There is no shortage of people in the world who are brave in the torrent, and there are few people who know how to retire after success. So much so that most of those who used to be in high positions of power have a bleak ending.

After the follow-up details of Lu Huanbang's case were clarified, it was already the month of Lunar New Year, and because there were many sacrifices and celebrations in the lunar month and the first lunar month, it was not appropriate to punish him, and the execution period was postponed to February 20 next year.

On the fourth day of the lunar month, because Lu Huanbang cried endlessly every day and was still on a hunger strike in prison, Cheng Haofeng and Hu Xianxian went to visit.

"I'm not rebellious! Emperor...... The minister has no objection...... There is no reluctance...... "In a separate cell at the end of the prison, Lu Huanbang wailed miserably.

With gray hair and an old face, he burst into tears: "Wronged! The minister is wronged! The ministers used their power to be tyrannical and caused many people to be dissatisfied, but they were all to help the emperor govern the country! The minister may be arrogant in his words and deeds, but he has no objection, no rebellion! "

Yes, Lu Huanbang should have no objection, he and Kuai Mori Xiong have a conflict not only because of their different views on the changes in the world, but also because he opposes Kuai Mori Xiong's collusion with Dongying to betray the interests of France and North Korea. He was loyal to his motherland, the French Dynasty, and also supported Han Zexi during Han Zecan's rebellion, he may want to be 9,000 years old, but he doesn't want to be a long live yet.

However, if there is no major crime of rebellion, trying to string together other crimes is not only time-consuming and laborious, but also gives Lu Huanbang the opportunity to make false quibbles and flee with his money. In order to bring him down as soon as possible, he can only exaggerate the crime of disrespect in words and deeds into the crime of rebellion.

Seeing Cheng Haofeng and Hu Xianxian walking side by side, Lu Huanbang stopped crying, stared at Hu Xianxian, and said sharply: "Don't gloat!" Your relatives and friends are also in the court, and sooner or later they will fall to my side! ”

Hu Xianxian raised his eyebrows and sneered, turned his head to avoid his gaze, if it weren't for the sake of Lu Kaizun and Lu Laizun's future, he needed to persuade him, so he didn't want to come to see him.

"I'm all doing everything about you, what are you cursing her for? If you have any other vicious words, come quickly, today I came to hear what other charges you can give me in addition to the ten major crimes. Cheng Haofeng walked to the cell door and sneered.

"It's useless for me to say anything, you don't care how those people are doing, she's different, she cares a lot. If you make her worry and angry, you can worry about being angry, and of course I said to her. "At this point, Lu Huanbang is still very smart, and he is still trying to find Cheng Haofeng unhappy.

Cheng Haofeng and Hu Xianxian glanced at each other, shook their heads helplessly, and then persuaded Lu Huanbang to sincerely repent and atone for his sins when he was waiting for the execution, and to make less trouble by shouting and scolding.

But not only did he not listen, but he also scolded even more vigorously, and when the jailer came to deliver food, he shouted that he would not eat and that he would go on a hunger strike to protest.

The jailer said that he had not eaten two meals, and although he was so hungry that his chest was pressed against his back, he was still in good spirits, but if he did not eat again, he might starve to death in prison.

Lu Huanbang has been sentenced to death, and it makes no difference to him if he dies early or late, but there is a big difference in the reputation of the imperial court. If he shouted that he died of hunger strike, there would be Mr. Sour Daoist who thought that the emperor was unkind, and there would be people with ulterior motives who attacked the court and indeed framed him, so creating all kinds of rumors that would be unfavorable to the court.

"You're wronged! You're really wronged! Hu Xianxian didn't have the patience to listen, "If you don't wrong, how can you be worthy of those who were killed by you?" Many of them have no power to resist, and they can't even shout out their grievances! ”

Lu Huanbang grinned and was stunned, did not cry anymore, only looked at Hu Xianxian with resentment.

Hu Xianxian smiled at him generously, his smile was coquettish and his eyes were sharp, this mocking attitude was more slashing than a cold reprimand.

Maybe Lu Huanbang finally remembered how many things he had done to bully the king and harm the people, and felt ashamed, so he walked to the inner corner of the cell and stayed silently.

Seeing that his momentum was weakening, the jailer thought that he had relented, and handed the food to the crack of the cell door and invited him to eat.

"Don't eat it!" Lu Huanbang's momentum increased sharply, showing the majesty of being in power for many years, the jailer was so frightened that he took a step back, and he said to Cheng Haofeng and them: "I want to see my son, but I can't see their brothers, and I won't eat if I starve to death!" Let the people of the world see how the imperial court abuses meritorious old ministers! ”

Hu Xianxian laughed "ho", "Okay, let them see how you cheated." ”

Lu Huanbang was so angry that the corners of his mouth twitched, "My Kai'er and Lai'er are smart and filial, why wouldn't you come to see me without you sowing discord?" ”

"It's not that they don't come to see you, it's for their sake, and you'd better not ask to see them." Hu Xianxian understood the feeling of being down, and wanted to see his relatives very much, but now this suffering is also Lu Huanbang's own effort, and he can't implicate the two brothers for him to feel better.

Lu Huanbang used words such as instigating other people's children to be unfilial, destroying people's family happiness, indifference and inhumanity, etc., but they still did not agree to see each other.

After talking too much, Cheng Haofeng did not have the patience to persuade: "Do you want them to fall with you, or do you want them to have a bright future?" ”

Comparing personal success with the relationship between father and son seems very utilitarian, but only in this way can Lu Huanbang's stubbornness be twisted.

It's not impossible to let the Lu brothers come to see their father, but what about after they meet? It is already very laborious to let them have a small official position far away from the capital, and if they meet again, they will not provoke the emperor's suspicion to provoke the impeachment of some ministers.

Lu Huanbang lowered his head and glanced at Cheng Haofeng viciously: "My son is not a person without filial piety and affection!" ”

His expression is an allusion to Cheng Haofeng's lack of filial piety and affection, this kind of language is nothing to others, but Cheng Haofeng will be very sad, because Cheng's father accused Cheng Haofeng of not being filial.

Seeing that Cheng Haofeng's face was a little stiff, Hu Xianxian knew that he hadn't untied this knot yet, and thought about refuting Lu Huanbang's words.

After a while, Hu Xianxian looked at Lu Huanbang coldly and said: "You ask yourself, when Lu Kaizun insisted on marrying A Pian, and if you didn't listen to your various arrangements, you would kick him out of the house, what did you think?" Do you want to maintain the majesty of the head of the family and dominate his life, or do you think about his feelings, his future? Have you ever thought about him? ”

Lu Huanbang was so anxious that "I...... I ......" stammered for a long time without speaking, he wanted to say that everything he did was for his son, but when he wanted to speak, he was empty-hearted.

There was silence in the cell again, the jailer looked at Lu Huanbang, who was still in the official position, and then looked at the cold Cheng Haofeng and the serious Hu Xianxian, he felt that it was really uncomfortable to get along with these people in high positions, and even he was used to seeing all kinds of torture, and he was inexplicably cold in his heart.

After a while, Lu Huanbang rushed to the door of the prison and yelled angrily: "You deliberately manipulate me, waiting for death like this, it is better to give me a good time!" ”

"Give you time to redeem yourself, too long to live?" Cheng Haofeng immediately asked rhetorically.

"What self-redemption? You just want me to give in completely, make me obedient like a fool, and let me die! Lu Huanbang's eyes are crazy, this lonely and unfree life is more difficult to endure than starvation and cold.

Cheng Haofeng's mood calmed down: "It's just that you don't have the freedom to act, I didn't torture you, and the food and clothing treatment is quite generous, but you didn't have such a good attitude to defeated political enemies before." "

Choked by these words and rolled his eyes, Lu Huanbang sat back in the corner in frustration.

Considering that Lu Huanbang also did things to benefit the country and the people at the beginning of his administration, but later he was corrupted, he was indeed treated favorably, and there was a bed, a toilet, and a small table in this cell, with pen, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table, and a futon cushion in the corner of the wall where he was curled up.

Hu Xianxian slowed down his tone and said: "If you are bored, you can do manual work, you can write poems and lyrics, and writing all your life's feelings is also self-redemption, and you are not forced to repent of yourself, and then sing praises to the court." "

Lu Huanbang "sneered" and laughed: "I have written enough official documents in my life, and the poems inscribed are not few." I'm tired of writing and don't want to write. Didn't I know that seeing my son now would hurt them? But will you still be friends with them in a few years? Rather than being used by you, it is better to have a clear outcome, whether it is good or bad, than to have hope and despair. "

This means that they are afraid that Cheng Haofeng and they are now pretending to treat Lu Kaizun and Lu Laizun as friends for various interests, and then step on them after using them in the future? Worrying about these is the real reason why Lu Huanbang is crying!

Cheng Haofeng and Hu Xianxian looked at each other, each sighed a few times, Cheng Haofeng said first: "As long as the Lu brothers don't do the great evil thing of killing the monarch and treason, even if there is a mistake, I will let them go." As long as I can still speak in the French Dynasty, I will definitely try my best to protect them. ”

Hu Xianxian said sincerely: "As long as Ah Pian stays with Grand Prince Lu, it is impossible for me to hurt him. For Laizun, I treat him as a younger brother. I also firmly believe that they will know how to stick to their hearts better than you and will not be blinded by their desires. ”

is already a human spirit, Lu Huanbang can tell whether what they said is sincere, he lowered his head and thought for a while, got up and bowed to the two.

Then, Lu Huanbang decided to spend the rest of his time copying scriptures for his two sons to accumulate blessings, and also carve a pony for Lu Kaizun and a pig for Lu Laizun.

When the children were young, he was very busy, and he never made anything for them, the eldest son was a horse, and the younger son was a pig, and the two utensils carved by their zodiac were used as amulets.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, Lu Huanbang asked the jailer to see Cheng Haofeng again, and only saw Cheng Haofeng alone, and promised not to mess around and not delay time.

The light in the corridor of the cell was dim, Cheng Haofeng walked slowly, the gray shadow on the blue robe swayed, and his face was just backlit, and he couldn't see what his demeanor was.

Lu Huanbang stood at the door of the cell, with a calm face, no emotion could be seen in his eyes, and he looked at Cheng Haofeng's figure as if he felt sorry for him.

sympathizes with each other, perhaps because he feels that Cheng Haofeng exudes a sense of loneliness, which is more lonely than his loneliness at the moment.

"The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, one generation is stronger than the next, and no one can be an evergreen tree at the peak of power." Seeing that Cheng Haofeng was close, Lu Huanbang said loudly.

Cheng Qian smiled: "As far as I'm concerned, I don't need to think about retiring to the mountains and forests, or staying in a high position for a long time, after I bring you down, I still only have the title of national teacher." "

Lu Huanbang also knew about this situation, but he thought it was Cheng Haofeng's plan to "retreat as advance", waiting for the emperor and the ministers to beg him to take power again, but the obedient meaning was that he really didn't want to fight anymore.

Lu Huanbang pondered for a moment: "It seems that you really don't care about the fame and fortune of the world, is it that everything you do is for the vain things that Shen Tingyang mentioned?" "

"What you think is false, but to me it's all real things that are going to happen." Cheng Haofeng's tone was flat.

Lu Huanbang let out an "oh" and said as if he had realized something: "What we ask for is different, but the obsession of wanting to control our destiny is the same, and you will never be able to turn back." "

Obsession and fate are the most difficult to explain, Cheng Haofeng smiled silently, glanced at Lu Huanbang deeply, turned around and left, he didn't think about turning back at all.

The seventh day of the lunar month is Hu Xianxian's birthday, and on the seventh day of the lunar month of the second year of Jiaxiang, she has turned twenty-nine years old.