On the first day of the new year, before dawn, Yufu got up to wash up.
Lianzhu, who is already married, also rushed back on this day to comb Yufu's official bun for worshiping the ancestral temple. Her hair combing skills are the best among the personal maids.
Lian Zhu, already dressed as a woman, stood in front of the mirror, combing her hair carefully, seeing that thick black hair cut to less than waist length, it was really shocking.
Thinking of Yaolan saying that Yufu had to cut off her long hair for the safety of the child in her womb, she felt endless admiration in her heart.
A woman is weak by nature, but a mother is strong. This saying is not false at all.
While combing her hair in a bun, she smiled and said some comforting words to Yu Fu, "Although your majesty's hair is much shorter, you can't see it when you put it up in a bun. This servant must dress up your majesty so that your majesty is dignified today." change."
Naturally, Yu Fu trusted her craftsmanship, and nodded with a smile upon hearing this, "Now you are a serious imperial court wife, you don't need to call yourself a servant anymore. You know the rules of the Palace of Eternal Life, so don't be too formal."
Lianzhu thought that since she had been away from the palace for a long time, Yufu would treat her a little less naturally, but she did not expect that she was still the same as before, treating them, these maids, very kindly.
When she was in the Bao Mansion, she often heard His Majesty's more vigorous and forceful words, and even the child in her womb had the heart to give up for the royal conquest. Only now that she saw it with her own eyes did she know that the rumors were not true.
Even if it is true, based on her understanding of Yufu, there must be a reason for the incident. Yufu is not such a cruel person. However, she never let her servants spread these rumors at home, and her parents-in-law and elders trusted and relied on her more because of this.
Lian Zhu glanced at her belly, and said: "Your Majesty's womb is a month old, and I'm afraid you'll feel uncomfortable when you go out. Why don't you change these heavy headgears, don't make Your Majesty too tired, how about it?"
Yu Fu still nodded, and said again: "You can subtract some, but I can't be rude. Because today I not only have to worship the ancestral temple, but also go to the cemetery of the fallen soldiers. The war has just ended, and the eyes of the subjects are all Look, I can't make them think it's a show of perfunctory."
After all, Lian Zhu had served her for a long time in the palace, she nodded solemnly when she heard this, "I understand."
Yao Lan came out of the room, just in time to hear their conversation, and said: "Your Majesty is pregnant, and today you have to walk so many ways to so many places, is there something wrong? Besides, it's snowing in this weather. It’s really worrying.”
Yufu looked at the bright window, and the panes paved with mother-of-pearl were the most light-transmitting panes, but today they are covered in darkness.
One can imagine how gloomy the sky is outside.
Lianzhu and Lianbi also looked out of the window when they heard this, with worried expressions on their faces.
Yu Fu's eyes turned back to the bronze mirror, and he turned his head slightly to look at it, quite satisfied, "Don't worry, I have my sense of proportion. Although the weather is cloudy, it can't stop people's hearts from being sunny. The war has been decided, and the new year must be sunny year. What's more..."
She lowered her head and stroked her tall belly, "This child has gone through too many tests, and he has persisted. Now that everything is settled, can he not even stand this little test?"
That's true.
Back then, even Yuehu said that no matter how worried she was, the child would be lost. Before Yu Jia's personal conquest, she herself planned to give up the child, but the child persisted in the end.
Yao Lan happily said: "If you say this, you must be a little prince, healthy and lively! When you grow up, you can be literate and martial, and you are better than your majesty and the eldest son!"
After hearing this, Yu Fu glanced at her, "Could it be that only a little prince can be healthy and lively, capable of writing and martial arts?"
Lianbi smiled and said: "Yes, wouldn't it be great if a little princess is like Your Majesty? Apart from not knowing martial arts, what point is our Majesty not as good as a man?"
As he talked, he flattered again.
Seeing that Lian Zhu had combed her hair, Yu Fu helped her to stand up, "Okay, it's almost time, let's go."
…
When Yujia went outside the cemetery in the suburbs of Beijing, he saw the words Mausoleum of Heroes engraved on the top of the tall stone gate.
Throughout the ages, only royal family members or prominent families can build mausoleums. This is the first time that the imperial court built cemeteries for ordinary soldiers in person.
The decree made by Yufu himself is more and more loved by the people.
Therefore, some soldiers who died in battle who could not find their families, even if their families found them later, did not want to move their remains back to their hometowns for reburial, and even did not want the money for compensation.
Thinking of my son Lang being able to lie in the mausoleum hand-picked by His Majesty, this honor is more precious than any amount of silver.
On both sides of the stone gate stood tall black pillars, with two lines of writing, civil officials got off their sedan chairs and military officials got off their horses. This is also the meaning of Yufu, which is intended to show respect for heroes.
All the ministers got off their sedan chairs and horses one after another, but the imperial sedan chair also stopped, and the beauty in plain clothes with her belly bulging slowly came out of the imperial chariot.
Tian Yunpo and Zhang Jiuque stood at the head of the officials. Seeing this, they hurriedly stepped forward to persuade, "Your Majesty is inconvenient, so it is better not to get out of the sedan chair. You come to worship in person to express your sorrow, why bother to get out of the sedan chair in person? If there is a mistake , How can the ministers be worthy of the late emperor's spirit in heaven?"
"Yes, all the officials can get off the sedan chair and get off the horse. Your Majesty is pregnant and it is not suitable for walking around. Please go back to the sedan chair!"
Yufu put one hand on the back of Yaolan's hand and the other on his waist, and said to the two of them with a smile: "These soldiers all died for my Beili to protect the land and protect the country. Since I came to worship in person, I didn't take a sedan chair And the reason for entering. The two adults don’t need to persuade you anymore, just follow me into the garden.”
After she finished speaking, she walked towards the garden along the stone path.
Gu Hanmo followed her step by step, and gave Tian Yunpo a reassuring look. With his skill, even if Yufu falls down, he can support her immediately.
The Imperial Forest Army quickly spread out along both sides of the stone gate and surrounded the entire cemetery to ensure the safety of Yufu and the ministers.
The moment Yu Fu lifted her foot into the cemetery, she suddenly saw a piece of whiteness slipping from her eyes, and then heard Yao Lan exclaim softly, "It's snowing, quickly put up the canopy!"
The canopy prepared for entering the garden is light blue, which contrasts with the plain palace attire of Yufu, showing the mournful meaning of the sacrifice.
She continued to walk towards the mausoleum, and what she saw was a dense array of tombstones, neatly lined up in an army queue, just like when they were still alive.
There are tall figurines standing on both sides of the sacrificial altar. The decorations on their bodies are exactly the same as the armors in the army. They are all lifelike, as if those heroes are still alive in the world.
Seeing these figurines, Yu Fu found them very familiar, and couldn't help turning to Tian Yunpo, "These... were made by the grand master?"
These figurines reminded her of the puppet Tian Yunpo gave her.
Tian Yunpo's face was reddish, and he cupped his hands and said: "The people of Qin Tianjian said that some soldiers whose bodies were sunk in the sea and could not be found, in order to let their dead souls find peace, they need to cast new bodies for them. This is a trivial matter, and the people in my own mansion will do it for me."
Yu Fu nodded with a smile, "It's still the grand master who has considered it carefully, I hope the souls of heroes and martyrs can attach to it and enjoy the incense and offerings in the cemetery."
After finishing speaking, she walked to the copper tripod, Yao Lan handed over three sticks of incense sticks, and Yu Fu bowed respectfully three times before inserting the incense sticks into the copper tripod.
The snow fell harder and harder.
When Yu Fu took the paper money and burned it in the cauldron, he saw that one of the incense sticks had been extinguished by the snow, and hurriedly said, "Bring more incense sticks."
"yes."
Yao Lan hurriedly offered incense to the palace servants behind, while Gu Hanmo, who was standing behind Yu Fu, took a step back to avoid her.
At this moment, suddenly a gust of wind blew up, and the half-burned paper money in the copper tripod flew towards Yufu. She subconsciously turned sideways to avoid it, but the wooden floor next to the altar was already wet and slippery from the snow, her foot became unsteady, and she fell to the ground!
At the moment there were only three people on the altar, Yao Lan went to the back to get incense, Gu Hanmo stayed away from her because of avoidance, and the rest of the officials were under the altar, seeing this scene felt powerless.
In desperation, Yufu stretched out his hand and waved it in the air, trying to grab something to ease the force of his fall. Her fingertips touched the figurines beside the altar, but she didn't catch anything, and then she fell to the ground.
Boom!
With a dull sound, Gu Hanmo flew up when he realized that she had fallen, but only grabbed a corner of her clothes, and watched her fall to the ground.
"His Majesty!"
"His Majesty!"
People from all directions rushed towards her like a tide, but the voice in Yu Fu's ears was already blurred. At the end when she lost consciousness, she saw the faces of the soldiers and figurines. The faces of the figurines turned into smiling faces, and then turned into the faces of many soldiers she had seen. Those faces were all smiling, so simple and fearless.
At that moment, Yu Fu also showed a smile, and then completely lost consciousness...
The snow did not stop for a whole day.
The officials transferred from the Mausoleum of Heroes to the palace, and each of them reluctantly returned from the palace to their respective residences. In the Gu residence, Gu Hanmo had already knelt in the courtyard in the snow for an hour.
He was as motionless as a stone sculpture, with a straight back, but his head was drooping, and his body was covered with white snowflakes.
Qi Zhou passed by the corridor and saw him kneeling motionless in the snow, feeling distressed and worried. He seemed to want to say something, but he opened his mouth but still didn't speak. He just returned to the upper room with hot tea.
"Master..."
Gu Huaijiang was sitting at the top, Gu Jiuge and others were in the room, no one dared to speak, and only looked worriedly at the courtyard from time to time.
As soon as Qi Zhou opened his mouth, Gu Huaijiang knew what he was going to say, glanced over, and swallowed Qi Zhou's words.
Gu Jiuge and others have already tried to persuade him, but it didn't work, so what's the use of Qi Zhou as a servant
He sighed silently, and changed the tea for everyone. This was the third tea change today, and they didn't intend to leave yet.
Naturally, Gu Huaijiang did not intend to make Gu Hanmo wake up.
The sound of chariots and horses came from outside the gate of the mansion, Qi Zhou hurriedly greeted him, only to see Li Ming and Li Tu siblings rushing in, seeing a white stone sculpture kneeling in the courtyard, Li Tu's eyes turned red instantly.
She rushed to Gu Hanmo's side all of a sudden, "Brother Gu, are you okay? Move around, don't scare me!"
Li Ming took a look at the hall, and helplessly stepped forward to tug on Li Tu, and whispered something in her ear, Li Tu reluctantly stood up.
The two siblings entered the hall and saluted Gu Huaijiang.
"I've seen Master Gu."
Gu Huaijiang does not have a royal title, but his status is noble, and most people in the Beili court still call him Marquis Gu according to his title in Dongling.
Gu Huaijiang knew the purpose of his brother and sister's visit, so he just nodded, "Since you're here, let's sit down and have a cup of hot tea."
"No, Lord Marquis, you don't have to be polite. On the first day of the new year, my brother and sister came here uninvited. It's already very rude."
Li Ming was very humble and polite in front of Gu Huaijiang, and did not dare to make mistakes, but Li Tu was not as polite as him, she only thought about Gu Hanmo in her heart, and couldn't help it for a moment.
"Uncle Gu, just ask Third Brother Gu to get up! It's snowing so much, he will freeze to death kneeling in the snow, can you just let him get up?"
Liming hurriedly tore at the corner of her clothes quietly.
He was thinking about how to intercede for Gu Hanmo, and he didn't want Li Tu to say it out loud, but what qualifications did the two brothers and sisters have to make such a request to Gu Huaijiang
In terms of status, Liming is still Gu Hanmo's subordinate. In terms of relationship, Li Tu is not the daughter-in-law of the Gu family, and has no right to dictate the family affairs of the Gu family.
What if Gu Huaijiang hated her because of this and refused to let Gu Hanmo marry her
No, no, no, Li Tu must not be allowed to continue talking!
Li Tu didn't even look at Li Ming, he resolutely shook off his hand, and looked at Gu Huaijiang with red eyes, "Uncle Gu, please don't punish him again, okay? He came back from Taicheng with injuries that haven't healed yet. What if the heavy snow freezes? Uncle Gu, he is also your son."
Gu Huaijiang glanced at her, his eyes made people unable to distinguish emotions, whether it was disgust or something else.
The more he couldn't see it, the more sweat he felt in Li Ming's heart.
Taking advantage of Gu Huaijiang's silence, he hurriedly cupped his hands and apologized, "Master Gu, it's my sister who made a slip of the tongue, please don't argue with her. She suffered from a brain injury when she was young, and she is mentally incomplete. I don't mean to offend you. Also please adults don’t count the faults of villains.”
After finishing speaking, he turned to Li Tu, and said in the harshest tone he could to Li Tu: "Tu Tu, hurry up and apologize to Master Gu. You are a junior, how can you be so rude?"
Li Tu wept aggrievedly, and then raised her hand to wipe it away with her sleeves. Just when everyone thought she would continue to intercede for Gu Hanmo, they saw her lift up her skirt and knelt down.
She bowed respectfully to Gu Huaijiang, "This junior was rude, please don't be angry, Uncle Gu, this junior apologized to you."
Gu Huaijiang's complexion changed, he didn't expect Li Tu to be so well-behaved and sensible.
Gu Jiuge and the others knew Li Tu's thoughts on Gu Hanmo, so they couldn't help being surprised that she gave up so easily and stopped persuading Gu Huaijiang to forgive Gu Hanmo.
At this moment, Li Tu stood up from the ground, walked towards the courtyard suddenly, and knelt down squarely beside Gu Hanmo.
Li Ming's eyebrows twitched. He knew how bad Li Tu's physique was. For a martial arts practitioner like Gu Hanmo, even if he knelt in the snow for a day, it might not be a serious problem, but Li Tu might get cold if he knelt for half an hour. .
He has cherished this younger sister since he was a child, and when he saw this, he hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him to get up, Li Tu couldn't help it.
"Brother, I've already apologized to Uncle Gu. I'm just kneeling here with him, so I shouldn't offend Uncle Gu, right? Just let me kneel with him, okay? Don't stop me."
Her eyes were red and her nose was red from the cold. She really looked like a rabbit.
Gu Hanmo, who was kneeling like a stone sculpture, finally moved, and turned his head slightly to look at her, "Be obedient, go back."
"I don't!"
Li Tu refused, and moved his knees, getting closer to him, trying to give him some heat with his own body temperature.
Li Ming helplessly raised his voice, "Tutu!"
Everyone in the hall saw the three of them entangled in the snow, Gu Jiuge looked at Gu Huaijiang, and tentatively said, "Father, the third brother has been kneeling for so long, please forgive him? If he suffers from any illness, who will come?" Leading the Imperial Forest Army to protect Yufu?"
Gu Huaijiang finally said, "Will he be able to protect Yufu when he is here? Knowing that the snow is wet and slippery, he followed Yufu closely, but she still fell down. What's the use of such a commander of the Imperial Forest Army?"
He said, looking at Li Ming in the courtyard, "It's better that this son of the Li family looks more appropriate. It's better to protect her for my father than to let her fall into the snow while pregnant! "
After saying this, he was obviously angry, Gu Jiuge lowered his head, and felt that Gu Huaijiang seemed to be blaming not only Gu Hanmo, but also the brothers.
"Father, don't blame third brother, he doesn't want Yufu to fall."
Su Yunyan supported her stomach and stood up. Now she is the only one in the family who dares to persuade Gu Huaijiang in anger. Gu Huaijiang saw that she was pregnant, so naturally he would not refute her words.
He finally stood up, snorted and walked to the back room.
Su Yunyan tiptoed to confirm that he had gone in, and hurriedly waved Gu Yi out to help Gu Hanmo up, "Hurry up, hurry up, pour the ginger soup down for third brother!"