The winter in Bian Tang is always very short, and it is already March in a blink of an eye.
A few days ago, news came from Huai Song that King Jinjiang of Huai Song cited Song Huang's physical abnormalities as an excuse, and led some officials who supported him to request the Imperial Hospital to announce the emperor's physical condition, but Nalan Hongye flatly refused and almost used his sword. Now there are many rumors in Huai Song Dynasty, saying that the eldest princess is dictatorial, and there are even rumors that the first emperor was killed by her. People in Huai Song are panicked. King Jinjiang is secretly training troops in the East China Sea, and several royal vassals have already responded.
When Li Ce mentioned this matter, he frowned slightly, and said lightly: "If it's okay, why don't you shut up those people's mouths?"
Chu Qiao didn't talk to her either, she vaguely guessed something, she must not be the only one, I'm afraid there are already countless pairs of eyes staring at Huai Song, and the woman who has propped up the Nalan's Building for many years with her own strength, what should she do now? How to deal with this hidden arrow
She couldn't help but think of the slightly scribbled letterhead she saw in Yanbei many years ago: There are trees in the mountains, and there are branches in the trees, and you don't know if you are happy with the king.
Even though it looks as tough as iron on the outside, there will be sad times after all, who can be as firm as ever
On the ninth day of March, Li Ce's second son, Li Qiao'an, died of typhoid fever at the age of three. When he heard the news, Li Ce was inspecting the dam in Xianghu Lake, and hurried back, but only had time to see the child's body.
Li Ce now has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son is six years old and the daughter is four years old. The child who died is Mrs. Nanyun's son. After the child's death, Mrs. Nanyun couldn't get sick from grief, and passed away three days later.
After all, the child was too young to be put into the coffin, so he was only cremated in Nantian Temple and buried in the temple.
Li Ce drank a lot that night, and it was the first time Chu Qiao saw Li Ce drunk. He seemed to be sober at any time before, even if he couldn't walk, his eyes were still clear.
That night, he held Chu Qiao's hand, squinted his eyes and smiled lightly, while drinking, he murmured, "Did I kill too deeply?"
His strength was too great, and it hurt Chu Qiao's wrist. The hall was extremely quiet, the cold wind blowing in, raised misty dust all over the place, the frogs chattered among the willows, but it was even more quiet, and red candle tears melted on the candlesticks on the top of the copper crane, like a woman's tears. Tears rolled down the cheeks stained with rouge, falling silently.
On the second day, Li Ce named Mrs. Nanyun as Concubine Yun, and buried her in the imperial tomb, so that her father and brother in the family could enjoy the mourning and honor.
In the blink of an eye, it was already May, and Mrs. Ziming, who went to Huangzhuang to have a baby, returned to the palace, gave birth to a son, and closed the palace for Daqing. Li Ce named the child Qingrong, and bestowed the title of King Rong. Mrs. Ziming suddenly became the head of the three concubines, taking the title of noble concubine.
The maids in the palace were all talking about this noble concubine in private, saying that she had a son in such a short time in the palace, and that she had climbed to the concubine's position, and her ascension to the next position was just around the corner.
However, some people said that she was born in a humble family, her family was in decline, and her father was still a criminal minister. Even though her elder brother is gradually showing his edge in the court, his status is inconvenient and he cannot ascend to a high position. Without the support of her family, it would be difficult for Concubine Ming to achieve anything.
It was only then that Chu Qiao remembered that this imperial concubine Ming was not someone else, and had a close relationship with her. When she was hunted down by Zhao Chun'er, Zhao Song entrusted Zhan Ziyu to find her, and Zhan Ziyu was the elder brother of Concubine Ming.
Chu Qiao didn't want to inquire about Li Ce's affairs in the harem, and she paid little attention to them on weekdays. Suddenly remembered something, and asked Qiu Sui, "Why didn't you see the Empress Dowager in the imperial concubine's canonization ceremony?"
Qiu Sui replied: "After the death of the first emperor, the Empress Dowager left the palace and went to Anyin Temple. She hasn't returned to the palace for many years."
Chu Qiao suddenly came to a sudden, thinking of the empress dowager's troubled life, she couldn't help but sigh.
A few days ago, Zhuge Yue sent someone to bring her a pair of Hudi Biwing Birds. They are very beautiful and have bright coats. It is said that this kind of bird has been born in pairs since childhood. If one dies, the other will never live alone. .
Chu Qiao liked it so much that she fed them herself every day, and renamed them Lovebirds, she loved them very much. The female bird seemed to have a very good relationship with Chu Qiao, and gradually, even if it was released from the cage, it would not fly far away, just hovering in the hall, occasionally landed on Chu Qiao's shoulder, and rubbed her cheek with its neck. The male bird was always very angry when he saw it, flying around the room and screaming strangely, making all the little maids laugh.
Li Ce also seemed to like these birds very much, and came to tease them from time to time.
One night, when Chu Qiao was sleeping, she suddenly felt as if someone was watching her. As soon as she opened her eyes, she sat up in the dark and immediately fell into a firm embrace.
The man's breath was very familiar, and his breathing was a little low. It sprayed on her neck one after another, with a strong smell of alcohol. He hugged her so tightly, as if he had exhausted all his strength, it almost hurt her. She didn't struggle, as if she could feel his loneliness and pain through the cold clothes, she gently reached out and patted his back.
The moonlight shone miserably on them, the man's clothes were embroidered with thin dragon patterns with red thread, the silk thread was so thin, it seemed to melt into the heavy bright yellow, the faint veins seemed to be soaked with blood wrist.
Gradually, Li Ce let go of her.
Chu Qiao asked carefully: "Li Ce, do you think I'm her?"
Li Ce was taken aback for a moment, turned his head to look at her, and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Chu Qiao suddenly felt a little embarrassed, like a child who had inadvertently broken someone else's secret, and said softly: "I heard what people said, before, Princess Fu lived here, right?"
Li Ce looked at her steadfastly, his eyes were so far-reaching, like a faint ancient well, containing clear and deep meaning.
At that time, Chu Qiao might not be able to understand the look in his eyes, but felt uncomfortable being looked at by him.
"Heh." Li Ce chuckled suddenly, and then said lazily in a drawl tone, "Fu'er's figure is much better than yours."
That night, Li Ce left Miheju and went to Concubine Ming's Roufu Hall. As soon as he walked out of the main hall, Chu Qiao saw a brilliance on the table, it was Li Ce's jade finger, she hurried to the window and shouted: "Li Fox! Your finger!"
Li Ce turned around and gave her a bright smile, which was dazzlingly beautiful under the moonlight. "A moment in spring night is worth a thousand gold, I'll come back to pick it up tomorrow!" After finishing speaking, he headed towards Roufu Hall.
Chu Qiao held the wrench finger and stared hard at the mischievous emperor. When she turned around, her toe accidentally kicked on a raised threshold, which hurt her heart. She frowned and sat down, only to see that her toes were bleeding a lot, staining her white nightgown red.
There was a sudden panic in her heart.
Around the fourth watch, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps, Chu Qiao felt a little uneasy, she didn't sleep well, so she sat up suddenly. It happened that Mei Xiang and Qiu Sui rushed into the hall, everyone looked pale and said as if dead ashes:
"His Majesty has been assassinated!"
Boom! In the dark night, the white jade finger suddenly fell to the ground, but it didn't break, it just knocked off a corner, and rolled away along the smooth floor.
When she arrived at the Hall of Yixin, the whole hall was filled with crying, and the entire imperial hospital was waiting outside the hall. Several senior imperial physicians gathered inside, and they saw pots of blood being brought out continuously, like It was like a sharp knife, piercing deeply into the bone marrow, and it hurt fiercely.
Qiu Sui said that Li Ce was stabbed when he was staying in the imperial concubine's hall at night. The wounded person was an old eunuch who claimed that Lord Luo was his benefactor.
Chu Qiao clenched her fists tightly. At this time, she was not allowed to enter the inner hall, and she was not even qualified to kneel and cry outside. She frowned suspiciously. Leaving aside the fact that Roufu Hall was heavily guarded, Li Ce was surrounded by first-class guards. How could an old eunuch of unknown origin sneak into the inner hall and succeed in assassination? Speaking of Li Ce's own skills, he would never let a stranger get close easily without noticing.
She looked from afar, and saw a thinly dressed woman kneeling there alone in a small square directly in front of the main hall, her temples were disheveled, and her face could not be seen clearly because her back was facing her.
Qiu Sui said, that is Concubine Ming, who has been kneeling there since the beginning.
At this moment, the door of the main hall suddenly opened, and Sun Di came forward with a group of loyal courtiers, and asked nervously, "How is your majesty's injury?"
The leading old doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Majesty's life is safe, but you still need to rest."
As soon as these words came out, the concubines cried out in relief at the same time, and they heard that Concubine Ming's body went limp and passed out on the ground at the other side of the square.
"Master Sun, Your Majesty wants to see you." The old doctor said, his eyes turned around, and after seeing Chu Qiao, he suddenly said, "There is also this girl."
All of a sudden, all the ambiguous and strange eyes gathered. Chu Qiao took a deep breath, walked forward calmly, greeted Sun Di, and walked into the hall under everyone's gaze.
The hall was airtight and filled with a strong smell of medicine. Sun Di went in first, came out after a long time, and said to Chu Qiao: "Your Majesty is not in good spirits, so make a long story short."
"Understood." Chu Qiao nodded, walked into the inner hall, passed through layers of curtains, and Li Ce was lying on the almost huge dragon bed.
His complexion was indeed very bad, Chu Qiao had never seen him like this, his face was ashen, his eye sockets were blue, and his lips were almost bloodless. He looked at her fixedly, his eyes seemed a little dull. Just when Chu Qiao started to panic, he suddenly showed a strange smile, and said in a hoarse voice, "Scared you to death."
Going back in time, the years flowed backward in an instant, and they seemed to have returned to the day when they first met, the young prince was dragged off the horse by her and punched him heavily, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, and he screamed "ouch, ouch". He smiled strangely at her, like a heartless disciple.
"Li Ce." She yelled tremblingly, and saw a deep knife cut across his chest, just one more inch could pierce his heart. She looked at him in fear, her scalp was numb, she wanted to grab his hand, but she didn't dare, she just said repeatedly: "It's okay, take it slowly."
"Originally," Li Ce said intermittently, "I originally wanted to prepare a dowry for you these few days, but now, it's cheaper than Sun Di. I don't know... I don't know if he will be corrupt."
Chu Qiao forced a smile, and said softly, "Don't worry, I'll go and see him."
"En." He seemed very tired, and his face turned even paler after just saying these few words.
Chu Qiao said quickly: "Go to sleep first, don't talk anymore."
"Jojo, stay with me."
"Okay." Chu Qiao nodded quickly, "I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay here with you."
Li Ce fell into a deep sleep, during which time the imperial physician came to change his medicine once. Seeing the wound with her own eyes, Chu Qiao became more suspicious of his injury, but now is not the time to deal with these matters.
Three days later, Li Ce's injury improved, and his face looked much better.
This morning, Chu Qiao was fanning him in the inner hall, when she heard a commotion outside, she raised her eyebrows to see, Qiu Sui hurried in, leaned into her ear and whispered: "The empress dowager has returned to the palace."
Chu Qiao was startled, and hurried out.
Before leaving the door of Yixin, I saw the queen mother's phoenix meandering towards her. She greeted the Queen Mother and followed her all the way back to the Hall of Yixin. The maid opened the curtain, and the queen mother was wearing a plain blue single dress. Chu Qiao raised her head to see, she couldn't help being shocked, but she hadn't seen her for a few years, but the queen mother seemed to be a different person, she was so old. His head was full of white hair, deeply wrinkled, and his eyes were almost sunken and flushed.
When she got off the sedan chair, tears flowed out, and she asked sadly, "The emperor? How is the emperor?"