The Gilded Cage

Chu Ning was really tired of being tossed in Lingyan Pavilion.

On the way back, she sat next to Xiao Yu, keeping her eyes half-closed, without saying a word.

As the night breeze blew, she tightened her clothes, but still couldn't help shivering.

"Have you caught a cold?" Xiao Yu put his arm around her and asked softly.

At this time, his mood calmed down temporarily, and only then did he remember that he was a bit more arrogant than usual, and now it was almost into the winter, and the evening was chilly, and he did not know whether she was blowing more wind by the window.

Chu Ning was dizzy and irritated after hearing the words, but still patiently responded: "It was about the wind blowing, and the head hurts. How about your highness? I was sick for so long before, and it was easy to recover, but Can't catch cold anymore."

Xiao Yu twitched at the corner of his mouth, hugged her tighter, and shook his head and said, "I'm fine."

Although he was weak, he was not so weak that he couldn't help himself. It was only because he tried poison with his body and was tired for days before that he suddenly fell ill. Now he has been infused with countless tonics, and he is already healed.

After returning to Wanchun Hall, Xiao Yu helped Chu Ning back to the dormitory and lay down, and ordered people to make **** tea soup.

Perhaps he was temporarily relieved because of his emotions. At this time, he was very patient, holding the tea bowl himself, and feeding the sweet and spicy tea soup into her mouth one by one.

After closing the doors and windows in the room, there was no cold wind blowing in, and Chu Ning felt more comfortable.

She leaned on the pillow and drank **** tea, and slowly followed up about the things that had happened to Qi Chenxiang in the Baifu Hall.

"I want to come to the Queen Mother to ask me to go today, because I want to reveal to His Royal Highness Qi Jiayu's intention to marry the saint, so as to put pressure on His Royal Highness a lot."

After hearing this, Xiao Yu's expression naturally sank. Fortunately, he had expected that the Queen Mother's summoning today was of some ulterior motives, and he had already vented once again. At this time, he did not show that sullen look.

"Sure enough, it's just a relative." He sighed, both contemptuous and mocking, "Knowing that he couldn't hold him down, he turned to please. No wonder he heard that Qi Mu privately sent someone to guard his family. I've found it, I'm afraid it's time to enter the palace soon. I just don't know if my uncle will appreciate it like the first emperor."

Xiao Ke's mother, Wei Cairen, was born in a humble background. It is said that her family has lived in Yanzhou for generations and worked on behalf of farmers. When there was a famine in Yanzhou, the Wei family’s parents were unable to make ends meet. In order to allow her daughter to have a meal, she was allowed to enter the Yeting Palace and become a handyman at the bottom.

As for the Wei family whom Qi Mu sought, it should refer to Wei Cairen's younger brother, that is, Xiao Kezhi's uncle Wei Shou.

According to the etiquette system, his biological mother has been posthumously named Queen Mother, and when this uncle arrives, he should also be named Duke.

Chu Ning thought about the behavior style of Xiao Kezhi he had seen recently, and couldn't help but shook his head secretly in his heart.

He is completely different from the first emperor Xiao Lian. Although he rarely speaks and speaks a little, he must have made it in his heart, and he will not be easily shaken. The Qi family’s goodwill is very important in the eyes of others, but with him, it may be fundamental. Not worth mentioning.

She wiped the thin layer of sweat on her forehead from drinking **** tea with her kerchief: "I just see if this matter has any other effect on your Highness."

Xiao Yu paused and shook her hand and smiled forcefully: "Anyway, we are in a disadvantageous situation. The queen mother's move is just trying to make me mess up. Don't worry."

Chu Ning nodded, but understood in his heart that he was not as calm as what he said.

"Okay, I have to go back to the East Palace tomorrow. You rest first, I have something to deal with." He didn't want to talk more about it, looking at Chu Ning after lying down, he got up and went to another room.

"Cuihe—" After he left, Chu Ning didn't sleep, but lay on the bed to call people.

Cuihe knew in his heart that he was ready early, and when Xiao Yu left, he came in with the soup medicine.

"The lady can make the servants worry about breaking down today!" She said with lingering fear while supporting Chu Ning to sit still.

"Don't be afraid, Liu Kang is here. He is so careful that he will never let others get closer." Chu Ning drank the medicine in one breath. The sour, bitter, and spicy flavors were intertwined, making her frown. After drinking a bowl of tea, I felt better, "Can the bath room be cleaned up?"

The Lingyan Pavilion was rudimentary, and she just cleaned it up hastily, even if she was groggy now, she wanted to take a good bath.

"It's all right. When the slaves and maids come back, they will be prepared." Cuihe helped her to the bath room and continued to whisper, "His Royal Highness is always so irritable, and always makes the lady suffer. The lady is in the hot water. It’s okay to take a dip, to get rid of your illness, and maybe you’ll get up tomorrow."

Chu Ning smiled indifferently: "After the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, he will go to Huazhou. It's always easy for a while."

She said, stepping into the steamy bath room, taking off her clothes, stepping into the bath tub, feeling the hot water from all sides, closing her eyes slowly, thinking about the things in Lingyan Pavilion.

Those few words of Xiao Kezhi kept reverberating in her ears, making her slowly grasp the one in them—

"There are so many women in the world, why should I be obsessed with a married woman with unknown intentions?"

At that time, she thought that the focus of this sentence was on the four words "women with husbands", but at this moment, after careful consideration, she finally recollected that it should be "unclear".

He was a person who disregarded national funeral rituals and allowed his gray wolf to bite his courtier's neck in public. How could he care more about whether she was a married woman?

On the contrary, he was able to dormant in Ganzhou for a full fourteen years of forbearance. Perhaps what he cared most was her intention to approach him-for the prince, for herself, or for other reasons.

It's just that she is still a little hesitant. Is she really going to make a desperate move at this time and expose her secrets to him?

…

In the main hall on the other side, Xiao Yu sat on the couch in a daze after reading the dossier sent by several principal officials of the Ministry of Water.

In fact, the news that the Qi family was about to marry Xiao Kezhi really made him a little nervous.

He had previously thought that it was an expedient measure for the Empress Dowager Qi to put Xiao Ke into Chang'an. Judging from the clues of these days, it is obvious that the two of them have not reached a very secure alliance.

But if the Qi family deliberately retreats and take the initiative to marry, things will be different.

This marriage was almost only good for Xiao Kezhi. Not only could he take the opportunity to completely suppress the position of the East Palace, but he could also use the Qi family's years of management in the court to stabilize the minds of the courtiers effortlessly and speak up. , To be able to make peace between the ruler and the ministers, going down to the bottom, can make every decree issued in the Taiji Palace be implemented more smoothly in the six departments and localities.

If it were him, he would never let go of this opportunity, Xiao Kezhi was not stupid, and 80% would be the same.

But in this way, the East Palace would no longer have any meaning, and his death time should have arrived.

What should he do?

Xu Rong's words slowly sounded in his ears, which made him contemplate deeply.

His subordinates, such as Wei Fujing and others, still have the intention of marrying him. There is no reason for them. These are his henchmen. Even if they are transferred to others, they must be the one to be jealous of, and they can only stay steadily. Only on the side of the East Palace can you temporarily guarantee safety.

But for him, these people can only be regarded as icing on the cake, and they can't play the role of giving charcoal in the snow at all.

What he needs is a help that allows him to compete with others.

…

Chu Ning still fell ill.

In the morning of the second day, directing the people back to the East Palace was also handed over to Zhao Yanzhou. She wrapped herself in a thick cloth and leaned in the car with her eyes closed.

Cuihe has asked Fengyu to come here once, saying that he was caught in the wind and cold, so he should keep warm every day, take a lot of rest, and take a few more medicines to get better.

At this moment, her mouth and nasal cavity were full of bitter medicine, and she was a little drowsy. After returning to the East Palace, she could not care about anything else and went directly to the house to rest.

The illness lasted for five days, and it was only on the sixth day that I felt better.

In the afternoon, Cuihe came in with the boiled ginseng soup, and helped Chu Ning, who had only woke up from a nap, up: "The lady is going to drink it soon, and I will have to eat crabs later. It is hard to raise it, but I can't let the cold. The thing hurts the body again."

I heard that Xiao Kezhi’s uncle, Wei Shou’s family had been connected to Chang’an the day before, and now they have become the emperor’s newly-appointed Duke Lu.

Today, Grandpa Lu and his wife Xu are going to the palace to give thanks. There is no owner in the harem, only the Queen Mother Qi is in charge. The Empress Dowager Qi ordered an autumn crab banquet to entertain Mrs. Lu in the Ningyun Pavilion. Many family members and daughters of Chang'an had to enter the palace for a banquet, and of course there was also the prince Chu Ning.

She frowned at the yellow ginseng soup that night, took the drink without saying a word, and went to the mirror to dress up.

The few nourishing sacred products that the Queen Mother Qi rewarded were not used by Xiao Yu, but most of them entered her belly.

"The Queen Mother never looked down upon those with a humble background. This time it is different to Mrs. Lu." Cuihe muttered and added a coat of clothes to her upper underwear. "I heard that the crab was only from yesterday. The one sent from Suzhou to Chang'an hasn't even tasted the Queen Mother herself."

Chu Ning took a picture in the mirror left and right, and shook his head with a smile after hearing the words: "It's just to give Mrs. Lu a face, in the end is the saint's real aunt, how can I really look at it?"

Empress Dowager Qi came from a famous family, and like many aristocratic families, she looked down upon the poor family, let alone ordinary farmers like the Wei family who could not even be called the poor family.

After Wei Cairen was awarded, Wei Shou didn't get the slightest reward. Among them, there was no lack of the Queen Mother Qi deliberately.

As for the crab, it seems to be kind, but in fact it is mean.

Autumn crabs are very fat and beautiful. For Zhongming Ding Shijia, it is also a treasure that only gets one season a year. To be worthy of such seasonal delicacies, these nobles have already eaten a trick.

Let a peasant woman who has been working for a long time look at the things she can see everywhere in the paddy fields on weekdays, and there are so many complicated doorways in the plate of the nobles, and it is really suspected to be disarming.

This is the Empress Dowager Qi, who personally supports Wei's family, while secretly beating her.

After a while, after getting dressed, she boarded the carriage and entered Tai Chi Palace directly from the Anlimen in the north.

Many people have arrived in the Ningyun Pavilion, even the Queen Mother Qi has arrived. They are sitting on the main seat and talking to a few older ladies. The other unmarried little ladies are all underneath or admiring flowers, or Only Qi Chenxiang stood respectfully next to the Queen Mother, who seemed to be a lot more stable than others.

The palace attendant in the palace saw Chu Ning coming and reminded him that for a while, the eyes of several women looked towards this side.

Chu Ning smiled and bowed forward, as if he hadn't seen their strange eyes.

"Get up." The Queen Mother Qi faintly raised her hand and looked at her with slightly cloudy eyes. "I heard that you have been ill for a few days, and I am worried that it was because of the cold on the ground that I knelt in my palace that day. ."

The words were plain, but not very pleasant, as if she was alluding to the fact that she was frightened and ill by the things in the Baifu Hall that day.

Chu Ning got up and smiled and said: "The Queen Mother is concerned. I was blown by the wind when I was watching the scenery in Lingyan Pavilion that day. This was the result of the wind and cold, and it is better today."

The others looked at the atmosphere between the two and did not speak for a while.

At this time, the palace man looked at a few people not far away and said: "Mrs. Lu is here."