Zhutian: My skills are not serious

Chapter 635 End of Volume
half a month later.

The city of Chang'an was decorated with lights and was filled with joy.

The reason is very simple. The Emperor of Tang took a concubine. Dong Shu Ni, the niece of the former Minister of Personnel and Duke of Zheng Wang Shichong, was canonized as a noble concubine and moved from Yuhan Garden to Chunhua Palace.

In fact, all the civil and military officials in the court were not surprised by such progress. Instead, they felt it was a little late, because Dong Shu Ni had been in Chang'an for almost two years. Given Li Yuan's lustful nature, it took him so long to get her.

Perhaps because it was not easy to come by, the emperor attached much more importance to the matter of taking a concubine than to the standards of taking Concubine Zhang and Concubine Yin De before. It can be said that it is only half a level lower than the appointment of a queen.

Banquet that night.

Li Yuan wore imperial robes and hosted a banquet for his ministers in Ganlu Hall. Ministers such as Pei Ji, Dou Wei, and Chen Shuda all came to congratulate him. The meal was a great pleasure for both the emperor and his ministers. Li Yuan drank a lot of wine, his face flushed, and his spirits high. He was in high spirits and asked the musicians to play music. He sang a song "Yuefu Jiangling Women's Song" in his old voice.

Rain falls from the sky, water flows under the bridge. I picked up my mother's skirt and tied the two ends together.

The song is good, the lyrics are good, but the author is - Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty.

To be fair, it's not appropriate.

But everyone could see that Li Yuan was drunk and was singing happily. At this moment, he didn't care who wrote the song. The song that could express his mood was the best.

A knot of love, a knot of love.

This shows how much Li Yuan liked Concubine Dong.

At this moment, who would say such spoiling words in front of him? Of course no one dared, even Pei Ji, a close minister, suppressed the urge to ask Li Yuan such an important matter, why the King of Qin did not come to the banquet, and whether something had happened.

As the hour of Xu was about to end, after three rounds of wine and five dishes, the civil and military officials of the palace stood up, said goodbye, and left the palace.

When the eunuchs and palace maids were about to leave, they were kicked out by Li Yuan with a long look on their faces.

At this time, a figure flashed behind the screen. It was Wei Lianxiang, an undercover agent of the Yingui Sect and Zhu Yuyan's senior brother, who walked out slowly. It was not known whether it was because he had been castrated for too long or because of his personality, but his movements were too feminine.

"Your Majesty, the King of Qin is not here?"

Li Yuan shook his head with a complicated expression.

"He is deceiving the king!"

Earlier, he sent someone to inform Li Shimin, and Li Shimin's reply was that he would definitely go to the palace to attend the meeting. However, during the whole drinking session, not only did no one show up, but he didn't even send a messenger to deliver the message.

Wei Lianhua didn't say much. She went over to help Li Yuan up and walked towards the back hall.

"Your Majesty, be careful of the steps."

"I am fine."

After all, Li Yuan was an expert in his own field, and his martial arts skills were much better than those of Li Mi and others, so this little bit of wine certainly wouldn't make him drunk.

Wei Lianxiang helped him sit down in the back hall. She was about to ask someone to serve tea to help the emperor sober up when she heard hurried footsteps outside. The eunuch on duty reported that the King of Qin had arrived and was asking for a meeting with Changsun Wuji outside the hall.

Li Yuan understood when he heard it.

After all, the second son was still afraid of death and did not dare to show up at the banquet attended by ministers. He waited until Pei Ji and others left before he dared to enter the palace to meet them and fulfill his responsibilities as a son.

"Tell him to come to the back hall to see me."

"Yes."

The eunuch bowed and retreated.

Li Yuan and Wei Lianxiang looked at each other.

"Follow the plan."

Wei Lianxiang nodded and hid behind the screen.

After a while, the eunuch walked ahead and brought Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wuji to the back hall. Unlike the previous meetings when they were wearing armor, this time they were wearing a loose robe and a jade belt around their waists.

Li Shimin explained, "I received a secret report on my way to Chang'an earlier that someone in the barracks was inciting the soldiers to revolt. I had to return to the barracks to deal with it, so I missed the evening banquet. I hope that you will forgive me, father."

Li Yuan said with a pleasant face: "As the saying goes, things have their priorities. Military affairs are the foundation of a country. Shimin, you did the right thing. Come, come here... let your father see."

Li Shimin walked up to Li Yuan.

The father looked at him for a few times and brushed off the dust on his shoulders. "It's only been more than half a month, and you've lost weight again. But the military affairs are busy, and there's nothing we can do about it. A few days ago, the Huxue tribe of DTZ sent envoys to the court to seek asylum and also paid tribute to a batch of grassland specialties. The venison in it was good. At the dinner tonight, the officials praised the skewered venison. So, I'll have someone send some to the camp tomorrow to nourish you."

"Thank you for your concern, Father."

Just like before, Li Shimin did not mention the affairs of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and Li Yuan did not mention it either.

"By the way, I have not yet congratulated my father."

"Hehe, okay, okay."

Li Yuan patted his shoulder and said, "I am very happy that you can come to serve as your father."

After saying this, he picked up the gold-engraved wine pot that Wei Lianxiang had touched before leaving, and poured two cups of wine into the cups, one for himself and one for Li Shimin: "Come, have a drink with your father."

"Yes."

Li Shimin took the wine and was about to drink it, but at this moment, a secret voice entered his ear. The hand holding the cup slowly put it back, his eyes flickered and his face showed struggle.

Li Yuan's face twitched slightly: "What's wrong?"

Li Shimin was silent for a moment and said, "I suddenly remembered that I have to lead people to Tongguan for inspection early tomorrow morning to prevent Qian Duguan and Wang Yaohan from raiding Guanzhong. Drinking can easily cause trouble, so... no need to do that."

"Hey, just this one cup, how can it delay things?" Li Yuan raised his head and drank it first as a sign of respect as an emperor.

Li Shimin stared at the wine in the cup, his struggle becoming stronger. After a few breaths, he suddenly raised his head and said, "How about, Father, help me drink this cup of wine too?"

After saying this, he handed over the wine glass.

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and his expression changed drastically, knowing that the truth had been revealed. Li Shimin could actually tell whether the wine was poisonous or not. He secretly scolded Wei Lianxiang. Didn't the old eunuch say that his poison was colorless and tasteless, and unrivaled in the world? Why didn't he deceive Li Shimin?

"Father?"

"..."

Li Yuan refused to take the wine glass and took a step back.

At this point, Changsun Wuji also realized that something was wrong and stared at the emperor with sharp eyes.

"Wei..."

Li Yuan was about to call Wei Lianxiang behind the screen to come into the hall to protect him, but suddenly his body stiffened and he stood still.

The eunuch who brought Li Shimin into the palace thought that they had done something to the emperor, so he rushed in and shouted, "Your Highness, Prince Qin, what are you doing? Do you want to rebel?"

Changsun Wuji's face darkened and he struck the eunuch on the chest with a palm. The man only knew some crude punching and kicking skills and had no internal energy to protect him, so he vomited blood and died on the spot.

"King Qin, now that things have come to this, don't hesitate."

Li Shimin's pupils shrank little by little, his mouth became tighter and tighter, the corners of his lips twitched slightly, his face showed a cruel look, and finally he took a step forward, pinched the horrified Li Yuan's chin with a ferocious face, and poured all the poisoned wine in the cup into his father's mouth.

"You forced me to do this!"

The voice was hoarse, like the growl of a wild animal.

In fact, he had prepared himself mentally when he agreed to join forces with Feng Qingyang. However, within two days, he heard that Li Yuan wanted to take Dong Shu Ni as his concubine. He knew very well that Dong Shu Ni had a good relationship with Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng. He originally planned to launch a palace coup after the conscription was completed on the grounds that Li Yuan was bewitched by Dong Shu Ni. Unexpectedly, on this happy day, his own father would take the initiative to attack him.

Fortunately, Senior Feng Qingyang sneaked into the palace early and told him through secret telepathy at the critical moment that the wine was poisonous, thus saving his life.

Since Li Yuan wanted his life, there was no other choice but to let the emperor die.

As for patricide...it's not like Yang Guang hasn't done it before.

After feeding Li Yuan the poisoned wine, he searched inside his robes and took out the black porcelain bottle containing the antidote, then left Ganlu Palace with Changsun Wuji.

"King Qin, just feeding poisoned wine... would that be inappropriate?"

"There is no time to wait for the poison to take effect. Senior Feng will help to clean up the mess."

Changsun Wuji was stunned for a moment, then he understood. Li Shimin did not want Li Yuan to have any external injuries, because Dong Shu Ni did not know martial arts, and it would be more convincing to use poisoned wine to murder the emperor. If they continued to wait in the palace, it would be bad if the news leaked and attracted the imperial guards. What Li Shimin had to do at this time was to hurry back to the camp, lead all the troops into the city, and control the situation as soon as possible.

On the other side, Li Yuan drank two cups of poisoned wine in a row, and his stomach churned and he felt constant cramps. He didn't know if it was because of the poisoning or because his true qi broke through the acupuncture points, but in any case he could move.

"Wei...Eunuch Wei, Eunuch Wei..."

He lay on the ground and called out twice, but found no one responded. He then tried to use his internal energy to heal his wounds, but it had no effect at all. The poison began to spread throughout his body.

If he couldn't get the antidote, he would undoubtedly die, but the antidote in his hand had been snatched away by Li Shimin. Only by finding Eunuch Wei could he hope to detoxify.

Today is his wedding night, and the beauty he has been dreaming about is waiting for him on the bed. He can't let her die like this.

This thought gave him great motivation. Li Yuan stumbled to the back and took a look around the screen. There was no Eunuch Wei there.

"Eunuch Wei..."

"Eunuch Wei..."

He staggered east and west, and used his hands and feet to crawl out of the Ganlu Palace.

It was a dark night, the wind made the fallen leaves rustle, and two rows of palace lanterns illuminated the road to the north. However, it was quiet all around, with no busy palace maids and no eunuchs on duty to be found. It seemed as if he was the only one left in the huge Taiji Palace.

"Someone is coming."

"Someone is coming..."

"Who is...I..."

Li Yuan was very weak and in great pain. He was panting and sweating profusely. He dragged his increasingly heavy body as he walked and called for help. However, no one showed up to help him after a long time. When he approached the Yanjia Palace on the bank of the Jinshui River, he vaguely saw the figure of Eunuch Wei passing by.

"Mr. Wei, give me the antidote..."

He seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and he gathered his remaining strength and chased towards the northwest.

After passing several walls and turning into a courtyard, Eunuch Wei's figure suddenly disappeared. When he saw the big red lanterns with the word "囍" (happiness) on them, beautiful colorful silks, flower petals scattered on the ground, and various couplets with beautiful meanings, he couldn't help but be stunned.

This seemed to be Chunhua Palace, where he would spend his wedding night with Concubine Dong Shu.

"Shuni..."

He crawled towards the steps in front of Chunhua Palace, wondering why there was not a single palace maid in the yard.

"Hahahaha... Really, look at how impatient you are, do you want me so much?"

"..."

(End of this chapter)