Hold His Hand

Many temples in Dajin are built on the mountain. To go to the temple to offer incense, you have to walk up many stone steps.

The big families in Beijing still like this kind of thing, thinking that this is the only way they can show their piety.

But Jingning Temple is different. It is built at the foot of the mountain and surrounded by flat ground. In addition, the temple is small, so few people come to the temple to offer incense, and most of them are villagers nearby.

But this kind of terrain also makes the house better.

Lu Yanzhou spent the money and asked nearby villagers to help, and within a few days, he built two rows of bungalows around Jingning Temple, with a total of 20 rooms, and heated kangs in the house.

Lu Yanzhou was the first to move in, and he also invited the three people from the temple to live there together.

After cleaning up, Lu Yanzhou let Chang Feng watch in the temple, and then took Lu Tao away.

The original owner's father was the old son of Mr. Lu. The Lu family was only in his twenties when the accident happened, but the original owner's uncles were all in their 40s and 50s, and their children were all grown up.

The original owner had seven cousins ​​in total. After the Lu family accident, one of the cousin’s marriage was also implicated, and the family was beheaded. Two of the cousins’ husbands were generals of the Lu family. They were demoted for interceding with the Lu family, and they were taken away. Beijing went to the border.

These three people were actually implicated by the Lu family, as for the other four...

There was a cousin who had been married for less than a year at the time and had just become pregnant with a child. As a result, one corpse and two lives suddenly "died from illness". Two other cousins ​​who had given birth were abandoned by their husband's family and sent to the nunnery. As for the last cousin. , She was only ten years old when the accident happened in the Lu family, but she was already engaged, so she was sent to her husband's house to avoid the death penalty, but she "lost" soon after and did not know where to go.

The so-called "died from illness" and "lost" are of course false, but they were murdered. In contrast, the two monks who were abandoned after being divorced. Although they are living a hard life now, they are not bad. The two of them Living in the same nunnery, now that my children have grown up, I visit them from time to time, and there is still hope in life.

After the original owner grew up, he contacted the two cousins ​​who had passed the border. At this time, he had even persuaded his two cousins-in-law to join King Rui, but he had not yet told King Rui about the matter.

When the original owner came to the capital, he went to see the two cousins ​​who lived in the nunnery and gave them some money.

Now apart from the dead, only the original owner of the lost cousin has not been found. On the original historical trajectory, King Rui would find her a few months later and send her money to the house.

King Rui also said in front of the original owner how pitiful the Lu family was. He respected the old man Lu very much, and he must overturn the case for the Lu family in the future.

The original owner was greatly moved after hearing this, and became more and more dedicated to helping King Rui plan.

Lu Yanzhou built a house in Jingning Temple just to bring his youngest cousin to live there.

This cousin of the original owner was named Lu Rong. She was only ten years old when the accident happened seventeen years ago. At that time, several uncles of the original owner thought of many ways to save the family. In addition to the original owner, the children who were sent away included the original owner's nephew, but the original owner was the only one who was sent away. The nephew ultimately did not survive.

As for Lu Rong, at that time her parents prepared a generous gift and hurriedly sent her to the house of her husband who had been engaged since childhood.

In that situation, the Lu family did not expect Lu Rong's fiance to marry Lu Rong, but only asked the other family to save Lu Rong's life.

Even if Lu Rong lived in the nunnery for the rest of his life, the Qingdeng Ancient Buddha would still be fine.

But Lu Rong's fiancé's family was really cruel. They took the money from the Lu family, but sold Lu Rong to a brothel.

Lu Rong was trapped in a brothel. Because she didn't want to discredit the Lu family, she never revealed her identity. Later, after ten years or so, a man who had an old relationship with the Lu family accidentally saw Lu Rong, recognized her, and then took her to him. rescued.

But this person didn't dare to help Lu Rong too much, and only gave Lu Rong enough money to redeem her life.

Lu Rong redeemed herself, and then rented a house near Liuxiang, Huajie, and lived by making clothes and combing hair for Fengchen women.

King Rui accidentally came into contact with the person who helped Lu Rong redeem himself. After several searches, he found Lu Rong. At this moment, he hadn't discovered Lu Rong's existence. Lu Yanzhou planned to take Lu Rong away in advance and hide it in Jingning Temple.

Sometimes the most dangerous places are the safest places.

A few days ago, Lu Yanzhou had asked Lu Tao to inquire about Lu Rong, and he had already found the whereabouts of Lu Rong, whose alias was "Furong", so he went straight to the door.

When Lu Rong opened the door, the two of them looked at each other. Although they didn't speak, they both felt something.

Lu Yanzhou said, "Sister, go in and talk."

Lu Rong stepped aside and let Lu Yanzhou and Lu Tao go in.

Lu Yanzhou inherited the height of the Lu family, but he doesn't look like the Lu family. Instead, he looks like his mother, but Lu Rong looks like the Lu family in every way.

This is also a good thing... The Lu family is tall and average in appearance, which made Lu Rong do most of the manual work in the brothel before, and did not suffer too much.

"Seventh sister, I finally found you." Lu Yanzhou was a little emotional.

Lu Rong stared at Lu Yanzhou for a while, her voice trembling a little: "Xiao Jiu, you look a lot like Auntie..." Lu Yanzhou ranked ninth among his cousins.

Lu Rong burst into tears, but she didn't cry out. She quickly wiped away her tears and asked, "How have you been all these years? Are the others... okay?"

Lu Yanzhou said everything he knew.

Only one of the males of the Lu family survived, and five of the seven cousins ​​survived, two at the border, two at the nunnery, and the one in front of him.

In addition, Lu Yanzhou also said that he had already been admitted to Juren and planned to participate in the next year's general examination.

Lu Rong said, "That's fine. When you are admitted to the jinshi, marry a wife and revive the Lu family!"

Lu Yanzhou was stunned when he heard Lu Rong's words. In the original owner's memory, after Lu Rong met the original owner, she forced the original owner to avenge the Lu family, and kept forcing the original owner to kill King Rui. She helped the original owner to deal with it. When he was a prince, he was never soft...

Lu Rong was much more active than the original in taking revenge on her family.

It's a pity that the original owner was with the wrong person. Afterwards, although King Rui turned the case for the Lu family and gained the favor of the courtiers, he wanted to kill the original owner.

At that time, Lu Rong also rushed out and tried to assassinate King Rui, but was unsuccessful, and was slashed by the people around King Rui.

This time, Lu Rong didn't even mention a word of revenge?

Lu Yanzhou said: "Seventh sister, the jinshi must be tested, and the revenge must be reported."

Lu Rong was shocked.

Lu Yanzhou laughed: "Seventh sister, don't say you don't want revenge."

Lu Rong trembled: "Of course I want to take revenge, I want to tear them to pieces! It's just that you are still young, and the Lu family needs you to pass on..."

Lu Yanzhou knew why Lu Rong didn't come up this time and let him take revenge.

The original owner met Lu Rong through King Rui, and when Lu Rong saw that the original owner was doing things for the enemy's son, she was naturally furious.

He was different. He came alone. Lu Rong didn't know his involvement with King Rui, and naturally hoped that he would live well.

Lu Yanzhou said: "Seventh sister, now I am King Rui's advisor, and I have already met the prince."

Lu Rong frowned.

Lu Yanzhou said again: "Our family's revenge will definitely be avenged."

The Lu family is really wronged.

At that time, the grandfather of the original owner and the emperor rebelled at about the same time, and they both occupied a large area of ​​land, and the grandfather of the original owner was even better.

If the grandfather of the original owner fought a battle with the emperor, the probability of winning is the grandfather of the original owner.

The original owner's grandfather couldn't bear to lose his life and didn't want to die too many people, so he took the initiative to join the late emperor. At that time, the late emperor also promised the Lu family wealth and honor, and even gave the Lu family a gold medal to avoid death.

But now that the Lu family is going to be destroyed, all these will be useless.

Dozens of people in the Lu family, as well as the blood of many relatives and friends, dyed Caishikou red seventeen years ago.

Lu Yanzhou came through, and his hatred for the emperor was not so strong, but he also felt that the Lu family could not be wronged.

Of course, he said this mainly because he knew that Lu Rong hated Jinshang very much and acted a little too aggressively.

He wanted Lu Rong to listen to him, and slowly figured it out.

Lu Rong has actually done some things for revenge over the years. She contacted some people who had hatred with the royal family in the brothel, and got an information network. The original owner was able to calculate the prince later, and it had nothing to do with her - the original owner was in the prince. The two servants who were killed in front of her were found by her.

She even let her husband pretend to be a Taoist priest and sneak into the palace to assassinate the emperor.

It's a pity that Lu Rong's husband didn't succeed and was instead divided by five horses.

Lu Rong's husband will take action soon. If Lu Yanzhou doesn't stop him, he will lose his life.

As for the emperor... On the original historical trajectory, the emperor ate pills indiscriminately, and his health was already not very good. After the original owner killed the prince Xie Chengze, he seized the handle of several Taoist priests around the emperor and let them be in the emperor's pills. The emperor died soon after his hands and feet were used in the medicine.

Of course, that was three years later.

Because the original owner was dedicated to doing things for King Rui, Lu Rong didn't tell the original owner many things. For example, about Lu Rong's husband, Lu Rong didn't tell it until the original owner poisoned the emperor.

Before that, the original owner didn't know that Lu Rong was married, only that Lu Rong had a child whose father was unknown.

The original owner was badly taught by the messy etiquette. Although he felt sorry for Lu Rong, he also looked down on Lu Rong because of Lu Rong's past, and also disliked Lu Rong's children...

Lu Rong lost her husband and her younger brother was still working for the enemy's son. She was a little crazy in the end.

Lu Yanzhou and Lu Rong were talking when crying came from the room.

Lu Rong was stunned, but Lu Yanzhou laughed: "Is that the seventh sister's child?"

Lu Rong said, "Yes, that's my son, Lu Xing."

"Show me." Lu Yanzhou said.

Lu Yanzhou came so suddenly, Lu Rong didn't completely let her guard down, but Lu Yanzhou and Lu Tao were two big men, she was just a weak woman, and it was difficult to resist, so she simply stopped resisting and brought Lu Yanzhou into the house.

The house was very clean, and there was a child on the kang who had been watching for only a few months, crying.

Lu Rong went over to change the baby's diaper, and then hugged her to coax her.

Lu Yanzhou looked at the child carefully, and the more he looked, the more satisfied he became.

After King Rui ascended the throne, he devoted himself to eradicating the roots, so naturally the child did not survive.

The child who was only four years old at that time was poisoned to death with the original owner.

As the saying goes, "You look old at the age of three". From the original owner's memory, this child is very smart and worth nurturing. Moreover, Lu Rong gave birth to this child to continue the Lu family's bloodline. When the child was born, Lu Rong didn't know that the original owner was still alive.

This is the future head of the Lu family, how could Lu Yanzhou not like it?

Seeing that Lu Yanzhou likes her child, Lu Rong felt relieved and chatted with Lu Yanzhou.

Lu Yanzhou had the memory of the original owner and could say a lot of things, which quickly made Lu Rong relieved.

At this time, Lu Yanzhou said again: "Seventh sister, King Rui is looking for you recently. For safety's sake, please pack up and leave with me. You can also help me."

According to the original owner's memory, King Rui knew that the original owner was a descendant of the Lu family only after the original owner showed concern for Lu Rong, so Lu Yanzhou was not afraid that King Rui would go to other cousins ​​to threaten him, but only worried that Lu Rong would be killed by King Rui. Find an exploit.

"What did he do for me?" Lu Rong frowned.

Lu Yanzhou sneered: "Gather the military attache."

Many of the military attachés today are from the Lu family.

It was true that most people did not dare to speak for the Lu family because they were afraid of causing trouble, but if King Rui showed goodwill towards the Lu family, they would definitely have a good impression of King Rui.

Lu Yanzhou told Lu Rong the events in the courtroom one by one.

Lu Rong has been inquiring about all kinds of news over the years, but she is limited by her identity and can't find much. Now that Lu Yanzhou is explaining to her, she listens very carefully.

Finally, Lu Rong said, "Xiao Jiu, actually... someone I know has already sneaked into the palace."

Lu Rong told about her husband, but she didn't say it was her husband, only said that he was a man who had received favor from the Lu family and was willing to avenge the Lu family. Now she has disguised as a Taoist priest and sneaked into the palace. To assassinate the emperor.

Lu Yanzhou said: "Seventh sister, the assassination is too dangerous and not easy to succeed. Since this strong man has already entered the palace, why should he assassinate him? It can be poisoned!"

"Poisoning?" Lu Rong frowned: "That dog emperor is very concerned about food, and he double-checks everything at the entrance. It is very difficult to poison."

Lu Yanzhou said: "As far as I know, some of the Taoist priests in the palace today have no real materials! Either grab the handle, or bribe them, and let them add a small amount of toxins to the refined medicinal pills, then that dog emperor will do. If you eat too much, you will naturally die, and the strong man will not be involved."

Lu Yanzhou wanted to save his brother-in-law.

As for the emperor... Even if that is Xie Chengze's father, he will not be soft-hearted.

Today, he is paranoid, and for the sake of immortality, he is already crazy. In his previous life, after the original owner poisoned him and interrogated those Taoists, he learned from the mouths of those Taoists that he had harmed many virgins and virgins today, and those who died at his hands. I don't know how many.

Even, Jin Shang had let the prince and King Rui bleed to help him practice the elixir of life.

Don't look at the constant fight between the queen and the concubine, these two are not doing well in the harem. Today, they are determined to become immortals, so they naturally hate these worldly burdens.

The Taoist priest who was favored by Jin Shang was even able to call the queen around. There was a time when the queen had an argument with a Taoist priest, and Jin Shang asked him to kneel down to apologize.

The original owner was able to poison Jinshang with the help of King Rui. King Rui, who was a son, hated Jinshang very much.

Of course, he couldn't let Xie Chengze know about his attack on the emperor, that was Xie Chengze's father after all.

Lu Yanzhou said to Lu Rong that he wanted to take revenge, and he did intend to do it, but Xie Chengze was never among the targets of his actions.

He has made plans to pursue Xie Chengze!

In the future, he also plans to let Xie Chengze sit on the throne.

It is the common people who suffer from changing the dynasty, and many people will die, which is not in his plan.

Lu Yanzhou told Lu Rong a lot, and Lu Rong immediately decided to terminate the original assassination plan. As for how she would contact her husband... Lu Yanzhou didn't care.

After seeing Lu Rong, he went back to Jingning Temple. As for Lu Rong, he will come over tomorrow.

At the same time, the people under Xie Chengze informed Xie Chengze of Lu Yanzhou's situation.

The time was very short, and Xie Chengze only wanted to know the current situation of Lu Yanzhou. Naturally, his people did not check carefully. Xie Chengze only knew that Lu Yanzhou was from Jiangnan, and his family was very rich.

These days, Lu Yanzhou has been living in Jingning Temple, and he has donated a lot of food for the abbot of Jingning Temple to help the poor people.

Seeing this, Xie Chengze recalled his first encounter with Lu Yanzhou.

At that time, Lu Juren was helping to take care of some children.

After thinking about it, Xie Chengze asked someone to prepare - he was going to Jingning Temple tomorrow.

The prince often went to Jingning Temple to relax, and his subordinates immediately prepared.

On the second day, Xie Chengze put on his usual clothes and went to Jingning Temple with two guards. Of course, there were also people who pretended to be ordinary pilgrims and secretly protected him.

Xie Chengze chose Jingning Temple in a relaxed way, because Jingning Temple is located at the foot of the mountain, and there is no need to climb the mountain.

He was seriously ill and could not climb the mountain.

There are only eight monks in Jingning Temple in total, and they are not usually lively, but today there are many people, Xie Chengze approached, only to see a few old women cooking porridge, and there are many dirty children waiting to drink porridge.

Xie Chengze's gaze finally fell on one of the young men.

A young man in his early twenties was sitting on a bamboo chair with a broken desk in front of him, and was taking the pulse of the children.

These children are dirty, he doesn't dislike them at all, and he will gently ask these children questions.

Xie Chengze's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, he covered his chest, and his face changed - did he have a heart attack?

Just thinking about it, Xie Chengze saw the person who was checking other people's pulse come to him, and asked anxiously, "What's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable?"

"I'm fine." Xie Chengze put down his hand and put his back behind him.

He suffers from heart disease, and very few people know about it.

His mother's queen's family and the imperial concubine's family had a grudge. Before his mother and imperial concubine entered the palace, one was the number one talented woman in the capital, and the other was known as the number one beauty in the capital. …

If the imperial concubine knew that he was suffering from heart disease, she would definitely try her best to deal with him!

Lu Yanzhou glanced at Xie Chengze and said with a smile, "Brother Cheng, you don't look very good, are you cold? Go inside and warm up."

Xie Chengze walked outside, using the pseudonym "Cheng Yuan". He would use rouge to cover up his blue and purple lips, but his face was still too pale, and it was really cold outside... Xie Chengze responded and followed Lu Yanzhou's instructions. the house.

The house is not big, and half of the place is still occupied by the heated kang, which makes it even more small. But the hut is also good. At this time, the fire is burning under the kang, which makes the whole house warm.

"This is my house. If you don't dislike it, just take a rest here and drink some water... I still have something to do. I'll come in when I'm done." Lu Yanzhou said.

"Okay." Xie Chengze agreed, took off his shoes and got on the kang.

Lu Yanzhou was a little too affectionate when talking to him, but he didn't feel disgusted for some reason, only felt his heartbeat speed up again.

There was a small table on the kang. Lu Yanzhou pulled out two snacks, placed them on the table, found a pot of hot water, and let Xie Chengze take them at will before going out.

The door was closed, the paper-streaked windows didn't let in much light, and the room was much darker, but it was extraordinarily warm.

Xie Chengze stretched out his hand and pressed it on the warm kang. After a while, he slowly lay down again.

As a result, he warmed up all over.

When the warmth wrapped around his body, Xie Chengze let out a long breath.

This kang is for sleeping, and in such a place, he would not sit down anyway.

But he not only got on the kang, but also lay down.

Reaching out to cover his eyes, Xie Chengze sighed.

He didn't understand why he was obsessed with Lu Yanzhou before, but when he saw someone again this time, he understood.

He was moved.

When he grew up so big, it was the first time he was attracted to a man, and the object of his attraction was actually a man.

"Your Highness..." The guard who followed Xie Chengze in was a little worried.

These two are Xie Chengze's confidants, and they know Xie Chengze's physical condition... Xie Chengze said, "I'm fine, just a little cold."

The two guards stopped talking when they heard the words, and just stood on one side.

Xie Chengze lay down for a while before sitting up again, recalling his first meeting with Lu Yanzhou.

At that time, he had a good impression of Lu Yanzhou, and Lu Yanzhou was always looking for topics when talking to him, obviously he didn't hate him.

As for this time... Lu Yanzhou was very enthusiastic about him, and even put him on the kang...

With his hands on the kang table and his chin, Xie Chengze couldn't help laughing.

But soon, he restrained his smile.

He likes Lu Yanzhou, but Lu Yanzhou doesn't necessarily like men.

Even if Lu Yanzhou likes men...he suffers from heart disease, he doesn't know how long he can live, and he has no future with Lu Yanzhou.

The only thing he can do is to look at Lu Yanzhou a few more times.

Lu Yanzhou was still outside to help people take their pulse and see a doctor.

This is what he promised before. It's not good because Xie Chengze came, so he just put it aside.

Patience, Lu Yanzhou looked at them one by one.

He studied medicine before, and has also been in contact with Chinese medicine, but he doesn't know much, but it doesn't take much medical skills to treat these children.

It is impossible for children with serious illnesses to survive in this day and age. The problems of these children are mainly malnutrition and parasitic infections.

In addition to giving them food and drink, these children also need to bathe them, change into clean clothes, and preferably take some deworming medicine.

After bandaging the wound of a wounded child, Lu Yanzhou hurried back to the house and saw Xie Chengze sitting on the kang drinking water.

Whether it was the original owner or Lu Yanzhou, he didn't care much about the quality of life. The kettles and tea cups in Lu Yanzhou's house were all ordinary rough porcelain.

But the rough porcelain cup was held in Xie Chengze's hand, but inexplicably felt a little more noble.

Lu Yanzhou's gaze fell on Xie Chengze's hand.

Xie Chengze's hands were pale, blue blood vessels were clearly visible, and his nails were cyanotic... This was one of the external manifestations of a bad heart.

Looking up again, Lu Yanzhou saw Xie Chengze's pale face again, and his mood was even more gloomy.

"Jizhi, are you done?" Xie Chengze asked with a smile.

"I'm done," Lu Yanzhou smiled, followed him onto the kang, and sat opposite Xie Chengze, "Brother Cheng, after that meeting, I've always wanted to see you again. After waiting for a long time, I finally saw you."

Xie Chengze's heart skipped a beat again, he lowered his head to drink water, and said, "I miss you very much too, but I'm busy at home and can't find time."

"Brother Cheng is busy? You should pay attention to rest, you are too thin." Lu Yanzhou said. After speaking, I realized that what I said was a bit out of bounds.

It was only the second time he and Xie Chengze met, and it was still ancient... but he couldn't hold back.

Fortunately, Xie Chengze didn't care, but smiled: "I remember."

After finishing speaking, Xie Chengze seemed to realize that something was wrong, and quickly changed the subject: "Jizhi, are you going to participate in the exam next year? I have a few books annotated by Mr. Wang Linyuan, and I will send them to you tomorrow."

Wang Linyuan is a great scholar in the world, and the officials who preside over the examination this time are still his students.

The books he has annotated are very precious to this year's candidates, and most people can't come up with them.

As soon as Xie Chengze met, he gave Lu Yanzhou a great gift.

"How does this make it."

"I liked you at first sight." Xie Chengze said.

He and Lu Yanzhou are both men. He is also terminally ill and cannot do many things.

It was impossible for them to be together, so he could only give Lu Yanzhou a little help, so that Lu Yanzhou could go more smoothly.

Xie Chengze had already sorted out his mood. No matter his expression or eyes, there was nothing wrong with him. When he was facing Lu Yanzhou, he could only appreciate it.

Lu Yanzhou was a little lost. He was about to say something when someone knocked on the door. Then, a young monk from Jingning Temple said, "Young Master Lu, there is a woman living here with a child, saying that she was robbed by gangsters. , I want to borrow for a few days."

The houses here were built by Lu Yanzhou. When someone came to ask for help, the abbot asked the little monk to inform Lu Yanzhou.

Hearing the words, Lu Yanzhou opened the door, and saw Lu Rong holding the child, standing miserably not far away.