Chapter 102 Outrageous Words

After several months of trekking, Crown Prince Li Chengqian and his party finally returned to Kyoto from the distant Nanzhao country. The official road outside of Kyoto was not paved with yellow soil and sprinkled with water, the green and black stone road smoothly adhered to the ground to welcome the return of the Crown Prince, the dense willows on both sides of the road nodded their heads slightly along with the scorching hot winds, signaling to the Crown Prince.

Outside the city gates to meet the return of the crown prince is the court of civil and military officials, and those three remain in the capital of the royal son, a should be greeted after the salute, the crown prince very gently help up the two elder brothers and that young brother, holding hands to look at each other, there are words do not condense, gently said after the parting of the situation.

The eldest prince looked at the crown prince with concern, confirmed that this difficult journey did not make this younger brother suffer too much, then began to let go of his heart. He and other people like, are guessing why the father emperor will give this errand to the crown prince to do, but his status and position and other people are different, coupled with their own nature of mind is indifferent, and do not want to do too deep thinking, anyway, how to mess around, and he has nothing to do with, as long as Chengqian is fine.

And that in the royal residence in the silence of nearly half a year of the second prince, with his signature smile to greet the return of the crown prince, just smile clamped some other things, a hint of a hint of seeped into the heart of the crown prince. The Crown Prince gave him a slight smile and nodded without saying anything.

Li Chengqian held the oldest’s hand, looked at the quiet and well-behaved face of this little boy beside him, and couldn’t help but sigh in his heart, the situation has developed to today, this youngest brother has vaguely become his greatest rival, it is really puzzling to think about.

He suddenly thought again, the new lord of the south imperial kingdom, seems to be the same size as the oldest three, his hair heart suddenly trembled, holding the third prince’s hand subconsciously loosened, just the index finger is not yet fully cocked, he reacted, and again gently and seriously hold that small hand.

The Crown Prince knew very well that his third brother was a lot smarter than that snotty state master from Nanzhao, not to mention that his teacher was Fan Xian. It was just that the eyes of the Third Prince looking at the Crown Prince appeared so calm, far beyond the calmness that should be expected of a small child, and without a trace of any other emotion.

Several dragon sons stood outside the city gate cave, each with their own thoughts. The crown prince slightly lowered his head, looked at the sunlight under the shadow of those a few lonely, some sad thought, father and son seems to be inevitable, is it necessary to cut each other hand and foot also cut each other to and fro?

Prince into the palace, salute, return to the book, bow to the emperor, return to the palace.

The procedure was as normal and smooth as the Ministry of Ceremony and the Second Temple had stipulated, without a single problem, at least no one would notice the slightest abnormality in the looks of His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Only people noticed that His Majesty seemed to be a bit tired, and did not leave the Crown Prince to talk more in the Taiji Hall, not at all like the look that should be expected when a son who has not seen him for nearly half a year comes home, and then let the Crown Prince go back to the East Palace.

Under the leadership of Eunuch Yao, the crown prince came to the door of the East Palace, he looked up and looked at the East Palace that was repaired, and could not help but sigh in surprise, that day this beautiful palace was burned by his own fire, and it was only a few months ago that it was actually repaired as if it were the beginning …… It seems that the father emperor really does not want to make too much sensationalism of the matter.

He was suddenly stunned, turned back to Eunuch Yao and asked, “This palace …… would like to go to kowtow to the empress dowager later, I don’t know if it’s possible?”

Yao eunuch froze, he is responsible for sending His Highness back to the East Palace, naturally His Majesty’s intention to secretly monitor, to ensure that the crown prince back to the palace, can only be in the palace, which is equivalent to a disguised house arrest. Just the crown prince suddenly asked, with this reason, Eunuch Yao simply can not say anything.

He let out a bitter smile, slowly ricked down, slightly pointed back, “Your highness scared the lackey, you are the master, you want to go to pay respect to the empress dowager, how come you ask the lackey?”

The Crown Prince smiled bitterly, said nothing, pushed open that door of the Eastern Palace, only when he entered, subconsciously glanced toward the location of Guangxin Palace. He knew that his aunt had already been secluded in the royal apartments, guarded by the people of the Supervisory Academy, and that Guangxin Palace …… that he was very familiar with and longed for was already empty, but he still couldn t help but greedily look over there for a few moments.

Eunuch Yao carefully and unobtrusively watched the Crown Prince’s expression from the side.

The Crown Prince, however, simply treated him as if he didn’t exist, staring blankly at that place – he thought in his heart, when people live in the world, there are always so many devilish obstacles, but he didn’t know who was obsessed, who was mad, he thought of the words his aunt had said, and his heart began to thump, yes, people are mad, the world is mad, everyone in the royal family has the factor of madness, one must be mad to the end if one wants to own the world.

Being self-possessed due to madness, he turned around once again, smiled gently at Eunuch Yao, and then closed the door of the East Palace.

According to theory, closing the door this kind of action naturally has palace eunuchs eunuchs to do, just today’s East Palace eunuchs and palace maids are far less than the number of ritually rated people, a few months ago, the entire palace has hundreds of eunuchs and palace maids disappeared for no reason, no one knows where they went, the prince knows that they went to the ground floor …… Now the East Palace, although it has been supplemented with a lot of eunuchs and palace maids , but these novices are obviously a little nervous.

So many people died in the palace, naturally can not hide for a long time, just no courtiers dare to ask without a long eye, for one thing, this is not something they should be in charge of, and for another, the courtiers are also afraid of death.

Along the way, there are palace maids and eunuchs knocking on the ground to ask for peace, but no one dares to go forward to serve.

The prince smiled to himself and entered the main hall, then ……

Frowned and sniffled, because he smelled a very strong smell of wine. A strong and sickening smell of wine floated in the middle of this most honorable palace of the Qing Kingdom.

The light inside the palace was a bit dim, with only a few tall lamps lit. Li Chengqian was stunned and returned his sight, only then did he see a familiar woman lying on that couch, and on the side of the screen, a large leaf fan produced by the inner treasury was shaking one by one, fanning the breeze and dispersing the suffocating odor in the palace.

The woman was wearing a gorgeous palace dress, but the decoration was very bad, hair a little fluffy, hand carrying a wine pot, is pouring wine into the mouth, between the eyebrows are all haggard and despair.

Pulling the big leaf fan is a small eunuch who can’t see his appearance.

Li Chengqian frowned in disgust, but then sighed, a trace of tenderness and pity surfaced in his eyes as he walked forward. He knew why his mother had become the way she was now, and he was also disgusted by the fact that the other party usually acted mysterious, but was panicked once it happened, but she was his mother after all.

“Mother, child is back.”

The half-drunken queen was shocked, rubbing her eyes to see for a long time, only to see in front of the hair young man is his own hair son. After a long time, she suddenly cried out with a wow sound, staggered and sat up, pounced in front of the crown prince, hugged him and howled, “It’s good to be back, it’s good to be back.”

The Crown Prince hugged his mother’s body and said with a harmonious smile, “Having been gone for several months, I made mother worry.”

The queen’s eyes flashed a trace of joy, slurred and said, “It’s good to be alive, it’s good …… I thought …… I would never see you …… again. ”

Ever since His Majesty sent the Crown Prince to Southern Zhao, the Empress’s mind has been immersed in despair. She and the emperor did twenty years husband and wife, of course, know that the man on the dragon chair is what kind of desperate horror, she had thought that the crown prince this time south, and then come back will be difficult, at this time to see a living son, can not help but be overjoyed, in the midst of despair to find a hint of fluttering hope.

Prince smiled to himself, hugged his mother, patted her back, comforted a few words. The Empress did not know until today why the Emperor would suddenly give up the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince did not tell her the truth. Although the people in the royal family were crazy, they all did quite well in this aspect of filial piety.

So the Crown Prince also did not intend to tell his mother how many dangers and difficulties he had encountered along the way. If it is not someone secretly help, even if he can come back alive, I am afraid that he will also be lingering in the hospital bed, and it is difficult to get up again.

After a short while, the half-drunken queen in the prince’s arms gradually fall asleep, the prince will carry her to the couch, pull on a bed of very thin embroidered towels, waved his hand to stop the eunuch pulling a large leaf fan action, he took a round palace fan, began to carefully fan for the queen.

Don’t know how long, after confirming that his mother was asleep, the crown prince threw down the round palace fan and sat beside the couch, burying his head deeply between his knees, and did not raise it for a long time.

He raised his head, his face slightly white, his gaze drifting to the side, looking at the only eunuch within this empty and lonely palace, and asked, “The empress drinks wine from time to time these days?”

“Yes.” That little eunuch walked out from the shadows, kneeling down extremely respectfully and performing a salute.

Looking at that eunuch’s raised face favor, the Crown Prince was taken aback, and then frowned, saying with a slight mockery, “An Eastern Palace of more than a hundred people, now you’re the only one who’s still alive.”

That eunuch is not the other person, it is when the East Palace chief eunuch, Hong Zhu. Hong Zhu face surfaced a trace of guilt, lowered his head, did not say anything. Things up to this point, the entire East Palace subordinates were all exterminated by the Emperor’s decree, and he was the only one left alive, which already explained all the truth.

Although Hong Zhu had never told on the Emperor, he had told on Fan Xian, and all of these things seemed to be because of this, so the guilty look on Hong Zhu’s face was not a fake, during his time in the Eastern Palace, the Empress and the Crown Prince were both quite good to him, especially the Empress who was extraordinarily gentle with him, and during these days he had secretly served and monitored the Empress by His Majesty’s strict order and had watched how this Mother of the Nation tended to despair from disappointment, and had anesthetized herself with alcohol day and night, so his heart could not help but feel a little saddened. He watched how the mother of the country was becoming desperate from disappointment, and used alcohol to anesthetize herself day and night, a few threads of intolerance arose in his heart.

The crown prince quietly looked at him, suddenly sadly laughed, muttering to himself: ”At first thought that you were offended Fan Xian, father only drove you over, it turned out that …… this palace forgot, you are ultimately the person who came out of the imperial study …… that Is the hatred between you and Tanya Gong true?”

“It is true.” Hong Zhu bowed his head and returned, “It’s just that the slave is a citizen of the Kingdom of Qing, and naturally puts His Majesty’s orders first.”

The Crown Prince, for some reason, suddenly burst into a rage and casually grabbed an object beside him and smashed it, cursing, “You eunuch, you also call yourself a subject!”

Throw out the thing is his previous for the queen fan hair round fan, light hair all not force, did not hit the Hongzhu, in the Hongzhu hair around floated down, landed in the eunuch’s clothes on the lower lapel.

Prince afraid of waking up the mother, very difficult to calm down the gasping, with a resentful gaze at Hong Zhu: “It seems that his majesty really like you …… know such a big thing, actually still put you this dog life stayed.”

Hong Zhu kowtowed twice and asked with some confusion, “Your Highness, what is it?”

The Crown Prince woke up and after a long moment of silence suddenly said, “Today’s Eastern Palace has long since changed from what it was, what are you still doing here? If you want to leave, I’ll go tell Father.”

Hong Zhu’s face was a little hesitant, and after a moment he gritted his teeth and said, “Minion …… wants to stay in the Eastern Palace.”

“Stay in the Eastern Palace to monitor?” The Crown Prince lowered his voice and sneered, “The entire palace is full of eyes, still care about this one more you?”

As things had developed to the present day, the Crown Prince knew that His Majesty was going to abolish himself after all. Since this is the case, why should he still sympathize in this hidden palace of his own?

“The slave wants to serve the Empress.”

After the Crown Prince was silent for a while, he suddenly sighed, a trace of pity surfaced on his face as he looked at Hong Zhu and said, “Xiu’er is also dead?”

Kneeling on the ground, Hong Zhu’s body trembled for a moment, and after a long time, he nodded his head somewhat sadly.

“In these past few months, what has happened in the palace?” The Crown Prince quietly looked at Hong Zhu and asked a question that by all accounts would never have an answer.

Hong Zhu was silent for a long time, then said, “His Majesty went to the Hall of Containing Light a few times, and each time he came out he was not very happy.”

The Crown Prince smiled, his mood slightly lighter, looked at Hong Zhu appreciatively and said, “Thank you.”

Hong Zhu lowered his head and said, “Nun dare not.”

The crown prince sat on the edge of the couch and began to think. Father obviously did not tell the Empress Dowager the truth of this matter, although the Emperor has been running across the world without a single dare to stop him, but an Emperor like Father is still plagued by a trace of tethering of the heart and mind.

For example, a face like straw paper, such as that word filial piety.

The Qing country preaches to rule the world with filial piety, the emperor he put a cage on himself.

Li Chengqian slightly clenched his fists, knowing that he still has some time, his father wants to abolish himself still needs time to arrange the speech, the eight departments of the Supervisory Yuan even if they want to create that kind of wind, it is not so simple.

“With Xiu’er dead, I wonder how Hong Zhu feels.” Fan Xian said softly, “If it was an ordinary eunuch, perhaps he wouldn’t think too much about it, but I’m well aware that Hong Zhu was never a simple eunuch. He has read books and is enlightened, so he speaks of grudges and emphasizes love and righteousness …… When all is said and done, the reason why Xiu’er was killed was my problem, it was his problem, and it was the two of us who singlehandedly caused the deaths of hundreds of people in the middle of the palace.”

He frowned, “For His Majesty’s ruthlessness, it seems that our imagination still seems lacking. Well, even if Hongzhu doesn’t hate me, he surely hates himself, would that be any trouble?”

He once again said okay, and then said sadly, “But those hundreds of deaths were always caused by me …… Yes, I am a very light and heartless person, but in the end, I am not a monster like Uncle Wuzhu, so I still feel strange in my heart. In the past, I said to Haitang, killing dozens of people hundreds of people, I may not even blink my eyes, but I can’t be the emperor because I still can’t do tens of thousands of people to die in front of me, and still remain calm.”

“The emperor wanting to abolish the crown prince is something I secretly influenced …… Of course, even if I don’t influence it, this matter will eventually explode.” Fan Xian shook his head, “But now I’m trying to get the emperor to not abolish the crown prince so quickly. Why? Isn’t this boring and absurd? What exactly am I afraid of?”

“After the blazing fire cooks the oil, there is the cold pot of leftovers ……” he laughed self-deprecatingly, “If the Crown Prince’s oldest two, the eldest princess, are finished, I am the leftovers, even if His Majesty really loves me and is willing to take me to fight the next great world …… But you also know that I am a pacifist, well, a very hypocritical pacifist, I don’t like to go to war, I’ve done so many things in these two years, isn’t it just to keep the present state?”

“So I have to delay a little, at least until I am ready, I can not let the emperor enter the track of preparing for war, then let the boss go to lead the army, let me be the supervisor, kill into the North Qi and East Barbarians, under the sword are all the souls of the dead …… This kind of iron-blooded days feel sad when I think about it.”

“This is the main contradiction lurking, and you know it.”

After Fan Xian finished these words, he collected the piece of paper in front of him and put him back into the box, then began to sigh, annoyed at his own curiosity, always unable to resist taking out his mother’s letter and reading it again every time, but every time he read it, it was troublesome as hell.

He was in Suzhou at this time, in the Garden of Hua, and the great chest at the door was still open, the snowflake silver inside shining beautifully.

Like Fan Shangshu, he also learned to speak to a piece of paper, only his father was to the portrait, he did not have that ability, so he had to speak to the letter.

There were a lot of things he couldn’t say to people, and the only few people he could speak to weren’t around, so it was hard for Fan Xian to hold his tongue. There was a time in the past when he even treated Wang Qinian as the best listener, but in order for old man Wang not to be scared into a myocardial infarction by his own words, he finally put an end to his mental torture of the old king.

Uncle Wuzhu is not here, Ruoruo is not here, Wan’er is not here, Haitang is not here, even if there are a thousand words, to whom do I go to confide? Where could one get support for a mind that was so treasonous and intolerant of this world?

Fan Xian began to gradually feel the sense of loneliness, the meaning embedded in the old lady is lonely.

And he had unprecedented self-doubt about his second life.