Chapter 2 Entering the Palace
(Thanks to all readers for their support, and thanks to the first four leaders of this book: really? srjhenbang, clouds on the moon, love my **** mom, and Lainjoy Lingxi.)
Han Ruzi was awakened by a shake from his sleep, smelled a familiar smell, did not open his eyes, and hummed lazily.
"Get up, Ruzi, we're going back."
Her mother's voice was as ethereal as celestial music. Han Ruzi forced her eyelids to lift up. In the dim light, she saw her mother's excited and nervous face, "Mother..."
"God bless us, we can finally go back." The mother repeated, her voice trembling with excitement.
"Where are you going?" Han Ruzi sat up slowly, still not understanding the situation.
"Go back to the palace, you are going to be the emperor."
Han Ruzi rubbed his eyes and finally woke up, "I don't want to go back and I don't want to be emperor."
The mother grabbed one of her son's arms. "You are not allowed to say this kind of discouragement, you will never be allowed, understand? You still have a long way to go, and there will be many people blocking the way, you have to..."
The mother didn't know what to say. The son was just thirteen years old, and he was at a stage where he didn't understand the world, and it was easy to misunderstand the words of adults. "The throne should have belonged to you." The mother said softly, "Emperor Wu is your grandfather. He likes you and named you personally. If it hadn't died too soon, Emperor Wu would have made you his grandson."
Han Ruzi nodded, his mother often nagging him these words, but to be honest, he didn't remember what his grandfather looked like. He quickly dressed and put on his hat and walked out of the room with his mother.
It was very dark and cold outside. There were many people standing in the courtyard, and no one was lighting the lights. The mother pushed her son in front of her and said in a proud tone, "This is the grandson of Emperor Wu and the son of Emperor Huan."
There was a crowd of people kneeling down suddenly in the courtyard. Han Ruzi was very nervous, but he didn't retreat. He didn't want to disappoint his mother.
The closest figure stood up and walked over, and a cold wind followed. Han Ruzi was inexplicably impressed by this coldness, and he could not forget it after many years.
"I am serving Yang Feng in the middle and inviting the prince to the palace."
The mother heard the disrespect in Zhong Changshi's words, so she said in a colder tone: "Just a Zhong Changshi?"
Yang Feng nodded, bent down slightly, and said to Han Ruzi, "Please, the prince, get on the bus."
Han Ruzi looked back at his mother. In the night, her mother's face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost.
"Our mothers and daughters were kicked out of the palace and wanted us to go back. We must not be so casual," she said.
Yang Feng's waist was bent deeper, and a disapproving smile appeared on his face, "Wang Meiren, this old slave is just following orders, and—another group of people in the palace are now on their way to welcome the King of the East Sea, I don't need to say more, Wang Beauty should also understand how important it is to return to the palace early."
Wang Meiren was immediately persuaded, stepped forward and stood beside her son, "Okay, let's go."
Yang Feng did not move, nor did the many figures behind him.
"The lives of our mothers and daughters are in Duke Yang's hands. If you have something to say, it's fine." Wang Meiren's tone softened unexpectedly.
"The order I received was to bring the prince alone into the palace."
Wang Meiren's expression changed suddenly, but this time she didn't argue or get angry, but slowly pushed her son to the outsider.
Han Ruzi turned back in surprise, "Mother, I don't..."
"Be obedient." Although Wang Meiren's voice was low, she couldn't be questioned, "You enter the palace, then...then...take me in." Wang Meiren leaned into her son's ear and said in a lower voice, "Remember, Trust no one but yourself, and don't offend anyone."
Han Ruzi began to feel frightened, he involuntarily rubbed forward under the push of his mother, and the other pair of arms picked him up, and then the crowd came and drowned him like a dark cloud. From then on, Han Ruzi lost most of his senses, and he didn't even know how he left home and got into the carriage. The carriage was not enclosed, but only had a canopy. He looked back over and over again, and always felt that his mother was still behind him. , but he saw only a dozen strange knights. It was not until after driving two streets that he remembered that he didn't say goodbye to his mother.
"We will meet again soon." Han Ruzi thought so in his heart, and said it unconsciously.
The night in the capital has always been calm, so the hooves of the horses on the street were very loud. Yang Feng, who was sitting beside Han Ruzi, heard the whisper, turned his head and said kindly, "I have seen the prince when I was a child."
Han Ruzi didn't say anything.
"The prince is... twelve years old this year?"
"Thirteen." The carriage was running too fast, and Han Ruzi felt that his internal organs were empty, and he was surprised that he could still sit firmly in the carriage with a light body.
Yang Feng continued to stare at the boy. He had to estimate the value of the prince in the shortest possible time. "You don't look like much."
Han Ruzi is no shorter than his peers, what makes him look childish is his expression, like a kitten that has fallen into a kennel, at a loss, unable to accept too many unfamiliar faces and smells for a while.
"Prince doesn't go out very often, right?" Yang Feng remembered that when Emperor Heng was still the prince, Wang Meiren was not very favored, and lived with her son in a remote courtyard. The prince succeeded, and Wang Meiren and her mother followed After entering the palace, they were still neglected. Just one month later, because "the prince is getting older and it is not suitable for him to live in the palace for a long time", both mother and son were sent out of the palace.
In any case, the unpopular prince will be crowned the throne before the age of fifteen. This is the ancestor of the Great Chu. It is very likely that he will be sealed in a remote and humid place, but after all, he is a prince, and Wang Meiren will also become the king The queen mother, away from the surveillance and jealousy of the palace from now on.
Yang Feng suddenly felt a little soft-hearted. The boy sitting next to him was a little sheep with a bright future, but now he was brought into the pack of wolves.
"When... can I bring my mother into the palace?" Han Ruzi asked in a low voice.
Yang Feng secretly laughed at his momentary weakness, "When you can issue your will."
"How long will it take?" Han Ruzi asked.
Yang Feng was silent for a moment and said word by word, "If you just wait, you will never be able to wait."
Han Ruzi couldn't understand the deep meaning of the eunuch's words, but he sensed the indifference from the other party's expression and tone, so he shut his mouth. He was a prince, but he never felt superior.
Yang Feng stood up and shouted to the guards in the front row, "Turn right ahead and go to Penglai Gate."
"Mr. Yang, Penglai Gate is far away..." The master was surprised and did not understand why Yang Changshi, who was anxious to return to the palace, wanted to be far away.
"Look at the road!" Yang Feng slapped the rider on the back, sat back in his original position, turned around and waved at the knight behind him.
The master did not dare to ask any more questions. He turned the corner at the intersection and ran to the Penglai Gate in the northeast of the palace. The dozen eunuchs behind the car divided into two groups, following the carriage all the way, all the way to Dongqing Gate.
There was a ray of light in the sky, and the driver called out "Mr. Yang" in a panic.
A line of soldiers blocked the way on the street ahead.
Yang Feng stood up abruptly, the night was still there, he couldn't see the origins of those soldiers, he put both hands on the shoulders of the driver, and shouted: "Run faster, no one dares to stop the driver!"
The soldiers in front were also shouting and ordering the carriage to stop.
Han Ruzi turned slightly and looked past the four galloping horses, and saw at least twenty soldiers lined up in two rows blocking the way, all armed with long spears.
The carriage couldn't rush past, he thought, and turned to look at Yang Feng, the old eunuch in his fifties was leaning forward like a wolf ready to pounce, with his hands on the shoulders of the coachman, as if he was working hard for him.
"Hurry up!" Yang Feng yelled.
Han Ruzi was surprised. He had seen some eunuchs, all of them were cautious and cautious, like a group of tiptoe cats, and Yang Feng, who often served in the middle, was different from them, more like a well-trained hound.
The soldiers blocking the road were getting closer and closer, and Han Ruzi clung to the carriage with one hand, ready to face the overturning of the carriage.
Several knights overtook the carriage and ran ahead, issuing a series of curses and orders.
In the end, I don't know what factors played a role, the soldiers who blocked the road actually gave way, and the carriage continued to move forward. Han Ruzi was even more surprised. This was the first time he saw the power to move forward.
Yang Feng sat back in his seat without saying a word for a while, then suddenly turned his head and asked, "Do you really want to take your mother into the palace?"
Han Ruzi nodded again and again, of course he thought that he had never been this far from his mother since he was a child.
"Okay, the prince seems to be a quiet person. From now on, please keep the prince quiet and leave everything to me, okay?"
Han Ruzi nodded again.
When it was just dawn, the carriage drove into the palace smoothly. Han Ruzi had no impression of this place, and was placed in a room ignorantly.
Not long after, a eunuch hurried in, sweating profusely, probably one of the knights following Yang Feng, "King Jing and his party were stopped at Dongqingmen."
Yang Feng stomped on the floor excitedly, "I knew who was blocking it?"
"It's strange to say that it's actually a group of disciples from Taixue, shouting and saying something that is inappropriate."
"What's surprising, the real mastermind behind the scenes won't show up so soon. Well...you go to Dongqingmen soon and announce that Prince Ruzi has entered the palace, and maybe you can save Jinggong."
The eunuch who delivered the letter was stunned for a moment, and without asking any further questions, he immediately retreated to execute the order.
Yang Feng turned to Han Ruzi, "Don't be afraid, remember, I won everything for you."
Han Ruzi nodded, his mother told him not to trust anyone, but now his eyes were darkened, and he couldn't find anything to rely on except the old eunuch.
Yang Feng stared at the prince for a while, turned around, and strode away.
There was no one else in the room. Han Ruzi sat quietly on the chair, suspecting that he was still in a dream. Later, he could hear his mother urging him to get up, but the sunlight outside was getting brighter and brighter, indicating that so far Everything that happens is real.
I don't know how long it took, and the sound of two people arguing came from outside the house.
"It was you who informed the ministers and asked them to set up an ambush at Dongqingmen, and then pretend to be good people!" This voice was extremely angry.
"Jinggong, don't take the enemy's first opportunity as a whistleblower, we are all on the same boat, someone must be able to spot the danger ahead, you should be lucky that I am a smart person." This was Yang Feng's voice.
"Don't play tricks with me, let's go to see the queen mother, you can't fool everyone!"
Han Ruzi still sat still, realizing in a trance that everything that happened here was related to him, and at the same time had nothing to do with him.
There was a knock on the door, and a young man of the same age as Han Ruzi walked in, wearing a brocade robe full of embroidered patterns, and seeing Han Ruzi, the young man was stunned, "You are also here to fight for the throne? It seems that we are brothers, someone Said that I would make you king in the future, but I think killing you is the only way to do it once and for all."
Han Ruzi obeyed Yang Feng's reminder and said nothing.
(seeking for collection and recommendation)