The day of King Zhou's return to Beijing was set for the beginning of July, and summer was almost at the end of the year, which was the hottest time of the year. A few days later is the day when the princes gather in the capital for the annual tribute, the frontier of the Qin State has repeatedly come to the good news, the army of Baili Cheng crushed the army of the dog Rong with extraordinary strength, the dog Rong hurriedly withdrew, and this big war ended hastily. Ying Kai asked King Zhou if he needed to follow him into Beijing or send a team to escort them, Ji Gongyan thought for a moment, he didn't want to make a big deal about this matter, and he took his wife and children all the way back to Haojing leisurely, as long as he could arrive within a month, he would always be earlier than the princes who came to pay tribute.

This year has been a very extraordinary year since Bao Xi entered the palace, and the entire harem is very turbulent because of her. Ji Gongyu originally planned to order Zheng Boyou to take over the position of Lu Zhang and be the Dazai Shangqing in the palace, but he changed his mind again, Dazai Shangqing is still Lu Zhang, he appointed Zheng Boyou to replace Situ, and asked Zheng Boyou to walk in the palace and deal with the affairs of the palace.

Because of the day of the New Year's tribute, this line of Ji Gongyan and others did not dare to delay, along the way hurried to enter Beijing before August, quietly returned to the palace, and immediately secretly summoned Lu Zhang to place the affairs of the East Palace, the East Palace was lit with a candle, with a red halo, but no one knew that it was Bao Xi who came back from outside the palace. After Lu Zhang settled the affairs of the East Palace, he said, "See the king, see the queen." ”

"In the days when the widow is away, how are things settled in the harem?" Ji Gongyan sat on the chair at one end of the East Palace and asked, what he was referring to was naturally the evacuation of the harem, which made Lu Zhang's face pale, and wiped the cold sweat on his face, "Please forgive the king," he said and knelt on the ground, "Weichen is ordered by the king to evacuate the ladies and concubines of the harem...... Most of them have settled down, but there are two micro-ministers who don't know what to do! ”

"You said Shenhou?" Ji Gongyu asked.

"Exactly!" Lu Zhang nodded and responded, "Empress Shen is reluctant to leave the harem, and Weichen is also worried that letting her go back to the Shen Kingdom will cause a lot of trouble for the king, and this matter is going to be discussed separately after the king returns to the palace." ”

Ji Gongyan glanced at Bao Xi, and Bao Xi nodded slightly, which means that if she is unwilling to leave, it is okay, and it is indeed inappropriate to return to Shen Guo after letting Shen go. Ji Gongyan turned to Lu Zhang and bowed slightly, "Leave her behind, just put her in the cold palace." Who else wouldn't want to leave? ”

"Mrs. Wei!" Lu Zhang continued, this name is not very surprising to say, Ji Gongyan's brows are slightly furrowed and he doesn't bother to pay any attention to this lady who has never been favored, "If you don't want to go, just ask her to accompany Empress Shen, it just so happens that the two of them have always had a good relationship?" ”

"Yes!" Lu Zhang responded, "The concubines and female queens have been properly placed. ”

"Good!" Ji Gong nodded.

"I wonder when the king is going to go to the court to discuss politics?" Lu Zhang asked again, "The scholars and doctors in the court are already impatient, but I am afraid that if the king does not go to the court again, plus the dismissal of concubines in the harem, these people will be angry with the queen again!" ”

"When will Chu Hou enter Beijing?" Ji Gongyan did not return to Lu Zhang's question, but changed the topic and asked, Now that the princes of some small countries have entered Beijing one after another, they will pay tribute, and in less than a month, the princes on the Kyushu continent will arrive in the capital one after another.

"The Marquis of Chu has not yet entered Beijing, but he has just sent an envoy to come, but the king has not returned to the palace yet, so I will ask this envoy to wait for the time being!" Lu Zhang replied.

"Tomorrow the envoy will come, and the widow will receive him!" Ji Gongyan said, "After dealing with this matter, you will decide on the day of the court, right?" This time Bofu went to the Qin State to make a great contribution, and it is nonsense for them to want to impeach the queen, so don't worry! ”

"Yes!" Lu Zhang responded, all the things to be said have been reported eight or nine times out of ten, he took a step back slightly, asked Ji Gongyu to resign, after getting permission, he withdrew from this room, Bofu has rested, Bao Xi also asked Rong Qian to go down first, this huge East Palace hall is only left with Bao Xi and Ji Gong Yan, yesterday outside the palace was still you and me are warm, today to return to this palace is like a sense of tension on the string, Bao Xi's body is tight, can't relax at all," Tomorrow, the concubine wants to go to the royal tomb to see Xiuxiu. ”

Ji Gongyan nodded, "Originally, I planned that you would arrange this matter first when you returned to the palace, but now that you have to deal with the affairs of the Chu State, the widow will not be able to accompany you!" ”

"It's the same to ask Rong Qian to accompany her concubine." Bao Xi smiled slightly, shaking her head to show that she didn't mind.

"It's okay, the widow asked Lu Zhang to transfer a group of soldiers and horses tomorrow to escort you to the royal tomb, don't bring the uncle's clothes for the time being, the widow wants to keep him to see the envoys of the Chu State." Ji Gong said.

Bao Xi knew in his heart that the so-called envoys of Chu came to report must be the dynamics of Chu and Shen, and Ji Gongyan wanted to use the alliance between Shen and Chu to trap Shen in an unjust place, as for what he did, Bao Xi was not very clear, but he also felt that there was no need to ask about this matter. Just mentioned the good relationship between Empress Shen and Mrs. Wei, Bao Xi had some concerns in her heart, that day Ji Gongyan was going to send Chu to attack Shen only told herself and Chu Hou, Mrs. Chu may know, but she will never tell Empress Shen, even if she says it, Empress Shen can't believe it.

Ji Gongyan thought that this matter was said by Bao Xi, and Bao Xi thought that this matter was said by Ji Gongyan, and both of them were suspicious of each other, but now after confronting each other, they found that their suspicions did not seem to be right. There must be a leaker here, but who is this leaker? Bao Xi heard that Ji Gongyan had just said that Mrs. Wei and Empress Shen had a good relationship, so she suddenly remembered that this matter could not be said by Mrs. Wei? If this is the case, Mrs. Wei is too terrible, although she has never been favored, she can live in the harem to this day, and even set off a bloody storm again and again, almost getting rid of everyone in this harem. Bao Xi didn't tell Ji Gongyan about her suspicions, but decided that she would test Mrs. Wei, and then ask Ji Gongyan to decide this matter when she had a conclusion.

After the second day, Lu Zhang went to the East Palace to pay respects, and the envoys of the Marquis of Chu were already waiting in the Xiande Palace, and the guards escorting Bao Xi out of the city to the royal tomb were also outside the gate ready to leave at any time. Bao Xi and Ji Gongyan had breakfast, one went to the Xiande Palace, and the other went out of the city with a small group of guards. Yesterday, although the news of Bao Xi and Ji Gongyan's return had some speculation in their hearts, but they didn't know the truth of the news, today's Bao Xi's trip and Ji Gongyan's summoning of the envoys of Chu almost confirmed the news, and in an instant, the entire palace and outside the palace knew that King Zhou had returned to the palace with the queen.

But this is a little later, in front of Xiuxiu's tombstone in the royal tomb, there is a cyan figure standing in front of the tombstone, thin and elegant silhouette, outstanding temperament, standing in front of Xiuxiu's tombstone with his back to Bao Xi, I don't know what to think, I didn't move for a long time, until I heard the footsteps behind me coming slowly, judging from the footsteps, there were probably a lot of people behind him, Zheng Boyou turned around suddenly, and what he saw was Bao Xi's bright eyes and bright teeth, she greeted in an indifferent voice, "Uncle Zheng, long time no see." ”

Zheng Boyou looked at Bao Xi for a long time, and then slowly came back to his senses, and realized that he was a little out of shape before he immediately said, "See Bao Hou." ”

"Uncle Zheng doesn't have to be polite," Bao Xi waved her hand slightly, and asked Rong Qian on the side to put the sacrificial supplies in front of the tombstone one by one, she took a step back, looked at the title of Xiuxiu on the tombstone and sighed, "I hurt her." ”

"I heard the king relay the original story of this matter, what does it have to do with you?" Zheng Boyou sighed, walked down from the tombstone, and gave up the position in front of the tombstone to Bao Xi, "It can only be said that fate makes people, maybe this fate is a little cruel to Xiuxiu, but why not for you?" I have been living outside for many days, sleeping in the open air, and I have suffered a lot, right? ”

"Compared to you moving forward, where can I endure hardship? Staying away from the strife in the palace may be a good thing for us harem women. Bao Xi bent down and expressed her respect to Xiuxiu, "If you live under my protection and don't stand up and stand openly against me, maybe Xiuxiu can live for a long time, but for her, that kind of life loses all meaning, the real brave person is her, dare to take a road that she has never set foot in, and still stubbornly does not give up when she doesn't know if she can persevere......" She said and sighed, and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingertips, "I entered the palace eight years ago, Today, the people around me have changed all over again, and even the women in the harem have changed several times......"

"For the sake of you, he even did not hesitate to dismiss his harem, not a single woman will stay, you will be less wronged in the future!" Zheng Boyou was relieved, he himself has a deep understanding of the feeling that this kind of thing is human, and every time he thinks of the death of Twenty-seven, he also feels heartbroken and painful to the bone marrow, but the past is the past, no matter how you struggle and try, how helpless is the matter of time?

"I forgot to congratulate Uncle Zheng!" Bao Xi suddenly diverted the topic, "When I went to the north of Jin that day, I only thought that I had caused Uncle Zheng, but I didn't want you to have other plans with the king, and now I have returned to the capital of Hao, and the faction of Yu Shifu has been cleaned up, and the Shenhou faction has been suppressed, I am afraid that the rights and remarks of the court and China will be Zheng Bo's in the future." ”

"If he can tolerate people like this, why should he eradicate Father Yu Shi and Shenhou?" Zheng Boyou smiled bitterly.

Bao Xi looked at Zheng Boyou and pursed his lips slightly, didn't say anything more, just nodded, turned around and paid tribute to Xiuxiu again, "In the future, there will be Uncle Lao Zheng in the Great Zhou!" ”