Si Rou said: "Concubine Shu, don't be angry, you can't be angry with Qin Jieyu!" Last time, the doctor said that your liver and gallbladder are blocked and you are easy to get angry, so let the slave often knock on the gallbladder meridian and bring the pulse to you, and the slave will give you a massage. ”

Jiang Zhuohua took a sip and said, "My liver and gallbladder are blocked, and I am not all angry with these cheap hooves!" Then you can press it for me. ”

Sirou knocked Jiang Zhuohua with a pulse, because "the laxative does not hurt, the pain does not pass", Jiang Zhuohua is seriously blocked, and the pain is indispensable, as soon as she is in pain, she wants to pinch Sirou, Sirou is really miserable, and after massaging Jiang Zhuohua for half an hour, several bruises were pinched out of his body, and he could only hold back his silence.

But said that although the queen was sick, it had been ten days since Zhong Xuan's death, and she hung with ginseng soup every day, and tried to eat some food, but she could also sit up to meet guests and chat. On this day, she wore a dark red bird and phoenix suit, a little powder, and her eyebrows showed grace and luxury. The emperor was sitting in the queen's hall, dipping his pen in ink and painting a portrait of the queen.

"The emperor is safe, the queen is safe." The lady said politely.

The emperor was silent, still painting himself, but the queen was also calm, and said: "Flat, Niang, sit down." ”

"Thank you, Queen Mother." The lady responded and sat down, "I look at the mother's complexion today, it looks like she is about to recover." ”

The queen smiled and said, "How can it be so fast? It's just a hard time, but I don't miss a meal of decoction, I always hope to live a few more days, and people won't know that their desire to survive is very strong until this time. ”

The lady was happy in her heart, but she looked worried on the surface, and said: "The queen must be careful of your body, it will be winter soon, if the disease has not been cured in winter, I am afraid it will be a little difficult to treat." ”

When the emperor heard this, he said: "Qin Jieyu, don't talk nonsense, even if you still need to take medicine in winter, it's a big deal to eat more ginseng to get rid of the cold, it doesn't matter." ”

The lady lowered her head slightly, and said: "Exactly, the emperor, I think so too, there is no shortage of charcoal and ginseng in the palace, what is good, use it with the queen mother first, and that's it." ”

The emperor was displeased when he heard it, but he was not angry, he stopped the paintbrush in his hand and said: "Qin Jieyu is talking today, I listen to it very useless, the huge palace, how much charcoal can the queen use?" You say this as if the queen used your example? ”

The lady heard the emperor's anger, so she hurriedly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the concubine doesn't mean this, the concubine can't speak, and ask the emperor to atone for his sins." ”

I saw the emperor's eyebrows and eyes resolutely and coldly looking at the lady and said, "That's it." Although there was tenderness in her eyes, her voice was cold, and she refused to be thousands of miles away, and she couldn't help but panic in her heart, and she didn't dare to get up for a while.

The emperor's gaze swept to her again and said, "Get up and sit down." ”

"Yes, Emperor Xie." The lady got up and sat down tremblingly, feeling embarrassed, seeing that the emperor and the queen did not speak, thinking that she had to break this tranquility, so she said: "Queen Mother, the concubine sees that you have a bad complexion recently, and the concubine has the osmanthus pearl powder that the emperor rewarded before, and I will bring some for you next time. ”

When the emperor heard what the lady said, he was even more angry, so he scolded: "Even if the queen doesn't apply powder, in my heart, she is like a celestial, besides, your incense powder, you can keep it for yourself, I naturally prepared a suitable fragrance powder for the queen a long time ago, what are you showing off here?" Could it be that your incense powder is better than the queen's? ”

The emperor is usually not very angry, but when the lady heard the emperor's words, she was even more afraid, so she could only cramp and say: "The concubine doesn't mean this, the concubine doesn't mean anything, the concubine ......"

The queen saw that she didn't know what to say, so she interrupted: "Forget it, Lady Niang, I know you don't have any malicious intent." Then he turned to the emperor and said: "Why is the emperor so angry, they are all his own sisters, and the concubines naturally know that the lady is not showing off in front of me." ”

The emperor sighed and said to the lady: "Qin Jieyu, you can't speak, just go back and read some books, don't just dance all day long, how can you be so disagreeable when you say it." In the past, I only cared about watching your singing and dancing, and rarely communicated with you, but now listening to you, it is really hard to say, you better go back to study quickly, so as not to make the queen angry here! ”

When the lady heard this, she hurriedly retired, where did she dare to sit again, on the way back to her bedroom, the lady was angry, and the maid Yuxuan was so frightened that she didn't dare to make a sound.

The lady walked quickly and said, "What's the big deal?" It's just an old woman who is sick and dying! The lady tried her best to restrain herself, her voice was not loud, but with deep hatred.

Yuxuan echoed: "She naturally doesn't have Jieyu, you are young and beautiful." ”

The lady snorted lightly: "But the emperor is always so partial, he only has her in his eyes, not me!" ”

Yu Xuan followed closely behind the lady and said: "No matter how eccentric, I'm afraid it won't be eccentric for a few days, look at that person's body, how many days are left!" ”

The lady sneered: "This is also true, but her body has never been so bad, how can she fall ill, as if she is completely helpless." ”

Yu Xuan said: "Life and death are fate, wealth is in the sky, the king of Hades told him to die in the third watch, who dares to keep him until the fifth watch?" This is a fateful catastrophe, Jieyu, you see, the second prince looks like a smart and clever child on weekdays, isn't it now gone? ”

The lady was even happier when she heard it, and said: "Isn't it, the second prince seems to have the most ideas on weekdays, and he is not afraid of heaven and earth, but in the end he was scared to death by a glass lamp, if God calls you to die, you have to die, and the good glass lamp can smash you to death out of thin air, which is really strange and interesting." ”

Yuxuan suddenly approached the lady and said, "Jieyu, I don't know if I should say something." ”

When the lady heard this, she also stopped smiling and asked, "What's the matter?" It's so mysterious. ”

Yu Xuan whispered: "This time, the affairs of the queen and the second prince are very strange, as if someone has cursed. ”

The lady rolled her eyes slightly, and frowned: "The art of disgust with victory? ”

Yu Xuan said: "Exactly. ”

The lady was startled: "Who dares to curse the queen and the second prince?" ”

Yu Xuan glanced at the lady and said, "Who Jieyu wants this curse to make, who is the curse." ”

So the two conspired all the way, leaving it alone for the time being.

CHAPTER XIII

The days in the palace passed very fast, waiting for the emperor's days, it was originally very slow, but the Southern Tang Dynasty was very short as early as the time of the lord, and when the lord Li Yu ascended the throne, it was even more likely to make ends meet, even if it was located in the rich and prosperous Jinling, it could not withstand the toss of tribute to the Zhou Dynasty all the year round, so the palaces and courtyards also did some embroidery work on weekdays, or wore it themselves, or secretly took out the palace to sell, a good embroidery, always had to embroider for ten days and a half months, so time for the concubines, it was also very insufficient, time was tight, and it passed quickly.

Since the queen was sick, she was exempted from the etiquette of coming to the palaces to ask for peace, and there were only four concubines in the palace, so when they were not doing embroidery work, Concubine Jiang Shu, Qin Jieyu, and Han Jieyu always walked around each other.

After the afternoon nap on this day, the sun is warm sprinkled in every corner of the palace, the autumn sun is the best, although it is a thousand rays, but it is not hot and violent, if it is the summer sun, it must be like a burning flame, the earth is baked into a steamer, but the autumn sun only makes people intoxicated, like an elf flying in every corner of the world, only giving people a brilliant feeling.

Concubine Jiang Zhuohua walked on the road, with the laziness that she had just woken up, and walked comfortably towards the palace of Jieyu Hallyu Zhu.

Liu Zhu was embroidering new shoes in the palace, and suddenly heard the news that Concubine Jiang Shu was coming, so he hurriedly stopped the work in his hand, and when Jiang Zhuohua came in, he saluted, Concubine Jiang Shu and Liu Zhu sat side by side, and Liu Zhu said to Cui Qian: "Cui Qian, hurry up and make tea for Jiang Shufei." ”

Jiang Zhuohua looked around, his eyes stopped on the new shoes embroidered by Liuzhu, so he smiled: "My sister has it next to her, but your newly embroidered shoes?" ”

Liu Zhu nodded and said, "Exactly, I've been busy with this for the past few days." ”

Jiang Zhuohua said with a smile: "My sister's father is an important minister in the court, why do you also need to do embroidery?" Could it be that all the cases in the palace are used to raise cats? Then your cat is really expensive! ”

When Liu Zhu heard Jiang Zhuohua talk about her cat, her heart trembled, and she immediately regained her composure and said, "Concubine Shu doesn't know, my cat has been executed." I'm just idle on weekdays and do some work to pass the time. ”

Jiang Zhuohua's eyes suddenly widened, as if he had heard something terrible, and said, "Eh, your cat was executed?" How did he die? I heard that cats have nine lives, one dead and eight more, did the eight lives that your cat didn't die all become souls and wander here all day long? With that, she looked around at the air in the room, as if there were eight spirits wandering there.

Liu Zhu just said without being humble or arrogant or lukewarm: "The saying that a cat has nine lives just says that it is not easy to die before it is alive, and it will die completely after nine tribulations, and even if it encounters danger in the first eight times, it can still turn danger into a disaster." A cat that is already dead will never have eight souls left in the world. ”

Jiang Zhuohua looked suddenly enlightened, stroked his heart, and said: "Oh, I see, it scares me to death, if there are really so many souls, there happens to be a cat resting on my head, but I can't see it, it's really terrifying." By the way, how did it die? ”

Liu Zhu deliberately didn't answer Jiang Zhuohua's question "How did the cat die" just now, but he didn't expect Jiang Zhuohua to ask again, so he had to reply stubbornly: "It was put in a sack and was thrown to death." ”

Jiang Zhuohua showed a disdainful look and said: "Eh, this cat died really badly, but I didn't say you, you are so decent, what kind of cat do you raise, cats are not as loyal as dogs, you can't always guess the master's intentions, but a complete traitor, if you are not careful, you will do something wrong, and even affect the master, like this time your cat killed the second prince, it is not a pity to die 10,000 times!" ”

Liuzhu's face sank, but he didn't dare to defend the cat, but said: "Exactly, I will never have a cat again." ”

Jiang Zhuohua didn't give up, and said: "Besides, don't do these Laoshizi if you have nothing to do, you don't have to make people laugh, and I think that the palace can't even support the daughter of a hero." ”

Liuzhu felt like a mang on his back, so he had to say: "Who is like my sister's family is a big businessman, and the money can't be used up, although my family is an official, but my father is an honest official, and he really has to live frugally." ”

Jiang Zhuohua said proudly: "Actually, scholars are naturally the most valued by the emperor, how can businessmen compare?" But I've heard that your father has a lot of concubines, I'm afraid your mother's life is not easy, right? But you came to Japan to record pipa music for the queen, and now that the queen is sick, you are really idle, and you can feel at ease by doing some work, otherwise who knows what is going on in your heart? Jiang Zhuohua saw that Liu Zhu didn't answer for a while, so he said again: "What do you do on weekdays besides making shoes?" Show me, I'm also studious, lest others say that you are from such a good background, and you are diligent and thrifty, but it seems that I will only spend my father's money. ”

Liu Zhu didn't want others to see her embroidery, she always felt that it was all gadgets she made in private, but Jiang Zhuohua wanted to see it, so she had to agree, "Sister come with me." ”

Liu Zhu led Jiang Zhuohua to a carved mahogany box, the wooden box was not locked, and when he opened it gently, he saw that there were a lot of handkerchiefs, new shoes, belly pockets, purses and other gadgets inside, so Jiang Zhuohua smiled and touched the handkerchief: "My sister is so skillful, there are a lot of things." ”

Jiang Zhuohua rummaged through the contents of the box again, and suddenly, her hand stopped, as if she was frightened, and scolded: "Sister, what are you doing!" ”

Liu Zhu was taken aback and didn't know what was going on, so he asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"What's in this box?" Jiang Zhuohua asked, pointing to Liuzhu's box.

"What?" Liuzhu was also a little puzzled, weren't there all gadgets in her box? But she herself saw a puppet with the eight characters of the queen's birthday written on it, and it was filled with silver needles, and it was dumbfounded when she flowed Zhu Deng.

Jiang Zhuohua also seemed to be greatly frightened, and said to Sirou tremblingly: "Sirou, you go to Huang Cairen and ask her to invite the emperor to come to Han Jieyu." ”

When Liu Zhu heard that Jiang Zhuohua was going to call the emperor up, he turned pale with fright, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, pulled Jiang Zhuohua's skirt, and said, "Concubine Shu, I don't know where this puppet came from." ”

Jiang Zhuohua was unmoved, and said: "Since you don't know the origin of this thing, then just call the emperor to help you find out the truth, and return your innocence." ”

Liu Zhu said in a panic: "At this time, the physical evidence is here, even if the emperor doesn't believe that I did such a thing, there is no evidence to the contrary, I must not be able to say clearly!" ”

Jiang Zhuohua urged Si Rou and said: "Stupid girl, why don't you go to Huang Cairen soon, why are you stunned?!" ”

Sirou agreed and hurried away.

Liu Zhu knelt on the ground paralyzed, without the strength to stand up, Jiang Zhuohua did not help her, but sat on the small stool next to the wooden box by himself, for fear that as soon as he left, the puppet would disappear, so he did not leave an inch beside him.

Not long after, the emperor arrived, and Jiang Zhuohua hurriedly saluted, but still stood next to the wooden box.

Liuzhu walked to the emperor's side and cried: "Please let the emperor know, the concubine has never seen that puppet, and somehow, it is in the box." ”

"Where are the puppets?" The emperor asked angrily.

Liu Zhu didn't dare to answer, Jiang Zhuohua held back a little smugness, and said, "The puppet is in this box." ”

The emperor took a few steps forward, saw the contents of the box, shook his head and said: "Ridiculous, really ridiculous, there are still people who believe in this kind of nonsense that curses people!" If you hate a person and make a puppet and prick it a few times, that person will die, then we don't have to go to training, make the enemy army into villains, prick needles every day, and it's all right! ”

Liuzhu's tears dripped down like beads with broken threads, "Your Majesty, the concubine is wronged, the concubine really doesn't know what all this is about!" ”

Jiang Zhuohua saw that the emperor had no intention of punishing Liuzhu, so he said: "Sister, you are really confused, the queen is so good to you on weekdays, why do you want to harm her?" Is it because the queen can play the pipa, and you can also play the lute, and you are jealous that the queen can play better than you? Or did the queen do something that made you hold a grudge? Then you can tell the queen that the queen is the most lenient to others on weekdays, and even her subordinates are extremely compassionate, not to mention you and my sisters? Now I don't know if it's because of your curse, the queen's body is ......" Speaking of this, Jiang Zhuohua also burst into tears, looking like he hated iron but not steel.

The emperor opened his mouth lightly, not very annoyed, and said, "Han Jieyu, you are guilty." ”

"Your Majesty, the concubines ......" Liu Zhu was anxious to argue.

"That's enough." The emperor only said this to Liuzhu, who was kneeling beside him.

The room was silent for a moment, except for the sound of panting, there was no sound at all. After a long time, the emperor said: "Han Jieyu, you have thought about it behind closed doors in the palace, without my will, you are not allowed to step out of the palace gate for half a step." ”

After the emperor finished speaking, he turned around and left, and the eunuch also followed, leaving Liu Zhu and Jiang Zhuohua and several palace maids, I don't know how long it took, Liu Zhu raised his head in a daze, but found that Jiang Zhuohua had not left yet.

Jiang Zhuohua bent down and said arrogantly and gloatingly: "Sister, today's matter, you are too careless, being a puppet, and hiding in such an unhidden place, it is easy for me to look at it, I said why don't you have nothing to raise a cat, it turns out that you have long hated the poisonous queen, and you want to use your cat as your stepping stone to get rid of the queen!" ”

"Are you hurting me?" Han Jieyu stood up suddenly and grabbed Jiang Zhuohua's arm, "You must have hurt me, this puppet today must have been put into this box by you while I wasn't paying attention, right?!" ”

Liu Zhu's actions startled Jiang Zhuohua, she was anxious to break free of Liu Zhu's hand, but she couldn't break free, so she had to say loudly: "Han Jieyu, don't be scared, right?" How could I harm you? Do you know what you did yourself? Why did you come to frame me? ”

"I framed you?" Liuzhu sneered, "Then who framed me?" Concubine Jiang Shu, as soon as you enter the door, you talk about my cat, you always can't get along with me, what did I do to make you hate me so much and treat me as a thorn in the flesh? ”

Jiang Zhuohua shouted: "You are crazy! When did I hate you? What do I hate you for? You're just a little Jieyu, and I'm a concubine! I can't hate you, let go of your hand, you're going to be guarded by guards here, no one can get out, I have to leave quickly. ”

Liuzhu suddenly laughed, seeing Jiang Zhuohua's anxious and somewhat frightened eyes, for some reason, Liuzhu actually had a trace of pity, in the court, everyone is really intrigued, you fight me, I harm you, the weak eat the strong, although Liuzhu is weak at this time, but even if Jiang Zhuohua looks strong, what can he do?

Thinking about it, Liuzhu let go.

Jiang Zhuohua saw that Liuzhu let go of his hand, and hurriedly left with Sirou, without saying a word more.