Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

"I haven't seen Zhang Dexiu for several days." Wang Chengen leaned on the mahogany armchair by the brazier, rubbing the walnuts in his hands boredly, "Where did this kid go?"

"Didn't the emperor say that he was sent out to do some business?" Zhou Xi was copying the documents at the side, and when he heard Wang Chengen's babble, he stopped writing and raised his head to answer.

"No...no no." Wang Chengen curled his lips and waved his hands in a serious manner, "Based on our family's intuition for many years, this matter is not that simple."

"Eunuch means...?" Zhou Xi's eyes flashed, and he moved closer.

"He serves the emperor personally, and he doesn't run away. There are plenty of people available in the palace, so why should he go?" Wang Chengen narrowed his eyes, with a calculating expression on his face, "It seems that The Japanese emperor went back to the palace, but he didn't come back with him, and the emperor has always looked strange and unhappy these days, there may be something else wrong with this matter."

"Oh...?" Zhou Xi rolled his eyes, suddenly he had a flash of inspiration, and said in a low voice, "If the emperor leaves the palace, I'm afraid he will eat and live with Zhang Dexiu. Father-in-law, do you think the emperor has discovered Zhang Dexiu... "

"Is it a fake eunuch?" Wang Chengen's eyes lit up, and he regained his energy. "If you can be sure that he has never been cleansed, then it is not impossible. Zhang Dexiu has always served the emperor with all his heart. Since Zhou Yanru many years ago After this incident, he has been acting alone, and there is no sign of him colluding with foreign ministers and weaving party members. If there is really a big change between him and the emperor this time, I am afraid that there is only one reason."

"The villain is absolutely sure that he is a fake eunuch!" Zhou Xi glared, and his tone was very sure, "If the emperor didn't believe it and suppressed the matter, as long as he had a body test, everything would have been revealed by now. gone."

"Hmph... If that's the case, the crime of deceiving the emperor will cost you your head." Wang Chengen smiled darkly and leaned back on the chair, "Hey, in the final analysis, we are also guessing without evidence. Maybe in a couple of days, he will be back. If he never comes back, it will just save our family a lot of trouble."

"Eunuch is right." Zhou Xi smiled respectfully.

The two of them were chatting with each other in the room, and no one noticed that outside the plum blossom screen, a court lady blushed and tightened her skirt, secretly telling them the gossip they had guessed out of thin air, word by word, I listened to everything in my heart.

two

Hall of Martial Arts.

"Your Majesty, please have some tea." The maid gently placed the teacup by Chongzhen's hand, and did not take it back for a long time.Chongzhen looked up subconsciously, but what caught his eyes was an unexpected face.

"Bitao?" Chongzhen was originally depressed, but the appearance of this unexpected person lifted his spirits, "How did you come back? Where is Hongxing?"

"Back to the emperor, Hong Xing was caught in the wind and cold last night. She was afraid that the emperor would damage the dragon's body, so she asked her servants to come and serve on her behalf." Bi Tao said with her eyebrows lowered.

"Oh..." Chongzhen nodded, not caring about it, and lowered his eyes to look at the memorial that hadn't been turned over for a long time.

Bi Tao pursed her lips, seeming to hesitate to speak, and then turned around and walked away hesitantly for a long time, but suddenly took two quick steps and knelt down in front of Chongzhen.

"What do you mean?" Chongzhen was surprised when he saw this.

"This servant is daring and wants to ask the emperor about Zhang Dexiu's whereabouts." Bi Tao lowered her head humbly, but there was no trace of cowardice in her words.

"Didn't I already say that Zhang Dexiu is leaving the palace..." Chongzhen said absently, and suddenly, he waved his hand to dismiss the eunuchs who were waiting in the room, and when he turned to Bitao, his complexion darkened for a moment, and he spoke slowly Said: "You...you know it."

really……!It seems that Zhou Xi and Wang Gonggong did guess well.But the stakes are high, and it's better to be careful.Bi Tao suppressed the frantic beating in her heart, and still pretended not to understand: "Your servant does not understand, please enlighten me."

Chongzhen frowned slightly. "That year Zhang Dexiu was bedridden to recover from his injuries, and you took care of him day and night for half a year, no matter what, you should know." Chongzhen paused, "He is a fake eunuch."

That's it.After confirming that Xizhao's failure to return to the palace was really due to this, Bi Tao no longer concealed it, and gradually calmed down in her heart.I saw her lowering her lower body and said frankly: "Go back to the emperor, this servant will know."

"Now that you know, you still dare to ask me about his whereabouts today. You are so courageous!" The expression on Chongzhen's face was as cold as the winter wind, and there seemed to be a thick layer of frost between his brows, "Do you know that he committed a crime?" What crime, what crime have you committed?"

"Eunuch Zhang pretends to be an eunuch and deceives the emperor. It is a capital offense. It is also a capital offense for slaves to not report and cover up." Bi Tao spoke very calmly, as if the word death in her words had nothing to do with her, "I'm here to see you this time Your Majesty, this slave girl knows that she should die, but before she dies, this slave girl only has one wish, which is to ask the emperor to make it come true." Bi Tao raised her head and looked at the emperor earnestly, seeing that although Chongzhen's face was ugly, she did not say anything to stop her, so she burst into tears Courageously continued: "This slave has served Eunuch Zhang for half a year. Eunuch Zhang admires the emperor with deep love and righteousness. The slave and maid have seen each and every one of them. I only hope that the emperor can serve Eunuch Zhang wholeheartedly for many years this time." For the sake of sparing Eunuch Zhang’s life, this servant is willing to take the punishment on his behalf, and accepts both crimes, even if he is hacked to pieces, this servant will have no complaints!”

Chongzhen was startled when he heard the words, finally opened his eyes, and took a good look at the maid in front of him.With a delicate face and a slender figure, this Bi Tao is just a weak woman no matter how you look at it.But unexpectedly, under this frail figure, in those reddish almond eyes, there is such a guts as hard as iron, and a heart as hard as gold.Chongzhen looked her up and down, and suddenly his eyes stopped on the hairpin in her bun—it was the jasper and peach blossom that he bought for Dexiu in Baoding Night Market that year. "You... are in love with each other." Chongzhen was slightly moved, but his tone finally softened, "Aren't you afraid that I will execute you both to death and teach you to be mandarin ducks with the same fate?"

Bi Tao smiled lightly, her eyes were as clear as streams of water, without the slightest timidity when facing Tian Yan.

"In the final analysis, this matter was caused by Eunuch Zhang. If the emperor had no intention of executing Eunuch Zhang, then the life of the servant could be preserved; It's meaningless for a slave to live alone in this world." Bitao said, her cheeks were faintly red, and there was three parts of sorrow and seven parts of love in her words, "My slave's parents are dead, and there is nothing to worry about in the world. If I can really ask for the extrajudicial grace of the emperor and save Eunuch Zhang's life with my own body, it will be regarded as fulfilling my heart, and I will die as I wished, with no regrets."

Perhaps it was the warmth of Bitao's tenderness that melted the ice on Chongzhen's face. He softened his expression, sighed, and was silent for a long time before he said in a low voice: "I will not punish Zhang Dexiu for his crime, but he will never return to the palace." Come on. Go back and live a good life, maybe one day, you two will have a chance to meet each other."

three

A dream in nine years.

Xizhao has imagined this scene many times in the past nine years.After leaving the palace, I sat alone in the wing room in the backyard of the old house. The desk, suitcase, coffee table, the simple and simple furnishings seemed slightly outdated compared to nine years ago. In the brass censer in front of my parents’ coffin, stood three sticks Fresh incense.On the table was the silver accumulated over the years, and through the half-opened window, the familiar stone tables and benches in the courtyard could be vaguely seen.But no matter how Xi Zhao imagined it, she never really imagined that ending everything in this way would be as dazed and empty as being in the wilderness.The world has forgotten Xu Xizhao, and all the troubles of the past have faded away with time; Zhang Dexiu is gone in the palace, and future disputes will never have anything to do with him.However, not being in the palace and not being called Dexiu means that the nine-year dream is broken, just like the family change many years ago, leaving everything he cherishes, ignores, loves, and dislikes. At the end of the dream, no matter whether I want to or not, I, the past, and the emperor never meet again.Xizhao was fiddling with a table of silver coins, one ingot, two ingots, three ingots... Roughly speaking, there were nearly a thousand taels of money—the money was secretly saved for the purpose of restoring freedom one day. I have paved a way forward for myself, so why when the day comes, I just want to spend all my money, pawn all my freedom, let this road twist and turn, and then lead to the emperor...

Xi Zhao sighed, put down the money, and pushed open the door, a chill hit her face.There is white snow all over the courtyard, and the footprints of the emperor leaving at the door are already blurred and cannot be discerned clearly.Nine years had passed, and I had unknowingly tied my body and mind to the emperor, but now I suddenly moved away from him, and I was hurt by that invisible thread all the time.This pain clearly told Xizhao that he was no longer that carefree young man, now he was being held by the red wall, and he seemed to be free, but he couldn't take a step forward. step forward.

Sunset was immersed in her own thoughts, bent down subconsciously, brushed off the snow on the stone bench, and sat on the place where the emperor sat when he first came.It's not that the emperor doesn't miss the old love, otherwise, his crime of deceiving the emperor is both public and private, so how could he be kicked out of the palace so simply.And this kind of treatment is already thinking about the old love, how can I make progress and make delusions about returning to the palace.What's more, how can I have the qualifications for such delusional thoughts-if I leave the palace early, the truth will be buried forever; if I am willing to make the fake show come true, the way to make it true is so obvious.But now he finally really hurt the emperor's heart, because he was not firm enough to stay in the palace, and he spoiled himself and refused to leave.Knowing that it is a choice between the two, but still willfully not giving up anything; obviously it is a foreseeable consequence, but still letting oneself greedy.God's blessing made this dream last for nine years, but I actually relied on this blessing, so I didn't make the decision I should make...

Now is the deadline.If you don't want to wake up from the nine-year dream, this time is the last chance to make the dream come true.

Xi Zhao gritted her teeth and reconfirmed her mind in her heart.If you want to return to the palace, it means you have to give up something.Even if she imagined it, the abandonment still made Xizhao's limbs weak and her chest trembling, but at this moment, Xizhao was surprised to find that it was not enough to shake her decision at all.Although it might be too late, maybe things are not that simple, maybe even if this is a moth to the flame at all, but Xi Zhao knew that she had to go back to the palace and see the emperor one more time—if she did nothing, she would just let herself and the emperor drift away. If you are far away, then what is waiting for you will be a lifelong regret.Xi Zhao made up her mind, stood up suddenly, and disturbed the snow on the stone table beside her to fall down.

——In the past nine years, Dexiu has committed an unforgivable crime. I hope the emperor will give Dexiu this opportunity and allow Dexiu to use the days to come to fulfill his promise of trust to the emperor. ?