Mingde didn't know how far he had walked. The wound on his waist kept bleeding. There was so much blood that it seemed to take away all the warmth in his body.
He passed through the long bluestone path of the Imperial Garden and the majestic palace gate of Zhengtai Hall in the wind and rain. The guards outside the palace looked at the young man walking over in the rain. They looked at each other and crossed their halberds. "Stop!"
Mingde looked at them blankly. Then he raised his hand and gently grabbed the crossed halberds. Then he pulled them out and threw them to the side.
With a clang, he covered his wound and continued to walk forward as if nothing had happened.
The guards were shocked. They shouted, "Guards!
Alert —! "
A group of guards ran out of the sentry box and blocked the way. They surrounded him in a circle and slowly approached. The sharp alarm sounded in the sky. However, Mingde didn't seem to see this. He just walked forward unsteadily and aimlessly.
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
"Who is it!"
… …
Many things as sharp as halberds stabbed at him fiercely and mercilessly. It was like this vast and hopeless world, never leaving him any hope.
It was sharp, incisive, and irresistible … Even his hands, which he tried to resist, seemed weak and powerless.
Those people and those things seemed to have the greatest hatred for him. They viciously tore apart his last bit of hope for this world.
— Why do they hate me so much?
— Why do they all want me to die?
I just don't want to disturb anyone and live a peaceful life …
Mingde walked forward in a daze. He didn't know where he could go.
It seemed like there was something cold piercing into his muscles. He looked down and absentmindedly used his hand to pull out the halberd and threw it far away.
The guards looked at this madman in horror. Some of them mustered up their courage and roared again as they pounced over. Ming De swayed for a moment, and blood spurted out in an instant. Then, he fell to the ground.
"Catch him!"
"Quick!
Tie him up with a rope! "
"Go and report to the leader!"
Many noisy voices rang in his ears. They were distant and unreal. It was like a chaotic dream. Gradually, they disappeared into the silence.
The cold rain slowly flowed down his face, gently closing his eyelashes and flowing down his pale cheeks, bit by bit, sinking into the wet soil.
Fireworks in March, people in Jiangnan. The blurred and unreal longing shattered bit by bit. Every tiny fragment pierced deeply into the softest part of his heart, tearing his flesh and blood into pieces.
Mingde felt like he was being pulled up. Many people surrounded him and were yelling at him fiercely.
He closed his eyes and gradually fell into a dream that he would never wake up from.
"Let him go!"
The leader of the imperial guards looked up and his legs went soft. He hurriedly knelt down: "This official greets the Emperor!"
The bright yellow ceremonial guards didn't even have time to catch up. Qianwandi rushed over and picked up Mingde.
Zhang Kuo jogged behind him. Midway, he slipped and fell on the muddy ground. He scrambled to his feet and followed, "Your Majesty!
Your Majesty!
Be careful, Your Majesty! "
Before Ming De could open his eyes, he was held tightly in his arms. Emperor Qian Wandi stood up with him in his arms. He used his hand to tightly cover Ming De's bleeding wound and strode towards the dragon carriage.
The leader of the imperial guards knelt down: "Your Majesty, this … …"
Zhang Kuo glanced at the group of kneeling imperial guards and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you want to punish them?"
"… … No," Qianwandi's voice came in a low voice, "… … To him, these can't be considered real harm … …"
What right did he have to criticize these imperial guards who didn't know anything?
Any emperor could righteously order people to drag out and kill the people who hurt their favored concubine, but he couldn't.
He had completely lost even this most basic right.
When they returned to Qing Zhen Hall, the rain had stopped. Qianwandi stepped on the puddles on the stone path and carried Mingde into the inner room.
The warm fragrance of incense hit their nostrils, making them even more sleepy.
"Don't sleep," Qianwandi said, "I have something to tell you."
Mingde turned his head and didn't look at him.
Qianwandi went to a secret compartment on the desk and took out a golden box. When he opened it, there was an imperial edict inside.
It was a bright yellow brocade embroidered with golden threads. Under the light of the palace lanterns, it was so luxurious that people couldn't look at it directly.
Mingde lay on the bed. Qianwandi knelt by the foot of the bed and asked him: "Don't you want to see?"
Mingde didn't speak.
Qianwandi reached out to pick up the imperial edict and slowly unfolded it. A low voice echoed in the hall: "… … Zui Gui Fei's son, Sun Ming Xiu, is extraordinarily intelligent, benevolent and filial, and has the talent to govern the country. One hundred years later, I will make this son Emperor. His father, the former Crown Prince, will be appointed as Emperor … …"
Mingde turned his head slightly. Qianwandi looked at him and whispered: "My posthumous edict."
"… … Mingde, I haven't deposed the Crown Prince, not because he is qualified, but because I want to give you face … … But the Crown Prince is really not a person who can take the throne. If you let him take the throne, you will hurt him."
Mingde stared at Qianwandi motionlessly.
"You can't protect the country forever by taking the throne. If one day you are gone, what will happen to the Crown Prince?
Everyone is staring at him when he is on the throne. People with ulterior motives are scheming against him. King Dongyang sees him as a thorn in his side every day … … "
"He is just a mediocre and weak emperor. How can he live?"
"Mingde, I didn't tell you yesterday that Princess Qinghe is pregnant.
She is the eldest son of the Crown Prince. Although she is not the Princess's child, her status is not low. If she gives birth to a boy, he can still be the Crown Grandson … … You'd better pray that she gives birth to a boy who is smart, clever, and better than his father … … "
"That's all I can do for you. In the future, we can only stay together day by day until we die … …"
Li Ji knelt down, hugged Mingde, and pressed his face tightly against the tender skin of his neck.
There was even a little smile in his voice: "… … If I die earlier than you, then congratulations, you will be free … …"
fqxsw.org
On the eighth day of February, Li Ji got married. The Crown Prince married Xia as his Princess.
Late at the wedding night, the palace lanterns were hung high in Kun Ning Palace. The Empress Dowager sat on a pear blossom hardwood chair with a livid face: "… … Your Majesty, since you have decided to marry the Crown Prince, you should know that the Crown Princess should be given the Phoenix Pearl as the betrothal gift, and this Phoenix Pearl has always been given to the Crown Princess by the Empress Dowager or the Empress.
You are asking aijia for this phoenix bead right now, but if aijia is unable to give this bead to the crown princess when she comes to pay her respects to aijia on the morning of the wedding, then how will the people of the world view her as the crown princess! "
Qianwandi sat at the table with his legs crossed and didn't seem to care at all: "How they view her is of course the Empress Dowager's business. The Empress Dowager has many pearls. Can't you find one or two similar pearls to replace it?"
The Empress Dowager was so angry that her whole body trembled: "The meaning is different!
Only the woman who wears the Phoenix Pearl is the destined Mother of Our Country! "
"Oh, I see."
Qianwandi put down his feet, leaned over the table to look at the Empress Dowager, and smiled faintly: "… … I am the Emperor of this world. Who is the Mother of Our Country? Isn't it up to me?"
The Empress Dowager suddenly stood up: "Your Majesty!
You're going against the flow! "
"So what?"
"Your Majesty, don't think that I don't know who you want to give this Phoenix Pearl to!"
Qianwandi didn't shrink back at all. Instead, he looked straight at the Empress Dowager: "… … Who do you think I'm giving it to?"
"It's been two years!"
The Empress Dowager's nose huffed, and her hands trembled: "… … It's been two years. You've spoiled the bastard that Empress Mingrui stole, a little thing that's younger than your son. If he wasn't a woman, you could have made him the Empress!"
The smile on Qianwandi's face faded bit by bit.
"Just because I don't say it, it doesn't mean that I can't see it!
… … Unfortunately, you've used all your means to obtain glory and favor, but it can't compare to you strangling his mother to death with three feet of white silk eighteen years ago!
Li Ji, ah, Li Ji, you've suppressed the previous Emperor and me all your life. It's funny that no matter how much you suppress them, your mother can't become the Mother of Our Country, and the person you love the most can't become the Empress!
This is fate!
This is the fate that you're not born to be the Son of Heaven! "
The Empress Dowager's sharp screams echoed in the luxurious but cold palace for a long time.
The white-haired palace maids knelt on the ground, trembling. The palace candles, as thick as a child's arm, burned, making a slight crackling sound, illuminating the palace as bright as day.
Qianwandi stood up. His face was gloomy in the candlelight, but his tone was indifferent and emotionless.
"… … The question of whether he can be the Empress or not is just a matter of whether I ask him to be the Empress, and whether I don't ask him to be the Empress."
The Empress Dowager's face was so pale that she didn't have any vitality.
"Empress Dowager," Qianwandi said softly, "I didn't pursue the matter of your beloved son, Prince of Dongyang, colluding with the assassins of Xiwan Kingdom, but it doesn't mean that I didn't know."
Qianwandi walked through the tall palace with flickering candlelight and slowly disappeared into the night in the direction of the blood-colored carpet.
The Empress Dowager looked at his back, and a chill gradually rose from her spine and shrouded her.
Wang Jinyuan of Dongyang came to find her that day, dismissed the people around him, and then whispered, "Mother, I will live up to your and my father's expectations.
Erchen will definitely let you become the legitimate Empress Dowager! "
At that time, she was just happy but also felt the vicissitudes of life. The throne had already passed by Prince of Dongyang, so what could she do now?
But she didn't want to dampen her son's spirits, so she only said, "Child, it's mother's greatest joy that you can think like this …"
She didn't know that in Qianwandi's mind, the idea of deciding her son's life and death had already flashed through his mind. Maybe with a slight mistake, her son's head would fall to the ground!
The Empress Dowager slumped into the jade chair.
Ming De didn't sleep well on the warm dragon bed in Qing Zhang Palace Hall. One moment it was hot, and the next moment it was cold. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he felt someone gently lift his hand, and then put a cool bracelet on his wrist.
Mingde opened his eyes slightly, "… What are you doing?"
Qianwandi pinched his wrist, "Do you like it?"
Mingde glanced at his wrist with a blink of an eye. It was a thin gold bracelet with two soybean-sized fiery red beads.
Mingde didn't bother to look at it more. He pulled his hand back and stuffed it into the quilt, saying grandly, "Thank you for your kindness." Then he fell asleep.
Qianwandi, who was thanked for his kindness, stood up with a sneer and said in a low voice, "… The Empress is so heartless."
He tried his best to get the phoenix beads just to satisfy the long-hidden regret in his heart.
Yes, the Empress Dowager was right. He, Li Ji, stepped on the blood of countless people to sit in the East Palace. He also stepped on the shoulders of countless people to sit on the throne. From a concubine's son to a powerful emperor, he seemed to have no regrets. In fact, there was always a thorn stuck in his heart. He couldn't go up or down.
Back then, his mother was not favored by the emperor. As the Crown Prince's birth mother, she couldn't make an Empress. When Li Ji ascended the throne, he wanted to confer a posthumous title, but there was a great disaster. He was advised by the imperial censor that it was against heaven's will. Later, Empress Mingrui had an affair with someone else. Right now, the Empress was not pleasing to the eye.
It was simply a freak combination of factors. It was simply heaven's will.
Qianwandi sat on the bed and hugged Mingde. He took off the thin gauze clothes bit by bit.
On the young man's thin back, there was a huge phoenix tattoo covering his entire back. It was vivid under the flickering lights, as if it was about to fly.
It was said that it was inherited from his birth father's family. It was very mysterious. It was something that was brought out from his mother's womb.
If it weren't for this, Empress Mingrui's affair would not have been discovered so easily.
Qianwandi lowered his head to kiss the back of Mingde's neck. He reached out a hand in front of the young man and grabbed his hand.
The phoenix pearl was hard in the palm of his hand. It was like a reassuring support and guarantee.
Mingde snorted: "… This subject boldly asks the Emperor to show mercy."
Qianwandi smiled: "You sleep."
He held Mingde in this position. He opened his eyes and listened to the clear sound of the jade bamboo dripping water until the moon was in the middle of the sky, until the east was white.
The young man's soft hair was right in front of his nose. It was dense and soft as it scattered there.
Qianwandi suddenly thought of a poem: "One comb until old age, two combs until white hair reaches eyebrows …"
One comb until old age, two combs until white hair reaches eyebrows.
Three combs until children and grandchildren are all over the ground, four combs until meeting a noble person.
Five combs until husband and wife are harmonious,
Six combs until husband and wife respect each other,
Seven combs until the seventh sister descends to the mortal world,
Eight combs pierce through the lotus path,
Nine combs and nine beads have everything;
Ten combs until white hair reaches eyebrows.
— — Ten combs until white hair reaches eyebrows …
The east was white, and a red sun was slowly rising.
Qianwandi did not change his position for the entire night. In this position, he spent the night of his wedding without moving.