The Gilded Cage

In the Temple of Ganlu, cold wind poured in, but Xiao Kezhi refused to close the door, but sat quietly on the couch, staring at the night outside the temple in awe.

He just started to meditate just to make his excited mind clear up and think carefully about what he really thought.

But as long as she was still in the temple, he couldn't settle down completely and sort out all the clues. He had to hold the book and read at night for the time being. Now that people are gone, and the huge nectar hall is empty and quiet, he finally calmed down completely, in his heart. Sort out everything that has happened since returning to Chang'an.

From an early age, the difficult situation made him develop the habit of taking one step and watching ten steps. After returning to Chang'an, he always firmly grasped everything.

The only exception was the niece and daughter-in-law.

At first, it was her unforgettable beauty that attracted his attention. Later, it was her initiative and ulterior motives that made him unable to look away little by little.

He seemed involuntary, but in fact he deliberately condoned.

Everything tonight is what you want between adult men and women. After this attempt, he did feel the beauty of it. Even now that she had just left, he was already a little bit ready to move.

The marrow knows the taste, that's about it.

Everything seemed to be expected, and there seemed to be something wrong.

He concentrated his eyebrows in thought, and slowly recalled the complicated emotions that flashed in his heart when he saw her holding on to her exhausted body and actively serving him.

Some were stunned, some disagreed, and there seemed to be some pity that made him uncertain.

This kind of pity is different from the simple pity that she felt when she was the daughter of Chu Qianyu but became the princess when she first saw her. It was more of a heartache for her.

This is what makes him feel wrong, as if something he has never experienced before is gradually taking root in his heart, breaking out of the ground, and becoming clear a little bit.

He thought that he probably had a vague feeling for her unconsciously.

Suddenly thinking of this possibility, he was a little surprised, but then he felt it made sense.

He is a person of great patience and perseverance, which is probably also a kind of talent. It is this talent that made him from a forgotten down-and-out prince to today's great cool emperor.

When he was a teenager, he was angry when he witnessed the civilians in the border area being robbed by the Beirong people. This anger supported him for more than ten years of hard training in riding and shooting. Peace on one side.

Because of a word of encouragement from others, he changed his plan to follow his mother's last wish and grow old in the border area. He will return to Chang'an and board the throne of the emperor he dreamed of as a lifelong wish, and he has been dormant for many years. , Try to find opportunities to get closer to the center of power when it is hard for others to notice.

…

The first cause of everything is just a passing thought.

And to that woman, perhaps the first pity, has already destined everything he has today.

"Everyone, your Royal Highness has arrived in the East Palace. It's not early, there will be a meeting tomorrow, do you want to settle?" Liu Kang looked at him in a trance, hesitated for a moment, and asked carefully.

The few people who had just moved to the Wude Hall have returned, saying that the crown prince has returned to the East Palace smoothly, and there is nothing else to do right now.

Up to now, he is still secretly shocked by this incident in the Temple of Ganlu-the emperor and nephew, if they are placed in the private sector, they will be spurned by the people of ten miles and eight villages! But when it was put in the royal family, it seemed that it didn't teach people to gnash their teeth.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Kezhi returned to his senses, slowly put down the nearly dry pen in his hand, and whispered softly, "It's time to sleep."

He got up from the couch and returned to the bedside where the inner room had been rearranged and paved, somehow feeling empty.

He closed his eyes, and the woman was innocent, charming, weak, or bold.

She approached him for another purpose!

This fact seemed to be poured down by the cold water in the winter, making his whole person cold.

He didn't pay much attention to this, but now he feels like a knuckle in his throat, causing his anger and dissatisfaction that have been dissipated because of the temporary relief to burn again.

That is a cunning woman who owes a lesson, he can't be fooled easily and let her succeed!

…

In the East Palace, when Chu Ning returned to the bedroom in the dark, it was already late at night.

She was really exhausted. She was so sore that she felt a bit of war in her legs when she crossed the threshold. Fortunately, Cuihe stayed aside, and hurriedly helped her walk to the bed when she saw the medicine. She is at hand.

The dark concoction had long since run out of temperature, and it glowed with a cold luster in the dark night. She held it in her hand and frowned slightly, gritted her teeth and drank her head up.

"Lady, it is inconvenient to boil medicine in our room." Cuihe handed over the tea, lowering his voice to remind.

In the past, the refuge soup was handed over to the chef in a fair manner, but now that Xiao Yu is gone, she has no reason to drink refuge soup, so she has to let Cuihe boil a bowl in the house.

It's just that the smell of the medicine is really noticeable. Once or twice, it can be said to others that it is a tonic used by Cuihe. If it is more frequent, it will inevitably be noticeable.

The best way is naturally to leave the matter to others to deal with.

Chu Ning nodded, drinking tea and gargle, and said: "Next time, I will ask your Majesty to give me a bowl of soup."

If there is the next time.

She put the tea cup down, lay back on the bed, covered with a quilt, and told Cuihe to also hurry to rest.

But somehow, she clearly felt sleepy, and she was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, but she couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she couldn't help but remember the incident in the Ganlu Temple just now.

The emotion of surprise emerged afterwards.

She didn't expect that Xiao Kezhi, who was already twenty-five years old, was actually the first time she did a man and woman thing, which was very different from what she had thought before.

She couldn't help but guess what kind of life he had lived in Ganzhou for so many years, not only did he not even have a wife or concubine, but even a woman had never touched him.

He doesn't have to be like Xiao Yu, in order to win over courtiers and maintain his reputation and deliberately constrained, not close to women. Could it be that he, like those few upright and even a little staid ministers, opposed the raising of concubines for the sake of rules?

But he is obviously not a person of strict rules, otherwise he would not pay attention to her at all...

Thinking of the situation when he prevented her from forcing her to serve, she suddenly felt something strange, let's treat her as if he was pitying her.

This person is probably an outlier in Xiao's family.

I just don't know if today's appearance has achieved the goal she wanted. Before leaving, his indifferent and indifferent appearance was really inexplicable.

She deliberately didn't take advantage of today to say what she wanted, but deliberately left a hook, waiting to see his reaction.

If he wants to, he will give her a chance. If he doesn't want to, she just said it today, and it won't help.

Thinking of this, she slowly relaxed and gradually fell into sleep.

…

In the next few days, the palace was always calm.

The door next to Wude Hall is still open day by day.

The people in the East Palace were still talking about it at first, and they kept speculating about the purpose of the Tai Chi Palace, but after a few days, they didn't see any other movements, and couldn't help but lose interest and stop watching.

The atmosphere of fear faded day by day, and the East Palace seemed to have returned to its former appearance, and even because of Xiao Yu's absence, there was a more relaxed atmosphere.

Cuihe quietly went to look around the door a few times, but the steps near the Wude Hall that day did not appear again.

She was a little anxious, and it was obvious that Chu Ning had always been calm, so she was relieved and stopped watching.

Seeing that it is almost mid-November, the real mid-winter season is approaching.

Tai Chi Palace is low-lying and difficult to withstand the severe cold. Therefore, in previous winters, the first emperor would move to Lishan Tangquan Palace to cultivate, and then return to Tai Chi Palace until the spring of the following year.

This year when the new monarch took the throne, the courtiers took the initiative to play and asked the emperor to move.

Naturally, Xiao Kezhi would not object, and immediately made an order to leave for the Lishan Tangquan Palace in five days.

In the Temple of Ganlu, Liu Kang handed over a stack of draft entourage lists to Xiao Kezhi for review, and finally sent the one involving the East Palace cautiously.

According to him, the princess is also a member of the royal family, so naturally she must accompany her. However, in the past few days, he has been a servant in front of the imperial court, and he has never seen the emperor mention the princess again. For a while, people can't figure out what the attitude is, and this has taught him to hesitate.

"Everyone, look at the East Palace, the prince is not in Beijing, the prince concubine—?"

Xiao Kezhi's gaze lingered on the word "Chu" for a moment, and then frowned: "I said that everyone in the palace is going, why should I ask?"

Liu Kang, a rousing spirit, immediately understood, and hurriedly said: "The old slave understands, this will let people go to the Eastern Palace to pass the decree."

The East Palace seems to be adjacent to the Taiji Palace, and the two have nothing to do with each other. In fact, when it was first built, it was regarded as an affiliated palace of the Taiji Palace. In this way, the prince princess was naturally a "person in the palace."

"Okay." Xiao Kezhi glanced at him, but didn't stop him, only called Jin Jiang in.

"How did you find out about Bozhou?"

Because of Zhao Yu'e's sudden appearance, he had doubts about Zhao Lun's movements in Bozhou, so he asked Jin Jiang to send someone to conduct a secret investigation.

Jin Jiang said: "The minister is ashamed, Bozhou is remote, and the terrain is steep. I haven't found any real details yet, but I can only catch some clues."

In fact, it has only been more than half a month since that day. Xiao Kezhi didn't expect him to find anything in such a short period of time. He only shook his head and said, "It's okay, let's talk about the clues."

"It seems that there is some connection with the late General Zhao. There have been some rumors in the local area, saying that in the past few years, there was a close relationship between General Zhao and the Nanzhao royal family."

Xiao Kezhi listened, pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "Continue to find out. In the capital, Zhao Erniang's mansion also sent someone to stare at her to see the situation between her and Zhao Lun."

Jin Jiang didn't explain what he said just now, but only the rumor has revealed a lot of things.

It was also a marginal area that was difficult for the court to reach. Xiao Kezhi spent ten years in Ganzhou and naturally understood what Tiangao Emperor Yuan meant. The Zhao family has guarded Bozhou for generations, and it will inevitably give birth to some thoughts that shouldn't be there.

Hearing this, Jin Jiang should "here", and he kept it in his heart one by one.

"Where is the prince? How many days have you been to Huazhou? How did the people in Huazhou deal with it?" Xiao Kezhi took a few days before he found a pile of cases and took a look at the paper on dredging the river.

Jin Jiang nodded and said: "The prince has arrived in Huazhou for seven days. Everything in the prefecture is as usual. There is no big difference. However, in the nearby states, there are rumors saying that your majesty is going to replace the generals. Several people seem to be interested in the prince. See you."

"Sure enough." Xiao Kezhi sneered, and quickly said a few names, and Jin Jiang nodded. It was the person who had opinions on Xiao Yu.

He sent this useless nephew to Huazhou, naturally, in order to try a few nearby officials with corpse position vegetarian meals, and now he has tried it out.

Xiao Yu and Queen Mother Qi seem to be completely opposite sides, but in fact they have some subtle points in common. For example, they are short-sighted and blindly spend their energy on fighting for power in the DPRK while ignoring the administration of officials. This has caused the entire court to become a leafy tree. The mao tree was riddled with holes by countless beetles. It seemed that it was still a towering giant tree that could not be shaken, but the inside was shaky because of its hollowness.

After all, they are selfish people who only consider their own interests.

Since he has chosen to keep the prince, he cannot allow either of the two parties to collapse too quickly. Only by slowly removing it bit by bit can the security of the court be ensured to the greatest extent.

Thinking of this, he quickly ordered: "Let the Imperial Academy formulate an decree and call the generals from Caozhou, Weizhou, and Bianzhou to report to Chang'an."

It's time to dig out a few poisonous sores there.