If that's the case, then this harem is indeed a den of dragons and tigers, and it's worth her trying!

Concubine Yi is the descendant of a military family. To the sound of Yu Xiurong's famous guzheng piece "Ambush from All Sides", she danced with a sword with great power, which made Wei Yuchen applaud!

This aroused the curiosity of Yu Yan, who had no interest in these banquets.

Watching his concubines compete with each other for beauty, not only can he get to know them better, but he can also know himself and his enemy, so that he can win every battle.

After all, she will have plenty of opportunities to fight with them in the future!

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but become more focused.

Seeing that the emperor was becoming more and more interested, the concubines, who had been somewhat worried at first, also put their best efforts into the competition, taking turns to perform musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, painting and dancing.

At first, she was somewhat interested in the concubines with high positions, but when she saw the latter ones, not only was their quality not as good as the previous ones, but even their looks were not as good as the previous ones. Yu Yan couldn't help but feel a little tired.

Concubine Zhen did not perform on stage. She was just watching silently. If she didn't go on stage, naturally no one would force her to do so. Besides, there was no shortage of performances on such occasions. Seeing that the emperor behind her was gradually showing some fatigue, Concubine Zhen curled the corners of her lips and stood up at the right time.

"Your Majesty, how about we try something new?"

"What's new?"

Wei Yuchen changed his posture, leaning against the back of the chair, supporting his forehead, and raised his eyebrows nonchalantly.

"This kind of music, chess, calligraphy, painting and dancing is too monotonous. How about we have a competition with the theme of 'lotus'?"

Qiu Zhen's proposal aroused some interest in Wei Yuchen. He sat up straight and asked curiously.

"A battle of arts? Or with the lotus as the theme? How are you going to fight?"

"It's very simple. Draw lots. Two lots are in a group. The two lots have the same number, but they are divided into upper and lower. The one with the upper lot can perform as he pleases, but the one with the lower lot must watch the performance of the upper lot before performing a matching performance. No matter which one it is, as long as it is symmetrical and has the lotus as the theme, as long as it matches before the upper lot finishes, you can pass. How do you do it?"

"It seems... a little interesting."

Hearing Wei Yuchen's praise, Qiu Zhen curled the corners of his lips and a calculating look flashed in his eyes.

However, Concubine Xi, who had remained silent all the time, suddenly spoke at this time.

"The upper lot is like the questioner, and the lower lot is like the answerer. The questioner already has the upper hand, but the answerer has to finish before the questioner finishes. This is unfair. What if the upper lot just recites a poem, and the lower lot has no time to answer, then it's already over, right?"

This is truly a shocking sentence. After Concubine Xi’s suggestion, everyone discovered the mystery of this so-called martial arts competition. There was an extra layer of dissatisfaction in their eyes when they looked at Qiu Zhen. Was this a setup or a martial arts competition?

Qiu Zhen is a very thick-skinned person. She never cares what others think of her. Since Concubine Xi brought it up, she naturally would not ignore it and could not help but look at Wei Yuchen.

"Your Majesty, how can we be fair in this matter?"

Wei Yuchen was somewhat interested in this competition, so when Concubine Xi pointed out his criticisms and Concubine Zhen looked at him seemingly modestly, he thought about it thoughtfully.

"How about this, as long as the lower sign is correct, you pass the test. There is no need to set a time limit here. What do you think?"

"That's great." Concubine Xi, Concubine Zhen, Concubine Jing, Concubine Lan, Concubine Yun, and Concubine Yi nodded at the same time, thinking it was feasible.

"Okay, this is feasible." The others, including Zhao Yuan, Xiu Yi, and Xiu Rong, also agreed.

"Your Majesty is still fair."

This person is dissatisfied with Concubine Zhen and said something outrageous, but who is Concubine Zhen?

These clowns are nothing compared to her, and they are not even worthy of her attention, so she will not take them to heart.

Since everyone agreed, the drawing of lots was naturally handed over to the chief eunuch Liu Shi.

After a while, Liu Shi came back holding a jade bottle filled with paper notes, no more, no less, exactly twenty-eight. Since there were only twenty-eight concubines present today, one more and one less would not be too many, and one person took one, and they were all distributed quickly.

"Okay, now the slips of paper are in everyone's hands. Everyone knows their own number clearly, right? Then, can we start?"

During the whole process, Zhen Fei had no chance to cheat. Liu Shi did everything himself. Liu Shi was the emperor's man, so he was naturally fair, and everyone was relieved.

But the fact is, Zhenfei did not do it. The reason why she proposed this was simply to see how powerful this beautiful lady was.

The performance just now was entirely voluntary, but this game required everyone to participate, and this beautiful lady had no choice but to accept it. Therefore, this was her most fundamental purpose.

However, what she never expected was that when she, as No. 1, stood up and walked to the center, Yu Meiren came out as No. 1, below.

At this moment, Concubine Zhen really wanted to laugh out loud, saying that God was really helping her. This Yu Yan was so unlucky, right?

After Yu Yan bowed to Concubine Zhen, she made a gesture as if asking for advice. Her indifferent look made Qiu Zhen, who originally wanted to see some fear on her face, feel depressed.

This woman really has the expression of a dead person who is invulnerable to swords and guns!

Unexpectedly, the first competition was between Qiu Zhen and Yu Yan. Wei Yuchen raised his eyebrows, with great interest in his eyes. In fact, he knew nothing about Yu Yan except her superb medical skills.

So, he was very curious about the opportunity to see her performance.

Yu Yan had been preparing for the lotus viewing banquet since she heard about it. She thought the banquet would end with the performance just now, but she didn't expect that someone would give her such an opportunity to show her talents. It really surprised her, but she also felt that it was reasonable.

Concubine Zhen stood behind the table where Concubine Jing had just stood without any hesitation, and glanced at Yu Yan, who was in a calm mood: "Are you ready?"

"Please give me some advice, Your Majesty!" Qiu Zhen curled her lips and said, "Okay, then I won't be polite!"

After he finished speaking, he really fell into deep thought, which was enough to show how serious Qiu Zhen was about this contest.

Although Qiu Zhen was just an illegitimate daughter, her mother had always dreamed of returning to the general's mansion one day.

Therefore, a great deal of effort was put into Qiu Zhen's education. Unfortunately, General Du didn't even know of her existence.

It can be said that Qiu Zhen's grandfather rescued Du Ruhui who was lost in the poisonous forest by chance and brought him back home. Unexpectedly, this rescue actually saved the innocent.

No one expected that Qiu Hongxiu, who was only 28 years old at that time, would fall in love with the famous general Du Ruhui.

Of course, at that time she didn't know that the wise, brave, ruthless and extraordinary man in front of her would be the great general Du Ruhui.

But even so, the young girl at the time unknowingly gave her heart to him.

Du Ruhui was only in his thirties at that time, at the most attractive period of a man's life. No wonder he could attract the attention of young girls even when lying sick in bed.

Du Ruhui was a person who was very strict with himself, so he could naturally see that Qiu Hongxiu was abnormal.

Therefore, even when he was lying in bed unable to move, he did not forget to avoid this woman.

The Qiu family are traveling doctors in the local mountainous areas. What are traveling doctors?

He is a doctor who goes from door to door treating patients. Although his medical skills are not very advanced, he is very knowledgeable about common diseases in the nearby mountainous areas. This is why Du Ruhui, who is a master of martial arts, still bothered the Qiu family to diagnose and treat him after he was poisoned by miasma.

The miasma poison is difficult to cure, and Du Ruhui is not allowed to use force before the poison is cured. Although the Qiu family members ran around to save him, when he saw Qiu Hongxiu's ambiguous eyes, a cold-blooded person like Du Ruhui naturally did not have a good face.

If it weren't for the fact that she was the savior of the Qiu family, I'm afraid this woman would have been beaten to death as soon as she approached him.

Because Du Ruhui had concerns, this woman was kept, which also left the root of trouble.

As the daughter of a traveling doctor, she naturally knew something about medicine. As time went by, Qiu Hongxiu fell in love with the cold-blooded Du Ruhui and became almost hopelessly obsessed with him.

She secretly vowed to become Du Ruhui's person before he left.

She was not a fool. She had already seen that this man did not love her and even hated her a little. But she did not care. In her opinion, as long as the matter was settled, why should she be afraid that this man would not be responsible?

In their village, and even in several surrounding villages, there were countless people who had never met each other before getting married, but in the end, didn’t they still live happily together?

This man is so outstanding, so outstanding that he can instantly kill all the people who admire her in the village. With her beauty that is famous throughout the area, she is not afraid of not being able to conquer this man.

Especially since the man's condition was getting better day by day, what if one day the poison was cured and he passed away, where would she go to find him?

So, for the sake of love, a certain woman who dared to love and hate, one day, when the whole family was not at home, she actually put an aphrodisiac in Du Ruhui's medicine.

Poor Du Ruhui was forcibly raped by a village girl.

What's even more pitiful is that his men happened to find this family and happened to see a woman sleeping next to their master. They immediately slapped the woman unconscious and carried Du Ruhui away.

Afterwards, although the generals felt puzzled and didn't understand why the general, who was always strict with himself, slept with a young village girl, this involved the general's private affairs after all, and they, his subordinates, had no right to interfere, so of course the matter was kept secret.

Du Ruhui took medicine all day long during those days. Although he clearly felt that there was something wrong with the medicine, he asked his subordinates afterwards and they did not find anything wrong.

They only knew that when they rushed over that day, he was unconscious due to the effects of the medicine, so they bid farewell to the family and carried the general back.

Du Ruhui didn't think about that at all at that time. Besides, he had finally escaped from that place that gave him a headache, so he was naturally too lazy to mention it again, and he had full confidence in his subordinates.

So he never asked again. Later, after the poison was completely cured, he went back to the battlefield and completely forgot about that family.

But, it's a pity for a certain woman. She thought she had got the man she had been dreaming of, but she never expected that Cheng Yaojin would appear out of nowhere and knock her out.

When she woke up, she found her whole family surrounding her, but the man she had just entrusted her life to was nowhere to be seen.

Qiu Hongxiu was so anxious that she kept asking about Du Ruhui's whereabouts, but how would the Qiu family know who that person was?

All I know is that he is a soldier, but I don't know anything else.

Du Ruhui's mission that time was to lead the vanguard team to spy on the enemy's strength. Under such circumstances, he was naturally wearing the armor of an ordinary soldier. The Qiu family had seen this kind of armor many times, so it was not surprising at all.

Therefore, they only knew that he was a soldier of Siyou Kingdom and did not know his true identity.

When Qiu Hongxiu heard this, she didn't care about her weak body after indulging in pleasure, and was about to get out of bed to find someone, but was slapped in the face by Qiu's father in public.

"What on earth did you do?"

Old Man Qiu is not an ordinary farmer. He is a traveling doctor who has seen the world and traveled the streets. He naturally knows that this person does not look simple.

Therefore, the whole family was very careful, and even if his daughter fell in love with someone, he didn't dare to mention it.

It was obvious that the man disliked his daughter and he tried every means to prevent her from coming in, for fear that she would do something out of line.

I know my own daughter well. She is the kind of person who can do anything.

Especially since this man is so outstanding, how could her daughter, with her high standards, let him go?

However, he never expected that she would eventually do something so outrageous.

Thinking of the two hundred taels of gold thrown on his bed, he wished he could find a hole to crawl into.

No matter how blind he was, what could he not understand when he saw his daughter lying naked on that man's bed and the man disappeared without a trace?

When he was trembling and almost vomiting blood in anger as he questioned his daughter, Qiu Hongxiu dared to take responsibility and straightened her spine.

"I did it. I just like him and I just want to get him. What's wrong?"

"Don't you see, in this area, who is worthy of me, Qiu Hongxiu?"

"I don't need him to be rich or powerful. I will marry him even if he is just a soldier. I will marry him for the rest of my life. I will marry him!"

Old Man Qiu was so shocked by his daughter's bold words that his eyes rolled back and he fainted. When Qiu Hongxiu saw this, she became panicked.

Old Man Qiu was so angry that he stayed at home to recuperate for three months. He only has one daughter, Qiu Hongxiu. If she doesn't take care of him, who will?

So, she had to give up her plan to look for Du Ruhui.

However, at this critical moment, Qiu Hongxiu discovered something terrible yet gratifying.

That is, her menstruation had not come for several months. As the daughter of a traveling doctor, she naturally knew some medical knowledge and soon discovered a piece of news that shocked her.

That is, she was pregnant, really pregnant with that man's child.

After this discovery, Qiu Hongxiu became more determined to find that man's heart.

But after Mr. Qiu found out, he vomited blood continuously. Finally, he was so angry at his own daughter that he became paralyzed in bed and could never stand up again.

Originally, Father Qiu was the pillar of the family, but now he is paralyzed.

The mother cried all day long, begging her pregnant daughter not to do anything embarrassing again.

Seeing her parents look nearly ten years older in an instant, Qiu Hongxiu finally gritted her teeth and nodded with tears in her eyes. She gave up the idea of ​​looking for someone and just served them obediently.

After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a baby girl and named her Qiu Zhen.

After the child was born, the condition of the paralyzed father in bed showed signs of improvement. Even the sick mother seemed to have found a point of spiritual sustenance. The old couple took care of the child every day. Although their life was hard, it was still peaceful and happy.

However, Qiu Hongxiu never used the two hundred taels of gold left by Du Ruhui's men.

So that I can have enough gold and silver to find this man in the future.

Fortunately, although Hongxiu is a bit stubborn, she is very diligent, able to endure hardships and is willing to work hard. After her father fell ill, she was able to take care of the family even when she was pregnant.

In addition, their enemies had accumulated some money over the years, which prevented them from starving.

And those matchmakers who had gone to great lengths to find Qiu Hongxiu were so shocked when they saw her pregnant Qiu Hongxiu that their eyes almost popped out of their heads.

Hongxiu told them directly that she was already married and asked them not to harass her anymore.

It was no secret that the enemy had saved someone a few days ago. As long as everyone asked around, they would know.

But as her belly grew bigger day by day and the other party never showed up, rumors about whether Qiu Hongxiu had been cheated grew day by day. Some people even blamed this unfilial daughter for Qiu's father's sudden paralysis.

No matter what others spread, Hongxiu still did what she had to do, focusing on her pregnancy and taking care of her family. As soon as the child was born, the rumors about her family showed signs of resurfacing, but she didn't care at all.

It is precisely because of her strong mentality that she was able to raise her child alone and search for her biological father along the way.

Over the years, Qiu Hongxiu never gave up. Their village was very close to the military camp.

In order to find a man, she asked many people, but unfortunately, Du Ruhui gave her a pseudonym, so it was impossible to find this person.

Especially, the military camp is a place, how could it give you the opportunity to ask around?

Poor Qiu Hongxiu, a woman, had to raise her daughter and support her parents.

Five years passed, and then the two elders passed away one after another. After taking care of their parents until their death, Hongxiu took her daughter to look for them in one military camp after another.

Over the course of several years, they visited all the military camps of Siyou Kingdom. Qiu Hongxiu drew many portraits, sent them out continuously, asked questions continuously, and searched continuously, without any interruption.

As a woman with a young daughter, she has suffered a lot over the years. If it were just the hardship, it would be fine, but she also often met bad people who wanted to do bad things to her and her daughter. If Qiu Hongxiu had not been fierce and alert enough, and had some medical skills, I'm afraid she and her daughter would have died in a foreign land long ago.

In this way, they searched the huge Siyou Kingdom for five years, and finally, they returned to the starting point.

At the largest garrison near her hometown, when she was about to give up and wanted to take her daughter home, she saw the majestic general riding on a tall horse at the city gate.

Even though ten years have passed, his voice and appearance are still as clear in her mind as they were ten years ago.

It was him, it was definitely him. At that moment, Qiu Hongxiu went crazy and wanted to catch up with that man, but because of her madness, she was treated as a troublemaker by the other party's men and was severely punished.

That time, she was beaten with twenty boards and left on the side of the road, while the man on the horse went farther and farther away.

who is he?

She asked the people who were watching the fun around her more than once, and the answers she got were all the same.

"That's our Siyou country's god of war, the great general who protects the country - Du Ruhui. You don't even know this, and you still dare to charge forward? Do you want to die?"

"If you hadn't brought a child with you, you would have been killed by the arrows. Assassinating a general is a capital crime punishable by beheading!"