In order to show his loyalty again, Yu Cheng then invited Zhuo Yao and Chu Zikai to go to the ancestral hall to watch Yu Yao be punished. But Chu Zikai excused himself and said that Chu Ziyi was having fun and wanted to stay and watch him. Yu Cheng gave up and took Zhuo Yao to the ancestral hall.

It was getting late, Chu Zikai took Chu Ziyi back to the palace, and suddenly saw Yu Zhao handing over something. "In the past, His Highness borrowed me, eighteen taels and five dollars and eighty-seven wen."

Chu Zikai saw clearly that it was the money bag that was given to her that day.

Before he reached out to take it, he heard her say again: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, where are there so many copper plates?" I've been looking for a long time and haven't found all of them, so I'll give you eighteen taels and six dollars directly. ”

"Do you think I'm poor now?" Chu Zikai saw that she was serious and not joking, and felt funny from the bottom of his heart.

Yu Zhao replied: "No, this is an extra reward, and it should be returned to you."

Chu Zikai took it, poured out the money and put it in his pocket, and gave her the money bag, teasingly: "Even if this bag is ten yuan, I still owe you three yuan, and I will pay you back when I have it." After speaking, without waiting for her reaction, she got on the horse and said goodbye. Yu Zhao swept the empty money bag and pondered whether the bag was worth ten cents.

Since that day, there was a big fuss, the eldest lady was so angry that she fell ill, Yu Yao came out of the ancestral hall three days later, and her face was red and swollen for several days. Moreover, when he was punctured and sent the golden bell that day, he felt ashamed and didn't dare to see anyone, so he simply nested in the house.

But I always have to send a female dependent to say hello to Ann every day, but my aunt naturally doesn't have this qualification, so only the second lady Yu Zhu came alone.

No one was noisy, and Yu Zhao slept soundly. But when he woke up and asked the hour, he realized that he was up late, and Yu Zhu had been waiting outside the hall for a long time.

"I've been waiting."

Hearing Yu Zhao's voice, Yu Zhu hurriedly turned around in a panic and saluted. Then he stood aside and was at a loss.

When I always came with the eldest lady, she never had the right to speak, and at the moment there was only herself, and it was impossible not to be nervous.

"Sit down."

After listening to her words, I dared to sit down.

Yu Zhao said again: "Please be safe is just a formality, don't be nervous." If you want to talk, you can talk, if you don't want to talk, you can drink tea, and if you want to leave, you don't have to worry about anything. ”

Hearing this, Yu Zhu was slightly surprised, and nodded in a wooden manner. Yu Zhao read books by himself, and it was good to be careful without annoyance.

During this period, Zhuo Yao came over to show her the process of entering the palace, indicating that after knowing it, she wanted to lower her head and read the book, but she caught a glimpse of Yu Zhu looking like she wanted to speak and stopped.

Yu Zhao put down the book and looked at her suspiciously: "It's okay, you can say it."

Before the words could be spoken, Yu Zhu's tears fell first, and he quickly wiped them away. Yu Zhao only looked at her, quietly waiting for her to recover.

"Mother plans to marry me to His Royal Highness...... for concubines. Finally mustered up the courage to speak, but couldn't hold back the tears.

"Side concubine?" Yu Zhao wanted to confirm more.

Yu Zhu shook his head and denied: "His Royal Highness already has a side concubine."

These days, listening to the gossip of the girls, I probably know some things about Jingzhou. The second prince, Chu Zirui, gave birth to a pair of flowers and intestines, and it was only a month after the two concubines married into the mansion together, and they began to mess with flowers and grass again, and after a while, the backyard was full of fishy smells. If you want to say that the Yu Mansion wants to cast a wide net to envelop the princes, it is not strange for the concubines to be concubines, so that they can't even mix up the position of a side concubine.

became the aunt of the Second Prince's Mansion, and when Chu Zirui's freshness passed, he had to fight openly and secretly with all kinds of people who were smoky and miasma every day. Chu Zirui has two mansions, next to each other, he and the second concubine live in one place, and the other place is full of aunts. It turned out that it was because there were many dead people who felt unlucky, and the eldest lady's move was indeed to push Yu Zhu into the fire pit.

Yu Zhao didn't want to meddle in things, but looking at Yu Zhu's eyes, there was a kind of desperate determination. Secretly surprised that she was counting on herself like this, anyway, she didn't want the eldest lady to be happy, so just take care of it. So he asked her, "Do you have someone you like?"

Yu Zhu has always been secretly suppressed, rarely meeting foreign men, listening to her ask, stunned for a moment and shook her head. Seeing that she intended to help, she tentatively spoke: "Master Chen, I don't want to marry in a rich and noble family, I just want someone who will always be with you for the rest of my life to be of good character."

Yu Zhao promised: "I will tell my father that I need my consent to your marriage."

I didn't expect her to give a promise so quickly, and the big box of words prepared by Yu Zhu before coming has not yet been spoken, and now she is stunned, and she even forgot to thank her.

Zhuo Yao came in again and showed her the golden silk phoenix crown and the twelve steps to be worn on the day of canonization. "Master Chen is young, this is specially ordered to be created, gorgeous but not old-fashioned."

It was indeed as she described, but it was still heavy, and Yu Zhao's heart was depressed.

The phoenix crown swayed, that is, the shackles that bound her to the most conspicuous place in the deep palace. The surface scenery is infinite, but in fact it is the glory of the tip of the knife, and you must always be awake in order to have the life to wait for the arrival of that day of freedom.

On the day of the concubine, the guard of honor was majestic and majestic, in order to show the importance of Concubine Chen, Emperor Yuan ordered the prince to personally lead the way, and the ministers knelt down in the main hall of the palace to greet them. The momentum is unprecedented. Not surprisingly, it was opposed by the same party, and the opposing party members all wanted to seize the opportunity to encircle Yu Cheng, and finally the opposition was suppressed.

At this moment, Yu Zhao was walking behind Chu Zikai, and the huge honor guard made her feel uneasy. The courtiers kneeling on both sides of the palace road, and the concubine who was waiting with Emperor Tongyuan in front, their eyes were like dark arrows and flying knives, shooting out from behind the false faces, and piercing straight at Yu Zhao's body.

Standing and listening to the decree of the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and then Yu Zhao only accepted the decree with a salute, and the arrogant style made it possible to see that the senior concubines hated itchy, and they couldn't understand why Emperor Yuan, who had never been close to women, had changed his temperament. However, Emperor Yuan was very satisfied, and personally stepped forward to help her, walked in front of the concubines, and entered the Chaohui Palace, the deputy hall of the harem.

Unloading a heavy ornament at night, Yu Zhao looked at the huge dormitory, the pepper room was fragrant, the red candles were brilliant, and his eyes were uncomfortable.

Suddenly, I heard the chamberlain sing: "Your Majesty has arrived—"

Yu Zhao got up and saluted, and saw that Emperor Yuan dismissed all his attendants, leaving only Zhuo Yao alone. He instructed her, "If you stay here, you must keep watch and no one will come in."

Zhuo Yao said yes, Yu Zhao was puzzled, and Emperor Yuan beckoned her to come to the study that was connected to the dormitory.

took a chair, took a few books on the upper shelf, and reached out to fiddle with it for a while, and the lichen under Yu Zhao's feet actually sank in the middle of the study. Emperor Yuan looked at Yu Zhao, and Yu Zhao also looked at him suspiciously.

A few seconds later, Emperor Yuan was a little helpless, and he got down to lift the lichen himself, and a secret passage appeared. Fu climbed into the chair again and stuffed the book back, took a lamp, and beckoned Yu Zhao to follow.

"Seeing that I am busy working but not helping, and watching coldly from the side, you are the first one since I ascended the throne." Emperor Yuan's voice was exceptionally clear in the confined space.

Yu Zhao replied: "You didn't say that I should help you, speculating on the holy will is a capital crime."

"It's still a capital offense to confront the saint." Emperor Yuan argued with her, and turned to a tone of helplessness. "Forget it, the precedent is not one or two."

Regaining his majesty, he said to her: "You are now in the limelight, and you are the most resentful person, so you must keep your secrets except for self-preservation. In the future, I will make the illusion of receiving grace every day, but in fact I will go elsewhere through this secret passage, and your task is to guard it, and when the time comes, I will go from here. ”

"Understood." Yu Zhao replied.

I heard Emperor Yuan ask again: "Are you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid." Without the slightest hesitation.

"Why? As the saying goes, a companion is like a tiger. I am a tiger, and the prince is a tiger. ”

"It's the tiger who asks me to stand by my side, it's really risky, but if it's not, it doesn't necessarily mean how merciful the rest of the jackals and wild leopards will be to me, it's better to pretend to be a tiger first, they don't dare to touch me easily for the time being."

"Yes, that's what I fancy is this kind of unfathomable energy."

The secret passage is winding, but it only leads to one place, and at the end is a secret room, arranged like a study, and the ink on the inkstone on the bookcase has not dried, and it seems that someone has been working here for a long time.

Emperor Yuan sat down, only to see the exit at the corner of the wall above the secret room open, and Chu Zikai hurriedly trotted down.

Yu Zhao probably knows what the place is, since ancient times, I have heard that it is the most ruthless emperor's family, but in front of him, the tiger father and son are very cooperative.

Chu Zikai took the roster of each concubine and showed it to Yu Zhao. "There are a lot of people sent by the palace to find out the news, and their details about you have probably been figured out, so they will definitely unite to demonstrate to you tomorrow." He asked with concern, "Can you handle it?"

"She can." Emperor Yuan hurriedly replied: "Just take out the pampering and arrogant abuse of power, it is best to beat those few people with self-sustaining qualifications and different intentions in front of me, and I will add more fire."

"I do." Yu Zhao also admitted. "But after all, they are all ...... age"

"Don't worry about the young. Since it is the power I have given you, you should swell it to them first, it is really ruthless, and I will not ban you for a few days. ”

In fact, Yu Zhao is not afraid of the elderly, but he is really afraid that he will be ruthless and what if he is injured and die, since Emperor Yuan has spoken, let him come.

"If you provoke the criticism of those people in the previous dynasty." Chu Zikai asked worriedly.

Emperor Yuan replied: "As long as it does not hurt their lives, in their eyes, it is just the concubines who are jealous." I'm embarrassed to stretch my hand so long. ”

"And Ziyi, he is where I am, so I will always stay in Zhaohui Palace in the future, but I haven't said anything about the official succession. Let's take a look at how Yu Cheng plans to move first, and be sure to completely pick him to the opposite side of Qi Xing. After Emperor Yuan finished speaking, he looked at Yu Zhao. I think you should know that since you have become a party with me and the crown prince, you must break off with the previous dynasty family if necessary. ”

I'm on a thief ship.

Yu Zhao thought quietly, but since the thief didn't want her to do anything for the time being, he replied, "Understood."

After discussing for a while, Emperor Yuan seemed to be sleepy, yawned and walked up, and ordered: "Send her back, Ziyi won't be noisy tonight."

Leaving Chu Zikai and Yu Zhao with small eyes and big eyes.

"Your Majesty, it's very casual."

Chu Zikai nodded: "My father's attitude towards people depends on that person's temperament. Every time you pretend to be hard in front of others, you are casual, he is like this. ”

Yu Zhao picked up the lamp on the bookcase and wanted to go back, but Chu Zikai followed. instructed: "If you have any urgent matters in the future, just touch the switch and talk about the jade button twice, and the East Palace will get the news." If you want to come over, press the ink jade twice, the green jade three times, and this secret passage will open. ”

At this moment, with the lamp in his hand, Yu Zhao looked at this secret passage carefully, it didn't look like it had been old and vacant for many years. "You and Your Majesty are both the supreme people in the world, and you have to be so sneaky."

Hearing this, Chu Zikai smiled helplessly: "I am not the eldest son, nor am I the son-in-law, and I don't have the support of the maternal family, so I rely on my father to support me to get the crown prince." This son is noble, but at the same time he is in danger. ”

Hearing him speak, Yu Zhao didn't pay attention to the stairs under his feet, and almost fell, but fortunately, Chu Zikai scooped her up with one hand, and it was fine.

"So be careful."

turned to a tone and apologized: "You are the same now, when the fifth brother succeeds you, you will lead me away a lot of unwarranted disasters, it will be difficult for you."

"If you know, you owe it."

Yu Zhao was never polite, "I hope Your Highness can keep his promise when the great cause is successful." ”

There was no immediate answer, and there was a moment of silence before gently committing.

"Naturally."

In the dead of night, the red candles of Chaohui Palace are all night. The rest of the place was shrouded in darkness, and I don't know what kind of demons and monsters lurked in it to spy on that little bit of light.