Dingjiangshan

In the Small Buddha Hall, Ruan Yin stood in the room, and by the light of the candles all over the room, silently and resentfully looked at Ning Zongyuan's tablet on the altar.

In less than two years, Ruan Yin looked a lot haggard, her well-maintained face quickly deteriorated, and gradually, even rouge and gouache could not hide her vicissitudes.Her long hair became gray and white, and her eyes were bloodshot. From a distance, she looked like a decayed old statue.

The news of Ning Zheng's sudden death had been sent back to the capital a few days ago. Ruan Yin was trapped in her bedroom at that time, and when she heard the news, she was neither sad nor painful, and she didn't even shed a drop of tears.

The servant who delivered the letter was Jiang Xiaohan's man. At that time, he only thought that Ruan Yin might be crazy. Knowing that the matter was revealed and there was no hope of turning around, she became numb.

But Ruan Yin was really not mourning at the time, she just wanted to laugh in her heart - she didn't think about it, she worked hard and planned for most of her life, walking on thin ice, being cautious, and in the end she only got a grandson wrapped in horse leather, and the parent and child died violently in prison.

The news of Ning Yan's departure also came back a few days ago, and the palace is much more lively than usual these days.The guards changed their guards more frequently, and even the inner division began to prepare for Ning Yan's return to Beijing.

Ning Yan's personal conquest this time was a complete victory, and now his class is returning to the court, the inside and outside of the palace city are full of joy, only Ruan Yin's palace seems to have been forgotten intentionally or unintentionally, and has become an isolated island in the huge palace city.

But Ruan Yin didn't care too much, she knew that after another month, when Ning Yan returned to the capital, it would be her death day.

But that's okay, Ruan Yin thought, too many people have died in this battle, and Ning Yan intends to take this opportunity to get rid of all hidden dangers in one fell swoop, so naturally her life is not bad.

"Your son killed my son." Ruan Yin looked at Ning Zongyuan's tablet and said slowly, "I don't know if your spirit in the sky also watched this good show."

The tablet naturally couldn't speak, only the two long lights on the desk were on, and the jumping candlelight was dotted on the ebony material, folding out a little light of Ning Zongyuan's name.

Ruan Yin confronted the void for a while, wrapped the string of Buddhist beads around her wrists, walked to the desk, took out three incense sticks from the incense box on the side, lit them with the ever-burning lamp, and inserted the sticks of incense into the incense burner.

"The concubine forgot, how could His Majesty not know about it?" Ruan Yin curled her lips, showing a sarcasm smile: "After all, this is a big show organized by His Majesty."

Before she finished speaking, the door behind her was pushed open.The palace maid next to Ruan Yin carefully squeezed in through the crack of the door, and closed the door tightly with her backhand.

"Empress Dowager." The palace maid walked to Ruan Yin and whispered, "Everything is done."

"All sent?" Ruan Yin asked.

"All of them have been sent, except for the cold clothes prepared by the empress dowager, as well as paper figures, chariots and horses, all of which have been sent." The palace maid hesitated for a moment, then said: "It's just that the smoke was too much when delivering the cold clothes, and the forbidden army I found out, I don’t know—”

"I don't know what?" Ruan Yin interrupted her: "My son's family died tragically, so why don't you allow me, a mother, to burn paper money for him? Ning Yan can kill even Ning Zheng's youngest son. It's just sending some cold clothes to their family, compared to who is more unreasonable?"

The palace lady complained endlessly, she wanted to persuade Ruan Yin to recognize the current situation.Ning Yan is the emperor who has to worry about reputation and face, Ruan Yin has three points of face because of being a aunt, if Ruan Yin'an lives in peace, maybe she can rely on the word "filial piety" to leave a way out.

But she had been with Ruan Yin for many years, and knew that she was not the kind of person to be a little fugitive, so she opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.

Ruan Yin was imprisoned in the Imperial Temple a few days ago, and these days she received bad news again and again. She couldn't sleep every day and night. She always suspected that Ning Yan was going to assassinate her before returning to Beijing. Thoroughly.

There was a string in her heart, and she just waited for the straw of Ning Yan's return to Beijing to fall, and it was up to her whether she would catch it with nothing or die.

"My whole life is ruined in their hands." Ruan Yin said suddenly.

The grand maid was taken aback by her, and hurriedly took her hand to comfort her: "The Queen Mother can't say that, if someone who wants to hear it—"

"Hear what's wrong!" It's good that the grand lady didn't stop her, but such a block, instead aroused the resentment in Ruan Yin's heart, she pushed the grand lady's hand away, and shouted sharply: "Did the Ai family say something wrong!"

Ruan Yin trembled all over, and she didn't know whether it was from grief or hatred to the bone.

She stumbled a few steps forward, pointed at Ning Zongyuan's tablet with trembling fingers, her voice was hoarse as if mixed with blood.

"I came from a prominent family background, and the first half of my life was ruined by you!" Ruan Yin scolded, "I finally thought that I made it through, and now the rest of my life's hopes are also ruined by your son. You father and son, It's just too deceitful!"

The big palace lady became more and more crazy when she heard her talk, she was so frightened that her heart was pounding, she quickly persuaded: "Queen Mother, please keep your voice down! If someone really listens to it, then even the clan members will not be able to speak." gone."

"At this point, I have nothing to fear. The worst thing is that I will die." Ruan Yin took a deep breath and said in a bitter voice: "Go out and tell Shu Qinghui that I agreed to his conditions. So what else does he have in his hand? Don’t hide it, just take it out.”

Ruan Yin has been immersed in the harem for many years, and has a deep foundation. Even if she is trapped in this square palace, she still has the ability to speak out.

"Empress Dowager!" But the big court lady was full of disapproval. She knelt down with a plop, looked up at Ruan Yin, and said bitterly: "You are His Majesty's aunt, he can't kill you. Our family The prince is gone, you have to take care of yourself, why bother to get yourself in to get the Shu family out!"

Ruan Yin turned a deaf ear and just repeated in a low voice: "Go spread the message."

Seeing that she was determined to do this, the palace lady knew that she couldn't persuade her anymore, she kowtowed to Ruan Yin sadly in her heart, and turned to go to work.

——In this palace, there is nothing terrible about death, Ruan Yin thought, only death that is silent is terrible.

On the first day of November, Ning Yan finally led his army back to Beijing.

The civil and military officials and all the clan members went out of the city to greet him on their knees, but for some reason, Ning Yan never showed up, and just said a few polite words through the door of the carriage.

It was a happy thing for the army to return from victory, but Ning Yan's unclear attitude made many people feel discouraged. Among them, some smart people who knew the inside story knew that Ning Yan was probably coming back to settle accounts after the autumn.

Just as those important ministers guessed, not to mention that Ning Yan didn't show up when he knelt outside the city to meet him, even after entering the city and returning to the palace, Ning Yan also said that he was unwell from the exhaustion of the boat and the car, so he didn't ask the officials to greet him, and only said that everything will be done tomorrow. We will discuss it in the morning.

Now even the unintelligent people understood——Ning Yan almost told everyone clearly: I have something to say when I go to court tomorrow morning.

Those courtiers who didn't get along with this matter were fine, but the courtiers who had always been close to the Queen Mother began to feel uncertain. As soon as they left the field with their front feet facing the center, they gathered together and walked around in twos and threes, trying to keep up Time, let's explore His Majesty's mind before tomorrow.

It was precisely because of this that many people also took aim at the Jiangfu, and wanted to ask the emperor Ning Yan if he had any intention of strictly investigating and punishing him.It's a pity that these people were a step late. When they went to visit, they didn't even go in. They heard that Jiang Xiaohan had already entered the palace. He had just left for half an hour.

Ning Yan came back with great difficulty, and when He Wenting, who stayed in the palace, saw him, he really felt distressed everywhere.Later, when he heard that Ning Yan had to be careful with the old wound on his hand, he repeatedly lamented that His Majesty had suffered so much that Ning Yan's ears were numb, so he hurriedly sent him to the dining room to have some snacks.

In addition to Ning Huaijin, Xie Jue and Zheng Shaohui were the heroes of this personal conquest, and they stayed outside with Ning Yan for two years, gaining the limelight.So Ning Yan didn't let them go out to be interrogated by those courtiers at this juncture, he simply left the three of them in the palace and asked someone to clean up a few bedrooms for them to settle down.

As for Ning Jing, he was still young, and Ning Yan was not at ease letting him live in the first palace alone, so he tidied up his side palace for him to live in for the time being.

It was already an hour later when all these messy things were properly ordered.

Ning Yan just sat down with a bowl of hot sweet soup in his hands. Before he could sit still, he heard the word from the waiter outside that Jing Zhan and Jiang Xiaohan had come.

The other person Ning Yan could not see each other, but the two of them could never see each other.Fortunately, these two were already very familiar with him, so Ning Yan didn't have to force himself to put on airs.

"Please come in." Ning Yan said.

After a while, Jiang Xiaohan and Jing Zhan walked in one after the other. He Wenting knew that they probably had something to say, so he temporarily sent out all the maids and servants outside, leaving only a few close servants.

"Sit down——Why are you in such a hurry, Teacher?" Ning Yan said with a smile, "Are you afraid of staying outside the palace and being chased and intercepted?"

"Yes and no." Jiang Xiaohan smiled, took out an unopened letter from his sleeve and handed it to He Wenting, saying, "I am here to return this hot potato, His Majesty."

Ning Yan was stunned for a moment, seeing that Jing Zhan also took out a letter and handed it to He Wenting, only to belatedly remembered what it was.

——When he was going to take the risk to go to Anqing Mansion, he was also afraid of accidents during the trip, so he left "something to say" to these few people.

The letter that was supposed to be for Ning Huaijin was taken back by Ning Yan from Qin Liu, and the remaining two letters are here.

Ning Yan put down the bowl, took a look at the letter from He Wenting, and found that both letters had not been opened.

"Well, thank you teacher." Ning Yan said: "I have worked hard in Beijing these days."

"Indeed." Jing Zhan put his hands in his sleeves, and said sincerely: "If His Majesty can save people's heart by being outside, we won't have to work so hard for each other."

Ning Yan: "..."

He hadn't seen Jing Zhan in person for two years, and now he suddenly heard Jing Zhan's rude behavior, and immediately felt very kind.Just as he was about to say something, Jing Zhan beat his palms and said, "By the way, I haven't congratulated Your Majesty on the happiness of Lin'er."

Ning Yan: "..."

——This tone doesn't seem very good.

Sure enough, immediately afterwards, Jing Zhan said in a cool tone: "It's really hard won, and I have gone through ups and downs."

Ning Yan suddenly choked in his throat.

"What?" Ning Yan said incredulously, "In just a short while, my little sister can sue you?"