"You said," Li Rong looked at Shangguan Yue, couldn't help laughing, and couldn't believe it, "He died?"
"Yes," Shangguan Yue said coldly, "this is what I'm here to tell you, you should reflect on it."
After Shangguan Yue finished speaking, she turned around and wanted to leave. Li Rong stopped her and said indifferently, "Did you do it?"
Shangguan Yue paused, and after a long time, she said slowly, "We won't do it, others will do it."
"Is that you?"
Li Rong stubbornly only asked, Shangguan Yue was silent for a moment, and finally said: "No."
"Rong'er," Shangguan Yue seemed unable to hold on, she said tiredly, "Mother is not as... so..."
"Queen Mother," Li Rong took the cup, poured tea, and said slowly, "Actually, I understand your position. As far as you are concerned, from the moment you married into the palace, you represented the Shangguan family. If something happened to the Shangguan family, it also means that something happened to you, and your relationship with the Shangguan family is much closer than that between me and Chuan'er."
"This is your position, you can never stand opposite the Shangguan family."
"Aren't you?"
Shangguanyue turned her head sharply, she stared at Li Rong, she was standing in front of the high door, the wind blew her golden steps on her head and swayed gently with the wide sleeves, the surrounding copper bells were jingling, she looked at Li Rong, He lowered his voice: "You think I don't know what you and Chuan'er are thinking, but are you worthy?! Suppressing the family and dividing the courtiers, that's what the monarch wants! What are you and Chuan'er now? You are not the emperor. , you are an aristocratic family! You can only go to the emperor's position by relying on the aristocratic family, and in that position, only Chuan'er can sit. What are you doing?"
Shangguan Yue walked in, and she looked at Li Rong oppressively: "You are a princess, today, you are a member of a noble family to Li Ming, and tomorrow, you will also be a member of a noble family to Li Chuan. You can stand opposite Shangguan's. ?"
"You are like me, no. The Shangguan family is over, you have nothing."
Li Rong didn't speak, she was drinking tea.
After a long time, she suddenly said: "This Beiyan Pagoda was repaired to you by your father back then."
Shangguan Yue was stunned for a moment, Li Rong poured tea for herself, and said slowly: "You used to be very good, but later, you were all thinking about the Shangguan family, and the emperor was thinking about your own power. The further you go, the farther you go. The origin of this tower is forgotten."
"I used to think like my mother," Li Rong raised her hand to pour tea for Shangguanyue and asked him to sit down. She was too calm, but she seemed more like a young man. Shangguanyue looked at her daughter in front of her. , listened to Li Rong's slow voice: "Be tied to the aristocratic family, stabilize the situation, and steadily assist Chuan'er to become the emperor, and then I will help Chuan'er together with the aristocratic family."
"With me here, if Aya is also married to Chuan'er, Chuan'er's sister, Chuan'er's wife, they are all from Shangguan's family, Chuan'er will not start with her mother's family no matter what. In the future, we will work together to make Chuan'er would be a very good emperor."
"Isn't this bad?" Shangguan Yue frowned and said a bit angrily, "Shangguan's family is your mother's family, do you even suspect your mother's family?"
Li Rong said calmly, "But this is what we thought."
"We imagined that everyone in a family would be just like us, being measured and knowing how to advance and retreat. But in fact, if a family is too big, there will be many unforeseen incidents. The more prosperous the Shangguan family is, the more stable the foundation will be. , those side branches will grow wildly in places you don't know about."
"They won't tell you, after the accident, if you don't help, it won't work. Just like this time, what happened behind the Qin family case, do you know, does your uncle know? And at this point, you can Are you dealing with relevant people at this time? If you deal with anyone who supports you at this time, no matter what the reason is, you or your uncle will be swallowed up by these people."
Shangguan Yue didn't speak, and for a while, she didn't dare to answer.
Li Rong didn't force her, she looked away and said slowly: "Today the emperor is the father, and tomorrow the emperor is Chuan'er. If we continue on the road that the mother said, Aya and I will be the mother's position in the future. , and Chuan'er is the father of today. Such a future," Li Rong smiled bitterly, "isn't it sad?"
"The big truth, I have talked a lot in the court. What is for the country and the people, everyone knows clearly. In the end, people live a lifetime, first of all, they just want a good life for themselves and their family. After that, there are some moral and In principle, that’s about it.”
"But Queen Mother," Li Rong looked up at Shangguan Yue, "How are you doing?"
Shangguan Yue did not speak. She tried her best to be calm, to be arrogant and cold as usual, but when she touched Li Rong's gentle eyes, Shangguan Yue was stunned. Li Rong sighed and said slowly: "Queen Mother, Shangguan's family needs a scabbard, otherwise sooner or later, either it will hurt Chuan'er, or he will be broken by Chuan'er."
"What I did today was not to oppose the noble family, nor to stand on the side of the royal father, to hurt you and your uncle." Li Rong said in a gentle and serious voice, "On the contrary, I just hope that I The family can live well.”
"I hope Chuan'er can choose the person he likes and the life he wants. As long as he fulfills his responsibilities as a prince and a monarch, he can live like a human being."
"I hope that my uncle and Aya's clansmen can die safely and not be exposed to wind and rain in the years I have seen."
"I hope that the people of Daxia can live a stable life, and I hope that the country I am in will be stable and prosperous."
"I even hope that one day, you and your royal father will be able to return to this Beiyan Pagoda, look at the stars together, and talk about what's in your heart."
Li Rong said, she couldn't help laughing: "I know that my hopes are very extravagant, but this is actually what I want to do all my life. And I want to do the first step of these things," Li Rong said. Rong looked at Shangguan Yue seriously, "It's the power of the Shangguan family, it can't be a knife that will hurt me and Chuan'er. You said, it is the mother family we rely on, and the Shangguan family needs the power brought by Chuan'er. This Power is given to it by us, it must be controlled by us.”
"This is the reason why Chuan'er refused to marry Aya?" Shangguanyue frowned and seemed to understand, Li Rong calmly said, "This is a touchstone. Marriage may not be considered a major event in the courtroom. , but if Chuan'er can't even control this matter, then it's a big deal."
"Furthermore, if Chuan'er and Aya get married, then Chuan'er will never inherit the throne with His Majesty."
"Mother," Li Rong said here, she was also a little tired. She raised her eyes to look at Shangguan Yue, "You don't need to worry about my uncle and me. You just need to understand, my heart," Li Rong stretched out her hand and grabbed Shangguan a little jerky. Yue's hand.
Since she was an adult, she has rarely acted like a child like this. Shangguanyue trembled lightly and heard Li Rong say, "The queen mother and her family have always been very important, that's all."
Shangguan Yue didn't speak. She lowered her head. After a long time, she raised her head and smiled bitterly: "You and your royal father are so similar."
Li Rong raised her eyes in confusion, and Shangguan Yue said in a low voice, "You always mix up feelings and power. Many times, I don't understand whether you are telling the truth or a lie."
"You said in the courtroom that you are for the sake of Daxia Jiangshan, and you are telling me now that you are for your family. I can't believe what you said is true or false."
Li Rong didn't speak, but Shangguan Yue stood up and said in a low voice, "I won't say much else, I'll go back first. You don't have to be too sad when Pei Wenxuan is dead. I'll choose another son-in-law for you in the future."
Li Rong lowered her eyes and didn't say much. Shangguan Yue seemed to want to say something, but in the end she didn't speak. She turned around and went straight out.
Li Rong sat on the spot by herself, Jinglan stepped forward and said hesitantly, "Your Highness, something happened to the concubine, should we…"
"Look for the plain clothes," Li Rong said calmly, "put it on."
"No corpse has been seen yet," Jing Lan said anxiously, "Go find someone first, don't be too sad, Your Highness..."
"He won't die."
Li Rong definitely spoke, but Jinglan was stunned for a while, and saw Li Rong's expression full of confidence: "You don't know who he is, how could he die?"
When Jingmei heard this, she panicked for a while. She didn't dare to speak, so she turned to look at Jinglan. Jinglan hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Your Highness, we haven't come back yet, so let's look for it."
Li Rong responded and said nothing. After a while, she said, "You guys go down, I'll slow down myself."
Others only thought she was too sad, and then retreated.
After everyone went down, Li Rong sat quietly for a long time, finally got up and sat on the edge of the desk.
She took out the paper and wanted to write something. She didn't know what to write, so she just wrote it at will. After a long time, when she came back, she saw that the page was densely packed with Pei Wenxuan's name.
Li Rong quietly looked at Pei Wenxuan's name for a long time.
She suddenly realized that she had a lot to say to him.
She wanted to tell him about her mother, and she wanted to tell him about her father.
She has a lot of words, and she is at ease. The only person in the world who can let her say it is Pei Wenxuan.
Because other people don't understand, she can't speak.
Only Pei Wenxuan, she felt that as long as she opened her mouth and told him, he would understand.
He must know that every word she said is true.
Too bad he wasn't there.
Li Rong thought, raised her head and looked at the copper bell on the eaves outside the window.
It made a crisp sound in the wind, as if inviting people to return home.
"Pei Wenxuan..."
She murmured softly.
That night, it rained again in Huajing.
The drizzle continued, and at this time, there was a person wearing a blue robe and a hat, galloping down the mud road in the rain, and then before dawn, knocked on the gate of the first city between Huajing and Huangping County.
The soldiers stuck their heads out one after another, and they heard the man take out the token, and under the city gate, he raised his voice and said, "Supervision censor Pei Wenxuan, come to check the food on the order of the prince!"
Hearing this, the guards of the city hurriedly opened the city gate, and after checking Pei Wenxuan's identity, they hurriedly brought people into the county office.
When the prefect heard the envoy, he got up in a hurry. After Pei Wenxuan explained the purpose of the audit, the prefect hesitated for a moment and whispered: "Master Pei, it's not that Wei Chen can't trust Master Pei, but since Master Pei said that it was the prince who checked the accounts, I dare to ask if there is any. A token?"
This prefect was originally a son of a noble family who supported the prince. If Li Chuan really wanted to investigate, he would not refuse. Pei Wenxuan said in a low voice: "This matter was originally done by the prince in private. do something."
Pei Wenxuan hinted to the other party that he was in the censor's desk and was working for the prince. If he wanted to bring down other people, he would naturally need some evidence.
"This matter should not be publicized, I can't take the prince's order, but the princess' order," Pei Wenxuan said, taking out Li Rong's token and showing it to the prefect, "Your lord will not deny it, right?"
The prefect hesitated for a while, and Pei Wenxuan laughed: "His Royal Highness Pingle is the eldest sister of the crown prince. Your Excellency will never think that His Royal Highness Pingle will harm the crown prince, right?"
"Don't dare." The prefect said, he thought for a moment, Pei Wenxuan was Li Rong's concubine, the brother-in-law of the prince, he settled the relationship, then lowered his head and said, "Concubine, please come with me."
Pei Wenxuan checked it for less than half an hour, and then copied down the records of the grain and grass transported around Huangping County that year, and then quickly left to go to the next place.
At this time, the sky was already bright. Shangguanya was sitting in a carriage, swinging the fan, and walked into the Juxian Teahouse with a smile. As soon as she pushed the door and entered the private room, she saw a young man wearing a mask sitting in the room. Sitting behind the small table, he looked up at Shang Guanya.
Shangguanya chuckled lightly with a fan, raised her hand to close the door of the room, and said softly, "I knew that His Highness would ask you to come to me."
Saying that, she walked to the table, sat down gracefully, raised her eyes and said, "Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"This list was written by Qin Lang. The defeat of Huangping County was due to the shortage of food and grass on the front line. These are the relevant officials of the year, and His Highness asked for their confessions."
Shangguanya turned her fan. She scanned the names on the list one by one and said slowly, "We can't move the big officials on the list, we can only pick a few."
With that said, Shangguanya raised her finger and named a few names: "Just these few."
"Your Highness, let me listen to your arrangements."
Xun Chuan said calmly, Shangguanya chuckled: "She's really lazy."
Shangguanya thought for a moment, and then said, "Let's start with this Tanaka. He is only a seventh-rank petty official who is in charge of guarding the accounts in the Ministry of War. He was born timid."
Shangguanya said, then laughed: "Find a time, catch him, knock him unconscious, tie him up, then find a random girl and put him on the bed pretending to be killed."
"You're going to frame him?"
Xun Chuan frowned, Shangguan Ya smiled lowly: "If you're joking, I'll scare him. I'll go over with you at that time, record the confession on the spot, and promise to help him cover up the murder. With this as a handle, it will be much more convenient in the future. ."
"What about the others?"
"Everyone has weaknesses," Shangguanya crossed the names of those people with coldness in her eyes, "There are 19 days left, so we will arrange them one by one."
When the situation in Huajing was turbulent, Li Rong found a rare purity in the Beiyan Pagoda.
It was widely rumored that something had happened to Pei Wenxuan, but she did not respond. She just inquired about Pei Wenxuan's whereabouts, and then asked people to declare a fake for Pei Wenxuan, and asked them to go to the place where Pei Wenxuan fell off the cliff to look around, and then put on a plain suit. Clothes.
Everyone thought that she was stimulated by Pei Wenxuan's death, and Li Chuan came to comfort her, but she was stopped by her. She shut herself in the house, ignoring the news from Shangguanya and Xunchuan every day, and just quietly copied the scriptures.
She rarely has such leisure time in her life, she doesn't need to do anything, she just needs to copy the scriptures over and over again, she copied and copied, and she heard Jingmei a little surprised: "Your Highness, why do you look like a concubine. of?"
Li Rong paused for a moment, Jingmei hurriedly knelt down, and hurriedly said, "It's the servant who made a mistake, and I ask His Highness to punish you."
"What did you say wrong?"
Li Rong laughed and said gently, "Go back."
Jingmei knelt on the ground, and after a long time, she hesitated: "Your Highness, the concubine has gone, you don't have to..."
"He's not dead."
Li Rong interrupted her, and Jingmei said boldly, "Your Highness, it's been ten days."
"I told you," Li Rong affirmed, "He's not dead."
"If you dare to say that he is dead again," Li Rong raised her head and looked at the man kneeling on the ground with a calm expression, "Go and receive the punishment yourself."
Jingmei bit her lip and finally kowtowed: "Yes."
After speaking, Jingmei retreated.
Li Rong sat at the table by herself. After a long time, she drew another piece of paper and wrote Pei Wenxuan's name.
Then she started writing letters.
This is a habit she has recently started to develop.
She was used to talking to Pei Wenxuan every day, and now that Pei Wenxuan was not around, she lost someone to talk to for a while, so she started writing letters to Pei Wenxuan.
Today is the ninth letter, and she still has a lot to say.
"Pei Wenxuan, see Xin An.
Today they told me again that you are dead.
I know that this is impossible. With your cleverness, you must have already started preparations after you left the city. I am afraid that this matter was planned by you. After all, dead people are the safest.
But it is also strange, these words, they said to me once, I was nervous once.
I can't help but think, fortunately, before we go together.
If I walk behind you, presumably, it will not be a good day.
You are not so lonely when you live. "
The Buddhist scriptures have been copied one hundred and seven times.
The nineteenth letter was written, and it finally arrived the night before the Qin family asked to be executed. On this night, Qin Lin and Qin Feng from the frontier were finally escorted into the capital. As soon as they arrived in Huajing, Xun Chuan picked them up and sent them to the Princess Mansion.
Before Qin Lin was locked in the room, he suddenly asked Xun Chuan: "Dare to ask your lord, do you know how my little sister Qin Zhenzhen is now?"
Xun Chuan paused, and after a while, she said slowly, "She's fine, you don't have to worry."
Qin Lin finally felt relieved when he heard this.
No one could sleep that night, the Huajing family was brightly lit in the middle of the night, and on the Beiyan Pagoda, Li Rong was also alone in the sky.
Everyone is waiting for a result.
Waiting for the result of the Qin family, and also waiting for the ending of Li Rong.
At dawn the next day, the Ministry of Punishment led people to the Princess Mansion, and Su Rongqing also came to Beiyan Pagoda.
Everyone was a little surprised by his arrival. He spread his sleeves and saluted, and then said respectfully: "Wei Chen Su Rongqing, please see Your Highness."
No one answered. After a long time, the door slowly opened. Jing Lan stood behind the door and saluted, "Young Master, please."
Su Rongqing followed Jinglan all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the top of the tower, she saw Li Rong copying scriptures inside.
She was wearing a robe with white gauze and blue borders painted with white plums, with long hair scattered behind her.
Su Rongqing stood at the door and stared for a moment, then raised her hand and saluted, "Your Highness."
"Today's execution of the Qin family, what are you doing here if you don't watch the execution?"
"I heard that His Royal Highness is preparing to leave the capital today," Su Rongqing said calmly, "Wei Chen came here to take a look."
Li Rong paused, she raised her eyes to look at Su Rongqing, Su Rongqing was standing at the door, her expression was always calm, Li Rong looked at him for a moment, put down her pen, and instructed the people: "Since you are here, bring the chess table up, Have a cup of tea."
Jinglan responded, Li Rong stood up and led Su Rongqing to the chess table.
After the two sat down together, Li Rong said slowly, "I didn't expect that Master Su would come to see off this palace so early. I don't know where the news of Master Su came from." Li Rong looked up at Su Rongqing and smiled, " Are you sure that this palace will lose?"
"That man is dead."
Su Rongqing said calmly, "His Royal Highness cannot show the evidence collected by His Highness's men."
"Why not?"
Li Rong chuckled, and Su Rongqing took the first chess piece and put it on the chessboard, and said slowly, "Because Your Highness doesn't dare. There are too many people on that list. If His Highness really takes it out, I am afraid that Huajing will not be able to get out. "
Li Rong looked calm, and after a long time, she said slowly, "You know who there are."
"Know."
"I thought," Li Rong thought for a while, then laughed, "Master Su will not tolerate this."
"Corruption of the army's pay, this matter, whether it is me, my father, or Lord Shangguan, can't be tolerated."
Su Rongqing spoke slowly, Li Rong lowered her eyes to watch him play chess, and heard him say in an emotionless voice: "But this matter should not be handled by Your Highness, but we should do it internally. We have given ourselves an extra knife. So it is impossible for us to hand over this power to His Royal Highness."
"You told me this so clearly," Li Rong dropped the chess piece, rather puzzled, "Aren't you worried that I will be angry?"
"If I don't say it, Your Highness won't know?"
Su Rongqing responded quickly, Li Rong thought for a while, then smiled: "Yes."
"So," Li Rong looked at the other party with a half-smiling smile, "Master Su is here today to show off to Ben Gong? Ben Gong lost to you, the Inspector Division cannot build it, and His Majesty will have no reason to build it in the future. Second Inspector, Master Su is satisfied?"
Su Rongqing paused, and after a long time, he slowly raised his eyes and looked at the woman who was facing the opposite side with Mo Difan draped in front of him, her eyebrows full of mockery.
He stared at her, his eyes seemed to have countless emotions surging, and finally returned to calm.
"Wei Chen has some doubts and would like to ask His Highness to answer."
"you say."
"His Royal Highness is the enemy of the noble family," Su Rongqing said softly, "Is it for Lord Pei?"
Li Rong was slightly taken aback when she heard this.
At this time, the Qin family was pushed to the court one by one, and they were pressed down on their knees.
Outside the field, Xun Chuan was among the crowd, holding a long sword and quietly watching the scene on the field.
A young man dressed in Tsing Yi drove in from outside the city gate on a horse, galloped across the long street, and rushed into the palace city.
"Why does Master Su ask such a question?"
Li Rong paused for a moment before she realized that it was a bit strange. Su Rongqing looked at her and said, "Because I want to discuss something with His Highness."
"Master Su speaks bluntly."
"Now that the imperial family is angry with His Highness and wants to expel His Highness from Huajing, Wei Chen has a good plan to save His Highness from suffering."
"Oh?"
Li Rong was a little strange, Su Rongqing lowered her eyes and said calmly, "Wei Chen would like to marry His Highness."
Li Rong froze in place, Su Rongqing raised her eyes: "I wonder if Your Highness will agree?"
Su Rongqing's expression was calm, but the moment he spoke, Li Rong clearly sensed an unspeakable, restrained, and extremely surging emotion from him.
Li Rong couldn't tell what it was, she just stared at him blankly, Su Rongqing stared into her eyes, neither of them said a word, and then there were hurried footsteps outside.
"His Royal Highness," Jinglan rarely lost her composure, and rushed in panting, "Consort, consort has returned to Beijing!"
The author has something to say: Su Rongqing: "Wei Chen would like to marry His Highness."
Li Rong: "I'm married."
Su Rongqing: "Already dead."
Pei Wenxuan: "I won't die even if you die, you crawl! You crawl for me!"