fleeting photos

After living in the palace for a period of time, Lu Zhaohan was going back to the Lu Mansion. Before leaving, he went to Gong Zhengsi to say goodbye to Xie Jin. After hesitating several times, he still didn't dare to tell her about the leak.

She thought, since the left and right sisters are so busy, they probably wouldn't take it to heart.

After seeing off Lu Zhaohan, Xie Jin just returned to Gongzhengsi when another maid came to report that it was the aunt in charge of Xihe Palace who came to see her.Xie Jin's heart skipped a beat, his first reaction was that it had something to do with Ah Zhao, and he hurried out to meet him.

Qingshi stood by the courtyard wall, holding a simple food box in his hand.

In fact, she had never seen Xie Jin before, but she saw a woman in blue hurriedly approaching from a distance, and saw that she was beautiful, with a gentle temperament and a bookish air, which made her stand out among the other palace people.

Almost instantly, Qing Shi identified her identity.

Sure enough, seeing her stop in front of him, she bowed gracefully, and said in a gentle voice, "I've seen aunt."

"Xie Sizheng?"

"Yes."

When she was young, she saw that although her eyebrows were lowered and her eyes were pleasing to the eye, she was respectful but not flattering, rather neither humble nor overbearing.

She thought about it, but stopped talking. Sure enough, Xie Jin waited for a while and didn't see her explaining why she came, so she was a little anxious, looked up at her, and asked tentatively, "I don't know why my aunt came to Gongzhengsi?"

She thought she was hiding it, but Qing Shi still saw surprise and uneasiness in her eyes, so she deliberately said: "I was entrusted by Ah Zhao to come and have a look at you."

Xie Jin really took the bait, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with Ah Zhao?"

Qing Shi said lightly: "She's fine."

Xie Jin obviously didn't believe it. She had known Ah Zhao for many years, and she had never seen her get close to others, nor heard of anyone she had a good relationship with. How could she suddenly ask someone to come and see her?

What's more, Qingshi is not an ordinary maid in charge. Everyone knows that she is an old person around the Empress Dowager. She grew up watching His Majesty, and His Majesty is kind and treats her differently from others. There is indeed some respect in it.

Thinking of this, Xie Jin became even more uneasy, and even his complexion became extremely grim.

"Auntie." With pleading in her eyes, she asked Qing: "Is it Ah Zhao, what did you do wrong?"

She thought that Ah Zhao made a mistake and made His Majesty angry, so she was punished and could not come to see her. As the aunt in charge of Xihe Palace and a person trusted by His Majesty, Aunt Qingshi must know the inside story.

"Auntie, Ah Zhao is ignorant. If you do something wrong and offend noble people, I hope Your Majesty and Aunt Haihan, she is a good girl. Please ask Auntie to intercede for Azhao. I beg Auntie."

The more Xie Jin thought about it, the more frightened she became, and she knelt down in front of Qingshi excitedly.

Qing Shi was a little surprised, and hurriedly reached out to help her, and said helplessly, "What are you doing?"

Xie Jin had a sore nose, his eyes filled with puddles of water, he held Qingshi's arm but refused to get up, he just choked up and said, "Please save Azhao, Auntie, I am willing to be punished on her behalf!"

Qing Shi sighed: "I didn't say that she did something wrong, why did you do that?"

Seeing that Xie Jin still didn't believe it, Qingshi was angry and wanted to laugh, and explained to her: "I have a good relationship with Ah Zhao, she often mentions you to me, and when she heard that I had something to pass by Gong Zhengsi, she asked me to watch it for her. Look at you."

As she said that, she glanced at the food box on the ground, and said, "This contains peach blossom wine and almond cakes, which are gifts from His Majesty. She is not willing to eat them, so let me drop by and give them to you."

Xie Jin was a little dazed when he heard the words, sniffed and said, "Is this true?"

"Can I still lie to you?" Qing Shi said, pulling her up with force on her arms.

Xie Jin turned around and wiped his eyes with the corner of his sleeve, his eyes fell on the food box, Qing Shi picked up the food box and stuffed it into her hand, saying: "She wants to know that I made you cry, You have to lose your temper."

"No." Xie Jin quickly retorted, and whispered: "She won't lose her temper."

Qingshi looked at her meaningfully for a while, and said, "I still have things to do, so I won't stay here any longer."

Xie Jin hurriedly said, "I'll send my aunt off."

"No need." Qing Shi shook his head, seeing that her eyes were still red, he instructed: "Although this peach blossom wine is extraordinarily mellow, it is the easiest to get drunk, and drinking alcohol will hurt your health. Xie Sizheng must remember not to overdose."

Xie Jin responded repeatedly. When I first saw her when I was young, I thought she was gentle, polite and well-mannered, but now I feel a little silly.

All the way back to Xihe Palace, she was thinking about Xie Jin.

Ever since Jiang Zhao confessed to her that day, while Qing Shi was surprised, he also felt that there was some clue.

She couldn't blame the king for his willfulness, so she could only persuade herself that it was Jiang Zhao who was obsessed and mistook dependence for love.

After thinking about it for a few days, I still decided to go to see Xie Jin. I still had some resentment towards her in my heart, thinking that His Majesty was good, but why was he "seduced" by her, and gave birth to outrageous thoughts.

After meeting Xie Jin and testing her, those grievances almost disappeared.

Jiang Zhao said that she admired Xie Jin, but Xie Jin didn't know about it, and she already had a sweetheart, so Jiang Zhao was willing to let her out of the palace to fulfill her marriage.

This is probably the best ending, but Jiang Zhao's expression at that time was too lonely. After all, she was the child Qingshi watched and grew up. Qingshi felt distressed, but there was no other way.

Qing Shi let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky.

Empress Dowager, if you were still alive, how would you handle this matter?

She has been by the Queen Mother's side since she entered the palace, and has been with her master and servant for nearly 20 years. Although the Queen Mother was born in the general family, she has the most gentle temperament and treats people kindly. .

Because of this, Qing Shi did not leave the palace when she was old, but chose to stay by the Queen Mother's side to serve her.

During the three years when the empress dowager had a quarrel with the late emperor and was cast into the cold palace, Qingshi was the only person by her side. If anyone in this world knew the empress dowager best, even parents, brothers, or the late emperor were far inferior to Qingshi. .

She understands the Queen Mother's persistence best, and also understands the Queen Mother's soft-heartedness best.

Jiang Zhao is the only child of the Empress Dowager. Although she has never had any deep feelings for the late emperor, she always has expectations and love for this child. She has always been a very qualified mother.

After being thrown into limbo, she missed and worried about her child all the time. In the dead of night, she wept to Zhuzhu, and repeatedly talked with Qing Shi about Jiang Zhao's childhood, and the two cried in each other's arms.

Her love for Jiang Zhao was gradually mixed with some guilt, and even after she was out of the cold palace, her doting on her daughter even turned into doting, Qingshi always saw it in her eyes.

So she thought, even if the Queen Mother is alive, she knows that Her Majesty is like this.

Probably wouldn't blame her either.

When Jiang Zhao returned to the bedroom at night, Qingshi hesitated for a moment, and told her about going to Xie Jin.

I thought His Majesty would complain to some extent, but I never thought that she would be silent for a moment, and just said lightly: "I understand."

"Your Majesty..." Qing Shi looked at her, hesitating to speak.

Jiang Zhao smiled and sighed softly: "I know that my aunt is worried about me, and my aunt has not done anything wrong to her, so I won't blame my aunt.

My aunt has seen it with her own eyes now, she has always treated me with the utmost benevolence, so even if I have monstrous power, I will not use it to embarrass her, if something is wrong, it is enough to do it once. "

She paused for a moment, then laughed again, and said to Qing Shi: "I could have let her leave the palace immediately, but I still have selfish intentions, I want to see her a few more times, and I don't think there will be any more opportunities in the future.

So I decided, in May, let her be with this group of maids who leave the palace, and I will have to trouble my aunt at that time. I want to give her something to live in, but I can't learn from the unknown, and I still need my aunt to work hard. "

Seeing her like this when she was young was both gratifying and distressing.

"Your Majesty is still young, and in the future you will always meet someone you can hold hands with for the rest of your life."

"My beloved?" Jiang Zhao repeated, but didn't say much, just shook his head with a smile.

In the next few days, Jiang Zhao will be busy with the imperial examinations. Although the left and right ministers are appointed as the examiners, it is something she values ​​after all. Many places have to be reviewed by herself. Seeing that the king is so serious, the people below follow suit.

Jiang Zhao sent people to visit secretly the descendants of the aristocratic families in Beijing, those who were quite knowledgeable and famous.

Although she intends to support poor students, if there are really great talents in the aristocratic family, she will not deliberately pretend not to see them.

The imperial examination is scheduled to be held on the eighth day of March. Candidates from various prefectures gather together in the Gongyuan to start the examination. Only one or two hundred candidates will be selected from nearly a thousand candidates. The examiner will first review them, and then select the top 200 candidates to enter the palace examination, and then the emperor will select three. Yuan.

The exam questions were written by Jiang Zhao, and they have been sealed in the imperial study so far. Even the left and right prime ministers don't know what they are.

It was not until the seventh day of March, the day before the imperial examinations, that Jiang Zhao was completely free.

This day happened to be a holiday, so Jiang Zhao spent the morning at the Martial Arts Hall to kill time, and in the afternoon he changed his clothes and went to Gong Zhengsi.

Most of the time, she went directly to Xie Jin's residence to look for her at night, and rarely went to Gong Zhengsi. This time, she had a whim, thinking that she hadn't met Xie Jin for several days, so she wanted to surprise her.

But when she arrived at Gong Zhengsi, she couldn't find anyone. She asked a little maid who was probably not one of Xie Jin's subordinates.

Jiang Zhao was a little helpless, and was about to leave when he happened to meet Xu Yiren who had come back from outside.

"Azhao." Xu Yiren saw her first and called out.

Jiang Zhaoying went over to her reputation, and was about to say hello to her, but saw Liu Xifeng standing beside her, and hurriedly lowered her head.

This Liu Gongzheng was probably the only person in Gongzhengsi who had met His Majesty. Because Xie Jin worked under her, Jiang Zhao had a deep impression on Liu Xifeng.

Although Liu Xifeng didn't look up at her because he didn't dare to face Tianyan directly, and he might not know what His Majesty looks like, but just in case, Jiang Zhao still felt a little guilty.

"My servant has met Mr. Gong Zheng, Xu Sizheng."

Jiang Zhao made a blessing and stood in front of them with his head bowed.

Liu Xifeng is also a person with broad knowledge, although he has not seen his face, but his demeanor and aura, he feels that he is different from others.It's just that Jiang Zhao's clothes are very ordinary, and she didn't think deeply about it.

Xu Yiren said: "Don't be too reserved in front of my master, you are here to find Jinniang, right?"

Jiang Zhao nodded and said: "Today, I wanted to visit Sister A in my free time, but I didn't expect her to be here. I was rude."

"Hey, Jinniang drank wine the night before yesterday, she was a little drunk, probably because she didn't cover the quilt well, and she was a little cold, Master let her rest at ease to recuperate, so she doesn't have to come here for a few days."

As Xu Yiren said, he turned his head and introduced to Liu Xifeng: "Master probably knows something about it. This is Jinniang's younger sister, named Ah Zhao, who is now working in Xihe Palace."

Liu Xifeng nodded and glanced at Jiang Zhao again.

At this time, Jiang Zhao raised his head and said anxiously: "Why is sister sick again? She is always weak, but this time she is seriously ill. Have you invited the imperial doctor to see her?"

Xu Yiren saw that she was really flustered, so he smiled and comforted her: "I have already asked the imperial doctor to see her, and he said that there is nothing serious, just drink some decoction and rest for two days, you don't have to worry too much."

Seeing her gentle attitude, thinking that what she said was true, Jiang Zhao made up his mind, and said again: "Then I will go and see her now, Sister Yiren, Liu Gongzheng, I will take my leave first."

"Go." Xu Yiren nodded.

Jiang Zhao nodded to them, and hurriedly strode away from Gong Zhengsi.

Liu Xifeng looked back at her back, his brows were slightly wrinkled, and there was some deep thought in his eyes.

Xu Yiren asked, "What is Master looking at?"

"It's nothing." Liu Xifeng looked away, and said lightly: "This girl has a deep relationship with Jinniang."

Xu Yiren smiled and said: "Master is right, Jinniang is kind-hearted, and Azhao is not an ungrateful person. It is a blessing for the two of them to support each other in this deep palace. They are really as close as sisters."

Liu Xifeng didn't answer her words, but just asked: "You just said that she is working in Xihe Palace?"

"That's right." Xu Yiren said knowing everything: "Probably because of his handsome appearance and cleverness, he has been transferred to the imperial court since His Majesty ascended the throne. Otherwise, Jinniang would definitely bring her to look after her."

Liu Xifeng nodded and didn't say anything more.