"His Royal Highness, Yean." The one who stopped him was a young son named Liang Shuhong, who belonged to the long line of the Liang family and was also Liang Yanbei's cousin. Before Liang Yanbei came to the capital, he was Wen Chan's only Companion.
Liang Shuhong has a gentle personality, profound knowledge, and is very polite to everyone. He only hates his cousin Liang Yanbei. Class words.
Looking back on it after decades, Wen Chan couldn't help but find it funny.
The big eyes were bent, and there was a light smile unconsciously, Wen Chan said, "Mr. Liang, are you here with your father today?"
"That's not true. My father came early and went first. I came with my cousin." Liang Shuhong paused slightly after mentioning Liang Yanbei, "But I didn't pay attention just now, and we separated from him."
"The imperial palace is huge, and there are many places you can't go to. Mr. Liang has to look for it carefully." He raised his brows, and his thoughts began to wander.
"What Your Highness said is very true." Liang Shuhong's face was filled with irritability again, "I hope he will not cause trouble."
"Your Highness, it's time for us to go in." Ah Fu whispered behind him, interrupting their conversation.
Wen Chan nodded slightly when he heard the words, "Then Mr. Liang will look for it first, and I will go first."
Liang Shuhong saluted immediately, "Your Highness, go slowly."
The Nanling Garden has a vast ground, and long tables and seats are set up for entertaining court officials. The emperor's seat is in the center right in front, and there are huge stoves on both sides for heating in severe cold.
The order of seating is very regular, the emperor's heirs and court officials, and the concubines in the harem are all sorted according to their status, and they are clearly divided.
Wen Chan ranked ninth and was seated in the second row.
His timing was accurate, not long after he took his seat, the emperor arrived on his hind legs, leading the empress and a group of concubines in the harem, the team was mighty and mighty.
All the officials who had been seated stood up together, and saluted the superior emperor, "My emperor, Wanfu Jinan—"
"Everyone is in peace." The emperor is now over fifty, and his body is not yet in shape. A smile is added to his usually serious face. "Tonight's New Year's banquet, we will get rid of the old and welcome the new. I hope your lovers will have a good time drinking."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." After the long voice, everyone sat back in their seats, because the emperor's presence was very restrictive.
The seats to the left and right of Wen Chan were all vacant, the emperor quickly noticed after scanning around, and asked casually, the eunuch waiting at the side replied, "The eighth princess is freezing cold, and she was on leave for the banquet earlier, the tenth highness It must have been delayed on the road for a while."
The emperor responded, "Are there any officials absent?"
"Prime Minister Zhong has been ill for the past two days and was unable to come. His son Zhong Wenjin came alone."
"It seems that it's really cold recently. Pass on my order to send some medicines to Prime Minister Zhong's residence so that he can concentrate on recuperating from his illness." The emperor looked calm, showing no signs of happiness or anger. After giving some light instructions, he raised his voice, "The annual feast begins immediately."
In fact, it is not that the annual banquet is held in the palace every year, but sometimes it is just the emperor's whim.
The annual banquet held by the emperor this year was nominally to bring everyone together to celebrate the new year, but in fact it was to welcome the arrival of the new blood of the Liang family. , made a big splash, and everyone in the younger generation in the capital knew about it.
After the banquet, Liang Yanbei's father was promoted to be the Minister of Rites, the second rank of the official residence. Everyone could see that this was the emperor's intention to close the Liang family.
The Liang family's influence in Xiliang is deeply rooted, and they can compete with Zhong Chengxiang without entering the capital. Now that the Liang family's power has officially entered the capital, if coupled with the deliberate promotion of the royal family, it will be difficult for Zhong Chengxiang to become the dominant family.
Wen Chan, who has gone through a lifetime, knows better than anyone how correct the emperor's choice is. Without the Liang family, there would be no later emperor Wen Chan, and there would be no prosperous and peaceful Xiliang.
After the New Year banquet started, there was a long period of singing and dancing appreciation, followed by various officials presenting New Year gifts to the emperor, and then the emperor bestowed rewards, and the last stage was more elegant, passing on and composing poems.
Generally, military attaches rarely participate in the last link.
Ah Fu had already prepared the annual gift that Wen Chan was going to present, and he was waiting for the name to be called. He propped his head in boredom, and there was nothing left and right, and there was no one to chat with.
After sitting for a while, he noticed that among the concubines on the opposite side, behind one concubine was a court lady who had just met a man privately in the Nuan Pavilion.
What a godsend! Wen Chan was overjoyed.
He thought that if they picked up the jade card, he would definitely throw it away in fear, but because of his status as the prince, he couldn't send someone to ask for it, so he said that the jade card could not be found, but at this time Seeing this maid again, the New Year's banquet is full of excitement, and it's a good opportunity to gather together.
As long as the palace lady leaves alone, he will have a chance to get the jade token back, and even if he is in a bad situation, he can ask where the jade token was thrown.
Wen Chan, who had made up his mind, paid attention to the palace lady opposite from time to time. Everyone at the New Year banquet had had a few glasses of wine, and the atmosphere became noisy, and the palace lady sneaked away when no one was paying attention.
Wen Chan got up immediately, Ah Fu hurriedly followed him when he saw him move, but was rejected by Wen Chan, "You wait here, I will come when I go, if the emperor asks, you can just say it is convenient for me to go. "
Ah Fu took the order, didn't ask too much, and waited obediently in place.
Wen Chan didn't even bring the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting with him, and Wen Chan strode to follow in the direction that the court lady left just now. Few people noticed his departure.
To the east of Nanling Garden, there is a large forest. After Wen Chan became emperor, he brought in exotic tree species and planted all the original trees on cherry blossom trees. In April and May, the petals of concubine-colored flowers bloom one after another, as if in a fairyland.
However, at this time, Nanling Garden has not yet introduced flowers and trees.
Under the cold winter, the leaves are all fallen and become bare, and the lamps are no longer so dense. There is only one lamp after a long distance. Under the night, there is a bit of a gloomy atmosphere.
Wen Chan followed closely, striding for a while, he saw the figure of the court lady, he followed her for a while without disturbing her.
Unexpectedly, the court lady realized that someone was following her, and hurriedly quickened her pace, trying to get rid of Wen Chan.
After being discovered, Wen Chan simply stopped hiding and shouted sharply, "Bold slave, don't stop!"
This sound frightened the maid, she shook her body suddenly, knelt on the ground quickly, turned around and kowtowed to Wen Chan, crying tremblingly, "I know my mistake! I beg the master to spare me!"
Wen Chan deliberately wanted to scare her, seeing that she was about to be scared out of his wits at this moment, he slowed down in satisfaction, approached slowly, and asked in a cold voice, "Why are you sneaking here alone?"
"I'm anxious, I just came here to relieve myself." The maid's head was pressed against the ground, her body shivered like chaff, shrunk into a ball.
Wen Chan sneered, "Do you think I will believe it? You don't go to a good hut, but you come to this place, do you want to meet your wishful man in private again?"
Among the current emperor's heirs, there are only two who can call themselves this palace, one is the prince of the East Palace, and the other is the Ninth Prince of Chunsu Palace.
The court lady was clever enough to recognize that it was not the prince's voice, so she guessed Wen Chan's identity immediately, and cried loudly, "Your Highness the Ninth Prince is clearly aware! This servant is wronged! This servant is wronged!"
The voice was so sharp and sharp that it made Wen Chan's ears ringing for a moment. He took a few steps back and said fiercely, "I saw with my own eyes that the person who had a private meeting with the guards in the Nuan Pavilion was you, right?!"
"No! No!" The court lady shook her head crazily, "This servant girl didn't go anywhere today."
"How dare you quibble! After you left the Nuan Pavilion, did you pick up the jade token of this palace?!"
"Your Highness Ninth! This servant really didn't have a private meeting with anyone, let alone saw His Highness's jade plaque! If His Highness doesn't believe it, you can call Ah Qing to ask, I've been staying with her today! I haven't gone anywhere!"
Wen Chan didn't expect this man's mouth to be so stubborn, he cut two holes in the window, clearly seeing it clearly!
He calmed down his emotions and lowered his voice, "If you obediently hand over the jade tablet to Bengong, I will not pursue your private meeting."
The so-called playing both soft and hard is probably like this, Wen Chan is very satisfied with the way he handles it.
But the maid seemed to be both soft and hard, only saying one sentence over and over again, "I don't have any servants! I have been wronged!"
"My palace promises a thousand gold."
"The servant is wronged!"
"This Palace is tolerant and magnanimous."
"No slaves!"
"I… "
"Your maidservant is really wronged!" The maid wailed, suddenly rolled her eyes, and fainted from crying.
Wen Chan was furious: "Get up for me, don't pretend to be dizzy!"
He felt that his temper was going to be out of control, but he just wanted to get back the jade token, why is it so difficult
After standing and waiting for a while, the person lying on the ground didn't move at all, just like a corpse. Wen Chan knew that these palace people were very clever, so they must be pretending to be dizzy.
He walked up to the maid in a few steps, and was about to bend down to see if the maid was really dizzy or fake, when suddenly his eyes were dazzled by a bright light, and the sound of strong wind came from his ears. He was familiar with this light after many years of practicing martial arts up.
It was the light reflected off the sharp blade.
He subconsciously stepped back, and the moment his head was thrown back, a sharp knife crossed his eyes, almost scratching his tall nose.
He didn't expect that there were assassins in this palace!
The blade was caught off guard, and it was as fast as thunder. Wen Chan dodged the first blow with his keen intuition, but because of his haste to retreat, he almost failed to stand still.
After standing still, before he had time to see the appearance of the person coming, the sharp blade struck again. Wen Chan turned sideways, and with his right hand in a circle, he slammed the wrist holding the long sword, and he hit it. Unfortunately, Wen Chan didn't have much strength, so he didn't let go of the sword for a while.
After all, this body is too young, and at this time, Wen Chan doesn't like martial arts at all, with the mentality of being lazy but not diligent, he has become a useless prince who only eats and waits to die.
Therefore, no matter how many tricks he had in his mind, he couldn't even use a small part of them, and was forced to retreat again and again.
The person who came attacked was extremely ruthless, and he came directly for Wen Chan's life. Every sword was pressed against the throat, the deadly place like the heart, and it was precisely because of his single attack that Wen Chan had the opportunity to see the flaws. .
Taking advantage of the gap in the sword swing, he raised his foot and kicked the assassin's leg hard.
Unexpectedly, the assassin reacted very quickly. He twisted his leg, and all of Wen Chan's strength fell on the side of his knee. Pointing directly at Wen Chan's side neck.
The speed was too fast, and it was too late to hide. Wen Chan wanted to jump up and take the damage on his shoulders, so that his head would not be cut off.
However, at the moment of taking off, Wen Chan suddenly felt his waist tighten, his body was hugged by a huge force, he spun a circle in the air, and landed firmly on the ground.
Wen Chan's mind was still blank because of his panic, he looked down, and suddenly an arm appeared around his waist, he looked up along the arm, and an awe-inspiring face was reflected in his eyes.