The new peach replaced the old charm, and Luojing City, which ushered in the Spring Festival, was immersed in a jubilant atmosphere. The long streets and alleys are full of silk and lanterns, and they are preparing for the upcoming Shangyuan Festival.

There was a burst of sad crying in the Yulan Hall of the Prince's East Palace, and it was also shrouded in a gloomy mist at this moment.

Xu Hou, who had been holding her son's palm tightly on the edge of the couch, stopped her tears and stopped cursing the emperor repeatedly.

Emperor Jing Xiao Rui has not returned to Luojing City since the New Year, and the queen has sent people to send the news that the prince is seriously ill several times, and he has not seen his ruthless Lao Tzu have the intention of putting down the festival and returning to the city to explore, as if he is determined to promote the decree that can force the eldest son's family to die according to the plan in advance.

Empress Xu stretched out her hand to tuck the brocade quilt on her body for Xiao Ze, who had fallen asleep, and then stared at her daughter-in-law kneeling in front of her with a pair of fierce eyes.

Xiao Ze had just coughed up blood before taking the medicine and falling asleep, and the red patches on the handkerchief made Empress Xu feel heartbroken.

So at this time, although there were tears on his face, he was still squeezing a smile and whispering to comfort Xiao Xiaohan's Qin family, which made the queen mother-in-law very unpleasant. However, when she caught a glimpse of the timidity on the young and white face of her eldest grandson, she suddenly suppressed her anger.

Childish pity! has a father who disregards his life and body for the sake of his children's private affairs, and meets an eccentric and ruthless grandfather.

Empress Xu pinched her son's unconscious fingers vigorously, and was stunned for a while, but finally made up her mind. She gently put Xiao Ze's hand on the couch, raised her willow eyebrows and handed over to her daughter-in-law, "This palace will let Mother Li stay in Yulan Hall to serve." From today on, the Qin family will live in Baoyi Courtyard with Han'er in Ansheng, don't bring the child over, so as not to get sick. ”

Qin was stunned for a moment. Immediately after that, he knelt down and received the decree, and even pressed his son's little head to make him respectfully kowtow to the imperial grandmother a few solid rings.

Under the condition that the crown prince Xiao Ze seemed to have no power to return to heaven, Empress Xu ruthlessly made the most difficult choice for motherhood. She isolated her son from her grandson, and even transferred her secret guards to focus on protecting her grandson's safety first.

The concubines and concubines of several princes who were standing aside and waiting also knelt down. Some are shrewd, some are ignorant, or please stay in Yulan Hall to serve the husband. Or begging to bring their children to Baoyi-in to serve the housewife, and each person's request is based on his own judgment of the current situation.

Empress Xu, who was distracted, choked up accordingly, and did not ask her daughter-in-law Qin, the serious hostess of the East Palace, to meaning, and directly arranged the return of several women.

"Concubine, but please go to the Great Mercy and Grace Temple, copy the scriptures and recite the Buddha to pray for the prince!" , He Minglan's unique request immediately attracted many sympathetic eyes.

He Minglan, who was straightening up, seemed to be unaware of the gaze that fell on her, her pretty face was pale, her lips trembled slightly, but her eyes resolutely expressed her determination to look back.

At the beginning of Xiao Ze's illness, he made no secret of it many times in front of everyone in the East Palace. In case something wrong with him, He Minglan, who has won his heart, will be martyred and buried with him. And one day, whether it is Xiao Rui who is his father, or the Qin family who is filial to his son, he will be willing to fulfill Xiao Ze's selfish wishes.

Empress Xu looked He Minglan up and down with a complicated expression, nodded her head, and deliberately instructed the palace people who followed her to remember to take some incense and silver money from Qingning Palace and give it to He Liangdi to add merit.

The son wants the idea of the woman in front of him being buried, and Empress Xu also knows. But she had also promised it herself. As long as He Minglan is obedient, he will save her life on the grounds of accidentally hurting Tianhe, and allow her to save the remnants of the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha.

If you want to complain, you will complain, although she has the grace of the queen and the blue-eyed prince, she has no blessing to have children. The Qin clan hugged his son who was leaning against him. Staring down at the top of He Minglan's hair, the corners of his mouth were secretly slightly curled. Empress Xu's calculations, she understands more or less, but as long as Empress Xu, who is the emperor's grandmother, supports her own son, the Qin family is also happy to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Feng Yin reluctantly left the East Palace, and within the low-hanging curtains, Empress Xu's tears gradually dried themselves......

The fourteenth day of the first lunar month. Donggong Liangdi He Minglan prayed for the prince's car from Luojing City to the Great Ci'en Temple in the west, and made an appointment with her mother-in-law He Er, who was also worried before leaving the city, accompanied by the guards of the East Palace, the 2,000 private soldiers of the He family, and dozens of palace maids sent by Xu Hou of Qingning Palace.

"He Minglan has already set off for the western suburbs! The prince is critically ill! ”

Jinxiang Hou Mansion. Gao Wei, who could hear the response, breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately turned his head, staring at Xue Sujun who was sitting on the side.

According to the steps agreed a year ago, there was no need to deliberately send someone to deliver the letter, and the high-profile team out of the city naturally spread the message that all parties were going to prepare for action.

"According to the information from the guards of the East Palace, the Luoxia Mountain Meiwu selected by our Princess Yan will be watched by the He family, and the other part of the Sanyuan Bridge will have to be biased."

Xue Suyun smiled and said: "Fortunately, as long as the fifteenth year is over, it will be over, and even if the concubine body is infected with the wind and cold at this time, she will not be able to miss the human relationship, and she can rest in peace." ”

"For the husband, I ordered my subordinates to prepare a car for the lady to see a doctor and seek a doctor."

"Looking for a good doctor to catch the medicine, I can't say that I have to bring a lot of servants to live near the medical hall for a few days. Hou Ye must always prepare some more silver money for the concubine! Xue Suyun smiled and spread out a tender white and creamy palm towards Gao Wei.

Ask for money again! Gao Wei's face couldn't help twitching, his teeth were tendoned, and then he smiled astringently: "Madame always has to take care of the children in the family and save some expenses!" ”

Xue Sujun still smiled sweetly, his palms were flat and steady, and he didn't flinch at all.

The two children he disliked didn't mean anything to her. If Jing Jun hadn't returned the children when he set off from Jiangnan that day, the two children might have been abandoned by their parents as abandoned rags.

Gao Wei, who knew that he couldn't threaten Xue Sujun with his child, gritted his teeth and took off the key to the warehouse that was firmly hanging on his body.

From the south to the north, he was actually captured into Luojing City, and the property in the city's residence and treasury is now from the top, which is not very rich, but in order to avoid the hope of being an empty marquis in the future, he can only satisfy the greed of the woman in front of him who desperately gouges the corner of his own wall.

A team of green cover oil wall cars swayed away from the cramped and stingy Jinxiang Hou Mansion, and walked around the pawnshop-lined Nanxie Street in a low-key manner to unload some things, and then slowly swayed into the hat alley by the Sanyuan Bridge.

There are two tall locust trees planted at the mouth of the alley. There are also stones that are convenient for padlocks to block thieves at night, and it is difficult for cars and horses to enter again. Xue Suyun, who was dressed as an ordinary market businesswoman, simply helped a maid and got out of the car.

She cautiously and without a trace touched the few private silver tickets tied to her abdomen, touched the thickness that made her steady, and then lowered her hand and clasped a money bag with a slightly cold inside the wrist.

If this trip can go smoothly except for Zhou Manyun, the next step is to continue to fight wits and courage with the pillow person who is in the same bed and have different dreams, or take the opportunity to roll up the belongings and escape. Now that Xue Suyun, who has finally mixed up with Mrs. Hou, can't make up her mind for a while.

Or perhaps, then we can learn from the noble queen and princess to give up the crown prince and be the eldest grandson of the emperor, and also kill her husband, who is not treated by most of the royal family, and help the youngest son inherit the title of hereditary replacement promised by Emperor Jing?

There was a clattering sound, interrupting Xue Sujun's thoughts of staring at the sinister tree in a daze, and she couldn't help but lower her head along with the sound.

A rattan ball with a bell tied to a ribbon stopped next to her embroidered shoe, and not far away five or six boys of eight or nine years old looked timidly at the stranger who suddenly visited the alley.

They should all be children of Hutong people. Xue Suyun glanced at the middle-aged and elderly women chatting enthusiastically while choosing vegetables and shoes under the tree at the entrance of the alley, squatted down to pick up the ball, and slowly walked to the front of several little boys. Smile widely.

The first dark-skinned, tiger-faced boy with a tense face and a group of children whispered thanks to the foreign woman.

"Little brother!" , Xue Sujun's smile became more cordial, leaned over his knees, and asked gently: "My family is from Jiangnan, and I want to rent a larger yard around here." The Chinese said that there is a courtyard with a big stone drum at the door of Mao'er Hutong that is empty, I don't know right? ”

Although in the letter that was finally obtained a few days ago, the small courtyard that Zhou Manyun secretly rented was here. But for the sake of safety, Xue Sujun still decided to ask first. even temporarily abandoned the adult. chose to look at the child in front of her who fit her eyes.

The boy's eyelashes kept fanning, and the little tiger bit his lip. Behind him, the babbling voices of the children were already shouting.

"The yard is next door to my house, and it looks like it's empty."

"It's not empty! Someone lives! Someone was washing the floor inside before the Chinese New Year, and I saw it with my own eyes......"

"Someone cleans it, it could be empty! I also helped my third uncle's house sweep the porch, and his house was unoccupied! ”

"Don't make any noise!". The little boy who was facing Xue Sujun shouted loudly, and the little friends behind him suddenly became silent.

"Madam, the yard has already been rented, and my mother was hired a year ago to say that she was going to help cook on the stove at the end of the first month!" , the child at the head replied clearly. Word by word, he spit out a Luo Jing accent with a straight and round tone.

At the end of the first month! Xue Sujun, who heard the time clearly, straightened up with satisfaction, and then showed a regretful expression on his face, ripped open the money bag and took out a few copper coins and handed them to the little boy, "Little brother, these guys, you can eat them with knock candy!" ”

As soon as they heard that they had money to change their sweet mouths to the old man who knocked on copper sheets and sold sugar, the children suddenly gathered around, and the big tiger brother screamed affectionately, and looked at the child holding the copper coin with dry eyes.

"Second child, you take it first!" , The child who was called by the children thought about it, and backhanded the money into the hands of a child who looked somewhat similar to him, and took three steps and two steps to catch up with Xue Sujun, who was moving as if he was about to return to the carriage.

"Madame! There are also empty yards to rent in the alley. Right next to the stone drum courtyard you mentioned, the house is bigger. The owner is Mr. Xi, who sells calligraphy and paintings in Yilan Zhai. ", The face of the child with some weak breath flashed a trace of shameful redness, and he whispered shyly: "My mother and second aunt took over the stove work of the Xi family on Chinese New Year's Eve, and they can still speak." If you want to rent a yard, you can come to my house and sit first, as long as you ...... Just give my family some more Chinese fees! ”

Xue Sujun was slightly stunned and raised her delicate willow eyebrows.

The boy in front of him should be less than ten years old, with a round face and a little naïve, but his speech is very clever.

"Although you are young, you are a good businessman!" , Xue Sujun responded with a smile, and a faint sourness appeared in his eyes. When she was young, she also received such an evaluation from her father, but in the end, her investment in her life saw that it was a huge loss in front of her.

Big Tiger's dry lips moved, and he pursed them again. Turning half of his face to look at a group of friends who were looking down and discussing how to divide the sugar, it was very likely that if Xue Sujun had no intention, he would take care of the maltose plan first. It's just that the corners of his eyes are pulling, and he still can't help but glance straight at Xue Sujun's face.

What do half-grown children understand? It's just to get more money to buy sugar, so he opened his mouth and said the important news that he didn't know about the amount of money he didn't know at all.

After thinking about it, Xue Sujun raised his handkerchief to cover his mouth, smiled, and said in a playful voice: "Little brother, then I bother you to lead the way." ”

The little boy's eyes lit up with excitement when he had been waiting for a long time, and he hurriedly raised his voice to say hello to the children at the entrance of the alley, and then walked towards the depths of the alley with Xue Sujun and a team of guards.

Xu was too anxious to get more money for sugar, and the child's steps leading the way were a little unsteady, and just after the big locust tree, he knocked over a family's night incense barrel that was forgotten at the root of the wall. Fortunately, the bucket was collected and washed by the incense buyer in the early morning, and the owner who heard the sound and drove out just picked up the bucket and scolded a few words at the departing group of figures, and then slammed the door into the courtyard. (To be continued......)