The originally noisy Qianqing Palace quickly calmed down after returning from the north; In the midst of the calm, a dark figure crouching on the roof stood up like a ghost, its form flashing, and quickly disappeared without a trace under the cover of night.

The dark night, accompanied by a little starlight, crawled to the unlit place of the palace, and dyed every inch with a thick black. In this thick blackness, the palace fell into a deep sleep, and the occasional night guard who walked by seemed to disturb the silence of the night, and gently slowed down, turning around every corner of the palace like a ghost.

In the sound of beating again and again, the night came to an end, and the dawn came, dispelling the darkness.

As soon as the morning dawned, most of the people in the queen's bedroom had already woken up from their slumber one after another and started the busy day.

A palace maid with a good appearance and fair skin, about fifteen or sixteen years old, hurriedly walked out of the Qianning Palace with a small flower basket. She is Yang Ying, a senior palace maid who serves by the queen's side, and she has to go out to pick flowers at this time every day and come back for the queen's hairpin, and the queen's favorite purple flowers can only be picked in the imperial garden.

When the palace maid Yang Ying arrived at the Imperial Garden, there was already a person in the garden who had arrived earlier than her, and he was busy in the garden. That person was the old eunuch Chen Gonggong who took care of the imperial garden, he had taken care of the imperial garden for most of his life, and according to his own words, his bent shrimp-like back was made into its current shape because of the long bending over to arrange the flowers and plants.

Yang Ying came to this imperial garden every day to pick flowers, and he had already been familiar with Gonggong Chen. No, as soon as she came, Gonggong Chen had already prepared a basket of roses and impatiens that were blooming brilliantly and still with dewdrops for her.

Yang Ying exchanged the empty flower basket in her hand for the flower basket full of flowers, and after chatting with Chen Gonggong for a few homely gossip, she was about to leave, but Chen Gonggong called out to her, and then looked around with a strange expression, and only after making sure that no one else was nearby did he beckon Yang Ying to approach, and asked in a low voice: "Xiaoying, has the emperor stayed in the queen's bedroom recently?" ”

Yang Ying hesitated for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "Why did Gonggong Chen suddenly ask such a question?" ”

Gonggong Chen said mysteriously: "I heard that there is a new little eunuch named Xiaobei in the Qianqing Palace recently, and the emperor likes that little eunuch very much. ”

Yang Ying asked in surprise, "Is there such a thing?" ”

Gonggong Chen did not answer her directly, and continued: "I have seen that little eunuch, and I happened to be here to arrange flowers and plants when the emperor and he visited the imperial garden together. I don't know what means he used to confuse the emperor, the emperor has been holding his hand when he visited the imperial garden with him, talking and laughing. I don't know, I thought the emperor was traveling with his favorite concubine! The little eunuch had a charming look like a charming monarch, and I heard that he had nothing to do with the lord of Yuehua who had been dead for many years, but he looked exactly the same as the lord of Yuehua! It's not good to let someone who looks like a dead man stay with the emperor. ”

Yang Ying asked nervously, "What's wrong?" ”

Gonggong Chen said with a serious expression: "I have lived in this palace for most of my life, and I have seen a lot of strange things. Do you know that there are many unjust souls wandering in this palace, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on the living, leaving a person who looks like the dead by your side, isn't this a ghost to entangle? “

Yang Ying was frightened by Gonggong Chen's words, she looked around in a panic, and said with some trepidation: "Gonggong Chen, don't scare me, is it so scary?" ”

Gonggong Chen shook his head and said, "You are still young and don't understand this. There are a lot of things that you don't believe. You see that little eunuch has only been in the Qianqing Palace for a few days? won the favor of the emperor so that the emperor not only did not stay in the queen's bedroom, but also did not spoil other concubines, don't you say there is anything strange in this? ”

Yang Ying, who was frightened, asked anxiously: "Gonggong Chen, in this way, will the emperor be harmed?" So what should I do? ”

Gonggong Chen thought for a moment and said, "As long as he is not allowed to get close to the emperor, won't he have no way to harm the emperor?" ”

Yang Ying hurriedly said: "Then I'll go back and tell the queen about this immediately, and let the queen find a way to get that little eunuch away from the emperor." ”

Gonggong Chen stopped her and said with some concern: "Xiaoying, don't tell the queen that I told you all these things, my father-in-law and I are all people who are about to die of age, and I don't want to have other branches to make the rest of my life unstable." ”

Yang Ying said: "Don't worry, father-in-law, I know what to say." ”

"That's good, that's good," Chen Gonggong put his mind at ease, "Then you go back quickly, the sooner this matter is resolved, the better, you know?" ”

"Got it! Thank you, Grandpa Chen! Yang Ying hurriedly went back after thanking him.

After Yang Ying walked away, a person walked out of the flowers and stood a few meters behind Gonggong Chen, and the blooming cuckoo just blocked the figure, revealing only a dark green sleeve.

"That's how you got him out of the palace?" The voice of the person who came was as cold as a piece of ice in the bitter cold of Sanjiu.

Gonggong Chen, who was hunched over, looked directly in the direction of the palace maid, and his originally cloudy old eyes flashed a trace of essence that did not match his aging appearance, and then said in a tone that was not in a hurry or slow: "Borrowing a knife to kill people, you can achieve your goal without doing it yourself, why not?" ”

"Surely you can kill someone with a knife?"

Gonggong Chen said confidently: "The queen loves the emperor very much, and she will not let anyone or anything hurt her husband." ”

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

The person after the flower turned to leave, and Gonggong Chen looked back at the figure of Ana who was far away, and sighed, and his hunched back straightened a little.

After Yang Ying heard the words of the old eunuch in the imperial garden, she was so frightened that she didn't dare to slack off and hurriedly walked all the way to the queen's bedroom, and she didn't even notice that several flowers in the basket had dropped, and when she returned to the palace, there were only two flowers left in the basket.

In the dormitory, the queen sat in front of the bronze mirror and combed her face, although the emperor did not know how many days had not stepped into the queen's bedroom, but she still meticulously dressed her face. Because, even if the emperor does not come to her bedroom, she still has the opportunity to meet the emperor in the bedroom of the two queen mothers, so she has to appear in front of the emperor in the best state, so that it is possible for the emperor to look at herself a few more times.

After Yang Ying entered the house, she saw that in addition to the queen, there were only the queen's nurse Shen and her henchman eunuch Xiaolu, she hurriedly stepped forward to report to the queen that the emperor in the Qianqing Palace was looking for the little eunuch last night, and added a few words of oil and vinegar by the way when she reported it.