The third prince, who once lived well among the various factions in the court, died quietly.
At first no one knew about the death of the third prince.
As the court went to court every morning, the ministers who had overtly and covertly succumbed to the Third Prince's faction were either sent down, moved to the left, or convicted. Only then did the ministers who were still at ease in the court realize that they were vaguely aware of this. There were so many turbulent waves under the calmness of the ancient well. I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and I was secretly afraid. I was glad that they didn't stand in the wrong queue or go in the wrong direction.
Everything is settled like dust, and the world is at home.
According to the ancestral tradition of the Wei royal family, the new emperor's enthronement is scheduled to take place on March 3rd, the day of the ancestor worship ceremony.
February 2nd.
early morning.
The spring is cold and cold.
Mist volleys in the sky.
The sky is filled with clouds, as gorgeous as brocade and as red as fire.
The eldest princess Wei Ruyi personally sent a dull young man to the carriage going south.
"Sister, I..."
He looked at the palace where he had lived for twelve years with longing, and then looked back at the crowds of people in the market with fear. The unfamiliar noise and bustling fireworks made him feel strong uneasiness and fear.
He has never set foot outside this palace until today.
From the beginning of his memory, he only knew that he was the emperor and the most powerful child in the world. But in the child's mind, he is ignorant and unable to understand what "the world" is, what "power" is, and what "power" is.
From the moment he stepped out of the palace, his future was filled with endless unknowns.
Wei Ruyi looked at the dull-looking young man with mixed emotions.
For this "younger brother", she actually doesn't have much "sister-sister relationship". Wei Ruyi still doesn't even have much sense of belonging to the "Wei Royal Family". "The past and present life" make her feel that the world in front of her is extremely strange. Her home and her belonging are not in this deep palace, let alone blood ties.
However, humans are not grass and trees, so how can they be ruthless? After all, Wei Ruyi raised the young Emperor as his younger brother for more than ten years and allowed him to be the puppet emperor for more than ten years. Looking at the fear and uneasiness in the young man's eyes when he faced the unknown future, Wei Ruyi couldn't help but feel a little guilty. .
"Go ahead."
Wei Ruyi took a deep breath, and her stern face became a little gentle. She rubbed the young man's head: "It's my sister who is incompetent and can't let you enjoy yourself in the palace. What's next... is too dangerous. .”
"Sister, are you in danger?"
The young man looked into Wei Ruyi's eyes, with a hint of concern on his dull face.
"No." Wei Ruyi thought of Zheng Xiu who was hiding behind the scenes, and how she and "Uncle Zheng" spent their childhood fishing, picking flowers, and growing vegetables in the mountain village, leisurely and contentedly; his expression was always so calm, his eyes It will always be like a bottomless pool of water, calm and steady. His eyes seem to see through everything in the world, and the world's general situation is strategized and under control... Wei Ruyi nodded vigorously: "No."
"This palace is magnificent, but for you..." Wei Ruyi wanted to comfort the young man at first, but as soon as she said these words, as if she was speaking to herself, an inexplicable sadness filled her heart. His eyelids drooped and his long eyelashes trembled slightly: "You are like a canary. This huge palace is cold and ruthless. To you, it is just a magnificent cage."
"The world outside is more exciting, and that is your life."
"My sister has trapped you here for thirteen years for the sake of imperial power. It's time to let you out."
The young man shook his head vigorously: "Sister, it's nothing, I'm very happy."
Wei Ruyi had already arranged a villa in a wealthy town in the south, where she left her trusted confidants and enough wealth for a young man to spend a lifetime.
The horse raised its hooves and flew away.
As the carriage went further and further away, it drove out of the south gate of Zheng's house. Zheng Xiu, who was sitting alone in the courtyard, was also looking at the south. His eyes seemed to penetrate through the layers of the house and saw the young man who was far away. meditation.
"Are you pitying him?"
Lady Anne rarely found a reason to laugh at Zheng Xiu. She stuck her butt out and jumped up. She touched Zheng Xiu's forehead with her fleshy balls, touched herself, and sneered with a look like "Are you mentally ill?"
"Please," Zheng Xiu came back from his thoughts and rubbed the place where the meat ball was pressed. I don't know if Lady Anne meant it, but she pressed it on his weird place. That place was particularly sensitive, causing Zheng Xiu to shiver. . He rolled his eyes and complained: "After all, you are a being whose life level far exceeds that of mere humans. Can you use a little more high-end technology to read minds or something like that? You will make me think that you are... calculated." ”
Of course, Zheng Xiu doesn't like having his mind spied on by things like "mind reading", but Lady Anne always asks strange questions with that cute and cute cat face, which makes her look very low. But when Zheng Xiu thought that the orange cat was suffering from "retrospection", which was worse than death and was already in a bad state, he...forget it.
never mind……
never mind…
never mind.
When Lady Anne heard this, she was stunned and froze in place, recalling the fear of being dominated by "forget it".
Zheng Xiu held his forehead, looked away from the back of the departing young "Late Emperor", and sighed softly: "I just thought of my own situation."
"Speaking of it, there seems to be no difference between me and him."
"His prison is the deep palace, the position of 'Emperor'."
"He is like a canary in a cage, like a frog at the bottom of a well, sitting in the well looking at the sky."
"He is lucky. One day, he will be able to escape from the prison and go to a wider world."
Lady Anne held her furry chin with her paws, thoughtfully: "But the world you are talking about is just a bigger cage. Oh, by the way, you created the cage with your own hands, and the culprit is you, meow." !”
Zheng Xiu rolled his eyes: "This is not what I want. Everyone in the world is imprisoned, who can be alone?"
Lady Anne blinked and looked at Zheng Xiu.
Zheng Xiu shook his head and smiled: "Everyone is playing games, and they are also playing games. Everyone is waiting, and they are waiting. Players think they are chess players, but they don't know that they are just an insignificant chess piece on the chessboard." Get up, I can be considered your pawn."
Lady Anne did not deny it, she showed a cute expression, her whiskers trembled, and asked naturally: "Isn't it good to be my chess piece?"
Zheng Xiu was stunned. You shamelessly said such things. It’s really hard for me to deny it in front of your cat face.
Anne didn't think there was anything wrong with her words. In fact, with her status, even stepping on Zheng Xiu and ravaging him would be the greatest gift to Zheng Xiu. It has nothing to do with good or bad, right or wrong, good or evil. This is just a natural "cognition" brought about by the gap in life levels, nothing more. Zheng Xiu has long discovered that he cannot use "human" thinking to measure Annie's thinking, otherwise he will be angry to death.
Zheng Xiu said nothing.
Annie remembered something and asked, "Speaking of which, meow, have you finished untying all those broken knots of yours?"
Zheng Xiu thought for a while and nodded: "Absolutely."
The three words "clouds of light and gentle breeze" convey the vicissitudes and bitterness of thousands of years of reincarnation. Zheng Xiu stood up and stretched. Behind him, four shadows with different styles followed suit, layer by layer, overlapping behind Zheng Xiu.
A shadow was tall and mighty.
A shadow is young and handsome.
A shadow of immortal wind.
A shadow twisted with bloodlust.
The four disembodied figures flickered in and out with Zheng Xiu's movements, gradually fading out of the body, and finally neatly returned to Zheng Xiu's body.
Lady Anne squinted at the fleeting "shadow" behind Zheng Xiu, and a faint light flashed in the cat's eyes: "Oh? That 'literary', you fused yourself?"
Zheng Xiu, who was stretching, heard this and nodded calmly: "Zheng E's compatibility is relatively high, perhaps because he was born from a 'scholarly family' in the setting."
"Is it?"
The orange cat lowered his head and thought about something when he heard Zheng Xiu's casual reply.
March 3rd soon arrived.
A warm wind sweeps across the earth, dispelling the chill of late winter and bringing spring back to everything.
There was a drizzle in the morning, the soil was moist, crystal raindrops hung on the treetops, and the sunlight cast a colorful glow.
Surrounded by thousands of people, the canopy-covered chariot drove out of the imperial city. Wei Ruyi, dressed in splendid imperial robes and a crown, stood on the chariot, respected by thousands of people and majestic to the world.
Hundreds of Jingzong monks in white robes moved slowly along with the car. Low and obscure chanting sounds came out neatly from the monks' mouths, adding a bit of solemnity and mystery to the empress's trip.
Accompanying him were hundreds of civil and military officials, distinguished ministers and veteran generals.
The Zheng family is a loyal and loyal family, and Zheng Haoran is a veteran who made great contributions in the Northern Barbarian War thirty years ago. Naturally, they are in the accompanying traffic.
The ascension of the empress to the throne is a major event in the world. The Wolf King, who has lived in the Zheng family for several months, practiced boxing with Zheng Haoran every day, and never got drunk at all times, has finally waited for this day.
The thirty-six small continents of Daxizhou were nominally included in the territory of the Daqian Dynasty, but Wei Ruyi gave Daxizhou sufficient autonomy. At this moment, the thirty-six "new governors", wearing different styles of clothing, were bustling Noisily followed behind the canopy chariot.
Today, the Northern Barbarians, Western Regions, and Daqian have become one family, and the world is unified.
There are twenty-six overseas island countries that have established diplomatic relations with Daqian. They all sent envoys and arrived at the capital of Daqian several months ago, waiting for this day.
This situation and scene, if placed thirty years ago, would have the meaning of "all nations coming to court".
What made all this happen was Wei Ruyi, who was about to become the first female emperor in the history of the Qian Dynasty, the "Emperor Wei Zhao" who was about to go down in history books for eternity.
A blind man "looked" at the group of people from a distance, shook his head and smiled, turned around and disappeared into the crowd.
Among the heirs left by the late emperor "Wei Yangzun", the second and third princes have died. The previous generation of young emperors went south, and now only the eldest prince is left to witness today's scene.
No, to be precise, it was "Prince Qi". He was the only one left to witness this scene.
In the carriage, Zheng Xiu held a peaceful orange cat in his arms, caressing the cat's head and smiling freely.
Lady Anne raised her head from time to time, feeling novel about everything happening around her. When she walked out of the city, the orange cat couldn't help but ask: "Is it done this time?"
Zheng Xiu smiled and shook his head.
Orange cat: "?"
That expression seemed to say, I hate the Riddler.
Zheng Xiu chuckled: "I don't know."
"have no idea?"
After a moment, Annie suddenly understood, but was at a loss: "I understand, this is the 'first time', but what about them?"
"Because they stand too high and too far away, slight distortions will not attract their attention. During this thousand years, I have constantly tested them and confronted them, just like a cat catching a mouse. Like them, risking their lives to play a game called 'hide and seek' with them."
"Every time, you try to send me back 'there' so that I can restart everything and start a new hide-and-seek."
Lady Anne had some impression of this. She remembered that she had been penetrated by tentacles. That feeling was inexplicably refreshing. Anyway, she wouldn't die, it was just a tentacle, nothing much.
So Annie nodded: "Then what?"
"Even if they don't set their sights on this place seriously, they will learn from their experiences through 'hide and seek' again and again, and realize how difficult the mice are."
It turns out that the "hide and seek" that Zheng Xiu talked about was a mouse hiding from the hunt of countless cats.
"They will subconsciously adjust, change, and choose a more suitable...container."
"The last time it was Er Niang, the previous time it was Ye, the next time it was my mother, and the third time it was Yue Linglong."
"They are hard to guard against and they infect everyone around me, making me hard to guard against and suspicious of others."
"There have been hundreds of reincarnations. I was in jail and almost went crazy because I found that there was no one around me that I could trust. Anyone around me could be them."
"So...I went crazy."
Anne listened carefully. When she heard this, she looked calm, but she was seriously thinking about Zheng Xiu's "crazy" appearance, and suddenly felt a little funny.
The carriage jolted for a while, then suddenly drove out of the city and headed straight for the imperial mausoleum.
The imperial mausoleum is not far from the city, and the ancestors of the Wei royal family, including Wei Yangzun, are buried inside.
Zheng Xiu was still talking calmly in the carriage about his "crazy" experience.
"Everyone I saw had a ferocious smile on their face. They had a row of white teeth, and their eyes were densely covered with bugs. Their bodies were rotten, with many black roots coming out of them. .”
"The sky is unbelievable, it will rain down black thunder."
"The earth cannot be trusted, the vast jungle will drown me."
"The moon turned into a huge eye, and the falling snow would turn red and bury me. The distant hills would rise up to the sky and turn into a fist, crushing everything in front of me."
"I have no way, no way to go. I restart again and again, and I am tortured by them again and again."
"My divinity was dyed black. I sacrificed the 'Abyss Walker' and thought about dying together."
"I killed everyone." Zheng Xiu calmly said a terrible thing. After a moment of silence, Zheng Xiu suddenly smiled, with a hint of warmth in his indifferent eyes: "It's funny to say that it was the monk who blocked me that time."
"He said something strange and I woke up."
"He said, brother, wake up."
"I just woke up."
"I forgot how many years ago he called me big brother."
Zheng Xiu smiled and raised his index finger: "Suddenly one day, I suddenly woke up."
"Why should I ask them to do multiple-choice questions?"
In the distance, the monk smiled and touched his head.
"I... made the choice for them."
"I chose the perfect container for them..."
"Enough to hold seven of His vessels."
(End of chapter)
