Nine Thoughts

Obviously not only the emperor and Ling Wuqi were surprised by this news, but there was a bang in the north wing, as if something hit the door panel, which was especially abrupt in the quiet night.

Ling Qian sighed, "Brother Dahai, come out."

An Dahai behind the door hesitated a little, but finally he had to open the door with a "squeak" and stick out his slightly bald head.

An Dahai walked up to the emperor a little stiffly, bent over and knelt down: "The grass people kowtow to the emperor, long live my emperor."

The emperor said: "Who are you?" An Dahai said: "Cao Min An Dahai is the chief catcher of Jiusi County and An Le's adoptive father."

The emperor said: "Who is An Le?" Ling Qian said: "An Le is Shen Youqing, the only son of Princess Yizhen and Master Shen. All these years, An Butou took good care of him and grew up. "

Ling Wuqi thought: "Is Shen Youqing Xiaole's former name?"It really looks like a child of a good family.

The emperor looked down at An Dahai, and said, "Be flat."

An Dahai stood up tremblingly, covered in white sweat in the winter, and didn't know where to put his eyes, hands and feet.

What happened tonight was too rebellious, he shouldn't have shown up, lest he would get into trouble, but it was about An Le, and it was impossible for him to remain indifferent.

Seeing that the few people were silent, the emperor said anxiously, "What's going on? Don't report it quickly."

Ling Qian pondered for a while, and said: "There are many things to tell about this matter, why not start from the beginning. Does the emperor still remember the year when Lord Shen Yi and Princess Yizhen got married?" The emperor said: " It must have been more than 20 years ago, I can’t remember exactly.”

Ling Qiandao: "24 years ago, Shen Yi, a student from Cangzhou, was the number one scholar in high school. An official lady, this lady is not an ordinary person, but the eldest daughter of the first emperor, Princess Yizhen."

Recalling the past, the emperor couldn't help smiling, and said: "Eldest sister has always been straightforward, and she was very favored by the first emperor. It is common for her to sneak out to play willfully. When he was young, he even took some of our younger brothers to skip class."

Ling Qian said: "Princess Yizhen is open-minded and open-minded. Although she is a golden branch and jade leaf, she is not arrogant. She is a match made in heaven with Mr. Shen, who is full of talent and grandeur. The ministers of the court colluded with the inner court, and if they become son-in-law, they will not be able to hold important positions in the court, and their political career will also be ruined."

The emperor said: "The ancestors set up such rules, of course they have some considerations, but it is not impossible to make exceptions."

Ling Qian said: "I don't know if the emperor remembers, before he was relegated, what position did Master Shen sit in the highest position, and how many ranks did he occupy?" As soon as he finished speaking, the emperor himself was taken aback.

"The problem lies in this exception."

Ling Qian said, "The late Emperor loved Princess Yizhen very much, once she opened her mouth, the late Emperor would naturally agree to everything, not to mention that Shen Yi was talented, knowledgeable, and many of his political views coincided with the late Emperor's ideals, and he was deeply appreciated by the late Emperor.

But a son-in-law who was born as a commoner and has no background, and is not allowed to be an official according to the rules, has been promoted to such an important position as Minister of the Ministry of Officials after only six years in the court. Guess how many people are gnashing their teeth in the dark waiting for an opportunity He pulled from a height? "The emperor said: "Party disputes have existed since ancient times. I remember that Mr. Shen acted very aloofly and was at odds with his colleagues. "

Ling Qian said: "Your Majesty, that's not what you said twenty years ago. You said that today's imperial court is full of factions, and officials only know how to form cliques and don't care about the affairs of the people. You really put the cart before the horse."

"When did I say that?" the emperor wondered, and then suddenly a flash of inspiration came to his mind, and he finally came back to his senses, "I remember, you are that swordsman, what is your name Sipingjian, yes, you often go in and out of the princess mansion Shen Yi's best friend, I have seen you."

"Thanks to the great love of the emperor, I still remember Ling's nickname."

Ling Qian nodded slightly, "Caomin is Sipingjian."

Ling Wuqi and Hong Batian glanced at each other, obviously neither of them had heard of Ling Qian having this name.

"The affairs of the court are so unpredictable that even the emperor is often helpless."

The emperor sighed, "You just tell me what's going to happen next."

Ling Qian said: "Your Majesty, do you still remember why this place is called Jiusi County?"

"In his later years, the first emperor often missed Princess Yizhen, and when he talked about Shen Yiwei, he thought that his name was 'Jiusi', so he changed the name of this remote county where he was relegated to Jiusi County."

said the emperor.

"That's right, Mr. Shen was demoted to this place back then. The princess is a golden branch and a jade leaf. She didn't have to follow her around, but she has deep affection and is determined to walk with Mr. Shen all the way."

Ling Qian said, "I have been traveling all year round, and my whereabouts are uncertain. It was many days later that I heard about Shen Yi's relegation, so I went all the way south to look for him, but unexpectedly I was a step late. When I arrived, his husband and wife had met halfway. The bandits intercepted and killed both of them, and the whereabouts of the bones are also unknown."

Ling Qian's tone was flat, but Ling Wuqi seemed to hear the sorrow and regret like a stormy sea.

This should have been a lucky reunion of an old friend, a wanton knight-errant, and his best friend who had suffered setbacks in his official career reunited in a small town on the edge of the wilderness. Whether it's a drink or a cry, as long as the person is alive, the heart will not die. There are infinite possibilities and hopes, which is better than such a separation between yin and yang, leaving Ling Qian alone, dazed but unwilling to be isolated in the world, only practicing the sword moves he used when he first met him over and over again when his thoughts were raging, or Calling his name over and over while drunk.

It turned out to be like this, Ling Wuqi said, Shen Yi, Shen Yi, his father called this name many times in his dreams when he was drunk, so he thought it was the name of his father's beloved dead wife, but he didn't know that it was another paragraph. Deep friendship.

But if the truth is like this, whose memorial tablet is the Lingmen Shen family enshrined in the ancestral hall at home?And who is my mother? "I have also heard about the prevalence of banditry back then. When I heard the news of the elder sister's death, I was extremely sad and indignant, and even fell seriously ill."

The emperor said, "But since these bandits are so cruel, how did You Qing survive?" Ling Qian turned his attention to An Dahai: "Brother Dahai should be more familiar with the situation at that time than I am."

An Hai said: "Your Majesty, those gangs of bandits back then were really vicious. They not only murdered and set fires, they did all sorts of crimes, and the group of people at the head of them were doing some kind of sorcery. No matter if they were farmers or wealthy households, they would rob children whenever they saw them, and then feed them. Poison, want to refine 'Poison Man'.

During that time, more than a dozen children were lost in our county alone, and there may be hundreds in the surrounding counties. Even my own child was arrested by them, and then he did not survive. "

The emperor asked: "What is a poisonous person?"

"It's a southwestern Gu technique. The original intention is probably to let the Gu worms invade the brains of children, to stimulate their greatest potential, and then let the Gu worms coexist with the growing children, so that in the future, people can be treated like puppets by using the Gu technique." manipulate."

Ling Qian said, "But this group of people are not good at learning, and the Gu worms they make only know how to eat children's brains until they are exhausted and die together with the host."

The emperor was startled and said, "Eating brains? That young Qing." Ling Qian said, "Maybe because he was the last child who was caught up to the mountain, and he had not been infected for a long time, and later he was helped by an expert, and finally saved his life. Afterwards, his memory became extremely poor, and he still couldn't remember many things after repeating them many times. The day before yesterday, his old poison relapsed, and he almost died in Huangquan, which is why the dog took the risk of stealing treasures."

"Extremely bad memory?" the emperor said in a low voice, "I remember that Youqing was extremely smart since he was a child. He could read characters at the age of two and compose poems at the age of four. He is an unprecedented child prodigy." He began to feel pain like having his liver cut open. He thought of An Le's earliest diary for no reason. A child who was only five or six years old could already write so many words. His father and his mother who came from a prominent family lived in Beijing, so what kind of a noble son with a bright future and everyone envied him?No one spoke for a long time, until the emperor broke the silence first: "I want to see Youqing."

Ling Qiandao nodded and said, "He looks a lot like his father."