in the palace.
Duan Mingchong came to the Queen's Palace every day to say goodbye. Today, he was delayed for a while at the Xingbu Yamen. When he arrived at the Queen's Palace, it was already dark.
When Duan Mingchong was introduced by the palace servants, he caught a glimpse of the old eunuch waiting beside him, and his eyes moved lightly.
Sure enough, after Duan Ming Chong nods his head and enters, he sees Emperor Bei Lan who is having a good conversation with the queen.
Duan Mingzong bowed respectfully and bowed: "Please be safe, father and mother."
As soon as he came in, the emperor's face sank immediately, and he looked at him a little indifferently, neither letting him get up nor asking questions, but lowered his head and picked up the teacup.
The atmosphere in the hall was a little dignified, and the queen raised her hand towards Duan Mingchong with an angry smile and said, "It's cold in the ground, get up quickly."
Duan Mingchong lowered his head, still kneeling, and said lightly, "My son doesn't dare."
The queen raised her head and glanced at the emperor vaguely, and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty."
The emperor said lightly: "Even if you dare to advertise such a rebellious thing, what else dares the prince? If you want to kneel, then kneel, do I still beg you to get up?"
Duan Mingchong didn't speak, he knelt straight.
The empress couldn't bear it, and said, "Your Majesty, Ming Chong is too young to be a troublemaker. He was lost in his mind for a while. He will come here to greet him. He must have known that he was wrong. Ming Chong, please confess your mistake to your father and emperor."
Duan Mingchong was very obedient, kowtowed, and said, "My son knows it's wrong."
The Queen breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Ming Chong listened to His Majesty the most since he was a child. If you think about it carefully, he wouldn't have spread the rumors - I was just talking about your marriage with your father. , do you have any favorite girl, the mother will decide for you."
Duan Mingchong's eyes were a little soft, and he said softly, "The Sui family forgot to return."
Queen: "..."
The emperor threw the lid of the cup at will, making a crisp "click" sound, and said coldly: "Do you think he looks like he is repenting?!"
The queen has been trying to smooth things out, and now she can't hold back her face anymore, she took a deep breath and said, "Ming Chong, you have to be measured in your nonsense, Sui Wanggui is still a man no matter how beautiful he is. Prince Chao, do you really want to marry a man as a concubine?"
Duan Ming Chong said: "Why not?"
why not...
The emperor was already getting a headache from the rumors all over the city. At this time, seeing Duan Mingchong's unrepentant appearance, he was furious and smashed the unfinished tea in his hand directly to Duan Mingchong's side.
With a crisp sound, the porcelain cup was torn apart, and the hot tea was sprinkled on the back of Duan Mingchong's hand touching the ground, turning red in an instant.
Duan Ming Chong didn't even look at it, he bowed down respectfully, and said calmly, "Father, please calm down, my son knows it's wrong."
The emperor turned pale with anger, pointed at him and scolded: "You bastard! Although you know your mistake, but you don't repent, are you trying to anger me on purpose?"
The queen hurriedly stepped forward to give the emperor a pat on the back, and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, calm down, Ming Chong didn't do it on purpose."
The emperor clutched his chest and said in a trembling voice: "You... look at him like this now, indulging in beauty and being fascinated by a man, how can there still be a prince of a country?!"
This sentence was a little serious, and the queen's face was pale with fright.
Duan Mingchong seemed to do it on purpose and said, "Your Majesty, calm down."
He didn't even call his father.
The emperor was angina with anger while pressing his chest.
The palace servants on the side wisely ran to call for the imperial doctor, the queen was anxious to give him a good breath, while making a color at Duan Mingchong, and said sharply: "If you make your father and emperor ill, I will never forgive you. Stop kneeling here, want to kneel out and kneel."
Duan Ming Chong nodded and said yes, stood up and walked outside the dormitory, and knelt down straightly.
The old eunuch who was guarding the door saw that the crown prince was kneeling in the icy sky and cold night, so he hurriedly walked over and whispered, "Your Highness, you are..."
Duan Ming Chong said: "I recklessly bumped into Your Majesty in a single moment, and voluntarily accepted the punishment."
The old eunuch looked at Duan Mingchong's growth since he was a child, and he was so distressed that he said, "Your Highness, you are kneeling here, don't say that you are hurting your body, and there will be 80% rumors that Your Highness is not at odds with His Majesty's father and son tomorrow. If you are listened to by someone with a heart, something may happen, you are... ah... "
What Duan Mingchong wanted was this incident.
He lowered his head and smiled softly, and said, "Father-in-law doesn't have to worry, he has his own measure."
After a while, the imperial doctor came in a hurry, and after giving the emperor some treatment, he prescribed some medicine for him to take.
After tossing for more than an hour, it was already late.
After putting the emperor to sleep, the queen hurried out of the palace, saw Duan Mingchong who was still kneeling, and hurriedly stepped forward to help him up.
Duan Mingchong stood up, a smile appeared on his pale face from freezing: "Mother."
The queen was so distressed that her tears were about to fall. Duan Mingchong grew up under his knees since he was a child. How could he have suffered like this.
She reached out and touched Duan Mingchong's face, only to feel that her palm was cold, and she hurriedly dragged Duan Mingchong into the hall.
After a while, Duan Mingchong sat on the soft chair, sipping ginger tea in his hand, and his pale face finally recovered some blood.
The queen clipped Duan Mingchong's scattered strands of hair, and said distressedly: "Why do you deliberately anger your father and emperor? Is it worth it for a man?"
Duan Ming Chong smiled gently and said, "Knowing that I deliberately angered the father and the emperor, and the mother and the queen are still willing to help me, Ming Chong is grateful."
The queen's hand paused, and a look of helplessness appeared on her beautiful face. She lightly grabbed Duan Mingchong's hand, and the tears that had been in her eyes were gently blinked by her and slowly slid down.
Duan Mingchong came up to wipe her tears, and his voice became softer: "Why are you crying?"
The queen turned her head slightly, wiped away her tears, and choked softly: "The queen mother is just... Since I was a child, I have never seen you so obsessed with one thing..."
Duan Mingchong was startled, and smiled helplessly and tenderly.
Duan Mingchong has been crowned the crown prince since he was born. As long as he can remember, his entire life has been arranged by the emperor - not so much an arrangement as it is a manipulation.
When he was young, he either practiced literature and martial arts under the imperial master, or learned how to run the country with the emperor. He had read countless books, and he never had free time throughout the year.
Fortunately, Duan Ming Chong's temperament is quiet and peaceful, and he can hold his temperament after so many years of such a clear and boring life.
Over the years, the emperor has been full of praise for his obedience and docility, sometimes making it seem that he is not trying to raise a prince, but a puppet.
Duan Mingchong has been quiet since he was a child. He never fights or robs. He never says what he wants.
The queen watched him grow up little by little, and his temperament became calm and steady, but she only felt that her children had never had the vigor and popularity that ordinary children should have.
This is the first time she has seen Duan Mingchong so persistent in wanting someone, even at the risk of making the emperor furious.
Duan Mingchong helped her dry her tears and said softly, "I thought my mother would blame me..."
After all, not everyone can accept that their son falls in love with a man that goes against his family.
The queen choked and said: "The queen mother can't control you, and she doesn't want to restrain you. If this matter is over, you can bring Wanggui into the palace to let me see."
Duan Mingchong smiled and said, "Okay, the mother will definitely like him."
Duan Mingchong knelt outside the queen's bedroom for an hour, and before midnight, it was secretly spread throughout the entire palace. In addition to the previous gossip, the ambiguous rumors between the prince and Anhou at the same age were even more clamorous, and many people still complained. They all praised the prince's infatuation, and even openly defied His Majesty for Sui Anhou.
He walked out of the Queen's palace, and the scalded hand had been treated by the Queen herself. Although he had used the best medicine, he still had a burning pain.
Duan Mingchong walked back to the East Palace with a pale face, and when he passed the Duanlishu Palace, he saw a figure in the distance under the plum tree at the door.
It is as hopeful.
He was wearing a big cloak and stood alone under a tree with a carved bright lantern. He raised his head slightly and looked at the closed palace gate, wondering what he was thinking.
Duan Mingchong looked at him from a distance, let the accompanying people wait in place, and walked forward slowly.
A thin layer of frost had fallen on Duan Ruwang's shoulders and hem, and he didn't know how long he had waited.
Seeing Duan Mingchong coming over, Duan Ruwang tilted his head slightly, his eyes were a little absent-minded, as if covered with a layer of mist, and it took a long time to disperse.
Duan Mingchong stepped forward and said lightly, "Why don't you come in to see Lishu?"
Duan Ruwang did not answer.
Duan Mingchong chuckled lightly and said, "It's better if you don't go in, so as not to make Lishu feel embarrassed. Besides, she doesn't want to see you either."
Duan Ruwang, who had always been indifferent, heard that the cold hand in his sleeve trembled slightly, and his godless eyes looked at Duan Mingchong sharply, and said gloomily: "Shut up."
Duan Mingchong said indifferently: "Why do you keep your mouth shut? Since you dare to use the hedge to calculate me, have you really not considered the consequences?"
Duan Ruwang's fists were clenched, and he looked at Duan Mingchong with some resentment.
"Li Shu is free, and it's you and me fighting to the death. She just doesn't know how to get along with you when she was young. Now it's business as usual." Duan Ming Chong said, "Even if she is my sister, she has never been afraid of you from beginning to end. Alienation, he regards the things you gave her as treasures; the folk stories you told her are also written down one stroke at a time, lest he forget. Duan Ruwang, second emperor brother, are you worthy of her?"
Duan Ruwang's lips moved lightly, but his eyes were still cold: "I, I don't care, I don't care about anything... That's just her own wishful thinking. In the royal family, where is there any complete right and wrong black and white, the winner is king and the loser is Kou..."
Duan Mingchong said: "You don't care, why are you waiting here in the middle of the night?"
Duan Ruwang was stunned.
After Duan Mingchong finished speaking lightly, he looked down at the candle that was burning out in Duan Ruwang's hand, and took a step back.
"You can fight with me no matter what, as you said, the king and the loser." Duan Mingchong retreated into the darkness, looked at Duan Ruwang coldly, and said softly, "But you are wrong, no It's time to involve Wanggui and Lishu."
Duan Ruwang raised his head and stared blankly at the painted red door of the Duan Lishu sleeping hall. The lantern in his hand slanted a beam of warm light from the side.
Duan Mingchong did not know when, he had already left.
The light flickered on and off, and the residual candle rolled with the last tear of wax, struggling to wrap half an inch of the dark wick.
The candlelight was beating, illuminating Duan Ruwang's cold and white face, and the sound of the front fence for a few days faintly sounded in his ears.
"Second Emperor..."
"Second Emperor!"
"I heard that the prince doesn't let you eat outside food, why do you always pester me with it?"
Duan Lishu's voice like a nightingale was clear, his eyes were slightly bent, and he shook his arm coquettishly, and said, "It's delicious, the third emperor is like the prince, he will never bring me anything that is not clean, only the second emperor. Brother loves me the most, who are you not pestering?"
Duan Ruwang handed over the things in his hand and said with a smile: "Well, this, hide it, your brother prince knows about it, I'm afraid I'm going to scold you."
Duan Lishu pointed to his chest and said sternly: "Even if he is scolded to death, Lishu will never betray the second emperor!"
Duan Ruwang was amused by her: "You, your mouth is so sweet before you eat honey fried rice. If you eat it again, the emperor will be unable to resist."
Duan Lishu blinked at him and happily opened the honey decoction mixed with medicine.
When she was about to eat, Duan Ruwang seemed to regret it. She reached out and grabbed Duan Lishu's hand, and said softly, "Lishu, this... This seems to be unclean. Bring it."
Duan Lishu tilted his head and looked at him suspiciously: "It's not unclean, Brother Erhuang, why are you so long-winded as the Prince's brother now?"
Duan Ruwang wanted to persuade him again, but Duan Lishu waved his hand directly, bent his eyes and started eating.
The candle light went out twice, Duan Ruwang's eyes were slightly red, the scene in front of him dissipated like smoke, and the pretty girl also disappeared.
Duan Ruwang's eyes were a little absent-mindedly staring at the candle that was clearly extinguished in his hand, and he gently stretched out his hand to hold down the bursts of pain in his heart.
"I..." he murmured softly, "I took advantage of the only person in the world who is willing to treat me with sincerity."
The candle flame in the carved lampshade suddenly burst into a flame, and then quickly dissipated.
Duan Ruwang's face also quickly dimmed, and in the end what remained was that his expression had returned to indifference.
In the darkness, the wind and snow whistled.