After drinking a cup of tea, the kitten had fallen into a deep sleep, and King Chen said, "It's getting late, concubine, it's time for us to leave."
"So soon, I'm leaving?" Concubine Zhao showed a little regret on her face. She put the sleeping kitten on the soft cushion and called the mammy: "Is there still the pastry in the kitchen, the little girl likes to eat it, Pack it in a box and let the girl take it back to eat."
After she finished speaking, she looked at Jiuzhu: "Wait a minute, I still have a few cloth tigers that I sewed in my house, waiting for me to fetch it for you."
Jiuzhu opened her mouth, and finally nodded with a smile: "Thank you, Empress Dowager."
Soon Taifei Zhao came out from the house holding a wooden box, which contained several cloth tigers, and stuffed the box to the fullest.
After taking the wooden box, Jiuzhu saluted her and thanked her: "Thank you, Empress Dowager."
"These little things are not worth thanking." Concubine Zhao touched the wooden box and said with a smile, "If my child is still alive, his daughter should be as old as you."
Jiuzhu dared not ask her why her child was lost.
When she walked out of Jing'an Palace with a wooden box and dim sum, the old lady kept sending her and King Chen to the courtyard outside before she stopped.
Standing on the steps of the red lacquered wooden door, Jiuzhu looked back at the spacious courtyard, and the old concubines who were clearly curious about her and His Highness, but did not dare to come over, feeling a little unspeakable in their hearts.
With the red lacquered wooden door closing in front of her eyes, Jiuzhu walked out of the long palace alley with the wooden box in her hand, and asked King Chen, "Your Highness, has this concubine ever had a child?"
"Maybe there was." At that time, he was still very young, and he could not remember many things: "The late emperor had many wives and concubines, as well as many princes and princesses, and some died before they could stand up."
Seeing that Jiuzhu was in a bad mood, he thought she didn't want to leave him, and said, "Don't be unhappy. Otherwise, when your uncle sends someone to Zhou's house to propose a marriage, I'll ask the concubine to bring you back."
Jiuzhu wanted to remind him that coming to the palace could not be called "coming back", and the Ming Shilang's house was her home. But thinking that His Highness didn't want her to leave, she swallowed the words back, and tiptoed into King Chen's ear and whispered, "His Royal Highness, I just thought of something that might be a little rebellious."
"what?"
King Chen didn't believe it. With her courage, she could come up with something diabolical.
"You said, if the late emperor could take fewer concubines and concubines, wouldn't there be so many women suffering?" Jiuzhu clung to the box in her hand: "I'm just thinking about it, Your Highness, don't say it."
Otherwise she's finished.
"Afraid I'll tell you, tell me?" King Chen looked at her with a smile.
"His Royal Highness is not someone else, it doesn't matter if I tell you." Jiuzhu rolled her eyes: "If you tell others about this, then I won't admit it. Anyway, except you, no one can prove that I said this."
"Hey, you really think about it." King Chen stretched out his hand and poked Jiu Zhu's cheek, teasing her to dodge again and again, laughing constantly.
"Ming Xiaozhu, don't worry." Looking at her rosy cheeks with a smile, King Chen put his hands behind his back and said awkwardly, "I'm different from them."
Jiuzhu blinked at her.
Seeing that she didn't speak, guessing that she should have understood what she meant, King Chen said with a straight face: "That's what it means, don't think about it after you go back, a month... It will soon pass."
Knowing that she likes to be clingy, he makes her clingy.
Anyway, anyway... it's his own daughter-in-law.
"Your Highness, are you blushing?"
"Oh, the cloak is too thick and hot."
"His Royal Highness's blushing look is also good-looking."
"Ming Xiaozhu, don't talk."
"… "
"Forget it, just say what you want. Bring the wooden box and I'll hold it for you."
In the morning, before the fog dissipated, Sun Caiyao sat in the yard until the sun penetrated the morning fog and the warm sun hung high, and she did not see Ming Jiuzhu coming to Zhang Liugong.
"Ming Ming didn't come here today?" She looked at the too quiet courtyard, and actually missed the liveliness of Ming Jiuzhu's presence.
"Princess Princess, the county lord Ming left the palace early this morning." The palace maid replied, "The servant heard from the little six in the courtyard of His Royal Highness that the county chief waited for the New Year's Eve to come back to attend the New Year's Eve banquet held in the palace."
return
When Sun Caiyao heard these two words, she looked at the palace maid who was speaking in a trance. These palace maids and eunuchs had already treated her as Princess Chen
She lowered her eyelids and sighed: "The county magistrate Ming left the palace, and the entire Zhangliu Palace is deserted."
"Exactly. Several sisters were very sorry to hear that the county lord came home." The palace maid smiled: "They also wanted to accompany the county lord to turn over the flower rope, and even the rope was ready."
"Flower rope?"
"Yes." The palace maid nodded: "The county lord heard the slaves mention the flower rope the day before yesterday, and was very curious. The slaves asked someone to go to the palace province to find a beautiful and soft rope that won't hurt your hands, ready to teach the county lord how to play."
Because Ming Jiuzhu casually mentioned it, these maids went to find them spontaneously, because they liked Ming Jiuzhu, or because they wanted to please
Maybe in the entire harem, everyone wanted to please the future Princess Chen. It is said that even those old concubines who lived in the west and never went out gave Ming Jiuzhu a box of things after she came to her door.
The human heart has always been the most realistic mirror.
She raised her head to stop the chattering words of the palace maid, got up and went back to the yard where she lived. Before entering the door, she thought for a while, then turned to the main house where Yun Yanze lived.
There was no one guarding the door, she pushed open the curtain and went in: "His Royal Highness..."
Yun Yanze, who was changing clothes, pulled his clothes over and covered the left half of his body, turning his head to look at her.
At this moment, she felt that His Highness looked at her indifferently. Looking closely, I only saw the smile on the corner of His Highness's eyes. The so-called indifference was just her illusion.
"Cai Yao, why did you come in?" Yun Yanze put his clothes on his left arm and looked back at her.
Sun Caiyao walked over to him and helped him put on his right sleeve: "Why does Your Highness change clothes alone in the room?"
"I have an injury on my body, and I don't want others to see it." He turned around and put on a clean robe: "You have been accompanying me in the yard these days, are you bored?"
"As long as you are with His Royal Highness, you won't be bored." Sun Caiyao shook her head, lowered her head to help him straighten his belt, and found that his left ear was scratched near his chin. She stretched out her hand and touched the scratches: "Your Highness, why are you injured here?"
"Where?" Yuan Yanze touched it, looked up at himself in the mirror, and said casually, "It may be that I didn't sleep well at night, and I accidentally scratched myself."
Sun Caiyao sighed, turned around and took a box of ointment from the table: "Your Highness must take good care of your body."
"Okay." Yun Yanze smiled gently, letting Sun Caiyao give himself medicine. His smiling face was reflected in the bronze mirror. He straightened his left sleeve, covered his arm tightly, and said softly, "Don't worry, I will take good care of myself."
The man in the mirror is very good-looking, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, gentle and elegant.
Like the world, the best piece of jade.
Jiuzhu got off the carriage and found several carriages parked in front of the door. She asked the porter suspiciously, "Are there any guests at home today?"
"Miss is back?" The concierge was very happy to see Jiuzhu back, and reminded her in a low voice: "Today, several adults from the household department came to see the master. These adults are in a hurry and their expressions are solemn. There should be something important."
event
During the few days she stayed in the palace, it seemed that nothing major happened, except that King Qi's biological mother was demoted
She walked into the courtyard door, saw her long ago at the spring equinox she was waiting for, and hurriedly greeted her: "Slave, greet Miss."
"Sister Spring Equinox, why did you learn these rules to make fun of me?" Jiuzhu held her back.
Seeing her like this on the Spring Equinox, she laughed out loud: "Good lady, Madam is waiting for you in the yard, you come with me."
"The concierge said that the lord of the household department was looking for his father. What happened?"
"Who else can it be for." The Spring Equinox whispered: "Naturally, it is for His Royal Highness King Qi."
Jiuzhu paused in her footsteps and turned her head to look at the spring equinox.
"The Zheng family committed a serious crime and were sent to the prison, and the concubine Ning in the palace was sent to the cold palace again. These adults are worried that the king of Qi Jun will be implicated because of these, and come to the master to find a way." Spring Equinox shook his head: "Chao The servants and servants in the hall don’t understand either, anyway, it’s just these civil servants who are trying to figure out a way for the King of Qi County.”
Jiuzhu silently went to the main courtyard where her parents lived, and was then poured out a large bowl of tonic soup by her beloved daughter, Shen.
"There are guests outside, and your father will come to see you in a while." Shen shi looked at her daughter, she was made new from head to toe, and her complexion was good, so she felt relieved.
Jiuzhu waved her hand to let all the servants in the room exit, lowered her head and pinched the hem of her skirt and asked, "Mother, will father help the King Qi and the Zheng family?"
"My mother can't see things clearly in the courtroom." Shen shi smiled and said, "But your father is a very assertive person. He won't make decisions easily because of what others have said."
"Mother." Jiuzhu raised her head and said to the Shen family, "I don't want my father to help the King of Qi, let alone the Zheng family."
It was the first time that she heard her daughter make such a request involving the court. After Shen Shi was stunned for a while, she nodded and said, "Okay, you sit here and wait for me, and I'll tell your father. Awake."
Not long after, Shen shi came back with Ming Jingzhou behind him.
"Don't worry, good girl." Seeing his daughter's uneasy expression, Ming Jingzhou explained, "Because of my father, I didn't plan to help the Zheng family. The Zheng family has done a lot of stupid things over the years. ."
"Your Majesty is a wise master. Since he put the Zheng family in the sky prison, it means that the Zheng family must have committed an unforgivable sin." He sat down beside his daughter: "What's more, Daddy's good daughter doesn't want Daddy to help them. , then I certainly won't help."
"There is something that my daughter has been hiding from you." Facing her doting parents, Jiuzhu buried her head even lower, unable to raise her head in shame: "Eight years ago, my daughter did see the concubine and His Royal Highness Chen, but Not in Lingzhou City, but in Huaxi River outside Lingzhou City."
Ming Jingzhou has been an official for many years. As soon as he heard this, he knew that there was a secret inside. The smile on his face disappeared little by little: "Jiuzhu, what happened to you back then?"
"The Zheng family wanted to kill me." Jiuzhu recalled what happened back then: "That day, my daughter wore the silver hairpin given by her master and went down the mountain to buy fish. On the way, she heard someone talking about the cook, colorless and tasteless. ."
"They found me." Jiu Zhu's hand clenched and slowly loosened: "The person whose chin was cut with a silver hairpin said that I know too much to let me live."
The river water that day was very cold. The river water kept pouring into her ears and nose. She could only float in the water, awake and desperately waiting for death to come.
"His Royal Highness saved me." After saying this, Jiuzhu raised her head, as if it was finally sunny after the rainstorm: "He also gave me candy."