Linque

Half a quarter of an hour later, Chu Heng came up alone, and Yan Xiang said that he wanted to see Imperial servant Mo.

In the winter of last year, Chu Heng was forcibly "invited" away by Yan Cang on the street, and met Yan Mao alone once in the prime minister's mansion, this is the second time.

Yan Mao looked at this familiar face and said in a deep voice, "Should I call you Ji Wuyue?"

Chu Heng's heart skipped a beat, and he almost subconsciously glanced at the prison door downstairs.

"Don't panic." Yan Mao said, "Your Majesty doesn't know as much as I do."

Chu Heng breathed a sigh of relief, remained silent and did not respond, noncommittal.

Yan Mao didn't go into the details, and continued: "Whether you are or not, I have seen your mother twice, and I was very impressed. The first time was before she was 17 years old, in Xiaochongshan in the north of Shuozhou. You already know that."①

"There was another time, 12 years ago, [-] years after Tianhe, and this time she was married." Yan Mao thought for a while and sighed, "To be honest, if the first scene wasn't so stunning and unforgettable, It's hard for me to recognize Zhong Pinghou Chuhong's concubine, who was the girl who held a sword and cut hundreds of blades in Xiaozhongshan Suyi back then."

Chu Heng clenched his palms.

"They said that her name is Ji Wuju, and she was a slave girl who was released from Yeyou Court during the three years of Jianning's amnesty for the world. Later, because of her beauty, she became Chu Hong's concubine."

"Back then in Xiaochongshan, Empress Chengde and I didn't know the name of the plain-clothed girl, but only knew the word 'snow'."

"After I saw her for the second time, I went to investigate and found out that she was from Lishan. You Lishan have not participated in political struggles since the reign of Lie Emperor, and have avoided the world. I have checked the history of the two dynasties. I can't think of Lishan ever committing the crime of letting female relatives serve as slaves. Later, I went to Yeyou Court to check the records, and Ji Wuju was admitted to the court in the first year of Jianning. Only one major event happened in Kyushu in [-], the Erfei Medicine Sect was exterminated because of the crime of regicide."

Seeing that Chu Heng was not very clear, Yan Xiang's eyes moved slightly, and continued: "This case is beyond investigation, but it is said that Lishan was once Er Fei's family friend, and it was almost affected. Fortunately, the late emperor did not allow it. But Ji Wu To tell how Xi was implicated, I'm afraid I can only ask the Zhong, Fang, and Zhou Zhou families who presided over the extermination of the Yaozong at that time. According to age, the first year of Jianning..."

"She is 17 years old." Chu Heng said.

"That's it." Yan Xiang said.

Chu Heng didn't know the details of this past, his master Ye Jianwei and his wife Mu Xiyun would never mention it to him, they kept it secret.

Chu Heng once asked, but Mu Xiyun said: "There is no need to mention the past. If you are well in the future, you will fulfill the long-cherished wish of Su Xi."

……

In the first year of Jianning, Ji Wusu's bones and martial arteries were completely destroyed, and he was reduced from the established Dongjun to the sinful slave of Yeyou.

In the second year of Jianning, Gu Huiyin married into Jiuchongque and took charge of the middle palace.

The sinners in Yeyou Court are not qualified to see the noble imperial queen, so Gu Huiyin didn't know that she was so close to "Xue", only in the same nine-fold tower, but so far away, The imperial seat is hidden, separated by the sky and the earth.

On the Double Ninth Festival in the third year of Jianning, the first prince was born, and Kyushu was amnesty.

Ji Wusu Xi should have been included in the pardon.

The current Empress Dowager, the then Concubine Zhong Gui, received a letter from her father, Marquis Yanyang, urging a slave girl named "Ji Wu v. 樰" to be imprisoned in Ye You Court forever.

Concubine Zhong didn't know why, but she did it anyway.

The list of pardons was sent to the Palace of Respect and Honesty for the royal review, but she didn't expect the queen to be there. She had just confinement and was working with the emperor to name the little prince, so that she could announce it during the full moon wine.

The inner court's pardon should have been the Queen's business, but she was recuperating on confinement and didn't have so much energy, so Concubine Zhong took the initiative to ask for the amnesty, and the emperor agreed to the amnesty before the end of the year.

Concubine Zhong handed over the prepared list of pardons to the maid, the queen took it, looked at it with the emperor, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "You have already drawn up the list of pardons, I think there will be nothing wrong with it. I don’t want to look at them. What about those who are not pardoned? Ask Ye Youling to send me the records, and I will have a look.”

Concubine Zhong's heart skipped a beat and she looked at the emperor.

The empress is the head of the inner court, so it is only reasonable for her to ask, but Emperor Cheng did not say anything.

Concubine Zhong had no choice but to agree.

The queen, whose eyes fell on the roster, didn't pay attention to the pause before she responded, and just said "hmm" and waved her hand casually.

"The concubine resigns." Concubine Zhong bowed her head.Walking to the front of the palace gate, she tilted her head, and saw Gu Huiyin sitting on the emperor's side so naturally, tilting her head and talking to the emperor, and it was natural that "you and I" match each other.She clutched her handkerchief tightly and went out.

The empress read the records of Ye Youting in person, and a few days later, the list of supplementary pardons came out, and Ji Wusu was indeed on the list.

Concubine Zhong sent a letter home.

After two years, Ji Wujuxiu finally stepped out of Ye You Court and saw the sky again.

Passing by the Danfeng Gate when leaving the palace, there was a clear clap of applause from the wide royal road, leading the servants to hurriedly take them back to the side of the road to salute. Gone far away from surrounded by guards.

I heard that the queen's surname is Gu.

Xu Xie looked back, didn't think about it any more, followed the servant to Xing'anmen, and left the palace.

The moment she stepped out of Jiuzhong Que, Ji Wusu thought that she could finally return to Lishan Mountain.

She walked out of the imperial city, out of the Chengtian Gate, through the inner city of Biwa Zhushen, and came to the outer city of the imperial capital where thousands of fireworks——

There was a sound of horseshoes behind him, and Wu Xi turned around and saw someone chasing him.

She knows.

Yanxi Zhong family, the Zhong family.

At the birthday ceremony of the Erfei Medicine Sect, Guihai Yanlan, this person, together with the Cangwu Fang family and the Dingkang Zhou family, killed the whole family of Guihai, forced the patriarch Guihai Wenjing to hand over the prescription of Suhui medicine, and arrested her He tried medicine, and later used her to threaten and implicate Lishan.

Ji Wusu looked at the hooves of the horse so close to her eyes that she knew at that time that she would not be able to go home.

……

"In the 11th year of Tianhe, your mother passed away due to illness. I don't know what happened in these years, but I think she never returned to Lishan in her whole life."

Was it true that the three aristocratic families of Zhong Fangzhou who proposed and presided over the extermination of the Er Fei Medicine Sect were only concerned about Cheng Emperor?

No.

I even want to get Suhui, a share of the pie.

Human greed and evil thoughts are often accompanied by birth.There were three medicines, and no one dared to try them first. The iron chain pierced through the pipa bone of the encircled and captured Dong Dingjun, so they tried the medicine on her.

……

Yan Mao knew that his case would bring to the surface some of the connections between King Jing and Queen Mother Zhong, including the Zhou family of Dingkang and the Fang family of Cangwu.Today, he also learned about the reappearance of Qianyong City from Ling Qi. He told Chu Heng or Dong Jun that he had his own selfish intentions and intentions about how Ji Wu complained about how to get to the imperial capital, but these were not half true. Literal words.

Chu Heng's eyes were as black as a sea of ​​ink, and the turbulent emotions gradually subsided. He calmed down, let go of his clenched hands, looked at Yan Mao, and said, "I also want to ask Yan Xiang a question."

Yan Mao tilted his ear to signal him to speak.

Chu Heng lowered his eyes and looked outside the prison gate on the first floor, and said in a low voice: "Why do you have to choose now? You clearly know that there is a potential threat from King Jing outside, and His Majesty cannot force you to protect you. If it is resolved a few years later In order to respect the king, maybe..."

Yan Mao shook his head slowly, "The old man's illness is not fake."

Chu Heng was taken aback when he heard the words.

He always thought that Mrs. Yan's calling her sick was just "calling", in order to better capture Yan Xiang in the name of unfilial piety, but he didn't think it was a real sickness.

"The old man is so strong about his face. He won't publicize the wounds he suffered on the battlefield and his chronic illness." Yan Mao said, "In May last year, Yun Fei went back to Danchuan, and the Hall of Martial Arts said yes when he asked for leave. Visiting relatives is actually a sickness, His Majesty didn't know it at the beginning."

"It's not a few years later." Yan Mao took a sip of tea, "I proposed to His Majesty to open the Enke in the name of the Empress Dowager's [-]th birthday. The imperial examination is held every three years, and the real exam should not be until the next year. The old man probably won't be able to last until then, unless he meets a genius doctor."

"All these years, the Yan family has borrowed my fame and fortune. I can turn a blind eye and close my eyes. It's all because of him. He also knows that my eldest brother and auntie can't hold me. Waiting for him to go west, it won't be long. Nianqing Guogong Mansion may be sent by me, a rebellious son. The old man regards Tan Chuan more than his life, how can he let Yan's decline. No matter if I stop or stop scrolling, he will be unfilial before returning to the west. Let me down for the sake of fame, at least I will be demoted from the imperial capital, and at worst it will be like today."

When he said this, his tone was flat, as if it was not himself or his biological father, but an irrelevant person.Chu Heng felt a chill in his heart when he heard that.

"Stop the roll," Yan Xiang said, "this may not be the best time, but it is the only chance, before the old man passed away, when I was still a minister."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. The first step in the reform of the selection of officials is to stop the paperwork. There must be a pioneer. I have been the prime minister for nearly ten years, and I am in charge of the Shangshutai. This is the only way to block the resistance of the aristocratic family and succeed in one fell swoop."

"But you will still die." Chu Heng said.

Yan Xiang smiled slightly: "But if I let this go, maybe I have to wait another ten years, or even longer, there is nothing inappropriate now. There are still things to do in the next few years, why wait in vain? King Jing, I don't worry too much, his brother was so blessed and failed to accomplish anything, let alone him? Your Majesty has strategies and horses, so he can handle it."

"As for the clique-forming families outside, they have been fighting with me for so many years, and this time they have cut off their flesh, so they just hugged me as an 'outsider'. There are many internal interests, and they can't stand provocations at all. When this matter is settled, it will return to a state of disunity. Your Majesty has the skills to balance. In another 20 years, the imperial examination will gradually select people, all of whom are disciples of the emperor. "

He has thought about all the affairs of the court and state.

Chu Heng was silent for a while, then said shyly, "What about you?"

"Great unfilial piety is everyone's scorn. No one knows that you are the emperor's teacher. The aristocratic family hates you, and the common people will misunderstand you. Maybe even those students who changed their fate because of the suspension of examinations will question you in turn. Yes, that would be cut in half...is it worth it?"

"It's worth it." He still said, "Although there are thousands of people, I will go. There are thousands of scholars in the future behind me. If there is one of the four things, this life cannot be more complete."

Chu Heng's heart trembled, and he slowly clenched his fingers.He looked away and looked down at the person waiting for him by the prison gate on the first floor in the distance. The dim candlelight stretched the shadow very long. From Ling Ye's back, Chu Heng easily read the endless sadness and joy. sad.

Chu Heng turned his eyes back and looked at Yan Mao, answering his question at the beginning——

"Master Xiang, the day after tomorrow, on May [-]th, I will see you off."

--------------------

There is one more ahead.

①For complaints before the age of 17, see "No.20, Chapter 27 Ruxue" in this article

For her later experience, you can refer to the next door "Guan Canghai" "Four Old Hearts (72) (87) (88) (89)", chapter numbers [-], [-], [-], [-].It doesn't matter if you don't look at the next door, which will be mentioned later.