On the eighth day of April, it was auspicious. Xuan Ling appealed to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to pray for the Queen Mother's health, and the Empress Dowager's emblem was named "Renzhe". In addition to the emblems given by the previous emperor's accession to the throne, wedding, and the Empress Dowager's 50th birthday, the whole

The title was "Empress Dowager Zhaocheng Kang Yi Min Jing Renzhe", and she was known as "Empress Dowager Zhaocheng" in the world.

At the same time, Mrs. Yu'e, the biological mother of King Runan, was granted the title of Concubine Xian, with the posthumous title "Sisu" and the title Concubine Sisu Xian. It is planned to be moved to the late emperor's concubine mausoleum in June. She will also be granted the title to all those who are being raised in the palace.

The concubine was given as a sign of praise. Princess Qinren, the biological mother of King Qishan, was honored as "Princess Qinrenshu", ranking first among the concubines in the harem; Princess Zhuanghe, the adoptive mother of King Pingyang, was named "Concubine Zhuanghede", and the biological mother was treated as Princess Shun Chen.

Yao respected Concubine Shu Gui, who had become a monk and practiced as a monk, as Chong Jing Yuanshi and the leader of Jinting.

King Runan intended to respect his mother as "the noble concubine". The four concubines have always been noble, virtuous, and virtuous. Although they have the same names, the noble concubine is the most honorable. The noble concubine naturally became the first among the concubines.

Because his mother is noble, King Runan's status is naturally more noble.

King Runan deliberately made this suggestion, most likely because his biological mother fell out of favor due to Concubine Shu when he was young. As a result, he was not taken seriously by the late emperor, and he was not able to be crowned king for a long time. He felt deeply resentful. Now that he is so prominent, of course he does not want to be seen as such in the eyes of the world.

His background was inferior to that of Concubine Shu's son Xuan Qing, and he was even more superior to the late emperor's eldest son Xuan Ji. What's more, Xuan Qing was good at poetry and had no interest in political affairs. Xuan Ji was mediocre and drunken, which was what he despised the most.

Now his biological mother is posthumously named Concubine Xian. On the one hand, she is of the same rank as Concubine Noble, Shu, and Concubine De, so she is nominally acceptable; on the other hand, Concubine Qinrenshu is above her to suppress her, and the status of King Runan is also reduced.

The King of Qishan cannot be surpassed to dominate; Sanzeyao respects Concubine Shu Gui as Chong Jing Yuanshi and the leader of Jinting. This is also to appease King Runan - Concubine Shu Gui is already a foreigner.

It's just a few titles, but it involves all kinds of taboos and considerations, intricate and meticulous.

Three days later, Concubine Murong was reinstated as Concubine Hua. The Murong clan also felt a little more at peace with this.

I thought that there would be a big disturbance in the harem due to Concubine Hua's restoration, but it was only Concubine Tian and Concubine Shen who complained with the palace officials. The rest of the people, from the Queen to Ling Rong and Cao Qinmo, were all just concubines.

If nothing happens, don't mention it at all.

That day, the Queen invited me to enjoy the flowers in Fengyi Palace. It happened that the imperial edict of Xuan Ling's restoration of Concubine Hua and her instructions to the Sixth Palace reached the Queen. The Queen quietly read the edict and ordered her maid to serve it. She said to me calmly: "Finally, here we are.

Already."

I just didn't know and said, "Don't you feel surprised, Queen?"

The queen seemed to be smiling but not smiling: "It's just a matter of time." After saying that, she pointed to a pot of peony flowers in full bloom under the window and said: "It seems that the flowers will bloom sooner or later." After saying that, she ordered Jianqiu to take the small silver.

She came with scissors, and picked up a huge red peony flower in front of her with her slender jade fingers. She cut it off with a sharp "click" and threw it into Jianqiu's hand, saying: "This flower is an eyesore, so I don't want it."

With a sudden movement in my heart, I picked off a yellow peony and placed it squarely on the Queen's high bun. I said with a smile, "This flower blooms just right, and it is suitable for the Queen's status. It is very beautiful."

The queen looked forward and smiled and said: "How can a woman who is almost thirty look good?" She paused and said as if unintentionally, "Concubine Hua is much younger than me."

I smiled modestly: "Beauty does not depend on age but on magnanimity. The queen empress and mother-in-law honor the world. How can this elegance and splendor be compared to the thin young beauty? Just like this peony is the king of flowers, and that pot is the king of flowers."

No matter how beautiful and delicate the peony blooms, it cannot be compared to it."

The queen put a pearl bouquet on the mirror. Although she did not say any words of approval, she looked deeply convinced and said slowly: "My concubine is getting better and better at talking."

The queen ordered the maid to change her steps, and held her hair with a hairpin. Her fingers gently stroked the jewelry wrapped around the sardonyx jade plate, as if casually, and said: "I heard that your brother's recent reputation has been very bad.

Well, the whole family is in turmoil over a woman with fireworks."

I was slightly embarrassed, twisted the silk with my fingers, and gritted my teeth and said, "I have also heard about it. This really bad thing has been spread for thousands of miles. It is really my fault that such a shameful thing disturbed the Queen's hearing."

The queen half-turned around and said kindly: "It doesn't matter. Your brother is young after all. He is young and successful and doesn't know how to take care of his body. It is inevitable that he will ignore everything when he gets excited. It's just that your sister-in-law has been pregnant for more than three months.

It’s really pitiful that I still feel angry about this.”

I felt ashamed and angry for a moment, turned my face and said: "I just hate that my brother doesn't know how to behave at all. That firework girl named 'Jiayi' is from a humble background. My brother actually ignored my father."

My mother objected and my sister-in-law was pregnant, so she insisted on redeeming her body and setting her up as a concubine." I frowned and said, "If my parents and sister-in-law hadn't been desperately opposed, I would have taken her into our house as a concubine."

The queen shook her head repeatedly and said: "This is too unbearable. For the sake of such a woman, we have forgotten the relationship between husband and wife and their parents' upbringing. What does this mean?"

I was so hateful that I almost cried in front of the Queen. I gritted my teeth and said, "Brother is so determined to be deceived by the charming woman that he never enters the house again. I have already ordered someone to go back and tell my parents that we must never let such a woman come in and humiliate us."

The lintel of the Zhen family."

The Queen said: "Talent and virtue are cubed to make a good man. My dear concubine, although your brother is talented in military affairs, his moral character is lacking." She then sighed unhappily: "It was in vain that those people behind Concubine Hua looked at me.

joke!"

I returned to the palace and rested for a while, but I felt extremely tired. In the past few days, I had worked hard with Xuan Ling to consider the details of the matter of pursuing the title of concubine. Finally, everything was settled, and all parties were considered.

Only then can we breathe a sigh of relief and take a break. The wind and rain in the future will only be more violent, and it will not be any easier than today.

Jin Xi and others also knew that I was working hard, so they burned a furnace of soothing benzoin for me to sleep in, leaving only Liu Zhu to serve me.

Fang Mengmeng fell asleep. Then he heard Liu Zhu whispering urgently in his ear: "Miss, someone from the Queen Mother's Palace has sent someone to ask Miss to come over and talk."

When I heard the word "Queen Mother", I suddenly woke up and said, "Did you tell me what it was about?"

Liu Zhu said: "The father-in-law who came to deliver the message did not say anything. He only asked the young lady to come over quickly."

I have always been respectful to the Queen Mother, so I didn't dare to waste a moment. I ordered someone to prepare a sedan chair, called someone in to wash and change clothes for me, and hurried away.

There is a calm, watery smell of sandalwood in the Queen Mother Hall, and the light smoke lingers, making people feel like they are outside the world. The sun at noon is not too bright, it is light and rainy, and the color is as smooth as azure porcelain, which makes people feel

Unreasonable calmness.

It is quiet in the palace. Looking out through the green window screen of spring clothes, the bustling and brilliant spring flowers have a hint of calmness and simplicity. Even the gold of the sun is hazy, like the distant mist.

The Queen Mother looked good. She was leaning on the silver antler-encrusted imperial concubine's couch next to the window, and slowly drank the medicine sip by sip with Aunt Sun's hand.

I said hello respectfully, and the Queen Mother casually asked me to get up and sit down, and said, "I haven't talked to you properly for a few days. What have you done recently?"

I replied: "It's nothing, I'm just passing the time."

The Queen Mother didn't even raise her head and said, "Then let's talk about something to pass the time. The Ai family will feel relieved listening to it." So I picked up some interesting things to say. The Queen Mother had a faint smile,

As if listening, he took the water from Aunt Sun and rinsed his mouth with one hand, frowning and said: "It's so bitter."

Before I finished speaking, the sapphire blue skirt behind the ebony-carved mirror screen with the Chinese character "Shou" in the hall swayed, and it was Meizhuang who came out. Meizhuang looked at me, didn't say much, and just held a white porcelain plate in his hand.

, there were several pickled hawthorns on the plate. He walked to the Queen Mother with a smile on his face and said: "These are newly made hawthorns. I ordered people to make them sweeter. They are sour and sweet to appetize. The Queen Mother took some medicine to eat them."

It couldn't be better."

A faint smile appeared on the Queen Mother's face and she said, "I guess you have a filial piety." She picked up one and held it in her mouth. She nodded and said, "It's really good."

Meizhuang lowered his eyebrows and smiled, with a humble and generous expression, and said: "As long as the Queen Mother likes it. I just thought that the medicine is bitter, and if you eat something extremely sweet, it will feel uncomfortable in your mouth, and it will not be as delicious as sweet and sour."

The Queen Mother nodded and smiled, agreeing very much. Just then she turned to look at me and said calmly: "Wangui concubine, do you know your guilt?"

Ben chatted harmoniously and discussed family affairs together, and the whole room was peaceful and peaceful. Suddenly hearing such a sentence, his heart trembled, but he didn't know where he had violated a taboo, so he knelt down in a hurry and said: "I am afraid that I don't know. Please make it clear to the Queen Mother."

.”

The Queen Mother's eyes were so sharp that I didn't dare to raise my head at will, feeling uneasy. The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes slightly and said coldly: "You are so brave, you dare to interfere in the government affairs as a concubine."

Meizhuang stood aside. Hearing the Queen Mother speak with such an expression, Mei Zhuang's face suddenly turned white in shock. He could not hold the porcelain plate in his hand steadily, and the hawthorns in the plate immediately fell out.

Far away, leaving only a little bit of dark red juice, dripping all over the ground.

The Queen Mother glanced at her sideways and said, "The Ai family asked her, but you panicked first."

I was confused for a moment and didn't know where to start my answer, so I hurriedly bent down and kowtowed: "I don't know why the Queen Mother said this. I really don't dare to commit such a capital crime."

The Queen Mother sat up. She did not speak harshly, but the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes made people feel stern due to her solemn expression. She said calmly: "Aijia, you can tell yourself how much you participated in the issue of the title of concubine."

I kowtowed and then said: "I am extremely frightened by the Queen Mother's words. No matter how young and ignorant I am, I still know that concubines in the harem are not allowed to interfere in politics. This is the legacy of our ancestors, and I will never dare to violate it. Your Majesty is a wise monarch.

I have already made up my mind about the title of concubine, but I can't influence it. All I can do is to comfort the emperor not to worry about the affairs of the government. If I talk about 'participation', it is just to support the concubine in the cabinet.

Among the several titles that have been agreed upon, I will give the emperor some detailed information, and then leave it to the queen and the queen mother to make a decision." I looked up at the queen mother and said, "I am ignorant, thinking that the title of concubine is a matter for the harem, so I dare to say a few words.

One or two words. If you talk about government affairs, you will never dare to have the slightest contamination." After saying that, he hurriedly lowered his head.

The Queen Mother pondered for a moment, her eyes flashed, as if she could see me as a crystal figure who had nothing to hide, and said slowly: "Even if you have no intention of being involved in political affairs, do you dare to say that you have no selfish motives in this matter?

"

After just finishing what I said, my mood calmed down a little, but I knew that it would be bad to be too defensive, so I said: "The Queen Mother clearly knows that the matter of pursuing the title of concubine has nothing to do with me." I paused and met the Queen Mother's gaze.

Said: "But when it comes to selfishness, I do have some."

Seeing that the Queen Mother was just listening without any intention of blaming her, I gradually felt more at ease and said: "I live deep in the palace. Although I don't hear about external affairs, there are different opinions in the palace, and some of them are heard. Your Majesty is a

The king of the country is always worried about the government and forgets to eat and sleep. I am lucky enough to be able to serve the emperor. I just hope that the emperor can have everything he wants and his beauty will always show." I thought about it several times and finally said it: "But sometimes it happens.

God does not fulfill man’s wishes.”

The Queen Mother is Xuan Ling's biological mother, and she was once in charge of the government. There are some words and things that are really unnecessary and there is no need to hide them from her. The Queen Mother thought thoughtfully and said: "Why is God unwilling to obey people's wishes? I'm afraid there are people

It’s time to go against the will of heaven.”

I knelt in the shadow of the sun, and there was a vague heat and restlessness on my back, and a prickly itch. I whispered: "What the Queen Mother said is absolutely true. But I know that the emperor is the son of God, and he will definitely be protected by God.

I don’t dare and cannot participate in political affairs, so I can only try my best to pay attention to the emperor’s food and daily life. If there is any selfishness, it is my selfishness that cannot be put on the table. When the Queen Mother asked today, I had no choice but to tell the truth. I hope

Long live the emperor and be safe, and may my concubines be cared for and live in peace until their old age."

After listening to my explanation, the Queen Mother looked slightly relaxed. She casually pulled the hair that was scattered behind her head and said kindly: "Which concubine in the harem doesn't have this kind of selfishness? That's fine. Get up."

As if I was receiving a general amnesty, I straightened my clothes and stood up, and stood aside with my head bowed respectfully. The Queen Mother stroked the wind hair on the soft brocade blanket covering her body, and sighed slowly: "Your selfishness

, everyone is the same. You are the only one who has the emperor. When the emperor is here, no matter whether you are out of favor or in favor in this palace, you will always have hope and hope. If the emperor is gone, the queen will naturally not say anything about it.

The Queen Mother, even Cao Jieyu and Concubine Xin Gui finally have a daughter to rely on. But those like you and Mei'er who have no children, despite their current glory, will only be able to be lonely concubines in the future.

You can't count on your position either. Although she is a concubine, she has no one to rely on and her old age is miserable. To put it bluntly, she is just waiting to die. So your hopes are all in the emperor." After the Queen Mother finished speaking, she said to herself

He was also a little sad and coughed twice.
To be continued...