Fragrance in the wind

On New Year's Eve, a grand Nuo ceremony will be held in the palace to pray for a good harvest and prosperity for the people in the coming year.

Its ceremony: Select 12 and 20 eunuch servants over ten years old and under [-] years old as vibrators. They all wear red headscarves and black clothes, and hold a large light; then Fu Zhi, the chief servant, will play the role of Fang Xiangshi's gold medal to ward off epidemics and evil spirits. With four eyes, covered with bear skin, dark clothes and Zhu clothes, holding a spear and a shield, following the twelve beasts to go around three times, and then holding a torch, he went out of the palace to the south gate of Huaixi.

After that, as usual, dozens of musicians from the Yuefu will play music and sing on the Danchi in front of the hall. The prince will cover his head with a feather, dress up with emerald feathers, and dance a "Tianbao" to pray for the country.

Now that the crown prince has passed away, the position of the East Palace is vacant, and the replacement is the second prince Chunyu Gurui. A dance to worship the gods represents the future ruler. Looking around, the people present are waiting eagerly. As the second prince's biological mother The brilliance on Concubine Yi's face was the same for a while.

"Your Majesty said: Bo'er, longevity is boundless. God's death is long, and Yi'er is blessed. The people's quality is good, and their daily food and drink. The common people are all virtues. It is as constant as the moon and as rising as the sun. It is as long as Nanshan's longevity. , neither Qiang nor collapse. Like the luxuriance of pines and cypresses, everything will be inherited."

Accompanied by the impassioned singing of the singers, the vigorous and agile dancing posture of the second prince was sometimes like thunder, and sometimes like the river and the sea.

As a bystander, the sixth prince, Chunyu Zizhou, seems to be different from other people. In fact, for him, it is the same for everyone who dances. He was not the protagonist in the past, and he is not now. After seeing through the taste, it is the same. Look at it If you don't see through, you can only torture yourself, not to mention that Chun Yufeng sitting in that position has not danced before, and he still inherits the throne and rules the world.

Until the singing faded away leisurely, the sacrificial dance on Danchi ended, and the sacrificial ceremony came to an end.After Chunyufeng and the Empress Dowager went to the back hall of Xingle Palace and changed into their daily clothes, the wine rice feast in the main hall officially started.

After drinking for three rounds, the atmosphere became lively, and they drank wine to the emperor and empress dowager one by one, congratulating them on new words.

When it was Zizhou's turn, he stood up with the cup in his hand. Suddenly, he was in a daze. Fortunately, Su Mo beside him helped him to stand still, but the wine in the cup spilled out.

"It's only a few glasses of wine, and the Sixth Highness is drunk?"

The Empress Dowager didn't like Zizhou in the first place, Concubine Yi's overtones made the Empress Dowager even more suspicious, and said with a displeased look: "If you don't want to drink with me, an old man, then don't force it."

Hearing these words, a smile appeared on Zizhou's pale face, and he suddenly recalled such a fleeting memory.

The lamp is like red beans, and there is a faint fragrance, if there is nothing there, beside the case collapsed, Chun Yufeng was carefully tracing the pattern on the bronze vessel, when he suddenly raised his head and asked him: "Why can't you use your people-pleasing skills?" What about other people?" He was burning incense and throwing it into the stove, and when he saw the question, he answered: "No matter how much you try to please someone who doesn't like you, it's just a hot face and a cold ass." Chunyu Feng smiled and said nothing at that time.

After regaining consciousness, the wine in the glass had been refilled, and Zizhou held the glass and respectfully said to the queen mother: "The grandson is a little too strong to drink, and it's not because he doesn't want to. If this makes the queen mother unhappy, the grandson will punish himself for three times here." Cup." After saying that, he drank three cups in a row.

The ensuing silence weighed on everyone's heart like a stone, and they pushed their cups and put their chopsticks one after another, as if they were watching how the situation would develop, but seeing the empress dowager said with a straight face: "It's been a month of confinement, why is there still nothing?" Grow up!"

After hearing this, Chunyufeng felt displeased, but he couldn't say anything, he just said: "Mother, your grandson has punished himself with three cups to apologize to you, shouldn't you return one?"

The empress dowager admitted that the emperor loved the sixth prince more than the other children. She usually said that she couldn't touch it, and sometimes she was too sensitive. She didn't know what the emperor thought. The child born by that vicious woman in a dirty cage They are all poisonous, born to kill their brothers and restrain their mothers, their behavior is even more eccentric, and their attitude towards their father and emperor is uncertain, but the emperor is so conniving.No matter how dissatisfied she was, she couldn't refute the emperor's face after all, so she paid back a cup copiously.

Sitting down again, Zizhou felt more and more dizzy, and even began to have some hallucinations, pinched his temples and stared at the pepper and cypress wine in the glass, could he really be drunk?

While he was wondering, Su Mo's voice sounded next to his ear, "Is Your Highness not feeling well?"

Zizhou pondered for a while, then raised his head and told him: "Go and tell Father, that I am a bit too drunk, so I will step back first."

Su Mo went to report first, while Zizhou walked out of Xingle Palace with his limp body supported.As soon as he stepped out of the palace gate, the cold wind blew his hairs on end, and he suddenly felt a little more awake.

When he reached the long corridor to the right of Xingle Palace, "Your Highness!" Su Mo caught up panting and put on a fox fur cloak for him, "Your Majesty has asked someone to invite an imperial physician to wait in Qingluan Palace."

Zizhou hummed, and then let Su Mo support him up the stairs.

With a sound of "Puff", blossoming fireworks rushed up to the sky and bloomed in the deep night sky, instantly illuminating the entire Xingle Palace in red.At this moment, a black figure in the distance passed quickly across the roof, just like a hallucination, and then Su Mo yelled "Assassin!"

Hearing the sound, Zizhou looked sideways, but there was a double image, which was difficult to distinguish.

"Your Highness is waiting here. This servant will call for someone!" After saying that, Su Mo hesitated for a moment, then turned around to look for the inner palace guards.

The things in front of me are constantly turning, as if entering another world, gusts of wind blow to the wall made of jade among the gold, followed by a crisp and exquisite sound.Zizhou closed his eyes, shook his head, and opened his eyes again, what he heard and saw was still the same.

He called Su Mo a few times, but there was no response. He took a few steps while holding on to the railing, but suddenly saw a masked black shadow flying towards him with a long sword in his hand. He took out several hidden weapons, broke his wrist, and threw it straight at the man's chest.

The black figure not far away fell in response to the sound, and only heard the sentence "Sixth brother!" in his mouth, like Jiao Lei, Zizhou who was shocked suddenly woke up, and after a long while, he went down the steps and walked forward to see the face of the man clearly It was Chunyu Gurui.

"Second brother!" Zizhou embraced Chunyu Gurui: "How could it be you? Why did you suddenly appear here?"

"I heard...someone called assassin..." Chunyu Gurui fainted from the pain before he finished speaking.

At this time, Su Mo happened to be returning with dozens of inner palace guards. The torches in his hands illuminated the surroundings with bright lights. He was surprised to see this situation.

"Your Highness! This, this..." Su Mo was so horrified that he couldn't even speak clearly. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a figure opposite and hurriedly retreated to one side, bowing his head and kneeling on the ground.

"Ruier..." Concubine Yi rushed forward regardless of her appearance, pushed Zizhou away, hugged Chunyu Gurui in her arms, Lihua cried with rain, then raised her head and asked, "Who will tell me what happened?" What the hell happened?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, Concubine Yi pointed at Su Mo and shouted, "Say it!"

Su Mo didn't have time to think about it, so he replied, "The slave just saw a black figure and thought it was an assassin, so he went to find the guards." The trembling voice was not as calm as usual.

"Where's the assassin?" Concubine Yi continued to ask.

"I didn't find it, maybe the slave misread it!"

After listening to Su Mo's answer, Concubine Yi turned to look at the sixth prince. His eyes were already dazed at the moment, and he suddenly understood something. He became more and more excited and pointed at him, "It's you! It's you! Isn't it?"

Facing Concubine Yi's accusation, Zizhou raised his eyes and glanced around, maybe under the sudden stimulation, his head was not as dizzy as before, and the hallucinations dissipated, he began to suspect that he had been drugged secretly, and looked again Xiang sticks the dart in Chunyu Gurui's chest, all the witnesses and material evidences are indisputable to him.

At some point Chunyu Feng also came to his side, looked at him with complicated expression, and said after a while: "I want to hear your explanation."

How to explain?With my current physique, who would believe that I was drugged, and that I mistook the second emperor brother as an assassin while drunk, that would be a fantasy. Bureau.

Zizhou lowered his head for a long time, his white and bloodless face was hidden under the thick long fur collar, and finally said helplessly: "I explained it, will you believe it?"

"If you don't tell me, how will you know whether I believe you or not?"

"If my son says that he has been drugged, will Father believe it?" He looked up at Chun Yufeng and chose to tell the truth.

"Zizhou!" Chun Yufeng narrowed his eyes, and his voice became harsher: "You let me hear the funniest lie in the world, don't forget what I used to save you? To say that I was drugged? "

Zizhou couldn't help snorting, and looked away with a hint of self-mockery.

Chunyufeng walked up to Zizhou, raised his hand to hook his chin, turned his face to himself, and said sinisterly, "Are you so impatient to take that seat? Don't think that the things you did before , I can be more unscrupulous if I don't pursue you, what I give you is yours, and what I don't give you, don't think about it in your life!"

Zizhou's expression froze at the moment the words fell, looking at those unfathomable black pupils, he heard his own voice trembling slightly, and said, "You never believed me?"

Chunyufeng's eyes seemed to tremble violently, but the lines of his face were still tense.

If it was because the distance was too far and the sky was too dark that he couldn't see what was in those black pupils, then looking at each other at such a close distance, was it suspicion?Hesitant?Still disappointed?It was still elusive for him, and he suddenly figured out what the Grand Tutor had said, and felt a chill in his chest. Even if Chunyufeng treated him differently in recent days, it didn't mean anything at all. The heart of an emperor has been unpredictable since ancient times.

At this time, the Empress Dowager came late with the support of Concubine Shu. Seeing the situation in front of her, she probably guessed the reason, and Concubine Shu was deeply worried.The queen mother, who has been in the harem for decades, showed her due composure at this moment. She suggested to Chun Yufeng: "Your Majesty, let the sixth prince be handed over to Zongzheng Temple!"

Chun Yufeng straightened his waist and turned back with his hands behind his back: "He is my son, outsiders are not qualified to interfere, of course I will handle it myself."

The queen mother's face sank again and again, and she stopped talking.Chun Yufeng continued: "Tomorrow's court meeting, envoys from various countries will come to pay tribute, no one is allowed to publicize today's matter. First put the sixth prince in the cold palace, and I will judge after the court meeting is over." He was saying When it came to the word Zhen, the tone was deliberately aggravated, the purpose was to announce the dominance of this incident, and at the same time warn some people to stop some dirty thoughts.

Concubine Yi looked at the back who was taken away by the guards unwillingly, her eyes were filled with hatred that would crush him to ashes.From the beginning to the end, His Majesty never glanced at Rui'er, or asked a word of concern, but only blindly protected the scourge.

In the cold palace, Zizhou hugged his knees and curled up in a corner of the bed, surrounded by a thick bedding. Every time he breathed, he could smell the musty smell. His tired eyes stared at the burning flames in the brazier. The bedroom is hot, but still feels cold.

He rested his head on the side of the bed and slowly closed his eyes, temporarily ignoring what role each person played in this banquet, temporarily ignoring where he was, and temporarily ignoring what his mother said to him before she died. For the time being, he does not speculate on the development trend of things after the Zhengdan court meeting, he just wants to sleep well, and simply thinks that everything will disappear when he wakes up, there is no palace, no so-called father.

Maybe Zizhou at that time didn't realize it at all, and tonight was just a starting point for all the things that followed.