The Gilded Cage

"Yuniang doesn't know that her Majesty is coming, she has never avoided, please forgive her."

In front of the tall horse, she leaned forward and bends over, the corners of the concubine skirt fell to the ground, and the front of the skirt was inadvertently opened slightly, just to reveal a looming deep ditch.

Xiao Kezhi stared blankly at the strange woman in front of him, frowning as his gaze slipped over her deliberately exposed chest.

"Who are you?"

Zhao Yu'e raised her head slightly, revealing a charming smile that he had practiced countless times in front of the bronze mirror, and whispered: "Yuniang's elder brother is the current Zhen Guo general Zhao Lun, and her majesty has never seen her before she returned to Chang'an. "

"Yeah." Xiao Kezhi's gaze swept across the majestic slaves and servants behind her, and he paused slightly when he passed the corner of the street.

"Since you haven't seen it before, how did you recognize me?"

When he spoke, his face was still cold, but he didn't show anger. He only taught people to feel incomprehensible. On the contrary, his horse seemed to be a little impatient because of the long pause. He was shoveling his horse's hooves from time to time and was ready to move.

Zhao Yu'e was born in a family of military generals. Facing the restless steed, she always stood still and stood firm and smiled: "Your Majesty is born extraordinary, and he is handsome and handsome. Even if he is slightly dressed, he is also handsome, Yu When my mother saw it, she didn't dare to think about it."

She said this compliment very naturally, as if it were from the sincerity, but the people who listened to it were a little uncomfortable.

Even Jin Jiang, who had never spoken a word, looked solemnly at the lady.

Dressed so exquisitely, I recognized your Majesty at a glance, and deliberately bowed his head to the top of the horse. Almost everyone present had already seen her purpose, but she could still be so calm and not ashamed, in the huge city of Chang'an. Sure enough, there are all kinds of people.

He couldn't help shivering, and turned around to see Xiao Kezhi's reaction.

Xiao Kezhi was not surprised by her remarks, but only tightened the rein in her hand, raised her chin, and said, "Since you know it is me, why don't you let it go?"

Zhao Yu'e was a little stunned. I don't know why he suddenly turned his face, and his face condensed. After a moment of stunned, he stood up straight and gestured to the servants behind him.

The huge team slowly evaded to the side, giving way to the wide road by half the distance.

Xiao Kezhi led the guards to leave quickly and continued towards the Yanxi Gate. Without hesitation, Zhao Yu'e was left standing there, staring at his back with complicated eyes, until the maid beside him, Chunyan, asked carefully before reopening. Board the carriage.

"Lady, do we still want to go to the temple?" Chun Yan looked at her unpleasant face, hesitated for a moment, and asked softly.

"I have seen people, what are you going to do in the temple?" Zhao Yu'e said coldly, slowly tilting to the cushion in the carriage, resting with one hand, and taking a nap. There was no more tenderness like water on the delicately makeup face. .

She went out today because of Xiao Ke's visit.

Earlier, someone sent her news that he was going to a military camp on the outskirts of the city. She deliberately appeared on his way back to the city, trying to test the emperor's depth.

Before returning to Chang'an, she had already let her brother go to Ganzhou for a long time to inquire about the new emperor's past. She acted decisively and didn't care about rigid rules. What's more, she had barely contacted her for so many years. woman.

When she was in her boudoir, she had seen many people in her father's army. They were calm, resolute and ruthless on the surface, but in fact they were the least provocative.

But when I saw this new gentleman today, it seemed to be a little different, and I don’t know what kind of person he is...

…

On the other side, Xiao Kezhi has been pursing his lips since he left and said nothing.

Zhao Yu'e's intentions were very clear just now, even if he didn't want to bother to understand, he already knew clearly.

However, he didn't care what Zhao Yu'e did just now. What he wanted to know was why she appeared in front of him.

He has not yet been married, and there are no few ladies in Beijing who want to marry into the Tai Chi Palace, but because of the Qi family, they dare not be too straightforward. However, the Zhao family is different from them. There must be some reason for this.

Is it just because you heard the wind in the North Korea?

He thought for a while, took a look at Jin Jiang next to him, and said, "You arrange some people to go to Banzhou in private to check Zhao Lun’s recent situation, if you can find out what happened to his father when he was in office. also may."

Hearing this, Jin Jiang immediately straightened his back and said "Hey" with a solemn face. He just kept silent all the way, and did not continue the recent changes in the city defense that he was talking about when he came back.

After following Xiao Kezhi for many years, he had already figured out his temperament. Although his face was still expressionless now, he was probably thinking about something that had just happened to him, so he shouldn't be disturbed, so he waited quietly for instructions.

"As for the others—" Xiao Kezhi raised his head and looked at the Yanxi Gate, which was already close at hand, and slowly tightened the reins to stop the horse again. To Qimu."

He doesn't need to bother with this kind of thing, he has someone who should handle it.

Jin Jiang listened to the side for a moment, and it took him a long time to realize that he was going to use Qi's hand to solve this woman. He nodded hurriedly, keeping everything in mind.

However, looking at the Yanxi Gate close at hand, he still couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, don't you just go back to the palace?"

The corners of Xiao Kezhi's tight lips moved slightly, and then they returned to their original shape. He simply turned over and got off his horse, saying: "I'll wait a moment. You stay aside."

…

At the intersection, Chu Ning's carriage drove out slowly after the two teams had left.

At the moment she was sitting in the carriage, thinking about what she had just seen.

She was so far apart, she couldn't hear what the two said, she could only guess from Zhao Yu'e's back and Xiao Kezhi's indistinct complexion.

She was almost certain that Zhao Yu'e was the same as her, and both wanted to approach Xiao Kezhi.

But she is a princess, and she made the move because of her father. What is Zhao Yu'e for?

Although Zhao Kui is no longer there, but Zhao Lun takes over. The Zhao family is still in full swing. Why does Zhao Yu'e want to do this?

Cuihe apparently saw her doubts and reminded softly: "The lady forgot. In the past two years, Chang'an also had a rumors about Zhao Erniang's relationship with her husband, and she always disliked the family's prince from a mediocre background."

Chu Ning was stunned, only then did he remember the rumors at the time.

Zhao Yu'e's husband's surname is Cheng, a famous family in Xiangzhou, and it is not inferior to many aristocratic families in Chang'an.

In recent years, the aristocracy in Chang'an has somewhat excluded the family of military commanders, especially Zhao Yu'e who has only his mother by his side and his father is still far away in Bozhou, and is even less popular with older ladies. However, she was also arrogant and despised the dudes who were interested in her, so she took the initiative to choose the Cheng family in Xiangzhou.

It is a pity that the man of the Cheng family has a good background, but he has a temperament that does not fight or rob him. Seeing her husband hopeless for promotion, Zhao Yu'e was not happy, and quarreled with him repeatedly, making him depressed all day long.

Chu Ning has never liked to listen to these rumors outside. I can think of this because I happened to meet the man of the process family in the East Palace later and heard Xiao Yu mention it before he wrote it down.

Cuihe meant that Zhao Yu'e took the initiative to approach Xiao Kezhi, just for his identity and status.

But she didn't think it should be so simple.

She thought about the trivial things that she had recently heard from Xiao Yu and the news from Zhao Yanzhou, and suddenly she knew.

There have been a lot of rumors in the DPRK before that Xiao Kezhi will carry out a major purge on the generals who are now holding soldiers and horses in Daliang, like a Qianniuwei of the imperial city forbidden army, and replace him with his confidants.

At first, some people were skeptical. It was not until five days ago that he suddenly ordered the Youzhou Defender to be replaced. This made everyone believe that they had to secretly worry about their future.

Presumably, the Zhao family also had such concerns, especially when Zhao Lun was young and had only recently taken up the position of General Zhen Guo, so he would indeed be more anxious than others.

Thinking of this, Chu Ning slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Zhao Yu'e's purpose does not conflict with her, she doesn't care about other things.

At this time, the carriage approached Yanxi Gate and stopped again. Unexplainably, she raised the soft curtain and looked out, but she happened to see Xiao Kezhi who was standing on the side looking at her.

"Enough to see things just now?"

When Chu Ning heard this, he knew that he had just discovered him, so he didn't hide it, got out of the car, and said after saluting: "Your majesty, don't worry, my nephew did not intend to peek, and will never reveal a word."

"Really?" Xiao Kezhi stood half a meter away from her and squinted at her, his suspicion in his eyes was unconcealed. "Neither intentionally, why, like her, happened to appear on my way back to the palace?"

For some reason, when he saw the bold and charming Zhao Yu'e, his heart was calm and there was no fluctuation, but facing this dignified nephew who was tightly wrapped in a dress, he couldn't help thinking of many ambiguous pictures in his heart.

Chu Ning was taken aback when he heard the words, and then realized that he was suspecting that he, like Zhao Yu'e, had deliberately "ran into" him.

She couldn't help chuckles, and a faintly enchanting state appeared between the beautiful faces that were originally dignified and could not find a trace: "Yes, my nephew has been close to your majesty many times, and it is indeed unavoidable. However, today it is actually in response to Lu. Mrs. Guo's invitation, go to the Great Ci'en Temple together to worship the Buddha. If your Majesty doubts, you might as well ask Mrs. Lu personally.

In the evening, the daylight dimmed a little bit, and a thin layer of gauze was placed on her smooth face, making everything more obscure and ambiguous.

Although there are few people going to and from the gate of Miyagi, it is not uncommon. Even if there are guards around it, it is not very safe.

But Xiao Kezhi took a step forward, stretched out his finger, and brushed her white cheek very quickly.

The remaining soft touch feels like that soft and smooth silk paw, which makes his fingertips burn, and even if there is heat, it quickly burns all over his body, and finally gathers in his heart, ready to move.

"Rather than hit the idea on Mrs. Lu, it is better to come to me directly." He put his hand in his sleeve, pinched his palm, and resisted the restlessness of his whole body. "Think about it, do you want to tell me, you What do you want?"

Chu Ning looked at him seemingly calm, but in fact he tried to restrain himself, and couldn't help but relax. It seemed that the two months of thinking had not been wasted.

It's just that men are cheap bones. If you get the answer too easily, you will never cherish it.

"It's getting late, and the niece-in-law won't return to the palace again, I'm afraid the prince will blame it."

She took out a soft silk kerchief from her sleeve and inadvertently wiped it on her lips, just to imprint a very pale scarlet mark.

"If your Majesty really wants to know, you might as well wait patiently."

With that, she curled around and walked to the car again.

The evening breeze swept across her face, making her skirt fluttering, drawing a slender and graceful figure, and blowing the square silk kerchief gently.