Hypocrites

"I heard," Cui Jiruo asked nonchalantly, "You were brought up by a court lady when you were young?"

Liang Heng said: "It's a very small matter. I heard from Xinzhou that there were maids and maids in the Chu Palace before. This...you mean, could it be that Sister-in-law Ling once stayed in the Chu Palace?"

Cui Ji didn't answer, and stepped into a wing room in the east courtyard with the rattan box in his arms. The bed in the room was vacant, and there was no occupant for a long time.Maybe it was Cui Yi's former house.

Beside the antique rack placed on the Xuan window, a person is placing a small plum vase on it.

"Brother Yu?" Liang Heng asked, "Why are you here?"

What is inserted in the plum vase is not a seasonal flower, but a velvet flower, which turns purple like furnace ashes after the residual heat has dissipated.Shen Yu held a mother-of-pearl dowry in his hand, Cui Ji glanced at it, then looked away again.

Shen Yu handed the dowry to Liang Heng: "Duan Yanyou bulldozed the East Palace. It was dug up under the tree in front of your original bedroom. I remember you said that the tree was as old as you."

In the silent silence between Shen Yu and Cui Ji, Liang Heng tasted something unusual, and took the dowry with a premonition that he was about to realize it. Inside was a piece of silk as thin as a cicada's wing.

Shen Yu: "This letter was originally hidden in a velvet flower hairpin. I took it out after it hadn't seen the light of day for 20 years."

The writing on the silk, to be precise, is not a letter.A letter must not only have a source, but also a destination, like water without a source, duckweed without roots, buried deep in the ground, wandering outside of time and space, can only be called a record, I don’t know who to write to, I don’t know where it will be To be read by anyone, to leave the writing pen, is to become a dead soul.

The narrator is a bystander who has nothing to do with this matter, so he left his life to pass down this silk letter.This person was originally a slave girl who was born in a dark street in Dongluli, Wangdu City. She sold herself to work in an official's mansion at the age of 17.The Patriarch's surname is Duan, and he works as Zoucao. Not long after opening the house, he bought a dozen servants, three of whom were dedicated to serve the Patriarch's younger sister.

Being a domestic servant is a thing that can be seen to the end at a glance, but who would have thought that the Duan family could rise to heaven alone, and the head of the family soon moved from Zuo Cao You to Prime Minister Shao Shi, and then was promoted to Prime Minister.As soon as Miss Duan flew to the branch and mothered the world, the narrator and the other two companions changed from ordinary servants to palace ladies.

There is nothing in Zhang Yi Palace that is unbelievable. The random flowers are gradually becoming charming.The three girls who grew up in the dark street have never had such a luxurious life. Even their humble identities have been forgotten. Because they are the queen's female officials, they are respected everywhere, and their hearts are rising day by day.There is only one prohibition, the servants in the palace need to agree to escape from the empty door, the six sense organs are pure, and no personal affairs with others are allowed.However, one of the three female officials soon got carried away and violated this rule.

The girl's name was Shidong, and she met her beloved one spring.

Foreign men are not allowed to enter the Gui Palace, so it was a very rare opportunity. Several chess waiters came to teach the queen to play chess with the female officials.There are teenagers in the national chess game, one of them is in the prime of life and high-spirited, instructing three female officials, asked about the chess skills of the girls, and the other two only said that they can't, Shi Dong had no choice but to sit opposite each other.Regarding these elegant things, Shi Dong's seven orifices have opened up six orifices, but she doesn't know anything about it. She just thinks that the chess fingers are white and strong, very beautiful. There are two lingering black and white lines.

The chess official couldn't help laughing, and praised her: "Young lady's exquisite skills are so entangled that there is no place to display her eighteen martial arts."

Not long after that, Shi Dong began to take time out to embroider handkerchiefs, often without seeing anyone in the blink of an eye.The people below looked at each other and knew what happened, but they kept their mouths shut.Later, even the queen's side complained that she was sick, so the narrator went to visit and learned that she was pregnant with Liujia.

The three female officials followed Ms. Duan from her home to the palace. Their friendship was extraordinary. If Empress Duan was kind, she might be let out of the palace.But Shidong didn't dare to risk his life, and was complaining to the narrator, unable to make up his mind to abort the fetus, and was suddenly summoned by the queen.The two of them closed the door and didn't know what to say. After Shi Dong came out, he was full of energy, as if he had been reborn.

The queen not only allowed her to have a love affair, but even allowed her to raise a baby in the palace. Shi Dong never dreamed that such a good thing would happen.How can there be such a good thing in the world?

Coincidentally, shortly after the queen summoned Shi Dong, the indifferent Emperor Wenshen seemed to suddenly remember that there was a neglected wife in the deep palace, and came to Gui Palace one after another.The queen is pregnant, and everyone celebrates.

The queen and the female officer Shidong gave birth on both feet. On the day the son was born, Shidong disappeared.The narrator hurriedly went to the chess place, but even the chess official disappeared overnight. The two of them disappeared like a dream, leaving no trace of their existence.

The eldest son of the empress of Zhenggong, he was established as the crown prince at birth, and the East Palace was built as his residence.The narrator and another female official were ordered to take care of His Royal Highness in the East Palace, and under the empress' warning, they forgot Shi Dong and the chess official forever, just pretending that these two people had never existed in the world.

The narrator walked on thin ice and was often frightened. She only dared to trace the outline of His Highness's brows and eyebrows with her eyes carefully in the middle of the night, trying to find the shadow of her friend.But His Highness is too young, and she may never be able to wait for him to grow up.

The imperial palace is like an abyss cracking the eyes of the sea, the depth is bottomless, swallowing a living person like a drop of dew.The sky-reaching technique covered the sky with paper, drawing a circle with a brush is the sun and the moon, and how many life-threatening secrets were buried under this false sky.

One day, she will be like a drop of lightning that cannot survive the morning dew, and will be killed by the queen's light will, and be buried with this secret.Therefore, she wrote what she knew and felt on fine silk, and hid it under a tree, hoping that someone with a heart could dig it up, or bury it in the loess forever, and she could do nothing.

After Liang Heng finished reading the long letter, he found that Cui Ji had disappeared, leaving Shen Yu to sit with him.

"Why?" Liang Heng asked strangely, "Did he not dare to face me?"

Shen Yu observed his expression, and he was not as bewildered and dazed as he had imagined. It can be seen that Liang Heng's mentality has changed after successive accidents.

"He thought you couldn't stand it, and wanted to be alone."

Liang Heng let out a groan, staring at the silk letter, his eyes showed a very light color like meditation, and said for a while: "I seem to have heard of this story somewhere. Don't you think it is exactly the same as Liang Xuan's life experience? "

"I'm afraid Liang Xuan thinks the same way," Shen Yu said, "When he heard about a court lady having an affair with someone, it's hard not to think of the erroneous maid Fengchun who was next to the princess back then."

"So, Liang Xuan and Queen Duan have already discovered what Shi Dong is hiding?"

"Based on what you know about them, are the late Emperor and the Empress Dowager easy to fool?"

In the past, Liang Heng might really have thought that his "father" was just a puppet who closed his eyes and listened to others, but now he discovered that in fact, everyone was at the mercy of Liang Xuan.

The three eunuchs who thought they were in control of the overall situation, Duan Xiang who held the will and asked Gu to be the regent, and even Shen Jin and Lian Bi who thought the emperor was incompetent and sent him to death for nothing, were all just abandoned sons of Liang Xuan who cleared the court for his son.Liang Xuan is the spider king who has been lying in the web for ten years and cannot move for ten years. He stretches his whole body when he pulls a hair. He is very clear-headed in every step, except that he never believes in the innocence of Zhangshan King and Princess.

Shen Yudao: "Liang Xuan saw the shadow of Fengchun in Shidong. He was tortured, hoping to get rid of the eunuch, but he couldn't find the way. After learning that a female official next to the queen was pregnant for private reasons, a trick to hide the truth suddenly floating in his mind."

"What do you mean?" Liang Heng frowned, noticing a strange place in the silk letter, "He suddenly had intercourse with Queen Duan and conceived an heir because of this trick?"

Shen Yu nodded: "If you look back at your own experience, you will understand that if he is not royal orthodox, even if he left blood, it would be a fake, and he would still be manipulated by the eunuchs. Even if he couldn't bear it and resisted, he would be exposed by the three officials. Lixin. So he doesn't look like a woman, and he is not obsessed with the continuation of offspring. One fake is fake, and two fakes become true. His own son is fake, so he found another fake one. Replace the parents and children. The three eunuchs have calculated thousands of times, but they can't figure out that the one they threatened is not the rightful master at all."

"He needs Shidong's son in order to overcome the difficulty of the bone ring?"

"More than that," Shen Yudao, "don't forget. The late emperor always believed that the King of Southern Sichuan was in collusion with the three eunuchs. Before his death, the bone ring was protected in the Southern Sichuan Army Mansion. If no one stood in front of him, Duan Yanyou would be facing the three eunuchs in the palace." An eunuch, with [-] elite soldiers from the important town in southern Sichuan. He must incite a crime to provoke the two parties to rebel, so that Duan Yanyou can take the throne safely."

Liang Heng couldn't imagine what kind of mood Liang Xuan used to face himself.The son of Shidong is the son of Fengchun. Liang Xuan did not pick an unfortunate scapegoat at random, he chose himself!The cold and distant eyes of the sick emperor in his memory were not due to his personality, but filled with his hatred for his dirty blood.Because he hated himself, he hated Liang Heng.

"So that chess order is... um, it's Cui Yi, Cui Ji's elder brother?" After going around, Liang Heng still had a chance to know the names of his biological parents.

The two stepped out of Cui Yi's room and saw Cui Ji who had been waiting for a long time in the outer corridor. He hadn't left all this time. When he saw Liang Heng, his expression was hesitant and hard to express.Cui Yi's letter mentioned that when he left home to go north, his younger brother was still young, and now this man who is not much older than them is already Liang Heng's uncle in terms of seniority.

Although it is an old friend, it is like meeting for the first time.Thinking that Cui Xian and Cui Ji had been looking for relatives for many years, but met the son of the old man but did not know each other, both of them were speechless.

Cui Ji gradually became a little embarrassed. He used to complain a lot about Liang Heng, and he even echoed the rumors about His Royal Highness in Wangducheng.

Shen Yu broke the silence for them and said: "Is Cui Shibo still sleeping at noon? He has gone to visit Heng'er at this time in the past. In my opinion, we should either sit at the same table, recognize relatives or apologize, and just talk about it."

Cui Ji was about to nod, when suddenly Liang Heng jumped up and yelled: "I haven't taken my medicine yet! It's time for Mr. Cui to teach me a lesson again!" So he walked back quickly, leaving Shen Yu and Cui Ji dumbfounded.

To be honest, the Cui family and his son are indispensable behind Liang Heng's fall to where he is today.Cui Ji had always felt guilty, and Liang Heng escaped with his life, so he had a knot in his heart that could not be untied. Now that Liang Heng was away, he asked Shen Yudao: "At that time, our father and son certainly didn't know that Heng'er was the elder brother's son. Son, but no matter what his life experience is, it is really chilling to teach the father and son of the late emperor to persecute him so innocently. Brother, you have a heart of old, and you will never leave Heng'er. Brother Yu and Jiayan are very grateful. But Duan Yanyou must buy Heng'er Even if I escape for a while, can I still escape for the rest of my life? I don’t know how to live the days after this?”

Shen Yu crossed his arms and folded his chest, his smile was colder than his bloodless skin.

"Rumors rise on the wind and go straight up to ninety thousand miles. Brother Cui, do you know which wind in the world is the best wind that can reach the Nine Heavens?"

"What... why?"

"Unfortunately, brother Yu is just getting to know this great Confucian who writes the biographies of scholars in the Qi Kingdom. He is a lifelong friend of my father and is willing to help me with this. I am afraid that Zhang Yi Palace will be in danger in the future, so I have no time to embarrass others. gone."