box of hearts

Chapter 234
1.
It was a six-curved red bridge, slanted to a pine forest on the opposite bank, the forest was so dark, and only a few rippling breezes were heard, a sika deer came out from under a certain pine tree.It leaned forward and took a bunch of alfalfa in its mouth.

The grass was held in the hands of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl. She tilted her head to the side and asked softly, "Zhongyao, are you in your teens today?"

The girl named Zhongyao was half a head taller than her companions, with a slightly heroic face, she stretched out her hand to caress the sika deer, "It's already July [-]th, and it's the beginning of autumn." She cast her eyes on the corner of Zhulou exposed by the tree end in front of her, "Peiyao, since your mother came back to Beijing, you haven't heard our song once, right?"

Both Zhongyao and Peiyao are ling boys raised by the Northern Mansion, wearing the same white silk underwear and two blue imitation satin half arms, both standing in the forest, like Jiaona's dryads.

Peiyao sighed, looked down at the deer grazing, "If I were your empress, I wouldn't be in the mood to listen to music."

Zhong Yao flattened her mouth, "That's hard to say. Although the prince drove the empress back to Beifu from Jingjizhuang, he didn't punish the empress any more after all. Maybe it was just the two of them quarreling, turn around and wait. It will be fine once the prince returns to Beijing to meet."

"I'm afraid it's not as easy as this. The two of us just entered the mansion this year, so we don't know many things. I heard from them that the prince has been doting on Madam Duan for more than ten years, and he has always been like glue. The poor people who pick green onions and sell vegetables in the folk are like poor people who only live with this one wife. Except for ten days and a half months when they go back to the other side of the palace for an appointment with the second concubine, Mrs. Zhan, there is no day when she does not stay with Mrs. Duan, and she treats her even more. Everything is obedient. But since the spring of this year, the situation has been very different. Not only does the prince often stay out at night, but he also loses his temper at every turn. He can hear his yelling at his wife inside and outside Huaju. Don’t you talk about the empress falling out of favor in private! Originally, I went to Jingjizhuang to escape the summer heat in May, and the prince still brought his empress to accompany him as in previous years. The big guys still had doubts, but now we see that the empress was sent back on the day of the prince’s [-]th birthday. Returning to Beijing, isn’t that just responding to the rumors of falling out of favor? Thinking that we were consecrated to this Beifu by Master, we thought it was a good job, but now it seems that our future is in jeopardy.”

"No way, you don't say that the prince and the empress have been together for more than ten years, how could you suddenly say that it's not good?"

"Maybe it's because it's been more than ten years, Madam Duan should be more than 30 years old, her beauty must have faded, and it's normal to not be as favored as before."

"But the few times I went to Huaju to sing, I saw that the lady was very beautiful, and I couldn't tell that she was in her 30s."

"Hey, how can I explain this kind of thing? No matter how beautiful she is, she will get tired of looking at it after so many years. Besides—" Peiyao threw the alfalfa in her hand to the deer to chew, and turned her face closer to Zhong Yao, " It is rumored outside that the prince has imprisoned the emperor in Nantai for five or six years, and he has done enough acting. In the past two years, he will ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. Think about it, Niang Niang used to be a prostitute in Huaihua Hutong, and spent many years If a prince can barely be called a 'romantic and crazy', who would be confused with a prostitute? Song Huizong is a subjugated king! The prince wants to be the emperor, the first Of course, the most important thing is to get rid of this lady Duan. I see, she is the end of this wild lady."

"Who gave you the guts to chew your tongue here?!"

With a shout that came out of nowhere, the sika deer jumped into the forest in shock.Peiyao and Zhongyao shook at the same time and turned around, "Ying, Miss Yingzhi..."

But look at Duan Niangniang's personal maid Yingzhi approaching step by step from the bluestone path in the forest, a pair of originally dignified and amiable almond eyes flashed a frightening sharpness, and beside her was Duan Niangniang herself.

This time, the two Xiaoxi couldn't even kneel upright, they limply begged: "Young lady! Forgive me, forgive me!"

Yingzhi gouged out their eyes angrily, uttering each word slowly and brighter than usual: "Who am I, it turns out that they are two 'corners'! Why, I'm tired of playing "The Palace of Eternal Life", so I'm going to play "Meeting" here? I'm going to sing "Kao Yan" [1] today. Listen, you two go to the butler Zheng Wen to get a hundred sticks each. Let's go."

With a hundred sticks down, people will become disabled even if they don't die.The two were so miserable that they kept kowtowing, "Miss Yingzhi, we made a mistake, please forgive me, please forgive me!"

Yingzhi lifted the corners of her mouth up dryly, "It's okay to forgive your sins. I also came from an opera background. When I was with Master, a brother disrespected Master. Master pointed to a charcoal basin and asked her to cook it. Swallow a piece of charcoal, and forgive her. Now you go to the waiter to ask for a pot of charcoal, and do the same."

Shuangyao burst into tears, and didn't dare to talk back, just kept kowtowing, her hair was covered with pine needles.

A distance of one foot away, Qingtian was wearing a plain shirt and skirt inlaid with green crepe and flowers, as if he was far away from the world, and he let out a distant sigh, "Yingzhi, it's over. You two are Zhongyao and Peiyao, right? I See you're just playing with the deer, so go to the deer shed and say what you like, just talk to the beast."

"Your Majesty!" Yingzhi became anxious, "How could you treat them so lightly? Capital punishment is inevitable, but living crimes are inevitable. It is inevitable to punish each of them."

Qingtian's color is as pale as a chrysanthemum, "Do you still remember Cuiyi?"

Yingzhi froze for a moment, recalling the aggressive and aggressive maid Cuiyi in the garden, and also recalling the little playful couple trembling in front of her.She gritted her teeth, and stomped her embroidered shoes to the ground, "Your Majesty, Kuan Shan, you've had great luck! Go, go to Butler Zheng to receive the crime."

Although Shuangyao escaped death, but when she thought that she would have to sleep in the deer shed, she couldn't help crying like the wind bullying willows, but she had to kowtow, and staggered away.

A few old pines concealed their figures, and Yingzhi turned her eyes, with both timidity and pity in her eyes, "It's all the servant's fault, I didn't persuade the empress to come and walk in the garden, but bumped into this couple. Son, what are they talking about!"

"To tell the truth." Looking closer, Qingtian has become thinner, and his expression is indifferent and self-cleaning. "From the beginning to the end, I couldn't figure out why the prince's temperament changed suddenly. After hearing this, I felt enlightened. What they said was not half a word, but I should not have heard it."

Yingzhi was a little speechless, and suddenly saw Qinmeng walking flutteringly among the red rails along the ups and downs.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," she raised her hands and shouted, "I found you! Mrs. Zhao from Baoqixuan is here, and she is waiting for your empress at Huaju."

Ying Zhi hurriedly made a smiling face on the side, "Ah, Sister Mu Yun has come to see your mother."

Qingtian twitched the corner of his mouth, lightly pulled the chain link cloak wrapped around his arms, and turned back to the way he came from.

2.
The road is full of flowers everywhere, and there is a square pond, in which there are layers of half-damaged lotus flowers, and a few brocade boats are tied between the flowers.After bypassing a weeping poplar and going up a few steps of stone steps, there are dozens of pavilions half hidden and half visible among the old trees and ivy.After passing through a hanging flower gate, the plaque of Jiuhuaju is in front of you.Flowers and trees on all sides hinder the head, vanilla hangs clothes, and the courtyard is full of fragrance.

In the courtyard, four or five girls, big and small, were leaning on the corridor doing needlework, and they stood up together, "Your Majesty is back, Mrs. Zhao is in the quiet hall over there."

Qin Meng made a curtain of fine silver thread for Qingtian. Under the flower cover of water-polished nanmu in the hall, Mu Yun's back was standing beside the Xuanji jade table, playing with a Yaoqin on the table.

"Mu Yun." Qing Tian called out.

First, Jing'er, Tian'er and other maidservants beside Mu Yun rushed forward to salute, Qing Tian raised his hand with a smile, "Where's Zhui'er? I don't see her, is she still sick?"

"It's over, I've already sent it back to my hometown in the countryside." Mu Yun turned around, and she took off a long skirt with flowers, her belly bulged up high, as if stuffed with a basket.

She held Qingtian's hands tightly, and Qingtian pulled out one hand, and stroked her lower abdomen with a smile, "Yo, your belly has become like this after you haven't seen it for more than a month. You still don't care about the inside, and you will go out when you are about to give birth." Run, are you crazy?"

Mu Yun didn't smile at all, just grabbed Qingtian and didn't let go, "I'm so anxious, that dead man Xiao Zhao kept it from me, I just heard yesterday that the girl was sent back to Beijing by the prince, what happened? "

Qingtian just smiled, pulled her to the chair and sat down, "Qin Hua, bring a goose feather cushion to Mrs. Zhao." Manman, "It's just like what you heard, we had a big fight in the early morning of the ninth day of July, and he drove me out of Jingjizhuang, and asked someone to send me back. It has been ten full days so far, and I have never seen it again. Never gave me a single word."

After hearing this, Mu Yun's face was full of worry, "Then, girl, are you okay then?"

Qingtian lowered his head, twisted a silver chiseled flower inlaid bead ring on his finger, looked down at a big bead held out from the heart of the flower, "Frozen three feet is not a day's cold, you know what we have been like for more than half a year , there is nothing strange about today, I have already prepared in my heart. There is nothing wrong, everything is really good, not to mention happy, but I can eat and sleep. You don't have to worry about me, just focus on taking care of your body, Rest in peace."

Mu Yun was about to say something, but saw that Qin Hua was holding a silk cushion in her hands, and while she was putting it down behind her waist, she turned her face and asked Qing Tian in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the young minister of Dali Temple Mrs. Zuo is begging to see you outside, will the empress see you or not?"

"Madam Zuo?" Mu Yun propped one hand up to her waist, and patted the other on her forehead, "Isn't Mr. Feng's granddaughter?"

Qingtian nodded, "Exactly."

(End of this chapter)