Yan Qing stared blankly at the person in front of him because of the misunderstanding .

No wonder, she had just felt that the man's voice did not sound like an inmate, but was also somewhat familiar. At this moment, the owner of the voice was standing with his backlit, facing her eyes.

She couldn't see her facial features clearly, but even that tall and thin figure was very familiar to her. At this moment, his clothes were wide-sleeved and the front was slightly loose, revealing the plain white mid-shirt underneath and the two protruding collarbones under the mid-shirt. Against the slender neck, he had a naturally romantic posture.

As for the woman in front of him, she was even more familiar. The Yirong of Empress Dowager Ciyi was something Yan Qing would not admit her mistake.

The lights in the room were dim, there was a faint aroma of wine, and there was an ambiguous atmosphere, which made Yan Qing seem out of place.

She was frightened, but she still maintained her composure and couldn't help but take a few steps back.

Jiang Weiren pursed his lips, his eyes were as thick as ink, his eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, and a trace of annoyance flashed in his eyes. He strode forward and walked to the door.

There was moonlight shining in beside the door at this moment, and it also illuminated his face. There was a residual blush on his cheeks, and there was still a trace of confusion in his eyes.

He looked good. Standing in the cold moonlight, his clear facial features were softened by the blush on his cheeks. The moonlight shone into his deep eyes, which made him really graceful.

He probably wanted to speak, but Yan Qing did not hesitate, turned around and ran into the corridor she came from. In the blink of an eye, the green lotus-colored dress completely disappeared into the night.

Fuying returned to the waterside pavilion from Chongbi Terrace, but she didn't see Yan Qing anywhere. She was a little anxious. As soon as she came out of the waterside pavilion, she saw a familiar figure walking quickly towards this side not far away.

Yan Qing hurried back along the original route. Jiang Weiren tried to catch up with her, but the rockery was twists and turns, and he was not as familiar with her as she was.

Fuying looked at Yan Qing's expression carefully in the moonlight. She didn't know what happened, but her face was gloomy. Although Yan Qing usually has a cold temper, he rarely loses his temper. His expression is always calm, showing no emotion or anger, but now his eyes are deep and downcast, as if he is suppressing his anger.

Yan Qing didn't speak, and Fu Ying didn't dare to ask. He just stepped forward to help her, and when he touched her hand, Fu Ying was startled by the coldness.

She quickly put the cloak she got on Yan Qing's body and said distressedly: "Master, they have already carried the shoulder carriage to Suiyuxuan. Let's go there."

Yan Qing frowned with a look of disgust. , said in a low voice: "Don't go there, go back to Chongbi Terrace."

Fuying didn't know what happened to her master during the time she left. She just guessed that the Bon Festival had just passed, and that night Everything was eerie, maybe he was frightened by something.

She helped Yan Qing back to Chongbi Terrace, and then directly back to Renshou Palace from Chongbi Terrace.

When Yan Qing rushed out of Suiyuxuan, he was sweating. On the way back, he was blown by the wind. When he returned to Renshou Palace, he asked Fuying to pass water to wash up, but he drove away all the palace attendants. go out.

Fuying stayed outside and saw no sound inside for a long time. After a while, she was really worried and boldly pushed the door open and went in. She saw Yan Qing sitting in the tub, with a blank look in her eyes as she was called. After a sound, his eyes regained their radiance.

But Fuying reached into the water and found that the water was already cold, but Yan Qing didn't even realize it.

After all this hard work, the body that was finally raised fell ill again. Yan Qing, the councilor of Wende Palace, naturally dismissed the illness and stopped going away. Anyway, with the Empress Dowager Ciyi and the Chief Assistant, she had never been able to do anything. of.

She concentrated on recuperating in Renshou Palace and did not leave the palace. Finally, even Xue Shiying heard the news and wanted to visit her, so Yan Qing naturally did not want to see her.

Over at Funing Palace, although Empress Dowager Ciyi did not come in person, she kept sending people over to inquire, and also called the imperial doctor over for questioning. Yan Qing knew that Cao Ding was really up to something. It was embarrassing for her to come to see him at this time, but in terms of face Still have to get by.

So she also asked Fuying to reply in person, saying that her illness was not serious, so that Empress Dowager Ciyi did not need to worry. As she came and went, it seemed as if what happened that night had never happened and was just a hallucination on her part. .

But what else could she do? She also saw what she shouldn't have seen, and Cao Dingzhen could still keep silent. Yan Qing is not a fool. How could such a thing be leaked before it was too late to cover it up?

It's just that the two palaces are usually in harmony, and there really isn't any big rift between them, but now, this harmony is just pretending to be seen by outsiders.

The only one who came to Renshou Palace every day was Zhao Yuan. At first, Yan Qing comforted him and said that he was fine, but Zhao Yuan still felt sorry for her and would definitely come to say hello no matter how busy he was.

"Your Majesty is in good health. Shouldn't your son come over to say hello? It would be nice if he could accompany your Majesty to relieve her boredom."

"My Ayuan is so good..." She replied with a smile, and she was still smiling. She wanted to touch his head affectionately like she did when she was a child, and when she raised her hand, she suddenly realized that this boy had reached her shoulder, as if overnight.

At the beginning of the new year, he will be ten years old, so he can no longer be considered a child. But when I looked at him like this every day, I always felt that he was still the little jade dumpling from before. Now if I looked carefully, his eyebrows seemed to have begun to grow.

"Ayuan, can you grow up slower..." She suddenly sighed.

"Why do you say that?" He tilted his head and asked.

Yan Qing smiled, but there was an unnoticeable gloom in his eyes, and his voice could not hide its deepness, "Because when you grow up, you will be very tired."

She looked at him lovingly and sighed softly: "I'm still afraid, From now on, A Yuan will be lonely without anyone to accompany him..."

At that time, Zhao Yuan looked at Yan Qing blankly, not understanding the meaning of her words. It was not until many years later that he finally understood that he understood what was in her eyes at that moment. Why is there a thick mist of sadness.

Not only did Zhao Yuan feel sorry for Yan Qing, he always felt that it was strange that his mother and Mr. Jiang were together after the empress became ill.

I heard that he went to Funing Palace to greet Yan Qing every day. The queen mother praised him for being sensible, but her expression was a bit complicated. It didn't seem like she was really pleased that he was sensible, but she was just perfunctory.

When Mr. Jiang was teaching the daily scripture feast, he was as serious as usual, but seemed... not so strict.

Normally, Mr. Jiang always has endless wisdom in his calm and restrained eyes, which makes Zhao Yuan feel that nothing in the world can trouble him. Now, Mr. Jiang, who knows everything, sometimes seems to have encountered No matter what the difficulty is, there is always a little melancholy in his eyes.

Once, he answered Mr. Jiang's question, and Mr. Jiang praised him kindly.

"This is what Queen Mother Shengyi told me." He said to Mr. Jiang.

Zhao Yuan was surprised to find that Mr. Jiang's expression seemed to have changed involuntarily. He couldn't tell what kind of expression it was. After thinking about it, he felt that there should be a trace of nervousness in it.

But Zhao Yuan felt something was wrong, because even when Beiqi's troops came to the city, he had never seen Mr. Jiang in such a nervous mood.

"Does Your Majesty go to visit the Queen Mother Shengyi every day?" Jiang Weiren asked seemingly unintentionally, and then praised, "Our court governs the world with filial piety, and Your Majesty has set an example for the world."

But Zhao Yuan felt that Mr. Jiang looked at him His eyes were not as relaxed and calm as his tone. Zhao Yuan had no intention of exploring. In his eyes, Mr. Jiang was the wisest person in the world, and he would definitely be able to answer any problem for him.

"The Empress Dowager Shengyi is the closest person to me in my heart, but I always feel that she is very unhappy." He said to Jiang Weiren, "Sir, is there any way you can help me make the Empress Dowager Shengyi happy? "

He found that Jiang Weiren seemed to be stopped by the question and remained silent for a long time without saying a word.

That was the first time that Mr. Jiang failed to give an answer to the question he asked.

When Yan Qing's illness got better, Fuying saw that she was always bored in Renshou Palace, so he persuaded her to go for a walk in the garden.

Autumn days are mostly sunny, but when winter comes, everything is covered with snow, and I don’t want to move around anymore.

It happened that not long ago, Funan paid tribute to a group of rare birds and animals, which were all kept in Yichun Garden. Yan Qing often went to Yichun Garden for a walk.

Yichun Garden is not as vast as Xiyuan, but it is more exquisite and elegant. There are all kinds of flowers, birds, fish, insects, birds and animals, most of which were tribute from vassal countries in the four directions.

The most beautiful place in the garden is undoubtedly the Yaohua Palace. The peacocks sent by Funan are kept in the small courtyard behind the Yaohua Palace.

When the person from the Supervisor of Ceremonies came to report the news, Yan Qing was sitting in the corridor, watching the palace maids flying kites in the court.

She looked at the eunuch who came in and knelt down to salute her. His expression was a little solemn, and she said, "Get up and answer. What happened?"

"Empress Qi," the eunuch stood up and replied, "The king has passed away."

Yan Qing was stunned. This news was beyond her expectation. She frowned and asked, "When did it happen?"

"Just last night." The warden replied.

King Cheng Zhao Cong is only 30 years old now. I heard that he was in poor health not long ago, but it was just a minor illness. Why did he suddenly die?

According to etiquette, the prince had to stay away from court for three days after his death. Now the emperor and the two queen mothers also had to set up altars, but Yan Qing was different. The Yan family was related by marriage to Prince Cheng's palace, and her cousin Yan Yu was Princess Cheng.

Three years ago, a certain scholar of the Hanlin Academy impeached Zhao Cong, the Cheng Wang, and listed Zhao Cong's ten major crimes in Jiangling Mansion. The light ones were arrogance, extravagance and lawlessness, and the more serious ones were overstepping the rules and killing innocent people.

As soon as the memorial was published, it caused an uproar in the court. Officials came to remonstrate one after another, advocating severe punishment for King Cheng. The late emperor, thinking of his bloodline, ordered that he be punished lightly, cut off his fiefdom, and ordered King Cheng and his family to move to the capital.

The princes of this dynasty originally opened mansions in Beijing, but most of these mansions were vacant, because according to regulations, princes could not leave their fiefdoms and could not enter Beijing without an edict.

At that time, the punishment for King Cheng seemed to be nothing. He still retained his title of prince, but lost some fiefdoms. However, there was no one to control him in the fiefdom. When he arrived in the capital, he was under the eyes of the emperor and in the hands of the emperor. He doesn't have any real power, he just carries the false name of the prince, and his life will naturally not be happy.

Not only that, he, Zhao Cong, has to keep his tail between his legs, otherwise he will be targeted by some public official and take his book, and his life will be even more difficult.

Thinking that his dignified prince had fallen into such a state, even though the crimes were all true, they were all committed by him, Zhao Cong. But which of the princes in the dynasty was really honest in the fiefdom, Zhao Cong was singled out as a target by the official, and everyone knew that it was because he had an affair with the great scholar Jiang Weiren.

At that time, Jiang Weiren had already defeated Shen Bet and became the head of the civil service.

Although the memorial to impeach Zhao Cong was not written by him, a small Hanlin Academy would not dare to impeach the prince if there was no one to support him. What's more, as soon as the memorial came out, the officials immediately attacked Zhao Congqun. The memorial was delivered to him like snowflakes, and the late emperor couldn't suppress the matter even if he wanted to.

Who else could be behind this besides Jiang Weiren?

Zhao Cong could only accept his fate. After arriving in the capital, he became much more at ease. The late emperor was kind and comforted him.

At that time, Yan Qing was the queen of the middle palace, and Zhao Cong was not stupid. Naturally, he wanted to make good use of this relationship, so he asked Yan Yu to visit Yan Qing more often. If something happened, he could still ask Yan Qing to put in a good word with the late emperor. Jiang Weiren would not dare to continue to target him because it would harm the emperor's face.

Yan Yu and sisters Yan Qing have always been on good terms with each other. If something like this happened, she would naturally send someone to express condolences.

When Yan Yu came to Beijing with her husband, her mother's family was in Jiangling. After all, in Beijing, Yan Qing was still a relative who had not yet been born. Although Yan Qing hated her brother-in-law Zhao Cong from the bottom of her heart, she had always been devoted to her sister. Take care of.

It is really pitiful to think that she lost her husband and became a widow at such a young age, and will have to live in the capital in the future without being able to return to her hometown. She will only have an heir apparent, an orphan and a widowed mother.

Yan Qing originally thought about going to Prince Cheng's Mansion in person, but unexpectedly, Yan Yu went to the palace first to ask for an audience.