Mikago

The atmosphere in Chengxiang Hall was like an ice cellar.

No one spoke, and no one moved.The cyan-blue cold light of the night pearl reflected the court, and at the same time cast a layer of mystery on everyone's cheeks.

At the critical moment, Qi Yunchu took two steps forward and walked to Duan Wang's side.

"Weak pu willows, born in Nozawa, can be favored by the prince, which is naturally a blessing from their previous lives. However, these orchids are barbarians from the land of barbarians, how can they be worthy of the prince's ten thousand gold?" body?"

As he said that, he made a face and made all the orchid dancers back down.

Who knew that Zhao Qing just grabbed one of the dancing girls.

"What's the matter with barbarians from Yi and Di? Didn't the crown prince also hide a beauty in the golden house? Why can't the emperor accept it, but I, the younger brother, can't accept it?"

Zhao Yang on the side heard this, and clapped his hands too: "I also want a concubine orchid, and I want it!"

"Don't make trouble." Empress Xiao reprimanded him softly, but her tone was not harsh.

At this moment, Lu You recalled that Empress Xiao was not the biological mother of King Duan.Zhao Qing's biological mother, Xian Concubine Zhang, died of illness when Zhao Qing was five years old. After that, Zhao Qing was adopted under the name of Empress Xiao.

It is said that the queen is "the mother of the world", but now it seems that there is still a difference between closeness and estrangement.

Lu You immediately thought of his own mother, who was gentle and understanding, and there might never be a more perfect woman than her in the whole world.

Unfortunately……

Lu You warned himself not to act emotionally. He raised his head to look at Xuan Wang Zhao Qing again, but found a cold light passing by his eyes.

"presumptuous!"

The emperor, who had been silent all this time, finally couldn't bear to reprimand loudly, and at the same time threw the wine baron on the case vigorously.

The dark red liquor fell from the air, soaking the dancer's skirt.Jiujue fell to the ground and rebounded, hitting Zhao Qing's calf.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Qing yelled, took two steps back and sat on the ground, holding her head tightly with both hands, trembling and choking.

"Don't... don't... I know I'm wrong. Don't ignore me, don't send me to Li Palace. There are ghosts in Li Palace... There are dead people... I'm so scared..."

The more he spoke, the more sad he became, and there was only confusion and confusion in his once bright eyes.His flushed cheeks were stained with tears.

The beauty is crying, no one can move her.

However, at this moment, Lu You's heart was only full of horror.

It may not be without reason, just as the rumors in the Imperial College said a few years ago-Xuan Wang Zhao Qing is really a lunatic.

Lu You then thought of Tang Quan, how could he not know this because of his high position and authority?But he still married his daughter to a madman.

At this moment, everyone in Chengxiang Hall fell silent because of the emperor's anger.The only thing echoing in the hall was Duan Wang Zhao Qing's intermittent weeping.

Qi Yunchu waved his hand, and the two blue-robed medical officers immediately stepped forward, one on the left and one on the right, and took Zhao Qing away.

At this time, Kang Wang Zhao Jing, who had not spoken, suddenly got up, took off his robe, and put it on Zhao Qing's shoulders.

The person who caused the trouble has been taken away, but the harmonious atmosphere of the banquet has also been completely destroyed.The emperor walked away first, followed by Empress Xiao.Zhao Qing, Zhao Jing and others also left one after another.

In the huge palace, there are only a few eunuch workers left to clean up the aftermath—they are quite happy, the delicacies at the royal banquet are basically complete, and they will be sold in the palace tomorrow, and a plate can be bought for thousands of dollars high price.

Everyone was scrambling to share the cold food on the table, but the wine baron who was thrown on the ground by the emperor was ignored.Lu You walked over to pick up Jiujue, and then found a gold ruby ​​ring on the carpet beside him.

The style of the ring is thick and the workmanship is fine.It should have been thrown off his finger when the emperor threw the wine cup just now.

Lu You held the ring in his hand, raised his head and looked around.

The others were too busy filling their own pockets to notice his discovery at all, only Qi Yunchu cast a playful look at him.

Lu You walked to Qi Yunchu's side, wanting to hand over the ring to him.

But Qi Yunchu did not accept it.

"The right to dispose of what you find is naturally in your hands. There is no need to ask for my opinion."

Speaking of this, he lowered his voice again: "It's none of your business here, go back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make some preparations. Follow me to Huiqing Palace in a while."

Go to Huiqing Palace...

When Lu You heard this, his heart skipped a beat—Huiqing Palace is the residence of Zhengxuan King Zhao Yang.Qi Yunchu wanted to lead him to "certify his integrity" for Zhao Yang.

If he wanted to replace Zhao Yang in the shooting ceremony, this step was naturally necessary.

Of course Lu You understood this truth, but he couldn't stop himself from still feeling uneasy.But at least now, he no longer shows his uneasiness on his face.

The northwest corner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the courtyard where ordinary eunuchs live together.There are many persimmon trees and jujube trees growing in the courtyard, attracting many crows to build their nests here, hence the name "Jackdaws Falling".

Lu You's residence is a small courtyard to the north of Jackdaw's Fall.When he first came, there was an elderly eunuch in the same courtyard.The old eunuch died of illness a month ago, but no newcomers moved in.

Qi Yunchu didn't know when he would come, Lu You didn't dare to neglect.

He went into the house and boiled a pot of hot water, and soaked the herbs that Li Hongqu had given him in advance in the water.Then apply the cloth towel soaked in the concoction on the face, wait for a while and then start rubbing.

That ingenious human skin mask gradually crumbled into pieces, revealing the true face that had been covered for a long time.

Lu You stared blankly at the reflection in the basin for a while, then turned around and took out a linen scarf from the cabinet and put it on his head.

It takes a long way to go from Jackdaw to Huiqing Hall.It would be bad if he was recognized by the night watchman on the way.

Almost when he was getting dressed, Qi Yunchu also came.The two of them left the Tongming Gate one after the other, walked north along the eaves covered with Lingxiao vines, and entered the Yuehua Gate.

On the north side of the horizontal street inside Yuehua Gate, there are five or six harem sleeping halls lined up.Among them, the first one in the west is Ganlu Hall, and the second one is Huiqing Hall.

When passing the main entrance of Ganlu Hall, Lu You couldn't help but take a peek at Qi Yunchu.However, Qi Yunchu didn't look sideways, and didn't even shake his shadow.

After passing the Ganlu Hall and crossing a small bridge, it is the boundary of Huiqing Palace.The sky ahead was getting brighter and brighter, and was soon dyed golden red—the courtyard of Huiqing Palace was actually brightly lit.

Three days of cold food, openly breaking the ban, how presumptuous and bold is this?

Lu You gasped - not only because of King Xuan's willful behavior, but also because of the...almost blind extreme pampering that King Xuan enjoyed.

Surprised, the two quickly stood at the main entrance of Huiqing Hall.Qi Yunchu stopped instead, and turned to look at Lu You.

"After passing through this gate, your life and death are hanging by a thread. Are you afraid?"

"I'm afraid." Lu You replied frankly, "But fear no longer makes me timid and shrink back, it only makes me more cautious, and work harder to take every next step."

"very good."

Qi Yunchu nodded, then took his hand, and pushed open the gate of Huiqing Hall which was not covered.

After working as a job in the palace for several months, Lu You has also seen many palaces.There are majestic and gorgeous ones, and there are also beautiful and elegant ones.

But he has never entered the Huiqing Palace, let alone imagined the strange scene in front of him.

After entering the gate is the front yard of Huiqing Hall, bypassing the screen wall, and there is a huge pond in the middle.

There are four stone-carved swimming dragons by the pool, linking head to tail to surround the pond.There are grooves chiseled on the back of the dragon, and lamp oil is poured in and ignited. The flame rises like a dragon's mane and shakes, and the whole courtyard is reflected like daytime.

While marveling in his heart, Lu You followed Qi Yunchu's footsteps and walked towards the pond.

The water's edge was wet, so he put more care on his feet.It was only then that they discovered that large strings of copper coins had been mixed into the stones used to cast the road.

An eunuch stood by the pond, and when he saw Qi Yunchu, he immediately came over to pay his respects.Qi Yunchu didn't let him report, so he went inside and stood beside a small wooden boat by the pool after a while.

At this time, it was clear that the weather was calm, but the wooden boat was shaking on the shore.Lu You looked into the boat curiously, and saw that it was covered with red, white and white daphne flowers, and the fragrance was suffocating.If you look closely, there seems to be someone hiding under the pile of flowers, moving up and down.

Qi Yunchu looked down at the pile of flowers, with a cold sneer on the corner of his mouth.

"Your Highness, it's getting late. It's time to go back and rest."

In the next moment, the pile of flowers suddenly surged violently.Duan Wang Zhao Yang came out of the flower boat with disheveled clothes and disheveled hair, staring at Qi Yunchu viciously.

"Bold! Who told you to run in!"

Qi Yunchu still smiled calmly and said, "Could it be possible that Your Highness forgot our date tonight?"