The Dragon's Families of Mountains and Rivers

New Year's sacrifices, grand banquets for ministers and foreign envoys are scheduled to be held on the first day of the Lunar New Year and the New Year's Eve on the [-]th of each year. Family banquets are held in the palace for the royal family.

Except for the emperor's elder brother who is far away in the south of the Yangtze River, the rest of the king's clan members are all in the clan land and have not lived in Beijing for a long time. The queen mother worships Buddha and lives in a Buddhist temple all year round. nothing else.

After entering the twelfth lunar month, the empress encountered difficulties. In previous years, there were many people in the palace, and this family banquet could barely be decent, but this year, there were only her and Concubine De left in the palace. The emperor always sat down and left. Can we still have a family dinner?

As a result, before she went to ask for an order, the emperor took the lead in issuing an order to exempt family banquets in the palace this year. When the Lantern Festival is on the 15th of the new year, the empress dowager and the royal family will go to Beijing to make preparations.

After receiving the decree, the empress was dumbfounded for a long time before she finally came back to her senses. She was helped up from the ground by the maid of honor. She staggered and fell to the couch. mother into the palace.

The mother and daughter closed the door and had a secret conversation for two hours. Afterwards, throughout the twelfth lunar month, the queen claimed to be sick and hadn't stepped out of Fengyu Palace.

The palace is decorated with lanterns and festoons, and the decoration is more elaborate than ever, but it is also more deserted than ever. The whole palace, except for the Tai Chi Hall, is filled with awe and silence, like a pool of stagnant water without waves. It was suffocating.

"Your Majesty, this red lantern..." Zhilan looked at the red lantern in the hands of the palace servants, and hesitated to speak.

Concubine De took a look, "No need, it's New Year's Eve in the palace this year, so there's no need to worry about such troublesome things."

"Although it's not, but it's New Year's Eve, the queen is not, so let's celebrate it ourselves." Seeing her look of desolation, Zhilan had no choice but to comfort her cautiously.

"No need." She shook her head, her gaze fell on an invisible distance, and Zhilan followed her gaze, and that direction...was clearly the direction of Tai Chi Hall.

Zhilan waved her hand, signaling the palace servants holding lanterns to back away, she took a step closer, and supported Concubine De, "Your Majesty..."

Concubine De let her support her with one hand, and supported the pillar on the side with the other, "I heard that the Tai Chi Hall is very lively and festive, Your Majesty has canceled the family banquet in the palace, but the Imperial Study Room was busy early this morning, because it has to be done for Tai Chi. The palace prepares the banquet, and the empress and I have a separate royal chef to prepare the meals."

"The empress has been ill for a whole month, shouldn't we also be ill for this new year's festival, so as not to be lonely and 'envious' at the family banquet in the Tai Chi Hall?"

"Your Majesty!" Zhilan's eyes were red, "What unlucky words do you say about not getting sick? Let's pass ours, and no one will be jealous."

Concubine De sighed softly, "Zhilan, I'm not jealous or envious, I'm just sad."

"My lady..."

Entering this deep palace compound, becoming a royal woman, even if she is jealous and envious, she is also very sad...

"The act of abolishing the empress involves the foundation of the country, so I can't move it easily. I am just a little concubine, neither related to the foundation of the country, nor hinder the society. Why do you think he wants to keep me?"

She seemed to be asking herself, and she didn't want to get the answer from the mouth of the big lady beside her.

In the past, I occasionally heard the elders in the back house talk about the resentful woman in the palace. She was young at that time and couldn't understand it. Later, when she was older, she never thought that one day she would taste this for herself.

Today is the New Year's Eve, worshiping the ancestors is tomorrow's business, today we only need to worship the family hall, and we have to go back to the palace later, Yun Wei was afraid of delay, so he got up early in the morning, and his daughter-in-law He stood up and was in the palace again. His Majesty the Emperor felt that it would be embarrassing for him to rely on him any longer, so he got up together. The little man worshiped the ancestral hall. He wanted to accompany him, but he thought that they were not married yet. Going to pay homage to the ancestral hall is no different than worshiping Xianyun King, after all, something is wrong, so I rested my mind.

After worshiping at the ancestral hall and staying for lunch, the two returned to the palace early.

Before the frame of the carriage reached the Taiji Gate, Quan An, who was sitting on the shaft, saw the person kneeling in front of the Taiji Gate from a distance, subconsciously tensed up, and howled in his heart, what's going on with this New Year's Eve?

Now there are only the Empress and Concubine De in this palace. Qian, that person kneeling in front of the palace gate and dressed in rose red palace attire, who else could there be besides Concubine De?

Quan An's mouth was a little bit bitter, this guy has been quiet for so long, is this also unbearable?Before dismissing Concubine Shu and his concubine Xian, he, the chief steward of the imperial court, had to suffer. Now this concubine Defei who made him suffer as soon as she entered the palace, this is another excuse to find him ?These non-stop ladies, can't let him live through this year's thirty in peace?

No matter how much he wailed in his heart, no matter how bitter his mouth was, Quan An still bitterly reported the situation to the master in the car, "His Majesty, De Concubine is kneeling at the gate of Ergong."

In the carriage, Xuan Zhan was holding on to the book with one hand, and with the other hand he patted the back of Yun Wai who was resting on his lap. Hearing Quan An's words, he didn't even twitch his brows, "If you want to kneel, let her kneel." on."

Quan An listened, and the heart in his throat fell smoothly. After the master spoke, he had nothing to worry about. Thank God, he was resting in the palace yesterday, and he bumped into this matter in front of the master. The left and right have nothing to do with him, the chief executive of the imperial court. After the snow on the palace road was cleaned, it was covered with a thin layer, and the sky was still full of splendor. At Shi Chen, she was so cold that she lost consciousness all over her body, and she didn't recover from the sound of the wheels rolling over the bluestone bricks on the palace road. She didn't realize it until the carriage stopped behind her and the guards knelt on the ground. Turning her head, the imperial horse that was harnessed to the cart looked so tall from a kneeling angle that she had to stretch her neck to look at it. She looked at it for a moment, and then her gaze lowered a little, to the seemingly ordinary inner court frame, and then down again. To Quan An who jumped off the shaft.

"Empress De Concubine, please move Quan An got off the shaft, walked two steps forward, and said to Concubine De.

Concubine De looked at him, then shifted her gaze to the carriage, "Chief... who... is in the carriage?"

Except for the emperor, anyone who rides in front of the Shunzhen Gate has to get off the car and get off the horse, and transfer to the soft sedan chair specially prepared in the palace according to their status. People in the court, ministers don't sit in sedan chairs when they enter the palace.

However, only the emperor's ceremonial guards can pass through this Taiji gate except for the emperor's gift.

Quan An didn't answer and didn't say much, "Please move, Empress Concubine De."

Concubine De looked at the carriage, she didn't move, she just straightened her back which was stiff from kneeling for a long time and kowtowed, "My concubine please see me, please Your Majesty's permission."

Quan An frowned, "Empress Defei..."

Concubine De knelt in the middle of the palace gate, and continued to kowtow without haste, "My concubine please see me, please Your Majesty's permission."

Quan An was a little dumbfounded now, is this daring Concubine De planning to stop Yu Jia in front of the palace gate to see her forcibly?How many heads does she think she has?Her own father, who is the ultimate minister, doesn't even have the courage now!

Quan An subconsciously turned his head to look at the carriage, waited for a while, and saw that the master was silent, the guards in front of the Quan An Palace waved their hands, "Come here, please move Concubine De."

As soon as the guards heard Quan An's order, they didn't dare to delay at all, and immediately came forward to two people, one on the left and one on the right, dragging Concubine De who was on the ground aside, not to mention her body was frozen at the moment, but her hand was not frozen How can a palace concubine who has no power to restrain a chicken break free from the restraints of the guards? She trembled and tried to struggle, "Your Majesty! Please see me, my concubine! I beg your Majesty's permission!"

The imperial horse raised its foot, and the wheels of the carriage slowly started to turn. Seeing that the carriage was about to enter the Taiji Gate, in desperation, Concubine De bit the back of the guard's hand. Opening the restraints on the other side, she stumbled towards the carriage, grabbed the wheel with her slender fingers, and the turning wheel instantly twisted her hand in, and the blood immediately flowed down and landed on the snow, red and red. Yes, she screamed and was taken to the ground, "Ah—" Quan An didn't get in the car, turned her head the moment she heard the scream, and saw this scene, "Concubine De—" half awake and half asleep Suddenly, with the screams and exclamations that were close at hand, Yunyou jumped up in an instant, sleepiness still remained in his eyes, but his mind woke up the moment he straightened up. The alarm that was cultivated.

"What's the matter?" Looking around and finding that he was still in the carriage, Yun Ghou subconsciously turned his head and asked Xuan Zhan.

The glint in Xuan Zhan's eyes flashed, his brows frowned, "Are you startled?" The little man kept waking up when he was resting, and when he just came back, even the slightest noise in the hall at night would startle him, and these days are gradually getting better .

Yun Wei shook his head, "Where have we been? Have we returned to the palace? Who is outside?" He clearly heard the exclamation just now.

Xuan Zhan knew it was so close that he might not be able to hide it from him, so he took the cloak at the side and put it on his shoulders, lifted the curtains of the car and asked, "What happened?"

Quan An approached the carriage, looked at the bloody hand that had withdrawn from the wheel, "Return to Your Majesty, Empress Defei's hand is twisted in the wheel..."

Zhilan was kneeling at the side before, but now seeing her master hurt her hand, she walked forward on her knees, seeing Concubine De's hand, she also panicked in fright, "Your Majesty - Your Majesty -" Xuan Zhan frowned upon hearing this. She frowned, and before he could make a sound, Yun Wai was stunned for a while, Concubine De?He raised his eyes and looked out the car window, and sure enough, he saw the familiar palace gate and guards.

Yun Ghou tugged at the cloak on his shoulders, got up and put down the curtain of the car, Xuan Zhan saw him get up and go out, his eyes were slightly cold, and he got out of the car right after him.

Yun Wei got out of the carriage only to see Concubine De's master and servant who fell on the ground and the glaring red blood dripping on the white snow. He was stunned for a moment before turning his head and saying to Quan An, "Chief Manager, hurry up and announce the imperial physician!"

Quan An listened to the little master's order, and subconsciously looked at the big master who got out of the carriage after him, moved his foot a step, and tremblingly did not dare to continue.

"What are you still doing in a daze? Hurry up and declare the imperial physician!" Seeing that he was not moving, Yun Wei ordered again.

His Majesty the Emperor, who was following behind Yun Yao, nodded slightly, signaling Quan An to obey his orders.

Quan'an got His Majesty's consent, and he didn't dare to delay any longer, so he hurriedly ordered the guards on the side to summon the imperial physician.

Holding her bloody hand, Concubine De stared blankly at the two people who got off the carriage. She didn't struggle to get away from Zhilan until the young man in a white fox cloak ordered Quan'an to summon the imperial physician. , fell to the ground, crawled two steps forward, and stretched out a bloody hand tremblingly to grab the corner of the boy's clothes, "...you...who are you?"