On July 4, the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong insisted on canonizing his concubine Li Tai, the king of Wei, as the prince of the East Palace, in the opposition of a group of courtiers led by Wei Zheng.

In September of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, the old prince Li Chengqian died of illness in Qianzhou, and returned to the court, Taizong was heartbroken, and he was dismissed for a day.

In the same year, Li Yuanchang, the former king of the Han Dynasty, who was exiled, died in the suburbs and was buried.

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, in the first month, Wei Zheng died of illness, Taizong ordered the officials above the ninth grade in the court to go to the funeral, give Yu Bao to advocate, accompany the burial of Zhaoling, and then the courtiers said that Wei Zheng was a mirror, and often used it to gain and lose.

In February, in order to cherish the memory of the heroes of the two dynasties, Taizong built the Lingyan Pavilion next to the Sanqing Palace, and ordered Yan Liben of the Ministry of Engineering to paint the portraits of the twenty-four meritorious heroes, all in remembrance.

In September of the same year, Silla and Goguryeo attacked Baekje and blocked the road from Baekje to the Tang capital.

In July of the following year, Taizong ordered Hong, Rao, and Jiang to build ships and send troops to attack Liaodong, and in September, Goguryeo Moli sent envoys to Tang to pay tribute, but Taizong did not accept them, and detained the envoys.

September of the 18th year of Zhenguan

East Palace

On a long corridor in the West Garden, an elderly monk led five or six young palace maids in pink shirts and hairpins to pass by, and these palace maids who were quietly looking forward to along the way were obviously just transferred from other palaces.

The group turned around at the end of the corridor, and the old monk took them into the side of the Qing'an Palace, a small cupboard, before turning around and saying indifferently:

"You wait here, I'll go and ask Ping Sibo to come, and then arrange your work and rest."

After that, she didn't look at them anymore, she walked out of the door with her sleeves copied, and there were two delicate-looking palace maids secretly pouting behind her, not wanting the old monk who walked to the door to suddenly turn around, just looking at their strange appearances in their eyes, so frightened that these two people stiffened their faces and lowered their heads in a hurry.

"The East Palace is not elsewhere, don't move around at will."

After leaving such a sentence, the old Shangren glanced at the two Gong E's who had just made a grimace again, and then left expressionlessly.

As soon as she walked away, the room was quiet for a long time, probably to make sure that she would not turn back, and then a few boos sounded, and someone whispered:

"What, we were transferred to serve His Royal Highness the Prince, how did we get an old slave to point fingers here."

Someone took a handkerchief and spread it on the felt carpet, squatted down, squinted and smiled:

"Hehe, my sister doesn't know anything, the Aunt Ji just now, but the old monk who is in charge of the affairs in front of the Crown Princess's Palace, can come to receive you, it is already enough to give you face, is it possible that you still want the two sisters of Pingtong and Pinghui to welcome you in person, do you really think that you are a rare person?"

The palace maid who complained before was blushing from her ridicule, stepped forward with two steps, pointed at the other party's nose with one hand, and said in shame: "You, how do you speak, do you know which palace I am!" “

The one sitting sneered: "I don't care which palace you come from, when you get here, you are not the same slave maid, you want to climb the bed of His Royal Highness the Prince, but don't implicate others, girl, I am here to be a person, to serve a good master, it is called duty, if you have the ability, you will be promoted to a noble person one day, and then come and yell at me, otherwise shut your mouth." ”

This person is a powerful person at first glance, and the palace maid who was ashamed is also a bully who is afraid of the hard, and when she saw that she was more fierce than herself, she became less arrogant, and did not dare to continue to quarrel with her, but glared at her angrily, and then twisted her waist to sit down opposite.

Several other palace maids next to them also came from different palaces, watching them quarrel with cold eyes, and seeing that they were alive, they each found a place to sit down and wait for someone to come.

After about a cup of tea, outside the bright hallway, a black shadow suddenly jumped in, "dong dong" bounced on the ground a few times, and rolled down into the hall.

Several palace maids saw the thing that rolled in, and looked at it, but it was a leather ball painted with gold and red, delicate and small, all the women looked at each other, and the previous palace maid with sharp teeth got up to pick it up first, took it in her hand and touched it, and said to the four with her eyebrows flying:

"It's not like we're bored waiting, and we've sent something to relieve our boredom."

Some people laughed and said nothing, and someone answered: "It fell in from outside, why don't you go out and look for it, and see who lost it?" ”

"But Ji Shangren said that we are not allowed to move around at will, wait, someone may come to look for us later."

As he was talking, someone suddenly said "Huh", stretched out his hand and pointed out the door, and said, "I just saw someone behind the door, and it disappeared in a blink of an eye, as if, as if it was a child." ”

When the women heard the sound, they looked out of the empty door, but at first they didn't see anything, and when they looked again, it was not difficult to find that on the threshold of the daylight search, there was a small figure, and it was obvious that the owner was hiding behind the door.

"Who's where?" The palace maid holding the small leather ball tilted her neck, looked out, and saw that the little man hiding behind the door moved, but refused to come out, so she rolled her eyes, knocked the leather ball in her hand, and said loudly:

"It's a good ball, but it's a pity that someone lost it, and if no one wants it, I'll take it and play with it."

This trick really worked, and not long after her words fell, she saw a pair of white little hands showing on the side of the door, grabbing the door frame, and then slowly poking out a small head, only showing it for a moment, and then retracting it.

It's probably just a blink of an eye, but someone might as well see it clearly, Dao is a little doll with red lips and white teeth, and the eyes as bright as grape beads are too beautiful, so that people can't help but remember them when they look at them.

"Ah, did you see, it's really a little doll!"

"I saw it, I saw it, right behind the door, so tall, with big eyes, three or four years old."

"Ah, I don't see clearly, is it really a child, a boy or a girl?"

There was a sound of chirping in the hall, and the shadow reflected on the threshold shrank a little, and the palace maid with the ball saw it, afraid that the beautiful child would be scared away, so she quickly put up her finger on her lips, and "shh

Xiao Budian, who was hiding behind the door, couldn't hide, was caught, stared at the adult who suddenly appeared with wide eyes, and looked at the small leather ball in her hand, it seemed that she hesitated for a moment, so she didn't turn around and run away, but plucked up her courage, stretched out her little hand and pointed to the small leather ball in her arms, put her hands behind her back, leaned up her neck, and said in a milky voice:

"Qiuqiu, a little rain."

Being looked at by such a pair of innocent eyes, the palace maid's heart softened, her face was unconsciously full of smiles, she bent down, and asked softly at this little doll whose height was less than her thighs:

"Is this ball yours? My sister's name is Qin Xuan, and your name is Xiaoyudian, it's so nice. ”

Hearing that the other party was praising himself, Xiaoyudi blinked, the momentum was gone just now, he lowered his head, and rubbed the ground on his toes, obviously embarrassed.

At this time, the palace maids in the house had already walked to the door to see the movement, Qin Xuan was about to say something to Xiaoyudian, when she suddenly heard someone in the south calling nervously, she straightened her waist, turned her head and saw a few women in palace clothes running towards this side at the end of the corridor, and it was close in a moment.

She recognized that the leader was the eldest maid Ping Hui who was serving in front of the crown princess, Ping Siyan, her mind suddenly moved, and then she looked down at the little doll like a porcelain pinch, and just a thought came to her mind, she heard Ping Hui step forward, squatted down beside her, took two breaths, and called to the little doll nervously:

"Little county lord, why did you come here, but you frightened the slaves."

When the palace maids who were sent to the East Palace heard this, how could they not know the identity of the little doll that suddenly appeared, they immediately knelt down and bowed to the ground:

"Slave and maid, see the county lord."

As soon as they shouted, Xiao Yudi hid behind Pinghui, tugging at the sleeves of her clothes, and curiously probed from behind her to look at the group of strangers.

Pinghui stood up and glanced at the group of palace maids from outside, because she knew their origins, she didn't have a good face, "Get up." ”

After that, he turned around and smiled again, bent down and said to Xiaoyudian: "The crown princess has returned to the palace and is looking for you, the little county lord will go back with the slave maid." ”

Hearing this, Xiaoyu's eyes lit up, and she obediently stretched out her hand to pull Pinghui, and took the initiative to drag Pinghui's hand to go back.

Seeing that they were about to leave, Qin Xuan hurriedly called out, "Little county lord, your ball." ”

Ping Hui and Xiao Yudian twisted their faces together, and when they saw the small colored leather ball in Qin Xuan's hand, Ping Hui frowned again, and was about to ask someone to bring something over, but her hand was gently tugged, so she bent down and listened to Xiao Yudian's words.

Qin Xuan pricked up her ears, and she didn't hear what they were whispering, so she saw Pinghui finish listening to Xiaoyudian's words, turn her head to look at her, and her face was better than just now.

"What's your name? Which palace did it come from? ”

Asked by Pinghui, Qin Xuan hurriedly bowed her head and replied: "If you return to the servant, the slave maid is called Qin Xuan, and she originally worked in the palace of the noble concubine. ”

Pinghui wrote down the name before conveying the meaning of the shy little master:

"The county lord saw that you liked this colored cage, so he gave it to you."

Hearing this, Qin Xuan suddenly remembered what she had just said in order to coax people out, but she didn't expect that this child not only listened to it, but also gave her something because of this.

Pinghui saw that the palace maid was standing stunned, and she didn't know how to thank her, because she was in a hurry to bring the little master back, she didn't blame, just shook her head, and left with Xiaoyu.

The women bowed their heads and congratulated, and when they were gone, they began to talk again.

(Visiting relatives and friends, exhausted*

S-H-U