Sizhen followed the palace maid who led the way through the outer hall and arrived at the door of the inner hall, standing with her hands down, and heard the palace maid report inside.

After a while, the bead curtain sounded, and then someone came out to open the curtain and invite Sizhen in, Sizhen stepped into the inner hall, and saw six or seven palace maids surrounding an arhat couch.

As soon as she entered, the palace ladies spread out and stood aside to give her blessings.

On the Luohan couch, the Empress Dowager had already changed out of her dress, retired the phoenix crown, dressed in a dark purple and gray dress, and the makeup on her face had been ruined, she was leaning on the couch, watching Sizhen walk in, and did not speak.

Sizhen bowed down: "Ah Zhen to the queen mother, please ......"

Before she finished speaking, the Empress Dowager raised her hand and said: "Get up, there are no outsiders here, you don't have to be so polite to the mourning family, you are pregnant with a child, let alone do these false gifts, what can you do if you hurt the child?" ”

The Empress Dowager's voice was as gentle as usual, and her words were also full of compassion, but her tone was not as intimate as usual.

She waved her hand, and most of the palace maids in front of her retreated, except for the one who led the way for Sizhen just now and Su Mala, only the other two palace maids wearing azure armor stood aside.

Sizhen got up slowly and sat down on the round chair next to the Luohan couch as indicated by the Empress Dowager.

After Sizhen sat down, the Empress Dowager did not speak, but just looked at her with some scrutiny and scrutiny.

A palace maid came up to serve tea, Sizhen took it, and took two sips calmly.

After looking at her for a while, the Empress Dowager looked directly into her eyes, opened her thin lips lightly, and said slowly: "Ah Zhen, the mourning family heard that you were attacked some time ago, what happened?" Those remnants of the former Ming Dynasty are really hateful, even at this time, they still can't recognize the form, they don't forget that Li Dingguo, and they still want to go back to the old days, even their emperor is dead, they still don't give up, it's really stubborn! It's a pity for you, you met those fools, these days, can you take care of your body? ”

"Mother Lao is worried, the concubine is no longer in trouble." Sizhen smiled and said thoughtfully: "Just as the queen mother said, the former Ming Dynasty has been destroyed, and those people can't become the climate, but why do they go to the capital to denounce the concubines?" It's puzzling. Even if they hated their father for voting for the Qing Dynasty, so many years have passed, and it seems that their strength is too worthless to spend on assassinating concubines. According to the concubines, the situation on that day was only afraid that someone was under the banner of the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty......"

She told the situation of the day, including Gan Jianfeng's statement that the appearance of the dead soldiers was not Han Chinese, but she didn't say that she suspected that it was related to Aobai.

When the Empress Dowager heard this, she couldn't see any joy or anger on her face, and her voice was also unruly: "Hearing you say this, it really seems a little greasy here?" Could it be that the people of the former Ming deliberately bought off the Manchurians to be dead soldiers? Or maybe you've offended someone else out there?"

Sizhen heard the Empress Dowager ask this, and was secretly shocked in his heart: I am afraid that because of his previous military exploits, he has always been loyal, and even for the sake of Shunzhi Ye and the Empress Dowager, he did not hesitate to be the enemy of the regent Dolgon, just with his courage in the past, I am afraid that the Empress Dowager will also recognize his loyalty.

It is said that there is no intimacy, although she is the righteous daughter of the Queen Mother, but in military affairs, the Queen Mother obviously trusts Ao Bai more, if she expresses her doubts, will the Queen Mother think that she has other intentions?

For a while, Sizhen couldn't decide how to answer, she lowered her head and muttered for a long time: "After returning to my mother, what you said makes sense, but since the Manchurians entered the customs, the children of the Eight Banners have enjoyed the richness of the imperial court, and few people will be poor enough to be dead soldiers for people, let alone for the Han people, even if they are instructed by others, the concubines think that they must be instructed by their masters, not hired by the Han people to kill the concubines." As for the second point, the concubine has never offended anyone because of personal grudges, if there is, I am afraid that it is the concubine who escorted the military rations this time, and some people want to get in the way of it, and plan to achieve their goal through the concubine, in the attack, those people have a few chances to kill the concubine, but looking at their appearance, it is more like they want to take something from the concubine to threaten the concubine, and want to capture me alive, so that I have a chance to escape......"

After a pause, she said: "Speaking of which, if it weren't for Lord Ao's cousin and nephew this time, Yongtai would all save him, and the concubines would really fall into their hands......"

Sizhen said as she looked at the Empress Dowager's expression.

The Empress Dowager's expression did not show any clues.

The corners of her mouth were slightly raised: "The mourning family also heard that the Elu Lord was attacked in Longhu Mountain in Mingxi, and although the military vehicle was recovered in the end, it was a little late, and he was originally going to be beheaded by that Shi Lang, but now he is staying in Siming to prepare to atone for his crimes?" That Shi Lang's courage is really not small, even the forehead master dares to behead, and he is not afraid that the emperor will kill his head. ”

This is someone provoking the relationship between Sun Yanling and Shi Lang in front of the Empress Dowager, and the boss and the generals below are not in harmony, which is not a blessing of war!

Sizhen felt a chill in her heart, but her face was calm and said: "The concubine is stupid, and she doesn't understand the meaning of the queen mother. Again, didn't he listen to the situation of the day later, and let the master 'wear the guilt and make meritorious service', thinking about it, the main reason was to give an explanation to the officers and soldiers in the army, otherwise, someone would definitely be dissatisfied. Speaking of which, that incident was also caused by the deputy envoy Tai Bitu's rush to advance, fortunately, although he did not recover all the military supplies, he finally did not cause a catastrophe, I don't know what the emperor plans for that Tai Bitu this time? According to the concubine, he should really be beheaded. ”

"The affairs of the court, where can we women and children manage, Tai Bitu's fault, the auxiliary ministers have handed it over to the ministers for discussion, and come up with a charter for the emperor to deal with." The Empress Dowager raised her eyebrows to the side, and looked at Sizhen's eyes with some vigilance, "But Ah Zhen, you know a lot about this matter, it seems that the master has told you a lot, and he is not shy about letting you know about military affairs." ”

Sizhen understood, obviously, whether it was true or not, the Empress Dowager did not want her attack to be spread, nor did she want her to know too much about the affairs of the court, on the one hand, the Empress Dowager let her learn military books and military strategies, and wanted her to take over the Dingfan, on the other hand, the Empress Dowager listened to the slander of others, worried that after she returned to the Dingfan, the power of the Kong family would grow, and she would be like the other three feudatories in the future.

In the past two years, King Pingxi has been able to intervene in the promotion of court officials, which is why the Empress Dowager now has to rely on Aobai, she must let these powerful ministers contain each other, form a balance, and let the emperor grow up safely and pro-government, and then dispose of others.

Seeing that the Empress Dowager was the little emperor and worried about the work of the Qing Dynasty, and there was gray hair in front of her temples, Sizhen couldn't help but sigh.

Sizhen smiled innocently, scratched her head, and said with a slight smile: "Queen Mother Mingjian, the concubine is worried about the Forehead Lord, afraid that the child in the womb will be born without a father, of course, there are 120 hearts about matters related to him, some of these things I guessed from the family letter of the Forehead Lord, and some of them were inquired about from the senior brother and cousin. The concubine wants to be a female general, of course, she is concerned about military affairs! ”

Listening to her words, the Empress Dowager looked her up and down, and she even tilted her head to look at Sizhen's expression, as if she was judging the truth or falsehood.

Sizhen said sincerely: "The queen mother is assertive, since no one else needs to put the beak, but this deep palace inner courtyard is not as good as the side, there will always be many people and things that cover our eyes, the queen mother has the grace of nurturing the concubines, treat the Confucian family kindly, some things, even if it will cause the queen mother to be unhappy, the concubines still have to say, the queen mother and the emperor have to have their own people, the auxiliary ministers have too much power, used to the feeling of a hundred responses, I am afraid that there will be some other thoughts, back then, when the regent supported the establishment of Shunzhiye, it must have been sincere, But later...... Queen Mother, the emperor is young, and the ministers have to take ideas big and small, you have to keep some mind! ”

The Empress Dowager's face changed again and again, and finally turned into a soft sigh: "The mourning family understands that although your words are not necessarily correct, it is indeed for the sake of the mourning family and the emperor, and it is not in vain that the mourning family has left you in the palace all these years and watched you grow up." You have what you said, and the mourners have written it down. She looked at the palace maid standing next to her, raised her eyebrows and said, "The tea of the fourth princess is cold, why don't you give her another one?" ”

After Sizhen drank the food, the Empress Dowager leaned back slightly, leaned back on the chair, looked at her and said, "Please come over today, in addition to asking about your body, the mourning family has something to ask you." ”

Sizhen lowered her head slightly and said respectfully: "The queen mother has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to ask." ”

The Empress Dowager did not ask a direct question, but pushed the pastry and fruit plate on the black wooden table of the Luohan couch to Sizhen, and said with a smile: "The mourning family is in a hurry to pass you into the palace, and you didn't use it well for dinner, right?" Don't go hungry and eat something to cushion your stomach. ”

Sizhen had doubts in her heart, but she just politely excused herself and didn't say much.

The Empress Dowager grabbed a handful of pine nuts and handed them to the palace maid: "The fourth princess likes to eat this, but it is difficult to peel it, you peel it for her." ”

Sizhen looked at the palace maid and took a handful of pine nuts and peeled them with one hand.

Although the pine nut is big, it is only the size of a melon seed, and it is not easy to peel.

But the palace maid's bones were slender, and she only pinched them lightly between her fingers, and with a very small crisp sound, the pine nuts on the plate soon increased.

Her hands do not have long nails, but they are not like the fingers of ordinary palace maids, each of her nails is painted with oil paint, and the pale pink underside is full of red flowers, like red plums falling on her fingertips, bewitching, fragile and amazingly beautiful.

The hand was thin and thin, the skin was as white as paper, and the cyan blood vessels under the thin skin were clearly visible.

Sizhen watched the palace maid peel pine nuts, and the queen mother supported her chin, tilted her body obliquely, and looked at her lazily, with a loving face.

It seems that between them, it is still the same as in the palace in the old days.