"Do you know if it's just our house that was besieged?" Shen Xinyan asked.
"It's not just our mansion, all the mansions on this street are surrounded, presumably it's just to trap the people in each mansion, and they are not allowed to enter and leave at will."
Shen Xinyan breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it's fine for her to worry about other things.
Fortunately, Wei Chengzhao and other juniors returned to the mansion early in the morning, which made people feel relieved.
There were changes in the court, and this night was destined to be a night of injustice.
"Second sister-in-law, what happened? How did I hear that officers and soldiers surrounded our house?" Mrs. Yang walked over in a hurry, her forehead was still dripping with sweat.
"I don't know either. Now the officers and soldiers are just besieging the mansion, and they don't have any other actions. It should be fine for the time being." Shen Xinyan replied.
Yang frowned: "It's really an eventful year. There has been no time for people to relax this year. With the officers and soldiers besieging the mansion, is it possible that the man in the palace is about to change?"
She said the last sentence in a low voice.
"Be careful that the wall has ears." Shen Xinyan made a gesture to silence her, and shook her head in disapproval. Seeing that Mrs. Yang patted her mouth and smiled apologetically, she said slowly, "The one in the palace It's not our turn to take care of things, just wait with peace of mind."
"Recently, I've been in a lot of ups and downs in my heart. I finally had a happy event today. I haven't had time to catch my breath. There's trouble outside again!" Yang sighed.
"When the father and son come back, let's hold a lively wedding for brother Zhao, and wash away all the bad luck and bad luck." Shen Xinyan said with a smile.
Seeing that she looked relaxed, she didn't seem to worry about the outside affairs at all, unconsciously, Yang's whole body also relaxed a lot, and said with a smile: "So, let Brother Zhao come to kowtow to his second aunt some other day .”
"You are the most shrewd. After receiving his gift, I will go all out and make a big fight for him!" Shen Xinyan joked.
Yang smiled happily: "It's not just a big event, your second aunt's gift can't be light!"
"Oh, I dare you to ask for a congratulatory gift for Brother Zhao!" Shen Xinyan joked.
The two chatted and laughed for a while, Yang took his reassurance and left.
Shen Xinyan thought for a while, afraid that the eldest princess would be worried, so she turned to the eldest princess.
When I entered, I didn't see the Eldest Princess. I asked the maid, and I knew that the Eldest Princess had gone to the small Buddhist hall. She simply found the small Buddhist hall again, and waited until the Eldest Princess had finished chanting, and then stepped forward to help her up.
"You've been tired all day too. You should go back and rest earlier. I'm old. I haven't seen such a storm. When the late emperor ascended the throne, the capital was full of blood and blood. Tonight, the officers and soldiers just gave our mansion It's nothing if you're surrounded."
"It's good for them to be around! It means that they have no intention of hurting us, and they don't want us to get involved in the incident. If you want to come to the mansions of the princes and ministers who are famous in the court, they are all besieged." The Grand Duke said seat, said calmly.
"After all, my mother is well-informed, unlike my daughter-in-law. What Zi Yan said just now almost scared me out of my soul." Shen Xinyan sighed.
The eldest princess smiled lightly and patted the back of her hand, and said kindly: "Go back! The sky will fall and there will be a tall man to support it. We are just women. Even if we want to do things outside, we are powerless. Why worry about it?" Let yourself be insecure."
Shen Xinyan said that she agreed, and helped her back to the room, and after she and the maid waited for her to wash up, she left.
But she didn't go back to her room, but turned around to see her little grandson again. Seeing the little baby sleeping soundly, she couldn't help poking the little red face with her fingertips.
Being promoted to grandma, this feeling is too novel, as if not long ago her daughter was a coquettish, impulsive and extremely protective little girl. She still remembers that the little girl was like a raging tiger cub, protecting Yun Yun to death. Fu did not allow people to drive him away.
In the blink of an eye, the little girl has grown up, married and had children.
Her mind was all on the baby in the swaddle, and naturally she paid less attention to the bloody storm outside, and her heart gradually calmed down.
When Chunliu found her, she realized that she had sat like this for almost a night.
"Ma'am is really easy to find. The fourth aunt is awake and wants to see the child!" Chunliu said helplessly.
Shen Xinyan stood up and rubbed her sore shoulders, and Chunliu hurried forward to massage her when she saw this.
Naturally, the nanny who followed in carried the child out.
"Has Ying'er eaten before?" Shen Xinyan asked.
"I've used it, and I'm hungry when I wake up."
"What's going on outside? Any news?" Shen Xinyan asked again.
"All the doors in the mansion are tightly locked, and people have been arranged to keep an eye on the movement outside the door. At this moment, there is no unusual noise, but the officers and soldiers are still tightly surrounded, and there is nothing else."
However, when the sky turned pale, the officers and soldiers outside the mansion quietly withdrew, Shen Xinyan's tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and immediately ordered people to go outside to find out what happened.
"I heard that some traitors broke into the palace with the intention of forcing the palace. I don't think His Majesty has made sufficient preparations to catch all the thieves and put them in the prison." The guards who went to inquire about the news came back soon. Simply the way it happened.
"Yesterday, the Weifu was indeed someone from the government?" Shen Xinyan asked.
"It is indeed from the government." The guard replied.
Shen Xinyan let him go down without asking any more questions.
In the palace, Emperor Yuanyou sat on the throne with an ugly face, and his expression eased a little until Qiao Liu came in and reported that he had arrested all the remnants of King Cheng.
"Is there any fish that escaped the net?" He asked worriedly.
"Not one left."
Emperor Yuanyou nodded, then sneered and said: "As a child of the royal family, for his own selfishness, he actually colluded with foreign enemies, harmed the court, and caused nothing to the common people. Even if such a person dies a hundred times, it is not enough!"
No wonder Rong Di was able to quickly capture two cities in the early days. King Cheng was a general in those days and had a certain understanding of the imperial court's border defense arrangements.
Fortunately, he didn't know much, so after Rongdi attacked two cities in a row, the attack had slowed down when he reached the third city.
"I won't let them go this time, unless their heads fall to the ground!"
These are all the hidden dangers left by cutting the weeds and not eradicating the roots. This time he will dig out all the cancerous tumors!
He took a deep breath and asked Heizi on the other side: "How is Zhou Mao's injury?"
"The wound was deep but not life-threatening."
"It's thanks to him protecting me in time this time, otherwise my life would be over!" Emperor Yuanyou felt a little lucky.
Qiao Liu raised his eyebrows, secretly thinking that Zhou Mao is indeed a smart and decisive person, no wonder Wei Junhang's cunning never dared to underestimate him.
Empress Zhou colluded with Prince Cheng's son in an attempt to force the palace. This is a serious crime for punishing the nine clans, but Zhou Mao has firmly drawn a clear line from them from the beginning, and now when the Zhou mansion is about to be liquidated, it has set a rescue plan. The power of driving.
With this great contribution, at least he kept one room.
Such a fine person, clear-headed, decisive in dealing with things, and loyal to His Majesty, even though His Majesty hates the surname Zhou to the extreme, he always shows mercy to him.
It's a pity that such a smart person has too many people holding him back, including his biological father, aunt, brother, and even his wife and daughter.
Otherwise, with his talent, how could he only be resigned to the position of Honglu Siqing, and he has been sitting there for so many years without moving a bit.
In the days that followed, Shen Xinyan received daily reports of which officials were thrown out of office and sent to prison, and which ones had their homes ransacked. Among them, there was the former Zhou Shoufu and his two legitimate sons and two concubine sons.
It can be said that except for Zhou Mao, the eldest son of a concubine, no one in the Zhou family was spared, even including Queen Zhou in the palace.
Also implicated were Fang's and Fang Birong's natal family, Pinglianghou Mansion.
Looking at Fang who desperately kowtowed to the eldest princess and asked her to intercede for her natal family, Shen Xinyan's eyes were a little complicated.
Fang soon saw her, cried and rushed over, grabbed her skirt and said: "Second brother and sister, all the mistakes in the past are my fault, and I have no face to ask you to forgive me, I just ask you to forgive me." The imperial concubine said a few good words, at least my father's life was spared, please..."
While talking, he kowtowed to Shen Xinyan.
Shen Xinyan quickly grabbed her to prevent her from knocking again: "Sister-in-law, don't do this, the imperial concubine is a woman in the deep palace, how can she interfere with the affairs of the previous court."
"Just ask her to say a few good words to His Majesty on behalf of my father, and save her life." Fang said hurriedly.
"If it's something else, it's okay for me to risk my face to find the imperial concubine, but now that it involves treason, His Majesty looks like he intends to deal with it severely, but it's hard to talk." Shen Xinyan said awkwardly.
The eldest princess sighed and said: "Mr. Chen is right. Your Majesty is at the time when he is furious. Wouldn't it be a gunshot to plead at this time? Don't worry too much, your father is just in jail, unlike Those next to him were either beheaded, exiled, or ransacked, so it can be seen that his crimes are not serious, and His Majesty will not want to take his life."
"Really?" Fang asked with tears in her eyes, her lips trembling.
"Mother, why lie to you, get up quickly, it would be bad if the children saw it." Shen Xinyan helped her up.
Relying on her strength, Fang stood up, murmuring things like "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay" all the time, and he didn't know whether he wanted to convince others or himself.
Shen Xinyan felt a little sympathetic, it is really not a blessing to have such a relative with limited talents and knowledge but unwilling to be inferior to others.
She thought, Fang's family is the only real smart person in Pinglianghou's family.
The Great Reckoning began in the former court and the harem, and countless people were disposed of every day. All of a sudden, people in the court and the opposition were panicked, especially those officials who survived, who were grateful that they had saved themselves, but also inevitably sad.
After this time, the ministers in the court went to five or two, and seeing those courtiers who had some kind of friendship, or who always liked tit-for-tat disappeared from the golden hall, the rest could be said to have mixed feelings and felt sorry for them. Qi Ran.
Emperor Yuanyou stared at Empress Zhou, who was sitting slumped on the ground and could no longer see half of her former grace, and said in a calm and unhurried manner: "For the sake of the little affection in the past, I will leave your whole body today."
"Really? I really have to thank Your Majesty Long En for this." After experiencing the fear that night, when the moment of death came, Empress Zhou breathed a sigh of relief.
Whether it is life or death has become a certainty, and it is useless for her to worry about it.
However, when she saw the undisguised disgust on Emperor Yuanyou's face, her heart still trembled.
If she had honestly married into Prince Cheng's mansion back then, and didn't think about those people who didn't belong to her, would the ending be different today
"I forgot to tell you, the man you served for, I have already ordered people to cut him into five horses, and accused him of colluding with foreign enemies, leading Rongdi people into the customs and other crimes, and now they are the king of Cheng. There is no peace after death."
"No, I was wrong. They are no longer members of the royal family. The emperor's uncle has officially expelled them from the clan! Now they are just lonely ghosts with no roots. If you walk faster, you can still be with them now." That person will be a pair of mandarin ducks with the same fate."
Queen Zhou's face turned pale, and she tried to look at him with her eyes open. The man in front of her, who was full of murderous intent and hated her so much, was really the one she wanted to marry when she abandoned Prince Cheng
Even though she did have a desire for power when she married him back then, she also had a feeling of admiration.
"Come here, give the Zhou family a three-foot white silk!" Emperor Yuanyou didn't want to see her anymore, turned around and ordered loudly.
As soon as the words were finished, the servant who had been waiting outside the hall walked in with the neatly folded white silk in both hands.
Empress Zhou's face was ashen, but she just asked unwillingly: "After all these years, is it possible that you have no half affection for me?"
"No! If it wasn't for your design back then, I wouldn't have accepted you in at all." Emperor Yuanyou replied indifferently, after finishing speaking, he raised his foot and strode out of the hall.
"Please have a funeral for the Empress!" The servant's shrill voice sounded in the hall, and Empress Zhou looked desperately at the figure who was getting further and further away from her. He stared intently at the direction where the person disappeared outside the hall.
Breathing became more and more difficult, and she finally struggled violently, grabbing the white silk around her neck with both hands, as if she wanted to tear it apart, but the strength in her body gradually failed.
Consciousness became more and more dissipated, and in a trance, she saw the tenderness and sweetness of the pair of Bi people in the Bibo Pavilion, accompanied by the piano and flute, lingering on them, even if she was far away, she could still feel deeply. to feel.
She thought enviously, if only that person could treat her like this.
But the next moment, the scene of Prince Cheng lying in a pool of blood appeared in front of her eyes again, and she murmured again: Wrong, everything was wrong, she shouldn't be greedy for things that didn't belong to her back then, but You should live well to manage your own happiness...
After a long time, her hand holding Bai Ling finally dropped powerlessly.
"The Queen's Empress is dead!" Not long after, the servant's voice rang out.
Concubine Rui stood by the window, staring into the distance in a daze, lost in thought. When the news of the empress' funeral came, she just said "Got it" lightly. out.
dead? Either way, living is just a kind of torture, it would be better to die.
She knew that she should be happy, since then this harem has truly become her world, and the imperial decree enshrining her as a queen is placed in the imperial study, and it has been there for so many years.
Perhaps, she thought, she should have let the decree be opened long ago.
The battle between her and Zhou's ended in her overall victory.
But did she really win? What did she get? Empress? Countless glory and wealth? She hooked the corners of her mouth bitterly, and raised her hand to gently cover her eyes.
These eyes, which are said to be as clear as a child's, have already become extremely cloudy after so many killings. Even those insidious means, she also used them with perfect proficiency.
"Ma'am, Master Hou has a letter!"
She was stunned, and the indifference on her body was swept away immediately: "Take it and let me have a look."
She thought that no matter whether the road in the second half of her life was bumpy or not, she would go on without hesitation, for the people she cared about.
When the door of the British government opened again, it was already the time when the army was about to return to the court.
The mansion swept away the dullness of the past and became beaming. From the eldest princess to the ordinary sweeping maids, they all stretched their necks and waited for the return of the master of the mansion.
"Where are people? Why haven't you come back yet?" The eldest princess waited and waited, but her son and eldest grandson did not return, and she became anxious for a while.
"It's still early, it's still early, now I just entered the city gate, and I still have to enter the palace, I'm afraid it will take a while before I can return to the mansion." Wei Chengyue, who had gone out to find out the news, ran back quickly, and when he heard her ask , quickly answered.
The Eldest Princess could only suppress the restlessness in her heart, and let Shen Xinyan help her into the room and sit down.
"The last time I looked forward to the return of their father and son was many years ago." The princess's face was full of nostalgia, but the expressions of Shen Xinyan, Yang Shi and others present changed slightly.
Because they all knew that this father and son definitely did not refer to Wei Junhang and Wei Chenglin, because it was the first time Wei Chenglin led the army to go out on an expedition, and it could never have happened many years ago.
Shen Xinyan and Yang looked at each other, and they both saw worry in each other's eyes.
Obviously the eldest princess has recovered a lot during this period of time, and she has never been confused again, but she did not expect to do it again today.
"Brother Lin has achieved this achievement in killing the enemy for the first time, and he is no worse than his uncle in the past. He really deserves to be brought up by his grandfather." Yang paused and said with a smile.
"Not bad, this kid is up-to-date, and he doesn't think he has failed his grandfather's hard work for many years." The eldest princess smiled and nodded repeatedly.
Shen Xinyan and Yang looked at each other again.
This is... back again
The eldest princess didn't know what the two of them were thinking, and she turned around cheerfully to tease the great-grandson Wei Yingzhi had just brought in.
At this time, Wei Junhang was also eager to return home, and he didn't pay much attention to Emperor Yuanyou's question at all. The same was true for Wei Chenglin who was beside him. Seeing that Emperor Yuanyou was angry and funny, he finally waved his hand helplessly: "That's all. Forget it, you father and son can go back to the mansion, and my aunt will be waiting impatiently."
The two hurriedly saluted and retreated. After exiting the hall, they saw Zhou Mao walking towards him under the leadership of the servant.
Zhou Mao also saw them, paused in his footsteps, and said indifferently: "Congratulations to the Duke and the son for their return from victory."
"Thank you very much!" Wei Junhang replied politely as if he didn't feel his indifference.
On the contrary, Wei Chenglin showed a bit of hesitation on his face, and with a bit of unconcealable guilt, he bowed his hands respectfully: "Lord Zhou."
Zhou Mao only glanced at him, without saying anything, strode into the hall.
It is very difficult for him to treat the Wei family father and son with a normal heart, especially when thinking of his daughter who is equivalent to being under house arrest in the mansion, his heart is bleeding.
Today's events were all caused by Wei Chenglin, if it wasn't for him, why would my daughter end up like this!
He took a deep breath, suppressed the resentment in his stomach, and knelt down towards Emperor Yuanyou on the throne: "Chen Zhou Mao, see Your Majesty!"
On the way out of the palace, Wei Junhang looked at his son beside him, as if he could understand his thoughts, for a moment, he reached out to pat his shoulder, but he didn't say a word.
Feeling his father's silent comfort, Wei Chenglin immediately dissipated the inexplicable feelings in his heart, and called softly: "Father."
"Go back, your grandmother and mother are still waiting for us!"
"Um."
As for the matter between the eldest son and the girl from the Zhou family, it has long been difficult to tell which is right and which is wrong. Zhou's daughter is at fault, but is the eldest son not at fault? In the final analysis, it's just whose children are loved by others.
And he, after all, is just a selfish father.
"The Duke is back, the prince is back! The prince is back, the prince is back!" The shouts of joy from the servants spread layer after layer, and Shen Xinyan in the room suddenly got up. I didn't care about it anymore, and rushed out with quick steps.
On the contrary, it was Yang who smiled and helped the princess up, and supported her to follow behind Shen Xinyan.
Shen Xinyan stood on the porch, looking out the door excitedly, until a pair of men in armor gradually appeared in the distance, her eyes finally turned red, and she stared closely at the man walking in front.
The man's steps were steady but a little impatient, as if he saw her, he staggered, but fortunately the person beside him helped him, but the next moment, he pushed away the arm that was supporting him and slowed down his steps He stepped further and walked over eagerly.
Wei Chenglin looked at his father who was walking faster and faster, then looked at his grandmother and mother who were looking forward to it in the corridor, pressed his lips tightly, and then quickly followed his father's figure away.
"Mother, the unfilial son Junhang is back!" Wei Junhang walked up to the eldest princess, knelt down with a 'plop', and said in a choked voice.
With tears streaming down her face and trembling hands, the eldest princess went to help him: "Okay, it's good when you're back, it's good when you're back!"