Ke Hongxue tried to bargain, but failed.
The two geese were finally sold at a high price of two hundred taels of gold. If there was a Market Supervision and Administration Bureau in Dayu, Su Huaijing and I would have been arrested and put in jail!
While Rong Tang was sitting in the restaurant waiting for the kitchen to prepare the roast goose, he was happily counting the banknotes and thinking with interest.
Ke Hongxue felt wronged and aggrieved about the bleeding, and wanted to act coquettishly with his senior, but Mu Jingxu ignored him and instead chatted with Lu Jiaxi about the rumors in the capital.
Turning around, the young couple opposite had already started planning what to do with the two hundred taels of gold and whether to buy a few more properties.
Outside the window was the lively fun of the capital during the Spring Festival. The most romantic scholar in the past ten years was sitting in the high pavilion of the restaurant. He picked up the wine glass, took a sip, shook his head and smiled, just as if he was giving lucky money to the children.
The Spring Festival holiday for officials lasted until the sixth day of the first lunar month, and it was now coming to an end.
There were many people coming and going in front of the Ke residence. It was not until the fifth day of the first lunar month that Ke Hongxue found the time to knock on the door of the Dali Temple Shaoqing's residence and bring his fellow student out for some social interaction.
Lu Jiaxi was met by chance. Even though Lord Lu had become an official, he was often ordered by the women in his family to run errands on his days off. When Ke Hongxue saw him, Lu Jiaxi was squeezed in front of a rouge shop, listening to the shopkeeper's recommendation of the most popular perfume and lip balm, and competing with the noble ladies in the capital for a box of perfume and lip balm.
Ke Hongxue felt sorry for him, so she asked her personal servant to replace him and go pick out some rouge, powder, and snacks that girls would like so that Lu Jiaxi would have something to report to when he returned home.
Then the three of them walked around the city and happened to see Rong Tang and his companion.
It's fate, Ke Hongxue thought.
The restaurant was chosen at random, located in a not very prosperous area. Fortunately, the kitchen was willing to accept ingredients brought in by customers from outside.
Among the big geese caught by Su Huaijing, there was a lucky goose that was stewed in an iron pot.
Rong Tang enjoyed the meal very much. After eating two bowls of white rice, he leaned back in his chair to digest the food and listened to Ke Hongxue chatting about some random topics.
Ke Tanhua can chat with anyone. He always has countless stories in his head, and each one of them can be changed at any time according to the person listening to the story, until he touches on the topic that the other person wants to hear.
He talked to Rong Tang about the new play that the Purple Jade Troupe was rehearsing, and how to teach Lu Jiaxi to choose rouge. He also casually mentioned, "On the first day of the first lunar month when the Tuolan Temple opened, there were so many people who wanted to be the first to burn incense that they lined up from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain."
Rong Tang was staring at the pot of wine beside the table, and was slightly startled when he heard this. Su Huaijing asked casually, "Have you found Master Huimian?"
Ke Hongxue smiled: "The temple priest said that Huimian left the temple last winter and went to travel around to give alms. Jiangnan was hit by a flood recently, so maybe he went there and won't be back for a while."
Su Huaijing understood the meaning of his words, but asked: "What about the 'evil spirit' on the Fifth Prince's body?"
"You'll have to ask Master Lu." Ke Hongxue kicked the ball out with a smile.
Lu Jiaxi was struggling to peel a large shrimp. He was stunned for a moment when he heard the words. He blinked his eyes, came to his senses, and said with some embarrassment: "I don't know anything about the Imperial Observatory if you ask me."
He was even wondering, Ke Hongxue was the one who really knew all the news in the court, so why was he asking him
Ke Hongxue arched her peach blossom eyes, talking and laughing, but like a fox: "Did this all start with choosing a house for the Fifth Prince?"
"Yes." Lu Jiaxi was still confused.
Ke Hongxue: "The one you picked was the former Duke Xian's Mansion. They were just about to start repairing it, but it got burned down?"
"Yes." Lu Jiaxi replied, "Isn't this something everyone knows?"
"Yes, this is something everyone knows." Ke Hongxue poured himself a glass of wine and asked, "But what happened next?"
Lu Jiaxi didn't understand what he meant. Rong Tang, who was sitting opposite him, looked at Mu Jingxu in a puzzled manner, not knowing what he was thinking about.
Ke Hongxue: "The proposed house was burned down. Where should the Fifth Prince's residence be located? After the New Year, the Fifth Prince will be sixteen years old. It is time for him to leave the palace and set up his own residence. But now the Imperial Astronomical Observatory says that he has 'evil spirits that may harm the Emperor's star', and the monk Huimian is missing..."
Ke Hongxue paused and asked, "Has the Fifth Prince's leaving the palace been put on hold? But at his age now, if he doesn't leave the palace, wouldn't that be against the ancestral rules?"
Lu Jiaxi finally understood what he meant. He thought about it for a while and said uncertainly, "Years ago, the official went to the imperial mausoleum."
Rong Tang understood instantly.
Su Huaijing asked: "What does this mean?"
Lu Jiaxi: "I don't know either. I only heard that the Fifth Prince asked to guard the imperial mausoleum to dispel the evil spirits in his body so as to avoid disturbing Your Majesty."
After these words were spoken, there was a moment of silence at the table.
After a long while, Ke Hongxue let out a soft laugh, picked up the wine glass and said to Mu Jingxu: "Senior brother, what does your little disciple need you to teach him?"
Only then did Rong Tang wake up from his state of laziness and indifference to the world.
He recalled the snowfall a year ago when he and Su Huaijing went to Ke Hongxue's house to cook tea around the stove. When he heard the secret about the so-called "evil spirit", he felt a little strange in his heart.
Why didn't the mastermind punish him
If Yuerong fell into the water and died, Rongtang would feel severe pain on the other side of Songyuan.
During this year, Sheng Chengli broke his leg, Ke Mu and the others stopped assisting the hero, and Duke Xian's mansion was burned down...
All of these things are aimed at weakening the hero's strength. Why hasn't the mastermind punished him yet
Is it because these things have no actual impact on Sheng Chengli, or is the mastermind gradually losing control over him
He frowned slightly, and Su Huaijing asked, "What's wrong?"
Rong Tang hesitated for a moment, but still asked him, "Did you see Sheng Chengli at the palace banquet?"
Almost the moment the name came out, Su Huaijing felt unhappy, but he paused and said patiently: "What does Tangtang want to say?"
"His leg..." Rong Tang asked, "Is it really broken?"
Su Huaijing nodded: "It's broken."
He took another look when he entered the venue and saw that Sheng Chengli came in limping.
Rong Tang was not at all happy with this answer.
The royal mausoleum is an important scene in the original plot, and naturally it is used to provide support to Sheng Chengli.
There is an old eunuch in the imperial mausoleum, who had served Emperor Mingzong in his early years. He has a hunched body and is silent. Anyone who looks at him will think he is just an old eunuch. He guards the emperor's mausoleum day after day, accompanied by the coffin and ancient lamps, waiting for the day when the yellow earth of his burial bones will cover his neck.
But in the setting of novels, such hermits are usually great masters who live apart from the world.
Although the other party was just an old eunuch, he was very good at martial arts. In the original novel, the male protagonist met him when he was punished to guard the imperial mausoleum, and thus learned a set of life-saving kung fu.
In this life, Sheng Chengli took the initiative to propose going to the imperial mausoleum, but Rong Tang was not sure whether his purpose of going there was for this master.
But he knew clearly that Emperor Renshou had not actually issued an ultimatum to Sheng Chengli, and the hero's action was actually a step backward to advance.
This cleverness is consistent with Sheng Chengli who set up a trap in Songyuan to cause Yuerong's death, but it is unlike the Fifth Prince who sent a table of food over from Shaohua Palace.
Rong Tang was silent for a moment. Su Huaijing squeezed his hand and asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's okay." Rong Tang shook his head, "I'm a little tired."
A dark light flashed in Su Huaijing's eyes, and he asked, "Go home?"
Rong Tang was about to nod, but changed his mind and said, "Let's go back to Yong'an Lane. Let Shuangfu go back and tell mother that we will spend the Lantern Festival in Yong'an Lane before going back."
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, all the officials of Dayu should return to the court. Su Huaijing is the Censorate appointed by the emperor at a palace banquet. After all the documents and other matters are prepared, he will take office after the Lantern Festival.
Rong Tang took the time to take a look at the fog in the system space. One side was thick and black, while the other side was rolling like a cumulonimbus cloud.
There were several things he couldn't understand.
First, what do the two fighting mists in this space of consciousness represent, and what changes will happen to him after the fight ends; second, how is the system's main brain, or the way of heaven as he understands it, qualified to decide the rise and fall of a small world when the preference is so obvious; third, does Sheng Chengli have the help of external forces or does he have the memories of his previous two lives, and how much of these memories has been restored
With his mind in a mess, Rong Tang turned his head before leaving and glanced at Ke Mu and the other person who were standing side by side. A layer of deep thought lingered between his brows, and an even deeper doubt emerged.
Have they really given up on Sheng Chengli
The best outcome would be that the mastermind loses control over Rong Tang and there is no punishment, but if not this is the case.
His broken leg will be treated by his master in the future, and the burning of Duke Xianguo's mansion will prompt Sheng Chengli to go to the imperial mausoleum in advance.
Then why didn't any punishment fall on Rong Tang after Ke Hongxue and Mu Jingxu defected
And the death of Mu Jingxu in the previous two lives...
Rong Tang had never thought deeply about it before, but now he had to think about it.
If Ke Hongxue had guessed the identities of Mu Jingxu and Su Huaijing very early, why didn't he unify his camp sooner? And why did he wait until Mu Jingxu's death to tell Su Huaijing this completely irreversible and even potentially devastating fact
What's more, was Mu Jingxu aware of his "frankness" during his lifetime, and did he agree with it
Doesn't he suspect that his death will accelerate Su Huaijing's transformation to the dark side
Mysteries came one after another. Rong Tang pursed his lips, feeling inexplicably uneasy as if he was walking on vague clouds.
There's no solid ground under my feet.
"Tangtang." The sun shone down the long street, the snow reflected on the eaves. Su Huaijing held his hand, his voice always gentle and indulgent: "Don't be distracted while walking."
He didn't ask Rong Tang what he was thinking, but narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sun: "And the sun is shining brightly today."
The sun is shining brightly. Don’t think about the future or the past, otherwise the current sun will feel wronged.
Rong Tang was slightly stunned, and as he looked at the halo above his head, the mystery trembled for an instant.
He had an inexplicable feeling.
It is not a whirlpool that drags people into darkness and sinks, but the deepest night before dawn.
The darkness covered everything, so no trace could be seen.
But just wait a little longer, the sun will eventually pass through the eastern mountain and dispel all the darkness.
(End of this chapter)