The Gilded Cage

Outside the Feishuang Hall, Liu Kang took a few servants and stood a little farther away, but for fear that there were calls inside, he could not hear him, so he had to walk two steps nearby from time to time, paying attention to the movement.

There was the sound of falling utensils, the vibration of the wooden couch, and the whispering of men and women, sometimes high-pitched and sometimes low-pitched, making people blush.

There are two servants who are young and thin-skinned. After standing outside the house for a while, they couldn’t stand. They blushed and hesitated: "Supervisor, let’s, let’s stay away. Everyone, this, for a while. I'm afraid I won't be able to summon..."

When the voice fell, there was a high-pitched soft tone in the room, followed by a sudden increase in frequency of tremors.

This time, even Liu Kang's face was a little uncontrollable. He rubbed his forehead with a headache, and said weakly, "It's nothing, you two, go down and leave me here."

The two looked at each other, as if they were amnesty, and hurriedly bent over to thank them, and ran away hurriedly.

The remaining few were relatively silent for a moment, and then turned their heads away.

In a short while, on the winding path next to Yaoguang Tower, there suddenly appeared a figure supported by a servant. The man walked a little hurriedly. After a long distance, he could see his slightly staggering steps. I saw the appearance more closely, which surprised the waiters even more.

"Guo Lu?" Liu Kang hurriedly greeted him personally, first to show respect, and second, to block him further, so as not to hear the movement in the hall and be embarrassed. "It's so late, but what's the urgent matter?"

Wei Shou stood in the same place supported by someone, trying to calm down his rapid breathing, and nodded again and again: "Supervisor, I, I do have an urgent matter. I want to see your Majesty. I wonder if you can tell me something?"

Liu Kang looked at him in amazement, then glanced at the closed door of the palace from the corner of his light, and moved quietly to take him farther, and asked: "Sheng Shang is a little busy right now, I don't know what Lu Guogong's urgent matter is. , Is it convenient to reveal one or two?"

Wei Shou wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at the closed hall door and a few nervous servants. His Majesty Xindao might be inconvenient, but he didn't dare to delay this matter, so he could only move closer. , Said in a low voice: "Don't hide from the superintendent, this matter seems to be related to His Royal Highness."

Liu Kang's face was stunned and he didn't dare to shirk immediately. He ordered the two servants to be here with him, but he hurriedly walked outside the hall door, knocked cautiously, and said loudly, "Everyone, Duke Lu is here, there is something to be done. Report the matter."

At this moment, the movement in the room had temporarily stopped, but no one answered the call for a long time. It was not until a rustling sound and a whispering murmur passed, that the sound of footsteps gradually approached.

"Let him in."

Xiao Kezhi's voice came, mixed with a bit of hoarseness that had not faded away.

After Liu Kang paused, he didn't dare to let Duke Lu come over directly. Instead, he gently pushed the door open and saw Xiao Kezhi sitting alone in front of the screen in his clothes. Although he was not neatly dressed, he could still be seen after all. There was no sign, I am afraid I was hiding somewhere, only a few messy women's dresses fell by the steps, so that people could see what happened in the house.

He turned around and gestured to the two servants, and took advantage of the gap between them leading Wei Shou to approach, and stepped into the hall, and quickly put away a few pieces of clothing.

"Your Majesty!" As soon as Wei Shou entered the hall, he didn't bother to think about why there was such a strange fragrance in the hall, and he didn't have time to look at Xiao Kezhi's irregular clothes, so he knelt down and kowtowed, "Shangyuan today, the minister shouldn't have come at this time. Excuse me, it's really important. I don't know what to do before I come to tell your Majesty!"

With that said, he looked at the several waiters around him, and didn't rush to speak.

Xiao Kezhi waved his hand and sent a few people out: "You guys go down, the others don't have to move."

Wei Shou was stunned, watching the servants go down, is there anyone else in the hall of heart? But he glanced quickly, and he did not see anyone again.

In fact, the phrase "other people" refers to Chu Ning.

At this moment, she was hiding behind the screen behind Xiao Kezhi, only a few inches away from him. If she were a little closer, even the breath from her mouth could linger into his ears through the gap in the screen.

She only wore a coat, and the bottom was empty. Although there was still a hairpin in her black hair, most of it had fallen on her shoulders, like a pile of clouds. If Wei Shou walked a step aside, she would find She hides behind the screen in embarrassment.

Originally, when Xiao Kezhi asked her to stay here without moving, she still felt uncomfortable, for fear that Wei Shou said something she shouldn't hear, but after a while, she stopped thinking that way.

"Uncle, get up, there are no outsiders here. You don't need to be formal, just sit down and talk." Xiao Ke got on the bed and personally helped him up and let him sit on the bottom of the bed.

Wei Shou repeatedly thanked him, and wiped his sweat: "Your Majesty, the lantern festival was just now. Guo'er was young and tired quickly, so the minister and his wife told her to go back first. Who knows, she walked halfway, but ran into The prince and the Zhao family..."

Hearing this, Xiao Keyi paused in his hand movement, and his original relaxed expression was slightly reduced: "Uncle speak slowly."

Wei Shou, Tian Shelang, who has not read many books, speaks unavoidably, and at the same time it is such an unglamorous thing, and hesitates. Fortunately, he understood the importance of the matter, and Xiao Kezhi was always on the sidelines to guide him, and only then did he tell the matter as it was.

After hearing this, Xiao Kezhi remained silent for a moment, without replying, but only asked, "What happened to Guoer?"

Wei Shou hurriedly replied: "The child was frightened, and the minister just came forward and asked her mother to coax her to sleep. It should be better now."

Xiao Kezhi nodded and asked, "She heard this, but was not discovered by those two?"

Wei Shou was taken aback, thought for a while, and said, "No, she said, she came out after someone left, so she should have not. When it got dark, she was born thin and hidden, so she was not seen. ."

"Nevertheless, you can't take it lightly." Xiao Kezhi stood up, took two steps under the stairs, and said in a deep voice, "In these few days, let her stay in her residence and walk less outside to avoid encountering anyone and avoiding it. When she thinks about it again, she feels scared, and after this period of time has passed, she will relax."

Wei Shou didn't expect such a thing to happen. What the emperor said first was not about the prince or about Lady Zhao, but about the situation of Guoer. He couldn't help feeling a little: "The minister thanked your Majesty for your care for Guoer."

Xiao Kezhi shook his head: "I should also be grateful to my uncle. The first thing I think of when encountering such a thing is to tell me."

Wei Shou was a little cramped, and he was inexplicably ashamed in his heart: "The minister does not understand anything. If it weren't for this relationship with your majesty, I am afraid that he would still be farming in Yanzhou. Your majesty treats his family well, and the minister keeps it in his heart. No matter what matters, you should naturally think about your Majesty."

Xiao Kezhi nodded and showed a warm smile on his face: "You don't have to worry about this, uncle, I have my own arrangements, so I will only mention it to others in the future."

Wei Shou repeatedly agreed. After telling the story, the stone in his heart also fell. He was about to retire, and suddenly remembered the words of leaving his ex-wife and daughter, and he stayed on the spot again, stubbornly not knowing whether to talk.

"Uncle, what else do you want to say?"

Wei Shou hesitated for a moment, he hesitated and said: "The minister does have a word, please do not blame your majesty. Madam and Guoer, two of them were taken care of by the prince concubine before, so the minister wanted to beg your majesty if something really happened. Do you want to open a side to the princess... Your majesty, the minister just said casually, if your majesty has other considerations, don't take the minister's words seriously!"

Not only Xiao Kezhi but also Chu Ning behind the screen was stunned.

Unexpectedly, Lu Guogong's family, when they first met, they were nervous about her identity, but now they will intercede for her. She suddenly felt a response to her past feelings, and couldn't help but move.

"I know, when the time comes, I will deal with it as appropriate." Xiao Kezhi smiled and responded vaguely.

Wei Shou only thought that he said so, but because of his uncle's affection, he could not refuse to face to face, so he perfunctorily said. He had some regrets in his heart, but he did not dare to be arrogant, so he bowed to salute and quit and left.

Liu Kang kept staring at him, and when he saw someone coming out, he hurriedly fed in the warm water he had prepared, then walked out gently and closed the door again.

The silence in the hall was restored. Xiao Kezhi stood by the couch for a moment. He didn't hear the movement behind the screen, so he just got up and walked around to the back, only to see that Chu Ning was standing still on the spot, lost in a daze, wondering what he was thinking.

The candle light shone on his body, casting a thick shadow, just covering her.

She came back to her senses, raised her head to meet his deep gaze, and gave a vague smile.

He couldn't tell what kind of smile it was, with a bit of grief and confusion, and more, seemed to be a little relieved and relaxed.

"He's always thinking about taking the big place," she muttered, looking at him blankly, "I didn't expect it to be this way."

"Good boy, don't be sad, it's not worth it." He couldn't help frowning and approached her, reaching out to embrace her.

But the next moment, she chuckled lightly and walked slowly outside the screen: "But I was only surprised for a moment. Now, I think it should be the case."

"When I first married me, it was because of my father's reputation. Now I am worthless. If someone else has it, he should naturally abandon me and marry her."

She walked to the side of the couch, but instead of sitting on it, she sat on the stairs below, curled up with her hands around her knees.

"Your Majesty, I'm not sad, but I'm just a little embarrassed. He lied to me for more than two years and obviously killed my father, but he could say to me over and over again that he would rectify his name for my father and would be nice to me and marry another. What can't you do?"

In fact, there is still a bit of loss in my heart.

Even if he had no feelings for Xiao Yu, or even hatred, it was unavoidable to feel sad when he knew that he was the one that the other party was about to abandon.

Fortunately, she did not sink into the love and meagre feelings he occasionally revealed in the past two years. She is still sober and will not let herself fall into a situation of helplessness and self-pity.

Thinking of the strangeness that she had noticed in the past few days, she slowly connected these with the things she had just heard, and everything seemed to make sense.

For Xiao Yu, the Zhao family was indeed a good choice.

She paused, then suddenly turned her head to look at Xiao Kezhi with a complicated expression, and asked: "Your Majesty already knew about this?"

She remembered that he was not surprised at all when he heard the matter of Lu Guogong, and when he faced himself, he seemed to have already expected it.

He stretched out his hand to embrace her thin shoulders, first nodded, then shook his head again.

"I guessed that the prince and the Zhao family would collude, but I didn't know that he would marry another."

He had been sending people to stare at Zhao Erniang and Xiao Yu, and naturally they didn't escape his eyes when they met briefly outside the palace that night.

It's just that he doesn't know what the two of them said, so he can only guess based on the current situation that Zhao Erniang is probably looking for another way out, and it is indeed a choice to switch to the prince.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Yu'e was so unscrupulous, and Xiao Yu was more willing to abandon his wife and win over Zhao's family.

It's so easy to be pinched, even if he sits on the throne, I am afraid that he will not be able to control the situation.

"Then both of them are like this, your Majesty has already figured out a countermeasure?" Chu Ning thought of the military power in the hands of the Zhao family. Although the matter has not reached the point of irreversibility, it should be a little tricky.

"Naturally." He said calmly, as if he didn't pay attention to these two people at all. Instead, he raised her chin and asked in a low voice, "Why do you ask?"

Chu Ning couldn't help shrinking under his focused gaze, and whispered: "I don't want the prince to do what I want."

A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.

But she hesitated and added another sentence: "I don't want to see your majesty worry..."

His eyes lit up suddenly.

"I'm fine. How about you? Can I make a direct decree to bring you into the palace?"

Chu Ning looked down and said nothing, pondered for a moment, and shook his head firmly: "No. I come by myself, I will leave him, for myself, not for others."