Concubine like a house

Chapter 172: It's so rare to be confused (1)
When Nie Peixiao arrived in Jingzhou day and night, it happened to be [-] days after Empress Dowager Ye passed away, and it was also the day when Dan Xin returned to work.However, Emperor Tianshou has no time to take care of indifference, and the top priority is to restore this brotherhood and personally welcome Nie Peixiao into the city.

The etiquette to welcome the emperor out of the city is generally only when the army is triumphant.Just for a sibling or courtier, it is already a great dignity!Emperor Tianshou believed that Nie Peixiao would understand.

The autumn wind was rustling and the city gate was wide open. In order to welcome the emperor to go out, the imperial guards cleared the road from Yingyuan Palace to the North City Gate on the central axis.Emperor Tianshou always liked to wear black clothes, and today he was also wearing black robes, galloping in the wind and galloping his horse, it was regarded as mourning for Empress Dowager Ye.

Outside the city gate, there was still no sign of Nie Peixiao.

"My lord, why don't you go to the city gate to rest first?" Cen Jiang asked behind him.

"No need." Emperor Tianshou got off his horse and said solemnly, "I'll wait for him here."

When Emperor Tianshou said these words, his expression was very complicated - there was not only a faint expectation, which was the affection for his brother; but also a trace of anxiety and caution, which was the precaution against the opponent.In the end, it was the former emotion that prevailed, and there was a trace of melancholy gentleness on his face, as if he was recalling the years of friendship between him and Nie Peixiao.

How can this brotherhood that has shared weal and woe and fought hard all the way be easily obliterated?

However, Cen Jiang was worried that Nie Peixiao could not let go of the revenge of killing his mother.He sighed almost inaudibly, and whispered to Emperor Tianshou: "Your Majesty, five thousand imperial guards are ambushing around the city gate, just waiting for your order..."

Before he finished speaking, Emperor Tianshou suddenly turned his head, his phoenix eyes filled with anger: "Who allows you to make up your own mind?"

Frightened by the stern reprimand, Cen Jiang immediately knelt down to plead guilty: "Your Majesty! You must be on guard against others. After King Cheng's 'safety' enters the city, I am willing to accept the punishment."

After the words fell, the Emperor Tianshou did not respond immediately, and after a long time, he calmly said: "Let them withdraw."

Cen Jiang fell silent on his knees, refusing to take orders.

"Withdraw!" The emperor was finally furious, with blue veins on his forehead, and he was on the verge of losing control.

"Think twice, Your Majesty!" Cen Jiang tried to persuade him again.He knelt on the ground and raised his head quietly, his eyes level with the cuffs of Emperor Tianshou.Wherever his eyes went, the hands on the back of the Emperor Tianshou had been stretched out from behind, hanging by his side and clenched into fists.

Finally, Emperor Tianshou slowly loosened his fist and regained his composure: "The Ninth Younger Brother fought as a young man and has been in the army for many years... Can he not notice that you ambushed thousands of people here? Isn't this forcing him to betray me?"

When Cen Jiang heard the words, he suddenly realized, and replied with shame: "It's because I didn't think carefully."

"Let's withdraw." Emperor Tianshou looked down at him and said again, "You also avoid it for the time being, don't let him see the clue."

Cen Jiang understood the painstaking efforts of Emperor Tianshou, and immediately replied: "My minister, thank you for your understanding." He waved his hand towards the city gate, and an extra flag immediately appeared on the city.Then, there was an orderly sound, and five thousand imperial guards appeared from the darkness at the same time, and quickly withdrew as a whole.

The whole process took a short time, not enough to drink a cup of tea.Emperor Tianshou was relieved to see that the soldiers were well-trained, but also worried.But before this emotion spread, the sound of horseshoes was already in his ears.

Emperor Tianshou looked out of the city following the sound, and could vaguely see a white shadow riding a horse.The sound of horseshoes is getting closer and more numerous. It is roughly estimated that there are more than a hundred people.Just this thought made the emperor's heart sink heavily, and he secretly rejoiced that he withdrew the ambush and didn't make Nie Peixiao feel cold.

After a while, the white shadow gradually approached, and a horse galloped ahead. The man on the horse was straight and dressed in white. It was Nie Peixiao, King of Cheng.

Not only him, but also the hundred servants of Prince Cheng's mansion who followed him, all of them were dressed in white.These more than a hundred people rode at a gallop, slowed down near the city gate, and all turned over and got off their horses.

"Ninth brother." Before Nie Peixiao could speak, Emperor Tianshu came out from the city gate.

Seeing the person coming, Nie Peixiao suddenly burst into fury, and stood still for a while.Seeing this, Emperor Tianshou changed his color slightly, and his phoenix eyes narrowed to stare from a distance.

Complicated hostility secretly surged between the brothers, and a tense atmosphere condensed invisibly. Neither party dared to act rashly, and only waited for their respective masters to issue orders.

At this moment, Nie Peixiao is strongly restraining certain emotions.The hatred of killing his mother is irreconcilable, he wanted to rush forward to question and fight, this kind of consciousness almost occupied his whole mind.

Suddenly, his gaze swept over the tower.The word "Jingzhou" on the gate of the city is shining in gold paint, which is unique in Nanxi.But now, these two characters have been painted with a layer of black paint, and there are two white silk ribbons hanging beside the characters-this is a symbol of national mourning.

With just this one glance, Nie Peixiao suddenly felt powerless.His imperial brother, after all, gave his mother a face, and treated the funeral with the highest standard of national etiquette...

In fact, just last night, Nie Peixiao received a letter from Yun's secret guard. There were only four words in the letter, which were written by Chuxiu herself - "It's rare to be confused".He naturally understood the meaning of going out of Xiu, but it was too difficult for him to pretend to be confused!
At this critical moment, these four words appeared in Nie Peixiao's mind at the right time.Chuxiu's thin gold font is very sharp, each stroke is like a sword halberd, piercing the cowardice and fragility in the deepest part of his heart, and making his last persistence collapse!

Rarely confused!

After struggling like this for an unknown amount of time, Nie Peixiao finally walked in front of the Emperor Tianshou, bowed and knelt down in salute: "My brother has seen the emperor."

His voice was not loud, but it echoed in the silent city gate.Behind Nie Peixiao, more than a hundred people also got off their horses and knelt down in unison to salute: "Long live my emperor!"

When the word "Long Live" resounded, Emperor Tianshou slowly burst into a gratified smile.He personally helped Nie Peixiao up, and nodded with emotion: "Just come back."

yes!Just come back!This brotherhood is lost and regained, just come back!Otherwise, he would really be alone!
The two brothers didn't say any more, and they rode the horse back to Yingyuan Palace, and they were all silent on the way.At the gate of the palace, Nie Peixiao took the initiative to mention: "Brother Huang, I want to visit the queen mother."

Emperor Tianshou never ordered the empress dowager to be buried, but waited for Nie Peixiao to come and see her for the last time.In the past twenty days, he ordered someone to put a special spice in Empress Dowager Ye's coffin, which can keep the body from decomposing for a month; moreover, he also parked the coffin in the underground ice cellar in the palace, which is not careless.

Nie Peixiao wanted to see Empress Dowager Ye, and it was within the expectation of Emperor Tianshou, so the two brothers went to the mourning hall together.Emperor Tianshou specifically confessed to deal with Empress Dowager Ye's body, so he was not worried that the other party would find out anything.

Coming out of the mourning hall, Nie Peixiao looked very calm, and only asked: "When will the mother be buried in the imperial tomb?"

"The Ministry of Rites has selected a date, just waiting for you to make up your mind." Emperor Tianshou paused for a moment, and then said, "You just arrived in Jingzhou today, and the boats and cars are exhausting. Let's wait until tomorrow to discuss it."

"Okay." Nie Peixiao nodded.

The two brothers walked to the holy study, and they were silent all the way.And once each other becomes silent, that kind of centrifugal and tense atmosphere will suddenly grow.

After entering the holy study, Emperor Tianshou tried to break the atmosphere, so he found a topic: "It's rare for you to go to Beijing, so don't rush back, get married here and then leave."

There is nothing wrong with the prince returning to the imperial city of Jingzhou to get married.But now that Emperor Tongsheng and Empress Dowager Ye passed away one after another, Nie Peixiao was disheartened and unwilling to stay longer, so she didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Emperor Tianshou persuaded: "At any rate, I personally decreed the marriage, why should I be the officiant?"

This is a marriage that Empress Dowager Ye bought with her life, and Nie Peixiao subconsciously resisted.What's more, he had never even met Xie Peili, Yuan or Bian, and he didn't want to get married hastily, so he found an excuse to shirk: "My mother just passed away, and my younger brother doesn't want to think about marriage... just wait."

"When are you going to wait?" Emperor Tianshou frowned, "You are not young anymore!"

"It's important to keep filial piety for the queen mother, and the younger brother has his own discretion." Nie Peixiao flatly refused.

"Ordinary people observe filial piety for three years, but the royal family only needs three months. Your marriage is a big event, and the Ministry of Rituals needs to prepare for at least three to five months. When everything is ready, the mourning period has just passed, and there will be no delay." Emperor Tianshou retorted him.

"Let me think again." Nie Peixiao still evaded.

"What else are you thinking?" Emperor Tianshou was already irritated because of his indifference, but now he became even more angry, "This is a marriage that the empress mother personally arranged before she was alive. Do you want her to rest in peace?"

"Who won't let the queen mother rest in peace?" Nie Peixiao sneered.

Hearing this, the emperor immediately changed his expression, and scolded in a deep voice: "You know what you're talking about?!"

Nie Peixiao stood where she was and pursed her thin lips tightly, the intent of killing appeared in her handsome eyes again.The Heavenly Granted Emperor's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at him, not giving in to each other.After a long while, it was Nie Peixiao who was defeated first, calmed down and knelt down to plead guilty: "It's my brother who made a slip of the tongue, please punish me, Brother Emperor."

This time, Emperor Tianshou didn't let him get up, and asked in silence for a while: "Are you rebelling against me, or is it because of Mrs. Chuxiu?"

Nie Peixiao opened her mouth, and was about to answer a sentence, when those four words appeared in her mind again—it's rare to be confused.Now, why bother to involve Chuxiu again?So he replied: "No, it has nothing to do with Chuxiu, it's because I don't like Xie Peili."

"You know you don't like him even before you meet him?" Tianshoudi asked again.

"You know better what it's like to like someone. I'm not you, and I don't want to be emperor. There's no need to rely on marriage to secure my position."

Nie Peixiao returned calmly, how ironic!The Emperor Tianshou changed his face again, and raised his foot to kick him on the shoulder, but when he was approaching, he still couldn't bear it, and he restrained his anger and said, "You get up and talk, what do you look like kneeling all this time!"

Nie Peixiao got up in silence and sat down on the chair.

Emperor Tianshou waited for him to calm down completely, then turned around and walked up to Danchi, sat on the dragon chair, supported the imperial case with one hand and sighed: "When I was able to let go of Luansu, you should also let go of Mrs. Chuxiu."

At this point, Nie Peixiao was really hurt: "Brother Huang, do you know about Yunci's past? Then why didn't you tell me earlier? I always thought it was not good for Yunci to treat Chuxiu!"

"Why did I tell you? You never asked." Emperor Tianshou took the opportunity to wake him up, "You are in your twenties, and you are still so impulsive! If you can find out carefully before pursuing the Xiuxiu , it will not fall to such a point!"

"Speaking of it, you are too conceited!" The Emperor Tianshou reprimanded again, "Yun Ci is far-sighted, and Shen Yu is with him wholeheartedly. How can you compare with them?"

"I can't compare." Nie Peixiao was sad, "I came too late, I understood too late, and I missed the best opportunity!"

"No, you're wrong." Emperor Tianshou categorically denied, "Even if you met Mrs. Chuxiu earlier, you still couldn't stop her fate with Yunci. With Yunci around, no one else could."

"Why?" Nie Peixiao was puzzled.

"Because no one can do Yunci."

"I know, he can die for Chuxiu."

"After he dies, he can arrange everything for Chuxiu, but you can't."

"Brother Huang, do you mean the 5000 million taels of gold?" Nie Peixiao smiled bitterly, "I have heard Mrs. Xie say about it."

(End of this chapter)