Lang Yi

After the court dispersed the next day, the emperor shunned others and left him alone in the palace.Tian Zong was anxious, and before he opened his mouth, he had already thought of several reasons for the argument, and decided to try his best to fight for it; but the emperor on the throne looked at him sharply, and asked straightforwardly: "Prince, what do you want now?" Do you want to postpone the wedding, or do you want to cancel the marriage?"

Tianzong was pleasantly surprised for a moment, and almost blurted out that he wanted to cancel the marriage, but his reason still remained, and he immediately said earnestly: "My son is not dissatisfied with the marriage at all, but I really feel that we should put all our energy on the government at this time, so That's why I thought of postponing the marriage."

The emperor smiled slightly and said: "Is that true? Da Ying is lucky to have a prince like you. However, if you want to postpone the wedding, is it because you are thinking of Da Ying, or..." Although the palace door was closed, he still asked Looking from the outside: "...still thinking about the vice-president of the Imperial Guard?"

Tian Zong was shocked, tried to hide his gaffe, and said reluctantly: "Father, you are joking, son..."

The emperor raised his hand, so that he didn't have to say any more, and said solemnly: "I originally thought that you treated Ning Xinghe just like you treated that Nanxu princess, and it was just a whim; if these things were in the past, I would never tolerate them. But since you are Now the only prince, as long as these things are not known in private and don’t damage the reputation of our Ji family, I can just turn a blind eye. But you did all kinds of things for this Ning Xinghe regardless of the status of the crown prince—you that time When you stayed at Ning's house, did you ever think about it, if you make a mistake outside the palace, who will resist this country in the future?!"

I thought that no one knew about that matter, but it turned out that I underestimated the emperor's grasp of the affairs in the palace.Tian Zong hurriedly knelt down: "My son is reckless, I beg Father to calm down..."

The emperor got up angrily and walked up to him: "So what if I don't stop my anger?! Apart from you, there is no other candidate for the crown prince!" He looked at Tian Zong, and suddenly sighed sadly: "My child, I know that you are very interested in becoming the crown prince!" The crown prince was unprepared, but fate is like this, you have to take on this burden even if you grit your teeth... Now you actually want to shirk the marriage because of a man! You should also know that the more important this Ning Xinghe is in your heart, The more you have to give up!"

At this moment, Tian Zong didn't care about keeping his face any longer, and hastily grabbed his father's sleeve: "Father, please have mercy..."

The emperor shook off his hand, turned and walked back to the throne, calmly said: "I know you have always been soft-hearted, and you are absolutely unwilling to do it yourself; so I will do it for you."

Tian Zong was startled, put his hands on the ground, and walked under the throne on his knees, trembling uncontrollably: "Father, you are..."

The emperor sighed: "Ning Xinghe saved your life after all, if he was really obsessed... After his death, I will definitely treat his two brothers kindly..."

Tian Zong seemed to be stabbed violently, the blood coagulated in his body, and he lost his voice: "Father! Please take back your will immediately! You are, wanting my son's life!"

The emperor just looked at him with pity: "I let go of this person for you today, so you can free your heart. From now on, just pretend to be angry."

Before the words were finished, the prince who was crouching under the throne suddenly stood up, grabbed the front of his robe, and rushed towards the outside of the palace like an eagle with wings spread.The emperor's face changed suddenly: "Tian Zong..."

Seeing that the begging was useless, Tian Zong made a quick decision, gritted his teeth and pushed open the palace door and rushed out of the palace, ignoring the emperor's yelling and the surprised faces of the palace people behind him. , Jiuqu long bridge, rushed into the place where Ning Xinghe usually stood in the imperial guard queue under the palace wall, grabbed a person and shouted: "Where is Ning Xinghe?! Where is he?!"

The imperial guard turned pale with fright, and stammered: "Vice President Ning, just now was called by Supervisor Sheng Da, and walked to the back of the side hall..."

Ning Xingye, who was originally waiting outside the palace gate, also ignored the rules of not running quickly in the palace, and ran up after him, without knowing it, he went in: "Your Highness..."

Tian Zong ignored him, only beckoned him to follow, and immediately ran towards the back of the hall, telling him briefly while running: "Find your elder brother as soon as possible!"

Ning Xingye was startled, then realized that something was wrong, and nodded sullenly.

All the eunuchs in the front and back of the palace immediately lowered their heads when they saw this, turned around and stood facing the wall: Although they didn't know what happened, but the prince suddenly lost his composure and ran wildly, obviously the best way to save his life is to not listen or watch.

Seeing that Tian Zong was burning with anxiety, Ning Xingye put all the rules behind him and ran ahead, listening intently while exploring the way, and suddenly turned his head and called him: "Your Highness, here you are!"

Tian Zong followed him into a remote, low hall at the west end of the imperial palace that few people go to. He had long forgotten to breathe, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat in panic: Xinghe, Xinghe!I hope I am not late!

With a "bang", Ning Xingye pushed open the palace door, dust was flying, Tian Zong rushed in after him, and at a glance he saw Xinghe kneeling on the ground with his back to the door.Standing in front of Ning Xinghe, Supervisor Sheng Da looked at Tian Zong, his face pale with shock. He was holding a realgar yellow brocade plate in his hand, and there was a pair of exquisitely carved jade pots. spilled out.

Tian Zong couldn't understand what it meant, but in an instant he felt blood rushing to his forehead, and he couldn't move his hands or feet.Seeing Xinghe turned to look at him, he immediately rushed over and hugged him in his arms, tremblingly said: "Xinghe, you, you spit it out, spit out that wine!"

Xinghe didn't move, Tian Zong simply pressed him on his lap, wanted to grab his throat, turned his head and shouted: "Go, call the imperial doctor! Call all the imperial doctors!"

Ning Xinghe raised his hand to stop him, and sat up: "Your Highness, don't be afraid, I didn't drink anything."

Tian Zong was still trembling, grabbed his shoulders, held his face in his hands and confirmed in a daze: "...Didn't drink? Really didn't drink?! Open your mouth and show me!"

Only then did Supervisor Sheng regain his composure, and he said calmly, "Reporting to Your Highness, Your Majesty is grateful for Vice Commander Ning's dedication to his duties and once saved His Highness's life, so he bestows the royal wine as a reward; Ning The vice president hadn't had time to drink, so you came here, which frightened the servants, and almost spilled the good imperial wine."

As he said that, he still smiled steadily: "Vice President Ning, this wine..."

"When I was in danger in the western region, Ning Xinghe made a vow to the gods in order to save my palace. If I can save my palace and come back, I will never drink or have fun in my life again." Reverting to his usual princely demeanor, he stood up and casually made up a set of rhetoric: "The vows made to the gods must not be violated. I also ask the chief supervisor to report to the emperor. If you want to reward him, it is better to change something else."

The Holy One gave Ning Xinghe two choices: either swear to the gods, break up with the prince, and never see each other again in this life; or drink the wine given to him.Sheng Dajian was only soft and hard, persuading and coercing, but Ning Xinghe dared to disobey the holy order, neither swearing, nor drinking to die; now seeing this situation, I know that today is definitely not fulfilling the emperor's entrustment , Then he pulled away wisely and left.

Ning Xingye hurriedly sent him out of the hall respectfully, closed the hall door casually, gave him a deep salute, and said with an apologetic smile: "Superintendent, our brothers have caused you a lot of trouble today, please don't blame us; our Highness is also in a hurry , and please explain it to His Majesty in front of His Majesty."

Supervisor Sheng Da originally thought he was unlucky, but now he looked at the kid's friendly smiling face but couldn't get angry, and sighed: "You two brothers from the Ning family are so young that you are so young. Don't blame our family , our family is only acting according to His Majesty's will. Don't be afraid, since His Highness values ​​your brother so much, His Majesty will not insist on hurting the relationship between father and son even if His Majesty has any plans."

Ning Xingye bowed his head, nodded in agreement, and sent him out for a while, then dragged his feet back, stood alone outside the hall, let out a long breath, looked at the midday sun, and squinted his eyes in a daze.

In the hall, Tian Zong had already hugged Xinghe tightly, and couldn't stop trembling with fear: "Xinghe, I'm sorry, I finally hurt you..."

Xinghe stroked his back one after another, and patted him lightly: "Your Highness, don't be afraid, don't be afraid...how could you harm me? I told you, for Your Highness, I will never die. I have always refused Drinking that wine is delaying the time until His Highness finds out. I didn't expect you to come so soon. Just now, I have made up my mind that if they force me to drink that wine today, I will simply escape from here, even if I am wanted and run away ——In short, I must save my life to meet His Highness."

Looking at his calm eyes, Tian Zong felt satisfied in his heart and had nothing to ask for: he has nothing to be afraid of if he has this one person.

After calming down for a while, Tian Zong calmly left Xinghe and Xingye waiting in the same place, and returned to the Yanqing Palace just now. Sure enough, the emperor was still sitting on the throne with his head propped up, waiting for his reply.Tian Zong knelt down again, and begged: "Father, Ning Xinghe, he has always been loyal and loyal, and he is my confidant..."

The emperor waved his hand to signal him not to say any more, and sighed deeply: "Is it your confidant? Or is it your demon?... Forget it, I already know what happened just now. No matter what, Qing can't keep him, let him go."

Seeing that Tian Zong was silent, the emperor sighed again: "Prince, turn your head and look outside—these people in the palace, the people in the city, and the people in the country are all people who rely on you! They believe that our Ji family is a descendant of gods, with perfect virtue, and can be the lord of the world! The way of heaven has been a blend of yin and yang since ancient times, and everything happens; indulging in masculinity is a violation of the law of heaven and human relations, and even more contrary to the precepts of the ancestors—do you mean that? Want to destroy the reputation of our Ji family in your hands? So, how can the people of the world be convinced and follow such a prince? Are you really abandoning these people for the sake of Ning Xinghe? You can also see that it is not too late now It is as glorious as it used to be; after Tianci passed away, as a father I feel old, and I can no longer concentrate on rectifying the mountains and rivers—at this moment, we must not lose the hearts of the people.”

Tian Zong raised his head, and suddenly saw the white hair on his father's sideburns. He couldn't help but feel sore, and said in a low voice: "Father, please be at ease. I promised my brother that I will guard Da Ying well."

The emperor looked at him with pain, pity and helplessness; then his tone was calm, but he decreed unquestionably: "Ning Xinghe, the deputy commander of the guard of the left guard of the imperial army, will be transferred to the general of the Fuzhou army, and he will start his post today." Seeing the inner prisoner turn around Going to announce the decree, he turned to Tian Zong and finished the decree in a low voice: "...in this life, I shall not take another step into Qingdu."