Pick all the cold branches

When Yu Qing led a team of imperial guards and two imperial physicians to Kunning Palace, the main hall of Kunning Palace was still in order.

Imperial concubine Cui and Concubine Zhao were sitting on a couch, touching their heads and whispering softly, not knowing what to say.

Sitting on the soft stool beside His Royal Highness King Rong's side concubine Xiao Shi, there was a vague smile on her bright and pretty face, and she nodded in response from time to time.

The other wives of the imperial family were also present, not daring to talk about it, and kept whispering in twos and threes, waiting for the news to come.

Except for Empress Dowager Zheng and Concubine Wan.

Ever since Empress Dowager Zheng returned to the palace and separated from Concubine Wan, the courteous etiquette of court wives inevitably became subtle.One is the Empress Dowager who is on the record, and the other is the mother-in-law of His Royal Highness King Rong, who is the adoptive mother of today's son. It is embarrassing for anyone offended or wronged.As a result, many things that should have been presided over by the queen mother were all pushed to Cui Ying, the unique imperial concubine. The queen mother and the concubine lived in their own palaces, and the king could not see the king at leisure.

Cui Ying didn't care.Being a dignified and capable woman who can "be in the Lord" is something she has been taught repeatedly since birth, and it has been deeply rooted in her bones. Even if she has no hobbies, she is still good at it.

She was just tired of these things taking up the rare time she had with her son.

Not far away, two maids and Fu Mu hugged the young Crown Prince and were sitting on a soft seat separated from the crowd.

His Royal Highness is fully dressed, and he has already seen the appearance of a young boy for the first time. Although his body is still young, his features are very calm.He was not noisy, quietly flipping through his books surrounded by a group of wives and family members, and occasionally stretched out his hands to warm up on the stove.

Although Cui Yingren was talking to Brother Su, he couldn't help but look at the place where his son was, to make sure that he was still sitting there.

Strange to say, the crown prince's facial features are very similar to his father Jiafei, but his temperament is much more docile and easy-going than Jiafei's when he was young. He doesn't like riding and archery, and he always likes to hold a book Find a clean place to browse slowly and enjoy yourself.Probably because it is so well protected.Or maybe it's because he's really young.The three years he was forced to escape from the capital and stay at the border did not leave him too many traces of grinding.He is still like a piece of jade in the rough, with a soft luster.

The palace people flattered Cui Ying with flattering words, and they loved to compliment Cui Ying: His Royal Highness is like a mother, and in the future he must be a gentle monarch who will protect the world.

But Cui Ying always had a subtle feeling.

She felt that the prince was more like Zhen Xian than her mother.

Ever since she insisted on asking the prince to teach Zhen Xian as a teacher, and later Zhen Xian became the teacher of His Highness the Prince, personally teaching the Prince his homework every day, the existence of Zhen Xian has become an inseparable part of His Royal Highness's life. .

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has always liked Zhen Xian very much. Whenever he mentioned Mr. Zhen, his eyes were full of light, full of admiration.Mr. Zhen is well-informed, literary, intelligent, upright and elegant, and the books he has read are as high as mountains... All kinds of beauty, no matter how much he praises, he never gets tired of it.In comparison, her biological mother was much inferior.

She is also a woman from a powerful family and has read many books, but the books that Zhen Xian took the prince to read covered far more than what she could get in touch with.At first, she could still ask the prince what the master taught today, but soon, she couldn't keep up.When the prince came to visit his mother every morning and evening, he would say things that she had never heard before, and occasionally, she couldn't even fully understand, so she could only listen in a daze and keep smiling.

The son who had been painstakingly conceived for ten months, gradually became farther and farther away from her, as if it was enough to have a father and Mr. Zhen in this world, but her mother became a dispensable stranger

Cui Ying felt that she was ridiculous.

I thought that I had awakened a long time ago and thought everything clearly, but in the end, I still had such subtle thoughts.Isn't it mediocrity to make oneself cocooned.

She always thought that she was a woman with no ambitions and desires, but she was not.She is not satisfied as long as she can live well.

But even if she is not satisfied, so what?

Could she still ask the emperor for so-called "love"?

She married a man who was destined not to give her a little love.From the first time she saw Jing Wang Jiafei back then, she could smell the danger.This man is the most incredible person in the world. He is born noble, gentle and cruel. One day he will ascend to the throne of God.She knew it then.So she immediately boarded the boat without hesitation, like a drowning person trying to survive.She also has no choice.

The emperor's favor is nothing more than a flower in the mirror of water and moon, a blindly vain love potion, a fragile dream.

She thought she knew enough already.

But when she saw with her own eyes, that man's gentle and affectionate appearance, crazy and desperate for one person, she suddenly realized.

The so-called "emperor has no love" is not entirely true.

It's not that he can't love, it's just that he can't love her.

If Zhen Xian was a woman like her, Cui Ying would be able to see her completely, and there would be no place for her at His Majesty's side.And she could be His Majesty's woman, his pawn, his ally, or even the mother of his son, but she could never be his lover.

But she is indeed one of the most honorable women in the world today.No worries about food and clothing every day, surrounded by people in front of and behind him, it is extravagant and grand.Compared with folk women who have to work from dawn to dusk to manage their household, she is already much luckier.

But what does she really have?

Everything about her is a gift from that man.

Except her son.

No, including her son.

And if one day, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince really leaves her completely...

In fact, it has nothing to do with Zhen Xian.Lord Zhen did not treat her badly.Even without Zhen Xian, her situation would not be better.

All the things she was trapped in, all the things that fettered her, were all because she was born as a woman.

It's just that there are too few things in this world that are willing to give women.

Cui Ying couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and couldn't help but look at her only precious son, her life.

That look made Brother Su beside him raise his eyebrows uncontrollably.

Brother Su thought that she could probably guess what Cui Ying was thinking.

Although she may not agree with it, she has no interest in interfering with harsh criticism.

She just felt that Cui Ying was often too negative.

In the eyes of Su Gebala, Cui Ying is a typical Han woman, strong, tolerant, submissive, men and sons are her sky, no matter how wide the earth is, she always has to hold the sky.

But Suge Bala is absolutely unwilling to accept this set.Although it has been so many years since she married in the Central Plains in the blink of an eye, Su Ge Bala still maintains the aggressiveness of the grassland princess back then, thinking that all the rules in this world that would make her uncomfortable are meant to be broken.Cui Ying's gentleness, virtuousness, generosity and decentness always made her feel like a needle prick in her heart, especially in the past few years after returning to the capital from Yingzhou, it even intensified.In contrast, it was Xiao Hengwu who showed his sharp claws from time to time, which gradually made her feel a lot of joy.

During the three years in Yingzhou, she and Cui Ying were almost like sisters with different surnames, but since returning to the capital, Cui Ying never once took the initiative to mention what happened in those three years to her.

Brother Su always vaguely felt that Cui Ying was actually sad.When she was hiding in the northern border with her youngest son, the man who was supposed to protect her and the child was far away in the south of the Yangtze River, with another person... It would be hard for any woman to be calm about such a thing. accept.

Although Brother Su also knew that with the situation at that time, it was not easy for Prince Jing's mansion to allocate half of the royal guards to Cui Ying and the prince.But she was still a little angry.

She still can't like the man who has become the emperor of the Holy Dynasty.

Perhaps it was because he and her brother had always been rivals.

Maybe it was because he felt that he owed Cui Ying, who was like her sister.

Maybe it's because of all the awkward wrestling between him and Shichiro.

Maybe... because of Big Brother Zhen.

Brother Su Bala couldn't tell.

It was more like an intuition, which had never disappeared over the years, and would pop up from time to time to prick her nerves.

She knew why Big Brother Zhen insisted on coming back.

She just felt that it was difficult for her to see whether this choice was right or wrong.

Brother Su rubbed his face in distress, couldn't help sighing, and comforted Cui Ying: "Sister, don't worry, Your Highness is smart and sensible, don't worry about it so much. When my brother was as old as His Highness, I have to ask my sister-in-law to hang it on my body."

She exaggerated, and the maids serving at the side burst out laughing when they heard it.

Cui Ying followed suit with a melancholy laugh, and said wearily: "Your Highness is blessed by the ancestors, the grace of the Holy One, and the teachers who taught them carefully. I have no credit for it."

The pupils of Xiao Hengwu's eyes flashed, and he immediately continued with a clever smile: "My lady, what are you talking about. Mother and child are connected. Your mother is the biological mother of His Royal Highness, and the kindness of life is always thicker than water."

Cui Yingwen's expression was slightly relieved, thinking that the two women in front of her didn't have any children yet, so the Xiao family was fine. Although Su Ge'er and His Royal Highness Zhao were married for the country, they were happy and happy, and it was too late. It's been a while since there's been any movement, so how can she at least have a son, and her son is the current East Palace... Thinking about it this way, the stagnant depression in her heart suddenly eased a lot.Cui Ying exhaled heavily, looked up at Brother Su Baba and Xiao Hengwu, smiled and stretched out her onion-like fingertips, tapped each of their fair foreheads, and said angrily: " When will you become mothers too, come and tell me these things."

The three whispered a few more words, and suddenly heard a rush of footsteps outside the hall.

Cui Ying's face suddenly turned pale, and before she had time to ask a question, she saw Yuqing in full attire coming up to the hall with a sword in her arms.