Food for the people

Lu Jincheng went to the palace.

The farce last night seems to have come to an end, but there is no impenetrable wall in the world. Although the court ladies and eunuchs cannot talk about what happened last night, they still whisper in places where others can't see, exchanging things from each other. Cause and effect, it soon became clear that there are noses and eyes.

Guangyu Palace is the emperor's bedroom. When Lu Jincheng arrived, two young eunuchs guarding the palace gate were chatting together in a low voice. They saw Lu Jincheng knelt down in a hurry: "My lord Jin'an."

Lu Jincheng asked with a flat face: "Is the emperor here?"

The little eunuch bowed his head and said, "Yes, I am, this servant will go in and pass the message to the prince."

After speaking, he hurried in to report to the emperor, and ran out in a hurry after a while.

"My lord, please come in, the emperor is already waiting in the palace."

Lu Jincheng took a few steps forward, and when he crossed the palace gate, he turned his head to look at the little eunuch, and said, "In this place in the palace, you'd better control your tongue, misfortune comes from your mouth, and be careful not to invite murder."

He looked as usual, but when he heard the two young eunuchs trembling, they knelt down again in fear, and said, "Your servant will remember this, and your servant will definitely obey the teachings of the prince."

Only then did Lu Jincheng turn around and enter Guangyu Palace.

The Guangyu Palace was incensed. The emperor was dressed in bright yellow uniforms and his hair was not tied. He was sitting on the couch with a chess board in front of him. He was holding white pieces in one hand and black pieces in the other. After adding tea, I saw Lu Jincheng saying to the emperor, "Your Majesty, Prince Yan is here."

The emperor didn't raise his head, and said: "It's just in time, come, let's play a game of chess with the emperor."

Lu Jincheng responded, lifted his robe, and sat down opposite the emperor.

Neither of them spoke, most of the chess on the board had been played, the black and white pieces were evenly matched, the emperor pushed the black piece in front of Lu Jincheng, and the two of them silently killed the chess.

After an incense stick of time passed, Hei Ziqi missed a move and was defeated by Bai Ziqi.

Lu Jincheng put down the chess pieces in his hand and said, "Brother Huang is brilliant."

The emperor didn't speak, and smiled for a while: "You, it's been like this since you were a child."

"Do you think I won't be able to tell if you quietly let me have two sons?" The emperor said in front of Lu Jincheng, just like when he was a child, quite confiding in his heart.

Eunuch Shun knew what to listen to and what not to listen to, so he quietly retreated here, leaving only Lu Jincheng and the emperor in the huge Guangyu Palace.

Lu Jincheng also hooked his lips into a smile, and said after a while, "Brother Huang is brilliant."

The emperor put the white pieces back into the basket one by one, and said: "I have never been able to beat you in this game. Although you have learned it for several years, even the emperor said back then that I am inferior to you in this respect." clever."

If this is said by ordinary brothers, there is no problem, but the problem is that the emperor is now the ninth-five-year-old, and it is inevitable that people will misunderstand if it is replaced by someone else. He knelt down and begged for mercy.

There was no panic on Lu Jincheng's face, and he said: "Father also said that brother Huang is not here, knowing people and making good use of them is an emperor's demeanor."

Since the emperor succeeded to the throne, the two of them seldom sat together and talked about the late emperor like this. Speaking of it now, there is a hint of nostalgia on their faces.

"You are six years younger than me. You are neither big nor young. When you were young, you always liked to pester me. The queen mother said that we are brothers with the same blood. No one in the world can kiss us." The emperor looked slightly Confused said.

Lu Jincheng paused, and looked at the emperor. His amber eyes were the same as the emperor's. Although one was more like the first emperor and the other was more like the empress dowager, only these eyes looked like the same person.

The emperor also took a look at Lu Jincheng, paused and continued: "I still feel that what the empress mother said is reasonable, if the same blood in the body is not considered a relative, then is there such a thing as a close relative in this world?"

Lu Jincheng knew that today's step was far-reaching, so he didn't follow the emperor's steps to recall the past, but the words the emperor said really pierced his heart.

He lowered his eyes and said: "What the emperor said is true."

Everyone in this world feels that they are affectionate and righteous, but they have not sat on the seat of the supreme under heaven, but anyone who sits on this seat, if they are only soft-hearted, they will have been pulled down countless times.

Lu Jincheng knew it well, and never blamed the emperor in the slightest.

But to be clear, to understand, just like the emperor cannot fully trust him, he will not fully trust the emperor, they are not only close relatives, but also the people who know each other best.

"It would be nice if you understood."

After the emperor finished speaking, he walked out of his memory, looked at Lu Jincheng meaningfully and said, "The Wen family came to the palace to beg for mercy, and said that it was Wen Wanjun who yearned for me, so he did something that offended Longyan, please forgive me. , I thought the Wen family was loyal, accepted Wen Wanjun as a concubine, and bestowed a concubine. The Wen family was grateful, kowtowed again and again, and took Wen Wanjun back. Yanjin, the emperor owes you a favor, if you have Whatever you want, you can come and tell Brother Huang."

The emperor took the initiative to talk about the Wen family, showing that he already knew about Lu Jincheng's relationship.

The Empress Dowager recommended Wen Wanjun to be the concubine of Prince Yan's Mansion in order to tie Lu Jincheng. Now Lu Jincheng took the initiative to push Wen Wanjun to the emperor, which is enough to show his determination.

Although the emperor loved him in the past, he never dared to reuse him. Lu Jincheng knew it well and was willing to be an idle prince in the palace. It was true that the queen mother doted on him, but she never interfered with his situation these years .

Lu Jincheng understood the emperor, even if he really married the daughter of the Wen family, the emperor would not be soft on the empress dowager's mother's family, and although he would definitely not hurt him at all, the friendship between the brothers would really be ruined.

Even if there is no Qiao Yu in this, he will not marry Miss Wen's family, but he will not design the Queen Mother to show his position in this way. He puts Qiao Yu behind him, so he doesn't want to be an idle prince who doesn't care about world affairs. Some things , you have to hold it in your own hands to feel at ease.

Lu Jincheng thought for a long time, and said: "I do have something to ask, but it's not yet time. When he agrees, I will report it to Brother Huang immediately."

The emperor has seven orifices in his heart, how could he not know what he meant, he let out a puzzled look, and laughed: "It's no wonder you have to care about how the queen mother will match up, and you shouldn't marry the Wen family, so you already have someone you like, Which family is the lady from, do you want to reveal the truth to Brother Huang?"

Lu Jincheng lowered his eyes, and even looked a little gentle, and said with a smile: "It's just a child of an ordinary family. I haven't accepted my younger brother, so I won't tell the emperor brother."

The emperor smiled and said, "Then the emperor will wait for your good news."

Lu Jincheng nodded in response.

"Okay, I've already said what I want to tell you. If you have nothing to do, go to Duanyang Palace to accompany your mother. She was put together by the two of us. I'm afraid she is sad now."

Lu Jincheng said: "My brother, let's go now."

The emperor waved his hand and asked the eunuch to send him to Duanyang Palace.

After taking him away, Eunuch Shun, the eunuch, came in and changed two cups of undrinked herbal tea, and was about to call someone to take the cold tea away, when the emperor sighed: "My younger brother is a rare smart man."

Eunuch Shun has been with the emperor for many years, but he didn't quite understand the meaning of his words. He said: "No matter how smart a person is, he also depends on what the emperor thinks. Prince Yan knows it well. Is it all a matter of what the emperor said?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the emperor slammed the teacup and scolded: "Is this something you can say?"

Eunuch Shun figured out that he had misunderstood the emperor's intentions, and hurriedly knelt down to beg for mercy.

The emperor's face softened a little, and he murmured as if talking to himself: "I'm just such a brother, he has the same blood as me flowing in his body, he not only wants to live, but also has to live well."

Eunuch Shun didn't understand what it meant, but he still kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

After leaving Guangyu Palace, Lu Jincheng arrived at the gate of Duanyang Palace.

Aunt Sui He may have received the letter, and she was already waiting at the entrance of the hall. Lu Jincheng came up to her, and first asked, "Is the empress okay?"

There was no unnecessary expression on Suihe's face, and he said almost the same as usual: "The empress dowager is already waiting for the prince inside, please come in quickly."

When Lu Jincheng entered Duanyang Palace, he found that incense was also being burned in the palace, and the smell was stronger than that of Guangyu Palace. It may be a fault handed down from generation to generation since the Queen Mother, which caused them to like incense too much. I like to click and play.

The queen mother was reading a book while lying on the concubine's couch by the window, and her mood didn't seem to be affected in any way. When Sui He heard that Lu Jincheng was coming, she put down the book and said to Lu Jincheng, "Don't stand so far away, hurry up!" Come and sit."

Her voice was not hoarse, her eyes were not red, and her face was not depressed. She greeted Lu Jincheng to sit next to her and said, "Have you had breakfast? I know you came here today, and I asked the kitchen to make some crabs that you like." Broth bag."

Lu Jincheng actually ate at Qiao's house, but he still nodded and said, "More love from the empress."

The queen mother summoned Suihe and asked her to serve the prepared soup dumplings to Lu Jincheng to taste.

Suihe turned around and went out, the queen mother got up from the couch and asked, "Yan'er, do you blame me?"

Lu Jincheng didn't look up at her, but replied, "A little bit."

The Queen Mother gave a wry smile and said, "I don't blame you for blaming me. You and the emperor are my palms, but I'm sorry for you first, and I want to use my status to control the emperor. I'm greedy."

After finishing speaking, the queen mother got off the couch, put on her shoes, and walked up to Lu Jincheng.

"But I'm very happy that you can unite with the emperor today. You are brothers and sisters who are close relatives in the world, so you should stand together. The empress mother is defeated by you, and it is not wronged. The Qi family is also good, the Wen family That's okay, I've tried my best, if they still can't support the wall with mud, they will lose if they lose."

Lu Jincheng finally looked up at her with clear eyes, sighed, and said, "Queen Mother, in your heart, is this son so useless?"

She is not greedy for power. She and the emperor are direct mother and son, and they are fused with each other. Even if she comes from a Hanyang family, the only ones who are really connected with her blood are Lu Jincheng and the emperor. Can it compare to the piece of meat that fell off her body?

How could she design the emperor for the benefit of the family.

All she really wanted was Lu Jincheng.

She is alive now, and the two brothers can still be brothers and sisters. If she dies, the emperor's heart softens for a while, but can she bet that the emperor's heart is soft for the first time?In the past, she pinched Lu Jincheng's reluctance to let him stand out in order to protect him, but now that her health is declining, she wanted him to rely on him to protect him.

But she forgot that Lu Jincheng was no longer a child, and he no longer needed her to pave the way for what he wanted to do.

The queen mother suddenly widened her eyes when she heard this.

Lu Jincheng sighed again, and stretched out his hand to hold him in his arms. He was much taller than the queen mother now, and the queen mother was no longer the one who could shield him from the wind and rain.

"Queen, my brother and I won't argue with each other. He is a wise king. I never thought about what to argue with him. Brother Huang understands and will let me."