Chapter 155 The Prince's Secret
Chapter 155 The Prince's Secret
Yang Yong returned to the East Palace in a daze, came to the study in his bedroom, opened an iron door, and walked into his secret room.
This is Yang Yong’s most secret room. No one has ever entered here except him, including the craftsmen who built the secret room, all of whom were secretly executed by him.
Yang Yong locked the iron door and sat in a daze on an official hat chair, which he also designed himself.
He took out the paper again, and the four lines of poetry on it fell into his eyes again.
To be a stranger in a foreign country alone, think of love every time during the festive season.
Yaozhi brothers climbed the heights, and one less cornel was inserted everywhere.
Others do not know this poem, but Yang Yong knows that it is "Remembering My Brothers in Shandong on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month" by Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty.
It turned out that Xiao Xia, like himself, did not drink Meng Po soup on the Naihe Bridge, so when he was reincarnated into the Sui Dynasty, he still remembered many things from his past life.
Yang Yong didn’t understand what time travel meant. According to his understanding of that time, it was the consequence of not drinking Meng Po soup.
For twenty years, Yang Yong had never met another person like himself. Unexpectedly, twenty years later, one finally came, and it happened to be Yang Guang's son.
Yang Yong just remembered the assassination case at the beginning of last year. Xiong Kuohai repeatedly assured him that Xiao Xia must be dead and had no breath, but how did he come back to life? Xiong Kuohai was also confused.
Yang Yong now understood that it was Xiao Xia's spirit from his previous life that had not yet been extinguished. He did not reincarnate as a baby, but instead directly possessed a body and reincarnated like himself.
Yang Yong slowly closed his eyes, and distant memories suddenly flooded into his mind. He seemed to have returned to another dynasty, a noisy and lively teahouse, where all the men had thin pigtails like rat tails, drinking tea and listening to books, as if they were intoxicated.
He sat on a high platform, banged the gavel, and spoke eloquently about his best book, "The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties", a book he had been lecturing on for twenty years.
"There is a good man in Licheng County, Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province. His surname is Qin, his name is Qiong, his courtesy name is Shubao, and his nickname is Little Mengchang. He is also called Sai Zhuanzhu. Ladies and gentlemen, when we call him Little Mengchang, we all know that he is loyal to his friends and is willing to stick his neck out for them. But why is he also called Sai Zhuanzhu? We in Suzhou all know that Zhuanzhu is very filial to his mother."
Yang Yong sighed, woke up from his memories, took out a key, opened an iron box with trembling hands, and took out a folder from it.
He was afraid that he would forget, so he recorded his past and present life in detail. His original name was Yang Shijie, and he was a storyteller in Suzhou. In the summer of the 30th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, he was drunk and was returning home at night. He accidentally fell into the river. When he woke up, he found himself in the Sui Dynasty, possessed by the body of the unlucky Yang Yong.
He was afraid of being discovered, so he pretended to be crazy for a month before he gradually returned to normal and understood everyone around him.
The original Yang Yong was a playboy and extremely lustful. In order not to repeat the mistakes of Yang Yong in history, he restrained his debauchery, was careful in his words and actions, tried his best to please his parents, and was extremely wary of his second brother Yang Guang.
He was cautious in everything and did not dare to reveal any clues. This is why he did not dare to use the poetry of later generations.
He had long known that Yang Guang had an illegitimate child outside, but he had always kept it to himself. Five years ago, when Yang Guang wanted to impeach him, he suddenly launched a counterattack and defeated Yang Guang in one fell swoop, thus completely securing his position as the crown prince.
Yang Shijie began to relax himself a little, built a secret room, and recorded his past and present lives. At the same time, the storyteller's old illness began to recur.
He changed Li Mo's name to Yuwen Chengdu, changed his bodyguard Zhao Hai's name to Xiong Kuohai, and changed his bodyguards Wu Lian and Wu Kuang's brothers' names to Wu Yunzhao and Wu Tianxi.
Yang Shijie was very interested in naming Luo Yi's son Luo Cheng. During this period, he was also preparing to change the name of his father's adopted son Yang Yichen to Yang Lin, with the courtesy name Yichen.
Of course, Xiao Xia didn't know these things. She was just a little curious about Yuwen Chengdu's origins.
Yang Yong gradually calmed down. At present, Xiao Xia didn't know his secret, so the situation was far from bad. Yang Yong became interested again. Which dynasty did Xiao Xia belong to? If he was from before the Qing Dynasty, then he had never read the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties. He had to think of a way to test him.
Besides, Xiao Xia is still young, how could he possibly defeat me? There is really no need to take him too seriously.
Yang Yong made a cognitive error. Xiao Xia is indeed still young now, but what about Xiao Xia in her previous life?
Yang Yong returned to the official room and smiled at Zhang Yunqiu, "Xiao Xia's poems are indeed good. No wonder my father values him. But he is only sixteen years old after all. We can pay proper attention to him, but we don't need to take him too seriously, lest we miss our real opponent."
Zhang Yunqiu nodded. "Your Highness is right. We cannot focus too much energy on a sixteen-year-old boy. Even if he has literary talent and martial arts skills, it will be useless without resources and power. In comparison, the other four princes are the ones we should focus on."
Yang Yong pondered for a moment and said, "The key is to strengthen my own strength. Just like what you advised me before, I will collect more talents with strong martial arts skills and cultivate their loyalty to me. When I recruit troops in the future, I will have a group of available generals!"
Zhang Yunqiu praised: "Your Highness is wise. In fact, the military examination is the best opportunity to recruit military generals. It would be best if Your Highness could persuade the emperor to agree to hold it."
Yang Yong nodded. He had wanted to persuade his father to hold a military examination last year, but his father did not agree. In a few days, he would try to persuade his father again and make sure he agreed to his plan.
Yang Yong then sent someone to fetch his second son, Yang Yu. Yang Yu bowed and said, "Please give me your orders, father!" Yang Yong asked, "What are you doing now?"
"Father asked me to keep an eye on Prince Jin's second son, Yang Ling, last time."
Yang Yong frowned, "Just let others focus on that embroidered pillow. From today on, you focus on Xiao Xia. I will provide you with all the manpower and resources you need, but make sure you don't let him find out."
"Does father still want to kill him?"
Yang Yong shook his head quickly. "You can't kill him no matter what. Otherwise, I will be deposed as the crown prince by your royal grandfather. You should pay attention to him and find out what he is doing and who his friends are. But without my order, you must not act rashly and you must not be discovered by him."
"Kid, remember!"
"Remember, don't hurt him, go!"
Yang Yu bowed and left.
Yang Yong has another idea hidden deep in his heart. Perhaps he can find out from Xiao Xia the real reason why his soul came to the Sui Dynasty. Is it possible for his soul to go back again?
At dusk, Yang Zhao and his wife Cui came to the Jin Prince's residence with their son in their arms. Jin Prince's Mansion and Jin Prince's House are two different concepts. Jin Prince's Mansion is an official office located opposite the Shangshu Province in the imperial city, on par with Qin Prince's Mansion, Shu Prince's Mansion and Han Prince's Mansion. Jin Prince's Mansion is in charge of criminal law, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple and part of the Censorate, and is in charge of major cases. Normally, the prime minister is in charge of extraordinary operations, but major and important cases must be reported to Jin Prince's Mansion.
The Prince of Jin's Residence was the private residence of Prince of Jin Yang Guang, located in Taipingfang. Upon hearing that her grandson had arrived, Princess Xiao happily brought her daughter to greet him.
Xiao held her grandson, who was a few months old, in her arms, kissed him on the little cheek, and said with a smile, "He looks like his mother, but not as fat as his father."
Yang Zhao smiled bitterly and said, "Mom, didn't you always say that it would be better if your grandson was white and plump?"
Princess Xiao glared at her son and said, "I said being fat and white is good, not being fat and white is good! Do you understand?"
Cui and Yang Feiyan both covered their mouths and laughed.
Yang Zhao took out a box from his arms and opened it. Inside were three top-quality gems, each of which was dazzling. Yang Feiyan exclaimed, "Oh my God! There are such beautiful gems."
Although Princess Xiao was born a princess of Xiliang, such top-quality gems made her eyes light up and her heart beat fast.
Yang Zhao smiled and said, "Mother, this is the spoils that the third brother got when he killed the Turkic Khan in Tuyuhun. Give one to mother, one to my younger sister, and one to my wife. Mother, you choose first."
Princess Xiao's body froze, with a complicated expression on her face. It was the child who gave it to her. Although she was still a little resistant, the princess thought of what her husband had said to her. Once the prince ascended the throne, without the protection of the army, her family would be at the mercy of others. This child might be the last protector of her family.
There was also a letter from her elder brother a few days ago, which mentioned Xiao Xia's great contribution to the Xiao family. Humanity gradually melted the hatred. After a while, Princess Xiao sighed in her heart, nodded and said, "Thank you for your kindness, brother. Just choose the red one!"
Yang Zhao was overjoyed. His mother's willingness to accept it meant that the ice in their relationship had been broken.
Yang Feiyan was even more delighted. She couldn't wait to take the box and handed it to Cui, "Sister-in-law, please choose quickly. The remaining one is mine."
Cui smiled and pointed at the slightly square sapphire, which she had set her eyes on for a long time.
"This drop of water is mine!"
Yang Feiyan was about to run away with the gem, but Yang Zhao quickly stopped her and said, "Don't worry, I'll give it to you after I've set it together!"
Yang Feiyan thought about it and it made sense, so she put the gem back into the box with a smile, "Thank you, brother!"
Princess Xiao handed her grandson over to Cui and said calmly, "Fei Yan, I have a set of the best four treasures of the study and a volume of Zen Master Zhiyong's Thousand Character Essay. I will send them to your brother tomorrow."
"Okay! Big brother, take me to see the third brother's house tomorrow."
Yang Zhao quickly smiled and said, "Mother, why don't we go together?"
Yang Feiyan also pulled her mother's arm and said, "Mom, let's go together tomorrow!"
Princess Xiao couldn't bear to lose face, so she shook her head and said, "I haven't been feeling well these past two days. Let's go next time! I'll go with you guys next time."
(End of this chapter)