When I came out of Concubine Duan's Yuhua Pavilion, I had a basket of water-red water chestnuts in my hand, with sharp corners and tender meat. The words of Concubine Duan were still in my ears, "The water chestnuts are beautiful and tender, but they must be chopped first."

The two corners must be removed to taste the hard shell, otherwise it will be easily injured by the sharp corners, and the gain will not be worth the loss.”

I smile, people are not like this, if they want to gain something, they must first avoid harm...

The red sun rose, and there were no clouds in the sky, adding to the feeling of heat. I couldn't bear the heat the most, and I was already sweating a little, so I and Liu Zhu chose a cool and quiet path back to Yifu Hall.

When we arrived at the "Jade Belt Tongyin" area, the roadside was flanked by parasol trees, and the dense shade stretched down to the ground, naturally creating a cool and tranquil atmosphere. The scenery was beautiful, but not too hot. I held my hand with Liu Zhu and walked slowly while looking at the scenery, and I suddenly felt cold.

Looking up, he saw Concubine Hua bringing Cao Jieyu and Qiao Cainu, followed by a group of palace maids and eunuchs, walking over in a mighty manner.

Concubine Hua was talking loudly and laughing, but when she saw me, her expression suddenly turned cold.

Since her restoration, I have tried my best to avoid confrontation with her again. I lost my son and fell out of favor because of her, and she was demoted and fell out of favor because of me. The hatred between each other is unforgettable and cannot be eliminated.

It's just that we meet on such a narrow road, and my status is lower than hers, but it is inevitable to meet. And I promised Xuan Ling that for the sake of the overall situation, we will tolerate each other and work together.

So I put aside my confused mind and bowed respectfully, "Hua Fei, Jin An." Cao Jieyu and Qiao Cainu beside her also blessed me.

Concubine Hua was not in a hurry to wake me up, her eyes were scrutinizing and doubtful. Time passed quietly little by little, so quietly, and there was no sound of crows and birds. I thought about kneeling down at Mixiu Palace that day, and my heart

I couldn't help but feel resentful. I bit my lip and tried my best to restrain myself from showing hatred. I bent down on my knees to maintain a calm and indifferent expression.

After a long while, she said: "Get up."

She looked at me intently, with complex expressions in her eyes, including hatred, fear, disgust, disdain, and provocation. All five emotions were mixed in an instant. Concubine Hua said with a half-smile but not a smile: "Have you ever thought that I would be restored to power today?"

?”

I stayed away from the roadside with a humble expression, my appearance was respectful, and my voice was steady: "Your Majesty will be blessed endlessly, how can a concubine predict it?" I blessed her again and said, "I haven't had time to express my blessing to your Majesty yet.

Congratulations on your restoration, I would like to express my congratulations here."

She said coldly: "No need. I don't dare to treat you like a noble concubine." She glanced at me, unable to hide the disgust in her voice, and frowned her beautiful long eyebrows and said, "The more respectful you are, the more respectful I will be."

The more I find you scary."

I didn’t feel dissatisfied, and said with a slight smile: “Hua Fei is joking, does the empress like concubines to be disrespectful and disobedient to the empress by speaking out?” I lowered my eyelids and said, “I don’t dare to offend the empress wantonly.

."

Her contemptuous look was not concealed at all, it was revealed in the corners of her eyebrows and eyes: "My dear concubine, you are too polite. If you dare not offend, you have already offended me. I will never forget what happened in the past."

Her tone was very sharp, and everyone around her fell silent under her aura.

I was neither humble nor arrogant, and said flatly: "What I taught you is that I am willing to listen to your teachings at all times."

Concubine Hua couldn't help but feel angry when she saw that I was so airy and impeccable, and said: "You are willing to listen all the time, but I don't want to see your face all the time."

Concubine Hua was angry when suddenly a female voice beside her said loudly: "Don't be angry, my queen. It's not worth much if your daughter's body is hurt by the anger of a little palace concubine. There is no dignity in the world."

Because I am angry at a humble person, wouldn’t I be exalting the humble person too much?”

These words were harsh, and the edge of each sentence was pointed directly at me. I was wondering, in Cao Jieyu's position, she would never say such words, so... when I looked up, I saw a woman dressed as a palace concubine, it was the new Qiao Jieyu.

Cainu. I saw that she was small in stature and quite delicate in appearance. Because Concubine Hua was a close maid of Concubine Hua, Xuan Ling was quite fond of her. At this time, she was respectfully holding Concubine Hua's elbow.

, smiling flatteringly, as if she were a maid, very obedient and well-behaved.

Liu Zhu was not angry, and her face changed and she wanted to refute Qiao Cainu's words for me. I quickly pressed her behind her and said with a smile: "Isn't this the new sister Qiao who is favored by the emperor? What sister Qiao just said is true.

It's the right thing to do. There is a right way to respect people and inferiors in the world. My sister must be from a famous family because she is so eloquent. It's really a pity to be relegated to the bottom of the class. I must give advice to the emperor for my sister. You have to be a 'concubine' or a 'noble person' to be able to show it.

Sister’s identity.”

She was originally a palace maid, and when she heard my explicit compliments and implicit sarcasm to her, even Concubine Hua couldn't refute her, so she couldn't help but blush and look at me angrily.

I sneered, I wanted to endure Concubine Hua. But Concubine Hua also knew how much to avoid me. It was fine for Qiao Cainu to flatter Concubine Hua blindly, but she didn't know that she was being disrespectful to me.

Cao Jieyu was silently watching, but when she saw this situation, she hurriedly stepped forward with a smile and said: "Your Majesty invited the empress and our sisters to go to the Yujing Mingqin Pavilion to listen to a play. I heard that the empress ordered her favorite "Niangziguan", why bother here?

Hot weather and people are a waste of time.”

Concubine Hua snorted softly and left with Qiao Cainu. I said softly: "Liu Zhu, let's go back."

When we arrived at the palace, Huanbi had already brought someone to greet me, changed me into homely clothes, poured herbal tea and said, "I saw that it's hot outside and the lady hasn't come back yet, so I wanted to send someone to take a look."

I smiled and said, "It's just in the palace, what can happen?"

Liu Zhuhu said angrily to Huanbi, "You don't know that. I'm going to be so angry today. I actually bumped into that Concubine Hua and the newly favored Qiao Cainu, which made our lady very wronged!"

Huanbi asked in surprise: "What do you mean? Now that the young lady is very popular with the emperor, don't they know how to be scrupulous?"

Liu Zhu sneered, turned her face and said: "It's just Concubine Hua. She has always been at odds with the young lady. This is her past. What's even more ridiculous is that humble Qiao Cainu, who was born as a palace maid and dared to point fingers everywhere.

Our lady's words are thorny." She pouted and complained to me: "My lady is too sweet-tempered. Let's just ignore Concubine Hua. Shouldn't we let Mrs. Qiao do it? If we had just followed my slave's temper,

I will definitely give her a hard slap in the face and report to the emperor to send her to the 'violent chamber' to do hard labor."

I pointed at Liu Zhu and smiled at Huanbi: "Listen to this girl's mouth. She is getting more and more powerful. She is the leader of my subordinates." After saying that, I stopped smiling and said to Liu Zhu seriously: "You are too temperamental.

I'm anxious. Can you get things done just by being impatient? I told you not to contradict Concubine Hua, but now again, don't contradict the people around her, just deal with it perfunctorily - are you still afraid of the future?"

Liu Zhu gritted her teeth and said bitterly: "Qiao Cainu is so contemptuous of young lady in public. Should young lady let her go so easily?"

I broke off a sprig of snow-white gardenia in the basin, held it in my hand, played with it carefully, and asked Huanbi, "What do you think?"

Huanbi was silent for a moment and replied: "It's better to endure it for a while and seek retribution later."

I held my breath and smiled slightly: "You must endure this moment. If I turn against her immediately, others will definitely say that I don't have the magnanimity that a concubine should have, and I must taboo Concubine Hua. At this moment, I still can't

It's better to provoke Concubine Hua. What's more, I don't even bother to attack people like Qiao. Just putting up with Qiao doesn't mean that I can't do anything for others." I threw the flower branch on the table and continued: "Qiao Cainv

The reason why she dares to be so arrogant is because she has Concubine Hua behind her. Do you think she has such ability? She is just a mere pawn."

Huanbi asked: "Miss, what do you mean..."

I put the flower branches on my clothes and asked leisurely: "What is the sixth poem of Du Fu's "Quan Chu Fortress" said?"

Liu Zhu pondered for a moment and then blurted out: "If you shoot the man, shoot the horse first, and if you capture the thief, capture the king first!"

I took off the gardenia branch, folded it into two pieces with a clear "click", threw it into the large enamel vase on the table, and condensed my smile.

In the evening, a cool wind slowly came from the lake, carrying the freshness and water vapor of lotus flowers. The wind wheel was spinning loudly, and the wide floral sleeves with light silk threads suddenly fluttered and rested due to the wind.

Because I was afraid of the noise, the eunuch had long ago used a bamboo pole dipped in glue to remove all the cicadas that were chirping. The courtyard where I was was filled with tuberoses and frangipani, filling the palace with their fragrance, creating a sense of tranquility and coolness.

I lay on the bamboo mat, still feeling the heat budding, so I changed into a light cicada silk dress and took off the heavy hairpin ring. Jingqing and Pei'er fanned me one by one, while Huanbi prepared an ice bowl of fruit.

He kept talking to me every word.

While they were chatting, they looked up and saw Xuan Ling coming in. He stood up quickly and said, "Your Majesty."

He helped me up with both hands and said, "You are very carefree."

He and I sat down hand in hand and said with a smile, "I have nothing to do, so I'm just lazy." I took the sliced ​​watermelon and handed it to his lips, saying, "It's cooler now, Your Majesty.

Are you coming from Shuilu Nanxun Palace?"

The smile on his lips weakened a little, he took a bite of watermelon and said, "I just came from Feiyu Pavilion."

Yurun Hall was Meizhuang's former residence in Taiping Palace, and is now occupied by Ling Rong. Therefore, when she came with several concubines, the queen arranged for her to live in Feiyu Pavilion.

I saw Xuan Ling's expression was light and there seemed to be a look of hesitation in his eyebrows, so I smiled carefully and said: "The lotus root powder and osmanthus sugar cake made by Sister Mei is the most flavorful. It is the best to eat at this time of the year. Your Majesty tasted it."

What?"

He looked at me and smiled: "The lotus root powder and osmanthus sugar cake is indeed sweet, but it's a pity that that person is not sweet. Whenever I go there, twice out of three times I have to shirk not getting close to me." He shook his head: "Is it possible?

Is she still brooding over the fact that I wrongly blamed her in the past?"

I heard that there was a hint of blame in his words, so I knelt down solemnly, bowed my head and said, "Please, Your Majesty, please don't blame Sister Mei. It's all my concubine's fault."

Xuan Ling said in confusion: "I didn't blame her, why did you recognize her first?"

I said: "How could Sister Mei blame the Emperor for what happened in the past?" I quickly thought about my words in my heart, and said with a smile: "Actually, it was all because I was so talkative in the past. Sister Mei and I have been close friends since childhood.

, and entered the palace together, hoping to stay with the emperor for a long time. Sister Mei has always been concerned about the emperor's health. If she favors too many concubines, it will always be harmful to the emperor's body, so she talks to the concubines in private.

Worry. The emperor has always cared more about his concubine and sister An, so sister Mei decided to imitate the ancient virtuous concubines and take care of the emperor's dragon body instead of competing for the emperor's rain and dew, so she did this."

Xuan Ling smiled: "So, Shen Jieyu is quite concerned about me."

I nodded and said, "Yes. My concubine is not as good as Sister Mei in this matter."

He raised his eyebrows and asked with interest, "How do you say that?"

I saw him leaning on the bamboo mat with one hand on his shoulder, looking very handsome under the moonlight. I couldn't help but blush, and whispered in a low voice: "Because I can't be a good concubine, I want to spend more time with the emperor."

Xuan Ling looked joyful, hugged me in his arms and said: "Although the virtuous concubine is good, if you have too many concubines, you lose the charm of the boudoir. She is not as good as you..."

I pushed him and said shyly: "Your Majesty is not ashamed, but I am not."

Xuan Ling kissed my cheek and said, "Let's just speak for ourselves and don't care what others do."

I saw that he was in a happy and cheerful mood, not as good as when he came, so I took an ice bowl and ate with him, while softly persuading me: "Sister Mei has an upright character, and her actions and words will inevitably offend villains. If someone talks about it in front of the emperor in the future, It’s my sister’s fault, I hope the emperor can make it clear and don’t blame me.”

Xuan Ling held my shoulder, and the tassels of my long cat-eye silver bead earrings hit his arm, making him feel slightly cold. He rolled a lock of my hair in his hand and said softly: "Are you afraid that someone will come in the future?" You are slandering Shen Jieyu in front of me, but I don’t know that someone has already spoken and slandered you in front of me today."

I felt a chill in my heart, but soon calmed down again. I smiled slightly and said, "Is it Concubine Hua?"

He looked at me lovingly, stroked my cheek, and said softly: "I know you have tried your best to tolerate it."

I nodded vigorously, my eyes slightly moist: "The emperor won't believe it, will he?"
To be continued...