The night is already dark, but the streets are still noisy, with an endless stream of BMWs and cars.
The imperial Kyoto is a huge city that can accommodate millions of people, and can contain the most prosperous city in the world. However, the emperor's flight to the west also brought hundreds of officials and noble clan members to this slightly remote town. , this lonely and depressed place in the past was instantly filled with the glory of the world.
Wu Erlang entered the city and rode through the roads. He could only smell the fragrance of wine and rouge, and the pearls and silk were dazzling everywhere. He vaguely remembered the time when his young grandfather was there, and talked about the time of Emperor Taizong. If you don't pick up lost things on the road, don't close your door at night, the world will be in order.
Looking at the current situation, we must say it is a great irony!
He rode to Li Qiao's house and sent someone to tell his sister.
It was already late at night, Wu Cuicui had already rested, but it was her natal brother who came, so the attendants naturally did not dare to hesitate and hurried to report back, but the maid woke him up from his sleep.
Wu Cuicui knew that her brother would not come to the door for no reason at this time, so she hurriedly dressed up and went to greet him.
The situation was urgent, so Wu Erlang did not exchange excessive greetings with her, dismissed the attendants with a wave of his hand, and told her everything he had said to the Ninth Princess tonight.
After hearing several pieces of bad news one after another, Wu Cuicui was astonished on the spot as if she had been struck by lightning!
The person who killed my mother was actually the Ninth Princess...
No, even the Ninth Princess is just a knife being used. The one who really controls all of this is her adoptive father who seems to be forced to abdicate and is described as lonely? !
And the death of the second sister-in-law...
An unspeakable guilt surged into her heart. Her face was completely drained of color, and she was filled with regret: "I'm really, second brother, how could he..."
Wu Erlang forced himself to stay calm and said: "It's meaningless to say this, Cuicui, what I want to know is——"
Wu Cuicui said in pain: "How come it doesn't make sense? I..."
She couldn't even finish the rest of her words, because Wu Erlang stared at her with red eyes, suddenly raised his arm and gave her a slap in the face!
"Wu Cuicui, when will you grow up?!"
He said sternly: "The dead person is already dead. When the disaster is approaching, what's the use of saying those regretful words?!"
Wu Erlang held her shoulders and shook her hard twice: "Nothing is more important than letting the living continue to live. Do you understand or not?"
This is the first time Wu Cuicui has been beaten by this brother since she was a child. However, at this moment, she does not feel any resentment in her heart, not even a grievance, only full of regret and pain.
"I'm sorry, brother, I'm really sorry..."
She cried and said: "I'm too stupid. I also want to do things well, but I'm really too stupid and can't do anything well. You might as well beat me to death..."
Wu Erlang was full of anger, but when he saw this, he mostly turned to helplessness. He clamped her shoulders with force and said word by word: "Cui Cui, has the Supreme Emperor told you something important, or asked you to do so?" What are you doing for him? It’s already a matter of life and death. If anything, you must never hide it again!”
Wu Cuicui's mind suddenly flashed back to the jade talisman that the Supreme Emperor had given to her.
She hurriedly said: "Yes, yes!"
With that, he told his brother about the incident.
Wu Erlang felt a wave of anger going straight towards Tianling Gai - God testified that he was really not a person who liked violence. At this time, he couldn't help but round his arms and slap him hard again. She slapped her!
"Are you a pig brain?!"
He was furious: "Can you take this kind of thing casually?! Even if the Emperor and the Emperor don't get along, he still has other sons. Why should I give you such an important thing?! "
Wu Cuicui covered her face, her throat and nose were sore, and she didn't dare to make a sound even if she wanted to cry.
Wu Erlang wanted to curse a few more times, but he was too lazy to bother and didn't want to waste time. He said briefly and concisely: "Have you told Li Qiao about this?"
Wu Cuicui stood in front of him awkwardly like a child who had done something wrong, shedding tears in fear: "I dare not say. At the beginning, I was afraid that he would not be reliable. I can feel it. , even though he married me, he didn’t like me that much. Later, he didn’t even dare to speak, because I was afraid of letting him know that I couldn’t trust him..."
Wu Erlang's head was as big as a bucket, but he had no intention of caring about the thoughts of these children. He only asked one thing: "This time Li Qiao led the army to the expedition, is the Supreme Emperor involved?"
Wu Cuicui was slightly startled at first, then her expression changed drastically, and she immediately said: "Yes! He discussed this matter with me before setting off, and always felt that the emperor had ill intentions, so the Supreme Emperor dispatched 3,000 people from the Southern Army to go with him ——I’ll go find him right away!”
Wu Erlang grabbed her and said, "Do you have any brains?!"
He said angrily: "The army has been marching for several days. You, a weak woman, lead a man on horseback to chase after you. How long will it take to catch up? What if something unexpected happens on the way? Instead, you will have your subordinates to accommodate you. , delaying the trip!"
Wu Erlang gasped and said, "I'll take someone there!"
Wu Cuicui looked at her brother who was connected by blood in front of her, with mixed feelings in her heart: "Brother..."
Wu Erlang said: "I am not just for you, but also for the Wu family. The emperor has always been eyeing the Wu family, and now the Supreme Emperor... If something happens to Li Qiao, the Wu family is afraid It’s really helpless!”
He softened his voice again and said sadly: "Father and brother went first, and mother also went. Although my sister-in-law is a princess, she is more inclined to the royal family than the Wu family. If we don't support it, the Wu family will It’s really over!”
Wu Erlang said: "I'm going to leave immediately. After I leave, you can send someone to pick up the children and bring them here. The two younger sisters and the old aunts will also be picked up together. In troubled times, the family is about to be separated. , why bother to worry about those direct descendants, you respect me!"
With tears in her eyes, Wu Cuicui responded one by one: "Okay, I understand."
Wu Erlang looked at her one last time and said, "Take care."
…
Wu Erlang left.
Wu Cuicui watched him and the followers disappear from sight, and then looked at the two lanterns hanging in front of the side door emitting a cold light in the moonlight. She didn't know why, but she felt inexplicably Somewhat frightened.
It was midnight, but she was no longer sleepy, so she asked her maid to get a big cloak, put it on, and took people to Wu's house to pick her up.
As early as in the imperial capital, the so-called forbidden night had become a piece of paper. If the emperor fled westward today, who would pick up the old rules again.
When Wu Cuicui arrived at Wu's house, the doorkeeper came up to her with a yawn and a very attentive look on her face: "Auntie is back?"
Wu Cuicui responded and hurriedly led the people to the backyard.
Wu Erlang and the Qin family's children were all still asleep. The brothers and sisters were in the same room, but their brows were wrinkled from time to time, and it was obvious that they were not sleeping very peacefully.
How could Wu Cuicui not know why?
She is also someone who has lost her mother.
But now...
No matter how much you regret or feel guilty, you can't bring the dead back to life!
Wu Cuicui ordered her maids to pack their bags for the children. Soon, there were a few more pairs of eyes outside the hospital.
The two aunts hurried over, the buttons on their clothes were still a little crooked: "Come and say hello to my aunt."
Then he carefully swept over the servants who were packing things in the courtyard, with a look of humble pleading on his face: "What happened?"
Wu Cuicui used to be very disdainful towards these concubines of her father, as the direct daughter of the wife of the royal family. However, she has experienced many things recently, and the old and natural concept seems to have disappeared. It faded away.
If you can be the wife of the first wife, who would be willing to be inferior to others and become a concubine?
These two aunts are the biological mothers of her two concubines. The reason why they came in a hurry is probably to see her coming to pick up the children of her second brother's family. They were afraid that something would happen and that she would take them away. Leave the mother and daughter alone.
Wu Cuicui felt stuffy, sore, and numb in her heart. She didn't know whether it was for them or for herself.
She told them truthfully: "There are always funerals in the house recently. My brother and I discussed it, but we both felt that it was not very good, so I wanted to take you to live with Li's house for a while, and also keep me company. I thought that my aunt and sisters were all asleep, so I didn't bother them. I didn't expect that I would make a noise. It's really my fault."
The two aunts had never seen her be so gentle, and they were a little flattered for a while.
After all, if this young lady gave them some face in the past, it might be for the sake of the master. But now that the master is gone, they and their daughter have to rely on the legitimate siblings to survive. On the contrary, she compares I used to be a lot more polite...
Both of them were at a loss for a moment. After regaining consciousness, they both saluted Wu Cuicui and whispered: "My aunt is compassionate, and the Bodhisattva will bless you."
Buddha bless?
Wu Cuicui wanted to laugh.
But seeing the two aunts looking solemn, they didn't refute. They smiled a little tiredly and said, "I hope so."
…
Wu Cuicui took the Wu family to live in Li's house temporarily, and put on a full play. She invited Taoist priests to perform rituals in the Wu family's courtyard. She ate at home in the name of praying for the deceased, and at the same time closed all the doors and dispersed people. Go out and find out the direction of the city at any time.
Slowly, she noticed something was wrong.
The Emperor and the Supreme Emperor...
In other words, the conflict between the old and new ministers is gradually increasing.
In the past, this discovery would have only made Wu Cuicui more determined to stand by the Supreme Emperor, burning incense and praying to Buddha every day to pray for bad luck to the emperor. But now, the falsehood used by the father and son to disguise themselves has been revealed. After the interview, she felt deeply uneasy about this!
What exactly do they want to do? !
Wu Cuicui could sense the turbulence of the current situation, but she couldn't find any ideas. She tried to consider the whole thing from the perspective of the Supreme Emperor, the mastermind behind the scenes, but she always got the same result. Confused.
She is not good at playing with people's hearts, let alone power.
The inspiration came from this afternoon.
She suddenly thought that there was no need to make things so complicated.
What is the most important thing to the Emperor?
It's power!
For this reason, he could kill the imperial concubine whom he had favored for many years, and he could ignore the emperor and the queen, his favorite princess.
In the past, she thought that the emperor's sudden old age was due to the loss of companionship, but looking back now, it was actually the opposite. What he really cared about was the loss of the power of love and life!
Even if that is only superficial authority!
In this case, what the emperor hopes for most is of course power!
Not hiding behind the scenes and manipulating the emperor as a puppet, but reappearing in front of the people of the world and regaining power!
But this is easier said than done?
Although all the blame is placed on the imperial concubine and the Chang family, who doesn't know that the Supreme Emperor is the source of this turmoil?
It's not that he is the emperor and the successor is his son, I'm afraid he would have been dragged out and hanged ten thousand times!
If he wants to ascend the throne again, he will have to do something outrageous unless the emperor does something outrageous.
Thinking of this, Wu Cuicui suddenly jumped up from her stool as if she had been pricked by a needle - Li Qiao!
…
Wu Erlang led a group of light cavalry and traveled day and night for several days, but they never found the shadow of Li Qiao's troops.
In the end, even he hesitated, reined in his horse, and asked his retinue: "Could it be that we are going the wrong way, or are we moving too slowly?"
The commander took out the map from his pocket and flipped through it. He shook his head and said, "Yes, we are walking on the exact path that the army must take to attack. I rode on horseback and drove all night, but General Li's troops had heavy infantry. In the past few days, Kung Fu, logically speaking, I should have caught up a long time ago, but now I haven’t seen anyone, which is really strange.”
The longer he saw no one, the more anxious Wu Erlang became.
According to his plan before departure, he should have met Li Qiao by now. However, at this moment, he didn't even see Li Qiao's shadow——
A feeling of uneasiness suddenly surged into his heart, and the ominous feeling in Wu Erlang's mind became more and more profound.
