Golden Stage

In the evening, the Beijing camp station in the western suburbs a hundred miles away from the capital.

Zhong He, the leader of Ruifeng Battalion, came out to greet him personally, and Xiao Xun stepped forward to greet him.Before he could finish his salute, Zhong He had already left him, hurriedly ran towards the carriage, turned around and bowed: "The last general, Commander of Ruifeng Battalion, Zhong He, see General Fu!"

The Ruifeng camp ranked first among the five major Beijing camps, and Zhong He was in the third rank, which was already very valuable, but he treated Jingning Marquis with extra respect.

A hand wrapped in bandages opened the curtain, and the strong smell of medicine slowly diffused.Fu Shen didn't wear any armor, only a robe.His chest and arms were covered with bandages.His face was pale, his lips were bloodless, and his long hair was loose. He seemed to be hanging on one breath, so weak that he would collapse at the sight of the wind.Only the eyes remained a little bit of expression, deep black and calm, like a broken knife that flickered with cold light and could still kill with one blow.

Fu Shen bowed his head in greeting to him: "Commander Zhong, you are safe here. I'm sorry Fu, cough, is inconvenient to move, so I can't get up to greet you."

Zhong He had heard that he was seriously injured and could not walk, but he did not expect to be so seriously injured.He didn't quite believe the rumors that "Fu Shen is really disabled", but what he saw with his own eyes made him disbelieve.With Fu Shen's current appearance, not to mention returning to his original appearance, it seems that even a few years of stable life will be a problem.

Zhong He's eyes turned black, and he felt cold from head to toe. Under grief, he even changed his address: "Jing Yuan, you hurt...you..."

Fu Shen trembled at the end of his voice, his eyes were red, and he acted as if he was not injured but was about to die. He couldn't help but twitched the corner of his mouth and sighed: "Thank you Commander Zhong for your concern. It's really just a leg injury. Don't die. Alas, Chong Shan, quickly find a handkerchief and wipe away the tears of Commander Zhong."

Zhong He had served in the Yuanzhou Army in his early years, and he had known Fu Tingzhong and Fu Tingxin in the past, so he could be regarded as half of Fu Shen's elders.It's a pity that later Fu Shen took over Beiyan's iron cavalry, and stayed in northern Xinjiang for many years and refused to come back, so the old contacts with these old friends gradually faded away.

However, at this moment, he was seriously injured and extremely haggard. This appearance suddenly made Zhong He let go of his identity. He only remembered the youth in the army who always followed Fu Tingxin with high spirits.Thinking of him being alone, with no high-ranking parents, no children around his knees, not even a caring person to support him, and a disability that can't be cured at a young age, he couldn't help feeling sad: "It's all us people. Incompetent, I couldn't stop you from going to the battlefield back then, and it's a disaster today. In the future, under the nine springs, what face will I have to see my father and uncle!"

"Commander Zhong," Fu Shen supported the carriage with a headache, "Don't mention the things that have passed, I'm fine, you don't need to be too sad."

He still refused to call him "Uncle Shi", Zhong He was perplexed, but at the same time felt that he was really cold.It was getting late, Fu Shen and the others were in a hurry to enter the capital, and the two said their goodbyes. After Beiyan Jingqi changed horses, he continued to gallop towards the capital, and Hao Xuan entered the city before the city gate closed.

The last time Fu Shen came back was three months ago.The capital has not changed much, and it is still full of lights and bustling.The Northern Yan army accompanying them rarely came to the capital, they walked around and watched.They were too conspicuous walking on the street, so Fu Shen called Xiao Xun over and said, "Take me home first, and then you take them out for a stroll, and the expenses will be charged to my account. Don't prostitute, don't bet, don't cause trouble , go."

Xiao Xun retorted without thinking: "How can that be done!"

"If you're told to go, go." Fu Shen seemed to be exhausted, his voice was low, but his mouth was itchy, "If you keep walking around me, this Marquis will lose his reputation. ——If I can't marry a wife, you will have to come to my bedside to be a filial son and grandson in the future."

Xiao Xun couldn't argue with the scoundrel, so he responded embarrassingly.

Cars and horses ran over the smooth stone streets. This area is full of noble and noble mansions. The flying pavilions are majestic and majestic, and they are more quiet than ordinary houses.Jingninghou Mansion is located on the northeast corner, the old servant who looks after the house removes the threshold and welcomes the carriage to enter.Seeing their master being carried out by his subordinates, they all shrank their hands and hesitated aside, not daring to go forward.

After Fu Shen became a marquis, he separated from Yingguo Duke's mansion and lived in another mansion. He didn't care about this big house at all. The servants were a group of old, weak, sick and disabled collected from home by his stepmother Qin and sent them to him. It takes four or five years to use it here.Fu Shen was not at home all year round, and he had no ties with the servants. Whenever he finally went home to stay for a short while, the group of people would hide in the back kitchen and the servant's room timidly like a mouse seeing a cat. Unless necessary, never come out to obstruct his eyes.

Fortunately, although the servants were afraid of him, their work did not fall.Xiao Xun carried Fu Shen to the bedroom, asked the servants for hot water, took off his coat for him, wiped his hands and face, and helped him to lie flat on the bed.When everything was ready, Fu Shen crossed the river and demolished the bridge, and drove him out: "You should do what you want. Let someone keep the door for you at night, and the backyard is full of wing rooms, so you can sleep casually, and I'm sorry for not entertaining you well."

The hypnotic effect of the pills taken in the afternoon was very strong. In order to deal with the people in the Beijing camp, Fu Shen endured staying up all the way. At this moment, he finally couldn't hold on anymore. Almost as soon as Xiao Xun closed the door and went out, he fell into a drowsy dream.

The old servant listened for a while under the window, until the sound of regular and long breathing came from inside. Then he tiptoed against the wall and walked out of the inner courtyard, asking the cook to prepare some porridge to warm on the stove. , wait for the master to wake up and then use it.

Although Fu Shen and his entourage were dressed lightly and simply, but because they entered Beijing on a clear road, the news quickly spread to the court and various government offices.No one would visit at this time, the old servant closed the main door after sending Xiao Xun and others out, leaving only a corner door.Unexpectedly, Fu Shen had just fallen asleep for less than an hour, when there was a sudden and forceful knock on the door outside Jingninghou's mansion.

The gatekeeper didn't dare to be slighted, so he hurried in to report the news. The only old servant who could do anything in the family hurried over with his weak legs and feet. As soon as he met him, he was shocked by a group of men in black riding tall horses with swords hanging from their waists outside. , I was so frightened: "Dare, dare to ask you...?"

Among the crowd, a slender man rode out more and more, and happened to stop in the light outside the shadow of the eaves.In an instant, the cloud patterns on the dark blue clothes flickered like flowing water, and the silver embroidered celestial horses on the back of the outer shirt were fluttering their wings, and the moonlight and lamplight reflected a beautiful face with smiling eyes and thin lips.

"Don't be afraid, old man." He bowed his head politely, the hand holding the rein was pale and thin, and the sleeve of his robe slipped off, revealing a small piece of iron wristband, "I am the Flying Dragon Guard Envoy Yan Xiaohan, according to His Majesty's order I came to visit the Marquis of Jingning, and I specially invited a famous doctor to treat the wounds of the Marquis, please go and report."

The old servant couldn't tell the color of an official's uniform, but he had been a servant in Duke Ying's mansion for decades, and he was very familiar with the name "Yan Xiaohan", so he immediately "thumped" in his heart, and said falteringly, "This... My master traveled a long distance and was injured again, so he just fell asleep. My lords, look..."

Feilongwei has always been unscrupulous, and everyone in the government and the public knows about it, and few people dare to stop it.Yan Xiaohan cast a condescending glance at the wrinkled old man, with a smile on his lips, playful: "The old man seems...afraid that I will see your Lord Marquis?"

It really made him guess right.

This is not a secret to the old man in Yingguo's mansion and the civil and military officials in the court.General of the Right Shenwu Army of the third rank, Yan Xiaohan, the inspector of Feilong Wei, is the most popular official in Beijing in recent years.The most terrible thing is that he and Fu Shen, the Marquis of Jingning, were at odds with each other for a long time. They were fierce rivals, and they heard that they would pinch each other when they met, and even the emperor couldn't stop them.Just this year, during an early court meeting three months ago, the two had disagreements over the imperial court's dispatch of supervisory envoys to the Quartet. They bought one of the imperial inkstones, fined the two of them for half a year, and sent Fu Shen back to northern Xinjiang in a hurry, that's all.

Now that Fu Shen has returned to Beijing in a state of desperation, Yan Xiaohan is still in a high position, if he takes personal revenge, how can their Marquis be able to stand it!

The old servant was concerned, and his face was panicked: "The villain dare not. It's just that my Lord Hou can't stand the toss... Please forgive me."

While talking, Yan Xiaohan looked around the Jingninghou Mansion. The courtyard was tidy and dilapidated, and there were traces of maintenance by servants, but it still seemed unpopular.He sighed inconspicuously, and conceded: "I didn't come to trouble him... Forget it, you don't need to pass it on. I'll go in and have a look at him before leaving."

No matter how persistent the old servant was, his arms would not be able to twist his thighs, so he had to back down, holding up a lantern to lead the way.Yan Xiaohan left the Feilongwei who came with him in the front yard, so as not to stir up the crowd and cause misunderstanding, and only brought a thin, gentle, scholar-like young man into the inner courtyard.

The Dahou Mansion was empty, with a few trees planted in the yard, and the steps would fall without sweeping for a while, as if the bleak autumn atmosphere of the whole capital had fallen on this yard.At this moment, the sky is dim, and the other courtyards are silent and completely dark, only a thin sliver of yellow is seen from the windows of the main room, which adds a bit of desolation for no reason.

Yan Xiaohan could still hold back, the young man walking beside him shook his head repeatedly, and asked in a low voice: "What kind of background is Jingninghou, what kind of achievements, what's wrong with his family..."

The old servant sighed with sympathy: "Master Hou stays at the border all the year round, and he is not allowed to return home for three to five years. There is no virtuous wife who can preside over the middle-income family and take care of the housework. We are the only ones left who are useless and can't replace you." Master Hou shared his worries..."

He was talking slowly, stretched out his hand to push open the door of the main hall for the guests, invited the two to sit down, lit up the lamps, and ordered people to serve tea: "You two wait here, I will invite Lord Hou."

Before he finished speaking, there was a muffled "gudong" sound from the inner room on the west side, as if something had fallen from a high place.The old servant trembled, but before he could react, the Flying Dragon Guard who had just stood beside him was like the wind, and in the blink of an eye, he had slipped into the inner room.