Wang fu.

In the luxurious main hall of the palace, two graceful and luxurious ladies were drinking tea in their own hearts.

The two ladies seemed to be drinking tea, but in fact, they were secretly thinking about how to convince each other next to achieve their respective goals for this meeting.

Ever since the arrival of distinguished guests in the palace a quarter of an hour ago, this suffocating atmosphere has been maintained in the main hall.

Even the maids and palace maids who served beside the two ladies did not dare to come out, for fear that if they accidentally offended the two ladies, they might become a ghost who died unjustly in the mass grave again.

One of the older ladies is the Empress Dowager Xiao Feiyan, who is above 10,000 people under one person, and is also the biological mother of the current saint Murong Haotian.

And another lady who is much younger but has similar eyebrows and eyes to the queen mother is Xiao Feixue, the concubine of this palace, who is also the sister of the queen mother, and the biological mother of Murong Haolong, the prince of this palace.

Although the Queen Mother and the Concubine are sisters, since they married into the royal family and served the former Empress one after another, the open and secret struggle between the two sisters has never stopped.

Although the two sisters have been living in harmony and peace with each other on the surface, they are on guard in private, for fear that if they are not careful to be calculated by the other party, they may harm their bones.

The reason for this is that they both married into the royal family, and since ancient times, they have been the most ruthless emperor family.

After all, the imperial power above 10,000 people is too tempting, and those who can't get it will do everything possible to snatch it.

What you get will be guarded by unscrupulous means, and you will walk on thin ice all day long, and if you are not careful, it will be a catastrophe.

If these two sisters were not the noble status of the Queen Mother and the Concubine, but just a pair of sisters from ordinary people's families, they would definitely get along very well and would never fight to the death in secret.

It's a pity that both of them entered the palace gate, and they each gave birth to a prince who had the opportunity to become the Son of Heaven, so they naturally wanted to seek the best future for their children.

Of course, this is just the idea and fight between the two sisters, but in fact, the current saint and the prince have a harmonious relationship, and they are completely the best brothers.

Murong Haotian and Murong Haolong grew up together when they were children, they read and practiced calligraphy together, practiced martial arts together, and thought of each other first when they had anything delicious and fun, both of them were open-minded and cheerful.

There has never been a fight for something that everyone likes, and they will all humble each other and settle it peacefully.

Even including the throne, they have never fought openly and secretly since they were children, but privately hope that each other will become the crown prince, and the ultimate saint, just be a happy prince who doesn't ask about the world.

In fact, they are not up or down in all aspects, and they both have a heart that loves the people like sons, so in the eyes of the emperor, who is the best of these two best princes to be the emperor is the best candidate for a generation of Ming monarchs.

Therefore, the first emperor was also unable to decide which one to choose to inherit the throne, and until he was unfortunately assassinated, he did not choose the crown prince.

The assassination of the first emperor, the queen mother and the concubine both thought that the other party must have sent someone to do it, the purpose was to take advantage of the great opportunity of the first emperor not to set the crown prince, relying on their own power in the court, to fight for the final throne for their children.

Therefore, after the unfortunate death of the first emperor, the queen mother and the concubine also hurriedly contacted the ministers they had been in the court for many years, and started a battle of words.

At first, it was also equal, regardless of whether it was a minister who supported the queen mother's side or a minister who supported the concubine's side, they could not overwhelm the other party with an absolute advantage, so that the new heir to the throne was always difficult to determine.

Unexpectedly, one night, the ministers who supported the concubine inexplicably killed three important ministers overnight, and as a result, the balance that was originally comparable was broken, and the queen mother finally won.

The unwilling concubine was suffering from no evidence to prove that the Queen Mother sent someone to assassinate the three important ministers who supported her, so she had to watch the Queen Mother's son inherit the throne and become the Queen Mother as she wished.

Since then, the resentment between the two sisters has become deeper and deeper, but they both belong to the women of the city, so at the last moment of tearing their faces, they will still pretend to be good sisters to the world.

For the open and secret struggle between the queen mother and the concubine for many years, the saint and the prince also saw it, but they didn't take it to heart, and they didn't approve of the queen mother and the concubine fighting like this, and tried to persuade their respective mothers to stop in private, and everything just let it be.

It's a pity that the queen mother and the concubine don't think so, they always feel that the crisis is lurking, and they don't dare to slack off.

Including today's Queen Mother's sudden visit to the palace, in fact, she also came with ulterior motives.

And after the queen mother came, she never said a word, pretending to be a tea-tasting appearance, and the sharp-minded concubine also guessed that eight or nine were not far from ten, that is, she must have come to say goodbye to the prince again.

Because over the years, the Queen Mother has repeatedly entrusted people to introduce many daughters of the family to the palace openly and secretly, nominally concerned about the marriage of the prince, but in fact, she wants to arrange a henchman of her own to keep an eye on the palace.

The queen mother's deliberate thoughts, the concubine has long been aware of it, that is, she pretended not to understand it because of her feelings.

So over the years, all the ladies recommended by the Queen Mother, and even the palace maids who were carefully selected from the palace to serve the princess and the prince, the concubine would find a lot of inappropriate reasons like eggs, and then politely declined.

Including the fact that there was once a queen mother who was sent by the queen mother to buy the housekeeper of the palace, who was willing to surrender his identity to the prince as a maid, wanting to take this opportunity to get close to the prince, and finally achieve the goal of becoming a princess, which was quickly exposed by the concubine.

In addition to the * who was blasted out of the palace and lost face, the palace housekeeper was also sent to the palace to die of intestines rotten in the deep valley of the mountains and valleys behind the palace after being given poisoned wine by the concubine.

And the concubine solemnly stated that the maids of the palace were not allowed to be within the range of the prince's five zhang, otherwise they would be severely punished, and it was also to avoid being exploited by people with good intentions.

Since then, everyone in the palace has been in danger, strictly abiding by the rules of the palace, and no longer daring to collude with outsiders to do things that are unfavorable to the palace.

In order to make the maids and guards of the palace dare not have two hearts, the concubine also deliberately controlled their family members in their own hands, once anyone dares to do something sorry for the palace, the family will also be buried together.

This is also the reason why Rue Xiang would rather die with her intestines rotten than dare to follow Princess Lian to leave the deep valley behind the palace.

I just don't want to involve the family members who fell into the hands of the concubine to die because of her.

Now that she had guessed the queen mother's intention, the concubine was also drinking tea while quickly thinking about the new wording, so that when the queen mother opened her mouth again to say goodbye, she could justifiably refuse politely.

It's just that over the years, the concubine has rejected the famous ladies introduced by the Queen Mother for too many reasons, and she is also annoyed, and she is also a little unreasonable.

So she plans to use a reason that makes the Queen Mother completely reject her this time, no matter how well prepared the Queen Mother is and how good the woman's conditions are.

Settle once and for all this trouble that has plagued her for years.

So she planned to tell a big lie, that is, the palace actually had a princess for a long time, but there was another hidden secret, and it has not been announced to the public.

As for what the specific secret is, she sipped tea while thinking hard about the most convincing statement.

She felt that this statement must catch the Queen Mother off guard, and she had no power to refute it, and finally returned home and left the palace in disgrace.

And when the Queen Mother was drinking tea, she also paid attention to the expression of the concubine, she knew her sister too well, and she seemed to be calm on the surface at the moment, but in fact, she must be trying to prepare all kinds of words to refuse the ladies she introduced, so she was not in a hurry to speak.

She planned to say her intentions again when the concubine thought she had thought of the best reason for resigning, and she was sure that this time she would be surprised to find that no matter how well prepared she was, she couldn't use it.

The reason why the Queen Mother is so confident this time is because she can be said to have thought about it for a whole month this time before she found a woman who absolutely made the concubine unable to refuse.

This woman is Yin Mingyue, the granddaughter of General Yin, a veteran of the Three Dynasties, who has read poetry and books since she was a child, and is also proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is recognized as a talented woman in the imperial city.

She is also the baby granddaughter of General Yin as the pearl of her palm, and it can be said that she has been spoiled by General Yin since she was a child, and she is naturally beautiful, she is definitely the No. 1 famous lady in the imperial city, and she is also the best candidate for the major families in the imperial city to come to the door to propose.

It's just that Yin Mingyue has always been arrogant and wants to marry into the royal family, so the son of an ordinary official and noble family can't get into her eyes at all.

Naturally, those who came to the door to propose their relatives went home in disgrace.

As for the royal family, only the emperor and the prince can make her happy, but Yin Mingyue has a good impression of the emperor and the prince, and it is really difficult to choose, so she asks her grandfather to help her make the decision.

And General Yin was also worried, and he didn't help his granddaughter make a decision for a long time.

Although General Yin is old-fashioned, he is loyal and courageous, and he is fair.

He has never been good at flattery, he has always been impartial and selfless, and he has been appreciated by successive kings and entrusted with important tasks.

It is also the important ministers that the Queen Mother and the Concubine have tried to win over for so many years, but they have not succeeded.

Therefore, General Yin is also the only important minister in the court who expresses neutrality, neither pleasing the queen mother, nor towards the concubine, and does not participate in the struggle for the throne between the queen mother and the concubine.

For so many years, the Queen Mother and the Concubine have also secretly proposed marriage to General Yin, but General Yin knows the grievances between the Queen Mother and the Concubine and does not want his favorite granddaughter to be sandwiched between the Queen Mother and the Concubine and finally become a victim of the palace fight, so he politely declined.

General Yin's reason was that he had only one relative left in this world, his granddaughter, and he was reluctant to marry her off too early and wait for a few years.

The Queen Mother and the Concubine naturally understood that this was just General Yin's excuse, but it was inconvenient to find out, hurting the harmony, and did not force it too hard.

But in private, the Queen Mother and the Concubine both sent people to keep an eye on General Yin's every move, and once they found out that General Yin planned to marry the other party, they would not hesitate to sabotage it, even at the expense of getting rid of Yin Mingyue, and they could not fulfill the other party.

All this, the scheming General Yin knows very well, no matter whether his granddaughter marries the emperor or the prince, the queen mother and the concubine will not give up, and will definitely secretly obstruct and even kill his precious granddaughter.

So the only thing General Yin could do was to delay time, and when he couldn't drag it out, he simply resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown.

As long as he no longer becomes an important minister co-opted by the Queen Mother and the concubine, his granddaughter will not offend the other party no matter who she marries.

The Queen Mother came to visit the concubine this time, just to tell the concubine that General Yin had decided to return to her hometown, and she also planned to take the initiative to give Yin Mingyue to the concubine to be the princess of the palace.

As long as the concubine agrees, she will receive a holy decree tomorrow to give her marriage.

The Queen Mother believes that this time the concubine has absolutely no reason to refuse her marriage, and she has already thought of a plan to turn Yin Mingyue into her confidant in the future.

So today's trip, the Queen Mother thinks that she is bound to win.

"Woohoo! Barking! ”

However, just when the Queen Mother and the Concubine took a sip of tea and planned to put down the teacup for a while, they confidently persuaded each other with the words they had thought in their hearts, but they didn't expect to hear a faint barking sound from outside.

So much so that they both looked at each other in surprise and forgot to swallow their tea.

I saw a maid running in hurriedly with a strange look, and after tangled glances at the Queen Mother and Concubine who had just taken a sip of tea and had not yet put down the teacup, she finally gritted her teeth and said, "Concubine Qi, Commander Huo...... They're back. Say yes...... The ...... of our royal mansion Princess Lian is back! ”

"Poof!"

The maid's trembling words made the tea in the mouths of the queen mother and the concubine squirt out before they had time to swallow......