Clan House

Xuanqing six years, autumn, Fengtian Hall.

Song Jingshi stood in light armor in the south of Dan Bi, with ten high-ranking generals standing side by side on the left and right sides behind him.After the great victory, I felt very homesick, and rushed back from the border day and night, with the color of dust still under the honey-colored face.

As the music sounded, the emperor's carriage came out.Song Jingshi's eyes moved with the guard of honor, watching the long-lost father and emperor approaching from a distance, his thinner body than before was supported by the servants to get off the chariot, and sat down on the head.The music stopped and started again, and the elder brother Song Jingxin came out with the kings.Song Jingshi stood at the head of the crowd and bowed and kowtowed under the guidance of the ritual officer.After the ceremony, all the ministers were in place, and half of the faces were different from when Song Jingshi left.

The fifth year of Xuanqing can be described as an eventful year. Originally, the East Palace was pregnant, and Chunwei added a lot of talents to Daluo. The beginning was good.In May, another servant of the East Palace was pregnant. This was a happy event, but there was a lot of quarrels in the harem because of this, and even made trouble in front of the emperor.The house is restless, and the prince has made some mistakes in the court.Emperor Xuanqing was dissatisfied with Song Jingxin, he reprimanded the crown prince several times in front of his courtiers, but when he was with Song Jingxin, he became closer day by day.Although not expressly stated, there is a faint intention to change the crown prince.

Facing the closeness of his father, Song Jingshi only felt a chill down his spine.Brothers are respectful and friendly when they get along, but there is still a gap in private.Finally, when Mongolia disturbed the frontier this year, Song Jingshi insisted on fighting and invited him to go out.At this time, she did not discuss with her mother and elder brother. She only hoped that after this time, she could take root in the army and stay away from court.

The border is bitterly cold, and the days of the battle are more difficult than expected.Song Jingshi disguised herself as a man and commanded the armed forces, and was even more cautious. She often couldn't sleep peacefully at night, and cried secretly because she missed her family.Finally killed the Mongolian soldiers in blood, Song Jingshi returned to Beijing with the feelings of the soldiers of the three armies, but everything was different from when he left.Taking Dan Bi as the boundary, Song Jingshi only felt that there was an invisible gap in front of him, which separated the already weak family relationship even further.

Singing and kneeling in praise, I recalled Song Jingshi's thoughts, only listening to the official announcement saying: "The nine sons of Emperor Jia, Prince Jin, Shi Ping, and Wang Jingwu... have made contributions to the country, and they should be rewarded with honors. Today, King Jin is awarded the title of protecting the country." 'Title, lead the Ministry of War, and reward you with a thousand taels of silver..."

After the award was over, the generals left the palace and went home one after another, ignoring the greetings.When passing by the East Palace, Song Jingshi sent someone to inform, but was told that the crown prince had not returned and that the crown princess was inconvenient and could not entertain her.Song Jingshi didn't see Huang Xi, and the palace people in the East Palace also changed a lot, all of them were expressionless, and the atmosphere was strangely silent.

Back to the palace, it's another world.The women of the palace were waiting for Song Jingshi to come back after dressing up early.Song Jingshi changed his clothes and entered the hall, the concubine led a group of concubines to salute Song Jingshi, and then the eunuchs and servants also came to kowtow.Song Jingshi went to war for more than a year, and few news came back. He knew that the women in the family were frightened, so he calmed down with gentle words for a long time before returning to the bedroom with the princess.

The female official Rong Jin followed behind King Jin, serving the master to undress and wash his hands, and served the freshly brewed tea.The daily life of every king of Jin is taken care of by this person, and he never borrows the hands of others.

Rong Jin has fair skin and a slender neck, and the clothes of the court ladies all have a certain style. She is wearing a brand new light green palace dress today, her hair is tied up high, and the blue magnolia flower earrings are hung on one end of the silver chain. The movement is shaking on both sides of the white neck. "Go down and have a rest. The king hunted some fox furs outside the Great Wall and came back. Afterwards, you can pick a few and cut clothes for collars."

With a promise, Rong Jin glanced at Song Jingshi tenderly before bowing and leaving.

The princess saw everything in her eyes, she was tired from sitting, she pulled a cushion and put it under her waist, and said to Song Jingshi: "Rong Jin has been with His Highness for some years, it's time to give her a place."

Song Jingshi coughed and changed the topic: "I'm not busy, there is a family banquet tonight. I saw that the emperor's spirit is not as good as before, and the atmosphere in the emperor's east palace is also weird. What happened this year, tell me quickly." Talk."

It's a long story, Princess Jin lived outside the palace, and she never went to inquire about it, so what she saw and heard was mostly rumored.

At the beginning of autumn, the crown princess gave birth to a girl named Song Zhaoling.This was the first child among his grandchildren. Despite his disappointment, Emperor Xuanqing still asked the Clan Mansion to draw up a title for him and gave him the title of princess.The concubine's pregnancy took a lot of trouble, her body was damaged, and she was bedridden for a long time.Song Jingxin never cared about the affairs of the back house, and the concubine fell ill again, and the already incompatible East Palace back house became even more chaotic.

Tracing back to the source of this matter, we have to talk about Li Xuanshi, who is also pregnant.

Li Xuanshi was sent to the East Palace by the queen to serve the prince after the princess concubine became pregnant.Because Song Jingxin never liked women, she spent most of a month sleeping alone with Xiaokong in her arms, occasionally sleeping in the back house, and sleeping with the princess.So much so that from the time they got married to the time when the crown princess became pregnant, none of the other concubines had been favored.Respecting the main palace originally complied with the rules.But the concubine was pregnant, so she couldn't bear the heavy responsibility of serving the prince, so she had to take the initiative to give the opportunity to the other concubines.The women in the East Palace are eager to see through their eyes, but they are looking forward to an airborne attendant Li Xuan, how can they not hate it.Song Jingxin is also a fool, who doesn't understand the twists and turns between women, but actually obeyed the queen's order and asked Li Xuan to serve her daily life.The war in the back house of the Eastern Palace has started since then.

"Aside from other things, I have seen Li Xuan's arrogance with my own eyes." Princess Jin moved to the floor, avoiding Song Jingshi's arm that was stretched out to her waist. I went to visit my sister-in-law, just as my sister-in-law was feeling unwell. Li Xuan waiter dressed up beautifully, entertained me to drink tea in the flower hall, as if he was a master. The servants of the East Palace also obeyed her orders. When I went to visit the princess, I even Words can’t get through.”

The sneak attack failed, Song Jingshi also took off his shoes and got on the couch, leaning towards the concubine, "Didn't the emperor take care of it?"

"Speaking of this, I will get angry, the prince is really a fool!" A cushion flew in front of Song Jingshi, and he caught it with one hand.Princess Jin rolled her eyes: "The crown prince was in the East Palace at that time, and he actually acquiesced to Li Xuan's servant to manage the general affairs. You men are heartless masters. One doesn't even send a letter after two years, and the other lives at home. It can make my wife be bullied..."

Song Jingshi touched his nose: "Brother Huang has a big heart, I probably didn't expect this level. What happened next?"

"After the concubine gave birth, her health was not very good. Li Xuan's stomach was full, and she went to Kunning Palace every day to pay her respects. Obviously, the queen mother didn't ask her to go, and she rushed to show off." , in an ordinary family, even my aunt can't reach her, so how can she have the face to pay her respects to her mother-in-law."

"Before you left Beijing, you told me not to go to the palace. I have always remembered that I even told the women in the mansion to stay away from outside. But my sister-in-law is seriously ill, and I have to take a look at it out of sympathy and reason." In the end, when he saw someone, he was seriously ill. The crown prince asked that vixen to stand by, but he didn't even take a look at it. Don't tell me you're angry!"

Concubine Jin became more and more angry as she spoke, and slapped Song Jingshi's thigh, touching a lump of soft flesh between his legs: "What is this?"

"No, it's nothing..." Song Jingshi's eyes twitched, "Go on."

"Oh, and within a few days, Li Xuanshi died." The princess said with disgust.

Song Jingshi: ...

After Song Jingshi left, the prince put more thoughts on government affairs, put aside his old hobby of fighting eagles and horses, and went to the back house very rarely.He knew that there were some fights in the back house, but the heavy government affairs made him have no time to attend to others, so he pretended not to know about the lawsuits between women.

On that day, Song Jingxin was handling the memorial in the Wenhua Palace as usual, when the palace servants came to report that Li Xuan was shocked, and asked His Highness the Crown Prince to go over and comfort her.Song Jingxin was very annoyed, but she was concerned about the child in Li Xuan's womb, so she followed the eunuch who came to report.Walking to the front of the hall, Song Jingxin saw a few eunuchs burying something in a panic, and they moved very slowly, as if they were waiting for him to come and see.Song Jingxin stopped the crowd, took a closer look, saw five skinned mice, immediately covered his mouth and nose in disgust, and took several steps back.

"Where's your master?" Song Jingxin asked.

"Return to Your Highness, the master is inside, and the imperial physician will diagnose the pulse."

Song Jingxin walked into the hall, and the imperial physician was thinking about prescribing medicine outside.He asked a few words, knowing that he had been frightened and that there was no harm to the fetus, so he felt relieved.Behind the veil, Li Xuan held his heart in his hands, his eyes were dull, as if he hadn't recovered from the fright.Song Jingxin saw that her appearance did not seem to be fake, so she said a few words of comfort. Li Xuan waited in his arms, and it took a long time before she cried.

"Your Highness, this concubine has been envied by others, and I hate the emperor's grandson in my belly." Li Xuan waited and wiped his tears while pulling at the crown prince's skirt, "It must be the crown prince, she gave birth to the princess, so she didn't want my concubine to give birth to a son ..."

"Shut up!" Song Jingxin interrupted Li Xuanshi's crying, "Isn't the Crown Princess..." He wanted to say that the Crown Princess is not such a person, but when he got to the point of speaking, he realized that he didn't know the Crown Princess very well. There is very little communication. "Don't talk nonsense if there is no basis. I will ask Huang Xi to investigate tomorrow."

Li Xuan buried his face in Song Jingxin's arms and did not speak, to cover up the smug look in the corners of his eyes.

When Li Xuanshi fell down, there was no one in charge in the back house.Song Jingxin came to the Crown Princess's place and saw that the Crown Princess was seriously ill, only to realize that what Li Xuanshi said to him on weekdays was all lies. "Didn't you say that it's just postpartum weakness, and there's nothing serious about it? How did you become so sick!"

The eunuch and court lady knelt on the ground, obediently daring not to speak.Song Jingxin hurriedly passed on the imperial physician to diagnose the princess, but the situation was not optimistic. "Your Highness," the Crown Princess supported her body and asked the maid to help her to sit up. "I'm afraid that the concubine's body will fail, and she will no longer be able to serve Your Highness. The side concubine Xu has a good character, so she can temporarily entrust the general affairs of the mansion to her." There is also the child [1], please take care of her. Li Xuan is a man of flamboyance, his words and deeds are hard to set an example for the women in the mansion. I implore His Highness not to ask her to take care of things. If His Highness loves her, give her more Give it a reward."

"Oh, it's my fault! I have listened to Li's slander, and I have become estranged from the concubine these days..." Song Jingxin helped the concubine to lie down again. Alright. I will let Mrs. Xu temporarily take care of the general affairs tomorrow, and when you recover, you will still have the final say on the East Palace. The attendant Li Xuan asked her to confine her to have a baby, and she will follow the crown princess in the future..."

No matter what guarantee Song Jingxin made, it was already too late.

That night, Li Xuanshi had a fever, and he would wake up from time to time, and he would talk nonsense when he woke up.What she said was insulting to the princess, the palace officials and doctors all lowered their heads and dared not listen.After daybreak, Li Xuan waiter became more delirious and vomited a lot of filth from the corner of his mouth.Seeing her appearance, the imperial doctors felt that she had been poisoned, and before they could discuss a countermeasure, Li Xuan waited and left.One dead body and two lives, and the baby boy who was already formed in the womb was taken away.

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[1] Xiao'er is the nickname of Princess Song Zhaoling.