The night was as cold as water, and Jiang Tangzhou's mind began to have some inexplicable thoughts.
He pursed his lips, somehow pulled himself back from it, and asked, "When did you start laying out these dark lines?"
"...from a long, long time ago." Yin Wenzheng lowered his eyes, a dark light flashed in his eyes, his hand holding the jade flute tightened a bit, and even the joints were faintly white.
"You should know that although I have followed the Ling family and obtained the title of prince, my biological mother is not her."
"I know." Jiang Tangzhou nodded, "The Ling family died in Hengzhen sixty-seven years ago. You were only sixteen years old in that year."
"Yeah." Yin Wenzheng lowered his head, as if lost in memory, "After Ling's death, he didn't even enter the imperial tomb, but he deserved it. Everyone knows that I was favored by her, and I was taught and brought up by her, but I didn't I don't know, the person I hate the most is also her."
"My mother and concubine, Yin Tan, was just a brothel girl, she was very charming when she was young, she was seen by the old man and brought to the palace, but she only got favor for a few months, and disappeared in the harem like an invisible person. With her background, how can she be treated?" Yin Wenzheng sneered, "I didn't eat well when I was young, and I didn't wear warm clothes, but at any rate, my mother is a very good person. She's always with me."
"Until one day the Ling family suddenly came to our Wenzhulou." Yin Wenzheng raised his head and said calmly, "She can't conceive a child, so she wants to adopt a child. Mother has no power or power, so she is the most suitable candidate Mother loves me very much, so of course she didn't want to. At that time, she was pregnant with her younger brother. Although she didn't want to, she could only mediate with Ling. I sued the old man, and the old man reluctantly stood on the side for my brother's sake. I went to Niangqin's side, but I didn't expect... On the day my mother gave birth, she died twice because the fetus was too large and difficult to deliver."
"I followed the Ling family," Yin Wenzheng couldn't hide the hatred in his eyes, his hand holding the jade flute almost bent the jade flute, "I was still adopted by her."
The back of his hand was suddenly covered with warmth, Yin Wenzheng's heart softened, he turned his hand over and clasped the other's palm, and then continued: "After following her, I will become the prince. If I don't take the name of the prince I can still muddle along and get by, but I took it, so I became a thorn in everyone's eyes. Especially Lingshi is not my biological mother..." Yin Wenzheng laughed lowly, "I don't really listen to it either. Her words, so my grandfather is often bullied by her. I am older and more sensible. When she forced me to eat the food in the bucket of slops, I resorted to a trick and went to the old man to file a complaint. After being punished, my life will be easier after that.”
Yin Wenzheng put it simply, but as a member of the royal family, Jiang Tangzhou could empathize with how dark those days were.
And how difficult it is to survive.
He squeezed the other party's hand and continued to ask: "And then?"
"Later... Then Lingshi died." Yin Wenzheng raised his head, looked at Jiang Tangzhou, and said word by word, "When I was sixteen years old, I accidentally learned that my mother's death was not an accident, but an accident. The Ling family has always rewarded my mother with some medicines that caused the fetus to grow too large, which led to my mother's death."
Yin Wenzheng's eyes gradually became gloomy, and he revealed the words that had been buried until now: "This is the secret of the palace. Except for the old man and us members of the royal family, few people know why Lingshi did not enter the imperial tomb after his death. It was because she was found to have an affair with the guards in the palace, and the old man gave her a bottle of poisoned wine for the sake of saving face and it was impossible to tell the world about it."
"But...ha," Yin Wenzheng sneered, held Jiang Tangzhou's hand tightly, and said word by word, "I am the only one who knows in this world that the Ling family has never had an affair with anyone."
Jiang Tangzhou was slightly taken aback, and said, "It's you..."
Yin Wenzheng said, "It's me."
Yin Wenzheng looked at him intently, and Jiang Tangzhou frowned slightly, which was especially obvious under the light.
Yin Wenzheng couldn't help raising his hand, and brushed his thumb across the other's forehead, trying to flatten the wrinkles there: "Are you afraid of me?"
Jiang Tangzhou said, "I'm not afraid."
Yin Wenzheng rested his thumb on his forehead, looking at him seriously.
Jiang Tangzhou said: "I was just thinking, if possible, I would also let those who bully me die without a place to die."
"Yes." Yin Wenzheng said, "As long as you are willing, I will accompany you to level every inch of land in Qin Kingdom."
Jiang Tangzhou smiled and said, "That's not what I mean, the people are innocent after all."
"If you want to get something, you must pay a lot." Yin Wenzheng sighed, rubbed the mole on the tip of his nose with his thumb, and said, "A Tang, don't be soft-hearted."
The nightmare he had last night flashed through Jiang Tangzhou's mind again, and he paused for a moment before turning to Yin Wenzheng and asking, "I have one last question."
"What?"
"The mass grave in Lincheng..." Jiang Tangzhou tensed his body subconsciously, looking at Yin Wenzheng nervously, and asked, "Did you do it too? "
"no."
When Yin Wenzheng answered these two words, Jiang Tangzhou's body relaxed visibly to the naked eye.
He let out a long breath, and finally showed an extremely sincere smile, and said, "It's fine if it's not."
"Do you believe me when I tell you?" Yin Wenzheng also smiled, "Aren't you afraid that I'll lie to you?"
"You lied, you lied," Jiang Tangzhou said, "You told me so many secrets, and I don't want to disappoint your trust in me, so no matter what you say, I'm willing to believe you."
Yin Wenzheng stared at him steadfastly, and after a long, long silence in the darkness, he said, "I didn't lie to you."
"I know." Jiang Tangzhou said.
...
Jiang Tangzhou had the only good sleep in the past half month, and when he woke up, the sun was already setting.
Only after opening his eyes did he realize that not only had Yin Wenzheng chatted with him for so long, but he had rushed into the palace again before he could catch up on his sleep.
"It is said that Lu Yanfeng drove all night, exhausted the four horses, and finally came back last night," Tingyu gossips, "Master, why do you think that Emperor Lingyu wants Nalu Yanfeng to come back? He alone Eunuch, even if you come back, what can you do?"
In fact, Jiang Tangzhou had never figured out the existence of Lu Yanfeng.
I have never understood why an eunuch can have such a big voice.
So at this moment, when Ting Yu asked such a question, Jiang Tangzhou couldn't understand it.
However, Yan Qing wanted to open his mouth several times, but didn't say anything. On the contrary, Tingyu saw it. She gently bumped Yan Qing with her shoulder and asked, "What do you want to say? Say it! Here Anyway, there are only the three of us, even if you say something outrageous, no one will hear you."
Yan Qing pursed her lips, lowered her voice and said, "My lord, I have been in the palace since I was a child, so I have heard a thing or two about this Mr. Lu, saying that he... that he belongs to His Majesty. The guest of honor, that's why..."
Ting Yu's eyes widened: "Really?"
"Is that true?" Jiang Tangzhou also frowned.
"Really." Yan Qing said, "Mr. Lu knows some ways of longevity, and he is so favored by His Majesty's bed and curtain. It is also because he is His Majesty's guest that His Majesty... trusts him a lot."
Hearing Yu's sigh, Jiang Tangzhou couldn't help but stop what he was doing, and began to think carefully.
Half a day later, Jiang Tangzhou was practicing calligraphy, when he suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside the Prince's Mansion, he frowned and stood up: "Yan Qing, go and see what's going on outside."
Yan Qing took the order and hurried out, Ting Yu was about to go out to watch the excitement, when she heard her grandfather say: "Ting Yu, go and pack some soft things."
Ting Yu was stunned: "Clean up the soft stuff? What's wrong?"
"Well, it's about time." Jiang Tangzhou stood up and said calmly, "Go and clean up."
Ting Yu was still there wondering, then saw Yan Qing yelling at Ye and rushing in quickly, holding on to the threshold with one hand, panting and saying: "Master, outside, the outside is full of officials from the clan's mansion, Say yes, say yes, say yes, I will take you to prison!"
"What?!" Ting Yu took a sudden step forward, "You heard me right, it's pretty good, why did you say you want to take our father to prison?"
Ting Yu was about to die of anxiety, but when he looked back at Jiang Tangzhou, he was calm as far as the naked eye could see, and tears burst out in an instant: "My lord, you just said something, this will put you in jail, how can you be so steady!" Ting Yu wiped away her tears and said, "Yan Qing, what's going on!"
Jiang Tangzhou folded the words, put down the pen, and said calmly: "Is the two armies at war?"
Yan Qing nodded quickly, and hurriedly said: "Yes! Mr. Lu came back last night to bring the news that the army of the Qin State entered the country, and they took over a city in Daheng in an instant! Said... Said that the Lord is from Qin State, That's why I'm going to put my grandfather in jail..."
Yan Qing said it implicitly, but Jiang Tangzhou and Ting Yu knew in their hearts that the original words must be much worse than this.
"Okay, why did the war start all of a sudden?" Ting Yu couldn't figure it out, "Didn't Qin Kingdom not be able to defeat Heng Kingdom before, why did it suddenly happen?"
One question after another flashed through Ting Yu's mind. Before she could figure it out, she saw that Jiang Tangzhou had already straightened his clothes and was about to go out.
"Master, where are you going!" Ting Yu followed quickly, "How can you be like this? You don't hide in this situation, but go forward!"
"It's time to come, it will come." Jiang Tangzhou calmly walked out of the courtyard.
The periphery of the Prince's Mansion was full of officials and soldiers, all of them wearing silver armor, standing tall, and when they saw someone coming out, they pointed their spears at him mercilessly.
The leading man was still polite: "Please ask King Zhen to go to the clan mansion."
"You—" Ting Yu raised his hand as if he wanted to curse something, but Jiang Tangzhou raised his hand and held it down.
"Listen to the rain, go in and pack your things." Jiang Tangzhou said lightly, "Please wait for a while, and allow me to pack some things."
There was a burst of laughter from the crowd, and someone said: "Is there any chance for you to come out after entering the clan's mansion? There is everything in it, so you don't need to clean it up!"
"Could it be that you really thought you were going in to enjoy the blessing?"
…
Jiang Tangzhou repeated again: "Please wait later."
"Go." The man in the lead lowered his hand slightly, his piercing eyes swept across the crowd, and the sarcasm became quieter.
Ting Yu gritted her teeth hard, then turned around and ran in, the moment her footsteps disappeared from her ears, she said: "Your Majesty should have only said that you want to take me, this person from the Prince's Mansion, They are all from Hengguo, and have nothing to do with me." He paused, then continued, "I'll go with you."
Yan Qing's eyes widened: "Master, you..." She instantly understood that Jiang Tangzhou wanted to push Ting Yu away, and didn't want him to suffer.
"Take care of Tingyu." Jiang Tangzhou patted her hand lightly, "I know you've always been calm, so you should understand my good intentions. Don't worry, I'll be back."
Someone came forward to tie Jiang Tangzhou's hands, Yan Qing looked at the smile on his face, and finally couldn't hold back tears: "Master... don't worry, I will take good care of Ting Yu."
The other end of the rope that tied Jiangtang boat was tied to the horse. They specially prepared an iron cage to trap him in it, as if they were planning to parade in the streets.
Realizing this, Jiang Tangzhou's expression did not change, he lifted his clothes and was about to enter.
At the same time, a long sword broke through the sky and cut the rope in his hand suddenly.
Followed by another shout: "Just look at who dares to touch him!"
Jiang Tangzhou froze, and followed the prestige, but could only meet the scorching sun, a ball of white light.
"His Royal Highness, don't embarrass the last general."
"General Gu, I know that you are ordered by His Majesty."
Jiang Tangzhou felt that someone was blocking in front of him, and then his hand was tightly held, and the hot palm wrapped all his anxiety and tension.
Gu Heng frowned, and said: "Since His Royal Highness knows that the general will act according to the order, he should also know that what he is doing at this moment is against the order."
Jiang Tangzhou held the other party's hand instead, and said in a deep voice, "Wen Zheng, I'm just going to the clan mansion, don't worry, nothing will happen, don't worry about me."
Yin Wenzheng said without turning his head, "I said I would protect you, so I will keep my word."
"Don't worry, no one can hurt a finger of yours without my permission."
Jiang Tangzhou stared blankly at his vaguely visible back—as if blocking the thousands of troops in front of him thousands of miles away from him.
But in the past... In the past, he was always closer to thousands of troops than anyone else.
Jiang Tangzhou took a deep breath and didn't say another word.
In fact, when he promised to help Yin Wenzheng send a fake military defense map to Qinguo, he had guessed that there would be such consequences.
But he still did it without hesitation.
Thinking about it better, he couldn't lose his life in the end, but if he entered the clan's mansion once, he would have to peel off his skin no matter what.
But at worst, he might not be able to get out and die in the clan mansion.
If Yin Wenzheng was just using him from the beginning to the end, if everything he said to him was false from the beginning to the end, he would not be able to get out.
Then he was blind and believed in the wrong person.
But Yin Wenzheng didn't lie to him, not only did he not lie to him, Yin Wenzheng was still standing here, blocking thousands of troops in front of him, and protecting him behind him.
He did not trust the wrong person.