Chapter Twenty-Five: De-Qi Ji

Empress Zhang was depressed all day, and Empress Lu felt sorry for her niece, so she asked Princess Lu Yuan to enter the palace to accompany Zhang Yan for a few days. Zhang Yan told her mother that she was unhappy, and the princess hugged Zhang Yan and sighed, "With your appearance, and you are a virgin for life, every time you think about it, your liver and intestines are like cutting." Zhang Yan hid her face and cried. Princess Lu Yuan grew up with her younger brother since she was a child, and she knew her younger brother's character, and she was full of reluctance when she married Zhang Yan, not to mention that she was surrounded by jade and bright women, and her younger brother refused to give Zhang Yan the grace of rain and dew, and he always refused to blaspheme her dearest niece, Princess Lu Yuan knew that her brother had said that if he moved Zhang Yan, he would be a bestiality. Every time she thought of her younger brother saying this, Princess Lu Yuan burst into tears, thinking that her daughter would become a virgin in her life, and she couldn't enjoy the feeling of love between men and women.

The princess learned that her younger brother was a new Fan beauty, and heard that her brother was now with her all day, so the princess went straight to the greenhouse hall, and saw that her brother and the Fan beauty were playing a pot throwing game together, the two talked and laughed, and Emperor Hui's bright face was relaxed and comfortable, and his gestures were full of love for Fan Meiren; Fan Meiren smiled like a summer flower, but she did not lose the quality of virtue and virtue when she smiled, but the eyes that were as bright as stars smiled but Princess Lu Yuan had never seen the purity, at first glance, it was not like Daji, Yu Xi and the like, but exuded charming spirit, so that Princess Lu Yuan did not dislike her when she saw her for the first time, and even liked it a little.

Emperor Hui and Fan Meiren played with the pitcher, and Princess Lu Yuan was inconvenient to disturb, so she only exited the hall and turned out. In the evening, Emperor Hui came out of the greenhouse hall, followed only by one Hongru. Princess Lu Yuan, who had been waiting for a long time in the small hall on the east side, entered the greenhouse hall, and saw Fan Meiren boiling things by the fire, and a fragrant smell came to her nose, and she knew that she was a good woman when she saw Fan Meiren's virtuous and virtuous back. Fan Meiren heard the footsteps, and felt that Emperor Hui was back, so he turned back happily, "Your Majesty ......" The words did not fall, but she saw a slim woman standing in front of her, looking at the woman dressed as a nobleman, looking at the woman's extraordinary appearance, Fan Meiren was happy, got up and came over to give Princess Lu Yuan a big gift, "Concubine Xuelian See Her Royal Highness the eldest princess, Your Royal Highness Changle Weiyang." The princess smiled and helped up, and asked how she knew that she was a princess, Fan Xuelian said politely, "I heard that the eldest princess entered the palace, but I never saw it, and now she is standing in front of the concubine, and the woman has an extraordinary bearing and a good dress, not the eldest princess, which one can it be?" Princess Lu Yuan nodded convincingly, took her hand to the side of the desk and sat down, and said the intention of this visit, "Xuelian, I am here for Queen Zhang, Ah Yan, she has been depressed ......for a long time" Princess Lu Yuan told Xuelian all the joys and sorrows of Zhang Yan since her wedding, Xuelian nodded frequently, sympathetic, seeing that the princess's eyes were wet, she was busy holding her hand and comforting her, as if she had become a relative all of a sudden, and asked the personal palace people to put some porridge paste in the copper kettle that had just been boiled. Fan Meiren personally handed a small bowl of steaming porridge paste to Princess Lu Yuan, and the princess cried and laughed in her hand. The princess couldn't help but praise, "Snow Lotus will continue to be glorious in the future, virtuous and virtuous, look at this porridge paste and look at it is delicious, and my younger brother is fortunate to have Snow Lotus by his side." Xue Lian only said that she could do too little for the emperor. Princess Lu Yuan ate it with taste.

"Your Royal Highness the eldest princess, don't worry, Your Majesty will not snub Empress Zhang." Snow Lotus made a sincere promise to Lu Yuan, and the princess smiled after a long absence, put down the wheat and red date porridge, and shook Snow Lotus's hand and thanked her.

Emperor Hui is getting better and better to Zhang Yan, and every day he comes to Jiaofang Hall to accompany her for two hours, playing pot throwing games with her, playing against her, teasing Liu Gong with her, reading the book of pre-Qin with her, and talking about the Book of Poetry with her, etc., Zhang Yan is always much happier than before, and when she sees that her daughter is finally happy, Princess Lu Yuan can leave the palace with confidence.

In mid-March, Fan Xuelian became pregnant.

Chang'an is full of spring, after a rain, the air is filled with the fragrance of earth, the mountains are green, and the flowers on the Qinchuan River are brilliant for eight hundred miles. The open space on both sides of Yongxiang is also full of flowers, and the road leading to Shanglin Garden in Yongxiang is even more full of flowers like stars, and the green background of Shanglin Garden is even more beautiful, and the bees and butterflies compete to stop. Empress Lu led the harem princesses to the forest garden to enjoy the flowers, the concubines were suppressed in the palace and did not dare to publicize the restraint here is to release to the fullest, Lv Hou was in a happy mood, let them play, or chase the wind and lead the butterflies, or arrange flowers for each other's sideburns, or close their eyes and meditate under the willows alone. When the interest was high, the emperor also came to Shanglin Yuan, and Empress Lu asked someone to greet him.

"The queen mother is happy and endless—" Emperor Hui came over and waved his hand at Empress Lu. Empress Lu smiled and held his hand and asked him to come and sit, after the concubines saluted Emperor Hui, they sat in two columns, and the palace people served wine and snacks for them one by one, and they all raised a glass with Empress Lu and Emperor Hui and drank it all, each saying that the beautiful scenery of Shanglin was beautiful and delicious, and everyone nodded frequently. Empress Lu asked Fan Meiren on the left to come and sit with Emperor Hui, Fan Meiren sat on the right, and Zhang Yan sat on the left. Empress Lu was more like an order to Emperor Hui's concubines, "Xuelian is virtuous and Shuhui is a model woman in the harem, and she is now pregnant, don't let her be unhappy, otherwise the mourning family will be the first to spare." "All the concubines are all saying. Some people rarely see Emperor Hui, and if they want to take advantage of this invitation, they will invite a dance for this good time, and Empress Lu and Emperor Hui will allow it. The woman danced, wanting to learn to dance with her sleeves bent over, although the dance was good, but it was far from the previous Mrs. Qi, and everyone looked at the subtle expression changes of Empress Lu on the dancing woman, but Empress Lu kept smiling. Zhang Yan knew Empress Lu the best, and hurriedly picked up the wine bottle on the case and said to Empress Lu, "The concubine respects the queen mother." After Zhang Yan caught it, she shuddered in her heart, afraid that Mrs. Qi's shadow would make Empress Lu angry, but the woman had to invite Emperor Hui to favor at this time, and danced Mrs. Qi's sleeves and waist dance. Empress Lu took the lead in applauding, and all the concubines applauded. Then the concubines rushed to toast Empress Lu and Emperor Hui.

In the setting sun, the cherry blossom viewing in Kamibayashi ends. Zhang Yan returned to the Jiaofang Hall early. Fan Xuelian slowly returned to the palace with Lu Hou in her arms, and enjoyed the last red glow after the sun jumped into the mountain in the west. As he was walking, there was a word not far in front of him that Empress Lu didn't want to hear, "You see Young Envoy Li dancing with his sleeves and waist bent dance, which must make the Queen Mother unhappy." "How can she dance well as Mrs. Qi before, I heard that Emperor Gaozu loved Mrs. Qi the most when he was alive, Mrs. Qi sang beautifully and danced well, but it was a pity that she was ...... by the Queen Mother" "King Zhao also died unjustly, and when he died, he bled and bled at the time, which was too cruel." …… Some of the words that talked about Mrs. Qi and King Zhao reached Lv Hou's ears, and Lv Hou was suddenly unhappy, holding Lv Hou's snow lotus to capture the changes in Lv Hou, and hurriedly changed the topic, "Queen Mother, do you see the sunset on the horizon beautiful?" Lu Hou looked at the sky, the red glow was gradually disappearing, Lu Hou said, "Whose blood is reflecting the red sky?" No one around him dared to speak.

Late at night, Fan Meiren's personal palace people said that the palace people who were talking about Mrs. Qi and King Zhao behind their backs today died. Xuelian closed her eyes, was silent for a long time, folded her hands and prayed silently, explaining that the palace people were not allowed to tell Emperor Hui about this matter.

In April and May, Zhuangjing Hou Xu Qian, Fenyang Hou Jin Qiang, Gao Jing Hou Zhou An, Ping Mourning Hou Peijia, Gushi Hou Yan Zechi, Xuanqu Qi Hou Ding Yi and other marquis all died one after another. It was rumored that Empress Lu intended to attack several princes who had praised Madame Qi in front of Emperor Gaozu or secretly agreed with Emperor Gaozu's change of prince, in order to warn the ministers of the court and the central government, and also to distinguish the party from the masses. Immediately, the atmosphere between the government and the opposition was tense. When Emperor Hui heard the rumors, he was displeased and personally asked Empress Lu about the matter. Lu Houjun said that when they touched the "Han Law", they either touched the crime of disrespect, or the crime of leftist officials, or the crime of attaching benefits to the A-party, or the crime of going out of bounds and died. Emperor Hui was suspicious, because he himself was completely ignorant of the crimes they had touched, and Empress Lu easily found out their 'crimes' in two months, and they died violently. Emperor Hui was displeased.

One day, Lu Yan entered the palace and said to Lu Hou, "Auxiliary Minister Chen Ping has not been involved in government affairs recently, and he insisted that several ministers go out to drink on the street, and the Queen Mother should talk about him." Empress Lu smiled, "Don't be endless with him, what to do, the mourning family has its own plans." Lu Huan's heart was very worried.

Fan Xuelian was the most uncomfortable, because Emperor Hui woke up every night screaming in the middle of the night, and every day he was haunted by nightmares, having the same dream, dreaming that his father would come to choke him by the neck as soon as he arrived, and scolded him for not protecting Zhao Wang Ruyi, and Ruyi, who was bleeding from the seven orifices, stood motionless beside his father. Emperor Hui woke up screaming every time, sweating profusely, with a dry mouth and a frightened look, which made Fan Xuelian feel sad, sad that Emperor Hui was under too much psychological pressure. Fan Xuelian regardless of her pregnancy personally boiled a soothing soup for Emperor Hui, every night, every night for Emperor Hui to work for half a day, and personally brought it to Emperor Hui to drink, Emperor Hui drank it, Snow Lotus hugged Emperor Hui's kind words to comfort, every night for Emperor Hui to tell some joyful things, talk about spring, summer, autumn and winter, tell their own interesting stories, Emperor Hui every time in Snow Lotus's arms listen to her beautiful voice and sleep peacefully, Snow Lotus never changes her position, afraid of waking Emperor Hui when she changes, so every morning, Snow Lotus will always have a sore back, never tired.

At the beginning of June, Emperor Hui paid a visit to the Changling Mausoleum, and in the face of the high mausoleum, Emperor Hui could not hide his complicated feelings, and his eyes were red.