Situ Ce carried Fu Qingchu all the way to the pavilion behind Zhaoming Palace, placed her on the seat, bent down and looked at her and said harmoniously: "Don't be afraid, she is greedy and perverts the law and fishes the palace people. She deserves to die."
Fu Qingchu stared at him blankly, lowered his eyes at the blood on his hands, raised his hands and looked at him with horror on his face, "Your Highness, blood, I killed someone, her head is about to fall off..."
Situ Ce glanced at her hand, stretched out his hand to hold it, and showed it to her, "I have it in my hand too."
She nodded blankly, Situ Ce frowned slightly, stood up and held her hand, walked to the edge of the pool, put his sleeves into the water to wet them, wiped the blood on her face and hands, and showed it to her, "Not now. "
Fu Qingchu looked at his clean hands and looked up at him, only to see blood stains on his chest. He pointed out, "There's more here." He turned to look at himself and said, "There's also blood here."
He looked at her closely, took off his coat and threw it on the ground, "Just change your clothes if they get dirty."
"She said she was a ghost..."
"Fu Qingchu! Look at me." Situ Ce held her shoulders and said solemnly, "I asked you to kill this person. I will go to hell for you. I will bear all the retribution and punishment for you. Don't think about it anymore."
Fu Qingchu looked at him, tears falling unexpectedly, covering the corners of his mouth, crying and shaking his head, "No, I don't want you to go to hell, don't..."
Situ Ce's heart sank, he took her into his arms and whispered in her ear: "Come with me." After saying that, he took her hand and walked out.
"Come here, prepare your horses!"
Li Ping, who was waiting not far away, heard this and quickly sent people to prepare horses.
Situ Ce led the people to the entrance of the East Palace, pushed Fu Qingchu onto the horse, got on the horse himself, pulled the reins, raised his whip and galloped away from the palace.
Li Ping was immediately frightened, "Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and prepare your horse to chase!"
The prince just went out. If anything happened, he wouldn't be alive.
…
The East Palace is close to the East Market, and it is difficult to walk around because of the crowds and cars. When they reached the center of the market, Situ Ce had to lead his horse and walk slowly. Fu Qingchu was so frightened that he had to dismount, "Your Highness..."
"Sit down." He said solemnly.
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu did not dare to argue with him.
It was still early in the morning, the streets were full of items, and vendors and goons were coming and going, making it very lively.
"Selling flowers, selling flowers, sir, buy a flower for the girl." The little girl stopped Situ Ce and said with a smile.
Situ Ce looked at the beautiful peonies and was about to buy her a bouquet when Fu Qingchu said, "No need."
Situ Ce turned to look at her and said, "I want ten flowers."
"Oh, okay." The little girl smiled and counted ten flowers that bloomed just right, "Twenty cents."
Situ Ce was stunned. Money was rarely needed for him in most cases, so he had no habit of carrying money.
Seeing his hesitation, the little girl smiled and said, "I'll give you a little less, eighteen cents."
"We were in a hurry and forgot to bring money. This hairpin of mine is worth so much. Do you think I can exchange it for your flowers?" Fu Qingchu took out the hairpin and handed it to the little girl.
The little girl looked at the hairpin with some hesitation. Situ Ce had already taken off the jade pendant, "Is this in exchange for your basket of flowers?"
When the little girl saw it, she hurriedly smiled and said good, and handed the flower basket to Situ Ce, "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."
Situ Ce took the flowers, looked at Fu Qingchu, and said with a smile, "Here."
Fu Qingchu pursed his lips and smiled softly, then took the flower basket.
Situ Ce led the horse and shuttled through the downtown area. The vendors who came and went sold him all kinds of novelty things, but he had no extra jade on him, so he could only give up.
"Sir, are you in need of help at home? This girl of mine is very hard-working. She will be absolutely obedient when she takes her home to help my wife." A woman stopped him and said with a smile.
"No shortage."
"Is there a need for a boy? My boy is very strong. He does all the hard work at home. You can save your energy by coming to your house." The woman said.
"Thank you, I'm not short of anything."
Fu Qingchu turned his eyes and looked at the two half-grown children with grass tags on their heads. He saw that they were in ragged clothes, crying silently and saying nothing. There was a feeling of emotion in her heart, but there was nothing she could do to help them.
"My lord, look at these two girls in my family. Are they handsome or not? You can take them back and do whatever you want." A man said with a smile.
"Brother, how do you sell these two girls?" A middle-aged woman dressed exquisitely walked towards me.
"Madam, you have good taste. These two girls are smart and beautiful. I'm sure they can learn everything. In this way, the two girls will get twenty taels of silver." The man said with a smile.
"Oh, I'm buying a girl, not a young lady. Why should I be beautiful?" the woman said with a smile, "I can't even serve the young ladies in my family."
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu probably knew what this woman did. He turned to look at Situ Ce. Situ Ce didn't change his expression and led the horse forward.
Fu Qingchu held the flower basket in his hand and looked at the woman and the man bargaining with unbearable eyes. However, she couldn't help them.
"Most of those people are not the biological parents of the children." Situ Ce said calmly.
Fu Qingchu turned to look at him and heard him continue: "I don't know how many hands have fallen."
In fact, Fu Qingchu knew these things. Where could anyone who sells children be such a philistine? But she didn't know how their parents felt when they sold them.
After leaving Dongshi, Situ Ce mounted his horse and took her to the river outside the city. It was already the late stage of sowing, but there were still many farmers working in the fields.
But these are not like ordinary farmers. There are overseers watching over them. If they are not careful, the whip will fall on their backs.
Fu Qingchu walked to Situ Ce. Situ Ce looked at the people working not far away and said in a deep voice: "The ancestors of these people are refugees. In the last years of the Ning Dynasty, wars broke out. They had to rely on major families to survive. They are called For the song.
"The tribes fought with the major families during the war. After the founding of the Jing Dynasty, some tribes were incorporated into the regular army, while some were still attached to the big families and became their slaves or private soldiers."
"Private soldiers?" Fu Qingchu couldn't help but frown, "Don't the court know?"
"So what if you know?" Situ Ce smiled, "You are a servant when you are free, and you are a private soldier only when you are in war. You can't punish someone just because they have many slaves, right?"
"But they cultivate the land for the wealthy families. Who will cultivate the extra land? This will do no good to the country and the people." Fu Qingchu frowned and looked at him, "Is there no other way?"
"have."
"any solution?"
"The big family no longer exists, and they are free." Situ Ce looked at her and said firmly, "Just like Su Junruo no longer exists in this world, the monthly salary of the palace maids in the East Palace will no longer be adulterated. It’s like silver.”
"Your Highness..." Fu Qingchu looked at him in disbelief. She never believed that Situ Ce could be a bloodthirsty person.
"If a Su Jun can corrupt the Zhanshi Mansion of Jialing Temple, what about the aristocratic families with the seven surnames? These tribes are not the only ones who are being oppressed. The children with straw signs on the street today, the women from Pingkang Baili and Jiaofangsi, Which one is not being exploited?
"You would rather die than join the Jiaofangsi and be humiliated. Now these servants, are they willing? Maybe in your opinion, defending the country and guarding the border is glorious, but whose home are these people defending? Whose? profit?
"Although I am not as good as Yao, Shun, and Yu, I still want no one to sell their children or daughters in this world, and no one in the world will be oppressed by aristocratic families. I want my people to have enough to eat and wear warm clothes..."
Before Situ Ce finished speaking, Fu Qingchu hugged her and she shouted in a deep voice: "Long live your Majesty."
Fu Qingchu received a Confucian education of loyalty to the emperor and benevolence since he was a child, and he had seen too many great heroes in books. But they are too far away from her. To her, they are all gods in the clouds, and it is rare for mortals to see them face to face.
However, today she seemed to have met the Holy Lord Mingjun in her heart, a great hero who stood up to heaven and earth, and he was being held tightly in her arms.
It is said that heroes have trouble with beauties, but who knew that beauties also love heroes so much.
Situ Ce was shocked by her words and asked uncertainly: "What?"
"Long live your Majesty!" Fu Qingchu hugged him tightly and repeated in a deep voice.
Situ Ce's heart was shocked. This time he heard it clearly. It was him who Fu Qingchu called and he who wished him long live. But he still felt that it was not true. It was not that he wanted to be emperor so much, but that there was someone who agreed from the bottom of his heart that he could make Haiyanheqing clear, instead of thinking that he was just talking empty words.
Boya Ziqi, that's all.
Fu Qingchu let go of him, took two steps back, knelt down and bowed his head, "I, Fu Qingchu, am willing to follow His Highness and swear allegiance to you with unswerving devotion."
Situ Ce looked at her closely, his eyes slightly red. He took a deep breath and stretched out his hand to help her up, "If you are like this, what else can I ask for?"
…
At the turn of spring and summer, there were frequent rains. It cleared up for a while when they left the city, but it started raining heavily again just after they entered the city. The two had to take shelter under the eaves of a hotel.
The waiter saw the people coming and said with a smile: "Are the two guests staying in the hotel?"
"It's raining heavily. I'd like to ask my second brother to take shelter from the rain." Fu Qingchu said with a smile.
"No problem, no problem, sit inside." The waiter enthusiastically invited the people into the store, brought them a pot of hot tea, and chatted with them for a while.
Soon, some guests came in one after another, and the waiter went to entertain the guests.
Fu Qingchu frowned as he looked at the rain that kept falling. Situ Ce was calm and composed: "It's okay to stay here if it's late." He said while drinking tea.
This was what Fu Qingchu was worried about. If he stayed out overnight like this, Li Ping would go crazy. I'm probably looking everywhere right now.
"What if they can't find us?" She looked at him anxiously.
"I'll go back tomorrow." Situ Ce said calmly.
She wanted to say something else, but the waiter came over and looked at the two of them and said, "Guests, it's already past dinner time and the rain hasn't stopped yet. Why don't you have dinner before leaving?"
Situ Ce looked up at him and said with a smile, "Okay, bring up all the signature dishes in your store and boil a pot of good wine."
"Okay, please wait a moment."
"We have no money." Fu Qingchu approached him and whispered,
"Just send him off on horseback." Situ Ce said calmly.
Fu Qingchu: "..."
After a while, all the wine and food were served. Situ Ce poured the wine for her personally, raised his glass and said with a smile, "I wish you a good talent today."
Fu Qingchu hurriedly raised his glass and said with a smile: "Thank you, Master, for not giving up."
After a day of hard work, the two of them were also hungry. Because they were out, Fu Qingchu forgot many rules for a while, so the meal was particularly delicious.
But after three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, the rain still showed no sign of stopping. Situ Ce had no choice but to recruit a waiter and ask for two upper rooms.
"Unfortunately, sir, there is only one room available now. Do you think we need more?" the waiter said with an apologetic smile.
Fu Qingchu: "..."
Not to mention that it was raining outside and they couldn't go out. The key point was that they didn't bring any money. If they paid the horse for food, where would they find money for the house?
"And there's a curfew coming soon. We are the only inn for a few miles around here. If it's inconvenient for you two, we can also lay down a bed on the floor."
Situ Ce sighed, "Forget it, take us to rest."
"Okay, please come this way." The waiter smiled and led the way.
