The Imperial City of Beijing, the day of May. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

On the west side of the imperial city, Cining Palace, the queen mother's bedroom is outside.

The Queen Mother held a cup of tea in her hand, took a sip, and said, "Punish you for one year, that's what the emperor said?"

"Back to the Queen Mother, yes. Su Fang replied with her head down.

The Queen Mother frowned and put down the teacup heavily.

Su Fang lowered her head and waited for a reply, but she didn't see the Queen Mother say anything to him for a long time.

After waiting for another half a moment, there was still nothing to say, Su Fang had to raise her head and ask cautiously tentatively, "Niangniang?"

The Queen Mother hummed at this time, looked at Su Fang with a frowning brow, and waved her hand after a while, which was to make him retreat.

Su Fang was a little surprised and called again: "Queen Mother." ”

The Queen Mother looked impatient, and said coldly: "Stand down." ”

Su Fang was stunned again, and wanted to say something more, but her body let Gao Yueming on the side push her. He turned his head to look at Gao Yueming, and saw that the other party was looking at him continuously, meaning that he should stop asking and leave quickly.

Su Fang was stunned again, looked back at the Queen Mother, saw her face gloomy, and was surprised, knowing that it was impossible to ask anything more, she hurriedly lowered her head and said, "Yes, the slave retired." With that, he was blessed again and retreated.

Su Fang retreated and disappeared, but the Queen Mother's frowning eyebrows still did not relax.

She turned her head to look at Gao Yueming and Zhao Sheng who were waiting on both sides, and after a pause, she finally asked, "You say, what does the emperor mean by this?"

Gao Yueming and Zhao Sheng were both stunned, glanced at each other, and didn't know how to reply to the Queen Mother's words.

After waiting for a long time and no one answered, the Queen Mother was unhappy, and shouted with a cold face: "What do you mean?"

The two big eunuchs were stunned again, and Gao Yueming had to step forward and reply: "Hui Niangniang, the slave doesn't think it's interesting." ”

"It's not interesting, hahaha-" the Queen Mother sneered, "he's going to be boring." What a good opportunity, such a crime of failure to investigate, whoever is put in it, at least it is the sin of being demoted three times in a row. But the emperor was only fined for one year, and he was not even expelled from the cabinet, what is this?"

Gao Yueming lowered her head and replied softly: "Niangniang, don't you have a lot of heart, your majesty, maybe you just don't dare to use your power." ”

"Don't you dare to use power?" asked the Queen Mother.

"The minion just guessed. Gao Yueming replied.

"Why doesn't he dare to use it?"

Gao Yueming's head hung lower, and he didn't dare to reply.

Seeing this, the Queen Mother turned to look at Zhao Sheng and asked sharply, "Zhao Sheng, what do you say?" ”

Zhao Sheng asked, and replied with a smile: "The slave thinks that the emperor may also be testing Niangniang." ”

"Temptation?"

"Yes, Niangniang just tried to give back the power to the emperor, the emperor is young, how dare he take it, so I will test Niangniang with this. ”

The Queen Mother nodded, and then asked, "Now it seems that what kind of person do you think the emperor is?"

"This—" The two great eunuchs hesitated.

"Tell me the truth. ”

Zhao Sheng and Gao Yueming glanced at each other again, but still didn't dare to say.

"Mourners forgive you for your innocence. The Queen Mother said again.

With the words of the Queen Mother, Zhao Sheng was bold and replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, according to the slaves, although the emperor is still young, he is a very smart person. ”

The Queen Mother sneered: "How smart is it?"

Zhao Sheng bowed his head and said: "The emperor has never explicitly topped Niangniang. ”

"Isn't it because of his cowardice, and because he is afraid of me?"

"The initial minions think so too, but—"

"But what?"

Zhao Sheng paused for a long time before replying: "But judging from the emperor's only few unusual actions, they are not ordinary people's actions, and from this, the emperor does not seem to be a timid and afraid person." Therefore, the slave thought that the emperor did not know that he was afraid of Niangniang, but because he clearly knew that it was useless to contradict Niangniang. ”

The Queen Mother's face was even more ugly, she clenched her teeth, and it took a long time to spit out words: "The emperor is only fourteen years old, and there is no one in the palace to help him, but he can endure the grief and family to this point, and the strength of his heart can be seen." Xinyi persuaded the mourners to try to give him power, so that he could taste the sweetness of this matter and then indulge his heart. But he, on the other hand, also came to try the mourning family. ”

"Niangniang-" The two eunuchs called softly.

The Queen Mother took a few breaths, and said coldly: "In this matter, don't care, let the emperor do whatever he wants." Although Lu Linyu is a mourning person, even if he lets it go, the mourning family will not accept this feeling. Speaking of this, the Queen Mother suddenly stopped talking, paused for a moment, and then said: "That Li Chaochen, what's wrong?"

Gao Yueming replied: "I entered the Hanlin Academy." ”

"Just entered the Hanlin Academy?" the queen mother was shocked, "He was chosen as a Shujishi?"

"Hui Niangniang, yes. ”

"How many of them have entered the Hanlin Academy?" asked the Queen Mother again

The two big eunuchs were stunned for a moment, and Zhao Sheng replied: "This slave doesn't know how to pay detailed accounts, and I only heard that about half of the people have been decided at today's cabinet meeting." ”

"Half, half of three hundred and ninety-seven, there are nearly two hundred. Today's Hanlin Courtyard is really big, and it can really accommodate people. The Queen Mother sneered.

Zhao Sheng said tentatively: "Tomorrow morning, the cabinet will report this resolution to the emperor, does Niangniang have any other words?"

The Queen Mother thought for a moment and shook her head: "No need, it's up to them to decide." ”

"What about Li Chaochen?"

The Queen Mother sighed: "Although it's a pity, let him go." ”

The two great eunuchs nodded in response.

One master and two servants were discussing in the inner hall, when they suddenly heard a noise from outside the hall. The Queen Mother frowned, looked at Zhao Sheng with her eyes, and motioned for him to take a look.

Zhao Sheng was ordered to exit the inner hall and walk through the inner courtyard towards the outer hall.

"What's the matter, what's the noise outside, I don't know if Niangniang is resting, do you want to be quiet?" Zhao Sheng scolded outside the hall with his high-pitched and high-pitched male voice.

The housekeeper who was guarding the outer hall hurriedly rushed over and bowed to Zhao Sheng: "Back to Zhao Gonggong, how dare the old body disturb the rest of the mother, it's just that the personal palace maid of the fifth princess is here, and those who cry and make a fuss must meet the mother, the old body is not stopped, and it is not stopped, and she can't be driven away, isn't this embarrassing?"

Zhao Sheng was stunned for a moment, raised a scream unique to eunuchs, and asked again: "The personal palace maid of the fifth princess, what is she crying about?"

You must know that the fifth princess is the same as the second princess, but the daughter of the queen mother is the most loved by the queen mother, and everyone in the palace knows that no one can offend these two baby princesses. Or you do it at your own risk.

Half a month ago, the second princess just married out of the palace, and the two sisters have had a good relationship since childhood. The fifth princess has also received special approval, and she can often go out of the palace to accompany the second princess in the second princess's mansion.

Early this morning, the fifth princess reported to the queen mother and went out of the palace to the second princess's mansion. I planned to have dinner at the second princess's mansion, and I didn't return to the palace until day and night.

Why is it that just after Shen Shi now, the personal palace maid of the five princesses came to talk about it.

The housekeeper sighed, and was just about to reply, when she saw a woman dressed as a girl outside the palace running behind her in a panic, and when she saw Zhao Sheng, she knelt on the ground and cried loudly: "Father-in-law Zhao, please let the slave maid meet the queen mother, the fifth princess - the fifth princess - she was beaten and has not woken up until now." ”

Zhao Sheng was taken aback: "The fifth princess was beaten, what's going on?"

The palace maid dressed as a girl sobbed and cried, and she was so choked that she couldn't speak.

Zhao Sheng was so anxious that he slapped his thigh and scolded sharply: "Okay, don't cry, come with the slave family." ”

When the palace maid dressed as a girl heard this, she stood up while crying and followed Zhao Sheng to the inner hall. When the eunuchs and palace maids behind them saw it, they also followed in a swarm.

Walk through the inner courtyard and into the inner sanctum. The Queen Mother and her personal eunuch Gao Yueming also heard about it and were moving out of the bedroom.

The people who came on both sides met in front of the main hall of the inner sanctum.

As soon as she saw the Queen Mother, the palace maid dressed as a girl knelt down again, cried loudly, and said: "The Queen Mother, the Queen Mother, the Fifth Princess, the Fifth Princess—"

The Queen Mother said angrily with a cold face: "What's wrong with her?"

The palace maid cried: "The fifth princess, she was beaten outside the palace, and she hasn't woken up until now. ”

The Queen Mother's body trembled with anger, and Gao Yueming hurriedly stepped forward to help her sit on the main seat of the main hall.

Zhao Sheng stood up straight, stared at the palace maid and spoke for the queen mother: "What's going on, just say it." ”

The palace maid nodded, knelt on the ground, and sobbed while shedding tears: "The queen mother knows, and today the slave maid accompanied the fifth princess to the second princess's mansion as a guest." Originally, everything was fine, the fifth princess had a good time in the second princess's mansion, and after lunch, the concubine who was running an errand outside also came back, and everyone was very happy. After chatting with the two princesses, he mentioned to the second princess that the most famous Legui tea garden in Beijing had a new troupe, and the song was very good. The Queen Mother also knows that the second princess has always liked to listen to new songs the most. As soon as he heard the words of the horse master, he excitedly took the five princesses to listen to the music of this new troupe. The fifth princess was afraid that she would break the rules and did not dare to go, and the slaves and maids also said that they did not conform to the rules, and even persuaded the second princess not to go. But the second princess didn't listen to anything, and she had to take the fifth princess with her. The fifth princess couldn't resist the second princess, and finally agreed to listen to the play secretly. ”

Speaking of this, the palace maid paused for a moment and wiped her tears vigorously.

The queen mother was so angry that she slapped the table and said angrily: "Jing'er, she really went, followed those unruly girls outside the palace, and went to listen to some drama." ”

"Back to the Queen Mother, yes. The palace maid agreed in a low voice.

The Queen Mother asked, "Jing'er, she was beaten, she was beaten—"

The palace maid was so shocked that she fell to the ground with her hands, her head against the smooth gold-lacquered brick slab, and replied: "The fifth princess was beaten, and she was in the theater garden. ”

The Queen Mother was so angry that her face turned blue: "You-you go on." ”

The palace maid responded in a low voice, stopped crying a little, still lying on the ground with her hands, and replied: "We will accompany the fifth princess and go outside to watch the play with the second princess." Because she was afraid of being seen by outsiders, the second princess did not choose her to sit in any carriage in the house, but hired one outside. When I arrived at the tea garden, I didn't say my identity, but only spent silver to watch a play in a middle room on the second floor. Everything was fine at first, and both princesses were very happy to watch. But halfway through it—" (To be continued.) )