Fletcher's Descent into the Abyss Chapter 7

Master Qi was speechless and choked. He pulled his hand back and turned his head away from Fletcher Shen. He had been imprisoned here for twenty years, going crazy and hating everyone outside. But tonight he had to convince himself not to hate the son of his enemy.

"Now." Master Qi said in a sad voice, "Who can I kill now?"

The snow fell silently, and the crows flew away from the branches in the courtyard. The broken curtains in the hall moved with the wind, and Taifu Qi stood up tremblingly, raising his arms in grief.

"The situation in the world has been decided! The victors are the kings and the losers are the bandits. Your Highness's reputation has been ruined from now on. You and I are both traitors who will be infamous for eternity! Who should I kill? I will kill this foolish and blind God! Twenty years ago, Your Highness's blood was splattered here. What did we do wrong to force the emperor to kill us all like this!"

Master Qi burst into tears, trembling as he knelt at the entrance of the palace, knocking his head against the ground repeatedly.

"Kill me now too!"

The snowy night was cold and bleak, and the ancient temple was empty with no one responding. Master Qi knelt like this, like a decayed and dilapidated Buddha statue, covered by shredded white snow, silent in the deep night of this brightly lit city.

Half an hour later, Sylvester Ji supported Master Qi, and the three of them sat around the incense table.

"Many things happened tonight because of me. I'll take this opportunity to tell you the truth." Sylvester Ji put up his sleeves and said, "Master, Chuan'er was born to the Shen family, the eighth son of Shen Weishu. Eight years ago. Before that, the Concub!ne faction in the Jianxing Palace was in a state of power. The prince of Jianxing, Emery Shen, won favor and sent his Concub!ne brothers to the palace. When Chuan'er was seven years old, he was sent back to Duanzhou to serve as a soldier, so he lived in another courtyard. She was raised by her mother as a maid. But the woman was greedy for money and often deducted the child's rations. When Pingting learned about this, she asked me to take Chuan'er back so that we could raise her. "

Taifu Qi sneered and said, "Marlon Shen was originally a Concub!ne in the family. He suffered a lot of injustices when he was young, but all of them were later given to him as sons. It's ridiculous that he prefers direct children, but he is also very close to women. He has so many children, what a sin!"

"We wrote to the palace many times, but Marlon Shen never replied. Master, you see, among the eight great families in the capital, even illegitimate sons have never been heard of such abandonment." Sylvester Ji frowned, "Chuan'er followed us in a daze. Mu'er was fifteen years old at that time, and was very happy to see his brother. From then on, our family of four settled in Duanzhou, and it took a lot of effort to get on the military household yellow book."

Master Qi was silent for a while, then he said: "You were convicted and exiled, so it is difficult for you to get a household registration. Your Highness strictly enforced the Yellow Book to record households in order to suppress bandits and prevent civil unrest."

Sylvester Ji said: "I understand. Master, what happened to Qudu after I left? How did His Highness end up in that situation?"

Grand Tutor Qi pulled the torn curtain over his shoulders and said gloomily: "... Ji Wufan lost the emperor's heart after you left. Winston Pan served the empress and was favored by him. As a result, Jinyiwei declined, and the twelve schools existed in name only. After Ji Wufan's death, Ashton Ji took the lead. From then on, Dongchang became Jinyiwei's godfather and stopped interacting with the East Palace. Later, the emperor suddenly became ill and began to sleep on the dragon bed. The trivial matters in the court were left to the cabinet and the East Palace. Unexpectedly, the Hua family relied on the queen's favor to install many incompetent people in the court, which caused the bribery of the six ministries to become a problem. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince reported it many times. , but did not expect Winston Pan to rely on the power of approval to control government affairs with the Queen, and His Highness's report could not be delivered to the Emperor. Not only that, after the Emperor fell ill, the Queen stopped visiting the Cabinet and the East Palace. "

"Eunuchs are a calamity for the country!" Sylvester Ji sighed repeatedly, "If I had known Winston Pan had such ambitions, I should not have let my father spare his life!"

"Kill Winston Pan, and there will be Pan Ruxi and Pan Ruyi!" Taifu Qi said woodenly, "The harem interferes in politics, and the relatives of the emperor dominate the country. Sylvester Ji, you don't understand, these are the deep-rooted problems of the Eight Great Families. As long as the Eight Great Families are not eliminated, this will happen again and again! The queen has lived in the palace for a long time, how can she control the affairs of the court? It's all because of the long-accumulated power of the Hua family. Even if the queen didn't have the surname Hua, if she had another surname from the Eight Great Families, this would have happened."

"But." Fletcher Shen couldn't help but ask, "Isn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince the legitimate son of the Empress?"

"No." Taifu Qi bowed his head, "His Highness's biological mother is a Concub!ne in the palace. The Queen has no children and has never given birth to a child. But the Queen held her in the palace and raised her personally. As the saying goes, a tiger with poison will not eat its children. ...There is no father or son in the heavenly family."

The hall fell silent again.

Sylvester Ji exhaled cold air and said in a hoarse voice: "It was because of my drunkenness that my father lost the emperor's favor. If it weren't for this, Your Highness would never have come here."

"I thought that Ashton Ji wouldn't turn against you if Ji Wufan was with you first." Taifu Qi grabbed the broken curtain and said bitterly in retrospect, "Who knew he..."

"The Grand Tutor doesn't know something." Sylvester Ji looked at Fletcher Shen, "Chuan'er doesn't know either. My father, Ji Wufan, was a close friend of the late emperor and the commander of the Imperial Guard. But my father's wife died young and he had no plans to renew his relationship. So we adopted three sons. In addition to me and Ashton Ji, there is also an eldest brother. The eldest brother left the capital at an early age and went to Tianfei to serve as a soldier in the Jinyi Guards. Be respectful around me. This set of Ji Family Boxing and Ji Family Knife was taught by my father. Later, due to many things, my father thought that Ashton Ji had evil intentions and was suspected of being a flatterer, so he only passed on the Ji Family's techniques to me. . But after this news, our brothers were completely separated from each other. After my father died, Ashton Ji purged his subordinates, and many of the old people were sent to other places, and the Jin Yiwei... was no longer the Jin Yiwei. "

Master Qi murmured, "This is fate. The officials of the Eastern Palace worked together, but still failed to save Your Highness. The Emperor suspected Your Highness of treason, but the eight major camps in the capital were all held by the eight major families. The Jinyiwei found the treason documents and insisted that Your Highness was the one who did it. Many of our people were imprisoned and died. Those who could not bear the punishment were relieved. The Emperor was furious during his illness and believed Winston Pan's slander. Your Highness had no way to retreat."

His face was covered with tears and he seemed to be going crazy.

"Your Highness, you are in this place, with no way to retreat! Why don't you kill me? How could I survive alone until now! Living in such pain, yet I have not yet rushed to the underworld."

He suddenly stared at Fletcher Shen and his tone became more and more crazier.

"------I won't resign myself to this! All my years of planning have failed! Countless officials in the Eastern Palace have been killed or injured, and Your Highness's grievances have not yet been redressed. I won't resign myself to this!" He grabbed Fletcher Shen's arm again, "You are so young, you still have a chance!"

"Taifu..." Sylvester Ji stood up and tried to stop him.

"You can protect him for a while, can you protect him for a lifetime!" Taifu Qi held Fletcher Shen tightly, "Today I forgive your fatherly heart, do not hate him, do not blame him, but you can teach everyone in the world to do this Do you think so? As long as his surname is Shen, there will be many people who want to kill him! Can he really sit back and relax with his kung fu skills? Sylvester Ji, your father is such a master of martial arts that he died of a lonely illness in the end! In this changing tide of power, invisible killing is the most deadly! How could you bear to let him face the jackals and leopards naked like this!"

Sylvester Ji clenched his fists and said nothing.

Taifu Qi dragged Fletcher Shen, but he knelt down. He looked at Fletcher Shen, trembling and choking: "I am Qi Huilian of Yuzhou! If you don't recognize me, let me tell you, I am Yongyi Fifteenth Year Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, only five people have won the title of Three Yuan. I'll teach you everything--okay?"

Fletcher Shen stared into Taifu Qi's eyes. He was unusually calm. After a brief silence, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Taifu Qi three times.

"My husband gave me poems and books, and I will kill my old enemy for him."

Ge Qing went out at Qingmao hour and went to Zhaosu Temple. It was cold and snowing on the road. He rubbed his hands and looked for a bun shop as he walked.

I heard a few calls from afar, and a red umbrella was propped up in the snow, and the person under the umbrella was swaying slightly towards me. Those who could hold a red umbrella were all dignitaries above the fifth rank.

Ge Qingqing stood sideways on the roadside, holding his knife and saluting. The man walked past him, and the strong smell of alcohol hit his nostrils.

"Tiqi[1]." The man stopped, stretched out his hand and pulled Ge Qingqing's waistband, looked at him for a moment, and said, "Where is Ge Baihu going now? It's freezing cold."

Ge Qingqing stared at the man's black boots and replied, "Your Excellency, I am on duty at the office today and should go to the palace."

Casper Xiao had been drinking all night and his clothes were disheveled. He hung the badge on his waist and said, "This road doesn't look like it's going to the palace."

Ge Qingqing raised her head, showed a shy smile, and said: "Second Young Master Jin Gui, you don't know that the alleys are messy. From here, you can turn to Shenwu Street and go straight to the palace gate."

Casper Xiao smiled when he heard this, threw his badge back to him, and said, "Do you recognize me?"

Ge Qingqing took the badge and flattered, "The Libei Iron Cavalry is brave and good at fighting. The Crown Prince and the Second Young Master have made great contributions in saving the emperor. Who in the capital would not recognize you? Second Young Master, are you going back home? The road is slippery. I am so brave, would you like to take you back?"

Casper Xiao looked at him and said, "Do I look like a drunkard? You go ahead."

Ge Qingqing bowed again and left.

When Zhaohui arrived, he saw Casper Xiao holding the red umbrella and shouting to the bun shop to hurry up. He walked closer and said, "The mansion has prepared breakfast, why are you standing here to eat it?"

Casper Xiao said: "I'm hungry and can't go back."

Zhaohui shook out his cloak and said, "Wine and S3x are misleading, sir, let's go back."

Casper Xiao put on his cloak but did not move his feet. He took two bites of the buns and asked Zhaohui, not paying attention to the looks around him: "Can we get to Shenwu Street?"

"It is possible, but it is not easy to walk on." Zhaohui said, "The lanes are both private lanes and official ditches. The narrower the lane, the more dirty the ditches are. The official ditches in Changdu have not been repaired in recent years, and this area is in a terrible state. When the weather warms up, the snow melts, and it rains, the dirty water will suddenly flood the streets. Do you think it is easy to walk on such a road?"

Casper Xiao said: "I only asked one question, why did you answer so many questions?"

Chaohui said: "The implication is that you must take the right path. Master, don't be in a hurry to eat and drink. It will be faster to go around."

Casper Xiao wiped his hands and motioned for Chao Hui to pay: "That's really weird. Go and find out if there is a man named Ge Qingqing in the 12th Jinyi Guards Station today - old man, let's do something else as soon as possible. "This bun is too delicious."