Rebellious Minister Part 1

"Click, click, click."

Yan was awakened by a strange voice, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and looked at the bedroom, which was really huge for a six-year-old him.

This is Jinrong Palace.When he was four years old, he left the Yuying Hall, and his father gave him this palace built on the hillside. Just like its name, there are not only large green bamboo forests and gardens with blooming peonies, but even the furniture is extremely luxurious.

There are nearly 50 people who live in this palace together, including nurses, nurses, accompanying eunuchs, eunuchs who hold lamps, starch washers, and cleaning maids.

But what Yan usually sees is the nanny and the little eunuch who accompanies him to study.Other people are scattered in every corner, performing their duties.

At the end of a long day, after Yan fell asleep, the nanny and the maid retreated to the next room, separated by a curtain.

Yan was used to sleeping alone, since he was sensible, his father never saw him, because there were always ministers who wanted to discuss matters with his father.

And his "mother queen" is not around.

In the past, whenever he clamored to see the "mother queen", his father would come to see him and tell him that he should be called "daddy", and asked him to remember that his father's name was "Ke Weiqing".

Yan couldn't remember his father's appearance, but only remembered that there was such a man who loved him very much, always hugged him, and affectionately called him "Yan'er".

His father told him that his father is not in the palace now, but he will come back one day, and return to the three of them.

And for that day of reunion, father has to do a lot of things now, he wants "father" to become his "mother queen" justifiably.

For these things, even after listening to Yan, he still half understood.However, he is looking forward to this day just like his father, but before that, he can only be with himself.

Except for the elder brother Aiqing, who is one year older, no one else dared to play with him, and when they saw him, it was too late to kowtow.

So, upon hearing the "clicking" sound, Yan didn't even think about looking for someone, but looked curiously at the source of the sound, a closed window facing the forest.

No one should be there, Yan knew that the guards were standing at the gate, and the eunuchs had also fallen asleep.

"It's windy?" Yan got up abruptly, there were only two silk lamps left in the hall, and it was pitch black everywhere, he never felt that the night was so dark.

However, he didn't hear the whistling of the strong wind. On the contrary, the hall was so quiet that one could hear the crackling sound of the burning wick.

"Click, click!" Suddenly, the whole window vibrated, and Yan froze for a moment, staring at it firmly.

Someone must be there!Yan thought so, so he boldly climbed out of bed, and when he was about to walk over, something suddenly occurred to his mind.

"The grove seems to be haunted... last night, I bumped into Little Eunuch Ruan, and people are not very well right now!" This was what the two maids whispered while standing under the porch during the day.

"That's right, that ghost is fierce! The one with the blue face and the fangs!" The maids who responded turned pale with fright, and after seeing Yan, they quickly saluted and left quickly.

Yan didn't know what "ghosting" was, but thought it was a bad thing. Otherwise, why was the elder sister of the maid so afraid?

Could it be that the movement of the windows is also related to "haunting"?

Yan was very curious, although he felt that the surroundings were cold and pitch black!A little scared in his heart, but he still walked slowly towards the window.

When he got close, Yan realized that he was too short to reach the vermilion window sill, so he moved a small wooden square stool.

He stepped on it, pulled the window sill with one hand, stood on tiptoe, poked a small hole in the window paper with his index finger, and glanced into the hole with his black eyes.

It's okay if you don't look at it, but it really frightened him!

It was darker outside than inside the temple, and a large cloud covered the hook-like moon. Unlike the verdant grove seen during the day, it was as dark as a huge cave—something was floating around inside!

The black ball couldn't see its feet, but it flew from one end to the other very quickly, and would stop suddenly. This is what the maid said "ghost"!

"Woo..." Yan gasped in fright, his whole body was immobilized as if he was crushed by a stone, until the monster disappeared into the woods, then he moved his heels back, but stepped on nothing, and turned his back He fell and hit the floor tiles on the back of his head, and with a bang, he didn't know anything.

+ + + + +

"Second Highness! Your Highness is awake!"

Yancai turned his head, and heard a very loud and familiar call beside his ear, it should be the nanny.

Someone helped him to sit up, he turned his head and saw that it was an imperial doctor whose beard was all white, looking at him with a smile.

"I..." Yan moved his lips, feeling very thirsty.

"I'm really worried about the death of slaves." The nanny said so, wiping her tears with a handkerchief, "Why did you sleep on the floor? You can't wake up anyway."

"Master Physician, Your Highness has nocturnal excursions, right?" Without waiting for Yan to answer, the nanny anxiously asked the old man, "What should we do?!"

"No, don't worry, the Second Highness's body has been very strong since he was a child. I'm afraid he was playing at night, so he accidentally fell." The old imperial doctor touched the back of Yan's head, and Yan grinned in pain. , but no pain.

"Look, there is a lump on the back of His Highness's head, and he has to take two doses of medicine to reduce swelling and blood stasis." The imperial doctor said in a babbling voice.

"I'm not playful, and I'm not a nocturnal swimmer!" Yan argued for himself, "I saw a ghost!"

As soon as he said this, everyone's expressions changed, and the nanny shouted, "Stop talking nonsense! Where did the ghost come from in the palace?"

"Yesterday, Xiaoju and the others were talking about Xiaoruan hitting a ghost..." Before Yan finished speaking, the nanny laughed and said, "Hehe, Xiaoruan made it up to bluff people because she was lazy and didn't work. If so, how can His Highness believe it?"

"Look at you, you scared His Highness, dragged them all out, slapped you twenty times!" The nanny turned around and reprimanded very rudely, "If the emperor blames you, everyone in this palace will lose their heads !"

The two maids who were originally in the dormitory were so frightened that they immediately knelt down, kowtowed and said, "You servants are convicted and don't dare to talk nonsense again!" But an old eunuch with a gloomy face came up and said nothing. , and took the crying maid down.

Soon, Yan heard the crackling and slapping sound.

"Master Imperial Physician, please prescribe a prescription for Your Highness." The nanny said to the imperial physician with a smile, "You still need to take care of this matter..."

After speaking, she stretched out her hand and held the imperial doctor's hand, as if stuffing something into him.

"The Second Highness is not a big deal. Naturally, the lower officials will not bother the emperor, so don't worry." The imperial doctor gladly accepted the nanny's gift.

Yan turned around and lay back on the bed.It's always been like this, whether it's a nanny, a doctor, or a eunuch, they always treat him like this.

--good?is very good.However, he always felt that he was far away from them. In this hall, he seemed to be the only one forever, and no one would care about the things he cared about.

"What's wrong with Yan'er?" When the nanny was sending the imperial doctor out, a petite figure hurried in.

"His Royal Highness!" The nanny and a group of people all knelt down.

"I heard that Yan'er fell, so I rushed over to take a look." Seven-year-old Aiqing opened her black eyes, her face was puffy, her lips were as soft as petals, and she was more beautiful than a little girl.

"Ouch, who chewed the root of his tongue in front of Chitose and disturbed His Royal Highness!" The nanny stretched out her hand to block Ai Qing's way, "Second Highness fell down, but it's okay, and she has already fallen asleep now. "

"I want to go in and see him."

"But..." The nanny was still about to say something, when she suddenly saw the prince's guard staring at her. The guard was young, but his gaze was particularly sharp, which made her withdraw her hand in embarrassment, and let the prince in.

Aiqing trotted all the way to the dormitory, and saw Yan lying on the bed with a towel on his forehead, and before he could call "Emperor Brother", tears started streaming down his face.

"I, I heard you wrestled."

"Yeah." Yan nodded, sat up, feeling unbelievable, the one who fell was obviously himself, but the one who hurt was like Brother Huang.

"Where does it hurt? Brother Huang will show you..." Aiqing looked at Yan while shedding tears.Although they are siblings, only one and a half years apart in age, the outlines of the two are not very similar.

Yan remembered that his father said that Aiqing looked the most like Daddy, so is Daddy such a good-looking little man?It's like being squeezed out of rice noodles, and it's soft and fragrant everywhere.

"I don't feel pain, Brother Huang, don't cry." Yan comforted.It's true, just now he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head, but when he saw Brother Huang, the pain stopped.

"So, what's going on?" Aiqing asked again, "Why did you fall for no reason?"

"It's just..." Yan wanted to say that this place was haunted by ghosts, but looking at the face that would cry at any time, he shook his head, "It's okay."

However, Aiqing had a look of disbelief, "Brother will sleep with you tonight."

"what?"

"You fell at night, which means that someone needs to be with you at night." Ai Qing looked like a big brother at this time, "I'll accompany you."

"No need." Yan shook his head, and then said to the guard who always stood coldly like a shadow, "Jing Tingrui, you can escort Brother Huang back."

"This subordinate obeys the prince's orders." Unexpectedly, he refused indifferently.

"Humph!"

"Don't let Rarity send me away." Sobbing like this, Aiqing was about to cry again, "Don't send me away..."

"Okay! If you want to stay, just stay." Yan frowned and said solemnly, "Don't cry anymore."

"Well, good!" Aiqing nodded repeatedly, smiling through tears, "Brother Huang will accompany you and protect you!"

"I still don't know who is protecting whom." Yan retorted manly.

However, he was secretly happy that Aiqing was willing to stay.However, he insisted that Jing Tingrui not stay in the bedroom.

Jing Tingrui didn't say anything, and after bowing, he backed out.

+ + + + +

On a cool summer night, Aiqing was lying beside Yan, telling stories to Yan with a smile on her face, such as the Fairy in the Moon Palace and the little white rabbit under the osmanthus tree, Yan had never heard of these before, and asked curiously, "Brother Huang, what is this?" Who told you that?"

"It's Ruarui!" Aiqing laughed so hard that her eyes almost disappeared, "Ruirui's storytelling is so good! I always fall asleep after listening to it."

So, he was coaxing his younger brother to sleep.

"That's all to lie to children." Yan gently squeezed Brother Huang's round face, "You always listen to this, so you are stupid."

"I'm not stupid!" Aiqing sat up angrily, pouted her cherry-like mouth, "Yan'er, these are all true! There is a little rabbit making medicine in the moon palace."

"I don't believe it." Yan also sat up, gesticulating with his hands, "The moon is as big as a plate, and there are missing corners, so it's strange if the rabbit doesn't fall."

"..." Aiqing seemed to be convinced, she thought about it seriously, and said in a low voice, "Maybe it is very small? A very small rabbit is just like a snail."

Yan wanted to say something, when a sound of "click!" came, and he straightened up suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Aiqing stretched out her hand and shook Yan's eyes, thinking that he was very strange.

"Shut up!" Unexpectedly, Yan covered his mouth with his hands and said in a very low voice, "It will bring ghosts in."

"Ghost?" Aiqing had never heard of a ghost.

"It's something that can hurt people." Yan explained, "That's what the maids and sisters said, and they have already made an eunuch sick."

"What?!" Aiqing's big black eyes were full of panic.

"—Click! Bang!"

It was like the sound of a window being knocked open, as if something had floated in, and the two villains were terrified. Aiqing wanted to call her Ruirui, but she was afraid that it would attract ghosts instead, and she didn't know what to do!

At this moment, that weird thing approached the bed, and the candles in the hall were dimly lit, only a dark mass could be seen.

"Let's run away!" Yan whispered.But how to escape?The canopy bed was set against the wall, and that thing was outside the curtain.

"Don't, don't be afraid, Brother Huang is here!" Aiqing covered Yan's body with a small quilt, "I'll lure it away, you run away."

"what?"

"I, I will protect you." Aiqing said so, tears were rolling in her eyes, but miraculously did not fall, he endured the fear, and forced a smile, "You have to run faster later."

I never thought Brother Huang was a powerful person, because he was so cute that he cried, but Yan suddenly felt that Brother Huang was Brother Huang, with more courage than himself.

"You are not afraid?"

"Afraid, no, no, I'm not afraid." Aiqing shook her head, "If it dares to bully you, I will fight it!"

Aiqing put on a posture that even if she bites, she will have a fight with the evil spirit.

Just when Aiqing sat up straight tremblingly and looked out of the bed curtain, that black shadow suddenly rushed into the bed!

"Ahhh!"

"Help!"

Be it Aiqing or Yanquan, they all crouched down, hugging their heads and screaming.The difference is that Aiqing threw herself on Yan's body, crying loudly, "Don't hurt my brother!"

Soon, a gust of wind blew in, the curtains flew up, and a figure landed steadily beside them.

"Your Highness!" Jing Tingrui's voice sounded above their heads.

"Rui, Ruirui! There's a ghost!" Aiqing raised her head and shouted hastily.

"Is it this?" Jing Tingrui was holding a brown thing with black hair on its limbs in his hand. Looking at it under the candlelight, it had a pointed nose, more like a little monster.

However, it stared at its small round eyes, and seemed to be more frightened than Aiqing and the others.

"This is a little fox." Jing Tingrui said softly, "It may be that there are a lot of fruits and pastries in the temple, and it wants to come in and eat them."

is not that right?The emperor always gave fruits and snacks to the two princes. The nanny was afraid that the princes would be hungry at night, so they would not finish eating, so they would not take them away immediately, and kept them in the palace.

"Fox?" Aiqing was so surprised, she immediately forgot to be afraid, stood up and said, "It's so cute! Let me hug you!"

"No, it's a wild fox." Jing Tingrui said, "It will scratch His Highness."

"What's so cute about it?" Yan interjected, with lingering fear and tears in the corners of his eyes, "It doesn't have long legs! I saw it flying around last night!"

"It has legs!" Aiqing hurriedly pulled her younger brother and said, "Look, Yan'er, the hair on its legs is black, and the hair on its belly is gray, um...it looks like it has no legs at night." .”

"Hmm...?" Yan took a closer look, Jing Tingrui held the little fox by the back of its neck, its legs curled up, it looked like a ball of fur at first glance, but not only did it have legs, it also had legs. With fluffy, black and shiny hair.

"Let me touch it? Just a touch." Aiqing was still acting like a baby to Jing Tingrui.

"Okay." Jing Tingrui has never been able to persuade him, "It's just a touch."

Even so, Aiqing not only touched the little fox's head, but also touched its soft belly, and finally asked her younger brother to touch it, telling him that this little thing is not scary at all, and even brought cakes to the fox to eat.

In this way, he continued to toss until midnight before releasing the little fox back into the woods.

This little fox seems to have tasted the sweetness, and until he grows up, he will return to this window, butt his paw against the window, Yan will let it in, and Aiqing will come.

When it is happy, it turns its legs up like a dog, turning its belly out. However, it runs much faster than a dog, and it can disappear in a blink of an eye.

When Aiqing and Yan saw the little fox for the last time, it had grown very big and mighty, and there was a little fox exactly like it following behind its buttocks.

They stood on the hill, looked at this side together, and then went back to the dense forest.

"Will it not come again?" Yan was very nostalgic for this.

"Because it has an important little fox to take care of." Aiqing said in a full-grown tone, "Yan'er, don't be unhappy. You have me, and I will take care of you."

Yan looked up at Aiqing, and couldn't help but think of that night, Brother Mingming was so frightened that he cried, but still hugged him tightly.

Yan began to understand who was the most important person to him.

It's not the father who is busy with government affairs all day long, nor is it the father who has forgotten his appearance, but the emperor brother who has been guarding by his side all the time.

"En." Yan nodded, holding Aiqing's warm little hands.

It seems that from that time on, Yan never felt that the bedroom was too big and empty.Even looking back now, I feel that it was a childhood as beautiful as a rainbow.

"Everyone around me is wearing a mask, including myself..." To his only confidant, Saha, Yan suddenly said with emotion, "Only Brother Huang is the most innocent. If others treat him well, he will remember him forever. To him Not good, but he forgets it in the blink of an eye and never holds grudges... Brother Huang is my everything, and I am willing to dedicate everything to him. But... many times, I am powerless, because he...doesn't need me."

"Your Highness." Saha wanted to comfort his master, but he couldn't speak for a long time, because his master didn't need anyone to show mercy.

"It's almost dawn, let's pick up Brother Huang." Yan suddenly put down his wine glass, got up, and said calmly, without his sentimental look, "It's time, it's time to persuade him."

He swore to his father that he would protect Aiqing's throne and country well.No, it's not for Father!But for Qing'er.Even if Qing'er would be sad and blame him, he would make things right.

"Even if Jing Tingrui is not here, you still have me, and I will always be by your side!" Yan shouted from the bottom of his heart, and only he knew the bitterness in it.

"My subordinate obeys the order!" Saha knelt down and said.Then they followed behind Yan, and the figures of the two quickly disappeared into the darkness.

+ + + + +

"Are you awake?" Jing Tingrui stroked Aiqing's forehead with his hand, holding that thin cheek.

"Well," Aiqing opened her eyes, he was still leaning on Jing Tingrui's lap, "but I don't want to get up."

"It's not okay for the emperor to live in prison." Jing Tingrui smiled, and lightly scratched Aiqing's nose with his fingers, "Weichen will get out as soon as possible."

Ai Qing turned over abruptly, but quickly grinned and let out an "ouch".

"It hurts?" Jing Tingrui asked hastily.

Ai Qing blushed, waved her hands repeatedly and said, "It's nothing, I just slipped to my waist accidentally."

"I'm sorry." Jing Tingrui suppressed it for so long before meeting Ai Qing, and he did go too far.

"Give me the clothes." Ai Qing lowered her head and said, even her ears were red.

Jing Tingrui picked up the night clothes that had been taken off the ground, gently patted the grass ears and dust off the top, and then waited for Aiqing to put it on, and combed his black, smooth long hair with his fingers.

"Rarity."

"The minister is here."

"There is something I want to discuss with you." Aiqing's cautious tone made Jing Tingrui curious.

"What's the matter? Tell me." Jing Tingrui tied Aiqing's long hair into a bun.

"Well...Actually, you don't have to work so hard, we can also imitate father and father." Aiqing turned around and said to Jing Tingrui.

"Forgive me for being dull, I didn't understand what you meant." Jing Tingrui said while looking at Aiqing.

"That's... if you are willing to openly become my favorite," Ai Qing said as if she had made up her mind, "In this way, there will be fewer attacks against you, right?"

"Who taught you this?" Jing Tingrui frowned slightly and asked.

"No one." Aiqing shook her head, "However, when I was with Master Qingyun, he said something about the past, so I knew that my father was the father's male favourite. But the father didn't mean to embarrass the father on purpose." Yes, he did this because he didn't want his father to be too sharp and cause trouble. At that time, the father was only enthroned, and Zhao Guowei, a treacherous official, was there. However, no one would care about hurting a 'pet', so father At the birthday banquet, the emperor named daddy to attend the bed..."

"Then...?" Jing Tingrui asked, his brows still furrowed.

"Then, I thought of you and our current situation. If this case hadn't been obstructed by Jia Peng, you would have been cleared of your innocence and released." Ai Qing is not an idiot, so much evidence is in front of her, but she can't close the case , of course someone is playing tricks.

"Jia Peng has never had any grievances with you. All I can think of is that he is very jealous of your talent, so he wants to make things difficult for you." Ai Qing didn't know that since ancient times, prime ministers, civil servants and military officials have had superficial kindness, It is very common in the dynasty to separate the powers behind their backs.

"I really don't want to see you being bullied, so why not..." Aiqing wanted Jing Tingrui to openly become her favorite, just like her father back then.

"Your Majesty." Jing Tingrui interrupted, "I am really touched that you can consider this humble official, but it is different now. Jia Peng is certainly hateful, but his heart is for you after all. Weichen still knows that he is different from Zhao Guowei who wants to seek power and usurp the throne, and Weichen's current situation is also different from what the queen mother faced back then."

"You mean... don't you like it?" Aiqing couldn't understand, she just thought that her proposal was very good, but he thought for a long time before he figured it out!

"Yes. Weichen has another meaning--soldiers will block you, water will cover you." The smile on Jing Tingrui's face can confuse all living beings. Facing the enemy head on, what could be more enjoyable than killing the enemy with your hands?"

"Uh..." Ai Qing had always thought that Rarity was a remarkable person.In fact, when Jing Tingrui was the prince's guard, no one dared to provoke him.

Maybe it's because of this kind of character that dares to love, dare to hate, and never compromises?He would never humble himself and restrain his hands and feet in the palace just because he was just a little prince's guard, let alone now that he is a general!

This makes Jing Tingrui look so radiant, which makes people's heart beat.But Ai Qing didn't know that after a few years, he would also become Jing Tingrui's "enemy" and be subject to him everywhere, the relationship between the two would plummet!

"But, you don't want to get along with me honestly?" Aiqing blinked. Although he admired Jing Tingrui's courage to confront the prime minister and others, he still asked unwillingly.

"When you don't need to worry about anything, you can call it 'fair and aboveboard'." Jing Tingrui said, "The identity that I want is not just your favorite minister."

"Oh." Aiqing nodded half-understanding, anyway, what Rarity said was correct.

"It's good to be like this now," Jing Tingrui stroked Aiqing's head, and smiled, "You seem to be more sensitive outside than in the dormitory. The next time you give me a headache, shouldn't you also be here?" Sleeping outside."

"You, don't talk nonsense! I've been so nervous! I'm not sensitive!" Hearing this, Aiqing immediately reached out to beat Jing Tingrui's chest. Jing Tingrui smiled softly and held his hands easily.

Suddenly, he suppressed his smile and stood sideways in front of Ai Qing.

"What's wrong?" Ai Qing asked, standing on tiptoe, looking around nervously, but he didn't hear any suspicious footsteps.Tonight's reunion, although it was almost discovered by the guards watching the night several times, it was all without any danger.

"No matter what happens, don't come out." Jing Tingrui said, after shaking Aiqing's hand, he quickly walked out of the cell door.

"What are you doing?" Aiqing wanted to chase it out, but Jing Tingrui had already locked it with a "click".

Almost at the same time, six black figures appeared in the aisle in front of the cell for no reason. They were all wearing night clothes and black scarves, only showing a pair of hideous eyes. They gradually approached, with light and orderly steps, every Take a step, and there are scarlet marks under your feet.

Only then did Ai Qing smell the strong, nauseating smell of blood, and one of them even had blood on his hands.

He wiped the skirt of his shirt nonchalantly, indicating that it was not his own blood, then pointed the sharp knife in his hand straight at Jing Tingrui, and ordered to his companion.

"--kill him!"