bastard returns

On the day when Concubine Shu Hui and the sixth prince returned to the palace, there was a great deal of pomp and circumstance.Because at the beginning many people knew that the Shu family had committed a crime and left the palace. In order to seek a just name, the emperor casually pushed out a person who would take the blame, and then announced to the public that the Shu family had been wronged. In order to heal the pain of the Shu family, he also In order to make up for the suffering of the sixth prince, he not only promoted the Shu family to the concubine position, but even used the etiquette of half an empress to welcome him back to the palace, which seemed very grand.

In fact, according to the original intention of the emperor, since the Shu family is already a concubine, it is enough to use the guard of honor of the concubine, but the empress sympathizes with the suffering of the Shu family outside, and insists on letting the emperor make the show more grand, so as to realize the emperor's treatment of the Shu family. With pity, the emperor was grateful to the empress for her generosity, so he followed suit, and even the errand of Shu's proclamation when he entered the palace was taken over by the empress.

In the queen's palace, the maid inserted the last step into the queen's hair, bowed and retreated. Sikong Yue approached at this time, saw the appearance of the queen's phoenix robe and gold hairpin, and couldn't help saying: "There is only this phoenix hairpin." The gown can set off the appearance of the queen mother."

"You're here." The queen glanced at him, "How are the preparations outside?"

Si Kongyue said: "According to the Queen Mother's order, everything has been prepared, and the things sent to the Hall of Huanqing are already the best in the warehouse. Even if the emperor inspects everything, he can't find any flaws."

"That's good." The queen nodded, "The emperor attaches great importance to Concubine Shu Hui's return to the palace, and even renovated the Huanqing Hall, which had been vacant for a long time, to serve as Concubine Hui's bedroom. Tongde, send some good things over there, for sure that no one will chew on the tongue of the master of the harem."

"Empress Mother, I actually don't understand." Si Kongyue thought for a while, and said: "In the past, Emperor Father loved Concubine Shu Hui very much. She is not in the palace, so she is less threatening to Empress Mother. Why does Empress Mother want to do favors in front of Empress Dowager? The concubine asked for orders, and even the sixth younger brother came back together."

"Although Concubine Shu Hui was favored in the past, she was not a proud one, and she knew how to advance and retreat, unlike the concubine Yue, who gave her a little good face and put her nose on her face." The queen looked at herself in the bronze mirror. With a dignified expression on his face, "Compared to Concubine Shu Hui, concubine Yue is the one who makes people angry. I knew early in the morning that Lu Yue could not understand Shu Miaomiao. Since Concubine Shu Hui's return to the palace can make things difficult for Concubine Yue, why don't we just go along with it?" , even if you are satisfied with the emperor, you can still show concubine Yue a face, let her know that the time for her to be proud of her beauty and favor is over."

"So that's what happened." Si Kongyue nodded, apparently understanding, "Baby Yue concubine showed disrespect to her mother everywhere because of her father's favor, and her mother's promotion of Concubine Shu Hui was the biggest disgrace to Yue concubine, saying Maybe in the future, Concubine Shu Hui will be able to help my mother get rid of that serious trouble."

"That's natural. As long as the concubine Yue falls, you think it's just for Sikong Xu's little weight, and you can let your father take another look." The queen sneered, obviously thinking that Sikong Xu had been relying on the concubine Yue recently. I am quite upset about gaining power.

"Speaking of the fourth younger brother, the son-in-law just came over from the father, and there is something he wants to tell the mother." Si Kongyue seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and said: "The father passed on the order early this morning. , Let the fourth younger brother vacate the Prince's Mansion that he just got, saying that the other party was originally the mansion of Concubine Shu Hui's mother's family, and it should be returned to them, and it will be given to the sixth brother as the Prince's Mansion."

"Oh? Is there such a thing?" The queen turned around.

"The eunuch who delivered the decree has already left the palace. I think the fourth brother already knows about it now. I really want to see what kind of face he looks like after receiving the decree." Sikong Yue said with a mocking expression on his face. , "At the beginning when the fourth brother got that mansion, I heard that he spent a lot of money to renovate the mansion, but now he made a wedding dress for the sixth brother. If I were him, I would be so angry that I would vomit blood."

"Look, this concubine Hui hasn't even returned to the palace yet, she has already started to make things difficult for the concubine Yue and the others. It is estimated that there will be more fun in this palace in the future." The queen stretched out her hand to Sikong Yue, and Sikong Yue immediately helped him carefully. Then, the two walked out of the house, surrounded by a crowd of palace people, and walked towards the palace gate.

In the other courtyard of the chief eunuch Li Yigao, it was another scene.

"This dress suits my mother very well." Tang dexterously arranged Shu's hair in a bun, and helped him arrange the skirt of the palace dress carefully. Shu's respectful appearance towards Tang was obviously not natural, Some embarrassed said: "Madam is kind to me, how dare I accept the honorific title of Madam, if Madam doesn't dislike it, please call me sister."

Tang shi shook her head, apparently not caring about such things, she got up and said, "Since your majesty has already been conferred the title of concubine Hui, I should naturally follow the etiquette, but if your majesty doesn't mind, I will naturally do as before." Treat your wife the same way."

Shu Shi could only smile and nodded. At this time, Sikong Xuan had already bathed and changed and came out of the room next door. His court robe embroidered with gold flood dragons was newly made, and it fit very well. His hair was also tied up with a jade crown. He looked very graceful, like a handsome young man, but compared with his clothes, his expression was too serious, as if he had been with Ning Yuan for a long time, and he was not used to such a style for a while. .

"I've never had an idea, so Xuan'er has grown so big." Shu's eyes fell on Sikong Xuan lovingly, making him blushed and lowered his head.

"That's right, Your Highness is now sixteen. After this year's birthday, he will be an upright adult man." Tang said with a smile.

The door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and Ning Yuan led Ning Xin'er in. Ning Xin'er has grown a lot taller, and her temper is not as boyish as she was when she was a child.She followed Ning Yuan to say hello to Shu Shi, and then moved to Sikong Xuan's side, turned her watery eyes to look at him twice, and said charmingly: "Little Xuanzi looks so good dressed like this!"

Sikongxuan didn't reply, but turned his head abruptly, but his face turned redder inexplicably, Ning Xiner was a little annoyed by his reaction, "Hey, people are praising you, why did you just start talking to others when you became a prince?" It's a show!"

"I didn't..." Sikong Xuan immediately turned his head to retort, but looking at Ning Xiner's smiling face, he suddenly realized that he had been tricked by this little girl, his face froze, and he turned his head away again.

"Okay, Xin'er, you go out first, I have something to say to Xiao Xuanzi and your mother Shu." Ning Yuan smoothed things over, patted Ning Xin'er on the back, Ning Xiner made a face at Sikong Xuan, and smiled again He bowed to Shu's respectfully before walking out of the house.

Tang also knew what Ning Yuan was about to say, so she followed her out and closed the door behind her.

Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Ning Yuan didn't procrastinate, and said directly: "Your journey back to the palace today should not be peaceful, but no matter what happens, there is no need to panic, just wait and see what happens. It's gone." Ning Yuan didn't procrastinate, and said directly.

"Young Master, I understand what you mean. If anyone can't see me and Ah Xuan returning to the palace, today is the last chance, and they won't let it go." Compared with Ning Yuan's imagination, Shu Shi was obviously much calmer.

"Whether they want to plan or not is one thing, and whether they succeed is another. I always do what I say, and today I will be able to protect the empress and Your Highness back to the court safely." Ning Yuan stepped forward and stood up for Sikong. Xuanli straightened his front, and patted his shoulder again, "As a man, you have to be more responsible. Now that Your Highness has grown up, don't let people bully your mother again."

"Master." Sikong Xuan looked into Ning Yuan's eyes, and suddenly knelt down, not prostrating, not on one knee, but the most solemn way of kneeling on both knees, and said loudly: "Nuxuan has received the kindness of the young master. In order to repay you, I invite the young master to accept the slave Xuan's gift."

"What nonsense?" Ning Yuan shook his head and stretched out his hand to pull him, "Now that you have recovered your status as a prince, how can you kneel to me, get up quickly."

"Before I received the edict, I was not the prince, but just Nuxuan, so I knelt down naturally." After Sikongxuan finished speaking, he kowtowed three times. He was sincere, but Ning Yuan felt a little guilty. Xianghe Town rescued them because of their selfishness because they knew their identities, but now being so grateful made Ning Yuan's face feel hot, and he couldn't help but feel deeply moved. Seeing him finish kowtowing, he hurriedly helped him up .

"Xuan'er don't worry, after returning to the palace, I will often invite my wife and young master to the palace as guests." Mrs. Shu smoothed things over, it was getting late, and it was time for us to take shape.

As soon as she finished speaking, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies knocked on the door outside, saying that the time has come, the guard of honor at the gate of the palace has been prepared, and it is time for them to go.

Because it is the guard of honor of the half queen, there are thousands of guards of honor before and after the emperor and empress go on tour, so this time when the Shu family returned to the palace, the palace people in front of and behind the chariot almost filled most of the street, full of style, Sikong Xuan rode a A bay red horse followed the chariot sedan, and according to the rules set by the Ministry of Rites, first walked around the East and West Streets, and after being watched by the people on the side of the road, went straight to the palace, and received the canonized imperial edict in front of the palace gate. The ceremony of returning to the palace is considered complete.

While parading through the streets over there, the front of the palace gate is also very lively. The emperor, empress and most of the concubines in the harem are here. These women have stayed in the harem for a long time, even if they don't have much favor, They are all human beings, they seized this opportunity to get in close contact with the emperor and flattered vigorously, and by the way, they also praised the Shu family to the sky. The four corners are complete, it is the blessing of the country, and so on, let the concubine Yue stand aside and roll her eyes.

Her dress today is even more ostentatious than in the past. She is wearing the most colorful clothes and the most expensive jewelry. With that gorgeous face, standing among the empresses and concubines can indeed be called the crown of beauty.There is a purpose for her to dress up like this today, apart from competing with the Shu family who will appear later, maybe the emperor will need her comfort after a while, so it is safe to be prepared to dress neatly.

Sikong Xu pushed aside the crowd at the back, quietly got behind Yuebi, and said: "The matter has been arranged properly, there should be no problem."

"That's good." Yuebi nodded, "It's not so easy for that bitch to return to the palace in such a dignified way. Let's talk about it when she can step into the gate of the palace." After finishing speaking, Yuebi looked at it again. Looking at Sikong Xu's face, he said sarcastically: "It's just a prince's mansion, why show such an expression, the emperor must not see it, I feel that your son is not happy for him, and you have to suffer."

Sikong Xu's cheeks froze, he managed to pull out a smile, but in his heart he scolded Concubine Yue to the sky.He was originally rewarded by the emperor for the Prince's Mansion, and when he was happy, he spent a large sum of money to renovate the entire mansion in order to appear serious, which was almost equivalent to overthrowing and rebuilding it. Without covering the heat, he was suddenly told by the emperor to give up the mansion, how could he be reconciled!

What's even more embarrassing is that in order to show off the luxury of his newly built mansion, he originally planned to hold several banquets in a row and sent out messages to all the ministers. If he moved out of the mansion at this time, he still doesn't know how to communicate with others Explain, what a joke.

Forget it, Sikong Xu shook his head, if their plan today goes well, it is uncertain whether Concubine Shu Hui will be able to return to the palace in a serious manner, then the mansion will still belong to him.

Thinking of this, Sikong Xu collected himself, put his hands in his sleeves, and waited quietly.

Concubine Shu Hui's guard of honor patrolled the two avenues, circled around, and finally walked slowly towards the gate of the palace.The emperor was obviously getting impatient with the wait. Instead of sitting on the dragon chair, he stood up directly and looked at the approaching chariot from afar. The guards on the side of the road were also heavily guarded. No mistakes can be tolerated.

Finally, the sedan chair stopped in front of the palace gate, and with Sikong Xuan's support, Mrs. Shu in full attire slowly stepped down from the sedan chair, and bowed down to the emperor and empress in a dignified manner.

The emperor glanced at the empress, and the empress understood, took a volume of imperial edict from the nurse beside her, unfolded it, and began to recite it with her unique warm voice.

"Following the heavens, the emperor and empress ordered..."

The surrounding officials and common people were all silent, and the imperial decree was read out by the empress herself. It can be seen how much the emperor liked the concubine Shu Hui who was about to return to the palace. For a while, some officials looked at Sikong Xuan with warm eyes. Right now, the court situation is just a game field between the first prince and the empress, and the fourth prince and the concubine Yue. If the sixth prince and the powerful Concubine Shu Hui are added now, the future direction of the court will inevitably become more turbulent. up.

However, there was no sound around here, only when the queen was reading the imperial decree calmly, a man's hoarse voice suddenly came out from a corner of the surrounding crowd: "Miaomiao! Miaomiao!"

The voice was hoarse but very penetrating, and it interrupted the Queen's voice at once. The Queen put down the imperial decree in her hand, frowned, and wanted to see which troublemaker had the guts to make trouble on such an occasion.

"Miaomiao! How can you just leave me and leave me like this, Miaomiao!" The voice came out again, and the people were commotioned, and finally saw a person in the crowd who was less than five feet long, and alas Fat and ugly with a big tumor on his face, he kept yelling in the direction of Concubine Shu Hui through the barrier of the imperial guards, "Miaomiao! You are clearly my wife, a husband and wife for a day, a hundred days of grace, You despise me for being ugly and don't want me, but give me an explanation, how could you quietly leave home without saying a word, do you know how hard it was for me to find you!"

Sikong Xuan, who was kneeling beside Shu Shi, stood up abruptly, and looked to the side with an angry face, wanting to see who was talking nonsense, but suddenly heard Shu Shi say: "Be quiet, you Have you forgotten what Young Master Ning Yuan said before?"

"But mother and concubine, you heard it too, what stupid things that guy said!" Sikong Xuan said in a low voice, "If he is allowed to talk nonsense like that..."

"Things that don't need to happen, no matter how others talk nonsense, they still don't need to happen." Shu's face didn't show any emotion at all, Sikong Xuan thought about it for a while, and it was the same reason, then he also calmed down.

"What's going on!" The emperor finally said in a calm voice, "Who dares to make a noise here, why don't you rush away!"

Immediately, several imperial guards got the imperial order to take the ugly man away. Unexpectedly, when the ugly man saw someone coming to arrest him, he screamed even more hysterically, "Your Majesty, you can't take this woman as your concubine, Your Majesty! This woman is My wife, my majesty! What is the law of heaven, my majesty!"

Wow, the man's yelling immediately made the common people explode, my God, this is not a trivial matter, this Concubine Shu Hui, who is about to enter the palace soon, is already a married woman!

"Presumptuous!" The queen was also taken aback, "Where did the lunatic come from, who dared to slander the concubine with such wild words, really presumptuous, hurry up and take him down!"

"I didn't tell a lie, I didn't tell a lie!" The ugly man not only didn't listen, but shouted even more vigorously, "This woman is my wife! I've been married to her for many years! I have evidence! I have evidence !"

"It's really rude!" The queen's eyes trembled with anger, "Slandering the royal family is a capital offense, take this person down immediately!"

"Wait." As soon as the queen finished speaking, the concubine Yue took a step forward, and said with a blunt smile at the queen, "Don't you think that what the man said is plausible and not like a lie? Of course the concubine does not Doubting what Sister Hui Concubine meant was just out of curiosity. That person’s yelling has already been heard by many people. If you don’t ask the matter clearly, it’s hard to guarantee that there won’t be any bad comments from the people. After all, Sister Hui Concubine It's true that she has been living among the people for several years." After speaking, the concubine Yue turned her head to look at the emperor: "Your Majesty, don't you think so?"

The emperor's face was already so gloomy that he couldn't bear it. Naturally, he heard everything the ugly man said. The reason why he kept silent was because he kept guessing in his heart. He didn't want to believe that it came out of nowhere. What the guy said, but his inherently suspicious temperament inevitably made him suspicious. After all, the facts are just like what Yuebi said, the Shu family has been wandering among the people for several years. If she really married someone as a wife, if she canonize him back to the palace, wouldn't it be the same as picking up someone else's broken shoes?As the king of a country, how could he afford to lose face, especially...

The emperor frowned and took a look at the ugly man, especially the broken shoes of this kind of man.

"Your Majesty, what this person said is pure nonsense. I don't even know this person's name. How could I marry him as a wife? I hope the Emperor will see clearly." Shu Shi said at this time, her tone did not change at all. Confused, but also very magnanimous.

"Miaomiao, how can you be so unfeeling! You don't even recognize your husband for the sake of glory and wealth, can you really feel at ease!" When the ugly man heard Shu's words, he immediately sat on the ground and howled, looking like a woman. What a shrew, the emperor's eyes changed, and he glanced at Li Yigao beside him. Li Yigao had served him for many years, and immediately read the meaning from the emperor's eyes, and walked quickly, and after a while, he brought the ugly man over.

The ugly man seemed to be very afraid of such a scene, knelt there and kept shaking, the emperor looked at him sullenly, and said: "If you have anything to say, just say it here, if you lie to me half a word, A dead end."

"Caomin, Caomin Li Dachui, kowtow, kowtow to the emperor." The ugly man kowtowed and stammered: "Caomin, Caomin is the boundary of Jiangzhou, the personnel of Xianghe Town, and usually rely on collecting firewood in the mountains for a living, Caomin, Caomin There is no mistake in saying that this lady is indeed Cao Min's wife. When Cao Min was collecting firewood on the mountain three years ago, Cao Min saw her fainting there with a child, so he took her home and gave her a bite of food. I have nowhere to go and want to marry me. I have never married a wife in my life. Seeing that she is beautiful, I agreed..."

"It's really nonsense!" Hearing this, Sikong Xuan finally couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and shouted: "Who on earth made you slander my mother and concubine here!"

"How dare the grassroots of the emperor have the guts to slander you, the emperor!" The ugly man continued to kowtow, "No matter how ignorant the grassroots are, they know that the crime of deceiving the emperor is to beheaded! I just followed the traces all the way to find the capital, if I didn’t happen to be nearby today, I came here to take a look at the excitement, I really don’t know that my wife from a few months ago is going to enter the palace now!”

Speaking of this, Li Dahui seemed to be desperate again. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, and continued: "Of course Caomin also knows that if the emperor likes Caomin's wife, Caomin has no ability to compete with the emperor. Caomin just doesn't want the emperor to be deceived by others. Otherwise, if my wife cheated the emperor, and the Dongchuang incident made me implicated, how good it would be!"

When these three words were spoken, it seemed that the emperor wanted to rob his wife. The emperor turned red with anger, and really wanted to order this man to be cut off immediately, but so many people were watching and listening, as an emperor, He doesn't want to be regarded as a faint king who steals his wife and daughter and even kills him.

"Your Majesty, my concubine thinks that this troublemaker must be lying. No matter how poor Concubine Hui is, how can she fall in love with such a person?" Concubine Yue said calmly: "Besides, he has no evidence, and he will just talk about it with empty teeth." It's really ridiculous to slander Concubine Hui."

"I have evidence! I have evidence!" As soon as the concubine Yue finished speaking, the ugly man yelled again. While yelling, he also pulled out a pink thing from his waist. When everyone looked closely, it turned out to be a bellyband for his daughter. .