It was late at night, but Empress Wu was still sitting in front of the desk copying scriptures. Since the death of Li Sheng, the king of Yong, she has been like this for several days. During the day, he talks and laughs, and at night he looks as usual, but when he goes to bed, he always goes to bed after the third watch, and sometimes he even sleeps all night.

And such sleeplessness, but just to finish copying a Taoist scripture by hand before the day.

Wan'er quietly watched Empress Wu waving ink without thinking, the tip of the pen dipped in ink on the white linen paper carefully sketched one after another handwriting, she had been waiting by the Empress Wu's side for more than two years, and had never seen Empress Wu take the matter of copying scriptures so seriously.

If she had the slightest pity for the deposed prince who died early, she should not have forced him into such a situation step by step. really forced his eldest son to death, and then went back to copy the scriptures and pray for him, and copied every word so seriously, so that outsiders looked a little ridiculous.

However, if you think about it carefully, it is precisely because she is a martial queen that she will act like this. These things that seem unreasonable to ordinary people are so natural and natural that they were done by Empress Wu.

Wan'er remembered the look of Empress Wu when she received the news of Li Sheng's death. At that moment, she looked indifferent, only her right hand was clenched into a fist, and she beat it in the palm of her left hand, she calmly instructed Wan'er to prepare mourning clothes, but she sat alone in front of the desk and began to copy the "All Tao Sutras" that she had prepared.

Like most of today's women, Empress Wu worships Buddha more than Taoism, but her eldest son Li Sheng believes in Taoism. Before Li Sheng's death, the mother and son often quarreled over this matter. Most of the royal blessings are Buddhism and Taoism, but the Empress Wu deliberately wants to set up only Buddhism and Taoism in many matters. Now Li Shengshiro, Empress Wu has finally taken into account his meaning when praying for his son's blessings, and Buddhism and Taoism are at the same time. The one he copied by himself is not a Buddhist scripture, but a scripture that his son often recited during his lifetime, and even the copied version is also the one that Li Sheng copied and dedicated by hand before leaving Beijing.

When the attendants brought in the Taoist scriptures, Empress Wu threw the scriptures on the ground with great disdain and ordered them to be burned. A moment later, however, she repented of the preface, and kept the book in its proper possession, and kept it to this day—and now that she thought about it, she had already made up her mind to kill her son, so she changed her mind and left it as a memento for the future.

Although this person is far more vicious than Wan'er's knowledge, but after being vicious, he is not completely unwarm.

This Empress Dowager Wu, in the final analysis, is just a person, a woman, not a demon or a ghost, let alone a fairy saint.

Wan'er remembered countless dreams she had for no reason, and those dreams in which the martial queen was either warm or hideous, possessed by □□ figures, but ** were surprisingly consistent, just like many "people" around her.

What if it is in a dream, but what if it is not in a dream?

The first emperor has been weak and sick in recent years, and must be unable to do the yin and yang harmony and convergence with her, and this year she has suffered a funeral and abolished major events, she must also be concerned about these trivial matters, and now that everything is decided, what kind of thoughts will she have about these things? Will it be like herself... Uneasy?

There was a slight sound of footsteps outside the door, Wan'er walked over gently, and saw Tuan'er standing outside, with a look of arrogance that could not be concealed on her face: "Tuan'er, please see." ”

Wan'er frowned slightly: "It's past the third watch." "Tuan'er went out of the palace early in the morning, and wanted to wander until the palace gate and the city gate were closed, so he used the queen mother's warrant to open the heavy door, and hurried to see him at this time.

Tuan'er glanced at Wan'er, ignored her questioning, and just raised his voice and repeated Fang Cai's words: "Tuan'er, please see." ”

Wan'er lowered her eyes and said, "Don't wait." He turned around and approached Empress Wu: "Your Majesty, Wei Tuan'er..."

"I hear you. Empress Wu just wrote a piece of paper, put the pen on one side, and handed the hemp paper to Wan'er: "You stand down and call her in." ”

Wan'er's right hand unconsciously pinched her left hand, bowed down and said, "Yes." Fu returned to the door, conveyed the meaning of the martial queen, withdrew by himself, and quietly stood outside the door.

Tuan'er stayed inside for two moments before he withdrew proudly, stopped when he arrived at the door, and looked at Wan'er: "The lady asked you to serve and change clothes." The voice was low, but the tone was high, a little like the kind of shouting between men and women, showing off his might and carrying a natural servile temperament when Gao Yanfu was the commander of the martial arts. After speaking, she didn't wait for Wan'er to respond, waved her sleeves, stepped out of the threshold with high strides, walked down the stairs with her toes high, and took a double shoulder - Wan'er knew that Tuan'er had been domineering recently, but she didn't know that she was so domineering, she stared deeply, lowered her head and turned into the hall, and saw that Empress Wu had gotten up and stood, and when she saw Wan'er coming in, she asked with a smile: "Asked you to come in, why did you delay here?"

Wan'er knew that everyone knew about her and Tuan'er, so she calmly walked behind Empress Wu, and while removing her outer robe, she said: "The concubine saw that the Tuan Niang was riding the public opinion at the bottom of the stairs, which seemed to be very impolite, so I took a second look." ”

Empress Wu said lightly: "It is dark in the middle of the night, and it is inconvenient to enter and exit, so it is not a common etiquette to give her a ride, as long as you don't let those people in Nanya see it, there will be no hindrance." ”

Wan'er said: "If this is the case, is it a clear decree to reach all parts of the palace, lest there be those who don't know anything and mistakenly think that the group lady is overstepping the system. ”

Empress Wu looked at her with a smile: "You don't show favoritism. ”

Wan'er bowed down and said: "The concubine is His Majesty's person, and the discord with the Tuan Niangzi is for His Majesty's plan, not for his own body. ”

Empress Wu raised her eyebrows and said, "If it's as you say, I should reuse you?"

Wan'er took off the jacket and put it away, and said: "The world is the most important, nothing is as important as Your Majesty, Your Majesty is as important as being close, and now the concubine has to serve Your Majesty day and night, it can be seen that Your Majesty's trust is serious, and Your Majesty is willing to entrust this important task to the concubine, which is known to be the loyalty of the concubine, so tempting, I am afraid of hurting the Shengming." ”

Empress Wu stared at her, Wan'er knew that she had crossed the line today, but she was surprisingly not afraid. Now she is no longer a member of Shangguan Palace when she first arrived at Zichen Palace, she has served in front of the Empress Wu for more than two years, and she laughed when she saw this Empress Wu when she was happy. When she is angry, she is angry, she knows her many temperaments, and she also knows many of her private affairs, she knows that although Empress Wu likes others to be gentle and chaste, but she also hates the ordinary mediocrity of the people around her, she knows that exposing her minions at the right time may not make Empress Wu disgusted, maybe it will make her more interested in herself, she knows that Empress Wu's punishment for trivial matters committed by people around her is not serious, she also knows that it is the beginning of the new emperor, When the Empress Dowager was in power, the Empress Wu would inevitably appoint a large number of private individuals to compete with the prime minister, and the Han Shi and the people in the palace were excellent choices.

Most importantly, she knew she didn't want to wait any longer. Those nightmares continued to haunt her, and she couldn't rest day and night. She extremely wanted to know how much weight she had in Empress Wu's heart, and whether it was more important than Wei Tuan'er, who was dressed in purple, rode public opinion in the palace, and secretly told inside and outside her palm? In addition to being exempted from her own court labor, what else could Empress Wu give her? If serving so carefully and cautiously was only exchanged for a lifetime, then what was Wan'er doing so dedicatedly to serve her enemies so wholeheartedly?

Wan'er pursed her lips, looking respectful, but in fact she looked back at Empress Wu stubbornly. It's great to be blamed with a cane, and it's not that no one has been beaten in the Zichen Palace, and those who execute are very measured, like her status, she won't hurt her muscles and bones if she gets forty or fifty canes. At most, don't be this talent, so it will be in line with my mother's wishes. It would be even better if Empress Wu admired herself more because of this. The times are changeable, and it is the time to emerge, if she can take advantage of this to rise to the top, and the name of Shangguan will be magnified, and she will always have an explanation for her grandfather, father and mother.

Wan'er forced herself not to think about revenge. She knew that resentment and occasional complaining were two different things. The latter is at most displeasing to Empress Wu, but the former is at stake—not only for hers, but also for her mother. Wan'er knew that her strength was still shallow now, and she had no power to take revenge. In the future, even if she has the power to take revenge, the first thing she wants to do is not revenge, but... Rehabilitate ancestors and fathers. Wan'er vaguely felt that she didn't want revenge as much as she thought, after all, she was still young, and there were many better things waiting for her than revenge, although she didn't know what these better things were, and now she was less than twenty, and everything in the future was still vague and ignorant, with endless possibilities. And these may all depend on the existence of the martial arts.

Wan'er looked at the ochre yellow clothes piled aside, which were the robes of the Son of Heaven, but the Empress Wu wore them in a grand manner. More than 20 years ago, there was a Chen Shuozhen in the border area, who was called the emperor as a woman and led the troops to make a rebellion. Although this rebellion was quickly exterminated by the imperial court, the legend about the female emperor has been circulating among the people. Recently, Empress Wu brought out the scroll from twenty years ago to look at it, and the part about Chen Shuozhen was especially carefully. Wan'er didn't believe in Wuhou's move, which was purely unintentional.

Wan'er felt that her thoughts were very confused. It's an unusual mess. It must be because I haven't slept well in recent months. She looked at Empress Wu steadily, her heart was beating faster and faster, and sweat slowly broke out on her body.

It seemed that it was far from being as close as Tuan'er, and she thought with some frustration, not understanding why she was so strongly depressed. She pulled the sleeves of her clothes, and the Shu shirt on her body was sewn by her mother at night, and if she wanted to receive the cane, she must remember to take it off, so as not to damage it - it is indecent to strip in public, so it is better to take off her clothes in the side hall before leaving.

Empress Wu finally opened her mouth in Wan'er's anxious looking back, her voice soft, and her face smiled: "I use you, but you still have some use, not because you are loyal." If you are faithful, I will not use you in the first place. The right hand was raised slightly, interrupting Wan'er's words that were about to be spoken: "However, since you keep saying that you are loyal to me, I will give you a chance." The smile on her face became bigger, and her expression was a little hideous, but it was a little hideous in her dreams: " The son of the family, the most important ritual to clear the name, your grandfather was already the prime minister, favored by the saints, but for the ethereal reputation of the ritual and the first emperor abolished, now you want to show loyalty to me, it is better to personally destroy the name of this ritual law, if you can do this, from now on, I will believe in your loyalty, if you can't do it, it doesn't matter, I still reuse you, but this loyal and disloyal words, don't say it in the future, you are just a greedy and afraid of death, the villain who tends to be inflammatory. 166 Reading Network