Fengmou in troubled times

"Zhao Lang, is it fifteen already?" Chu Wansi asked, leaning on Zhao Qiongzhang's shoulder, pointing to a huge bright moon in the night sky.These short three days were the happiest and most pleasant time in her life. There was no need for delicious food, wine, singing and dancing, just sitting quietly side by side with Zhao Qiongzhang, bathed in his affectionate and sincere eyes, It was enough to make her happy.

Should it be called happiness?The corners of Chu Wansi's mouth curled up uncontrollably. She had never experienced this feeling before, so she was really not sure.The relationship between Zhao Lang and himself is by no means the extreme gorgeousness of Miss Scholar, General and Beauty in the legends, looking for death and life. Instead, it is like the warm and bubbling hot spring, which gradually wakes up her dry and cold heart. , I also tasted the sweet taste ignorantly.This feeling has almost never appeared in the past twenty years, but it is too good to refuse.Chu Wansi didn't know if this kind of obsession that she was reluctant to part with Zhao Lang was called love.But she is very clear that she is really willing to just watch the flowers bloom and fade in the courtyard with Zhao Lang, and the years go by like this, so that they will never be separated again in this life.This is also the reason why she, nicknamed the Merry Princess, is willing to scatter all the beauties in the house for him, and leave him alone.

With a bit of obsession and reluctance, he kissed his wife's petal-like lips. Only Zhao Qiongzhang understood how happy he was and how sad he was these few days, but facing his sweet and lovely wife, he All he could do was give her a reassuring smile, "No, Wan'er, I'm only fourteen today."

"Really?" Chi Chi laughed, Chu Wansi felt that she had never been so foolish yet so satisfied, "People say that the moon on the fifteenth day is sixteen round, but tonight it is only fourteenth, and there is such a perfect and bright moon." Moon, just like you and me." She took the glass of fine wine that her husband handed over with a delicate smile, and drank it without hesitation, "Zhao Lang, let's have a baby." Without waiting for Zhao Qiongzhang to answer, Chu Wan Si then said to himself: "I will definitely learn to be a good mother. No matter it is a boy or a girl, as long as it is our child, I will love him wholeheartedly. It is definitely a thousand times better than what my mother did. Ten thousand times... When he grows up and dislikes us for being old, we will let him go on his own. At that time, if we can still walk, we will travel around the world, okay..." Suddenly a drop of cold liquid fell On her face, Chu Wansi looked up in surprise, only to see that Zhao Qiongzhang had already burst into tears unknowingly, "Zhao Lang, what's wrong with you?"

The blue hair draped over her shoulders slipped away from his hands with her movements, as if they were destined not to be together for a long time.Zhao Qiongzhang looked at the woman he had been obsessed with for many years, and wiped the tears on his face with his delicate fingers in a panic. The heart that was already riddled with holes became more and more painful, almost suffocating him, "Wan'er, sorry."

Chu Wansi shook her head in doubt. Just as she was about to speak, her heart and lungs suddenly felt a sharp pain, and countless dark red blood gushed out of her mouth, like a beautiful rose blooming on her lips, "Zhao Lang, you..." The wine cup in her hand fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Chu Wansi was so painful that she couldn't speak, she could only stare at her beautiful eyes, and looked at Zhao Qiongzhang in puzzlement and sorrow.Lonely and helpless before, she had never been afraid of death, and even longed for the relief brought by death.But now, this feeling of suddenly falling from the clouds to the mud, this feeling of being possessed suddenly and lost forever, made her feel even more lonely and sad than before! ...A bitter smile floated on her lips, Chu Wansi exhausted all her strength, but she just grabbed a piece of Zhao Qiongzhang's clothes before she fell down.She really, really wanted to ask herself whether the love she felt in the past three days was true or not!She took strict precautions against the heart that she had guarded for more than 20 years, did she promise the wrong person?Does her Zhao Lang have any sincerity towards her? ...

But these words, she can no longer ask her Zhao Lang in person... Chu Wansi closed her eyes unwillingly. The last picture she saw in this world was Zhao Qiongzhang's sad eyes, although she would never There is no way to know whether the tears that her Zhao Lang shed were for her.But she didn't resent him, because in the last three days of her life, he somehow made her understand, to be loved and to be loved... With the last bit of effort, she heard her voice dissipate in the night wind, and it disappeared in an instant , not resentment, swearing, nor questioning:

"Zhao Lang...Unfortunately, we haven't given birth to a child of our own..."

……

When Feng Yinran and Fang Linyuan arrived, the entire Princess Mansion was already on fire, and the servants and maidservants were in a mess.

"What are you panicking about?! The princess and the eldest son-in-law are still inside, hurry up and save people!" The old housekeeper vainly pulled the servants who were only concerned about their own escape, begging them to go in and look for the eldest princess.But in the face of the threat of death, the slave maids who are not close to the eldest princess can't care so much. Everyone is busy fishing for a valuable thing to save their lives, and no one pays attention to him What did you say.Looking at the chaotic scene, Feng Yinran couldn't help frowning, and quickly practiced lightness kung fu with Fang Linyuan, and went to the inner courtyard to find it.

Because the eldest princess suddenly wanted to send away the beauties in the whole family for the sake of the first son-in-law, the second son-in-law Zheng Xin couldn't ask for it, so he agreed to move out with He Li on the same day.However, the third son-in-law and the fourth son-in-law, who were greedy for the comfortable life of the princess mansion, really tried their best to pester Chu Wansi for two days. Seeing that she was really unmoved, they reluctantly took the eldest princess. The "Alimony" given to leave.That's why the three sons-in-law who moved out of the princess mansion were able to escape today's catastrophe.

Passing through several small courtyards that were uninhabited, Feng Yinran and Fang Linyuan finally found Zhao Qiongzhang, the son-in-law who was sitting there holding Chu Wansi's body in front of the Suxin Pavilion.Seeing someone approaching, he didn't even lift his head, but gently drew the crescent eyebrows for Chu Wansi, who had long lost her breath in his arms, as if he was not in a sea of ​​fire, but hugging his beloved wife who had just awakened from spring sleepiness, enjoying Boudoir delights.

"Where is Chu Xia? Where did Queen Mother Zhou hide her?" Seeing that Zhao Qiongzhang's brows were in a state of madness, Feng Yinran didn't expect him to answer, but Zhao Qiongzhang suddenly laughed in a trance, and said in a low voice: "You want The person I was looking for has already been taken away by the crown prince."

Chu Boluan?Unexpectedly, I actually underestimated the scheming and ability of Prince Li and his son. Feng Yinran didn't know why, but a trace of uneasiness surged in her heart, but she heard the eldest son-in-law Zhao Qiongzhang continue to say: "Wan'er, my son, he even wants to get rid of the emperor. Our Zhao family How dare you fight against him with an egg. I am useless. I promised to protect your smile, but I couldn’t even keep your life. I dare not ask your forgiveness, but I hope you can understand that I am sincere to you ..."

"What did you say?! Chu Boluan wants to kill the little emperor?!" Feng Yinran didn't care about asking any more questions, and rushed towards the palace together with Fang Linyuan.Not caring about the two of them going or staying, Zhao Qiongzhang hugged his lovely wife by the waist, and walked towards the sea of ​​fire step by step.

"Wan'er, I hope there will be an afterlife, so that I, Zhao Qiongzhang, will be lucky enough to marry you again. Life and death are in the same place, and the white head will never be separated..."

……Dividing line……

Since ancient times, when emperors ate meals, they were roughly divided into three parts: passing meals, eating meals, and eating meals.Before passing on a meal each time, a meal list is first presented, and the time, place, and name of the dishes are indicated on the meal list, as well as which dishes are served with which utensils, and what table is used, etc. must be marked in detail.Although Wen Yun's current emperor, Chu Hui'an, was still young, when he was the prince, the empress who loved him very much specially set up a small kitchen for him in his palace. There are all kinds of bureaus and meals, and there are about fifty kitchen servants up and down.After Chu Hui'an ascended the throne, the size of the imperial dining room in charge of his diet naturally doubled again.

Although he only lived in the palace for two days, Chu Ligui gradually got used to the little emperor's motivating teachers and mobilizing crowds every time he passed on meals.This is due to his good luck in the past few days, the Empress Dowager Zhou did not have dinner with Chu Hui'an in the future, otherwise the empress dowager and the emperor would have to line up [-] or [-] dishes for a meal, and the entire palace would be busy. .

Chu Ligui didn't know if his uncle had done something secretly, the servants and servants in the little emperor's palace even treated him as a transparent person, turning a blind eye to hearing and not hearing, but they also let him play with Chu Hui'an It's just that occasionally when the queen mother sends someone over, she sends a message in advance to let him avoid it.It's not that Chu Ligui is unaware of the conspiracies and tricks in it, but he is used to being carefree by nature, even if he subconsciously knows that there is something wrong with it, he is too lazy to waste his time on these things.

However, since he promised beauty Yin Ran to take care of Chu Hui'an's safety in the past few days, he would do it desperately.What's more, after getting along these two days, he also likes Xiao Huier, a smart, sensible, innocent and kind child from the bottom of his heart.Although he has resentment towards Queen Mother Zhou, when he is with Xiao Huier who is related to him by blood, Chu Ligui really wants to be a good brother who is affectionate with his brother.For example, now, even though he knew that countless eunuchs and palace maids must have passed the poison test before the imperial meal was delivered, and they also used silver tableware, Chu Ligui personally tasted every dish, so that he could choose something nutritious and healthy. Digestible food clips for the little emperor. "Xiao Hui'er, don't be picky eaters, eat the carrots quickly."

Chu Hui'an, who was about to secretly hide the carrots in the bottom of the bowl, pursed his mouth, but seeing Chu Ligui's insistence, he reluctantly picked up the carrot slices, and stuffed them into his mouth heroically, while articulate He said indistinctly, "Brother Lin, I want to eat sweet and sour fish!"

"Okay, okay." Chu Ligui, who turned into a nanny, skillfully picked up the delicate tool at the side, carefully shaved off the bones of the sweet and sour carp, and put it into Chu Hui'an's bowl. "In addition to fish and meat, rapeseed and shiitake mushrooms should also be eaten clean."

The little emperor, who was content to eat the fish meat, nodded with a smile, and he did not forget to push the empty soup bowl in front of Chu Ligui, "Brother Lin, I still want some soup."

Resigned to his fate, he added another bowl for him. Chu Ligui, who has always been well-clothed and well-fed, has served others so meticulously, but when he saw the child's eyebrows and eyes, his heart immediately melted into water.Maybe it's because they hit it off with Xiao Hui'er.He smiled, and reached out to help the child remove the rice grains sticking to the corner of his mouth, "Eat slowly, don't get choked, and no one will grab you."

"Okay." Chu Hui'an responded sweetly, and the appearance of eating rice with big mouthfuls was extremely cute.When the child was growing up, and Chu Ligui took him to play games to consume his energy, and accompanied him to eat, even the simple and ordinary dishes felt delicious. "We agreed, as long as Hui'er can finish a bowl, Brother Lin will tell Hui'er a story, right?"

Chu Ligui nodded and sighed, coaxing a child is really not easy at all, but it seems that he still enjoys it.He called the servants to clean up the bowls and chopsticks, and took water to help the little emperor rinse his mouth. When Chu Li returned to see him sitting obediently at the desk, he couldn't help ruffling the child's hair in a funny way. "Don't work hard just after eating, anyway, the queen mother won't come to check today anyway."

Because he didn't have to see foreign ministers again after he retired from court, Chu Hui'an mostly wore ordinary clothes in his own palace, with his hair hanging down behind and tied with a bright yellow belt.At this time, being rubbed by Chu Ligui, they immediately became a mess, like a cub going mad. "Oh, Brother Lin, you have messed up your braids!" The child chased Chu Ligui crazily in the spacious hall, "Come and help Huier tie up her braids!"

At the end of the quarrel, the two children, one big and one small, fell on their backs panting on the soft cushions beside the bed.Although the child is full of energy, after a series of ups and downs in the morning and class, even though he is reluctant to go to bed early at this moment, his eyelids can't help but start to fight. "I don't want to sleep! Brother Lin, I want to listen to a story."

Cleaned up the little emperor himself and forced him to the bed, Chu Ligui pretended not to see the little maids covering their mouths and giggling, and used the power of the little emperor to drive him out , turned to Chu Hui'an and said, "Xiao Hui'er will sleep on her own tonight, so I'll tell you a story, okay?"

"No, if Brother Lin wants to tell Huier a story, he has to sleep with Huier!" The child hurriedly got up and grabbed Chu Ligui's sleeve, not letting go, "Brother Lin promised before, if you can't talk, it doesn't count!"

Who told me that children are easy to deceive?The little emperor couldn't help but stare at him with big bright eyes. Chu Ligui couldn't help crying and laughing, so he had to lie down beside the bed, searched his guts to find a short story that he had read before, and rewrote it into a sentence that children could understand. .Sure enough, before the half of his story was told, the child next to him had already fallen asleep, hugging the quilt and smiling contentedly, not knowing what interesting things he encountered in his dream.

After wrapping the child in a quilt naturally, Chu Ligui looked at his pink and tender face, suddenly feeling a little dazed.Because the Empress Dowager Zhou was jealous, in this incident, apart from the "accident" of Zhou Ruji's sister and brother Chu Hui'an and her own shady "accident", the lineage of the former emperor has no descendants to pass on.As for the entire descendants of the Chu royal family, except for them, King Qin, King Zhou, and King Jing all stayed in their respective fiefs as Xiaoyao Princes for the time being. Only Prince Li and his son stayed in the capital and mingled with the government from time to time.Yin Ran reminded himself before that the emperor's uncle Chu Boluan most likely agreed to help him for the sake of the throne.However, Chu Ligui couldn't figure it out, if something happened to Xiao Hui'er, and he was an outcast with a dishonorable name, wouldn't it be logical for Chu Boluan to sit on the throne? Why bother their father and son? , find yourself?

Chu Li Guizheng was holding his head and thinking hard, but saw a little eunuch sneaking into the house, approached him lightly, and said in a low voice: "My lord, Prince Li is waiting for you outside the palace."

He suddenly raised his head to look at the little eunuch who was passing the message, Chu Ligui remembered that he was the one who always followed the chief eunuch, and thought he was also the Empress Dowager, but unexpectedly it was Chu Boluan's arrangement.Seeing that the little eunuch kept his eyebrows down and said nothing, he thought that little Hui'an was sleeping, and Chu Ligui couldn't drag him into questioning him carefully, so he had to follow him out of the house on tiptoe.

"Uncle Royal."

Chu Boluan, who was standing in the court, turned his head when he heard the sound, and saw Chu Ligui standing outside the door of the little emperor's house, as if hesitating whether to leave the range of the door, as if he was afraid that he would harm Chu Hui'an while he was away.Thinking of this, Chu Boluan couldn't help twitching the corners of his lips, thinking how much the child relied on and trusted him when we first met Rong Shao, but now...Chu Boluan carefully looked at the boy in front of him, Although he hadn't seen him for two or three days, Chu Ligui, who was wearing a light gray servant's clothes, still gave him a strange sense of freshness.

Looking at it this way, compared with Rongshao, it seems that he is really much thinner... Chu Boluan looked at it from a distance, because his chin was a little bit sharper, Chu Ligui's eyes became bigger and bigger, but at this moment he looked at it with some worry and apprehension. He himself was very much like He Shining in his deep memory. "Li Gui, come here." Chu Boluan was silent for a long time, and finally called him, maybe tonight, everything should be settled and have an ending.Not only his own inexplicable obsession, but also Chu Ligui's pure kindness that was well protected by Chu Xia... Feeling reluctant and cruel pleasure, Chu Boluan struggled for a long time before moving. Stepping towards his own Chu Ligui, he clapped his hands and signaled his subordinates to bring up a wooden box.

"Uncle Huang, what is this?" An inexplicable fear suddenly surged in his heart, Chu Ligui instinctively wanted to stay away from the wooden box, but he took the box over with both hands involuntarily.He raised his head to look at Chu Boluan in a panic, only to see him raise his hand to open the lid for himself with a look of grief, and said, "Li Gui, it's all about Uncle Emperor's fault, you're a step late, you...don't be too late." Too sad..."

The moment the wooden box was opened, a smell of blood rushed towards his face, and what came into view was the pale face of foster father Chu Xia!Chu Ligui felt his mind go blank, staggered back two steps, and fell to the ground holding the wooden box.Trembling, he stretched out his hand to touch Chu Xia's face, the cold and real feeling hit Chu Ligui's heart like a huge stone, as if a breath was stuck in his chest, making him unable to utter a single syllable.How could this be... Chu Ligui stared blankly at Chu Xia's head, still unable to accept the fact that Chu Xia died.Obviously Yinran promised himself that there is only one day left in the three days, and he has already imagined where he will live with his adoptive father in the future, why?Why……

Chu Boluan squatted down beside him, and slowly wiped away Chu Ligui's silently falling tears with his fingertips. Although he felt a little pity in his heart, he still whispered in his ear: "The Empress Dowager Zhou ordered people to take General Chu's tears away." The head was sent to my Prince Li's mansion to frighten me and my father, and he also said that he would throw General Chu's body into the wilderness, where wild dogs would tear it up and vultures would peck at it..." Looking at Chu Ligui fiercely Clenching his fists, his eyes were red, Chu Boluan sighed regretfully, and continued: "It's all because I was too careless. I expected that before the Queen Mother Zhou found you, she would be a little bit afraid and save General Chu's life." But she forgot how cruel and vicious she used to deal with your mother Concubine Ning back then!" He squinted his eyes as he spoke, and he wanted to hide to tease Aunt Ning when he was playful back then, but he didn't expect to hide Under the bed, I became the only surviving witness of the tragedy, "Because she was jealous of Concubine Ning and the first emperor, the Empress Dowager Zhou broke Concubine Ning's hands and feet in the name of practicing witchcraft in the palace, and pushed her in the palace. Rolling on the nail board several times broke every bone in her body! In order to avenge the late emperor, Zhou Ruji stewed Concubine Ning's flesh and blood into porridge and sent it to the late emperor, and scattered Concubine Ning's ashes in the wind, cursing She can't be reincarnated from life to life..." These scenes often became Chu Boluan's nightmare later on, and I'm afraid that in this life, he will never forget it, let alone forgive Zhou Ruji's actions.

"Li Gui..."

Seeing that the child was sad and angry, but resisted to make a sound, and almost bit his lower lip, Chu Boluan finally couldn't bear it, and carefully took Chu Xia's head out of his hand, and put it back again. Go inside that wooden box. "As long as you are willing, I, from all over the Li Palace, are willing to commit the crime of disrespect for you, and lead troops to force the palace, so that the temptress Zhou Ruji will be punished as she deserves!" He said, putting the dagger he had prepared into Chu Ligui. He patted his shoulder with his right hand and said, "The former emperor had intentionally abolished Zhou Ruji and appointed Concubine Ning as his queen. You are the legitimate eldest son! Now you just have to do it yourself and kill the son of that seductress Zhou Ruji. You will be able to avenge your father, queen, mother and foster father!"

When his hand was cold, Chu Ligui gritted his teeth and grabbed the dagger. Because of too much force, the jewel inlaid on the handle hurt his palm, but it couldn't hurt his heart.Zhou Ruji!Only this name remained in his mind over and over again, and the pictures he imagined following Chu Boluan's narration. The boundless hatred and grief were like a raging flame, burning away his last trace of reason and tolerance. .He stood up under the pull of Chu Boluan in a daze, like a marionette, holding the cold dagger, and walked towards the door of the bedroom step by step...