At dusk, the imperial chef in the car prepared four dishes and one soup, all of which were very light dishes, and a bowl of white rice porridge.

Zhu Gaoxu tasted bland and tasteless, and he couldn't eat much at all. Originally, his favorite seafood was not recommended by the imperial doctor many years ago, and sometimes he had to eat it, and eating it would indeed cause physical discomfort.

It was Xiaohe who waited for him to eat. This little lady is good-looking, her skin is white and thin, but Zhu Gaoxu can only look at it, and she can't do anything. The word "food and color" in life has been lost for him.

He quickly put down his chopsticks and returned to the study compartment. In the glass cover on the lampstand, more than a dozen oil lamps had been lit, and he picked up a book from the box on the shelf, sat back in his chair and looked at it slowly.

It is a very old manuscript with yellowed paper, but it is well kept. There are a few beautiful words on the cover: The Life of the King of Han.

He was already familiar with the content, but Miaojin's narrative was different. The beautiful handwriting made Zhu Gaoxu seem to see her charming face in her coldness again, and even the subtle and rich emotions in her beautiful apricot eyes were also revealed between the lines. Zhu Gaoxu was imagining and reading slowly, very intoxicated.

Completely abandoning the government, Zhu Gaoxu's life has become very simple, and it is even simpler in the car these days. It's nothing more than talking to Xiaohe, most of them are trivial things, reading books, and then washing, eating, drinking and sleeping.

After four days and four nights, the train arrived at Beijing Station, which is located in the south of Beijing. After the horn sounded, the train slowly began to slow down until it stopped on the tracks in the station.

Zhu Gaoxu, supported by the captain of the Jinyi Guard, walked out of the carriage with great difficulty. At this time, he saw an old man with white hair standing outside, the old man was holding a cane in his hand, he was Wang Bin. Wang Bin wore a beam crown on his head and a red official robe, and he was dressed very formally and neatly. There were also people around him to help, and there were also many officials and soldiers present, probably people from Beizhili.

I haven't seen Wang Bin for several years, and Wang Bin seems to be a little older, but the black and rough round face is faintly familiar.

"Holy!" Wang Bin's cloudy eyes suddenly brightened a little, and he immediately shouted.

He walked forward with his cane in a little hurry, and suddenly he stumbled, and the people around him hurriedly grabbed him. Wang Bin called again, walked over anxiously, then threw away the crutches, knelt down slowly and hard, and bowed to the ground, and the people around him didn't dare to help him anymore.

"Greetings to the Holy One." Wang Bin said.

The officials in the back also fell to the ground and shouted long live.

Zhu Gaoxu adjusted his breathing, calmed down for a while, stretched out his hand and pushed away the brocade guard who was supporting him, and walked slowly a few steps by himself. He bent down, grabbed Wang Bin's arm quite vigorously, and held it up steadily with all his might: "Get up." Long time no see. ”

Wang Bin's eyes were red, and he raised his head and said in a strange voice: "I have been thinking about the Holy Lord a lot recently, and I heard that the Holy Lord is coming, but I am so happy." ”

Zhu Gaoxu was extremely relaxed, and when he saw the only remaining old friends, he had a feeling that he had another wish.

"Hah!" Zhu Gaoxu reached out and patted him on the shoulder, looking at Wang Bin. That face is also full of wrinkles and a lot of age spots. In this situation, Zhu Gaoxu hardly does

can imagine what Wang Bin looked like when he rushed to kill bravely.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Go to the palace and talk to me." ”

Wang Bin said: "The minister gladly received the order. ”

The two of them drove back to the city in the same car. They stepped onto the royal carriage from the Beijing Imperial Palace, and left the station amid the honor guards and guards hugging each other.

Along the way, the monarchs and ministers talked with each other, Wang Bin talked about the battle of Liaodong decades ago, and said in a joking tone, he knew that after winning that battle, he would stay in Beijing and be separated from the saint for decades. It's been so long, and besides, the monarchs and ministers are all old, Wang Bin doesn't speak very carefully, and of course Zhu Gaoxu doesn't care.

However, as the conversation continued, Zhu Gaoxu noticed that they were talking about the past a long time ago.

The carriage had been driving for a long time, and the street outside the window was lined with relatively tall buildings, usually several floors. With horse-drawn carriages in the middle of the street and sidewalks on both sides, the view of the city is very different from what it used to be. The scale of the capital is beyond the city walls, and the main economic zones are outside the old city walls; Moreover, the current inland cities no longer build city walls.

On the street, in front of many four-wheeled carriages, there is a model logo of a good horse, which is a sign called "Thousand Miles of Snow", and the four hooves of the pony sculpture are white, indicating the largest carriage manufacturer in the north and even in the north. The Qianli Snow Factory is a government-run factory.

When the horses entered the city gate, the scene inside looked like another era, most of them were old houses, mainly shops and residences. When people arrived at the imperial city, the elegant atmosphere of the palace tower did not change, but the emperor rarely lived in this palace, and there were few people inside, which seemed a little deserted in comparison.

Along the way, Zhu Gaoxu goes from the newly built city, to the old city, and then to the imperial palace, and the architectural style is constantly going back, giving people a feeling of passing through time.

Wang Bin was accompanied by some officials, and Zhu Gaoxu stayed in the palace for a few days. Life was very slow, he had to be helped to walk, he was easily tired, and he slept and rested for a long time. When the weather was good, he let people push him and take a look around the palace with Wang Bin.

When he was in the Imperial Garden, he would sit there for a long time, carefully observing the vitality of the willow branches and peach plums sprouting and growing leaves, and looking at the flowers. Sometimes I look up at the sun and clouds. It is also strange to say that Zhu Gaoxu has lived for such an age, and he has never been so meticulous and focused on appreciating every grass, tree, and everything in the world, at that time, he was always exhausted by power, desire, and various matters related to interests, or interested in people. These ordinary things in front of me are really boring.

However, he seemed to have a premonition in his heart that he was going to take that road, and everything in the world should never be seen. In the only life he has left, he will take the opportunity to take a few more looks, but maybe it doesn't mean much.

Sure enough, one day he suddenly fell into a coma, and his physical condition began to deteriorate. Soon, he was barely able to eat, except for the clear porridge and water, and it became more and more difficult for him to sit up.

The officials panicked, and a group of doctors were on duty day and night in the Qianqing Palace of the Imperial Palace in Beijing, and their voices of deliberation could often be heard. Then he sent people to Jingshi, wanting to invite more imperial doctors to come.

Everything is useless, in Zhu Gaoxu's cognition, people who have a serious illness will generally die, and the big deal is that they can delay it for a few more years, and it is nothing if they think they can be cured

It's a struggle. And he is still so old that he can't stand the treatment at all, and the medicine can't be heavy.

Zhu Gaoxu also clearly felt that something in his body seemed to be gradually withdrawing and disappearing, and the pain in his chest became more frequent. And he couldn't swallow anything, and the food could only enter his stomach by mixing it in water. If you can't eat, you won't be able to last long.

The people around me are afraid, worried, and sad. On the contrary, Zhu Gaoxu himself seemed relatively calm, he was ready, there was no regret or unwillingness, and there was only an instinctive fear left.

He dimly thought of the gradual development of human beings from primitive man to the industrial age, and he was unconscious for tens of thousands of years, as if at the snap of his fingers. Even the long time of 10 billion years when the universe had just formed stars never had his consciousness and had nothing to do with him. And there will be hundreds of millions of years in the future, and it may only be a snap of a finger for me, but what about after a snap of a finger? Eternity is like an endless abyss, he is very afraid, but he also knows that there is no escape.

Zhu Gaoxu took advantage of the time when his mind was clear, called Wang Bin and the civil and military officials, and issued the last holy decree: The officials of Beijing have been loyal to each other, and no one is guilty. After the collapse, everything in the funeral was simple, and Qi Hong was asked to inherit the unification according to the etiquette system.

After listening to the holy decree, Wang Bin knelt in front of the bed and cried.

Zhu Gaoxu moved his arm, and Wang Bin hurriedly approached. Zhu Gaoxu said slowly: "This time, you can't stop it for me." ”

Wang Bin said: "I am willing to exchange my life for a long life." ”

The corners of Zhu Gaoxu's mouth showed a playful smile.

Wang Bin said a lot more, his spirit seems to be good, and he should live for a few years. Zhu Gaoxu heard what he said intermittently, and he didn't hear a lot clearly, so he didn't know what he was talking about. Sometimes Wang Bin seems to be saying, what starts from the recklessness, meets the saint, and from then on the saint Longen soars. He has had a good wife and beautiful concubine in his life, and he has lived to be in his eighties, all by the grace of God.

I don't know how long later, Wang Bin's voice came again: "In the next life, the ministers are still willing to follow the saint and drive forward for the saint." ”

Zhu Gaoxu whispered: "Okay, I'll see you in the next life." ”

However, it seems that it is not easy for people to die, and Zhu Gaoxu tossed for a few more days. Later, I couldn't even swallow water, so I had to infiltrate my body.

Once he saw all kinds of strange and indescribable images, infinitely expanding like a balloon, and all kinds of dense and colorful things, he thought that people were still a little conscious when they died? Unexpectedly, I woke up again, still lying in bed, dazed, and had no strength at all. Only then did I vaguely understand that I might have been more or less conscious when I was in a coma.

Then the things in my mind became very strange, and the things I had experienced were regressed in my mind like a horse watching a lamp. Everything was not continuous, and some of the things he thought he had forgotten for a long time, scenes that he hadn't remembered for a long time, were now extra clear. He even saw the hidden hairs on the bodies of the Semu people Asari and Issuva, and recalled the voices of Miaojin, Yao Ji, Guo Wei, Enhui, Du Qianrui and others, such as the laughter of the bell. He felt more and more comfortable, more and more relaxed, and the pain was long gone.

Finally, at some point, Zhu Gaoxu only felt a burst of darkness, and then he didn't have any consciousness, and everything became nothing.