20demayo Chapter 891: Power Blinds You
Chapter 891: Power Blinds You
As soon as Eunuch An was helped up, he bent his knees and knelt down again. His skinny fingers tightly grasped the hem of Xiao Zhi's clothes, and his forehead rested on his knees, crying tremblingly, "Your Highness! Your Highness! I know I was wrong! Please have mercy and keep me! In this life, the only thing left for me is to serve Your Highness!"
Xiao Zhi stood tall and graceful, with the golden python pattern on his body glowing coldly in the twilight.
His knuckles were stretched white, and his chest felt like a piece had been cut out of it. The cold wind, wrapped in the pain in his heart, poured straight into that empty hole.
Eunuch An's crying sounded so soft and lingering that it felt like countless needles piercing the cracks between his bones, causing him excruciating pain.
Xiao Zhi's voice was as light as snow falling on the ground. "When I was five years old, I was pushed into the lake by the King of Jin in winter. It was you who braved the cold wind to rescue me from the cold water."
Eunuch An's crying stopped abruptly. He remembered that day when ice chips tore through his cotton robe, the lake was so deep that he couldn't see the bottom, and the little prince's red brocade jacket was like blood, spreading in the dark blue.
"Then you were sick for three whole months, and the imperial physician said that you would develop a chronic illness. Your poor health began at that time. Whenever the weather got cold, your legs would hurt. But you smiled and said..." His voice suddenly choked, and Xiao Zhi couldn't continue.
Eunuch An's back rose and fell violently. He remembered what he had said at that time, "This old slave's body was originally used to protect His Highness from disasters."
Xiao Zhi knew that his legs hurt, so he was reluctant to let him kneel.
But now, he was kneeling, and Xiao Zhi didn't ask him to stand up.
Xiao Zhi added, "When I was seven years old, I contracted smallpox. Everyone in the palace avoided me, even my wet nurse claimed to be sick and didn't dare to approach me. Only you fumigated your clothes with wormwood and stayed by my bed all night long."
Eunuch An held Xiao Zhi's legs tightly with both hands and refused to let go.
Of course he remembered the past. The Fourth Prince was burning all over, and the brocade quilt was covered with pus, blood and medicine stains. He soaked a handkerchief with well water and wiped the twitching little body over and over again. In the middle of the night, the child was delirious with fever and grabbed his fingers tightly and shouted "Mother".
Scenes from the past flashed through the minds of the master and servant.
Xiao Zhi raised his face, the twilight in his eyes was as dark as ink, "Eunuch An, I once swore to take care of you until the end of your life."
The end of his words turned into an almost inaudible sigh. The iron horses on the eaves suddenly jingled, covering up the almost inaudible sobs in his throat.
But the tone changed, like a cold wind, "Do you know the crime you have committed?" He lowered his eyes and looked at the person who had protected him since he was a child, "You have harmed the princess, enough for you to die ten times!"
Eunuch An shuddered all over, but held the leg in his arms even tighter. Tears soaked through the brocade, leaving dark marks, "I know I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"
Xiao Zhi's Adam's apple rolled slightly, "Then tell me, where did you go wrong?"
Eunuch An cried, "I was wrong, I was wrong... I shouldn't have poisoned the silver carbon! I shouldn't have acted on my own!"
Xiao Zhi shook his head gently, "No, you were wrong for believing in rumors, and even more wrong for having no judgment."
Eunuch An was shocked, "Your Highness, if the rumors are true, you are in danger!"
After saying this, Xiao Zhi knew that even if he gave Eunuch An ten more chances, it would be useless because he would still go his own way and make even bigger mistakes.
Xiao Zhi suddenly raised his legs, turned around and walked into the imperial study, and said in a very cold voice, "Come in with me!"
When Eunuch An crawled on his knees across the threshold of the imperial study, the chill of the ground penetrated his bones and caused him excruciating pain. His hunched back trembled slightly when the palace lanterns suddenly lit up, and the prince's majestic back was reflected in his tearful eyes.
Xiao Shuzi held the copper candlestick and lit the twelve-branch palace lanterns one by one.
The candles on the gilded lantern tree gradually lit up, illuminating the ink in the Duan inkstone on the imperial desk. He lowered his eyebrows and retreated to the door. The lacquered wooden door made a light "click" sound when it closed.
Xiao Zhi sat on the chair for a long while, as if thinking about something very important. Finally, he opened the secret compartment, took out the imperial edict of Emperor Mingde's succession, and unfolded it in front of Eunuch An.
Eunuch An's pupils trembled violently.
The imperial edict of succession! The red ink was as red as blood. The eight words "pass the throne to the crown prince Xiao Zhi" were eye-catching!
The seal imprint at the end still has the luster of gold powder.
The emperor actually gave his master an imperial edict to pass on the throne!
How could he be partial to the "prince who was living among the common people"? Could it be that he really believed the rumors wrongly?
Xiao Zhi suddenly stood up, and the imperial edict was blown by the wind. "Eunuch An, have you forgotten what you told me before, that man is not an ordinary person? If we follow his steps closely, we will surely achieve something?"
“That person”! It was the prince consort of that year!
Xiao Zhi added, "Have you forgotten that when the Prince Consort hit a Wan countryman's nose on the polo field, you came back and excitedly told me that the Prince Consort is the backbone of our North Wing! If we get the Prince Consort, the world will be shocked!"
He tapped his fingers on the stack of newspapers on the imperial desk that smelled of ink. "When the prince consort used movable type printing to print out 10,000 copies of the Yijing Weekly overnight, you told me that God had opened his eyes! Fortunately, the prince consort is the prince consort of our Beiyi. Otherwise, if he was born in another country, he would have been famous in that country."
"The night the old witch was executed," Xiao Zhi's voice was low and sad, "you cried until you fainted while holding your mother's tablet, saying that the princess and her husband were our benefactors."
"Why is it that today, the princess and her husband, who you described as upright and righteous, have become villains fighting for power and profit in your eyes?"
A series of questions made Eunuch An completely collapse. Tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks and dripped onto the gold bricks in the imperial study. Yes, why did he suddenly feel that the princess and her husband were not good?
Xiao Zhi suddenly leaned forward, and the scent of ambergris mixed with the scent of ink pressed down heavily, "It is power that has blinded you!"
"Because you think I'm different now that I'm the crown prince! Just one step away! Anyone who stands in my way deserves death! Especially someone like your husband who is capable of both civil and military power, has suddenly become a stumbling block in your eyes!"
Eunuch An's ears were numb from the prince's voice. He once again put his forehead to the ground and sobbed, "This old slave... was wrong!"
Xiao Zhi murmured, "Eunuch An, do you think I care about that position?"
He took out a letter and handed it over, not letting go for a long time.
Eunuch An took it with both hands, read it through quickly, and there was a hint of emotion in his eyes.
The letter was a report from the governor of Huizhou, saying that the new rice varieties planted this year had a yield 20% higher per mu than in previous years.
The letter also wrote that the ten-mile crabapple forest had been completed.
"Ten miles of Begonia Forest?" Eunuch An's hands were shaking.
Xiao Zhi's eyes softened, "Yes, the Ten Mile Begonia Forest is my gift to Eunuch An for his 40th birthday."
Eunuch An's throat choked with sobs, and his tears wet the letter in his hand.
His hometown is Yuping County, where crabapples are grown in abundance.
Seeing the crabapple tree is like seeing a relative.
He remembered the young prince squatting in the nursery, waving at him with muddy hands, "Eunuch An, when I have a fiefdom one day, I will plant ten miles of crabapples for you. When the crabapples bloom, I will brew flower wine for you!"
Eunuch An burst into tears.