Chapter 145 Family Reunion
It was still midsummer when I left, but it was early autumn when I returned.
Xiao Mo rode his horse through these familiar streets and alleys.
People who had gotten up early began to poke their heads out of their houses one after another. They looked at the young general, who was sitting upright on his horse, with the horse's clattering sound hitting the ground.
At first he was walking slowly, but after a while he started running and disappeared from people's sight in the blink of an eye.
"Was that man just now Prince Xiao?" asked the vendor who had just set up the pancake stall.
"I didn't pay attention. Didn't you say he was hit by a hidden arrow and fell off his horse?" The person who answered was Wang Mazi, who had been selling tofu here for many years.
Another person interrupted, "Last night, a cavalry team went to the palace. I wonder what happened?"
"Yes, yes! I saw it too. I quickly asked my wife to turn off the lights." Someone in the crowd responded.
"Now that Prince Xiao is back, everything is fine now." Wang Mazi summed it up and started to busy himself with the business at his stall.
"Isn't it?" The people next to him echoed this, and the street gradually became lively with the voices of early risers who came to buy sesame cakes.
In fact, what ordinary people want is just a sense of security and a mouthful of hot soup noodles after getting up early.
When the prince arrived at the side door of Ping'an Street, the gatekeeper was still a little dazed.
He rubbed his eyes before seeing the person in front of him clearly, and then he was shocked: "My Lord? You are not..."
He suddenly felt something was wrong halfway through his words. How could a small manager like him ask this?
A head popped out from the side: "Why don't you open the door? What are you waiting for?"
The one who spoke was nameless.
The steward was now completely sober. He knew that the guards around the prince were as difficult to offend as the prince himself.
As the steward of Duke Cheng's Mansion, he had often bowed and scraped to Wuming before. He would recognize this guy even if he turned into ashes.
The steward hurried to open the door, and thinking of the gloomy atmosphere in the mansion these days, he curled his lips and smiled.
The maids in the mansion had already gotten up, while most of the masters were still asleep. Accompanied by these unique morning sounds, Xiao Mo went to his Mingzhe Hall.
But after a while, the news of the prince's return home spread to all the courtyards.
Madam Xiao was a light sleeper. She had already finished washing up and was sitting in front of the old-fashioned dressing table. After hearing the news, she seemed to be stunned for a moment before she remembered to ask, "Who did you say is back?"
"It's the Young Master, the Young Master is back! Manager Wu opened the door for him personally and said that our Young Master is fine! You can rest assured now." Chunsheng said repeatedly with a smile.
"That……"
She originally wanted to ask someone to invite her eldest grandson over, but then she shook her head.
He just came back now, I'm afraid he has been up all night.
"Hurry! Help me comb my hair!" Chunsheng thought the old lady was going to comb her hair and wait for the prince, but she didn't expect her to say, "Help me go to Mingzhe Hall!"
The master and his servants rushed to Mingzhe Hall and met the impetuous Wang on the way.
Wang was walking and running just now, but when she met the old lady, she had to slow down.
She reached out and supported her mother-in-law's other arm, and said with a smile, "You are his grandmother, there is no reason for you to come to see him first, he..."
"What did my mother say about me?" A clear voice came from the front.
Wang looked up and saw her eldest son walking towards her from his room. He was wearing clean clothes and standing there with a smile, allowing them to look at him.
Wang's eyes turned red as she watched. She wiped them with her hand and said, "You...you worried us to death."
Xiao Mo was already walking towards them. He patted his mother's shoulder and reached out to support Old Madam Xiao.
The old man stroked the back of his eldest grandson's hand with his other hand: "We are fine! Are you hurt?"
"They are just minor injuries. They are healed now. Don't worry, grandma." He said in a low voice.
Then the three of them simply went into Mingzhe Hall, exchanged a few words, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law hurriedly said goodbye.
Zhu Ruijing did not rest in the palace yesterday. It was only when he went to court in the morning that he heard about what happened at night from his father-in-law.
The Yulin Army was originally responsible for guarding the palace gate, but because Shi Tainian took over temporarily and had been named by the emperor before, he was a little discouraged for a while.
When he came to the palace in the morning, he saw that the Yulin soldiers were all looking down on him, the General of the Cavalry, and he suddenly realized that something was wrong. Then he learned about what happened last night from the palace people in a roundabout way.
Shi Tainian felt sick when he heard this.
Not only did Prince Xiao return safely, but Prince Chun also died in the palace last night.
I heard that the emperor also summoned Prince Xiao and the emperor's eldest grandson and talked to them for a long time.
By the time of the morning court session, the news that Xiao Mo had returned from southern Xinjiang had spread.
Then the court officials heard that Prince Chun had been shot to death after breaking into the palace last night. In addition to secretly sighing at the emperor's perfect plan, they also warned themselves that they must be careful in the future and must not make any mistakes.
Zhu Ruijing presided over the morning court absentmindedly.
In Mingxiu Courtyard, Chen Shuyao was having trouble digesting the news brought back by her brother.
Another prince died!
She was also a little confused. Why didn't these people just stay in their own fiefdoms and take risks?
And that prince, wasn’t it said before that his life or death was unknown?
Could it be a double act with the emperor?
Chen Shuyao pursed her lips.
He looked up and saw his brother's hands waving in front of him.
"What are you thinking about? I can't even hear you when I talk to you." Shen Shaoyu said.
Shen Shuyao smiled and said, "I think Madam Xiao should be very happy right now."
Shen Shaoyu also agreed with this, but then he said with a worried look on his face: "I'm afraid the emperor is really dying. I heard that the emperor always keeps the emperor's eldest grandson with him now."
Chen Shuyao laughed when she heard it, as long as it wasn't the second prince.
Shen Shaoyu, however, did not seem to express his feelings. He looked at his sister and said, "But if the emperor passes away, the next step will be a national mourning. What will happen to your marriage?"
Chen Shuyao was also stunned. She was afraid that she would really become an old maid.
"Will the Shen family support me for the rest of my life?" But then she asked her brother with a smile.
It seems not bad to never marry.
That night, Emperor Dayan passed away, and the edict in which he passed the throne to his eldest grandson Zhu Hongyuan was announced to the world the next day.
Empress Feng, who had been living in seclusion in the cold palace for a long time, was given a three-foot white silk and demoted to a commoner after her death.
People couldn't help but wonder what Empress Feng had done wrong that caused His Majesty to make such arrangements before his death.
Not only that, the second prince Zhu Ruijing, who had been pushed to the front to supervise state affairs, was demoted to a commoner like his mother because he manipulated power and coveted the throne during the emperor's serious illness.
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