In the early morning of the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, the Queen led the six palace concubines to Yongfu Palace to greet the Queen Mother.

The carved Yongfu Palace has long been full of guests on this day. Chang'an silently followed the crowd without saying much, and when she arrived in the hall, she just bowed her head and knelt behind the queen. But even so, she still felt that the Queen Mother's sharp gaze had been on her, and she was anxious.

I finally managed to return to the palace after the invitation, but I still couldn't have a moment to spare. As a virtuous concubine, she naturally wants to help the queen manage the birthday banquet. Although the queen said with a smile on her face, she could solve everything by herself, and asked Chang'an to go back to the palace to rest. But her various expressions are different, and Chang'an still sees it in her eyes.

After she took a fragrant bath, she changed into a rose purple thousand-petal chrysanthemum palace dress. Such as lacquer black hair combed into a reverse bun, a purple jade moonless magnolia hairpin on the head, decorated with thin silver wire beads and tassels, the jewelry earrings on the ears swaying and shining, there is a graceful and calm bearing.

After changing clothes, Chang'an was planning to go to the Yuxi Palace with Hanyan and evening incense, but he didn't want the emperor to come at this time.

Chang'an saw that there was no one else on his side, but he automatically waived the rules of asking for peace, and said with a smile, "Why is the emperor here?" ”

Chu Luo didn't answer her either, a smile appeared on his lips, his tone was soft and deep, and he asked rhetorically, "Where are you going so early?" ”

"Where else can I go?" Chang'an's complexion was jade, and he smiled, "Naturally, I went to the Yuxi Palace to help the queen." ”

When Chu Luo heard this, his eyebrows frowned slightly, "I let Zhao Meiren go, isn't it for you?" You're here to stay with me. ”

Chang'an couldn't help but laugh, and half-jokingly said, "Isn't the emperor used to replacing others?" Even this kind of thing has to be replaced by someone ......"

The corners of Chu Luo's lips suddenly raised, and he turned closer to her, and said with a fake sneer, "Even you make fun of me? ”

Chang An turned his head slightly, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face, "But if it's so troublesome to Zhao Meiren, she's afraid she won't be happy." ”

Chu Luo smiled disapprenosingly, and instead grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to face herself squarely, and said loudly, "She is a person with children, so she will naturally be concerned about such things. Besides, if I asked her to help the queen officiate at the birthday banquet, she would be very happy. ”

Chang An frowned slightly, and didn't argue too much. I only saw Chu Luo summon Cheng Dehai and tell things one by one.

Chu Luo took Chang'an's hand, his eyebrows were full of warm affection, and he wanted to speak. At this moment, the bead curtain outside the door moved, and it was Aunt Huizhi beside the Queen Mother who came in.

Chang'an saw that Huizhi had come to Chonghua Palace, and his heart couldn't help but tremble. She looked at Chu Luo in a panic, but Chu Luo just glanced at her warmly, telling her to feel at ease. Chang'an lowered his eyes and looked at Huizhi definitely.

"Auntie, is there anything wrong with the queen mother?" Chu Luo asked.

Hui Zhi respectfully blessed her body and replied with a smile, "It was the Queen Mother who summoned the emperor to Yongfu Palace." The slave maid went to Mingde Palace, and when she saw that the emperor was not in the palace, she thought that she must be in Chonghua Palace. After that, she quietly glanced at Chang'an, Chang'an was alert, and hurriedly lowered his head.

Chu Luo bowed slightly, "If the queen mother has something to do, she can pass it on to report it, and you don't have to let Aunt Huizhi come to invite her in person." I'm going to see the queen mother. ”

After speaking, he turned his head to Chang'an and smiled firmly, Chang'an's heart warmed slightly, and he watched him leave Chonghua Palace.

In the Yongfu Palace, the Queen Mother was dressed in an orange and yellow dress lying on the beauty couch, and when she saw the emperor coming in, she was helped up by the little palace maid beside her, and slowly poured a cup of Lu'an tea, as if she said, "The emperor is here." ”

The emperor leaned over and said, "The son asks the queen mother for peace." ”

Hui Zhi behind him bowed slightly, and retreated with all the palace people around him. The Queen Mother slowly took a sip of tea and gently opened her lips, "The mourning family doesn't need to think about it to know that Huizhi invited you from the Chonghua Palace." ”

Chu Luo's eyes sank, but he didn't answer.

The Queen Mother smiled lightly, picked up the tea lid and scraped off the tea powder in the cup, and said in a light tone, "There is only one thing for the mourning family to call you, today at the birthday banquet, the Zhong family danced, and asked the emperor to be sure to promote her position." ”

Chu Luo suddenly raised his eyes when he heard this, "Queen Mother! ”

"The concubine has to be promoted to the throne since the first bedtime, this is the rule of the harem, is it rare for the emperor to forget? The Zhong family was born in a famous family, but they are only beauties, the emperor was seriously ill a few days ago, and the mourning family did not pursue it too much, but this time, the emperor has to know it in his heart. ”

The Queen Mother's words were extremely light, but when they fell into Chu Luo's ears, they were like a boulder.

He has no right to resist, he knows that very well. From birth, he had no right to disobey his mother. He was born just to stabilize his mother's position. The three princes and the four princes of the previous dynasty were all born by Concubine Xuan, so one more prince is just the icing on the cake. After the death of the third brother, he became a stepping stone for the fourth brother to ascend to the throne, and his mother asked him to give up the right to inherit the throne, and he agreed. Now that she has just ascended the throne, the Queen Mother holds great power, and she wants to win over Shangshu Zhong Ping, so his daughter Zhong Yuxiu is naturally the most advantageous weapon, which Chu Luo knows well.

However, on the contrary, there is nothing wrong with what the Queen Mother has done, she is just vigilant about herself all the time - he is the emperor, not the king of Lin'an.

As a result, Chu Luo no longer struggled to defend himself as before, he leaned over and stepped out of the Yongfu Palace.

It's just a position, it's just that Zhong Yuxiu's position is promoted from beauty to Jieyu, it doesn't matter. Chang'an will understand, after all, no one can shake Shen Chang'an's status in his heart.

Thinking like this, Chu Luo's heart was much more steady.

At night, the feast starts and the lights come on.

With the cold smoke and evening incense, Yingying walked into the palace. She glanced up at the Empress Dowager and the Emperor in the main hall, and respectfully blessed her. Instead, he sat down at the queen's head.

Chu Luo's gaze followed her until she sat down, but he refused to leave for half a minute.

The Queen Mother glanced at him slightly, picked up the jade chopstick, and didn't realize it.

During the banquet, Zhong Yuxiu slowly walked into the center of the main hall. She is wearing a rose-red vibrating waist tucking skirt, the water roses are faintly full of sleeves, three thousand green silk is rolled up with a loose cloud bun, and she wears a painted silver tie at will, and the waist is loosely tied with ink-colored palace di, obliquely inserted with a simple flying butterfly and silver flowers, the light-colored tassels fall at will, rippling a trace of ripples, the eyebrows are a little cinnabar, the graceful posture is graceful, and the slender waist is not enough to hold it, showing a delicate figure. She flicked her sleeves open, and six dancing queens streamed in behind her.

Zhong Yuxiu's dance today is "Seven Disc Dance".

In an instant, the rhythm of the seven pandrums shook greatly, and I saw Yuxiu standing alone among the crowd, sometimes bending his waist on his back and stepping on the drum with his feet, sometimes jumping up in the air, and then kneeling on the ground, cleverly stepping on the pan drum with his toes, and rubbing the drum surface with his body in a falling posture. The agile drumming movements, the light dance steps like flying, the posture and status scheduling that come and go, the artistic conception is deep and beautiful, and the emphasis is on her excellent dancing skills, which no one else can match. It seems to be like a fairy.

Under the seat, Chang'an quietly raised his eyes to spy on Chu Luo's expression, but suddenly saw that his gaze had completely fallen on Zhong Yuxiu, and that kind of expression was clearly seen when she met Chu Luo at the beginning of the year.

There was a chill in her eyes, and she lowered her head.

After the dance, everyone sighed. Unlike the last Chinese New Year's Eve banquet, the last time it was just a family banquet, but this time the Queen Mother's birthday banquet invited the imperial relatives of the Manchu Dynasty and the important ministers of the dynasty, Zhong Yuxiu, this dance, but it really made a big splash.

Before the music fell, a minister stood up and said with a smile, "There is a beautiful woman in the north, peerless and independent." One look at the city, and then look at the country. The emperor and the queen mother can get this beauty, it can really be described as a blessing! ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone applauded.

The Queen Mother also smiled and said, "What Chen Aiqing said is reasonable. Instead, she looked at the emperor and rolled her eyes, "The mourning family thinks it's very good, I don't know what the emperor thinks?" ”

Chang'an sat down, already forced into a cold sweat, full of grievances and desolate resentment entangled at this moment, tightly blocked in her heart. Her nails were deeply embedded in her palms, and her whole body was already trembling uncontrollably, and she looked at the emperor in the main hall, the lights flickered, and she couldn't see whether the look on his face was happy or sad for a while.

It seemed that after a long time, she finally heard him say aloud, "Spread my will, the beauty Zhong gave birth to a nobleman, filial piety, gentle and virtuous, and was promoted to the rank of Jieyu from the third grade, in order to show grace." ”

As soon as the words fell, the jade chopsticks in Chang'an's hand fell to the ground.

Zhong Yuxiu was overjoyed when she heard this, and hurriedly kowtowed to thank her, "The concubine has thanked the emperor and the queen mother!" ”

The Queen Mother smiled and said to Zhong Yuxiu, "In the future, Zhong Jieyu will fulfill her duties, accompany the emperor, and share worries for the emperor, so as to live up to the emperor's love." After that, she glanced at Chang'an, who bowed her head slightly, and saw that her face was cold, and her cheeks were bloodless, so she withdrew her gaze.

Zhong Yuxiu knelt in the center of the hall, already overjoyed, and hurriedly said, "The concubine obeys the order." ”

After the joy of Jin Feng passed, it was another song and dance.

Chang'an was already sitting on pins and needles, cold sweat covered his body layer after layer, and it seemed that hundreds of needle tips were pierced fiercely in his heart, extremely painful, but he couldn't shout.

Taking advantage of the noisy singing and dancing, Chang'an did not report to anyone, and left the palace banquet alone. Evening fragrance and cold smoke were both stunned, and hurriedly followed.

Chu Luo's eyes never left Chang'an, and when he saw her leaving alone, he wanted to get up and chase after her, but as soon as he moved, he saw Queen Yingying come forward with a smile.

Shushen poured wine into the gin glass in front of the emperor, and said with a gentle smile, "The concubine accompanies the emperor to drink, okay?" ”

Chu Luo was already anxious at this time, where was he still interested in drinking, he knocked down the wine glass with a "bang", and was about to leave.

In this way, all four seats are quiet. Seeing that the emperor was angry, the dancers and musicians were so frightened that they quickly knelt down.

The Queen Mother was already faintly angry, but her face was extremely forbearing, and she only smiled and said, "The emperor is interested, he just drank too much, and I ask everyone Aiqing not to be surprised." With that, she turned her head to look at the main hall and raised her voice, "Musician, play music!" ”

Instead, the main hall was restored to a scene of singing and dancing.

The Queen Mother looked at the emperor, her eyes were already angry, "So many people are sitting here, what are you doing here?" ”

Chu Luo just didn't say anything, sneered silently, looked at the position where Chang'an had already left, and drank the full glass of wine in front of him in one go.