Thirty-six years of service.

It's snowing again.

When I came out of the Yongning Palace, the palace road had been covered with a thick layer of snow, and the broken branches were coiled on the snow, and the black pressure was overwhelming.

There has never been a palace person to tidy up here, and I remember the last time I cleaned this place with Xuan Ze, it took a whole afternoon. It rained heavily that day, and my grandmother sent a few people with umbrellas to guard the gate of the West Palace, but they did not come in. She never interfered with my habits.

It was about 10 years ago.

My grandmother's health was now very poor, and I often stood in the warm pavilion of the Evergreen Palace, and although I did not hesitate to look up at her gray hair and relieved smile. Her wrinkles have become a lot in the past two years, I have been by her side for a few years, and she doesn't seem to be very sad, but I know that the sadness of the old people will not be told to the younger generations. It only takes a short time for people to grow old, and I have never seen someone turn into snow overnight, but I feel so sad that you don't care about the change in his appearance. It was a feeling that slowly rose from the bottom of my heart, and it was like stepping into a room full of ice cubes.

I was separated from Xuan Ze in the Evergreen Palace. Since the age of nine, we have been in the Lu Jiajun together for four months every year, looking forward to returning to Fanjing every day, and when we hope to take another look at the black and red military flag fluttering in the cold wind, we know that those long years will not come back after all.

Xuan Ze stood on the steps outside the hall and said to me, "Chonghua, I'm sorry. ”

I watched the swirling snowflakes fall on his shoulders, and said in a calm tone: "Xuan Ze, if you were me, you wouldn't want to hear the words sorry." ”

With my old temper, I would never have said such calm words, and when I was a child, if there was something that didn't please my eyes, I would point it out mercilessly in front of others. The people I have reprimanded do not dare to refute, and if I sue my father with a royal complaint, I will be punished for kneeling on the ancestral tablet. After I was seven years old, I didn't have to be dragged away by the yellow door, I walked to the round seat alone, and I didn't even kneel, but even Xuanze watched the door, in case my father took my grandfather to check late at night.

"I didn't know that Master Hou would do that. He supported his forehead with his hand, and his lowered eyebrows were in deep pain, "I don't know why he is perjury for the Song family...... I don't believe him, it's just to prevent the Song family's hand from stretching out more and more in the business field. ”

I tugged at the corners of my mouth, "I don't believe it either, you can't understand it, and I can't understand it." ”

Xuan Ze looked at me, "Chonghua, I am as sad as you about General Lu being falsely accused of rebellion." I will let the Duanyang Marquis Mansion repay what I owe you, and I only ask you to ...... today Don't do too much in the future. ”

He stayed in the barracks for two more years than I did, until the fall of this year. After General Lu died, I went to my grandmother and joined the Western Frontier Army, where the general originally served in the Lu Family Army, together with Xuanze Mingzhou. I know that he has always been a very affectionate person, and we will never forget the sunset on the plateau outside the Saiwai, the cold and howling north wind, and the solemn and tolerant eyes of the general on the war horse.

I asked, "Do you think I'm getting more and more like my father?"

"He got rid of many of the people he once relied on the most overnight, and I waited to see if he regretted it, but he didn't, and he didn't even explain a word to me. ”

"I'm not him, Xuan Ze, I can't be like him in my life. I have done things that have harmed the people of the sect, but I will not squander anyone's trust in me. In the thirty-second year of worship, he washed Fanjing with blood, and I can't guarantee that I won't take the same measures in the future, but I'm not him, a real loner. ”

Xuan Ze sighed: "You say this, do you want me to be ashamed to death on behalf of the Hou Ye?"

I lifted my sleeves, and the hexagonal crystal snowflakes melted on the deep coat, leaving a trace of wetness. Xuan Ze no longer called Hou Ye's father when the Lu family was destroyed, and he has been caught in the middle for four years.

"If you have something to do, get out of the palace quickly. Behold this snow will fall until tomorrow morning. ”

For the first time, Xuan Ze bowed to me in private, brushed away the snow particles scattered on the placket of his clothes, and quickly walked down the steps covered with thin ice.

Under the gray sky, my mother's old home was so silent that not even a bird could fly in, and the walls of the palace surrounded it like a cage.

Although I only remember my mother's gentle and beautiful appearance when she held me, I heard from the old people in the palace what a kind and simple woman she was, and kindness and simplicity meant that she was destined to die soon.

I am glad that my mother's life in Yongning Palace only lasted until I was seven years old, and she would not be able to bear to see her adoptive father's house in such a dilapidated state five years later.

At the end of the path, Ah Gong Lu was waiting for me, and he came in person, holding an umbrella and holding one in his hand. Seeing me walk up to him, my figure became more and more rickety, and a smile appeared on my old face.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty has summoned you to the Agarwood Palace. ”

I took the umbrella in his hand and said lightly: "Grandpa, the person left by my mother ......"

"It's all like the old minister's age. ”

He continued.

I asked knowingly, and my grandfather always understood what I meant. Perhaps an experienced minister like him can easily see through our hearts and choose whether to say or not to speak.

So I didn't speak all the way.

The wind swept the snow flakes gently on the umbrella, and the subtle sound lined the world outside the umbrella was particularly desolate, and as far as the eye could see, the palace was white, the shadows of the trees were black, and the sky and the earth were quiet.

*

Today's saints are very sick, but there is no medicine in the agarwood hall.

The windows of the house were open for ventilation, and the cold and refreshing air rushed in, and the heat from the charcoal stove was almost forced back, and the light smoke rising from the beast's mouth was blown away.

The iron horse under the eaves clanged, and my father reclined on the couch, holding a book and looking intently, as if he had not heard the sound of the announcement and my footsteps.

I didn't kneel, in fact, since the Lu Wei family was copied, I rarely met His Majesty, and I knelt even less.

My father put down the book, and I glanced at it, and it was a book of words. When he was young, he had a good skin, and he never liked to read poetry on their hobbies when he wandered among the beautiful flowers of Kyoto, but now he is idle and willing to do anything.

"What is the matter with the father summoning his sons?"

He half-closed his eyes and said in a low voice: "Tell me about the first thing you will do after you ascend the throne in the spring." ”

Fu Yu, who cut the candles, was so frightened that the six gods had no owner, and bowed down and said: "Your Majesty is blessed by the gods, and the blessings are long, don't say it...... Don't talk about that!"

I sneered: "You know what you're worried about, isn't there still the position of the emperor!

I asked him, the only attendant, to step down, and while he was in the room, the two of us, and said:

"Respect the queen as the queen mother and crown the mother concubine. ”

He smiled and had a bit of a bright look: "I thought you would say that you would rehabilitate the Lu family." ”

I brushed my sleeves and said, "What does my father think in his heart?

He said: "I can't control your future plans, and I can only ask you now." Lu Ming has malicious intentions to collaborate with the enemy and commit treason, and I can only rest assured if he lets him die in front of my eyes. You will understand in a few years that many things do not need to be studied too deeply, and if you are strangled by intuition at the initial stage, you will be gone, and there will be no further troubles. ”

I laughed angrily: "My father's heart is not as cold and hard as iron, just with a concubine and a Yuan family, I can get rid of a highly meritorious Zhenguo general, and I can't reach this kind of skill." ”

The father raised his eyebrows and seemed to be surprised: "Chonghua, I can guarantee that your methods in ten years will be more ruthless than those I have used, you remember what you just said." ”

The people of Qi thought that he was a humble and gentlemanly lord who would pray for rain for the people, distribute money to refugees, and forgive some sinners on festive festivals, but this was only a façade. When I first met Mr. Ling, he told me that even the most modest and weakest monarch has untouchable scales, or rather, power can wrap people's hearts so that no one can recognize them, and the side that is often exposed must be a pretend.

"Also, be mindful of the way you speak. You say a concubine, which is beneficial to your criticism, but a Yuan clan ......" he shook his head slowly, "How did Ling Jieyu teach you? ”

I have to admit that he was always a good teacher and did not hesitate to correct my mistakes in conversation.

"I wanted to wait until next spring, but now it seems impossible. Chonghua, your character was taken by your husband, and you just complain about me, how can you disappoint Ling Jieyu? I don't need to look at it to know what he taught you. When you were a child, you scolded Yu Shun for being a fake, but in the future," he coughed heavily, "in the future, you don't want to go down this path." I just want to tell you that when you have been a monarch for a few years, what you see is the world, not a small group of people...... and even their lives. ”

I looked directly at his cold eyebrows, "The mother concubine died tragically, the two clans of the Lu Wei clan were wronged, the young master went to the country, and the father can say anything in a high-sounding manner." ”

He paused, ran his fingers across the corners of his eyes to his temples and rubbed them, and smiled bitterly:

"Forget about the rest, I'm really sorry for your mother. You're right. ”

He was silent for a moment, and then said with a straight face: "Chonghua, you have been a little tall since you were a child, but you are not those Hanshi literati. You are seventeen years old, and I don't expect your grandfather to persuade you in the future, but you should be cautious and restrained, and ...... in the future No one tells you that you are right or wrong like I do. ”

I immediately said, "Don't bother with my father." ”

The father sighed and said, "Even though I am sorry for your mother, it is still fair to ask myself to treat you." After the queen's child is born, treat him well, I don't want my other child to become like you, which makes people ......"

"Will my father be sad too?"

He waved weakly, "You go down, go down, you don't have to come again." He picked up the book he had dropped and continued to look quietly, coughing only occasionally and pale.

I turned my back to him and said, "Now that I am in charge of the country, does my father think that I am a dictator?"

He didn't care, and said lightly: "I will hand over everything to you, so I am naturally relieved." What do you want to do, don't worry about my attitude, you never have any scruples anyway. ”

I determined: "If the Lu Wei family has a residual bloodline, as long as they keep to themselves, Sheng Yunyi will not touch it again in this life." The matter of the grandfather, sooner or later, sooner or later, Zhaoxue will have to be rehabilitated. ”

He flipped a page and sat up on the couch, "Do you think Qi Guo can still find the person you said? Even if you are an orphan, you will definitely not be able to keep to yourself." ”

When I was about to walk out of the warm pavilion, his cool voice sounded behind me: "It seems that there is another one, but it is no longer my big one." The princess who was sent by the Lu family to Xiye Heqin heard that she had entered the Taoist temple of Qingtai Mountain, and her daughter married the king of Jingbei of Liang State, and she also had a granddaughter, who was the real lord of the Northern Dynasty. As for Merriam-Webster...... The only one who survived, isn't it in your East Palace?"

Every word he uttered, I couldn't stand it. Although Lu Ming is not my maternal grandfather, I have benefited a lot from it, although Wei Yu has rarely met me, but his disciple has carefully taught me as a young master, not to mention that I have a part of the blood of the Wei family in my body.

"Xiaoqi, go to the queen to have a look, and you don't have to go in the future. ”

I lifted the curtain and walked out of the house.

He hadn't called it for many years, and it was a farewell to me, and I didn't respond to a word.

He's always been a very selfish man, and when he's done what he wants to do, who cares about other people's responses? I guess even if he had to wait for the deadline to come, he was as leisurely as if he were painting and drinking tea, because he had said all he had to say at this moment.

We don't have anything else to share in the narrative.

After leaving the Agarwood Palace, I turned back to the Evergreen Palace. Grandmother was taking a nap, and I waited for a while, and my grandfather was half-led to the queen's place.

It is no secret that the queen takes poison, and I think that if the unborn child can be born, it will be congenitally insufficient. After the death of Prime Minister Yuan, the Yuan family lost their biggest backer, and the queen was useless. The father's heart is very guarded, and in the early autumn, a bowl of tranquilizer was poured down, so that the queen Chitose was worry-free, where did he think that she was pregnant.

Jinghui Palace is lifeless as usual, more like a bedroom for a seriously ill person than the Agarwood Palace.

Empress Yuan wore an autumn-colored palace skirt embroidered with a child's belly pocket, and her body was getting heavier and inconvenient to stand, and there was no need to owe to me.

Her bright face shone with the joy of motherhood in the lamplight, as if she were ten years younger. This child came at a bad time, and she couldn't live long, but at the end of her life, she finally had a little thought to worry about, in order to make up for the scars added to her heart after so many years of intrigue in the palace.

After my mother died, she raised me on her knees, but I already knew that she was the culprit who killed my mother when she was beaten into the cold palace and thought about it. She didn't treat me badly because she was sorry, but my relationship with her was inevitably like that.

The queen wore a silver thread, raised her head and asked softly, "When the prince came, did the snow fall heavily outside?" She became a mother herself, and her tone of voice was very different from before, and then she was like a woman from Jiangnan, and those fierce and sharp voices were completely hidden under the warm and watery voice.

I stood outside the bead curtain and said, "It's very big, Her Royal Highness the Queen remembers to add clothes." ”

She looked at me in surprise: "What did your father say to you?" After a while, she added, "...... Oh. The prince will go back to the East Palace first, the palace is very grateful for your visit once. ”

Her hand landed on her bulging abdomen, and she smiled softly, not giving me much of a look.

"The orphan will fulfill his brotherly responsibilities to this child. ”

The queen said, "Thank you Prince." ”

The personal officer saw me off, and she sat on the edge of the couch and whispered, "Everyone has a life...... Your Royal Highness the Prince, I hope that the people who sit on my couch in the future will not end up like me. Hey, Shein, how many days do you think I'll be able to see this kid? ”

She didn't know if she was pitying herself or a child.

I walked all the way to the East Palace, the chaotic snow covered the footprints when I came, and the orange lights lit up in the Jinghui Palace were bright and extinguished in a white patch, like stars at night.

Lu Agong's weak figure stood under the locust tree in front of him, holding a big coat.

Although I was not cold, I did not want him to take an extra thing, so I took it and hastily draped it on, and listened to him:

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself should pay attention to keeping warm, the old minister is old, and his ears and eyes are not working. ”

I smiled and said, "Grandpa, only you will ask me to wear one more on a snowy day." ”

Lu Li's long gray eyebrows twitched, "Ah, there will be people, how can Your Highness say this? Your Highness does not have a crown princess, but for example, Your Highness's future queen, whether she is angry with His Highness or rewarded by His Highness, she will say this." ”

I sighed, "Yes, but I don't have the time to think about it right now." Today's recitals have all been moved to the study, right? General Rong's return date is next month, and the Ministry of Rites must make good preparations. ”