Multiple crimes

After pricking up his ears and listening carefully for a while, he confirmed that it was not the sound of a horse. Yuan Ziyou lost all sleep in an instant, and began to look around to find the source of the sound.

In the evening, there was no people in the palace, the sky was dark and there was not even a single person holding a lamp, it looked a bit desolate.Yuan Ziyou was not timid, and followed the cry with great interest to find it.

There were not many big buildings around the bedroom, and it was very quiet at night and it was very easy to recognize the sound. It didn't take Yuan Ziyou a lot of effort to find the source of the sound.

Looking up at the towering courtyard wall in front of him, Yuan Ziyou knew that there was no hope of overcoming the wall, so he could only lead the horse and walk along the corner, planning to enter through the gate.

The crying of the child in the ear is much clearer than before, not only that, there seems to be the voice of a young woman talking.Yuan Ziyou became more curious and quickened his pace unconsciously.

Fortunately, I didn't choose the wrong direction, and after turning a corner, I arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

There used to be a very unique palace here, and the owner had quite a status, as you can tell from the structure of the gate.However, since it has not been renovated for a long time, it looks a bit old and desolate.The plaque on the door has also been removed for some reason, leaving only a rectangular vacancy.

It is such a lifeless and dilapidated palace, it is so strange that there are guards guarding the door.

Yuan Ziyou casually tied the horse to a tree by the courtyard wall, turned back and walked to the door.Just as he was about to step through the door, a guard nearby suddenly stepped forward to block him and asked, "Who are you?"

"When you see the emperor, why don't you be polite?"

Yuan Ziyou went out without an entourage, and was wearing casual clothes. No wonder the guards didn't know his identity.

"Your majesty?" The man was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and looked at Yuan Ziyou with a strange expression, then he came back to his senses, knelt down on one knee and said, "Damn it, my majesty, please forgive me!"

The rest of the guards also knelt down and saluted.

Yuan Ziyou didn't pay much attention to it, he raised his leg and walked around the person under his feet.Unexpectedly, the man suddenly jumped up and stepped forward to block him: "Your Majesty, stay a step!"

Yuan Ziyou became annoyed now: "Since you know who I am, get out of the way quickly! Every place in this palace belongs to me, why do you stop me?"

The guard showed a look of embarrassment, but he was unmoved: "The little one is guarding here under the order of General Er Zhurong, and no one is allowed to enter without the general's permission. Your Majesty, look..."

"It's Er Zhurong again... So you only listen to him and not me?" Yuan Ziyou's tone slowed down, as if he was calming down his anger.

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked into the courtyard, just in time to see the hall door of the hall.A little girl stood behind the door and looked out cautiously.

The guards were silent and did not answer, which seemed to acquiesce to Yuan Ziyou's words.

"I see..." Yuan Ziyou laughed, raised his chin and bit his lower lip.

Suddenly he turned his head, pressed the guard's left shoulder, and at the same time reached for the sword at his waist with his right hand.

Yuan Ziyou shot so fast, the man felt a flash before his eyes, and before he could move, he was pushed against the wall, his back felt numb.Yuan Ziyou raised his sword amidst the exclamation of everyone, and pierced the man's right shoulder.

There was no pain at first where the hole was pierced.The guard was just frightened, held his breath and turned his neck tremblingly, only to see a gleaming white sword swaying slightly against his chin, and the hilt was still in Yuan Ziyou's hand.

With this posture, Yuan Ziyou took a step forward and approached the man's face, sneered and said in a low voice, "A doorkeeper, how dare you control me?" After saying that, he pulled out his sword forcefully.

He used a lot of strength just now, and even a small part of the tip of the sword pierced into the crack in the wall. There was a light "boo" when it was pulled out, and then there was the sound of metal rubbing against the flesh.

The guard's legs slipped and fell to the ground, and then he screamed and covered his shoulders, rolling over in overwhelming pain.

Yuan Ziyou raised his hand to wipe the blood spattered on his neck, cursed secretly, threw the sword aside, turned around and walked towards the courtyard.The guards rushed to move the injured companion, but no one stepped forward to stop him.

Yuan Ziyou was in a happy mood, and waved to the back of the palace gate from a distance.

The little girl didn't see what happened outside, and she didn't know who the young man who broke in suddenly was, so she hesitated and didn't respond.However, as soon as the skirt fluttered, a child less than half a person's height suddenly leaned out from behind the door, and ran towards Yuan Ziyou.

Seeing this, the little girl screamed and ran out quickly, calling out, "Come back, Your Majesty! Don't run around!"

Yuan Ziyou stopped walking when he heard that, feeling a little confused.

emperor?Who is she calling?

The child ran slowly, and was pulled back by the shoulders after a while.

Yuan Ziyou took a close look at the person in front of him, and found that she was older than he thought, about fourteen or fifteen years old.But with a rosy apple face.The eyes are big and round, looking a bit childish.

"What's your name?"

"I, my name is Xizhi." The little girl held the child with one hand and put the other behind her, panting slightly, as if she was a little shy.

"Xizhi, sister Xizhi." Yuan Ziyou repeated twice as if talking to himself, and then grinned.

Xi Zhi's face became more and more red.The man smiled and rolled his eyes, making him even more handsome and cute.

"Hey, what about you? What's your name?" Yuan Ziyou squatted down again to get close to the child, and asked with his chin raised.

The child didn't say a word, just stared at Yuan Ziyou, his small face was wrinkled as if he was angry, and there were some tears in the corners of his eyes, he must have cried a while ago.

"I don't want to say? Then... how old are you this year? You can always tell me this."

The child lowered his head to look at his toes, then raised his head to meet Yuan Ziyou's gaze, and stretched out three fingers.

"It's so big? Can't tell!" Yuan Ziyou had no concept of children, and thought that the one in front of him was just a one-year-old baby. At this moment, he showed a surprised look, and stretched out his hand to touch his face .

Who would have thought that the child would suddenly break away from Xi Zhi's hand, take a step back to hide, then turn around and run away.

"Your Majesty!" Xi Zhi shouted, stomped her feet and chased after him.

Yuan Ziyou looked at her in a daze, then at the running child, and suddenly guessed the child's identity with a flick of his brain.

In the palace coup a few months ago, Empress Dowager Hu poisoned her own son Yuan Xu to death, and made the three-year-old clan Yuan Zhao the emperor, actually taking over the power of the court by herself.After Er Zhurong invaded Luoyang, he first deposed the young emperor, and only then supported himself as the new emperor.

Xizhi kept calling the three-year-old the "Emperor", so he must be Yuan Zhao.

"Hi! I know your name!" Yuan Ziyou raised his voice and shouted.

The child had already run into the house, and when he heard this, he stopped and turned around.

"Your name is Yuan Zhao. Isn't that right?" Yuan Ziyou ran forward in three steps at the same time, crossed the threshold and entered the front hall, took advantage of Yuan Zhao's surprise and daze, picked him up, and turned around by the way A circle: "I know everything!"

Xizhi followed into the room, and seeing Yuan Ziyou's childish expression, she couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth.

She grew up in a deep palace and had never seen much of the world. Now she is imprisoned in this small courtyard with the deposed emperor. She is even more isolated from the outside world and knows nothing about the outside world.She only knew that Yuan Ziyou was a young nobleman, and seeing that he was kind and kind to her and seemed to like Yuan Zhao very much, she was very happy and couldn't help laughing with him.

Here, Yuan Ziyou sat down at the coffee table by himself, and helped Yuanzhao stand on his lap.The satin shoes on the child's feet left two stains on the white fabric, but he didn't care, and stretched out his hand to pinch Yuan Zhao's foot.The feet are small and soft, and the flesh is wrapped in satin shoes, which feel very good.Yuan Ziyou felt like his heart was about to melt.

Yuan Zhao probably felt a little itchy from being pinched, so he retracted his legs and kicked on Yuan Ziyou's stomach, and the latter curled up with a groan and bared his teeth.Yuan Zhao laughed "hee hee".

"Bad thing, are you happy to see me in pain?" Yuan Ziyou gave him a sideways look.

Yuan Zhao laughed louder, shaking his body up and down while laughing.

Yuan Ziyou picked up his knee and put him across his lap, bowed his head and said, "That's right, why don't you smile more! What do children always do with a straight face?" Then he turned his head and asked Xizhi: "Just now Why is he upset? Crying so loudly, you can hear it from afar."

Xi Zhi put away her smile, lowered her head and fell silent for a moment, then said in a low voice: "The emperor is clamoring for the empress dowager."

"The Queen Mother?" Does she mean the Queen Mother Hu?

"They don't like the empress, they scold the empress. But in fact, the empress is very good to the emperor, just like she is to her own child."

"Where is the Queen Mother now? Doesn't she live with you?"

Xi Zhi raised her head in surprise when she heard the words: "Your Majesty is no longer here!"

"What? Empress Dowager Hu is dead?" Yuan Ziyou said, looking down at Yuan Zhao in his arms.

"It doesn't matter, the emperor knows." Xizhi still hung his head, fiddled with the hem of his clothes with both hands: "Master Erzhu ordered someone to sink the empress into the river, and we were all present at that time. If the ministers hadn't interceded, the emperor would have..."

Yuan Zhao leaned against Yuan Ziyou's arms silently, blinking his eyes at the floor, not knowing what he was thinking.

As a three-year-old child, he was involved in the right and wrong of the court prematurely, bearing things that should be borne by adults, but he was too weak to change.Seemingly naive and ignorant, he must have been traumatized in his heart and grew up early.

"It was Er Zhurong who did it..." Yuan Ziyou had never met Queen Mother Hu, and it was hard for him to feel anything when he heard the news of her death, but he was dissatisfied that Er Zhurong acted without authorization.

Before Xiurong's army entered Luoyang, Er Zhurong had already proclaimed himself emperor, and after he captured Luoyang, he cleared up the royal party.No matter how you say this, Mrs. Hu is an important character, she was sunk in the river without a sound, and the emperor himself knows nothing about it, how unreasonable it is!

"And then he locked you up here, didn't he? What about the others? They were all killed?"

"Well. The emperor is still young and needs someone to take care of him, so I..."

——So I wasn't killed.

"Are you afraid of him?"

"what?"

"Are you afraid of Erzhu Rong?"

"Er, Lord Erzhu?" Xizhi fell silent, as if recalling.

Are you afraid?Of course I'm afraid.However, seeing Yuan Ziyou casually saying "Er Zhurong" and ignoring him at all, she became a little more courageous.

"He is really a cruel person... My lady begged him a lot, but he still refused to let her go. He threw the emperor to the ground because the emperor kept crying...but the emperor was just a child!"

Yuan Ziyou felt sad when she heard her sad tone, but he didn't know how to comfort her.

"He is not so heartless. I tell him well, he will treat you well."

"Really? But he looks terrible."

"He is very beautiful. A beautiful person can never have a bad heart."

"Just like you, son?"

Xizhi never dared to look directly at Er Zhurong's face, so he knew nothing about his appearance.But since Yuan Ziyou said he was beautiful, he must be very beautiful.

Because Yuan Ziyou himself is also a good-looking and gentle person.

Yuan Ziyou heard the little girl's affection for him, and grinned: "You praised me for being beautiful! Then do you like me?"

"……like."

"Move out and live with me!"

"Go out?" Xizhi was taken aback, and he couldn't believe his ears: "Is it possible? But Lord Erzhu..."

"I'll go and talk to him. I've been pestering him, and he will agree... How about it, do you think it's okay?" Yuan Ziyou said while holding Yuan Zhao in his arms, and let him face himself: " My name is Yan Shuo and I will teach you how to write! You don’t have to learn this if you don’t want to, he can do everything.”

Yuan Zhao wrinkled his nose and looked at him, then broke away again and plunged into his arms.

"The emperor is very happy! He is shy of strangers, so he doesn't talk all the time. He is actually a very likable child!" Xi Zhi and Yuan Zhao depended on each other, and they already regarded him as his younger brother. I feel genuinely happy about my life, and at the same time feel that Yuan Ziyou is so powerful that Er Zhurong can listen to him.

"Ah, it's getting dark, I have to go back...I'll go talk to Er Zhurong tomorrow morning, and come see you at noon!"

Xizhi took Yuan Zhao from Yuan Ziyou and put it on the ground, and led him to send Yuan Ziyou out of the hospital.There were two guards sitting on the steps outside the door. When they saw them coming out, they stood up abruptly, but they didn't approach them.

Xizhi didn't dare to go any further, so she watched Yuan Ziyou leave at the gate of the courtyard.