Soon after, news came from the palace that a beauty was to be selected.
The ministers were stunned. The crown prince of the country is out on a military expedition and encounters foreign enemies. No new news has been received so far. It is unknown whether His Highness the Crown Prince is alive or dead. What's more, the war has caused tightness on the front line, and troops, horses, food and grass are about to be depleted.
As a result, at this time, His Majesty issued an order to select beauties? ? ? It is almost killing the Ministry of Household officials who have been worrying about money and food these days and the Ministry of War officials who are about to pull out their beards.
And there was no peace in the harem. Originally, Queen Wen and Concubine Gu checked and balanced each other, and the situation in the harem was as stable as Mount Tai.
Now it is heard that the Queen is staying behind closed doors, and there is no one to check and balance Gu Guifei. His Majesty also frequently favors young and beautiful lower-ranking concubines, which makes Gu Guifei jealous. So Gu Guifei suppressed the various concubines in the palace, and the lower-ranking concubines also used all kinds of tricks to compete for favors, making the harem a mess.
It may be that His Majesty's cold treatment these days has made Concubine Gu panic. She doesn't dare to act coquettishly to His Majesty like she did before, telling him to leave those bitches alone. She can only use the palace rules to punish those who don't like it. of concubines. Almost every day in the harem, corpses with unknown names were carried out from the corner door of the harem.
However, even so, His Majesty can always find a beauty who is more in line with his wishes, and there are flocks of warblers and swallows in the harem. His Majesty almost never came to Gu Guifei's palace anymore. Gu Guifei, who was so sick that she sought medical treatment, actually believed the words of a wandering Taoist priest and offered elixir to His Majesty.
His Majesty was originally not very interested in this elixir, but in recent days, he frequently favored young and beautiful palace concubines and singers, which made him feel powerless, so he gave the elixir a try.
This attempt was out of control.
If it were in the past, Queen Wen would have tried so hard to urge your majesty not to touch these elixirs, lest they harm the dragon's body. But since Queen Wen knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was attacked by Beidi people during his personal expedition, but there was still no news, Queen Wen simply wished that His Majesty would die now.
Now that Concubine Gu offered the elixir, Queen Wen naturally would not stop her anymore, and even felt that Concubine Gu was pleasing to her eyes for the first time. Although Queen Wen signaled Xu Zhaorong to follow suit, Queen Wen was always generous to those who surrendered to her, so she also gave Xu Zhaorong a few words to prevent her from being offended.
"You can use the elixir, but don't rush for success. The quick effect of Gu Guifei's elixir is probably due to the medicine of tiger and wolf. You can wait for the water to flow slowly, and you would rather have less effect and just offer some tonics. .”
Xu Zhaorong was a little confused when he heard this, "Empress, why don't you offer these tonics to His Majesty yourself?"
Queen Wen did not answer, but turned around and bowed to the Buddha again. Xiu Xin came up to help Xu Zhaorong and said, "Empress Zhaorong, our empress is doing this for the sake of you and the tenth prince. Just do as you please."
Xu Zhaorong could only stand up and say goodbye. After leaving the Queen's palace, she looked back at the Queen's palace and thought, "Is the Queen completely disheartened by His Majesty, or does she feel that no matter what she does, she will be suspected by His Majesty, so she is here" Stay out of the harem."
At this moment, in Concubine Gu’s Changchun Palace.
Concubine Gu served His Majesty diligently, waiting for His Majesty's expression to soften a little. Concubine Gu tentatively said, "Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Yu is old and it's time to get married. As the father of His Highness Prince Yu, do you have any plans for the future Princess Yu?
His Majesty seemed to have anticipated Concubine Gu's question. His expression remained unchanged, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, saying, "Mr. Rongde County. She is the daughter of Princess Ruyang. I have promised her a long time ago that my son will marry her daughter. Cousins will become more intimate."
Concubine Gu was so angry that she gritted her teeth when she heard this, "Obviously before, Mr. Rongde County went to attend Queen Wen's plum appreciation banquet, but now my son has become a collector of things that the prince does not want."
Mentioning the matter of Yi Chu that the adults in the court were discussing, Concubine Gu carefully looked at His Majesty's face, trying to see a clue from his expression.
But there was no clue, not a single clue. His Majesty didn't seem to take this matter to heart at all, and just said lightly, "The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics." There was a knock in his eyes that was neither light nor heavy.
Concubine Gu was angry and annoyed, but she had no choice but to curse the Ruyang eldest princess and her daughter in her heart, despising them for their shameless insistence on clinging to her son.
But today I heard that the Queen's Palace was open to welcome guests for a rare occasion.
Because, the queen's daughter-in-law-to-be, Fan Yanglu's daughter, and Qingning County Lord specially handed a sign to the palace today to pay their respects.
This is nothing unusual. After getting engaged, most ladies from aristocratic families will often interact with their future husband's family in order to get familiar with the situation of their husband's family and find out the situation for future marriage.
It's just that Queen Wen's situation here is a little complicated. She hasn't seen visitors for a long time, and she just quietly eats vegetarian food in her palace every day to pray for His Highness, hoping that he can return safely as soon as possible.
Of course, Lu Bingzhen's visit to the palace today was not just to pay his respects to his future mother-in-law and current empress. At the instruction of her grandfather Lu Zhi, she entered the palace with news about His Highness the Crown Prince.
After not seeing her for many days, Queen Wen was quite haggard, but she was in good spirits. Queen Wen only left Xiuxin alone in the palace and dismissed all the maids and eunuchs. These days, the number of maids and eunuchs in Queen Wen's palace has also decreased a lot, and those who remain are Queen Wen's own confidants. Therefore, Queen Wen's palace is now like an iron barrel.
As long as Queen Wen doesn't want to, no news will spread out of her palace.
"A Rui, it's rare for you to come into the palace. How are you doing at home recently?" Hearing the Queen's words, she asked her if she had ever been ridiculed or embarrassed by the news of the disappearance of His Royal Highness.
Lu Bingzhen raised his smiling face and replied seriously, "Thank you, the Queen, for your concern. Everything is fine. The wind and rain outside have never entered my house, and my family has never treated me poorly. A few days ago, my grandfather also A large amount of dowry was allocated to me."
It was Lu Bingzhen's smile that was so contagious that Queen Wen felt that the haze in her heart in recent days had dissipated a lot when she looked at her.
"Okay, that's good. Come, have some snacks. I heard from Aunt Feng that you like snacks made from milk. This is a new style made by the imperial kitchen in the palace. You can try it."
Lu Bingzhen picked up the snack and tasted it obediently, and then asked with some doubts, "Your Majesty, don't you use it?"
Xiu Xin stepped forward at the right moment and said, "You don't know what you, Qingning County Master, are saying. In order to pray for His Highness the Crown Prince, I have been following a vegetarian diet recently. I have milk in my heart, but I will not use it."
"Can we wait until the empress's wish is fulfilled?" Lu Bingzhen's serious look when he said this made Queen Wen laugh. She said in a tone of comfort to the child, "Yes, wait until I know that the prince is safe." After the news about Wu Yu, that’s it.”
Unexpectedly, Lu Bingzhen did not give up after hearing this, but instead delivered the snacks to Queen Wen.
"My Majesty, I came to the palace today not only to pay my respects to your Majesty, but also to tell you the news about His Highness the Crown Prince, so that you can feel at ease."
Queen Wen seemed to be feeling something. She stared at Lu Bingzhen and heard the elegant and elegant girl in front of her say seriously, "My Lady, my brother sent me as an envoy to the barbarians. There is news that His Highness the Crown Prince is now a guest in the court of King Beidi." , seemed to be having a great time chatting with each other.”
Under the incredible look in Queen Wen's eyes, Lu Bingzhen continued, "The King of Beidi seems to be impressed by His Highness the Crown Prince and intends to submit to our court. The delegation from my brother is currently rushing to the Beidi Royal Court non-stop, just to discuss Beidi It’s a matter of surrendering to me.”
"This is serious." Queen Wen cried with joy and suddenly stood up from her seat. She excitedly walked back and forth in the center of the hall, clasping her hands together, and kept chanting "Amitabha, Amitabha. Buddha indeed bless my son."
At this moment, Queen Wen did not expect that the news of King Beidi's surrender could build momentum for His Royal Highness. She was simply rejoicing for her son's safety like every mother in the world.
When Queen Wen calmed down, she looked at Lu Bingzhen with even more loving eyes. Lu Bingzhen looked at Queen Wen with a smile from beginning to end. At this moment, both of them were so happy for the safety of the same person.
From Queen Wen's eyes, Lu Bingzhen suddenly realized that at this moment, the distance between her and Queen Wen was infinitely narrowed. Before today, she, Lu Bingzhen, was just a perfect future daughter-in-law in the eyes of the Empress. She might have liked her a little, but it was all based on the premise that she was about to marry His Highness the Crown Prince.
But today, Queen Wen looked at her with obvious pure love in her eyes. Maybe it was good news, which could really bring the two people closer, or maybe the Queen felt Lu Bingzhen's sincerity towards His Royal Highness. Anyway, Queen Wen really likes this future daughter-in-law now.
On this day, Queen Wen kept Lu Bingzhen for a long time. It wasn't until after dinner and the sky turned dark that Lu Bingzhen arrived belatedly at the door of Fan Yanglu's house with all kinds of jewelry, silks and satins, and even various utensils given by Queen Wen.
Queen Wen was probably really happy. Today's reward was a bit mindless. She almost gave Lu Bingzhen whatever she thought was good.
After Lu Bingzhen arrived home, he followed the rules and went to greet his parents first, and then went with his parents to greet his grandfather.
Lu Zhiyi looked unhurried and unhurried. When he heard Lu Bingzhen talking about the Queen's reward today, he just said lightly, "It's a gift from the elders. You can't say no. Since these things are given to you by the Queen, , then just keep it. After entering the palace today, the Queen should have a better sense of you, and your life in the palace will be smoother in the future."
Lu Qi and his wife said nothing in silence. Although they were dissatisfied with their father's interference in their daughter's marriage, they also knew that his father had spared no effort to pave the way for the future crown princess since he facilitated the marriage between his daughter and His Highness the Crown Prince. You can He said he did it for the Fan Yang Lu family, but he couldn't lie about his intentions for his granddaughter.
