Two maids led Zhou into the palace, bowed and bowed, and then left.
　　During the New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Festival, the wives of the imperial officials in the capital had come to visit before, and they knew the furnishings, rules and etiquette of the Cining Palace very well. But those times were congratulations and wishes, which was different from the purpose of this visit.
　　Although Zhou was a little nervous, fortunately, she was very stable and mature because of her age. She was wearing an imperial dress, which looked very decent. After the maid left, she smiled and greeted the empress dowager.
　　Dong Lingjiu nodded and exempted her from the ceremony.
　　Then, the maid came up to lead her to a seat and served tea. From beginning to end, she was respectful and solemn, without a sound. The female minister Li Ruixue, who was just talking in private, and Xuan Jingyun, the governor of the rear province, were even more cautious and silent.
　　The imperial palace was naturally different from other places. Even if Zhou wanted to make some relatives, she couldn't say anything after seeing this scene. She could only say a lot of auspicious and polite words to Dong Lingjiu.
　　Dong Lingjiu was really tired of listening to this, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, and she said directly: "You are thoughtful to come and see me. I can just write these words in a book or on paper. Why bother you to come in person?"
　　Zhou heard the tone of the words and did not hide it. She said: "It is my blessing to be able to come and pay a visit to the Queen Mother in person. The Queen Mother has both sons and daughters, which is great. The demeanor of Her Royal Highness the Princess is the most unique in the world." Although
　　Dong Lingjiu is a mother, her temper is different from most people. Most people will feel proud and proud from the bottom of their hearts when their children are praised by outsiders, no matter how cautious and humble they are. This is human nature, and there is nothing to say.
　　But she is different, because she is tired of living in the palace and has been worried about thousands of things in the past twenty years. So once someone praises her and her children, Dong Lingjiu's first reaction is the other party's purpose, the other party must have something to ask for, etc.
　　This subconscious defensiveness and indifference is due to the habit of living in the palace for many years.
　　Dong Lingjiu gently placed her fingers on the edge of the table, tapping the edge of the wooden table regularly, and said gently: "The girl is fine in other aspects, but her eyesight is too poor. She failed to judge people. Otherwise, she would not live alone in the princess's mansion." When
　　she said this, Zhou naturally said immediately: "People without blessings are not worthy of Your Highness. We are a small family, a middle-class family. I am afraid that we cannot even think of letting our young master serve the princess." Small family
　　? Middle-class family? Wang family?
　　In addition to bowing their heads in the imperial palace, the Wang family, a family of high officials and scholars, may not look down on those dandy children even if they see the Marquis' Mansion.
　　Dong Lingjiu chuckled and roughly figured out her intention.
　　In fact, at this point, both parties knew that it was almost over. But Zhou was hoping that the empress dowager would let her know a word to see if this matter of marrying into the royal family was feasible, and she added, "The person your highness chose before was not good, because the empress dowager did not approve of it. This marriage still requires the approval of my parents. If the empress dowager would pay attention to the younger generation..."
　　Dong Lingjiu waited quietly for her to finish, and said with a smile, "I have let it go a long time ago and put this matter aside. Not to mention that she does not want to get married, even if she becomes a nun and swears to never rely on a man for the rest of her life, I will not force her."
　　Zhou's expression was slightly stagnant, and her face looked a little wrong. Just at this moment, Dong Lingjiu seemed to have just remembered, and said in a daze, "I heard that your child is of the same character, Shuren, and he will never marry and will be pure in his life. I think this is a good thing. A man will be pure when he is free from the seven emotions and six desires."
　　When Zhou heard this, she felt like she had just been pulled out of ice water. She forced a smile and nodded, "Yes, yes... there is a bad boy in my family... all these crazy words have reached the ears of the Queen Mother."
　　"I am old, not deaf." Dong Lingjiu said with a smile, "If there is any disobedience in the words you say while sitting at home, I might hear a word while drinking tea here."
　　Zhou's heart trembled, and she became uneasy. It was not hot that day, but she felt sweat on her forehead, hair roots, and even her back. The coldness surged up, and it was chilly when the wind blew.
　　"Besides..." Dong Lingjiu paused, "wanting to become a monk and practice Zen, that means enlightenment, not disobedience. Ruixue, take out the string of sandalwood Buddhist beads you have kept in the cabinet and give it to the child with enlightenment in the Wang family."
　　Aunt Ruixue bowed her head and responded, turned and left, and soon took out the Buddhist beads and handed them to Zhou.
　　Zhou's face was changing constantly. She reached out to take the beads, thanked the Empress Dowager and the concubine, and was so worried that she dared not utter a word. She just drank a cup of tea and left.
　　When the maid sent her away, she heard Zhou holding the beads and muttering "What should I do?" and "How can I practice according to the emperor's order?"...
　　After she left, Ruixue served Dong Lingjiu medicine, glanced at the sky, and said, "Little Lord Zheng should be back soon."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "The Northern Expedition is not over yet. He, 'Zheng Junzhi', cannot get any merit reward at this time. He can only stay in Beijing to recuperate."
　　"Yes, Little Lord Zheng didn't even have to go to the Ministry of Revenue, but Your Majesty assigned him such a task." Ruixue said, "We haven't seen each other for a long time. He must want to accompany you every step of the way." "
　　He only thinks about doing things for me and forgets to do things for the emperor." Dong Lingjiu said, "In the future, he will probably be with the emperor more than he is with me. I can't protect him all my life... Is it the principle of monarch and ministers to not get along when they meet?"
　　"Your Highness..." Ruixue paused for a moment, then handed over the medicine bowl and whispered, "You are in the prime of your life, and you should not make a habit of thinking about your afterlife."
　　Ruixue had been with Empress Dowager Dong for many years, and could hear the hidden meaning behind her arrangements and considerations. She felt a pain in her heart and said without authorization, "In my opinion, if there is really afterlife, Lord Zheng may not want to live alone. Even for us, if something unexpected happens, we will be the guardians of the tombstone under the imperial mausoleum for the next life..."
　　"That's not necessary." Dong Lingjiu said, "Do you have to annoy me to death? Stop it here, so you won't be sad."
　　She looked calm, drank the medicine, ate two pieces of candied fruit, and wiped her hands with a wet hot towel. At this time, she remembered what she had forgotten when Ruixue interrupted her, and turned to ask: "By the way, why did the Wang family suddenly ask this? Yingying changed her personality and finally left Xu Xiang aside?"
　　Dong Lingjiu knew Meng Zhaiyue's personality very well. She was a person with limited enthusiasm. If she devoted herself to the compilation of "Da Yin Law Commentary", she would forget about food and sleep and forget everything else. But if she was not given such a serious matter and was allowed to devote herself to Xu Bingbi, then any shocking things would happen, as long as it was organized by the princess, it would be expected.
　　Ruixue's partner was in the princess's mansion, and she knew more about him than others. She shook her head slightly and sighed, "Xu Bingbi is the director of the Neichang Factory and the imperial scribe. He is also a law enforcer hated by all the ministers. He often had some official dealings with Your Highness, and it became more frequent after Your Highness was ordered to amend the law. How could Your Highness cast him aside?"
　　Dong Lingjiu nodded and said, "That's because the Wang family is too sentimental. It's a pity that flowers are like flowing water, and Yingying has also been a ruthless flowing water." Ruixue smiled and said,
　　"That's right. The Dalang in their family who refused to get married, but because of his father, he asked a few questions and then gave up his will and coveted a golden branch and jade leaf. Ji Jingming watched from the side and felt that... this was the man's wishful thinking."
　　As she spoke, she changed another dry towel for the empress dowager to wipe her hands and brought a cup of warm tea.
　　Dong Lingjiu was not in a hurry to drink tea. He thought silently for a moment and said, "Let them get together. Nothing will happen, right?"
　　The "they" here refers to Meng Zhaiyue and Xu Xiang.
　　Li Ruixue understood immediately and said, "What can go wrong... After all, eunuchs are not men."
　　"I'm not talking about him," Dong Lingjiu said, "I'm talking about this princess of mine - although Yingying is educated, she is not naturally polite. Before going to the Dali Temple to read case files and worshipping Mr. Wang as her teacher, I was afraid that Yingying would be fickle and would impulsively snatch someone back one day... She is considered well-behaved if she doesn't keep ten or eight male favorites in her house."
　　Ruixue was silent for a moment, and said, "Xu Bingbi is silent, but he is a devil. There are few people in the court who don't scold him, hate him, and fear him. He works diligently and treads on thin ice, and something might happen one day... Besides, he knows that his status as a slave is not worthy of His Highness."
　　Dong Lingjiu thought about this and didn't answer, and then said, "Let Ji Jingming hide it from the emperor first, and just say he doesn't know when asked. If the emperor knows what the Wang family means, he can say what I said, that I don't like their family, so let's do it this way."
　　Ruixue bowed her head and said, "Yes."
　　...
　　Zheng Yuheng came back from the villa where the Sixth Prince lived, handed over the words on paper to the emperor's attendant in Guiyuan Palace, and then thought about how to word the princess's matter all the way.
　　It was dusk, the wind was strong in the evening, and it started to rain lightly.
　　Zheng Yuheng was walking into the corridor, not afraid of the rain. There were only three or two young eunuchs along the corridor, setting up ladders there to wipe the cobalt blue palace board on the top of the corridor and brush off the dust. On the left side of the corridor was a lotus pond. In early summer, before the lotus leaves appeared, eunuchs took a straw boat to take care of it.
　　At this moment, the rain came, and the water droplets splashed ripples everywhere, and the boat paddled to the shore.
　　The sound of rain was pattering by the corridor. Zheng Yuheng was thinking about something in his mind, and he was not wet yet. He forgot that he didn't bring an umbrella, and was only thinking about how to "be scolded together" with the princess.
　　When he was distracted, he stepped out of the edge of the corridor and bumped into a person head-on. It was Xu Xiang.
　　Zheng Yuheng felt a little guilty for some reason, as if he was trying to match someone with a good friend, but met his good friend's sweetheart. There was a strange and subtle feeling. He politely saluted and said, "Xu Bingbi."
　　"Dr. Zheng." Xu Xiang returned the salute, "Returning to Cining Palace?"
　　"Yes."
　　Xu Xiang said, "I am changing shifts in front of the emperor. I am going back to Cining Palace to serve the Empress Dowager. I just saw Dr. Zheng without an umbrella over there. Why don't we go together?" The
　　little eunuch behind him was holding a big green umbrella.
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a moment, always feeling that the other party was a little prepared. He looked Xu Bingbi up and down in confusion, nodded and said, "Okay."
　　The two stepped out of the corridor, and the eunuch held the umbrella all the way to Cining Palace. On the way, Zheng Yuheng quietly asked him, "Do you know something?"
　　Xu Xiang said, "I don't know what Dr. Zheng meant."
　　Zheng Yuheng said, "...It's okay. Thank you for the umbrella. Just don't hit me when you hear it later."
　　The author has something to say:
　　Xiao Zheng is afraid QAQ
　　There is another chapter behind.