An Lingrong's Rebirth: The Lock of Qingqiu

The next day was still the day for the whole palace to meet the queen. Concubine Hua took Songzhi into the palace unhurriedly, her expression much calmer. Cao Guiren stared closely at Princess Wen Yi in the Queen's arms, gritting his teeth secretly. Concubine Qi looked proud. Today, the emperor made an exception and allowed the concubines in the harem to bring their elder brother and princess with them. The third elder brother also came and sat on Concubine Qi's right side without saying a word.

"Mr. An Gui, I heard that you recommended a woman to the emperor and was imprisoned by the emperor. I am worried and asked specifically how you are doing?" The queen handed Princess Wen Yi in her hand to Jianqiu who was standing aside, with a burning gaze. He looked at An Lingrong.

An Lingrong pondered slightly and said: "Empress, I don't know what's going on. I have to boldly ask the emperor to know the situation."

Concubine Hua turned her eyes indifferently and said: "I heard that she is still a beauty who has attracted the attention of the whole country. It is a pity that I have not seen her yet, and she ended up like this. Mr. An was too negligent. If you want to recommend someone, you can ask the Queen next time. Or I can directly recommend it and let us give you a reference so that it doesn’t end up like this.”

Concubine Qi smiled teasingly: "Empress, the sun is rising in the west today! Concubine Hua went to the Taihang Mountains this time, and even her tone changed after returning to the palace."

As soon as Concubine Qi said this, she was obviously trying to pick on Concubine Hua. The timid concubines present were so frightened that they did not dare to speak out. Like Xia Ruchun, the bolder ones also sat quietly aside, not daring to interrupt.

No one expected that Concubine Hua actually smiled slightly, not angry at all, but with a faint air of coldness in her eyes, and said: "Hey, Concubine Qi, when you say this, the speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention! Don't Taught Third Brother bad!"

Concubine Qi's expression changed, her eyes flashed, and she sat down quietly without speaking.

An Lingrong stood up and said, "Thank you, Concubine Hua, for your advice."

Concubine Hua squinted her eyes and smiled slightly: "The queen must not know, this woman's name is Zhou Xinruo, the emperor rested in my palace's Yikun Palace last night, the emperor chatted with me until midnight before going to bed, and called me The palace went to investigate the origin of this woman. The name and address are all available, and I also checked. She is an innocent woman from a decent family, and was imprisoned by the emperor because of a poem."

The queen's face was not good-looking, but she could not get angry, so she suppressed her temper and asked: "The emperor has not seen Hua Concubine's sister for a long time. Last night, the emperor came to visit me specially, saying that he wanted to accompany Hua Concubine. Sister, to make up for it, I even said a lot of nice things to my sister in front of the emperor, asking the emperor to take good care of my sister Hua Fei. By the way, what kind of poem did Xinruo write this week?"

Concubine Hua calmed down and said seriously: "Queen, it's a poem about snow plum blossoms. I'd like to ask the nobleman about the specific poem."

An Lingrong read out the "sin" poem written by Zhou Xinruo:

"Where a sparse shadow slants horizontally, several trees stand proudly with flowers. There is no color in it, the ice heart and jade bones know each other."

The queen's hands were trembling slightly. The tea cup in her hand tilted and almost turned over if she couldn't hold it. She quickly straightened her hands and straightened the tea lid. The hot tea poured on the back of her hand. Her skin was red. Huichun came up quickly. He took the tea cup from the queen's hand, took a wet towel soaked in cold water, and wiped the queen's hands.

Concubine Jing looked at Concubine Qi. The two looked at each other, their faces changed slightly, and they lowered their heads secretly. An Lingrong was stunned for a moment and realized that the matter was a bit serious. At the same time, she also became very curious.

The air became quiet, and you could hear the drop of a needle. The queen did not speak, she just wiped her hands without saying a word, and then talked about trivial matters with the concubines.

An Lingrong was uneasy. Zhou Xinruo was still in prison. She wanted to find out what kind of poem this was.

When An Lingrong returned to Cuihe Hall, he brought the newly made thousand-layer pastry and gently knocked on the door of Cining Palace. Ji Xiang welcomed her in. Concubine Duan's body was much better and she could walk on the ground. , she is sorting the flowers and plants herself.

"Ms. Duan Fei, are your bones feeling better? I came to check on you and brought you some fresh pastries." An Lingrong said with a smile. She could see Concubine Duan walking steadily, and she felt in her heart The head feels happy.

Concubine Duan turned her head, her eyes warm and pleasant: "Hey, it's Mr. An Gui who is here. Jixiang, please give me a seat soon. I can smell the fragrance of thousand-layer cake. It's such a busy day, I can't help but want to find something to do. Have fun and pass the time.”

Concubine Duan patted the dust on her hands, took the basin handed over by Ji Xiang, washed her hands, picked up a piece of mille-feuille cake and smelled it, still praising her craftsmanship.

An Lingrong chatted with Concubine Duan without saying a word. As they chatted, they came up with Zhou Xinruo.

An Lingrong explained: "Empress Duan, this woman named Zhou Xinruo was not recommended to the palace by me. At that time, I was riding in a carriage with the emperor, Wan Guiren, and Hui Guiren, and Zhou Xinruo held up a sign to stop her. She got into a carriage and cried out that she was wronged. The emperor originally wanted to drive her to the government office, but he didn't expect that she refused to leave. When she was forcibly taken away, she even wrote a poem. It was that poem that asked the emperor to keep her and bring her in. In the palace.”

Concubine Duan asked suspiciously: "Oh, what kind of poem is that? I remember that it was crowded at the time, and the emperor's carriage was at the front. It was some distance away from us. The carriage stopped for a while, but we were Didn’t the people behind realize what happened?”

An Lingrong read out the poem written by Zhou Xinruo, but Concubine Duan couldn't eat half of the thousand-layer cake in her hand. Her expression changed slightly and she said: "Mr. An Gui, do you know what kind of poem this is?" ?”

An Lingrong blurted out: "Ms. Duan Fei, I know this is a poem about snow and plum blossoms."

"Where a sparse shadow slants horizontally, several trees stand proudly with flowers. There is no color in it, the ice heart and jade bones know each other."

Concubine Duan smiled slightly, stared at An Lingrong and said: "No, this is not only a poem about snow and plum blossoms, but also a love poem between the emperor and Queen Chunyuan. This is a poem written by the emperor about snow when he met Chunyuan for the first time. , plum poems to Queen Chunyuan, and Queen Chunyuan gave the Emperor a poem in return, which is the one you just read."

An Lingrong was stunned for a moment and said: "Mother Duan, no wonder when I mentioned this poem, the queen's heart was shaken and she almost broke the teacup with her wrists shaking."

An Lingrong asked: "Then what is the origin of Zhou Xinruo? Is she someone closely related to Queen Chunyuan? Why doesn't the emperor, for the sake of Queen Chunyuan, interrogate her first and then torture her! "

Concubine Duan said: "Why is there any need for interrogation? At that time, this poem was a private matter between the emperor and Chun Yuan. The queen is Chun Yuan's biological sister. It cannot be ruled out that Chun Yuan talked to the queen, and the other was the emperor. If this is the origin of Zhou Xinruo, who told me personally, who revealed the emperor's privacy, either the queen or me? An Guiren, who do you think it could be?"

An Lingrong suddenly understood and said: "I understand, the emperor probably knew it well. He knew that Zhou Xinruo was a cover. In short, nothing good would happen as long as she was here, so the emperor was afraid that she would use some tricks, so he Strike first to gain the upper hand.”

An Lingrong said dissatisfied: "Mother Duan, why did the emperor release the news to me first and put the person in our palace as soon as he entered the palace? Now there are rumors everywhere in the harem, saying that he was recommended by me."