the white crane embroidered with the palm of her hand, and said, "Your Majesty, it's really time for you to go west with the crane."
He walked out of the big house majesticly, the sky was already dawn, and the early sun was yellow and clear, and he looked up for the first time in these days. The hidden guard waited and reported: "Father, the carriage is ready and we can go."
Chen Ruoyin went down the stairs, stepped on the bricks and stones with copper coins and lotus patterns in the courtyard, and said to himself: "Copper coins and lotus flowers imply money and flowers. In reality, I have been depressed for many days, but the good days are still beautiful." It's behind."
After passing through several halls and reaching the gate of the mansion, Chen Ruoyin strode across the threshold. The extremely extravagant carriage was waiting there, and a group of attendants were also extremely impressive, with an imposing manner.
Chen Ruoyin stepped on the stool to get into the car, got into the car, and opened the small window to see the scenery along the street. The common people don't know the national mourning yet, and they are busy making plans for the day as usual.
Two ruts passed by, the hanging gilt lamps swayed, and they drove to the end of the long street. When they turned a corner, the surrounding area was quite clean. After about half a cup of tea, a carriage drove up, the brocade was temporarily covered with plain satin, and the auspicious beasts inlaid with gemstones at the four corners were also wrapped, and even the same lamp was replaced with an ordinary white gauze cover.
"Master Xiang," the soldier driving the carriage recognized it and said, "Prince Rui's carriage is ahead."
The tall horses are rushing towards each other, getting closer and closer, and finally turn on a road. They stopped at the same time at the intersection, and no one would let anyone else go. The doors of the cars were almost pushed open at the same time.
Meng Tingyuan leaned out, first saw the prime minister's imposing carriage, and then saw Chen Ruoyin's rich purple robe. He said expressionlessly, "Prime Minister, long time no see, I lost weight."
Chen Ruoyin bowed: "Prince Lao Rui is thinking about it." He put on a sad look, "The truth is trapped in the mansion, but I am always worried about the emperor. It's a pity that heaven doesn't fulfill people's wishes..."
With such a hypocritical attitude, Meng Tingyuan's eyes were cold, and he was too lazy to deal with this old man. "Then please let the prime minister make way," he said, "I am in a hurry to enter the palace, so don't delay."
Chen Ruoyin said: "The truth is, how dare you compete with the third prince. It's just that the third prince doesn't know. My two horses are Turkic Wushan horses. They are very difficult to tame, and they only know how to advance but not retreat."
He clearly refused to give way, and even mentioned the Turks, as if he was not afraid of the accusation of colluding with the barbarians. Chen Ruoyin was so rampant, seeing Meng Tingyuan's face changed with anger, he blocked the way even more proudly.
Suddenly, a bead flew out and happened to hit the horse's eye, and the horse neighed continuously, causing the body to jolt violently. Chen Ruoyin supported the wall of the car, panicked: "Is there an assassin hiding in Prince Rui's car?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, without waiting for his soldiers to draw their knives, Huo Linfeng rushed out from the opposite chariot, as if a cold light flashed, and soon, the sound of horseshoes stopped, and the two horses fell to the ground with their necks broken.
The tip of the sword was dripping with blood, and Huo Linfeng raised his head: "Prime Minister, don't come here unharmed."
Chen Ruoyin grimaced: "It turns out that General Huo hid in the car, and killed the real horse as soon as he showed up. What's the reason?"
Huo Linfeng said: "The Wushan horse is the lowest breed of Turkic horse, and our army does not want any prisoners. Has the prime minister never seen the world, or was he fooled by the barbarians?" Putting the sword back into its sheath, "This general has a problem. When you see a low-quality horse, you want to kill it; when you see a low-level person, you want to kill it."
Chen Ruoyin laughed lightly: "The crime of killing is too heavy to shorten Yang's lifespan. Marquis Dingbei is dead, General Huo must live well."
Huo Linfeng replied: "That's natural." He also laughed, and confronted the opponent invisibly, "My father told me a secret when he left, it was about the prime minister."
Chen Ruoyin felt that Huo Linfeng was lying to him, and thought that the other party was just trying to argue with each other. After thinking about it, Huo Zhao hated him to the bone, and he might have confessed something before he killed him.
He was dubious: "Oh? What secret?"
Huo Linfeng said: "My father said that the prime minister was never married and had no heirs because..."
Without waiting for Chen Ruoyin to explode, he quickly said: "Because the prime minister offended a widow when he was young, he asked the widow's prime minister to find him and cut off the root of that descendant!"
Chen Ruoyin's complexion turned pale: "Huh... Huh!"
Huo Linfeng jumped into the car: "It seems that the prime minister is going to walk to the palace, General Ben and Prince Rui will go first." After finishing speaking, he took the reins and flicked lightly, and drove the carriage into the intersection.
The door of the car was half closed, Meng Tingyuan stooped to peek out, and said, "General Huo, thank you for venting your anger for this king."
Huo Linfeng thought to himself, why are you so self-indulgent? He didn't say a word, kept silent, Meng Tingyuan opened the door slightly, and asked in a low voice, "Chen Ruoyin really fell for that?"
Huo Linfeng gave a vague "hmm", even the prince of the dynasty dared to be deceived, Meng Tingyuan seemed very curious, and said: "No wonder he is so powerful, but he is lonely. Who told him to cut off his children and grandchildren, it is cruel enough."
"He's a butcher." Huo Linfeng replied, "I'm used to killing pigs."
Meng Tingyuan couldn't hold it back, he leaned on the door frame and let out a laugh, full of ridicule, Huo Linfeng glanced back, and said in vain, "Your father died just now, and you can still laugh."
Hearing this, Meng Tingyuan smiled even more, and it took him a while to calm down. After he had no expression, he said: "I have not been valued by my father since I was a child. My schoolwork is the best. I think that if I am better, I will win his favor. Knowing that in exchange for the disaster of destroying the teacher's family."
He was under ten years old back then, after that, no Taifu dared to seriously teach him, the officials in the court avoided him, once he became an adult, he was ordered to live outside the palace, he was not like a prince, but like a disaster.
Huo Linfeng asked: "Do you hate?"
Meng Tingyuan thought for a while, and answered irrelevantly, "I'm free."
Not far ahead, the outline of the palace gradually became clear, the palace gate was closed tightly, and the guards guarding the gate doubled in size. Huo Linfeng and Meng Tingyuan looked at each other, and ran over at a faster speed.
In Prince Rui's Mansion, the camellias in the corner garden were in full bloom, except that this place was full of withered scenes, Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun wandered around in the garden, spared no expense in the flowers, and did not know how many petals they picked up along the way.
Lu Zhun said: "The emperor will die as soon as he says it. People are caught off guard."
Rong Luoyun was a little annoyed: "Could it be possible to post the emperor's list first, and the imperial edict said that the emperor's death is imminent, are you all ready?"
Lu Zhun was laughing, with a young boy's carelessness, he turned around, pulled out two scimitars from his waist, and said enthusiastically, "Second brother, my sword skills have improved a lot, let me show you?"
Left and right were also waiting for news, Rong Luoyun sat down outside the porch, holding a cotton bag to watch. Lu Zhun got up and practiced in the garden wide open and wide. The two hooked scimitars were like a crescent moon, cutting down the camellias, and the fragrance was diffused everywhere.
Rong Luoyun stared at it without blinking, and applauded: "Wonderful! Let's do a cross lock!"
Encouraged, Lu Zhun jumped up and swung his saber lightly and nimbly among the flowers. When Rong Luoyun saw the happy place, he flew over, touched the camellia branch with the tip of his shoe, and competed with Lu Zhun with one-handed moves.
Not long after it started snowing, the two of them fought fiercely, their red faces lined with white snow, and their lives could not be concealed. Why! Lu Zhun let out a cry of surprise and stopped. An unbloomed flower bud was inserted into the gap between the rabbit fur collar.
Using the camellia as a weapon to directly attack the vital points, he said dissatisfied: "Second brother, I lost."
Rong Luoyun said: "It's normal to lose to me, why not pout."
Lu Zhun retorted: "Then I've improved!" He pushed Rong Luoyun to sit under the corridor and picked off the flowers, "This set of saber techniques is much more powerful, and my elder brother helped me study it."
Speaking of Duan Huaike, Rong Luoyun thought about Xiganling a little bit, and asked: "Brother, you can't be biased, help you study the knife technique, what about the fourth son?"
Lu Zhun patted his thigh: "Fourth brat! He runs to the barracks all day long. Let me see him. He would rather be a soldier in the army than the fourth palace lord of the Extraordinary Palace."
Rong Luoyun was relieved: "The fourth child likes it, so let him go."
Lu Zhun said sourly: "I used to hang out with my second brother, and later seek fame with my second sister-in-law, hmph..."
Rong Luoyun didn't understand, he was stunned for a moment before he came back to his senses, second sister-in-law, do you mean Huo Linfeng
He had a good laugh, if he told the disciples of Bufan Palace to gather at Miaocang Terrace, would everyone call Huo Linfeng - Madam Mistress
The more I think about it, the more I can't help it. In my mind, Lu Zhun and Diao Yuliang are living separately, pestering Huo Linfeng to make troubles, and they talk about each other as "second sister-in-law".
The laughter was in full swing, and the snow was falling heavily. The housekeeper came to look for them with an umbrella and coaxed them into the house to keep warm.
Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun went back to Zheyuan, they passed by a small building, and the intermittent sound of the zither came from the building, which sounded rather sad. Rong Luoyun asked: "Who is playing the piano in the building?"
The butler replied: "It's the princess. I guess the emperor is dead, and the princess is worried."
Rong Luoyun listened quietly for a while, only felt that the sound of the piano concealed sorrow, he was quite surprised, Prince Rui had not been favored for many years, and had little affection with Emperor Cheng and his son, he did not expect the princess to be so sad.
Without thinking carefully, he walked away against the cold wind and fine snow.
This day was very boring, the snow was falling more and more heavily, and there was no way out, so Rong Luoyun simply read the "Nie Jing" in the room, and occasionally set up a game, thinking about strange techniques. Lu Zhun held Taiping roasted sweet potatoes and ate them blindly, which was considered safe.
Until noon, Du Zheng called out from the outside: "The young master is back!"
Rong Luoyun looked out of the window and saw Huo Linfeng had just stepped into the garden with snow on his shoulders, as if he had returned from the desert on the day of victory. He couldn't get tired of watching it for a long time, but he was still happy. He waved: "Third brother, come here."
Lu Zhun approached, and was gently grabbed by the ear to order, he nodded with a smirk, and trotted out.
Huo Linfeng strode to the eaves, stomped his feet, and was about to brush off the snowflakes on his body when the curtain was lifted, and Lu Zhun came out as if to welcome him.
Lu Zhun said, "Second sister-in-law, you're back."
Huo Linfeng froze: "...what are you calling me?"
Lu Zhun said again: "Second sister-in-law, second brother is waiting for you in the house."
Huo Linfeng was dizzy, and saw the boy slipping back into the house, followed him in, and looked into the inner room, Lu Zhun threw himself next to Rong Luoyun's legs, the two of them laughed wildly.
The death of the emperor coincided with the national mourning.
... Why is it like Chinese New Year in front of me.
The author has something to say: Xiao Huo: Speechless