The flower mother-in-law is made of iron wire and cardboard as a frame, and the outside is wrapped with a mesh pattern woven with black silk thread, and the surface is all dotted with green.
The front is decorated with five golden silk phoenixes, inlaid with pearls and gems, and a tassel of pearls and gems is held in the mouth.
A row of nine golden phoenixes are arranged under the golden phoenix, holding tassels of pearls, corals, turquoise, lapis lazuli, rubies and sapphires.
There are also several strings of tassel pendants on the back of the necklace, making it look dazzling and beautiful.
It was evening at this time, and the setting sun shone in through the window lattice, reflecting each other's beauty with the pearls and greenery, making the palace even more noble.
Gu Zhen sighed, carefully placed the flower mother-of-pearl on the brocade cushion on the ebony lacquer tray in front of him, and said slowly: "Send it to Xuanqing Palace, and say that I am the one who added makeup to Princess Xincheng."
When she said this, she subconsciously turned her head and glanced at the crystal mirror not far away. The queen in the phoenix crown and costume in the mirror still looked noble and beautiful at first glance. With just a little attention, she could find that there were already a few strands on her temples. Light gray, but it means premature hair.
"I'm not getting any younger after all..." Gu Zhen sighed again. She was the same age as Chunjia. This year was already Chunjia's 20th year, so they were both at an age where they could sit back and watch.
It's just that men are older than women, and Chunjia has great power. He is increasingly speaking his mind and everything goes as planned. He only feels majestic and solemn when he looks at her, but his face is as handsome and upright as ever.
As for the empress, this year, during ceremonies, the emperor and the empress are juxtaposed, making people think that she is older than the emperor, at least seven or eight years old.
The old people in the past didn't care. They all knew that the Queen's life had become increasingly difficult in the past two years.
In the fifteenth year of Chunjia, the two healthy legitimate princes, the tenth prince and the twelfth prince, were moved to Taichu Palace, and the emperor personally took over their education.
This would have been a good thing.
But after the two princes arrived at the side hall of Taichu Palace, in the first few months, the emperor just watched with cold eyes, and everything was fine.
Sixteen years after Chunjia, because there was nothing going on in the country, Chunjia was not polite when she freed her hands, but openly used heavy methods to discipline the two children.
The tenth prince was arrogant, so the emperor often scolded him; the twelfth prince was timid, so the emperor mostly encouraged and cajoled him.
To be fair, Chunjia's arrangement could be regarded as showing concern for the two legitimate sons.
But the relationship between the tenth prince and the twelve princes was deteriorating.
Not only that, there are also rumors gradually spreading in the palace, saying that one of the two princes is too domineering and the other is too weak, and neither of them is normal. This shows that the queen has ulterior motives and deliberately raises the legitimate prince so that she can use her mother's power in the future. Figure out your identity.
Although these words circulated for a while and were suppressed by the emperor and empress, the terrible thing was that both the tenth prince and the twelfth prince heard it.
Although the two princes became more and more respectful to the queen, Gu Zhen always felt that they were actually alienated from him.
In terms of palace affairs, the conflicts between the middle palace and the imperial concubines are increasing day by day.
This was not what bothered the queen the most. What made her want to vomit blood the most was that in the middle of the 16th year of Chunjia, after repeated requests from her and Mrs. Gu, Chunjia allowed Gu to send a pair of sisters to the palace. Under the guise of accompanying the queen, as a prince of the middle palace, he was chosen as a concubine in the future.
As a result, Gu Long, the younger sister of the two young ladies of the Gu family, did not like the third prince, much less the King of Chu, nor the sixth prince... but she was so interested in the seventh prince!
To be honest, although the queen doesn't like the imperial concubine, she really wants to secretly praise the seventh prince. This child is indeed outstanding.
Because of his grandfather Yin Qu, this child had always had a somewhat aloof status in the palace. Even the imperial concubine had to deal with it specially and was not willing to ignore him casually.
But there is no arrogance, but a very generous and polite nature.
In addition to being more attached to the imperial concubine, he can be said to be a rare sincere gentleman.
Moreover, her appearance is quite similar to that of Chunjia when she was young, elegant and elegant.
Gu Zhen sometimes feels a little dazed when he sees this child, remembering that when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he first entered the palace and saw the emperor for the first time.
Chunjia's heart was as solid as stone. Among the many old people who had accompanied him since their wedding, few died well and lived a comfortable life, including his childhood sweetheart Concubine An. Even so, who among the old people like Gu Zhen had not secretly fallen in love with the emperor in their best years? At that time, I was still a little naive and childish, and I didn't understand the depth of sorrow of meeting such an emperor. At first, my temptation was nothing more than coveting the good looks of the Nine-Five Supreme.
Thinking of this, Gu Zhen really couldn't bear to blame Gu Long.
Gu Long is her biological niece, the same age as the tenth prince. According to the arrangement between the Queen and the Gu family, if nothing unexpected happens, she will become the concubine of the tenth prince in the future.
It's just that Gu Long was still able to cater to the tenth prince at first. After meeting the seventh prince a few times by chance, she even avoided him...
If there were other princes with many nieces from their natal family, the queen would not be able to find ways to fulfill her wishes.
The problem is that the seventh prince is raised by the imperial concubine. Even if the relationship between the two parties is not taken into account, Gu Zhen's eyesight goes dark for Gu Long if he just says that his niece will be the imperial concubine's daughter-in-law.
That was the master who forced the empress dowager, a loving mother, to leave the capital in embarrassment and has been unable to return to the palace. He was so ruthless towards his elders, let alone being her junior
In particular, the Seventh Prince was good at everything, but when it came to the imperial concubine, he didn't even bother to think that his mother and concubine were good at everything and everything was right.
Even his direct maternal grandfather Yin Qu became more and more controlled by the imperial concubine.
Gu Zhen twitched the corner of his mouth helplessly, wondering, should he wait for Xincheng to leave the cabinet and find an excuse to send Gu Long back to his parents' home
Otherwise, it will be in vain to waste a niece's troubles. Don't cause any trouble and drag down the reputation of the Central Palace.
Although Zhonggong has been defeated time and time again in the past two years, his reputation has also been greatly reduced.
But Gu Long didn't live up to expectations. Gu Long's sisters still had hope of marrying into the royal family. She couldn't let her be ignorant and ruin the future of other girls.
"Your Majesty, this flower is so luxurious. It would be too much for Xin to become a princess." Someone among the attendants complained about her and whispered, "She will marry outside the Great Wall soon. It's freezing cold in that place." , where can it be used? Don’t let the king’s tent move and lose the beads and green feathers. There is no need to waste good things, so why not just throw away two pieces at will.”
Concubine Min is not a good person anyway, so what's the use of giving her niece many good things
Gu Zhen pinched his forehead and said slowly: "That's it, after all, she is a princess who was conferred by your majesty personally, and she is also a member of the Weihe Dalan clan. As a queen, I must have two decent things to add to my makeup. Something. Otherwise, if the news spreads, we will not be able to uncover the pot!"
After Chunjia personally raised the 10th and 12th princes, she believed that she had fulfilled her responsibilities to the middle palace and the Gu family, and she felt more at ease when she favored the imperial concubine.
The imperial concubine was originally domineering and domineering, but after this incident she became even more arrogant.
Half a year ago, he made trouble for the Ping family. The tenth prince personally went to the imperial court to plead for mercy. Instead of being able to make Chunjia relent, he was scolded by the emperor in public, saying that he was ungrateful, a lowly maid, and had belittled the nobles one after another. His aunt, as well as his noble mother-in-law and concubine, showed that they had no dignity in their hearts. Not only did they punish the tenth prince by kneeling for four hours to make him remember, he also punished several of his most admired ministers and bachelors on the grounds that they He did not teach his disciples well, and did not urge the good tenth prince to become a good prince with both good conduct and learning.
After this incident spread, people in the former dynasty and the harem were talking a lot, thinking that the tenth prince might be a little far away from that position.
After all, the emperor was so partial to the imperial concubine, how could he let the tenth prince, who had a grudge against the imperial concubine, take the throne
Gu Zhen was furious after hearing the news. He hated Yun Fenghuang for being vicious and deliberately starting with Ping Xianyi to anger the tenth prince. He also hated the tenth prince for being ignorant. Even if he wanted to protect his own mother, who would show such a bad attitude in front of Chunjia? in front of
Now it's not the turn of the tenth prince to take charge of his own affairs!
She knew this child's nature, and was afraid that he would say something he shouldn't say in anger, which would further jeopardize her future, so she took off her coat and let the cold wind blow in all night, making herself sick. The tenth prince was needed to take care of him, so he held him by his side and taught him a lesson.
After this incident, the tenth prince restrained himself a lot and seemed to be sincere towards her.
It's just that the mother and son have been separated for several years. It's not like a short time together can bridge the gap.
After all, it's impossible to be as affectionate as the seventh prince and his concubine.
The result of the queen's interference was that the imperial concubine no longer targeted Ping Xianyi, but opposed her everywhere.
Gu Zhen didn't say anything, but he was really tired in his heart.
She is nearly ten years older than Yun Fenghuang, is not favored by Chunjia, and is not capable enough to hold the position of the middle palace... It is really difficult to support herself until now, so in the past two years, she has treated Yun Fenghuang. They all give in if they can.
What he said to Zuo Zuo was that there was no need to cause trouble over trivial matters and increase Chun Jia's dislike of them.
In fact, I just feel tired.
Same thing this time.
Princess Xincheng Xie Kuo was ordained five years ago, and she would have married away from the grassland the year before last.
But in the eighteenth year of Chunjia, Wei Hexin Khan fell seriously ill and almost failed to survive.
The imperial court held an emergency meeting for this purpose, and the ministers were divided into two groups. One group proposed that Princess Xincheng should be married immediately. If the Khan died, he would adopt his son and nephew and use Xie Kuo as the regent of the Empress Dowager Wei He; the other group proposed that Princess Xincheng should be married off immediately. , Xie Kuo was not of high origin and was young. No matter how weak Wei He's side was now, it was once a dynasty that could be equal to the national dynasty. How could Xie Kuo's newly arrived dynasty be able to suppress it
Yes, it is impossible for Xie Kuo to marry far away alone. He will definitely arrange for someone to do the marriage and provide advice.
But no matter how many people come up with ideas, Xie Kuo still has to be able to hold up the situation at the critical moment. If this candidate is Concubine Min, the ministers can rest assured.
However, it was rumored that Xie Kuo had a calm and well-behaved personality, so naturally everyone didn't believe her.
The most important thing is that Xie Kuo and Wei Hexin Khan are the same age.
The young Khan was born and raised on the grassland, so he was at risk of dying young, not to mention Xie Kuo, the master who had been pampered by the imperial concubine for many years
What if after Xie Kuo leaves, something happens within two years
This is not a curse on her, but it is really possible.
In this way, what pretext does the country have to manipulate Weihe Khan
In the end, the latter group gained the upper hand, and Guochao found excuses to delay the wedding. After confirming that Khan was completely over it, they agreed to continue the marriage.
But when Yun Fenghuang found out about it, he said that Khan was already weak, and after this incident, he didn't know whether he would live long. Even if she doesn't think about her niece, she just thinks about the country. Prince Wei He, who has the blood of the country, is more reliable than the adopted child, isn't it
All in all, the imperial court was procrastinating in preparations until the beginning of this year, when it was learned that Wei He Khan was completely recovered and even allowed a female slave to give birth to a male heir, so he relented and married Xie Kuo.
The auspicious time calculated by Qin Tian is the beginning of autumn. It is only the beginning of spring now, so there is still enough time to prepare. However, considering the summer vacation in between, in fact, it is the day when Xincheng will leave the cabinet just after returning from Qishan this year. In this way, the Queen was afraid that she would be in a hurry when the time came, so she simply gave the extra makeup to her while the servants were bringing up the new batch of jewelry.
They were sent to the Xuanqing Palace, where Concubine Youmin cleaned up the niece.
After arranging this matter, she didn't want to think too much about those troublesome things. Instead, she asked someone to bring a stack of portraits in front of her and muttered: "Tell me, among these girls, who is more compatible with Bing'er?"
[Note] The description of the jade-embedded jewel with five phoenixes comes from the collection of the Forbidden City.