After finishing a cup of tea, the kitten had already fallen into a deep sleep. Prince Chen said, "My Lady Concubine, it's getting late. We should leave now."
"You're leaving so soon?" Concubine Zhao showed some regret on her face. She put the sleeping kitten on the cushion and called the nanny: "Do you still have the snacks like the one just now in the kitchen? The little girl likes them. Put them in a box and let her take them home to eat."
After saying that, she looked at Jiuzhu and said, "Wait a minute. I have a few cloth tigers that I sewed myself in my room. I'll get them for you."
Jiuzhu opened her mouth, and finally nodded with a smile: "Thank you, Queen Concubine."
Soon, Concubine Zhao came out of the house holding a wooden box, which was filled with several cloth tigers.
Taking the wooden box, Jiuzhu bowed to her and thanked her: "Thank you, Queen Dowager."
"These little things are not worth thanking for." Concubine Zhao touched the wooden box and said with a smile: "If my child were still alive, his daughter would be as old as you."
Jiuzhu didn't dare to ask her how her child died.
When she walked out of Jing'an Palace carrying the wooden box and snacks, the old empress dowager accompanied her and Prince Chen to the courtyard outside before stopping.
Jiuzhu stood on the steps of the red-painted wooden door and looked back at the spacious courtyard, as well as the old concubines who were obviously very curious about her and His Highness but did not dare to come closer. She felt an indescribable sense of loss in her heart.
As the red painted wooden door closed in front of her, Jiuzhu walked out of the long palace alley holding the wooden box and asked Prince Chen: "Your Highness, does this concubine have any children?"
"Maybe." He was still very young at that time and could not remember many things: "The previous emperor had many wives and concubines, and many princes and princesses, some of whom died before they could establish themselves."
Seeing that Jiuzhu was in a bad mood, he thought she didn't want to leave him, so he said, "Don't be unhappy. Otherwise, after your uncle sends someone to the Zhou family to propose marriage, I will let my mother take you back."
Jiuzhu really wanted to remind him that coming to the palace cannot be called "coming back", and Minister Ming's mansion is her home. But thinking that His Highness didn't want her to leave, she swallowed the words back and whispered in the Prince's ear on tiptoe: "Your Highness, I just thought of something that might be a bit outrageous."
"What?"
The Prince of Chen just didn't believe that with her courage, she could come up with anything so outrageous.
"You said, if the late emperor had taken fewer concubines, wouldn't so many women have suffered?" Jiuzhu hugged the box tightly in her hand: "I'm just thinking this, Your Highness, please don't tell anyone."
Otherwise she's screwed.
"Are you afraid that I will tell others, so why do you tell me?" Prince Chen looked at her with a smile.
"Your Highness is not someone else, it doesn't matter if I tell you." Jiuzhu rolled his eyes and said, "If you tell this to others, I won't admit it. Anyway, no one can prove that I said this except you."
"Hey, you're quite thoughtful." Prince Chen poked Jiuzhu's cheek, teasing her to dodge repeatedly and laugh.
"Ming Xiaozhu, don't worry." Looking at her rosy cheeks from smiling, Prince Chen put his hands behind his back and said awkwardly: "I'm different from them."
Jiuju blinked at her.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, guessing that she must have understood what he meant, Prince Chen said with a straight face: "That's what I mean. Don't think too much about it when you go back. A month... will pass quickly."
Knowing that she liked to cling to others, he let her cling to him.
Anyway, anyway...she's my wife.
"Your Highness, are you blushing?"
"Oh, the cloak is too thick and hot."
"Your Highness looks good when he blushes."
"Ming Xiaozhu, don't talk."
“…”
"Forget it, just tell me what you think. Bring me the wooden box, I'll hold it for you."
In the morning, when the fog had not yet dissipated, Sun Caiyao sat in the yard. Until the sunlight penetrated the morning mist and the warm sun hung high in the sky, she did not see Ming Jiuzhu coming to Zhangliu Palace.
"County Lady Ming didn't come today?" She looked at the overly quiet courtyard and actually missed the liveliness when Ming Jiuzhu was here.
"Princess, the county lady left the palace early this morning." The maid replied, "I heard from Xiao Liuzi in the courtyard of His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen that the county lady wanted to come back on New Year's Eve to attend the New Year's Eve banquet held in the palace."
return?
When Sun Caiyao heard these two words, she looked at the palace maid who was speaking in a trance. Were these palace maids and eunuchs already treating her like the Princess of Chen?
She lowered her eyelids and sighed, "Now that County Master Ming has left the palace, the entire Zhangliu Palace has become deserted."
"That's right. Several sisters were very sorry to hear that the county lady had returned home." The maid smiled and said, "They were thinking of playing with the county lady and even prepared the ropes."
"Flower rope?"
"Yes." The maid nodded. "The other day, the county lady heard us talking about the flower rope and was very curious. So we asked someone to go to the Palace Department to find a beautiful, soft rope that would not hurt the hands, and we were going to teach the county lady how to play with it."
Because Ming Jiuzhu mentioned it casually, these palace maids spontaneously went to look for these things. Was it because they liked Ming Jiuzhu, or because they deliberately wanted to please her?
Perhaps everyone in the entire harem wanted to please the future Princess Chen. It was said that even the old concubines who lived in the west and never went out gave Ming Jiuzhu a box of things after she arrived.
The human heart has always been the most realistic mirror.
She looked up to stop the palace maid from talking endlessly, then stood up and went back to the courtyard where she lived. Before entering the house, she thought for a moment and turned to go to the main house where Yun Yanze lived.
There was no servant guarding the door, so she pushed aside the curtain and went in: "Your Highness..."
Yun Yanze, who was changing clothes, pulled the clothes over and covered his left half of his body, then turned his head to look at her.
At this moment, she felt that His Highness looked at her with a very cold look. Looking closely, she only saw the smile in the corners of His Highness' eyes and eyebrows. The so-called indifference was just her illusion.
"Caiyao, how did you get in?" Yun Yanze put his clothes over his left arm and looked away from her.
Sun Caiyao walked over to him and helped him put on his right sleeve: "Your Highness, why are you changing clothes alone in the room?"
"I'm injured and don't want the servants to see it." He turned around and put on a clean outer robe: "You've been accompanying me in the yard these days. Are you bored?"
"As long as I'm with His Highness, I won't feel bored." Sun Caiyao shook her head, bent down to help him adjust his belt, and found a scratch on his left ear near his chin. She reached out and touched the scratch: "Your Highness, why are you injured here?"
"Where?" Yuan Yanze touched it, looked up at himself in the mirror, and said nonchalantly: "Maybe I didn't sleep well at night and accidentally scratched myself."
Sun Caiyao sighed, turned around and took a box of ointment from the table: "Your Highness, please take good care of yourself."
"Okay." Yun Yanze smiled gently and let Sun Caiyao apply medicine to him. His smiling face was reflected in the bronze mirror. He straightened his left sleeve, covering his arm tightly, and said softly, "Don't worry, I will take good care of myself."
The man in the mirror is very handsome, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and he is gentle and elegant.
It's like the best piece of jade in the world.
Jiuzhu got off the carriage and found several carriages parked at the door. She asked the doorman in confusion: "Are there any guests at home today?"
"Miss, are you back?" The concierge was very happy to see Jiuzhu back, and whispered to her, "Several officials from the Ministry of Revenue came to see the master today. They walked in a hurry and looked serious. It must be something important."
event?
During the few days she stayed in the palace, nothing major seemed to have happened except that Prince Qi's biological mother was demoted?
When she walked into the courtyard, Chunfen, who had been waiting for a long time, saw her and hurriedly came to greet her: "This servant greets the young lady."
"Sister Chunfen, how come you also learned these rules to tease me?" Jiuzhu held her arm, "Please stop it, otherwise I will feel uncomfortable all over."
When Chunfen saw her like this, he laughed out loud: "Good lady, the lady is waiting for you in the yard, please follow me."
"The concierge said that the head of the Ministry of Revenue is looking for father. What happened?"
"Who else could it be for?" Chunfen whispered, "Of course it's for His Royal Highness Prince Qi."
Jiuzhu paused and turned to look at Chunfen.
"The Zheng family committed a serious crime and was thrown into prison. In addition, the Concubine Ning in the palace was banished to the cold palace. These officials are worried that the Prince of Qi will be implicated because of these things, so they come to you to find a solution." Chunfen shook his head: "I don't understand what's going on in the court. Anyway, it's these civil officials who are running around for the Prince of Qi to find a solution."
Jiuzhu went to the main courtyard where her parents lived in silence, and then was fed a large bowl of tonic soup by Shen, who loved her daughter dearly.
"There are guests outside. Your father will come to see you soon." Shen looked at her daughter. She was dressed newly from head to toe and her complexion was good, so she felt relieved.
Jiuzhu waved her hand to let all the servants in the room leave, lowered her head and pinched the hem of her skirt and asked: "Mother, will father help Prince Qi and the Zheng family?"
"I don't see clearly what's going on in the court." Shen smiled and said, "But your father is a very opinionated person. He won't make a decision easily just because of what others say."
"Mother." Jiuzhu looked up and said to Shen: "I don't want my father to help Prince Qi, and I don't want him to help the Zheng family."
It was the first time that Shen heard her daughter make such a request involving the court. She was slightly stunned, and then she nodded without even asking the reason, "Okay, you sit here and wait for me, I'll go and remind your father."
Not long after, Shen came back, followed by Ming Jingzhou.
"Don't worry, my dear girl." Seeing that his daughter looked a little uneasy, Ming Jingzhou explained, "I didn't intend to plead for the Zheng family. The Zheng family has done a lot of stupid things over the years, and they deserve what they have today."
"Your Majesty is a wise ruler. Since he has thrown the Zheng family into prison, it means that the Zheng family must have committed an unforgivable crime." He sat down next to his daughter. "Besides, Daddy's good daughter doesn't want Daddy to help them, so I definitely won't help."
"There is something that I have been hiding from you." Facing her doting parents, Jiuzhu lowered her head even lower, too ashamed to raise it: "Eight years ago, I did see the Imperial Concubine and His Royal Highness Prince Chen, but not in Lingzhou City, but in Huaxi River outside Lingzhou City."
Ming Jingzhou had been an official for many years. He knew there was something hidden when he heard this. The smile on his face gradually disappeared: "Jiuzhu, what happened to you back then?"
"The Zheng family wanted to kill me." Jiuzhu recalled what happened that year: "That day, my daughter wore the silver hairpin given by her master and went down the mountain to buy fish. On the way, she heard someone talking about a cook who was colorless and tasteless."
"They found me." Jiuzhu clenched her hands, then slowly loosened them: "The man whose chin I cut with the silver hairpin said that I knew too much and couldn't let me live."
The river water that day was particularly cold. The water kept pouring into her ears and nose. She could only float in the water, waiting soberly and desperately for death to come.
"His Highness saved me." After saying this, Jiuzhu raised her head, as if a sunny day finally came after a heavy rain: "He also gave me candy."
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