Implicit inquiry, cold and terrifying cold light, I vaguely understood that something was wrong, bent under my feet, knelt down in front of Yuwen Hu, and said in a deep voice: "Qingqiang has something to report to Otsuka Zai." ”

"What's the matter?" No emotional sounds can be heard.

"Qingqiang was stunned and caught to see Your Majesty today, Your Majesty he-" I gritted my teeth, and my heart was crossed, and I said it all, "Your Majesty seems to have some misunderstanding of Otsuka Zai, he suspects that you have bad intentions, and he also let Qingqiang spy on you." ”

"Did you say yes?"

"Qingqiang didn't agree, but the king of heaven ......" I choked, "he forced Qingqiang to drink the poisonous wine mixed with broken intestines, the poison will attack every once in a while, if there is no antidote from His Majesty within half a year, I will be torn to death by the intestines, and I will be tortured to death......"

I cried as much as I could, looking very aggrieved and extremely pitiful, "Your Majesty forced it so hard that Qingqiang had no choice but to agree." But Qingqiang has no intention of betraying Otsuka Zai, she just wants to get out and come back as soon as possible to report the matter to Otsuka Zai. ”

Qingqiang thought, Your Majesty and Otsuka Zai are brothers, how can there be an overnight feud between brothers. Perhaps, as soon as I talk about this, Otsuka Zai will explain to His Majesty, and the misunderstanding will be cleared up. As soon as the misunderstanding is cleared up, His Majesty will give me the antidote, and he will no longer ask me to spy on Otsuka. ”

I said it tactfully, deliberately describing the struggle for power between Yuwenyu and Yuwenhu as a conflict between ordinary brothers, and my compromise with Yuwenyu as an expedient measure to resolve the misunderstanding between Yuwenyu and Yuwenhu. In that case, he shouldn't be murderous to me because of this.

Yuwen Hu helped me up with one hand, his face was slightly pale, and he muttered: "Get up, the widow also knows that you were forced to make this decision, and I don't blame you for this matter." ”

My heart, which had been swaying on the edge of the cliff, finally settled down and slowly straightened up.

At this time, the disaster of killing was avoided, I looked at Yuwen Hu's face with frost and snow, and had to say cautiously: "What is the misunderstanding between Your Majesty and Otsuka Zai, it would be good if everyone talked about it together, why do you need to be so vigilant?" ”

"How can the word 'misunderstanding' explain this clearly?" Yuwen's eyes are getting darker, and there is a faint trend of wind and rain coming, "A Yuwen Jue is like this, and a Yuwen Yu is also like this, both of them are like thieves to guard against widows." I want my Yuwen to protect the Great Zhou, protect the country, and work hard. In the end, they accused them of being traitors, and I don't know what to do! ”

"I originally wanted to support Yu Wenyu after he ascended the throne, if Yu Wenyu didn't deal with me like his third brother, and he had the ability to govern the country, the widow would be relieved to return to him. But who knew that the first thing he did when he came back from Qizhou was to put eyeliner in my house! I thought I didn't know! ”

Yuwen Hu's tone was angry, almost stormy and angry, "So suspicious of me, guard against me, tell me how to hand over the power of the court to him?" Once the power is handed over, I'm afraid he is worried about poisoning Yuwenjue in his heart, and he can't wait to put me to death as soon as possible! ”

"I will never sit still, I must seize the power in my hands, with power, no one can touch me!" At the end, Yuwen Hu's lips were tightly closed, and there was a resolute fire in his eyes.

It seems that he senses that his emotions are a little out of control, and he talks too much. Yuwen Hu restrained his resentful look, straightened his sleeves, focused his eyes on me, and said solemnly: "Qingqiang, you have also seen that the grievances between the widow and His Majesty cannot be resolved overnight, and the widow needs you to help the widow do something." ”

"What does Otsuka Jae want Qingqiang to do?"

"You can deliver a message to Your Majesty, but what you want to pass on is a false message from the widow. The widow wants to paralyze Yu Wenyu with this, so that he can't attack the widow. As for the antidote, the widow will definitely find a way to get it from him, and the widow will save you. ”

I lowered my eyebrows and bowed my head and said, "Everything is in accordance with Otsuka's orders." ”

Yuwen Hu smiled and comforted: "Qingqiang, I have wronged you." But only in this way can the widow keep himself, keep the Tsukazaifu, and keep the entire people of the Tsukazaifu, including you. ”

Out of the study, playing the warbler crying flowers and birds picture silk yarn lamp back, looking at the light as soft as the moonlight, the roses on the rose stand are burning like fire, the charming petals have a red streamer flickering, the blue and blue leaves and branches are staggered and overlapped in one place, the leaves are dense, just like my chaotic state of mind.

At this moment, I was in a terrible mood, and in front of me was Yuwen Yu's aggressive face for a while, and Yuwen Guardian Yin Owl's sharp sneer for a while. Thinking that he was caught up in their competition, one wrong step was to fall into a bottomless cliff, and when he saw the light of day, his heart was in turmoil.

Probably to make up for my fright by Yuwen Yu's poisoned wine, Yu Wen Hu asked the cook to make very fine dishes and deliver them to my room every day. But as soon as I think of my current situation, I lose my appetite and can't put off chopsticks.

Yuwen came to the room to play with me, and when he saw the table full of food, he was immediately greedy, and he was very kind to help me clean it up. After eating, the child looked satisfied, "There are lotus leaf chicken, wine vinegar meat, golden bird's nest, lotus seed fish soup, it is really delicious." In particular, the lotus seed fish soup is delicious and delicious, and I really want to drink another bowl. ”

"Sister Xiao, why don't you drink a sip, that fish soup is delicious." Yu Wenzhi felt very sorry for me.

I wasn't in the mood to say, "I don't like it." ”

Yuwen said straightly: "The imperial brother doesn't like to drink fish soup, not only fish soup, he doesn't like all dishes about fish, he always thinks that there is a fishy smell in the fish." Sister Xiao, do you think so too? ”

My face moved slightly, and my eyes lowered three points of deep meaning: "That's not it, I'm different from your imperial brother." I just don't think the chef did a good job of this dish and don't want to eat it. ”

Yu Wenzhi said that he was very disgusted with my taste, such a delicious fish soup, I actually disliked the cook for not doing well.

——

Every festival, the night ban will be lifted in Chang'an City, the market is bright, and the people of the city can let go of night travel and play without restraint. It coincides with the Qiqiao Festival in July, Chang'an City is lit up at night, and the restaurants are open to welcome guests, all night long, so lively.

Yuwen Hu, who is in a high position, will inevitably have to entertain bureaucrats and friends and contact feelings. The banquet was booked in the west pavilion on the second floor of the first floor of the famous restaurant in Chang'an, and all the people I knew and didn't know came to the banquet. These people greeted each other politely, flattered each other, and after a while of wine and warm thoughts, their hearts gradually relaxed, and their courage was also released, and they began to vomit bitterness, saying that His Majesty promoted his own people, and repeatedly suppressed them, intending to do it against Otsuka Zai. Yuwen Hu quietly drank the wine in his glass without saying a word.

Someone outside the door asked to see him, and as soon as Yuwen Hu heard that someone was coming, he hurriedly asked me to send him away. I know the person who came, although this person is Hou Zhi, the cousin of Hou Longen, a close confidant of Yuwen Hu, but Yu Wen Hu thinks that he is timid and afraid, stupid and inflexible, and he does not want to see him very much, and has refused Hou Zhi's request for a visit many times.

Hou Zhi still refused to leave, insisting on seeing Yuwen Hu, saying that there was something important, and this matter was very important, and he had to tell Yu Wen Hu in person. I couldn't resist his request, so I asked him to find a seat downstairs and wait, and then I went and talked to Yuwen Go.

Once again, I told Yuwen Hu that there was something important. Yuwen Hu thought about it again and again and decided to go downstairs to see Hou Zhi. But when I went downstairs, I didn't see anyone, and I asked the guests at the next table, but they didn't know. At this time, the bartender told me that he vaguely saw Hou Zhi and another son going to the backyard.

The backyard was dim, and the rockeries were densely populated, and I felt very uneasy. Suddenly, I saw a figure on the other side of the rockery fall to the ground, and there was another man standing next to the figure, half of his body stuck in the shadows. I instinctively drew my sword from my waist and lunged at the man.

The man was caught up in the crowd and hurried to dodge my sword. I swung my sword and slashed back, and I didn't dare to relax.

But the sword always missed, and the man was so clever and very good that he turned the defense into an attack, reached out and grabbed my wrist, snatched my sword, and knocked me to the ground.

Seeing that I was defeated, Yuwen Hu hurriedly drew his sword and made a move, and fought with the man. I saw the man who fell to the ground, he was stabbed in the chest, his eyes were round, and he looked like Hou Zhi. I hurriedly got up, ran upstairs, and called the bartender to report to the official and the doctor. After that, I returned to the backyard, but there was no sound of fighting, only Yu Wenhu was in place with an angry face, and the other person was nowhere to be seen.

Looking at Hou Zhi who fell to the ground, I was shocked: "Who wants to kill Hou Zhi's son?" ”

"The sky is dark, and the widow can't see his face clearly, but the martial arts path he has just made is very familiar." Yuwen Hu's eyes were hateful, and he almost gritted his teeth and said, "It's just the same person as the masked young man who assassinated the widow in Cuihua Mountain!" ”

The doctor was quickly invited, but it was too late, and Hou Zhi's breath was short and he was powerless to save it. Hou Longen hugged his cousin and cried bitterly. When the government officials arrived, I asked them to surround the exits on the first floor and check the entry and exit of the population.

"Don't you think it's strange that Otsuka Zai just said that he had something important to tell you, but in a blink of an eye he was killed, isn't it very similar - killing people and killing people?" Looking at Yuwen Hu's thoughtful expression, I continued to analyze, "Assuming that the murderer is trying to kill people, then how does he know when and where Hou Zhi will interview you, how can it be so coincidental that Hou Zhi was killed just when he was about to tell you about it?" The murderer led Hou Zhi to the backyard and then killed him, without any prior preparation, and he didn't expect that we would meet him and kill people. Usually the murderer will be dressed in black and masked, covering up all the features that may reveal his identity. But this person didn't, he still had a smell of alcohol on his body, obviously the murderer was improvised, and he killed in a hurry, so hastily that he didn't have time to arrange and cover up the crime scene, and he didn't even have time to change his clothes. ”

"It is preliminarily inferred that the murderer was able to kill people at such a timely time because he was also on the first floor. Hou Zhi was seen by him when he asked to see Otsuka Jae, so he temporarily decided to kill, and the smell of alcohol on the murderer's body also showed that he had just finished drinking alcohol and killed someone. In such a hurry, he must not have prepared an escape route beforehand, and without preparation, he would certainly not run around to arouse suspicion, and I guess he would most likely return to the wine room. The murderer, perhaps at this moment, is on the first floor. “

"So you asked the people from the government to surround the first floor, but even if you know that the murderer is in the restaurant, how can you find out which one is the murderer?" Yuwen asked with a worried brow.

I said carefully: "The murderer just had a vicious fight with Otsuka Zai, and there will be some scars on his body, no scars, and his clothes will be torn, so those who have injuries or damaged clothes in the restaurant and have left the table halfway are likely to be murderers." Hou Zhi's expression before he died was shocked, he couldn't imagine that the other party would suddenly kill him, which showed that he knew the murderer, so that he was completely defenseless, and he could lead Hou Zhi to the backyard at such a critical moment, how could he do it if he wasn't a familiar person? Hou Zhi was born in a family of eunuchs since he was a child, and most of the people he knew were also children of eunuch families or officials in the same court. ”

"Qingqiangchai, the murderer, most of them are related to officialdom!"

After a round of searches, there were a few people with injuries on their hands or damaged clothes, but they were all working people at the bottom, and they inevitably bumped and injured in their work, and they didn't know Hou Zhi at all, so they could rule out suspicion.

The last ones to check were a few official sons, and unexpectedly, Yu Wenyong was actually inside.

Exegesis:

(1) The title comes from Li He's "Ai Ruzhang" in the Tang Dynasty: "Who cuts and carves the green flowers of mugwort leaves?" There is an unpredictable opportunity! ”