After exchanging marriage with my elder sister, I won with a bad hand.

Prime Minister Shen finally resigned from his post, left Kyoto alone, and never appeared again.

The abandoned Zhao Jianing was looking for Prime Minister Shen every day at the beginning. When she couldn't find him, she went crazy in the palace.

The first person to be affected was the Queen Mother.

At this moment, the Queen Mother had been living a secluded and simple life in her own small Buddhist temple for some time.

His mood was calmer than ever before. His hatred for the old emperor slowly subsided, and his love for Prime Minister Shen was deeply buried in his heart.

Seeing Zhao Jianing coming to her place and making a fuss all day long, she suddenly felt quite sympathetic towards her.

She lost her only daughter and her husband also despised her, leading to such a miserable end. Although it was all her own fault, it just proved the saying that there must be something hateful about a pitiful person.

She just ignored this kind of person and let her be. After Zhao Jianing had been performing a one-man show for a while, she found it boring and gradually stopped going to the palace.

Later, Shen Yihuan heard that after Zhao Jianing returned to the prime minister's residence, she actually built a small Buddhist temple in her own yard. She also followed the empress dowager's example and began to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures all day long.

It turns out that vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist scriptures can also be contagious?

Shen Yihuan just laughed it off.

Three years later, Zhao Xun's mourning period was over, and some people in the court began to suggest that the emperor should choose a concubine.

This day can't be avoided after all.

If Shen Yihuan said that he didn't feel sad when he heard the news, that would be a lie.

Fortunately, she had been prepared for this, and now most of her energy was focused on her two children. Moreover, as the mother of a country, this was a hurdle that she had to overcome. Zhao Xun had been very good to her and gave her three more years.

When Zhao Xun mentioned this matter to Shen Yihuan, he was still a little cautious, worried that she would lose her temper.

In the end, the other party accepted it calmly, which made him unhappy.

"Huan'er, I'm going to choose a concubine, aren't you jealous?"

"Jealous."

"Then why can't I see it." Zhao Xun came forward and said hesitantly, "Huan'er, are you tired of me? You can't wait to push me into the arms of another woman." Good guy, it was obviously him who wanted to find a woman, but it turned out that he seemed to have fallen out of favor.

Shen Yihuan suppressed the bitterness in her heart and said sensibly: "How could it be possible? How could I be willing to push my husband into the arms of another woman? However, you and I are not ordinary couples, we cannot be willful."

Zhao Xun looked at her deeply and sighed: "I would rather you and I were just an ordinary couple, so that we can be together all the time and never be apart."

"Brother Xun, we will never be separated. You and I were born together, and we will be buried together after death." Shen Yihuan said this and laughed, "Compared to this, the concubines in the harem are not as lucky as me. You are not the queen, so you cannot be buried with me."

"What nonsense are you talking about, you little girl? You pushed me out when I was born, and you want to push me out when I die?"

"Don't even think about it!" Zhao Xun said and then hugged Shen Yihuan tightly, as if he was afraid of losing her.

What was he thinking? After being married for so many years, how could Shen Yihuan not know?

Only in front of her would he reveal his unknown childish side. He was like a child asking for candy all day long, very clingy.

However, this is only the case when there are no other women involved. If another woman he likes appears, will his heart be diverted a little?

Yes, maybe not just a little bit, maybe all of it.

Thinking of this, she felt sad, and then she felt that she had become sentimental recently and was not at all like her free and easy self in the past.

Sure enough, what the master said was right. Love between men and women is the most unacceptable thing. It will become a cage, break the wings on your back, and you will never be free again.

......

A month later, a new concubine entered the palace. As the queen, she had to help her man choose a woman.

This is a rule that deserves death. I don't know which bastard made it. Did he get kicked in the head by a donkey?

Shen Yihuan cursed quietly for several times in his own palace, then went out with his guard of honor in a dignified manner.

Basically, the so-called talent show has actually already been decided, and it is just a formality.

Of course, if there are some that the emperor likes, he can keep them.

In order to show that he had no interest in other women and that he was completely forced, Zhao Xun did not go with them, but left the matter of selecting the concubine entirely to Shen Yihuan.

When Shen Yihuan heard this, he joked to him, "Aren't you afraid that she would pick some ugly ones for him?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as she said this, the other party was as happy as a big dog. He rushed forward to hug her and kissed her hard several times.

"This means that you have me in your heart. You don't want me to like other women. You feel a sense of crisis in your heart, so you choose the ugly one."

"How could I not be happy? I am so happy that I can't wait to be happy."

Shen Yihuan was silent. Would he really be like this?

In fact, she would not do that. She was more obsessed with looks than anyone else. You know, these concubines would come to pay their respects to her every day, and she didn't want to see ugly people every day to ruin her mood.

As for Zhao Xun, if he really fell in love with someone else, then it would mean that she had made a mistake in choosing him and had wasted her feelings for him.

Sadness is inevitable, but this kind of thing is inevitable, because the selection is held every three years. There will always be beautiful people entering the palace, and she can't do something like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

After thinking all this through, she no longer felt conflicted. When she arrived at the concubine selection hall, the Grand Empress Dowager had already arrived. As for the Empress Dowager, she had not been concerned with worldly affairs for a long time since she started to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures. She was as detached as an otherworldly sage.

There were a total of four candidates, namely the legitimate daughter of Marquis Guanjun, the second legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites, the younger sister of the Prime Minister, and the legitimate daughter of King Liu Cheng of a different surname.

These people are the forces that Zhao Xun needs to consolidate, so their daughters or sisters are destined to enter the harem.

The former dynasty and the harem have always been closely related, prospering together and suffering together.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, who had the greatest power in the previous dynasty was undoubtedly Shen Yihuan, the master behind the scenes.

The Anmen has been operating for many years, and has trained a large number of knowledgeable people in the schools under its jurisdiction. Before they passed the imperial examinations, they huddled together for warmth and formed an organization called the Hometown Association.

Afterwards, after they passed the imperial examinations and held important official positions, they supported each other and expressed gratitude to the big figures behind the school.

Invisibly, it has become a huge power. Shen Yihuan did not tell anyone about this. She did not intend to use this relationship casually. She wanted to keep it for future use.

Of course, these are just new forces now, and they are not strong enough to compete with the old officials in the court. But in the future, they should not be underestimated.

This was actually what Shen Yihuan left for her son. Hopefully, Xingguang could live up to her and his father's expectations and become a wise king.