Palace. In the outer hall of the Heart Cultivation Palace, Zhou Boyan knelt on the left, and the six princes with a deplorable face knelt on the right with the universal son.

The temple is brightly lit. In the inner hall, the emperor wearing a bright yellow dragon robe sat behind the imperial case with a calm face. On the ground, there were a few books lying scattered.

Whether in the hall or outside the hall, the eunuchs and palace maids on duty all knelt on the ground in silence. The atmosphere is solemn and depressing, and you can hear the silence of a needle.

There was a sound of footsteps coming from far and near. Eight small palace maids carried lanterns in front, eight eunuchs carried the phoenix in the center, eight large palace maids followed, and the eunuchs, grandmothers and a team of guards with knives followed closely on the side of the phoenix.

The little eunuch reported in a sharp voice, "The Queen Mother has arrived!" ”

When everyone picked up the queen mother's car, the emperor sitting in the inner hall lowered his eyes, not letting anyone see the disgust that flashed in his eyes.

The glorious and luxurious Queen Mother stepped down from the phoenix and stepped into the outer hall of the Heart Cultivation Hall with a condensed face.

"Queen Mother, save your son." The sixth prince kowtowed to the queen mother.

"Grandma Huang, please save your father." The prince lost his arrogance and followed the sixth prince to kowtow to the queen mother.

"Chen Zhou Boyan, I have seen the Queen Mother." Zhou Boyan has the official position of imperial history, so he calls himself a minister.

The Queen Mother paused, but she didn't answer anyone's words, nor did she say that they should be flattened, but ordered with a cold face, "All retreat." Then he said to the eunuchs and palace maids who were with him, "You are all the same, all of you, and you all withdraw." Then he walked towards the inner sanctum.

Zhou Boyan was the first to get up and retreat outside the hall. The sixth prince and his son then retreated. The palace maids and eunuchs who were waiting in the outer hall got up from the ground with their heads drooping, and exited the palace in order. The Queen Mother's people also withdrew. At this time, Chief Manager Hong personally closed the door of the Heart Cultivation Hall and stood guard outside the door.

The emperor did not get up to greet the Queen Mother as he had done in the past, but sat quietly behind the imperial case with his eyes down.

The Queen Mother walked into the inner sanctum. found that the emperor not only did not get up to greet her, but only looked down at the song, and did not even give a look, a different color slipped in her eyes, and she squinted at the emperor slightly.

At this time, the emperor got up slowly and stood behind the imperial case, "Queen Mother, please." ”

In an instant, the Queen Mother's mind skipped several thoughts. However, she didn't show it on her face, and walked to the concubine on the left side of the imperial case and sat down. She looked down at the scattered folds on the ground, "Emperor, do you know why the mourning family came from?" ”

The emperor sat down, "I will never be able to guess what the queen mother thinks, so I will not guess either." He said it in a calm tone, but with thorns.

The Queen Mother's hand was clenched tightly under her head. "Emperor, what do you mean by this?"

The Emperor rubbed his eyebrows, "I'm tired. ”

There are so many meanings behind these words, it all depends on how the listener understands them. People with simple minds understand in a simple direction. People with complex minds will naturally understand more complex. The Queen Mother's face was angry, "Are you willing to come to your Heart Cultivation Palace?" If it weren't for the sixth thing, you would have asked the mourning family, but the mourning family would not come. Seeing that the emperor was silent, she eased her face, "The mourning family knows that you love Yan'er, but your love can't be too much." Too much, not hurting him, but hurting him. The mourning family also loves him, but he also knows the measure, and he has to remind you from time to time not to be too much. The good intentions of the mourning family, can you understand the emperor? ”

The emperor was angry in his heart, but he couldn't get angry at his mother. However, he felt that he had endured it long enough, so he said with a cold face, "What the queen mother said is that the queen mother loves the younger generation just right. Out of an imperious six princes. A thirteen princes who spend all day with wine and are drunk for ten hours a day. That's not all, now there is another universal son who does not learn and does not know how to bully men and women. In the blue sky and daylight, he dared to intercept the car of the female dependents to rob someone, or the coquettish guest in the eldest princess's mansion, who gave him the guts? ”

The Empress Dowager was taken aback, "Emperor, are you accusing the mourning family?" ”

"The cars of the eldest princess's mansion dare to stop and rob, which of those ladies and young ladies in Beijing who dare to leave the mansion? The ministers of the court and the central government have been holding their breath in their hearts, and they have always dared not speak out about the actions of the universal prince. Well, now they've found their chance. The queen mother may wish to go to the morning court with me tomorrow to see whose excerpts the courtiers handed over. As he spoke, the emperor slapped a stack of folds on the table, "This is the fold handed over by the imperial historian after hearing about what happened in Fugui Alley after he dispersed the early dynasty." There is only one book of excerpts that denounces the young lady who beat the world. The others are all the six princes and the universal sons. ”

The Queen Mother was shocked, but she also doubted the truth of the emperor's words. She thought that the emperor was making up excuses because he didn't want her to meddle in the matter.

"Before this matter was suppressed, he dared to poke another basket in the world. Queen mother, I don't know if the queen mother can have a good way to block the mouth of the people? It is not a crime to damage the things given by the emperor, can the queen mother dare to set this precedent? ”

The Queen Mother was speechless when asked. She originally wanted to take this opportunity to solve Gu Qingshu, and by the way, let Zhou Boyan recognize the reality. Who would have thought that she had lived in the harem for a long time and stayed away from political affairs for a long time, but she had forgotten the ability of the imperial history to stalk and the desire of the people. Which young and beautiful daughter has been molested, and the father and mother will not secretly hate it!

Now because of the intervention of the eldest princess's mansion, those who hold grudges naturally want to be moved. had already hit the muzzle of the gun, but her sixth child didn't know it, and even smashed the door of the mansion made by the emperor's special person for Zhou Boyan. She is not sure whether the current fold on the imperial case is the fold of the sixth father and son, but she believes that there will be an excerpt of the sixth father and son tomorrow morning. There must be a lot.

The emperor didn't look at the queen mother's ugly face and asked, "Does the queen mother have a good plan?" ”

"The queen mother wants you to save the life of the sixth child." The Queen Mother said indifferently, straightened her spine, and sat there with a glorious and luxurious attitude, "The mourning family has returned." The emperor takes care of the dragon body and rests early. ”

The emperor got up, "Congratulations to the queen mother." ”

Only then did the Queen Mother stand up and walk out.

The emperor followed to the outer hall, "Someone, send the queen mother." ”

The door opened, and the palace maids and eunuchs who were waiting for the Queen Mother entered and helped the Queen Mother to leave.

The emperor walked into the inner hall and said to the little eunuch who stepped forward to serve, "Lord Xuanliu." ”

The sixth prince was ordered to enter, and came out with red eyes half an hour later. He looked at Zhou Boyan with a grateful face, "Uncle went back first." He pointed to the universal son who was waiting on the side, "This bastard, my uncle will teach and discipline him well, and don't let him make a mess again." ”

Zhou Boyan frowned and looked back at him, "It's useless to say this to me, I have to say it to the emperor." ”

The universal son was puzzled and opened his mouth to say something. The sixth prince slapped him on the shoulder, "Shut up." Then he continued to smile gratefully at Zhou Boyan, "Uncle got this love." With that, he pulled his son and left.

At this time, the little eunuch Xuan Zhou Boyan went in to face the saint. Half an hour later, Zhou Boyan respectfully withdrew from the Heart Cultivation Palace, and then left the palace with a cold face on his face.

The Queen Mother's eyeliner pulled the little eunuch who sent Zhou Boyan out and asked what was going on. The little eunuch refused to say at first, and after the other party gave him three times the silver, he dodged and walked to a place where no one spoke. The emperor wants to redo the palace gate for Yan Gongzi, and the Yan Gongzi who was bad before must insist that he found someone to do it. In this way, the six princes will be guilty of destroying the things given by the emperor.

The other party got the news, and then contacted Zhou Boyan's face when he left, and hurriedly went to interrogate.

The Queen Mother was convinced, and her heart was finally a little more comfortable. thought to herself: Although the emperor was rude to her before, he still saved the head of the sixth child, and he still listened to her in the end, which is enough. That being the case, she will not pursue Zhou Boyan's cover-up of Gu Qingshu.

On the way back, Zhou Boyan kept his face calm. Even Gu Shishi, who had a lot of words, didn't dare to squeak, just hurried away silently.

Torches lit the way, and to the sound of horses' hooves, they returned to Shuyuan.

Steward Zhou, who was standing outside Shu Yuan, saw that his master had returned safely, and turned around to let the family open the door of the garden.

Zhou Boyan dismounted, handed over the reins to the brocade guards, and hurried in with a tense face.

Steward Zhou followed beside him, "Childe, Miss is worried about you, and she hasn't slept all the time." ”

Zhou Boyan's movements paused, "Young masters, are you resting?" ”

Steward Zhou replied with a happy face, "Yes." The two young masters refused to sleep at first, clamoring to wait for you to come back. Or the young lady has a way, and in a few words, she coaxed the young masters to go to bed and rest. ”

In addition to Zhou Boyan, who is away all the year round, the master of the eldest princess's mansion also has An Rongzhou, who is not at home every day for 365 days a year, and the house is deserted. Now that the three Qingshu sisters and brothers have come, Steward Zhou feels that their eldest princess's mansion is finally lively, so he is very happy. In addition, Qing Shu is the young lady that the master likes and the future housewife, so Steward Zhou took someone to directly call Qing Shu Miss, call Qingyang and Qing Hao young masters, and don't even bring their surnames.

Zhou Boyan bowed his head and had the heart to see Qingshu, but he was worried that there would be rumors unfavorable to Qingshu in the past so late. So he hesitated for a moment and ordered, "Send someone to the Autumn Courtyard to report safety." "It means he won't go. Someone in Shu Yuan has planted eyeliner, and before they all come out, they have to be careful with their words and deeds.

Steward Zhou agreed, and then said, "Childe, the old slave moved your things to the summer courtyard on his own initiative. Now that everything is set up and the bed is made, the son can rest in peace. ”

Zhou Boyan listened, snorted, and kept his steps, "I know it's my own opinion, but you still do it?" ”

Steward Zhou rubbed his hands and smiled. The heart said: Childe, the old slave is not doing this for you!

Shu Yuan is very large, and the road from the garden gate to the four courtyards of spring, summer, autumn and winter is not short. Because of this, Qingshu and their sisters and brothers only prepared a soft sedan chair when they entered and exited. Zhou Boyan himself does not sit in a soft sedan chair. Not to mention his big steps, he walked fast, and it didn't take long for him to arrive at the summer courtyard.

Hearing that Qing Shu hadn't slept yet, he deliberately glanced in the direction where the Autumn Courtyard and the Winter Courtyard were located. The doors of the Autumn and Winter Courtyards were closed, and the lanterns on the doors were lit, but the courtyards seemed to be dark and did not appear to be bright. He looked at Steward Zhou in puzzlement.

Steward Zhou didn't have any discoloration on his face, "Childe, Miss probably can't stand it anymore and has already rested." ”

Zhou Boyan didn't speak and stepped into the summer courtyard. But the courtyard door behind him was suddenly closed. He turned around and asked through the closed door, "Butler, what are you playing again?" ”

Steward Zhou outside the door sighed and whispered, "Childe, the old slave and the stone are outside, don't worry." ”

Zhou Boyan felt inexplicable, but suddenly felt that something was wrong, and turned his face to look at the east wall.

At one end of the wall is the summer courtyard, and at that end is the autumn courtyard. On the wall more than one person high separating the two courtyards, a woman wearing a black cloak was sitting. The woman's eyebrows and eyes were crooked when she smiled, her long hair was simply braided and hung down in front of her, and her dangling feet were swaying leisurely.

Zhou Boyan's eyes passed a stunned look, followed by indescribable joy. He walked under the wall and looked up at the daring woman, "How did you get there?" He remembered the summer of two years ago, in the mansion of General Buda. In order to hide from the clean, he hid under the base of the wall covered by flowers and trees. He heard a woman's whisper on the other side of the wall.

He was deliberating whether to walk away when she climbed up the wall. Then, she found him. She seemed frightened, and fell off the wall and landed in his arms. He could have avoided her, he could have avoided her. It's just that he didn't dodge it and reached out to catch her.

Afterwards, he was haunted by the incident for several days. He couldn't understand why he was like this, who never gave women a chance to get close? Then, he found a reasonable answer for himself. Because the person who fell was the daughter of General Gu, he had to catch it. So he was relieved. And the result of his relief was that he let down his guard and unconsciously put her in his heart. When he found out that he was strange, he was distressed for a long time, but he didn't know what was wrong with him. By the time he figured it out, it was too late. She had settled in his heart.

He rejected this feeling, annoyed with himself and with her. No matter if you are annoyed or sulking, it is useless. But he held on, but he refused to admit his intentions. It wasn't until that day that he overheard the conversation between Gu Cheng and Song Hanlin that he stopped struggling senselessly and made a choice.

He entered the palace, knelt in front of the emperor and said: Gu Qingshu, the daughter of Gu Yunhu, who is not a loyal general, will not marry in this life, and I hope the emperor can fulfill it.

Hearing his request, the emperor laughed and said, "It's rare that you have the intention of marrying, and you're allowed." ”

At that time, Gu Cheng was also in the imperial study, but he didn't have time to hand out the fold in his hand. When he saw Gu Cheng's face change and hide the fold in his sleeve, he knew that he had done the right thing.

At that time, he actually didn't have the determination not to marry Gu Qingshu. He would do this, but he didn't want to ruin the rest of Gu Qingshu's life. Afterwards, when he saw Qingshu again, he saw her bright eyes, and saw her teeth and claws, he knew that he was determined to do it: Gu Qingshu would not marry in this life.

Thinking of this, his eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles, and he whispered a sentence in his mouth, "If you are not married", he stretched out his arm and came out, "Come down." ”