The imperial palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty has nearly 10,000 rooms, except for the three main halls of Tian'en Palace, Hyde Hall and Kunze Palace, the rest are arranged on both sides.

The residence of the Queen Mother, Emperor, Empress and Princesses is on the east side, and the residence of the concubines and princesses is on the west side.

This is only a rough distribution, these palaces are richly decorated, renovated and painted every year, and they look very magnificent.

But there are also some places in the forbidden palace that are dilapidated and desolate, and even in this hot summer, the sun does not seem to shine in.

These places are known as forbidden places in the forbidden garden, and people call them "cold palaces".

Ordinary people will not easily come here, for fear of causing bad luck.

This place is inhabited by concubines who have fallen out of favor and made mistakes, as well as palace people who serve them, and some palace people who are old and refuse to leave the palace also live here with the permission of their masters.

If there is a cemetery of the living dead in the world, then this place definitely deserves this title.

Wei Yining walked alone in the corridor of the cold palace, and the wild grass in the brick cracks grew so high that it was no longer above his ankles.

Today, on the first day of the fifth month, the emperor and queen went to the suburbs of Beijing to pray for rain and did not return to the palace, and the princesses' homework was temporarily suspended.

Wei Yining was worried about what happened to his father in the palace back then, and he took this opportunity to want to visit.

At that time, Wei Zongzhao's crime was to molest and force the palace people to death, and the palace maid who committed suicide was to serve the Empress Dowager Mingxian, who was originally a maid of the Zhiyong Mansion, and her name was Rounu.

The Empress Dowager Mingxian is the main palace of the former emperor, but she is not the biological mother of the current saint.

Now the queen mother who lives in Xuanci Palace is the emperor's biological mother.

When Mrs. Zhu entered the palace to see the Empress Dowager, she brought two maids into the palace, one of whom was a rounu.

Because she was born well and skillful, she was favored by the Queen Mother.

It happened that at that time, the brothers Wei Zongyong and Wei Zongzhao were a little unhappy because of the soft slave, and Mrs. Zhu did a favor.

Wei Yining didn't know exactly what kind of entanglement there was back then, and she specially asked Mrs. Zhu before entering the palace.

According to the old lady, this slave was born in the family and has been in the house since he was a child. first served Mrs. Yan, and later Mrs. Tai died, and she served Wei Yujue.

After Wei Yujue got married, she still stayed in the Zhiyong Mansion, right in front of Mrs. Zhu.

Wei Zongzhao is the same age as her, and Wei Zongyong is much older than her.

At the beginning, Wei Zongyong wanted to ask her to be a concubine several times, but Rou Nu refused, and went to beg Mrs. Zhu several times.

Mrs. Zhu knew that she liked Wei Zongzhao, so she thought about fulfilling her wish.

But then something happened in the house, and the matter of Rou Nu was delayed.

In addition, the old man valued Wei Zongzhao and asked him to be diligent in his studies and not to be greedy for beauty, so Wei Zongzhao did not take a concubine.

As for whether he likes rounu or not, Mrs. Zhu can't say well.

So later, the Empress Dowager Mingxian died, and Wei Zongzhao had already attacked the lord at that time, and during the period of entering the palace to hang filial piety, there was a matter of Rou Nu committing suicide and dying.

Mrs. Zhu also felt strange at the time, but Wei Zongzhao himself did not deny it.

Besides, this crime was so big that the Wei family didn't dare to refute it, so Wei Zongzhao was punished and sent to Lao Linghe.

Wei Yining came to the palace, but only got a little clue from Aunt Huiying, and knew that Chunhe, the palace maid who was very close to Rounu back then, was still in the palace.

So she looked for an opportunity to come here to find the old palace man.

It's just that the cold palace is not smaller than the residence of the ladies in front of it, and the difference is only in the rich and the poor.

The people here all looked weird, their faces were haggard, and they stared at Wei Yining as if they were looking at monsters.

If you are a timid person, you are afraid that you will run away.

Wei Yining's expression was calm, and she didn't ask easily.

Instead, she calmly examined the people she met, Chunhe's age should be around forty years old, she had been in the embroidery workshop for three or four years, and her eyes were not very good.

So those who are staring at her every move like a torch will never be Chunhe.

The figure of a slightly hunched figure under the weeping willow tree caught Wei Yining's attention, and she sat there embroidering a handkerchief earnestly and slowly.

The embroidery is delicate and delicate, and it is a double-sided embroidery.

Wei Yining stepped forward, stood three or four steps away from her, and asked in a low voice, "Are you Aunt Chunhe?" ”

The old palace maid stopped the needle, slowly turned her face, looked at Wei Yining carefully, and asked, "Who are you?" What do you want me to do? ”

Wei Yining saw that he had found the right person, his heart relaxed a little, and he squatted down and said, "I am the Wei family, I want to ask if you still remember about Rounu?" ”

"It's more than ten years ago, some of which I still remember, and some of which I can't remember." Chunhe said: "If you ask her what she does after entering the palace and who she serves, I can still remember." If I were to ask her death, I wouldn't know. ”

"Why is that?" Wei Yining couldn't help but ask: "Shouldn't common sense remember her death more clearly?" ”

"I wasn't with her at the time, I only heard that she committed suicide, but I didn't even see her for the last time." Chunhe said with a sigh.

"Who was with her at the time? Who knows better about her death? Wei Yining asked.

"You are from the Wei family, so who is Wei Zongzhao?" Chunhe asked Wei Yining rhetorically.

"I'm his daughter." Wei Yining told the truth.

Since she wanted Chunhe to tell the truth about the year, Wei Yining couldn't hide anything from her.

"I advise you to stop there! More than ten years have passed since this happened, so let's just let it be a thing of the past. If you don't give up, you will have to churn, beware of the old dust and squinting your eyes. Chunhe sneered and said: "There is nothing more complicated in the hearts of people in the world than this, I just don't know anything, I don't want to know anything, so I can live well to this day." I advise you not to ask again, I don't know anything, and even if I did, I would never say it. ”

Wei Yining wanted to say something more, but he heard footsteps approaching behind him, and a soft voice sounded: "Isn't this Miss Wei?" How did you get to this place? ”

When Wei Yining turned around, he saw the miserable white and handsome face of Ding Neijian.

"It turned out to be Manager Ding," Wei Yining stood up without panic: "I'm going around because I'm playful, who wants to get lost, and I'm asking this aunt for directions!" ”

Ding Neijian's eyes were unfathomable, but there was still a smile on his face: "The girl has just entered the palace, and she is indeed not familiar with the path, but she must not go alone like this in the future." ”

"Thank you Mr. Ding for your advice, Yining should keep it in mind." Wei Yining bowed.

"Miss Wei is polite, the little one is just a subordinate, don't say that," Ding Neijian still smiled attentively: "Then let the little one take you back!" The county lord of the province was worried. ”

"Isn't Mr. Ding busy?" Wei Yining asked casually.

"The villain is just here to meet an old man." Ding Neijian said: "I've seen it and I'm about to go back." ”

Wei Yining's eyes skimmed over the place where Ding Neijian had just walked over, which was a relatively closed courtyard.

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