sick man

On the same day, Su Hongrui, who was still in a coma, was secretly put into the prison.

It was Li Chengyan who changed his clothes with his own hands, and walked in with him in his arms.

The Sky Prison is located in the deepest and most remote corner of the palace, guarded alternately day and night by two teams of elite soldiers. It has been used to detain the prisoners who committed unforgivable felonies in the royal family. The prince who tried to kill the late emperor was also imprisoned here.

Unexpectedly, the prison cell that had been vacant for seven years was greeted again by Yunze's queen, Su Hongrui, the former general of Zhenyuan who was admired by all people.

Really ironic.

Yuan Xi stood guard outside the cell for a long time, until the sun was setting and the last ray of light merged with the mountain peak, bursting out thousands of golden threads, and Li Chengyan's figure appeared at the entrance of the black hole.

Yuan Xi watched him approaching little by little, and the corners of his mouth curled up a little bit, a strange smile hung on his usual indifferent face.

The news that the queen was thrown into the sky prison soon spread to the people, and it was also spread along with the ambiguous relationship between the Xiyi prince and Su Hongrui.The reverence and admiration of the common people that General Zhenyuan had earned by risking his life and going to and from the battlefield countless times collapsed overnight.As the mainstay of the imperial court, the Su clan was also subject to varying degrees of suspicion and even suppression.After hearing the news, Su Jian hurried back to write letters to the emperor three times in one day, only asking to see Su Hongrui, but the memorial was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no news.The queen mother who returned from praying was also turned away by the emperor on the grounds that she was busy with political affairs and had no time to get away.

As for Su Hongrui, the focus of everyone's attention, no one has heard from him since then.After Li Chengyan sent him to the prison, he never visited him once, and no one was allowed to mention Su Hongrui's name again.

Your Majesty may be heartbroken...

When the palace people chatted, they would always sigh when they mentioned this matter.

Originally, everyone thought that once His Majesty made up his mind, it would be impossible for Su Hongrui to get out of the prison.

Until three months later, Su Jian, the general of Zhen Guo, held half of the tiger talisman, knelt outside the Chaoyang Hall and begged His Majesty to summon him.

At that time, it was already early winter, Yunze was extremely cold in winter, and snow had just begun to fall in winter.That day was another cold and snowy day, Su Jian, who was over half a century old, could not kneel outside the palace gate, her majestic face was stained with wind and frost, and her temples had many silver threads.

This heroic and fearless man who seemed to exist only in the legendary God of War seemed to have aged overnight.At this moment, he is not Su Jian, the general who intimidates the world, but an ordinary father who will do anything to save his beloved son.

Yuan Xi turned his face and couldn't bear to look at it, he had already passed Li Chengyan twice, if he went in again, he should be suspicious.

Yuan Xi didn't know what happened to Li Chengyan, since he put Su Hongrui into the prison, he seemed to be a different person.Not only did everything related to Su Hongrui in Chaoyang Palace be destroyed, but anyone who accidentally mentioned Su Hongrui's name was severely punished.At the beginning, some officials who were suspicious asked to investigate the matter more carefully, but Li Chengyan refused to mention such things that ruined the face of the royal family.

Is the so-called face really that important?

Is it more important than Su Hongrui, who used to be with him and accompanied him?

Yuan Xi felt that he was becoming less and less able to see Li Chengyan clearly, or had he never seen clearly?

Three hours later, the closed palace door finally opened.

Li Chengyan stood on the steps wearing a white fox cloak, squinting at Su Jian whose lips were blue from the cold,

"I forgot the time when reviewing the memorial and neglected General Su. I hope the general will forgive me."

"I...don't dare!"

Su Jian gritted her teeth and stood up, swaying a few times, only to be supported by Yuan Xi in time to barely stand still.

Li Chengyan raised the corners of his mouth lightly, turned around and went to the study, Yuan Xi brought Su Jian in, and was sent away by Li Chengyan.

The two talked secretly in the house for several hours. When Su Jian came out, he was still holding his tiger talisman in his hand, but his face was paler and gloomy than when he came, and he couldn't even find the last trace of hope.

That night, Li Chengyan went to the dungeon for the first time and stayed there for a long time.When he came out again, it was already late at night, and the snow was falling heavily and quickly. Yuan Xi held up an umbrella and hurried forward to cover him. He accidentally caught a glimpse of a few blood marks on the corner of Li Chengyan's clothes, which were bright red. completely dry.

Yuan Xi's hand trembled, and he almost lost his grip on the handle of the umbrella.

Something must have happened to Su Hongrui...

Three days later, Li Chengyan summoned Su Jian again, and the two still kept the door behind closed doors for a long time.

The next day, Su Jian, the general of Zhen Guo, said in the early court that he was old and weak, and asked His Majesty to take back the tiger amulet he was holding, allowing him to disarm and return to his hometown.He resigned with him, and there were several officials surnamed Su who held important positions in the court.

Li Chengyan couldn't hold back, so he finally had to nod in agreement.

At this point, the Su family, which held a pivotal position in the imperial court, began to decline, and it took seven years for Li Chengyan, who gradually regained his power, to be considered to have stabilized his country.

And the person Yuan Xi thought he would never see again suddenly appeared in Hansu Palace not far from Tianlao.

It was the day when Su Jian resigned from office and went home, and the snow that had fallen sparsely for more than ten days finally settled down. Half of the sun's face was exposed in the sky.

Following Li Chengyan's oral order, Yuanxi took several eunuchs and maids to clean up the long-abandoned Hansu Palace.

"I heard that Hansu Palace is haunted by ghosts! In the past, a concubine who fell out of favor of the first emperor was locked in it. She went crazy within half a month, and disappeared mysteriously shortly afterwards. The palace people couldn't find it. After digging through it, I finally found the body in the dry well in the courtyard, alas, sorry to see you, I heard that the brains fell out!"

"Stop it, stop it, it's scary!"

"Hee hee, you are as courageous as a mouse, so small!"

"You are so courageous! How dare you hide so far without even looking at that well?"

"Okay, okay! Don't just chatter there, it's serious to work hard!"

Seeing the eunuchs joking about some forbidden things in the palace, Yuan Xi cleared his throat and gave a warning.

Several people immediately lowered their heads and kept silent, looking at each other and complaining to each other.

"Grandpa Yuan, why do you think His Majesty wants to clean up this place? Hansu Palace is a cold palace, only women who have fallen out of favor live in it, but His Majesty only married the emperor... Uh, that person, where did he come from?"

The person who asked the question was a lively and cheerful little maid. She tilted her head in distress while dusting, looking innocent and cute.Yuan Xi was also not easy to get angry, shook his head and said,

"Your Majesty's thoughts, how can we guess randomly? Work hard, and I will give you rewards when you are done."

As soon as they heard that there was a reward, everyone happily agreed to it, and they worked really hard.

If so, it took a lot of effort for them to clean up the spacious palace that had been abandoned for a long time. In the cold weather, everyone's faces were covered with sweat.

Yuan Xi rewarded everyone according to his words, and after sending everyone away, he stayed behind in Hansu Palace as Li Chengyan ordered.

He sat alone under the grape arbor in the courtyard, looking around boredly, checking to see if he had missed anything that hadn't been cleaned.One inadvertently, his sight fell on the dry well in the corner of the yard.Yuan Xi remembered what the little eunuch said before about Hansu Palace being haunted.

In fact, he had already heard the story.

But there are no ghosts in Hansu Palace.

The empress who fell out of favor was tortured madly by the queen mother, and finally died in the well strangely, so it was rumored that there were evil ghosts in Hansu Palace that were harmful to people.

Little did they know that it was not the evil spirit that harmed people, but the benevolent empress dowager.

"Xiao Xizi, remember, ghosts are not scary, the most terrifying thing is the human heart!"

Yuan Xi heard his master's exhortation to him again.When the Empress Dowager transferred him to serve Li Chengyan, she asked him to worship the former emperor's eunuch as his master and learn from him how to serve the new emperor.

The old father-in-law, who was in his twilight years, tried his best to train/teach him, and passed on to him all he had learned in his life.When the husband was dying, Yuanxi sent him away.When he was dying, he left that sentence behind.

Is it popular?

Yuan Xi still doesn't understand, he has been doing his own thing dutifully, almost never made a mistake, because he is the emperor's personal servant, and few people make things difficult for him.

Moreover, he also met Su Hongrui, the gentle and kind person who saved his life the first time they met.

He felt that the human heart...is beautiful.

So he never believed it, even though everyone in the palace said that General Zhenyuan Su Hongrui betrayed Yunze and the emperor, he still didn't believe it.

He believed the man was innocent.

I have always believed.

squeak-yah-

The long-closed door turned, making a dry sound, and was pushed open unceremoniously.

Yuan Xi quickly stood up, smoothed out the creases of his clothes, adjusted his crown, and then went up to him holding his fly whisk.

"His Majesty."

When he saw someone coming, he knelt down respectfully.

Li Chengyan stood outside the door with his hands behind his back, and an unremarkable carriage parked behind him.

Yuan Xi didn't expect that he would come to Hansu Palace in person, so he retreated to the door with half apprehension and half doubt, and let Li Chengyan in.

"Bring him in."

Li Chengyan stepped into the door and gave instructions without looking back.

Yuanxi noticed that he only brought two hidden guards.A man guarding the door, obviously the person who pushed the door just now.And one sitting in front of the carriage is responsible for driving the carriage.

"Yes!"

The person in charge of driving the car responded, nimbly got into the car, and took a person wrapped in a quilt out after a while.

The man was completely wrapped up, not even a strand of hair was exposed, Yuan Xi didn't dare to look more, and followed the two hidden guards into the inner hall.

"Just put him here."

Li Chengyan, who had already checked roughly, pointed to the bed in the inner hall.

The dark guard put the man on the wooden bed with a simple layer of quilt according to his words, his movements were neither heavy nor light, very casual.

"Yuanxi, from now on, I'll leave him to you."

Li Chengyan didn't seem to intend to stay any longer, glanced at the unresponsive person on the bed, and left with the guard.

Yuan Xi couldn't figure it out for a while, so he had to take his steps lightly, and first stepped forward to see who that person was.

He approached step by step, and every time he got closer, he could hear the man's breathing more clearly.

Yuan Xi's eye circles gradually became wet. This voice was so familiar, he would never forget it, and he would never make a mistake.Trembling, Yuan Xi gently lifted the quilt, and with just one glance, tears rolled down.

He covered his mouth, gritted his teeth, and cried uncontrollably.

This person... really is Su Hongrui.

But he almost didn't recognize him.

If it is said that Su Hongrui who came back from Xiyi was only a little haggard, then now he is completely thin and out of shape, his cheeks, which were not plump at all, are deeply sunken, and there are blue marks under his eyes, and his right cheek, But for some reason, it was swollen high, and there were bite marks at the corner of the mouth.

Yuan Xi turned his face away and couldn't bear to look at it, but he still stretched out his hand and lifted the quilt wrapped around Su Hongrui...