"so long?"
Zhu Di was a little confused. He just had a dream, but a whole month had passed. Could it be that I really entered heaven by mistake before?
Tang Cheng reminded: "During the days when you were in coma, the Crown Prince was always taking good care of you. He came over in the morning to give you acupuncture and decoction, and then returned to the Wenhua Hall to handle state affairs without stopping. In order to prevent people from being turbulent. , he needs to go to the Civil and Military Academy to teach courses and stabilize the hearts and minds of the generals who hold military power, and he has to stay up until the end of the period. When state affairs are busy, the Crown Prince often needs to stay up all night long. "
"Fortunately, the Crown Prince has extraordinary medical skills and finally saved you."
Zhu Di: "..."
Good guy, I didn't go to the heaven for a while. I clearly passed through the gate of hell, and I almost fell asleep.
Fortunately, I have a good prince, so there was no trouble.
But thinking about it these days, Xiaosi has been under a lot of pressure.
The emperor almost couldn't open his eyes as soon as he closed them. Zhu Gaojie needed to fulfill his obligations as the emperor as the prince in charge of the country, and there should be no mistakes during the process. He had to be perfect and leak-proof in order to eliminate the negative impact of Zhu Di's fainting. .
Fortunately, Zhu Gaojie was fierce enough, otherwise there was no telling what big trouble would have occurred.
Zhu Di reluctantly used his arms to prop himself up. His body was too weak now and he fainted on the bed for a whole month. Although Zhu Gaojie's rejuvenating medical skills extended his life, he was still not as good as before.
Tang Cheng quickly supported the emperor and persuaded: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has given instructions that you should rest on the couch for a while after you wake up, and then you can try normal activities after you regain your strength. At this time It’s not advisable to move.”
Zhu Di shook his head: "Don't worry about this, help me go to the Wenhua Palace, I want to see the prince."
What the Queen said to him before leaving still echoes in his mind.
Take good care of Xiaosi and their son.
But now it seems that Zhu Xiaosi has been taking care of his troubled old father, which really makes Zhu Di a little ashamed.
…
The silver moon is guarded by numerous stars in the center of the Milky Way. The clear dew falls on the eaves of the deep palace buildings. The white snow seems to be the plain clothes wrapped around the shoulders of the imperial city. The city of Beijing at night is silent.
However, the lights in the back hall of Wenhua Hall were always on. Even the patrolling Imperial Guards of the Twelve Guards couldn't bear to see the brightness in the darkness. They knew very well that as long as the lights stayed on, it meant that the Crown Prince was still behind. The palace is diligent and hardworking.
With the support of Tang Cheng, Zhu Di, who was still weak, slowly walked into the Wenhua Hall. At this time, the main hall was already quiet and no one was there. At this point, the officials had already gone home and hugged their wives to sleep.
But after walking into the back hall through the corridor, Zhu Di slowly opened a crack in the door and saw Zhu Gaojie inside, bending over in the candlelight.
The young man tied up his long hair with a yellow belt, and wore a fox fur cloak on his shoulders. He was sitting at the desk, holding a wolf hair in his hand, correcting a mountain of memorials and documents. He was originally handsome and handsome, but due to staying up late for many years, his eyes were darkened. There are thick dark circles under the eyes, which makes her look a bit disharmonious.
But he seemed to have no time to pay attention to his own image. The most important thing was to sort out the state affairs in front of him. He didn't know if he could sleep for half an hour tonight.
The big white cat named Shuang'er was lying on his shoulder, snoring weakly. The owner was still working hard, but the cat was sleeping soundly.
Perhaps it was because there was no stove in the back hall and it was too cold. After Zhu Gaojie finished correcting the paper in his hand, he skillfully picked up the wine bottle placed on the desk and took a sip of the high-quality Liaodong braised rice. There was a blazing flame, and taking advantage of the heat, he continued to work hard.
His earlobes moved slightly, and he paused briefly before continuing to work again.
With Zhu Gaojie's extraordinary hearing, he naturally heard the footsteps. Although he didn't know who the visitor was, he could hear it, and Aqi must have discovered the visitor.
A Qi didn't remind him, which meant that the person who came was not hostile, so there was no need for him to pay attention. If he had the time, he might as well seize the time to finish correcting the notes in his hand.
Zhu Di felt a little pain in his heart when he saw Zhu Xiaosi immersed in the world of work. He originally wanted to go up and help his son to share some of the burden, but when he thought about his current poor health, he probably went up to not help, but would only drag the other person down.
He waved to Tang Cheng beside him, signaling him to step back. Tang Chengxin understood, and left hurriedly, trying not to make a sound.
Zhu Di stayed close to the door, watching Zhu Gaojie, and kept waiting.
The back hall of the Wenhua Hall was surprisingly quiet. The only sounds were the sound of the wolf brush scratching on the folds and Zhu Gaojie's coughing from time to time.
An unknown amount of time passed like this. Except for A Qi who appeared from time to time to replace the burned out candles, no one made any other action until dawn.
Zhu Gaojie relied on his super efficiency to finally put down the pile of papers one by one. He leaned on the chair tiredly and took a short rest.
He didn't have time for breakfast, or he couldn't spare the time to have breakfast at all. After a short rest, he would go to Qianqing Palace to check the old man's pulse and apply acupuncture and decoction, and then go to the Civil and Military Academy to teach...
At this time, Zhu Di pushed open the half-open door and walked in slowly while holding on to the wall.
Zhu Gaojie originally just glanced at him, but suddenly stood up and looked at the emperor without knowing what to say.
He originally thought that the person standing at the door all night would be an official from some department who came to report, or a eunuch, so he ignored him. Who would have thought that the person waiting at the door is actually the old man.
What was even more unexpected was that the old man had the patience to wait calmly at the door all night!
Zhu Gaojie asked nervously, "Dad, are you awake?"
Zhu Di nodded lightly: "Well, I woke up at night and came to see you."
Zhu Gaojie asked with some embarrassment: "Then why don't you know? It's so cold outside with the heavy snow. I made you wait here all night for nothing."
"Didn't you stay here all night? You worked hard here and didn't say anything. I just stood here and did nothing, so what can I complain about?"
"Can you be like me..."
"What can be different? Is it because I am the emperor? What can the emperor do? Will he also get old, sick, and die?"
Zhu Di said slowly, "I've caused you a lot of trouble these days. Thank you for your hard work. It's not your fault."
Zhu Gaojie was a little at a loss. He had never seen the old man, who was always arrogant, actually bow his head and admit his mistakes.
This made him not know what to say for a moment, because no matter what he said, it seemed out of place.
Could it be that he wanted to say: Hey, when you grow up, since you know that I am suffering because of you, why don't you, the father, give me a thank you?
Zhu Gaojie touched the tip of his nose and said politely: "Dad, just wake up. The Ming Dynasty will never be able to live without you."
Zhu Di shook his head: "Actually, whether or not I exist in the Ming Dynasty has no impact. Look, during the month when I was in coma, didn't you manage the country in an orderly manner?"
Zhu Gaojie smiled and said: "That's not what you said. I am already the prince, so I should do my part. I can take care of it for a while, but in the end, the overall situation must be decided by your father."
Zhu Di shook his head and said: "You are the child I raised. With your medical skills, it is not difficult to guess that my time is running out."
Zhu Gaojie's eyes dimmed a little.
The old man's health is in terrible shape now, his organs are failing and his heart and lungs are cold. Although Zhu Gaojie is now decoctions every day to restore his vitality and warm his organs, it shouldn't be a problem to survive this winter.
But next year's winter will be difficult for Zhu Di.
In other words, whether it can last until next winter is a big question. Even if Bian Que, Hua Tuo, Zhang Zhongjing, and Li Shizhen all came, they would probably shake their heads when they saw Zhu Di's body.
If you can't save him, just wait to die. There's no way he can be saved.
"Ever since I moved to Nanjing, I have been thinking about returning to Peiping. Now that I have finally moved back to Beijing, I suddenly want to go back to Nanjing."
Zhu Di said with emotion, "Go to Nanjing, go to Fengxian Hall to see my father's portrait, go to Xiaoling Mausoleum to offer him a stick of incense, go to Xuanwu Lake to fish again, go to Dabaoen Temple to visit old friends again..."
"I really want to go back to Nanjing again."
He immediately said, "But there is one last thing I have not done. Next year, I want to go to the north again to fight against Arutai of the Tatar tribe. Arutai is an old guy. We are old friends. We have a very good relationship. Before I die, I must kill this good friend no matter what."
Zhu Gaojie was silent for a while and nodded: "Okay, dad wants to fight, and my son will go with you to fight. We will fight after the winter, and in the spring next year. We will mobilize troops from the northwest and go north to fight. We must chase Arutai to death." "
"That's good, that's good."
Zhu Di chuckled and said, "I'm really afraid that my old bones can't be beaten anymore. If I haven't beaten Arutai by then, it will be a big joke. A lifetime of fame will be ruined. I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep." .As long as you can give me, an old man, the complete answer, I can rest assured."
"After the two of us finished fighting Arutai, we went all the way south, from Shanhaiguan to the Grand Canal, and took a boat all the way to Nanjing. To tell you the truth, when I broke into Nanjing, there was a tree on the north side of the Martial Building of the Imperial Palace. There are two jars of good wine buried under the old pear tree, just waiting to drink them today, and we will be drunk by then!"
Zhu Gaojie forced a smile: "Okay, we'll get drunk and then I'll have a taste of the good wine you've been hiding for more than ten years."
"Okay, then it's settled."
Zhu Di laughed and patted the other party's shoulder and said, "Tang Cheng gave you all the tiger talisman seals and ribbons before. Just keep them for yourself. You don't have to give them back to me. This is what I can leave to you." Three of them, one is the tiger talisman, the other is the seal and jade seal, and the last one is the edict. But I think I can still live for a while, so I don’t rush to write the edict. It’s unlucky. I will wait until I feel that I am about to die. Write."
"Xiaosi, from now on, Daming will be yours."
"Dad is old and can no longer work. There are talented people from generation to generation, and those who are better than others are better than others. You can continue to work for dad and do it well."
He said the saddest words in the calmest tone.
After saying that, he turned around and left, his back looking stern.
The hero is dying.
Zhu Gaojie stood there stupidly, as if he was still there just now, muttering.
"Old man, why are you talking so sensationally? I haven't brushed my teeth for a month, and my eyes are wet from the smoke."
"You also have to agree, and you have to live until you go to Nanjing with me."
"Dad."
…
Zhu Di forced his body to walk out of the back hall. As soon as he went out, he immediately turned around and held onto the wall to cough.
He had acted like a normal person in front of Zhu Gaojie just now, but as soon as he disappeared from the other person's sight, he couldn't suppress his physical weakness again.
But he is a father, and a father must never behave in a way that would disappoint his son in front of him.
This is his dignity and his backbone.
(End of chapter)
