The carriage finally stopped, and the black-clothed man in front of him lifted the curtain, "Zhang Gongzi, please get off." ”

Zhang Yue got out of the carriage, looked around, and couldn't help but gasp in his heart, although it was dark at this time, he could still vaguely distinguish the towering luxury palaces and pavilions around, where was this? !

"Zhang Gongzi, please come here."

The man in black tied up the carriage and led Zhang Yue into a room in a high-walled inner courtyard, the room was not very big, under the dim candlelight, several scattered tables and chairs were covered with dust, and after the man in black came in, he said respectfully to the corner of the house, "My lord, the person you invited has arrived." ”

Zhang Yue noticed that there was a person standing in the corner of the room, wearing dark brown clothes, with his back to them, this person heard the words of the man in black, and slowly turned around, it was an old man, his white face was full of wrinkles, and his face was very kind, he waved his hand to the man in black, and the man in black willingly withdrew from the house and closed the door from the outside.

The old man looked Zhang Yue up and down, Zhang Yue also looked back at the old man generously, the two looked at each other and were silent for half a pillar of incense, and the old man's closed lips rose slightly,

"Don't you wonder who I am?"

Zhang Yue said calmly, "The old gentleman claims to be the person who presented the painting, and he should be the master in Xiao Jing's mouth." ”

The old man said, "Yes. What else? Not curious about my identity? And what am I looking for you for? ”

Zhang Yue said, "If you don't want to tell me, what I may get if I ask is also a fake name, as for the reason why you are looking for me, you are Xiao Jing's master, you have helped His Royal Highness the Prince, I am friends with His Royal Highness the Prince, I believe you should have no ill will towards me." ”

The old man's cloudy eyes flashed, "It's a clever girl!" It's not a loss to be Mr. Chu's apprentice. ”

Zhang Yue asked, "Does the old gentleman know my master?" ”

The old man said, "Shame! How dare I call him an old man, but when I was young, I was fortunate enough to see the style and charm of Mr. You give me a feeling that is somewhat similar to that of my husband. ”

Zhang Yue was shocked in his heart, this person had followed the first emperor, and he couldn't help but guess the identity of this person.

The old man looked at her suspicious appearance and smiled slightly, "Child, don't bother guessing my identity, my name is Huai'en, and I am the eunuch in the palace as the master of ceremonies." You can call me Uncle Huai. ”

Zhang Yue said, "Oh, Uncle Huai, what kind of place is this?" ”

Huaien glanced at Zhang Yue, "With your intelligence, can't you really guess?" ”

Zhang Yue was dumbfounded, "This, this is really the palace." ”

Wynne said, "Count, it doesn't count. ”

Zhang Yue was stunned, "What does this mean?" ”

"This is the South Palace, although it is within the scope of the palace, but it has been inhabited for many years, and occasionally lives for sinners in the palace who have been punished and degraded."

"Oh."

"Kid, you're curious why I brought you here, right?"

Zhang Yue nodded.

"This room was once where the prince and his biological mother lived."

"What?!!"

Zhang Yue was speechless in surprise when she heard this.

Huai En didn't care about Zhang Yue's surprised expression, squinted his eyes slightly, and said as if reminiscing, "When the prince's biological mother, Concubine Ji, was pregnant with great favor, she was still just an ordinary palace maid. Ji was afraid of persecution after pregnancy, lied about illness, and was relegated to Nangong here to do hard labor, and later Ji gave birth to the prince here in Nangong, my apprentice Zhang Min happened to be the head of the eunuch in charge of this part of Nangong, he knew about the birth of the prince, instead of going to Wan Guifei to complain, but protected the prince. Wan Guifei searched several times, but she was not found. In this way, the little prince has been eating a hundred family meals, until he was five years old, Zhang Min told the emperor about the existence of the little prince, when the emperor had no heirs, he was overjoyed to hear the news, and greeted their mother and son, and later the little prince was named the prince, when everyone thought that the mother and son were finally going to boil out, Zhang Min was the most sober, he found me, kneeling and begging me to promise him, no matter what happened, I must protect the little prince. Zhang Min's fears were soon fulfilled. Ji died violently in the palace soon after, and Zhang Min also committed suicide by swallowing gold. In the end, the emperor could not decide on this matter. ”

Zhang Yue's surprise was extreme, the emperor ended the matter so absurdly in order to protect the people behind the scenes.

Wynne continued, "At Ji's funeral, I saw this young child for the first time, and I still can't forget his emaciated figure and the look of admiration that he had caused from chronic malnutrition. I also understand why Zhang Min is desperate to protect this poor child. So I also began to protect this child. In order to prevent the prince from being killed, I said several times that I moved the emperor's biological mother, the Empress Dowager Zhou, who personally raised her grandson in her Renshou official, and I was very careful about the prince's diet, housing and transportation, and finally I could grow up safely over the years. ”

Zhang Yue suddenly remembered that on Wuling Mountain, the prince told him about the early death of his biological mother, sighed in his heart, and said, "Uncle Huai, I didn't expect that the prince's childhood would encounter so many misfortunes. ”

Huai En sighed slightly, "But the suffering is not over, Concubine Wan has always regarded the prince as a mortal enemy, often framed him by the emperor's side, and allowed the harem concubines to give birth to several princes for the emperor to compete with the prince for favor, over the years, the emperor has become more and more dislike the prince." On weekdays, he criticized the prince harshly, and tried every possible way to find out the prince's faults, when the teachers in the East Palace taught the prince, the emperor actually asked to remove the prince's tables and chairs, and let the prince stand and listen to the lecture, and one stop was a whole day. ”

When Wynne said this, he paused and sighed deeply, "Alas~, being so strict with an eight- or nine-year-old child, the emperor just wants the prince to make a public fool and make mistakes." However, what everyone didn't expect was that the young prince stood there stubbornly, staring intently at the podium, listening carefully to the teacher's lecture, and throughout the day, the teacher changed one after another, he stood upright, engrossed, and after the lecture, in the face of the teacher's questions, he answered them fluently, without any mistakes or omissions. At that time, I actually saw the dazzling light emanating from that young body, and at that time, I really realized what I was protecting, which was the hope and future of thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhang Yue listened to Huai'en talk about the prince's pitiful life experience, her heart was sour, and her eyes couldn't help but turn red.

Huaien stopped reminiscing about the past, his eyes kept wandering on Zhang Yue's face, and he fixed his eyes for a long time, "Child, I can see that your position in the prince's heart is unusual, and you really care about the prince." ”

Zhang Yue wiped his eyes and said firmly, "Well, Uncle Huai, the prince is my good friend." ”

Huaien looked at Zhang Yue's eyes, lifted the hem of his clothes, and slowly knelt in front of Zhang Yue.

Zhang Yue was frightened and took a few steps back, and when he reacted, he hurriedly stepped forward to help Huaien,

"Uncle Huai, what are you doing here? Get up. ”

"Child, I want to ask you for one thing, old man,"

Wynn blocked Zhang Yue's support with his backhand,

"If I am no longer by the prince's side one day, please be sure to protect the prince on my behalf, and don't let him be framed by traitors, and Huai'en will be grateful."

Zhang Yue said anxiously, "Uncle Huai, where do you start!" I also want to help the prince, but I'm just a common man, powerless, and powerless, so I can't help the prince! ”

Wynne stubbornly knelt on the ground, "If the girl doesn't agree to me, I can't afford to kneel." ”

Zhang Yue was in a hurry for a while, and blurted out, "Okay, okay, you get up quickly, I promised, promised, as long as I can, I will do my best to help the prince." ”

Huaien let go when he heard this, and Zhang Yue took advantage of the situation to help Huaien stand up.

After adjusting his emotions a little, Wynne said, "It's late tonight, I'll send someone to send the girl out of the palace and back home." I hope that the girl will not forget the promise she made to me today. ”

Zhang Yue nodded slightly. Wynne reached out and slapped his palm three times. The door opened from the outside, and the man in black with the hat entered.

"Send Zhang Gongzi home."

The man in black agreed in a low voice, Zhang Yue bowed slightly to Huai En, and went out with the man in black.

Huai En looked at Zhang Yue's back, his eyes were far away, the majestic Forbidden City was shrouded in darkness, and the green vines crawling on the palace wall were gently swaying in the wind, as if they were resonating with the wind, and they seemed to shake their heads and sigh.