Chapter 19 Nineteenth century sigh
When Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin came to Sun Laizi's house, there was already a thick and thick middle-aged man standing there, waiting anxiously.As soon as he saw them coming, he hurried up to meet them and asked, "Is this Eunuch Yang? The villain is Chu Qiang from Qian's Chariot and Horse Shop. The last time I helped Sun Laizi renovate the house, I led my brothers to do it."
"Oh, Manager Chu." Huang Zixia greeted him, and Zhou Ziqin had already torn off the seal on the door.
The inside is still the same as last time, but the door has not been opened for a few days, and the airflow inside is even more stuffy, with a strong musty smell.
Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin checked the doors, windows and the ground again, and said to Chu Qiang, "You guys are really doing a good job, the doors and windows are very tight."
"That's right, so although Qian Ji hasn't renovated the house for a long time, it is well-known in the capital, and everyone likes to ask us to do it!" Chu Qiang was a little proud, raised his hand and patted the solid wood window panels, and said, "Look, this Once the window is closed, it won’t break open with an iron bar! Look at this latch, even four or five big men can’t break it!”
Huang Zixia nodded in agreement, got up and walked around the house.
The house is still a mess, and the messy charms, Buddha statues, and wood carvings are still hanging on the wall.Chu Qiang pointed to those things and said: "When we came, these things were already on the wall. Sun Laizi did something wrong, so he kept these things everywhere. It is said that he is afraid of being punished by God!"
Huang Zixia asked: "You know that he has no money, and you know that he is not a good guy, why did you agree to help him repair the house and strengthen the doors and windows?"
"Oh, I haven't heard that Sun Laizi is actually very rich. Boss Lu of the candle shop said that he lost a lot of money to himself, so he let Sun Laizi go. I thought, since he is rich, why not accept this matter?" , so I agreed. Who would have thought that this bastard would be penniless after paying the money, and I was scolded bloody by Boss Qian, but now that I am still dead, I really have no head of debt!" Chu Qiangyi With a remorseful face, he said angrily, "That Lu Zhiyuan is such a jerk, he came along to install the lantern, but when he saw that it was Sun Manzi's house, his expression changed drastically, he pointed at Sun Mangyzi and cursed, and left without putting on the lamp. , but didn’t tell us that Sun Laizi has no money!”
Zhou Ziqin was not interested in these disputes involving hundreds of thousands of dollars. When they were talking, he took the wooden board of Cihang Pudu hanging on the wall, the picture of Songzi Avalokitesvara on the bedside, and a few messy spells. I took it off and took a look, but found that there were no loopholes behind it, and the wall was still a complete wall. I couldn't help but feel very sorry.
Huang Zixia said: "The outer wall is intact, how could there be a hole inside?"
"What if." He said, standing on the threshold again, going to get the small iron plaque nailed to the top of the door that said Mulian saved his mother.
Unexpectedly, after grabbing it, the small iron plaque that seemed to be hanging did not move at all.Zhou Ziqin let out a "huh" and knocked vigorously, only to find that it was actually a long, hollow box embedded in the wall.
Chu Qiang said quickly: "Hey, this one can't be taken off. It's a small iron box built into the wall, and it's the forehead on the door."
"Brown? What's it for?" Zhou Ziqin asked.
Chu Qiang said: "At first, we, Boss Qian, learned it from the merchants in the Western Regions. It is said that they like to decorate a hollow and narrow iron box as wide as the door on the door, and build a wooden door between the wooden door and the earthen wall. cushioning, the door frame is not easy to deform, and now it is made into a shape with hollow patterns, which is also very beautiful when placed on the door. Later, it gradually became popular in Beijing. We ordered hundreds of them at the blacksmith shop, and now it is less than a year It's almost used up. This is the one I picked up randomly at the time, and the pattern on it seems to be... It's Mulian saving his mother, right?"
"It seems to be." Zhou Ziqin took a stool, stood at the same level as the iron box, looked at it, and said, "It's still hollowed out, but it's a pity that it's dark. It would look better if it was painted."
The iron box is long and narrow, as long as the door, but only two inches high.The side facing the inside of the door is hollowed out, with Mulian saving his mother carved, and the side facing the outside is solid, with auspicious patterns painted, but the patterns are gray and cracked, very ugly.
"The paint is there... Eh, obviously I brought him a brand new one at the time. Why does this seem to have been used for many years? Who made it look so dark?" Chu Qiang looked up at the black iron box , frowning, "What's the matter, it's only been a few days, why is it so black? It was painted before!"
Zhou Ziqin looked inside through the hollow pattern and frowned: "It's so dirty...it's all black and gray."
Huang Zixia moved a stool to the side, stood beside him and looked into the iron box.The paint on the outside showed a kind of scorched black after being baked by fire, but the inside of the box was indeed black ashes, and there were a few traces of fingers rubbing in the corners.
"Someone put their fingers into the hollowed out place and took something inside," Huang Zixia said, then turned back to ask Chu Qiang, "Can this box be opened?"
Chu Qiang said: "The iron sheet is very thin, if you want to open it, just cut it with scissors."
Zhou Ziqin found a pair of rusty scissors in the house, and cut off the pattern of Mulian saving his mother on the outside. Inside, there was only an iron frame, with a few thick lumps of black ash. On the black ash, there were a few strips Scratch marks.
Zhou Ziqin pointed to the larger mark and said, "This, it looks like a round thing was pulled out."
Pointing to a thin trace, he said, "This is a small wire or something."
Huang Zixia frowned, and compared to the larger circular mark, asked: "Have you noticed? Judging from the size of the dragged mark, this big circle absolutely cannot come out of such a small hollow hole."
Zhou Ziqin compared the circle with his fingers, and compared it with the hollow iron sheet he cut out, with a dazed expression on his face: "Really...the biggest hollow gap, there is no big circle! Look, the longest The hollows are these few clouds, probably two or three inches long, but they are flat..."
"So this thing is definitely not round, but has such a curvature." She said, scraping off the black ash in the box, smelling it in her palm, and then couldn't help smiling: "Linglingxiang."
In the dark broken house, in the dusty airflow, her smile that sees through the sky is clear and transparent.Seeing the smile on her face, Zhou Ziqin couldn't help being stunned.
Huang Zixia took out the handkerchief in his sleeve, scraped a few balls of black ash from the box and put it inside to make bread. When he looked up and saw Zhou Ziqin looking at him, he couldn't help asking: "What's wrong?"
"Oh..." Zhou Ziqin quickly shifted his gaze to the side, frantically scraped off the black ash, and said, "I, I'll get some back and check to see if it's Linglingxiang."
After leaving Daningfang, Zhou Ziqin headed southwest, Huang Zixia headed southeast, the two parted ways and went back separately. When Huang Zixia walked to Xingningfang, he suddenly saw many people running on the road, and some people shouted: "Hurry up and go to the Sixteenth King's House! It's gone if it's too late!" Huang Zixia entered without knowing, still surprised, an old lady who was running with the crowd next to her was crushed and fell to the ground, screaming repeatedly.Huang Zixia hurried to help her up, and asked, "Mother-in-law, where are you going?" "Oh, I heard that the Emperor and Concubine Guo Shu are throwing money everywhere near the Princess Mansion of the Sixteenth King's House! Aren't we all here to pick up money?" Huang Zixia was confused, so she walked quickly along with the crowd. When I got there, I saw many people gathered around the gate of the mansion, each bending over to look for something on the ground.She had no choice but to find another person who was holding something in her hand and asked: "Brother, I heard that the emperor and Concubine Guo Shu are throwing money, is it true?" "What throwing money? Vulgar!" The uncle seemed to be a scribe, and he spread his hand for her to see.Huang Zixia saw that in his palm was a silver flower inlaid with pearls, it was exquisite in style, it should be a palace ornament. "Just now the emperor and Concubine Guo Shu came to the princess' mansion to watch Li Keji's newly choreographed team dance "Sigh for a Hundred Years". Brocades were laid out from the palace to the princess' mansion. Hundreds of people came here from Daming Palace, singing and dancing along the way. When tin falls, these people are here to pick it up.” Huang Zixia suddenly realized, and listened quietly. Amidst the commotion around him, he could vaguely hear the sound of singing and dancing coming from inside. She avoided the gate and walked to a place where the crowd was sparse, and she heard hundreds of people singing in unison.The tone is mournful, and it turns sad. Standing here and listening to it from a distance, she feels that there are thousands of melancholy in her chest, and she feels sad. She leaned against the wall and quietly looked up at the sky.In the summer afternoon, there was no wind, and the distant tones were blown by the wind. That kind of sad tones were inextricably linked, cutting pain in a certain part of her heart, and tears fell down unconsciously. She felt that her face was covered with tears and she was in a state of embarrassment, so she raised her hand to take out her handkerchief, but found that it contained the incense ash she had just brought, which was no longer usable. Holding the embers of Linglingxiang in her hand, she was in a daze, but someone behind her handed her a pure white handkerchief silently. She turned her head, opened her eyes wide, and looked at him through the tears. Yu Xuan. He was wearing sky blue clothes, standing in the blue-gray streets, such a plain color, such a beautiful face. She raised her hand slowly, took the handkerchief, and pressed it to her face. All the hot tears were sucked away by the soft linen without leaving any trace. As if losing strength, she involuntarily leaned against the wall, buried her face in the veil he gave her in this empty alley, and didn't look up for a long time. On it is his breath, light and illusory, the lotus flower that blooms at the beginning of summer night, the withered plum in winter, the flames and ice and snow in her dream. "At the gate of Dali Temple, I saw you." His voice sounded softly in her ear, slightly in a trance, but it really came into her ear. "I saw you hiding behind that tree, avoiding me. I suppose so. Even if we met, what could we say?" His voice was so slow, Huang Zixia could clearly feel his hesitation and sadness. He must be the same as her, thinking of those days when they were together, thinking of many things that cannot be forgotten or retrieved. "I saw that girl, she must have been rescued by you from the Dali Temple." He raised his head, looked at the dazzlingly white clouds in the sky, and said in a slow and distant tone, "I am on the way back, want A lot. I think back then, you were able to travel thousands of miles, day and night, to overturn the case of a stranger just for a sentence on the dossier that was worthy of scrutiny. Even if you are notorious now, you still work hard in your own predicament. Help others. In contrast, I should be the person closest to you in this world, but I stubbornly believe that you are the murderer. It really...wasted our relationship over the years." Huang Zixia clenched her lower lip, and could not make a sound, only her trembling shoulders betrayed her. Yu Xuan let out a long sigh, and gently pressed her shoulder. They had done more intimate things before.But this first contact since the long-lost reunion made Huang Zixia unconsciously turn his body away, leaving his hands hanging in the air. After a long time, he silently withdrew his hand, and said softly: "You shouldn't have said those things to me, you shouldn't have done those things, otherwise, I would never believe that you would do such a thing, no matter what .” Huang Zixia took off the handkerchief, her expression has become calm, except for the reddish eye sockets, there is no abnormality anymore. She asked, "What did you and I... say? What did you do?" He stared at her unblinkingly, his voice was very low but very clear: "Just the night before your family died tragically, when you came back from Longzhou, when I went to look for you... I saw you staring at the bag in your hand. That bag of arsenic, with a strange look on his face." Huang Zixia opened her eyes wide in astonishment, stared at him blankly, and murmured, "What?" "That day was when you came back from Longzhou. I still remember the letter you just wrote to me. The letter said that the case in Longzhou was caused by the fact that the daughter was hindered by love, so she put heartbroken grass in her diet. The whole family died. You also said in the letter, if you and I are in this situation, will we abandon our family and embark on the road of no return?" Yuxuan looked at her with pain in his eyes, "Then the letter The words made me very worried. When I saw you came back and took out the arsenic, I immediately asked you to throw the arsenic away, but you threw it in the drawer, locked it again, and said, maybe it is something that can help us together .” Huang Zixia looked at him blankly, as if looking at someone he didn't know at all: "I remember Longzhou, I remember the contents of that letter, but I don't remember that I took out the arsenic to read it... I don't remember saying that Get past that sentence!" Yu Xuan stared at her with sharp eyes like a knife, but her face was full of sorrow and bewilderment, so he couldn't see any flaws. His face turned slightly pale, and he held his temples, because he was so excited that even his breathing seemed heavy. He said with difficulty: "A Xia, it seems that I really misunderstood your actions at that time... It's just that the moment you held the arsenic, that look was too scary, and that night, all your family members died of the arsenic. Next... How can you tell me to trust you again?" "Impossible!" Huang Zixia interrupted him with a trembling voice, "After I bought the bag of arsenic, I went to Longzhou, and the arsenic remained untouched until I came back! How could you see me taking With that bag of arsenic?" Yu Xuan stared at her relentlessly. This person who had always been elegant and handsome, now had a face full of fear, and could only murmur a few words: "Impossible? Impossible..." The whole world has come to a standstill, only they are standing under the unreachable high altitude, looking at each other, just a few feet away, thousands of years apart. Scorching heat and coldness, blood and chill, unknowable fate and unfathomable providence, all poured on them. "Yang Chonggu." A cold, slightly ruthless voice came from behind, breaking the almost frozen deathlike silence between them. Huang Zixia turned her head and saw Li Shubai standing at the entrance of the alley, looking at them motionless.The backlight came from behind him, she couldn't see his expression clearly, only saw his outline, an inescapable sense of oppression came invisible. In the end, she saw his clear and deep eyes, which pulled her out of the dazed situation for an instant, and found herself standing in this deserted alley.The singing is still coming from far away, the sad tune of "Sighing for a Hundred Years", which is tear-jerking, echoes faintly in the sky, and the flowing clouds in the sky seem to be stopped by the music and stop flowing. On the opposite side, Yu Xuan seemed to have come back to his senses. There was still a thin layer of cold sweat on his forehead, but his expression had calmed down. He bowed his head to salute Li Shubai, and when he turned to leave, he stopped again and looked at Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia looked at him silently, countless complicated thoughts on her pale face made her hesitate to speak. He asked in a low voice: "You told me last time that you want to go back to Shuzhong to find out the truth?" Huang Zixia nodded and said, "I will go back." "Then, I'll wait for you in Chengdu Mansion." His eyes looked deeply into her eyes, as if she met him for the first time when she knew nothing about love many years ago, and saw him staring at her own deep reflection in her eyes. In this world, no one knew that she had grown from a little girl to a young girl in that instant.
When Li Shubai and Huang Zixia entered the Tongchang Princess Mansion, the dance team of "A Hundred Years of Sigh" had already dispersed. On the white stone floor illuminated by the sun, the pearls and emeralds scattered all over the ground are particularly dazzling.The body of Princess Tongchang has been placed in the coffin, but there are still large and small ice cubes in the room. There is also a smaller coffin next to it, which is filled with the princess' nurse Yunniang. The creases on her neck are still there, and she accompanied the princess to sleep with a distorted expression. The emperor and concubine Guo Shu sat in front of the hall, while the maids and eunuchs behind them were wiping away their tears.The emperor's face was full of vicious rage, which was the accumulation of despair that could not be vented. Seeing Li Shubai bringing Huang Zixia in, the eunuchs and maids around the emperor were visibly relieved.Seeing Li Shubai looking at his nurse Yunniang, the emperor said: "It's too lonely for the princess to be down there alone. I will let Yunniang go down and continue to take care of the princess." Seeing that the man was dead, Li Shubai could only keep silent and sat down beside the emperor. Concubine Guo Shu covered her face and choked with sobs: "There are also those maids and eunuchs, and others are fine. Those who are close to me, if something happens to the princess, they are also responsible!" The emperor thought for a long time before slowly saying: "Eunuch Yang pleaded for them last time, I think it makes sense, let's wait for now." "The emperor is sympathetic to them, but the ministers and concubines can be lonely in the ground just thinking about Linghui!" Concubine Guo Shu was out of breath, crying even more sadly, "Linghui was most afraid of loneliness since she was a child, and she always needed someone to accompany her, but now she is alone I have gone, there are few people around to serve me, how can I feel at ease as a mother..." She cried sadly, but Huang Zixia only felt a gust of cold air rise from the soles of her feet, along her spine all the way to the top of her head. Li Shubai's gaze was also turning to her, and both of them saw Concubine Guo Shu's intentions in each other's eyes. "Concubine Shu, don't talk about it, I feel bad," the emperor sighed, but he didn't object, he just said to Li Shubai, "Just now, I called Xuezheng Yuxuan from the Imperial College whom the princess liked before he was alive. " Concubine Guo Shu was beside her with an uncertain expression, she gently stretched out her hand to cover the back of the emperor's hand.The emperor didn't seem to feel it, and just said: "I have also heard rumors in Beijing that Linghui once invited Yuxuan to give lectures for him, but he refused many times. Later, she went to the Imperial College to ask for a sacrifice to speak, and he agreed. The "Zhou Rituals" was talked about in the princess mansion - I laughed it off at the time, but now that I think about it, Linghui is going to lie on the ground alone forever in such a prime age. Since she likes to hear Yu Xuan talk about "Zhou Rituals", I Can you not satisfy him?" Huang Zixia only felt her heart skip a beat, but then thought that seeing Yu Xuan come out just now, it seems that the emperor let him go. "I really want to kill him." The emperor said, lost his mind for a while, then raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "After seeing the man, I somehow gave up this idea." Li Shubai didn't speak, but turned his head slightly, and his eyes fell on the princess' coffin. "Maybe it's because I'm old, and I can't bring myself to destroy a jade tree." The emperor said, turning his head to look at Li Shubai, "Have you ever seen that Yuxuan?" "I've seen it before, it's elegant and elegant, it's unparalleled in the world." Li Shubai said lightly. Concubine Guo Shu sat there in a daze for a long time, then she suddenly stood up for some reason, walked quickly to Princess Tongchang's coffin, supported the edge of the coffin and burst into tears. Li Shubai was calm as usual, and said: "The emperor is right not to kill him. Otherwise, if he is buried in the ground with the princess, how will the son-in-law deal with himself?" The emperor nodded, closed his eyes, and looked exhausted. Huang Zixia stood behind them, quietly listening to what they said.In the summer afternoon, the sound of cicadas chirping.She heard the emperor's voice, which was mixed with the noisy cicadas, and she was slightly weak: "Tomorrow, Dali Temple will have a public trial on this case. I have already ordered that the prisoner be dragged to the execution ground and executed promptly after the trial is over." Li Shubai pondered for a while, and asked: "Is this case conclusive?" "There are both witnesses and physical evidence." "If the real culprit is caught, it will be enough to comfort Tongchang's spirit in heaven." Li Shubai looked back at Huang Zixia, and said, "My brother has a second post in Dali Temple, and I will go tomorrow." "The weather is hot, and the spirit emblem cannot be suspended for a long time. I have already decided to temporarily send her to the Zhenling Mausoleum of the Emperor Father after the murderer is punished. After her mausoleum is completed, she will be buried in the ground for peace." "It's so good." Li Shubai said, but saw the emperor leaning on the back of the chair, looking up at the sky, he didn't move, he didn't even move his eyes, only breathing became heavier. He paused for a long time, bid farewell to the emperor, and left the princess mansion with Huang Zixia.
In the summer afternoon, the capital city was shrouded in a fiery atmosphere, and there were few pedestrians on the street. In the ice bucket in the carriage, there are ice cubes carved into fairy mountains, but they have been eroded by the heat, and the melted icebergs can no longer see the appearance of immortals and flower trees, only the outline of the mountain remains. There was a slight sound of melting ice dripping on the water in the bucket. Even sitting next to the ice cubes, Huang Zixia still felt hot and sweated slightly on his back.She felt Li Shubai looking at her eyes, which made her feel extremely nervous. In this situation, it is almost like knowing oneself and not knowing the enemy, and there is no possibility of controlling the situation.So in order to avoid a complete defeat, she gritted her teeth and opened her mouth first: "I want to ask the prince a question." There was a trace of surprise in his scrutinized eyes: "What?" "Is there any way to make people hallucinate and see things that didn't happen?" Li Shubai shook his head and said, "Impossible." "However, I just met Yuxuan, and he said that I held that bag of arsenic in my hand on the day my parents died, and I looked weird." Yuxuan, when these two words came out of her mouth, there seemed to be waves in her heart, but immediately, like ripples, they became invisible. Li Shubai thought for a while, and said: "Perhaps, this can explain why he always insists that you are the murderer - because he saw you in his eyes and did some abnormal behavior when the accident happened." "But I really haven't done it!" she insisted. "Did he remember it wrong, or did you forget?" Li Shubai asked again. "He remembered wrongly." Huang Zixia didn't hesitate. "Perhaps there is another possibility that he was wrong—this is a lie." "However... what's the point of him lying in front of a client like me?" Huang Zixia asked blankly. "You are the party involved, and if you don't know, how can I know?" Li Shubai's voice became colder, "Besides, didn't you already make an appointment to meet in Chengdu Mansion? When the time comes when you confront each other, you will understand .” Huang Zixia heard his cold tone and fell silent, hearing the "tick" of the ice water falling, the carriage also stopped slowly, and Kui Wang's mansion had arrived. When Huang Zixia got off the carriage, she just felt a rush of heat, like a tangible wave, which made her stagger accidentally. Li Shubai was right behind her, raising his hand to support her. She stood firm and was about to thank him, but he let go of his hand and walked past her to the inside. She stood there, watched his back for a while, then turned and walked towards the stable. He didn't look back, but the back of his head seemed to have eyes, and a cold voice came: "Where are you going?" "Tai Chi Palace," she said back, "I want to see if I can save the maids and eunuchs around the princess."
"Eunuch Yang, are you all right?" When Queen Wang woke up from her afternoon nap, she still seemed lazy.The hall is deep and deep, and the queen and queen have icy muscles and bones, and a gauze dress surrounds her like a light cloud, as if she has not been invaded by the heat. But Huang Zixia, who galloped all the way from King Kui's mansion, was much worse. A lock or two of her hair was scattered on her forehead, and there were still tiny beads of sweat on her nose. He looked very embarrassed. Empress Wang raised her hand to signal everyone around her to step back first, then she picked up a brocade handkerchief on the table and asked, "What's the matter for coming to me in such a hurry?" Huang Zixia took it, pressed the sweat on his nose, and said in a low voice: "Congratulations, Queen, returning to Daming Palace is just around the corner." Empress Wang focused on her face for a moment, and seeing her serious expression, she smiled slightly and said: "Penglai Palace is near the water, it is indeed much cooler than here, it would be nice if we can go back as soon as possible." Huang Zixia nodded and said: "The servant knows that the queen is definitely preparing to return to the palace, but it is also the duty of the servant to help the queen go back as soon as possible." "Tell me first, why you came to tell me this matter in such a hurry." Empress Wang leaned on the couch, holding a white round fan painted with celestial maidens scattered flowers, and fanned it lightly, seemingly without a trace. "Concubine Guo Shu has a secret, which may be discovered by the eunuchs and maids close to Princess Tongchang. Now that the princess is dead, she wants all the eunuchs and maids close to the princess to be buried." Queen Wang covered her lips with a white fan, but she couldn't hide her slightly curved eyes: "It seems that this is a very important secret." "Actually... it's just a sentence," she said in a low voice, "and I have one more thing to ask the queen to do." "what?" "The other person involved in this matter, Zheng Yuxuan, the supervisor of the Imperial Academy, is my ... old friend. I believe that as long as the queen knows this secret, it can be used to admonish Concubine Guo Shu. There is no need to let this secret be made public." Queen Wang smiled and said: "Naturally, I can tolerate Concubine Guo Shu staying in the palace for more than ten years, so naturally I will continue to let her be my right-hand man in the palace." Huang Zixia bowed her head silently, and said in a low voice, "Yes." "Then, what is Guo Shufei's secret?" In front of Huang Zixia's eyes, suddenly, like a dream, the wind and lotus on the day she and Yu Xuan first met flashed across. The stalks scattered in her arms were quietly floating on the water, and the circles of ripples disturbed the lake, and it was impossible to restore calm again. . When she first moved to live in a mansion outside, Yuxuan stood outside her house for half a night because of insomnia, the snowflakes on her eyelashes melted into water and dripped down like teardrops. On the day of the tragedy at her house, he helped himself to hold plum blossoms in his arms. The burning red plums bloomed next to his smile, more beautiful than all the flowers she had ever seen. Also, the fragments of letter paper that he threw into the incense burner of Xingtang Temple faded in the fire, leaving only a piece of black ash. She closed her eyes, and whispered like a raving, "May the moonlight shine on you."
The sunset glow is like brocade, laying on Chang'an City.Huang Zixia raised his head and looked west, the sky was so low that he could touch it. After the most splendid glow, another day is about to pass. Huang Zixia returned to King Kui's mansion, sat down in his room, took off the hairpin on his head, drew unconsciously on the bed, and integrated all the clues. After confirming that everything was correct, she inserted the hairpin back into the silver hairpin, sat on the bed and thought for a while, and finally found out where her strange feeling came from—— Li Shubai didn't call her. Usually, when she returns to the mansion, someone always tells her that the prince asked you to go. But now, when she had made such great progress, she didn't know to whom to report the case. She sighed, lay down on the bed, and stared at what happened in the alley next to the Princess Mansion in her mind again. Yu Xuan said that he saw a pack of arsenic in her hand with a strange look on her face. Absolutely impossible—in her memory, after she bought arsenic and came back, before she had time to make the bet with him, she heard that there was a case of extermination in Longzhou, so she went to Longzhou to investigate, and after visiting, she found that it was Because her parents separated her from her lover, the daughter poisoned the food at home, and together with herself, the whole family went to hell.She wrote a letter to him with a sigh of emotion, and returned to Chengdu Mansion two days later.It was dusk when she returned home due to exhaustion, and she fell asleep after eating. She slept so hard that night that she didn't even have a dream.Early the next morning, when Yu Xuan came over, she had just woken up. He asked her about what was written in the letter, and seeing that she was fine, he went with her to the backyard to see plum blossoms as usual. Arrived with uncle, said goodbye and left. At that time, she hadn't even opened the cabinet where the arsenic was kept, so how could she take that bag of arsenic to look at it? Either his memory was wrong, or his own memory was wrong. Is he lying?But his expression is definitely not fake, and what's the point of lying in front of his face? Huang Zixia felt extremely exhausted, and involuntarily lay back on the bed, staring blankly at the top of her head in a daze. "Still motionless, what are you thinking?" A voice sounded from the side. She was in a trance as if in an illusion, and subconsciously murmured: "Yuxuan..." After saying these two words, she suddenly felt her scalp go numb, and a thin layer of sweat immediately oozes out from her back. She quickly turned over and sat up, looking at Li Shubai who was standing at the door. The slanting light of the setting sun had already dimmed, and the sky was about to turn black. The bleak rays of the sun rendered his outline slightly, but it was not clear, let alone the expression on his face at this time. She hurriedly stood up and walked towards him: "I'm thinking about what he told me." She didn't know why she was so eager to explain to him, but there was no emotion on Li Shubai's face. He stared at her under the slanting light and gave a faint "oh". Huang Zixia felt that it was simply too unfair. Why was she standing inside the house clearly reflected by the sunset light coming in from outside, while he was standing in the backlight, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see the specific expression clearly, even more so. Unclear those things buried deep in his eyes. He ignored her, turned around and walked out. Huang Zixia anxiously followed him to Zhenliuxie, but he just kept silent along the way, making her even more stressed. It wasn't until they were in the Zhenliu Pavilion that Huang Zixia plucked up the courage and said, "If the lord has something to do with me, just ask Jing Yu and the others to call me..." But he didn't answer, just asked: "You went to see Queen Wang, how did she react?" "The empress should order someone to summon Concubine Guo Shu, after all, the timing is good now." "Well, the emperor killed innocent people indiscriminately for the sake of Princess Tongchang. Today, there are quite a few ministers in the court who speak out, but instead they are angered and demoted, and the princess in the palace is already disturbed by this. But who can blame the emperor? So we can only blame Concubine Guo Shu." At this moment, it is the unanimous desire of the imperial court and the harem for the Queen to return to the palace to restrain Concubine Guo Shu, and even the common people in the capital are discussing and looking forward to it in private. "Perhaps even the heavens are helping the queen. When she needed it most, Princess Tongchang, whom Concubine Guo Shu relied on the most, died, and because of this, the government and the public were disturbed." Huang Zixia said in a low voice. Li Shubai shook his head and said, "No, it's not a fluke that Empress Wang has come to this day. The people standing behind her are the ones that cannot be ignored." Huang Zixia asked: "The Wang family?" "It doesn't count, it doesn't count," Li Shubai cast his gaze into the glass bottle on the desk, looked at the little fish that was quietly sinking to the bottom, and said slowly, "The Wang family who is separated from the Wang family is the one who really controls you." The hands behind the scenes of this imperial court." In front of Huang Zixia's eyes, suddenly flashed the man standing on the pavilion of Taiji Palace, looking at her from a distance. A man in purple robe and jade belt, with eyes like poisonous snakes. He pressed her hand into the fish tank and let Agashne swallow the coagulated blood on her hand. She suddenly understood in an instant, and murmured: "Wang Zongshi." Li Shubai didn't say anything, just pulled the corner of his lips slightly, and said, "If it wasn't for Wang Zongshi's strength, how could I have come to where I am today, how could I have sat where I am today?" Huang Zixia was silent. Ten years ago, the late emperor passed away, and Wang Zongshi served as the lieutenant of Zuo Shence's guard army. He beheaded Wang Guichang, Ma Gongru, Wang Jufang and others who were planning to rebel, and personally led the guard of honor to welcome the emperor into the palace. heroes. However, the emperor didn't know how difficult this position was until he ascended the throne. For nearly a hundred years in this dynasty, the government was mostly controlled by eunuchs, and countless courtiers died at their hands, even the emperor was killed by eunuchs.The former emperor pretended to be a fool, kept a low profile for many years, and finally killed Ma Yuanzhi, who had supported him in the first place, but the current emperor never deceived Wang Zongshi, who had already taken precautions, and was completely powerless to resist. Fortunately, Xuzhou was in chaos three years ago. After Kui King Li Shubai quelled the rebellion, with the power of the six major governors, the ten divisions of the capital also obeyed him, and the royal family finally cultivated their own power.King Kui's Mansion and the Shence Army are holding each other back, and these past few years have been the period of peace for the court and the emperor. Huang Zixia's eyes fell on his calm side, thinking in his heart, when the first emperor passed away, he was only thirteen years old, what was it like when he was sent out from the Daming Palace?How did he spend those six years as the unknown King Tong?At the age of nineteen, he became famous in the first battle and showed his sharpness. From then on, when he carried the survival of the entire Tang royal family on his back, what were he thinking? There is no leisure in his life, he has countless responsibilities, and he is exhausted.She had thought about what the joy of his life was, but now that she thought about it, fun was too extravagant for him. In his entire life, he might only have responsibilities to Li Tang's royal family, and he had no life of his own. Because his surname is Li, he is Li Shubai, King Kui. Huang Zixia looked at him silently, but he turned his head, impartially, the eyes of the two fell on the same spot, and they looked at each other for a long time. She lowered her eyes, but he still looked at her and asked: "Concubine Guo Shu's secret has been leaked, have you ever thought about what will happen to Yu Xuan?" She bit her lower lip and said in a low voice: "The queen won't expose this matter. What good does it do her? The smartest thing for the queen to do is to warn Concubine Guo Shu and let Concubine Guo Shu also come forward and propose that the queen return to the court." Just one of the people in the palace." "Compared with the queen, Concubine Guo Shu is really not very smart, isn't she? She only has one daughter, but she wants to use the emperor's love for the princess to bring down the queen who has two children and raises the prince herself; In the palace where words and deeds are prudent, yet you still write love poems with your own hands and give them a handle." Li Shubai said without any emotion, thought for a while, and then asked, "When did you start to be sure that you have personal interests with Yuxuan? Not Princess Tongchang, but Concubine Guo Shu?" "In Zhijin Garden, when I saw the unfinished line of poetry," Huang Zixia raised his face, staring at the lights that were lit up one by one in the darkening sky outside the window, and said softly, "Since it is not the same昌公主的笔迹，那么当日在知锦园的那个人，应该才是杀害豆蔻的凶手。原本已经准备让豆蔻移居于外的公主，能一力护持，宁可让驸马误会怨恨自己，也要遮掩的那个人，自然就是……她的母亲郭淑妃了。而她的字迹，与那一日禹宣烧掉的信上的那句诗，是一样的。” 天色渐暗，室内的灯显得越发明亮起来，投在他们两人的身上，明处越明，暗处越暗。 “而且，那封信上的句子，'此时相望不相闻，愿逐月华流照君'，也绝不应该是公主的言辞。公主予取予求，可以直闯国子监向祭酒要求让禹宣亲自来讲学，又怎么会给禹宣写这样可望而不可即的诗句？” 李舒白微微一哂，望着水中一动不动，犹如睡着的小红鱼，说：“坊间传言，说郭淑妃在公主府频繁出入，与驸马韦保衡有私；坊间亦有传言，说同昌公主强求国子监学正禹宣入府，让驸马蒙羞——然而事实真相究竟如何，又有谁真的洞悉呢？” 黄梓瑕问：“王爷是何时察觉此事的？” “比你早一点，”他坐在案前，望着那条小鱼，神情平静至极，“在九鸾钗被盗，你去栖云阁内检查时，我在阁外栏杆旁，看见了下面的郭淑妃。她给了禹宣一个东西——后来，你告诉我那是一封信，并告知了我信上残存的那一句话。” 她踌躇着，终于还是问：“王爷为何没有告诉我？” “我认为，此事与你、与本案无关。” 黄梓瑕默然不语，许久，才说：“无论如何，禹宣与我，毕竟多年相识相知，我还是应该知道他的事情……” “那又何须我来转述？反正他在成都府等你，你大可自己与他慢慢去说。” 自两人相遇以来，他第一次以这种尖锐的口气打断她说话，让她不觉诧异，抬眼看着他，说道：“等此间的事情结束时，王爷说过会立即带我过去的。” “迫不及待，不是吗？”他冷笑，问。 黄梓瑕愕然问：“难道还要在京城耽搁吗？” “那你为什么不跟着禹宣一起赴蜀，还要我带你去？” 黄梓瑕一头雾水，不明白他忽然翻脸是为什么，只能解释道：“此案已经定审，若王爷不帮我，我绝难在蜀中翻案。之前我与王爷已经谈妥此事，难道事到如今，王爷要反悔吗？” “本王此生，从不反悔。”李舒白脸上的神情，越发冰寒，他转过目光，再也不看她，只冷冷说道，“你说得对，我们原本便是互开条件，彼此需要借助对方而已。等到你家案情大白之时，我们便可分道扬镳，再不相欠了。” 黄梓瑕觉得他的话语中，有些东西自己是不承认的，但按照他们一开始的约定而言，确实又是如此。 她抬头看见他面容冷峻冰凉，一时只觉得心乱如麻，不由得向他走近了一步，说：“无论如何，但求王爷不要忘记承诺，带我去蜀中调查我父母家人的血案，为我全家伸冤……” 她的手不自觉地向他伸去，在越过几案之时，只觉得手腕一凉，放在案角的琉璃盏被她的手带倒，顿时向着下面的青砖地倒了下去，砰的一声脆响，琉璃盏摔得粉碎，水花四溅之中，只留下那条小红鱼徒劳地在地上乱蹦。
After leaving Daningfang, Zhou Ziqin headed southwest, Huang Zixia headed southeast, the two parted ways and went back separately. When Huang Zixia walked to Xingningfang, he suddenly saw many people running on the road, and some people shouted: "Hurry up and go to the Sixteenth King's House! It's gone if it's too late!" Huang Zixia entered without knowing, still surprised, an old lady who was running with the crowd next to her was crushed and fell to the ground, screaming repeatedly.Huang Zixia hurried to help her up, and asked, "Mother-in-law, where are you going?" "Oh, I heard that the Emperor and Concubine Guo Shu are throwing money everywhere near the Princess Mansion of the Sixteenth King's House! Aren't we all here to pick up money?" Huang Zixia was confused, so she walked quickly along with the crowd. When I got there, I saw many people gathered around the gate of the mansion, each bending over to look for something on the ground.She had no choice but to find another person who was holding something in her hand and asked: "Brother, I heard that the emperor and Concubine Guo Shu are throwing money, is it true?" "What throwing money? Vulgar!" The uncle seemed to be a scribe, and he spread his hand for her to see.Huang Zixia saw that in his palm was a silver flower inlaid with pearls, it was exquisite in style, it should be a palace ornament. "Just now the emperor and Concubine Guo Shu came to the princess' mansion to watch Li Keji's newly choreographed team dance "Sigh for a Hundred Years". Brocades were laid out from the palace to the princess' mansion. Hundreds of people came here from Daming Palace, singing and dancing along the way. When tin falls, these people are here to pick it up.” Huang Zixia suddenly realized, and listened quietly. Amidst the commotion around him, he could vaguely hear the sound of singing and dancing coming from inside. She avoided the gate and walked to a place where the crowd was sparse, and she heard hundreds of people singing in unison.The tone is mournful, and it turns sad. Standing here and listening to it from a distance, she feels that there are thousands of melancholy in her chest, and she feels sad. She leaned against the wall and quietly looked up at the sky.In the summer afternoon, there was no wind, and the distant tones were blown by the wind. That kind of sad tones were inextricably linked, cutting pain in a certain part of her heart, and tears fell down unconsciously. She felt that her face was covered with tears and she was in a state of embarrassment, so she raised her hand to take out her handkerchief, but found that it contained the incense ash she had just brought, which was no longer usable. Holding the embers of Linglingxiang in her hand, she was in a daze, but someone behind her handed her a pure white handkerchief silently. She turned her head, opened her eyes wide, and looked at him through the tears. Yu Xuan. He was wearing sky blue clothes, standing in the blue-gray streets, such a plain color, such a beautiful face. She raised her hand slowly, took the handkerchief, and pressed it to her face. All the hot tears were sucked away by the soft linen without leaving any trace. As if losing strength, she involuntarily leaned against the wall, buried her face in the veil he gave her in this empty alley, and didn't look up for a long time. On it is his breath, light and illusory, the lotus flower that blooms at the beginning of summer night, the withered plum in winter, the flames and ice and snow in her dream. "At the gate of Dali Temple, I saw you." His voice sounded softly in her ear, slightly in a trance, but it really came into her ear. "I saw you hiding behind that tree, avoiding me. I suppose so. Even if we met, what could we say?" His voice was so slow, Huang Zixia could clearly feel his hesitation and sadness. He must be the same as her, thinking of those days when they were together, thinking of many things that cannot be forgotten or retrieved. "I saw that girl, she must have been rescued by you from the Dali Temple." He raised his head, looked at the dazzlingly white clouds in the sky, and said in a slow and distant tone, "I am on the way back, want A lot. I think back then, you were able to travel thousands of miles, day and night, to overturn the case of a stranger just for a sentence on the dossier that was worthy of scrutiny. Even if you are notorious now, you still work hard in your own predicament. Help others. In contrast, I should be the person closest to you in this world, but I stubbornly believe that you are the murderer. It really...wasted our relationship over the years." Huang Zixia clenched her lower lip, and could not make a sound, only her trembling shoulders betrayed her. Yu Xuan let out a long sigh, and gently pressed her shoulder. They had done more intimate things before.But this first contact since the long-lost reunion made Huang Zixia unconsciously turn his body away, leaving his hands hanging in the air. After a long time, he silently withdrew his hand, and said softly: "You shouldn't have said those things to me, you shouldn't have done those things, otherwise, I would never believe that you would do such a thing, no matter what .” Huang Zixia took off the handkerchief, her expression has become calm, except for the reddish eye sockets, there is no abnormality anymore. She asked, "What did you and I... say? What did you do?" He stared at her unblinkingly, his voice was very low but very clear: "Just the night before your family died tragically, when you came back from Longzhou, when I went to look for you... I saw you staring at the bag in your hand. That bag of arsenic, with a strange look on his face." Huang Zixia opened her eyes wide in astonishment, stared at him blankly, and murmured, "What?" "That day was when you came back from Longzhou. I still remember the letter you just wrote to me. The letter said that the case in Longzhou was caused by the fact that the daughter was hindered by love, so she put heartbroken grass in her diet. The whole family died. You also said in the letter, if you and I are in this situation, will we abandon our family and embark on the road of no return?" Yuxuan looked at her with pain in his eyes, "Then the letter The words made me very worried. When I saw you came back and took out the arsenic, I immediately asked you to throw the arsenic away, but you threw it in the drawer, locked it again, and said, maybe it is something that can help us together .” Huang Zixia looked at him blankly, as if looking at someone he didn't know at all: "I remember Longzhou, I remember the contents of that letter, but I don't remember that I took out the arsenic to read it... I don't remember saying that Get past that sentence!" Yu Xuan stared at her with sharp eyes like a knife, but her face was full of sorrow and bewilderment, so he couldn't see any flaws. His face turned slightly pale, and he held his temples, because he was so excited that even his breathing seemed heavy. He said with difficulty: "A Xia, it seems that I really misunderstood your actions at that time... It's just that the moment you held the arsenic, that look was too scary, and that night, all your family members died of the arsenic. Next... How can you tell me to trust you again?" "Impossible!" Huang Zixia interrupted him with a trembling voice, "After I bought the bag of arsenic, I went to Longzhou, and the arsenic remained untouched until I came back! How could you see me taking With that bag of arsenic?" Yu Xuan stared at her relentlessly. This person who had always been elegant and handsome, now had a face full of fear, and could only murmur a few words: "Impossible? Impossible..." The whole world has come to a standstill, only they are standing under the unreachable high altitude, looking at each other, just a few feet away, thousands of years apart. Scorching heat and coldness, blood and chill, unknowable fate and unfathomable providence, all poured on them. "Yang Chonggu." A cold, slightly ruthless voice came from behind, breaking the almost frozen deathlike silence between them. Huang Zixia turned her head and saw Li Shubai standing at the entrance of the alley, looking at them motionless.The backlight came from behind him, she couldn't see his expression clearly, only saw his outline, an inescapable sense of oppression came invisible. In the end, she saw his clear and deep eyes, which pulled her out of the dazed situation for an instant, and found herself standing in this deserted alley.The singing is still coming from far away, the sad tune of "Sighing for a Hundred Years", which is tear-jerking, echoes faintly in the sky, and the flowing clouds in the sky seem to be stopped by the music and stop flowing. On the opposite side, Yu Xuan seemed to have come back to his senses. There was still a thin layer of cold sweat on his forehead, but his expression had calmed down. He bowed his head to salute Li Shubai, and when he turned to leave, he stopped again and looked at Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia looked at him silently, countless complicated thoughts on her pale face made her hesitate to speak. He asked in a low voice: "You told me last time that you want to go back to Shuzhong to find out the truth?" Huang Zixia nodded and said, "I will go back." "Then, I'll wait for you in Chengdu Mansion." His eyes looked deeply into her eyes, as if she met him for the first time when she knew nothing about love many years ago, and saw him staring at her own deep reflection in her eyes. In this world, no one knew that she had grown from a little girl to a young girl in that instant.
When Li Shubai and Huang Zixia entered the Tongchang Princess Mansion, the dance team of "A Hundred Years of Sigh" had already dispersed. On the white stone floor illuminated by the sun, the pearls and emeralds scattered all over the ground are particularly dazzling.The body of Princess Tongchang has been placed in the coffin, but there are still large and small ice cubes in the room. There is also a smaller coffin next to it, which is filled with the princess' nurse Yunniang. The creases on her neck are still there, and she accompanied the princess to sleep with a distorted expression. The emperor and concubine Guo Shu sat in front of the hall, while the maids and eunuchs behind them were wiping away their tears.The emperor's face was full of vicious rage, which was the accumulation of despair that could not be vented. Seeing Li Shubai bringing Huang Zixia in, the eunuchs and maids around the emperor were visibly relieved.Seeing Li Shubai looking at his nurse Yunniang, the emperor said: "It's too lonely for the princess to be down there alone. I will let Yunniang go down and continue to take care of the princess." Seeing that the man was dead, Li Shubai could only keep silent and sat down beside the emperor. Concubine Guo Shu covered her face and choked with sobs: "There are also those maids and eunuchs, and others are fine. Those who are close to me, if something happens to the princess, they are also responsible!" The emperor thought for a long time before slowly saying: "Eunuch Yang pleaded for them last time, I think it makes sense, let's wait for now." "The emperor is sympathetic to them, but the ministers and concubines can be lonely in the ground just thinking about Linghui!" Concubine Guo Shu was out of breath, crying even more sadly, "Linghui was most afraid of loneliness since she was a child, and she always needed someone to accompany her, but now she is alone I have gone, there are few people around to serve me, how can I feel at ease as a mother..." She cried sadly, but Huang Zixia only felt a gust of cold air rise from the soles of her feet, along her spine all the way to the top of her head. Li Shubai's gaze was also turning to her, and both of them saw Concubine Guo Shu's intentions in each other's eyes. "Concubine Shu, don't talk about it, I feel bad," the emperor sighed, but he didn't object, he just said to Li Shubai, "Just now, I called Xuezheng Yuxuan from the Imperial College whom the princess liked before he was alive. " Concubine Guo Shu was beside her with an uncertain expression, she gently stretched out her hand to cover the back of the emperor's hand.The emperor didn't seem to feel it, and just said: "I have also heard rumors in Beijing that Linghui once invited Yuxuan to give lectures for him, but he refused many times. Later, she went to the Imperial College to ask for a sacrifice to speak, and he agreed. The "Zhou Rituals" was talked about in the princess mansion - I laughed it off at the time, but now that I think about it, Linghui is going to lie on the ground alone forever in such a prime age. Since she likes to hear Yu Xuan talk about "Zhou Rituals", I Can you not satisfy him?" Huang Zixia only felt her heart skip a beat, but then thought that seeing Yu Xuan come out just now, it seems that the emperor let him go. "I really want to kill him." The emperor said, lost his mind for a while, then raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "After seeing the man, I somehow gave up this idea." Li Shubai didn't speak, but turned his head slightly, and his eyes fell on the princess' coffin. "Maybe it's because I'm old, and I can't bring myself to destroy a jade tree." The emperor said, turning his head to look at Li Shubai, "Have you ever seen that Yuxuan?" "I've seen it before, it's elegant and elegant, it's unparalleled in the world." Li Shubai said lightly. Concubine Guo Shu sat there in a daze for a long time, then she suddenly stood up for some reason, walked quickly to Princess Tongchang's coffin, supported the edge of the coffin and burst into tears. Li Shubai was calm as usual, and said: "The emperor is right not to kill him. Otherwise, if he is buried in the ground with the princess, how will the son-in-law deal with himself?" The emperor nodded, closed his eyes, and looked exhausted. Huang Zixia stood behind them, quietly listening to what they said.In the summer afternoon, the sound of cicadas chirping.She heard the emperor's voice, which was mixed with the noisy cicadas, and she was slightly weak: "Tomorrow, Dali Temple will have a public trial on this case. I have already ordered that the prisoner be dragged to the execution ground and executed promptly after the trial is over." Li Shubai pondered for a while, and asked: "Is this case conclusive?" "There are both witnesses and physical evidence." "If the real culprit is caught, it will be enough to comfort Tongchang's spirit in heaven." Li Shubai looked back at Huang Zixia, and said, "My brother has a second post in Dali Temple, and I will go tomorrow." "The weather is hot, and the spirit emblem cannot be suspended for a long time. I have already decided to temporarily send her to the Zhenling Mausoleum of the Emperor Father after the murderer is punished. After her mausoleum is completed, she will be buried in the ground for peace." "It's so good." Li Shubai said, but saw the emperor leaning on the back of the chair, looking up at the sky, he didn't move, he didn't even move his eyes, only breathing became heavier. He paused for a long time, bid farewell to the emperor, and left the princess mansion with Huang Zixia.
In the summer afternoon, the capital city was shrouded in a fiery atmosphere, and there were few pedestrians on the street. In the ice bucket in the carriage, there are ice cubes carved into fairy mountains, but they have been eroded by the heat, and the melted icebergs can no longer see the appearance of immortals and flower trees, only the outline of the mountain remains. There was a slight sound of melting ice dripping on the water in the bucket. Even sitting next to the ice cubes, Huang Zixia still felt hot and sweated slightly on his back.She felt Li Shubai looking at her eyes, which made her feel extremely nervous. In this situation, it is almost like knowing oneself and not knowing the enemy, and there is no possibility of controlling the situation.So in order to avoid a complete defeat, she gritted her teeth and opened her mouth first: "I want to ask the prince a question." There was a trace of surprise in his scrutinized eyes: "What?" "Is there any way to make people hallucinate and see things that didn't happen?" Li Shubai shook his head and said, "Impossible." "However, I just met Yuxuan, and he said that I held that bag of arsenic in my hand on the day my parents died, and I looked weird." Yuxuan, when these two words came out of her mouth, there seemed to be waves in her heart, but immediately, like ripples, they became invisible. Li Shubai thought for a while, and said: "Perhaps, this can explain why he always insists that you are the murderer - because he saw you in his eyes and did some abnormal behavior when the accident happened." "But I really haven't done it!" she insisted. "Did he remember it wrong, or did you forget?" Li Shubai asked again. "He remembered wrongly." Huang Zixia didn't hesitate. "Perhaps there is another possibility that he was wrong—this is a lie." "However... what's the point of him lying in front of a client like me?" Huang Zixia asked blankly. "You are the party involved, and if you don't know, how can I know?" Li Shubai's voice became colder, "Besides, didn't you already make an appointment to meet in Chengdu Mansion? When the time comes when you confront each other, you will understand .” Huang Zixia heard his cold tone and fell silent, hearing the "tick" of the ice water falling, the carriage also stopped slowly, and Kui Wang's mansion had arrived. When Huang Zixia got off the carriage, she just felt a rush of heat, like a tangible wave, which made her stagger accidentally. Li Shubai was right behind her, raising his hand to support her. She stood firm and was about to thank him, but he let go of his hand and walked past her to the inside. She stood there, watched his back for a while, then turned and walked towards the stable. He didn't look back, but the back of his head seemed to have eyes, and a cold voice came: "Where are you going?" "Tai Chi Palace," she said back, "I want to see if I can save the maids and eunuchs around the princess."
"Eunuch Yang, are you all right?" When Queen Wang woke up from her afternoon nap, she still seemed lazy.The hall is deep and deep, and the queen and queen have icy muscles and bones, and a gauze dress surrounds her like a light cloud, as if she has not been invaded by the heat. But Huang Zixia, who galloped all the way from King Kui's mansion, was much worse. A lock or two of her hair was scattered on her forehead, and there were still tiny beads of sweat on her nose. He looked very embarrassed. Empress Wang raised her hand to signal everyone around her to step back first, then she picked up a brocade handkerchief on the table and asked, "What's the matter for coming to me in such a hurry?" Huang Zixia took it, pressed the sweat on his nose, and said in a low voice: "Congratulations, Queen, returning to Daming Palace is just around the corner." Empress Wang focused on her face for a moment, and seeing her serious expression, she smiled slightly and said: "Penglai Palace is near the water, it is indeed much cooler than here, it would be nice if we can go back as soon as possible." Huang Zixia nodded and said: "The servant knows that the queen is definitely preparing to return to the palace, but it is also the duty of the servant to help the queen go back as soon as possible." "Tell me first, why you came to tell me this matter in such a hurry." Empress Wang leaned on the couch, holding a white round fan painted with celestial maidens scattered flowers, and fanned it lightly, seemingly without a trace. "Concubine Guo Shu has a secret, which may be discovered by the eunuchs and maids close to Princess Tongchang. Now that the princess is dead, she wants all the eunuchs and maids close to the princess to be buried." Queen Wang covered her lips with a white fan, but she couldn't hide her slightly curved eyes: "It seems that this is a very important secret." "Actually... it's just a sentence," she said in a low voice, "and I have one more thing to ask the queen to do." "what?" "The other person involved in this matter, Zheng Yuxuan, the supervisor of the Imperial Academy, is my ... old friend. I believe that as long as the queen knows this secret, it can be used to admonish Concubine Guo Shu. There is no need to let this secret be made public." Queen Wang smiled and said: "Naturally, I can tolerate Concubine Guo Shu staying in the palace for more than ten years, so naturally I will continue to let her be my right-hand man in the palace." Huang Zixia bowed her head silently, and said in a low voice, "Yes." "Then, what is Guo Shufei's secret?" In front of Huang Zixia's eyes, suddenly, like a dream, the wind and lotus on the day she and Yu Xuan first met flashed across. The stalks scattered in her arms were quietly floating on the water, and the circles of ripples disturbed the lake, and it was impossible to restore calm again. . When she first moved to live in a mansion outside, Yuxuan stood outside her house for half a night because of insomnia, the snowflakes on her eyelashes melted into water and dripped down like teardrops. On the day of the tragedy at her house, he helped himself to hold plum blossoms in his arms. The burning red plums bloomed next to his smile, more beautiful than all the flowers she had ever seen. Also, the fragments of letter paper that he threw into the incense burner of Xingtang Temple faded in the fire, leaving only a piece of black ash. She closed her eyes, and whispered like a raving, "May the moonlight shine on you."
The sunset glow is like brocade, laying on Chang'an City.Huang Zixia raised his head and looked west, the sky was so low that he could touch it. After the most splendid glow, another day is about to pass. Huang Zixia returned to King Kui's mansion, sat down in his room, took off the hairpin on his head, drew unconsciously on the bed, and integrated all the clues. After confirming that everything was correct, she inserted the hairpin back into the silver hairpin, sat on the bed and thought for a while, and finally found out where her strange feeling came from—— Li Shubai didn't call her. Usually, when she returns to the mansion, someone always tells her that the prince asked you to go. But now, when she had made such great progress, she didn't know to whom to report the case. She sighed, lay down on the bed, and stared at what happened in the alley next to the Princess Mansion in her mind again. Yu Xuan said that he saw a pack of arsenic in her hand with a strange look on her face. Absolutely impossible—in her memory, after she bought arsenic and came back, before she had time to make the bet with him, she heard that there was a case of extermination in Longzhou, so she went to Longzhou to investigate, and after visiting, she found that it was Because her parents separated her from her lover, the daughter poisoned the food at home, and together with herself, the whole family went to hell.She wrote a letter to him with a sigh of emotion, and returned to Chengdu Mansion two days later.It was dusk when she returned home due to exhaustion, and she fell asleep after eating. She slept so hard that night that she didn't even have a dream.Early the next morning, when Yu Xuan came over, she had just woken up. He asked her about what was written in the letter, and seeing that she was fine, he went with her to the backyard to see plum blossoms as usual. Arrived with uncle, said goodbye and left. At that time, she hadn't even opened the cabinet where the arsenic was kept, so how could she take that bag of arsenic to look at it? Either his memory was wrong, or his own memory was wrong. Is he lying?But his expression is definitely not fake, and what's the point of lying in front of his face? Huang Zixia felt extremely exhausted, and involuntarily lay back on the bed, staring blankly at the top of her head in a daze. "Still motionless, what are you thinking?" A voice sounded from the side. She was in a trance as if in an illusion, and subconsciously murmured: "Yuxuan..." After saying these two words, she suddenly felt her scalp go numb, and a thin layer of sweat immediately oozes out from her back. She quickly turned over and sat up, looking at Li Shubai who was standing at the door. The slanting light of the setting sun had already dimmed, and the sky was about to turn black. The bleak rays of the sun rendered his outline slightly, but it was not clear, let alone the expression on his face at this time. She hurriedly stood up and walked towards him: "I'm thinking about what he told me." She didn't know why she was so eager to explain to him, but there was no emotion on Li Shubai's face. He stared at her under the slanting light and gave a faint "oh". Huang Zixia felt that it was simply too unfair. Why was she standing inside the house clearly reflected by the sunset light coming in from outside, while he was standing in the backlight, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see the specific expression clearly, even more so. Unclear those things buried deep in his eyes. He ignored her, turned around and walked out. Huang Zixia anxiously followed him to Zhenliuxie, but he just kept silent along the way, making her even more stressed. It wasn't until they were in the Zhenliu Pavilion that Huang Zixia plucked up the courage and said, "If the lord has something to do with me, just ask Jing Yu and the others to call me..." But he didn't answer, just asked: "You went to see Queen Wang, how did she react?" "The empress should order someone to summon Concubine Guo Shu, after all, the timing is good now." "Well, the emperor killed innocent people indiscriminately for the sake of Princess Tongchang. Today, there are quite a few ministers in the court who speak out, but instead they are angered and demoted, and the princess in the palace is already disturbed by this. But who can blame the emperor? So we can only blame Concubine Guo Shu." At this moment, it is the unanimous desire of the imperial court and the harem for the Queen to return to the palace to restrain Concubine Guo Shu, and even the common people in the capital are discussing and looking forward to it in private. "Perhaps even the heavens are helping the queen. When she needed it most, Princess Tongchang, whom Concubine Guo Shu relied on the most, died, and because of this, the government and the public were disturbed." Huang Zixia said in a low voice. Li Shubai shook his head and said, "No, it's not a fluke that Empress Wang has come to this day. The people standing behind her are the ones that cannot be ignored." Huang Zixia asked: "The Wang family?" "It doesn't count, it doesn't count," Li Shubai cast his gaze into the glass bottle on the desk, looked at the little fish that was quietly sinking to the bottom, and said slowly, "The Wang family who is separated from the Wang family is the one who really controls you." The hands behind the scenes of this imperial court." In front of Huang Zixia's eyes, suddenly flashed the man standing on the pavilion of Taiji Palace, looking at her from a distance. A man in purple robe and jade belt, with eyes like poisonous snakes. He pressed her hand into the fish tank and let Agashne swallow the coagulated blood on her hand. She suddenly understood in an instant, and murmured: "Wang Zongshi." Li Shubai didn't say anything, just pulled the corner of his lips slightly, and said, "If it wasn't for Wang Zongshi's strength, how could I have come to where I am today, how could I have sat where I am today?" Huang Zixia was silent. Ten years ago, the late emperor passed away, and Wang Zongshi served as the lieutenant of Zuo Shence's guard army. He beheaded Wang Guichang, Ma Gongru, Wang Jufang and others who were planning to rebel, and personally led the guard of honor to welcome the emperor into the palace. heroes. However, the emperor didn't know how difficult this position was until he ascended the throne. For nearly a hundred years in this dynasty, the government was mostly controlled by eunuchs, and countless courtiers died at their hands, even the emperor was killed by eunuchs.The former emperor pretended to be a fool, kept a low profile for many years, and finally killed Ma Yuanzhi, who had supported him in the first place, but the current emperor never deceived Wang Zongshi, who had already taken precautions, and was completely powerless to resist. Fortunately, Xuzhou was in chaos three years ago. After Kui King Li Shubai quelled the rebellion, with the power of the six major governors, the ten divisions of the capital also obeyed him, and the royal family finally cultivated their own power.King Kui's Mansion and the Shence Army are holding each other back, and these past few years have been the period of peace for the court and the emperor. Huang Zixia's eyes fell on his calm side, thinking in his heart, when the first emperor passed away, he was only thirteen years old, what was it like when he was sent out from the Daming Palace?How did he spend those six years as the unknown King Tong?At the age of nineteen, he became famous in the first battle and showed his sharpness. From then on, when he carried the survival of the entire Tang royal family on his back, what were he thinking? There is no leisure in his life, he has countless responsibilities, and he is exhausted.She had thought about what the joy of his life was, but now that she thought about it, fun was too extravagant for him. In his entire life, he might only have responsibilities to Li Tang's royal family, and he had no life of his own. Because his surname is Li, he is Li Shubai, King Kui. Huang Zixia looked at him silently, but he turned his head, impartially, the eyes of the two fell on the same spot, and they looked at each other for a long time. She lowered her eyes, but he still looked at her and asked: "Concubine Guo Shu's secret has been leaked, have you ever thought about what will happen to Yu Xuan?" She bit her lower lip and said in a low voice: "The queen won't expose this matter. What good does it do her? The smartest thing for the queen to do is to warn Concubine Guo Shu and let Concubine Guo Shu also come forward and propose that the queen return to the court." Just one of the people in the palace." "Compared with the queen, Concubine Guo Shu is really not very smart, isn't she? She only has one daughter, but she wants to use the emperor's love for the princess to bring down the queen who has two children and raises the prince herself; In the palace where words and deeds are prudent, yet you still write love poems with your own hands and give them a handle." Li Shubai said without any emotion, thought for a while, and then asked, "When did you start to be sure that you have personal interests with Yuxuan? Not Princess Tongchang, but Concubine Guo Shu?" "In Zhijin Garden, when I saw the unfinished line of poetry," Huang Zixia raised his face, staring at the lights that were lit up one by one in the darkening sky outside the window, and said softly, "Since it is not the same昌公主的笔迹，那么当日在知锦园的那个人，应该才是杀害豆蔻的凶手。原本已经准备让豆蔻移居于外的公主，能一力护持，宁可让驸马误会怨恨自己，也要遮掩的那个人，自然就是……她的母亲郭淑妃了。而她的字迹，与那一日禹宣烧掉的信上的那句诗，是一样的。” 天色渐暗，室内的灯显得越发明亮起来，投在他们两人的身上，明处越明，暗处越暗。 “而且，那封信上的句子，'此时相望不相闻，愿逐月华流照君'，也绝不应该是公主的言辞。公主予取予求，可以直闯国子监向祭酒要求让禹宣亲自来讲学，又怎么会给禹宣写这样可望而不可即的诗句？” 李舒白微微一哂，望着水中一动不动，犹如睡着的小红鱼，说：“坊间传言，说郭淑妃在公主府频繁出入，与驸马韦保衡有私；坊间亦有传言，说同昌公主强求国子监学正禹宣入府，让驸马蒙羞——然而事实真相究竟如何，又有谁真的洞悉呢？” 黄梓瑕问：“王爷是何时察觉此事的？” “比你早一点，”他坐在案前，望着那条小鱼，神情平静至极，“在九鸾钗被盗，你去栖云阁内检查时，我在阁外栏杆旁，看见了下面的郭淑妃。她给了禹宣一个东西——后来，你告诉我那是一封信，并告知了我信上残存的那一句话。” 她踌躇着，终于还是问：“王爷为何没有告诉我？” “我认为，此事与你、与本案无关。” 黄梓瑕默然不语，许久，才说：“无论如何，禹宣与我，毕竟多年相识相知，我还是应该知道他的事情……” “那又何须我来转述？反正他在成都府等你，你大可自己与他慢慢去说。” 自两人相遇以来，他第一次以这种尖锐的口气打断她说话，让她不觉诧异，抬眼看着他，说道：“等此间的事情结束时，王爷说过会立即带我过去的。” “迫不及待，不是吗？”他冷笑，问。 黄梓瑕愕然问：“难道还要在京城耽搁吗？” “那你为什么不跟着禹宣一起赴蜀，还要我带你去？” 黄梓瑕一头雾水，不明白他忽然翻脸是为什么，只能解释道：“此案已经定审，若王爷不帮我，我绝难在蜀中翻案。之前我与王爷已经谈妥此事，难道事到如今，王爷要反悔吗？” “本王此生，从不反悔。”李舒白脸上的神情，越发冰寒，他转过目光，再也不看她，只冷冷说道，“你说得对，我们原本便是互开条件，彼此需要借助对方而已。等到你家案情大白之时，我们便可分道扬镳，再不相欠了。” 黄梓瑕觉得他的话语中，有些东西自己是不承认的，但按照他们一开始的约定而言，确实又是如此。 她抬头看见他面容冷峻冰凉，一时只觉得心乱如麻，不由得向他走近了一步，说：“无论如何，但求王爷不要忘记承诺，带我去蜀中调查我父母家人的血案，为我全家伸冤……” 她的手不自觉地向他伸去，在越过几案之时，只觉得手腕一凉，放在案角的琉璃盏被她的手带倒，顿时向着下面的青砖地倒了下去，砰的一声脆响，琉璃盏摔得粉碎，水花四溅之中，只留下那条小红鱼徒劳地在地上乱蹦。