Brother Donggong

Is this an order?

But why can I see the fragility and...pleading in his eyes that I shouldn't have seen?

This is too heavy, too heavy for me to bear.

After all, what kind of sincerity can be exchanged for the equal division of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and the imperial power of the Nine Tripods?

Do you really want me and him to live and die together in this life?

Will he?

I...will I?

For some reason, I always feel a little uneasy. His eyes are still so dark, bottomless, and palpitating.

He is none other than Wen Zhan.

The crown prince with power over the court and the future emperor of Dazheng!

His heart is as deep and dark as the night sky, it can accommodate thousands of billions of people, and a millennium community, but my heart is very small, it can only accommodate the joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys of the people in front of me, winter melons and sweet potatoes.

……

I've given him everything I can, but those things are as thin as paper in his heart, he can't even feel...

I looked at him, and he looked at me.

Behind him, I saw the Hanging Flower Gate not far away, with dense green vines climbing.The thick branches and leaves hang down, forming a chain and a circle, like a gallows, Yu Lan is slowly walking towards it, because the newly-baked chief minister of the cabinet, Liang Zheng, is here, and he wants to chat with him with a smile on his face , but from my point of view, it seems that he is going to get into that circle and hang himself on the hanging flower door.

I trembled in my heart, shook my head, those inexplicable illusions disappeared, and the prince Wen Zhan was still in front of me.

His hands were extremely hot, as if they were on fire.

Wen Zhan turned his head slightly, the afterglow of the setting sun avoided the sharpness of the golden crown on his head, leaving a gentle orange.

I swallowed my saliva, and then dared to ask tentatively, "Are you joking..."

Wen Zhan let go of my hand, smiled to himself, then raised his eyes and squinted at me, and asked me in a tone of asking whether we should eat spinach or leeks tonight, "What do you think?"

Hearing what he said, my heart, which had been hanging, thumped and fell back into my idiot stomach.

I giggled, scratched my hair and said, "Hey, I just said that my heart is just a piece of meat, it's not worth that much. The throne or something, in this life, in the next life, in the next life, I have nothing to do with you! Hey, and I said, don’t scare me all the time, you know I’m timid, what I’m most afraid of is wandering around here in the Taisho Palace, I always feel that the leaves here are made of gold, and when the wind blows, they can hit me if they float down .”

He just smiled, but behind the smile, there was something that I couldn't see or touch.

I thought it was loneliness.

...Wen Zhan, the East Palace is yours, and one day in the future, the Dazheng Palace will also be yours, and it can only be yours.

Later, the queen of the Eastern Palace came to find Wen Zhan, so I took advantage of the loophole and slipped out to look for Cui Bicheng.As soon as I got to the corridor, I saw Cui Bicheng pulling Liang Zheng's robe with both hands, lifting him up like a pocket, and looking at him with a half-smile.

"Hey, Mr. Cui, this old man is also in a difficult situation."

The newly-baked chief minister of the cabinet, Liang Zheng, who was entangled by Cui Bicheng and really had no other way over there, had a bitter face, shaking his big white and fat hands, and the purple python on his body was stuffed because of his fat body. , looks like a big purple wax gourd.

Liang Zheng has been in the cabinet for a long time and has always been ranked behind the princes. He is mainly responsible for playing sloppy and making peace.

His grandparents were originally from Wuxi, and he was white, fat, and friendly. Everyone said he looked like a fat Wuxi clay figurine, Ah Fu.

"Cui Yan's incident with Master Cui, everyone is very sad, and they all wish to punish the murderers and the three clans to rectify the law of the country. But, Mr. Cui, the court has its own rules..."

Cui Bicheng replied, "Mr. Liang Ge, the court's rules are to ignore other people's life and death? Mr. Liang, I don't say that my late father was an official of the court, the eldest brother of the imperial concubine Cui, I only say that he is Da Zheng. The people who were killed by the villains in the generous land under the feet of the emperor, the Shuntian Mansion and the Nine Gates of Yongjing are guerrilla guards, and they are also counted as the admirals of the Nine Gates, so they are not guilty?"

I walked down the steps and said with a light smile, "Young Master Cui, let go of Mr. Liang, and speak up if you have something to say."

Cui Bicheng turned around, glanced at me, and then let go. Liang Zheng straightened his clothes quickly, panting heavily. Finally, his tone became smoother, and Liang Zheng raised his wide robe sleeves to wipe his sweat and said, "Young Master Cui, the admiral of the Nine Gates of Yongjing is an old man from Du Ge."

Cui Bicheng snorted, "What's the matter? You are always in charge of the cabinet now. Li Fang, the supervisor of ceremonies, has the emperor's seal, and you always have the cabinet draft. The two of you get together and don't need others. What is written is the imperial decree! Spread it all over the world, from all over the world, who dares to take it lightly?"

"You!! You!! You!!... You, Mr. Cui Bicheng!" Liang Zhengqi didn't say anything, "You come from a noble family, and you are a senior student of Du Ge. You don't want a bright future, but you want to run away Let’s not talk about these things when you go into business. You are the man in Du Ge’s heart, he dotes on you, you are not afraid of him, Du’s family, I am afraid! I am almost 70 this year, and I will work until I am [-] years old. In the past ten years, my hometown has Zhuangzi and land, and there are three archways erected by folks. I will not let the emperor ask the cabinet to let him demolish the Du family. Mr. Cui, the prince is here today, for the sake of his old man Now, I just pretend that I didn't hear what you said. If there is nothing else, the old man will leave."

After finishing speaking, Liang Zheng straightened his purple python, bowed to the ground, got up and was about to leave.

I leaned close to Cui Bicheng's ear and whispered, "He's an old fox, he's smarter than you."

Cui Bicheng didn't speak, he just leaned on the carved beams and painted buildings in the corridor and looked at Liang Zheng. Just when Liang Zheng's fat body was about to cross the corridor, Cui Bicheng suddenly said softly, "Mr. Buy a few chapters of post, such things are neither qualified to be passed down from a scholarly family, nor have the capital to show off, and they are placed at home, occupying space for nothing. If everyone who collects them sees them, they will also lose you as the chief minister of the cabinet for nothing face."

Liang Zheng didn't seem to hear it, and drifted away, but Cui Bicheng's voice didn't stop, "Tomorrow I will send you two posts, one is Wang Xizhi's "Lanting", and the other..."

I only saw Liang Zheng's heels paused at the end, but he continued to walk, but he didn't seem to be as chic as before.

Cui Bicheng's lips had a slight hint of weirdness, but he was fully confident, "The other one is Ji Kang's "Guangling San"..."

Liang Zheng is a literati, and literati are so promising, the so-called nobility in their bones can't compare with these Fatie music scores.Someone told me that, more than 20 years ago, when Liang Zheng saw the rubbings of the Lanting Preface, he said, "One piece of Lanting is more than enough to reach the prosperity of Jiangzuo for a thousand years."He, Liang Zheng, was cautious enough to be an official, and he was caught by Cui Bicheng with just such a literati hobby.

If it is said that Cui Bicheng's verbal swords just now could not hurt the old fox Liang Zheng in the slightest, then "Lanting" and "Guangling San" are like soul-locking shackles protruding from the [-]th floor of hell, trapping Liang Zheng and making him perish in Cui Bicheng's trap forever Trap, you will never be reborn forever!

After a long time, the people around seemed to have dispersed, and a round of bright moon hung in the night sky, everything was quiet.

I let out a long breath, and said, "The Lanting Guangling powder in your hand is genuine, but it is the most precious treasure in the world that your subordinates drilled mountains and drilled holes for you, and spent tens of thousands of dollars to get you. Have you ever thought about it? Even if one day Dazheng dies and the country changes hands, the value of these two things will not be diminished in the slightest."

Cui Bicheng gave me a sideways glance, "Chengzi, you have been with those poor literati for a long time, and you have contracted their stink problems. Those Fati music scores, no matter how valuable they are, are nothing more than a piece of paper after all. There are others in this world. Those false and more valuable things are to control people's hearts. The prince can use the power in his hands, and I can use money."

He raised his head and looked at the bright moon in the night sky.

"I feel that there is a group of people in the imperial court who use the father's matter to test the emperor's intentions, and the emperor's attitude towards the Cui family. If my father's death is so unclear and unclear, I dare say, Within three months, I will die without a place to bury me!"

That night, Cui Bicheng's "Lanting" and "Guangling San" were delivered to Liang Zheng's mansion.

On the second day, Admiral Yin Jiumen of Shuntian Prefecture was dismissed because of poor management of the capital, but the gangsters committed crimes in the street. They were handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali Temple for interrogation. Huangquan Road', there is no return.

Fourteen days later, King Jia Yulan got married.

This day, when I came out of the palace, I went to the East Palace to see the prince first, and asked him if he would go to the third family's house for a wedding.

Wen Zhan is busy with work.

The memorials from several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River came over like locusts, and his study was piled up.Wen Zhan raised his eyes from the weed-like official document, smiled and said, "I won't go, and the third child probably doesn't want me to go either. Brother, he is married, it is always a happy event, you should have a drink comfortably." Let's drink together."

I was pinched and groped by him, and after being frivolous for a while, I slipped out of the Eastern Palace.

After leaving the East Palace, I went to the Lingering Garden.

I know that Lao Cui is not in the mood to join in the fun recently. My aunt followed my grandfather to the southern province, and Lao Cui didn't dare to tell them about his uncle's death. Not sure.Old Cui knew that this was not a long matter, but he could hide it for a while.

As soon as I entered the Lingering Garden, I saw Cui Bicheng sitting in the flower hall, his fingers slightly protruding from the sleeves of the wishful knot embroidered with gold thread, gently touching a red sandalwood box in front of him, which contained incense.

Hearing me come in, he raised his head and glanced at me, "Sit down, there's your favorite Phoenix Single Zong in the tea bowl today."

I was surprised, "Hey, what's wrong with you? You usually hide the precious tea leaves from people's eyes, why are you willing to take them out to drink today?"

A few handsome servants beside him were holding a silver bottle, pouring water into a Ding kiln porcelain basin, and then waited for Cui Bicheng to wash his hands. Cui Bicheng held the three sticks of incense, lit it with a rootless fire, The uncle's memorial tablet over there bowed respectfully, and inserted the incense into the incense burner, and suddenly, an indescribable mysterious fragrance wafted out.

I quickly blocked my nose, "What the hell is this?"

Cui Bicheng's new pet servant, Bai Feng, quickly said, "This is the geranium incense sent by the shopkeeper of the foreign village in southern Sichuan. It is made of balsam extracted from snow lotus. It burns like charcoal burned by red sandalwood, and has no pungent smell. Snow lotus in southern Sichuan Only ten boxes of incense are produced each year, all of which are made internally, and it is a great blessing to get one box of this kind of incense.”

I looked at Old Cui, "You wouldn't use this thing for uncle's tablet, would you?"

Cui Bicheng snorted, "You saw it too."

Snapped!When I slapped the table, it swept all the tea cups on the table to the ground. The tea cups from the ancient kiln were smashed to pieces, and the tea worth a thousand gold spilled all over the floor, giving it a unique fragrance.

I grabbed Lao Cui's sleeve, "Old Cui, you are crazy! What do you want to do? The incense in the Taimiao Temple enshrining my Dazheng ancestors and ancestors is not as good as this! You are trespassing if you let others know about it. Do you still want to die?"

Cui Bicheng was in a stable state, and asked Bai Feng to go out and make another pot of tea and come back.

There was no one around, so he said to me, "Come on, come on, don't make such a fuss, I'm just afraid that my father will be hungry. My father died for no reason, so I can't let him be a starving ghost. I This is for home use, and I didn’t run around all over the streets of Yongjing City with it in my hands. There are no outsiders here, if you don’t tell me, who else will know?”

I glanced around, pulled up a chair and sat opposite Cui Bicheng, looked at him, but he didn’t look at me, I stretched out my hands and twisted his head, making him stare into my eyes, I asked him seriously, "Old Cui, I wanted to ask you a long time ago, why do you trust the people here so much, why do you think they are all loyal to you, why do you think so? Just me, a prince who is full and doesn't care about anything, There have been various parties around me who have been sent over to sit and scout.

And... did you know that the Supervisor of Rituals controls Tiqi and Fusi, and the whole world is full of their spies. Cucumber has told me more than once that even Shuntian Fu Yin, who is known as the No. [-] upright official in Tianzi The guy who sleeps with that girl at night knows all about it. How could you hide from their eyeliner what you did in private? "

I remembered that Baifeng who was very favored in front of Cui Bicheng these days was Cui Bicheng's favorite appearance, with an aura of excitement in his eyes, but his attitude was very respectful. Unlike a novice who has just entered the deep house compound and has not been trained, who dares to say that he is clean and spotless behind him?

Cui Bicheng didn't take it seriously, and just said, "There are too many things that can't be hidden, and I never thought about hiding them. Don't worry about these, I have my own way. But I have something to trouble you."

Old Cui took out something from his gorgeous sleeve. It was a knife, an inch and a half long and as thin as a cicada's wing.

I glanced at it, "Why don't you even know this? You haven't been working in the Yongjing Manufacturing Bureau, supervising smelting, and you must be familiar with the things used by the inner court. This thing is not Tiqi Nanzhen Fusi to punish internal thieves , A throat-cutting knife used to enforce the family law?"

Unexpectedly, Cui Bicheng shook his head, "No. I thought it was the guy used by Nanzhen Fusi, but look here."

Cui Bicheng turned his wrist, revealing a row of serrated teeth on the back of the Cicada Wing Knife, like the teeth of a wild wolf.

He said, "I will be in charge of the smelting of Fenghua in the Yongjing Manufacturing Bureau 30 years later, but I have never seen such a mold. After 30 or 31 years, the thin knife used by the Fusi in Nanzhen is one inch and two inches long. , as thin as a leaf, engraved with the words 'Nanzhen Fusi' on the back of the knife, the words are clear and clear, and it looks little different from this knife, but in fact it is very different."

Me, "So what do you mean?"

Cui Bicheng, "This knife may be Nanzhen Fusi's knife, but it was not cast after 30 years in Fenghua."

I said, "Oh, since it wasn't made in recent years, then you should look through the previous forging diagrams in the archives of the Smelting Bureau. This thing looks so ugly and easy to recognize, and it's easy to find."

"That's the problem." Cui Bicheng's slender fingers twisted the cicada-winged knife like an embroidery needle, and held it in his hand. "The Smelting Bureau doesn't have the archives for the internal use of Tiqi before. The early years of Fenghua In the 20th year of Fenghua, there must have been some major changes. I heard that in the 20th year of Fenghua, the emperor issued an order to secretly execute all the Fusi people in Nanzhen, and very few people in Fusi in Beizhen died. At that time, all archives were destroyed, and all weapons were remanufactured. This matter is very secret, only a few officials in the manufacturing bureau and the supervisor of ceremonies know about it, and no one else knows about it."

I nodded, "That's why I don't know. But it's not a big deal. It's the same whether you know it or not. Hey, what do you want me to do?"

Cui Bicheng Fangfo didn't hear me asking him, he said directly, "holding this knife in your hand can cut the opponent's throat in the blink of an eye. Throwing it out, even if it hits the opponent's bones, it can even tear the flesh and veins." , such a good thing, why didn't your old man let him make it?"

"You ask me?" I pointed to my nose, "How do I know?"

"I didn't intend for you to know." Cui Bicheng raised his nose and looked at me contemptuously, "Didn't I ask you to go back to the palace and ask me?"

Me, "Inquire what it does, are you going to secretly forge this kind of thing behind my father's back?"

Cui Bicheng, "Do you know the origin of this knife?"

Me, "Where did you buy it from? You can't be cheated by buying antiques at Panjiayuan."

"No." Cui Bicheng said with rare humility, "This knife is the weapon that killed my father."

"The only people who can use this knife are those who belonged to the Fusi of Tiqi Nanzhen 20 years ago in Fenghua. Could it be that the ghosts who have died for more than 20 years have returned to the world and demanded their lives?"

What he said made my scalp go numb, and a gust of cold air rushed from the back of my neck to my forehead!

I jumped up from the chair with a bang, and said to Cui Bicheng, "Since you are talking about this, looking at the dead uncle's spirit in heaven, I will go to the palace according to your will."

It was past noon when I entered the palace from Xuanwu Gate.

I inquired about it, and my father was meditating in the Red Sandalwood Sutra, praying for the marriage of the third prince Yu Lan.Today, Li Fang, the supervisor of ceremonies, was on duty again. He also accompanied my father to beat the wooden fish in the Jingshe. I couldn't find my father or him. After a circle, he slipped out.

It didn't take much effort to get from Xiyuan to Donggong. After passing Tianjie, I turned around and turned to Donggong. I wanted to get something to eat at Wen Zhan.Before reaching the main entrance of the East Palace, I stopped for a while.

I walked around here early this morning. If I go there at this time, will everyone, like Wen Zhan, miss me for a long time, like three autumns?

This is not good.

So I turned sideways, from the Red Lotus Pond, passed the Futu Bridge, and then turned around the misty Taiye Pond, to the small courtyard behind Yuzheng Palace.When I was still studying in Yuzheng Palace, I always went there to play. There are white walls and black tiles, green bamboo and fairy grass, which is very interesting.

This is the place where the prince meditates, and generally no one would be here.

I really like this garden.

There is a piece of shallow water here, with Xivan water lilies, the golden fat fish I raised when I was studying, and a fat rabbit with long hair like a fat pig.

I came in over the wall, without disturbing the guards of Yuzheng Palace and Liu Congrong.

The scenery in the yard is still the same, but it is a little less desolate.

I still remember that last year, also here, Wen Zhan and I had sex for the first time. At that time, Wen Zhan was so young and tyrannical.

but……

For some reason, when I think about it now, I don’t feel the piercing pain. Instead, I feel burning on my cheeks, as if I have done something bad, hidden in my heart. It is both shameless and sweet, which makes people feel dizzy.

I stretched out my hand and gently pushed open the bamboo door behind Basho, but was stunned.

At this time, a light and dissolute moan of love and lust came, tactfully, lightly like silk and bamboo, sweet like honey, but like the most dangerous poisonous needle, it went straight into the heart.

My hand suddenly seemed to be extremely heavy.

Struggling, I pushed open the bamboo door.The windows in the house are bright and clean, the curtains are raised, and on the luxurious big sandalwood bed, a pair of mandarin ducks are lingering.That young girl seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, she bullied Hua Shengxue and tactfully Cheng Huan.There seemed to be tears on the young and beautiful face, like a begonia with rain in the twilight, the white teeth clenched the crimson lips, extremely wronged, but still hugged the young man on her body with his slender arms, bursts of tears in the cherry lips Moaning continuously, "... Your Highness... Your Highness..."

Even if I couldn't see the boy's face, I knew who he was.

All too familiar, to the point of frightening familiarity.

He is—Wen Zhan, Prince of the Eastern Palace.