such as Yue Linyuan

The geisha who were summoned to perform at Prince An's Mansion changed a batch, this time they were geisha who were similar to Yangzhou skinny horses, who were beyond the reach of ordinary dandies.

It's just that these geishas are different from ordinary geishas. Most of them are born in the family, and they were confiscated because their relatives were convicted, so they were reduced to official geishas.They are different from ordinary court prostitutes. Not only are they good in appearance and figure, but because of their good background, all of them are proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the only ones who can call them to perform at the mansion are princes and nobles. But if you want to be their The guests who enter the curtain, but no one can, because the only one who can touch their bodies is the present sage.

It was also the first time for these geisha to visit Prince Ann's mansion. On the first night of their arrival, they were placed in the guest room and told that there would be another banquet tomorrow.

Acting is an extremely physical and energy-consuming thing, at least for Chu Yuezhi.

He played and sang night and night for several days in a row, obviously he didn't pay attention to those geishas, ​​but he had to pretend to be drunk and dreamy. He was really bored tonight, so he decided to rest for the night.

I don't know if it's because he was too exhausted recently. Although he was forced to put the jade into his body every night before going to sleep, it didn't make him unable to fall asleep because of this. Any night in three years, I slept more peacefully.To a certain extent, he suspects that his body has become more and more lazy recently, which is also the reason why he slept too well and slept more and more.

Zhou Ji went to meet with Wei Yunxiao, and Chu Yuezhi was alone in the room watching the news reports about Da Jiuqing and Xiao Jiuqing, as well as the cabinet, from the eyeliner he had placed outside for the past three years.

The so-called Dajiuqing refers to the six ministers, the imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Dali Temple Qing and the Tongzheng envoy, while the Xiao Jiuqing refers to the Taichang Temple Qing, Taipusi Qing, Guanglu Siqing, Zhan Shi, Imperial Academy, Honglu Temple Minister, Guozijian Jijiu, Yuanma Temple Minister and Shangbao Secretary.

There are only a few of these that need attention.

The Ministers of the Ministry of Rites, Ministers of the Ministry of War, and Ministers of the Ministry of Industry were all newly promoted by Chu Yuelei after he convicted the original three ministers.The Ministry of Household Affairs, the Imperial Envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Minister of Dali Temple are all under the control of Si Yuanting.

As for the cabinet, most of them came directly from Hanlin bachelors, and although the chief assistant also has the right to vote, but in the end they have to rely on the eunuchs to send them to approve the redemption, so in fact, in order to gain a certain amount of power, the relationship between the cabinet and Si Yuanting is also close. Inseparable.

It can be said that the entire court is now under the control of Si Yuanting, and Chu Yuelei has suspected so many people, but he has never been suspicious of Si Yuanting, and has even always regarded Si Yuanting as his confidant, letting Si Yuanting be bit by bit Cannibalize the power of the court.

Why on earth did Chu Yuelei trust Si Yuanting so much?

This question has been rooted in Chu Yuezhi's mind for a long time, but he has never been able to find the answer.

Most of the informants in his hands are the dirty things that these ministers have hidden in the dark in the past and present. What are the weaknesses of these people, where should they start, whether they should be kept or should be removed? He has to make long-term plans and plan one by one. .Not having real power does not mean that he has no people of his own, and disbanding the Heron Battalion does not mean that he has not cultivated other dark lines in the past three years. He just has no retreat, but he has the strength to fight back and give it a go.

Although he has reached a deal with Si Yuanting now, he still cannot trust Si Yuanting 100%. Yuan Ting's power strikes at everyone else.He can't let Si Yuanting feel that his interests are damaged. Before ascending to the throne of God, he needs to ensure that his and Si Yuanting's interests are consistent. That is to say, he needs to consider Si Yuanting.

This is actually the thing that bothers him the most.

He is good at leading troops to fight, but this kind of power struggle is always too shallow.When the first emperor was in power, he never cared about the battle for the reserve position, and he left the court early to defend the frontier. Many things were not known until Chu Yuelei sent him a letter after the dust settled.

For example, when the first emperor established the first prince as the crown prince according to the ancestral system, he didn't want the second prince and the fourth prince to have the intention to compete for the crown prince, so he has caused many obstacles to the first prince. Torn from the position of the crown prince, he never expected that Chu Yuelei, who was deeply hidden, stood in line with the first prince, offered a plan to make the second prince and the fourth prince turn against each other, and the last one deposed and the other committed suicide in prison.

Another example is that although the fifth prince was born in the emperor's family, he is a born infatuated species. Because the concubine died in childbirth, he was overly sad, and finally chose to ask the late emperor to remove him from the royal family tree, and then took off his clothes The prince was dressed, and went to the national temple alone to become a monk.

The former emperor had seven sons, except for the sixth prince who died of smallpox at a young age. In the past ten years, the fate of their six princes has undergone earth-shaking changes.

And now, even he has embarked on the road of usurping the throne.

He can't use the method of arranging troops directly on power struggles. He has to think more than when leading an army to fight, and he has to be more careful to figure out people's hearts and attack the weaknesses of human nature.

He has no allies. Si Yuanting is not his ally. He is just a trading partner for mutual use. But he is also the only person he needs most and the only person who can help him in power at this stage. Every step he takes, he has to worry about Si Yuanting. Si Yuanting couldn't be allowed to turn his face and stand on the opposite side of him without recognizing anyone.

However, most of the people he wants to move are related to Si Yuanting, and Si Yuanting is not someone who can be manipulated by him. If he wants to make a move on the chessboard, he must first let Si Yuanting accept and agree to his move The place.And this is far more difficult to implement than imagined.

He just didn't inform Si Yuanting before planning Fang Zhili's death, and he was tormented by Si Yuanting to the point where he even revealed the secret of his habit of breaking sleeves. If you made Si Yuanting unhappy when you attacked, what kind of punishment would you receive?

Putting away the newspapers that he had repeatedly read these days, Chu Yue insisted on extinguishing the candles in the outer room, and it was not until he lay down on the bed in the inner room that he suddenly realized that he was used to the strange feeling of using jade in his body. , Even if you sit for a long time, you no longer feel uncomfortable.

I really don't know whether to say that my body is exceptionally gifted, or because the jade stone that Si Yuanting asked him to use is not too big.

In short, for him, it is nothing to be thankful for.

There is a small night pearl in the inner room, emitting a faint light in the dark.This luminous pearl is a treasure that he has loved since he was a child. When he entered the military camp and went to the frontier, he also carried this luminous pearl as a talisman.It's just that he no longer remembers whether the Ye Mingzhu was given to him by the first emperor, or whether it was given by Chu Yuelei or the fifth emperor brother.

After Chu Yuezhi got on the bed, he looked at the luminous pearl quietly, and fell asleep in a daze after a while.

The sound of the watch at night could not reach Prince An's mansion.

The tall figure quietly walked into the inner room and sat down on the edge of the bed. The dim light of the night pearl reflected a gleam of light into the man's gloomy eyes.

Chu Yuezhi, who still retains the habit of marching, pulled out the short knife from the pillow when he woke up, and quickly stabbed at the person beside the bed. The right hand held the knife, and Chu Yuezhi did not hesitate after being blocked. He let go of his five fingers, caught the falling dagger with his left hand and stabbed again.

He clasped Chu Yuezhi's right wrist with his backhand, and then clamped the blade of the stabbing knife with his two fingers, stopping the knife from being castrated. Si Yuanting looked at Chu Yuezhi's face sinking like water, and did not trespass on other people's mansion at all. Feeling guilty, he was as calm as if this was also his mansion, and said: "It seems that although Prince An is no longer a general, his sensitivity and reaction speed are still the same as before. If it were someone else, I'm afraid that at this moment Already died by Prince An's sword."

There are only a handful of people in this world who can catch the knife stabbed by Chu Yuezhi with their bare hands. Although Chu Yuezhi knew that Si Yuanting was also a master of the inner family, he did not expect that he could catch the knife blade stabbed by himself. Surprised, he frowned and said, "What's your business when the company visits late at night?"

"No one else, I just saw that Prince An didn't host a banquet tonight, so I came over to take a look." Si Yuanting glanced at the blade that would have pierced his throat if the reaction was a little slower, and flicked the blade with his index finger again, He asked, "Has Prince An always slept so lightly?"

Putting away the dagger, Chu Yuezhi wanted to distance himself from Si Yuanting, but Si Yuanting still clasped his right hand, so he gave up and said, "If you were to fight in the frontier for several years, you would do the same. .”

Staring at Chu Yuezhi's side profile illuminated by Ye Mingzhu, Si Yuanting looked at Chu Yuezhi until the back of his neck was covered with chills, and then sneered, "Our family doesn't have that kind of blessing. The great general of the family defending the country, but Prince An's vigilance and reaction made our family think of a word."

Chu Yuezhi had an intuition that Si Yuanting would not say anything good, so he kept his mouth shut and did not intend to ask.

Si Yuanting didn't need him to ask, he rubbed his right hand which he held in his palm with his left hand, and rubbed his inner wrist back and forth with his cold fingertips, and said: "How can you allow others to sleep soundly beside the emperor? From this point of view, Prince An is Very suitable for that supreme position."

Chu Yuezhi was still unaccustomed to Si Yuanting's various intimate behaviors towards him, so he grabbed his right hand uncomfortably, not particularly hard, but naturally he couldn't break away from Si Yuanting's hand, and he always treated his boss Yuanting as deep as an ancient pool With Ji Liao's eyes, Chu Yuezhi's tone became a little more impatient: "Why do you have to mock this king so much? I know that this king has a habit of breaking sleeves. Even if this king ascends to the throne of God in the future, no one can do it." Be the king's pillow."

"Really." Si Yuanting was noncommittal, "Prince An is in his thirties after all, has there been no one in his heart for all these years?"

Don't look away, unwilling to look at Si Yuanting's pair of phoenix eyes that seem to be able to pierce people's hearts, Chu Yuezhi said coldly: "This matter has nothing to do with Mr. Si, I don't need to answer."

Si Yuanting raised his eyebrows lightly, let go of Chu Yuezhi's right hand and stretched out his hand to pinch his chin, making him turn his face back to face him, and said: "Prince An should remember that the body of Prince An is now But it belongs to our family. Seeing that Prince An obediently used the jade, our family will not argue with Prince An this time."

His face was slightly stiff, and Chu Yuezhi didn't know how Si Yuanting knew that he was using jade. This was always something that made him feel ashamed. Because of Si Yuanting's words, he could even feel himself tensing up subconsciously. The muscles in the waist and abdomen were stretched, just like when Si Yuanting held him in his arms and played with him.

Leaning close to Chu Yuezhi's ear, Si Yuanting blew into Chu Yuezhi's ear, and said softly: "Our family saw that Prince An's dancing skills are very good, next time we will dance alone for our family to see."

Chu Yuezhi's ears are extremely sensitive, Si Yuanting's overly intimate teasing made Chu Yuezhi's back tremble for a while, and he wanted to refuse Si Yuanting's request, even if it would annoy Si Yuanting It doesn't matter, but before he could speak, Si Yuanting took his waist and put him down on the bed again, then pressed his shoulder and said to him: "Sleep, when you fall asleep, I will leave."

Lying stiffly, the sense of jade in his body inexplicably became stronger. Chu Yuezhi wanted to say that he would not be able to sleep at all, but Si Yuanting put his hands on his eyes and said, "If you want to say that our family is here, you can't sleep. An Mian, our family doesn't mind letting you be in our hands now..."

"Don't, don't say it." Grabbing Si Yuanting's hand covering his eyes, Chu Yuezhi bit his lower lip hard, curled up on his side, and said weakly, "I'll just sleep."

After stroking Chu Yuezhi's loose black hair, Si Yuanting sat quietly on the edge of the bed, even the sound of his breathing was so soft that he could hardly hear it.

Chu Yuezhi didn't know when he fell asleep. He stayed stiff for a long time, knowing that Si Yuanting had been watching him the whole time. He didn't know what Si Yuanting's real purpose came tonight, nor did he Why did Yuan Ting let him fall asleep under his gaze? His always clear mind was in chaos, and in the end he didn't even know when he fell into a dream.

He dreamed of that young man again, the young man who always held his hand, accompanied him from Xie Fang Hall to the study hall on the right side of Huangji Gate, and accompanied him to listen to Shao Fu's lectures.

The boy's face has been blurred for many years. He has never seen the boy's appearance clearly in his dreams. He only saw the boy half a head taller than himself, and then heard the boy call him tenderly over and over again: "Chu Qi " Then on the way to the school, the young man always said to him with a smile: "Chu Qi, let's go slowly, don't worry, I will always be with you."

How can people know that he has been in love with the boy whose face he can't see clearly in his dreams for many years.

He asked many people if they had ever seen such a young man by his side, but no matter the maids or eunuchs in the palace, they said that there was no such a person.

Even so, he still firmly believed that the boy in his dream had really existed, and it was definitely not his fantasy, but he didn't know where to find that boy, and he didn't even know the boy's name.

He wanted to know where the boy was now, and even more wanted to hear the boy call him again: "Chu Qi."