Song Dynasty female artist

Xiao Guanyin breathed a sigh of relief, held Lan Qiao's hand and stood up and walked out.

Walking on the road, Lan Qiao admitted her fault in a low voice: "This servant deserves to die. Fortunately, Your Majesty acted decisively, otherwise..."

"Okay, I don't blame you. By the way, you need to thoroughly investigate the palace servant who delivered the meal today, as well as the imperial kitchen. Be careful not to make any noise, and do it quietly. His Majesty has just stated that he will cooperate with the investigation."

Humph, you dare to frame me. Once we catch the person who delivered the message, we will follow the clues and find the person out.

"Father, do you believe in Mother?"

Yelu Hongji looked at the prince and said, "Your mother is right. She is from the Xiao family, how could she fall in love with a musician..."

How could he, the emperor, be inferior to a musician?
Unless Xiao Guanyin is mentally ill.

However, speaking of this musician Zhao, Yelu Hongji had a new idea for investigation.

He called Wuguni and gave him some instructions. Wuguni nodded and said, "I understand. I will check it out right away."

After giving the order, he continued to ask the prince: "Now in this world, my Great Liao and the Great Song coexist. Prince, do you think that in the end, will we unify the north and the south, or will the Great Song unify the world?"

"This... my son,"

"Hard to say?"

There's nothing wrong with saying it. This is clearly a life-threatening question.

Yelu Hongji: "It's really hard to say. To be honest, even I'm not sure."

Before going to the Song Dynasty, he still had some confidence, but after going there, he found that the Song Dynasty was far more prosperous and powerful than he had imagined.

Powerful courtiers and a young and courageous monarch.

Look at him again. He was quite ambitious when he was young, but in recent years he found himself unable to do what he wanted. Although he is not old in terms of age, he just feels that he has become more experienced.

Look at the prince again, this young face.

"The prince is still young and has a lot to learn. In two years, you can also go to the Song Dynasty to have a look."

"Father, what's so good about the Song Dynasty? My sister died at the hands of the Song people."

Yelu Hongji: "Your sister has brought this upon herself. I asked her to marry into the Song Dynasty because I wanted her to establish a new secret agent to pass on intelligence to our dynasty, not to act on her own and assassinate officials of the Song Dynasty."

"But the struggle between two dynasties is inherently cruel."

"Cruelness is one thing, and direct assassination is another. Prince, remember, if a court relies on assassinating officials from other countries to maintain its stability and development, then it will not be far from destruction."

"Can……"

What Yelu Jun wanted to say was that a few years ago, didn’t his father send people to assassinate the Song Emperor who was away from home?

What is the difference between the two?
But the Crown Prince and his father were far from telling everything to each other. Even if he thought so in his heart, he didn't dare to ask it out loud.

"What does the prince want to say?"

"Father, I will do as you say. In a few years, next spring, I will be twelve years old and can travel far and wide."

When Emperor Song was his age, the previous emperor was seriously ill. At that time, he had actually begun to learn how to handle state affairs. Is he worse than Zhao Rui?

"Have you made up your mind?"

Yelu Jun nodded: "Yes, I have thought about it."

"Your second sister is getting married next August. It will be fine if I can return in time for her wedding."

"My son knows."

I don’t know if it’s because of the drought this year, so the winter seems particularly cold.

October has just passed and there have been several heavy snowfalls in Daliao.

This time when Yelu Hongji went to the Song Dynasty, he brought back some rice and grain, which was just enough for them to survive the winter. But at least they had food to eat and did not have to suffer from hunger and cold.

This is also the main purpose of his trip, to get food.

In November, the first snow fell in Kaifeng Prefecture. It was a very cold winter, so everyone stayed in Kyoto. The winter passed and the New Year came again. This year, the Liao Dynasty was defeated, and the palace banquet was held in a grand manner.

Officials above the fourth rank could bring their relatives into the palace to attend the palace banquet. To put it bluntly, it was a unique scene of selecting a concubine.

Gu Yanxiao, who had not attended a palace banquet for many years, entered the palace this year.

Zhao Rui's eyes were almost glued to Gu Yanxiao. Even a blind man could tell who the emperor liked.

The official's wife was not convinced, but she did not dare to show it.

Lu Sihui sat behind Prince An and looked at Gu Yanxiao with a cold face. She had not changed at all in this year. However, in just one year, she went from being a girl of the Lu family to Prince An's concubine, an unfavored concubine. At first, she fought with the concubines, then with Sagezhi, and now she had to fight with Cao Zhuohui. In this year, she was exhausted both physically and mentally.

If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have ended up like this.

Now I have the opportunity to compete with these noble ladies.

"Miss Gu, you are already twenty years old. I'm afraid that there are only a handful of people in Kyoto who are still unengaged at your age. I wonder if Miss Gu is too picky or has someone in her heart?"

Su Yixin didn't even look at Lu Sihui. She believed Xiaoxiao could handle such a situation.

He concentrated on eating the food in front of him, and from time to time he discussed with Li Liuyu beside him which one tasted good and which one lacked flavor.

Gu Yan smiled and said, "The concubine may not understand cultivators. In the sect, there are many people who get married in their forties or fifties. As for having someone they love, that's true. How about I take you to meet him some other day?"

Lu Sihui: “…”

From what Gu Yanxiao said, does it mean that you have someone you like?

And this person is not His Majesty.

Lu Sihui could hear it, and Zhao Rui even more so.

He almost rushed over to ask Gu Yanxiao who that person was.

But he is the emperor.

He could only take deep breaths, and again deep breaths, to suppress his impulsive emotions. However, the dinner ended early because Zhao Rui was in a bad mood.

"Miss Gu, please stay. His Majesty invites you."

Su Yixin and his wife looked at the young eunuch, who quickly said, "Your Majesty is in the Imperial Garden."

Su Yixin asked Gu Yanxiao: "Are you going?"

"Go ahead. Mother and father are waiting for me outside the palace. I'll be here soon after we talk."

The young eunuch led Gu Yanxiao to the imperial garden. Zhao Rui, wearing the red dragon robe, saw Gu Yanxiao coming, took two quick steps, and then stopped.

"You go down first."

"Everyone has left. Your Majesty, please speak up if you have anything to say. My parents are still waiting for me outside the palace."

"You said you have someone you like, who is he?"

"He is one of my senior brothers from Wuji Sect."

Zhao Rui felt like he couldn't catch his breath at this moment, and he couldn't believe that Gu Yanxiao no longer liked him.

"Are you lying to me? You want me to establish a queen and take concubines, right?"

"Your Majesty, you are overthinking it. We had already made it clear at the time. This one year or so is not a short time. It's not strange to fall in love with someone again."

Zhao Rui: "But I still have you in my heart."

"That is your Majesty's business."

"Xiaoxiao, you are forcing me, aren't you?"

Gu Yanxiao looked into Zhao Rui's eyes calmly and said, "Your Majesty, I agreed to come to see you, which proves that I have let it go. Whether you establish a queen or not, or take concubines or not, it has nothing to do with me." (End of this chapter)