The Gilded Cage

Chapter 36: Why is one earring missing?

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At the imperial tent, Xiao Yu was already a little impatient.

He was a little frail, but at the moment the cold wind was blowing, and his head felt a little dizzy. From time to time, he covered his mouth and coughed twice, and there were a few strange flushes on his pale face.

In the past two or three hours, Liu Kang has tasted all kinds of ups and downs. At this time, his whole body was numb. Seeing the prince coughing, he calmly ordered someone to bring hot tea and serve it in person.

Xiao Yu took two sips of it and felt more comfortable until the heat spread in his chest.

Although he waited impatiently for a long time, there was still some cold joy in his heart. He probably saw that Xiao Kezhi had left his prince here in public for so long because of a woman, guessing that he would be discussed by others.

After waiting for a while, Xiao Kezhi, who had just left, rode away and returned.

"Your Majesty." Xiao Yu stepped forward to salute calmly, and there was a hint of mockery on the corner of his smiling lips.

"Get up." Xiao Kezhi waved at him, ignoring his strange attitude at all, and even showed him a kind smile, "You came back early."

"Yes, regarding the dredging of the river, my nephew has followed the previously agreed method, urging the subordinates to advance the project as scheduled. Now that everything is going well, and it is the New Year's Eve, my nephew will return to Chang'an two days earlier to see His Majesty."

"Really?" Xiao Kezhi patted his shoulder with a half-smile, "I also said that you had to come back because you didn't see the person you wanted to see, so you just got lost."

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Yu's face suddenly froze.

Not only did the emperor know the inside story of the trip to Huazhou, but he even said it mercilessly in front of him!

"Your Majesty is worrying too much." He couldn't squeeze out a smile any longer, so he had to reluctantly say something with a blank face.

"That's good." Xiao Kezhi turned around and looked at the rolling hills and grass on the horse farm, "Go back, you are not in good health, you need to take good care of it, so that it will last for a long time."

Another bright sarcasm.

Xiao Yu was so angry that he could barely restrain the twitching of his facial muscles, so he quickly bowed his head and bowed bluntly and resigned. It was only when he returned to the carriage that was parked not far away that he finally broke out and slammed a teapot into the wall of the carriage. superior.

The pot was made of copper and would not shatter, but it was filled with scalding hot water, poured down the wall of the car, and was just close to the door, and immediately seeped out along the gap, soaking the driver's clothes, causing him to suffer terribly. , but still didn't dare to cry out in pain, just hurriedly searched for someone to change positions, and went to the side to deal with it.

"Where's the Crown Princess? I just said that she was also at the racecourse, but have you found someone?" Xiao Yu was silent in the car for a long time before suddenly raising his voice.

The guards outside the car hurriedly replied: "When Fang Caichen went to look for it, I heard that Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess had just taken the little lady of Lu Guogong's family back to Tangquan Palace. Her Royal Highness should go back at this time, and it should happen to happen."

Xiao Yu took a deep breath and commanded in a deep voice, "Hurry up."

In Tangquan Palace, after Chu Ning sent Guoer back to Duke Lu's residence, he didn't stop there, and only briefly explained to Madam Xu that His Majesty had asked Mrs. Zhao to teach Guo'er to ride horses, and then left and returned to Prince Tang.

The soup pool in the courtyard was already pouring into the soup spring. She took a closer look and quickly entered the room. She took off her clothes and checked it carefully, and then changed her skirt again.

Just now on the racecourse, she saw that Xiao Kezhi did not return to the imperial tent directly, but went around in a circle elsewhere, and knew that he was delaying time for her.

Without hesitation, she rode directly back to the stables. It happened that Guo'er had finished her studies today, and the two of them returned to Tangquan Palace together.

Probably because she met Xiao Yu on the racecourse, she was always a little uneasy, always afraid that he would suddenly find some clues, and subconsciously wanted to avoid him and come back first.

At this time, Cui He's voice came from outside: "Madam, Your Highness is back."

The voice fell, and before Chu Ning could greet him, Xiao Yu pushed open the door and strode in with a cold face.

With this appearance, you can tell at a glance that he was angry in front of the emperor just now.

Chu Ning suddenly restrained his expression, stepped forward cautiously, and saluted: "His Royal Highness is back, it is earlier than what was said in the last letter."

"Why, you don't want to see me come back?" He had nowhere to vent the anger in his heart, and when he heard her words, he felt very uncomfortable, and he spoke more aggressively than before.

She forced a smile and lowered her head to change his clothes, her expression a bit lonely: "How could your Highness say that..."

Xiao Yu looked at her familiar and beautiful face, and listened to her gentle words, her face softened a little.

"Okay, I was the one who rushed. Are you here by yourself recently?" He spread his arms, and after letting her take off his shirt, he embraced her.

"Of course I'm still the same." She tried her best to calm down, raised her head boldly to meet his scrutinizing gaze, "It's Your Highness, why doesn't his face seem so good? Is it too busy in Huazhou?"

Xiao Yu's eyes were gloomy, and there was no smile on his face. He only covered his mouth and coughed, shook his head and said, "It's nothing, it's just that when I went to the racecourse to meet His Majesty, there was a gust of wind outside."

"It turns out that Your Highness also went to the racecourse." She showed a deep expression of surprise, and then she worried, "Since the cold wind is blowing, why don't you soak in the soup first, just so I have someone prepare a soup pool."

"Yeah." He responded briefly, and was about to let her go, when his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of her empty right ear, "Why is there one earring missing?"

Chu Ning's heart skipped a beat, and he touched his right ear. It was empty, but the left ear was fine. She wore a pair of turquoise gilt earrings today, which must have been thrown into the imperial tent in a panic, and hurriedly explained: "It must have been lost while riding a horse."

With just this raising of his hand, the big sleeve shirt slid down his arm, revealing a circle of red marks on his wrist.

"What is this?" Xiao Yu's eyes flashed, and he immediately grabbed her arm and looked closer.

Chu Ning looked at the marks on her wrist worn by the belt, her heart skipped a beat.

"It's the reins." She pursed her lips and squeezed out a smile that soon disappeared. "The horse is a little restless today, so I'll wrap the reins around my wrists a bit more to restrain it."

He frowned, and after a moment of silence, he said displeased: "Be careful in the future. I told you earlier that you are my crown princess, how can you ride a horse like those little ladies who can't calm down? Teach people to see, but they don't know how to think."

"His Royal Highness said that. I was indeed a little out of line today. Fortunately, when I was riding, I deliberately picked a place with few people, so it should not be seen by others." She obediently bowed her head and admitted her mistake, but she unconsciously remembered Xiao Kezhi's difference.

"Forget it, let's not take this as an example." Xiao Yu was really tired, and he didn't want to say more. He turned and walked towards the soup pool outside, "Come along too."

"Here."

Chu Ning knew that he would ask her to serve and bathe, so he followed him to the soup pool and took off all his clothes for him. Chibian kneaded his shoulders and neck for him.

The temperature of Tangquan was a little high, and the surrounding water vapor was dense, which quickly made Xiao Yu warm up, and a layer of fine sweat oozes out on his face.

The muscles and bones all over his body were stretched, and he couldn't help leaning back again, pinching the two catkins that were kneading for him on his shoulders, and dragging them closer.

She was forced to kneel forward, leaning her face to his shoulder.

He turned his head to look for her lips and kissed her carefully, as if examining, delicate and slow.

"Your Highness—" She was already tired, and now she felt even more uncomfortable when she was curled up.

He ignored it, and continued to kiss her neck all the way down until it touched the edge of her dress.

"It's in the way."

He looked at the tube top dress that was left on her body, and simply pulled her directly into the water.

In the tumbling hot soup, she struggled twice before pushing away the water that was pouring in from all directions, and barely stood still, but her hair and dress were soaked and tightly clinging to her body.

He looked at her embarrassed and beautiful appearance with satisfaction, and slowly covered her.

There was some resistance in Chu Ning's heart, but in the blur, he remembered that he didn't have a chance to drink the medicine today.

At night, in the Feishhuang Hall, Jin Jiang was reporting the news that he had just inquired from Bozhou to Xiao Kezhi one by one.

"... It has been verified that Zhao Kui did have a connection with the Nanzhao royal family during his lifetime, but at that time Nanzhao had a second prince in control of the government, and he was also the second prince. Now the fourth prince suddenly killed the second prince and took the throne himself. , he had many frictions with Zhao Kui and his son in the past, so he turned to support Yang Ying, a wealthy family in Bozhou, and wanted to expose Zhao Kui's connection with him in the past, so that he could get rid of Zhao and support Yang Ying. Zhao Lun's brothers and sisters are young, I am afraid they heard it. The court is about to have a big change in the army, and that's why it's anxious."

"Hmph, Bozhou Army, it was originally used by the imperial court to defend against Nanzhao, but now it really has a connection with Nanzhao." Xiao Kezhi threw away the stack of memorials with details in his hand, and couldn't help snorting coldly.

At this time, he naturally knew the plans of the Zhao family's brothers and sisters. It was nothing more than wanting Zhao Yu'e to enter the palace as a concubine and giving the Zhao family the name of a foreign relative, so that the King of Nanzhao would be afraid, and he would turn away from Yang Ying and support him again. Zhao's. And this matter is imminent for the Zhao family. I think Zhao Yu'e has touched a soft nail a few times, so she won't just let it go.

It's just that the Bozhou army is far away in the south, and it is the largest team other than the Ganzhou army. He doesn't plan to move for the time being, so he will let them wait for a while, and then he will start to clean up the few people in the hinterland of the Central Plains. They remove.

"Let people look at the movements of the Bozhou Army, especially the forged weapons and the coming and going and consumption of local money and grain, and they must find out clearly, and then check the situation of a few wealthy families, find a suitable candidate, and wait until the Zhao family is moved. , someone has to temporarily take Zhao Lun's place."

"Here." Jin Jiang didn't say a word, he responded immediately, and after reporting the situation of the generals who had come to Beijing to report their duties, he retired.

Xiao Kezhi was left sitting alone under the lamp. After a moment of contemplation, he was about to get up to take a shower, but suddenly felt something fell out of his cuff and landed on the wooden floor, making a crisp sound.

He stopped, looked down, and saw a delicate and small earring shining with the luster of gold and jade while waiting.

It was found on the tiger skin blanket after returning to the imperial tent during the day, and it was what the woman had dropped.

He paused for a moment, as if remembering the situation in the daytime. He smiled for a while, then retreated as if thinking of something, and finally squatted down slowly | went over, picked up the earring, and gently squeezed it between his fingers. Rub until the originally cold turquoise is slowly warmed up.

"Your Majesty, the bath soup is ready." Liu Kang reminded softly at the door.

Xiao Kezhi made an "en", turned around and walked back to the inner room, and put the earrings into the wooden box by the bed.