Fake concubine, real queen

Lan Shu took care of the real eldest princess and the third prince's siblings when they grew up. She had a calm temperament and was not someone who would make fun of such things. There are eighty-nine are really very similar.

He Gu thought for a moment, and immediately understood what Lan Shu meant——

Whether it was the babbling of Empress Chen after she fell ill at the palace banquet on New Year's Eve a year ago, or the quarrel between her and the emperor today, it is not difficult to see that the eldest princess died young when she was young. It's not an exaggeration to be heartbroken, if both of them really look like their own aunt, like the old eldest princess, then if the empress sees her, she will definitely be happy——

At this juncture, if the Empress Dowager and His Majesty really got into a quarrel and caused some twists and turns, it would definitely be a big trouble for Pei Zhaoheng.

He Gu thought about it for a while, and naturally, seeing the appearance of the emperor and the empress who were at odds, and the gods were far away from each other, he sighed secretly, and quickly agreed with Lan Shu. proposal.

Zuo Zuo today, in order to pay respects to the emperor, has temporarily assigned his errands to his subordinates in advance. It is fine to be idle, just in time to turn around and take Shuang Shuang back to the palace again.

So he hastily spent his lunch in the mansion, told his servants to pack up the carriages and horses, and brought the chubby Baoyin girl back into the palace again.

Horses and chariots were not allowed to enter the palace gate, so He Gu hugged Baoyin out, put a tiger head cap on the girl's little head that had not yet grown a few tufts of hair, and put it in the crook of his arm, and then he hugged her and prepared to speed up On the way to Empress Chen's Zhiyang Palace——

Greeting Empress Chen is naturally not the first time, and He Gu has already been familiar with the road to Zhiyang Palace, but this time before taking a few steps, a group of people came from far ahead, and He Gu stood on the palace road holding his daughter Taking a closer look, the leader turned out to be Wu Dehuai, Wu Neiguan, the head of the Department of Internal Affairs who hadn't seen him for a long time——

One of the two chief ministers of the inner court and internal affairs is with His Majesty, and the other is with the Empress Empress. Naturally, He Gu knows that Wu Dehuai was promoted from the Queen's Palace. He also contributed a lot to the wedding between He Gu and the "Eldest Princess" , but I don't know what mistake Wu Dehuai made later, He Gu hasn't seen him since the palace banquet on New Year's Eve last year.

Now, somehow, it appeared here again.

Eunuch Wu didn't count if he came by himself, but he was actually followed by a row of small internal officials carrying a walking chariot. When he saw He Gu's figure clearly, he immediately waved his hand to tell the internal officials behind him to put down their walking chariots, and then turned around. Looking at He Gu, he smiled flatteringly and said, "The son-in-law brought the little princess into the palace, why didn't he say hello to the empress? Fortunately, the little bastards at the palace gate are not bad. I have some eyesight, and I came to Zhiyang Palace to say hello, otherwise, if the Lord Hou is really allowed to walk all the way with the little Princess, in case the Princess blows the wind and catches the cold along the way, how can we ask our family to explain to the Empress? ?”

Wu Dehuai's flattery was evident beyond words, and He Gu didn't feel too flustered when he saw it. He also knew that Wu Dehuai was not flattering him, but the Third Highness King Ke behind him, so he just smiled slightly and said: " It's been a long time since I haven't seen you in charge, and today I'm working on the job in charge of Wu..."

Wu Dehuai hurriedly said: "No labor, no labor! This is the job of slaves, how dare you call it labor?"

"My son-in-law, hurry up and get on the chariot. It's cold and windy, so don't dare ask my son-in-law and princess to walk there in person."

He Gu felt a little strange in his heart, but where is it really strange?But he couldn't say anything, just frowned slightly, and said: "The prince told me that entering the palace by chariot is His Majesty's reward for meritorious ministers. I have never obtained an order, and I am afraid that it is against the rules to ride a chariot rashly. Congratulations." Mr. Wu thanked Director Wu for his kindness, but there is no need to take this chariot, and please ask Mr. Wu to withdraw the chariot, and Mr. He himself will take his daughter to greet the empress."

Wu Dehuai obviously didn't expect him to refuse, his expression was a little dazed, and he said after a while: "This... the princess is the granddaughter of the queen's empress, and the Marquis also made meritorious service in rescuing her back then, so it's nothing to sit on a chariot..."

But before he finished speaking, He Gu interrupted: "No need, thank you for your kindness."

Although his mind has never been very bright, but at this time, Pei Zhaoheng is on the cusp of the storm, and he can be regarded as the center of attention. He, who has always been recognized as King Ke's party and King Ke's "brother-in-law", is stared at by countless pairs of eyes , He Gu understood this truth.

In this life, he and Brother Heng... have gone through a lot of twists and turns, and the battle for the reserve has finally come to this day. If he made a mistake at this juncture and gave the truth to him, and implicated Pei Zhaoheng, wouldn't it be wronged? died?

Wu Dehuai called him a few more words later to let him ride in the chariot, but He Gu didn't agree with him, but just turned a deaf ear and went to Zhiyang Palace as if he had eaten the weight and made up his mind.

Wu Dehuai couldn't talk to him, and he had nothing to do with him, so he could only follow behind.

But he said that He Gu came to Zhiyang Palace twice today, and it was a coincidence that he met the empress in the morning and argued with the empress, but this time in the afternoon, he happened to meet Empress Chen sitting on the stone bench in the garden of Zhiyang Palace, carefully bowing her head and concentrating on embroidery. wearing something.

When Empress Chen heard that someone was coming, she didn't raise her head immediately, she still stared at the embroidery surface with bated breath, she made the last stitch, and only raised her head when the stitch was finished.

She naturally saw He Gu at a glance.

Empress Chen was stunned for a moment, but she soon saw the round baby in He Gu's arms again, and almost immediately guessed who the baby who followed He Gu into the palace was, she stood up and said happily : "Gu'er? Why are you back again, yo, this baby who brought you into the palace...is it Shuangshuang? Let me take a look."

He Gu hugged Baoyin and saluted, then he stood up and said: "At the full moon banquet for Shuangshuang back then, the empress asked me to bring the child to the palace to pay my respects, but I never got a chance..."

In fact, He Gu felt a little uneasy. The matter between him and Pei Zhaoheng had long since had a showdown with the empress, and where did Baoyin come from, and what is being said about Baoyin's non-existent "birth mother" Who is it? He Gu also knows that Pei Zhaoheng has confessed to the empress, and the empress knows everything——

But because of this, He Gu's heart was even more flustered, not to mention the strange thing that the queen knew that he, an old man, had given birth to a daughter... I don't know how to explain it, the embarrassment is still the kind of embarrassment in my heart. A daughter-in-law feels vaguely and secretly ashamed when she sees her parents-in-law...

He Gu was sullen, and was racking his brains on how to explain to Empress Chen. He definitely didn't bring Baoyin into the palace to play nice with her after hearing about the relationship between His Majesty and her this morning. As if he didn't remember the embarrassment of being smashed by him in the morning, he just walked up to He Gu with a smile on his shoulders, raised his hand to hug Baoyin, and yelled heartily——

... Or rather, there were no two sentences, only one and a half sentences. Little Baoyin, who was buried in He Gu's shoulder, sniffed, turned her head, and met Empress Chen's gaze with a dull expression.

Empress Chen's breathing suddenly stopped, her pupils constricted suddenly, and her body visibly froze.

He Gu felt a little nervous, seeing the empress's reaction, what Lan Shu said must be true——

Empress Chen quickly recovered from her daze, this time she was breathing so fast that He Gu could hear him a few steps away.

Empress Chen suddenly took three steps in parallel, stepped forward and hugged Baoyin from He Gu's arms, then lowered her head and stared at her intently, her lips were trembling uncontrollably, but she didn't say a word.

He Gu thumped in his heart, and thought to himself, don't be too busy to help, and didn't persuade the empress to quarrel with His Majesty, but caused her old illness to relapse——

Fortunately, Nanny Li was watching from the side, immediately coughed in a low voice, lowered her eyes and said: "Mother, this is our Princess Fucheng."

When Empress Chen heard the words, she still stared at Baoyin intently. The corners of her mouth trembled, as if she wanted to call a certain name, but in the end she didn't say a word.

Baoyin was wearing a little crimson satin padded jacket. The little guy was short-handed and short-legged, with two fleshy arms on his back. He wasn't in a comfortable position, but he didn't struggle. He just blinked his round black eyes obediently. He looked aloud at Empress Chen who was also staring at her.

He Gu really wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere, but right now it seemed that it was inappropriate to say anything. Even though Nanny Li had already called out, Empress Chen still had some faint signs of red eyes——

Fortunately, her illness has been cured after all.

I don't know how long it took before Empress Chen hugged Baoyin into her arms, looked down at her and said in a low voice: "...Look at the eyebrows, Yunying, look at this little girl, what a lucky child ah……"

Nanny Li said respectfully: "What the empress said is that it is our little princess who is blessed with great fortune, that His Majesty bestowed the title of Fucheng. The princess will surely have a long and smooth fortune in the future."

Empress Chen was silent for a while, and said: "What you said is that Baoyin... will surely have a long life and a long life."

Seeing this, He Gu breathed a sigh of relief.

Lan Shu really had a good understanding of Empress Chen.

Ever since Empress Chen met Baoyin on this day, she frequently ordered people to go out of the palace to ask the princess mansion to send the princess to live in the palace for a short stay. It's nothing more than taking care of her by her side, Baoyin is also Empress Chen's granddaughter in name, and entering the palace is justified, so sometimes she is taken into the palace by the palace people, and sometimes He Gu takes her with her--

Empress Chen's attention was finally successfully distracted by Baoyin. He Gu asked Pei Zhaoheng in the back, and he learned that since that day, the two emperors and empresses have never quarreled like that again. .

It's just that the emperor, who was already lying on the bed, became even more ill.

Even when the New Year's Eve approached and the New Year's Eve palace banquet approached, he still didn't get up from the sick bed.

Although the government is managed by the two kings Zhong and Ke and the Yizheng Pavilion, the hearts of the entire court, the field, the military, and the military officials are becoming more and more restless because of the emperor's illness.

No one knows if the emperor on the imperial couch will have tomorrow after today, if not, the East Palace will be abolished at the beginning, and the state reserve will not be established, what kind of storms will be caused by then?

After halfway through February, after the first Chinese New Year's Eve palace banquet without an emperor, Empress Chen stopped asking Baoyin to enter the palace. At this point, the Lanzheng Palace did not allow anyone to disturb without reason, the emperor was ill, and Empress Chen stayed by his side every day and never left.

Now that He Gu is in charge of the twelve guards, and most of the defense of the inner court is in charge, he naturally knows that this time the old emperor's illness can no longer be feigned. it's -

And to shuffle the cards, blood must be shed.

There was a sudden turmoil in Beijing, and everyone was cautious in their words and deeds, for fear that they would be the first stone to fall into the water.

The Twelve Guards in Bianjing City are in charge of the defense of the forbidden city, while the Fifth Division of Gyeonggi is in charge of the defense of the city and the city gates. He Gu knows that although the crown prince has been abolished and the Chen family has collapsed, the emperor did not want Pei Zhaoyuan's life after all, so they did. It's a father and son——

He Gu too understands Pei Zhaoyuan, as long as he is alive, Pei Zhaoyuan is definitely not someone who can give up easily.

This person will be like those severed, squirming, cold-blooded, soft animals that can endure pain even if their tails are severed, delivering a final fatal blow from behind to an enemy who has let his guard down before he is caught off guard. .

Even He Gu, who was a ghost in his previous life, didn't know how many cards Pei Zhaoyuan had.

Moreover, the time when the emperor was sick was just in time. After the New Year’s Eve, the triennial Spring Festival was approaching, and all the prefectures and governors of the states would go to Beijing to take the exam. The spirit of two points.

If He Gu is like this, let alone Pei Zhaoheng, who is in charge of criticizing reds and who is now in charge of the Yizheng Pavilion and in the center of power.

The two fathers were too busy to touch the ground this time, so Baoyin could only be entrusted by He Gu to go to the Yan Mansion to temporarily ask the two elders of the Yan family to help take care of one or two.

In the past, when He Gu Fu was at home, Pei Zhaoheng was in charge of the criminal and engineering departments. He was so busy that he didn't touch the ground. The two of them didn't see each other for long. Now that He Gu has an errand, he has to get up early and go to the court meeting in the dark like Pei Zhaoheng every day. Instead, you can either watch from a distance, or pass by, and keep your head down all day without looking up——

It's just that in front of others, he can't help but pretend to speak righteously, keep his eyes on him, and act like a dog. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

He Gu had never noticed before that he had such a rebellious side, the more he had to call him His Highness King Ke honestly and respectfully in front of others in the daytime, and even the twelve guards would sometimes ask the Yizheng Pavilion for instructions, it was naturally unavoidable Seeking the opinions of Shouyu and him, the prince who holds the right to criticize the red, the more he felt itchy, he just wanted to do something inappropriate and inappropriate, so as to peel off the seemingly tight and reserved shell of His Royal Highness Ke. Son is good.

So at night, every time he went to a place where no one else could see, Lord He Xiaohou became more and more unscrupulous.

After all, it wasn't the first time this person endured his unscrupulousness.

After the new year's festival, the Chunwei Grand Competition finally kicked off. With the disaster that Huizhou Qiuwei cheated and brought down the Chen family last year, the chief examiner of Chunwei this time was naturally emboldened, for fear of making a mistake.

Although He Gu didn't take the exam for this Spring Festival, Li Qiushan and Li Dutong didn't have enough manpower, so he also allocated people to help maintain the order in Beijing. Moreover, the candidates for this Spring Festival were his younger brother He Cheng and his second brother Wang. , He Gu felt somewhat nervous.

Not to mention Wang Muchuan, with his literary talents, as long as he has the heart, don't write some articles that are too extreme and criticize the current situation like last time, and they just happen to fall into the hands of the Chen family who was "criticized" by him. It's not difficult.

And now that the Chen family has collapsed, no one would dare to depose him, the first and second son of the Yizheng cabinet, because of personal grievances.

On the other hand, He Cheng, even though Qiu Wei has already won Jieyuan, but if he can push forward and get Chun Wei nominated for two rankings, then he will no longer have to suffer from the trouble of preparing for the exam, that would be the best, after all, there are not too many good things.

It's just that I haven't waited for the news of Lai Chunwei's release of the list, but I have waited for something that people never expected.

Meng Shi, the deposed princess, was escorted back to Beijing from the palace where the prince was imprisoned. On the way, she took advantage of the unprepared guards and strangled her infant daughter to death. The soul returns to Jiuquan.

At the end of the year, it was the twelve guards sent by the emperor himself to send Meng Shi to the palace, but at that time the commander of the twelve guards was still Li Qiushan. I don't have to bear this responsibility.

Although Pei Zhaoyuan was deposed as the crown prince, Meng Wenyin strangled to death his own flesh and blood, as well as the flesh and blood of the Pei family. Even if it was a girl, such a big matter had to be reported to the Lanzheng Palace, even if the emperor inside was already seriously ill. Sorry.

He Gu considered the wording, carefully wrote a very clear and detailed memorial, and sent it to the Lanzheng Palace, but he thought that the emperor was seriously ill and there was no time to read it too quickly, but he didn't want the emperor to summon him the next day after the memorial was delivered. Mencius.

He Gu had no choice but to order someone to escort Mrs. Meng into the palace.

Now almost no one can enter the Lanzheng Palace except for Empress Chen and the courtiers of the Lanzheng Palace. Even the ministers of the Yizheng Pavilion can't enter, and He Gu is no exception. Naturally, it is impossible to know that the emperor is inside with Meng Wenyin. What has been said, and what happened to the emperor's illness.

It's just that when Meng Wenyin came out, her complexion was as gray as a wall, and her eyes were lifeless. He Gu sent her back to the small courtyard where she was imprisoned, so he had to increase the manpower to guard her strictly to prevent her from committing suicide again.

He Gu told Pei Zhaoheng about it when he went back in the evening, and said sullenly: "I don't know what Pei Zhaoyuan said to her, the child is still so young, she is the biological mother, and she can use her hands to strangle her to death." Child...you say, His Majesty is so ill and still wants to summon her, Brother Heng...would Your Majesty suspect that this child is me..."

Pei Zhaoheng said: "At the beginning this matter was handled by Li Qiushan, it had nothing to do with Zihuan."

He Gu sighed and said, "Of course you know that it has nothing to do with me, but when His Majesty saw Meng Shi today, he didn't know what she would say to His Majesty? Now that Pei Zhaoyuan has ended up in this situation, Meng Shi has a chaste temperament, she still doesn't know what to say." How can you hate Brother Heng and me..."

Pei Zhaoheng took off his black coat and hung it on the rack, revealing his thin and tight waistline. While loosening the belt around his waist and abdomen in circles, he lowered his eyes and said, "Brother forced you Meng Shi strangled the child to death."

He Gu was still staring at his loose clothes in a daze, but when he heard the words, he was even more dazed, thinking that he had heard it wrong, and after a while, he couldn't believe it: "...what?"

Pei Zhaoheng had already taken off only two moon-white tunics embroidered with dark-colored asparagus.

"...Meng Shi wants to use this child to save the life of the eldest brother, but he doesn't know that the eldest brother is planning to use her and this child's life to make a comeback and make a last stand."

"She has no choice."

He Gu was a little dazed when he heard that, and he opened his eyes wide after a while, and said in disbelief, "You...you mean, the prince deliberately asked her to strangle this child, just...just to frame me? Isn't it...don't tell me, Your Majesty Don't you understand, why does Brother Heng have to do this now? Why do I need to harm that child? How could His Majesty believe her? This is simply... this is simply nonsense!"

Pei Zhaoheng said: "As long as Father is willing to believe it, it is not nonsense."

He Gu's heart skipped a beat, of course he understood what Pei Zhaoheng said was right——

Imperial power... is indeed such an absurd thing.

No matter how absurd it is, if the same story is told, as long as it can be told to convince the emperor, the black can also become white, and it is only a matter of reversing yin and yang.

But for the emperor, the story told by the unprofitable dead man with his life sounds very real.

He Gu took a few breaths, and said quickly: "With Pei Zhaoyuan's temperament, it's not surprising that he has nowhere to go and do such a thing... I just don't know why the emperor kept him. The chaos is still before our eyes, has the emperor never thought that once he is left behind, this person Yu Heng will be an endless disaster in the future?"

"Brother Heng and him are brothers after all. If His Majesty, the father, does not take his life, it will be even more difficult if Brother Heng wants to take his life in the future. He will be stigmatized as fratricide and obstructed by officials. Your Majesty wants a benevolent king, Wanting the good name of a loving father to last forever, but disregarding Brother Heng's life and death, disregarding the stability of the court, what kind of way of being a king, the art of an emperor?"

Seeing that he was really angry, Pei Zhaoheng was both ironed and amused in his heart, so he simply blew out the lamp, put down the candlestick and sat beside him and said in a low voice: "I have known about this for a long time. The father has the same name, and the Meng family told him about it." However, it is a good thing, if you don't crush the elder brother's actions and put them in front of your father, you will never be able to force your father to admit..."

He paused for a moment, but suddenly stopped talking, and his expression faded by three points, and he just said lightly: "Father thinks that he is not at fault: it was not his fault that he married his aunt at the beginning; It's his fault; it's not his fault that he made his elder brother the crown prince; it's not his fault that the prince he raised single-handedly conspired against the palace."

"Brother is now crazy about this position, and there is still no fault of the father."

But Meng Wenyin is the granddaughter of Meng Taifu, and she is as inquisitive as her grandfather.

She will ask the emperor carefully and with her own actions——

Your Majesty, are you really not at fault?

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Under the careful auspices of the chief examiners and fellow examiners, Chunwei finally released the rankings.

Although the emperor was ill and unable to preside over the palace examination in person, he still insisted on reading the few palace examination articles selected below, tremblingly hand-picked the top three and top two names of this subject ——