Huan Xuan knew that this cousin always enjoyed watching the fun, so he glared at him fiercely and said to the outside of the screen, "Let Master Cheng go to the hall and wait for a while."
After that, he said to Huan Minggui, "I have guests here, so I won't invite you to have lunch."
Huan Minggui glanced out the window and said, "It's still early now, and I'll be idle when I get home, so I'll sit with you for a while to relieve your boredom. This is not the first time I've met Master Cheng, so just talk about yourselves, there's no need to be so formal."
Huan Xuan had no idea how to deal with this shameless man, and he couldn't just chase him away. He sulked for a while and asked the eunuchs to help him get up and change clothes.
After twenty days of nursing, he was able to walk a few steps, but unless it was necessary, he would spend most of his time lying in bed.
Huan Minggui pretended to be surprised: "Hey, why do you have to dress up to see him?" Huan Xuan glanced at him and said: "I can't meet people with unkempt hair and dirty face."
In fact, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi was very clean. Even when he was lying in bed recuperating from his injuries, he would have someone wipe his body and change his pajamas every day, and wash his hair every two days. He was not unkempt at all, just with his hair loose. There was nothing wrong with him meeting Xiao Suisui like this.
But seeing Cheng Zheng is different.
So he endured Huan Minggui's ridicule, changed into brocade clothes for meeting guests, combed his hair into a bun, and put on a jade crown. He looked in the mirror and although he was obviously paler and thinner, he was still more handsome than the sickly man named Cheng. Only then did he feel relieved and let the eunuch help him walk into the hall.
Huan Minggui shook his head helplessly and followed him to the hall.
When Cheng Zheng saw the King of Qi, he was secretly surprised. He saw that Huan Xuan was calm, walked leisurely, and had a dignified posture. Except for the lack of color on his face, there was almost no sign of anything unusual about him.
If he had not seen with his own eyes the hideous knife wound on his back, he would have suspected that the Lantern Festival was just a nightmare.
While he was stunned, the King of Qi had already walked up to him and nodded slightly: "Master Cheng, what advice do you have for me?"
Cheng Zheng came back to his senses and quickly stepped aside to greet the two men. He then said to Huan Xuan, "I am here to bother you, firstly to thank you for saving my life, and secondly to say goodbye to you two."
This time it was Huan Xuan's turn to be surprised: "General Xiao hasn't even started yet, why is Master Cheng leaving the capital ahead of time?"
Cheng Zheng said: "I am going to Yangzhou."
Huan Minggui rushed to say: "Yangzhou is a place of great romance and it's a good place."
Huan Xuan glanced at him and said to Cheng Zheng, "Master Cheng, are you not going back to Heshuo with General Xiao?"
Cheng Zheng blushed slightly and said, "I plan to travel around for two years and then return to Chang'an to take the imperial examination."
Huan Xuan was now finally certain that he was really going to leave Suisui.
Judging from the young wife's clingy behavior, it is impossible that he invited her to go on his own initiative, so it must be Suisui who drove him away.
Thinking of this, he curled up the corners of his mouth unconsciously, then suppressed it, frowned hypocritically and said: "Master Cheng will definitely achieve something under the command of the great army, it's really a pity."
Changing the subject, he said, "Mr. Cheng is a man of great learning, and he will surely have a bright future as an official in the imperial court. I wish you success in the imperial examinations in two years."
Cheng Zheng could see that he was overjoyed, but he knew that now he no longer felt jealous, just a little helpless and melancholy.
If he had not caused the King of Qi to get injured, would Xiao Ling have let him leave without hesitation
Although pretending to obey but actually disobeying is a big mistake, will she give him a chance
However, if he had not met the King of Qi that night, he would have died on the spot, and all assumptions would have been meaningless.
Thinking of this, he felt relieved and bowed respectfully: "Thank you for your good words, Your Highness."
Huan Xuan called the eunuch and whispered a few words to him. After a while, the eunuch brought a box and opened the lid, revealing a box full of gold ingots.
"This is a small token of my appreciation to you as a gift to you, Master Cheng," Huan Xuan said, "Please accept it, Master Cheng."
Cheng Zheng couldn't help laughing. "Your Highness saved my life, I can't repay you even if I die, how can I accept your money?"
Without waiting for Huan Xuan to say anything, Huan Minggui said, "Master Cheng, please accept it. Our Highness does not need these things. He will not feel at ease if you do not accept them."
Huan Xuan couldn't say anything in front of others and could only glare at him fiercely.
Cheng Zheng hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward." He took the box of gold.
Huan Xuan instructed his servant to write a letter of recommendation, stamped it with his own seal, and gave it to Cheng Zheng, saying, "When Master Cheng returns to the capital in two years, you can take this letter to the Grand Princess's mansion to present your application."
Cheng Zheng has always been able to see the big picture from the small details. After hearing what he said, he knew that he did not intend to become the crown prince, and might not even stay in Chang'an. Otherwise, as the crown prince, it would be a piece of cake for him to promote him, and there would be no need for him to go to great lengths to find the eldest princess.
He felt mixed emotions in his heart. He gave up not only the position of crown prince, but also the throne of the emperor that was within his reach. The emperor was seriously ill, and the other princes were all illegitimate and underage, so it was almost certain that they would ascend the throne in the future. But the King of Qi gave up like this. If he were in the other's shoes and had to choose between Xiao Ling and the position of prime minister, he probably wouldn't be able to give up the opportunity to be the highest official without hesitation.
He pretended to be unaware and took the recommendation letter, saying, "Thank you for your recommendation, Your Highness."
"It's just a thank you." Huan Xuan nodded at Huan Minggui with his chin, "Master Cheng can also go to Prince Yuzhang's mansion when the time comes. Prince Yuzhang will definitely be happy to serve."
Huan Minggui said, "That's good, that's good. Master Cheng is a man of both talent and learning. It would be a great honor for me if you could recommend a talented person to the court."
Seeing Huan Xuan's tired face, Cheng Zheng stood up and said goodbye, "Your Highness is injured, so I will not bother you any more."
Huan Xuan was about to stand up to see him off, but Cheng Zheng hurriedly asked him to stay, so Huan Xuan asked Huan Minggui to do it for him.
Prince Yuzhang Cheng Zheng escorted him to the second gate, then returned and said happily, "I have made an appointment with Master Cheng to meet in Yangzhou in June."
Huan Xuan knew that he was unreliable, but he didn't know he was so unreliable: "You are leaving suddenly, do your aunt and cousins know?"
Huan Minggui squinted his eyes and said half-truthfully, "I have long had the ambition to live in the mountains and rivers, but I was held back by my promise to take care of you, big brother. Now that you are planning to leave Beijing, I can just enjoy my life."
Huan Xuan said: "Aspirations for the forest and the spring? I think it's ambitions for fireworks."
Huan Minggui didn't mind at all and said with a smile: "Why don't you give me a box of gold as travel expenses?"
Huan Xuan said, "If you want to go, go ahead. What does it have to do with me?"
Huan Minggui said, "It's a good deal to send away a love rival with a box of gold."
Huan Xuan ignored him and asked the eunuch to help him back to his room. In order not to show weakness in front of Cheng Zheng, he had forced himself to sit for two cups of tea, and cold sweat broke out on his back. How could he be in the mood to waste time talking to this scoundrel
He opened his fan and fanned himself: "The little prince has not given up on General Xiao, but he is your formidable rival."
Huan Xuan sneered.
Huan Minggui muttered to himself, "If this guy had a tail, it would be sticking up to the sky."
Ever since Cheng Zheng came to visit, Huan Xuan's smile had never dropped - Xiao Ling's refusal to employ Cheng Zheng might not be because of him, but His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi ignored it without hesitation.
…
By early February, the case of the crown prince's treason had not yet been concluded, but the Censorate and the Dali Temple had already collected evidence. In addition to the Shangyuan treason case and the autumn hunt assassination of Prince of Qi case, one of Huan Rong's colleagues confessed another shocking secret under the interrogation of the Censorate - it turned out that the sudden death of the late crown prince was also the work of Huan Rong. He secretly colluded with an alchemist in the mansion of Chen Wang Huan Jiong, and instigated Huan Jiong to kill the late crown prince.
This matter had not yet been made public, but everyone who should know it already knew about it, and there was an uproar in the court.
The queen was doing evening prayers in the Buddhist temple when she heard the news.
After listening to the report from the eunuch Wang Yuandao, she only felt a loud bang in her ears. Her hands tightened involuntarily, and the giant clam Buddhist beads in her hands were torn apart, and the snow-white beads rolled to the ground.
She had no time to pick them up, and she had forgotten that this string of snow-white beads was for repentance. She remembered nothing, could not recall anything, and could not see anything.
The eunuch and the nun were frightened by her distraught appearance and called her "Master" and "Madam" cautiously, but she just stared straight ahead, as if possessed by an evil spirit.
Wang Yuandao hurriedly asked someone to invite a medical officer. A young nun suddenly had an idea and ran outside the Buddhist temple to ring the Buddhist bell to exorcise the evil spirits.
The majestic bell rang, and the queen finally came back to her senses. She shivered as if she had suddenly fallen into an ice cave, and her pale lips trembled constantly.
Wang Yuandao said softly: "If your majesty feels bad, just cry. Crying will make you feel better."
The queen, however, could not even cry. She felt as if she had fallen into a volcanic hell, and her tears were dried up by the flames before they could even flow.
Her Ye'er was killed by her second son whom she raised.
How can this be true
She stared at Wang Yuandao, thinking that the old man must have been bribed and was deliberately provoking her. She uttered a sentence from the back of her throat: "Take this nonsense and drag him to the hell of tongue-pulling..."
Although Wang Yuandao knew that this was the Queen's imaginary talk, he still broke out in a cold sweat and kowtowed like crazy: "Queen, please spare my life..."
She ignored him and muttered something about sending those who talked nonsense to the hell of tongue-pulling. She walked out of the temple. When she reached the corridor, her legs suddenly went weak, her eyes went dark, and she fell down.
The nuns in the temple hurriedly carried her back to the room and let her lie on her back on the bed. Fortunately, the medical officer arrived soon, felt her pulse, gave her acupuncture immediately, and placed a pill under her tongue. About quarter of an hour later, the queen finally woke up.
After she regained consciousness, she sent the medical officer away, dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs, and meditated alone in the Zen room until dawn the next day before she opened the door.
Standing in the corridor outside the door was the eunuch sent by the emperor to visit.
The queen's face was as pale as gold paper, but her eyes were surprisingly bright: "Take me to see the deposed crown prince."