"Miss Ming?" Xiangjuan looked at Jiuzhu in surprise, and suddenly thought, the county princess had been fostered in Lingzhou, could she really know something?
"I..." Jiuzhu turned around and looked around, feeling a little embarrassed and afraid that others would hear her: "Aunt, let's go inside and talk."
"Okay." Xiangjuan nodded and was about to lead Jiuzhu into the inner hall, but then she remembered that Concubine Ning was kneeling outside the hall door. She paused, wondering how she should explain to Miss Ming.
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu grabbed the Prince's sleeve and refused to let go, looking at him with blinking eyes: "Can you accompany me in?"
"Okay." Prince Chen walked forward, holding Jiuzhu's hand through his sleeve. Xiangjuan looked at the two people's backs and couldn't help laughing. His Highness also knows how to care about others.
"Cold?" Even through the cloth, Prince Chen could feel the coolness of Jiuzhu's fingertips.
"Not cold." Jiuzhu shook her head and said with a smile: "Your Highness is just as gentle and considerate as when he was little."
he?
Gentle and considerate?
Prince Chen himself was too embarrassed to accept the gift. He touched his nose and said, "You don't know what I was like when I was a child."
Jiuzhu looked at him with a smile: "I just know it."
As he was talking, Jiuzhu saw someone kneeling at the door and paused: "Your Highness, it seems like someone is kneeling there?"
"Don't worry about it." Prince Chen glanced at Concubine Ning who was kneeling at the door, and pressed Jiuzhu's head with his hand: "Some people in the palace will use kneeling as a means to achieve certain goals."
"Oh." Jiuzhu nodded, and when she walked closer she found that the person kneeling was Concubine Ning.
When Concubine Ning heard the footsteps, she looked up and met Jiuzhu's eyes. There was forbearance, pain, and helplessness in her eyes, as if she had suffered a great deal of grievances but dared not speak of them.
Jiuzhu whispered in Prince Chen's ear, "Did Concubine Ning learn to sing opera before entering the palace?"
Prince Chen: "Where did you get this from?"
"I think her performance in this part is very good. She is like a Hua Dan actress on the stage, who is not so lucky."
Prince Chen exerted a little force on his wrist and dragged the person into the house. He was afraid that Concubine Ning would faint from anger after hearing what Ming Xiaozhu said.
"Where is my mother?" Prince Chen waved his hand to exempt the palace maids and eunuchs from their formalities.
"Your Highness, the Queen is in the back hall."
"Let's go." Prince Chen walked around the front hall and went to the back hall. As soon as I reached the door, I heard Concubine Su talking to the eunuch: "Whoever comes to plead for mercy will kneel with her. It's my fault that I have been too gentle over the years, allowing them to climb over my head. As soon as there is news from Lingzhou, notify me immediately, do you hear me?"
Prince Chen glanced at Jiuzhu and coughed twice: "Mother, my son is here."
Concubine Su flipped through the biography of the demon concubine in her hand, raised her head and looked at Prince Chen and Jiuzhu who walked in: "Jiuzhu, come, sit here with me."
Prince Chen handed the shark gauze lamp to the young eunuch and asked him to hang the lamp in Jiuzhu's room. He turned around and sat next to Jiuzhu: "Mother, have you had dinner yet?"
Concubine Su glanced at the sky and asked, "You followed Jiuzhu here just to have a meal with me?"
"Mother, you misunderstood me. I was worried that you had a poor appetite and forgot to have dinner." Prince Chen turned his head to look at Jiuzhu: "If you don't believe me, ask Xiaozhu."
"Your Highness, you came here to see me off." Jiuzhu explained obediently, "Your Highness and I had already had dinner before coming."
Concubine Su didn't expect Jiuzhu to take her joke seriously. She suppressed her laughter and said, "Since Jiuzhu said so, I will believe him for once."
"Since the person has been sent, you should go back." Concubine Su ruthlessly drove her son away: "Although there are no young concubines in the harem, you are an adult prince. What kind of nonsense is it to hang around your mother's palace every now and then?"
Prince Chen sighed and stood up from his chair lazily. He finally understood that with Ming Xiaozhu as his future daughter-in-law, he, his son, was redundant.
"Wait." Jiuzhu was anxious and reached out to grab the sleeve of Prince Chen, accidentally grabbing his fingers: "Your Highness, don't leave yet."
Prince Chen looked at his fingers that were being grabbed, his whole body stiffened, as if he had turned into a sculpture.
Concubine Su looked at this scene with a smile, turned around and asked Jiuzhu gently: "Jiuzhu, do you have anything you want to say to me and Du Qing?"
She waved her hand and asked everyone in the room to retreat: "No one can approach this room without my order."
The palace maid bowed and retreated, closing the door for Concubine Su.
Jiuzhu looked up at King Chen.
"You, you take your time talking, I didn't say I was leaving." Prince Chen sat back and touched his burning ears. Could it be that his ears were hurt by the cold wind? Otherwise, why were they so hot?
Jiuzhu tightly grasped the finger of the King of Chen, as if she had infinite courage: "My Queen, I heard from Aunt Xiangjuan that you are looking for a girl from Lingzhou?"
Concubine Su noticed that Jiuzhu's expression and tone were not right. The smile on her face gradually faded and she nodded to Jiuzhu.
"It was the winter eight years ago, on the Huaxi River outside Lingzhou, right?" Jiuzhu looked at Concubine Su with burning eyes, then turned to look at Prince Chen: "Your Highness was wearing a light purple round-necked brocade robe and a fox fur cloak that day, like a fairy boy in front of the fairy throne."
Prince Chen stared at Jiuzhu in a daze. He had an absurd guess in his mind, but he was afraid that this guess would come true.
He couldn't imagine how painful it was for this silly little girl to soak in the icy river water.
"You..." Concubine Su opened her mouth but couldn't utter a complete sentence.
"The person your highness saved back then was me." Jiuzhu lowered her head: "I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from your highness and the queen."
No one knew how happy she was when she walked into Mingyue Palace and saw the Empress. She almost wanted to ask the queen where the little fairy boy who saved her was and whether he had turned into a gentle and benevolent gentleman.
But she never forgot what the Queen said, that the capital was a place without secrets.
She didn't dare to say it, for fear of putting Her Majesty and His Highness in danger.
For the past eight years, she has burned incense and prayed before the statue of the Three Pure Ones every day, hoping that the Three Pure Ones will bless her with peace, a smooth life, and no illness or disaster.
Fortunately, Grandpa Sanqing heard her prayers.
"Child." Concubine Su walked up to Jiuzhu, suddenly pulled her into her arms, gently stroked her hair, tears streaming down her eyes: "What a silly girl."
Jiuzhu leaned against Concubine Su's soft chest, smelling the faint fragrance on her body, and carefully stretched out her arms and hugged Concubine Su.
Your Majesty's body smells so good and soft.
No wonder she was so happy when she saw herself for the first time. No wonder she always happily called me "Empress" and hung around me and Du Qing. Even though others said she was trying to please the concubine and was worldly and greedy, she never backed down.
She was so foolish that she believed in her and Du Qing. Simply and unreservedly, he trusted them, mother and son.
"My Lady?" Feeling warm tears falling on her face, Jiuzhu wanted to raise her head to look at her: "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, I'm just happy." Concubine Su wiped her tears with one hand in embarrassment, and was reluctant to let go of Jiuzhu with the other hand: "I'm just, happy."
"I am very happy to meet the Queen and His Highness again." Jiuzhu leaned against Concubine Su, and the corners of her mouth curled up: "Lingzhou and the capital are thousands of miles apart, and people from all over the world come and go. It must be a very special fate that allowed me to meet His Highness and the Queen."
Prince Chen looked at Jiuzhu who was leaning in his mother's arms. He slowly stretched out his hand, placed his fingers lightly on Jiuzhu's shoulder, but quickly took his hand back.
He clenched his five fingers into a fist, his emotions surging in his heart, roaring and wanting to burst out, but in front of the well-behaved Jiuzhu, he forcibly suppressed everything.
"Ming Xiaozhu." He asked, "Did I give you a few candies back then?"
Jiuzhu turned her head in Concubine Su's arms and looked at him: "Well, the mint candy that Your Highness gave me is so sweet."
She often put mints in her purse. Did she think he liked to eat this kind of candy?
Prince Chen looked into her bright eyes, and after a long moment he chuckled, "Of course the candy I give you is sweeter than anyone else's."
"Yeah!" Jiuzhu nodded, seriously agreeing with the King of Chen's words: "Since then, I have never eaten such delicious mint candy again."
Concubine Su let go of Jiuzhu, wiped away the tears from her eyes, and tried to smile at Jiuzhu: "What kind of candy do you like, Jiuzhu? I'll ask the imperial chef to make it for you."
"Mother." Prince Chen couldn't help but speak: "I know what Ming Xiaozhu likes to eat. You can leave this matter to your son."
Concubine Su touched Jiuzhu's cheek without even looking at Prince Chen: "You and Du Qing sit here for a while, I'm going to go out and take care of some things."
"Okay." Jiuzhu nodded.
Concubine Su walked to the door, turned around and said to Jiuzhu, "Jiuzhu."
"My queen?" Jiuzhu looked up at her, her watery eyes full of love and closeness for her.
Concubine Su smiled and said, "I am also very happy to meet you again."
Then she saw an extremely bright smile on the girl's face, so bright that it made her heart melt into a pool of spring water.
Pushing open the palace door, she saw Xiang Juan waiting outside with her head bowed: "What's going on?"
"Your Majesty, the Princess of Qi requests to see you." Xiangjuan glanced inside the door, hesitated for a moment, and helped His Highness and Miss Ming close the door.
"What is she doing here?" Concubine Su shook her shawl, and the hem of her skirt flowed across the steps like flowing water.
"According to my guess, they are here to plead for Concubine Ning." Xiang Juan held Concubine Su's hand and said, "Your Majesty, the Princess of Qi County is a daughter of the Sun family. The Sun family has produced three prime ministers, four top scholars, and ten Jinshi scholars. They are very prestigious among scholars and civil officials."
"So what? My Jiuzhu's father, uncle, and brother are all very remarkable." Concubine Su said, "Did any of the three brothers in the Sun family pass the exam and get first place?"
Xiangjuan was silent.
Family like the Ming family is extremely rare.
"Just because our ancestors were great doesn't mean the current Sun family is great." Concubine Su knew what Xiang Juan was worried about: "As a young lady of the Sun family, she didn't let Yun Yanze come forward for this matter, and she put down her face to ask me for help. She really has feelings for Yun Yanze."
The Sun family has never liked her as a favored concubine. Although she appears respectful on the surface, she can clearly see the arrogance emanating from the old lady of the Sun family in front of her.
The Sun family knew that she knew in her heart that they didn't like her, and she also knew how arrogant the Sun family was. However, because the Sun family had produced several capable officials, she was too lazy to argue with them.
Over the years, the Sun family and she have maintained a delicate balance of not offending each other, but Sun Caiyao chose to bow to her for the sake of Prince Qi.
"She is just a little girl who is foolish for a man." Concubine Su said indifferently: "I will not hold it against the younger generation."
Xiang Juan smiled: "I know that the queen has always been tolerant of little girls."
Concubine Su smiled. It wasn't a question of tolerance or not, it was just that there was no need.
"Mother." Sun Caiyao saw Concubine Ning still kneeling in front of the main hall of Mingyue Palace. She reached out to help her, but was stopped by a palace maid with a cold expression.
"Princess of Qi." The maid bowed to her and said, "The Concubine Ning sincerely wants to see our queen. If you help her up, it won't be a big deal. But I'm worried that the noble concubine won't see the sincerity of the Concubine Ning."
Sun Caiyao knew that Concubine Su was deliberately making things difficult for her mother, so she had no choice but to say, "Your mother is weak, I am willing to kneel on your behalf to show my sincerity."
"The princess's filial piety is so touching and admirable. However, I am just an insignificant maid in Mingyue Palace. How can I guess what the imperial concubine is thinking?" The maid knelt down in front of Sun Caiyao and said, "Please don't embarrass me, princess."
"Please don't make things difficult for us, Princess." The other palace maids and eunuchs guarding outside the palace knelt down in unison.
Sun Caiyao looked at the servants of Mingyue Palace, and then at Concubine Ning who was obviously exhausted. She gritted her teeth and knelt down beside Concubine Ning: "Please see you, Your Majesty."
Concubine Ning turned her head to look at Sun Caiyao and swayed her body: "Why are you here? Go back quickly."
"Mother, you are suffering here. How can your daughter-in-law just watch?" Sun Caiyao supported Concubine Ning: "Mother, if you feel uncomfortable, just lean on me."
Concubine Ning wished she could push Sun Caiyao back.
She had been kneeling here for several hours, wishing she would faint. Sun Caiyao's coming now would ruin her plan.
"You go back and take care of Yan Ze, I'm fine..."
The door to the main hall slowly opened. Concubine Ning raised her head and looked down at Su Meidai, who was wearing complicated palace clothes.
At the imperial concubine's enthronement ceremony that year, she was kneeling below, and Su Meidai was sitting high on the Qingluan Chair, looking at her with the same eyes.
"Greetings, Her Majesty." Sun Caiyao bowed deeply to Imperial Concubine Su.
"What's wrong with you? How could you let Princess Qi kneel here?" Xiang Juan pretended to rebuke the palace servants, "Hurry up and help Princess Qi up."
"Is the Princess of the County here to look for Jiuzhu?" Concubine Su looked at Sun Caiyao who was "helped" up by the palace maids, nodded and smiled: "Go and inform the county lady, and tell her that the Princess of the County is here to look for her."
"My Lady, I am not..."
"Princess, I am your elder." Concubine Su raised her eyes slightly and said with a smile: "It's so late, you are not here to see the county lady, are you here to see me? I am old and weak, and I hate being disturbed at night. Yanze has always been polite and filial. You are Yanze's legal wife, I think you should be as filial as Yanze."
Sun Caiyao secretly groaned in her heart, but she was unable to refute Concubine Su's words.
There is no queen in the palace. The highest-ranking concubine, Concubine Su, is of the same rank as the vice-queen. In fact, it is not wrong for all the princes and princesses in the harem to call her Mother Concubine Su.
"Take the Princess to the side hall and wait for the County Lord to come." Concubine Su raised her hand and walked towards Concubine Ning who was kneeling on the ground: "I remember that you were sick when His Majesty went south eight years ago, right?"
Concubine Ning lowered her head and said, "I don't understand what you mean, Your Majesty."
"It doesn't matter whether you understand or not." Concubine Su grabbed Concubine Ning's hair and forced her to look into her eyes: "Zheng Lanyin, look at me!"
Concubine Ning struggled for a few times, then gritted her teeth and suppressed all the anger in her heart: "My queen, what do you want to do?"
"Tsk." Concubine Su sneered: "I'm telling you, starting today, I'll make you understand what it means to be an arrogant and domineering concubine."
Concubine Ning's face changed drastically.
"Don't be afraid, and don't be anxious." Concubine Su let go of her hair, stood up, turned around and washed her hands in the copper basin. While wiping her hands, she walked slowly around Concubine Ning: "I think the title of Ning is not very good, and the position of concubine is not suitable for you."
"What do you think..." She paused and looked down at Concubine Ning with a smile: "What do you think of the title of Concubine Zheng?"
"No, you can't do this to me!" Concubine Ning finally panicked: "I gave birth to a prince for your majesty, your majesty will not do this to me."
"Then you can give it a try." Concubine Su handed the handkerchief to the maid, and said in a cold tone: "Zheng Lanyin, you will reap what you sow. We can slowly settle the accounts between us."
Concubine Ning looked at Concubine Su in panic. What did she know?
Su Meidai knows, but what about Your Majesty? Does Your Majesty know too?
As if knowing what she was thinking, Concubine Su smiled and said, "You can guess what I know. Oh, and about His Majesty, do you think His Majesty will know what I know?"
"Su Meidai!" Concubine Ning grabbed her skirt frantically and said, "You are so arrogant today, aren't you afraid of being retaliated by others in the future?"
Concubine Su took two steps back, as if she had heard a joke: "In this harem, as long as you are favored by His Majesty, no matter how rampant or not, you will be a thorn in the eyes and flesh of others."
"Do you think I care?" Concubine Su said lightly, "Women should not embarrass other women, but you should never plot against my child."
"Zheng Lanyin, you are a mother, and so am I."
"Su Meidai, you are so arrogant because of His Majesty's favor. One day..."
"Hush." Concubine Su smiled gently: "Zheng Lanyin, I have always had a principle, that is, do not let the harm to the children, please do not force me to break this principle, understand?"
Concubine Ning swallowed her words back. She retracted her stiff legs, knelt in front of Concubine Su again, and kowtowed to her: "What do you want in exchange for letting me go?"
Concubine Su looked at her expressionlessly.
"Your Highness Prince Qi?"
Hearing the palace maid's voice, Concubine Su raised her head and saw Yun Yanze standing not far away with a pale face.
In the back hall, Prince Chen looked at Jiuzhu. Jiuzhu put his hands on his knees, like an obedient baby, blinking at him: "Your Highness, do you have anything to say?"
Prince Chen didn't know what to say. He always felt that he had a lot to say, but when he looked at her, he felt that no matter what he said, it would not be right.
An absurd idea even came to his mind. It would have been a good idea if he had brought Ming Jiuzhu back to Beijing and kept her by his side.
"Have you ever been wronged during these years when you were fostered in Lingzhou?" His mind was in a mess, and he only asked this dry question in the end.
Jiuzhu shook her head. "Master is very good to me. They are cultivators and don't like meat, but they would buy chicken and fish for me. They say that cultivators cultivate their own hearts and don't restrict others. I have been living in the mountains and rivers since I was a child, away from the busy city, and rarely go down the mountain. The only time I was wronged was when I met His Highness. Master said that I am blessed and have noble people to help me."
Raised in a place far away from the world, it's no wonder that he has such a naive character.
"Ming Xiaozhu." He reached out and gently pinched the tip of her nose: "You, you."
A good girl should not experience all kinds of conspiracy and darkness in the world and see all the changes in people's hearts after marrying him.
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu grabbed his wrist and said, "Girls should not pinch their noses often, or they will become ugly."
"It doesn't matter. Even if you turn into a pig nose, I won't despise you." Prince Chen let go of her nose: "I am not a lustful person."
"That won't work either." Jiuzhu shook her head: "I can't let others see you and say that you married a pig-nosed princess. How embarrassing."
"I never take to heart what others say." The Prince wanted to pinch the girl's cheeks, but thinking that the girl had not married him yet, he could only hold back: "Anyway, as long as I think you are good, you are good, do you understand?"
"So, in your Highness's eyes, I am very good, right?" Jiuzhu looked at him expectantly.
"Hmph." Prince Chen snorted and hooked his finger at her.
Jiuzhu leaned his head closer.
Prince Chen flicked her forehead: "Guess?"
Jiuzhu covered her forehead, widened her eyes, and looked at him in disbelief.
"Ahem." Feeling a little flustered by such a stare, Prince Chen nodded twice quickly: "Yeah."
"Your Highness nodded. Does that mean I'm fine?" Jiuzhu was immediately happy again.
"Tsk." Prince Chen looked at her and found that her forehead was slightly red from being flicked by him. He reached out and rubbed it with his fingertips: "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt." Jiuzhu shook her head and pulled his sleeve: "Your Highness, please tell me more."
"You are smart, capable, and beautiful." The Prince looked at the little hand pulling his sleeve and waving it in front of his eyes: "And you are also an excellent painter."
"Oh." Jiuzhu held her slightly red cheeks and said, "I am not as good as you say, Your Highness."
Prince Chen: “…”
Although he didn't say very well, he had a happy smile on his face.
Humph, dishonest woman.
"Your Highness did not lie to me, did you?"
"Will this king lie to you?"
"No." Jiuzhu shook his head.
Prince Chen gently rubbed her forehead and said, "It's getting late. I should go back to Zhangliu Palace."
If she doesn't go back, the concubines in the palace will start to talk about her.
"Then I'll take Your Highness to the gate." Jiuzhu jumped up, her whole body filled with joy.
"Be careful with the threshold." Prince Chen pulled her, and then, just like when he came, he held Jiuzhu's hand through her sleeve.
"Your Highness." With her hands wrapped in His Highness' sleeves, Jiuzhu felt particularly safe. She even felt that even if she walked with her eyes closed, His Highness would not let her fall: "Can I still go to Zhangliu Palace to find you tomorrow?"
Prince Chen wanted to say, your father gave me a thick box of books, waiting for me to copy them, but what he said was, "Okay."
The little girl had just started living in the palace and might not be used to it yet, so he stayed with her for two days.
Only two days, no more.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." Yun Yanze looked at his mother who was kneeling humbly in front of Noble Concubine Su. He walked up to Noble Concubine Su, lifted the corner of his robe and knelt down.
"If my mother has done anything inappropriate, I am willing to be punished for her." He kowtowed to Concubine Su, "Please forgive my mother, my lady."
The night wind blew the lanterns in front of the palace gate, and the lanterns swayed, casting a swaying shadow on Yun Yanze's face.
Boom, boom.
Yun Yanze kowtowed again and again.
There was total silence at the gate of Mingyue Palace, and no one dared to make a sound.
Just then, a girl's laughter was heard.
Jiuzhu walked to the door and saw Yun Yanze kneeling and kowtowing at the door. She was frightened and turned to ask Prince Chen: "Prince Qi was beaten with a stick. Will his wound split open if he kneels like this?"
Everyone turned to look at County Master Ming, who was out of tune with the solemn atmosphere.
Prince Chen took a step forward and put her behind him.
Everyone quickly looked away.
Being beaten with a stick as a prince was an unspeakable pain for Prince Qi. Princess Ming's words were like stabbing Prince Qi in the chest.
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