Yun Yanze stood under the high palace wall. He looked at Yun Duqing and Ming Jiuzhu in the distance. The night breeze brought their laughter, and even the sound of firecrackers could not cover up their happiness.
The joys and sorrows of the world are always like this
He sat down against the wall, looked up at the fireworks exploding in the sky, his mind blank.
These gorgeous fireworks buried his mother's death, but he didn't even have the courage to see her for the last time.
"Yan Ze, you must study hard and become the best prince."
"You have to be good, then your father will like you."
"Yan Ze, you are all my mother's hope. You must become the crown prince and the most noble man in Dacheng."
"I really hate it, I really hate it..."
The sound of firecrackers had stopped, and when he came to his senses, Yun Duqing had already left. Ming Jiuzhu was holding a palace lantern in her hand, followed by several palace maids and eunuchs.
"County Lord, there seems to be someone over there."
An eunuch spotted him and said, "Let your servant go over and take a look."
"Don't go." Jiuzhu stopped the eunuch. She looked at the blurry figure under the wall. On this night of reunion, people who were alone, not disturbing them was a decent and gentle gesture to them: "Let's go, no one should disturb them."
Watching the girl leaving with the eunuch, Yun Yanze stood up, looked up at the fireworks still blooming in the sky, turned around and blended into the night.
In Qianyi Pavilion, Zheng Lanyin held the white silk in her hand, looking at the fireworks flashing outside the window, still unwilling in her heart, but the powerful eunuchs didn't care about that. They dragged her and wrapped the white silk around her neck.
She reached out to tear at the white silk in fear, crying bitterly, without any trace of her former elegance and dignity.
"Lady Zheng," an eunuch said in a sinister tone, "Be on your way. If you continue to struggle like this, you will implicate the Fourth Prince."
"Who of you dares to kill me? I am the biological mother of the Fourth Prince!" Zheng Lanyin seemed to have finally found the confidence: "You lowly dogs and slaves, no one can touch me."
Being scolded as a dog slave, the powerful eunuch was not angry. He and another eunuch used their hands to strangle the white silk. Seeing that Zheng Lanyin's struggle was getting weaker and weaker, he sneered and said, "There is something I forgot to tell you just now. Not only has the emperor stripped the fourth prince of all his titles, but he will also bring the noble concubine to worship the ancestors tomorrow and canonize her as the Empress of the Central Palace!"
Zheng Lanyin opened her eyes wide, struggled desperately for a few times, and then took her last breath with her eyes closed.
"Even before his death, he still wanted to use the Fourth Prince as a golden ticket to avoid death. With such a grandfather and biological mother, the Fourth Prince is really unlucky." The powerful eunuch tried Zheng Lanyin's breath and said, "If he is dead, take him to report."
"Eunuch, Eunuch." Bai Shao rushed into the room, took out the silver from her pocket, and stuffed it into the hands of the powerful eunuch: "Please be flexible for a moment and allow me to tidy up my master's appearance."
The powerful eunuch tossed the silver in his hand twice, and said with a smile: "You are a loyal servant. Go ahead."
"Thank you, eunuchs." Bai Shao bowed to them and then walked towards Zheng Lanyin's body.
The powerful eunuch sneered. What was the difference between the female official in charge who used to be so high and mighty, and now being a drowned dog?
Ming Jingzhou and Shen waited outside the Suzaku Gate for a long time before they saw their daughter running towards them in small steps, followed by several eunuchs holding lanterns, walking cautiously and respectfully.
"Be careful, don't fall." Shen reached out to support Jiuzhu, smelling the faint scent of fireworks and firecrackers on her, and asked her to sit down beside her: "Did you have a lot of fun playing with His Royal Highness Prince Chen?"
Seeing her daughter nod, Shen was not surprised at all. It turned out that Prince Chen had delayed her daughter's departure from the palace.
"Sit down, let's go home." Shen let down the curtain, blocking the view of the eunuchs outside.
The wheels rolled on the road, making a rumbling sound. Jiuzhu recalled what happened at the annual banquet and couldn't help asking Ming Jingzhou: "Father, why did the Fourth Prince's maternal grandfather and his mother commit so many serious crimes, and why are there so many people pleading for the Fourth Prince?"
"They are not pleading for the Fourth Prince, but for their own future." Ming Jingzhou did not lie to his daughter just because she was young: "What do you think of the Fourth Prince?"
Jiuzhu shook her head: "He has a good appearance, is well-mannered and polite, and is a gentleman, but I don't like him."
"Because you recognized the Zheng family's steward who harmed you?"
"No." Jiuzhu continued to shake her head: "As early as the first time I saw him, I felt that he was a little strange."
Even though she herself didn't know why.
"In this life, you will always meet one or two people you don't like or find hard to forget." Shen touched her daughter's head and said, "Don't worry about such trivial matters. If you like someone, get closer to him. If you don't like him, stay away from him. Don't make it difficult for yourself."
Jiuzhu smiled: "My daughter knows."
Sometimes, if you don't like each other, you can't force it.
"In the eyes of those adults, the Fourth Prince is a man of great courtesy, kind-hearted, and respects civil officials. For civil officials, he is the best candidate for the emperor." Ming Jingzhou smiled meaningfully: "Prince Huai is close to military generals, Prince An and Prince Jing are mediocre, and Prince Chen's personality..."
Jiuzhu looked up at him.
"The Prince is selfish and cannot be controlled by the civil officials." In his daughter's eyes, Ming Jingzhou changed the word "domineering" into the euphemistic "selfish". He knew what some of the civil officials were thinking, but he was only loyal to His Majesty. Even if he knew what these people were planning, he had no intention of getting involved.
"So they don't really advocate for the Fourth Prince, but because they think... he is suitable?"
"Perhaps the Fourth Prince just wants them to think that he is the most suitable candidate." Ming Jingzhou answered his daughter's question: "As long as people are alive, they will inevitably have selfish desires."
The same goes for him.
Jiuzhu was silent for a moment: "But if the Fourth Prince's true nature is not what they imagined, won't they regret it?"
"Jiuzhu, do you know that there was such an emperor in history. When he was young, he was well-mannered, modest, kind, and not interested in women. He was frugal and thrifty, and his words and deeds were perfect. However, after he ascended the throne, he began to build large-scale projects, collect beautiful women, and was cruel and inhumane?"
"What happened next?"
"The country is lost." Ming Jingzhou saw that his daughter was stunned by what he said: "Past events should not be forgotten, and they are a lesson for the future. What Dacheng needs is a truly benevolent and wise monarch like your majesty, not a lunatic in the guise of a hypocrite."
"Father, do you think that the Fourth Prince is such a person?"
"I don't know." Ming Jingzhou smiled: "But I know that my daughter doesn't like him."
Jiuzhu widened her eyes. Does it matter whether she likes it or not?
"What's wrong?" Ming Jingzhou looked at her.
"Nothing, I just think..." Jiuzhu took a breath: "Isn't it a bit hasty?"
"No." Ming Jingzhou smiled: "This is what a father should do."
The most important thing is that Your Majesty is young and strong, and it is not yet time to find a successor.
Jiuzhu rubbed her face. Is this the happiness of being trusted unconditionally by her father?
She opened the curtain of the carriage window. Outside, there were night stalls that had not been cleared yet. There were children playing with firecrackers together, and there was a lion dancer sitting next to a stall eating noodles, holding a lion head in his arms.
Amid the fireworks, they enjoyed this quiet New Year's Eve.
A prosperous era is hard-won. Why can some people, due to their own selfish desires, fail to see the people who are struggling for their lives?
"Master, Zheng Lanyin is gone."
"Dead? It's better to be dead. She should have died a long time ago."
"Your Majesty visited her before she died."
"Your Majesty is like this, with a clear mind and a deep appreciation for the past. If it hadn't been discovered that she had poisoned the king's concubine and plotted against the king in the horse farm, Your Majesty wouldn't have let her die in such an undignified way."
There are many ways to kill a woman silently in the palace, but His Majesty personally issued an imperial decree to sentence Zheng Lanyin to death.
Things like imperial edicts were to be copied and stored in a warehouse, to be passed down to future generations for hundreds of years.
"Your Majesty, who was sentimental about the past, gave her such an embarrassing ending. It shows how stupid she was. If she could really kill the Prince of Chen, it would have been fine. But the Prince of Chen didn't die, and it caused a scare, making Your Majesty increasingly suspicious of the princes. Tell me, is she a waste?"
"Master, what should we do now?"
"Of course I will wait."
"The temptation of the throne is so great that there will always be people who will throw themselves at it and lose their minds for it."
"But, when Ming Jiuzhu and Prince Chen get married, Prince Chen will have a better chance of winning."
"marry?"
sneered.
"It is said that a husband and wife of one mind can cut through metal, but what if this couple becomes a couple of enemies?"
On the first day of the first lunar month in the fourteenth year of the Longfeng reign, Emperor Longfeng took his concubine Su to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices and sang sacrificial texts. He then posted an imperial edict to announce to the world that Su was to be made empress.
Although there were opponents in the previous dynasty, Emperor Longfeng was determined not to change his mind and set the ceremony of enthroning the empress on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
The harem, which had been ownerless for fourteen years, finally welcomed the first empress during the Longfeng period.
On the day when the imperial edict enthroning the empress was posted, Jiuzhu was locked in the yard, learning the wedding ceremony from the nanny sent by the Ministry of Rites.
There are strict rules for how many steps to take, what kind of etiquette to perform, and even whether to step with the left foot or the right foot. As the daughter of the Minister of Rites, Jiuzhu tried her best to learn in order not to embarrass her father.
"Your manner of performing etiquette is so beautiful," the nanny praised, "You are the one who learns etiquette the fastest and best among all the princesses."
Jiuzhu didn't quite believe this.
Ever since His Majesty took the Queen to worship their ancestors on the first day of the first lunar month, Jiuzhu has discovered that the attitudes of many people around her towards her have changed dramatically.
When going out to play with the ladies, she was the first to decide what kind of tea to drink and what snacks to eat.
When you go out to buy something, the shopkeepers would like to sell it at a half price and give it away for free.
Every day, more invitations were delivered to her home than snowflakes, and almost every invitation stated that her mother should bring her along.
Even the princesses and princesses would affectionately call her "sister" when they saw her, with an enthusiasm that was frightening.
"Miss." Chunfen came in with a visiting card: "This is a visiting card sent by Princess Roude."
"Princess Roude?" Jiuzhu thought about it carefully and said, "Is she the princess who stabbed the fourth prince?"
Chunfen nodded: "It's her."
"What is she doing here?" Jiuzhu flipped through the visiting card and said, "Now the princesses all live in the palace. It's not easy for them to leave the palace. Why waste her time here with me?"
"Then will you meet her?" Chunfen saw that the young lady had a dull expression on her face and guessed that she might not like the princess very much.
"See you." Jiuzhu sighed, "Now that you're here, I can't turn a princess away."
"Miss... don't you like this princess?"
"Yes." Jiuzhu nodded and said righteously: "I heard that this princess once made His Highness angry in public."
spring equinox:"……"
Was it not Prince Chen who embarrassed Princess Roude in public?
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