The Gilded Cage

Chapter 18: If Yu Niang's niece does not return to the palace, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince may be held responsible

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"Niang Yu didn't know that His Majesty was coming, and she never avoided it. Please forgive your sins."

In front of the tall horse, she leaned forward and bent over, the corners of the concubine-colored ru skirt fell to the ground, and the front was slightly open as if inadvertently, just revealing a looming deep groove.

Xiao Kezhi stared blankly at the strange woman in front of him, frowning slightly when his eyes slid across her deliberately exposed chest.

"Who are you?"

Zhao Yu'e raised her head slightly, showing a charming smile that she had practiced countless times in front of the bronze mirror, and whispered: "Yu Niang's elder brother is the current general Zhao Lun of the state, and Yu Niang returned to Chang'an soon, your Majesty has indeed never seen her. "

"Yeah." Xiao Kezhi's eyes swept across the group of powerful servants and servants behind her, and he paused slightly when he passed the street corner.

"Since you haven't seen it before, how did you recognize me?"

When he spoke, although his expression was still grim, he did not show anger. He only taught people to not understand their minds. On the contrary, his horse seemed to be a little impatient due to the long pause.

Zhao Yu'e was born in a family of military commanders. Facing the restless steed, she never changed her face, stood still, still stood firmly, smiled and said: "Your Majesty is born extraordinary, handsome and handsome, even if you wear a low profile, you are still very arrogant, jade. When my mother sees it, she doesn't dare to think of others."

Her words of compliment were very natural, as if they were all from the heart, but the people listening on the side were a little uncomfortable.

Even Jin Jiang, who didn't say a word and only acted solemnly, gave this lady a special look.

Dressed so delicately, she recognized His Majesty at a glance, and she deliberately bowed her head and bare her chest in front of the horse. Almost everyone present had already seen her purpose, but she was still so calm and unafraid. In the huge Chang'an City There are really all kinds of people.

He couldn't help shivering, and turned around to see Xiao Kezhi's reaction.

Xiao Kezhi was not surprised by her remarks, but just tightened the reins in his hand, raised his chin, and said, "Since you know it's me, why don't you move away?"

Zhao Yu'e was a little stunned. I don't know why he suddenly turned the conversation, and couldn't help but look condensed. After a moment of stunned, he straightened up and gestured to the servants behind him.

The huge team slowly stepped aside, leaving the wide road a small half of the distance.

Xiao Kezhi led the guards away quickly, and continued to walk in the direction of Yanxi Gate. Without hesitation, Zhao Yu'e was left alone, staring at his back with complicated eyes, until the maid Chunyan by his side asked carefully, and did not start again. Get on the carriage.

"Ma'am, do we still want to go to the temple?" Chunyan looked at her not so good face, hesitated for a moment, and asked softly.

"People have seen it, what are you going to do in the temple?" Zhao Yu'e said coldly, and slowly leaned onto the cushion in the carriage, rested her forehead with one hand, and took a nap, her delicate makeup face no longer had any tenderness like water. .

She went out today because of Xiao Kezhi.

Earlier, someone sent her the news that he was going to the military camp on the outskirts of the city today, and she deliberately appeared on his way back to the city, trying to test the emperor's depth.

Before returning to Chang'an, she had asked her brother to go to Ganzhou for a long time to inquire about the new emperor's past. woman.

She had seen a lot of such people in her father's army when she was in her boudoir in the past. They were all calm and calm on the surface, resolute and ruthless, but in reality they were the least provocative.

But seeing this new prince today seems to be a little different, and I don't know what kind of person he is...

On the other side, since Xiao Kezhi left, he kept pursing his lips and said nothing.

Zhao Yu'e's intention just now was very clear, even if he didn't want to bother to understand it at all, he already knew it clearly.

However, he didn't care what Zhao Yu'e had just done, what he wanted to know was why she appeared in front of him.

He is not yet married, and there are not a few noble girls in Beijing who want to marry into the Taiji Palace, but because of the Qi family, they dare not be too straightforward, but the Zhao family is different from them, there must be some reason for this.

Is it just because I heard the wind in the middle

He thought for a while, glanced at Jin Jiang beside him, and said, "You secretly arrange some people to go to Bozhou to check on Zhao Lun's recent situation, if you can find out about his father's previous tenure in office. also may."

When Jin Jiang heard the words, he straightened his back immediately, and answered "Hey" with a solemn face. He just kept silent all the way, and did not continue the recent changes in the city defense that he was talking about when he came back.

After following Xiao Kezhi for many years, he has already figured out his temperament. Although his face is expressionless now, he is probably thinking about what happened just now and should not be disturbed, so he has been waiting for orders.

"As for the others—" Xiao Kezhi looked up at the nearby Yanxi Gate, slowly tightened the reins and made the horse stop again, "Let's let someone tell us about the appearance of the Zhao family's wife on my way back to the palace today. To Zimu."

This kind of thing doesn't need him to bother, it's someone who should handle it.

Jin Jiang was stunned when he heard it, and it took a long while to realize that he was going to use the Qi family's hand to solve this woman, so he nodded quickly, keeping everything in his heart.

However, looking at the nearby Yanxi Gate, he couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, don't you just go back to the palace?"

The corners of Xiao Kezhi's tightly pursed lips moved slightly, then returned to their original state. He simply turned over and dismounted, and said, "I'll wait a moment. You guys stand to the side."

At the intersection, Chu Ning's carriage drove out slowly after the two groups of people had already left.

At this moment, she was sitting in the carriage, thinking about what she had just seen.

The distance was so far apart that she couldn't hear what the two of them said, so she could only guess from Zhao Yu'e's back and Xiao Kezhi's indistinct expression.

She was almost certain that Zhao Yu'e, like her, wanted to take the initiative to approach Xiao Kezhi.

But she is the Crown Princess, and she made this decision for her father's sake. What is Zhao Yu'e doing

Although Zhao Kui is gone, Zhao Lun will take over, and the Zhao family is still in full swing. Why does Zhao Yu'e do this

Cui He obviously saw her doubts, and reminded softly: "My lady forgot, there was a rumor in Chang'an two years ago, saying that Zhao Erniang had a bad relationship with her husband's family, and she always disliked the family's gentleman from a mediocre background."

Chu Ning was stunned for a moment, then remembered the rumors at that time.

Zhao Yu'e's husband's surname Cheng was a well-known family in Xiangzhou, and it was no worse than many aristocratic families in Chang'an.

Over the years, the nobles in Chang'an have somewhat ostracized the family of generals, especially Zhao Yu'e, who only has her mother by her side, and her father is still far away in Bozhou, and is not loved by the older ladies. But she was also arrogant and arrogant, and she didn't look down on those playboys who were interested in her, so she took the initiative to pick the Cheng family in Xiangzhou.

It's a pity that the gentleman of the Cheng family, although he has a good background, is a temperament that does not fight or grab. Seeing that her husband had no hope of promotion, Zhao Yu'e was unhappy and quarreled with her many times, making her depressed all day long.

Chu Ning never liked to listen to these rumors outside, but she remembered this one because she happened to meet the Langjun of the Cheng family in the East Palace, and heard Xiao Yu mention it, so she wrote it down.

Cui He meant that Zhao Yu'e took the initiative to approach Xiao Kezhi just for his identity and status.

But she didn't think it should be so simple.

She thought carefully about the trivial things she heard from Xiao Yu recently and the news sent by Zhao Yanzhou, and then she suddenly knew.

There have been many rumors in the DPRK before that Xiao Kezhi will carry out a major purge of the generals in Great Liang who now hold troops and horses, and replace them with his henchmen like the Qianniu Guards of the Imperial City's forbidden army.

At first, some people were skeptical, until five days ago, he suddenly ordered the Youzhou guard to be replaced, which made everyone believe that they had to secretly worry about their future.

Presumably, the Zhao family also has such concerns, especially when Zhao Lun is young, he has only been in the position of the general of the town, and he will indeed be more anxious than others.

After thinking about this, Chu Ning slowly let out a sigh of relief.

As long as Zhao Yu'e's purpose doesn't conflict with her, she doesn't care about the rest.

At this time, the carriage approached the Yanxi Gate and stopped again. She lifted the soft curtain and looked out for no apparent reason, but she happened to see Xiao Kezhi who was standing on the side looking at her.

"Have you seen enough of what happened just now?"

As soon as Chu Ning heard this, he knew that he had discovered him just now, so he didn't hide it, got out of the car directly, and saluted, "Your Majesty, don't worry, my niece didn't mean to peep, and she won't reveal half a sentence."

"Is that so?" Xiao Kezhi squinted at her from a distance of half a zhang, and the suspicion in his eyes did not hide, "It's not intentional, why did he happen to appear on the way back to the palace just like her?"

For some reason, when he saw the bold and charming Zhao Yu'e, his heart was calm and unwavering, but facing this dignified niece wrapped in a dress, he couldn't help thinking of many ambiguous images.

Chu Ning was stunned when he heard the words, and immediately realized that he was suspecting that he, like Zhao Yu'e, had deliberately "ran into" with him.

She couldn't help laughing, and there was a faint hint of enchantment in the beautiful face that was originally dignified and could not find a trace of error: "Yes, my niece has repeatedly approached His Majesty, and it is true that suspicion is inevitable. However, today is really a response to Lu. At the invitation of Madam Guo, we will go to Daci'en Temple to worship Buddha together, if your Majesty doubts, you may as well ask Madam Lu Guo in person."

The evening sunlight dimmed a little bit, and a thin layer of veil was placed on her smooth face, making everything appear more and more hazy and ambiguous.

Although there are few people coming and going at this Miyagi city gate, it is not that there are no people around. Even if there are personal guards around, it is not very safe.

But Xiao Kezhi took a step forward, stretched out his fingers, and brushed her white cheeks very quickly.

The remaining soft and greasy touch was like that soft and smooth silk handkerchief, which made his fingertips scald, and then the warmth quickly burned all over his body, and finally gathered in his heart, ready to move.

"It's better to come to me directly instead of hitting Madam Lu Guo." He put his hands in his sleeves, pinched his palms, and restrained the restlessness in his body, "You can think about it, whether you want to tell me, you What do you want?"

Chu Ning looked at his seemingly calm, but actually trying to restrain himself.

It's just that men are scumbags, and if they get the answer too easily, they will never cherish it.

"It's getting late. If the niece-in-law doesn't return to the palace, the Crown Prince will probably blame him."

She took out a piece of soft silk handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped it on her lips inadvertently, leaving a very pale crimson mark.

"If Your Majesty really wants to know, you may as well wait patiently."

Saying that, she turned around and walked towards the car again.

The evening wind blew across her face, causing her skirt to flutter, outlining her slender and graceful figure, and it also caused the Fang Sipa to fall gently.