Before the Dragon Boat Festival, I found an opportunity to go out of the palace to find Cui Bai and tell him about Qiuhe. For me, this is a task that is several times more difficult than that of the time. I was the one who gave him hope at first, and now I am ashamed to tell him about the disillusionment of that hope has been shattered. I gave him a brief account of what had happened, and I didn't mention the fact that Imakami had added to Autumn and Blue Eyes, which had made me afraid to look up at him for a long time.

"It's okay," but Cui Bai and Yan comforted me, "You have been doing your best to help me, even if things are not harmonious, it is not your fault." It's my blessing, it's hard to find a beautiful woman like Miss Dong. ”

I only hope that time will make this marriage possible to continue: "Or, wait, when the official family forgets about the leap month, the queen may ask him to let Miss Dong out of the palace again." ”

Cui Bai smiled slightly and said, "Huaiji, to be honest, since the marriage contract was negotiated, I have often been anxious, but Juexi fell from the sky, and it went too smoothly, but it was not like the fate of a down-and-out poor man like me." What's more, she lives in the deep palace, and is used to living a stable life of fine clothes and food, carefree, just like a fairy in the nine heavens, if she marries me in the future, she can only guard a nerd who only knows Danqing for many years, and worry about firewood, rice, oil and salt, even if she has no complaints, I am not at ease. Now that she has been promoted, she must have a better future, so why should I drag her down. ”

I wanted to say something persuasive, but this has never been my forte, so after thinking about it for a while, I only said one sentence: "Miss Dong doesn't think like that." ”

"I know." Cui Bai said, his eyes wandered over a distant mountain smoke and water hanging on the wall in front of him, and he slowly chanted: "Liu Lang already hates Pengshan far away, and it is tens of thousands of miles away from Pengshan. ”

This is the words and sentences of Song Qi, a scholar of Hanlin in this dynasty, borrowed from Li Shangyin's poem and used it in a poem "Partridge Heaven".

Song Qi Zijing, and his brother Song Zhen entered the department in the same year. At that time, if it was played by the Ministry of Rites, it should be Song Qi first, Song Zhen third, but Empress Dowager Zhang Xian did not want her brother to be listed before her brother, so she promoted Song Zhen to be the champion, and put Song Qi as the tenth. Now the two brothers are officials in the same court, and the world calls Song Zhen "Big Song", and Song Qi is "Little Song".

Song Zhen is honest and honest, the Qing covenant is solemn, Song Qi Wenzao is better than his brother, but the wedding banquet tour, good wind and moon, has always been suave and dignified, this "Partridge Day" recorded is his one of his sexual encounters.

On that day, Song Qi rode a horse across Fantai Street in Beijing, which coincided with the queen leading the palace people to return from Xiangguo Temple to incense. Xiao Song led the horse to avoid the side of the street, and the embroidered palace car passed by, when one of them passed in front of him, there were insiders from the curtain in the car, two traces of autumn water on his face, and said to his companion with a smile: "That's Xiao Song!" ”

After saying that, the embroidered curtain hung down again, and the palace car was rolling around, driving towards the palace without stopping. Although he only had a glimpse, Song Qi had already remembered that the insider's rich face and jade face, tactful and clear, and immediately picked up the pen after returning home, and wrote down a "Partridge Sky": "The painting hub carved saddle is narrow, and the intestines are broken in the embroidery curtain." There are no colorful phoenix wings, and there is a little bit of wisdom in the heart. The gold is the house, the jade is the cage, and the car is like flowing water and the horse is like a dragon. Liu Lang already hated Pengshan far away, and the situation was tens of thousands of miles away from Pengshan. ”

This word has been widely sung, even to the point of forbiddenness. When I heard it today, I asked the person who was in the car that day, and who called Xiao Song. In the end, an insider timidly stood up and knelt down, saying that when he was at a banquet before, he saw the official Xuanhanlin Bachelor come in, and the ministers looked at each other and whispered: "This is Xiao Song." Later, I met by chance in the car, and on a whim, I exhaled.

Jinshang then summoned Song Qi and calmly talked about this matter. Song Qi was afraid to accuse, but Jinshang smiled and said: "You hate Pengshan far away in your words, according to me, this Pengshan is not far from you." And immediately he gave him the man who was inside.

This incident has become a good story inside and outside the palace as well as the anecdote of the "red leaves inscription poem". There was a delicate relationship of mutual admiration between the young people in the palace and the scholars and celebrities outside the palace, and this story contributed to it, and it also gave them some hints that they could get married, but ......

"Pengshan, it's not that it's not far from anyone." The happy ending did not hinder Cui Bai's judgment, he said it very soberly.

I think he can vaguely sense Imagami's affection for Qiuhe, from the few words I deliberately downplayed.

Although Xia Zhu has left Beijing, the official Wang Zhen is still in the court. In September of this year, he mentioned Zhang Meiren's "meritorious escort" to Jinshang again, saying that Zhang Meiren should be promoted to the rank to show that the rewards and punishments are clear today.

Today naturally has this intention, how can the ministers object, and the queen must agree, it is difficult to make an order for a while, but I didn't expect that in the end it was the queen who let go, and said to Jin Shang in public at the Double Ninth Festival banquet: "Zhang Meiren has served the official family for many years, and has had three princesses, and the position is low, and she has not moved for many years. Now that you have merit, you might as well enter the rank as a concubine to show Your Majesty's comfort and reward. ”

Jinshang silently stared at the queen, and the queen's demeanor was graceful, and her eyes were not happy. Everyone watched with bated breath, and only after a long time did they hear Jinshang: "On that day, the thieves were in turmoil, and the queen commanded and dispatched the guards, and if you want to be rewarded, the queen should be the first." ”

Sitting next to a white sandalwood chrysanthemum, the corners of the queen's lips were slightly raised, and her smile was as light as the autumn flowers: "Thanks to Your Majesty's favor, the concubine is a **, and her name has been raised, and there is nothing to add to it." Besides, His Majesty took his concubine as his wife, and the concubine had nothing to repay, and what he did for His Majesty was only a share of internal affairs, so how could he dare to ask for merit and reward. ”

So in October of this year, the current beauty Zhang was the concubine, and decided to choose a day to perform a canonization ceremony for her.

The bachelor of Hanlin who was appointed to write a book for Zhang Meiren was Song Qi, the "Little Song" with beautiful literature.

In the previous dynasty, there had never been a ceremony when the concubine entered the rank of concubine, and the practice was to order the concubine to issue a book, and the concubine would resign from the ceremony. Because of the grand scale of the canonization ceremony, the human and financial resources are very expensive, and the imperial concubines of the dynasty know more about Tao obscure, and they do not like to use this to swagger, provoking the criticism of the palace people and ministers, so they all resigned. Song Qi may take it for granted that this new concubine will also think like this, so he did not follow the procedure of the book ceremony, first listened to the pavilion door read out the words of the concubine, was instructed to write the edict, sent the edict to the Chinese book, the three provincial titles, and then submitted it to the official court for sealing, and then entered the concubine, but did not wait until the book ceremony to listen to the propaganda words, first wrote the edict, did not send the Chinese book, and took the official court to seal it, and sent it to the concubine after sealing.

Apparently he made a mistake: not all concubines did not want to be canonized.

Zhang Meiren, who wanted to perform the canonization ceremony, saw that this important edict was like a concubine of a landowner Xinna, and simply sent it in from the back door at will, and couldn't help but be furious, threw the edict on the ground and resolutely refused to accept it, and cried to Jinshang to tell Xiao Song about the crime of negligence, and grinded Jinshang to agree, so that Song Qi would be relieved to know Xuzhou.

When the details of Xiao Song's resignation came out, Chinese and foreign people sighed, and the beauty Zhang began her increasingly arrogant career as a concubine in this sigh.

The ladies in the palace were naturally surprised in the face of the sudden rise of the Zhang family. Everyone guessed that she would enter the rank sooner or later, but they didn't expect that she would enter the rank from a fourth-grade beauty to a first-grade concubine. The concubine is the head of the four concubines, the status is second only to the queen, and now for many years, the four concubines have been empty, and the ladies have only entered the second rank at most, and now they are so promoted to the Zhang family, so that many concubines who have been ranked before the Zhang family for many years, such as Miao Shuyi, the biological mother of Princess Fukang, and Yu Chongyi, the biological mother of the emperor's eldest son, died young, and their names were lower than her in an instant.

The ladies were dissatisfied and paid more attention to the inside story of Zhang Guifei's accession, and soon someone heard that since Xia Zhu left Beijing, Zhang's contact with Wang Zhen has become more frequent, and the number of gold coins given to Wang Zhen in private is huge. When the position was accomplished, the Zhang family was proud, and even openly said when mentioning Wang Zhen to others: "That's my family's official." ”

This scandal of bribing officials in the DPRK and China spread all over the six palaces, and in the end, no one knew about it, and it must have also been passed into the ears of Zhang Guifei, but she was not ashamed, but as if she deliberately provoked and demonstrated to the ladies, she asked Wang Zhen to let Wang Zhen hold the book for her during the canonization ceremony.

The concubine's book ceremony should have an official to hold the book, and now the matter will be discussed in the Zhongshu Province, and the officials in the book do not despise Wang Zhen, so they said that according to the old ceremony, the position of the official must be above the pending system, and Wang Zhen does not have this qualification. Today, the general told Zhang Guifei what he said in the book, but Zhang Guifei took the opportunity to beg for the promotion of Wang Zhen's official today, and Jinshang actually agreed to move Wang Zhen to Tianzhang Pavilion to be systematized, and let him hold the book for the concubine at the canonization ceremony.

But at the same time, he also promoted He Tan to be a member of the Ministry of Rites, and also served as the governor of the imperial history, and told He Tan Ming the reason in the court: "Qing is not powerful, so he uses Qing more times." ”

Perhaps in order to compensate the queen, many people in the descendants of the family have been changed and relocated, and he has been allowed to be generous, and He Tan has admonished him for this, saying that the court is rewarded, and he is supposed to favor Lao Chen, and he is not known for his merits, that is, he must be examined every year. Now there is no reason to move to the descendants, it is a non-secondary official, and I am afraid that the families of close relatives will climb to help each other, and people have different hopes.

Imakami responded: "Qi Li has no merits, but the queen is virtuous, this is the act of Tui'en relatives." "Then he did not change his fate.

The relationship between the emperor and the queen is also the focus of attention of the people of the six houses. Since the palace turmoil, the middle palace has not been overnight, and on the day of Zhang Guifei's canonization, some small signs made the ladies have a lot of speculations about their recent situation.

In the early morning of that day, the emperor and queen got up from the Funing Hall and the Rouyi Hall respectively, and when they appeared in front of everyone, their eyes were green and gloomy, and their eyes were slightly swollen. When the emperor and queen took Zhang Guifei through the Zichen Hall to accept the congratulations of the ministers, an incident that happened in the Rouyi Hall last night was regarded as an anecdote and began to circulate quietly in the harem.

According to the palace people of the Rouyi Palace, after the third watch last night, he ordered the servants to go to the Rouyi Palace to preach the queen. At that time, the queen had fallen asleep, and when she heard about this, she got up and walked to the door of the dormitory, but did not open the door, but only asked the attendant of the Funing Palace in the crack of the door: "What is the matter with the official family?" ”

The chamberlain replied, "The official woke up in the middle of the night, sat alone and drank, and when he didn't realize that he had drunk all of them, he sent his ministers to ask if there was any wine in the queen's palace, and if he could bring some with him." ”

But the queen did not accept the summons, but said, "There is wine in it, and I dare not take it to the official family again." It was late at night, and the magistrate's house rested. ”

After finishing speaking, he sent the chamberlain back, but he refused to even open the door to see the chamberlain.

This matter was silently listened to by the princess, and the palace family watched the banquet in Shengping Building at night, and the princess actually took it and asked her father: "Last night, my father wanted to drink, I should ask the people who served the imperial meal and the brewer, so late, why did you want to send it to Xuanxuan?" ”

The palace people snickered, the queen was sitting precariously, as if she hadn't heard it, and now there was embarrassment on it, coughed twice in a low voice, and thought about it before saying: "It's late at night, and it's inconvenient for many people ......to work."

The princess asked: "Even if you don't want to work as a subordinate, there are so many ladies in the palace, and there is a lot of wine stored in the cabinet, why does Daddy ask the people who don't drink often?" ”

Seeing this, Concubine Zhang Guifei took over the conversation: "The concubine's mother has sent some good lamb wine, and next time if the official family wants to drink, just send someone to get it." ”

Before she could answer, the princess had already spoken first and said to Concubine Zhang: "Who doesn't know that there is a lot of wine in Mrs. Zhang's Pavilion?" Daddy doesn't ask you to ask for it, so naturally there is a reason why he doesn't want it. ”

Zhang Guifei suddenly looked stunned, as if she wanted to sneer at each other, but when she turned her eyes, she saw that Jinshang was observing her reaction, so she pressed her anger again, and forced a smile: "What the princess said is true." ”

In the eyes of the ladies in the middle of the night, the matter of the middle palace is a message that wants to show goodwill to the queen today, and talking with wine is nothing more than not being able to wipe off that little face, but the queen does not accept it.

"Look at those eyes, they should all have sleepless nights." Yu Chongyi said to Miao Shuyi in Yifeng Pavilion the next day, "This situation is like a little husband and wife making trouble, why is it really troubled!" ”

Miao Shuyi smiled: "They have always respected each other like guests on their faces, but this awkwardness in private has been there for more than ten years." Sometimes, even I can't see through it. ”

When the princess heard them talking, she came over again to listen carefully, and was nodded on her forehead by Miao Shuyi: "You girl, last time you asked your father what he did at the dinner party, so he couldn't get off the stage for a long time!" ”

The princess pouted, "I'm not stupid!" I saw Mrs. Zhang's arrogance, so I deliberately said that to her. ”