For some reason, even though he woke up just because the candlelight went out, Zong Luo always felt that something was wrong.
He sat up from the bed, barefooted, stepped on the cold floor, lit another candle, and brought the candlestick to the window.
Pitter-patter. The sound of rain outside the window continued.
Outside was a blur. Unusually, there was even a moon during the rain.
Zong Luo took a glance, found nothing unusual, and was about to put down the candlestick when his gaze suddenly froze.
Near the corner of the room, a circle of ground was dry because it was sheltered by the eaves and had not been rained on.
However, now right in front of the windowsill, there was an abrupt spot.
There was a lonely and wet footprint there, from someone who kept saying they hated him.
The next day during the rest, after discussing with Gongsun You, Zong Luo simply checked Zong Ruichen’s homework.
Although Zong Ruichen was the Eighth Prince, since he entered the army, he couldn’t be special and must be treated equally. These days, Zong Luo treated Ruichen as an ordinary soldier while rushing on the road, only privately instructing Mu Yuanlong to pay more attention.
Fortunately, Xiao Ba was very able to endure hardship, perhaps because he was used to hardship in the Cold Palace before, so even if it was the first time to rush at such a high intensity, he did not complain about being tired, but persisted, which made Zong Luo feel a bit distressed.
“Not bad, you didn’t waste your martial arts in the army.”
After checking, Zong Luo patted Zong Ruichen’s shoulder.
Zong Ruichen also smiled and got up from the ground. “Third Brother, you are still merciful. Big Brother Mu said that if Third Brother really does it, he can’t beat three of him.”
“Yuanlong actually said that, haha, did he tell you that he was beaten by me, then only was he willing to follow me.”
Zong Luo went to the side and washed his hands. “These days after leaving the Imperial City, I saw that you were a bit silent, this Third Brother thought you were not very adapted to marching, so I wanted to put you in Bai City to adapt.”
Speaking of this topic, the smile that Zong Ruichen had just hung suddenly faded a bit.
Zong Luo knew his younger brother best. He was just a teenager of fifteen or sixteen years old. In the past, it was Zong Luo who quietly found a palace maid to teach him to read. Otherwise, he had been in such an environment for many years and had no knowledge of the outside world.
On ordinary days, a little bit of kindness from others was enough for Zong Ruichen to remember for a long time; as long as there was a little bit of happy things, it could be seen from his face.
“What’s wrong?” Zong Luo asked with concern.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Xiao Ba was his most cared-for younger brother.
Of course, after clarifying with Zong Yuanwu, the Fifth also became one of Zong Luo’s cared-for objects.
Zong Ruichen lowered his head, hesitated for a long time, and then whispered, “Third Brother, actually, I want to ask, what exactly happened to my mother’s clan back then?”
Zong Luo’s expression changed, and after waving away the Xuan Cavalry soldiers standing around, he whispered, “Xiao Ba, why would you suddenly ask this question?”
Zong Ruichen’s maternal clan was the Rong family.
The Rong family, during the reign of the late emperor, was once prominent in the Imperial City, and even the late emperor had to give them some face. Just because there was a powerful maternal clan to support, Zong Ruichen’s mother, as soon as she entered the palace, became an imperial concubine, and was the most likely competitor for the position of empress at that time.
It could be said that if it were not for the rebellion later, Zong Ruichen might have been a prince born from a legitimate empress, who had been cultivated since childhood, and it would not be clear how the result of the fight for the throne would be.
Of course, Zong Luo knew about the suspicious character of Emperor Yuan. Not to mention that the Rong family was big and ambitious, and wrote their ambitions on their faces. Even Emperor Yuan himself would never allow the lifeblood of the court to be controlled by a mere aristocratic family. So this possibility was not established from the beginning.
“I, I” Zong Ruichen saw Zong Luo’s stern expression, gritted his teeth, “When I was young, the maid only told me that my mother and they committed a great crime, so they were punished, and also told me that no matter who ask, I couldn’t say I knew.”
He bit his lip and drooped his head, “I’m grown up now, and I want to know what happened. After all, that was my mother concubine whom I had never met. Even if she is a criminal.”
Hearing him say this, Zong Luo suddenly felt a bit soft-hearted.
Family affection was also something he had always longed for. Before transmigrating inside the book, he was also like Zong Ruichen, without a father or mother, naturally understanding the emotion of envy when seeing other people’s family mothers, the taste of which, Zong Luo knew best.
“Alas.” Zong Luo sighed.
This matter, Zong Luo could only say that he had heard a little bit.
When the Rong family rebelled, he was already in the Wei Country, and this news was only known when he returned to the Great Yuan more than ten years later.
The Rong family couldn’t be said to be extremely sinful, but it’s not entirely innocent.
The rebellion of it back then might be a bad debt.
At that time, Emperor Yuan ascended to the throne with a bloodbath, and the aristocratic families in the Imperial City were scared to death, and they all tucked their tails to behave. But when Emperor Yuan promoted officials at all levels later and wanted to make drastic reforms, when it touched their interests, these people just didn’t do it.
Before Pei Qianxue, Emperor Yuan had used several prime ministers. One of the prime ministers was a person who was added by the aristocratic family, and the fuse started from him.
It was said that someone told the secret, saying that the Rong family had a private rebellion, hoarding private soldiers, and interfering in water transportation. This matter originally had no evidence, it was not big or small. If one intervened, there would be many variables.
At that time, it happened that Emperor Yuan and several aristocratic families were at odds with each other, like a tight line, as long as one side moved, the other side would rise up at any time.
However, it was not a good time to start at that time. Emperor Yuan originally wanted to use this as a pretext to get Rong Xiang down. As a result, it was unknown what happened. The Rong family suddenly had a disturbance, as if losing one’s head and directly brought this matter to the table.
