Rong Qing'an and Zhao Taoshan arrived at Leyi Palace with great anxiety. At that time, winter had already turned to spring. Although it was far from midsummer when the vegetation was lush and green, the scene outside Leyi Palace was also prosperous.
Especially in the wide courtyard in front of the main hall, many peonies and peonies are planted. Looking around, there are buds and fruits among the green branches and leaves, a dazzling array of flowers.
There are varieties that bloom early, with a hint of light pink and deep red, just like a girl of twelve or thirteen years old, indescribably delicate.
Maybe Prince Guangling and his wife didn't have the time to appreciate it. They just glanced at it casually and then turned their attention to the main hall.
The waiter who led the way politely asked them to wait at the door and went in alone to report.
The couple stretched their necks unconsciously, trying to hear what was going on outside.
However, the main hall was deep and wide, and nothing could be heard. After a while, the outside waiter came out and said with a smile: "My queen, please go outside and shut up!"
They took a deep breath, glanced wrongly, and then walked in together.
After entering the house, he quickly glanced at his head and saw a group of flowers surrounded by a beautiful lady in gorgeous clothes with a head full of pearls. He lowered his eyes without daring to take a closer look. When he approached respectfully, they both bowed and saluted.
"Get up!" Concubine Shu covered her mouth with a handkerchief and chuckled, looking very friendly and cheerful, "You are not one of your own family, why do you need to be so secluded from outsiders?"
At that time, she was wearing a crimson ground embroidered pear blossom embroidered half-breasted skirt, a deep red cross-collar, narrow sleeves, and dark embroidery of luan and magpie patterns on the jacket. Around her waist was a jade belt inlaid with treasures, figures, pavilions, and a crimson-colored fairy. The skirt has a clump of blue grass embroidered on the corner, and a yellow butterfly flies by the side.
The head is tied up with a complicated nine-ring fairy bun. In the middle is a golden silk inlaid jade-inlaid peony and luan bird pattern corolla, with gold-inlaid treasure bees chasing begonias and glazed steps. The carefully painted Emei Dong, clear and bright. His eyes were as bright as paint, and he had a faint smile on his face. With a slight movement, the gold-boxed jewelry boy's medicine earrings beside his ears swayed.
Red gold and precious stones reflected little bits of light in the palace lantern, and sprinkled on her face like broken gold, making her skin look like porcelain and her face like bright jade.
The narrow dark sleeves revealed a pair of slender red legs like bamboo shoots. The skin color was paler than the sleeves. Some of the fingertips were repeatedly stained with impatiens juice, and they were bloody as if they were pinched. It felt like the legs were extraordinarily red... That kind of red was a sickly red, giving the imperial concubine an inexplicable fragile beauty.
Like flowers that wither helplessly in the rain, they are indescribably pitiful.
At this moment, both Rong Qing'an and Zhao Taoshang bowed their heads and closed their eyes, not daring to take a closer look. Naturally, they could not feel the charm of the imperial concubine... In fact, in view of the reputation of the Shu sisters for being cruel, the couple's mood at that time was It's so heavy that even if you put it in front of a real immortal, you won't be able to appreciate it.
Concubine Shu was surprised by this. Ever since the little prince passed away, their sisters had been known as "treacherous concubines" in the minds of the whole country. From then on, everyone seemed to think how cruel and vicious they had done. Everything is the same as it should be.
"Hey, what are you doing standing still?" "After soothing her in a soft voice for a while, seeing that Rong Qing'an and his wife were very nervous, the imperial concubine raised her eyebrows and ordered her attendants, "You have no eyesight, why don't you give tea to the prince and his wife quickly? "
After Rong Qing'an and his wife walked away timidly, the palace servants brought tea. The two of them tasted it without knowing the taste. The imperial concubine seriously asked about the current situation of King Guangling and Concubine Meng.
Since they were not sure about the hostess' preferences, the couple answered very cautiously, almost not considering every word, for fear that they would offend her by saying something wrong and cause a big disaster.
Simply speaking, Concubine Shu seemed to be particularly good at keeping her mouth shut. She neither expressed her dissatisfaction with their intimidating attitude nor denied their answers. She even chimed in a few words from time to time and praised the couple's conduct. The filial piety of Princess Mo was visited in the palace.
Just when the couple was frightened and nervous, the imperial concubine finally said: "You know that we are going to the house and won't keep us, so go ahead!"
Rong Qing'an and Zhao Taoshang heard about the amnesty and quickly stood up and saluted: "I would like to ask your Majesty to forgive you for disturbing me!"
He quickly left without looking back, as if he was afraid of being left behind if he walked too slowly.
But they didn't know that when they left, the imperial concubine complained to Zhaoyi who came out of the back hall: "Let's see! Let's see! I don't know how much worse than Mi Zhen! If Mi Zhen is in front of us, how can we talk, laugh and behave calmly?" ! Is it really pleasing to look at it and feel comfortable! Those two, not to mention the prince and his wife, there is nothing much to say about a woman. The prince is not the eldest son of King Guangling! He is like a quail, From the beginning to the end, I didn’t even dare to look at him, as if he was a beast! It was so annoying!”
Shu Zhaoyi also felt that Rong Qing'an's performance was far worse than that of Rong Suihe in front of her sisters. She sighed and said: "That's no wonder. Although the Qun Tomb Ling Prince was the most beloved prince of the late emperor, the late emperor had no choice but to go. Early on, when King Guangling was young, the late emperor handed over his inheritance to King Gaomi, and then entrusted King Gaomi to take care of King Guangling. When King Guangling grew up, he would not let King Gaomi misunderstand that he wanted to compete for the late emperor's inheritance, so he naturally did not dare to challenge. If King Guangling doesn’t dare to do so himself, how can the descendants of the east of our country dare to compete with the descendants of King Gaomi?”
"I was born in a secret family and lived outside. Since the epidemic in the Gaomi Palace, the heirs have withered. The prince who is most valued by the Gaomi King is either good at everything or has no talent... The descendants of the Guangling King's knees, that's not okay Are you keeping a low profile and not daring to show off at all? He thinks that the reason why King Guangling turned to the Meng family may not be without that reason!"
"In that case, how can Rong Qing'an compare to Mi Zhen?"
He frowned again, "Bu Nao Mi Zhen's ability to act freely at the time, we thought at the time, was that his grace and grace were unparalleled. At that time, we thought, maybe he didn't take us seriously at all!"
The imperial concubine said helplessly: "But what Meng Guiyu said is right. Even if we know that he is wrong and we have bad intentions, we will fall out at that time... Which one is more fuel-efficient, Meng or the King of Gaomi? No. If Mi Zhen disrupts the situation, he and I have no hope of getting something out of the fire!"
"So whether he mobilized the southern Xinjiang army without authorization or did other random things, we must help him in front of your Majesty and in the court!"
Shu Zhaoyi bit her lip and said, "There is nothing we can do if our family fails to live up to expectations... Well, is Bu Nao Rong Qing'an's father-in-law pregnant with General Hua?"
"Just because his father-in-law has Huaihua General, but not because his uncle has Huaihua General, he feels that he is not suitable." The imperial concubine said, "I see that Rong Qing'an still doesn't have a concubine or a wife, even if his The eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Taoji, is known as the virtuous daughter of the Zhao family. She has been doting on the backyard for so many years. No matter how virtuous or generous she is, she is spoiled. How can she tolerate Rong Qing'an?"
She frowned, "When the time comes she goes crazy and doesn't ask for help... Zhao Shi later turns out to be an enemy, so she doesn't ask for help."
Shu Zhaoyi said: "Except for Mi Zhen, the two kings of Gaomi and Guangling have no outstanding heirs. He looked around and felt that they were all wrong. I am not satisfied with Rong Qing'an, but look at Rong Qingzui. ? He is not the sweetheart of King Gaomi, so King Gaomi will reject him, even if he is afraid that his teeth will be knocked out and he will swallow him whole, he will not be willing to do so."
"However, the King of Gaomi has shown signs of decline in the battle with Mi Zhen." The imperial concubine sighed, "It's just that the others were taken away by Mi Zhen. Even Zhao Shi changed his family... He thinks that the King of Gaomi will not last long. Bu Nao Otherwise, he would not risk everything to reveal the truth that Mi Zhen was not from the Sheng family, but from Tortoiseshell Island."
"... Then why not make the Zhao family unable to escape?" Shu Zhaoyi pondered for a while, then suddenly said, "Isn't it true that there are many children of the Zhao family? Who among Zhao Shi's sons and daughters is in Chang'an? !”
The imperial concubine was startled and said, "But if it's blood..."
Before she finished speaking, she turned bright red and smiled slightly, "Just ask for blood to be from the royal family!"
"We have never seen foreign ministers, so is it difficult to meet them?" Zhaoyi held her chin in thought, "I have to think of a reason!"
The imperial concubine smiled and said: "Sister, am I really stupid? What do you want to do for that reason? Isn't it ready? Concubine Mo is critically ill. At that time, it was necessary to hold a lively palace banquet and call the court in the east. Bring your family members to attend so that you can celebrate the concubine’s birthday!”
She said slowly and calmly, "After all, everyone knows whether we want Mi Zhen to be his heir. If Concubine Ming is critically ill, how can we do nothing?"
He added, "I'll just arrange some tricks for them, and then we can have a competition so that we can take a closer look!"
The two sisters then decided on Dong Na's plan. Zhaoyi thought of something and said to the imperial concubine: "We arranged for the people around Concubine Meng to report that Concubine Meng had frequently made appointments with the prince when Rong Qing'an was not in the palace. Wife. The two of them have nothing to do with each other, but the situation is suspicious."
The imperial concubine snorted coldly: "Meng Guiyu proposed a plan before and waited for a long time to no avail. Then he wants to inquire about our news on the side! Rong Qing'an's father-in-law is Zhao Shi. He probably thought that we would choose after giving up our secret virginity. Rong Qing'an. As long as those brothers and sisters have a bad relationship with Rong Qing'an, they can talk to the wife of an aristocrat who does not offend the river."
"Meng Guiyu is so dishonest." Shu Zhaoyi said, "You have to teach him a lesson!"
"That's easy!" the imperial concubine said with a smile, "Isn't he very unmarried? Let's just be good people and report to your Majesty to find a good marriage for him?"
Zhaoyi became interested: "Who are you planning to tell him?"
The imperial concubine said: "The family background must not be too good, otherwise it may help him; the person must not be too honest or too virtuous, otherwise at most it will prevent him from finding a good wife, and it will not serve as a lesson to him. So it’s best to be the one with a low background and a good temper... We have been in the palace for many years, so we don’t know the girls outside very well. Let’s follow the rules and find out tomorrow. I have a virtuous and virtuous family background. It’s good that ladies are rare among us. Isn’t it difficult to find a naughty and unruly girl?”
"...Why does he think that among our natal nieces, we are very suitable?" Zhaoyi suddenly laughed when he heard this, "Didn't the Didong people secretly report the few that our father always praised in front of us? To be honest One of them is more arrogant and mischievous than the other, but they are used to pretending to be good in front of their elders. When they came to greet us during the Chinese New Year, they thought we didn’t know! They were all shy and timid, pretending to be quiet, but it turned out that As soon as we left the palace, we started pushing each other."
The imperial concubine sighed: "There is nothing we can do. Our Shu family is not well-off. Even though we have sisters, it is still different from what it used to be. How can we teach a real lady if there is no good man in the family?"
"Anyway, we don't have more than one niece." Zhaoyi said, "Just give one to Meng Guiyu, but keep an eye on him."
Because the sisters were sold by Shu Ting in exchange for money and silk to raise their son, their father and brother were not without resentment. Especially in those years, relying on the emperor's favor, they obviously gave a lot of support to the Shu family. However, Shu Ting and his son were not ambitious and talented people, so the sisters were repeatedly troubled. The disappointment and some gaps.
That's not to say that the father and brother who have been together day and night since childhood, and the nieces who only see each other during the holidays, are even more estranged from each other, and they don't feel bad at all when they are used as chess pieces.
At this moment, the two sisters gathered together and sent someone to send a message to the Shu family to make a decision directly.
Meng Guiyu didn't know that his marriage had been decided, and was anxiously waiting for Rong Suihe's reply. But what he didn't expect was that the envoys from Western Xinjiang had not yet arrived, but the visitors from Northern Xinjiang had arrived first: Arrival The way is very very unfriendly.
Gongsun Xi walked into his room in the middle of the night and shook him awake roughly: "By the order of the princess, I have letters and tokens for the queen. I'll get up and think of something!"
Meng Guiyu: “…………………”