sick man

Li Chengyan couldn't remember the last time he came to Yifeng Palace.

Suddenly, the verdant pines and cypresses outside the Yifeng Hall had grown very tall, and the maids outside the hall were replaced by unfamiliar faces.Only Kou Rong, the female officer accompanying the Queen Mother, remained unchanged.Although it has not been changed, it has also added a bit of vicissitudes of life, and it is not as beautiful as it was many years ago.

Even the queen mother herself, the pampered life for many years did not allow her to get too much favor from time.When Li Chengyan saw her under the shade of the trees in the courtyard, she was reading a book with her eyes downcast. Her delicate facial features were as beautiful as before, but there were a few fine lines on her forehead and around the corners of her eyes, and a few silver strands were faintly visible in her cloud-like black hair.Even her favorite dress in bright colors was replaced with a plain and simple style.

Li Chengyan walked up to her slowly, and the shadow elongated by the sun was projected onto the stone table, startling her.The queen mother raised her eyes and looked over, a smile slowly appeared on her indifferent face.

She is still like this.

Never let people see her true mood.

"My son, give my mother hello." Li Chengyan raised his cloak to salute.

The queen mother put down the book in her hand and let out a sigh of emotion,

"The emperor hasn't called Ai's mother for many years."

Not only has he never called, to be precise, he has refused to come to see her for many years.

"Ai's family heard that the emperor was ill, and asked someone to pass it on many times, but the emperor didn't want to see Ai's family, why did he come in person again today?"

After Li Chengyan took a seat beside him, the Queen Mother turned to him and asked unhurriedly, her tone was calm and gentle, without any complaints.

"I've been sick and haggard recently, I really don't want to worry my mother. Fortunately, I got better today, so I came to see my mother."

Li Chengyan couldn't help sneering from the bottom of his heart, the reason why he didn't want to see her was well understood by both of them, but they still pretended to be ignorant and pretended to be a loving mother and filial son.

"The Ai family knows that the emperor is filial."

The queen mother reached out and patted Li Chengyan's cold hand, Li Chengyan was slightly stunned, her hand was also cold in such a hot afternoon.

When he was in a daze, the queen mother withdrew her hand, turned around and ordered to the people behind her,

"Kou Rong, go and make a pot of scented tea for the emperor to clear away the heat."

Kou Rong bent over and said yes, then turned around and retreated neatly.When passing by the eunuchs and maids guarding both sides of the path, he repelled them in a low voice.

Of course Li Chengyan saw that she didn't really go down to make tea, so he became curious about what "personal words" the Queen Mother wanted to say to him.

"Chengyan, I know, you've been blaming me all these years."

The outsiders were all sent away, and the queen mother no longer kept the etiquette, and still called Li Chengyan by his name as she did when she was a child.

Li Chengyan lowered his eyebrows and remained silent. Although, as the queen mother said, he has always blamed her, but after all, she and him are close relatives, no matter how many grievances there are, it is not easy to tear the face directly.

"I thought you would be sad about that matter for a while, maybe a little longer, but I didn't expect that you would remember it in your heart for seven years. If it wasn't for Hong Rui, you might not only complain about me, would you?"

The queen mother's eyes flashed with apology, but she didn't know whether it was towards Li Chengyan or Su Hongrui who bore Li Chengyan's hatred for her.

"That's because my mother underestimated my relationship with Xiaoyun."

Although time had passed, Li Chengyan was still a little excited.

The love in youth is the purest and the most profound.

Even later, he realized that he had fallen in love with Su Hongrui unconsciously.But the nostalgia and guilt for Xue Xiaoyun are like a snake lurking in a dark corner waiting for an opportunity. If you don't pay attention, it will quietly wrap him tightly, unable to break free.

The queen mother did not understand Li Chengyan's mood, and even replied in an unreasonably cold tone,

"I did underestimate your feelings for him. As for Xue Xiaoyun... I didn't misestimate him."

Because of her words, Li Chengyan's sad expression turned ferocious in an instant.He slapped the table and stood up, pointed at the Queen Mother and said angrily,

"How can you say that about him? Xiaoyun has already declared his will through death, how can you justly wrong him!"

As soon as the anger was vented, Li Chengyan's accumulated strength due to anger dissipated instantly, but he still held the stone table with bluff to confront the queen mother.

The Empress Dowager said calmly without showing any timidity,

"Chengyan, I've been hiding one thing from you all these years."

Li Chengyan looked at her half surprised and half puzzled.

"You probably don't know, I have summoned Xue Xiaoyun privately." The queen mother told him directly without being a joke.

"When?" Li Chengyan's eyes suddenly became more vigilant.

"Not long after you and Hong Rui met."

When Su Hongrui was mentioned again, the queen mother let out a faint sigh,

"Hong Rui is a good boy, knowledgeable about books and etiquette, gentle and considerate, and has countless military achievements. He is more than enough for you, but you just fall in love with Xue Xiaoyun, who you don't help."

"Xue Xiaoyun is indeed well-behaved and sweet-mouthed, but how can he have the ability and courage to share the world's responsibilities with you? I also thought that if you really like him, it is not impossible to make him a male concubine. But..."

Seeing the gleam in Li Chengyan's eyes, the Queen Mother's voice gradually lowered. She actually knew that if she really liked someone, she wouldn't care whether he was smart or not, or what his family background was.But Li Chengyan is not an ordinary person, he is the emperor, he must bear the ups and downs of the entire Yunze, his other half must also be no less than him.

And such a person, she found.

It was Su Hongrui.

The man she loved most when she was young and the eldest son of her brother.

She uncovered her own wounds just to arouse Su Jian's guilt, and use his power to help Chengyan successfully succeed to the throne.

Su Jian really did it.

And also agreed to promise Su Hongrui to Chengyan.

But he has a request, once Li Chengyan has Su Hongrui, he can't marry anyone else.

Su Jian's request was really too much for an emperor who could have three thousand beauties.But she still accepted.

At that time, the prince was punished for rebellion, the late emperor passed away suddenly, and the government was controlled by the queen mother. Even according to the Yunze ancestral system, the throne should be inherited by the second prince Chengyan.But the Empress Dowager wholeheartedly supported the third prince, and she only occupied the vacant position of imperial concubine in the palace, without a powerful descendant to rely on.In desperation, she had no choice but to let go of her pride and persistence for many years and ask Su Jian for help.

Due to the situation and situation, she couldn't bear to treat Su Hongrui badly.

So she secretly summoned Xue Xiaoyun.

Heh, Xue Xiaoyun is indeed a lively, clever, and even a bit childish and innocent young man.He is completely at odds with Chengyan's restrained and silent temperament, but she knows that the more he is like this, the more attractive he is to Chengyan.

People tend to crave what they don't have.

She also softened her heart for a moment, and couldn't bear to see Li Chengyan's disappointed expression.

But Xue Xiaoyun disappointed her first.

She just took Xue Xiaoyun to look at the prisoner's cell in the palace, and if she made false threats, Xue Xiaoyun fell ill.

He was sickened by the bloody and cruel scenes.

And I threatened him that if he didn't leave Chengyan, he would end up like this.

"Then he won't see you."

The queen mother smiled sarcastically, she thought she would have to risk her life to beg Su Jian to get him to agree to Li Chengyan marrying Xue Xiaoyun as his side concubine.But after she tried it for a while, Xue Xiaoyun didn't dare to stay by Li Chengyan's side anymore.

"At that time, Xiaoyun...was only 16 years old, so it was reasonable for him to be afraid..."

But this reasonable explanation did not make Li Chengyan's gloomy mood any better.

He was indeed somewhat disappointed by Xue Xiaoyun's reaction.He loved him more than his life at that time, and he intuitively felt that he should do the same.However, Xue Xiaoyun flinched.

At that time, he was puzzled by Xue Xiaoyun's sudden avoidance.Until the secret guard he sent to Xue's mansion reported that Xue Xiaoyun had seen Su Hongrui, he thought it was Su Hongrui who said something threatening to him.He even lost his temper with Su Hongrui for this.

Now, he finally knew that Xue Xiaoyun's abnormal behavior was actually caused by the Queen Mother.

"I blame you because you know that my heart is for Xiaoyun, but you force me to marry Su Hongrui in spite of my wishes. But you don't want...you threatened him like this..."

Li Chengyan supported the table and sat down unsteadily.

He suddenly didn't dare to say any more, and he didn't dare to think about it.

In case... Xiaoyun's suicide was not caused by Su Hongrui, then he who personally killed Su Hongrui...how should he deal with himself?

"Chengyan, I heard people talking about Xue Xiaoyun."

Not long after meeting Su Hongrui, he brought Su Hongrui's favorite snacks to the General's Mansion in Zhenyuan to visit him.At that time, due to the situation, he had no choice but to make false claims with him.But every time he talked, Su Hongrui kept his heart open and never concealed or perfunctory.

Just like when he heard about Xue Xiaoyun, he asked him directly for confirmation.

And he, no matter how calm and sophisticated he is, is still a young man at heart, and he couldn't hold back for a moment, telling him that Xiaoyun was a good friend he grew up with.

"Then your relationship must be very good, Chengyan, you must like him very much, right?"

Su Hongrui said this while looking into his eyes.

He didn't know that eyes would reveal secrets, and he just felt baffled by his sentence "Chengyan, I will help you", but he didn't think carefully about the help he said, what kind of help is it?

"He...has known about Xiaoyun for a long time?" Li Chengyan suddenly said something out of nowhere.

The queen mother glanced at him, slowly holding the corner of her mouth, revealing a wistful smile.

"Hong Rui...he knew it early on. As a mother, how can you not be partial? Although I also hope that you can accept Hong Rui, but after all, I can't bear your sadness because of Xue Xiaoyun. So I bypassed General Su Jian and asked Hong Rui The matter of Xue Xiaoyun was mentioned..."

"What did he say?" Li Chengyan's heart tightened and he couldn't help asking.

"He said...he didn't mind."

After finishing speaking, the queen mother sighed,

"Chengyan, Hong Rui is really a good and reasonable boy, you really... owe him a lot."

"Ke Xiaoyun...did jump off the cliff after seeing him..."

Li Chengyan's tone was not so sure anymore, he looked at the front in a daze, and Su Hongrui's voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"Chengyan, about Mr. Xue...I'm sorry..."

You were the one who killed Xiaoyun, right?

It must be you, right?

Otherwise, why are you apologizing to me?

Unexpectedly, there was a piercing pain in his heart, Li Chengyan only felt the blood in his abdomen surging, and a fishy sweetness filled his mouth immediately.He covered his mouth in a panic, and the dark red blood overflowed from the gap between his fingers, and fell to the ground tick-tock, and soon joined together.

His vision also became blurred, I don't know if it was tears or something else that covered his eyes...

"Cherishment!"

The Queen Mother let out a cry of surprise, and leaned over to support Li Chengyan's fallen body.

Li Chengyan glanced at her as if aware of it, then suddenly closed his eyes and passed out completely.