Time passed in a flash, and in the evening, the sky gradually darkened, and there were little eunuchs in the Changle Palace who began to hang up many bright lights, and the inside and outside of the imperial city suddenly became brightly lit.

Before the eldest sister returned, Shen Shuzhao left the West Wing, came to the Yongshou Palace, followed the female imperial chief into the main room where the Queen Mother was, and before meeting the Queen Mother, she straightened her clothes, and then went around the screen and kowtowed: "Shuzhao to meet the Queen Mother." ”

The Queen Mother was concentrating on trimming the flowers in the enamel carved emerald vase, and without looking at her, she only gave her a seat.

Shen Shuzhao secretly observed the Queen Mother's expression, and sat on the small chair at the bottom, not knowing what the Queen Mother thought about what happened today.

Seeing that the Queen Mother had been taking care of the flowers, Shen Shuzhao fell silent, looking at her nose and not moving. After doing it for a long time, the Queen Mother slowly put down the scissors in her hand and said to her, "You can hold your breath." ”

Shen Shuzhao smiled politely, and the Queen Mother then turned sideways and looked at her with a straight face: "What do you think you should do about today's affairs?" ”

is not lazy, Shen Shuzhao smiled and replied strictly: "This matter is tricky, although the queen's methods are inferior, they have already played a role in provoking public opinion. ”

The queen mother's complexion sank, and the queen mother's niece collided with Concubine Xi when she entered the palace, such a thing is really not good for her to choose the imperial concubine, and the queen knows the pros and cons of setting off public opinion.

Shen Shuzhao continued: "According to the people's daughters, Concubine Xi and Concubine Xian are originally high-ranking favored concubines, and the eldest sister will not be treated by them when she enters the palace, so it is only a matter of time before there is a collision, but the Xiao family is cunning to advance this. ”

The Queen Mother replied coldly: "The mourning family knows. ”

Then she picked up the scissors again and repaired the abrupt branches and leaves, and said: "The mourning family has just received secret letters from many ministers, and there are already voices of support in the court, but it is not enough, compared to the people of the Xiao family, and the good emperor of the mourning family has cut many people under the mourning family in recent months, which is really unfavorable." ”

Shen Shuzhao didn't say anything, she knew that since the emperor really gained full power, he had gradually weakened the queen mother's existence in political affairs, and these things had been felt when she first entered the palace in her previous life.

"Shuzhao, what do you think Lone should do next?" The Queen Mother said nonchalantly.

Shen Shuzhao pondered for a while, and said after a while: "In the humble opinion of the people's daughter, in addition to gradually retracting her voice in the court, the queen mother should not forget the power of the concubines in the harem, in addition to the queen and concubines, there are many people who want to rely on the queen mother but have no chance. ”

The Queen Mother replied briefly: "Let's talk about it." ”

After being affirmed, Shen Shuzhao relieved her heart and replied: "A kind of concubine is suppressed by the queen and can't climb the queen mother, so she chooses to be silent; Another kind of concubine is slightly favored, but because of the queen's prestige and the protection of the queen mother, she doesn't dare to speak out. As long as the Queen Mother finds them and gives them a guarantee for serving the emperor for a long time, public opinion will be much better. ”

The queen mother on the phoenix throne looked at Shen Shuzhao, who was only sixteen, and said: "Next month is the birthday of the mourning family, and it has not been used in the harem for a long time, so it is better to let some concubines be promoted." ”

Shen Shuzhao calmly looked at the Queen Mother and said what she thought in her heart, in fact, what she said was exactly what the Queen Mother thought, but this was far from enough for her, she was a loser in her previous life, and she had to take the initiative to fight for something.

So she got up and bowed down: "Shuzhao has something to ask for." ”

"What?" The Queen Mother asked rhetorically.

Shen Shuzhao raised her head and groaned slightly, with confidence in her eyes: "The people think...... There is one thing that can be done better for the Queen Mother. ”

The Queen Mother raised her eyebrows, and a pair of Danfeng eyes were half-narrowed and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"After finding those concubines, Niangniang needs someone to convey every step of the Queen Mother's will at any time, and she must know how to appease if she wants to win people's hearts, and the high eunuchs and female princesses are too obvious to do so, and they can't be too trusting to let the people in the small palace do it.

With that, she buried her head deep in the ground.

The person on the head was the same as when she first confided in her ambitions before, there was a silent atmosphere on the other side, but this time it was different, and the Queen Mother's next tone contained a hint of appreciation: "Get up, Shuzhao, sit next to the mourning family." ”

The Queen Mother beckoned, Shen Shuzhao got up and thanked her, and then sat on Xiaofengdun, she finally had the same qualifications as her eldest sister Shen Zhuangzhao to sit next to the Queen Mother.

Then the Queen Mother continued to prune the flowers and said, "Go back, and the mourning family will call you at any time in the future." ”

Shen Shuzhao continued: "Back to the Queen Mother, Shuzhao still has something to say. The eldest sister didn't know that Concubine Ling was the queen's person, and the queen mother hadn't let her go back since she called her over, so the little woman felt that it was better not to punish the eldest sister's self-esteem too much. ”

After hearing this, the Queen Mother smiled slightly: "She is the imperial concubine, how can Lone punish her too much, you are still too young, Lone just spent an afternoon to let her know everything that has happened in the harem in the past few years, as for punishing those palace maids, it is just that Lone gives the three of you a chance to establish your prestige." ”

After speaking, she raised her hand to cut off a sharp thorn, and said with hatred: "It's a pity that your third sister is really useless." ”

Shen Shuzhao lowered his head, pretending not to hear.

"If she had come here today, she wouldn't have missed such an opportunity. As soon as you and Zhuang Zhao leave, they will send someone to let the palace people out, saying that it was the love of the two young ladies, you can rest assured, those palace people are all malleable talents carefully selected by the mourning family. ”

Seeing the Queen Mother's thoughtfulness, Shen Shuzhao expressed her great gratitude, and then she raised her head, with the same ambition as the Queen Mother in her eyes, and said: "The Queen Mother thinks about Shuzhao so much, Shuzhao will not disappoint the Queen Mother." ”

At the same time, she took another pair of scissors on the table and said, "The person the Queen Mother doesn't want to see-" As soon as the words fell, a redundant and obstructive bud was cut off by her, and a cold voice followed: "Shuzhao will try her best to get rid of the Queen Mother." ”

The candlelight in the green gauze lamp flickered, the shadow was cast on the face of the queen mother, and the sparks jumped in Shen Shuzhao's eyes, this is the conversation of two careerists with great action, in the harem, there is no shortage of people like them, insidious and sensible. There is nothing wrong with fighting for life.

One night, Shen Shuzhao, who stayed out of the harem disputes, reached a consensus with the Queen Mother that there will be more newcomers in this harem in the future, and some of them will be good-looking.

On the other side, in the Emperor's Long Live Palace, a young eunuch who was no more than twenty years old, bowed over, walked hurriedly to the Xuande Pavilion, which was used to deal with internal affairs.

He came to the two of them, lowered his head, looked at the corner of the bright yellow coat that appeared in his eyes, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, General Xiao has already set off from Nanshan, and it is estimated that he will arrive in the capital soon." ”

The man stood at a table full of folds, and the only candle flame on the table was faintly lit in the whole room, he hummed and said, "Now that it is almost here, it is time to write the will of General Feng Xiao." ”

He turned his head to look at the woman in white who was sitting on the edge of the wide window in the moonlight, and said to her, "Imperial sister, did you say yes?" ”

The eldest princess Wei Yang, who had been staring at the full moon, replied calmly: "The emperor is the king of a country, and he has his own decision. ”

The emperor smiled and said, "It's a pity that I can't help this matter. ”

The wind blew in softly from outside, the candlelight flickered, and the figures changed slightly, but no one spoke.

"Go down." The emperor spoke to the eunuch, and the man replied and withdrew.

He put his hands behind his back, looked at Wei Yang, who was sitting on a high place casually in front of him, with one hand on his knee, and shook his head, he should have gotten used to this sitting position a long time ago, but he hadn't seen him for two years, and he was a little unaccustomed to it, but it was finally good, at least the person came back.

Something suddenly occurred to him, so he asked, "Did you see it today?" ”

Wei Yang was stunned, and after a while, he replied with indescribable emotion: "Hmm." ”

The emperor also looked up at the bright moon in the dark night outside, and said by the way: "How is it?" ”

"Very good."

"Same as ever?"

After listening, the corners of Wei Yang's mouth raised slightly, and his gaze at the moonlight softened a little: "No, it's changed a lot." ”

The emperor looked at her curiously and asked, "Where has it changed?" ”

Wei Yang turned his head and replied quietly: "It's different from what I knew before, and I can see it more openly." ”

"It's really good to change for the better." The emperor said while stretching out his hand to stroke the folds, "Look here, these are today's folds, on the one hand, they are against the queen mother's choice of concubines, and on the other hand, they are in support of the choice of concubines, and yesterday there was no latter twists and turns, and the queen mother's movements were really fast." ”

Wei Yang leaned lightly on the edge of the window, looking at these folds, with a hint of helplessness in his brows.

"Do you know that Concubine Xi and the queen's people went to see Shen Zhuangzhao today?"

"I know."

The emperor replied, and his smile deepened: "I asked the queen to go." ”

"Is that you?"

Wei Yang stood up, the emperor didn't turn his head, and continued to sort out these folds, he said: "I just mentioned it casually, and after I left, it was the queen's decision." ”

The person on the other side got up, stepped on tiptoe to the flat ground, the plain hem of the skirt hung down to the ground, and then walked step by step to the side of the man in the yellow robe.

Only the faint light of a candle lamp hid her expression behind her in the darkness.

"Don't do anything that will hurt her until you do this."

The emperor held the fold with the inscription on Rong Wang Qi and reread it, and he calmly replied: "No, I have a sense of proportion in everything." ”

After that, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Wei Yang: "Sister Huang, do you need Brother Huang to create more opportunities for you recently?" ”

Wei Yang knew what his raised eyebrows meant, ignored his virtue, and coldly refused: "No need." ”

The emperor asked, "Is it really not needed?" ”

Wei Yang paused and said, "No need." ”

The emperor then asked: "Really? ”

Wei Yang was speechless.

He watched Wei Yang defeated, his eyebrows raised, there was no need to say much, he had never found a weakness in this cold and calm eldest sister in the past nineteen years, and now he had the intention of raising his eyebrows.

He took out a drawing of the palace of the imperial city, pointed to the Changnian Hall where the eldest princess had always lived, and said, "It's a little far away here, it's better to be closer to the queen mother." ”

Taking out a pen, the emperor clicked on the empty cicada hall in Changle Palace, and said: "This place is quite close to the Yongshou Palace, it is very convenient to serve the queen mother, and it is ...... It's not very far from Qinglian Pavilion. ”

He raised his head, looked at Shang Weiyang with the same cold face as always, and said, "Sister Huang, are you satisfied?" ”

Wei Yang: "......"

didn't wait for her to answer, the emperor rolled up the long picture, the yellow long sleeves waved at the corner of the clothes where there was light, which was particularly conspicuous, after putting it away, he put a smile on his face, looked at Wei Yang in the dark shadow, and said seriously: "Sister Huang, those things in the future will be handed over to you." ”

She nodded, solemnly.

The emperor sighed and said, "Actually, in the past two years that the imperial sister has been there, I and the queen mother have been worried about your safety day and night. ”

Wei Yang looked at the person in front of him, raised his hand and gently put it on his shoulder, and said softly: "It's okay, the imperial sister is back." ”

"Do you know what happened in the last two years?"

"You don't have to know, you can see it," Wei Yang's green silk slid down to her shoulder, and she looked into his eyes and said, "You got back what you should have as a son of heaven." ”

The emperor's eyes lit up slightly, and he paused for a moment before he finally said slowly: "Yes, two years...... I got back what belonged to the Son of Heaven. ”

He turned around and walked to the desk, the candlelight was as dim as ever, so that Wei Yang couldn't see the emperor's expression with his back to her, and in the faint light, the emperor's back with his hands on the desk looked very lonely.

Wei Yang looked at him wordlessly, sighed, and asked, "Do you have to do that in the future?" ”

The emperor with his back to her raised his head, looked out the window, and said in a cold tone: "Queen Mother, she is too extreme...... Maybe she thinks I'm not suitable for the Son of Heaven, so she is suitable. ”

"Brother Huang," she thought for a moment, but still said, "no matter how you fight with the queen mother, there is only one point, don't hurt her." ”

The emperor whispered, and then he turned his body and looked at Wei Yang: "I promise." ”

The two looked at each other, each with their own thoughts.

It was already night outside the window, the crows were flying high, and there was no one in the huge imperial city who could sleep peacefully.