Chapter 1: The Divorced Princess
"Your Majesty, I beg to leave now."
When the voice fell, the guards and maids in the yard wished they could bury themselves in the ground. The voice was so quiet that even a pin drop could be heard clearly.
Only a young maid who had just entered the palace and was sweeping the floor secretly raised her head because she was standing in the corner, and looked at the extremely beautiful woman in the middle of the yard who was wearing a bright red kesi silk skirt with golden branches and peony flowers, and a golden hairpin with a phoenix holding a pearl in its mouth.
The moment she saw the princess, the little maid thought she saw the fairy from heaven that her grandmother had talked about.
"are you serious?"
A warm and clear voice came from under the eaves. The little maid looked around curiously, but only had time to catch a glimpse of the corner of a black and gold-threaded robe before she was pulled by the nanny beside her and lowered her head.
Zhou Yunshu looked at Ji Sheng, who was standing on the steps with picturesque eyebrows and eyes and the most stunning appearance in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even after twenty years, she still couldn't help but feel amazed.
Oh, by the way, Ji Sheng hates people talking about his appearance the most.
I heard that ten years ago, there was a man holding a wine glass in a restaurant and talking about Ji Sheng's beauty, saying that she was as beautiful as the Queen Mother of the West and even more beautiful than Diao Chan and Xi Shi. As a result, he shaved off the root of his tongue with a sword, cut open his lips, chopped off his arms, and kicked him out of the restaurant.
In addition, because he was impartial and just, he was in charge of the Black Prison, which was responsible for secret punishments. He killed countless people and confiscated their property, so he was called the Cold-blooded Yama.
Zhou Yunshu thought to herself, and when she met those cold and deep eyes, she subconsciously looked away, fearing that he would notice her abnormality.
Yes, the Zhou Yunshu in front of him was no longer the original Zhou Yunshu, but the Zhou Yunshu who died in childbirth in her previous life, was reincarnated into the modern world twenty years later, and was reborn back into the Great Zhou Dynasty due to a car accident.
Thinking of the time when she was reborn, Zhou Yunshu raised her head and looked firmly at Ji Sheng on the stage, saying seriously, "I am serious."
"I beg to leave the room!"
She must leave the palace today.
Zhou Yunshu's maiden family was the prestigious Zhenbei Palace of the Zhou Dynasty, otherwise she would not have married Prince Ji Sheng of Wei.
But yesterday afternoon, urgent news came from Youzhou in the northern border, saying that the King of Zhenbei was collaborating with foreign enemies, selling out his country for personal gain, and colluding with the Eastern Turks in rebellion, which led to the fall of Youzhou's Jade Pass.
After the armies of the Eastern Turks and Tiele tribes marched south, they burned, killed, looted, and set fire to cities, resulting in heavy casualties among soldiers in the northern border and the displacement of civilians.
Under this circumstance, Youzhou Governor Cai Chuan acted on his own initiative and executed the person first and reported to the emperor later.
He led the Youzhou army in a desperate battle with the Zhou army led by King Zhenbei at Biyu Pass, and finally killed the traitorous leader King Zhenbei Zhou Cungao and his two sons and three grandsons at the Mobei border.
When the news came, the capital was in an uproar.
Overnight, the once most prosperous family in the Great Zhou Dynasty instantly became a despised piece of mud under people's feet.
When Zhou Yunshu rushed to see Ji Sheng who had just left the court, the imperial decree to confiscate the property had already been sent to the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion.
Not only was the property confiscated, Zhou Yunshu remembered that the emperor also issued an edict that because the Prince of Zhenbei had committed treason, all males over the age of ten in the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion would be executed, and all males under the age of ten and all female relatives would be exiled to the Southern Barbarians.
Of course, the female relatives did not include Zhou Yunshu's grandmother Ji Mingzhu and the wife of Zhenbei King Zhou Cungao, Princess Ningping.
But even if not, her grandmother still left the capital with the Zhou family in her previous life.
Princess Ningping, Ji Mingzhu, was the elder sister of the late Emperor Guang of Zhou and the only legitimate daughter of Emperor Ruizong of Zhou.
If Emperor Guang of Zhou had not been in poor health and had only reigned for three years, and if Emperor Ruizong of Zhou had not had few offspring, the current emperor would not have been adopted from the royal family.
It can be said that Ji Mingzhu made great contributions to the current emperor's smooth ascension to the throne.
But the crime of treason against the King of Zhenbei has been established, and even if Ji Mingzhu is the eldest princess, she cannot protect the Zhou family.
The Southern Barbarians were the place of exile specially chosen by the emperor. The reputation of the Zhenbei Palace in the north was about to overshadow that of the imperial court. He was afraid that exiling the people of the Zhenbei Palace to the north would be like letting a tiger return to the mountain.
That's right, even if news came from the northern border that the Zhenbei Palace had betrayed the court and colluded with foreign enemies, few people in the northern border or even in the capital believed it.
Prince Zhenbei has guarded the northern border for thirty years. If Prince Zhenbei really wanted to betray the Great Zhou, why would he wait until today? He could have declared himself king more than thirty years ago before the emperor ascended the throne.
To put it bluntly, the Zhenbei Palace has come to this point today simply because it blocked the emperor's way and offended the emperor, so it was natural that it became the soul of the dead under the emperor's knife.
Ji Sheng looked at Zhou Yunshu who was looking at him stubbornly from the audience and said, "As you wish."
…
When Zhou Yunshu returned to the main courtyard, the servants around her secretly looked at her.
Zhou Yunshu's personal maid endured all these stares and looked at her master, wanting to say something but stopping herself.
Returning to the hall, Zhou Yunshu said to the four maids around her, "You also heard what I said to the prince just now."
"Qiulu is already a member of the palace, so I won't make any arrangements."
She looked at her three maids who came with her as a dowry and said, "I will return your indentures to you. You can go home on your own."
"princess!"
Chunque knelt at Zhou Yunshu's feet in panic, raised her head and looked at her with red eyes and said, "Miss! Chunque will not leave. You saved Chunque's life. Chunque is yours whether he lives or dies."
Winter Dove knelt beside Spring Bird, "Where the young lady goes, Winter Dove goes."
Zhou Yunshu's eyes flickered with emotion, but thinking about the road she was about to take, she said, "I will follow the Zhou family to Nanman, you guys..."
"Let's follow the young lady!" Spring Bird and Winter Dove said in unison.
Zhou Yunshu sighed. In her previous life, when she had a difficult childbirth, it was Chunque who drew his sword and risked his life to run out of the palace to find a doctor for her, and it was Dongge who stayed by her side.
It's a pity that it's too late.
"Miss, please don't leave me." Chunque looked at Zhou Yunshu fearfully, afraid that she would abandon her.
"good."
After Zhou Yunshu finished speaking, she looked at Xia Ying, who had been standing silently beside her. Xia Ying avoided her gaze but still said, "Princess, I, I want to stay in the palace to take care of the little princess."
Zhou Yunshu's eyes flashed coldly. She had only discovered Xia Ying's abnormality when she was bleeding heavily during childbirth in her previous life. Although her rebirth in this life was too hasty, the person who betrayed her...
"Mother!"
Zhou Yunshu's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her baby's voice calling out.
When Zhou Yunshu heard the soft voice, her nose felt sore and she immediately walked outside. When she saw it was indeed her daughter.
In the previous life, after the Zhenbei Palace fell into decline and the Zhou family was exiled to the Southern Barbarians, Concubine Li, the mother of Prince Wei, kept stuffing beauties into the Prince Wei Palace, and even sent her own niece to the palace as a concubine.
If Ji Sheng had not insisted, perhaps Zhou Yunshu's position as the principal wife would have been taken away by Cheng Jiajia, instead of moving from the main courtyard with her daughter to the most remote courtyard of the palace and becoming invisible people.
I think that after I died of childbirth in my previous life, the position of the queen should have fallen into the hands of Cheng Jiajia.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yunshu touched her belly unconsciously. She remembered the midwife's cry at that time. She was pregnant with twins, and the twins died together in her belly.
"Mother, don't cry."
The sweet and soft little hand fell on Zhou Yunshu's face, and Zhou Yunshu held her daughter in her arms.
The reason why she didn't say she wanted to take her daughter with her when she went to the front yard just now was because Zhou Yunshu knew that Ji Sheng's mother would not let a child with Zhou family blood stay in the palace and become a thorn in the emperor's side.
Sure enough, when Zhou Yunshu was carrying her daughter back to the dormitory to pack her things, Nanny Jiang from the front yard walked in with a bundle.
"Princess, the prince asked me to pack the princess's belongings..."
Nanny Jiang swallowed the rest of her words under Zhou Yunshu's gaze.
In fact, she was also puzzled. After all, the little princess was the prince's blood. How could the prince agree to let Concubine Li let the little princess leave the palace with the princess!
Could it be that the rumors are true, and the master has long wanted to divorce the princess, and drove away the little princess just to make way for the third daughter of the prime minister's family?
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