Chapter 224: Flowers in the Mirror and Moon in the Water
"What the princess said is too bizarre. Your Majesty, please don't act too hastily. As time goes by, the princess will naturally understand your infatuation. You can rest. I haven't had a good night's sleep these days." Concubine Xue Shu said softly.
Liu Hongjing thought about it, and after some tender moments with Concubine Xue Shu, he fell asleep peacefully.
He was speechless all night. At dawn the next day, he went to court early as usual. At the court, the prince said goodbye and left the palace to embark on the road to find the antidote.
After Liu Hongjing went to court, he went to the Tianlao. The jailers and prisoners in the Tianlao saw that the emperor's chariot was coming in person, and they all knelt down to receive him.
Liu Hongjing, led by the warden, came to the outside of Liu Huo's prison. Liu Huo was dozing off, but when he heard the emperor's arrival, he was so frightened that he lost his mind. It seemed that the end of the road was over, and the emperor himself came to take his life. "Father.
Emperor." He knelt down and said tremblingly.
Liu Hongjing stared at him and didn't speak for a long time.
"Father, spare your life! I am confused and deserve to die!" Liu Huo kowtows like pounding garlic.
"Since you know that your crime deserves death, you still dare to plead with me?" Liu Hongjing said coldly.
"Father, my son and I are your flesh and blood, can you bear to kill your eldest son?" Liu Huo cried.
"Why don't I feel pain in my heart when I kill you? But you have committed a heinous crime. If I spare your life, I am afraid that the people of the world will not tolerate it! I originally wanted to behead you in the vegetable market, but after all I can't bear it. Now I will give you the red crown of the crane and leave you with
Do you have any objection to your intact body being buried in the ancestral temple and retaining your title?" Liu Hongjing looked at him majestically.
Liu Huo raised his head and looked at his father desperately, his whole body trembling.
"Father! Have you forgotten that twenty years ago, when you became a father for the first time, how beautiful, smart and cute that baby was?" Liu Huo said, tears streaming down his face.
Liu Hongjing frowned, and his memory seemed to open a floodgate, returning to twenty years ago.
"Father, listen, that child is crying. Why does the father who comes to hug him every day and tease him disappear? Why does the mother's tears keep flowing?" Liu Huo continued, "It wasn't until one day that he finally knew
, it turns out that the father who loves him the most has another baby in his arms."
"The arrival of that baby was his disaster. Everything that should have belonged to him was taken away by that person. And the queen mother also spent day after day in desolation. She was dressed up and beautiful, but she could only sigh in the mirror.
, the splendid palace, as cold and silent as a pool of stagnant water, cannot wait for your little favor."
"Only the new ones laugh, who hears the old ones crying? Poor mother, my son is useless, I can't fight for you, so that you can enjoy the glory with your son with pride, but you end up living in a foreign land in your later years, living under the shelter of others, and your son will never come back again."
I can't take care of you anymore, my son will die with his eyes open!" Liu Huo said, already sobbing.
Liu Hongjing took a few steps back dejectedly, pointed at Liu Huo and said angrily: "So you are blaming me? I admit that I owe your mother an emotional debt, so I have done nothing to her over the years.
Because I have always been indulging, but I didn't expect that I would indulge her ambition to such an uncontrollable level! However, I have never regretted the appointment of a prince. Fan'er has a kind heart, unlike you who are sinister and vicious.
In order to get the throne, you allowed Tong Fu'an to practice evil arts, and you also used a bitter meat trick to gain the princess's trust. You used her to persuade her father to send troops to help you rebel, and you even caused the death of your own child. I ask
With your character, what qualifications do you have to be a prince?"
"The reason why I am so unscrupulous is because I am forced by reality! If I have been favored by my father since childhood and inherited the throne of the prince, would I be so sinister and vicious?" Liu Huo argued.
"This is your nature. Don't force your fault on me! Okay! I feel guilty for you mother and son. I will spare your life today and demote you to a commoner. You will never be allowed to enter the palace. The relationship between me and you mother and son
The grievances between us will be wiped out from now on!" Liu Hongjing said.
The glass fire was silent for a while, and two lines of tears fell sadly.
"Let's go!" Liu Hongjing turned around and said coldly.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Liu Huo kowtowed and no longer addressed him as "Father."
Liu Hongjing said nothing and strode out until he reached the outside of the prison. The strong sun made him unable to open his eyes for a moment. The moment he frowned, he saw that his eyes were already red.
Liu Huo knelt on the ground until silence returned in the prison, and then he got up from the ground. When he stumbled out of the prison, the woman he had longed for—Luo Lianyi—was standing at the door of the prison.
Now, what else could he think of her? After looking at her, he walked past her dejectedly.
"Wait a minute." Luo Lianyi called him.
Liu Huo stopped, looked back at her, smiled teasingly, and said, "What? You don't want me to leave?"
Luo Lianyi rolled her eyes at him and said, "You are so sentimental." She handed him the bundle in her hand.
Liu Huo was a little surprised and asked: "Are you so sure that the emperor will not kill me?"
"Of course, the emperor has a benevolent heart. I can see this more clearly than you, my son." Luo Lianyi said.
Liu Huo let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky, with a look of guilt in his eyes.
"I'm not a good son," he said quietly, "nor am I a good husband."
"As long as you keep your life, there is still a chance for everything. You can first be a good husband, and you can also take good care of your mother. Soon, you can also be a good father. After a few years, when you come back, these grudges will be resolved
Maybe they are already as light as dust and smoke." Luo Lianyi said to him.
Liu Huo was silent for a while and nodded.
"Let's go, see you later." Luo Lianyi waved to him.
Liu Huo waved her hand, turned around and left. After walking a few steps, she turned around and stopped Luo Lianyi, who had turned around to leave, and asked, "You don't hate me?"
"You may or may not hate it. If you do what I say, why should I hate you?" Luo Lianyi smiled slightly.
Liu Huo looked at her charming smile, as beautiful and clean as a fairy, and couldn't help but be stunned.
"I love you." He blurted out.
"Let's go." Luo Lianyi put away her smile and turned to leave.
"You are the only woman I have ever loved! Please believe that my love for you is not utilitarian or false at all!" Liu Huo said loudly.
Luo Lianyi stopped for a second and then said: "Yes, I believe it." After she finished speaking, she walked away quickly.
Liu Huo watched her turn around the corridor before turning around melancholy. Her faint fragrance seemed to still linger in the air, as ethereal and tranquil as her.
"Flowers in the mirror and moon in the water are not destined to me after all." He smiled bitterly and walked far away quickly. After arriving at the market, he took out the money from his baggage, bought a fast horse, mounted the horse, and ran all the way to the south.