Da'an Palace was built on the highest terrain in Chongnan. The warm evening sun shone directly on it, but it seemed to be colder inside the palace than outside. Li Shuci unconsciously thought: This palace is the place where the conspiracy is most prosperous in the world, and it is the coolest place in people's hearts. The carriages and horses outside the Xuanwu Gate stopped, and the next road to the Taiji Hall required everyone to walk over. Li Shuci followed Yao Shi out of the carriage, and felt a cold gaze projected from behind, Li Shuci stood up straight, and looked back at Li Shuqiao generously, with only boundless calm in his eyes.

The Taiji Hall is upright and magnificent, and it is unusually wide. All officials above the fifth grade can bring their family members into the palace for a banquet, this time, the old lady is very old, Li Weiqing asked for grace. Therefore, the accompanying female dependents were only Yao and Li Shuci. But as the family members of the auspicious envoys, although the Zhou family was sick, Li Shuqiao and Li Shuwen sisters were still allowed to enter the palace to participate in the banquet.

Xiangrui was received by Li Weicheng in accordance with the will of heaven, and escorting Xiangrui into the palace naturally had to be completed by him. Li Yu and Li Weiqing were led into the main hall with everyone, and Li Weicheng was led to another place by a father-in-law alone to prepare for Xiangrui's appearance.

In addition to the two bright yellow chairs carved with dragons and phoenixes on the top empty, there are more than 100 seats in the hall. Li Shuci raised his eyes slightly, glanced at the main hall, and then drooped. The seats in the main hall were almost full, and only the emperor and the princesses and princesses did not arrive. According to the order of dignity and inferiority of the seats, the Li family and the Cao family, as the prime ministers of the left and right, the heads of the hundred officials, are arranged on both sides, so they are ten points closer to the head.

Li Shuci glanced at the Helian brothers and sisters sitting opposite the banquet, and the two of them looked at her with almost the same excited expressions on their faces. If it weren't for being in the Taiji Hall at this time, Li Shuci really wanted to hold his forehead to show his helplessness, with such an expression, for fear that he would not be able to see that you have a conspiracy than others? Li Shuci had no choice but to nod at the brother and sister, and Helian Tao and Helian Yu retracted their gaze with satisfaction.

Li Shuci had just sat down beside his mother, and he felt that someone was sitting on the seat on the right, and Li Shuci looked up and saw that he was crashing into a pair of cold eyes.

The Confucian King pursed his thin lips lightly, and under his bottomless eyes, there was an inky tear mole. Li Shuci only felt that her heart was tightly grasped by a big hand, and she beat wildly twice, and before she could react, whether she should nod or smile, the Confucian King Jin Sheng had already turned around, as if she was just casually skimming, and didn't pay attention to who she saw at all.

Everyone at the table didn't wait long, and Zhu Daguan's voice sounded, "The emperor has arrived!" ”

Emperor Xuwen and Empress Wang stepped steadily from outside the palace, and the black and gold-patterned dragon robe and phoenix clothes wrapped the two in a majestic and intimidating momentum. Li Shuci's eyesight is excellent, although the queen's face is covered with thick fat powder, and there is a shining phoenix crown on her head, she still can't hide the haggard who has been lying on the sickbed for a long time, the whites of her eyes are yellow, and her cheeks are sagging. On the side of Queen Wang, followed by Shen Jiayi, who had already been crowned a concubine, she was half a step behind, gently holding Queen Wang's arm, her face was ruddy, and she was as beautiful and gorgeous as peony and peony, and her complexion formed a conspicuous contrast.

The Empress sat down, and Emperor Xuwen's eyes glanced condescendingly, and then showed a gentle smile, "Chinese New Year's Eve feast, don't be formal, just flat!" ”

Chongnan dance and music is prosperous, the banquet has just begun, the lively formation has been unbearable, the dancing musicians jingle the bell and dance, Emperor Xuwen first mentioned a glass of wine, the banquet handed over the glass, laughing and talking about the recent events in Beijing, naturally, the most talked about, or what is the auspicious rui that is about to enter the eyes.

Qian Zhongxin, the waiter of the household department on the left, held a wine glass to talk to Li Yu, bent down slightly, and his attitude was extremely modest. Because of the music and chatter, Qian Zhongxin's voice was slightly raised, Li Shuci could hear it clearly behind them, and Qian Zhongxin said: "Shen Shangshu is really bitter and can't say it, there are no children and grandchildren in the family, and at a critical time, he has to be old enough to take the top of the cylinder for his children and grandchildren!" In order to make up for the fault, he took the hot potato, and promised the king that before the beginning of spring, he would find out the deficit of the previous year...... The king said that if you can't find out, the Shen family will make up for it......"

Li Shuci's eyes flickered, and he guessed in his heart: "The household department is equivalent to the money bag of the imperial court, and it is in charge of household registration and finance. And the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Rites were once under the jurisdiction of Cao Cheng, the left minister, which was full of Cao Cheng's protégés. Could it be that the Shen family took on this thankless errand this time not only to make up for their mistakes, but also for another purpose? ”

Li Shuci looked at Shen Hao opposite, and happened to see Shen Hao glaring at Yan Yushi, who was as thin as a lake and stone. Although Yan Yushi's iron mouth has offended ninety percent of people, but with the support of Emperor Xuwen, his hard bones are really not something that ordinary people can gnaw! The corners of Li Shuci's mouth couldn't help but provoke a hint of a smile. looked at her wrongly, but saw Shen Yuan looking at her with a somewhat serious gaze in his eyes, the smile on his face was frozen and he didn't have time to take it back, Shen Yuan nodded slightly at her, Li Shuci lowered his head, his chest seemed to be blocked with something, not up or down, extremely uncomfortable.

Qian Zhongxin seemed to be particularly enthusiastic today, almost gossiping non-stop. Even though Li Yu is the right man of the dynasty, he has always adhered to the art of the golden mean, headed by the holy will of Emperor Xuwen, and never disobeyed. In the court, he rarely interacted with the courtiers in private, and made too many friends, which was Li Yu's way of being a courtier. Qian Zhongxin didn't care about Li Yu's indifferent response, and said to himself: "It's your eldest son, I heard that he had good political achievements in office before, the voice of the people was good, and he also had a reputation for being honest, and his future is limitless!" ”

Li Shuci listened to Qian Zhongxin's 'eldest son', and couldn't help sneering in his heart. It's really a human mouth, no matter how you say it, it makes sense! In the world, the descendants are not allowed to trespass, but now these people deliberately ignore it and make a big fuss about the word "long". In his previous life, Li Shuci never thought that one day the Li family would be occupied by the concubine dove. Now she has understood that nothing is impossible, the rules of this world are dead, and people are alive!

It's cold in the depths of winter, with heavy snowfall, and there is still no moon tonight. The Taiji Hall is full of palace lamps to illuminate the dark night. Li Shuci looked in the direction of the upper position, and it was obvious that Queen Wang was tired. Fortunately, the auspicious time is already close at hand, and Concubine Yi is waiting on the side, taking care of everything.

With a smile on his face, Zhu Daguan said in Emperor Xuwen's ear: "Your Majesty, the auspicious time has come." ”

Emperor Xuwen nodded, Zhu Daguan stood up straight, the dust on his arm was gently raised, and everyone in the hall was smart and intelligent, and they spontaneously quieted down when they saw this situation. Zhu Daguan shouted angrily: "The auspicious time is coming, welcome Xiangrui!" ”

As soon as the words fell, sixteen people carried the golden light on the seat, and a human-high object covered with vermilion brocade cloth entered the hall, revealing only the pedestal carved by the craftsman in advance, Li Weicheng hung his head, bowed down and followed Xiangrui and carefully stepped on the Taiji Hall. The night banquet of hundreds of officials, all eyes on it. Li Weicheng felt that his whole body was about to fly. Xiangrui was parked on the three-layer white marble temple base temporarily set up in the center of the main hall, and hundreds of officials were lined up on both sides, a solemn silence, and Emperor Xuwen and the empress walked down the steps from the first step.

Li Shuci stood behind everyone, and saw the Confucian King following Emperor Xuwen, surrounded by everyone, in the crowd of brocade clothes, in the many faces with different expressions, it was clear that he was expressionless, but Li Shuci felt that the kind of brilliance emanating from his body could dispel all the selfishness and coldness shrouded in Da'an Palace, and even the emperor who walked in front of him was intimidating and difficult to take away any of his brilliance.

Such a person is destined to miss the throne. Because her mother, Concubine De, although she is the head of the four concubines, has the blood of the royal family of the previous dynasty. Therefore, no matter how virtuous and wise he is, no matter how suitable he is to be an emperor, he will not be able to take the throne, and the glory of his life can only stop here.

Li Shuci sighed secretly, thinking of that deal, she didn't dare to perfunctory the Confucian king, but other times, it was better for her to stay away from him, she didn't want to participate in the disputes in the court, and she didn't want to fall into another unknown quagmire. The apparent calm is only superficial.

Li Shuci was stunned for a moment, the emperor and queen had already arrived in front of Xiangrui, Zhu Daguan personally stepped forward to remove the red cloth, and there was an exclamation all around, the heavy bluestone of the person was tall, half of the face was flat, and half of the face was rugged. The mottling on the bluestone can make people see at a glance the vicissitudes of life it has experienced, half of the flat place, engraved with a dragon and a phoenix, flying and circling, full of the meaning of prosperity in the sky.

Shen Hao said hello first, and a sound of admiration followed behind. The Taiji Hall was very lively for a while, everyone was digging out their hearts to say a few auspicious words, and several cabinet Hanlin were eager to give a few poems on the spot.

The crowd's shouts, laughter, and admiration came to an end, and Zhu Daguan took the bright yellow scroll from the hand of the little eunuch who was waiting on the side, and read out the will of the amnesty to the world in a subdued manner. Emperor Xuwen was also very satisfied, since the sky was auspicious, it naturally indicated that the world was peaceful, and he naturally wanted to comply with the will of heaven and grant amnesty to the world to show his grace.

Li Wei Chengqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart, and wanted to secretly raise his head and glance at Emperor Xuwen to see if there was another holy decree to be read out and reward him.

However, under this solemn and joyful atmosphere, a cry of surprise came into everyone's ears, and among the many kneeling people, there was a person standing abruptly, stunned and stunned as Xiangrui grew his mouth, it was Helian Tao.

Emperor Xuwen and Helian Ting's affection is there, and he has always liked Helian Tao's temperament, treating him as a nephew, seeing that he is not to blame for this, he asked curiously: "What happened?" ”

Helian Tao seemed to have been struck by lightning, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "Your Excellency, ......"