concubines

The first emperor did not make Qi Niqun the crown princess, and the current emperor did not make Qi Niqun the empress either. The atmosphere in Ziyangbo's mansion was gloomy. When Zhao Hanlin went to visit, Ziyangbo looked tired, wondering if he heard what he said clearly.

Zhao Hanlin repeated: "Uncle, if the emperor really insists on going his own way, it will become a joke of my Dakang. Your concubine, the lower officials will not be able to persuade you, but the lower officials think that you may not want to use this method to become a king. Husband."

Qi Suxiao said: "Have you already been to the Prince's Mansion?"

Zhao Hanlin nodded and said, "Yes."

Qi Suxiao glanced at him with bloodshot eyes, after a while he yawned and said, "I don't care about this matter."

Zhao Hanlin said in astonishment: "Uncle..."

Qi Suxiao interrupted him coldly and said: "What is the purpose of Mr. Zhao coming to me? Indeed, I can advise the emperor not to make my son queen, or I can go to Qi Yunruo and say that if you return If you have a sense of shame, don't enter the palace! But why do you say it, and I have to agree? What good does it do me?"

"This, this, this..." Zhao Hanlin said angrily, "Even if there is no benefit, we are all Dakang's subjects and we should be vigilant. If we just watch the emperor do such a thing, we will have no face. brilliance."

"Zhao Hanlin! You feel that your face is dull, but I don't think... see off guests!"

How many words did you say?Zhao Hanlin stood up in a daze. He is a literati. Naturally, it is not good for him to be shameless after the host sees off the guests. He just flicked his sleeves and went out. He couldn't help thinking, it seemed that Uncle Qi was just as rumored. , Now ignore everything and just indulge in sex, walking halfway, a maid suddenly came over and said, "Master Zhao, our wife please stay."

Zhao Hanlin was puzzled and said, "Dare to ask your lady..."

"Master Zhao, this way please, our wife just heard what you said in the main hall, and I feel that what you said is reasonable. Uncle doesn't want to take care of this matter, but our wife doesn't want to be called... that person is broken, our uncle Ziyang The government has a good reputation, so please stay with us for consultation."

In Jingyang Palace, the Empress Dowager Zhou looked at King Jing and said, "The Ai family doesn't quite understand what you said."

King Jing said with a smile: "It's not that the queen mother doesn't understand, but that she doesn't trust her son and minister."

The Empress Dowager Zhou glanced at the maid beside her, who nodded and guarded the inside and outside of the Jingyang Palace, and stood outside the door by herself, leaving only the Empress Dowager Zhou and King Jing in the room.

King Jing said: "Mother, the emperor has not moved at all, but it does not mean that he has forgotten the enmity of our group attacking the Hall of Martial Arts. Maybe after the filial piety period, the emperor will make a move."

Empress Dowager Zhou said: "After all, the Ai family is the emperor's biological mother, and King Yong is the emperor's only brother." She implied that if the emperor takes revenge, it will not be their mother and son's turn for the time being.

King Jing laughed and said: "If the mother really thinks so, why does she keep encouraging the fourth younger brother to fight against the emperor? The mother...don't forget how Princess Chun died."

A look of embarrassment flashed across the Empress Dowager Zhou's face, but she forced herself to be calm and said, "Princess Chun had been ill for many days at that time, and there was no cure for it. She died of a serious illness. This has nothing to do with anyone."

"My queen, when Imperial Physician Wu was in the palace at the beginning, most of the concubines in the palace had received his diagnosis and treatment. It is not an exaggeration to call him a holy hand. On that day, when Imperial Physician Wu's carriage was approaching Prince Chun's mansion, he was stopped by people from Su Yuan. Imperial Physician Wu and the coachman were not allowed to enter, and then Ma was frightened and injured Imperial Physician Wu. Although Qi Yuze carried Imperial Physician Wu into the mansion, it was already too late... The queen mother said who should blame this hatred ?”

The Empress Dowager Zhou said coldly: "Prince Jing, don't forget! There is not much affection between the Emperor and Princess Chun, and he might not make it difficult for his own brother for a woman who is not even crowned as a Crown Princess."

King Jing said: "But if the emperor doesn't even avenge his wife, he doesn't have to be the emperor anymore."

The Empress Dowager Zhou had already made plans in her heart. Now that the emperor has just ascended the throne, the foundation is not stable. If she wants to do something, now is the best time... But she still doesn't believe in King Jing.The Empress Dowager Zhou looked at him carefully and said, "King Jing, what is the purpose of you provoking our mother and son in so many ways?"

King Jing said calmly: "I've been in the mansion recently, studying and self-cultivating. I just read the chapter 'Zheng Boke Duan Yuyan'."

"Shut up!" The Queen Mother Zhou interrupted him coldly, "You can say such things?"

There was no fear on King Jing's face, "Mother, the Jiang family dotes on the youngest son, and you should be familiar with the matter of taking the eldest son's country for the youngest son, right?"

The Queen Mother Zhou took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. She looked at King Jing and said, "What do you mean by that?"

King Jing smiled and said: "Mother, in the past few years, I have not done nothing. There are still many people inside and outside the capital who can help. If you and your fourth brother can use it, I would like to give you all." to you."

The Empress Dowager Zhou sneered and said, "Don't treat everyone else as fools. You want Aijia and King Yong to make your wedding dress for you? When Aijia really does something, I'm afraid you will come out to be that fisherman."

King Jing shook his head and sighed: "I only hope that the fourth younger brother will enshrine my minister in the south of the Yangtze River in the future, so that I can spend the rest of my life with the princess in peace, and my children and grandchildren will go well. I dare not ask for anything else."

The Empress Dowager Zhou still didn't believe it, and King Jing said again: "Now, the emperor is only waiting to settle the old account. My son almost killed him in the northwest. He will not spare anyone if he spares me. My son is not a legitimate son, and I don't have the support of my mother's family." , and now I just want to find a way to make a living."

The Empress Dowager Zhou did not know how much she believed this time, but she thought deeply about it. No matter why the current emperor did not attack his former political opponents, it was convenient for the Empress Dowager Zhou and the former ministers of King Jing. They are still in the court and can help them work.

The Empress Dowager Zhou can no longer explain why she is still dissatisfied, but when she looks at Li Chen, she will never have the intimate feeling that he is her own son. In her heart, Li Chen already belongs to the Empress Dowager, and he will be filial to the Empress Dowager. Will promote the Lan family... She doesn't want to just stay in the palace as a powerless queen mother, and her beloved youngest son is not allowed to return to Beijing without edict. She has to keep watching the emperor's face, the empress dowager's face... and Qi Yuze face, was locked in a palace until death.

Li Chen often sneaked out of the palace when no one was looking, and went to look for Qi Yunruo under the moonlight in plain clothes. This time when he went, Qi Yunruo was soaking his feet. His white feet were soaked in hot water. Qi Yunruo lowered his head. Thinking about things, I didn't notice that there was an extra person in the room.

Until the light in front of him was blocked, Qi Yunruo raised his head and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are here."

Sitting beside him, Li Chen also took off his shoes and socks and put his feet into the water basin. Qi Yunruo was afraid of itching, so he made room to be careful not to let Li Chen's toenails touch his feet, and the two leaned against each other. At one point, Qi Yunruo asked, "Is the court still arguing these past few days?"

"Ah."

"Hey, what's new today?"

Li Chen recalled it, and said, "It's all the same old way."

In fact, some people in the court today said that Qi Yunruo's biological mother was a prostitute, and that Qi Yunruo's blood was dirty enough to match the royal family. Li Chen felt displeased, and asked on the spot: "If Yuze's biological mother is someone else, can he become a queen?"

The minister didn't dare to speak, but the court still insisted on the matter of Qi Yunruo's biological mother. Li Chen didn't tell Qi Yunruo, and Qi Yunruo didn't ask again.

Every day Li Chen had to rush back early in the morning, often when Qi Yunruo got up, it was cold around him, but this time when Li Chen got up to get dressed, Qi Yunruo woke up and pulled Li Chen's clothes to put a corner, not letting him go.

Li Chen stood beside the bed, looking at him with a smile.

Qi Yunruo said: "Are you coming back today?"

Li Chen leaned down, Qi Yunruo closed his eyes, feeling softness on his eyes, Li Chen said: "Maybe not, Xiao Qi."

Qi Yunruo put it on him, and said with a smile: "I actually understand, you don't need to worry about me, go to court." They can't be together now, but no one can separate them in the future.

After Li Chen left, Qi Yunruo fell asleep for a while, and when he woke up again, it was already high in the sun. He put on his clothes, thinking that at this hour, he wondered if the emperor had gone to court. They all will establish themselves as the empress, but he has just ascended the throne not long ago, if he starts to quarrel with the officials now, it will not be good for the emperor and ministers to get along with each other in the future, so Li Chen wants to hold the empress ceremony after he succeeds in persuading most of the officials .

When Qi Yunruo learned that Mrs. Zhao was coming, his mood suddenly turned bad. Since Qi Niqun passed away, Mrs. Zhao didn't come to the door again, but when she came, Qi Yunruo had no choice but to welcome her.

Qi Yunruo still invited Mrs. Zhao to visit Hetingzhou, but her mood was worse than that of so many ministers who came here last time. Qi Yunruo walked in and saw Mrs. Zhao looking at him with dark eyes. Qi Yunruo sat on the side, Mrs. Zhao Said: "Sure enough, she is the one who is going to be the queen, and she doesn't say a word when she sees the aunt."

If Yu Ruo was impatient, he said directly: "Ma'am, if you have anything to say, just say it."

Mrs. Zhao said coldly: "I will not allow you to be the queen!"

"You are not qualified to say this, this is the emperor's decision."

"Qi Yunruo! If the emperor wants to become a queen, he wants to marry a wife. What about the orders of his parents? Let me tell you, the Ziyang uncle's mansion will never nod!"

"Don't forget," Qi Yunruo even felt a little tired when he said this, "Ma'am, since I was married to Prince Chun's Mansion by you, my household registration has also been moved out, which is equivalent to a married woman. Leaving Ziyangbo Mansion, there is no need to follow your wishes."

Mrs. Zhao was choked by him, and then she sneered and said: "But you are the one who killed the emperor's first wife, what qualifications do you have to replace Qun'er!"

"I didn't kill her!"

Mrs. Zhao said sharply: "If it wasn't for you! How could Qu'er not be favored by the prince and be poisoned by taking birth control medicine? If it wasn't for you! Qu'er wouldn't have died in depression!"

"...The emperor has always respected the princess, and he didn't treat her coldly just because the princess gave birth to two daughters..."

Mrs. Zhao's eyes were gloomy and cold, "I have already written these papers and handed them over to the empress dowager, you wait for the empress dowager to deal with you!"

Qi Yunruo was startled, the Queen Mother Zhou... If she wants to do something, the emperor may find it difficult to object.

Mrs. Zhao proudly said: "The queen mother will not agree to this matter, Qi Yunruo, even if the emperor likes you, how about it?! Your status will not be seen for the rest of your life! You owe this to your skirt."

Qi Yunruo looked at her coldly, "Ma'am, you and the concubine are responsible for all this. At first, you sent me to be the concubine's favorite, but you didn't allow the emperor to like me. You blamed everything on me." Don't you feel that you are responsible for all this?"

Mrs. Zhao's face turned pale all of a sudden, Qi Yunruo continued: "You always blame others, blame my mother for making Ziyang uncle's mansion lose its splendor, blame me for making Qi Niqun lose favor, if Ziyang uncle's mansion is united, it should stand still, if Ziyang uncle Bo Jie takes good care of herself, if the princess is really virtuous and virtuous, none of this will happen! Madam, it is useless even if you find the queen mother, no one can stop what the emperor is going to do!"

Mrs. Zhao's face had already dimmed, she struggled and said: "Qin'er must be crowned queen!"

"Impossible, the princess is not even the crown princess." Qi Yunruo said lightly.

Mrs. Zhao looked at him panting, Qi Yunruo stood up and took a step back, saying: "Order to prepare the carriage, I want to enter the palace!"

Qi Yunruo was stopped at the gate of the palace.

Zhao Hanlin was leaving the palace leisurely, when he saw him, he said, "The empress dowager hangs down the curtain today to let the emperor reflect on himself, and he can only come out when the emperor changes his mind."

Qi Yunruo looked at the palace gate and saw a group of ministers coming out with smug smiles on their faces. Some of them looked anxious, thinking that the queen mother's behavior was a challenge to the imperial power.

Qi Yunruo sat back in the carriage and ordered: "Go back to the mansion!"

Inside the Ci'an Palace, the Empress Dowager was leisurely pruning camellias. Aunt Yunping hurried in and whispered a few words in the Empress Dowager's ear.

"Oh?" The Empress Dowager's expression remained unchanged, and she continued to play with her flowers with the small scissors.

"Empress Dowager, you said that now..."

"What are you in a hurry for? Chen'er has a lot of eyes. I used to be a little surprised why he didn't move after he ascended the throne. He hasn't dealt with those people. So he's waiting here."

Aunt Yunping felt relieved, and asked again: "Say, do you want your servant to send a letter to the Prince's Mansion?"

"Well...no need," the Empress Dowager smiled, "Just take it as my old lady's last time to see what kind of score this child can achieve."

Aunt Yunping nodded, and the Empress Dowager said again: "How about this, later you ask someone to close the door of our Ci'an Palace, and say that my wife is sick again, and I won't interfere with it at my age. It's over."

Aunt Yunping smiled and said, "You are still young, how can you say you are old?"

"Really?" The Empress Dowager smiled, "Yes, I also think that my old bones are still quite strong, and I haven't enjoyed the blessing of my grandson yet."

After Qi Yunruo returned to the mansion, he went to Ji Shangshu's mansion, but learned that Ji Huan had also been deprived of his position and confined in the mansion. This was an order from the Queen Mother, and no one dared to disobey it. They really didn't dare to ask Qi Yunruo to enter.

Qi Yunruo can only go back to the Prince's Mansion, he has no other channels to know the news in the palace, and he is extremely anxious, but there is nothing he can do.

In the early morning of the second day, the Empress Dowager Zhou cried out in the court, saying that Li Chen had locked him up and ordered him to reflect on himself, regardless of the etiquette of his ancestors. She kept saying that the emperor was her own son, and she loved him the most, but as Li's wife, she couldn't just watch Li Chen destroy the century-old sage of the emperor's family.

As soon as this remark came out, the whole court was shocked, but many officials agreed with the Queen Mother Zhou, saying that what she said was very true. They said that no one wanted to see things go to this point, but if the emperor really didn't want to repent, they would too. For the sake of the imperial court.For example, Zhao Hanlin and others, who devote themselves to studying, can be regarded as wanting to do something for the country and the people. They are unwilling to participate in things that can be classified as "usurping the throne", but when they think of the emperor wanting to appoint a man as the queen In this matter, I feel vaguely in my heart that this is the end of disregarding the wishes of the ministers. Even if he is the emperor, he is no more than sages and sages, and he is no more than the ancestors' rules.

A large number of officials loyal to Li Chen, many of whom seemed to be like Ji Huan, rushed home after being dismissed from office to reflect, and a few who refuted the Queen Mother on the spot were all thrown into prison.

Someone wrote a letter asking the Queen Mother to kill Qi Yunruo directly, but the Queen Mother refused—she knew that if Qi Yunruo died, the matter of becoming a queen would be gone, so she would have no reason to keep the emperor locked up and force the courtiers to establish a new king .So if Qi Yun can't die, he should live well.Now, the deeper Li Chen's affection for Qi Yunruo is, the more he refuses to let go, which is beneficial to the Empress Dowager Zhou.

Qi Yunruo waited for three days in the Prince's Mansion, he had nothing to do, but he didn't want to sit still, now that the capital is under martial law, the Empress Dowager Zhou has publicized the fact that Li Chen is going to have a male queen, and the capital is full of rumors In just a few days, at the storytelling stalls on the street, some people talked about Li Chen and Qi Yunruo's eclectic legends. These are the words of Qian Si De.Qi Yunruo felt that if there was no instigation behind this, he would not believe it even if he was killed. All this happened premeditatedly.

But what should he do?

What Qi Yunruo was most worried about was Li Chen. If the Empress Dowager Zhou really established a new emperor, the new emperor would probably be Li Xu. Would Li Xu let the emperor go?He just needs to make up an excuse at will, saying that the emperor is sick or injured... When he takes a high position, he has countless ways to get rid of the emperor.

Qi Yunruo's heart suddenly brightened after King Jing entered the court.

King Jing is proud now, and now he is trusted by the Empress Dowager Zhou, and his people in the court are jumping up and down again, but... what about King Qing?The emperor seems to have said that now King Qing is a man with his tail between his legs. Since he ascended the throne, he has been hiding in the palace and dare not go out.

Qi Yunruo's eyes lit up, and he asked people to prepare horses, and he was going to Prince Qing's Mansion.