Ten years later

The place to meet Lin Ziqing was fixed by Li Yuan in the ancestral house in Yongchangfang. He had no reason to stay in the palace for a long time, so after revealing his identity to Li Lian that day, he returned to the ancestral house to live in——traveled northward to Lingzhou He had spent the previous ten years in this house, and for him, this place was his home.

Li Lian was different from him. Even when his elder brother said he would go home to live for a while, he subconsciously thought that his elder brother meant going back to Lingzhou.It took him a while to realize that his brother's thinking was different from his. He grew up in Lingzhou and took it as his hometown. To him, there is no difference between the capital Chang'an and Longxi Chengji where the prefect is located.He knew that he was born in the capital, and that his family had a house in Chang'an, but he never cared about these things.

On the day of Xiumu, Lin Ziqing walked straight to Yongchang Square, facing the mansion that occupied half of the square, not knowing what Li Lian wanted to do, he hesitated at the door.

Still, the guard outside recognized him, welcomed him in, and whispered to him as he walked, "Teacher Lin has arrived, the lord has been waiting inside for a while."

Lin Ziqing didn't dare to delay any longer, and walked quickly into the main room.

Li Lian waited among them with his elder brother in plain clothes early in the morning.

Although Li Yuan's title and fiefdom have been decided, other matters need to be discussed with his elder brother before deciding.In the past, although the titles of the clan and titles were high, most of them had no real positions to prevent chaos.But he wanted his brother to continue to lead the army, whether in Lingzhou or other places.Right now the imperial court really lacks generals, many of the previous battles were led by him himself, but now that he has ascended the throne, he can't just take the lead and lead the army himself.

He believed in his elder brother, but his elder brother wanted to avoid suspicion and refused to lead the army as a prince. He also wanted to make up for three years of filial piety in the name of not observing his mother's filial piety, and avoided the matter of becoming an official by the way.

He still took it as an excuse, but his elder brother put on plain clothes and didn't eat meat, as if he really wanted to make up for the three years of missing mother's filial piety.

As soon as he entered the room, Lin Ziqing bowed his head towards the figure on the main seat and walked forward in small steps. He stood about five steps away from Li Lian, bowed down and bowed deeply with the same courtesy: "Your Majesty, Prince Fu Linzi Qing, I have seen Your Majesty."

Li Lian, who was sitting at the top, quickly asked him to get up.When Lin Ziqing raised his head, the corner of his eye naturally swept across Li Lian's side.

At this glance, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a tall and straight figure, sitting upright like a pine and cypress.He laughed at himself, thinking of some unrealistic things when he met the saint.

In a blink of an eye, as usual, he discussed with Li Lian about giving lectures for the prince without squinting.But for some reason, that figure has always existed in my peripheral vision, and never left.

Li Lian told him some things related to lecturing for the prince, most of which were similar to the previous two years.At the end, Li Lian asked again, "Why did you suddenly go to Yuzhou, sir?"

Lin Ziqing was originally Li Yuan's most valued staff member, and his status was so high that even Li Lian had to address him as "Mr." This title has not changed even now.

"I've overstepped the rules," Lin Ziqing hastily pleaded guilty, "I was entrusted by someone to go to Yuzhou to do something, and I didn't mean to get involved in the court affairs." He only had the post of Prince and Taifu, so logically speaking, he could not meddle in the affairs of the court.This incident also happened to happen in Yuzhou, but it had nothing to do with the military settlement that was raging in the court.

Li Lian pretended to complain, "I hope it's too late for Mr. to take office again, so how can I blame you." Seeing that Lin Ziqing didn't answer, he asked again, "Speaking of which, I don't know who can hire Mister?"

Lin Ziqing lowered his head slightly, and said, "It's Madam Anpinghou."

Li Lian thought for a while before realizing who Mrs. Anping Hou was, and immediately chuckled a few times and said, "It's my cousin, what did she entrust you with?"

Mrs. Anping Hou is his cousin, one year older than Lin Ziqing.At that time, the mother intended to marry this cousin to her eldest brother, so she asked her aunt to bring her cousin to Lingzhou.At that time he was still too young to remember anything, he only knew that his cousin did not become his eldest sister-in-law, but he did not know that she was actually acquainted with Lin Ziqing.

Lin Ziqing didn't seem to be willing to bring up this matter, so he simply said: "Madam's only son is now in Yiyang, and something has happened. She has no acquaintances in the court, so she had to ask the minister, and the minister went to Yiyang Help one or two."

After these words were finished, Lin Ziqing caught a glimpse of the phantom next to Li Lian who seemed to be smiling.Mrs. Anpinghou liked to tease him when she was in Lingzhou, and after a long time, Li Yuan always joked about it.If Li Yuan was still around, he would have such a joking expression when he heard the news.

He couldn't hold back, and added another sentence: "I don't have a close relationship with my wife, and my wife just asked me to come here because I really had no other way."

Li Lian showed a look of disbelief, and nodded to him: "Well, although we haven't seen each other for many years, but she is a cousin after all, if she still has no connections next time, just let her come to me. "

He talked to Li Lian about other things, and at the end, when Lin Ziqing was about to get up to leave, he suddenly heard a voice in his ears: "Are you pretending you didn't see me?"

Lin Ziqing was taken aback, as if he was in a dream.He didn't dare to turn his head to where the sound came from, so he could only look straight ahead and meet Li Lian's eyes.

Li Lian nodded at him and said, "Sir, you should greet your brother."

My brother, Li Lian said my brother.There was only one thought in Lin Ziqing's mind.

He turned his head in disbelief, and what he saw was exactly the same face as in his memory, exactly the same.

Lin Ziqing's smile froze on his face.

Since many years ago, Lin Ziqing always smiled when talking with people, whether it was real or not, he was always as warm as the spring breeze in March.Even in the most dangerous moment on the battlefield, he can still make plans in the camp with a smile to make the enemy lay down millions of corpses.

But at this moment, he couldn't laugh anymore, and cracks finally appeared on the mask he had been wearing all along.

Lin Ziqing hadn't lost his composure like this for a long time.His lips twitched, wanting to say something, and after trying a few times, he opened his mouth with great difficulty and asked in a trembling voice, "Duke?"

Li Yuan sat on the mat, nodded and shook his head, and said: "Now it's time to be called King Yan."

Lin Ziqing was speechless for a while, the cracks on his face were getting bigger and bigger, he seemed to be able to hear a crisp sound, the mask that was used to show people was shattered into thousands of pieces.

He didn't know what expression he had at the moment, nor what expression he should have.

It seems to be laughing, and it seems to be crying.

Lin Ziqing stared at Li Yuan in plain clothes, as if he wanted to deepen the brand on his heart.

Li Yuan also looked at him with a smile, nodded to him and said, "Ziqing, come here."

He even forgot to stand up, took two steps on his knees and arrived in front of Li Yuan, bent down again, and bowed deeply to the ground.His heart was empty, he only knew that Li Yuan was right in front of him now, and he could look up at Li Yuan as soon as he raised his head—just like when he saw Li Yuan for the first time many years ago.