At the end of the old year, the emperor often summoned the ministers of the Imperial Court, and at that time Lan Qi guessed that the emperor was worried about Mobei's affairs, but she didn't know what the situation was over there, and now she heard that Galdan fled and refused to surrender, so she knew that the rumors were not out of nowhere, and the emperor was very likely to send troops to encircle and suppress Galdan again.

When it came to the Lantern Festival, the sky was clear, although it was still icy and snowy, it was always nice to see the sunshine, and the ladies gathered in Ningshou Palace to congratulate the Queen Mother, and the little elder brother of the third elder brother's mansion and the little county lord of the seventh elder brother's mansion also hugged into the palace. Now the emperor's children and grandchildren are full, and the queen mother can't hold them one by one in her arms, and the babbling in Ningshou Palace is full of children's laughter and crying.

In the afternoon of that day, Lan Qi was ordered by the Queen Mother to visit Su Mala at the Elder Brother's house, and on the New Year's Festival, the Emperor and the Queen Mother invited the Grandma to participate in the royal banquet together, but the Grandma always refused as a slave and lived in the Elder Brother's place without going out. The emperor did not force her, occasionally came to visit in person, or sent Lan Qi or Concubine Rong to take a look, and Mama was still the person he respected the most.

At this moment, when Lan Qi and Mama had finished talking and were about to leave, but when they saw the concubine and the palace maid wandering outside the elder brother's office, and when they saw Concubine De, they greeted her, Lan Qi asked her: "What are you doing here, isn't the little princess in front of the Queen Mother?" ”

The concubine said: "The concubine returned to Qixiang Palace in the afternoon, and heard that the secret nobleman was uncomfortable, so she invited the imperial doctor to take a look, but after a look, she found that her sister was pregnant. ”

Lan Qi was taken aback, but thinking that at the end of the year, after Chen Chang was pregnant and couldn't sleep, it was indeed that the secret nobles were mostly by the emperor's side, and the Internal Affairs Office did have a few records, and Concubine Rong and the concubines were still gossiping in front of them, saying that the secret nobles were now reborn as if they had changed their lives, so it was not surprising that they heard that she was pregnant.

"You go back and take good care of her, if this child is born, it will naturally stay with you, which can be regarded as a comfort to her." Lan Qi gently instructed the concubine, and praised her, "In the end, you took good care of it, the emperor will definitely praise you when he knows it, Qixiang Palace has been peaceful for the past two days, and it is all your credit." ”

The concubine was overjoyed and said with a smile: "The concubine has only felt that she has lived a different life after all these years. ”

Lan Qi smiled and said nothing, I don't know why Mama Wang's words came to mind again, Mama doesn't know where she is now, isn't she still alive, if she knows that the little palace maid who was bullied by her in the past is now in this position, what would she think? But Lan Qi wanted to thank her, and she still used her words in the past.

came out of the elder brother and went straight to Ningshou Palace to report the good news, and the queen mother was naturally happy when she heard that the emperor was going to add another son. In the eyes of the Queen Mother, the secret nobles have been keeping to themselves for the past two years, and the original thing has passed, not to mention that it is the prince's fault, not the fault of the secret nobles, but I don't know that this secret nobleman is not the secret nobleman, and even the queen mother is still in the dark.

The women heard that the Wang family was pregnant again, and few people could have a good face, and they used to say that the women of the Han family were weak, but they didn't expect that this Wang family could really give birth, and then there was that Chen Chang was about to give birth, and unconsciously, now all the women of the Han family who gave birth to children for the emperor were all Han women, and the concubines and concubines were all left aside, and many people had resentment in their hearts.

At this time, the Queen Mother said again: "The secret nobleman has a child again, and the few lovely people around the emperor can't serve anymore, who else is there in the palace now?" ”

Naturally, this would not be said in front of other concubines, and the Queen Mother asked Lan Qi in private: "The emperor likes Han women all these years, I don't care, but I always feel that it is not good to go on like this for a long time, and the Mengman nobles must have opinions. ”

Lan Qi said: "The concubine and the emperor have mentioned it a few times, but now the emperor seems to be annoyed about Mobei's affairs, and the draft must not be careful, it is better to wait for this trouble to pass, the concubine and you will discuss with the emperor, you are right, you can't be favored by the Han family's women, and the noble ministers will not be able to bear it sooner or later." ”

The Queen Mother said: "Mengman Eight Banners, there are a lot of young women in this wave, you know the marriage of the brothers, the choice is just a formality, most of them are determined by us, this time for the emperor to choose, you and probe the emperor's tone, is there someone inside, or when the time comes, look at the favorite to stay, we have a target, Emperor Xuan is hearty, let's look at the pleasing one." ”

Lan Qi promised the Queen Mother one by one, but this matter is not in a hurry to do it now, and when the Lantern Festival Emperor is too busy to enter the harem, she will not use this kind of thing to entangle, her son came to ask for peace is to hear a sentence or two, the Li Fan Yuan is already mobilizing soldiers and horses, and when the spring flowers are blooming, it happens to go north to encircle and suppress Galdan, but listening to Yinzhen's words, it seems that this time it will not be like last time, and take the brothers out.

Yin Zhen said very clearly: "The eldest brother used to study in the study not very well, but when he went to the battlefield, he was brave and strategic, he was really a general, and his son was not as good as him." ”

Lan Qi will persuade his son to have short and long, he just does what he can do, and Yinzhen is now a little less burdened, not as ambitious as before to leave the Forbidden City and do a big job in the court.

In the past two years in and out of the court, the seriousness and difficulty of the court's major affairs, and the flattery of the civil and military officials, have made him see the world more clearly, he was infiltrated by Queen Xiaoyi and his mother to grow up in a honey pot, the biggest setback in his life is the loss of Yinzuo and his adoptive mother, and nothing else is difficult to do.

But when he left the palace on an errand, even if he was the emperor's brother, there was something he couldn't do, what the civil and military officials were best at was to prevaricate, a good thing, obviously one ring at a time can be done smoothly, but the middle is full of mistakes and omissions is blocked there and does not move, that is, Yinzhen runs by himself, those people are humble and respectful, but they just knock their heads into the dirt, people don't do things, and they don't break at all.

Whenever he encounters something like that, Yinzhen will think of his father sitting on the dragon chair, seemingly mighty and domineering in charge of the world, but more or less casual things are blocked in his heart, if the Ninety-Five Zun can't be humble and like a valley, he may have been suffocated to death a long time ago.

When the first month is about to pass, Yuqing Palace has good news that the crown princess is pregnant, and there are rumors outside the palace that the prince and the princess are not in harmony, and now that the princess is pregnant, the rumors will naturally be broken. The crown princess is a concubine, the status of the child is very important, this birth of a boy and a girl has a great impact, the emperor personally called the prince to him, and told him to take good care of the princess. At the same time, it was also announced that in late February, the emperor would once again drive his own expedition into the desert to find out Galdan and the rest of the sins, and the crown prince would stay in Beijing to supervise the country as before.

The news came out, the eldest brother once again went out with the car, now the eldest son of the emperor has made great achievements, plus he is getting older, and the contacts with the ministers of the court are becoming more and more frequent, and then there is Mingzhu behind the assistance, in the past, the protégés of the Pearl Mansion are all over the world, and the court is intertwined, although the setbacks were once sluggish, but these years Mingzhu has been low-key and serious about errands.

But on the mansion of Tong Guowei and Ah Ling's mansion, the two families of Tong Jia's Niu Hulu family have not had much contact with the fourth elder brother, after the fourth elder brother left the palace, he has been self-reliant, at most, the mother in the palace often has to supplement them, but the fourth elder brother's mansion is in good order, and the mother's subsidy is just icing on the cake.

As for the correspondence with the minister, now the fourth elder brother is still working under the emperor, and what ministers he sees and who he interacts with are all under the emperor's nose, and often some people are recommended by the emperor to let him learn from the minister, and other interpersonal interactions are still very simple.

Lan Qi looked at this matter coldly and never intervened, and Xuan Ye never mentioned it to her, the husband and wife have a tacit understanding with each other, and there is no contradiction between mother and son, father and son, only to see that the forces of the eldest brother and the prince are gradually condensing, but this has been the case in all dynasties, and no one is surprised.

In the middle of February, a few days before the departure of the army, the emperor rested in Yonghe Palace, and under the care of Concubine De, he led his troops out in high spirits. And Lan Qi now understands that although the royal driver is scary, the emperor will not be in danger, and he is chasing and beating Galdan, who is still breathing, and by the way, he will inspect Mobei and Monan, and sooner or later she will return safely, year by year, her mood is becoming more and more peaceful, and she is more able to withstand major events.

The cold weather after New Year's Day finally stopped in February. At the beginning of March, when the spring flowers bloomed, people who avoided the cold for a winter began to go out for activities, and the children were naturally more unable to sit still, that day Lan Qi asked the Queen Mother to say goodbye to the Queen Mother in Ningshou Palace, and the two daughters relied on the Queen Mother to say that they wanted to go out of the palace to see their sister-in-law, and the sister-in-law was about to give birth when her belly was very big, and they were not at ease.

Lan Qi blamed them for being playful and came up with such a considerate excuse, and the Queen Mother spoiled the children so much, and said with a smile that she had promised to let them go to the Fourth Elder Brother's Mansion once a month, but they didn't let them go out in the cold weather for the past few months, and they were suffocated. He ordered to arrange manpower, prepare guards and eunuchs to accompany him, and send the princesses out of the palace to play in the fourth elder brother's mansion for a day.

Lan Qi told her a thousand times, saying that the fourth sister-in-law was about to give birth now, and asked them not to let the fourth sister-in-law suffer, so she coincidentally sent the two daughters out of the door, and Zhong Cui Palace sent the news in a hurry, saying that Chen Chang's amniotic water broke.

If the emperor is in the palace, Lan Qi doesn't care, just because Xuan Ye is not there, she can do everything herself, Tete rushed to Zhongcui Palace and waited for a long time, Chen Chang was very hard in the first birth, and after being anxious again and again, she finally gave birth to the little brother. If it is the preface, it should be the seventeenth elder brother, Lan Qi and Duan Concubine watched the child in the delivery room together, Dai Guiren was coaxing the weak Chen Changzai and said: "When the emperor comes back to name the little elder brother, now take it to Duan Concubine's house to raise it, and when you are out of confinement, you can see it every day." ”

When everyone was happy, Huanchun quietly came in and glanced at the master, Lan Qi quietly followed her to the side, and Huanchun whispered: "Master, the fourth elder brother sent a message from the mansion, and the princesses are gone." ”

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