Chapter 131：

The news that Emperor Zhaokang was located in the prince soon spread throughout the sixth house like long legs.

When Tao Ti heard the news, she was eating hot pot around a round table with Xu Wenchan, Qinghe, and the fifth prince and the sixth princess.

The little **** who sent the letter reported the joy with joy, but Tao Ti was shocked by his chopsticks, and the freshly blanched beef roll fell back into the bright red hot pot, making the five princes with quick eyes and quick hands picked up a leak.

"Are you sure you heard it right? Your majesty really passed the position to the prince?"

"Back to the princess, it spread everywhere in the palace. There is a fellow servant who works in the Golden Dragon Palace in the minion. He heard it with his own ears. He didn't dare to talk about such a big thing with a hundred courage." The little **** respectfully said.

Tao Ti was still full of surprise, unable to calm down for a while.

But Xu Wenchan reacted first, opening a pair of round eyes, staring at Tao Ti like a baby, "The prince has become the emperor, then Ati, are you the queen? Wow! The queen is a close friend of my dear. This is too versatile!"

Qinghe pursed his lips and chuckles, "The cousin is a princess, she was originally the queen reserve."

Xu Wenchan felt embarrassed and touched his nose, and said, "Isn't this your majesty who is still young and strong? I originally thought that the prince would have to take the throne after at least ten years, but I didn't expect it to be so fast!"

Tao Ti pursed her lips with a serious expression, wondering in her heart: Emperor Zhaokang is not yet fifty years old, and his body is healthy. It is no problem to be an emperor in this state for more than ten or twenty years. But why did he abdicate?

This happened too suddenly, the shock in her heart was far greater than the joy, and she was vaguely disturbed.

The spicy hot pot on the round table was still boiling and rolling, and the bright red pepper and sea pepper were undulating in the rich and delicious soup.

A few people at the table exulted Tao Ti, and then took the chopsticks and ate. There are small crispy pork, beef balls, enoki mushroom and yuba, duck intestines, beef, mutton slices...

The crown prince was about to ascend the throne, and they were sincerely happy. But happy to be happy, hot pot must be eaten quickly, otherwise the hairy belly will be hot for a long time, and it will not taste good when it is old.

——

Inside the Qinzheng Hall, it was exceptionally quiet, and even the sound of pouring tea seemed too loud.

After the tea was made, Emperor Zhaokang withdrew all the people in the palace, and the people in the palace secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly withdrew.

The gilt bronze furnace with exotic animal patterns burns a good soothing fragrance, and the green smoke curls up, emitting a calming fragrance.

Emperor Zhaokang leaned against the big head pillow with a sad expression, but within half a month, his whole body was much older. Originally, he had only a few faint white hairs on the sideburns, but now it is white. In addition, the sharp and sharp energy between his straightened eyebrows has also dissipated for most, and his eyebrows wrinkled into a word "chuan", as if he had been pumped away, and his whole body exuded a decadent twilight air.

Pei Yan's rough fingertips gently rubbed the wall of the cup, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Father, why did you suddenly abdicate the edict?"

Emperor Zhaokang stretched out his hand and rubbed his eyebrows. After a while, he raised his deep black eyes, stared at Pei Yan in front of him, and sighed, "I am old."

"Father is in his prime of life, he doesn't..."

"People are getting old, their hearts are tired, and the emperor is also tired of sitting in this position." Emperor Zhaokang interrupted him directly.

Pei Yan twisted his brows and pursed his thin lips.

Emperor Zhaokang leaned against the pillow, half-closed his eyes, his tone was lazy, and he said slowly, "Everyone thinks that it is good to be an emperor. For this throne, I will fight for the throne, and do everything I can. , I also love power and power. I feel that as long as I sit on that dragon chair, I can control everything under the sky, omnipotent, omnipotent... huh, what about now?"

He sighed tiredly, "After all, it's still old."

When people are old, they love to think about the past, and miss the ordinary and warm beauty even more.

After New Year's Eve, he thought a lot.

He wakes up from the soft and gorgeous bed every day, and a group of palace people are waiting behind him, eating delicacies of mountains and seas, and wearing silk satin.

Beauty, wealth, power, he has everything.

But when he fell asleep at night, looking at this magnificent but empty palace, his heart was also very empty, as if the cold winter wind poured into his heart, bitter and bitter.

The boundless loneliness is like an invisible and intangible monster, eroding him bit by bit, about to drive him crazy.

Emperor Zhaokang closed his eyes, restrained the sadness and fragility in his eyes, opened his eyes again, and said kindly to Pei Yan, "Yan'er, you will be a good emperor, I believe in you."

Emperor Zhaokang didn't completely know that Pei Changzhou forced the palace on New Year's Eve. But before he put down the order, he received the news, and Donggong did something.

At that time, he also guessed how many points, this may be a "mantis catching cicada and oriole in the back" game in the middle of the game.

He knows, but he doesn't want to stop.

If two sons have to choose one, he will undoubtedly choose the prince.

What's more, he also wanted to see the prince's methods and character.

Facts have proved that the prince did not disappoint him.

Ruthless enough, neat enough.

Since the prince is already so good, he can rest assured that Jiangshan will be handed over to him.

After being silent for a long time, Pei Yan finished half a cup of tea without saying a word, put down the celadon porcelain cup, and prepared to retire.

Emperor Zhaokang nodded, "Go, there are a lot of trivial matters that will keep you busy."

But when Pei Yan got up, he couldn't help but stop him, "Yan'er."

Pei Yan paused, lowered his eyes slowly, and said in a deep voice, "What else does the emperor give?"

Emperor Zhaokang had a thick color between his eyebrows, hesitated for a long time, and said with difficulty, "I didn't instruct anyone to hurt the prince."

Pei Yan's black eyes moved slightly, and the corners of his mouth tightened.

Emperor Zhaokang said, "Those words said by Zhou's Mad Woman deliberately provoke the relationship between our father and son..."

Pei Yan said indifferently, "Erchen knows."

His hands hanging on his legs were clenched a little bit, and he was silent for a while, finally unable to suppress his doubts, his sharp gaze looked straight at Emperor Zhaokang, "Emperor brother, is he really not the father of the emperor's child?"

Emperor Zhaokang's eyes suddenly sank, and his tone was cold, "No."

He made no secret of his indifference to that child.

He was never an open-minded kind, and the reason he could accommodate the child was only because half of the child's bones and blood was Yuanyuan.

"It is impossible for me to treat him as a parent. I originally thought that when he grows up, he will be assigned to a foreign land to be a free prince.

After a pause, Emperor Zhaokang solemnly said, "Although I hate his existence, but I never wanted to hurt him. I never thought that Zhou's crazy woman would run behind your mother to sow discord..."

Thinking of Yuan Yuan being deceived by Zhou's words and taking poison, Emperor Zhaokang's blue veins jumped on his forehead, furious.

He hated Zhou's scorpion heart, and was saddened by Gu Yuan's distrust of him. As long as Gu Yuan can ask him in person, it won’t be...

Seeing Emperor Zhaokang’s remorseful look, Pei Yan sat down again and refilled himself with a cup of tea, "Father, please forgive your son-chen for being rude, but son-chen wants to know what's going on between you and the queen." ."

His tone was casual, but his eyes were extremely firm.

Emperor Zhaokang felt ashamed of Pei Yan. He pondered for a while, raised his head, and said slowly, "Before you go to the Bogu cabinet, click the fourth carved pattern in the third row and take out the painting inside."

Pei Yan glanced at Emperor Zhaokang in surprise, did not say much, got up and walked to the Bogu cabinet behind the sandalwood case.

The carved pattern looked ordinary, but pressed it down with a little force, and soon a deep and long drawer opened with a "click".

Sure enough, there is a picture scroll inside, which is very well preserved.

Pei Yan took the painting back and handed it to Emperor Zhaokang.

Emperor Zhaokang took the picture carefully, and slowly unfolded it, which is a picture of a beauty lean on a railing.

"Yan'er, this is the appearance of your mother, you still remember."

"..." Pei Yan said heartily, not remembering.

When his mother died, he was less than five years old. Before long, he fell into the water, got a serious illness, and had a high fever for several days, and he barely survived.

After the high fever, the appearance of the mother's queen became blurred.

For so many years now, every time he thinks of his mother, there is only one unreal shadow in his memory. As for his appearance, he has long been unable to remember.

Emperor Zhaokang stared at the beauty in the painting obsessively, and whispered, "This is the scene when I first met your mother and queen. At that time, I was still a prince, and I saw your mother and queen at the Spring Banquet..."

He had long heard that the little lady from the Gu family had the title of Chang'an's No. 1 Beauty, but he was not very interested.

After all, he is not keen on female sex-

Of course, after meeting Gu Yuan, he realized that he was not not keen on female sex, but that he had not met her.

At the first sight of Gu Yuan, he was moved.

Whether it's love at first sight or a sensation, he only knows that at the first sight of Gu Yuan, he can't move.

She was like a frightened deer, too panicked, but she pretended to be calm and saluted him, "The courtiers pay respect to His Royal Highness, Your Highness is blessed."

Her voice is very sweet, gentle and gentle, like catkins fluttering in the spring, gently falling in his heart.

After the spring banquet, he saw her again, at the Dragon Boat Festival.

The dragon boat race on the Weihe River was fierce and lively. She was standing on the pavilion, facing his side, with a gentle smile——

At that moment, his heart clamored loudly: she was smiling at him!

But soon, his restless heart was poured into a chill.

Gu Yuan didn't smile at him, but at the civilized Yan who was not far behind him.

Wenming Yan, the eldest son of the head of the Taiyuan Hospital, and Gu Yuan are childhood sweethearts.

Oh, childhood sweetheart, two little guesses.

He watched this scene with two thoughts in his mind:

First, kill Wenming Yan.

Second, he took Gu Yuan back and locked him in the East Palace, only to let her smile at him from then on.

But before he acted, he was sent to Jiangnan to inspect salt.

Returning to Chang'an for three months is already Mid-Autumn Festival.

He heard that Gu Yuan was engaged to Wenming Yan——

He was drunk that night, angry and unwilling, and went over the wall of Gu's house in the middle of the night.

The sudden appearance made Gu Yuan pale with fright.

He covered her lips, red eyes, and said fiercely, "Yuanyuan, you are not allowed to marry him, you can only be mine."

Three days later, Gu Yuan eloped with Wenming Yan.

He almost died of anger when he heard the news from the dark guard. Halfway through the Tai Fu's class, he ran out regardless and led people to chase after him.

He gritted his teeth and swore that even if they fled to the ends of the world, he would catch them back...

He admitted that he was an extremely despicable bastard.

He threatened the lives of Gu family and Wenming Yan, and Gu Yuan finally married into the East Palace and became his crown prince.

The next year, his father died of illness, he became the emperor, she became his queen, and gave birth to the "premature" eldest prince.

He did have her, but he didn't have her smile.

She smiled less and less, and the light in her eyes disappeared little by little, like a puppet without a soul.

The last time she laughed, she fell in his arms after taking poison.

Crystal tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, and she laughed while crying, smiling relaxedly, with a relieved relief.

Yes, relieved.

He and Yan'er are both her burdens.

The memories came to an abrupt end, and Emperor Zhaokang came back to his senses, and the corner of his eyes was already warm and moist.

His face was dim, and he whispered blankly, "I was wrong, I was wrong..."

Pei Yan lowered his eyes, and the ink filled his eyes.

Once upon a time, he was like his father, with such a despicable mind, and wanted to lock Ati up and let her see no one again.

Gently stroking the red string of his wrist with his finger, he secretly rejoiced, but fortunately he controlled the evil thoughts, otherwise...

He didn't dare to imagine the scene of losing Ati. When he thought about it, his heart felt like a blunt knife cutting meat.

Coming out of Qinzheng Hall, the sky had turned dark.

Pei Yan raised his head and glanced at the gray sky. After a moment, he urged Li Gui in a deep voice, "My father is in a bad mood at the moment, Manager Li is taking care of him carefully."

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the slave will take care of your Majesty." Li Guiying sent Pei Yan away.

When the sedan chair walked to the Yaoguang Hall, the sky was completely dark.

With two palace lights on at the entrance of the hall, Pei Yan got off the sedan chair and just walked to the door when he ran into Tao Ti who was walking outside.

Tao Ti was wrapped in a snow-white fox cloak. She was petite, and with a furry hat, her slap face became smaller and smaller, and her cheeks were a little red, like a snow ball.

"His Royal Highness, you are back, I am going to find you."

After hearing the news of Emperor Zhaokang's throne at noon, her heart was like a cat's paw, and she wished to run to Pei Yan to ask about it.

Waiting left and right, when Pei Yan didn't come back until the end of the night, she couldn't sit still.

Pei Yan understood her thoughts at a glance, grasped her little hand, put in his warm cuffs, and said lightly, "Don't worry, let's go back to the hall and speak slowly."

Seeing him covering his hands as soon as he entered the door, Tao Ti felt warm. She blinked bright eyes, "Well, go in first."

The two walked into the hall together, Tao Ti by the way instructed Linglong to prepare a mandarin duck pot, which happened to be dinner.

Soon, the mandarin duck pot is served on the table. The clear soup is a delicious and delicious mushroom base. On the other side, it is not a spicy pot, but a tomato pot boiled with sweet and sour flavor.

"I have eaten spicy hot pot at noon, thinking that eating it at night will easily get angry, so I replaced it with tomato pot."

Tao Ti rinsed fresh cabbage leaves and said, "I make the butter base taste delicious, but eating it at night is too spicy and oily, which is not good for the stomach. Well, I will make it for you tomorrow. Keep it you will fall in love with that taste."

Pei Yan said hello and chuckled, "Clear soup pot and tomato pot are also very good, I like them both."

Through the hazy smoke, Tao Ti couldn't wait to ask, "His Majesty, did your Majesty really pass the throne to you? Why did he pass the throne suddenly?"

Pei Yan didn't lie to her, and answered five to ten.

At this time, Tao Ti truly realized that her husband was really about to become emperor, and she was about to become queen.

In the dead of night, the two lay on the bed together after bathing and changing clothes.

Pei Yan still thought about the entanglement between Emperor Zhaokang and Queen Gu, and did not fall asleep.

Tao Ti had eaten the tomato pot until she ate it, and she didn't sleep for a while. She felt that Pei Yan seemed to be worried, and she rubbed her little head in his arms, and asked softly, "His Royal Highness, what's wrong with you?"

Pei Yan hugged her, the tip of her nose was lingering around her with the elegant and pleasant scent. He calmed down a bit and said slowly, "The emperor father told me a lot about the mother and the queen today."

Tao Ti was taken aback, full of curiosity surged in her heart, "Well, can you talk to me?"

Pei Yan pressed her small head in her arms, her slender eyelashes hung down, her eyes half closed, and he hung down.

His tone is low and slow, and his voice is as deep as gold and cold, and he talks about the past many years ago...

Tao Ti became more energetic as she listened, and her mood became more and more complicated.

The queen is too miserable.

This style of painting that is arrogant and abusive, is a life-threatening script.

Although Tao Ti didn't have much contact with Emperor Zhaokang, think about it carefully, people like Emperor Zhaokang could indeed do this.

Suddenly, she hugged Pei Yan with both hands and feet.

Pei Yan stiffened and looked down at the little girl who was holding him tightly, "Ati?"

Tao Ti buried his face in his arms and said softly, "Fortunately, you didn't become like that..."

Pei Yan laughed dumbly.

Yeah, he was very thankful too.

Tao Ti suddenly remembered that Pei Yan held her on New Year's Eve and asked her not to abandon him.

Is it also because of the grievances between Queen Gu and Emperor Zhaokang?

Yes, if Empress Gu is really forced into the palace by Emperor Zhaokang, then the birth of Pei Yan... is not a happy thing for Empress Gu.

But what did Pei Yan do wrong?

Years ago, he was just a childish child, instinctively longing for his mother's love, but his mother left him early and left him alone in the deep house of cannibalism.

burden.

Disposable.

A child who is not expected by his mother, or even disgusted.

When Pei Yan knew this, she must be sad.

Thinking of this, Tao Ti's nose was a little sore, and her heart was softened into a puddle of water.

She raised her head and kissed his chin, "Your Highness, I will always be with you."