Multiple crimes

I was born without a father.

My mother took me to beg for a living alone, and finally found a job as a servant for a rich family.

My mother died of illness when I was six years old.The master wanted to take me in, but my mother was afraid that I would be wronged, so she gave me a jade pendant before she died, and asked me to take it to Pengcheng Palace.

When I arrived at Prince Pengcheng's mansion, I took out the jade pendant, and the steward led me to a man.The man squatted down to look at me carefully, his warm palms caressing the top of my head, shoulders and arms.I broke free from this strange embrace and saw tears in his eyes.

"Where's your mother?" he asked.

"died."

He hugged me again, with such strength that he seemed to crush me.I could feel his tears wet my shoulders.

"I'm sorry for her...I'm sorry for you."

I knew it all at that moment.Although I didn't call him daddy in the next ten years, he never told anyone that I was his son.

I didn't change my name, I still took my mother's surname.

He provided me with food and clothing, sent me to study, and provided me with high-quality clothing.He asked me what skills I want to learn, I said I want to learn Kung Fu, I want to become very strong, strong enough to protect the people around me.

He sent me to the martial arts gym, and invited the best masters to teach me boxing and medicine. At the age of 14, I began to follow the prince in and out of the palace as a guard.Also in that year, Yuan Ziyou was born.

His birth also heralds the death of another.Princess Pengcheng passed away shortly after giving birth to him, and my younger brother lost his mother before he even opened his eyes.

Bloodlines are a wonderful thing.

I knew from the first moment I saw him that this little life was the only thing that could be mine.Unlike King Pengcheng, who made up for me with guilt and longing for his mother, and his two elder brothers who had already grown up, this child was completely unknown to me, and came to this world like a blank sheet of paper, but I knew that he was full of love and happiness. I have the same blood.He was as motherless as I was, and shared a father who wasn't quite his own.But we are unique to each other, and I will love him, protect him, and watch him grow up.

I have changed from the prince's personal guard to serving the little prince's exclusive domestic servant, making him happy, teaching him how to read, and taking care of his daily life.Even if the family invites a nanny, the time I stay with him is not as long as that of me.

When Yuan Ziyou was three years old, King Pengcheng was framed by a traitor and charged with treason, and was given to death by Yuan Ke with a cup of poisoned wine.The imperial decree came so suddenly that he wasn't even given time to explain his funeral, and the palace servants who delivered the decree stood in a row waiting for him to die with expressionless faces.

Blood continued to flow from his mouth and nose, and his face became hideous.

Suddenly, he held out his hand to me.I knelt beside him and leaned over to put my ear to his mouth.

"Suo'er..." This was the first time he called me that.

"Ziyou is still young, he doesn't understand anything..." He was so angry that he cried blood every word, "I'm not capable...you protect him for me!"

The little prince was led to the front of the hall by the servants, but he hid behind the curtain in fear and refused to approach.I got up and brought him over, and I could clearly feel his resistance and panic.He is still so young, so small that he doesn't know sadness.

"Ziyou...Ziyou..." The lord grabbed my hand violently, and he didn't know who he was looking at with his bloody eyes, "Avenge me..." The boring big hand was raised into the air, trembling and wanting to Grab something, "They killed me, they want the throne! Gao Zhao...and..."

The prince died crying blood, and he died with regret.A generation of Zhongliang was killed unjustly, and everyone in the palace shed tears and wailed, even the people in the market shed tears.

Since then, Yuan Ziyou's temperament has changed drastically.A three-year-old child is very obedient if he doesn't make any noise. He doesn't laugh when he is teased, and he doesn't cry when he falls.But as he grew older, he gradually became cruel and irritable, beating and scolding his followers frequently, and even killing people.He seems to have an extraordinary paranoia for bright things, especially blood flowing from people.

He is being feared by everyone and grows up day by day. I watched him hurt the world, others, and myself, but I couldn't hate him or stop him.I have all my abilities, but in the end I can't protect the people I care about.

When Yuan Ziyou was 20 years old, the court was in turmoil. The young emperor who had just ascended the throne was poisoned to death by the queen mother. Er Zhurong, the handsome young master, took the opportunity to attack Luoyang and sent people to invite King Changle to become emperor.He readily agreed.

Outside the city of Luoyang, he saw that man for the first time. He was dressed in silver armor, tall and straight, with eyes full of power to swallow mountains and rivers, but he was exquisitely not like a warrior.Such a man who is as dazzling as a banner naturally looks down on the children of the royal family who have no real power, not to mention that he is also the son of the enemy who killed Yuan Ziyou's two brothers.However, Yuan Ziyou has an extraordinary interest in and dependence on him.

I know that he always prefers gorgeous, noble and powerful things, but I didn't expect that his obsession with men would grow day by day, to the point where he couldn't control himself.He flattered him, irritated him, praised him, cursed him, his self-esteem made him unable to tolerate the slightest bit of neglect and contempt, but he couldn't help trying to get close to him.This obsession and paranoia made the man treat him more contemptuously and regard him as a different kind, and at the same time, he also bought him the utmost tolerance and indulgence.Even if he was annoyed to the extreme, the other party never wanted to kill him.

In the first year of the new emperor's accession to the throne, Er Zhurong was too busy cleaning up the remnants of the six towns, and had no time to take care of Luoyang.Yuan Ziyou rectified the administration of officials with peace of mind, but achieved considerable results and popularity.However, after the turmoil in the north calmed down and Xiurong's army returned to the court, the conflict between the two quickly intensified, and soon it was on the verge of breaking out.Er Zhurong made illustrious military exploits and reshaped the country of the Northern Wei Dynasty. He had already overwhelmed the power of the government and the public with one hand. For him, usurping the throne was tantamount to taking something out of his pocket.And Yuan Ziyou is a person who cannot bear humiliation, he would rather die than allow the Yuan family's country to be ruined in his own hands, and it is absolutely impossible for him to become Er Zhurong's plaything.Identity is his only pride.

In 530, I gathered Yuan Hui, Yang Kan and other court officials to trap and kill Er Zhurong, and issued an imperial edict enumerating his crimes of treason and disrespect, and punishing him for several crimes according to law.Yuan Ziyou acquiesced in Er Zhurong's death, and never intervened. He only asked where he was buried a few days later.

After Er Zhurong's death, except for Gao Huan and Yu Wentai, almost all the generals of Xiurong's army fell under Er Zhuzhao's command, and those who wanted to wait for an opportunity to rebel and set up another mountain were immediately wiped out.Er Zhuzhao entered the court, bowed his head and proclaimed himself a minister, and because of his meritorious service in escorting him, he paid homage to the general of the Zhu Kingdom, just like the second Er Zhurong.And Yuan Ziyou gave him [-] points of trust, and entrusted him to take care of all the wars in the North and South Guanzhong, and devoted himself to rectifying the court and governing people's livelihood.Everything seems to be on the right track, only I know that he is at the end of his strength.

One night in winter this year, Yuan Ziyou disappeared.No one saw when he left the bedroom and where he went.The palace people were divided into several groups and searched inside and outside the palace for several hours, but found nothing, until someone came to report at dusk, and saw the emperor at the foot of Yushan Mountain in the south of the city.

At the foot of Mount Yu is the place where Er Zhurong's body is buried.

After the death of the rebellious minister, he was not allowed to be buried, so I secretly transported his body here for a hasty burial.No third person knew about this.

They rushed to Yushan, and saw Yuan Ziyou kneeling on the ground from a distance, disheveled and disheveled, digging the mound in front of him with both hands like crazy.The palace people holding the lamps stood in two rows with their heads bowed, and no one dared to step forward to stop them.I rushed forward to hold him in my arms, and looked down at his bloody hands, wounds and mud, not knowing how painful it must be.

"It's not here! Master, it's not here..." I knelt and hugged his shoulders and shook gently, just like how I comforted him when he woke up from a nightmare when he was a child, "He's not here, he's in the woods."

Yuan Ziyou tilted his neck and shifted the weight of his whole body to my shoulders, his hands were shaking like fallen leaves in the wind.

"Yan Shuo..." He moved his lips, the corners of his eyes dripped tears for the first time in two months, "I miss him."

After returning from Yushan, Yuan Ziyou couldn't afford to be sick, no matter how the imperial doctor tried to recuperate, there was no improvement. In just half a month, he lost all his spirits and was in shambles.I waited by the bed all day long, watching him wither a little bit, knowing that he would not be able to survive this winter.

On the morning before the first month, I broke two teacups restlessly, as if I had a premonition that Yuan Ziyou's end was approaching.He woke up very early that day, and there was some light in his eyes that he hadn't seen for a long time. He even got out of bed and told me about his childhood in Pengcheng Palace.He smiled and talked for a long time, from his four years old to his 20 years old, he talked about all kinds of people, but he didn't mention that man.

A servant brought the freshly boiled sweet lotus root juice, and he drank it slowly one mouthful at a time.After drinking the lotus root juice, he said that he was a little sleepy. I helped him lie back on the couch, and after sleeping like this for a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes in a daze.

"Yan Shuo...I dreamed about my father at night." He frowned and said, "He blamed me for embarrassing him."

"How come, you have done well enough." I grabbed one of his hands, and gently rubbed the withered knuckles with the pulp of my thumb, "You avenged him and kept the throne .”

Yuan Ziyou has a habit of biting his left knuckles unconsciously when he gets excited.For a while there were teeth marks on his knuckles, but they're gone now.

"The throne will be taken away sooner or later..." he gasped.

"What happens next has nothing to do with us."

He nodded, and finally raised his eyes to look at me: "Yan Shuo, you said you would protect me for the rest of my life."

I leaned over and tucked the quilt for him: "I will."

"Look... my life is really not very long."

"Master, do you want me to accompany you?"

"No need...you try to live as long as possible, burn some paper money for me every year, think of me..." He smiled angrily, "No one will miss me except you..."

"it is good."

After Yuan Ziyou said this, he closed his eyes and stopped talking, only weak and steady breathing was left in the room.After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes again, but he didn't know where to look.

"What did he look like before he died?"

I know who he is asking.

"His face was pale and he bled a lot, but his death was not painful..." I spoke very slowly, but I heard my voice was very hoarse, and my throat was so dry that it almost hurt, "He said he didn't believe you wanted to kill him , he said you couldn't do without him..."

A drop of liquid "popped" onto the pillow, blurring into a small circle.Only then did I realize that I was crying.

"He hates you."

At some point Yuan Ziyou closed his eyes again, there was still unwiped lotus root juice in the corner of his mouth, his face was calm as if he had fallen asleep.

I just sat on the side of the couch, waiting for the moisture in the corners of my eyes to completely dissipate, then got up and backed away silently.

In the winter of 530, Emperor Xiaozhuang died at the age of 21.

I was walking alone on the way back north.After crossing the river in front of me is the boundary of Hanoi, and the cold wind wrapped in snow slag was blowing on my face, and I could hardly see the road clearly.

I vaguely remember passing this road when I went south with Yuan Ziyou two years ago.I was driving a carriage at that time, when he suddenly jumped out of the carriage and jumped behind me, so startled that I almost dropped the whip in my hand.

At that time, did I ever think that one day I would return to this place alone?

Everyone around me seems to be living in fate, my mother, King Pengcheng, Yuan Ziyou, and Er Zhurong.Many things were already decided when King Pengcheng died, when Yuan Ziyou agreed to enter the palace.Only I live in ignorance, living only in the past and not seeing the future.That man took away my thoughts and my only connection with this world.

"He can't do without me...he will miss me and miss me to death."

These words are like a curse, which will quietly come true one day.And I didn't understand the look in his eyes when he said this until now.Arrogant, disdainful, and a little sad.

He killed him, and he killed himself.

And I acquiesced in his death.

Looking back in the direction of Luoyang, the sky and the earth are integrated into a white one.The white snow covered everything that could be covered, except for the shadow of a palace city in a trance far away.

I can't see the way.