It was past the end of the day, and the Hongzhi Emperor, who had risen in the past, got up from the couch at this time.

In the Qianqing Palace, the eunuch maid who was waiting for the emperor's living was already busy, and the palace maid with the basin put the basin on the washstand, and there was a palace maid waiting beside her with a face towel.

There was a chair next to the shelf, and Emperor Hongzhi walked to the chair and sat down, but he was not in a hurry to wash, and he had to comb his hair and drink medicine before washing.

The medicine was still frying on the stove, Xiao Jing came over and gently untied the streamer that tied Emperor Hongzhi's hair, and the long hair on his head fell apart.

The grate of combing his hair roamed between the gray hair, and Emperor Hongzhi exhaled a breath from his abdomen, his eyes closed, and then opened again, his whole face relaxed, and he looked at himself in the mirror, and his face looked very sallow.

He stared quietly, his eyes revealing a look of pity, and after a while, he called out to him: "Xiao Companion." ”

"The slave is here." Xiao Jing carefully combed his hair as he replied.

"Do you know Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty?"

Xiao Jing looked at the caisson and made a look of recollection, and then replied, "The slave has heard of it, but she doesn't know it very well. ”

Emperor Xuanzong once looked in the mirror and found that he had lost a lot of weight, and he couldn't help but be unhappy, and the attendant next to him said: Your Majesty has worked hard for the world, and he has lost a lot of weight, so he should rest well, why bother to be tired. Xuanzong once sighed after hearing this, although I look thin, but the world will be fat. ”

Zhu Youzhang's tone was very gentle, as if he was really telling a story, "Xuanzong's classic of looking at the mirror and saying that he is thin has been passed down to this day, and now I also look in the mirror and find that I have also lost a lot of weight, and my face is even more ugly, how do you say I should feel?" ”

He told such an allusion and made such an inquiry. Xiao Jing couldn't guess Emperor Hongzhi's thoughts, and was thinking about how to answer, but Zhu Youzhu asked in a sloppy manner: "Is there any news for the prince?" ”

Xiao Jing's hand combing his hair stopped, and then he pretended to be relaxed and began to move again, "There is no news from the factory guard for the time being, but the emperor can rest assured, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has his own heavenly appearance, and he will be fine." ”

Hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi stared at the mirror and said coldly: "It's best to let him die outside, so that I can rest assured."

Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was emaciated and fattened in the world, but now I am like this, but it is all because of that rebel son, he died outside, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. ”

“.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jing moved his lips, but it was not good to speak.

After Zhu Houzhao escaped from prison that day, the entire palace was already in chaos, and hundreds of factory guards were dispatched to search for the traces of the prince up and down.

But after some searching, it was only found that Zhu Houzhao used a copper wire to pry open the lock of Ciqing Palace, turned out of the palace ban at night, and ran to the eastern suburbs under the dark night, hijacked a merchant ship, and went to Tianjin Wei along the Cao Yun, and entered the sea from Dagukou, so far nowhere to be found.

Knowing this, Emperor Hongzhi was even more worried and angry, the sea was vast, where to find a trace of a ship, in those days, everyone in the entire palace was trembling.

But now that nearly a month has passed since the disappearance of the crown prince, calm has returned to the palace, and Emperor Hongzhi is only indifferent, no anger, and even worries seem to be gone.

He even said that it was better to let the rebel die outside.

And this is not the first time this has been said.

After every inquiry in the past few days, Emperor Hongzhi would say something similar coldly.

But the more he said this, the more worried Xiao Jing knew that this was, otherwise he would not have asked for news about the prince all day long, let alone not be able to sleep all night, and only sleep for three or two hours after dawn during the day.

So much so that these days the early dynasty has been outlawed, and only the afternoon dynasty has been left.

Combing his hair, Xiao Jing quietly stuffed the hair that had fallen out into the cuffs, and his movements were very light, but he was still noticed by Emperor Hongzhi, he turned around, "What are you hiding in the cuffs?" ”

"Back to the emperor, yes" Xiao Jing hesitated for a few seconds and replied, "It's a letter." ”

"Solo?" Emperor Hongzhi glanced at his cuffs and asked calmly, "Why didn't you take it out earlier?" ”

Xiao Jing knelt down, "The emperor is good, this letter was received this morning, it can be seen that the emperor is sleeping soundly, the slave and maid dare not disturb, just before the emperor woke up, the slave and maid thought that they would wait for the emperor to wash up before showing it to the emperor." ”

"Isn't it a big deal?"

"It's hard to talk about slaves."

As he spoke, Xiao Jing took out the letter from his cuff, "This is sent by the political envoy of Shandong, and the report says that in the Huai River at the intersection of Lunan and Linmu counties, the wind and waves are strong, and a passenger boat capsizes, according to the verification of identity, four of the people on this boat are officials who went to Nanzhili counties to implement the law change, and two of them unfortunately drowned because they did not know the nature of the water."

Zhu Youzhang's face sank, and there are now two major events in the country, one is to conquer the Japanese country, and the other is to implement the law change.

A few days ago, the officials who changed the law had already been sent out, and all the Qincha who went to the counties of Beizhili had already arrived, and some had already begun to implement the reform of the law, and it was reported that the investigation was quite smooth, and those who went to Nanzhili, because of the distance, only some of them arrived at the place, and the rest were on the road, but now they drowned two halfway through.

Emperor Hongzhi took the report, opened the seal in three or two, and swept it down with ten lines, his eyes narrowed, "Oh, it turned out to be an accident?" ”

This sentence is very inexplicable, like an inquiry, but the tone is not like it, Xiao Jing didn't know how to answer, and only said after a while: "That's what Song Shu said, saying that the ship accidentally capsized." ”

"So what do you think?"

"The slave doesn't know, the sun and the moon are held in the hands of the emperor, the emperor's heart is brighter than the sun in the sky, the emperor must know, but the slave is dull and can't see through the Tao here."

"It's my business whether I know or not, and I'm going to listen to you now."

"Yes." Xiao Jing responded, knelt on the ground and said: "The slave thinks that since it is said to be an accident, it should be an accident, but whether it is or not, we have to investigate." ”

This is equivalent to not saying it, but Emperor Hongzhi didn't seem to care, just stared at him and asked, "How to check, where to check?" ”

Xiao Jing was about to speak, Zhu Youzhu raised his left hand again, compared the movements of individual words, listened carefully, and looked outside the lattice window, "It's almost noon, right?" ”

"Back to the emperor, it's almost there."

"I think a few courtiers have arrived, and I won't ask you anymore, put my hair on it, don't miss the court."

Hearing this, Xiao Jing got up hurriedly, and looked at the stove at the entrance of the hall, "Emperor, the medicine has been decocted, so the emperor will drink the medicine first." ”

Emperor Hongzhi didn't say anything, just hummed and clenched the report in his hand.

(End of chapter)