Chapter 166: Emperor Ming's Succession(1/2)
The woman didn't care, as if she were seeing a relative she hadn't seen for thousands of years, she rushed out of the counter and pounced on the visitor.
Wow burst into tears.
With tears streaming down her face, she said: "Ugh, Zhang Liang doesn't want me anymore, Master is gone, Xiaohu has gone somewhere, Shuzi's relatives are all gone...Brother, Shuzi can't survive..."
Looking at Li Xiuyuan, who had not been seen for six hundred years but still looked the same as yesterday, Shuzi could not help but whine: "Shuzi is too lonely alone, wuwu... Where is Xiao Hei?"
Li Xiuyuan sighed, closed the store door first, and took Shuzi's hand to walk to the backyard.
Looking at everything in front of him, he smiled with satisfaction: "It's not bad. I can just replace the roof another day. Six hundred years of wind and rain have not changed the Xianlai Wine Shop."
"Where's Xiao Hei? My brother lost him?"
Shuzi asked reluctantly: "Where did my brother take my younger brother?"
"He, he followed Emperor Ming into the palace. He will probably stay there for a few days, right?"
Shuzi wiped her tears and continued to complain: "If I had known this, I would have stopped drinking my brother's divine wine that year. I left with my husband."
Li Xiuyuan smiled lightly and said, "Let's make some tea first. I'm thirsty."
Watching Shuzi lighting a fire and fetching water, Li Xiuyuan took out the tea set and placed it on the table. He looked at her and smiled and said, "If not, how could you have seen the history of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years?"
Shuzi shook her head, pointed to Forty-Six Eats next door and said, "The yard next door has collapsed twice. Shuzi has planted the apricot tree so many times, but she still hasn't seen her brother come back."
"I was just saying that if my brother doesn't come back this spring, Shuzi will go to the Tianshan Mountains deep in the desert."
Seeing the water boiling, Li Xiuyuan fell into the tea, and smelling the faint fragrance of the tea, Shuzi stopped, stared blankly at the two teacups on the table, and stopped talking.
Li Xiuyuan slowly poured the spirit tea into the tea, thought for a while and said with a smile: "Okay, I also want to go to Tianshan to see if Zhang Liang's master has become a god or continues to suffer in Tianshan."
Shuzi was stunned and couldn't help but said in a daze: "Six hundred years have passed, is your senior still still in Tianshan?"
"I don't know. I'll tell you after we get there."
Li Xiuyuan picked up a cup of spiritual tea, took a sip, thought for a while and asked: "By the way, Zhang Liang later joined Liu Bang. Did he go to the desert to cause trouble for Xiaohu?"
"Xiaohu is his younger brother, does he dare?"
Shuzi sighed and said quietly: "I remember what Brother Zai said, and I must take good care of Xiaohu and Xiaohei. They are both Shuzi's younger brothers."
"It's not like I helped him in vain."
Li Xiuyuan thought carefully, looked at Shuzi and said, "I may want to go out into the desert in a few days. Do you want to go with me?"
Shuzi's eyes lit up and she chuckled: "Wherever brother goes, Shuzi will be there from now on."
In her heart, Zhang Liang was gone and she had no relatives anymore. Shuzi was afraid that she would never leave her eldest brother and Xiao Hei again.
Li Xiuyuan didn't care, but looked at her and smiled: "Is there anything delicious? Let's have a drink tonight."
Shuzi smiled and said, "I just bought beef today. Do you want to wait for Xiao Hei to come back?"
"He entered the palace, I'm afraid he won't be able to go home soon."
Li Xiuyuan waved his hand and said: "Ignore him, have a cup of tea, and I'll clean up the house."
…
The Yanshou Hall in the palace was not as magnificent as Xiao Hei imagined, nor was it as heavily guarded, but the aura was a bit more dignified than the original Five Regions Imperial City.
Because His Majesty Emperor Ming fell on the dragon couch when he returned to the palace, and at the same time came the news of the Prime Minister Yu Wenhu and his fourth brother Lu Guogong Yu Wenyong.
Even the Duke of Lu's wife gathered around the dragon couch that Emperor Ming took down.
In order to fear that one of his three princes and one of his princesses would be plotted against, His Majesty Emperor Ming did not even announce his own relatives. This was also a plan he had made with Li Xiuyuan.
Towards the end of the year, the vitality on Emperor Ming's face faded away, so he had to watch Prime Minister Yu Wenhu struggling to dictate his decree.
"I will be alive soon, and when I...ahem, I will pass it on to my fourth brother...please, Prime Minister, show me God's grace and help the new emperor..."
After saying these words, Emperor Ming was obviously exhausted.
Xiao Hei was dissatisfied, so he walked aside and poured a cup of spiritual tea for the emperor to take a few sips.
Then he frowned and said: "His Majesty's funeral arrangements have been completed. Everyone can leave. Master told Xiao Hei to start chanting sutras for His Majesty."
Xiao Hei was too lazy to look at these guys' pretentious looks, so he just started chasing them away.
Prime Minister Yu Wenyu was stunned, looked at Xiao Hei and said sternly: "How dare you, a little monk, speak so arrogantly in front of His Majesty?"
Xiao Hei shook his head, looked at him and said, "Xiao Hei only has Bodhisattva and Your Majesty in his heart. How about you, Prime Minister, stay and chant sutras with us?"
The daring Xiao Hei is not even afraid of the emperor, so how can he be afraid of a prime minister?
When Prime Minister Yu Wenhu saw this, he glared at Xiao Hei fiercely, clasped his hands to Emperor Ming and said, "In that case, your Majesty, please have a rest early, and I will come back tomorrow."
Emperor Ming looked at him and waved his hand and said: "Remember, I am said to be the fourth brother of the Duke of Lu, Yu Wenyong. Anyone who has two minds will be punished by both humans and gods."
The expression on Yu Wenhu's face changed again and again, and finally he bowed his hands and resigned.
Emperor Ming looked at Yu Wenyong who had a youthful expression in front of him, sighed and said: "Fourth brother should endure the humiliation and bear the burden. As long as Qingshan is here, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood."
It wasn't until the prime minister left the Yanshou Hall that Yu Wenyong knelt in front of Emperor Ming's bed, took his hand and exclaimed: "Why did your majesty look like this just after a trip to Xilin Temple?"
Emperor Ming looked bitter and murmured: "Li An was coerced and poisoned my food for many days... Remember, don't be impulsive after taking the throne... Ahem..."
Xiao Hei frowned again, looked at Yu Wenyong and said: "Your Majesty needs to rest, please go back, I have to recite sutras."
Mrs. Li looked at Xiao Hei again and again, and couldn't help but said: "Little monk, how about you don't go back to Xilin Temple, stay in the palace, and give you an official position in the future?"
After speaking, he glanced at his husband Yu Wenyong.
Yu Wenyong's heart was agitated, and then he smiled and said: "It's just as the lady said."
Xiao Hei thought for a while, looked at the two of them and replied: "I have to go back and discuss this with the master. You should go back first. You can't help much by staying here."
Mrs. Li nodded with Emperor Ming and took Yu Wenyong outside the Yanshou Hall.
Then Emperor Ming dismissed the eunuchs and maids around him, and then sighed leisurely.
He looked at Xiao Hei and asked: "Xiao Hei, is your brother's method reliable?"
Xiao Hei fed Emperor Ming another half cup of spiritual tea, and then said: "Since my brother has promised the emperor, he will definitely not make any mistakes. Don't be afraid, Xiao Hei is with you."
Emperor Ming sighed and asked feebly: "Xiao Hei, can you tell me where you are from?"
Xiao Hei didn't think too much and said casually: "Xiao Hei is from Da Qin. Your Majesty, have you been there too..." Before he could finish his words, he realized that he had said the wrong thing.
So he quickly corrected him: "Your Majesty, please rest for a while. Tomorrow is the most troublesome day. Xiao Hei gets a headache just thinking about it."
"Da Qin..."
Emperor Ming's eyes lit up on the dragon bed, and he finally saw a glimmer of hope from despair, and murmured to himself: "That's good, that's good."
Xiao Hei thought for a while, looked at Emperor Ming and asked, "There is something wrong with the Prime Minister's eyes. Is he a bad person?"
Emperor Ming sighed, closed his eyes gently, and murmured: "How can there be any good or bad people in this world?"
The night is already deep.
When Yu Wenhu returned to his house, he looked at the night sky without saying a word for a long time. How could he let go easily after enduring it for so long?
The butler standing behind him said quietly: "Your Excellency, you can ignore it and replace it directly. Ask the world, who is your opponent?"
"This is gambling with our lives!"
As the prime minister, Yu Wenhu retracted his gaze to the night sky and said quietly: "After all, he was acting on the orders of Duke Lu, not to mention that there were other officials at the time..."
When the housekeeper heard this, he couldn't help frowning and said: "So what, you can take them all..."
At this point, even Yu Wenhu laughed and said, "Your idea is ridiculous. Even if Duke Lu succeeds to the throne, he will not find any chance to make a comeback. This power is still in our hands."
In his opinion, as long as he holds the power, it doesn't matter if he changes to another emperor. Shouldn't he still obey his own arrangements?
After the butler was silent for a moment, he suddenly said: "What if the new emperor doesn't want to be obedient anymore? Why don't you become the emperor yourself?"
"Let me think."
Yu Wenhu raised his face, looked at the starry sky at night, and said solemnly: "If we want to take action, we have to think about how to find a reason to give ourselves a chance..."
The housekeeper smiled gently and said, "Your Excellency, I should say, give the ministers a surprise."
"Whoosh!" With a sound, a bolt of lightning fell from the night sky and came towards the master and servant.
"There is an assassin!" The housekeeper pulled his master away from him and blocked the front with his own body.
With a sound of "Dang!", like gold and iron, a black arrow shot into the pillar of the hall next to the two people, and the tail of the arrow was still trembling slightly.
There was a buzzing sound.
"Where did the assassin come from? Don't scare yourself."
Yu Wenhu pushed the steward away, reached out and pulled out the iron arrow, then turned around and walked into the palace.
He walked to the table and unfolded the cloth strip taken from the arrow body in front of the lamp. It read: "You dare to risk the disapproval of the world, and you will announce the imperial edict to the world!"
Yu Wenhu exclaimed: "No, there are more people who know the inside story about this matter... The emperor left the palace today. I'm afraid he met someone and left behind a backup plan."
The housekeeper came over and took a look at the writing on the cloth, frowned and said, "Is this a pretense of surprise?"
"Someone is coming!"
Yu Wenhu shouted, looked at the man in black who emerged from the darkness and asked, "Someone broke into the house just now? Didn't you feel it?"
To be continued...