The housekeeper still bowed, but he raised his head slightly, glanced at the Prime Minister, and fell to his knees.
The Prime Minister was even more stunned.
The butler is indeed his servant, but most of the time, the State Minister also treats this close servant with certain courtesy. When alone, he is never allowed to kneel down to salute. This is not a big deal for the State Minister.
But he gave a servant the greatest courtesy.
At this moment, the housekeeper knelt down directly, which was extremely abnormal.
"The old slave just waited for a message from Hangzhou in the pigeon house." The butler lowered his head and said in a heavy and slow voice, "It was Chen Jiu Shang who reported it."
The name Chen Jiu Shang is not too unfamiliar to the State Council.
Chen Jiu Shang is a member of the Blood Kites of the Prime Minister's Mansion. This time Xia Houning went to Hangzhou. Although he led an elite army and had many soldiers and horses, in order to ensure Xia Hou Ning's absolute safety, the Prime Minister's Mansion sent four masters to personally protect him. These four
Everyone belongs to the Blood Kites of the Prime Minister's Mansion, headed by Black-headed Eagle, and Chen Jiu Shang is one of the other three guards.
Although the state ministers are old, the four are extremely agile.
"Chen Jiu Shang?" The Prime Minister frowned and said, "Where is the black-headed eagle?"
According to the rules, if the four guards have a secret report, the Black-headed Eagle should report it, and it is not the other three's turn. The blood kite hierarchy is very strict, and the other three people do not dare to directly cross the Black-headed Eagle to report to Kyoto.
The housekeeper was silent for a moment, then finally raised his hand and handed over a piece of paper as thin as a cicada's wings.
The Prime Minister felt uneasy, but he still reached out to take it. He only glanced at it twice under the light. The hand holding the paper began to tremble, and his pupils shrank. He seemed to want to stand up, but as soon as his butt left the chair, he felt his legs
Without a trace of strength, he stretched out his hand to grab the table to steady his body, but his fingers only touched the edge of the table, and he collapsed backwards involuntarily.
The housekeeper rushed over and helped the Prime Minister, who was already lying on the ground, but found that the Prime Minister's face looked like that of a dead person, horribly pale and without a trace of blood.
"This is a scam...!" The Prime Minister's voice was so weak that even he was surprised, and he murmured: "Someone wants to... want to deceive us...!"
Suddenly there was a strange sound in his throat, and then the leader of the officials vomited. The food he had eaten not long ago poured out of his mouth, but he did not stop and kept vomiting.
He knows how to maintain good health. Although his favorite garlic catfish was served for dinner, he didn't eat much.
There was dirt on the ground, and eventually the old prime minister could only vomit bitter water from his throat. His whole face was vomiting. It was pale and bloodless at first, and then quickly became congested and turned red.
The butler didn't call anyone, he just held one of the Prime Minister's arms.
He knew that the Prime Minister would never want anyone to see him like this. This old Prime Minister had always paid attention to dignity. Not only was he always mature and dignified in front of his ministers, but he also always maintained his dignity even when he was in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
The power of domination.
Therefore, like an injured old dog struggling to its death, it is absolutely impossible for the Prime Minister to let a third person see it.
After retching in pain for a while, the Prime Minister leaned weakly on the butler's body. This old man, who was always energetic, seemed to have been completely drained of energy from his body after reading the secret report. In this moment,
He actually seemed to have aged more than ten years, his eyes had become dull, the corners of his mouth were still stained with self-consciousness after vomiting, and his eyes were staring straight ahead in a daze.
I don’t know how long it took, but the old Prime Minister finally sat on the ground with his body propped up. The housekeeper was silent and tried to help the Prime Minister up. The Prime Minister shook his head slightly: "Sit for a while, sit for a while...!"
The housekeeper knelt on the ground next to the Prime Minister.
"You have been with me for almost thirty years." The old Prime Minister said slowly: "I remember when Ning'er was born, you followed me on errands in Yuzhou. After getting the news, you drove the car yourself, traveling day and night. Originally, you were five years old.
It took only two days to get back to Kyoto."
A smile appeared on the corner of the housekeeper's mouth: "When the Prime Minister heard the news of the birth of the Marquis, he danced with joy. In these decades, I have never seen the Prime Minister so happy."
"There are three types of unfilial piety. The greatest is not having an heir." The old Prime Minister actually showed a smile: "The Xiahou family is the founding father of the Tang Dynasty, and it must be passed down from generation to generation." He turned to look at the housekeeper and said with a smile: "I am young.
At that time, she was also a romantic and unrestrained woman. She had many experiences with noble ladies, singers and dancers, and even foreign girls. Later, she was forced by her father to get married, and issued a strict order. If a son was not born, the heir of the Xiahou family would be
It has nothing to do with me either.”
The butler just smiled and said nothing.
Of course, it was impossible for him to mention these past events of the old Prime Minister to any third person except this old housekeeper.
The two of them were together when they were young. They came from aristocratic families. Naturally, the old Prime Minister was bound to do ridiculous things when he was young. Not many people know about that past. Those who accompanied the old Prime Minister through those romantic affairs at that time also did not know.
Just the old housekeeper.
"Before Ning'er was born, I only thought about living out my life in romance and wealth." The old Prime Minister sighed: "At that time, I never thought about fighting for power and profit, and I never thought about being responsible for the rise and fall of the Xiahou family. I have wine now and now I have a good life."
Drunk, life must be romantic and happy to make this life worthwhile." After a pause, he shook his head: "After Ning'er was born, when I returned to Kyoto and saw him for the first time, I suddenly thought that the Xiahou family needs to be passed down from generation to generation.
Just like our ancestors, they made great contributions and made great achievements, which allowed the descendants to live a life of rich clothing and fine food. If I only seek my own happiness, then my descendants may decline because of my sinking."
The housekeeper said calmly: "The ancestors of the Xiahou family have worked hard for generations, and that is why the Xiahou family is what it is today."
"Yes." The old prime minister said: "When you are in the court, if you don't advance, you will retreat. There were sixteen divine generals and sixteen families in the founding of the country, but now there are only a few of them. In the final analysis, it is the future generations who have failed to live up to their expectations, which has caused the people of the clan to sink and the past.
The famous imperial family disappeared. The birth of Ning'er made me understand that the Xiahou family must not repeat the same mistakes. For the sake of my descendants, I must keep the Xiahou family standing." Looking at the old housekeeper, he said slowly: "I am in court.
In the past few decades, everything I have done is for the Xiahou family, and even more so that Ning'er can successfully take over the responsibility of the Xiahou family and lead the Xiahou family to prosper."
The housekeeper supported the old Prime Minister's arm, nodded slightly, and said softly: "Without the Prime Minister's decades of hard work, the Xiahou family would never have become the number one family in the Tang Dynasty, nor would they be as prosperous as they are today."
"But do you know that from now on, the Xiahou family will turn from prosperity to decline." Xiahou Yuanzhen, the Prime Minister of the State, reached out and grabbed the old housekeeper's arm, his pupils shrank: "I want to watch the Xiahou family decline with my own eyes. I have spent decades
All your hard work will be in vain...!"
The old housekeeper felt that the Prime Minister's body began to tremble.
"From the day Ning'er was born, I started planning for him to inherit the Xiahou family's responsibility." The Prime Minister shook his hands: "For this reason, I have spent countless efforts to train him over the years. Back then...
.In the final analysis, it was for him that I supported the saint back then. But...but he is gone now, Xuan Jing, tell me, what should I do?" He grabbed the old housekeeper's hand and said, "Tell me, he is
Isn’t it really gone? This secret message is fake, right?”
The old housekeeper looked into the Prime Minister's eyes. Of course he could understand the Prime Minister's current mood, but he understood even more clearly that if the Blood Kites in Hangzhou didn't confirm again and again, they would never be able to send the uncertain information back to Kyoto, and it involved
Without confirmation of An Xinghou's death, it would be even more impossible for Xue Yaozi to come back with a message from Fei Ge.
With this secret report sent, it is almost certain that Xia Houning, the Hou of Anxing, was indeed assassinated in Hangzhou and died.
"The old servant will ask someone to confirm." The old housekeeper said solemnly: "Prime Minister, no matter what the outcome is, you must take care of your health. Now the Xiahou family needs your support. If anything happens to Mr. Hou, the Xiahou family will also depend on it.
You alone supported it. Everyone can fall, but you cannot!"
At this time, only the old housekeeper dared to speak to the Prime Minister like this, and only the old housekeeper would say these words.
He helped the old Prime Minister to sit down on a chair, got tea, and asked the Prime Minister to rinse his mouth with the tea. The Prime Minister huddled in the nanmu Taishi chair, his eyes dull, obviously unable to recover from his grief for a while.
I came back to my senses completely.
In the imperial study room in the palace, the empress of the Tang Dynasty, dressed in casual clothes, was reviewing memorials in the imperial study room.
Sun Meier, the chief of the palace, accompanied the saint as always, and Wei Wuya, the chief eunuch, also stood respectfully in the corner for decades, like a sculpture standing in the corner, motionless, which is easy to make people
neglect.
Two cries of grasshoppers came from outside. The sound was not loud, but Wei Wuya, who had always looked like a sculpture, raised his eyes. Without saying anything, he bowed and slowly retreated through a small door on the side.
Of course, the chirping of the grasshopper is not because there are real grasshoppers outside the Imperial Study Room, it is just a signal.
When the saint is reviewing memorials at night, of course no one can disturb him. However, if there are urgent matters to report, without disturbing the saint, he can only find another way. Those who can report the report are naturally the eunuchs in the palace, and all
The eunuchs all obeyed the orders of the general manager Wei Wuya, so they first sent a coded signal to Wei Wuya to report the information to Wei Wuya, and then Wei Wuya decided whether to report it to the saint immediately.
Although Wei Wuya is in the palace, he is the saint's ears and eyes, and he has everything in the world under control. The purple prisoner is Wei Wuya's eyes and ears, and important information enters Wei Wuya's mind every day.
, this allows Wei Wuya to respond to the saint’s inquiries at any time.
Just for a moment, Wei Wuya returned to the imperial study from the small door. He raised his head and glanced at the saint who was reading the memorials leisurely, but did not immediately go over to disturb him.
"What happened?" The saint seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. While reviewing the memorial, he asked: "It's so late, why are you so anxious to report it? Is there something happening on the other side of the Yangtze River?"