Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Don't look at Hu Qizhong as a celebrity and think tank next to the King of Wei, but his previous experience is to face the officials who come to the door and the servants and servants in the palace.Hu Qizhong, the real figure above the high hall, has never been seen very much, that is, since the death of the crown prince, the power of King Wei has been rising day by day, so that Hu Qizhong can speak more in the political arena in the capital, and the officials in the capital gradually respect Hu Qizhong. I have heard a little bit of "see each other late".Hu Qizhong was summoned by the emperor once when he was promoted to weaving in Hangzhou, and now he blinked vigorously his eyes dazzled by the gold thread on the flying fish suit, Hu Qizhong seemed to have opened a window in his heart, bright and bright.

Wang Ziji introduced, "This is Eunuch Zhou, the chief eunuch of the Palace of Compassion and Peace, and this is Eunuch Dai, the inner supervisor of Kunning Palace." Eunuch, this is His Majesty's latest Hangzhou weaving." Eunuch Zhou held a jasper-colored teacup in the handkerchief and glanced at Hu Qizhong who was on the ground out of the corner of his eye, and said in a very strange tone: "Hangzhou weaving? What about this seat?" That is to say, Mr. Wang’s work is the most favored by the Queen Mother and His Majesty. When he came out today, the Queen Mother Lafayette complained that the materials and designs of the tribute were not new.”

Hu Qizhong didn't expect to be caught in a pot of water, and his high-pitched heart suddenly became half gray. He was happy to receive the order from Hangzhou Weaving and thought about how to make money in Hangzhou.He even forgot that Hangzhou Weaving seems to be full of beauty, but he actually forgot that flowers and thorns coexist.Once there is a slight mistake, he will fall from heaven to hell. Wang Changchun is doing well in the weaving job, but he may not be as comfortable as Wang Changchun.I don't have any friendship with the emperor, and there is also the harem, except that Concubine Dong Gui may not embarrass him for the sake of King Wei.But the empress is the lord of the harem after all, once she picks out a prick at random, even if she has three heads and six arms, she will not be able to stand up again. Hu Qizhong broke into a cold sweat when he thought of this, and he became more and more determined to hold on to the grandson to prevent others from saying a word To ruin the future.

"Returning to my father-in-law, I will try my best to make them come up with new tricks after I take office. I have little qualifications, and I have to ask the two father-in-laws for many things. I was originally a stupid person, thanks to the emperor's grace..." Hu Qizhong You can really let go of your figure.The two father-in-laws he said were full of enthusiasm, flattering and promising to honor the two and the eunuchs around the empress dowager when they took office.The two father-in-laws softened their expressions when they saw that Hu Qizhong was very good.

Dai Quan was young and had just joined the empress as an errand, so Eunuch Zhou couldn't easily express his opinion on such an occasion.So Dai Quan came out to express his opinion on behalf of Eunuch Zhou: "Actually, Mr. Hu doesn't need to be too modest. The miscellaneous family has low qualifications to enter the palace and still often hears Mr.'s name in the palace. It is really extraordinary to see him today, and the miscellaneous family admires him very much. Even if we got acquainted today, we all work for the royal family, so we should take care of each other."

Hu Qizhong hurriedly bowed his body, stood up and stared at Dai Quan eagerly: "How can a late student not be praised by his father-in-law. From now on, he will only follow his father-in-law's orders."

It was Mr. Hu who underestimated himself. Although the old slave didn't care much about outside affairs when he was with the Queen Mother, Mr. Hu was the one whom the Queen Mother mentioned, and Xiao Dai was right.In the past, Xiao Dai served by the side of His Highness the Grandson.Eunuch Zhou fiddled with the ring on his hand, and instead of looking at Hu Qizhong, he turned to the old lady and wentssiped about how the queen mother thought about the old lady of the Wang family and how to take care of her body.

Hearing that Dai Quan was served by His Royal Highness Taisun, Hu Qizhong was even more excited to get close to Dai Quan.Seeing the old lady talking with Eunuch Zhou, Hu Qizhong suddenly lowered his voice and said something in a low voice to Dai Quan, but Dai Quan shrugged off with embarrassment on his face: "I'm afraid this is not good, the grandson has been since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. After his death, he lived in Jane and kept his father's filial piety, and never saw outsiders. Although the grandson had a good impression of Mr. Wei, the King of Wei might not be happy if he found out. Mr. Wang didn't know that the biological mother of King Wei, Concubine Dong Gui, was People who like to be picky, sir, now that he has let go of his foreign post and is still staying in the capital, His Majesty said in the Queen's Palace yesterday that the official in Hangzhou Weaving has been suspended for too long, waiting for the prince's filial piety to expire next year, I am afraid there will be no new ones Things are useful. According to the miscellaneous family, the miscellaneous family can help bring a message to His Highness Taisun if he wants, and the husband should hurry to Hangzhou to take up his post. If His Majesty is annoyed, neither the king of Wei nor the grandson can turn around."

"Why doesn't Wansheng want to go to the post immediately, but King Wei's side—" Hu Qizhong looked embarrassed, and complained more and more about King Wei in his heart.

"It's easy to say, sir, just go, and the rest of the miscellaneous family can find their own way. Even if the king of Wei stops him, His Majesty can no longer let him be willful. The queen mother's [-]th birthday still needs to use a lot of brocade and satin. The Palace of Compassion and Ning needs all kinds of curtains and enclosures, not to mention those brocades and satins. If you don’t hurry up now, will you be blinded when the time comes? Not only the Empress, but Your Majesty also attaches great importance to the Empress Dowager’s birthday. Empress Dowager His phoenix body is not in good condition, and His Majesty means that he wants to celebrate the Empress Dowager on her birthday. Your Majesty will naturally be happy if you have completed this project." Dai Quan hinted that Hu Qizhong should know the priorities. He used to be King Wei's think tank, but Wei Wang's servant.Now that Hu Qizhong is the official of the imperial court, he needs to know who is the boss and who he should listen to.You can listen to what the king of Wei said or not, anyway, the emperor is there for everything.

Hu Qizhong's face turned red immediately, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, he cupped his hands to Dai Quan and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Dai, for your advice, listening to your words is better than ten years of reading, I will go to Hangzhou immediately to take up the post. It's just that the child's marriage is not over yet—"

Before Hu Qizhong finished speaking, Dai Quan snorted impatiently, and tapped the coffee table with a white jade finger: "If you take the emperor's salary, you should do things for the emperor. Let me say something bad, let alone your son marrying a wife, just Even if you marry a daughter-in-law yourself, you can't delay the court's errands. You can discuss with the bride's family and just send the bride. Marrying a daughter is the same as marrying a daughter, and the prince's filial piety period has not yet passed, too His Royal Highness Sun feels uncomfortable, he has given up even meat and meat to serve the prince as a filial piety, and you still have the heart to marry your son a wife in the capital! It turns out that Mr. Hu didn't pay attention to His Royal Highness Grand Sun and the prince, and the courtiers have tea!" Said Dai Quan's expression changed.

Hu Qizhong secretly hated himself for being negligent and even forgot about this mistake, he was busy proving his loyalty to Dai Quan.Dai Quan listened to Hu Qizhong's justification and didn't hold on to it. He lowered his eyelids and said lightly: "Since Mr. Hu wants to show his loyalty, he can't just talk about it all the time. If you want to show some sincerity, it's good for me too In front of Suan, I helped Mr. deliver the message."

"If you have a father-in-law, you can feel at ease later. I plan to take office within three days. Before I go to Hangzhou, I have something important to present to His Highness the grandson. I just ask my father-in-law to help introduce me when the time comes." Hu Qizhong was determined to join the grandson, In his hands, he was holding a lot of things that the grandson was interested in.With this, don't worry that the grandson will not wait to see him in the future.

"Naturally, it's easy to talk about!" Dai Quan showed a satisfied smile and patted Hu Qizhong's chest.

Because the Wanshou Temple in the capital was built by the imperial decree, it always has a high status in the temples in the capital. Devotees hope to have the return date of the royal family and the immortal spirit of the Buddha, and they always like to come here to pray for the Buddha.Although Hu Qizhong was packing his things at home and preparing to take office in Hangzhou, he changed into a blue cloth straight gown, black cloth shoes, snow-white socks, black square scarf, and a silk sash around his waist in the morning. A little boy went to Wanshou Temple with a fan.

It was already June, when the sun was at its hottest, Hu Qizhong was led in through the back door by a servant before he reached the gate of Wanshou Temple.It turned out that the grandson came to Wanshou Temple to pray for his deceased father today when he left the palace. "Stand here and don't wander around. Be careful of being taken away by the Jinyi guards as thieves. Your highness is listening to the great monk's lecture in the main hall. Wait for your highness to come out and summon you." The little servant threw Hu Qizhong away after throwing these words. One wall was out in the sun.

An hour later, Hu Qizhong's scholarly demeanor became a joke. He was sweating from the scorching noon sun, and his eyes were dark, but he didn't dare to move around without authorization.Seeing the little novice monks and inner eunuchs coming and going around him, Hu Qizhong didn't dare to open his mouth to ask for a drink.Just when Hu Qizhong was about to suffer from sunstroke, Hu Qizhong wiped his sweat with a damp handkerchief and suddenly raised his head to see a lean young man standing in front of him.The young man was looking at him gently with a pair of eyes, with moon-white arrow sleeves on his body, no crown on his head, but a plain white silver hairpin to hold his hair, his face was gradually losing baby fat, with edges and corners growing.

"Mr. Hu has been waiting for a long time." Taisun Yu smiled sweetly, and slightly raised the corners of his mouth towards Hu Qizhong, making him feel like a spring breeze.Hu Qizhong was used to King Wei's arrogance and rudeness, and immediately felt warm in his heart.He had already knelt down involuntarily: "My minister, Hu Qizhong, pays respects to His Royal Highness Taisun."

"Mr. Hu, please get up. I admire Mr.'s talent. I remember reading his palace examination articles when I was studying. At that time, Mr. Xu said with emotion that such articles should be ranked among the top three, but the result could only be in the It's the examiner's fault to sit with you at the bottom of the ranking list. Only after seeing Mr. today do you know what Mr. Xu said is true." Taisun's words were sincere, neither humble nor overbearing, and Hu Qizhong was completely overwhelmed by Taisun's demeanor and completely defeated by Taisun's court boots .

Hu Qizhong stuttered a bit when he spoke, he knelt on the slate floor scalded by the sun, suppressing the excitement in his heart and stammering to be loyal to his grandson.It's a pity that the grandson didn't seem to be very interested in his loyalty, so he just waved his hand lightly: "I know what you mean, sir, and I really want to have a good talk with him, but in the current situation, I can't help it at all. I will act Some people know that Mr. came to see me with good intentions, and I don't want Mr. to suffer innocent disasters. If you have anything important to say, you can tell the people around me. "

Before the grandson finished speaking, a servant came over: "It's time to apply, the empress sent a message from the palace to ask the grandson to drive back to the palace."

"Your Highness, I have something important to present to Your Highness, King Wei—" Hu Qizhong hurriedly took out a booklet from his arms, which was full of King Wei's henchmen and recruits.

"You told Xiao Zhongliang next to me that Gu is leaving. Since you are loyal to the country, I can't let you die. You just go to Hangzhou to take up the post with peace of mind, and rest assured about everything else." Taisun waved his hand, Only a back view was left for Hu Qizhong. "Mr. Hu's family has a quiet place nearby, why don't we sit there?" Xiao Zhongliang supported Hu Qizhong's arm with a smile and pulled him away.

"The Hu family has taken office?" The old lady finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Wang Ziji's report. "Yes, my grandson saw his family get on the boat with his own eyes today. That Hu Qizhong still pulled me to say something about waiting for the good news. I really want to kick him into the water!" Wang Ziji's eyes darkened when he remembered the situation at that time.If it wasn't for the Hu family's deliberate deliberations to set up traps and put nails in the Wang family, there wouldn't be this incident, and the Wang family wouldn't lose a daughter in vain.

"Grandmother, since Hu Qizhong has already left, I think it's better to forget it." Wang Ziji tentatively pleaded with his grandmother.

"It's just the peace in front of me. Neither the Jia family nor the Hu family will let go. It will be even more difficult at that time! Have you made all the arrangements?" The old lady fiddled with a flower in her hand expressionlessly.

"It's all done. When Ting Ling is in the family temple, Ziqian will be replaced. I will take care of her body in the Guanyin Nunnery not far away. When she recovers, she will be quietly sent to Suzhou. She will be placed at home. Come on Zhuangzi. That place is surrounded by water, and no outsiders can easily enter. But grandma, why don’t you just let Ziqian die alone there?” Wang Ziji thought that Ziqian would spend his whole life alone in that remote place, so it’s better to be real. Forget it.

"I can't live without doing my own crimes, what else can I do. How can I feel better!" The old lady sighed, and waved her hand to her grandson wearily, not asking him to continue talking.

When the Wang family was covered by the lingering sickness of the elder girl and the concealment of her impending death, the grandson was beaming.As long as he remembered Wei Wang's expression that day, he couldn't restrain the muscles on his face, and couldn't help grinning to laugh out loud.How many years he has been under the embarrassment of the king of Wei, when the crown prince was there, the king of Wei and Concubine Dong would make trouble for the grandson in front of the emperor from time to time, so he just endured it.Ever since he lost his father's protection, in Taisun's heart, King Wei is simply the ultimate bully who cannibalize people without spit out bones.

He endured and endured, thinking that when there was no hope of defeating King Wei in this life, God suddenly gave him hope.Hu Qizhong actually delivered it to the door himself.

That day in the study room, the grandson was standing in front of the emperor's writing case with his hands down, with his heart hanging in his throat, waiting for the emperor to comment on the memorial he had reviewed.Although King Wei was gaining momentum in the court, the emperor still handed over some innocuous memorials to his grandson for practice and instruction.Today was the day when His Royal Highness Taisun handed in his homework. Taisun stared at the pattern on the carpet under his feet, his palms were full of sweat, and his heart was hanging in the air.

"That's right, the words are concise and concise, and the words have grown a lot." The emperor closed the memorial in front of him, finally giving him a reassurance.

"Huh—" Taisun breathed a sigh of relief, and before he opened his mouth, there was a commotion outside, "I want to see my father!" King Wei's voice came loudly.There was a strange look in Taisun's eyes, he knew that he had stabbed King Wei's vitals.

"Whoever is outside, tell him to come in!" The emperor was full of anger and shouted.

King Wei came in like a gust of wind: "Greetings, Father."

"Greetings? Don't dare! How dare I ask you, a virtuous king, to pay respects. You are Duke Zhou. If you pay respects to me, are you trying to kill me?" The emperor sneered without looking at his son kneeling on the ground.

"My son doesn't dare. My son came today just to ask my father not to be deceived by villains and hurt the pillars of the country." The emperor didn't cry out, and the king of Wei didn't dare to get up. He knelt on the ground and pleaded for Prince Qing with his neck stuck.

Prince Qing is the youngest brother of the emperor. After decades of ups and downs in the court and changes in imperial power, he can be regarded as an evergreen tree.The vassals in this area had almost withered when the Emperor Qing fought for the throne with his nephew, and Prince Qing was the only old prince left.The emperor trusted this younger brother very much. Prince Qing was in command of hundreds of thousands of troops in the northwest.

All these earth-shaking changes were completed in just two days. This morning, the imperial censor announced the ten crimes against Prince Qing. The emperor asked Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice to discuss how to deal with Prince Qing.Everyone vaguely guessed that Prince Qing's sudden downfall must be inextricably linked to the battle for the reserve position.

The king of Wei was still ignorant of life and death, but at this moment, he slammed into the emperor's gun, and the grandson couldn't help but send a pitying look to his uncle.Or grandma was right, the king of Wei could hardly achieve great things, and he forgot about it as soon as the wind went smoothly.It seems that Prince Qing is still older and more cunning. If Hu Qizhong hadn't pointed out the henchmen of King Wei, even the grandson and queen would not believe that Prince Qing, who always showed his honesty to others, would be hiding something so deep.

The emperor almost sneered ferociously, and the words he said were shocking: "You don't have to be like this, in your eyes, I'm afraid that Prince Qing is your real father, and I'm just an old man who hinders your eyes That's all. Your uncle and nephew have a good plan, he will help you kill your father and king, will you share the world with him?"

King Wei's expression changed greatly when he was bluffed by the emperor's words, and he trembled like a fallen leaf in the cold wind. Although the floor was covered with thick carpets, the muffled sound of King Wei's kowtow was clearly transmitted into the room. inside everyone's ears. "Father said that my son will die without a place to bury me. My son has nothing to justify. He can only show his will by death. The son just wants to persuade father to treat the clan well, and there is no other meaning." Wei Wangmeng He lifted his head up, and confessed his heart to the emperor with tears in his eyes. From the corner of his eyes, he glanced at his nephew standing in the corner, and King Wei's heart skipped a beat.Could it be that this kid did it?But does this kid have such a great ability?

After being stared at by King Wei's murderous eyes, Taisun's back also began to sweat a little, and he turned around in his heart, peeking at the emperor's face.It didn't happen overnight that Prince Qing was attacked by the emperor's grandfather. Both Wang Changchun and the empress had explicitly or secretly expressed that the emperor was extremely suspicious.Back then, Grandpa Huang had many brothers, but not many could be preserved.The few princes who didn't deal with Grandpa Huang when they were in the fiefdom were dealt with by the way when Grandpa Huang rebelled.Then the princes who held the military power were cut off by the emperor one by one, or their military power was cut off, or they were cut off from the princes, leaving Qin Qin and Prince Qing who just had fun and didn't care about world affairs.

Prince Qing has been operating in the Northwest for many years, and the emperor has heard about embezzling soldiers' salaries and enclosing land for a long time, and the censor impeached Prince Qing for interfering in local government affairs.It's just that Grandpa Huang didn't want to pursue it too much because of the brotherhood. The personal relationship between Prince Qing and King Wei was just the last straw that crushed him.Thinking of this, the grandson also came out to help his uncle to plead for mercy: "Grandpa, please forgive Prince Luoqing, the third uncle has always been lenient. He even cares about the poor officials in the capital, let alone his own." What about my uncle?"

The grandson seemed to be helping the king of Wei to speak, but he was actually supporting the flames in the emperor's heart.