Before evening, Lu Fusu came to Zhuge's house to collect water from Xinyuan.
When Shui Xinyuan heard Lu Fusu say that the gardener was still in Zhuge, he couldn't help but tilt his head.
She borrowed clothes from Qing'er and tied her hair again, finally combing it neatly.
"I remembered that before I escaped, I met Ziwei..."
Ziwei said some incomprehensible words at that time, saying that he knew that Shui Xinyuan actually did not want to be the queen, and that he would take her to escape with him.
Zhuge Qing, who accompanied Lu Fusu back home, smiled and looked at Lu Fusu and then at Shui Xinyuan.
"Because someone told him that the emperor fell in love with the empress out of wishful thinking and forced her to become the queen."
"What?"
Who said that?
She was about to ask, but then she realized that she knew who said it even without asking.
Shui Xinyuan pouted and said: "Nonsense..."
"Fortunately, you said it was nonsense. If you felt the same way, how embarrassing would it be for me?"
"How could it be the emperor's wishful thinking? I also..."
"Shui Xinyuan..."
They stared at each other affectionately, and Zhuge Qing and Qing'er coughed at the same time.
"I beg your Majesty to respect yourself in your home...about the gardener."
"Oh, yes."
"He is currently being held there, do you want to bring him here?"
Qing'er pointed to another house, looked back at Lu Fusu and asked.
"Okay, bring him here. I also have something to ask him."
Hearing what Lu Fusu said, Zhuge Qing smiled bitterly.
"If the emperor were to interrogate him in person, he would probably faint from fear."
"Do you mean to tell me not to be too harsh?"
"The emperor's expression is already stern enough."
"... Then why don't you ask on my behalf?"
Shui Xinyuan peeked at Lu Fusu, who was holding his arms solemnly.
"Uh...what's wrong?"
"...for a while, the gardener... brags everywhere that he has proposed to you before..."
"What?" Qing'er exclaimed, "Is this happening?"
"Ask for marriage..."
This time it was Shui Xinyuan's turn to frown.
After a while, the soldiers of the Zhuge family brought in the tied-up Ziwei.
"ah……"
The haggard-looking Ziwei saw Shui Xinyuan and wanted to say hello to her, but when he saw the frowning Lu Fusu standing next to Shui Xinyuan, he immediately shut up... Moreover, even Shui Xinyuan looked angry.
He seemed to be thinking about something.
"Gardener, how are you doing?"
"yes……"
Zhuge Qing asked, "Of course Ziwei can't live well."
"Do you know that what happened this time was all about you talking nonsense and being taken advantage of by others?"
"..."
"If you hadn't spread rumors that you had asked the Queen to marry you, you wouldn't have been called to Chunhua Street, and you wouldn't have been tied up like this."
Ziwei's pale face twitched.
"I...I, I..."
"... Put it this way, it seems that he has really asked for marriage."
"Did you really ask for a kiss?"
Shui Xinyuan slowly raised his head.
"But, in our village, this kind of thing is not uncommon. Moreover, asking for marriage before the age of fifteen is meaningless at all..."
"What's the meaning?"
Lu Fusu, Qing'er and Zhuge Qing all looked at Shui Xinyuan, only Ziwei looked away awkwardly.
"In our village, children are sold to traffickers or sent to the city to work as maids before they are fifteen years old, so there are very few girls left in the village to be married."
Therefore, when there is a son in the family who wants to inherit the family business, the parents will find a girl of similar age in the village when the child is about ten years old, and go to the girl's home to ask if she is willing to be their wife.
"Ziwei and I are the same age, so I guess Ziwei's parents should have come to my house to propose marriage, but I have long decided to leave the village and ask my parents to reject all proposals for marriage."
"Shui Xinyuan, you mean that he is not the only one who has asked you to marry him?"
"Yes, there used to be several families who came to visit us, but it is the same for every family with a girl in the family. It has become a custom in our village."
Not only Lu Fusu, but also Zhuge Qing and Qing'er looked at Ziwei with sharp eyes. Ziwei was so ashamed that he didn't even dare to raise his head.
"You're really bragging..."
"However, if they are really in love, even if they are rejected by the girl's parents, the boy will still officially come to propose marriage. Many girls in our village have married boys from the same village and stayed in the village to work hard together."
After accepting the man's marriage proposal, the girl who stays in the village will marry into the man's family when she is fifteen years old.
But Shui Xinyuan left the village...
"Because no one in the village proposed to me directly."
"……Yeah?"
"right."
Shui Xinyuan snuggled next to Lu Fusu, looked up at him, and smiled.
"Only the emperor formally proposed to me."
"Shui Xinyuan..."
"I am only willing to agree to the emperor's marriage proposal."
"……Yeah?"
"right."
Seeing Lu Fusu's beaming smile, Zhuge Qing and Qing'er couldn't help but sigh.
"If the gardener had seen the emperor and the queen getting along before, I'm afraid he wouldn't believe what that fool said!"
"The king of a country always has this attitude in front of the queen, which makes people unbelievable, right?"
Ziwei stared blankly at the emperor who looked completely different from the previous moment.
…
On this day, people were coming and going in the palace in a hurry, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.
Tomorrow is the Enthronement Day, and while people are busy making preparations, they are spreading one thing by word of mouth.
The wives of eight noblemen, including Han Shizhong, wanted to frame the queen, and Ma Shilang, the Minister of Rites, tried to take the opportunity to assassinate the queen, but they were all arrested...
Both the Zhongshu Sheng and the Imperial Censor tried their best not to publicize the fact that the Queen was in danger on Chunhua Street. However, because a large number of officials rushed from the palace city to the streets of the capital and launched a search near Chunhua Street, it was difficult not to attract attention.
Notice.
It is said that there is no airtight wall in the world. In less than half a day, everyone knew that someone had attempted to assassinate the Queen.
After successfully finding the queen, just as rumors were spreading, eight aristocratic couples who had returned home under surveillance were called back to the palace again.
...Although they were dressed as brightly and brightly as usual, their embarrassment, surrounded by heavily armed imperial troops, with their hands tied with ropes, was completely different from the way they usually showed off their power in the palace.
When everyone saw it, they laughed dumbly at the fact that these people had chosen to attack the emperor's most beloved queen.
Sixteen nobles were tied with ropes and brought to the Rising Sun Palace, and eight noble ladies were taken to the Spring Ying Palace.
Their husbands kept bowing and begging the emperor to give him a lenient sentence, but the ladies didn't know whether they were willing to go all out or they were just shameless. After learning that lying about never going to Chunhua Street would not work, they still insisted.
It was just a joke. I didn't know that Ma Shilang had evil intentions, so there was no reason to blame them.
When they were ordered to wear shackles to see the queen, everyone came to Chunying Palace in a bad mood and did not hide the displeasure on their faces...
"..."
There was silence in Chunying Palace, and the ladies couldn't help but look at each other.
No maids could be seen along the way, and the imperial guards under surveillance did not take them to the living room where they usually visited the queen, but to the palace where banquets were held and where many people were seen.
"Get in!"
Hearing the soldiers' arrogant voices, several noble ladies glared at the imperial guards who opened the door for them, thinking: "They are just low-status soldiers, what's so impressive about them?" However, when they stepped into the hall, they were immediately stunned.
They all stopped.
The hall was filled with women.
It wasn't just a few people... there were at least hundreds of gorgeously dressed young women standing on both sides of the hall, leaving a path in the middle.
At the end of the road is a high platform.
"You can come to the front, but you are not allowed to speak without permission... Let's go!"
"This...here...?"
The ladies looked back at the Forbidden Army and asked with their eyes if they should walk among these women.
Jun Jun nodded regardless of himself.
"Why did you stop? Let's go quickly."
"……Well!"
That annoying queen has no more than twenty maids. Where did these young women come from? Who are they?
Several ladies couldn't help covering the shackles with their sleeves, but the soldier held the other end of the long rope tightly.
Perhaps the sight of the gorgeously dressed aristocratic lady being pulled along by a rope was so funny that someone finally couldn't help but laugh, and then snickering could be heard from everywhere.
The eight ladies glared viciously at the young women on both sides who had their heads lowered and their shoulders shaking with laughter. Halfway through, a very majestic voice sounded.
"Stop!"
I looked up and saw a young woman who was very gorgeously dressed and standing gracefully under the high platform.
I have seen that person before... yes, she is the emperor's confidant, the wife of Zhuge Qing, who was promoted to Zhongshu's minister a while ago.
Zhuge Qing, who was originally just the daughter of a mere businessman but became the most prominent among the young nobles, was the eldest son of Zhuge Qing. Her husband was not allowed to marry another wife.
In the eyes of the marriageable aristocrats at home, she is the second most hated woman after the queen...
"Kneel there and wait!"
"..."
"Didn't you hear? Kneel down!"
Even the Imperial Guard coughed slightly and pulled the other end of the rope, signaling them to kneel down.
The ladies turned red with anger and knelt down reluctantly.
Upon closer inspection, he found that almost all of the hundreds of women were unfamiliar faces, but the queen's maid stood near the high platform and looked at them with indifferent eyes.
"The Queen is here, lower your head!"
"What……"
"Quiet, I just told you that you are not allowed to talk here."
"..."
Zhou Shangshu's wife made a threatening sound like a cat, which caused more snickers.
The eight people finally realized that continuing to struggle would only make themselves more embarrassed, and they all lowered their heads.
They lowered their heads for a long time.
Jingle bell... there is a crisp ringing sound.
The microwave-like laughter stopped and all the women stood up straight.
The door inside opened.
The sound of slight footsteps and the friction of clothes gradually moved to the top of the high platform.
"…raise your head!"
There was gentle cuteness in the voice, but there was a majestic presence that could not be resisted. The eight ladies raised their heads obediently.
When they looked up, they found the queen there.
She has pomegranate flowers and pearls on her head, wearing bright red clothes and a belt of the same color as the pomegranate flowers on her head. A light peach inner shirt embroidered with fine arabesque patterns in gold thread is exposed from the cuffs and hem.
It added a bit of charm to her... but her sharp eyes, which she had never seen before, were more eye-catching than any decoration.
"Thank you for your hospitality today."
The Queen had never spoken in such a sarcastic tone before, and the ladies looked away in embarrassment.
"Through this incident, I also understand your inner thoughts... It turns out that in your eyes, I am such an eyesore and so dissatisfied with the emperor's decision."
"It's not..."
"Shut up!"
Although the queen's tone was not as harsh as Zhuge Qing's wife, she could feel the majesty. Han Shizhong's wife immediately cut back her words midway through her words.
"If you have anything to say, go and tell the censor! I already know enough of the truth."
The younger aristocratic lady was so frightened that her face was livid, her whole body was shaking, and there were tears in her eyes, but the queen did not change her expression and looked at everyone's face calmly.
"I am the queen chosen by the emperor. Since you are willing to go against the emperor's will and want to depose me as the queen and make your daughter a concubine, you must have the corresponding consciousness."
The ladies did not dare to say it was a joke anymore, and the silence became more and more solemn.
Logically speaking, the queen on the high platform was not used to such occasions, but she sat down slowly, as if she had been sitting there every day ten years ago.
There was silence in the hall, and the queen slowly opened her mouth.
"Now that you have achieved enlightenment, I will help you."
The queen's unexpected words made several ladies scream in surprise.
"Really, really...?"
"Yes, but..."
The queen narrowed her eyes.
"You should know that the harem has been abolished, so I will take them in at Chunying Palace."
Eight people were speechless.
What does it mean for a queen to take in a concubine?
"I will grant your daughter the status of a concubine, but the treatment of the concubine will be decided by the queen... I have the full power to decide how to treat your daughter."
"……Well!"
In other words, the imperial concubines were in vain and just treated their daughters as decorations.
Some of the noble ladies turned pale, and some were trembling all over.
"If you think this is okay, please hand over the apple of your eye. I will take them in with the same consciousness as you."
...Is she the previous queen?
Is she the woman who always lowers her head, seldom speaks, and has a helpless smile on her face?
The ladies of the nobles were like a cold water injection. They were not angry at the moment, but scared, and they were too scared to move.
"As for how to deal with you, we will discuss it in the future. Those who want their daughter to become the imperial concubine can submit it to the Central Publishing House after the decision is made. I'm done."
The queen said calmly.
Everyone can clearly see that there is no courage on the faces of these ladies who intend to let their daughters become princesses in name only.
"Get up! You will be imprisoned in the dungeon before the punishment is decided!"
Upon hearing these fatal words from Zhuge Qing's wife, the expressions of the eight people changed drastically.
Under the escort of the imperial guards, they stood up unsteadily, were pulled by the rope, turned around, and walked back among the many young women.
"...Be careful when walking and don't step on the rope."
I don’t know who said this, but the teasing tone once again caused bursts of snickering.
At this time, the eight noble ladies swore in their hearts that they would never come to this kind of place again in their lives...