Dressed as the teacher of the Black Lotus Emperor

East Palace Prince's Mansion.

His Royal Highness the crown prince sits high on the main seat, Cao Ren, the second assistant to the cabinet, occupies the right seat, and the crown prince Shaofu Pei Yanqi occupies the left seat.

The eunuch came in and announced: "His Royal Highness, Wang Gui is already waiting outside the gate of the palace."

Xiao Yichen put down the teacup, "Let him in."

"Your Majesty, my servant, sees His Highness the Crown Prince." Not long after, Wang Gui stepped into the gate of the palace and respectfully saluted several nobles in the palace.

Xiao Yichen: "What has Mr. Shen been doing recently?"

Wang Gui replied: "Reporting to Your Highness, Young Master has been summoned to the Longevity Palace a few times recently, and the rest of the time is spent in Jiyue Pavilion."

"Longevity Palace?" Xiao Yichen narrowed his eyes slightly, "How many times have you been there? How long have you stayed?"

"This..." Wang Gui looked distressed, and replied cautiously after thinking, "I don't remember too clearly, about three or four times, and each time I went back to Jiyue Pavilion after lunch or dinner. .”

Xiao Yichen frowned, and asked again: "Besides this, is Mr. Shen any other abnormalities?"

Wang Gui hesitated for a moment, then replied: "Young Master's attitude towards His Royal Highness has been much gentler recently."

Xiao Yichen's face darkened, and he said in a cold tone: "You go down first, if the third son has any abnormalities, you must report to Gu in time."

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Gui stepped back obediently.

"Grand master, young master, you all heard." Xiao Yichen's eyes were gloomy, "Shen Qingzhuo repeatedly resisted Gu's summons, obviously with the backing of the Empress Dowager, he no longer takes Gu in his eyes."

Pei Yanqi gently advised: "Your Highness, don't get angry, there may be other reasons behind this incident."

"Other reasons?" Xiao Yichen paused for a moment, "Could it be that...the emperor father suddenly ordered Lao Qi to move out of the cold palace, is it actually the empress dowager's intention?"

"It's probably the empress dowager's intention." Cao Ren, who had been silent all this time, said, "The emperor's body is getting worse day by day. At this juncture, it is Sima Zhao's heart that the empress dowager brought up the seventh prince from the cold palace."

Xiao Yichen's heart sank: "The Empress Dowager plans to support Lao Qi to take over?"

Cao Ren stroked his beard: "The empress dowager and the emperor have never stopped fighting for power. Now that the emperor is sick, the empress dowager naturally wants to support an obedient prince and take this opportunity to regain power. The seventh prince in the cold palace is currently the most The right person."

"Gu, is Dayong's righteous prince." Xiao Yichen patted the table lightly, his eyes were dark, "Isn't it easy to pinch him to death for a mere seventh prince who is not favored?"

"No." Cao Ren waved his hand slowly, "Your Highness, the Queen Mother's real purpose is not the Seventh Prince."

"Why did the grand master say that?" Xiao Yichen asked in confusion.

"The empress dowager's thoughts are far deeper than your highness's." Cao Ren analyzed deeply, "The empress dowager took the seventh prince out, but she set up a clear target. Her real goal should be the concubine Yuan. children."

Xiao Yichen was startled: "The child in Concubine Yuan's womb?"

Pei Yanqi continued: "The Seventh Prince is over fifteen years old. He grew up in the cold palace since he was a child. He is not close to the Empress Dowager. He still has half of the Zhao family's blood in him. It is inevitable that he will fight for power again in a few years. Swaddled babies are obedient."

Xiao Yichen sneered: "What if Concubine Yuan gives birth to a princess?"

"It's not important, Your Highness." Pei Yanqi's tone was flat, as if he was talking about poetry, "Even if Concubine Yuan gave birth to a civet cat, and the queen mother said it was the crown prince, it would be Dayong's crown prince."

"Isn't this the same as handing over my Xiao family's country to others?" Xiao Yichen stood up abruptly, "Even if there is no orphan, Dayong still has six princes, it is absolutely impossible for the courtiers to agree to an infant baby being enthroned and proclaiming emperor! "

"What's impossible?" Cao Ren got up and walked out of the seat, "Your Highness, do you know that the emperor is not the empress dowager's biological son?"

Xiao Yichen: "This... I've never heard of it before."

"The eldest prince is disabled, and the fourth prince is foolish now. How surprising would it be for the other princes to have a few more accidents?" Cao Ren's face was condensed, "The empress dowager's surname is Qi, not Xiao."

Xiao Yichen was speechless for a moment.

"The Tian Family has no father and son, and the Empress Dowager has no blood relationship with the Emperor." Cao Ren paced back and forth with his hands behind his hands, "Now that the Emperor is lingering on the sick bed, and power is being sidelined, Qi's arrogance becomes more and more arrogant. If the government is in control of the government, the Xiao family should indeed change its surname to Qi from now on!"

Xiao Yichen's complexion was uncertain, and he said unwillingly: "If this day really comes, Uncle Liu Huang will definitely not sit idly by."

"The king of Qin is far away in the Shuodong fiefdom, and the far water can't save the near fire!" Cao Ren shook his sleeves, and his tone hated that the iron could not be made into a steel road, "not to mention, under what name did the king of Qin bring his troops back to Beijing? Don't forget that the Queen Mother still has the Shen family in her hands. , when the time comes to order the King of Zhenbei to send troops to intercept him, and then charge him with a crime of conspiracy to usurp the throne, will the King of Qin be willing to risk the world?"

"Shouldn't King Zhenbei obey his father's orders?" Xiao Yichen walked down the high platform anxiously, "Father still keeps his precious son!"

Cao Ren snorted coldly and said, "Your Highness, why do you think the Queen Mother has summoned Young Master Shen frequently recently? Could it be because of an insignificant Seventh Prince?"

The voice fell to the ground, and the hall fell into a dead silence.

After a while, Xiao Yichen said in a cold tone: "Since that's the case, no matter whether Concubine Yuan gave birth to a civet cat or a mouse, Gu must let it die in her womb."

***

At the same moment, Shen Qingzhuo was kneeling in front of the dragon couch, listening to Emperor Guangxi's lecture with his head bowed.

"I entrusted Lao Qi to you for three years, I can't imagine, you really taught me a cough..." Emperor Guangxi coughed a few times after saying a few words, "Taught a cowardly and incompetent, timid as a mouse Prince."

Months of pain and suffering made Emperor Guangxi, who was lying on the dragon couch, turn blue, with sunken eye sockets, and his bony appearance has long lost his original strength and majesty.

"Qing Zhuo is terrified." Shen Qing Zhuo immediately prostrated himself on the ground and pleaded guilty, "This humble minister is incompetent, and there is no way to teach His Highness, so I ask the emperor to forgive me."

"You cough..." Emperor Guangxi coughed so hard that he couldn't breathe, and the concubine Yuan who was serving beside him hurriedly bent down, and gently touched the chest of the Holy Majesty with a pair of catkins.

Emperor Guangxi calmed down and raised his hand, "Get up, I don't mean to blame you."

Shen Qingzhuo hesitated for a while, then slowly straightened up: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

Today, on a whim, Emperor Guangxi took the initiative to summon the Seventh Prince for an audience.Emperor Guangxi looked at his youngest son who was supposed to be a stranger, and unexpectedly saw a bit of his youthful shadow on his face.

Maybe it's because blood is thicker than water, or it's because people tend to hurt spring and autumn when they're sick, he couldn't help but secretly sigh, this is his blood after all, he is the righteous seventh prince of Dayong.

He asked a few simple questions casually, but Lao Qi stammered for a long time, but he couldn't answer any of them. In the end, he was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed timidly to plead guilty, fearing that his father would punish him.

Although Emperor Guangxi had expected it earlier, he was still disappointed in his heart. With a tired face, he sent Lao Qi away and called Shen Qingzhuo again.

"Although people are disabled, their bodies are well maintained." Emperor Guangxi supported his upper body with the strength of Concubine Yuan, and lay on the head of the bed, "I look very strong, and I have spent some thought on thinking about it."

"Your Highness the Seventh Highness inherits a bit of the emperor's appearance as a dragon and a phoenix, and he is not picky about food, so he has a good body." Shen Qingzhuo complimented just right, "I am ashamed, and this is only useful."

Emperor Guangxi looked down at the young man kneeling in front of the couch, and said slowly: "In a few days' spring search, you and His Highness the Seventh will accompany you."

According to Dayong's usual practice, the royal family will launch two large-scale hunts a year, one in spring and one in autumn.

This year's spring search began on March [-], when spring plowing ended.Even though Emperor Guangxi's dragon body was not in good shape, he still didn't want to miss the spring hunt, because the ancestors of Xiao's family fought on horseback, and the emperors of all dynasties advocated riding, shooting and hunting, and even had a strange superstition about spring hunting.

Shen Qingzhuo responded: "Follow the emperor's will."

He originally found an excuse for himself to go to the spring search, but he didn't expect that it would take no effort, but there was an extra small oil bottle behind him.

But it doesn't matter, it doesn't affect the overall situation.

Emperor Guangxi said a few more words, and soon became tired, and waved him to step back first.

Shen Qingzhuo glanced at Concubine Yuan's abdomen inadvertently before exiting the inner hall.

Concubine Yuan was more than four months pregnant, and her belly should have been showing, but she was slender and slender, and was covered by loose palace clothes, so it was not obvious.

Sensing his gaze, Concubine Yuan raised her eyes to meet him, and found that where his gaze fell, there was a flash of vigilance in her eyes.

Shen Qingzhuo smiled faintly, and stepped back slowly.

***

Pushing open the outer door of Jiyue Pavilion, the sound of "bang bang bang" smashed into the periosteum instantly.

The young man was dressed in black clothes, his hands were wrapped with bandages to protect his wrists and joints, and he was concentrating on hitting sandbags with his fists.

He has an agile figure, punches extremely fast, dodges and counterattacks, dives and counterattacks, his strong arms stretch out lines full of power, and his speed and explosive power are quite amazing.

Shen Qingzhuo leaned lazily against the door frame, admiring it quietly for a moment, then clapped her hands twice, "Beautiful."

"Sir!" Xiao Shen's eyes lit up, he withdrew his fist immediately, and ran towards the door, "You're back!"

Shen Qingzhuo felt like he had raised a puppy. As soon as he got home, the puppy greeted him enthusiastically, wagging its tail.

Sure enough, the next moment the boy threw himself on him and gave him a firm hug.

"It's dead." Shen Qingzhuo was shaken by him, with a slightly disgusted expression on his face, "The smell of sweat all over the body, so it fell on me."

"Is this the smell of sweat?" Xiao Shen lightly bared his teeth, and said solemnly, "This is the smell of a man."

"Pfft——" Shen Qingzhuo almost burst out laughing, and raised his hand to push the boy who refused to rub against his neck, "How old are you, what kind of man haha..."

"I don't care, I don't care!" The little wolf cub yelled again, wet and sticky sweat all over his neck, "Don't you dislike me, sir!"

"Okay, okay, I don't dislike you." Shen Qingzhuo was afraid of him, and changed the subject, "I heard that you pretended to be a grandson in front of your father today?"

"Cut..." Xiao Shen stopped the act of scribbling on Mr.'s body, and let out a light snort, "As he wished."

"You, I almost pretended too much." Shen Qingzhuo nodded the young man's plump forehead, "Fortunately, your father has limited energy, and he didn't intend to delve into it. Instead, he made a mistake and agreed to let you participate in the hunt."

"Hunting?" Xiao Shen was stunned, straightened his waist suddenly, and there was unconcealable excitement in his eyes, "Really?"

"Really." Shen Qingzhuo looked at him and reminded him in a serious tone, "But this spring search, sir has a very important thing to do, so don't mess around."

Xiao Shen asked: "What's important?"

"The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind." Shen Qingzhuo chuckled lightly, and said jokingly, "Xiaoqi, do you want to be that oriole?"

The author has something to say:

Princelings: We predicted the Queen Mother's actions.

Shen Qingzhuo: Sorry, I prejudged your prediction.

Little wolf cub: I must prove to my husband that I am a man as soon as possible!

Everyone has a bright future~

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