Denghuaxiao

Chapter 223 In the Palace
The autumn wind blows and the grass and trees turn yellow.

The long steps in the courtyard are covered with deep moss.

In the Grand Tutor's Mansion, the white gauze lanterns under the eaves swayed in the wind. In the ancestral hall, rows of pitch-black tablets stood in an orderly manner like inverted coffins, their shadows hanging long in the dim candlelight.

Qi Yutai was buried yesterday.

The eldest son of the Grand Tutor's Mansion was buried, but the funeral was extremely simple. Offering sacrifices to the dead was a very ominous sign, so the cause of Qi Yutai's death was not publicized, and the palace was forbidden to discuss the matter. As for the outside world, it was only said that Qi Yutai had a sudden illness and died of a serious illness.

Although the sacrificial ceremony had never been spread, people could not help but be suspicious. Qi Yutai was in his prime, and there was no history of any chronic illness. It was hard to explain why he suddenly fell ill and died. However, the previous fire in Fengle Building was brought up by the people in the streets and alleys, and the truth was confusing.

A low cough was heard from inside the room.

Qi Qing was sitting in the room.

The hard work of taking care of Qi Yutai's funeral caused his already aged body to weaken rapidly, and his skinny and shriveled body looked even more rotten and dead.

Qi Huaying has gone to rest. Qi Yutai has passed away. As the only daughter of the Qi family, she also has to receive guests who come to pay their respects, which is quite tiring.

Emperor Ming of Liang investigated the cause of Qi Yutai's death, and the Third Prince obstructed it. How Qi Yutai died was not important. In comparison, the funeral ceremony and the ominous omen became a greater sin. Everyone who came to mourn showed a sad face, and their expressions were different, some were pitying, some were gloating, and some were taking advantage of others' misfortune, like a variety show painted with oil paint at the funeral.

He looked at them one by one.

The surroundings became even quieter. The pale lantern was swaying in the wind. The green and glowing moonlight fell on the ground and on his face, like a ghost that suddenly appeared in the hall.

He suddenly spoke in the silence.

"Where is the medical officer convoy going to Southern Jiangsu?"

The housekeeper bowed and replied, "I heard yesterday that we were about to cross the Guangyun River, but the continuous rain delayed us for some time. After we cross the Guangyun River, we will reach Mengtai."

Qi Qinghe's eyes.

The medical officer convoy to southern Jiangsu set off a few days ago.

On the last day, Lu Tong's name was suddenly added to the list of medical officers responding to the epidemic.

Chang Jin was so bold as to pretend to obey but actually disobey. Of course, Pei Yunying was behind this. However, Qi Qing was busy with the funeral of Qi Yutai and dealing with the embarrassment of the third prince at the time and was unable to spare any time, so Lu Tong cut off the source of the trouble and fled away completely.

Now that Qi Yutai's funeral is over, it's time to settle old accounts.

He said calmly: "Find someone to follow, find an opportunity on the way, and kill her."

The housekeeper was startled: "Yes." Then he became worried, "But Pei Yunying..."

The last time Pei Yunying came to threaten him, his words were still fresh in my mind. If anything happened to Lu Tong, he would not let Qi Huaying go.

Qi Qing said coldly: "You are so arrogant."

The young commander of the Palace Front Division, who had won several consecutive victories, had lost his mind. He only had a pair of children, and for the sake of the dead Qi Yutai and the living Qi Huaying, Lu Tong had to die.

No matter she is in Shengjing or Southern Jiangsu.

No matter whether the Qi family wins or loses in the end.

The butler didn't dare to say much and just obeyed the order.

Qi Qing was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Wait."

The old man lowered his eyes and slowly turned the Buddhist beads on his wrist.

Pei Yunying was concerned about this woman, so he must have arranged for someone to follow and protect her secretly along the way. If he took action at this moment, it would inevitably alert the enemy.

After a moment, he said, "We'll do it after we get to Southern Jiangsu."

"Yes, sir."

……

The night is cold and dark, the lonely lamp is like a ghost, and the moonlight tonight is even more desolate than before.

There were no windows in the secret room of the Privy Council. The candles on the table and the torches on the wall illuminated the stone walls of the old prison cell.

Xiao Zhufeng walked down the stone steps and placed a silver pot in his hand on the table.

Pei Yunying took a look and said, "Tea?"

"Life is hard enough, have a drink." Xiao Zhufeng said, "Get rid of your ugly sadness."

Pei Yunying smiled and watched Xiao Zhufeng pour a small cup of wine and push it in front of him.

He picked up the wine cup, twirled it between his fingers, and said, "Tsk, drinking before leaving, why does it feel like a beheading wine?" He paused and said, "Isn't it a bit too unlucky?"

"No." Xiao Zhufeng sat down opposite him and said calmly: "You failed in love but succeeded in gambling. You failed miserably in love, so our plan must be surprisingly successful..."

Pei Yunying: "..."

He sneered, grabbed the wine cup and brought it to his lips. When the wine took a sip, the spicy and pungent taste made Pei Yunying frown slightly.

"Scented wine?"

Xiao Zhufeng shrugged: "The teacher took it."

When they were young, the two of them worked under Yan Xu, Xiao Zhufeng came first and Pei Yunying came later. So, after all, they had some kind of friendship as fellow disciples.

Yan Xu was harsh and strict, and his martial arts training often led to fighting between the two of them, which always ended in bruises.

When they were young, they could not endure hardships. Yan Xu would wait until the lamp oil burned out before releasing them from the cell. At that time, they only regretted that there was too much lamp oil and it was difficult to get through the long night. Looking back many years later, they sighed that there was too little lamp oil and regretted wasting time.

At that time, after each fight, Yan Xu would let the two of them drink a pot of scented wine. The scented wine was spicy and unpleasant, but it was quite effective in healing injuries. Both of them drank it with frowns on their brows.

I haven't drunk it for a long time.

After a while, Xiao Zhufeng laughed at him, "Do you still remember the first time we fought? You were knocked to the ground, looking extremely embarrassed."

Pei Yunying sneered: "You remembered it wrongly. When I was selecting the palace commander, you were almost hacked to death by me."

There was another silence between the two.

Xiao Zhufeng is an orphan.

He grew up in the Charity Bureau and was taken away by Yan Xu at the age of five and became Yan Xu's apprentice.

Before Pei Yunying came, Yan Xu valued him the most. After Pei Yunying came, the situation changed.

When you are young, you always have a strong desire to win. Xiao Zhufeng hates Pei Yunying, but Yan Xu wants to choose one of them as a nail to ambush in the Palace Front Department.

At that time, they fought a lot, they disliked each other, and fought openly and secretly. Until one time, the two of them were carrying out the same mission, which alerted others and Xiao Zhufeng was ambushed. Pei Yunying had already escaped, but he turned back at the last moment and took him away with him.

Both of them were seriously injured that time. Afterwards, Yan Xu severely scolded Pei Yunying, but specifically asked him to enter the palace commander's mansion.

Later, Pei Yunying became the commander-in-chief and he became the deputy commander-in-chief.

The torches on the wall made the light in the room dim.

Xiao Zhufeng asked, "Did Lord Zhaoning come to see you?"

"found."

"I want you to save the Pei family?"

"It is clear."

Xiao Zhufeng was not polite: "Shameless."

Pei Yunying sighed.

"You are an orphan without a father, and I am worse off than an orphan even though I have a father. I really don't know who is more unlucky."

Just as he finished speaking, a voice came from the cell: "You still have the mind to gossip. I think the people implicated by you two will be the most unlucky."

The two turned around and Yan Xu walked down the stone steps.

He was dressed in black with a golden eagle embroidered on his robe. He was equipped with wrist guards, a long sword, and light armor. The scar at the corner of his eye looked extremely hideous under the light.

"Are you all ready?"

The two agreed.

"I have arranged for someone to hide your sister and Baozhu, so you don't have to worry about anything." Yan Xu glanced at Pei Yunying, paused, and said, "Since you have been abandoned, there is nothing you can't let go of. Cheer up and learn from your sweetheart."

Pei Yunying was speechless.

Lu Tong had already left, which was indeed quite straightforward. Before she went to Southern Jiangsu and was locked up in the Palace Marshal's Mansion, he received a letter from Yin Zheng at night, which was written by Lu Tong herself.

Everything in the letter was written in order for Pei Yunying to protect everyone in Renxin Medical Clinic after her death. It even mentioned their past friendship. It was full of emotion and every word was carefully thought out.

I'm afraid that the last words left by the old Qi Qing before his death would not have been more thoughtful and straightforward than this.

It was also because of that letter that he made up his mind not to stop Lu Tong from going to southern Jiangsu.

He saw Lu Tong's determination to die from the letter. If he left her and Qi Qing together in Shengjing, something bad would definitely happen to her, a person who was determined to die.

Yan Xu looked at him and saw the confusion in his eyes. He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if looking down on her: "You really like her."

Pei Yunying twitched the corner of his lips.

He met many women.

As gentle and kind as his mother, as kind and open-minded as his sister, he had received a lot of sincerity and admiration, but he never expected that he would end up falling in love with such a person.

A woman who could frame him in public, a woman who appeared calm and composed but secretly held the poison in her hand, ready to die together with her enemy at any time.

A woman who didn't like him very much.

The heartbeat that cannot be avoided, the feelings that cannot be denied...

Like the crumbling wood on the top of the wooden tower in his study, just a slight touch -

With a loud bang, the defense line collapsed.

"What should we do?" He smiled lazily: "We are three masters and apprentices. Each of us has been abandoned because of relationship problems. Perhaps it is because the feng shui of this place is not good, so things always go against our wishes."

Xiao Zhufeng: "..."

Yan Xu didn't want to pay attention to him: "Take the knife and get out of here."

The two men stood up, picked up their swords and walked out. When they reached the door, they were stopped by Yan Xu again.

"You two," he was silent for a long time, then uttered, "Be careful."

"Long-winded."

The two walked out of the secret room, with Pei Yunying in front. Xiao Zhufeng said, "Let me ask you something."

"explain."

"When you were fighting for the position in the Palace Front Department, you clearly escaped. Why did you come back to save me?"

Pei Yunying was startled and laughed: "How come you still remember it?"

"Do not talk nonsense."

He said nonchalantly: "I am a hero. Seeing you being beaten so badly, I felt bad, so I took it as a good deed."

"Oh." Xiao Zhufeng took a step forward and said past him, "Hero, you should be more careful tonight."

"If you were hacked to death, I would never come to save you."

Pei Yunying clicked his tongue a few times: "He has a heart of stone."

He then held the silver knife at his waist, looked out into the night, and said with a smile, "Okay, I'll kill as many as you can tonight—"

……

"when--"

The sound of a distant bell drifted in the night wind, and Emperor Ming of Liang was suddenly startled in the Qinzheng Hall.

On the imperial desk, a bowl of brown medicine was steaming slightly.

"Your Majesty," the chief eunuch whispered, "The medicine is almost cold."

Emperor Liang Ming stared at the silver medicine bowl in front of him with gloomy eyes.

In the royal family, bowls, cups and utensils were all made of gold. After the death of the previous emperor, Emperor Ming of Liang ordered all the utensils he used to be replaced with silver. For this, he was impeached by the censor, who said that it was against the rules of his ancestors.

However, rules are made by people, and after he dismissed several old censors, no one mentioned this matter again.

Emperor Ming of Liang pushed aside the pile of memorials on the imperial desk, reached out to take the medicine bowl, tilted his head back and drank the medicine in one gulp.

The potion tasted bitter. After drinking it, there was still a sour and bitter feeling in his throat. He raised his hand and wiped the medicine marks from the corners of his lips with a handkerchief.

"In the evening, the Empress came and ran into the Imperial Concubine outside the door, and the two had an argument." The steward looked at the emperor's face and spoke carefully, "The Empress Dowager came in the evening, and the Empress and the Imperial Concubine returned to the palace."

Emperor Liang Ming rubbed his eyebrows.

The Queen came for the Crown Prince, and Concubine Chen also came for the Crown Prince.

The prince had been under house arrest for so long that both sides could no longer bear it.

There were early signs that he was going to change the crown prince. Although the two factions in the court were arguing endlessly, the emperor's mind had never changed. Yuan Yao was the person he had in mind to inherit the throne from the very beginning.

Yuan Yao was clever, brave and agile, and most like him.

Just as he resembles the late emperor.

Because of this resemblance, the late emperor particularly favored him, so that even though his elder brother, Crown Prince Yuan Xi, was elegant and knowledgeable, and a talented both in civil and military affairs, he still could not compare to him in the late emperor's heart.

Some court officials who supported him said that the late emperor might have intended to change the crown prince. He hoped for this, but was disappointed in the end.

Although his father was partial to his brother, he still wanted to hand over the country to his brother. Yuan Xi died in the autumn flood, the previous emperor died of illness, all his brothers died or were disabled, and he ascended the throne and became famous.

Fate is like a roulette wheel, turning endlessly. When he had Yuan Yao, he favored Yuan Yao the most.

Yuan Zhen was reckless and mediocre, not a talent for an emperor. He also disliked the queen. What he feared most was the Qi family, the Grand Tutor who had once supported him to ascend the throne and now supported the prince to succeed to the throne.

However, Qi Qing is old after all.

The old tiger is not to be feared, and his only son has died in the ceremony, so there is no need for him to take action. Qi Qing has lost his fighting spirit and is not to be feared.

Emperor Liang Ming looked at the empty silver bowl on the table, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

He would never learn from the ignorant and hypocritical previous emperor. He would make whichever son he liked the emperor. The imperial power was supreme. Since he had reached the top, why should he be afraid of others? Everything would go his way naturally, without restraint or reliance on ancestral rules.

He will clear all obstacles for Yuan Yao——

"Did the Queen Mother leave any message?" Emperor Ming of Liang asked the steward.

“No.” The chief minister said, “Your Majesty, please forgive me. I saw that the Empress was very angry at the time, and I was afraid of upsetting Your Majesty, so I didn’t dare to report it.”

Emperor Liang Ming waved his hands impatiently.

The queen came here only to plead for Yuan Zhen. Now the situation has been decided, and he chose Yuan Yao among his two sons.

The Queen Mother worshipped Buddha all year round and never interfered in the court affairs. This was why she had been able to remain safe and sound all these years.

Emperor Ming of Liang was willing to perform the drama of loving mother and filial piety with her to the end.

But there is one more person——

"Has Prince Ning made any move?"

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Ning has not left the palace for several days, and there is nothing unusual."

Emperor Ming of Liang looked gloomy.

Prince Ning was the only brother he left behind. When he returned to Beijing that year, he had already ascended the throne, and his brothers and sisters had met with accidents one after another. If something happened to Prince Ning again, it would inevitably cause gossip.

He kept Prince Ning alive and treated him as a joke. He looked down on him and was wary of him.

However, he has been feeling a sense of crisis lately.

After keeping it for so many years, it's time to get rid of the last useless piece.

It was dark outside the window, the thick ink color seemed like a bottomless pit, the howling night wind emitted a faint shriek, accompanied by some chaotic exclamations.

Emperor Liang Ming suddenly looked up.

"what sound?"

　I will enter the last Sunan dungeon tomorrow. The Sunan dungeon is mainly about Liu Tong's self-redemption and Xiao Pei's emotional line (it will take at most two or three days if you are not in a long-distance relationship). You can wait and see! The comment area function is under maintenance and I can't reply, so I will answer here again. There are kisses and weddings, don't worry, there are all ~

　　(End of this chapter)