In the blink of an eye for the New Year, the palace is lit up everywhere to prepare for the Spring Festival.

On the top of the high hall, the king of Southern Chu looked at the imperial city and was full of emotion for a while.

"King, the prince is here." Lu Jin bent inside and respectfully reported.

The king of Nanchu bowed slightly: "Lead her in." ”

Without half a cup of tea, Yu Jinfan came behind him and was about to salute-

"No, there are no outsiders here." The king of Nanchu said lovingly and called her to his side.

Yu Jinfan saw that his clothes were thin, so he called Lu Jinjin to wrap his coat for him, and then came to his side. "Among the children, you are the most considerate." The king of Nanchu smiled and patted her hand, then thought of something and sighed heavily, looking into the distance: "I heard that you saw Hai'er?" ”

Yu Jinfan nodded.

"Fan'er." The king of Nanchu suddenly shouted seriously, and unconsciously turned the jade wrench in his hand: "Do you know how your father sat on the throne in the first place?" ”

No one in the world knows that when the Yu brothers joined forces to overthrow the old dynasty and elect a new king, the king of Southern Chu killed his brother and seized the throne and ascended the throne. Guessing what he was going to say, Yu Jinfan's heart tightened, and his voice trembled: "Father"

"Listen to Lone." The king of Nanchu raised his hand to signal her to be calm and calm, and said slowly in reminiscence: "When Gu and his brother competed for the throne, my subordinates persuaded me one by one to be the king of a country, not the benevolence of a woman. As they say, there is only one throne, and if Gu does not kill his brother, the one who is killed is likely to be Gu. Fan'er, Hai'er is not ambitious, you don't blame you for killing him. ”

Yu Jinfan only felt that her throat was locked, and she was so depressed that she couldn't breathe: "Father, he is my brother and your son." ”

"That's why you went to Gaode Mansion to remind him, right?" The King of Nanchu smiled with relief.

Yu Jinfan was stunned for a moment, and hesitated: "Father, do you want me to keep my second brother?" ”

The King of Southern Chu nodded and shook his head again.

Yu Jinfan twisted his eyebrows, not knowing why.

"I am selfish that you can spare his life, but if he is in danger in the future, you can also kill him." The king of Nanchu sighed, and the turbidity in his eyes turned into heavy helplessness.

Why could he say such cruel things? "Father's willingness?" She asked, completely unconvinced that he was so cold-blooded.

"How can you give it up, he is the blood of the lonely." The king of Nanchu covered his heart, cruelty and pain entangled and struggling, completely different from the benevolent him in the court, word by word: "But what the people want is an emperor who allows them to live and work in peace and contentment, not the filial piety of the father and the son."

This is the emperor's helplessness, Yu Jinfan's throat was sour.

"Fan'er, I came to you today to ask you for something." The king of Nanchu said, his eyes were sincere: "One day, you will become the emperor, for the sake of Lone's face, you will not have to save Hai'er's life until the last resort." ”

In fact, this was strange and sudden, but at this moment, Yu Jinfan was completely moved by the pleading of the King of Southern Chu and only cared about agreeing.

The king of Nanchu patted her shoulder gratefully and called Lu Jin: "I'm lonely, go back to the palace." ”

Yu Jinfan looked at his back, and somehow, blurted out: "Why choose me?" ”

The king of Nanchu turned his head and looked at her deeply: "This is owed to you." ”

Yu Jinfan was inexplicable, and wanted to ask again, the king of Nanchu had already left with his back hand, and his old back was a little lonely.

On the top of the high hall, Yu Jinfan looked at the great rivers and mountains in front of him, and in his eyes, he was endlessly confused.

The next day, before dawn, the bell of the imperial city rang, and the whole country was in an uproar.

The king of Southern Chu died.

The unfinished New Year has become a white thing, and the red light ribbons have been replaced with white, and the winter has been cold for a moment.

In the Yucheng Palace, the prince and the prince headed by Yu Jinfan knelt down, followed by the queen and Mrs. Tong as concubines. Shen Rui followed behind Mrs. Tong and knelt on the ground.

Lu Jin held the edict in his hand, stood on top of the main hall, opened it, and said word by word:

"The king has a testament, the son of the world has a noble character, and he has the talent of the Son of Heaven, and he is deeply heartfelt. Today, I ascended the throne and served as the king of Southern Chu. ”

Shen Rui's hands hanging on both sides were clenched, and he looked at Yu Jinfan's back attentively, with mixed feelings.

Yu Jinfan raised his head and stared at the edict in Lu Jin's hand, his mind was full of the scene above the high hall yesterday.

Yu Yunyan's face was happy, Yu Chenghai was implied unwilling, and the queen was sluggish, but Mrs. Tong's face was like water, not sad or happy.

"Shizifan, don't thank you yet." Lu Jin choked up and said, he has followed the king of Nanchu for more than 30 years, and the love between master and servant is really deep.

Yu Jinfan slowly got up, walked towards him, bowed down and spread his hands: "Erchen takes the order." ”

Lu Jin respectfully put the edict in his hand and knelt on the ground: "Slave to see my king." ”

As soon as the words fell, there was either joy or unwillingness, and the whole hall bowed down together: "Meet my king!" Long live our king! ”

Since then, the new king of Southern Chu ascended the throne and changed the name of the country to Qinghe.

When the first king died, the ladies of the palace had the rules of vigil.

At night, the moonlight faded, and Shen Rui was lazily kneeling down, dozing off, when she suddenly heard movement and quietly turned her head to look-

Mrs. Tong and the Queen? Frowning slightly, Shen Rui cautiously followed.

"You stop." In front of the side hall, the queen called Mrs. Tong and chased after her in a few steps.

Mrs. Tong turned her head and glanced at her and walked into the side hall.

The queen hesitated at the door for only a few seconds before entering. In the dark, she vaguely saw Mrs. Tong standing at the table, looking at her, unable to see her clearly. "You killed the king?" The queen asked.

Mrs. Tong seemed to have heard some big joke, and sneered: "When the first king died, I was with you, my sister. ”

"That's why I doubt you!" The queen said hatefully, and approached her: "You don't pay attention to me at all on weekdays, why did you look for me yesterday yesterday?" ”

Mrs. Tong smiled, her fingertips slid ambiguously along her cheeks: "Why did I look for you yesterday, my sister really doesn't know?" ”

The queen bit her lower lip and pushed her hand away in disgust: "Don't touch me." ”

"Then you were with me yesterday—"

"Shut up!" The queen said angrily, and her hand tightly grasped Mrs. Tong's neckline: "I just met the first king a few days ago, he is in good health, how could he suddenly die of illness!" ”

Mrs. Tong seemed to smile: "What did you say when my husband died of illness?" Hidden disease? Well, maybe the first king also suffered from a hidden disease. ”

In the darkness, the queen's face turned pale: "It's really you." ”

Mrs. Tong didn't deny it, smiled sarcastically, turned around and strode away.

The queen looked at her back as she departed, and sat down on the ground.

Shen Rui slept on the beam, and listened to the two leave one after another, before they went down to the ground.

Mrs. Tong killed the first king? Husband? And what is the relationship between Mrs. Tong and the queen?

She was thinking about it when she suddenly noticed someone approaching behind her, and turned her head to look at it alertly.

The fragrance came to her nose, and when she saw the person in front of her clearly, she had lost consciousness and fell backwards.

When I woke up again, I didn't know how much time had passed.

Shen Rui wanted to rub her dizzy head, but just as she was about to move, she noticed the restraint on her hand and instantly sobered up.

"Awake?" A cold voice came from above.

Shen Rui looked up and froze, the person on the seat was dressed in a white mourning dress, and his demeanor was difficult to hide, it was not Mrs. Tong who was in the hall just now. "Mother?" Shen Rui was surprised, looked down at his rope binding, had a guess in his heart, and pretended to be stupid: "What's going on?" ”

Mrs. Tong stepped forward slightly, supported her chin with her hand, looked her up and down, and hit the nail on the head: "Tell me about this palace, how can you appear outside the side hall?" ”

Shen Rui's eyes didn't blink: "The concubine is in a hurry, and it is convenient to go out." ”

"Oh? Then how did you go up to the beam, could it be that there is a tribute bucket hidden on the beam? Mrs. Tong couldn't smile enough, and her words were gentle and sharp.

How did she know she was on top of the beams? Shen Rui secretly said that it was not good, there must be someone secretly guarding Mrs. Tong's side, and she quietly rolled her eyes, and sure enough, she saw the palace people who were stunned on the side! She remembered that this person's name was Fuxiu, and she served Mrs. Tong with Huanxiang.

"What else does Mu'er have to say?" Seeing that she was silent for a long time, Mrs. Tong asked again, the usual gentleness of her voice, Shen Rui heard it in her ears, but her back was cold.

"The concubine followed the concubine out of the house." Knowing that lying was useless, Shen Rui said honestly: "When the concubine saw her mother and the former queen going out together, she was worried that her mother was in danger, so she followed." ”

"So what we say, you heard?"

Shen Rui nodded hesitantly: "Through the door, I listened to some." ”

Mrs. Tong smiled, leaned back, and asked, "Then you say, what should this palace do with you?" ”

"If the concubine wanted to kill the concubine, I'm afraid she would have done it a long time ago," after a pause, she raised her eyes to look directly at Mrs. Tong, and said admittedly: "The concubine obeys the instructions of the concubine." ”

Mrs. Tong looked at her deeply, and for a long time, she glanced at Fuxiu slightly.

Fu Xiu immediately came to her and untied the ropes on her body.

After being untied, Shen Rui stretched her stiff limbs, and the place where she had been bound was very painful. "Thank you, Princess." Holding back the pain, she said respectfully.

As soon as the words fell, there was a commotion outside the door-

"Nanmu!"

The voice was anxious and worried, it was Yu Jinfan who came to look for her!

"She cares about you." Mrs. Tong said helplessly, got up and walked to her, took her hand affectionately, and said in a cold voice: "Mu'er, you are a smart person, you know what to say and what not to say." ”

At this time, the palace gate was pushed open from the outside, and Yu Jinfan stood at the door and saw that she was safe, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and he didn't care about Mrs. Tong's dissatisfied gaze, and ran to her to make sure that she was okay.

"There are no rules at all!" Mrs. Tong frowned.

Yu Jinfan protected the whole person behind him, and looked directly at Mrs. Tong with sharp eyes: "The mother concubine promised me that she would never touch her!" ”

Mrs. Tong's eyes were even colder, and she glanced at her fiercely: "It's not okay for the palace to talk to your daughter-in-law about family life?" ”

"Naturally, it's the son's recklessness today." Yu Jinfan said, holding Shen Rui's hand trembling slightly, suppressing his anger: "I hope that the mother concubine will abide by the agreement, otherwise, don't blame the sons and daughters for being unfilial!" ”

Mrs. Tong was angry: "You-"

"Son's resignation!" Yu Jinfan said, didn't look at her again, and pulled Shen Rui to stride away.

Mrs. Tong looked at the backs of the two leaving, and her clear eyes narrowed deeply: "This woman can't stay in the palace." ”