Shortly after Yue Jinghua went to the outer courtyard, Lie Rou took out a jade vase, carefully packed the few beauty pills she got, applied a little makeup, and put on an exquisite dress.
"Hong Ling, prepare a carriage and horses for me. I want to go to the palace to meet the Queen Mother." Hong Ling saw Lierou's appearance and knew that she was going to the palace to meet the Queen Mother.
"Madam, it's getting late, why don't you go into the palace early tomorrow morning?" Hong Ling reminded.
Lierou shook his head, "There is no airtight wall in the world. In the past few days, my second uncle and the others have been sending people to monitor the Jingxin courtyard. I'm afraid that they have already come up with the idea of something like the one my mother left behind. Just now, Hua
My son's words reminded me that it has been four years since my husband left. In these four years, I have only been sad for the autumn and the spring. I have pitied Minzhi and Huaer, and I have not fulfilled half of my duties as a mother. It is also time,
It's up to me, a mother, to fight for something for my child." Lie Rou had already thought through the stakes clearly.
Hongling listened and could only nod her head, prepared a vehicle, and followed Lierou into the palace.
Feng Wanwan, the mistress of Liejiabao, had a very good personal relationship with the current Empress Dowager Jin when she was still alive.
Later, when the Queen Mother came to the palace and became the Queen, she had no children for many years, so Feng Wanwan used a secret method to make the Queen Mother Jin pregnant with a dragon seed.
When the Queen Mother gave birth, she happened to suffer from hemorrhage. The Emperor's life was almost in danger. Feng Wanwan took two life-sustaining pills to save the Queen Mother, mother and child.
After Feng Wanwan's death, Queen Mother Jin has been taking good care of Lierou's mother and son. "Yue Jinghua" was going to enter the Royal Xuanji Academy earlier, and it was the Queen Mother who came forward. Even the marriage between "Yue Jinghua" and Fa Xiaoyi
, which was also facilitated by the Queen Mother.
According to the relationship between Madam and the Queen Mother, it is common for her to enter the palace. However, it is already approaching evening, so entering the palace at this time is a bit unusual.
Lierou packed up her clothes, followed the eunuch who came from the palace, got on the chariot, and went to the Shang Palace.
The carriages and horses rolled all the way towards the Shang Palace.
The Shang Kingdom is a small country in the middle border. Due to its favorable geographical location and fertile land, the country is small but very wealthy. The small merchant palace built in the south is also a collection of beautiful attics, small bridges and flowing water, and is known as the Fairy Palace of the South.
Xiaoshang Palace covers an area of more than 100 miles and has two artificial canals. To enter the palace, you need to pass through three palace walls, which are red-yellow, red-red and red-gold. They are the outer palace, the imperial garden and the inner palace.
Along the way, there are many pavilions and corridors.
After Lierou got off the car outside the outer palace wall, he was led by an inner court eunuch to the Zhaohua Palace of the Queen Mother.
When they arrived at the Queen Mother's palace, the female official only said that the Queen Mother was at Concubine Sha's house. Lierou then diverted to the eldest princess's biological mother, Concubine Sha, to leave the Lotus Palace.
The current emperor, Fa Xiaoyun, ascended the throne at the age of sixteen. He and his half-father, Fa Xiaoyi, were only two years apart and had a queen and three concubines.
It's a pity that the current Queen Luo's belly is not good enough and she has never given birth to a prince. Now the emperor only has one eldest princess. Her mother Sha Fei was pregnant four months ago. People say that she is so bad this time.
Male heir. But everyone inside and outside the court knew that the child in Sha Fei's belly was probably the future heir apparent.
The Empress Dowager loved her only grandson, Princess Si, so much that she went to Liu Palace every three days to enjoy the fun of caring for her grandson.
Unexpectedly, before Lierou left Liu Palace, he saw the Queen Mother leading a group of palace maids and eunuchs walking angrily.
Gong E, who was following closely, saw Lie Rou and showed a bit of happiness. She hurriedly stepped forward and begged in a low voice: "Mrs. Yue, please go and persuade the Queen Mother."
It turned out that the Queen Mother was in a good mood early this morning. When she led a group of palace maids and eunuchs to Liu Palace, the eldest princess, who could already walk, was protected by her mother-in-law and learned to walk in the courtyard.
As luck would have it, the Dowager Empress also came to visit the Second Prince.
The current Empress Dowager and the Dowager Concubine had been playing tricks on each other secretly as early as when the late Emperor was still alive. The late Emperor's concubine, whose surname was Fei, had the same name as "Sex". She looked charming and was very favored by the late Emperor when he was still alive.
.However, she was just a barbarian woman whose origin was unknown and was donated to the late emperor by a small foreign country.
Fortunately, Empress Dowager Luo's natal family had a strong background, and she gave birth to a prince earlier. She had the upper hand in the competition for the throne, and one of them became the queen mother and the other a dowager.
"The queen mother and the concubine have been getting along well over the years, so how come there is a conflict now?" As both women and born in a big house, Lierou has long been familiar with the power struggles among the women in the inner court. It's just that
The concubine can be regarded as an exquisite character. After the death of the late emperor, she has been peaceful and contented, and has never made any mistakes in front of the queen mother. Even her son, Prince Fa Xiaoyi, is respectful in front of others and has never treated others with disrespect.
The current emperor has ever done anything disrespectful.
"This..." The leading lady hesitated for a moment, "The Queen Mother was very happy when she saw her grandson, so she went up to hug the eldest princess. The eldest princess also had a sweet mouth and called her grandma. At that time, the queen mother was still
She was so happy that she couldn't open her mouth from ear to ear. When the princess came, she also said she wanted to hug the princess. The eldest princess didn't care about life, so she let the princess hold her. Who knew that the eldest princess didn't know what to do after meeting the princess?
Why, I called her sister."
The Queen Mother and the Dowager Concubine were of the same generation, and both of them served the late Emperor. In terms of age, they were only two or three years apart at most.
It is said that children have no control over their words. They call each other "grandma" and "sister". Comparing the two, any woman would be angry to death.
After Gong E and others walked away, Lierou walked to the Queen Mother and stretched her muscles and bones for her.
The Queen Mother is only in her forties this year. She is well-maintained and looks dignified and graceful. She does not look more than thirty-five or sixty-six, but she is far from the charm of the Dowager Empress, who looks like an eighteen-year-old girl.
"Foster mother, the eldest princess is just a children's fairy tale. Don't take it too seriously." The Queen Mother has no daughters and has always been fond of Lierou. At this time, the Queen Mother and Lierou were the only ones left in the inner palace, so Lierou comforted her softly.
Got up.
"As I get older, my face becomes looser," the Queen Mother sighed.
Lierou's heart moved slightly, and she took out the bottle of elixir, "Queen Mother, you are not old. The concubine has been taking the beauty elixir and works less, so she looks younger. I have a few... Hua
The elixir I have refined using the elixir recipe left by my mother is very useful for beautifying the face."
The Queen Mother heard that it was the prescription left by her friend Feng Wanwan, and then looked back at Lie Rou.
Lie Rou's appearance was like a daisy, fresh and elegant. Although she didn't dress up too voluptuously on weekdays, such an appearance was the most attractive. The Queen Mother murmured in her heart that Rou'er looked like this when she was not married. Maybe it was because of this.
The miraculous effect of that elixir.
"Rou'er still has good intentions. Everyone says that an adopted daughter is a treasure. Back then, the Ai family was so focused on fighting for the throne that they didn't give birth to a daughter. Now it seems that it was a mistake." The Queen Mother accepted the elixir and asked a few questions about Liejiabao.
Current situation.
"Speaking of which, a few days ago, there was a message from the Queen, saying that these days in Jinghua..." The Queen Mother sent someone to summon a meal, leaving Lierou to eat.
Lie Rou's heart thumped.
The current empress, for some unknown reason, has always been uncomfortable meeting Yue Jinghua, and she always makes sarcastic remarks when meeting her on weekdays. Ever since Dafa Xiaoyi moved away from Xiaoshang Palace, Yue Jinghua rarely enters the palace again.
The reason was that the Queen was in trouble many times.
The current queen has always had some prejudices against Yue Jinghua, and this time the gossip about the mercenary incident was indeed spread into the palace by someone with intentions.
Lie Rou also simply dragged out all of Yue Jinghua's adventures.
"That child has a bit of a crooked temperament. Jinghua is not young now, and her marriage to Xiaoyi should be arranged earlier, so that she can control her temper. That bastard has been missing for so long in Yuannian
"Well, it's too hard for you to take care of the child alone. It's better to marry off your daughter as soon as possible and then make some plans for yourself," the Queen Mother said earnestly.
She really treats Lierou as a daughter. Seeing that Yuenian has been missing for several years, Lierou is only thirty years old. She just suffers from having a pair of children dragging her down. Otherwise, she should have remarried to another woman, so why bother?
Like now, he is getting more and more haggard.
"Queen Mother, Hua'er is still young, and her relationship with Prince Xiaoyi won't last long. It's better to give it some time," Lierou's eyelids jumped when she heard this, and she didn't expect that the Queen Mother would suddenly change the subject. She
My original intention today was to give pills and help my daughter, but unexpectedly the Queen Mother asked about Jinghua's marriage.
"It's all here. In a few days it will be the birthday of the eldest princess. The emperor has ordered a palace banquet in the inner court. You can ask Jinghua to come with you. Then let them get close to each other. That child is someone who has not been seen much in the world.
With such a temper, she will suffer a loss in front of her powerful mother-in-law in the future." The Queen Mother waved her hand and ordered the dishes to be arranged.
After hearing this, Lierou couldn't object, so she could only eat the food in silence, but she was secretly thinking about how to persuade her daughter to enter the palace together.
After holding the lantern, Lierou came out of the palace, looking gloomy.
Although Lierou didn't know that Yue Jinghua had replaced the core with a fake one, Lierou also felt that Yue Jinghua's attitude towards Fa Xiaoyi was very different after returning from Baishou Mountain this time.
, it seems that she doesn’t really want to be a princess anymore.
I don’t know whether the Queen Mother’s kindness is a blessing or a curse.
Lierou was thinking about something in her mind. When she lowered her head and got into the carriage, she saw a horse galloping towards her. A burly middle-aged man came quickly. The horse under him had horns on its head and its whole body was blood red.
The famous fifth-order black horse and horned dragon horse in the barren mountain area.
The horse was so fast that it almost hit the carriage. Seeing the graceful figure of the carriage in front of it, the man on the horse suddenly stopped.
Lierou was getting on his horse. He was wearing more than a hundred kilograms of chain mail. The man just pulled it with his bare hands, and the horse stopped obediently.
Lierou was so shocked that she hurriedly held onto the car's shaft, but she did not appear to be panicked. She raised her head slightly, nodded, and went straight into the car without looking at anyone.
In her panic, her neatly combed bun was spread out, and a streak of oily black fell on her fair neck. Her long eyelashes were trembling gently like frightened night moths.
The cold moonlight shone right on the profile of this worried woman.
Lierou's beauty is not the kind of beauty that takes away the soul. Her beauty is just right. If it is more, it will be gaudy, and if it is less, it will be boring.
At this moment, she had something on her mind, and her beautiful eyebrows were furrowed, making her look even more delicate and elegant, like a white flower blooming quietly under the night light, which made people's hearts flutter.
The middle-aged man was about to curse angrily, but after seeing Lierou's appearance clearly, he took a breath, his eyes motionless, glued to his sockets.
When Lierou lowered the curtain and the sound of the carriage faded away, the mysterious man on the horned dragon horse turned over and dismounted.
When he turned over, his extraordinarily thick body fell to the ground quietly.
The man asked the palace gate guard in a loud voice: "Who was in the car just now?"
When the palace guard saw the visitor, he bowed and said, "General Tianwei, that person is Mrs. Yue from Liejiabao, the adopted daughter of the Queen Mother."
After hearing this, the man's face flashed with joy, he pondered for a moment, and whispered: "Mrs. Yue? Isn't she the little lady who moved here from Longzhan? She looks like a sign today."
This night, because of this chance encounter, became no longer peaceful.
A storm that has been brewing for a long time and is about to affect the fate of the entire Shang Kingdom is about to begin, but Yue Jinghua, who is at the center of the storm, is currently worried about another thing.