After falsely claiming to be pregnant, the whole court came to claim it

When Li Yan arrived at the garden in the suburbs of Beijing, it was already dark.

The old prince sat alone on the low couch in the tea room, with the endgame on the chessboard in front of him.

"Come here, finish this game of chess with me." The old prince said without looking back.

Li Yan walked over and sat opposite him, glanced at the chess game but did not raise his hand to take the chess piece.

"The victory or defeat has been decided, is there any need to continue?" Li Yan asked.

"Until the end, victory or defeat will never be determined." The old prince smiled, seeing that Li Yan had no intention of playing chess with him, he got up and walked to the tea table, and began to make tea.

Li Yan looked at him from a distance, with a bit of undisguised alienation and coldness in his eyes.

"You sent someone to look for me to go to the capital a few days ago. I couldn't go, and I was still worried about it. You came today." The old prince said while making tea: "Why, what you want to do is finished. ?”

Li Yan did not answer his question, but asked, "Uncle Huang, why did you do this?"

"What?" The old prince glanced at Li Yan in a daze, and then suddenly said: "Oh, you are here today because of General Liu."

"Why did you move him?" Li Yan asked.

"If you are unfaithful once, you won't use it a hundred times." The old prince said: "He rejected you that day, and you will never use him again. Didn't your father teach you such a simple truth when he was alive?"

"Even if he doesn't want to stay in the capital, he will still be a hero who has made great contributions to defending the frontiers when he returns to the northwest. He is a minister who has made great contributions to me and me at the banquet." Li Yan said: "Why does the emperor insist on taking his life?"

"Have you forgotten what your father said?" the old prince said.

The first emperor said that Liu Linxi is a man of great use.

"Since he is worthy of great use, if he can't take it for his own use, it will be a hidden danger to keep it." The old prince said: "The Northwest Army has made great achievements in defending the border. Now that the war is about to subside, when the troops return to the court in the future, what do you do? Face them?"

It is destined to be a "crime" that all ministers of great merit cannot get rid of.It's not that Li Yan has never learned the art of checks and balances, and he also knows that this matter has always been a choice for all emperors, but he never thought that the person who made him face this problem for the first time would be Liu Linxi.

If you want to blame it, blame him for asking Liu Linxi that question that day.

If he didn't ask, Liu Linxi would be able to return to the northwest safely, and it might be a year or two after the war in the northwest completely subsided.Let him make a choice at that time, the knife will be held by the people above Liu Linxi, so it won't be the first one to fall on Liu Linxi's head.

Or at that time, he had no personal affection for Liu Linxi, and what happened to the other party had nothing to do with him.

However, when listening to Liu Linxi's work report that day, Li Yan accidentally asked that question, but Liu Linxi refused.

But how did the old prince know about Liu Linxi's rejection of Li Yan in the first place?

It stands to reason that the conversation was in the imperial study room, no second person should have heard it.

"Did the emperor send someone to be by my side?" Li Yan asked.

"On that day, you received the paper of impeaching Tuanhe camp for disrespecting the emperor, and I sent the paper to you." The old prince said.

Therefore, it was not a coincidence that Li Yan saw the book, but was arranged.In this way, his actions to test Liu Linxi were all counted by the old prince.If Liu Linxi stayed in the imperial study room long enough that day, he would be safe and sound when he went out, otherwise it would mean that he rejected Li Yan, and the result would be what happened later.

Li Yan looked at the old prince in front of him and felt a chill down his spine.

An old man far away in the outskirts of Beijing can play him so easily.

The old prince handed a cup of tea to Li Yan, and said, "Liu Linxi is the general of the banquet, isn't Liang Feng? Since you can put Liang Feng to death without hesitation, why not Liu Linxi?"

"Just because he got your favor and is willing to please you?" The old prince said: "Don't forget, you are the master of the world and the emperor of the banquet. If you want to sit in this position, you will have to sit in this position all your life. Give up what you care about, give up what you cherish, give up what you are most reluctant to part with... Only if you give up all these things, can you sit firmly in this position. Indecision and affection will only harm yourself. "

Holding the cup of tea in his hand, Li Yan felt his fingertips were scalded and painful.

He drank the tea in one gulp, put down the cup, and there was a trace of unpredictable coldness in his eyes.

"Uncle Huang, have you ever sat on the throne?" Li Yan asked.

The old prince was startled, and a hint of puzzlement flashed in his eyes.

Li Yan said again: "You haven't sat on the throne before, because my father was on the throne before, and now it's me."

"So what?" asked the old prince.

"Since I'm sitting there, it's up to me to decide what to give up and what not to give up." Li Yan looked at the old prince, stretched out his hand and said, "The antidote."

The old prince simply smiled, and said to Li Yan: "There is no antidote."

"How could there be no antidote." Li Yan said: "The emperor is strategizing, so he won't leave a way out for himself, right?"

The old prince waved, called an attendant over, and whispered something in the other's ear.The attendant left for a while, and came back with a round porcelain box in his hand.In front of Li Yan, the old prince twisted the mechanism and opened the palm-sized porcelain box, and saw that the porcelain box was divided into two, and both parts were empty.

"The poison prepared by Kuguzhuang in the Western Regions is a poison and an antidote. Once the box is opened, there is no way out. The poison will kill you after three hours, and the antidote will only be used within three hours. Effective. Once the time passes, no matter whether it is poison or antidote, as long as it is not used, it will turn into green smoke and dissipate..." said the old prince.

What does it mean that the antidote is gone...there is no antidote?

"Withered Bone Village in the Western Regions? I can send someone to..."

"It's too late. From the capital city to the Western Regions, the fastest horse will take more than a month to go back and forth." The old prince said: "But even if your people arrive, they will not have the antidote to give you, because a pair of Kuguzhuang There is only one antidote for the poison, and this medicine was obtained 20 years ago. It will take at least three to five months to at least one or two years to gather all the medicinal materials to prepare the second antidote. Can Liu Linxi wait?

Of course Liu Linxi couldn't wait.

Li Yan took the porcelain box, his mind went blank, he only felt a tightness in his chest, which made him almost out of breath.In the early winter season, the cold is threatening after nightfall.At this time, light snow suddenly fell outside the window, and the cold snowflakes fluttered down, carrying a bone-chilling chill that seemed to freeze the whole world.

There was a hint of fragrance faintly attached to the cold porcelain box, which Li Yan was all too familiar with. He had smelled it on Liu Linxi more than once. He always thought it was some kind of incense, but he didn't expect it to be the smell of poison.

Holding the porcelain box in his hand, Li Yan suddenly began to miss Liu Linxi.

After leaving that person for only half a day, he felt as if half his life had been wasted, and wished he could go back immediately.

"If I knew he would turn back, I wouldn't have done anything unnecessary that day. If I wanted to blame, I can only blame God's will. I saw that he was safe and sound before, and I was still thinking that Liu Yi might have missed, and the poison hadn't been caught. I didn't expect Still can't escape this disaster." The old prince saw Li Yan's pale face, with a lost expression on his face, and said again: "Yan'er, you are still young, what kind of talent do we have for the banquet? Not bad for this one."

"Heh." Li Yan smiled wryly, stood up while holding the tea table, only felt that all the strength in his body seemed to be drained, and he had to force his mind to stand still.

"I have an old friend's son who is also serving in the Northwest Army. Although his combat achievements are not as good as Liu Linxi's, he is still better than many generals of the same age." The old prince said: "The war will be suspended in two months, and the Northwest Army will send him back. Liu Linxi can take over the position of Deputy Commander of the Forbidden Army, which has been vacated by Liu Linxi."

Li Yan walked towards the door step by step as if he had never heard of it.

He looked up at the dark night sky and took a deep breath, only to feel the chill penetrating his nostrils into his lungs.

"Lu Yuzheng, send someone to seal up this courtyard." Li Yan said coldly, "Uncle Huang is getting old, so I won't bother him about my affairs."

Lu Yuzheng hurriedly responded, not daring to speak up.

That night, Li Yan led his people back to the palace overnight.

Liu Linxi had already fallen asleep, and Li Yan was afraid of disturbing him with the chill all over, so he just stood and watched for a while.

Li Yan didn't go to bed, after seeing Liu Linxi, he went straight to Yi Nian Hall.

Most of the candles in the One Thought Hall were extinguished because no one was looking after them at night.Li Yan took a candle and lit the extinguished candles one by one, and the whole hall suddenly became much brighter, as if it also felt a little warmer.

Li Yan thought of how Liu Linxi knelt in front of the Buddha a long time ago, and his heart suddenly softened, so he walked over and knelt where Liu Linxi knelt before.He has never believed in gods and Buddhas, and he has never begged for anything from these illusory things, but today, he suddenly expects that there is really a power in the dark that can satisfy what he asks for.

"I don't know what the Queen Mother was asking you for when she was kneeling here. She seems to like talking to you." Li Yan knelt in front of the Buddha and said, "If you can really hear me, I want to ask you A person's safety. I am willing to use the remaining half of my life in exchange for him to die with me."

The candles flickered in the hall, and there was no sound.

The Buddha statue in front of him did not respond, but still had a compassionate expression on his face.

Li Yan said again: "I am 19 years old this year. If I live to be forty according to my father's age, I can still live for 20 years. Give Liu Linxi ten years, so that I can live with him for ten years. It is enough to think about it." gone."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he bowed to the Buddha statue, and then he remembered that he had never burned incense, so he took incense and lit it again, and repeated what he said just now.

"If you think ten years is too long, five years is fine." Li Yan said again.As long as Liu Linxi can survive, it doesn't matter if the days are five years longer or five years shorter, at worst, they will break one day into two.

"You are generous. The Ai family gave birth to you for more than 18 years, and you gave them away with just one word." The queen mother's voice suddenly sounded from behind Li Yan.Li Yan turned his head and saw the Queen Mother, his eyes turned red and he almost shed tears.

"Mother..." Li Yan said disheartenedly: "Is it true that I am going to lose him?"

"Life is always lost in this world." The queen mother said: "Didn't Aijia also lose your father?"

Li Yan stared blankly at the Queen Mother, thinking that he was about to lose that person, he felt as if his heart was about to be ripped out, and the pain was so painful that he could hardly breathe.The queen mother went to him and knelt down, and bowed to the Buddha statue.

"When you grow up, you must learn to accept a truth. Even if you are the emperor, not everything will follow your temperament." The queen mother said: "But God treats you kindly. Take the general away from you."

When Li Yan heard this, there was a gleam of brilliance in his eyes, and he asked, "Queen, what do you mean by that?"

"The poison in the Dry Bone Village in the Western Regions is not unsolvable. Although the people who refine the medicine have an almost fanatical obsession with the medicinal properties of the poison, but after making too much poison, taking human life is not worth mentioning. In the extreme There is a glimmer of life in the poison, and it becomes interesting to see if the poisoned people can struggle to survive.” The queen mother said, took out a porcelain box and handed it to Li Yan, Li Yan couldn’t help being surprised when he saw it, the porcelain box It was exactly the same as what the old prince gave him.It's just that after he opened the porcelain box, he found that the porcelain box was also empty.

"The emperor said that this medicine was obtained 20 years ago..." Li Yan said.

"He didn't lie to you." The queen mother said: "The ins and outs of this medicine have already passed, you don't need to know. But the poison in General Liu's body, Aijia can tell you how to get rid of it..."

Li Yan stared at the queen mother in a daze, never expecting that the queen mother would know the solution to the poison in a turn of events.

"Although this method is feasible, it is extremely detrimental. Otherwise, the Ai family will not hide it from you until now." The queen mother sighed, then knelt down in front of the Buddha statue and kowtowed, and said: "You have to promise Ai family, do your best, listen Destiny. If General Liu survives in the end, then his life should not be terminated. If he still dies, you have to accept this fate."

Li Yan was silent for a moment, then nodded with a trembling voice, "I promised my mother."

The sky was getting brighter, illuminating the palace, and also illuminating the One Thought Hall.

But when Li Yan walked out of Yi Nian Hall, there was a haze covering his body.

This method is harmful to Yin and virtue, he Li Yan is not afraid of it.

If he can save Liu Linxi's life, he doesn't care about any price.

Liu Linxi hadn't been back to Jiyue Residence for a long time.

Today when he got up, he saw snow falling outside, thinking that the snow scene in Jiyueju should be good, so he put on a big cloak and went to Jiyueju.The winter is cold, and the lake has frozen. Now there is snow on the ice surface, and it looks like a vast expanse of whiteness.Liu Linxi sat around the fire in the water pavilion for a while, feeling that her long-suffering mood was brightened by the scenery in front of her.

Yesterday Li Yan locked Taifu Cheng, and he did not return overnight.

Liu Linxi could probably guess the result, but I'm afraid Li Yan didn't find the antidote smoothly.

If it was said that before Liu Linxi was looking forward to finding the antidote and just wanted to live, now he had to worry that if he really died, Li Yan would not do anything irreversible.

"General, this old slave has been away for a while, why did you come here?" Su Hengsheng was afraid that Liu Linxi would catch a cold, and even though he saw a heater next to him, he still worried: "How about we go to the house to rest?" Let's go, this waterside pavilion has wind leaking from all sides, it's really too cold."

Liu Linxi smiled and said, "The snow hasn't melted yet, so it's not so cold right now."

"Otherwise, the old slave will send someone to boil some hot water, and take a hot bath to cool down after the general enjoys the snow?" Su Heng suggested.

Liu Linxi knew she couldn't hold him back, so she nodded in agreement.

Su Heng hurried to the bathroom to boil hot water, and took a blanket to cover Liu Linxi.

Liu Linxi couldn't laugh or cry because of his cautious posture, fearing that he would make something wrong again, so he sat for a while before going in.

The hot water had been boiled in the bathroom, but Liu Linxi didn't feel cold outside, but after going in, he was suffocated by the heat and felt that his limbs and bones were a little frozen.He took off his clothes and sat in to soak for a while before his body became warmer.

After a while there were footsteps coming from behind, Liu Linxi thought it was Su Heng, and said, "No need to wait, I'll just stay by myself for a while."

After he spoke, the footsteps behind him did not stop, but walked straight behind him.

Liu Linxi looked back, and saw that it was Li Yan.

"Is it cold?" Liu Linxi asked seeing that Li Yan's face was not looking well.

"Cold." After saying that, Li Yan kicked off his boots, took off his outer robe, and stepped into the pool in his inner garment.

Liu Linxi was startled by him, subconsciously dodged back.But Li Yan leaned forward, pressed Liu Linxi to the edge of the pool and kissed her.Liu Linxi stretched out his hand to push him, and Li Yan grabbed his hand with astonishing strength, until Liu Linxi was kissed so hard that he couldn't breathe, Li Yan backed away a little.

"What's wrong?" Liu Linxi asked, "What happened?"

"It's okay, I just miss you so much." Li Yan smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Liu Linxi reached out to touch Li Yan's face, and slightly reproached, "He came in without taking off his clothes, like a big child."

"Help me get off." Li Yan spread his hands, his eyes fixed on Liu Linxi.

Liu Linxi smiled helplessly, and reached out to help him take off his soaked underwear.Li Yan took advantage of the situation and hugged Liu Linxi, holding him in his arms, and it took a long while before he let go.

"I... want you today." Li Yan said.

Liu Linxi was startled and didn't react for a while, but seeing Li Yan looking at her with burning desire/desire, her heart couldn't help but her face turned red.Seeing this, Li Yan moved to his lips and kissed him, and said earnestly in his voice: "Promise me, okay?"