In the middle of June, the rain finally fell on this day, and the heat and dryness were extinguished. The capital is quiet and tranquil, the gray wall corner is green climbing vines, the villain flowers paper umbrellas, the soil and mud are splashed, the flowers are floating away, and they are rolled in the wind, and there is no place to go.

There are eight long streets in the city, four in the north and south, and four in the east and west. The street where the officials live is deserted and orderly, and no one dares to disturb it here. As the four heroes of the founding of the country, the Shen Mansion occupies a single side of seven acres, which is conspicuous.

In the case that the other three meritorious families gradually moved out of here and set up a larger mansion in the suburbs, the first emperor repeatedly persuaded the Shen family to find another good land, not to be wronged, because this is the territory planned for the dangerous situation when the founding of the dynasty was created, the Shen Mansion still refused, and stayed here with peace of mind, and wished the emperor to be on call.

Therefore, among these mansions, the Shen Mansion stands out from the crowd, and the specifications and decorations are enviable. There are a total of six courtyards, seventeen small scenes, Shen Taishi and the eldest lady are one, the old lady is one, the eldest son is one, the concubine is one, and the next is a relative of the same clan. In the lowest and most humble courtyard, there is a corner away from the crowd at the east end, where lives Shen Taishi's most unfavored concubine, the Ruan family.

There is a nice name hanging upside down in the outer cabinet, and it is a dream. It's a pity that it's really like the name, being favored is just a short time to be left out in the cold. The light rain is long, the lotus pond ripples, silently, and the birds are scattered. At the end of the white wall is the room where the Nguyen family lives.

According to common sense, such a cold concubine's room should not have so many satin and gold ornaments in the room, and the withered beams should not be tied with precious gold leaves for prayer. If others who don't know the reason see it, they can't help but wonder where these female valuables came from, but if they see the people sitting inside, they won't think so.

Under the upstairs wooden window, a beautiful woman with a phoenix crown sits upright. Her expression was resolute, revealing an extraordinarily cold look. However, the drizzle and smoke eyebrows, her eyebrows and eyes are more gentle than the rain, inheriting the gentle and cowardly appearance of the Ruan family, but the bride to be married, why are her eyes more melancholy than the rain outside? No one knows.

With a bride here, there should be these things. Ruan Shi carefully added makeup to her, her red lips were seductive, like a cherry, and the rouge on her cheeks was flushed, which made the complexion of this girl who was only twenty-eight years old even more bloodless, and she couldn't make up for it. Ruan Shi hesitated, a little anxious, how can it be good to go to see the emperor like this? Unexpectedly, the girl gently held her mother, slowly lowered her hand that wanted to add makeup, and said, "No need, mother." ”

"......"

The girl looked at herself in the mirror sadly, full of gold and jade, "No matter what her daughter's appearance is, the emperor won't care, and the queen mother won't care." ”

Ruan Shi felt sour when he heard this, "How can you say this about yourself, in my mother's heart, you are the most beautiful one." How could the emperor not like it? ”

"There are many concubines in the six palaces, and what the Son of Heaven likes should also be the eldest sister." The girl's eyes that saw through the rain curtain moved to a farther distance, "There was a sudden incident in the palace, the queen mother did not choose the eldest sister to enter the palace, but chose me, the dark clouds in front are not yet known, even if the daughter happily serves the Son of Heaven, it is not inevitable to feel afraid." ”

It turned out that the pale face was actually like this. Ruan sat down slowly, worried and sad beside her daughter, "Shuzhao......" She didn't know how to comfort this daughter who had been mature and transparent since she was a child, "The Queen Mother is a member of the Shen family, and she will definitely take care of you in the palace." ”

Shen Shuzhao didn't say anything more when she saw her mother's appearance, but she understood that a shrewd and profitable woman like the Queen Mother would not help a useless nobody. She will only help the chess pieces that can kill the enemy generals, otherwise, she would not have listened to the government for so long between the death of the first emperor and the new emperor's accession to the throne.

"Someone is in the palace! Hurry, hurry! There was a grandmother's voice outside the courtyard shouting, Ruan's expression suddenly became nervous, "Ah, ah, the emperor has sent someone, Shuzhao ......" At this time, there was a knock on the door outside the door, and it was the grandmother who shouted, "Aunt Ruan, don't talk inside, let the little master come out, the palanquin in the palace has arrived at the door!" ”

"Yes......" Ruan replied, turned around, and saw his daughter's new appearance of getting married, and burst into tears in an instant, and the tears fell out of her tears somehow, and she warned herself not to cry before entering the house. Shen Shuzhao panicked when she saw it, "Mother, don't cry." ”

"Hey, grandma doesn't cry, grandma doesn't cry, you go. Go, just enjoy the fine clothes and food, and never come back - these years have been too impersonal, and now that I have entered the palace, I can be regarded as compensating for the past, let's go, don't delay. ”

Shen Shuzhao was pushed out of the door by her, grabbed her mother tightly in her hand, and refused to let go, "Mother, my daughter has said it, and she will definitely fight for you in the future...... You will stay in the courtyard first, and after your daughter contributes to the power of the Queen Mother, you will not forget to be filial to your mother. ”

"Silly child, where does my mother want you to be like the eldest lady in the house, I hope she will become the phoenix, as long as you can live the second half of your life in peace in the palace, let your mother know that the other side of the capital, you live well, this is enough."

At the last moment of parting, Shen Shuzhao couldn't help but burst into tears. Mother didn't look at her eyes much, for fear that once she did, she would be reluctant to let her go.

There was a violent knock on the door outside, and Shen Shuzhao knew that he couldn't stay for a long time, so he went out with his mother. As soon as I passed through the door, a group of unfamiliar faces poured out of the courtyard, and they were all dressed as people from the old lady's side. The maidservants each held a plain umbrella and waited for her respectfully. Shen Shuzhao walked out of the courtyard surrounded by everyone. The Ruan family was busy with umbrellas and followed at the end, and there was still a few distances from the crowd, just because the concubines could not participate in the palace to send off their relatives.

At the main gate of the Shen Mansion compound, Shen Shuzhao saw the long-lost father, the eldest lady, the old lady, and the brothers and sisters who came out. The eldest lady looked at her and naturally wanted to divide the corpse of Ling Chi, she snatched away the original identity of the eldest sister, and the dream of the Shen Mansion was all shattered here, her marriage was unpopular and hated. But the choice of the Queen Mother in Changle Palace, what can she do? All the ways are fate, destined to be yours, and the feng shui will still be yours in turn.

Shen Shuzhao passed in front of the eldest sister with her head held high, this first-class beauty who was rumored to be a beautiful woman in the capital could only watch as someone inferior to her became the imperial concubine instead, and her palms pinched out blood-colored nail prints. But the unwillingness ends here! After all...... The eldest sister began to recall the days when she entered the palace to serve the queen mother and was observed and selected, and the sinister and treacherous of the court were all displayed crisply, clearly, a weak woman, in the face of the feud of the previous dynasty and the jealousy of the harem, she couldn't survive without a brain, did this sister think that she would have no worries about food and clothing from now on? She sneered. After the Xiao family assassinated the queen mother's subordinates in order to prevent her from entering the palace, it was even more unlikely that Shen Shuzhao, who had picked up a bargain, would have a better time, especially since the queen mother from the Xiao Mansion was still sitting in the palace!

When getting on the sedan chair, Shen Shuzhao heard the eldest sister's cold and indifferent voice floating, and the words were neither light nor heavy-"Second sister, take care." The reluctance and ridicule it harbors are clearly visible.

Oh, I'll take care.

Shen Shuzhao sat on the sedan chair carried by four people, and the eunuchs in the palace waved their white hair to whisk the dust, "Go-" This sound landed, and the sedan chair was lifted, and walked towards the highest place of the palace in the capital. The cold rain was pouring in, the sky was overcast, and the street corners were all deep blue. Behind the lively crowd in the Shen Mansion, Ruan Shi wiped his tears from afar at the palace sedan chair that had left in the gap between the figures in front of him. The palace is no better than anything else, and if you go here, you will be forever gone.

Shen Shuzhao sat in the sedan chair, holding the silver-edged warm incense burner prepared by the careful maidservant in her arms. The smoke was filled with the dampness of the decaying rain, and she smelled a hint of withering in it, from outside herself, from the long street. She heard someone talking, heard the sound of clothes rubbing and kneeling, she didn't have to think about it, she knew that people came out to see her, and saw that the Shen Mansion had a concubine and entered the palace again, and the last time was when the Queen Mother entered the palace decades ago.

Cold, so cold. Shen Shuzhao tightened her sleeves, she was gloomy and unknown about the prospects, looking down, like duckweed retrograde in the rain on the ground, the palace sedan chair carried her towards the palace. In the palace at this end, Changle Palace was silent in the rain, and it was the master who ordered her to come.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps in the corridor of the Queen Mother's bedroom, and if you took a closer look, it was the Queen Mother's confidant eunuch Gao Dezhong. He has a slender face, looks weak, but in fact has profound martial arts, not only the queen mother's right-hand man, but also a personal life-sacrificing guard. These are the hidden dragons and crouching tigers that should be around a woman who controls power.

"Queen Mother," Gao Dezhong half-knelt down, "Eldest Princess Kunyi asks to see." ”

The Queen Mother rubbed her eyebrows, helpless, the water jade glazed armor on her little finger refracted unpredictably, "The mourning family understands what she wants to do." ”

"What does the Queen Mother mean......"

"Just say that the mourning family is busy for Concubine Shen to enter the palace." The Queen Mother sent away.

Gao Dezhong immediately walked out, and then quickly reported to a person with a graceful figure outside the corridor, this person was the eldest daughter of the Queen Mother, and the eldest princess Kunyi was also. Speaking of this eldest princess, her appearance is known as the Xizi of the world, and because she often lives in the deep palace, no one can say whether it is true or false, but the literati of the teahouse often make up stories about her, and the exaggerated appearance and temperament quatrains are incredible, and everyone knows that this is impossible, how can there be such a person as zài in the world? So he also brought a fantasy of the beauty that summed up in the ancient poems. The eldest princess is really a character who doesn't come forward often, but she still keeps it in various legends.

Gao Dezhong treated her with respect and respect like the Queen Mother, just because he knew that those who were advanced in martial arts could detect it just by walking and breathing. Walking silently, he didn't even make a movement when he stepped on the brittle leaves, let alone visiting in the rain, and he noticed that the edges of the eldest princess's shoes were only wet on the bottom, and there were no extra rain marks seeping into the shoes. When I entered the temple, the water trail I left behind was so light that it seemed to dry up with a light blow. The force of this palace princess is really unfathomable.

He didn't dare to look at her, because the eldest princess didn't often stay by the queen mother's side, and there was an estrangement between mother and son, and the same was true for the people in the palace. If he had grown up ordinarily since childhood, he and she might still be able to smile and talk kindly, but the eldest princess couldn't. There are many more stories in this...... Gao Dezhong knew that the Queen Mother was not ashamed of her mother's love in her heart, and she also followed the mood of atonement, lowered her voice and said: "The Queen Mother is busy in the palace about Concubine Shen's entry into the palace, can the eldest princess come back later?" ”

He felt that the person in front of him should be frowning slightly, but she didn't. The eldest princess's voice sounded sad, and there was a sigh of disappointment, "Okay." A well-informed reply means that you will not come again for this matter. Gao Dezhong's ears seemed to be surrounded by nine phoenixes, with fairy birds tactful, with the special fragrance of the eldest princess, cold and beautiful, the rain scene of the corridor into a painting, he felt that he was a supporting role, and the incredible young woman in front of him was the protagonist in the painting. Gao Dezhong suddenly felt sorry for the people outside the palace, because in this world, the first hundred years, the next hundred years, can indeed tolerate such a transcendent person.

"Congratulations to the eldest princess." He buried his head deeply, and then heard the sound of the skirt far away, and after the nobleman left, Gao Dezhong could raise his head, the palace rules were so strict, it was nothing more than that an honest palace person might not even remember a face in a year, and she was also an eldest princess whose whereabouts were like a fog.

The corridor is empty, the curtains are fluttering, and the rain is long.

The air was filled with the cold fragrance of the eldest princess, Gao Dezhong sighed twice, and turned his back back. It will be difficult for this princess and the queen mother to restore the relationship between them after many years of leaving the palace. The Queen Mother couldn't grasp her, because her daughter had become cold like the wind blowing through her fingertips, and the palace could no longer lock her, nor did she stay lightly.

He glanced at the clouds outside, and now, at this moment, this new Concubine Shen is about to enter the palace.