Yuwen Lan walked into the palace and looked up. It seemed as if he saw a sea of jewels. The jewelry on the women's heads and bodies was dazzling under the light of the palace.
The smell of powder in the air became stronger. He frowned slightly and said in a light voice, "Stand up."
The women agreed and returned to their seats one after another. They all seemed to be sitting in formal clothes, but they secretly cast their eyes at him.
"Since your majesty has come, this palace seems to be brighter." The one
who spoke was the noble concubine Zhou who was sitting in the front. Yuwen Lan recognized her because she was the niece of the queen mother and his cousin in name.
Today she was wearing a red lantern like the one at the door of the palace. The smile on her face seemed very decent, but the voice in her heart was full of malice.
[These bastards are all dressed brighter than me. It seems that they need to be disciplined so that they know what the rules are.]
——Since he could hear other people's thoughts three years ago, Yuwen Lan has been used to all kinds of hypocrisy. He just said calmly, "I am not a lantern. How can I make the palace brighter?"
But he heard a chuckle. Another woman who came closer laughed, "Your Majesty is really humorous, but the noble concubine has always been the best at talking. Why did you make a mistake today?"
This is Ning Fei. As the niece of the eldest princess's husband's family, she was sent to the palace by the eldest princess. Yuwen Lan had met her several times before, so he still had an impression of her.
Of course, he could also hear that the woman was cursing Concubine Zhou in her heart, "Humph, you think you can outshine me by wearing red? Why don't you look in the mirror to see how ugly you are! To be honest, my Duobao Ruyi Feng Hairpin is the best. It's worth the two thousand taels of silver. Look, His Majesty is looking at me."
This was probably the first time the emperor looked at her since she entered the palace. Concubine Ning straightened her back and smiled to meet the gaze from above.
Unexpectedly, the emperor just glanced at her head and frowned, saying, "The thing on your head seems to be very expensive?"
Concubine Ning paused, but Concubine Zhou hurriedly said, "In my opinion, this hairpin of Concubine Ning must have cost at least three thousand taels of silver to make. But the harem has been tightening its budget to support the snow disaster in the capital, and I don't know where the money came from?"
Concubine Ning had to explain hurriedly, "Your Majesty, this, this is a gift from my aunt, the Princess, not from the Princess."
After saying this, she was still a little panicked, wondering if the emperor would pursue the Princess's Mansion again.
Fortunately, Yuwen Lan didn't say anything else.
Because in addition to the two women in front of him swearing at each other, various sounds continued to flood into his ears——
[Humph, these two stupid women are used to being arrogant, today they will have a taste of being humiliated]
[She managed to fit into this corset after not eating for three days. This Jinling Yunjin is really good. How can these rough and stupid village women catch the eye of Your Majesty? Your Majesty, look here!]
[What if these two idiots make Your Majesty angry and leave? I have practiced hard for three months and still haven’t had the chance to dance for Your Majesty! Idiots, idiots!]
...
The mind-reading technique has a distance limit, so Yuwen Lan can only hear the ones who are close to him, but even these few are noisy enough.
He drank a sip of tea in boredom, and sincerely felt that it would be better to go back to the palace and read some memorials instead of watching these women perform boring dramas. If the Queen Mother had not pressed him today, he would never have come.
At this time, Yan Shu, who was sitting at the back, was eating new gossip with the system.
[There is also gossip about the emperor? What is it?]
System, [The emperor is incapable of sex.]
Yan Shu, [...What?] System, [The emperor is incapable of
sex.]
Yan Shu, [??? Incapable of sex? Doesn't that mean it's not possible?]
System, [That's right.]
Yan Shu almost spit out a mouthful of hot tea, [Is this true? Are you kidding me? ! !]
System, [? Questioning the professional level of this system? Has this system ever joked?]
Yan Shu, [But how could such a thing happen? ? ? That's the king of a country! ! ! 】
System, 【Men always have all kinds of unspeakable secrets. Isn’t the king of a country also a man?】
Yan Shu, 【…】
That’s true. In the past two years, she has followed the system to eat melons, and she has seen all kinds of weird men in the world, such as transvestites, sleeve-cutting fetishists, violent maniacs, alcoholics, gamblers, etc., and there are a lot of them among the civil and military officials in the Manchu dynasty. In comparison, "impotence" is still considered good.
But wait...
this impotent person is the emperor!!! He is her nominal husband!
She was shocked again, 【Why are you telling me such an important thing now?】
System, 【This system has just received it.】
Yan Shu, 【Then why should I enter the palace? ? ? Am I going to be a widow for the rest of my life? ? ? 】
System,【You don't have much ambition to be a successful person anyway, so just live a widow's life. Life goes by quickly, it will pass away in the blink of an eye.】
Yan Shu,【……】
Is this human language? She finally managed to hold on to a healthy body, is it going to pass away in the blink of an eye?
System,【It's better to know than not to know. The matter is a foregone conclusion, you should take it easy.】
Yan Shu,【……】
After eating melons for so long, this is the first time to eat something related to herself, and it's so big, it's inevitable that she is a little caught off guard, at a
loss, and in a trance. So much so that she wanted to drink some tea but didn't hold it well, and the teacup fell to the ground with a crisp tinkling sound.
At this time, the empress dowager had not arrived, the banquet had not started yet, and the palace was still quiet. This sound inevitably attracted a lot of attention.
The women in front all looked sideways, and when they saw that she was dressed in an inconspicuous outfit, not even as eye-catching as the maids of Concubine Zhou, Concubine Li and others, they did not take it seriously and turned their heads back.
Only Zhang Cairen, who was sitting at the same table, whispered, "Sister Li is drunk before the banquet even starts? I'm afraid Your Majesty can't hear it."
Yan Shu was too lazy to pay attention to her.
Now she finally understood why the emperor never entered the harem. It was impossible to enter even if he wanted to!
At this moment, she only had a feeling of disillusionment with the world.
Instead of fighting to the death to pursue an impossible goal, it was more comfortable to give up early.
The maids serving the banquet changed new tea cups, and everything returned to normal. Yuwen Lan also withdrew his gaze from the seat of honor in the distance.
Compared to the women who were dressed like flowers and birds, lanterns, or even chicken feathers, he felt that the clumsy girl looked more comfortable.
But why did she break the cup? Was it to attract his attention?
Unfortunately, he was too far away and could not hear her thoughts.
After a while, a message was heard outside the palace, "The Queen Mother has arrived..."
Yuwen Lan stood up to greet her, and the concubines in the palace also hurriedly saluted. The palace echoed in unison, "Welcome the Queen Mother."
The mother and son met in the middle of the main hall. Yuwen Lan paused and said respectfully, "Welcome the Queen Mother."
Not to mention, this voice was rich and clear, which made the ears very comfortable. It was rare that the distance was close at this time. Yan Shu seized the opportunity to take a quick glance and finally saw the face clearly.
Hmm...
What dragon and phoenix figure, elegant and graceful, bright as a jade tree, shining and radiant...
All the words she had known for two lifetimes came out at this time and lingered in her mind.
The rumors were true, he was really a handsome man!
But what a pity!
Yan Shu sighed silently. It was such a beautiful thing but it couldn't be used. It was such a waste of God's gift! Yuwen Lan paused. "Beautiful but it couldn't be used "? "Waste of God's gift"? What does this mean?
He tried to find the source of this thought with his peripheral vision and found that it was the clumsy girl just now. Now that he was closer, he could see that she was indeed pretty and her face was not covered with thick makeup.
"
I 'm late. I must have made you wait anxiously?" The Queen Mother's laughter came to his ears. Yuwen Lan calmed down and said, "Thank you for your hard work, mother. Please take a seat." [Tsk, why would he be impotent? Was it congenital? Or was it caused by some trauma later?] Yuwen Lan paused again. This time he heard it clearly. The girl used the word "impotence". Yes, Yan Shu used it in that way. Because she was calling the system at that moment. ——It was fine if she was just eating other people's melons, but this time the big melon exploded next to her, and it even concerned her own destiny. Add to that the stunning appearance, how could she remain indifferent? She thought there might be a way around it, so she should find out the reason first. System, [The reason is unknown for the time being, but it should not be caused by congenital factors.] Well, it is not congenital impotence, which means there might still be a chance? Yan Shu's eyes lit up, and she did not notice at all that a murderous aura was surging not far away. Yes, the moment she heard those two words, the murderous intent had already surged into Yuwen Lan's heart. Except for himself, no one in the palace knew about this. How did this woman know? Then the next moment, she thought again, [Maybe you can try "Su Nu Zhen Jing" and "The Wonderful Book of Sex Techniques". If they really don't work, you can try "The Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth Intercourse, Joy and Joy"! 】 Yu Wenlan, "???" What does this mean? As the saying goes, even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen pigs run. Yan Shu has eaten so many dog-blood melons, and these precious books are easy to pick up. I still remember the melon of "General Xuanwei and the Young Widow" last time. The pure and lustful young widow used the "The Wonderful Book of Sex Techniques" to firmly take the macho general into her pomegranate skirt. Tsk, it's really lingering and touching. It still makes my heart surge when I think about it now. "Everyone, stand up. Today is a festival, so don't be too formal." The Queen Mother's voice interrupted the wonderful memories. Yan Shu hurriedly adjusted her expression and stood up with everyone to thank the emperor. Yuwen Lan concealed his shock and calmly led the Queen Mother to her seat. The banquet officially began, and the palace servants finally presented the dishes, such as lotus chicken slices, bird's nest stewed duck, assorted shark fins, grilled sheep's head, golden shrimp, crab with brewed roe, etc. For a while, all kinds of delicacies filled the table, making people dazzled. The best thing about Yan Shu is that she is open-minded. Since the matter has been settled, there is no point in arguing. She puts her mind on the food and eats seriously. Because the emperor never attended in the past, there were no New Year banquets in the palace, and it was not her turn to attend other banquets, so today she had a feast. The lotus chicken slices were smooth and tender, the bird's nest stewed duck was fresh and delicious, the assorted shark fins were better than gods, and the roasted sheep's head was simply amazing! Not to mention the crispness of the golden shrimp and the plumpness of the brewed crab... but the cold dishes and hot dishes were all amazing, and today was really worth the trip! Seeing that Concubine Zhou Guifei, Concubine Ning, and Concubine Duan in front of her were either competing to say good things to the empress dowager or toasting the emperor, Concubine Li and Wang Zhaoyi took the initiative to offer music and dance, vying with each other, making the atmosphere in the banquet very warm. Only she hid in the corner and ate and drank heartlessly. She didn't notice that the emperor, who was the focus of the whole scene, was paying attention to her. The author has something to say: Yan Shu: Stay calm, eat first as a sign of respect. A certain emperor: I am not as important as those dishes? Yan Shu: Who are you, brother? A certain emperor: ...