After taking a few decoctions, Liu Boxuan's injury seemed to have improved.
Although he was still unconscious, his face finally seemed to have some color, which made Qingxue and Shi Qi who were taking care of him extremely happy.
Although the condition relapsed somewhat later on, fortunately, Mr. Xue went to the mansion for treatment every day, and he passed without any danger.
The one who was most concerned about this during this period was Xiao Yu. He would come over every morning to take a look, but he couldn't sit down for long every time. He simply asked Qingxue about the situation, watched Dendrobium's dancing gestures, and hurriedly After leaving, I couldn't stay for more than two sticks of incense.
If nothing happens that day, he will usually not come again.
This made Qingxue curious. If the young prince's past temperament was based on, the people or things he cared about would want to spend twelve hours a day there. Moreover, the young prince was idle and had nothing else to do except reading and "exercising". .
But since returning home this time, the young prince has come and gone in a hurry. His face is full of exhaustion, and he doesn't know what he has been busy with all day.
Several times she went back to change clothes, left the guest room, and took a look at the young prince's study.
There were two times when the study room was empty, but the table was in a mess. When this happened, Qingxue would always clean up the study room for him carefully.
Several other times, he saw the young prince sitting in front of the desk as usual. Sometimes he was deep in thought, and sometimes he would use a pen to scribble some unseen graphics on the rice paper. As usual, he would tear it up after drawing. , or balled up into a ball of paper and thrown aside.
In this situation, Qingxue knew that the young prince had something on his mind, so he left quietly without disturbing him.
Not only Qingxue, who was close to him, but also the ordinary servants in the house noticed the unusual behavior of the young prince when he returned this time.
What is especially incredible is that the young prince and Manager Cui always stay together recently.
It seems that Cui Guanshi has not lost power from the previous incident, but has become more and more valued by the young prince, and has become the young prince's powerful right-hand man.
Servants who come out early often see the two of them often appearing by the lake when the sky breaks out in the morning, walking one behind the other, stopping to discuss something after walking for a while, and sometimes they have a conversation as soon as they walk. Two hours.
There was also a boy on night duty who said that in the dead of night, outside the lobby of Fengming Pavilion, he once heard two people arguing over something, which scared the boy to death.
Listening to Manager Cui's stern and high-pitched voice, as if he was scolding the young prince for being a prodigal, the young prince was not angry, but laughed. The next day, the two of them went for a walk on the lake together as normal.
Whether what the boy said was true or not, everyone in the house was dubious, but it was an indisputable fact that the two of them went to the lake together.
Now the people in the house are increasingly unable to understand. Just a few days after the young prince came back, he spent the whole day getting involved with his natural enemy. What happened?
But another strange thing deserves more attention.
Although there are countless rewards in the palace, and there are a lot of silver rewards every month, and the young prince has never been extravagant, but there are often innocent people in the family branch, and a lot of white money has gone to who knows where in a short period of time. , the warehouse is about to bottom out.
Several discerning high-ranking servants saw the seriousness of the matter and could no longer let Manager Cui mess around.
They all believed that Manager Cui took advantage of the opportunity to take charge of the government's finances and misappropriated a large amount of treasury money for other purposes. This was a real slave deceiving the master.
They found the young prince with the account books, stated the reasons why, and demanded that evil slaves like Cui Guanshi be punished.
Xiao Yu listened carefully, but just listened, but after listening, he would send them back to sleep.
Everyone couldn't understand the little prince's mysterious operations more and more. They originally thought that the little prince was just being eclectic, but now it seems that there is something really wrong with his mind.
In order to alert Xiao Yu, a loyal servant who was ready to die to show his determination even went to the wall. If he hadn't been caught in time, I'm afraid there would have been one more loyal soul floating in the sky above the palace!
One after another, people discovered some strange things.
Many new faces came to the palace, which had never received guests before. These people were dressed in ordinary or even shabby clothes. They did not look like the kind of people who were either rich or noble at all, but they could always easily report them. Entering and leaving the palace.
They often work in groups of three or five, and sometimes they go alone. These people are often arranged to meet with Cui Guanshi at Wanghu Pavilion.
Wanghu Pavilion is surrounded by a lake on three sides and a bridge on one side. Even if someone wanted to eavesdrop, they might not be able to do so from such a distance.
There is an indisputable fact that these people take away a large amount of property every time they leave, and they do so openly.
This made the people in the house very angry, but when they saw that those people who came and went freely were all big and rough, full of gangster habits, they felt that they were either green woods or habitual gangsters, and they would blow their beards and glare at every disagreement, so no one dared to go to those who didn't agree. So happy.
The people in the mansion were very sad about this. Some people thought that Cui Guanshi relied on the young prince's trust in him to deceive the master in the mansion and gave all the white money in the mansion to outsiders who didn't know the details. The prince of Jiangxia couldn't bear the good fortune of his family, and ended up being ruined by evil slaves.
This saying soon spread outside the house and spread in the streets and alleys, restaurants and tea shops.
The listener was heartbroken and wished he could get rid of such evil slaves for the young prince.
But they don't know that in Jiankang City, there is an area that has never been noticed by anyone, which is quietly undergoing earth-shaking changes.
The scene in Chunhefang began to be different from before.
The streets began to be renovated, and the expats living there automatically began to clear away the rubble and weeds that had remained unchanged for many years.
Everything is developing in a vibrant direction just like the coming midsummer.
…
In the evening, the sunset glow is like blood, and the old bird sings in the treetops on the horizon.
After Xiao Yu had dinner, he came to the lake.
As usual, he prepared a handful of bait in advance and threw it into the lake, attracting thousands of carp to skyrocket.
Manager Cui stood quietly behind him, his hands hanging down, his head lowered, waiting silently.
This is actually the most realistic portrayal of the two people getting along, and it is not as close as outsiders spread.
After the young prince had enjoyed watching the koi fish, he slowly asked Manager Cui some questions, mainly about the expenses and some news from Chunhefang.
Cui Guanshi answered each question one by one, and his thoughts were well organized.
If the young prince didn't ask any questions, he would repeat them all.
Xiao Yu glanced at Manager Cui intentionally or unintentionally. Rather than saying it casually, it was better to say that Xiao Yu wanted to see something behind that cold mask.
But most of the time, Manager Cui is silent, looking respectful but distant.
Xiao Yu took a deep breath, picked up a stone and knocked it into the water. The stone slid across the water and jumped four or five times before falling to the bottom.
Xiao Yu was in a good mood and jumped for joy.
But from the perspective of the servants passing by in the distance, it was Cui Guanshi who was trying to make the young prince happy and make him jump for joy.
"When I was most powerful in the past, Shi Zi could jump on the water eight times. That was my highest record!"
Manager Cui raised his head slightly. The shocking numbers just now obviously did not disturb the young prince's interest in having fun, and he could only sigh secretly.
"Manager Cui, do you want to give it a try? Hey, to be honest, I've had enough of being a young prince. If my father comes back in the future, I will go out and be a ranger and lead Dongfang Lao, Yu Tianmin and the others to fight. Sword Jianghu, do you know that Dongfang Lao was a knight-errant in the past, and when he saw an injustice on the road, he drew his sword to help, that would be a great pleasure."
Manager Cui's eyes were dull. He glanced at Xiao Yu and saw that Xiao Yu had already handed him a stone.
He took the stone and threw it awkwardly into the water. The stone sank directly into the lake.
"No, no, that's not how Shui Piao plays! Let me teach you!"
As soon as Xiao Yu said this, there was a "pop" sound, and Manager Cui knelt down in front of him, his eyes turning red.
Xiao Yu was puzzled: "What's going on? Who provoked you?"
"Little prince, this old slave was ignorant before and did not know the young prince's methods. He did unreasonable things to the young prince. Please forgive me, young prince!"
Xiao Yu blinked, not knowing where he was singing, but now that he was talking, he still had to say some things that should be said.
He put away his interest and stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the lake reflected red by the sunset.
"You'd better say what you need to say! Manager Cui, you hurt so many lives that day, how painful is it in your heart? How can I forgive you? Every time I think about it, I always feel pain in my heart, after all, those lives are so vivid My life was beaten to death just because of your anger. Now that I think about it, I think you are really hateful. I have always wanted to ask you, Manager Cui, why did I go out secretly without informing you? Is it worth your outrage? Do you want to kill so many people with your temper? What do you think of human life? Oh, you see me remorseful and sad, and your heart feels happy. Aren't you afraid of being haunted by those ghosts when you sleep at night? To be honest, I really wanted to die that day. I’ll beat you to death with my fists!”
Xiao Yu's chest heaved, and every time he thought about this, he felt angry and heartbroken.
After a while, Manager Cui's faint voice came from behind.
"It would have been better if I had beaten the old slave to death that day..."
"What?"
Xiao Yu turned around and looked at Cui Guanshi who was still kneeling on the ground in surprise.
"My young prince, you don't know something. Any of your wanton actions will involve many people and things. You are walking on thin ice but you don't know it. Do you know that one of your careless actions may affect the lives of thousands of people in the whole family?" You have to fill it in and be buried with you. My little prince, do you know that you are in a dangerous situation? How do so many servants in our house spend their days in fear? The maids and servants don’t know yet, but those of us in charge are like mirrors in our hearts. "
Hearing this, the original angry flame in Xiao Yu's eyes had mostly extinguished. He looked at Manager Cui blankly, but his hands were shaking a little.
"I don't regret beating those servants to death, even if they turn into evil ghosts to come to me! It's better to kill them than to let thousands of lives in the whole house suffer! The young prince should know that there is no one in this palace except us These criminal slaves who have committed crimes, the slaves transferred from the eldest princess's house, and many people who are behind the scenes are unknown. If the news of the disappearance of the young prince spreads to the outside, especially if it is known to the palace, it must be a thread. If you move your whole body, there will definitely be an uproar inside and outside the palace, and maybe blood will flow into a river again, and the whole palace will bear the brunt. When the time comes..."
Hearing this, Xiao almost couldn't stand, and felt a chill all over his body. He sat down against a stubborn rock by the lake.
"Manager Cui, are you saying that someone around me has been monitoring me and sending my whereabouts to the palace at any time?"
"So, none of the people around the young prince can escape and must be killed with a stick!"
Cui Guanshi's eyes are sinister, and he has no regrets until now.
Xiao Yu sat there and pondered for a long time, twenty or thirty lives and thousands of lives. He was always thinking about this question in his mind. In short, in the end he couldn't think of the most correct answer. Maybe in such matters , are all wrong, and this is an unanswerable conclusion.
He also remembered that before leaving the palace yesterday, Pan Duo was also excusing Cui Guanshi. From his point of view, a servant is a servant. If a servant loses his master, he is like a weed on the roadside and can be taken care of by others at will. Trample them, and if they make a mistake, they will be killed at will.
Every era has its own limitations of thought. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the era he lives in today, although ideologically extremely open and tolerant, has also been trampling on countless lives wantonly due to years of war. In this era, it is most unfair. Perhaps the most valuable thing is those cheap lives!
Therefore, many people are not afraid of losing their lives and are willing to fight for a good family background with their lives. As a result, dynasties change frequently, people's moral values are degraded, Confucianism and Legalism are abandoned, Buddhism and Taoism are prosperous, and everyone is in panic all day long, muddle along, and in time Who knows how to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic when it comes to having fun?
In such an era, it is rare to find a figure like Yue Fei, Wen Tianxiang, and Shi Kefa.
The Northern Expedition and the Southern Expedition were just some means to gain maximum political benefits, but there were always people ruthlessly restricting them behind the scenes.
Xiao Yu sighed, thinking too far again.
But Manager Cui's voice came to his ears again, that voice was firm and decisive.
"My dear prince, what I have done is worthy of my conscience. I only do it for the prince's good and my dear prince's good. Please don't doubt my loyalty."
Loyalty? Xiao Yu smiled bitterly, who else is loyal to this idea? It's just for profit.
"I know you are loyal." Xiao Yu's tone was casual, but his eyes glanced to one side.
"Haha, the person that the young prince can't trust the most is the old slave!" Manager Cui laughed sadly, which seemed to be mixed with bitterness and helplessness. "But the old slave doesn't care at all. Now the old slave is scolding outside the house. People all say that the old slave is a slave who deceives the master, and the old slave is willing to bear this infamy, but I just hope that the young prince can remember what the old slave said to the young prince tonight."
There was a faint feeling of pity in Xiao Yu's heart. He originally put many things on Cui Cui to do, but he himself did not necessarily have any good intentions. He even deliberately put the pressure of public opinion on his head. Originally, he thought he had waited for It would be Manager Cui's hatred and abuse, and he even wanted to force people to submit.
But now it seems that Cui Guanshi knows everything, but he is still willing to silently take responsibility for himself.
"Cui Baliang knows what the young prince is thinking. A large amount of gold and silver has flowed out. Cui Baliang's heart is bleeding. I originally wanted to take care of this huge family property for the young prince, but it's a pity that the young prince can't believe it. I’m an old slave...but it’s good to do something like this. If I have time, I would also like to go to Chunhefang again to see what the scene has become.”
"Manager Cui, on this point, huh, I believe you."
"Old slave understands what the young prince is worried about. But old slave is indeed not an informant in the palace. Old slave is just grateful for the kindness given by Prince Jiangxia many years ago. But it has been so long that it doesn't matter if he doesn't talk about it. How could the prince still remember Cui Baliang? "
When Manager Cui said this, tears seemed to flash in his eyes, but his expression under the mask was really unclear.
Xiao Yu changed from his usual calmness, his eyes were as sharp as ice.
"Manager Cui, there is no need to sing a sad drama for me. If you don't want to do it, I will replace you. It's too tiring to hold the keys to the palace's warehouse, so you can give them to others as well. You can go and rest."
"Young prince, the old slave has already memorized the infamy, what else is there to be afraid of? Old slave... The old slave has seen the ambition of the young prince. The young prince is not a bird in a cage, but a phoenix who wants to be reborn from nirvana... Old slave Everything you do is worth it..."
"Shut up!"
Xiao Yu turned around and cursed, his piercing eyes could freeze everything.
He felt that his brain was a little confused. How could such rebellious words come from the mouth of Manager Cui? If he was using this to test himself, he would be absolutely terrifying.
But when Cui Guanshi lowered his head, he only dared to breathe the turbid air from the ground, but did not dare to raise his head again.
Just now he felt a powerful aura pouring out from behind the young prince, and he vaguely saw the image of a soaring dragon, which was the aura of the emperor!
For some reason, he vaguely felt the urge to shout for long live the mountain.
"Manager Cui, please retreat!" Xiao Yu said coldly.
But he saw that Manager Cui was still lying on the ground and refused to get up.
At this moment, Xiao Yu heard someone calling him in the distance. When he turned around, he saw a figure walking towards him. It was Qingxue.
Xiao Yu left Manager Cui and walked towards Qingxue.
"How can it be possible, Qingxue..."
"Little prince, the guest...the guest is awake!"
