Li Tao quickly turned his head and blew out a puff of smoke, then waved his hand towards Young Master Liu.
"To my uncle, nothing happened to the child.
During this period, everything is as usual here, baby!"
Young Master Liu frowned slightly and asked directly: "If that's the case, then why does your mother say that your boy doesn't go to her place as often?"
Li Tao flicked the ash on his sleeve with his fingers and sighed helplessly.
"Well, uncle, it's not that the child goes to her mother less often, but that every time the child goes to pay her respects, her mother is not at home eight times out of ten."
"What do you mean? Where else can your mother go if she's not in the house?"
Li Tao silently took a puff of dry cigarette, raised his head and gestured in the direction of the East Palace.
"Where else can we go, of course to my brother-in-law and sister Jingyao.
Ever since sister Jingyao gave birth to a pair of twins, the mother-in-law rushed to the East Palace every now and then to help sister Jingyao take care of the children.
Every time when I, my wife, and my children would go to greet her, my mother would have already left for the East Palace.
At that time, sister Jingyao was in confinement, and the baby and her family couldn't be there during her confinement, so they rushed directly to the East Palace, right?"
Liu Mingzhi looked in the direction of the East Palace and nodded with a clear expression.
"That's true."
"Furthermore, the child is now on duty with cousin Chengfeng, cousin Yaoyao and the others at the Ten Kings Palace, and they have to come to the palace every day to process documents.
Especially during the period near the end of the year, how busy the court is every day, and how many documents sent to the court from various state capitals have to be reviewed every day. Uncle, you should know better than my child, right?
My dear, I am already very busy dealing with all those paperwork every day, so how can I find time to sit at my mother's house?"
Li Tao's explanation tone was full of helplessness.
Young Master Liu retracted his gaze that was looking towards the east palace, and patted Li Tao on the shoulder with a sad look on his face.
"You brat, I've worked hard on you these days."
Li Tao raised his hand to fan the smoke in front of him, and shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"Hey, there's nothing I can do. Why did I have to deal with a good uncle like you who is not very diligent in government affairs?"
"Hehehe, you brat, you are getting more and more courageous. You even dare to make fun of my uncle."
"Hey, uncle, you'd better be angry. When you get angry, kick the child out of the Ten Kings Palace as soon as possible.
Now that the child has left the Palace of Ten Kings, he can have a good rest.
Uncle, you don’t know how much I miss you now, and miss those idle days in the past.”
As Li Tao spoke, he looked solemnly and looked at Mr. Liu sincerely.
"Uncle."
"Huh? You say."
Li Tao took a long puff of dry cigarette and looked towards the direction of the imperial mausoleum outside the city with both self-blame and emotion.
"Uncle, to be honest, I would have known that working hard on government affairs and handling paperwork is so hard and tiring.
Back then, no child would raise an army to rebel against his elder brother."
Li Tao blinked his eyes silently a few times, and took a few puffs of the dry cigarette in his hand.
"Oh, it's a pity that now it's useless for me to say anything.
It’s just that the child was blinded by the power, his mind was lost by power, and his eyes were lost by that chair.”
When Liu Mingzhi heard Li Tao's tone full of self-blame, he immediately trembled and looked melancholy towards the imperial mausoleum where Li Baiyu was buried outside the city.
"My child, do you regret it?"
Li Tao took a long breath silently and nodded silently.
"Yes, I regret it.
Unfortunately, it was too late to regret it.
When a child embarks on that path, there is no way to turn back.
If, hehehe, there is no if.”
Liu Mingzhi reached out and took off the wine bag from his waist, and slowly walked out of the palace corridor.
"Son, my uncle is just like you."
Li Tao heard Mr. Liu's words and looked towards him suddenly.
"Huh? What does uncle mean by this...what does it mean?"
Liu Mingzhi raised his head and drank a few sips of wine. He gently turned his body sideways, reached out and fiddled with his hair to signal to Li Tao who was following him.
Li Tao looked slightly startled and looked at Young Master Liu's hair with confusion.
When he saw the few white hairs in Young Master Liu's bun, his heart suddenly twitched violently.
In an instant, he already understood Liu Mingzhi's intention.
Li Tao looked at Mr. Liu with a complicated expression, who had stood up straight and was drinking wine again and again. His eyes couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
"Uncle, when did you have long hair?"
"Hehehe, uncle doesn't know either.
Maybe it existed very early on, maybe in the past few years.
Before I knew it, my hair had grown white.
All in all, every time my uncle saw his gray hair in the mirror, he couldn't help but regret it.
As for the reason for regret, it is the same as what your kid said just now.
So tired, so tired."
Liu Mingzhi casually wiped the mouth of the wine bag and handed it to Li Tao with a faint smile.
"You little brat, would you like some?"
Li Tao immediately knocked out the shreds of tobacco from the tobacco pot in the snowdrift next to him, and took the wine bag into his hand.
"Uncle, I won't be polite to that kid."
"You brat, there are no outsiders now. Why should I be so polite to my uncle? Drink quickly."
Li Tao drank a lot of wine, wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth casually, and looked at Young Master Liu hesitantly.
"Uncle, I have a presumptuous question to ask you, but I don't know whether I should answer it or not?"
Liu Mingzhi seemed to have guessed what Li Tao wanted to ask him, and nodded with a slight smile.
"Hehehe, you brat, just ask, you can ask whatever you want."
"Uncle, if, the child is talking about if.
If you could do it all over again, would you still raise troops to rebel like you did back then?"
"meeting!"
Liu Mingzhi answered decisively without thinking.
Hearing his uncle's answer so readily, Li Tao couldn't help but feel startled.
Li Tao reacted, took a few deep breaths, raised the wine bag and drank again.
"Uncle, can you tell me why?"
Liu Mingzhi took a deep breath, took the wine bag in Li Tao's hand and took a few sips.
"Because your eldest brother was unjust in the first place. He never thought of leaving a way for my uncle to survive.
My child, do you know what will happen to your aunts if your uncle dies?
Do you know what will happen to your cousins, cousins, brothers and sisters?
My son, your eldest brother was too wary of the power in my uncle's hands back then.
From the moment he sent people to attack and kill my uncle in Fengyundu, he already wanted to kill me.
Your elder brother, he is already going to put me to death.
Son, tell me, uncle, what else can I do?
At the beginning, my uncle really didn’t want to take that path, but he had to take that path.”
Li Tao fell silent after listening to Mr. Liu's explanation.
At this time, his heart was in a mess.
For a moment, I didn't know what to say at all.
After all, just as his uncle Liu Mingzhi said.
Back then, it was my eldest brother who was the first to be unjust.
It is a fact that the eldest brother Li Ye sent people to attack and kill his uncle in Fengyundu.
A fact that no one can change.
"Son, since my uncle and I came to the capital when I was nineteen years old, I entered the temple under the order of your grandpa.
For so many years, my uncle has always fulfilled his duties faithfully and done his duty as a minister.
Until your father succeeded to the throne and my uncle and I became very popular in the temple, my uncle never had second thoughts.
Of course, there is one thing I have to say about my uncle, and I will never deny it.
That is, uncle, I may say more or less, but I also have some selfish motives.
For example, when you spoke politely about your aunt, and when it came to your cousin Yue'er and her mother-in-law, I had some selfish motives.
For another example, regarding your Aunt Xiaoxi, my uncle also has some selfish motives.
Regarding this, uncle, I have never denied it.
Naturally, I won't go out of my way to cover up anything.
Otherwise, in these years, uncle, I will not let your Aunt Xiaoxi appear in front of your imperial grandmother.
However, uncle, I can guarantee one thing.
That is, on the big issues of right and wrong, on the big dragon's country, the country, and on the big things that are related to the great justice of the nation, the country, the country, and the country.
Uncle, I have never been vague.
Unfortunately, your eldest brother believes in me, and all the civil and military officials in the dynasty don’t believe me either!
After all, the dragon cannot tolerate me!
Come, have some more drink."
Li Tao nodded slightly, took the wine bag from Young Master Liu's hand and drank a lot.
"Uncle, if you were talking about these things in the past, my child might not understand them.
Now, as the children grow older, they gradually understand it.
It's just human nature, it's just human nature.
If the child had been in your uncle's position, I think I would have made the same choice as you."
"Hehehe, you brat, just understand."
"Uncle, can I ask you another question?"
"Just ask."
"If my eldest brother had not been unjust back then, would you still have raised an army to rebel?"
Liu Mingzhi bent down slightly and knocked out the ashes from the smoke pot on the snow pile next to him, and looked at Li Tao with a sincere expression.
"Won't."
"Then after you help my eldest brother unify the world, and my eldest brother asks you to hand over your rights, what should you do?"
"Son, when the world was not yet unified, did your eldest brother still have few rights that he wanted from my uncle?
Assistant Minister, with the same authority as Minister of War.
Which right does your eldest brother want? Didn’t I happily hand it over to his uncle?"
Li Tao took a few sips of wine and said with a sad expression: "My uncle said that, I really can't refute it."
"It can be said that except for the royal seal that your father gave to my uncle, I had all the power in my uncle's hands. As long as your eldest brother opened his mouth, I would grant my permission.
Even when I handed over my rights, I also deliberately pulled the other auxiliary ministers, forcing them to hand over their rights just like my uncle.
Uncle, I do this because I hope your eldest brother can take charge of the court as soon as possible and put all the power in the hands of his new king.
It's a pity that your eldest brother doesn't understand your uncle's painstaking efforts.
Uncle, I have done everything I should do.
However, your eldest brother still doesn't understand your uncle's painstaking efforts.
In the end, he even committed an act that put me to death."
Li Tao lifted the wine bag in his hand and drank the remaining wine in one gulp.
"Son, do you know what your grandpa said to my uncle in the last lesson when he passed away?"
"The child is willing to hear the details."
"Hey, your grandpa told your uncle that being greedy for money is not a big mistake.
But he warned his uncle again not to make any mistakes.
It's a pity that your grandfather only gave this sentence to your uncle.
But I forgot to teach Ye'er and you, you two brothers.
Otherwise, perhaps today's dragon will be a different scene."
Li Tao thrust the empty wine bag into Young Master Liu's hand, leaned over and knocked out the ashes from the smoke pot under his feet.
“If God does evil, you can still disobey it; if you do evil on your own, you can’t live!
Back then, if it weren't for his old man, Grandpa Huang would always look down on his son, his eldest brother, and us brothers.
Perhaps, there would not be today's situation.
If the imperial grandfather regarded his son and eldest brother as his legitimate grandchildren, he would have taught us two brothers some ways of being a king as soon as possible.
Maybe Dalong will be like what you just said, uncle, and become a different situation.
Alas, it's too late to say anything now."
Liu Mingzhi raised his eyes and glanced at the palace gate in front of him, then silently hung the wine bag in his hand on his waist.
"Yeah, it's too late to say anything."
Li Tao also looked at the palace gate in front of him, adjusted his cloak, and looked at Young Master Liu with a faint smile.
"Uncle, before we knew it, we both reached the palace gate.
How about it, do you want to go and sit at the child’s home?”
Liu Mingzhi breathed hot air into his palms and happily put his hands inside his sleeves.
"You brat, I've already taken a break today.
You'd better go back and change your clothes first, and take your wives and children to sit with your mother.
After meeting your mother, explain to her the reasons why you haven't been to her during this time.
This will save your mother from worrying about you."
"Hey, kid, I understand.
Even if you don't tell me, uncle, I still plan to take a few wives and children to sit with my mother and aunt after I go back."
"In this case, uncle will stop nagging you."
"We see your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live your Majesty."
"We have met His Highness King Zhao, who is a thousand years old and a thousand years old."
"You are exempt from the courtesy."
"Excuse me, colleagues."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Thank you very much, King Zhao Qiansui."
Li Tao adjusted his python robe, smiled lightly and saluted Young Master Liu.
"Uncle, that child will go back first."
"Go back. Your mother loves to eat steamed buns. She saw them on the street. Don't forget to buy some for her and take them over."
"Hey, the kid knows."
"It's freezing cold. Go back early."
"My child obeys the order, my child will leave first."
Li Tao got on his horse, gently waved the whip in his hand, and rode slowly towards the long street.
Young Master Liu watched Li Tao's figure blend into the crowds of people on the long street. He tightened his thick fox fur cloak and walked silently towards the main street outside the palace gate.
"We send you your Majesty's greetings. Long live, long live."