Mikago

Three days later, the convoy returned to Chaojing City.The horses marched northward on the broken leaves all over the ground.

Inside the car, Tang Ruilang moved his luggage out, and turned his head to look at Lu You reluctantly.

"I'm leaving. Do you... want to come with me?"

"Together?" Lu You laughed dumbly, "You want me to go back to Tang's house with you? Did you hear me right?"

"That's not what I meant. Now that Zhao Yang is dead, your life will definitely undergo many changes. It's hard to say whether it's a blessing or a curse. I don't want to see you fall into more painful situations, so if you want, you can come with me now Walk."

Lu You still looked at him with a half-smile: "Follow you, where are you going?"

"I will settle you elsewhere for the time being, and when I become an official next year, I will move out of the Tang Mansion. Let's live together, how about that?"

Looking at Tang Ruilang's shining eyes, Lu You slowly opened his lips, and finally there were only eight words left to say.

"Let's talk about it after you become an official."

The carriage paused briefly at Shengyefang, then entered Anfumen, and entered Zichen Palace.

But seeing yellow leaves all over the ground in the palace, withered grass and cold grass, the eyes are full of desolation.

After counting the time correctly, the servant Chang Yunu and others were already waiting in front of the Tongming Gate, all of them were covered in white, like paper paste.

"It's been a long time for you."

Qi Yunchu nodded to Chang Yunu, took off his outer robe, put on the plain clothes brought over by the little eunuch, and then turned around to give instructions to Lu You.

"Serve the prince first and go back to Hanlu Palace to rest and rest, and then go to the funeral palace in an hour."

Lu You took the order and accompanied Zhao Rongze to continue walking north along the corridor.Just entering the Rihua Gate, a gust of wind blows head-on, carrying a pungent scorched smell.

This is the smell of death.

Looking around, on the long Rihuamen side street, everything is desolate.The jackdaws wailed on the branches, and the autumn leaves were all over the ground without sweeping.In front of the palace gates lined up in a row, white paper lanterns swayed gently in the wind.

Walking to the gate of Hanlu Hall, the eunuchs who raised their shoulders stopped.Xiao Shizi got off the ground, but stopped and refused to move forward.

"what happened?"

Lu You bent down to face him, only to realize that his eyes were fixed on the ground in front of the palace gate.

There are large areas of scorched black traces coming from the gate of the Huiqing Palace next door, mixed with many messy footprints—presumably there are some charred things being dragged from the fire site one by one out.

"It's okay. I'll order someone to clean it up later."

Lu You stretched out his hand to hug Shi Zi, and let him bury his head in his shoulder: "If you are afraid, don't look at it."

"Rong Ze is not afraid."

Xiao Shizi shook his head.

"Rong Ze just thought, if I had been in Hanlu Hall that night, I would have found someone to set up a ladder to help them climb over from Huiqing Hall."

But what if it climbed over?What awaited them was still the most extreme punishment.

Lu You smiled wryly in his heart, patted Zhao Rongze on the back, and carried him into Hanlu Hall.

After bathing and washing the dust, put on the prepared clothes and belts.After taking care of it, it was time to make an appointment with Qi Yunchu.

Lu You led Zhao Rongze to the Tongming Gate as usual, and met Qi Yunchu and others who had been waiting here, and then went to Xingren Gate to pay homage.

Xuan Wang, Zhao Yangxuan, died at the age of fourteen, and he was Zhongshang.For more than ten days, the prince's main hall was suspended, and his clothes were changed, and the ringing of bells and drums was forbidden.Baiguan served him for twelve days.Honglu Temple set up a funeral palace, where mourning and weeping came.

Zhao Yang's funeral palace is located in the side hall facing east from west in Qianqiu courtyard.As soon as he walked through the Suzhang Gate, he heard the mournful sound of Ji Lu Bu's trumpets floating towards this side.

Walking to the Qianqiu courtyard, you can only see the flags and honor guards, which are solemn and majestic, lined up on the left and right sides.

Everyone walked along the right path to the steps of the West Hall, and when they looked up, they could see a row of huge white paper lanterns under the eaves.Inside the hall, white silk is used as curtains, layer by layer, covering a purple curtain in the center like piles of snow.

Lu You followed Zhao Rongze up the steps, and saw an ebony throne in front of the purple tent with a purple brocade cushion on it.In front of the throne is an ebony confession case, on which there are gold and silver mixed Boshan stoves, candlesticks, and offerings such as inscriptions.There is also a low table in front of the case, on which there are soup dishes, melons and fruits to eat, which is not much different from what Zhao Yang enjoyed during his lifetime.

Now that the meal has been served, it means that today's evening banquet is over.At this moment, only a few eunuchs in charge of guarding were left in the funeral palace, and there were no empresses or other clan children present.

Zhao Rongze bowed a few times on the futon in front of the hall, got up and walked around the throne to pay his respects to King Xuan's Zi Palace.Lu You naturally followed closely behind.But he was taken aback as soon as he walked into the curtain—the coffin, which should have been buried long ago, was still open, and a figure wrapped in a heavy brocade quilt could be seen lying in it from a distance.

"Empress Xiao was too sad and couldn't bear to part. Therefore, King Xuan has not sealed the coffin for a long time." The eunuch standing beside him explained this way.

In addition, there are still some clan members who are on their way to Zhaojing.Postponing the closing of the coffin is also to allow them to see each other for the last time.

Goodbye for the last time?

Lu You was speechless inwardly.From what he saw in front of his eyes, this "last side" was really better than seeing each other.

The whole body is painted in gold and painted, and it is lined with a five-fold gold brocade quilt, which is covered with scriptures embroidered with five-color silk threads.The brocade quilt is covered with jewels and jade, shining brightly under the candlelight.

And in this dazzling center is Xuan Wang Zhao Yang, who is wrapped in a purple quilt.

In other words, it should be Zhao Yang.

Even now, even Lu You couldn't confirm whether the person inside the coffin was the little monster with the same face as himself.

Because Zhao Yang's face was covered with a gold leaf mask, covering his face that might have been destroyed by the fire.The eyebrows and eyes on the mask are still the same as before, but the flesh and blood body has solidified after all, becoming a lifeless decoration.

As for the rest of the face, they were all tightly wrapped in the quilt.But even so, as long as you pay close attention to the observation, you can still see that the connection between the mask and the neck is a mass of darkness.

Lu You lowered his head and asked Zhao Rongze, "Do you want me to pick you up?"

Xiao Shizi hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head.

The two of them quietly walked around the Zi Palace, and then came out from the other side of the curtain.

It was only for a moment, but the sky outside the hall became much darker.The sound of advocacy also stopped, leaving only a gloomy silence.

The white paper lanterns under the eaves swayed quietly, and the bright banners with Zhao Yang's name and posthumous title fluttered in the wind.

Lu You was suddenly a little scared.On such a cold, moonless night, it seemed appropriate that something ominous should happen.

As soon as he thought of this, he saw a few lights lit up in the direction of Suzhangmen on the south side of Qianqiuyuan.Fluttering leisurely, he arrived in front of him in a blink of an eye.

It turned out to be the prince!

Lu You was surprised, and then saw another person following behind the prince, following every step, and lowering his eyebrows.

It's Ye Yueshan!

Long before returning to the palace, Lu You wanted to visit her sister, but she never expected that they would meet on such an occasion.

At this time, the prince has already entered the palace.He saw Qi Yunchu, Zhao Rongze and others standing on the west side, although he was a little surprised, he just raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, are you back?"

It was Zhao Rongze who answered: "If you go back to His Royal Highness, Rong Ze just returned to the palace an hour ago."

The crown prince nodded, then turned around and made another gesture, followed by the eunuch of Chunfang, who brought another table of wine and vegetables, and placed it beside the existing table.

Today is not Zhao Yang's first seven, nor is it any special day.It seems that during this time the prince should have been in and out of the funeral palace from time to time.But he chose to come in the quiet time after the evening ceremony, obviously he wanted to avoid others, especially the grief-stricken Empress Xiao.

"Being a thief with a guilty conscience" first came to Lu You's mind.

I have to admit that the moment he heard the news of Zhao Yang's death, he almost believed that the Prince had something to do with it.

For the sake of the supreme imperial power of the Ning Dynasty, he did not hesitate to kill the lives of his closest relatives.Presumably no matter how hard-hearted a person is, if he dreams back at midnight, he will probably feel uneasy.

Thinking of this, Lu You raised his head and looked at his sister's profile from a distance.

Perhaps the prince really felt ashamed and didn't dare to come to the funeral palace alone, so he let Yueshan accompany him.But this also shows that she has a detached position in the East Palace, and may even replace Hu Ji and become the spiritual pillar of the prince.

But what kind of peace and happiness can there be when staying with such a murderer who doesn't recognize his relatives? !

The more Lu You thought about it, the more disturbed he became, when suddenly he heard the prince's voice ringing in his ears.

"The fire in the Huiqing Palace didn't affect the Hanlu Palace. But the daughter of a daughter is still unable to sit in the hall, so my nephew might as well move to live in the east palace. I can take care of my king."

Is this to include Zhao Rongze in the scope of surveillance?

After all, Zhao Rongze was young, no matter how precocious he was, he still couldn't cope with being at the mercy of his elders.Lu You was anxious, and was about to peek at Qi Yunchu's reaction, but heard a mournful cry from far away from Suzhangmen.

It was someone else who rushed over in a hurry.

This time, it was Duan Wang Zhao Qing and Kang Wang Zhao Jing!