The capital of the Li Dynasty, the palace of the king of Ling.

At this time, Li Nan had just finished announcing the decree, and when Li Yao put the emperor's holy decree on the main case with both hands, he stepped forward happily and said: "Your Royal Highness, Your Majesty has announced today that you will be the crown prince, and the will has been issued, and the adults of the Ministry of Rites will immediately go to prepare for the ceremony; The old slave was presumptuous today, thinking in his heart that since he was blessed, he was the first to come to His Royal Highness the King of Lingling to congratulate him, so let the old slave call you 'His Royal Highness the Prince' in advance, and ask His Royal Highness to accept this gift from me. ”

"Father-in-law Nan, don't dare to take this seriously. Li Yao's face did not show half a smug look, but took a step back hurriedly, as if he was unwilling to accept Li Nan's congratulations, and looked very humble. However, Li Nan glanced at the people in the house who knelt on the ground behind him, and they didn't dare to come out one by one, obviously the decree had been completed, and the two of them were just chatting at the moment, but none of the people below dared to move. Even the two girls who served the most by King Ling's side, without the orders of their masters, still knelt cautiously, and when they heard that King Ling was crowned the crown prince, their faces did not show any more joy. Li Nanxin said that this king of the tomb is really strict, and the etiquette is not bad at all, but he can't bear to let these people kneel all the time, and when he looks at the sun outside, he arches his hand and says: "Your Highness, the old slave still has to go back to the palace to restore His Majesty's life, so don't bother much." The old slave retires!"

"Nan Gonggong walks slowly. Li Yao didn't take out the gold and silver artifacts to reward Li Nan, but just politely sent him to the gate of the palace, so he turned around and went back to the inner courtyard.

At this moment, in the inner courtyard, except for the housekeeper of the royal palace, who was still talking to the man who delivered the goods at the back door, everything else was quiet, and there was no sound of talking. In the courtyard, only the sound of sprinkling and sweeping and the sound of water flowing on the rockery could be heard, and the sound of cutting vegetables and preparing ingredients in the kitchen was also very rhythmic in the distance. And Ah Yuan and Ah Meng, the maidservants of the former Lin Mansion who have been following Li Yao since they were rescued from the prison, although they have entered the mansion since the establishment of the mansion, it stands to reason that they have long been familiar with Li Yao and the situation of this mansion, and at this moment the two of them are standing in Li Yao's study, looking around, cowering, and their faces are full of fear.

"Everything is packed up?" Li Yao walked in slowly, his question was gentle and kind, as if he was a very kind son, seeing the trembling appearance of the two girls, he pushed a plate of cloud cake on the bookcase next to him forward, "You girls like these small snacks every day, take them, eat them on the way." ”

"Thank you...... Your Highness. Ah Meng slowly stepped forward to pass the plate of dim sum, but his hand trembled involuntarily, so that the dim sum in the shape of a flower on the plate was also shaken apart, like a flower that had been trampled on, and it no longer had a shape.

"It's a pleasure to let you go over and reunite with your young lady this time, right?"

"Happy, happy......" The two nodded their heads again and again, but they couldn't hear half of the joy in their tones. However, Li Yao didn't care, he still looked kind, and said in a more and more gentle tone: "It's good to be happy." What the king has told you—"

"The slave and maid must be obedient! Your Highness will say whatever the slave and maid say, and don't dare to say a word else!" Ayuan suddenly knelt down and kowtowed like garlic: "I only ask Your Highness to have mercy and spare the slave's family!"

Ah Meng next to her also lost her soul when she heard this, her hand shook, and the plate of snow-white cloud cake fell to the ground, and she immediately knelt down and banged her head: "Your Highness spare your life, Your Highness spare your life!"

The warmth on Li Yao's face slowly disappeared, and finally converged into a gloomy face, but his tone was unusually soft: "Spare your life?" I will save the two of you from the prison and settle your family—you, whose life do you want this king to spare?"

When Ah Yuan and Ah Meng heard his last sentence, they were suddenly shocked like an electric shock, the two glanced at each other, and said in unison: "As long as Your Highness spares the life of the slave and maid's family, the slave and maid swear allegiance to Your Highness, and never dare to have the slightest dissent!"

"Good. The corners of Li Yao's mouth raised a faint smile, and he stepped forward to pull them up left and right: "Good boy, this king, like your young lady, always believes in you very much, and has always loved you." This time you go well, stay with your young lady, and come back well, and stay later—this king will surely find a good place for you. ”

Ayuan showed a smile with great difficulty: "Since she was a child, Miss has been like a sister to the slave and maid, and His Royal Highness saved the slave and maid from the prison. ”

Li Yao patted the hands of the two noncommittally, and called out the door: "Someone." ”

A sturdy young man walked in and saluted stiffly: "Your Highness, please command." ”

"Zha Jiang, are the carriages and horses ready?"

"Back to Your Highness, the carriages and horses are ready, and you can set off when the hour comes. ”

"Good. Li Yao nodded, and the man retreated. He took out a very delicate purse from his sleeve and put it in Ayuan's hand, "This is a token, if you can't enter the mansion door over there, try to present this thing, you will naturally see it." ”

"Yes, Your Highness. ”

"Alright, you pack up your belongings, and set off with Zha Jiang later. ”

"Yes. ”

Ah Yuan looked at Li Yao's departing back, and there was an indescribable fear in her heart: His Royal Highness the King of Tombs has always been so kind and kind, and he has never seen him speak loudly to anyone, and he has never heard him beat or scold anyone, not even a beggar on the side of the road. But there is no one in the entire palace who is not afraid of him, this fear in everyone's heart, no one seems to want to say it, it seems that everyone has a terrible memory - just like Ayuan saw Zha Jiang cut off his five or six-year-old brother's fingers section by section under his order, from the nail cover, to the middle, and then to the root of the finger, at that moment she felt that every pore of her was afraid, she was so afraid that she couldn't shout, she could only kowtow frantically, Kowtowed, until the blood flowed all over his face, but he never said what he wanted her to do, he seemed to just want this fear to stay in Ayuan's heart for a longer time and be more impressive - Ayuan suddenly grabbed Ameng's hand and said fearfully: "He's so scary! Miss Ruo ...... come back."

Ah Meng covered her mouth nervously, looked around and shook her head, lowered her head and said sullenly: "But we can't change it." ”