"Princess, take care of yourself. Leave everything to me." After saying this, he turned and left. His figure was a thin line, looking somewhat indifferent and lonely under the moonlight.
When I returned to the bedroom, I heard a baby crying from afar. The wet nurse held Qing'er and tried to comfort her, but the child still cried loudly, his little face flushed red. Within two days, he lost both his parents one after another, and his mother was sent to death by his own aunt. If the child knew all this when he grew up, would he hate her?
Nalan Hongye leaned against the long window and thought alone. The moon was bright white like a jade plate, and its clear light poured down to the ground, making everything bright.
Aunt Yun brought Qing'er over and said with a careful smile, "Princess, the emperor is smiling."
Nalan Hongye took the child in her arms, and sure enough, she saw that he opened his black and white eyes, staring at her, with the corners of his mouth stretched out, smiling very happily. The sorrow in her heart slowly dissipated. She picked up the child, looked at his familiar eyes and eyebrows, and suddenly thought of her younger brother.
When he was alive, she would occasionally feel resentful, hating that God had given him a man's body but made him a fool who did not understand suffering and could not distinguish between things, and had ruined the century-old foundation of Huai Song. And I, who have great talent, am a woman. After years of hard planning, I am still branded as an abuser of power and a dictator. However, it was not until he passed away that she suddenly realized that they were one, and that they would suffer together and prosper together. Only with Hong Yu around can she stabilize Song Jiangshan and support the Nalan family.
Fortunately, fortunately there is Qing'er.
She lowered her head and looked at the young baby in the cradle, and her eyes felt sore. Fortunately, he still exists. Now, there are only two of them, aunt and nephew, left in the Nalan family.
"Princess, look how cute the little Saint is!"
Aunt Yun smiled and touched the emperor's little face. Qing'er seemed very happy. She waved her chubby little hands, giggled, and looked at Nalan Hongye with her dark eyes, as if she understood what she was thinking.
At this moment, there was a loud bang. Nalan and Aunt Yun were both startled and turned around at the same time. It was a palace maid who knocked over the teacup.
Aunt Yun said angrily: "Useless thing! You scared the emperor and the princess, you'll be dead!"
Nalan Hongye also frowned slightly and gently patted Qing'er's swaddling clothes, fearing that he would be frightened. However, he was still smiling and didn't seem afraid at all.
Aunt Yun smiled and said, "Princess, look at how brave the little emperor is. He will definitely be a wise and brave emperor when he grows up."
Nalan Hongye also smiled slightly, but before the smile reached her eyes, she was stunned and her face turned pale in an instant.
Aunt Yun saw this and asked in confusion, "Princess, what's wrong?"
Nalan Hongye's hands and feet were cold. She comforted herself over and over again in her heart, but she still quickly put the child into Aunt Yun's arms, then stood aside and clapped her hands hard.
Bang! A crisp sound rang in the child's ears, but the child was unaware of it. He stretched out his chubby little hands to grab the buttons on Aunt Yun's lapel.
Nalan Hongye was anxious, clapping her hands repeatedly, her eyes red, and she clapped her hands while shouting, "Qing'er! Qing'er! Look over here, your aunt is over here!"
However, the child did not turn his head after all. He yawned sleepily, then leaned his head into Aunt Yun's arms, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"Qing'er, don't sleep! Qing'er, auntie is here!"
"Princess!"
Aunt Yun was already in tears. She fell to her knees on the ground and cried bitterly, "Please stop screaming. Stop screaming."
Nalan Hongye was very excited. He grabbed Aunt Yun's shoulders and shouted angrily, "What's going on? What on earth is going on?"
Aunt Yun's face was covered with tears as she cried, "I noticed it when the child was first brought home. I sent for the imperial physician in the Queen's palace, and he told me the truth under torture. It turns out the Queen also knew about it a long time ago, but she kept it a secret because she was afraid that if she told the truth, the child would no longer be able to become the Crown Prince. We have been treating him for the past year, but this disease was acquired from the mother's womb and cannot be cured at all..."
For a moment, Nalan Hongye felt dizzy. Qing'er was deaf, Qing'er was deaf! This fact completely broke her down. The forbearance and grief she had endured for many days came rushing back like a huge flood. She felt a sweetness in her throat, and a stream of warm blood suddenly spurted out, all over her clothes!
"Princess! Princess!" Aunt Yun was shocked. She put the emperor down and came to help her.
Qing'er was suddenly put on the ground. She opened her eyes, looked around in confusion, and then started crying loudly. The maids all ran in, and the room was in chaos. Aunt Yun shouted, "Call the imperial physician! Call the imperial physician!"
Nalan Hongye was in a daze, with only one sentence echoing in his mind: Justice is clear, and retribution will come.
Yes, she killed Cui Wanru, but the queen also left her with a huge disaster.
If she had known earlier, she would not have worried about Hong Yu's unwillingness, nor would she have worried about whether the news would be exposed. She would have added more concubines to his harem and helped him have more children. But now, everything is too late, everything is too late.
Finally, her tears burst out, unable to be controlled any longer, and she cried out in sorrow, her lips red: "Father, Father, I deserve to die!"
When he woke up several times, there were people gathered around him, but Nalan Hongye kept his eyes closed. This was the first time in five years that she was so willful and wanted to just fall asleep and not care about anything else. The surroundings gradually became quiet, and a figure stood in front of her and did not leave for a long time.
When I opened my eyes, the moonlight had penetrated the carved window and sprinkled on the desk. The Buddhist music from the Taimiao followed the cold wind, passed through the tall and thick palace walls, and reached her ears, reminding her in this way what time it was and where she was.
"I have already kept the fact that the emperor is deaf a secret. No one else will know about it except the people in this palace." Xuan Mo said in a low voice as he stood in front of the bed. His voice was very pleasant, like the breeze blowing through a flute, low and soothing. The candlelight shone on his chiseled face, revealing a faint sharpness.
"Before the emperor comes of age and takes power, we still have at least a dozen years to try to plan. Although the emperor is deaf, as long as he gets married at the age of fifteen and has children, there is still hope for Huai Song. The princess is the pillar of the Song Dynasty. If the princess falls, the emperor will definitely be deposed. The royal family will wither, outsiders will take the opportunity to seize power, Huai Song will be divided, war will break out, the people will suffer, and the foundation laid by our ancestors will be destroyed in an instant. The princess has great ambitions, and she will never sit idly by and watch Huai Song fall and her foundation be destroyed."
Nalan Hongye raised her head and looked at the man who had grown up with her, and suddenly felt a little sad in her heart.
Yes, hadn't she thought of what he said? But what a difficult road this is!
"Xuan Mo, thank you very much."
She hadn't called him Xuan Mo for a long time. Xuan Mo was slightly stunned, and a trace of emotion flashed in his eyes, but he still replied respectfully and politely: "This is my humble servant's job."
Nalan Hongye sat up and coughed twice. Her face was as pale as paper. She smiled slightly, "You have matured a lot. You already have the demeanor of your uncle."
Prince An Ling is Xuan Mo's father. He used to be a general under Nalan Lie. Because he saved Nalan Lie's life in the battle of Southern Xinjiang, he was given the surname Nalan and included in the royal family tree.
Xuan Mo bowed and replied, "Thank you for the compliment, Princess."
"I heard that Yushu is pregnant, is it true?"
Xuan Mo's expression froze for a moment, his brows furrowed tightly, and after a while, he whispered, "Yes."
Nalan smiled and said, "Yushu is both virtuous and talented, you must treat her well."
Xuan Mo said in a rather stiff tone, without any joy or sadness: "I would also like to thank the princess for granting me the marriage."
The hall was empty, the Buddhist chanting was getting louder, and in between were the cries of ministers. They looked at each other, but suddenly didn't know what to say. Xuan Mo took out a letter from his bosom. The letter was intact and unopened. He handed it to Nalan Hongye and said, "There's a letter from Yan Bei."
A gleam of light suddenly flashed across Nalan Hongye's dead eyes, and he grabbed it almost impatiently. Xuan Mo's eyes froze slightly, his brows slightly furrowed, as if there was ice and snow that could not be melted. He quietly stepped back half a step and said softly, "I'll take my leave."
"Yeah." Nalan Hongye answered. Although she was smiling, her voice sounded a little careless.
The long lamp was dim and could only illuminate a thin shadow.
When Aunt Yun came in, Nalan Hongye had returned to normal. The imperial physician took the patient's pulse and after the patient drank the medicine, the palace maids all left. She sat at her desk, stroking the small letter over and over again. The sadness in her heart gradually rose, and she seemed afraid to open it. The candle flames crackled, and there was silence between heaven and earth. Incense was burning in the room, and the fragrance was lingering like a ball of blue cloud. My brother Xuan Mo, the war in Yanbei is over. I am safe and sound, please don't worry about me. This time, I am grateful to my brother for his hard work in raising food and military supplies, and using his country's military force to contain the Eastern Army of Daxia. However, the outcome of the Xia-Yan battle is now decided, and I am not completely sure of the outcome. Therefore, my dear brother, you must not be too protective of Yan Bei, in case someone in the court uses this as an excuse to attack you. The officialdom is dangerous, so please be careful, my dear brother. If your virtuous brother is implicated because of my mistake, even if I die a thousand times, it will not be enough to forgive my regret.
The day when the Great Xia army retreats is the day for your brother's wedding. If you can come, I will certainly welcome you with all my heart. You and I haven't seen each other for ten years, and I miss you very much. Tears finally fell drop by drop, dripping onto the pure white paper, and all the sorrow in my heart turned into these clear tears. She had endured for too long, suppressed her emotions for too long, and persisted for too long. What piled heavy on her heart was the tearful exhaustion and desolation. State affairs, family affairs, and now, his words that she had long understood, "The day when the Great Xia army retreats is the day for my brother's wedding." The scene in front of her gradually blurred. Outside the window, the wind and rain were howling, just like her state of mind, all white. She dipped a brush into thick ink, smiled bitterly and wrote:
"What a night it is today..."
When she wrote the last few strokes, her handwriting was already messy. She slumped over the desk, tears in her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
When Aunt Yun came in, she almost burst into tears. The princess had been in power for many years, but had never lost her composure like this before. After helping her to bed to rest, she returned to the desk and saw that the reply letter had been written. It was also sent to Prince Yanbei. Aunt Yun felt a little unhappy. Without even looking at the contents of the letter on the desk, she folded it, put it in an envelope, sealed it with wax, and handed it to the palace maid, saying, "Send it to Prince Xuan's mansion and have him send it out according to the old rules."
"As you command."
It was a cloudy and rainy night, and a black eagle took off from the Xuanwang Palace and flew quickly towards the northwest. Yan Xun received Nalan Hongye's letter the day before he left. Feng Zhi stood by and saw Yan Xun frowning and reading for a long time. Suddenly he burst into laughter and said, "I don't know whose girl's boudoir complaints he copied and sent to me without knowing why."