In the Forbidden City, there is white snow and plain onyx, looking around is a vast expanse of color. Only the sky is dark, and the clouds and haze are dense and surging, making it suffocating.
The mourning hall was filled with high and low chanting sounds, and the yellow talisman paper was swirling and burning in the lotus copper basin. In the smoky mist, there were phoenix sons and dragon grandchildren dressed in linen and filial piety, kowtowing, getting up, and knock-
The empress is the aunt, all the princes and princesses have to keep watch, the concubine, Rong Ting and other sons-in-law are also there, with the prince at the head, they are divided into two rows and kneel in front of the empress' coffin one by one.
Zhu Chuo suddenly shouted in a low voice: "Lao Liu fainted—"
The palace servants hurried forward to help Zhu Dai up, and the imperial doctor who was waiting outside the palace followed him inside.
Zhu Yi raised her eyes amidst the commotion, and just met the prince's scarlet eyes, which contained grief and madness that she couldn't understand. Zhu Yi was slightly taken aback, and buried her head.
The emperor sent a message and asked the princesses to rest in the Jing'an Palace next door.
The concubines and young masters did not have such grace. Although they were all delicate and weak women, they still gritted their teeth and knelt on the ground from the main hall to the side hall.
But this is still good, before dawn on the second day, the clan and officials all wore plain clothes and went outside the Qiantai Palace to give condolences, that would be called suffering.
Although the palace people have cleared the snow on the stone steps outside the hall and the square, but in this winter, under the continuous rain and snow, the cold water has already penetrated into the bricks and stones, not to mention the small clouds floating in the sky. sleet.
The military officer was fine, and the young civil servants could bear it. The older ones had cold legs and feet. After kneeling for a while, their knees and whole body began to tremble.
Xie Ying knelt motionless, with his back as straight as a gun. He occasionally raised his head to glance at the glazed beasts on the eaves of Qiantai Palace half covered by snow, then looked back and looked straight ahead.
At dusk, a servant suddenly came to Xie Ying's side, saying that the emperor asked him to go to the top, Xie Ying got up according to his words, walked up the stone steps into the palace, and saw Zhu Yi's figure passing by without a trace.
The emperor watched Xie Ying, and said: "Shou Xu, send the empress on behalf of your father."
All the people in the hall looked up at Xie Ying. Xie Ying's face did not show any deliberate sadness, but a kind of serenity.
Zhu Yi is also looking at Xie Ying. In front of people, Xie Ying's behavior has always been impeccable. At this moment, he is used to the seriousness and determination of life and death, so that people only dare to look up and look up. The man who would get angry in front of her, and even act like a baby, has long since disappeared without a trace.
Xie Ying replied yes, knowing that this is the time to close Zigong, sure enough, the servant shouted loudly, "Cover the coffin—" Many people inside and outside the palace let out a sigh of relief, although there is still Xiaoxiang and Daxiang behind, at least today there is no need to kneel.
The news of the queen's death was posted in the city yesterday, and the notice was rushed to the world. It was said that the queen was weak, the wind and cold turned bad, and she died of illness.
The Tian family has always used the day to replace the month, which is different from the three-year filial piety period of ordinary people, who only need to serve for 27 days. Therefore, the marriages of several princesses of the right age will not be affected.
When Zhu Chuo returned to Concubine Shu's Ruihe Palace, he felt something was wrong. All the people in Ruihe Palace were in the court, and the emperor's people were also there. She went straight into the palace, came outside Concubine Shu's bedroom, and heard the emperor's sad and cold voice:
"You bitch, how can you be compared with my Ning'er? Where is your dead man from the Yan family? Why didn't you come to save you. Yan Fengqin is in Beijing, why didn't he come to save you?"
Zhu Chuo's eyes widened suddenly, who was the father talking to, mother and concubine? Why did he use such a word to call the concubine mother
"This is a fight for the posthumous position? The Yan family already has a queen dowager. Could it be that they still want to have another queen? Can't there be two queens from the same family?" The man's gruff voice was deliberately humiliating: "Look for your lover to give you the posthumous position." , whore."
Concubine Shu made a painful sound, as if she was being strangled by the neck.
Surprised, Zhu Chuo was about to open the door to rescue her, but her mouth was covered by his eunuch Alu, who half hugged and half dragged her, and quickly took her out of the hall.
"Let go of me! What are you doing, Alu?" Zhu Chuo, who was taken to the garden and was able to break free from the restraints, growled in a low voice.
A Lu stood in front of Zhu Chuo, and said: "Princess, don't be afraid, the emperor will not take your wife's life. It is better for the princess to wait for the emperor to leave before going to find your wife."
Zhu Chuo is actually very smart, but her smartness is used on things she is interested in, so she suddenly realized that this little eunuch who seemed to be the most loyal to her and helped her play around all day long was really not obvious. The mountain is not dewy, and she knows more about the secrets of this palace than she does.
Alu bowed his head and said: "Princess, you don't have to doubt your loyalty to the princess. I obey your mother's order to protect the princess. Naturally, you put the safety of the princess first."
Zhu Chuo also knew that her mother and concubine were not very popular with her father, so Concubine Tong had no position to borrow, but she was able to rank ahead of her mother and concubine. It's just that seeing that the concubine mother is not very interested in competing for favor, she doesn't care. Anyway, she also felt that it was boring for so many women to rob one man.
Zhu Chuo lowered his face, and said, "Alu, what else do you know, let me tell you all about it..."
When Zhu Chuo arrived outside the Yonglian Hall in Liji Palace, Xie Ying was rolling up Zhu Yi's trousers and inspecting her knees, there were indeed two lumps of redness and swelling.
Xie Ying then took out the specially brought medicine. Zhu Yi looked at the man who was seriously applying the medicine for her, with a smile on his lips. "Is your knee okay?" she asked.
"The minister has thick skin and thick flesh, nothing happened." Xie Ying said.
Zhu Yi burst into a smile: "It's true that he has a thick skin, but it's just..." She paused, her eyes deliberately rolling around his face, implying it straightforwardly.
Xie Ying chuckled, put the medicine bottle on the couch, leaned over and pressed Zhu Yi on the couch. Zhu Yi called out in a low voice, "What are you doing?"
"The princess said I have a thick skin, so I have to do something thick-skinned."
Although she knew that Xie Ying was just teasing her, Zhu Yi still said: "I... I'm still doing my filial piety for the empress." After speaking, he quietly observed Xie Ying's reaction.
Xie Ying suppressed her smile and pulled Zhu Yi up.
Zhu Yi was about to ask Xie Ying if the Queen really died because of the wind and cold, when Mianfeng raised her voice intentionally from outside: "Princess Rongyu is here?"
When Zhu Yi heard this, she quickly winked at Xie Ying, Xie Ying also understood, although she was a bit reluctant, she still came from the window and went out from the window.
Zhu Yi saw that Zhu Chuo's eyes were rarely melancholy when he rushed into the room, so he frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you? Ah Chuo."
"Yiyi." Zhu Chuo originally wanted to share everything with Zhu Yi, but she couldn't speak about this matter today.
Zhu Yi was not in a hurry to force Zhu Chuo to speak, but just hugged her into his arms, let Zhu Chuo rely on him, and gently patted the other person's back...
After another day like this, Zhu Yi suddenly received the imperial order, and was ordered to go to the South Study Room.
There were only the emperor and her in the study. The figure of the emperor sitting in the dragon chair was slightly hunched, which made Zhu Yi feel for the first time that the emperor was dying. When she first went back to the palace to see the emperor the day before yesterday, she almost didn't dare to recognize him, but in a few days, the emperor seemed to be ten years old. But even so, the other party is still a monarch who can control the honor and disgrace of countless lives, so Zhu Yi dare not take it lightly.
Then the emperor asked: "Xizhen, do you think I am incompetent?" This little girl is so smart, she must have seen that he wanted to take advantage of her beauty.
Guessing that the emperor said such words, Zhu Yi was shocked all over, and immediately said: "No, in my daughter's heart, the father has always been the most wise and powerful person."
The royal father slowly pulled the corner of his mouth, and said: "Xizhen has always been so sensible and filial. Let me just say it straight, as long as you listen to the royal father's arrangement and help the royal father with a few things, after my funeral, Let your seventh brother inherit the great power, and you will be the princess of Zhen Guo. How about it?"
Zhu Yi became more and more confused, with a deliberate panic on his face: "Father is in the prime of his life, why do you say such things?"
The emperor's smile deepened: "I know it well, you don't need to comfort me. I just ask you if you want your seventh brother to inherit the great line?"
The emperor was obviously smiling, but Zhu Yi felt that the other party's expression was more terrifying than crying. She always felt that the emperor had changed a lot after returning to the palace this time. But why? Because of the queen's death? Or is it a metaphor behind the queen's death
Under the emperor's deep gaze, Zhu Yi nodded slowly, and said, "Think." She could only say that she wanted to, listen to what the emperor wanted to order, and then make plans.
The emperor nodded: "Just think about it. Xiaoqi is smart and smart, Xizhen, don't harm him."
Zhu Yi's face changed slightly, the emperor was clearly threatening her with Zhu Xiuli, but isn't Xiao Qi his biological son? Zhu Yi said slowly: "Father, please tell me clearly what Xizhen needs to do."
"The first thing, I hope you will conceive a Xie Ying's child as soon as possible."
Zhu Yi froze.
The emperor said: "Can it be done?"