Chapter III

When the light of the morning sun slowly spread over the palace wall and sprinkled all over the corner, under the lush trees, Ruan Liuyan was sitting in front of the lapis table. The early summer morning was still a little cool, the grass was green, and the upper of the shoe had been wet with dew along the way.

Mingyue had gone to gather everyone over, at this time there was only Ruan Liuyan left in front of the table, the light of the morning sun sprinkled on her body, bringing a slight warmth, sitting alone in front of the table, she put her arms on the stone table, turned her head to the sun and closed her eyes.

When Mingyue led everyone here, what she saw was Ruan Liuyan holding her forehead as if she was sleeping, surrounded by verdant grass and trees, and a beautiful woman sitting alone in front of the table under the tree, no matter how you look at it, it is a pleasant beauty. The palace people who followed behind Ming Yue looked at each other, and they didn't know for a while whether to say hello or be silent.

"Little master, everyone is here."

Everyone behind him seemed to be dumb, and Mingyue had to speak hard. As her voice fell, Ruan Liuyan opened her eyes in an instant, and her beautiful eyes immediately swept towards everyone.

Three months ago, she entered the palace for Yin Mingzhu, and acted low-key and cautious during the draft period, and some places where she fought for the lottery were deliberately mediocre, but Yin Zhongxian's official position was destined to be a failure in the Yin family. But because she was not brilliant in all aspects, she was only awarded a six-grade Ronghua in the end.

After the draft, Ruan Liuyan took Mingyue to the allocated palace to stay. According to the position, there are two palace maids in the Chonghua Palace, four eunuchs serving inside and outside the palace gate, and there are only less than ten people in the entire palace who brought in the dowry maid Mingyue. It's a pity that there are only eight people in the palace, and it can also make a moth.

Since the end of the draft, Chonghua Palace is the last place to usher in the footsteps of the saint, that night Ruan Liuyan shirked the bed on the grounds of menstruation, and then Dongfang Ke almost never came to Chonghua Palace to stay overnight.

missed the holy grace, and for a while, all kinds of suspicions and ridicules were given to her master in Chonghua Palace everywhere, and most of them were gloating. As for these people in his palace, he is also complaining in private about following the wrong master, these are all things that Ming Yue heard to sue him.

In this palace, who is a slave to others, who doesn't dream day and night that they want to climb up, with a master who is favored by the emperor, they have beautiful scenery and food and clothing, so they are secretly dissatisfied, and Ruan Liuyan does not blame them. Some of them are cheating and lazy in the palace, but she only turns a blind eye and gets by. But now there are people who are so bold that they dare to steal in the palace, and they dare to... dared to steal what Ziyu gave her, she was too presumptuous by them.

"The slave/slave maid greets the little master, the little master is auspicious." When they came to Ruan Liuyan, everyone spoke in unison.

"Get on your knees!"

Ruan Liuyan's unceremonious reprimand made all the palace people stunned, and they immediately fell to the ground after reacting.

After a while, there was no sound overhead. Everyone lay on the ground and was silent, and after a while, the silence of the huge palace was terrifying.

Mingyue brought hot tea on the side, Ruan Liuyan took a sip in his hand and put it aside, "Do you know why this concubine made you kneel?" ”

"The minions/slaves don't know, and I ask the little master to make it clear." Everyone replied like this, which made the corners of Ruan Liuyan's mouth slightly hooked.

She glanced at Ming Yue, and Ming Yue immediately stepped forward and said: "The little master's favorite jade hairpin disappeared yesterday and woke up early today, and the palace has not heard of any thieves anywhere, and the thieves did not leave any clues in the small master's bedroom, so it can be seen that there are thieves in Chonghua Palace." Who of you took the little master's jade hairpin without authorization, and don't you take the initiative to stand up quickly? ”

Mingyue's words fell, the scene was still silent, and everyone on the ground was silent.

Seeing this scene, Ruan Liuyan stood up suddenly, paced back and forth in front of everyone, she didn't laugh angrily: "No one admits it? So you are all innocent, is this concubine wronged you? Very good! Mingyue, you go to the head of the Internal Affairs Office, Mr. Lu, and say that these slaves and concubines in Chonghua Palace can't afford to use them, so let him come and send these cheap slaves away! ”

Generally, the palace people who are on errands in the palace, if they are sent away by the order of the palace concubine, will not have the opportunity to find any good errands in the future, and most of them will be sent to dirty and tired places to do things, which will not only be bullied, but also unable to eat and clothe, which is called the "hell on earth" in the palace.

Hearing Ruan Liuyan say this, the palace people begged for mercy.

Ruan Liuyan condescendingly glanced at them, trying to find a clue on one of them's face. The seven people were divided into two rows, and the last four eunuchs kowtowed to the ground every time they shouted 'Niang Niang's life', and the two palace maids in front of them were already kowtowing and crying.

Take a closer look, although the one on the right is trembling, but his right hand is dragging the skirt on his side, Ruan Liuyan's heart moved, and he was about to move towards her.

"The emperor has arrived—"

With a screech that stretched out the tail note, a few people rushed in from the arch in a short time. Dongfang Ke walked in front in court clothes, Ruan Liuyan hurriedly greeted him, and bowed to say goodbye: "The concubine is the emperor." ”

"You don't have to be polite to love the concubine." Dongfang Ke stretched out his big hand to support her arms, as if he didn't see the people kneeling on the ground, he said: "Yesterday, your old illness relapsed, and I left in a hurry, so I couldn't be by your side. Are you feeling better now? ”

"Back to the emperor, the concubine is fine. Thank you for the emperor's memory. Ruan Liuyan held Dongfang Ke's palm and smiled, took his arm and came to the stone table to sit down, "The emperor hasn't had breakfast yet, the concubine will let people prepare." ”

"Don't be busy," Dongfang Ke stopped her from moving, "I will go to the Empress Dowager's palace in a while." ”

"What's going on, though?" Glancing at the kneeling crowd, Dongfang Ke asked steadily.

Facing Dongfang Ke's inquiring eyes, Ruan Liuyan was a little uneasy, just called everyone over, and forgot to leave two people to guard the door, there was not even a guard at the door, and their group drove straight in, and what kind of scene the door was must have been included in their eyes.

"Back to the emperor, it's like this. The concubine lost an earring, and in a hurry, she summoned all the people in the palace to find it, but fortunately, everyone did their best to find the earrings. The concubines were about to ask Mingyue to reward them with some money, but before they could think that the emperor would come, let the emperor smile. ”

Subconsciously didn't want the emperor to know that she lost the hairpin instead of the earrings, Ruan Liuyan half-truthfully told the reason, and then ordered the kneeling palace people, "You guys go down first, and I'll let Mingyue give you the reward money when I go back." ”

"Thank you for the reward, the minion/slave retires."

The kneeling palace maids didn't dare to come out, why Ruan Liuyan lied, they couldn't figure it out, and they didn't dare to think about it. Everyone only knew that if this kind of thing was known by the emperor, it would be difficult to save their lives, and now Ruan Liuyan asked them to retreat, and everyone below breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Dongfang Ke did not continue to ask after hearing the reason Ruan Liuyan said, and asked Mingyue to bring snacks, and Ruan Liuyan accompanied him to talk for a while. Dongfang Ke didn't stay long, and got up to leave about a stick of incense, and Ruan Liuyan followed suit until he left the gate of Chonghua Palace.

After seeing Dongfang Ke leave, Ruan Liuyan stepped into the palace gate and ordered the two to guard the palace gate, she directly asked the palace maid who looked suspicious to come and interrogate, this palace maid's name is Hong'er, Hong'er just arrived and bowed, and a guest came to Chonghua Palace, and she had to tell Hong'er to retreat first.

With the spread of the palace people, the woman wearing a water blue shirt and a white skirt lined with an elegant white skirt came from the arch, followed by two palace maids. The person who came was the daughter of the household servant, Zheng Cai's daughter, Zheng Xue'er.

When participating in the draft three months ago, Ruan Liuyan and Zheng Cainu had lived in the same hospital, and the two had a few words not far away, and then they each sealed their positions, so they rarely came and went.

After welcoming Zheng Cainu to sit down in the lobby, the two exchanged tacit greetings while drinking tea, and after drinking a cup of tea, Ruan Liuyan smiled and said, "Sister, you came today, but you have something to do with your sister?" ”

Zheng Cainu was also full of smiles, "I heard that the emperor came to visit my sister in Chonghua Palace yesterday, and my sister came to say hello to my sister." In early summer, there are many famous flowers in the Imperial Garden, and my sister wants to invite my sister to go to the Imperial Garden to enjoy the flowers. ”

Faced with Zheng Cainu's invitation, Ruan Liuyan wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it for a while, I am afraid that there is more than one Zheng Cainu in the palace to visit, since she came to invite, it is better to follow her to enjoy the flowers, those people are at most empty.

So Ruan Liuyan smiled and agreed quietly. As soon as Zheng Cainu heard that Ruan Liuyan was so refreshing, she immediately got up from the stone bench and grabbed Ruan Liuyan's palm, "That's very good, Sister Yin, then let's go!" ”

The two walked out together, the clouds above their heads were white, and the blue sky was like a wash, so that they unanimously chose to walk on foot, and in this way, followed by a group of eunuchs and palace maids, the two walked all the way to the direction of the imperial garden.

Ruan Liuyan, who went to the Imperial Garden, didn't know that just when she and Zheng Cainu left the palace, Li Dezhao and his party came to Chonghua Palace again. After about a cup of tea, he hurriedly led the people out of Chonghua Palace, and handed over the things from the interrogation to the master in Qianxin Palace.

"Is this the thing?"

Sitting on a wide rosewood carved lacquered wooden chair, playing with the jade hairpin in his hand that is not much different from other jewelry, Dongfang Ke asked carelessly.

Li Dezhao leaned forward and replied respectfully: "Back to the emperor, it's true, today Yin Ronghua is making a big move, and what he is looking for is this jade hairpin." ”

"I know, you step back first."

After receiving the order, Li Dezhao quietly retreated.

Dongfang Ke got up with a jade hairpin in his hand and came to the window alone. Looking at the spring color in the distance, he didn't feel the force in his hands, only listened to the sound of "click", Dongfang Ke lowered his head and saw the jade color of the jade hairpin in his hand peeling off, revealing a slender woodcarved hairpin.

This hairpin is obviously handmade, the style is simple and plain, only carved a pear blossom at the hairpin head, but it is better than the fine workmanship, a pear blossom carved vividly, it can be seen that the hairpin is very attentive.

Bent the corners of his lips mockingly, Dongfang Ke turned over the hairpin with his hand, and saw at a glance that at the bottom of the inconspicuous hairpin, there was a small carved letter: smoke.