In the darkness, the tall figure rushed towards Xianju Garden as fast as lightning, and was behind Su Li in the blink of an eye. For a moment, she couldn't distinguish the human aura, and remained calm, as her true energy had already condensed in her palms.
A few steps away from her, the man suddenly stopped and called out in a low voice: "Ah Li."
This voice turned out to be... Su Li turned around in surprise, "Why are you here?"
The clouds dispersed and the moonlight suddenly appeared. The person who came was wearing black night clothes. He pulled off the black scarf covering his face, revealing his handsome face. Sure enough, it was Xiao Wang Yangzhen.
.
For some reason, Su Li breathed a sigh of relief.
"These are all institutions, you..." Before she could finish her sentence, Yang Zhen glanced around vigilantly, raised his hand to stop her, and signaled with his eyes to come into the room to talk.
Before Su Li could lead the way, he was already walking in front, seeming to be very familiar with everything here. The two of them entered the room and sat down. Yang Zhen turned around and sighed: "Ah Li, my uncle is incompetent and has made you suffer."
Su Li poured two cups of tea and said with a slight smile: "Uncle, you are serious about your words. There is food, housing and accommodation here, and it is quiet and elegant. It is not bitter at all."
Yang Zhen said bitterly: "You don't need to comfort me. No one knows what it's like to live in Xianju Garden better than my uncle."
Su Li was stunned, not understanding what he meant by this.
"Xianju Garden, the name is nice, but you can't see a single living person all the year round. You only guard these piles of dead people's spiritual tablets and talk to yourself!" As if remembering old things from the past, Yang Zhen felt cold hatred flowing in his eyes. , adding a hint of ferocity to his handsome face, "Ah Li, my uncle has been under house arrest here for many years!"
Su Li was shocked, "Why?"
"It's a long story. Many years ago, I often asked myself, why?" Yang Zhen's tone was a little sad. He stood up and walked slowly for a few steps, staring at the window paper blown by the mountain wind. The swaying tree shadows fell into memories.
"Among the children of the emperor's grandfather, the most important person is my father Yang Yi, your grandfather. My father was crowned king at the age of seven and crowned prince at the age of fifteen. He is wise, martial, and has outstanding character. Therefore, he is favored by others. The prince’s jealousy, they tried their best, but no one could shake his position in the heart of the emperor’s grandfather!”
When Su Li first heard about this dusty past, although there were only a few sentences, it was enough to make her heart beat with fear! She asked, "What happened next?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Zhen turned around suddenly. Under the dim candlelight, his eyes were extremely bright, which was a bit scary. He gritted his teeth and said: "It's a pity that it's easy to hide from open guns but hard to prevent hidden arrows. Father... he was still killed!"
Su Li was stunned. It turned out that her grandfather also died in the struggle for imperial power! Could it be that no one who comes into contact with the center of power can escape this deadly whirlpool? She asked unconsciously: "Who did it?"
"At that time, apart from my father, Yang Shu's father was the most popular.
. "Yang Zhen's words made Su Li's heart beat fiercely again, Yang Shu! It's the name of the current emperor! She boldly guessed: "Could it be..."
"You guessed it right!" Yang Zhen looked into her eyes steadily and said word by word: "It's Yang Qian!"
Su Li's heart immediately sank to the bottom. If this matter was true, and Yang Xiao had been assassinated by him, the conflict between his uncle and Emperor Bian would never be easily resolved.
The fingers holding the tea cup tightened again and again, and the knuckles turned green and white. After a long moment of silence, she spoke again, "Can you find any evidence of what happened back then?"
"Evidence?" Yang Zhen glared and sneered, "The throne is the best evidence! Back then, they said that my father died at the hands of a group of bold thieves. The imperial grandfather didn't believe it, but there was no evidence, and there was nothing he could do about it. We had no choice but to send someone overnight to take my sister and I into the palace. That night, a fire burned the prince's mansion to the ground! All 200 people in the mansion... were killed!"
Su Li felt suffocated, as the tragic fire seemed to be right in front of her eyes! More than two hundred living lives were struggling, crying, calling for help, and dying in the raging flames... And the mother-in-law was almost killed in the fire!
Her breathing suddenly became extremely heavy, and she said with difficulty: "Does the mother and concubine know about these things?"
Yang Zhen closed his eyes slightly and nodded hard.
A question flashed through Su Li's mind, and Su Li asked puzzledly: "Then why does the mother-in-law still want to be a saint?" The Saintess Religion stipulates that saints of all generations must be loyal to the emperor. Although the struggle for imperial power makes it impossible to clarify who is right and who is wrong, but With her mother-in-law’s temperament, she would never be willing to serve her father’s suspected murderer!
Yang Zhen said sadly: "She did it for me."
"Ah!" Su Li was shocked again.
"The imperial grandfather was already very old at that time. Not long after my father passed away, the imperial grandfather also passed away. Before he died, he ordered Yang Qian to swear to his ancestors to treat us, my sister and my brother kindly!" At this point, Yang Zhen said His tone suddenly turned cold, as if he was filled with hatred.
"The emperor's grandfather never thought that as soon as he left, Yang Qian would put me under house arrest in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It happened that the Saintess Cult was selecting the candidate for the next saintess successor. He had five daughters, but he was unwilling to send any of them to run for election. There was no suitable candidate, so he used my life to force my sister to accept the Holy Girl's trial! At that time, my sister was only ten years old." At the end of the sentence, Yang Zhen's voice was choked with sobs.
Su Li clenched her hands and was speechless.
! From Yang Zhen's sad narration, she clearly saw how her mother-in-law, who was only ten years old, endured the humiliation, held the hand of her young brother, and walked step by step through the murderous years!
The heat rising in the teacup blurred Yang Zhen's face, but it couldn't hide the heartache that penetrated deep into his bones.
Su Li took a deep breath and said hoarsely: "It turns out that the mother-in-law... was also forced to become this saint!"
Yang Zhen closed his eyes, nodded painfully, gritted his teeth and said with hatred: "I will never forget that day, my sister was taken away by them, and she looked back with tears every step of the way! I really hate myself, why can't I keep her? ?”
Su Li said hoarsely: "My uncle was still a child at that time."
"Since then, I have sworn to God that one day, my sister will be free again and will no longer be controlled by anyone! No one can hurt my closest relatives! But..." He took a breath and seemed to say Not going down, he slowly opened his eyes with a sad look, "I couldn't do it after all. Now that she has died in a foreign land, I haven't even been able to see her for the last time."
The mountain breeze passed by outside the window, fluttering the gauze curtains, and the scene when his mother and concubine died unconsciously came to mind, and Su Li's heart was as sharp as a knife. The past events are so thrilling, as if they are right before our eyes.
Yang Zhen's eyes turned red, and he added sadly: "After my sister was taken away, I lived here alone for several years, facing the ancestral tablets every day, and not talking to anyone for several years. Sometimes, I even doubted that I Is he still alive...or has he become a lonely ghost on the Spirit-Judging Peak! Later, if my sister hadn't passed the trial and became a saint, maybe my uncle would have died here of old age for the rest of his life! I owe her the kindness of this life. , it’s hard to pay off Yang Zhen!”
He looked deeply at Su Li, whose face was exactly the same as his sister's, and solemnly said: "Ah Li, from now on, as long as uncle is still here, no one will hurt you in the slightest! No matter who he is!"
It was very obvious who the words were alluding to. Su Li's eyes heated up. The person in front of her was her uncle, who was the closest to her by blood besides her biological parents!
Yang Zhen said bitterly: "Yang Shu and Yang Qian are both mean and ungrateful people. For many years, I have practiced martial arts hard, studied the art of war, and fought on the battlefield for the Bian Kingdom. Now he has just negotiated peace talks with the Sheng Kingdom, and he can't wait to He wants to reduce my military power! He has always suspected that I have the death-free gold medal. If he hadn’t found it for a long time, he would have found an excuse to get rid of me early in the morning! "
Su Li suddenly realized, no wonder what happened that day always seemed strange to her. It turned out that Emperor Bian was trying to force his uncle to take out the gold medal to avoid death, to confirm his suspicions in his heart.
! This man's scheming is really dark and unpredictable. So by agreeing to sign an agreement with Sheng State, it seems that he wants to use this to reduce his uncle's military power and kill two birds with one stone!
"Ah Li!" Seeing her deep in thought, Yang Zhen reached out and held her shoulders, stared at her and said solemnly: "Are you willing to work with your uncle to help your mother and concubine get justice?"
Su Li's heart skipped a beat and she said calmly: "What does uncle want to do?"
Yang Zhen said: "Although the Saintess Cult is not as good as my uncle's army, it has always been relied upon by Emperor Bian. The sect specializes in the research of strange poisons and secret medicines, exquisite weapons, and shops scattered in many places. Now you are in charge of all these. , as long as you and your uncle are of the same mind, you will be able to get rid of Yang Shu and his son! When your uncle ascends the throne, he will make you a princess!" At the end of the sentence, the ambitious lust in his eyes almost stung her eyes.
Looking at those bright eyes that were illuminated by the desire for power, Su Li's mood calmed down strangely. There was a voice deep in my heart reminding me that he was sincere just now and how much of the love in his words was sincere? Could it be that... the real purpose of his coming today was just to ask her to take a stand and deal with Emperor Bian together with him
"What's wrong, Ah Li? Why do you look at uncle like this?" Seeing her silence, Yang Zhen suddenly smiled and stroked her hair, with a hint of exploration in his smile, "You... don't want to be a princess?"
Su Li looked at him steadily and asked frankly: "Ah Li just wants to know, is everything my uncle did really for the past grudges? Or... to get the throne?"
As if he didn't expect her to be so straightforward, Yang Zhen's expression changed slightly, and a hint of coldness flashed through him, "You don't believe uncle?"
"Ali doesn't dare."
Looking at her as calm expression as water, Yang Zhen's heart suddenly sank, and he said in a deep voice: "Yes, uncle wants to sit on the throne! If I had been the emperor eighteen years ago, your mother and concubine would not have been raped while pregnant. Chased for thousands of miles and suffered all kinds of hardships! You will not be under house arrest here today and lose your freedom!" He held her arms tightly and said sadly: "Ali, your mother and concubine are no longer here, and your uncle is you. My dearest person! Do you understand?"
Su Li's eyes dimmed slightly, and he said sadly: "Ah Li understands. But uncle, everything my mother and concubine did back then was to hope that my uncle would be safe and sound. Now that my uncle is a highly respected minister, the past is long gone. If there is another trouble, it will probably be a disaster." And more innocent people..."
Yang Zhen's eyes suddenly turned sharp, "Innocent? Aren't my uncle and your mother and concubine innocent? Aren't the more than 200 people in the Prince's Mansion back then innocent?!"
She didn't answer, and after a long while, she sighed in a low voice: "Uncle, it's late at night, you'd better go back and rest early."
. "
Su Li's reaction made Yang Zhen feel cold. He looked at her for a long time, but saw that her face was so calm, and there was no hint of any change in her mood. He calmed down, slowly let go, lowered his head and sighed: "Well, you really need time to think about it when you suddenly say so much. Uncle understands. Forget it, you can rest first, I'm leaving."
After sending him outside, Su Li couldn't help but feel excited as she watched Yang Zhen's back gradually disappear into the dark night. Since her rebirth, she has seen too many brutal battles, and the struggle for power only makes her tired. Looking up at the night sky, is it that being born into a royal family means you are destined not to enjoy a peaceful and peaceful life
The night sky was silent, the stars were bright and dim, and no one gave her an answer.
A snow-white homing pigeon passed through the towering old trees and landed on the porch. Su Li stepped forward to remove the mailbox, unfolded the note, and her eyes immediately changed.
The sun rises and the moon sets, and the day passes quickly.
Night once again enveloped the top of Juling Peak, and the mountain wind suddenly picked up, like an invisible giant hand, stirring the green trees, making rustling sounds from time to time. In Xianju Garden, Su Li held a book, leaned on the couch, and read absentmindedly. Gusts of wind blew in outside the window, and the pages of the book were turning around. She felt cold all over her body, and she couldn't help but touch her arms.
Wan Xin came into the house, and when she saw this, she quickly closed the window carefully, took out a thin blanket and carefully covered her body, and then lit up the candle next to the couch, and the light in the room suddenly became much brighter.
Su Li thoughtfully asked, "Can those people leave?" Last night she received news from Qin Heng's flying pigeon that the envoy from the Sheng Kingdom would come to Huangpu Temple to visit Master Huijue this morning.
Wan Xin said: "I haven't come out of the Listening Hall since I entered the temple gate, and I haven't left yet. Qin Heng received the order from the lady and went to check it out in person, but still didn't find it. It seems that he I probably didn’t follow you this time.”
Su Li sighed softly: "The dagger that day had damaged his heart, and he almost died. Even if there was Lin Tianzheng, a skilled medical practitioner, by his side, he still had to take care of himself for a while before he could recover. Maybe I was thinking too much. ”
He said heartily: "These things happen so coincidentally, no wonder the young lady is worried. The fourth prince and Emperor Sheng have a sworn hatred for killing their sister. If he hides his identity and sneaks into Biandu and is discovered, it will be difficult to guarantee the peace negotiation period. The situation will not change. No matter how generous the terms of the negotiated compensation are, it can only relieve the temporary difficulties of Bian State, but it will not be as safe as eradicating the roots and permanently eliminating future troubles."
Su Li didn't say anything. When she insisted on sending Dongfangze away, Yang Xiao tried to stop her in every possible way. Who knew that after Dongfangze had a secret conversation with him, he actually let him go.
. I'm afraid Yang Xiao didn't really dare to let Dongfang Ze go because of her favor. There must be some kind of deal between the two of them. However, Emperor Bian became furious afterwards, and she and Yang Xiao were both convicted and never had the chance to question each other. If Dongfang Ze sneaks into Biandu again this time, I'm afraid things won't go as smoothly as last time.
He said with relief, "Emperor Sheng is extremely smart and knows how to prioritize things. The young lady spent so much effort to send him away. He must understand the young lady's intentions."
Su Li narrowed her eyes and said calmly: "It's getting late. I'm tired and want to sleep. You should go down and rest too."
Wan Xin knew what was on her mind, so she had no choice but to sigh and exit the door.
After flipping through the book for a while, her eyes felt a little sore, Su Li blew out the candle and prepared to go to bed.
There was no light in the inner room, and there was a faint moonlight coming through the window. She sat down in front of the dressing table, absentmindedly undoing her bun. The beautiful face in the diamond-shaped bronze mirror has a calm expression. Only a hint of loneliness and worry between his eyebrows revealed the tangled thoughts in his heart.
She was combing her hair frequently and looking at the bronze mirror in a daze. Thinking of her words to save her heart just now, does he really understand her thoughts? If so, why are you still lingering? The past is like an insurmountable gap between them, destined to be irreversible.
His face slowly appeared in front of her eyes involuntarily, staring at her deeply. The thick black eyebrows, the deep and bright eyes, the straight bridge of the nose, and the faint smile on the lips.
When he smiles, the corners of his lips will turn up slightly, and his dark pupils are like bottomless pools, which attract people's soul.
With a "pop" sound, she slammed the bronze mirror onto the table and closed her eyes, not daring to look at it again. Those subtle changes in expressions have long been engraved in my mind. How can I forget them? The memory was so clear that she was scared.
The breeze blew by, and the gauze beside the window danced lightly, like the waves undulating.
A pair of hands gently hugged her into a warm embrace, and the familiar breath lightly brushed her ears, carrying a heart-stopping warmth.
Su Li's body trembled slightly and she held her breath. Before she could turn around, warm fingers caressed her delicate face.
"Susu."