auspicious time has come

Chapter 221 Is it all a coincidence?
Xiao Mu raised his eyes slightly, but said nothing.

"I'm asking you! Did I wrong you!" The moment he met those eyes, the emperor, who was unable to lean on the dragon couch, froze, his eyes turned red from being too wide: "Why didn't you answer me? ...Have you been blaming me all this time?"

Xiao Mu quietly looked at the terminally ill and deranged man.

After a while, he calmly said: "In the case of King Hedong, the truth has been revealed, the real culprit has been punished, and His Majesty has returned the minister's innocence, so why talk about being wronged?"

The prince looked at the young man who reacted too calmly.

"Hedong King..." The emperor's eyes changed in confusion for a moment, and then suddenly returned to his senses, and muttered: "You mean... Li Wen?"

When Jiang Zhengfu looked down, he closed his eyes.

The servant on the side lowered his head and sighed helplessly in his heart.

Li Wen is the late old Hedong King, Xiao Jieshi said just now, it is clearly his son Li Jin... The state of the saint is not just confused.

The emperor murmured: "Li Wen is the younger brother of my mother...I know that he has always been at odds with you, and his son Li Jin has also been against your only son Jingzhi since he was a child. ..."

Hearing the word "respect" from the emperor's mouth, Xiao Mu's eyes trembled almost imperceptibly.

"But every time Li Wen puts you in trouble, I will resolve it!" Because of his excitement, the emperor's voice gradually rose from a low voice: "I still remember that I injured Li Jin with a gesture of respect, and it was also I who suppressed you!" After this matter, protect and respect him, so there is no trouble! I have always stood by your side, even treating you better than blood relatives!"

"Yes, I was still the prince, and when the position of crown prince was not stable, you were the one who protected me... When Concubine Gao planned to assassinate you, you were the one who blocked the poisonous arrow for me. When I first ascended the throne, Yongyang Disarming the armor and marrying, it is still you who went out to fight for me to wipe out the aliens and stabilize the hearts of the people... I have never denied all of this! But in all fairness, I treat you sincerely, and what I owe you...has already been paid off!"

As the emperor said, muddy tears rolled down from the corner of his eyes, he opened his dry mouth, trembling with grief, raised his finger to point at Xiao Mu——

"On the contrary, it was you who betrayed my trust... You betrayed me first, so I had no choice but to kill you!"

"If you are really wronged, I clearly gave you three days after entering the prison, but during those three days, why did you never mention that you wanted to see me? Why didn't you explain to me?"

"Because you have a guilty conscience...you dare not see me at all!"

Xiao Mu lowered his gaze indifferently.

Is that person guilty?

It is still that person who clearly knows that there is no room for change, that no amount of so-called explanations will be in vain, and no amount of truth can match-some people want their ministers to die, and the king also wants his ministers to die.

"When you were alive, you refused to explain half a word to me... You are dead, and you have often appeared in my dreams these years, and you have never said a word to me!"

The emperor's eyes were extremely red, and his eyes were like knives, nailing Xiao Mu's face: "I want you to answer today, and I want you to answer it yourself!"

Xiao Mu: "Your Majesty has admitted the wrong person."

"No... I will not admit my mistake! Even if you turn into ashes, I will recognize you!"

"Xiao Jieshi—" the prince looked at Xiao Mu, with a reminder and regret in his eyes.

Xiao Mu understood, and raised his hand as a salute: "The minister will leave."

"Go away!"

The emperor straightened up abruptly, and said sternly, "Shi Minhui... I won't let you go!"

Seeing the tall and straight figure slowly backing away, he dragged his frail body almost out of control and struggled to catch up. Because he moved too fast, his body was out of control, and he lost his balance and fell off the dragon couch.

"His Majesty!"

"Father!"

Xiao Mu stopped and looked over.

The crown prince, Jiang Zhengfu and others had already surrounded him. The emperor's face was pale, his eyes widened, and his whole body was twitching.

Jiang Zhengfu said with a sullen voice: "Quick pass on to the medical officer!"

With the current appearance of the emperor, the medical officer has not left the sleeping hall, and is waiting for him in the side hall at any time. Hearing the call, he quickly rushed into the inner hall with the medicine box.

After some nervous and frightening fuss, the leading medical officer's face turned ashen: "Fortunately, the treatment was timely... Your Majesty's life is safe."

The prince looked at the emperor who was struggling with his eyes wide open on the dragon couch, trying to sit up but couldn't do so, and even half of his mouth was drooling crookedly: "Father, he..."

"Your Majesty's internal liver wind...caused a stroke." The medical officer bowed and knelt down, kowtowed and replied in a trembling voice.

The prince's eyes shook.

Jiang Zhengfu immediately asked, "Can it be cured?"

"Anyone who suffers from apoplexy has a sudden onset...the only way to slow it down is with acupuncture...however, your Majesty's dragon body is too weak now, and it may be difficult for him to recover." The medical officer said relatively tactfully.

Xiao Mu looked at the person on the dragon bed who was almost immobile, and still saw the other person's sunken eyes locked on him through the crowd.

"You should use all feasible methods to rule each other as best you can." The prince confessed in a heavy tone: "From today onwards, I will thank you for taking turns to serve the emperor around, so as not to make any mistakes..."

Several medical officers answered "yes" in unison.

After arranging everything, the prince left here with heavy steps.

"Father's apoplexy... According to what the teacher and the envoy Xiao Jie saw, what should we say to the outside world?" After leaving the emperor's bedroom, the prince stopped, turned around and asked the two people behind him.

Jiang Zhengfu didn't rush to speak, and raised his eyes slightly to look at Xiao Mu.

"I think it's better to keep this matter a secret for the time being, and it's not appropriate to rush to speak out." Xiao Mu said, "Now that the princes and envoys from other countries are all in Beijing, and there is war in the southern border, if the news of your Majesty's stroke spreads at this time, there will be serious accidents." Many disadvantages."

The prince nodded thoughtfully, and looked at Jiang Zhengfu: "I don't know what the teacher thinks?"

Although in recent years he has had many disagreements with the teacher in terms of political views, he still should and needs to consider the other party's opinions on such major external matters.

Jiang Zhengfu looked at Xiao Mu: "What I see is similar to Xiao Jieshi."

As the other party said, envoys and princes from various countries are now gathered in Beijing...and among the princes, this person is the most threatening.

The other party was the first to say this at this time, which was a bit beyond his expectation.

But one word doesn't mean anything.

There are many people in this world who are good at pretending and scheming.

Jiang Zhengfu didn't want to let go of his guard, but the confused words of the emperor just now sounded in his mind——

Then, what flashed into my mind was the expression of Gu Changwu, the real culprit who assassinated King Hedong in the prison of Dali Temple that day, when he committed suicide and died.

Is it all a coincidence?
Jiang Zhengfu had a voice in his heart asking.

The same question also arose in the prince's heart.

"I was thinking, although father is increasingly unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, why...he just recognized Xiao Jieshi as Shu Guogong?"

In the middle of the night, when the prince had finished handling all matters, he was lying on the bed and resting, speaking in a low voice.

The concubine, who was sleeping next to him, said softly: "Xiao Jieshi is the same as Shu Guogong. They are both military generals. They are also people who have fought in the battlefield all the year round. There are some similarities in their momentum... In addition, they are both What Emperor Father is afraid of... It is because of so many overlaps that Emperor Father has such an illusion."

After a moment of silence, the prince said, "Perhaps so."

"Your Highness... But do you remember the old things again?" The princess turned sideways and leaned gently on her husband's shoulder.

The prince didn't answer, just embraced her and fell into a long silence.

……

Although the news of the emperor's stroke-induced paralysis was sealed inside the bedroom, and no disturbance was noticed outside, Heng Yu still quickly found out about it.

After leaving the palace that day, she and Xiao Mu met again at the Yanchun Tower——

And compared to the news that the emperor had a stroke, which is neither good nor bad, she focused more on this matter: "You mean... the saint killed you in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Jiang Zhengfu. Do you recognize him as Uncle Shi?"

Xiao Mu nodded.

Heng Yu was a little uneasy: "Will the two of them become suspicious?"

Although the emperor was confused and insane, the fool also knew that Xiao Mu could never be Shi Minhui, but the crown prince and Jiang Zhengfu were observant people, so it was really hard to say whether they would be suspicious because of this.

"I guess." Xiao Mu said: "Although it may not be possible to guess 'Shi Jingzhi' for a while, but I will definitely think about it more."

"Once there is suspicion, I will pay more attention to your words and deeds..." Heng Yu said solemnly: "You and His Highness the Crown Prince have known each other since childhood, and he must know a lot about you, and Jiang Zhengfu has watched you grow up... Before the whole truth becomes clear, you must deal with it carefully."

"Don't worry, I will be careful."

"By the way, what is the situation in the southern border? Is it controllable?"

The current situation affects the whole body, and Heng Yu knows this well.

Xiao Mu also affected it, and told her about it bit by bit.

The two had a long conversation in the room on the second floor. Gu Tingnan, who was guarding outside, was leaning against the fence, admiring the beautiful girl dancing to the sound of the pipa in the hall downstairs.

"Presumably this is what Ah Heng said, the flying dance from Tianzhu?" She was full of interest, and urged the people on the side to watch together: "Look, look, it really looks like a painting!"

Wang Jingyong acted as if he had never heard of it, and kept his eyes fixed on it.

"My lady looks like the person in the painting... How about going to the room with me for a glass of wine?" A drunken man staggered towards Gu Tingnan.

Gu Tingnan leaned against the fence and turned around, moving away nimbly. Just as he was about to speak, the man rushed over with an involuntary smile.

However, the hand that was stretched out this time was not lost, but was grabbed by the wrist.

The pain from the wrist made the man wake up a little bit, and he looked at the expressionless but obviously not easy to provoke young face: "You, what are you doing?"

Wang Jingyong said coldly: "If you don't want your eyes, you can dig them out. She is not from the building. Take your dirty hands away—"

"Yes... it's my eyesight."

As soon as the man's hand was released, he apologized again and again and left quickly.

"Seldom come here in the future."

Hearing this, Gu Tingnan looked at the man with a stinky face, and said with a smile: "What are you afraid of, anyway, every time I come, you are always here."

Wang Jingyong's expression changed a few times: "...I'm not your bodyguard!"

"I can't afford to hire such a majestic door god-like guard."

Wang Jingyong squinted at the person who was making fun of him, and saw the woman resting her hands on the fence casually, looking at him with a smile, the stream of light falling on her body, compared with the maple red dress, she looked even more beautiful. The complexion is fair, the jade neck is as fat, and the whole person seems to be shining.

The sound of the pipa downstairs suddenly intensified, and the sound made people confused.

Wang Jingyong raised his hand and untied the cloak, and threw it towards her.

Gu Tingnan caught it, hugged him and looked at him.

"Put it on...it won't be eye-catching." He said with a stiff voice, and didn't look at her anymore.

After this sentence, Vice General Wang never spoke again.

After his general came out, he followed him out of the Yanchun Tower, and the wind in late spring blew, and the coolness hit his body.

Vice General Wang suddenly came back to his senses - why did he give the cloak to that Gu?

And the other party didn't ask to return it to him!

Looking back at the place where the fireworks were, I couldn't help frowning—this place is full of hanging lamps, playing music and dancing, smelling of rouge and alcohol, and being in it, my mind is messed up!
Sure enough, it is the rumored place where the soul eats away the bones and eats people without spitting out the bones!

……

Two days later, in the capital, there was a drizzle.

Jiang Zhengfu, who said he was sick and did not go to the Ministry of Education, was recuperating at home, and under the umbrella of his servants, he came to Jiang Xuexi's residence in the drizzle.

The servants stopped outside the courtyard, Jiang Zhengfu took the umbrella and walked slowly into the courtyard, and then he heard chuckles coming from the corridor.

Looking up, I saw a pair of figures standing in the corridor, a woman who was too weak in a cloak was stretching her hands out of the corridor to catch the rain.

Seeing her smiling, Jiang Zhengfu rarely showed a slight smile on his cold and serious face.

He stood there for quite a while, until Yan Ming's gaze came over and met his eyes.

The two looked at each other quietly for a moment, but there was no confrontation in their eyes.

"Father!"

Jiang Xuexi followed Yan Ming's gaze and looked over, and couldn't help smiling.

Following the call, Jiang Zhengfu lowered his eyes and walked over with a benevolent expression.

After Yan Ming raised his hand to salute, he temporarily retreated elsewhere, leaving the corridor to his father and daughter.

"It's getting warmer and colder these days. Father needs to take good care of his own body." Jiang Xuexi said with a smile, "My daughter asked the kitchen to cook a medicinal diet, which is a prescription specially prescribed by Rong Ji for you."

Jiang Zhengfu nodded with a smile, raised his hand and stroked his daughter's bun: "Xi'er is in good spirits these days."

"Yes." Jiang Xuexi looked at him and said softly, "Daddy, thank you."

Jiang Zhengfu trembled slightly with his big hands caressing his daughter's bun, suppressing the soreness in his eyes, and asked in a gentle voice: "This rain will not be too heavy. After the rain stops, would Xi'er want to go out for a walk?"

Jiang Xuexi smiled and nodded: "My daughter still wants to go to Zhuangzi outside the city. I was in a hurry when I came back last time, and I couldn't bring some things back."

"Okay." Jiang Zhengfu nodded with a smile: "Then let's go...go today and return tomorrow, don't delay worshiping the next day."

Said, looking in the direction Yan Ming left just now, said: "Let him... let Rong Ji accompany you."

Jiang Xuexi responded, took his father's arm lightly, leaned against his side, and said seriously: "Father, I don't know if my daughter told you before... You are really the best dad in the world .”

Jiang Zhengfu patted his daughter's thin back lightly, with gentle and loving movements.

"Our past is also the best past in the world."

The wind passes, the clouds disperse, and the rain rests.

……

　A chapter of [-] words, see you tomorrow~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)