Niao Ni
Chapter 511: Absurd Words (Urgently Soliciting Monthly Tickets)
Welcoming the Crown Prince outside the city gate were the civil and military officials of the court, as well as the three princes who had remained in Kyoto. After the customary greetings were exchanged, the Crown Prince very gently helped his two elder brothers and that youngest brother to their feet, holding their hands and looking at them with affection, speaking with choked emotion about the events that had transpired since their separation.
The First Prince looked at the Crown Prince with concern, confirming that this arduous journey had not caused his younger brother too much suffering, before he could finally set his mind at ease. Like others, he was guessing why the Emperor had assigned this task to the Crown Prince, but his status and position were different from those of others, and coupled with his own indifferent nature, he was unwilling to engage in deep speculation. Anyway, no matter how things turned out, it had nothing to do with him, as long as Chengqian was fine.
As for the Second Prince, who had been silent in his manor for nearly half a year, he greeted the Crown Prince's return with his signature smile, but the smile contained something else, seeping into the Crown Prince's heart bit by bit. The Crown Prince smiled slightly at him, nodded, and said nothing.
Li Chengqian held the hand of the Third Prince, looking at the serene and well-behaved face of this little boy beside him, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. As things had developed to this point, this youngest brother had already faintly become his greatest opponent, which was truly perplexing.
He suddenly thought that the new King of Southern Zhao Kingdom seemed to be about the same age as the Third Prince. His heart trembled slightly, and he subconsciously loosened his grip on the Third Prince's hand, but before his index finger could fully lift, he reacted and again held that small hand warmly and earnestly.
The Crown Prince knew that his Third Brother was much smarter than that snot-nosed king of Southern Zhao Kingdom, not to mention that his teacher was Fan Xian. However, the way the Third Prince looked at the Crown Prince seemed so calm, far exceeding the composure expected of a child, and there was not a trace of other emotions.
Several imperial sons stood outside the city gate, each with their own thoughts. The Crown Prince lowered his head slightly, looking at those somewhat lonely shadows in the sunlight, and thought with some sadness that fratricide seemed inevitable. Did brothers also have to cut each other down?
…
…
The Crown Prince entered the palace, performed the rites, replied to the memorial, paid his respects to the Emperor, and returned to his palace.
All the procedures were as normal and smooth as stipulated by the Ministry of Rites and the two temples, without the slightest problem. At least no one would notice the slightest abnormality in the expressions of His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince. However, people noticed that His Majesty seemed a little tired, and did not keep the Crown Prince in the Taiji Hall to talk for long, which was not at all the demeanor one would expect from a father when a son he had not seen for nearly half a year returned home. He simply let the Crown Prince return to the East Palace.
Led by Eunuch Yao, the Crown Prince arrived outside the gate of the East Palace. He looked up at the newly renovated East Palace and couldn't help but gasp in surprise. That day, he had burned this magnificent palace to the ground with a fire, and in just a few months, it had been restored to its original state… It seemed that his father really didn't want to make things too sensational.
He suddenly paused, turned his head, and asked Eunuch Yao, "I… I want to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager later. Is that permissible?"
Eunuch Yao was taken aback. He was responsible for escorting His Highness back to the East Palace, and was naturally secretly monitoring him in accordance with His Majesty's wishes, making sure that the Crown Prince returned to the palace and could only stay in the palace. This amounted to a form of house arrest, but the Crown Prince suddenly asked, and for such a reason, Eunuch Yao couldn't say anything.
He gave a wry smile, slowly hunched over, and replied in a slightly high-pitched voice, "Your Highness is scaring this servant. You are the master. How could you ask this servant about visiting the Empress Dowager?"
The Crown Prince smiled bitterly, said nothing, and pushed open the gate of the East Palace. However, as he entered, he subconsciously glanced in the direction of Guangxin Palace. He knew that his aunt had been placed under house arrest in the royal villa, guarded by people from the Supervisory Council. That Guangxin Palace, which he was so familiar with and longed for… was already empty. Still, he couldn't help but greedily look over there a few times.
Eunuch Yao carefully and unobtrusively watched the Crown Prince's expression from the side.
The Crown Prince simply acted as if he didn't exist, staring blankly at that place. He was thinking that people always had so many obsessions in this world, but he didn't know who was bewitched and who had gone mad. He thought of the words his aunt had said, and his heart began to pound. Yes, people were all crazy, the world was crazy, and everyone in the royal family had the seeds of madness. If he wanted to possess this world, he had to be crazy to the end.
Because of his madness, he restrained himself. He turned around again, smiled warmly at Eunuch Yao, and then closed the gate of the East Palace.
In theory, such an action as closing the gate would naturally be done by palace maids and eunuchs. However, the number of eunuchs and palace maids in the current East Palace was far less than the number stipulated by the rites. A few months ago, hundreds of eunuchs and palace maids had inexplicably disappeared from the entire palace. No one knew where they had gone. The Crown Prince knew that they had gone underground… Although many new eunuchs and palace maids had been added to the East Palace now, these novices were obviously a little nervous.
It was impossible to hide the deaths of so many people in the palace for long, but no court official dared to ask about it rashly. Firstly, this was not their business, and secondly, the officials were also afraid of death.
As he walked along, palace maids and eunuchs kowtowed and greeted him, but no one dared to step forward to serve him.
The Crown Prince smiled self-deprecatingly, entered the main hall, and then… frowned and twitched his nose, because he smelled a very strong smell of alcohol, a nauseatingly strong smell of alcohol, floating in this most noble palace of Qing Yu Nian.
The light in the hall was somewhat dim, with only a few candelabras lit. Li Chengqian paused, regained his vision, and then saw a familiar woman lying on the couch. On one side of the screen, a large leaf fan produced by the Imperial Treasury was waving back and forth, stirring the breeze and dispersing the suffocating smell in the hall.
The woman was wearing gorgeous palace attire, but the decoration was very poor. Her hair was somewhat disheveled, and she was holding a wine pot, pouring wine into her mouth, her eyes and face full of haggardness and despair.
The one pulling the large leaf fan was a small eunuch whose appearance could not be clearly seen.
Li Chengqian frowned in disgust, but then sighed, and a trace of tenderness and pity floated in his eyes as he walked forward. He knew why his mother had become like this, and he also hated her usual pretense of mystery, but once something happened, she was flustered and overwhelmed. But after all, she was his mother.
"Mother, your son has returned."
The half-drunk Empress was startled, rubbed her eyes for a long time, and finally saw clearly that the young man in front of her was her son. After a long time, she suddenly burst into tears, staggered to sit up, threw herself in front of the Crown Prince, hugged him tightly, and wailed, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
The Crown Prince hugged his mother's body and said with a gentle smile, "It's been several months, I've made you worry."
A trace of joy flashed in the Empress's eyes, and she said unclearly, "It's good that you're alive, it's good… I thought… I would never see you… again."
Ever since His Majesty sent the Crown Prince to Southern Zhao, the Empress's thoughts had been immersed in despair. She had been married to the Emperor for twenty years, and of course she knew how ruthless and terrifying the man on the dragon throne was. She had thought that it would be difficult for the Crown Prince to return after this trip to Southern Zhao. Now that she saw her living son, she was overjoyed and found a fleeting hope in her despair.
The Crown Prince smiled self-deprecatingly, hugged his mother, patted her back, and comforted her with a few words. The Empress still didn't know why the Emperor had suddenly abandoned the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince didn't tell her the truth either. Although the people in the royal family were crazy, they still did a good job in terms of filial piety.
Therefore, the Crown Prince didn't intend to tell his mother how many dangers and difficulties he had encountered along the way. If someone hadn't secretly helped him, even if he could come back alive, he would probably be confined to his bed and unable to recover.
Not long after, the half-drunk Empress gradually fell asleep in the Crown Prince's arms. The Crown Prince carried her to the couch, pulled up a very thin embroidered quilt, waved his hand to stop the action of the eunuch pulling the large leaf fan, took a round palace fan himself, and began to carefully fan the Empress.
He didn't know how long he fanned her, but after confirming that his mother was asleep, the Crown Prince threw down the round palace fan, sat by the couch in a daze, and buried his head deeply between his knees, not raising his head for a long time.
…
…
He raised his head, his face slightly pale, his eyes drifting to the side, looking at the only eunuch in this empty and lonely palace, and asked, "Has the Empress been drinking frequently these days?"
"Yes." The little eunuch walked out of the shadows and knelt down to salute very respectfully.
Looking at the eunuch's raised face, the Crown Prince was startled, then frowned and said with a slight sneer, "Out of a hundred or so people in the East Palace, you are the only one who is still alive."
That eunuch was none other than Hong Zhu, the former head eunuch of the East Palace. A trace of guilt appeared on Hong Zhu's face. He lowered his head and said nothing. The fact that all the servants of the entire East Palace had been executed by the Emperor's decree, and only he was still alive, had already explained the whole truth.
Although Hong Zhu had never informed the Emperor, he had informed Fan Xian, and it seemed that all this had started because of this. Therefore, the guilt on Hong Zhu's face was not feigned. During his time in the East Palace, the Empress and the Crown Prince had treated him well, especially the Empress, who was particularly gentle to him. These days, he had been secretly serving and monitoring the Empress under His Majesty's strict orders, watching how this Queen of the nation had gone from disappointment to despair, using alcohol to numb herself day and night. He couldn't help but feel a few traces of compassion in his heart.
The Crown Prince quietly stared at him, and suddenly laughed sadly to himself, "I thought you had offended Fan Xian and my father had driven you over here. It turns out… I forgot, you are ultimately a person who came out of the Imperial Study… Then is the feud between you and the Duke of Danbo real?"
"It is real." Hong Zhu replied with his head lowered, "But this servant is a citizen of Qing Yu Nian, so naturally His Majesty's orders come first."
For some reason, the Crown Prince suddenly became furious, grabbed something beside him and threw it over, cursing, "You castrated thing, you dare to call yourself a citizen!"
The thing he threw out was the round fan he had used to fan the Empress earlier. It was light and did not exert any force, did not hit Hong Zhu, but floated down beside Hong Zhu and landed on the hem of the eunuch's clothing.
The Crown Prince, afraid of waking his mother, had great difficulty calming his breathing and looked at Hong Zhu with resentment. "It seems that His Majesty really likes you… Knowing about such a big thing, he actually spared your dog's life."
Hong Zhu kowtowed twice, asking with some confusion, "Your Highness, what thing?"
The Crown Prince came to his senses, remained silent for a long time, and then suddenly said, "The current East Palace is no longer what it used to be. What are you still doing here? If you want to leave, I will go and tell my father."
Hong Zhu's face was somewhat hesitant. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "This servant… wants to stay in the East Palace."
"Stay in the East Palace to monitor me?" The Crown Prince lowered his voice and said sarcastically, "The entire palace is full of spies. What does it matter if there is one more of you?"
As things had developed to this day, the Crown Prince knew that His Majesty was ultimately going to depose him. Since that was the case, why bother pretending in his own secret palace?
"This servant wants to serve the Empress."
The Crown Prince was silent for a while, then suddenly sighed, a look of pity appearing on his face as he looked at Hong Zhu and said, "Xiuer is also dead?"
Hong Zhu's body trembled as he knelt on the ground. After a long time, he nodded sadly.
…
…
"What has been happening in the palace these past few months?" The Crown Prince quietly looked at Hong Zhu, asking a question that, in theory, would never have an answer.
Hong Zhu was silent for a long time, then said, "His Majesty went to the Han Guang Hall a few times, and was never very happy when he came out."
The Crown Prince smiled, feeling slightly more relaxed, and looked at Hong Zhu approvingly, saying, "Thank you."
Hong Zhu lowered his head and said, "This servant dare not."
The Crown Prince sat on the couch and began to think. His father had obviously not told the Empress Dowager the truth of this matter. Although the Emperor dominated the world and no one dared to stop him, such an Emperor as his father was still troubled by a trace of spiritual restraint.
Such as face, which was like waste paper, such as the word "filial piety."
The Qing Yu Nian valued governing the country with filial piety, and the Emperor had put a cage on himself.
Li Chengqian clenched his fists slightly, knowing that he still had some time. His father needed time to arrange public opinion in order to depose him, and even if the Eighth Bureau of the Supervisory Council wanted to create such rumors, it would not be so simple.
——————————————————————
"Xiuer is dead, I wonder what Hong Zhu is feeling." Fan Xian said softly, "If he were an ordinary eunuch, perhaps he wouldn't think too much, but I know that Hong Zhu has never been a simple eunuch. He has read books, he has been enlightened, so he values gratitude and bears grudges, and values loyalty… In the end, the reason why Xiuer was killed is my problem, his problem, it is the two of us who single-handedly caused the deaths of hundreds of people in the palace."
He frowned, "It seems that we still lacked some imagination when it came to His Majesty's ruthlessness. Okay, even if Hong Zhu doesn't hate me, he must hate himself, will this cause any trouble?"
He said okay again, and then said sadly, "But I am the one who caused the deaths of those hundreds of people after all… Yes, I am a very indifferent and ruthless person, but I am ultimately not a monster like Uncle Wu Zhu, I still feel a little strange in my heart. I told Haitang before that I might not even blink an eye if I killed dozens or hundreds of people, but I can't be an Emperor because I can't remain calm when tens of thousands of people die in front of me."
"The Emperor wants to depose the Crown Prince, and I am secretly influencing it… Of course, even if I don't influence it, this matter will ultimately break out." Fan Xian shook his head, "But now I want the Emperor not to depose the Crown Prince so quickly, why? Isn't this very boring and ridiculous? What am I afraid of anyway?"
"After cooking oil with fire, there will be cold leftovers…" He laughed self-deprecatingly, "If the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, and the Eldest Princess are all done for, then I will be those leftovers. Even if His Majesty really loves me and is willing to take me to conquer a big, big world… But you also know that I am a pacifist, um, a very hypocritical pacifist, I don't like fighting, isn't everything I have done in the past two years in order to maintain the current situation?"
"So I have to delay it, at least until I am ready, I can't let the Emperor enter the track of war preparation, then let the eldest go to lead the army, and let me be the supervisor of the army, killing into Northern Qi and Dongyi, with only dead souls under the knife… Just thinking about this iron-blooded life makes me feel sad."
"This is the latent main contradiction, you know it."
After Fan Xian finished saying this, he put away the piece of paper in front of him, put it back in the box, and then began to sigh, annoyed by his curiosity. He always couldn't help but take out his mother's letter and read it again, but every time he read it, it was a pain in the ass.
He was in Hangzhou at this time, in Hua Garden. The big box at the door was still open, and the silver ingots inside shone with a beautiful light.
Like Fan Shangshu, he also learned to talk to a piece of paper. It's just that his father was talking to a portrait, but he didn't have that ability, so he had to talk to a letter.
There were many things that he couldn't tell people, and the only few people who could be told were not by his side, so Fan Xian was very suffocated. There was even a time when he regarded Wang Qinian as his best listener, but in order to prevent Lao Wang from being scared into a heart attack by his words, he finally stopped the mental torture of Lao Wang.
Uncle Wu Zhu was not here, Ruoruo was not here, Wan'er was not here, Haitang was not here. Who could he confide in, even if he had thousands of words? The rebellious thoughts that the world could not tolerate, where could he get support from?
Fan Xian gradually began to feel that loneliness, the meaning contained in "old mother is very lonely."
And he also had unprecedented self-doubt about his second life.