In Ruijingxuan, after the fourth elder brother left at night, Lan Qi took medicine and went to sleep. Because her sleep was getting worse every day while lying down, the hospital prescribed a soothing medicine. After taking it, she could sleep deeply. Now from now on
I woke up from my sleep and thought it was time to take medicine for my back injury again. I wanted to avoid eating and skip a meal, but I saw Huan Chun standing in front of me with empty hands. She was wearing pajamas and only a windbreaker and came over.
When I got up tonight, Huanchun went to rest very early even though he was not on duty. I couldn't help but wonder: "What's wrong?"
Huan Chun seemed to be freezing and nervous, his lips and teeth were trembling and he said, "My dear, the prince and the fourth brother fell into the lake."
"In the lake?" Lan Qi was shocked. She unconsciously tried to lift her body up, but her waist injury was suddenly involved. Although it was not as serious as the previous few days, this time it still made her go limp and collapse. After all,
A person who has given birth six times cannot withstand such a torment.
"Mom, don't worry. Brother Si is fine. He's just frozen. He has some scratches on his body. He took a few mouthfuls of cold water..." Huan Chun blamed himself for not speaking clearly, but his voice became weaker as he spoke. Lan
Qi looked at her nervously, "Is it the prince?"
Huan Chun was startled, waved his hands and said no, and said quickly: "It's the Emperor. The Emperor punished the prince and his fourth elder brother to kneel in the warm pavilion of Qingxi Bookstore, saying that they would kneel all night. At this time, Li Yedu still had a lot of time to kneel.
By daybreak, my knees will be broken."
Lan Qi looked at Huan Chun inexplicably, feeling anxious and distressed. Seeing that Huan Chun didn't express what he meant, she couldn't help but blame him: "You should speak clearly."
Huan Chun was also woken up by his servants in his sleep. He was confused and frightened. There were rare times when he couldn't speak clearly. He could only call the messenger in again and tell the details of what happened by the lake through a screen.
Listened.
It turned out that after Xiao Hezi led people to rescue the fourth elder brother and the prince, the emperor was immediately alerted and went to Taoyuan Bookstore in person. Hearing that the fourth elder brother and the prince wanted to go fishing at the lake late at night, they slipped and fell into the water, so he directly took the brothers to the lake.
They took them back to Qingxi Bookstore and asked them to kneel in the warm pavilion to think about their mistakes. The poor prince and fourth elder brother were shivering from the cold, so they changed into clean clothes and drank two bowls of ginger soup before being taken to kneel by their father.
"They went fishing?" Lan Qi didn't believe it at all. Besides, when did the fourth elder brother play with the prince? After entering the garden, the princes and the prince still did not study together. Even the elder brothers studied in their own courtyards.
My brother has always been with his third brother, so how could he go fishing with the prince? For such an unconvincing reason, Xuan Ye was being polite without dragging them to fight.
"Your Majesty, we are not worried about what happened now. You know the emperor's temper. This really requires you to kneel all night, and both the prince and the fourth elder brother can't bear it." Huan Chun was extremely anxious, "The prince doesn't know, but the fourth elder brother
He has such a temper that if he refuses to admit his mistakes and relent, he would rather kneel down all night."
"You deserve it." Lan Qi was furious, but she didn't even have the strength to lose her temper now. If she was good, she might have to teach Yinzhen a lesson with her own hands, but she couldn't even sit up. Even if there was a commotion in Qingxi Bookstore, she
None can go.
"Mother, please calm down. The fourth elder brother and the prince are really doing something bad on their knees, and Long live the Lord feels uncomfortable." Huan Chun persuaded her hard. She felt so sorry for the fourth elder brother that she ran to Qingxi Bookstore to beg on her knees.
Lan Qi's heart sank. One was her son and the other was the prince. She didn't necessarily have to ask the other concubines to come forward. There was only one person she could ask for, for fear of offending Xuan Ye.
"Empress?"
"Go to Ningchun Hall." Lan Qi was very angry. Now that the two children were fished out of the cold lake, how could they withstand the punishment of kneeling down? It is one thing for the emperor to be angry. If anything happens to any of the children, he can make up for it.
He is not coming back. "Go and beg the Queen Mother to come forward. Just say it is my request. Please go to the Qingxi Bookstore and take the children out. I will definitely go and kowtow to express my gratitude."
Huan Chun took the order and quickly put on her clothes, holding a lantern and ran to Ningchun Hall. Ningchun Hall had also been alerted a long time ago. The Queen Mother had been waiting for news from Qingxi Bookstore. When she saw Huan Chun coming to plead for her master, she could leave.
I agreed immediately.
At this moment, the emperor was sitting in his study in Qingxi Bookstore. He always had to review memorials or read books until very late every night, and today he couldn't sleep for a while. Two boys in the Nuan Pavilion were kneeling, and he was in a mess.
Yeah, I don’t know what to do.
Here, Yinzheng and Yinzhen were kneeling stiffly on the floor tiles. The room was as warm as spring, not cold, but they were so frightened that they drank a lot of cold water. The teenage children's bodies were not that strong and they already felt very painful.
I have to kneel upright, but I can't kneel for more than an hour and I can't hold it anymore.
There was no third person in the room, and the emperor asked them to reflect on themselves. The two of them did not speak after entering the door. At this time, the fourth elder brother couldn't kneel down, and secretly looked back to see if anyone was there. He wanted to sit down and rest for a while, and then the prince said:
"Why did you bother? Why didn't you tell Huang Ama that I threw myself into the lake?"
However, Yinzhen suddenly covered the prince's mouth. After seeing that there was no one in front of the door, he let go and whispered softly: "Second brother, you can't say such things, and you absolutely can't tell Huang Ama about this. My body is hurting."
Don't dare to hurt your parents, this is the beginning of filial piety. If Emperor Amar knew the truth, how sad he would be, never say anything."
The prince looked at him indifferently and smiled bitterly: "You said we went fishing, it's strange that Emperor Ama would believe you."
"That can't be said."
"Then why did you save me?" the prince asked suddenly, his eyes lifeless, "how did you see me?"
"I didn't expect it to be my second brother at the time. Then when I went back, the more I thought about it, the more familiar it became. I felt uneasy and wanted to run out and have a look, but I saw..." Before he said the next words, Yinzhen couldn't move anymore, so he sat down and rubbed
Putting his knees on his knees, he said, "Second brother, you can't do this again."
The prince chuckled softly, still kneeling upright. Seeing him like this, Yinzhen gritted his teeth and knelt down again. The two were silent for a while, and then the prince said again: "There are so many words circulating in the garden these days, you can't say a word
Didn’t you hear? Didn’t they say that I raised a wolf and let it bite your mother-in-law? Your mother-in-law was injured like that, and you still want to save me?"
"Those are rumors. Emperor Ama will find out what's going on. E Niang didn't say these things to me." The fourth elder brother responded seriously, turned to look at his elder brother and asked, "Second brother, you are doing this for
Something? But Huang Ama didn’t say anything.”
The prince smiled bitterly and shook his head.
Yinzhen asked again: "How did you escape from Wuyizhai? Didn't the people in Wuyizhai notice you?"
"They look after me like a prisoner every day. As time goes by, I have already figured out the ropes. Whether I want to come out or not is not their business. It's just my own business." The prince said coldly, "If it weren't for you here
If I made any noise, they probably thought I was still sleeping."
Yinzhen sighed: "Xiao Hezi is miserable, I'm afraid the people around you, second brother, are also miserable."
"Why did you save me?" the prince asked again.
"Because you are my second brother." Fourth Brother replied without thinking and looked at him sincerely, "But I still don't understand why you would do such a thing."
"Of course you don't understand." The prince's smile was so bitter that it made Yinzhen feel as if he had swallowed coptis in his mouth if he looked at it for a second. The prince sighed and said, "The emperor's mother died just to save me.
, if she was still here, it would definitely be different."
"Are you talking about Empress Xiaozhao?" The fourth brother had no impression of Empress Xiaozhao. He was still in his mother's belly at that time, but the prince was only a three or four-year-old child. More than ten years later, it seems that he should not
Remember those things.
The prince really couldn't remember, not to mention the past events, even the appearance of Queen Xiaozhao was only remembered in the portrait. Almost all the "memories" were told by people around him, telling him how much Queen Xiaozhao loved the prince, so he felt
, I was also a child who was cared for by my mother. Gradually I couldn't tell the truth from the false, so I regarded these words as memories and believed that I had also been cared for and doted on.
Yinreng did not answer his brother's words, but continued to ask him: "Yinzuo died for me, and you don't hate him?"
Yinzhen was stunned and shook his head: "This is not your fault."
"If I had died early, nothing would have happened."
"Second brother?"
Before the two brothers finished speaking, the door behind them suddenly opened and cold wind rushed in. A young eunuch knelt on the ground and said: "Prince, Fourth Elder Brother, and the Queen Mother have arrived and are talking to Lord Long Live in the study. Lord Long Live invites the Prince and Fourth Elder Brother to come over.
"
"Maybe you don't have to kneel anymore." The prince smiled coldly and stood up with difficulty. Seeing Yinzhen staggering, he stretched out his hand to help him and said softly, "I promise you, no one will say anything about what happened tonight."
Yinzhen grimaced and nodded: "I won't say either."
The two brothers came to their father's side. The queen mother sat on one side and Xuan Ye stood beside her. When she saw the two children entering the door, the queen mother smiled and scolded: "You two little guys, you don't care about the time, you are here in the middle of the night."
Don't bother me, come back to Ningchun Hall with me." He said to Xuan Ye without waiting for the prince and fourth elder brother to salute the emperor, "The emperor has been busy with court affairs day and night these days, and I have been worried.
Leave your body and the children's affairs to me. Your Majesty, rest early. I will ask them clearly tomorrow why they should be beaten or scolded. There will be no partiality. There are so many younger brothers and sisters. It is also necessary to set an example. You cannot be greedy.
Let’s play.”
Xuan Ye lowered his head and agreed without saying anything else. Both his sons lowered their heads and did not dare to look at him. He said to take care of himself and asked the Queen Mother to take away the pair of grandchildren.
The Queen Mother never took matters into her own hands. Xuan Ye knew that her coming in the middle of the night must not be what he wanted. Sure enough, when Eunuch Liang sent the Queen Mother away and came back, he told the Emperor that it was Concubine De who sent someone to ask for the Queen Mother. He was afraid that the Emperor would misunderstand Concubine De and helped her.
Explained: "I think that the empress must be afraid that the prince and the fourth brother will have something bad, so your Majesty, please don't make anyone sad."
Xuan Ye glared at him and sneered: "They are going fishing? Do you believe it or not?"
Eunuch Liang was lying on the ground and said, "I have something to report to you." Seeing that the emperor remained silent, he tremblingly said, "I went there for a walk and saw a few stones on the shore. The turf under the stones was fresh.
, it seems to have been moved from somewhere else. The eunuch who changed the prince's clothes told the slave that there were bruises on the prince's waist."
Xuan Ye felt a chill on his back, and his knuckles crackled because he clenched his fist too tightly. He asked coldly: "What is he going to do?"