The Golden Partridge of An Lingrong's Rebirth

Chapter 184.children

"Congratulations to my sister on your promotion to the imperial concubine." After the banquet, An Lingrong came to Yongshou Palace with gifts to express his congratulations. He saw that the gifts on the table were piled up like a mountain. Cui Jinxi, Liu Zhu and Xiao Yunzi were counting and storing them in the warehouse. " I don’t know if my thoughts can catch my sister’s eyes.”

Zhen Huan was soaking her hands in rose juice. When she heard this, she couldn't help laughing and said: "Since I returned to the palace, you have brought me things at every turn, food, fun, and everything. If I don't know the rules, wouldn't it be arrogant?" ?" She took the silk scarf handed over by Liu Zhu, wiped her hands, and asked An Lingrong to sit down, "Liu Zhu, go and get some tea. Rong'er likes to drink scented tea. Make a pot of the rose tea that the emperor just rewarded yesterday. Come." She looked at An Lingrong and said with a smile, "I drank that tea once and it was very fragrant. If you like it after tasting it, I can pack a box and take it back later."

An Lingrong did not refuse and agreed with a smile, then turned to talk about Lingxi: "Sister gave Lingxi to me like this, don't you regret it?"

"I've been thinking about this for a month. To be honest, I have selfish motives." Zhen Huan smiled lightly and reached out to take An Lingrong's hand, "Longyue, Lingxi, Hongzhao, with my own strength I'm afraid I can't protect my three children. It took a lot of effort for Haoyue to come back to me. I can't bear to be separated from her again. Hongzhao has been held in my stomach for too long, and his body is weaker than Lingxiwei. I have to take care of it myself. Only Lingxi can be entrusted to her. Furthermore, the emperor has been very sad when Ankang died young. Lingxi will take care of her under your name. As Ankang's shadow, the emperor will definitely feel pity for her." She looked at An Lingrong, "Rong'er , Lingxi is my child, and also your child. Only with you raising and taking care of her can I feel at ease."

"Since my sister entrusted her to me, I will risk my life to protect her." An Lingrong said solemnly.

Zhen Huan glared at her: "You are fooling around again, you dare to talk about anything." She changed the subject and looked at the brocade box in Daukou's hand, "What good things did you bring again?"

"I had nothing to do some time ago, and I came across a clever recipe in ancient books. I used flowers piled with yarn. My sister loves crabapples the most. I brought these two flowers myself." An Lingrong opened the wooden box of huanghuali and took out a flower from it. The palm-sized pink palace flower pointed at the six smaller pairs and said, "Sister, please keep the remaining azaleas, roses, magnolias, red plums, daffodils, and lilies to enjoy."

Zhen Huan was very curious, so she carefully took the flower and looked at it again and again: "At first glance, I thought it was a real flower." She put it to the tip of her nose and sniffed it gently, and then talked to An Lingrong.

"Your Majesty, there are really too many congratulatory gifts. You asked me to choose some outstanding ones to keep. I really can't pick them out for a while." Cui Jinxi finished ordering the congratulatory gifts and walked out and said, "This is a gift from the Jinkang County Prince's Palace." What came was a pair of twelve gold-illuminated silk and elk bamboo fans. Oddly enough, the bamboo bones felt cold to the touch, like jade."

An Lingrong raised his eyebrows and smiled softly: "No one can be offended by the Prince of Jinkang County. When I was awarded the title of Imperial Concubine, their family also gave me a gift. It was a statue of Guanyin carved from a single piece of mutton-fat white jade. The jade quality is exquisite. Wenrun, Dill and the others were amazed for a long time."

Zhen Huan smiled and motioned for Cui Jinxi to continue.

"And this." Cui Jinxi took out a long brocade box, "The Wenxi Poison-Repelling Chopsticks sent by Duke Meng's Mansion. Although silver chopsticks can also detect poisons, they are far less rare."

"People who use poison are the most vicious and cannot be guarded against. After all, it is Meng Guogong who has his own intentions." Zhen Huan sighed and ordered Cui Jinxi to put it away.

"Wait a minute." Daukou noticed something was wrong with his sharp eyes, and called out to stop Cui Jinxi's movement. He stepped forward and took a closer look at the pair of Wenxi poison-preventing chopsticks. He stretched out his hand and rubbed the tip of the chopsticks, and gently twisted it with his index finger and thumb. Twist, and then breathed a sigh of relief, "Aunt Jinxi, don't be busy putting it in the warehouse. Take it and soak it in white vinegar. Someone wiped something dirty on it."

Zhen Huan's eyebrows twitched: "Is it poison?"

"It's not poison." Daukou said with a brisk smile, "It's a potion similar to croton. If the queen uses these chopsticks, she may suffer some pain."

Zhen Huan raised her eyes and looked at An Lingrong in surprise, a little surprised: "I have no contact with Duke Meng. Did he send this gift intentionally or unintentionally?" Suddenly, she seemed to remember something and asked, "The Meng family...his young lady Meng Jingxian was the one who was originally going to be pointed out to the Seventeenth Master. I wonder if she is married now?"

Xiao Yunzi replied: "Not yet, Miss Meng is obsessed with the Seventeenth Master, and she still doesn't want to leave the cabinet. She has become an old girl."

An Lingrong also said with emotion: "She is also pitiful. Back then, the Queen Mother wanted to grant her a marriage, but she was obsessed with it, but Prince Guo refused to marry her in court. She was laughed at by everyone in the capital, but she was also strong-willed, and she immediately showed her I will not marry Feiguo County Prince in this life, and I have been spending my life like this until now." While sighing with emotion, he was also a little strange, "It's just a good thing, what does their family do to my sister?"

At this time, Cui Jinxi came forward with another brocade box: "Your Majesty, the coral bracelet sent by Guojun Prince's Palace is really exquisite when I look at it."

"You can't pity the coral in the palm of your hand, but you can turn it into a flower in the sun." Zhen Huan thoughtfully put the coral on her wrist, waved everyone away, and then said to An Lingrong, "I guess, Miss Meng is probably I heard some rumors about the prince and me, so I was embarrassed. Rong'er, I'm afraid, there are already rumors outside..."

"Didn't sister say that everything between you two was kept secret?" An Lingrong became nervous after realizing this. "Apart from Jin Xi, Liu Zhu, and A Jin who is next to Prince Guo, who else knows?"

"Both Concubine Shu and her maids know about it. Also, I have been to Qingliangtai, and the maids there may have seen some clues." Zhen Huan counted it carefully, "I don't dare to say for sure. .”

"I'll have someone go check it out." An Lingrong agreed immediately.It was not difficult to check these things. Within a few days, Zhou Nan entered the palace with the news, but what she found made her realize something was wrong: "You mean, Meng Jingxian and Prince Guo have known each other for many years?"

"Yes, the spies came to report that Miss Meng had known Prince Guo 15 years ago. The two had a very close relationship. Miss Meng could even go in and out of the Qingliang Terrace freely, and everyone in the Duke's mansion, including the Duke, agreed. "Miss Meng will marry Prince Guo." Zhou Nan said in detail, "What's more, Prince Guo had a private life-long contract with Miss Meng, but later Prince Guo got to know someone while he was traveling abroad. A woman fell in love with her at first sight and broke her promise with Miss Meng."

"Who is this woman?" An Lingrong's heart skipped a beat and she hurriedly asked.

Zhou Nan shook his head: "Our people have searched and found out who this woman is. They only know that she had a romantic relationship with Prince Guo and disappeared soon after. Prince Guo was sad for a long time. .”

An Lingrong breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, please step back first."

Knowing that Zhen Huan was not exposed, An Lingrong felt a little relieved, but at the same time he also had doubts. How did Meng Jingxian know about this?

But this issue did not cost An Lingrong too much energy to explore. The battle for the sixth prince's son soon occupied all her attention.

On this day, she got the news and hurried to her elder brother's house. What she encountered was the most exciting part. The queen stood aside with a livid face. Concubine Jing knelt down and hugged her sixth elder brother on the ground, crying, and the emperor was furious. It didn't work, but Zhen Huan was sitting next to the emperor, whispering something.

In the side hall, the maids, eunuchs, and imperial doctors were all kneeling and standing, and there was a huge circle of people surrounding them.

"Greetings to the Emperor, greetings to the Queen." After An Lingrong came in, he bowed politely, then looked at the Emperor with confusion, "What's going on?" She looked at Concubine Jing and Sixth Brother, " Didn’t you say that Sixth Brother is sick? The autumn wind has started to blow these days, it’s the cold time, so be careful not to catch the cold when you kneel on the ground.”

"Yes, Concubine Jing, let's get up and talk first. What does it look like to be so noisy?" the queen said with a dark face. She did not answer An Lingrong's words, but looked at the emperor and said righteously, "Your Majesty , these minions who took care of the sixth elder brother took advantage of the prince's status and enriched their own pockets, so they should be whipped."

An Lingrong, who was walking to Concubine Jing's side, flashed her eyes slightly, lowered her eyes and looked at Concubine Jing. Concubine Jing nodded calmly, then she turned to look at Brother Six, and she seemed to inadvertently lift him. His sleeves suddenly became filled with shock and anger: "Brother Six, what's the matter with your injuries?"

The sixth elder brother shrank and huddled into Concubine Jing's arms aggrievedly.

"If the fourth elder brother hadn't discovered something was wrong today and came to tell me, I would still have been kept in the dark." The emperor said coldly, "The queen arranged to take care of the sixth elder brother's daily life. I don't know where he got the bear's heart and leopard's gall. If you dare to be cruel to the prince, are you bullying the sixth elder brother who can't speak?!" The emperor slammed the table, "All the slaves serving the sixth elder brother, drag them out immediately and kill them with sticks!"

The queen's face turned pale and she immediately said: "Your Majesty, the two nuns who are taking care of the sixth elder brother are both old people in the palace. The sixth elder brother is the legitimate son. He is about to start school next year, but he was taken care of by concubine Jing. He has developed a delicate temperament. It is because I value him that I appointed two nuns to teach him, hoping that he can learn etiquette and understand etiquette early." She spoke sincerely, as if she was really thinking about the sixth elder brother, "It's all It's my concubine's fault. She neglected her sixth brother before. Although Concubine Jing loves him, she is too arrogant and doting. If she doesn't tighten her grip, I'm afraid she won't be able to control her temper in the future. So the two nuns became a little stricter. If the emperor If you punish them for this, wouldn't you be harming Brother Six?"

"When the Empress took away the Sixth Brother that day, she dismissed all the slaves that I had assigned to the Sixth Brother on the grounds that I was overly doting on the Sixth Brother. The newly appointed Aunts Qi and Song were a little bit harsh on the Sixth Brother. He didn't take it to heart. In the hot weather, he was covered with prickly heat, and then in autumn, he was only given thin clothes to wear." Concubine Jing cried and said, "Your Majesty, after the sixth brother came to my concubine, he always He is strong and has never been sick in these years, but he came to my brother's house. It has only been a few months since he got seriously ill one after another, and he has lost a lot of weight. I feel really sad for you."

"Excuse me for talking too much, Queen Mother, why do you think that the Sixth Prince is squeamish so he must not know etiquette?" An Lingrong helped Concubine Jing sit down, and asked the imperial doctor to apply medicine to the Sixth Prince first, then stood up to confront the Queen. , "In my concubine's opinion, the sixth elder brother has always known etiquette and propriety, and the concubine Jing is gentle and generous. Under her subtle influence, the sixth elder brother is more humble and elegant than the other elder brothers. He is not She can talk, but she has never been irritable when dealing with others." She looked at the emperor and smiled sadly, "Your Majesty, Ankang used to like the sixth elder brother the most, and only the sixth elder brother would patiently accompany Ankang to play everywhere."

The Emperor's heart tingled slightly, and he looked at the Sixth Brother, remembering how healthy and strong he had been beside Concubine Jing all these years. In contrast, the clothes he wore on his body seemed to be looser now, and he felt a bit resentful towards the Queen: "Sixth Brother I'm only a few years old, so it's unreasonable to worry about the Queen being like this. On the contrary, it's Hong Shi who should be taught by the Queen from time to time. The child has started to slack off in studying recently, so it's better for Fourth Brother to study hard."

The queen's face twitched slightly and she was short of breath: "Your Majesty is right."

"Brother Six should be left in the care of Concubine Jing. The queen doesn't have to worry about it." The emperor stood up and looked up at everyone, "The nun who took care of Brother Six was sent to the punishment department, and the rest were all given fifty canes. Su Peisheng, drag them down. .”

Su Peisheng responded quickly.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Zhen Huan stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Concubine Jing has nothing to do with her. The relationship between the sixth elder brother and her is so good, why not just record the sixth elder brother in her name?"

(End of this chapter)