11. How many sorrows and joys, grievances and grievances, disappeared to the blood

He Qi took the sword, his expression moved slightly, and he slowly pressed the sword edge to his chest.

Looking at the cold light in front of him, Pei Nianzhen knew that He Qi could sink the sword into his heart with just a squirt of internal force in his palm, but he was miraculously free of any fear.

There was silence in the room.

The owner of the palace watched quietly, and did not make a sound to stop it. The grievances between these two people must be settled.

Although Pei Nianzhen is his brother by blood, but the true relationship is far and near, but it can't compare with He Qi's following for many years.Even if He Qizhen killed him with a sword, it would bring some troubles, but it's not something he can't handle.

At this moment, He Yanjun suddenly said:

"elder brother."

Just said that and shut up.

He Qi knew what she meant.

With a long sigh, he turned his wrist and pointed the blade at the scabbard on the table.

The blade retracts an inch——

"...I won't kill you. You are the master's brother, and the master's kindness to my brother and sister is as great as a mountain. I can't do this ungrateful thing."

Pei Nianyu's eyes were complicated.He didn't expect that He Qi could still maintain reason in the current situation, and even worry about him.

The blade retracts three inches——

"Secondly, what happened back then... The culprit is not yours. You and the third prince are both indirect pushers, and the root cause is actually.... You are ashamed of the friendship between me and my eldest brother, but you didn't intend to put them to death. If ILetting you pay for it with your life is inhumane, and it is against the teachings of your father and brother."

The blade retracts six inches——

"Finally... today you desperately rescued Yanjun, I..."

He wanted to say that he was very grateful before he knew Pei Nianzhen's identity, but now he couldn't say that.

The sword was sheathed and lay quietly on the table.

Pei Nianzhen's voice trembled slightly:

"Needless to say."

"Since you spared my life, I, Pei Nianzhen, will be driven by your brother and sister until..."

He quietly raised his head to look at He Qi, his eyes were reddish:

"Until the day you can forgive me."

He Qi looked at the former playmate who had been sincerely with him, and later made his family ruined, and suddenly turned around and ran out.

Pei Nianzhen was surprised: "Where are you going?"

Pei Nianyu sighed and said, "I'm afraid he just wants to find a place to be quiet."

Pei Nianzhen pursed his lips and chased out the door:

"I'll go find him. He's in such a mess today...I'm afraid something will happen to him."

Lou Yefeng asked:

"Master, do you need to send two shadow guards to follow?"

He shook his head: "No need, such a big man can still be lost. Besides...Old He will take a good look at him."

===

He Yanjun looked at the direction in which his second brother ran away, and muttered to himself:

"Brother, he has always blamed himself for this matter. He always felt that he was too weak and incompetent to do anything back then. Even he needed someone to save him. My brother hated him all the time, maybe now there is no one to hate.That's all."

Pei Nianyu felt distressed when he thought about it:

"You don't know how he got here all these years, his martial arts talent is not top-notch, yet Ye Feng always said that he "has an extraordinary obsession with the pursuit of martial power"..."

He looked at He Yanjun and said with some doubts:

"Why is Yanjun so calm today? I remember that Brother He has a great relationship with you. Why is Old He not as good as you..."

He Yanjun thought for a while and said:

"Actually, I have guessed Pei Nianzhen's identity for a long time, but today is just a verification."

"When he saw me for the first time in the store, although he changed his appearance, I felt for a moment that he had seen me before, but then he pretended not to know me. Usually when we chatted, we talked about the second brother, He always leads me to say a few more words intentionally or unintentionally."

"Second brother and I have no relatives in this capital for a long time. The old person who can know both of us at the same time is so concerned about the movements of second brother in recent years. It is very likely that it is "this one"."

"The last thing is his attitude towards His Majesty at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet yesterday. Except for you, the only one who is not afraid of His Majesty in this world must be someone who was once equal to His Majesty, so I don't think otherwise."

"I know less about what happened back then than my brother, but during the past few months with him, seeing him often look at me with a guilty look in secret, I can guess some of it..."

She sighed softly:

"Why don't I miss my father and brother? However, I have been wandering in the south of the Yangtze River for ten years. I have seen too many sisters who have been broken up and separated. Which of them is not struggling alone. Some parents died of natural disasters, some were seriously ill, and some acted shockingly.Those who belong to the clan, and those who have offended the parents and officials of the country gentry and wealthy clan..."

"This is the way of the world, and our He family is not the only one who is unlucky. What's the use of hating or not hating? My brother is still obsessed with it too much. Besides, when I was young, I thought it was ridiculous when I saw the late emperor acting vaguely. I persuaded my father early.Resigned, but my father and brother had three-pointed delusions about the court situation and failed to withdraw early..."

"Your evaluation of the late emperor is not polite at all."

but I like it.

He Yanjun waved his hand:

"Father lived upright all his life, and the two elder brothers were taught by his father to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic all day long. However, I am a woman, and I have never been taught to be loyal to the emperor and patriotism."

Pei Nianyu looked at this slim girl, and thought to himself that you see more clearly than your brother.

She sighed:

"Today, when I learned what happened back then, I have to say... my father and brother risked their lives to save their colleagues in the court. But I didn't think that if the wrath of thunder was provoked, the family members would also die, so what should I do?"

"...Anyway, my mother, my second brother's mother, and the two concubines of the He Mansion didn't know the Shen University scholar. They didn't know why until the moment they were confiscated and died in exile.It's unclear."

Pei Nianyu looked at her, and suddenly realized something in his heart: Although He Yanjun and He Qi came from the same He family, they are brothers and sisters, they are not the same after all.

No matter how He Qi was a bastard, he was raised as a pillar of the country, but he and his elder brother had the same civil and military skills.And no matter how He Yanjun is a lady of the family, he is just a "Ministry of Revenue He Shilang's female family member" - in the face of He's father's choice that determines the fate of the whole family, He Yanjun is not qualified to participate at the table.Even if her vision is not worse than her two elder brothers.

So she seems to be happy with the situation, accepting the arrangement of fate and telling herself that "the world is like this, there is no way", but in fact she knows very well that many things should not be like this.

He Qi was hurt by the death of his father and brother, he would have hatred, and he would want to feel that there is a wrong and a debt.And although He Yanjun will also be sad for his family, he will be a little bit subtle in the sense that "in the officialdom, one must be psychologically prepared for such an end".

He Yanjun sighed, and suddenly gave a slight salute, "Yan Jun made a mistake, you shouldn't talk about your elders like this, Master, please don't be offended."

Pei Nianyu patted her on the shoulder, only sighed and did not speak.

Seeing this, Lou Yefeng quickly changed the subject:

"That Bachelor Shen...I'm afraid your father was saved in vain."

He Yanjun's expression was light, and there was not much surprise:

"Oh, what do you say?"

The expression on Lou Yefeng's face suddenly became indescribable:

"At that time, the third prince sent his confidantes to write a letter, and they took turns persuading him. Finally, the late emperor dispelled the idea of killing Shen Xueshi. However, Shen Xueshi had a great reputation among literati.Officials from the yamen went to visit and study one after another, and there was a bustling crowd."

"When the first emperor heard about this, he somehow aroused his old anger, so he sent an eunuch all the way to his house to read out the imperial decree. Of course, what was written in the imperial decree was not a good thing, and the eunuch delivered the edict in front of his students.In front of his children and grandchildren, he was scolded for being unfaithful and unfilial. Bachelor Shen was already in his prime, and on the spot... he vomited blood and died of anger."

"what……"

He Yanjun covered his eyes with his sleeves, and his low laughter was full of sarcasm.

"This imperial court... is a joke anyway."

She put down her sleeves and her eyes turned cold.

"I'm going to clean up yesterday's bills for the pastry shop. It won't be open today, but it will be open tomorrow—life has to go on, doesn't it?"

After she left, Pei Nianyu just wanted to drink a sip of water to calm his shock, but Lou Yefeng snatched it lightly and poured the water into the bonsai.

"This tea is completely cold." After finishing speaking, she sat opposite him and refilled a cup of warm tea for him.

Pei Nianyu suddenly said:

"Old building, this matter... don't tell He Qi. I'm afraid he will kill himself."

Lou Yefeng nodded:

"That's natural. But speaking of it, after Old He comes back, the master will punish him for leaving his post without notice—it's too casual to run out without saying a word."

Pei Nianyu naturally argued for him: "The situation is special, the situation is special. Shadow guards are human too, you have to allow them room to deal with their own urgent matters."

Lou Yefeng didn't say anything more, thinking that when Old He came back, he might go to receive the punishment himself - the master only said that all the punishments of other shadow guards must be signed by the master before they can be executed, but he didn't say that the commander is the same.

Pei Nianyu didn't rest for too long, recalled the information that Pei Nianzhen revealed just now, and pulled Lou Yefeng up:

"Let's go, accompany me to the palace, and I'll talk to Xiaosheng."

===

The two entered the palace. At that time, Pei Niancheng was meeting courtiers in the Diligent Government Hall. When the servant came to report to His Highness King Yu for an audience, he immediately postponed all the schedules.

Pei Nianyu told him about the loss of their elder brother's horse, and also reported on the attack by gangsters in front of the dim sum shop earlier today, and asked him if he needed to investigate.

"It's fine if these Jianghu people are here for He Yanjun. I'll send a few shadow guards from the palace to guard against it. I'm afraid that if it's a cover-up, someone wants to use Pei Nianzhen's identity..."

"What brother said is not unreasonable, let me ask someone to check."

Then Pei Nianyu threw the question to his younger brother—"If you were him, when you were interviewing the saint, your father asked you if your father and brother belonged to you, how would you answer?"

Pei Niancheng folded his arms and sneered:

"How to answer? Of course it's the three words "Day."

He shook his head:

"Pei Nianzhen's father was able to ask him this way, which means that his father was not far from falling out with him at that time. However, Pei Nianzhen was so wrong. The emperor is not only an obstacle to the crown prince's succession, but also the most important support. From the beginning, he should notGuard against his father at all times, that is the core political resource, not the enemy."

"Take a step back, even if his prince and his father are really at odds to the point where they become enemies, then they should use serious anti-enemy strategies to disintegrate the old court forces—just like I used toDo that, and wait for your opportunity.”

"But he was totally unprepared."

"He neither managed to obtain the full support of his father, took advantage of the innate advantages, nor had the real determination to seize power by force. He acted less decisively and lacked political skills, so it was naturally more difficult to win people's hearts."

"If I were him, if I wanted to save someone from my father, I would have asked the shadow guard to make a plan to rob the prison—his father and brother of the He family were only locked up in the imperial prison, not the interrogation department of the shadow guard."

"The shadow guard is on duty, whoever recognizes who sent it, and after being robbed, they will be sent to the countryside outside Beijing to avoid the limelight. The He family is grateful for the kindness of saving their lives, and the whole family must be on the prince's thief ship. Let the eldest brother of the He family YiRong changed his name to Jin Palace, and a staff member of the Eastern Palace who is determined to do so is within easy reach."

Pei Nianyu was dumbfounded:

"...Why didn't I think of it back then!"

Pei Niancheng rolled his eyes at him: "Wake up, how many shadow guards did you have at that time? It can't compare to the number of shadow guards in his Eastern Palace... So I said that if it was me, I would not go to this matter at allFacing the saint, bring shame on yourself."

He went on to analyze:

"To be a king, you must practice the ruthless way. No one can become the weak point of the king, and those who should be sacrificed can be sacrificed—so just don't make friends with childhood sweethearts who are sincere. Use the emperor's art to the extreme, isn't it?Can't become a hero of the generation."

"Either be a guardian monarch, determined to protect all the people he cares about - then you need to have real strength and determination. Although this is more difficult, there must be many sincere followers, and things can still be done."

"Pei Nianzhen can't be ruthless. He cares about this friendship and these innocent lives, but he doesn't have the determination to bear the lives of others to resist... After all, he is just an ordinary person."

Pei Nianyu listened with an inscrutable expression on his face:

"Then... what about you, Xiaosheng, what kind of way do you practice?"

Li Han on the side heard Pei Nianyu's words and secretly looked at his master.

He has been with his master for ten years, and he has watched his master go from immature to capable. He knows that his master has great ambitions, passion and means, but he is also decisive in the art of manipulating people—he thinks his master must be practicing the ruthless way..

But Pei Nianyu held the opposite attitude.Because he knew that if Pei Niancheng didn't have the determination to protect each other when they were young and unable to care for each other...he wouldn't be where he is now, Pei Nianyu.

And Pei Niancheng said "hey" twice:

"Me? I'm practicing the wind spirit moon shadow technique——"

Pei Nianyu laughed angrily.

Fenglingyueying, commonly known as plug-in.

His cheats can assist him in dealing with government affairs, but the control of people's hearts must only be done by himself.

"Don't make me laugh, just be serious."

Pei Niancheng lost his expression:

"Naturally, use both. Be ruthless when you should be ruthless, and be emotional when you should be emotional-there is nothing wrong with it."

Pei Nianyu: "...All right. You do your work first, don't bother me. If you have time in the evening, you can go to my house for a meal and continue chatting."

Pei Niancheng waved his hand: "I'm not free, I'm too busy. Please, I won't see you off."

Pei Nianyu: "..."

===

At the same time, on Shouqing Mountain in the southern suburbs of Capital City.

The cold wind of early autumn blows, and the half-green and not yellow fallen leaves rustle down, falling everywhere, and the birds don't hear it.A thin and thin figure knelt in front of a tomb, stroking the dark stele with his hands.

He heard distant footsteps and uneven breathing, without turning his head, he only asked softly:

"……How did you come."

Pei Nianzhen walked to his side step by step.

"I just figured you might be here."

He Qi looked at him, his lips moved slightly:

"You really dare to come."

Pei Nianzhen bowed his head:

"I'm here to say sorry to them."

"And how did you know where they were buried? I only found out after I came out of the Shadow Guard camp after asking many people."

"...I sent people to collect their bodies and bury them here. I know it's not enough to make up for it! But...at least this is the only thing I can do."

He Qi pursed his lips tightly and did not speak. He looked at the words on the tombstone and suddenly burst into tears.

Pei Nianzhen was at a loss for a while.

He has never had the experience of comforting others, let alone such an identity and such a scene.

He leaned over cautiously, trying to put his hands on his shoulders, only to hear He Qi's choked up voice:

"It's all your fault... If it wasn't for you..."

"Yes, it's all my fault, it's all my fault, you can still kill me with a single sword, no one will find out..."

"No, I can't blame you..."

Pei Nianzhen looked at his painful face, and saw him struggling between uncontrollable resentment and the rationality he was desperately trying to pull back, and his heart ached.

"He Qi! Don't do this..."

He hugged He Qi who was trembling all over:

"If you hate me, come and torture me, don't torture yourself..."

He Qi stared at the ground, and after a while he finally forced himself to calm down, but suddenly pushed Pei Nianzhen away.

"It's really inappropriate to act like this with you in front of your father and brother's grave."

Pei Nianzhen felt a slight pain in his heart.

He Qi closed his eyes.Just when he lost his self-control and was immersed in the comfort of the person in front of him, he suddenly discovered that he didn't really hate Pei Nianzhen so much.

Today, after listening to him tell the truth about the year, his reason is telling him that Pei Nianzhen's role in this matter is not that great.Many things go wrong

But blood and hatred lay in front of him, and the lives of a whole family were in front of him, so the prime minister rightfully believed that he should be at the mercy of his enemies.

However, Pei Nianzhen is not a real enemy.

If his crime was really unforgivable, He Qi would not have hesitated, cut him off with a sword and sacrificed it in front of the tomb, and it was over.

But Pei Nianzhen, Pei Nianzhen...

He Qi knelt in front of the tomb for a long, long time.

He thought of the acquaintance and getting along with this person when he was young, how many years of happy time passed by, and now he is just the same lonely and helpless person.

He also thought of his master, how he still protected his subordinates and younger brother during the many hardships back then, and how his master tolerated this "disobedient" man when Lou Yefeng thought he was going to die.film first.

And... when Lou Yefeng emphasized his relationship with the prince, he still trusted his master, his sister who had changed a lot but didn't seem to change...

………

He remembered something his master said.

The past cannot be traced, people must move forward.

He finally stood up, and a willow-leaf dagger as thin as a cicada's wing appeared in his hand.

Pei Nianzhen didn't make a sound. He looked at the dagger glowing with silver light, and suddenly realized: Maybe this will be his real salvation.

"—You were at fault for what happened to the He family back then, but the crime is not worthy of death."

"—A total of eleven people in the He family died because of this incident. Pei Nianzhen, you accept my eleven swords to sue the spirit of your father and brother in heaven."

"—After drinking blood from this knife, it will be written off between you and me."

Pei Nianzhen smiled faintly:

"I have heard for a long time that He Tong was in charge of the criminal law of the shadow guard before the leadership. It is an honor to be able to experience the hard work of He Tong today."

Before he finished speaking, he saw the gray figure rising and falling, and the silver light flashed across his fingertips——

Bright red blood dripped on the grave.

Pei Nianzhen lost his voice for a moment under the severe pain, and he turned his head to look at his left arm with difficulty: the sleeve was broken, and eleven long and thin knife marks appeared neatly on the left arm.

It's done in a flash.

Pei Nianzhen reluctantly said: "...Thank you, it's really amazing."

He Qi's expression finally changed slightly.

He took out a clean white cloth and a bottle of hemostatic powder from his arms, and helped him apply the wound:

"...I can't see the water for three days, and I can't use my left arm for a month."

Pei Nianzhen watched his movements and listened to his words, feeling as if he was born again.

He coughed lightly:

"You have been running up this mountain for almost a day and a night. I can't catch up with you no matter how hard I go. I bought some bread in the village at the foot of the mountain when I came here. If you are hungry, eat some before going down the mountain..."

He Qi let out a "hmm", and after finishing the dressing, he helped him up:

"Go home and eat directly. Can you still go?"

"I hurt my arm not my leg..."

The evening wind moved slightly, and the setting sun was like water.

……………

"Taiping Order" volume, end.

Volume 4 Gratitude to the Emperor