"If I can have another daughter, she will be as smart and lovable as the second girl."
"She always pretends to be in front of others. She was naughty when she was young, but now she is a playboy. Ordinary boys can't fool her, which makes the mother worried."
"What are you talking about? Ren Xia is bold and brave, and he is also a rare hero among women. If he is born a boy, he will be made a general."
"Madam really compliments her..."
The group of people walked out of the Prime Minister's Mansion. The first two beautiful women in rich clothes and green clothes who greeted each other were none other than Rong Tinglan and the Prime Minister's wife.
Zhaowei followed behind Mr. Rong, and before boarding the car, she gathered her skirt and saluted the Prime Minister's wife. She had a smile on her face, really like a little girl who couldn't help but beam with joy after receiving a few compliments.
Until I boarded the carriage and waved my handkerchief to say goodbye to the female family members of the Prime Minister's Mansion. The carriage drove away from the streets of the Prime Minister's Mansion for a long time. The smile on Zhao Wei's face gradually disappeared. Her gloomy eyes fell on the new blood jade bracelet on her wrist. She raised her hand. Take it off and stop falling.
Rong Tinglan touched her temples and sighed: "You have been wronged today."
Zhaowei leaned into Rong Tinglan's arms and said nothing, her eyes slowly turning red.
After returning to the Yongping Marquis Mansion, Zhaowei was in a hurry to go back to her courtyard to bathe and change clothes. As soon as she crossed the Yuedong Gate, she saw Qi Lingzhan standing in front of her door with his hands behind his back.
He is wearing a crimson official uniform, a black gauze hat, his face is like white jade, and his eyes are like a deep pool.
He walked down the stairs, walked up to her, looked at the lingering tears in her eyes, and asked: "Why, are you wronged by being friends with the Prime Minister's wife? I saw you two working together, and I thought you really wanted to admit her. Godmother."
The implicit sarcasm in the words was particularly harsh. Zhao turned his face slightly and retorted: "My godmother is not as good as my mother-in-law. In the end, it's my fault that I haven't had the courage to accept a thief as my father."
"You also know that you have no tolerance. If you can't stand Lian Po's grievances, don't make a show of asking for forgiveness."
Seeing her disapproval, Qi Lingzhan raised his hand to straighten her shoulders and scolded her sternly: "Who asked you to make your own decision and run to the Prime Minister's Mansion? Are you going to demonstrate or suffer? Others are thinking about you. I’m afraid you’ll be a little wronged, so you’d better... Qi Zhaowei, I’m begging you, can you save me some trouble?”
"How can I save you worry?" Zhaowei asked, "Seeing you coldly using your marriage as a raft and watching your mother compromise her dignity, while I hide behind you without saying a word, can this save you worry?"
Qi Lingzhan said: "Otherwise, what you are doing now can only make yourself sad and cannot help me in any way."
"That's better than staying out of it. Brother, I know I can't save you, but I can't stand by and watch. At least I have to go into the water with you and experience the feeling of compromise."
She suddenly chuckled, pushed Qi Lingzhan's hand away, walked around him and walked into the house.
Her tired voice came from behind and fell into his ears, "Besides, Yao Heshou knows very well that the person who hates him the most in the Yongping Marquis Mansion is me. Now even I am willing to apologize and make amends. My sincerity is not lacking. "
Qi Lingzhan felt unhappy, "Zhaowei..."
"The matter has been settled. Brother, please rest assured and wait for the chance to become the prime minister's wife."
Qi Lingzhan sighed, "Don't mock me like that."
Zhaowei paused when he heard the words, but did not look back and said: "Then what do you want to see me do, recklessly object, go to Yao's house to make a big fuss and screw up the matter? You hurried back today, Aren't you afraid that I will be like this...Brother, this matter is related to your future and mine, and it also involves my sister's death. I understand that I can no longer be as willful as before."
The words are gentle and fall into people's hearts, but they are as dense as needle pricks.
Qi Lingzhan's fingers trembled uncontrollably, and he felt a little powerless in his heart. He wondered confusedly: Was she still wronged?
Zhaowei continued: "My brother is so good, he shouldn't marry a daughter of the Yao family. If I sincerely wish you a loving husband and wife, Luan Feng and Ming, I can't do it. If you ask me to blame you, I can't bear it. Then you Say, how should I treat you?"
Whether it was approval or disapproval, she couldn't do it, and Qi Lingzhan didn't want to see it.
He turned back to look at her slender back and said calmly: "You should pretend not to know."
"I'm not deaf," Zhaowei chuckled, "and I never want to be deaf."
She walked quickly back to the house, and the pearwood door was closed in front of Qi Lingzhan and unlatched. The courtyard became quiet again, and the summer wind was weak, only slightly swaying the shadows of the flowers, and a few mournful cries from the bushes.
With the tacit approval of Prime Minister Yao, at the end of June, the edict of Li Hou finally passed through the Zhongshu Gate, with the royal horse galloping and the golden whip clearing the way, and was issued to the Yongping Marquis Mansion.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs knew that Wang Huaji announced the decree on his behalf. His voice was gentle and gentle, but he could not suppress the sonorous sound of the decree.
"I heard that Qi Zhaowei, the daughter of the Marquis of Yongping Mansion, was born in a famous family. Her natural qualities are beautiful, and her virtues can be traced back to the ministers. Her behavior is comparable to that of the Spring and Autumn Period. Her literary skills are as outstanding as those of other heroes, and her martial arts are as heroic as the cranes. The wind is shining, and she is shining. In the four directions; the Tao teaches the universe, and Ming Shen becomes the king. I admire you very much, and make you my queen. I will serve as my companion, assist the king in his career, and give you the title Ming Xi."
The imperial edict after his establishment was originally drafted by Beimen Chengzhi and Bi Zheng, a Hanlin scholar. Although the wording was different in the past dynasties, the content remained basically the same: first, he praised his beauty, then praised his humility, and expected him to be able to support his husband and raise his children. , follow the female precepts and regard virtuousness and obedience as virtues.
However, the clear text of this imperial edict came from the hand of Qi Lingzhan, who was involved in political affairs.
When he intercepted the golden silk cloth from North Gate Chengzhi Deng Wenyuan, no one paid attention at first, thinking that the overall situation was decided, and it was just a formality as before.
But now when it is read out in public and one hears the words of it, it is full of respect and respect. When it falls to the ground, there is no trace of pearls and fine jade, but the sun and the moon shine together, and the dragon and the phoenix guard each other.
Everyone, including Wang Huaji who announced the decree, was secretly shocked.
Zhaowei knelt down and straightened up, raised his arms to accept the imperial edict, and said solemnly with a clear and clear voice: "My daughter Qi Zhaowei, I sincerely obey the imperial edict."
It was the summer and June of the fourth year of Jiashi. According to later unofficial records, the edict was promulgated that night: "Suddenly the summer rain was like a waterfall, which dispelled drought and inflammation, and welcomed the coolness. Since then, the fields have grown more seedlings, and fertile grass has grown in them. This is the day. The omen of great prosperity comes, and the virtue of Queen Mingxi is shown."
The ceremony for sealing the queen is scheduled to take place after the Double Ninth Festival. The Ministry of Etiquette is busy setting the procedures and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is busy tailoring the dress. According to the custom during the reign of the benevolent emperor, the emperor could wear a sky-high crown and a crimson gauze robe after he was established. This was the robe of Pi Bian, and his status was equivalent to that of a spring hunter in the southern suburbs.
However, Qi Lingzhan felt that this was inappropriate, so he specially wrote a seal saying: "The evening ceremony is mainly based on heaven and earth, ancestral temples, and Sheji, and has the meaning of ghosts, gods, and yin and yang. We should wear robes and crowns, with the highest priority." Welcome him with courtesy."
Although he was born in the top three and had a bachelor's degree in the Imperial Academy, his familiarity with etiquette and rituals was not as good as that of the old scholars who had worked in the Ministry of Rites for decades. In order to prove that the etiquette of establishing a queen should be equal to that of the ancestral temple, Qi Lingzhan personally read through hundreds of volumes of etiquette and rituals, which can be traced back to three generations, and can be found as far back as the previous dynasty. In just one or two months, Wrote twelve notes and argued with officials of the Ministry of Rites about orthodoxy.
It was often late at night, when the lights were dark and no one was talking, Qi Lingzhan would hunker down at his desk and write until his eyes were dim and his wrists were weak. Then he got up and walked to the window, listening to summer insects swarming and moths hitting the lamp.
He was still drafting the draft in silence, as the summer wind blew past his face. He closed his eyes, and his mind pictured Zhao Wei, dressed in dark green weaving with colorful Zhai patterns and a crown of phoenix beads and emeralds on her head, walking with the emperor wearing a crown, and proudly accepting hundreds of hundreds of tributes. The appearance of an official paying homage.
Her beauty and magnanimity cannot be imitated by Xiaojiabiyu, and must be matched by the state's important equipment. All he was fighting for now was to make the courtesy she received worthy of the humiliation and sacrifice she had received for it.
And not just for hate.
The phoenix is flying, its feathers are fluttering, it sings on the high hills, and the sound is heard throughout the nine states. If it is not a parasol tree, it will not rest, and if it is not a sweet spring, it will not drink. This is what Zhaowei deserves, and he will try his best to give it to her until Qianfan passes the sinking boat and reaches a place he can no longer touch.
Qi Lingzhan walked to the courtyard and saw bamboo shadows swaying across the wall under the moon. On the other side was Zhaowei's courtyard. At this time, all the lights were turned off, and he thought he was already asleep.
After the beginning of autumn in September, he will no longer be separated by a wall from Zhaowei. Thinking about this, my blood is hot but still cold, and it is inevitable to feel a little lonely.
The time flies by, the lotus flowers all fall, the jade lotus roots grow dark, and in a blink of an eye, the day comes for the ceremony of sealing the queen.
Zhaowei moved into Kunming Palace three days in advance and was taught the etiquette by the female officer. In the early morning of this day, Yinshi had to get up and get dressed.
Qi Lingzhan finally single-handedly overcame the Ministry of Rites and won the ceremony of conferring the queen with the same standards as the ancestral temple. The dress she will wear today must be commensurate with Emperor Changning's dress and crown, so the articles are gorgeous and wrap around her body. Very cumbersome.
When Qi Lingzhan came to pay her respects, the female official was about to comb her hair and put on a crown. Zhaowei turned around from the mirror, her cheeks were shining brightly, and she said with a smile: "Brother is here."
She said she had something important to discuss with her, so she ordered the female official to retreat to the outer hall temporarily. They were the only two people left in the room decorated with pearls and emeralds. She asked him slightly: "Have you completed the matter I asked my brother to do?"
"Brought it."
Qi Lingzhan stepped forward and took out two nanmu tablets that were slightly smaller than the ordinary shape from his wide sleeves. One was written "The Spiritual Tablet of Qi's Yaoning, the Former Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty" and the other was "The Former Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Xizhou Tuanlian Envoy". Xu Beihai's Spiritual Position". Judging from his handwriting, it is all written by Qi Lingzhan.
Zhaowei swept away the debris on the table, placed the memorial tablet in front of him, knelt down and kowtowed three times, and swore to the sky: "The gods of the four directions are above you, and I swear to you: Never dare to forget the kindness of love, and the deep hatred of blood will be inevitable for many years. Repay. Now that I am the queen, if my father and sister have spirits in heaven, please help me accomplish this."
After worshiping, he stood up and was about to put away the tablet. Qi Lingzhan raised his hand to stop it and said, "I should also worship."
Due to his different status, Qi Lingzhan did not kneel, but stood in front of the two tablets, holding incense with both hands, and bowed three times.
He said silently in his heart: I just hope that the Feng Shuang sword and halberd will not be used on her body, I am willing to take my place. The incense is in short supply and will be replenished later.
After putting away the memorial tablet, Qi Lingzhan still had one thing to ask, and said to him slightly: "In ordinary weddings, the mother has to comb her daughter's hair and pray for her daughter when she leaves the palace. Today, my mother cannot come, so she asked me to complete this ceremony on her behalf."
Zhao Wei smiled when she heard the words, handed him the comb on the dressing table, and said in a relaxed tone: "The female officer just gave me a fresh bath this morning, using the best balm, please don't comb it into knots for me. "
"No," Qi Lingzhan walked around behind her, carefully held up her thick black hair, and said warmly, "I just practiced with the pony tail when I came here."
