Chapter 42 Chapter 42 is the only genuine version...
The kite fluttered in the sky above the waterside pavilion, moving with the wind. Soon it attracted a lot of people's attention. After all, it was quite rare to paint a cat on a kite.
“Yaoyao!”
Xie Danling pulled Gu Zhizhuo and pointed at the kite while dancing.
Long, thin silk threads fluttered in her hands.
"It's ours!"
"Cousin Chen is such a nice guy!" He even specially sent their kites over.
Xie Danling spoke happily, then leaned over mysteriously and asked, "What does cousin Chen look like? Is he good-looking?"
"Good-looking!" Young master is the most handsome!
“How beautiful is it?”
Xie Danling said with great joy, "I remember the Crown Princess was a great beauty."
Deposing the crown prince is a taboo, she whispered this in her ear.
"I remember that, too."
Gu Zhizhuo also had an impression of the deposed Crown Princess. When she first came to the palace, the Crown Princess had always taken good care of these young girls.
After the death of the previous emperor's empress, he never appointed another empress, and the affairs of the six palaces were managed by the imperial concubine at that time.
When my mother was alive, every time I entered the palace, after greeting the Imperial Concubine, I would go to the Empress Dowager's palace to talk.
Later one year, she followed Ji into the palace.
Ji Shi had been constantly courting the Imperial Concubine's palace. Sitting in the vast palace, she felt lonely and hungry. Since childhood, extreme hunger had always caused her to feel dizzy, her heartbeat quickened, and sometimes she even fainted. That day, she was already feeling miserable and wanted to cry, but she couldn't in the palace. Then, a bowl of warm white fungus and milk soup appeared before her. She glanced at the others; none of them were hungry.
Until she was leaving, she quietly asked the palace maid who gave her the Tremella and Milk Soup, and the palace maid said that it was the Crown Princess who specifically instructed it.
"Ahh! This basin is the most beautiful!"
Xie Danling suddenly stopped and shouted excitedly, "Come and see."
Gu Zhizhuo approached curiously. Xie Danling was squatting in front of a pot of Rouge Drunk, gesturing excitedly to her, "Look at the shape of this flower! It's so beautiful, but that's not important. Its petals are layered, from light to dark, with ten shades of red. It's the most beautiful one today. I haven't seen such a beautiful peony in a long time."
Ten shades of red?
Gu Zhizhuo squatted beside her and squinted his eyes to look. She could see that the petals were light and dark, but ten kinds?
"Did you see that?"
"without!"
"Why can't you see that?!"
She actually wanted to ask her little cousin how she could tell the ten shades of red.
The two stared at each other, and Xie Danling made the final decision: "Anyway, it looks the best. Give me your silk too."
Gu Zhizhuo obediently handed over the silk.
Whether brought from various prefectures or cultivated in the palace, these peonies were undoubtedly full-bodied, with blooming petals and top-notch appearance. Therefore, in her eyes, these flowers were no different except for their color.
How would she know which one is the best!
Xie Danling happily tied up the two silk threads, squatted there, and looked at them for a long time before leaving reluctantly.
"It must be Kao."
Hmm. Anyway, she can't understand it.
Gu Zhizhuo listened obediently to her describing in detail the ten different kinds of red, how there were light within deep and deep within light, and so on. She was confused and when they were about to reach the east water pavilion, Gu Zhizhuo suddenly pulled her.
"There."
She gestured with her chin. The eldest prince was talking to Miss Cheng Liu near the waterside pavilion. Cheng Yuelong was smiling and the two of them were having a great conversation. The rockery and the drooping willow branches mostly blocked their view.
Cheng Yuelong was the eldest prince's consort in her previous life.
The Cheng family is a famous scholarly family and is extremely noble.
Emperor Taizu valued military power over culture and suppressed the literati during his ten years in power.
He always said that the previous dynasty fell because of some people who claimed to be disciples of Confucius and Mencius, who became stupid because of reading too much. They would attack in groups at the slightest provocation, criticizing the emperor for being unkind and insisting that the person sitting in power listen to them. They also loved to bang their heads against pillars and walls in the hope of leaving their names in history.
Being so countered and oppressed, the emperor had to consider whether students would cause trouble and advise him before issuing an imperial decree. If this continued, the emperor would either become a hands-off boss, focusing on pleasure, wasting the treasury, and letting the cabinet handle the affairs, or he would simply become a tyrant. If you want to offend me, he would kill everyone and exterminate all nine generations of your clan.
The last monarch of the previous dynasty was such a tyrant.
After Emperor Taizu ended the chaotic era and ascended the throne, scholars and literati began to stir up trouble again. They demanded that Emperor Taizu establish the crown prince of the previous dynasty as a prince and treat the royal family of the previous dynasty with kindness. They then accused the then-Duke Zhenguo of burning tens of thousands of Western Rong people to death, calling for severe punishment. Emperor Taizu refused to comply, so they went on a hunger strike and sat in silence before the Meridian Gate, repeatedly proclaiming, "We should govern the barbarians with benevolence and righteousness."
At that time, thousands of students from all over the country gathered in the capital for the special examination.
Emperor Taizu said: The mistakes of the previous dynasty were made by these ignorant scholars, and they were serious mistakes.
He abolished the imperial examination system, stripped all troublemakers of their official titles, and executed all those involved in disputes.
Nearly a hundred people were beheaded in front of the Meridian Gate, which frightened these scholars who had been spoiled by the emperor and ministers of the previous dynasty.
Since then, government orders have been implemented smoothly.
But the pens of scholars have always been the most poisonous, and the reputation of Emperor Taizu's tyranny and all kinds of strange and bizarre unofficial histories have emerged one after another since then.
By the time of the previous emperor, the literati had been suppressed and submissive, and he began to gradually ease relations with the literati and the aristocratic families, opening special examinations to recruit more scholars and even including marriages.
The late emperor chose daughters of the Wang family for the then second prince and the prince of Zhenguo.
In fact, Gu Zhizhuo had heard that when the late emperor betrothed his aunt to the second prince, she was the principal wife, but later she became a concubine for some reason.
After my mother passed away, the late emperor chose Ji as my father's second wife.
The Ji family was very prominent in the previous dynasty. They had served as the last prime minister. Not only that, during the 230 years of the previous dynasty, the Ji family had produced four prime ministers and five provincial governors.
The Ji family wanted to serve in the government several times in this dynasty, but was suppressed by Emperor Taizu and the previous emperor.
However, the teachers of Tongshan Academy, the first academy in Jiangnan, are from the Ji family, and many of the teachers there are members of the Ji family. It can be imagined that the Ji family is quite prestigious among the literati and students in Jiangnan, and they can be said to have the support of hundreds of people. There are also many disciples of the Ji family in the court.
Since the late emperor wanted to ease the relationship with the literati, he could not really ignore the Ji family.
Therefore, the late emperor promised the eldest daughter of the Ji family to my father as his second wife.
The late emperor and my grandfather had a good relationship as king and subject. They had fought in the battlefield together and the relationship was one where the emperor could trust his back.
Before the engagement, he personally came to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and explained his plan to his grandfather and father.
At that time, she was young. When the late emperor came to the mansion, he specially called her and her brother over. The late emperor said that he had ordered people to check and found that the eldest daughter of the Ji family had a good character, a gentle temperament, and was knowledgeable, so they didn't need to worry.
He also said that if Ji gave birth to a son, he should let the child study literature and take the imperial examination to become an official, so as to use this as a starting point to ease the situation in which civil and military officials had always been difficult to reconcile.
The memory is too distant.
It was so far away that she could hardly remember what the late emperor had said.
What a pity.
The late emperor passed away too early, and even the crown prince whom he personally raised is gone.
However, the current emperor, perhaps thinking that the late emperor was trying to please the literati, has been particularly indulgent towards the literati since he ascended the throne. Not long ago, he even sent the top scholar in the previous exam to Huainan to serve as a military supervisor.
"Forget it, don't go over there." Gu Zhizhuo tugged at her sleeve, "Let's go get the kite later."
If she walked from the front, she would definitely run into the eldest prince and Cheng Yuelong, but she was too lazy to socialize with them.
All right.
Xie Danling looked at her cat Kite with some regret.
She also doesn't want to socialize.
This time, they went straight back to the waterside pavilion on the west side.
The water pavilion is built by the water, and it feels particularly cool as soon as you step in.
The Queen was leaning on the soft pillow of the Beauty's Backrest, listening to the actors sing. Seeing them come in, she smiled and asked, "Have you chosen yet?"
The two of them exchanged greetings and replied with a smile, "I've chosen one."
Xie Danling said proudly: "Mother, I have definitely chosen Hua Wang.
The Queen smiled and said, "Our Dan Ling has always had good taste. What reward do you want?"
Xie Danling pretended to think for a moment, but before she could speak, the Queen spoke first, "You have to learn the piano."
Xie Danling's shoulders drooped suddenly.
The Queen then asked, "How is your piano practice going?"
Xie Danling said dryly, "To answer your Majesty, your Majesty, your son's training is not very good."
"Please don't ask me to show off my skills later, otherwise, people will be scared away and your flower show will be ruined." Xie Danling was innocent and naive, just like a spoiled daughter.
"You," the Empress shook her head and pretended to sigh, "You're almost coming of age, and you don't have anything to show for it. How are you going to choose a consort in the future?"
This makes people feel particularly uncomfortable.
The princess is of lower status, so marrying anyone is a marriage of inferiority. Does she have to use music, chess, calligraphy and painting to compete for a husband?
Xie Danling's expression remained unchanged as she continued to smile, "My mother said that I have a bad temper. If I can't find a husband, she should marry me to my cousin from the Wang family to prevent me from causing harm to others. Mother, what do you think?"
The Queen's smile faltered for a moment before she continued, "You are so shameless."
Neither say it's good nor bad.
After talking for a while, the queen sent them both away to play by themselves.
Xie Danling took Gu Zhizhuo's arm and sat on the lakeside, whispering in his ear, "I think she's trying to find a consort for me."
Gu Zhizhuo deeply agreed with this.
What kind of family needs a princess to learn the piano just to please them?
The palace maid brought some clean water to wash her hands, and Xie Danling asked someone to bring some fruit juice. Gu Zhizhuo leaned against the window and subconsciously looked towards the water pavilion in the east. Xie Yingchen was also looking here, and their eyes met in the air.
Gu Zhizhuo was in a very good mood. She picked up the fruit juice, quietly raised the glass towards Xie Yingchen, made a toast gesture, and drank it all in one breath.
"Take a look."
Xie Danling stretched out her hands for her to see, and said with a pout, "The skin is broken."
Gu Zhizhuo put down the glass cup and took her hand.
The tender fingertips had shallow abrasions from climbing the wall, and some old wounds, a little red, probably from piano practice.
Gu Zhizhuo took out a small jar containing a milky white paste. She scooped out some with her fingertips and gently applied it to Xie Danling. The paste was extremely light and thin, and as it was slowly spread, Xie Danling's fingers suddenly felt cool and the pain was gone.
“This is good!”
"I confiscated it!"
Xie Danling naturally stretched out her hand, and Gu Zhizhuo obediently placed the jar in her palm.
"I got a box of really beautiful pearl flowers. I'll give you half of them later."
"OK!"
The girls came back one after another, each of them with a smile on their face and full of energy.
Cheng Yuelong and Zhou Anhui came in hand in hand, chatting and laughing, and paid their respects to the Queen together.
The queen called out gently, without a trace of joy in her heart.
The Cheng and Zhou families were chosen by the emperor himself. Both marriages were excellent. In comparison...
Aunt Qiu, who was standing by, observed her expression and said with a low laugh, "Your Majesty, the Emperor also told you last time to choose a concubine for the Third Prince first."
Speaking of this, the Empress was in a state of panic. Although the eldest and second princes hadn't married yet, they already had someone else in their rooms. One of the second prince's concubines seemed to be pregnant. If the baby was born, even if it wasn't of high status, it would be the Emperor's first grandson. But her own son not only swore to marry Ji Nan Ke, he even refused to marry the palace maids who taught him about sex, saying that he wanted to remain a virgin.
The queen became angrier and angrier as she thought about it, and she felt terrible.
Although the Ji family assisted the country and the people in the previous dynasty, there is not even one person in the family who is an official now. Ji Nan Ke is an orphan without parents. How can she help her son?
Oh, what a blessed girl destined by heaven. But the emperor has to believe it! If the emperor doesn't believe it, then even if it's true, it's just a lie to mislead the people.
It’s also because Gu Zhizhuo is useless and can’t even win over her future husband.
Not only is it useless, it's also a nuisance.
The queen became even more annoyed when she thought of the memorials impeaching Jing'er in the court.
The emperor advised her not to be anxious, but how could she not be anxious?
The Emperor was already the Emperor, and his harem had always been filled with people. The Empress couldn't be sure how deep his feelings for her would be, or how long they would last. How could she not panic?
The girls sat down in twos and threes in the waterside pavilion. The queen picked a few of them and asked them about music, chess, calligraphy and painting. A girl who was good at music played a piece on the spot and was rewarded by the queen.
They were talking and laughing happily in the waterside pavilion.
The palace maids counted the amount of silk, and Aunt Qiu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Rouge Drunk from Minister Zhang's mansion is worth one class."
Xie Danling raised her eyebrows proudly and said, "I have a good eye."
Uh-huh.
Gu Zhizhuo couldn't help nodding, praising her for having the best vision in the world.
Xie Danling curled up her red lips and raised her chin even higher.
The Queen’s rewards were endless. The prize for Miss Zhang was a pair of red gold and jadeite bracelets, which she put on her hands personally.
Miss Zhang was flattered. She knew that today the two princes would be chosen to wear princesses, and she also knew that she had no chance of becoming one. However, she was unwilling to be a concubine and had always kept a low profile. Unexpectedly, her own flower made her stand out.
She thanked him and with some trepidation, she took the bracelet and left.
The second and third place winners also received rewards. The Queen even specially called Cheng Yuelong and Zhou Anhui over and gave each of them a golden phoenix hairpin.
The golden phoenix hairpin undoubtedly announced the two's identities as future imperial consorts, and everyone's gazes were filled with curiosity and envy. Miss Zhou was fine, as she had been a frequent visitor. However, Cheng Yuelong, on the other hand, had only arrived in the capital earlier this year and had always kept a low profile. Many of the girls were meeting her for the first time today.
Some people even went to see Gu Zhizhuo secretly. The Third Prince's consort, who had been chosen long ago, had become more low-key after she finished her mourning period.
"Empress, the Emperor says the banquet can begin."
"Then let's have a feast."
Gu Zhizhuo and Xie Danling sat together, and the banquet was served like flowing water.
The imperial kitchen also put a lot of effort into the preparation. From the main dishes to the desserts, every dish is related to flowers.
Gu Zhizhuo looked at the lotus in water dish in front of him. The snow-white soup looked like a lotus flower floating on it, elegant and beautiful.
Gu Zhizhuo took a sip and found it fresh with a slight sour taste, which was very appetizing.
Delicious!
Gu Zhizhuo narrowed his eyes in pleasure.
"Fifth Princess."
The little girl sitting next to them greeted them with a smile.
Xie Danling nodded modestly.
"This is……"
After a lifetime, Gu Zhizhuo has become a little unfamiliar with some noble ladies who she doesn't play with very often. She frowned and thought for a while, yes, this is from the Cheng'en family.
It seems his name is Sun Nian.
The Cheng'en Mansion is the Empress's mother's home.
The Empress was from the Sun family of the Anyang Marquisate, and was the third concubine of the family. The eldest daughter of the Anyang Marquisate married the emperor, who was then the second prince, as his principal wife. A few years later, she died in childbirth, leaving behind a daughter. The Anyang Marquisate then begged the late emperor to allow the princess's sister to go to the palace to look after the little princess, and the late emperor agreed.
When the queen entered the palace, she was a concubine. After the emperor ascended the throne, she became the queen.
Not long after, the Anyang Marquis's Mansion was divided, and the emperor bestowed the title of Duke Cheng'en on the queen's biological father, and even the queen's concubine was promoted to the position of legitimate wife.
The appointment of a concubine as empress and a maid as the first wife were both contrary to etiquette and would have inevitably drawn impeachment from the censors. However, the previous emperor had passed away suddenly. The Liang Kingdom was threatening to attack from the west, the Di Kingdom was besieging the city from the north, and the remnants of the previous dynasty were making a comeback from the south. Furthermore, a new king, Prince Taiping, emerged. The emperor and Prince Chen were engaged in a battle for the succession, and Prince Chen gave way for the sake of the greater good. The entire court, both civil and military officials, did not want to stir up further trouble.
The eldest son of the former Duke Cheng'en's wife died of illness a few years ago. The current Duke Cheng'en is the Queen's biological brother.
"Miss Gu, I haven't seen you out for a long time." Sun Nian sat down next to them familiarly and said with a smile, "Isn't A Ke here?"
She was asking about Ji Nanke.
"without."
Sun Nian said regretfully: "I haven't seen her for a long time."
"During the Qianqiu Festival, I went to my grandparents' house and just returned to Beijing."
Sun Nian is the daughter of Duke Cheng'en. According to etiquette, Xie Danling has to call her cousin.
Sun Nian asked with a smile, "Fifth Princess, I heard you are learning the qin?"
Xie Danling: “…”
She hated the idea of learning the piano.
Why does she, a princess, have to know how to play the qin?! It's totally incomprehensible.
Xie Danling had never been one to compromise herself. Her face darkened, and she was about to say she hated the guqin. Unexpectedly, Sun Nian chimed in again, "Ake plays the guqin well, too. Miss Gu, why hasn't she shown up in ages? She didn't even come to my coming-of-age party a while ago. I had already invited her, and she even said she had a guqin once used by Master Zhou Xian, which she wanted to give me as a coming-of-age gift."
"She didn't come to today's flower party either. The Third Prince was there too." She covered her mouth and said hurriedly, "Miss Gu, that's not what I meant. I wanted to say..."
Gu Zhizhuo raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile, "You want to know why the Third Prince didn't go to pick her up, right?"
Sun Nian's eyes flickered for a moment, and he felt guilty for a moment, but soon he became confident.
The Third Prince's pursuit of A Ke is aboveboard! Everyone knows this.
"Miss Gu, is A Ke feeling unwell, or is she..."
What she actually wanted to ask was whether Gu Zhizhuo was bullying A Ke again and even not letting her attend the flower party.
Before she could finish her words, a sneer came from outside the pavilion. It was a voice full of arrogance: "From my perspective, it's not that you're feeling unwell. I'm afraid someone got jealous and chased you away."
"Princess Zhaoyang has arrived!"
A young woman who was not yet 20 years old walked in, with beautiful eyes and beautiful eyebrows, and was covered in jewels.
She had her hair styled like a woman, and her pretty face showed an air of superiority and pride.
Princess Zhaoyang was the emperor's eldest daughter and the daughter left by Empress Yuan. She married into the Duke of Anguo's mansion a few years ago.
She was the emperor's only legitimate daughter, and was raised by her aunt, the empress, since childhood. She was as close to the empress as mother and daughter. Even though she came late and started to offend people without greeting, the empress just looked at her lovingly.
"Mother."
Zhaoyang greeted the queen and sat down next to her affectionately. She casually played with a hollow gold incense ball on the table and asked aggressively, "Am I right, Miss Gu?"
Xie Danling was about to get angry, but Gu Zhizhuo quietly squeezed her hand and said with a faint smile, "That's not right."
The eldest princess's brows tightened: "Kneel down!"
Gu Zhizhuo's smile did not fade, and there was no emotion in his clear phoenix eyes.
Xie Danling couldn't help it. If Gu Zhizhuo hadn't held her hand tightly, she would have overturned the table.
It's totally incomprehensible!
The queen picked up the wine cup and slowly tasted the fruit wine in the cup, seemingly completely unaware of the tense situation before her.
Gu Zhizhuo lifted the hair from his ear and said, "I heard that Her Royal Highness the Princess recently visited a women's temple outside the city. Did you hear this from my cousin Ke?"
"Oh, you don't know, she's just full of nonsense."
Seeing that she not only refused to kneel but also dared to talk back, Zhao Yang chuckled twice, raised his hand and threw the fist-sized aromatherapy ball at her forehead, and said angrily: "Ke'er never said a word against you. You are so vicious that you think others are the same as you."
"You are a noble lady, yet you are so petty and dare to act like this in front of me. You have no sense of propriety."
There was silence all around, and the ladies did not dare to speak.
Sun Nian smiled softly, she deserved it, it was her fault for always bullying A Ke.
Gu Zhizhuo tilted her head, and the aroma ball brushed past her ear. With a "bang", it fell to the ground, rolling a few times. The perfume powder inside was scattered all over the floor, and a strong fragrance filled the air.
Gu Zhizhuo's voice suddenly turned colder. "She did say that she lived with others and no one had ever treated her as kindly as you have."
"She said that the Gu family raised her, and to repay this favor, she won't fight with me."
"She said that being trapped in the inner chamber all day long, she never understood how big the world was, and that's why she was so jealous of her small piece of land."
Every word sounded so familiar. Zhao Yang's eyes widened as she listened to each word. She blurted out subconsciously, "You, how did you know?"
Gu Zhizhuo gently clapped his hands, his eyes sharp, "Is this what you said, Princess? Is there anything wrong with it?"
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