Crossing the East Palace

The death of the twelve princesses was beyond everyone's expectations.

The Twelve Princesses are very well-behaved and sensible, with a clever and cute appearance, which is especially likable.

Even Tang Luojin, because of the Twelve Princesses, made several trips to Qingning Palace.

Although the queen doesn't want him to get close to the twelve princesses, she can't help the twelve princesses also like him as a "brother". Luo Jin came to see the twelve princesses.

Left and right, in the eyes of the queen, Tang Luojin didn't know her own background at all.Since she didn't know her background, she would naturally treat Princess Twelve as her closest sibling, so she didn't have to worry too much.

When the Queen was pregnant with the Twelve Princesses, her body had already been recuperated. At that time, although the Queen still couldn't understand Tang Luojin, she was in a good mood with the Fifth Princess Cheng Huan beside her, and the Twelve Princesses born were also extremely healthy and very healthy. Get sick less.

However, the Twelve Princesses, who were so painful and healthy, suddenly disappeared before their second birthday.

"Why not?"

Tang Luojin is now 12 years old.

He was born like Emperor Tianyuan. Although he was only 12 years old, he was exceptionally slender and slender, and his skin was as white as fine jade. Just one glance at him will make his cheeks blush in an instant.

And the red mole between the eyebrows made Tang Luojin even more dignified and inviolable.

As soon as he opened his mouth, his voice was as cold as ice and snow, but the maid Lianqiao, who had been serving him for several years, turned red from cheek to ear.

Lian Qiao bit her tongue hard to calm herself down, and then said, "Returning to Your Highness, I don't know what this servant knows very well. I just heard that Princess Twelve caught a cold for some reason last night, and her fever has continued to this day." One morning, none of the maids serving the twelfth princess found out. It was not until the fifth princess went to see the twelfth princess that she found out that the twelfth princess had a high fever. Come out, the twelve princesses have gone."

Tang Luojin said: "Princess Twelve has always been in good health, and she was born lively and active. How could she be gone after a high fever? Go check it out."

Forsythia also felt strange.But if the information is inaccurate, it is impossible to report to her, and it is impossible for her to report to the prince.It's just that the prince has doubts, so she should check it out again.

"My servant will go later." Lian Qiao bent her knees and said, "Princess Twelve has just left, Your Highness should go and have a look. My servant heard from the little maid below that Fifth Princess knelt down in front of the Bodhisattva early on and gave Twelve The princess is reading the Tibetan scriptures."

Tang Luojin put down the pen in his hand, let Lianqiao clean his hands, and paused after hearing the words, "Fifth Princess?"

Lian Qiao sighed and said: "Yes. Before the queen did not have twelve princesses, Qingning Palace was only separated from the fifth princess, and the queen loved the fifth princess the most, and the people below respected her as if she was a princess. But the queen After having the twelfth princess, most of my thoughts were given to the twelfth princess, and the fifth princess...although the queen is still thinking about it, but it is not as good as before."

When Lianqiao said this, a thought flashed in her mind, and she immediately put it aside. How could the death of the twelve princesses have anything to do with the fifth princess?Not to mention the deep love between the two princesses and sisters, many of the clothes worn by the twelve princesses were made by the fifth princess. The fifth princess was raised in the deep palace and was the same age as the prince. Getting married, and not needing to fight for power with the prince like a prince, how could it be possible to initiate any dirty thoughts to the twelve princesses who are less than two years old?

Lianqiao didn't think that the fifth princess was at fault, but Tang Luojin had personally seen the jealous and loathing eyes that the fifth princess looked at the twelfth princess.

Although he didn't think that the fifth princess, a 12-year-old girl, would really easily do something to a two-year-old girl.But……

Tang Luojin paused, opened her arms, and let Lianqiao summon the maid outside the door, and changed her clothes again.The red string of the jade pendant that was originally hanging on the waist was also taken off.

But after a while, Tang Luojin changed her outfit.

Forsythia watched from the side, couldn't help pursing her lips and smiling.Look, their prince looks good no matter what clothes he wears.

This cyan clothes set off the prince of their family like sapphire, making people happy to see it.

"Check again, find out the fifth princess and the eldest princess." Tang Luojin said suddenly, "If you really find out about the fifth princess... For the sake of the fifth princess and Gutong's birthday in the same month and the same day, Lian Qiao will clean it up for her. Swipe your tail."

Lianqiao didn't expect that Tang Luojin would give such orders, let alone that Tang Luojin really suspected the fifth princess and the married eldest princess, her heart skipped a few quick beats, and she hurriedly replied: "Your servant obeys."

Tang Luojin gave a "hmm" and walked outside.

The East Palace is far from Qingning Palace, even if Tang Luojin sat on the shoulder, when he arrived at Qingning Palace, Qingning Palace was already full of people standing in the hall.

Outside the palace, almost all the palace servants who had been serving the twelve princesses were being tortured with sticks.

Tang Luojin took a look at those familiar palace people, and walked towards the main hall of Qingning Palace without any hesitation.

A bunch of concubines and their children were crowded in the main hall.

As soon as Tang Luojin entered, many people saluted him.

Tang Luojin slightly returned the salute to the high-ranking concubines, and then wanted to go to the inner room.

"Prince, stay here." Concubine Xin was standing at the door of the inner room, calling out in a low voice.

Tang Luojin stopped in her tracks.

"The imperial doctor just diagnosed and treated the Twelve Princesses, apart from suffering from the wind and cold, she had a high fever for too long, and she seemed to have swallowed something cold in her belly for several days. Because of her good health, she didn't respond much. It's just that when the wind and cold came, those The effect of the cold and cool things was revealed, so that the princess would have a high fever after the wind and cold. Now, the queen is asking the people who have been serving the twelve princesses these days to see who they have been alone with the twelve for the past few days. The princesses are playing together."

Concubine Xin was not willing to get close to the prince in the past.After all, based on her relationship with the queen, whether she treats the prince well or not, the queen can use this as an excuse to embarrass her.

But Princess Nine likes the prince brother so much.The prince also took extra care and indulged the nine princesses.Although Concubine Xin hated the queen's cousin, she couldn't hate the crown prince.Now that Princess Nine likes the prince again, Concubine Xin will remind the prince one or two within her ability.

Tang Luojin paused after hearing the words, and said in a low voice: "Thank you, Concubine Xin." Then she took a gentle look at Princess Nine who was looking at him with bright eyes, and then walked into the inner room.

In the inner room, the little twelve princesses were lying on the bed feeling nothing.

The five princesses sat cross-legged, reciting the Ksitigarbha.

The queen sat beside the twelve princesses in a daze, wondering what she was thinking.

Madam Yuehou comforted her in a low voice.

Fu Gui, who was beside the queen, was questioning the nurse who was closest to the twelve princesses, asking if the nurse remembered who the twelve princesses had been alone with.

In front of the wet nurse was a charcoal basin, and the charcoal in the charcoal basin was glowing red.

The wet nurse's hands were covered with blood, and her face was burnt with charcoal fire, she was in a terrible mess.

This is just a wound seen by everyone, and the punishment in the palace is hidden, so it is hard to guarantee that this wet nurse has not received other punishments.

At this moment, the wet nurse couldn't even kneel down.

Seeing Tang Luojin coming from the outside, the wet nurse said bitterly: "Aside from the slaves in the palace, are there fewer masters in the palace than those who get along with the twelve princesses alone?" Her bloody finger pointed directly at Tang Luojin. , "For example, the prince, the twelfth princess likes to play with the prince the most. It can't be said that the prince hates the twelve princesses for disturbing his peace, so he feeds the twelve princesses some messy things!"

Tang Luojin: "..." Really, she was shot while lying down.

The original intention of the Twelve Princess' nurse was that since she had been tortured and threatened so much that her life would be worse than death, why should she suffer alone?It would be better to just point at the prince indiscriminately, and make the queen suffer because of her son killing her daughter.

Of course, as far as the nurse of the twelve princesses is concerned, she didn't really think that the queen would believe her lies at first.

Unexpectedly, the prince is not the empress's own son at all, and the empress had a grudge against the prince because of various things, and now hearing such accusations from the wet nurse, the anger in her heart rushed to her throat immediately.

"It's you!" The queen's eyes were red, and she couldn't see the dignity of the past. She stared at Tang Luojin with wide eyes, "When you returned to the palace, the two daughters of the palace disappeared together. It's good now, it's good now! Now, Bengong's youngest daughter has lived to be two years old. You can't kill her even if you get close to her, so you resorted to tricks and fed her some messy things to hurt her. The wind and cold will kill you completely! How can you, a lone star of heavenly evil, treacherous and cunning, be worthy of..."

"To shut up!"

Emperor Tianyuan arrived at Qingning Palace one step later than Tang Luojin because of handling government affairs.

On the way he came, he was very saddened by the death of the twelve princesses.

Although the royal family always paid more attention to princes, Emperor Tianyuan saw that he had a lot of sons, and he was about to celebrate his 40th birthday, so he would inevitably like his younger daughter more.Twelve princesses are little people, cute and clever, and they are pleasing to the eye.Emperor Tianyuan was at the age when he liked children, so how could he not like the Twelve Princesses?

But as soon as he stepped into the main hall of Qingning Palace, he realized that something was wrong. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the nurse in the inner room biting Tang Luojin back, and the queen believed it indiscriminately, and said That's an accusation.

How could Emperor Tianyuan not be angry?

"The queen's abuse of lynching made this servant hateful, so she uttered lies. The queen was so confused that she couldn't even tell the right from the wrong, so she opened her mouth to say such things to her own son, the prince of Datang. Could it be that the illness a few years ago has not healed, and you still need to live in the Qingning Palace and rest for more than ten or twenty years, and then let Xiaoqi welcome you into the Shoukang Palace after I come to the guest day?"

When Emperor Tianyuan got angry, everyone prostrated themselves on the ground.

The empress was still standing, but when she heard Emperor Tianyuan's words, her body went limp, and she immediately collapsed on the ground, she was only weeping for a while, but she couldn't even utter a word of excuse.

Mrs. Yue Hou secretly winked at Tang Luojin, but seeing that Tang Luojin just lowered her head and didn't look at her at all, she could only kneel down a step forward in desperation, and said, "The emperor misunderstood. The reason is very orderly, it was only because of the sudden loss of a daughter, a moment of great grief, and being confused by the villain, that deceived the prince and misunderstood the prince. Besides, the prince is kind and will not blame his biological mother."

Since Mrs. Yuehou mentioned the crown prince, Tang Luojin couldn't continue pretending to be "sad and silent", so she could only say: "The queen mother just made a slip of the tongue for a moment, so she scolded her son in grief and indignation. Every kindness and filial piety are the first, and the queen mother scolds her son. It should be. Father, don't get angry again, it's better if you hurt your body."

When Tang Luojin opened his mouth, Emperor Tianyuan became even angrier.

What is meant by "the queen mother scolded her son, it should have been"?

His crown prince is his most valued heir apparent, and even himself, he taught carefully on weekdays and rarely scolded him.Even if you occasionally reprimand a few words, you have to make up for it later.Since the empress is the crown prince's biological mother, it's fine if she doesn't dote on the crown prince too much. How can she scold him more than the emperor?

"This kind of wicked woman..." Emperor Tianyuan was about to speak to the empress to "teach her a lesson", when the empress raised her head suddenly, gave him a look of panic, then fell back directly and passed out.

Before Emperor Tianyuan could utter the words, he was swallowed back alive.

Mrs. Yuehou thought that the second younger sister was very dizzy this time, and she finally did something clever, but she said anxiously: "Poor queen, she gave birth to four princesses, but none of them lived long. They died one by one. The queen fainted, it must be because of the princesses, she was heartbroken—"

When Mrs. Yuehou said this, Emperor Tianyuan also thought of the four princesses born to the queen.

Emperor Tianyuan paused for a moment, swallowed back the accusation he was going to say, waved his sleeves and said, "Physician Xuan!"

Because of the matter of the twelve princesses, the imperial physician did not leave at first, but it happened to be a coincidence that he was called here to see the queen.

After the imperial doctor took the pulse for the empress, his face was a little strange, and then he quickly recovered, bowed his head and said: "Reporting to the emperor, empress empress, there is nothing serious about her body. It is... slippery pulse. Empress empress, she has already had two It's been a month."

Mrs. Yue Hou was about to say "Yes", when she saw the white cloth in the room, she swallowed the "Okay" alive again.

Tang Luojin lowered her head and counted the days.

Master Zhishan once said that after the queen was 35 years old, she would have a son.Now that he is 12 years old and the queen is 36 years old, it is time for the real son to come.

Emperor Tianyuan didn't expect the queen to be pregnant.He still hasn't forgotten what Empress Cai just said to rebuke Tang Luojin--heavenly evil, lone star, insidious and cunning--if he hadn't stopped him in time, even if it turns out that the matter was not done by the crown prince, some caring people would have been here long ago. Before, the words of the queen, the biological mother, who reprimanded the prince were spread.

At that time, who will compensate the prince's good reputation?

But now the empress is pregnant suddenly, Rao Tianyuan Emperor, it is not good to reprimand the empress for a few "gaffes" of the empress at this moment.

Emperor Tianyuan paused for a while, and said with some meaning: "That's all right. As soon as this child came, he sent his sister away. I think this child's fate is what the queen said just now. In this way, it is There is no need to spread the word, let the queen be careful about the delivery. The funeral of the twelve princesses will be taken care of by Yue Jieyu, the concubine and aunt."

Then, without looking at the reaction of the crowd, he touched Tang Luojin's head and left.

Mrs. Yue Hou's face was pale.

The empress had just reprimanded Tang Luojin for "killing" her sister, only to find out that the empress herself was pregnant again.So did the prince kill his sister?Or is it the doll in the stomach that has urged the Queen away?

Originally, this kind of thing would only be something that some people gossip about in private.It's a pity that the emperor was so angry with the empress that he used what the empress said to add to this unborn child in reverse. Mrs. Yuehou didn't even have to think about it. With the emperor's intentional guidance and connivance, those people would definitely catch this This opportunity spread the news about the child "Sister Ke" in the queen's womb.

When Mrs. Yue Hou thought of this, her head began to swell.

"...In this way, Lao Yue Jieyu and Mrs. Yuehou will take care of the empress."

When Mrs. Yuehou came back to her senses, she saw that Tang Luojin had already offered incense and gifts to the twelve princesses, and explained to her and Yue Jieyu, and then she was about to leave.

Yue Jieyu was none other than Ning Yueer, the concubine daughter of the Ning family.

In the tenth year of Tianyuan, because Concubine Xin gave birth to a daughter in her palace, it was difficult to give birth to the nine princesses. Concubine Xin was also diagnosed by the imperial physician as having difficulty conceiving again.Now that several years have passed, she has finally reached Jieyu's position, which is neither high nor low.

After suffering these losses, Yue Jieyu also learned to be smart. Seeing that Tang Luojin had instructed her personally, she hurriedly said, "Don't worry, the crown prince, I will leave this place to the eldest sister and me. We will take good care of the second sister."

Tang Luojin nodded when she heard the words, glanced at the queen, and left.

Even though Princess Twelve is his "sister", no matter what, he should stay in Qingning Palace at least today.

But the empress made such a fuss before, and now she is found to be pregnant again, and it is very likely that she is a son as Master Zhishan said... With all these things, Tang Luojin really doesn't want to stay any longer.

Tang Luojin wanted to leave, Yue Jieyu would not stop him and did not dare to stop him, Mrs. Yue Hou wanted him to stay longer, but thinking of the words the emperor said before leaving and the queen's temper, she did not stop him after all. However, she still personally sent Tang Luojin out.

"Auntie, you don't have to be so polite." Tang Luojin stopped at the gate of Qingning Palace, and said in a clear voice, "Gu didn't take what my mother said to me."

Mrs. Yue Hou said with a smile: "Look at what the prince said, the prince and the queen are the mother and son of the direct relatives. In this world, no one values ​​and cares about the prince more than the queen, and no one cares more about the queen, who is pregnant in October, than the prince. Mother. How can the love between mother and child be broken by a few quarrels? I am here this time just..." She hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's just that your fourth uncle has also reached the age of marriage, and the queen and I Telling him these things, he only thinks we are deaf ears. The prince and your fourth uncle have studied together for many years, and they will definitely help persuade him to get married earlier, so that the Ning family can have an inheritance sooner."

The eldest of the Ning family died on the battlefield, the second of the Ning family was stationed at the border because of guilt, and refused to marry and take concubines, the third of the Ning family... Ning Junchi simply said that he only wanted to find his "sweetheart" who he liked, and no one else .

The queen and Mrs. Yuehou couldn't command Ning's second son who was far away on the border, and Ning Junchi, who had a resolute temper, had no choice but to attack the fourth eldest Ning Junyu who looked easier to knead.

Tang Luojin knew that this was persimmon's pickiness, and she also knew that this was something Mrs. Yue thought up on the spur of the moment. Hearing this, she raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "My aunt has found the wrong person for this matter. Although the fourth uncle only Four years older than Gu, and they grew up together, and the fourth uncle has always been Gu's companion. However, the fourth uncle is the elder after all. It is not easy for Gu to intervene in the marriage of the elders. If the aunt has the heart, you should ask more Fourth uncle is well."

Then he nodded slightly: "Gu still has some things to deal with, so I'll take my leave first."

So Mrs. Yuehou could only watch Tang Luojin leave.

As for whether the twelve princesses died of a high fever by "coincidence", then the only way to extract a confession is to rely on the torture of the palace servants around the twelve princesses.

Although the Twelve Princesses were smart, cute and lovable, many people mourned her death.

However, in the city of Chang'an, the most indispensable thing in the imperial palace is children who died young.

Within half a month, the palace continued to be lively.Even the empress can't ask for a vegetarian diet for this youngest daughter who died young. Instead, she is working hard to maintain her body, and wants to bring this new life in her belly—a child who was predicted to be a boy by Master Zhishan— She was well-raised and healthy, but she couldn't be too sad for the death of the twelve princesses.

"Anyway, there is a real son in Huan'er's belly," Mrs. Yue Hou smiled and pouted her mouth outside the door, "There is Wu'er who is filial to me by my side. If you have sons and daughters, you should be content. Only in this way can you be worthy." living child."

How can the queen not feel sorry for the twelve princesses?How not to regret the lost daughters?However, no matter how she investigated, the deaths of the daughters seemed to be just God's will. If God wanted them to die young, they all died young.

The fourth princess, the sixth princess, and the seventh princess are fine, these children are born with poor health.Died because of a cold, although the queen was heartbroken, it was not completely unacceptable.

But what about the twelve princesses?

Her little Twelve is so clever and cute. When he was born, he cried like a prince.The small fist is hard and very powerful, I don't know how many palace people it has beaten.

Such a healthy Xiaoshi was coaxed to eat cold food every day, and in the end he was killed by a cold.

The queen said angrily: "I don't know what the elder sister said? But, but, my little Twelve, she is so good, she was deliberately calculated by someone with a heart, so she died! I hate it until now, not only me, Even the empress dowager and the emperor didn't find out who made the move! That person was so bold, I hated myself for not being able to avenge Xiao Shier, but also hated myself for being powerless, so I could only tremble in my heart, fearing that the person behind him, why would he be so bold? And then I played tricks on this one in my stomach again!"

Mrs. Yue Hou heard the words, frowned and thought for a moment, and finally she could only sigh: "The person behind this is probably thinking about the life of the Twelve Princesses. He has thought about it hundreds of times. Only in this way can he kill the Twelve Princesses, To be able to wipe... clean without leaving any traces. Such people are truly terrifying."

As soon as Mrs. Yue finished speaking, she saw the fifth princess walking in gracefully holding a blood bird's nest.

She shook her hand slightly, visibly holding the jade bowl steady.

"Don't worry about the queen mother and aunt, it's better to eat some bird's nest porridge quickly, so as not to starve my little brother to death."

The fifth princess had a smile on her face, and she looked very beautiful in a goose-yellow dress.

Looking at the beautiful appearance of the fifth princess, the queen faintly resembled herself when she was young.

Sighing in my heart, I had to put those annoying things aside for the time being, and said with a smile: "I used to think that I loved your brother the most, but now it seems that I don't love him as much as Wu'er. When he comes out, I must Let him take good care of his fifth sister and live a safe and prosperous life."

The fifth princess smiled sweetly, sat in front of the queen's bed, and personally fed the queen to eat bird's nest porridge.

The queen sighed in her heart, counting this in her stomach, she only had one son and one daughter alive.Stop, stop, one son and one daughter, happens to be a good word.

As long as she is good for the rest of her life, that's enough.