"Alright!" Gu Nanjiao was feeling uneasy and wanted to escape, and after hearing the Empress Dowager's words, she couldn't wait to leave.
To everyone's surprise, the Empress Dowager smiled and waved to the maids outside the palace.
The old woman entered with her hands at her sides and greeted the Empress Dowager.
"Is Mingzhu Palace ready?"
"Your Majesty, Mingzhu Palace has been prepared, and the princess can stay there tonight."
What?
Gu Nanjiao felt dizzy and was forced to stay in the palace.
The best location in the palace is Mingzhu Palace. It is said that the name Mingzhu was personally inscribed by His Majesty, meaning "a precious pearl in the palm of one's hand".
Although they knew that Gu Nanjiao probably wouldn't come back to live there in the future, the decorations were extremely exquisite. Expensive gold and silver jewelry and glass vases filled the entire palace, making it no less luxurious than her mother's Qixiang Palace.
Thinking of Consort Yue, no, now Consort Yue, I wonder how she is doing now?
Minister Zhou was dismissed and investigated, and the Zhou family mansion was on the verge of collapse. No one was protecting her anymore.
The concubine was like a clay bodhisattva crossing the river, barely able to save herself. There were people everywhere in the palace who fawned on the powerful and trampled on the weak. From the imperial concubine to the concubine, she was practically reduced to dust. There were countless people who wanted her dead.
Looking around at the magnificent Pearl Palace, Gu Nanjiao felt like a caged bird, and was not happy at all.
She misses Lu Yanzhao a little!
Suddenly, a sharp scream interrupted Gu Nanjiao's thoughts:
"Get out of the way! The Princess Protector is Her Majesty's daughter. Her Majesty wants to see her daughter. Are you going to stop her?"
“Granny Zhou, the Empress Dowager has decreed that Yue is not allowed to see anyone during her confinement, not even the princess.”
The head maid of Mingzhu Palace, sent by the Empress Dowager, was currently rebuking Granny Zhou with a stern expression.
Ignoring her, Granny Zhou shouted into the room, "Your Highness, Her Majesty is ill and wishes to see you. She has her reasons for what happened back then. If Your Highness doesn't come out, Her Majesty might become ill from longing and then go to His Majesty and say some nonsense..."
"Then let's go!" Gu Nanjiao came out of the palace, her smile bright and radiant.
With a wave of her hand, the head maid respectfully withdrew.
Approaching Granny Zhou slowly, Gu Nanjiao's lips curled into a cold smile. She lowered her voice and said, "Tell Zhou Qiyue, I'm not afraid. Even if my true identity is revealed, I'm innocent. His Majesty won't blame an innocent person; on the contrary, your mistress..."
Gu Nanjiao gave her a murderous look.
What did the innocent child do wrong! How could Gu Nanjiao, who wasn't even an embryo, know who Zhou Qiyue was with and what he was doing at the time?
Ultimately, it was Zhou Qi who deceived the emperor and corrupted the harem.
Granny Zhou stared wide-eyed in shock: "You...she's your own mother, and now she's living worse than a servant. Can't you go see her? She's your blood relative after all..."
"A blood relative who is determined to kill me?"
They killed her multiple times, even having her face disfigured. Is this something a blood relative would do?
Gu Nanjiao is not a saint and cannot forgive someone who is determined to kill her.
However, being in the eye of the storm, Gu Nanjiao suppressed her anger and said calmly, "If you don't want the Zhou family to be wiped out, and want her to keep quiet for a while, I will go see her when it's time."
After Granny Zhou left, Gu Nanjiao couldn't sleep. She dismissed the large group of people and walked alone on the palace path.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, I came to a stop in front of a desolate palace gate, with the three large characters "Nuanfang Pavilion" written on the plaque above the gate.
Listen closely, and you can hear laughter and playful banter coming from inside, sounding cheerful and carefree.
Every now and then, the sound of a pipa could be heard, and a woman hummed an unknown tune softly.
Looking around at the dilapidated, dirty, and overgrown environment, it looked just like a cold palace in a TV drama.
Warm Fragrance Pavilion? This place isn't warm at all. Gu Nanjiao shivered and was about to leave when suddenly the door was pushed open a crack.
"Who are you?"
A gentle female voice came from behind, and Gu Nanjiao raised her lantern to look.
The woman before me had a thin face and her dark hair was neatly combed. Although she wore coarse cloth clothes, they were clean and tidy. She looked to be around 30 years old. She wore no makeup, yet one could still vaguely tell that she was a beauty.
"We're having a party, would you like to join?" the woman asked again when Gu Nanjiao didn't speak.
After speaking, she looked at Gu Nanjiao with an expectant expression, her round almond-shaped eyes blinking occasionally. She didn't look 30 years old; she looked more like a child.
Thinking back to the earlier laughter and the sounds of the pipa, Gu Nanjiao had some doubts.
Isn't this the Cold Palace?
Driven by curiosity, Gu Nanjiao came to the door and peeked through the crack in the door. Sure enough, she saw that the inside was brightly lit and very lively.
Suddenly, the door shook a few times, and the woman actually crawled out from under the door, making a shushing gesture: "Shh, don't tell anyone the door is broken."
Gu Nanjiao...
The bonfire party inside the Cold Palace was proceeding smoothly.
The concubines in the cold palace were singing, playing musical instruments, and dancing.
Right in the middle, a beautiful woman was turning over the fish and meat skewers on the grill.
The woman was not old; although fine crow's feet appeared at the corners of her eyes, her face was dignified and beautiful, faintly revealing traces of her youth. Despite her age, she was not frail. A serene smile graced her face, incongruous with the desolate palace walls.
"Granny Zheng, where is Consort Yu?"
The woman looked up, her beautiful eyes searching around.
Granny Zhou draped a drab gray coat over the woman's shoulders: "Your Highness, it's late, be careful not to catch a cold. This servant will go and find Consort Yu right away."
"Go!" Empress Zheng adjusted her clothes to her face and continued fiddling with the grilled fish in her hands.
At this moment, Yu Meiren, holding Gu Nanjiao's hand, tiptoed over, occasionally gesturing for silence.
When Empress Zheng saw Gu Nanjiao dressed in a gorgeous red gown, she fixed her gaze on her face, narrowed her eyes, and asked, "Who are you?"
Gu Nanjiao pursed her lips, about to answer, when Yu Meiren rushed up behind Empress Zheng, blinking like a kitten seeking praise from its master: "I tricked Zhou Qiyue into coming here, wasn't that amazing?"
Empress Zheng patted Consort Yu's head and praised her, "Very capable!"
Upon receiving the praise, Yu Meiren was like a child who had just received candy, dancing with joy.
When she saw the stunned Gu Nanjiao, Yu Meiren put her hands on her hips, like an angry little lion: "How dare you, Zhou Qiyue, kneel down before the Empress!"
The musicians stopped playing and singing, and all around was silent.
Gu Nanjiao felt as if she were being pierced by angry eyes, and she quickly waved her hands to explain, "I'm not Zhou Qiyue, you've mistaken me for someone else."
God, she shouldn't have come in.
The dignified woman before us must be Empress Zheng, and the group of women playing music and singing must be the concubines in the Cold Palace.
Looking around, Gu Nanjiao was surprised to find that these concubines in the cold palace were not unkempt, but rather as content as ordinary women.
There are also barbecue grills, grilled fish, and grilled meat skewers. Even more strangely, the courtyard is also planted with vegetables on both sides.
Gu Nanjiao rubbed her eyes, somewhat unable to believe what she was seeing.
It's said that concubines banished to the cold palace ate worse than pigs and lived in dirtier conditions than dogs. Cold and spoiled rice was commonplace, and having no water to drink was the norm.
Why is everything before my eyes completely different from what I imagined?
When Gu Nanjiao saw Empress Zheng's smiling face and the way the other concubines in the palace looked up to her, she immediately understood.
Empress Zheng was no ordinary person.
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