Prime Minister, he just refuses to usurp the throne

In February of the third year of Jingchun, everything in the capital gradually revived and grew, and the feeling of spring gradually became stronger.

Since the temple fair ended a few days ago, Xie Anshuang has returned to her daily "regular" life - wandering around during the day and randomly choosing a lucky concubine's palace to sleep at night.It's just that because there are more Xing Wenshus than usual, he will occasionally be bothered to go to the imperial study to review memorials and meet ministers.

In the past few days, Xing Wenshu's left hand injury has recovered well, except for the time when Xie Anshuang called him to be a bodyguard, the rest of the time seems to be focused on investigating the masked man.

Every time Xie Anshuang wanted to find him, he was either in the dungeon or in the bookstore, or on the way to these two places.

However, in the past few days, Xing Wenshu's investigation has not made much progress, and a large part of it is due to Xie Anshuang.

Xie Anshuang speculated that the matter of the masked man had something to do with the Empress Dowager Yuangui. Interfering with him was to prevent Xing Wenshu from getting involved with the Queen Mother's party prematurely, and also to continue to create the illusion of embarrassing him.

And his interference method is basically to arrange more chores for Xing Wenshu, which is also convenient for him to start accumulating and cultivating his own power and prestige.

At the same time, Xie Anshuang and Ye Zihe also secretly searched for all relevant clues, but unfortunately they did not make much progress without interference.

On the fourth day of February, the first spring rain fell in the capital.

Xie Anshuang stood in front of the window looking at the rain curtain outside, his eyes were full of thoughts.

For four full days, no matter whether it was the masked man or Qian Xiaodu, there was no progress.

"Don't worry about these things for the time being, Xiao An, don't worry too much." Ye Zihe said distressedly behind him, "It's not good to think too much, let's do it little by little."

Xie Anshuang turned around, frowned and said, "I know I can't be in a hurry, but I always have a premonition... maybe Yuangui will make some moves in the near future."

"In the two years since I took the throne, Yuan Gui has hardly interfered with my profligate behavior. Combined with the sudden appearance of Qianxiao Poison and the masked man recently, I suspect that Yuan Gui is still planning something."

He went to the table and sat down again, picked up the empty teacup in front of him, and continued: "My immunity to Qianxiao Poison was forced out by her, she must know that Qianxiao Poison would not kill me. On the first day, Gong Shilang paid a sudden visit, and precisely grasped my wound."

Ye Zihe frowned after listening to his analysis: "Are you suspicious... Yuan Gui wants to control you again?"

"More than that." Xie Anshuang shook her head, "She has great ambitions, and she will never be satisfied with manipulating me. What she wants is greater power."

For example, sitting on that dragon chair.

Ye Zihe could hear the rest of his unfinished words, and fell silent.

In the past, he might not have believed that the Empress Dowager Yuangui, a woman in the palace, would have such great ambitions, but after what happened to the Fourth Prince, he would no longer doubt the cruelty of the Empress Dowager Yuangui.

Ye Zihe sighed, and asked again: "Then Xiao An, do you know why she did these things?"

Xie Anshuang shook his head and replied, "I don't know. I have been manipulated by Yuangui since I can remember. At that time, I only knew that if I made her unhappy, I would suffer."

If he hadn't met Xing Wenshu when he was five years old, perhaps he would have been reduced to Yuangui's puppet long ago, without his own thoughts and emotions, just a tool.

He lowered his eyelashes and poured himself a cup of tea.

Seeing the change in his mood, Ye Zihe no longer stayed on this topic, and was about to turn to other things when he heard a knock on the door, and then Fuyuan came in from the door.

After paying respects to Xie Anshuang, Fuyuan said: "Your Majesty, the grand lady of Ningshou Palace said that the Empress Dowager wants to see you."

Xie An's eyes darkened, and he replied: "I know, let's prepare the sedan chair."

"Yes." Fu Yuan stepped back in response.

After the sound of closing the door sounded, Xie Anshuang put the teacup in his hand on the table, and said calmly, "The one who should come is here. I will go to Ningshou Palace later, son and brother, you should go back first."

Ye Zihe looked worried, but after a while he sighed and said: "You must be careful and take care of your body."

Xie Anshuang nodded, watched Ye Zihe leave Chang'an Palace, not long after, Fuyuan came again to inform that the sedan chair was ready.

He took a deep breath, got on the sedan chair and went to Ningshou Palace.

Continuous spring rain fell on the top of the sedan chair, and the entire palace was shrouded in rain and fog.

Xie Anshuang opened the car curtain and looked at the spring rain outside the window, and could vaguely feel the cool rain blowing in with the wind.

He remembered that the last time he went to Ningshou Palace must have been half a year ago, because Yuan Gui wanted him to promote Gong Shilang to Minister of the Ministry of Industry, but he was only promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Yuangui called him to Ningshou Palace to be punished.

This time, it is estimated that they will find something to punish him by the head.

While Xie Anshuang was thinking, the sedan chair had already arrived at Ningshou Palace.

He lowered his eyes to restrain all his emotions, took another deep breath, stepped off the sedan chair and entered Ningshou Palace.

The Empress Dowager Yuangui sat on the main seat of the Ningshou Palace, dressed gracefully and luxuriously, holding a cup of tea in her hand, looked at Xie Anshuang's position, and said plainly: "You are here."

Xie Anshuang lowered his head and knelt down respectfully: "I have seen the empress dowager."

"En." The Empress Dowager Yuangui responded, took a sip of tea unhurriedly, and then slowly continued, "Why did your Ai family call you over?"

Xie An replied politely: "I don't know, please ask the Queen Mother to enlighten me."

Empress Dowager Yuangui sneered: "I heard from Aijia that you recently appointed a new prime minister?"

Xie Anshuang continued to answer: "There is indeed such a thing. The prime minister was recommended by the minister, and the minister ordered him to return to Beijing within seven days. I didn't expect him to come back."

"The Ai family doesn't care about the reason." The Empress Dowager Yuangui put the tea cup back on the table, and looked at Xie Anshuang who was kneeling in the middle indifferently, "I remember that the Ai family once said that Gong Shilang should be reserved for the position of prime minister."

Xie Anshuang pursed her lower lip at an angle she couldn't see, and replied after a while: "I have made a promise before, and if I break my promise rashly, I may cause trouble. But please rest assured, Empress Dowager, I will use various means to make things difficult for him and force him to take the initiative." Resign."

"Better so."

Empress Dowager Yuangui replied, "As a punishment, you can go outside and kneel for an hour."

Xie Anshuang obediently replied: "Yes."

Then he stood up, walked into the spring rain without any resistance, and knelt down straight facing Ningshou Palace.The rainwater left water stains on the fabric of his body almost instantly, and fainted with the coldness of early spring.

The maids standing at the door lowered their eyebrows and looked down, as if they had long been accustomed to such a scene.

The majestic king of a country is punished to kneel in the rain. Even if it gets out, it will only become a joke that can't be taken seriously after dinner.

A hint of self-mockery flashed across Xie An's eyes, and he quickly withdrew all expressions, acting as a tool without emotion, quietly waiting for an hour to end.

One hour is not long, not short. The wound on Xie Anshuang's left hand has not yet fully healed, and there is a faint tingling after being soaked in rainwater, but he has been slightly numb from the cold, and the originally insensitive pain has become more and more intense. slow.

The rain in the early spring was continuous, and the rain drenched hair and clothes, and the coldness penetrated into the bones, even Xie Anshuang, who was not afraid of the cold all the year round, couldn't bear it.

After finally surviving for an hour, Xie An's lips had already turned pale, he staggered to his feet, rested on the spot for a while, and then walked straight back.

The sedan chair when he came had already been evacuated under the signal of Empress Dowager Yuangui, and none of the servants of the Chang'an Palace were allowed to stay, so he could only walk in the direction of Chang'an Palace step by step in the rain.

The pattering spring rain obscured Xie Anshuang's vision, he pursed his lips and tried to go back, but he unknowingly came to Xing Wenshu's residence in the palace.

...What is the use of him coming here?

Xie Anshuang made a self-deprecating arc, but stopped in the distance involuntarily, looking at the house from a distance.

He still remembered that his first encounter with Xing Wenshu was also after such a continuous spring rain, but Xing Wenshu didn't recognize him at that time, and maybe he had long forgotten that he had met a dirty child in the Imperial Garden .

Xie Anshuang smiled wryly, turned around and was about to leave, but at this moment, he bumped into Xing Wenshu who had just come back from outside.