Chapter 127 Chapter 127 is the only authentic version...
Xie Danling said she wouldn't go. She picked up the round fan on the beauty couch and fanned her little cousin, muttering, "Cousin Zhuo, how have you endured all these years? I can't stand it anymore."
Gu Zhizhuo took off little A'man's shoes, carried her to the beauty bed, and asked Qiongfang to bring some chilled fruit juice.
Xie Danling counted on her pale fingers, delicately recounting, "On her first day in the palace, the Empress took off her hairpins and knelt in Fengluan Palace. Father was only slightly angry at first, but then Ji Shi cried so hard that she collapsed and fell ill. Father lost his temper and punished the Empress."
Wow, is this even happening?
Gu Zhizhuo also sat on the beauty bed and listened to her with great interest.
Seeing her listening intently, Xie Danling also spoke enthusiastically: "On the third day after entering the palace, she ran to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, but the Empress Dowager refused to see her and sent Rongpin, who was serving her, to send her away. As a result, she fell ill again when she returned, and Rongpin was later banished to the cold palace."
Xie Danling spread her hands and smiled at her: "You got sick just in time, didn't you?"
"timely!"
Gu Zhizhuo took a grape and stuffed it into her mouth, then fed one to Ah Man.
"Sweet!" Xie Danling smiled with her eyes curved. "The day before I left, she fell ill again, this time quite seriously. She hugged Father and cried and acted like a spoiled child, saying she was going to die and didn't want to die under the name of Gu Ji. She said she couldn't sleep with Father anymore and begged Father to let her return home. She was content to be by Father's side before she died."
Xie Danling tried to imitate the singing voice, and it gave her goosebumps.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Hey, hey." Xie Danling leaned over and said slyly, "My mother sent a trusted confidant to report this, and I heard it."
Her mother said that she was an unmarried little princess and was not allowed to listen to such nonsense, so she kicked her out.
"I sneaked in through the window and hid behind the screen to listen."
"Anyway, later on, the Emperor sent Li Deshun to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to announce the decree. Even when you asked for an exorbitant price, the Emperor didn't bargain."
Gu Zhizhuo laughed so hard that his shoulders shook and tears welled up in his eyes. He even choked on his saliva and started coughing violently.
Xie Danling patted her back skillfully: "Look at you, what are you going to do without me here?"
Ah Man parroted, "What should I do?"
Gu Zhizhuo raised his head, his eyes moist, and asked with interest: "Is it a real illness, or a fake one?"
"It seems to be a real illness. My mother called Chen Baishu to ask about it. Chen Baishu said something like 'where evil gathers, the qi will be weak' and 'dampness accumulates within the body'. It's called, what's it called..."
Gu Zhizhuo: "Addiction rash."
"Right, right." Xie Danling clenched her right fist and hit her palm. "Chen Baishu said she ate something she shouldn't eat, and she has a high fever and a rash."
She drank the fruit juice in one gulp, moistening her throat. "Every now and then, someone in the palace pretends to be sick to win favor. I've seen this all my life. In my opinion, Ji Shi is eating on purpose."
Gu Zhizhuo deeply agreed with this.
"She's sick again this time. It must be to force my father to make her the Imperial Noble Consort." Xie Danling said impatiently, "Ignore her. Let me go back and pray for her. Do I have that much free time?"
Xie Danling said to Adai, "You too, don't get so flustered over little things."
Is this a small matter? Adai was frightened when she heard the oral order. The princess was not in the palace, and she was afraid that the eunuchs would come to urge her, so she hurried over.
"If I really need to go back, my mother will give me additional instructions." Xie Danling raised a finger and shook it. "The harem is in a mess. Whether I go or not, no one will notice."
Xie Danling's maid turned twenty years old, and her cousin had been waiting for her. Concubine Shu decided to let her out of the palace early and chose someone from the Wang family's illegitimate children to enter the palace.
Adai had just entered the palace and had not yet developed her courage.
Xie Danling touched his chin and thought, "But you're right, we need to be on the safe side... Cousin Zhuo, let's stay at the Wang family's house for a few days!"
"I don't want to go back and pray for Ji's blessing." She pulled her little cousin's arm, shook it, and said coquettishly, "Okay."
Qiongfang covered her mouth and laughed. Why did the Fifth Princess look like she was fleeing?
My daughter can't stand being acted like a spoiled brat.
Gu Zhizhuo immediately gave in: "Okay!"
Xie Danling raised her arms and cheered, "Let's go, let's go now. Xiao A'man, are you going?"
Little Ah Man imitated Gu Zhizhuo, crossing his arms and pursing his lips in distress. He tilted his body to the left, then to the right, and finally sighed heavily: "Ah Man is not going. I'll leave it to my cousin to raise birds."
The temptation of a chick is far greater than just going out to play.
Xie Danling handed him the paper box containing the chick and said seriously, "Here, help your cousin take care of it for a few days."
Ah Man nodded his head like a chick pecking at rice.
Xie Danling left Adai behind and took Awu and Gu Zhizhuo out of the house.
The Wang family residence is also in the inner city, not far from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. It only takes a quarter of an hour to get there by carriage.
After the carriage came out, it turned a corner and went to East City first.
Xie Danling didn't care where she went. She leaned against the carriage window and looked out. The streets of the capital were a bit deserted, with people coming and going in a hurry. Only some teahouses with storytellers were still bustling.
For ordinary people, they were exhausted just trying to survive and really didn't care who the emperor wanted to take as his imperial concubine. However, ever since they learned that the emperor had committed adultery with his wife and had a child, and even during an earthquake, he had abandoned them and lived a carefree life with his adulteress, they were somewhat discouraged.
Gu Zhizhuo ordered some flower seeds from Zhengmu Pavilion and went to pick them up first.
In addition to the flower seeds, she also ordered hundreds of bamboos for transplanting, which have not yet been delivered.
The shopkeeper said warmly, "Miss, you said last time that you wanted to pick out some Taihu stones. Our shop will have a boat arriving in a few days. There will be two Taihu stones on the boat. They are crystal clear and absolutely top-grade. If you like them, you can come and take a look."
Gu Zhizhuo's eyes lit up and he agreed readily.
"Is the house short of Taihu stones?" Xie Danling asked in a low voice.
Although no one lives in the Wang family's house, it was designed by a garden expert and has every kind of landscape scenery.
Gu Zhizhuo smiled sweetly and said, "I bought it for the young master's mansion."
The palace was empty, there was nothing in it.
She asked around in the capital, and found out that the Taihu stones were either too ugly and had been picked out by others, or they had to be reserved, and it would take at least half a year to wait for the boat to come from Jiangnan.
"Oh oh oh."
Xie Danling dragged out the words and winked at her.
Gu Zhizhuo took her arm and said frankly, "Cousin Danling, please give me a few of the golden-scaled fish that grandma gave you last time. There are no fish in the pond at the young master's house. It's bare, with only water plants. It's so pitiful."
She didn't even ask the price, but paid a deposit first, and agreed that Zhengmu Pavilion would only sell the Taihu stone to someone else if she didn't like it after seeing it.
Seeing her quick response, the shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and asked, "We also have a rockery designed by Mr. Shang Xinyan himself. It's made of Lingbi stone and took him three years to build. It's the most precious treasure of our Zhengmu Pavilion. I wonder if you're interested, young lady."
"Even the store's treasure is being sold. Are they going to close down?" Xie Danling just said this casually. As a result, the shopkeeper's face froze and he was unable to speak.
Xie Danling: "Can't you tell me?"
This rockery is truly the shop's treasure, and its price is high, so finding a buyer quickly won't be easy. It's also too heavy to carry around. This girl is probably the only one who could possibly buy it in the near future.
The shopkeeper signaled the waiter to close the door and said, "We'll close the shop next month and we'll all go back to Jiangnan."
Gu Zhizhuo raised an eyebrow and asked, "If you're closing the shop, why did you bring in a shipload of goods?"
"Ah, we had no intention of closing it down. This isn't the Emperor..." the shopkeeper said in a low voice, "The Emperor is incompetent and incompetent. Who knows how long the Great Qi Dynasty will last. If a war breaks out, the losses will be huge. We, the boss, have always preferred stability."
As the saying goes, in the fight for the Central Plains, Yizhou has always been a battleground for military strategists. If it really comes to the point where warlords are fighting for power, the capital will certainly not be spared.
The shopkeeper sighed again: "It's not even fifty years."
Gu Zhizhuo:?
"It's not just our shop that's going to close."
The shopkeeper stopped there, saying anything more would be taboo: "As you know, it's really inconvenient to transport the rockery. It needs to be sealed with mud and then carried. It's very likely to be ruined during the bumpy journey."
"If the girl likes it, I can sell it to her at a discount."
Gu Zhizhuo thought about the bare Prince Chen's Mansion and said with interest, "I'll go take a look."
The shopkeeper agreed and led them to the back.
Shang Xinyan was a woman and a renowned gardener in Jiangnan. This rockery was her pinnacle, constructed from Lingbi stone, standing about two meters tall. The combination of mountains and water created a unique and elegant scene. Gu Zhizhuo fell in love with it the moment he saw it, even deciding where to place it.
The shopkeeper looked reluctant.
If it weren't so difficult to transport and couldn't get on the boat, he really wouldn't be willing to sell it.
"I want it."
Gu Zhizhuo said readily, "Please help me deliver it to Prince Chen's Mansion. When my bamboo arrives in a few days, I'll send it there as well."
Hearing about Prince Chen's Mansion, the shopkeeper was in awe and responded in agreement.
Gu Zhizhuo paid the money and made a deposit.
Xie Danling also liked it, but unfortunately there was only one. She discussed with the shopkeeper, "Does the Shang family still design gardens for others?" She wanted to find someone to design the garden for the princess's mansion. She had been coveting the gardens of Jiangnan for a long time! When she left the palace and set up her own residence, she could ask her little cousin to come and live with her. Hehe, just thinking about it made her happy.
The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then said cryptically, "Mr. Shang is currently short of money. If the young lady can afford the price..."
"I have the silver."
Xie Danling didn't even think about it, as she had plenty of private money.
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Our big boss has some connections with the Shang family. I'll write a letter for you. The Shang family now lives in Gusu. You can send someone with the letter. Whether you come or not depends on your own wishes."
Xie Danling agreed happily and asked curiously, "Why is she short of money?"
"Why."
Speaking of this, the shopkeeper wanted to sigh.
Many people in Gusu actually knew about this, so the shopkeeper simply didn't hide it: "Ms. Shang needs to repay her debt."
He said with some regret, "Mr. Shang was so obsessed with gardening that he delayed her marriage. When she was nineteen, he hurriedly arranged a marriage for her."
If a woman does not marry by the age of 20, she will be forced to marry by the government.
"But within three years of her marriage, her husband's family had three ships capsized, leaving them with a mountain of debts they couldn't repay even by selling their property. Not long after, her husband died of illness. Her family took their wrath out on her, concluding she was unlucky for him. They immediately divided the family and gave her all the debts."
"ah?"
Xie Danling was surprised: "She agreed to this."
The shopkeeper led them out and smiled helplessly, "The Shang family is not familiar with general affairs. Her husband's family wanted to deceive her, but by the time the contract was signed, it was too late."
In order to achieve great fame, the businessmen were completely devoted to gardens.
Walking back into the shop, the shopkeeper signaled the waiter to open the door, took out pen and ink, and wrote a letter to Xie Danling, leaving it unsealed.
"Thank you, shopkeeper."
Xie Danling handed it to Awu and happily went out with her little cousin.
Gu Zhizhuo counted on his fingers, "...from the silk shop in front, I ordered gauze and cages. I want to build a warm pavilion. I can use it in winter now. Oh, I forgot, the young master's family doesn't even have a pavilion!"
It's a headache.
Xie Danling gave her a bad idea: "Why not secretly move one of the pavilions from the Wang family's house over there? I counted them, there are six. No one will notice if one is missing."
Gu Zhizhuo's heart was moved.
She cleared her throat twice and said in a serious tone, "And the one at the end of the street, I ordered some white marble and paving stones..."
Xie Danling negotiated a condition: "You have to accompany me to watch a circus later."
Make a pinky promise.
Their little fingers were hooked together when suddenly a ragged young boy ran out from the end of the street, shouting breathlessly, "The decree has been issued, the decree has been issued!"
"What's wrong? Tell me quickly."
The people around him quickly gathered around him. The young boy rested his hands on his knees and said in one breath, "The emperor has appointed Ji as the Imperial Noble Consort."
ah?
There was an uproar.
The two cousins looked at each other. The enthronement of concubines has always been a matter of the harem, so how could it have been brought to the streets?
"Really?"
"Where did you get the news?"
"Oh no, oh no, I lost one or two taels of silver." - This is the bet placed after the casino opened the odds.
All kinds of voices were talking at once. Someone was beating his chest and stamping his feet: "You haven't repented of stealing someone else's wife? Daqi is going to die." Before he could finish his words, his wife covered his mouth and said, "This old man is drunk and crazy."
"Please stop arguing," the young boy said. "There was an old man named Zhang Tinghui who wrote an article at the Meridian Gate. Later, a eunuch came out of the palace and announced that the emperor had conferred the title of Imperial Noble Consort on Ji. Old Zhang was overstepping his bounds and should be punished with ten strokes of the cane. Old Zhang was so angry that he fainted. I heard people call him Zhang Daru. What does Daru mean?"
"I don't know. What happened next?"
"Mr. Ji hit his head against the wall, his head was bleeding, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive."
"The Meridian Gate was in such a mess, so many people gathered there."
After the young boy finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, and many people skillfully took out one or two copper coins and gave them to him. Someone teased him, "Xiaoshan, you have earned enough copper coins in the past two days. It's enough for your mother's medicine."
He scratched his hair: "Almost."
"Why don't you go and ask around."
"Yes, command."
Xiaoshan somersaulted out of nowhere and ran away.
Xie Danling tugged at her cousin's sleeve. "See? I told you she was 'sick' again this time, definitely to become a Royal Consort! She even asked me to pray for her. Humph. Can she handle that?"
Gu Zhizhuo applauded enthusiastically and praised her for being so accurate.
"I'll tell you a secret," Xie Danling whispered in her ear. "My mother said that my father has been bewitched by a witch. Prince Jin has found a skilled practitioner and will bring him to the palace in the next couple of days to perform a ritual on my father."
"Master Qingping?"
"No, no," Xie Danling thought hard, "It seems to be a Taoist priest named Changfeng."
Changfeng! ?
"Let's go, let's go play."
Xie Danling pulled her and skipped forward. Awu smiled helplessly at Qiongfang and Qingmei, and followed closely behind her with her skirt lifted up.
After walking around the entire street, the young man named Xiaoshan ran back and forth several times. When Gu Zhizhuo and the others left the antique shop, he was saying, "...The Imperial Concubine is seriously ill. The Emperor has posted a notice at the Meridian Gate, seeking a miracle doctor and offering a large sum of gold."
Xie Danling: "Still pretending?"
A voice echoed with her, "Still pretending?!"
What's this?! The cousins looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xie Jing grabbing Ji Nanke from across the street and demanding fiercely, "How long do you want her to keep pretending to be sick?"
"I've been granted the title of Imperial Consort and have received the full title and status, yet you're still not satisfied?"
Xie Jing was so angry.
He thought his last words would at least alert her, but what happened?
She instigated Ji to ask her father to issue an order to the Gu family to release the concubine, and forced her father to risk the wrath of the world, disobey her grandmother and fight against the ministers to establish the imperial concubine.
"Could you please stop making me so nervous all day? I've been looking for you for two hours."
Xie Jing yelled at her so loudly that he didn't even notice that Gu Zhizhuo and the others were right across from him.
Ji Nanke bit her lower lip.
The next step, of course, was to ask my aunt to ask the emperor to change the imperial decree granting her marriage to that of a principal wife.
Xie Jing was becoming more and more disrespectful towards her now, surely because she was only his concubine, and he treated her with the same attitude as he would treat a concubine or a servant.
"I'll ask my aunt to ask the emperor to appoint you as the crown prince."
Xie Jing:?
"I'm devoted to you, and you treat me like this?"
Xie Jing subconsciously relaxed his hands that were squeezing her shoulders.
Ji Nanke rubbed her shoulders. Now all that was left was the marriage and the appointment of a crown prince. Once all the honors and status were achieved, the emperor could pass away. She didn't have time to take it slow.
The winners will be her and Xie Jing.
Instead of Gu Zhizhuo and Xie Yingchen!
"You..." Xie Jing smiled bitterly, wanting to say that he didn't need the Ji family to fight for the throne for him. Just as he opened his mouth, a fast horse suddenly rushed through the crowd on the street and came galloping.
"Your Highness."
Wei Jiu said before he could even dismount, "The Imperial Concubine has passed away."
What? !
Less than a day after becoming the Imperial Noble Consort, Ji died.
Ji Nanke was horrified: "Impossible!"
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