Broken Iron Clothes

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When the imperial army came back to deliver the message, Liu Zhaoyu was still escaping the summer heat in Shangxi Garden, only to hear that Yuan Mucheng took him away, he didn't say a few more words, he just waved his hand and sent him back, and moved to the West Palace.

Today is the Empress Dowager's birthday, but she has issued an order to the Ministry of Rites earlier to cancel the birthday banquet prepared this year, saying that due to the flood in Yuzhou and the northwest borders, the imperial court needs to allocate funds and food, and these unnecessary expenses are expensive It will be saved in this way, and it will reduce the burden on the treasury.

But although the birthday ceremony was not a big one, and the birthday banquet was changed to a family banquet, it was reasonable for Liu Zhaoyu to come forward to celebrate his birthday, but he just stepped into the hall to salute, and saw that the queen mother was accompanied by Song Yun , didn't bother to think about it, after the banquet started, he drank a few glasses of wine in a row, and before he tasted a few mouthfuls of food, Liu Zhaoyu fell unconscious.

The next day, I only heard an exclamation from Liu Zhaoyu's dormitory. When Chang Yi led someone in, he saw Song Yun wearing only obscene clothes, bowing his head and kneeling. Liu Zhaoyu sat on the side of the couch with his upper body open, his face flushed. The imaginative love affairs also spread from the mouth of the palace.

The empress dowager first went to the imperial study to look for the person, but Liu Zhaoyu refused to admit it, and only immersed himself in reviewing the memorial on the case.

"Yu'er, do you have the heart of a half-grown boy, and you are joking with Ai's family with a girl's innocence?"

"But I..." With a muffled sound, Liu Zhaoyu took the note, "I'm drunk, I haven't done anything wrong!"

The Empress Dowager held back her anger, waved her hand away from the palace people beside her, dragged her clothes and walked slowly for two steps before walking in front of Liu Zhaoyu: "Yes, you are the Son of Heaven of Dali, the Ninth Five-Year Lord, who is it when you open your mouth?" Believe it or not, they will only say that the daughter of the Minister of the Ministry of War is a broken flower and a willow, and then they will make fun of you in their hearts, and then pass on the public grievances and anger accumulated in the past six years. Do you want to keep this Dali country that is full of Liu's blood and tears?

"Leaving the royal blood should be your responsibility, Yu'er, the Liu family has no heirs, do you really want to set up the clan as the heir, but how much is left for the Liu surname, can you know better than the Ai family? "

Seeing that Liu Zhaoyu should not respond, the Queen Mother frowned even tighter: "Could it be that you have made your mind on the heirs of other princes, and others are yelling at each other, King Jingping and Weixu, don't you really think that the royal family can recognize them?" Don't forget, Yuan Mucheng and Lu Xianfeng are able to enjoy Dali's favor because of their father's friendship with the late emperor, and they have nothing to do with the royal blood, so are they qualified to sit on the throne!"

Liu Zhaoyu closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. After a while, he suppressed his anger and shouted, "Queen Mother, don't push me any more!"

"Is what Aijia said wrong? To whom are you pretending to be confused? Aijia has been self-willed by you for six years, but this time is different from usual. How many people are watching that the daughter of the Song family served you in your bedroom all night?" According to the facts, if the concubine's order is not fulfilled today, the Ai family will not leave, if you want to be tough, then seal the mouth of the Ai family as well."

The Empress Dowager's words lingered in his ears for a long time, Liu Zhaoyu leaned his elbow on the table and sighed with his forehead, but the violent heartbeat in his chest gradually stabilized.

-

Now that Jiang Yu has moved the mansion, Huimei Courtyard is also vacant, only Yi Qinchen and Lin Song come back to take care of it from time to time.

The summer has not faded, and the green leaves of the trees are crowded together, and there are some disturbing cicadas hidden in them, filling the empty courtyard with noise. This day, Yi Qinchen shuttles alone amidst the singing of Huimei Courtyard, the light I walked back and forth twice after fetching water to the door.

Before Zhong Dingshan left, he specifically asked him to take good care of the cherry trees outside Huimei Courtyard. Yi Qinchen would come here to take care of them whenever he was free. Now his eyes can no longer see, but he still has some blurred problems, but it is not bad. He recovered quickly, seeing that the tree was growing gratifyingly, and thinking that Gu Nanxing might be able to wait for the flowers to bloom after he came back, he was relieved to see it.

"Do you want me to help?" Lin Song happened to turn around to look for him after finishing his work. From a distance, he saw the familiar figure standing in the shadow, and couldn't help asking before he approached.

Yi Qinchen turned his head and smiled at him: "Has the news of the delivery to the general and Vice-Master Jiang been out?"

"Sent out."

Seeing that something was on his mind, Lin Song only picked up the ladle and walked in with half a bucket of water left after answering the words, but just as he entered the door, his gaze was drawn away by the two jars of wine placed on the stone table Attention.

"I'm free today, do you want to have a drink or two?" Yi Qinchen walked in after him.

"You can only see with these eyes, and you haven't fully recovered, so don't drink alcohol."

Lin Song was about to continue walking in, but he heard Yi Qinchen say again: "The dark guard should be on call, come and go without a shadow, now you are in the dark guard, not to mention getting drunk, sometimes you need to have a drink." Be careful, today I allow you to drink to your heart's content, but after the hangover is over, you can't drink too much."

A few days ago when the news of Xuguo came, Lin Song once hid alone in the courtyard and drank a jug of wine. When Yi Qinchen found him, he cried and vomited all over the floor in embarrassment. When he remembered the next day, His ears were bloodshot.

Xu felt a little ashamed again, Lin Song couldn't help but cleared his throat: "I'm sorry, that day I...that was the first time I touched alcohol and vomited on you."

"It doesn't matter if you make a joke, it's always a lesson that can make people remember." Yi Qinchen walked to the table and was about to open the altar, but someone grabbed his wrist lightly.

"Thank you for your kindness, but there is no need to drink this wine."

"Don't you want to drink?" Yi Qinchen asked.

"Don't drink," Lin Song said, "he is my brother, and I should bear the sadness, so venting once is enough, let me resolve the rest, I can't escape anything by drinking to relieve my sorrow, and I also Don't want to forget him."

The boy's body should be much taller and stronger, and he is almost as tall as Yi Qinchen.

Thinking about his hard work in the dark guards these days, Yi Qinchen suddenly felt that the young man in front of him had matured a lot, and thought that if his sister was still there, she should be this old.

"Lin Song," Yi Qinchen smiled slightly, "You have grown up."

"I'm seventeen." Lin Song looked at him.

"Seventeen is still young..." Yi Qinchen stretched out his hand to compare his height, and gradually shifted his gaze to the wine jar on the table.

"I'm not a child anymore, Qinchen." Lin Song murmured in a low voice, with tenderness gradually appearing in his eyes, but more regret and loneliness.

Yi Qinchen didn't notice it, and just said to himself: "But it's a pity that no one drinks this wine, it's better to save it and wait for Nanxing to come back and open it again... Were you talking just now?"

"No." Lin Song moved his eyes away, and the hand on the man's wrist also retracted.

Yi Qinchen didn't ask any more questions, picked up the wine jars and walked into the room, before halfway through, the two wine jars were picked up by Lin Song.

"Thank you." Yi Qinchen thanked the man, but the wry smile on the young man's face grew a little more.

-

After leaving the small town, Yuan Mucheng and Jiang Shiqing traveled westward all the way, and when they stopped today, they just stayed in a forest. When more than [-] people set up a fire to rest, the news from the northern border and the city came almost at the same time.

On the one hand, Yuan Haoxun and Yuan Mujie cooperated back and forth and won the raid of the Balang Division. Lu Tianrui will also arrive at the Yuzhou Camp. At the same time, a new batch of military rations will arrive by water in the near future. On the other hand, Yemenzhuang will deliver it to Yi Qinchen The news there said that Liu Zhaoye had gone south from the Wusen Department and was now rushing to the west.

It was at this time that Yuan Mucheng became silent. After the meal, he called Lai Chang aside by himself.

"Last time, you said that someone asked you about Tan Ningxue earlier?"

"Master has a good memory."

Yuan Mucheng didn't turn his head, just asked: "When, who asked?"

"Yimenzhuang, just when they asked me to negotiate terms to help you, it was also strange. Aren't those people on the same side as the big master? Why does the big master look like he doesn't know anything?" , Lai Chang's eyes drifted towards Jiang Shiqing, but when he turned his head again, Yuan Mucheng was no longer in the same place, so he shook his hand and left without any worries.

It was deep in the forest at night, Yuan Mucheng didn't go too far, so he found a secluded place and sat alone.The soles of the boots picked broken leaves and made a sound. He looked up and caught some broken stars through the dense branches. His eyes were fixed there, and he forgot all his thoughts.

But when the warm wind hit, my calm mind began to jump away, all emotions surged up, and most of my chest was blocked for a moment.

After Yuan Muqing's accident, he kept all these emotions in his heart, and he didn't dare to explode even after Jiang Shiqing fell into the river. He wanted to make himself the dependence of others, so he would not allow any mistakes to be made again. The worries accumulated in these days were mixed with The unrelenting sadness is gradually crushing his defenses.

And the news that came from the two regions in the northwest today was the last ounce of weight that broke his defense.

He was pulled back to face up to the fact of Yuan Muqing's death. He is not unfamiliar with this kind of belated pain, just like when he was slow to accept Wen Yu's death. I tried my best to hide.

After a few broken leaves stomped on him, Yuan Mucheng suddenly came back to his senses, and glanced back a few times, like a wild animal whose guard had been triggered, but as soon as the eyes touched the approaching figure, they were embedded in the soft cotton. , suddenly softened a lot.

Jiang Shiqing found him at some point, and sat down a few steps behind him.

"Lean on me when you're tired." Jiang Shiqing said.

Yuan Mucheng moved closer to him, just lying on his legs with his pillow, and pressed against his abdomen a little bit, and he could clearly feel the ups and downs that moved with his breathing.

He sought stability in this kind of comfort, and said: "When I calm down, I can always think of many things. I thought that as long as I don't mention these things, everything will pass slowly, but when the news of the old man reaches my ears, it seems Everything reminds me to remember, even if I don’t often feel heartbreaking, but the shadows of those people are everywhere, as long as I find some clues by chance, I can realize that they will not come back, but these sentimental They don't become numb, they stay there."

Jiang Shiqing listened quietly, only stroking his cheek with his fingers.

But that hand was cold, even cold.The blood that should have been warm seemed to be congealed inside, which only made people feel scared. Yuan Mucheng turned his head and approached his abdomen, but his breathing was clear. He was wandering in this uncertain vitality, and his heart trembled with fear.

He had also counted on this kind of uncertainty, hoping that the eldest sister would come to find him again, and that Jiang Shiqing would leave the city safely, but everything seemed to give him hope, but something happened, which caught him off guard.

"Then let these feelings always exist, as if they have always existed." Jiang Shiqing said softly.

"Xiao'an, remember the feelings I gave you, remember, I will always exist."

Yuan Mucheng shuddered, sat up, locked his eyes tightly and asked, "Where are you going?"

Shocked by the man's astonishment, Jiang Shiqing was stunned for a moment, then responded with a light smile: "I'm not going anywhere, I will live and die with you."

After saying that, Jiang Shiqing took the jar of wine from behind and shook it in front of his eyes.

Yuan Mucheng relaxed a lot, and asked, "Where did you get it?"

Jiang Shiqing said, "I begged for it from Mister."

Yuan Mucheng stretched out his hand to caress the wine jar, and remained silent for a while.

"Huaichuan, actually I don't..."

"I don't like drinking." Jiang Shiqing replied, "I know."

He stretched out his fingers and tapped on the altar: "But I think you should want to drink."

"I really want to." Yuan Mucheng said.

But he dared not.

Jiang Shiqing seemed to have heard his heart, and only moved a little towards him, then raised his finger to remove the cover for him.

"With me here, you can drink."