It is the time when the lights of the Shangyuan Festival are brilliant, and the people have to have lantern riddles and dragon dances in the city on this day, and all kinds of celebrations are naturally indispensable in the palace.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to prepare lanterns and candles, and the palaces and gardens in the palace were decorated in a beautiful and beautiful way. More prepared a variety of exquisite and unique lanterns and riddles, concentrated on decorating the garden, the preparation of the lantern festival, for the masters and ladies to enjoy and play, for the natural beauty of the scenery, the lantern festival at this time is naturally to be held in the place where the plum blossoms are in full bloom as well, the original palace plum blossoms are the best is the Tianxiang Garden, but the assassin's thing has not been a few months, whether it is Qi Long or the concubines, there is a bit of mustard in the heart of going to the Tianxiang Garden. So the lantern festival was arranged in a small cold garden at the east end of the harem.

Early in the morning, the Internal Affairs Office sent someone to send all kinds of utensils used in the decoration of the Caiwei Palace, and Xiao Luzi and others were elated. A few men took out the ladder, climbed under the eaves, and hung up two bright red lanterns. Seeing that everyone was busy and happy, Su Mi's mood was also a little brighter.

"Niangniang, the snacks are ready, shall we go now?" Mi Qing walked in with a plate of fragrant dim sum.

Su Mi looked up at the hour, Qi Long was about to go down, got up and said, "Let's go." ”

Su Mi's light and elegant figure passed through the nine-curved corridor carved from white marble on the side of the back garden, and Mi Qing behind him held a cloisonne flat porcelain plate with a carved silver plate on it, containing a fine snack that had just been baked in the early morning and a purple gold sand teapot, which was freshly brewed plum blossom tea, and the two walked towards the Qianqing Palace.

When Qi Long was dealing with state affairs in the Heart Cultivation Palace, there were always many concubines serving beside him. In the past, Concubine Yun had always received such an honor, and since four years after entering Longhui, it was Su Mi who stood next to the dragon chair in the Heart Cultivation Palace, quietly grinding ink and laying paper, serving tea and water. The eunuch who served knew that the concubine in front of him was the emperor's new favorite, and while respectfully beating Qian'er, he served Su Mi and entered the house.

When he entered the palace gate, he saw Qi Long discussing some affairs with someone.

There are two men standing in front of the hall, from the back, the person on the left seems to be not very old, that is, less than thirty years old, he is wearing the dark python robe of the third grade Taichang Siqing, but a neat and dignified official uniform is simply worn by him untidy, without grace, even from the back can be seen that sloppy.

The man on the right is about fifty years old, just a civilian green shirt, plain but neat and clean, from the back there seems to be a kind of elegant demeanor like a fairy, and the figure seems to be very familiar.

Su Mi walked forward with a snack, walked past the two of them, and could clearly feel two sharp lines of sight projecting towards him. One of the slightly burning glances came from the young Zhengsanpin official who was closest to him, and he didn't have the slightest taboo when he saw Su Mi come in. Especially when Su Mi approached him, he glanced over without any scruples.

Su Mi entered and exited the Heart Cultivation Hall as a palace concubine, and often saw the ministers who were playing on the agenda, and everyone could know her identity just from her clothes, so they naturally turned their heads away from taking a closer look, but this young man didn't know how to avoid suspicion, and stared at Su Mi up and down unscrupulously.

Su Mi was slightly surprised in her heart, she was not the kind of woman who felt that she was missing something after being looked at more, but such a look made her intuitively uneasy, she turned her head sideways, pretended not to notice, and still moved forward calmly, until she put down the tea tray on Qi Long's table and stood still as usual.

At this time, she looked up at the two people standing under the stage, and when she looked up, when she saw the two clearly, Su Mi suddenly shook her body in shock, and then returned to calm.

The middle-aged man on the right, who is about fifty years old, is chic and good, looking forward to Shenfei, it is Ge Chengming, who used to be his father's confidant and is now a heavy minister of Nanchen.

He actually entered the Qi Palace, Su Mi tried his best to remain indifferent on his face, but he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart. Isn't he in charge of Nan Chen's intelligence organization here? This is how to show your head......

When Ge Chengming saw her, his expression was calm, obviously he had heard the news from Chen Yan.

Just when Su Mi was in doubt, Qi Long's voice sounded beside him. "Mr. Ge is really talented, no wonder Xiang Fu strongly recommended Mr. to me." Qi Long said with a hearty long smile.

"The grass people are not talented, they are loved by the emperor and summoned many times, but unfortunately because they have been delayed, they have not been able to see the face of the sky until today, which is really ashamed." Ge Chengming saluted, neither humble nor arrogant.

Su Mi listened to the conversation between the two and understood after a little thought. Nan Chen is here to manage intelligence, instead of hiding in Tibet like that, it is better to be so open-minded, dashing under the sun, make friends with powerful people, and communicate calmly, but it will make the Qi army relax their vigilance even more, who would know that there are great Confucianism on weekdays, and there is no white Ding in the wind and celebrities will be the key criminals? The virtual is real, and the real is virtual, which is exactly Ge Chengming's consistent style. Su Mi chuckled. Thinking about it, the following conversation did not stop,

"Sir, since something is delayed, how can I be strong." Qi Long smiled calmly. This person in front of him is a rare talent, although he can't refrain from repeated recruitment, but Qi Long doesn't feel that he has been swept away, after all, these arrogant madmen and Confucian people encounter such a recruitment, no matter how willing they are in their hearts, they must first put on a shelf and resign, otherwise they will lose their high hats of celebrities.

Su Mi raised his eyes and looked at the one on the left again, thinking of Qi Long's words just now, it turned out that he was Xiang Fu, this Xiang Fu was also quite famous in the court of Daqi, he was born in the first-class wealthy Xiang family of Daqi, but he was not informal, and he did not pay attention to his family. He admired the style of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and never acted without scruples, claiming to be the most admiring of the old Liang celebrity Dong Qianguang, often saying that he intended to emulate his predecessors to travel all over the world, and his life was like his idol, often drinking excessively and prostituting for fun. When he was drunk, he would even ignore Qi Long's summons. However, this person is really a rare talent, although he was born in a wealthy family, but he has long made it clear that the difference between the scholars and the family is hindered by the selection of the country and talents, and in the first year of Qi Long's succession, he wrote a letter requesting the abolition of the distinction between the poor and the wealthy, and listed the privileges that the wealthy should not enjoy as many as 38 articles, and asked Qi Long to abolish the edict.

For a while, the government was in an uproar, and he almost blew up the pot with a piece of paper, and the old ministers, who had always prided themselves on being calm, couldn't take care of their temperament and calm, and rushed to impeach one by one, requesting that this crazy and righteous code that does not know etiquette and law be dealt with strictly, so as to completely cut off such vain attempts to break the rules of the ancestors and shake the country's social integrity.

Qi Long just laughed it off, and asked the indignant ministers: "Since you know that he is a madman who does not know etiquette and law, why bother? ”

As a result, although the matter was a big sensation, it was not resolved in the end. Xiang Fu, who provoked this time, was demoted to a third-level official on the grounds of acting crazy, and still stayed in the capital.

Although he was belittled, he himself did not feel resentful at all, and after the last incident, the high-ranking magnates hated him deeply, and most of them cut off contact with him, rejecting and suppressing him, and he didn't care either. Still coming and going freely in the capital, calling friends and friends, drinking and having fun. He writes very well in poetry, and he is good at Danqing, and he is also a real talent, and he hits the nail on the head of current affairs, and the tasks assigned to his head are not delayed, and he completes them cleverly and thoughtfully. Over the past few years, the reputation among the Shilin students in Daqi has become even stronger. Qi Long also promoted him back to the official position of Taichang Siqing soon after.

Now it seems that I am afraid that Xiang Fu's book at that time was actually deeply rooted in Qi Long's heart, but unfortunately Qi Long also knew that the power of the central court was too great, and he had just ascended the throne and succeeded to the throne, so he was really powerless, so he had to belittle him.

It's no wonder that he dares to look at himself so unscrupulously, and Qi Long doesn't have the slightest anger, he is unruly and contemptuous of etiquette, so Qi Long generally does not reprimand him for all kinds of rude behavior, but I am afraid that his eyes were also so rude when Concubine Yun and they were here before.

"I have always been eager to seek talent, and I admire Mr. for his great talent, and if he can be used by me, I will certainly not treat him badly. I would like to treat each other as the young secretary of Honglu Temple......" Qi Long sincerely persuaded Ge Chengming below.

Su Mi felt funny for a while, tempting it to benefit and move it to be expensive, it is better to tempt it to be famous and move it with affection. For a celebrity like Ge Chengming, who thinks highly of himself, instead of using officials and wealth to tempt, it is better to say to him that he is a bosom friend, follow Liu Bei's persuasion of Zhuge Liang, encourage him to help him, and then go down in history with ease and dignity.

But no matter what, it was impossible for Ge Chengming to agree to Qi Long's request.

Now that he is the person in charge of Nan Chen's intelligence, he must be doubly cautious. More than enough is too much! A little eye-catching is not harmful, but it is a protective color, but too eye-catching will have the opposite effect, and it is even more difficult to withdraw from entering the power circle of Daqi plainly.

The two coped with a few more words, and Ge Chengming resolutely refused, saying that although he was valued by His Majesty and deeply honored, he had no intention of pursuing a career in office, so please forgive me.

Qi Long persuaded for a while, and seeing Ge Chengming's resolute attitude, he was very disappointed, so he had to stop insisting. Seeing that the matter was over, the two bowed down and retired.

The long conversation made Qi Long's mouth dry, and he casually picked up the tea presented by Su Mi and drank it.

"What is this?" Qi Long picked up the teacup and looked at it carefully.

"This is tea soaked in white plum petals, and the emperor tastes good when he drinks it." Su Mi said with a smile.

"I've tasted a lot of white plum tea, but Mi'er's pot is different, and it has a fresh and refreshing taste." Qi Long wondered.

Su Mi gently covered her red lips and said with a smile: "The emperor's tongue is really dexterous, because I saw that the emperor has been dealing with the government overnight in the past few days, I am afraid of mental exhaustion, so the concubines in this pot of tea specially added a little turtle juice and Bilu grass, these two things are refreshing and eye-catching medicine, I just hope that the emperor can work a little less." ”

"Mi'er is really considerate and thoughtful, even such a small thing can be noticed. And the taste is good, too. Qi Long smiled and drank the tea in his hand. While reaching out to Su Mi, Su Mi leaned on Qi Long's arms, she reached out and fed the snacks on the silver plate to Qi Long's mouth, and the two laughed while talking.

"The emperor has been busy until now, and that person surnamed Ge seems to have no rules, why does he even refuse the emperor's kindness?" Su Mi seemed to talk about the topic idly and brought it to Ge Chengming.

Qi Long laughed, "These Qingliu celebrities are such a temper, this Ge Hong is a character who has only recently appeared in Qijing, originally heard that he was a person from Yuzhou, hidden in the countryside, and later because he inherited the inheritance of distant relatives, he moved to Qijing to live, he is elegant and good at Danqing, and he is a good hand at talking about scriptures and Xuan, it is said that even Xiang is depressed and debated, and he is often defeated in his mouth, so I really admire him and make friends." ”

Qi Long put down the teacup and said: "I took the school exam just now, and it can be seen from the usual conversation that this person is a real talent, and if it can be used by my Daqi, it will also be a good thing." ”

"But the concubine looked at him resolutely, as if she didn't want to be an official in the court," Su Mi said with a puzzled expression.

"If he doesn't want to enter the court as an official, why should he run to the capital because of some inheritance, he must be a rich and noble person, he refused me just now, but I am afraid that he will agree to be recruited once, which will inevitably ruin his reputation as a noble and self-reliant. That's why it's not allowed, otherwise, who wouldn't want an official position as soon as they enter the court? Qi Long smiled.

"It's still the emperor's sage, and when the world's talents see the emperor seeking talent like this, they will definitely rush to be used by the emperor." Su Mi smiled softly.

Qi Long nodded and said, "As long as I summon a few more times, as the so-called sincerity, the golden stone is the ......."

At this time, I heard Gao Shengnuo outside the door report loudly, "Your Majesty, the queen mother sent someone over there, saying that there are a few matters related to the draft to ask about the holy will." ”

"There's been a lot of going on lately," Qi Long complained, "It's a draft, it's military affairs, and it's a scientific expedition, and I'm afraid that the emperor will not be able to be idle compared to the ordinary pawns in the corners and alleys." ”

Su Mi covered his mouth and chuckled: "It's just that the emperor complains about being busy in other affairs, but this draft is for the emperor to add another beautiful woman to your harem, and share your worries, why does the emperor complain?" ”

"If you talk about sharing worries and relieving fatigue, who can compare to my Mi'er," Qi Long kissed Su Mi's side of the bun, and got up by the way and said: "That's all for today's government affairs, I will go to the queen with you, and the affairs of the draft will be discussed again." ”

"The emperor will go first, and the concubines will go to fix their appearance first, and they will arrive immediately." Su Mi stood up and said with a smile.

"Where does Mi'er still need to trim her appearance, now it is already a national beauty." Qi Long said jokingly.

"Your Majesty," Su Mi said shyly: "Seeing the queen's mother, how can she be so disheveled, let's let the concubine go later." "If you go with Qi Long, according to Qi Long's temperament, she must have to share a chariot with the two of them, and take the imperial chariot to Fengyi Palace, this kind of demonstration is a strong move, she naturally will not do it.

"In that case, I'll just wait for you for a while."

"Since the queen mother has sent someone here, she must have something important to discuss with the emperor, how can she delay time for the concubine, don't you make the concubine feel guilty and blame herself," while saying, Gao Shengnuo came in to report that the chariot was ready, Su Mi took the opportunity to push Qi Long and said: "The emperor should go quickly, the concubine will arrive later." ”

Qi Long couldn't shirk it, so he went first. Su Mi rested in the side hall for a while before walking out of the Qianqing Palace, getting on the chariot, and walking towards the Fengyi Palace.

Entering the Fengyi Palace, Qi Long had already sat down on the main seat, and the queen was beside him, holding a booklet with a golden cover, and the slender fingers pointed at it, while saying something to Qi Long's ear, Qi Long nodded from time to time.

Seeing Su Mi come in, both of them showed a mild look of joy on their faces.

"Today, the emperor's government affairs are hard, fortunately, there are concubines to serve and take care of the emperor, and the palace can rest assured." The queen laughed.

"Well, Mi'er is careful and thoughtful, and she does worry a lot about me." Qi Long smiled as he motioned for Su Mi to sit down in the seat next to him.

After Su Mi sat down, Qi Long and the queen began to discuss again.

"Is there anything else you can't decide?" Qi Long asked.

"And then this time the matter of the show girl's residence, the emperor has to come up and get an idea, originally according to the convention, it was going to live in the Chuxiu Palace, but the Chuxiu Palace has not been ......repaired for many years," the queen said.

"Untrimmed?" Qi Long asked suspiciously.

"Yes, at the beginning of the emperor's succession to the throne, it was already old and damaged and should be repaired, but at that time, there were many affairs between the DPRK and China, and the military expenditure was huge, and even the Empress Dowager and her old man's Cining Palace refused to be repaired, how could we bother with these palaces that could not be used for a while." The queen explained.

Qi Long then remembered and asked, "Where did you live in the last draft?" ”

"I live in the Xuanhe Palace in the east."

"It would be nice to do the same this year." Qi Long said.

"The emperor doesn't know, the Xuanhe Palace is too small, the last draft was during the national funeral, the scale is still small, but it is harmless, but this time the draft alone has more than 300 show girls to be selected, but only the Xuanhe Palace is impossible to live, according to the opinion of the concubines, it is better to vacate several palaces nearby, let the show girls live. It's just that...... The palace concubine among them did not know how to place it. The queen asked.

Although there are many vacant palaces in Qi Long's harem, they are scattered, and most of the palaces are inhabited by two or three concubines, although there are few people, but there are very few completely empty like Xuanhe Palace. If the show girls are placed in a free place, it will be difficult to manage, and there will only be centralized residence, so it is inevitable to move the palace concubines, among which there are several main concubines, according to the convention, the queen does not have the right to directly issue an edict to move out. That's why I came to Qi Long's idea.

"Just do what the queen wants," Qi Long thought for a while and said: "If there are concubines who live, just say what I mean, let's move to another place for the time being, and then move back after this period of time, how to arrange the queen to consider." It's just that Chuxiu Palace should also be repaired, and it can't be dealt with like this in the future. ”

The queen nodded yes.

Qi Long paused, and then asked, "By the way, how many palaces are there near Xuanhe Palace?" ”

"It's the Cui Palace, the Caiwei Palace, and the Changchun Palace." The queen replied.

"Caiwei Palace?" Qi Long thought about it, and immediately turned his head to look at Su Mi: "In this way, Mi Er is also moving out." ”

"That's right," Su Mi said with a smile on the side: "It's all because of the emperor's words, it's good now, so that the concubines are homeless." The emperor wants to compensate his concubines for a place. ”

"This is so, according to what the concubine has seen, it just so happens that there are few people to accompany her here in the palace, so Concubine Lian might as well live in ...... for the time being" Before the queen finished speaking, Qi Long had already waved her hand and interrupted her.

"Stingy little thing, since that's the case, it's good for me to compensate you," Qi Long smiled at Su Mi, and turned his head to the queen and said, "Mi'er doesn't need to arrange a place anymore, just live in Qianqing Palace." ”

As soon as this sentence came out, Su Mi's face suddenly changed, Qianqing Palace is the residence of the emperor, and the concubine will enter, so only when Qi Long summons the concubine to be lucky, Qi Mi's meaning is tantamount to saying that before the end of the show girl election, Qi Long will only be fortunate Su Mi alone.

A sharp and sharp light flashed in the queen's eyes, and she turned calm, and said with a reluctant smile: "That's okay, the concubines are having a headache, I don't know how to arrange so many concubines?" The emperor let the concubines save their strength. ”

At this time, Yurui, who was beside the queen, brought a few little eunuchs from the Internal Affairs Office with a bunch of neat picture scrolls and sent them up, and after saluting Qi Long and the queen, she reported: "This is the roster and portrait of this show girl, the Internal Affairs Office has just sent it in, please take a look at it first." ”

The queen turned her head to look at Qi Long.

"The queen will deal with it herself," Qi Long said, "There is no need to serve me, there are more outstanding matters to discuss tomorrow." ”

So the queen took it and began to deal with it. According to the palace rules, these portraits were to be archived and recorded.

Qi Long approached the bookcase with great interest, and opened a few scrolls casually, all of them were young women about twenty-eight years old, all of them were beautiful and elegant, jumping on the paper, and after reading a few, they felt dazzled and dizzy.

"According to me, the rule of reading the album first in the previous draft can be avoided, which of the portraits in this volume is not exquisitely painted and captivating, and I don't know how much it looks like a real person." Qi Long smiled as he looked through it.

"The concubines have just looked through it, and there are indeed a few outstanding ones, and this time they will definitely be able to select a few peerless beauties for the emperor." The queen laughed.

"The origin of the attitude cannot be drawn. Where else can a peerless beauty be better than Mi'er? Qi Long said, then remembered it again, and asked, "By the way, Mi'er doesn't have a portrait of a file, right?" ”

"Yes, not only did Concubine Lian not have it, but there were no show girls last time." The queen added on the side that the last time because of the state funeral, all the procedures were handled simply, and many procedures were waived. It's just that the girls of the famous eunuchs in the capital were selected, and they lived in the palace, and they were hurriedly selected by Qi Long and the queen after reading it.

"I have an idea," Qi Long laughed, "Ge Hong, whom I just summoned today, happens to be the person who has been good at Danqing in Qi Jing recently, so I might as well invite him over to make up for the missing palace concubines in the harem." "Ge Hong is Ge Chengming's pseudonym in the capital.

"It's so good, the concubines also feel that they should find an opportunity to complete the information, and the emperor is thoughtful." The queen said.

It is precisely like this that Dong Qianguang was born with the name of Wumeitu. Now that there are many beauties in my harem, I should naturally leave a painting to commemorate it. Qi Long said with a smile: "Since you want to paint, select the concubines in the palace with excellent qualifications and dignified appearances one by one, and don't care about what pictures have or not, paint them well." ”

"That's what the emperor said." The queen smiled: "It's really a good idea, the Dong family used to be five beautiful pictures, and now the emperor is going to draw a hundred beautiful pictures." ”

Qi Long nodded and said, "Since that's the case, let's start with Mi'er." ”

"What?" Su Mi was stunned when she heard this, and hurriedly got up and said to Qi Long: "Now that the queen has a noble appearance, how can she reach the concubines, and ask the emperor to take back her life." ”

When the queen heard Qi Long's words, her face was also stagnant, and when she heard Su Mi's answer, her face was slightly pale. Qi Long was excited, "Why should Mi Er be modest, painting in the harem, of course, is sorted according to appearance, what does it have to do with the dignity of the position?" ”

The smile on the queen's face was a little reluctant, "What the emperor said is that Concubine Lian is not only talented and beautiful, but also a piece of her heart for the emperor." ”

Qi Long nodded excitedly and said yes.

Su Mi suddenly said that he was suffering, and looked up at the queen's face, the queen had recovered, and her face was still full of gentleness, and said: "What the emperor said makes sense, that's exactly the case." ”

"Hmm," Qi Long nodded, and the matter was decided.

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Cining Palace.

The Queen Mother reclined on a cushion embroidered with a pattern of five blessings, lazily blowing the hot tea in her hand.

There is a jasper incense burner on the small table of rosewood, which is exuding a quiet fragrance and lingering on the nose. It makes people sleepy.

The Queen Mother took a sip of tea and said, "You are telling the truth, word for word?" ”

The queen bowed her head and said, "That's right, there is no mistake." ”

The Queen Mother shook her head, "In that case, this lotus concubine can't be kept." Leave it to Mrs. Dingguo, and do it according to the original plan. After speaking, she sighed and said, "Don't blame the mourning family for being ruthless......