"It turns out that Concubine Jing is also on the imperial edict." Gu Jiao suddenly realized, "No wonder she wants to steal the imperial edict and hide it."
Xiao Liulang hummed: "One is to save his life, and the other is to hold the last hole card."
Gu Jiao put her hands on her cheeks and said thoughtfully, "Auntie won't be threatened by anyone, even if she really took out the imperial edict and said, 'If you don't agree to my terms, I will announce the imperial edict and perish with you. ' and Auntie wouldn't give in. So..."
Xiao Liulang nodded: "So the most dangerous step for her is to really die with her aunt."
Gu Jiao slapped the table: "This bad woman!"
Xiao Liulang looked at her frizzy appearance. Although it was a bit inappropriate, a smile flashed in his eyes.
Of course, his smile faded when he thought of his aunt's situation.
Seeing the imperial edict was something that happened when he was a child, and it wasn't something that he cared about very much at the time, so that memory had long been submerged in his memory.
If Gu Chengfeng hadn't mentioned it this time, he might never have read that memory in his life.
"I have to steal the imperial decree back." Concubine Jing couldn't hold such a time bomb in her hands. Gu Jiao, who was dead, didn't care, but her aunt couldn't accompany her to hell.
Xiao Liulang said: "Before that, don't push her too quickly, lest she burn with her aunt jade stone under her impulse."
"Yeah." Gu Jiao finally understood what her husband's note said, "Don't act rashly. With Concubine Jing's current situation, it is really not suitable for them to stimulate her."
This woman has gone crazy, who knows what she will do when she is angry.
"Ah." Gu Jiao sighed.
She folded her hands on the table, her little head drooped, and rested on the back of her hands.
Xiao Liulang couldn't hold back again, raised his hand and touched her furry little head: "I won't wait too long."
"Yeah!" Gu Jiao nodded.
She believed him.
Trusted enough to not have to ask about his plans.
"Speaking of..." She straightened her little body thoughtfully.
Xiao Liulang calmly retracted his hand, the soft touch of her hair still remained in the palm of his hand, and his fingertips lightly rubbed it.
Gu Jiao didn't notice his aftertaste, she looked at him suspiciously and said, "What kind of person was the late emperor? Why did he want his aunt and Concubine Jing to bury him with him?"
Xiao Liulang paused. His first reaction was to go to his mother and keep a child. After thinking about it carefully, he was not sure if that was the case.
It is difficult for him to describe what kind of emperor the late emperor was. The late emperor had already passed away when he was born, and all his knowledge of the late emperor came from the documents of the late emperor and some rumors he heard.
But judging from the series of arrangements the late emperor had made before his death, he was a man of means.
Empress Dowager Zhuang and Concubine Jing may have been buried because they saw the influence of these two on the new emperor, worried about the dictatorship of foreign relatives, the fall of power in the court, or the previous emperor had other plans.
The emperor's mind is deeper than the sea, who can guess it
For example, he couldn't understand why Princess Xinyang also had Dragon Shadow Guard in her hands
In the end, Xiao Liulang had to say something to Gu Jiao: "One day, the truth will come out."
He didn't say he didn't know, of course he didn't, but if she wanted to know, he went to find out.
Xiao Liulang looked at the endless night: "It's getting late, you should go back and rest."
Gu Jiao nodded: "Well, then I'll see you tomorrow night."
Xiao Liulang looked at her and did not refuse: "Okay."
After Gu Jiao left, Xiao Liulang turned off the light and lay on the slightly thin bed. Gu Jiao asked the snack box that Gu Chengfeng brought him to be placed on the bedside table quietly.
The night was quiet, but his thoughts were not calm.
Someone was running around in his mind disobediently, and it took a lot of effort for him to regain control of his mind.
He began to ponder the matter of the decree.
The imperial decree was left by the late emperor, and even today's sages cannot fail to obey. Although the Empress Dowager Zhuang and the Zhuang family are powerful, they have not yet reached the point where they can compete with the previous emperor's edict.
As a woman in the harem, Empress Dowager Zhuang has done too many things that are not tolerated by the world.
The reason why the former emperor's old ministries did not attack Empress Dowager Zhuang was because Empress Dowager Zhuang did have the means to suppress them, and the second reason was that in the last days of the emperor's reign, he was unable to go to court due to serious illness, and the Liu family was very ambitious. One move to drive away tigers and wolves—appointed the then virtuous queen to supervise the country.
The late emperor had no time to remove Xiande's power to supervise the country, and then he passed away.
Xiao Liulang guessed that the late emperor might have thought that he had left the imperial edict that the virtuous queen should be buried, so it doesn't matter whether he withdraws his power or not.
It's a pity that the imperial decree was stolen by Concubine Jing.
The Empress of Virtue was helped by the late emperor to oversee the country, and after the new emperor ascended the throne, she would not be so disgusted by the former emperor's old ministries if she continued to serve under the curtain.
But as long as this imperial decree came out, the former emperor's old department would surely bite the Empress Dowager Zhuang into the imperial mausoleum like a hungry wolf.
So Gu Jiao was right, the imperial decree could not continue to fall into the hands of Concubine Jing, and had to find a way to steal it back and destroy it.
As long as there is Long Yingwei, it is very difficult for them to succeed.
"Long Yingwei." In the darkness, Xiao Liulang squinted slightly.
The next night, Gu Jiao really came, brought Xiao Liulang's favorite spicy beef, skewered it with bamboo skewers and put it in a jar, and the two sat in the room and skewered.
"I will come tomorrow?" Gu Jiao asked him before leaving.
Xiao Liulang gave a low smile: "After the exam is over tomorrow, I can go back, no need to come."
Gu Jiao: "Oh."
She still wanted to come.
In the middle of the night, it was fun to secretly have a skewer with him.
Xiao Liulang was an invigilator and did not participate in marking the papers. After the exam, he packed up and left the Gongyuan.
It was not too late, so he went to the Hanlin Academy first, and dealt with the official business under the three sunsets.
Since he had a head-to-head confrontation with Mr. Zhuang outside the Hanlin Academy, not many people in the Hanlin Academy dared to find fault with him. Everyone knew that he was invigilating the exam, not playing foolishly, and they didn't dare to assign him. Official business is nothing more than the arrangement of some classics.
He spent an afternoon sorting out the scriptures, and then sent them to Han Xueshi.
When he came back from Han Xueshi's office, he met Ning Zhiyuan poking his head near his office.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
Hearing this, Ning Zhiyuan turned around and said, "I just heard that you are back, how is it? Is the invigilator still going well?"
Xiao Liulang thought of the scene of hanging out with someone at night, and he couldn't help laughing: "It went well."
Ning Zhiyuan glanced at him strangely: "You kid... you're not smiling normally."
Xiao Liulang pressed down the corners of his lips, narrowed the smile between his brows, and said sternly: "You came to me just to say hello?"
When it came to business, Ning Zhiyuan didn't continue joking with him: "That..."
Ning Zhiyuan scratched his head, and said embarrassedly, "I brought my family to the capital, just your sister-in-law and the others. Your sister-in-law asked me to bring friends to sit at home. I don't have any friends in the capital, so I will ask you... Can't get enough time…”
When he asked this, he was actually very uneasy. Even though he and Xiao Liulang were the top three in the same department, their identities and fortunes were actually quite different.
He can be considered a person the emperor likes, but the emperor treats him differently from Xiao Liulang after all. Of course, the main reason is that the two have different abilities. He has self-knowledge and does not have any jealousy.
It's just... a little low self-esteem.
Xiao Liulang not only won the emperor's appreciation, but also heard that the relationship with the queen mother is also good, otherwise he can't hold back Mrs. Zhuang.
If such a person is friends with himself, is he a high-ranking person
What's more, he has no money, the house is rented, and the family is very shabby.
Thinking of this, Ning Zhiyuan didn't wait for Xiao Liulang to answer, and hurriedly refused for Xiao Liulang: "But the Hanlin Academy has been very busy recently, and neither of us should be free..."
"Okay." Xiao Liulang said.
"Huh?" Ning Zhiyuan was taken aback.
Xiao Liulang said: "I'll go back and ask my wife when she's free, and come visit with her."
Ning Zhiyuan was dumbfounded: "Ah..."
This, this, this is promised
…
Gu Jiao came to the Gongyuan to meet Xiao Liulang twice. Xiao Liulang learned some of the current situation from Gu Jiao's mouth, and he decided to enter the palace.
"Your Majesty, Xiao Xiuzhuan asks to see you."
In the imperial study, Eunuch Wei reported in a low voice.
The emperor's hand for reviewing the memorial paused. He pressed his tired head and said, "He hasn't been here for a few days."
Eunuch Wei hurriedly said: "Xiao Xiuzhuan went to the Gongyuan to invigilate the examination for three days."
"Ah, the examination of the Sixth Division." The emperor almost forgot about it. The Sixth Division has an assessment every year, usually in June. This year, due to the visit of Liang's envoy, the Palace Examination has been postponed for a month, let alone the Sixth Division. .
This kind of assessment is not for all officials to participate in, it is just a random test, presided over by the Hanlin Academy, but it is also very strict.
"Let him in." The emperor said.
"Yes." Eunuch Wei went outside the door and led people in.
Xiao Liulang bowed his hands and bowed: "Wei Chen has seen His Majesty."
The emperor picked up a memorial and said indifferently: "Why did you come to me today when you have time?"
Xiao Liulang cupped his hands and said, "Wei Chen has something to play."
"What's the matter?" the emperor asked.
Xiao Liulang said sternly: "On the first day of Weichen's invigilation in the Gongyuan, someone put arsenic in Weichen's dinner."
The emperor frowned.
"Wei Chen originally kept the evidence of the crime, but the weather was too hot and the evidence was broken." Having said that, Xiao Liulang still took out a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve.
Eunuch Wei stepped forward and took a small porcelain bottle, removed the cork, and the smell of stinky green onion came to his nostrils, Eunuch Wei hurriedly covered his nose.
If this is the case, it is not easy to decontaminate the emperor's eyes.
The emperor asked, "How do you know it's arsenic?"
Naturally, Xiao Liulang would not say that it was Gu Jiao who had come to the Gongyuan, and sneaking into the Gongyuan privately was a capital offense. Even if Your Majesty would not deal with Gu Jiao's crime, why bother to consume Gu Jiao's favor in His Majesty's mind
Xiao Liulang said: "Your Majesty forgot that Jiaojiao is a doctor? When there were mice in the country, Jiaojiao used arsenic to make some mouse medicine, and Weichen even beat her up."
This is a lie.
Gu Jiao will never let Xiao Liulang be contaminated with dangerous items.
But Xiao Liulang properly learned the thick and black of officialdom of the old sacrificial wine, and he said it without changing his face.
Xiao Liulang continued: "The man pretended to be a guard to deliver food to me. I saw him in front of him, not the guard in the morning and at noon. I kept an eye on it, and only then did I realize that the food was manipulated."
The emperor frowned suspiciously: "Who would go to the Gongyuan to attack you?"
The Gongyuan is heavily guarded, and it is impossible for ordinary assassins to sneak in, let alone poison Xiao Liulang's meals.
The emperor looked at Xiao Liulang fixedly: "I have never heard of such news from the Gongyuan."
Xiao Liulang met his scrutiny and scrutiny without dodging: "Wei Chen didn't speak up, Wei Chen didn't know who the murderer was, and he didn't dare to make a big fuss about it, fearing that the murderer would jump over the wall."
As soon as the emperor thought this was the case, he looked at Xiao Liulang and said, "You go back first, I will find out the truth about this matter."
Xiao Liulang handed over: "Wei Chen retire."
To be cautious, after Xiao Liulang left, the emperor called the imperial doctor and asked him to examine the chopped green onion.
The chopped green onion was picked out of the egg drop soup and had already deteriorated, but the imperial doctor still detected arsenic on it.
"Go back to Your Majesty, it's arsenic," said the imperial doctor.
The emperor's eyes turned cold: "Understood, you step back."
That night, the emperor called the chief of guards of the Gongyuan and asked him if the Gongyuan could find suspicious people.
The head guard said: "On the first day of the exam, it seemed that someone sneaked in, knocked out a guard, and ripped off the guard's clothes. Unfortunately, the subordinates were incompetent and failed to catch him."
This is in line with Xiao Liulang's rhetoric.
The emperor ordered a thorough investigation of the matter.
I never thought that the poisoning case of Gongyuan had never come to light, and another incident happened on Xiao Liulang's side the next day.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty is not good! Miss Gu and Xiao Xiuzhuan are injured!" Eunuch Wei hurriedly rushed into the imperial study.
The emperor put down the booklet in his hand with a snap: "Where is the man?"
Eunuch Wei worried: "In the medical hall... Miaoshoutang... It was the servant who saw Eunuch Qin in a hurry to leave the palace, and asked what was wrong, Eunuch Qin told the servant that something happened to Miss Gu and Xiao Xiuzhuan!"
Xiao Liulang was the emperor's favorite courtier, not to mention Gu Jiao, her weight in the emperor's mind was almost the same as that of his children.
The emperor didn't care about the critique, he changed into his regular clothes and rushed to the medical center with Eunuch Wei.
In the wing of the small courtyard, Gu Jiao lay unconscious on the bed, Xiao Liulang stood by the bed, his left hand was wrapped around his neck with gauze, and the corners of his mouth and forehead were bruised.
This was the first time the emperor had truly seen the two injured in front of him, and he froze for a moment: "...what happened?"
"Your Majesty." Xiao Liulang stood up and wanted to bow to him, but looked at his gauze-hung arm awkwardly and bowed instead.
"Don't be too polite." The emperor raised his hand, came to the bed, looked at Gu Jiao, who was unconscious with his eyes closed, and glanced at a pile of blood-stained clothes in the basket on the side, his breath tightened, " How is the little doctor?"
Xiao Liulang said in a low mood: "Doctor Song has seen it and said she lost too much blood..."
The emperor's eyes turned cold, and his gaze fell on Xiao Liulang's arm: "What's the matter with you?"
Xiao Liulang lowered his eyes and said, "Weichen is fine, but his arm is dislocated and has already been connected."
Is it okay to dislocate your arm? How can a weak scholar endure this kind of pain
The emperor's face became ugly: "What's the matter? Where are you injured?"
Xiao Liulang said with a sad face: "It's near Chang'an Avenue. Wei Chen encountered an assassin on his way home from the Hanlin Academy. It happened that Jiaojiao came to the Hanlin Academy to pick me up, so he fought with the assassin. The enemy was severely injured. Jiaojiao used a hidden weapon to destroy the mask on the assassin's face, and the assassin escaped."
The emperor asked: "Can you see what the assassin looks like?"
Xiao Liulang shook his head: "It was so chaotic at the time, Wei Chen didn't see his facial features clearly, only remembered that he had a tattoo on his face..."
The emperor hurriedly said, "What tattoo?"
"It's like... It's like..." Xiao Liulang tried his best to recall and said, "Forget it, maybe Wei Chen got it wrong."
The emperor frowned and said, "It doesn't matter what you say."
Xiao Liulang hesitated for a moment and said, "Like a turtle, and also like a snake."
Turtle body and tail.
Xuanwu.
Dragon Shadow Guard's tattoo!
Long Yingwei is a dead man, but not every dead man is qualified to become a dragon shadow guard. Back then, the late emperor bought a large number of dead soldiers from the Yan Kingdom, and they were strong enough when they bought them back. However, the late emperor was not satisfied with their strength.
Experts were invited to train the dead soldiers with all their strength on this basis. In the end, more than a hundred dead soldiers only had more than a dozen Dragon Shadow Guards.
Some Dragon Shadow Guards died in the mission, and the youngest Dragon Shadow Guard was left to him by the late emperor.
The first time he saw them, he was shocked by the basalt tattoos on their faces. It is said that the emperor had tattooed them in order to distinguish Long Yingwei from ordinary dead scholars.
In the world, no one else has such a tattoo.
The emperor's mood became complicated in an instant: "Are you sure you read it right?"
Xiao Liulang thought for a while: "Weichen... Not sure. Weichen just glanced at it in a hurry, maybe he was wrong."
The emperor closed his eyes.
Must be wrong.
Long Yingwei is now in the hands of Concubine Jing, how could she send someone to assassinate Xiao Liulang
Although she is unwilling to get close to the people of the Empress Dowager Zhuang's line, strictly speaking, Xiao Liulang is not a person of the Empress Dowager Zhuang's line.
Concubine Jing had no reason to deal with Xiao Liulang.
The emperor waited in the room for a while. Doctor Song came to change the medicine for Gu Jiao, but Gu Jiao didn't wake up.
The emperor watched as the basins of blood came out from the back of the screen, and couldn't bear to look down.
On the way back to the palace, he said nothing.
"Your Majesty." Eunuch Wei wanted to remind him that the palace had arrived.
The emperor suddenly sighed: "Mr. Jing wouldn't do this, right?"
"Ah?" Eunuch Wei was startled.
what's the situation
Does His Majesty suspect that the person who assassinated Xiao Liulang was sent by the imperial concubine
Long Yingwei wore masks on weekdays, but Eunuch Wei didn't know that they had tattoos on their faces.
"It must not be her." The emperor said this to Eunuch Wei or to himself.
Where does Eunuch Wei dare to answer
This is your mother and son's business, and I can't get involved.
He remembered that His Majesty and the Empress Dowager seemed to go further and further away back then. It seemed that overnight His Majesty became less close to the Empress Dowager. Gradually, His Majesty began to quarrel with the Empress Dowager, and every trivial matter was counted on the Empress Dowager's head.
Sometimes he is quite injustice on behalf of the Queen Mother.
Co-authoring Feng Shui takes turns, and now it's Concubine Jing's turn
Your Majesty, are you suffering from a disease that makes your mother mad
"cough!"
Eunuch Wei covered his mouth before his mouth scooped.
The emperor got out of the carriage.
His thoughts were a little chaotic, and there were two voices in his mind. One voice told him that Xiao Liulang would not lie to him, and the other voice told him that Concubine Jing would not betray him.
"Who?" Eunuch Wei suddenly said.
"What's the matter?" the emperor asked.
Eunuch Wei pointed to the end of the imperial garden and said, "The slave just saw a sneaky figure going over there."
Isn't that the direction of Gongfang
Maybe someone was in a hurry.
The emperor did not go to see a servant coming out to Gong, but for some reason, he was always a little uneasy.
In the end, it was Gongfang. The emperor didn't actually go in, but just watched quietly not far away.
Unexpectedly, he heard a familiar voice.
"What? You, you missed again? Since you are still Long Yingwei, why can't you even kill a scholar who is powerless!"
This is... the voice of Concubine Jing!
Concubine Jing said, she missed again.
Concubine Jing also said that a scholar who has no power to hold a chicken...
Must have heard wrong...
The sound continued.
"Does Your Majesty know you are such a waste? When His Majesty gave you to me, I didn't let you eat and die! It's just to kill a little lame man, and you're not a martial arts master! Are you Dragon Shadow Guards so capable!"
"If I knew it earlier, I might as well buy a few Jianghu killers! It's better than you guys!"
It was impossible for the emperor to lie to himself that the voice was not from Concubine Jing.
He only felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet and swooped up to the top of his head!
As soon as the beauty makes a move, you will know if there is any.
Merry Christmas Eve.
(End of this chapter)