Ning Qian raised her eyes and looked at the newly arrived palace maid. She was small in stature and had very bright eyes. She kept glancing at Ning Qian.
Ning Qian smiled slightly and asked softly: "What's your name?"
The palace maid seemed to be stunned for a moment before she smiled brightly, her eyebrows suddenly brightening up: "My name is Bai Su." After a pause, she boldly looked at Ning Qian and said, "Your Majesty, you look really good.
nice."
Ning Qian couldn't help but laugh out loud, "You do know how to talk."
After Ning Qian finished speaking, she lowered her head and looked at the book in her hand. There was silence in the palace for a moment, and then Ning Qian whispered: "The tea is a little cold. Please go help me make another pot of tea."
Bai Su nodded lightly, took the teapot on the table, and left the bedroom happily.
Ning Qian stood up, first walked to the desk, wrote a note, and threw it under the bed. Then she walked to the coffin, took out a hibiscus hairpin, took off the flower head and the hairpin, and carefully removed it from the inside.
Some white powder was poured out and hidden in the nail cap.
After doing all this, she put the hairpin back. She walked to the soft bed and sat down, turning the pages of the book in her hand as usual. Ning Qian heard a light cough coming from under the bed, and she felt reassured.
After a while, footsteps sounded again outside, the door curtain was opened, and the sound of beads colliding was particularly clear.
"Your Majesty, the tea is ready." Bai Su's voice still contained a hint of smile, and his steps seemed very brisk.
Ning Qian nodded lightly and watched Bai Su put the teapot on the table, then took out a teacup and helped Ning Qian fill the tea. Ning Qian raised her eyes and smiled lightly at Bai Su, then took another teacup from the side.
He poured the tea with his own hands and pushed it in front of Bai Su with a smile, "You don't have to be so formal in this Xiangzhu Palace. Your sister Qingdai, who only has a straight face and doesn't speak, is not here, so you can sit down and have a cup of tea together.
Now I can't even find anyone to drink tea..." Then he sighed softly.
After Ning Qian finished speaking, she lowered her head again, her eyes fell on the book in her hand, she casually picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
Bai Su glanced at Ning Qian, thought for a while, and then said with a smile: "Sister Qingdai's temperament is like that, don't mind, Madam." After saying that, she picked up the tea that Ning Qian had poured for her.
Niu took a big sip without hesitation.
The corners of Ning Qian's mouth curled up slightly, "I never blamed her." But she was counting in her heart, ten, nine, eight...
Before she could count to one, she saw from the corner of her eye that Bai Su's body softened and fell to the side. Ning Qian was afraid that the sound would alert people outside, so she quickly caught Bai Su's body.
Then he lowered his head, took off all Bai Su's clothes, and then pushed Bai Su under the bed. Qian Yan quickly rolled out from under the bed.
…
When Qing Dai returned to Xiang Bamboo Hall, Ning Qian was still sitting on the soft couch reading a book, her posture was still exactly the same as when she left, as if she had not moved at all. Bai Su stood beside Ning Qian, his eyes glistening.
The ground was spinning, and when he saw Qingdai entering the room, he raised a bright smile and said, "Sister Qingdai is back?"
Qingdai saw Ning Qian frown slightly, as if she was dissatisfied with Bai Su's sudden voice. She snorted secretly in her heart, then Qingdai raised her eyes and said to Bai Su: "You should step back first."
Bai Su nodded with a smile, saluted Ning Qian, and exited the dormitory.
After Bai Su left, the dormitory became quiet. Qingdai stood motionless, and Ning Qian flipped through the book casually. After a while, she stopped moving.
Qingdai turned her head and glanced at Ning Qian, only to see that she seemed to have fallen asleep. The hand holding the book was hanging to the side, and her brows were lightly frowned.
Qingdai stood for a while and saw that Ning Qian showed no sign of waking up. Thinking that it was almost time for lunch, she left the dormitory and ordered someone to prepare lunch.
The Xiangzhu Hall was calm and quiet, except for the fact that Concubine Xiang seemed to be particularly quiet today. She didn't even say a word for most of the day. But apart from not speaking, there was nothing wrong with anything else, so Qingdai also
Didn't care.
The weather had begun to get warmer, but the palace was a little more deserted than usual. The queen was ill and recuperating, and the harem was co-led by Concubine Xiang and Concubine Shu. Unexpectedly, Concubine Xiang gave birth in Weiyang Palace.
His Majesty was furious and arrested all the people in the Weiyang Palace. The Queen was also imprisoned in the Weiyang Palace. Concubine Xiang had given birth and had to confine herself. His Majesty also ordered that no one should be allowed to confine herself.
Excuse me. Suddenly, Concubine Shu was the only one in the palace, but this was a situation that no one expected.
The preparation for the Spring Equinox sacrificial ceremony also fell squarely on Concubine Shu.
Fortunately, Concubine Shu had been in the palace for many years and had assisted the queen in preparing many palace banquets and ceremonies. Although she was a bit busy, there was no trouble.
On the day of the Spring Equinox sacrifice, all civil and military officials waited under the Temple of Heaven early, waiting for the sacrifice to begin.
This year, since the Queen was unable to attend, Xia Huanyu and Concubine Shen Shu officiated.
The Temple of Heaven is outside the palace, right between the inner palace and the south gate of Jincheng. Xia Huanyu and Concubine Shen Shu first took a carriage and drank a glass of blessing wine with the people on the tower before heading to the Temple of Heaven.
When the auspicious time came, Xia Huanyu and Concubine Shu went up to the steps of the Temple of Heaven together and walked up step by step.
On the Temple of Heaven, there were more than ten monks sitting in a circle, reciting scriptures.
Xia Huanyu walked to the top of the Temple of Heaven, took the incense from the priest's hand, turned around, bowed to heaven and earth, and then inserted the incense into the incense burner.
The priest handed over the wine bottle again. Xia Huanyu pursed his lips slightly, tasted the wine in the glass, then took the willow branch, dipped the remaining wine in the wine bottle and sprinkled it on the ground.
The priest opened his mouth, and the sound was like a loud bell, hitting everyone's ears: "Play music."
The sound of music started, resounding throughout the entire Temple of Heaven, but the priest's voice completely drowned out the sound of music: "The Emperor God's words of sacrifice."
Xia Huanyu bowed three times before speaking: "Husband..." As soon as he said one word, he suddenly stopped. All the officials under the Temple of Heaven did not know what was going on, but they suddenly heard Concubine Shen Shu's words.
A scream rang out from above the Temple of Heaven, "Ah..."
Everyone's expressions froze, and before they could recover, they saw Xia Huanyu suddenly falling to the ground.
Suddenly, all the officials under the Temple of Heaven were in chaos. Liu Wen'an and a group of secret guards who were guarding the Temple of Heaven rushed towards the Temple of Heaven, only to see that all the monks sitting on the ground stood up.
Standing up, one of the little monks rushed forward suddenly, raised his hand and grabbed Xia Huanyu in front of him. He held a dagger in his hand and looked at everyone coldly: "If you take another step forward,
, and I killed him."
As soon as the voice came out, everyone was stunned on the spot. They never thought that the monk turned out to be a woman's voice. And many people under the Temple of Heaven had already heard who the voice came from.
"Eldest Princess?" Everyone was filled with surprise and doubt, but Xia Huanyu's life was still in her hands, so they didn't dare to act rashly.
The group of monks surrounded the little monk who was holding Xia Huanyu hostage in the middle. The little monk looked a little old and had nine incense scars on his head. He faintly heard the discussion below mentioning her.
He laughed out loud after hearing his name, "Yes, that is me, princess. No, from now on, maybe, this princess will be your majesty."
The sounds below became louder and louder.
The eldest princess also laughed heartily: "You never thought that this princess would appear here, right? Before the death of the late emperor, he had said many times that if this princess was a man, this country would definitely belong to me.
Because I am not a man, I lost the chance to ascend the throne. Today I want to tell you, what happened to women? Women can still be emperors!"
Smiling and laughing, his voice became sharper and shriller, and he seemed to be a little crazy.
"I'm afraid there are still many of you who look down on women, but I tell you, I have already laid a dragnet around the Temple of Heaven. If any of you are unwilling to support me as emperor, there is no need to do so today.
Got out of here."
There was chaos below. The secret guards and Liu Wen'an also blushed and wanted to rush to the rooftop. The eldest princess smiled coldly and moved the dagger in her hand suddenly, leaving a deep mark on Xia Huanyu's neck.
Blood dripped down the dagger.
The eldest princess looked at the blood dripping from the dagger, her eyes full of madness, and laughed loudly: "Xia Huanyu is going to die, this Xia country is my world, and it is my Xia Xiangru's world!"
The secret guards were about to move. The eldest princess stopped her smile and looked coldly at Liu Wen'an and the secret guards surrounding them. She clapped her hands violently, and from outside the wall of the Temple of Heaven, hundreds of people crawled out, all dressed in black.
He was wearing clothes and pants, holding a bow and arrow in his hand, aiming at the people inside.
The eldest princess said coldly: "Anyone who is willing to make me the emperor should leave the Temple of Heaven. I will count to ten. If you haven't left yet, I will give the order to shoot him to death with random arrows!"
Concubine Shen Shu, who was kneeling on the Temple of Heaven, moved slightly, and the eldest princess looked towards her and said with a smile: "Thank you very much, Concubine Shu. Without Concubine Shu, I would not have been able to get away so easily."
Come in and lay out this situation. But Concubine Shu, you don’t have to leave today, just stay here."
A look of disbelief flashed in Concubine Shen Shu's eyes, and she suddenly raised her eyes to look at the eldest princess: "Your Highness, eldest princess, that's not what the princess said before. The reason why I am willing to cooperate with her princess and the seventh prince is because the two of them agreed
If you leave me, you will keep me, and you will give King Qi a way to live. Could it be that the eldest princess wants to break our promise?"
When the eldest princess heard what Concubine Shen Shu said, she burst into laughter again, with a hint of contempt: "They all say that Concubine Shen Shu is a smart person, but they don't expect that there are times when she can be so stupid. I deliberately chose this moment to take action.
, because now that Prince Rui and the Seventh Prince are not here, the throne must belong to me. How could I let Prince Qi go and bring unhappiness to me for nothing. I had previously asked Concubine Xiang to put her in my belly.
The child is blamed on the queen just so that you can arrange today's sacrifice. Now you are of no use. I know the principle of eradicating the roots. Neither you nor King Qi can escape." (To be continued)
