Chapter 200
Huo Lang always felt that there was an affair between the emperor and Wei Tan.
When he was still a small general in the army, he often saw the two of them discussing poetry and philosophy, playing the zither and chess, and treating each other as close friends. No one else could get into that atmosphere.
Huo Lang felt jealous when he saw it several years ago, and he still feels jealous when he thinks about it now.
Lu Yan laughed quietly after hearing this. Was his relationship with Wei Tan really that good? It was just two thoughtful people testing each other. At that time, Wei Tan frequently went in and out of the palace and knew Zhao Kang's physical condition very well. When he suddenly saw his substitute, he naturally had some doubts. He deliberately came to test him by playing the piano and chess to make him very annoyed. Why did Huo Lang think that he had some other meanings?
Lu Yan supported his head with one hand, his eyelashes drooping slightly, unable to hide his interest: "Is the Regent jealous?"
Huo Lang was somewhat annoyed: "What are you laughing at?!"
The smile in Lu Yan's eyes deepened: "I will naturally smile when I am happy."
Huo Lang gritted his teeth: "What's there to be happy about!"
Lu Yan leaned over and kissed him, whispering, "I am very happy about everything related to you..."
His gentle eyes reminded people of the peach blossoms in early spring in March, and also like the gurgling stream in the valley, but more like silky and soft satin, wrapping Huo Lang layer by layer, suffocating him slowly and sinking without realizing it.
Huo Lang's lips curled slightly when he heard that. He couldn't suppress it, but he still pretended to be tough: "Really? But after listening to your story, I just want to get angry."
This is the truth.
Because at night, Zhao Kang summoned a concubine to sleep with him. You should know that his throne was shaky to such an extent, and 99% of the reasons were that he was too weak and his fertility was affected to a certain extent, so he was particularly obsessed with the plan of having a baby.
Now that he had recovered a little, he began to favor his concubine again.
When the news reached the Regent's Palace, a bunch of vases were smashed in the main courtyard.
“Blah——!”
“Blah——!”
"Bang--!"
The maid in charge of sweeping had been squatting in the corner, listening carefully to the sound. When the seventeenth vase was thrown, something was obviously wrong. She bravely stuck her head in through the window slit to take a look, but immediately shrank back in fear, her heart throbbing:
My goodness, the prince even smashed the inkstone! ! Which god made him so angry? The last time he lost his temper was when the emperor was enthroning the empress!
Wait, Queen?!
The maid opened her eyes wide, and instantly felt as if she had discovered some incredible secret. She quickly covered her mouth in shock. She took a broom and quickly cleaned up the debris in the yard, then left the place in a hurry.
It's not easy to be a servant these days. Knowing too much can be fatal!
Huo Lang lost his temper in the room, his eyes red and scary, and finally he fell on the chair, his chest heaving: What does the dog emperor think of me? Today he was still flirting with me in the side hall, saying all kinds of sweet words, but the next moment he turned around and summoned a concubine to sleep with him? ! It was a great shame and humiliation!
Dog Emperor!
I should have abolished him when I first seized the military power!!
“Blah——!”
With a wave of his sleeves, another priceless vase was destroyed.
When Huo Lang was in a bad mood, no one dared to bump into him. Even his brother Huo Bi had to hide aside, not to mention the chattering staff. But at this moment, Master Sang went against the wind and stood outside the courtyard gate and said, "My Lord, I have something important to discuss with you."
He was old, with a white beard and a shaky body. Even if Huo Lang was angry, he couldn't vent it on him. Hearing this, he suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "We'll discuss it tomorrow!"
Master Sang said, "Your Highness, this matter cannot be delayed. A Taoist priest in black robe suddenly came to the gate of the mansion just now and asked to see you. I thought he was some messy sorcerer and was about to let the guards send him away, but I never thought that he had great magical powers. I am afraid that your Highness will miss such a wise and talented person, so I risked my life to ask for an audience."
Huo Lang was indifferent to what he said. These people in the underworld would run around among the powerful and wealthy in Beijing in order to have a backer. They would make up all kinds of lies and act mysteriously to annoy others. Although he already had 3,000 followers, it was not necessary for him to recruit talented people. However, for the sake of Master Sang, he still asked impatiently:
"Magic power? What kind of magic power?"
Master Sang then entered the room, pulled out a black scroll from his sleeve and presented it respectfully: "This person is very good at fortune-telling, and he claims to know what you want in your life, and can help you achieve your long-cherished wish. You will know once you see this scroll."
Huo Lang sneered, with a strong hint of sarcasm in his voice: "Do you know what I want in my life?"
This scroll looked nothing special, with the end tied with a silk rope. Master Sang had obviously not opened it. Huo Lang took it and pinched it to make sure there were no mechanisms or blades. Then he slowly unfolded it, and what he saw was the word "Emperor".
The emperor is the monarch.
People in the world saw that Huo Lang was in power and repeatedly acted presumptuously, so they thought that he wanted to seize the throne. Those people in the martial arts world also regarded this as a "stepping stone".
Huo Lang glimpsed this word and sneered in his heart, thinking that this was another smartass. He was about to throw the scroll on the table and have someone beat the black-robed Taoist priest out, but he never expected that the scroll would unfold to the back and there was a word written on it -
Heart.
Put together, it is the Emperor's heart.
The heart of the current monarch, the heart of Lu Yan.
Seeing this, Huo Lang's eyes flickered and his face was gloomy. It was unknown what he was thinking. After a while, he closed the scroll with a bang and said, "Send him in!"
Master Sang did not seem surprised by this. Upon hearing the news, he immediately sent his servants to greet them. Not long after, a Taoist priest in black clothes and holding a whisk came over, led by a servant.
The other person was a man with fair skin, no more than twenty years old, but with three long beards, black hair and black eyebrows. Even his lips and nails were dark purple, as if he had been poisoned by some ancient poison. He didn't look like a good person at all.
"The poor Mohen has met the Regent King—"
Just as Huo Lang was secretly sizing up this strange man, he had already leaned over and saluted him. His manners were quite considerate and he did not look like a person who was arrogant because of his talent.
Huo Lang waved his hand expressionlessly, signaling Master Sang to leave. A deep voice echoed in the study, making it hard to imagine that he had just lost his temper: "Sir, please excuse me. I wonder if you have something important to tell me when you asked to see me outside the palace gate just now?"
The other party is just here for refuge, but you should make it clear what you mean, and you can't just rush in and chase him.
This demon Taoist put on a very humble attitude and spoke in a rhythmic manner, quite like a hermit master: "I used to travel around and have heard of your reputation. This time I passed by Beishu and came to pay you a visit. Besides, I am penniless and have nowhere to stay, so I have the audacity to ask for your help!"
Huo Lang picked up a cup of tea, opened the lid and skimmed off the foam. The curling mist blurred his stern brows and said, "It's not difficult to ask me for help, but the Regent Palace doesn't keep idle people. Mr. Mo Hen needs to show his real ability."
The demon Taoist smiled upon hearing this and said: "I am willing to help the prince fulfill his long-cherished wish."
Huo Lang raised his eyelids: "What is your long-cherished wish?"
The demon said: "One person's heart."
Huo Lang chuckled disdainfully: "It's just a heart. Can't I get it?"
The demon said meaningfully: "Of course, we can find an ordinary person, but the person the prince wants is naturally heartless, so he must be helped by the poor Taoist."
“Bang!”
Huo Lang looked at him with sharp eyes, and the tea lid in his hand fell with a dull crisp sound.
Just after the night watch, two burly eunuchs carried a rolled-up quilt into the emperor's bedroom. The quilt was tightly rolled up, but inside was a naked beauty, Empress Lan, who was chosen by Zhao Kang to sleep with him.
Zhao Kang could tolerate Lu Yan being his substitute, and he could also tolerate Lu Yan sitting on his throne, but he would never let her touch him. After all, no one wanted to be a bastard, so every time he summoned concubines to sleep with him, Lu Yan would stay in a dark room.
The dumb slave bent over to make the bed and hung a commonly used sachet on the tent. When he saw the eunuch carrying the concubine in, he quietly withdrew and returned to the dark room.
At that time, Lu Yan was sitting in the pharmacy reading a medical book. When he saw Lan Yin coming back, he put the book aside and asked, "Are you done?"
Lan Yin nodded.
Lu Yan waved his hand: "Go away, you don't need to be on duty today."
He had no objection to Zhao Kang summoning his concubines. After all, the other party was in poor health and had no ability to do anything. However, if the news got out, it would inevitably make Huo Lang unhappy, which was a troublesome matter.
The underground palace was damp and often infested with snakes, insects, rats and ants. Lu Yan stood up, took a candle, walked to a dark corner, and used a stick to stir the soil. He saw a nest of slightly poisonous red ants gathering and wandering in the corner.
He untied the sachet at his waist, took out some powder and sprinkled it inside, then slowly retreated along the road. The ants were attracted by the scent and followed him until they reached the outside of the stone gate.
Lu Yan chuckled and said, "Go ahead."
People cannot get out of this stone gate, but ants can.
Because of the poison in his body, he was not easy to mess with for the time being. Zhao Kang was desperate, but he had countless ways to make the other party live and die.
After doing all this, Lu Yan returned to the medicine pavilion to continue preparing his own antidote. That night, news spread from the palace that the emperor had summoned a concubine and she was accidentally bitten by a poisonous insect. Concubine Lan also suffered a lot. The two of them were tickled by ants and jumped up and down. The Imperial Hospital worked all night before they came up with a way to stop the itching.
Now, the emperor couldn't have sex for at least half a month because of his damaged body. Concubine Lan was still worried and cried, refusing to go to the bedroom no matter what. It was a scene that made everyone happy.
Wu Mei always felt that there was more to this matter than meets the eye. Unfortunately, the sachet had already been taken away by the mute slave when the incident happened, and nothing was found. In the end, it could only be attributed to the fact that an underground palace was dug under the bedroom, which caused poisonous insects, rats and ants to accidentally run up.
Zhao Kang was ill, so Lu Yan had to approve memorials on his behalf. He handled government affairs with ease, as if he was born to be an emperor. However, when he inadvertently discovered Huo Lang's sick memorial, his eyes paused.
It was not the first day that Huo Lang had taken sick leave. He would take sick leave when he was too lazy to go to court or when he was in a bad mood. He rested for 300 days out of the 365 days in a year. Yesterday, just as Zhao Kang summoned his concubines, he took sick leave again. It must be that he was unhappy.
Wumei was serving Zhao Kang in the bedroom. Today, the one serving beside him was Wumu. This eunuch was honest and more reliable to use than the former.
Although Lu Yan guessed that Huo Lang was pretending to be sick, he still asked, "Why is the Regent sick?"
Wumu said, "I heard that he was depressed and vomited blood in his house last night. He was called in by many doctors."
“…”
Hearing this, Lu Yan paused with his red brush, and a large drop of bright red ink fell on the memorial, blurring a large area. He felt uneasy for no reason. He frowned and his tone became unusually cold: "Why did you vomit blood when you were fine?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he realized how Wumu could possibly know all this, and threw the brush aside: "Send a doctor to take a look, and carefully diagnose the Regent, and report back to me."
Wumu did not dare to delay and immediately sent the head of the hospital to the Regent Palace for treatment. However, he was turned away before he even stepped through the gate:
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. The prince has an old illness and has already taken medicine and gone to sleep. It would not be a good idea to wake him up now. It is thanks to Doctor Ji that he has come through this."
The butler was quite polite, stuffing a thick bag of silver into the imperial physician's pocket, and then he turned and left. He walked through the winding corridors and went straight to the main courtyard, then reported the matter through the door.
A deep male voice came from the room, with no sound of calm or anger:
"Got it, step back and claim your reward yourself."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Across the door, in addition to Huo Lang, there was another Taoist priest in black. The Taoist priest bowed and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. The plan has been completed. Within three days, Your Majesty will come to the palace to visit the patient."
Huo Lang was standing in front of the desk, painting. The scenery outside the Great Wall was majestic, with hints of war and iron horses. When he heard Mo Hen's words, he casually plucked the loose hair from the tip of his pen and sneered:
"This isn't the first time the king has complained of illness. He only sent a doctor to deliver medicine. How could he possibly step out of the palace? If a Japanese king dies on the battlefield, he might come to pay his respects."
The loneliness and self-mockery could not be concealed in his words.
Taoist priest: "Your Majesty, why do you have to belittle yourself? I would like to make a bet with you. Your Majesty will come tomorrow at the latest."
Huo Lang looked at him with a sharp gaze and said, "If he really comes, I will have to admire you, sir. I wonder what reward you would like?"
The Taoist stroked his beard and pretended to be profound: "This is just a small plan. When the matter is really accomplished, the prince will reward me again."
Huo Lang put down his pen after hearing this, and couldn't help but feel curious: "So, sir, do you have any other plans?"
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