In the future, there will be a lot of such conversations, Li Shimin will often call the three of us together like this to talk about his experience in politics for many years, talk about the pros and cons of the DPRK and China, he is teaching his son, but he is afraid that his son will not understand and will not be able to remember, so he also let Mei Niang listen, so that he can tell Li Zhi in the future. I often sigh in my heart, who is Mei Niang making?

From a young age, injuries have made her suspicious personality; My education taught her that there is not much difference between men and women, and even from the bottom of her heart, there is no recognition of male superiority and inferiority; Shi Tong traveled all over the world, so that in addition to reading thousands of books, she also traveled thousands of times, she knew better than these princes what the people are, what is the people's suffering; And in the last ten years, in addition to letting her grow up with a prince, Li Shimin taught her how to be a monarch. Later generations often sigh in books why there has been such an empress for thousands of years. I would have thought the same way when I looked at history back then, but now, I won't, because I know that thousands of coincidences, coupled with Mei Niang's own fate, manpower is just a small thrust in it, almost not at all, and how can other women have such luck?

"I want to live a few more days!" One night, he said suddenly. Li Shimin is like this, no one will think about what I can do with him, even when I asked to build a small bed next to his couch, take care of him at night and talk to him, no one raised any doubts, and quickly did it. Mei Niang rarely comes in except for the daily decoction, think about it, most of the history books say that the love between Mei Niang and Li Zhi began when she served the decoction with Li Shimin. At that time, I was still thinking, how could a concubine who had to serve the decoction have time to seduce the prince who came to visit the patient? And, even so, aren't they afraid that Li Shimin will find out? Now I know that they are indeed very idle, and I am 100% sure that Li Shimin will not look for them.

When I heard him say this suddenly, my heart was a little sour, and I thought about it and smiled, "Who said you were going to die?" ”

"I know, otherwise you wouldn't have come to accompany me, and you wouldn't have served me like this." His tone was like that of a gambling child.

"Your Majesty, it's been a long time since you call yourself me, and I, I, I'm not afraid to be heard." I deliberately changed the subject.

"I haven't called you Mrs. for a long time, what's your girl's name?"

I was silent for a moment, "It's been more than twenty years, and I've almost forgotten." ”

"You say, I'll remember."

"My single name is Jing, and I don't have a word. My parents died very young, and that's all I seem to have been left with. Also, my surname is Shui. Shui Jing sounds like a lifetime ago. I gently told him my name in modern times, Shi Tong didn't know, I was afraid that my brother didn't know, and the name Shui Jing was only afraid that it would disappear from the records of the laboratory, who knew that there was a woman named Shui Jing in this world.

"In the future, I will call you Shui Jing, and when people ask you, you will say that it is your cousin." He decided, I laughed, yes, he was the emperor, he decided, so be it. I laughed in the darkness when I heard him suddenly say, "Will you be sad when I'm dead?" ”

"Yes."

"But you have avoided me for five years, and you will not come to see me off when I go to war, and you will not come to accompany me when I return to Beijing."

"I can't bear it, I will be sad to see you weak day by day, now I think back to Shi Tong always his heroic appearance, I hope that one day in the future, when I think of you, you always come with a hearty laugh."

"Am I a good emperor?" He was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, seeing that I didn't answer, and then said, "Mei Niang once told me that you have read a lot of books, and you and Shi Tong often discuss the emperor's gains and losses. Am I a good emperor in your mind? ”

"Yes! You forgot, as I said, that you are the first emperor of the ages, and that you are one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history. Both the official history and the wild history say that you are a good emperor. I told him for sure that he should be a little embarrassed to hear him snort, and I couldn't help but laugh, "I don't want to know who the other one is?" ”

"No, you must not have anything good to say in your mouth." He immediately said, I laughed, I also heard his laughter on the couch, he was proud, he said faintly, "Shui Jing, you seem to have seen my history, how do you know that the official history and the wild history say that I am good?" You want to make me happy all day long. ”

I was stunned for a moment, yes, I said I missed it, fortunately, this emperor is too narcissistic, and he helped me come back, I smiled, it can be regarded as admitting my mistake.

"Do you want to be emperor?" He asked again.

"I don't want to, the work is too tiring, or the only position in the world that can't resign from the office, if you don't kill others, wait for others to kill you, when a good emperor is afraid of the world's mouths, when a bad emperor is afraid that people will die without a corpse, it's too troublesome!" I rushed out, I thought he would laugh, but there was silence in the dormitory, I was so frightened that I jumped out of bed and threw myself in front of the couch, and it was still warm to the touch, I breathed a sigh of relief, and I was not in a hurry to go back, and gently touched his cheek, "Angry?" ”

"At the Xuanwu Gate back then, the eldest brother asked me, 'Do you want to be the emperor so much?' I looked at him, and I wanted to say I didn't want to, but I had to live, Guanyin had to live, and our Chengqian had to live. Now Guanyin is dead, Chengqian is dead, and I am going to die too, but I still have the eternal infamy of Brother Shi seizing the throne. His flabby cheeks were already wet.

"I read a book that said that an old man died and said, 'I will not forgive any of them!' At that time, I was very happy to watch, and I always thought about how imposing it was to grit his teeth and say this sentence when he died. So he thought, when I die, I will do the same, and say viciously, 'I will not forgive any of them!' If I were dead now, I would say, I don't hate anyone, and please don't hate me. ”

"So you set up a wordless tablet on the tomb of Shitong, what do you want future generations to write?"

"I erected a wordless monument because I don't know what to write, and after he died, you changed his title three times, and if you change it once, you have to re-erect it, I'm afraid of wasting money."

He really laughed this time, I looked at him innocently, I told the truth why no one believed me?

In May, Li Shimin was even weaker, Li Zhi often lived in Cuiwei Palace, and came to accompany him every day, I knew that the day was coming, and Li Shimin also knew that he asked people to call the eldest grandson Wuji and Chu Suiliang, and when they left, he looked at me for a while, "Let people send you back to Chang'an!" ”

"The concubine promised to accompany His Majesty!" I shook my head slightly.

He laughed, "That's enough, I don't want you to see me die, I hope you still have a hearty laugh when you think back to me in the future." I don't want to see you cry! Mei Niang, find someone to send your mother back. ”

Mei Niang took me out of the dormitory, and asked people to pack up their things and send me to the car in person. For a long time, she smiled at me, "Mother, Your Majesty is for your own good, and I can't let people know that you are by Your Majesty's side, which is not good for you, me, or the prince." ”

I understood what they meant, I couldn't let people know about the relationship between the samurai family and the royal family, and I couldn't expose it to people. I hid for five years, and let the courtiers forget me, which is the best protection for Mei Niang. I looked at the eunuchs and palace maids who were busy in front of the palace, and I felt a little guilty and helpless, Li Shimin was gone, and they were afraid that they would not live long. I nodded and got ready to get in the car, looked back at Mei Niang, her eyes were slightly red, Li Shimin was gone, she had to leave the palace for a while to live a hard time, even if she returned to the palace in the future, waiting for her was not a relaxed and pleasant experience, just say goodbye, I don't know when I will see her again, I gently turned around and hugged her.

"I'm with the prince." She whispered in my ear suddenly. I didn't say anything, nothing to be surprised at, didn't history say that? It's just that I heard it with my own ears. She may have seen that I didn't reply, and said faintly, "Mother, am I wrong?" ”

"No, my mother told you that there is no absolute right or wrong in this world, only whether it is necessary or not. You just have to remember that no matter what you decide, your mother is standing behind you. I let go of her and looked her in the eye and said.

She smiled, her eyes were bright and happy, as long as she was happy, although the road ahead was full of thorns, but at this moment, she was a sweet little woman in love. I was relieved to be in her happy eyes along the way, and her happiness somewhat diluted some of the sadness that Li Shimin was about to leave.

On the fourth day of my return to Chang'an, the eldest grandson Wuji Chu Suiliang protected Li Zhi to return to Chang'an, and announced to the world that Li Shimin had died, and he was called Emperor Taizong, and he was buried with the eldest grandson Empress Zhaoling. I didn't cry, I remember what Li Shimin said to me at the end, when he wanted me to think of him, what he remembered was his hearty laughter, and he didn't want to see me cry.