shark [rebirth]

The night before the palace banquet, it rained all night in Jiangling, from the moon hanging in the clouds to the dawn breaking.

On the wet central axis of the royal capital, the carriages of silk and silk are driving towards the palace one after another. The tall and handsome horses wear gold-plated bridle buckles. .

Two broad-shouldered, broad-hoofed, proud horses passed between the stable carriages, splashing fine sprays on the accumulated rain, the cowhide saddle bridles were fogged, and the nobles in the carriage raised their horns when they heard the sound. Car curtain to look, but I saw the two backs of the horse holding the rein, and it was far away. The black gray is cold and straight, the frost color is clear and arrogant, and the horse's hooves hit the ground heavily, as if it was punishing. The momentum of cutting thousands of troops.

"King Rui's horse shines at night." Someone recognized it.

"Who is that next to him?"

Until outside the gate of Changqing, the reins were drawn in, the steed neighed, the iron hooves stomped on the spot a few times, then stopped calmly, raised their heads and swung their bright mane, the two people on the horse stepped down, and the palace attendants ran up Take the reins.

Within the nine gates, the rules are as strict as the sky. A pale and slender hand under the wide-sleeved robe picked up a black iron engraved token, and the guard on duty at the palace gate saluted: "His Royal Highness King Rui!"

A ray of light flashed in Xu Jin's peripheral vision, and he looked sideways, along the magnificent outer palace wall to the other end, a glazed red sandalwood six-horse carriage slowly stopped outside the palace gate.

The maid Yin Yin waited beside the carriage with her head bowed, and a smoky look came out of the carriage, and she changed into a chariot and entered the palace gate.

"That's Rou Zhang Di Ji."

Pei Heng followed his gaze and took a look.

Pei Heng and Xu Jin walked towards the red walls and black tiles under the guidance of the palace people. The palace people lowered their heads, but they all tried to see the people around Prince Rui clearly in the blink of an eye.

Walking to the third gate, another group of palace people have been waiting for a long time and stepped forward to salute.Pei Heng stopped in his tracks and said to Xu Jin: "The courtiers must go to Fengtian Hall to face the saint first, you go with them first." Xu Jin and Pei Heng went separately.

The palace servant who led Xu Jin was Eunuch Dexian, who asked Xu Jin, "It's still early, if you don't want to go to Mingde Palace first, you can take a stroll first."

Xu Jin followed the palace servants to go around the West Garden first.

There is a large lake in the west garden, shaded by clusters of flowers and branches. As soon as Xu Jinfu entered, he saw the smooth waves of the lake, a snow-white and soft figure, looking down at the water, looking at his own reflection, it was Young Master Gu.

There are many people around him, the leader is a beautiful girl in a light yellow palace silk dress, her eyes are as clear as water, her eyebrows are like distant black, cold and noble, her posture is like bamboo, and there is still displeasure in her expression.

The servant girl next to the girl shoved Young Master Gu: "Dirty my lady's dress and shoes, why don't you kneel down and apologize?"

Young Master Gu was staggered by her push, raised his head, a little aggrieved: "I accidentally bumped into her, I have already apologized, and said I will pay you, but you are not willing, can kneeling make the dress clean? ?”

The maid said angrily: "You are a demon slave, if you are in our Sun's residence, you are the most inferior plaything, how dare you contradict people when you enter the palace?"

There was a hint of disgust in the girl's voice that couldn't be concealed: "Ah Qing, why are you trying to reason with him? I have to change my clothes."

A group of maidservants came forward and were about to kneel down on Young Master Gu, but the maid Ah Qing grabbed Young Master Gu's limp hair from the back of her head, grabbed his arm and kicked him in the hollow of his knee.

Young Master Gu was weak, he was grabbed and pulled by the rough servants, he screamed out in pain, he couldn't struggle, and in desperation, he gathered his spiritual power, grabbed his elbow, and gave Ah Qing to him. Throwing it into the lake, there was a dull "plop" and fell into the water. Ah Qing swam up and screamed as he grabbed the stones on the lake bank, his head and face covered in water, he was in a panic.

The rest of the people intensified their efforts to hold down Young Master Gu, the palace servants hurried forward to help block, and a group of people made a fuss by the lake.The aristocratic girl was also shocked, but she watched coldly and did not speak.

Xu Jin stepped over the noble girl, his slender and powerful hand, as soon as he stretched it out, he pulled Young Master Gu out of the chaos, and stuffed it behind his back to block it tightly: "I have already heard the apology that should be heard, why should the girl waste time to be pestered by her subordinates?" ?”

The girl turned around, firstly surprised by his appearance, but also oppressed by his cold and dangerous aura, which overflowed from his faintly poised posture, making her take half a step back involuntarily.

The maid Ah Qing was dragged ashore in embarrassment, drenched all over, trembling with rage, and felt extremely ashamed and wanted to hide, unable to say a word.

The young girl's expression was always indifferent and arrogant, she calmly said: "Well said, why waste time, since you are hurting someone in the Demon Slave Palace, I will take it to the Qingyu Palace and deal with it according to the law!"

Xu Jin frowned, and from the two words she bit down hard, she could tell that she had no prejudice against Yao Nu.

Master Gu trembled all over, clutching Xu Jin's sleeves and said, "Just go, if the laws of Qingyu Palace are fair, even if my Yuan Dan is broken, I won't say a word!"

A deep and soft male voice came: "If you are so courageous, if you want to break the Yuan Pill, why don't you ask Ben Hou first?"

Everyone followed the sound and saw Yan Yunhou in purple walking over with a half-smile, his eyes only on Young Master Gu.

On Ziyang Bailan's path, King Rui Pei Heng and a woman followed.

Hua Zhong approached, pointed at Young Master Gu's chin and looked at him carefully: "Being more and more generous, you don't even want your life anymore?"

When Young Master Gu saw him, his eyes suddenly turned red, and he was full of grievances that were tightly held in his chest, but they couldn't be sealed all of a sudden, and he wanted to throw himself into Hua Zhong's arms but didn't dare, but Hua Zhong just let him go He embraced him, raised his head and smiled at the girl: "My little friend has offended me so much, how to compensate and how to make up for it, you and I discuss it. It's easy for the person who insists on touching me, let your father directly mobilize troops to grab it."

Everyone was shocked when they heard the words. Marquis Yan Yun always laughed but was not joking when he said these words. The Sun Mansion must hand over the heads of several evil servants. The most vicious servants have already lost their legs. .

The girl's name is Sun Mengting, she was born in the Sun family of Dayan's first relative, and the queen mother is her aunt.

The Sun family is powerful and the emperor's kindness is prosperous. Under one surname, there are three high-ranking officials in the dynasty: An Guogong, Sun Yongshang, and Sun Zhuyi.

Sun Mengting is the legitimate daughter of Sun Yongshang, Shangshu of the Ministry of War. She comes from a prominent family background, has both talent and appearance, and is the No. 1 noble daughter in the capital.Her cousin raised a demon slave to shame people everywhere, which made her hate all demon slaves.

Xu Jin walked to Pei Heng's side.The woman next to Pei Heng was dressed in a smoky-colored silk dress, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with soft eyebrows, a slender neck and flowing hairpin like a fairy, and a pair of clear eyes with a bit of heroism.

She smiled brightly and looked over sincerely: "You are Xu Jin? Nice to meet you."

Pei Heng said: "This is Rou Zhang Di Ji, she was the one I saw from a distance outside the palace gate earlier."

Xu Jin had a crush on Rou Zhang Di Ji, her appearance, especially her lips and chin, was somewhat similar to Pei Heng.Yidi Gongsha has wide sleeves, but has a neat demeanor.

Xu Jin bowed to Emperor Ji, Pei Heng leaned closer and said with a smile: "My sister is very good at martial arts, she is the number one female in the capital."

Rouzhang Diji laughed when she heard the words: "I can afford this title."

Sun Mengting's thick long eyelashes drooped, and she bowed her head to Yan Yunhou: "Master Hou speaks seriously, it's not a big deal, let's forget it, I also apologize, after all, it was my servant who did it first."

Hua Zhong lightly patted Young Master Gu on the back, with a smile on his beautiful face, but there was no dust in his eyes: "The compensation will be sent to Sun's residence, and the one who fell into the water seems to be his own fault, so I don't care about it."

It's not that Sun Mengting and Yan Yunhou have no friendship at all. They also got along together in Beijing and China when they were young. Her soft eyebrows and eyes are not turbulent: "Master Hou is born."

Young Master Gu regained his strength and stood up. He turned his head and met Sun Mengting. Sun Mengting looked away. After all, she didn't like demon slaves, more precisely, she hated them.

"The Queen Mother arrives—"

The eunuchs sang and drank, and the always quiet West Garden was extremely lively.

The queen mother is less than 30 years old, and she looks young, with clear eyebrows in the distance, and phoenix hairpins and high maids are stacked like a cloud.Because of worshiping the Buddha for many years, sandalwood in the Buddhist altar is faintly hidden around him, and the guard of honor stretches behind him, surrounded by a group of eunuchs and maids.

"Are all the young people gathered here?" The Queen Mother signaled everyone to excuse her, and she was a little puzzled with her smile, "Why is it not very pleasant to watch?"

The queen mother was followed by a minister, who was about 50 or [-] years old, majestic and resolute, and dressed in python robes.With sharp eyes, he caught sight of the embarrassed servant girl behind Sun Mengting, frowned and said: "Look at this disgrace in front of the palace, you still don't back down! What happened?"

Sun Mengting explained: "Uncle, it's just a small misunderstanding, it's nothing."

This minister is Sun Mengting's uncle, one of the three members of the Sun family, Yushi Zhongcheng and Sun Zhuyi.

"Meng Ting, follow me to change clothes." Rou Zhang Di Ji said.

"You have Sister Lao."

A few steps away, Sun Mengting saw Pei Heng, the coldness in his eyes seemed to have melted a little, and he turned his back and said, "I made the prince laugh."

Hua Zhong had already made a deal for Young Master Gu, and Pei Heng didn't get involved just now, so there's no need to give anyone more face or less color at this moment, he smiled kindly: "Why do you get more polite as you get older?"

Pei Heng's father and Sun Mengting's father and uncle went to the battlefield together, and the two families were once close friends.Sun Mengting used to follow Pei Heng and the others when she was a child, she was considered a little sister, but now she hasn't seen each other for a long time, and she is very unfamiliar.

Seeing Xu Jin's face, Sun Zhuyi asked casually, "Who is this young master?"

For a moment all eyes were on Xu Jin, only to see the young man's stern appearance, lacquer in his eyes, flirtatious at the corners of his lips and eyebrows, no one would allow anyone to attack him.Standing beside Pei Heng, the two of them were bright and dark, one was bright and the other was Shen Ye, so Mr. Jinghua was going to add this one.

Before waiting for an answer, Sun Zhuyi and Sun Mengting both noticed the Ruiwangfu adornment on Xu Jin's waist.He immediately guessed that this was the "new love" that King Rui brought back from Laizhou.

Pei Heng and An Guogong are in the same situation, but he can clearly see the grievances and grievances, and he has never vented his anger casually. He gave Sun Zhuyi a junior courtesy, nodded slightly and said: "Master Sun, his name is Xu Jin, and he is someone close to me."

Sun Zhuyi's face was a little ugly, obviously dissatisfied with showing up with his "male favourite" ostentatiously.

He flicked the sleeves of the boa robe, and was about to say a few words as an elder with his hands behind his back, when Sun Mengting said in time: "The palace banquet is about to start, everyone go to the front hall with the queen mother, I will go with the emperor to change clothes first. "

Sun Mengting was brought up by an aristocratic family after all, and her conversation was appropriate, she persuaded her at the right time, and she followed suit, and even the Queen Mother didn't say anything, and everyone accompanied her to the left and right.

Sun Mengting followed the Queen Mother out of the West Garden, looked at Pei Heng's back, and saw Pei Heng and Xu Jin walking slowly side by side, sometimes turning their heads to talk to each other, there was an unspeakable tacit understanding between the two.

Although there is not much intimacy, tacit understanding is the deepest intimacy.Sun Mengting pursed her lips and retracted her gaze, followed Rou Zhang Di Ji to the north, and went to Yuehua Hall to change clothes.

Not a few steps later, Lv Esa led Feng Xuanwei to walk from the corridor of the palace. He was wearing a gold-thread embroidered tiger roar pattern military uniform, holding a Qinglu sword in his hand, and his deep eyebrows were resolute and handsome. salute.

Rouzhang Diji's eyes lit up, and she asked slowly, "My lord, is you on duty in the palace today?"

Luesa's cold and serious expression softened, and he tightened his fingers holding the saber, and said with a smile: "There are many people at the palace banquet, Feng Xuanwei will patrol and strengthen the guards in the palace."

Rouzhang Diji raised her eyebrows, and her ears were slightly red: "Your Excellency, go and get busy. Ninth Brother and Lord Hou are also here. You can have a few drinks later."

Everyone in the circle in Beijing used to be playmates, Rouzhang Diji, Lv Esa, Pei Heng and Huazhong have been friends for many years.

In particular, Diji and Luesa are in love with each other, and they are about to get married.

Sun Mengting looked up into the mist, and said with a faint smile: "I really envy my sister, who can meet a lover who loves each other."

Rouzhang Diji was a little shy, but she smiled calmly: "I haven't got any results here yet. Besides, you should have something after a while."

Enter the palace for the queen?Sun Mengting smiled, neither nodded nor shook his head.

She turned her head and took a look from a distance, only to see King Rui walking with Xu Jin with a frosty back, among the crowd, they could be seen at a glance.

She turned her head and looked at the layers of glazed green tiles, with a hollow smile on her lips.

In the past, she always dreamed that her lover would like her one day.

Sun Mengting is the daughter of a noble family, born in a tripod with tassels, and studied poetry and calligraphy with the best husband since she was a child. Her mother's first-hand piano, chess, calligraphy and painting have all been passed down to her. She said that she wanted to enter the East Palace, so she just waited, waiting for Feng Guanxia, Waiting for the three kneeling and nine knocking of the five mountains and seas.

But what she waited for first was durian blossoms were better than fire, King Rui returned to the north, ordinary children did not dare to cling to him, only Marquis Yanyun and Lv Esa talked and laughed with him boldly.Looking at the white horse with silver saddle among the shadows, she suddenly wondered if she could not enter the East Palace.

She saw that King Rui returned to Beijing every year in the cold and snow, and congratulated him for the victory.She saw him showing off his honor, but she also saw her father and uncle personally arrange the layout, Quanping Port was defeated in the first battle, and King Rui fell.So if she didn't speak, she didn't have the right to ask any more, so she could only quietly have a big dream of a lover.

The Sun family imprisoned him on the battlefield, trapped him in the capital, and even killed him one day, but he never vented his anger when facing himself.He smiled warmly as if to say, "You are just that little girl, what did you do wrong?"

How much she wanted to run back, forever, always be the little girl under the pomegranate tree, the boy with silver saddle and white horse who could be seen at a glance among the noisy people.

Pei Heng took her out of the family enmity without hesitation.This tolerance is like a thick and warm sea, forgiving her cleanliness, forgiving her kindness, and tolerant of all the grievances, helplessness and unwillingness in her fate.She has no possibility of marrying her sweetheart, she will become a queen, she seems to have everything in the world, but she is poor and has nothing.

So Dameng was in a daze, and her tall branches finally became her cage.

Sun Mengting looked at Rouzhang Diji and saw her smile on Lv Esa, always got the same smile back, and even her heart got the same sincerity.

I am really envious, Rouzhang Diji, and that strange handsome boy.

——Dreams that she never got, one was broken before her eyes, and the other was realized before her eyes.

The engraved gate of Yuehua Palace was closed, and the palace servants shuttled back and forth and bowed their heads. Sun Mengting changed into a silver embroidered crimson brocade, and the hem of the robe was winding and shining.

In the dark hall, a soreness spread in her chest.

"elder sister……"

Full of envy and brokenness, blessing and despair, she leaned on the shoulder of Rouzhang Emperor Ji An Ning, trying to absorb some warmth.

When the door of the palace was reopened, she took the arm of Emperor Ji Rouzhang and slowly walked out of the main hall, the golden tinsel on her temples shook gently, and the sun shone on their soft and young faces, showing no trace of sadness.

Not far or close to the side of the empress dowager, Xu Jin said: "Yan Yunhou has murderous intentions today, if it were someone else, those servants would not be able to survive."

Hua Zhong defended Young Master Gu, and didn't need a harsh word, but the sullenness was real, and everyone could clearly feel it.

Pei Heng said slowly: "Meng Ting was acquainted with us when I was young, so I always want to save some face for my little sister. Besides, she is the future master of the harem, so she also has to give face to the emperor."

Not far away, Hua Chong was teasing Young Master Gu as he walked, his arms kept wrapping around his thin shoulders, and the wide purple brocade sleeves almost covered the soft white robe. Clothes sleeves, raised his head, sometimes angry and sometimes smiled, and his steps became brisk again.

Coming to the back of Mingde Hall, Xu Jin sensed something, glanced back inadvertently, and suddenly grabbed Pei Heng: "The devilish energy over there is the same as that haunting King Huaiyuan!"

Pei Heng followed the direction he was pointing to, and it was the courtyard behind the side hall, Ningqing Garden.

Xu Jin felt that Pei Heng's body was visibly stiff, and then said slowly, "Let's go and have a look."

They left the crowd calmly, and Pei Heng found an unmanned path before walking towards Ningqingyuan.

"Wandering around the palace without authorization is a violation of the palace rules?" Xu Jin asked. Jin Yu showed him the palace's prohibitions. There were hundreds of them in a thick stack. He scanned them all and roughly remembered them.

Pei Heng smiled: "Ning Qingyuan does not belong to the inner garden of the imperial palace, you can enter it, but something happened there before, and it has been abandoned for a long time."

Xu Jin followed him all the way to Ningqingyuan, but the surroundings were really desolate.It is obvious that the imperial palace is surrounded by towers and pavilions, but in this not-so-remote place, there is a quietness like a cold palace.

After checking the surroundings, there was no restriction, Xu Jin used his spiritual power, and gently wiped Pei Heng's eyebrows with his finger, so that he could see the devilish energy clearly.

The world in Pei Heng's eyes suddenly changed. There was a faint auspicious auspiciousness of purple gold over the palace, the looming demonic aura and remnants of dead souls everywhere, and the swirling black mist not far from Ningqingyuan.

"People of your royal family have spiritual veins, and you should feel it when you get close." Xu Jin listened carefully to the surrounding movements, and walked into the old and faded palace gate with Pei Heng, and walked into this desolation.

Pei Heng was in a turbulent mood, he tried his best to calmly say: "It's a bit cold coming in."

Xu Jin nodded: "We'll stay soon, come here."

There are many formations and restrictions placed by Wen Ge in the palace. Xu Jin could not use his spiritual power arbitrarily, so he hugged Pei Heng to block the erosion of the devil energy for him, and at the same time silenced the two people's voices.

Go all the way along the dusty corridor, step through a narrow door and a moon door, the yard is overgrown with weeds, and the door and window posts are old and crooked.That wisp of devilish energy floated over the courtyard like rootless duckweed.

Xu Jin frowned: "The devilish energy without a master...this is bait."

Pei Heng was not worried at all, and raised his brows: "Bait? Are you catching us?"

"Not necessarily."

Xu Jin suddenly embraced Pei Heng, and dodged behind a clump of wildly growing plantains. The two chests were pressed together. He pulled Pei Heng into his arms, and the tip of his nose was almost touching Pei Heng's ear.

He could feel Pei Heng's steady heartbeat, he held Pei Heng's wrist with one hand, and hooked his thin waistline with the other, motioning for silence.

Soon, two young eunuchs walked into the courtyard, rustling, a copper basin was placed on the ground and made the sound of metal clashing, followed by the sound of paper rubbing and a fire folding box.

"Don't light that stack, that paper will smoke!" said an eunuch.

Another person asked: "Fever in broad daylight, can it work?"

"You should try it at night and see if the imperial guards will let you go!"

A eunuch asked depressedly: "The old prince has been away for so many years, is there still a need to burn paper?"

"Do you think it is necessary? You will come if it is not necessary?"

Old prince?Xu Jin thought, is it Pei Heng's father?

"No, what I mean is that the old prince didn't die in the palace at all. Such a sacrifice method may not be accepted by others..."

"Shut up! You don't want to live?"

Pei Heng's shoulders and back suddenly stiffened and tensed, as if he was defending against an unknown deadly enemy, and even wanted to break away from Xu Jin and rush out.Xu Jin immediately hugged Pei Heng tightly, and gently comforted Pei Heng's back, and then gradually eased up.