long friend

"So Your Majesty thinks that since you can speak wild words, why don't you see if you really have the ability?" Su Yan concluded after hearing Xiao Qichen say a lot with a sad face.

Continuing to peel melon seeds sadly, Xiao Qichen nodded: "If I had known earlier, I wouldn't talk so much."

Su Yan glanced at Xiao Qichen with a puzzled face, as if he was very surprised why this person was so self-aware today, but he knew that he could only follow his hair at this moment, so he changed the subject and said, "Why did you call me here?"

At noon, the city of Jinling was buzzing with people.And Xiao Qichen's dignified prince walked through several main streets in such a swaggering way, without even bringing an entourage with him. Su Yan asked him why, and he asked back, "Aren't you a general?"——obviously, he believed too much in Su Yan's skills.

There are mixed fish and dragons in the south of the city. There are taverns and food stalls open during the day, and people are everywhere looking for a living.But at night, the brothels with red lanterns are engaged in the business of the lowest-level people, and thieves and bandits come and go from time to time, so adults always teach children, "Don't go there".

Xiao Qichen took Su Yan to this place, and found an academy in the intricate streets and alleys.

This place where the three religions and nine streams gather has become an unspeakable piece of dog skin plaster in Jinling City, and the small academy with blue tiles and white walls is like a white lotus that emerges from the mud and is not stained, standing on the dog skin plaster reservedly.

The sound of reading came from inside the wall, and the reading was melodious.After listening for a while, Xiao Qichen said: "I heard that the gentleman here is interesting, I want to chat with him."

Su Yan was even more puzzled by Monk Zhang Er. He said "Oh", took the melon seed shell that Xiao Qichen peeled off, and put it in a small bag.He stayed with Xiao Qichen for a while longer, and when he heard the sound of reading inside stop, he was silent for a while, and then the noise of children leaving school came from far to near, and the gate of the academy opened suddenly——

The waist-high cubs came out in a file, fought with each other and ran away. They diverted like a big river at the entrance of the alley, hid in narrow alleys, and ran away in a blink of an eye.

Others on both sides of the street were not surprised when they saw it, but Xiao Qichen, who had been quietly outside the door for a long time, stood up straight and put the unfinished melon seeds in his arms: "Come on, let's go see this gentleman. "

When entering the door, Su Yan looked up, only to find that there was a name here.There is a simple plaque on the top of the gate, the handwriting is still new, but it already has a precarious meaning, and the four characters in the letter: Xiashan Academy.

Although the sparrows in Xiashan Academy are small, they have all internal organs. Plum blossoms are planted in the small courtyard, and all their leaves fall in late autumn, leaving only bare branches trembling in the wind.It should be the classroom directly opposite, which is naturally not as good as the learning atmosphere of the Imperial College, the desks and cushions inside are in a mess, and a young man is sitting in front of the door, reading a book there.

Su Yan glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, and saw that what he was reading was neither the Four Books nor the Five Classics, but a Taoist classic.This man is really weird, Su Yan thought.

"May I ask if it's Mr. Xiashan?" Xiao Qichen saluted politely.

That young man looked to be in his twenties, slightly older than Xiao Qiping, but definitely not old enough to be called "Sir".However, he accepted Xiao Qichen's bow graciously, sat upright, and said, "Honored guest?"

Xiao Qichen said: "Don't dare, I came here because of the name, and I beg you sir to clarify your doubts."

Mr. Xiashan got up lazily, looked at Xiao Qichen, and suddenly realized: "You are the young man who wrote poetry with us on Qixia Mountain that day. You ran fast that day, and you haven't had time to ask your name?"

Xiao Qichen said reservedly: "My surname is Xiao, that is... the one in Taicheng, Xiao. When I was young, I had a relationship with my husband once. You tell my brother, if he is a king, you must be an extremely human minister."

After hearing this sentence, Su Yan was stunned, and did not allow him to speak, then Mr. Xiashan took a step back, his calmness just now disappeared, and he said in surprise: "Your Highness Six!?"

Xiao Qichen smiled, showing a bit of youthful vigor: "Mr. Xie, are you here all right?"

After a few times of trial and error, it turned out that they were all acquaintances.Sitting in the tea room, Su Yan listened to Xiao Qichen's enthusiastic introduction: "Ayan, this is the grandson of Prime Minister Xie. His single name is Hui, and his style name is Zhongguang. In order to retreat into the world, he even thought of an alias. His bravery You must have heard about the deeds, right?"

Su Yan tentatively said: "...the one who was famous for his poetic talent when he was young, but later let His Majesty give up the post of Shaofu, the one who ran away from home, Mr. Xie?"

Mr. Xie gave a dry cough, unfolded the landscape painting fan, ignored the cold weather, and pretended to fan it a few times to cover his face, feeling ashamed.

On the other hand, Xiao Qichen added a knife, and said innocently: "I heard that I went to travel around the world, but ended up spending all my money on the road, so I had to go back home. It's impossible for Mr. Xie to watch a joke, so I hid in the south of the city and opened an academy - I said Xie Hui, Mr. Xie has known about your academy since the first day of school. Otherwise, where do you think those children come from? Mr. Xie hired someone to prevent you from being too frustrated and doubting your life. "

He said it with the meaning of "everyone in the world knows, but you are kept in the dark". With one sentence and a knife, he stabbed this noble son who claimed to have lied to the world with bruises all over his body. He was almost powerless, so he took a sip in embarrassment Cha: "His Royal Highness, you have to save a little bit to be a human being. We haven't seen each other for a long time, so you just talk about it. Is it appropriate?"

Xiao Qichen said: "I think it's quite suitable, otherwise you think I'm looking for you to make troubles?"

Xie Hui covered his face and said, "I don't dare to chat with you, Your Highness, no one in Jinling doesn't know that you are His Majesty's favorite now, and His Highness the Crown Prince was favored just as much back then."

Although he was right, the words "Pearl of the Palm" still sound weird.Xiao Qichen smiled, and said: "It's extremely cold at the top, but since I've reached this position, I'm already in a position to ride a tiger. Please help me, Mr. Xiashan."

"Don't..." Xie Hui said, "I swore that I would not meddle in government affairs."

Xiao Qichen said: "He who understands current affairs is a hero."

Xie Hui immediately bounced away a few feet away, and said vigilantly: "Does Your Highness still want to force you into prostitution?"

Hearing this, Su Yan finally understood that Mr. Xie was famous for his literary talents, but his words sounded like he hadn't read the book well, otherwise he was deliberately trying to make people laugh.He immediately coughed twice, hinting to Xiao Qichen that he was not very comfortable.

Xiao Qichen didn't bother to make false claims with this person, and said directly: "Xie Hui, I know that your parents' injustice that day was Xie Gong's righteous extermination, and I also know that you have nothing to say to him after that incident. But he is still your grandfather. The only family member in the world. Now that the Xie family is in decline, even though he has many disciples, it is not as good as you to make him feel at ease."

Xie Hui laughed back angrily, and said: "Is Your Highness here to be the prime minister's lobbyist today? If so, don't say too much, I won't send you off."

Xiao Qichen didn't talk nonsense, stood up, and put the teacup back: "Your parents committed suicide, not abused by officers and soldiers. The Prime Minister has been re-investigating the case these days, and the edict to restore their innocence will be announced in a few days. In the last two days |Everyone in the court is talking about this...you, think about it more. "

He pulled Su Yan's hand, and naturally dragged him out.

After walking out of Xiashan Academy, Su Yan asked: "Is it the unjust case of Mr. Xie?"

In the big case that caused a sensation in Jinling not long ago, Xie Weiqi, the son of Zuo Prime Minister Xie Ke, had an argument with someone on his way home from a banquet.Both sides were not easy to provoke, and after several times they couldn't talk together, they actually moved their hands. In the confusion, someone on the other side was pushed, knocked his head on a stone in the corner, and died immediately.

According to the laws of Nanliang, although it is disgraceful to cause someone's death due to private fighting, it is not a crime beyond death.The strange thing about this matter is that the deceased was actually a close friend of His Highness King Wu.

His Royal Highness King Wu is the younger brother of the current emperor, and he loves his brothers. He cried and howled at his elder brother's place, insisting on convicting Xie Weiqi.The case was transferred from Jinling government office to Ting Wei, and finally Xiao Yan personally tried it.Xie Xiang finally compromised and tried to spare his life, but could only watch helplessly as his son and daughter-in-law were sentenced to exile in Linhai.

The son and daughter-in-law left, and the grandson was also full of hatred for Xie Xiang, and ran away from home not long after.Poor Xie Ke, the veteran of the three dynasties, who assisted several emperors did not see any distress. After this incident, his gray hair was all white.

I thought the case was over, but before reaching Linhai on the way to exile, Xie Weiqi died suddenly and strangely, and his wife also committed suicide with her husband. Before she died, she held Xie Weiqi's blood book in her hand, which was full of grievances.

When this incident became a big issue, the royal family lost all face.The censor took this opportunity to propose a retrial of the case, and found witnesses from both sides that day. After several days of interrogation, he finally found out that Xie Weiqi was not the mastermind in this matter at all, and was even a persuasionist. Snow in June.

Xiao Qichen nodded: "If it were me, I would have been angry for so long. Hey... I know he won't agree. I don't have a single guest at the moment, and I can't talk to court. How can I compare with Brother Yu? I think Father still wants to wait for my joke, for him, this is a farce."

Su Yan: "That's not necessarily the case."

He pointed behind him, Xiao Qichen turned his head to look suspiciously, but saw Xie Hui standing at the gate of the academy, staring at them, frowning in silence.He twitched for a while, and said, "...do you really want to rehabilitate my parents?"

Jinling, Misty Rain Building.

The two conspired here that day, and after showing signs of youthful ambition, they were quickly pushed back.At this moment, there was a third person at the banquet, and there were still a few side dishes, but the tea was replaced by a pot of Xinfeng wine.

Xie Hui picked up the dishes one by one with chopsticks pickily, and said with disgust: "He is a prince after all, and he treats people to dinner like this? Is there a 40-year-old daughter Hong? It's so shabby and wants to bribe me, Your Highness, what do you want?" Isn't it too beautiful?"

Xiao Qichen added a piece of shrimp to Su Yan, without raising his head, he said: "If you like to eat or not, I only have this little money. His Highness Cheng Lan has more than a dozen mouths waiting to eat. The court clothes, regular clothes, and daily expenses are all money. It's hard work." Save a little, and use it to honor the Grand Tutor and please the Emperor. Do you want to eat delicious food? Hurry up and plan for me."

Xie Hui pursed his lips, clinked glasses with Su Yan, and said to him, "Is Your Highness being so stingy to you?"

Su Yan said with a smile: "I don't need him to 'do something'. Thank you, sir. With your help in the future, Ah Chen will eat better. Naturally, I have spare money to go eat, drink, whore and gamble with you."

"My grandfather and I are actually not at odds with each other. It's just that now we are going back and pretending to be my eldest son. I have a bad conscience and I am sorry for my parents." Xie Hui pondered for a moment and said, "His Highness found me, it should be someone who has already found me. You are unwilling to be among tigers and wolves because of your own plot, right?"

Xiao Qichen said frankly: "Associating with tigers and wolves is naturally more ruthless than them."

Xie Hui's eyes immediately became complicated when he saw him.How old is Xiao Qichen? After all, he is a child of the Tian family, and he was not born to be a law-abiding person.

Xiao Qichen saw that there was a difference in his gaze, and said calmly: "This is how the court is. Even if you don't do anything, you will always block the way of others one day. If you want to protect yourself wisely, you must act first when necessary. Even if I don't Would like to fight, but also don't want to die, or end up with... a permanent disability."

There was something in his words, Su Yan frowned, but said: "Is Your Majesty really going to be so cruel to you?"

Xiao Qichen smiled when he heard the words, and poured another glass of wine for Su Yan: "If he really protects and pampers me all the time, I should worry about the sword in his mouth. He clearly knows that the position of prince is a long-term heart disease for King Zhao. Throw me out, I'm afraid... either to become King Zhao, or to...give me a chance."

Either King Zhao quickly solved Xiao Qichen, walked to the peak with the blood of his own flesh and blood, and grew into what the emperor needed step by step; or Xiao Qichen was the one who was more favored, and if he was not forced, how could he show his true nature? ?

Xiao Yan was betting, betting on these two sons, who should sit on the dragon chair after a hundred years.

Although fratricide is ruthless, it has been shown in the deliberate or tactful struggles of successive dynasties that this is a long-term sign.Which strong man didn't step on the bones of others to rise to the top?Once a general succeeds, there are still thousands of bones to die, let alone an emperor?

Seeing Su Yan thoughtful, Xiao Qichen stuffed his cup into his hand, and said: "My father forbids me to drink, you two drink, I will watch."

After getting acquainted in a mysterious way, after a tense confrontation, after letting go of their knots, Su Yan and Xie Hui relaxed a lot from each other.If you really want to chat in detail, the two of them still have a lot to talk about.

After drinking for three rounds, Su Yan quickly became slightly tipsy.He thought he could drink enough, but he didn't drink it seriously. In addition, Xie Hui had been in the lower class for a long time, and he was almost refined. Soon, Su Yan's cheeks were flushed, and his eyes became blurred.He stared at Xiao Qichen, stopped talking several times, held back for a while, and said: "...I'm a little dizzy."

Xiao Qichen said with a smile: "Then don't be brave—"

Before the words were finished, the box door suddenly opened from the outside.The three of them were all taken aback. Su Yan was mostly sober from the wine. He saw the person coming, but he knew him. He frowned suspiciously: "Brother Han Guangda?"

Han Guang glanced at the messy food and drink at the table, and seemed very dissatisfied with them being "drunk and dreaming" here, walked over and rubbed Su Yan's head fiercely, before he could get angry, he turned his head and said to Xiao Qichen, "It's been found out."

The gentle and rural atmosphere suddenly condensed, Xiao Qichen sat up straight suddenly, and said seriously: "Who is it?"

Han Guang: "...His Royal Highness King Zhao."