The candle flame in the hall reflects the figure of the Queen Mother Xi on the gold powder and gold lacquered walls, which makes people feel in a trance.

Zi Ke stood aside, frowned, and said: "You are in the Regent's Mansion, and you don't have to be reused, which one is simpler, the woman or the regent, how can you just listen to it?" ”

When the Empress Dowager heard this, she looked at the maid with a strange expression.

The maid hurriedly explained: "It's not that the slave and maid were left alone in the room, but the slave and maid told the sister in charge that there was a place where the dust was not wiped clean, so it was left, the queen mother, the slave and maid are loyal, if there is half a lie, the slave and maid will not die well." ”

Zike and Empress Dowager Xi saw her swear so much, but they only thought it was a sudden, and the two of them didn't have time to avoid others.

Empress Dowager Xi waved her hand, aroused her, and then instructed the eunuch Li Ren to send her out, and then said to Zike thoughtfully: "I thought I couldn't hold their handle, but I didn't want someone to send a pillow if I really dozed off——"

Zike's eyebrows condensed together, and said tentatively: "Queen Mother, what do you mean?" ”

Empress Dowager Xi said: "In the past, Ning Yi cared about Lian'er, and Lian'er was sick, but now he cares about this woman, and she is pitiful to see that she has been poisoned by Gu, if the way to solve Gu is in our hands, are you afraid that they will turn over their palms?" ”

Zike said thoughtfully: "Why should the Queen Mother be so scheming to contain it, depending on the slave maid, it is better to remove it directly, cut the grass without removing the roots, and raising tigers is not a way after all." ”

The Empress Dowager Xi was served by her, took off the agate hairpin on her head, looked at herself who had already given birth to Huafa in the bronze mirror, and said in a tangled manner: "Zike, the mourning family knows that you are a heartfelt, but now, Hong'er is young, and many things are inconvenient for the mourning family to interfere, and now those ministers are staring at the mistakes of the mourning family one by one, if the mourning family is in a hurry, I am afraid that so many years of hard work have come to naught, but fortunately, Hong'er will soon be bigger-"

Zike continued: "Niangniang, you shouldn't be such a woman's kindness, this court is not a person who is available except for the regent, according to the slave maid, this Prince Kang's son is not bad, if he really marries the lord of Li'er, then he will be a horse, but he is more than the prince regent——"

Zike said, but didn't notice that the Queen Mother Xi's face had sunk, she waved her hand to wave off the box of moisturizing jade paste in front of the makeup, and the gold bead bracelet on her wrist hit the desk, making a dull sound, Zike realized her gaffe, and knelt down in a panic, but stubbornly did not defend her words.

When the Empress Dowager Xi looked at her like this, she was angry, she waved her hand, and wanted to reprimand, but she couldn't bear the irritability in her heart, so she had to retreat Zi Keping.

The little palace maid on the side watched and didn't dare to say much, and waited until Zike came out of the palace gate, and then stepped forward to help the Queen Mother Xi remove her evening makeup. Zike walked to the door, and saw that it was Azhu under his command who was guarding the door, so he made a look, and the two retreated to the bushes next to them.

Ah Zhu pondered for a long time, and finally whispered: "Why did my aunt provoke the Queen Mother several times because of the affairs of the son, you are the intimate person by the Queen Mother's side, if you lose the value of the Queen Mother, how can you have to pay for the loss." ”

Zi Ke's expression was solemn, frowning for a long time, as if he hadn't heard Ah Zhu's words, and said: "Tomorrow, you go out with the purchased eunuch and send a message to the old princess, saying that the matter is not decided, please be careful if the old man enters Beijing." ”

Seeing that the persuasion was ineffective, Ah Zhu also resigned himself to the answer and retreated.

Zike turned her head to look at the dormitory of the Empress Dowager Xi, most of the candles in the hall had been extinguished, and the long and narrow figure was reflected on the screen window, like a pair of devil's hands, her face was cold and hateful, but it was only fleeting, and she became the kind but capable aunt in charge in the past.

Half a month later, Prince Kang and the old princess entered Beijing with her son Ning Yu, and Ning Yi personally led people to wait outside the city gate to meet her. Hao Hao Tangtang's honor guard was ten miles away, Ning Yi frowned slightly, but he didn't want this old princess and Ning Hong to have such a big pomp.

The man leading the way in front of him was a burly man, and the horse under his crotch paced restlessly with its hooves.

Ning Yi only glanced at it, then turned his eyes away, dismounted and walked to the front of the team and said loudly: "Ning Yi welcomes the old princess, His Royal Highness." ”

The man in front of him turned over and dismounted, saluted very respectfully, and then looked at the soft sedan behind him.

After a long time, I heard the old princess's majestic voice coming from behind the sedan curtain: "His Royal Highness the Prince Regent went out of the city to greet him, the old man was tired of carriages and horses, and he was in the dust, and I ask the prince to forgive me." ”

Ning Yi raised his lips and smiled, he was wanton, but he also had a faint momentum of looking at the world, he turned sideways and welcomed the group from Prince Kang's mansion into the city.

The team marched in front of Ning Yi in a mighty manner, with uniform steps, but it looked like it was well-trained.

The dinner was scheduled for the second day, but He Xi did not attend due to physical reasons, and the Empress Dowager Xi pretended not to know and asked, "Why don't you see that Miss Mu?" ”

Ning Yi smiled politely: "She is a month old and has difficulty moving, so the minister left her in the mansion." ”

A mocking smile flashed at the corner of the Empress Dowager's lips, but in an instant, she turned into a sense of concern: "Also, it looks like it will take eight months, the woman's birth is the most dangerous, although it is not in labor for eight months, but it is better to be careful, the regent is young, and there are no concubines in the house, so I think I have no experience, so let's do it later, the mourning family will send a few older grandmothers to your house, and help at all times." ”

Ning Hong frowned slightly, he knew the gap between the queen mother and Ning Yi, and the queen mother did this, obviously inserting people into the regent palace.

As soon as he wanted to speak, he saw Ning Yi get up and come out and say, "Empress Dowager Xie-"

The Empress Dowager Xu didn't expect Ning Yi to be so happy to agree, and she was stunned, but the old princess smiled, turned sideways slightly, and said: "The queen mother's sister is really generous and benevolent, counting it, Yu'er and the regent are also cousins, but the old body doesn't know when there will be a regent?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall remembered the sound of stealing laughter, like tiny mosquitoes and flies chirping in their ears.

Jiang Li'er, who was sitting at the top, was a little unbearable, and twisted her body uneasily, Zike saw this, and hurriedly took a cup of milk tea and raised her voice slightly: "County Lord, do you taste this milk tea?" But the prince brought it from the south, and it was sweet and delicious—"

Jiang Li'er has the heart to taste any milk tea now, but since she said that it was brought by Ning Yu, it is not good to be rude, so she took a sip hastily and said lightly: "Very good." ”

Immediately, I heard that Ning Yi said calmly: "Back to the words of the old princess, there has been no concubine yet." ”

Just one sentence, and then he didn't say much, leaving it to the old princess to guess.

The old princess's face froze, and she seemed to be a simple sentence, but she was also like a thousand pounds, and she choked back her words.

If she asked again, it would seem that she was troubled, Ning Yu saw her mother's embarrassment, and said in a timely manner: "Mother, you also prepared a gift for the Queen Mother, why did you forget?" ”

The old princess patted herself just right, and said: "Look at the memory of the old body, old sister, a few days ago, I found something in the treasury of the palace, I think it was the relic of the first emperor of the year, the prince came suddenly, I didn't come and told us the mother and son, but fortunately, it was intact, this time I entered Beijing, I brought it in, the thing was returned to the original owner, and it was just a commemoration." “

She nodded slightly to the maid on the side, and then asked someone to carry an old red lacquer nanmu box up, a few places where the red paint had peeled off, and the copper lock that interlocked the box was also a little rusty, thinking that it was really a little old.

The old princess personally took out the key from the sleeve and opened it, which shows the meaning of attention.

But the Empress Dowager Xi just glanced at it, and the whole person stood up from the phoenix seat in shock, and there was a faint flash of crystal between the pupils of Jian Shuiqiu.

It was the first time in so many years that Ning Hong had seen the queen mother leak such a look, and he couldn't help but look at the object in the wooden box, it was a heart goggle, made of red gold, and the difference was that the carved lines on it were actually five-clawed eagles, which were only qualified to be worn by the prince of Xiliang.

Ning Yu got up and walked to the old princess's side, respectfully took out the heart shield with both hands, and handed it over to the Queen Mother of the West over her head, without saying a word.

Ning Hong saw that the hand of the Empress Dowager Xi hidden in the wide sleeved robe trembled faintly, and tried several times, but he didn't even raise it, and he already had a guess in his heart that this thing should be his father's.

Since the death of the Queen Mother of Xiliang, she has been vigorous and resolute in front of people, and even a little paranoid and arrogant, when has she ever been so vulnerable, but at this moment, she can't think of anything in her mind, only many years ago, and the love and joy of Emperor Xiliang before he ascended the throne, what a beautiful time it was, galloping on horseback, roaming wantonly, and now being tied up in the deep palace, clamped on all sides, every step is extremely difficult.

Her hand slowly lifted the red gold mirror with traces of time, there was a deep knife mark, almost cut on the neck of the eagle, she sighed: "The first emperor has mentioned many times with the mourning family, the danger of that battle, he and Prince Kang, almost isolated, in the end, it was the old prince who made a desperate bet, and the soldiers were able to get out of trouble, but because of this, both of them were seriously injured. The knife marks on this heart shield were left by that time. ”

Hearing the Empress Dowager Xi mention her deceased husband, the old princess was also infinitely embarrassed, and couldn't help but redden, and looked at the Empress Dowager Xi with a sense of sympathy, which is a kind of understanding and relief between women, they have some similar experiences, and also have similar moods and persistence.

The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly, and the relationship instantly became a little closer.