"This is already the eighteenth victory report." Weiyang Palace, Changle Hall.
In the palace where agarwood incense was burned, the winter afternoon light seemed very long. Qiu Baoniang's eyes were lowered and she looked like she was sleeping but her tone was sober and sharp, just like the snow-covered plum trees outside the palace.
"Since King Ning arrived in the southwest...the four kings of the southwest have lost territory in succession." After a brief pause, Qiu Baoniang said calmly, "Although my servant has never learned military strategy, I also know that this corner of the southwest, how could it be mine?" Dayong’s opponent? It’s always a matter of time to win the Southwest.”
"Once the southwest is recaptured and the army returns to the court - do you think Concubine Shan and the others will still be as obedient as they are now?"
"Furthermore, even if His Majesty hates Concubine Shan for having too much contact with the Duanmu family and neglecting her since then - the positions of Concubine Virtue and Concubine Xian are still vacant! At the third rank and above, many of the positions that can be used as the head of the first palace are vacant!"
Qiu Baoniang raised her hand and pointed at the many palaces behind her, "This gorgeous palace from the former Wei Dynasty is filled with many palaces and pavilions, but most of them are empty now! Your Majesty is in his prime, how difficult is it to fill these palaces?"
Queen Qiu breathed out slowly and nodded: "Ever since Shan's miscarriage, I have made up my mind. Just go ahead and do it - I know that my abilities are limited, and I never dare to have unnecessary ambitions! But as a mother, no matter how hard it is, No matter how incompetent or useless I am, I will fight for what my poor children deserve!"
"My maid, thank you for your trust!" Qiu Baoniang solemnly kowtowed and retreated happily!
Sun Mo, who was standing behind Queen Qiu like a puppet, only spoke at this moment: "In that case, do you want to invite the eldest prince back privately?"
"No, he didn't ask Zhi Qi to come back. If I call him back, I will definitely be suspected!" Queen Qiu closed her eyes tiredly and whispered, "Besides, if it succeeds, is that scoundrel in the side hall... still necessary? Survive? By then, Zhi Qi will be the only prince!"
Sun Mo nodded and stopped talking.
Half a day later, in a village outside the imperial capital, bright red plum blossoms bloomed in the snow.
Under the plum blossoms and in the snow, a woman stands with a purple fox fur coat. Although her face has undergone changes, and there is even a hint of dustiness in the corners of her eyes and brows, her beautiful outline can still be seen.
"Things are different than people." Liu Ruoye smelled the cold fragrance of red plums, but in her heart she was recalling her experiences over the years.
... In the past, she thought she would be unbearable if she fell into Shen Xun's hands. Only when she really lived in the world did she know what it meant to be unbearable.
Since finding Liu Ruowo and reuniting the siblings, the past has been like a nightmare.
She should never have such a dream again in her life...
"Fortunately, Ruowo has already been granted the title of duke. It is absolutely impossible for Liu Shili to surpass Ruowo in the title of nobility!" Thinking of this news, Liu Ruoye couldn't help but have a smile on his face, but then it disappeared again, "Also I wonder if he is seriously injured? Moreover, in order to take care of Wei Xinyong, he has to be sent to Ruiyu Hall for medical treatment... Although it is absolutely impossible for the Wei family to prevent him from seeking medical treatment because he is sent there in public. Qu Bing has always had a close relationship with the Wei family, and his medical skills are so good. Could it be that Mrs. Song is remembering the past and instigating him to do something secretly? "
Liu Ruoye pondered, "It's best to try to give some advice to the Wei family so that they don't dare to mess up their minds!"
At this time, there were hurried footsteps behind her. It was Zhuangzi's servant who was waiting for her: "Miss!"
"What's the matter?!" Liu Ruoye's confusion and hesitation faded away at the same time, revealing a sharp meaning, "Didn't I say that when I'm thinking about something here, I'm not allowed to disturb you!"
That unimaginable nightmare taught Liu Ruoye the humblest and meanest attitude, but after she regained her good clothes and good food, her temper became even weirder than when she was well raised in the boudoir.
In the past few days, she has punished many of Zhuangzi's servants, so much so that the maid who came to report now was trembling with fear: "It's the young lady from Lu Guogong's family who is here!"
"Zheng Cuiye?" Liu Ruoye was startled, and then she stopped making trouble for the maid and snorted, "I understand, go and ask her to stay less while I change my clothes and go!"
She met Zheng Cuiye by chance - not long ago, Zheng Cuiye was in a bad mood and was persuaded by the maid next to her to go for an outing in the countryside. As she walked, she arrived outside Zhuangzi.
Since it was getting late at that time, the servants around Zheng Cuiye were afraid of the dangers they would encounter when returning to the city at night, so they knocked on the door of the village and asked to stay overnight.
Although Liu Ruoye knew at that time that she was the only daughter of Lu Guogong, the Lu Guogong had already died. Even though Zheng Cuiye's uncle was still alive, her uncle was not childless, so she felt that there was nothing that Miss Zheng could take advantage of. Secondly, Liu Ruoye's identity is now hidden, so he has no plans to meet Zheng Cuiye.
But she didn't want to, she didn't want to come out to see Zheng Cuiye, but Zheng Cuiye took the initiative to find her - that day Liu Ruoye asked the servants to say that the master was not in the village, and gave up the house where she lived, thinking that it could calm the matter, but he didn't want Zheng Cuiye to admit to the previous maid. The smell of expensive spices that had been burned not long ago in the room aroused suspicion—not just any general suspicion, but the suspicion that an assassin was here!
So Zheng Cuiye searched around, and Liu Ruoye couldn't hide it any more, so she had to come out and admit that she was the master.
Fortunately, although Zheng Cuiye is cunning and arrogant, she is not very smart. Liu Ruoye casually made up the reason that her family was in ruins and she only had this village to live by. She was afraid that others would know that the owner of the village was a single woman and bully her, so she did not dare to come forward to receive her. Zheng Cuiye believed it and even sympathized with her. Ichiban.
The matter originally ended here, but Liu Ruoye didn't expect that Zheng Cuiye would come here often after that - the reason was that she felt that Liu Ruoye was alone, and even Zhuangzi didn't dare to admit it was hers, so there must be no place to talk. And Zheng Cuiye is in a bad mood. If he tells her, he is not afraid of her telling her! The most important thing is that Liu Ruoye dealt with her so well that day - so Zheng Cuiye felt that talking to Liu Ruoye would always put her in a good mood...
However, this reason was probably only taken seriously by Zheng Cuiye. Liu Ruoye became suspicious from the third time she came here: She lives in a very remote place, but Zheng Cuiye lives in the imperial city. She goes back and forth once, and it gets dark in winter. , often spending the night on Zhuangzi.
Mrs. Lu Guogong is Zheng Cuiye's daughter and has not yet left the cabinet. How could she let her stay out overnight every three days without sending anyone to inquire? Besides, Zheng Cuiye is the daughter of the Duke after all, so there really isn’t anyone who can speak to her? !
Moreover, Liu Ruoye tried three times to find out the reason why Zheng Cuiye was in a bad mood and bumped into his own village - Shen Zangfeng!
It was this name that made Liu Ruoye wary and wanted to stay away from Zheng Cuiye!
She is no longer the noble eleventh lady of the Liu family back then, but the dishonest daughter of the Liu family of Donghu who is ashamed to admit it! If it weren't for her brother's nostalgia for the past, she would have even been "persuaded" by her own tribe to end the affair! How could he possibly get involved in the personal affairs of the Shen clan leader
She almost immediately suspected her sister Liu Ruoyu, who was also still alive but could not return to the Liu family.
The problem is that she can't find Liu Ruoyu's whereabouts... After testing Zheng Cuiye several times, she still doesn't find anyone similar to Liu Ruoyu around her
"Let's deal with this little thing for now." After changing her clothes, she thought as she walked towards the flower hall, "Now that Ruowo is not in the imperial capital, his wife doesn't like me very much... I'm afraid he doesn't take my trust seriously at all. It’s okay! When Ruowo comes back, let’s find out who is behind this little thing. Anyway, this little thing is not smart and is very easy to coax!”
Thinking of his sister-in-law Zhou, Liu Ruoye frowned again and again.
Although Zhou is only a daughter of a noble family, she is young and beautiful. After marrying Liu Ruowo, the relationship between the couple is very good. They already have an eldest son and a second son. It's just that this sister-in-law is not very good to her eldest sister-in-law. Ever since she learned about her experiences over the years, although Liu Ruowo didn't dare to say it directly, Zhou's contemptuous attitude and expression when Liu Ruowo was away, They all clearly hinted that Liu Ruoye should die to protect her reputation - Zhou even once used the excuse of a chaste and martyr woman in the book to commit suicide and said, "If such a virile woman is in our house, we will definitely take care of her funeral affairs." Defengfengfengguangguang..."
"For the sake of my two nephews, I will tolerate her for a while longer. If she is still so ignorant and wants to force me to die..." The gloomy look in Liu Ruoye's eyes filled up, and then he covered it up, "Ruowo is not here. Imperial City, do you think it’s just me who has lost his protection? What a fool!”
But the next moment, when she stepped into the flower hall, she had a smile on her face: "Miss Zheng, are you here again? You are really tired of such deep snow."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Zheng Cuiye was in a good mood today - mainly because when she was out of the city, she happened to meet Shen Zangfeng, who was traveling with his eldest son on the road. He was wearing a fox fur, a golden crown, and riding a very handsome green horse. Shen Zangfeng, even though he has dozens of followers behind him, all of whom are strong and vigorous, can't conceal his grace and splendor, which came from the Xiliang Shen family's hundreds of years of wealth and wealth.
Especially when he controlled the reins with one hand and adjusted the hood of the eldest son Shen Shuguang on the slightly lagging red horse, the look full of love and pity he looked at his own blood made Zheng Cuiye willing to save him from all odds - maybe it was herself. Her father left early. Shen Shuguang, who looked exactly like Shen Zangfeng, was obviously a handsome young man who was popular among girls. But even when Zheng Cuiye saw Shen Zangfeng these two times, she saw Shen Shuguang beside him, but she was She ignored Shen Shuguang every time and focused solely on Shen Zangfeng, who was old enough to be her father!
Until here, Zheng Cuiye's excitement has not subsided.
She urged Liu Ruoye excitedly, "Bring the wine, I want to drink some today!"
Liu Ruoye felt bored and followed her instructions to serve food and drinks - and then listened to her talking about all kinds of trivial things. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore and praised Shen Zangfeng to Liu Ruoye for a long time - it was as if she was Shen Zangfeng. The same goes for Zang Feng’s wife.
Finally, the drunk Zheng Cuiye was finally sent to sleep... Liu Ruoye rubbed his forehead and began to wonder what Liu Ruoyu's move meant? Although she looked down on Zheng Cuiye, she didn't feel much pressure from Zheng Cuiye's frequent visits... What exactly did Liu Ruoyu want to do? After all this time, Zheng Cuiye didn't even reveal her identity!
The most important thing is that after these days of getting along, Liu Ruoye is confident that Zheng Cuiye will most likely stand by her side after her identity is revealed!
"Could it be that in the future she will instigate Zheng Cuiye to seduce Shen Zangfeng and put the accusation of this intimidation on me?" Liu Ruoye frowned slightly, feeling even more dissatisfied with her sister-in-law Zhou. In fact, Zheng Cuiye had already knocked on the door for the first time. After arriving, Liu Ruoye expressed to Zhou his desire to live somewhere else.
But Mrs. Zhou said lightly to the people she sent: "The place where the girl lives now is carefully selected and arranged by the husband. The manpower is tight-lipped. If it is changed and the news is leaked, it will not be good for the girl. It is Bar?"
This hateful woman doesn't even want to call her "Miss"!
Even though Liu Ruoye's city is deep, she has lost her respectability as a daughter of a wealthy family, and now she has a sister-in-law like Zhou who always looks down on her, ignores her requests, and even thinks about holding her back as the head of the household, so she still lives far away from the city. It's so far away, so we don't have much information, and we're helpless!
"We can't let the Zhou family go down like this anymore!" Liu Ruoye bit her lip before making up her mind. Not far away, in the courtyard where Zheng Cuiye was placed, the maid's shrill voice suddenly came out: "Hurry! Go find the doctor quickly. ! The lady is in trouble!"
Liu Ruoye was shocked! (To be continued)