Light smoke emitted from the nine sticks of incense, slowly filling the entrance to the simple imperial mausoleum.
Liu Mingzhi respectfully kowtowed several times to the memorial tablets of Li Zheng and his son, and then stood up and sorted the dust on his body.
Lao Zhou looked at Young Master Liu's respectful behavior with pleased eyes, and handed the big cloak in his hand to Young Master Liu again.
"Your Majesty, the weather is very cold. Hurry up and put on your cloak. Ruizong, I don't want you to catch the wind and cold."
Liu Mingzhi nodded silently, took the cloak and put it on him again, walked to the futon prepared by Lao Zhou and sat down on his knees. Seeing this, Lao Zhou picked up the porcelain teapot on the stove next to him and poured Young Master Liu a cup.
hot water.
"Your Majesty, please warm yourself up."
"Thank you!"
Liu Mingzhi took a sip of the hot water in the cup and looked at Lao Zhou with a sad expression on his gray temples and silver hair.
"It's so fast. It's been three years in the blink of an eye. The sounds and smiles of my father and brother seem to have just happened yesterday. I always thought that they just left not long ago, but who knew that it would be three years since they left."
When Lao Zhou heard this, he nodded with a heavy look and looked back at Li Zheng's tablet on the table.
"The prince is fighting in the north and south for the imperial court, and is busy with government affairs every day. Naturally, he doesn't feel that time flies by. But the old slave is living here like a year."
"This imperial mausoleum is too deserted."
"The tomb-guarding army regards us as a weirdo. Apart from delivering meals, we rarely go near the entrance of the imperial tomb."
"Except for the incident involving the late emperor's queen who had not yet entered the palace, and the incident at the Yun Family Creek... Alas... the old slave made a slip of the tongue and unexpectedly mentioned the sadness of the prince's cousin.
I hope the prince will not mind."
When he heard Lao Zhou mentioning his cousin Yun Xiaoxi, Liu Mingzhi's eyes were a little complicated, and there was a hint of guilt deep in his eyes.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it's just the past. It's been so long, it's time to take it lightly."
Lao Zhou saw that Mr. Liu's expression was not that perfunctory when he spoke, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Except for what happened in the Yun family creek, we have never been out of the imperial mausoleum. If Xiao Haizi hadn't come to visit us from time to time and didn't talk to anyone for a long time, I'm afraid that we, the old man, would have been
Bones has even forgotten what he said."
"Although I'm a little lonely, it's actually quite good compared to the days of intrigues and intrigues in the palace."
"When you have nothing to do, think back to some of the past experiences of the past, and one day at a time will actually pass."
Liu Mingzhi looked at Lao Zhou's senile appearance, feeling a little sad in his heart.
"Lao Zhou, after all, my father and my brother are already prosperous. The dead are gone, but the living are cherished. Your thoughts will definitely be felt by my father. But what can you do if you keep guarding like this all the time? My father never does.
Maybe he will return to the human world again."
"I think it's better for me to arrange a courtyard for you so that you can live there and take care of yourself. If you really miss your father, come back regularly to visit and talk to him."
"There are tomb-protecting troops guarding the outside of the imperial mausoleum, so why do you bother?"
"The days ahead are still long! Do you really plan to guard your father's mausoleum until the end of your life?"
"Although you call yourself an old slave, I know that my father has never treated you as a slave, but as an old associate."
"Father has a spirit in heaven, and he will definitely be unhappy when he sees you like this."
After listening to Liu Mingzhi's words, Lao Zhou laughed happily, his dim eyes showing the color of memories.
Liu Mingzhi quietly looked at Lao Zhou's unpredictable eyes. From Lao Zhou's eyes, he saw loneliness, helplessness, hope, excitement, domineering, coldness, murderous intent, and the last touch of indifference that looked down upon everything in the world.
Liu Mingzhi was silent in his heart. Perhaps the emotions shown in Lao Zhou's eyes were his life from nothing to something and then from something to letting go.
I don't know how long it took, but Liu Mingzhi felt that the tea in the cup had lost any warmth, and Lao Zhou came back to his senses.
Turning his eyes to look at Li Zheng's tablet on the table, Lao Zhou sighed.
"If it hadn't been for the owner back then, our old bones might have turned into a handful of loess fifty years ago."
"From the moment the master saved us in the ice and snow, we swore to God that the master gave us a life. We have nothing else and can only use this life to repay the master's kindness."
"We have gone from a weed on the roadside that no one cares about, to a general manager that everyone fawns over because of our master. Although it is because of the identity of the master, our glory is also because of the master."
"When everyone looks up at us, we will know that it is worth leaving this life to the master."
"Although we have become a rootless person that everyone sneers at and is called a castrated dog behind our backs, we..."
Lao Zhou hesitated for a moment and did not look at Liu Mingzhi's plain and curious gaze. Lao Zhou sighed: "But before we became a rootless person, the master asked us to leave a bloodline to continue our incense."
"It has been fifty years. We only took a sneak look at this child on the day his wife gave birth. Knowing that we have a baby, we have nothing to worry about. From now on, we can repay the master wholeheartedly."
Liu Mingzhi looked at Lao Zhou in astonishment: "You...you still have a wife? This is incredible."
Lao Zhou nodded silently: "This is all a gift from the master. Oh, what a disrespectful thing to say."
"As a husband and a father, it is undeniable that the master has some flaws, but as an emperor, the master has definitely achieved the level of a great father."
"Sometimes he doesn't want to think about some things, but besides being a husband and father, he is also the emperor of the dragon. He must be responsible for his subjects."
"No matter how many inappropriate and unfair things he did, he was never negligent in dealing with the common people."
"My master is not a good father or a good husband, but he is definitely a good emperor and a well-deserved unparalleled hero."
"well......."
"In other words, a good emperor is never a good person, and there is no exception since ancient times!"
"For the sake of the country, the country, and the people, even if you know it is wrong, you must continue to do it."
"Even if you owe your family and close friends, you still have to do it. The emperor is not as lofty as you imagine, but is far more unspeakable than ordinary people by dozens or even hundreds of times."
"This is the emperor's helplessness!"
"These words were told to us by my lord, when you were serving as the governor of two provinces in Northern Xinjiang. The master knew that his end was approaching, so he lay on the dragon bed and recalled the past."
"Although three years have passed, it is still vivid in our minds, because only we know how much His Majesty has lost in order to be a good emperor worthy of the world."
"Throughout the past dynasties, there are not many kings who are as good as Your Majesty."
Liu Mingzhi stared blankly at Lao Zhou who looked sad.
A good emperor is never a good person.
Recalling the past when more than 100,000 people from the capital spontaneously poured into the capital at the beginning of Li Zheng's reign, and the whole city was filled with people to see Li Zheng off, Liu Mingzhi's eyes were a little complicated.
With the people's support and the world being peaceful, who dares to say that Li Zheng was not a good emperor.
But recalling the way Li Yunlong looked at Li Zheng's portrait in the royal study, gnashing his teeth and complaining about injustice, Liu Mingzhi sighed silently.
Even his own son resents him so much, who can say that Li Zheng is a good person.
Perhaps this was the emperor's helplessness.
Liu Mingzhi drank the cold tea in the cup in one gulp.
"Lao Zhou, now that I've said it here, I won't be secretive anymore."
"I came here this time just to ask you about a dust-laden past event."