Competing in the morning and evening

Huge changes took place in the imperial palace of the Southern Dynasties. Firstly, Zeng Chuyu, who had been deposed for nearly half a year, was suddenly conferred once again, and Chu Yin had another noble concubine——the original imperial concubine. No one knew the origin of this original imperial concubine. I only heard that the emperor wrapped it all in his imperial robe and carried it back.The queen mother fell ill and moved to Xiangwu Temple in Fengyang Mountain to meditate and recuperate.

This was no less than an earthquake to the imperial palace of the Southern Dynasties, and all the people were anxiously waiting for their own life and death in this earthquake.

Qingxiang put a white fur mouse cloak on Zeng Chuyu who was repairing flowers, and said in a low voice: "Madam, the emperor still lives in Yongning Palace today, and the emperor seems to have been too lazy to look through the signs in the past two months."

Zeng Chuyu held the branches and leaves with his hands calmly. It's spring now, and the flowers in the yard are blooming very well. This peony is especially beautiful.She said leisurely: "If the emperor doesn't enjoy him well, how can he get rid of the resentment he has suppressed in his heart for the past few years?" As she spoke, her hand seemed to tremble, and she actually cut off the peony.

Qingxiang was silent on the side, Zeng Chuyu turned his head slightly, and said: "You resent me for hiding even you, which made you suffer a lot."

Qingxiang was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and said: "Slave, servant, I would never dare to have such a heart!"

Zeng Chuyu pulled Qingxiang up with a smile, and said, "Okay, I told you that you are the only person in this world who is the most considerate of myself. I can tell you everything I can't tell others. , but if you knew the inside story, would you be able to fool Ziqing?"

Thinking of that man's cold gaze, Qingxiang shook his head involuntarily. Zeng Chuyu said leisurely: "Only if it is true, can you deceive Ziqing. In fact, even Bengong has a lot of thoughts. If Ziqing is really cruel and doesn't come, I will Did the palace make the fake come true?" She glanced at Qingxiang in front of her, and said, "But it's good this time, half a year is enough to see who is a human and who is a ghost in this palace...Qingxiang, you I would like to be Zhong Kui of my palace."

"Your Majesty, what do you mean..." Qingxiang asked cautiously.

"It's time to clean up the palace, and I'll leave it to you." With such a simple sentence from Zeng Chuyu, he gave Qingxiang the lives and deaths of countless people.

Qingxiang knew the weight of it, but she also seemed to see how many people were crawling under her feet, and the grievances she had suffered in the past six months were all reduced in one fell swoop.Asking those people to repay tens of times and hundreds of times, whether they live or die depends on his own thoughts, Qingxiang couldn't help trembling and said: "Your servant will definitely live up to your mother's high expectations."

Zeng Chuyu glanced at her approvingly, and said: "Okay, it's time for the emperor to leave Yongning Palace, let's go and see Ziqing..." She said with a soft sigh, "Maybe we should call Concubine Yuan, it's more fluent."

Zeng Chuyu ascended to the back seat again, the power was transferred to the harem, the ostentation was much bigger than before, a group of eunuchs holding the dust opened the way in front, and the maids on both sides hugged the screens, Zeng Chuyu sat on the phoenix until he reached the gate of Yongning Palace, and was supported by Qingxiang down.

The eunuchs of Yongning Palace had known about the empress's arrival for a long time, and the eunuchs of high quality knelt down at the door and waited for her.

Zeng Chuyu was also noncommittal, and sent all kinds of things into Yongning Palace like flowing water, and went around the palace again, and ordered the palace people to replace all the crabapple trees in the courtyard with sweet-scented osmanthus trees, and ordered people to modify them. After picking up a few things, he walked towards the backyard of Yongning Palace.

Yongning Palace is one of the largest pavilions in the imperial palace, second only to the Emperor's Qingxuan Palace, but it is located in a relatively remote place, so it has not been used much.It has been idle for many years, and the craftsmen of the front house have been repaired and are still exquisite and gorgeous, but the house behind it looks much older.The four rich doors had faded to a dark brown color, and the oil surface had even peeled off at the corners, exposing the door hinges that had been soaked and swollen by the rain.In this dilapidated house, a few words of laughter came from time to time, which seemed quite brisk.

Seeing Zeng Chuyu frowning looking at those doors, the eunuchs couldn't help but feel very upset.After this empress returned to the back seat, she no longer looked cautious and tactful as before, but appeared sharp and severe, cruel and merciless, and said what she said. No one in the entire harem, including the concubines, dared not to look at her face and act.

"What is this place?"

"Go back to your mother, here is Yongning's small kitchen, serve your mother some snacks and tea." The chief eunuch of Yongning Palace whispered.

Zeng Chuyu nodded and asked Qingxiang to help her to walk towards the house. The eunuch hurriedly wanted to open the door for her, but Zeng Chuyu gave her a hard look, which made him bow his head and stand aside in fright.Zeng Chuyu stood by the door, but did not open the door, the eunuch felt his eyes darkened.

He knew what happened to those two slaves and eunuchs who were listened to by the queen back then.It is true that the queen mother ordered the staff to kill him, but I don't know why the two eunuchs died in such a miserable state, it was not like they were killed by a stick, but rather as if they were torn apart.The people below all secretly spread the heart of the Queen Mother as a Bodhisattva. It was originally intended to hit the back of the head with a stick, so that the two servants and eunuchs could ascend to heaven early.But the queen changed the executioner and ordered someone to cut the two slaves one at a time, so everyone who saw the corpse felt like a nightmare.

This was also one of the reasons why Zeng Chuyu was abolished, but no one knew why the phoenix was about to fall into the dust, but she flew into the sky and blocked out the sun, so powerful.But the years in this palace are long, to shut up these lonely and unbearable maids and eunuchs, and not to talk about the right and wrong of the masters, it is really more difficult than going to heaven.

The eunuchs in Yongning Palace were originally newcomers, and some were drawn from other palaces, but most of them did not please the old masters.Since Yuan Guifei lived in Yongning Palace, she has hardly spoken to any of them.She never paid any attention to what they were doing, she just asked if the waiter was good, and she didn't say a word, and she wouldn't lose her temper even if she gave him cold water, except for being in a daze and sleeping.For a long period of time, people in Yongning Palace even thought that the former imperial concubine was dumb.The palace has always acted on the basis of winks, such a foolish master, who can neither award rewards nor lose his temper, will inevitably become loose and loose.

"Aren't you surprised? Our lady looks like nothing to say, but her temper is too weird. She won't let anyone touch her, not even the emperor."

"No, she doesn't look like the emperor's concubine, but she looks like the emperor snatched her back..." As soon as the servant finished speaking, everyone in the room laughed and said in one go: "Yes, I just came here. There was a lot of commotion at the time, it didn't seem like the emperor was pampering her, but it seemed that the emperor was spoiling her."

"Then this former noble concubine is too ignorant of flattery, she really angered the emperor, will it implicate us?"

A court lady with a crisp voice snorted softly: "What do you little slaves know? This is called wrist. There are few women who want to curry favor with the emperor, but this is the only woman who doesn't want the emperor to touch him, so you don't have to?" Seeing that the emperor has been in our palace for the past two months, what is this called... retreat to advance."

"It's Sister Rong who is knowledgeable." The others giggled.

That Sister Rong was even more proud, and said: "These skills of refusing and welcoming can be hidden from others, how can I be hidden from me, Sister Rong, the emperor comes every day, she will die or live, if the emperor does not come for a day, she That’s the real thing to die or live.”

When Zeng Chuyu heard this, he glanced at Qingxiang, Qingxiang immediately understood, and said coldly: "Open the door."

"Who?"

"Don't ask our lady to smash something again." The head of the room opened the door with a smile, and a twenty-eight girl came oncoming.

Zeng Chuyu knew at a glance that this person must be Sister Rong. Generally, there are some pretty women in the palace who are a little wishful thinking. As time goes on, it is easier to hold resentment towards the important concubines, and in private Words are harshest.

When Sister Rong saw a woman in royal clothes standing in front of her, looking at her coldly, she was taken aback at first, but the next moment she woke up suddenly, frightened out of her wits, she knelt down on the ground, trembling: " Madam, please forgive me."

Qing Xiang reprimanded: "What's your name, you lowly servant girl?"

"Slave, slave is called Sister Rong."

"Your Majesty." Qing Xiang turned to look at Zeng Chuyu with a gloomy face and said, "How to deal with this damned lowly servant girl."

Zeng Chuyu said leisurely: "You are such a cheap life, if I take care of the former noble concubine, she will definitely say that I have dirty her place..."

When Sister Rong heard it, she was overjoyed, but her face was filled with fear and fear: "Thank you, Empress, for your forgiveness. I will go to your empress to accept the crime later."

Zeng Chuyu smiled slightly, and said: "It's just that this Palace handles the internal affairs of the harem. If the former imperial concubine obediently blames this Palace for not training you lowly maidservants well, how can I ask this Palace to explain it?" She bent slightly and looked at Sister Rong Bai With a face without a trace of blood, she said viciously: "You are worthy of ruining Yuan Xizheng." Then she straightened her waist, and said lightly: "Come here, pull out this sister Rong's tongue, Bengong If you don’t believe it, you can’t cure the gossip woman in the palace.”

Zeng Chuyu turned her head and let Qingxiang support her, and walked slowly towards the main palace. Seeing the guards dragging Sister Rong away like wolves like tigers, the eunuch of Yongning Palace was trembling with fright, afraid that something might happen to him, Quickly ran all the way to follow Zeng Chuyu's back.

Zeng Chuyu walked straight into the inner palace of Yongning Palace, and naturally no one dared to stop her.Zeng Chuyu passed through layers of veils, turned a marble screen, and saw the wide bed of agarwood behind the screen. One side of the gauze was hooked by the gold hook of the gauze, so you could see the bed lying on the bed at a glance. people in bed.

Yuan Xizheng's whole body was covered by a silver satin quilt, and her long black hair was messily scattered on the bed, clearly black and white.Zeng Chuyu walked to the bed, sat down, and put Yuan Xizheng's exposed arm in. Her movement woke up the light sleeper.

"You're awake." Zeng Chuyu smiled and said, "I didn't want to disturb you."

Yuan Xizheng was visibly thinner, her entire chin became pointed, and there was a tinge of blue-black under her eyes, which made her look extraordinarily haggard and tired. Zeng Chuyu lowered her head slightly.

Yuan Xizheng turned his head slightly to one side, with a trace of disgust in his eyes, and uttered a word: "Get lost!"

The expression on Zeng Chuyu's face with her head down changed, she raised her head slowly, and said: "The original noble concubine, I, as the middle palace, come to see you with good intentions, how can you speak disrespectful words to me."

Yuan Xizheng closed her eyes, without a word of response.

Zeng Chuyu raised her eyebrows, and was about to say something, but she held back. She lowered her head and approached, gently brushing away the hair from Yuan Xizheng's ear, and then said close to her ear, "Ziqing, the emperor still treats you still." There is a little longing in the past. When this longing is satisfied, Ziqing, you are just the most ordinary concubine in this palace. You have to follow the rules in the palace and adapt to the way of life here. At that time, Ziqing, you Although you never wanted to be with me, you will kneel at my feet for the rest of your life begging to survive."

After finishing speaking, Zeng Chuyu took a deep breath and said coldly, "Go back to the palace!"

Qingxiang helped Zeng Chuyu out of Yongning Palace. When Zeng Chuyu got on Fengjia, for some reason, he failed to step on it several times.

After returning to the palace, Qingxiang flattered and said: "Mother, the martial arts of Yuan Xizheng have been abolished by Wanyang anyway, no matter how good it was before, now it is still a plucked phoenix that is not as good as a chicken, why don't you practice it well today?" Teach her a lesson!" After she finished speaking, Zeng Chuyu looked back and slapped her, which made her stare at the eyes. She didn't know which sentence was wrong and provoked Zeng Chuyu, and she was so frightened that she fell to her knees and begged Zeng Chuyu for forgiveness.

Zeng Chuyu sneered and said: "Don't think that if you give you a little color, you, a lowly maidservant, will become the master, get out!"

Qingxiang stroked his face and backed out, thinking of the grievances he had received in the past six months, he was ashamed and angry, and secretly hated in his heart: "How noble do you think you are, you are not as good as me Qingxiang in Yuancun, a widow concubine Raw little bastard."

She was overwhelmed, thinking that Zeng Chuyu was the most suspicious person, if she knew that she had hated her in her heart just now, she would definitely find a chance to take her own life, she couldn't help being frightened into a cold sweat, and quickly tidied up her hair and entered Go to the house to pass water and tea to Zeng Chuyu.

Zeng Chuyu seemed to have completely lost the anger just now, and sat there peacefully cutting flowers again, Qingxiang said in a low voice: "Just now someone came from Ye Ting to ask, the palace lady Rong who committed the crime... her tongue has been pulled out, ask How to deal with her."

Zeng Chuyu said indifferently: "It's strange, the people from Yongning Palace are naturally the people from Yongning Palace to deal with it. Since this sister Rong belongs to Yongning Palace, they will naturally send her back to Yongning Palace."

Qingxiang bowed his head and said yes.

It was getting late, Tang Cihu went into Da Sima Dongfang Jingyuan's house with a pot of wine, and saw Dongfang Jingyuan sitting cross-legged on the couch playing chess from a distance, he laughed and said: "Master Dongfang, stab Hu came to see you." Tang Cihu entered the room after saying that, and sat down on the opposite side of the chessboard.

Dongfang Jingyuan didn't raise his head, but said calmly and calmly: "General Tang has a secret mission, so why come here to chat with Dongfang when he has time? Could there be some new trend?"

Tang Cihu laughed dryly, and said: "Lord Dongfang, don't do this. I didn't come before, it was for your own good. Yuan Xizheng and we are both from Jingzhou, and we have friendship without feelings. It doesn't hurt your heart to say it. Not good."

"It feels better now?" Dongfang Jingyuan frowned as if he was solving Zhenlong's difficulty.

Tang Cihu said: "The emperor said that there is no need to arrest him."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Dongfang Jingyuan said leisurely: "It's time to relax, and Beiqi won't be able to move in a short time."

Tang Jihu licked his lips and said, "Do you know Concubine Yuan Gui?"

"A new concubine in the palace."

"Yes, that's her!" Tang Cihu whispered, "Do you know who she is?"

"I know!"

"You, you, you know?" Tang Cihu was tongue-tied.

Dongfang Jingyuan said leisurely: "Isn't she the emperor's concubine?"

Tang Cihu lost his temper, and said: "Don't, Master Dongfang, I'm telling you the truth."

"You said the emperor's concubine is serious." Dongfang Jingyuan said with a light smile.

Tang Cihu was anxious like a monkey scratching, and said: "Yes, yes, don't tease me, let me tell you. The emperor's thoughts on Yuan Xi, we two came from Jingzhou, don't say you I don't know. As soon as the emperor said that Yuan Xizheng would no longer need to be caught, I felt that the emperor would never give up, the only possibility is that Yuan Xizheng let him catch it." Seeing that Dongfang Jingyuan was still playing chess leisurely, he used With a flick of the hand, all the chess pieces were scattered.

Dongfang Jingyuan stared and said, "Why are you so barbaric?"

"Stop playing. I'm telling you something very serious. After listening to it, I guarantee that you won't be in the mood to play chess tonight." Tang Cihu whispered: "So I secretly inquired and found out that the elder The secret agents dispatched troops, and I heard that the emperor wrapped a man in an imperial robe. Think about it, the emperor is ambitious, diligent in government affairs, and doesn't care much about beauty. Who in this world can let the emperor get it? , and did not go to court early for three consecutive days."

Dongfang Jingyuan half-closed his eyelids, and said, "You must be too curious."

Tang Cihu snorted, and said: "Don't tell me you don't want to know, this Wanyang came from your sect, and now he has become the emperor's confidant, and if he catches Yuan Xizheng, I'm afraid he won't take you seriously." inside."

Dongfang Jingyuan chuckled, divided the black and white pieces into the chess basket, and said: "You can conclude that this person is Yuan Xizheng based on this, aren't you talking nonsense?"

"No!" Tang Cihu gritted his teeth and said, "This is what I want to tell you."

Dongfang Jingyuan raised his head, Tang Cihu looked around, and came over and said: "Although I don't care about the imperial guards, I am the instructor of the imperial guards... A few days ago, the emperor told me that I need some martial arts masters , agile and clever guards, let me choose a few to train and send them to the queen, when I took those to the queen's Changyang Palace today, guess who I saw?"

"Who?"

"Yuan Xizheng, although he is sitting in the pavilion and has changed into women's clothes, I can recognize him just by looking at him. There are many eunuchs standing beside him. It doesn't look like he is serving, but he is watching. he."

Dongfang Jingyuan said leisurely: "This is your great discovery. Let me tell you, the Empress has chosen a lot of beautiful girls for the emperor. Most of them are a little bit similar to Yuan Xizheng. Maybe you saw a very similar one. .”

"No, no, I will never admit my mistake, and when I passed by, Yuan Xizheng suddenly said something, saying: 'Although the scenery of Ziwei Lake is beautiful, I still like the magnificent Hanshui River.'" Tang Ci The tiger said in a trembling voice: "Master Dongfang, the thorn tiger can swear to you. This voice and this appearance and expression are absolutely invincible, and no one can learn from it."

"and then?"

"Then I heard the court lady say something about the original imperial concubine, and it seemed to be a few words of relief." Tang Cihu took Dongfang Jingyuan's tea and drank it down, saying: "So I'm sure this original imperial concubine must be happy It's Yuan Xizheng, our current son-in-law."

Dongfang Jingyuan raised his eyes and said, "Don't you find it strange?"

"strangeness?"

"Do you know where the Yongning Palace is on the lake?"

"where?"

"West side! Do you know where Changyang Palace is?"

"...to the east!"

"This former imperial concubine made such a big circle, went to the other side of the lake to enjoy the scenery, but she said a word when you passed by. Didn't you hear that the original imperial concubine seemed to be dumb in the palace? You I want others to know that this is the original imperial concubine delivering a letter to you on purpose, right?"

"This, this..." Tang Cihu was dumbfounded.

"If I were you, I would rot this matter in my stomach from now on, and I would never let a third person know about it!"

Tang Cihu was dumb for a while, and after thinking about the cause and effect, he couldn't help sweating profusely. He bowed deeply to Dongfang Jingyuan and thanked him repeatedly.He let out a long sigh and just got up, Dongfang Jingyuan waved his hand at him, and said: "Sit down, sit down, why have you become a general after all, why hasn't this bandit changed his temper."

Tang Cihu sat down and said with a wry smile: "Forget it, I'm a rough man. If I want to play these tricks, I can't beat you literati. When Jingzhou Mansion is in charge of your ideas, I am in charge of all the people in the Palace. At that time, the emperor shouldn't trust me too much. Now when the emperor sees me, his complexion turns black, but he looks pleasant when he sees the Taoist nun. Let a woman overwhelm me, and you say that brother can hold his breath."

Dongfang Jingyuan also sighed, and said: "This Wanyang also has stiff wings. Although he is still being polite to me now, I also know in my heart that it is polite, and he is giving me a little bit of thin face."

Tang Cihu heard this, slapped his thigh and said loudly: "You are her boss, she doesn't even care about you."

Dongfang Jingyuan chuckled, and said: "The secret agents of the inner court are the emperor's true confidantes, so what are we waiting for if we monitor all the officials?"

Tang Cihu was even more depressed when he heard that, he patted off the seal of the altar of wine he brought, drank a few sips, and said: "Could this woman have seduced the emperor?"

"It was the one who seduced the emperor..." Dongfang Jingyuan said in a low voice, "But she borrowed flowers to present Buddha and sold others to pave the way for herself."

"Bah!" Tang Cihu spat viciously.

Dongfang Jingyuan glanced at him and said: "Actually, I have an opportunity here. If you use it well, maybe you can take back the position of the emperor's confidant."

Tang Cihu's eyes lit up, but then he said awkwardly: "What kind of confidants are not confidantes, we are all loyal ministers."

"Yeah, I'm talking for nothing." Dongfang Jingyuan lowered his head again to pack up the chess pieces.

"Don't, don't, you said half of it, but if you don't say the other half, I can't sleep at night."

Dongfang Jingyuan smiled and said, "Do you know how the queen got here?"

"Didn't it fall in love at first sight when I accompanied Li Yan to visit the Yuanjia Village? The market even made up a story, which was specially told to those little girls and sisters-in-law who were daydreaming! How do you know that the emperor's favorite is not Miss Yuanjia, but Yuanjia?" Young master of the family, hehe."

Tang Cihu had just teased a few words, but seeing Dongfang Jingyuan's angry face, he had to cough twice in embarrassment.

"You don't know that the one the emperor took a fancy to at the beginning was the only daughter of the Yuan clan chief, but later on, Yuan Xizheng thought of some way to make the Yuan clan chief recognize the current queen as the eldest daughter. It was a mistake." Dongfang Jingyuan patted the wine jar and said: "The emperor has never forgotten the old love, and even sent someone to help the lady collect the money back home. You don't care about the emperor's people, you don't know that."

Tang Cihu swept away the bewilderment on his face, and said, "You said this young lady's name is Wan Ru?"

"It's Yuan Wanru." Dongfang Jingyuan said: "If this lady can enter the palace, with her help, I don't believe that Wanyang can be stronger than you."

Tang Cihu smiled wryly, and said: "Master Dongfang, you are painting cakes to satisfy my hunger!"

"This seems to be in my mansion now!"

Dangling, the wine jar in Tang Cihu's hand fell to the ground, and he said after a while: "Master Dongfang, since you already have such a sharp weapon in your hand, how did you take advantage of Lao Tang so easily?"

Dongfang Jingyuan smiled contemptuously, and said: "Look at your bandit temperament, you want to eat, but you are afraid of bait, you look murderous, but you run away when you see the wind!" Under my sect, I am among the third princes, can I make it difficult for her? Besides, now that the queen is supporting Wanyang, anyone who knows it will also say that this is for the face of the East. How can I send someone in and make people think I don't know how to fight against the queen?!"

Tang Cihu laughed repeatedly: "Master Dongfang, don't be angry, I know what you mean when I stabbed the tiger, and charged into the battle to stab the tiger, you just mention it later, it's like no matter who got into the palace , I will never forget you, Mr. Dongfang."

Dongfang Jingyuan just chuckled, poured himself half a cup of tea, and sipped it leisurely, as if the taste was endless.