Ma Shaoguang came to the gate of Kunning Palace, but he did not go to the main gate, the main hall of Kunning Palace is a place where the emperor and the queen hold their weddings, and they are not used daily. Ma Ruyan lives in Dongnuan Pavilion every day, so Xiao Huangmen led Ma Shaoguang to the side gate of Kunning Palace.

When he came to the door, the little yellow door whispered to Ma Shaoguang: "Uncle Guo, please wait outside the door, and the slave will go in and report!" ”

According to the law of the imperial court, only the brothers of the queen mother and the queen can be called the uncle of the country, but now the harem is the largest, and these eunuchs don't care about any law.

Xiao Huangmen bowed his head and went in, knelt on the ground and whispered: "Niangniang, Uncle Guo is here, and he is waiting outside the door!" ”

Ma Ruyan heard that his younger brother was coming, and hurriedly said: "The younger brother of the palace is here, let him come in!" ”

The costumes of the concubines of the Ming Dynasty are divided into two types: auspicious clothes and regular clothes, and the auspicious clothes are worn during national celebrations, which are naturally luxurious. Regular clothes are usually worn. Most of the concubines of the Ming Dynasty were from Jiangnan, so they were dressed similarly to ordinary rich women in Jiangnan, but the headgear on their heads was different.

Ma Ruyan has a strict family education, naturally does not like to wear those red and purple clothes, Ma Ruyan likes white, today she wore a white silk jacket on her upper body, and a plain skirt on her lower body, if you don't look at the headdress, she is an ordinary middle-aged woman, but the headdress on her head exposes her identity. Ma Ruyan, as the imperial concubine, is qualified to use the phoenix pattern, so the headdress is engraved with the phoenix pattern. Of course, she is not a queen yet, she can only use phoenix patterns, and she can't use phoenix-shaped ornaments.

It's not that the queen has always been Ma Ruyan's heart disease, she is not in her beauty, and the emperor has not stayed in Kunning Palace in recent years, and there are more and more beautiful girls in the harem. Although Ma Ruyan's education when he was a child made Ma Ruyan know that he must not be jealous, but jealousy is a person's nature, Ma Ruyan is also a person, a complete woman, can she not be upset when she sees her husband with other women every day?

Now the only thing that can make Ma Ruyan feel at ease is that his son Zhu Jiang has grown up and has been married and has children. But this kind of pleasure is only once a year, and the harem has strict rules, and even his own son can't enter the harem casually. Therefore, Ma Ruyan thought that in the future, when the emperor died and the crown prince ascended the throne, his son would definitely go to other places to become a vassal, and he was full of pain when he thought that he would never see his son Ma Ruyan again.

The pain of not seeing her son, coupled with the boring life of the harem, and the irritability of middle age and menopause, made Ma Ruyan more and more resentful of her dead aunt. Why was you Ma Xiaofang able to be the main room back then, why did you Ma Xiaofang give birth to the eldest son, his son was only a few months late and had to succumb to your son, why did you Ma Xiaofang die and pressed yourself, the emperor did not let himself become the queen for more than ten years in order to protect the position of the prince!

When a woman reaches menopause, she is suspicious and irritable, and at this time she needs the warm comfort of her husband. But Ma Ruyan is the imperial concubine, his husband is the emperor, according to Zhu Hongsan's temper, you live or die, plus there are many women in the harem, where can Zhu Hongsan think of talking and chatting with a menopausal woman?

Ma Ruyan saw that the emperor was so ruthless, which strengthened Ma Ruyan's determination to put his son on the throne.

The environment can change a person, and the intrigue of the harem for more than 20 years has completely made Ma Ruyan a veteran of palace fighting with a deep heart and calculation step by step. Ma Ruyan chose a good path for his son ten years ago, that is, to join the army and get in touch with the generals in the army, and then use the prestige of his father Ma Jiyuan to push his son to the throne of the prince in one fell swoop.

But Ma Ruyan forgot what kind of person his father Ma Jiyuan was, Ma Jiyuan was upright, adhered to the moral bottom line of scholars, and resolutely supported the law of the ancestors to establish a successor, so Ma Jiyuan was a diehard princeling.

If Ma Jiyuan worked until death in the position of first assistant, then Zhu Jiang would have no hope at all, but thinking of the fierce party competition between the DPRK and China, Ma Jiyuan was driven down within a few years, and after learning the news of his father's Zhishi, Ma Ruyan knew that the opportunity had come.

The reason is very simple, Ma Jiyuan is the head of the alumni association in the second year of the Apocalypse, and when Ma Jiyuan was in power, the group of classmates were very beautiful, but Ma Jiyuan was unlucky, and those classmates could only be officials with their tails between their legs. As the saying goes, it is easy to go from thrift to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to thrift. These classmates offended a lot of people when they were in the limelight, and now they are out of power, and naturally those enemies want to retaliate, so these people want to find a backer for themselves again.

Of course, the cold stove is not as good as the hot stove, but they can't reach it on the prince's side. If you can't take refuge in the prince, what about raising a prince yourself? With this idea, Fang Fengnian, the leader of the second year of the Apocalypse, fell in love with Zhu Jiang.

Ma Ruyan also seized this opportunity very keenly, but Fang Fengnian's reputation in the class reunion was not as high as Ma Ji's, and some feudal officials such as Song Xian, Wu Zhaolong and others did not accept him at all, Song Xian was the Taifu Siqing during the Chongzhen period, one of the little Jiuqing, and later served as the governor of Shanxi, and now he is the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu under the emperor Jianba, where can this kind of person serve Fang Fengnian, who was born in elementary school politics?

Therefore, Fang Fengnian's idea for Zhu Jiang was to win over Ma Shaoguang, it was very simple, Ma Shaoguang was Ma Jiyuan's sister-in-law, and he should be able to be convinced by those classmates in the second year of the Apocalypse. That's why Fang recommended Ma Shaoguang to be the salt secretary every year.

Ma Ruyan originally thought that Ma Shaoguang had been in the frontier for more than ten years, and he must be full of resentment against the imperial court, and he would be ecstatic to have this opportunity to return to Beijing, and when the time came, after Fang Fengnian's persuasion, he would definitely be able to assist his son. But what Ma Ruyan didn't expect was that his younger brother was very much like his father Ma Jiyuan, and he was like Mr. Taoism. Yesterday, Zhu Jiang went to the dock to pick him up, but he didn't expect Ma Shaoguang to take out a Ling Ruobing look, making it clear that he didn't want to get involved in the battle between the princes.

Last night, Zhu Jiang sent his princess into the palace to explain the situation in detail to Ma Ruyan, Ma Ruyan knew what was going on with his younger brother, and it seemed that he could only persuade him personally.

So today, Ma Ruyan sent his henchman and little eunuch to the Organization Department to call Ma Shaoguang, who was reporting.

Although Ma Shaoguang and Ma Ruyan are sisters and brothers, they have not seen each other for 30 years since Ma Ruyan left Xinyang, Henan Province and went to Wuchang when he was young. Later, Ma Shaoguang and his father went to Wuchang, because at that time Ma Ruyan had already married Zhu Hongsan as a concubine, and the door did not go out, so naturally the two sisters and brothers had no chance to meet.

Now that Ma Ruyan saw that Ma Shaoguang had become a middle-aged man like his father, with a chest-length beard, Ma Ruyan couldn't help but cry out with tears in her eyes: "Big brother, you are here, but you miss my sister!" ”

Among Ma Jiyuan's children, Ma Ruyan is the largest, followed by Ma Shaoguang, the dead ghost Ma Shaoji is the third, Ma Ruyun is the fourth, and the youngest is Ma Rufeng. As the eldest son, Ma Shaoguang is much older than the other younger siblings, and more than ten years older than Ma Rufeng, so the relationship with them is not close. But Ma Ruyan is only a few years older than Ma Shaoguang, and the two are of the same age, so they have the closest relationship.

Ma Shaoguang saw his sister's true feelings, sighed in his heart and said: "Minister Ma Shaoguang has seen the concubine Niangniang!" ”

Ma Ruyan was very happy to see his younger brother coming, and said to the palace maid beside him: "Quick, bring a chair and put it next to the palace, the palace wants to have a good chat with the eldest brother!" ”

According to the etiquette in the palace, the concubine is not allowed to see the minister, even her own son has to be separated by a gauze curtain. But now that Ma Ruyan is in charge of the harem, those eunuchs and palace maids did not dare to oppose Ma Ruyan's order, so they had to move a chair and put it under Ma Ruyan's head.

Ma Shaoguang came to Ma Ruyan's side, Ma Ruyan watched in detail and then wept: "After decades of separation, the eldest brother has grown into a man, and he is no longer the fart who followed his sister to ask for candy!" ”

Ma Shaoguang is also a five-grade official now, and he blushed slightly when he heard his sister talk about the events of the year: "Guifei Niangniang, the minister was young back then, don't mention those things!" ”

Ma Ruyan heard Ma Shaoguang say this and nodded again and again: "Okay, the eldest brother has grown up, he is no longer a child, and he knows how to be decent!" You forgot that you were naughty back then, and you lit your father's beard with a candle while your father was sleeping, and your father would beat you with a family method, and if it weren't for your sister kneeling and begging your father, your ass would have been opened! ”

Ma Shaoguang is in his forties, tall and tall, looks very similar to Ma Jiyuan, and looks dignified, but now when his sister talks about the ridiculous things of the year, there is really no place to put his old face.

Ma Shaoguang begged for mercy again and again: "Okay, sister, the little brother knows that he is wrong, please don't say it again!" ”

Seeing his younger brother begging for mercy, Ma Ruyan did not continue to talk about the ugly things of Ma Shaoguang's youth, but asked about his life in the past ten years.

Ma Shaoguang told his sister about the situation for more than ten years, Ma Ruyan sighed and said: "Eldest brother, my sister also talked to my father back then, transfer you back to Beijing and find a stable official position, but my father has to say that he is hungry for his body and skin, and he has worked hard for you for more than ten years!" ”

"Sister, what my father said is very right, my younger brother has learned a lot in Yong'an Prefecture in the past ten years, and it will also be of great help to his future career!"

"This time it happens that there is turmoil in the DPRK and China, and many positions are vacant, anyway, my father has returned to his hometown, and my sister begged His Majesty to transfer you back, are you happy?"

Ma Shaoguang heard his sister say this, and hurriedly thanked: "Thank you, sister, for thinking about it!" My brother is the same there, but Fu is very happy to return to Beijing! ”

Ma Ruyan nodded when she heard Ma Shaoguang say this, and then asked, "Eldest brother, when you came back, the third brother and your nephew went to the dock to pick you up?" ”

Today, Ma Shaoguang was called by his sister to know why, it was nothing more than his sister to be this lobbyist and let him assist his son. But Ma Shaoguang didn't want to wade into the muddy waters of the heir, so Ma Shaoguang made up his mind before entering the palace that he would not agree to his sister. But the feelings of sister and brother are here, Ma Shaoguang can't make his sister sad, and now when he hears his sister ask, he has no choice but to answer truthfully.