At the east gate of the palace, a carriage left quietly.
Wen Qingzhu stood looking into the distance, the morning sun shining down, elongating her figure.
Behind her, Lu Lei looked at her with a complicated expression: "The carriage has gone far. There is no danger now. Princess, you can rest assured."
Wen Qingzhu turned around and met Lu Lei's gaze: "Do you think it's despicable for me to do this?"
"I don't dare." Lu Lei lowered his eyes and covered his eyes.
Seeing him being so respectful and alert, Wen Qingzhu turned around and walked inside, followed closely by Lu Lei.
After walking for a while, a luan sedan with a hibiscus and gauze top carried by eight people stopped in front of them.
The person leading the way is the newly appointed Manager Zheng of Si Gongtai.
He showed a servile and fawning look: "Princess Regent, the prince invites you to go to Qianyuan Palace."
Wen Qingzhu passed him, looked at the Luan sedan behind him, and said with a smile: "Although the imperial edict of the late emperor has been issued, after all, it has not yet been canonized. It is inappropriate to have such a grand scene now, and the late emperor has just passed away, isn't it?"
"You are the regent princess, and you are the only one qualified to sit in this sedan chair. Why is it inappropriate?" The smile on Manager Zheng's face became more and more flattering.
Lu Lei didn't look sideways, but he followed Wen Qingzhu and still took in everything.
Trying to hold back the emotions in his heart and look expressionless.
Manager Zheng was promoted after the last purge. He is not very capable, but his flattery is second to none.
Wen Qingzhu promoted him after seeing him obedient.
Now it seems that something is different.
The corners of Wen Qingzhu's mouth raised slightly, and he said nothing, just looking at him quietly.
It wasn't until Manager Zheng's face froze when he smiled that he realized something was wrong with him.
Cold sweat immediately started dripping from his forehead. He shook the fly whisk in his arms, knelt down and slapped himself hard: "Princess, please forgive me! A slave shouldn't make arbitrary decisions! Please forgive me, Princess!"
"Get up. During the national mourning period, it's a busy time. It's normal to make mistakes occasionally. It's just that Eunuch Zheng doesn't want to be taken advantage of and helps count the money."
Wen Qingzhu took a deep look at him and led Lu Lei and others to bypass Manager Zheng's Luan sedan honor guard.
As soon as they walked away, Manager Zheng immediately stood up, stared at the stewards behind him, and roared in a high voice: "Send them back quickly!"
When we arrived at the front hall of Qianyuan Palace, all the ministers from the DPRK and the Central Government were there.
Seeing Wen Qingzhu coming over, everyone, led by Pei Yu and Wei Ziying, saluted her.
"See Princess Regent!"
"Pingshen." Wen Qingzhu raised his hand and walked to the front slowly.
Next to the main dragon chair, a golden chair has been placed.
Jiang Yuanhan stood up and asked her to sit down with great respect: "Sister Princess, please sit down."
Wen Qingzhu nodded, turned around and sat down, and glanced at everyone present.
Then he asked: "I don't know if you, sir, specially invited me here, but what's the problem?"
An old minister stood up behind Pei Yu: "May I ask the princess, where is Luo Fei now? I heard that the princess sent someone to imprison her alone."
"Concubine Luo was so grieved that she vomited blood and died. She has followed His Majesty."
After Wen Qingzhu said this, he turned to Bai Di and told Bai Di: "Manager Bai can ask Zongzheng Temple to handle Luo Fei's funeral affairs."
Bai Di followed the order, and Wen Qingzhu turned around, his eyes falling on Pei Yu: "Prime Minister Pei, since you are all here, we can just discuss the crown prince's enthronement."
"His Majesty just passed away yesterday. The prince is young and the regent has not returned yet. Does the princess want to take over the throne?" Pei Yu cupped his hands and looked at each other, his words full of hostility.
Wen Qingzhu smiled and said nothing, only turned to look at the Minister of Rites.
The scalp of the Minister of Rites went numb when he saw it, so he had to stand up, lowered his head and answered on behalf of Wen Qingzhu: "Prime Minister Pei, a country cannot live without a king for a day. The previous emperor also ascended the throne within three days of the death of the Supreme Emperor."
Wen Qingzhu smiled with satisfaction, looked at Pei Yu and asked, "When Prime Minister Pei returned to Beijing earlier, he also started from the Ministry of Rites, but now he has forgotten the foundation of this country."
"I respectfully invite the crown prince to ascend the throne!" Wei Ziying was the first to kneel down.
Ministers knelt down one after another, and in the end, Pei Yu had to kneel down and plead.
Wen Qingzhu stood up, turned to Jiang Yuanhan and bowed: "I respectfully invite the crown prince to ascend the throne!"
Jiang Yuanhan looked at the many ministers below, his mood fluctuating. Is this what it feels like to rule the world
The next step is to ask Qin Tianjian to choose a date, and the Ministry of Rites and Zongzheng Temple Taichang Temple to prepare for the enthronement ceremony.
At the end of the day, things were quickly settled. However, when Fu Lie did not return and the regent came to the court to listen to the government, Pei Yu and Wei Ziying had a serious disagreement.
Pei Yu felt that Fu Lie should focus on the territory of Daqi, repel the Xiongnu, and then exercise his power to listen to the government.
However, Wei Ziying felt that recalling Fu Lie immediately was the most important thing to stabilize the government.
There was a lot of noise in the Xuanzheng Hall, Jiang Yuanhan just listened expressionlessly, without any disturbance in his heart.
After discussing the enthronement ceremony just now, Lei Xiao immediately stepped forward to ask for permission to leave.
Jiang Yuanhan knew what he was going to do, so he nodded in agreement.
At this moment in the Qianyuan Palace, Wen Qingzhu stood at the door of the main hall, looking at the one or two coffins in the room, feeling filled with emotions.
The era that started with Jiang Yue has finally ended. Is it her era this time
"I have met the princess."
Lei Xiao's voice sounded from behind. Wen Qingzhu did not turn around, but asked quietly: "Master Lei, won't you stay in the Xuanzheng Hall to discuss what to do?"
"The enthronement ceremony and the funeral of the late emperor have been discussed. Now they are arguing about whether to invite the regent to return to Beijing."
Lei Xiao looked at her back, feeling really unsure whether he could persuade her this time.
"Oh? What do you think, Mr. Lei?" Wen Qingzhu turned around and stood with his hands behind his back, his face full of inscrutability.
Lei Xiao cupped his hands: "I believe that the princess can listen to the affairs behind the curtain on behalf of the regent."
Wen Qingzhu's eyes dimmed instantly, and a smile with unknown meaning appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Master Lei, do you really dare to say that if I really do this, where will Fu Lie go? Don't forget what the late emperor said before he died. , once Fu Lie comes to the court to take charge, I must leave the capital."
"But now the regent is not in the capital, and the situation in the court is in chaos. Only the princess can calm it down." Lei Xiao said firmly.
Wen Qingzhu didn't reply, turned around and looked up at the coffin in the main hall: "Since the founding of the Qi Dynasty, there have been queen mothers, regents, and even eldest princesses and eldest princesses, but there has never been a regent. of."
After a moment of silence, Lei Xiao replied: "As long as the princess is willing, what's the problem with her identity?"
There was another dead silence. Wen Qingzhu let go of his hand and walked closer to the palace: "Master Lei, please come back. Before the emperor passed away last night, I sent someone to rush eight hundred miles to Dingyuan. The regent. Will be back as scheduled."
Wen Qingzhu had already entered, but Lei Xiao's eyes became serious.
He was more worried about Fu Lie than Wen Qingzhu.
After the famous family, he successively pacified Youzhou and Ganzhou, and became famous with Xianbei and Rouran.
If we go to Dingyuan now and defeat the Xiongnu, the world will probably only recognize Fu Lie but not the emperor!
As night fell, Wen Qingzhu was still standing in the mourning hall, looking up at Jiang Yue's memorial tablet.
Behind him, the eldest son, Sun Linlang, came over and reported in a low voice: "Princess, the masters of Fengguo Temple are waiting in the courtyard."
Wen Qingzhu then turned around and looked outside the courtyard, where ninety-nine monks were standing neatly.
Among them, the nine people at the front are wearing cassocks, and the one in the middle is holding a nine-ring Zen staff. His face is compassionate but does not look old.
Wen Qingzhu walked out, and the master holding the Zen staff came forward, raised one hand in front of him, and greeted softly: "Amitabha, I—"
"Master Jiuzhu!" Wen Qingzhu replied for him.
Jiu Zhu was slightly startled, but quickly nodded again: "Exactly, this time I led everyone from Fengguo Temple to recite sutras for the late emperor to be saved."
Wen Qingzhu walked down the steps slowly, walked back and forth in front of him, and looked at him carefully.
Finally, he suddenly asked: "May I ask what the relationship between Master and Master Jiudeng is?"
"Jiu Deng is Senior Brother Lao Na." Jiu Zhu still looked compassionate, and no change could be seen.
Wen Qingzhu couldn't see clearly from the distance just now.
Now that the distance was extremely close, she could clearly see the true appearance of this person.
Wen Qingzhu met his gaze with a half-smile on his lips.
However, she still turned sideways and gave way: "Master, please."
Jiu Zhu felt vaguely not feeling well, but without any flaws, he led everyone into the mourning hall.
Soon the palace people laid out futons and wooden fish, and the monks sat down one after another and began to chant sutras to the late emperor.
Wen Qingzhu stood at the door, quietly looking at the person in front.
Sitting in the room, Jiuzhu was like a ray of light on his back. He tried his best to resist the urge to turn around and forced himself to knock on the wooden fish and chant sutras.
If it were normal, Jiu Zhu would be able to invest soon.
But for some reason, his heart couldn't calm down at all. The people behind him were staring at him like ghost eyes, as if they could swallow him up anytime and anywhere.
Seeing that his rhythm was about to get messed up, the sight behind him suddenly disappeared.
Jiu Zhu relaxed instantly, but the movements of his hands were a beat slower.
"Tuk—"
The sound of a wooden fish mixed in with the chanting made everyone quiet down instantly, and they all paid attention to Jiu Zhu.
He reacted quickly and immediately raised his head to look at the coffin with a sad look in his eyes: "The late emperor has received our voice and will change to the second piece."
Jiu Zhu took the lead in knocking. Although some people were confused, no one dared to question it. The mourning hall was once again peaceful.
Wen Qingzhu returned to the East Palace and heard the report from the mourning hall. The corner of his mouth curled up: "It's really the master."
The person who reported the news listened to these unclear words and thought to himself: What does the princess mean? Is it because they are suspicious of sending people to keep an eye on those masters
But hearing what the princess said, why did it feel like it was a compliment
Lu Tao let him go down, then turned to Wen Qingzhu and said, "Jasmine will be there in a minute. Linlin is still at the Si Gong Terrace. He said that someone made a mistake on the Si Gong Terrace during the day, and Manager Zheng asked someone to come over and make a decision."
"Now he doesn't dare to make his own decisions?" Wen Qingzhu thought of the Luan sedan during the day, which was not what ordinary people could think of.
It seems that there are still people in the palace who are still determined to give up.
At the same time as Jasmine arrived, Bai Di met her at the door, and they entered the house together.
He saluted Wen Qingzhu and said hello: "See you, Princess."
"You're welcome. From today on, Wen Qingzhu's East Palace will be in charge of Jasmine, and Bai Di will go to Si Gongtai as the general manager."
As soon as Wen Qingzhu said these words, Bai Di was shocked and confused.
Is this flattering her? Or are you afraid of her
If she were to be promoted, Si Gongtai was in charge of the internal affairs of the entire palace, which was a very important position both internally and externally, so it would really be a compliment to her.
But speaking of fear, she is now in charge of the affairs of the East Palace. When the prince ascends the throne, she will naturally go to Qianyuan Palace.
Although he is not as good as Xiao Fangzi, he is as beautiful as his eldest grandson Linlang. If nothing happens in the future, he can choose his own son-in-law.
While hesitating, Wen Qingzhu explained: "I can see that you are a very capable woman. No woman has ever been the manager of Sigongtai. If you can hold on, over there are the first female officer of our court, and our eldest grandson Linlang. It’s different, you are on the same level as Lord Jiushi.”
"Princess!" Bai Di immediately knelt down. She understood exactly what Wen Qingzhu meant by these words.
This is an attempt to completely bureaucracy the Sigongtai and give it greater power.
Bai Di's suspicion that Wen Qingzhu was afraid of her has disappeared, and now she is nervous: "Slave, I'm afraid, I'm afraid I can't do it."