Born short-lived

Three days before the palace banquet began, the papers about the emperor's empress and concubine were handed out to Xuanning Pavilion like snowflakes. Ready to make books and treasures.

Dong Sheng had never accepted a crown princess before inheriting the throne. If he really wants to become a queen, it must be a mighty wedding ceremony. According to the previous rules, there must be at least tens of thousands of snowflakes. It is self-evident how much oil and water can be fished in the scene.

Therefore, those who are looking forward to Dongsheng's succession are not only those who have noble daughters in their families who want to become relatives of the emperor, but also those who want to take advantage of the opportunity, especially the old guys in the Ministry of Rites, who caught Toad Can squeeze urine out.So ever since the first letter was submitted to advocate the establishment of the establishment, the civil and military officials were as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, and the papers had not been broken.

Hei Ling has no heirs, but it doesn't mean that Hei Ling has few desires, there must be a few people to accompany the emperor.

But their majesty is "pure-minded and ascetic". It seems that Liu Gen can't wait to be cleaner than a monk. No matter how beautiful a woman is in front of him, he will send them all away. Relying on the ancestor's ancestral motto "Hei Ling has no wife", being a bachelor can also be justified.

However, the important ministers did not give up lightly, and there was a tendency of not giving up. There were still endless small red-bottomed books, and Dong Sheng was annoyed. When it was sent to the cabinet, Qiu Cangyang was one head and two big, and the little red booklets on the table were almost piled up into piles of hills. His "foolish old man" "removed" the "mountain" the first day, and the next day Being able to "make a comeback" early in the morning, Qiu Cangyang was so angry that he wished he could vomit three catties of blood, and he didn't know whether he was now the chief assistant of the cabinet or the emperor's servant.

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but at the time when the "controversy for the empress" was in full swing, Zhou Zirong, king of Beizhao in the East China Sea, entered the palace ahead of schedule.

The two rarely see each other a few times a year. Zhou Zirong thinks about it day and night in the East China Sea. As soon as he entered Beijing, he heard the gossip that the emperor was about to set up a queen and accept a concubine.

Some people thought that he was also here to join in the fun, knowing that he had a deep personal relationship with the emperor, and even personally brought gifts to his palace in the capital, begging him to persuade the emperor, so that the emperor would soon establish a queen and accept a concubine.

King Bei Zhao smiled without saying a word.What's more, in front of Zhou Zirong, Dong Sheng presented Dong Sheng with a "Illustrated Book of Noble Girls", and Dong Sheng's face froze on the spot.

King Bei Zhao still smiled without saying a word.

At the palace banquet on New Year's Eve in the evening, the emperor disappeared before the third round of drinking.

Zhou Zirong watched him drink a whole jug of wine, whispered a few words to the palace man beside him, and then got up and left. At first, Zhou Zirong thought he was going out to find convenience, but he didn't come back after he went, and soon a eunuch came to call It was said that the emperor had already rested first—but his expression was quite clear, not as if he was drunk.

"Your Majesty is leaving the table now?" Luo Chi, who was beside Zhou Zirong, asked strangely, he was still chewing on the crystal pork knuckle, and rubbed Zhou Zirong's arm meddlingly, "Your Majesty, why don't you wait?" What now?"

Every year after the palace banquet on New Year’s Eve, the emperor would bring a few confidants to the Xuanning Pavilion to discuss some trivial matters for the next year—it was said to be a discussion, but it was actually just a formality. .

After all, who the emperor brings to Xuanning Pavilion is the most important thing, and then discuss it symbolically, everyone can leave after congratulating the emperor, and if there are any special important matters to report, they can stay until the end— — This is also Zhou Zirong's plan, the only chance to be alone with Dong Sheng on New Year's Eve.

Zhou Zirong: "..."

If Dong Sheng was unwell, he would definitely find someone to tell him that he left the banquet for no reason, and he had no intention of coming back at all...

Why did he feel that Dong Sheng was deliberately avoiding him.

When the palace banquet was the busiest, Zhou Zirong's eyes kept wandering around the emperor's throne, but he never saw that person.

The first batch of fireworks on the Wuyou River outside the palace had already exploded into the sky, there was a crackling sound outside the palace gate, and colorful lights shone in the night sky.

Holding the wine cup, Zhuo Yiming stood up and toasted all the officials: "Northern Xinjiang Zhuo family hereby wish you all the best in the coming year, whether I, Hua Xu, will be happy, and the world will be peaceful!"

"Han Jin from Xuantian Pavilion, I wish the country and the people peace and prosperity."

"Qiu, on this New Year's Eve, wish me Huaxu a wealth of talents and prosperity for the country!"

"Southern Xinjiang Luo Geng, wish me prosperity and peace!"

"Xijiang Zhuo clan, wish me Huaxu peace inside and outside, with one heart and one heart!"

……

Soon, it was Zhou Zirong's turn to drink. He was still thinking about Dong Sheng just now, but he was caught off guard. In a blink of an eye, he found that everyone was looking at him in unison. The trance on his face was fleeting, and he quickly hung up again. With that dainty smile on her face, she stood up and said the toast that she had prepared a long time ago: "Donghai Zhou, on this festive occasion, I wish you all a new look in the coming year, safe and peaceful, I wish Huaxu River Qinghaiyan, and come to court everywhere! "

As he spoke, he raised his head, and the liquor flowed down his throat. He showed the bottom of his empty glass to the surroundings, and sat down slowly amidst the booing of the crowd. At this time, someone poked his waist quietly. .

A man dressed as a servant knelt behind him, looked up at him expressionlessly, with an ink mark between his brows, and whispered in an unceremonious tone: "That kid sneaked out of the palace. I'll take you to find him."

Luo Chi on the side didn't react, and said in shock: "Where is the servant, so ignorant of the rules..."

Zhou Zirong pinched the back of his hand and held back the second half of his words. Luo Chi hugged his hand that had been twisted into a braised pig's trotter. The pain was so painful that tears were about to come out. : "My lord...?"

Zhou Zirong said helplessly: "This is the past life, don't say anything."

Luo Chi was taken aback, and looked at the "insider" in disbelief. Although his appearance was different, his expression and tone were indeed past lives, and the ink seal between his eyebrows was unmistakable—the past life has thousands of faces, but it's just a change. It's just for convenience.

Zhou Zirong didn't understand what kind of medicine the master and servant were selling in the gourd: "What is he going out of the palace to do during the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet?"

There was no time to explain to him in the past life, so he urged impatiently: "You will know when the time comes, hurry up, he will talk about it later."

Although Zhou Zirong was at a loss, but after imagining the consequences of pissing off Dong Sheng a little bit, he felt that those who know current affairs are the best.

He turned his head and glanced at the palace banquet, and taking advantage of the round of toasting just finished, he patted Luo Chi on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "I'll leave it to you." Then he got up and greeted the eunuch , took the past life and left from the side door.

Luo Chi had no room to refute, looking at the table of food and the courtiers who were quietly watching him, he wanted to cry.

The night outside the palace city is very lively, the whole city is decorated with lights and festoons, making the city of Huajing look like daytime.The first round of fireworks has just been let off, and now it is the gap, the night sky is as quiet as a cold pool, kind of clear after being washed by heavy snow, the new moon hangs in the sky like a small silver hook, set off by the lights all over the city There is a little color.

People on New Year’s Eve don’t seem to need to sleep. The streets are full of traffic and people come and go. Some lanterns that were only hung during the Lantern Festival have been hung up early at this moment. Or festive tones came from all the bars——this city seems to have exhausted all its means to re-support a prosperous scene after years of turmoil and war, and everyone is waiting for the past. The misery gradually faded away, and we tried our best to create a festive atmosphere in the New Year's Eve.

The past life led him to ride a horse through the vast sea of ​​people, all the way to the Wuyou River.

Wuyou River almost spans east and west of Huaxu. The bustling Bangjiang Street is always the most lively. ", people put river lanterns into the water, and by the way, pray for good luck on this day.

The riverside is full of people who put up lanterns, and countless lotus river lanterns made of paper float along the river to the east. Stacks of bright yellow waves.

Zhou Zirong rode a horse and slowly moved step by step among the crowd of people by the river, remembering that when Zhou Haiping and Marshal Zeng were still alive, he and Dong Sheng would also sneak out on New Year's Eve to "catch the lantern tide" , As a result, each received a training meal the next morning.

Now when I think about it at first glance, it seems like what happened yesterday, and there is an indescribable intimacy—but only when I slowly touch it will I find that it has already been turned upside down, as if it has been a lifetime.

"Here we are," Xiang Sheng, who was walking in front, reined in his horse, "It's the boat ahead, you just go directly."

Zhou Zirong looked forward in the direction of his fingers, and there was a painting boat moored by the river not far away. It was bright, and the carved patterns on the window and the dark lines of the window paper made the blurred figure on the window a bit bizarre, shaking slightly with the light.

The people on the boat seemed to have seen them, the exquisite painting boat floated in the river with lights, slowly pushed aside a piece of river lights in front of them, and rowed towards them leisurely.

Zhou Zirong stared intently at the figure in the window.

The bow of the boat gently touched the shore, a slender and well-articulated hand stretched out from the heavy curtain, pushed aside the layer of silk cloth, and only poked its head out to look at the two of them: "Get on the boat, go to rebirth, if you want Don't want to be together?"

Xiangsheng hurriedly raised his hand to refuse: "No, no, I won't bother you, I'll take a step first."

He really didn't intend to stay at all. After finishing speaking, he pulled the rein of the horse and turned his head. When he passed by Zhou Zirong, he still looked at him with a heavy and far-reaching gaze, and solemnly raised his hand to pat him. Pat him on the shoulder: "Farewell."

Zhou Zirong watched him leave dumbfounded, then got off his horse and tied the horse to a wooden stake beside him: "Why do you run out without saying hello? Do you still treat yourself as a little prince? You are now..."

Dong Sheng rolled his eyes: "Okay, stop nagging, hurry up and get on the boat, aren't you cold?"

Zhou Zirong stepped on the swaying prow cat waist and drilled in, raised his left arm and put it around Dong Sheng's neck by the door curtain, and kissed Dong Sheng's cheek gently at the moment the curtain fell back. After taking a sip, he smacked his tongue after the kiss: "You warm my stomach so much, but I'm not cold."

Dong Sheng said: "There are more stomach-warming dishes here, but I have to ask the little prince to help me."

He pointed to a small stove behind him. There was a small pot on the stove, and something incredible was cooking in it. Black smoke was coming out of the air hole of the pot lid, and the bottom of the pot was crackling from time to time. ring.

"What is this..." Zhou Zirong leaned forward and sniffed, and found that the human sense of smell cannot distinguish this kind of fetish, so he carefully opened the lid of the pot, "Dou...red bean soup?"

Dong Sheng was very dissatisfied with Zhou Zirong's suspicious and uncertain attitude: "Yeah, otherwise, please help me to find out what's going on with these broken beans. They still look like stones after being stewed for a long time."

Zhou Zirong turned his head and looked at him strangely, and asked with a smile or not: "Could it be that... you just poured the beans and simmered them over high heat without boiling the water?"

Dong Sheng didn't understand, so: "Otherwise, how should I cook it?"

The co-author His Majesty the Emperor probably scooped up a pot of spring water and stewed it.

Zhou Zirong, dumbfounded, hurriedly asked the ancestor to sit down, lowered the fire, and put the lid on again: "Why do you suddenly think of doing this?"

Dong Sheng was stunned for a while, leaning against the window wrapped in a big cloak, watching him busy with leisure: "I'm bored in the palace, why don't I come out and play wild?"

Zhou Zirong fanned the fire and nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, of course, thank you, Your Majesty, for coming out and thinking about my minister."

Dong Sheng smiled, bent down and took out the altar of wine from under the table and sat beside Zhou Zirong: "No, you don't have enough for your favorite Donghai Pear Blossom Brew."

Zhou Zirong stopped what he was doing and looked at him in surprise.

What's the situation today?Treated so well?

Dong Sheng clicked his tongue: "Don't look flattered, what's the point, don't I usually treat you badly?"

"Okay, well, of course, Your Majesty treats me the best, and I am loved by thousands of people," Zhou Zirong waved the fan happily again, "By the way, has the sugar been added?"

Only then did Dong Sheng remember, and quickly took out a small cloth bag from his bosom: "Well, I forgot just now...you can just taste it according to your own taste, it's too sweet and I can't drink it all by myself."

Zhou Zirong grunted, and added the familiar amount to the pot with ease, stirred it with a spoon, covered it and continued to simmer.

Dong Sheng had already poured the wine, and handed one of the glasses to him.After more than half a year of recuperation, Zhou Zirong's right arm can still only do simple actions such as holding a cup and putting on clothes. He can't use a knife anymore, and he has to weigh things when he lifts them.

Zhou Zirong took a sip: "Well, this tastes good."

Dong Sheng clinked glasses with him, and took a small sip: "Although the lights in Huajing City are not as spectacular as the East China Sea, they are quite beautiful... and this is Gyeonggi after all, and everything is very prosperous, so don't worry about it." gotta play."

There are painted boats floating in the tide of lights everywhere on the river, and from time to time, the singing of singing girls and the sound of piano echo leisurely on the water.

Dong Sheng pushed open the window, and the cool wind came in: "If you want to see the East China Sea, come here for a cruise on the upper reaches of the river."

Zhou Zirong didn't understand what Dong Sheng meant when he suddenly said these things to him, and thought he was missing Donghai's home: "If you miss Donghai, why don't you go back and visit every now and then?"

"It's so idle, running around all day long," Dong Sheng smiled and shook his head, "After staying in the capital for a long time, I gradually got used to it, but I'm very bored just because you're not here all the time."

When Zhou Zirong heard this, he vaguely understood what he was going to say, slowly put down the wine glass in his hand, and looked up at him steadily.

Dong Sheng was leaning against the window, with Jiang Ye's light reflecting on half of his face, he looked at Zhou Zirong with gleam in his eyes, and said slowly, "This imperial city imperial guard... A good leader is missing."

The soup in the pot was gurgling, and the two were relatively silent for a moment.

One of them is in the capital, the other is in the East China Sea, separated by hundreds of thousands of miles, and they are not idlers, sometimes they rarely see each other a few times a year.

Seeing that Zhou Zirong didn't answer for a long time, Dong Sheng coughed lightly, and jokingly said: "If you think you are inferior, it's fine, but unfortunately I can't make you queen, lest those old men want to attack my harem all day long."

"But don't worry, you can't be the queen, and no one can be."

Zhou Zirong was completely enlightened when he heard this.

It turned out that it was caused by the "controversy between Li and Empress" during this period. Dong Sheng was afraid that he would be spoiled and would not be able to live in the East China Sea, so he planned to "once and for all" - all of this tonight was ultimately caused by Dong Sheng. "Show affection".

Although Zhou Zirong did have some taste.

It's not that Donghai can't do without Zhou Zirong now, with Yuan Li and Luo Chi around, he will be informed at any time if there is any abnormality.

As Dong Sheng said, there is nothing wrong with staying in the capital to accompany him.

There was a scream outside the window, followed by an explosion, a flash of light, and the "flowers" of fire blooming--Wuyoujiang's second batch of fireworks began to be set off.

One after another, fireworks flew into the sky, exploding the sky full of fiery trees and silver flowers, and the stream of light fell slowly, almost falling on the "river of light" from a distance.

Zhou Zirong poured himself another cup of pear blossom wine, then reached out to fill up Dong Sheng's cup, lifted the cup and touched him: "I listen to you."

"Bang" - streamers all over the sky.

That night, neither of them had a sip of the sweet red bean soup from the time it was cooked until it was boiled and then let it cool down.

The next day, His Majesty the Emperor woke up late without any suspense - he found out that he had thought that Zhou Zirong had a little taste, but he didn't expect Zhou Zirong to drink a whole tank of vinegar in silence.

Therefore, when someone in the court again brought up the matter of setting up a concubine without knowing what to do, Dong Sheng slapped the table unbearably, but the movement was too big, causing a sore lower back, reminding him again of yesterday's unbearable night on the river .

Dong Sheng said angrily, anyway, now that New Year's Eve is over, he is not afraid of any auspicious or unlucky things. If anyone is not full from the palace banquet, and dares to mention the matter of being a concubine, they will all be dragged out to eat the board!

King Bei Zhao stood aside silently, smiling without saying a word.Since then, no one has mentioned the matter of "establishing a queen and taking a concubine"—although the queen is hopeless, but Hua Xu's imperial guards are about to usher in a good leader.