Yao Ji looked at the eunuch Cao Fu with a calm expression. Cao Fu thought about it for a while, and said, "After the emperor summoned Chen Xianzhen, he almost waited for nearly two moments. ”

Mu Zhen's voice said, "What is she doing, dressing up?" ”

Cao Fu shook his head, bent down and said, "Search your body." The concubine in the palace of the imperial concubine was personally searched. It took so long, I'm afraid I've touched every corner, and it's good for De Concubine to do this. ”

Yao Ji was vaguely happy when she heard this, she understood that no matter how favored Chen Xianzhen was, she would never be able to get Gao Xu's true trust, and how long could she last if she was only fresh? Gao Xu's courage was originally very big, but now he is the emperor after all.

Thinking of this, Yao Ji glanced sideways slightly, and sure enough, she saw that Mu Zhen also seemed to have a slight smile on her face. The imperial concubine is quite atmospheric, but Yao Ji feels that under her clean and beautiful smile, she is not confused.

Cao Fu's voice said: "When the emperor saw Chen Xianzhen, he didn't do anything, and several people such as slaves and maids stood in the house. The emperor only called Chen Xianzhen to make tea. He paused for a moment and added, "Usually the palace maid is serving tea and water." ”

Neither Yao Ji nor Mu Zhen spoke.

Cao Fu continued to narrate: "Chen Xian is really not an obedient lord, and the eyes of the emperor on the spot are not very good, and he is a little aggrieved. But she complied. There are only cover cups on several cases, and Chen Xianzhen prepared it, and brewed the oolong tea that the Fujian political envoy entered the palace and fried it. ”

He said very carefully, "The emperor reminded Chen Xianzhen again, saying that oolong tea is not the same as other teas, and the tea leaves should be separated from the tea after brewing, otherwise it will be bitter." Chen Xian really didn't seem to know kung fu tea, and under the guidance of the emperor, he finally reluctantly waited. Then the emperor drank tea and talked to Chen Xianzhen at the same time, talking about topics such as the country and the people. The slave and maid had something else to do, but looking at the situation, there would be nothing strange after that. ”

Mu Zhen listened and said: "Patronizing and talking, you should also ask someone to make tea for Concubine Xian." ”

Cao Fu hurriedly said: "The slave maid serves the two maids. He looked happy, and hurriedly went to get something, where was the slightest reluctance?

"Yesterday, Chen Xianzhen was walking around the neighborhood and was stopped by Jinyi Wei." Cao Fu said while busy working, "The slave persuaded her to stay alive, but Chen Xian really didn't listen to the slave's persuasion, and in the dead of night, she played the pipa in the house, and the emperor heard it two or three hundred steps away." The ladies looked at this person and said that she was unwilling, but she tried every means to provoke our emperor. ”

Cao Fu shook his head and sighed.

Yao Ji understood that Cao Fu didn't want to offend the imperial concubines. But at least Yao Ji didn't blame him, after all, what kind of eunuch did he favor, didn't he also look at Gao Xu's own meaning?

…… Early the next morning, the brigade traveled as scheduled, and after leaving Fengyang City, they soon arrived at the Huai River. The forward army had built several bridges over the river, and after crossing the Huai River, the people walked west along the riverbank. On that day the army reached the confluence of the two rivers and set up camp there.

After Chen Xianzhen got out of the carriage and lived in a village with the people, she learned that the river that flowed into the Huai River from the north was called the Vortex River.

There were a lot of troops accompanying her, at first Chen Xianzhen didn't know what the Ming Emperor's men and horses were doing, but she saw that a lot of tents were set up in the nearby military camp, and the scene was like a march and camp, she thought that the "Northern Tour" was going to fight. But after a few more days, she learned that this army only walked on the land of Daming.

For several days, the army did not leave the vortex river, and kept moving along the east bank of the river, not at a fast pace, and with stops and stops.

Then Chen Xianzhen noticed that there were fleets going north on this vortex river from time to time, and they were official ships. Because those ships were planted with blue and yellow dragon sun and moon flags, and were guarded by stubborn sergeants. The boats were full of stuff, and the hulls looked a bit heavy, and sometimes the sound of the water wheels rolling on the surface of the water as the flotilla passed by the main road on the shore, and the sound was very loud.

One evening, after the army had encamped on the riverbank, another convoy of boats passed by. Chen Xianzhen couldn't help but be curious, and stopped a eunuch not far away and asked him what these boats were carrying.

The eunuch looked a little ostentatious, "This is the fleet of the military department, and most of the ships are grain and grass, as well as firearms, ammunition, armor and other military equipment. The road ends at Ningxia Prefecture (Yinchuan), three or four thousand miles away, and some reach the fortress of Weisho in the Hetao area. In order to ensure that our Ming soldiers have no worries about food and clothing, and have sufficient weapons. ”

Chen Xianzhen said: "The vortex river is three or four thousand miles long? ”

The eunuch shook his head and said, "When you get to the Yellow River, you will probably have to change boats, and our family doesn't know very well." If Grandpa Cao wants to know more, you can ask Grandpa Cao. ”

Chen Xianzhen looked at the eunuch's undisguised smugness, and his heart was a little troubled.

Zhu Gaoxu told her that Li Li and others lied to her, and that the Annan heroes were for their own benefit and had little to do with others. However, these Han people in front of them are obviously very proud of the strength of the Ming Dynasty, and even a eunuch can speak with a loud voice.

She looked back and remembered Zhu Gaoxu's other words, if the country of Annan is much better than those tribes in the west. In the past, the Chen Dynasty, and even the Li Li rebels, were somewhat contemptuous of others when they received those "barbarians".

Chen Xianzhen returned to the door of a tiled house arranged for her, only to see the eunuch Cao Fu lingering at the door. Cao Fu turned his head and saw Chen Xianzhen, and immediately said, "Our family heard that Mrs. Chen went to the river, and I want to look for you." ”

"Cao Gong, please." Chen Xianzhen said.

Cao Fu held a wooden box and followed Chen Xianzhen into the hall, and without being polite, Cao Fu sat straight on the stool and carefully placed the box in his hand on the square table.

Chen Xianzhen glanced at the box and asked, "Gonggong Cao came in person, what's the matter?" ”

Cao Fu immediately opened the wooden box and said, "This is a gift from the emperor himself, congratulations to Mrs. Chen." ”

Chen Xianzhen couldn't help but reach out to take it.

Cao Fu said, "Hey, don't you want to thank you?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu is not here. Chen Xianzhen didn't want to argue with Cao Fu after hearing this, so he had to bend his knees and salute: "Concubine thank Your Majesty for your favor." ”

Then she took out a satin-wrapped bag and a hat from it, and after pulling the red rope, she took out a set of clothes from it.

Cao Fu said beside him: "The picture drawn by the emperor himself, the description of the imperial pen, and the weaving institute in Zhongdu made dresses, which were specially made for Mrs. Chen. The emperor also took a name, called 'Ao Dai', which means 'jacket'. The emperor said that if Mrs. Chen likes it, she will accept it, and it doesn't matter if she doesn't like it. ”

When Chen Xianzhen heard this, he looked at Cao Fu in surprise and blurted out, "Really? ”

Cao Fu glared and said: "Borrow a hundred guts from our family, and our family will not dare to be pretentious!" ”

Chen Xian's heart suddenly had mixed feelings, and the strength in his arm didn't seem to be very good. She used to think that Zhu Gaochu didn't take her seriously at all, and sometimes guessed that Zhu Gaochu would be annoyed and angry, because she always didn't follow Zhu Gaoxu's wishes...... Suddenly, Zhu Gaoxu took a lot of effort to make a dress for her, which made Chen Xianzhen a little overwhelmed for a while. She was moved, and she couldn't immediately let go of her long-term resentment, so she felt very uncomfortable, like having an uncomfortable nose but not being able to sneeze for a long time.

After calming down a little, Chen Xianzhen felt a feeling of being pampered and indulged again. After all, he is the most powerful and vast emperor of the Ming Dynasty among the countless states in the world, and he did not avenge her disrespectful words and deeds, or even her ill-intentioned past, but instead cast good intentions. Chen Xianzhen suddenly felt that his cheeks were a little hot.

In short, this incident surprised her.

Her fingertips gently touched the clothes in her hands, the material was soft and delicate, and it was very comfortable to touch, plain white color, with light yellow embroidery on the edges. The stitches are thin and neat, and they are very delicately done. The hat also has a similar style among the people of Annam, with a large pointed eaves to make it easy to shade the sun, but the hat in front of me is made of yarn.

Chen Xianzhen said: "Your Majesty is like this to beautiful women? ”

Cao Fu shook his head and said, "Look at what you said, how can the emperor be busy?" How many women in the capital are crying and shouting to get the favor of the emperor, there are thousands of people in the palace alone, and this is still the number of people after the emperor has cut half. ”

After he said that, he stood up a little anxiously: "Mrs. Chen try it herself, our family still has something to do, and the emperor is about to have dinner." ”

Chen Xianzhen sent Cao Fu to the door, and then turned around and came back to continue admiring the chic clothes.

As soon as it was dawn the next morning, Chen Xianzhen packed up and went straight to the nearby courtyard of the Chinese army. After Jinyiwei asked, he went in to report, and then let her in.

When Chen Xianzhen arrived in the inner room, he saw Zhu Gaoxu sitting with four women, eating. One of the four women was prettier than the other, and two of them were dressed in men's robes.

Zhu Gaoxu took the chopsticks, looked up at Chen Xianzhen, was stunned for a moment, and immediately asked, "Has Mrs. Chen eaten?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the concubine has had breakfast." Chen Xianzhen stepped forward and curtsied, "Your Majesty rewarded, and the concubine came to thank you." ”

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Chen Xianzhen and said, "This style really suits your figure." ”

Chen Xianzhen also thinks so, she tried it last night. Compared with the beauties around Zhu Gaoxu, Chen Xian is really a lot shorter, and this long dress with a dress makes her figure look more slender and graceful. Wearing such a costume is more attractive than ordinary Hanfu dressing, but there are trousers inside the skirt, which are not exposed at all when you look closely, and have the same reserved purity as a skirt. Anyway, Chen Xian really felt that it looked much better than the clothes in Zhenla Zhancheng that exposed a lot of skin.

However, the beauties around Zhu Gaoxu don't seem to be very friendly in their eyes. Their expressions were gentle and calm, but Chen Xian could really feel that they didn't like themselves very much.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't say much, and said calmly: "The brigade is about to leave, Mrs. Chen will go back and prepare, what is there for Cao Fu to arrange for you." ”

Chen Xianzhen made a blessing and thanked him and retired.