After An Changqing finished speaking, the inner hall fell into a dead silence. The palace servants serving on both sides even breathed lightly, wishing to drop their heads to their chests.
"Nonsense." The queen mother clenched the beads in her hand, slapped it on the armrest, making a muffled sound.
The empress also looked embarrassed, looking at An Changqing's expression, like a loving mother who really cares about her children: "Your newlyweds are passionate and don't want to accept others' thoughts. You have your own blood. If you don't like it, the mother will pick someone to send over, and send them away after giving birth. There will be no hindrance."
"Fairy Wood"
"...what do you think?"
Although she said "you", the queen's eyes kept falling on An Changqing.
An Changqing met her earnest and caring gaze, her hand hidden in her sleeve pinched hard on her thigh, her eyes suddenly turned red, and tears were swirling in her eyes, but she was stubborn and refused to let go. The voice also choked up: "It's not like this, the lord promised me..."
He walked on his knees and turned around, looking at Xiao Zhige with tears in his eyes: "Your Highness has promised me that he will treat me well for the rest of his life, and he will be with me forever..."
"It turns out that the prince lied to Changqing? The prince also wants to take a concubine, and also wants another woman to give birth to a child for you?"
He just straightened his back and knelt on the ground, like a small sapling that was shivering under the snow in the cold winter but refused to bend down desperately. He questioned Xiao Zhige with determination, and no one would mistake him. The affection in his eyes is clearly a poor man with deep affection.
The queen wanted to persuade a few more words, but when she saw this, she closed her mouth again, and turned her eyes to Xiao Zhige.
Xiao Zhige's eyes were fixed, and his hands on his knees were clenched, as if he was stunned by a series of questions. After a while, he got up to help him up, and said solemnly, "I didn't lie to you."
"Won't take concubines, and wouldn't have children with other women..."
His voice was so deep that almost every word came out of his throat. The queen looked at it, exchanged a glance with the queen mother who was on the first, and then quickly covered her emotions. Only slightly dissatisfied, he said: "Why does Zhige follow the nonsense? Although you are not born by Ben Gong, but also raised by Ben Gong, if you refuse to leave even a bloodline, how can you be worthy of your biological mother who left early? ?"
Hearing her mentioning her biological mother, Xiao Zhige's eyes flickered slightly, then he lowered his eyes and restrained his emotions: "Erchen knows it's wrong, but... I really don't like women."
"You... ah..." The Queen wanted to say something, seeing that the two of them seemed like a pair of mandarin ducks being beaten by a stick, and sighed deeply: "Forget it, the children are old, and this palace can't control it anymore."
The queen mother raised her eyelids, turned the Buddha beads again, and said slowly: "It's fine if you don't like women, but no matter how you have children, you can't have them yourself, so it's better to adopt one, so as not to gossip outside. You still dislike outsiders. Isn't there enough gossip?"
Xiao Zhige's expression did not change, and he only knelt beside An Changqing: "Thank you for the grace of the grandmother. In a few years, if there is a suitable child, the grandson will adopt one."
"Alright. Ask the Empress to help you keep an eye on it." The Empress Dowager waved her hand: "The Ai family is tired, you should go to the Empress's Palace and sit down."
"Yes."
…
After coming out of the Kunyi Palace, An Changqing let out a long breath, and quietly blinked at Xiao Zhige while the queen was facing away from them. He had just cried, and his eyes were still red, but this expression was both pitiful and playful. Xiao Zhige suddenly remembered his previous questioning and crying, and there was a bit of helplessness between his eyebrows.
If he hadn't clearly remembered that he had never said such a thing, he would have almost felt like a heartless man who was facing Qin Muchu.
What a little liar.
Both of them were only thinking for a moment, and soon the queen came out of Kunyi Palace and took them both to their own palace.
The queen lived in Chaofeng Palace. The two accompany the queen for lunch in Chaofeng Palace. They sat and chatted for a long time, and they finally came out of Chaofeng Palace after showing a deep love between mother and son.
After sitting in the hall for a long time, An Changqing felt a little bored, so the two of them did not sit in the sedan chair and walked slowly to the palace gate.
The snow had just fallen in the morning, but the bluestone floor tiles were clean at this time, and there was no trace of snow falling. Only the branches and the roof were covered with white snow. An Changqing stretched his neck and looked back, but he saw only a snow-covered roof, and he could not tell which one was Qiwu Palace.
In his last life, he lived in the Qiwu Palace.
At that time, Xiao Zhige became emperor, and despite the opposition of the courtiers, he still insisted on making him the empress. He wasn't even half happy, he just felt terrified. I can't wait to hide in a corner, I just want Xiao Zhige and those courtiers not to notice him, and let him live in peace. So later, when Xiao Zhige pointed to the huge palace and asked him to choose a palace, he did not choose the Queen's Chaofeng Palace, but the most remote Qiwu Palace.
But the strange thing is that Xiao Zhige was unexpectedly not angry that time, and he was even a little happy. Since then, he has lived in Qiwu Palace until he died of poisoning.
It is a pity that Chaofeng Palace is too far away from Qiwu Palace. An Changqing tried to look at it for a long time but couldn't see it. He could only sigh in discouragement, and asked Xiao Zhige casually, "Which palace did the lord live in before?"
Xiao Zhige didn't seem to expect that he would ask this question, his eyes were surprised, and after a moment of silence, he raised his finger to one of the palaces on the left and said, "I live there. Before my mother died, I lived with my mother in Qiwu Palace. ."
Later, when his mother died, he was taken care of by the palace servants alone in Qiwu Palace for a period of time, and then he was taken to Chaofeng Palace by the queen.
"Qiwu Palace?" An Changqing looked at him in shock.
Xiao Zhige looked at him: "What?"
An Changqing regained his senses and quickly shook his head to hide his gaffe. He followed his fingers and saw the familiar cornice. Because it was too far apart, the words on the plaque could no longer be seen, but An Changqing could clearly recall the origins and transitions of those three words.
No wonder... No wonder Xiao Zhige was not angry at all when he saw that he chose Qiwu Palace in his previous life.
It turned out to be where he and his mother lived together.
An Changqing felt a little sour in her heart, she just felt that she had missed too much, and she didn't even take a good look at the person beside her.
Xiao Zhige didn't know what he was thinking, only sensitively noticed that he seemed to be in a low mood, hesitated for a while, but still held his cool hand: "Let's go, it's getting dark."
When An Changqing was held by him, he felt the coolness of his fingertips being dissipated. He raised his head and was about to say something, but heard a warm and clear voice saying: "The rumors from outside are true, the relationship between the second brother and the princess is really good, I'm really envious. Someone else."
Following the voice, I saw a handsome young man walking on the snow. The young man was wearing a four-clawed python robe, followed by a group of eunuchs and palace maids. When he saw An Changqing, his eyes paused slightly, and then he laughed loudly: "Did it disturb your interest in viewing the scenery?"
Xiao Zhige nodded slightly, "Brother Huang." An Changqing also saluted, calling him "Brother Huang".
Prince Xiao Qi'an is a very talkative person. He seems to have long been used to Xiao Zhige's sullen character. He can talk and laugh alone, and sometimes even care about An Changqing.
An Changqing didn't know much about the prince, only that he was deposed by Emperor Anqing because of his immorality after drinking. Although he didn't know what he did, he also knew that he was by no means as bright as he appeared on the surface. moon. Otherwise, he would not have joined the two generals of Zhuguo to besiege Yejing in the future as the abolished prince.
Vigilant in his heart, An Changqing didn't dare to talk much, and only pretended to be cramped and agreed to deal with it. The prince felt boring after singing the one-man show for a while, and said that he had to go to greet the queen and talk about it another day.
The two groups of people staggered, An Changqing and Xiao Zhige went to the palace gate; the prince took the people to the Phoenix Palace.
After walking farther and farther, Xiao Qi'an turned around and glanced, the backs of Xiao Zhige and An Changqing were already blurred in the dim light. Looking back, Xiao Qian asked casually, "You said, is the second child acting, or is he really interested in it?"
The eunuch beside him deliberately said, "I'm afraid that there are too many dramas. I heard that on the night of King Bei Zhan's wedding, he still slept in the study..."
Xiao Qi'an smiled: "You didn't hear the rumors? My ruthless second brother, but I rode a horse on the street with the princess... Now there are their small stories everywhere, and the storyteller also made up stories, It's really a loving couple..."
The eunuch hesitated and couldn't guess what he meant, so he could only say: "Then so... Does King Bei Zhan really like this son of a bitch?"
Xiao Qi'an smiled and glanced at him without emotion: "How have you ever seen the second child look like this? I never heard that they met before, but they can be deeply rooted in just a few days?"
The eunuch sweated on his forehead, not knowing how to answer.
Fortunately, Xiao Qi'an didn't need him to answer. With his hands behind his back, he stepped over the bluestone floor tiles step by step, and his low voice was somber and cold: "But it's not surprising that the second son would be tempted if he changed his mind. I… also can’t bear to be left out in the cold…”
The eunuch was shocked: "Your Highness!"
Xiao Qi'an glanced back at him and warned, "Bengong knows what to do, so I don't need to tell my mother about it."
The eunuch wiped the cold sweat on his forehead: "Yes."
***
After leaving the palace gate, he took the carriage back to the palace when he got up.
There was a stove burning in the carriage, and An Changqing took off his fox fur after being roasted a little hot. He just took it off for a while and felt his hands get cold again. He rolled his eyes, looked at Xiao Zhige beside him, leaned close to him without a trace, stretched out his hand again, stuffed it into his palm to warm it, and muttered: " a little cold."
When Xiao Zhige heard the words, he held his hand and warmed him carefully.
An Changqing secretly pursed her lips and smiled, and leaned over half of her body to be next to him: "My lord, how do you think my performance today?"
Xiao Zhige glanced at him: "Very good."
An Changqing secretly pouted, thinking how this person can't even say a good sentence, he has put so much effort into it, and he doesn't know how to praise him more.
"Where is it?" An Changqing blinked and asked deliberately.
Xiao Zhige really paused before saying, "Anywhere is fine."
So good that when he heard those words, he almost couldn't help but believe it.