It's three o'clock in the morning.
Xiao Yuheng, the young emperor of Da Qi did not rest.
At this time, his eyes were red and bloodshot, and he was standing behind a huge screen in Hanzhang Hall, holding a copper candlestick.
This screen doesn't seem to be anything special. It has the most common picture of "Fishing on the Cold River" painted on it, but there is another mystery on the back of the screen.
I saw densely packed yellow slips of paper on the back, with some people's names and official ranks written on them.
Some people's names are circled with red pen, while some people's names are crossed with black pen.
There are three pieces of paper side by side in the middle position, with the three names "Xiao Ziqian", "Xiao Ziqi" and "Xiao Wei" clearly written on them, but there are no red circles or black crosses on the names.
Xiao Yuheng's right hand holding the black pen trembled slightly. He still couldn't make up his mind, so he threw the pen in his hand to the ground.
"To kill... or not to kill?" Xiao Yuheng said to himself.
If it had been three years ago when he came to the throne, he would have never been as hesitant about killing people as he is now. But once he killed too many people, he would feel scared, and the longer the night, the more scared he felt.
Closing his eyes, what appeared in front of him were all the royal family and nobles who died under his butcher knife. The youngest among them was Xiao Yuyi, the king of Nanping, who was only four years old. In a daze, he even saw the young brother shaking his arm. Beg for his life.
But that was already impossible. It was he who ordered the little boy and his mother and concubine to be thrown into the fire and burned alive.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder. There seemed to be the cry of the young brother in his ears, and he felt that there seemed to be a ghostly atmosphere everywhere in the deep and dark Hanzhang Palace.
At this moment, a crisp sound of footsteps came from a distance, and the sound echoed ethereally in the empty deep palace.
A fragrant and fragrant fragrance came to his face. Xiao Yuheng sniffed and felt relieved again.
"Sister?" He called softly, as if he was afraid that his voice would be too loud and disturb the ghosts in the palace.
"Your Majesty." Princess Yongning Xiao Yuwan's voice came from outside the gauze curtain.
Xiao Yuheng ran out barefoot like a frightened child and threw himself into the arms of this beautiful princess.
"Sister, I saw them again. They always come to me and won't let me go no matter what." Xiao Yuheng said like a wronged child.
At the same time, he took a deep breath. The unique fragrance on Xiao Yuwan's body relaxed his mind slightly. He then said softly, "Sister, the fragrance on your body is so delicious. It's exactly the same as the one on your mother's body." .”
Xiao Yuwan sighed softly, and stroked the young emperor's cold and pale face with her slender hands.
"Can't sleep again?" Xiao Yuwan looked at him lovingly.
"Well, my sister is not around, and those bad guys always come to harass me. They want my life when they are alive, and they will not let me go when they turn into ghosts after they die." Xiao Yuheng said with a sweet look on his face.
"Sister, let's go to bed with you!" Xiao Yuwan said softly.
"Yeah." The young emperor nodded vigorously.
So Xiao Yuheng took Xiao Yuwan's hand and walked to the dragon couch behind the curtain.
When passing by the huge "Fishing on the Cold River" screen, Xiao Yuwan looked at the yellow notes on the back and sighed softly, and her originally bright eyes suddenly lost their luster.
Sitting on the dragon couch, there was darkness in front of me. Only the lone lamp in the distance was still stubbornly emitting its weak light.
Soft singing echoed in the dark and empty hall.
Xiao Yuwan stopped humming, lowered her head and looked lovingly at the young emperor who was sleeping on her lap. His frown had slowly relaxed, and his gentle snoring had begun to sound rhythmically.
"Sleep well! My brother." Xiao Yuwan said softly. She pushed back the few strands of hair that covered the young emperor's face. "If it's so painful, why did you fight for the position of the prince?"
When she said this, she couldn't help but smile bitterly.
If they had not fought for the throne back then, perhaps the weeds in the burial place of their two sisters would have been as high as one of them.
Just as she was thinking of this, she suddenly felt one of her hands being held by someone.
She lowered her head.
"Sister, I just had a dream." Xiao Yuheng said softly without opening his eyes.
"Go to sleep! Your Majesty, it's still early, and we have to go to court early tomorrow!" Xiao Yuwan comforted her softly.
Xiao Yuheng shook his head gently. At this time, he seemed to be asleep and awake: "Sister, I dreamed about that winter, do you still remember? It was the winter when it snowed heavily, and my mother was still there, taking us two together. Visit Hualin Garden to enjoy the snow."
"I still remember that day...I still remember that day in Nahua Forest Park, you had a dispute with the child, and you ended up fighting with him..."
"Haha... Every time I dream about that day, I always think of him. It's really disappointing." Xiao Baoyu said with a smile on his lips, "I have only fought with someone once in my life, and it ended up being a fight. Lost."
"What was the reason for? And why did Princess Xuanming and King Qinghe from Wei State offend you? You want to set your dogs to bite them."
"I just find them annoying. They are obviously Suolu who drink blood, but they want to wear my Chinese clothes, learn my etiquette, and act aloof in my Daqi court. It makes me angry just looking at it... Thinking again about the war in Shouyang that year, when Suo Lu captured our troops and civilians for no reason, I felt itchy with hatred."
"Hey, why bother about what happened back then? If you were a favored royal family, how could you follow the Wei envoy to our Daqi at that time? Besides, you were all still young at that time, and the conquest was not something that their children could control." Xiao Yuwan said with a sigh.
"The five barbarians invaded China and occupied the great rivers and mountains of our northern land. Although it was a crime committed by their ancestors, one day when they grow up, they will follow the footsteps of their fathers and invade our Daqi. They all deserve to die! "
"Children's talk again." Xiao Yuwan smiled faintly, "Your Majesty is no longer the child he was back then. You must know that the country is now unstable, the imperial power is consolidated at home, and the current national policy is to build a good relationship with Wei through diplomacy. Expeditions that waste people and money are harmful to both countries. unfavorable."
"I know all this, sister."
"By the way, the emperor promised my sister. When are you going to propose marriage to the Kingdom of Wei and marry Princess Xuanming?"
"This... let's discuss it later! Our main palace does not lack that decoration. When I think of that woman, I feel uncomfortable." Xiao Yuheng suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Xiao Yuwan's hand, "Sister , I don’t want any woman except my sister.”
Xiao Yuwan smiled and took out her hand: "Your Majesty is talking nonsense again. After all, I am an elder sister. You can't do anything for my Xiao family."
"Then I don't care, I just want my sister to accompany me."
Xiao Yuwan gently touched Xiao Yuheng's face, with an indescribable sadness in her eyes.
At this moment, Xiao Yuheng suddenly looked solemn and sat up immediately.
This surprised Xiao Yuwan.
"What's wrong? Your Majesty?"
"Sister, do you think that Xiao Yu is really crazy or fake?" the young emperor asked.
"How can madness be fake? It has been so many years. If he suddenly went crazy when His Majesty came to the throne, then I would suspect that he was pretending to be crazy, but he has indeed been suffering from this stupid disease for so many years. ." Xiao Yuwan blinked, "Your Majesty, you still remember that in order to treat Xiao Yu, Prince Jiangxia also visited famous doctors all over the world. Now there are still medical records in the Tai Hospital, how can it be false!"
"I know all this. Besides, during the three years he was detained by the Tingwei Office, an informant reported his situation to me every few months. He has been stupid every day for three years. I don't believe that his madness is just a fake." of."
"Then what is your Majesty suspicious of?"
Xiao Yuheng pondered for a moment, and then he continued: "I don't know either. When I saw him for the first time that day, I had an indescribable feeling in my heart. He doesn't look like a stupid person."
Xiao Yuwan's heart suddenly rose.
"Your Majesty, you are worrying too much!"
"I've thought about it too... But I've seen a lot of stupid people before, and none of them are like him. A fool can't pretend. I haven't seen him in these years. I really don't know how he can bear it till now. "
"How could it be? Your Majesty must have been too busy with state affairs these days, so..."
"No, sister, the secret whistle I sent out is back, and someone secretly went to see Xiao Yu."
"This will happen!" Xiao Yuwan was shocked.
"On the night when Xiao Yu was summoned! Who do you think that person was? He was Liu Boxuan, who had been far away from the temple for a long time. Haha, he was both civil and military, and he could organize troops and formations... What a powerful person, Xiao Ziqian's confidant back then, he What on earth do you want to do!" Xiao Yuheng gritted his teeth when he said this.
Xiao Yuwan took a deep breath: "What happened next? What did Liu Boxuan do after that?"
"He left before dawn. He thought he had no flaws, but he was spotted by my spies. He took the waterway to Jingxiang... In these years, he has been very close to Xiao Yan in Jingzhou. , and Xiao Ziqian, what are they going to do?"
"Uncle Huang and Xiao Yan, what can happen to them..."
"It is said that Xiao Yan is definitely not a creature in the pond. When I think about it, sometimes I am really afraid of him. He has been in Jingxiang for 20 years and has pinched Jiankang's neck. This man will definitely turn into a dragon when encountering a storm. Sooner or later, I will get rid of this hidden danger. , but currently we still need to use him..."
Xiao Yuwan's eyes flickered: "Since Liu Boxuan is not an easy person, if he abandoned Xiao Ziqian, Xiao Yu and his son, is he disappointed in Xiao Yu..."
"It would be great if this is the case. With Liu Boxuan as his assistant, Xiao Yan will definitely feel that he is even more powerful than a tiger. He thinks that the late emperor can suppress him, but I can't suppress him? If you have the ability, just rebel and show me!"
"What about Xiao Yu? And what about the three princes locked up in the palace? How will the emperor deal with it? Will he still kill people?"
"I don't know. I don't move them now because of my considerations, but I'm not afraid of one or two more evil ghosts in the nightmare." A cold light suddenly appeared in Xiao Yuheng's eyes.
"Your Majesty, you are going to kill everyone in the Xiao family, so are you really going to be alone?" Xiao Yuwan's voice was a little sad, "Your Majesty, my Xiao family has been scattered to this day, and my Taizu's lineage is now There are only a few princes and you and me left, do you want to kill again? When the building is about to collapse, who will be able to balance with you Xiao Yan and Xiao Tong, who hold hundreds of thousands of thorns and have heavy troops in Yong Province?"
"Sister, what if my Xiao family is in disarray? As long as you and I are still here, Daqi will not fail? Have you forgotten how your mother was forced to death by those who claimed to be loyal ministers and good generals? You and I have experienced it later. What? When I ascend the throne, what is waiting for me? If we don’t get rid of those who want to kill me, then only I and my sister will be killed!"
"Your Majesty, do all the deceased members of the Xiao family really deserve to die? Xiao Yuyuan is only nine years old and Xiao Yuyi is only four years old. What threat can they pose to you!"
"But one day they will grow up and have full wings, and many people will instigate them to challenge my imperial power for their own glory and wealth." Xiao Yuheng almost roared.
"That's what Your Majesty thinks."
"Yes, this is the art of the emperor!"
Xiao Yuwan felt sad in her heart, and she said quietly: "Your Majesty, those people are no longer here, so it is useless to say anything. But my sister is here to intercede for the last members of my Xiao family."
Xiao Yuheng was silent, he was hesitating, but he shook his head gently.
Xiao Yuwan continued to plead: "My sister cannot guarantee the other two princes, but I can guarantee that Prince Jiangxia and his son have no intention of rebellion. With the emperor's uncle here, he can resist the Northern Wei Dynasty externally, and check and balance Jingxiang and Jianghuai internally. I think Back then, with the emperor's uncle's prestige in the army, he could support his troops outside, so why sit at home and wait for death? Besides, Xiao Yu, among his peers in the royal family, apart from his sister, he was the closest to the emperor. He has been in decline to this day. , all alone, with no powerful friends inside and no support from generals outside. Regardless of whether he is really crazy or fake, what threat does a down-and-out royal family member pose to the emperor?"
"Sister."
Xiao Yuwan knelt down in front of the dragon bed: "Your Majesty, please promise me not to kill anyone again. The foundation of our country is already unstable. Please let these princes go!"
Xiao Yuheng pondered for a moment, and his heart had already relaxed. The killing was indeed too heavy. The pleasure and joy of killing people at the beginning were long gone. What was left was only the nightmares and fears that gnawed at his mind all the time.
He made an exception for the cousin who had beaten him. Instead of killing him, he would treat him well. This could be regarded as compensation for nearly killing his close relatives!
"As long as Xiao Yu is still like this, no matter whether he is crazy or not, I promise not to kill him. I have also given him the compensation he deserves. There is nothing wrong with being a little prince who enjoys peace... But then I will not send the three princes out of the palace, but I can restore their names and let them stay with me in the palace and enjoy wealth forever! Whether it is these three princes or the prince who is really crazy... ....As long as they do not threaten my throne, I will not use the knife on them. But if they want to oppose me...I will definitely let them die."
After saying that, Xiao Yuheng stood up. He walked behind the screen with "Fishing Alone on the Cold River" and tore off the note with Xiao Yu's name in the most inconspicuous place.
Xiao Yuwan knelt down and did not get up for a long time.
