Chapter 64 Loneliness in the Night Palace

The coldness outside Guangxin’s palace seeped in in a silky way, trying to forcefully change the name of this palace to Chang’e’s sister’s residence, but with red candles on the side, warm incense rising, wine blazing to kill, and springtime in full bloom, this kind of scheming was always just a kind of delusion.

Fan Xian watched the Princess and Wan Er’s gentle talk, the smile on his face also gradually more and more, no longer like the previous into the palace that vigilance and awkward.

The Eldest Princess was still as beautiful and alluring as before, and even though Fan Xian clearly knew about the incident that Hong Zhu had spoken of, but beyond the shock, more than anything else, he was intensely displeased with the Crown Prince – at least at this moment, looking at this Qing Guo’s number one beauty, the young son-in-law could not harden his heart to too much antipathy.

Of course, this emotion was a wonderful thing in itself. He gently set aside his wine cup and smiled to himself, thinking in his heart, “The eldest princess is not a poor person.

A poor person will have a hateful place.

This Rapunzel, the Empress Dowager’s favorite young daughter, the emperor in this decade rely on as the arm of the formidable figure, especially for Fan Xian, this palace dress beautiful appearance hidden under the more such as a viper-like letter, kill bloodless liquid ……

At the age of twelve, Fan Xian ushered in the first set of assassinations by the Princess. After entering the capital, the two sides were even more intertwined in intrigue and bloodshed, unable to extricate themselves. It was only during these years that Fan Xian’s power gradually expanded, while the Elder Princess’s strength was weakening day by day, and as this faded, the Elder Princess had long since recognized her son-in-law as an enemy she truly deserved to be reckoned with, yet ……

Fan Xian’s two most direct conflicts in Qing Dynasty, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, are in fact nothing more than pawns thrown out by the Princess, and Fan Xian is soberly aware that he has been reborn up to this point in time, and that the real enemy of the whole world is this beautiful woman in palace dress in front of him.

The Eldest Princess is the most powerful opponent of Fan Xian’s lineage, so in the past few years, the Supervisory Yuan has focused all of its intelligence centers on Xinyang and Guangxin Palace. Fan Xian knew the Eldest Princess even better than she knew herself.

This is a psychological level, he was able to sensitively perceive that the eldest princess for that year that woman complex vision, and even …… for that monstrous emotion, not so, can not explain the odd political pattern of Qing since the destruction of the Ye family.

Hateful people, there must be pitiful places.

Just Fan Xian will not be on the eldest princess to cast a trace of pity, in this regard, he is more than anyone in the world to be cold and ruthless, just as in the past, said countless times the words – drunken Fang Zhiqiang thick, after the death of the life of the heavy – he wants to live, who do not want to let him! live, then they must die in front of him.

“How is Jiangnan?”

Princess lightly Shuyu arm, slowly put down the wine cup, when the winter, although the palace has bamboo charcoal around the stove, but after all, the temperature is not high enough to go, the Princess wore the palace dress is also a winter dress, some thick, however, is such a dress, still can’t cover the undulating curves of her body and the omnipresent charm of the meaning.

At this time, Wan Er has already fallen asleep, the palace maidens carefully came out from the back of the hall to resume their orders, and then withdrew from the hall, closing the door. Fan Xian frowned slightly, but he wouldn’t say anything to stop anything, after all, the eldest princess was her mother, it wasn’t convenient for him to say too much.

“Jiangnan is quite nice, nice scenery, nice characters.” Fan Xian smiled and responded, “If mother-sama has any leisure time, when will you go to Hangzhou to have a look.”

Although the four words mother-sama were extraordinarily awkward to say, there was nothing he could do about it.

“I went there a few years ago, now the scenery is still the same, but the characters are very different, why should I go again?”

The eldest princess left the table, one side toward the outside of the hall, one side sneered and said, this naturally refers to the original belongs to her internal treasury, but now was Fan Xian all take over.

Fan Xian did not leave his seat, slightly choked, after a long time respectfully said: “born in the world, the characters are to see, the scenery is also to see, the characters are always like flowers by water, year after year, and different, the scenery stands on earth, but a thousand years of unchanged, a person’s life is short, but can look at the change of the scenery of the ancient times, this is what An thought of the important thing.”

The Princess was stunned, looked back at Fan Xian, slightly inclined her head, a hint of a smile on her face, and said, “What are you trying to persuade this palace?”

“Anzhi wouldn’t dare.” Fan Xian responded with a bitter smile.

The Princess said with a slight mocking smile, “There are already very few things in this world that you wouldn’t dare to do, except that trying to weaken this Palace’s mind with words is really a very foolish thing to do.”

In front of the empress dowager, Li Yunrui is a well-behaved and even a little stupid daughter, in front of the emperor, Li Yunrui is a precocious and even a little perverted assistant, in front of the Lin Xiangshang master, Li Yunrui is a timid and even a little pretentious beauty, in front of the imperial sons, Li Yunrui is a gentle and even a little seductive woman, in front of her subordinates, Li Yunrui is a smile of a hundred winks of beauty and waving a hand of a ten thousand In front of her subordinates, Li Yunru is a master who smiles a hundred winks and wields her hand to destroy everything.

Only at this moment, in Guangxin Palace, in front of his good son-in-law Fan Xian, Li Yunrui is nothing, she is just her own, the purest self, without any godlike charm and timidness to do the slightest cover, frankly and openly with their own face to face Fan Xian.

Perhaps these two people know that the enemy is the one who knows himself best, so there is no need to do useless cover up.

So Fan Xian also did not slightly shy gentle smile, just very directly said, “The time and light, a hundred generations of passers-by, heaven and earth, all things of the reverse, Anzhi do not dare to persuade you what, just think life is short, there is always a great deal of happiness can be pursued ……”

Before he finished, the Princess cut off his words and said coldly: “What is a Poetry Fairy? Enemy of a knife and two knives, open your eyes and see clearly who is standing in front of you, don’t always think that by saying some sour words and complacently selling a few seemingly philosophical words, you will be able to solve all the problems.”

This is an unusual thing to say, but the pride and disdain within, but it seems particularly acerbic, at this time there are no outsiders present, Her Highness the Rapunzel reveals her truest side.

“Don’t always think that women are animals whose sensibility trumps everything.” The Rapunzel said indifferently, “You said in your own writing that all men are a mess, in that case, don’t pretend to be a party of jade in front of me.”

Fan Xian had nothing to say, so he could only listen with a bitter smile.

The Princess walked to the door of the palace, lifted the cotton curtain, and stood on top of the stone steps, looking around at the silent night of the palace.

Fan Xian naturally not good to continue to sit on the seat, had to stand up, followed stand out, want to listen to this mother-in-law want to continue to say something.

“Look clearly at who is standing in front of you.”

The eldest princess did not turn back, that in the cold wind slightly thin body, but for no reason let a person feel a heart palpitation, it seems that among them contains unlimited crazy ideas.

“This palace is not a stupid girl like Haitang.” She said, “I thought that the north had finally produced a decent woman, but I didn’t realize that it was still a vulgar thing.”

Fan Xian was speechless and could only smile bitterly, thinking to himself, “Who dares to compare with you, in such a world where men are superior to women, it seems that only this Her Highness the Eldest Princess dares to do what men dare not do, and dares to compete with men.

In all respects, she was a match for men.

Fan Xian vaguely somewhat understood that the eldest princess did not take those things seriously at all, hmmmmm …… yes, that s it, the sky is about to cry.

He scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, facing such a woman, he actually gave birth to the feeling that his hands were tied, not knowing how to respond at all.

“You should be clear about why mother empress declared you to enter the palace, as well as this night’s bestowal banquet.” The eldest princess calmly said, “You and I know what’s going on, so there’s no need to discuss more, just cover up a little more, this palace doesn’t want to let the empress mother be too sad and disappointed.”

Fan Xian bowed to the ground and said sincerely, “Honorable.”

“Honored?” The corners of the eldest princess’s lips slowly curved up, the reddish curve that was faintly visible under the night color was particularly moving, “I have to admit, your ability, exceeded this palace’s most previous expectations. And you …… are her son, even more let me some surprise, no wonder in these two years, can’t kill you, also can’t lift you, his majesty favors you, the old guys love you, just a pity …… you are also just a stinking man after all.”

Fan Xian smiled and said, “It’s a matter of hormones as well as secretion.”

“He and?” The Rapunzel was slightly stunned, and for the first time, there was more than a trace of unsure doubt outside of firmness in those charming eyes, but she immediately whirled away from Fan Xian’s deliberate creation and said coldly, “You’re just like that mother of yours, always having so many fresh words.”

Fan Xian’s heart moved slightly as he calmly asked, “You have met my mother?”

The eldest princess was silent for a little while before saying, “Nonsense! She lived in the Cheng Wang residence when she entered the capital, so how could she not have seen her? It’s impossible not to have seen her.”

Speaking here, the Rapunzel’s eyes softly narrowed as she slowly said, “This palace admires her, and can even be said to be jealous of her, yet in the end …… I despise her.”

Fan Xian frowned and laughed calmly, “I don’t think you have this qualification.”

This sentence was said extremely boldly, but the biased growing princess was not angry in the slightest, and said lightly, “In the eyes of many people, it seems to be the case, even if this palace has been assisting my royal brother since I was young, and has done so much for this Qing country, but …… as long as it is compared to your mother, no one thinks that I am the better one. ”

“But ……” said the eldest princess indifferently, “I still despise her.”

Without waiting for Fan Xian to speak, she suddenly laughed somewhat nervously, “Because in the end …… she died.”

Fan Xian’s heart moved slightly, wondering if he could confirm that last truth in history today, only the Rapunzel’s next words made him somewhat slightly disappointed.

“And this palace did not die.” The Rapunzel said coldly, “Who can predict the future, can this Palace do better than her?”

She turned back and stared at Fan Xian with eyes that were as soft as moon mist, saying softly, “She didn’t unify the world after all, do you think this palace can do it?”

Fan Xian was gazed at by these two gazes, forcing himself to remain calm, and slowly said after a long period of silence, “Evaluating a person doesn’t really necessarily have to be marked by the territory and the records in the history books.”

He suddenly thought of that letter he saw that rainy night, and said somewhat out of breath, “Just like my mother, she didn’t help my Daqing dynasty to unify the world, but who knows if she couldn’t do it, or she didn’t care to do it?”

The Princess was slightly stunned, the heart defense finally appeared a hint of slack, slightly a hint of indignation said: “Can’t do things attributed to disdain? As you said earlier, life is but a few decades in a hurry, want to long branded imprint in the hearts of future generations, not according to history books, can rely on what?”

“My mother …… has not left a single word in the history books.” Fan Xian looked deeply at the eldest princess and said, “I think you also understand why. But it doesn’t negate her existence in this world, whether it’s the output of the inner treasury or the Supervisory Court, it’s all telling the world what …… history books will one day be forgotten, and the yellow paper will be swept into the trash, but the real changes to this world will remain.”

Rapunzel was silent for a long time after hearing this, then said softly, “That’s right, I haven’t made some sort of real change in this world.” She paused and laughed at herself, “Other than making the boundaries of the boundaries between the kingdoms of this world constantly change, the land of the Kingdom of Qing is constantly expanding outwards.”

“That is, if you have fought for ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains, you must end up with an earth bun after you die.”

Fan Xian spoke earnestly, although the eldest princess had mercilessly satirized him countless times earlier, he still spoke these seemingly trite sentences.

The eldest princess stopped looking at him and looked at the quiet scenery of the palace and said, “This idea of yours is different from most men in the world. Some men, because they are cowardly and incompetent, will be beautifully said to look away, how the clouds are …… and like you and other men who already have enough status and possibilities, but do not think of building a career, the history books to leave a name, really some rare …… and gutless. ”

Fan Xian smiled and responded, “Perhaps An Zhi knows that he doesn’t have this kind of ability, and figures as ambitious as Your Majesty’s are not to be seen all the time.”

After saying this, he carefully glanced at the Eldest Princess.

The Eldest Princess did not look at him, looking at the corners of the palace, seemingly caught up in some strange emotion because of someone in Fan Xian’s words.

“This palace is a person with a strong desire for power.” After a long silence, she opened her mouth and laughed, “But that doesn’t mean that I like things like power, this palace just needs to use power to achieve a certain desire, and that desire is something that you people simply can’t possibly understand.”

Fan Xian bowed his head slightly.

The Rapunzel suddenly raised her hand and puffed out a few mouthfuls of warm air, her movements were as cute as a little girl’s as she smiled and said, “Women, too, can do things, and this Palace has always wanted to prove this. Why is it that men always utilize women in this world? Why can’t women utilize men?”

This most beautiful woman of the Kingdom of Qing finally said to Fan Xian, “This is something that this palace learned from your mother. And as I said, I despise your mother because in the end, she still …… can’t escape the fate of the average woman being utilized by men.”

“You go, this palace is tired.”

“This kind of conversation, there shouldn’t be a second time.”

Fan Xian bowed his head and saluted, out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed the soft curves on the side of the Elder Princess, in his heart he thought of the words the Elder Princess had said, and smiled slightly, secretly thinking that this may be the normal of the war between men and women that is difficult to change in the thousand years of history, and that even if it is you, how could it not be a reaction after being utilized by a man without being able to do anything about it?

The Rapunzel calmly looked at his back, hoping that her words today would plant that poisonous flower in Fan Xian’s heart.

She whirled around and raised her head, looking at the night sky above the palace, her fingertips slightly cupped, as if recalling some sort of curve, frowning as she wondered, this evening, in which palace would brother emperor spend the night?

Without pity, without touch, without reflection, Fan Xian left Guangxin Palace very directly, and under the eunuch’s lantern’s illumination, traveled towards the front city of the palace.

His back was a little wet, not because of fear, but because of some kind of very complicated emotion. He couldn’t help but think of the first time he entered Guangxin Palace to massage the Princess, when his fingers were resting on the temples next to the beauty’s hair, always worried about being assassinated in the palace.

At that time, Fan Xian was politically naive.

And now Fan Xian, of course, understand, politics this kind of thing, dark, dirty, bloody, is the world’s most untouchable taboos, just from the beginning of his birth with these things tightly embrace, so he must than all people have to do more thoroughly, hide better.

Princess Changjin is very calm tonight, but Fan Xian knows clearly, just as the more gentle smile on his face, the thicker the killing intent in his heart, the more calm the Princess looks, the …… crazier she is.

All the way towards the former city, all the way watching the dim lantern in front of him fluttering slightly, Fan Xian calm to even some indifference to analyze what he saw and heard tonight. As for the poison that the Princess wanted to plant, in fact, Fan Xian himself had planted it long ago, only that he had been covering it up extremely well.

How crazy is the Princess? As the old father-in-law of Wuzhou guessed? But Fan Xian still can not figure out where to find this opportunity …… He suddenly thought that the Princess actually did not mention a word about Lin Ruofu, who is far away in Wuzhou, this evening.

With Fan Xian’s understanding of that old story, the eldest princess may not necessarily see no love for Master Lin Xiang, this is indeed a bit odd tonight, it seems that that woman does have some sort of change in her recent days.

“Substitute?”

Fan Xian frowned and muttered softly to himself, he and the second prince looked a bit similar, but strangely enough, and the emperor’s old man did not look much like him, on the contrary, it was that prince who had always been slightly cowardly, but vaguely resembled the emperor’s appearance.

“My lord, what kind of character?” The eunuch leading the way asked curtly.

Fan Xian smiled and said, “Scrap.”

There was a special place to rest in the imperial palace, quite a distance away from the inner palace.

When His Majesty the Emperor was busy with political affairs more than a decade ago, he often worked through the night on state affairs, and the prime ministers and ministers at the time also had to wait in the palace, often too late to return to their homes, so the Emperor made a special decree to vacate a section of the front city for these ministers to rest in.

Just now Qing is in a peaceful time, and temporarily no border trouble, the palace has long been less busy than that year, this place is also quiet for a long time.

It was not until today that Fan Xian took up residence.

It didn’t take long for Fan Xian to get out of the mansion, and through the shadows of the high city wall, he traveled silently like a ghost. He grabbed a handful of snow underneath the palace wall, carefully wiped off the faint smell of incense on his fingers, and increased his speed, traveling in the direction of Nine Pines.

In the palace single night walk, indeed is extremely risky thing, but Fan Xian clear, if really according to normal thinking, in the dead of night and then move, when the palace defense force is the most tight.

Although it was already night, there were still many people in the palace who hadn’t gone to sleep, so it was safer to make a surprise night trip.

His destination is the corner of the Imperial City, near the nine pines side of the Raccoon Square. This neighborhood is still within the scope of the Imperial City, is the initial construction of the Raccoon Clothes Bureau of the location, only later the palace eunuchs more and more, along the Raccoon Clothes Bureau that built a lot of residence, and only gradually evolved into the eunuchs of the living place.

Raccoon Clothes Place that also has a gate to the outside of the palace, although still guarded by the forbidden army guards, but after all, the eunuchs and palace women mixed, popularity of miscellaneous, the gate compared to the general place to be a lot of lax, those who risked to send things to the palace imperial concubine of the ministers, but also often is through this place.

Fan Xian’s contact with Shufang Palace was basically through this channel.

But of course, he wasn’t going to sneak out of the palace tonight, but to meet someone.

To meet Hong Zhu.

Raccoon Square around the architectural planning is very haphazard, between the high palace wall and the inner vermilion wall, I do not know how many houses have been repaired, densely packed in a large area, the sky night light shines down, it looks dark and blurry, even like the slums of Kyoto in general, and the rich and magnificent and imposing those nobles of the palace compared to the shabby, but without that terrible taste of loneliness.