Chapter 235 Extra: Past Life, Death of Chen Xu (Complete Book)
Chen Xu hated the gentry very much, and his hatred became even more profound after he met Xie Yuqing.
In this era when aristocratic families are the most important and occupy all political resources, children from poor families will never be able to succeed unless they are outstanding in talent and intelligence.
"There are no poor families in the upper grades, and no nobles in the lower grades." Even the poorest nobles can be rated at the sixth grade during the assessment, while the children from the poor families can only be rated at the sixth grade even if they are far more talented than everyone else. It is already the highest quality in a poor family.
The children of the noble family could be appointed as upright officials, high-ranking officials, and enter the center of the imperial court, but the children of the poor family could only start from the lowest official position.
This is the injustice of this era to children from poor families.
The most ironic thing is that the original founder of the "Nine-grade Zhongzheng System" turned out to be Chen Qun, the ancestor of the Chen family. Chen Qun probably never imagined until his death that two hundred years later, his descendants of the Chen family would also be reduced to Being from a poor family, he could not join the ranks of the noble family.
Chen Xu secretly swore that one day he would break the unfair rule that "there are no poor families in the upper class, and no noble families in the lower class", and he would make these noble families fall into the dust from the clouds.
That day, he came to Jiankang with this ideal and ambition. On the bank of the Qinhuai River, he saw many young people from aristocratic families with elegant sleeves gathered on the painted boat to talk. These children of the aristocratic family had their eyes high above their heads, as if they were as unattainable as gods. It's elusive and out of reach.
And among the sons of this aristocratic family, there is one person who is fresh and eye-catching. "He" does not put powder on his face and dress in plain white like other princes of the aristocratic family. Instead, he wears a simple black dress with narrow sleeves and black hair. Her hair was pulled into a bun and tied with only a white jade hairpin.
"He" has a clear and handsome face, as gentle as a woman, but also as heroic as a man.
More importantly, this person only stood in the crowd, and his unique temperament was impossible to ignore.
"He" was also chatting with others, but he seemed to say very little. After everyone talked a lot, they asked "him" for his opinion, and "he" just laughed it off and did not answer.
But it seems that all the children of the aristocratic families here respect "him" very much. Even if "he" cherishes words like gold, as long as he says a word, it can be widely circulated and regarded as good words.
"What? You've fallen in love with him. Although it's not a bad thing to like men now, don't think that 'he' is a gentleman from some aristocratic family. 'He' is Xie Yuqing, the eldest daughter of the Xie family in Chen County, and she is also the number one in Nanliang. A talented woman, even the prince, his majesty highly respects her. ”
Hearing the joking laughter of several gentlemen, Chen Xu looked around and saw that several young gentlemen from aristocratic families were discussing privately about this noble woman who was disguised as a man.
"Since she is the eldest daughter, why do she dress in such a neutral way?"
"Don't you know this? This is called willfulness, open-minded and romantic. The Xie family has gathered the strength of the family to cultivate such an amazing and talented eldest daughter. They have not regarded her as their daughter for a long time, and they have Due to her preference, she is now working as an official next to the Prince of the East Palace, specifically selecting talents for the Prince. If you can get a compliment from her, it will be like a crown of gold and jade, and you will become famous in one day and become a celebrity around the Prince. It’s possible!”
"However, it's really difficult to get a word of praise from her. Look at those people who are talking nonsense, but do they get a word of response from her?"
After hearing these words, Chen Xu couldn't take his eyes away from Xie Yuqing, and he also had an unusual longing for such a legendary and talented woman. Therefore, he secretly made a decision in his heart and planned to take a gamble.
Just after Xie Yuqing and a group of disciples from aristocratic families got off the boat, Chen Xu boldly ran towards Xie Yuqing who was surrounded by the crowd. He stopped in front of the crowd and shouted to the unattainable figure: "Nine-grade Zhongzheng The system is just a decadent system. Are the talents selected by it really useful to the country? In the past, Wang Yanqing talked about harming the country, and Uncle He Ping even created the Five Stone Powder that poisoned the world, causing many celebrities to die due to improper distribution. Died suddenly of illness.”
"Not to mention anything else, Langya Wang Ningzhi, as the governor of Kuaiji, foolishly believed in the Tao of the Celestial Master. When Sun En, the leader of the Celestial Master, rebelled, he did not lead the army to resist, but instead fought in his own home and worshiped the gods. , so that the city was breached and the owl was killed with a knife, but the talented woman Xie Daoyun who married him ended up being slaughtered and all her descendants were killed in her later years..."
"Shut up——"
Someone jumped over the crowd, came to him with a sprint, and put a sword on his neck.
"It's okay, Ling Ye, let him go and let him speak!"
Ling Ye knew that Xie Daoyun was Xie Yuqing's ancestor and had always been an example for the Xie family's descendants. Now that he was brought up by this poor family, wouldn't it be disrespectful to the Xie family's ancestors?
Chen Xu saw that Xie Yuqing was really interested in what he said, so he bowed his hand to her and said: "Chen just thinks that the nine-level Zhongzheng system cannot truly select the country's political talents. If this continues, dynasties will change." , the war still cannot be stopped. If you want the country to survive forever, you must implement reforms. This is Chen’s humble opinion! ”
"Farewell!"
Halfway through the words, as soon as Xie Yuqing's interest was aroused, Chen Xu left with a flourish. Some aristocratic family members angrily wanted to order people to chase him, but Xie Yuqing stopped them.
"It's just a humble guy who wants to attract everyone's attention. There's no need to be familiar with him. You gentlemen, just forget it!"
With Xie Yuqing's words, the sons of those aristocratic families had to pretend to be generous on the surface and no longer have trouble with Chen Xu.
Chen Xu knew that he had successfully attracted the attention of the most talented woman in Nanliang.
As expected, it didn't take long for the Xie family to find him. It was Xie Yuqing who invited him to a pavilion to have a drink and talk.
He walked up to this noble lady of the Xie family as he wished, and seized this opportunity to show his talents and ideals and ambitions in front of her.
Later, the prince Xiao Tong held a grand talk party in the East Palace. He received an invitation requested by Xie Yuqing for him, and also showed his poetic talent in front of all the scholars in the East Palace.
Since then, his reputation has spread, and he has been given the opportunity to become an official.
At first he only served as a county magistrate, but his political achievements during his tenure were very obvious and he was deeply loved by the people. He also received recognition and appreciation from Xie Yuqing.
"There are many descendants of today's aristocratic families who have received official positions in the imperial court, but they do not know how to do practical things. They travel around and claim to ignore worldly affairs, just to be like celebrities!
Although my Xie family is also a gentry, I know that if things go on like this, the gentry will be just a body with a beautiful appearance. It will eventually fail, and the country will not be prosperous for a long time. But I am the only one who thinks this way, and I can't change it. What. ”
"Fortunately, Chen Langjun is a practical person and has the same ideals as me. If Chen Langjun is willing, I can recommend you to the prince and let you join the imperial court as an official. Are you willing?"
Seeing Xie Yuqing's praise for him, Chen Xu felt satisfied and boldly asked: "Xie Yuqing, if I go to your house to propose marriage to you, will you marry me?"
Xie Yuqing was stunned for a moment and said with a smile: "My grandfather did not intend for me to get married, but to recruit a wife, but you can give it a try?"
He knew that the implication of the test was that she agreed. Then as long as the head of the Xie family, her grandfather Xie Jing, could agree to the marriage, he could marry this noble daughter of the Xie family, and he could do so from now on. Get rid of the shackles of a poor family and become a person above others.
Therefore, he later tried to propose marriage to Xie Jiqing, but he did not expect to be severely scolded by Xie Jiqing, saying that even if the daughter of the Xie family did not marry, she would never marry into a poor family.
This was the unwritten rule that scholars and common people did not intermarry. He originally thought that Xie Yuqing would put in a good word for him in front of her grandfather, but he did not expect to be so humiliated.
From then on, he did not dare to step into the Xie family again, but he hated these superior nobles even more.
Until one day, Hou Jing led his troops to attack Nanliang. In order to appease the surrendered general from the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Xiao Yan, the Buddhist emperor, kept giving him official posts and sending him food and grass, so that Hou Jing's appetite became bigger and bigger. He actually asked Xiao Xing to marry the daughter of Wang Xie's high family, and even pointed out that he wanted Xie Yuqing, the most talented woman in Nanliang.
Xiao Yan did not dare to offend the noble family, and he also knew that the Xie family would never marry the daughter they had painstakingly cultivated to a Xianbei Huajie native who could not find a single good thing about him, so he politely refused.
This incident made Hou Jing very angry!
He knew that the opportunity had come. If he could use Hou Jing's help to destroy these superior nobles, then there would no longer be an insurmountable gap between scholars and common people. If he wanted to get Xie Yuqing, he would not encounter opposition from her family. He even You can take advantage of the chaos in Nanliang to make another achievement.
So, he sent people to carefully observe the movements of Hou Jing's side, and even made people want to pick him out, so that Hou Jing finally led his troops to attack Jiankang. Along the way, many poor people who also hated the emperor and the nobles joined him along the way. to Hou Jing's army.
Hou Jing's destructive power was indeed extremely strong. When he arrived in Jiankang, he quickly took control of Taicheng and led his troops to burn, kill and loot everywhere. First of all, he ordered to kill the two great families of Wang and Xie and capture Xie Yuqing alive. He ordered someone to send a letter to Xie Yuqing, asking her to escape from Wuyi Lane.
Everything was according to his plan, and Xie Yuqing escaped as expected. Except for a few children, the rest of the Xie family died in the rebellion.
But he was captured by Hou Jing, but Hou Jing did not kill him because he also showed the same hatred and hatred of the family as Hou Jing, and made Hou Jing believe him.
People who share a common enemy quickly become allies.
The first task Hou Jing gave him was to capture Xie Yuqing!
Of course he went, trying to find traces of Xie Yuqing with the messenger crow, until he finally found her surrounded by enemy soldiers in Guangling. He was a little shocked when he saw her desperately fighting against a group of enemy soldiers. When I arrived, I had never seen her with such a resolute and resolute side.
It was the moment he saw her that he realized that the rest of the Xie family had escaped. At present, he could only take her back to claim credit, in order to eliminate Hou Jing's suspicion.
Although he is also a spy now, a spy who wants to help his uncle complete his hegemony.
At that time, he struggled and hesitated for a long time. It was not that he had not thought about bringing her alive to Hou Jing. Then by that time, she would know that he had betrayed her family. He did not want to leave a despicable and hypocritical impression in her heart. .
Moreover, he couldn't do it by sending his beloved to the enemy and watching her being humiliated.
So, he came up with a bold idea. He heard that there was a kind of coffin in Qi State that could preserve the corpse of the dead forever. If a sorcerer came to summon the soul, he could bring it back to life. If so, he could make her no longer rotten. Then Xie Yuqing, the noble daughter of the Xie family, came to him in another identity.
At that time, there will no longer be any distinction between family status between them, and he will be able to completely own her.
After this thought came to his mind, he stabbed her with the knife. Although he felt very painful, he believed that the pain would not last long and they would eventually meet again.
And the purple jue on her body that is said to give people all the power is also a great temptation for him.
After killing her, he brought her to Hou Jing and told Hou Jing that this woman committed suicide because she did not want to be humiliated. Hou Jing believed it and agreed to leave the body to him as a souvenir.
After that, he placed her in an extremely cold ice cave, and then teamed up with Princess Liyang, who became Hou Jing's concubine, to set up an ambush to lure Hou Jing into a trap, and then asked his uncle to lead troops into the city to kill Hou Jing.
After Hou Jing died, he took Princess Liyang to Qi State and exchanged the coffin with Bohai King Gao Cheng.
The past between Princess Liyang and the King of Bohai was also a secret that he accidentally discovered from the mouth of the subjugated princess.
He had also worried about whether the subjugated princess was as important in Gao Cheng's heart as a coffin. Naturally, he got what he wanted, and Gao Cheng took the priceless coffin without hesitation. The coffin was replaced, and he was not hunted down afterwards.
After he brought the coffin back to Jiankang, he let her lie in it, but at that time, her body was completely frozen, and she could not even see her original appearance. He was a little scared, whether he could let her go again. Come to life?
Later, when the troops of the Western Wei Dynasty captured Jiangling, he was taken hostage in Chang'an. He stayed there for more than ten years, and did not return to Jiankang until his elder brother Chen Qian succeeded to the throne.
But he never gave up looking for her. Even if her body couldn't wake up, would there be an afterlife?
As long as you find people who are similar to her, one of them will be her, right?
So women who were slightly similar to her, whether in appearance or temperament, were all included in his harem.
But he knows that none of these women are her, it's just that he doesn't want to admit it, and he doesn't want to accept this fact!
Until he saw the painting and saw a girl at the East Palace banquet who looked nothing like her but had a very similar temperament, he vaguely felt that she should be back!
Later, when he met Xie Zhen at the Fahua Mountain Talking Gathering, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
But he clearly saw the disdain and coldness towards him in Xie Zhen's eyes.
So he was a little scared again, afraid of recognizing each other, afraid of losing again...
Later, when he learned that Xiao Jinyu was Xie Zhen, he became even more certain that this beautiful girl was her afterlife.
He became greedy again and wanted to get her!
But in the end he was still disappointed. It was he who promised her to Lanling King Gao Changgong himself, and they were separated by a river, and they would never see each other again. As the emperor, he could not go back on his words!
But he lived in regret all the time, and he didn't know whether he regretted killing her in the first place or regretting sending her away with his own eyes!
Five years later, in order to suppress the gentry again, he wanted to kill Xiao Xian in Taicheng, so as to eliminate the forces attached to Xiao Xian by the party.
Unexpectedly, Qi State sent an envoy, who rushed into the execution ground desperately, rescued Xiao Xian from Taicheng, and cursed him in front of Duanmen!
That was the last time he saw "her". Although it was just a silhouette or back, it hit the depths of his soul like a stone, making him miserable again.
After that, the rumors of "hypocrite" seemed to echo in his ears all day long, and the headache, coupled with the headache, tortured him even more.
Although Queen Liu Jingyan still offered medicine to him before his bed, she no longer treated him as tenderly as before.
She even dared to accuse him boldly in front of his bed: "Your Majesty, we cannot be people who break our promises. If you really kill Xiao Xian, will the hearts of the people in the world still be with you, Your Majesty?"
"Your Majesty is so unpopular with the people, and he insists on going his own way and wants to attack the nobles again. If this is the case, our Chen Kingdom will lose Xiao Xian and it will surely fall!"
Liu Jingyan took advantage of his serious illness and allowed Xiao Xian and the envoy from Qi to leave. However, his illness became more and more serious after that. Sometimes he would have auditory hallucinations in his ears, and he would hear the world ridiculing and cursing him. , hearing her teasing smile.
One day, he couldn't stand it anymore, so he came to the coffin he hid in the basement, wanting to see her again!
And once again summoned the magicians to summon her soul.
Several times, he felt the sound of wind in his ears, and it seemed that she was coming, but when he looked around, he couldn't see half a figure.
Finally, he asked the warlocks to open the coffin, saying that he wanted to see her appearance again, but after opening the coffin, he found that there was nothing inside, or that she had already turned into dust.
"So, Gao Cheng lied to me. This coffin can't be brought back to life at all. He lied to me. He actually lied to me, hahaha..."
"Your Majesty, this girl's heart is not here. No matter how you summon her soul, she will never come back!"
"So, Your Majesty, it's not that we are incompetent, it's that her heart is gone!"
The warlocks were afraid that the emperor would be angry and kill them all, so they all tried to find reasons to explain. After they finished explaining, they discovered that the emperor's black hair suddenly turned white, he spit out blood suddenly, and he was leaning on the coffin without moving. Not moving anymore.
Several warlocks rushed to Queen Liu Jingyan in panic to report the news and explained the whole story. Liu Jingyan did not punish them, but ordered people to carry the dying man back to the palace and began to prepare for the crown prince's enthronement.
On the day when the prince ascended the throne, Chen Xu finally breathed his last. He seemed to see Xie Yuqing walking towards him, and he happily took her hand and walked towards a place he didn't know...
This time I have really finished the book. I am very grateful to all of you for your support, Yanzhihu 1, Zizhuha, Huohuohuoyi, Xiaomeng0304, Losing Weight in Dreams, etc. Thank you all for accompanying me all the way to the completion of the book!