The battle outside Guang'an Gate was surprisingly easy, the rebels were really strong and vulnerable, and they were killed and captured soon after the battle, and few of them ran away. Even the Dachang Emperor was successfully captured alive.

But this caused a trace of confusion on the part of the emperor: the snitches who assassinated the courtiers the day before yesterday were all outlaws with strong martial arts, except for the two who died desperately with the officials when they saw that there was no hope of escape, the rest have not yet been captured, if there are such capable people in the other camp, how can they end up in such a situation where even the leader is captured?

Could it be that those assassins weren't rebels? So what is the purpose of assassinating the minister in the name of the rebels to create panic?

A suspicion in his heart came up, causing a layer of cold sweat to break out on his forehead. Before the battle was completely over, he got down from the city tower and galloped towards Zhiyang Palace on horseback.

Under the cover of night, the brightly lit Chengtian Gate of the south gate of Zhiyang Palace looks calm, and the Yulin guards perform their duties and are closely guarded. The emperor ascended to the gatehouse one by one, and every other section guarded a pair of Yulin guards who bowed down one after another.

The emperor didn't report anyone, only Qiu Yu accompanied him directly to the gatehouse, and the thousands of households on duty hurriedly came over to greet him.

"Where's Gen Ying?" The Emperor asked.

"Back to the saint, the third prince claimed that he was a little tired, so he went into the house to rest, and never came out. Wechen went in and summoned. ”

"Not necessarily." Before the emperor could finish speaking, he walked over on his own, pushed the door and entered the castle hall.

There was only a lone lamp lit in the room, and there was only one person sitting on the edge of the Arhat chair with his back to this side, and it looked like the King of Tan wearing a watery robe. Hearing the sound of the door opening, the man stood up and turned around, and gave a deep bow calmly: "Changshi Zhongzheng has seen the saint." ”

Seeing Zhong Zheng, who was dressed as the king of Tan, the emperor's heart trembled, and his face suddenly turned pale. Especially seeing that Zhong Zheng was so calm and fearless, obviously he had made a good layout, and he felt the fear that the blood in his whole body was suddenly drained.

"The prince ordered the villain to tell the saint, please move the saint to the shadow moon fast, but please ask the saint to go alone, if the prince sees another entourage, Concubine Chen's life will be lost."

Seeing that he raised his hand and drew his saber out while he spoke, Qiu Yu hurriedly grabbed in front of the emperor, and also drew his sword in his hand to prepare to make a move, but Zhong Zheng only sent the saber to his neck, but seeing the blood splattering, he actually killed himself as soon as he finished speaking.

The emperor was even more shocked, and his loyal subordinates committed suicide in fear of sin, what does this mean? It shows that Yuan Ying's goal is no longer to compete for the throne at all, but to fight for the throne purely!

What the hell is this for?!

Shadow, moon, fast? Is he because he was stimulated that day, and he wants to go back to the starting point to make a decision?

……

Since the accident last year, Shadow Moon Zhai has been closed.

After more than half a year, she was also wearing the costume of a palace maid and stepped into this dusty pavilion again, Qiwen can be said to have mixed feelings.

Why did he come to Shadow Moon Zhai?

Referring to the location he chose, a conjecture came out of his heart, like Sadako slowly climbing out of the edge of the well, which was both terrifying and grotesque, making it difficult for people to believe that it was true even if they saw it with their own eyes.

In that case, although there are some things that make sense, there are also many places that are illogical, how can it be true?

Thoughts are like oil stains floating on the water, sometimes pieced together, sometimes cracked and scattered, it is always difficult to form a complete one, Qiwen's heart is like numbness, and at the same time helpless.

"Those snitches who assassinate high-ranking officials are the killers you raised, right? Your purpose is to cause panic so that you can get the chance to personally garrison Chengtianmen tonight in order to infiltrate the harem? Qiwen asked as she stepped up the stairs. If she wants to escape from a mentally deranged person, attacking the heart is the best strategy, and she tentatively makes a move.

And the king of Tan, who followed behind him and disappeared in the darkness, only made a sound of footsteps, but did not answer a word.

It's the same all the way here, and he hasn't spoken since he said that he was going to Shadow Moon Zhai. His short sword was still held upside down in his right hand, and he didn't use it to force her, but Qiwen knew very well that with his ability, ordinary palace guards still had no power to fight back, and he had no room for resistance except for temporarily obeying and taking one step at a time.

When approaching the south gate of the Imperial Garden, he also met a eunuch who was patrolling the night with a lantern and asked, between the black lights and the fire, the eunuchs did not see their faces clearly, Qiwen knew that he could not deal with the king of Tan, and did not want to be innocent and killed, so he claimed that he was ordered by Concubine Chen Niangniang to go to Yonghe Palace to spread the word, and the eunuch was perfunctory, and the king of Tan did not say a word before and after.

In the dark night, following such a figure with a sharp blade in his hand but not saying a word, and unable to communicate at all, it was completely like a life-seeking demon behind him, escorting himself to Huangquan. It's even more terrifying than being killed outright.

There is a south-facing terrace on the highest floor of Yingyuezhai, which is made of long strips of red pine wood, about three feet wide and a few feet long, and after going up to the third floor, King Tan pointed at the short sword in his hand, signaling Qiwen to go to the terrace, and after he followed, he closed the door of the terrace.

The orange watermelon lantern hung by the eaves overhead, in front of him was a dim imperial garden, the night breeze was blowing, the king of the pool leaned against the door behind him, sat down on the ground of mahogany strips, put his arms on his knees easily, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief in the distance.

Finally with this light, he no longer looked so ghostly.

Qiwen stood against the railing, looked at him for a while and asked, "What do you want, don't you say it now?" ”

Unexpectedly, this time he replied: "When the second brother comes, I will make it clear." ”

Qiwen sneered: "What else do you want to say to him?" Do you want to say that you have a deep affection for me? ”

King Tan turned his eyes to look at her, with a strange smile on his face: "Wait quietly, don't provoke me." I haven't touched a woman in more than half a year, even if you're not afraid of death, you should always be a little scary, right? ”

Qiwen was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat, and compared to what he said, his state was even more terrifying. The innocent man in front of him was an incomprehensible madman, and there was no way to guess what he was thinking and what he was going to do. It seems that no matter how absurd and extreme things are, he can do them.

King Tan held the hilt of his sword in his hand, and said to himself: "This Shadow Moon Zhai used to be a place where my father and mother often came, and when I was a child, I wanted to play on this terrace, but unfortunately the queen mother always said that it was dangerous, and she was afraid that I would fall down, so she didn't let me come." When I grow up, I don't have to worry about stumbling, but I should avoid suspicion and no longer be able to go in and out of the Imperial Garden. I can't even fulfill such a simple wish......"

As soon as he said a few words that sounded normal, he turned his face again and asked Qiwen seriously like a child, "You say, if you really want to fall from here, will you definitely fall to death?" ”

The height of the ground below is almost equivalent to that of a modern five-story building, and the terrace sticks out of the eaves, and directly below is a marble paved pedestal.

Qiwen looked at him with her heart and didn't dare to say anything. Whether she answered yes or no, he might throw her down and give it a try.

He looked at her for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "That's it, I shouldn't scare you." You're right, instead of waiting, it's better to talk about your heart and pass the time. But what should I say? ”

His tone became very calm, and he sounded like he was completely back to normal. Tilting his head and thinking for a while, he began to narrate, but his tone was surprisingly cold and lonely: "In your eyes, I must be a big villain who has bullied and squeezed the second brother since I was a child, right?" I'm always the proud one, he's always the frustrated one...... In fact, if you think about it, what do I have to be proud of? What does he have to be disappointed about? ”

He sneered and shook his head, as if to mock the absurdity of this generally accepted belief, "I've been a head shorter for him since I was born. I didn't even have a chance to see my mother, my mother was his mother, my sister was his sister, my eldest brother loved him, and my father loved him...... Not to mention, he is a concubine, I am a concubine, and after the death of the eldest brother, the throne will be his. What do I have? I have nothing! ”

Qiwen was completely stunned by his statement, I really didn't expect that he was also inferior, and he had been envious and jealous of his brother, isn't this reversing black and white?

"What are you talking about? Obviously ......"

"Shut up!" He suddenly turned his face and pointed at her with a flickering short sword, "Don't bother me with your nonsense!" What do you know? Just listen to his side of the story! He told you that I robbed his mother, robbed his father, robbed the little palace maid he fancied, and wanted to rob him of the throne, you believed it, didn't you? Don't you want to think about it, my parents love me more, my subordinates treat me better, and women like me more, how did all this come about? I've got it all for it! If I don't fight at all, what will I have left? ”

Qiwen was surprised and unspeakable, others were kind to him, it was not other people's kindness, but he fought for it, what kind of crooked reason is this? Sure enough, bad guys are unreasonable, especially a crazy bad guy.

"Do you think that as a prince and raised in the court, you can enjoy yourself with peace of mind?" He quickly regained his patience and continued to speak calmly, sighing decently, "The territory of the harem is the most snobbish, and the most watching people put down the dishes. Did you hear the second brother say that he was treated slowly by eunuchs? As the queen's concubine, he has subordinates who dare to treat him slowly, if the queen mother knows, even if he doesn't like him anymore, he will come forward to support him, but the second brother himself is unwilling to sue. What about me? If I am not as unliked as my second brother, who will stand up for me? ”

He smiled bitterly, "You only know that the second brother has been neglected, but you don't know, in fact, in those years, when I saw the second brother, I always went to the face and was unhappy, and my parents were worried about him all day long, trying their best to coax him to be happy." Think about it, if I were to change places with him, and I would be such an old-fashioned and withdrawn weird boy who was ignored by mortals, would anyone take care of me? ”

Qiwen didn't answer, and his words seemed much smoother. The harem is so popular and black, and the oppressed little people of the palace maids and eunuchs are mostly like Mama Song, and when they get the opportunity, they will bully people to vent their feelings, and the unfavored prince will inevitably suffer from it.

If the emperor was not born to the Queen Mother, I don't know what to be bullied at that time. On the other hand, if he, the third prince who has no biological mother, has to be the same as the emperor's second brother everywhere, he will indeed only be treated more slowly.

"I have understood since I was a child that my second brother was born with everything, but I have nothing, and if I want to get a place to stay, I have to fight. For this reason, I tried my best to please everyone around me, even the palace maids and eunuchs did not dare to offend, and tried my best to be perfect, I wanted everyone to say that I was good, but whenever I saw a person showing a trace of dissatisfaction with me, I had to panic for a long time. finally managed to barely be able to equal the second brother. I didn't expect it, I didn't expect ......"

As he spoke, he became lonely again, squinting his eyes slightly and looking into the distance, and he didn't know what the so-called "didn't expect" meant.

During the day, Qiwen had just heard the emperor say: "He may have deliberately done better than me in front of others, but he really didn't deliberately rob me of anything." This is in line with his words.

It turned out that his well-behaved, easy-going and amiable was not innate, he forcibly suppressed his personality and carefully pretended to do it, and he didn't do it to compete with his second brother for favor, just to be affirmed and accepted, in order to fill the congenital lack of security.

In terms of life experience, it is true that he was born lonely and sent under the fence, and indeed if he hadn't fought for it, his situation would probably be far inferior to that of his brother.

Seeing it like this, Qiwen really couldn't help but start to understand and pity him.

What a bizarre realization, the third prince who enjoyed the scenery turned out to be a poor child, and even as he himself said, in some ways, he was indeed more pitiful than the second brother.

"But," Qiwen pondered her words and carefully said in her tone, "The Queen Mother really cares about you, you can't see this as an equivalent exchange for you to please Fengying, right?" She loves you more than her own son. ”

He didn't get angry this time, and turned his head lightly: "Then do you think that if I have never been to please Fengying, my mother is expected to hurt me more than my second brother?" ”

Qiwen opened her mouth and stammered, there is no love in the world for no reason, and the Queen Mother is by no means such a noble and selfless person. If he didn't "please and welcome", and didn't show that he was far more well-behaved than his second brother, why did the Queen Mother love him more?

His expression was slightly sad, and he said: "Since I was a child, I have heard my mother say the most two sentences, one is 'Yuan Ying is much better than your second brother, I can't complain that my mother loves you.'" The other sentence is, 'Yuan Ying, don't be like your second brother, otherwise your mother won't love you.' 'How do you think I should feel it?' I naturally have to decide that it is because I am better than my second brother that she will love me in exchange. And why should I pretend to be obedient? How many children will willingly pretend to be obedient? Isn't it because I'm afraid that no one will hurt or be bullied? ”

It's really unbelievable, Qiwen opened her eyes wide, and she almost had the heart to agree: That's right, if I were you, I would understand it like this when I heard this kind of thing all day long.

The Queen Mother and her old man failed so much, for the sake of her adopted son, she even offended her own son to the house, but she instilled in her adopted son every day "I love you if you want to be obedient, and if you don't be obedient, I won't hurt you".

That's not her biological son, it's not her own son, it's not a parent, and people will naturally be more concerned when they hear this. She didn't realize that her two sons were far more sensitive and emotionally delicate than her!

Qiwen had the heart to say, "Then you still have your father, he always really cares for you." Thinking of the crown prince's arrangement of the crown prince who first raised and then repressed, he still shut up knowingly. That kind of blow is not something that ordinary people can bear.

It was only now that I suddenly discovered that it was the wonderful education of this pair of excellent parents that made the two sons unhappy, and it was they who created the gap between the two sons and caused today's difficult dilemma. It also put her at risk of falling victim to her.

He doesn't seem wrong when he says this, he has his misfortune, but who is to blame for this? Is his innocent brother to blame?

Qiwen asked cautiously: "Is it because of this that you hate him, and you think that you want to grab all the qiē he has?" ”

His eyes fell, slightly distracted: "Haven't you heard him say?" In fact, as early as when I was young, I used to be very harmonious with him, and it was really harmonious, not pretending. When I hear someone say that I am good to my face and that he is not good, I will still hold his grievances. He also took care of me at all times. I was not born at odds with him. ”

Hearing him say the same thing, Qiwen really believed the emperor's statement, and her nose was a little sour, she nodded: "I heard him say it, and I know for sure that he really hopes that you can still be so harmonious with him now." ”

"Now?" He smiled absurdly again and shook his head, "Providence is destined, it is impossible." You must have thought that I ended up turning against him because of the battle for the throne, right? ”

The topic seemed to touch on an extremely sensitive and heavy hidden feeling, Qiwen's heart couldn't help but throb with nervousness, and she didn't even feel the hand holding on to the railing tightened: "Could it be ...... No? ”

Wasn't it because of the vacillation of the first emperor, who gave him hope and repented with his own hands, that the source of resentment was planted in his heart?

"How can it be that simple?" He sighed softly, "Maybe you don't believe it when you say it, but I'm actually more indifferent than him, and I'm not interested in fame and fortune, so I'm even less interested in the throne." I also have self-knowledge, and I know that my ability to deal with political affairs is not as good as him, and my father should choose him or not me in the end. I never wanted to compete with him for the position of prince for the sake of power. ”

Qiwen was stunned when she heard this, almost suspecting that he was crazy again, and he was talking nonsense, and the words that touched her heart just now were just his illogical crazy words.

His resentment towards his brother was so deep that he wanted to kill him as soon as possible, and this was not something that happened after her appearance. Not for her, not for the throne, so what?

Suddenly remembered what the emperor said about the time when their relationship changed, what happened in the year before he went to the domain? There are only two major things she knows, one is that the first emperor posthumously crowned King Tan's mother as his successor and gave him the identity of his son-in-law, and the other is Yin'er's matter.

"Could it be...... Is it because of Yin'er? Qiwen asked cautiously, her heartbeat suddenly intensifying, and she couldn't imagine if he would be stimulated by it.

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