Chapter 55
What's not disgusting?
Xie Ling was stunned for a moment and looked at His Majesty blankly, but saw Xiao Huan suddenly looking at him after closing his eyes.
"I have just answered the question you asked me in the carriage yesterday."
"At this moment, I don't hate the gay."
It's not that I didn't hate it before, but that I don't hate it now.
After he finished speaking, he withdrew his gaze and said, "Please pour me a cup of tea."
"Oh, okay, Your Majesty." Xie Ling poured a cup of tea before returning to his seat. Just as he picked up the pen, his mind suddenly reacted.
"Tongzi, His Majesty just said that he no longer dislikes gay men?"
Wait, did he hear that right?
Because it was too shocking, Xie Ling just came back to his senses now.
The system nodded.
"Yes, you heard me right."
It was hard not to be overwhelmed when the famous emperor in history who hated homosexuality suddenly said such a thing. It was only at this moment that Xie Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
"The system is so weird."
"How can a person be disgusted before and not be disgusted now?"
The system was about to say something, but suddenly paused and looked at the host strangely.
Why does he feel that it has something to do with the host?
Xie Ling didn't know what the system was thinking. He was very anxious and curious about what Emperor Wu said. But he couldn't ask any more questions. Yesterday's question just happened to mention the late emperor, so he asked it. Now Xie Ling's courage to ask again retreated.
At this time, I could only sit stiffly on the chair, raising my head from time to time to look at His Majesty.
After saying the words that had troubled him for a long time last night, Xiao Huan's brows relaxed a little and he was no longer troubled. Until the whole day passed, Xie Ling did not find a chance to ask again.
He lay on the couch with two curious circles under his eyes, covered with the quilt.
"Forget it. It seems like it's not my turn to explore historical mysteries for thousands of netizens."
"Thinking from another angle, it is also possible that the historian's record was wrong."
He rubbed his face slightly, thinking that if he couldn't figure it out, he might as well give up thinking about it. After mumbling to the system for a long time, he simply started writing a novel.
…
Because Xie Ling stayed up late to write a novel, he was unable to get up the next morning. It was not until he opened his eyes that he realized that Qianyuan Hall seemed too quiet today.
"Small money?"
He called out softly, and Qian Ming walked in from outside.
"Thank you, sir."
"What's wrong?"
Xie Ling: "Why is it so quiet today? Where are the family members?"
Qian Ming lowered his voice and said, "Mr. Xie, you forgot that today is the anniversary of the death of the late emperor. All the officials are in the Imperial Ancestral Temple."
Although the Taimiao was not far from the palace, it was not inside the palace after all. His Majesty left the palace early in the morning and saw that Master Xie was still sleeping, so he ordered people not to wake him up.
Xie Ling pressed his brows and recalled it, and remembered it at the same time.
——Something is going to happen today.
But your majesty has already prepared to go fishing, and those people will not succeed. He felt relieved and had full confidence in Emperor Wu.
Sure enough, at noon, the news came. When Your Majesty was offering sacrifices to the late emperor in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, something happened in the Dali Temple.
Xiao Huan had already arranged everything and was naturally waiting for them to fall into his trap. After staying in the Taimiao for a while, he saw the Eagle Guard beside him walking towards him.
"Your Majesty, someone has already started to move."
He glanced:
"knew."
King Zhou and others watched His Majesty in the Taimiao, and ordered the jailers who had been stationed long ago to replace the meal with one that was soaked in poison.
However, they did not expect that the person waiting for them in the Dali Temple was not the real Prince Cheng, but the Eagle Guard in disguise, who had been waiting for them for a long time.
Time passed slowly. I don't know how long it had been. Standing outside the gate of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, King Zhou took a deep breath and listened to the mourning music, but his heart was beating "bang bang bang". Even though he felt that he had been prepared and there was no possibility of mistakes, facing this extremely oppressive emperor, King Zhou still felt nervous, just like when he knelt in the hall and dared not plead for his corrupt eldest son.
He was afraid of Xiao Huan.
It was clear that he had the upper hand at this moment, and he even broke out in cold sweat on his palms.
"What happened to Uncle Wang?"
A member of the royal family nearby looked over, and King Zhou came to his senses and shook his head. He didn't know why he was a little nervous at this moment.
His Majesty was still burning incense inside. In order to ease his mood, he looked around, but found that Prince Shun was not here on the anniversary of the late emperor's death.
Just now, many people followed the royal family and King Zhou didn't pay attention. Only now did he realize that something was wrong. Even if he was scolded by the current emperor and was sick, he had to hold on at this time. After all, today is not an ordinary day, but a matter related to the late emperor.
If you don't come at this critical moment, you will be accused of disrespect.
He felt a little uneasy in his heart, and found that not only Prince Shun, but even Prince Shun's son did not show up. In Prince Zhou's impression, Prince Shun's mansion was not so ignorant of the limits, so where was Prince Shun at this time?
…
Just as Prince Zhou was worried, Prince Shun was waiting in the Dali Temple. In order to ensure that more people saw today's drama, Prince Shun specially called a few people, using the excuse that it was the death anniversary of the late emperor. His Majesty remembered his brother who had been in prison for a long time, so he specially asked the royal family to come and visit him.
It made sense and no one thought much about it, until they arrived at the Dali Temple prison and realized something was wrong.
Why is the duty so lax today?
They looked at each other and the censor next to them paused.
"The Dali Temple is where the Dagans detain serious criminals. Logically, the rules shouldn't be so lax. How come we haven't seen any jailers in such a long time?"
Even though today is the death anniversary of the late emperor, it is not right for some people to be affected.
Censor Chen was usually the most severe, and would severely punish officials who were not morally upright. Seeing the Dali Temple like this today, his face turned ugly.
Prince Shun knew why, but he remained calm.
"Maybe something happened inside."
"Let's go in and take a look."
Several people walked in with their guards. The further they went inside, the quieter it felt, especially the road they were heading towards.
There was no one on the staircase where Prince Cheng was imprisoned. Censor Chen frowned, and just as he was about to raise his hand to push open the door in front of him, he heard Prince Shun suddenly stop him.
Prince Shun came from a military family. Although he was old, his hearing was still sharp. When he heard the noise inside, his expression changed slightly.
"Wait, there's a sound inside."
Everyone listened carefully in silence, and sure enough, there were several footsteps heard inside and then quickly disappeared. They could only vaguely hear someone talking through the iron gate, but could not make out what they were saying clearly.
The two jailers holding the poisoned wine were also a little anxious. Someone had just sent the people outside the door away, and now they were the only two left. They just had to feed the poisoned wine to Prince Cheng and leave quickly. The two of them encouraged themselves. Everyone was in the Imperial Ancestral Temple at the moment, and they would not be discovered here for a while. As long as they successfully completed the task, they still had time to escape, and nothing would happen.
After looking at each other, they calmed down and took out the key to unlock the door, but they didn't notice that the Prince Cheng, who had a bad temper and would curse whenever the food he delivered was not to his liking, had suddenly become quiet.
I looked at the two of them standing outside the door for a long time without saying a word.
Xiao Xun watched the movement on the other side through the interlayer wall, and his legs went weak. The Dali Temple had cut off his food for the past few days, and he was already dizzy and dizzy from hunger. When he finally woke up, he didn't expect to see such a heart-wrenching scene.
Although Xiao Huan had him moved to the mezzanine at the back, Xiao Xun still didn't dare to confirm whether the other party had the intention to kill him at this time.
Therefore, watching someone unlock the door, under the shadow of death, his legs began to tremble. It was a pity that his mouth was blocked by someone, so he couldn't shout even if he wanted to.
The noise inside was getting louder and louder. Prince Shun stopped the guard who was asking to go in and said, "Today is the anniversary of the death of the late emperor, but Prince Cheng is being neglected here. Why don't you all follow me in and take a look to see what's going on inside."
After he said that, he chopped open the locked iron door with a knife.
The two people who were already in prison did not hear it and were still walking forward with the poisoned wine.
However, the imagined process of feeding the poisoned wine smoothly did not happen. Just as he was carrying the food forward, his knees suddenly went weak and he tripped over something, and the plate in his hand fell to the ground.
"You're useless. You can't even do this."
The jailer who was holding Prince Cheng turned around and cursed, then reached out to pick up the poisoned wine that had turned black on the ground.
The next moment, a stop sound was suddenly heard.
"presumptuous!"
"Why don't you stop?"
Being caught off guard, the two men's hands trembled, and before they could react, the prison door was broken open.
When the eagle guard spilled the poisoned wine, Prince Cheng inside the wall had already closed his eyes and fainted from fright.
The Eagle Guard who was arrested and pretended to be him twitched his mouth, thinking that His Majesty had specially ordered people to put Prince Cheng here to watch with their own eyes, probably intending to scare him crazy. After all, with Prince Cheng's courage, he would definitely be scared to death when he saw this scene without knowing whether he would "go with the flow" and die today.
Come to think of it, if Eagle Guard wasn't afraid that something bad might happen to this guy, he would definitely let him stay here by himself.
The expression on his face remained unchanged. When he heard the voice, he looked up in panic with the face of Prince Cheng in disguise, and saw Prince Shun and others outside.
Censor Chen and his companions had some guesses in their minds as they came in, but even so, they did not expect to see someone personally feeding Prince Cheng with poisoned wine on the anniversary of the late emperor's death.
The wine spilled on the ground. Its black color showed that it was extremely poisonous and would kill people instantly upon contact with blood.
The two jailers even stretched out their hands and tried desperately to pour the liquid into the struggling Prince Cheng's mouth.
Censor Chen's eyes went dark, but fortunately Prince Shun stabilized the situation in time and sent people in to arrest the talent but they failed.
The two jailers had some martial arts skills, but they were no match for the men brought by Prince Shun, and were controlled before they could even drink the liquor.
Things happened too fast. Even though the two were detained in a flash, they still couldn't figure it out. Weren't all the people in the Dali Temple prison transferred away by King Zhou? They took the risk to make sure that no one from the lower level would come. They thought that even if they killed Prince Cheng, they could escape early and save their lives.
I didn't expect to be bumped into by someone, and it was Prince Shun and a group of people!
What happened? Did something go wrong with the King of Zhou?
In public, everyone was shocked. Censor Chen was furious:
"Who are you two?"
"Why did you poison Prince Cheng?"
The two looked at each other, somewhat hesitant.
Prince Shun, who knew the truth, said, "It is impossible for two jailers to be so bold as to murder a member of the royal family."
"Come here, report to His Majesty that these two men be kept under strict guard and interrogated in public."
In one word, the two jailers have been characterized, but no one refuted it. Everyone knew that Prince Shun was right in this matter, and the jailers would not act like this for no reason.
In the Imperial Temple:
The sky outside gradually brightened. Xiao Huan went through the process leisurely, but King Zhou became more and more anxious as he waited.
No, there must be something wrong. He almost couldn't help wanting to get up and pretend to change clothes and go out. But just as he stood up, he suddenly saw a eunuch coming in from outside, lowering his head and saying something hurriedly.
Done?
King Zhou felt somewhat uneasy.
After Xiao Huan finished listening to the eunuch's report, he casually glanced at the crowd and saw King Zhou standing uneasy: "The ceremony has not yet been completed, where is King Zhou going?"
King Zhou took a deep breath and calmed himself.
"Your Majesty, I am feeling a little unwell and would like to go out and change my clothes."
"Yeah?"
Xiao Huan didn't say yes or no, he just said calmly:
"Today is the anniversary of the death of the late emperor. I just had a feeling in front of the late emperor's spirit. I thought that the late emperor might be thinking about Prince Cheng, so I suddenly decided to send someone to the Dali Temple to ask Prince Cheng to burn a stick of incense for the late emperor."
"It's just that...someone just reported that something happened in the Dali Temple."
There was a sudden silence in the air.
King Zhou looked at his gloomy expression and his heart sank.
Why isn't he in a hurry?
Something happened in the Dali Temple and Prince Cheng died. Isn't he the most difficult to clear?
Could it be that...
"The eunuch said that someone poisoned Prince Cheng, but it just so happened that Prince Shun's uncle went to the Dali Temple today and caught the man on the spot."
"He has been brought here now."
Prince Shun?!
King Zhou suddenly raised his head and saw the emperor sitting above him with cold eyes.
"All the royal family members are here today, and since this is about Prince Cheng, let's conduct a thorough trial."
"Someone, bring the person up!"
"Your Majesty, this is happening in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Is there anything wrong with that?" A member of the royal family who was also involved in the incident saw that something was not right and stepped forward hesitantly.
Xiao Huan sneered, "The late emperor loved Prince Cheng the most during his lifetime. Even though Prince Cheng rebelled, I spared his life out of consideration for the late emperor. I never thought someone would poison Prince Cheng today."
"If this matter is not interrogated in front of the late emperor, how can the late emperor feel at ease?"
"Prince Ke, what do you think?"
In one sentence, Prince Ke could no longer refute. In front of the entire court, in the mourning hall of the late emperor, he always felt that this interrogation would not go as they wished, but it was no longer up to them to decide.
When they heard that Prince Shun had captured someone, they knew that something bad was going to happen.
Xiao Huan ordered his men to bring up the three jailers.
Outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the court officials could not help but look over there.
The three jailers who usually worked in the Dali Temple prison had never seen such a scene before, especially when they saw the Eagle Guard Commander appear with his men.
"Your Majesty, such bloodshed in the Taimiao at this time may disturb the late emperor's sleep." King Zhou's heart skipped a beat.
Xiao Huan waved his hand: "It's okay."
"The late emperor wouldn't mind."
"Go ahead."
He sat calmly on the chair, and soon screams began to sound.
Zhang Wu gritted his teeth and endured for a long time, but finally couldn't help but confess. Although they were bribed, they participated in this matter with the intention of saving their lives. Now that they were caught because of King Zhou, they naturally didn't want to keep their mouths shut and wait for King Zhou, who was in danger, to rescue them.
After all, judging by the character of those royal princes, if he endured the punishment, their first thought would not be to save him, but to kill them to prevent future troubles.
Zhang Wu was not a fool. After being tortured several times, he knelt down and begged for mercy.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life. I will confess."
"The slave confesses!"
The bloody man knelt outside the Taimiao, turned around and pointed at the crowd.
"It was the King of Zhou and his men who ordered me to poison the food of the King of Cheng. Everything was the King of Zhou's idea, and I was just following his orders."
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole hall was in an uproar.
King Zhou? How could it be King Zhou?
Apart from the royal family members who participated in this incident, almost no one could have imagined that it was King Zhou who did it. After all, when the case of Prince Cheng's rebellion broke out, it was several princes of senior royal family members who wrote letters to plead for mercy, which was somewhat strange.
Everyone looked at each other and didn't dare to say a word, for fear of getting involved in this trouble.
"How dare you slander this king!"
"When did the king order you to do this?"
The face of the King of Zhou changed, and he was about to step forward to explain that it was the servant who had accused him without reason, after all, he could never admit this crime. However, the next moment, the Prince Shun standing next to him suddenly said, "I can testify to this matter."
King Zhou's body froze as he heard Prince Shun say word by word:
"That day, King Zhou did invite all members of the royal family to discuss the assassination of Prince Cheng."
"I have an invitation from King Zhou here." Prince Shun took it out and ignored the murderous look on King Zhou's face.
Wang Bao carefully verified it and then took over.
Xiao Huan glanced over and looked down.
"What else does King Zhou have to explain?"
"There are witnesses and physical evidence."
"Could it be possible that someone has wronged you?"
Looking at the determined look of the emperor, King Zhou knew that the game was over.
The emperor must have known about it. If he didn't know, he wouldn't have been able to gather evidence so quickly and make Prince Shun defect and stand up today.
His face darkened. He didn't expect that they had been plotted against by the emperor from the very beginning!
Xiao Huan looked at Prince Shun.
"Besides Prince Zhou, who else was involved in poisoning Prince Cheng?"
"Prince Ke, Prince Lu, Marquis Zhao, Crown Prince Zhou..."
Prince Shun stood up and called out the names one by one.
As a series of names appeared, everyone bowed their heads even lower, almost to their collars, pretending they hadn't heard anything.
Xiao Huan showed no mercy and ordered the Eagle Guards to arrest the man on the spot. When King Zhou was struggling, he said, "Take him away."
"Your Majesty." A censor stood up and wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth under the gaze of His Majesty.
King Zhou and others were taken away, and the area outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple suddenly became quiet.
Xiao Huan glanced at everyone and said, "It's really inappropriate to make such a fuss today on the anniversary of the death of the late emperor."
"I'm afraid the ceremony can't go on."
"My dear ministers, please go back first."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice stepped forward, and everyone bowed and withdrew, not until they had walked out of the hall did they breathe a sigh of relief.
King Zhou was identified in public, so he had nothing to refute. But today's incident happened suddenly, and everyone has not yet reacted.
"Things are going to change."
The Minister of Personnel sighed in a low voice, and Duke Ningguo nodded. They had seen clearly outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple just now that almost half of the people involved in this incident were members of the royal family.
After the punishment, the other half of the royal family, led by Prince Shun, stood on Your Majesty's side again. I'm afraid that big moves are coming.
The few of them stopped talking here and returned to their houses quietly. His Majesty deliberately took action outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple in front of the court officials today, which was also a way to scare the monkeys. As for who is the monkey, it depends on how smart he is.
The anniversary of his death ended hastily, but at least it was a conclusion. Xie Ling yawned, and it was not until the evening that His Majesty the Emperor Wu returned.
"Your Majesty is back?" He slapped his face and became more sober.
As soon as Xiao Huan got off his horse, he saw Xie Ling sitting on the steps in front of Qianyuan Hall waiting for him. The young man opposite him was wearing the cloak he gave him. He looked up at this time and his eyes lit up when he saw him.
Xiao Huan paused slightly.
"Why are you waiting here?"
Xie Ling scratched his head: "I want to come and see His Majesty as soon as possible." Although he knew that His Majesty would resolve today's issues, he was a little anxious about not receiving any news. After all, he was the most admired Emperor Wu, and Xie Ling still cared about him a lot.
"Well, I'm glad your Majesty is alright."
Looking at Eunuch Wang who was a little further away outside, Xie Ling asked quietly.
"Did you catch any fish?"
A whisper passed by his ears, and Xiao Huan lowered his eyes slightly.
“I caught it.”
“He’s already been taken into custody.”
Seeing how curious he was, Xiao Huan reached out and pinched his ear unconsciously.
"I'll tell you later."
Xie Ling suddenly raised his head and looked across. What did His Majesty just do?
But then he heard Emperor Wu withdraw his hand and say:
"Have you had your meal?"
"Have dinner with me for a while."
He was indeed hungry, as he hadn't eaten all day in the Taimiao.
Xie Ling nodded in a daze, and then he heard His Majesty say:
"Wang Bao, serve the meal."
As the order came from the front, Wang Bao, who was far behind, immediately responded.
"yes."
Xie Ling covered his ears blankly and whispered to the system: "Tongzi, why did His Majesty pinch my ears just now?"
Isn't this action a bit too intimate?
To be honest, His Majesty's sudden raising of his hand just now made his body stiffen for a moment.
Although he thought rationally that His Majesty was pinching him like an animal, just like he pinched his face last time, his body instinctively shuddered. Xie Ling was glad that he remembered that His Majesty Wudi was a straight man.
No, he doesn't hate gay men anymore.
Thinking of what Emperor Wu said yesterday, Xie Ling suddenly reacted.
So what does he mean?
The system was speechless and just laughed.
"Who knows?"
"This system is running low on energy and is going into hibernation. Host, please go if you want."
As soon as Xie Ling asked a question, he found that the system that was colluding with him was offline. He couldn't help but twitch his lips and watched the system disappear.
Seeing him standing there in a daze, Xiao Huan raised his eyebrows and turned around.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Your Majesty."
Xie Ling came back to his senses, suppressed his strange thoughts, walked over, and tried his best to ignore what had just happened.
It was already evening and Xiao Huan just had a simple meal.
"Your Majesty, so now half of the resistance from the royal family has disappeared?" Xie Ling asked curiously.
He knew that Emperor Wu was planning to send troops to attack the Huns, so he couldn't help but ask.
Xiao Huan washed his hands.
"Um."
He paused and looked at Xie Ling.
"Prince Shun will not object anymore."
"That's great." Xie Ling couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips.
He was really happy for His Majesty. After all, the less resistance there was in sending troops to the Xiongnu, the better. According to historical records, when His Majesty sent troops, almost all the people in the court opposed it, but His Majesty overcame all opposition and suppressed it. However, the discussion at that time was imaginable. If His Majesty had not won the battle later, I am afraid that His Majesty would have been labeled a tyrant.
Xiao Huan looked at Xie Ling's happy expression and inexplicably felt that this guy seemed to be happier than he was when he passed the imperial examination.
Due to his personality, Xiao Huan was used to handling all things on his own. This was the first time he told someone about such a thing. After he finished speaking, he actually felt relaxed, as if a heavy stone had been lifted off his shoulders.
"What's wrong?"
After Xie Ling was happy, he suddenly saw His Majesty looking at him seriously, feeling a little confused.
Xiao Huan's eyes passed over Xie Ling's lips, and his heart skipped a beat. Perhaps it was because of his answer to the question "I don't dislike gay men" yesterday that Xiao Huan found it even harder to control himself when he saw Xie Ling again.
Is it because I like him that I don’t hate him?
His throat rolled and he felt a little thirsty for a moment. He calmly picked up the water cup and took a sip, but the cold tea was not enough to calm his restlessness.
"His Majesty."
"His Majesty?"
Seeing that Emperor Wu remained silent, Xie Ling felt a little surprised and stretched out his hand and waved it in front of the Emperor.
The next moment, someone grabbed him.
Both of them were stunned by the sudden action, and Xiao Huan came to his senses.
"I just lost my mind."
"Your Majesty, what were you thinking about just now?" Xie Ling was a little surprised.
He rarely saw His Majesty's sudden distraction like just now, and he didn't know what he was thinking about. But did Emperor Wu also have such ordinary moments?
He was just feeling a little emotional when he saw His Majesty turning around and looking at him.
Inexplicably, Xie Ling suddenly remembered the scene when His Majesty pinched his earlobe before, and it seemed that he had the same look in his eyes...
His heart skipped a beat, and for some reason he didn't dare to ask any more questions. Just as he was about to laugh it off, he felt the hand on his wrist tighten.
Your Majesty's hands seem a little hot?
It's clearly a cold autumn night, why is it so hot?
Xie Ling was joking at the moment, but he didn't expect that his blood and energy would be sufficient. He quietly retreated a bit, and for some reason he didn't dare to provoke him.
He was clearly the one who was curious, but he was also the one who was scared now.
I always feel that something is wrong with His Majesty at this moment.
The next moment, the finger that was clamping his wrist suddenly paused. Xiao Huan narrowed his eyes and chuckled.
"What are you afraid of?"
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