bastard returns

Mother Kang stepped forward, asked the maid behind her to take the apron from Li Dachui's hand, and inspected it carefully before her eyes, but she didn't speak for a while.

Seeing that she was watching seriously, the queen couldn't help but asked curiously: "Nurse, could there be some mystery in this apron."

"Of course there are." Mother Kang said while watching, "This hairpin brocade is rare. Back then, the Empress Dowager only got one, so she asked her servants to help distribute it to the empresses in each palace. Because each empress has a different status, The amount of cloth they got was not the same. After the servants cut it, in order to avoid mistakes in their busy schedule, they all used rice soup mixed with the juice of the safflower to mark it. The sap of the safflower is bright red. But after mixing with rice soup, the handwriting will disappear within a few hours, which will not affect the original color of the cloth."

"Could it be that Mammy wants to tell whether this object belongs to Concubine Hui based on the handwriting left at the beginning?" The queen's voice was full of doubts, "But the handwriting has disappeared long ago, how do we check it now?"

"It's simple. The color of Kou Honghua is long-lasting and can't be washed off, but it will disappear only after mixing with rice soup. If you want to make the writing visible, you only need to heat this thing a little." Kang mother said, she The maid behind her brought a charcoal stove from nowhere.

Hearing Madam Kang say this, even the emperor turned his head curiously, and everyone's eyes fell on her for a moment, seeing Madam Kang testing the temperature on the charcoal stove with her hand, and then holding the apron Gently swirl in circles over the charcoal burner.

Concubine Yue swallowed unconsciously, and she suddenly felt her heart lift up.There will be no mistakes, she said to herself, that bellyband was taken out by someone who served the Shu family in the past, there will be no mistakes, she thought so, but saw that the bellyband was , Sure enough, shallow handwriting began to emerge, and it became deeper and deeper. After seeing what the words were, Yue Concubine couldn't help feeling dizzy.

This is impossible!

On the surface of the pale pink fabric of the apron, although the two bright red characters are small, they are very eye-catching, clearly writing "Moon concubine".

"Oh, it really doesn't belong to Concubine Hui, but it belongs to Concubine Yuegui!" Madam Kang pretended to be surprised, her voice was well-crafted, just so that people wouldn't think she was deliberately promoting it, The volume that could reach the ears of everyone present was just right, and at the same time presented the apron to the emperor and empress.

The queen only glanced at it, and a trace of joy flashed in her eyes. She turned her head and glared at Concubine Yue angrily, "Concubine Yuegui, what's going on? Why are your things in the hands of people outside the palace!?"

"This...I..." Yuebi's expression was flustered, she didn't know what to say for a moment, how could it be possible?Shouldn't that thing belong to the Shu family?How could it be your own!She did have one of those bellybands, but she clearly remembered that hers was locked in a cabinet in the bedroom, how could it be outside?

But now no matter what Yue Concubine said, it seemed to be of no avail, at least the words that suddenly appeared on the bellyband were seen by everyone with their own eyes, and they definitely could not be faked.

Li Dahammer was also stunned. He didn't know why things turned around like this. Seeing the emperor's majestic eyes sweeping over, he shook his feet and immediately knelt down, "Your Majesty, the grass people are not lying, that bellyband, bellyband... ..."

"Your Majesty, this person's words are incoherent, just now Xuan'er has exposed his trick of lying, and now the so-called evidence presented proves that this person was purely planted and framed by someone. Concubine, my concubine feels that it is necessary to take this person down for interrogation, and to find out who is behind the scenes and who dares to slander the emperor's beloved." The empress spoke righteously, and while speaking, she was still dumbfounded. concubine of the month.

"The queen is right." The emperor took a deep breath. Hearing a hundred times is worth seeing once. No matter what others say, it is not as decisive as what he saw with his own eyes. The emperor already had a plan in his heart, pointing at Li Dahammer : "Take this person down, and the Ministry of Punishment will torture him severely. We must pry his mouth open!"

Immediately, the imperial guards stepped forward, ready to drag Li Dahammer down. Li Dahammer knelt there, and originally wanted to distinguish something, but seeing that the person who wanted to arrest him had already approached, and the situation was probably hopeless. He took out a dagger from the back of his waist, and rushed straight at Shu Shi, looking like he was going to assassinate him!

"No, hurry up and protect the empress!" A eunuch screamed loudly, and the emperor was also taken aback by this sudden incident. Unlike the servants and guards surrounded by the emperor, the Shu family has been After getting off the sedan chair, there were only Sikong Xuan and a few court ladies by his side. Those court ladies screamed and dispersed when they saw this posture, but in just this moment, the dagger in Li Dahammer's hand was already away from Shu Shi's body. The chest is less than a foot.

Seeing this scene, many people closed their eyes in surprise, and Shu Shi also stared blankly at the approaching sword, seeing that she was about to be stabbed to the bone, when suddenly she felt her arm was being stabbed. Pulled, she was pulled by this force and fell backwards, temporarily avoiding the sword, and then stood in front of Nu Xuanshan, who was half a step behind him, and grabbed the blade with her own fleshy palm, Stopping the dagger from moving any further, he clenched his other hand into a fist and hit Li Dahammer hard on the chest.

For several years, Sikong Xuan has been following Ning Yuan's side as a guard, and his martial arts skills have long been perfected. This fist with internal strength beat Li Dahammer so that his head was sprayed with blood, his body flew upside down, and he lay heavily on the ground .

"Xuan'er." Shi Shi was startled, seeing that the palm of Sikong Xuan holding the dagger became dripping with blood, he didn't care about his painful foot, and immediately got up to check, then the emperor was shocked when he saw this scene , also hastily walked over surrounded by a group of guards.

"I'm fine." Although his hand was cut, Sikong Xuan didn't show any expression of pain, he just tore off a piece of his clothes, casually bandaged it to stop the bleeding.

"Prince Xuan!" The emperor shouted to the attendants around him, and at the same time leaned in front of Sikong Xuan, seeing the blood, his eyes were full of pity, "My good boy, you saved your mother and concubine's life! "

"Father, this person was clearly sent by someone with intentions to frame the mother and concubine. If he fails to set the blame, he wants to ruin the boat. Father must uphold justice for the mother and concubine!" Sikongxuan said to the emperor indignantly, and the emperor nodded after hearing this, "That's right." I would like to see who is so daring to instruct this person to act like this in front of me." He turned around, "Come on, quickly send this assassin to the Ministry of Punishment and torture him severely!"

Li Dachui had been lying there motionless ever since he vomited blood from the shock of Sikong Xuan. The two guards walked over to inspect it for a while, and saluted the emperor with cupped fists, "Report to the emperor, this person has committed suicide by taking poison."

"Suicide by taking poison?" The emperor repeated in disbelief, and he also stepped forward to check, and saw that Li Dahammer had indeed swallowed his breath, and his face was purple and his lips were black. He must have been poisoned.

"It seems that this person is a dead man who was specially trained to frame and frame the blame. He hid the poison between his teeth. Seeing that he can't commit suicide by poisoning himself, he can protect the master behind him." The queen also came up and looked at it. The dead man said to the emperor with anger on his face: "Concubine Hui and Xuan'er are too pitiful, please investigate this matter strictly to see who is behind the scenes!"

"Naturally, we need to investigate this matter. It doesn't matter what the Empress said. I'm also quite curious as to who is so ruthless and wants to put to death a woman who is powerless!" said the emperor, turning his eyes slightly sideways. That gaze was unbiased, and it happened to fall on Yue Bi, who was also frightened by the sudden scene just now. Although Li Dahammer was arranged by her, she didn't tell him to take out a knife to kill people if he couldn't figure it out. !Especially the emperor's gaze, which was full of suspicion and suspicion, immediately sent concubine Yue into the ice cave.

She wanted to say something, she knew that it was because of the bellyband that the emperor suspected her, but before she could say anything, the emperor had already turned his head, put his hand on Sikong Xuan's arm and said: " But now is not the time to investigate those things, first let the imperial doctor see if Xuan'er's injury is serious." Saying so, he personally led them towards the gate of the palace.

Seeing that the emperor had left, the rest of the crowd naturally swarmed to follow. In the end, only Concubine Yue, who was still in a daze, was at the back. chills.

****

"Crack!" A loud slap landed on Sikong Xu's face, turning his entire face to one side. The concubine Yue used a lot of force, not only leaving her fingernails, but also the jewelry ring on her finger, making Sikong Xu's face In addition to a layer of bright red marks, there were also several bloodstains.

"Idiot!" After slapping this slap, Yue Bi raised her hand again as if she hadn't expressed enough anger, but Sikong Xu turned his face right at this time, his eyes were dark and cold, and Yue Bi's heart was filled with anger. Feeling weak, that slap couldn't be swung no matter what.

"You still have the nerve to stare at me!" Even though she didn't slap her slap, even though she felt that the man's eyes were terrifying, Yue Bi's anger still surged up one by one, and she almost screamed: " This is the perfect plan you arranged? Look at what idiot you found! Did the palace let you use the knife! This is good, Shu Miaomiao took this opportunity to pretend to be pitiful, and the emperor's heart fell completely, and it was done. What is not enough is more than ruined!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down." Sikong Xu suppressed his voice and said, "Father is just suspicious. Li Dahammer is dead. He has no evidence at all to prove that we did this matter. Besides, I will naturally have my own considerations for making such an arrangement. It can’t be done, instead of making them more difficult to attack after returning to the palace, it’s better to let the dead soldiers solve it on the spot, and it’s over.”

"Just suspicion? It's not that you don't understand the emperor's temperament. Once the emperor starts to doubt me, it means that I have fallen out of favor!" Sikong Xu's calm demeanor made Concubine Yue anxious and angry, "On weekdays, every night the emperor You want to have dinner with me, but today the emperor didn’t say that he came over for dinner, and he didn’t even say a word, do you know what that means?”

"Concubine Shu Hui and her sixth younger brother are returning to the palace today, and my father is anxious to take care of that. Besides, with your empress's beauty and intelligence, there will always be a way to win back my father's heart, so why worry about being frustrated at this moment." Sikong Xu raised his hand. , touched the cheek that was still in pain, and said in a low voice, "I'm just surprised, that apron thing... Could it be that old eunuch Li Lianyu dared to betray us."

"If it's really that old eunuch, then he's just looking for death." Seeing Sikong Xu suddenly mentioning this, Yue Bi seemed to have remembered something, and sat down again with a sneer, "When that bitch Shu Miaomiao left the palace, Originally, I didn't want to let any of the servants in her palace go, but this Li Lianyu was the most greedy for life and afraid of death. I saw him begging for mercy fiercely, and thought that Shu Miaomiao was still alive after all. I'm also glad that I made the right move in the backhand, and let Li Lianyu take out Shu Miaomiao's personal belongings that Shu Miaomiao left in the palace, and set up such a plan to prevent her from returning to the palace, but now the apron he took out has gone wrong. It must be this guy who eats inside and outside is playing tricks!"

Sikong Xu asked: "Is that bellyband really not yours?"

"Of course it's not mine. I checked it after I returned to the palace." Yue Bi snorted softly, "I have already sent someone to the second prince's mansion to bring Li Lianyu quietly. He still refuses to tell the truth."

But at this moment, an eunuch hurried in and whispered a few words to Concubine Yue. Concubine Yue was shocked when she heard this, "What did you say? He's gone!?"

The eunuch didn't answer, just nodded, Yuebi's expression changed, she waved the man away, then her expression twisted, and she punched heavily on the armrest of the couch.

Sikong Xu showed a sneer, "Li Lianyu has already run away?"

"Someone must be playing tricks, there must be someone." Yue Bi gritted her teeth and said, "Now I understand that this was originally a trap, a trap waiting for us to drill into it, what exactly is it?" Is it Shu Miaomiao who is fighting with that Li Lianyu? I sent that eunuch to the Second Prince's mansion for the purpose of deceiving others. How did that bitch know?"

"Concubine Shu Hui may not have the ability to connect with a servant hidden in the second emperor's mansion, so there must be someone helping her. Unfortunately, I happen to know someone who has such ability. If it is that person, then today's event It’s not surprising that the game will have such a result.” Sikong Xu’s eyes changed for a while, and then he suddenly revealed a sinister smile, “Think about it carefully, starting from when the eldest brother sent that He Xiangu into the palace. , to the empress dowager's palace after that, and then to the Nine Suns Festival, when the father suddenly canceled all the celebration activities and left the palace... All this may be a situation that was set up long ago to let Concubine Shu Hui return to the palace. I thought it was lost. The qualifications of the scientific examination, he will keep his own place and be a commoner, and sooner or later he will not be able to escape my palm, now it seems that I still underestimated him..."

Yue Bi wondered: "Who are you talking about, could it be the First Prince?"

"Brother Dahuang, that idiot, how could he have such a scheming ability." Sikong Xu snorted softly, "It seems that I made a mistake by letting people go, but I won't make the same mistake a second time." This time, for some people, it’s better to get into your own applause earlier.”

Inexplicably, a cramped chill came out of Sikong Xu's body.

After Concubine Shu Hui and the sixth prince Sikong Xuan returned to the palace, even the most ignorant maids in the entire harem sensed that the wind was about to change.

The noble concubine Yue, who once favored the sixth palace, seemed to have fallen out of favor overnight. For a while, let alone serving her bed, the emperor had never even stepped into the gate of Fuyue Palace. On the contrary, The celebration hall of the newly promoted Concubine Shu Hui was full of people all day long, and the storeroom was full of congratulatory gifts. Even the emperor came every day, because the sixth prince, Sikong Xuan, was injured on the day Concubine Hui returned to the palace. , has been raised in the Palace of Huanqing and has not left the palace to live in the mansion bestowed by the emperor. Every time the emperor has seen Sikongxuan's injuries, he will have a meal with Concubine Shu Hui.

The emperor's attitude towards the Hall of Huanqing made everyone think that Concubine Shu Hui might replace Concubine Yue as the next favorite concubine, but in fact, the emperor had to come to the Hall of Huanqing every day. This one is not concubine Hui's exclusive favor, but has changed from being the concubine's sole favor in the past to everyone in the harem sharing the rain and dew. Everyone suspects that this is the reason for Concubine Shu Hui's admonition to the emperor, so unconsciously, Concubine Shu Hui The title of "Xian Concubine" gradually spread, and even the Queen Mother was full of praise for her.

When people were admiring Concubine Shu Hui, they still couldn't help paying attention to Concubine Yue Gui's movements. Logically speaking, with Concubine Yue Gui's temper like before, if she suddenly fell out of favor, she would always be uneasy and make trouble.The women in the harem are usually bored, and most of them like to watch these pinching tricks. They are all waiting for when Concubine Yue Gui will find trouble with Concubine Shu Hui, and then the two of them will do a few tricks, quietly, who is better, but in fact It was inevitable that they were very disappointed. Until the sixth prince, Sikong Xuan healed his wounds and left the palace, and Zhenger Bajing was moved into the prince's mansion outside the palace for the coming-of-age ceremony. None turned up.

At the gate of a spacious mansion on East Street, the plaque that used to be the residence of the Fourth Prince had been removed long ago, and replaced with a brand new plaque that said Prince Liu's Residence.From the gate to the courtyard wall, it can be seen that the mansion is newly repaired, and it is of extraordinary style. People who live around this mansion know that this mansion used to be just a dilapidated place that no one wanted. It was given to the fourth prince, Sikong Xu, so Sikong Xu spent a lot of money and almost completely rebuilt it. Unfortunately, it has just been built, and Sikong Xu himself has not moved in yet, but suddenly he became the sixth prince, Sikong Xuan. In the mansion, the common people inevitably gossip while watching the excitement.

"I'm really curious that His Highness the Sixth Highness will actually send you an invitation."

Standing in the spacious front yard of this brand-new mansion, Ning Zhongkun looked at Ning Yuan curiously, and said with some traces of sarcasm in his tone: "Your invitation is probably a fake."

It is said that it takes a hundred days to hurt the muscles and bones. Although Ning Zhongkun can go to the ground, the injuries caused by such a violent beating will not heal so quickly. Through the front of the Chinese clothes, his chest can still be seen. It was wrapped in thick gauze, and in his hand was a well-made walnut cane.

Today is the coming-of-age ceremony of the sixth prince, Sikong Xuan, which belongs to the royal family celebration, and non-high-ranking officials and dignitaries will never get an invitation to participate, so when Ning Zhongkun saw Ning Yuan who was alone in the front yard admiring the koi by the fish pond, Really feel very strange.

He always thought that with Ning Yuan's identity, he should not be qualified to appear on such occasions except for holding his thigh.

Ning Yuan's attire today is not the same as in the past, probably because it is a bit cooler in autumn, he has another layer of blue gauze over the blue gown, and the fluttering sleeves of the clothes look very elegant and elegant.

"It was just a fluke for me." Ning Yuan took the conversation over without hesitation, "My cousin's wound has not healed, so you should stay in bed more. Drinking alcohol is inevitable on such occasions, and it is harmful to your body. It's useless."

"Of course I don't want to come, but my grandmother told me not to let the two concubine brothers show off, so I came anyway." Having said this, Ning Zhongkun suppressed his voice, "You may not know that today's sixth prince Many princes and celebrities in Beijing will attend the coming-of-age ceremony, and I heard that the Eldest Princess intends to choose a man who is both civil and military, talented and beautiful to marry Lord Wanyi on the occasion where so many young heroes gather."

Ning Yuan was suddenly amazed, he really didn't know about this, "Is this true?"

"The news from the palace can't be false, otherwise why would you be attending the coming-of-age ceremony of His Royal Highness the Sixth Highness? Why are there so many rich men dressed coquettishly?" Ning Zhongkun showed a disdainful expression, even our Ning Mansion The same goes for the two concubines here, they don't even look at their status, and they always show off in a showy way. They are really toads who want to eat swan meat, and I don't know when they will be like you, knowing their status as concubines. Clearly, keep your own place.

Hearing that Ning Zhongkun hurt himself with such words, Ning Yuan smiled disapprovingly, and didn't answer. Perhaps Ning Zhongkun also felt that he shouldn't be so downcast that he should be here to chat with people without identity like Ning Yuan, and turned his head He walked away with a cane again.

Ning Yuan continued to look down at the koi in the pond, but thought of other things, until a gentle and deep voice sounded above his head, "What are you thinking about?"

He turned his head and saw Huyan Yuanchen standing beside him at some point.

"It's nothing, it's just that I suddenly remembered Jing Yi." Ning Yuan said sincerely.

Ning Zhongkun suddenly mentioned Lord Wanyi, and Ning Yuan couldn't help but think about Jing Yi and Lord Wanyi in his previous life. One was the young and handsome prince of the state, and the other was the royal princess who was loved by thousands of people. They became husband and wife and were known as the most perfect couple in the capital. Unexpectedly, not long after they got married, they died under Sikong Xu's design because they were close to the sixth prince Sikongxuan. In the last life, the two were in hostile camps. Therefore, Ning Yuan never felt any emotion about Jing Yi's death, but after becoming friends with Jing Yi in this life, he couldn't help feeling very sad when he thought of this.

Calculating the time, because of the relationship he contributed to, Sikong Xuan returned to the palace much earlier than in the previous life, and Monarch Wanyi was also about to be accused of marriage, and the time when he wanted to get married also had to be because of this period. The change of history made it earlier, but Jing Yi was not in Beijing at this time. Thinking about it this way, the marriage line of the two of them should not be connected together. Jing Yi's disaster can also be avoided...

"Why did you suddenly think of Jing Yi?" Ning Yuan was thinking, but he heard Hu Yan Yuanchen laughing in his ear: "Since you mentioned Jing Yi, I just have something to tell you. Jing Yi was released from the army last night." Back in the capital, I think I will come tonight with Jing Guogong to attend the sixth prince's coming-of-age ceremony, we haven't seen each other for many years, if we don't get together for a drink, it really doesn't make sense."

"What did you say?" Ning Yuan raised his head in disbelief, "Jing Yi is back!?"