Huaibi

Li Qingjue only rested for half the night, and left the palace before dawn. When the gate of Beijing was first opened, he went to the suburbs to visit his righteous brother, sister-in-law and nephew Rui Ning.

That elegant small courtyard was enough to temporarily wash away the gloom and hostility in his heart. He was comforted to see his sixteen-year-old nephew by blood, but when he thought about Rong Xi Lianhua, he was filled with guilt.I thought that the three young men were all his beloved sons who cared for him sincerely, but one of them lived in a paradise and was able to get out of trouble, while the other two were burdened by the wind and frost because of his selfishness.

"Uncle?"

With a sudden call in his ear, Li Qingjue came back to his senses, and Rui Ning looked at his wandering appearance and smiled happily.

"'The bamboo-colored stream is green, and the lotus is fragrant in the mirror.' If you don't live in the suburbs, you can't see the beautiful scene in this poem with your own eyes. There are lotus in the pond. Uncle, would you like to see it with me?"

During the conversation, Li Qingjue wanted to invite him to go out for a walk, but Li Qingjue nodded in agreement, and walked out of the courtyard with him, while listening to him continue to talk about the idyllic scenery in his poems, saying that the fish, shrimps, flowers and trees described by literati are really leisurely and beautiful.He listened with his brows straight, secretly concealed the pain in his eyes, his palms were tightened in his sleeves, but he felt chest tightness that was difficult to relieve.

It was late at night when we returned, and Li Qingjue stayed in the farmyard outside Beijing for a whole day. Before returning to the building, he went to Dongning Street, wanting to see the pastry shop that his adopted son liked the most, but when he arrived at the local shop, he closed early , he looked up at the closed door in a daze, Mochizuki secretly smiled.

It's up to him to decide the time.

Li Qingjue stood silently on the side of the street for a while, the sound of the quiet night was accompanied by the wind, and the cicadas in the next courtyard kept hissing, and occasionally passers-by walked by alone.

After a long time, he set off to return to the road, as if carrying Liangyue Rubi on his back, he walked slowly, lightly copying the capital city.

Gradually, people's voices spread everywhere, and the Cangyu Lane has another scene, and I don't know the sorrows of the world.

Happiness-seeking benefactors embrace the beauties and friends to exchange cups, teasing words do not know how to restrain themselves, wandering through the window and alley, falling in the ears, it feels that a room is more joyful than a room.There are also drunk people with disheveled clothes knocking out the door of the brothel, the pot still dangling in their hands, pouring two gulps into the nonsense mouth from time to time, and then calling "beauty" and turning back inside.

Li Qingjue walked and watched, feeling that he was out of place here, but also felt that he had already blended in here.

It wasn't until the eaves of Zhumenglou were approaching and the lavender lanterns were bright and clear that he stepped out of the erratic moment of dreaming, and stepped on the ground like this moment.

Zhumenglou is new, only a few months after it was settled in Beijing, the threshold has also been stepped out of the old color, and the beam and door plaque on the top are as brand new as yesterday, because there are more and more visitors in this building.Li Qingjue originally liked to be quiet and didn't like to make trouble, but now he was finally used to the noisy noise all night, closed his eyes and stretched his brows, and stepped in with a calm face.

The threshold was accidentally knocked by a heel, Li Qingjue subconsciously looked down, and a drop of black fell into his eyes.

There is a lot of traffic behind him, and there are criss-crossed cups of wine in front of him. Everyone is enjoying themselves, and no one pays attention to this place.He crouched slowly in the chaos, fixed his eyes and reached out to wipe the drop of black dirt lightly with his fingers, the color became brighter and sticky on his fingertips.

Li Qingjue put his finger under his nose and sniffed lightly, his eyes darkened with violent waves, and after a while, he wiped away all the traces on the ground with the heel of his palm.Looking back, there were also similar dirt scattered on the road outside the door, but it was not obvious that people were trampling on it, so he didn't notice it earlier.

His mucus-stained fingers were burning hot, Li Qingjue got up and walked to the second floor calmly, observed carefully, and secretly wiped away the filth along the way, walking like this, gradually reaching the door of a room deep in the corridor.

The room is quiet and silent, and if there is no dim light coming through, you may feel that there is no one in it.Li Qingjue wanted to push the door open and go straight in. He hesitated for a while, but finally suppressed his doubts and raised his hand to knock on the door.

After a few counts, the sound of footsteps came, but it was Rong Xi's voice, who asked cautiously, "Who?"

"I."

The room suddenly fell silent, and the silhouette attached to the door froze in place motionless.

Li Qingjue waited patiently, and saw him open the door after a while, with a look of panic that was rarely seen in his eyes.

The room is full of dim light and shadows, only a candle in the inner room with the curtain is burning, and the tightly closed window frames cut off the moonlight and stars, making it even more difficult to see clearly.Li Qingjue took two steps in, closed the back door with his backhand, and leaned towards his adopted son with the other hand through the faint light.

Rong Xi pursed her lips and drooped her eyes, her eyes fell on his blood-stained and dusty palms, her uneasiness dissipated, as if she didn't need to cover up after being broken by him, her expression gradually returned to peace.

"Whose blood?" Li Qingjue withdrew his hand, searched him from top to bottom, and saw that he was completely unharmed, and asked, "Lianhua?"

This place is actually Lianhua's residence, and there is no hindrance in front of his eyes. Li Qingjue concluded that it must have something to do with Lianhua.

He didn't answer this question overnight, turned his body and looked inward through the curtain, thinking about the person in the bath behind the screen, thinking that since he returned to the room, he just said a word: "Zhou Junyu is dead."

His face seemed normal when he was speaking, but his blood-stained hands were always shivering.Rong Xi used to think that there was no other pair of eyes in the world that could be more agile than Lianhua, but now when she looked at it again, she felt that it was covered with dead ashes, except that the rest of her eyes were only a little mocking.

Rong Xi pressed his hands under the water, and bloodstains floated up, and after washing, he looked unstained again.Lianhua looked down at the reddish surface of the water, raised her head and leaned against the edge of the tub to close her eyes.

If it wasn't for a trip to the theater on a whim in the afternoon, he might not know when he would have known that Zhou Junyu had already harbored suspicions about him.

The opera singer's melodious voice was too deaf, Lianhua watched half of "The General's Journey" absent-mindedly, and when the play was not over, seeing the two people leaving in the compartment, she put down her warm tea and followed behind.

Those two people were Zhou Junyu and Marquis of Wuyang Rong Yongchang, Lianhua didn't know many people in court, and Marquis of Wuyang was one of them.Just now the two chatted in the theater for a while, surrounded by gongs and drums, and spectators were noisy, and they chose to talk and discuss matters here, which made him intuitively feel that something was unusual.

After following along this way, he finally heard the word "Building a Dream Tower" from Zhou Junyu's mouth, and it was like thunder.

For more than ten years, what I have known and recorded is not to betray the prince. The love in my heart is father-son love and brotherhood. Except for Li Qingjue and Rong Xi, it is difficult for Lianhua to find a place to put Zhou Junyu who came suddenly.

In a trance, he did what he said.

Li Qingjue was shocked when he heard Rong Xi's words, thinking that he had been ashamed for many years, but now he was the most ashamed - his adopted son was close by, but he didn't know his joy, and he didn't know his pain.

He walked through the moonlight curtain inward, and the screen in front of his eyes was covered with a continuous piece of crabapple, which was the most eye-catching and beautiful color in this room. It was like a spark that ignited the world in an instant, igniting the joyful voices and entertainments outside. Only the lonely and cruel left the room full of involuntary and heart-burning.

Feeling suffocated, Li Qingjue paused in depression. After a while, he heard the sound of water moving behind the screen, breaking the silence.

Lianhuafu opened his eyes again, looked at him openly through the barrier: "Dad, don't worry, the child has not betrayed the crown prince."

Li Qingjue choked his throat like a palm.

It was the same clear and cheerful voice as in the past, but it was no longer the Lianhua squatting in front of him, bending her eyes and smiling, saying "people should cherish their blessings".

He regretted, regretted not being able to pay more attention to him, regretted that he knew Zhou Junyu, taught him to remember the great cause of protecting the reserve, and even regretted that he should have been recognized under his knees back then.

He regretted beyond restraint, but in the end he couldn't even understand why he should regret it.

"Lianhua," Li Qingjue walked around behind the screen, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

He also found it funny to ask this question, what is the difference between speaking early and speaking late.

Lianhua shook her head, but did not answer his question, she had concealed her dejected look before, and seemed to be calmer than him and said, "What Zhou Junyu said today has made Marquis Wuyang suspicious of Zhumeng...Father, Stay here for a while."

Li Qingjue ignored it, stepped forward and stretched out his bloodless left hand, covering the top of his hair like a child.

Lianhua shuddered suddenly, closed her eyes and stopped making a sound, finally a damp and hot mist diffused into her eyes.

There was not much to say that night, and the Zhou Mansion where the Minister of the Criminal Department of Central Beijing lived, hung a mourning curtain and a white cage the next day.

The daring Beijing man gathered outside the mansion early in the morning to gossip curiously, saying that Mr. Zhou had made a powerful enemy outside, and that someone broke into his dormitory last night and murdered him, unfortunately, he died before the case.

There is another strange thing about this matter, it's strange that none of the relatives in the Manchu Mansion wanted to arrest the bandit, but rushed his body into the coffin, and refused to order the officials to investigate further.

The more people talked, the more lively they became, each had their own guesses, and they chattered for a while and refused to stop.

Li Qingjue was very preoccupied, and in the early morning, he also took a look outside the Zhou Mansion. Hearing the faint sounds of mourning, he sometimes thought of the old and young He family who were still alive, and sometimes thought of the struggling man in the palace. Ping Huaizhen...thought that if this matter happened to him, how could he be ruthless and take his life.

Li Qingjue asked himself that he couldn't do it, because what Lianhua did today, didn't he regard the ambition of the prince and the words of his adoptive father as important to his life?I was even more afraid that it was more important than my life, so I ignored the affection in my heart.

He has taken in orphans all these years by no means doing good deeds, on the contrary, he has been entangled in sins, like a Rakshasa, stripping the souls of more than a hundred people from Zhumeng.

Li Qingjue didn't want to listen to the gossip of passers-by beside him, so he picked up the road and returned alone in a daze.

Cangyu Lane is empty during the day, it is still early, and there is no one coming and going, and the gates of the guest buildings are repeatedly opened, revealing a rare indifference and alienation at night.

Li Qingjue returned to the building, walked heavily to the second floor, and stopped in front of a door, Yishen leaned against the corridor wall, thinking to himself what Lianhua said last night, that he will indeed stay here not long.Up to now, he still has to selfishly bind the dead servant in the building, and he has to wait until the day when Ping Huaizhen ascends the throne before he can let go - except for Lianhua and Rongxi, he can't bear it for one more day.

He should have thought about it earlier, it was too late now, but it was better than going wrong again.

After thinking for a long time, there was a sudden commotion in the room.

The people inside the door went out after a while, and Fang saw him as soon as he opened the door: "Daddy?"

Li Qingjue stared at Rong Xi's extremely unfamiliar depression, and whispered to him: "You and Lianhua go."

Rong Xi was stunned.

"You and Lianhua are no longer young. The world is so big, where can we not settle down? After leaving this time, we will have nothing to do with everything in Beijing."