concubines

The Empress Dowager Lan and Li Chen were sitting opposite each other. There were still tears on Li Chen's face. Now everyone's eyes were on him. During the day, he was guarding the late emperor's spirit. At night, he was about to start reading the memorials that had been accumulated during this period. The late emperor passed away suddenly. , This is something that no one thought of. Recently, Emperor Xian felt very old and frail. He was only in his 50s, but his body was already failing due to years of exhaustion.But the more this happened, the more the late emperor refused to accept his old age. In recent years, he did not stop pampering his concubines, and even took elixir to strengthen his yang to prove that he was still healthy and strong, but he died miserably on the body of a young concubine.

The eunuch who offered the elixir has been executed, and the concubine will also be buried.

The Empress Dowager Lan wore a dark green palace gown, and sighed, "Don't be too tired."

Li Chen said: "Everyone is staring at grandson now, grandson can't slack off in the slightest."

The Empress Dowager Lan said: "Now the enthronement time planned by the Ministry of Rites is on the third day of next month. There is still time. Grandmother is not too old to be dizzy. You don't have to worry about things in the palace. Just teach grandma."

"Grandmother..." Li Chen choked up, "Grandson should let you enjoy the blessings of descendants, but now he wants you to work hard."

The Queen Mother Lan said softly: "Grandmother knows that you are very tired now, and things cannot be done overnight. The Queen and the others will not be able to make any big waves. She has not been my opponent since she was young, let alone now."

Li Chen nodded silently.

But speaking of the queen, the Queen Mother Lan looked at Li Chen with some concern and said, "After you ascend the throne, what will happen to the people in your house?"

Li Chen said indifferently: "Several concubines, my grandson is going to tell them to remarry on their own. The prince's mansion will pay the dowry. Concubine Ji and Concubine Wei will be concubines, Yingqiu and others will be concubines."

Queen Mother Lan asked, "Where's Xiao Qi?"

Li Chen looked at his grandmother and said calmly: "I will not let Xiao Qi leave me, Xiao Qi will be my queen of Dakang."

If it was someone else, they would definitely scream absurd, but the one in front of him is after all the Queen Mother Lan, a woman who has supported the country for more than ten years. When she was in power, many courtiers secretly wrote letters to recommend her as the empress. Queen Mother Lan just laughed. Shaking his head, "It's too difficult."

Li Chen said in a deep voice: "Grandson will never make someone else his queen."

"Well, grandma understands." The Empress Dowager Lan had a smile in her eyes, but she sighed deeply.

When the first emperor was around, his sons could all stay in the capital, but after he left, Li Chen could distribute them to various places. In the future, their eldest sons would inherit the title of county king. , just like Li Yue's father, who is now only a Marquis.

One can become a high-ranking emperor, and the status of the descendants of the other is getting lower and lower. All the princes are extremely eager to be the winner and keep this supreme glory.

The Ministry of Rites awarded the posthumous title of Emperor Wu as Emperor Wu. The mausoleum of Emperor Xian was built long ago, and the coffin was placed in the Taimiao early. On August 26, Emperor Xian was buried.

On the third day of September, Prince Li Chen ascended the throne as emperor.

When Li Chen took over the Jade Seal of Chuanguo, the officials bowed three times and kowtowed nine times, shouting long live. Li Chen sat on a high dragon chair and looked down at them—from today onwards, he was finally free from fear and could display all his talents in his life. Learn and leave a page of yourself in the history books.

"All the gentlemen are flat."

When Li Chen ascended the throne, his biological mother was also the aunt Empress Zhou, who was conferred the title of empress dowager. The concubines and concubines who had given birth to offspring and had titles remained in the palace, but the palace was slightly changed. Most of the concubines left the palace and went to become monks at the Imperial Temple in Beijing In this life, we must pray for the late emperor.Empress Dowager Lan is now the Empress Dowager and still lives in Ci'an Palace.

When Li Chen was almost busy with internal and external affairs, he suddenly discovered that he hadn't seen Xiao Qi for nearly a month.

The princes and princesses have not been accepted into the palace yet, what Qi Yunruo is doing now is to continue to manage the Prince's Mansion and play games with Jing'er.

"My lord! The concubine Ji is here again."

Qi Yunruo frowned, walked over and said, "What's the matter with Concubine Ji?"

Lu Lan said: "Concubine Ji still said that she wants to see the First Prince, and that she wants to take the First Prince to Shuangqiu Courtyard these few days."

"no!"

"The maidservant also said that she didn't have the intention of the emperor, and the eldest prince could only stay in Molian Courtyard, but Concubine Ji said...that she is now one of the four concubines appointed by the Holy Majesty, and that you have no right to stop her."

Qi Yunruo said: "If you have the ability, ask her to come into the Molian Courtyard."

Of course Concubine Ji of Black Lotus Court cannot enter, and the guards of the Prince's Mansion are still guarding here, but this does not mean that she will not be able to see Qi Yunruo, because if Qi Yun will leave Black Lotus Court—Ji The concubine specially sent people to wait, and when she saw Qi Yunruo going out, she led people to block her in a mighty way.

Li Chen never came back after entering the palace. Qi Yunruo moved the two princesses to the West Wing of the Molian Courtyard. Now the Prince's Mansion cannot tolerate any mistakes. Qi Yunruo will still make regular inspections. Concubine Ji walked over aggressively, Qi Yunruo stopped, Watching her quietly.

Compared with the young man who first entered Chun Palace five years ago, Qi Yunruo has completely changed his appearance. He has the aura of learning from Li Chen, and the introverted way of managing the palace for many years, even the concubine Ji is in a trance for a while, and he can't remember Qi Yunruo back then. With a low status, it's like kneeling down to pay her respects.

Concubine Ji quickly regained her composure, and said with a cold snort: "Now that the emperor is not here, the Eldest Prince cannot live alone, so you send him back to Shuangqiu Courtyard."

Qi Yunruo said: "Without the emperor's will, I will not let you see him."

Concubine Ji sneered and said: "What qualifications do you have to say this? Did the emperor issue a decree that our mother and son are not allowed to meet each other?"

"No."

"Then you return the First Prince to me!"

"Because I can't trust you," Qi Yunruo said looking directly at her, "You only saw Jing'er once last time, but Jing'er couldn't sleep well for a few days. You can't influence him well with your child."

Concubine Ji's face turned red all of a sudden, since she was named Concubine De, everyone in the house has been chasing after her to curry favor with her, now Qi Yunruo is nothing!Why should he talk to himself so high up!Concubine Ji was also a little bit annoyed. I don't know if the prince knew what she said at the beginning, it was all Qi Yunruo's fault!It's all his fault that he didn't give himself time to speak clearly with Jing'er!Concubine Ji said: "From now on in the palace, we will live together! Qi Changshi, Master Qi..." She looked at Qi Yunruo fiercely and said, "Your good days are coming to an end!"

Qi Yunruo said: "Whether my good days will end or not is not up to you."

Concubine Ji laughed out loud, with a sarcasm on her face, "You thought the emperor would continue to pamper you? A joke! You are a big man, can you still enter the palace and continue to serve the emperor? In the future, the Prince's Mansion will no longer exist, and the official position of Chang Shi will also disappear." There is no need to keep it anymore, the emperor will not even continue to give you an official position! Who in the civil and military courts does not know what your background is?"

If Qi Yun didn't want to continue talking nonsense with her, she turned around and left, but Concubine Ji thought he was afraid, and continued to speak loudly: "Now I know I'm afraid? Huh! Let me tell you! Jing'er is my son! He is the eldest son of the emperor , the status is honorable, if you are sincere towards him, stay away from him!"

Qi Yunruo couldn't bear it anymore and said: "Concubine Ji! I think it's better for Jinger to stay away from him. You don't know how much people want to beat you now."

"Yo!" Concubine Ji folded her arms and sneered, "You still want to do something to the concubine? It's true that the emperor spoils you so much."

Does Concubine Wei want the child back?certainly!When they go back to the palace in the future, the princes must be separated from the concubine, but what Concubine Wei wants most now is not the child, but the throne of the queen. As long as she becomes the queen, her child will be the son of the emperor, and the only son of the emperor. She can't show her shortcomings to be caught by others, she is very happy that Concubine Ji provokes Qi Yunruo, the more stupid Concubine Ji is, the more she can be highlighted.

Concubine Wei was conferred the title of Concubine Xian, and her status was comparable to that of Concubine Ji. Concubine Wei would not object to the fact that she liked Qi Yunruo more than the prince. If the prince really liked this man to the point that he didn't like women, the prince would not marry another queen. The possibility of becoming a queen is greater.

How can I get in touch with the child without offending Qi Yunruo?Concubine Wei closed her eyes and thought deeply.

Concubine Ji on the other side is still entangled with Qi Yunruo. Qi Yunruo has accumulated a lot of things in his heart, and his heart is becoming more and more irritable. He even really has the idea of ​​fighting with Concubine Ji, but these dark thoughts are still suppressed by him. It's down, but there is a stern look on his brows, he said: "Concubine Ji, the emperor issued an imperial decree to make you a concubine, but you haven't entered the palace yet after all!"

Concubine Ji's eyes flashed with panic, "What do you mean?"

Qi Yunruo avoided her, this time Concubine Ji didn't dare to stop her, and watched Qi Yunruo's figure leave.

Qi Yunruo has a good relationship with Jing'er, Yan'er, and Mu'er. The little princess Ying'er is still not very sensible. Only Chu'er keeps a distance from Qi Yunruo and is somewhat resistant to him. At night, Qi Yunruo eats alone in the main hall, and Chu'er walks in , asked: "When will father come back?"

Qi Yunruo said: "When Father finishes his work, he will take Chu'er into the palace."

"Is father not coming back?"

Qi Yunruo shook his head, smiled and said: "After you enter the palace, you can see your father."

Chu'er nodded and said, "Tomorrow I will take my sister out."

In Molianyuan, Chu'er was not as active as the other children. She was always reluctant to take her younger sister to play with other brothers and sisters, and spent most of her time in the house. Qi Yunruo couldn't help asking: "What are you doing out there?" Woolen cloth?"

Chu'er looked at him warily.

Qi Yunruo felt a little sentimental in his heart, but he still smiled and said: "I can send a few more people to follow you, and walk over to the water corridor with my sister in my arms."

Chu'er said: "I want to go to Dongmei Courtyard with my sister."

The smile on Qi Yunruo's face froze, and after a while, he nodded and said, "Okay, but Chu'er can tell me, what do you want to do?"

Chu'er said: "I heard from Mammy that we can't come out after entering the palace. I want to pack up some of my mother's belongings."

Qi Yunruo looked at her, nodded with a smile.

The next morning, Qi Yunruo arranged for someone to send the Chu'er sisters to the backyard. Yinger didn't know what to do, but was excited to be able to go out. Qi Yunruo watched them leave. I sent a bowl of lotus seed porridge."

Qi Yunruo frowned, and Lu Lan said, "It's just that Concubine Wei left the porridge and left without even giving a single word."

Qi Yunruo nodded and said, "I see."

"Then this porridge..."

Qi Yunruo said: "You don't need to give it to Mu'er."

"Your servant knows." Lu Lan's face was not so relaxed, she had been with Qi Yunruo for a long time, and now she naturally understood the affection between the emperor and Qi Changshi, she lowered her head and sighed: "My lord, you can't always confront the two empresses, you have to prepare yourself early."

Qi Yunruo fell into that exhaustion and burnout again, he waved his hands and said: "Forget it, you don't need to say more, I know the truth."

In the afternoon, Qi Yunruo knew that Wei Jijiu came to see his daughter at the mansion, but no one came to inform him. Chu'er went to pack up some jewelry that Qi Niqun had used and came back. When he came back, his eye circles were a little red. Seeing that his eyes were not just alienated, but with a slight hatred, Qi Yunruo looked at the nanny beside her, the woman lowered her head, not daring to look at Qi Yunruo, but raised her head after gritting her teeth. Come on, look straight into Qi Yunruo's eyes, but Qi Yunruo walked away slowly with his hands behind his back.

At night, Qi Yunruo lay on the bed, and finally described his recent mood into one word, that is helplessness—it was not the first time he had been separated from the prince for so long, but even during the time in Xinyuan Kingdom, he was With the persistence of saying goodbye to the prince, he survived the past. Now he feels surrounded by invisible enemies around him in the palace, but this time he can't see hope. He has never felt that he is actually so far away from the prince. .

For the next few days, Concubine Wei came to deliver porridge to Mu'er every morning, and Concubine Ji still found opportunities to appear in front of Qi Yunruo from time to time and wanted to return the child. When Qi Yunruo felt that he would explode one day, the Prince's Mansion received the imperial decree .

The imperial decree ordered the prince and princess to enter the palace in three days. After Qi Yunruo led the two imperial concubines to accept the order, Concubine Ji took the opportunity to walk in front of Jing'er, squatted down and smiled, "Jing'er has grown taller again."

Jing'er bowed politely and said, "Jing'er has seen mother and concubine."

Concubine Ji was pleasantly surprised: "You will enter the palace in a few days, how about going to the concubine mother's place these few days? After returning to the palace, we will have no chance to live together."

Jing'er's first reaction was to look back at Qi Yunruo, but Qi Yunruo didn't notice him, she lowered her head and didn't know what she was thinking.Although Concubine Wei was a little surprised why the emperor didn't call them all into the palace at once, but the most important thing right now was that she finally saw Mu'er. I haven't been able to see you, Mu'er, have you missed your concubine mother for more than a year?"

Mu'er took a step back in panic, but after a while he felt that Concubine Wei was really familiar, so he walked back. Concubine Wei smiled and said, "The lotus seed porridge that Concubine Mother gave you was made by Concubine Mother herself. Do you think it tastes good? If you like it, my concubine will make it for you these days."

"I haven't had lotus seed porridge in the past few days." Mu'er said.

Of course Concubine Wei knew about it, but she looked at Qi Yunruo in embarrassment and said, "Master Qi, are you just embarrassing a mother's heart like this?"

Qi Yunruo took a step back and said calmly, "Well, you can say whatever you want."

Concubine Wei choked up, not knowing what to say, Qi Yunruo said: "Concubine Wei, don't treat everyone as a fool, you can make fun of you at will, I also have a word for you, you are a concubine, but this is not your entry into the palace. When you do, don't go too far."

Concubine Wei lowered her head, Concubine Ji over there sneered and said, "Today, I will take my son to Shuangqiu Courtyard."

Qi Yunruo looked at Jing'er and said, "Are you going?"

Jing'er looked at him with some embarrassment. He felt that what the concubine mother said made sense, and that it would be more difficult for them to meet in the palace in the future, so he said, "I won't go back to Molian Courtyard tonight, is that okay? Just today."

Qi Yunruo nodded, Concubine Wei looked at Mu'er, hoping that he would take the initiative to say that he would go to Magnolia Courtyard, but Mu'er just glanced at Jing'er in a daze, and then went to Qi Yunruo.

Qi Yunruo had already turned around and entered the inner room.

Everyone felt that Li Chen's accession to the throne represented Qi Yunruo's loss of power, and a new emperor could not give the officials a reason to give him advice so quickly. Some people thought that even if he still liked Qi Yunruo, they could only support him. outside the palace.

When Li Chen appeared in front of Qi Yunruo, Qi Yunruo couldn't even believe his eyes. Li Chen didn't wear a dragon robe, but a dark casual dress, and quietly appeared in the main room of Molian Courtyard. Qi Yunruo He didn't eat, he was leaning on the recliner and reading a book, he didn't read much in the book, he just wanted to find something to do for himself, and then he heard a familiar voice shouting: "Xiao Qi."

Qi Yunruo trembled in horror, before he could react, he had already stood up and rushed in front of Li Chen, and said the most familiar address, "My lord!"

Li Chen smiled.

Qi Yunruo lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty."

Li Chen looked at Qi Yunruo, and when Qi Yunruo raised his head, he saw that Li Chen's face was still deeply tired, and he immediately understood that he must have pushed aside many important things, so Qi Yunruo reached out and stroked Li Chen face, Li Chen pressed his hand lightly.

"Your Majesty..." Qi Yunruo's eyes were a little wet, "Your Majesty, why did it take you so long to come back? For more than a month, I still don't know what to do."

"Leave it all to me, Xiao Qi," Li Chen stretched out his hand, and Qi Yunruo stepped forward to hug him, Li Chen said, "Don't worry anymore, I'll be with you from now on."

"Hmm..." Qi Yunruo nodded.

He was also very tired, and after a while he couldn't keep his eyes open, Li Chen said, "Lie down."

Qi Yunruo pulled his clothes and said, "You also come here."

"it is good."

Originally, Qi Yunruo still had a lot of uncertainty and uneasiness, and had a lot of things he wanted to say to the prince, but as soon as his head touched the pillow, he immediately lost consciousness—he was also supporting himself during this period, so he was too tired Even though everyone thought the prince would abandon him, when Li Chen appeared, Qi Yunruo just felt that he could finally relax, so he fell asleep peacefully.

Li Chen looked at his sleeping face for a long time. With a gentle smile on his face, he bent down and kissed Qi Yunruo's lips, "Xiao Qi...wait for me, Xiao Qi..."

When Qi Yunruo woke up the next day, he sat up in a panic and looked around, but the room was empty and no one was there, "Lu Lan——"

"Yes, my lord."

When Lu Lan walked in, Qi Yunruo wanted to ask the emperor where he was, but his reason returned and he didn't say anything, just said: "Where is the eldest prince..."

Lu Lan frowned and said: "Just now when the eldest prince came back, the servant wanted to tell you, but you haven't slept so soundly for a long time, so the servant did not disturb you. The eldest prince looked very unhappy when he came back."

"Where is the second prince?"

Concubine Wei took Mu'er away yesterday, Lu Lan said: "The second prince hasn't come back yet, do you want to ask the servant to remind him?"

Qi Yunruo thought for a while, nodded and said: "Yes, you ask someone to bring the second prince back earlier. If Concubine Wei refuses, just say... that Mu'er fell beside her, and since the eldest princess had a serious illness , I always dare not let any child leave my side easily."

"So?" Lu Lan was a little uneasy.

Qi Yunruo lay back and said: "She understands what I mean." After a while, Qi Yunruo got up and put on his clothes, and was about to go to the south to see how Jinger was doing. Could it be that Concubine Ji is still so stupid now that she would speak directly what?