The Gilded Cage

Quietly in the door, except for a few palace lanterns on both sides, no half of a person was seen.

Xiao Kezhi walked in alone, turned around and closed the door, then stepped across a hall in the vestibule and entered the courtyard where the soup pond was cut into it.

It was still a cold winter night outside, but inside was warm like spring because of the underground layer of pipes leading to the spring.

The courtyard is still empty, but there are more palace lanterns around, hanging under the eaves promenade, hidden among the mountains, rocks, and trees, and illuminating the square space in half light and half darkness. Under the pavilion in the southeast corner, the water vapor in the water-filled soup pool is curled up a little bit, and the surroundings are like a fairyland.

The soup springs here are all living water. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, listening to the ding-dong sound of spring water coming from between the rocks, Xiao Kezhi couldn't help raising his eyebrows. Obviously everything here has been arranged long ago, just waiting for him to come in. .

But no one came out to welcome him in the yard.

He paused for a moment, and walked two more steps in. Only then did he see clearly that behind the rockery, in the mist of water, a long chaise couch was placed by the edge of the pond, and a beauty was lying on the couch.

The beauty dangled her hair, wore a tulle, and lay her back to him. The dim light shone on her body, reflecting the pearl-like luster on the tulle, and also outlined sections of soft and undulating graceful curves.

It's the woman.

He didn't even bother to think about it, he recognized it intuitively, and even recalled the fascinating waist of her buttocks in his mind.

There seemed to be a faint fragrance in the air, which made people feel refreshed.

He stood on the spot, carefully stroked her back with his eyes, then quietly approached, stopped by the couch, put his hands on her sides, and slightly bent over to observe her.

She was still motionless, as if she was asleep, but he didn't believe that she was really asleep, and only patiently waited for her next move.

Moist mist lingered in waves, silently attached to her white jade skin. The original soft luster was dimmed and turned into a damp beauty. Even the thick eyelashes were stained with a few drops of very fine water. Beads.

The thin gauze was soaked in the moisture in the air, and Ruoruo was attached to her shoulders, chest, and waist until she overlapped her slightly curved legs, which were carefully traced.

Xiao Kezhi looked at the beautiful woman in this small space surrounded by his arms, his eyes darkened little by little.

About to think it was about time, the woman who was still lying still had her eyelashes trembling, opened her eyes slowly, and turned her head slightly, just to meet his dark and deep eyes.

"His Majesty…"

Her eyes were moist and sparkling in the candlelight, and the crimson that rose naturally on her cheeks was even more charming and charming after she woke up from a deep sleep. He couldn't help it anymore, lowering her head to hold her plump lips. , The palms on both sides also moved slowly up her slender arms, and finally pressed her wrists so that she could not move.

She turned around very obediently and turned into a supine position, letting him kiss hard, until her already wet eyes became more and more hazy, then he slowly pulled back, and casually twisted a strand of her to hang on the couch. Sniff your hair to the nose.

"What do you want to do to attract me today?"

He didn't mention why he would let her hook so easily, so he came along, pushing everything on her.

Chu Ning blinked, and a sly smile appeared on her lips: "Your Majesty ordered your nephew to share your worries for you."

She was talking about the words he said when they set off in the daytime, but when the scene was changed, the meaning became ambiguous.

"Well, how are you going to share the worries for me?" He rubbed her white and slender neck with his hand, squeezing it from time to time, as if he was very satisfied with the sense of being grasped.

"Tangquan is full, Aning serves His Majesty to change clothes and bathe."

As she said, she stretched out her hand to push him away, knelt down on the couch, and walked behind him with two slender arms hugging behind him, slowly understanding his belt.

He was born tall and sturdy, and she had to put her upper body on his back, with her head resting on his shoulders, and gently exhale towards his collar and neck with the movements of her hands.

The hot and wet feeling spread along his neck, and gradually turned into a burst of relief, making him unable to help turning his head to kiss her.

She didn't let him get what she wanted. When his lips leaned over, she stepped back and smoothly took off his untied robe.

"Your Majesty, please enter the pond."

She put the clogs prepared for him on the side of the couch, but she stood barefoot on the warm stone steps, leading him into the pool little by little.

Through the layers of mist, he leaned against the edge of the pond, quietly watching her sitting on the stone steps at that end, lighting a lotus lamp.

The warm candlelight lit up in the lotus lamp, illuminating her from bottom to top, making it clear that the drops of water accumulated in her neck slipped into the skirt of her clothes.

Xiao Kezhi's sharp gaze stared at the silent drops of water, and his Adam's apple rolled up and down unconsciously.

The lotus lamp was put into the water and drifted to him slowly along the flow of the water, gently rotating, lifelike, as if it was really a lotus flower born in a hot spring but still icy and clean, and like a fiercely burning flame. , It burned the already very hot hot spring a little hot.

"Do you like lotus?"

He looked at the lotus lantern and immediately remembered her silk pajamas, and even the torn garment was embroidered with lotus patterns.

"This flower is elegant and not demon, but you are very coquettish."

For some reason, when he said this, he smelled of gritted teeth inexplicably.

Chu Ning sat by the pool far away from him, slowly immersing a pair of jade feet in the soup and stirring slowly, leaving two naked and slender legs swaying lightly on the water from time to time.

"Your Majesty would like to say that Aning is not worthy of such an elegant flower?" She lifted her eyelids to look at him, and the mockery flashed by her lips was not for him or for herself.

Xiao Kezhi felt like being pinched in his heart, a little strangely sour, but he didn't open an explanation, and only cast his eyes on her naked and slender calf.

Chu Ning pursed his lips, taking his silence as a default.

She lowered her head, put a hand into the pool, feeling the warm spring water running through her fingertips, and suddenly whispered: "This is my mother's favorite flower." She deserves more than me. Such a noble thing.

The soreness in Xiao Kezhi's heart seemed to be a little bit more astringent.

He remembered that Chu Qianyu's wife had passed away many years ago, and she should have been young at that time. From this point of view, she probably has few memories of her mother.

After all, she was an orphan who lost her parents' asylum.

He was feeling a little pity, but the next moment, he saw her holding up the flask on the tray at hand, smiling coquettishly and beckoning to him: "Your Majesty wants to drink?"

He said, without waiting for him to answer, he directly held the jug and drank with his head up.

The wine was poured directly into her mouth, and a little overflowed from the corners of her lips, flowing along the jaw and neck to the clavicle, and finally into the chest, finally completely moistening the layer of tulle covering the chest.

"The temptress."

He felt a sudden sound in his head, as if something was shattering, and the air around him became thin. He couldn't help but whispered in a dumb voice, pushed aside the water in front of him, walked to her, and grasped her. A jade foot that couldn't be flicked in the pool water.

Yuzu is small and exquisite, and he happened to be holding it in his palm and carefully playing with it. When it was enough, he pulled her into the pool.

She couldn't help but let out a soft cry, holding the hip flask in her hand, the water that splashed when she fell in wetted the floating lotus lamp, and almost extinguished the flame.

"light-"

She wanted to protect the little flame, but he didn't give her any extra chance, so he pushed aside the wet tulle and pressed her to the edge of the pool.

The hip flask was raised by him, and the cold liquor poured out from the spout and poured into her hair.

She raised her head and closed her eyes, allowing more wine to flow on her face, neck, and shoulders, her long black hair dampened into strands, sticking to her skin, as beautiful as a water monster.

His heart trembled when he saw it, he threw away the hip flask, bowed his head to kiss her, and swallowed all the remaining wine-scented liquid.

Under the heavy mist, the water waves in the huge soup pond are surging, and the waves are stirred up from time to time in rapid or slow waves.

That wet lotus lantern is like a helpless lone boat, supported by a wave of water, standing on the top of the wave, then falling to the bottom of the valley, swaying and floating in the flickering of the flames. Wandering.

…

In the court hall on the west side of Jinyang Gate, Qi Mu had a gloomy expression as he listened to the reports of officials from Zhongshu Province on the appointments of officials for the vacant positions that the emperor had just appointed.

As the New Year is approaching, he did not set off with Shengjia today. Instead, he stayed in the government office first. He took the Ministry of Rites, Honghu Temple, and the envoys of various neighbors to greet him one by one, and invited him to Tangquan in half a month. The palace attended the New Year's Eve banquet, and only after meeting the new emperor, did he set off for Lishan.

It was already evening when he arrived here, and he hadn't planned to come to the court, because he heard that the sage today ordered to fill the vacant official position, so he came here.

This made him angry.

Those official positions were originally vacated when the saint dealt with the prince's sect in the previous two months. Although they were not official positions above the third rank, they were all solid positions in each department.

He had spotted a few of them before, and when he asked the staff to make up the vacancy list, he specially arranged a few of his own cronies among them. If the saint gave Qi’s face, he would have to set aside half of them for his recommendation. Several people.

Who knows, as soon as I heard that, none of the people he pushed were used. Those who went up to fill up the vacancies were all the poor ministers who had never been seen before!

This is almost naked|to lose the face of the family in the North Korea!

"Da Xianggong, last time the saint had degraded Wang Sizheng of Dali Temple and He Shijun of Shangzhou. This time he is going his own way on filling in the blanks. I am afraid it is intentional to rectify it." An official of the Ministry of Science and Technology next to him said anxiously. .

Qi Mu snorted with a calm face, remembering that when the new monarch had dealt with the courtiers of the prince and his party, he hadn't thought about it. Today, it seems that he is really deceiving people too much.

"I know." He pondered for a moment in the temple, and nodded at a few people, "The saint is young and has only recently become the throne. It is inevitable that I will be a little anxious. I will go to Feishuang Temple and ask the saint to re-decide."

Having said that, regardless of the fact that it is already night, he walked directly from the Jinyang Gate to the Palace of the Emperor.

…

In Tangchi, Xiao Kezhi was leaning against the boulder, holding the limp Chu Ning in one hand, and stroking her back contentedly.

The lotus lantern had not been extinguished by the violent Tang Quan just now, but it had already burned to the end at this moment, quietly extinguished.

Shuibo brought the lamp closer, and Chu Ning stretched out his hand to hold the half-wet lamp and placed it by the pool with a little regret.

"Like this lamp?" Xiao Kezhi lifted his eyelids and glanced at her, then lowered his head and took a bite on her chin.

After Chu Ning dodged, he simply turned to face him, wrapped his arms around his waist, and pressed his side face to his chest.

"Aning thought his Majesty liked it."

As soon as the coquettish voice came out, the two of them almost simultaneously remembered the situation in the pool just now.

He pushed the lotus lantern to a place near the edge of the pool, told her to turn around, put her hands on the edge of the pool, and just circled the lotus lantern in the small space in front of her, and ordered her to endure the candle. The fire blows out.

She couldn't, so she had to do her best to collapse her waist, straighten her back, and raise her head to prevent the exhaled breath from approaching the candlelight, so she could barely bear everything.

Looking back at this moment, Xiao Kezhi's palm on her back was stroking hard again, and even her voice became dumb.

"I only like to see the light shining on you."

Chu Ning rubbed her cheek, and whispered, "The Spring Festival is coming."

Xiao Kezhi's hand paused, and when he mentioned Shangyuan, he almost immediately thought of the New Year's Day in the near future—the prince should return.

He calmly asked: "Why, I hope to see the prince soon?"

Chu Ning was a little surprised. She was only talking about Shangyuan because of this lamp, but he directly thought of Xiao Yu.

"Who Aning wants to see, doesn't your majesty know until now?" She raised her head to meet his eyes, but suddenly something flashed in her mind, she couldn't help but tentatively whispered, "Your Majesty, Aning heard that the prince is going to skate. Zhou, it seems that I want to see some generals nearby."

She remembered what Zhao Yanzhou said, since she didn't want Xiao Yu to succeed, the best way was to tell Xiao Kezhi directly.

Xiao Kezhi didn't speak, but stared at her tightly with a pair of bottomless eyes, as if he wanted to see something in her expression.

"Why are you telling me about this?" He stretched out his hand to pinch her chin, and the suspicion in his eyes flashed, "Afraid that something happened to the prince will hurt you?"

He didn't ask Xiao Yu who he wanted to see, but directly asked her why she wanted to say it. He should have known this a long time ago.

When Chu Ning saw this, he relaxed, shook his head and said: "Aning just wants to help your Majesty."

Xiao Kezhi sneered and slowly let go of the hand holding her jaw, obviously not believing her at all.

No matter how stupid he was, he knew that this woman was taking advantage of him, but she still wanted to help him.

Anger flashed in his eyes. He picked her up from the water with a cold face and put it on the chaise couch aside. After throwing another clean bath towel on her, he turned around and wiped it on his own. stand up.

"You don't have to go around with me all the time, the more times, I will always wonder if you are Chu Qianyu's daughter after all."

Chu Qianyu is upright and honest, but her daughter is as cunning as a fox.

Chu Ning's eyes were stagnant, and she immediately remembered that he had mentioned his father's name when he was in Tai Chi Palace. She seemed to know his father's personality very well, but she never knew that his father had friendship with him.

"Your Majesty recognizes Aning's father?"

She asked carefully, with an imperceptible expectation. If he had a good relationship with his father, wouldn't it be logical for her to ask him to vindicate his father?

Xiao Kezhi glanced at her, did not answer directly, only said ambiguously: "Who didn't recognize the great Ms. Chu back then?"

Chu Ning was stunned, waiting to ask again, but a nervous reminder came from the door of the front hall: "Everyone, Da Xianggong Qi is here at Feishuang Palace."