Lord Prime Minister

Emperor Guangcheng leaned over with one hand on the armrest of the chair, lowered his eyes in thought, and did not look at the queen.

The empress couldn't see through the emperor's thoughts, so she felt a drum in her heart. Her original plan was to put the prince in prison, but unexpectedly, a fool suddenly appeared and killed the prince. Now that the people are also torn apart, she is afraid that the emperor will suspect him. Own.

Xue Zhaoyi, who came later, saw that the queen's expression was a little unstable, and after a moment of deliberation, she quickly said: "The empress is also worried about the emperor's health. In the past few days, the emperor's old illness has relapsed, and the empress is so worried that she can't sleep or eat. Your highness is auspicious." Tian Xiang, the arrow hit the right side of the abdomen and did not hurt the vitals, so let people go to the lower reaches of the river to look for it first, and the most important thing is to find His Royal Highness the Crown Prince first."

Chen Ji was taken aback for a moment, then lay down on the ground again, with the tip of his nose touching the ground. "The servant has already sent people down the river to search for it."

Seeing this, the queen said again: "If something happens to the crown prince, the concubine will not be able to shirk the blame. If the concubine's life can be exchanged for the emperor's recovery, the concubine will not hesitate to do so."

Long Xiu knelt on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head. No one dared to intervene in the important matter of the prince's life and death.However, the queen's words were beautiful. She directly pushed the death of the prince to the emperor, and said that she cared about the emperor's body by beheading the prince first and then arresting the prince.Even if something happened to the crown prince, the emperor would not be able to convict her.

Although I don't know why Mu Zihuai helped the prince to escape from the palace by feigning death, but he must have his reasons for doing so. Is it his idea, or the prince's order?

At this moment, before the emperor could speak, the shrill voice of the little eunuch at the door rang out.

"The imperial concubine Qing has arrived—"

Before the words were finished, a white figure walked in quickly. There was no expression on her clear face, her eyes were a little vacant, and she couldn't even see sadness.

Walked in front of the emperor and saluted slowly before speaking, his voice was flat and hoarse. "Your Majesty, how is His Highness the Crown Prince?"

The emperor was inexplicably nervous seeing Concubine Qing coming in, worried that she would cry and make noise as soon as she came in, but he didn't expect her to be so cold, and he felt a little uncomfortable.There is such a mother in the world, the life and death of her child who was conceived in October is still so ruthless at this moment.

"After being hit by an arrow, he fell into the moat, and his life and death are unknown."

The calmness on Concubine Qing's face shattered in an instant, and then recovered immediately, but she knelt down. "The concubine begged the emperor to find His Highness the Crown Prince, and His Highness the Crown Prince will be fine."

Seeing that she finally responded, the emperor said instead: "Do you know what was found in the prince's bedroom?"

Concubine Qing had a calm face, her eyes swept over the witch doll on the ground. "The concubine knows. But the concubine also believes that His Highness the Crown Prince will never do such a thing."

"Now that the evidence is solid, you should know what a crime the prince is."

"It is precisely because there is physical evidence but there is no evidence, so I beg the emperor to save the crown prince and confront him personally." Concubine Qing refused to give an inch, and she was not at all timid because the other party was the emperor.

The emperor looked at the magnanimous Concubine Qing for a long time, but the other party remained unchanged, so he sighed and waved his hand.

"Let's all go back, and send more people to search for the prince along the river bank. If you want to see people, you want to see the corpse. Before that, the Qing concubine is not allowed to leave the Qili Palace, and the queen goes back to think about her past behind closed doors." Emperor Guangcheng finished in a calm voice, waving his hands as if exhausted. waved.

Everyone bowed and left the Jiaotai Hall one after another.

It was Zi Shi at this time, if such a thing hadn't happened, the palace would have been quiet.

Long Xiu returned to his patrol post and ordered the guards to step up their defense. He saw Mu Zihuai coming from a distance.

"What's going on? Is the crown prince injured?" Pulling Long Xiu to a secluded place, Mu Zihuai frowned impatiently and asked.

Long Xiu saw that Mu Zihuai's face was getting paler and his lips were dry and peeling, but he didn't know it. "A guard came along and shot an arrow. Although I slightly changed the direction and only shot the lower abdomen, but the river is rushing, I don't know if there will be any changes below."

After hearing this, Mu Zihuai was even more worried. The prince's body was not considered strong, and now he was injured again. If he couldn't make it through, he would have killed someone.Although he had already guessed that the prince would be injured, what he asked Yuebi to prepare was only some medicinal materials for treating minor wounds, which was too careless.

Mu Zihuai lowered his head and frowned tightly. Long Xiu naturally knew what he was worried about, but he cared more about Mu Zihuai's current appearance than the prince.

"Your complexion is very bad, do you want to take a rest?"

Mu Zihuai froze for a moment, woke up suddenly, shook his head, "No need, I'll find a place..."

Before he finished speaking, the strength in his whole body was suddenly emptied, his legs gave way, and he almost fell down.

Seeing the exhaustion on Mu Zihuai's face, Long Xiu quickly helped him up. Seeing that he couldn't even stand upright, he picked him up and prepared to take him to the room where he was resting when he was on duty and patrolling.

Mu Zihuai's gaze flickered, and the next moment he felt himself hanging in the air, and found himself being held in someone's arms, but his eyes became extremely fierce, and his elbow hit the man's chest fiercely. "Go away!"

Long Xiu was slapped violently by him, as if his head was also blown out, his arms loosened, and Mu Zi's arms fell down, his weak legs couldn't stand firm, and he fell directly to the ground.

"Mu Zihuai?"

The eyes of the person sitting on the ground were still fierce, his pale face was raised upwards, his eyes became rounder and darker, directly hitting the depths of Long Xiu's heart.

Mu Zihuai blinked, the person in front of him was Long Xiu, looking down at him, his brows were slightly frowned, not blame and dissatisfaction, but worry and warm tenderness.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little distracted." He smiled with his eyes bent, and opened up all his defenses. Mu Zihuai tried to stand up while holding the ground, but found that he had no strength in his whole body.After working hard, he cautiously raised his head to look at Long Xiu and smiled. "I might take a break before getting up."

Long Xiu pursed his lips, his expression became a little serious, he took two steps forward to help him up, and walked slowly towards his residence.

"Just go and do your own business. When something like this happens, the guards in the palace need to be strengthened. I'm just a little tired. I can walk back by myself after a while." Mu Zihuai pushed Longxiu and said with a smile .

Long Xiu carefully helped Mu Zihuai up, trying not to let his body touch him. "I have told them to step up their patrols. You should rest now. It just so happens that the gate of the palace is closed, and you can't go out. Go to my room to rest for one night, and then go out tomorrow morning."

Mu Zihuai's legs were trembling, and he slowly moved forward bit by bit, and stopped after listening to Long Xiu's words. "What? You won't send me out?"

"You won't be able to go back to the palace even if you go out." He kept walking while supporting Mu Zihuai. Long Xiu felt so weak that he felt a dull pain in his heart. He really wanted to hug him up and lean against the bed to comfort him. He falls asleep.

But can't...

He clenched his fist and continued to move bit by bit in line with Mu Zihuai's pace.

"I already asked Qingyi to wait for me in front of the Meridian Gate..." Mu Zihuai thought for a while, then whispered.

"He will go back by himself in a while." Long Xiu kicked the stones away in time without raising his head to prevent Mu Zihuai from falling.

After leaving the Qianqing Gate, I walked south for a while, and then passed a small road paved with stones. Long Xiu helped Mu Zihuai into Nanyuan. stop.

Helped Mu Zihuai, who was completely weak, into his room, helped him make the bed, and sat for a while, but Mu Zihuai remained motionless, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Long Xiu, can you prepare some hot water for me?" Mu Zihuai's eyes fell on the brown round table. Once he sat down, he could no longer feel the pain from the wound, but his lower body was sticky and greasy, which made him very uncomfortable. "I want to wipe myself off."

"I'll go burn it." Long Xiu stood up without saying a word, opened the door and walked out.

Mu Zihuai just felt that his head was empty for a while, and Long Xiu woke up with the wine glass.

The wooden barrel filled with hot water is ready, steaming under the candlelight.

"I have to boil water anyway, so I might as well boil more for you to take a shower and sleep more comfortably." Long Xiu put the towel on his shoulder on the edge of the barrel, and searched through the box to find a spare set of clothes to put on the chair. "You can wear this after washing."

Mu Zihuai nodded, as if he hadn't fully recovered, and said nothing.

After checking all the things for bathing and confirming that they are in place, Long Xiu turned and walked out. "Then I'll go out first."

Walking to the door, putting both hands on the door, the movement stopped. "Don't worry, I'm going on patrol tonight and I won't be back. Go to bed after you wash up."

Open the door and go out, then close it again.

Mu Zihuai looked up at Long Xiu's shadow on the door, and opened his mouth.

"Long Xiu."

"Hmm." A low voice came from outside the door.

"Thank you."

For the sake of the prince, you trust me without asking why, and for today you allow me a place to live.

The people outside the door did not speak, and walked away after standing for a while.

Mu Zihuai took off his clothes and sat in the wooden barrel. Beads of sweat evaporated from the heat on his face, and his face gradually turned red.

But what followed was a sharp pain in the lower body.

After a night of running around and numb, the nerves gradually revived under the stimulation of hot water, the blood scabs softened, and fresh blood flowed out again.

Mu Zihuai knelt down carefully, cleaning the back acupoint bit by bit.Every time it is touched, the face becomes whiter.

The next day, before dawn, Long Xiu ran back to Nanyuan after changing his guard and saw that Mu Zihuai had already left, and the things prepared for him yesterday had been neatly placed on the quilt.

Mu Zihuai came out of the palace gate, it was too early, and he only encountered a few sleepy-eyed guards along the way. The guards at the gate were no longer the same people as yesterday. When they saw Mu Zihuai coming out, they just glanced at him.

A hundred steps away from the gate of the palace, the carriage that he rode in yesterday was still parked there.Mu Zihuai was taken aback for a moment, thinking that Qingyi had gone back a long time ago, walked over and knocked on the carriage, and sure enough, he heard some movement from inside, and the next moment, Qingyi's sleepy face stuck out.

"Sir!" After waiting all night and finally falling asleep, when he opened his eyes and saw Mu Zihuai, Qingyi yelled and jumped off the carriage. "You're finally out."

Mu Zihuai finally laughed out loud. "I thought you were gone."

Qingyi tidied up his clothes, took out a small stool and put it on the ground. "How can I leave? The villain will always wait for the husband to return home together."

After stepping on the stool and getting into the carriage, the wound still hurt a little. "Let's go."

"Okay!" Qingyi's voice in the early morning was especially crisp, full of vigor and vitality.

At the same time, before the palace fully awakened, the Summer Palace, which had been quiet for half a year, was visited by a long-lost person.

Concubine Shu, wearing a cloak, hurried into the side door with her head down, leaving an old lady guarding the door, and drove along the path to the outside of the study.

After knocking on the door and walking in, the eldest prince Huangfu Mingxuan was sitting in front of the table, with the brush in his hand twisting and turning, writing beautiful characters one by one.

"Prince, everything is settled."

Huangfu Mingxuan put down the brush in his hand, picked up the rice paper and looked at it. "Is there any handle left?"

"Prince, don't worry, that guard will never be able to speak again, and the empress can't argue with it. Now the emperor is probably suspicious of her." Concubine Shu smiled slightly and said softly. "When the time comes, once you go out, you will be able to regain power."

"Well, just over a year."