Chang'an is good

"It's all due to Luo'er's carelessness that caused the fire in the pagoda, please punish me, aunt." Ming Luo said, it was an apology.

Emperor Shengji's eyes moved slightly: "Careless?"

Ming Luo bowed his head and said: "Afterwards, Luo'er carefully investigated the cause of the fire. It was because the long light lamp accidentally fell to the ground and ignited the scripture cloth used for sacrifice. This caused the fire to spread suddenly..."

"It was because Luo Er failed to carefully check whether the Changming lampstand was stable in advance, and did not adjust the place where the sutra cloth was hung, which caused the lampstand to fall to the ground and meet the sutra cloth and caught fire."

This is what she meant by "carelessness".

Emperor Shengji didn't comment, looked at her for a moment, and asked: "What did the lady of the Chang family do when the fire broke out and before the fire?"

There was a hint of unexpected color in Ming Luo's drooping eyes.

The aunt really suspected that the fire had something to do with Chang Suining.

"Before the fire broke out, Mrs. Chang had been sitting behind the sutra case, waiting to copy the scriptures." Ming Luo replied: "As for the fire, Mrs. Chang was talking to Luo Er... She never left Luo Er for a moment before and after this." child's sight."

At that time, she was not the only eyeliner of the aunt in the tower. When she should tell the truth, she must not lie.

"Speak..." Emperor Shengji looked at Ming Luo: "What did she say to you?"

Ming Luo raised his face slightly, with a look of disapproval: "...At that time, Mrs. Chang said she was hungry, and asked me if I could let her copy the scriptures after she finished her fast."

"Is that all?" asked the emperor.

Ming Luo seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then said in a slightly complicated tone: "Chang Niangzi read the Buddhist scriptures I copied, and asked me if... I was also imitating the handwriting of His Royal Highness the Eldest Princess."

This sentence was relayed by her in this way at this time, and it seemed that Chang Sui Ning was competing with her for this - such a girl from the Chang family undoubtedly looked like a caring imitator.

At that time, those eyeliners could only see Chang Suining talking to her, but it was impossible to hear what the two of them said at that time... At this time, she had a choice as to how to answer.

The Holy Book Emperor looked at her: "Is that all?"

A sense of tempting coercion came silently, Ming Luo forced himself to be calm and said: "Luo Er dare not and has no reason to lie to my aunt."

Emperor Shengji didn't know if he believed it, but asked again: "Apart from the fire, are there any other strange things happening in the pagoda today?"

"Go back to Auntie, except for this matter, everything in the pagoda is as usual." Ming Luo raised his hand and offered the box in his hand while speaking: "In Luoer's opinion, Miss Chang is no different, this is the Buddhist scriptures copied by Mrs. Chang, please Auntie Take a look."

Only one of the servants guarding the Holy Book Emperor stepped forward to take it, and presented it to the royal case.

The emperor flipped through the holy book, his eyebrows and eyes were uncertain, just like the rumors, the lady of the Chang family was very good at copying Chongyue's handwriting, and her handwriting did have the style of Chongyue...

But the handwriting in front of him is steady and powerful, and it is definitely not something that a person with a medical condition can write.

After a moment of silence, an almost imperceptible look of disappointment appeared in Emperor Shengji's eyes.

She closed the box containing the scriptures, and when she pressed her palm on the box, a hoarse cough came out of her throat.

Ming Luo hurriedly raised his head, and asked the servant who was in a hurry to deliver water to the emperor, "Can aunt take medicine at night?"

"Returning to the history of women, I haven't..."

Ming Luo frowned: "How can you be so careless?"

The servant sighed softly. The saint has been discussing matters with the ministers since he came back from the Tiannv Pagoda. During this time, two secret letters arrived. The saint was so busy that the maid who came to deliver the medicine could not enter the study. He said a word, but before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the sage frowning.

Ming Luo got up and went to urge Gong'e, who was guarding outside, to cook the medicine. After urging, he was still worried and went to the kitchen in person.

Not long after, Ming Luo turned back, brought the medicine over, and served the Holy Book Emperor to drink it.

The emperor is just a mortal body, not to mention that Emperor Shengji has been diligent since he came to power, never daring to relax for a moment, and because of his over-stressed, as he got older, his body developed many diseases.

In addition, there have been frequent urgent affairs in various places recently, and the body of the dragon caught cold again during the ancestor worship in Chongyang Festival. In the past two days, it was originally a strong support for handling government affairs and dealing with officials who had their own thoughts.

Ming Luo thought of the girl in the Tiannv Tower, and looked at the mountain of memorials beside him, and realized that there were too many facts that had worried the Emperor of the Holy Book recently.

At the same time, for the first time, she clearly felt that her aunt, who controlled everything and took care of everything, seemed to have no weakness at all, and who had been emperor for more than ten years as a woman with a foreign surname, might be a little powerless now.

People will age, and their limited energy will be scattered.

Aunts aside, throughout the ages, there are many examples of emperors who were heroic, wise, clear-headed and wise when they were young, but became fatuous and confused when they got old, and even destroyed their own achievements with their own hands.

Perhaps, my aunt is no longer as unshakable as she imagined...Is it?
This unprecedented cognition made Ming Luo feel a little dazed for a moment.

After that unspeakable brief trance, Ming Luo handed the empty medicine bowl to the waiter, and said in a shameful tone: "It's only because Luo Er failed to share the worries for aunt..."

"You only need to do what you should do, and you will take care of me." After drinking the medicine, the emperor closed his eyes and rested, and said in a slow voice: "In the next two days, if there is no call from me, You will stay together in the Tiannv Pagoda, and if there is anything suspicious, you must pay attention to it again..."

Ming Luo's half-down eyes fell on the box used to hold the Buddhist scriptures copied by Chang Suining, and he felt it was expected while being sarcastic.

Sure enough, my aunt would not give up so easily.

She agreed, and said with a sincere tone: "Yes, please rest assured, aunt."

Ming Luo left after serving the Holy Book Emperor.

She walked down the stone steps, and there was no moon or light on the gray night above her head, only a few very faint stars looming behind the dark clouds.

In the Tiannv Pagoda, Chang Suining, who was resting in the quiet room on the second floor of the pagoda, couldn't close his eyes for a long time.

After staying for a while, she got up in the dark, put on her shoes, pulled off the coat that hung on the screen, and put it on. She came to the window, pushed the window open, and looked out of the tower.

There are ever-burning lamps in the Tiannv Tower, so although most of the lights have been turned off, there is still a faint light in the tower, and you can barely see things.

Chang Suining was thinking about whether he should go to the secret passage with traps at night and try to find some clues, but after thinking about it for a while, he gave up.

Although the organ array has been destroyed, the people left behind in the future may still be staring at her. Today it was very risky to set off the fire secretly, but at that time she had to take that risk in order to save herself——

But now at least she is relatively safe, in order to avoid complications, let's keep quiet for the time being.

If you want to live a long life, you should be bold when you should be reckless, and you should be honest when you should hide your tail.

For the time being, his hands and feet have decided to settle down, but his mind is still not quiet for a moment. Chang Suining is holding the window lattice, looking up at the night sky, with many thoughts mixed.

When she looked back, she keenly caught a black shadow from the corner of her eye.

Chang Suining turned his head to look, and saw that there seemed to be a person sitting by the stone table in the pagoda courtyard where she used to eat today.

That person turned his back to her direction, sat quietly in the night, and there was no movement from the beginning to the end, she just noticed it.

Was it also the empress who stayed behind to monitor her?

But the other party just sat there like this, showing a bit of integrity.

Chang Suining poked his head out of the window again, and looked at it for a while, no, that person seems to be...

The young man who sat here for a long time suddenly felt something coming towards him from behind.

He instinctively turned to one side to avoid the thing.

With a soft sound, the thing hit the stone table and rolled a few times.

The young man picked up the thing and looked at it through the light of the lantern hanging on the eaves of the tower, only to see that it was a chestnut.

After being stunned for a moment, he got up with the chestnut in his hand, and turned his head to look in the direction where the chestnut flew behind him.

In the darkness, he raised his eyes and saw behind a window on the second floor of the tower, a young girl in light clothes put her hands on the window sill, leaned out her upper body, and was looking towards him.

Cui Jing's brows and eyes, which were stained with the coolness of the autumn night, suddenly eased, and subconsciously walked over.

Seeing him approaching, the girl in the window simply bent over and got out of the window, stepping on the eaves of the tower, about to jump off.

Seeing this, Cui Jing walked a few steps quickly, and quickly stretched out a hand.

However, the girl with light movements quickly landed on the ground firmly, without him needing to support her.

Cui Jing breathed a sigh of relief, quickly withdrew that hand, and put it behind his back.

Chang Suining walked up to him in two steps, glanced behind him, and asked in a low voice, "Why is Governor Cui here so late at night?"

"I... come and sit down." Cui Jing seemed a little unsure how to answer.

He really just wanted to come and sit down.

Hearing this undetailed answer, Chang Suining didn't ask further.

At this moment, she saw those eyes looking at her that looked cold but seemed to be hiding endless words at the moment. After a while, the owner of those eyes asked: "Today... are you okay?"

He usually speaks most simply and neatly, but tonight these two sentences stopped everywhere.

His eyes and some silent body language are also different from usual.

The Cui Jing she met for the first time in the past was condescending and unreasonable.

Afterwards, Cui Jing, who became her friend, spoke little but sincerely.

Cui Jing, who was standing in front of her tonight, seemed... a little at a loss.

This is Cui Jing she has never seen before.

Chang Suijing looked at him quietly for a while before nodding: "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Cui Jing gave a rare slight smile, that's good.

After a while, he said, "Actually, I'm here to see you."

Chang Suining also smiled: "I know."

Otherwise, she wouldn't have jumped down pretentiously.

"Then why don't you throw a pebble to call me down." She said, "You can try throwing a pebble next time."

Cui Jing nodded seriously: "Okay, I will remember."

In fact, it wasn't that he was so stupid that he didn't know how to call her down, he just didn't want to disturb her rest, she should have a good rest after suffering such torture today.

He had planned to sit until dawn, waiting for her to get up.

And he just sat here, thinking that she could sleep peacefully in the tower, he felt much more at ease.

"Why did you come to see me at this time?" Chang Suining tried to ask.

Just to ask her "how is today"?

Cui Jing did have another matter.

"I will leave Dayun Temple tomorrow, and after returning to Xuance Mansion to arrange everything properly, I will leave Beijing early in the morning."

Chang Suining was a little surprised: "Is it going to the northern border to prepare for the construction of border defense?"

Under the urging of Cui Jing, half of the transfer of money from the household department finally came down. He said that he would leave after worshiping the ancestors in Chongyang, but she still vaguely felt that she was in a hurry.

Cui Jing said: "I need to go to Bingzhou first."

"Bingzhou?" Chang Suining had a bad feeling: "What happened?"

Cui Jing's voice was lowered: "The sage received a secret report, saying that I and the governor's mansion of Bingzhou have secret correspondence with Xu Zhengye, and I am afraid that he may have a heart for Xu Zhengye."

Chang Suining's expression became serious.

"Therefore, I need to lead people there secretly as soon as possible, and control the situation in Bingzhou before they make any moves." Cui Jing said: "In order not to startle the snake, this trip needs to be concealed. When we leave in the future, we will only go to the north to build border defense."

Chang Suining understood that it was a secret decree.

She looked around warily, and subconsciously said: "Since it's a secret trip that cannot be said, you don't have to tell me."

This confidant who was secretly afraid of the future was eavesdropping, and he just leaked important secrets to her...

Cui Jing: "If you ask me, I will answer."

Chang Suining was slightly startled when he heard the words, looked into those eyes that were still honest and sincere, and asked, "Will you answer truthfully whatever I ask?"

In the night, the young man nodded to her: "Everything will be."

Chang Suining looked at him and smiled.

She did have many questions she wanted to ask him, but unfortunately, this was definitely not a good occasion or a good time to talk.

It's understandable that she chatted with him about some irrelevant things, even if it was passed on to Empress Ming, he would at most end up with the impression of being "fascinated by love".

He "doesn't marry unless you are a Qing", so it makes sense to visit her before leaving.On the contrary, if he avoids coming to see her side, or it is not in line with his previous behavior, his coming, on the contrary, can dispel some of Ming Hou's suspicions.

This is probably why he dared to sit here and wait for her openly.

But for deeper words, it is destined to be impossible to ask or say at this time.

Chang Suining felt a little regretful, he couldn't ask today, see you next time, I don't know when it will be.

She asked: "If the matter of merging the state is decided, do we have to go directly to the northern border?"

Cui Jing nodded: "Yes."

Chang Suining: "This farewell may take several years before we can see each other again."

Cui Jing didn't speak for a while, for him, leading an army is very common, but he has never been in such a state of mind before leaving Beijing.

But at this time, the girl in front of him suddenly took two steps towards him, and leaned over to him.

Cui Jing's breath and mind are stagnant.

Due to the habit of marching and fighting for many years, when someone suddenly approached him like this, he should have retreated instinctively, but at this moment he froze in place, silently clenched the chestnut in his hand.

At such a close distance, he even smelled the faint scent of incense on the girl's body, which is a noble and sacred aura used to worship the gods, which is very suitable for her.

And just now she said something, it will take several years to meet each other, so, could it be...