It rained heavily for days, and water vapor filled the mountains and roads. The wind mixed with raindrops blew into the noisy tea stall. Amid the shouts of the shop waiters, Lu Liangsheng put down half a piece of cake, wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth, and looked at Yang Su, who was drinking tea across from him.
Because there was a swordsman nearby, he used secret language to address the other party.
"Duke Yue, did you come here specifically to look for me?"
Yang Su drank comfortably after hearing the sound of the Dharma. He put the empty bowl heavily on the table, then he bowed to Lu Liangsheng and said in the sound of the Dharma, "Of course, Chang'an City is so busy that there is no time to hang out."
"Then what do you want from me?"
Hearing this, Yang Su suddenly raised his hand and slammed the table, "Quick, Imperial Master, come back to Chang'an with me. His Majesty wants to see you."
At the side, the Taoist looked back at the bookshelf quietly placed behind the old donkey, and said: "If the emperor wants to see me, then I will see him. Once he says so, the people below will run to their death."
He sneered, picked up the bowl and took a sip.
"If I were to say, I would just go back slowly. After all, the journey is long and the sky is high. The emperor should understand."
The outlaw swordsman sitting on the other side of the table looked at the three people in front of him without saying a word, but just communicated with their eyes, as if they were speaking in secret. It was obvious at a glance that something was wrong.
He subconsciously reached out to grasp the weapon leaning against the leg of the table. The moment he grasped the hilt, his hand seemed to be electrocuted and bounced off the hilt. He raised his face in horror and looked to the side. The old man with white beard turned around and actually smiled at him, then continued to look at the scholar opposite him.
Ouch... I'm afraid I've encountered a monster.
He picked up his weapon, stood up and ran, stuffed a few coins to the guy he met, and was caught in the drizzle outside. In the blink of an eye, he was in the rain.
Here, around the table, three people looked at each other silently. After the swordsman left, there was no one else around, and Yang Su finally spoke, his voice a little low.
"If you go slowly, I'm afraid Your Majesty won't be able to wait for the Imperial Master to return."
Lu Liangsheng frowned, and his originally relaxed expression became gloomy.
"What happened, Your Majesty?"
"Two days ago, His Majesty suddenly fainted in Renshou Palace..." Yang Su talked about what happened in the palace outside Chang'an City, and then he used magic to check the emperor's kidneys and internal organs.
"Your Majesty worked so hard to pacify Northern Qi in his early years, and he also spent a lot of energy as Prime Minister. Now he is sick from overwork. The monster star and corpse monster incidents piled up together, and his body collapsed. He fell ill in Renshou Palace, but he didn't dare to make it public, so he asked me to go find my fellow Taoists and go back to the palace first."
Sun Yingxian, who was about to give him some criticism, swallowed her words and smacked her lips, "He is a good emperor indeed."
Over there, after hearing these words, Lu Liangsheng tightened his hands under his sleeves and pursed his lips. After a moment, he took out the meal money and piled it on the table. He took the remaining cakes and said to the two people, "Let's go. Don't keep His Majesty waiting for too long."
He walked out of the tea shed in silence, untied the reins from the wooden stake, cast a spell to shelter from the rain, and led the old donkey to the road. The Taoist came out holding an oil-paper umbrella, jumped on the donkey's back, and sat with the scholar.
Inside the bookshelf, Toad Taoist yawned and pushed open the small door a little, "Liangsheng, what are you in such a hurry for? I haven't eaten yet... What are you doing?!"
I could vaguely see the old donkey stretching out his hand and making a crackling sound. He quickly closed the small door and fumbled for the rope to tie it around his waist.
Outside the teahouse, Yang Su also put on a bamboo hat and strode out. He jumped on his horse, turned his horse's head and came to the side: "Then the Duke of this country will go with the Imperial Master..."
Just as he was raising his hand and before he could finish his words, the old donkey neighed, raised its hooves, kicked off the mud on the ground, and disappeared in the rain in a flash.
“… Let’s go back to Chang’an together.”
As Yang Su's last words came out, the man and the donkey were seen flashing with blue-white lightning and went far away. He hurriedly cast a spell, kicked the horse's belly, and let the horse gallop away.
Wow wow wow…
Water splashed everywhere. Lu Liangsheng bent down on his donkey. The mountains, forests, roads, and rain curtains were all extending rapidly behind him. He shook the reins and shouted in a low voice, "Old donkey, go faster!"
Son~~
The donkey's hooves, carrying electric light, gradually became thicker, and its limbs, which were striding wildly, gradually became taller. As the donkey ran, dark scales appeared on its short and stocky body, and the row of mane on the back of its neck turned into lush lion's mane, spreading out in the wind.
Amidst the flashes of lightning, the dragon head raised its antlers and roared at the rain curtain that connected the sky and the earth.
"Hoo-ah~~~"
There was a loud thunder, accompanied by a long roar, and the body of the unicorn beast turned directly into a blue-white lightning. In the shaking bookshelf, the Toad Taoist was holding the purple gold gourd, dragging the rope around his waist, puffing up his cheeks in anger, and tossing up and down, left and right.
"I knew it would be like this... quack quack... Liangsheng... slow down... quack..."
Sun Yingxian, who was pressing her back tightly against the scholar's, covered her head with one hand, her hair tied up in a bun scattered in the wind. She listened to the whimpering sound of the wind in her ears, squinted her eyes, and the words she shouted were vague.
"Ahh... Slow down, Lao Lu, I'm about to vomit."
Among the wild mountains and ridges, a unicorn beast with a ball of lightning flashed, carrying two people and hanging bookshelves, and rode over mountains and ridges, through forests and across rivers, leaving a trail of dust behind.
…
The lead-blue rain curtain gradually stopped moving westwards, and white clouds floated lightly across the sky. The bright morning sun shone on the prosperous Chang'an. As the clouds moved, it pushed the edges and spread to the imperial city and palaces, reflecting pieces of colored glass.
At this time, there were voices shouting in dissatisfaction in the Xuanzheng Hall.
"Father! Why did you take away the title of Crown Prince from me?!"
Yang Yong struggled hysterically in the hands of the two eunuchs who came over. He watched the crown on his head being taken off and looked at the Dragon Court with a low roar.
"Father! Why? Please tell me why. I will be convinced!"
The figure sitting on the Dragon Court raised his hand slightly and asked the guards who were blocking Yang Yong to retreat. Yang Jian slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the civil and military officials in the hall who were bowing their heads and dared not speak. His gaze then fell on his son with disheveled hair.
"You want to know? Okay, I'll tell you."
The voice paused for a moment, as if waiting for strength to recover. After a moment, Yang Jian slowly stood up, holding on to the arm of an eunuch.
"If it were an ordinary official family, they wouldn't have done something like this today, but your father is the emperor, and your son will also become the emperor in the future. As an emperor, you can be interested in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but if you want to shoulder the burden for the Sui Dynasty and the people, you can't be obsessed with these things..."
Yang Jian pursed his lips, walked to the red fence, slammed the fence post, and said angrily: "... The nine provinces and millions of people in the world need a wise and wise ruler, not an emperor who drinks and writes poetry all day long. I can't let the people of the country follow you and live a life of drunkenness and debauchery!!!"
The words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Yang Yong's chest. He stumbled back a few steps and sat down on the ground. He stared blankly at his father who was standing on the Dragon Court like a mountain. His ears were filled with a buzzing sound. He could vaguely see his father's mouth moving, as if he was saying, "Depose the crown prince and demote him to the Prince of Fangling!"
Soon, the guards came up, picked up the confused Yang Yong, and led him out of the hall.
On the Dragon Court, watching his son being taken away, Yang Jian steadied his legs, looked at the silent courtiers, and waved his sleeves weakly.
"You can also withdraw... No one is allowed to persuade me anymore. It is settled. I think Yang Guang is more suitable for the position of crown prince... You can leave now."
Waving his hands repeatedly, Yang Jian endured the weakness and walked down the Dragon Court step by step, turned to the side hall, walked along the long corridor, and looked at the sun in the sky. The old man almost had a headache. He covered his forehead and whispered, "Go call... Go call Prince Jin over."
His steps softened and he fell directly into the arms of the eunuch next to him. The nearby guards, palace maids and eunuchs who followed him were frightened and they panicked and carried the emperor towards the harem.
At the same time, the entire imperial city was under martial law.