In the Hui Garden, which is only separated by a wall from the Prime Minister's Mansion, Zuo Xiang Leng Yiqing is sitting in the Huxin Pavilion where he once entertained the supposed prince, staring blankly at the golden pot that is placed on the stone table in front of him.

His ears kept echoing the words of the emperor: "As long as Zuo Xiang personally lets Han Bing drink this wine, no matter what the final result is, I will be convinced of Zuo Xiang's loyalty from now on!"

In fact, from the moment he agreed to take refuge in King Ji, he was no longer loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, who was almost about to bury the Great Wealth!

And now, not to mention the emperor, even King Ji, and even Jiangshan Sheji, he no longer cares!

Because all he can think about now is how to save his two sons.

However, the sad thing is that he, a dignified one-time Zaifu, and a wealthy left minister who holds military and political power, can't even do such a simple thing!

The emperor took Shiyu and even the entire Xiangfu as hostages, and forced him, who was a father, to personally drink this pot of poisonous wine to Han Bing!

And he didn't even dare to say a word of refusal.

Since he did not admit that Lin Fangyin was a wanted hermit woman, and insisted that Han Bing was his biological son with Lin Fangyin, that is to say, he believed that Han Bing was not a hermit.

And since he believes that Han Bing is not a hermit, he should also believe that the pot of poisoned wine given by the emperor will not really hurt Han Bing's life.

So, what reason did he have for refusing to let Han Bing drink this pot of wine?

Now the role of this pot of wine is not only to prove Han Bing's identity, but also to prove the innocence of his Zuo Xiang.

The emperor's meaning has been expressed very clearly, as long as he Leng Yiqing personally let Han Bing drink this wine, it is enough to prove that he believes that Han Bing is not a hermit.

Then, even if Han Bing was really poisoned to death in the end, thus confirming his identity as a hidden clan, the emperor would not investigate him, the unaware Zuo Xiang, for concealment.

Leng Yiqing only felt that he was standing on the edge of the abyss at the moment, although he knew that if he took a step forward, he would be doomed, but he had to force himself to jump!

Harboring the evil people of the hidden clan, this crime alone is enough for the emperor to directly put him, the chief of the court, into the prison.

Even if he can ignore his own net worth and life, but what about his wife Su Xiangzhu and his youngest son Shiyu? Do they have to let them suffer innocently together? Not to mention that now that Shiyu has fallen into the hands of the emperor, he will be worried about his life at any time.

Things have come to this point, does he still have any choice?

Originally, when the emperor gave him poisonous wine, there was still a glimmer of hope in Leng Yiqing's heart, maybe he could use some means to finally deceive the emperor.

Because it is impossible for the emperor to summon Han Bing into the palace and watch him drink this pot of wine with his own eyes. Then if the emperor wants to know the result, he can only send someone to the prime minister's office to supervise the matter.

Leng Yiqing once imagined that as long as the person sent by the emperor to supervise this matter was not Zheng Yong, he would always have some chance to persuade or buy that person.

However, when the emperor said that he would send Zhu Mo, the commander of the guards, to send him back to the house, Leng Yiqing suddenly felt complete despair!

Because he really knows too well what kind of person Zhu Mo is.

Zhu Mo should be the emperor's most trusted person in this world, and at the same time, he should also be the most loyal person to the emperor in this world.

Zhu Mo's great-grandfather was the close guard of Emperor Hao Xingqi of Dayu Taizu, and followed Emperor Taizu all his life to fight and sit on the country, bow and do his best, and then die.

Since then, according to the testament left by the ancestors of the Zhu family, the men of the Zhu family who have practiced martial arts for generations must become the emperor's guards and protect the safety of His Majesty the emperor with their lives.

For the Zhu family's fierce loyalty, the Haoxing royal family also reciprocated with unreserved trust in them. Since Emperor Taizu, the Zhu family has been in charge of the guards responsible for the emperor's security.

Until more than 20 years ago, there was an incident in which Beirong sent the Chiyang Sect Leader Duxiaoqiong to lead a team of assassins into the palace to assassinate the current emperor.

At that time, under the leadership of Zhu Mo's father, the guards and pro-army desperately defended the emperor, and finally killed those assassins, and Duxiaoqiong was also injured and fled in embarrassment.

In this battle, hundreds of guards were killed and wounded, and Zhu Mo's father was also seriously wounded.

After being greatly frightened, the emperor finally realized the importance of martial artists. So he immediately issued an order, and in addition to the original guards, he recruited a large number of people with strong martial arts to guard the palace.

Although these newly recruited Ouchi masters are directly under the orders of the emperor, their establishment is in the guards and pro-army, and they are usually used as Ouchi guards and are under the command of the guards.

It was precisely because of the emperor's wise decision that during the rebellion of King Huai that year, Empress Yan was able to break through the encirclement of nearly ten times the rebel army under the joint protection of the guards led by Uncle Zhu Mo and the master of Ouchi, and escaped from Jingyang City, which had been occupied by the rebels.

At that time, Zhu Mo and his father were following the emperor on his southern tour, and when they heard the bad news, they immediately protected the emperor and went to the border army that was still loyal to the emperor.

Later, Zhu Mo took the military talisman given by the emperor to mobilize the various armies, and finally put down the rebellion and recovered Jingyang City.

After experiencing these things, the Zhu family has used their blood and lives to win the absolute trust of the emperor, who has always been suspicious and jealous.

However, although the Zhu family can be called the emperor's most trusted person, they will never become the emperor's confidant like Zheng Yong.

It's just because the emperor and all those who know the Zhu family know one thing clearly.

That is, the loyalty of the Zhu family is actually a kind of loyalty to the imperial power, not to a certain emperor.

To be more precise, the Zhu family will only use their lives to protect the person who sits on the throne, but will not do those shady deeds in order to help that person win the throne, or even to keep the throne.

That's why, the emperor won't tell Zhu Mo about his attempt to snatch the key from Han Bing, let alone let him personally lead the Ouchi guards to Jishi Temple to ambush Han Bing.

At the same time, this is also the reason why, although Zhu Mo openly spoke for Han Bing, proving that he was not like the woman in the painting, the emperor would still send him to monitor Leng Yiqing and let Han Bing drink poisonous wine.

Once the matter involves the safety of the emperor, this guard commander will never be sloppy, let alone talk about the slightest emotion.

Since Yongwang Haoxing Xiao Yin broke into the palace to rebel, the hermit people were declared evil people, and they also became the emperor's biggest enemy.

And cleaning up the hermits who have infiltrated the court and even the harem has become an important task for the Ouchi guards responsible for protecting the emperor's safety.

Therefore, it is Zhu Mo's duty to personally supervise Leng Yiqing's disposal of Han Bing to confirm whether this Lord Zuo Xiang is suspected of harboring the hermits.

In the face of a person like Zhu Mo, Leng Yiqing really couldn't find any weaknesses in him, so he couldn't persuade or even buy him.

Now, that Zhu Mo is hidden in the forest not far away.

With his skills, he should be able to see everything that happened in this Lake Pavilion clearly. He had to see Han Bing drink this pot of poisonous wine with his own eyes before he went back to report to the emperor.

The people sent out to find the ice have begun to return one after another. But no one brought back any news about the ice.

Leng Yiqing just sat there motionless, listening to the reports of those subordinates, and didn't know how to react to such news.

He always had a feeling that the emperor actually knew where Han Bing went, but he just told himself to wait in the mansion and wait for Han Bing to come back.

Although the emperor did not say what the consequences would be if he couldn't wait for the cold ice, the people in the prime minister's mansion would face. But Leng Yiqing had already seen from the emperor's cold eyes that Shiyu might never come back.

Therefore, Leng Yiqing's heart has always been in contradiction. I look forward to the return of the ice, but I am also worried that the ice will come back.

Two sons, both of them are his blood and bones. Losing any of them would be painful for him.

When he didn't know about the existence of cold ice, he only occasionally flashed a certain thought, maybe there was a child of his own in this world.

But ever since he knew that Fang Yin had really given birth to that child for himself, he began to fantasize about the appearance of that child from time to time in his mind.

And when he finally saw Han Bing and saw his face that was similar to Fang Yin, he had completely regarded this young man as his own son in his heart.

So no matter how alienated Han Bing's attitude towards him is, he still can't help but care for him like a father.

Sometimes, he even felt that his love for Han Bing had surpassed that of Shiyu. Maybe this is somewhat out of a compensatory mentality, wanting to make up for the love he owes over the years as a father.

Looking at that stubborn son, risking his life outside all day long to shed blood and fight, his heart as a father has been dripping blood.

However, he never said anything about it to Han Bing, and he didn't know how to say it.

Although he didn't want to admit it, in fact, his heart had already stood on the side of ice.

Whether the other party is the king of Ji or the crown prince, or even the emperor, for the sake of cold ice, he will not hesitate to go against them.

But now, in the situation of "people are swordsmen, I am fish and meat", what can he do to oppose the emperor?

The only thing he could do was to choose between the entire Xiangfu and the cold ice.

More precisely, it is actually a choice between the two sons, Shiyu and Han Bing.

But to make such a choice, it was too painful for him, a father!

He couldn't choose, and he refused to choose.

So he sent people everywhere to look for cold ice, but he didn't send anyone to Huafu.

The emperor confessed that Zhu Mo would return to the palace before sunset.

If the ice doesn't appear before sunset, it's providence too.

Let everything be left to the will of God!