Linque

Serving ink in front of the imperial court means being by His Majesty's side all the time.

Before Chu Heng came here, he had heard from his colleagues that the Son of Heaven of Dayin Kyushu likes to be quiet when he handles political affairs, and he doesn't like to have many people around him to serve him.

Today when Chu Heng came in to greet the saint, there were only him and His Majesty in the study.The people in charge of the palace and the shadow guards of the Son of Heaven were all on standby in the outer rooms and side halls, and the imperial guards of the Wuying Hall and the bachelor attendants of the Jixian Hall were also scattered throughout the Jingzhang Palace.

Originally, Jingcheng Hall did have the post of imperial servant Mo, which was filled by the imperial guard selected by Wuying Hall as usual.But because His Majesty doesn't like people to follow, he doesn't call them to come and serve him except when he participates in government affairs and meets with courtiers on weekdays.

As for the imperial attendant who will always be by His Majesty's side when reviewing the memorials, naturally he is also vacated.

Now that Chu Heng heard that His Majesty asked him to serve Mo, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. He only offended His Majesty yesterday, and it was too late to greet him today. Will ask him to stay.

Chu Heng was drooping his eyes and thinking, Ling Ye saw that he was not responding, and he saw through his thoughts at a glance, and teased: "You have written everything on your face, and you couldn't stand the test, so you went to the other side, I'm afraid that sooner or later you will meet with me." Being framed and harmed by others, it is better to stay under my nose and watch."

"I didn't..." Chu Heng retorted in a low voice, and when he raised his eyes, he saw that the emperor was also looking at him, and his eyes met in mid-air.

Time seems to turn back here, the present and the past quietly overlap in this breath, and the breeze of sweet-scented osmanthus meets unexpectedly, passing half a foot of ripples in my heart.

He was stunned for a moment, his cheeks were inexplicably hot for a while, and he subconsciously staggered his gaze and lowered his head.

There was a daylight that crossed the window lattice and sprinkled on the desk, leaving a gentle light and shadow all over the room. In front of the royal desk, there were two figures standing very close, and the shadows on the ground were intertwined, soaked in the warmth of the sun.

Perhaps it was because the smoked cage was lit, it was clear that the winter moon was approaching, but the study room was still as warm as spring.

Chu Heng kept his head down until the emperor's voice suddenly came from next to his ear: "Stretch out your hand."

Chu Heng immediately panicked, and immediately touched the palm of his left hand, which was still slightly painful, and looked up at His Majesty, puzzled: "Do you want to fight again?"

The emperor glanced at him: "What did I teach you just now?"

Thunder, rain and dew are all the grace of the king. If your majesty wants to fight, you can't hide, and you can't cry out for pain.

Chu Heng felt gloomy and gloomy, remembering the tingling pain when the pen holder fell into his palm, he struggled for a moment, and decided to take the thunder evenly, curled up his left hand that had been beaten just now, and slowly stretched out his right hand.The eyes staring at the palm dodged slightly, wanting to look but not daring to look.

Ling Ye looked at his grievance that was very afraid of pain, and felt funny in his heart, but his face turned cold and he ordered in a deep voice: "Left hand."

"Your Majesty..." Chu Heng was in a hurry. He was about to beg for mercy, but when he saw the emperor's face sinking like water, he swallowed all the words he hadn't finished speaking.He had no choice but to stretch out his left hand, which had been hit three times, struggled with his eyes for a while, and finally turned his face away, unable to bear to look any more, and resigned himself to waiting for the pain to come.

Ling Ye took a look and saw that his white palm was still covered with three red marks. He turned sideways and took a jade box from the small compartment under the imperial case.

The cool ointment was applied on his hands, Chu Heng turned his head and opened his eyes, seeing that His Majesty was patiently and carefully rubbing the ointment on the reddened part of his palm with a concentrated expression.

The ointment was cold when it was first applied to the hands, but it became warm when it was rubbed in the palm of the hand.I don't know if it's an illusion, or because the fingers are connected to the heart, the warm feeling spreads all the way, even the heart seems to be a little hot.

In fact, His Majesty didn't hit very hard, it's not unbearable, it's just that the pen holder felt stinging when it was hit on the hand, only three strokes, and it passed after a while.

Chu Heng was in a state of confusion, thinking wildly, until he heard His Majesty say "Okay" before he came back to his senses, slowly withdrew his hand, slightly dodged his eyes, and whispered: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Ling Ye let out a "huh" and put the ointment back to its original place. The moment he turned around, his gaze sank and he rubbed his fingertips calmly.

When applying the medicine, he saw and touched Chu Heng's hands.Those hands, with slender fingers and strong knuckles, have thin calluses on the tiger's mouth and finger pulp, which are the characteristics of the palms of martial arts practitioners, not like the hands that people who don't know how to use a sword should have.

For the time being, he suppressed the doubts in his heart and turned around, seeing Chu Heng holding the hand that had been smeared with medicine just now, staring at him all the time.With a slight smile on his lips, he pointed to the round nanmu stool beside him and said, "Sit down, and grind ink for me."

Then Chu Heng withdrew his gaze from looking at his hands, sat down slowly according to the words, picked up the cinnabar ink ingot resting on the edge of the inkstone with his lowered eyes, and turned his wrist to sharpen the ink lightly and slowly.

Ling Ye sat behind the case, picked up a pen and continued to review the memorial.

The memorials of the Dayin Dynasty have different sealing colors, which are divided into memorials, petitions, gratitude, congratulations, etc.The excerpts of the memorial are subdivided according to the military, government, finance and agriculture, and various ministries and departments.After the emperor came to power, there was a decree in the court, but in all performances, redundant clichés and nonsense are not allowed to be spoken, and it is sufficient to report directly to the point.

Chu Heng sharpened his ink for a while, and saw that His Majesty only read the memorial papers, and the rest of the memorial papers were all piled up in a stack without touching them, so he couldn't help but take a second look.

Without raising his head, Ling Ye said suddenly: "Go and read it for me. If it's all nonsense and nothing important, then you don't need to report it."

Chu Heng was taken aback, and hesitated for a while: "It's not appropriate for me to come and see..."

"You are the imperial servant ink, what's wrong?" Ling Ye smiled, "otherwise what are you doing here? Researching ink?"

Of course, the Imperial Ink Attendant is not dedicated to studying ink for His Majesty, just like the Bachelor Attendant selected by the Jixian Palace, they are the people who assist the emperor in handling the daily government affairs.Sometimes they discuss court affairs in writing, and occasionally they have to be dictated by His Majesty and written on behalf of the memorial.Compared with serving as a bachelor, Yuqian Shimo will spend more time in Jingcheng Hall.

Chu Heng took the stack of memorials from the imperial case, and Ling Ye saw that the expression of doubt on his face remained undiminished, so he said: "Most of these memorials are irrelevant, first you can briefly record who is reporting and what is going on for me to see. After you have sorted and checked it, the Shadow Guard will review it again, so don't be afraid that there may be omissions in it."

As it involves court affairs, it is a big matter, and Chu Heng has little experience, so it is inevitable that he hesitated. Seeing what His Majesty said, he was a little relieved, took a piece of paper and began to write with a pen.

The time in the Jingcheng Hall passed quickly, and it was almost noon in a blink of an eye. Chu Heng closed the last memorial volume at hand, and presented a full page of plain paper to His Majesty for viewing.

Ling Ye knew that most of the memorials were written by Xie En, so he glanced at them and saw that there was really nothing important, so he put down the plain paper and looked at the handwriting for a while.

Chu Heng's handwriting is very good, the strokes are full of style and strength, and the paper falls into smoke.Ling Ye looked at it carefully, and praised casually: "The handwriting is not bad, learned it in Lishan?"

Chu Heng nodded and said: "There is always something to learn in the teacher's school."

Ling Ye nodded, seemingly unintentionally, and said: "You never learned swordsmanship in Lishan Mountain, so it's not in vain to learn this handwriting."

Chu Heng's heart moved slightly, and he lowered his eyes and squeezed his fingers.How could he never learn swords?These hands have been accompanied by swords since he could remember, and to this day, he can still remember the feeling of Ming Ji holding them in his palms.

It was only later that I realized that the easier it is to learn the sword, the harder it is to hold it.

The end of the difficulty is that the sword cannot be controlled, and it is ominous when it is unsheathed.

The slight pain from the fingernails piercing into the palm suddenly awakened Chu Heng's trance, and he whispered: "I also learned it with hard work in the past, but I am stupid, unable to hold my own sword, and can't be the master of the sword. , and then stopped using swords.”

His expression was gloomy, the same bleakness as when we first met, as if he had been reminded of some past that he didn't want to look back.Ling Ye glanced past his clenched hands, nodded, and didn't ask any more questions.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for lunch, and Chu Heng bid farewell to His Majesty.Just as he walked to the door of the study, he suddenly heard His Majesty calling him again: "Chu Heng."

He hurriedly turned around, seeing His Majesty's smile fade away, his face was calm, and he said meaningfully: "You must remember that you are in front of the imperial court now, do you know how many people in the Hall of Martial Heroes want to come here?"

His heart shuddered.

After leaving the Hall of Respect and Sincerity, the colleagues who came together in the morning were waiting for him at the corner.

It was probably because there was something on his mind, Chu Heng's face was a little dignified.When the colleague saw him, no matter how he looked at him, he felt gloomy. He thought that he really knelt in front of the imperial court all morning, and couldn't help feeling more and more sympathetic.

When they returned to the Hall of Martial Heroes together, their colleagues avoided Chu Heng and whispered a few words under the pressure of the crowd, and most of the people in the Imperial Guard Camp felt extremely sympathetic to Chu Heng, and they even pinched him during the meal. A few chopsticks meat.

Chu Heng roughly guessed a thing or two, a little dumbfounded, and wanted to explain a few words, but saw Commander Xie Chu shook his head slightly at him.

Chu Heng remembered what His Majesty said before he left, and saw that there seemed to be deep meaning in Xie Chu's eyes, and swallowed all the explanations that came to his lips.

After lunch, Chu Heng avoided everyone and went to meet Xie Chu alone, and asked straight to the point: "Commander, do you want to greet the Holy Spirit two quarters earlier than the normal duty time when you go back to the imperial court?"

Xie Chu was stunned for a moment, nodded and said: "According to the rules, it should be so. When you head back to the imperial court or come back from a foreign office, you must go to the saint two quarters in advance to pay your respects on the duty day. But your majesty has always been lenient to the emperor's guards, and he is open-minded in everything." Turn one eye and close one eye, this rule is not strictly observed on weekdays, and it is not impossible to go when you are on duty."

Seeing that he lowered his eyes as if he was thinking about something, Xie Chu asked, "Why, Your Majesty punished you for this matter today?"

Chu Heng remembered the three slaps that were not considered punishment, rubbed his palms, shook his head and said, "No, I just mentioned it."

Xie Chu smiled slightly: "You didn't really kneel all morning in front of the imperial court today, did you?"

"Well, I just knelt for a while." Chu Heng nodded and said, "Your Majesty wants me to serve Mo in front of the imperial court."

"Servant Mo..." Xie Chu recalled Ling Qi's specious words yesterday, reached out and patted Chu Heng's shoulder, and said earnestly: "Your Majesty is reminding you."

"It doesn't matter if you offended His Majesty, or you were given [-] sticks, but it is an indisputable fact that you were transferred to the imperial court by His Majesty without any examination and selection. In the eyes of outsiders, this is undoubtedly the emperor's favor—"

Xie Chu paused, "You are late today, although it is a small matter, but in the eyes of caring people, small things can become big things. Chu Heng, the imperial court is eye-catching, and people's hearts are unpredictable. There are some things that you must know."