The second prince raised a pair of narrow peach blossom eyes. He had a good appearance, which was what the Qi family should have. Peach blossom eyes, a high nose bridge, and cold white skin.

The Qi family is a family of military generals, but everyone in the Qi family is born like a scholar. Qi Heng is called a "Confucian general", with a bit of the nobility of a scholar and a bit of the masculinity of a military general.

The second prince Xiao Yu also has the same temperament.

"Mother, do you really want to know what my uncle said to me?" Xiao Yu twitched the corners of his lips and said, "When I was a child, my mother was always unhappy with my son going to the Qi family. I originally thought that my mother was afraid that my father would not do it. I'm happy, but it turns out it's not the case."

Qi Zhen said nothing with a cold face.

Xiao Yu looked at Qi Zhen and said, "My mother's surname is Qi. Once the Qi family falls, the Xing family and the people from Changxin Palace will tear us into pieces in an instant. The lives of our sons and my mother are closely related to the Qi family day and night. Even if the mother is angry with her uncle, she should not ignore

the overall situation. "What is the overall situation? Is it just for the good of the Qi family?" Qi Zhen looked disappointed and shook her head, "Yu'er, this is not the overall situation. "

She also made this mistake once, thinking that it was for the good of the Qi family and herself that the overall situation was better.

"Then what's the overall situation?" Xiao Yu sneered, "Like my father, who doesn't kill any family, is soft-hearted, feeds tigers, and can't do whatever he wants even if he burns himself to death." As

soon as he finished speaking, Qi Zhen He raised his hand and slapped her hard.

Xiao Yu was hit and tilted his head. He covered his face in surprise and looked at Empress Qi blankly.

This was the first time Queen Qi hit him.

He gritted his teeth. What his uncle said was indeed right. The mother only cared about the love between her children and had long forgotten everything about the Qi family.

Xiao Yu licked the broken corners of his lips, lowered his voice, and said in Qi Zhen's ear: "Mother, ever since you made the choice at Da Ci'en Temple nineteen years ago, you should walk the same path until the end. Only. With the Qi family here, you can rest easy! Do you think my uncle and I want to take risks and get involved in the affairs of Yangzhou? Do you really see the situation in the DPRK? More and more courtiers support the Xing family. With the marriage to the Xing family, even the old members of the Qi family are beginning to waver! Do you want the Qi family to be destroyed in your hands? "

Nineteen years ago, Da Ci'en Temple.

Qi Zhen's eyelashes trembled, as if she saw the thunderous spring rain again.

Xiao Yu took a step back slightly, "My son said something rude, I hope my mother will calm down! I will ask Xiao Wu to come to the palace to accompany you tomorrow. Xiao Wu is also a member of the Qi family. Even if my mother doesn't care about my son, she should also care about her." "Xiao Wu."

After hearing the word "Xiao Wu", Queen Qi slowly raised her eyes and said to Xiao Yu: "Get out!"

The palace people in the corridor stood motionless outside the palace, only hearing a "crack". The palace door opened.

"Second Prince." The palace servants saluted respectfully.

Xiao Yu ignored him and strode through the corridor and down the jade steps.

Aunt Zhu looked at Xiao Yu's retreating back with dark eyes and said, "You guys continue to guard here and send someone to Si Le Division to ask Xu Nu Shi to come over. The empress likes to hear the little songs she sings." She then opened the door and went inside. temple.

In the hall, light smoke floated leisurely from the auspicious animal gilded Boshan furnace on the high table, and strands of it hung in the air.

Queen Qi sat on the imperial concubine's couch, rubbing her eyebrows.

Aunt Zhu quickly stepped forward, pressed her temples, and said, "Mother, did you have a headache again?"

Empress Qi said lightly, "Hmm," and said, "Why is Aunt Gui not here today?"

Is Aunt Gui here ? Queen Qi's nanny is also the person she trusts most in the harem.

Aunt Zhu's eyes flashed and she said: "Aunt Gui is suffering from a cough today. She is afraid that the illness will be passed on to the empress, so she asked the slave to take her place. Does the empress want the slave to send someone to call her?"

"Forget it. Let Aunt Gui get well and recover."

Aunt Zhu said "Hey" and said: "I am good at making decisions. I sent someone to ask Nv Shi to sing some songs for the queen to relax. "

Let that girl Li Er go back. I won't listen to music today." Queen Qi said, "The emperor is in the Qianqing Palace right now?"

"The emperor went to the Yangxin Palace."

Queen Qi pondered for a moment and said, "Let me go to the small kitchen to get a cup of ginseng soup, and follow me to the Yangxin Palace."

Yangxin Palace.

Wang Dehai was slightly startled when he heard someone reporting that Queen Qi's Feng Hu was coming this way.

Most of the time the emperor came to the Yangxin Hall to review the memorials. All the concubines in this harem were discerning and would never compete for favors to come to the Yangxin Hall. Especially Empress Qi, in order to set an example, she rarely went to the Qianqing Palace, let alone the Yangxin Palace.

Could something have happened?

Wang Dehai hurriedly said to a young eunuch: "Go and find out if anything big happened in Kunning Palace today."

The young eunuch ran out of the corridor in a hurry. Wang Dehai turned around and entered the Yangxin Palace and said to Emperor Jiayou: " Your Majesty, the queen's sedan chair is on the way, do you think so?"

Emperor Jiayou put down the battle report that he had rushed from Yangzhou and said, "Please come in, queen."

Wang Dehai stepped out.

Not long after, Queen Qi was led into the palace.

Emperor Jiayou raised his eyes and looked at Queen Qi.

Today she wore a snow-green phoenix-tail skirt. Her lotus steps were like flowers when she walked, and she carried the grace and elegance that she had maintained for ten years. Time has been very kind to her, and she is clearly past her forties, but she still looks like a woman in her twenties, with graceful eyebrows and graceful appearance, as if she was a peerless beauty who stepped out of a painting.

The eldest daughter of the Qi family was once the most beautiful girl in the capital, and she was the secret favorite of many young men in Beijing.

Everyone knows that the Qi family has girls from all over the world, but no one actually dares to go to the Qi family to ask for marriage. Everyone knows that Miss Qi has long been favored by the Queen and is the future Crown Princess.

Until her father granted her a marriage decree and married her to him. He and she, who were not supposed to have any intersection, have become entangled since then.

The corners of Emperor Jiayou's lips curved slightly and he asked, "Why are the Queen here?"

Queen Qi took out the soup cup from the rosewood box and said, "The Emperor has been handling political affairs in the Yangxin Hall for the past two days. I'm afraid... I was so busy that I forgot to eat and sleep. This is the ginseng soup that my concubine asked me to make. Just take a few bites."

As she said that, she served the soup to him personally. The blue-bottomed pomegranate flower bowl in her hand made her soft pancreas look beautiful. Frost and snow are as white and flawless as snow.

"The Queen is interested." Emperor Jiayou took the jade bowl, picked up the spoon and drank the soup in one mouthful without saying a word.

They have been married for more than 20 years since they got married at the age of sixteen.

With every bite of food she handed him, he never seemed afraid that she would poison it.

The bright lights in the room made his complexion look particularly bad. It was the complexion of a person who has been ill for a long time.

He was actually very handsome. The reputation of Xiao Yan, the former seventh prince, had never spread, but it was because he lived in seclusion all year round and few people saw his true face.

It was also on Qi Zhen's wedding day, when he lifted her hijab, that she could really see his appearance.

She drugged the wine they drank that night, and he fell asleep not long after drinking it.

After waking up the next day, he took Yuanpa, cut his finger and dripped blood, and said gently to her: "There is no need to drug me in the future. I will not touch you. I had no intention of consummating the marriage with you yesterday."

At that time, Qi Zhen was very wary, thinking that he said that out of embarrassment.

Later I found out that what he said was true.

He didn't like to fight with others, and he didn't like to fight with others. Even when he went to Taiyuan Mansion to join the feudal clan, he went there with ease, unlike the other princes who had swarms of beautiful maids and cars full of money and silk, swaggering all the way.

Taiyuan Mansion is not far from Shangjing, but that time, it took them nearly a month to reach the fiefdom, stopping and going.

Along the way, Qi Zhen rarely spoke to him, and he didn't seem to care. He just looked at the scenery along the way, comfortable and comfortable.

For him, leaving Shangjing was a joy.

In fact, Xiao Yan would rather his fiefdom be further away. Given his unpopular status in the palace, he should have gone to a more remote and abject fiefdom.

It's just because he married her that he can't go to the fief he wants to go to as he pleases.

Taiyuan Mansion, a vassal area very close to Shangjing, was chosen by Prince Qi Yuan for Qi Zhen.

After finishing a bowl of ginseng soup, Emperor Jiayou looked at Empress Qi who was hesitant to speak, and said warmly: "I was often ill when I was young and could not go to the Wenhua Palace to study with the princes next to me. After the teacher found out, he went to school two days later He will come to Yutang Hall to teach me."

The "teacher" mentioned by Emperor Jiayou is the old minister Fan Zhi who is currently in prison at Dali Temple.

The Yutang Palace is located in the West Nine Palaces, which is very remote and far away from the Wenhua Palace. Such a journey is really a tiring job for the elderly man.

Originally, Emperor Jiande had advised the old minister not to go. After all, he had no expectations for his sick and weak son and would just find a fiefdom to spend his time in when he became an adult.

But Lao Shangshu insisted, saying that since he came to the Wenhua Palace to teach all the princes, he must treat them equally.

Qi Zhen had heard Prince Qiyuan mention this before, and remembered that the old minister had only been away for half a year before the seventh prince went back to Wenhua Palace to study.

"Teacher told me in Yutang Hall that people can hide their clumsiness, hide their talents, and keep a low profile, but they cannot be willful or give up on themselves. No matter where you go in the future or what situation you encounter, don't lose what a young person should have. Vigor and perseverance." Emperor Jiayou said with a smile: "He knew that I didn't like Wenhua Palace and deliberately refused to go to school because of illness."

Queen Qi's heart sank.

Emperor Jiayou coughed a few times and continued: "Teacher doesn't have many days left. I don't want to disappoint him."

Queen Qi raised her eyes and looked at Emperor Jiayou. They have been married for many years, and at this moment she understood clearly. There is no room for change in the Qi family's matter.

That's right, Xiao Yan has long repaid her debt for poisoning Prince Qi Yuan back then.

After leaving the Yangxin Hall, Queen Qi looked at the majestic palace, her steps heavier than when she came.

Before his father died, he held her and her brother's hands and asked them to protect the Qi family and the Qi family.

But she couldn't protect her anymore.

Half a month passed in a flash.

It's September, the scent of golden osmanthus, orange and green.

The people of Yangzhou Prefecture who survived the disaster were still immersed in the excitement of the Double Ninth Festival.

On September 13th, just after noon, several merchant ships slowly docked.

Shen Zhi got off the boat in a dusty state, and Manager Jiang came to pick him up personally. When he got on the carriage, he told him everything about the attack on Rong Shu and Zhang's mother.

When Shen Zhi heard this, he frowned and said, "What's the situation now? Can the perpetrator be caught?"

"Yes, I have." Manager Jiang said, "Someone from the government came here specially, saying that he was alone at the beginning. The pirates pretended to be fishermen from Dayin and wanted to kidnap the girl so that they could extort a large sum of money. The girl is now safe and sound. As for Mother Zhang..." Manager Jiang sighed softly, "Mother Zhang suffered a very serious injury. I haven't woken up until now. According to the doctor, it's still uncertain whether Mother Zhang will wake up. "

The doctor usually doesn't dare to talk too much. According to what he said, Mother Zhang will never wake up again . Can't wake up?

Shen Zhi frowned even more.

He went to Fujian this time and did a very good job. The Water Dragon King had previously connected him with a firearms businessman from the Fulang Kingdom. This time he went to Fujian to meet with this person. If nothing unexpected happened, the batch of new weapons would be delivered early next year.

If things go smoothly, Zhang's mother will naturally say something nice in front of the princess when she goes back to Beijing.

In this way, he might be able to show his face in front of the young master when he enters Beijing next year.

But in the situation Zhang's mother is in now, I'm afraid she won't be able to wake up next year.

Furthermore, Zhang’s mother was injured at his place, and I don’t know if the princess will be angry with him. The princess only arranged for Zhang's mother to be with Zhaozhao. Now that Zhang's mother was unconscious, he had to think of a way to put someone next to her.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhi asked: "Where is the girl? Mother Zhang is not here, can there be someone to take care of the girl?"

Manager Jiang said: "Originally I wanted to arrange an old nanny for the girl, but the girl said she has Miss Luoyan by her side. , and also hired a female guard from Ciying Lane, so there is no need to add more people to her side."

Just as the Shen family's carriage was speeding towards Shen Yuan, Rong Shu just came out of the study room of Sanshengtang.

The remaining poison on her and Luo Yan's bodies had been eliminated four days ago, and they returned to Shen Yuan from Pingnan Street that day.

She and Luo Yan have been coming to the study almost every day these days. The wooden box they took out from the study last time needs to be returned to its original place, and all the notes left by her grandfather can no longer be left in the study.

Rong Shu had rummaged through almost all the books in the study. Apart from the books, there was only his grandfather's notes, and he couldn't even find the account book.

Yesterday Luo Yan also sneaked into Shen Zhi's bedroom and searched for a long time but still found nothing.

Luo Yan and Rong Shu put the piles of letters into the box together and asked, "Shen Zhi is back today. Are you going to take action tonight?"

Rong Shu nodded and said calmly: "With my uncle's personality, those Important documents are either carried with him or hidden in a place that only he knows. I guess that the secret box was also the place where he kept confidential documents, but it was probably Zhang's mother. After talking a lot, they changed places. "

Have Mother Zhang told Shen Zhi that the girl was checking on him?"

Rong Shu said, "No."

Mother Zhang had told her not to do it before. She had leaked the news in front of her uncle, and she wanted to investigate her uncle's affairs, but he probably didn't know about it.

After a lot of work, before the two of them could sit down and take a breath, they heard Liu Ping come back and report: "Master, the Shen family's carriage has arrived."

Liu Ping was Gu Changjin's secret agent in Yangzhou. She was very good at qinggong and concealed weapons. .

When Rong Shu said she wanted to come back to Shen Yuan a few days ago, Gu Changjin did not stop her. He only asked her to bring someone with her, and that person was Liu Ping.

Thinking of Gu Changjin, Rong Shu's thoughts suddenly became confused.

On the first night when she went to Pingnan Street, he brought her water into the house and then let her go back to sleep in her own room.

He agreed, put down some clean clothes for her, and left the house.

Rong Shu still thought that he really went back to sleep in his own room. If it hadn't been for Chang Ji's voice "Master, why are you sleeping here" the next day, she would not have known that this man had been watching her outside the door. all night.

Rong Shu lived in Pingnan Street for ten days. For the first three days, he kept vigil for her every night, leaning against the wall outside the door and sleeping with his arms crossed. It wasn't until the fourth day, when Luo Yan moved in with her, that she stopped keeping vigil.

When leaving Pingnan Street, he didn't ask her what she planned to do. He just said to her: "Liu Ping will be yours from now on. Whatever you want to do, you can do it."

The autumn sun is clear, the man is cold in the pool Her eyes were tinged with warmth by the gorgeous autumn light, and there seemed to be an undercurrent surging in the depths.

The candles crackled.

Liu Ping was still waiting for Rong Shu to speak.

Rong Shu suddenly came back to his senses, thought for a while and said, "Guard Liu will accompany me to the Chuihua Gate, and Sister Luoyan will be guarding at Yilanzhu."

After saying that, he lowered his head and straightened his skirt, and went to the Chuihua Gate with Liu Ping.

Shen Zhi walked around the screen wall in a hurry. As soon as he passed the hanging flower gate, he saw Rong Shu waiting there with a strange girl. He stopped quickly, took a closer look at her and said, "Manager Jiang has nothing to do with your assassination." I said it. Don't worry, my uncle will definitely say this for you."

Rong Shu looked sad and said softly: "Zhaozhao is fine, it's just Zhang's mother..."

She and Zhang's mother have always had a good relationship.

Shen Zhi said: "Don't be sad. My uncle will find the best doctor to treat Mother Zhang. Mother Zhang will be auspicious and she will wake up."

With these words of comfort, he asked someone to bring in a box with shark beads and said : "This is a seafood item that my uncle brought back from Fujian. It is a rare item. You can use it to tie a hairpin. My uncle has been traveling a long way. He will go back to Sanshengtang to rest for a while. I will tell you more about my uncle's trip tomorrow." What he saw in Fujian. "

When Shen Zhi came back from his business trip, Xiao Rongshu always liked to pester him and ask him to tell her what he saw outside.

This can be regarded as a tacit tradition between the nephew and uncle.

Rong Shu lowered his eyes, gently tightened the wooden box in his hand, and said "Okay".

In the middle of the night, the dew became more serious, and keys fell everywhere in Shen Garden.

Liu Ping, wearing night clothes, climbed in through the window of Yilanzhu and said to Rong Shu: "Girl, the lights in the dormitory of Sanshengtang have been turned off and the incense has been lit. When do you want me to take action?"

Rong Shu was now serious. Sitting on the couch, she had not closed her eyes for half the night. When she heard this, she looked at the corner of her eyes, closed her eyes immediately, and said: "The fragrance will take effect in half an hour, and it will take effect in another half hour." Let’s do it.”