The night seemed to be particularly dark and rainy, and most of the palace was very quiet. Occasionally, I saw guards standing in the dark like nails, or eunuchs keeping watch at night.
Except for the patter of rain and the swaying of the yellow gauze palace lanterns, there was almost no sound.
Or, there were sounds, but they were all covered up by the sound of rain.
"Quick, quick!" The sound of horse hooves broke the silence, and the guards at the palace gate were immediately alert. They pressed the hilt of the knife in the firelight: "Who?"
"It's me..." The person below turned over and dismounted, panting.
A hundred households peeked out from the palace gate, looked at the fire carefully, and then said: "It turns out to be Eunuch Zhou. If you weren't following Eunuch Ma on business, why did you come back at this time..."
"Of course the Zhang family has important matters..."
"Well, Eunuch Zhou, at this time..."
"Asshole, don't you understand the rules in our family? I'll plug the crack in the door..."
"Then, please stay a little longer..."
At three o'clock in the hour (6:30), the palace door is closed, and no one is allowed to enter or exit unless ordered to do so. Even if there is a special emergency, the memorial can only be passed through the crack of the palace door.
go.
Baihu ran down, took the fold that was passed through the gap, and only glanced at it. When he saw the words "King Qi privately stores armor," he immediately changed his expression, closed it with a "snap", turned around and ran away.
In the dark night, there were faint voices, all the way to the emperor's palace, and after a while, the lights were on.
This actually shocked many people.
The palace opened at the third quarter of the Yin hour (3:30). Before that, several palace maids and eunuchs got up and were busy preparing. At this time, they saw what seemed to be hundreds of households reporting something, which caused a shock.
"Hurry, hurry!" Then it was not opened in advance. It was not until the third quarter of the Yin hour that the palace door opened. Someone saw the newly promoted eunuch Hu Huaian leading a team and galloping out.
"Something big happened!"
Everyone in the palace who had intelligence sources had heard about this to some extent. Only a few of the palace concubines could not help but feel uneasy when they got the news, and immediately knew that something had happened.
In a palace courtyard, a little maid and a waiter were making tea and preparing food. They spoke softly for fear of waking up the noble man, but there was already movement inside.
"Your Majesty, you don't sleep well?" The palace maid asked in a low voice when she saw that her Majesty was woken up and refused to light the lamp. She just sat on the side of the bed with her coat on, serving her.
"Is it daylight outside?" Because it was a rainy night and the moonlight and starlight were not visible, it was naturally difficult to judge the time from the brightness outside, so the lady asked this question.
The palace maid hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, it's only three o'clock in the morning, and it's still early before dawn. You can sleep a little longer."
The queen didn't like to see her concubines, and the concubines didn't have to get up early to pay their respects. As long as they didn't accompany the emperor the night before, they could naturally sleep all morning late the next day and be fine.
Given the emperor's character, he would generally not come to the harem in the morning to look for his concubine.
When she heard that it was only early in the morning, the empress was stunned for a moment, touched the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and couldn't help but sigh: "Then continue to sleep."
There is no need to think about what happened before, even if it happened, what does it have to do with them?
As the emperor's body has aged significantly and his temperament has changed compared with the past, even the favored concubine can easily arouse displeasure.
Those who are favored today may be relegated to the cold palace tomorrow.
Since most of the palace concubines who were tortured in this way were young nobles, the news naturally did not spread.
But the high-ranking concubines in the harem were more or less depressed.
Everyone fights for favor and trust.
But if the emperor is like this, what else can he fight for?
Kunning Palace
Similarly, there were only two beige watermelon lanterns hung, and under the lamps there were numerous figures. The palace maids came and went, all wearing flat soft shoes, walking lightly, and going about their business lightly.
A man hurried over, also walking quietly. When he arrived at a place and bowed, he saw under the lamp that it was a young eunuch. After reporting softly, he asked.
"Godfather, do you want to report this to your mother-in-law?"
The old eunuch, half of his figure in the corridor was hidden in the darkness, said in a deep voice: "I will report it, so you don't have to worry about this matter. Go to sleep."
"Why!"
But when the old eunuch walked back and bowed to the motionless woman standing in the deep hall, the woman knew what was going on in front of him without him saying anything.
The woman was quietly lost in thought, and the entire palace suddenly fell into silence. After a long time, she said: "Has Zhao Bingzhong sent a message?"
"Don't worry, I have sent him a message."
"Then just wait. Even Xinping has become a splash of water, forcing Concubine Wu to cooperate. My grandson will not let me down."
"It's just that if Xinping enters the palace, what should Concubine Wu call me?" At this point, the woman even smiled a little in her tone.
The old eunuch bowed and did not answer. After a moment he looked up and saw that the empress had gone back and the maid was quietly waiting for her to fall asleep. He couldn't help but sigh to himself.
"As expected of a girl!"
This magnanimity, this mind, the emperor benefited a lot from back then, but it is a pity that the prince...
well!
In other people's eyes, the Queen had no reaction after knowing the previous news, and still lived her life in the palace with a cold attitude.
Everyone was initially uneasy, but seeing that the queen remained the same as before, they gradually calmed down.
In the final analysis, these people in the harem are still one level apart from the previous dynasty. If something really happened, unless the emperor died suddenly or encountered a major event related to his mother-in-law, otherwise, something would happen and there would be a fire.
Can't burn their side.
But those who served the emperor could not hide. They could only suppress their fear, hold their breath and concentrate, walk lightly, and did not dare to make the slightest sound.
Until a burst of footsteps came from outside and stopped outside the palace.
"His Majesty……"
"Zhao Bingzhong, what's the noise outside? Hu Huaian is back?"
In the palace, the emperor stood up and opened his lead-heavy eyelids. He couldn't help but wake up and looked at a tall eunuch who was standing with a bow and asked.
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Hu and Eunuch Ma are back together. They are waiting outside, waiting to be summoned."
The emperor looked tired and his face was sallow. Under the candlelight, his eyes were a little dull. After a moment, he said: "Let them come in."
Zhao Bingzhong responded, and after a while, Hu Huaian and Ma Shunde came in and saluted the emperor.
"Since you are here, you have found clues?" The emperor leaned on the big pillow and did not ask Hu Huaian, but just looked at Ma Shunde.
His gaze was actually indifferent, Ma Shunde did not dare to raise his head, but he felt that the emperor was staring at him, like an old ferocious beast staring at its prey. Even though the ferocious beast was old, it was still easy to kill him.
His neck was a little damp, and he knelt down with a pop, and replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, I have asked officials to investigate all officials above the fifth rank, including those who have retired, and those who have been convicted, and the results were found to be collusion."
King Qi’s Huo Lianqi, he has a thousand households!”
"Qianhu Huo Lianqi?" the emperor repeated, his face becoming more and more ugly. He seemed to have heard of this name, but he couldn't remember it for a moment.