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The next day was the day of the emperor's funeral.

At the beginning of the dawn of the sky, Zuo Ying's car stopped in the gate outside the walls of the temple. Passing through the gate in the middle of the wall, a vast square in front of the Jongmyo Temple seems to have no boundaries.

The smooth and atmospheric bluestone floor stretched from her feet, and every four bluestone slabs stood a white-clothed and white-clothed guard, only to make way of a passage in the middle to allow people to lead to the main hall of the temple, they all looked solemn and stood upright, looking from a distance, like frost and snow, covering a huge square. On the solemn and magnificent dark gray eaves of the main hall, there is also a row of spirit-summoning envoys in white robes and hair, and the white flags in their hands are rhythmically raised and falling.

Before entering the temple gate, the elegy and mourning music from inside, mixed with the sound of wailing, were already heard.

Walking up the steps in front of the palace gate, with the sound of the inner attendant, a group of ministers dressed in filial piety greeted the palace gate, knelt down in front of Zuo Ying in unison, and shouted in unison: "See Her Royal Highness the Princess, please mourn Her Royal Highness the Princess!" ”

"No courtesy." Zuo Ying raised her hand. If these ministers kept their heads down, it would not help her in the slightest to match the information of each of them as quickly as possible.

However, after being greeted by Zuo Ying, the group of ministers in front of them just agreed to thank him in unison, but no one stood up immediately, but only got up after the person kneeling in front stood up straight without hurry, as if their pomp and circumstance were not to show her Zuo Ying, but for the minister who was the leader, responsible for him, and they didn't mind showing it under Zuo Ying's nose at all.

You don't need to look at Zuo Ying to know that the minister headed by him is Helan Chu.

Every year, so much real money is spent on officials, and it turns out that they are all for the Taishi's family to raise dogs. Zuo Ying sneered in her heart.

Helan Chu rang to Zuo Ying's side and waved his hand, "Please take the princess to preside over the funeral." ”

The so-called presiding over the funeral is to lead the relatives closest to the deceased to accept the Quartet's condolences as the host of the funeral.

Zuo Ying, accompanied by Helan Chu, officially stepped into the main hall in the passage that the ministers gave way.

The hall is very large and spacious, and it is still empty to accommodate the musicians, monks, and ministers who are arranged in four or five hundred classes; The dome is also seven or eight meters high, and each beam is hung with white flags and couplets, which is solemn and poignant.

In the center of the depths of the main hall, a coffin is parked that is one person high. The coffin is made of hundred-year-old cypress wood painted black, carved with a rich and solemn ornamentation, and inlaid with huge brass rings on both sides.

At this time, Empress Li was already kneeling in front of the incense burner in front of the coffin.

For the person who has a shameless face, her face is only worthy of being used to wipe the soles of her shoes. Zuo Ying didn't bother to say hello to her, took the incense stick handed by Scarlet Feather, inserted it in front of the incense burner, and knelt down.

At this moment, a palace maid hurriedly walked outside the main hall. Because of the extremely serious and solemn atmosphere around her, she lowered her head and hurried forward in small steps, not daring to be too public, but judging from her expression and the frequency of her steps, she must be in a hurry to report something important to her master.

The palace maid came to Queen Li and knelt down, and said a few words to the queen. Although it was very close, because of the mourning music, Zuo Ying only seemed to hear the word "martyrdom".

But her curiosity only stayed for a second, and then she saw Empress Li turning her face and sneering: "Concubine Hui, that slut died well!" When she spoke, she seemed to glance at Zuo Ying from the corner of her eye, as if she was deliberately letting her hear.

According to Empress Li's understanding of the princess, she would definitely jump up in the next second, ask loudly what happened, and then rush towards Concubine Hui's palace regardless of decency. She could almost see the look of shock on the princess's face.

"What's there to be happy about?" However, Zuo Ying was casual, and even had a hint of a smile, "You could have chopped off her hands and feet, gouged out her eyes, pierced her ears with deafness, and had a poisonous throat like Empress Lu did to Mrs. Qi, and turned her into a human to relieve her anger, but unfortunately there is no such opportunity now." ”

The voice was not loud, but Empress Li and the palace maid must have heard it clearly, otherwise their expressions when they looked at Zuo Ying at the moment would not be as surprisingly consistent as they are now-their eyes were round and bloodshot.

If you can't continue at this level, then there is no need to continue. Zuo Ying got up unhurriedly, came to the side of the coffin and knelt down in the direction of the gate.

In addition to the ministers who had already arrived, other civil and military officials also came to pay their respects one after another.

The civil and military officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty distinguished their official qualities by the number of "beams" on the crown of Jinxian, the color of the ribbon, and the accessories. But because all the officials are mourning today, there is almost no difference in the mourning clothes on their bodies. Zuo Ying diligently stared at the faces of everyone who appeared, matching names, identities, and useful information in her mind.

Some of them looked sad and had tears in their eyes, some had solemn expressions and were silent, and some were relaxed and happy, and there was no displeasure. But what almost everyone has in common is that after entering the door, the eyes of search always fall on Helan Chu first, even the foreign envoys are no exception; Zuo Ying, who was originally mourning, seemed dispensable. Occasionally, there are eyes that stay on Zuo Ying, and the helplessness and disappointment in their eyes are inadvertently revealed.

Zuo Ying observed all the details with great interest - she was about to start inheriting the "inheritance" left to her by her "imperial brother".

*

When she was lying on the bed again, Zuo Ying drew a map of the situation in the court in her heart.

The core of the graph is the "talker".

This speaker of the Great Zhou Empire is obviously not the emperor who sits on the first chair, but the Taishi who is the head of the Manchu Dynasty, who is the head of the civil and military affairs, and even the emperor's henchmen can be taken down with a knife or carried to prison casually.

Although the emperor is not at the core, he cannot be absent from the map. Zuo Ying's current situation can be compared to his previous situation, but after the emperor has shown his hole cards and has been wiped out, her bad level will increase by at least thirty percent.

No matter how powerful a person is, it is impossible for him to succeed by himself, Zuo Ying must rely on the clues he has obtained and strive to analyze what power can be used for himself.

"Your Highness the Princess." At this moment, the soft voice of Scarlet Feather came from the side of the bed.

Zuo Ying deliberately remained silent - although she did not fall asleep, she did not toss and turn, but just lay quietly with her back to the direction of the bed; What do people who think they're asleep want to do in secret? She was interested to know.

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