Mountains and rivers pray for peace

Chapter 84
The sky was already dark, and from the beginning of the palace gate, a deep palace road stretched for several miles, reaching the center of the entire imperial city - Xingqing Palace.Usually at this hour, Eunuch Li was ready to wait for Emperor Xiaowen to go to bed, but today he was uncharacteristically guarding the entrance of the hall, with his head raised slightly, and his face was shrewd and never relaxed.

Emperor Xiaowen was sitting on the dragon chair in the middle of the hall, probably because he took off his imperial crown today and put on a golden uniform, which made him appear less out of reach than usual.

It is often said, "Long live the Holy One", but Emperor Xiaowen's face is still hard to hide the traces of the years, and he can only see the demeanor of that year through those sharp eyes.

Under the main hall stood a young man, wearing a black cloak, the gold thread on the cloak looked very luxurious under the light of the revolving lantern on the top of the hall.However, what was more luxurious than the clothes was the man's face. Looking closely, there was a third of Emperor Xiaowen in his eyebrows and eyes, and it was the Seventh Prince Shen Yuning.

The corners of Emperor Xiaowen's mouth drooped slightly, and his voice sounded a little tired: "I thought you would disobey the order today and not come to Xingqing Palace."

"I dare not." Shen Yuning's eyes and brows were full of sarcasm.

Logically speaking, Shen Yuning should call himself "son", but he intentionally or unintentionally erased the word "son". Perhaps he wanted to put aside the blood relationship with Emperor Xiaowen, which also shows that he is indeed as rumored. He did not deal with Emperor Xiaowen.

Emperor Xiaowen frowned, but he didn't care about it. He seemed to be accustomed to Shen Yuning's attitude.He touched the dragon head on the armrest of the dragon chair and said with a hint of probing: "I heard from Yao Jun that the incompetent son of the Liu family killed someone. This matter can be big or small. I would like to hear what you think?"

Shen Yuning made a vain salute, but his gesture was not very respectful. He chuckled lightly: "The cunning rabbit dies, and the lackey cooks. It has always been the emperor's mind that the Holy Majesty regards as the standard, so why bother to ask the minister's opinion?"

The intricately patterned palace lanterns beside the dragon chair cast mottled light and shadows on Emperor Xiaowen's face, making it difficult for people to see clearly the expression of this decisive holy majesty at the moment.There was only a mocking smile overflowing from the muddy and heavy voice: "It's been so many years, haven't you let go?"

Shen Yuning paused, then laughed sarcastically: "Didn't the Holy One always remind me not to forget? Otherwise, he wouldn't have deliberately held the Qiu Ju Banquet on the anniversary of the death of Concubine Jing. After her death, the palace held an annual Qiu Chrysanthemum Banquet. Everyone was singing and dancing, it was so lively."

The Qiuju Banquet is an annual grand event in the palace. At this time, Emperor Xiaowen will invite ministers to the palace to have fun.

Back then Concubine Jing died suddenly and mysteriously, no one knew exactly when Concubine Jing died and by whom.Even if there were a few insiders, they were all given to death by Emperor Xiaowen.For many years, no one knew the dirty secret behind the Qiuju Banquet.

But what everyone knows is that Shen Yuning never shows up at Qiu Ju's banquet.The foreign ministers may have thought that Shen Yuning was not favored by Emperor Xiaowen, so he had no chance to show his face in front of the emperor, or that Shen Yuning liked to hide from the world and did not like to attend banquets, but they did not know that the annual Qiuju Banquet was the death anniversary of Shen Yuning's mother, Concubine Jing.

It is a great humiliation to celebrate the death anniversary of the deceased, and it is also a feast of Shen Yuning's heart and soul.

Emperor Xiaowen seemed to have been touched by what he said. He was silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "I understand what you mean to the Liu family. By the way, please stay in the palace to celebrate the Lantern Festival this year."

"I'm used to messing around, I'm afraid I can't get used to the etiquette in the palace, so I'm leaving for the time being." After finishing speaking, Shen Yuning pretended to be a monarch and minister, turned his head and left Xingqing Palace.

Eunuch Li was waiting at the door. When he saw Shen Yuning leaving the palace door, he quickly lowered his head. It wasn't until Shen Yuning walked away that he looked up at the black figure and sighed.

He shook the whisk in his hand and heard a call from inside the palace: "Little plum!"

Eunuch Li hurriedly entered the palace and braced himself: "Your Majesty, what do you want to tell the slaves about?" Every time His Majesty summoned the seventh prince, he always felt worried, and they, the slaves, were inevitably on tenterhooks. At this time, Li Eunuch The father-in-law's sharp voice even trembled slightly.

Emperor Xiaowen got up from the dragon chair and walked towards the side hall. His steps were obviously slow and tired. While walking, he slowly ordered: "Grind the ink for me, and I want to draw up a decree."

……

In the blink of an eye, time has arrived five days later, and today's Nie Mansion is shrouded in a gloomy and depressing atmosphere.For no other reason than Liu Fang, the young cousin of the Nie family, was given an imperial edict and was to be executed ten days later.The Nie and Liu families had close ties with each other. Even though the person who died was a member of the Liu family, the Nie family would inevitably suffer from bad luck.

In the Longshui Pavilion, Nie Qin's face was full of sinister birds of prey. He didn't know what he was thinking and was annoyed. He rubbed his eyebrows and said, "I always feel that there is something fishy about Fang'er's murder. Otherwise, why would Qin Xiaolian be kidnapped and die?" At the bottom of the cliff? Is it to kill people and silence them? "

In order to prevent the Liu family from intervening in the matter, Yao Jun reported Liu Fang's matter to Emperor Xiaowen early.Yao Jun always handles cases vigorously and resolutely, and all the evidence was collected in just two days.

First of all, the only physical evidence at the scene, that is, the dagger that claimed Li Yikang, had bloody handprints found on it, which matched Liu Fang's handprints exactly.

Secondly, there were only three people at the scene of the incident.How could Qin Xiaolian, a weak woman, have the ability to kill Li Yikang, a man who was born as a blacksmith?Even if she really wanted to kill someone, with Liu Fang's strength, she would definitely be able to stop Qin Xiaolian, so why would she just watch this happen?Only Liu Fang present has the ability to kill.

Finally, there are witnesses. Li Yikang also has a few servants who are close to him and know about the affair between Li Yikang and Qin Xiaolian.And there was a tea servant in Qingyin Pavilion who heard Liu Fang and Li Yikang having a quarrel.

After deduction, Liu Fang was convicted, while Qin Xiaolian was acquitted.The strange thing is, on the way Qin Xiaolian returned to Qingyin Pavilion from Jingzhaoyin Mansion, a group of people suddenly appeared and took Qin Xiaolian away.

Now that Liu Fang was about to die, the Liu family couldn't find anyone to vent their anger on, so naturally they wanted to torture Qin Xiaolian to death.Nie Qin knew that the Liu family had also sent someone to rob Qin Xiaolian, but they were preempted by this inexplicable force.When the people from the Liu family chased after her, they saw that the carriage carrying Qin Xiaolian drove towards the cliff on the outskirts of the city. The carriage crashed and everyone died.Now there are many rumors in the capital, all saying that the Liu family killed people and silenced them, secretly stabbing the Liu family's backbone.

Mrs. Liu has also been disturbed by Liu Fang's murder recently. She always feels that this matter is not as simple as it seems on the surface, and someone must be behind the scenes to fuel the flames.

She remembered that Aunt Zhang went to Qingyin Pavilion to listen to an opera, but in the end she disappeared and never returned to Nie's Mansion.The third floor of Qingyin Pavilion didn't let idle people wait up there, and her people could only hide in the crowd on the first floor to watch. Seeing Aunt Zhang went up to the third floor of Qingyin Pavilion, she never came out again. As a result, Liu Fang happened to be in Qingyin Pavilion On the third floor of the attic, something happened on that day.

Now that Qin Xiaolian is also dead, all clues have been interrupted.

She pressed Nie Qin's head with a gentle look and said comfortingly: "Maybe this kid Fang'er has prevented disaster for the entire Liu family. That's why..."

"This matter is very deep. What is even more unpredictable is the intention of the Holy Majesty. The Majesty has always favored the Liu family, but this time he was furious, saying that Fang'er despised Tianyan, and Yao Jun was sentenced to death as soon as he presented the evidence. .Could it be that His Majesty has already annoyed the Liu family? If so, our Nie family has to make plans." Nie Qin narrowed his eyes, and a dark light flashed in them.

Mrs. Liu was restless, and forced herself to laugh, "Your Majesty is thinking too much. If Your Majesty really annoyed the Liu family, why did you choose the daughter of the Liu family to be a concubine two days ago? This is to comfort Liu The family is in pain of losing a son. This time, Fang'er made things clear, and the rumors among the people are boiling, if His Majesty doesn't deal with it like this, I'm afraid he will lose the hearts of the people."

"I hope so." Nie Qin sighed.

Liu changed the subject and said: "The concubine entered the palace the day before yesterday and heard from the concubine Xian that the second prince wants to accept another side concubine, but our fourth prince doesn't even have a concubine. According to the concubine, if I can Let Yinger get married and get closer, it is naturally very good."

Nie Qin thought for a moment and patted Mrs. Liu's hand: "Let's make arrangements in a few days. Now that Fang'er's matter has just come out, if Ying'er is allowed to go to the fourth prince to marry him at this time, outsiders will inevitably gossip when they see her."

Mrs. Liu nodded: "My husband is still thoughtful."

　A loving father and a filial son (bushi thanks Bao with the ID "Dream Light Coffee" for the monthly ticket~

　　
　
(End of this chapter)