Yangzhou Villa, in the cold inner garden of the palace, the old emperor, who had just woken up from a serious injury, was lying on his back on the dragon couch with a sickly face.

Qi Zhen, dressed in black uniform, was holding a bowl of soup and medicine beside the dragon couch and put it into his mouth.

The old emperor coughed several times, and Qi Zhen patted his back gently and forcefully. Although his expression was cold, he was not impatient.

If it were Qi Zhen in the past, he probably wouldn't be able to serve the decoctions with such meticulousness.

It's just that without that gathering of souls, he recalled everything in his previous life, which also made Qi Zhen more patient with his father who had been separated for two lifetimes.

After Qi Zhen left his mother when he was a child, he was raised by the emperor. He should have been closer to his father who raised him, but the old emperor had favored the imperial concubine for many years.

Secretly, he also suffered a lot of rejection and criticism from the imperial concubine.

It is inevitable for children to become angry, so Qi Zhen did not like his father when he took a pee.

On the contrary, my mother, whom I rarely see, is even closer.

Also, blood is thicker than water and you are pregnant for ten months. Even if you have not raised her in front of you and your feelings are lighter, it will still be different in the end.

From the bottom of his heart, Qi Zhen didn't like the old emperor's behavior of ignoring the rules of the palace and favoring his concubines and imprisoning the empress. Since he was a boy, he had been deliberately getting close to his uncle's family in order to cultivate power. As a result, he also had resentment towards the emperor in his heart.

In his previous life, until Qi Zhen saw the emperor's head, he always complained about his father.

He resented him a lot. He resented that he was well aware of the Tatar movement, but he wanted to settle down in a corner, and surrendered the country to a foreign tribe because he was afraid of war. He resented that he listened to one side and deposed him as the crown prince because of the so-called evidence.

When leading the troops outside, he made unnecessary concessions to the Tatars again and again, causing Jinling to fall into the hands of the enemy.

In the past, Qi Zhen also thought that the little father-son affection he had for him had long since faded away.

He considered himself cold-hearted, and his father, the emperor, and his mother had never personally taken care of him for a long time. His father said that he raised him personally, but since Qi Zhen could remember, most of the people who accompanied him were the aunts and eunuchs in the palace.

A scholar from the Heqian Dynasty.

They taught him poetry, calligraphy and etiquette, and allowed Qi Zhen to witness many palace intrigues, but they never taught him what true love was.

As a result, Qi and Zhen never learned the word "love" in their two lifetimes.

But after these two lives, two lives of sorrow, he was suffering from love, and inexplicably, he became less resentful and more patient towards his father whom he once resented.

Qi Zhen has never really been a father for a day, but when he collected Linglong's body, he experienced the pain of being a father.

When Linglong died, one corpse had two lives.

It wasn't that Qi Zhen had never seen the child that was about to take shape, but the feeling was so painful that he didn't even dare to recall it.

He thought that if that child could be born, even if he was not good at words and even if he was trapped by the rules of the palace, he would still love the child from the bottom of his heart and hope that his child would be safe throughout his life.

Most parents in the world are like this, even the two at the top of the palace are no exception.

Maybe he had a vague feeling of being a father, and he had more understanding and patience towards his father.

It is true that Qi Zhen's father was weak in all things and could not be considered a wise king. He said he would raise Qi Zhen, but he only handed Qi Zhen over to the minister He Gongren. He could not be considered a competent father.

But he would rather die than surrender, and used his last bit of strength to have someone bring the imperial seal to Qi Zhen. When he was about to die, he was able to put his last effort into making amends for the state affairs.

For two lifetimes, Qi Zhen has been involved in rebellion cases, but the emperor never seriously had any intention of killing him. In the end, he was still planning for him, and he did not have the exhaustive care and unspoken worry of being a father.

Although he is not qualified for his position, he still cares about Qi Zhen.

In this life, since Qi Zhen had already had an opportunity, he naturally wanted to do his best to ensure that his father, the emperor, and his mother lived in peace in their old age.

The old emperor coughed several times, and Qi Zhen helped him regain his breath before putting the decoction to his mouth again.

After the emperor drank the decoction, his complexion improved slightly. He looked up at Qi Zhen with a complicated expression.

"Zhen'er, my father has been seriously injured and has been in Yangzhou for so long. It's time to return to the capital. Now that you've come to Yangzhou, you can't be watched by anyone in the capital. Get ready to drive back to the capital in two days."

When the old emperor finished speaking, the spoon in Qi Zhen's hand froze.

"Father, you don't have to worry about matters in the capital. I will go to Luoyang in the near future. I have already told Zheng Jingyan to take charge of the capital. You have been injured for so long and you don't know what is going on outside. The current situation is unstable.

There are frequent disturbances in the Tatars. My father does not like war and is injured. I do not want you to worry about this matter. I have already told the world that you will be in charge of the funeral."

Qi Zhen indeed released the news of the emperor's death, and the fake coffin was buried on the spot in Yangzhou. Although he did this to retain power in the court, it was also partly out of consideration for the emperor's life.

Qi Zhen's words were heard, and the emperor was so stimulated that he couldn't help but cough.

The emperor's cough that had just calmed down started again. Qi Zhen put down the decoction and stood up. He motioned to the waiting palace attendants to come forward to serve him, but he did not take any action again.

"Father, please don't worry. I will keep your filial piety in mind and I will keep you safe until your old age. I have important matters to attend to, so I will leave first." After Qi Zhen finished speaking, he stepped up to leave the palace.

The old emperor on the dragon bed hurriedly stopped him and asked: "Zhen'er, what happened? Where are the second and third children?"

Qi Zhen stopped slightly, thinking of the missing second prince and the dead third prince, he closed his eyes slightly, pursed his lips, and replied: "The second brother has gone to join the feudal vassal, and the third brother is dead.

"

After saying these words, the old emperor with a sick look behind him turned red-eyed.

"That's your biological brother! How could you do it?"

When Qi Zhen heard this, his eyebrows were raised coldly, and without even turning his head, he said: "Father, you should understand best. Where does the family relationship come from, royal brothers? He and I are not the same mother, but we have been bitter enemies for many years. The emperor

The fight has always been a matter of life and death. If he comes to see my father today, my fate will be exactly the same as his."

His words were so cold that they only made the temperature of the palace a little colder.

After Qi Zhen finished speaking, he walked straight out of the inner hall, ignoring the old emperor's shouts behind him.

The old emperor watched Qi Zhen walk away, covered his lips and coughed, and actually vomited blood again.

However, Qi Zhen could no longer see this scene.

Qi Zhen left the inner palace and walked around the Yangzhou Palace.

The chamberlain who followed quietly looked at the inner hall behind him and reminded Qi Zhen in a low voice: "The Emperor seems to be coughing up blood. Your Majesty should go back and take a look."

Qi Zhen pursed his lips tightly, paused, and then said: "No need, the imperial doctors are waiting in the other palaces. Just ask the imperial doctors to take care of them carefully. If I go, it will upset my father. I'm afraid it's such an injury."

The disease will be even more difficult to recover from."

When the chamberlain heard this, he lowered his head and asked no more questions. At this time, the governor of Yangzhou came over from a distance.

This Yangzhou governor was originally a confidant of Qi Zhen who was stationed in Yangzhou. He was the one who ordered the imperial concubine to be imprisoned on the spot in Yangzhou.

This time he came to the other palace to see Qi Zhen because of the matter of the imperial concubine who was still imprisoned in the other palace.

"Your Majesty, the noble concubine is now imprisoned in another palace, wailing every night, and making so much noise that the emperor and the people serving in the palace cannot sleep peacefully. The emperor has never issued an order on how to deal with the concubine, and the officials below us dare not act rashly.

I have no choice but to silence the noble concubine for the time being. I really don’t know how to deal with it now, so I would like to ask Your Majesty to come up with an idea."

No matter how noble the concubine is, she has been the favored empress of the palace for many years. Now the old emperor himself has not opened his mouth to deal with it. These local officials in Yangzhou naturally dare not act rashly for fear of being punished later.

But keeping suppressing him like this was no solution. In the end, I had to take advantage of Qi Zhen's visit to Yangzhou to ask him what he meant.

After hearing the report from the governor of Yangzhou, Qi Zhen frowned slightly and looked at the old emperor's bedroom. His expression was cold and he said: "The imperial concubine has committed the crime of regicide and deserves to die. I give you this

Bai Ling just remember, don’t let this matter disturb your father.”

Now that the old emperor had just learned that the third prince died at the hands of Qi Zhen, it was now the time when he felt most guilty for the mother and son. If he asked the old emperor what he meant at this moment, he might really have spared the imperial concubine the crime of regicide.

Qi Zhen has been fighting with the third prince's faction for many years, and he is very clear about the methods of the imperial concubine. In the final analysis, the third prince has nothing to offer except being of royal blood. He has been able to cultivate confidants in the court for many years, all thanks to his mother.

The concubine planned hard.

If it weren't for the moment of life and death, then Qi Zhen might not be able to defeat her easily because of her greed for life.

The imperial concubine in her previous life also knew that Qi Zhen had "killed" the third prince. After the third prince was "dead", she did not hesitate to collude with the Tatars and sacrifice the blood of tens of millions of soldiers to the flag in order to remove Qi Zhen from the throne.

Down.

If such a poisonous scorpion were alive, there would be endless troubles. Qi Zhen would never let the emperor save her life.

Thinking of his previous life, he naturally became more wary of taking the imperial concubine, and told the governor: "The imperial concubine's life must not be spared. Do you understand?"

Although the governor didn't understand why Qi Zhen was so persistent in wanting to kill a woman from a deep palace, he still respectfully agreed.

"The matter in Luoyang is urgent. I will leave today. The governor will have to worry about the matter in Yangzhou."

"Wei Chen understands, Your Majesty, just rest assured."

Qi Zhen left Yangzhou incognito and went straight to Luoyang.

The governor of Yangzhou called his close aide and told him to prepare a white silk and go there in person.

In the Yangzhou Villa, the imperial concubine who was bound and gagged and imprisoned in a room of the palace was lying on her back, looking extremely embarrassed.

The governor slowly walked in, sighed quietly, and said: "My queen, please go in peace and don't bother yourself. The third prince is still waiting for you underground."

When the governor said these words, the imperial concubine, who was lying on her back with blank eyes, suddenly raised her eyes to look at him, the hatred in her eyes almost overflowing.

Seeing the appearance of the imperial concubine, the governor waved his hand and motioned for his followers to step forward and take action.

With the white silk tied around her neck, the empress who had been favored by the palace for many years had a frightening purple complexion, her life was being strangled little by little, and she was about to die before her eyes.

Suddenly, a eunuch hurried over.
Chapter completed!