It was already the end of the Chen hour and the beginning of the Si hour.
Logically speaking, it was time to adjourn the court. Not only was the mute anxious, but even the servants in the palace were worried.
Working in this palace, one does not have to worry about food and clothing. Apart from occasional bouts of hysteria, His Royal Highness Prince Yan never treats servants harshly. They receive a good monthly salary and are also given gifts during festivals.
When they went out, other people would be quite respectful to them as they were servants of Prince Yan's Mansion and would not dare to offend them casually.
But serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. The higher the master climbs, the more likely he will fall if he suddenly fails to get the emperor's favor one day. At that time, the collapse of the building may be just a matter of an imperial decree.
There were Prime Minister Qu and Grand Tutor Man as examples. However, with the 3,000 students in the Imperial College watching over them and Prince Yan mediating, Man Changshan's family and servants were still able to live the same life as when the Grand Tutor was still around.
But after Qu Cheng was executed, his direct relatives were also killed with a cup of poisoned wine. The rest of his family members were sent to the Ye Ting Jiaofang, and the slaves were either sold or made into prostitutes.
Prince Yan is a lonely man with such a bad temper, so he must be reckless. If he angers the emperor, it is not impossible that his entire family will be executed.
"General Yunhui is still in Kyoto. If something really happens in Hanyuan Palace, the soldiers from the northwest and two-thirds of the sixteen guards can all be mobilized," Eleven said in a low voice. "After Marquis Wu'an passed away, the fish token was handed over to Your Highness. In addition, there are a number of personal guards in the palace..."
Someone interrupted him from behind and asked, "What do you mean? Do you really want to kick that person off the throne?"
"He dared to put a knife on your neck, so why can't we take up arms and kill the trees? After all, we all have the surname Xie, so who would not be the one?"
"You are crazy. You dare to say anything. If Your Highness really kicks him out and takes his place, you will be criticized to death by those poor people!"
Xie Shiguan has half foreign blood in his body. When Concubine Zhaoxian Liu was persuaded to be killed, the reason was that she was a "foreign witch who disturbed the court order". The group of old guys in the court seemed to be on the side of Xie Shiguan, but if he really wanted to usurp the throne, they would definitely not accept it.
"How could Your Highness be afraid of their criticism? Apart from our prince, can the Xie family find another capable person?"
Just as they were whispering and arguing, the dumb man tied to the pillar suddenly opened his lips, and Ge Zheng, who was standing opposite him, noticed him first.
"Hey Chenque, what are you talking about?"
Everyone looked at him, only to see Shen opened his lips silently: "Fish Talisman, transfer order."
Eleven immediately understood: "If the prince is really imprisoned, we must find these things in advance in case of emergency."
But how would they know where His Highness kept such dangerous and valuable things?
Therefore, Eleven had no choice but to ask Chen Que again: "You know where His Highness put the fish talisman, right?"
Shen nodded immediately. After the decline of the Miao family, part of the military power that they had held in their hands was taken back by the little emperor. Now he heard that the northern barbarians had provoked the border many times and were eyeing the Central Plains covetously. The soldiers in the northwest could not be mobilized, and distant water could not quench a nearby fire.
However, the soldiers once maintained by Marquis Wu'an are now stationed outside the city and can be mobilized with just the fish token in hand.
"Chen Que, you are a sensible person," Eleven was afraid that he was looking for an opportunity and wanted to run away again, so he persuaded him earnestly, "Now that His Highness is in danger, it is really not good to make trouble. If I untie you, you just go back to the inner palace to find the fish talisman and wait for the opportunity. Don't be impulsive."
Shen nodded solemnly.
He was worried and confused just now, but being tied up by them, he was forced to calm down. After a rough analysis of the benefits and risks, he calmed down.
He should believe the prince. Xie Shiguan could not be more confused than him. What he could do now was to find the fish token and be ready to mobilize the soldiers outside the city at any time.
Seeing that the mute had indeed calmed down a lot, Eleven untied the rope. A few people were still worried, so they watched him return to the inner palace and then simply guarded the door of the inner palace.
There is a secret passage in the bathroom of the back hall of the bedroom. Passing through the dark passage, you will enter a small room. There are several large boxes of correspondence stacked in the room, but Shen knows that this room is just a cover.
There was a secret room right under this house. He squatted down, tapped lightly on a floor tile with his fingers, and then pressed down heavily along the tile line. He heard a light click of the metal mechanism, and suddenly an entrance appeared in front of him.
Shen did not hesitate at all and jumped down. The moment he landed, the candles in the four corners of the room lit up. Without stopping for long, Shen went straight to the table.
Most of the things stored in this corner cabinet are daily letters that are hidden from the public, and only in a secret layer underneath are the truly important things hidden.
Shen groped his way to the secret layer. He originally wanted to take the fish symbol and go up, but he was caught off guard and saw an unusual secret letter, which was pressed under the fish symbol.
The text on the outer cover did not look like Chinese characters, but a string of strange characters that he had never seen before.
Xie Shiguan's biological mother was the daughter of the Khan of the Northern Barbarians, named Princess Menghe. After she came to the capital and was made a concubine, she was given the surname Liu. These strange symbols looked like the characters used by the Northern Barbarians.
But he had never seen His Highness use this character in his daily life. Privately...has the prince been in contact with the Northern Barbarians?
The ink on the envelope has dried, but it has not been sealed with wax, which means that His Highness had drafted this document a long time ago, but has not delivered it yet. Why is that?
However, Shen did not dare to think too much, so he put the letter back to its original place, then put away the fish talisman and folded it away immediately.
Until the afternoon, Shen Que was still restless and paced back and forth in the side room holding Si Lai.
He was uneasy and subconsciously wanted to take a look at the kid, but he didn't know if the kid was born with a dog's nose or something, as long as Shen came close, even if he didn't let him see him, he would keenly realize that it was his father.
It would be fine if he fell asleep, but if he was still awake, he would definitely whimper and moan endlessly. If Shen didn't take him in his arms immediately, the kid would make a big fuss, crying so hard that the whole Lansheng Courtyard would be in turmoil.
Xie Shiguan was in trouble, but as the only blood of His Highness, this kid had no sense of it at all. Instead, he felt that it was very comfortable for his father to walk around and hold him like that today, and he would giggle from time to time.
This scene made the nurse who was following behind laugh softly: "It's really strange, the prince usually refused to smile even when I used those little toys to coax him, but today he seems to be very happy."
Having stayed in Lansheng Courtyard for a long time, the nurse knew that the mute was the apple of the eye of the master's eye, so she smiled and flattered him intentionally: "It seems that our prince still likes Aye the most. He will definitely be a filial child in the future."
Shen smiled bitterly, and was about to put the kid back on the couch to coax him, but he suddenly heard a sound of footsteps coming from the outer courtyard. It was very light, but he recognized it.
So he put Si Lai down in a hurry, but the kid had such a bad temper that he started crying loudly as his butt touched the soft couch.
Shen was so anxious that he had no choice but to pick him up again. During this time, the people in the yard had already pushed the door and walked in.
Shen Que turned around, his nose slightly sour, watching the man striding towards him, he saw that the prince's clothes were not messy, and his body was neat and tidy, with no signs of having been executed.
“Are you scared?” Xie Shiguan smiled and hugged him, tilting his head slightly to rub his hair, “I heard from Eleven that you were in a hurry to run to the palace gate to wait for me…”
Shen did not comment, so His Highness leaned close to his ear and laughed very softly: "Fool."
Seeing the distressed and panicked look on the mute's face, Xie Shiguan wanted to kiss him very much. However, just as he was about to lean over, the kid who was squeezed between the two of them suddenly started howling.
The mute immediately dodged and waved his arms to coax him.
Xie Shiguan followed him, stretched out his hand and pinched the kid's face, and said fiercely: "Why are you crying? Do you have any sense?"
His Highness had no idea that his hand was too heavy. The kid was so delicate and tender that it really hurt when he pinched him, and he howled even louder.
Shen Que quickly lowered his head to look at Si Lai's face, and indeed, he had been pinched and a spot of it was red. So he glared at His Highness with heartache and helplessness, then turned to the corner to coax the kid.
"How did I use any force?" Xie Shiguan chased after him unconvinced, "I just touched him lightly."
It was just an unintentional act, but he received such a glare for no reason. His Highness felt that he was innocent and felt a little aggrieved.
Hearing from others how nervous the mute was about him, the prince was extremely happy. He had just figured out how to coax a few sweet words out of the mute when he was interrupted by that brat.
But after all, the child was his own, and the mute loved him dearly, so Xie Shiguan had to swallow his anger and sat on the couch waiting for Chen to coax the child to sleep before he finally pulled him back to the main house.
"Stop busying yourself. I'm not thirsty." Xie Shiguan pulled the mute who was bending over to light the stove to heat water onto his lap and then stared at him. "Your man almost went to prison. Don't you feel sorry for him at all?"
Of course Shen felt distressed, but he always kept his emotions hidden in his heart and would never show them to others.
Seeing that the mute didn't react, His Highness felt inexplicably jealous, and grabbed his wrist and pressed it against himself: "That kid only had a slight red spot on his face, and you took it so seriously. Why don't you think about how your man narrowly escaped death from the palace? Maybe he has hidden injuries, but you didn't even ask. You are really cruel."
Hearing His Highness' serious words, Shen Que's heart suddenly lifted, and then he cautiously probed into him.
I don’t know where he touched, but I saw Xie Shiguan’s brows tighten and he made a “hiss” sound, as if he took a breath of cold air.
"pain……"
Shen was so scared that the corners of his eyes turned red. His Highness was not a pretentious person. He remembered that the prince was not very steady before he came of age. On his seventeenth birthday, His Highness drank all day and led a group of young men from aristocratic families to play polo in the middle of the night.
Who would have thought that they would be assassinated on this very court? The assassins hiding in the dark probably couldn't tell who was who, and shot arrows at once. The horses became frightened and some fell to death on the spot, while many were shot to death by hidden arrows.
Xie Shiguan was lucky, as he was shot in the back by an arrow, but his vital parts were not injured. He also broke one of his legs when he fell off his horse, but he did not even cry out in pain. When he saw Chen Que, he threw himself on his back and asked him to carry him back in a bad tone.
Therefore, Shen thought that since even His Highness cried out in pain, he must be seriously injured. His heart ached even more, and he opened his lips weakly: "Where, where does it hurt?"
But the next moment, he saw a triumphant smile on His Highness's face, and then his hand was pressed by His Highness to a certain part of his body.
She still had that aggrieved look in her eyes and in her tone: "It clearly didn't hurt when I was in the palace just now, why is it that it hurts so badly when I see you?"
"Please help me touch it," His Highness urged shamelessly, "It will stop hurting if you rub it."
Shen didn't react for a while, and he was pulled by his hand and rubbed against his leg again and again. When he came to his senses, his face suddenly turned red.
He was so distressed, and was so scared that his heart was about to break. He even prepared the fish talisman for him, but His Highness still said such obscene words to lie to him...
Xie Shiguan was just trying to tease him, but he didn't expect that the mute seemed to take it seriously today. Tears suddenly gathered in his eyes, and two drops fell down without warning.
His Highness was stunned for a moment, and quickly raised his hand to rub his eyes with the back of his hand: "Why are you crying?"
Now it was Xie Shiguan's turn to panic. He hugged the mute's waist and pressed his head into his arms: "Don't cry..."
"I was wrong. Don't tell such jokes next time, okay?"
The author has something to say:
(I admitted my mistake, but I will cheat again next time
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