Qu Ning and Tang Zhong waited outside the hall for a while, the corners of her eyes were faintly moist in the cold evening breeze and gradually dried, but a heart was warmed back by the warm embrace, the two of them were enjoying this rare and warm moment intimately, but the door of the palace opened with a "squeak" at this time, the queen came out of the hall with the corners of her eyes, looking at their intimate movements, just stunned, and then nodded to the two who immediately separated: "Your Majesty, please let the two in." ”

The corners of the queen's eyes are still slightly red, but her face has returned to her usual grace and generosity, only the slightly messy temples on her head and the swollen red on her forehead that can't be covered by fat powder, revealing a bit of real emotion.

Qu Ning glanced at her with a complicated expression, and said "um" - she must maintain a royal bearing everywhere and at all times, and she must hold the queen's shelf all the time, and she sometimes inevitably doubts that when she leaves the palace in the future, how will such an emperor and queen adapt to the life of ordinary people.

Once you come down from the clouds, the feeling of disparity may really drive people crazy.

For many people, the decision to retire may be easy to make, but as their relative, if she wants them to settle down and not cause trouble in the future, I am afraid she has to think more carefully for them, otherwise it will be repeated, and I am afraid that things will not be beautiful.

Thinking so, her feet had already entered the hall with Tang Shaoshuai, and the emperor was still sitting on the dragon chair, but his face no longer had the awe-inspiring momentum that Fang had just held up, but a little more tired and empty.

At this time, the shadow sitting on the dragon chair was no longer the tall and burly in Qu Ning's memory, but a little more thin and self-supportive, but still unable to hide the reluctance.

As soon as they stood in front of the chairs, the emperor had already slowly opened his mouth in a particularly tired voice: "I can consider abdication......" He raised his eyes and glanced at Tang Shaoshuai, "What do you Tang family want?" ”

Young Marshal Tang nodded. He and the emperor looked at each other for a moment, and between the two people's eyes, it seemed that they had reached some kind of tacit understanding that Qu Ning did not know although he was present.

"Our demands are simple, first, the emperor will abolish the title with immediate effect, and second, the imperial family will hand over the envoys who have facilitated the twenty-one contracts. Third, the royal family moves out of the palace, and as for the residence after leaving the palace, as long as it is in the capital, you can choose it. Tang Shaoshuai said slowly, in a calm tone that was as unstimulating as possible.

In fact, as long as the bottom line of "abolishing the emperor" is accepted, the other few are not excessive.

On the preferential treatment treaty, there are also provisions such as subsidizing the royal family 500,000 silver dollars every year as living expenses, and worshipping the mausoleums of the royal ancestors forever.

"Huh." The emperor sneered briefly, and his face became more and more hidden in the shadows, blurry and unclear.

The silence in the hall was as deathly, as if even a needle could be heard falling on the ground, Qu Ning did not urge, just waited for the emperor's reply: Everyone knows that although the emperor has lost his will to die, he now agrees to abdicate and leave the palace, which itself is already a process of psychological struggle for him. But there must always be such a process, because there are many things to go through in the future. The tiger fell into Pingyang and was bullied by dogs, and there was no power in his hands, and there were people who wanted to torture them. This is just the beginning of nothing.

In the middle of the ring, the man on the throne turned to Tang Shaoshuai: "I have a few words that I want to say to the imperial sister alone." ”

Tang Shaoshuai shook Qu Ning's hand, and his eyes quietly chased her cheek: "I'll wait for you outside the door?" ”

"Okay." Qu Ning nodded.

***

The door of the temple squeaked shut, and an awkward silence spread throughout the hall.

After half a sound, the emperor covered his mouth and coughed heavily, and then said in a suppressed voice: "It's just our brother and sister here, and my sister doesn't have any empty heads." You answer me, what are you going to do in the future? In this moment, even the title has been changed.

Qu Ning was stunned; "What do you mean?"

"Hmph." The emperor snorted lightly, "If I retreat, the country will lose its deer, and the world will chase it away." Now those people are united and look at the city, but as soon as the seal in my hand is handed over, too many people will break their heads for this. ”

He squinted at Qu Ning: "I can retreat, but I must keep the whole family at peace when I retreat, otherwise, if such a retreat is exchanged for being bullied in the future, life is better than death, I don't want the whole family to die in this palace today, and it is finally the fate of my family, which is better than fragmentary torture." ”

Qu Ning understood at this moment, and she let out an "oh" and fell silent.

There have been some surrendered kings in history - although surrendering to the enemy and abolishing the imperial system at this time are two completely different concepts, but in the eyes of the emperor, in the eyes of more people, this actual struggle for power is still the same way.

For example, Liu Chan of Shu State lived well for decades after surrendering, but some other kings, even if they surrendered, ended up worse than not surrendering.

And this outcome, on the one hand, depends on the social ability and patience of the surrenderer, and on the other hand, it also depends on the open-mindedness and tolerance of the surrenderee.

So the emperor asked this, this is actually asking her tactfully, do you think the Tang family's father and son are credible? Do you think that after I retire, I will still be able to save my glory and wealth and my life?

Qu Ning frowned slightly.

"Then what guarantee does the imperial brother want?"

"What I want is very simple, I want a hereditary seat in the National Assembly, this is one," the emperor said slowly, "second, I want him to guarantee that in the future, the freedom of our whole family will not be restrained and controlled, and if there is a crime, it will be pardoned for non-treason, and third, the current private property of our royal family can be taken away by us and allowed to be freely planned by us." Although the speed of speech was very slow, it was obvious that he had been thinking about this paragraph repeatedly for a long time, and these few rules were completed in one go, one two, three in one go, without pause.

Qu Ning took the pen and wrote them down one by one, and nodded expressionlessly: "Okay." ”

The emperor seemed to wrinkle his brows slightly, and looked at her with some puzzlement, obviously asking her opinion, but if she didn't speak, he couldn't take it himself.

The emperor paused slightly: "You just pass on my meaning to the commander, and I will naturally not lose him." ”

Qu Ning nodded, and said concisely: "Brother Huang, don't worry." ”

The emperor sighed at this time: "Imperial sister, I reluctantly married you into the Tang family at the beginning, but I just thought that the Tang family is also a hegemon, and in this world, it is better than some powerless men who can protect you." Now it seems that I made the right decision. If there is no imperial sister for you, I and your imperial sister-in-law will go to Huangquan today. His gaze gradually softened, and it fell on Qu Ning's face full of complexity.

Qu Ning nodded: "The young marshal is very good to me, the imperial brother did nothing wrong with this decision, and I am grateful for it." After a pause, she raised her eyes to look at the man on the throne, "Imperial brother, I left the palace at twelve o'clock, there is only more than an hour left, please forgive my sister for not staying longer, I have to go and convey the news to Tang Dashuai as soon as possible, so that they can reconnect to the telephone line of the palace, imperial brother, it's time to tell the concubine, the harem and other palace maids and eunuchs to prepare to pack their belongings." ”

The Emperor let out an "um" and watched her back in silence, blending into the dazzling piercing light of midday.

***

Qu Ning and Tang Shaoshuai took the car back to Tang's house, and when they went back to tell Tang Dashuai, he was not stimulated by the emperor's conditions at all, but laughed and praised Qu Ning greatly, and took out a set of head noodles that were said to be one of the heirlooms passed down from the Tang family, and gave her a call to take it.

Then the communication in the palace that had been cut off was quickly restored, Tang Dashuai personally talked to the emperor on the phone, and no one knew what the two of them talked about, but the emperor quickly issued an edict and an "Edict of Abdication", and immediately issued a general order to the whole country.

The jade seal was also quickly sent out of the palace to the Tang family's mansion, as soon as the news came out, almost the whole capital celebrated, the original riot and parade was stopped at the last moment, and then quickly became a grand celebration that swept the whole of China.

The emperor took his concubines and concubines to stay in a palace that day, and the guards outside were all cronies of the Tang family, although there were not many, but they ensured that not even a fly could fly out.

On the same day, "Bosom Friend", which received Qu Ning's first-hand news notice, and several other newspapers made a supplement, reporting this sensational event from different perspectives at the first time, and several writers, including the editor-in-chief Yan, all became famous with this instant hit.

But all of this has nothing to do with Qu Ning.

For her, everything in the capital has come to an end after she passed on the emperor's conditions, and the era of the old empire has also drawn a heavy curtain behind her.

This is the end of one era and the beginning of another.

That night, Qu Ning and Tang Shaoshuai had already boarded the train to the Northeast, she sat at the window and stared at the mountains outside the window, the verdant mountains undulating, the overlapping waves, just like her uncertain mood at this time: the Northeast is a new beginning, but in the same way, she knows almost nothing about it, and she doesn't know what she can do there. It's just that Tang Shaoshuai assured her that the people there are open, and it is a new fertile soil, suitable for experiments and reforms, unlike the capital, where the forces are intertwined, and there are still mountains on their heads.

At least, in the Northeast, they don't need to live with the entire Tang family, Tang Shaoshuai has also lived in Shenyang for more than six years, and it can be regarded as a return to the old place, but she ...... I have never been out of the capital in this life, and I am inevitably a little apprehensive in my heart.

Young Marshal Tang put his hand on her shoulder.

Perhaps in order to dissipate the solemnity on her face, he suddenly smiled and diverted her attention: "Although the envoy who was sent to secretly sign the 21st Article was cold, he expressed his repentance in the newspaper early in the morning, so he was fine. But it's your acquaintances who are the ones who pull the strings...... He's in big trouble. ”

"Who is it?" Qu Ning looked back in surprise, and Tang Shaoshuai smiled without saying a word.

She thought for a moment, "Ah" and opened her mouth slightly: "Could it be...... Kong Jinghao? ”

"Yes." Tang Shaoshuai nodded, "The Kong family is in a hurry now, it is said that even the Confucian Temple is going to be smashed by people, how about it, isn't this news a little interesting?" ”

"......: Is it really okay to gloat so much, my young marshal?" Qu Ning glanced at him, but there was indeed an indescribable smile in his heart that slowly churned up: they were running towards a new beginning, and Kong Jinghao and them were also ushering in the ending they had written.

The author has something to say: Volume I, Imperial Sunset, end.

I'm wondering if the next chapter should be a little bit of a bit of a fan or something, like ...... Meat ......_(:з"∠)_ You can provide your advice. If you don't want to watch it, I'll just skip it and continue to push the plot.

Next volume, Far East.

By the way, this article is only two volumes.