After a while, Chang Suining said, "When I first learned from Yu Xie that it was you, I couldn't touch you, nor could I test you easily, so I could only wait patiently for the opportunity—"
Yu Zeng, with his forehead pressed to the ground, was stunned, but not at all surprised. Therefore, the disappearance of Yuxie was caused by His Highness... As early as that time, the person he saw was His Highness.
"But now in Jiangdu, it's easy for me to kill you." Chang Suining looked away from the dagger in his hand, and his voice became less emotional: "Why would you ask me to kill you, and let me do it myself?"
She said: "I met you today because I wanted to hear from you the reason why you chose to betray me back then—"
"If he betrayed me, I would still ask him the reason. This seems uncool. It is far less cool than just killing him directly."
Chang Suining looked back at the water, but her tone was not self-deprecating, nor was she angry. She was very calm and able to accept and understand herself, not making things difficult for herself: "But you are different from others. If I can't figure it out, I must ask for clarification. And I think you also need to give me a clear explanation, instead of holding a dagger and begging me to kill you without saying a word."
When Yu Zeng heard this, his tears suddenly became more violent.
He put down his hands tremblingly, his body twitching slightly due to the huge ups and downs of emotions. He tried to raise his head and was about to speak, but his words were broken.
"Don't you know where to start?" Chang Suining let out a breath and asked, "Then let me ask you - when did you start working for King Rong?"
The fact that Yu Zeng worked for Prince Rong's mansion was the result of her deduction based on some clues she found through Meng Lie and Prince Rong's previous assassination of Cui Jing.
A secret letter from the Emperor of the Holy Ceme to her also indirectly confirmed this matter.
She received the secret letter when she was in Dongluo. It was sent to Dongluo together with a document from the Dasheng court informing Dongluo that it would send envoys to observe the coronation ceremony of the new king.
The Emperor of the Holy Ce reminded her in the letter that Yu Zeng was most likely the spy of Prince Rong. The suspicion was not only that Prince Rong was using Yu Zeng to spy on the secrets of the Emperor and the court, but also that he might be involved in the former Prince's Mansion.
In other words, the Emperor of Shengce wanted to let her know that when she was still the former Crown Prince Li Xiao, Yu Zeng was most likely Prince Rong's spy.
Therefore, the Holy Sepulchre Emperor asked her to be more "careful and cautious".
In this matter, Chang Suining could speculate on the empress's intentions, but he did not have to suspect that there was something wrong with her words - using lies to sow discord was a clumsy method that would not appear in this emperor.
Although the suspicious points that Meng Lie found were scattered, they were able to roughly confirm her guess.
And since Yu Zeng had been secretly helping Prince Rong, it can also be inferred that Prince Rong was the mastermind behind Yu Zeng's poisoning of her with Yu Xie.
But if all these conjectures are true, Chang Suining still has some things he can't figure out -
Seeing that Yu Zeng's reaction indirectly acquiesced to the matter when she mentioned "working for King Rong", Chang Suining asked her puzzled question: "So, have you always been his person?"
If that was the case, why didn't she notice his infidelity and hypocrisy at all before?
“No…” Yu Zeng was finally able to utter a relatively complete sentence. He lowered his head, closed his eyes for a moment, and said in a trembling voice: “I am not like that… I entered the palace at the age of nine, accompanied Your Highness for twelve years, and then separated from Your Highness for three years. I have never had the slightest intention of doing Your Highness any harm.”
The wind blew by, and Chang Suining's eyelashes twitched slightly. He nodded as if relieved: "I thought so too... At least it proves that I was not wrong to trust you in the past, so it's good."
This seems a little more acceptable.
But this seems to be even more difficult to accept.
It’s both good and bad.
Chang Suining looked at Yu Zeng, who was kneeling there, his hands weakly supporting the ground, his head hanging and trembling: "Since the fifteen years were all true, then in the sixteenth year, the year I died, what did Prince Rong do to make you choose to betray me?"
This question seemed difficult for Yu Zeng to answer. He trembled and shed tears, unable to contain his surging emotions.
Chang Suining was enjoying the breeze and said to himself, "There are three common reasons why people change their minds overnight. One is that the two sides become enemies, the second is that they are tempted by profit, and the third is that they are entangled and coerced."
"I believe I have never done anything to let you down, so it can't be one. I believe you are sincere and loyal to me, and fame and gain will hardly move you, so it can't be two." Chang Suining said, "After thinking about it, it seems that there is only three left."
Yu Zeng's only ties are his mother and younger brother.
It's easy to imagine and very cliché, but when people live in this secular world, they are destined to be bound by worldly emotions. This is the root of human growth in this world.
"That is, Li Yin used your mother and brother to threaten you?" Chang Suining's eyes were still confused: "But if so, leaving aside other things, since you can't let your mother and brother take risks, then why have you been willing to work for King Rong all these years? You are walking on thin ice in front of the emperor. You may implicate them at any time and cause them to be shattered and doomed—"
"And Prince Rong, who is far away in Yizhou, can no longer threaten your relatives who are in charge of the Sigongtai. How did he make you continue to obey him?"
"Could it be that you think you have no choice and are willing to 'make the best of a bad situation', willing to serve him as your master, and want to accomplish great things with him?" Chang Suining finally asked a ridiculous speculation. This ridiculous speculation was the most reasonable possibility she could think of based on the existing clues.
But unless Yu Zeng is really crazy and has no logic at all.
Otherwise, there must be a truth hidden behind this that Meng Lie has never touched upon.
The process of Chang Suining asking questions was also the process of Yu Zeng gradually calming down and regaining his focus.
He temporarily pulled himself away from this shocking and incredible reunion and was finally able to speak, giving his old master a complete explanation in a relatively normal word order.
"Since Your Highness is still willing to listen to my story..." Yu Zeng's voice was low and hoarse. He pulled the corner of his mouth with difficulty and said sarcastically and sadly: "Then I will tell Your Highness my story again."
"I am from Yanzhou, this is true." He spoke slowly, as if revealing the deepest wound in his heart: "When I was eight years old, there was a severe drought in Yanzhou, and the land was barren for thousands of miles. It is also true that I followed my mother to flee from Yanzhou."
"But I escaped not only the drought, but also the crime... My father was a small county magistrate in Yanzhou. Yanzhou's disaster relief was ineffective, and some people embezzled the relief grain funds. The court severely punished many corrupt officials, and my father was one of them."
"But my mother said that my father was framed and took the blame for someone else's crime... I don't know whether it's true or not. I only know that my mother took me to escape, mixed in with the refugees, and took advantage of the chaos to leave Yanzhou."
But his mother was just a concubine. Before becoming a concubine, she was a maid in a wealthy family.
So she had no one to turn to, nor did she have any good ability to protect herself. All she had was a good-looking appearance and a child who looked like her.
It is not difficult to imagine what would happen to such a mother and son while they were fleeing and surrounded by a chaotic crowd.
The women are pitiful, the children are pitiful too. In such an environment where people eat each other, the misery of all vulnerable groups will be infinitely magnified.
They suffered not only hunger and the fear of not seeing the way forward, but also unimaginable humiliation.
Many times, he thought he was going to die.
Once, he was covered in wounds and was about to be steamed and eaten by those people. His mother found him and knelt before those people without any dignity, begging again and again. When his mother was about to be dragged away, she shouted at him to run away.
He crawled up and sat up, took one last look at his mother's tearful eyes, and obediently fled from that place.
Driven by fear, he kept running until he had no strength left. He fell down in an isolated place and remained unconscious for an unknown amount of time.
When he woke up again, he came to his senses, cried loudly and slapped himself countless times. How could he really leave his mother alone? He went back to look for his mother like crazy, and finally found the place, but there was no one there. He only found smelly human bones and broken limbs in the corner.
He felt that he would never be able to forgive himself again in his life.
But the instinct for survival prevented an eight-year-old child from staying in sorrow. The days that followed became increasingly difficult and dangerous. He accidentally met a child from the same hometown as him. The child was very smart and helped him a lot along the way.
But a heavy rain and a high fever still took the child's life.
Before the child died, he said in a vague voice that if he could still live, if he could see his lost mother and brother...
What happened after seeing him? The child died before he finished telling the fairy tale, leaving him with only a wooden safety lock and half a sentence.
He buried the child, held the safety lock that represented the child's identity, and continued walking forward.
From then on, in order to help the boy find his mother and brother, and also to conceal his identity as a family member of a criminal, he used the boy's name when talking to others. At that time, he had not yet thought that he would use this name until today.
Later, he and several children met a caravan. The caravan was kind enough to take them on board. Half a month later, they were sold on the way.
After some twists and turns, they fell into the hands of a man, who checked their teeth, changed them into clean clothes, and said with a smile that he would send them to live a good life.
The two children he met on the way entered Prince Rong's Mansion.
It is said that because he was particularly good-looking, he was sent to the palace, castrated, and became a eunuch.
After Yu Zeng finished speaking, he said in a hoarse voice, "That year I was nine years old, and Your Highness was only eight years old."
Chang Sui Ning's mind is complicated and indistinguishable.
What the nine-year-old "Yu Zeng" experienced was even more difficult and arduous than what he had told her before.
It turns out that he is not the real "Yu Zeng", but has another origin that he has never revealed.
The age of eight or nine is a special turning point. It seems that the child, who is an ignorant child, begins to develop the consciousness of being a "human being".
She became Ah Xiao's daughter when she was eight years old.
It was also that year that Axiao repeatedly became the target of bullying by those princes. I remember that after one class, the third prince Li Yi brought people and pushed Axiao into a shallow pond to tease him.
Chang Suining recalled, "That time, it was you who jumped into the water and rescued Ah Xiao. Those eunuchs didn't dare to offend Li Yi and the others."
"In fact, I had just entered the palace, and I didn't know the factions of the princes in the palace..." Many years later, Yu Zeng finally revealed his true thoughts at that time. He said self-deprecatingly: "I just saw a child in brocade clothes falling into the water, and thought that if I could save him, I might get some rewards..."
"I guessed it afterwards." Chang Suining looked in the direction of Adian and said, "But what's the problem? You helped Axiao, and I'll remember that favor."
But in the eyes of those people, this new eunuch who did not know the rules had displeased the Third Prince. Although the Third Prince did not say anything, the small stewards in the Palace Office had already regarded him as a trouble.
If they found any fault with him, they would punish him by making him kneel for half a day, then whip him a few times and throw him back to his residence to fend for himself.
Although Li Shang was young, he knew the atmosphere in the palace early on. He expected that he would get into trouble later, so he went to his mother and asked her to ask him to work in the side hall of the Elephant Garden. However, Ming refused and told her calmly and rationally: "Don't cause trouble again."
When Li Shang was anxious, he found Prince Rong.
At that time, Prince Rong was only seventeen or eighteen years old, and had just gotten married. He was an idle man, very free and easy. He would often go to the palace to entertain his royal brother and pay his respects to the empress dowager. Because of his interesting and non-confrontational personality, he was also very popular among the group of princes and princesses.
Young Li Shang liked this little uncle Wang very much. He was gentle and approachable. When she and her brother were bullied, he would come forward to help her and teach her many principles. He was like an elder brother and a father.
On the day when Li Yin went to the palace to pay his respects every month, Li Shang would be waiting for him at the place he had to pass.
Li Yin agreed with a smile, and he said: [This is the first time that Ah Shang has taken the initiative to ask for help from Uncle Wang, how can Uncle Wang not help? ]
Although he did not have much real power, he was a prince after all. Since he was never arrogant, he was very popular in the palace. If he wanted to protect a young eunuch who made a mistake, he could do it.
In the drizzle, Yu Zeng, holding a small bag, limped to the side hall next to the elephant garden. The eight-year-old Li Shang said to him: "Although this place is a little remote, no one will bully you anymore!"
Coming to the side room where Yu Zeng was accommodated, Li Shang looked up at the leaking corner with his hands on his hips, feeling a little embarrassed, but he quickly assured him: "In the future, we will definitely be able to move to a better place to live."
At that time, I didn’t know where the eight-year-old child got the confidence to brag.
Nine-year-old Yu Zeng, with tears in his eyes, said to her: "This place is great! I'll fix it. I can repair the roof!"
At that time, looking at those tearful eyes, Li Shang was pleasantly surprised to think that this little eunuch was really good and could even repair the roof, which she had not yet learned.
She asked him: [What is your name? I mean, your original name.]
Yu Zeng blurted out almost habitually: [My name is Yu Zeng, I am from Yanzhou, I was separated from my mother and younger brother on the way to escape…]
He had been saying this all the way, and he had said the same thing to the two children who were sold to Prince Rong's Mansion. He could only continue to say this.
He had never thought at that time that this lie would be remembered by the girl in front of him for a long time.
The weather soon cleared up and the roof was repaired quickly. Li Shang became Li Xiao, and his life got visibly better.
Yu Zeng also thought that life would continue to be good, until one winter day of that year, when he braved the snow to go out of the palace to deliver a message to Prince Rong's mansion, Prince Rong said to him: "You came just in time, please help me identify someone."
(I haven’t written much about the past of the character Yu Zeng before, so this chapter is half about memories. I should be able to write about all the things that happened back then tomorrow~ Good night, I’ll continue writing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com