bodyguard

I thought that I would never return to Taijing until I die in this life.

However, after more than a year, I led the horse through the gate of Taijing again.

A month ago, under the pear tree, the third senior sister and I played chess on a big bluestone.

She dropped a sunspot on the chessboard, took a sip of tea from her cup, and suddenly said, "Eleventh, the Xishan Bailu we drank is almost gone."

Xishan Bailu is the third senior sister's favorite tea.

I picked up a white piece and played with it in my hand: "Oh, then tomorrow I will write a letter to Fifth Senior Brother asking him to bring some when he goes back to the mountain."

"But, the pot we are drinking now is the last bit." The senior sister added some salt to the cup, and said, "Your sixth senior brother will be back in two or three months. I didn't get any news, so I got in touch again last month. He came back this time to pay homage to Master. You know, Master also likes to drink Xishan Bailu the most. If Lao Liu didn't sprinkle a cup or two when he worshiped him, I'm afraid I want to come to my dream to discuss tea with you and me at night."

"..." I suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the senior sister went on to say, "Why don't you go down the mountain and buy some on Eleventh?"

Xishan Bailu is produced in Hongzhou. The Xishan Bailu sold in other places is mostly adulterated. Only the local one in Hongzhou is the most authentic and the best.However, Hongzhou is far away from Zhongnan Mountain, and it takes two months to go there and back. I’ve been quite lazy in the spring, and I really don’t want to travel for two months just to buy tea bags, so I declined: “No Said that Brother Six is ​​coming back, wouldn't it be good to let him bring some back?"

A little snow leopard appeared from behind the pear blossom tree, and jumped onto Third Senior Sister's lap.The senior sister caressed the snow leopard and said: "Your sixth senior brother should have left now, I don't know where he went, how can I tell him to bring back some Xishan Bailu?"

I looked down at the leopard. This leopard was raised by my senior sister Yuxue. Its eyes are black and bright: "Senior sister, this leopard is raised very well. It takes five or six years for the Taishan leopard to grow up? How long does it take for this leopard to grow up?" ?”

However, the senior sister didn't fall into the trap: "You haven't cared about what I raised, senior sister, for more than a year. Why are you asking about the age of this leopard today? Eleven, to tell you the truth, the Mengding stone flower on the mountain and Xiaoxian Spring is running out, this time you have to buy it anyway to make up for it.”

I pretended I didn't hear it, and dropped the white stone on my hand: "Senior sister, your film is about to die."

The senior sister's eyes suddenly filled with tears, she touched the leopard and sighed: "Wow! Little Eleven! When you were young, the senior sister loved you in every possible way. When did the senior sister want to beat you and punish you? Didn't the senior sister stop you? How can Xiao Shang know how to be considerate?" Senior sister, when you grow up, you and senior sister shirk and shirk over such trivial matters?"

I am unimpressed.

Seeing this, the senior sister closed her eyes, and two lines of tears ran across her cheeks hypocritically: "Hey! You said that it would be great if people don't grow up and change. In this way, my smart, lovely, gentle and considerate junior brother can come back gone."

I took a leisurely sip of tea.

The senior sister wiped her tears: "Master, how long have you been there, and you can't even drink decent tea."

I silently put down the teacup.

The senior sister stared blankly: "Eleventh, do you have the heart to let Master not even drink tea?"

I am speechless.

After a long time, I stood up and said, "I'll go buy it."

The senior sister immediately said with bright eyes: "Oh, then you remember to bring some fashionable hairpins back to the senior sister. By the way, I heard that the hairpins in the capital are the newest. You go to the capital and buy them."

I said helplessly: "Senior sister, I have to go to three places for the three teas of Xishan Bailu, Mengdingshihua and Xiaoxianchun, and I have to buy hairpins for you again. I am afraid that when I come back, the sixth senior brother will have already gone down the mountain again. "

The senior sister immediately said with confidence: "It's okay, you don't know, there is a tea shop in the capital called Jiamutang, their boss and master are old acquaintances. Most of the tea we drank before was delivered by them at regular intervals. This time we drank it quickly. If you can’t pick it up just now, you can go to their house in the capital and buy all three kinds of tea.”

I had to agree.

Because I had to buy the tea before the sixth senior brother came back, I went down the mountain the next day.When going down the mountain, the senior sister saw me off at the gate of the courtyard very rarely, and reminded me again and again to remember to buy hairpins, the most fashionable ones.

I walked down the mountain path, with green and lovely vegetation on both sides. When I looked up, a white dove passed over my head and flew towards the boundless sky.

A month later, I appeared in Taijing again.

When I entered Taijing this time, a few soldiers guarding the city gate questioned me for a long time, and Lu Yin checked me several times before letting me go.

I found Jiamutang according to the address given by my senior sister. The big boss of Jiamutang was not there, and the shopkeeper told me that he was out for a wandering trip. Fortunately, the shopkeeper knew about sending tea to Zhongnan Mountain every year. After the month, the Yuqian tea will be sent to Taijing from the place of origin, so I decided to wait until this batch of Yuqian tea arrives before leaving.

Before leaving, the shopkeeper said that the tea would be brought to me as soon as it arrived. There might be a major event recently, and it would be inconvenient to leave the city if it was late.

I didn't ask in detail at the time, thinking that even if Taijing was sealed off, I would still have a way to get out of the city, so I didn't care much about the shopkeeper's words.

I'm going to stay in Taijing for half a month, and I haven't bought my sister's hairpin yet, so I wandered around the market for a few days and bought a few fashionable jewelry.

One day, I slept until the sun was high as usual, and I went to a cloth shop to buy some fashionable fabrics, but unexpectedly several shops were closed. When I took a closer look, the shops along the way Nine times out of ten they are all closed.

I went back to the inn full of questions, but unexpectedly the inn was also closed.I hammered the door panel for a long time before a familiar waiter let me in.As soon as he entered, the shopkeeper apologized again and again, and said: "The guest officer doesn't know something, it must be a small one who refuses to let the objective come in. The one who passed away in the middle of the night yesterday, so today the market and shops are..."

There was a bang in my head.

I said: "The official family has collapsed! Why didn't there be any news before?"

The shopkeeper said: "Why is there no news? The guest officer is a newcomer to Beijing? It was rumored half a year ago that he was not well. I heard that the snow was too heavy a year ago, and he has not recovered from the cold. It has been delayed. After a long time, it was out of control when it was sent out yesterday."

I said: "It's actually like this." Then I slowly moved back to the room.

During my six years in the palace, I didn't see the emperor much, so I didn't care if he died.However, everyone knows that Li Chongxin, the third son of the emperor, has a heart of disobedience.Before the crown prince was born, between the fifth emperor's daughter Li Chongwen and the third prince Li Chongxin, the old emperor preferred Li Chongxin more.At that time, the former empress had never been pregnant, and it was rumored that the old emperor wanted to make Li Chongxin the crown prince at one time, because Li Chongxin was heavily relied upon by the emperor when he was young, and he was granted a series of official positions.Unexpectedly, when Li Chongxin was 25 years old, the former empress gave birth to the sixth prince—the present prince Li Chongyuan.Of course, a son from a concubine is more important than a son from a concubine, so Li Chongxin's position as the crown prince came to naught.

At the beginning, the old emperor raised Li Chongxin too high, and the in-laws he found were also very powerful.Coupled with Li Chongxin's status as a prince, the old emperor is not easy to go too far. Even though he has been reducing his power for many years, Li Chongxin still held several official positions before I left Beijing.I don't know what happened after I left Beijing, but I guess the old emperor didn't have time to take care of him when he was sick, and I guess Li Chongxin's power should be about the same as when I left.

At this time, the first emperor had just died, and the crown prince had not yet ascended the throne. Although his uncle's family had little military power, they were far away in the sky.On the contrary, although Li Chongxin's uncle's family has long been in decline, his wife's family is very powerful in the capital, and Li Chongxin has led soldiers before, so he has quite a few trustworthy generals under his command.

Li Chongxin had a very smooth life in the first half of his life, but he had no ambitions in the second half of his life.The few times I saw him in the palace, he always had a cold face, with a gloomy and murderous look in his brows.

He once led the army and killed the enemy. He has practiced beautiful martial arts since he was a child, and he also wrote good poems. At the beginning, his poem "Inscribing the Spring Breeze Pavilion" was spread all over Taijing.His temper is not obvious outside, but he is very irritable at home. It is rumored that several servants of his family were kicked and vomited blood by him, but they were just dismissed with money.

Such a good time, such a strong and talented person.He must be unwilling to hand over the throne to others like this.

I asked Xiao Er for a pen and ink, and wrote down the situation in Beijing one by one, and asked the shopkeeper of Jiamutang to take this letter and some jewelry to Zhongnanshan.

The shopkeeper saw something and asked: "My lord, I can't get out of the city at this time, I don't know where you want to go, my lord?"

I could only vaguely say: "Something happened to my old friend's house, so I had to help. His family is in the middle of Beijing, and he doesn't go out of the city."

The shopkeeper looked at me suspiciously, but it was inconvenient to ask more questions, so he had to leave it alone.

After leaving Jiamutang, I went back to the inn and had a hasty dinner, and then asked the shopkeeper for some mustard pancakes. .

It was night, and I sneaked into the palace with dry food.

As for usurping the throne, the longer it is entrusted, the more unfavorable Li Chongxin will be. If he wants to make trouble, it should be these few days.

At that time, the jade rabbit was in the sky, the moon was shining like a sky, the spring breeze swayed through the Daming Palace, and the grass and trees shook gentle ripples.

My cat is in the abandoned palace, watching the palace people coming and going in the distance.

According to the system, princes should serve three years of filial piety, but there are few emperors in Daliang who have fulfilled the obedience. For example, those who had strong enemies before ascension to the throne, such as Zhuangzong and Zhuangzong, even ascended to the throne after seven days.

Now that the crown prince is weak, the sooner he ascends the throne, the better. If there is no accident, he will ascend the throne after the first seven days. If there is any action on Li Chongxin's side, it should be within these seven days.I will spend these seven days in the palace, if there is any change, I will have time to rush to the prince's side.

Whether the crown prince can ascend the throne depends on the game between the forces of the DPRK and China.In case of any accident, all I can do is to save his life. I can't do anything more, and I don't have time to do it.