After reciting the eulogy, it is time to go to the ancestral temple to worship.
Xie Hengwu and Xiao Yanzhou knelt together in front of the high spiritual throne in the ancestral temple, each holding three sticks of incense in their hands.
The history of Beijiang has not been that long since the founding of the country, and three emperors are enshrined in the ancestral temple. Xie Hengwu raised his lowered eyelashes and looked at the lowest spiritual position.
That should be Xiao Yanzhou's father.
Xie Hengwu vaguely remembered... Xiao Yanzhou's father did not die at the end of his life.
He died of sudden illness one after another, but the late emperor suffered from a serious illness and gradually became weak and died.
She lowered her eyes again, sang salutes along with the praisers, held incense and bowed.
Some ashes from the burnt incense on the top fell on his hand, and Xie Hengwu blew it away gently.
In fact, even if she is granted the title of concubine, she is not qualified to come to the ancestral temple to worship her ancestors.
The only person who can come with the emperor is the queen.
But no one dared to object to Xiao Yanzhou's over-the-top move. Even though the concubine's decree had not yet been fully conveyed, in their eyes, Xie Hengwu was still a beauty.
Xiao Yanzhou naturally understood.
In fact, his headache has eased a lot, and even if he is away from her for a day or two, it won't be as scary as before.
But he just wanted to take her with him.
She was his medicine, and keeping her by his side was obviously a matter of course.
He thought as he slowly inserted the incense in his hand into the soft ashes.
The late emperor's spiritual tablet was in a position where he had to raise his head slightly to see it. Xiao Yanzhou raised his eyes slightly, and his cold eyes fell on the spiritual tablet through the ink jade bead curtain.
After looking at it for a long time, he looked away, his palms in his sleeves loosened, and fine powder dripped from his fingers and dispersed silently.
That was the part that was crushed to pieces when he was holding the incense.
After the ceremony was completed, Xiao Yanzhou did not leave immediately.
The cold wind was howling, and when the ministers were confused, they saw a group of Yulin guards wearing armor escorting several people forward.
After Minister Shen vaguely recognized his face, he couldn't help but feel his heart shrink.
The Yulin guards all came in with swords in hand, cold light flashing from their waists, and everyone cowered and moved away to both sides.
When Xiao Yanzhou turned around, those people had been kneeled to the ground by Yulin guards, and their prison clothes were incompatible with the scenery of the ancestral temple.
"Shen Aiqing."
He spoke and his eyes fell on a courtier in the queue.
The man shook his head, stood up, and said, "Your Majesty, I am here."
Xiao Yanzhou's eyes were cold, and the bead curtain cast a thin shadow on his face: "Does Shen Aiqing recognize them?"
Minister Shen quickly raised his eyes to look at the prisoner, then quickly looked back, his heart beating like thunder.
He is really from the Zhang family!
If someone from the Zhang family appears here and appears like this, something must have been exposed.
If he says he doesn't recognize it, Your Majesty...how will Your Majesty believe it?
He trembled: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I... recognize them. I wonder what kind of crime they have committed?"
"Oh?" Xiao Yanzhou said casually, and the rising sound was like a sharp knife, gently beating people's hearts, "If Shen Aiqing recognizes it, it will be a great help to Gu."
"Come and ask them what good things they have done for me."
Before Minister Shen could reply, the Yulin guard who was standing there walked down and half dragged and half dragged him to the prisoner.
Xiao Yanzhou approached with a cold and murderous intent. Minister Shen's body trembled slightly and he followed the instructions.
Those Zhang family members had been tortured half to death by Xiao Yanzhou at night, and they vomited everything they should and shouldn't say. Now that he was seriously injured and without any strength, he naturally ignored his questions.
The man became even more anxious when he saw this, and his intuition told him that if he couldn't make them speak, he would not end well.
Xiao Yanzhou's cool chuckle came from above his head.
"It seems that what Shen Aiqing said is wrong. If Aiqing knows them, why can't she ask a question?"
"Could it be...that this is a deliberate cover-up?"
"Ai Qing has been in private contact with them for a long time?"
Every time Xiao Yanzhou asked more questions, Minister Shen's legs became weaker, and finally he fell to his knees with a thud.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty forgives me... I really understand and I really have no intention of covering up!"
Xiao Yanzhou was silent, his eyes turned around on him several times, and he was so frightened that he broke into cold sweat again.
"Shen Aiqing's words are unfounded. It's hard for Gu to believe it."
Xiao Yanzhou rubbed the jade ring with a cold expression.
"His Majesty……"
Snapped.
Xiao Yanzhou gently clasped his hands to stop what Minister Shen was saying. He sighed and said slowly:
"Well, these are death row prisoners. If Shen Aiqing is innocent, how about killing them herself?"
Minister Shen's face went blank for a moment, and the other ministers were also as silent as cicadas.
It's really a good example to scare the monkeys.
It seemed that after seriously injuring King Qin in public, Xiao Yanzhou felt something different.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I... I have never learned martial arts. How... how can I..."
Minister Shen stumbled and said that he had been a civil servant for most of his life, and he had only used power to kill people with a borrowed knife, but he had never done such a bloody thing.
What's more, there are many people present who know that the Zhang family has taken refuge in the powerful Shen family. If he takes action, wouldn't it be possible for him to talk about it all his life?
Xiao Yanzhou raised his eyebrows and said lazily, "Is that so? I don't mind teaching Shen Aiqing."
With a swish sound, he took out the sword from the waist of the Yulin Guard and held a sword flower in his hand.
Senhan's sword energy swept through Shen's hair crown, cutting off a strand of hair, which slowly floated in front of him.
Shen's heart was in her throat and she almost fell down.
Xiao Yanzhou looked down at the sharp sword for a while, then took Xie Hengwu's hand aside, protected her behind him, and whispered:
"Close your eyes."
Xie Hengwu's breath stagnated and he closed his eyes as instructed.
A few breaths later, she heard the sound of a sharp weapon breaking through the air and the dull sound of piercing into flesh and blood. Thump thump, like something elastic falling to the ground.
From the front came people's frightened shouts and chaotic footsteps.
The strong smell of blood mixed with cold air penetrated into the nose.
Since he couldn't see, his other senses were amplified. Xie Hengwu imagined a lot, and quietly tightened Xiao Yanzhou's sleeves.
She heard Xiao Yanzhou chuckle lightly and whisper like a ghost:
"How about it, has Shen Aiqing learned it?"
There was a clang, the sound of the sword still stained with blood being thrown by Xiao Yanzhou in front of Minister Shen.
He threw it casually, and the sword almost hit Shen directly, making the latter tremble again.
"Your Majesty, minister..."
Before he finished speaking, the Yulin guards on both sides approached with a threatening tone.
Shen closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and said, "I... obey the order."
There is no need to go into details about what happened next. Shen raised his sword and killed Zhang's people one by one with his eyes closed.
Since Shen had never practiced martial arts and was quite old, it was very difficult for Shen to lift the sword, and sometimes he could not kill with one blow. The screams and the smell of blood mixed together, turning the entire ancestral temple into a mess like hell on earth.
There was a smile on Xiao Yanzhou's lips, which seemed to be sarcastic or mocking: "Shen Aiqing is really a loyal minister, I am very satisfied."
After killing the last person, Shen finally lost his strength and the sword in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. He collapsed, with blood stains everywhere on his body.
Blood soaked the land in front of the ancestral temple, adding an ominous atmosphere.
Xiao Yanzhou raised his voice slightly and said slowly:
"The Zhang family embezzled tens of thousands of disaster relief funds, acted tyrannically and despised the power of heaven, and they happened to be Shen Aiqing's people, which made Gu very distressed.
"Now I have to thank Shen Aiqing for taking care of Gu Gu's worries."
Minister Shen's face was as white as paper, and Zhang was liquidated like this, then they...
Cui Zuocheng's voice was trembling: "Your Majesty, how can the important place of the ancestral temple be stained with the blood of criminals!"
Yesterday, the King of Qin was seriously injured in public, and today he committed an attack in front of the ancestral temple. Many officials were shocked and angry about this. But Cui Zuocheng was the only one who dared to rebuke him in public.
Xiao Yanzhou's back was as straight as jade and pine: "Such a moth will be executed in front of the ancestors. I don't think the ancestors will blame Yu Gu."
Cui Zuocheng frowned: "Your Majesty, this is not etiquette!"
"Etiquette?" He sneered, "There are so many things that are inconsistent with etiquette. Cui Aiqing might as well ask the late emperor how many times he followed etiquette."
Under the highest position, there are always piles of bones and blood, and it has always been filthy.
However, this statement involves the emperors of all dynasties and is extremely treasonous.
Cui Zuocheng's expression changed, he knelt down and bowed, and raised his voice: "Your Majesty, be careful what you say!"
The ministers also knelt down one after another, all saying words of caution.
Xiao Yanzhou was quite bored.
On the contrary, the sleeves were grabbed tighter and tighter.
Xie Hengwu quietly opened his eyes and saw a scene of rivers of blood on the ground.
From Xiao Yanzhou's words, she faintly heard something.
Is this...what he did after being away for a few days?
It sounds like it is also related to the Jingzhong family.
Today, the Queen Mother still claims that the illness has never appeared. Otherwise, Xie Hengwu suspects that Queen Mother Cui will faint from the anger of this scene.
The smell of blood in the air grew stronger, almost nauseating. She hesitated for a while, then slowly walked out from behind him and stood beside him.
Xiao Yanzhou looked down at her and said in a voice that only two people could hear: "Aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid." Xie Hengwu also whispered. Her eyes quickly passed over the mess on the ground and fell on the kneeling minister.
Behind him is the most solemn ancestral temple in the country, in front are ministers kneeling on the ground, and in the middle are beheaded prisoners.
The two of them stood in the middle, like those tyrants and concubines in the storybooks who brought disaster to the country and the people.
This scene was so absurd that after Xie Hengwu finished answering Xiao Yanzhou's question, he didn't know how to continue.
She paused for a while and then said: "But I can't always hide behind His Majesty."
Xiao Yanzhou disagreed: "Then what can you do?"
Xie Hengwu took a few steps closer to him and locked hands with his:
"I want to... stand side by side with His Majesty like this."
Half of Xiao Yanzhou's crazy behavior was for the ministers to see, and the other half was for her to see.
Choosing him is choosing the many risks that come with it.
He is in a high position and faces many unimaginable dangers.
This is to ask her whether she would like to take a back seat or go to the front and endure unspeakable dangers.
Xiao Yanzhou still sounded as casual as ever: "Do you really think so?"
Xie Hengwu tightened the strength of his palms and added softly;
"Well, I have thought about it."
Xiao Yanzhou then held her hand and said with a smile:
"That Gubian was not wrong."
"Zhao Quan," he raised his voice, "declare the decree."
Zhao Quan stepped forward in response and slowly unfolded the imperial edict in his hand.
"According to the imperial edict of Heaven, the Xie family is harmonious and gentle, virtuous and virtuous... I grant her the title of Concubine Chen. I admire this."
Everyone was startled, even Cui Zuocheng raised his head involuntarily.
No one expected that Xiao Yanzhou would issue an unrelated decree to become a concubine at this time.
The same goes for Xie Hengwu.
But after she paused for a few breaths, she gathered her skirt and bowed down, saying slowly:
"I accept the order and thank Your Majesty for His grace."
Xie Hengwu knelt on the ground, his clothes barely touching the blood on the ground.
This should be the most bizarre and grand concubine ceremony in Beijiang.
