The Wife is First

Chapter 38: Kneeling penalty

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The front of the main hall of Fengyi Palace is paved with bluestone slabs. It is empty without any vegetation. The white marble stone steps are magnificent, but walking on it in this quiet afternoon gives a deep feeling of depression.

Mu Hanzhang followed the eunuch who led the way to the front of the main hall. Perhaps because of the hot weather, the queen was not in the hall, but placed a phoenix couch under the corridor. wind. Afterwards, he sat on the phoenix couch in a gorgeous costume with a bright color depicting a golden phoenix, and watched Mu Hanzhang step by step on the jade steps.

"Weichen has seen my mother, my mother is a thousand years old, a thousand thousand years old!" Mu Hanzhang calmly walked down the corridor and knelt down to salute.

The queen held up the cup, took a sip, and then took the handkerchief and nodded gracefully at the corner of her mouth, before she said in a hurry: "Get up, sit down quickly, this is the treasure of King Cheng's heart, in case kneeling breaks the book. Gong can't afford to pay."

Mu Hanzhang narrowed his eyes, as if he could not hear the irony in the queen's words, thanked him politely and thoughtfully, and sat on the square stool moved by the palace maid.

Seeing that Princess Cheng was completely unpredictable, she was so terrified that she sat down, and her behavior and etiquette made it impossible to pick out a single mistake, but the Queen, who was ready to reprimand, swallowed it abruptly.

When Jing Shao entered the south study, the underage princes had finished their afternoon nap, but they did not start their afternoon homework, but they all quietly reviewed their homework in the room and waited for the arrival of the master. Because the weather was getting hotter, Emperor Hongzheng skipped the princes' afternoon martial arts lessons and changed them to literary lessons.

Standing outside the study, looking at these ten-year-old children holding the books in their hands earnestly, Jing Shao remembered when he was a child in the south study. At that time, when the mother was still there, people would bring fresh melons and fruits at this time of the day, not only for him and his brother, but also for the eldest brother and Jingyu. Jing Yu always thinks that other people's hands are better than his. Because of his young age, he often wants to exchange with his brother. If his brother doesn't care about him, he will exchange with him, but he can't stand it. he.

Later, after taking the post, there was no more melons and fruits to eat in the afternoon. Since then, there has been no new prince born in the palace for a long time. The first prince left the palace to build a mansion, and there were only three of them left in the study. Every day, Jing Yu will have someone specially send snacks and fruits, but they are all unique...

"Brother Three Emperors!" A milky voice recalled Jing Shao's thoughts, looking down, a little fat man who only reached his legs was dragging his clothes, it was the seventh prince Jingyi.

Jing Shao reached out and touched his head, and called out "Jing Yi", the little fat man immediately laughed until his teeth were out of sight: "Brother Sanhuang, you still recognize me!"

"It's not that I haven't seen each other for a few years, so how can I not recognize him?" Jing Shao hugged him, crying and laughing, "Did you gain weight again?" Because Jing Yi was still fat when he grew up, so Jing Shao remembered It is especially clear that other younger brothers are not common, so if others pull him, they can only calculate the ranking based on age.

"Brother Three Emperors..." Several people in the room turned around and stood up after hearing the movement.

"I'm just stopping by, you can read." Jing Shao waved their hands and asked them to sit back.

"Brother Three Emperors, I heard that you defeated 100,000 Xiongnu. When I saw you during the new year, I wanted to hear your story about how to fight, but you are sitting at the front, and I can't make it through." Jing Yi was emboldened because he was hugged by his brother. When he got up, he didn't go back to his seat after being put down. He dragged Jing Shao without letting go, and asked him to tell about the deeds on the battlefield. The other princes did not say anything, and their eyes were full of expectations.

"Brother Three Emperors, are all the Huns full of beards?"

"Brother Three Emperors, are there wolves in the desert?"

"Brother Three Emperors..."

When Emperor Hongzheng came in, he saw that Jing Shao was surrounded by several younger brothers.

"After returning to the mother, it is the prince's intention to not accept the concubine, and the minister does not know it." Mu Hanzhang bowed his head slightly politely, and only replied warmly to the empress's harsh words without saying a word.

"You're older than the prince, wouldn't you be a little bit more persuasive? Seeing that you're about to go on an expedition, and you don't have a child and a half-daughter, if there's an accident, wouldn't such a tall prince have no successor? After all, it is also the one who has won the title, why is it so unreasonable?" Then he used the lid of the cup to slowly fiddle with the tea in the cup, saying that he only liked men. Could it be that the concubines before the palace were all decorations? Today in the imperial study, the emperor just mentioned that he wanted Jing Shao to take her niece as a side room, and he said that he didn't like women's sex, and he made it clear that he was hitting her in the face!

What is an emergency? What is no successor? Don't say these things before you go out! Mu Hanzhang, who has been patiently responding, heard this and slowly clenched his fists hidden in his sleeves: "The Prince is not a hereditary substitute, even if he is a sidekick, he can only serve as the general of the country..."

Afterwards, he slammed the cup on the small table: "What do you mean by that? Are you blaming the palace and the emperor?" When the maids around him heard the words, they knelt down one after another.

"I dare not." Mu Hanzhang quickly got up and knelt on the ground.

"What else do you dare? As a royal concubine, you squeeze out concubines, are jealous and dote on them, and now the prince is not allowed to keep any heirs. You are really daring!" Mu Hanzhang just kept silent. In this situation, the empress was obviously angry, and she said more and more mistakes.

After that, he took the handkerchief handed by the palace maid and wiped his hand soaked with tea. He glanced at Mu Hanzhang who was kneeling on the ground, and sighed softly: "I don't want to embarrass you, but since I married into the royal family, You have to think for the sake of the royal family. Well, you go to kneel on the jade steps, when you want to understand, when will you get up again."

Hearing this, Mu Hanzhang couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself, want to understand? The queen didn't say anything at all for him to reflect on, so why would he want to understand it

The jade steps are the flat ground above the jade steps in front of the hall. The white marble has been exposed to the sun for several hours, and it has long been sunburned like coals. Mu Hanzhang gently lifted his hem and knelt on a stone slab in the middle. The midsummer afternoon is when the sun is at its strongest, scorching the exposed skin, and it can quickly feel pain.

The queen asked the palace people to get up, brought a cup of freshly brewed tea, and drank it slowly, leaving the princess alone to be punished on her knees. She would like to see how "in love" this King Cheng and Princess Cheng are.

Miaoxi stood behind a row of palace maids and was anxious, but she didn't have a chance to leave.

Sweat slid down the handsome face along the graceful chin and dripped onto the hem of the purple court dress. Mu Hanzhang lowered his eyes and tucked his hands into his sleeves without a trace. The sun was in the south, and only his back could be exposed to the sun, so as not to burn his skin, he was just suffering from more than one layer of court clothes, and he was soon soaked with sweat, and the hot slate penetrated into his body little by little.

Mu Hanzhang thought about the queen's purpose for singing this song today, in order to divert his attention and reduce his body's perception of pain. Today, Jing Shao directly refuted the matter of the side room, and the emperor did not force it. The queen felt ashamed, so she wanted to use this method to let everyone know that she had the final say in the matter of the inner house in the harem; .

When the queen drank the second cup of tea, she couldn't help getting up to go to the toilet.

Sweat hung on his slender eyelashes, and the scene in front of him was instantly dyed with a colorful halo. Mu Hanzhang thought happily, maybe the queen just wanted to let out a breath, and she herself didn't know how to end it. It's a pity that he is a man, not one of those concubines who are short of blood and short of breath. Shall I pretend to pass out so I can find a step for her

Miao Xi took the opportunity to retreat with the maid who went to the water room to change tea, turned around the corridor, and quickly flashed aside. When no one was paying attention, she quickly ran out. The road in the palace has been taken every day since she was a child, and she has long been familiar with it, but today's road to the south study seems to be extraordinarily long. Miaoxi was sweating profusely, but she didn't dare to run too fast for fear of being suspected by the guards. Such a gentle and modest gentleman like jade, the lord is reluctant to say a heavy sentence on weekdays, but he has to kneel on the slate under the scorching sun.

"My son wants to make peace for the father and the emperor. As for the son and grandson, there are two emperor brothers. Besides, the fourth emperor will get married next month." Jing Shao saw that the father was in a good mood today, so he remembered first. Jun Qing was still in Fengyi Palace, so he put on a loyal and honest face, "My son and the princess have been married for less than four months, and now I really like it so much that I really don't want to admit new people."

"Hahaha..." The third son, who only knew how to lead the army to fight, now knows the feeling of love. When Emperor Hongzheng heard this, he couldn't help laughing.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Miaoxi stumbled in and was stopped by the guards in front of the study.

When Jing Shao and Emperor Hongzheng heard the words, they both turned to look.

"Miao Xi!" Jing Shao saw the expression of the person who came, and knew that something had happened to Jun Qing, and his expression changed immediately.

"What's the matter?" Emperor Hongzheng frowned and motioned to the guards to let her in.

"Slave kowtow to see the emperor!" Miao Xi knelt on the ground with a plop when he saw Emperor Hongzheng, kowtowed and started crying, "I beg the emperor to save the concubine! The concubine was punished to kneel in front of the Fengyi Palace, and she already knelt down under the scorching sun. It's time!"

"Niangniang, the servant girl from Prince Cheng's mansion is gone," Duolu looked around and whispered in his ear, "The servant girl just heard that King Cheng has also entered the palace, in the south study."

Afterwards, he snorted coldly: "With her going, Ben Gong has to see how capable he is as a king!"

Mu Hanzhang was not far from his knees, so he naturally heard what he said next, so he couldn't help worrying secretly, if Jingshao broke into Fengyi Palace recklessly, the crime would be a big one!

"My servants and servants have seen the emperor, long live my emperor!" The guards and palace maids under the jade steps suddenly knelt down and shouted long live.

After hearing the words, his hand shook, and the sapphire tea cup suddenly fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.

"Junqing!" Jing Shao sued his father, and rushed up the jade steps in three or two steps.

When Mu Hanzhang heard the sound, a sneer appeared on his face that had been drooping. Since the emperor was here, he would not do anything but make a big deal out of it. So, he raised his head weakly, glanced at Jing Shao who was constantly approaching, and called out in a hoarse voice: "Your Highness..." Then he closed his eyes and fell back softly!