Clan House

Emperor Renxi's face was solemn, and the two memorials were placed side by side on the imperial case.The former was handed over by Zhu Qiming, the eldest son of the Marquis of Yongding, detailing the massacre of Baijia Village, saying that there might be changes in the northern border and that someone should be sent to investigate.The other was a military newspaper from the northern border, which confirmed what Zhu Qiming said, and after Baijia Village, the northern border had lost six towns in a row.

Song Yi put his fist against his forehead, and was dizzy with anger.What kind of wine bags and food bags are the defenders in the northern border? They are slower than a refugee who walks into Beijing to transmit military information.

"Wang Yongfu, take these two papers and follow me to the Ministry of War." Song Yi said, "Also, go and see who is on duty in the cabinet today, and call them over to discuss matters."

"Yes."

Wang Yu was on an errand in Japan, so he was delayed in the West Palace for a day.When he came back, he heard that the Emperor Longyan was furious, and he personally went to the Ministry of War to send out many people.He entered the Qianqing Palace cautiously, and saw the emperor standing under the window holding a pen to tease the birds.

"You go to Yongding Hou's mansion, and it is said that Zhu Qiyou, the second son of Yongding Hou, will come to see me in the palace." The emperor said.

"Yes." Wang Yu responded in surprise. Just as he was about to step back, he heard the emperor's order: "First send the bird to the side hall."

Zhu Qiyou, the second son of the Yongding Houfu, bowed his head and followed Wang Yu, the head of the inner court.After three years of absence, the carved railings and jade paving in the Forbidden Palace are still the same, but he doesn't look sideways, as if this majestic palace has never been related to him.The emperor called in the Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Qiyou stood outside the palace, waiting for Wang Yu to come in and report.After a while, the emperor called to enter, Zhu Qiyou bowed his head and entered, knelt down and prostrated.Emperor Renxi waved his servant back, looked down at Zhu Qiyou from a high position, and didn't shout.

"Look up." The emperor ordered.

Zhu Qiyou raised his head as he said, but his eyes were still drooping, not daring to look directly at Tianyan.

However, Emperor Renxi was able to take a closer look at Zhu Qiyou. This man was dressed in a snow-blue robe made of exquisite materials, with fine dark patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs.He was dressed like a rich man, but his complexion was much darker than that of three years ago, and the ostentatious look between his eyebrows and eyes was gone.

"What were you doing when Wang Yu went to your mansion to preach the decree?" the emperor asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Caomin is practicing martial arts at home."

"Did you come here specially to change clothes?"

"Don't dare to be disrespectful in front of the imperial court." Zhu Qiyou cupped his hands and said.

"Do you often practice martial arts?" Emperor Renxi asked again, "Have you ever accompanied your elder brother to the military camp?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the grass people get up every morning to practice martial arts. The grass people are white and only practice martial arts at home, and they dare not enter the military camp without permission."

Emperor Renxi twitched the corner of his mouth, casually picked up the booklet Zhu Qiming handed over, got up and left the imperial case: "Deceive the emperor?"

"The grassroots dare not." Zhu Qiyou kowtowed to the ground.

Something hit the top of his head, Zhu Qiyou slightly raised his head, and saw that it was a book.He speculated about the emperor's intentions, and raised his hands tentatively, and the memorial fell into his hands.He opened the notebook, and at a glance, he saw that it was a memorial about Tong Sannian.

"The refugee was met by Cao Min in the street market by chance. Cao Min only sent him outside the gate of the Governor's Mansion, but did not enter the barracks."

"You wrote this book?" Emperor Renxi's voice came from above.

Zhu Qiyou could feel the breath of the emperor exhaled from the top of his hair, his eyes were still fixed on the dragon boots, and he replied respectfully: "Report to Your Majesty, the memorial was written by my brother."

The room was quiet, the dragon boots stood still for a moment, then turned and left.There was nothing to say about Beiguan, and the emperor turned to ask about family affairs: "Second Master Zhu, what have you done in the past two years?"

Zhu Qiyou confessed his guilt again, and Fang replied: "Serve your parents at home, study daily, practice martial arts, and raise your daughter."

"Have you ever been to the Huangzhuang I gave you?" Emperor Renxi asked.

"The children in the family are young, so it's not convenient to leave Beijing." Zhu Qiyou replied.

Emperor Renxi scoffed, and then changed the topic, "The imperial concubine of the West Palace has been unwell for the past two days, and the princess of the Jin Kingdom has entered the palace to serve her sick. You brothers and sisters have not seen each other for a long time, so you are allowed to meet for a while."

Zhu Qiyou thanked En for his resignation. He stepped back and walked out of the hall. When he came to the door of the hall, he couldn't help but secretly looked up and met the emperor's eyes.The boy in front of him has changed greatly from three years ago, the childishness between his brows and eyes has completely faded, and his body has become taller and stronger as in memory.He is only seventeen or eighteen years old, but he no longer has the sense of humor of the young man holding power, and he has an imperial majesty, inviolable and inviolable.

Emperor Renxi did not reprimand Zhu Qiyou for his disrespect, and looked at him indifferently, making it hard to tell whether he was happy or angry.Zhu Qiyou lowered his head again, exited the hall, lowered his shoulders under the cover of the gate, and let out a long breath.

After Song Yi ascended the throne, he was changed to Yuan the next year, and the reign name was Renxi.He set the temple name Guangzong for Emperor Xuanqing, and Song Jingxin also got the posthumous title Prince Wuyi.Considering that many of the concubines of Emperor Guangzong and the prince were still young, and the emperor himself had not yet married, Emperor Renxi opened up the West Sixth Palace as the West Palace for the residence of the concubines of the previous dynasty.The East Sixth Palace is still reserved as the residence of future concubines and counted as part of the Forbidden Palace.In this way, a separate inner palace wall was set up in the palace to prevent the personnel from the two palaces from disturbing each other.

Although the West Palace is not a cold palace, it is indeed desolate and deserted.Empresses and concubines can't afford food and clothing compared to before. Because the imperial concubine is the birth mother of the princess of Jin, compared to other concubines, her life is not bad.

Although Zhu Qiyou is related by marriage, but after all, it is difficult for outsiders to enter the palace, and he and the concubine have not seen each other for two years.At this time, he received the decree of grace, and he went to the West Palace immediately without refusing.From a distance, he saw the Princess of Jin, dressed in palace attire, standing gracefully outside the gate of the West Palace to meet her.

In front of outsiders, Zhu Qiyou went through the etiquette first, and then followed the princess to the insider.

In the sleeping hall, Concubine Wen was very sick and drowsy. When she heard that Zhu Qiyou was coming, she reluctantly put on some clothes and sat on the head of the bed.The princess sent the servants out, and immediately lifted the curtain.Seeing the concubine's sick face, Zhu Qiyou felt angina in his heart, and was about to salute, but the concubine cried out first: "My son!"

This Zhu Qiyou was the "deceased" former crown prince Song Jingxin. He was originally the second son of Yongding Houfu, the son of Concubine Wen's younger sister.Because of the similar birth date to Princess Jin, she was brought up by the childless Concubine Wen to pretend to be her own child.Song Jingshi, the princess of the state of Jin, was also disguised as a man since she was a child, and she was known as a pair of twins to the outside world.Concubine Wen personally raised the two children, and the friendship between mother and child is as deep as that of parent and child.

Zhu Qiyou had been the prince for several years, but the incident of pretending to be the heir of the emperor still happened.The new emperor was merciful and never punished him. All he had to do was expunge his jade certificate and announced to the outside world that the crown prince had died of illness. Zhu Qiyou returned to Yongding Marquis Mansion as the second son.Since then, in order to avoid suspicion, Zhu Qiyou and his adoptive mother and sister have not seen each other for three years, so naturally he misses her very much.

When Zhu Qiyou heard the sound of "Son", his body trembled immediately, and he knelt down to the side, the mother and son were weeping relatively silently.

The princess pulled up two stools and sat next to Zhu Qiyou on the bed, greeting each other about the situation after the farewell.In the past three years, I have acted in a low-key manner, and my life has become much calmer than before, and I talked more about daily chores.Concubine Wen has been ill for a while, and the princess has been here to serve the sick, and has not returned to the mansion for a long time.

After chatting for a long time, Zhu Qiyou asked Song Jingshi, "Why don't you see the princess?"

Song Jingshi sighed, and said: "It seems that it will be the end of the month, and the monthly regulations of the gardens in the North Palace have not yet been issued. In the past, the Ministry of Internal Affairs looked at my face and always delayed the concubine next to me, but never neglected the concubine mother. This one. Recently, for some reason, even we have become negligent. The other things are just fine. It’s cold now, and the mother and concubine have not yet received charcoal. Zhenzhen and I don’t know brother I will come today, I am here to take care of my concubine mother, she has already urged the moon to leave early in the morning. Looking at the time, it is time to go back now."

Zhu Qiyou was very relaxed in front of his adoptive mother and younger sister, and joked with his younger sister: "My siblings are now more and more like princes and concubines."

Only when Jin Wangfei was mentioned in this room, people's voices could be heard outside.Concubine Jin has already received the monthly order, and she is sending people to carry things back.When Zhu Qiyou heard the voice, he met Princess Jin face to face, and she almost knelt down to salute him.At least the princess saw her being stupid and ran out the door to help her.Zhu Qiyou held back his laughter, but instead bowed to the princess, who was so frightened that she almost knelt down again.

Several people entered the room, Song Jingshi supported his wife and gave Zhu Qiyou a look: "Zhen Zhen is timid, brother, don't scare her anymore."

Zhu Qiyou laughed for a while, then changed the subject: "I see that the concubine brought back a lot more things."

"It can be said," Princess Jin curled her lips, "I shirked it all morning, so I said it anyway, but I still asked someone to pull the young man."

It turned out that the steward of the House of Internal Affairs had just changed, and it coincided with the emperor's wedding. These people were all focused on preparing for the emperor's wedding, and they forgot about the West Palace hastily, which is not considered negligence on purpose.When Princess Jin passed by, she saw that everyone in the House of Internal Affairs was in a hurry, and she managed to catch a person in charge. After explaining her intentions, the other party did not shirk, and immediately helped her solve the monthly issue.Concubine Jin received the monthly order and was about to leave when she happened to bump into Princess Duanhe who presided over the wedding of the emperor.Concubine Jin wanted to run but didn't dodge, so she pulled her into a strong position.

"Third Gu still looks like that. She always talks to herself and doesn't listen to what others say." Princess Jin complained. The princess really has no time to do the same thing. She just doesn't listen to others, so she gave me the errand anyway."

Princess Jin stuck out her tongue: "Since this is the case, then I can't work for nothing, so I took advantage of the opportunity to make an autumn wind. I saw that the things they bought have not yet been accounted for, whether it is cotton silk, jewelry or medicinal supplements. , carrying a few boxes of everything back.”

"Princess really knows how to live, my sister is blessed." Zhu Qiyou joked, and was kicked by the princess.

Concubine Wen gossiped with the children for a while, but she was really out of spirits, so she asked the princess to serve her and fell asleep.Several people moved to the outside room to chat in low voices, and the princess asked the princess what kind of job she had.

Luo's clan was sparsely populated, and Emperor Renxi was the child of Yingzong in his later years, and his seniority was extremely high.Years ago Guangzong's Empress Dowager Gu died, and the King of Wu was really too old to be active. Not to mention the elders in the clan, there was not even a single person who was the same generation as the little emperor.The big wedding is handled by the clan mansion and the Ministry of Rites, but there are many inner palace matters that are inconvenient for foreign ministers to worry about.

Princess Duanhe is the niece of the Son of Heaven. She is an unlucky princess who has become the eldest princess and then becomes a princess. She is also the older princess in the clan who has never married outside.Probably due to the complicated affairs, Duan and the princess were unable to separate themselves, so in the end, Princess Jin was also brought in.

Concubine Jin got an errand to supervise the palace. In this general election, apart from the queen, six other concubines won the title of concubine. After the wedding, all of them will enter the main palace.

Palace repairs, brick filling, paint touch-ups, courtyard seedlings, bonsai, and all indoor furnishings need to be surveyed in full, and missing materials will be purchased collectively.After purchasing good materials, it is also necessary to supervise and arrange the progress of the project and install defenses to prevent the craftsmen from colliding with the nobles in the palace.Princess Duanhe dumped all such tedious matters to Princess Jin.No wonder Princess Jin has a headache. Although there are special personnel in charge of all kinds of affairs, in the end they have to be handed over to Princess Jin, which is not troublesome.

Zhu Qiyou stroked the waist card in his hand, which was the certificate granted by the imperial court to enter and exit the forbidden palace, which gave him the convenience of visiting the concubine.He speculated in his heart about Emperor Renxi's intentions, which should be his acquiescence in relaxing some restrictions on him.

He conjectured to the two princesses: "From what I see today, it seems that we have acquiesced in our normal exchanges in the future. His Majesty also gave me a badge to enter and exit the Forbidden Palace today, allowing me to visit the concubine from time to time. The concubine is now seriously ill. , I have to work hard for you two to take care of it. I am an idler now, and I am familiar with the Forbidden Palace. Why don't you arrange an errand for me during the project, so that I, the elder brother, can share your worries."

Two days later, Princess Jin asked Zhu Qiyou, the second son of the Marquis of Yongding, to supervise the repair of the East Sixth Palace and assist in handling the emperor's wedding.

At the same time, the war in Beiguan reignited.Song Jingshi, who was already a princess, led the army again, and only then did Zhu Qiyou understand the reason why he was allowed to enter the Forbidden Palace.

Several months passed in the blink of an eye, and Emperor Renxi never summoned Zhu Qiyou again, but the Forbidden Palace had already been renovated under Zhu Qiyou's organization.

Another day, Zhu Qiyou passed by the East Palace, and saw that although there was no owner here, it was decorated happily for the emperor's wedding.He stopped in front of the palace gate, and suddenly recalled that he met Song Yi back then, and it was also because of the wedding.