In the Changchun Palace, Princess Ruyang's cries were earth-shaking. As she cried, she looked at Concubine Gu with ferocious eyes, "Ayan, my miserable daughter, who harmed you? Come and tell mother, mother is the one who harmed you." I will avenge you even if I don’t care about my life.”
Under such gaze, Concubine Gu couldn't help but panic. Her life always went smoothly. She was born into a noble family, and when she got married, she became the most favored concubine in the palace. She had never been treated like this before.
Concubine Gu looked around hastily. Her Majesty, who always doted on her, and her supporter, Prince Yu, were no longer there. She explained incoherently, trying to clear her suspicions, but now, how could she explain clearly?
Although everyone present said that they wanted to get to the bottom of this matter, their eyes couldn't help but drift to Gu Guifei. During the Dragon Boat Festival, Lord Rongde accidentally fell into the water after he went to the Baojing Tower to pay his respects to Concubine Gu. Many dignitaries from aristocratic families in Beijing suspected that this matter was the work of Concubine Gu and His Royal Highness Prince Yu.
Today, the eldest princess of Ruyang cried out in public about the difficulty of her daughter's marriage. Many people felt that she was using the Queen Mother to force Concubine Gu and His Royal Highness Prince Yu to submit. Many people are well aware of how domineering Concubine Gu and His Highness Prince Yu are.
Many people felt that it would not be surprising if Concubine Gu and His Royal Highness Prince Yu were forced to kill the Lord of Rongde County again under the pressure of Princess Ruyang. Therefore, the eyes of those present were lingering on Concubine Gu and His Royal Highness Prince Yu.
Princess Ruyang even brought this matter to His Majesty.
Unfortunately, it was not of much use. I don’t know if it was for the sake of His Highness Prince Yu’s face, but His Majesty just said lightly, “It’s hot in the summer, and the little lady was greedy for coolness while playing, so she accidentally fell into the water and lost her life.”
A county princess, a royal noblewoman whom His Majesty personally anointed, was killed in such an understatement.
The aftermath of this incident was that the eldest princess of Ruyang was granted the title of 200 households as a sign of appeasement, Concubine Gu was demoted to concubine Gu, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Yu was ordered to think about her mistakes at home.
But the servants in the eldest princess's palace could see the eldest princess brushing away the edict and throwing it on the ground with gritted teeth after the eunuch who announced the decree left.
There was also unrest in the Changchun Palace. After Queen Wen learned about this, she immediately sent her confidants to reduce the food and clothing expenses of the new concubine Gu to the concubine level, and sealed off all things that did not comply with the etiquette. Feng moved the move. Concubine Gu also gritted her teeth, but there was nothing she could do, otherwise Queen Wen could have punished her with just a light transgression.
On that day, the palace was in an uproar at first, and then suddenly stopped because the body of Lord Rongde County was found in the Changchun Palace. Dong Gong was originally at the center of the whirlpool of this matter, but in the end he safely avoided all the storms.
This kind of means and courage impressed many people in the former harem.
However, what no one knows is that there is actually no peace in the East Palace.
Eunuch Fu Shuang led the maids Cai Bing, Rong Xue, Zhu Shi, and Xue Cha, who usually served Her Highness the Crown Princess, and waited cautiously outside the study door. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Royal Highness the Crown Princess are retreating from the crowd. What are they talking about? Several people looked sad, worried that the two of them would get into trouble over unrelated things.
When His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Crown Princess were having an unpleasant quarrel, the entire East Palace was actually trembling with fear, fearing that the masters would be unhappy somewhere.
However, in the study, there was actually no violent storm as they imagined. The atmosphere between Xiao Min and Lu Bingzhen can even be considered harmonious.
"A Rui", when Lu Bingzhen, who was sitting opposite, heard His Highness the Crown Prince in front of him calling her name in a low voice, he felt a gentle tenderness in his voice.
Thinking of what Qing Yan said a few days ago. Lu Bingzhen was a little shaken. Should she believe him? Do you believe that he just wants to remove the thorns in his authority, rather than restricting his actions or even preventing the Fan Yanglu family? But can she believe him?
Since the founding of the new dynasty, it has been a battle between the royal family and the aristocratic families. It is difficult to say whether there is any relationship between the former Crown Princess Zhaolie and the destruction of the Chen family in Lanling. Therefore, since the founding of the Ji Dynasty, there has never been a precedent for a daughter from an aristocratic family to enter the East Palace.
Of the two of them, one is the crown prince of the country who holds great power, and the other is a noble daughter of a noble family backed by the most prominent family. The difference between the two camps was enough for Lu Bingzhen to repeatedly speculate on Xiao Min's thoughts.
However, when he met Xiao Min's eyes again, Lu Bingzhen felt certain for some reason. She will not be the Crown Princess Zhaolie, and Qingyan will not be the Crown Prince Zhaolie.
After this day, both of them seemed to have broken free from some constraints.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince moved back to live in Jinghe Hall quietly, and His Royal Highness the Crown Princess often appeared in His Royal Highness's study.
However, in the study room of the East Palace, the situation between the two of them was not as loving as everyone in the East Palace thought, but a different situation.
A twelve-fold red sandalwood landscape screen separated the two people from the others. On one side, Xiao Min and Lu Bingzhen sat high on their hands, listening to the noisy officials and staff on the other side.
After arguing for nearly an hour without any results, Xiao Min became impatient and said, "Okay, if you just want to say these things, you can skip it. We will discuss this matter later. Let's leave today."
After everyone dispersed, the two of them stayed in the study to deal with other matters. Xiao Min looked at the memorial presented by the officials, frowned and said, "Obviously they have something to say in the memorial, why did they only discuss one or two things about Rongde County Lord today, but they spent half the day talking about it?" he."
Lu Bingzhen, who was sitting in front of the desk and slowly looking at the dowry list, turned around and smiled at Xiao Min after hearing this. The smile was narrow and lively.
Xiao Min was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen A Rui smile like this for a long time. He dropped the memorial in his hand, walked to A Rui, took her into his arms and rubbed her ears.
"Huh? Good A Rui, you know? Tell me, what are they doing today?" After a few days of separation, Xiao Min almost found an opportunity to get intimate with A Rui, but now he just wanted to be intimate with her. One or two, I didn't really intend to ask anything from her.
But she saw Ah Rui blinking, her long eyelashes flickering like butterfly wings, "Of course they know what Rongde County Lord needs to do to get the most benefits for the East Palace, but they can watch helplessly When I participate in the discussion, I am already intimidated by your highness, the Crown Prince, who wants to take life and death.
How could you really reveal the deeper entanglement of interests behind this matter in front of me? "
A Rui's tone was calm and even a bit teasing, obviously she didn't care about this matter. However, Xiao Min, who was holding her in his arms from behind, suddenly changed his expression, but his tone was still gentle, "It doesn't matter, Gu naturally has a way to make them be honest in front of you."
"Of course", A Rui's smiling expression was full of assurance of victory. From the beginning, she did not marry into the East Palace just to confine herself under the four-sided palace wall. If so, why not marry Wang Jian, a cousin of the Wang family, so that she could at least be in charge.
However, there is still another problem facing the ambitious Crown Princess, and that is the palace affairs of the East Palace. This is the consequence of her being forced to get married early.
Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess actually doesn’t know how to handle palace affairs now. Ah Rui looked at the female officials in the East Palace with a headache, wanting to escape from what they said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming, and the East Palace must prepare gifts for the other palaces in advance. Among concubines with different statuses, concubines with different statuses must have different etiquette gifts, and concubines with the same status are also given the same gifts. Among married women, the situation is even more complicated.
For example, gifts given to relatives of the royal family should not only comply with the corresponding etiquette, but also show extra closeness. As for the courtiers and noble families, which family should be rewarded and which should not be rewarded, and which family should be deceived by the festival gifts. All of them are closely related to the court. Therefore, husband and wife are one and work together.
After having a headache all afternoon because of the palace affairs in the East Palace, A Rui decisively asked the female officials of the East Palace to leave first, while she herself asked Cai Bing and Rong Xue to go to the study room where His Royal Highness the Prince was holding a large pile of various gift lists.
Since this matter is closely related to the court, it would be better to directly ask the people who handle government affairs.
Xiao Min was a little surprised when he saw A Rui, but he immediately understood what A Rui was thinking.
"Qingyan, you said that I don't have to worry about not being able to understand the palace affairs of the East Palace. Nuo, these are all palace affairs related to the Mid-Autumn Festival." A Rui's original intention was to ask Xiao Min to give her a heads up, but she didn't expect Xiao Min to directly He took over her palace affairs and gave Fu Shuang clear instructions.
With just a stick of incense, Xiao Min had already arranged the matter properly. Facing A Rui's shocked and admiring gaze, Xiao Min lightly flicked her forehead and said with a smile, "A Rui, just let Fu Shuang handle these matters from now on. The lonely princess doesn't need to be entangled in such trivial matters. . If you are free, how about coming to the study to accompany me to handle government affairs?"
Compared to the palace affairs carved on paper, A Rui of course preferred the open and closed government affairs, and almost happily agreed to this matter.
The two of them talked about the fact that His Highness Prince Yu was banned from the Palace of Prince Yu. This incident arose because of the death of Lord Rongde County, but behind the scenes, His Majesty was eager to suppress the forces in the East Palace. When the two talked about this matter, their voices were inevitably heavy.
Seeing the two of them starting to talk about government affairs, Eunuch Fu Shuang smiled and invited Cai Bing and Rong Xue down, "You two girls, you should understand what His Highness the Crown Prince just said. Let's handle these things properly with this old slave. Don’t upset Her Highness the Crown Princess over such a trivial matter.”
The figures of the few people gradually disappeared, and the only two voices in the study came through the window.
"Arui, what do you think about this?"
"Speaking of which, in the eyes of the courtiers who don't know what's going on, it has always been Qingyan and King Yu who are fighting. But people like you and me who are in the situation understand that the real fight is between His Majesty and you. King Yu is nothing but It is just a target that Your Majesty deliberately raised to compete with you.
No matter which one wins between the East Palace and King Yu, it is meaningless. Because Your Majesty has many princes, and he will immediately promote the next prince. "
