Red Autumn Chapter (V)

Bian Hongqiu was not wrong.

He had trouble sleeping last night, and Song Jingyan didn't sleep well either.

She came to Shangyang from the capital with the old King Liang.

At that time, the Jingxi King was plotting rebellion, and the situation left by Emperor Lingdi completely collapsed. Important officials in the capital felt threatened. For various reasons, the remaining officials, both new and old, did not consider fleeing with their families or seeking other options. Instead, they stayed with the current emperor and persevered. In this situation, what they lacked most was a set of armor to temporarily safeguard the stability of the capital.

Old King Liang is the best candidate.

Song Jingyan never figured out what King Liang was thinking at the time.

Emperor Lingdi, who was deeply absorbed in the harem, was very old when he had his first child, Your Majesty. After Your Majesty was born, he was immediately named Crown Prince and brought into the Eastern Palace to be educated by Prince Liang.

It can be said that the relationship between Your Majesty and Prince Liang is more like that between Your Majesty and the late Emperor.

Because of this affection, when the old Prince of Liang insisted on leaving the capital, His Majesty gave him unprecedented favors - even before that, His Majesty personally visited the Prince of Liang's Mansion and earnestly and humbly requested the imperial uncle who had raised him to stay.

King Liang said the same thing: "I am already old. If I cannot permanently eliminate the external threat to Dayu, I am afraid I will not be able to close my eyes in this life."

Seeing they couldn't keep him, the other supporters around the emperor began to plot and scheme. If they couldn't get the owner of the armor to stay willingly, then they had to keep the armor no matter what.

Zuo Dan has handed over the Eighteen Continents to King Jingxi. The provincial governments have become independent and the gates of the capital are wide open. If King Liang's most brave and elite troops in the entire Dayu are sent to the border, if King Jingxi comes back to fight to the death, the Yu Dynasty will really have to change its name.

If it was not Song Jingyan, but other old subordinates of King Liang, when recalling the days before leaving Beijing, the only thing in their minds was "calmness" and then "sudden disaster".

But Song Jingyan is different.

She holds the position of "housekeeper" in Prince Liang's Mansion. In fact, before the current emperor ascended the throne, when the female official system had not yet been abolished, she held a fifth-rank position.

When she walked in and out of the palace, people often said she had a "face like Guanyin," saying she was worthy of being from the Liang Palace, meticulous in her work and unconcerned about the distribution of credit. Some people with ulterior motives sarcastically mocked her, saying, "No wonder a 'Bodhisattva' is so rare, but this 'Bodhisattva' has a heart of nine twists and turns. Who knows, the entire Liang Palace will fall into the hands of this delicate heart, and yet she still cares about these cheap things?"

Song Jingyan thought she had no resemblance to a "Bodhisattva" except for her face, and she didn't dare to call herself "Exquisite" with her devious heart. But she did have a keen sense that ordinary people didn't have, and was a natural at handling "dirty things."

Having glimpsed the intentions of the emperor's trusted aides, she calmly managed to evade two probing plots by helping the people in the palace. At the time, she was drenched in the capital's glitz and glamour, her youthful arrogance still lingering, and she hadn't considered enduring. When the other party attacked for the third time, she retaliated without mercy.

At that time, the remaining ministers in the court had all surrendered their lives to the emperor, and the Liang Palace was in a weak position in the court. But she did not care about these things. Zuo Dan's Eighteen Continents were lost from the emperor's hands. The people's anger towards Emperor Ling was spreading. Their Liang Palace's reputation among the people was higher than that of the emperor.

The two sides confronted each other, and the situation escalated.

Students from several regions who escaped the Ming Hunzhou's arrest traveled to the capital to appeal for the injustice done to the King of Liang, while common people gathered under the Taiji Sect. The capital, which should have been stable, was in imminent danger, almost becoming the last place for an uprising.

Seeing that the soft knife could not cut, the surviving court officials and marquises broke into Prince Liang's mansion with their few men, forcibly tied Song Jingyan and others into the palace, and forced the old Prince Liang to confess his guilt.

Old Prince Liang entered the palace holding the broad sword that had been with him for most of his life, with the cold blade across his neck - this became a nightmare that woke Song Jingyan up in the middle of the night.

There are no winners in this standoff.

Just when the old Prince of Liang was forced to confess his guilt and commit suicide, His Majesty, who had been bedridden for many days, rushed to Taiji Palace with his sick body. Just like when he rushed to the Prince of Liang's Mansion to ask the old Prince of Liang to stay, his body was as fragile as paper, and he was still shaky even with two attendants supporting him on his left and right.

He forced his weak eyelids to lift up and gasped for breath as he spoke each word.

He said, "That's all. That's it."

Then, Song Jingyan and others followed the old King Liang out of the palace safely, leading a rich baggage and going to Shangyang without any obstacles.

A long time later, Song Jingyan recalled the thrilling experience before leaving Beijing, and she suddenly woke up. The reason why they were able to escape unscathed at that time was not because of the turmoil she stirred up among the people.

But it is your majesty's affection for the old King Liang.

If His Majesty had not been soft-hearted at the last moment, no one in their Prince Liang's Mansion would have survived - because just when Song Jingyan was thinking about how to turn the capital upside down, the old Prince Liang would rather give up his life than give an order to the elite troops stationed outside the capital.

The relationship between the Prince of Liang's Mansion and His Majesty had been torn apart at that time.

After the death of the old Prince Liang, the henchmen of the capital came to the scene. The princess was frightened into premature birth and, after hearing so many half-truths, even attacked Bian Hongqiu several times.

Song Jingyan could only stay with him closely.

But the capital was within reach, and even if she wanted to resort to scheming, she needed sufficient leverage. Thirteen years ago, the forces under the King of Liang's command were enough to overthrow the Great Yu Dynasty three times. Now... they were probably only enough to wrestle a few rounds with Xi Zhongting's men.

Song Jingyan thought about it all night, and summoned the old subordinates of Prince Liang's Mansion at dawn, wanting to hand over the future to Bian Hongqiu, but was opposed by everyone.

"Your Highness is just embroidering in his room. You've been doing this for so many years. Why do you want to change it in the capital? Do you want us to give our lives to Your Highness for training?"

This is really harsh.

Song Jingyan frowned tightly and scolded, "How dare you!"

Those who were silenced by her didn't dare to speak again. They lowered their heads and kept their grumblings to themselves. The others also fell silent. Finally, General Shao Zheng of Feiyun said, "Jingyan, if you wanted him to take charge, why didn't you teach him earlier?"

"We follow the prince, and after his death, we will naturally obey Your Highness. From now on, you let Your Highness make the decisions, and we won't say a single 'no'. Even if Your Highness told me to jump into the Xiliu Sea to fill the 'life-saving money', I wouldn't hesitate for a moment."

"But what can you do? His Highness has been raised by us like a caged bird. Even wild birds are not afraid of wind and rain, but he can't even withstand a gust of wind."

Song Jingyan turned her head and stared intently at the sunlight outside the window.

Shao Zheng advised her, "Things can't be accomplished overnight. No matter what, we have to wait until we get through Ming Hunzhou. Otherwise, what's the point of bringing us out of Shangyang? It would be better for each of us to drink a cup of poisoned wine and die in the wind and sand of Shangyang."

The people below murmured in agreement, "Yes. Your Highness... is too soft-hearted and unaware of the dangers of the world. How could he have led us through Ming Hunzhou?"

Outside the window, Bian Hongqiu, dressed in white, lit up the scenery like a cloud, and disappeared from Song Jingyan's sight.

Song Jingyan sighed deeply, but never gave up her idea.

"Let's talk about it after we pass Ming Hunzhou."

She asked everyone to leave and went out to accompany Bian Hongqiu while waiting for lunch.

Bian Hongqiu said he was sleepy after eating a few bites. He didn't wait for Song Jingyan to put down her chopsticks and went behind the screen to change clothes. Song Jingyan couldn't see his expression through the screen, but she only heard him say, "Sister, go out. I'll sleep alone."

Song Jingyan traced the shadows on the screen with her eyes.

If she didn't move, Bian Hongqiu wouldn't move either.

After a long while, she stood up and saluted the shadow: "Your Highness, please call me if you need anything."

Bian Hongqiu dodged and even missed dinner.

The third time Hengbo came out with the untouched meal, Song Jingyan was standing at the door. Seeing Hengbo shaking his head, she said, "His Highness said he wasn't hungry. I wanted to persuade him, but he called me out."

Song Jingyan tightened her grip in her sleeve, then slowly loosened it, and instructed, "If Your Highness wants to go out again tonight, have someone follow him from a distance. There's no need for personal service."

On the side, Qinzuru and Qiuhe nodded in agreement.

In the middle of the night, Bian Hongqiu quietly opened the door again.

He looked around, but there was no one to serve him. He felt a lump in his throat, and the more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He walked out, and as he was about to get off the boat, he turned back and said to the empty boat, "No one is allowed to follow me!"

There was a hint of anger in his words, but more of a hint of pique. He rushed around like he had the day before. The streets were pitch black, and from the darkness came the occasional weak, painful sound.

Bian Hongqiu couldn't figure out the source of the sound. It was not until the cold wind blew away the anger in his heart that he slowed down and realized that he was lost.

He stood there in a daze, and his first thought was: It doesn't matter, my sister will bring people to find him.

The next moment, he paused longer because of his own thoughts, then he uttered a few bitter laughs and continued to walk forward slowly with dragging steps.

The moonlight fell sadly.

Bian Hongqiu felt like he wasn't thinking about anything, but the inexplicable emotion in his chest made his whole body ache. He knew he was crying.

At this time, Bian Hongqiu thought that he would never be able to get out of the predicament in his lifetime.

From the moment he was born, perhaps before he even uttered his first cry without any instruction, he had already begun to rely on Song Jingyan - Song Jingyan saw through the ill intentions behind the imperial envoy's fake smile, rushed into the delivery room, and saved him for the first time from his weak and crazy mother.

When he was young and ignorant, he did not have much sense of reality for the mythical father that others talked about, but felt that Song Jingyan was omnipotent; when he grew up a little, he could see Song Jingyan's fatigue and hard work from other people's words and clues.

He may have offered to take responsibility, or Song Jingyan may have taken the initiative to offer it, but no matter what, he would mess it up, and then Song Jingyan would have to work hard and clean up the mess for him with a calm face.

Bian Hongqiu was crying and gasping for breath.

If, if he was like Hengbo, like any of King Liang's old subordinates, it wouldn't matter if he never grew up; if he was never recalled to the capital in this life, then he could live a harmless life by hiding under Song Jingyan's wings while deceiving himself.

But he… Bian Hongqiu looked up blankly at this unfamiliar place. Why had he come here? In the capital, which was even more unfamiliar and even Song Jingyan couldn't control, why did he have to call the shots?

Bian Hongqiu clearly realized that his past failures were not due to indecision.

Rather, he was a weak person.