*

Empress Li took the letter, tore open the seal, and took out the letterhead from inside. After reading the first two sentences, I knew that my grandfather just shared in the letter that he had recently traveled to the mountains and rivers and visited which worldly masters, and he could not solve her urgent need at all. She barely had the heart to read any more, so she sighed quietly and sat back in front of the makeup mirror. The two palace maids consciously stepped forward again and continued to comb her hair.

"The queen mother," Jun An said: "The lord is away all the year round, this family letter is not easy to come by, please read it carefully, don't let down the lord." ”

"Well, you can go back."

Empress Li didn't look at Jun An, who had retreated from her own care, and thought to herself: Grandfather, grandfather, you are at ease in the famous mountains and rivers, you are so happy, and your grandchildren and others will be slaughtered and precarious. You can abandon political troubles, fame and fortune, but do you have to abandon your grandchildren and other close relatives and connected bloodlines?

Thinking of this, Empress Li couldn't help but feel more aggrieved and helpless, her nose was sore, her eyes were blurred, and when her eyes were clear, the letterhead in her hand had been wet with tears, and the ink had melted.

Empress Li hurriedly wiped the letterhead with her sleeve, and inadvertently saw two lines of words next to the tear-stained ink: "Change your life for your life, you don't see its benefits, you see its disadvantages first." ”

These two words that seemed to have a reference made Empress Li's heart move, and she almost took a breath, and hurriedly read the context of this sentence carefully, trying to see carefully what her grandfather wanted her to convey, but found that this sentence appeared abruptly in another sentence, and it had no connection with the context.

She quickly realized that the reason why her grandfather was doing this was to disguise the words he was going to pass on as an ordinary family letter, so that others could not easily see them. Looking back now, I realized that the sentence Jun An said before leaving just now sounded casual, and it seemed to have another meaning.

Empress Li had an idea, hurriedly brushed her hair, pretended to lose her temper and shouted: "Don't comb it, don't comb it, you all retreat for me!" ”

The palace maids were so frightened that they immediately stopped and reluctantly exited the dormitory.

Empress Li watched them close the door before unfolding the letterhead on the dresser and reading it carefully word by word.

That sentence alone is pertinent enough, and it is obviously said that it is not wise for Empress Li to risk the crime of slandering and arresting the princess in order to save her brother in prison. But when Empress Li read the contents of the letter from beginning to end, her once-stretched eyebrows tightened again.

Empress Li, who was deep in thought, was even startled by the sound of an announcement coming from outside the door. There is a legend that twenty guards have been assembled and are waiting outside the palace.

Empress Li suddenly found that her back was cold, as if she was soaked in sweat. Grandfather's advice was diametrically opposed to her own judgment, and it was enough to make her sweat when she almost succeeded just now. And although her grandfather clearly told her how to deal with it, he cherished ink like gold, and did not say a word about when he would be able to come back to preside over the overall situation, which inevitably made her heart still empty, and she didn't know when she would have to support Dao alone.

But my grandfather served the monarchs of the three dynasties, and he was accustomed to seeing all kinds of strange and treacherous, changing circumstances, and his vision was accurate and unique, although he was thousands of miles away, but since he could give such a clear judgment, it must have been made after deliberation and weighing, and he would definitely be able to turn the danger into a disaster if he obeyed his instructions.

Thinking of this, Empress Li stood up, put away the letterhead, and then ordered the guards to disperse outside.

*

Zuo Ying, who had changed back into her clothes, sat in the Hede Pavilion, and five exquisite dishes were placed on the dining table in front of her.

A plate is packed with a white porcelain plate, and then five pieces of green vegetable leaves, each vegetable leaf is placed on a delicate ball, the ball is evenly stained with crystal clear winter melon grains, it looks really as crystal as crystalline, the color of green, white, tender green is appropriate, very attractive.

A plate is held on a carved silver plate with tall legs, and the crispy rolls that have been fried to a golden color are arranged in a radial shape in the plate, and in the center is a tomato cut into the shape of a flower with a flower knife as the core, and each crisp roll can be seen in the oblique long cut on one side, which is rolled with several materials cut into thin strips, which looks like a golden lotus blooming layer by layer in the jade net bottle of Guanyin, which makes people associate it with the light and long, endless aftertaste.

Another snow-white porcelain plate is neatly arranged with twelve delicate vegetable buns. If you look closely, it is a dumpling-sized bag wrapped from vegetable leaves, the mouth of the bag is tied tightly with soft leek leaves, and the vegetable leaves on the outer skin are tender and green and goose yellow, which looks tender and pleasant; The belly of the bag is bulging, and bright red, turquoise, and bright orange are revealed from the translucent leaves...... All kinds of lively and bright colors come, as if through the blue screen window, you can vaguely see a beautiful woman dressed in colorful silk in front of the window, dancing and dancing.

……

Such exquisite dishes may not be matched even in the best of modern top restaurants.

But in such a dangerous situation, every meal can become the last dinner, and that is enough to disappoint people's appetite. Zuo Ying picked up a piece at random and put it in her mouth, and the unexpected deliciousness spread along the tip of her tongue, so that even if she didn't have the heart to taste the deliciousness carefully, she couldn't help but be amazed in her heart.

The palace maid cherished a porcelain jar with beautiful shapes and complex patterns on a tray and knelt down beside Zuo Ying. Another palace maid stepped forward to pick up the porcelain jar, poured the white liquid inside into the porcelain bowl in front of Zuo Ying, and said softly: "Desert cheese, please use it slowly." ”

A faint burst of frankincense wafted into Zuo Ying's nose. Zuo Ying remembered that this place is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and the authentic desert cattle and sheep dairy products are very precious, even the princes and nobles can't eat them a few times a year. And Helan is a nomadic origin, although it has been completely sinicized several generations ago, but the spleen and stomach preferences inherited from ancestors are still very fond of dairy products.

It's a pity that Zuo Ying happens to not like milk. She took two sips of it, only to know that it was sweet milk with sugar in it, so she put it aside and didn't drink it any more.

At this time, there seemed to be a noise outside, mixed with the child's unrelenting cry.

How could there be a child crying in this Yongning Palace? Zuo Ying couldn't help but feel strange. "Brother Huang" has no children yet; No matter how ignorant the little palace people in the palace are, they know that such presumptuous may be the sin of killing their heads, and it is impossible to cry here. So who is crying outside?

"Let me go out and see what's going on."

Hearing Zuo Ying's order, the two palace maids, who had long been curious, hurriedly agreed and walked out.

*

*