Located in the northwest of the Taiji Palace, the Imperial Dining Room is a whole complex of buildings, the most conspicuous of which is the large copper wrapped vats that can be seen everywhere, filled with water.

Today's night banquet in the palace, the upper and lower levels of the imperial dining room are all nervous, and if you don't wait for the saints in the palace to sleep, today's matter can't be finished. The little eunuch who was hiding outside the door and secretly fell asleep, suddenly watched from a distance at the two rows of lanterns slowly coming towards the imperial dining room, he was a little confused, he woke up suddenly, rubbed his eyes with his hands, found that he was not mistaken, and hurriedly ran into the house, "Master, master, someone is coming." ”

The big eunuch, who was also dozing off, had his eyes half-closed to recuperate, but when he heard the little eunuch's words, he got up suddenly, "Who is here?" His expression was tight, for fear that the dish at today's banquet would upset the nobles, and people would come to the imperial dining room for trouble.

The little eunuch shook his head, "I just watched from a distance with a lot of lanterns on and walked this way, I don't know who it is." ”

"You ......" The big eunuch didn't have the heart to worry about the little eunuch, so he hurriedly went out of the door, stretched his neck to the door and looked forward, and sure enough, he saw many eunuchs and palace maids, about forty people, and the lamps and candles in their hands illuminated the road. I was guessing in my heart who the person who came, and I saw the little apprentice of the head of Taiji Palace, Jia, running over with a turbulent expression, and said with a somewhat arrogant expression: "The crown princess has arrived, and the people in the imperial dining room have come out to greet him." ”

The Crown Princess? The big eunuch's whole person was blind, and he instinctively nodded his head, "The little one will go immediately." ”

"Hmm." The little eunuch raised his chin, answered coldly, and then went back and forth to greet him.

The big eunuch ran to the kitchen of the chief chef one foot deep and one foot shallow, and today, the head of the imperial dining room must be in the kitchen.

Here, Jia Xi half-bent over and personally led the way, so it was better to remind carefully and softly, "Crown Princess, be careful of your step." ”

Su Yan said with a smile: "Manager Jia, if you tell the people in the imperial dining room, you don't have to move the people out at night." The banquet in front of them is not over, and they are each responsible for it, so it is not good to let them leave their posts. You just have to ask where to cook longevity noodles. ”

Jia Xi nodded hurriedly, "The old slave understands." He didn't say much, but only glanced at a young eunuch, who immediately went first.

The little eunuch from before was walking back in a hurry, and he ran into this. "Brother Li, what are you doing here?" The little eunuch came over attentively and asked affectionately.

"The crown princess has an order, take me to the imperial dining room." Eunuch Li held the shelf.

The little eunuch led the way enthusiastically, and at that time, he wished that Eunuch Li dared to die quickly, so as to save his way.

The people in the imperial dining room originally heard that the crown princess was coming, so they all sorted out their robes and planned to go out to greet them. Then someone came, saying that the princess came to serve a bowl of longevity noodles, and the rest of the people kept their positions and were not allowed to move around at will.

When Su Yan came over, he only saw the head of the imperial dining room and Chef Xu who was in charge of the white case, and the two were brought to Su Yan by the little eunuch, and bowed by the head, "I've seen the crown princess." ”

"Flat." Su Yan said gently: "My father is drunk, and this palace wants to give my father a bowl of longevity noodles." Dare to ask the manager, where should I go? ”

"Here, please come with the old slave." The head of the imperial dining room hurriedly led the way, this is an opportunity to show in front of the nobles, and it must be seized.

Su Yan's cooking skills are ordinary, but fortunately, he just serves a bowl of longevity noodles and does not require too advanced skills. In the kitchen, the noodles for making all kinds of pasta have been reconciled and are set aside to wake up.

According to the idea of the head of the imperial dining room, the crown princess only needs to watch and move her mouth on the side, and the rest can be done by Chef Xu.

Su Yan shook his head, "There should be a boiled bone broth, right?" ”

"Yes, yes, the good soup of pork bones, beef bones and whole chicken was boiled for twelve hours on a simmer to ensure that it was clear and fresh."

With good soup, this noodle is half-baked. There was a palace maid who came over to serve Su Yan to wash her hands, and then with everyone, she watched the princess knead and roll the dough, and then make only one noodle. The water in the cauldron had already boiled, and the noodles had gone in, and they were cooked in just a few tumblings. Su Yan hurriedly took it out, passed it through cold water once, and then put it into the old soup, cut some thin chive leaves, sprinkled it into the noodles, and a simple bowl of longevity noodles was made.

Only the emperor's is not enough, and he has to make a bowl for his husband, unlike the emperor who is longevity, the prince's bowl is the usual knife-cut noodles. The same soup, the same chive leaves, and finally some sesame oil and vinegar, put it in the food box, hand it over to the palace maid, and turn it back to the Taiji Palace.

The emperor and the crown prince had been waiting for a long time, and when they saw Su Yan coming back, they all looked at her with blank eyes. Su Yan took it personally, took out two bowls of fragrant hot noodle soup, put them in front of the two of them, and said embarrassedly: "The soup is boiled in the imperial dining room, and the noodles are also reconciled by others, and I am only responsible for cooking." ”

"Is that also made by Qi Niang herself?" The emperor took a bite with satisfaction and praised repeatedly: "Good, good, good." ”

The prince even proved with practical actions how delicious his family's noodles were. Su Yan blushed a little, "It's because the people in the imperial dining room have good craftsmanship, and it has nothing to do with me." ”

The emperor had a bowl of hot soup noodles in his stomach, and all his previous annoyance flew to the outside of the nine clouds, "The imperial dining room is serving well today, reward." ”

The prince glared at his father, "What about Yan Yan?" ”

The emperor thought for a while before he spoke: "A few days ago, Yongchang Mansion brought in some jade, and it looked good, so let Qi Niang make some ornaments to play." ”

Daxia is the same as the previous dynasty, the most expensive jade is Hetian white jade, the rest is topaz, green jade, black jade, etc., the jade on the Yongchang Mansion is not much high-end things, just because of the color, to make some ornaments, plates, bowls and other things.

However, Yongchang Province is located in a remote area, and it is mostly mountainous woodland, with many poisonous insects, and few merchants will go there. In addition, good jade is rare, although jadeite is not as good as mutton fat jade, but in a certain way, it is also a very valuable thing. Only the emperor has the confidence to take the best jade and give it to his daughter-in-law, so that she can carve something to play with.

The prince saw that his father's mood was improving, and because he was full of hot noodles, his eyes narrowed, so he wanted to take the opportunity to take Su Yan back to the East Palace. Before the words could be spoken, Jia Xi came in with a grinning face and a happy face, "The old slave has congratulated the saint." ”

The emperor said, "Where does the joy come from?" ”

"The imperial doctor asked Princess Zhao and Princess Wu to check the pulse and confirm that the two princesses are pregnant with Liujia." As the emperor's personal eunuch, Jia Xi knew how much the emperor looked forward to his grandson.

This is really a happy event, the old emperor listened to it, a chrysanthemum bloomed on his face, and he slapped his thigh hard, "This is really a good thing!" "It's probably a good thing that two more grandchildren are about to be born.

Wei Liuniang and Su Rong, who were diagnosed by the imperial doctor, were both cherished and protected by their respective mothers-in-law. Concubine Shu and Xu Zhaoyuan, who were still blaming just now, are now so happy that they can't close their mouths, and their eyes at their daughter-in-law are very soft.

Compared with King Wu's handsome face that could not hide his joy, King Zhao looked confused. Until Xu Zhaoyuan pushed his son, "Wulang, you have to treat your daughter-in-law well this time, and if you quarrel with her again, I won't follow." ”

"Ah...... Oh. King Zhao nodded, looking at Wei Liuniang's gaze was still complicated. Others don't understand, but King Zhao himself knows. Since he caused Wei Liuniang to have a miscarriage before, and he protected Wei Banniang, the relationship between the two has dropped to a freezing point. Usually in the palace, the king does not see the king, and when he has to sit together, he can not speak without talking.

In my impression, it seems that he has been drunk once in the past few months, and the two have never been together except for sleeping in the princess's room. Could it be that his daughter-in-law is very suitable for children? King Zhao's mood was slightly complicated. Although he already has a son, after all, he was born from a concubine, and he was born seven months prematurely, and he looks sick and unhealthy. If the princess gives him a healthy son-in-law, the relationship between the two will not be restored.

King Zhao was thinking about treating Wei Liuniang better, and the emperor who got the news strode in, laughing with a red face: "Today is really a happy event. Seeing King Zhao at a glance, thinking of his eldest grandson, and Princess Zhao was pregnant again, he suddenly felt that this son was good, he patted King Zhao's shoulder and praised: "Wulang is good." ”

King Zhao was suddenly overjoyed, and his father praised him in front of all his brothers! This is usually only the treatment of the crown prince or the king of Wu.

King Zhao's joy lasted until he returned home in the evening, and he was stopped by Wei Banniang, who was supposed to be in confinement. Wei Banniang, who had just given birth to a son, was pale, knelt in front of him tremblingly, and cried with teary eyes: "Lord Wang, the premature birth of the concubine is all caused by someone!" ”

When King Zhao heard this, he was angry at that time, and shouted angrily: "Who is it!" ”

Wei Banniang covered her face and cried, no matter how King Zhao asked, she just refused to reply. King Zhao was so angry that he pointed at Wei Banniang's considerate maid, "You say, what's the matter." ”

The maid hurriedly knelt down, "Lord Wang, the slave doesn't dare to say." ”

Wei Banniang and the maid behaved like this, no matter how stupid King Zhao was, he should know who to look for. What's more, he is not stupid, on some issues, very smart.

"Is it the princess?"

Wei Banniang raised her tear-stained face, "Lord Wang, the concubine is lowly, and even if she dies, it is not a pity." But Da Lang is His Royal Highness's own flesh and blood, and now seeing that he is so thin and weak, the concubine hates to die for him. ”

After King Zhao was angry, he thought in time that his princess was pregnant, and if it wasn't for the conclusive evidence, he couldn't go over to question it. He closed his eyes, calmed down his feelings, and then stared at Wei Banniang's eyes and asked, "You said that the princess caused you to give birth prematurely, but there is evidence." ”

"Yes." Wei Banniang said affirmatively.

"Tell me about it." Zhao Wang said.

Before his words fell, he heard Wei Liuniang's crisp voice sounding outside the door, "The prince doesn't need to ask more, I asked you to do it." ”

Zhao Wangteng stood up and stared at Wei Liuniang viciously, "What did you say?" ”

Wei Liuniang held the maid's hand, smiled, slowly sat down on the chair next to King Zhao, and chuckled: "If it weren't for the concubine, how could the prince have an eldest son who was born on the same day as the saint." ”

King Zhao pointed at Wei Liuniang with a stammering mouth, "You, you, you mean ......"

Wei Liuniang nodded knowingly, "I just deliberately drugged people so that the child could be born today." She glanced at Wei Banniang, who was staring at her with her eyes blazing, straightened her cuffs, and said slowly: "Don't worry, the princess, before the concubine was drugged, she had already done tests on several people, which can completely ensure the safety of Wei Ruren's mother and son." Now Da Lang just looks weak, and if he takes care of it for a while, he is just like a normal child. ”

Listening to Wei Liuniang's understatement about the way she took pregnant women for granted, King Zhao broke out in a cold sweat behind his back, and even the hairs on his body stood up.

"What, the prince is afraid?" Wei Liuniang asked sarcastically.

King Zhao subconsciously straightened his spine, "Who said that this king is afraid." ”

Wei Liuniang glanced at Wei Banniang, "The concubine came here, there is something to tell the prince." ”

King Zhao asked, "What's the matter?" "Although Wei Liuniang was drugged to give birth to Wei Banniang prematurely, as she said, if she didn't use such means, how could she get an emperor's eldest grandson who was born on the same day as her father! On balance, he acquiesced.

Wei Liuniang said: "Da Lang is the eldest son of the prince and the eldest grandson of his father, and his status is precious, so it is not good to let a concubine raise him." ”

Wei Banniang pinched her palm hard, and looked at King Zhao pitifully, her current status in King Zhao's mansion was not enough to compete with Wei Liuniang, so she could only pin her hopes on King Zhao.

King Zhao raised his eyebrows and pondered, and it took a long time to nod in the expectation of Wei Banniang, who was full of tears, "Then Dalang has Princess Lao to take care of it." ”

Wei Banniang looked at King Zhao in disbelief, and only got his gentle words: "Banniang go back and take care of your body, you just gave birth to a child, you can't be so willful." Not only that, King Zhao even changed all the people around Wei Banniang, locked her in the house for confinement, and no one was allowed to visit.

This kind of deliberate control of the birth of a child in order to invite favor in front of the emperor is known to as few people as possible.

That night, many people died silently in the palace of King Zhao, and in the following days, they were transported out of the palace through the back door and dragged to the Zhuangzi outside the city for burial.

Wei Banniang, who was defeated by Wei Liuniang again, hated so much that her eyes were on fire. She can only sue herself, wait slowly, take her time, sooner or later she will take revenge on herself. Fortunately, King Zhao was ashamed of her, and he came to see him every day, which invisibly made Wei Banniang's status in King Zhao's mansion rise a lot.

This time, Princess Zhao and Princess Wu were pregnant at the emperor's birthday banquet at the same time, which made Princess Zhu of Zhou and Princess Liu of Qi a little uncomfortable.

is also a princess, Princess An has given birth to a daughter for King An, although it is not a son, but she also gave birth to a child, and there are many things that bloom first and then bear fruit. Then Princess Zhao, not long after the miscarriage, became pregnant with another child. Princess Wu was also pregnant within a year of her marriage, and fortunately she broke out at the emperor's birthday banquet and received the emperor's attention. Everyone is a woman, and they also married into the royal family, why doesn't their stomach move much?

Not only are they anxious, but the mothers of King Zhou and King Qi are also anxious. As a mother-in-law, worried about her son's heirs, the first thing that comes to mind, the most convenient trick, is always to give a woman to her son.

The palace of Zhou and the palace of Qi successively received four palace maids from Concubine De and Li Xiurong, and Princess Zhou entered the palace with gratitude, and arranged for the palace maids to serve King Zhou that night. As for Princess Qi, she didn't care about Li Xiurong at all, and directly arranged the four palace maids to serve by her side, and didn't want them to do anything, just stand in the room as a vase, and one stop is a day. King Qi didn't say much, and tossed with Princess Qi.

The emperor saw that the fifth and sixth sons were going to have children, and there was only one crown princess in his beloved son, and he thought it was a little miserable. The idea of sending a few more concubines to his son that day became clear again.

In view of Su Yan's daughter-in-law, the emperor likes it very much, and he doesn't want his son's back house to be unstable, so he is extra careful to provoke a little wife for his son. Every time someone is singled out, it is always considered and considered.

The emperor not only chooses a little wife for the prince, but also always guides his son in private, urging him from time to time, wanting the princess to get pregnant as soon as possible.

The prince was annoyed by his father, "Daddy, Erchen and Yan Yan are both young, and sooner or later they will have children, why are you in a hurry!" ”

"Extended heir, this is a big deal, I ask me more what's wrong?" The emperor said with a glare.

The prince said: "Just because it is a major event, you must be cautious." ”

The emperor was a little confused, "What are you cautious about?" "Isn't it just that if you sleep with more women, then you will have a lot of children.

The prince glanced at his father, "Erchen has read a lot of medical books during this time, talking about how the parents' health is, which affects the child's body. It is because his son and Yan Yan have been recuperating recently, striving to give birth to a healthy and intelligent child in the future. "He and Yan Yan's children have to be refined, so that they don't sleep with any stupid woman like his father, and then give birth to a bunch of stupid, ugly and troublesome children, I hate it to death!

The emperor was actually persuaded by his son, and said helplessly: "Okay, you are reasonable." ”

Although she was convinced, the little wife had to choose again. Seeing that his son loves his daughter-in-law, he will probably not be willing to give birth to many children for the crown princess, and at this time he needs a little wife. The old emperor, who had spent his whole life, had not considered the question of whether his son wanted it at all.

In fact, the emperor gave the prince a concubine, whether it was the prince or Su Yan, they didn't feel much. It's just that there are a few more women in the East Palace, just find a place for them and let them go.

The emperor sent three widows to the East Palace and ten new sons of good families to the palace, Su Yan's reaction was not as big as the people who were waiting around her.

When a few widows and a good family entered the East Palace, she was leading people to brew autumn dew and cold, and listened to the words of the palace maid, but she answered casually, indicating that she knew. He even ordered very calmly: "Let Li Ping take them to the Yeting Palace and find a place to live." ”

Banxia was in a hurry, and stomped her feet and said, "Lady, that's the woman that the saint gave to His Highness, aren't you worried?" ”

Su Yan asked strangely, "What do I have to worry about?" "If she wants to have her appearance, she has talent, she wants her family background, she has her husband's love and death, she has everything, is it necessary to care about a few concubines?

"You're not afraid that Your Highness will be snatched away by those vixens!" Banxia asked angrily.

Su Yan raised his eyebrows, "What do you use to hook it away?" Is it a much uglier face than mine? ”

The prince, who hurried back because he was worried, happened to hear his beloved wife's words, his whole heart was like being soaked in hot water, it was very warm, he stretched out his hand to push the door in, and stuck directly to Su Yan's side, hugging his wife and refusing to let go: "Qingqing still understands me." ”

Su Yan raised her head and smiled sweetly at her husband, "Qilang, why did you come back so early today?" ”

The prince hugged her and shook her, and said honestly: "I'm afraid that Qingqing will be sad." ”

Su Yan smiled and said with crooked eyebrows: "It's just a few women." I have already asked Li Ping to send them all to the palace of the palace, and when they are settled, let Lu Si Boudoir teach them, and they are not allowed to leave the palace at will without an edict on weekdays. ”

The prince nodded hurriedly, "That's how it should be, I don't want to go around the garden with Qingqing when a woman suddenly appears to ask for peace." ”

"Okay, let's do it here, let's go out." Su Yan broke free of the prince's arm, took her husband's arm affectionately, and asked with a smile: "Qilang came back early today, let's go to the garden to barbecue." "In autumn, the wild things are fattening, and the emperor is particularly energetic to take people to hunt every few days, and the prey that is retrieved will always be sent to the East Palace. Coincidentally, with a few women, there were two deer, a few pheasants, and a rabbit.

The prince nodded happily, "Okay." ”

The prince and Su Yan went to play barbecue sweetly, and the three widows who were chosen by the emperor who didn't know whether it was good luck or bad luck entered the East Palace with sweetness and apprehension, and before they saw the prince and the princess, they were sent to the palace by an order.

The chief eunuch beside the crown princess held an expressionless face, and said coldly to a few people: "A few widows, this is the palace of the palace, after choosing where you want to live in the future, without the edict of His Royal Highness and the lady, you are not allowed to leave the palace gate at will." "Those ten sons of good families have no name, and they were directly divided by Li Ping to three widows as maids.

Ten people were divided equally among three people, and there was one more. Li Ping didn't think about it, and directly pointed to the rest one, "You just go and serve Du Ruren." "Du Wuniang, who came out of the prince's mother's family, Li Ping still took care of it. It's just that whether this is really taken care of or something else, you have to think about it.

Li Ping simply arranged these people neatly, turned around and planned to leave, Du Wuniang was bolder, and hurriedly spoke, "Father-in-law go slowly, I don't know when the crown princess will summon us?" She clearly said that she was the crown princess, and she was referring to the crown prince at that time.

Li Ping tugged at the corners of his mouth, and said with a smile: "This, the old slave doesn't know, it all depends on the mood of the lady." ”

The thirteen girls looked at each other, they didn't understand correctly, if the crown princess didn't have the mood to see them, wouldn't they have been sitting in this court all their lives?