Hypocrites

The boundless darkness receded from the eyes, and two bead-like candles lit up.

A voice murmured leisurely: "The jade bones are shining and the clouds are plump. It is known that there is no comparison in the whole country, unless there are fairies in the sky."

Liang Heng wanted to sit up, but found that he couldn't do it. His limbs were still not free, his center of gravity was unstable, and he fell crookedly on the hay mat.Surrounded by wet and cold stone walls, there was no light in the sky, he knew where this was, once Qiu Qianli was imprisoned in the cell opposite him, and now there was another person curled up there - Xinzhou.

Xinzhou seemed to have suffered a lot. Although his skin and flesh were not injured, he was so hungry that his chicken bones supported the bed, and he was emaciated.At this time, holding the prison door with both hands, he looked at the former master sadly.

Liang Heng was about to speak, but his throat was so thirsty that it smoked, and he coughed non-stop.

The man who recited poems in the prison knew that he had woken up, his shadow turned to the door, and the thin light of the fire climbed up his face. Duan Boyu smiled slightly: "This is the comment Han Ying gave to my mother, she is an illiterate A prostitute, but in delusion to be able to educate an official, I took a word from this word to name my son. My previous name was Meiyu, and I changed my name and surname later, but I couldn’t get rid of this word. I think, for sure. It’s not that I’m bound by these shackles, but I’m also a person of flesh and blood, so I have to pay homage to my mother. What do you think?”

"……uncle."

Duan Boyu said: "Speak carefully. There is no nephew in Beisi Prison."

Liang Heng tried to sit up, leaning against the cold wall: "But you buried her in the San Wu Garden outside the city, would a person of flesh and blood treat his mother like this?"

Duan Boyu didn't think it was disobedient: "When she was suffering from Hualiu disease, I had already been promoted to Zoucao, so I was inconvenient to visit her. The women who abandoned her were the women of Xieling Hall. resentment."

It turned out that Duan Boyu set off the fire in the west market in the first month of the lunar year.

What is he doing it for?It's a pity that Duan Boyu is no longer someone Liang Heng can ask questions at will, he can only use his own brain - just as Shen Yu found a little clue, the Xie Ling Pavilion was reduced to ashes.Duan Boyu was undoubtedly trying to hide it.

But now he has spontaneously shaken all this to Liang Heng, because Liang Heng is no longer above the high position that can threaten him.

Duan Boyu seems to feel the authority in his hands as he narrates the truth that has been pursued by others.

"Now that I think about it," Liang Heng said with difficulty, "everything you say has a different meaning. At that time, you often told me that only the books you read are your own, and no one else can take them." don't go."

"Could it be wrong? You are imprisoned and have nothing of value. I am afraid that the only thing you can remember is the days when you studied under Shen Jin."

His brisk words echoed in the cell, as if walking on the boundary between life and death.

"That's what Han Ying used to teach me." Duan Boyu said.

Shen Yu guessed right, Liang Heng thought to himself, Duan Boyu was indeed the executioner hiding in Han Ying's mansion.Han Ying loves his mother, loves the house and Wu, and gave him a new identity and the opportunity to make a difference. Duan Boyu rewarded Han Ying by hacking him to death.

Duan Boyu seemed to understand Liang Heng's thoughts very well, and shook his head, "You are such a naive person. Han Ying used to treat me like an ant, and when faced with a life that is a hundred times weaker than himself, he was not eager to crush him to death, but was willing to crush him to death. Watch him struggle in the mud, eat his pain."

He sneered.

Liang Heng numbly understood that Han Ying treated Duan Boyu like this back then, and Duan Boyu treated himself like this.

"The first emperor gave me a golden seal and a purple belt, and gave me the position of prime minister. At the same time, he reused those three eunuchs..."

Duan Boyu was especially eager to talk today, maybe it was just a foreshadowing before he got into the topic, anyway, Liang Heng decided to listen to him, anyway, he was in prison, and he only had the right to make decisions on such insignificant matters

"I finally got to this point, is it just to share the leadership with the eunuch? I racked my brains," Duan Boyu said distressedly, "dedicating my sister to the first emperor, but he doesn't seem to have much interest in women, and neither has children. Nor do you want to accept concubines. Later, with Yanyou, the eldest son is the foundation of the country, but the first emperor seems to be even more distressed and depressed. Until your birth..."

"Who am I?" Liang Heng asked.

"You just happened to be born in the ban, an unfortunate baby. With you, the first emperor told me all about his plan to escape the golden cicada. He wanted to fight the eunuch, but he was afraid of hurting his heirs, so he prepared to set up a hypocrite in front of the stage. At that time, when I thought that the former emperor entrusted the prince of the country to himself, I would be the auxiliary minister in the future. When I was excited, I agreed without thinking too much. Now it seems that it is full of loopholes..."

Duan Boyu said: "He made this plan because he was afraid! What is he afraid of? There are dignified emperors in the world who are afraid of mere eunuchs? ——Is the Martial Emperor's bone ring that Qiu Zhiyuan had in your hands?"

Liang Heng had goosebumps on his back.Cracks appeared in Duan Xiang's usual gentle camouflage, and wildfire-like longing radiated from his eyes.

"He was afraid that Emperor Wu's bone ring would deny him and Yanyou, so he pushed you to the front. Even if the bone ring proves that you are a fake, so what, you are a fake, and Yanyou can take advantage of the situation to replace you. Catch the eunuchs in one go. This kills two birds with one stone."

"Unfortunately, you were the first to steal the bone ring. This is the only omission," Duan Boyu said, "Yanling has already searched you, but the bone ring was not found. It must have been hidden by you. If you are a smart person , when you know that leaving it to me is your best choice."

"Leave it to you, let you imitate Qiu Zhiyuan and use it to coerce Duan Yanyou?"

Duan Boyu's gaze narrowed slightly.

"You told me so much today, just to show me your monstrous desire for power, so that I can believe that handing over the bone ring to you will make Duan Yanyou feel uncomfortable," Liang Heng said in a low voice, "But the prime minister, You are too smart, and you know how to deceive others, how can I be sure that you will not completely destroy the bone ring, keep your nephew, and keep your status as the auxiliary relative..."

"I won't hand over the bone ring to you," Liang Heng huddled in the corner of the cell in embarrassment, looking up at the familiar face of "uncle", "because I don't know where it is either."

Duan Boyu was silent for a while, then said: "Since that's the case, if you don't want to tell me, I have to ask Shen Yu for the truth."

He left, his footsteps extinguished in the cold aisle.Liang Heng lost his last strength. He closed his eyes in this bloody and dead Beisi Prison, trying to recall whether he had left traces of his biological parents in the first memory of his life as a pawn, but of course it was futile.

There was a sob-like gasp in his ear, and he couldn't tell whether it was Shinshu or himself.

On the eighth day of February, the vernal equinox, avoid breaking ground or demolishing houses.

The first thing the new emperor did after he ascended the throne was to demolish the former East Palace.After unloading the beams and pillars of the main hall, and digging out the ancient trees and artificial rocks in the courtyard, it seems that the East Palace will be completely razed to the ground.There are good things and people watch, and they can get one or two pieces of palace bricks and tiles to use as a stove. There are also rich people who spend money to buy Qinggong furniture for extravagance.

Wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat on his head, Shen Yu hid behind the crowd, seeing that the palaces and gardens where he used to study and play were completely demolished, exposing the pitted and rocky ground.Like the face of being abused.

Workers carried the ancient wood that Qiu Qianli had given to Liang Heng out of the street.Shen Yu still remembered the grand occasion of carrying the tree into the palace. For this tree, Liang Heng spent a long time choosing a site. There are many trees in his garden, and some of them are said to have been planted by the court ladies who raised him when he was young.

Now they were all dug up and carried to the street. Someone said sharply, "There seems to be something wrapped around the root of the tree?"

The foreman took it off and saw that it was a dowry, which was very old, and the paint color was peeling off and mottled.

"Could it be the Empress of the Eastern Palace?"

"Nonsense, where is the empress from the East Palace?"

The merchant who received the goods quickly said, "It's considered something that came out of the palace. I'll pay you five taels of silver."

The foreman happily handed over the broken box.

"Twelve."

The heavy money bag was thrown to the foreman, and the box was picked up by a young man. The merchant said, "I'll pay you 15 taels! Little brother, what's the use of taking it? I'll buy it back to coax my wife!"

Shen Yu ignored it, put the mother-of-pearl makeup dowry into his sleeve, and walked back to the inn.

The casket is not very expensive, and it is just an ordinary item on the market, not like the property of a noble woman.Perhaps it was the ground where the court lady buried the sapling together.Inside was a velvet flower hairpin, Shen Yu took it out and examined it carefully, there seemed to be a tiny gap at the end of the wooden hairpin.

Under twisting, the gap widened, and finally split into two pieces, with a thin silk wrapped in the hollow.The silk paper is stretched, full of yellow and old colors, and the tiny characters are like countless bugs, eating away at the vertical and horizontal grains.

The tissue paper was torn in two, Duan Yanyou stood up against the desk, and said angrily: "Go and tell Jiang Zhi that if you don't want to do anything, you can leave. Do you have to provoke me to give him a three-foot white silk?!"

In the hall, Xu Zhuan, Yang Xi, etc. were silent like cicadas.

It was announced outside the hall that the prime minister had an audience, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.Duan Boyu was not moved by the tense atmosphere, and asked with a smile, "Why is Your Majesty so angry?"

Duan Yanyou said coldly: "Jiangzuo supervisor is too lenient, he dares to control me. It must be that he is dissatisfied with everything. I am afraid that changing the emperor can achieve his wish."

In just a few days, he has completely exposed his extreme character just like his father.

The uncle and nephew had a tacit understanding, as soon as Duan Boyu arrived, Duan Yanyou shunned others.

"Jiang Zhi was appointed by the abolished emperor," Duan Boyu said, "this person is very typical. He is loyal to the monarch rather than the country. His Majesty has to use him, and it is not impossible. , only His Majesty is left to serve."

Duan Yanyou pretended to remember, and said: "Yes, that person is still detained in Beisi Prison. I remember that I ordered him not to be tortured."

"Of course not."

"What evening is this evening?"

Duan Boyu replied, "It's the vernal equinox."

The willows are dark and the flowers are bright and the sun is warm every day, and the vernal equinox does not decrease.

Duan Yanyou smiled like a prime minister: "Then let's make a deal tonight."