The Royal Palace at night.

At this time, a person was sitting in the imperial study with a book in his hand, reading carefully.

I saw that he suddenly stared at the shadow of the lamp in a daze, and then shook his head; Suddenly, he hurriedly flipped through it, and then picked up the pen to write something on the paper, but sighed and put the pen down; Suddenly, he closed his eyes again, as if he was playing with something, but he frowned again to show his unsatisfactory color; Suddenly, he stood up again, pacing back and forth in the study......

This person who is restless in the imperial study is the current saint - Han Mingyue.

I saw him let out a long sigh again, and then turned around and came to the dragon book case, picked up the tea cup, but found that the tea inside was completely cold.

Just as he was about to get angry and call the eunuch and palace maid who was waiting outside to change the tea, suddenly, he heard the eunuch standing outside say: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zuo has arrived." ”

"Biography." Han Mingyue said loudly, then turned back to the chair behind the bookcase and sat down.

I only heard the sound of "squeak", the door of the imperial study had been pushed open, and Prime Minister Zuo Junzhong lowered his head and walked in respectfully. The eunuchs took the opportunity to change the tea, and then quickly exited the study, and closed the door as quietly as possible.

Today's eunuchs and palace maids are all extra careful, looking at the emperor's frowning, it's hard to say a word or do anything badly, and they will lose their lives all of a sudden! Even if it is to change tea, this is something that needs to be done every moment on weekdays, and no one dares to venture in today.

Zuo Junzhong walked to the outer hall of the study, saw the emperor sitting behind the bookcase, straightened his clothes, and then asked the emperor to say goodbye.

"Weichen see the emperor." As he spoke, Zuo Junzhong wanted to kneel down and salute.

"Excuse me. And there are no outsiders. Han Mingyue saw that Zuo Junzhong was about to give a salute and said.

Han Mingyue said as he got up and stood up, left the bookcase, came to the Eight Immortals table outside and sat down, and then said to Zuo Junzhong: "You can also sit down and talk." ”

"Yes. The minister confessed. Zuo Junzhong made a gesture to Han Mingyue, then set up a slight side of the round stool at the bottom of the head, sat down, and then asked in a low voice: "I don't know what the emperor's will is to summon Weichen into the palace at this time?" ”

"There is no will or anything. It's just that there is less than half a month at the moment, and it's a big comparison. But this topic ...... After thinking about it, I didn't have an eyebrow, so I came to you and wanted to discuss it with you. ”

"It turns out that the emperor is worried about this matter. It was Weichen who was derelict in his duty and failed to share his worries for His Majesty. ”

Han Mingyue waved his hand, and then said, "You are the main examiner this time, so I think you have been thinking a lot about the topic recently." If you think of something, you might as well talk about it. ”

"Yes. Back to the emperor, the minister has been reading these books back and forth every day for the test questions, and the minister has also taken the test papers of this subject to do a few days of learning. ”

"Oh? What's the catch? ”

Zuo Junzhong smiled slightly, and then said: "Your Majesty, the minister recently checked the examination questions of several nearby provinces, and found that it seems that this time the examination questions in the other provinces are too tricky except for the Beijing machine. Moreover, the minister also heard that those tricky test papers made some candidates complain. ”

Hearing this, Han Mingyue laughed, and after laughing, he stroked his beard and said, "These four books have been tested for hundreds of years, and they are all familiar with each sentence. I've also heard that there are even questions that are cut out of the annotations to take the test. ”

"Yes. Thinking about it, the questioner wants to take advantage of this move to avoid some entrainment plagiarism and the like. However, in this way, it is inevitably biased, and it is also somewhat unfavorable to the election of talents. ”

"I've been thinking about it for two or three hours, starting in the afternoon, but I still don't have a clue."

At this time, outside the imperial study, a noble lady and her retinue came to the door.

"The slave to Zuo Guifei Xie An."

The leading eunuch standing outside the study had sharp eyes, saw the noble lady from a distance, hurriedly trotted a few steps, came to the front and knelt down, lowered his voice and greeted her.

"Get up. Your Majesty, haven't you rested yet? Zuo Guifei looked at the bright lights in the imperial study, and then heard the eunuch deliberately suppress his voice to talk to herself, so she asked.

"Yes. The emperor had just summoned Prime Minister Zuo into the palace, and the two were discussing at this time. ”

Hearing this, Zuo Guifei nodded. Over the years, the emperor's reliance on his brother is well known, and it is not a matter of entering the palace once or twice like this.

"Do you want the slave to come back?"

"Don't be alarmed. I'll go to the side hall and wait for the convenience. Now I want you to repay, don't I want you to go in and make a shame! Zuo Guifei said with a smile.

"Guifei, you really understand the miscellaneous family. Your side please. The steward eunuch smiled and personally led Zuo Guifei to a side hall on the left.

At this moment, I saw a man dressed as a medical officer leading his subordinates to the outside of the imperial study.

"Father-in-law, please stay, I'll deliver medicine to the emperor." Seeing the steward and eunuch, the medical officer hurriedly spoke.

When he got closer, he saw that Zuo Guifei was also here, and he knelt down and said, "Minister Zhou Qiming will say hello to Niangniang." ”

"Excuse me." Zuo Guifei said.

"It's really inconvenient to go in and disturb now, the emperor has ordered, there is no transmission inside, and you are never allowed to go in." The steward eunuch said.

"But this medicine ......"

"If Imperial Physician Zhou can trust the mourning family, it is better to put it here, and the mourning family will personally send it in after a while."

"Then there is Concubine Lao."

Saying that, Concubine Zuo ordered someone to take the medicine, and after coming to the side hall, she said to the eunuch in charge: "After a while, when the emperor is about to rest, he will trouble his father-in-law to come over and inform the mourning family." ”

"Of course. Please don't be bored. With that, the eunuch turned around and left the side hall.

About an hour later, a little eunuch ran in.

"Concubine Niangniang, the master sent me to tell you that the emperor had passed tea over there, and it seems that the matter has been discussed. The master asked me to ask the concubine to show me if I want to help you tell me. ”

"Good. Let's go and give it a treat. With that, Concubine Zuo stood up and followed the little eunuch to the outside of the imperial study.

Coincidentally, the leading eunuch had just come out of the study, and when he saw the concubine, he said with a smile on his face: "Niangniang, the emperor is invited." ”

Zuo Guifei smiled and walked into the study.

"Your Majesty ......" said as Zuo Guifei was about to salute, but was hugged by Han Mingyue and said, "Ai Concubine, don't be polite." ”

"The minister greets the concubine." Saying that, Zuo Junzhong also prepared to leave Zuo Guifei's luggage.

"Brother." Zuo Guifei hurriedly hugged Zuo Junzhong.

"Why did Concubine Ai come over?" Han Mingyue asked.

"Your Majesty, you have forgotten the time again because of the deliberations. The concubine prepared snacks for you just now, and when you came to the outside of the study, you met the imperial doctor to bring you medicine, and I kept asking people to warm you through the water. As the Imperial Doctor said, this medicine must never be broken. Concubine Zuo smiled slightly, took the medicine cup from the palace maid behind her, and handed it to Han Mingyue.

"Look. I went to the court, and I had to listen to the left minister. When I returned to the palace, I had to listen to the ...... of the concubine."

This Han Mingyue was originally a joke, but he was so frightened that the two brothers and sisters knelt down together.

"The emperor is forgive." The brother and sister said in unison.

"You guys...... A joke, not worth it. I'm sorry, I'm not going to drink it. ”

The two Zuo brothers and sisters were laughing and crying by Han Mingyue's words, from ancient times to the present, the harem is in politics, and the relatives are in power, and what they want to receive after these two sentences must be crimes not far from death. But now this emperor has no concept of these.

The two brothers and sisters stood up and waited for Han Mingyue

"It's not too early. The minister also retired. Zuo Junzhong watched Han Mingyue take the medicine before he said.

"It's fine. Let's go back and get some rest. ”

Hearing this, Zuo Junzhong bowed deeply to the emperor and concubine before exiting the imperial study.

"Let's go back and rest. Come on, swing the car. ”

"Your Majesty!" Listening to Han Mingyue's words, this Zuo Guifei suddenly knelt down.

"What's going on? Something to say. ”

"Your Majesty, your favor to your concubines is a blessing for your concubines. However, the concubines begged the emperor to go to the palace of those young concubines more. The concubines are old and unable to spread the branches for the royal family, but the emperor has no heirs, which is not a fortunate thing in any case. The concubine is brave and says something disrespectful, the emperor's intentions, the concubine understands, but Xinrui's sister Xian has been dead for a long time, and she must also hope that the emperor can take care of yourself......"

"Don't talk about it." Although Han Mingyue's voice was not loud, it was full of majesty.

That Zuo Guifei was also interested and didn't continue.

Han Mingyue let out a long sigh and said, "I like to go to you, and the Lord feels comfortable because I went to you." Presumably, the first half of today's words should be from the mouth of the imperial sister-in-law. Whatever she says, you listen, just take it. If you talk about the well-behaved concubines in this palace, you may not be able to find a second one except you. Let's go, if you have anything to say, go back and talk about it. ”

As he spoke, Han Mingyue picked up Zuo Guifei and left the imperial study with her.

Just after the waiting eunuchs and palace maids removed the candles, a black figure turned over from the window on one side and entered the imperial study......

Here, a few words are to be inserted.

The imperial sister-in-law that Han Mingyue mentioned just now is the current queen mother.

Somehow, this royal Han heir is not prosperous. In Han Mingyue's generation, there are only two people, him and his brother Han Mingzhuo. Not long after Han Mingzhuo ascended the throne, he contracted smallpox. Because it was very aggressive, and the diagnosis was a little late, he died less than a year after he took office.

At that time, Han Mingzhuo had no heirs, although the queen already had a dragon seed in her womb, but she didn't know whether the fetus in her womb was male or female, so she couldn't make a reserve; The two, even if the storage position is established, there is no such thing as a female auxiliary government. Therefore, he had to pass the throne to the idle prince who had been living outside the palace, that is, Han Mingyue. And the virtuous king mentioned earlier is the widow of the former emperor.