Shangguan Tingzhi, as promised to Li Xian at the beginning, did not stay long after collecting Shangguan Yi's ashes, but secretly guarded the 7749 days of filial piety in the house arranged by Li Xian for him, and then quietly left Chang'an with the urn in his hand, came to Yangzhou, and then left his homeland of Datang with the caravan that had been waiting there for a long time, and went to the Wa Kingdom.

Because Yangzhou is the sphere of influence of the second brother Li Xian, and it is difficult to get out under the nose of Empress Gao Zongwu, Li Xian did not go there to send Guan Tingzhi, in fact, everything that should be said between the two has already been said, and there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Yangzhou for a form.

However, after Shangguan Tingzhi left, Li Xian would not forget to take care of Shangguan Wan'er's mother and daughter who were enslaved in the palace, but because Shangguan Yi was newly dead, Empress Wu still kept a close eye on their mother and daughter, with Li Xian's current identity, it was still more difficult to enter the Yeting Palace to blatantly take care of their mother and daughter, not to mention that Li Xian didn't want to do it, because according to the history of later generations, he knew that it was precisely because of the miserable life of the Yeting Palace that Shangguan Wan'er who later weighed the world was created. So he didn't want to interfere too much in the lives of the mother and daughter.

Although this is cruel to this mother and daughter, Li Xian asked me to take this cruel way.

However, this does not mean that Li Xian completely ignores the mother and daughter.

In fact, he had been preparing for this day for a long time, and it was precisely because he knew that there would be such a day, he had already sent a Silla maid and a few maids trained by his subordinates here in advance, and when the mother and daughter were just imprisoned in the court, he had secretly ordered these people to take care of the mother and daughter, of course, this kind of care is not too obvious, so as not to be felt by the sensitive martial queen, so these so-called cares are just to prevent the mother and daughter from being bullied too much, such as not being able to eat food, Abuse by other slave girls and so on.

In addition, they also quietly sent some supplements to Shangguan Wan'er's mother, Mrs. Zheng, to ensure that Xiao Wan'er could get enough nutrition and not fall ill due to malnutrition.

Of course, for the sake of secrecy, they did not say that King Zhou asked them to do all this.

Seeing that the lives of this mother and daughter in the court were becoming more and more stable, Li Xian's heart slowly relaxed.

But he didn't expect that before he could live a few days of comfortable life, another big event happened beside him.

In a blink of an eye, it was the third day of the second month of February in the second year of Lin De, the weather was gloomy on this day, the north wind was biting, Li Xian hid in the study after practicing martial arts to read the art of war, and suddenly saw Zhang Wuchen come to his room with a sad face, wanted to open his mouth to speak, and looked at the maids beside him.

Seeing this, Li Xian couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.

Because since Zhang Wuchen has followed him for three years, he has never seen such an expression on his face, and today it seems that something big should have happened, and this big thing seems to be very unfavorable to him.

Sure enough, he had just retired the maid's entourage, and before he could speak, he saw Zhang Wuchen bowing to him, and then whispered: "King, the villain received a Shaolin handbook, saying that Master Xuanzang was sick, and asked the king to go to Shaolin as soon as possible." ”

"Huh? Master, when did he get sick? How did I not know? Li Xianyan was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

But Zhang Wuchen said: "I am already ill when I go to carry it, but I don't allow the villain to tell the king." According to the Venerable Master, on the fifth day of the second lunar month, the Venerable Master should have passed away, but the Venerable Master knew that the King still had many affairs to help him take care of, so he decided to postpone the period of Nirvana for one more year, so the Venerable Master endured the pain of illness for an extra year, and only decided to return to Elysium after everything was complete. However, the Venerable Master still had a few words to explain to the king in person, so he hoped that the king would be able to meet him in the temple before the fifth day of the second lunar month. ”

When Li Xian heard this, he immediately felt tears in his eyes, although he didn't know what the master had prepared for himself this year, and he didn't know how much pain he had endured this year, but he knew that these pains were absolutely unbearable for ordinary people, otherwise the master would not have planned to prepare for his death a year ago.

"Master, although you and I have not been together for a long time, the disciple can feel your love for me." Li Xian gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, then walked out of the door of the study, and said to Gao Quande, the little eunuch who was waiting not far away: "Gao Quande, prepare to drive, this king will immediately enter the palace to meet the saint and the queen." ”

"No." Gao Quande has been following Li Xian for four or five years, so he naturally knows the temperament of this master, and now seeing Li Xian's sad face, he gave an unusually serious order, so he knew that he could not disobey, so he hurriedly accepted it, and then quickly arranged the carriage and horse according to Li Xian's instructions.

Gao Quande is very efficient in doing things, and it took less than half a pillar of incense to prepare everything. Seeing this, although Li Xian was sad, he couldn't help nodding, and then quickly got into the carriage and ordered the carriage to set off in a deep voice.

Li Xian arrived in the palace, saw Gaozong, and found that Empress Wu also happened to be here, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but this was also expected, because since the abolition of the post-empress incident, Gaozong and Empress Wu have often been together, but Li Xian also obviously saw that Gaozong's will was depressed a lot, although he was very sympathetic in his heart, but he couldn't help anyone in this.

In terms of blood, one of the two sides is his father and the other is his mother, and it is not right to help anyone, and intellectually speaking, the current Empress Wu is in power, and she is even more ruthless, and she is even more ruthless, and she can't be offended easily, besides, he has to use the trust of the Empress Wu to make more preparations for himself, in case he angers the Empress Wu because of his sympathy for Gaozong, I believe that his life will not be so good again.

"See Holy Father, Mother, the child has a request for something, and I ask my parents to agree." Li Xian didn't dare to be disrespectful to anyone, just a bowl of water was level, and he paid homage to the emperor and queen regardless of the thickness of the matter.

"Why did my son do this great gift? Quickly flatten down and have something to say. Gao Zong couldn't help but be surprised when he saw that his son had done such a solemn etiquette, and hurriedly comforted him.

Empress Wu also said with a smile on her face: "What a big deal? Actually let Xian'er perform such a courtesy? What your father said is very true, and if you say it directly, your mother will definitely allow what she can do. ”

"Thank you, father, mother." Li Xian dared to raise his head, and said with a sad face: "Here's the thing, today the child suddenly got the news, my master Xuanzang is sick, and now he is anxious for the child to go in Shaolin Temple, although the child is sad about the master's illness, but he does not dare not report to his parents first, and dare to leave after his parents allow him." ”

Li Xian knew that Xuanzang's serious illness could not be concealed at all, so he simply told the truth and explained his plans to Gaozong and Empress Wu.

When Gaozong and Empress Wu heard this, they were all shocked, and then they heard Empress Wu speak: "I see. Master Xuanzang is a generation of virtuous monks, and he is going to leave me so soon, it is really my Tang Dynasty is not blessed, my son and the master have a master-apprentice friendship, and they should go, but it is a pity that the saint and his mother are busy with government affairs, and they can't get away, otherwise they will definitely go to Shaolin to visit together. ”

"What the queen said is reasonable, so I did it, and I then issued an edict to officially seal Xian'er as a special envoy to comfort and go to Shaolin to visit Master Xuanzang. This time I went to Shaolin, I must convey to the mage the concern of the saint and my mother for the mage, if the mage has any wishes, as long as it is not too difficult, my son can also agree on behalf of the mage. For his son Li Xian, Gaozong also doted on him, and even because he was relatively idle during this period of time, he cared for Li Xian more than before, so when he saw Wuhou's proposal, he naturally agreed to it busily.

"No, the child thanks his father and mother, so the child will retire and leave for the Shaolin Temple early tomorrow morning, I am afraid that it will be too late to enter the palace to bid farewell to the adults, please forgive me." Although he was anxious in his heart, he still had to have the politeness he should have, even if Li Xian had always been favored by his parents, he didn't dare to break the rules.

"Big things don't matter. It's understandable for you to do this, and the saint and the mother won't blame you, don't worry. However, this road is tortuous and difficult, and I take care of it all the way. Moreover, Wu'er went to Shaolin this time, although it was a friendship between master and apprentice, but it also represented the face of the court, but this honor guard was inevitable, and the saint did not follow the edict Lin Cheng to lead two hundred palace guards to protect Xian'er, one is to ensure Xian'er's safety, and the other is to ensure the face of the court, I don't know what the saint thinks the concubine said? ”

The first half of Empress Wu's words were said to Li Xian, and the second half of the sentence was obviously said to Gaozong.

And for such a request, Gaozong naturally did not hesitate.

Gaozong thought that this was the kindness of the Empress Wu, but Li Xian knew the trick behind it. Although Empress Wu's so-called concern seems sincere on the surface, only Li Xian knows that the reason why Empress Wu sent the so-called guards, and it was headed by Lin, was obviously to monitor herself, for fear that she would have any secrets between herself and Xuanzang or Buddhism after she arrived in Shaolin.

What's more, now that he represents the imperial court, he went to Shaolin Temple to offer condolences with great fanfare, how can he have a final secret talk with Xuanzang?

"I'm afraid it's troublesome this time, I really didn't expect my mother to be wary of me so quickly, but the more this is the case, the more I can't show the side of confrontation with her, otherwise it will only aggravate her doubts, so it will only be harmful to me, with my strength, it is really difficult to compete with her at present, hehe, the hero doesn't suffer the loss in front of him, I can't afford to provoke you now, at least I can bear it, not to mention that the sky is falling, and there are two tall brothers on top, I just need to quietly deploy forces and develop secretly, I believe that once the spark develops into a prairie fire, it will not be so easy for you to deal with me, even if you want to. Alas, but once this forbearance formula is established, I am afraid that my trip to Shaolin will not be so easy, I must find a way to quietly reach an agreement with the master and make the last deal. ”

On the way back to the palace from the palace, Li Xian sat in the carriage, frowning and pondering countermeasures.