Wan'er didn't expect to see Empress Wu so soon.

Before entering the inner study hall, her mother earnestly instructed her to hide her clumsiness and not to be in the limelight. At that time, Wan'er was still naïve to think, she was a person who had never been to school, and when she first entered the school, shouldn't she think about how to not be compared to others, so that she was smiling and generous, why did her mother tell her not to be in the limelight?

When Wan'er entered the school, as soon as she heard Dr. Gongjiao speak, she understood why her mother said this--the things taught in the inner study hall are too simple, Wan'er can recite books when she is three or four years old, but when she arrives here, it is the general storage of the six classics, and the doctor of the palace teaches everyone to read it over and over again, but there are still many people who can't recite it and are punished by the doctor; Wan'er has half understood the truth at the age of five or six, and has been repeatedly taught by the doctor of the palace here, but there are still people who can't understand it, can't think about it, I can't learn; my mother's arithmetic is not very good, and Wan'er's arithmetic is therefore only sloppy, but the people here are even more ignorant of mathematics than her; Wan'er is ten years old and can first copy Feibai, but half of the people here can't even hold a pen...

Wan'er followed her mother's teachings, trying to suppress her talents, so as not to attract attention, but unfortunately no matter how cautious she was, she could not be equal to those peers who didn't know the big characters, and within a few days, Wan'er had already won the attention of the palace doctors, and then recommended her to the Empress Wu.

When Wan'er came to the residence under the will to participate in the selection of the female history, the mother, who had always criticized the nobles behind her back, was so frightened that her face turned white - the mother who was also the mother of everyone completely lost her high-door demeanor, holding Wan'er and sobbing and crying, in the end, Wan'er pushed her away and said calmly: "Ah Niang, if Your Majesty wanted to kill me, she could have killed me a long time ago, why did you keep me until now, and go to great lengths to be elected to the inner study hall?"

The attendant who passed the message glanced at her with a smile and said to her mother: "The little lady is a person of creation, and Mrs. Zheng doesn't have to worry." ”

When Wan'er heard this person's tone, she became more and more sure in her heart, and comforted her mother a little, so she calmly went to the summons - saying that she was calm, but in fact, she was still a little apprehensive in her heart, after all, she had such a surname, although her mother covered it up in every possible way, but there were still many people in the palace who knew it, in case someone leaked it to the Empress Wu... Wan'er pursed her lips and drove this thought out of her heart: How can there be more than 10,000 or 20,000 maids in the palace?

Wan'er walked to the Zichen Hall in such a belief, and when she waited to see her, she saw that there were steps and honor guards outside, and she was puzzled, but she saw that the martial queen slowly came out of the inside and went on the steps.

When Wan'er first saw Empress Wu, she wore a full set of ceremonial clothes, looking graceful and luxurious, and since then, Empress Wu has always been majestic and unattainable in her heart. But this time, the Empress Wu was only wearing a half-old pomegranate skirt, with half arms of the same color, and there were two patches on the inconspicuous part of the dress.

Wan'er knelt on the side of the road with the crowd when she started walking, she thought that she had figured it out and was not afraid of meeting the Empress Wu at all, but when she knelt down, her body seemed to have her own consciousness, and she spontaneously pressed down. Buyu soon passed by her, and as soon as she felt the shadow above her head, Wan'er quietly raised her head, wanting to straighten her neck to take a look at the queen's ceremonial car, but when she saw Buyu, she turned her head, came back from more than ten steps away, and stopped in front of Wan'er.

The Venerable Queen of Heaven was dressed in slightly shabby clothes, looked at her condescendingly, and opened her mouth without knowing joy or anger: "You are the person recommended by the Inner Book Hall?"

Wan'er's heart jumped inexplicably, she bent down, and said softly: "The concubine has been summoned since the end of class, and I only know that Your Majesty wants to test the concubine's knowledge, and I don't know anything else. ”

Empress Wu seemed to smile, or maybe it was just the corners of her mouth, she held a string of Buddhist beads in her hand, and said while rubbing: "What is your name?"

Wan'er hesitated for a moment, then said, "The name of the concubine... Wan'er. ”

Empress Wu tilted her head and said softly: "Wan'er?" Different from the hearty voice that Wan'er had heard before, this time the voice was very gentle, and Wan'er's heart jumped when she read it, and she moved forward a little tremblingly, and said, "Exactly." Empress Wu suddenly smiled, looked at her and said, "It's a good name." What's your last name?"

Wan'er's hand trembled slightly, her heart jumped suddenly, and then stopped suddenly, she pursed her lips and said softly: "The surname is Zheng, and the cheap name is Zheng Wan'er." ”

Empress Wu repeated her name word by word, and there was a sudden happy smile in her voice: "Xingyang Zheng, Shandong surname, not bad." ”

Wan'er felt that her breathing was a little urgent, she forced herself to calm down, lowered her head, and said calmly: "The concubine is a slave who has not entered the palace, not the county surname Zheng. ”

Empress Wu smiled and said casually: "Whether it is the surname of the county or the surname of the captive, it will be just a false name for a long time, and I will call you Wan'er in the future, Gao Yanfu, and let her be on duty in Zichen Hall in the future." After she said this, she raised her hand, and Buyu slowly turned around and walked forward.

Wan'er has been adhering to her family education since she was a child, and everything she sees is a family genealogy, and she hears it all from generation to generation, but it is the first time she has heard someone say that "the surname is a false name". Or Gao Yanfu poked her elbow and scolded: "What are you doing in a daze, don't you keep up?"

Wan'er was stunned and said, "But I haven't tried yet..."

Gao Yanfu coughed and said: "Your Majesty said that if you go to Zichen Palace, you will go to Zichen Palace, what is Luo?"

Wan'er couldn't, so she could only run in small steps, and laboriously followed the queen's guard of honor - the people who carried the steps were all strong and healthy chamberlains, although they carried heavy objects, but they came faster than ordinary people to walk, Wan'er learned from her mother when she was a child, and every move was a good look, and she paid attention to her posture, and her gait was good-looking, but she was not as fast as it, so it took a lot of effort to fall at the end of the line, and the last maid glanced at her and said with a smile: "Have you never been on duty in the halls?"

Wan'er had gradually breathed away, and refused to speak intermittently at this time, so she only bowed her head slightly, and the man smiled and said, "Our lady has always been active, and with your physique, it is better to practice martial arts quickly." ”

At that time, Wan'er only said that she was referring to the matter of the followers of the ceremony, thinking that although the queen of heaven had the skills of archery and horse riding when she was young, now that she is old and respectful, she will not be as disregarded as before, regardless of her identity and dignity, and frolicking with the palace people. I didn't think so, and when my peers asked her to learn riding and archery several times afterwards, she didn't want to go, but she didn't know that this queen of heaven dared to hang the curtain as the queen, and openly regarded the emperor and queen as the two saints, opening an unprecedented situation, and the etiquette and rules that Wan'er knew were actually useless to her. After Wan'er served for a long time, and finally gradually figured out the temper and temperament of this person, she recalled the beginning, but she regretted it.

Empress Wu's public servant stopped at the Hongwen Museum. Wan'er saw the magnificent pavilion here from afar, and her heart unconsciously jumped fast again, she had already fallen to the end, but now she quietly took a step back, and pressed her head very low. She thought that she was young, and she was already shorter than the person in front of her, and if she lowered her head like this, the Empress Wu should not be able to see in front, who knew that although the Empress Wu did not see her, she shouted: "What about Wan'er?"

The person in front turned her head in response, and many eyes were on Wan'er, so she had to step forward, and saluted according to what Su Ri saw, and listened to the martial arts queen said: "This is the Hongwen Pavilion, all the detailed picture books, and the professor's children are all here." ”

Wan'er didn't understand why Empress Wu wanted to say this to herself, so she carefully said carefully: "That must be a place where the world's talented people gather." She didn't have to look up, but she could feel the Empress Wu's gaze fall on her, her hand clenched unconsciously, her palm seemed to be sweaty, and it seemed to be just hot, in short, it was stuffy and uncomfortable, so she quietly let go of her hand. As soon as she moved, Empress Wu's gaze fell downwards and fell on her hand, and she chuckled: "Your action reminds me of a person." ”

Wan'er could hear her heart beating again and again, beating slower and slower, slower and higher, higher and harder, she felt that her throat was a little dry, her breathing was a little stagnant, and she hurriedly put her tongue against her teeth and licked it, and was about to speak, but Empress Wu smiled again: "In this way, it is more like." After she finished speaking, she looked up to see the plaque of the Hongwen Pavilion, this word is the title of His Majesty today, but it is just decent, but the Empress Wu seems to be fascinated by this word, and looked at it for a long time with her hands behind her back, and when she turned back, her eyes looked at Wan'er, and said with a smile: "For example, all the imperial court has a system history and etiquette, and they must consult with the scholars of the Hongwen Pavilion, when I just sat behind the Zichen Palace, they discussed what kind of etiquette should be used, and many people thought that I should not sit there at all, what is the one who opposes the most fiercely?" Yes, it was Shangguan Yi, a straight bachelor of Hongwenguan at that time. ”

She knew—that was Wan'er's first thought. Then a second thought flashed through her: how much did she know?

Wan'er licked her teeth again, the tip of her tongue brushed the tip of her teeth hard, and a little pain was poked out from the sharp place, she bowed her head respectfully, and raised her voice: "Your Majesty, the concubine has something to do." ”

Empress Wu turned her head to look at her, Wan'er settled down, stepped forward, and said: "The father and ancestor of the concubine were punished for their crimes, and the concubine did not enter the palace with her mother, so she called her mother's surname Zheng." The father of the concubine is actually the son of the Tianshui official, named Tingzhi, and the grandfather of the concubine, named Yi. ”

Empress Wu looked at her with a smile: "That's why you just called yourself Zheng, but you lied to me?"

Wan'er raised her head slightly, and said calmly: "The concubine is a woman, there is no danger of passing on the ancestry, from the father's surname, or from the mother's surname, in the family and the country, there is no violation, in the ancients, there are often cases of the mother's surname, so the concubine takes the mother's surname as the surname, which cannot be regarded as deception." ”

Empress Wu raised her eyebrows and smiled: "If I remember correctly, your mother is from the Xingyang Zheng family. You just said you weren't the county name?"

Wan'er said: "Although my mother is from the Zheng family in Xingyang, she belongs to the Shangguan family, and then she did not enter the palace as a slave and became a slave and maid, how dare she call the county surname?"

Empress Wu stared at her for a long time, and Fang smiled: "What a clever speech, based on this alone, you know that she is the granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, it's just that, I don't blame you, I just ask you, besides, do you have anything to say?"

Wan'er recalled that on the afternoon when she met Princess Changle, the people in the palace province called her to bow and ask repeatedly, and immediately selected her into the inner study hall. Wan'er always thought that this was where Princess Changle mentioned it, or where the nobles took a fancy to her, but she never thought that it would be the Empress Wu who summoned her. From this point of view, since then, the Empress Wu has already paid attention to herself? If she and the pan are revealed, it seems that she has seen through the mind of the Empress Wu, and her cleverness is exposed, but she may not be really smart. But if you don't say it, it will be a problem in the future. But how can you think of a way to do it once and for all?