Xiao Jingheng held the reins tightly with one hand and walked toward the palace. Where he passed, everyone knelt down and kowtowed, shouting "Long live our emperor."

Listening to the familiar yet unfamiliar voice, Xiao Jingheng continued to walk forward as if he hadn't heard it, until the curtain lifted up, revealing Chu Yunning's pale face. The two of them looked at each other as if they were telepathically connected.

They looked at each other and smiled.

Facing the breeze, she saw Xiao Jingheng's tiredness, and said with some distress: "Now that I'm back, the first thing I must do is to visit the Queen Mother.

This point coincided with Xiao Jingheng's idea. He nodded, stopped and handed the reins to the guard. He took Chu Yunning's hand and helped her dismount. After she stood firm, he helped Beibei.

.

Beibei put his arms around Xiao Jingheng's neck, rubbed his head gently on his neck, and muttered in a low voice: "Uncle Huang, my mother was seriously injured and she looks very bad. Someone must have bullied her."

relative."

Xiao Jingheng stretched out his big palm and rubbed Beibei's head: "Uncle Huang knows it, don't worry about it, there is still Uncle Huang here."

"good."

Chu Yunning watched the two people murmuring and couldn't help laughing, and stretched out her hand to hold Beibei's hand.

The three people walked forward one after another, Xiao Jingheng walking at the front, his steps were steady, and he put one hand on the sword at his waist.

Chu Yunning deliberately took two steps back to create some distance. She knew that the ancients were very disciplined. Suddenly Xiao Jingheng slowed down, as if he was deliberately waiting for her. Seeing that she couldn't keep up, he simply stopped.

"A-Ning, what are you worried about?" Xiao Jingheng's tone was much softer. He did not have those thoughts of men being superior to women, and Chu Yunning had paid too much for himself, and he did not want to wrong her.

Aning is different from those women in the harem.

Chu Yunning smiled and followed Xiao Jingheng's footsteps, just like a family of three.

"How is Chu'er?"

"Everything is fine." Chu Yunning said a few words briefly, Xiao Jingheng nodded, and there was no time to ask in detail.

Soon we arrived at Cihe Palace. Aunt Su had already heard the news, so she stopped at the gate of the palace.

She lowered her head and saluted: "My slave, please pay your respects to the Emperor."

"Aunt Su, there is no need to be polite. How is the Queen Mother recently?" Xiao Jingheng asked worriedly. It has been really hard for the Queen Mother to support the harem for more than a year, thanks to the Queen Mother.

Aunt Su glanced in the direction behind Xiao Jingheng and saw a group of civil and military officials. She knew that the emperor still had a tough battle to fight.

So she sighed softly: "The Queen Mother is getting older and her health is deteriorating. In the past few days, she has been disturbed by several ministers. She is always tossing and turning at night and is not in good spirits."

This is all true. The Queen Mother is getting older. When she was young, her body was almost broken in the harem. When she was taking care of herself, these ministers were as if they were in a daze.

Kneeling at the door of Cihe Palace and refusing to leave, the Queen was so angry that she suffered from a heart attack and her health became worse and worse.

Xiao Jingheng's eyebrows twisted into knots when he heard this. Seeing this, Aunt Su looked at Xiao Jingheng and Chu Yunning standing side by side. She said: "Why does the emperor need to embarrass the Queen Mother? You are the king of a country. There are some things that you don't have to do."

If you ask, the palms and backs of your hands are full of flesh, so the Queen Mother can't refuse."

Then Aunt Su said: "Your Majesty, the imperial doctor has ordered the Queen Mother to take a good rest and not to disturb her. You come to say goodbye. She knows your filial piety."

Speaking of which, Xiao Jingheng and Chu Yunning were both smart people, so they understood that the Queen Mother did not want to interfere and did not favor anyone.

"Tell the Queen that I will come to visit the Queen later after finishing my official duties." Xiao Jingheng lifted up the hem of his clothes, knelt down on one knee, and kowtowed three times in the direction of the main hall of Cihe Palace: "It's because the sons and ministers are unfilial, and the Queen has to worry about it."

Aunt Su hurriedly helped Xiao Jingheng stand up: "Your Majesty, please get up quickly. The Queen Mother will definitely feel distressed if she finds out."

At this time, the old prince suddenly came over and burst into tears at Xiao Jingheng. He was crying with snot and tears. He knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, the old minister's teachings are incompetent, but you see that there is only one of this blood in the prince's palace."

For my sake, please spare Princess Xiao."

In terms of seniority, the old prince is Xiao Jingheng's elder and has a distinguished status. Several of his heirs died in battle and he is a hero in the south.

It is not worth it if the reputation of the old prince's palace is ruined because of Princess Xiao.

All the officials behind him knelt down and kowtowed: "Long live my emperor, long live me."

Xiao Jingheng stood in front of everyone. The emperor of a generation exuded a strong aura of dominance and looked down at the officials.

In my ears, I could still hear the old prince's cries of remorse and the various civil and military officials risking their lives to remonstrate. It was even more serious than when they were at the gate of the city just now, and there were even two stubborn officials who threatened each other with death.

"If the emperor insists on accepting Chu Shanggong as his concubine, this will be a sign of the country's demise. Since ancient times, how can a woman marry two husbands? Her virtue is not worthy of her. Doesn't this make everyone in the world laugh at us in the south?"

"Your Majesty, I cannot deny that Chu Shanggong has made a lot of contributions to Nanduan, but after all, Chu Shanggong is married and is the first wife of your brother Xiao Wang. Aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by the world?"

"Your Majesty, please think again."

"Your Majesty, what you all said is true. Please think again."

The civil and military officials began to tell each other one by one. The corner of Chu Yunning's mouth curled up into a sneer. He stepped forward and said with a smile: "My lords, if I divorce, even if I am unmarried, it is still a crime.

Which crime makes so many of you attack me?"

"The royal family's reputation is greater than the sky. An honest and responsible woman will never show up in public like you. Once the emperor marries you, other women will follow suit in the future, so what's the point?" The imperial censor said with a look of disdain.

Chu Yunning followed the voice and looked towards the imperial censor, and asked: "You also have a mother, a wife, and a daughter. Do they have to endure it all their lives because they don't live a happy life, and suffer for your so-called face?"

"Chu Shanggong is very sharp-tongued. This is sophistry. Women should stay at home to support their husbands and raise children. They cannot show up casually. How many people in the south are as deviant as Chu Shanggong?"

In the hearts of civil and military officials, the various behaviors done by a woman like Chu Yunning were too outrageous and simply unacceptable.

Chu Yunning sneered twice and suddenly took out a token from his arms, knelt on the ground and raised it high: "Your Majesty, I saved your life on the battlefield that day. The soldiers of the three armies were all witnesses. You once said

In the future, I am promised a position, but I don’t know how many can I count?”

Everyone was furious when they heard this.

"Back position?"

"This is too much."

"How can a peaceful woman be worthy of being the Queen of South End? It's simply outrageous."

But Chu Yunning looked stubborn: "Since the emperor can't do it, then please ask the emperor to take back this token in front of the three armies again."

"Insolent! How can the emperor go back on his word even if he keeps his promise? Doesn't this make the emperor break his promise and become a joke to the three armies?" Mr. Jiang, who was on good terms with General Chu, stood up and said: "Since ancient times, the emperor has never made a joke.

Once a promise has been made, it should be fulfilled.”

"Nonsense!" The imperial censor continued to retort, and Mr. Jiang immediately asked: "Then what should I do according to the censor? Chu Shanggong confiscated 300,000 soldiers in the West Sea. He is a great hero. The emperor cannot go back on his golden words easily. And

Or execute Chu Shanggong?"

One sentence of the question made the imperial censor's face turn red and pale for a while. He looked at Xiao Jingheng's expression as if he was about to eat someone, and was so frightened that he immediately said: "Wei Chen didn't mean that, Mr. Jiang, don't talk nonsense."

Xiao Jingheng looked around and said in a deep voice: "I would like to trouble all my dear friends to think of a best-of-both-worlds solution as soon as possible, which can not only preserve my credibility in front of the three armies, but also preserve the royal family's face. The situation is urgent, so you can think of it here. When will you think of it?"

It’s not too late to leave now that I understand.”

The ministers were stunned, not knowing what to do for a moment. The old prince on the side was still crying. Xiao Jingheng helped him up with a smile but not a smile: "I would like to trouble the old prince to give me a perfect solution for this matter."

The old prince knew in his heart that Xiao Jingheng deliberately caused problems for everyone.
Chapter completed!