No. 1 Girl in the Imperial City

Chapter 449

In the middle of the night, the palace gradually became quiet.

Outside the main hall of Yukun Palace, there are palace people stationed silently. Under the dim light and shadow, they look like lifeless sculptures.

Luo Junyao stepped into the hall silently, the coffin of the Empress Dowager was quietly placed in the center of the hall, Xie Yan and Princess Changling were kneeling before the coffin.Not far from the two of them, kneeling are Xie Xiao, Xu Chengyu and Qin Ning.

Xie Xiao and Xu Chengyu are both young men, Qin Ning has been in poor health since she was a child, even though she has been practicing martial arts for many years, kneeling for several hours is too much for her.

Luo Junyao stepped into the hall and knelt down beside Xie Yan.

"Shaking it hard today, can Ah Cheng sleep?" Princess Changling turned her head to look at Luo Junyao, her beautiful eyes in the past were red, she looked at Luo Junyao and asked in a low voice.

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "I fell asleep crying, sister Huang, let Ah Ning go to accompany Ah Cheng, so that Ah Cheng won't be afraid when he wakes up and can't find anyone."

Princess Changling looked up at her daughter. Qin Ning, who was already extremely exhausted, saw her mother's gaze sweeping over her, and immediately put away the tired look on her face, and said obediently, "Ah Ning accompanied her mother to guard her grandmother."

A trace of distress flashed across Princess Changling's face, she glanced at the three young men, sighed softly, and said, "Ah Ning Chengyu, and Ah Xiao should all go to rest and come back at dawn."

Qin Ning quickly shook her head and said, "I'm with mother."

Princess Changling shook her head: "Even if the mother wants to come here, she doesn't want to see the younger generation suffer for her. You children should all go. I will go to rest when Chang Zhao comes over tomorrow morning."

Luo Junyao winked at Xie Xiao, and Xie Xiao then pulled Qin Ning and Xu Chengyu to stand up, bowed respectfully to the spirit seat, and then retreated.

After the three juniors withdrew, Princess Changling said to Xie Yan and Luo Junyao again: "Zhifei, you and Yaoyao also go to rest."

Xie Yan looked up at her, and said: "Yao Yao go to rest, tonight, the first night, I will stay with Huang Jie."

The Empress Dowager's only flesh and blood in this world is Princess Changling, she will stay here no matter what tonight, Xie Yan naturally cannot leave Princess Changling alone.

Princess Changling said: "I am in a state of confusion now, and you and Yaoyao have to work hard at the funeral. Today Yaoyao has been busy all day, if she is still here to spend time with me, how can she hold on? Besides, I There are some things that I want to talk to my mother alone, so let me guard tonight."

Xie Yan looked deeply at Princess Changling for a long while before saying: "Okay, Aunt Huang won't want to see you hurting her body because of her. Take care, Miss Huang."

Princess Changling smiled wryly and nodded, "Don't worry, I still have two children. I haven't done anything for my mother, just these two days... I want to accompany my mother..."

Xie Yan took Luo Junyao's hand and walked out of the hall, turned his head and said to Huang Gonggong who was kneeling at the entrance of the hall: "Huang Gong, please look at Huang Jie."

Eunuch Huang leaned over respectfully and said, "Don't worry, my lord."

The two left the Yukun Palace all the way. Xie Yan just stopped and looked back at the palace gate behind him. The palace gate was still quiet, even the voices of mourning and music and doing things for the Empress Dowager had long since stopped.Passing through the palace gate, you can also see the ever-burning lamp in front of the spiritual seat in the hall swaying in the hall.

Xie Yan closed his eyes, just now there was a trace of fragility and sadness on his face.

Luo Jun shook his head to look at him, and said softly: "I can't walk anymore, let's sit over there for a while."

The two sat down on the stone steps outside the Yukun Palace. There was no star in the sky tonight, only a shallow crescent moon hung in the deep sky.

Luo Junyao leaned in Xie Yan's arms, held his hand and closed his eyes slightly to comfort him: "Don't be sad, Aunt Huang...just went to reunite with His Majesty Gaozu's late emperor. At least...It's better than falling asleep like this day in and day out Much more. As long as you make her feel at ease, she will be happy."

She was really tired, Xie Yan and Princess Changling had to guard the hall all day today, and all the trivial matters fell on her, Princess Changzhao and the son-in-law.

Xie Yan looked down at her, and slightly adjusted her position so that she could lean more comfortably.Gently patted her vest and said, "I'm fine, take a good rest."

Luo Jun shook his head and said, "I can't sleep, Ah Yan, please talk to me."

"what you want to say?"

"Just say something." Luo Junyao whispered.

Xie Yan was silent for a while, and then said in a low voice: "Yao Yao knows, because those people in the Mu Palace... I never felt that there were so-called relatives in this world until I was eight years old. Until I was admitted to the palace... At first, my temper Very withdrawn, neither willing to talk nor socialize with others. Uncle Huang usually takes care of everything, even though he loves me, he can't take care of many things. He can only let Brother Huang take me and let me study with Brother Huang. However, Brother Huang I'm quite a few years old, and my foundation is poor, so I didn't understand anything at all at first."

Luo Junyao opened his eyes and raised his head to look at him seriously. Although Xie Yan is not a talkative person, it is obviously not compatible with his withdrawn personality.

Xie Yan raised his hand and rubbed the top of her head and said: "It was the imperial aunt who took the imperial sister to call me and the imperial brother to the queen's bedroom for dinner every day, and personally enlightened me, and asked the imperial sister to take me out to play. At that time I was young and didn't know the rules, so I thought that the emperor would have dinner with the emperor's aunt every day. I later learned that, as the crown prince, the emperor's brother can have meals with the emperor's aunt a few times in a month. There were too many. At that time, there were not only brothers and sisters in the palace, but also many other princes. Sister Huang fought with other princes because of me."

"There is such a thing?" No wonder Xie Yan is so kind to Princess Changling, it is indeed a friendship that grew up together.

Xie Yan said: "They are all children under ten years old. Suddenly they met a foreign child with an unpleasant temper. This child is still with the crown prince every day. Those princes will naturally not be happy. The imperial sister herself is not two years older than us, and she is another Girl. She didn't allow those princes to bully me, and those brats not only refused to listen, but even worsened, Huang Jie did it herself in a fit of anger. That was the only time I saw Huang Jie fighting with someone."

"Then what happened?"

Xie Yan said: "Then everyone was brought in front of the emperor's uncle and aunt, and severely punished. However, afterwards, the emperor's uncle rewarded the emperor's sister again. From then on... those princes hated me even more. But after I was 12 years old , they won’t be able to beat me, and no one will dare to provoke me.”

"Although I haven't said it, but in my heart...Compared to Uncle Huang, I have always regarded my aunt as my mother." With one hand caressing her vest leisurely, Xie Yan looked up at the curve of the sky Yue, said in a low voice: "I once promised Brother Huang that I would definitely take good care of Auntie and Sister Huang. But...Since Brother Huang passed away, Auntie's health has been bad. It dragged on for so long...I also know , she has been strong all her life, so dragging her is really uncomfortable. But now that she is really gone, sister Huang and I... have no mother, Ah Cheng, and grandmother..."

"And I'm here..." The woman leaning in her arms said in a daze, "I will accompany, stay with A Yan..."

Xie Yan carefully embraced her in his arms, blocking the late spring night wind for her.

He lowered his head and kissed her gently between the eyebrows, "Okay."

In the early morning, before dawn, the sound of mourning and crying came from the Yukun Palace in front.

Luo Junyao sat up and saw Lan Zhen and Lan Yin dozing beside the bed. He was awakened by the sound of her getting up and quickly got up and said, "Princess, are you awake?"

Luo Junyao looked at the traces that she was the only one lying on the bed, she had no memory at all and didn't even know when she came back.

"What about Ayan?"

Lan Yin said: "The lord sent the wangfei back, and he just leaned against the bed to rest for a while, and went to Yukun Palace just after five o'clock.

Luo Junyao calculated the time, that is to say, Xie Yan rested for about an hour at most.

Without thinking too much, Luo Jun got up to wash up, ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast and went to see Xie Cheng again.

Xie Cheng had also woken up, and was being led by Qin Ning and Xu Xinyu for breakfast, his whole body was listless.

Seeing Luo Junyao approaching, Xie Cheng immediately put down the spoon in his hand, jumped off the stool and ran to Luo Junyao, "Little Aunt Huang."

Luo Junyao leaned over and hugged him, and said in a low voice: "Don't cry, Auntie Huang will take you to Yukun Palace after breakfast. Okay?"

Xie Cheng nodded obediently, and the water in his big eyes, which was holding back tears, glistened.

Luo Junyao sighed softly in his heart, carried him back to the table and said, "Go eat, if you don't eat, you won't be able to accompany the imperial grandmother if you are hungry."

"Yeah." Xie Cheng sat down obediently, picked up a spoon and started to eat breakfast.

"Shake."

"Little aunt."

Qin Ning and Xu Xinyu called out in unison, Luo Junyao nodded, walked to the side and sat down and asked, "How is the emperor? Are you still in Yukun Palace?"

Qin Ning shook her head and said: "After entering the palace in the morning, my aunt persuaded my mother to rest in the side hall."

"That's good." Luo Jun shook his head and said, "You also have to take good care of your mother, don't let her hurt your body." The departure of the Empress Dowager hit Princess Changling too hard, and she was really worried that she would hold on not go down.

Qin Ning's eyes were a little red, she nodded and said, "I know, don't worry."

"Who is taking care of the children at home?" Luo Junyao thought of the immature baby in Princess Changling's house.

Qin Ning wiped away her tears and said: "There is a steward and a nanny in the mansion, I'll go back and have a look after a while, it's all right."

Luo Junyao raised his hand to hold her somewhat cold hand, and said, "Ah Ning has grown up too, and can share her worries for Huang Jie."

If Qin Ning would have to choke her a few words at ordinary times, she would act as an elder in front of her Princess Anyang when she was not very old.But at this moment, Qin Ning really wasn't in that mood, and just pulled the corner of her lower lip reluctantly.

As the Prince Regent who governs the court, Xie Yan has to do more than just guard the spirit of the Empress Dowager.Many details of the empress dowager's funeral, such as how to arrange for the princes and princes to go to Beijing for the funeral, when the empress dowager will leave the funeral, how to arrange the envoys who came to express their condolences, how to get the emblem of the empress dowager, etc., all need to be decided by him.

And the huge empire will not stop because of the death of the empress dowager, and there are still many daily things.

Some important officials such as Luo Yun can take care of him on his behalf, but some can only be handled by himself.

Therefore, after a few days, not only the mournful Princess Changling became thin and haggard, but even Xie Yan, who had superb internal strength and could not sleep a wink for days and nights on the battlefield, became haggard visible to the naked eye.

Luo Junyao was also very tired. Fortunately, the seven-day officiant was finally over, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she returned to the Prince Regent's Mansion.

It will take time for princes and nobles to arrive at Shangyong. Not only vassals and officials from all over the country, but even some surrounding small countries that have received the blessings of Dasheng will send envoys to express their condolences, so the Empress Dowager will not go to the funeral immediately.

The Empress Dowager will be buried with Emperor Gaozu, and the Qin Tianjian has calculated the date, and the official funeral will be held on the fifth day of June.

Now the empress dowager's catalpa palace is parked in the Yukun palace, and there are daily vigils and worships until the fifth day of June, when the state funeral is officially held and the empress dowager's catalpa palace is sent to the imperial mausoleum.

Without the Empress Dowager, there would be no one in the palace.

As the center of great prosperity, the imperial palace cannot live without people.

On the third day after the Empress Dowager passed away, a courtier wrote a letter requesting that His Majesty the Emperor return to live in the palace, but this proposal was rejected by Xie Yan.

Not only that, Xie Yan also announced that when the Empress Dowager's Zigong was sent to the imperial mausoleum, the harem would be completely sealed off, and all the maids and servants in the harem would be released from the palace.Only the palace of the outer court was left to continue to be used until the emperor turned 16 years old.

This naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of many courtiers. The harem is indeed useless now, but in the eyes of many people, the existence of the harem itself is an irreplaceable meaning.

In their view, Xie Yan's actions were a kind of overstepping.

Where there is opposition, there is approval. Xie Yan's decision is another situation in the eyes of some people.

Now the emperor is the only direct descendant of the royal family, and the little emperor who is only seven years old obviously does not need a huge harem.

Dasheng has been in constant war for these years, and when financial resources were scarce, sealing off the harem not only saved a lot of expenses every year, but also released a lot of manpower.

There is no master to serve in the palace, but no matter how streamlined it is these years, the number of maids in the palace still reaches 3000, plus the number of guards.

It also costs money to support these people.

All of a sudden, there was an uproar in the hall.

Luo Junyao put the sleeping Xie Cheng on the bed, carefully pulled the quilt over him, and then got up and walked out quietly.

Zhu Siming and Xie Xiao waited respectfully outside the door, Luo Junyao looked at Zhu Siming and asked, "Have those children come back?"

Zhu Siming said: "Go back to Wangfei, knowing that His Majesty and Wangfei are returning to the mansion today, those young masters came here early in the morning."

Luo Jun shook his head, "Let Ah Cheng sleep for a while, and tell them when he wakes up, let them spend more time with Ah Cheng these few days."

Zhu Siming said: "Princess, don't worry, I understand."

Your Majesty has suffered many close relatives passing away at a young age, and I am afraid that he has not had a good rest these few days.

Just now when he returned to the mansion, he fell asleep in the carriage, and the concubine carried her back in person.Children grow up fast, and the princess is already petite, so it was quite difficult to carry a seven-year-old child all the way.

Luo Jun shook his head, glanced at the room behind him, and sighed softly.

Except for Xie Cheng's intense reaction in the first two days, he was very obedient and obedient in the next few days.Let him eat and he will eat, let him sleep and he will sleep.But the originally round face has become thinner, and it often wakes up crying at night, which is really uncomfortable to see.

It's just that Xie Yan is entangled in trivial matters now, and Princess Changling fell ill after the ceremony yesterday.Princess Changzhao has to help with the miscellaneous affairs in the palace, and she also needs to help take care of Princess Gu Changling and the child, how can she be so busy?
After much deliberation, Luo Junyao still brought Xie Cheng back to the Prince Regent's Mansion.At least there are a few friends accompanying him in the mansion, and the atmosphere is not as oppressive as in the palace.

As for those rowdy courtiers, she believed that they would not be able to compete with Xie Yan.

After ordering Zhu Siming to take good care of Xie Cheng, Luo Junyao took Xie Xiao to the study.

She had been staying in the palace for the past few days, and she had no time to pay attention to the outside affairs. Only now did she remember that she still had a lot of things to deal with, and she couldn't help sighing for a while.

"Is there any news from Cao Jie these days?" Luo Junyao asked.

Xie Xiao said: "Princess, don't worry, we are busy these days, and Cao Jie is not idle. The prince ordered the princes and nobles from all over the country to return to Beijing to attend the funeral for the Empress Dowager. Cao Mian is one of them. There has been no movement in Cao Jie these days. I guess I was worried about it."

Luo Junyao thought for a moment, "That's right, the Cao family might feel a little guilty about letting Cao Mian enter the capital at this time."

Xie Xiao nodded and said, "The people we planted in Feng's house came back with the news that someone secretly went to Feng's house a few nights ago. Although we couldn't see the real face, it is probably Cao Jie."

Luo Jun shook his head, "How is the matter with the Fang family going?"

Xie Xiao said: "Princess, don't worry, although it is reasonable to say that blood should not be seen during the funeral of the Empress Dowager, but these people are looking for their own death, and they can't blame others."

(End of this chapter)