In the middle of June, the heat in Beijing was extremely hot, and it was even worse today. There was no wind since noon, and the cicadas were noisy, which was even more disturbing.
Princess Zhao Li Ruyi was sitting on the porch mending clothes, and Prince Zhao Situ Li was sitting on a recliner, staring blankly at the dark clouds gathering in the sky.
It is going to rain.
"Sir, it's time to eat." A guard came in with his hands lowered and shouted softly.
Situ Li didn't seem to hear anything. Li Ruyi glanced at Situ Li, put down what he was doing, and prepared to go get food with the servant.
But the servant smiled apologetically and said, "The person who delivered the food said that the young master must go in person today."
Hearing this, Li Ruyi couldn't help frowning and said angrily: "The young master is in ill health. If the young master doesn't go, he won't be able to get it, and you won't give it away in the future."
"Madam, please calm down. Madam, please calm down." The servant hurriedly bowed and admitted his mistake, "The person who delivered the meal said that there is a nobleman who wants to see the young master today, and I hope that the young master will come."
"What noble person? He is obviously a bunch of slaves like you..."
"Okay." Situ Li stopped Li Ruyi, "I'll just go."
"Your Highness..." Li Ruyi looked at her husband with a distressed face and hurriedly went over to help him get up.
…
Li Ruyi helped Situ Li to the front hall garden, and saw a woman dressed as a palace man standing under the tree. Situ Li was a little confused. Could it be that the palace finally sent someone to kill him?
Seeing Situ Li coming, the servant who delivered the meal hurriedly told the woman. When the woman turned around, she saw Situ Li, who was in shabby clothes and in an awkward shape. Tears were streaming down her face, "Cousin..."
Situ Li was shocked. He stumbled forward and supported the woman, "Qingchu? Why are you here?"
Fu Qingchu held back his tears and said, "This is a long story, so I would like to ask my brother to sit down and talk."
Situ Li nodded repeatedly and sat down in the front hall. Fu Qingchu asked the servants to lay out the food, then waved them away and served food to Situ Li and his wife, "Brother, eat more. Sister-in-law, too."
Situ Li glanced at the food and looked at Fu Qingchu with confusion and worry, "Why are you here? Does anyone know?"
Fu Qingchu put down his chopsticks and sighed: "The prince rescued me from the Jiaofang Division. I am now working as an errand in the East Palace. Today, I came here to see you and my sister-in-law on the pretext of delivering something to my sister."
Speaking of Situ Ce, Situ Li's face suddenly darkened, "He is a rare kind-hearted person."
Knowing the grudge between the two, Fu Qingchu did not defend Situ Ce.
Situ Li raised his eyes and looked at her, sighed, and said with a guilty look on his face: "I have caused you trouble."
"What are you talking about at this time?" Fu Qingchu sighed and looked around, "Sister-in-law, can you help me watch from the outside? I have something to ask my brother."
Li Ruyi glanced at Situ Li, and when she saw Situ Li nodded, she got up and went out.
"What's the matter?" Situ Li asked.
"Regarding the prince's birthmark, has my brother really seen it?" Fu Qingchu asked with raised eyebrows.
"How do you know this?"
"Prince Jin told me. He said that the reason why you started the uprising was because you discovered the true identity of the prince, and the prince wanted to silence him immediately. If this is the case, why didn't my brother inform the emperor about this?"
If it was really because he discovered that the prince was not the prince, then Situ Ce should do everything possible to silence him, and Situ Li would not be alive today.
"Is it useful to tell His Majesty?" Situ Li asked back. Seeing Fu Qingchu's shocked face, he sneered, "The Crown Prince is the eldest son, unlike us concubines. We are all His Majesty's princes and his ministers. Only Situ Ce is his most important son. No matter what we say, we are all fratricides who are coveting the throne."
"But this is about the blood of the royal family and the country. Even if you don't want to see brothers killing each other, you can't pretend to be deaf and dumb, right?" Fu Qingchu looked puzzled.
"But he has already repainted that birthmark, and the witnesses from back then can't come forward to testify, so what can I do?" Speaking of this, Situ Li couldn't help but clenched his fist and pounded the table.
"So, my brother was planning to strike first?" Fu Qingchu asked.
"When I found out there was no birthmark on his neck, I immediately found my grandfather..."
"Brother, can you tell me what happened that day in detail?" Fu Qingchu frowned and looked at him, "The more detailed the better."
Hearing this, Situ Li was a little puzzled, "What are you going to do?"
"I am now working as an errand in the East Palace and have many opportunities to contact the prince. Only by understanding the situation on that day can I grasp the prince's handle. Whether we can turn over depends on this time." Fu Qingchu looked at him and said with a serious expression.
Situ Li sighed, "The matter has come to this, why do you need to take risks?"
"There are hundreds of people in the Fu family, we can't just die in such an unexplained way!"
boom--
As Fu Qingchu said that, a thunder fell in the sky, and heavy rain came immediately.
"I've had enough of being in panic all day long and being ridiculed by others!" Fu Qingchu said with tears.
Situ Li lowered his eyes and thought for a while before coming one by one.
On the same day, news came from the front line that the Holy Emperor was injured and in critical condition. After hearing this, Situ Ce was so furious that he couldn't afford to fall ill. Situ Li and Fu Zhonghua took care of all the affairs of the court.
Suddenly one day, someone came from the palace and said that the prince was seriously ill and summoned King Zhao urgently.
Situ Li hurriedly went to Ziyang Palace. Seeing that Situ Ce had a high fever and could not drink the medicine anymore, Situ Li helped Situ Ce up and asked the palace servants to forcefully open his mouth and drink it.
The medicine was spilled, and the palace attendants were busy changing Situ Ce's clothes. Only then did Situ Li realize that the birthmark on the back of his neck was gone.
He was horrified, but he did not dare to say anything. After Situ Ce's fever subsided, he left the palace and prepared to discuss the matter with Fu Zhonghua. Unexpectedly, on the way out of the palace, she met Yun Shen, the abbot of the Taoist temple where the late queen was a monk.
Yun Shen hurried on his way, not even doing any courtesy.
Fu Zhonghua asked Situ Li not to act rashly and took Yun Shen first. After some coercion and inducement, Yun Shen finally revealed that he entered the palace to replenish Situ Ce's birthmark.
According to Yun Shen, the prince fell seriously ill when he was five or six years old. The queen carried the prince down the mountain to seek medical treatment. Halfway there, the prince died. The late empress was afraid that Emperor Yuan He would be blamed, so she bought a boy who looked very similar to the prince and had him tattooed with the red dragon birthmark.
After Situ Li got the exact news, he was very excited. But that night, news came from the palace that the prince had woken up and summoned him into the palace.
He was afraid that Situ Ce would kill someone and silence him, so he immediately summoned the left prison guards led by Fu Huaiping into the palace and surrounded the Ziyang Palace. Who would have thought that Situ Ce had an ambush for a long time. As soon as he entered the Ziyang Palace, he was held hostage by Situ Ce's men, and the guard of the left prison was also disarmed by the people of Prince Shi's Mansion who had already ambushed him.
"Later, the Holy Lord returned to Beijing safely and handed the matter over to the Crown Prince for trial. My petition fell into the dust." Situ Li said with a bitter smile, "But so what if the petition was sent to the Holy Lord? I suspected that the Crown Prince's identity was false, and then brought Soldiers entering the palace? Will the Holy One believe it?"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Fu Qingchu looked at him reluctantly, "Brother, take care, the truth will be revealed one day."
"At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, things have come to this. We have become kings and losers. I can still survive in this world because the Holy Father still cares about the relationship between father and son. If you take risks again, the whole Fu family will be gone!" Situ Li frowned and advised. Said, "Let everything end!"
"Brother didn't make excuses for his enemies, so naturally he doesn't know my sufferings. Even if I suffer any consequences in the future, I still deserve it." Fu Qingchu said with a stubborn look on his face, "I'm going, brother, take care!"
As Fu Qingchu said that, he stood up and left. Li Ruyi wanted to come forward and give some advice, but how could Fu Qingchu listen?
…
The rain in midsummer comes hard and goes quickly, never annoying.
But Situ Ce was troubled. Fu Qingchu had been walking for most of the day, and he didn't know if he got caught in the rain on the way.
"Someone is coming."
"exist."
"you……"
Situ Ce couldn't help but look up when he heard the words, and saw Fu Qingchu standing outside the door with a smile on his face. He couldn't help but smile, but still pretended to be unhappy and said, "I thought I was going to stay at eldest sister's house."
"It's getting late, cats have to go home, mice have to go back to their burrows, how could I stay in someone else's house?" Fu Qingchu walked in with a smile, touched the teapot, and poured a cup of hot tea for Situ Ce.
Situ Ce led her over and sat next to him. Feeling her cold fingers, he frowned and asked, "Did you get caught in the rain?"
Fu Qingchu shook his head, "No, it's raining, so it will naturally be cooler." He said, pulling his hand back, "Don't freeze you."
Situ Ce stubbornly pulled her hand back, held it in his hand and covered it, "Why am I so delicate?"
Fu Qingchu looked at him and couldn't help but smile.
Cheng Shuhe asked her if she loved Situ Ce. She couldn't answer, but she knew in her heart that she loved him. It's just that this love cannot be expressed verbally. She was afraid that he would think that she was just a loving little girl who couldn't take on the trouble.
"Your Highness."
"Um?"
"How many empresses will you marry in the future?" She tilted her head and asked with a smile.
Hearing this, Situ Ce couldn't help but laugh, "I'm not here yet, and you're starting to get jealous?"
"I'll just ask."
Situ Ce pretended to think seriously, "There are twelve palaces in the east palace and six inner palaces. At least five or six people can be accommodated in one palace. How many do you think there are?"
Fu Qingchu took a deep breath and asked, "Can your body bear it?"
Situ Ce: "..."
"I want you to see how powerful I am today!" Situ Ce said fiercely. As he spoke, he picked him up and went to the bedroom.
Fu Qingchu hugged his neck and smiled like a bad fox.
The shower outside has begun to subside, and the clouds and rain are billowing inside.
In the end, Fu Qingchu lay exhausted in Situ Ce's arms, enjoying his tenderness afterwards.
She leaned on his shoulder, thought for a while and said solemnly: "I went to see my cousin today."
Hearing this, Situ Ce was stunned and sighed, "Did you use Dong Palace's badge?"
"Well, eldest sister made some food and asked me to take it over." She said calmly.
"Did he say anything to you?" He hugged her, his tone was light, and no emotion could be heard.
"He said that the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, which means he is willing to accept defeat."
"Gamble? He is indeed betting big. If the next step is taken, the position of prince will be his." Situ Ce smiled, but he didn't care.
"How did he rebel at that time?" Fu Qingchu got up and looked at him seriously and asked.
He reached out and touched her face, as if he didn't want to remember it. After thinking about it, he said in a deep voice: "While I was sick, I asked Fu Huaiping to lead people to surround the Ziyang Palace, but it was captured by the Tenth Palace of the East Palace."
"Since he came prepared, how did His Highness know?" Fu Qingchu asked puzzledly.
"In such a big battle, there will be some rumors. I had to prepare in advance, but he really came." Situ Ce sighed helplessly, "You must have listened to what he said. You have to be suspicious. Did I hurt him?"
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at him seriously and said, "Even if there is wind, there should be a direction, right?"
Situ Ce looked at her and was silent for a long time. It took him a while to react, and he couldn't help but smile and said, "I didn't expect this."
"There is no wall in the world that does not leak. But which wall does it leak from? Your Highness has eyes and ears in all directions. How could you not feel it?"
Situ Ce reached out to touch her face and said with a smile, "Fu Qingchu, I saw you right."
"Do I have to be talented? Otherwise, how will I stand out from your three thousand beauties in the future?" She looked at him with an arrogant look.
Situ Ce smiled, turned over and pressed the person under him again, kissed her lips, and whispered in her ear: "There are three thousand pieces of weak water, I only take one scoop."
