The cold moon is like frost, and the whole city is silent.
It was the curfew time, and the only people on the streets of Kyoto were the Imperial City Guards. Because of the bad weather, there was no light from the stars and moon in the sky. On the dark streets, only the lanterns held by the guards and the lanterns at the gates of the nobles' mansions exuded dim light.
The captain of the patrol let out a cold breath, looked at the brothers who were also pale from the cold behind him, and said in a low voice, "Brothers, cheer up."
Recently, the Sage has been ill, and his mood is uncertain. Many palace servants have been punished for this. He does not want the guard to cause trouble at this moment.
Just thinking about this, he saw the direction leading to the gate of the palace in front of him, and suddenly a team of guards in brocade clothes rushed over on tall horses. When the team saw that they stopped, they just threw him a sign and disappeared into the night.
Holding the cold token, he took a closer look, and suddenly took a breath.
Isn't this the token of the Holy Guards, who suddenly left the palace in a hurry in the middle of the night...
His face changed, and he didn't dare to think about it any more, but his hand unconsciously clenched the saber on his body.
"Boom!" At the third watch, the sound of the bell pierced the tranquility of the night.
In the small east courtyard of the inner courtyard of Ning Pingbo's mansion, several night-watching maids were awakened by the sound of the bell, and they didn't care about Wan's hair.
"Girl," Baolu entered the room first. Seeing the movement in the gauze tent, she almost ran to the bedside and said warmly, "Is the girl awake?"
The few maids who came in behind Baolu had already started lighting the lights and replacing some brightly colored things in the house. Their hands and feet were so brisk that people could not notice the slightest panic.
"Baolu, what happened?" Tuanhuajin was under the quilt, and a little girl about ten years old sat up slowly, hearing the bell still ringing, a little doubt appeared on her fair face.
Seeing her like this, Baolu knew that the girl had guessed what happened, and turned around and took the skirt that Muxiang brought to the girl to put on. Because she was worried that it would be too cold at night, she even added a shawl to her.
Soon another maid came around and put on her shoes and socks that were already warm. And because she was not old, the maid Qiuluo simply combed her hair into a simple bun, and used two silver ornaments to pin it in her hair, so she no longer used other cumbersome hair accessories.
Gu Rujiu sat on the brocade-covered stool and let several big maids take care of her personal affairs. It's a pity that the whole set of combing products that my mother specially ordered for herself a few days ago has not been used for the past year.
At this time, the death knell is tolling, and it is still ringing so many times. Except for the death of the emperor, who else has this etiquette specification
By the time she was about to go to the main house to meet her mother with the hand warmer in hand, the brightly colored things in her small courtyard had already been exchanged. With some regret, she looked up at the place where the red lanterns were originally hung. Although it was too late to change to other colored lanterns, the red lanterns had been taken down, so it looked a little empty.
Seeing this, she remembered her sister who had been married a few days ago, and pursed her lips, revealing two shallow dimples.
Seeing this, several big maids knew that the girl was reluctant to marry the big girl, but as maids, they were not easy to persuade them.
Madam has two sons and two daughters, the two sons and the eldest girl are much older than the girl, so they love the little girl very much. After the eldest girl gets married, it is natural for the girl to be reluctant.
The East Small Courtyard is not far from the main courtyard, and Gu Rujiu and his party arrived at the main courtyard not long after they left.
Yang was instructing the servants how to clean up the house, and when she saw her daughter come in, she quickly said, "Why did Jiujiu come here?" After speaking, she asked the servants to make warm tea, and then touched Gu Rujiu's hand to see if she was suffering. cold.
She was in her early thirties when she was pregnant with this daughter. When her daughter was born, although her eyebrows and eyes were better than those of the previous three children, she was thin and small, so she was always worried that the child would not survive, so she and the child's father gave her the nickname "Jiu Jiu". May she live a long and peaceful life.
Now that ten years have passed, the little baby at the time has grown hydrated and cute, and can no longer see the thinness and weakness of the year.
"Mother, eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law." Gu Rujiu greeted the three people in the room and smiled, "Don't worry, mother, when I came here, I was dressed thickly and wouldn't freeze."
Sister-in-law Chen and second sister-in-law Hu stood up and returned a half-salutation, then stepped forward and hugged Gu Rujiu and sat down together, and then began to touch her clothes. After confirming that what she said was true, they persuaded their mother-in-law, saying that this is also the case for my sister-in-law. Worrying about everyone, I unconsciously revealed a bit of love between words and deeds.
Seeing the aunt and sister-in-law like this, Mrs Yang said helplessly: "Forget it, let her stay here, no one can sleep right now."
After he finished speaking, he continued to arrange the trivial matters in the house, and occasionally asked the opinions of the two daughters-in-law, but he was busy.
Holding the tea, Gu Rujiu watched the three women manage the entire uncle's mansion in an orderly manner.
In less than an hour, everything that should be ordered has been arranged, and Mrs. Yang said to her daughter-in-law, "I don't know which palace the new emperor came from?"
The first emperor had no children, and the new emperor who succeeded him after his death could only inherit from the children of two brothers. Thinking that in order to have a child of his own, the late emperor not only postponed the succession of the clan's nephew, but also became obsessed with alchemy and immortality, believing in the nonsense of wandering magicians, thinking that he would have his own children, and Yang felt that the late emperor was a very unreasonable person. reliable.
Both Chen and Hu are daughters from aristocratic families, and they have also heard about political affairs. So not only the Yang family cares about this, but they are also curious.
Although the first emperor had died, the Queen Zhou was still there, so the selection of the new emperor would most likely fall on the queen.
To say that the Queen Zhou family still has some kind of kinship with them in Ningping Bofu. In terms of relationship, the old lady in the house and the queen's mother are sisters, so if they want to appear closer in private, they can call the queen a cousin.
Although the old lady had returned a hundred years ago, the blood relationship is still there. Otherwise, why did the father-in-law and their husbands rush into the palace an hour ago, because they were worried that the emperor would die and the queen would be bullied
When it comes to Queen Zhou, we have to mention her sturdy mother. Before entering the palace, the Zhou family had already married once, but who knew that the husband's family was not kind and would dare to take a concubine in private. After their aunt found out, she took someone to smash the door of the other party, not only let the other party come to apologize, but also recovered Zhou's dowry, so that the two could be separated.
Not long after Zhou Shihe left, when he was riding a horse and enjoying flowers with other women in Beijing, an expert suddenly asserted that she was "Feng Xiang nine days, and your price is indescribable."
So less than two months after the incident, the Zhou family was summoned to the palace by the emperor, who was initially named Zhaoyi, and gave birth to a pair of twins within two years. No wonder the late emperor was so unsteady, because among all his women, except for the Zhou family, no one else had the slightest bit of good news.
It's a pity that the good times did not last long, and the twins died one after another. In the end, everyone could only sigh with emotion, probably because the late emperor was destined to have no children.
With such an emperor on the stall, everyone's mood is also very complicated. Fortunately, although this emperor is a little confused in political affairs and a little unruly in personal life, he is not violent, so several big families in the capital did not make waves , maintaining a harmonious and stable Dafeng Dynasty.
"But now... what if there is chaos?" Hu shi frowned, not at all panicking about talking about the royal family.
Gu Rujiu, who was watching the lively next to him, understood in his heart that although noble families usually respect the royal family, they are not in awe. When they talk about the royal family's gossip behind closed doors, they are not merciful at all.
In fact, second- and third-rate families like them are not bad, like the Sima family and the Li family. , you can feel it without showing it. If it is an ordinary royal family, it is also polite in front of them, and there is no trace of the royal family.
Gu Rujiu had been in contact with the Sima family and the Li family. Generally speaking, they were the most complete etiquette textbooks in the Feng Dynasty. She has an average relationship with the girls from these two families, so it is inconvenient to express any opinions. She can only say that the girls from this family are not very close to each other.
Seeing that the three women in the house were a little worried, Gu Rujiu couldn't help but comforted her and said, "The two brothers of the late emperor... You can't make a mess if you want to."
The three women turned their heads to look at Gu Rujiu, and they didn't seem to think that Gu Rujiu would say this.
Stared at by three pairs of bright eyes, Gu Rujiu coughed dryly and said, "Prince Cheng has always been... soft, and his health has not been very good in recent years, and his fief is not rich, even if he is determined, he is powerless."
"You're right," Mr. Yang nodded. His daughter said that King Cheng is soft-hearted, which is already a very polite statement. In fact, this King Cheng is simply weak and incompetent. , If this man has the courage to rebel and fight for the throne, then it is simply a miracle of the Dafeng Dynasty.
"Prince Rui is physically disabled, it's even more impossible," Gu Rujiu blinked her eyes and smiled cutely, "and there are fathers and brothers in the capital who are helping my cousin and aunt to deal with it, how can there be chaos?"
Fortunately, although the late emperor was confused, he wasn't so confused that he had no brains, so he took all the sons of the two kings to the capital a few months ago. Although the two kings did not have too many children, they made up a total of five, which was a lot stronger than the previous emperor.
"You're right, if we care, it will be messed up." Seeing her daughter's smile, Yang's worry disappeared without a trace, "No matter who the new emperor is, it has nothing to do with us. related."
Half an hour later, someone came to report that the new emperor had been welcomed into the palace by the imperial guards.
The one who entered the palace was the eldest son of Prince Cheng.
"Prince Cheng's eldest son..." Mrs Yang sighed. This son was born to Prince Cheng's original wife, but it was a pity that Princess Cheng passed away prematurely, and the remaining two sons and three daughters of King Cheng were born from house filling and concubines.
She probably understood why the queen chose this son.
"The new emperor... is still young." The daughter of an aristocratic family has always been familiar with the relationship between the family, so Chen and Hu quickly remembered some of the circumstances of Prince Cheng's eldest son, and these words were meaningful.
Gu Rujiu heard these words in her ears, but she still had that sweet and innocent smile on her face, as if she didn't understand the deep meaning of those words.