kill Qin Sheng

On September [-]th, the crown prince Qianqiu hosted a banquet for all kings and officials at Yuqing Palace.

Prince Xingzhi is the eldest son of the current emperor, born to the empress.He has been infirm for many years, and everyone knows it.Today is the crown prince's 32nd birthday, he first went to Fengxian Hall to pay his respects, then went to the emperor to pay his respects, and then went back to Yuqing Palace to receive congratulations, after such a trip, he was already tired.The prince was in his prime, but his face was showing signs of sickness and decay. He worked hard at the banquet, toasting and giving wine while listening to the compliments from the officials.

Also tired is Kang Wang Xingluo, he is the closest to the prince among the kings, and the only brother of the prince.Ren Xingluo also inevitably got up early with the crowd, and knelt and kowtowed to the prince twice and six times in Dunben Hall, congratulating the prince on his eternal joy.As soon as he took a break from the banquet in the afternoon, his eyelids would fight with fatigue.

The maid successively put horse meat rice, custard, jade plate bream and other food on the table, but Ren Xingluo only drank a few cups of wine to refresh himself.

He was impeached for being rude and gaffe a few years ago, and he gradually realized that drinking was a mistake, and he drank very little in recent years.However, the Kunlun cup of wine served at the banquet in the palace was not so strong, and he would not get drunk if he drank a few more cups, so he drank it as tea.

All the cousins ​​in the seat were talking about the fact that Qin Sheng, the son of Qin Da Sima, was awarded the title of Captain of Sili.One said: "Now there is a very popular young prince of Qin in the imperial court." He had just finished speaking when he caught a glimpse of Ren Xingluo staring at him blankly, his face flushed suddenly, and he said: " I did not do it on purpose."

Ren Xingluo didn't say anything, his eyes were half closed, his face showed a kind of cold and morbid beauty, he attracted a lot of attention, but at this time the eyes stopped on him in twos and threes, not surprised, Just for the jokes.As we all know, he and the Qin family's nephew had several quarrels in public, and it was almost incompatible.It is really inappropriate for the cousins ​​at the table to flatter Qin Sheng in front of him.

In fact, Ren Xingluo's mind is not that small, and he acted as if he didn't hear it--the fact is also true, he didn't take it to heart at all, but others thought he was already annoyed--look at Kang Wang's angry face look!

Ren Xingluo didn't know what to think, and frowned for a moment.He asked his cousin again: "Has the fifth son of Qin attended the banquet today?"

The Crown Prince Qianqiu hosted a banquet for all the officials, and Qin Sheng was naturally among those invited, but whether he came or not was another matter.His father Qin Da Sima was also invited, but he must be busy with political affairs and had no time to attend the East Palace birthday banquet.

"Here we come." My cousin glanced at him and whispered, "Sit on the left."

Ren Xingluo turned his head to take a look when he heard this, and saw Qin Sheng chatting and laughing happily at the table in the distance, and looked away regretfully.

Qin and Ren haven't officially met in this life - they have met before. They are the sons of powerful ministers and emperors. When they were young, they greeted and saluted at various banquets in the capital, but That's all.After Qin Sheng entered the court, he became a foreign official, and he was hardly in the capital all year round. It was difficult for Ren Xingluo to see him.

A few days ago, he went to Beijing and resigned from his post. The emperor named him a Sili captain, in charge of supervising the princes and officials in the capital. The distance between the two suddenly became closer.

"I thought he wasn't here either." Ren Xingluo sighed.

When Ren Xingluo said this, others only thought that he was mocking the Qin family for not going to the palace banquet.Soon the dialogue of "Kang Wang satirizing the Qin family" was embellished again, and it flew into the ears of some people at the banquet with wings.

Ren Xingluo didn't realize what kind of disturbance his words caused.At this time, the wine was halfway through, and the team of red-clothed dancers in the hall with embroidered skirts and foreheads danced in neon clothes again. Everyone was fascinated by it, and suddenly heard a commotion in front of the hall door. Ren Xingluo put down the wine cup and listened carefully. It turned out that someone sang "" Queen arrives".I saw a woman in phoenix crown and vermilion clothing coming in front of the gate of the hall.All the kings and officials in the hall were extremely surprised, they quickly got up and bowed down, calling out three thousand years.

Ren Xingluo lowered his head and saw the Empress Fengzha standing in the hall, facing the crown prince.The prince hurriedly said: "Mother..." Before he could finish his sentence, the queen interrupted indifferently: "You don't need to be too polite, just get up." Everyone got up, and the inside and outside were silent, and the queen said: "The prince came to worship in the morning, but I didn't get up. But today is the crown prince's birthday, so I must come to congratulate him." After saying that, he ordered the female officials around him to present congratulatory gifts.The prince respectfully thanked his mother.The queen said again: "I won't bother you to drink anymore." She laughed and led the ladies and maids to file out.

As soon as the queen left, many people in the hall felt lingering fear.The dancers continued to dance to the music, and most people were no longer in the mood to appreciate it.The officials in the East Palace in the front seat of the hall unconsciously glanced at the face of the crown prince in the main seat, and then looked at King Kang Ren Xingluo in the seat, seeing that both of them had earthy faces, and he also looked sad.

It is no longer a day or two for the queen to be rude, overreach, and domineering.Now the emperor is declining, and the Qin clan is rising.A woman surnamed Qin naturally does not stand up for herself in the court.The more arrogant the empress is, the more she makes Prince Kang Wang and others smaller.

Empress Qin's posture is easily reminiscent of the arrogance of Empress Ren Meng in the past.However, there are many brothers and nephews in the Qin family, so the queen would not be able to be a queen, at most she would be a princess.The premise is that her elder brother Da Sima Qin Xi can accomplish things.

After another hour, the prince got up and left the banquet with several older princes.Everyone bid farewell to the prince, and the Qianqiu banquet was interrupted by the queen's visit.All the kings and officials left one after another angrily. Ren Xingluo followed in the crowd, bid farewell to his familiar cousins ​​and uncles, and went to look for Qin Sheng again, but he was nowhere to be seen.

It was already Xu time when the banquet was over, and the sky was dark, as if ink had been splashed on it.The eunuchs and maids inside and outside Yuqing Palace lit up glazed lanterns everywhere.Ren Xingluo couldn't find Qin Sheng, he was tired and exhausted, so he sent the eunuch of Prince Kang's residence who came to Shuqing Palace to report to the prince, and went to the other hall in the East Palace by himself.He was wandering around in the East Palace, and he didn't even need a maid to lead the way, because he was more familiar with the East Palace than in Kang Wang's Mansion.The maids and guards along the way were not surprised when they saw him, they just saluted one after another.

It was because King Kang was often brought by his eldest brother, the prince, by his side before he was granted the title of king in Biefu, and he had been in and out of the East Palace since he was young.In the past, the prince was benevolent and couldn't bear the fact that his younger brother was grown in the hands of a woman. He also had no children, so he raised his younger brother by his side, and Ren Xingluo often lived in the East Palace.In fact, the prince had his own residence before he became king in Biefu, and living in the East Palace was not in accordance with the etiquette, but the prince insisted on this, the emperor did not ask trivial matters, and the empress had no objection, so this matter was settled like this, and it can be seen that the royal family is going up and down.It wasn't until Kang Wang grew up that he moved out.

The eunuch Huang Liang found him and said that the prince agreed with him to sleep in the other hall tonight, and said that he would go to the prince's hall to talk about it the next day.After hearing this, Ren Xingluo asked the eunuch to find an empty room at random and sit down on a stool.Huang Liang sent the maids of the East Palace to change the quilts. Ren Xingluo couldn't sleep for a while, so he left the eunuchs and maids, and walked out with a glazed lamp.

Ren Xingluo lived in the East Palace for about a year and a half. After a long absence from the other palace, he noticed that many places had been remodeled.For example, a pavilion was demolished, a lake was filled in, and the outer walls of the house were newly painted with vermilion lacquer, etc., Ren Xingluo leaned against the wall, and could vaguely smell the lacquer.The further he walked into the other hall, the dimmed the lights.The maids and eunuchs were probably being lazy and didn't light up all the glazed lamps in the other hall.

It was almost the autumnal equinox at this time, the weather turned cold, and the brick walls on both sides of the alley felt particularly cool.

Ren Xingluo's heart was also chilled by the autumnal equinox. The alleys of the other hall were full of childhood memories of playing hide-and-seek with his cousins.He thought, in the year of the general manager, he talked and laughed.Now these pasts have been lying in the loess with their cousins, and things have long been changed.

He walked out of the alley in awe, and returned on the same road by the light of the distant lights, but suddenly heard a conversation inside the wall, and he stopped in a strange way.

"The Qin family is domineering...the emperor...the crown prince...don't..." Ren Xingluo vaguely heard a few words, and couldn't help but turn pale with shock, but he thought suspiciously, no one lives in this other palace, Who would dare to talk about the Qin family in the East Palace?

Ren Xingluo took his steps lightly and tiptoed to the window of the outer wall, only then did he hear a man's voice: "If you and I don't resist, it's just the end of King Zhao and his son!"

Another woman said: "But... even the prince can't do anything! Why is father so decisive?"

The man said: "The situation has changed, if we wait any longer, it's just a dead word..."

Ren Xingluo listened calmly, only to feel that the man's voice was unfamiliar, but the woman's voice was very familiar.

Who is it?

He was suddenly startled - it was the Crown Princess Qian Shi!

When he was frightened, he actually took off the glazed lamp he was clutching in his hand. He hurried to grab it, but it was too late.The lamp fell to the stone pavement with a bang, and there was another crisp sound of glass breaking.All of a sudden, the men and women in the wall fell silent!Ren Xingluo unintentionally broke through Qian's plot, dared not stay, and immediately decided to abandon the lamp and leave.Now that he has no lighting, he runs wildly in the dark alley like a headless chicken.He fled two alleys, flustered, and even forgot the route map of the East Palace that was engraved in his memory for a moment.He didn't have time to think, and he caught a glimpse of the glazed lamps in the distance, thinking that he couldn't go wrong if he went out, so he turned into a moth and flew away.

As he was running in this direction, there was gradually noise in the alley, as if several people had come out to look for him as an unexpected visitor.Judging from the footsteps of these people, they were probably male guards, not maids.Ren Xingluo didn't want to be arrested. Although his identity was caught by the Crown Princess's people, it wouldn't be silenced or anything, but Ren Xingluo really didn't want to get into troubled waters—his cousins ​​had already been killed. , he didn't want to be the second Prince Zhao's son.

Ren Xingluo felt that his footsteps were getting closer.He had no choice but to walk around lightly again. He fumbled to a door and frantically tried to push it open. Suddenly, the door opened inward!

Ren Xingluo was shocked for a moment, and saw a tall figure in a brocade robe and gold belt standing inside the door.Before he could see who was inside the door, this person had already dragged him in—then the door was immediately closed by him.

All noises and lights were shut outside the door, Ren Xingluo couldn't see anything.He held his breath and was silently held by the stranger's wrist. The two walked into the left side of the room together. Ren Xingluo carefully counted his steps—twelve steps. They didn't walk very far in the room. Far.The man stopped again, suddenly covered Ren Xingluo's mouth with one hand, and wrapped his arms around his chest with the other.Ren Xingluo pressed his back against his chest, this position made him very uncomfortable.He was saying "I won't shout out" in his heart, and broke the stranger's hand with his hand.But the stranger's hands were as strong as a soldering iron, and he refused to let go.

The man half-carrying Ren Xingluo moved to the inner window by the wall, the multicolored glazed window faintly let in a bit of moonlight.With this beam of light, Ren Xingluo could vaguely see the person's clothes, and his expression changed instantly.

This person turned out to be wearing an official purple robe—he must be an official who was invited to the East Palace for a banquet today!Surprised, Ren Xingluo also regretted that his sight range was really limited in this imprisoned posture, and he could no longer see the pattern of his clothes from sideways, so as to distinguish this person's rank.Of course, he was coldly thinking about how to find out the details of the savior, and the purpose was naturally not to thank him.

As an official of the imperial court, this person hid in the other hall of the East Palace, and came to the rescue after King Kang broke through the conspiracy of the Crown Princess.No matter how you look at it, he is more suspicious than Ren Xingluo.

Suddenly there were footsteps outside the window, and two men started talking again:

"Who is in the other hall today?"

"Kang Kang..."

"The prince allowed him to enter the palace? Why is no one talking about this!"

"Who knows, this Kang Wang can be regarded as growing up in the East Palace..."

……

The two left while talking, the conversation and footsteps gradually faded away.

I don't know how long it took, but the surroundings became completely silent.The person behind him took him another twelve steps back.He loosened Ren Xingluo's hand, and opened the door.With his back turned to him, Ren Xingluo saw the lights in the distance entering the door again, he immediately thought of looking back at his face.But this person obviously didn't want to, so he turned his body back forcefully, and quickly whispered in his ear: "Go out of the door and go left, turn right at the intersection and you will find the courtyard of the other hall."

His voice is very low, clear and clear like the sound of a piano.It will always make people who only hear his voice wonder whether he sounds like him?Ren Xingluo had heard this voice before, and had seen him before—he was startled in an instant, and blurted out: "Qin Sheng?!"

Ren Xingluo turned his head abruptly.

Under the moonlight, the young Qin Sheng was handsome and handsome, his face unchanged.As if in a dream, Ren Xingluo was stunned for a moment, then immediately regained consciousness vigilantly.

Seeing Ren Xingluo pointing out his identity restlessly, Qin Sheng's long and narrow eyes suddenly burst into a smile like a flame, and he said, "Do you want to attract all the Jinwu guards?"

Ren Xingluo was pushed by him, but he still stood there. He was in a very complicated mood, but this was not the time to get to the bottom of it.

Not long after, he followed the route given by Qin Sheng to find his way back to the residence of the other hall, just as the eunuch Huang Liang was walking around the door in panic.Ren Xingluo asked him nonchalantly, "Why are you spinning around like a fly?"

Huang Liang said: "In the blink of an eye, why did you disappear—oh, what happened to your face!"

"I'm just going for a walk in the yard, face?"

Ren Xingluo didn't have a mirror with him, so he didn't know that there were a few light red fingerprints on his left cheek.

"Your Highness, have you been beaten? Who hit you? No, why is this slap mark horizontal..."

"You're dazzled! Who dares to hit me?" Ren Xingluo interrupted him impatiently, and then ordered, "If someone comes looking for me, just say I've fallen asleep."

After Ren Xingluo finished speaking, he went into the room and looked at his face in the mirror, only then did he know what was going on.He didn't care, and blew out the lamp again.Just as Ren Xingluo undressed and lay down, someone came outside the house as expected.

Hearing the voice, he guessed that the person who came was Wen An, the eunuch in the Tai's womb. He asked Huang Liang a few words and said, "Don't tell me that there are thieves in the palace, so I don't know if they disturbed King Kang."Huang Liang said nothing happened, Kang Wang had already fallen asleep.Wen Ancai said that the prince missed Kang Wang and asked Kang Wang to meet him tomorrow morning.

Ren Xingluo was lying on the quilt, thinking that the noise in the other hall was strange, the prince knew about it, so he sent Wen An to inquire about King Kang.A person like Wen An must have noticed that there was a missing glazed lamp outside the house, and it happened to match the broken lamp in the alley.It's just that Wen An and the crown prince may not know what the crown princess is planning - from the conversation just now, the Qian family has changed, but it seems that it has nothing to do with the crown prince.

What does all this have to do with Qin Sheng?In the Eastern Palace late at night, why was he hiding there?

He couldn't sleep anymore. In fact, thinking about the ruthless murderous intent, conspiracy and ulterior secrets behind Qin Sheng's seemingly faint smile tonight, this alone is enough to make Ren Xingluo's heart flutter. Restless, tossing and turning until midnight.