The Gilded Cage

He is somehow drunk today, and even the time he slept after being drunk was more than an hour longer than usual. All the signs made him suspicious, I was afraid that someone secretly moved his hands and feet to make himself so abnormal.

But when he woke up, the feeling on his body was the same as before when he was drunk, and even because he slept for a long time, his mind was more sober than when he woke up after being drunk.

The only difference is that his wife is not by his side.

The maid said that the prince was thinking that it was New Year's Eve, and there were many foreign envoys, so it was too bad for the East Palace to be rude, so she returned to the feast.

But when he was almost past his son, as usual, most of the master of the night banquet on the song stage should have been gone, but she has not returned, making him suspicious.

Chu Ning's back stiffened more and more stiff, but the expression on his face tried to relax, softly responding: "Just when I was about to come back, there was a sudden snow outside, I happened to be a little tired, so I searched it on the song station. I slept in one room for a while, and then I came back later. I beg your Highness for forgiveness."

Xiao Yu didn't rush to ask any more, but just looked at her expression carefully with the candlelight, as if to see some clues from it.

"Later, what happened at the banquet?"

Chu Ning's heart tightened, knowing that he didn't believe her words, so he had to question her what happened later to see if she really stayed at the banquet.

She bit her lip, her cheeks were slightly red, and she lowered her head in embarrassment: "Something did happen..."

Only then did Xiao Yu calm down, pulling her up from her feet to sit on the edge of the bed, holding her in her arms with one hand, and pinching her chin with the other, forcing her to look up at him.

"What the **** is it?"

Her eyes flashed, and she whispered: "I heard that Zhao Erniang broke into the side hall where the saint was resting. The noise was a bit loud, and many people saw it..."

"Zhao Yu'e?" Xiao Yu paused, and immediately remembered what he had heard before, and said contemptuously, "She can afford to lose her face. It's really embarrassing for her Zhao family. How about the saint, how about he? Woman, would he not want it?"

Chu Ning became more uncomfortable, glanced at him with a weird look, and muttered: "The saint was not in the temple at the time..."

"Where?" Xiao Yu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The saint is in the Chongming Pavilion..." She bit her lip, and pressed down the weirdness in her heart. "There was also a maid beside her, but her appearance was blocked. The two of them took their steps to the Feishuang Temple, and the road was blocked by the imperial court. The servant is cleared, no one else is allowed to leave..."

She didn't dare to say anything in detail, so she could only try her best to tell the story from the perspective of others. From time to time, she heard all kinds of comments from the Chongming Pavilion, and her cheek was almost red.

However, while being shy, facing such a mean and cold face like Xiao Yu, she still had a secret, nervous pleasure in her heart.

If he knew the truth, would he be as angry and painful as she was at the beginning...

Xiao Yu didn't know what she was thinking, and a sneer full of sarcasm appeared on her indifferent face, and she ridiculed: "My emperor can bear it. When I was in Ganzhou, I heard that I was like an ascetic monk. Now I am an emperor. , It’s getting more and more unconcealed. It’s just on the racecourse last time, and this time I played women openly at the New Year’s Eve banquet, but I really didn’t put the Qi family in his eyes. I don’t know if the Qi family can tolerate him like this. How long is the presumptuous behavior."

Chu Ning glanced at him, but didn't answer, but he didn't agree with him.

She knew that Xiao Yu hated both the Queen Mother Qi and Xiao Kezhi, and naturally hoped that the two of them could fight secretly, so that his precarious prince could reap the benefits.

But she still didn't understand why he felt that the Qi family had the strength to compete with the emperor. In her opinion, the emperor had military power, and the army in his hand was the heaviest weapon in Da Liang.

In contrast, the Empress Dowager Qi is also a sensible person. For so many years, the Qi family had never really coveted imperial power. They remembered their position as relatives, and they only sought an unshakable position of the Qi family.

Come to think of it, it was the struggles over the years that made Xiao Yu put too much thought on the Qi family, invisibly magnifying the jealousy and fear of the Qi family, and could no longer look up to see the overall situation.

His vision is too narrow, and because of this, a person like him may not be able to pretend to be a real Mingjun.

"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Yu patted her cheek, as if her mood had improved, and there was no longer the suspicion and displeasure in her eyes. "You are not allowed to stay outside for so long before returning."

"I see, I was wrong today." Chu Ning returned to his senses, confessing his mistake very consciously, and made him feel more comfortable.

"It's getting late, I'll serve your Royal Highness to freshen up." She said, putting one hand on his chest and trying to get up, but he gently squeezed it and kissed it on her lips.

"If you know you are wrong, you should be punished."

His eyes were a little deep, and his heart was frustrated a few days ago, coupled with the troubles of the New Year, except for the day when he came back, he has never touched her again, but today he is interested again.

"His Royal Highness will meet with courtiers tomorrow and participate in the ceremony. You shouldn't be tired..." Chu Ning felt fatigued and wanted to find excuses to refuse.

He squeezed her soft and delicate hand, and said dumbly: "It's true that you shouldn't be tired. Then I'll change to Aning, okay?"

Chu Ning lowered her head, biting her lip in silence.

He let go of her a little bit, his gaze fell on her dress, raised his chin, and said, "Hey, take off your clothes by yourself."

She took a deep breath, turned to her side, and took off the silk and large sleeves that were covering her hood one by one, but she did not dare to move anymore while leaving the full-chested skirt inside.

I don't know if there are any traces left on his body.

She paused, and slowly pulled his hand to cover herself, and she also put her hand into his shirt.

He couldn't help closing his eyes and gasping, but as if he felt it was not enough, he pulled her to kiss for a while, then rubbed her lips with his thumb, his deep eyes were full of hints.

She understood, she shuddered, slowly knelt in front of him, and bowed her head.

He tightened and slowly relaxed, leaning back, rubbing the back of her head, his eyes were red and full of joy.

…

After a while, the tails of her eyes flushed and her face was full of humiliation. She endured the discomfort of her eyelids, chin, and neck, and packed everything for him before turning around and rushing back to her house.

"Lady!" Cuihe hurriedly closed the door, poured a large cup of tea for her, and waited for her to pour it down before taking her to sit by the bed.

Chu Ning sat in a trance for a while, and suddenly took Cuihe to sit down, patted her hand and smiled: "Don't be sad, I'm fine."

Cuihe squeezed her fingertips and said nothing, but still tugged in her heart.

"It's just now in the Feishuang Temple. I didn't drink the medicine." Chu Ning has always been vigilant and has almost never forgotten about it, but today is really shocked by what happened, and then forgot about it.

Now that I think about it, I was planning to let Cuihe go quietly to make a bowl, but saw that she took out a vial from her cuff: "Lady, this is Dajian Liu asked the slave and maidservant to give it to the lady. Take one pill every day to prevent contraception. Your majesty personally asked Feng Yu to make a pill that would cause less damage to the body than the prescription used by the lady before. Liu Dajian also said that your majesty cares about the lady and asks the lady to take this for the time being. Now people are looking for a better way. "

Chu Ning was stunned, opened the vial in his hand, poured out a small black pill, looked for a long time in the palm of his hand, and then silently took it down.

She remembered what he said.

"If I don't let you die, you won't die."

"Not for anyone else, just for yourself."

She made her own decision to take refuge in the soup. For two years, she herself hadn't cared about the harm caused by the decoction to the body, but he was very careful, and even really tried to find a way for her.

There were unspeakable complex emotions in her heart, both surprised and moved, and even a little bit ashamed, nervous and afraid.

This feeling of being considered by others is very strange to her now.

"Zhao Sizhi had asked people to come before and asked the lady if he would go down the mountain in the second year."

Cuihe's words interrupted her thoughts and pulled her back.

On the second day of the first lunar month, it coincides with the celebration in the palace, and the folk slack season is also her mother's birthday.

This day was the most important day of her father's life, and he remembered it more firmly than his own birthday.

In the past two years, every day she would leave the palace and worship at her parents' graves, and this year should be no exception.

"Go." She nodded and said, "When it's dawn, let someone go and tell him, as before, I will go with him."

Cuihe responded in a low voice, and served her to freshen up again. When she saw her lying down, she turned off the light and exited the inner room.

After falling asleep, Chu Ning had a weird dream all night long. For a while, her father was holding her little girl outing in the bright spring scenery in the suburbs, and for a while, Xiao Yu asked her calmly why she had betrayed and threatened her to kill Zhao Yanzhou...

In the end, all the fragmented pictures turned into a person—Xiao Kezhi.

He stared at her condescendingly, and slowly reached out a hand at her.

He said: "Come on, come by yourself."

She wanted to say "Okay", and she wanted to step over, but her throat seemed to be sealed, and she couldn't make a sound. She couldn't lift her legs like lead, so she could only stare at him blankly.

…

"Niangzi, Niangzi!" Cuihe's voice came from her ears, awakening her from her dream.

Sweaty, she slowly sat up from the bed, looked at the already bright sky, and asked, "When is it?"

Cuihe held the veil to wipe the sweat for her, with a little worry in her eyes, and said, "It's hour, has the lady been a nightmare?"

Chu Ning nodded: "I had some weird dreams, probably because of tossing too late last night, so I just wake up. Where's your Highness?"

"His Royal Highness went out a long time ago. I heard that the lady was asleep, so she didn't wake up. If the lady is still tired, she might as well take a rest."

Hearing that Xiao Yu had already left, Chu Ning immediately felt half-relaxed. Although there was still a sense of soreness and softness all over his body, his spirit was much better, so he shook his head and got up. After a lot of freshening, he took breakfast. .

Today is the first day of the first lunar month, a great day.

She summoned the maids and servants who came to the main hall of the Prince Soup, and smiled and gave away the rewards one by one. The few who had been punished by Xiao Yu in the past few days also gave away some extra money.

Prince Tang, whose atmosphere has always been tight, finally gradually showed joy and joy.

Everyone smiled and thanked them, boldly said a few auspicious words, and then went down and rested.

Chu Ning looked at the several maids in the yard who had been sweeping the snow, but were gradually playing around, feeling particularly happy.

Without him, it really looks like New Year's Day.