Force a good concubine

His tone was very frivolous, obviously malicious.Gu Yan's heart sank, and the aunt in charge of the Shangyi Bureau on the steps had already lowered her body and bowed to the man: "His Royal Highness Yu was joking, here are all maids waiting to enter the palace, how could there be someone from His Royal Highness Sui?" After sweeping around the little maids who were standing in a daze in the courtyard under the corridor, he scolded, "Why don't you greet His Royal Highness King Yu soon? What about the rules I taught you?"

A few little maids were taught by their aunts, so they hurriedly lowered their bodies. Gu Yan also followed the etiquette taught by the aunts, put aside the burden in his hand, and kowtowed to the man with the little maids in the corridor: "I have seen His Royal Highness Yu Wang."

"It's too polite." King Yu drew a circle on the top of everyone's head with his fan, and finally pointed at Gu Yan with a sneer, "I can still see this one. After all, it's King Sui's man, but he's better than others."

His tone was unrelenting, and the aunts of Shangyi Bureau looked at each other, knowing that today's matter would be difficult.

King Yu is the youngest cousin of the emperor. Old King Yu died on the battlefield to save the late emperor. Tolerant, not very fussy with him.I don't know why, this little uncle and King Sui are incompatible, arrogant and bold, with a habit of not listening to persuasion, and dare to quarrel with others in the court class when he gets angry, and now he is embarrassing a small candidate Maid, isn't it easy to catch her with a lift of her hand?

"His Royal Highness Yu was joking." Zhao Rong trot in from the outside panting, and bowed to show the roster in front of this golden branch and jade leaf, "Now there are 47 maids for the re-examination, and the list of resumes is on it. Your Highness, please take a look." .”

"The king is impatient to watch," King Yu didn't even look at him, with a sneer on his face, "Pull everyone out, and read to this king one by one!"

Several aunts winked at each other, and the aunt in charge clapped her hands. The 47 alternate maids lined up in the yard according to the order of the list. One of them was Zhao Rongxuan, and the other went to kowtow to King Yu.

Gu Yan was in the Huangzi team. According to the order of the list, it was No. 30 and nine. Zhao Rong knew that King Yu had the most impatient temper, and he came and went quickly. Only when I talked about the second one, King Yu waved his hand impatiently, and pointed at Gu Yan: "Why are you so wordy, just read her to me!"

"Yes." Zhao Rong groaned in his heart, bowed with a smile on his face, straightened up and preached, "Hu Ruanniang!"

Gu Yan walked through a few rows of little maids, and kowtowed to King Yu five steps away from King Yu with full courtesy: "Hu Ruanniang has met Your Highness, Your Highness is safe and blessed with a long life."

"The figure is not bad, and the voice is not bad." King Yu stepped forward two steps, supported Gu Yan's chin with a fan, forced her to raise her head, and glanced at Gu Yuan's face inch by inch, "It's not perfect, but it's better It has a good temperament, not tacky, and is comfortable to the eye."

It was extremely humiliating for a young lady who had not been out of the court to be touched like this. Zhao Rong felt anxious. From the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of Gu Yan still kneeling on the ground with his eyes downcast, as if he didn't care, so he breathed a sigh of relief. , stepped forward and smiled apologetically: "Your Highness, this one was picked out from the Clothes Bureau. He has been in the palace for many years and has not been able to get a job, so he looks better than the other ones—"

"Can the Huanyi Bureau come out like this?" King Yu raised the fan again, seeing Gu Yan's face was quiet and indifferent, without a hint of guilt, he withdrew the fan and smiled coldly, "King Sui nodded , I know what she is going to say in the next sentence! Such a character, I saw from head to toe, there is nothing that King Sui doesn’t like! Jingchang sends scriptures to various palaces every winter solstice, you let her go to Suiwang’s mansion , King Sui asks for someone, can the palace give it? Say, you didn’t have this idea, huh?”

"Your Highness was joking." Zhao Rong's smile froze a bit, "Your Highness is wise, if it's like this, the servants can just send him to His Highness Sui's residence, why bother?"

"I really don't know your tricks?" King Yu snorted, "At present, the old concubine Sui is in charge of the house, and she is allowed to raise the fetus, and no one else is allowed to enter, otherwise she can be so peaceful?" He said He smiled grimly at Gu Yuan, "Say, did you decide to enter the palace because you wanted to follow Sui Wangfu's doorway and couldn't get in? What kind of wealth do you want for being so flattering?"

"Slaves who have entered the palace, what kind of wealth can they want?" Gu Yan bowed his head and knelt on the ground indifferently, without moving. Zhao Rong was afraid that she would say something, so he hurriedly took the words over, "Is it just to flatter you? The master above, get a good job to show his face, serve the master well, and get some blessings and wealth!"

"Well said!" King Yu sneered, his gaze fixed on Zhao Rong like a nail, "I think she is a good seedling, and I am willing to give her a good fortune. Tell me, according to the rules, can this king be the one to make the decision?" ?”

Zhao Rong's shirt was wet with sweat on his back, and he forced a smile on his face and said: "Your Highness is the Deputy Zong Ling, so it is natural to be the master."

King Yu's eyes fell on Gu Yan again: "Will she agree?"

Gu Yuan remained silent, Zhao Rong hurriedly answered: "His Royal Highness's favor is the result of her three lifetimes of cultivation, how could she not agree?"

"It's always good to be willing, so as not to mention it in the future, and say that the king is bullying others." King Yu looked at Gu Yan with a pleasing expression, but the look in his eyes was still cold, "I won't make it difficult for you, just look at it." There is a good job vacant, I think you are good, your age and appearance are suitable. You don't need to re-elect, even if you are promoted by this king, you can go directly to the factory and wait for the distribution after the Wanshou Festival—— How about serving in front of His Majesty, is it enough to show your face and rich enough?"

Zhao Rong wished he could agree for Gu Yuan. With sweat in his hand, he looked at Gu Yuan. Seeing her leaning over and kowtowing to thank her, he hurriedly congratulated Gu Yuan.

King Yu looked at him with a cold smile, flicked his sleeves, and led the people away.When everyone was gone, Zhao Rong heaved a sigh of relief, his legs softened, he staggered, and almost sat down on the bluestone floor.

"Little lady is really blessed!" He leaned on the wall with one hand and stroked his chest with the other, and let out a sigh of relief, "But it's a blessing in disguise. Although the factory is quiet, you can't show your face in front of the master. It's not serious." Errands. In the palace, those who can be stained with the word "Yu" are the most precious! Don't care what you do in front of the imperial court, as long as you get a dragon's spirit, you will be looked down upon. Most of the errands in the imperial court are done by eunuchs, little lady If you go, it won’t be any clumsy work, it’s just serving tea and water, the little lady is so smart, she can’t go wrong!”

The aunts were winking, and had already sent the other little maids away on their errands. The courtyard was empty, only Gu Yuan and Zhao Rong were there.Zhao Rong kept his voice down and said for a long time. Seeing that Gu Yan was still kneeling on the ground with his head down, he glanced around and raised his voice slightly: "Little lady, don't you think about it and plan to resist the king's order? It’s not a joke! That’s the emperor’s uncle, not to mention being in a hurry, even if he doesn’t move, just winks, those fawning people move their hearts, it’s enough for people like us to drink a pot! I'm not talking nonsense to scare you—"

"Master Zhao's words are all good words." Gu Yan raised his head, with a smoky smile on his pale face, "I didn't understand this truth before, but now I understand it."

"It's good to understand." Zhao Rong breathed a sigh of relief, and was not surprised by Gu Yuan's expression, and continued to mutter and persuade, "Who in the palace has no grievances? Arms can't twist thighs, we slaves, we can't be single-minded As if to keep up with the boss! In fact, the job is also simple. If you want to do a good job, you have to flatter. What is flattery? It’s just to please the boss. I gave it away. The Buddhist teachings say that the human body is rare, and it is not easy to reincarnate into a human womb. Why bother to sacrifice yourself? If you are happy with the service, let’s not talk about rewarding money and gifts. You can. Mr. Cui of Ningshou Palace, don’t look like an internal official. He saved the late emperor’s family back then, and the late emperor gave his family’s adoptive son a Captain Yunqi! The little lady is so smart, and she will have a bright future in the imperial court Can't go wrong!"

Gu Yuan listened quietly to his babbling, but suddenly remembered a few words Cui Chengxiu had said to herself.

"The contract is a mutual agreement, and there is no way to force it—" She smiled wryly and whispered to herself, Zhao Rong's chatter suddenly stopped, "Ah? What did the little lady say?"

"It's just a few gossips, it's nothing important." Gu Yan smiled at him, "Master Zhao, let's continue."

Seeing that her face was as pale as paper, Zhao Rong thought for a while and stopped talking: "I can't say that much for a while, it's still early for the Longevity Festival, let's take our time. The little lady was shocked today, and I can't say that much earlier. Go back and rest! There is a re-election tomorrow, you are promoted by His Royal Highness King Yu, so you don’t need to participate, just take a good rest—"

"Please help me, master." Gu Yan bowed deeply at him, "I heard that the maids selected in the re-election, although they can no longer go out of the palace, can still meet with their families at the gate of the palace and say goodbye. Several of my fellow countrymen are in Beijing Here, there are a few words to advise, I don't know if it will work or not?"

"This is also a matter of the rules. At that time, the little lady will go with me." Zhao Rong agreed with a smile. Seeing Gu Yuan enter the room, he also walked into the Xihua Gate and walked along the corridor to the Jingchang. Still thinking about it, King Yu is not a good person to get along with. Seeing that he has bad intentions, what kind of errand can he arrange for this young lady Gu?

"Isn't it because she came from the Clothes Bureau, so let her go wash the dragon robe?" He thought to himself, but also couldn't help laughing.It is obvious that Miss Gu is the emperor's favorite person, as long as she shows her face in front of the imperial court, she will be promoted, why should I worry about it?

"His Royal Highness Sui's chess move is really a stroke of genius!" muttering to himself, he tiptoed to look at the bright yellow glazed tile roof of Qinghe Palace from a distance, and walked slowly.

The emperor had just taken a nap at the moment, and he was critiquing papers in Dongnuange to meet people as usual.The second day was the palace examination ceremony, the courtiers were so busy that they didn't touch the ground, and there were not many people to meet, so the emperor had half a day to relax.She read the memorials one by one, and handed them to the female officer to take them out, picked up the top three exam papers on the desk, and flipped through them. She was lost in thought for a while, and her face darkened again.

The emperor is not in a good mood recently. Although he looks calm in front of people, when he is alone, there is a hint of gloom in his brows from time to time.Wei Fengchun pondered secretly for a long time, but couldn't find any clue. Seeing that the emperor called Cui Chengxiu to ask him alone from time to time, he couldn't touch it at all, so he could only secretly feel anxious.

On this day the emperor recruited Cui Chengxiu as usual, Wei Fengchun gave Cui Chengxiu a sneaky look, and retreated disgruntled.The latter sneered at his actions and didn't care at all. With the presence of the young master's family, what is such a small stumbling block?

Director Cui was full of satisfaction in secret, with an honest face on his face, he bowed his hands and replied to the emperor: "The letter from the Luanyi Bureau yesterday, Fu Zhao has arrived in Songjiang Mansion, and Master Xu's letter has been delivered to the prefect of Songjiang Mansion. , he sent someone to the academy to inquire, but Miss Gu hasn't arrived at home yet."

On August [-]th, the emperor sent someone to guard the Shenwu Gate for a day and a night. He never waited for Gu Yuan, thinking that Gu Yuan had already left Beijing. Now that he heard that Gu Yuan had not returned home, he immediately frowned: "Why are you still here?" not here?"

"My servant also asked about it." Cui Chengxiu was confident, "The boats on the canal are very tight these two days, and Miss Gu must have been delayed on the way, not to mention that according to the usual itinerary, the waterway will take more than half a month to arrive. Master Fu left It’s a land route, and it’s a journey day and night, the two sides are incomparable. How about I go out of the palace tomorrow and go to the two young ladies Xu and Li to inquire about which route Miss Gu took?”

Fu Zhao was a member of a thousand households in the Beijing camp. The emperor sent him to Wuzhou under the guise of inspecting the river dike and arresting fugitives from the Zheng Party. The purpose was to avoid attracting the attention of the courtiers. Xu Xi and Li Qing lived in the homes of six subordinate officials. The emperor thought for a moment, but suppressed the worry and anxiety in his heart: "No need. Even if you meet on the road, you should go around. Now all the courtiers are staring at you." She said Thinking of Xu Zhixuan's memorial, he sneered again, "The dog jumps over the wall in a hurry, waiting to get the handle to overturn the case. If you have something to do with her at this time, you are harming her. You send a letter to Fu Zhao, find a suitable person, and see what the Gu family can do." What kind of livelihood, think of a way to take care of it, so that you will not have to worry about money, let her go home, rest for a while, and make plans to go to Beijing after the new year."

"Yes." Cui Chengxiu answered yes, and then went out, Wei Fengchun entered the hall, "My lord, King Yu handed over the sign to see you."

"What can he do?" The emperor was diligent, and this playboy uncle who was fighting cocks and horses was usually indifferent, and they didn't have much to talk to each other, and it was the first time that they took the initiative to meet.The emperor asked in surprise, and not long after, King Yu entered the hall with his servants, and greeted the emperor with a big grin, "Looking at the longevity, I will give you a gift, do you know if you will accept it or not?"