Chapter 337: Don't go

On the first day of October, the grand court meeting.

The east is gradually white, and there are already a gathering of officials outside the Taihe Gate. Today is the day when the constitutional calendar of the 53rd year of the Kangxi reign is issued, and there are full guards of ceremonials on both sides of the Taihe Gate.

If it were in the past, Cao Yong could stand in front of the official uniform of the gentle prince. Now he is the chief official of the yamen. Therefore, he was wearing fifth-grade replenishment uniform and stood calmly on the side of the Taipu Temple official.

Tang Zhiyu and Yiduli were both a little embarrassed and didn't want to stand in front of Cao Yong. Cao Yong smiled and pointed to his replenishment clothes, and stood back calmly. However, he was thinking about something in his heart.

Among the guards of the second prince when he was the crown prince, there was a named Delin who served the second prince for many years and had always been the most dependent on the second prince. After the second deposed the crown prince, Delin was also ordered to be locked up at home by Kangxi because of his "arrogance".

Because Delin's father Ahazhan gave Fuling Pass a supplementary defense, he brought his son to Fengtian after submitting the decree of Kangxi. Soon, Delin's uncle, Buddha Bao, submitted a memorial saying that his nephew "repentances without resignation" and asked General Fengtian to hand over the Dharma.

When Kangxi received the memorial, he issued an order to Ahazhan, ordering him to execute Delin. Ahazhan said that his son had hanged himself and privately asked his grandson Bai Tong to escape with his son.

Someone secretly reported the matter to the court. Kangxi sent officials from the Ministry of Justice to arrest Delin and finally captured him in Jiaozhou, Shandong. Delin's father was already hanged himself for fear of his crime.

After a meeting, the Ministry of Justice convicted Delin and his son of great rebellion. Delin Lingchi was executed. Although Delin's father died, he could not be exempted from liability and should be opened to kill the corpse; Delin's son Bai Tong planned to be a prison guard; Jiaozhou local civil and military officers committed the crime of misunderstanding, and the Shandong Governor investigated and participated in the benefits.

Jiaozhou is adjacent to Yizhou, and most of its civil and military officials, Cao Yong, have seen them. However, now he is not lamenting for those unlucky guys, but secretly lamenting Kangxi's imperial means.

It's just killing chickens and scaring monkeys. Delin is just an old ancestral member of the Eastern Palace. If he really has any unforgivable sins, he wouldn't allow him to be enclosed at home and would deal with it directly.

The reason for such a big fanfare was that Kangxi was also expressing his opinion to the court and local officials. In the year of abolishing the crown prince, because the throne of the crown prince was not decided, it was inevitable that some officials would speculate on the emperor's thoughts.

Although the Eighth Prince was the most popular among the officials, Kangxi never wanted to favor any prince, and everyone was also a little confused.

Thinking that Kangxi and Empress Yuan had a deep affection and were more generous when they were young, some people wondered whether Kangxi would re-establish the second prince as the crown prince again.

After the Wanshou Festival, undercurrents in the capital were surging. How many emperors could have lived longevity in history? Kangxi had ascended the throne for fifty-two years, and it was already the end of his sixties.

To deal with De Lin's family was Kangxi's reply to the court, and the second prince completely lost power. Even if someone wanted to wave the flag and shout for the second prince, De Lin's family was a lesson.

The Xun family emphasizes the rise and fall of the family. Even if there are children who want to cling to the second prince, their elder father and brother will not allow the family to have such a disobedient son.

However, the consequences of doing this may make the princes who are peeping at the throne even more itchy. Except for the second prince who is the legitimate son of the queen of Yuan Dynasty, the other princes are all born in illegitimate children. Although the mother tribe has different identities, knowing that the foreign relatives are not the key.

After the factional dispute between Soetu and Mingzhu, Kangxi was far less dependent on his relatives than before, and he was even somewhat wary of his guard.

Now, the 52nd year of Kangxi is about to pass, and the fourth prince will not show up before Kangxi's death. Although the eighth prince is now looking at the scenery, he is just walking on thin ice. In two years, Tibet will start chaos, and then the fourteenth prince will lead troops to fight, and thus his strength will increase greatly.

Cao Yong thought that the history he knew was just a general direction, but he didn't know much about it.

According to Hongshu, the 14th Prince was particularly resentful to him. Apart from the Yongqing incident, Cao Yong didn't know what was wrong and provoked the prince.

The 14th Prince wants to be glorious and Yongzheng comes to power. If he really wants to attack the evil people, he cannot be passively beaten.

Cao Yong made up his mind and said that he would talk to Mr. Zhuang in the past two days. If this matter could be spread to Kangxi, it would be bad.

Hearing the drums and music, Kangxi went to court.

First, the constitutional calendar of the 53rd year of Kangxi was promulgated, followed by two memorials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel, and the court was dispersed.

If it were in previous years, why wouldn't it take for half an hour, but this year it was only a quarter of an hour. The princes and officials were puzzled and tried each other in groups to see if they could find out why the emperor left the court so early.

The answer is a variety of things. Some say that the old concubine in the palace is seriously ill and the emperor is filial to ask about illness; some say that a prince who served as a minister in the guards is seriously ill, and some say that the emperor was guilty of getting Lin's great rebellion. He was sad when he thought of the second prince.

In short, everyone expressed their guesses in their hearts in obscure language.

Cao Yong had listened to it, and he only thought it was funny. The emperor was also a human being. He was tired and impatient with the complicated dynasty meetings. Everyone was trying to figure out the holy heart and guessed it. What if it could be? In the eyes of the emperor, stupid ministers are always more reliant than smart ministers.

Cao Yong didn't think much about it. He still had to work hard today. He had to go to the yamen to fight for a while, and he had to go back to the Duke of the Fuguo E Fei to visit his sickness, and finally to the thirteenth prince's mansion to pay his birthday.

Fortunately, there was not much business in the yamen. After staying for an hour, Cao Yong finished his errand. He greeted Tang Zhiyu and Yiduli, and left the Taipu Temple yamen.

As soon as he passed the Xidan Archway, Cao Yong rode his horse towards him. Seeing Cao Yong, the man looked at him carefully, then turned over and dismounted, and asked Qianwen: "Is it Mr. Cao, the Taipu Temple?"

Cao Yong stopped the horse and looked at it, but he looked familiar.

Then he heard the man say, "The youngest one is from the Duke of Fuguo's mansion. The old master is now in danger and is talking about seeing the master. The younger one comes to the yamen and asks Lord Cao to pass through the mansion."

Only then did Cao Yong remember that he had seen this man in March. He was Changsui of E Fei's son E Qi.

Cao Yong was frightened and then he got the news that E Fei was sick. Why was he in danger? Now, there was no time to think about it. Cao Yong hurriedly urged his horse to follow the eldest son to go up to the Duke Fuguo's mansion.

E Fei’s mansion is in Fangjia Hutong, not far from Xidan. Because it was morning, there were few pedestrians coming and going on the street, and everyone rushed to and rushed, and arrived in less than two quarters of an hour.

When the epidemic raged to the capital the year before yesterday, Cao Yong had visited this mansion. At that time, he thought it was a lifeless mansion, which was horriblely deserted.

Now, the door has been repainted, and there are more servants coming and going inside than in the past. Perhaps because the Duke of Fuguo has added his heir to E Qi and his family, the house here looks a bit colder.

Cao Yong didn't care about these things. Although he had only met E Fei for several times, he was not close to each other. However, perhaps because of that conversation, he knew that the reason why E Fei was lonely for half his life was actually his parents, and he felt a little guilty.

In addition, E Fei's loneliness that could not be described to others made Cao Yong feel. In his own heart, there was also a big secret that he could not sue his parents or his wife and children.

E Qi received the news and knew that Cao Yong had arrived, so he hurriedly greeted him in person: "Mr. Cao, I'm really presumptuous to trouble Master Cao. Please don't blame me. I don't know why Ama is. I started last night and shouted to see Master Cao."

In fact, he was also confused and had never heard of any interactions between the old man and the Cao family. Why did he think of looking for Cao Yong?

Seeing that his clothes were wrinkled, with a little tiredness, Cao Yong looked full of worry. It seemed that he was attending E Fei. Thinking of the lonely old man who had been alone for half his life, Cao Yong felt a sense of sorrow.

"The governor of the Hubei government does not need to be polite. The prince is Cao's boss and has given him much help. Today, he was going to visit him." Cao Yong said to E Qi.

E Qi suddenly realized it and said to himself: "It's because of this, I can't blame the old man for this!"

E Qi knew that Cao Yong was the old man's old family, so he stopped politely and said, "A few days ago, the old man was exposed to the wind. Although he hired an imperial physician to see him, he only said that it was irrelevant. The day before yesterday, he suddenly became seriously ill. Now he can only ask Lord Cao to move to the bedroom in the inner courtyard."

Cao Yong remembered what he heard when the court was dispersed. It seemed that the minister of the guard who was seriously ill was E Fei. He was worried and asked E Qi: "Master E, Duke of the Kingdom..."

E Qi sighed, his expression was a little heavy, and he said, "Mr. Cao should follow me, it's not good for the old man."

Cao Yong nodded and followed E Qi into the inner courtyard.

E Fei's face was blue and white, his eyes were sunken, and he lay on the bed with his teeth closed.

The room was filled with the smell of medicine, mixed with indescribable stale smell, and the light that seemed a little dark because of pulling the curtains made people feel depressed and unstoppable.

E Qi and Cao Yong unconsciously let their pace lightly. E Qi walked to the edge of the kang, bent down, and whispered: "Ama, Lord Cao is here!"

As E Fei made a "cuckoo" sound from his throat, he slowly opened his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice: "But Cao Yong... is Cao Yong coming?"

Cao Yong took two steps forward, went to the bed and gave a junior tribute, and said, "Sir, I'm here to see you!"

E Fei turned his head, his eyes dissipated, and he muttered: "Cao Yong...is Cao Yong..."

"Yes!" Cao Yong nodded heavily and replied: "It's the boy who is here to see you!"

E Fei looked straight at Cao Yong, his expression was a little complicated, and he couldn't help but cough, with blood on his face, but he looked more energetic just now.

He held the edge of the kang and wanted to turn over and sit up, but he was a little helpless. Cao Yong and E Qi hurriedly stepped forward to support him. E Qi took the pillow and placed it behind E Fei.

E Fei leaned there, panting, looked at Cao Yong, waved to E Qi and said, "I want to say a few words to Cao Yong... You go down and make a pot of good tea and bring it..."

Although E Qi was worried, he knew that the old man wanted to talk to Cao Yong alone, so he said to Cao Yong: "Sir, please take care of him here first, I'll go down and make tea!"

Cao Yong nodded: "President E, please give me a gift!"

When E Qi saw him withdrawing from the house, E Fei waved to Cao Yong and said, "Come on...you sit next to me..."

Cao Yong sat sideways by the kang as he said.

E Fei took out a dagger from under the mattress and rubbed it, his face full of nostalgia.

After a while, E Feifang said, "I know... I'm going to get in with my mother..."

Cao Yong felt sour when he heard this, he advised: "Sir, don't make this sad sound. You still need to rest well. You are not yet aware of your destiny and your life is still long, so you should not do this."

Upon hearing this, E Fei whispered: "I was born in Jiyou... It's forty-five this year... I have accomplished nothing in my life... It's really shameful to my father and grandfather..."

Cao Yong didn't know how to comfort him, so he heard E Fei say again: "Now... I'm going to see Ama, my mother, I feel a little scared..."

"Sir, don't think about these things anymore. It's better to have a good rest! The disease comes like a mountain, and the disease goes like a thread. I want to wait for the weather to get better, and I go on horseback and hunt with you." Cao Yong said earnestly.

E Fei looked at Cao Yong with a smile on his face and said, "We, the two of us, want to go together... A few days ago, I also thought about waiting for you to go horse racing and hunting, and take the school to take your riding and shooting skills..."

Cao Yong couldn't help but respond, "Well, let's just agree that in the past, we will go to Xiaotangshan. The hot springs there are the most pleasant to rest. Adults will take care of them for a while and go there to take care of them. They will not be afraid of any disease. At that time, the boy will show off his skills to the adults, stir-fry some good dishes, and come to accompany them to have wine."

When E Fei heard this, he couldn't help but look yearning. He looked down at the dagger in his hand and sent it to Cao Yong: "This...you keep this for a moment..."

When Cao Yong saw him like a gift, he felt very uncomfortable: "Sir..."

E Fei showed a little kindness on his face: "If there was no luck, it would be a person... If... I might have a son like you... E Qi inherited my bloodline, but I would still remember the old things... You are willing to be my adopted son..." After saying that, his voice was gradually extinguished.

Cao Yong thought of him being lonely for half his life, his eyes were sore. After hearing this, he got up from the kang, knelt down on one knee, and said solemnly: "Cao Yong has met his adopted father..."
Chapter completed!