Zhang Dequan saw that the emperor was already dressed neatly, walked out of the inner hall, and hurriedly stepped forward to help, but the emperor waved his hand, withdrew him, and after bowing to the queen mother, he lightly reprimanded him: "My body is good, why use you to make your own opinions, my mother is behind, just wake me up." ”

Zhang Dequan hurriedly knelt down and said: "They are all slaves, please Your Majesty and the Queen Mother to calm their anger." ”

The emperor glanced at him and said lightly, "Get up." ”

The Queen Mother sat down again, and saw that the emperor had reduced his abnormality, and his face was extremely pale, so she was slightly moved, but her tone was still cold: "The emperor is in poor health, has the imperial doctor come to see him?" ”

The emperor coughed twice and said, "It's just an ordinary wind and cold, and the queen mother doesn't have to worry about it." I don't know why the queen mother is coming, what's the matter? ”

Displeasure appeared on the face of the Queen Mother: "A few days ago, Shen Hanxi was suspended by you at home, but he went to Zhejiang without authorization, and this matter has been caused by the mourning family, how could the emperor not hear about it?" Conveyed the words of those ministers one by one, and said, "The mourning family knows that Shen Hanxi is your confidant, and he is indeed a competent person, but the ministers of the humerus are not only the national body, but only concentrate on suppressing and squeezing out those who have different intentions with them, and sooner or later they will have to make money and destroy their bones." ”

The emperor walked over, refilled a cup of tea for her, and said, "The lesson of the queen mother is that over the years, the court guard has gradually escaped from my control, and I have always had a headache. ”

"That being the case, why didn't the emperor take this opportunity to get rid of Shen Hanxi. Now that the society is stable, there are as many people who can replace him. ”

The emperor stood in front of her, a faint smile appeared on his sickly face: "It's not time yet. He lowered his voice again and said, "I care more about my country than my mother. ”

The Queen Mother's face did not have any waves, but the light in her eyes sank: "It turns out that the emperor also knows that this is your country." ”

"I naturally know that after all, it was me who worked so hard to grab it."

After he said it, he said casually: "I asked Shen Hanxi to go to Zhejiang, so there is no such thing as leaving Beijing without permission." If the queen mother is worried about whether Shen Hanxi will break away from my control, then I tell the queen mother today that there is not yet. ”

The Queen Mother looked at the young man in front of her, and suddenly realized her aging. He is no longer the boy who was raised by his side, and in a blink of an eye, he has grown into an emperor with his own opinions.

After a while, she slowly spoke: "When the emperor said so, the mourning family was relieved." You should know better than anyone else that people like Shen Hanxi can't stay. ”

"I understand." The emperor raised his eyebrows and watched her back go away, "Congratulations to the queen mother." ”

After a while, he raised his head, and the hall was silent, except for the green smoke wafting from the golden incense burner.

He barely supported this body that had reached the end of the crossbow, and called Zhang Dequan to say: "Go and use my letter eagle to summon Shen Hanxi back." ”

After Shen Hanxi received this secret letter that "the saint is critically ill", he rushed back to Ling'an City only one day later, and several stagecoaches died halfway. He entered the imperial city, did not dismount, and went all the way to the direction of the Lama Temple. The brocade robe on his body was his privilege in this imperial city, and even if his horse trampled on the white marble tiles and despised those majestic palaces, no one was qualified to say that it was not true.

He got off his horse in front of the Donghua Gate, walked quickly to the Zhanghe Palace, changed into clean clothes in the Zhanghe Palace, and came to the Lama Temple. In the imperial study, a man in an embroidered dragon robe with a disc collar and narrow sleeves stood with his hands in his hands, waiting for him.

Hearing footsteps, the Emperor turned his head.

What caught his eye was a young man dressed in a golden python coat and soap boots, and on that perfect face, he had already faded from the youthfulness of his youth, becoming more and more cold and angular.

Shen Hanxi walked in front of the current Ninety-Five Supreme, and pulled out half of the lid of the black brocade box in his hand, only to see a black lotus lying inside, almost blending with the color of the brocade box. He spoke: "Kunlun Black Lotus can cure a hundred poisons, and those who are dying can take it and prolong their lives for three days." ”

The Emperor looked down at the flower: "Where did you find it?" ”

"Hangzhou, in the backyard of Chu Qianyang, the first miracle doctor in the rivers and lakes. When the minister asked him to dig it up, he was almost eighty years old, and he cried like a child. ”

Hearing his words, a slight smile appeared on the emperor's pale and thin face: "He has retired to the rivers and lakes for decades, just to hide from you people who dig up his medicine, this Kunlun Black Lotus is almost extinct, if it is replaced by me, I will also cry to you." As he spoke, he pressed the lid of the brocade box and gently pushed it back, his tone was extremely flat, "Life and death are fateful, what is the use of these extra three days." ”

Shen Hanxi put the brocade box on the desk and said, "Although three days is short, Your Majesty can do whatever he wants. ”

The Emperor's gaze lingered on the brocade box for a long time, then turned to his face: "I suddenly remembered the day I first met you. ”

"It's been a long time ago, and Your Majesty still remembers."

"Naturally, I remember that year, I and you were destined to become friends."

They looked at each other quietly, then laughed at the same time.

Yes, the two of them, what a year of sympathy. One is a down-and-out prince who was driven out of the capital and chased and killed, and the other is a teenager who will never walk in the sun. As soon as two souls who are not willing to be at the mercy of others in this life meet, they seem to have found their own kind, attracting and appreciating each other.

"Without you Shen Yun, I wouldn't have come to this day, those infamy should have been borne by me, but I also gave you the power, money, and revenge you wanted, you and I should take what we need. For so many years, I have been suspicious of you and have tested you, but if I think about it calmly, if one day, there are thousands of people in this world who oppose me, and I am afraid that there will be only one Shen Yun. ”

As soon as he spoke, he suddenly realized that he had seldom spoken so calmly to the people in front of him, who, since his accession to the throne, had been separated by an insurmountable distance from ordinary kings and ministers. He is dedicated to being an emperor who will not be swayed by any emotion, and he is also dutifully the courtier who shares the king's worries.

Shen Hanxi walked to the side and lit a palace lamp, and the candle flame shone on his face brightly and flickering: "The minister has also complained about Your Majesty and guarded against Your Majesty, but if there was no Your Majesty, the minister would not be in this position now." It is not His Majesty who chooses the minister, but the minister who chooses His Majesty, and it is naturally the duty of the minister to share the worries for His Majesty. ”

The emperor laughed angrily at his words: "Bold Shen Yun, you can't be so rebellious just because I'm about to die." "I dare to say in front of myself that he picked himself.

The emperor was not really angry, but as soon as he was excited, the blood that was blocked in his throat came up, and he put his hand on his mouth and coughed violently, he had been sick for many days, and he had already been in shape, and when he coughed like this, it seemed that the whole person was going to fall apart. But there was still an unburned fire in his body, and this fire gave him amazing willpower and made him unwilling to compromise with death.

He finally stopped and called his name in a low voice: "Shen Yun, help me do the last two things." ”

The emperor slowly straightened up, stood by the window, Shen Hanxi walked behind him, and bowed: "I am willing to share your worries for Your Majesty." ”

At this time, one stood in the light and the other in the shadow.

The emperor's voice sounded in the curling agarwood, and it was extremely clear: "The first thing, the candidate I have selected for the East Palace, no matter how difficult it is, will send him to the throne." ”

"The second thing, after I die, I don't want my woman to be buried with me." He looked back into his eyes and said, "Tell her that I like her." ”

Shen Hanxi said: "There are some words that are suitable for saying in person." ”

His tone was faint, as if he was saying something that had nothing to do with him: "She will only believe if I die." As he spoke, he hid the emotions in his eyes, sat down on the table, closed his eyes and said, "I'm tired, I have to rest for a long time, and you need to face the next thing yourself." ”

After Shen Hanxi left the imperial study, he stopped in front of a palace, he raised his face, crossed the high palace wall, and looked at the sky outside. The deep twilight pressed down, as if to swallow up the last bit of light in this world.

A woman's clear voice suddenly sounded in his ears: "My lord, my name is called Shaowei." 'The three-foot sword in the box, the few stars in the sky'. ”

His heart warmed, retracted his gaze, and went to the official office of Dali Temple, along the way, his footsteps did not stop for a moment.

Since I heard that Shen Hanxi had returned to Beijing, the ministers had become a pot of porridge, and the most unclean of them was probably Dali Temple. As soon as Shen Hanxi came, he overturned the case of destroying the door committed by Liu Mingxian, and Dali Siqing ordered his subordinates to review it overnight, and found that the investigation results he brought, except for Yan Shining himself who had died, it can be said that there were no flaws, and the case could be closed when the orphan girl he said came to the court to testify.

In this way, the charge of lax punishment by him is no longer established. It is not far from his reinstatement.

This incident naturally disappointed some officials who were not used to him.

Before they could come out of their disappointment, another incident hit them hard.

The Holy One fell ill.

Moreover, this disease is menacing and very bad.

On this day, all the ministers of the cabinet knelt outside the ward, waiting for the edict of the crown prince. There are also some courtiers who believe that the two princes are young, and the matter of establishing a prince needs to be considered in the long run, but the country cannot be without a king for a day, and it is better to ask the queen mother to hang the curtain before the people in the East Palace are selected.

These ministers with different minds knelt from sunrise to sunset, kneeling so that their legs were unconscious, and finally heard the sound of the door opening. The eunuch Li Moting, the eunuch with the palm print of the celebrant eunuch, stopped in front of them, and in his hand was a holy decree that would affect the future situation. His gaze passed over the ministers kneeling there and fell on the brocade-clothed man standing behind.

Shen Hanxi, as usual, looked so indifferent as if anything in this world had nothing to do with him.

Li Moting withdrew his gaze from his face and opened the holy decree in his hand.