The Lantern Festival should be a day of family reunion, the palace is indeed a different scene, the eldest prince and the second prince are grounded in the house, the concubines in the harem do not dare to anger the emperor in this sensitive period, so they have to spend the festival alone in their respective palaces, and the palace is particularly deserted.

Diametrically opposed to the imperial palace is the streets and alleys in Shangjing, where the lights are lit up everywhere and are not lively, and the people go out to enjoy the lanterns, guess the lantern riddles, and eat the Lantern Festival. All kinds of juggling snacks are very popular with children, on this day adults and children can buy a variety of shapes of delicate lanterns in their hands, or learn some flower paper bamboo strips to make their own new zuò lanterns, although not as delicate and beautiful as the outside sales, but can experience fun in the process of making zuò.

People's faces are full of smiles, shuttling among the crowds, the ears are the stall owners' shouting and selling, the lively laughter of children, everyone's faces are filled with the joy of the festival, gradually diluting the bloody chill left in the hearts of people before the New Year's Festival, the red lights are like a scorching warm sun, warming everyone's heart, driving away the cold in winter.

"Master, news from the palace." Hong Ming lifted the heavy curtain and entered the house, and the warmth in the house came to his face, blowing away the cold brought by the outside.

I took the letter and read it carefully, and I received the New Year's gift I made for my father and brother, and both of them liked it very much, and they ordered someone to send a large cart of things, which will probably arrive tomorrow. In addition to the daily greetings, the letter also talked in detail about the affairs of the court, the eldest prince and the second prince are now each planting big heels, suffering heavy losses, and the power in their hands is gradually shrinking, and they have returned to their original state. The letter said that let yourself pay more attention, the two sides will not be able to stop fighting, whether there is a possibility of another attack, we must take precautions as soon as possible. At the end of the letter, he mentioned that his father and brother missed him, and asked when he would be able to go back.

The original plan was for two years, and after two years, no matter what kind of journey she did, she would go back to see her relatives.

Ordered Hongming to study ink, and wrote a reply letter. Talk about the situation on your side, so that the two of them don't worry, although they missed the New Year and the Lantern Festival, the days are still very long, and I believe they will not miss it in the future. As for the question of whether to go back, I still want to stick to the two-year deadline. The parting now is for the sake of meeting in the future, two years seems to be a long time, but in fact it will pass in the blink of an eye.

"Is there any news coming back from the border gate?" Put down the pen and look up to ask Hongming.

"Not yet, it is estimated that it will be delayed for a few days due to the heavy snow blocking the road." Hong Ming calculated the days in his heart, it should be almost there.

"Did Xu Chenlin say when he would come back?" A few years ago, Xu Chenlin proposed to go back for the New Year, but he was not an unreasonable person, so he agreed to Xu Chenlin to go back.

"Why don't you wait until after the twentieth day of the first month?" Hongrui added a cup of tea and placed it on the table.

"It will take at least two months to come from Linzhou." Hongrui turned her head to look at Hongming. "Are we going to wait for Xu Gongzi here?"

"No, go to the next town as planned." I don't plan to waste two months doing nothing, and if I want to return to Beijing as soon as possible, I have to speed up my pace.

"When does the master plan to leave, do you need to inform Xu Gongzi?" Hongming asked.

"Seeing that after two more towns, we will reach the border pass, according to Xu Gongzi's footsteps. I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up. Hongrui thought again and again: "Let Xu Gongzi not rush to the road, we can meet on the way back." ”

"Hongrui is right, the master went to the customs to find out the news, and it is inconvenient for Xu Gongzi to follow him." Hong Ming was afraid that Xu Chenlin would see the problem in the minutiae of Su Ri, which was not a good thing for the master.

"Yes, too." nodded and agreed, and instructed Hongming to inform Xu Chenlin.

Shangjing, the eldest prince and the second prince. The two factions of people and horses climbed and fought with each other, and after this incident, the vitality of the two parties was greatly damaged, and they no longer had the strength to start, so they took advantage of the time of the grounding to recuperate, and the coming day was high.

Mu Haoyu finally relaxed a little more, and waited for all the people in the court to be replaced by his own. At that time, you will not have to plan as you do now, and you will be tired of your body.

"The time has come." Mu Haoyu whispered to himself, and a touch of blue crossed his eyes.

Mu Rong, the second prince who was grounded in the mansion, was not as calm as the eldest prince Mu Zhao. Not only was Mu Zhao successfully bite off a piece of meat by counterattack, losing more than half of his manpower, but even the qiē he had done before was also in vain. I wanted to get my father to pay more attention to himself. This is so good that not only did you not get what you wanted, but you were beaten to the bottom.

The more Mu Rong thought about it, the more unwilling he became, although his father did not impose a heavy punishment, but he had fallen behind in the eyes of his father, Mu Zhao was also not much better, this game can be said to be a lose-lose situation. blamed himself for being careless, he didn't discover Mu Zhao's conspiracy in advance, and the great opportunity was ruined.

In fact, the whole thing Mu Rong saw that Mu Zhao worked so hard and couldn't get his father's blue eyes, and he was in the same fate as himself, so he was not in a hurry, anyway, if he wanted to fight again, he had to wait until the ban was lifted, and what he needed most during this time was to plan well and strive to eradicate Mu Zhao in one fell swoop.

The idea is beautiful, but the reality is indeed very cruel, Mu Rong's plan was broken by a piece of news, which made Mu Rong confused all of a sudden, and he had no idea when he was uneasy.

"Why, why?" Mu Rong was furious and picked up the things in the study and fell, because he was afraid that the hand holding the things trembled unconsciously.

"How so, how so, at this time?" Mu Rong's heart was cold, this matter was even stricter than Mu Zhao's falling into the well.

Mu Rong's eyes were red with anger, this matter was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and he couldn't breathe.

"I blame my mother, why did I get so confused at that time and let her do such an irreparable thing." Mu Rong complained viciously.

"In the end, he ruined his own son!" Mu Rong's eyes were about to split, his heart felt like he had fallen into a cold pool, and he was so anxious that he kicked over the table and chair in front of him.

"What to do, what to do!" Mu Rong was fascinated and kept repeating these two sentences.

The little maid guarding outside the study heard the movement in the room, and subconsciously retreated a few steps away from the door, guessing that the master was in a bad mood, and he didn't dare to make even the slightest sound.

It is not easy to be a subordinate, that is, to share the worries and solve problems for the master, and to be a punching bag when the master is in a bad mood, sometimes you have to endure it if you are not beaten or scolded, and you dare to resist in the slightest, and what awaits you will be a cruel reality.

No matter how loud the movement in the study is, no one dares to come forward to ask, and the lives of subordinates are never heavier than grass mustard.

"No, I can't. No, now is not the time to be cranky. Mu Rong's eyes were red, he stopped to think, and he always had to find a way to avoid trouble. Otherwise, he would be even worse than Mu Zhao's bastard.

"Why does your own mother always make trouble for yourself?" Mu Rong said distressedly: "No wonder the mother concubine can only sit in the position of the concubine, but Mu Zhao's mother can sit firmly in the position of the concubine, the difference of one word, the gap behind this is not only this word." ”

Mu Rong was not in a good mood, and complained about what Concubine Chen did, and the anger in his heart was eased, and now it is just a news that has not been conclusively proven, whether it is really difficult to say.

No, whether it's true or not, this matter must be closed.

Mu Rong thought that he was grounded. Some things are inconvenient to do, and the right-hand men around him have also been cut down by Mu Zhao, and now it is a critical juncture to employ people, but he has no one available, and he suddenly found himself so miserable.

Mu Rong racked his brains to find a way. Suddenly, his brain flashed, and he secretly scolded himself for panicking, how could he forget such an important matter, there was no one around him, and there was absolutely no shortage of manpower under one person.

Chen's grandfather, he was not affected by the previous events, and now he is the only one who can help him with advice. Moreover, my grandfather was also one of the participants in that incident. If something goes wrong, he's half to blame for it.

Mu Rong summoned his henchmen, quietly went out of the mansion to find Chen Yanzhi in Chenfu, and conveyed a sentence, "That matter has eyebrows, and it is very bad." With this sentence, Chen Yanzhi will not sit idly by.

Chen Yanzhi was able to get away with it during the previous incident. was not implicated, in fact, he knew in his heart that the emperor did not study deeply for the sake of the second prince, otherwise the Chen family might not be protected, and the same would be true for the eldest prince.

The eldest prince is much luckier than the second prince. In addition to the Yuan Mansion, his Yue family has to add another Prime Minister's Mansion, which is many times better than the second prince. At the beginning, he should have tried his best to prevent the eldest prince from marrying the prime minister's mansion, although it was a concubine who was out of the concubine, and she couldn't be on the stage, but it could come in handy at a critical time.

On the surface, it seems that the emperor treats the two princes equally impartially, and the results of the two things seem to be the same, but there are unspeakable secrets inside.

The eldest prince entered the court two years earlier than the second prince, don't underestimate this short period of two years, enough for the eldest prince to deploy his own network, although the second prince is not bad, but there is still a little gap, it can be seen from the counterattack of the eldest prince, the eldest prince has already pinched the handle of the second prince in his hand, but he was caught off guard before the hair, and the second prince can benefit from it.

The second prince's temperament is too impetuous, he thought everything was fine after winning a game of the eldest prince, and the eldest prince was no longer afraid.

It can be seen that the second prince is not as good as the eldest prince, Chen Yanzhi is unwilling to believe it, the matter is in front of him, and it is futile to argue. The unwillingness in my heart is there, but I haven't really lost my ambition to take a step closer, the Chen family is not so easy to be defeated, and there is a turnaround.

Fortunately, the emperor is also dissatisfied with the eldest prince, and the second prince can fight with the eldest prince at this point.

Chen Yanzhi paced back and forth in the study, his brows furrowed, his mind kept spinning, and he wanted to figure out a way.

I'm afraid that my daughter is inappropriate, I can't rely on Concubine Chen to find out the source and authenticity of the news in the palace, and my identity is too sensitive to let the eldest prince catch the tail, and it will be even more difficult to turn over when the time comes.

Familiar people can't use it, and unfamiliar people can't ensure safety just by relying on the convenience of money, and it is very likely to send fake news, thus misleading their own judgment, which is too dangerous for Chen Yanzhi to try.

Suddenly, Chen Yanzhi stopped and patted his forehead, "This is crazy, I don't reserve a small number of people right now, and I can still move." ”

The eyeliner that was placed in the palace earlier was not avoided from being discovered, and the news was rarely passed on, and now it was the time to employ people, and I didn't care if it was discovered.

There are not many eyeliners placed in the palace, the palace is strictly hierarchical, and there are as many as fifty people sent to it, and only ten people can survive in the end, these ten people still only hold an inconspicuous position in the harem, and Chen Yanzhi has not yet had the means to place people next to the emperor.

At that time, the purpose of the people was to monitor the palace concubines and help their daughters to protect themselves in the palace, otherwise it would be impossible for Concubine Chen to give birth to the prince safely and be promoted to the concubine position in one fell swoop for so many years. Later, in order to prevent other concubines from conceiving imperial heirs, those unsightly means were also completed by the dispersion of these ten people, and more than half of the emptiness of the royal family's heirs now depends on this.

At that moment, Chen Yanzhi immediately made a decision and sent his henchmen to contact the people in the palace, this matter must be investigated, as for Concubine Chen, there is no need to report it, lest her daughter do irrational things when she hears the situation, and help it, and it will be too late to cry at that time.

Mu Rong got the letter, and his heart was slightly relieved, and there was finally room for redemption, thank God, I hope to hear the good news soon.

"Your Majesty, it's moving over there." Li Desheng stepped forward and replied.

"Hmm." Mu Haoyu was reviewing the folds, his eyes did not leave the table, and he asked, "Is it Chen Yanzhi?" ”

"As the emperor expected, Lord Chen is bleeding this time, and he has used the eyeliner that has been buried in the palace for many years." If Li Desheng didn't know the inside story, he would still admire Chen Yanzhi's change without being surprised.

"The only person Mu Rong can use is his grandfather." Mu Haoyu snorted coldly and said, "According to the original plan, the news will be released little by little." ”

Mu Haoyu likes to increase the weight little by little, seeing that person is so anxious about this, like an ant on a hot pot, he is as busy taking care of himself, and in the end it can only be an end.

"Yes." Li Desheng responded.

"Is there a change in Mu Zhao?" His eldest son is more concerned about Mu Haoyu than his second son.

"The spies came to report, the eldest prince lived a very comfortable life, as if he didn't take the grounding seriously, he read books in the past few days, and teased the concubines who had just entered the palace." Li Desheng couldn't help but wonder, why isn't this eldest prince in a hurry? It can be seen from the previous events that the eldest prince is a person who will ignore the opportunity when he seizes the opportunity, why did he suddenly become idle.

His eldest son's mind is much deeper than that of the second son, if he can't swallow this breath, the eldest son will not show his hole cards, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which is really an eye-opener.

What Mu Zhao did was not only to find Mu Rong to collect debts and vent his anger, but also to test Mu Haoyu's reaction, to see if he cared more about a person's ability or about the ethereal brotherhood.

Mu Zhao's small abacus crackled, but unfortunately it did not achieve the result he expected, that is, he did not try to find anything, the same thing and the same way of disposal, the rewards and punishments were clearly not able to pick out a little abnormal, which made Mu Zhao very disappointed, he took so much effort, and even did not hesitate to take out the hole cards, but he didn't get anything, there was a feeling of punching the cotton, that is, powerless and helpless. He was not discouraged, as long as he was still the prince of a country, he would have the opportunity to win the supreme position.