The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 160 Life and Death
At the end of October, just two days after the emperor's 26th birthday, the Changle Palace fell into unprecedented sorrow.

Empress Dowager Qu was in a coma, she couldn't open her eyes, but she could vaguely hear what the imperial doctor said.

The imperial doctor sighed and said, this time it probably won't work, now he just uses ginseng soup to breathe again.

There were a few cries around, some from court ladies and eunuchs, and some from Xie Han.

After a few long breaths of relief, the empress dowager forced her eyes away: "Ahan..."

"Mother's queen." Xie Han hurried forward, knelt down by the couch and listened quietly.

The empress dowager took a breather: "Your brother..."

"I have sent someone to Zichen Hall to answer!" Xie Han's eyes were filled with tears.His heart was pounding, and every time he felt a lot of uneasiness: it was true that he had sent someone to Zichen Hall to answer, but he didn't know whether the emperor brother would come or not.

The empress dowager let out a long sigh, closed her eyes, and laughed at herself indescribably.

Xie Zhao, her eldest son, she didn't know if he could still be regarded as her "son".But... Forget it, even if it was impossible, it was caused by her own hand.

She has regretted this for a long time.At the beginning, she was full of hope, thinking that everything could be redeemed, but now, she finally had to give up.

Thinking about it carefully, the hope that was full of hope at that time was actually nothing more than self-deception.Knowing a child is like a mother.No matter how much she doesn't like this son, she still understands him after all.He has long been the emperor of Daqi, and his every move is based on the overall situation.

After all, she forced this too.

He used to be innocent - just like his son Xie Yuan, crawling on her couch with clear eyes and an innocent smile.But at that time, it was her...it was she who was so disgusted with him that she didn't even want to look at him more. go back.

In a blink of an eye, more than 20 years have passed.She thought carefully about how many days she had really regarded this son as a son...but she couldn't think of anything.

For such a long period of time, she regarded him as a thorn in the eye.Especially after Xie Han was born, she always felt that only Xie Han was her son.Emperor Piansheng valued his eldest son highly, and she gnashed her teeth countless times for this, thinking that Xie Zhaoru would be fine if he died young.

Such a heinous idea... Now that she thinks about it, she feels terrible.

She seemed to have really forgotten that it was also her child, the flesh that fell from her body!

She had hurt him for too long.

She knew about the deaths of those imperial guards.She clearly knew that those were his cronies, and she also knew that it was her elder brother who made such a cruel move.As the empress dowager, she could stop her brother with a single sentence - as long as he knew that her younger sister was also on the emperor's side, that was enough.But she didn't, she watched with cold eyes for many years, and even felt happy when she heard about their death...

She thought she must have been crazy then.

"Your Highness." Zhang Kangji stepped into the hall and whispered into Xie Han's ear, "The holy driver has already left the hall, but..."

He carefully looked at the queen mother, and lowered his voice: "Your Majesty doesn't seem to have any intention of coming in."

"I'll invite..." Xie Han was about to get up and go out when he said that, but his sleeve was pulled suddenly.

He turned around in astonishment, it was the empress dowager who was holding him tightly.

"Forget it." The Empress Dowager chuckled, and the thoughts that were emerging in her heart collided with the current situation, making her exhausted, "There is no need to go, he has a lot of worries, and it is useless to force him."

"Mother..." Xie Han wiped away his tears, but he heard a surprised voice behind him asking Shengan.

He turned his head sharply, and his brother's figure was clearly visible outside a bead curtain at the entrance of the sleeping hall.

"Brother Huang." Xie Han was overjoyed, "Brother Huang, please come in quickly, the queen mother..."

His words stopped suddenly, and the motionless appearance of that figure made him fear again.

On the couch, the Empress Dowager's eyes dimmed.

He wouldn't come in after all.When he arrived at the outer hall, he didn't want others to know that he didn't even enter the gate of Changle Palace and accuse him of being unfilial.

——She suddenly felt that she knew his mind so clearly, and it was also such a terrible thing.

The Empress Dowager sighed silently, and slowly turned her head to the wall.

The emperor stood outside the curtain for a long time in silence.

Even he himself felt that this was too cruel, but he really couldn't bear to step over this threshold.

Too many people died because of her.

One after another, the imperial guards died at the hands of the assassins supported by the Qu family. He still remembers the imperial guard who was stabbed blind and rushed back to Beizhen Fusi to report, and then committed suicide...

He was in his prime and was skilled in martial arts. If he was not full of despair, he would never have died like this.

It was the Qu family, it was the Qu family that prevented him from seeing any light.Xie Zhao knew that they definitely didn't have the ability to kill him, but deliberately let him come back like this, and then died for him to see.

This is blatant provocation.

And Lu Yong...

Among the imperial guards, apart from Wei Chen, Lu Yong was the closest to him.Lu Yong's marriage was still a big event at that time, although Xie Zhao couldn't go, he had prepared generous gifts.

Later, he heard Wei Chen say: "Thanks to your majesty, you didn't go, and dozens of people were paralyzed by drinking. I just let them sober up in Lu's mansion, otherwise I will let outsiders know that the officials with more than a thousand households of Yulingwei are drunk and still drunk." Great? Just in time to make trouble!"

All kinds of jokes at that time are vivid in my memory, but so soon, both Lu Yong and his wife died.

He remembered that he promised in front of He Jiao that he would take good care of A Yao, and he also promised that he would beat the culprit who killed Lu Yong to ashes.

The culprit, even if it cannot be said to be the queen mother, must be the uncle, and the mother at least knows about it.

Xie Zhao was overwhelmed with thoughts, and his feet were firmly set outside the threshold.

"Brother Huang!" Xie Han was a little anxious.He was right next to the couch, and he could clearly feel that every breath of his mother was weaker than the last.

"Brother Huang, come in!" Xie Han shouted angrily.

The emperor didn't move his foot, he raised his eyelids slightly to look at the person on the couch, he was excited by his younger brother's voice and wanted to call his mother, but every time he thought about it, there were several faces that had passed away for a long time before his eyes, separated between them between.

Heart, after all, doesn't cool down in a day.It's been too long, he really can't get over it!

The hands in his sleeves were tightly clenched into fists. After a long time, he finally heard the voices of the maids in the palace: "Empress Dowager? Empress Dowager!"

"Mother's queen!" Xie Han's voice also filled his ears, and the emperor's eyes moved weakly, seeing that the mother's queen's hand holding the seventh brother's sleeve loosened.

"Mother..." His thin lips were finally released, "My son is not filial."

There was a lot of crying inside and outside the hall, and the emperor stopped silently for a long time before turning and leaving.

Chen Jijiang followed closely, not daring to stay away for half a step, and heard His Majesty's weak instructions: "The Ministry of Rites will take care of the burial, and the national funeral will start for a hundred days. The palace and the prince's residence will observe filial piety for three years, and grandchildren will observe filial piety for one year. Collaterals keep filial piety for five months."

"Promise." Chen Jijiang hurriedly agreed, and made Xu Shishui follow with a wink, before sending the message himself.

After the decree was passed on, the emperor had to put on the filial piety first, and they had to come to lead the head, followed by those in the harem and outside the palace.

In Liugeyuan, as soon as Sydney heard the death knell, everyone immediately put on sackcloth and mourning.

This is all prepared long ago.White or yellowish linen filial piety is worn on the outside, and the inner skirt can be replaced with plain color, the material can be more comfortable.

Brightly colored embroidered patterns and pearl hairpins were not acceptable, so Sydney simply wore a suit that was just white from the collar of the jacket to the corners of the bust-length skirt, while the one for Ah Yao had a little light blue on the top of the skirt colored small embroidery.

Ah Yao was quite happy, looking in the mirror, she felt that she looked good in white, Xue Li hurriedly said to her: "Grandma passed away, father is very sad, don't jump around in front of your father, you understand?"

"Well, I know!" Ah Yao nodded seriously, then turned around and told his younger brother the same words again.The siblings went out of the room together to have a look, only to find that everyone in the yard was dressed in white.

A Yuan thought, Father must be very sad, otherwise he wouldn't care what other people wear!

Although she had finished admonishing the child, when the emperor came in the evening, Xue Li still greeted him with a smile—there must be mournful faces in the palace for most of the day, and she had better let him see a smiling face.Besides, he knew better than anyone else the unhappiness between her and the queen mother before, and now let her pretend to be sad... It's too fake!

She herself was just a little embarrassed, she just wanted to show him the real side, she was not good at acting or anything.

When she reached the courtyard, she bent her knees and gave a blessing, and the emperor stretched out his hand to block her and walked her into the house.

Xue Li looked up and saw that his dark face was exhausted, and she leaned on his shoulder after she sat down, "My condolences to Your Majesty."

He nodded, stared blankly for a while before looking at her, and said: "Using the pretext of praying for the Empress Dowager, Concubine Hui has formally asked the decree to leave the palace to practice."

"...Ah?" Xue Li was taken aback, and Xie Zhao remembered that when Concubine Hui proposed to leave the palace earlier, he was too worried and forgot to tell her.

After he explained a few words concisely, Xue Li was dumbfounded: "Then..."

She was planning to comfort him about the Queen Mother's death, but he threw out such big news so suddenly that she forgot about the Queen Mother...

My mind is full of: "Your Majesty, what do you mean... you want me to manage the harem?!"

Otherwise, why mention this to her at this time? !

"..." Xie Zhao felt a little amused by her tongue-tied reaction, and raised his hand to touch her forehead as a sign of comfort, "There's no rush. I can't get married when I'm mourning, so..."

"Huh!" Xue Li's heavy breathing could not be more obvious.

So good, so good, three years of filial piety!At least three years can be relaxed, what will happen after three years... let's talk about it!
Xie Zhao's eyebrows twitched. Seeing that she was happy about this, he really wanted to deal with her - he regarded this as the most helpless thing when he kept his filial piety. Seeing her look like "the rest of her life" is really...

He clicked his lips and continued: "So the Empress Dowager has to be late, but you can take care of many things first. The Empress Dowager's Zi Palace is parked in Changle Palace. In recent days, all wives are ordered to cry. You will guard it as a daughter-in-law." ?”

Sydney was stunned and trembling all over!
Although this is a question, but he said so, how can she not say it?Struggling for a while with her heart beating wildly, she rubbed her stomach and looked at him with mist in her eyes.After blinking a few times, her eyelashes were stained with tears, she bit her lower lip with difficulty, with a pitiful expression: "Your Majesty, I..."

My belly is so big!Keeping spirits is really hard!
Xie Zhao looked at her calmly, originally he wanted to bully her and cry, but he couldn't bear to look at her like this.

"Okay, okay." He put his arm around her and patted her on the shoulder, "No, I'm not going anywhere. You just have to settle down here, and other things have nothing to do with you."

This is more or less...

Xue Li fell into his arms sobbing, and felt a little sad for a while.It was probably caused by the atmosphere in the harem after the death of the empress dowager, plus the thoughtfulness during pregnancy.

There will always be a little sadness in the days after this fight.However, the emperor visited Liugeyuan more often. It is said that some unimportant government affairs will be postponed during the national mourning period. The courtiers consciously set aside a lot of time for him to "memorize", so he is rarely free.

But he was still a little sad, and he seldom laughed.But it's not appropriate for Sydney to make him laugh at this moment, so I just accompany him quietly, experiencing every bit of the cold winter.

In the first 27 days, all red was forbidden, and even the Zhu Bian who approved the memorials had to be changed to blue ones, so the few copybooks he wrote to A Yao were also blue.

Ah Yao couldn't write smoothly. Seeing that her father was writing a copybook for her again this day, she immediately ran to the couch to ask Xueli for help, and said in a low voice, "Mother! Can you...can you not let my father please?" Have you written a copybook for me? Use a black pen to trace the blue ones, and after writing for a long time, you can’t see the difference in color, and you don’t know if you’ve written well, and your eyes hurt!”

Xue Li felt the slight heat in her ears, and she leaned on her shoulders after she finished speaking, looking forward to it, she didn't want to disappoint her.Looking up at the emperor who was seriously writing a copybook, Xue Li made a silent gesture to A Yao, got off the couch and walked behind the emperor step by step.

Put your hands on his shoulders, evenly: "Your Majesty, rest!"

Xie Zhao: "..." She seems to like to speak in such a delicate and soft tone recently, which always makes him feel crisp.

He put down his pen and grabbed her hand that was pinching his shoulders, smiled and pulled her over and pressed her to sit on his lap, and said with a smile: "I heard you."

Xue Li and A Yao: "..."

Xie Zhao stared at her for a long time with a complex gaze of "You actually used beauty tricks to seduce me to help her", so she could only smile apologetically: "I think what Ayao said is also true..."

"Tch." The emperor slightly rolled his eyelids, caressed her belly casually, listened to the movement with his ears, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Forget it, take a rest and go for a walk."

He's really been under a lot of pressure lately.But thinking about it carefully, he was used to being depressed, but in recent years he has become "coquettish" by her.

If he couldn't see her when he was in a bad mood, he would be a little at a loss as to what to do.And as long as she is by his side, he feels that everything is fine and any problem can be overcome.

The birthdays of Xue Li, A Yao and A Yuan were all celebrated in the Hundred Days of National Funeral. Everything was kept simple, with only a small congratulation in the Liuge courtyard.

A Yuan's birthday was less than half a month late at night, and Sydney was about to give birth!

Xie Zhao was by her side, the two embraced each other and slept, and when he was asleep, he moved his hand and felt that the mattress was wet a lot.

The first reaction was that A Yuan wet the bed, and then he remembered: No!Ah Yuan didn't sleep here today!
Xie Zhao woke up immediately, and sat up startled to ask someone to come in. At that time, Xue Li was still soundly asleep, and when she heard the confusion, she pulled the quilt over her head.

After the emperor put on his shoes in a panic, he stood up and looked back, but he was also stupid: you stupid pear, your amniotic fluid is broken, you know that? !
He didn't bother to wake her up to explain to her, so he called a few powerful court ladies and eunuchs to come in and carry her directly to the delivery room in the south courtyard.After such a toss, Xueli was sober. As soon as her back fell on the couch over there, she asked, "I... I'm going to give birth?!"

Before the words finished, a burst of cramping pain came from her abdomen, which was considered to have answered her question.

Xie Zhao held her hand: "It's okay, the imperial doctor and midwife will be here soon."

His voice was extremely calm. Seeing him like this on weekdays, she could calm down no matter how panicked she was.But now it was even more frightening.

She held him tightly: "Will he die? Is there, is it possible that they are not twins, but only one?!"

It won't be so tiring if there is only one!

In the past few months, Sydney has been trying not to think about the twins, she is really scared when she thinks about it!

Xie Zhao looked at her belly, but couldn't tell her that "it might not be twins" - the belly was too big!Much better than Huai Ayuan at that time!What's the use of him fooling her now?I have to know in a while...

So when the imperial doctor and midwives arrived, what they saw was a very tangled scene on the couch.

Mrs. Ruan was lying on the couch, and she kept asking with obvious pains: "Is it possible that there is only one? Twins are so easy to conceive!"

His Majesty sat on the side of the couch with his head muffled and didn't say a word, but he touched Miss Ruan's hand and forehead for a while, not sure whether it was comforting or wiping sweat.

They were stunned for a while, and hurried forward to ask His Majesty to leave.

As soon as the emperor got up, Sydney became anxious: "Your Majesty...don't go, Your Majesty!"

Her nose was sore and she was about to cry.When A Yuan was born last time, she knew that he had already gone to court and could not come. She didn't feel aggrieved at all because of his absence.

But this time, this time he is here!Don't you plan to accompany her through the most painful hours? !
She refused to let go, and the midwife next to her became anxious: "Miss, don't make trouble! Your Majesty is sitting here and we have no place to help you deliver the baby!"

……Oh.

Is it because of this? ? ?

Xue Li let go of the emperor with a dazed expression, and as soon as they stepped forward, they immediately separated him outside a human wall.

As soon as Chen Jijiang arrived at His Majesty's side, he originally wanted to say, "The delivery room is full of blood, please go out and wait, Your Majesty." Before he could speak, he heard the emperor say to Mrs. Ruan through the people in front: "Don't be afraid, Lizi! I'll just wait here, if you're afraid, just yell."

When Chen Jijiang heard this, he swallowed the words.

It doesn't matter whether the delivery room is bloody or not. Now that His Majesty has said to accompany her, he will persuade him to go out again?Then when Mrs. Ruan has given birth, the two of them will have to kill him together!
So Chen Jijiang poked at the side to pretend to be a stone statue, and when necessary, he could flash out and pretend he hadn't been there at all.

In the dead of night in Liugeyuan, the frying pan was just like this.

Yuxiang, whose hearing is far better than that of humans, was woken up first by fright, and jumped up and down in the yard anxiously, and the noise it made woke up A Yao and A Yuan as well.A Yuan ran to her sister with a look of horror: "Sister, who is this sister!"

A Yao rubbed his eyes and didn't wake up, so he heard the voice and told him, "It's mother."

Then Ah Yuan cried "Wow" and went crazy!

The palace people hurried over to coax her, last time when Lady Ruan gave birth, Di Ji cried like this, this time Di Ji didn't cry but the emperor's eldest son cried - this must be coaxed quickly!Otherwise, if the second son or the second girl came down there, and the eldest son was crying and dumb, they would all be dragged out and killed with sticks.

The kumquats, pomegranates, carambola, grapes, sour plums and ebony plums around A Yao came to tease him with A Yuan's wet nurse.But it was useless, A Yuan felt that her mother's sudden yelling must be painful to death, so she lay in her sister's arms and cried into tears.

In the end, whoever remembered it, Qingxi Tinghan invited Xu Shishui who coaxed Ah Yao last time.Xu Shishui came over aggressively, and performed a trick again in the form of "Sajia Baodao is not old". A Yuan cried and watched, and his mind was distracted, and he couldn't think of crying.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.In the south courtyard, Sydney feels that all the energy is hanging.

"Ah..." She yelled so weakly that she felt that all the strength in her body had been exhausted, and even her mind began to blur, "Your Majesty..."

She looked over with tears in her eyes, and couldn't help thinking again, if she had a difficult delivery and could only keep the child or her, which one would he choose?
Xie Zhao's expression was tense, and seeing her look over, he forced a smile again.His heart had been beating wildly for a long time. Seeing her looking over, he knew that he should say something to comfort her, but he couldn't speak at all.

The two looked at each other for a while through a human wall, and suddenly Xueli cried!
Obviously it wasn't crying in pain, it was the kind of crying that was particularly weak and wronged, she cried without making a sound, and hurriedly raised her hand to wipe away her tears...

"Sydney?!" Xie Zhaoqian was taken aback, feeling something was wrong and asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine!!!" Xue Li screamed again through the pain, and the hand that was still wiping her tears just now turned into a beating on the bed, "I'm fine! Your Majesty...don't look at me! I , I must be very hungry in a while! Tell the kitchen to help me cook!"

"...Pfft!" The midwives around couldn't help laughing.Those who are in such pain and clamoring to eat, see you for the first time!

Even if it was to distract His Majesty, it was still funny to hear.

As soon as Xie Zhao heard this, he pushed Chen Jijiang away and rushed out the door. After walking outside the door for a while, he calmed down. He slowed down and turned his head to ask Chen Jijiang: "What will she want to eat after giving birth?"

Chen Jijiang: "..." How do I know? !
(End of this chapter)