Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 76

There is a Golden Buddha Festival in the Southern Dynasties, which is on November [-] every year.

In November of the tenth year of Yuanning, in order to pray for the sick emperor, the Empress Dowager took a group of people to Yufo Temple in Fangyuzhou near Yujing, where she planned to fast for half a month.Yufo Temple is the oldest temple in the entire Southern Dynasty. It has existed since the beginning of the Southern Dynasty. A few generations ago, an emperor abdicated and became a monk in Yufo Temple.

Although Yufo Temple is not located in Yujing, Fangyu Prefecture where Yufo Temple is located is close to Yujing, and the royal family will send people to Yufo Temple to fast and pray for blessings every year.As the empress dowager, Liu Qingtang didn't attract much attention even if she went there in person.People in the imperial court could see the turbulent relationship between the empress dowager and the emperor these years. Seeing her going to Yufo Temple under the banner of praying for the emperor and the royal family, everyone just thought she wanted to gain a good reputation.

Probably only a few people who were close to Liu Qingtang could guess that she just wanted to be alone with Chief Qin, the chief executive of Ci'an Palace.

Of course, Liu Qingtang's dignity and awe when facing outsiders, except for people who are very acquainted, otherwise no one would doubt that she just left the emperor who has been obsessed with illness for the sake of this kind of personal relationship. Due to the situation in the court, people mobilized people to go to Yufo Temple.Almost everyone felt that the empress dowager's departure from Beijing must have her intentions and deep-seated reasons. Maybe it was because of something that was going to happen to Yu Jing and she couldn't be present, so she used the excuse of praying for blessings to leave Yu at this time. Beijing.

But in fact, Liu Qingtang really just wanted to find a chance to relax and rest with Qin Shu for a while.Ever since her brother started to emerge in the court, he has become the biggest decision-maker of the Liu family faction in the court. Liu Qingtang's secret calculations in the past have now been taken over by her brother, and he has done better than her. In just two years Wang Shoufu's people were severely suppressed. During this period of time, because Xiao Huaixu, who was behind Wang Shoufu, was sick in bed, he took the opportunity to drag down a group of old people in Wang Shoufu's faction.

During the period when Liu Qingtang retreated into silence, the group of people below Wang Shoufu were more or less complacent. Liu Qingtang was stared at by the foolish things he did at that time, and he waited with their handles. Pull them down one by one at the right time, and completely cut off those available to Wang Shoufu.At this time, the time was ripe, and it happened to be used by the uncle Liu Qingrong, who severely hit Wang Shoufu.

Wang Shoufu is still the first assistant, but there are still many important positions in the following counselors, and they have been replaced by Liu family cronies or people from the neutral faction, to some extent.On the surface, Xiao Huaixu didn't have many forces and people. Most of the people in Wang Shoufu's hands were Xiao Huaixu's backbone. Now Liu Qingrong really made a move.He also deliberately asked those people to go to the memorial just to anger Xiao Huaixu. The biggest use of such a thing is to vent her anger.

Not only was Liu Qingtang's brother Liu Qingrong's deliberate behavior of angering Xiao Huaixu amused, but even Qin Shu, who was becoming more and more sophisticated, would often go to make things difficult for Xiao Huaixu, so no matter how old these men were, sometimes they were worse than children. childish.

Liu Qingtang still wanted to keep Xiao Huaixu for a few more years, and it would be best for him to die when she died in Yuanning for 15 years in her previous life, so as to complete the karma of this bad fate.She had let go of most of the hatred that kept her awake day and night, but no matter what happened, she could never forget it. Liu Qingtang always wanted to pay for her life with her life.If it is said that Xiao Huaixu has not had time to cause harm to them in this life, it is only that he does not have the ability, not the idea, and he cannot be called innocent in the slightest.What's more, in her previous life, she, the Liu family and Qin Shu were not innocent?

In five more years, Liu Qingtang was sitting in the carriage, watching Qin Shu peeling nuts for her, with a lingering smile and longing in his eyes.It will be over in five years. At that time, you can let your godson succeed, abolish the old faction in the government, choose more capable officials for the child, and cultivate a neutral faction for him. Then, year after year, their Liu family will gradually Fade out of the court.Even if you have the ability to protect yourself secretly, you must be clean on the surface.

She believed that the child who was taught well by Su Shu would be a good emperor, and the tragedy of the Liu family would not happen again.When that time really comes, she can stop worrying about these things and enjoy life in peace.

With her son's precocious wisdom, perhaps, after he succeeds to the throne for a year or two, she can bring Qin Shu to stay in Yushui Villa permanently, avoiding the right and wrong places in the palace and court.She has worked hard for so many years, for the Southern Dynasty and the Liu family, and when all the dust settles, she also wants to do nothing and live a good life with Qin Shu, a fool.

Thinking about it, Liu Qingtang felt happy, and stared at Qin Shu's side face with her chin resting on her hands.

Sensing her gaze, Qin Shu finished peeling the nuts in his hand before looking at her. Seeing the smile on her face, Qin Shu couldn't help but feel happy too.As long as he sees her happy, he will be happy too. There is really no reason for this joy.

"what happened?"

Liu Qingtang replied with a smile: "I was thinking about whether it would be good for us to go to Yushui Villa for the elderly." She reached out and pulled the nuts he had peeled and piled up on a plate, counted six, and stuffed them into her mouth.

Hearing the word pension, Qin Shu was stunned for a moment, and couldn't hide the longing in his eyes.Retirement, this word sounds extremely happy. Isn’t the greatest luxury in life just to grow old with the person in front of you?When the two people who seemed to be in their early 20s talked about retirement care, they unexpectedly started to look forward to it.

As soon as the expression on Qin Shu's face softened, Liu Qingtang knew that he was expecting the same, and couldn't help but pulled him across the table and kissed the tip of his nose, looking into his usually indifferent eyes with clear eyes, "at most In five years, you will follow me, an old lady, to retreat to enjoy the happiness, and you will have to coax me, an old guy with a bad temper, from morning to night every day."

"Qingtang isn't old at all, and she won't be in the future." Qin Shu finally said something nice enough that Liu Qingtang's dimples even burst into laughter.The Liu family all had dimples, but they couldn't see it if they didn't smile deeply. Liu Qingtang herself often had dimples when she was a child, but it was rare for her to be so happy when she grew up.Although her brother was always smiling, Liu Qingtang really didn't see him dimpled twice. As for her father, she only appeared when she heard the old housekeeper say that her mother was still there.

"Well, Qin Shu, I still want to eat this kind, so peel it off for me."

"It's not good to eat too much of this." Qin Shu also felt helpless that the older her mother was, the more she liked to eat children's snacks. These foods are easy to fill up and not nutritious. She doesn't like to eat after eating this, and this kind of snacks If she eats too much, she will get angry again and her mouth will hurt.

Qin Shu felt worried every time, even more worried than the interrogation of those criminal slaves and intrigue.He is familiar with those things, but he really can't stop the fact that his mother loves to eat snacks, because even if he knows that eating too much is not good, when she curls her lips and turns her head at him, Qin Shu will unconsciously say nothing. According to her.

Every time the two of them, Zhuiyi and Taoye, asked him to watch her carefully, even if he secretly wanted to watch her not to let her eat more at first, he would end up helping Qingtang hide it and let her eat enough.At this moment, although he said that he would not let them eat, seeing Liu Qingtang reluctantly holding the small bowl of nuts, chewing slowly as if a little frustrated, Qin Shu immediately felt distressed, hesitated and said : "I can only eat a small bowl."

Even if he knew she was faking it, even if she knew he knew it, it was still a trial and error.

After sitting in the carriage for a whole day, Liu Qingtang depended on Qin Shu for everything at noon, and didn't even eat lunch properly, only eating snacks.Zhuiyi looked at it for a while, and could only cast a reproachful glance at Chief Manager Qin, then shook his head helplessly and left.

Arriving at Yufo Temple in the evening, Liu Qingtang worshiped the big Buddha in the temple.

If there is a Buddha in the world, then why in her previous life she devoted herself to serving her relatives and the people, and her relatives were so innocent, they all ended up like that.But if it is said that there is no Buddha in the world, how can she start again and hold everything she lost in her hands again.Liu Qingtang never believed in Buddhism in her previous life, but she didn't know whether she should believe in it in this life. Looking at the golden Buddha in the hall, she sighed softly after a long time, turned and left the hall.

As famous as its long history, Yufo Temple also has a huge camellia garden. It is said that many generations ago, an abbot loved camellia so much that he built a camellia garden here to grow flowers and plants.Later, it was slowly expanded and transplanted, and now it has become the most famous camellia garden in the Southern Dynasties. There are countless rare varieties, and there are countless people who come to visit during the flowering period. Of course, those who can come in are some powerful people. .

November is the season when camellias are in full bloom. Liu Qingtang, the most honorable empress dowager in the Southern Dynasties, is coming, and she said early that she wants to enjoy the camellias. Therefore, during the best half month of the camellias blooming period, the whole tea garden does not see a single outsider. It is only open for the empress dowager.But Liu Qingtang, who occupied such a large camellia garden by himself, was for Qin Shu.

In fact, Liu Qingtang didn't have any feelings for camellias, but she knew that Qin Shu liked this flower. When he was in Ci'an Palace, every time the camellias in the yard bloomed, he would ask the gardener to take good care of them, so those few camellias grew more and more every year. It's a good year.The last time the parrot fat bird tossed and crushed a few flower branches, Qin Shu plucked out the three blue feathers of the fat bird and made a hairpin for her without hesitation, so that the fat bird could not be seen when they left. Still curled up sleepily in the nest.

So I specially chose November to come to the Buddhist Temple. Liu Qingtang actually wanted to bring Qin Shu to see the flowers.After settling down in Yufo Temple, Liu Qingtang immediately took Qin Shu to the camellia garden, regardless of the fact that it was already night.

Both of them were wearing cloaks, and Qin Shu was holding a lantern in his hand, and they just walked along the bluestone-paved flower path holding hands like that.The weather in November was already getting cold, and Liu Qingtang was still holding the hand stove that Qin Shu had brought her.It's just that she didn't want to take it after holding it for a while. She insisted on letting Qin Shu cover it, and snatched the lantern from his hand, dragged him to the flowers, and refused to walk the paved road like an urchin. If you insist on walking where no one has walked by, countless petals will fall along the way.

The camellia garden was quiet, only the dim light from the far side of the road, and the light from the lantern in Liu Qingtang's hand.Seen from a distance, the light that flickers through the flowers looks like fireflies in summer.

Liu Qingtang stayed away from the path extending in all directions, and led Qin Shu into the flowers indiscriminately. After rubbing the petals all over his head and body, he finally found a huge camellia tree that seemed to be a hundred years old, with branches full of flowers. , Only then was he satisfied with sticking the lantern between the branches, and sitting under the tree with Qin Shu.

The thrilling flowers blooming on the numerous flower branches are particularly moving in the dim light, but in Qin Shu's eyes, no flower is as beautiful as Liu Qingtang closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then turned her head to face him smiling.

"The camellias in our yard have been damaged a lot by fat parrots this year, so I want to bring you here to see, Qin Shu, do you like it?"

He likes camellia because he thinks the flower resembles her.Qin Shu stared at Liu Qingtang as if bewildered, did not answer her, and leaned over to touch her raised lips.

(End of this chapter)