bluestone

In fact, on the first night when Han Tuo was away, Qing Ming felt something was wrong and was not used to it.

The person who usually sat next to him was gone.

Occasionally, he suddenly remembered something, and was about to turn his head to discuss with the people around him, but found that there was no one there. At this time, Qing Ming always looked at the empty space beside him in a daze, and then came back to his senses, feeling a burst of regret in his heart.

Remind yourself over and over for the last time that someone is not there.

On the second night when Han Tuo was away, Qing Ming subconsciously opened the drawer and played with the bluestone in his hands. Of course, every time he realized what he was doing, he felt regret again.

On the third night, as before, Qingming moved a chair and put it next to his seat. As soon as he sat down, he felt something was wrong, so he took out the bluestone from the drawer and put it on the empty chair, and sat down contentedly. , and finally showed a gentle smile.

Zigui, who happened to pass by the door, sighed silently when he saw this scene from outside the door.

On the fourth day, Qingming didn't stay in the Prince's Hall after dinner, because he felt that the Prince's Hall was too spacious, so he planned to talk to Zigui.

He came to the door of Zigui's room and knocked on the door, but there was no one.

"Huh? It's almost dark, why isn't Senior Brother here?" Qing Ming was a little puzzled.

It happened that a little court lady passed by, Qingming called to stop her.

"Where did the guard commander go?"

"Go back to His Royal Highness, the Commander is going to help prepare the enthronement banquet in January."

"Help? Who arranged for him to go?"

"The slave does not know."

"Okay, go down." Qing Ming waved his hand.

The maid blessed her body and withdrew.

Qingming left the Prince's Hall and went to the side hall of the Chengqian Hall.

According to the etiquette system, on the day of the new emperor's ascension to the throne, he will have a grand banquet in the Chengqian Palace in the evening. The side hall of the hall is used for color show practice.

The palace will send corresponding guards to manage order and maintain the safety of the palace, but it seems that there is no need for the commander of the guards to do it himself. Besides, as Zigui, except for his and Emperor Wu's orders, no one else can listen to him. From this point of view, No one should have arranged for him to help unless he took the initiative to go there.

side hall of Chengqian Palace

When Qing Ming arrived, the color show hadn't ended yet, so he didn't go in, but just stood on the sidelines in a corner outside the hall.

As soon as the dance was over, the young girl who led the dance put on a coat, and trotted to Zigui who was standing aside, Zigui smiled at her gently.

The girl who led the dance danced a song, she was still sweating, but she was smiling happily, her eyebrows and eyes were full of delicate and soft makeup decorated with smiles.

Zigui took out a piece of clean silk cloth and handed it to her, but she refused it a little, and accepted it embarrassedly.

Afterwards, a few more performances were performed, but the two of them didn't watch it. Instead, they talked and laughed happily, quite happily...

Qingming looked at them, with a smile unconsciously in his eyes, he thought of the time he spent with Han Tuo.

A girl who was about to leave early after the performance passed by him, showing panic, and was about to bow to salute when Qing Ming stopped her.

"You don't need to be too polite," Qing Ming said with a faint smile, "The Crown Prince asks you a question."

"Please speak, Your Highness."

"Who is that girl leading the dance?" Qing Ming raised his finger to the person beside Zigui and asked.

"Return to Your Highness, that is the daughter of the Minister of Rites, Su Jin."

"Okay, you can back down."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Qingming observed for a while, and said meaningfully: "It seems that it is necessary to investigate this Su Jin carefully, after all, she is a girl who may become a sister-in-law."

When Zigui came back, he saw Qingming leaning against the door.

"Why don't you enter the hall? Don't you need to review the memorial today?"

"Well, there are relatively few things these days, and the approval has been completed, otherwise I would not have seen such an interesting picture, what do you think? Brother."

"Did you go to Chengqian Hall?" Zigui thought for a while, and then he guessed what was going on.

"Well, the daughter of Master Su, Minister of Rites, is worthy of being a senior brother, but I don't know what kind of character she is."

"Heh~ It seems that you are really free, and you still have time to care about my private affairs." Zigui laughed.

"Others can ignore it, but the senior brother is an important family member and cannot be ignored."

"Then thank you brother for your concern."

"You're welcome. If there's anything you need me to do, just say it. It's okay to order a marriage. Both me and the emperor will be very happy."

"I know, don't worry," Zigui said calmly, "Hasn't Han Tuo come back yet?"

"He said it will take three to five days, and he will probably come back tomorrow." The smile was slightly restrained, and Qing Ming's expression was a little unnatural.

Seeing his no longer calm and indifferent face, Zigui sighed in his heart. He never thought that Han Tuo could influence him to such an extent. He will definitely break his own consciousness and identity.

Zi Gui convinced himself in this way.

It wasn't until a long time later that he realized that all his current thoughts were nothing but self-deception.

The fifth day

From the very beginning of the morning, Qingming was faintly excited because of anticipation.

When the court retreated early, several ministers whispered in low voices.

"Is something good going to happen today?"

"what happened?"

"His Royal Highness seems to be very happy today."

"Isn't Your Highness smiling every day? Today... Thinking about it this way, today seems to be a little different..." A minister recalled the prince's expression in the early court just now.

"Look, you feel the same way~"

"But what can make His Highness particularly happy? His Highness didn't look particularly happy when the emperor announced the crown prince's succession earlier, ah~ By the way, could it be because of the absence of Young General Han?"

"Yes, it must be so. Apart from the fact that the enemy is not here, what else can make His Highness happy!"

"However, on the first day when Major General Han left, His Highness the Crown Prince didn't show much joy, did he?" A newly promoted young official with a lower rank asked doubtfully.

"This, this?" They hesitated and couldn't answer.

"?" The young official looked at his seniors with curious eyes.

"Ahem~ How can we, the courtiers, guess what His Highness the Crown Prince thinks~"

"That's it, that's it." Several officials echoed and dispersed.

In the end, it was not clear what made His Royal Highness the Crown Prince happy.

In the royal study

"Is Yue Huang happy today?" All the ministers could feel it faintly, how could Emperor Wu, who is his father, not feel it.

Qingming was startled, and calmly said, "Why did the father say such a thing?"

"Then there is nothing special to be happy about?" Emperor Wu's majestic gaze rested on the face of his most intelligent son, as if he wanted to see something special from his face.

Qingming's eyelashes drooped, and the emotions in his eyes were slightly hidden in the depths.

It can't be said that the father was wrong, otherwise he would be suspected of accusing him of being old and dim-sighted; and the real reason, he couldn't say, Qing Ming was really distressed for a moment, but immediately thought of something, his eyes flashed, and he said with a smile: "Going back to my father, my son is happy for his brother."

"Oh? Zigui has something to be happy about. Tell me, and I will be happy too."

"Father, my son accidentally found out yesterday that the senior brother has a girl he likes." I'm sorry, senior brother.

Qing Ming muttered silently in his heart.

"So that's the case, Zigui's age is reasonable, but I was negligent, and I forgot that he had already reached the age when he should marry a wife. In this case, which girl he fell in love with, I personally decreed to marry her .”

"Father, the senior brother hasn't been with that girl for too long, and the senior brother said that there is no rush, so don't make an order yet. It won't be too late to make an order when the senior brother recognizes her."

"Since Zigui said so, let's do it like this. I'm getting old, so I won't mind my own business." Emperor Wu smiled brightly, and changed the subject, "I happened to mention this matter, and by the way, let's talk about Yue Huang's matter , soon, you will be enthroned, and the matter of choosing a concubine will also be on the agenda at that time, when, how, and who to choose, you have an idea."

"Yes, Father."

"Also, although the expression is not obvious, the emotions are still leaking out. Some keen ministers have probably noticed it. This is not good. You need to be more calm and deep."

"My son, please follow the teachings of the emperor."

"Okay, you step back."

"My son retire."

Qingming exited the imperial study room respectfully, deeply relieved.

Back at the Prince's Palace, Zigui was waiting at the door.

"I heard that His Royal Highness seems to be very happy today~" Zigui laughed.

"How do you know?" Qing Ming asked a little troubled.

"I just overheard the little maids talking in low voices, and His Royal Highness's smile is more gentle and friendly than before."

"Really, don't make fun of me." Qing Ming knew that the original words were definitely not the words "gentle and kind".

"It's rare to see you lose your composure. Don't make a joke, wouldn't you be too sorry~"

"Senior brother." Qing Ming rubbed his forehead, not knowing what to say.

"Okay, stop joking," Zi Zi regained his composure, walked up to him, and said in a low voice, "You should have heard that Uncle Guo came to the palace to visit the empress today."

"I know, I can see him going in the direction of the harem after looking down."

"Would you like to find out what they talked about?"

"No, now that the overall situation is settled, he can't do anything at all. At most, let the queen mother talk to me more, and try to find a way to get closer to the Zhu family. Did he get close to the sixth brother on purpose?"

"On the surface, it seems that the contacts are not frequent, but in private, there should be contacts. After all, they are from the empress, so they always have to move around frequently."

"The people around Sixth Brother try to find some reliable ones, so as not to let him be used by the uncle of the country; in addition, on the mother's side, let the reliable maids beat and beat more."

"I understand, don't worry."

The empress and the people around the prince are basically reliable people brought out by Eunuch Hai who is beside Emperor Wu. On the surface, they have nothing to do with them, but they will regularly report some abnormal behaviors to Emperor Wu through Eunuch Hai.

It's not so much surveillance as it is because they are afraid that villains will get in and disturb the peace and stability among the princes and the harem. They are sent to the princes and concubines, and their biggest task is to ease the conflicts between the various forces.

It is precisely because of this that there are very few cases of mutual rivalry and competition within the Ji family royal family.

That night, Qingming wrote the memorial until very late.

On the surface, he was approving the memorial, but in fact it didn't take long. Even if it took time, the person he wanted to see never showed up.

At midnight, Qingming put down the pen expressionlessly, his black eyes were as thick as ink, showing his extraordinary dissatisfaction.

He said he would leave for three to five days, but he didn't say that he would definitely come back on the fifth day.

Qingming laughed at himself.

On the contrary, I was thinking too much, waiting so late in vain, and looking forward to a day for no reason.

He got up decisively, blew out the candle, and walked to the inner room.