Dark clouds rolled over the city.
A long wind brought a biting chill from top to bottom, whistling through the craggy cornices, lifting the wide robes of the palace ladies coming and going.
But human footsteps are more urgent than the wind.
Jing Changjia suppressed his uneasiness and almost ran towards the palace gate in the distance.
There was already a serious-looking old woman waiting at the door. As soon as she saw Jing Changjia, the old nanny hurriedly took a few steps to greet him: "Your Highness Yunzhong, you have finally arrived!"
Jing Changjia kept walking, hurriedly passing her, and asked in a deep voice: "How is aunt?"
Upon hearing his question, the old woman's eyes suddenly turned red. She followed Jing Changjia forward and whispered: "The imperial doctor said it's not good..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jing Changjia stepped into the hall.
The palace that used to be bright and warm was now dark and quiet, and even the candlelight cast an eerie coolness. Only the wind whistled sharply under the eaves, making people breathless.
Jing Changjia felt a chill creeping up his back for no apparent reason.
But he didn't care about anything else and turned quickly to the inner room. It seemed that the footsteps were heavier. The moment he stepped into the inner room, Yang Yiheng, who was lying beside the bed, looked up.
He looked to be about eight or nine years old. When he saw Jing Changjia, he couldn't help crying: "Brother! Come and see the queen..."
This urgent cry broke the silence in the room, and the queen, whose eyes were closed and sleepy on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes.
She turned her head with a withered face, stretched out her hand towards Jing Changjia with tears in her eyes, and said angrily: "Brother Jia."
Jing Changjia rushed to the bed in a few steps, holding the skinny hand tightly: "Aunt, I'm here."
"Brother Jia, Brother Jia..." The queen held him with her backhand, "In the future... help my aunt watch over Brother Heng."
"Don't say that!" Jing Changjia felt nervous and said quickly, "It will get better, believe me. Where is the imperial doctor?!"
The queen smiled softly. She looked at the two children in front of her and squeezed Jing Changjia's hand with her remaining strength: "You and Brother Heng are the closest brothers. Auntie entrusted Brother Heng to I gave it to you..."
She was extremely weak, and her voice became weaker and weaker as she spoke, and the last few steps could be heard.
"Aunt, Brother Heng is my younger brother, so I will naturally take care of him." Jing Changjia promised with red eyes, "Don't worry, take good care of your illness, and he will get better."
"Brother Jia, you are a good boy...my aunt believes in you."
The Queen let go of his hand and reached out to her only son.
Her brother Heng always had a sullen face in the past, looking the most stable. But at this moment, his eyes were red and swollen, and he was clearly just a child who hadn't grown up yet.
Yang Yiheng pressed his face against his mother's hand. The queen opened her eyes, tears kept falling from the corners of her eyes, unwilling to blink.
"Brother Heng, you must listen to your brother. No matter what situation you are in in the future, you must trust your brother..."
This was the last reverberation of her life.
The skinny hands dropped weakly, and the sound of wind suddenly became louder.
Yang Yiheng, who was lying beside the bed, suddenly turned around and threw himself at Jing Changjia, crying: "Brother!"
He put his hands around Jing Changjia's shoulders and hugged his brother's neck firmly.
Yang Yiheng's pounce was so fierce that Jing Changjia felt his breath hitched as something cold and slippery quickly wrapped around his neck, tightening it tighter and tighter suddenly.
The sound of wind outside the hall was like weeping and complaining, which made the thing wrapped around his neck even colder.
Yang Yiheng's tearful eyes turned scarlet. He looked at his brother who was already breathing hard and said softly: "Brother, look, you said you would take care of me. Why did you... leave me?"
"Uh..." Jing Changjia raised his neck in pain. He looked at the empress whose bones were still cold behind Yang Yiheng, and he didn't know what happened.
"Brother, brother..." Yang Yiheng approached him, face to face with him, "Why did you leave me -"
The roar was like thunder, and Jing Changjia's pupils suddenly dilated.
"!!!"
"Zhizhi——"
Jing Changjia jumped up and sat up.
His chest kept rising and falling, and his whole body was breathing heavily like an old bellows. Cold sweat dripped down from his forehead and down his cheeks, and the thin middle coat on his body became soaked in a short period of time.
He subconsciously reached out and touched his neck. Under a thin layer of skin, there are blood vessels beating vigorously.
There was nothing strange on his neck, let alone Yang Yiheng's hands.
"It was a dream..." Jing Changjia breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his eyes and scanned everything in front of him, and laughed at himself: "Of course it was a dream."
What comes into view are mottled and dirty walls, with old and thick wood densely spaced to divide the space. There were five or six withered straws not far from his feet, and further away there were old almost black stains, which could not be distinguished from blood or mud.
The dim light made everything in front of him look a bit spooky.
This was Yang Yiheng who personally asked him to come as a "guest" to the Zhenfu Prison.
Zhenfusi in the human world, Yamaluomen in the underground.
How could that little cousin who had ascended the throne as emperor three years ago come to a place like this to find him?
"Alas..." Jing Changjia shook his head and sighed, moving his ankle with some discomfort.
His leg had been injured a few years ago. The prison was dark and damp. After sleeping like this, my legs felt a little sore.
A big gray-black mouse was stealing meat from the dinner plate at Jing Changjia's feet. As soon as he made any movement, the big mouse jumped up in fright, picked up the fat pork belly and quickly ran to the wall, clinging to the wall and escaping to the adjacent cell.
Thinking of the rat's cry he heard the moment he woke up, Jing Changjia raised his eyebrows, stared at it and joked: "I never thought that one day, you and I would eat at the same table."
He was the only one detained in the cell on the first floor of the Zhenfu Prison. It was so quiet on weekdays that even his own breathing seemed noisy. The extra mouse actually made Jing Changjia feel a little more lively that he had not seen for a long time.
The excitement passed in an instant, and the big mouse disappeared without knowing where it was dragging the meat.
Jing Changjia's smile gradually faded, he sighed slowly, and stretched his legs to kick the dinner plate further away.
Before he traveled to this place, modern medicine had discovered more than fifty diseases spread by rats. Many diseases are also highly contagious. If he was unlucky and accidentally caught the plague, he might be buried with him both inside and outside the imperial city.
This is not good, not good.
At least he got a second chance to live because he saved people. You can't have a second life, but because you don't resist hunger, you also destroy the only life of others.
Thinking of this, Jing Changjia kicked the dinner plate further away. He wasn't very hungry anyway and had no need to eat.
Kicking, Jing Changjia suddenly stopped.
He stared at the messy dinner plates blankly for a long time before he came back to his senses, turned around and slowly gathered the collapsed pile of straw behind him. Look at the straw becoming fluffy again and slowly falling down again.
The straw collapsed again with his movements. Jing Changjia looked at the dark ceiling and thought: He has lived in this great dynasty for fifteen years and has almost forgotten what it is like to sleep on a latex mattress in the 21st century. .
It certainly won’t feel like “straw has been as cold as iron for many years”.
Jing Changjia thought of this and smiled briefly. It was also thanks to the eerie silence in the governor's prison that he had a lot of free time to think about it and dig out the past days from the depths of his memory.
He was originally just the most ordinary college student in the 21st century, and his past life was so dull that there was nothing to talk about. Only the school is unique in that military training begins only in the sophomore year. And while he was in military training, he lost his footing and fell down the mountain while trying to save someone.
After a while, the world was spinning, and this unheard-of Dahong Dynasty came.
The eldest princess of the current dynasty was his mother, and the general was his father. This is a completely different kind of natural wealth from the previous life. What's even more coincidental is that these new parents actually have the faces of his biological parents.
Jing Changjia once guessed that this might be his previous life, or maybe he fell into a parallel world. After all, he accepted the new life quickly after having familiar relatives.
As the only son of the eldest princess and the general of the current dynasty, and also the prince of Yunzhong County personally conferred by the emperor, Jing Changjia's life was once extremely comfortable.
It's a pity... Such a peaceful and warm new life is fleeting.
That year Jing Changjia was not yet thirteen. The news that the general was killed and died in battle was brought back by an urgent report from 800 miles away.
The emperor was furious. The eldest princess was so sad that she vomited blood and fell ill. Just one year later, he left.
During this year, border affairs were at stake and the government and opposition parties were in turmoil. After presiding over the memorial ceremony for the eldest princess, Jing Changjia picked up the spear left by his father and asked for orders to go to the border.
The military and Beijing are completely different.
The Prince of Yunzhong County, who had never served in the army, naturally did not receive any special treatment from the officers and soldiers in the army.
Gritting his teeth in the cold wind and snow at the border, he held on for a breath. Starting from leading a small group of troops to fight, he gradually gained the recognition of his father's old army and became a convincing major general who commanded thousands of people. It took him three full years. year time.
It was at this time that my father's only sister, his aunt, became critically ill.
Jing Changjia rushed back to the capital all night long, and only had time to see this close family member for the last time.
Important relatives passed away one after another, leaving only him, who was under seventeen, and a little cousin who was about to turn ten.
The emperor on the throne is a very arbitrary person. His emotions are always strong. Those who love him want to live, and those who hate him want to die.
Although the younger cousin had established a prince early, the prince lost his mother and his relationship with the emperor became increasingly estranged. His position as prince became increasingly unstable as the emperor's attitude changed.
Those few years... were really difficult.
Thinking of this, Jing Changjia blinked and suddenly laughed.
I thought things would get better and better in the past few years, but looking at what he looks like now, it's even harder than the worst days.
His uncle, the emperor, who was becoming increasingly dim, had thought about deposing the prince and imprisoning him, but he probably had not thought about killing him. As for his dear brother...it's hard to say.
The screaming cold wind in the dream seemed to pass through the dream and blow on him.
Jing Changjia couldn't help but touched his neck again.
"Children are really difficult to raise. I don't know when they will grow crooked..." He whispered quietly, "Auntie, this is my first time raising a child, and I have really tried my best. When we meet in the future, please don't scold—— "
The voice stopped suddenly, and Jing Changjia turned his head sharply and looked outside the cell door with sharp eyes.
In the quiet Zhenfu Prison, there was a faint voice.
Click, click...
It's like the sound of footsteps, but it rises and falls erratically. It gradually came closer, sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly.
