It was already dusk, and the golden glow of the setting sun was slanted on the pasted bright paper window of Ah Xiu's room, and the rest shone in from the open window, sprinkling layers of gold dust on the furnishings and the ground where it was illuminated. The room was quiet, the light smoke of hibiscus incense, which was reflected by the rays of the setting sun, was much more graceful, with golden light, tactfully drifting.

Ah Xiu didn't know that Yuanzhang had already made up his mind to stand up for himself, and was about to talk about Chenghuan, but Qiaoying'er reported at the door: "Lord, Mrs., Mrs. Huilan is here." Zhu Yuanzhang's face sank, and he asked Ah Xiu before he spoke: "Let her in." Ah Xiu thought about it and asked Su Xin to invite Lian'er to come. Huilan is dressed up today in a bright and shining light: Di bun on the gold silk inlaid with gems and green jade hollow double luan bird peony hairpin, full of pond Jiao's Guanyin heart, gold silk inlaid with mutton fat jade inlaid red sapphire butterfly love flower hairpin hairpin one left and one right inserted, a big gold phoenix agate tassel swaying, a pair of good East Pearl earrings on the ear. The body is purple embroidered peony dancing butterfly turquoise side collar cloud brocade gown, with dark green dark flower rattan pattern cloud brocade horse face skirt, and the feet wear navy blue elastic ink hollow moire bow shoes.

Huilan entered the inner room unconsciously, saluted Zhu Yuanzhang, and moved a stool to sit down. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at her dress, and at first he didn't feel anything, but when he looked at Ah Xiu's frowning eyebrows, he looked at it carefully, and realized that Huilan had exceeded the rules. Just as he was about to speak, Ah Xiu got up from the bed and smiled: "Where can I go to play today?" Why don't you take me and Lian'er? What about the kids? Have fun? Huilan also smiled and replied: "At first, I really wanted to take the children to the Confucius Temple, I felt very close, and the two sisters often went, so I never greeted the two sisters, and then when I came to the Confucius Temple, I remembered that it was the first day of the new year, there were too many people, I was afraid that one person would not be able to take care of it, and it was not good to come back to invite my sister, so I took the children to Bailuzhou by the river to play." The children went back to their rooms, and when I heard that my sister was not feeling well, I took a look for myself. ”

Ah Xiu smiled faintly and sat up straight: "I might as well do it, it's just that I have a terrible headache, but fortunately, the prince came back early, and it is no longer in the way." My sister is dressed up very brightly today, and she has brightened up my house. Let's just drink tea and speak slowly. After speaking, he stopped talking, took Zhu Yuanzhang's hand and shook it. Zhu Yuanzhang understood, and asked Yan'er to serve tea outside. After a while, Lian'er also came, wearing the same outfit as during the day, saluting Zhu Yuanzhang and Ah Xiu respectfully, standing aside, Ah Xiu smiled and asked her to sit down at the table, just looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, and didn't say a word.

Huilan became suspicious, but she didn't know why. Now that Huilan has been promoted to a side concubine, she thinks that she is the biological mother of the son of the world and the mother of several sons, and she does have a little idea of competing for favor in her heart. In addition, only Ah Xiu is higher than her in the house now, and only Lian'er is at the same level, but it just so happens that neither of them has come out, so this sense of superiority gradually erodes Huilan's original heart after Zhu Yuanzhang is called the queen, thinking that if today's heroes, her husband has become the dominant party, and it is inevitable that she will not be the emperor in the future. The greed of human nature is pervasive, and once it seizes the opportunity, it grows madly in Huilan's heart. No matter how good a woman is, because of the feudal idea of male superiority and inferiority of women, as long as they are given the opportunity to seize power, they will gradually change. Huilan then had a separation from the two and no longer put the two in her eyes.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the tea was also served, and Ah Xiu didn't say anything, just looked at himself. Thinking that she was waiting for herself to speak, she picked up the teacup, took a sip, and was just about to put the teacup down, but Lian'er noticed Huilan's clothes and said with a little displeasure: "Sister Huilan's clothes are beautiful, but I'm afraid it's too much." Hui Lan looked down, and was about to open her mouth without realizing it, when Zhu Yuanzhang spoke: "The purple on your body is the color of the clothes of the Prince of Yipin, and only Ah Xiu is worthy of wearing it in this mansion, why did you cut it out and wear it yourself?" Peony is the flower of wealth, as a side concubine, you can wear it, but where do these gorgeous jewelry such as tassel swaying and tired silk golden phoenix come from? There are also three beads on these Dongzhu earrings, which are also broken by the rules. Don't you realize? Not to mention how respectful your father is, you have been in the house for many years, how can you exceed the rules? ”

Yixi's words were sonorous and powerful, and Hui Lan bowed her head and said nothing, as if she hadn't come back to her senses, and as if she didn't know what to say, she just looked at her fingernails in a daze and didn't say a word. Ah Xiu was very useful in his heart: If I say this, it seems that I am jealous, and now my husband is talking about you, every word is reasonable, see what else you have to say! I've also watched a few palace fighting dramas, and if I want to deal with you, as long as I calm down, it's not difficult at all! Thinking of this, Ah Xiu didn't look up, just looked at the incense burner on the low shelf on the ground, looked up and said to Su Xin: "There are too many people, make some new tea bought today, remove this one, and replace it with something else." Su Xin nodded, picked up the incense burner, and made a look, Yan'er and Ying'er retreated outside to wait for the dispatch. Su Xin put the incense burner aside, let Yan'er take it to clean up, if there is not much remaining incense, take it to the Chenghuan room to add flavor, if it is more, take out some and put it in another box to smoke the tent another day.

Yan'er nodded and cleaned it up, Su Xin unlocked it, took out a Longquan kiln glaze swirl three-legged cylinder furnace from the big cabinet, locked the cabinet, put the incense burner on the table in the hall, and went to another cabinet to open the cabinet. After thinking about it, I chose a white copper gilt locket and took it out. I carefully wiped the incense burner with a hand towel, took a few small pieces of charcoal with fire chopsticks and put them into the stove, and gently covered them with a layer of ash. Picked up the small tweezers, took a small piece of orchid knot of Qinan incense in the small box of Fang Cai, put it in the furnace, carefully covered the lid of Tong Zi Xianrui, held it in the room, still placed it on the low shelf, and was about to withdraw, Zhu Yuanzhang said loudly with anger: "Huilan, what do you mean if you don't say a word?!" Su was so frightened that Su Xing's heart jumped, and she hurriedly looked at Ah Xiu, who nodded and motioned for her to go out.

Huilan was also shocked: What's the matter, why did she suddenly become so loud? Raising his eyes to look at Zhu Yuanzhang, seeing that he was waiting for his answer with anger on his face, he could only say carefully: "Huilan knows her mistake, and now she will change it." Zhu Yuanzhang was about to open his mouth to shout again, but Ah Xiu secretly pulled his clothes and said to Huilan: "You go and change it first, and come back after changing." Don't keep the prince waiting. Huilan was unhappy, but she didn't dare to come out, so she agreed. Out of the door, it happened that Cheng Huan ran out of the side room, the two bumped into each other, Hui Lan had small feet, staggered two steps and stood firm, Cheng Huan was small, and hit a butt squat.

Cheng Huan stood up and patted the soil, intending to apologize. Huilan was unhappy because Ah Xiu suddenly changed her temperament and stumbled on herself, and now that she was hit like this, she somehow rushed to her heart with a nameless fire, looking at a little girl with a fresh face, thinking that this was Ah Xiu's newly bought girl, which added fuel to the fire. stepped forward, raised his hand and gave Cheng Huan two ear scrapers, and scolded in a low voice: "Unruly girl, don't you have eyes?!" "Cheng Huan just entered the mansion, just now I saw Yan'er sent him an incense burner and incense, I felt very fresh, and I heard two personal girls say that her mother is the biggest person in the house except for the prince, and she was about to go to Ah Xiu to confirm, so she bumped into Huilan. Cheng Huan saw that Huilan was dressed in jewelry, more rich and dazzling than what his mother was wearing, he didn't know what it was, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare to cry, so he could only bend down and apologize.

"Do you understand the rules? On your knees! "Fang was just told by Lian'er and Zhu Yuanzhang that he was overstepping, and now he is simply angry, and Huilan plays a majestic role to Chenghuan. Xiao Chenghuan had no idea and cried, the two girls who came out came out, and when they saw Cheng Huan being slapped, they were already scared stupid, and now they saw Cheng Huan crying, so they came back to their senses and hurriedly came up to hug her. The girls gave Huilan a salute, Mei Xiang was more sophisticated, and said respectfully: "Mrs. Huilan, this is the princess's righteous daughter, Miss Chenghuan." Please ask Mrs. Huilan to see the princess's face and forgive the young lady. ”

When Huilan heard this, she was shocked at first, and then when she saw Mei Xiang mention Ah Xiu's face, an evil fire rushed straight to her head, and she slapped Mei Xiang with her hand, but was grabbed by someone. Mei Xiang originally closed her eyes and waited to be beaten, but she didn't move, and opened her eyes strangely. Hui Lan turned her face and saw that it was Su Xin, and scolded angrily: "I teach the girl a lesson, and you dare to stop it?" Su Xin didn't answer with a cold face, and she didn't let go, so she let Mei Xiang and Ju Yun hug Chenghuan aside. She didn't dare, I did! With a loud shout, it turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang and Ah Xiulian'er heard Cheng Huan crying, walked out of the room, and stood on the steps. Now that the clothes haven't been changed, how can I teach my subordinates in the Axiu Courtyard first?! Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask in a cold voice.

Su Xin saw that the masters came out, let go of his hand, and stepped aside. Cheng Huan also saw Ah Xiu come out, turned his head and asked Ju Yun who was holding her with his eyes, and saw Ju Yun nodding and pushing himself, so he hurriedly ran over and hid behind Ah Xiu. Hui Lan's face turned blue and white, and she was about to salute to change her clothes, but Ah Xiu opened her mouth unceremoniously: "Sister Hui Lan, stay here!" Huilan had no choice but to stand still and turn around, lower her head and make a fuss in her heart: What does this mean? You've never talked to me like this, and today the sun is coming out of the west? What was the origin of the little girl just now, which made her unhappy?

Seeing that she heard her words and turned around, Ah Xiu ignored her again, first pulled Cheng Huan, who was trembling and crying from behind, touched her little face, wiped her tears, and coaxed her softly: "Cheng Huan is good, don't cry." This is the prince, Cheng Huan's father, kowtowing to the prince. After speaking, he pushed Chenghuan in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. Cheng Huan obediently wiped the tears on his face, knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang, and his crisp voice was a little choked: "Cheng Huan kowtows to the prince!" ”