Prison Dragon

Spring has come and gone, Ao Chen and I spent a year learning from each other.

In the eighth year of Yuankang, I was 11 years old.

My birthday happened to be on the day of cold food, no matter how poor other children are, they would have a bowl of warm longevity noodles, but

I eat cold rice every year on my birthday.

Ao Chen even deliberately came to laugh at me.

I got angry when I saw his mocking expression, grabbed a donkey and rolled it on him.

His figure flashed past, dodged very quickly, and the donkey rolled and smashed on a palace lady who entered the door.

I was so frightened that I was afraid that someone might see him in my room.

There is an extra big man in the harem for no reason, will others suspect that my mother is stealing?

Stealing in the harem is a felony!

If the emperor finds out that Ao Chen is a dragon, then I will have a hard time.

The old god Ao Chen stood on the ground and straightened his sleeves, without any panic.

Looking at the maid again, she really didn't seem to notice that there was another person in the room.She just looked at me and saluted: "Your Majesty heard the sound of talking in the side room, and asked the slaves to come and have a look."

I made a false alarm and almost forgot that Ao Chen could not be seen by others.

I yawned and pretended to be sleepy, "Ah... I'll review my homework and recite some books before going to bed, it's fine."

The eyes of the palace lady clearly wrote three words of disbelief.

It seems that the image of me being ignorant and not reading poetry is quite deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

I had no choice but to show the majesty of a prince and question: "Why, you don't believe my prince's words?"

The maid hurriedly said: "I don't dare, but Your Highness hangs the beam and stabs the ass. You should also pay attention to rest, so as not to worry about the empress."

I nodded impatiently, telling her to go back quickly.

She exited the room facing me, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Ao Chen sat on my bedside: "Is this your attitude towards the maid next to your mother?"

I said indifferently: "Anyway, her heart is not with us, but with Concubine Xian."

Ao Chen smiled slightly: "You do understand the schemes in the palace."

I lay down and covered myself with the quilt: "I'm not stupid, whoever takes the lightest is my own. What else do you have to do besides laughing at me? I'll sleep if I have nothing to do."

He came over and touched my forehead, his palm was slightly cool, "I watched you sleep."

Even in the dark, there will be a little faint white light around Ao Chen, outlining his figure, only a pair of black eyes can't see clearly, I covered most of my body with the quilt, and reconfirmed: "Are you Only I can see it?"

Ao Chen nodded, "Do you think anyone can see the Dragon God? Then I'm too cheap."

"Only those who have a chance can see me." Ao Chen said proudly.

I was a little bit happier in my heart, and I couldn't tell why.

"Then why are you pestering me?" I asked myself and answered, "Because I am the only one in the palace who can see you?"

"Yes, are you happy?" Ao Chen lifted the quilt to cover my face, "Sleep obediently, kid."

I kicked him under the covers, suspecting murder.

After another half a year, autumn came, and not long after the end of the autumn, the emperor suddenly ordered to find a child of the right age from the family of officials and eunuchs to accompany the prince.

My mother is very happy, and I hope that the emperor can find me a good reading companion at home, who can become a great help for my future.

Finding a companion to study is not about marrying a daughter, it is good to find someone with good conduct who will not cause trouble for us, why do we have to provoke those rich and powerful children?

The power of the former dynasty and the territory of the harem have long been divided.

I'll just wait quietly until I'm 15, and I don't want my mother to do anything extra. The more mediocre my companion, the better.

For some reason, Ao Chen spent less and less time seeing me, and he never visited me at all in the past two months.

I went to the lake again and again, only to see a black shadow under the water, calling his name and throwing stones at him was useless.

The water of the lake gradually began to ripple.

My waiter has finally been chosen.

That was a person who made my mother very satisfied, Cui Yan, the eighteenth son of the Cui family from a noble family.

The Cui family is a rare neutral family in the previous dynasty.And Cui Yan is the eldest son of the Cui family. He is only 16 years old. He is a good book reader.

Cui Yan looks very good, a white and tender young man, like a crisp bamboo that has just grown tall in spring, with a calm and elegant demeanor, and his eyes are picturesque.

Okay.

As I looked at him, I sat crookedly on my seat to accept his salute.

His voice was like a pendant ring, very pleasant, and his speech also carried a bit of rhythm.

"Cui Yan has met the Fifth Prince."

I flicked the remaining booger on my little finger forward, and it just landed on his white coat.

Cui Yan frowned incredulously.

Grand Tutor Zhang Bing scolded angrily: "Is it impolite and disrespectful, will the prince lose his prestige?"

I'm too lazy to listen to Mr. Zhang's words, they are all insults anyway, I just know he's scolding me, why bother to know what he's scolding?

My feet were curled up on the chair and a little numb. I straightened my feet and stepped on the ground. I half-lyed in the wooden chair and waved to Cui Yan: "I've never been a shidu, and I don't know what the shidu is going to do anyway. You just follow your own method and do whatever you want. I don’t have any requirements, and I’m easy to get along with. You have to have fun with me!”

On Cui Yan's forehead was written a word Sichuan, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said almost tragically: "Cui Yan should serve the prince wholeheartedly."

He has a good temper.

I looked up at the Taifu who was standing beside me, "Teacher, I have seen Shidu, can I go now?"

Taifu Zhang blew on two strands of gray beard angrily, "You still have homework to make up, so you can't leave!"

"But none of the royal brothers came to class, why am I the only one here today!"

"Who told you to skip class yesterday!" Zhang Taifu took out the ruler, picked up my sleeve and began to beat on the arm, "Tomorrow morning His Majesty will check the prince's homework, you can't even memorize "University"!"

yesterday……

Yesterday I seemed to skip class to find Ao Chen...

Although I didn't see him in the end.

But have fun...

Cui Yan looked at me as if he was looking at an ignorant fool.

Not imitation.

I was a fool in his eyes.

The next day I still failed to recite "University" in front of the emperor.

Zhang Taifu seemed to have eaten ten thousand catties of dog shit, his face turned green, and he said bluntly that I was the most stupid student he had ever taught.

You can't be stupid, you can't carve rotten wood, and you can't smash a wall of dung.

He also said that if the emperor wants him to continue teaching in the imperial study, don't let me bother him.

I quite understand Zhang Taifu, he is indeed not easy.

Zhang Taifu was honest and upright all his life, not for power but for ideals, he lived in the official residence of Dali Temple, and after begging for bones, he was invited by the emperor to the imperial study to educate the prince.

He is a good man and a good officer.

Unfortunately, I am not a good student.

The entire Imperial Study Room didn't seem to have the emperor's talent that he wanted to teach.

He called me a wall of rotten wood and dung, and I didn't quite agree.

But it's still kind of my image to be stupid.

The Master said: Ning Wuzi, if a state has Dao, it will know, and if a state does not have Dao, it will be stupid.

Ning Wuzi was a wise man when the country had Dao, but he became a fool when he had no Dao.

Even Confucius said that Ning Wuzi's wisdom can still be learned, but his ability to pretend to be stupid is very human.

The emperor punished me for copying "The Great Learning" three hundred times, and Cui Yan, the attendant, was in charge of supervising my copying.Afterwards, the emperor was angry with me and took the other princes to the school grounds to test their martial arts.

Six years ago, the fourth brother was appreciated by the emperor because of his outstanding martial arts, and was sent to the Northwest to entrust him with important tasks.

It's a pity that I don't know martial arts, otherwise I can get a good job like this.

If you can't write well, you can't do martial arts, so I can only copy books with peace of mind.

I casually grabbed a wolf hair brush and wrote, and ordered Cui Yan to grind the ink.

Cui Yan frowned and looked at me for a long while, before finally saying: "Your Highness, the Taifu may not know your handwriting."

A pen and a snake on the paper are like flying dragons startling clouds.

I looked at my masterpiece and said proudly: "My highness uses unique calligraphy. The Tai Tuo is ignorant and ignorant, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't know it."

"But if the Tai Tuo punishes His Highness to copy again..."

"Hey, as long as I write a lot, who can count how many times I copied it?"

I handed the pen to him: "Or, do you want to copy it for me?"

Cui Yan silently lowered his head and rubbed the ink.

I didn't go back until midnight. Cui Yan was straight-tempered. He stood aside and watched me copy the last word, and helped me put away my pen and ink before being sent out of the palace.

I staggered back with a small lantern in my hand, passing through the unpopular courtyard, and my mother had already fallen asleep.

Recently, she is not in good spirits and has been wanting to doze off.

I stood outside her door for a while before slowly walking back to my room.

As soon as I stepped into the yard, I felt a damp steam rushing towards my face, and there was a string of wet footprints beside the moss-covered well.

It's Ao Chen!

I ran into the house, opened the door and saw Ao Chen wearing the same black dragon robe, sitting under the window looking at the plum tree outside the door.

The flowers on the plum tree have all withered, and they are covered with gray-green leaves.

He sat under the window and looked back at me: "Come here."

I was vaguely aware that my life was completely different with him than it was without him.

He was by my side, and I lived a different life.

What is the difference, I can't say.

I just felt like my heart had been soaked in sugar water, and I ran over and threw myself into his arms.

The smell of the tide and the ocean on his body immediately enveloped me, and his black hair like algae covered my eyes.

His hands were very cold, but he kept stroking my back with an extremely gentle force.

I trembled slightly, raised my head and asked, "Where have you been?"

He gave a pale smile, and I noticed that his face was much paler, with a hint of gray.

That's never a healthy color.

He smiled lightly: "It's just that I can't maintain my human shape, it's not a big deal."

I couldn't help but grabbed the clothes on his chest and asked, "Why can't you maintain your human form?"

He held my hand and wrapped it in his palm, "I said, the dragon energy for protecting the country comes from me. If something goes wrong with Qi, my dragon energy will be consumed. It is used to maintain the rule of the royal family and ensure that the world will not be in chaos. The previous snow disaster consumed a lot of dragon energy, but fortunately, the people sent by your father have some means, and they solved the snow disaster without costing me much dragon energy. A month ago, there was a severe drought in the northwest, and I took a long rest to replenish my dragon energy."

His complexion was not the same as before, what made up for it was obviously just holding on.

I was shocked, "Why are you..."

Never said it carefully...

I can't ask.

The reason why I can stay in the palace safely is not because Ao Chen consumes dragon energy to maintain the illusion of peace in the world?

He said that there was a severe drought in the northwest two months ago, but there is no news from the palace so far.

His worry was correct, Qi State did not have his Dragon Qi in charge, and it would be over soon.

But how can a world that needs to consume external forces to maintain it be truly stable?

I looked at his pale face and finally closed my mouth.

I'm not qualified to ask him anything.

As a beneficiary, I subconsciously knew that I shouldn't have to tear off that fig leaf.

The so-called prosperity of the country and the safety of the people is nothing but an illusion of self-deception.

He didn't seem to care much about this topic, and began to tell me some stories about fairies and ghosts.

I lay on his shoulder, listening absent-mindedly, playing with his hair with my fingers: "The emperor pointed me to a servant."

"Oh? Who?"

"The eighteenth son of the Qinghe Cui family, Cui Yan."

Ao Chen praised: "You're a good person, I'll tell you how noble you are, it turns out that you have been honored by him."

Very likely, I thought back to the attendants in the imperial study, although they were all descendants of aristocratic families with extraordinary bearing, I still felt for no reason that only Cui Yan could achieve great things.

Ao Chen patted my head, "Why, you want to recruit him?"

I shook my head, "His ambition is extraordinary."

He pretends to be calm on the surface, but I know that he is definitely not a thing in the pool.

Ao Chen smiled and said, "How do you know that he has ambitions?"

"I just know it!"

I braided Ao Chen's hair into a braid, and then let it go.

"He has long been my second brother's subordinate." I said.

"You know again?" Ao Chen said with a smile.

"I observed."

The second brother Yang Ti has lost a lot of weight over the past few years, and gradually he has the appearance of Mr. Pian Pian. He has a photographic memory and is good at composing and writing poems.

I heard from the palace people that his poems were taken outside, and others praised him for his shocking pens, and his poems made ghosts and gods weep.

Many people say that he is extremely talented, comparable to Chen Wang Cao Zhi Cao Zijian.

Brother Er Huang recruited many young scholars with little effort.

Seeing talents gives birth to admiration.

Cui Jue was not immune either.

I guess, he will defect to the second emperor brother, and maybe the comparison with me, the idiot prince, will add fuel to the flames.

It is exactly what I want when he joins Brother Second Emperor, and I am happy to play an idiot even harder in him, so that Cui Yan can feel at ease and Brother Second Emperor can rest assured.

Just as I expected, these days, the second emperor brother is looking down on me more and more, saving the energy to laugh at me and bully me, and turn to deal with other brothers.

What a comfort to be away from the rich and powerful.