Mikago

The day after the cruise ship reunion was the day when Shangshu Xiao Youqian's eldest son was going to be buried.

After the summer, the weather is hot and humid, so the funeral is also selected to be held in the early morning.

Early in the morning when there was a lot of dew, I saw ten continuous snow-white funeral tents erected outside the west wall of Anrenfang on the east side of Zhuque Street.With the sound of the winter drum, the funeral procession, numbering three to four hundred people, came out of the funeral tents and crossed the hundred-foot-wide Zhuque Avenue.

Gold banners and silver buildings, paper mountains and sea of ​​smoke, clouds and mist curling up and mourning, slowly marching towards the Yanping Gate in the west.

Five watch days is the time for officials to go to the outer court to wait for the leak.Officials rushing to court came one after another on Zhuque Street, and when they reached Anrenfang, they were all blocked by the funeral procession.

The punishment for missing the morning court is very strict.However, no one dared to complain or even slammed into each other, and they all stopped silently.

The team of hundreds of people moved forward slowly, and it really took a while to pass through Zhuquemen Street.At this time, there was almost no one in the waiting room.

A total of [-] officials were late for the East Palace court meeting that day.After Zhao Yun learned the reason, he was naturally furious and ordered severe punishment.

According to the regulations of the Great Ning Dynasty, those who were late for the early morning court without reason would be fined one month's salary.

However, this time, the prince fined everyone's annual salary, not only that, but also imposed an additional fine of [-] boards on each of the five people who came last, and then deprived them of all their clothes and positions.

Those five people, without exception, were naturally all friends of the Xiao family.Seeing them being dragged out of the palace to beat the board by the people leading the house, Zhao Yun's mood did not ease because of this.After hastily dealt with the Chaohui, he left Jiang Qiguang alone, and was about to discuss how to deal with such an obvious provocation from the Xiao family. But at this moment, an eunuch came to report, saying that Empress Xiao was already waiting in Guangtian Palace and had something to talk to the prince.

The relationship between the mother and the son has long been worse than before. Now when he heard that Empress Xiao came suddenly, Zhao Yun was naturally surprised and suspicious.But he had to go again, so he asked Jiang Qiguang to stay in Lizheng Hall for a while, and went to Guangtian Hall alone to deal with this big trouble.

No one knew Xiao's intention to find Zhao Yun later, and the mother and son turned away when they met, and even refused to allow cronies to wait outside the door.

However, when the palace eunuchs speculated and discussed privately, someone already knew the answer.

In the Lizheng Hall, Jiang Qiguang sat alone and waited.It didn't take long before I heard a slight tinkling sound from outside, as if a woman had come to the garden outside the east window.

Jiang Qiguang also walked towards the sill window and coughed lightly.Immediately afterwards, the woman outside the window also sighed quietly, and then recited a poem.

"Since the king is gone, don't care about the remaining opportunities. Thinking about the king is like the full moon, and the light is less clear every night."

Hearing the sound, Jiang Qiguang confirmed that it was Ye Yueshan who came, and said, "I heard that Your Highness went to Guangtian Palace to meet Empress Xiao?"

Ye Yueshan replied: "This morning, Empress Xiao finally heard about those rumors outside the palace. I'm afraid she came to Xingshi to question her."

"So that's how it is... This has helped us a lot."

Jiang Qiguang was thoughtful: "Zhao Yun is standing on the edge of the cliff now, have you thought about whether to advance or retreat?"

Ye Yueshan answered without hesitation: "Yueshan is willing to go through fire and water for His Highness, and she will do whatever she wants."

After saying this, the sound of ringing outside the window sounded again, and the sound of footsteps went away.

--------

Ye Yueshan walked out of the garden of Lizheng Hall alone, but first went back to Linshuang Hall, and ordered someone to prepare some cool and delicious refreshments, and then went to Guangtian Hall with her.

Because of the ban, all the court ladies and eunuchs are crowded at the gate of Guangtian Palace, and no one dares to enter.Ye Yueshan then ordered someone to put the refreshments on a tray, took it herself, and walked into the yard.

It was a coincidence that she had just walked up the steps when she saw the palace door being pushed open heavily, and Empress Xiao came out angrily alone.

Ye Yueshan hurriedly took a step back, avoiding the door panel that almost hit her, and then bowed to salute.

Empress Xiao didn't even look at her, she walked past her quickly, and disappeared outside the courtyard gate in a blink of an eye.

Only then did Ye Yueshan pick up the tray again, and turned her head to look into the hall.I saw that the Guangtian Palace, which was in good shape, was in a mess again at the moment. Prince Zhao Yun stood in the dark with his hands behind his back, his face ashen.

Ye Yueshan carefully avoided the broken porcelain pieces everywhere, walked slowly to Zhao Yun's side, and looked down to see a few pieces of paper lying on the ground.

She already had some concerns in her heart, so she sighed: "I heard that there have been some gossips in the palace recently, and there are often strange notes in the items brought in from outside the palace. I think that those rumors that are just rumors Sooner or later, you will be exposed, Your Highness must not be hurt by this."

Zhao Yun does not pretend to be polite to others, but is always gentle to Ye Yueshan.Even at this moment, he just lowered his voice and said sullenly: "They think this king doesn't know anything? Damn the Xiao family, this king will kill them all one day, and put the old man Xiao Yougan's head in the city gate On the flagpole!"

As he spoke, he swiped with one hand and wiped a porcelain vase on the table to the ground.

Ye Yueshan was startled by the sound of the porcelain bottle shattering, she suddenly covered her mouth with one hand and pressed her belly with the other, bending over to retch.

Zhao Yun was taken aback, and quickly came to help him: "What's going on? Do you want to pass on the imperial physician?"

"No need..."

Ye Yueshan breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed Zhao Yun's arm, raised her head and smiled shyly at him.

"There is one thing, I don't know if I should say it now...Your Highness, you are going to be a father."

"Me? This king... is going to be a father?"

The expression on Zhao Yun's face, from astonishment to surprise, lasted for a while, but suddenly fell into an inexplicable daze.

But Ye Yueshan didn't let him think about it, grabbed his hand, and said softly: "Your Highness, this concubine is the daughter of a criminal minister, and has no power or power in the court. Your Highness, you are the heaven of all concubines, the concubine and concubine. I rely on the flesh and blood in my belly... I don't dare to expect too much, I only hope that this life will be safe and smooth, and I will always be by His Highness's side. But I am really afraid..."

Zhao Yun asked her: "What are you afraid of?"

"As the saying goes, all the mouths melt gold and destroy bones. The concubine is afraid that these rumors will damage your highness's reputation, and even cause your majesty to misunderstand you... If that time comes, there will be no skin left, and the hair will be destroyed." How will he be attached again? I am afraid that the ministers and concubines and the flesh and blood in the belly will not escape the bad luck."

Intentionally or not, these words just reminded Zhao Yun of the pain that Hu Ji suffered back then.He hugged Ye Yueshan with his backhand, and said emotionally: "In this world of Daning, as long as I, Zhao Yun, will never let anyone hurt your mother and child again!"

Having said that, his eyes have become extremely determined, as if he had made some silent oath.

Ye Yueshan took all the subtle changes in Zhao Yun into her eyes, and she knew that she had already done what Jiang Qiguang hinted her to do.It may even have laid the most solid foundation for Zhao Kyung's ascension.

But somehow, deep down in her heart, she couldn't be happy at all.

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

In the afternoon of this day, news came out from the East Palace: Tomorrow will be closed for one day due to the high heat, followed by the ten-day holiday the day after tomorrow, and there will be no court meeting for a total of two days.The Zichen Palace, which seemed to be leisurely and peaceful, was the calm before the storm.

After nightfall, the air that had been suffocated by the heat and humidity all day finally revealed a hint of coolness.After bathing and changing clothes, Lu You ordered someone to hang a few luminous pearls in silk nets under the eaves of the courtyard, and read a book on the couch.

I don't know how many pages have been turned, when someone outside the yard knocked lightly on the door.

He walked over and opened the door, but the person who came was the personal eunuch of King Kang's mansion, holding a food box in his hand.

"My Highness recently got a rare snack, and I want to send it to you for a taste."

Rare dim sum?In the middle of the night, what kind of medicine is sold in Zhao Jing's gourd?

Lu You vaguely knew that there was something wrong in his heart, but he still stretched out his hand to pick up the food box, and took it back to the Ye Mingzhu to examine it carefully.

The food box has only one layer. When the lid is opened, there is a large exquisite crystal bowl carved into a twelve-petal lotus flower.Inside was a bowl of snow-white and crystal-clear rice, covered with a few wisps of white orchid petals, and smelling it carefully, there was a faint aroma of milk.

Isn't this Qingfeng rice?

Lu You couldn't understand it even more. This kind of snack made of glutinous rice, ice flakes and buttermilk is difficult to make because it needs to be chilled.But in the palace, it is an unusual thing.

Not only that, these few days have been unbearably hot, Qingfeng Rice is even more beloved by Emperor Huiming, and Penglai Pavilion will pay tribute every few days.No matter how you say it, Zhao Jing is still a prince. How could something that he was used to eating since he was a child be a rare snack?

The more Lu You thought about it, the more strange it became, and when he looked carefully under the rice, there seemed to be a big green thing hidden.

Lu You picked up the chopsticks inserted in the food box and pulled the surface of Qingfeng Rice, and suddenly dropped the chopsticks with a shake of his hand.

That green thing turned out to be a severed snake head!

Qingfeng rice is a summer delicacy used by the imperial court.

Zhuyeqing is a poisonous snake.

The poisonous snake is hidden in the Qingfeng Fan, and the implication is self-evident-on the cruise ship that day, what Zhao Jing once predicted will happen soon.

Lu You threw the Qingfeng rice together with the food box into the pool in the courtyard.However, the mood did not return to calm as the ripples spread.

"Are you ready?"

He asked his own reflection in the water: "From now on, no wrong step is allowed. If you go forward, you will live; if you retreat, you will die."

The reflection is silent, but behind it are the stars all over the sky, as if you are in the Ziwei Xingyuan.