Li Huai hurriedly stopped in front of her and knelt down with one leg weak.

"Niangniang, you can't go in, the Lanyue Hall is in disrepair, and it's very dangerous inside......"

"Nonsense! What's at stake? Didn't we all go in last time? "

Li Huai was helpless.

Can you compare the last time with the present?

Last time, it was forced by the situation, and now the husband and wife are expensive, looking at the whole Chujing, who doesn't know that the most expensive woman now is Princess Ling?

Well, I guess I don't know except for herself.

If Princess Ling had any mistakes, even if he had ten heads, he wouldn't be enough to cut off! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder, and his face turned into a chrysanthemum.

"Mother, don't embarrass the slave......"

"Get out of the way!"

“……”

Li Huai scratched his ears and cheeks anxiously, kept squeezing his eyebrows at the peony, and asked her for help.

Peony rarely saw her own mother speak so violently, and she was very strange in her heart, and asked, "Niangniang, what are you going to do in there?" The slave and maid will go for you. "

"I'm going in to find a portrait!"

Peony was inexplicable: "...... Portrait? Whose portrait? "

Xia Taozhi sighed, and said in her heart, how can I explain this to you? I can't just tell you that it's a portrait that looks like my original self, and you haven't seen me before.

Li Huai said: "But right now, the Lanyue Hall is being repaired, and all the items in the hall have been transferred, and now there is only one empty hall left......

Empty Temple?!

Xia Taozhi was stunned, she didn't expect to encounter such a situation, and she complained bitterly. Sure enough, it was still a step too late, if she had known from the beginning that this palace was the Lanyue Palace where Concubine Xian lived before her death, she would have already explored the Chu Palace at night and sneaked in to get the painting herself.

"Do you know where all the items in the temple have been moved?"

"Back to Niangniang, the items commonly used by Concubine Xian Niangniang during her lifetime were handed over to the Shanggong Bureau for proper safekeeping, if it was calligraphy, painting and embroidery, etc., the servants heard that they were sent to the East Pole Hall of the emperor's bedroom."

Her face fell when she heard this, and she was extremely disappointed.

With her skills, it is enough to barely explore a deserted palace in Chu Palace at night, and if you want to sneak into Emperor Chu's bedroom, this difficulty is too great...... You must know that there are 3,000 guards in the Chu Palace, and there are masters like Shangguan Yunqing who personally guard the Chu Emperor.

If you don't get caught, you will be executed on the spot as an assassin. It's no joke!

Why don't you go back to the tsundere prince to discuss countermeasures, after all, he is being favored now, if he proposes to Emperor Chu that he wants to see the portrait of his mother and concubine before her death, it is completely reasonable!

But...... That dead tsundere has not seen anyone until now, maybe she is indulging in Song Yumei's gentle township! Talk to him about a fart!

Li Huai and Peony stared at each other with wide eyes.

Seeing that Princess Ling sometimes frowned, sometimes frowned, sometimes gritted her teeth, her expression was very weird, and she couldn't help but want to ask.

"Niangniang...... Li Huai said tentatively: "...... If you want to see the portrait of the concubine, the minions know where to see it. ”

Xia Taozhi was overjoyed, lifted Li Huai up from the ground, and said, "Why didn't you say it earlier, take me quickly!" ”

Li Huai: "......"

Princess Mausoleum Niangniang...... Well, it's a lot of strength.

***

Dongchu is heavy on literature, and the elegant style is very heavy. Poetry, calligraphy, painting, calligraphy and painting are very popular among the people.

And because this generation of Emperor Chu especially loved Danqing, he set up a painting academy in the palace to recruit the world's Danqing holy hands. If a folk painter is fortunate enough to be selected into the academy, it is tantamount to rising to the top.

According to Li Huai, he has a familiar painter in the painting academy, and he can ask him to copy the portrait of Concubine Xian Niangniang when she entered the palace, and then take it for Princess Ling to see.

Xia Taozhi felt that this plan was very clever when she heard it, anyway, she just wanted to know what Concubine Xian looked like, and she was not obsessed with seeing the painting in the Lanyue Palace. agreed with Li Huai to wait for him at the small pavilion in the middle of the lake.

There is a lake in the Chu Palace, the lake water is turquoise, like a huge water mirror, sparkling, called Mirror Lake. In the center of the lake, there is a water pavilion about three zhang high, called the mirror heart platform, which takes the meaning of meditation. And because it is indeed in the center of the Mirror Lake, the people in the Chu Palace prefer to call it, the small pavilion in the middle of the lake.

Xia Taozhi slowly walked into the small pavilion in the center of the lake along the curved corridor on the edge of the mirror lake, and the palace maid who had already been smart and sensible sent tea and pastries, and she was also happy to enjoy this leisure, drinking tea and watching the scenery at the same time.

The surface of the lake is sparkling and cloudy, clear and translucent, and a gust of wind blows, blowing a lake of clear water. From time to time, fish leap out of the water and fall back again, creating a circle of ripples. The willows on the shore hang low, swaying lightly with the breeze, and the green is extraordinarily elegant.

Looking at it, her mind fluttered...... I don't know why I am getting more and more impatient.

I don't know if I'm worried about someone who hasn't seen anyone until now, or I'm worried about what will happen to the portrait of Concubine Xian.

Fortunately, although Li Huai is young, he is very reliable, and in less than an hour, he was seen trotting up to the corridor, holding a scroll in his hand.

"Niangniang, the slave took the portrait of Concubine Xian Niangniang......"

Xia Taozhi happily took it, and opened the scroll without saying a word.

At first glance, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

The woman in the painting does have some resemblance to her between her eyebrows and eyes, but on closer inspection, she doesn't look like her, let alone like her teacher......

It is almost certain that this portrait and the portrait of her sister are two people. It can only be said that they may all have a fate with this concubine, and among all living beings in this world, they happen to have similar eyebrows.

She couldn't tell what it was like in her heart, and she didn't know whether she was relieved or vented. During this period of time, she has repeatedly speculated in her heart, if the portrait in the Chu Palace is really the same as her and her master, what should she do? And how to solve this huge mystery? When she knew that the palace was the Lanyue Hall where Concubine Xian lived before her death, she also had an unbelievable and even somewhat absurd idea in her heart, Concubine Xian Niangniang might be her biological mother.

Now that the truth is revealed, she can't help but laugh at herself in her heart, and she is becoming more and more cranky.

"Let's go, let's go home."

She neatly rolled up the scroll and got up to leave.

Peony hesitated for a moment, but still spoke: "But...... His Highness hasn't come yet, won't we wait for him to return home?" ”

"No waiting." Xia Taozhi's face was expressionless, and she turned her head and instructed Li Huai: "I'm tired of Gonggong Li to bring a message to His Royal Highness, just say that the concubine is tired, so go back to the house first." ”

Li Huai hurriedly responded, but Peony didn't dare to say anything more and followed.

When they left the Lake Center Pavilion, they happened to meet a soldier in armor holding a scroll of documents in his hand, hurrying along the palace road in the direction of the imperial study.

She was curious for a moment and asked, "...... Why are you in such a hurry? ”

Li Huai was stunned for a while, his face turned a little pale, and replied, "I'm afraid it is...... The army is in a hurry. ”

***

Back at the Lingwang Mansion, Xia Taozhi locked herself in the room.

I took out the portrait and looked at it carefully for a long time, but finally I still felt that it was not like it, it was really not like it.

In this case, this concubine has nothing to do with her. But she still had an inexplicable affection for her in her heart, and decided to take the portrait away secretly.

Yes, she has already thought about it, she wants to go back to Qingfeng Temple.

When she came down the mountain, it was also for this portrait. Now that it's over, it's time for her to go. She was going back to ask her master why she was so similar to her master. What exactly was he hiding from her? As for the lives of the thirty-six people in Yudong Village, she never forgot it for a moment. But now, she wanted to figure out the mystery of her origins first, and she had a gut feeling that her master must know something.

She wanted to say goodbye without saying goodbye, but after thinking about it, she decided to wait for the tsundere prince to come back and make it clear to him face to face. Even if they really moved their hearts and gave birth to some feelings that should not have been, they are two kinds of people after all, and they are not suitable to be together.

The tsundere prince is a natural power seeker. Such a person is born with the struggle for power, and cannot refuse the temptation of power. His ambition is not at all satisfied with just being a favored prince, maybe he wants, there is more and more. On the road of seeking power, he can be ruthless to himself, and he uses himself as bait, which shows his ruthless nature. Not to mention a Song Yuansheng, looking at the entire Eastern Chu royal family, no one is his opponent. As long as he wants, the high throne is also within his reach.

And what about her? She can't even figure out her life experience, and she is still burdened with a sea of blood and hatred, and in addition to revenge for the rest of her life, she just wants to wander the rivers and lakes and be a free and easy person. She couldn't give up her freedom for him, and she didn't want to bury her life in the deep palace like Miss Xie.

They each have different missions and very different life trajectories. If it is not appropriate, it should not continue like this.

She locked herself in her room and was stunned for a long time. It wasn't until twilight fell, and Peony and Begonia came to the door with dinner, that she came back to her senses, and the room was already dark. She had no appetite and told them through the door that she was not hungry and told them to stand down.

Then he got up and turned the lamp.

The candlelight was dim and hazy, and it swayed in her eyes, as if a mist was wafting up. My mind is blurry, my thoughts are also very disobedient, and I am always thinking uncontrollably.

said that he would go to the small pavilion in the middle of the lake to find her, but he didn't go at all...... A Song Yumei took away his soul. Even if she herself came back early, he was not in a hurry...... Even now, there is no one to be seen......

Forget it, I've decided anyway, what do you want to do so much......

She forced down the sourness in her heart, hastily packed a little luggage, and sat at the table waiting for him.

Unexpectedly, he waited left and right, but he didn't wait for the tsundere prince to come back.

The wax of the candlestick was about to burn out, and she became sleepy, rolled over and fell asleep.

When I woke up the next day, it was already dawn.

When she touched the pillow, it was empty. Sitting up, habitually looking at the collapse, there was still no one.

There was not a trace of his breath in the whole room.

Unexpectedly, I didn't return all night?!