The Jinyi Guard was set up, ostensibly as a force to maintain the capital, but secretly it was the emperor's secret service, directly dealing with all the emperor's inconvenient and public orders.

The holy will has been decided, and Liu Xiang has no room to refuse: "The slave obeys the holy order, and will definitely lead all the Jinyi guards to do their best to assist the new monarch."

Emperor Ming nodded in understanding: "I have written a secret edict, and after I breathe, the king will inherit the throne."

Liu Xiang knew that the emperor had this in mind: "However, now that the crown prince is still in his throne, he will definitely fight on the basis of reason, and the court will definitely be divided into two factions at that time, setting off a bloody struggle."

Emperor Ming sneered: "The prince fights cocks and dogs all day long, he can't succeed, and he loses his morality so much, why can't he be abolished? What's more, I set him up in the first place, just to protect Xuanxiang."

He is familiar with history books, and he knows that the prince who was established early will become the target of the public, not to mention that the concubine's background has been criticized repeatedly, if Xuanxiang was established as the prince at the beginning, he would only suffer a lot of damage, it is better to pretend to be the son of Concubine Li first, which will hinder people's eyes and ears. Therefore, Emperor Ming officially crowned Xuanxiang as king a few years ago, and ordered him to go to the fiefdom on the same day, away from the dangerous battlefield of the palace but not in sight, so that he could accumulate power.

The fiefdom of the king of the owl covers an area of thousands of miles and is one of the important capitals of the country. The people in the north are strong and brave, and the south is rich in products, and there is a distance from the capital that is not long or short. However, how to reconcile the north and the south is a big problem, so it has been regarded by everyone as an ungoverned blessed land for all dynasties, loving its resources and hating its intractable governance. But if he is properly governed, he can become his political capital in terms of military, economy, and reputation, which is very beneficial to the king to seize power and serve the people.

Memories are sometimes a kind of anesthesia. Closing his eyelids, he let the memories in his mind go back months.

It was another night of whispering under the lights. At this time, the Ming Emperor had not yet traveled to the immortals, but he was already ill and lacked skills to return to heaven.

The guards had already been set up in advance, and no one knew that Liu Xiang was standing respectfully and cautiously in front of Emperor Ming at this moment, waiting for instructions. There were only the two of them in the room, which was not uncommon in the past.

Now his identity is not "Liu Xiang, the chief eunuch", but "Liu Xiang, the commander of the Jinyi Guard", whose duty is to help the emperor deal with affairs that are inconvenient to make public.

After contemplating for a long time, he casually and slowly unveiled the documents on the case. Liu Xiang didn't know how much the emperor could see in the dim candlelight.

But the clever slave is so hard in his heart that he doesn't say that he can speak, and he doesn't have a syllable on his lips. So, he just stood silently at the moment.

Halfway through the book, Emperor Ming broke the silence: "Do you know what I summoned you for tonight?"

Liu Xiang bowed respectfully and replied, "The slave doesn't know."

In the candlelight, Emperor Ming pulled his lips slightly, as if he was smiling.

Following the Ming Emperor for many years, these body movements are enough to express the emperor's meaning, these are the so-called "observing words and feelings". Liu Xiang said tentatively, "Is it for the sake of the king?"

Xuanxiang, the fourth son of the emperor, was born to the concubine, and after the ceremony of sealing the king five years ago, he was sent to the fief to settle down.

She hoped that the five taels of silver would make her mother and sisters better.

When she was leaving, she advised her father, but he was too drunk to wake up. instructed the sister, hugged her mother and cried bitterly, and was urged by the matchmaker to get on the mule cart before long.

I was scared, but I also had some expectations. Although he is older, he is an official and has a reputation for being honest and law-abiding, so he should be a good person, right?

Although she doesn't want to be a concubine, if she can keep a good old man to live a safe life, and she can secretly give her savings to her family on weekdays, then what does it matter if she is wronged?

It's just that this wish can't be fulfilled.

She didn't have any warmth in that home. Because it is a bought concubine, she is not even as good as a servant born in the family, and she cannot be called "in-law", so she can only call the man's parents "eldest lord and eldest wife" with the servant; The cold words of other people, the abuse of the main room, she endured all of the above silently. And the man, who only wanted a baby boy, was quite respectful at first, but when he found out that she had given birth to a daughter, he stopped stepping into her room and never even saw the child again. She was completely chilled by him.

Even the only support was lost, and the family bullied even more. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, almost all the dirty and menial work was done for her. She gritted her teeth and endured it, in order to protect her and her children.

Gradually, I couldn't even see the man's face. Only when the daughter is one year old, the slave is asked to pass the word and give the baby who has not yet been weaned a name - "Zixue".

"Purple qi comes from the east, and blessings are preserved." The snow is from the family lineage."

She accepted the name with a wry smile.

The main family Xu is over 30 years old and still has no heirs, so even if Yue Ru is born a baby girl who is not expected, she is still jealous, and all kinds of labor after the birth of her daughter has only increased. Several times I wanted to attack Zixue, but she had to kneel and beg for mercy.

Not much, Yuan Tingshi took off his foreign post, and his wife and slave set off later. As soon as the husband left the front door, Xu immediately drove their mother and daughter out of the house. If it weren't for seeing Engong Zhang patrolling the sea, the second mother and daughter would have died on the streets.

She didn't know why the Yuan family would send someone to look for them after three years, I was afraid that it would not be a good thing, and more importantly, she didn't want to go back to that hellish place and let her daughter suffer with her.

Although the past three years have been coarse and light, they have been happier than any other day in the past.

She said this because she believed that her daughter had the right to know her background. It's just that now isn't the time she should know.

The kind-hearted old man couldn't help but cry when he heard this.

For a long time they were silent with each other, except for coughing mixed with the echoes of various other sounds. In the end, it was she who broke the silence: "Eun Gong, please, take good care—"

"Mother!" A heart-wrenching call. Zixue actually came back at this time, kneeling under the pit, tears raining down, holding her hand and shaking it.

Her breath was getting weaker and weaker, and she could no longer speak. With the last bit of strength, he touched his cheeks, and he was very loving.

Then, the soul is gone. I had thought about it a hundred times in a solitary cell, and there was nothing to think about for a long time. The days passed day by day, and now what I think about is falling into the ground, whether it is worthy of the first emperor.

After reciting it silently three times, he opened his mouth and ordered: "What medicine to use, if you don't have it, I will tell someone to find it, the princess will be safe, the princess will be uneasy, and ...... Yuan Kangdi paused, and then said coldly word by word: You will apologize with death!" ”

The imperial doctor kowtowed in fear, and he couldn't say the bitterness in his heart, and the superiors loved to be angry, especially the emperor.

The little princess was finally saved, and Yuan Kangdi's hanging heart could fall, and there was finally joy on his face.

Immediately afterwards, Emperor Yuan Kang issued a holy decree to amnesty the world, and after the holy decree, he entered the Yuzao Hall with long legs and a diameter.

In the hall, the grandmother on the side of the bed was holding a small Ming Huang swaddling cloth, and when she saw Yuan Kangdi coming in, she was about to salute when she was stopped by raising her hand.

Yuan Kangdi looked at the weak little dumpling in Grandma Nan's arms, his heart was soft, looking at the newborn dumpling's red face wrinkled out of folds, and his cold voice was joyful: "My little princess is so beautiful, Xiao Zhen, Xiao Zhen." ”

After speaking, regardless of the look of the palace people, he carefully hugged the meat dumpling and sat firmly on the bed, and lowered his head with a shimmering gaze, looking at the little dumpling with a small mouth.

Tianze blessed, may my princess be blessed with a long and peaceful life, Yuan Kangdi thought silently in his heart.

After looking at his daughter, Emperor Yuan Kang moved next door to see his newborn son, and looked at his red and wrinkled son with disgust: "It's really ugly, neither handsome nor fair-skinned like the queen, if it weren't for the prince, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to marry a daughter-in-law in the future." ”

After speaking, he stared at it with disgust for a while, and then took his personal eunuch Li Sanbian back to the Qiangan Palace.

Qiangan Palace, is the residence of the successive emperors, divided into two halls before and after, the front hall is set up with the imperial study, the Wanzheng Palace, it is the place where the emperor approves the twists and turns, and draws on the courtiers. The apse is set up with the Ganxiu Hall and the Yulu Palace, the Ganxiu Hall is the place where the emperor sleeps at night, and the Yulu Hall is the shop that summons the fortunate concubines.

After Emperor Yuan Kang returned to the Qiangan Palace, he first went to the imperial study, and a guard knelt down with a box and said: "Your Majesty, Master Wu passed away yesterday, and his last words were to leave the relics to the princess born to the queen's mother, saying that it can calm the soul and nourish the heart." ”

After the guards finished speaking, Li Sanbian came to the guards and took the box, opened it and presented it to Yuan Kangdi, revealing the relics in the box.

Before the queen gave birth, Emperor Yuan Kang was uneasy, and sent someone to the White Horse Temple to invite Master Wu, and now the guards got back the relics that were not a big deal, Yuan Kang pondered for a long time, and waved his hand to retreat. In front of me was a sea of fire.

The sound of swords and cries mingled and stung her ears.

A teenager slightly older than her rushed out of the flames with his injured arm clutched.

"Jing'er, come with me!" The boy took his hand and walked back.

"Let's go!"

She was almost dragged by the teenager.

He led her to a guest room in the backyard and slammed the door open. There was a large vase in the corner on the east side of the door, and the boy led her to stand in front of it.

"Quick, get to the bottle!" The boy crouched down.

She stepped on the boy's shoulder and staggered into the bottle.

"No, it's so dark here......" she said to the boy, beating against the wall of the bottle, crying.

"Jing'er, let's play hide and seek, shall we? You're hiding in a bottle. Whatever happens, don't say anything, stay until I come to you, even if you win, okay? ”

"Hmm!" She answered, crouched down on the bottle, and covered her mouth to stop making a sound.

After that, everything around her seemed to stand still, and she didn't know what was happening, only the mansion in a sea of fire and the boy who fell in a pool of blood.

Until these fragments were getting farther and farther away, and his mind was blank, Yin Moxi opened his eyes.

She sat up and wiped her forehead.

Alas...... She had to change her clothes again, and every time she had this dream, she was sure to sweat all over, as if someone had poured a basin of cold water on her head-on, and she was soaking wet.

She is Yin Moxi, a famous beauty in the capital. In terms of appearance, she is not the first of all women, but she has a pair of good-looking eyes, which seem to be able to see through people's minds, which is unforgettable. Of course, there is an important point, that is, she doesn't love the powerful, she only likes people who can be civil and martial, and those sons and nobles don't enter her eyes at all.

Yin Moxi's home is a small inn, and her aunt Yin Jinyue is her only relative. Although the aunt always repeatedly emphasized that Yin Moxi was the child she picked up, Yin Moxi firmly believed that the aunt was her own mother, because although the aunt was old, her face was still beautiful, and she couldn't tell that she was in her forties.

Pushing open the window, looking at the people downstairs and a few boxes of bride price, snuggling lightly by the window railing, watching the good shows that are often staged.

"Steward Li, you better carry the things back, someone like our Moxi, no matter what, you have to marry a prince or something." Yin Jinyue leaned sideways and didn't even look at it.

"Boss, you can take a look, here is six hundred taels of silver, good silk ......"

"Last time, the officials of the Qin family prepared a hundred taels of gold, and your gift is inevitably too shabby."

"This ......" The housekeeper knew that there was no point in talking further, so he could only carry the bride price back with his family.

My aunt is always like that. Let the families compare the bride price with each other, and in the end refuse on the grounds of "Moxi doesn't like it". Those who propose relatives are angry but helpless, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, who dares to make a mistake? The woman fell to the ground and bowed, "Grace!" These two words were shaken out, and the embankment on the bridge of the eye could no longer hold back the abundant tears, allowing it to flow violently. The old man didn't know, as long as he helped him up, the helpless woman seemed to stick to the ground like maltose and didn't want to get up, so anxious that the old man hurriedly said, "If there is something to say, why do you kneel down for me!"

Hearing this, the woman raised her body and sat down, the tears on her face were not broken. Letting go of the blood handkerchief he was holding, the old man felt chills when he looked at it - this blood vomited more and more every time, I'm afraid...

When she wanted to say it, she couldn't bear it, and the woman coughed and cried, and the blood mist she coughed up stained the crude square cloth even redder. Seeing this, the old man was about to ask for a doctor, but the woman grabbed his sleeve and shook his head.

After a long time, she said in a sad voice, "It's useless, I know that I have run out of gas."

"How so? Jiren has its own natural appearance. …」

"My illness was originally caused by blood attacking my heart, and I have been next to each other for the past few years, but it is just for my daughter. "Engong," she looked at the old man with pity, "Engong's great kindness is unforgettable, if there is really an afterlife, he will definitely be a cow and a horse in return, I just ask Engong to treat my child and let her grow up smoothly." Choked up with tears.

The old man said firmly, "Although we have never known each other in our lives, I have always regarded her as my own in the past three years, you can rest assured. Don't say these unlucky words, the child will be waiting for you to drink the wedding wine when you come out of the cabinet in the future! It's just that who is Cher's father? The man in the painting... Is that really you?"

The past gathers smoke in front of the eyes, and flows by like a marquee. When I hear that before people die, their minds automatically look back on their lives.

There was a tear in his eye, and in the blink of an eye, the tears dripped down. "Yes, I'm the one they're looking for." Taking a deep breath, she said, "My surname is Zhen, and my small character is Yueru. …」

There's no need to hide it anymore, she's afraid that if she doesn't tell it, no one will know Cher's origins - although she doesn't plan to recognize her biological father for Cher, she should have the right to know.

Outside the window, there was the sound of children running by, but the silence inside the window was suffocating.

Zhen Yueru's ancestors are also considered to be a family of poetry and books, and there have been officials such as group guards and filial piety, but when they arrived in their father's generation, they gave this loser a decline. Her father was a good gambler, and when he got money, he used it to gamble, and when he won the bet, he bought alcohol, and when he was crazy, he beat people. The eight sisters and their mother worked on needlework, cooking or babysitting, and living on credit. Later, my father somehow owed a high amount of gambling debts, and I didn't know where I heard that Yuan Jiye, the assassin of Xiangzhou who was idle at home, was over forty years old and had no children and intended to buy a concubine, so he sold her for five taels of silver.

"Concubine... I swore before the spirit of my concubine that I was incapable of protecting her and would not be with her for eternity, but I and her children would teach them not to be harmed." The concubine's voice seems to have never left for a moment, but the shape of reality is always a reminder of the cruel fact that "the concubine is dead".

Liu Xiang felt that it was not appropriate to say anything at this time, and the emperor's sadness was something that a eunuch like him could never understand.

Finally suppressed his thoughts, there was not much time for the long night, first explain the important things clearly, and then he would have more time with his concubines, thinking that this point of death is not terrible at all: "Although the king of the owl has his own army, but his wings have not yet been completed, so I need the Jinyi guard to assist the king of the owl to ascend the throne."