Still waiting for Zhaoyang

Chapter 9 You Should Find This Way to Xiaoxiang (3)
The actions of the two people in front of her and the endless thoughts in her heart did not fall into Jingtan's eyes, she just lowered her head and hesitated for a while: "Call...Call, Shang Rui."

The crowd was horrified.

The female official kowtowed to the ground in panic and said: "The emperor sees that our princess is young and ignorant, and the servants and others are willing to be punished with death on behalf of the princess." Then the others also knelt down together. They originally accompanied Jing from southern Xinjiang. Tan Jingong.

Perhaps the most leisurely person present was Shang Rui himself.

"Shang Rui..." He ignored the group of people kneeling on the ground, supported his chest with one hand, and propped himself on the table of the gazebo. The corner of his mouth curled up into a smile that was not a smile, and he said his name, as if he was reminiscing about something, and suddenly said : "It's been a long time since I've heard someone call me, I really miss it." But there was an indecipherable complex smile on his lips.

Everyone in the world knows that Duke Huai is cautious in everything, but he spoils this daughter lawlessly.This princess of Jingtan County was raised in a honeypot since she was a child. She can do whatever she wants, and she doesn't have the ability to observe words and expressions.Seeing Shang Rui smiled, she thought she was encouraged, kowtowed to the ground again, and continued: "There is one more thing in Jingtan, I ask Uncle Jiu to help me."

"Say."

"Uncle Jiu must know the story of the marriage between the founding emperor Taizu and his niece Princess Chiayi. This is a good story about my marriage in the David Dynasty." The royal family didn't care.

The female official behind her was ashen-faced, and she didn't dare to pull Jingtan in front of Shang Rui, so she could only kowtow and say, "The princess is young, please forgive me, please forgive me."

"Uncle Jiu, I just want to finish my sentence." Jing Tan knelt on the ground and straightened her back and continued.

"What if I don't want you to say it?" Shang Rui asked.

"Then Jingtan can't feel at ease for the rest of his life. He is afraid that when he returns to the Southern Region, Uncle Jiu will never see Jingtan again."

"Nonsense!" Shang Rui flicked his sleeves, ready to turn around and leave.

"Uncle Jiu!" Jingtan walked a few steps behind him, "Jingtan has admired Uncle Jiu since she was a child, and she only wants to marry Uncle Jiu in this life." After she finished speaking, she hurriedly bowed to the queen again, "I beg the empress to help you!" , Jingtan will not compete with the empress for favor, but only wants to give birth to a son and a half daughter for Uncle Jiu, find a place in the harem, and accompany Uncle Jiu for life."

"Princess don't say that, the matter of accepting the concubine is still up to the emperor himself." The queen threw the words to Shang Rui.

Shang Rui turned around and asked lightly: "Does your father know about this?"

"He doesn't know, no one knows, he doesn't care who I like at all." Jingtan's jade-like delicate face was full of childish tenderness.

Shang Rui stared at the niece, "You are David's upright princess, you don't tell your parents, you don't report to the clan, and you just beg for the queen's fulfillment here, which is against the rules."

"But..." Seeing Shang Rui's expression suddenly became serious, Jing Tan felt a little wronged, bit her lower lip, frowned, and her eyes were slightly red.

"Princess! Acknowledge your mistake to His Majesty!" The female officer behind her hurriedly said again.

Jingtan pursed her mouth with great reluctance, tears flowed out despite holding back.

The queen glanced at Shang Rui.

Shang Rui got up and left, walked a few steps and said: "The rest of you get up and let her kneel alone." He put his hands behind his back when he spoke, and didn't turn his head.

In the next few hours, the open space in the Begonia Forest in the Imperial Garden seemed to be plagued by plague. If you had to pass by there for business, try to detour as much as possible.

The court lady Yun Jin glanced at it from a distance, then hurried back to Jinde Palace.

"Still kneeling?" the Queen asked.

"If you go back to your mother, you are still kneeling alone, crying all the time."

The queen thought for a while, and ordered someone to make some food and deliver it herself.

When we arrived at the Imperial Garden, it was already completely dark, and it started to rain again, crackling on the umbrella.It was pitch black all around, and the eunuch carefully held the lamp in front.

When the queen walked outside the crabapple forest, she suddenly saw Shang Rui standing faintly behind the crabapple branches, with his hands behind his back.Following his line of sight, it was Jingtan who was kneeling on the ground.

Due to the sound of the rain, she couldn't hear whether she was still crying, but her body was still shaking.The elegant and flexible ribbon that was originally wrapped around the bun had already fallen down with the long hair, the rain was streaming down the chin, and the wet clothes were tightly attached to the body.

Shang Rui just looked at the little girl kneeling in the distance.Seen from the side, the thin lips with beautiful lines are tightly pressed, and the expression in the deep black eyes is complex, no one can see through the secret hidden in them.The eunuch at the back carefully held the umbrella for him, not moving for a while.

The queen walked over and gave a light blessing: "Your Majesty."

Shang Rui turned around and was not surprised to see the queen, his gaze paused for a moment on the food boxes held by the maids.

"Your majesty, the princess's body can't bear this kind of hardship. You just..." She didn't know how long he had stood in the rain with Jingtan.Maybe it came without rain, maybe earlier.

Shang Rui murmured: "She was only five or six years old when she left the Imperial Capital with her second brother. Later, she came back several times with her mother. Because of her aunt, she was very close to me. How could she know that she would develop feelings for a man and a woman. She has such a pure heart, I..."

The queen was dumbfounded.

It turned out that he was not angry with Jingtan, but angry with himself.She understood what Shang Rui was thinking at the moment before and after Jingtan proposed to marry her.As proud as he is, as frivolous as he is, he hates himself for instinctively treating her as a pawn.

She thought for a moment, then sighed in her heart, but said: "Young majesty is a hero, the emperor is supreme, no woman in the world wants to be around forever."

When Shang Rui heard this, he turned to look at her, snorted suddenly, and said with a sneer: "Others say I believe it, but it becomes a joke when the queen says it."

Wang Xiaoxiang avoided talking about it, and said: "Then Duke Huai has no sons, if Princess Yanqing can marry the emperor, it will be beneficial to the emperor and will not cause any harm."

Shang Rui smiled again: "The queen is far-sighted, and I feel inferior to myself."

"The emperor is naturally wiser than his courtiers and concubines, but the emperor is tired of trivial matters, so he is blindfolded instead."

"If she really gave birth to a son for me first, queen, do you think the Wang family will still have trouble based on her connection with the Xu family? The queen can't protect herself, why should she plan the future for others?"

"Concubines have their own ways of living as concubines, the emperor doesn't have to worry about it." Xiaoxiang stood with his eyes down.

Speaking of this, Shang Rui was really annoyed. His eyebrows were tightened, his lips were pursed, and his eyes were getting colder.

The rain had been falling, and puddles had accumulated on the ground, and the rain and mud splashed together and landed on his boots.

In the end, he didn't really get angry, but just smiled suddenly, and said softly: "How can there be a couple like you and me in the world."

"The emperor was joking. I don't know how many people in the world envy the concubine and the emperor as husband and wife. This is the good luck of the concubine for several generations."

"That's all. The queen doesn't need to say these words anymore. You go and ask her to go back to the house first, and send her back to the southern region in a few days."

For several days in a row, Jingtan was ill, and was unable to show up for the Queen Mother's birthday banquet.

It was half a month after Shangrui saw Jingtan for the second time. He went to the queen mother's bedroom to pay his respects, and found Jingtan sitting in it, with the queen beside him.

Her face has lost a lot of weight, her eyes are full of melancholy, she is not as energetic as before, and she doesn't say hello when she sees Shang Rui, she just sits dully.

"Still sulking with your ninth uncle?" the Queen Mother teased her.

When the queen mother said this, Jingtan's tears fell again, and the queen mother held her in her arms and said to Shang Rui: "This child is also stubborn, you might as well let her go."

"What's wrong with me?"

The queen mother gave him a glance: "Stop pretending to be stupid with me, you can accept Xu Zhaoyi and Wu Xiurong, why can't you tolerate Jingtan?"

Shang Rui glanced at the Queen, put the teacup aside and said, "How can Jingtan compare with others, Queen Mother, you know that I watched her grow up, so I treated her differently. But my son and the Queen's husband and wife are of the same mind. If Jingtan is neglected and wronged in this palace because of me, how can you be at ease, Prince Huai, Concubine Huai, and Queen Mother?" After finishing speaking, Shang Rui took the queen next to him hand in palm.The queen didn't move either, her face flushed and she lowered her head.

But Jingtan raised her head and said, "If I stay in the palace, Uncle Jiu may fall in love with me in the future."

Shang Rui glanced at her: "I only have the queen in my heart, the rest is absolutely impossible." After saying that, he led the queen out of the queen mother's palace.

Wang Xiaoxiang followed him silently until he walked to Jinde Palace.Shang Rui let go, and said lightly: "Queen, go back and rest, I won't go in if I have something to do."

After waiting for Shang Rui to leave, Wang Xiaoxiang looked at his hands.

It is desolate enough for a couple to do this.

Fortunately, she doesn't love him, and neither does he.

五

In midsummer, a major case broke out in the court.

Murong Si, one of the Nine Ministers, was found to have had an affair with a cult rebelled by the Central Territory, and had conspired against him.His letters and physical evidence were all seized by the Yushi Yamen.

He Lanxun was slightly shocked when he heard the news in the court hall, and quietly raised his head to look at Shang Rui who was sitting on the throne.Shang Rui said: "I will hand over this case to Yushitai for a thorough investigation." With a calm face, he replied as if it was a routine, and then added a sentence, "Report everything to the Empress Dowager."

Murong Si is the eldest son of Murong, he grew up with a group of princes, he was the companion of Wei Wang Shangquan when he was in Taiyuan Academy.Later, when Shang Rui ascended the throne, the eighth prince, King Wei, entrusted the frontier domains, and the Murong family also lost power.However, Murong Si has been conscientious and conscientious in the court, and he has only been a second-rank official for ten years.

It is quite strange that such a person is accused of treason.

Shang Rui suddenly felt a little ominous.Even so, there was nothing he could do.He is nothing more than a puppet who has no military power and sits in the court all day taking care of trivial matters.

Half a month later, things turned out to be as Shang Rui was worried about. Behind Murong Si was Wei Wang Shangquan.

A few months ago, Wei Wang Shangquan secretly returned to Beijing to report to the emperor Huaiwang's movements.

After hearing what He Lanxun learned about the case from Yushitai, Shang Rui's face froze, and some emotions flashed through his eyes.Shang Quan is the eighth son of the late emperor, and he is the closest in age to Shang Rui, so they get along well.

With Wei Wang's cowardly character, the word "conspiracy" is almost impossible for him.

This is just another strategy of the Xu family to remove obstacles.

He is now fledgling and powerless.Those people want to get rid of Wei one by one from his side.

At noon, Shang Rui was taking a nap in the side hall of the imperial study, tossing and turning about the matter of King Wei, when he suddenly heard noise outside the hall.

Ming Lian lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness, Your Highness, please go back, the emperor is resting, if you are disturbed, you can't bear it."

Shang Rui called out in a deep voice: "Ming Lian, let them in." Then he ordered people to set up their tents and put on their clothes.

"My son sees my father."

"The humble minister joins the emperor, and my emperor is in good health."

The two children saluted respectfully.Five or six-year-old dolls do these things in a rigid and unambiguous manner.

One is the eldest son Ran Jun, and the other is the companion given to him last time - Ran Hong, the eldest son of King Wei.Shang Rui has already guessed the purpose of the child's visit.

Ran Hong knelt on the ground with a "plop" and cried, "Uncle Huang, please save my father."

Ran Jun also knelt down and begged for mercy: "Father, the son is studying with my minister in Taiyuan Academy. I am a friend, but now he is not happy, and my son is not happy. Please pardon the eighth uncle. .”

Shang Rui stared at the two crying children, and suddenly remembered the scene when he was a child and Shang Quan teased the maids of Qiantai Palace together, was punished together, and pleaded guilty to his father together.

Shang Rui asked Ming Lian to help them up, and asked Ran Hong, "Do you know what crime your father committed?"

Ran Hong sniffed his nose and wiped his tears: "Hong'er doesn't know, but the sage said that brothers are like siblings. Although Hong'er and His Highness are only cousins, he said that if I am sad, he will be sad, and Hong'er is the same. You are the emperor, and your father is your elder brother, no matter how big the crime is, isn't it the emperor who has the final say?"

Shang Rui turned to his son Ran Jun, "You think so too?"

Although Ran Jun was anxious, he had many rules. He clasped his fat little hands together and said, "If you go back to your father, I'm thinking, when my father loses his siblings, will my son be more sad than seeing Brother Hong crying?"

Hearing this, Shang Rui smiled lightly, waved his hands and asked the eunuch to take the two of them down, and said to Minglian: "Let the eunuchs in the young resting palace who are in charge of the eldest prince and the eldest son go to the forbidden room to receive [-] sticks each, and they will be fined three months' salary." .how do you see the child?"

After the person left, Shang Rui couldn't sleep even more, so he simply sat in front of the imperial case and continued to critique papers.

The cicadas outside kept yelling on the tree, and it still felt hot after adding two ice basins.He pulled open the hem irritably, tearing the hem with his fingers.

He took a sip of the iced white tea and put it heavily on the table. Finally, he couldn't help but annoyed: "I'll let you hear the things in the trees outside tomorrow, watch out for your heads!"

The serving eunuch obediently responded, and then immediately sent someone to fetch the long bamboo pole and drove away quietly.

Ming Lian next to him understood that the immature words of the two children hit the emperor's heart every word.

After that, Shang Rui went to Jinde Palace.The queen knew his reason for coming, so she dismissed everyone, and said bluntly: "Your Majesty, not only can my concubine help you with the matter of King Wei, but I also advise you not to get entangled with the Queen Mother about this matter. Since this matter has nothing to do with you, Your majesty should just wait and see what happens."

Shang Rui, who had just been seated, suddenly stood up when he heard the words, and suddenly smiled: "This is Xiaoxiang, are you expressing the position of the Wang family to me?"

"There are no concubines, and the Wang family has no position."

Shang Rui suddenly laughed: "Does your royal family have any choice? Don't you think that one day the Xu family can abolish me? They are not the emperor themselves, but they want to make Jun'er the new emperor and then support you as the empress dowager. Keep the Wang family prosperous for a hundred years? Have you already forgotten the poison of the gourd and vine?"

Upon hearing about the gourd, the queen turned pale: "I didn't poison you."

"It doesn't matter who it is. The important thing is that the queen mother thinks that your surname Wang has endangered her son's life. She can destroy or establish her own son, but she can't allow others to touch him. Do you understand?" Shang Rui She smiled lightly, but that smile was like a frozen lake for thousands of years, full of cold air.

The queen shuddered.

She understood that when the Empress Dowager held her hand and said the words "Ai Jia believes in you", she already understood that she had no choice.If it wasn't like this, why would she suddenly say those words of "wait and see" to Shang Rui today.Her father's words were not wrong, he told her that as long as she said that to Shang Rui, Shang Rui's intelligence and wisdom would immediately understand.

Their Wang family has already placed their bets.

Shang Rui sat down slowly again, picked up the teacup and poured himself a cup of tea: "Then, the first request for Wang Xiang and I to cooperate is to ask me to watch Wei Wang's death?"

"They are just using King Wei to test the Emperor's heart. Now that the Xu family holds the military power, fighting against King Wei is like hitting a stone with an egg."

Hitting a rock with an egg is better than hitting a rock with an egg.

Shang Rui clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white: "Okay, tell your father, I promise." After all, he and Wang Xiaoxiang came back here after all—it was just a deal.

This night, Shang Rui did not stay overnight in Jinde Palace.

Two months later, the king of Wei was convicted, and all the men over the age of 15 in the palace of the king of Wei were beheaded in Beijing.

The eldest son Ran Hong was demoted to be a commoner.

On that day, Shang Rui came back from His Royal Highness Qiantai.When passing by the imperial garden, the queen happened to run into him.Wang Xiaoxiang bowed down, but he stopped him halfway through the ceremony: "You don't need it, the queen." His demeanor and demeanor were as usual, even the temperature of his palms was as usual.It's just—the address and tone became alienated and polite.

All the maids and eunuchs were screened away, and the two stood by the lotus pond.

Every summer in the imperial capital goes very early, and once the heat is over, it is already a pool of residual lotus.

Seeing that he was depressed, Wang Xiaoxiang persuaded him: "The emperor has the common people in his heart, and the decision to live and kill is for the safety of the world."

Shang Rui couldn't help chuckling: "In order to congratulate the queen's natal family and I are about to join forces, now I want to tell the queen something, a past event that you really want to know."

Wang Xiaoxiang looked up at Shang Rui suspiciously.

"Remember that bowl of lotus seed soup you made for me?"

She uses him.

Why is he not?
From then on, there was no husband and wife between him and her, only monarchs and ministers remained.

He leaned over in front of her, whispering softly at her temples: "The poison, I put it myself."

(End of this chapter)