Early in the morning, Gu Jiu arrived at the second gate, ready to board the carriage and set off for the palace.
"When you get to the palace, be careful about everything. Remember to be cautious in what you say and do, and talk less and observe more. If someone makes things difficult for you, endure it if you can, and endure it even if you can't. The palace is not a place where you can act wildly, do you understand?"
Lord Gu gave a lot of instructions, fearing that Gu Jiu would cause trouble in the palace.
Gu Jiu said respectfully, "Thank you for your teachings, father. I will remember them. I will be careful with my words and actions."
Master Gu hummed, and said with rare emotion, "You must return safely. Your father has arranged for someone to prepare your dowry."
"Thank you for your hard work, Dad."
Gu Jiu got on the carriage.
The carriage shook a little, then slowly drove out of the Gu Mansion and headed towards the palace.
Only Qingmei was serving Gu Jiu.
This is the rule in the palace. One can only bring one maid to serve him when entering the palace.
Qingmei's fingers turned white with nervousness. "Miss, we will definitely return home safely."
Gu Jiu laughed and held Qingmei's hand. "Don't be afraid. I'll take care of everything."
"I'm not afraid."
Qingmei said with all her might.
Gu Jiu changed his hand and pinched her cheek. "When we get to the palace, listen to me. We will be fine."
Qingmei nodded heavily, "I will obey you, young lady. Unfortunately, you don't know anyone in the palace, so you don't even know where to start to get any information."
Gu Jiu opened the car curtain and looked outside. He could already see the roof of the palace.
She lowered the curtain and muttered, "I wonder if Jiang Yan entered the palace successfully."
"If Jiang Yan is in the palace, will she come to see the young lady?"
Gu Jiu shook his head. "Even if she can enter the palace smoothly, I'm afraid she won't be qualified to walk around freely in the palace. So don't count on Jiang Yan. This time we can only rely on ourselves."
"I understand."
The carriage stopped at the palace gate.
As soon as Gu Jiu got off the carriage, he saw Miss Wei San.
The two exchanged glances, but neither spoke.
After checking the badge on his waist, he followed the eunuch into the palace gate.
There are high palace walls on both sides and the corridor is long and narrow.
Walking under the palace wall is like walking on the fast lane to the eighteen levels of hell. It is suffocating, but you can only walk down mechanically.
You can’t look around, you can’t talk, you can’t even have your own emotions, let alone your own thoughts.
In the end, all that remained was fear and awe of the palace.
After finally walking through the long and narrow corridor, the eunuch handed them over to the eunuchs and left.
Next, Gu Jiu and the others followed the eunuchs and continued walking deeper into the palace.
There was a girl who was so nervous that she tripped over her left foot and was about to fall.
Gu Jiu was quick to help the person up and dragged her forward a few steps.
The other party gave her a grateful smile and whispered, "Thank you!"
Gu Jiu shook his head slightly and let go of the other person's arm. "Relax, don't be so nervous."
The other party nodded.
"Don't talk!"
The eunuch turned around and looked at the two of them, with an obvious warning in his eyes.
Gu Jiu hurriedly separated from the other party and followed the team with his head lowered.
They finally arrived at the Weiyang Palace, and the eunuchs settled the dozen or so girls in a side hall to wait.
The maidservant did not come with them and was placed somewhere else.
As soon as the eunuch left, only girls of the same status as Gu Jiu were left in the side hall.
But still, no one spoke, not even a glance. The side hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and it felt like you could hear other people's breathing and heartbeats.
Gu Jiu silently counted numbers and calculated the passage of time.
About half an hour later, someone finally came to the side hall and invited them to go to the bedroom to meet the Queen.
Gu Jiu followed the crowd and walked out of the side hall.
But I was thinking, she was not going to the main hall, but to the bedroom. Could it be that the Queen Mother was so sick that she couldn't get out of bed?
When I arrived at the bedroom, I saw that the Queen had indeed gotten out of bed.
The Queen looked gaunt, like a dried corpse that had crawled out of a grave.
Gu Jiu stood with everyone else and clearly noticed that some people were trembling with fear at the Queen's current appearance.
What on earth had happened to the Empress in just a few days that she had become so half-human, half-ghost?
Gu Jiu was thinking wildly in his mind.
She didn't know that during this period, the Queen had been burning her last bit of blood and energy to prolong her life, taking poisonous drugs, enduring unbearable pain every day, and making herself look like this.
The Queen coughed lightly and said, "Please sit down. How can I see clearly if you all stand together?"
The palace maids brought in stools.
Gu Jiu sat on the stool with everyone else.
"Lift your heads."
Gu Jiu followed everyone again and slowly raised his head.
The Queen smiled, seeming very satisfied. "You both have beautiful faces, very good!"
"Your Majesty, your compliments are too kind."
Someone spoke.
Gu Jiu looked in the direction of the voice and saw the person sitting next to Miss Wei San, who seemed to be Miss Cui from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
In terms of blood relationship, Miss Cui should call the Queen Mother her great-aunt, and she does have the confidence to speak at this time.
The Queen smiled faintly, "From the day you were betrothed, you must begin preparing to become a qualified wife of the Emperor's grandson.
It's not just about the rules; more importantly, it's about your heart. You have to think about the emperor's grandson and the royal family. Everything you do should be based on the overall situation, for the royal family and even for the world.
You must know that you are different from other girls, not just because your future husband is the grandson of the emperor, but more importantly, other girls are limited to the inner chambers after marriage, while you, after marriage, must also pay attention to the court and care about the world."
Gu Jiu's heart skipped a beat and she secretly looked at the Queen.
What exactly does the Queen mean by saying such inflammatory and inappropriate words?
Could it be that she expected that with just a few words, she could encourage a girl to really care about the world after marrying the emperor's grandson?
How is that possible?
Gu Jiu was feeling uneasy and couldn't guess what the Queen was up to.
"I will follow the Queen's instructions."
Miss Cui is still leading the way.
The Empress smiled with satisfaction and said to the maid beside her, "Miss Cui, please stay and take the others to the side hall to wait. I want to speak to them separately."
The maid accepted the order, "Girls, please follow me."
Everyone stood up and followed the palace maid out of the bedroom. Only Miss Cui stayed.
Everyone sat down in the side hall and waited.
I don’t dare drink tea or eat snacks for fear of having to go to the bathroom urgently.
Everyone sat upright in their chairs with great dignity, and as time passed, no one even changed their posture.
Gu Jiu secretly sighed, everyone's patience was indeed very strong.
Sitting like this without moving is actually very uncomfortable and very challenging for a person.
However, everyone looked calm, as if nothing had happened.
Even Gu Jiu himself is the same.
Miss Cui came out with red eyes. Everyone looked at her, but she just sat in the chair silently, ignoring everyone's gaze.
Next is Miss Wei San.
Wei San will be sisters-in-law with Miss Cui in the future, but the two of them never exchanged glances throughout the whole process.
Wei San was in there for a quarter of an hour, and when she came out, she was changed into the girl who was to be married to the son of the Prince of Zhao's mansion.
Gu Jiu looked at Wei San. Wei San did not respond to Gu Jiu's gaze. He just lowered his head, looking thoughtful.
The girls went in one by one, and soon it was Gu Jiu's turn.
Gu Jiu took a deep breath and followed the palace maid into the bedroom again.
For some reason, the light in the bedroom seemed dimmer than before.
The Queen was lying on the bed, looking at her with her head tilted to the side.
If the light in those eyes had not been so terrifying, Gu Ji would have thought that there was just a corpse lying on the bed.
There was a stool beside the bed, and the palace maid gestured to Gu Jiu to sit on it.
Gu Jiu walked forward and sat upright on the stool, "Your servant greets Her Majesty the Queen."
"Raise your head and let me take a good look. The last time I saw you, I didn't have time to take a closer look. Now I see that you are indeed a marked girl."
"Your Majesty, your compliments are too kind."
Gu Jiu lowered his eyes and did not meet the Queen's gaze.
The Queen smiled silently, "You are extremely intelligent. You should have noticed that among all the girls, your family background is the worst."
Gu Jiu's face was calm, "Your Majesty is right, your subject's family background is the worst."
The other girls were either daughters of noble families or descendants of high-ranking officials. In short, none of them came from poor family backgrounds.
The Empress said, "Your family background is the worst, yet Gongzi Zhao chose you out of so many other girls. Have you ever wondered why?"
Gu Jiu slowly shook her head, "Your Majesty, I have never thought about it."
"Young Master Zhao married you, presumably without support from your family. This puzzles me. Could it be that he doesn't care about his own marriage, or that he has secret feelings for you, or perhaps he has other plans? For example, marrying you is just to deceive the world, so that once the hype is over, he can let you die without any cause, and then he can naturally marry another beautiful wife or concubine."
Every word uttered by the Empress was filled with deep malice, like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue, terrifying.
Gu Jiu finally understood why the Queen wanted to speak to everyone alone.
She is not only misleading people, but also sowing discord and planting seeds of doubt.
If she was truly a young woman who had grown up in a boudoir and was not very knowledgeable, she would have been shaken by the Queen's words and would have been in a state of panic all day. She might even die one day.
Gu Jiu appropriately revealed a panic expression, lowered his head, and said with a lack of confidence: "Your Highness, I don't know."
The Queen raised her eyebrows and smiled, then suddenly reached out and pinched Gu Jiu's jaw.
Gu Jiu frowned slightly, then smoothed his brows in an instant.
She looked cautiously at the Queen, appearing particularly weak and helpless.
At this time, you must not confront the Queen.
Although the Empress was about to die, she could still kill Gu Jiu before she died, and all it took was a single word. Afterwards, no one would question the matter.
Once dead, you are dead!
Reality is so cruel.
There was a smile in the Queen's eyes, but Gu Jiu saw full of malice in them.
The Empress asked, "Gongzi Zhao chose you specifically. Could it be that you have met him before?"
Gu Jiu quickly denied, "I just followed my father back to the capital a few months ago. I have never sent an edict to the prince before."
The Empress smiled contemptuously, "I'm not talking about the capital, but the northwest."
Gu Jiu's heart skipped a beat. How could the Queen think of the Northwest?
Gu Jiu calmed down and said carefully, "When I was in the northwest, I was not used to the climate there and was weak. I rarely went out. I definitely didn't meet Master Zhao."
The Queen laughed and said, "You are not telling the truth."
Gu Jiu's heart began to beat again. She wondered if the Queen knew something.
"Every word this subject says is true. I dare not lie to Your Majesty."
The Queen's fingertips gently stroked Gu Jiu's cheek, as if a cold snake was sliding across his face, making Gu Jiu feel uncomfortable and tense all over.
"According to my understanding, there was a period in the first half of this year when Prince Zhao claimed to be ill and did not attend court or enter the palace. Calculating the time, your family was probably still in the northwest at that time."
Gu Jiu nodded, "In the first half of the year, my father was indeed serving as the governor of Jinzhou in the northwest."
"Jinzhou is a great place. I heard it's only a hundred miles away from the Duke of Lu's military camp. It only takes half a day to get there on horseback."
"I have never been to the military camp and don't understand the situation."
The Queen suddenly laughed, "You are not afraid of me."
"Your Majesty is terrified."
"If it were any other girl, she wouldn't be able to speak clearly, let alone have a clear logic, after being questioned repeatedly by me. However, you, with a look of panic on your face, answered my questions without a single mistake. You are indeed not afraid of me."
"Your Majesty, I am deeply frightened. However, when I came here, my father repeatedly reminded me to speak politely to the Empress. I have always remembered his teachings and dared not bring shame upon the Gu family."
Gu Jiu's tone was anxious and fearful, as if he was afraid that the Queen would not believe him.
The Empress laughed. "I'll trust you for once. Tell me, did you ever see Young Master Zhao when you were in the northwest?"
Gu Jiu shook her head repeatedly, "I was in the northwest and definitely have never met Gongzi Zhao. I swear to heaven that if I tell a lie, I will be struck to death by lightning when I leave."
People of this era value oaths the most.
However, Gu Jiu had no such taboo and blurted out the oath.
As she spoke of salt, she secretly cried out in her heart, "God, please don't take my oath seriously. I was just saying it casually."
The Queen Mother stared at Gu Jiu suspiciously.
She received some seemingly plausible news and suspected that Liu Zhao had secretly fled to the northwest, but she had no evidence.
I had hoped to get some truth out of Gu Jiu, but now it seemed like I was overthinking it. Was Liu Zhao really in the capital during that time, and not in the northwest?
The Queen Mother was a little annoyed that she had only paid attention to the princes and ignored the movements of the emperor's grandchildren.
As a result, she asked people to do all kinds of tricks under her nose.
The Queen was furious and let go of Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu felt pain in his jaw, but he sat upright without moving.
The Queen took a few breaths, but unfortunately there was no time left.
If she had enough time, she would definitely send people to the northwest to investigate. As long as she could find evidence against Liu Zhao, she would be able to skin both Prince Ning and his son alive.
The Queen waved her hand, and the palace maid stepped forward and said to Gu Jiu, "Miss Gu, please step aside."
Gu Jiu hurriedly stood up, bowed and said goodbye, leaving this terrible place.
The Queen took a few more breaths and said, "Go, go and call Junior Supervisor Fang."
It doesn't matter that she is dying, but the clue cannot be given up.
The Queen chuckled.
Fang Shaojian came to the bedroom and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty. How are you feeling today?"
The Queen said weakly, "It's getting more and more painful."
Fang Shaojian was filled with worry, "Your Majesty, why don't you stop taking the medicine?"
The Empress shook her head. "Don't worry about my health. I can still live for a few days. Send someone to the northwest immediately to investigate secretly. No matter what method you use, I must find out whether Liu Zhao has secretly left the capital for the northwest.
I should be gone by then. Once it's confirmed that Liu Zhao left the capital without permission and is heading to the northwest, you know what to do."
Fang Shaojian accepted the order, "Your humble servant obeys!"
The Empress continued, panting repeatedly, "Also, find a way to bribe a few people around Liu Zhao, and be sure to keep an eye on him. I ignored this kid before, thinking he was just a useless grandson of the Emperor. Now it seems I was wrong. This bastard is hiding himself quite well."
Fang Shaojian bowed and accepted the order, "Does the Queen have any other instructions?"
The Empress frowned in thought, "I have a feeling that that little girl named Gu Jiu knows something. I have to find a way to pry some truth out of her."
Fang Shaojian thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this matter can be handled with the help of Xie Mao. Xie Mao and Madam Gu are brother and sister. I think no one knows the whereabouts of the Gu family in the northwest better than Xie Mao."
The Queen nodded and said, "You should go to the Xie family in person and ask them something."
"As you wish!"
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