"The prince is twenty years old this year, and when he was young, he was married to a woman from the Cui family in Qinghe, and then the woman died of a serious illness, and the prince has not been married to this day. In fact, in terms of the status and character of the prince, it is not difficult to find a suitable wife, but he has not yet decided on a marriage. ”

Deng Mian spread his trouser legs, stepped on the mat with bare feet like a village woman, fanned his fan with his arm on his knee, and asked Shen Zhou sideways: "Do you know why?" ”

Shen Zhou naturally shook his head.

Shen Zhou's horizontal sword was placed on his lap, his clothes were neat, and every bit of snow-white flesh on his body was tightly covered, like a jade bodhisattva who would not be hot or sweat. He took the bitter blackened liquid and took a sip as if he were drinking tea.

"Because Your Majesty won't allow it." Deng Mian patted his knee and said, "The crown prince is the grandson of the regent, if he marries another woman with a powerful family, maybe there will be another regent in the next dynasty." ”

At that time, the world will still be surnamed Bai in name, but it will no longer be the world of the Bai family, but the world of the family gatekeeper.

Shen Zhou remembered a poem and laughed in his heart.

"Zhou Gong is afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang is humble and has not usurped the time." [1]

The emperor's suspicion is endless, and the crown prince relies on the regent, and he doesn't want his father to be suspicious of him, and he has delayed his life's major events until now. The prince himself also thinks that this country still has to be surnamed Bai.

Shen Zhou raised his finger and tapped on the table, meaning to continue.

Deng Mian shook the fan and continued: "The prince is a good man, and every year he will help the queen set up a shed in the city to give porridge and settle the displaced people. ”

Shen Zhou was noncommittal, just blew a bowl of medicinal juice.

The people saved by the prince setting up a shed to give porridge are probably not as many as those who were killed by the third prince. Instead of setting up a shed to give porridge, it is better to discipline the three princes to accumulate good deeds.

"Hey, Shen Zhou, why are you asking so many princes?" Deng Mian approached and asked mysteriously, "My eldest brother won't want to vote for the princelings, right?" ”

Shen Zhou ignored him, but Deng Mian thought he acquiesced.

"Princeling, so she doesn't have to go against the regent." Deng Mian said this, but his interest was not high, "In this imperial capital, how many people who went against the regent had a good end?" ”

Shen Zhou finished drinking the medicine, put the bowl on the table lightly, and slowly signed language, trying to make Deng Mian understand what he meant.

"I heard that the queen is going to hold a banquet for a monk to catch the wind and wash the dust, will the prince go?"

Deng Mian shouted, completely unaware of the coming crisis, "Of course I will go!" You're talking about Master Qingxuan, isn't that reception banquet just three days later? ”

Shen Zhou nodded, grasped the sword in his lap, and closed his eyes to recuperate.

——

Three days later, Akiba Mountain House.

Chu Zhixia coiled his hair with a hairpin, biting the head of the brush and thinking for a long time.

On the table in front of her, there were more than a dozen bowls of medicinal soup, large and small, all of which were made with a prescription of medicine similar to the medicinal properties of the blood lotus.

But each one is not ideal, and it always seems to be a little worse.

Cheng Yuan pushed the door in with a sad face, a little frustrated that he couldn't even do this little thing, "Miss, I have searched all the pharmacies and medical halls in and out of the city, and every one of them said that there was no such medicine, or it was sold out." ”

Chu Zhixia has been anxious about this medicine these days, and when he heard this sentence at first glance, he came back to his senses.

"Blood lotus is a precious and rare medicinal material, and it would be a bit fake to say that it is sold out if I don't believe it." Chu Shixia said gloomily, "Most of the people who can use the blood lotus are the ones who are told by the king of Hades to die in the third watch, and the doctor wants to keep him until the fifth watch." How could it be such a coincidence, sooner rather than sold out, not sold out late, and I want to buy them and they will be sold out? ”

Cheng Yuan was dumbfounded, and asked with some surprise: "You mean, someone gave an order behind his back not to sell blood lotus to us?" ”

Chu Zhixia gritted his teeth, broke the brush in his hand with a "snap", and his fingertips were pierced with broken bamboo and blood flowed.

Cheng Yuan was taken aback, "Miss, forgive your subordinates for their courage, who is seriously ill in the house?" ”

"No matter who is seriously ill, will Hades take him later for the sake of my face?" Chu Zhixia smiled bitterly.

Maybe it was because she had too much comfort when she was young, so God never favored her.

"Don't be impatient, I'll send someone to the town near the imperial capital to ask." Cheng Yuan said, "Don't forget, you have to go to the queen's banquet tonight." ”

The more Chu Zhixia thought about it, the more annoyed he became, he dismantled the hairpin and smashed it into the medicine bowl, and smashed three or four medicine bowls indiscriminately with a "dang" sound.

——

Yuanjue Temple is the temple with the most incense in the imperial capital.

Not only because of the wish fulfillment, but also because of the queen's worship of the Buddha, dignitaries and dignitaries flocked to it.

The temple took in many orphans who had no father and mother, and were raised to be good since childhood. If you don't want to, you shave your hair in the temple and take refuge in Buddhism. can do such a great good deed, naturally you can't escape two words - "rich".

"Do you know what 'dependent origination' means?" Chu Zhixia lifted the carriage curtain, leaned out half of his head to look at the brightly lit Yuanjue Temple, and asked in a muttered voice.

Cheng Yuan wasn't sure if she was talking to herself: "What do you mean?" ”

"The Buddha said that everything in the world has a cause, good is rewarded with good, and evil is rewarded with evil, so he persuades people to be good. This is 'dependent arising'. Chu Zhixia laughed inexplicably, desolate and helpless, "Do you believe it?" ”

Cheng Yuan shook his head without hesitation and nodded again - he remembered his sister, it was her misfortune to be betrayed by her father to the eunuch, but Chu Zhixia was willing to come to the rescue, but it was her luck.

Maybe that's my sister's good news.

Chu Zhixia didn't say good, nor did he say bad, but just sighed sadly.

If there is really a Buddha, then bless Shen Zhou safe and sound this time.

I would like to offer a hundred years of incense to the Buddha, may this body always have a compassionate heart, and may I fall into the hell of Abi after death, and bear all the sins.

Please, let him live.

"The eldest lady and Shen Zhou will have good rewards." Cheng Yuan suddenly said, "Even if you don't, Cheng Yuan is willing to fight for you with this life." ”

Chu Zhixia looked at him with some surprise.

Cheng Yuan's eyes were firm.

——

The banquet is set in front of the main hall of Yuanjue Temple, and it is not allowed to wear swords and bloody things when entering the Buddhist temple, so as not to collide with the Buddha, so the forbidden army and Yu Linwei are waiting outside.

Chu Zhixia didn't have a sword, but was wearing a plain brocade dress, holding a black folding fan painted with golden bamboo in his hand. She didn't wear complicated and gorgeous jewelry in her hair, but tied her hair with silver hairpins, and the long hairband was decorated with tassels, which had the clear and cold beauty of Lingxue plum blossoms.

The emperor and queen rarely appeared at the same time, but the emperor's expression was like ice, and he did not smile; The queen also had a faint expression and didn't say a word. The distance between the two is two palms wide, but it is like the Han realm of the Chu River.

There were six princes sitting on the table, and Chu Zhixia's seat was second only to the six princes.

The first time she saw these six brothers appear together, she couldn't help but look at them twice.

The second prince was born to the daughter of the Li family in Longxi, because of the inconvenience of his legs and feet, he rarely walked in front of people, and he always stared back with compassion when he was watched.

The fifth prince was born to the daughter of the Cui family of Qinghe, who was just over ten years old, but he was as arrogant and proud as the third prince, and the palace people who served him were sweating profusely.

The mother of the sixth prince is the noble daughter of the Pei family in Guanzhong, who is only three or four years old, sitting beside her mother uprightly, trying to learn the appearance of a little adult.

"Miss Chu, don't look at it." Bai Ziche, who was sitting next to Chu Zhixia, said in a low voice, "The sixth brother will come over with saliva in a while and ask you to hug him." ”

The white and chubby little ball really grinned and opened his arms at Chu Zhixia. Chu Zhixia unfolded the fan in horror to cover his face, and whispered, "Thank you for the reminder of Your Highness Si." ”

The monk in Tsing Yi walked into the banquet slowly, bowed to the emperor and queen above, and recited the Buddha.

This bald donkey is neither old nor ugly, on the contrary, it is faintly visible that the eyebrows and eyes of his youth are handsome. He was dressed simply, and he didn't look like anything of value on his body, not at all like a "holy monk" who was respected by the mother of the country.

Master Qingxuan, the protagonist of the banquet, is finally late.

The emperor had long been impatient, he didn't believe in ghosts and gods, if it weren't for Qingxuan's claim that there was a gift from the Tianzhu Kingdom, he wouldn't have come here.

"Your Majesty Wan'an, Niangniang Wan'an." Master Qingxuan said slowly.

"Now that the master has arrived, let's start the table." The Emperor raised his hand.

The banquet in the Buddhist temple was naturally a fasting meal, and Chu Zhixia ate tastelessly, and he was still thinking about the blood lotus in his heart.

Halfway through the banquet, Master Qingxuan pushed the boat down the river to mention the Tianzhu National Ceremony.

Chu Zhixia propped his chin and watched boredly as the warrior monks pushed into a behemoth that was more than two people tall, covered with a fluttering red cloth.

The red cloth was torn apart violently, revealing the mystery underneath it - it was a bronze statue of the Ming King, with three heads and six arms, and a blazing flame on his back.

"This is the Ming Dynasty presented by the envoy of Tianzhu for my imperial dynasty, protecting the longevity of my imperial dynasty and the eternal generations of Your Majesty!"

Master Qingxuan stood under the majestic statue of King Ming, spread his arms, and shouted.

Bai Ziche twitched the tip of his nose and said in a low voice, "It doesn't seem right." ”

Chu Zhixia withdrew his gaze from the statue of King Ming and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"It smells of paint, it doesn't seem to be bronze."

Chu Zhixia's eyes widened, and when everyone was immersed in the exquisiteness of the Ming King statue and the vastness of the project, he slammed the case and shouted: "There are assassins, escort!" ”

Almost at the same moment, the statue of King Ming burst open from the inside out—it was not bronze, but ceramics painted with paint! Five or six assassins hid in unimaginable flexibility, their hands around their waists and their legs around their necks, stacked on top of each other.

"Your Majesty, be careful!"

Chu Zhixia kicked the heavy table case away, and Tang Tang and Shui smashed it into the assassin who was going straight to the emperor. Chu Zhixia flew forward, and the assassin just got up, brandishing a short knife and slashing her throat.

The gap between the folding fan and the bamboo bone stuck the blade of the short knife, Chu Zhixia turned his head to dodge the blade, and was forced by the assassin to retreat step by step, stepping on the steps.

Behind Chu Zhixia was the frightened emperor and queen.

The folding fan spun and flew like a sword in Chu Zhixia's hand, and the assassin couldn't hold the knife, but she wrenched his blade, and he was kicked by Chu Shixia, his ribs were broken, blood was spitting from his mouth, and he flew out upside down and smashed on his companion.

The guests at the banquet were frightened and panicked, only Bai Ziche and Bai Huan stood up calmly and stood in front of the emperor in unison.

"Qingxuan, are you going to rebel!" The queen shouted heartbreakingly.

"Rebellion? You are a woman surnamed Chen, even if I want to rebel, it is the world of the Bai family, what does it have to do with you? Qing Xuan sneered, "Give it all to me!" ”

The Forbidden Army and Yu Linwei broke through the door, but the assassins were only a few steps away from this group of royal nobles, and they threw their rat traps, and they didn't dare to move for a while, so they were deadlocked.

A child cried, and everyone realized that Concubine Pei was pierced by the assassin's sword, and the six princes were caught by the assassin. The Six Princes cried out to their mother, their limbs fluttering, their necks grazed by the Assassin's dagger.

Bai Ziche listened to the sound of his mother, and the corners of his eyes twitched.

"Let go of my brother." Bai Ziche said suddenly.

Master Qingxuan looked at him with interest, "Fourth Highness, this younger brother of yours is affectionate. Your mother's surname is also Pei? ”

"My mother's surname is not Pei, but he is a small child, and he can easily be killed." Bai Ziche's voice was terrifyingly cold, "I'm the same as him, our father's surname is Bai, are you willing to have a hostage who lives longer?" ”

"Ziche!" The emperor was surprisingly anxious, "What nonsense are you talking about!" ”