comeback [rebirth]

With a sound of "clang", the gate of the imperial prison opened.

In the dark space, the smell of blood mingled in the humid underground air, making people sick.

Cen Yuan was holding the lunch box in one hand, without changing his expression, he glanced at the dark passage in front of him that was only lit by a weak candle, and then turned his head towards the person following him.

That person, Cen Yuan, had met several times in his previous life, but he rarely met in this life—it was the Ting Wei who brought poisoned wine to him in prison in his previous life.

Ting Wei took a torch and led Cen Yuan into the depths of the imperial prison, saying: "Actually, if the Second Highness wants to meet the repeat offender, you can send someone to speak with the subordinate in advance, and the subordinate will arrange for the prisoner to be escorted to the interrogation room Go. The prison environment is harsh, I'm afraid it will be hard for His Highness."

"It's okay." Cen Yuan's unchanging expression was lost in the shadows, and even the edges and corners appeared deeper, "It's just for a while, and it's not impossible to stay longer."

Ting Wei looked at him terrified when he heard the words, Cen Yuan smiled and said: "It's just a joke, sir, don't pay attention."

Ting Wei also smiled back: "Your Highness is outspoken, but he almost frightened the humble officer."

The light of the torch attracted the dark eyes behind the iron prison, and the sound of shackles rubbing against the ground kept coming and going.Among them, a man with messy long hair and whose face could not be seen clearly lay down on the iron railing, and laughed at them, and when the person passed by, he spit out a mouthful of phlegm from the gap in the railing.

"Bold!"

Ting Wei immediately put the torch in front of the man, and the torch forced him back a few steps, but the man continued to laugh, and the sharp voice from his throat was like a sharp knife, piercing everyone's ears.

Ting Wei turned around and called out: "Second Highness, are you okay!"

Cen Yuan just stopped in time to avoid dirtying his upper body. He lightly brushed off the cloak that was draped over his body, and replied coldly: "No problem."

"I am negligent in my humble position, and I hope His Highness will forgive me." Ting Wei hurriedly apologized, seeing Cen Yuan waving his hand at him, he turned his head and called out: "Come on! Drag this person down and put on the B-shaped torture instrument."

The jailer who was on guard at any time rushed to hear the sound, and dragged the smirking lunatic out of the prison in two or three strokes, and took him to some unknown place.

Cen Yuan watched them walk away indifferently, while Ting Wei said from the side: "Your Highness..."

"Let's go." Cen Yuan withdrew his gaze and walked deep into the passage.

As he walked further in, the sounds of the shackles all around gradually quieted down. Apart from the sound of footsteps, soon there were only a few inaudible breathing sounds left.

Suddenly, Cen Yuan slowed down and looked aside.

There was a person sitting on the other side of the iron prison, who seemed to realize that the footsteps stopped outside his prison, and looked up.

Immediately he sneered: "Second Highness, don't come here without any problems."

Cen Yuan said calmly: "Duan Meng."

At this time, Duan Meng was wearing a prison uniform, his whole body was sloppy, his exposed skin was covered with scars, stains and blood stains on his clothes overlapped each other, and the original color could hardly be seen.

Duan Meng said: "Your Highness is pampered and pampered, but it is inconvenient to come to this ghostly place."

Cen Yuan took two steps, looked down at the other party through the iron prison, and said ironically in his tone: "I'm talking about this, Mr. Duan may wish me to go to a more ghostly place."

"But His Highness is the one who wins in the end, isn't it?"

"It's not an absolute matter which one wins and loses." Cen Yuan said, "It's always against me, a prince who can't do anything, Mr. Duan is still a small person after all."

Duan Meng moved his body a few times, as if he wanted to stand up, but finally gave up.He leaned back against the wall again and said, "Then His Highness is here today to see a joke?"

"Just passing by, Lord Duan, don't be too nervous." Cen Yuan smiled slightly, "I'm leaving now."

After finishing speaking, he withdrew his gaze from Duan Meng, and was about to continue walking to the deepest cell, but at this moment, Duan Meng suddenly raised his slightly swollen eyelids to look at him, and shouted loudly: "Your Highness , don’t you want to know what happened to Dongshou five years ago!”

Cen Yuan paused.

The smile on his face gradually faded, and he said calmly after a while: "Didn't Mr. Duan tell the whole story during the interrogation? What else can I say?"

"At that time, I only talked about how to lure the old prince to the depths of the White Deer Forest, and how to let people put the privately raised grizzly bear on his hunting path, but I didn't say how the old prince died." Duan Meng issued With a sneer, "I have always heard that the Second Highness and the former crown prince are as close as brothers, don't you want to know the truth?"

Cen Yuan didn't say a word, but his hands under the cloak clenched into fists.

Duan Meng lowered his head to play with the shackles on his wrists, and made a "crash" sound, with an obvious smile in his mouth, as if he was chatting with someone over tea.

"At that time, I was at middle base, and I was not allowed to wear a bow according to the rules, so I entrusted those bear trainers to bring me bows and arrows." He said slowly, "Although my skills are not very good, I am quite confident in archery. After seeing the horse running away with His Highness on its back, I shot two arrows at the place where the old prince was, one hit the grizzly bear, and the other hit the old prince in the chest."

The person who interrogated him at the time was Ting Wei who was present. Hearing this, he knew that these details were never mentioned by the other party at the beginning, so he quickly took two steps back and recruited a few jailers.

Duan Meng turned a blind eye, changed his posture, and glanced at the person who was facing him outside the iron prison. A face that could hardly see the original appearance showed a certain expression.

"When I approached him, I saw several wounds on his chest from the bear claws, and he was almost disembowelled. But I felt very lucky at that time, because I didn't have to do anything else, and the wounds were just enough to cover the arrows scars."

"The arrow didn't directly pierce him to death, and he probably didn't see the bow in my hand, nor did he see that the bear had fallen to the ground, but he just kept pushing me and told me to run fast, let me I will remind other people in the White Hart Forest to protect His Majesty."

"I didn't leave, I just pulled out the arrow from his chest."

"Your Highness, have you seen what it looks like when blood is sprayed on the snow?"

Duan Meng talked without stopping, how he destroyed the arrows and traces of footprints, how he watched the old prince die, how he pretended to have just arrived when he heard the sound of horseshoes.

He kept staring at Cen Yuan's side face, trying to see the grief and pain on the other's face, and that was his goal.However, Cen Yuan remained indifferent until the lingering sounds in the prison had completely subsided, and finally Yoyo turned his head, and the eyes that fell on him were pitiful.

——Yes, Cen Yuan is pitying him.

Duan Meng knew that he was not prudent in his actions, and this was always criticized by his father-in-law who was the prime minister, but now that he was a prisoner, he knew that he didn't have to think about it any more, he just needed to say all the sharpest words. good.

But what he didn't expect was that even these were just in exchange for the other party's pity.

The prison fell into a terrifying silence for a while. Duan Meng clenched his teeth and tried his best to look back at the other party. After a while, he said, "Your Highness, don't you want to say something?"

Ting Wei's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he secretly looked at the people next to him.

Cen Yuan still didn't change his expression, his clenched fists had already loosened at some point, he lowered his eyes, looked at the obvious piece of dirt on the ground, and suddenly laughed out loud.

"What am I going to say? Why should I say anything?"

There was a relaxed smile in Cen Yuan's words, and after listening to it like this, people could clearly feel his contempt.

"The crime of murdering the crown prince alone is enough for the emperor to give you a severe punishment. It's just a chess piece that is about to shatter. Why should I dirty my hands?"

Duan Meng seemed to be poked by a certain word in the other party's sentence, and he tightened the chains of the shackles, trying to refute something, but in the end he didn't say anything, just looked into the depths of the prison.

At the end of the passage, the sunlight fell on the prison piecemeal through the cracks in the iron windows, reflecting the white-haired old man sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed by the wall.

That was Duan Deye.

"It's been too long, so let's not talk about it." Cen Yuan said, "I came here today to find a good friend, and I specially warmed the wine. If the delay continues, the wine will be cold."

After finishing speaking, he cast a last glance at Duan Meng's face lightly, then withdrew his gaze, and walked straight to the prison at the end of the passage.

The candlelight on the wall flickered for a moment, then dimmed as if it was about to burn out.

Duan Meng only felt that something in his mind was also shattered, and he suddenly roared angrily: "I don't need your pity!"

As soon as he propped up his body, he fell to the ground again in an instant, and his forward posture changed to crawling in embarrassment, sweeping up the dirty dust on the ground.

"So what about the chess pieces! I did all of this myself! Second Prince! I didn't lose! I can achieve my goal! I don't need your pity!"

Before Cen Yuan could give instructions, Ting Wei had already reacted and asked Duan Meng to be taken out.

The shouts echoed in the prison for a long time, overlapping and repeating like the roars of ghosts.

Ting Wei turned around and shouted: "Your Highness."

"Open the door." Cen Yuan said, "Just wait outside later."

Ting Wei glanced at the people sitting in the prison, and saw that Duan Deye kept the same posture from the beginning to the end, closed his eyes and rested his mind, unaffected by the farce outside.

Cen Yuan said: "Don't worry, Duan Xiang has been with each other for decades, and he will not use some inferior means."

The beard around Duan Deye's mouth moved almost imperceptibly, and then he heard him calmly say: "This is a prison, how does Your Highness know that the old man will not die?"

Cen Yuan smiled and said nothing, and turned his head to the court lieutenant for a gesture, but the latter dared not say any more, so he stepped forward and unlocked the cell: "Your Highness only has a quarter of an hour."

"it is good."

After Cen Yuan finished answering, Ting Wei bowed to him and retreated.

Duan Meng's voice gradually faded away, and it was completely inaudible at the moment.

Duan Deye sighed softly: "Your Highness has not been on a peaceful journey, and now the ears are finally quiet."

Without saying a word, Cen Yuan put the food box on the ground, took off his cloak, folded it in half unhurriedly and put it away, turned around and dug out a fairly clean straw mat from a corner of the prison, and spread it on Duan Deye Sitting cross-legged in the only sunny place opposite.

Duan Deye just opened his eyes slightly at this moment, and cast a suspicious glance.

Cen Yuan turned a blind eye, breathed on the palm of his hand, and sighed: "It's really cold today."

After all, Duan Deye was the prime minister of the dynasty, and Emperor Ning did not let him be severely punished, so the old man still seemed to be in good health, and his voice was still loud.

"Your Highness, how do you feel about this trip to the south of the Yangtze River?"

Cen Yuan opened the lid of the food box, took out a few small dishes, and said, "You can enjoy the breeze when you are quiet, and you can enjoy dancing when you are moving. It is a place to live in peace. But it is winter, and Chang'an may not be comfortable. , that chill is all drilled down to the bone."

"Oh?" Duan Deye didn't even glance at the appetizers, but instead showed a strange expression.

"I used to accompany His Majesty on the southern tour in spring and summer, but I have never been to Jiangnan in winter. If I have time in another day, I still have to go to see and see. Even if Your Highness's words scare the old man, I don't know my picture. Broken body, can you hold on?"

"Sorry, I exaggerated." Cen Yuan reflected humbly, while placing the chopsticks in front of the other party, and finally took out a jug of wine and two wine cups from the food box.

Duan Deye finally took a look at the jug.

"However, according to Duan Xiang's body, I think it should be fine." Cen Yuan then said lightly, "After all, Duan Lian can withstand the sea breeze, and the coldness in the south of the Yangtze River is nothing to worry about."

After the voice fell, it rolled around in the dust under the sun several times, and it took a while before it disappeared.

Cen Yuan poured wine into a wine cup, pushed it in front of Duan Deye, and suddenly remembered something: "No, I forgot. The last time Duan Xiang went to the island, it should be May."