A good night's dream, when Shen Shuzhao woke up, it was already dawn outside the long window. "Hmm...... Wei Yang? She muttered vaguely, but no one answered.

The palace maid Lu Rong gently closed the door and entered the table next to her bed with new flowers, and a handful of roses were inserted in the light white jade flower bottle.

Shen Shuzhao slowly got up and leaned against the bed, this is Qinglian Pavilion? Didn't she sleep in the eldest princess's dormitory in Weiyang?

"Second Miss, you're awake." Lu Rong trimmed the red roses, and Shen Shuzhao asked suspiciously, "How did I get here?" ”

Lu Rong smiled secretly: "Second Miss was sleepy too early last night, so naturally she won't come by herself." ”

"That's?"

"Her Royal Highness the eldest princess carried you over."

When Shen Shuzhao heard this, his face turned red. "What nonsense are you talking about...... The eldest princess is a bottle of gold and treasure, how could she ......" Her heartbeat seemed to miss half a beat, and Lu Rong looked at Miss Shen Er's worried appearance in confusion, and said, "The eldest princess left after carrying you into bed, and did nothing else?" ”

She finally breathed a sigh of relief, but fortunately nothing else had happened.

But......

She was a little dissatisfied,

Why isn't there anything else going on?

"Wait for me to wash up." She sighed, got out of bed, and said. Lu Rong responded, and his subordinates took care of the red roses, saying that this was the first time Shen Shuzhao had seen this flower seed in the palace, and he could see that he had raised it very carefully and preciously, so he asked, "Did the Queen Mother send it?" ”

Lu Rong was surprised: "It was given to you by the eldest princess." ”

After finishing speaking, Lu Rong's heart felt strange, why didn't the second lady always understand how well the eldest princess treated her?

Roses as red as cinnabar moles are placed in the bottle, and the faint morning light outside the window reflects in, melting like honey on the petals. She felt a warm feeling in her heart.

"Hmm...... It's right here, as close to my pillow as possible. ”

After washing and taking care of it, Shen Shuzhao came out of the west wing, the palace people in the small courtyard under the rising sun were busy with work, and the mood was very warm, she walked down the steps, but suddenly heard a sound of broken jade from the opposite room, "Third Miss, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, slave maid damn ......" A palace maid kept saying.

What's going on?

Shen Shuzhao frowned, came to the third sister's house and pushed the door in. A palace maid knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy, in front of her was a celadon vase given by the broken queen mother, and the third sister Shen Xiaozhao sat on the chair, her face gloomy, motionless looking at the palace maid who was sobbing in a low voice.

"What's wrong?" Shen Shuzhao asked sternly.

When Shen Xiaozhao saw her coming, he didn't say anything, he still sat on the chair, and only said, "It's just that the palace maid accidentally broke the vase." ”

"Why aren't you by the side of the eldest sister?"

"She has been taught by Mama Chen every day beside the Queen Mother these days." Shen Xiaozhao said angrily.

"A small vase is so big, I don't know that I think the third sister is stuffing herself in the house and taking the vase to vent!" Shen Shuzhao's eyes were sharp.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Shen Xiaozhao stood up, and just after she said this excitedly, she saw that the palace maids following behind Shen Shuzhao buried their heads lower.

Shen Shuzhao, who was on the other side, looked coldly at the third sister's gaffe and was greatly disappointed. Does she think that this place is still in the Shen Mansion and she can do whatever she wants?

"It's just a vase, the Queen Mother won't blame you too much. I've been busy with other things these days, and I haven't spoken to my sister for a long time, do you blame me? ”

"I ......"

Shen Shuzhao strode forward, held Shen Xiaozhao's hand, Yan Sù's expression instantly turned relaxed, and said softly: "Don't be impulsive, tell Sister A if you have any dissatisfaction." Don't admit your mistake if you're on your knees, get up and clean up here. The rest of the people will stand down. ”

The palace people saw that the second lady was so majestic, and they retreated outside the door one after another. After Shen Xiaozhao's palace maid cleaned up the broken porcelain, she walked out with tears on her face.

As soon as everyone left, Shen Shuzhao immediately withdrew his hand coldly. There was a hint of criticism in his tone, "Do you know what you're doing? ”

“…… Of course I know. Shen Xiaozhao gritted his teeth.

"Know you're still doing it?"

"Why do you teach me!" Shen Xiaozhao got up and looked at the hypocritical second sister in front of him who was currying favor with the old woman with her weakness in the Shen Mansion, and at this moment she was scolding her as a sister, so the love that she had endured came up again, and she said angrily, "I thought that you had done so many things by the side of the Queen Mother, and you would not give this opportunity to her, but now I find that you are really just currying favor with the Queen Mother!" Shen Shuzhao, you are just constantly pleasing others and doing things for others from beginning to end, you are destined to not be promising! ”

Shen Shuzhao looked at her for a long time, and finally said quietly: "I'm for the Shen family." ”

"Don't pretend."

Shen Xiaozhao sneered, and at the same time paced to the window, lifting the goose-yellow curtain that blocked the daylight, and there was a glimmer of light in the dark room, she said gloomily to the empty corner outside the window: "There is no one else here, don't put on that self-sacrificing face for the world." ”

Oh?

It seems that this third sister is not completely stupid, and she also knows that the Queen Mother will send someone to eavesdrop on their every move.

Shen Shuzhao sat slowly at the small round table of pear blossoms, poured himself a cup of tea idly, and said in a casual tone: "What if you don't have it?" No matter how much you complain to me, you will not be the imperial concubine, from the beginning, we were Shen Zhuangzhao's foil, don't you understand all these years since you grew up? ”

Shen Xiaozhao strode over, grabbed Shen Shuzhao's hand that was about to taste tea with one hand, and said viciously: "On the day of the birthday banquet, she and Concubine Xi collided with each other, which would obviously cause Concubine Xi to be unhappy, but you used your skills to make her and Concubine Yan go back to change clothes, right?" ”

"Huh?"

"I still can't understand what you've done, don't you hate it?"

Shen Shuzhao took her hand off her wrist, then contemptuously patted the ash off the sleeve of that hand, and replied: "I hate, I don't hate, it's already a thing of the past that died in time." Third sister, you are too irrational now, these words are all nonsense, now when the eldest sister is a concubine, do you know how many pairs of eyes are on Changle Palace? Your words and deeds, please think carefully for the Queen Mother and the Shen Mansion. ”

"No...... I don't want to. Shen Xiaozhao suddenly whispered in despair, and retreated again and again, "I don't want to go back to the Shen Mansion, I never want to go back." ”

Shen Shuzhao watched her get more and more wrong, got up, and said solemnly, "What are you crazy about today?" ”

"If it's been decided that it's her, why give us hope? That woman's eyeliner is everywhere in the Shen Mansion! I never want to go back to that place and live the life of a third lady on the surface, but in fact live like a dog. ”

Shen Shuzhao raised his head arrogantly and said, "There is no doubt that the Queen Mother has designated the eldest sister as a concubine. Don't be whimsical, when you need a daughter-in-law, there won't be you; When you don't need a concubine, you won't be there. ”

After hearing this, the person opposite gasped, "How can this be...... Does it really mean that your background determines your success or failure at the beginning? I want to be the imperial concubine, I like the emperor, I want to listen to the people call me 'Niangniang', I want to live the life of a harem concubine, no matter how high or low I am, I would rather fall to death in this imperial city than go back to the cold Shen Mansion and let the eldest lady decide my way back! ”

"It's ridiculous to tie your whole life to a man." Shen Shuzhao glanced at her coldly, and the meaning of contempt was especially obvious.

"I don't have that much time to argue with you, I'm leaving, you can do it yourself." Flicked her sleeves and left, when Shen Shuzhao was about to push the door open, her eyes inadvertently fell on the dark wooden box that was thrown in the corner of the door, she was about to go out, but she hesitated at this moment, how could this box look so familiar?

When she looked at it again, a withered flower was faintly hidden in the dark box, and in the middle of her thoughts, she suddenly thought of something, and her whole body was suddenly like a lightning strike, and she turned back in disbelief: "This is ...... Notification color of the wooden box? ”

Shen Xiaozhao's face turned pale suddenly, "This, this is not ......" Without waiting for her to finish speaking, Shen Shuzhao hurriedly stepped over and picked it up first, the familiar box body even had the same texture as those boxes, and when she opened it, the decaying pink orchid appeared in front of her, and she gasped.

The third sister hurriedly rushed up and snatched it over, but it was too late, Shen Shuzhao clenched her fists, her eyes burned, and she said word by word, "When the first ancestor emperor founded the country, there was a favorite concubine in the harem who was very disliked by others wearing clothes of the same color as her, so the other concubines put the flowers in the wooden box in order to avoid the limelight, and used the color of the flowers to indicate what the favorite concubine was wearing today. Gradually, this has become the characteristic of the harem of the Wei Dynasty, the flowers are similar in color, and the higher the grade of the flower, the more it represents the identity of the concubine. These wooden boxes are generally used for ordinary boxes issued by the province in the palace, just because this wooden box is a basic thing, and it is impossible to distinguish the status of the concubine...... On the day of the eldest sister's banquet, the Queen Mother also received flowers from other palaces, so you sue me - why do you have this thing? ”

Shen Xiaozhao turned his back, "I don't know what you're talking about, this is a flower I picked at random and used to decorate." ”

"Shen Xiaozhao......" she trembled angrily, and her tone was a little unstable, "You and the queen have joined forces to calculate your eldest sister?" ”

She originally thought that the eldest sister's choice of peach-colored clothes was just an accident, but now that it looks like this accident was artificial, and the one who reported the news in it turned out to be her own person! First, Concubine Xi set the original clothes, and then Concubine Xian's suit did not come for a long time, and only handed over an empty box, and did not rush to deliver it until it was almost late, which invisibly made them panic.

And Concubine Xi suddenly changed her clothes, she didn't believe that she had nothing to do with Concubine Xian, besides, when the two of them went to the banquet, they came together with the last time they met in Changle Palace, Shen Shuzhao and the Queen Mother knew that Concubine Xian was the queen's chess piece, and they didn't expect that the chess piece hidden deeper was between them!

The person on the other side naturally did not answer the question, and even kept arguing with strong words, Shen Shuzhao lost patience, she strode forward, raised her hand and directly slapped Shen Xiaozhao, and reprimanded sternly: "You help the Xiao family calculate our Shen family, if the Queen Mother knows, what will be the consequences?" Do you know! If the queen's treacherous plan succeeds, the Shen family will be humiliated and hated by the Xi concubine family - have you thought about the consequences? ”

The slap was neither light nor heavy, leaving only a shallow layer of light red on Shen Xiaozhao's face, but Shen Xiaozhao was extremely angry, his eyes widened, and he asked rhetorically, "You dare to hit me?" got a few good faces in front of the Queen Mother, and you got carried away, you are just a concubine? ”

As soon as the words fell, before Shen Shuzhao could refute, she was pushed to the ground fiercely, and her body hit the hard corner of the table, making a dull "bang" sound, Shen Shuzhao only felt that there was a wet liquid flowing down her forehead, she felt bad in her heart, and wiped it casually, and her white hand was a shocking red, disgusting red.

"I ...... I didn't mean to. Shen Xiaozhao retreated in fear, "You slapped me, you were the first to be wrong!" ”

Hearing her say this, Shen Shuzhao only felt that she didn't slap her hard just now! Covering the wound on her forehead, she stood up with her other hand on the table, restrained her anger, and said in a steady voice: "...... The promise given to you by the queen will not be true, you have been deceived by her, you are such an unscrupulous madman. You're wrong, and you couldn't be more wrong! ”

Shen Xiaozhao laughed when she heard it, and then laughed louder and louder, looking so flamboyant in front of the injured and weak Shen Shuzhao, after laughing, she looked at Shen Shuzhao condescendingly and asked, "Turn back?" There is no way back, so if you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent! Don't you know what the queen in the palace calls you? You are a lackey of the Queen Mother, born for yourself and died for chess. If you don't have a position, you will never be able to control your own destiny! ”

After speaking, she combed her sideburns, put away her madness, and said, "The queen promised me that she would make me the imperial concubine." The Shen family does not necessarily have only a second concubine. If you don't have ambition, you might as well let me go out myself......"

Shen Shuzhao felt deeply speechless, the person in front of him was already completely crazy, "Is it really that important to be a concubine...... muttered alone, she seemed to see the darkness of the Shen family's future, and it will all rise because of this woman.