When Zhao Qiu withdrew from Qinzheng Garden with a letter to Shi, Qiu Neiguan swept the dust, walked behind the shadowy screen, and glanced at the maids who were playing the orchestra under the curtain.

"If Zhao Tingwei really had an affair with the prince's party, before leaving Qinhuai tonight, he would definitely find a way to report to the prince's party, but the guards who escorted Zhao Tingwei home followed Zhao Tingwei all the way from the moment Zhao Tingwei stepped out of Qinzheng Garden, and with this group of eyeliners staring at him all the time, Zhao Tingwei resolutely did not dare to act rashly, so that the news naturally could not reach the prince's ears."

Qiu Neiguan analyzed it, but he still didn't understand.

"Your Majesty is indeed wise. However, the old slave is stupid, and His Majesty is suspicious of Zhao Tingwei, why don't you just give him death, but pretend to make twists and turns? ”

Qiu Neiguan has served by the monarch's side for many years, and he knows best what the monarch does, in the past, when he was in the desert, the monarch has always been decisive in killing, and he has never pretended to be a puzzle like today.

"Since the prince's birthday banquet, the prince is no longer the original prince, he has already declared war on me, and now even Zhao Qiufu is willing to join his command, it can be seen that the prince has also tried his best, if I kill Zhao Qiufu directly, it is difficult to guarantee that the prince will not set off a wave, Zhao Qiufu holds the power of imprisonment in his hand, I do this, not only to prevent trouble, but also to give the prince a warning!"

Emperor Mo Cang said lightly, seeing that the book was almost finished, he took out a box from under the golden case, and there was an unfinished wooden hairpin stored in the box, and under the wooden hairpin was pressed a hairpin pattern that had been painted, and there were some carving utensils next to it.

Qiu Neiguan understood, hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the case, and then carefully took out the contents of the box.

"Your Majesty is a king and a father, with good intentions everywhere, the prince has a father like this, and he must have been blessed in his previous life! It's just that the prince is acting quite boldly now, and the old slave is afraid that the prince has vain His Majesty's hard work, gone astray, and hurt His Majesty's heart! ”

"The prince is young and vigorous, and now even I am afraid of him, but I am always relieved to see that he is becoming more and more like I was back then."

Emperor Mocang said lightly while focusing on the carving of the wooden hairpin.

"At first, I thought that Tai Bullet impeached King Chang because he was dissatisfied with my reward for King Chang, but now he is close to Zhao Qiu, and he is connected with the thief. According to the father-in-law's opinion, why did the prince move? He asked suddenly.

Gonggong Qiu pondered for a moment, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and immediately said: "The prince's intentions, the old slave does not dare to speculate. If the old slave wants to guess, the old slave is afraid that he will not be able to guess. ”

I don't know what my own son thinks, let alone someone else?

Emperor Mo Cang frowned and shook his head, the expression on his face became a little heavy, and he sighed lightly: "I really can't understand what my son wants. ”

The delicate dragon pattern wandered in his hand, and a hairpin was already dazzling. There was something in his eyes and he said casually: "Recently, I have been paying close attention to the movements of the East Palace, and I want to see what my son is busy with." In addition, send a few wolf guards to ambush outside Qinhuai City as anti-thieves, and wait for Zhao Qiu to get out of the city, find a deserted place, and kill him! ”

Qiu Neiguan wanted to surrender his hand, but suddenly heard the Mocang monarch give another order, and couldn't help but make his heartstrings tense and tense, and he didn't dare to say a word, and when the Mocang monarch's voice fell, he secretly raised his eyes to look at it, only to see that the monarch was engrossed in the carving, and he couldn't see what the look was on his face, so he bent down and raised his voice: "The old slave has the order." ”

Qiu Neiguan understands that it's not that he can't read it, it's that he doesn't dare to read it.

Putting away his hesitant thoughts, Qiu Neiguan wanted to retreat, but he heard the sound of the three watch drums outside the verandah, turned back, and said softly: "Your Majesty, it's the third watch, and there will be an early dynasty tomorrow, so it's better to drop the lights, go to bed!" ”

"I want to wear the hairpin on the prince's golden crown for some time, and it's time to change it, his mother is organizing it for him on weekdays, and now his mother is not around, take the opportunity, let me do these things for him once! The Qingguo Ceremony is imminent, and it can't be slow, I made the style earlier, and ordered someone to take the style to make it before the Qingguo Ceremony, which is just in time. ”

Emperor Mocang said without hurry, and his tone was full of love. After speaking, he squinted his eyes and blew the newly cut sawdust on the hairpin surface by the bright lamp on the case.

Hearing this, Qiu Neiguan pursed the corners of his lips, his eyes were bright, and his deep gaze was mixed with a gentle warm current, "If the prince knows His Majesty's intentions, he must be grateful!" ”

In the Qinzheng Garden, the palace lights gradually went out, and only one lamp was left to shine silently.

The entire Julong City was shrouded in light smoke, as if covered with a thin white veil. The faint morning light was like the dim lights of the wilderness, powerless to penetrate the hazy barrier, and was cut off.

The fog was filled, and the sparse palace in the distance was ethereal and looming; The dead branches and leaves in the vicinity were burdened by a layer of frost and snow, like clotted cream. Wisps of mist drifted gently, like delicate flowing water, wrapping everything in Julong City in a circle. Like the ethereal clouds, such as Qiong Yao Wonderland, and like the dream labyrinth, it is desirable and confusing, and there is no choice where to go.

Shi Jian retracted his gaze, rubbed his hands like ice cubes for a while, and blew into it for a while, trying to expel the cold, but it was still too cold, so he began to trot up in front of the palace gate, the cloak on his shoulders was already covered with a layer of frost and snow, and as soon as he ran, the snow with ice slag slipped down the cloak, and finally fell to the ground silently.

The prince for two days in a row is Yin Shi and Mao Shi when the handover of Zhao Tingwei's official sedan chair back, he is mainly responsible for guarding the East Palace of the Huaqing Gate to meet the prince, in the early morning in front of the Huaqing Gate occasionally official sedan chair drove by, idle people and so on will not go to this side, the prince returned to the East Palace, the most secret.

Although there are sentinels and dark posts planted by the East Palace Guards to do inspections in advance along the way, but in case of accidents for the prince, he is getting earlier than the day by day, no, the morning star in the sky is only slightly brighter today, and he came out, but now the time has passed, but Zhao Tingwei's official sedan chair has not appeared for a long time, which can't help but make him start to worry. 16

The East Palace has been ownerless for three consecutive nights, this matter is very important, and the prince will not take it lightly, not to mention that the prince is a punctual person, and it is impossible to delay his return.

Frowning, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it became, and he decided to go to the prison of the dead slave to investigate.

The dead slaves were imprisoned, and the crows crowed wildly and flew away from the treetops.

The two soldiers guarding the prison gate suddenly became conscious when they saw a horse coming from the morning mist. As the smoke cleared, the master turned over and dismounted, and met them, greeted them with a golden sign, and immediately put away his sword and bowed respectfully to his master.

"Hey, hey, I'm here to meet the prison lieutenant on the orders of the prince, and I'll report it quickly." Shi Jian held the prince's token and said.

The two soldiers immediately looked at each other, not knowing what to do, and after a pause, one of the soldiers took a step forward and bent back respectfully.

"My lord doesn't know, last night the monarch summoned the court captain into the Qinzheng Garden, and returned in the middle of the night, but in less than two teas, he was sent out of the city by the guards sent by the monarch, and at this moment, he has long been far away from Qin Huai."

Shi Jian was very puzzled, and asked anxiously, "Why is this?" ”

"I heard it was... Last night the monarch gave the Lord's permission. ”

Suddenly! Get out of town overnight!

Somehow, Shi Jiao's right eyelid began to jump, and he always felt that something was about to happen, or that it had already happened. Putting aside his uncertain mood, he raised his eyes and asked, "Hey, hey, has the official sedan chair of the early court ever left?" ”

Hearing this, the soldier was a little dumbfounded, and the other soldier spoke, and his voice was slightly helpless: "My lord said that he was laughing, since the court lieutenant has already given his way, how can he talk about the early dynasty..."

"Hey, no, hey, did I mean Tingwei's official sedan chair left?" was misinterpreted, Shi Jian was in a hurry to explain, and the old problem of stuttering became more and more serious.

The two soldiers looked at each other again, and they shook their heads again and again, seeing that he was a little unconvinced, and one soldier said: "The official sedan chair of the Tingwei is now falling in the Tingwei's mansion, if you don't believe it, you will find out at a glance." ”

Even if they accept the prince's intentions, they don't dare to deceive, but Zhao Qiu's beard is not in prison, so the prince's traces are impossible to ask, if he rashly goes to the Tianzi prison to check people, it will definitely expose the prince's secrets and leave hidden dangers for the prince.

In the midst of a thousand things, he suddenly had a plan. Decided to turn around and leave.

Seeing this, the two soldiers arched their hands and said, "Congratulations to my lord." ”

After that, he continued to perform his duties, and when he saw that the strange man was about to lead the horse away, he turned his head and asked, "Hey, did you leave anything before you left?" Or is it a thing? ”

The two soldiers shook their heads again and again, and Shi Jian retracted his stagnant gaze and led his horse away from the snow.

Walking in such a hurry, and being personally escorted by the guards sent by the Mocang monarch, I'm afraid ......

Outside the prison of the dead slave, a string of horseshoe prints fell on the snow, crooked.

After walking for a while, a moss-covered wall came in front of him, and Shi Jian stopped, raised his chin, and settled down, and was sure in his heart: this is it.

From memory, according to the topographical map of the palace that the prince had drawn that day, he remembered that there was a secret passage leading to the prison here, and the approximate location should be under the high wall.

raised his eyes, looked to the east, the sky had not yet dawned, and thought that it was fortunate that he left Huaqing Gate in advance, saving a lot of time, and the plan for today is to find the prince as soon as possible.

I was about to follow the wall to find the entrance to the secret passage, when in the corner of the wall, a huge stone suddenly fell, and in an instant, it was a hole. Shi Jian's heart swayed for a moment, and he cautiously approached to find out, but unexpectedly, a head suddenly poked out of it, and he immediately hid under the wall.

peeping secretly, only to find out that it was a pawn in prison. He pinched his chin and decided to go up and intercept.

The jailer, thinking that he was safe, was struggling to lift a stone to cover the hole, when he was slapped on the back, and he was immediately frightened and jumped wildly. The mouth whined: "Adults spare their lives, adults spare their lives!" ”

Shi Jian looked at it and asked, "You guy, sneaky, aren't you escaping from prison?" ”