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Chi Ying drove out of the palace late at night. As soon as he arrived at Sili, he said, "Your Majesty, we are almost there."

This is the place where Pei Zhicai took charge, close to Chang'an, in the south of Jingzhao County, and quite close to Shanglin Garden.

It was convenient for him to come see Yu Tingwan.

As for the Sanjin Mansion, it was once a small stronghold of the Dragon Slayer Guards. It was burned down by someone unknown at that time. Later, when it was rebuilt, partition walls were specially built to prevent water from leaking out.

Pei Zhi hugged the woman in his arms tightly, looked at the door after getting off the car, and said softly: "The Marquis of Pingyang should still remember this place."

Yu Xiuyun's expression remained unchanged. He naturally knew this place, but it was burned by Shen Jiyuan, so it had nothing to do with him.

After entering the main room, Pei Zhi looked around, let everyone else go out, and then sat on the edge of the couch and looked at the closed eyes of the woman in his arms.

He stretched out his hand to take off the complicated jewelry, leaving only the string of southern red Buddhist beads, and spread out the awkward bun. After hesitating for a moment, he thought of Yu Tingwan Aijie, and slowly touched the belt with his fingers, and took it off with great skill. After taking off her outer clothes, he placed her on the couch.

It was getting late, so he lowered his head and kissed the man on the couch on the lips, without even looking back when he left.

He was afraid that he would regret sending her out of the palace again.

Chi Ying was waiting for him in the yard. Seeing that his expression was gloomy, he didn't dare to make a sound all the way until he approached the city gate and asked, "Your Majesty, are you going back to the Xuanshi Palace tonight?"

After a long while, no one responded. Chi Ying asked again, and finally a hoarse voice came from inside.

"Stop on the palace road next to Jiaofang Hall."

The man in the carriage was leaning against the wall of the carriage. His lips were pale, but his cheeks were abnormally red. He looked as if he had been burned by fire. His hair crown was already crooked, his eyes were closed and his eyebrows were furrowed.

When the first ray of light entered the car, his fingertips finally moved, he raised his hand to straighten his hair crown, and walked into Jiaofang Hall.

In the morning, all the ministers looked at each other in confusion. Didn't His Majesty say that he would only stay away from court for three days?

When the chamberlain came to send a message that His Majesty was still feeling unwell today and could not go to court, Li Wei finally couldn't bear it any longer and asked for an audience in front of the Xuanshi Hall after going to court.

Standing under the scorching sun, Li Wei saw someone kneeling next to him. It was actually the King of Jiangdu. He was surprised for a moment and stepped forward and asked: "Your Highness has not gone to court for several days, why are you kneeling here?"

"Please forgive me."

Pei Jing lowered his head. Since the death of his wife, he had been kneeling in the palace until dusk.

At first he took off his shirt, but the emperor's brother asked him not to be embarrassed in the palace or to be an eyesore, so he put on his clothes and knelt.

It's been several days, but the emperor still hasn't seen him.

Li Wei didn't know what mistake King Jiangdu had made, and was about to ask when he saw the chamberlain beside His Majesty come out and said with a smile: "Master Li, please go in."

The chamberlain turned to King Jiangdu and whispered: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has asked you to either go back to your home to recuperate, or to finish your errands. There is no need to spend any effort kneeling here."

Pei Jing finally nodded, and the two chamberlains held him up.

When Li Wei entered the palace, he couldn't help but look back at King Jiangdu. Who doesn't know that His Majesty has always been tolerant to this third brother? If you think about it carefully, everything that went wrong started on the night of April 20th. What happened that day?

"I have met your Majesty." After Li Wei saluted, he couldn't wait to ask: "When will your Majesty go to court?"

Li Wei was perhaps the most enthusiastic person in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty who was interested in official affairs. He asked to see him for several days, but the chamberlains all said that His Majesty was in the harem. Li Wei thought that after His Majesty ascended the throne, he began to indulge in gentleness and no longer be diligent in state affairs.

But now, when he saw the man in a black dragon robe, his face was pale and his lips were only faintly red, his heart skipped a beat, maybe he was really feeling unwell.

"Tomorrow." Pei Zhi finally spoke up and waved his hand for Li Wei to go back. After sitting back at the imperial desk, he looked at the mountain of memorials and ordered: "Move these to Jiaofang Hall."

Those scraps were piled on the table where Yu Tingwan usually painted. The servants who served the emperor were all waiting outside. Thinking of the cold jade coffin in the inner hall, the hair on the head stood up.

After nightfall, the curtains were lowered, and Pei Zhi was lying on the couch, his face covered with a gauze pajamas. The scent of lotus incense and ten thousand flower dew swirled around him, and a lotus sachet was squeezed out of shape in his palm. .

For half a month, six palace attendants in Jiaofang Palace were frightened and fainted.

People around Weiyang Palace don't know, but people in Jiaofang Palace can be sure that the queen has run out of breath a long time ago. Now she is hidden in the cold jade coffin. Her Majesty does not know what to do in the inner palace every night. The sound of a man's breathing can often be heard in the middle of the night. .

The most frightening thing is that the corpse can be temporarily protected from decay when placed in the cold jade coffin, but it is not guaranteed if it is outside the cold jade coffin, such as on the couch.

And His Majesty ordered a large amount of ice cubes to be brought in every night. The inner hall was not only cool, it could even be said to be a bit cold.

In the darkness, the palace attendant who brought the ice cubes could only catch a glimpse of the bed curtains hanging down and could not see clearly what was happening on the couch. One time, the palace attendants who were keeping watch at night heard groans and wanted to light the lamps in the inner hall. His Majesty was furious and strictly prohibited anyone from doing so. Stay close to the bed at night, otherwise you will be killed with a stick.

In addition, His Majesty had to take a bath every morning before going to court. When the palace staff were cleaning the inner hall, they would catch a glimpse of the torn cloth on the couch, and they could vaguely recognize it as the clothes worn by the Queen.

There was a lot of moisture on the couch. The maid of Jiaofang Palace didn't know anything about it, so she couldn't tell what it was. At first glance, she thought it was sweat, but when she thought about how cold it was in the palace, how could anyone feel hot at night? After thinking about it, she thought it might be something else. .

Either way, these palace people are frightened, especially some young palace ladies. When they hear the movement in the inner palace at night, they dare not move.

One time Ruyi heard two little palace maids wiping away their tears and saying, "How could your Majesty do such a thing?"

"Is this what you are saying about the emperor?" Ruyi's voice was cold, "Luckily, I heard it today. If Da Changqiu finds out, your lives will not be saved."

The night His Majesty carried the Queen and left, Ruyi pushed everyone else away. She watched His Majesty send the Queen away with her own eyes, so naturally she would not doubt what happened during the night.

After the two little palace ladies left, Ruyi let out a long sigh and continued to deal with Ye Tingling.

Since Yu Tingwan was away, the female officials and eunuchs in the palace had no choice but to turn to Ruyi. This was the seventh time today that someone asked: "Feng Changyu, why don't you see the empress?"

Even people from Tianlu Pavilion asked: "Feng Changyu, why haven't you helped the Queen get books recently?"

For more than half a month, the tone of these inquiries ranged from casual to meaningful, as if they were trying to find some clues from Ruyi's reactions to support their inner speculations.

Rumors and panic are the most difficult things to stop. The news of the Queen's death finally spread outside the palace.

Perhaps it was because the emperor's attitude of disregarding ethics when he married his wife was too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Most of the courtiers felt that imitating the old deeds of Emperor Jing and keeping the queen secret without mourning was something that the emperor could do today.

The rumors spread faster and faster, and even important officials like Li Wei and Yuan Qi, who had always stayed out of the harem affairs, could not sit still and wrote a letter requesting the queen to appear at the palace banquet to set the record straight.

Pei Zhi only said that the queen was unwell and would have to go to the imperial temple to rest in a few days, so it would be inconvenient to appear in front of others.

However, a few days later, on the palace road at night, a palace official saw a cold jade coffin being sent out of the Jiaofang Palace.

Some of the female members of the clan went to the imperial temple to offer incense and heard the chanting of the "Rebirth Mantra" being recited day and night in the courtyard where the queen was resting.

There are a lot of rumors in Chang'an, and everything is said privately.

It was said that the Queen had passed away, but His Majesty was too grieved and refused to admit it.

It is also said that His Majesty leads the world and controls millions of people. He is a real emperor who came out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. How could he act mysteriously and conceal the world because of a woman? Therefore, the Queen is indeed ill.

As for the "Rebirth Mantra", some people speculated: "The Yu family has always had difficulties in producing heirs. The queen looks fragile. Maybe she was injured due to miscarriage. The "Rebirth Mantra" was recited to the prince."

Others say that the emperor and the empress are disloyal, and His Majesty is sending the empress out of the palace in preparation for deposing the empress.

However, considering that Marquis Pingyang was recently promoted to Shangshu Pushe, and added 500 food households, not many people believed the third conjecture.

When Yu Xiuyun first heard these rumors, he was so angry that he issued three memorials to impeach the minister who spread the rumors, but it did not help.

The Queen is the mother of a country. Nowadays, even her life and death are very unclear. Not to mention that there are a lot of discussions in the court, and even the people in the market are speculating privately.

At this juncture, Pei Zhi suddenly asked Chen Du to find an alchemist to enter the palace, which made people doubt whether the emperor wanted to use magic to summon spirits.

The Marquis of Pingyang couldn't bear it any longer and went to the palace to ask for an audience with His Majesty. He said to the pale and cold-looking man, "Is this your Majesty's idea? Pretending to be a ghost has caused rumors to spread."

"Isn't this good?" Pei Zhi took a sip of hot tea. He used too many ice cubes last night and was still a little chilly. "If you do this, you can come back anytime you want."

"She will come back tomorrow. I can say that the queen is resting and resting. If she never comes back, they will think that I am too grieved and delirious."

Yu Xiuyun's eyelids twitched, "When the world is finally settled, aren't you afraid that some people will think your Majesty is crazy and have other thoughts?"

"When have I ever delayed political affairs and had other thoughts? Aren't they the people around Pei Su?"