female concubine

The old residence of the late Duanming Palace scholar has been abandoned for more than ten years, but the East Palace will send people to clean it every once in a while. envoy.

The female envoys were cleaning the courtyard and saw the white Bana flowers blooming in the courtyard. They thought it was unlucky and wanted to reach out to pull them out.

"Don't pull it out."

The female envoy subconsciously withdrew her hand and leaned towards her, "Princess Chu."

"The rhizome of this flower is highly poisonous."

There was a woman standing beside Concubine Chu who said, "You all step back."

"Yes."

Xiao Youqing looked at her, "Why did Your Highness call Youqing over today..."

"I'm no longer the princess. From now on, you can call me sister like Liu Lang, or call me by my real name."

Even though she was still a crown princess before, the records of Concubine Donggong in the Xianyuan genealogy only have a simple background and the word Li.

Seeing that Xiao Youqing was silent, she lowered her head and smiled lightly, saying: "Since my mother left, my name has not been known yet. I have been called Your Highness for more than ten years."

"Your Highness's name, the prince should know." Xiao Youqing asked.

She nodded, then raised her head and said, "My father's surname is Li, and my mother named me Shu."

"Li Shu..." Xiao Youqing stared blankly at her. The Crown Princess was born in a scholarly family surnamed Li, "My sister now lives only a wall away from the Chu Palace. Youqing will come here often in the future and will not break her promise again." gone."

Li Shu looked at Xiao Youqing gently, "Doctor Sun, should I have told you everything?"

Xiao Youqing nodded in reply, "En."

"I've never begged anyone, this time," Li Shu said softly, and immediately knelt down to Xiao Youqing, "I beg you as a mother."

Xiao Youqing hurriedly helped him up, "Sister, why do you do this, if you can help you, how dare you refuse?"

"Although I was abolished, I came out of the East Palace after all. If this child has been with me, one can imagine the situation in the future." Li Shu's eyes were full of tears, "I know that the Xiao family has old grievances with the East Palace. But the youngest son is innocent. It may be selfish to do so, and it will cause trouble for you and him. I also know that you will have children of your own in the future, so I don’t ask this child to be a king in the future. A shelter for him, let him live his life safely and happily."

"The mistakes made by adults should not be borne by children, but how can Xiaoqing help you?"

Li Shu looked up at her, "I know, he came back for the cold food festival, right?"

"How did sister know?"

"Your birthday, based on his temperament, and the imperial banquet of the Ouchi Cold Food Festival, you said that you are not feeling well, so I guessed it."

Xiao Youqing lowered her eyes, and let go of the hand supporting Li Shu, "Sister, you want to..." She turned around, full of hesitation and scruples, "He is a magistrate appointed by the emperor, and he is still a vassal in name. Wang, how can such a big living person come back and hide it, but without evidence, there is no way for people to point out anything, but if I promise my sister, the crime of returning to Beijing without permission will be fulfilled?"

Xiao Youqing lowered her hands and looked up at the direction of the west courtyard, "But I think, if it's my sister's request, even if she risked her life, she would agree to it!"

---------

In the Han residence on the other side of the Chu Palace, Zhao Wang was venting his anger on the persimmon tree with a sad face.

"On the day when Dali Temple was convicted and imprisoned, someone saw Princess Chu go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice. That old fellow did not hesitate to risk the lives of the whole family to drag the master and the fourth uncle into the water, just for the life of the whole family for the sake of the prince who did not live up to expectations... It is really cruel. Ah, I didn't expect that the prince would be placed in a position by Chu Palace before he was deposed!"

"Fortune and misfortune depend on each other. The Cui family is a prominent family in our dynasty. Now the whole family has been wiped out, and the rest of the party has also been wiped out. The prince has really become a lonely family."

"But I only have my uncle left. King Chu, everything is still there. The Xiao family and the Jiang family are all fine now."

"Didn't the three kings still have a champion? He will deal with your majesty and the king of Chu for you."

"This man, if this king loses power, he might really go to seek refuge with the king of Chu." After saying that, King Zhao's eyes were full of disdain.

"So the Three Kings can't let themselves lose power."

King Zhao turned his head, "What do you mean, sir?"

Han Bang opened his bow and pointed at the grass handle in the courtyard, "Before I came down from office, I saw the imperial physician Sun asking for the pulse of the princesses. After coming out of the East Palace, he didn't go to the nearby Prince Zhao's Mansion, but went to the Prince Chu's Mansion in the distance. "

"Sir, do you mean that Doctor Sun is suspicious?"

With the sound of an arrow, the arrowhead was firmly nailed to the bull's-eye, "My lord, it's just speculation."

King Zhao lowered his head and smiled, "Is there any time when Mr.'s speculation was wrong?"

"Didn't the three kings say that the king of Chu returned to the capital privately during the Cold Food Festival, but his actions were too secretive and there was no evidence? I thought, since the three kings knew about it, how could His Majesty, who owns the investigation department, not know about it? "

"The Duke of Chu's mansion is acting strangely. When the officials talked with Tai-doctor Sun, he felt that he seemed to be deliberately covering up something. Therefore, he speculated that there must be something hidden in his heart that he dared not tell others. Maybe the three kings would ask in person, and there would be surprises. Surprise."

----------

Qishan County.

Little Six went in and closed the door of the study tightly, "Ah Lang, news from Tokyo City."

The king of Chu opened it, but found that it was a string of long-lived strands woven with five-color ropes, and the color in the middle changed to reveal the four characters, "Fortune is like the East China Sea."

The king of Chu glanced at the inkstone, and the little six stepped forward to grind the ink, "Fortunately, the Kaifeng mansion was in time. I didn't expect that the prefect of Fengxiang was also the minion of the East Palace. A Lang was almost about to reveal his identity."

The king of Chu dipped his pen into the ink, and raised his head hesitantly while writing, "Okay, you go out first."

"Yes."

--------

a few days later.

"Girl, a letter from my uncle."

Xiao Youqing took the letter paper from the female envoy's hand, and opened it carefully, only to find that there was only a blank birth certificate inside, which was clean without any ink on it.

"Here, several of the people and horses at the post station ran away and died. Why did my uncle send a blank paper back?"

Xiao Youqing held the white paper down and rested her hands on her lap, and said lightly: "She must know something, and she wants to use this method to tell me how to deal with it."

Xiao Youqing murmured: "Sure enough, she still has eyeliner in the capital, and Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess is in her heart..."

"Why is the girl talking about Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess again?" The envoy looked towards the right side of the palace, "But now, we can only call her the county lord."

In the middle of Jixia in the ninth year of Jianping, Zhou Shinan was appointed as a senior scholar of Duanmingdian and Tong Zhongshumen under Zhixia, and Lv Wei, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, was appointed as the official governor. Enshrine Liang Wenfu as a Hanlin bachelor.

"The concubine has been depressed because of the child until now. If things go on like this, it will cause great harm to her body. For the time being, I will prescribe some medicines for recuperating her body."

Zhao Wangduan sat on the chair, said with a slight smile, "It's hard work for Doctor Sun to make this trip." He stretched out his hand to screen away all the servants in the room, and stared at the Hanlin medical officer with ulterior motives.

"As a medical envoy of the Imperial Academy, it is the duty of a minister to serve the royal family, and I dare not talk about hard work."

"Really?" Zhao Wang got up, walked to Sun Hongda's side, immediately put his hand on his shoulder, leaned closer and asked in a low voice: "I just don't know who you serve, Sun Hongda?"

Sun Hongda raised his head, then immediately knelt down and said, "As a minister, you should obey your orders."

"Weng Weng, the king's first wife, and the founding uncle of Shanyin are also from Shanyin. Doesn't Imperial Physician Sun have anything to do with the King of Chu?"

Sun Hongda raised his eyebrows and said, "Why did the three kings say that?"

"Physician Sun frequents Chu Palace, is it really just to ask for pulse?"

"Invite once every two months. This is what the doctor Yang ordered the officials to do when the king of Chu was still the king of the county."

"Isn't Imperial Physician Sun still willing to tell the truth?"

Sun Hongda remained silent, and Zhao Wang turned his attitude coldly, "One emperor and one courtier, Imperial Physician Sun should understand what this king means, right?"

Sun Hongda kowtowed and said: "Yes... Princess Chu has something to do, and she took down the safety of the officials and clansmen and threatened the officials to help her conceal it."

"Sure enough, there is something tricky!" Zhao Wang asked with a sullen face, "What's the matter?"

"This…"

"Could it be that the palace secretary in the hands of my uncle Wang is not enough to protect the safety of Sun Taiyi's family?"

Sun Hongda straightened up, "Concubine Chu has been pregnant for more than three months, and I went to Chu Palace because of the special first three months. I know that King Chu has been sent to the place by His Majesty for nearly a year..."

"Enough." Zhao Wang interrupted him angrily, turned around and raised his eyebrows, "Does anyone else know about this?"

Sun Hongda shook his head, "Except for Xiaguan and Princess Chu, even her envoy doesn't know about it."

Zhao Wang turned his head, "Physician Sun go back first, don't tell anyone about this matter, and relax, this king will protect your people."

"Thank you, Lord."

After Sun Hongda left, King Zhao sat back on his seat and slammed his fists on the table with a displeased face.

"Is your lord unhappy because Princess Chu is pregnant?" The attendant walked out from behind the screen, thinking about the conversation just now, "According to the time, King Chu came back from the Cold Food Festival, exactly three months. If it is confirmed, the king of Chu returned privately Beijing cannot escape the crime, whether it is a magistrate or a vassal, returning to the capital without a summons is tantamount to conspiracy."

"She is pregnant with Wei Huan's child..."

"This..." The attendant stared blankly at the master, "Princess Chu is the first wife of King Chu, the matter of the child..."

"Shut up!" Zhao Wang said angrily, and then he took a deep breath, gnashed his teeth and said, "If Chu Wang refuses to plead guilty, then this child will not be able to tell clearly. I want to see how they will deal with this matter." Difficult business."

Zhao Wangyin ordered with a cold face: "What should I do, don't I need to tell you?"

The attendant cupped his hands, "This subordinate understands that it is only the relatives of Sun Taiji who need to send someone to protect them?"

"Who cares about his life!"

"Yes."

------------

A few days later, rumors that Princess Chu was pregnant spread in the palace. The people outside the palace did not know about King Chu's departure from the capital, but only some important officials of the court knew about it.

There was a major exchange of blood between the court and the Central Committee, and now he had to personally handle the affairs that were originally handled by the prime minister, and there were mountains of memorials on the table in the hall.

"Both the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council have been replaced. Only the King of Chu and Han Qing are the only ones who have benefited from the setbacks of King Zhao and the East Palace." Remember this daily life, don't you wonder why I am?"

"The emperor acts according to the emperor's own intentions, and as a courtier, he only needs to obey the holy will."

"I just can't think of an official suitable for you for a while. The Imperial Academy is a bunch of rotten scholars. I don't like it." The emperor thought for a while, "Why don't you go to the Privy Council, I need a decree, so that you can still stay in my court?" around."

Han Si didn't refuse, he stepped forward and knelt down and said, "My lord, thank you for your grace."

"Your Majesty." Zhao Ci entered.

The emperor looked up, "What's wrong?"

Zhao Ci walked to the side of the emperor with small but hurried steps, leaned over and said, "Everyone is spreading rumors that Princess Chu is pregnant."

The emperor frowned, and looked down at the impeachment of Yushitai, which had just been opened and read in his hand.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "Let the Hanlin medical officer come to see me."