After a while, a girl of sixteen or seventeen years old led two maids in colorful clothes, and under the guidance of the chamberlain, she stepped into the palace with a smile.
She wears her hair in the most dignified yet playful way that girls who have not left the pavilion often wear their hair in a bun with a small hairpin. There are not many hairpin rings, a few pearl flowers, and a pair of red gold steps dotted with emerald ganoderma, pine bamboo, and longevity characters. Compared with the county princess In terms of status, any less would appear desolate.
Her appearance is what Sheng Weiqiao imagined a legitimate daughter of a scholarly family should be: an oval face, slender eyebrows, starry eyes, a straight nose, and gorgeous lips; a slender figure that is at least half a head taller than an ordinary girl of her age, wrapped in a goose-yellow coat. Under the skirt embroidered with plum blossoms at the bottom, a sea-green swan medium-wide vegetable jade belt outlines a waist as slender and graceful as a willow branch; the steps are light as she walks, but her demeanor is generous and steady, and she hangs three pendants on each step. It didn't move at all.
At this moment, the corners of the lips were slightly hooked, and there was a faint smile. This smile was just right. One less point would not be friendly, and one point more would appear flattering. This right now is exactly what makes a smile like a spring breeze, which makes people indescribable. The ironed clothes are comfortable and complement her rich bookish air, which makes people fall in love with her at first sight.
"Jingshu, you came here to give clothes to your mother, but I caught you!" Princess Wuyang picked up the gold-inlaid jade Ruyi that was lying on the desk at hand, pointed at her, and smiled, "If you have a queen mother, can you have me as well? If not, I won't follow you!"
Queen Mother Meng hurriedly scolded her: "Don't bully Jingshu! How many days has she been back from Bishui County? It's a big festival, if you tire her out, I'll see if the Ai family won't beat you up!"
"Mother, she doesn't love her anymore when she sees Jingshu!" Princess Wuyang pretended to be sad, holding a brocade handkerchief to her face, and said aggrievedly, "Speaking of which, my son has been loving her for several years, although I haven't The queen misses her dearly, but the son-in-law didn’t preach, so Jingshu also made clothes for the son--a handkerchief, a belt, something with needles and thread would be fine!"
The Queen Mother couldn't hold back her laughter, pointed at her and said: "Look at you, you are already a grandmother, and you act like a coquettish girl just to get some needles and thread! Look carefully, Jingshu and the little girl from the Sheng family are laughing at you!"
Princess Wuyang put down her brocade handkerchief and said disapprovingly: "It's natural for a daughter to act coquettishly with her mother! My son has become a grandmother and my mother is in pain. This is how my son's blessings are profound! It's too late for others to envy them, so what's the point? Is this a joke? If you don’t believe me, please ask the two girls to come up and talk about it?”
Huan Yehe had already saluted by this time. She was obviously very familiar with the Queen Mother and was very informal. When she went to Danqi to say blessings, she stood up, took the lacquer plate handed to her by the maid in colorful clothes at the back, and walked around from the side. When he reached the top, he held it up to the Queen Mother and Princess Wuyang with a smile, and said crisply: "I have been learning tailoring with my sister-in-law these past two days, and I happened to have a few rust-red eagles with golden embroidery on them that the Queen Mother would reward in the autumn. I wore two-color satin with flowers in my hand and made a regular dress for the Queen Mother and a shawl for Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess. In full view of the audience, the two empresses thought that even if they thought my craftsmanship was poor, they should not say anything about it! "
He pursed his lips and smiled, showing a bit of playfulness, "Go back and wait until there is no one around, then quietly dislike it!"
"Ah! I really have a role?" Princess Wuyang heard this and said in surprise, "Where is it? Show me quickly! I am not a generous person. I really don't do well. I want to Say it in front of everyone! I have to ask you to do a good job next time and give it to me!"
"I just said that the Ai family teased the little girl from the Sheng family, and Jingshu just came here. Didn't you also tease her?" The queen mother pushed her away, laughed and scolded, "She will bully Jingshu from the Ai family! I'll see that the Ai family bullies her too later. The little girl from the Sheng family is going to see if you are in a hurry!"
Nanshi and Sheng Weiqiao's hearts skipped a beat when they heard these words. Nanshi also realized that Princess Wuyang was speaking towards Sheng Weiqiao just now. She was not in a good mood, but she did it on purpose. Moreover, the Queen Mother saw it, and her heart couldn't help but Confused: "When did the Sheng family contact Her Royal Highness Princess Wuyang? Never heard of it?"
It was not easy to ask Sheng Weiqiao this question at the moment, so she could only press the button first and said with a smile: "The Queen Mother, how did Her Royal Highness, the eldest princess, bully the County Lord Jingshu? Your Highness doesn't like the County Lord enough, so you changed your ways to want to have more with the County Lord. How many pieces of needlework do I need?”
"Mrs. Nan, you are not flattering when you say that!" Princess Wuyang pretended to be angry, "It is rare for me to be so clever, but you just told me like this! If Jingshu does all the needlework in the future, Since I no longer have any responsibility, how do you want to compensate?"
Nan quickly joined Huan Ye and said, "County Master Jingshu, you must do something good! You must do something for Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess later on, otherwise I will be accused by Your Highness!"
"Mrs. Nan, don't worry!" Huan Yehe, who was standing beside the Queen Mother, raised his head, turned to smile at her, and said, "Your Highness usually loves me so much, how can I forget His Highness's love for me?"
While she was talking, she didn't stop. She had already put the lacquer trays on the table with the palace attendants on the left and right, and opened her clothes for the Queen Mother and the eldest princess to see - because it was above Danqi, and the side hall was very spacious. , even though a circle of candles was lit, Nan and Sheng Weiqiao were sitting on their seats, but they still couldn't see many details. They could only distinguish that it was a set of two-color satin with ruffled gold embroidery on a rust red background. Regular wear with a short undershirt and water-color embroidered mandala and fairy skirt.
The shawl given to the eldest princess Wuyang was made of fragrant cloud and phoenix dark pattern crepe, with a row of tassels on the edge. Judging from the little golden light reflected when the eldest princess took it in her hand and looked at it carefully, she probably had it pinched. gold teeth.
Although the specific workmanship cannot be seen below, as the recipients, Empress Dowager Meng and Princess Wuyang were full of praise, and Nanshi naturally followed suit.
Due to her age and status, Sheng Weiqiao could not interrupt at this moment. She could only sit there in a dignified and quiet manner. After a while, she would take a sip of tea and wonder when the Queen Mother would like it. Only then do you mention the agreement made seven days ago
And can Sheng Suihe's answer to his adviser satisfy the Queen Mother
While they were thinking about it, the Queen Mother and Princess Wuyang finally finished their appreciation of Huan Yehe's craftsmanship and their sincere recognition, and smiled and asked the attendants to put away their regular clothes and shawls.
However, Huan Yehe did not come down. Instead, he was hugged by the Queen Mother and sat beside him.
Judging from the way the county leader calmly sat down after declining for a while, it was obvious that this kind of favor was not given once or twice.
"This sister is a stranger." After Huan Yehe sat down, the first thing he did was to tap his chin at Sheng Weiqiao and said with a smile, "Mrs. Nan, is this a relative of yours?"
Nan said hurriedly: "How can my mother-in-law be so lucky? This is the niece of Sheng Xinzhang, the imperial court's gift to the admonishment official after my family's family friend. Her maiden name is Wei Qiao!"
"It turns out to be Miss Sheng!" When Huan Yehe heard this, the smile on his face dropped a little, and his eyebrows frowned slightly. However, this was not because she was dissatisfied with Sheng Weiqiao, but because Sheng Weiqiao thought about the Bishui County. She turned to look at Queen Mother Meng with a guilty look on her face, "Mother Queen Mother, I am really sorry for you. Young Master Meng and the young prince kindly accompanied me to Bishui County, but they encountered such a big change at the Huan family's old residence. So far, the Huan family has not been able to give you an explanation. I..."
When the incident in Bishui County was mentioned, Empress Dowager Meng also showed some sadness and worry in her eyes, obviously she still attached great importance to Meng Boheng.
However, he did not mean to blame Huan Yehe. Instead, he patted the back of her hand and sighed: "I can't blame your family! After all, the imperial envoy has been investigating for so long and there is no news. It shows that the person who did this is not an ordinary person! What is your Huan family doing? But after civil servants, how can we guard against those evil people?"
Sheng Weiqiao thought that the Queen Mother really loved Huan Yehe.
- Meng Boheng and Rong Qingzui both had an incident at the ancestral home of the Huan family. They traveled all the way to Bishui County in order to reunite with Huan Ye. As a result, one disappeared and the other was seriously injured and disfigured. However, the murderer has not yet been found. , as the master, how could Huan Yehe have anything to do with it
Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Meng didn't have the slightest resentment or suspicion towards Huan Yehe at this moment. This kind of favor and trust is probably not much worse than that of Miss Meng Shisi, who received obvious favoritism from Empress Dowager Meng during the last interview.
Even judging from Huan Yehe's seat at the moment, he is favored more than Meng Shisi. Of course, it may be because Miss Meng Shishi has a cold temperament and does not like to get close to others, including the Queen Mother. Although Sheng Weiqiao is interested in Huan Yehe being able to get the Queen Mother There is no envy or hatred in this regard, but there is also a bit of curiosity: "After all, Meng Boheng is the Queen Mother's nephew. His whereabouts are unknown until now. He has probably met with something unexpected... I don't know how the county master solved the problem in the Queen Mother's heart. Is it a grudge? Or can people really get along so well with each other?"
She put herself into the role of Empress Dowager Meng, thinking that if her nephew chased the girl out of town and disappeared, even if she did not anger the girl, she would never be able to treat the girl like Empress Dowager Meng did. He held her son close to him and kissed her warmly.
But just as she was thinking this, she suddenly noticed that when Queen Mother Meng was speaking, she glanced towards the west with a somewhat cold gaze.
When Sheng Weiqiao saw this, his mind was spinning, and an idea came to his mind: "Is it possible?"
—Before the last visit, when Xu Caikui told her some tips that need to be paid attention to when entering the palace, he mentioned the general structure of the palace city by the way: the imperial city located in the south of Chang'an City, with the Xingde Palace used by the Great Dynasty and the Xingde Palace used by the Chinese Dynasty. The three palaces from north to south, including the Taiping Palace, the Inner Dynasty, and the Wannian Palace where the emperor's bedroom is located, serve as the central axis, dividing the entire imperial city into two areas: east and west.
The Wannian Palace was used as the boundary to divide the north and south. The south was where the harem was, and the north was where the former dynasty was.
In this dynasty, Emperor Xuanjing pampered the Shu sisters and spent all day enjoying themselves in the harem without thinking about government affairs. Therefore, the Wannian Palace was mostly vacant. Emperor Xuanjing would only occasionally come back to stay if a grand ceremony needed to be held here.
Wangchun Palace, which is across the water from Wannian Palace, was vacant for many years because Emperor Xuanjing's wife Wen was deposed a few years ago and retreated to the Jingsu Palace of Zhenning Palace. Later, she was sentenced to death.
In addition to the Xinshou Palace where the Queen Mother lives, the palaces that have attracted the most attention in the imperial city in the past two years are undoubtedly the Xiying Palace and the Xiaoyou Palace where the Shu sisters live - these two palaces are both to the west of the Xinshou Palace. .
"Does the Queen Mother suspect that what happened in Bishui County was caused by the Shu sisters?" Sheng Weiqiao thought of this and felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead: This is really possible!
After all, this is not the first time something has happened to the Huan family’s ancestral home!
Twelve years ago, Huan Guanlan, who was famous all over the world, was kidnapped in this house and is still missing
Everyone in the government and the public knew that what happened that time had something to do with the Shu sisters. However, Emperor Xuanjing ignored the kindness of his master and was determined to protect his beloved concubine. Even the Queen Mother and the officials were helpless.
Youdao never stops doing anything. It is only natural that the two sisters would do it again after twelve years: After all, something happened to Meng Boheng and Rong Qingzui at the Huan family's ancestral home. According to common sense, Huan was the first to suffer. family!
Judging from Huan Guanlan's fate, the Shu sisters were not ordinary resentful towards him. Not only did they drive him out of the court, they even couldn't tolerate him staying at home and spending his old age peacefully!
However, Huan Guanlan's eldest son, Yong Yibo, still wanted to avenge his father. He took the opportunity of the court's appeasement to enter Chang'an and mediate among the powerful. Yong Yibo's daughter Huan Yehe even entered the palace and won Meng's favor. The Empress Dowager loved her, and even coerced Huan Guanlan Yuze into a marriage candidate pursued by the Meng family and the King of Gaomi. How could the Shu sisters tolerate Huan Ye marrying into the Meng family or the Gaomi palace and use the power of her husband's family to deal with them
Sheng Weiqiao was a little confused when he thought of this, "However, Meng Boheng is still missing, so he may not have suffered much, and Rong Qingzui was clearly carried back to Chang'an! If the Shu sisters only want to deal with the Huan family, doing so will destroy the Gaomi Palace." Are they offended to death? Or have they actually surrendered to the Meng family and took this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, not only taking revenge on the Huan family but also helping the Meng family attack the Gaomi Palace?"
But if the two sisters had taken refuge with the Meng family and the missing Meng Boheng was safe and sound, the Queen Mother would not have vented her anger on Huan Yehe. Why did her expression seem to be hostile and suspicious of the Shu sisters
While she was pondering, she suddenly heard Huan Yehe look at her and asked in an expectant tone: "By the way, I heard from people below two days ago that Miss Sheng came to see me today to pay for the matter concerning Bishui County. Did the Queen Mother give you advice? I wonder if you just said that? Can I listen to it? "
Sheng Weiqiao didn't feel anything when he heard this - the girl simply thought that this was the reason why she entered the palace today - but the Queen Mother Meng and Princess Wuyang frowned at the same time!