Tuoba Ke was just like sitting on pins and needles, when he heard footsteps outside the hall, he thought it was Tuoba Shen, his spirit was greatly lifted, he put down the honey and got up and walked to the hall door, grabbed Tuoba Shen and smiled: "Second brother, you are finally here, I am in a hurry." ”

Listening to him talk nonsense, Tuoba was cautious and funny, patted Tuoba Ke's shoulder and smiled. Turning his head to Tuoba and saluting: "I didn't expect the eldest brother to come, the younger brother was just a little sick for a while, but I didn't expect to alarm the eldest brother, I'm really ashamed." ”

Tuoba didn't return the courtesy, he didn't like Tuoba Shen's habit of performing Han etiquette at every turn, and felt that it was cumbersome and boring, not like the style of the nation. just got up and waved his hand and said, "I heard that the younger brother is ill today, so I came to see you with the third brother, and I just heard the slave maid say that you have woken up, so I am relieved." Without the suppression of the emperor's aura, Tuoba Sui seemed to have changed as a person, and his voice was much louder.

Tuoba Shen was about to talk, when he felt that his clothes were pulled by Tuoba Ke, so he heard Tuoba Ke say: "Second brother, let's go to Yongning Temple tomorrow, right?" I heard that there is a fasting meeting in Yongning Temple, and there must be many people who go to watch the meeting, so let's go and ask my father to go together! He turned back to Tuoba and asked, "Big brother, will you go too?" ”

Tuoba Sui had just been arrested by the emperor and scolded him for being greedy, and now he wanted him to go with him to ask his father for permission to go out of the palace to have fun, how dare he. With a calm face, he said: "What is interesting about Yongning Temple, there are so many fasting meetings every year, and it is like that when you go more." You go with your second brother. ”

After Tuoba Ke listened to Daleng, Tuoba Shen was also surprised, and the two brothers glanced at each other. Tuoba Sui refused so simply and directly, it didn't look reluctant at all, even if Yongning Temple was not fun, you could go to other places! There aren't many people in this palace who don't want to go out.

"Third brother, let's wait until I see my father." Of course, it is a good thing to go out of the palace, who wants to stay in the palace every day. Even if Tuoba is cautious and has an adult mentality, he can't stand this kind of boring days with nothing to do!

Recalling that when I was just born in this world, I was still a baby, and I was sleepy every day, and I survived the first few months with this "welfare", and in a few months, I finally held back the habit of life that I couldn't live without the Internet for a day in the later generations. In order to pass the time, he secretly looked for books to read behind his mother's back, and a book could be read eight or nine times repeatedly, until he was four or five years old, he dared to find his mother to read and write, and then became a prodigy. I didn't have free time in my previous life, and now I make up for it. Reading and taking notes, calligraphy, painting, chess, and playing backgammon, even women's toys have been borrowed from a younger sister to study. If he wasn't afraid of shocking the world, he would have made chess to play. Like this kind of boring life, the child is fine, and he came over in a daze, and a person like Tuoba Shen with such a mature heart is going crazy, and he walked near the palace wall several times to sneak out, but in the end he didn't try it out of fear of this unknown world. Of course, even if you try eighty percent, you can't get out.

He had also heard about the Yongning Temple Fasting Society. Yongning Temple is one of the royal temples built by the imperial court, it is the second year of the first emperor Tian'an, that is, the year of the birth of the present day, the temple has a seven-level floating temple as high as 300 feet, it is the highest building in Pingcheng. In the first year of Chengming, the Queen Mother took him to Yongning Temple to set up a monk, and in the second year of Taihe, he set up a fast in Yongning Temple to release death row prisoners. Try to hear the sermon. Tomorrow's fasting meeting is to convene the monks to pray for the Queen Mother, as early as a few days after the death of the Queen Mother, it began to be arranged, until five days ago, the Shamen Dutong Siyuan Temple Master (Note 1) Master Seng Xian and Yongning Temple Master Daozheng to play, Yongning Temple Zhai has been prepared, and many Gaode monks have also been invited, there are 80 Shamen, 300 small novices.

If you want to say that you don't want to go to see such a grand festival and watch the ceremony, that's a lie, and this kind of grand event will only be talked about a few times a year.

Packing up his mood, he said to Tuoba Sui: "Eldest brother, the younger brother left his father worried because of his small illness, and he was about to go to his father to confess his crimes. It's good to have the third brother go with you, can the eldest brother go with you? The Yongning Festival is really rare, not to mention praying for the Queen Mother's grandmother. The younger brother and the younger brother are soft-spoken, if the eldest brother is willing to go together, the father will allow him to come. ”

Tuoba Shen's words are not a compliment, if only he and Tuoba Ke go to ask for help, maybe the emperor will read that the two children live in the palace all the year round and are boring, and promise to come down, if he can pull Tuoba Shen at that time, the effect may be better.

Tuoba He didn't want to go, but he was just reprimanded, afraid that he would be reprimanded again for saying this, just thinking that he could go out of the palace to have fun, he couldn't help but be moved for a while, listened to Tuoba Shen's words, and said: "It's okay to go together, but the two of you want to go to Yongning Temple to play, if you ask, you two go and ask." ”

Tuoba Shen thinks his words are so strange, don't you want you to go with me, don't you want you to speak, if you don't open your mouth, what will I do with you? Thinking that even if he didn't speak, as long as he stood on the side and didn't speak, he could be regarded as supportive, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll talk to Brother Ke, if my father asks the eldest brother, the eldest brother will say that he also wants to pray for the Queen Mother's grandmother, can you?" ”

Tuoba gritted his teeth and said, "Okay." ”

The three of them each drank a drink, wrapped their robes tightly and walked out of Qingxiao Courtyard, as for what to do if the Taiyi Summer Doctor came, Tuoba Shen, who was eager to try, had forgotten.

Braving the cold wind and walking to Sixian Gate, the palace gate eunuch who had just seen Tuoba Shen in a coma for less than an hour was dumbfounded, but he didn't expect Tuoba Shen to heal so quickly.

When I walked outside the Taihe Palace, I only saw seven or eight eunuchs standing outside the door, and there was a voice in the main hall, which was vague and unreal.

Tuoba Shen looked at the hall a little, and the curtains were heavy, and he couldn't see what was inside. He asked in a low voice, "Is my father calling the ministers?" ”

"No, only His Majesty, Duke Zhang, and the prince are all in the palace."

"Isn't the Priv Guard?"

"It's gone."

The three brothers breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, and suddenly felt that they had a greater grasp, although it was not a big deal to follow the emperor out of the palace, but the emperor now cherishes feathers, if the living officer is on the side, it may not be so smooth.

"You go in and pay homage, and you will say that the second prince and the ministers should come to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor."

Tuoba Shen and the three of them waited outside for a while, and then they saw the little eunuch who had passed the word come out and said, "Three princes, Your Majesty has summoned you." ”

Tuoba Shen took the lead, Tuoba Shen and Tuoba Ke slightly back and sandwiched Tuoba Sui in the middle, stood in the queue and went in, it looked like Tuoba Sui was the same as a head.

The hall was much warmer, at least four or five large charcoal stoves were used, and there were heavy veils on the outside to block the cold, and the inside and outside were like two worlds.

Walking through the heavy gauze curtain, the temperature became hotter and hotter, and even made the three of them feel that they were sweating inside their body clothes.

After the last layer of the curtain, I saw my father, the emperor, sitting upright on the bed, and he had always been very concerned about maintaining his strict father image in front of his children. The three brothers glanced at it and bowed their heads and kowtowed: "My son (Shen, Ke) to see His Majesty Father, long live His Majesty Father." ”

Glancing at his three sons, he said, "Get up!" Erlang, Zhang Qing just reported that you have woken up, and your father is about to go to see, why are you in such a hurry, and the doctor can review it? Because there were no outsiders, only three sons and a few domestic slaves, the emperor did not call himself "I".

Tuoba Shen and Tuoba Ke watched Tuoba get up first, then stood up, stepped forward and said: "The child is sick and worried about the monarch's father, the sin is deep!" ”

"I am your father, how can I not worry about your brothers and sisters, your mother died early, and my father can't take care of you, so I entrusted you to Qingxiao Academy. I don't want to be separated forever. There was anger in his voice.

Tuoba Shen heard the emperor mention Qingxiao Yuan, and there was a hint of anger in his words, afraid that he would blame Aunt Cao for this matter, so he immediately said in a straight voice: "A person with an unknown son, who lost his mother early, is fortunate to be cared for by Aunt Cao, and does not treat his son as a different child." I felt it in my heart when I was a child. ”

Emperor Xiaowen didn't really want to investigate Cao Guiren at this time, after all, he was also raising Erlang for several years, and there was no merit and hard work. It's just that because of today's incident, she was angry that she took care of a child, and she did such a big thing, and vented her anger in her heart. After listening to Tuoba Shen's words, he could see that Erlang was sincere in his words, paused for a moment, nodded with relief, and said: "You can understand the love of your adoptive mother, and it can be regarded as Yi who has not raised you for several years in vain." He instructed Zhang Mao: "Zhang Qing, tomorrow I will send the copy of the Jiangzuo King and the Right Army to the Qingxiao Courtyard, and the old ginseng from Goryeo last time will also be taken together." ”

Tuoba Shen hurriedly thanked him, but he didn't expect to get a reward with just one sentence, don't talk about him first, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is hard to find, and these calligraphy in Jiangzuo are also passed down from generation to generation as heirlooms.

Tuoba Ke was envious when he saw this scene, although he didn't know how Wang Youjun's words were, but he often heard his mother talk about the famous people in modern times in Qifeng Pavilion, Wang Youjun was among the best, the leader Jiang Zuo, and the famous Xie An was equally famous, and now he saw Tuoba Shen getting a pair of Wang Youjun's words, and he was envious and happy for Tuoba Shen.

Tuoba Shen retreated to Tuoba Ke's side, meowed at him, but Yu Guang saw Tuoba Sui's body trembling slightly, and if he looked closely, it turned out to be grinding his shoulders, and then looked at his head, there were a lot of sweat stains. It turned out that it was because he was obese, he couldn't bear the stuffiness in the palace, his body was sweating, and he didn't dare to do such a faux pas as taking off his clothes in front of his father.

This didn't matter, and Tuoba Shen found that his brain was also a little sweaty. It's too hot.

Tuoba Sui's abnormality was also noticed by Zhang Mao Zhang Mao, bowed down and said, "Your Majesty", but his eyes were staring at Tuoba Sui's side. Only then did Emperor Xiaowen notice that the little fat man had a lot of sweat on his head, and his body kept grinding his clothes. frowned and said, "Da Lang has taken away the outer robe!" ”

Tuoba was like being amnestied, so he quickly took off his robe and handed it to the eunuch who accompanied him, and he didn't dare to wipe his sweat and thank his father, His Majesty. The emperor waved his hand, and was about to instruct the three brothers to cultivate their lives in the future, and not to abandon the truth, when he heard someone walk into the main hall, the footsteps were unusually brisk, and it turned out to be a small eunuch.

"Your Majesty, Li Chong, the Southern Shangshu, asks to see you."

Li Chongwei and Zhongshu Ling, is the emperor's cronies, right-hand man, usually very close, the emperor heard that it was him, did not think much and replied: "Xuan! ”

When you see a minister like Li Chong, it will be very formal, Li Chong belongs to the top three senior central officials, and a small eunuch can't be a propaganda official, and Zhang Mao has to come to announce the number.

Tuoba Shen didn't expect Li Chong to come to see him at this time, this is too inopportune, how can he talk about going to Yongning Temple at this time, and then look at Tuoba Ke's face is also a little unhappy.

According to the rules, court affairs are not something that the prince can hear, Tuoba Shen pulled Tuoba Ke's clothes and signaled that it was time for them to resign.

Tuoba Ke was pulled off his clothes by Tuoba Shen, thinking that he wanted him to talk about Yongning Temple, so he hesitated, completely lost the courage he had just had when he was in Qingxiao Temple, he was anxious and ashamed, and he also pulled Tuoba Ke's clothes, Tuoba Ke didn't know why, and looked at Tuoba Ke.

Emperor Xiaowen wanted to summon the ministers, and he didn't want a few children to be here, and was about to send them to the side hall to wait, when he saw the small movements of the three brothers, as if they were headed by Tuoba Sui, and asked, "Da Lang still has something to do?" ”

The emperor asked, Tuoba was stunned for a while, and he didn't have time to think and hurriedly replied: "It's okay, it's the two younger brothers who want to go to Yongning Temple tomorrow to watch the ceremony." ”

Of course, Emperor Xiaowen knew that the so-called ceremony was to go out of the palace, and it was rare to think about it, so let them relax, after all, the atmosphere in the palace was depressed for more than a month, and it was not easy for three children. However, he became a little angry, and said: "You are the elder brother, if you want to go to Yongning Temple, you should come to me yourself, how can you say that it is the idea of your two younger brothers, why don't you go?" ”

Tuoba was wronged and anxious when he heard this, this time it was really not his idea, but if he asked him to say in front of his father and His Majesty that he would not go tomorrow, he was also unwilling.

was struggling with whether to show that he would not go tomorrow, and Zhang Mao's chanting came from outside the door: "Xuannan Shangshu, scattered cavalry and regular servants, in the middle of the matter, Longxi Gong Li Chong will see His Majesty." ”

Tuoba Shen pulled Tuoba Shen, and the three brothers walked to the compartment on the side, put down the curtain, and covered it up, waiting for Li Chong to finish his majesty.

Note 1 Shamentong was a monk-administered body established by the Northern Wei court, and all of them were their prefects. The head of the temple was one of the senior monk positions in the monastery during the Northern Wei Dynasty.