the first lady

Chapter 45

This is the effect she wants, in front of irrelevant people, she can't make people suspicious!
"I heard that the prime minister's wife was the number one beauty in the capital before she got married. When I saw her today, she really deserves her reputation..." Empress Chen said lazily.

"Mother's queen?" Helian Feiyu called out in a low voice, not knowing why his mother's queen said such words.

Emperor Wu frowned almost imperceptibly, and an imperceptible sharpness flashed in his eyes.

"The empress has won the award, and I am ashamed to be a concubine." Qiao Ling'er replied pretending to be weak.

The corner of the queen's mouth curled up slightly, looking at the woman who looked like a little white rabbit, she continued: "Ling'er is a real water spirit, Your Majesty, what do you think?"

The conversation turned directly to Emperor Wu, which chilled the atmosphere in the room for several minutes.

Emperor Wu looked sullenly at the empress next to him, but the empress still held her head high and looked at Emperor Wu with a provocative smile.

The concubine on the other side took the words gently and softly: "Sister said that when Linger was young, the concubine met in the bedroom of Concubine Shu's sister, and Linger was already a jade carving at that time. girl doll."

As soon as this remark came out, the empress's face immediately pulled away, and there was an eye contact battle with the imperial concubine.

Qiao Ling'er's heart was getting colder and colder. From the very beginning, she knew that the queen was not a cheap lamp, but at this time, the seemingly gentle and generous imperial concubine actually made people care more.

The two of them didn't talk much, but they managed to involve her, and even deliberately emphasized Concubine Shu's "sister".The implication is that she is very familiar with Concubine Shu, and she, Qiao Linger, is on her side.

Sure enough, no one in the harem, no matter if they are men or women, is simple!

After a long silence, Emperor Wu still spoke, "When is it your turn to comment on whether Ling'er is beautiful or ugly?"

Although it is not a very heavy word, but outsiders can perceive the momentum inside!
The undercurrent between the queen and the noble concubine finally stopped for a while, and the queen's eyes naturally fell back to Qiao Ling'er.

Qiao Ling'er was in a cold sweat from that look. The queen wanted to kill her to drive a wedge between the Qiao family and the Zongzheng family, so as to benefit from it, and at the same time use the conflict between the two families to pull the emperor down.This woman... is terrifying!
"Your Majesty..." A young eunuch stepped forward while chatting with the neighbors.

"What's the matter?" Emperor Wu asked coldly.

"My majesty, it's the third prince..." the little eunuch said tremblingly.

"Qi'er?" The queen, who was looking at Qiao Ling'er with a mysterious face, immediately turned soft after hearing the word "Third Prince", and stood up.

Emperor Wu also slightly raised his eyebrows and got up, and said with a little excitement: "Qi'er is back?"

Seeing Emperor Wu like this, Qiao Linger's mind was spinning, and her gaze inadvertently swept over Helian Feiyan who was next to Zong Zhengyi, but he just frowned slightly for a moment and recovered, as if he didn't care about Emperor Wu's happiness .

"Back to the emperor, the third prince didn't come back, but ordered people to hurry up and send the emperor a bottle of old sake, the emperor..."

"Not yet?" Before the little eunuch finished speaking, Emperor Wu interrupted him in a cold voice.

"Yes, yes—" The little eunuch didn't dare to continue, so naturally he just went down immediately.

Qiao Linger did not ignore those two words - sake.

A month ago, she drank a few glasses of wine on Xuemo's boat and got drunk for a whole day. Although she later heard that it was old, she had a sense of fear since that time.

For some reason, she had a feeling that the highlight of today's banquet was nothing but the so-called sake.

After the time for a cup of tea, a little eunuch came up holding a box.

The purple seems to have a transparent bottle body, you can see the wine inside, and you can also smell a faint fragrance.

"Father, Brother Sanhuang knows that you like sake, but it's a pity that he is currently in the northern border and cannot come back. On behalf of Brother Sanhuang, I would like to wish Father a happy birthday, good luck like the East China Sea, and longevity than Nanshan." Helian Feiyu stood Get up and salute in a common sense.

Emperor Wu held the bottle of sake in his hand, and the expression on his face was full of joy.

"Okay, okay, you are all my good sons." Emperor Wu praised.

"Father, the third brother's wishes are here, you should also try it! The old sake from the Yi clan is rare for a hundred years." Helian Feiyan ordered someone to fetch the same bottle of sake at some point. The wine glass was placed in front of Emperor Wu.

At this table, Qiao Ling'er suddenly felt that she was superfluous, this place should not be a place for them to sit at all!And the other four people obviously did the same, except for a woman who looked at her intentionally or unintentionally - General Wu's wife.

Qiao Ling'er searched quickly in her mind, and she was sure that she had never seen this woman before, and her eyes... how should I put it, were not very friendly, it was a kind of eyes that seemed to see through her.

There was no time for her to think about it, so Emperor Fang Wu had already ordered: "It's tasteless for me to enjoy such a good wine all by myself. My prince, prince, and three lovers, let's get drunk with me today!"

Following Emperor Wu's order, the eunuch who was waiting beside him immediately brought ten wine glasses, and everyone present distributed one.

Only when the wine glass was placed in front of Qiao Ling'er did she really see clearly that the purple wine glass was actually purple glazed jade, not to mention rare, even if she found it, she might not be able to carve such an exquisite glass.

On that day on the Xuemo boat, when drinking, I used bamboo cups to hold the wine. At that time, the fragrance of the wine was completely emitted, but today...

Just to show off?
"Your Majesty, sake has a strong aftertaste, so be careful of the body of the dragon." The imperial concubine said caringly.

Emperor Wu smiled from ear to ear, "I am happy today, concubine, you can drink a little too..." His eyes naturally fell on Zong Zhengyi again, "Prime Minister, last time you found out that the gold was cutting corners for me. , and give the first two pieces of gold and one hundred silks."

Zongzheng Yi calmly prepared to kneel, "Thank you, Your Majesty..."

"There's no need to be too polite!" Emperor Wu stopped Zong Zhengyi from kneeling down.

Helian Feiyan answered later: "Yi, Ling'er is the niece of the emperor, and you are Ling'er's husband. We are all a family, so don't be so polite!"

Helian Feiyan's words were clearly provocative to the queen, so he hastily won the positions of Zong Zhengyi and Qiao Ling'er, didn't he just want to oppose the queen?One emperor is not enough, the coldness that was finally subdued was ignited by this sentence.

Helian Feiyu sneered: "Royal father, don't disappoint brother San Huang with such fine wine. Royal father, I respect you—" After finishing speaking, he stood up holding the wine glass.

"The humble minister also respects the emperor!" General Wu also raised his wine glass and stood up, accompanied by his wife.

Another official next to him followed suit, and finally Zong Zhengyi, Qiao Ling'er, the queen, the noble concubine, and everyone at the table stood up and all wanted to offer wine to Emperor Wu.

"Okay!" Emperor Wu gave a loud shout, picked up his wine glass and stood up.

"Your Majesty..." Zong Zhengyi opened his mouth at this time, and when Emperor Wu looked at him, he said, "Ling'er is not good at drinking, can this glass of wine be replaced by a humble minister?"

Qiao Ling'er looked at Zongzheng Yi in surprise, without any deeper expression on his face, showing elegance.

Emperor Wu narrowed his eyes slightly, and his eyes fell on Qiao Linger: "Linger is not good at drinking?"

Qiao Ling'er had already tried the stamina of sake, but she believed that if she only drank one cup, she might be able to bear it.At this time, Zongzhengyi made a sound, presumably there must be some reason.

"Your Majesty forgive me, my concubine is really not good at drinking..." Qiao Ling'er said softly.

That appearance is unbelievable.

"Forget it, the prime minister loves his wife, let the prime minister do it for me!" Emperor Wu was not embarrassed.

However, the fleeting darkness in Emperor Wu's eyes never escaped Qiao Ling'er's eyes, especially when he raised his head to drink, she saw a meaningful smile on the corner of his mouth.

After a cup, the eunuch poured another cup for Zong Zhengyi, and he drank it without hesitation.

Sit still, Qiao Linger always felt that something was wrong.It's not that I'm afraid that alcohol is poisonous, but another bad feeling...

After dinner, enjoy the opera, singing and dancing popular in the royal family.Putting it in ordinary people's homes is during the day, but it is at night in the royal family of Nanwu Kingdom.

Different from Chaoyang Palace, the stage is in an open space, and it is also a venue specially used by the royal family to watch opera, singing, dancing and juggling. It is very empty, and each two people have their own desks.It's like a spacious theater outside.It's just that this theater is several times larger than ordinary ones.And the identities of Emperor Wu, Empress and Prince are all above the high stands, even the prime minister just sat in the audience.

The wind in the autumn night is slightly cool, blowing away the heat of the day, with a faint smell of fallen leaves.

The sky is full of fireworks, so dazzling, and the plays on the stage are performed to the fullest, everything seems to be very reasonable.

However, such a scene made Qiao Linger very annoyed.

Below the stand is Zong Zhengyi's position, because he has the status of being under one person and above ten thousand people. With this privilege, he is already much higher than other people.

"Zong Zhengyi, are you alright?" Qiao Linger approached Zong Zhengyi when almost everyone's eyes fell on the stage, and asked in a low voice.

"Hmm..." Zong Zhengyi snorted softly.

"What's wrong with your voice?" Although Zong Zhengyi didn't speak, Qiao Linger, who is sensitive to voice, sensed something was wrong.

At that time, Zong Zhengyi also leaned his head on Qiao Linger's shoulder, and his warm breath sprayed on her neck.

"Zongzhengyi..." Qiao Linger became a little nervous.

"Don't worry, I'm fine..." A hoarse and tired voice sounded in Qiao Ling'er's ear, completely different from the previous voice.With a deadly sexy temptation, but it also has to make people worry.

(End of this chapter)