After marriage and marriage, I became the favorite of the group

Xiao Mingyuan didn't know the inside story, and wanted to ask Ruan Jiu again: "Are you really not going in to have a look? Father, he is really dying."

Ruan Jiu's name was also on the genealogy of the royal family of Liang State, so it was reasonable for Xiao Mingyuan to ask him this way.

Besides, in Xiao Mingyuan's opinion, Emperor Liang was a good father, and he was really good to Ruan Jiu.

Ruan Jiu shook his head: "I still won't go in." Ruan Jiu thought for a while, and found a lie to pass: "Your Majesty may think that I'm still fighting, and I went in to meet him suddenly, which may scare him, so let's forget it. .”

Although Xiao Mingyuan was puzzled, seeing his resolute attitude, he stopped asking.

After they all went in, Ruan Jiu dragged He Lianzhu away: "Let's go, let's go see Getulu."

He Lianzhu stopped him: "Let's go to Zichen Palace first."

"Huh? What are you doing there?"

Ruan Jiu didn't understand, and He Lianzhu didn't answer, so he dragged him down the steps.

The Zichen Palace is the place where Liang Guo meets on the first and fifteenth day of each month. Except for these two times, only the eunuchs who are in charge of sweeping the palace are there.

After the King of England fully obtained the power of regent, he regarded himself as the emperor, and didn't care much about Emperor Liang. He also moved him from the original palace and changed him to the palace farthest from the center of power, Zichen Palace. Said to let the father rest at ease to recuperate.

Ruan Jiu hadn't been in the palace much, and he wasn't very familiar with the roads in the palace, so he just followed Helian Zhu.

"How do you know the way?"

"I remembered it a little when I came here before, but it's still a little unclear."

"That's it." Ruan Jiu touched the tip of his nose, "Then what are we going to do there?"

"Take something."

Ruan Jiu didn't know what to take, only He Lianzhu knew in his heart that he was going to take the letters Ruan Jiu wrote to Liang Guo when he was doing detailed work.

Originally, he was going to take it when he entered the palace the night before yesterday, but it was too late at that time, he had taken the medicine, and he was not very familiar with the layout of Liang Guo's palace, and he didn't know where the hidden compartment of Zichen Palace that Emperor Liang said was. .

Afraid of delaying too much time, he could only leave the palace first.

These few days are neither the first day nor the fifteenth day. The King of England is too busy to attend to himself and will never go to court; Emperor Liang is on guard against everyone. For a long time, until He Lianzhu took out his dagger, he was willing to speak. He would not tell the king where the letter was.

Emperor Liang would put things in the Zichen Palace, which meant that he regarded them as part of his power.

Indeed, if the fine function is good, it can be regarded as a good weapon.

At this time, the dust had settled, the crown prince and Xiao Mingyuan were guarding the Emperor Liang's bedside, and it was too late to tidy up the palace, and the people in the palaces were still behind closed doors, Ruan Jiu and He Lianzhu arrived at the Zichen Palace unimpeded.

On the jade steps of the golden palace, He Lianzhu entered from the back hall, the windows were closed tightly, and the hall was dark, apparently no one came here for a long time.

Ruan Jiu lit a candle: "What are you looking for? Hurry up, wait for Xiao Mingyuan and the others to come over..."

He Lianzhu took the candlestick and looked around, looking for the hidden space in Emperor Liang's mouth.

But the surrounding layout can be seen at a glance, just looking at it like this, He Lianzhu can't directly see what's wrong.

Ruan Jiu followed behind him, and He Lianzhu teased him while beating on the wall: "I came to find Liang Guo's secrets, and if I found it, Ji Wu would be able to annex Liang Guo."

Ruan Jiu patted him on the back: "Nonsense."

He Lianzhu laughed: "Really, it's still too late for you to stop me now."

Ruan Jiu was a little annoyed: "If you talk about these things again, I will take you home."

He Lianzhu didn't speak any more, holding a candlestick, he searched half of the wall, but couldn't find any hidden compartments.

Emperor Liang's hidden things were really hidden, He Lianzhu thought to himself, he should have asked clearly where the hidden compartment was at that time, so as not to search here now.

Ruan Jiu watched him search for a while, and suddenly remembered something: "Little pig, I know, I know there is a secret room here."

He walked to the opposite wall, followed Helian Zhu's example, and patted the wall.

"The night before going to get married, he brought me here. I saw many young gentlemen in the secret room. I remember that the secret room was opened from here, but I didn't see clearly how it was opened. "

He Lianzhu stepped forward, pulled him behind, and went to find the secret room by himself.

Ruan Jiu continued: "Later I went to make a wedding, and if I promised to do things for him, he let go of those sons. Now there should be no one inside..."

He Lianzhu squatted down and took out the dagger he was carrying with him. The dagger was embedded in the gap of a floor tile, and he pried the floor tile up with force.

There was an empty space under the floor tiles, and there was an iron chain. When He Lianzhu pulled the chain, the shelf on the wall opened.

The wooden shelf is not high, and when opened, it is not a secret passage or a secret room, but a secret compartment.

There is a wooden box in the dark compartment.

Ruan Jiu wondered: "No, when I saw it, there was still a secret passage here, and there were several secret rooms behind the secret passage, and those young masters..."

He suddenly stopped talking.

He reacted.

The secret passage was rebuilt and completely blocked. Emperor Liang changed several large secret rooms into such a secret compartment.

He Lianzhu took out the wooden box, confirmed that the letters inside were the letters that Ruan Jiu had sent to Liang Guo these years, and after counting them correctly, he took the letters away, put the wooden box back, and closed the secret compartment.

Ruan Jiu looked at the newly built wall in disbelief, his brain was blunt, and it took him a long time to react, and he murmured: "He promised me, he said that as long as I do the work carefully, I don't need them." I will let them go..."

But Ruan Jiu forgot that Emperor Liang had managed to arrange a secret work to kill Wu. If these people were released, if these people inadvertently leaked the secret work, Emperor Liang's arrangements over the years might have been in vain. The benevolent monarch he worked so hard for may be in vain.

So those sons were either sent out of the palace, or were sealed to death in a secret room by Emperor Liang, trapped to death.

He Lianzhu clapped his hands, hugged him, patted his head, and comforted him in a low voice: "Maybe Emperor Liang stopped working carefully and sealed the secret room after letting those people go."

Ruan Jiu didn't know whether to believe this statement, he shook his head and asked, "Did you get what you wanted?"

"got it."

"Then I'll go ask him directly."

Ruan Jiu didn't care about the etiquette and righteousness of the monarch and his ministers. He asked the question as the queen of Jiwu instead of the son and son, so he didn't care about the etiquette and righteousness.

The old emperor had used him and lied to him for so many years, but he couldn't even fulfill the conditions he proposed at the beginning.

Anyway, he was going to die, and before he died, Ruan Jiu couldn't bear it anymore, and wanted to tear off all his disguised masks and throw them on the ground, so that the crown prince and Xiao Mingyuan, who had always respected him, could see what kind of father he was.

Ruan Jiu quickly walked out of Zichen Hall, returned to the emperor's bedroom, and suddenly pushed the door open.

Everyone in the hall was startled.

The crown prince and Xiao Mingyuan were waiting in front of the couch, Ruan He was also there, but he was standing far away, seeing Ruan Jiu coming in, he didn't know what happened, so he hurried forward to pull him.

Ruan Jiu brushed away his elder brother's hand, walked to Emperor Liang's bed, looked directly at the dying old man on the bed, and stated a fact very plainly: "You lied to me."

Of course Emperor Liang understood what he was talking about. Many years of disguising made his hypocritical answer subconscious: "Xiao Jiu, if I don't deal with them all..."

"You lied to me!" Judging from his answer, Ruan Jiu could almost confirm the matter, "You killed them all!"

"Your identity will be revealed by them..."

"I said I'm fine, let you let them all go! But you killed them all!"

Xiao Mingyuan still held Emperor Liang's decoction in his hand. He looked at Ruan Jiu suspiciously. Seeing that his eyes were red and his whole body was shaking, he didn't dare to ask him, but just looked at Emperor Liang: "Father, what is Xiao Jiu talking about? Who ? Who was killed?"

Emperor Liang hurriedly said: "It's a little misunderstanding, hurry up, you and your elder brother go out first."

Ruan Jiu pressed the crown prince and Xiao Mingyuan, refusing to let them leave, and looked sullenly at Emperor Liang.

"You dare to do such a thing. You are almost dead at this time. Why are you afraid that they will hear? They are all brothers in the genealogy. If I know something, tell them, what's the matter?"

Emperor Liang obviously cared about these two sons very much. He was a little anxious and was about to sit up with his hands on his hands. It was a pity that he fell on the bed again and again, and he could only shout helplessly: "Get out... get out..."

Ruan Jiu looked at him, paused every sentence, every word was sonorous, so that everyone present could hear clearly.

"Your Majesty has long known the order of the King Jiwu to 'not get close to women', and adopted him a long time ago—or let him find a large number of sons and train them carefully, in order to go to Jiwu to get married in the future. Liang Guo offered help."

"Simply put, it's meticulous work."

"Those young masters were raised in three secret rooms in the back hall of the Zichen Hall, and a dozen of them crowded into one secret room. In order to please the King Jiwu, they were trained in etiquette and manners, learned the customs of Jiwu, and had the ability to work carefully. "

"Now that I think about it, there were many young masters around Helian Zhu at the Liang Palace banquet that Ji Wu visited five years ago. Many of those young masters were young masters whom I met in a secret room afterwards."

"It's a pity that Ji Wu didn't pick any of the young masters, but picked me instead."

"So the night before the wedding, I was taken to that secret room."

"Your Majesty said that as long as I am willing to work carefully, these sons will be useless, so I can let them go and not hold them accountable for not completing their tasks."

He said these words calmly, but everyone present froze in place as if they had been hit with a hammer sullenly.

Ruan He had never heard him talk about this matter before, so he was also stunned at this moment, came back to his senses, and hugged Ruan Jiu: "Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu, it's okay, it's okay..."

Ruan Jiu let out a long sigh of relief, but his eyes turned redder, and his tone remained flat: "I agree."

"But His Majesty didn't fulfill his promise, he sealed the secret room, and he made those sons—" Ruan Jiu raised his voice, "starved to death, died of thirst inside!"

Emperor Liang was coughing violently when he was speaking, and when he said the last sentence, Emperor Liang let out a roar: "Shut up..."

The decoction in Xiao Mingyuan's hand poured all over Emperor Liang's face, choking back Emperor Liang's words.

Xiao Mingyuan came back to his senses in a daze, stood up, looked at Ruan Jiu at the same level: "You are talking nonsense!"

Emperor Liang wiped off the decoction on his face: "Xiao Ba, yes, he was talking nonsense..."

Ruan Jiu grabbed his collar and said sharply: "Am I talking nonsense? You can find out by digging in Zichen Palace yourself. Your good father is not someone else's good father."

Xiao Mingyuan turned around and left, the prince also pushed the wheelchair and left, Emperor Liang lay on the bed, no one listened to what he said.

Ruan Jiu was hugged by his elder brother, crying out of breath.

"I killed them! I killed them!"

Ruan He hugged him and comforted him softly: "It's not you, it's not you, you've tried your best, why didn't you tell your brother about it?"

"I..." Ruan Jiu shook his head, crying so hard that he couldn't even speak clearly, "I will kill my family..."

"Okay, okay, stop crying, go home, go home."

Ruan He supported Ruan Jiu and passed by He Lianzhu.

Ruan He glanced at him and asked in a low voice, "You already knew?"

He Lianzhu nodded: "Yes."

No matter what happened in the palace, Ruan He directly took Ruan Jiu out of the palace.

It wasn't until he left the palace that Ruan Jiu's mood calmed down a little.

Ruan He sent him to the carriage, looked back at He Lianzhu: "You go up too."

Ruan He finally got into the carriage and ordered: "Go home."

Ruan Jiu was still crying: "Don't go home yet."

He still didn't want his parents to know about it.

"Okay." So Ruan He changed his words again, "Go to Wanyi Building and send someone back to tell you that we won't go to eat at noon."

Ruan He put down the curtain and turned to look at Ruan Jiu.

Ruan Jiu lay in He Lianzhu's arms, He Lianzhu didn't speak, but just stroked his hair.

Maybe He Lianzhu is also regretting, he shouldn't go to Zichen Palace with Ruan Jiu, he should go there by himself.

Even if it was that night, I could bear it a little longer and go to the Zichen Palace to get the things first.

There will be no such thing as today.

Every time Ruan Jiu wrote a letter to Liang Guo, when he was distressed, he would think of his family and the young masters he saw in the secret room.

If he can protect some people, it doesn't matter if he comes to make love and do these things.

It's a pity that he thought he had protected so many people, but in the end, it was nothing.

Those people died not long after he got married.

Ruan Jiu didn't know if those people would resent him, or if they would curse him in their hearts just before they died.

If I had been tougher and more meticulous then, and watched Emperor Liang let them go, would things have been different?

Ruan He patted Ruan Jiu's cheek and comforted him: "It's okay, it's okay, this matter has nothing to do with you, you have done your best, if you want to blame, you can only blame... the emperor."

Ruan He wiped away the tears from his cheeks: "Don't cry, brother will take you to Wan Yi Lou for dinner, what do you want to eat?"

Ruan Jiu shook his head, but said: "Brother, don't tell your parents about this."

"I know."

Ruan Jiu was still distracted by He Lianzhu, and Ruan He didn't bother him anymore, and let him stay quietly for a while.

He looked at He Lianzhu and asked, "Has Xiao Jiu left any excuses on the emperor's side?"

He Lianzhu said lightly: "I took it out."

"That's good." Ruan He paused, "When did you know?"

"When we started making love."

Ruan He paused slightly, and finally said: "Thank you."

Ruan Jiu was so sad that he locked himself in the room for a while and didn't go out.

Ruan He occasionally brought him some news from the palace.

The prince and Xiao Mingyuan had someone dig Zichen Palace open. In the sealed secret room, there were dozens of bones. They were all close together, as if they were hugging each other for warmth at the last moment of their death.

Emperor Liang's condition took a turn for the worse after that day, and he couldn't sleep day and night, talking nonsense all the time.He said that the secret room was dug up, the formation he had arranged could no longer be suppressed, Daliang was about to perish, and those people came to him for revenge.

The crown prince and Xiao Mingyuan were busy dealing with the mess left by the King of England, and they didn't even visit him.

It dragged on like this for two or three days. One night, Liang Di didn't know where the strength came from. He got up from the bed, avoided everyone, and returned to his original bedroom. He didn't know where to find a pill. ——No one knew that he still had such a thing. Later, he interrogated the old eunuch next to Emperor Liang, and only then did he know that Emperor Liang had been tinkering with alchemy a long time ago.

The one he ate was called Tiandi Longevity Pill, which is said to prolong life.

It's a pity that when Emperor Liang took the elixir, he didn't have time to drink water. He was old and frail, and had no strength. The elixir got stuck in his throat, and he couldn't cough it out or swallow it. .

Others didn't know about such royal secrets, they thought that Emperor Liang was seriously ill and passed away naturally.

Ruan He heard what the prince said.

Ruan He also said: "The prince told you not to worry, no one else will know about that matter, they will keep it a secret."

After the death of Emperor Liang, the crown prince took out the edict of Emperor Liang, and changed it to the edict passed down to the eighth son Xiao Mingyuan.

This is also a matter of course. This internal strife lasted for more than half a year. In the past six months, the King of England killed several other brothers, and the Crown Prince was disabled. Xiao Mingyuan was the only one who could ascend the throne.

This internal strife was not glorious, the late emperor rushed out of the funeral and was buried in the unfinished mausoleum.

According to Liang Guo's practice, he should be accompanied by his sons, but he only had three sons left. Xiao Mingyuan was busy with his enthronement, and the crown prince had trouble walking. Li hanged himself.

It has to be said that the first emperor and the king of England are very similar, with the same methods and the same viciousness.But in the end, even the King of England knew that collecting his father's body was not a good thing.

There is no way, the prince can only invite the son of a certain prince to attend the funeral of the former emperor.

At the same time, the new emperor ascended the throne.

The dust has settled.

They have been delayed in Liang Guo for too long, and He Lianzhu has also set a time to return to Jiwu.

They went back with the army led by Geturu.

A few days before the departure, Xiao Mingyuan sent someone to invite him to the palace for a banquet.

Xiao Mingyuan held a banquet when it was still a national funeral, I'm afraid he was stupid.

So Ruan Jiu told the person that he would not go, and asked the person to remind Xiao Mingyuan that the national funeral had not yet passed.

It didn't take long for Xiao Mingyuan to come over by himself.

When he came over, Ruan Jiu was planting flowers on the porch, and the business at home had resumed. Master Ruan didn't have time to take care of these things, so he left it to Ruan Jiu to fiddle with.

Xiao Mingyuan walked up to him: "Hey, Ruan Jiu."

Ruan Jiu raised his head, Xiao Mingyuan pursed his lips, and said: "The person who sent the message didn't make it clear, it's not a banquet, just a few friends having dinner together."

He paused: "If you don't want to enter the palace, then stay at Wei Xu's house instead. You're leaving soon, and you don't know when we'll see you again. It's better to get together."

Ruan Jiu nodded: "Yes."

Seeing him nodding, Xiao Mingyuan finally felt relieved. He pursed the corners of his lips, and wanted to say something more, but he couldn't open his mouth.

Ruan Jiu said: "You are already the emperor, how can you still go out and wander around like this?"

"Brother will handle the government affairs well." Xiao Mingyuan thought for a while, and then hastily added, "I am also studying myself, and I only came out today after approving the memorial."

The two of them had a few words, and Xiao Mingyuan went back. Before leaving, he repeatedly told him: "The night after tomorrow, Wei Xu's house."

Ruan Jiu bowed his head to Hua Songtu: "Understood."

Xiao Mingyuan turned his head and said one last sentence: "You are not allowed to bring your family with you!"

"..." Ruan Jiu paused, "Oh."

Xiao Mingyuan also specially ordered friends not to bring family members with them when they got together.

Among the few of them, only Ruan Jiu has a family member.

Ruan Jiu could only leave He Lianzhu at home.

Before going out, He Lianzhu was still a little dissatisfied: "Come back early."

"understood."

Ruan Jiu got into the carriage and waved to He Lianzhu.

It is said that on the day Yong'an City was breached, the first thing the vanguard Wei Xu did was to rush home to confirm the safety of his family members, but because he acted too anxiously, he howled a few times with a crying voice. Dad," General Wei slapped his head hard in front of the soldiers.

General Wei's original words were: "I'm not dead, why are you howling!"

The carriage soon arrived at the gate of Wei Mansion, Ruan Jiu got out of the carriage, just at this time Yan Ning also arrived.

The two went in together and walked straight to Wei Xu's room.That's how they were when they were little.

Yan Ning took his hand and asked him in a low voice, "Did you quarrel with His Majesty?"

At this time, His Majesty is already Xiao Mingyuan.

Ruan Jiu wondered, "No, what's wrong?"

"He seems to be afraid that you won't come back."

"no?"

Before Ruan Jiu finished speaking, the two arrived at the door. Yan Ning patted the back of Ruan Jiu's hand to tell him to stop talking, then opened the door and entered.

Xiao Mingyuan and Wei Xu were already inside, when they heard someone coming, they stopped talking and looked back.

Wei Xu jumped up from the couch: "Okay, it's all here now, I'll ask them to bring the dishes."

At this time, the weather was already very cold, and several people were still crowded together on the small couch as before, with a small desk placed on the small couch.

The waiters put the steaming dishes on the table and took their leave.

There were only a few of them left in the room, but they didn't say anything, they ate their food in silence, and they didn't feel like chatting until they were half full.

Wei Xu got hot from eating, so he took off his outer clothes, rolled up his sleeves, and touched the scar on his arm.

"It's not easy, but I can still meet you alive and have dinner together." He raised his glass, "Come on!"

Ruan Jiu quickly put down the bowl and chopsticks, and Xiao Mingyuan picked up the teapot before it even touched it.

He doesn't know how to drink, so Xiao Mingyuan poured him tea.

It's just that Ruan Jiu felt a little strange, how did Xiao Mingyuan become like this?

His scrutinizing gaze was too weird, Xiao Mingyuan put down the teapot, and coughed: "Drink quickly, what are you looking at me for?"

Ruan Jiu shook his head, picked up his small teacup, and clinked it with Wei Xu and Yan Ning.

Then he looked at Xiao Mingyuan, but Xiao Mingyuan avoided it.

Ruan Jiu didn't know why, so he could only withdraw his hand.

Xiao Mingyuan grabbed the chopsticks, stuffed some side dishes into his mouth, and pushed Wei Xu who was sitting outside: "Let me go out for a while."

Wei Xu was a little drunk, and stopped calling him "Your Majesty": "What are you doing out there?"

Xiao Mingyuan pursed his lips: "Come out."

The other three wanted to beat him: "You are eating, shut up."

Xiao Mingyuan pushed Wei Xu again: "Let me out quickly."

He put on his shoes, put on thick clothes, and went out.

The three talked for a while, Ruan Jiu thought about it, and pushed Yan Ning: "I want to go out too."

Yan Ning didn't ask him what he was doing, and let him go out.

Ruan Jiu didn't come out to show respect, he came out to wait for someone.

I don't know when, it snowed outside, and the snowflakes floated into the corridor.

Xiao Mingyuan was so cold that he clasped his hands and ran quickly across the corridor.

Ruan Jiu stood behind the corner sheltered from the wind, heard his footsteps, seized the opportunity, and stretched out his feet.

Xiao Mingyuan almost tripped over him, took a step before jumping over.

"Who is it?" Xiao Mingyuan turned his head angrily, saw that it was Ruan Jiu, and immediately calmed down, "Why did you come out?"

"Wait for you."

Xiao Mingyuan had a complex expression of eating shit: "Why are you waiting for me?"

Ruan Jiu also had the same expression as him: "I still want to ask you, what do you want to do? Why were you so inexplicable just now?"

Xiao Mingyuan cursed, turned his head and looked to the side: "Isn't it just... I'm afraid you will get angry."