Second minister and thief

Xiao Cen left the Honghu Restaurant, looking at the old and young pedestrians coming and going, his mood was not relaxed, but even heavier.At this time, he suddenly thought of a sentence his grandfather said to himself before the assassination, "Cen'er, if you are helpless with the current situation, then follow your heart."

What is the status quo? What does "follow your heart" mean?Could it be that grandfather had already predicted his end at that time, what did he want to tell himself?

Grandfather...Xiao Cen only felt that a hand reached into his chest and grabbed his heart fiercely.He was carrying a jug of wine and planned to go up the mountain to worship his grandfather and have a few words with him, but he was stopped halfway.

This person is a servant of the Chu Mansion, Xiao Cen has never met him face to face before, but he recognizes the "Chu" sign on his cuff.He once again had an ominous premonition, thinking that after today, the young and old in the teahouse should have something more to talk about.

Sure enough, before he could open his mouth to ask why he came, the man fell to his knees on the ground, and immediately said, "Master Hou, please save my lord!"

Xiao Cen was startled, and took a step back with the jug of wine, cleverly avoiding his touch, and only after a while did he come back to his senses and snapped, "What are you doing?!"

"Master Hou, since you left yesterday, my lord has been suffering from high fever, lethargy, and inability to enter the medicine stone. It is already a dangerous disease. I dare you to read it now..."

"If you are seriously ill, you should go to the Imperial Hospital to find someone. It's useless to stop me. I don't know the art of Qi and Huang, so I'm afraid it won't help if I go." Xiao Cen's words were not humane, but he still felt a little bit in his heart. Worried, he thought to himself, how could such a small injury be so serious for the commander of Xuanwuwei, which meant lying in bed for two days?It doesn't make sense at all.unless he...

As if seeing the doubt in his eyes, the servant got up and pulled him to a place where no one was passing by, choked up a bit before opening his mouth, "My lord blocked the sword for the saint two years ago while hunting, and accidentally fell the root of the disease. The adults at the Tai Hospital said that my grandfather must be suffering from an old illness, coupled with the depression in his heart, that's why he has a persistent high fever and a menacing attack."

When Xiao Cen heard this, he was shocked, and without saying a word, he left the alley and went straight to the Chu Mansion.The assassination of Saint Qiushou two years ago was indeed true, but what he did not expect was that Chu Linqiu actually blocked a sword for him.With this "life-saving grace" in front, it is not difficult to explain why he later won the favor alone, and the limelight almost surpassed the princes.

But if the sage really loves him, appreciates him, and appreciates him, why would he repeatedly put him at the forefront of the storm?For the time being, Xiao Cen only thought of two possibilities, one is to cut off his back, so that he will only have the only backer from now on, and the other is that the sage does not trust him as others think, he has been testing his loyalty degree and bottom line.

So Chu Linqiu...does he know these things?Could there be something different in the medicine the sage gave him?

Xiao Cen found that the more he thought about it, the more he felt sad for this man, and he actually felt a little strange feeling of "sympathy for each other".

Honghu Restaurant is located in the most prosperous area of ​​Taodu, close to Xifang, so the Chu Mansion will arrive soon.It was very different from the desolation and depression of the day before yesterday, today Xiao Cen actually saw many carriages and strong men coming and going at the gate of the Chu Mansion.Without exception, those strong men were yelling and moving things outside. When they saw Xiao Cen, they didn't say hello at all. Occasionally, a few who recognized him just gave a rough salute, and then turned their heads and went about their own business.Boxes of gift-like things were continuously sent into the Chu Mansion, and the people inside picked them up.

"What's going on here?" Xiao Cen asked the person standing behind him inexplicably.

"This...these are... congratulatory gifts from all the nobles."

"What congratulatory gift?" As soon as the words finished, they heard the old butler of the Chu Mansion standing at the door and saying to his subordinates, "Master Zhang of the Taichang Temple sent a pair of incense candles with a dragon and a phoenix, two brocades with mandarin ducks playing in the water, and jade carvings of flowers and birds. A set of pots... quickly sent to the warehouse."

Xiao Cen: "..."

As soon as the series of dizzying nicknames came out, how could he not understand what the group of people in front of him were here for?He didn't go home yesterday in a depressed mood, but now he doesn't need to think about it and knows that the Xiao Mansion must be in the same scene.Xiao Cen felt so angry that his liver hurt, he resisted the urge to go up and sweep those things out of the door, stepped forward and said to the housekeeper, "Your lord is lying inside, you are in the mood to receive gifts here Why don't you lead the way for Ben Hou?" After finishing speaking, he stuffed the jug of wine into the old man's arms, took the lead to cross the threshold, and disappeared from everyone's sight.