The door of the Sinking Water Pavilion was still wide open as usual, perhaps it was not quite accurate to say that, the hanging on the palace wall could no longer be called a door, it was just a few broken wooden planks that had stood through the wind and rain. The last time I visited, it was just overgrown with grass and looked dilapidated, but now when I come here again, I can smell a foul smell from afar.

An Su knew in his heart that the body of Mrs. Zhao had been thrown here for many days, and Gao Yi had been added a few days ago, which naturally attracted cockroaches to linger. She came here on the orders of the Queen Mother, an errand that she had to do, but she was always very resistant in her heart. Ansu is bolder than ordinary women, but after all, she is also a daughter's family, and she can still be calm in the face of one or two cockroaches and centipedes, but what she wants to see now is a corpse that is in decay, which is really a little frightened.

She stood at the door of the Shenshui Pavilion with the sesame oil in her arms, sorted out her mood a little, and then gritted her teeth and walked in. Walking all the way through the dry grass, I stepped on something hard, and I don't know if it was a stone or a human skeleton. Walking into the courtyard, I saw many snakes, insects, rats and ants gathering in a certain place from a distance, which must be where Gao Yi was.

An Su sighed lightly, the former high-spirited deputy head of Changle Palace had fallen to such a point, it was really unpredictable. It's just that when I think about it, Gao Yi's death also has an element of involvement, and I feel a little more guilty in my heart. Fortunately, Zhou Meihong, who also died in vain, as a victim, did not end up in the Shenshui Pavilion, she was able to be buried well, and her family also received some compensation, which is much better than Gao Yi.

As soon as he thought of this, Ansu couldn't stop connecting with himself. Although he was lucky enough to stay in Changle Palace, he didn't know where the road from behind would lead, and when he died, would he be a few points better than them, or would it be even more tragic?

"Miss Shangguan?" Outside, Yuxian's voice came to his ears, and An Su finally came back to his senses.

"Chief Jade, the slave is here." Ansu stood in the grass and waved at him.

Yuxian did not dislike the environment and taste of the Shenshui Pavilion, and walked to An Su's side generously: "Miss Shangguan, the Queen Mother heard that you found some eunuchs to come over to help, so she ordered our family to come over and direct them to do things." ”

"Thank you Queen Mother, and thank you to Manager Yu for being willing to deign to come here." An Su's eyes glanced at the agate red jade plate hanging from Yuxian's waist, and said, "The jade plate of the Jade Boss is in good condition, it must be a precious thing!" The slave seemed to have seen an identical piece, as if it had been some night. ”

There was no trace of inappropriateness in Yuxian's smile: "There are many identical jade plates, but it is rare to find exactly the same person." Our family heard that Hu Bazi, who originally lived in the Zengcheng Palace, had a difficult birth, and later the emperor summoned the people present that night to inquire about the situation, but a Zhao midwife who delivered her did not know where to go. ”

An Su's hand tightened violently, and he was a little more vigilant in his heart.

"Our family sent Gao Yi here a few days ago, and found that there was a new corpse in this Shenshui Pavilion, which looks very similar to that Zhao midwife." Yuxian stared at An Su and continued, "Our family stopped by to inquire around here, and I heard that on the day of Hu Bazi's death, two palace maids wearing the clothes of the palace maids came here. ”

"Why did Chief Jade suddenly bring up this matter? The slave and maid did not understand. Ansu's heart twitched slightly.

"Our family is not a good person, and I didn't ask about the names of those two palace maids. I don't know what Miss Shangguan said, the jade plate similar to the one on our waist, have you ever inquired where and who you saw it? Yuxian's words meant something.

An Su naturally understood what he meant, since they held each other's handles in their hands, they could be safe with each other. She hooked the corners of her mouth and smiled: "The jade manager is the head of Changle Palace, and the slave maid is the palace maid of Changle Palace. The jade manager is not a good person, and the slave and maid naturally do not like to find trouble, and the jade plate has many similar things, and the slave must have been wrong if he thinks about it. ”

When Yuxian heard her say this, she showed a teachable look with satisfaction: "If you are wrong, you don't have to care." It's not too early, let's get the job done! ”

An Su nodded, then took out the ground sesame oil from his arms, lifted the lid and sprinkled it on the ground, along with those sadness and guilt.

According to Ansu's previous method of burning fallen leaves in the courtyard, several eunuchs fetched water and poured water on the inside and outside around the Shenshui Pavilion. After waiting for about an hour, the cockroaches that came out of here obediently returned here. An Su's brain hurt from the stench in the Sinking Water Pavilion, and it was okay to stay for a while, but now more than an hour has passed, and it is really uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the number of cockroaches crawling into the Shenshui Pavilion was decreasing, and finally when there was no one, Yuxian took those eunuchs inside. An Su didn't follow in, just stood at the door and watched, the cockroaches inside gathered into a black oppressive piece, looking terrifying and disgusting.

Yuxian was also very disgusted by this scene, waved his hand and asked the eunuch next to him to fetch the torch, and as soon as he walked out of the door, he threw the torch in. The wild grass in the Sinking Pavilion is the best material for starting a fire, and it is quickly enveloped in firelight, bathing in the light of the living creatures and dead things inside. Ansu could only see the dying cockroaches desperately crawling out, but this was to no avail, the sesame oil was a good thing, sucking all the cockroaches to death, and there was nowhere to escape.

After dealing with the matter of the Shenshui Pavilion, An Su replied to the Queen Mother, she was not troubled today, and she could go back to the room to rest earlier. Changle Palace and Phi Xiang Hall are not too far away, and looking out from An Su's room, you can just hear some movement over there. During the day, most of the cockroaches were burned in the Shenshui Pavilion, but there were inevitably some fish that slipped through the net, and An Su opened the window and waited quietly.

Sure enough, as she expected, it was not long before she heard a terrible scream from the side of the Phi Xiang Palace. Needless to say, this scream belongs to Mrs. Emei. During the day, Ansu left some ground sesame oil in the flower garden of the Phi Xiang Palace, although the amount was small, it was enough to attract some cockroaches.

At this time, Mrs. Emei was in a slightly relaxed mood under Mo Zhu's persuasion, thinking that she had been in love with the emperor for many years, and she would not completely fall out of favor for a palace maid. In order to soothe her mood, she ordered someone to move a reclining chair and blow the evening breeze in the courtyard. Who knew that it didn't take long to lie down, and some small black things crawled in through the cracks in the palace gate, and they were in groups, looking very worried in the dark.

"Mozhu, go see what those things are?" At this time, it was getting late, and the eunuchs had gone back to rest, and Mrs. Emei was quiet, leaving only Mozhu alone to serve, and now she could only look at it.

Mozhu went back to the house and came back with a lantern, and when he looked into the flower garden, a large group of cockroaches came into view. Mo Zhu was startled, and the lantern in his hand shook with it, and the lantern rubbed some ground oil on the flowers and leaves.

"Mother, there are a lot of cockroaches over there!" Mo Zhu asked tentatively, "Do you want the slave to call someone over?" ”

"Forget it, we'll talk about it tomorrow." Mrs. Emei glanced at the flower garden with slanted eyes, thinking that it was okay to be just a cockroach, so she said, "This palace has just been grounded today, and the emperor is angry. ”

But as soon as Mrs. Emei finished speaking, the cockroaches gathered in the flower bed became agitated, and the ground oil over there had been exhausted. They turned their attention to the lantern in Mozhu's hand, and the sesame oil on the lantern was also sweet, and the cockroaches rushed to Mrs. Emei in groups.

In this way, a terrible scream spread throughout the surrounding palaces and directly into An Su's ears. Finally breathed a sigh of relief for the humiliation of his day, Ansu closed the window and was finally able to sleep peacefully.

This night, the lights in the Phixiang Hall were bright, and all the palace maids and eunuchs were ordered to catch cockroaches everywhere in the hall with lanterns, and the surrounding palaces were also restless. When the matter reached the emperor's ears, he didn't experience it himself, so he always felt that it was just some cockroaches, and there was no need to make such a big move. Therefore, I felt that Mrs. Emei was losing her temper because of the grounding during the day, and she was even more dissatisfied with her in her heart.

Since the next day, An Su has been in peace in Changle Palace for several days, although the errand is still arranged to be the hardest and most tiring for her to do, but compared to the previous rumors, it is much better. Early in the morning of this day, as soon as the inner and outer courtyards were cleaned, a eunuch's announcement sounded outside.

"The emperor has arrived—"

An Su has been in Changle Palace for nearly half a month, and he has never seen the emperor come here, and he heard that the emperor is afraid of the queen mother, so he has met, and it is not easy for mother and son to get along with each other.

There were several other palace people in the courtyard, and when An Su heard this, he knelt with them and bowed his head to salute the emperor. The Queen Mother was still in the inner hall, and she also heard this rare announcement, and was hurriedly helped out by Songhe.

It is rumored that the queen mother is bent on power, and she ignores her own son, only as a puppet who maintains power. But An Su always felt that the queen mother felt sorry for the emperor, but she was born in the royal family, and she was destined not to show her love for her son as easily as in the people.

"Sons and daughters, see the queen mother." Liu Ying's gaze flickered over An Su's body before she saluted the Queen Mother who hurried out.

Although the Queen Mother ran out of the palace door quickly, her face was very calm: "How can Ying'er have time to come over to see the Queen Mother today?" ”

"Erchen...... When the son heard that the queen mother left the new palace maid sent by the palace maid this time, he thought about coming over to see who was so honored to win the favor of the queen mother. Liu Ying unconsciously glanced at An Su again, and this small action was fully seen by the Queen Mother.

"Who is left behind by the mourning family, don't you know very well the emperor?" The Queen Mother lowered her eyes, and even her title changed a little.

Since the death of the first emperor and the harsh treatment of Mrs. Qi by the emperor after the queen mother was seen by the emperor, Liu Ying, who was kind by nature, has become estranged from the queen mother, and every time she meets, she is a little more afraid. Although the Queen Mother intended to get close, he was like a great enemy and did not dare to get too close to him. Later, even the number of times I came to Changle Palace was very small, except for some unavoidable occasions during the New Year's holidays, I basically would not set foot here.

"The queen mother, who is left behind by the queen mother, how will the sons know?" Liu Ying still pretended to know nothing.

"It's none of your business here, let's all go down!" The Queen Mother waved her hand at the palace people, motioned for Liu Ying to follow her in, and then moved her gaze to An Su, "Shangguan An Su, you also come in and serve." ”

"No." An Su responded, bowed his head and walked behind Liu Ying. The Queen Mother didn't let her avoid it at this time, but brought her in, which was definitely not unintentional.

"Emperor Xinna's Xu Meiren is not to his liking?" As soon as the Queen Mother sat down with Liu Ying, she asked bluntly.

"Xu Meiren is gentle and virtuous, does not fight or rob, and her sons love her very much." Liu Ying replied truthfully.

"That being the case, why did the emperor come here in person, and Baba came to ask the mourning family for the palace maid of Changle Palace?" The Queen Mother's voice suddenly became cold, and her eyes were even more chilling.

Liu Ying was shocked, subconsciously glanced at An Su, and explained again and again: "Queen Mother, the son has no such intention!" Erchen is just curious......"

"Don't think that the mourning family doesn't know anything, it's spread all over this palace, you have taken a fancy to a little palace maid in the palace maid's house, and you have to wait until the end of the training to be named a concubine, is the mourning family right?"

"This ...... Although this is the case, but ......" Liu Ying didn't know what to say for a while, he thought that the Queen Mother had always spoken vaguely, so she would not be so outspoken, so she thought about coming over to test the temptation, maybe there was a chance to ask An Su to go. never thought that the Queen Mother would be so direct this time, but he didn't know how to deal with it.

"But when she arrives at the Changle Palace of the mourning family, you think that when she is driven to Yongxiang, you will go and take her out. It's a pity that the heavens didn't fulfill people's wishes, and the mourning family actually left her behind, so you were unwilling to come to the mourning family to ask for someone, right? There was hidden anger between the Queen Mother's words.

"Erchen doesn't dare." Liu Ying thought of a lot of words to refute, but when the words came to her mouth, there were only a few dry words.

"Don't dare? Why don't you dare? The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes, "Have you been hiding from your mourning family these days, and doing less in secret?" ”

"The queen mother forgives her sins, and her sons have done nothing!" The fear in Liu Ying's eyes was by no means fake.

An Su stood aside, but he was deeply saddened, before in the Phixiang Palace, when Liu Ying faced Mrs. Emei, she was full of momentum, and the domineering spirit of an emperor was shining at that moment. But now in front of the Queen Mother, it seems that she has changed roles with Mrs. Emei that day, which is really embarrassing. It seems that the palace has real power over the queen mother, and the rumors that the emperor intends to collect the power but it is difficult to implement it are indeed true, and the queen mother is still the overlord in the palace, and it seems that her choice is still good.

"Ying'er, you are still young, and many things can be discussed with your mother." Seeing him like this, the Queen Mother sighed after all, "You are the son of the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother will help you in whatever you want, but you have to tell the Queen Mother!" If it is one in front of us and one behind the back, the gap between our mother and son will always get deeper and deeper. ”

The Queen Mother's words were clear, Liu Ying frowned, moved her lips again, and finally only lowered her head: "Erchen did not deceive the queen mother in any way, please let the queen mother know." ”

The Queen Mother looked at him expectantly, but at the moment her eyes were out of color, so she could only wave helplessly: "That's it, you go back!" Ansu, you go to see off the emperor for the mourning family. ”