In Cining Palace, the sky was getting dark, and the lamps were already lit in the palace.
Queen Mother Sun had dinner and was lying on the couch, holding a string of jade beads in her hand, but her eyes fell on some papers with immature handwriting in her right hand.
"The writing is good. It has improved a lot compared to before. It seems that Brother Shen has put his heart into it during this period."
These pages were written with the most common surnames of hundreds of families and thousands of characters, but Empress Dowager Sun read them very carefully.
Ever since the chaos that broke out last time, Queen Mother Sun realized that the prince would not be staying in Cining Palace for long.
Therefore, these days, she stayed deep in the palace, ignoring everything, and focused all her attention on Zhu Jianshen, hoping that when he really came out of the cabinet and stood in front of the court officials, he could be a qualified prince.
Seeing that Queen Mother Sun was in a good mood, Niu Yu on the side also carefully flattered her.
"Holy Mother's Guide, His Highness the Crown Prince has been very sensible and diligent during this period. Although he has to go to Nangong every day to calm down and get up early to study, he still never complains or complains about being tired. At such a young age, he is calm and determined, which shows that His Highness the Crown Prince has a strong mind. He is so strong that he deserves to be the eldest grandson of the late emperor."
After hearing this, Queen Mother Sun also sighed, put down the paper in her hand, and said.
"The Ai family knows that Brother Shen has been working very hard these days, but there is nothing we can do about it. As a descendant of the Tian family, a reserve of the country, and with heavy responsibilities, naturally we cannot be as carefree as ordinary children."
"The late emperor taught the Supreme Emperor the same way back then. Fortunately, with the blessing of our ancestors, Brother Shen is sensible and strives for success, and he does everything he should do well."
"But these alone are not enough..."
As she spoke, Queen Mother Sun frowned slightly, a look of sternness flashed across her face, and said.
"The prince will leave the palace soon. After the ceremony, Brother Shen will have to move to the East Palace. By then, the Ai family and the Supreme Emperor will not be around, so the only people the prince can rely on are you who serve around him."
"As for the officials in the East Palace, they are appointed by the emperor after all. They may not be willing to protect the prince with all their heart. Even if they are willing, they are court ministers after all. Many times, they will be involved by all parties and it is difficult to achieve anything. Therefore, the prince is here You need to be cautious in all matters big and small in the East Palace, do you understand?"
Niu Yu immediately knelt down and said.
"Don't worry, Holy Mother, I will do my best to assist the prince."
Queen Mother Sun nodded, but she couldn't help but a trace of worry flashed in her eyes.
To be fair, she actually didn't want the prince and the eunuch to get so close, at least not now.
After all, Wang Zhen's caution was in front of him, and the harm of the eunuch's monopoly was really difficult to estimate.
But thinking about it is one thing, but doing it is another matter. Some things cannot be done just how you want to do them.
According to Empress Dowager Sun's original idea, she would first determine the status of the reserve position, and then let the prince initiate his education in Cining Palace. She would personally oversee and teach him, so that he would not get too close to the eunuchs.
After waiting a little longer, the prince had the ability to make independent judgments, understood the principle of keeping close relatives and virtuous ministers far away from eunuchs, and was able to grasp the complex relationship between the Tian family. He would then perform the ceremony of leaving the palace, send him to the East Palace, and slowly make a name for himself in the court.
Although it takes a long time to do this, it is more reliable.
But who would have expected that the plan could not keep up with the changes. First, his wayward son stayed in the Xuan Mansion and refused to return to the capital because of the offense of a eunuch and his disagreement with the court.
But now the emperor on the throne is so scheming that he can be manipulated so easily. He pushed the proposal of the East Palace to leave the cabinet to the court, forcing the Queen Mother Sun to personally issue an edict for Zhu Qizhen to return quickly. Beijing.
I thought that after Zhu Qizhen returned to the capital, he could slow down the prince's departure from the cabinet through some concessions on affairs.
But who would have expected that when Zhu Qizhen returned to the capital, he had no intention of stopping this matter. On the contrary, he even added fuel to the fire and asked Zhu Jian and others to facilitate the matter as soon as possible.
After all, it was a matter for the court. Although Empress Dowager Sun felt it was inappropriate, she could not stop her. Besides, what Zhu Qizhen said was also reasonable. The prince's resignation was not only the idea of a group of civil servants, but also a group of noble families. wish.
Although some of those people who are still willing to be loyal to Nangong are indeed loyal, there are also some who have their eyes set on the future of Donggong.
They would also be dissatisfied if they pressured the East Palace to leave the cabinet, so Empress Dowager Sun could only let it go.
Even later, when she learned that the emperor had been delaying the matter, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, she did not expect that Zhu Jian and his gang could not control their temper and started causing trouble in the court again. Come.
Now that things have happened, Queen Mother Sun can no longer understand the game in the court.
However, no matter what, it is a foregone conclusion that the prince will leave the cabinet. Even the date has been set, and there is no reason to change it.
Therefore, even if Empress Dowager Sun was unwilling, she could only try her best to arrange it.
The East Palace where the prince lives, also known as the Qingning Palace, is located next to the Wenhua Palace. It was designed to make it more convenient for the prince to give lectures and pre-administration. However, it is not close to the Cining Palace. The Cining Palace is on the west side of the imperial city. , Qingning Palace is on the east side.
In other words, when she arrived at Qingning Palace, Queen Mother Sun was really beyond her reach for the prince's affairs.
Now she is sure that the only people she can trust are Niu Yu, Liang Fang, Wan Zhen'er and others.
However, their loyalty is certainly trustworthy, but again, Wang Zhen's loyalty back then was also impeccable.
Queen Mother Sun was a member of the palace, and she knew best how many of Wang Zhen's faults were borne by her unlucky son.
I won’t talk about big things like sending troops to the north, but just talk about the small things in daily life.
When the Empress Dowager Zhang was still there, Zhu Qizhen once sneaked out to play and delayed his schoolwork. In order to prevent him from being punished by the Empress Dowager Zhang, Wang Zhen said that he had lost Zhu Qizhen's homework, and he was Empress Dowager Zhang was beaten with thirty sticks and lay in bed for half a month.
This kind of incident, large and small, eventually built up Zhu Qizhen's unbreakable trust in Wang Zhen, which led to disasters such as the civil engineering battle.
Although she knew this was a special case, with Yin Jian at the forefront, it was impossible for Queen Mother Sun not to worry.
In particular, she knew clearly about the person she chose. Niu Yu was better. This Liang Fang was young, loyal, resourceful, and somewhat flattering. She was very similar to Wang Zhen back then.
When he arrived at Qingning Palace, he might be like Wang Zhen, who indulged Zhu Qizhen without any principles, and would indulge the prince like this.
When she thought that Zhu Jianshen might be led astray at such a young age, Empress Dowager Sun wanted to replace Liang Fang. However, in the past two years, with the emperor's acquiescence, Jingyang Palace had eliminated too many of her manpower.
Nowadays, it is not easy to find such a loyal, reliable, smart and capable eunuch in this palace.
Therefore, this matter really gave Queen Mother Sun a headache.
Seeing that the prince was about to leave the cabinet in the near future, and seeing Niu Yu couldn't help showing a hint of joy even though she concealed it very well, Queen Mother Sun's worries became more and more intense.
After waving Niu Yu away, Queen Mother Sun frowned and plucked the beads in her hand. After a moment, she said to Wang Jin beside her.
"Go and call Wan Zhen'er!"
The Cining Palace is not particularly big, and the Empress Dowager Sun is very concerned about Zhu Jianshen. Therefore, Zhu Jianshen's bedroom is next to the Cining Palace. Of course, Wan Zhen'er, who is serving him personally, is not far away. With a summons, Within a moment, Wan Zhen'er arrived in the palace, curtsied and said.
"Slave, please give your regards to the Holy Mother."
"Where's Brother Shen?"
Queen Mother Sun plucked the jade beads in her hand and asked about the prince's condition first.
When Zhu Jianshen was mentioned, Wan Zhener's eyes flashed with distress, and then she said carefully.
"Back to the Holy Mother, His Highness had a lot of homework today, and he finally finished it. The servant played with him for half an hour, and then hurriedly let His Highness have a rest. After all, he has to get up early tomorrow to pay his respects to the Supreme Emperor."
Although His Royal Highness has just become enlightened, his daily schedule is full.
Every day before midnight, you have to wash up and get up, first pay homage to the Queen Mother, and then rush to Nangong to greet the Supreme Emperor. After returning, you have breakfast and start morning classes in a hurry.
First there are lectures on reading, then calligraphy practice and memorization, until noon.
After lunch, I took a nap. After I woke up, I checked my morning homework and randomly checked my recitations.
If you do well, you can play for a while and then review tomorrow's morning lesson. If you don't do well, you will have to do it again or make a penalty copy.
Today was a good day. The prince did well with his homework, so he was able to play for a while. Most of the time, he didn't do his homework well. At this time, Zhu Jianshen should still be struggling to write big characters.
As Zhu Jianshen's personal maid, Wan Zhen'er felt really distressed seeing him working so hard every day. However, after all, he was just a little maid. How could she have any say in the prince's schedule?
Therefore, every time Wan Zhen'er saw Queen Mother Sun, she could only mention a few words tactfully, but she did not dare to say it too obviously.
However, Queen Mother Sun has been in the harem for so many years, how could she not understand Wan Zhen'er's meaning?
"The Ai family knows that the prince is working hard, but as a prince, this hard work is unavoidable. You just need to pay more attention to the prince and take good care of the prince."
Rubbing her forehead, Queen Mother Sun sighed again.
Among the people she selected for Zhu Jianshen, Niu Yu was steady but not courageous enough, Liang Fang was clever but too flattering, and Wan Zhen'er was thoughtful and considerate, but she always doted on the prince too much, perhaps because she had served him since childhood. Drowned.
Shaking her head slightly and temporarily putting this idea behind her, Queen Mother Sun brought up the business and said.
"Zhen'er, you were personally selected by the Ai family to serve the prince. In terms of loyalty, no one can compare with you. In terms of accompanying the prince, I'm afraid you are even more than the Zhou family. Now the prince is about to leave the cabinet and leave. When the Ai family goes to Qingning Palace, the only one who the Ai family can safely entrust the prince to is you!"
These words are sincere, but they also carry a lot of weight.
Wan Zhen'er immediately knelt down and said.
"Don't worry, Holy Mother, I will do my best to serve His Royal Highness in peace."
Queen Mother Sun nodded and continued.
"Not only is it safe, the reason why the Ai family has called you here is because they hope that you will be by the prince's side and can always look after and remind you. Although Niu Yu and Liang Fang are loyal, they are eunuchs after all. This generation of eunuchs is the easiest to be flattered. , bullying others, the prince is still young, and if he relies too much on others, he may make the same mistakes as the emperor."
"So, you need to be more careful about this matter on weekdays. If you notice any signs of this, report it to the Ai family in time. If necessary, you can also give some advice to the prince. After all, you have been serving him since you were a child, and the prince regards you as extraordinary. people."
As she spoke, Queen Mother Sun reached out from the small box beside her, took out a token and a jade bracelet, ordered someone to hand them to Wan Zhen'er, and said.
"This token allows you to pass through the palace without obstruction. If there is any emergency, with this token, you can go directly to Cining Palace to find the Ai family. No one dares to stop you."
"As for the jade bracelet, it was a gift from the late emperor when the Ai family was not a concubine many years ago. I will give it to you today."
The gold medal was okay, but looking at the crystal clear jade bracelet in front of her, Wan Zhen'er didn't dare to take it, kowtowed and said.
"This reward from the Holy Mother is too heavy. How dare I accept it? Being able to serve the prince is already a blessing for me. I don't dare to ask for a reward from the Holy Mother."
Logically speaking, as a slave, no matter what, she is not worthy of the bracelet gifted by the late emperor.
However, on the one hand, Empress Dowager Sun had many gifts from the late emperor, including this bracelet; on the other hand, she did this in order to improve Wan Zhen'er's status. Otherwise, she, a mere palace maid, would not be able to do anything in the world. How can Dong Gong’s words have any weight?
Therefore, seeing Wan Zhen'er like this, Queen Mother Sun thought for a while, stood up directly, walked to Wan Zhen'er, picked up the jade bracelet, put it on her white and tender arm, and said.
"Since you are working for the Ai family, I will not treat you badly. The prince is still young and needs to be taken good care of in the past few years. When the prince is older, the Ai family will make the decision to choose a good marriage for you among the nobles of the clan. , guaranteeing you prosperity and wealth for the rest of your life."
This can be regarded as true grace. You must know that Wan Zhen'er is just a palace maid, and her future is not bright.
In normal times, there was still a one in ten thousand chance that the emperor would be lucky enough to gain a position and rise to the top in one step. However, now that the emperor has re-established the draft system, and the queens and concubines in the palace have strict control over the harem, It's almost like ending this road.
What's more, she is from Cining Palace, so this path is even more impossible. Therefore, for Wan Zhen'er, the best result in the future is to be released from the palace when she is old, and then use the money she has saved over the years to find someone. The family is married.
However, when she left the palace, she must have been quite old, and the people she could find were only ordinary farmers, and the better ones could find someone who was a scholar.
How could it be compared to the noble descendants of the clan that the Queen Mother had personally promised?
Looking at the crystal clear jade bracelet on her wrist, Wan Zhen'er knew that the Queen Mother Sun's reward was sincere, so she naturally did not dare to refuse any more and bowed respectfully.
"My slave, please give thanks to the Holy Mother."
"Well, then you..."
"Our Lady..."
Just when Empress Dowager Sun was satisfied and wanted Wan Zhen'er to retreat, Wang Jin who was guarding outside hurriedly walked in and said.
"Huai'en, the eunuch in charge of Qianqing Palace, claimed that he had received the emperor's oral instructions and came to Cining Palace to seek an audience!"
"What is he here for?"
Queen Mother Sun frowned and couldn't help but ask.
Wang Jin's face looked a little strange. He hesitated for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, another servant walked in from outside and reported.
"Reporting to Our Lady, Ruan Lang, the eunuch in charge of the Nangong Palace, claimed that he had received an order from the Supreme Emperor and came to Cining Palace to seek an audience!"
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