After a moment, Chang Sui Ningcai said: "When I first learned that it was you from Yuchi, I couldn't touch you, and I couldn't easily test you, so I could only wait patiently for the opportunity -"
Yu Zeng, who put his forehead on the ground, was stunned, but he was not surprised at all. Therefore, the disappearance of Yuchi was caused by His Highness... As early as that time, it was His Highness that he saw.
"But now in this land of Jiangdu, it couldn't be easier for me to kill you." Chang Suining's eyes moved away from the dagger in his hand, and his voice became increasingly unemotional: "There's no need.
You come and ask me to kill you, and let me kill you with my own hands."
She said: "I met you today because I wanted to hear from you the reasons why you chose to betray me back then -"
"Rebellion is betrayal, but I still want to ask the reason. This seems very unrestrained. It is far less free and easy than killing him directly."
Chang Suining looked at the water again, but there was no self-deprecation or anger in her tone. She was very calm, able to accept and understand herself, and did not embarrass herself: "But you are different from others. I can't figure it out, so I have to ask.
I understand. And I think you also need to give me a clear explanation, instead of just holding a dagger and begging me to kill you without saying anything."
When Yu Zeng heard this, his tears suddenly became more intense.
He put down his hand tremblingly, his body twitching slightly due to the huge emotional ups and downs. He tried to raise his head and almost spoke, but his words were broken into silence.
"Don't you know where to start?" Chang Sui Ning exhaled slowly, as if absentmindedly, and asked himself: "Then let me ask you - when did you start working for King Rong?"
The fact that Yu Zeng worked for Prince Rong's palace was the result of some clues she found through Meng Lie and combined with Prince Rong's previous assassination of Cui Jing.
A secret letter sent to her by the Holy Emperor also indirectly confirmed this matter.
The secret letter was received when she was in Dongluo. It was sent to Dongluo together with the document from the Dasheng court informing Dongluo that it would send envoys to observe the new king's coronation ceremony.
Emperor Shengce reminded her in the letter that Yu Zeng was most likely King Rong's spy. The suspicion was not only that King Rong used Yu Zeng to pry into the secrets of the emperor and the court, but also involved the former crown prince's palace——
In other words, Emperor Shengce wanted to make her understand that when she was the former crown prince Li Xiao, Yu Zeng was most likely the spy of Prince Rong.
Therefore, the Holy Emperor asked her to be more "on guard".
In this matter, Chang Sui Ning was able to speculate on the empress's intentions, but she did not have to suspect that there were lies in her words - using lies to sow discord. Such clumsy means would not appear on this emperor.
Moreover, the suspicious things that Meng Lie found were scattered, but they could roughly confirm her conjecture.
From the fact that Yu Zeng has been secretly assisting King Rong, it can be deduced that the person behind the incident of Yu Zeng poisoning her with the help of Yuchi may have something to do with King Rong.
But if all these conjectures are true, there is still something that Chang Sui Ning Ye can’t figure out——
Seeing that when she mentioned "doing things for King Rong", Yu Zeng's reaction indirectly acquiesced to the matter, Chang Suining asked her confusion: "So, have you always been his?"
If so, why didn't she notice his alienation and hypocrisy at all before?
"No..." Yu Zeng was finally able to utter a relatively complete voice. He lowered his head, closed his eyes for a moment, and said with a trembling voice: "This is not the case... I entered the palace at the age of nine and stayed with His Highness for twelve years.
, I have been separated from His Highness for three more years, and I have never had the slightest intention of treating His Highness unfavorably."
The wind blew, Chang Sui Ning's long eyelashes twitched slightly, and he nodded with relief: "I thought so too... At least it proves that I did not mistrust you in the past, so that's good."
This seems a little easier to accept.
But this seems to be even more unacceptable.
Either good or very bad.
Chang Suining looked at Yu Zeng who was kneeling there with his hands unable to support the ground, his head hanging down and trembling: "Since the fifteen years are true, then what exactly did King Rong do in the sixteenth year, the year I died?
That made you choose to betray me?"
This question seemed difficult for Yu Zeng to answer. He burst into tears and could not contain his turbulent emotions.
Chang Suining blew the wind and said to himself: "There are three common reasons why people change their minds overnight. One is that both parties turn against each other, the other is that they are lured by gain, and the third is that they are bound by fetters."
"I believe that I have never done anything unworthy of you, so it cannot be one. I believe that you are somewhat sincere and loyal to me. It is difficult to move you with fame and gain, so it cannot be two." Chang Sui Ning said.
: "After thinking about it, it seems that there are only three left."
And Yu Zeng's bond is nothing more than his mother and younger brother.
It's easy to imagine and very cliché, but when people live in the secular world, they are destined to be fettered by the emotions of the secular world. This is the root of human beings growing up in this secular world.
"That means, Li Yin used your mother and brother to threaten you?" Chang Sui Ning's eyes were still confused: "But if that's the case, apart from other things, since you can't tolerate your mother and brother being involved in danger,
Then why are you willing to still work for King Rong all these years? You are walking on thin ice in front of the emperor, and you may implicate them at any time to a situation where they will be broken into pieces and never recover—"
"And Prince Rong, who is far away in Yizhou, can no longer threaten your relative, who is in charge of the palace. How does he make you continue to obey him?"
"Could it be that you think you have no choice, so you are willing to make mistakes, accept him as your master, and work with him to achieve great things?" Chang Suining finally asked a ridiculous speculation. This ridiculous speculation,
This was the most reasonable possibility she could think of based on the existing clues.
But unless Yu Zeng is really so crazy that there is no logic.
Otherwise, there must be a truth hidden behind this that Meng Lie had not touched.
The process of Chang Suining's questioning was also the process of Yu Zeng gradually calming down and regaining his thoughts.
He was temporarily separated from this shocking and incredible reunion, and finally he could speak and give a complete explanation to his old master in a relatively normal order of words.
"Since Your Highness is still willing to listen to slave's explanation..." Yu Zeng's voice was low and hoarse, he twitched the corner of his mouth with difficulty, and said sarcastically and sadly: "Then slave, please tell your highness the slave's story again."
"It's true that Nu is from Yanzhou." His words were very slow, as if opening the deepest old wounds in his heart: "When Nu was eight years old, there was a severe drought in Yanzhou, and the land was thousands of miles away. He followed his mother to flee and left Yanzhou.
It’s also true.”
"But I escaped not only drought, but also crime... My father was a small county magistrate in Yanzhou. Yanzhou failed to provide disaster relief, and some people embezzled the food funds for disaster relief. The court severely punished many corrupt officials, and my father was among them.
one."
"But my mother said that my father was framed and took the blame for someone else... I don't know the truth or falsehood. I only know that my mother took me to escape, mixed with the refugees, and took advantage of the chaos to leave Yanzhou."
But his mother was just a concubine. Before becoming a concubine, she was a maid from a wealthy family.
So she didn't have anyone to go to, and she didn't have a very good ability to protect herself. She only had a good-looking skin and a childish person who followed her appearance.
It is not difficult to imagine what would happen to such a mother and son in a chaotic crowd on their way to escape.
Women are very pitiful, and so are children. In such a cannibalistic environment, the misery of all vulnerable groups will be infinitely magnified.
They suffered not only from hunger and fear, but also from unimaginable humiliation.
Many times, he thought he was going to die.
Once, he was covered in bruises and even had to be cooked and eaten by those people. His mother found him and knelt down in front of those people without dignity and begged again and again. When his mother was about to be dragged down, she yelled at him to run away.
.
He climbed up and sat up, took one last look at his mother's tearful eyes, and fled that place obediently.
Dominated by fear, he kept running until he no longer had any strength left. He fell down in a deserted place and was unconscious for an unknown amount of time.
When he woke up again, he came to his senses, cried loudly and slapped himself hard countless times. How could he really leave his mother alone?
He frantically went back to look for his mother, and finally found the place, but there was no one there. He only found smelly human bones and limbs in the corner.
He felt that he would never be able to forgive himself in this life.
But the instinct to survive prevented an eight-year-old child from staying in sorrow. The following days became increasingly difficult and dangerous. He accidentally met a child from the same country who was similar in age. The child was very smart and helped him a lot along the way.
.
But a heavy rain and a high fever still killed the child.
Before the child died, he said in a vague voice that if he could still live, if he could see his separated mother and brother...
What happened after seeing him?
The child lost his voice before he finished telling the fairy tale. All that was left to him was a wooden safety lock and half a sentence that was not finished.
He buried the child, clutched the safety lock that represented the child's identity, and continued to move forward.
From then on, firstly, in order to help the boy find his mother and younger brother, and secondly, he deliberately concealed his identity as a member of the family of the guilty party. When he talked about it with others, he used the boy's name. At that time, he had not yet
Come to think of it, once this name was used, it has been used to this day.
Later, he and several children met a caravan, which kindly took them with them and sold them on the way half a month later.
After tossing and turning, they fell into the hands of a man. The man looked at their teeth, changed them into clean clothes, and smiled and said that he would send them to live a good life.
The two children he met on the way entered Prince Rong's Mansion.
And it is said that because he was born particularly pleasing to the eye, he was sent to the palace by the emperor, purified, and became a chamberlain.
After Yu Zeng said this, he said hoarsely: "I was nine years old that year, and your Highness was only eight years old."
Changsui Ning's mind is complicated and difficult to distinguish.
What the nine-year-old "Yu Zeng" experienced was even more miserable than what he had told her before.
It turns out that he is not the real "Yu Zeng", but has another origin that he has never stated.
The age of eight or nine is a somewhat special turning point. It seems that from an ignorant child, the consciousness of being a "human" begins to sprout.
It was when she was eight years old that she became Ah Xiao.
That year, Axiao was often bullied by the princes. I remember that after class, the third prince, Li Yi, led his men and pushed Axiao into a shallow pond to tease him.
Chang Suining recalled, "That time, you were the one who rescued Axiao from the water. None of the servants dared to offend Li Yi and the others."
"Actually, when I first entered the palace, I didn't know the factions of the princes in the palace..." After many years, Yu Zeng revealed his true thoughts at that time. He laughed at himself: "I just saw a child in brocade clothes falling into the water. Think about it.
If you can save it, you might get some reward..."
"I guessed it afterwards." Chang Suining looked in the direction of A Dian and said, "But what's the hindrance? If you help A Xiao, you've helped. I'll remember that favor."
But in the eyes of those people, this new servant who didn't understand the rules had made the third prince unhappy. The third prince didn't say anything, but the stewards in the palace already regarded him as trouble.
If someone makes a mistake at will, he can be punished by kneeling for half a day, whipped a few more times, and then thrown back to his residence to fend for himself.
Although Li Shang was young, he already knew the atmosphere in the palace and expected that he would be in trouble later. He asked his mother and concubine to ask him to come to the Xiangyuan side hall to work, but Ming refused and told her calmly and rationally: "No.
Don’t cause trouble again].
When Li Shang was anxious, he found King Rong.
At that time, King Rong was only seventeen or eighteen years old. He had just gotten married. He was a free man. He was very free and easy. He would often go to the palace to accompany his royal brother to relieve his boredom, and to greet the Queen Mother. Because of his interesting temperament and non-controversy, he was among a group of princes.
The Princess Room is also very popular.
Young Li Shang likes this little Uncle Wang very much. He is gentle and approachable. When she and her brother are bullied, he will help her and teach her many principles. He is like an elder brother and like a father.
On the day when Li Yin went to the palace every month to pay his respects, Li Shang was already waiting at the place where he must pass.
Li Yin smiled and agreed. He said: "This is the first time that Ashang has asked Uncle Wang. How could Uncle Wang not help?"
Although he does not have much real power, he is still a prince, and because he has no airs, he is very comfortable in the palace. He wants to protect a young eunuch who has made mistakes, and he can still do it.
In the drizzle, when Yu Zeng limped to the side hall next to the elephant garden with a small bundle in his arms, eight-year-old Li Shang said to him: "Although it is a little remote here, it is not...
Someone will bully you at will again!】
Arriving at the side room where Yu Zeng was placed, Li Shang akimbo looked up at the leaky corner of the house. Li Shang was a little surprised, but quickly assured him: "We will definitely be able to find a better place to live in the future."
At that time, I didn’t know how that eight-year-old child got the confidence to talk nonsense.
Nine-year-old Yu Zeng had tears in his eyes and said to her: "It's very good here! I'll repair it here, and I'll repair the roof!"
At that time, looking at those teary eyes, Li Shang felt pleasantly surprised that this little waiter was really good and could even repair the roof, but she hadn't even learned how yet.
She asked him: [What is your name? I mean, your original name.]
Yu Zeng blurted out almost out of habit: [My name is Yu Zeng. I am from Yanzhou. I was separated from my mother and younger brother on the way to escape...]
He said this all the way, and the two children who were sold into Prince Rong's Mansion also said this. He could only continue to say this.
He never thought at that time that this lie would be remembered by the girl in front of him for a long time.
The weather soon cleared up, the roof was quickly repaired, Li Shang became Li Xiao, and the days became visibly better.
Yu Zeng also thought that life would continue to be good, until that winter, when he went out of the palace in the snow to deliver a message to Prince Rong's Mansion, Prince Rong said to him: "You're here just in time, help me identify someone."