"We have to advance our plans."
In the candlelight, Duke Lu said worriedly.
Concubine Lu suddenly became nervous: "Are you going to take action tonight? Why don't you wait until the day before returning to the city?"
"I can't wait any longer. There's no point in waiting. Do you think Jin Zhi can accomplish anything like this?" Lu Guogong said with a sullen face.
"Then Qiao Yin is lucky and escaped. Maybe the prince's side will be suspicious of us and our plans will be advanced."
Lu Guogong's plan is very simple - in the dead of night tonight, arrange for two assassins to run into the third prince's camp and make the third prince injured to perform a painful trick.
On the one hand, he can get rid of the suspicion of assassinating Qiao Yin during the day, and he can also secretly blame the prince. What the current emperor hates most is fratricide.
Concubine Lu's heart skipped a beat and said, "Okay, then big brother, let's make arrangements."
……
"Does it still hurt?" Xie Yu'an asked cautiously.
Qiao Yin looked at his bandaged arm, then at Xie Yuan's nervous expression, and couldn't help but smile: "I want to say it hurts, do you have any way to stop the pain?"
Xie Yu'an smiled softly: "You asked me this. If I say there is nothing I can do, wouldn't it look useless?"
Qiao Yin leaned on the bedside and said curiously: "Then please thank the teacher for your advice."
Xie Yu'an pulled out a strange book from somewhere and raised it: "I'll read you a bedtime story."
Qiao Yin's eyes were stunned, and he seemed to be touched deep in his heart: "Why do you think of reading a story to me?"
Xie Yu'an smiled: "In the past, the prince didn't want Xiaojiu to go home too early, so he would read stories to Xiaojiu at noon to lull him to sleep. Xiaojiu would calm down as soon as he listened to the story. I guess you will like it too."
"What should I do? You guessed it again." Qiao Yin said distressedly, but there was water in his eyes again.
"What's wrong?" Xie Yu'an was silent, "Do you miss your mother again?"
Qiao Yin turned her head to prevent him from seeing her uncontrollable tears.
Her mother's bedtime story has been a memory for a long time, so long ago that she almost doesn't remember it.
Although they lived in poverty, their mother gave her 100%25 love.
This situation was beyond Xie Yuan's expectation. He originally just wanted to divert her attention, but instead it brought back her sadness.
"Ayin, do you want to hear the story about my mother and me?" Xie Yu'an suggested.
Qiao Yin recovered from her sadness and nodded towards him.
Xie Yuan put down the booklet in his hand and recalled it.
"When I was a child, I always felt that my mother didn't love me. My weight in her heart was not comparable to that of the cats and dogs at home."
"How could it be?" Qiao Yin asked in surprise, who wouldn't like Xie Yu'an?
With an outstanding child like Xie Yu'an, parents are so happy that they wake up from sleep. It's too late to hurt, so how could they not like it?
"Because my mother never hugs me. As long as I can remember, I have never seen her hug me and love me like other mothers do."
"Xie Ren is so naughty, but every time he is punished, my second aunt will quietly give him food while twisting his ears, and then hold him tightly in her arms with distress."
"For his future, Jiang Huailu's mother ruthlessly sent him to Huaizhou at the age of five. He was not allowed to return to Beijing for reunion before he completed his studies. But one winter, Jiang Huairu fell ill, and the queen came from the capital through heavy snow. , when he saw Jiang Huailu, he held him in his arms and called his name while crying and laughing."
"I was very envious, and then I thought, could I have done something wrong like Xie Ren, so that getting seriously ill like the prince would attract my mother's attention?"
Qiao Yin looked at him in shock: "What then?"
"Then, I knew that the ice on the lake was not thick enough, but I still insisted on going up to play on the ice, and ended up falling through a hole in the ice."
"It was so cold. I fell and was immediately frozen to the point of unconsciousness. I felt extremely scared and regretful. Although my mother didn't hug me, she would cook me delicious food once a month and twice a year. A good pair of shoes.”
"Just when I thought I was going to sink, there was a thud, the ice cracked, and my mother jumped down like a hero and fished me out."
"She hugged me tightly, shouted my name, and carried me ashore."
Xie Yuan seemed to remember the scene at that time, with a smile on his face.
"guess what?"
"After my mother learned of my intentions, she pulled out the riding crop and whipped my father hard!"
Qiao Yin: "Ah?"
Xie Yu'an said: "Because my father always said that a loving mother often loses her son, and told my mother not to spoil me, and to train me to develop an independent and self-reflective character early. My mother could not get too close to me, so she had to pass it on to those little ones. On animals.”
"Actually, my mother loves me to death."
Qiao Yin was amused and was about to make a joke when suddenly Xie Yuan stood up and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her.
"Me too."
he said to her.
These three simple words were spoken in a very soft voice, but they hit Qiao Yin's heart with great weight, making her heart tremble violently.
She heard it and understood it.
……
In the dead of night, the paddock was quiet, and suddenly a few black figures flashed into the tent of the third prince Jiang Huaiyan.
Then there were sounds of fighting and the guards shouting, 'There are assassins--'.
"ah!"
Jiang Huaiyan was stabbed on the arm and screamed in pain.
Inside and outside the camp there were sounds of footsteps and voices calling for the assassin.
The two assassins looked at each other and Jiang Huaiyan, pretending to be repelled, and fled in a hurry.
Jiang Huaiyan covered his injured arm and shouted: "There is an assassination attempt, catch the assassin quickly!"
The door curtain moved, and a thin figure walked in with a joking laugh.
"Good brother, this is not how the bitter flesh trick works."
Jiang Huaiyan was stunned and looked up at the person who walked in.
The person who came was not a guard, but Jiang Huailu!
Jiang Huairu walked in swaggeringly, looking at his arm with a mocking look on his face.
"With so much blood, where is enough? Come, brother, help you."
Jiang Huailu picked up the knife on the ground and swung it at Jiang Huaiyan.
Before Jiang Huaiyan could react, his body instinctively dodged and retreated.
"Someone! Someone!"
But the only response he received was the cry of arresting the assassin outside. The noise outside was louder than he expected.
Jiang Huailu was just an illusory move. Seeing Jiang Huaiyan's earthy face, he sneered coldly: "Oh, you are really timid and playful at the same time!"
"What does it mean to be a bitter meat tactic? Watch out!"
Jiang Huailu seemed to be a different person, his eyes full of enthusiasm.
He turned around and strode out with the knife in hand. Not long after, Jiang Huaiyan heard a shocking shout from outside.
"It's not good! An assassin is trying to assassinate Your Majesty!"
"Quickly announce the imperial doctor, the prince is injured while blocking the sword for His Majesty!"
Jiang Huaiyan fell down and sat on the ground, his back covered with cold sweat.
It's over, their plan had already been discovered by Jiang Huailu.
Jiang Huairu stepped on him and performed a real cruel trick in front of his father.
Jiang Huairu left Beijing to study since he was a child, and had a weak relationship with the emperor and his son, but that was in the past.
After tonight, when the emperor looks at this eldest son who sacrificed his life for himself, he must love his son so much that he feels ashamed to be a father.
