The prince has been in a bad mood these days. He has never been easy to get along with in the past, and in recent days he has been so moody that it is frightening.
What Eleven feared most these days was the sunrise. As soon as the sky turned white, he had to take over from Shen Xiangzhi and serve Xie Shiguan.
If the prince was still asleep, that would be fine. I would just keep watch all night, trembling with fear, praying in my heart that His Highness would sleep until noon.
If the prince is still awake, you have to be cautious all the time and be like air that can be called upon and dismissed at will.
If there was a court meeting, Xie Shiguan's temper would be even worse. Yesterday, a driver carrying a sedan chair accidentally slipped in the snow, causing the sedan chair to fall over.
Xie Shiguan said nothing, got out of the sedan chair and kicked the driver in the chest. The kick sent the driver flying several meters away. He vomited a mouthful of blood, which stained the white snow and was extremely eye-catching.
The driver's life was not worth much, he was just a servant bought for ten taels of silver in the market. But he was on the way to court after all, and there were countless eyes watching him.
One of the rickshaw drivers was carried away, so Eleven had to go up and carry the load for him. It was difficult to walk on the snow, and even in such a cold day, Eleven managed to walk around sweating profusely.
Even though Eleven was so cautious, he was kicked by the prince these days. Fortunately, the kick hit his buttocks and it hurt a lot, but he didn't really break any bones.
Over the past three to five days, Eleven felt that he had lost weight, but he didn't eat less. It was purely because he was scared by Xie Shiguan.
This made Eleven admire Chen Quelai. He thought that a mute could serve the prince for more than thirteen years, and he didn't lose any arms or legs, and his butt wasn't kicked into four pieces.
How amazing!
Eleven was just wandering in his thoughts when he suddenly saw Shen Xiangzhi walk into the hall and lean over to report: "Your Highness, there is news from the palace that the Saint stood in the corridor for half the night last night and this morning he had a fever."
"Have you asked the imperial physician to see him?"
"I have examined him. They said dampness and cold had invaded his body. They prescribed several medicines and boiled them. The maids tried to coax him, but he still refused to drink a single sip."
Xie Shiguan sighed and tapped his forehead gently: "Where is the one in Ciming Palace?"
Shen Xiangzhi bowed his head and replied, "That person has also been ill recently. He said that the evil wind has entered his brain, so I only sent my personal maid to ask about it."
Ever since the second son of the Crown Prince's uncle was imprisoned this autumn, the Queen Mother has been ill in bed. She has always loved this little nephew the most, and she is closer to him than to her own son.
Unfortunately, her little nephew was in bad luck this year. Not only did he get into great trouble, but he also happened to fall into the hands of Xie Shiguan's people. Xie Shiguan was always happy to see the Miao party suffer a loss. He was happy when the empress dowager was unhappy.
"Have someone prepare a sedan chair," Xie Shiguan paused, then suddenly seemed to be thinking, "I remember that in early winter, your servants presented a white deer to you. Is the deer skin still there?"
Shen Xiangzhi replied: "It's stored in the warehouse."
Xie Shiguan smiled and said, "Then tell someone to take it, wrap it up and send it to Ciming Palace, and say that it is a gift from the prince to the queen mother."
"yes."
The white deer is a sign of good fortune. It is said that on the night before the king's wife gave birth to her second son, the queen mother, who was the queen at the time, had a dream. She dreamed that a white deer suddenly appeared in the forest, opened its mouth and could speak human language, and was very human.
The next day, the little nephew was born, and the empress dowager gave him a nickname, "A Lu".
An hour later, Funing Palace.
Benzoin was lit above the hall and floor heating was burning below, making the bedroom warm and sweet.
Xie Shiguan hated this sweet and greasy smell the most, so he asked the palace maid to extinguish the incense and ordered the eunuch to open the window.
The little emperor on the dragon couch recognized him by the footsteps. He poked his red face out from under the quilt and said to him in a very aggrieved tone, "Uncle, I'm cold."
"Just open it for a short while," Xie Shiguan said in a gentler tone, "otherwise you'll be bored to death."
After he finished speaking, he reached out his hand to touch the emperor's forehead. The little emperor quickly grabbed his wrist and whispered, "Uncle..."
"Why did you stand in the wind last night?"
The little emperor said nothing, just held his hand.
Xie Shiguan pulled his hand back: "You're still angry and refusing to take the medicine."
"If I had drunk it obediently," the little emperor looked at him unhappily, "how could the emperor's uncle be willing to come and see me?"
At this moment, Eunuch An knelt beside the dragon couch holding a medicine bowl and whispered, "Your Majesty, the medicine for His Majesty has been warmed up."
Xie Shiguan took the jade bowl, scooped a spoonful, let it cool down, and finally fed it into the emperor's mouth.
The little emperor obediently opened his mouth, sipped the spoon and drank it, then immediately frowned and complained, "It's bitter."
"Who was blowing in the wind under the corridor for half the night last night?" Xie Shiguan deliberately asked, "I thought Your Majesty was suffering and was greedy for this bitter medicine."
The little emperor couldn't help laughing: "You are the only one in the world who dares to tease me like this."
After laughing, he paused for a moment, glanced at Xie Shiguan's expression, and said hesitantly, "Uncle... My mother has been ill for some time. Now that the New Year is approaching, my mother is still ill. I feel very uncomfortable."
Xie Shiguan held up the medicine bowl and asked, "Your Majesty, are you blaming the imperial physician for being useless?"
He pretended not to understand and continued to put medicine to the little emperor's lips.
The little emperor turned his face away, revealing a sad look: "My eldest cousin passed away early, and now he is the only child left in my uncle's family. It is true that my second cousin made a mistake and should be punished, but..."
It's not that he really has a deep affection for his second cousin, but his mother has mentioned it to him several times, and his uncle has even come to the emperor to ask for help. He is caught in the middle and is really torn.
"I know your majesty is in a difficult situation," Xie Shiguan sighed and said honestly, "but the incident involving the young prince's uncle is known to everyone in Kyoto. The three courts have tried him and sentenced him according to the law. If we rashly change the result, wouldn't it damage the dignity of the royal family?"
"Everyone knows that the young prince is your Majesty's cousin and the nephew of the Empress's wife. If we show favoritism in this matter, we will definitely be criticized and criticized."
The little emperor fell silent again, thinking of the Queen Mother's words: "Xie Shiguan is so powerful in the court that he can frame others with false charges and wrongly clear several people with just a flick of his finger."
In fact, after the king's uncle begged him, he sent people to the prison, hoping to find a assassin to exchange his cousin out. However, the assassin couldn't even get into the prison.
As if he had guessed what the emperor was thinking, Xie Shiguan suddenly reached out his hand, cupped his cheek with one hand, and sincerely advised: "Let's not talk about other people. Wu'an Marquis's only daughter died. I heard that on the day of the funeral, the Marquis cried bitterly over the coffin. He loved his daughter so much that he would definitely be there on the day of the execution."
"Your Majesty," he whispered, "A trick like the human skin mask will certainly not be hidden from the eyes of Marquis Wu'an. If this hurts this old minister's feelings, what should I do?"
Xie Shiguan gently pushed the scattered hair on his temples behind his ears, speaking in a close tone, with every word he said being out of consideration for him.
After he reminded the young emperor, he remembered that Marquis Wu'an held some military power and was a beloved minister of the late emperor. He could not afford to treat him lightly, so he subconsciously moved closer to Xie Shiguan, his eyes reddened due to his illness.
"What should I do?" The little emperor felt very aggrieved. "They are forcing me to do something. It's all my fault for not helping them."
Xie Shiguan seemed to be thinking about it, and finally compromised after a while: "Okay, Your Majesty, then I will spare him the hanging, and just demote him to a commoner, exiled three thousand miles away, and never allowed to return to the capital, how about that?"
He made such a big concession, so naturally the little emperor had no objection.
The young emperor nodded, but couldn't help but feel sorry for Xie Shiguan: "How are you going to explain to Marquis Wu'an if you change your mind every day?"
"They always accused me of being violent and unorthodox," Xie Shiguan said nonchalantly. "It's just one crime of changing my mind every day. One more and one less is not much, so what does it matter?"
The little emperor suddenly felt even more guilty and didn't dare to lose his temper anymore. He drank the medicine obediently and fell asleep soon.
After the emperor fell asleep, Xie Shiguan came to the desk where memorials were piled up like a mountain, put away his red brush and replaced it with blue writing brush, and flipped through the documents one by one.
When there were only a few folds left, Xie Shiguan saw an acquaintance writing in neat regular script, but he was scolding him by name. Not only did he use his actions from the previous few days to bring up old grievances, he also quoted scriptures to scold him harshly.
Xie Shiguan smiled brightly and wrote down two words in blue: "That makes sense."
Then he put the memorial on the top, stretched himself, and left the palace in the wind and snow.
As usual, there were some supper in the sedan chair on the way back to the palace, which consisted of some snacks and fruits, with a pot of milk tea. Xie Shiguan took a sip, but found that the tea was not cold and had no sugar, so he spit it out.
Then he lifted the curtain, poured the whole pot of tea onto Eleven's head, and asked him to take a milk bath.
Eleven didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't dare to refute, nor did he dare to get angry. He had to smile and thank the prince for his reward.
"How is Chen Que's injury recovering?" Xie Shiguan, who was sitting on the sedan chair, suddenly asked.
Eleven immediately agreed: "To reply to Your Highness, I think he will soon recover. I heard that he had a fever for several days, but he got through it. I haven't heard about him in the past few days."
Xie Shiguan sneered: "It's only fifty lashes, but he can't stand it. It's because I treated him too well and made him so delicate."
Eleven secretly wiped his face with his sleeve and couldn't help but think of the tragic scene that day. The person who was originally fine was covered in blood when he was carried out.
He couldn't speak, couldn't cry out in pain, and could only breathe.
Even with such serious injuries, he can still take care of himself. He is very strong-willed. How can he be described as delicate?
However, their prince has never been a reasonable person, and Eleven only dared to think about it in his heart. He would never dare to talk back to him.
Xie Shiguan stretched out his hand and caught a snowflake. The falling snow melted as soon as it touched his hand and turned into a drop of water in his palm.
"Go to Wu'an Marquis's Mansion later and tell him that the matter has been settled. My Lord, remember that you owe me a favor."
Eleven: "Yes."
The snow is falling heavily and the weather is getting colder.
Xie Shiguan closed the curtain and looked down at the box of snacks. It looked like it had been bought at dusk at the earliest, and by nightfall it had become hard and cold.
When Shen Que served him personally in the past, the snacks brought to him were always exquisite and beautiful, such as lotus cakes, jade dew balls, and glutinous rice cakes. They were icy when served cold and warm when served hot. Even in the coldest months of winter, the snacks brought to him by Shen Que seemed as if they were freshly baked.
At that time, Xie Shiguan only felt that he was very useful, but that was all. However, when Xie Shiguan was injured in bed and was not by his side, the prince finally remembered such a person again.
Small matters in daily life seem insignificant if taken separately, but when tiny unhappiness pile up, for some reason it makes him extremely upset.
All the people in the palace combined were no match for Shen Zhen.
But... He suddenly wondered, what is that little mute doing now?
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