Linque

After midnight, the sound of fireworks and firecrackers outside gradually stopped.

Ling Ye brought a bowl of decoction to dispel the cold and handed it to Chu Heng. Originally, he didn't need to drink this kind of medicine, but Chu Heng came back from Qiannuo Tower a few days ago with a dark wound, and tonight, he was outside for half a night in the cold wind However, Ling Ye was afraid that he would get sick again after his injury became colder, so he simply declared the imperial physician to come and prescribe medicine.

Chu Heng was a little unhappy, so he sat on the bed and took a look, trying to bargain: "I drank ginger soup before."

Ling Ye didn't move his hand holding the medicine bowl, and said with a helpless smile, "Be obedient, how can you take medicine even worse than Ayan."

Chu Heng looked away, still unwilling to "obediently submit", and whispered: "Take medicine on the first day of the new year, isn't it good..."

Ling Ye sat next to him, "I specially asked someone to put licorice, it won't be bitter. Hurry up, let it cool down and lose its medicinal properties, and you have to cook it again."

Chu Heng knew he couldn't escape, so he had to take the medicine bowl. Ling Ye watched him finish drinking, and handed over two pieces of candied fruit.

By the time he finished rinsing his mouth and tidied up and lay on the bed, it was almost the beginning of ugly time. Ling Ye held Chu Heng in his arms, kissed his forehead, and asked softly, "Is he better after taking the medicine, are you still cold?" ?”

Chu Heng shook his head.

It's not cold anymore, and it's warmed up since stepping into the gate of Mingcheng Palace.

Among the thousands of lanterns on New Year's Eve in the imperial capital, there is also the one that belongs to him.

……

After a peaceful night's sleep, when Chu Heng woke up, Ling Ye had already changed into the emperor's uniform. New Year's Day is the biggest day of the year, and there are many extravagances in the palace.

Chu Heng got up and put on new clothes, burned incense and cleaned his hands, and followed Ling Ye to the study. There was a custom in the palace. On the first day of the new year, the emperor would first write a New Year prayer on red paper, and later when he went to the Fengxian Hall to pay respects to his ancestors, he would enshrine In front of the god's throne, in order to hope that the new year's government will be smooth and the world will be peaceful.

Ling Ye had just picked up the pen when Qing Yan, who was wrapped up like a red ball, ran in from the outside, kowtowed his head to pay New Year's greetings, then walked around behind the desk and grabbed Ling Ye's clothes and began to complain: "Father's words don't count. , Zishi didn't call me!"

Ling Ye was pulled by the group so that his wrist trembled, and the golden ink on the tip of the pen almost dripped down. He took a breath, put down the pen and glanced at the group: "You are not timid, where did you learn the rules?"

Recently, Tuanzi was learning the etiquette of the front court with the female officials of the East Palace, but he was not afraid when he heard the words, stuck out his tongue, glanced at Chu Heng who was sitting next to him, and continued to hold Ling Ye's sleeves to discuss the explanation with great confidence.

This group has now learned to be confident, Ling Ye had no choice but to ask him: "Why didn't you call me? You were so reluctant to get up last night, and now you're blaming me instead?"

"...Really?" Qing Yan looked at Chu Heng suspiciously.

The latter smiled and nodded.

"Okay." Tuanzi pursed his mouth, not blaming his father's self-consciousness at all, let go of Ling Ye's sleeve, walked around the desk and ran to Chu Heng's place, asking him for candy.

Ling Ye picked up the pen again, annoyed and funny: "You have no rules, I really get used to you, I won't be messing around all day after the spring, I wrote you two copybooks, and I will teach you calligraphy later."

Qing Yan asked curiously, "Where is the copybook?"

Chu Heng rubbed his head, got up and turned it out from the bookshelf and showed it to him, and taught him to recognize a few words without any hassle.

After writing the prayer, Ling Ye took Chu Heng and Qing Yan to the Fengxian Hall to offer incense and pray. It was almost two quarters before the morning, and he went directly to the back hall of the Taiji Hall to eat the first meal of vegetarian dumplings for the new year.

Another half an hour later, Ling Ye wanted to go to the Tai Chi Hall with a full set of emperor crowns to ascend to the throne, to accept the New Year's greetings from princes, ministers, civil and military officials.Chu Heng has a high rank, so he originally wanted to go, but Ling Ye didn't want Chu Heng to kneel down with others. Anyway, this is not the Taimiao ancestor worship, so it is up to Ling Ye to decide whether to come or not. Instruct Qing Yan to go back to Ming Cheng Palace and wait for him.

When the two figures, one big and one small, walked away, the smile on Ling Ye's face froze, and he waved to the shadow guard who was standing outside, "Have you checked?"

The shadow guard nodded and reported a few words in a low voice.

Ling Ye sneered: "After the court congratulations, announce Zhong Pinghou to me."

The shadow guard promised to resign.

There are two cups of tea from Tai Chi Hall to Ming Cheng Hall. They had just finished their meal, and they didn't announce the car. Chu Heng led Qing Yan all the way back, and it was time to digest.

It was the annual vacation at this time, there were no outsiders in the palace, so there was no need to avoid anything, so when he suddenly saw Prince Jing Ling Yi on the palace road, Chu Heng was a little surprised.

Theoretically speaking, the clan members had to congratulate the emperor at the Tai Chi Hall first, and then went to the Cihe Palace to pay New Year greetings to the Empress Dowager.But hearing that Concubine Jing Zhong Yijun was pregnant, King Jing had to send her to the Palace of Compassion and Harmony first, which was a good reason to make an exception.

Now that they met halfway, Qingyan couldn't help saying hello to the uncle, Chu Heng lowered his eyebrows, held Tuanzi's hand, stopped and waited for King Jing to come.

"Qing Yan." Ling Yi's eyes slowly passed over Chu Heng's face, and he lowered his eyes to look at the little prince in front of him.

"Hello, Uncle Three Emperors." As soon as Qingyan finished speaking, the female guards who followed immediately knelt down to pay respects to King Jing, and Qingyan tightened Chu Heng's hand with overlapping sleeves.

"Hmm." Ling Yi nodded, looked up at Chu Heng, curled the corners of his lips, and said casually, "If I'm not mistaken, this seems to be Imperial servant Mo?"

Before Chu Heng could respond, Qing Yan gently shook his sleeves underneath, and looked up at King Jing who took half a step forward. Perhaps because of the solemn attire on his body, Tuanzi accidentally stepped on the hem of his clothes. About to wrestle forward, Chu Heng had quick eyes and quick hands, and quickly bent down to pick him up.

"Hmm..." Tuanzi almost made a fool of himself, a little embarrassed, and groaned twice on Chu Heng's shoulder.

Holding the prince in his arms, Chu Heng naturally had no reason to salute the prince, but just nodded and said: "Thank you for remembering me, please respect the prince."

Ling Yi's face remained unchanged, he continued to play with the Buddhist beads in his hand, he slowly glanced at Qing Yan, nodded in response: "Qing Yan, be careful when you walk, but be careful where you step."

Although they are brothers, he and Ling Ye don't look very much alike, perhaps because his eyes are light and their pupils are very deep. Although he always has a cynical smile on his face, it always gives people a kind of deep of gloominess.

He seemed to be really puzzled, and asked casually: "Shouldn't we be in the Taiji Hall of the former court at this time? You are all right, why do you seem to be walking in the direction of... the bedroom?"

He looked at Chu Heng, and when he said the last few words, he slowed down slightly.Chu Heng's expression was calm, and he could hear it and guess it. Presumably, the respected prince had already known about him and Ling Ye from the queen mother.

Chu Heng was about to find an excuse to prevaricate, when Qing Yan in his arms turned his head again, and looked at King Jing: "Father asked him to teach..." Tuanzi seemed to have remembered something, paused, and continued: "Teach the lonely Practice calligraphy, check back later."

King Jing paused slightly while playing with the Buddha beads, and said after a few breaths: "Okay, then you study hard, and don't let your father down."

Qing Yan responded, and said to Chu Heng: "Let's go."

"Ah."

Chu Heng hugged him, bypassed King Jing, and walked straight forward.

Ling Yi stood where he was, and the attendants behind him knelt down to send the prince off respectfully.

When the self-proclaimed "Gu" was said from Qingyan's mouth, Ling Yi was dazed for a moment. He and his elder brother King Qi were one step behind Ling Ye in this word. Now, Ling Ye's son has grown up to the age to understand the meaning of this word.

Now it is only because Qingyan is under six years old and has not officially entered school. According to the practice in the palace, foreign ministers do not need to pay respects when they meet each other every day. That's why Ling Yi can stand still and accept Qingyan's "Uncle Emperor".

But in the next three years, when the princes from all over the world come to Beijing for pilgrimage, national rites will take precedence over family rites. Everyone, including him, will bow their heads to the crown prince.

Ling Yi clenched his fingertips tightly, the Buddhist beads in his hand couldn't bear the force, and a crack burst out with a crackling sound. The confidant next to him saw his expression condensed, looked around, and lowered his voice to remind: "My lord?"

King Jing quickly came back to his senses, and his expression returned to his usual sloppy expression. He glanced back sideways, and saw that the figure holding Qingyan was about to walk around the corner.

I am afraid that no one in the crowded imperial capital has really understood him, because everyone feels that, apart from that overly glamorous face, this young man named Chu Heng has nothing special to praise.

But the unknown often means variables and dangers.

Ling Yi recalled the scene when he worshiped the ancestors in the Taimiao that day, and he had a vague premonition that if Chu Heng didn't handle it properly, he would become a hidden danger to him in the future.

"Did Shen Yingbai's younger sister, Shen Dai, come to Beijing?" King Jing asked in a low voice.

The servant said yes.

King Jing frowned, "This Shen Dai is the concubine my father appointed to Ling Ye back then..." King Jing squinted at Chu Heng's back, and ordered, "Find a suitable time and send a Give the news to Shen Yingbai, be careful, don't let him find out that it was from me."

The attendant was a little hesitant when he heard the words, and reminded: "My lord, Her Highness the Empress Dowager said that a girl from the Shen family should not be allowed to marry into the Jiuchong Palace. This Chu Heng is very popular with the emperor, and he has some uses in this."

"Don't worry." King Jing waved his hand lightly, "This king and Ling Ye grew up together, and they won't be mistaken about this matter. As long as Ling Ye still wants to use his way to promote the imperial examination, the Shen family will not be able to get along with him. One way to go. It would be best to let the Yanhe Shen family solve this Chu Heng first. It has been nine years since Xuanxi, so this should be a new year gift from the king to the emperor. The so-called—"

The corner of Jing Wang's lips twitched lightly: "I lost my wife and lost my army."

Walking along the palace road for a while, away from Queen Jing, Chu Heng looked at Dabai Tuanzi in his arms, smiled lightly and said, "You are so young, you can still pretend to fall."

Qingyan blushed and lay on Chu Heng's shoulders. He wrapped his arms around Chu Heng's neck and buried him for a while, then turned his head and said in a muffled voice: "My aunt in charge taught me that I am a prince, and I only kneel on the ground. The gods and Buddhas and the emperor... well, I don't want you to salute with the third uncle..."

Chu Heng could see it, but he was a little curious, and asked, "Why?"

Qing Yan looked up at Chu Heng: "Because the father is the biggest, the father didn't let you salute, and of course no one else can either!"

Chu Heng laughed childishly.

"What's more, don't tell others..." Qing Yan paused, looked back, whispered in Chu Heng's ear, "I don't like Uncle San Huang very much, actually I don't like Huang Shu either. grandmother……"

"It's time to turn, he can't see me, I have to go by myself."

……

After the congratulations at the Tai Chi Hall, what happened on the palace road was first reported to Ling Qi by the inspecting shadow guards. Ling Qi frowned: "After the twentieth of the first lunar month, King Jing should return to Jiangjin City. If you want to do something, That is, in the past few days, people are focusing on the movements of Prince Jing’s mansion. In addition, Princess Jing and Jing Xueli have the names of masters and apprentices, so they should pay more attention during this time.”

The shadow guard took the lead and left.

After the court congratulations, civil and military officials walked together in twos and threes, saying New Year's greetings to each other.

After Ling Qi gave orders to the shadow guards, he quickly caught up with Zhong Pinghou Chuhong, who was walking with several family heads, and stopped him with his hand, and said calmly, "Master Hou, please stay, Your Majesty has a decree to announce that you will pay respects immediately. "