Yun Qike and Yun Suke specially chose a secluded corner to talk, so they sent all the people serving them far away.
Unexpectedly, without a few words of discussion, Xili was separated from the entrance of the rockery cave next to her. A group of palace people in gilded clothes came out surrounded by the picturesque Yun Fenghuang, and the two sides just met each other.
"..." Looking at each other, their eyes changed slightly.
The brothers were silent for a while, and both bowed to pay their respects to the noble concubine.
"I haven't seen you for many days, but my cousin's appearance hasn't changed at all." Yun Fenghuang stopped and called out lightly. His eyes wandered over the two brothers, and he said leisurely, "I didn't expect to meet you here."
The cousin she was talking about was Yun Suke.
Before she entered the palace, she followed Yun Qingman in and out of the Duke's Mansion and met most of the children of the Yun clan.
Some of them didn't think highly of her because of her background, but Yun Qingman didn't treat her favorably because of her background, but the relationship was relatively cold.
There are also a few who either don't have much sectarian views, or are simply extra tolerant of beauties, but they are quite polite to Yun Fenghuang, and they always exchange a few words when they meet, which is quite harmonious.
This Yun Suke is the latter. He is a few years older than Yun Qike. He was married to Yun Fenghuang the year he came to the imperial capital. His wife is a legitimate daughter of a branch of the Meng family, and she is in the next room of Concubine Wan. sister.
Because of his excellent academic performance, he was often taken by Duke Yi to teach and give guidance, and he visited the Duke's mansion more often.
Therefore, I have met Yun Fenghuang several times, and he has always been kind and amiable... Although this kind of amiableness is somewhat sympathetic, Yun Suke is quite upright, and he does not rely on being the most beloved nephew of Duke Yi. If he did something inappropriate due to his status, the most he could do was say a few words to a few brothers in private about his cousin Yun Qingman's playmate being very beautiful.
This kind of words often don't sound so good when they are passed to Yun Fenghuang's ears, but Yun Fenghuang also knows that many of them are fueled by people in the Yun family who are jealous of her and Yun Qingman's respect.
When it was Yun Suke's turn, he had never offended or murdered her.
At this moment, she was able to greet Yun Suke politely, and even greeted the other party's wife and children.
Yun Suke was a little flattered. Before Yun Fenghuang entered the palace, because of Xie Fenghuan's incident, he behaved particularly dignified and innocent in front of the opposite sex. When he had to meet each other, he always looked straight and did not speak if he could. .
At that time, he saw the girl's beauty and found out that she was not from a high family background. In fact, it was not that he had not had some charming thoughts... In a big family, this kind of thing is very common. The sisters are surrounded by beauties from low family backgrounds. Girls, often the purpose of flattering a noble girl is to get the first prize, to take concubines for the noble girl's father, brothers and nephews, or to fill houses if they are lucky.
But Yun Fenghuang's attitude of avoiding them, coupled with the fact that he was inseparable from Yun Qingman, and he had no intention of trying to flirt with them. He was not the kind of person who only focused on women, so he stopped at meeting each other. He was extraordinarily gentle and polite when talking about it, as well as a few words of praise during private discussions.
Now Miss Xie, who once had to look up to them, is now a noble concubine whom they look up to, but she has become approachable. Although Yun Suke comes from a wealthy family and is academically accomplished, she is considered the leader of Yun's generation, but she is not exempt from vulgarity. He felt that the imperial concubine was extraordinarily noble and amiable, so he quickly raised his hands and said, "I am worried about you, but your concubine is more dignified and graceful than before. I almost didn't recognize her."
The two parties exchanged greetings for a while as concubines and family members. Yun Qike felt a little uneasy and uncomfortable. He coughed lightly and interrupted, saying that the main hall was questioning Xiangrui's death and asked Yun Fenghuang if he wanted to hurry up. Come over and see what's going on
The implication is that you should stop chatting with my brother and leave as soon as possible.
"I heard that the crown prince is pregnant? And she is definitely a male heir?" Yun Fenghuang glanced at him and said with a smile, "I haven't congratulated the crown prince yet, but I am about to be blessed with a Qilin son?"
Yun Qike became even more uneasy as he listened. He felt that the concubine's words seemed to be malicious towards the Han family's heirs. He also thought that the previous harem knew that the concubine had been harmed by the palace and could not have children. This was because of his young age. The woman who she wanted to marry wholeheartedly when she was frivolous, but she never said that to him, and even deeply resented that his love had brought disaster to her. This entanglement had a certain relationship with the death of Concubine Zhenxi... The grudges between the two parties are now unclear.
He was in a daze for a moment, and after a moment of silence he whispered, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
This sentence was so dry that even Yun Suke, who didn't know what was going on, noticed the abnormality and looked at him in surprise.
Yun Fenghuang looked so amiable, as if the two parties were pure brothers and sisters of the same race, with no barriers between them, and asked them what they were doing here.
"One of the people who just fed the white deer was cousin Xike." Yun Suke saw that Yun Qike was still a little sad and didn't answer immediately. He was suspicious, but now was not the time to ask, so he quickly answered on his behalf, "Now he has been We were summoned to the main hall for questioning, and we were very worried, so we discussed countermeasures here."
"I have also met my cousin Xike. I know that he is the most honest person. How could he be detrimental to Xiangrui?" Yun Fenghuang nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, cousin, I am going to the main hall." Yes, I will definitely put in a good word for my cousin Xike when the time comes, so that he won’t be wronged in vain.”
In fact, although the Yun brothers hid out to discuss countermeasures, they didn't feel panic at all.
After all, the emperor now has a great say, and the Yun family has been following the emperor from the beginning.
Not to mention that Yun Xike was unlikely to murder Bailu who was in palace confinement. Even if he was really so confused, Chunjia would most likely not pursue it for Duke Yi's sake.
What they were thinking about now was not whether Yunxi Ke could prove his innocence, but who did it and what was the purpose
But after Yun Fenghuang said this, of course he could only accept this favor and he had to express his gratitude.
Seeing the imperial concubine being surrounded and leaving, Yun Suke asked Yun Qike in a low voice: "What happened to you just now? Although this person said that he was adopted by me, the Yun family, in fact, his thoughts were all with the Xie family. Usually, he was with the Xie family. When did you think of our family? But she is the imperial concubine after all. Now that we have bumped into her and she said a few polite words, why should we be so cold? We will also embarrass my aunt and others when they enter the palace to pay their respects. "
"..." Yun Qike was silent for a while and then said, "Yeah."
Seeing that he didn't mean to explain in detail, Yun Suke didn't ask any questions, so he changed the subject and sighed: "The good osmanthus appreciation feast went wrong again. It is said that the palace specially chose this small party for the previous summer banquet. Damn it, I still couldn’t escape... I don’t know what will happen next?”
What happens next
Chunjia was also thinking about this issue at this moment.
In other words, what should we do next
Yan Yin beside him whispered softly: "The Queen has just questioned her personally. The Gelsemium plant only appeared in the honeysuckle bushes two days ago. Because its flowers are similar to honeysuckle, she is responsible for going to the island to check. The palace officials went through it many times and found nothing wrong, so they didn’t report it.”
"The Queen has already taken off her hairpin outside to await her punishment."
"The same goes for concubines Shu and Concubine De, who are in charge of the Sixth Palace."
"This is a good omen. It has nothing to do with anyone but God's will." Chunjia said lightly, "What are the queens asking for?"
Yan Yin quickly said: "Yes."
He winked, and someone from the palace went out to persuade the queen and others to leave.
"... Do you think the noble concubine knows about this?" Empress Gu led the second concubine to retreat and walked outside. The empress suddenly asked in a low voice, "I just sent someone to Jiuying Pavilion to ask, and she said it was nothing serious. No. If that’s the case, why didn’t you come over to the banquet?”
From the Queen's point of view, Yun Fenghuang, as Chunjia's favorite concubine, was suddenly absent from today's banquet.
I was thinking before that maybe the imperial concubine has had everything going smoothly since she entered the palace, but maybe she will be unlucky today
But when the news of Bailu's sudden death came out, she felt that either Yun Fenghuang was lucky and happened to escape the storm, or Chunjia knew it well and deliberately let the imperial concubine avoid it.
"I don't know who I am." Just now, because Concubine Shu was pregnant and because of her grandfather, although she was flattering to Yun Fenghuang, she never went too far, so she didn't go to Jiuying Pavilion in person. She was startled after hearing this. , shook his head and said, "However, even if the imperial concubine is here, she can at most plead guilty with us, which seems to be nothing? After all, I see that your majesty is a little tired, but he is not very angry."
"This is a good omen after all, and your majesty will certainly not be angry." Concubine De took over the words and said, "And I just went to see the Jiuying Pavilion in person, and the imperial concubine sister is indeed feeling a little unwell. I thought the imperial concubine sister is not feeling well today. It's just a coincidence that you didn't come to the banquet. After all, the imperial concubine is also worried about the banquet today, how could she sit back and watch knowing that there is trouble?"
Gu Zhen thought about it. The imperial concubine was willing to take advantage rather than suffer losses. If she had nothing to do with this banquet, she might still laugh and see someone causing trouble for the middle palace.
But this time the imperial concubine is also one of the hosts, so how can she be willing to let someone slap her in the face
The queen sighed and was about to speak when she saw Yun Fenghuang walking in.
"Is your concubine's injury okay?" The queen subconsciously looked at the hem of her skirt and asked, "I just said that I should call the imperial doctor to take a look at you."
"Mother Lao, I'm thinking about you. I'm only slightly twisted. It's not serious. I've recovered after resting for a while." Yun Fenghuang greeted them politely and then asked about Chunjia's whereabouts.
When he learned that the emperor was resting alone in the Nuan Pavilion at the back, he asked the queen to go and have a look.
The queen said: "Your Majesty has been working very hard these past two days, so you might as well go and accompany him. But I see that your Majesty is tired now, so I'm afraid he may not like to be disturbed."
Yun Fenghuang said nonchalantly: "I will go and say hello. If Your Majesty wants to be alone, I dare not disturb Your Majesty."
So she went, and the queen returned to the banquet uneasily and continued to eat and drink... After all, the death of the white deer was a good omen, so she should continue the banquet to celebrate, right
After waiting for a while, Yun Fenghuang didn't come back, so he knew that Chunjia had probably asked her to go into the Nuan Pavilion.
Although I knew that the emperor always treated his concubines differently, it was a bit sour to the empress and concubine Shu, so they subconsciously drank a few more cups.
At this moment, in the Nuan Pavilion, Chun Jia was holding her forehead and talking to Yun Fenghuang about the whole story: "...Ouyang Yanran simply reacted quickly and settled the matter, otherwise the summer banquet would have killed someone, and the osmanthus appreciation banquet would have been auspicious. Once I get out, I don’t know what people in the world will say about it.”
"This is your Majesty's destiny, so you have virtuous ministers to help you." Yun Fenghuang comforted, "It's just that the good Gelsemium was transplanted to the honeysuckle bush. Apparently someone deliberately murdered Bailu, but he didn't know it. Who is so vicious? Speaking of which, this is also the fault of us people. We should not have just asked people around us to come to the island to check, we should have come and checked in person. "
Hearing this, Chunjia shook his head and said: "The two things look very similar and are easily confused. Even young apprentices in apothecary shops sometimes make mistakes, let alone concubines and ordinary palace people? The person in charge chose Gelsemium to fake honeysuckle. Obviously, Even if you are sure that the mistake was not caused by an expert, you will ignore it when you see it. Otherwise, how can you avoid all kinds of preparations before the banquet? "
His expression was a little gloomy, not the kind of vigilance and suspicion that he didn't know the culprit, but a kind of hesitation that was difficult to make up his mind.
Yun Fenghuang saw some clues, and after thinking about it, he asked him tentatively, did the emperor have any idea about who harmed the white deer
"... Empress Yuan's mother told me something just now." Chunjia was silent for a while, and then she said, "She suspected that it was Empress Qu's mother who did it."
"Why did the Queen Mother Our Lady do this?" Yun Fenghuang asked puzzledly, "Not to mention that the Queen Mother Our Lady is His Majesty's biological mother. If she did something to Xiang Rui, wouldn't it be a hindrance to Your Majesty? Let's just say she did this. ,what are the benefits?"
Chunjia smiled bitterly and said briefly: "Didn't I say that Kunze didn't need to find a marriage for her before? Did she have an idea in her heart? But she and Yuan's son are in love. Empress Qu's mother does not support this marriage. These days , there was a serious disagreement with Empress Yuan. This time, it was Empress Yuan’s suggestion to put the white deer on the small square pot for the osmanthus appreciation banquet. Maybe it was because of this that Empress Qu was angry with the white deer? But it doesn’t count. Add trouble to me, after all Queen Qu’s mother also knows about it, I don’t believe it and don’t care about it.”
The last sentence was just to hide the face of Queen Mother Qu. After all, whether the emperor believed in auspicious things or not was not a big problem. The key was that the people below believed in it.
This is important.
Everyone in the world thinks that the appearance of a white deer after a white tiger in the country is auspicious, which means that the reigning emperor is recognized and even loved by God.
This is a good thing.
But everything has two sides.
Once any of these auspicious signs go wrong, you will turn to suspect the reigning emperor and issue a warning.
Something went wrong with the white tiger before, and the emperor used Ji's family to stop the disaster.
The sudden death of the white deer was not in the emperor's plan or expectation at all.
It was Ouyang Yanran who reacted quickly and managed to save the situation.
Otherwise, Chunjia would have a headache right now, how to explain to the world that Bailu's death was not due to his lack of blessings, shortcomings in virtue, not being favored by God, etc...
"...I remember that Kunze was always raised under the knees of the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother, and rarely left the palace. How could he be so happy with the Yuan family?" Yun Fenghuang sneered in his heart, wondering how the Queen Mother Qu could anger Bai Bai over such a small thing. deer
I'm afraid that Queen Mother Yuan wanted to use Bailu to make a fuss about Kunze's marriage, so that Queen Mother Qu would not use her identity as Kunze's adoptive mother to cause trouble, and disrupt the marriage even if they were engaged. This would anger Queen Mother Qu to the point of Arrange to kill Bai Lu
How could the always low-key Queen Mother Qu be so angry? Who knows how excessive Queen Mother Yuan's previous arrangements were
She asked the emperor as if nothing had happened, pretending that she knew nothing, "Is it possible that there is some grievance or misunderstanding about Princess Kunze, and that is why the Queen Mother has lost her temper?"