When the first snow fell in the Imperial Palace

, Jiang Weiren finally returned to the capital.

When Jiang Weiren went to Xi Nei, Yan Qing still put on strict makeup, fearing that he would see that he was sick and weak, but why didn't Jiang Weiren know that?

After all the palace people in the courtyard followed Ayu and retreated, Jiang Weiren stepped forward, stretched out his hands to take her into his arms, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

The cold wind outside the eaves was blowing snowflakes, and there was only the sound of wind and snow in my ears. Neither of them spoke.

After a while, Yan Qing raised his head and looked at him carefully. His eyes couldn't help but sparkle.

"I've lost a lot of weight, and I'm also haggard..." she murmured.

How could I not lose weight? After months of running around, in the yellow sand all over the sky in the Western Region, I didn't dare to rest for a moment. I was thousands of miles away, but my heart was in the imperial capital.

Their concealment from each other couldn't be more clumsy, but they dared not speak out, not because they were afraid of being seen through by the other party, but because they were afraid of revealing the fear and cowardice in their hearts.

They are all mortals, they are all afraid of life and death, and they are all afraid of separation.

She pretended to be free and easy, but she was afraid of causing him more reluctance. He pretended to be calm, but he was afraid of making her more sad.

"It's okay," his voice was a little hoarse, and he whispered, "Everything is over..."

Yan Qing buried her head in his chest and nodded lightly, not daring to answer for fear of leaking the meaning in his voice. whimper.

She had been afraid from the moment he left. What she was afraid of was not that her poison was incurable, but that he went there with hope, only to find in the end that he could not reverse his fate. At that time, he would be even more sad than if he had no hope.

She was obviously ready to die, but in the end, she found that what she couldn't accomplish the most was to say goodbye to him.

In fact, Yan Qing didn't believe that there was a real way to detoxify him. When he came back from Ganzhou, it might be the time for them to part ways.

"I've heard what Zhang Fang said about your plan," his voice was slow, not wanting to reveal the heavy emotions in his heart at the moment, "Qingqing, you..."

I wanted to pretend to be normal, but at this point, there was something in his voice. In the end I still choked up.

Zhang Fang said that she had long given up her plan to fly away with him, but was planning to tell Zhao Yuan the cause of Cao Dingzhen's death before she died so that no one would be implicated.

He held her tightly in his arms, still afraid that he would be late when he came back, but she did what she wanted.

"You promised to leave with me. You lied to me, but how could you give up on yourself so easily? How could you even think of leaving me... I have been waiting for you for more than ten years, and you still want to give up? Do I have to wait for the rest of my life?"

She felt a lump in her throat and could hardly speak. "No, I won't do it anymore..."

The two just hugged each other quietly, After a long time, he let go of her and stood side by side with her, letting her lean on his shoulder. The scenery in front of him was just like the heavy snow he had seen with her.

He had made a promise last year, and Qianqiu was about to grow old. If he couldn't live with her until that day, how could he be willing to do so.

"I have already given something to Auntie. It is a kind of flower on Yanzhi Mountain, called frost orchid. It blooms in winter and will not wither no matter how cold the weather is. It is very rare. Use it to boil water and pour it into the bath soup , soak for half an hour, do this every day, and the cold air in the body will be slowly discharged. "

Is it that simple?" she looked up at him and asked.

"How easy it is," he smiled and kissed her temples, "This frost orchid needs to be soaked in cold water first and simmer the water bit by bit. If you use rapid fire, it will destroy its medicinal properties. , and then boil it over a warm fire until its petals are completely melted into the water. It will take at least ten or eight years to soak your body in it every day. "

He had thought about these words on the way back to Beijing. In fact, what the royal descendant of Qule said was almost the same as what Cao Dingzhen said at the time. There is indeed an antidote to the poison, but if she was poisoned, For a long time, there is no way to completely eliminate it.

The frost orchid on Yanzhi Mountain used to be the holy grass of Qule Kingdom. It has an excellent effect on suppressing the poison, but it is only suppressive. According to this method, the cold poison in the body can be removed little by little, but it does not Even if we try to eliminate it completely, no one knows how long this thing can protect her.

However, at least for the next ten years or so, she no longer had to worry about her life.

Jiang Weiren thought that when they retired to seclusion in the future, he would take her to travel around the world, visit doctors and medicines, and always find ways to extend her life bit by bit.

Yan Qing put her arms around his waist, and because she had no strength, she leaned on him, "Ten or eight years is not a long time. A lifetime is too short to be with the one you love."

"You will know how to do it . Make me happy with your sweet words." He hugged her and smiled deeper, "This thing can't be broken. There are many people serving in the palace. When we leave the capital and go into seclusion in the future, no one will be around, so I will be the one to do this. , serve you every day."

Yan Qing teased him, "You are a dedicated minister."

"That's natural," he whispered in her ear, "I will not only serve the Queen Mother to prepare medicine, but also serve the Queen Mother to bathe. ..."

"Jiang Weiren!" She blushed and smiled instead of being angry. She reached out and pinched his waist, "You old and dishonest thing!" When

Jiang Weiren came back, many ministers in the court relaxed. Take a breath.

The uprisings of the victims in Hedong continued intermittently even into winter and never completely subsided. In order to reduce military expenditures for purchasing winter clothes for the northern garrison, the Ministry of Household Affairs demolished the east wall to make up for the west wall. When the New Year was closed, it was even more difficult to move forward.

Now that the chief assistant is back, it's time to clean up this mess.

But Jiang Weiren took a leave of absence, saying that he had contracted an illness during his trip to Ganzhou and needed some time to recuperate.

Before, he was only focused on Yan Qing's poison, but how could he not know the meaning behind Zhao Yuan's series of actions.

He is the chief minister, a highly respected minister, but in the end he is still a minister of the emperor.

Ever since the late emperor died and was left alone, he had expected that this day would come sooner or later. The young king wanted to take back his power. Unless he had a rebellious mind, he should have understood that it was time to retreat bravely.

If he solved the rebellion in Hedong and sorted out the chaos in Hubu at this time, it would indeed enhance his reputation, but it would undermine Zhao Yuan's monarchy and would only accelerate his fear and suspicion of himself.

This has been the case for monarchs and ministers since ancient times. There have been enough tragedies in history books. He did not have the ambition to rebel against his ministers and traitors, and he was not willing to put himself in danger.

When Zhao Yuan heard that he complained of illness, he asked Nedusi to reward him with many rewards to show that he valued this teacher.

Xue Shiying also learned from Zhang Fang that Jiang Weiren had brought back the antidote, and he must have also learned about Wen Ying's disappearance.

She asked Zhang Fang how Jiang Weiren reacted to the news of Wen Ying's disappearance. Zhang Fang hesitated and finally said that he refused to believe her and believed that Wen Ying was still in her hands and that the disappearance was just a prank on her part. trick.

"It's natural that he doesn't believe it..." She murmured, but she couldn't hide the sadness in her eyes.

Zhang Fang also sighed. As soon as Wen Ying's hiding place was revealed, no one could be found. According to Xue Shiying's temperament in the past, it was indeed more like a trick she played.

Otherwise, if the Cao family or someone else had intended to kidnap Wen Ying, why had things been calm for so long and no one went to report the incident to His Majesty?

"The only plan for now is to stay by His Majesty's side and prevent those people from coming to him to say anything until Wen Ying is found." She thought thoughtfully.

She always felt that the biggest possibility was the Cao family. The Cao family was currently not taking any action, perhaps because they were collecting more evidence.

In fact, Zhao Yuan had never been to the Central Palace since she was pregnant, and he had never seen the queen again. But in order to guard against Cao Yujun, Xue Shiying used the excuse that she felt uncomfortable in the stomach and asked Zhao Yuan to guard Qionghua Hall after the court.

Zhao Yuan was naturally happy to accompany her. Being a father for the first time was new and nervous, and he had no intention of caring about the queen.

"I heard that the imperial doctors can determine whether the child in the belly is a boy or a girl by checking the pulse. Has Your Majesty asked them?" Xue Shiying suddenly became interested and asked him.

Zhao Yuan smiled and shook his head, "That's not accurate. I never asked. But how dare the imperial doctors draw conclusions? They are afraid that if they are wrong, I will be disappointed and punish them."

"Disappointed?" She said. Looking at him leisurely, "Your Majesty, do you want a prince or a princess?"

After hearing this, Zhang Fang quickly winked at Zhao Yuan, but he still replied with a silly smile: "You want a prince."

Xue Shiying's face began to darken, Zhao Yuan hurriedly held her hand, "Sister, please listen to my explanation. If we can have a prince, I can legitimately let you sit on the throne of the queen."

When he was hindered when he abolished the queen, Xue Shiying thought that He has given up.

Zhao Yuan put her hand in his palm and said slowly: "I have thought about it. If they don't let me depose the queen, then if I don't depose her, I will demote the queen to a concubine. There was a precedent in the previous dynasty. It's hard for the courtiers to stop them. They told me to leave the palace seven times, okay, if I don't come to the palace, I will never leave the palace..."

Xue Shiying's eyes moved slightly, a little dazed, and suddenly remembered Yan Qing's time. That sentence said that Zhao Yuan may be colder than the people in the world, but he is also more affectionate than the people in the world.

Yan Qing was right. Kings have always been moody, not to mention Zhao Yuan's extreme temper.

She has been by his side since he was young, and the only thing she has ever seen is how well he treats her. He has never been impatient with her, is attentive and considerate to her, and is even a majestic king who does not call himself "I" in front of her now. The warmth made her even ignore his indifference to others.

"Your Majesty, the queen is actually not at fault. I don't care about the position in the palace..."

"But I do," he said with a solemn look and a firm tone, "I will live in the same quilt and die in the same cave. People who can be like me can only It could be you, sister."

Hearing this, Xue Shiying's face did not look happy.

Zhao Yuan thought that he was talking about life and death too seriously, so he calmed down and said softly: "I want to give all the good things in the world to my sister. Emperor Wu and Empress Chen also grew up together since childhood. Emperor Wu was very fond of Chen when he was young. The queen once said, if I get my sister as my wife, I would like to keep her in a golden house. When I was young, I wanted my sister to stay with me for the rest of my life, and I would also like to keep her in a golden house..."

Xue Shiying smiled, but the smile was a bit cold. , but for Zhao Yuan at this time, seeing her smile was enough happiness, and he was not able or willing to carefully distinguish the true emotions in her smile.

"I heard that His Majesty is going hunting in a few days?" She changed the subject.

Zhao Yuan's expression changed slightly, but he didn't let her see it, and said calmly: "Well, let's go to Xiuling. You can't hunt anywhere else in the winter. Due to the geothermal heat in Duxiuling and the lush vegetation, you can still hunt in the hunting ground."

"Daxiuling ." Why did your majesty think of going hunting in winter?"

Zhao Yuan paused, thought for a moment, and then said: "In the past two years, my husband and I had many disputes in court, and later he went to Ganzhou. I came back a few days ago and reported that I was sick at home. I was thinking that I could find an opportunity to have a good talk with my husband to clear up the misunderstanding. Now that the government is unstable and the world is not at peace, I have to work together with my husband. Okay."

Xue Shiying heard what he said, nodded and said: "That's right..."

Yan Qing didn't think much when he heard that Zhao Yuan invited Jiang Weiren to go hunting in Xiuling, and said to Chen Min: "Your Majesty and Jiang Weiren. There are many disagreements among the adults, and because of this, there is no peace in the court. It is a good thing for the two of them to have a long talk in private, both in public and private matters. "

She never expected that she would be accompanied by Jiang Weiren. The second day after Shengjia went to Xiuling, news came that Jiang Weiren was missing.