The only people in the palace who would come to summon Zhao Gao were Guo Kai, but hearing the palace man's tone this time seemed different from usual, Zhang Xian and Wang Chong felt a little uneasy.
Zhao Gao, on the other hand, had a baby on his mind and wanted to refuse today's summons, but he suddenly thought of something and nodded to follow. Wang Chong and Zhang tried to persuade him again and again, but he said: "Brothers, don't worry. , Zhao Gao has his own sense of proportion."
This time, what was waiting outside the palace was not an ox cart, but a horse. Zhao Gao was worried about the baby and wanted to see Guo Kai soon, but at this moment he stood in front of the horse in a daze, motionless. Just because he had never ridden a horse in his previous life, and what was more unfortunate was that there were no stirrups in this period. Zhao Gao, who was still short now, was really in trouble when he looked at the tall guy and didn't know where to start.
However, the people in the palace were attentive and saw his difficulty. They did not dare to delay their master's affairs, so they simply picked him up, sat behind him, whipped their horses and hurried towards the Guo Mansion.
Guo Mansion heard a "pop" sound and Guo Kai was furious and slapped the case several times: "Do you know what you did!" Zhao Gao was pulled by the palace people to run for a while, and he arrived at Guo Kai without even calming down. In front of him, who would have expected that Guo Kai would be furious as soon as he arrived, and was greeted with such a confusing reprimand.
Zhao Gao took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his state, paused again before lowering his head and folding his hands and asked: "Why do you say this, sir?" Guo Kai was furious and said in a deep voice: "Do you know what you taught me? The baby is a concubine of Qin."
Was it known? Although Zhao Gao maintained a humble and respectful posture, he did not have any subservient attitude. He lowered his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, saying nothing and being calm and calm.
This made Guo Kai, who was full of sullen expression, a little confused, and asked in confusion and annoyance: "Don't you want to defend yourself?" Zhao Gao shook his head and said slowly: "What your Excellency said is absolutely true, Zhao Gao. There is no defense.”
"Hey!" Guo Kai tugged on his collar, slapped his face a few times, and asked angrily: "That's weird. Then you should ask me how I know, right?"
"Excuse me, sir.
How to know. "Zhao Gaozuo suddenly looked up at Guo Kai, then lowered his head slightly and asked calmly.
According to Guo Kai's temper, he always felt uncomfortable without finishing the matter. He immediately spat: "Why did I meet someone like you... Hey, forget it, you tell me about the second and third."
"The person my master placed in the Taishi Mansion reported that he saw a doll coming out of Langhuan Pavilion that day, holding your clothes. At that time, I just thought it was an ordinary child, and it might be a coincidence that you had clothes. Who knows which stall he opened later? What happened was that the master went to catch the doll as ordered by the king and found out that he had the wooden pieces you wrote on. After following the clues, he found out that you had taught him for several months."
After Ersan explained, Guo Kai looked at Zhao Gao with an expression that said, "I must be awesome." And Zhao Gao realized early on that since the incident was revealed, it must be because of those things, so he was not surprised from beginning to end. However, his ability to observe people's emotions was not in vain.
It's just that if you follow Guo Kai's idea and praise "Sir, you are really good at it", it will obviously not have any effect. This matter is big or small. If Guo Kai is involved, he will not let Zhao Gao go easily. , so it’s better not to say anything against your will.
Seeing his tepid reaction, Guo Kai immediately wanted to find someone to crush him to death, but prey is always interesting when played slowly, so he suppressed the anger in his chest and said sullenly: "I am this person It makes sense, I have to let you know how to die before I kill you. Now you understand?"
"It's clear. Your Excellency is afraid that Zhao Gao's relationship with the baby will be found out and implicated in Your Excellency, so you want to deal with Zhao Gao and hide this matter." Zhao Gao stood in front of the hall dressed in white clothes. , now the sun suddenly shined on his back, and there was a soft and holy halo around him, as if he was psychic, which made Guo Kai dizzy and upset for a while.
He leaned on the armrest and closed his eyes unhappily. He raised his other hand to rub the acupuncture point on his forehead and ordered impatiently: "You take two steps forward." Zhao Gao didn't know why, but he still obeyed. Step out of that light.
In fact, calling Zhao Gaolai was not because Guo Kai really wanted to reason with him. As soon as the incident came out, Guo Kaida could have found someone in the palace to deal with Zhao Gao cleanly and eliminate the possibility of the incident being exposed, but he did not do so.
It was only a matter of words to ask Zhao Gao to die, but in his memory, this young man seemed to have never been afraid. In front of him, Guo Kai always felt that there was an unspeakable discomfort in his heart, and he could even kill people. Without waves, what's the point of having fun?
So Guo Kai wanted to know, if the young man's life was really threatened this time, would the young man remain calm as before? He wanted to see with his own eyes that this young man who had always been calm and calm could make a frightened expression before dying, and he looked forward to enjoying the excitement of controlling the life and death of an ant. But when it comes to this, he actually...
"Aren't you afraid?" Guo Kai couldn't help but ask. But Zhao Gao answered simply. He raised his head leisurely and looked at Guo Kai. He smiled without fear and said, "Afraid." It didn't look like he was afraid. Who the hell could laugh when he was afraid? The more Guo Kai thought about it, the angrier he became. In his mind, he chopped Zhao Gao a hundred times and fed it to the male dog, and boiled it a thousand times to feed the female piggy.
Seeing the suspicious look on Guo Kai's face, Zhao Gao was silent for a moment, and then continued: "But I'm not afraid." This is a fucking human saying! Realizing that he thought it was reasonable for him to do this, Guo Kai even wanted to slap himself, so why was he led by this young man?
There is a saying in "Mencius: All the Heart": If you speak of a great person, you should despise him and do not regard him as majestic [1]. Zhao Gao, who understood the essence of this, behaved calmly and generously, and said leisurely: "This is because Zhao Gao knows that you are wrong, my lord."
"Am I wrong?" This is really new. Ha, does this young man really think that he won't kill him? Seeing the gloomy expression of their master, the surrounding boys began to feel that the atmosphere was becoming oppressive, and they couldn't help but sweat for the ignorant young man in front of them.
"Yes, my lord is wrong."
In the past, Zhao Gao only thought that due to the body's age and unfamiliarity with this era, he should act as low-key as possible and just listen and watch more on weekdays to accumulate strength. Now it seems that he has also gone to the other extreme. Sometimes, if you don't cause trouble, trouble will not come to you.
Although he successfully rejected the idea of joining the Guo Mansion as a retainer for the first time, he was extremely passive, and he did not completely stay out of the matter afterwards. He could not get rid of the trouble, let alone refuse it. This time too. One or two times may save your life, but three, four, ten or a hundred times, who can guarantee it?
But just today, just now, the baby's matter reminded him of an opportunity, an opportunity that would at least make him less passive in front of Guo Kai in the future, and at the same time, it could also eliminate the threat to the baby's life. While riding on the horse, he had already considered the opportunity many times in his mind.
Isn't it gambling? If you want to bet, bet a big one. So... Zhao Gao straightened his expression this time, puffed up his sleeves, took a step back, bowed again and said, "Your Excellency, please stand aside and listen to what Zhao Gao has to say."
The next day.
After five drums rang and one bell rang in the Guozheng Palace, the ministers entered the stern hall and quickly stood still. After hearing the sound of "The King is coming to court", there were two rows of armored servants holding halberds and axes, guarding King Zhao who was wearing red and blue background gold thread embroidered court clothes [2] and wearing a crown of East China Sea pearls. When King Zhao came to sit in front of the throne, they went around to the left and right to stand behind the ministers. At this time, the ministers bowed and saluted him. After the ceremony, they returned to their seats and knelt down.
Many people had heard about the recent events, so when King Zhao remained silent and only glanced at them with uncertain eyes, they all felt an invisible sense of oppression in the hall, especially Guo Kai. Yesterday, he stayed up all night thinking about it, but when he was about to leave for the court meeting, he fell asleep.
However, at that time, there was a muffled thunder outside, and the previous dark wind blew even stronger, lifting the curtain in front of the bed with a "crack" sound. Looking at the maids who were busy behind closed doors and windows, the young man said The words suddenly rang in my ears again.
Those words went back and forth in his ears several times and finally extinguished his fierce sleepiness. He murmured: "The mountain rain is coming." Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, he immediately called the maid He was dressed neatly to serve him, and he hurried to the court meeting without caring about whether he had two black eyes.
In fact, the reason why he arrived just before the court meeting was because the matter was still unresolved. However, the benefits that Zhao Gao presented in front of him were too tempting. Several muffled thunders from the horizon seemed to urge him invisibly. In the end, those benefits that were hard to let go drove him to go out.
He thought: It seems that it is not too late to judge whether he should do something today or not by looking at the color of his king, so why not observe and observe first. However, the current stalemate made him, who was still waiting and watching, feel more uncomfortable than ever before. At this moment, the thunder outside continued, but the rain had not yet fallen.
Fortunately, such a situation will always end. King Zhao put his left hand on his thigh and leaned slightly to the right as soon as he exerted force. Guo Kai discovered this detail with his eyesight. Based on his understanding of King Zhao, he leaned to the right. To lean means to have made some kind of determination. "King Zhao will stick to the matter of killing Qin's protons." This is what the young man said to him yesterday. Guo Kai frowned slightly and continued to read.
King Zhao raised his right hand, displayed his court clothes, and said in a deep voice: "The Qin State has captured several cities of our Zhao State in just a few days. They regard our country as if there is no one in it. Capturing the cities is like picking out objects from a bag. The ministers have nothing to say." "?" After saying that, he paused and then said as if he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, I remembered something interesting."
As soon as he finished speaking, boiling water suddenly rolled up in the court hall. Seeing the ministers talking about it, King Zhao gave an "expected" sneer, then clapped his hands and asked someone to bring Zhao Zheng and Zhao Ji up.
At this time, the discussion suddenly stopped, and the spacious hall was eerily quiet. The sonorous "yes" of the guards in front of the hall circulated back and forth around the large vermilion pillars, spreading along the layers of the spacious hall, filling the ears of the ministers. The atmosphere was indescribably weird.
Soon someone took the mother and son into the temple and threw them to the ground. Although the mother and son had never been beaten, their clothes were in tatters and their faces were stained with dirt. It was obvious that they had suffered a lot.
Then, right next to them, King Zhao sent someone to throw a pair of black dogs to the ground in the same way. The female dog and the puppy screamed several times and stood up, following the breath of Zhao Zheng's mother and son. Ran over, the beasts bared their teeth and barked, looking fierce and bloodthirsty. It seemed that they had been trained to target their mother and son.
Even many ministers held their breaths and felt their scalps numb when they saw that scene. A few civil servants even thought about the fact that the beasts don't recognize people, and if they bite at will... they swallowed their saliva in a daze, and subconsciously stepped back with their hands on their hands, which really made them sweat.
However, some ministers were full of interest after seeing it. Looking at Zhao Zheng's mother and son lying on the ground in a mess and the black dog barking at them, they couldn't help bursting into laughter and echoed: "What the king said is true. It's really wonderful." There were also some obscene remarks mixed with insults to the people of Qin.
In short, whether it is the elusive attitude of the king today or the vicious black dog released in front of the palace, it is like an invisible pressure, pressing on everyone's heart. Many people remind themselves in their hearts: Be careful and do good today.
Let’s talk about little Zhao Zheng, who was dressed in black bunting. He was thrown to the ground. Although he frowned in pain, he didn’t say a word. He sat up from the ground with a white face, thinking that his mother was sick and couldn’t lie on the ground. He wanted to He helped her up, but was disturbed by the huge female dog.
At the moment, the thunder outside the palace, accompanied by the barking of dogs in front of him, was lingering in his ears. Not only was there no fear on his face, but he became more energetic. He narrowed his phoenix eyes slightly, tilted his head and glared fiercely at the pair of unfriendly black dogs, and raised his hands in an intimidating gesture. Strangely enough, the pair of black dogs seemed to have disappeared after being stared at by him, then whimpered a few times, immediately lowered their tails, and backed away timidly.
After scaring off the black dog, Xiao Zhao Zheng softened his expression and carefully helped his mother sit up. Waiting for her to be settled properly, he ignored the laughter and insults directed at their mother and son, as well as the indifferent eyes of those watching the show. He looked around silently with a sullen face, and then lowered his head slightly. Although he didn't know what he was thinking, he straightened his back even more and sat motionless in a neither humble nor haughty manner.
Although he is small in stature, the childlike look on his face has not yet receded, but for some reason, such a posture paired with a smart black suit can give people the illusion of being tall and strong, even as strong as a pine tree. good impression. This move fell into the eyes of King Zhao and many ministers, and they couldn't help but think it was ridiculous: it was just a desperate struggle. But Lian Po, Lin Xiangru, and Li Mu thought highly of the baby because of this.
When Guo Kai saw such a doll, he actually started to loosen up. But he is not the hypocritical old Lianpo, nor does he admire or sympathize with this doll. He just felt that what the young man said yesterday seemed to be more true today. It's just that it's not the time to make a decision yet, let's wait and see.
At this time, the thunder continues, the wind has not stopped, but the rain still has not fallen...
