Dongyin

"Auntie, slow down, this way."

"You child, my aunt is not old enough yet." There are locust trees planted along the bluestone road, and the concubine stopped to watch. At the end of the road is a gazebo. The gazebo is facing the central lake. It is the beginning of spring at this moment. The willow trees by the lake have not yet sprouted, and the entire lake can be seen at a glance, "Hong'er, what did you bring me here for?"

"Auntie, the lake is full of hibiscus, and it will be full of lotus flowers in summer. This pavilion is ventilated on all sides, and it is a good place to enjoy the cool air. If you get hot in the palace, you can come here to escape the heat and have a play in front of the pavilion." Wouldn't it be nice to see the platform?"

"It's only the beginning of spring, why do you want to go to summer." The concubine gave her a strange look and said.

Duan Hong didn't reply, just smiled and said, "Auntie, let's sit in the pavilion for a while."

"Alright."

After finishing speaking, the group took a rest in the gazebo. The maids brought the stove and served tea and fruit snacks. The small gazebo didn't feel cold anymore.Seeing that Duan Hong's complexion was much better than before, the concubine asked, "Hong'er, how do you feel recently?"

Duan Hong hurriedly put down the tea in his hand, and said, "Go back to Auntie, my son has been taking medicine on time every day for the past few days, and he is already much better."

"That's good." The concubine looked at her for a while, and said, "Seeing you these few days, my aunt always feels that you are much more well-behaved than usual. If you can always be like this, my aunt will feel at ease."

"What happened in the past was all my son's fault." Duan Hong narrowed his eyes and said, "My father favored me so much that he made me his son. Thanks to the favors of all uncles, I don't care about my daughter's status and help me to become king. Love, disregarding the world and society, made Zhuang Gong die in anger, General Zhou died in vain, Prime Minister Su committed suicide, and now he is in prison without knowing it, even Yang Zhen..."

"It's not your fault." The concubine interrupted, and comforted, "It's not your fault."

"Auntie, just blame me." Duan Hong said with tears in his eyes, "Since I was young, no matter how big a mistake I have made, no one has ever blamed me."

"Hong'er..."

The gazebo fell silent, and no one spoke.Duan Hong sat for a quarter of an hour, got up and said, "Auntie, I set up an incense stand in the mansion for my father, and it's time to go to offer incense."

"... let's go"

"My son retire."

The old mother sent her out of the pavilion, watched her off for a long time, and then came back and said to the concubine, "Master, this servant feels that something is wrong with Your Highness these few days."

"I think the death of Commander Yang hit her hard." The concubine thought for a moment, then sighed with a smile, "Being able to say those words must have awakened her heart, and that's enough. There are thousands of mistakes. It can't be entirely blamed on her, it's the fault of us elders who dote on her too much."

"This is human nature, how can it be said that it is the master's fault."

"Okay." The concubine shook her head, thinking, "The emperor's sudden assassination of Commander Yang must have been aware of our plan, and he will definitely vent his anger on Hong'er. I'm afraid I can't wait until I return to the palace... Hong'er Now there is only one way left to go."

"What way?"

"... dead end"

"Master!" The old mother was startled and looked at her in amazement.

"I don't want to, the more I think about it, the more upset I get." The concubine didn't react much, she got up and looked at the cold lake, and said thoughtfully, "Lianzi Lake, the pavilion must be full of lotus fragrance in summer, it's cool Hurry up, go back."

It was said that after Duan Hong offered incense for King Wu, he knelt in front of the stage and got up, didn't speak, and knelt for an hour in a daze.When it was time for dinner, someone reminded me that I got up and went into the house.Besides, when Duan Hong entered the room, he closed the door tightly, her face was gloomy, and the servant girl didn't dare to ask more questions.It was late at that time, and the lights were not on in the room, so Duan Hong took out a porcelain bottle by his pillow and put it in his arms after a moment's hesitation.Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw a handkerchief fall to the ground.

Duan Hong picked it up and looked at it, and couldn't help being taken aback.

"Hong'er, before I leave, I want to ask you something... If you met me first, would the ending be different?"

"I put my heart on you"

Duan Hong's eyes felt hot, these things have only passed for a month or two, why did she feel so far away.Time seemed to be running short suddenly. Duan Hong hurriedly lit the lamp, found paper and pen, and ground the ink, but the moment he picked up the pen to write, he suddenly didn't know what to write.

She stared at the letter paper in a daze, and time passed by.The maid outside also started to get anxious, she started knocking on the door and shouting, Duan Hong put down his pen as if lost, found a brocade box, folded the handkerchief in it, and put it under the pillow.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, please open the door..."

With a "squeak", the door opened.Facing Duan Hong's ashen face, he hurriedly knelt down and said, "Your Highness... Your Highness, forgive me, and the servants too..." Even so, the maid still peeked inside.

"Is Yan'er all right?"

"The meal has been prepared a long time ago. Your Highness has something to say, and the princess is waiting."

Duan Hong responded and passed.Nearly a hundred lamps were lit in the small side room, illuminating the whole room like daytime.There are all kinds of meat dishes such as chicken, duck, fish, etc. on the table. Just looking at it makes people feel tired.Bai Yan had already sat at the table, Duan Hong sat over, only asked someone to bring two jugs of wine, and then sent everyone out.

Duan Hong poured the wine himself, took a sip, then put a piece of meat into Bai Yan's bowl, and said, "Yan'er, do you still remember the first time we met? That was the first time you came to Pingnan Palace, I He Liu...Duan Yu is very jealous of you, so he asked someone to make such a table of wine and food to receive you."

"Naturally... remember."

"Ha... At that time, the dishes on the table were full of hands and feet, but it's a pity that Yu'er said that you don't like meat, so we stumbled."

Bai Yan was a little moved, and said, "Why are you bringing this up for no reason?"

"I'm afraid you will forget after a long time"

"How could I forget?" Bai Yan looked at her and said, "I will remember everything about you bullying me. Hong'er... No matter what happens to us in the future, you are the most irreplaceable person in my heart."

"No matter what will happen in the future..." A burst of sourness welled up in his heart, Duan Hong drank to cover it up, and sighed, "We used to be at odds, but now we are at odds, Yan'er, I would rather you... ..."

"..." Bai Yan didn't speak, Duan Hong didn't ask any more questions, and just continued to drink cup after cup.

Xu Shi drank too much, Bai Yan finally couldn't see it, she grabbed the jug and said, "Stop drinking!"

"This wine is nothing at all." Duan Hong snatched the wine pot again. In fact, she was already a little drunk at that time, staring straight at Bai Yan and said, "Why don't you eat it? Don't worry, today's food and drink Absolutely no problem at all."

"What on earth do you want to do?!"

"What do I want to do..." Duan Hong shook his head, seemed to be more sober, looked at her slightly drunk and asked, "Why do you think we have become like this?"

Although Duan Hong's tone was very casual, there was clearly pain in her eyes, and Bai Yan didn't know what to say for a while.

Then Duan Hong followed up and asked, "Do you know how scared I was when you left me alone in the palace? We said we would be together for a long time. Why are you so cruel? Why are we going through so much, but our relationship is so weak?" Are you still so fragile?" The tone became more and more serious, and finally a person muttered to himself in frustration.

All that Duan Hong said seemed to make Bai Yan unable to refute. She looked at Duan Hong in a daze, and finally turned her head away and said, "Who told you to lie to me?"

"When did I lie to you?!" I didn't expect such a small sentence to attract such a big reaction, Duan Hong raised his voice and said, "Why do you think I am lying to you, why don't you believe me..."

"There are all the witnesses and material evidence, so what else do you have to argue about!" This sentence just hit Bai Yan's back, and she said not to be outdone, "You said that we are at odds with each other now, have you ever wondered why? Like this? Why don’t you admit what you have done? How can I explain to my dead brother with your appearance? Do you want me to paralyze myself and say that I know that I stay with my brother-killing enemy all day long, and that person has no remorse? no?"

"You..." Duan Hong was so angry that he couldn't say a word, he laughed for a long time, "You still refuse to believe me."

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's the truth."

"The truth..." Duan Hong thought it was extremely ridiculous, and she had nothing to argue with. "In that case, let me tell you something. Even if I die, I will not admit my mistake to you, and I will not admit to you that you are dead. The brother of the whole corpse has the slightest remorse!"

"Duan Hong!" Seeing her so angry, Bai Yan also said harshly, "Then I will tell you something, even if I die in this matter, I will not believe you." A little too absolute, when Bai Yan was pondering the significance of this sentence in her heart, she suddenly saw Duan Hong take out a porcelain bottle from his arms with trembling hands, and poured it straight into her mouth.With a bad intuition, Bai Yan wanted to stop him, but Duan Hong let go of his hand, and the porcelain bottle fell to the ground, and he had already swallowed it.

Bai Yan was inexplicably flustered, she got up and supported Duan Hong and asked, "What is this? Hong'er..."

"This is, this is..." Duan Hong's face suddenly changed, she clutched her chest, tears finally fell down, "Yan'er... I still have so many... things I wanted to tell you, but... I didn't expect The effect of the medicine is so fast..."

"What is this..." Tears burst into tears, Bai Yan already had a guess in her heart, she looked at Duan Hong in disbelief, "Hong'er, why...why, come here, call the imperial physician."

"...It's too late." Duan Hong's voice gradually weakened. She leaned closer to Bai Yan's ear and said the last sentence, "I won't admit it even if I die."

Hearing this, Bai Yan let go of her hand like an electric shock, stood up and took a step back.

"What's going on?" Ruyi hurried in after hearing the sound, seeing that the two were unclear, so "Is Your Highness drunk?"

Bai Yan stared blankly at Duan Hong, as if she had lost her soul.

It was only then that Ruyi felt something was wrong, she looked at the porcelain vase on the ground, and as if she suddenly remembered something, she frantically went to sniff Duan Hong.Hearing a plop, Ruyi knelt straight on the ground, stunned, "Your Highness is going down."

The chords in her heart snapped, and when Bai Yan heard the sound, it was too late to react, and she collapsed before her eyes.

There was a moment of silence in the room, and then the crying broke out.The sound spread all the way to the residence of the concubine. At that time, she was untiing her hairpin and preparing to go to bed, when a servant girl ran in crying, saying that the prince was dead.

Her eyes froze, the concubine lowered her eyes and did not speak for a long time.

"Master, is he going to take a look?"

"...What's so interesting about a white-haired person sending a black-haired person?" The concubine sighed, then raised her head, and said, "Go and report this matter to the emperor."

"Yes." The old mother responded and was about to go out.

The concubine stopped her again and said, "It's more exposed, don't let the prince catch a cold."

"Yes." The old mother went out.