At this time, the sun is setting, and a shallow rays of sunset dye half of the sky deep and shallow. The original crystal hall was painted with misty colors by the last golden rays of sunlight.

Hua Liyue stretched out her palm, and she could feel the golden sunset jumping through the treetops in her palm. Even though there was no temperature, it strangely made her feel a lot warmer.

Xiaoxiao rubbed her cold fingers and asked, "Madam, where are we going now?"

Hua Lianyue sighed, where else could she go? Seeing that the banquet was about to start, she naturally went to the banquet. Besides, after such a long delay, Liu Hui is probably looking for them everywhere.

Glancing back, Liu Qi led the woman to bounce, and she was already walking towards another path. Xiaoxiao looked for her eyes, and also saw their backs gradually moving away. So he frowned and said suspiciously, "Don't they have to go to the banquet?"

Qingying said with a smile: "The Nine Emperor Princes have just played too crazy, and now his little face is like a cat, presumably the palace people took him to wash." I just don't know if Zhen Zhaoyi will blame us for a lot of things if she sees him like this!"

"He has palace people waiting for him, don't worry, you still want to find some hot water first and wash yourself up!" Hua Lianyue laughed and quipped, the pearl tassel hanging down on the step shook gently, and the ruby pendant refracted the blood-like luster in the setting sun.

Xiaoxiao and Qingying were not delicate, they grabbed the white snow on the ground casually, wiped off the grass juice and mud stained when they fed the deer on their hands, and the three of them talked and laughed and walked towards the palace where the banquet was held.

On the way, I really met Liu Hui who was looking for them, although I didn't know why he suddenly turned back to Fuxi Pavilion, Hua Lianyue knew that if she wanted Concubine Shu to completely dispel the careful thoughts in her heart, she had to go out and talk to her alone.

Now seeing that although Liu Hui's face is still solemn, his brows have relaxed a lot, he knows that the matter of Concubine Shu's side must not worry about her anymore.

Holding his arm with a smile, the two looked at each other and smiled, accompanied by the last trace of the sun that was about to disappear, and walked hand in hand towards the hall full of candles and laughter.

In the noisy hall there are countless special brass one-legged green luans with auspicious cloud oil lamps, and the huge wick absorbs the lamp oil and burns a brilliant orange flame, illuminating the entire hall as if it were day. The thick bright yellow brocade tent covered the line of sight between the palace concubines and the nobles.

Only the emperor sat high in the center, looking down at his eyes, taking his women and courtiers into his eyes. The throne on the left naturally belongs to the dignified and noble Empress Xie, and on the right is the kind and kind Queen Mother.

Behind the queen sat the concubines of the palace, and behind the queen mother were the princes and nobles of the palace, and the families of those concubines could only sit far behind. Although they sit in a dark corner where even the emperor can't see clearly, they also represent the supreme glory of the family behind them.

When Liu Hui stepped into the main hall with Hua Lianyue, the original noise was slightly weak, and those eyes that were either curious, indifferent, hostile, or meaningful, were cast from all directions.

The two of them have long practiced the ability to be immobile in the midst of thousands of troops, and these sights are naturally difficult for them to bother. So with a proper smile, they sat down behind the crown princess.

The feast did not officially begin, and only some pastries, fruits, and hot tea were served on the table. After seeing them sit down, the soft voices of the concubines sounded again.

Empress Xie glanced in the direction of the crown princess, but saw that the crown princess was twisting her eyebrows and pursing her red lips, obviously sulking. And her side was empty, and the crown prince Liu Yi, who should have been sitting there a long time ago to help entertain guests, was still nowhere to be seen until this moment, and Queen Xie's eyebrows couldn't help frowning slightly.

She leaned back slightly and whispered a few words to the personal palace maid standing next to her. The palace maid hurriedly bent her knees and blessed herself, and then quietly retreated.

The emperor didn't see this scene, he was chatting with the queen mother. Raising his eyes, he saw Manager Li quietly coming to his side, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, someone from the Fuxi Palace said that Concubine Shuniang was unwell and couldn't come to the family banquet." ”

The emperor was stunned, a complicated color flashed in his eyes, and then he nodded and said indifferently: "Got it!"

The Queen Mother also heard Manager Li's words, so she said coldly: "It's okay if you don't come, so that she won't be comfortable sitting here, and we will feel bad luck when we see her." ”

The emperor was silent and seemed to agree with the Queen Mother's words. The light of his eyes unconsciously passed through the crowd and fell on Liu Hui, who was half-hanging his eyes and whispering in Hua Lianyue's ear with a smile. Seeing the happy smile on Liu Hui's lips, the emperor couldn't help but hook the corners of his lips knowingly.

Back then, Concubine Shu assassinated Mo Guiren's child, but the Queen Mother found out and sued the emperor. The queen mother didn't like this low-born woman in the rivers and lakes, and she once caused her to be separated from the emperor for many years.

It's just that this vicious woman has monopolized the emperor for so many years, and she still dares to murder the emperor's dragon species, which is the crux of the queen mother's refusal to forgive her in the end.

When the emperor and Concubine Shu were in love, after learning about this incident, their first reaction was naturally disbelief, and they even suspected that the queen or the queen mother couldn't get used to her favor and tried to blame her.

When the Queen Mother put the evidence in front of him, he still didn't believe it. It wasn't until he secretly sent someone to bring the imperial doctor, who had been far away from the capital, to the front and explain the whole thing and the whole thing, that he couldn't help but believe it.

The hearty woman he once had a crush on, the simple woman he once held in the palm of his hand, finally changed, and became as hateful as the rest of the concubines in the harem with different purposes.

The Queen Mother felt sorry for her grandson, who was gone before she was born, and was extremely angry, so she insisted on sending Concubine Shu into the cold palace. Although the emperor was almost defeated by strong disappointment, he still begged the queen mother to be lenient for the sake of the concubine who was already pregnant, and promised to send her into the cold palace as long as the child was born safely.

The queen mother couldn't stand the pleas of the king of a country, so she compromised. But the hatred of Concubine Shu in her heart is also unforgettable, and it is difficult to extinguish.

The emperor accompanied the unconscious concubine every day as usual, and even secretly destroyed all the evidence, and even angered Mo Guiren, who had already lost her child, so cruel that she died of depression.

Because he cowardly wants to pretend that nothing happened, she is still the same laughing and noisy she used to be, and he is still the man who only spoils her.

Especially after Ah Hui was born, a boy with a similar appearance to her and his blood made him ecstatic. For countless nights, the emperor held the delicate and delicate her with one hand and the soft little doll with the other. The satisfaction in his heart made him almost forget the wrong things she had done.

It wasn't until Ah Hui was more than five months old that he inadvertently bumped into her punishing the palace maid for a trivial matter, so harsh, so high-minded, and so ruthless.

For a moment, he was at a loss! He couldn't even see her face clearly, he only felt that her red lips were so dazzling, and that sharp scolding was so harsh! And when he came back to his senses, his first choice was to turn around and run away timidly!

Perhaps the moment he turned around, he already understood that the hearty girl who once rode her horse and laughed loudly could only appear in his memory alone.

Concubine Shu suddenly fell out of favor, except for the Queen Mother, who understood a little, others were confused, but this did not prevent others from taking the opportunity to fall into the well. Especially Queen Xie, she didn't expect that the fierce rival who had been fighting for many years would be defeated inexplicably.

Of course, Queen Xie is smart and will not teach her a lesson in person, she only needs a few hints, and there are naturally a lot of concubines in the palace who want to cling to the Xie family and want to attach to the queen, and curry favor with her by suppressing the mother and son of the concubine.

In order to make up for the snubbing of Empress Xie over the years, the emperor gave all his favor to Liu Yi and Liu Ling. For a while, the power of the Xie family became more and more soaring, and no one could match.

The emperor also seems to have completely forgotten Concubine Shu's mother and son, but whenever he is drunk, he will still wander outside the Fuxi Hall uncontrollably, but he will never set foot in it.

In fact, the emperor also knew in his heart that the wrong things done by Concubine Shu were not a great crime, and even in the harem, it could only be regarded as a very ordinary means of competing for favor. He stubbornly refused to forgive, probably because she destroyed the simplicity and beauty that he longed for most in his heart.

The emperor has always intended to forget the mother and son, until one day, he went to the study to test the knowledge of the princes. saw Liu Hui, the second prince who had the same appearance as Concubine Shu, and was swollen by the Zuo Taifu at that time because the prince had memorized a few wrong sentences.

And he could see that the prince was smug on his face, obviously deliberately making a mistake and letting Liu Hui, who was three years younger than him, be punished. Liu Hui, who was only six years old at the time, was obviously used to it, and although the pain brought tears to his eyes, he never let it roll down.

The emperor only glanced at it, and immediately turned around and left. Because he knew that although this incident was caused by the prince's stubbornness, it was no wonder that the Zuo Taifu, who had always been strict.

Because the crown prince is the prince, his identity is naturally much more noble than the prince next to him. Even if he made a mistake, the Taifu could not be punished, but could only let the little eunuch or other princes around him punish him, which was the so-called killing the chicken to show the monkey.

The emperor returned to the imperial study with a sigh of relief, and immediately ordered the selection of a few noble sons with excellent qualifications to enter the palace, the purpose of which was naturally to accompany the prince and the princes. Among them, the Dingbei Wangfu is the most powerful, and the prince's eldest grandson, Sun Jihuang, naturally won the favor of the queen, and hinted repeatedly that he wanted to point it to the prince.

The emperor used the excuse of being of a similar age to firmly point out Ji Huang to Liu Hui as a companion, so Queen Xie thought that Concubine Shu's mother and son were going to regain their favor, so she secretly planned to be vigilant for a long time.

Who knew that it turned out that she was too worried, and the emperor still regarded the mother and son as invisible, and had no intention of paying attention to them at all. It's just that she didn't know that the second prince Liu Hui was secretly noticed by the emperor at this moment. Ji Huang of the Northern Palace, which was the talisman he found for Liu Hui.

With Ji Huang and the emperor's secret care, Liu Hui will grow up stumbling and without danger. Back then, the queen wanted to make the daughter of the Xie family Liu Hui's princess, not to mention that Liu Hui, who happened to be rebellious, refused to agree, and even the emperor secretly disliked it in his heart.

So on the grounds of Liu Hui's refusal to marry, he was demoted to Meiling County, which is far away from the capital, to be a small magistrate. Behind the seemingly punishment, he wants this son from an imperfect background to be able to work hard and work hard.

The official documents that Liu Hui dealt with day and night were all sent by the emperor, but in fact, they were all small things that happened in some places, and the impact on the court and the society was almost none. The emperor just wants to use such trivial things to sharpen him, just so that he can grow up quickly, so as not to be suppressed by the prince by the Xie family all the time and can't raise his head.

The second prince, who has always been so low-key that it seems that everyone can bully, can make a splash. not only has outstanding local political achievements, but also handled many major cases in a row, so that the emperor can't ignore them if he wants to.

And these all of this made him unexpected, the emperor's original intention was just to keep Liu Hui from being completely trampled on the soles of the prince's feet, but he didn't expect that after a few times, Liu Hui's power in his hands became more and more powerful, and he actually faintly had the momentum to compete with the prince.

The emperor was afraid that the queen and the Xie family would secretly be ruthless to Liu Hui because they regarded him as a threat to the prince's smooth ascension. So he hurriedly named him the king of goodness. seems to be the last way for Liu Hui to compete for the throne, which is indeed a means for the emperor to protect him.

At this moment, the emperor's thoughts about Liu Hui's son are extremely complex and contradictory. He didn't want Liu Hui to be too good, that would rob the crown prince of his glory, after all, the prince was the prince he had carefully cultivated for twenty years. And he will inevitably be secretly proud of Liu Hui's outstanding performance.

Because through Liu Hui, he seems to be able to see himself who was also not favored by the emperor back then, but has been working hard in secret.

So he made the concubine of the Zhang family a virtuous princess, just to want Liu Hui to unite more closely with the Zhang family. It's a pity that Liu Hui didn't appreciate it, and he even used the etiquette of marrying a concubine in Dancui Villa to marry a girl from the Liu family.

On the day they got married, the emperor got a flying pigeon in the palace. He didn't feel angry strangely, he was full of complexity, and he even came to Fuxi Hall like a ghost and saw Concubine Shu, who had been neglected by him for more than 20 years.

The precipitation of the years has made her face a little more weathered, and her lively personality has become extremely silent. The emperor's rash visit, Concubine Shu did not feel much surprised, nor did she feel too surprised. After the tea was served, he just waited aside, not even wanting to speak.

Probably only after complete despair will you be so sad and joyless, full of care. Even though his son got married, the emperor had words full of words and wanted to narrate them to Concubine Shu, but looking at her happy appearance, these words were all blocked in his throat and couldn't be spoken.

The emperor walked a little embarrassed and a little sad. It seems that not only has she been trying to forget her for more than twenty years, but she has also been trying to forget him. A pair of lovers who once swore an alliance to the death eventually became relatively annoying enemies.

He knows better than anyone that although the daughter of the Zhang family can make Liu Hui's power grow, the girl of the Liu family can make Liu Hui truly happy. Just when he was weighing the two, Liu Hui took a silver mine to negotiate conditions with him.

The emperor had to admit that at that moment, when he saw vigilance, vigilance, and courage in Liu Hui's eyes, but he was almost completely defeated when he did not have his son's admiration for his father.

Because he is the only one who knows, even if he has secretly paid a lot of attention to Liu Hui over the years. However, because of the partiality on his face, he pushed this son farther and farther away with his own hands.