7.3–7.4

7.3

The courtiers had been petitioning for the execution of Qi Xiu Jie for half a month, but Li Jintian remained unmoved and restored Qi Xiu Jie’s position as a noble ruler.

Every night, he would dream back to that cold and deep palace, saw Qi Xiu Jie kneeling in front of his tablets and crying, that repressed to the extreme grief, even sitting on the throne of the queen of the king can not soak a little smile of the dead eyes again and again tormented his nerves. He thought that Qi Xiu Jie would live a happy life after his death, but he realized that he had also become a walking corpse. The only thing that motivated him to live was to avenge himself.

In that case, it was a blessing that he had gone first, while those left behind were trapped in endless pain and despair.

Qi family people for the restoration of the country exhausted the strength of the clan, the clan in the battle killed and wounded most of the remaining only the old and weak women and children, Qi Xiu Jie also in the burial of his late husband’s bones after the death of a hangman’s noose, failing to enjoy a bit of glory. Every time Li Jintian woke up from this dream, his chest was stuffy and painful.

He wanted to go and see how Qi Xiu Jie was doing, but he also felt timid and weak, so he could only live in a state of entanglement every day. Unconsciously, he was already convinced of those two dreams, but he preferred to dismiss the entire harem for the sake of Gao Min, this feeling could not be faked, so until the Gao family made an unauthorized move, he would also hold his ground.

On this day, the courtiers finally stopped, no longer petitioning the emperor to execute the remaining Qi family members, but instead expressing their concern over the frequent Western Barbarians. King Li was the first to plead with the Emperor to send troops to the Western Barbarians, followed by Gao Lang, and then the entire court.

Li Jintian was already interested in conquering the Western Barbarians, and said in the hall that he would form an army as soon as possible.

“Dare I ask if Your Majesty has a suitable candidate for generalship?” King Li bowed and inquired.

“No, the Secretary of Love can help me raise a few.”

“I recommend General Gao Min Gao, does Your Majesty think it’s still appropriate?”

The moment King Li made this statement, it caused the courtiers to shake. Everyone knew who Gao Min was, and they all knew that he was a fierce general guarding the border before he joined the palace. However, now that he is already the Emperor’s man and has given birth to a son, how can he mix with the soldiers again? This is not decent!

Some people intended to come forward to oppose, but they saw Gao Lang take a step forward and vigorously promote his own brother, and even beautifully called it raising a virtuous person without avoiding relatives. Li Jintian’s favor and tolerance for his younger brother is bottomless, Gao Lang precisely because he knows this, he will unite with Li Wang to make such a bold proposal.

Li Jintian could tolerate Gao Min without any bottom line, that was true, but that was before, now Li Jintian was like a person who was walking blindfolded suddenly had his gauze ripped off, and could see the situation of the dynasty and the harem clearly.

Those who want to oppose the courtiers in the high Lang opened the mouth when they silently returned to the original position, visible now the dynasty has become high Lang and Li Wang’s one voice, he is the emperor is only a setup, in the two people put forward the views of the only need to nod on it. Harem beauties have been dismissed by him eight-nine of ten, leaving a few also because of children. They were not favored by the Holy Spirit, and all of them had to rely on Gao Min’s nose to live.

The dynasty and the harem have completely become the world of the Gao family, where does that leave him as the emperor? Moreover, why did King Li recommend Gao Min? What exactly is the relationship between the two of them?

Li Jintian’s heart burned inside, but his face did not show it at all, and he said in a warm voice that he needed to consider for a few days before making a decision. Gao Lang and King Li no longer pressed him, anyway, they knew that when Li Jin Tian returned to the harem, Gao Min would naturally have a way to make him agree.

Gao Min was trapped inside this high palace wall, he had long been tired of it, and as soon as Li Jin Tian came out of the court, he came to the Yang Xin Hall and pleaded to hang up his command in the Western Barbarians.

Li Jintian refused on the grounds of taking care of the child, he was still undeterred, kneeling down he spoke coldly, “His Majesty once said that he wanted me to walk alongside you, the so-called walking alongside you means trapping me in this golden cage as your pet? I can die for the emperor, but the emperor can’t even fulfill my wish?”

He raised his eyes to look directly at the holy face, his pupils filled with unwillingness and resentment, and that resentment had continued from his last life to this life, and it could be said that it was getting thicker and thicker and could not be dissolved. He had already planned to accept Li Jintian with an open heart, but he didn’t expect that the other party would forgive Qi Xiu Jie for no reason, which made his resentment burn and boil again.

At the same time, he hated himself like this, feeling that he could not live without dignity like a woman caught in the whirlpool of competition for favor. He wanted to put on his armor and pick up his sword and halberd and set foot on the free and vast land of the border.

If the two could sit down and have a pleading talk, they would definitely be able to untie their hearts. But right now, Li Jintian was stabbed by the resentment in his eyes. He had thought that after three years, even a stone could be warmed up, but he had not expected that Gao Min’s heart was even harder than a stone. He was resentful of his past life, not willingly accompanying him to his death, and this resentment could possibly drive him to do things to harm himself, while he himself was defenseless against his harm.

Li Jintian was creeped out and suddenly felt that the idea of being reborn and coming back to live a good life with Gao Min was really stupid. He looked at Gao Min steadily for a long time, and finally whisked his sleeves away.

——————

Li Jintian wandered aimlessly in the palace, and without realizing it, he came to the front of the Purple Chen Palace and hesitated for a long time before stepping in.

Qi Xiu Jie was standing behind his desk practicing calligraphy, his head hung low, unable to see what expression was on his face. When he heard the palace staff announce the news, he looked very surprised, his eyes were full of disbelief and flattered.

“The guilty party attends Your Majesty.” He kneeled respectfully.

Li Jintian did not call up, but surveyed him with a deep and inscrutable gaze, and after a long time asked Xu, “Have you been doing well recently?”

“Your Majesty, the guilty party is doing well.”

Li Jintian was slightly stunned at his words, can this be considered a good life? Living in an empty palace with no luxury furnishings and no personal servants is tantamount to a cold palace, can it be considered good? Yes, compared to the eerie heavenly prison before, is it not considered good?

Guilt struck his heart once again, causing Li Jintian to feel suffocated in his chest. He casually picked up a chair and settled down, waving his hand, “Get up.”

Zhou Yunsheng didn’t move, and after hesitating for a moment, he returned with a hoarse voice, “There is a matter in the guilty official’s heart that he can’t settle, and he doesn’t dare to get up.”

As if he knew what he was going to ask, Li Jintian’s face clouded over, but he still rubbed his brow and spoke tiredly, “Feel free to ask if you have any doubts.”

Zhou Yunsheng discreetly kowtowed, his tone sad, “Dare to ask the emperor why you want to exterminate my Qi family full of doors? What did we do wrong?”

“Your father secretly colluded with King Xuan with the intention of plotting a rebellion, didn’t you know that?” As he said this, Li Jintian felt a pang of weakness in his heart after a pang of weakness; he had not actually found any incriminating evidence of misdeeds when he had cleaned up the Qi family. He was now no longer sure if his decision to confiscate the Qi family was the right one. He wanted to find the answer, but was afraid to touch that answer.

The light in Zhou Yunsheng’s eyes was silenced for an instant, and then his face was as withered. He was ashamed and ashamed of himself, kowtowing several times in succession, choking, “So this is the case, the guilty official was actually unaware of this matter. The guilty minister has no face to face the emperor, please the emperor grant the guilty minister a death!” The words fell and several more heavy kowtows, cracking the corners of his forehead.

Li Jintian hastily reached out to pull, fixedly looked into his eyes. His pupils are so black and pure, in addition to shame, death, despair, guilt, there is no trace of resentment. His own plagiarized his family, he actually no resentment, but also willing to die. His love for himself was not less than Gao Min’s, I am afraid.

No, that was wrong, his affection for himself was much more than that of Gao Min. In his last life, although he had a reputation of being arrogant and domineering, he was the most obedient in front of himself, never disobeying half of it. Gao Min accompanied himself to death is certainly rare, but he was able to live in humiliation, try every possible means to avenge himself, I am afraid that the torment he suffered in his heart is even more difficult than death.

That’s why in the end he didn’t pull through, didn’t get to enjoy the glory he was supposed to enjoy, and hung himself alone on the roof beams of the Purple Chen Palace.

Looking at the eyes of the humble to the dust, has been completely destroyed by their own intention to live, Li Jintian feel heart like a knife. In his last life, he thought he had loved the wrong person, but he hadn’t; in this life, he thought he had loved the right person, but he hadn’t either. Qi Xiu Jie had done everything for himself, yet he didn’t say anything, but Gao Min was always hanging on to the favor he had done in his last life, fearing that he would forget.

After two wrong lives in a row, now he was unable to take back his deep love from Gao Min, he felt that he was simply pathetic to the extreme. However, Qi Xiu Jie, who was as if he was dead in front of him, was millions of times more pathetic than him.

Both of them were caught hard by fate.

With Gao Min’s indifference and resentment as a contrast, Li Jintian’s guilt towards Qi Xiu Jie, who had no complaints, was even deeper. He forcefully pulled the person up, pressed him to sit on a chair, and cautiously instructed, “I don’t blame you, you have to live well,” he paused for a moment and added, “I will take good care of you. What you want, I can compensate.”

Zhou Yunsheng’s dead eyes leaked out a glimmer of light as he hesitantly opened his mouth, “Is it okay for the guilty official to want a child?”

Li Jintian was once again stumped by his question. He knew that Gao Min had poisoned Qi Xiu Jie as soon as he came back from rebirth because he suspected that the death of his imperial son in his previous life was Qi Xiu Jie’s handiwork. Li Jintian pretended to be unaware of this with a compensatory mentality and even secretly cooperated. Qi Xiu Jie’s body had been completely ruined and would not have a child at all.

In his last life, in King Xuan’s harem, Qi Xiu Jie had also destroyed his own body in order to avoid giving birth to King Xuan’s sinful seed.

This is simply a bad debt that can’t be calculated. Li Jintian’s headache was splitting, and he was more and more afraid to face Qi Xiu Jie.

Qi Xiu Jie seemed to notice his hesitation and added, “The sinful minister’s intention is not to want a biological child, the sinful minister’s family committed that heinous crime, the sinful minister does not dare to hope for His Majesty’s favor anymore. Nowadays, there are many children in the palace who have lost their mothers or fathers, and the guilty official only wants to adopt one. The guilty minister is already all alone ……”

His humble words were like a blunt knife, cutting Li Jintian’s heart one by one. He understood what he meant, he was already alone and lonely, if he didn’t have a solace, he was afraid that he would never want to live again like he did in his last life. How much Li Jintian hated Qi Xiu Jie before, how much guilt now, he threw down a sentence ‘as you pick’ and hurriedly disappeared, his face burned red, as if he had been slapped dozens of times.

7.4

Zhou Yunsheng resumed his expressionless face as soon as he left, lifting his hand to casually wipe away the blood at the corner of his forehead, and smiled in a cold voice. His personal palace staff had already been hypnotized and were loyal to him, and at this time, they all lowered their heads and acted as if they hadn’t seen anything.

Li Jintian fled back to the Yangxin Hall in a mess, and stared at a table of folders. The top of the folders is the Qin Tian Supervisor Supervisor presented, on the list of several titles, all for the first Jin Guo Gong Gao Lang carefully selected.

Among them, the three words ‘Duke of Yu’ were deliberately circled out with the vermilion mark of the imperial pen, obviously it was Gao Min’s intention. Duke of Yu, in the dreams about the second life, wasn’t Gao Lang being crowned as Duke of Yu? Did this mean that those dreams were all true?

Li Jintian’s hand was shaking when he pinched the folded document, and then he threw it out ruthlessly. But now it was too late to back out, Gao Lang’s upcoming promotion to Duke of State was known to all the civil and military officials, and in order to curry favor with Gao Min, he also gave a Duke of State’s residence early, allowing the Gao family to move in.

At the moment, Li Jintian was like swallowing hundreds of flies, swallowing but not, spitting but not, not to mention how difficult it was in his heart. He poured several pots of herbal tea one after another, only then did he suppress his turbulent emotions, when he heard someone outside the hall report that it was the personal maid of Noble King requesting for an audience.

“Come in.” Li Jintian felt more and more agitated, yet he still didn’t shoo the person away. He really couldn’t be cruel to Gao Min.

“Servant girl has met your majesty, the master asked the servant girl to come and pass the message that Qi Guijun went to the imperial study without authorization and wanted to take an imperial prince back, asking you what to do about it?” The servant girl’s face was vaguely indignant. Obviously, she felt that Qi Xiu Jie was not qualified to nurture an imperial son.

“What disposition or not, it is my intention to let Qi Guijun adopt a royal son, who among you dares to object?” If you can’t rule Gao Min, you can’t rule a tiny servant girl? Li Jintian’s tone of voice was morose.

The servant girl was surprised to see the Emperor’s eyes have been seeping out of the fury, and quickly apologize and leave.

At the entrance of the imperial study, Zhou Yunsheng was facing off with Gao Min.

Even after all the torture in the Heavenly Prison, this man’s spine was still so straight, and his eyes when looking at people always carried a high and lofty meaning. But what does he have to be proud of? The Qi family is long gone, leaving him dragging his broken body to live.

Thinking about this, Gao Min smiled contemptuously, but not waiting for this smile to fully blossom, the courtesan who attached herself to his ear and whispered made him pale.

Zhou Yunsheng pulled his lips, arched his hand, and said carelessly, “One step ahead.” With that, he crossed into the Imperial Study with a flourish.

“I don’t know what sorcery you cast to make the Emperor let you go, but I will never let you live well!” Gao Min opened his mouth coldly, as if he felt that his act of putting out harsh words was no different from those women who fought for favor, and his face became more and more ugly.

Zhou Yunsheng snorted and went away. Of course he wouldn’t trespass into the Imperial Study while Mr. Teach was teaching, at this time, it was the lunch break, and the Imperial Princes were all having their meals in the side halls, so they didn’t need to be avoided.

He said he was just adopting one, but in fact he already had a target, which is the future new emperor Li Xuyan’s most powerful and loyal arm of the Sixth Prince.

The sixth prince was named Li Xudong, his mother consort was a dancer sent by a small border country, her status was very lowly, and she died just after giving birth to him. When Li Jintian was reborn, he could only see Gao Min and the fifth prince born by Gao Min in his eyes, he had no feelings for the other children at all, not to mention caring about their deaths and lives.

The Sixth Prince was from a lowly background, no one took care of him, what kind of life he had in the palace could be imagined. Now he is still a poor little man who is bullied by others, but in the future, he will not be able to bear the abuse and kill three palace men around him, thus attracting the attention and sympathy of Gao Min, and then adopt him to teach him carefully.

Li Xudong had a ruthless temperament, but he also knew how to repay his kindness, and from then on, he was loyal to Gao Min’s father and son. When he was fourteen years old, he followed Gao Min in various battles and made great military achievements, so it was obvious that he was an extremely talented person.

Since he wanted to raise him, he naturally had to pick the strongest one amongst a group of cubs, although the other party was already thirteen years old and had the ability to think independently, but Gao Min was able to raise him, Zhou Yunsheng didn’t believe that he wouldn’t be able to do so. What’s more, even if he couldn’t raise him, it was nothing, he had ways to destroy the other party.

Thinking about it, the side hall has arrived, the open window wafts out a burst of rice. Li Xuyan was surrounded by a group of royal companion readers in the center of flattery to please, quite a kind of starry-eyed feeling, there is another thin body of the emperor, holding the lunch box to hide in the corner of the big mouthfuls of food, as if the hungry hard.

“Imperial brother eat slowly, be careful of choking. This braised pork ribs for you.” Li Xuyan this person’s mind precocious, and good at communication, no one will not offend and no one will not be cold, the dynasty inside and outside of the dynasty is a piece of praise for him.

That skinny imperial prince, also known as Li Xudong, hurriedly covered his food box and revealed an embarrassed expression before hanging his head low and repeatedly thanking Li Xuyan, saying that he had already eaten his fill.

In the corner where no one could see, he pulled his lips and revealed a highly ironic smile. But if Li Xuyan really had a heart, how could he not see his dilemma? With his unique position, there was no need to add food to his plate every day, just explaining a sentence or two to those attendants would greatly improve his situation, but Li Xuyan preferred not to do so, and instead chose to look on with cold eyes.

This hypocrisy made Li Xudong sick.

Zhou Yunsheng, who was standing outside the window secretly observing, couldn’t help but laugh. He thought that Gao Min’s father and son had already enlisted Li Xudong, but now it seemed that this was not the case. Yes, the current Li Xudong had no value, how could he attract the attention of Gao Min? He had to admit, Gao Min still had some vision in looking at people, Li Xudong was a wolf cub, he would bite people, but if he was raised well, he would also be loyal to protect his master.

He walked in, and all the imperial companions saluted him, except for Li Xuyan. He didn’t care and walked straight to Li Xudong’s side, forcefully brushing away his food box that was covered dead tight.

“Aged brown rice, boiled cabbage in fresh water, is this what you used for lunch?” The lunch box had already been eaten cleanly, but with a slight sniff, Zhou Yunsheng was able to tell what had actually been served inside.

Li Xudong tilted his head and stared blankly at him, not knowing how to reply. He was completely confused as to why this Qi Gui Jun was paying attention to him.

“Where is your squire? Tell him to come in.” Seeing that the Sixth Prince did not answer for a long time, Zhou Yunsheng tugged on his ear.

Only then did Li Xudong return to his senses, his ears slowly reddening as he mumbled, “The attendants are dining outside in the bamboo forest and will come over to clean up later.”

Zhou Yunsheng waved his hand, and the personal palace staff immediately walked out of the side hall and found the Sixth Prince’s attendant, and also brought his uneaten food box along with him.

Zhou Yunsheng squinted and laughed coldly, “Large white rice, stewed chicken, and seasonal seafood soup, you’ve eaten sumptuously. This sovereign asks you, whether you are the prince or he is the prince?”

The valet was so scared that his legs trembled and he quickly kneeled down to kowtow and begged for forgiveness, but Zhou Yunsheng ignored it and picked up Li Xudong and left straight away. In the eyes of outsiders, he is still in the body of the guilty, dispose of a lackey will inevitably attract all kinds of gossip, or to leave the person to deal with Li Jintian, and in the meantime, also let him help himself to establish the authority.

“Qi Guijun, I, I have a class later, leaving at this time will make Mr. Fury angry.” Li Xudong rubbed his burning ears as he spoke. Such a move that manifested intimacy had never been experienced since the day he was born.

“Take no lessons, move with me to the Purple Palace. From now on you are my son.” Zhou Yunsheng touched Sixth Prince’s head.

Because of malnutrition, the sixth prince is much thinner and shorter than the fifth prince, and looks like he is only in his early teens. But in fact, the two are the same age, are already thirteen years old teenage boy, birthdays only a month or two apart.

“To be your son?” Li Xudong was so surprised that he unconsciously held the hand placed on his head.

“Right. Although my Qi family has been destroyed, it is still more than enough to protect you. I’m all alone, and you’ve lost your father at a young age, so how about the two of us rely on each other from now on?” He bent over slightly and looked back earnestly.

His eyes were very clear and bright, no false care, only a sincere invitation. Dependent on each other, four words that should have been slightly bleak, were said by him but took on a warmth. Li Xudong dreamed of having a family member who could depend on him. His eyes reddened, but he stubbornly did not shed any tears and nodded his head fiercely.

The youth tilted his head and laughed aloud, his face that had already gathered the world’s bright colors was simply dazzling under the sunlight. Li Xudong looked dumbfounded, and also foolishly laughed along with him.

————-

Inside the Yangxin Hall, the eunuch-in-chief inquired about the news and came over in time to reply, “Your Majesty, Qi Guijun picked the Sixth Prince.”

“The Sixth Prince? How come it’s not the twelfth prince?” Li Jintian felt strange. In his last life, the Qi family had then stolen and hidden the twelfth prince and then embraced him to the throne, and in this life, he thought that Qi Xiu Jie would still make the same choice.

After all, the twelfth prince was only six years old, the youngest prince, and had not yet formed an independent personality and mind, and how to look at it, it was also more able to be raised than the sixth prince.

The eunuch-in-chief’s breath hitched as he carefully replied, “Your Majesty, have you forgotten? The twelfth prince has already gone.”

“Going? How?” Li Jintian snapped.

The chief eunuch bent down, trembling to explain, “Three years ago, the fifth prince was poisoned and comatose, and you called all the eunuchs to the Tian Chen Palace for medical treatment, which coincided with the twelfth prince’s infection with a wind chill …… and then, just like that, he went.”

Although the chief eunuch didn’t make his words clear, Li Jintian already knew that it was because the eunuchs only cared about healing the fifth prince, which delayed the twelfth prince. In his last life, the only child that continued his bloodline and throne was lost just like that? The child that the Qi family had worked so hard to hide for five years and had poured out the strength of their clan to keep was gone?

A huge sense of panic struck Li Jintian’s heart, as if his royal throne was also in jeopardy. He had thought that in this life, everything was moving in a good direction, but it seemed that he had thought wrong. He had thought that he had everything under control, but everything was actually spiraling out of control.

Li Jintian couldn’t help but tremble, not realizing that this was exactly why Zhou Yunsheng had implanted the twelfth prince in his memory. What he wanted was his panic and suspicion. When Li Jintian did not care, he was naturally able to walk side by side with Gao Min to share the world, when he cared, whatever Gao Min did was wrong.

Human nature is such a fragile thing.