After the rebirth, I was picked up by the prince

After leaving the National Teacher Tower, Qi Zizhen and Song Yaoxu walked together on the way back to the East Palace.

They walked very slowly, shoulder to shoulder very close to each other, and the hands that naturally fell by their sides always bumped into each other accidentally, until they didn't know who took the initiative to hold the other's hand in the middle.

The cold palm was covered by dry warmth, Qi Zizhen closed his eyes halfway, and clenched it slightly.

And at this time, Song Yaoxu's voice that seemed to be a little sad came from his ears: "Zizhen, you said that at the beginning... did the second brother deliberately choose Jiuyou County as the fiefdom?"

"Huh?" Qi Zizhen didn't understand what he meant immediately, and his eyes were full of doubts.

Song Yaoxu lowered his head slightly, the thoughts in his eyes were covered by the shadow of eyelashes, he couldn't see clearly, his voice was a little low, as if he was caught in a certain memory.

"Actually, when we were young, King Guan taught us to emphasize literature over martial arts, and the riding and archery lessons were very short, usually just for us to learn how to ride horses, and we rarely had the opportunity to let us touch weapons such as knives and swords. He also told us that as a prince, we only need to study the Four Books and Five Classics, and others will do the fighting and killing."

"My third brother and my fourth brother have always believed in this, but the second brother is different. He loved the art of war since he was a child, and he liked dancing spears and sticks. He often pestered me to accompany him.

"Because King Guan didn't let us practice martial arts, so he secretly asked me to practice together. Every time I told him to read more and play less, he would tell me not to listen to King Guan. As a prince, you need to know some things. Weapons are right."

Having said that, Song Yaoxu paused.

Qi Zizhen understood what he meant.

Emperor Hongchu seldom cared about his sons, so Guan Wang, who always took care of the princes with a kind look, became the most trusted elder of the princes. Almost every prince believed deeply in Guan Wang's high-sounding words. doubt, but the second prince has already noticed something is wrong.

And judging from Song Yaoxu's words, the second prince seems to have been trying to let Song Yaoxu get rid of the shackles of the ideas instilled by Guan Wang.

It's a pity, from the relationship between Qi Zizhen and Song Yaoxu some time ago, the second prince obviously failed.

Song Yaoxu has always been only in the name of his brother, just playing with him, and has never considered changing his opinion at all.

The second prince chose to treat Jiuyou County as a fiefdom, probably because he had a premonition that the border would be in turmoil sooner or later.

After a while, Song Yaoxu sighed softly: "Zizhen, do you think the second brother felt disappointed in me before he left?"

If it wasn't for Qi Zizhen, until now he might still be the weak prince who only blindly knows benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, wasting his life in the Eastern Palace, welcoming the death that will come at an unknown time.

He is really too weak, no matter before or now.

Qi Zizhen felt his depression, but this time he didn't comfort him as usual.

He doesn't know much about the second prince's character, so he can't guarantee whether the second prince is really disappointed with Song Yaoxu.And sometimes, it might be better for Song Yaoxu to digest some emotions.

He lightly clenched the hand holding Song Yaoxu as a silent comfort.

The two of them walked back to the East Palace relatively silently.

There are still a lot of things that need to be prepared for tomorrow's departure, so Qi Zizhen bid farewell on the grounds of packing up, leaving enough space for Song Yaoxu.

But before leaving, he glanced at Song Yaoxu's white and warm figure under the sun, after thinking for a while, he went up to hug him again, then turned and left without saying a word.

Song Yaoxu was stunned for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, Qi Zizhen's figure had turned a corner and disappeared outside the courtyard gate.

He couldn't help laughing, the haze between his brows and eyes had eased a lot, and he was about to go back to his room to pack his things.

On the other side, after Qi Zizhen left, he walked straight back to his room without stopping, closed the door and leaned against the door, exhaled lightly, and finally stood up again after he calmed down, and went to the inner room Start tidying things up.

Going out for an expedition is no better than traveling. The conditions on the marching road are difficult, and sometimes you may need to travel day and night. The luggage must be as streamlined as possible.

During the days of the expedition, Shi Qin would definitely not be able to take it with her.

Qi Zizhen stood in front of the stone qin, slid one hand over the cold keys, sighed and turned to get the bamboo flute that he rarely used.

Although he is not as familiar with playing the flute as he is with playing the piano, at least he can have some entertainment in his spare time.

And he remembers the first time he met Song Yaoxu in this life, Song Yaoxu once played the bamboo flute with him, and he can also ask him to learn the bamboo flute when he is free.

Qi Zizhen put the bamboo flute away, went through the items that needed to be carried in his mind, and went to the inner room to check, just inadvertently noticed the low-quality history book he got from Song Yaoxu's small study.

Taking advantage of his free time, he wanted to put the history book back in the small study, but when he approached, he suddenly found that there seemed to be three words on the cover of the history book—"The Biography of Gongzi" ".

Is it the name of the history book?

Qi Zizhen frowned slightly, but he clearly remembered that the cover of this history book was empty when he got it back, and there was no name written at all.

The title of the book on the cover is chic and unrestrained, and the edges of the bold black letters are a little uneven, as if they have been worn out, and it looks like a long time has passed.

Could it be that he misremembered again?

Qi Zizhen began to doubt his own memory, so he flipped through the "Gongzi Biography" to take a look, and was surprised to find that the content seemed to have changed - all the previous emperors that were originally briefly recorded on the first few pages disappeared, and the first page The first sentence of the sentence became the sentence "Two years, the crown prince will be established."

It was followed by the last time I saw "Three years, the prince is three years old, fell into the lake, and fell ill."

After this sentence, a large piece of blurred and unreadable handwriting replaced the original blank.

He turned another page down, only to find the third clear sentence on the ink-splattered pages——

"Ten years, the son entered the palace, and the prince was abolished.

Do not hate it. "

Qi Zizhen was a little dazed.

When he saw "Li Prince Jin" at first, he thought it was a record related to Song Yaoxu in the early years of Hongchu, but this sentence did not seem to be the case.Regardless of past life or present life, Song Yaoxu's crown prince has never been abolished.

Could this be the history book of that dynasty in the past?

In the historical dynasties of this world, there are not a few princes with the same name as Song Yaoxu.

But even so, how to explain the sudden change in this book?Under normal circumstances, how could it be possible for a book to suddenly have a title and suddenly change its content?

Qi Zizhen continued to scroll down in confusion, but no matter how carefully he looked at it, there were large areas of blurred writing behind it.

Does it show up over time?

He was still a little puzzled, and after thinking about it, he simply packed up the "Gongzi Biography" in his bag, and left it for inspection during the march. After all, it was only the weight of an extra book.

Qi Zizhen put aside the matter of the book for the time being, and continued to sort out to make sure that the rest of the items were all in place.

When everything was sorted out, it happened to be time for dinner.

Song Yaoxu came to his room with Cui Liang very punctually, but this time he followed Song Shi beside Song Yaoxu.

"Brother Qi!" Song Shi happily ran to Qi Zizhen's side, raised his face and smiled brightly.

Qi Zizhen raised his hand and patted his head: "Why is the Tenth Highness here?"

Song Shi obediently let Qi Zizhen ravage his hair, and said with a smile: "The Taifu said that the prince and Qi will leave for a far place tomorrow, so Xiao Shi specially asked the prince to come and accompany you Dinner!"

Qi Zizhen saw that the child didn't look sad at all, and said jokingly: "His Highness doesn't seem to be reluctant to part with us."

Song Shi shook his head: "That's not true! But the Taifu said, the prince brother and Qi brother are going to defend the family and the country with the second brother, and they will be heroes when they come back!"

Speaking of this, the child suppressed his smile again, frowned and continued: "But the Taifu also said that it is very dangerous to go out this time, and it is very likely that the prince and brother Qi will not be able to come back..."

"But Xiaoshi believes that you are so powerful, you will definitely come back, right?"

He still raised his head and looked at Qi Zizhen with pure and clean eyes, like a clear lake under the sun, shining with sparkling light.

It was a pure and firm trust.

Song Yaoxu on the side also rubbed his head, and said with a smile: "Of course, we will definitely come back safely."

Qi Zizhen nodded and promised the child a promise.

Song Shi regained the bright smile when he came back, and pulled the two of them to sit down and have dinner together.

Since Song Yaoxu knew that Song Shi would have a dish for dinner tonight, he specially asked the imperial dining room to add more dishes. The delicate and rich dishes were put on the table, which directly whetted people's appetite.

On the way to the meal, Qi Zizhen also asked Song Yaoxu about the princes' tutors.

He still remembered that Song Shi said on his birthday that the pair of stone qins were completed together with the Taifu. According to what Song Shi said today, the Taifu seemed to be aware of the danger of this expedition, and he also told Song Shi listen.

Although Song Yaoxu didn't care about government affairs before, he was very concerned about the life and study of the emperor's younger brothers, and he also had some understanding of their grand tutor.

According to him, the person currently serving as the prince's tutor is Tan Hualang, who passed the imperial examination last year. He seems to be only about 25 years old now, young and promising.

Originally, as a Tanhualang, he could enter the Hanlin Academy, and if he was more capable in the future, he could even become a reserve for the prime minister.However, at this time, the original prince Taifu was dismissed because of a mistake, so Emperor Hongchu simply ordered him to take up the post of Taifu somehow.

The Ling Dynasty has always attached great importance to the education of the princes, and the post of Taifu is also an important task.However, in the current Hongchu period, in order to prevent the princes from becoming too talented, Guan Wang intentionally or unintentionally restricted the Taifu's contact with the princes, as well as the content of the Taifu's lectures.

The Taifu who was dismissed was a man who watched the king before.

Now this Tanhualang has taken up the post directly in the South Study after he became the Grand Tutor. He has no power in the court, and he doesn't seem to have supported any of them. He is doing his teaching work dutifully.

Because of this, Guan Wang also increased the number of times he visited the princes in the so-called South Study Room. It seems that he also had contact with him once in private. After that time, the Tai Tuo finished class very punctually every day, packed up his things and left without hesitation. .

However, according to Song Shi's addition, the Taifu would go around to an abandoned palace after class, and if the princes had any questions, they could go there secretly to ask him.

In addition, the content of the Taifu's lectures will be different when there is a King Guan and when there is no King. It's a secret, don't tell others casually.

"That's why Prince Edward and Brother Qi can't tell others about this!"

Song Shi deliberately put on a serious look, his slightly chubby cheeks were slightly puffed up, very cute.

Song Yaoxu praised him more, and said with a soft smile, "Well, we will definitely help you keep the secret."

Qi Zizhen nodded along with him, and asked about the piano hammer last time: "The tenth highness gave me the piano hammer last time, did His Highness take the initiative to ask the Tai Tuo for help?"

Hearing this, Song Shi shook his head: "No, it was suggested by Taifu, so in fact, the hammer was given to Brother Qi by Xiao Shi and Taifu together."

After he finished speaking, he thought for a while and added: "Actually, the Taifu was in the South Study Room when Brother Qi came to perform in the South Study Room, and he also saw Brother Qi's performance. The Tai Tuo also said that Brother Qi would definitely be a big shot in the future. If Xiao Shi is free, he can also learn from Brother Qi."

After Qi Zizhen heard Song Shi's supplementary words, he didn't know what the grand tutor meant for a while.

Listening to the previous description, combined with what Emperor Hongchu said before, he can roughly guess that this Taifu should be specially sent by Emperor Hongchu to teach the princes, and he seems to be indeed a person who is not attracted by the power of King Guan. Good teacher.

But at the same time, Qi Zizhen was not sure about the Taifu's attitude towards the current crown prince, Song Yaoxu, and couldn't tell whether what he said to Song Shi was out of good intentions.

He lowered his eyes to cover his thoughts, and after a while, he returned to his usual appearance, chatting with Song Shi about some relaxing and everyday topics.

The time for a dinner was quickly over under the topic of home affairs.

The palace servants came to clean up the bowls and chopsticks. Song Shi'an sat quietly, looked at the moving palace servants, then at Qi Zizhen and Song Yaoxu who were also sitting, and finally couldn't help asking again: "Brother Prince and Brother Qi must be Will come back safely, right?"

The child who had a bright smile when he came here still couldn't help showing a sad expression when the real parting was approaching.

Emperor Hongchu originally planned to give the princes a rest tomorrow, and asked them to practice it for the prince.

But perhaps in order to prevent the princes from being affected by the atmosphere of the army going out, Guan Wang found a reason to push back this decision, so tomorrow Song Shi still has to go to class honestly, and cannot go to the city gate to see him off together.

After today, it was Song Shi's first farewell to his elder brother, and it was a farewell with the possibility of a permanent farewell.

No matter how optimistic and cheerful he was when he came, he still couldn't hold back the sadness hidden in his heart when he really had to leave.

Song Shi is the one who plays with Song Yaoxu the most and clings to him the most among the underage little princes. Seeing the child's uncontrollable sadness, he gently rubbed his head again.

He looked at Song Shi and smiled softly: "Don't worry Xiaoshi, we are only going to your second brother's fief. With your second brother and brother Qi around, nothing will happen."

Qi Zizhen also responded: "At least it's not difficult to ensure the safety of Your Highness and myself. Your Tenth Highness doesn't have to worry."

Song Shi looked at the two slightly hazy figures in his line of sight, and sniffed: "It's a deal, okay?"

Qi Zizhen and Song Yaoxu looked at each other, and finally looked at him together, and replied softly: "It's a deal."