Four years later, Gu Banqin sat in the imperial garden, looking at the ranking of this year's show girls, it has been five or six years in the harem since Gu Banqin became the queen and issued the order to change the position by talent.

From the initial resistance, the concubines privately scolded Gu Banqin for being selfish and ignoring the etiquette and the number of etiquette, and a year later, some of the concubines who participated in the rating really rose to a higher level, and after everyone saw the substantial benefits, they finally slowly calmed down.

By now, assessment results have become a very common thing in the harem.

And over the years, Gu Banqin's team of female officials has expanded from dozens of people to hundreds today, including not only talented female officials in the palace, but also some other unpopular ones are specially recruited from outside the palace.

Ensure that as long as the concubines put forward a skill, there will be this project in the harem, and the concubines have changed from the original intrigue to a very positive competition, and all the battles are drawn to the table.

Gu Banqin was looking at the talent column of this year's show girls, and two little dolls wearing the same style of clothes ran in from the garden, the one in front led the other in the back, step by step, and walked in front of Gu Banqin very calmly.

Gu Banqin looked up at them, the one in front of her with two pigtails, very cute, was a girl, and the one in the back was a boy, the two of them looked like they were born.

Gu Banqin put down the things in her hand and opened her arms to them, the two children arrived in Gu Banqin's arms at the same time, and the girl complained coquettishly:

"Mother, brother, bad."

This is a pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses born by Gu Banqin two years ago, the daughter is the eldest one, called Ruxiu, and the son is called Ruzhen, although Ruxiu is only half an hour old, but she is completely protected by her younger brother.

On the contrary, Ruzhen has an introverted personality, and to this day he has not learned how to speak, and there is no expression on his face, when he was two or three years old, he looked like a small copy of Helian Hongyi, no matter how funny, it was difficult to give you a smile.

The 'brother' in Ruxiu's mouth must have said peace, Gu Banqin touched the top of the two children's heads and asked:

"How bad is my brother? Tell my mother. ”

Ruzhen doesn't like to talk, so he hasn't opened many mouths so far, that is, he just burst out word by word, if it weren't for the awkward quarrel with Ruxiu once, and a few more words, Gu Banqin would have thought that this kid was a stunned person.

But unlike Ruzhen, Ruxiu is a chatterbox, as long as she opens it, she can't hold it anymore.

"My brother rides a horse and doesn't take my sister to Ruzhen, he's bad, and my sister doesn't play with him anymore."

Gu Banqin knew what was going on when he heard it, Ping'an is now nine years old, Helian Hongyi began to teach him to ride and shoot, and the two little ones naturally couldn't go, sure enough, after Ruxiu finished telling Ping'an, it was followed by suing Helian Hongyi.

"Daddy is also bad, don't take my sister like a town."

Gu Banqin had the heart to talk to them more, so she looked at Ruzhen and asked, "Tell my mother, is what my sister said true?" Are my brother and daddy bad? ”

Ruzhen listened to Gu Banqin's words, and did not answer immediately, but turned his head to look at his sister, Ruxiu nodded decisively, and gave instructions to Ruzhen: "Bad, they are all bad." ”

Ruzhen turned his head to Gu Banqin at this time, but he still didn't speak, nodded his head, and agreed with his sister's words.

Gu Banqin couldn't help but be amused by the two sisters and brothers, and was about to talk to them when Liu Fu came over to say:

"Niangniang, the mission of the State of Chu is almost here."

Gu Banqin's eyes lit up and asked, "Is there Mrs. An Shen of the Chu State among your peers?" ”

Liu Fu shook his head: "I haven't heard of this, I just said that the emperor of Chu personally sent an envoy and brought two princes and two princesses of Chu State, and there was no word of Mrs. Anshen in the list." ”

Gu Banqin nodded in disappointment, and Ruxiu asked beside her, "Mother, Mrs. Anshen, who is it?" ”

Gu Banqin didn't know how to explain to her that Chu Xiaocheng had sent an envoy to Daqi, and Helian Hongyi had told her the news a month ago.

Over the years, there has been no news from the Duan family, Gu Banqin has asked Chu Xiaocheng many times, Chu Xiaocheng only said that he had received a letter from the Duan family, and he did not know her whereabouts.

Duan's annual letters, Gu Banqin will also receive, but people have never shown up, Gu Banqin really regretted a little, why did she encourage Duan's to go out in the first place, I thought that she would regain her heart after a year or two, but she didn't expect that she looked quite reliable.

This play is not to go home for six or seven years, and to go to sea is very happy, completely forgetting the pair of children in the Central Plains, and occasionally coming to seal the family letter, but only to tell them that she is still alive, don't read a letter to keep them safe.

"When will the Great Qi Mission arrive in Jiankang City, have you heard?" Gu Banqin thought that if the Duan clan couldn't see it, it would be good to see Chu Xiaocheng and them.

"Probably tomorrow afternoon, the slave maid also got the news from the Inner Court Division who is in charge of reception, and I don't know if it's accurate or not, if the mother really wants to know, you can ask the princess Xuan."

To ask these questions, Wang Shun is indeed the best choice, but Gu Banqin doesn't have to ask, because Helian Hongyi will tell her at night.

"Chu Xiaocheng will be able to arrive in Jiankang tomorrow afternoon, this time it is estimated that it is still for the border afforestation, the geology of the north is very hard, it has been planted for two years, and there is not much harvest, if it can, this time I want the household department to send a few people to go back with him to help see, there are many agricultural masters in the Ministry of Agriculture now."

Helian Hongyi said to Gu Banqin like this, Gu Banqin undressed him and hung it aside, and Helian Hongyi sat on the soft couch in his middle coat to rest.

I haven't seen him for many years, Helian Hongyi is more calm than before, and his eyebrows are more majestic than before, but Gu Banqin has not changed much, and he sent a cup of tea to Helian Hongyi, and said with a smile:

"The emperor treats Chu State really well. This time Chu Xiaocheng came over, but I have to thank you well. ”

Helian Hongyi couldn't hear that she was joking, and said with a smile: "Brother-in-law treats my uncle well, it's a matter of course, what is there to thank?" ”

Gu Banqin smiled: "I'm really not ashamed, who is your eldest brother?" Ming'er, if you call Chu Xiaocheng like this, he can be scared to death to show you. ”

This is what the two of them joked in private, Helian Hongyi looked at Gu Banqin, who was the mother of three children, but there was still no change, but she added some soft charm, covering up her former childishness, and never got tired of looking at it.

"It's not that I'm not ashamed, when we went to Chu the year before last, didn't he call me brother-in-law? If he is not ashamed, he will not be ashamed first. ”

Helian Hongyi has many reasons.

Gu Banqin didn't want to say anything more to him about this matter, so he sat opposite Helian Hongyi, sighed faintly, and said:

"Alas, it's a pity that my mother didn't come. If she comes, it will be lively. ”

Helian Hongyi knew that Gu Banqin's most concern was the Duan family, but the Duan family had gone to sea to play all these years, and rarely returned to the Central Plains, and occasionally wrote a few family letters, at most, they just reported safety, no wonder Gu Banqin missed her.

"Your mother has her own ideas and ways of living, she just needs to know that you are doing well, and if you don't come back, doesn't it mean that she knows?"

Helian Hongyi held Gu Banqin's hand and comforted her, Gu Banqin nodded: "I understand the reason, but I miss her too much." ”

Thinking about it, Gu Banqin fell into Helian Hongyi's arms, in this sad moment, Helian Hongyi's arms can always give her warmth.

The Chu delegation arrived, because it was Chu Xiaocheng who came in person, so Helian Hongyi took Gu Banqin and personally welcomed him to the palace gate.

Chu Xiaocheng is about the same age as Helian Hongyi, and now he also has two mustaches, and in the carriage behind him, a graceful and luxurious woman and several gorgeously dressed children came down.

As soon as Gu Banqin saw those children, she knew that they were Chu Xiaocheng's children, but in the end, she followed a little girl, who didn't look too much like Chu Xiaocheng.

After welcoming into the palace, Chu Xiaocheng and Helian Hongyi went to the cabinet, and began to talk about things without stopping for a moment, and the greeting of the female dependents and children fell on Gu Banqin, Gu Banqin led them to the imperial garden that had been arranged a long time ago, and they were safe, and Ruxiu and Ruzhen also came to accompany them.

The female dependent who came was Chu Xiaocheng's queen, surnamed Zhang, who was said to be a palace maid, and Chu Xiaocheng was a typical example of inseparable, and she was also very humble.

She knew Gu Banqin's identity and was very close to her, Gu Banqin was also happy to have such a gentle sister-in-law to speak, Zhang introduced several of Chu Xiaocheng's children to Gu Banqin, Gu Banqin rewarded them one by one, and when the last pale-faced little girl, Zhang said to Gu Banqin:

"Oh, this is the lord of Chonghua, she is the widow of King Jia, King Jia died on the battlefield for His Majesty many years ago, leaving only such a Miao Miao, who was originally raised by Princess Jia's side, but did not get a good upbringing, His Majesty put it into the palace to be raised, and his temperament is more amiable than my two pranksters, I don't know how much. Chonghua, come over and say hello to the queen. ”

The little girl Wenwen is weak, petite, and a little cringe when she speaks, which should be related to her life experience.

Gu Banqin heard from Zhang's words, this girl is not the biological daughter of Princess Jia, she should be a concubine, the concubine is gone, King Jia died in battle, and she became a posthumous child.

Where would Princess Jia raise such a child well, although Zhang did not say it explicitly, Gu Banqin had already guessed most of it, and was immediately full of sympathy for this little girl.

"Chonghua greets the queen."

The voice of the voice is as low as a mosquito and fly, if you don't listen carefully, you can't hear what she is saying at all, Gu Banqin smiled and stretched out her hand, the county lord Chonghua was stunned for a moment, warmth flashed in his eyes, and sensibly put his hand in Gu Banqin's hand.

The little hand looked thin, but the hand was extremely soft, and after a closer look, Gu Banqin discovered the hidden light in the child's eyes, and knew that he was a steel-toothed little white rabbit, looking soft and weak on the outside, but in fact, he was able to survive alone in the hands of Princess Jia, and successfully let Chu Xiao take over the little girl who lived in the palace, where would he be a soft person?

Not to mention, the child is only seven or eight years old now.