There is a black lotus in the deep palace

Chapter 192
It was still dark when returning to the palace, and Xia Houjue was walking on the palace road in a black brocade robe.

As the north wind blew past, his black robe fluttered wantonly with his footsteps, and a cold light lingered on his body, his whole body was like an eagle about to spread its wings and take flight.

The ancestor worship ceremony will start at an auspicious time as usual.

However, the news that Emperor Jingyuan was seriously ill and unable to get out of bed was strictly sealed. It was not until Xia Houjue appeared in front of the altar wearing an apricot-yellow five-clawed golden python prince's suit that the royal family and harem knew that the emperor would not be able to come.

"Where is the emperor? Why is it the prince?"

"I don't know? Shouldn't the ancestor worship be the emperor!"

"That's right, the emperor was fine last night, why..."

"The emperor has a decree!"

When everyone was whispering and discussing, Li Baoyuan appeared at the right time, holding a bright yellow imperial decree in his hand, standing in front of the altar.

"The minister/concubine accepts the order!" Everyone knelt down on the floor, especially Xia Houjue, who knelt flatly and respectfully.

"The emperor's decree, the prince Xia Houjue is loyal, filial, benevolent and righteous, abides by etiquette, has both civil and military skills, and is worthy of great responsibility. I feel cold and unwell today. The prince will do the ancestor worship ceremony for the time being. Thank you!"

"The minister/concubine accepts the order!"

"Your servant leads the decree, thank you father and emperor Long En!"

Xia Houjue raised his hands high and raised the imperial decree, and stood up slowly under the eyes of everyone looking up. He was like an invincible king, looking down on everyone below.

Others are fine, the crown prince is the crown prince after all, a legitimate heir, and there is no displeasure in his heart.

But the queen... she is very bad.

At this moment, her whole body was trembling, she was trembling, her fists were tightly clenched together, pinched in the flesh but she didn't know the pain.

The prince offering sacrifices to the ancestors?Doesn't this mean that he is one step closer to ascending the throne?
Once he succeeded in ascending the throne, where would there be a place for their mother and son in this world?
The queen quietly looked at Xia Houyan on the opposite side of the altar, and found that he had his head down, not knowing what he was thinking.

She looked away again, thinking of his vicious and sinister gaze when he snarled at her, a cold shudder surged down her spine.

"Yan'er..."

The ancestor worship ceremony is the most important ceremony of the royal family throughout the year. It is led by the emperor, accompanied by the patriarch of the royal family, and all the men and women burn incense and fire for the ancestors.

In the past few decades, there has never been a prince to accept the sacrifice. What happened to the emperor?

Not to mention the occasional cold, even if the emperor has a high fever over the years, he has never been absent, and now...

"No, the emperor didn't catch the cold at all, something happened to the emperor!" The queen suddenly raised her head, a cold light flashed in her eyes.

The ancestor worship ceremony was carried out in an orderly manner, with no more items and no less items, exactly the same as when the emperor was there, and it lasted until Sishi.

At noon, the harem concubines and wives went to Fengyang Palace for a banquet.

Xia Houjue took the princes and ministers to the Jinhua Palace to hold a banquet, and the monarchs and ministers were happy to celebrate the New Year together.

Because of Li Baoyuan's imperial decree, those civil and military ministers really didn't care about the emperor's illness.

Even if they knew it wasn't because of the cold, no one asked. After all, young people might not be able to get up after the night of Spring Night.

……

Fengyang Palace

After dismissing the wives inside and outside, Fengyang Palace finally returned to its former tranquility, in other words it should be... desolate.

Sitting under the corridor, looking at the gloomy sky outside, the queen only felt gloomy in her heart.

"What happened to the emperor? Could it be that he was coerced?"

"By the way, it was Yu Meiren who attended the bed last night!"

A beauty has a low status, so she is not qualified to appear at the ancestor worship ceremony, let alone come to the banquet. Now she should be in her own palace.

"Come on!"

"The servant is here!" Qiao Yuan walked up to him respectfully.

"Go, call me Yumei, quietly, don't disturb anyone!"

Qiaoyuan didn't know why, but he went down anyway.

Two quarters of an hour later, she braved the cold wind and entered the door: "Qi Empress Empress, Yu Meiren has not come back since she went to bed last night, and she is still accompanying the emperor in the Jinhua Palace!"

"Now?"

It's just a bedtime, and he hasn't come out for almost a day, the emperor is really outrageous, really confused.

But a mere skinny horse is not such a beautiful woman, why is she so confused?

If things go on like this, won't he even ignore the government and leave it all to Xia Houjue's evil, then...there is no place for their mother and son to stand?
"no!"

"no!"

"I can't wait any longer!" He had already taken the red pill, and he probably didn't have much life left.

After thinking about it, the queen called Xia Houyan overnight to discuss the news, but she lied to the outside world that she was ill and asked the king to come to attend to the sickness.

……

On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Xia Houjue went to the Jinhua Palace.

Emperor Jingyuan's mouth and eyes were crooked and unable to move, and the only Yumei who had seen the real situation was also put under house arrest here.

Hegong was full of civil and military affairs, and only Xia Houjue knew the truth.

Emperor Jingyuan, who was on the sickbed, had recovered a little after undergoing acupuncture, and his facial features had at least rectified, but he still couldn't speak clearly.

"Father!"

Xia Houjue looked down at him with a calm and leisurely smile on his lips. He described the situation at today's ancestor worship ceremony in the least serious tone, and finally said.

"No one thinks there is anything wrong with your absence, father, you are really superfluous!"

Emperor Jingyuan wanted to speak, but he was very tired. After coughing violently, he was breathless.

"You just want to ascend the throne early!"

"This country was originally passed on to you. I never wanted to dethrone you as the crown prince. What dissatisfaction do you have?"

Not long or short, it took him half a quarter of an hour to finish speaking intermittently.

"Of course I won't be dissatisfied!" Xia Houjue sneered.

"But... since I have become a rebel, then I really want to let you down!"

Emperor Jing Yuan was so angry that he was half dead.

I thought my son came here today to apologize, but I didn't expect to make him angry again.

Looking at the back of Xia Houjue striding away, he struggled desperately but had no strength, let alone get up from the bed even a little bit.

In the end, he could only lie on the bed with his eyes open and blushing, panting heavily.

……

Yuqing Palace

When Xia Houjue came back, it was already close to Haishi.

Because Tang Wanning got up too early in the morning, she couldn't bear the sleepiness at this moment, and fell asleep under the blanket.

When he came back, he could only see a sleeping face.

After washing, he lifted the quilt and lay down beside her.

Tang Wanning frowned and sniffed the familiar smell around her, and almost subconsciously rubbed against it.

The beauty caught her off guard, and Xia Houjue easily grabbed her.

He tapped the tip of her nose, and kissed her forehead heavily, and then he let out a long sigh of relief, and closed his eyes with peace of mind.

On the second day of the new year, Tang Wanning didn't need to see any guests, so she didn't get up, but Xia Houjue got up early as usual to go out to practice martial arts.

By the time Tang Wanning got up to wash up and have breakfast, he had already practiced several sets of archery, and even his clothes were not soaked in the midwinter cold.

(End of this chapter)