"Last night the rain was sparse and the wind was strong, and I couldn't sleep off the hangover. I asked the person who rolled up the curtains, but he said the crabapple tree was still the same. Do you know, do you know? The trees are still green and lush, and their reds are still thin." Li Hong stood in front of the window and slowly recited "Ru Meng Ling" by Li Qingzhao.

It rained all night, and only just stopped in the hazy morning. This rain in the scorching hot summer was a timely rain for the originally drought-stricken Guanzhong region. This year, there would be no need to worry about the crops dying of drought in the fields.

Some people know what happened on that rainy night in the palace, while others don’t. In short, this night was like any other, but this night was also a night of upheaval.

The night rain seemed to be in line with what happened last night, slowly dissipating in the morning mist. The rain washed away the bright red on the bluestone slabs, but it could not wash away the trace of sadness and fishy smell that seemed to still remain in the air.

Li Hong knew that there were some palace maids and eunuchs in the palace who would never appear before his eyes again. On this night, the harem proceeded as recorded in later historical books, and its owner finally changed on this night.

The sadness of last night remains on the colorful petals, and the drops of dew seem to be the tears that have not been shed last night. At this moment, in the quiet and deserted morning, it silently narrates and accuses the tragic events of last night.

"Your servant greets King Dai." Mangzhong's eyes were bloodshot, and it was obvious that he did not get a good rest last night.

"how?"

"Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao are living in peace, but they have moved from their original palace to the depths of the harem, and the maids and eunuchs around them have all been replaced by new faces," said Mangzhong.

...

...

This should have been planned by my mother long ago. These palace maids and eunuchs were probably trained by my mother in the harem in the past few years.

"Go down and have a rest." Li Hong's childish voice was a little low.

Mangzhong stood there without moving, his throat moving for a long time, obviously he wanted to say something, but he didn't seem to dare to say it.

Li Hong turned around, looked at him and asked, "Are you trying to say that I should be happy at this moment?"

“I dare not. I just think that you, King Dai, should not be like this... like this…” Mangzhong didn’t know how to describe the expression on the face of the child in front of him who was almost four years old.

"Prince Dai, Mangzhong is right." Xia Zhi suddenly knelt down in front of Li Hong, lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty has already appointed Zhaoyi as the Queen of the Tang Dynasty yesterday. If the Prince of Dai is unhappy now, I am afraid it will cause inconvenience to you. Although what happened last night was not what the Prince of Dai wanted to see, you are still young now, and you have done what you should do."

At the end of the speech, Xia Zhi's whole body was shaking. These words were not what they, the servants, should say, but they sincerely hoped that the King of Dai, who chuckled every day, would come back soon instead of having such a worried face as he did now.

Li Hong patted Xia Zhi's shoulder to signal him to stand up, and said calmly: "Don't say such things again in the future. Although there are no outsiders here, it will be bad for you if it gets out."

"I deserve to die. I shouldn't have said nonsense..." Mangzhong also knelt in front of Li Hong and apologized in fear with Xiazhi.

"Get up, I don't blame you. I'll go to the front to relax. When Jingzhe, Liebao and others come back soon, let them find me in the front." Li Hong looked at the two people kneeling in front of him, and his heart became more irritated. He simply left and went to the small garden to calm down.

There seemed to be a faint smell of blood in the air. After taking a few deep breaths of the moist and fresh air after the rain, Li Hong felt like vomiting, as if the miserable screams last night, stained with blood, were solidified in the air and could not dissipate for a long time.

His face was a little pale. He did not walk on the winding path paved with bluestone slabs, or the meandering cobblestone road. Instead, he stepped on the wet soil, taking deep and shallow steps, casually patting the dew on the flower petals, as if he wanted to pat the fishy smell that dripped on the pure flower petals last night to his feet and then sink it into the soil.

He had been prepared for everything that happened last night. Even before it happened, he still had some expectations in his heart, hoping that this moment would come quickly and pass quickly. In any case, it would be easier than waiting helplessly for the tragedy to happen.

But when the real bloody storm occurred in the rainy night last night, he still felt extremely uncomfortable when he heard the miserable cries of lonely ghosts in the wilderness in the silent night sky. He had been mentally prepared, but when the first scream occurred, his psychological defenses were completely broken.

He sent out Grain in Ear, Waking of Zhe, Flower of Meng and Cheetah. He even arranged Xiaoxue and Xiaohan to be on guard in Yiyang and Gaoan, for fear that someone might have evil intentions in the chaos last night and might kill his brothers and sisters.

He believed that, considering his status in front of his mother, no, now his mother is the queen. Considering his favor in front of his mother and father, there would be no one in the whole palace who dared to kill someone in front of his personal maid.

His feet were covered in mud, but he didn't notice it. The mud made his shoes heavier. He still walked through the small garden, casually patting the flower petals with his hands. The petals he had patted fell slowly behind him like a rain of flowers after he passed by, with a hint of loneliness and heaviness in the colorfulness.

"Your servant greets King Dai." Jingzhe and others searched for a long time before they found King Dai among the flowers, with water on his face, whether it was rain or tears.

"explain."

"Prince Xu and Li Xiao are all right."

"King Li Shangjin of Qi is safe."

"Prince Yong Li Sujie is fine."

"Reporting to the King of Dai, Princess Yiyang and Princess Gaoan are fine."

Li Hong nodded without saying anything. He squatted down in the flowers and did not know what to do. The others did not dare to speak either. They just watched the small figure disappear in the flowers quietly.

After a while, King Dai slowly stood up with his usual smile on his face. There were a few snails crawling on his little hands, slowly crawling towards his wrists.

"It looks hard, but it's actually fragile, just like this palace. It looks solid, but once it's destroyed, everything inside will be destroyed. Xia Zhi, please accompany me to see my mother. By the way, please accompany me to Mangzhong as well." Li Hong didn't even change his shoes. He walked towards Wu Mei's palace with two shoes covered in mud.

Xia Zhi and Mang Zhong looked at each other, and then at the snail in Li Hong's hand. They always felt that the King of Dai holding the snail did not seem to be a metaphor for him and the other princes and princesses, but rather a metaphor for Crown Prince Li Zhong who was in the East Palace. He seemed to have the Sixth Prince as guards, but in front of the Queen and His Majesty, those guards were like the snail's shell, very fragile.

"Your son Li Hong greets your mother." Wu Mei was sitting in the palace coaxing Li Xian who had just woken up. A scolding voice came to her ears from outside the palace. Judging from the voice, it should be some distance away from the palace gate.

"He's becoming more and more unruly. Is Shangguan Yi very idle recently? Didn't I remind him? Why is there no royal etiquette at all on Prince Dai?" Wu Mei sighed in her heart and muttered with a frown.

The only thing that gives her a headache in the entire harem now is her eldest son. He is such a naughty boy. He is not even four years old, but he is very stubborn. No matter how she disciplines him, it is useless. Even after the punishment, he still does his own thing without any care.

The maid at the side forgot to glance at the door. Hearing the voice of the King of Dai, she was afraid that it would take more than a few dozen breaths for him to come over. She lowered her head and smiled and said, "Queen, the King of Dai is still young. When he is older, he will not make you angry again. You don't know that the King of Dai has been different from other babies since he was young. Even when he cries, he cries with his evil smile."

"Ah... yes, this little thing has never troubled me since it was a child. It seems... it seems that it has been very well-behaved and sensible since it was born. It eats when it is time to eat and sleeps when it is time to sleep. It doesn't cry or make a fuss."

"He hasn't wet the bed yet. A few days ago, Xia Zhi came to bring you ice cream from Prince Dai as a gift. I happened to be serving Prince Lu when she came. Xia Zhi said in surprise that she had thought hard for a long time and it seemed that since you gave Prince Dai to her to serve, you had never found that Prince Dai had wet the bed." The palace maid said while covering her mouth and laughing.

Wu Mei also chuckled and said, "Yes, he was sensible when he was young, but now he is not sensible anymore when he grows up. He still makes me worry. This little thing, I am afraid he feels that he didn't tire me out when he was young, so he is trying to make things difficult for me now."

"Your son Li Hong pays his respects to the Queen Mother once again..." Li Hong hoarsely shouted and made a face at the palace maid who saluted him at the door.

"This little naughty monkey." Wu Mei sighed helplessly again, looked down at the obedient Li Xian in her arms, touched his little cheek, and then looked up at Li Hong who walked in.

It would have been fine if she hadn't looked at it, but once she did, Wu Mei's jade-like smooth forehead was once again filled with black lines.

"You little thing, you really pissed off your mother to death, come here." Wu Mei was really angry this time. She watched the little guy walk in, and then on the expensive Persian carpet under his feet, there were eye-catching little mud footprints.

She handed Li Xian in her arms to the palace maid, stood up quickly, and before Li Hong could react and run out, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him over. At this time, Wu Mei had long lost the demeanor of a queen who was the mother of the country, and had completely turned into an ordinary mother who was disappointed in her son.

"Look at you. Where have you been going crazy again? What do you do for a living? You let the king of Dai get his feet covered in mud and slovenly without changing shoes. How can you serve the king of Dai? This...how come this dress is wet? You...are you trying to piss off your mother to death? Kneel down in front of me."

Wu Mei's words frightened Mangzhong and Xiazhi so much that they knelt down and apologized, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and said one sentence after another: "I deserve to die, I deserve to die."

The person in question giggled heartlessly, allowing himself to be dragged around by Wu Mei, looking up and down at his wet clothes, gently patting the dew on them with his hands, and his anxious eyes filled Li Hong's heart with contradictory warmth. At this moment, Wu Mei was like an ordinary mother worrying about her child.

"Your son misses you, mother." Li Hong looked at Wu Mei's hands scratching the dew on his clothes, enjoying the rare mother-son tenderness. Suddenly, he hugged Wu Mei's neck and murmured.

Wu Mei's hands froze, and she hugged Li Hong who was lying in her arms. She stroked the back of his little head with one hand and murmured, "What's wrong, Hong'er? It's okay. Last night was just a dream. Don't be afraid, Hong'er. Mother is here."