Empress Dowager Zhang's pupils shrank, and she stood up with the chair on the ground, shook off Zhao Hao, who wanted to step forward to help, and walked forward to the bed.

On the bed, Zhao Rui had been flattened by the imperial doctor and was lying quietly.

Empress Dowager Zhang sat on the edge of the bed, stunned for a while, and then stretched out her hand, one hand on her son's pulse, and the other hand to test her snort.

Empress Yang trembled and held on to the bedpost, staring at her husband's face.

Gu Yanzhang stood far away, and could only see the thin quilt covered by Zhao Rui's body, and he was in a trance for a while.

It seemed that after a long time, a low sobbing sound slowly came from the side of the bed, and soon, one after another, the palace people, the chamberlain, the courtiers, the clan, everyone followed the cry of sorrow.

The wind and rain were shaking outside, and among the wind and rain, there was a cry in the Funing Palace, which made people feel sad.

The people in the palace wept together for a while, and gradually, the crying became quieter, and an indescribable atmosphere permeated the hall. The important ministers of the two prefectures and the royal family cried a few times, raised their heads for a while, or looked at each other, or secretly went to see the Empress Dowager Zhang sitting on the edge of the bed, or went to see Zhao Hao, the king of Ji, and Zhao Duo, the king of Wei, not far away, but no one spoke.

Everything happened so suddenly, no one could have imagined that Zhao Rui, who could still ask questions a moment ago, would return to the west so quickly.

According to his original will, the throne should be passed to Zhao Duo, the king of Wei, but Wu Yicha made such an accusation, and Zhao Duo had no power to refute it, and the human and physical evidence were there, although it may not be called conclusive evidence, and it was conclusive, but if it was said that it was not counted at all, no one would believe it.

Zhao is always benevolent, he is very tolerant of his two younger brothers and one cousin, and he is also very generous in money and things. His eldest brother has always been obedient and has never caused trouble because he is from the palace and has a leg disease, but his two younger brothers, especially Zhao Hao, the king of Ji, who is the third line, because of the preference of the Empress Dowager Zhang, even if he is not arrogant, he is also very arbitrary.

If it is said that the king of Ji and the king of Wei secretly used the smelting ore in the supervision of metallurgy, or they traded privately with the northern barbarians, they did not say it on the face, but took it out for discussion in private, and no one in the court did not believe it.

This is not an uncommon thing.

There is no one who can stand in the Funing Palace at this time who has not been released as an official, and naturally knows that the more far away the Tiangao Emperor, such as Yanzhou, Guangnan, Hejian, and Qinzhou, the easier it is to have such a thing. If it is said that there are officials in Yanzhou City who are in the same stream as the vassal king, and jointly buy and sell trade in Xiazhou for personal gain, no one will find it unusual.

That being the case, if Zhao Duo, the king of Wei, really did such a ridiculous act, how could he still take on a big responsibility?

King Wei can't succeed to the throne, the throne is vacant, and the Son of Heaven has no queen, who can he pass the throne to?

There is no need for guidance, and more and more people are already thinking about it.

It is best to have an orthodox background, suitable qualifications, suitable age, and most importantly, to have prosperous children.

Such a new emperor, as long as he succeeds to the throne, does not even need the harem curtain, he can directly govern.

If you want the court to be stable, the throne is naturally as few variables as possible.

As the hall became quieter and quieter, after a long time, in the very small sobbing, someone finally spoke: "Queen Mother, Your Majesty is in a big line, I don't know who will succeed to the throne?" ”

With this person's words, the people who had been thinking about it, as if they had received an order, invariably raised their heads and looked cautiously at the person standing next to the Empress Dowager Zhang.

Not far away, a man dressed in a brocade robe and wearing a jade crown was looking sad, wiping the tears from his face with only his own care, as if he had not noticed anything and heard nothing.

One by one, it is Zhao Hao, the king of Ji who has only focused on refusing to succeed for his son.

***

Ugly moment.

With the beating of drums in the hands of watchmen in the streets and alleys, there was soon movement in a house outside Xiangguo Temple.

A short time later, a man in the wing room pushed open the door and walked out of it to the west kitchen.

He had barely walked a few steps when an old woman's voice came from the room, calling out through the window, "Old man, is it raining outside?" ”

The man who was called the old man was about sixty years old, and his back was already rickety, as if he was carrying a small iron pot, and although it was dark outside, he did not light the lamp or light the torch, but continued to walk in the dark with his memory, and replied as he went: "The rain is very heavy! You bring a piece of oiled paper to block it! ”

With his reply, the rain outside was really heavy, and big drops of rain crackled and fell to the ground.

Up to now, it has been raining heavily for three days in Beijing, and the houses here are low and high, and there is a lot of stagnant water in the patio that cannot be drained out.

The old man muttered, "This rain is really mysterious," and he grabbed the planks under the eaves and put them above his head, and trotted westward.

When he entered the kitchen, he first lit the fire on the stove, boiled a pot of water, washed the stone mill, and then carried a bucket of soaked soybeans to the stone mill, and began to scoop the beans and grind the soy milk.

He grinded a few scoops of beans here, and the old woman behind him also came in, and said: "It's really evil, and it's about to enter winter, why is this rain endless......"

As he spoke, he went to make a hand to the old man.

The two worked together, and after more than two hours, they finally ground the two large buckets of beans into soy milk, and used gypsum to light the brine, and waited until the soy milk drink condensed into bean curd, and then carried many things in the kitchen to the cart.

The rain became more and more urgent, and the husband and wife waited for a long time, but they never saw the rain stop, so the old man said, "Forget it, let's go out first." ”

Sure enough, he asked his wife to open the door, and his family pulled the car in front of him and walked out.

At this time, when the hour was over, because of the heavy rain, there was no sun in the sky, but it was dark, like night more than day.

The old couple pushed the cart to the side of the Daxiangguo Temple, where they set up a stall on weekdays, found the seat they used to occupy, and began to build a shed.

The rain did not stop, and the number of guests was much less than before, so the husband and wife had to sit down and talk to the guests they were accustomed to.

"Brother Lai, your family only makes tofu brains and soy milk drinks, and you don't know how to go with a cookcake fritters!"

The old man smiled and said, "My tofu is respectful!" You still hate it when you have to eat, and you don't know where it comes from! ”

The person who spoke before was a little surprised for a while, as if he was choked by his words, but the person at the same table next to him said with a smile: "You listen to Brother Lai blowing here, he is offering tofu in Xiangguo Temple, and the emperor came here to eat a table, and I don't know if there is his tofu in it, so he asked him to blow it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year!" ”

Although the hour was not too early, it was not good because of the bad weather, but the three or four small tables were not full, and about a dozen people heard what the man said, and they all laughed.

The tofu brains are everyone's words, I teased the old man Lai word by word, and ate the white, tender and sweet tofu brains into my stomach one after another.

Everyone was talking, but they saw a person walking here with an umbrella more than ten paces away, walked to the stall, and shouted, "Boss, bring me a bowl of tofu brain." ”

Old man Lai answered, turned his head and smiled at the original guests first, and then went over to scoop tofu brains for the newcomers.

He handed over the large bowl, and was about to take the copper plate in the other hand, but his left hand did not let go, and his right hand did not take it, when suddenly, he heard a bell from the north from nowhere.

The sound was faint, as if it was drowned in the sound of rain, but it was again and again, very persistent, and refused to stop.

The guests sitting at the wooden table were stunned for a moment, some held the bowl in their hands, some held the spoon, some had tofu brains in their mouths, and some were still swallowing, but they all followed and looked north.

The bell rang endlessly, and I don't know how many times it rang one after another.

As the last sound dissipated, only to hear the "bang", the coarse porcelain bowl in Lai's old man's hand fell to the ground like this.

The porcelain pieces were scattered, and the white tofu brain was sprinkled on the ground, trembling and shaking a few times.

Along with the coarse porcelain bowl that fell to the ground, there were more than ten copper plates.

The brass plate rolled in all directions, dripping at the feet of a guest at a table, and lay down with dignity, but no one paid any attention to it.

The crowd was staring in the direction of the north.

After a while, someone asked in a trembling voice, "Just now...... How many rings? ”

No one answered his words positively.

After several breaths, someone muttered, "Your Majesty...... Your Majesty, you've died......"

Everyone stood up and looked in the direction of the Forbidden Palace in the north, and no one cared about the porcelain bowls on the table, but they burst into tears one by one.