long friend

"What one-eyed dragon?" Su Yan asked without knowing why.

Xie Hui took the handkerchief handed over by the butler and wiped his face scribbled. He managed to catch his breath, wishing he could open a few more mouths to explain the ins and outs clearly, or let Su Yan and Xiao Qichen drill into his mind to see for himself , but also save the organization language.

Xiao Qichen thought for a while, and said: "There is a thug in his house who is indeed one-eyed. I met him once when I went to Zhao Wangshi's birthday banquet last time. This man looks too vicious. I heard that it is Zhao Wang from Invited from the rivers and lakes."

Xie Hui hurriedly nodded and said: "His Royal Highness Zhao Wang must follow closely when he travels. Before that, Zhao Wang visited my grandfather frequently, so I have seen it many times. I saw them abducting the woman in that tavern today, and I immediately remembered it. ——The woman might have sneaked out and been caught back.”

"My brother, the emperor, has no habit of snatching women from the people, and I have never been too precious to things other than the throne. This time I am so nervous..." Xiao Qichen thought about it, and suddenly smiled inexplicably, "It seems This woman knows his secret."

Xie Hui asked with interest: "Which aspect?"

Then he met Su Yan and Xiao Qichen who looked at him with identical eyes, and kept his mouth shut knowingly.

Su Yan said: "If this woman is locked up by him, how can we pry the words out of her mouth? Whether we can get in touch is a problem."

"You don't have to worry about this. The royal father just assigned me two hidden guards. I can leave this matter to them to investigate. My only concern is that the hidden guards are loyal to the royal father. They dare not refuse my small actions, but will they report to the father? Your Majesty." Xiao Qichen said worriedly, "If that woman knows...it happens to be what we are investigating, then I am afraid that my father will not know. But if it is not 'that matter', my father may suspect that I am forming a party for personal gain and framing my brother. .”

Su Yan pressed his hand, squeezed it lightly, and said in a calm voice, "Gamble."

Xiao Qichen looked at him for a long time, trying to see other emotions from those eyes, but Su Yan looked directly at him and responded firmly, without any doubt or wavering in his eyes.He let go of Su Yan's hand, sighed, raised his eyes to glance at the eaves of the Pingyuanhou Mansion, and thought, "Whatever, I have nothing to lose anyway."

Biting his lower lip, Xiao Qichen said: "Then... that's it."

At dusk, it rained for a long time, but now I finally have the intention to stop it.The yellow leaves of the sycamore tree fell all over the street, and when Xiao Qichen walked out, the carriage outside Hou's mansion was waiting for him.

He sat up, opened the curtain again, saw the strange guard next to him, and asked, "What's your name?"

"His Royal Highness can call you a low-ranking Tianhui."

Xiao Qichen smiled: "You are named after 36 Tiangang?"

Tianhui said: "Your Highness's eyes are like torches."

Xiao Qichen said: "His Royal Highness Zhao's backyard caught fire recently, and a concubine ran away. I think that girl has other secrets. If it's convenient for you, I can ask your brother. I don't care if I tell my father, but It might be a bit embarrassing for him to know that the eldest son of the emperor can't even control his own wives and concubines."

The secret guard is good at skills and able to protect the most noble person in the whole country, so he must not be too stupid.Tian Hui was called by Xiao Yan to protect Xiao Qichen. Naturally, she was not waiting for nothing. Hearing this, he nodded and said: "Your Highness can just hand over to the humble officer, and the humble brother Tianyou will continue to protect His Highness. How long does Your Highness want the humble officer to finish?"

"The sooner the better, I'm also worried that Brother Huang will kill someone to silence him." After Xiao Qichen finished speaking, he lowered the curtain.

He closed his eyes slightly, rested in the car, his mind was running non-stop, he just felt that these tricks were really exhausting, and if he wanted to be with them for a lifetime, he might be bored to death before being exhausted.

The sky after the rain was brighter than before, and he smelled a faint scent of sweet-scented osmanthus at the tip of his nose.

"It should be the last batch of sweet-scented osmanthus this year." Xiao Qichen thought so, heard the sound of horseshoes, and opened the curtain after walking a short distance, Tianhui had already left quietly.

The next day at the court meeting, the little poor Sixth Highness appeared in the Tai Chi Hall with a terrified face. All the ministers were also masters of current affairs and knew how to read His Majesty's face.Hearing that His Majesty went to visit Chenglan Hall in person yesterday, they immediately surrounded him, and Xiao Qichen's brain ached when you asked me what you said.

Before the court meeting even started, he already regretted coming.

Xiao Yan was very out of shape that day, listening to a sentence, he would lose his mind several times on average. Everyone noticed his abnormality, but he didn't dare to ask.There was no major event recently, and everyone had a hasty quarrel and then they all broke up happily.Xiao Qichen didn't leave, he stood where he was, and when the ministers had left, he asked:

"Father, is there something on your mind?"

Xiao Yan seemed to be pulled back to reality suddenly from a fugue, and his whole body was shocked. Seeing that Xiao Qichen was still there, probably yesterday, the closeness between father and son had not dissipated, so he patted the dragon chair beside him for the first time: "Chen'er, come here Sit with me for a while."

Xiao Qichen hesitated for a moment, not daring to be negligent, but he didn't dare to sit down after going up, he just stood aside, silently stretching out his hand to tidy up the four treasures of the study for Xiao Yan, which meant "I'll listen to what you say".

"I'm getting old..." Xiao Yan said without a word, "Last night there was a report in Chang'an that Ran Qiu died at the hands of some Jianghu people. People I knew well left Jinling one by one, and one by one Died. Except for Xie Ling, there is no one left who played with him back then. Xie Ling has not been contacted for several years, maybe he is not alive, I just don't know?"

Listening to these strange names, Xiao Qichen asked cautiously: "Father, who is that?"

"It's an old minister, but also an old friend." Xiao Yan said, "I also met when I was the prince. They are the guards of the father, and they are young. They encourage me to do things... that are against etiquette. The flowers in the lotus pond, my relationship with them is a bit like you and Su Yan. After the death of the emperor brother, I became the emperor in a daze, and reunited with them in a daze. Later, Xie Xiang and Sikong suggested that Chang'an In the old capital, I want to keep an eyeliner, so Ran Qiu went. He is younger than me and has a hot-blooded personality, so he is not suitable to stay in the court."

"Then Xie... Where is Xie Ling? Are he and Xiang Xie relatives?" Xiao Qichen listened to these things with great interest, and for a moment felt that his father seemed to be just an ordinary person.

Xiao Yan sighed: "Xie Ling was the former emperor's companion. Because he was naturally suitable for martial arts training, he was chosen by the former commander to join the dark guard, and finally took over the mantle. He is indeed related to Xie Xiang. He is my A nail embedded in the rivers and lakes, and the last time we contacted, he said in a letter that his health was not as good as before, and told me not to worry about it."

Xiao Qichen's questions came one after another: "Why does the emperor take care of Jianghu's affairs?"

"Chen'er forgot," Xiao Yan was amused by his question, "How did my ancestors raise troops? The rivers and lakes were reckless, and later he was promoted to the governor of the local garrison, and he rose up. The rivers and lakes...the water is too deep, so we have to guard against it."

Xiao Qichen nodded half-understood, he didn't quite understand the middle joints, but after hearing Xiao Yan's analogy, he immediately empathized and felt that those old friends were really important.

Father and son looked at each other silently for a while, Xiao Yan suddenly let out a long sigh, and said sadly: "Ran Qiu is gone... gone..."

Xiao Qichen persuaded: "...Master Ran died for the country, father and emperor mourn."

Xiao Yan smiled at him in relief, and then said: "You are right—come here."

A shadow suddenly flashed out from the corridor, dressed in ordinary guard clothes, with a tall and straight figure, it was not easy to look at.Xiao Yan didn't even look at him, and said directly: "Your vice-commander has gone, and you have to choose a successor. In addition, send a message to Liu Wenyuan, asking him to go to Chang'an himself to settle down Ran Qiu's family."

The secret guard said: "Your Majesty, do you need to inform Commander Xie?"

Xiao Yan thought for a moment, then lowered his eyelids, as if acquiescing.So the man nodded slightly, and quietly disappeared again.

Xiao Qichen witnessed the dark guard's ability to come and go without a trace for the first time, and he was already very shocked. The name "Liu Wenyuan" mentioned just now, since he is a member of the dark guard but not called by his code name, must be the current commander.But he didn't show this kind of emotion, he buried his head and held a pen, and still remained silent.

Xiao Yan didn't talk to him anymore, as if these worries had exhausted his dignity as an emperor.After simply telling Xiao Qichen to pay attention to his body, Xiao Yan got up and went back to the west hall to rest.There was no one else in the Taiji Hall, Xiao Qichen stood there blankly, his position was extremely high, and he could look down on the courtiers.

It was quiet all around, and there was no one there, and the carpet was spread all the way to the outside of the hall.The white marble steps shine brightly in the sun. Although there is only one palace in the distance, you can vaguely see a corner of the three thousand miles of mountains and rivers.

Then Xiao Qichen carefully sat on the edge of the dragon chair, his heartbeat accelerated for unknown reasons, and the place where his fingers touched seemed to have a gust of cold air.He only sat down for a while, then stood up quickly, this feeling made him fearful and yearning——

Thousands of miles away, alone.

Three days later, as night fell, Xiao Qichen sent a message to Su Yan, asking him to enter the palace.Su Yan was a foreign minister and could not enter Taicheng without an edict, but Xiao Qichen thought of a way to personally find Zhou Hongpu who brought people to support him when he was assassinated that day.

He met Su Yan and was very happy to open the back door. He was really a stunned young man.Su Yan changed into commoner clothes, and was let in just like that, and then the green clothes led him all the way, avoiding the night watch guards, and sneaked into the Chenglan Hall.

Su Yan's full of doubts were resolved as soon as he stepped into Xiao Qichen's bedroom. He saw a person standing in the hall, with night clothes still on, and a woman sitting beside her, her face covered with tears.Even if Su Yan didn't know the name and appearance of King Zhao's concubine, he immediately understood it.

Xiao Qichen poured a cup of tea for the woman, and said kindly: "In terms of seniority, I want to call you sister-in-law, but the emperor's brother has never been married, so I have saved the etiquette. What do you call the girl?"

Not only did the woman not stop trembling after being told by him, but she trembled even more, and said in a trembling voice: "My...my name is Qiuxi."

"Miss Qiu." Xiao Qichen repeated amiably, then nodded, as if just confirming with himself, he said, "Don't be afraid here, I just ask you a few things, and you can leave when you're done."

Su Yan sat beside him, not knowing what kind of medicine Xiao Qichen sold in the gourd.Marquis Pingyuan has no way to teach his children, he has never been taught "men and women can't get along with each other" since he was a child, and now he is staring straight at Qiuxi, staring at her so hard that he doesn't know how to put his hands and feet, as if this place is not a decoration The exquisite Chenglan Palace is a heavenly prison.

With the warm spring breeze on one side and the icy winter on the other, Qiuxi just felt that the time passed was very difficult.

When she finished answering Xiao Qichen's questions tremblingly, Su Yan suddenly said, "I've felt it since just now, this Miss Qiuxi really looks like Wan Qing who is beside His Highness."

The smile hanging on the corner of Xiao Qichen's mouth gradually disappeared after hearing this, but his serious expression made people frightened instead, he was clearly still a teenager.He looked at the woman in front of him carefully, and scrutinized her eyebrows and eyes with a serious look, picky and serious, and finally backed away a little, nodded and said: "It's very similar, girl, do you have a girl?"

Qiu Xi's knees were so weak, if she hadn't been sitting on the stool, she would be able to kneel down at this moment: "...Yes, there is a girl."

Xiao Qichen immediately exposed her lies about "feelings are not good, King Zhao hits people": "So you were not beaten by the emperor at all, this girl is serving the prince... King Chu?"

Qiu Xi suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Xiao Qichen: "Your Highness! Your Highness, I know I'm wrong, I shouldn't have kept it from you!"

Xiao Qichen and Su Yan looked at each other, and Su Yan consciously said: "Then tell me, what happened when you were arrested from the tavern that day? What did you know about His Royal Highness Zhao Wang? Seize this opportunity , you say it, maybe you can go to any country to live an ordinary life incognito from now on, otherwise you will be sent back to Zhao Wang's mansion, that is really a dead end-I guess Zhao Wang should not leave waste people."

His tone was unhurried, deliberately protracted, it sounded like a knife, and every sentence was stabbed at the most vulnerable place in his heart.Every time Su Yan said a word, Qiu Xi buried her head even lower, and when Su Yan finished speaking slowly and began to drink tea, the other party let out a low sob, which was finally true.

After she finished speaking, the surroundings fell into silence, and even Tian Hui, who stayed out of the matter, was shocked.

Qiuxi is her real name, and she also has a younger sister named Qiuqing. The two lost their parents when they were young, and grew up alone in a slum alley. They had to show their faces and opened a small tea stall outside.The two sisters have pretty looks, but hooligans harass the tea stall from time to time and even touch them.

Cardamom Nianhua, naturally couldn't bear such humiliation. One day, Qiuxi saw her sister being entangled, and she couldn't help but was about to rush up, but saw a rich boy from across the street, and easily dismissed those ruffians.

The man who looked like a young master smiled at them and said: "From now on, go to my mansion and find a job for your sisters, so as not to be humiliated by those scum for no reason."

Later when they arrived at the place, they realized that the man was Xiao Qiyu, the eldest son of the current emperor.At that time Xiao Qiyu hadn't been crowned king yet, and was still young, but he was already wandering around Jinling City from time to time.He looks like Concubine Li Gui and Xiao Yan, Zhou Zheng who is one in a million, has his own bearing.

Xiao Qiyu was polite to others, not glib at all, he didn't regard them as servants in his words, but took care of them everywhere.After a long time, Qiuxi regards him as a benefactor, knowing that she is not good enough for him, she is still secretly in love with him.

Xiao Qiyu has a separate courtyard outside the palace for him to meet courtiers secretly, and the two sisters, Qiuxi and Qiuqing, work here.After they stayed for a while, Xiao Qiyu said that the palace was looking for a girl, and Qiuqing was pretty but unobtrusive, and clever, so Xiao Qiyu decided to change Qiuqing's name to Wanqing, and sent her to the palace to find a job.

It was not until a long time later that Qiu Xi got the news that Wan Qing had been placed|into the East Palace to serve the Crown Prince Xiao Qiping who had just been conferred the crown prince.She didn't know what strategy Xiao Qiyu heard in private, and how he discussed it with Wan Qing, but she just did her own thing day after day, and didn't expect to be able to fly to the branches one day.

Xiao Qiyu came to the other courtyard the night before he was crowned king, first drank, and then had a lucky encounter with Qiuxi without warning.Afterwards he left, leaving Qiuxi alone in the room, waiting for a few days for the news of her wedding.

After Zhao Wang's mansion was completed, Qiu Xi was carried into the backyard by a small sedan chair and became Xiao Qiyu's concubine.

She finally had the opportunity to meet Wan Qing, but she heard shocking news from the other party, knowing that she was just Xiao Qiyu's tool to contain Wan Qing, how could she ever be half sincere?

"...the prince, he got the wooden Guanyin, and after telling the concubine, the concubine asked the concubine to give it to Mrs. Yin on purpose...At that time, His Highness the crown prince's 15th birthday is coming soon. He will quickly dedicate it to His Highness. Then Ruiqi...Ruiqi is also one of them. He was planned to take the scapegoat early in the morning. His Highness likes him and trusts him. If he learns of his betrayal, he will completely collapse... Wan Qing, Wan Qing, whenever His Highness fell asleep at night, she would quietly light the red sandalwood incense, and when His Highness woke up, she said it was for sleep aid, His Highness would not blame..."

Xiao Qichen put the teacup in his hand on the table and made a crisp sound, which stopped Qiuxi from sobbing.

He said indifferently: "Ruiqi just had an accident to silence, and Wanqing was the one who did it. So that's why at first brother Ping could still see a shadow, but later he was completely blind? After that, Wanqing intentionally killed brother Ping The poison that confuses the eyes and ears is put in the food, just to make everyone think that brother Ping's blindness comes from the mouth, so the imperial doctor will not even check that wooden Guanyin!"

Qiuxi said nothing, just lowered her head and kept crying.

Su Yan thought tremblingly: "When did this plan start... Maybe Xiao Qiyu didn't think about it at the beginning, but Wan Qing was really trusted, so he took the risk..."

He thought about it, but Qiuxi said intermittently: "Nu's younger sister is different from Nu, she...she can't help herself, she told Nu that she can't help herself, otherwise the prince will... let her see you again in this life." I'm no longer a slave..."

Xiao Qichen asked: "What you said is true? Do you know that once this testimony is put in front of the father, your sister will poison the prince, which is an unforgivable crime?"

Qiu Xi desperately shook her head and said: "She must have been coerced!...She often said that His Royal Highness is a good master, I really don't know...she is afraid of being silenced by the prince!"

Su Yan said: "Isn't this putting you in danger too? I think she knows that you love His Royal Highness Zhao Wang, and she is sure that you will not betray her, so she let you share her sins with confidence. Who would have thought that you would actually want to run away after knowing the truth—speaking of it, Ah Chen, on the day you were assassinated, did Wan Qing find out about your whereabouts?"

Xiao Qichen immediately asked: "Does King Zhao have an assassin privately?"

This time it was Tianhui who answered: "Your Highness, there are many people from the Jianghu who live in Prince Zhao's mansion, and those who chased and killed you that day should be two people from the insignificant sect. Tianyou has followed day and night, and only waits for your voice." Order to arrest him and bring him to justice."

"No, the time hasn't come yet." Xiao Qichen thought for a while and asked Tianhui, "Did you write down what she said just now?"

"Humble positions are all written down."

Xiao Qichen thought for a while, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "That's very good. In the morning, please ask Miss Qiu to take this confession to the Tingwei? Tianhui will accompany you, don't be afraid."

The author has something to say: Master’s part is a foreshadowing in Beifengli, everyone’s surname is Xie, and they are a family (covering face and crying.