The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 184 Bandits
Since the early morning, all the relatives and relatives in Luo'an City have been discussing the same rumor: Your Majesty is going to send Concubine Hui?
No one knew where or why it started, but everyone had heard about it, and was inevitably curious.After all, Concubine Hui has been out of the palace to practice for two years, and she has been famous far and wide before she left the palace.

In the afternoon of that day, a group of people rode out from the inconspicuous gate of the imperial palace, galloped out of the imperial city in less than a moment, and went straight to the city gate north of Luoan.

Because the imperial palace is just to the north of Luo'an City, the gates of this place are often under martial law, so today's martial law and clean street did not arouse too much reverie.After a group of people galloped out, the martial law was lifted quickly, and the crowd became bustling again in an instant.

About two miles away from the city, six or seven men in flying fish suits galloped towards them: "Your Majesty."

As soon as they reined in their horses, the leader of the party said: "No, let's go."

More than a dozen people continued to go north, and after two moments, the stretch of mountains appeared in front of them.Even closer, all the imperial guards at the foot of the mountain could see clearly.

"Your Majesty, Sheng An!" Everyone saluted in unison, the voices were deafening.A group of people got off the horse, Xie Zhao looked up at the hill with residual snow in front of him, turned his head to the people behind him and said: "I will go in by myself, you wait outside the temple."

Wei Chen cupped his fists: "No."

Several people walked up the stone steps to the temple on the mountain together, and the rest of the imperial guards were still waiting at the foot of the mountain.

The cold wind in early spring caresses, occasionally there will be a small burst of slight bitterness, and then it will calm down.

Wei Chen and the several thousand households who came with him stopped in front of the gate of the temple. The emperor stepped over the threshold, and Lan Xin, who was wearing Haiqing and sweeping the ground in the courtyard, was stunned: "Your Majesty..."

"Take me there." The emperor said lightly.

There was another gust of wind, which made Lan Xin feel cold all over, hurriedly threw the broom, and led the emperor back without daring to lift her head.

Bypassing the hall dedicated to the Buddha, Lan Xin stopped in front of the side room.

The emperor let out a sigh of relief: "Knock on the door."

Lan Xin understood what the emperor meant, even though she didn't want to concubine Hui like this, she really didn't have the guts to disobey him in front of the emperor.

Swallowing her saliva, Lan Xin knocked on the door twice: "Ma'am, this servant is here...to get something."

"Wait a moment." There was a reply from inside, and then there was a slight movement.The door opened soon, and when Concubine Hui raised her eyes, her heart beat faster!
She was in a panic all of a sudden, and she was stunned for a while with a bloodless face before remembering to kneel down and bow: "Your Majesty, peace!"

The emperor nodded slightly: "Lan Xin go to the front and wait." Then he stepped into the room.

It was time for dinner, and on a simple square table in the room were fried rapeseed, vinegared cabbage and a bowl of clear porridge.The emperor sat in front of the table and looked at it: "Is the food so simple?"

Concubine Hui knelt at the door and didn't move: "Since the concubine is out of the palace to practice, it's better to be simple."

The emperor said, "Get up."

Concubine Hui thanked her and got up, and the emperor motioned for her to sit across the desk.After the two sat down, they were silent for a while, and the embarrassment gradually dissipated.

The emperor coughed lightly: "Mr. Mingxuan said that you only want to die, what happened?"

Concubine Hui lowered her head: "The concubine's dereliction of duty has put the life of the eldest son of the emperor on the line."

The emperor frowned slightly: "What's the real reason?"

Concubine Hui looked at him: "This is the real reason."

"I said I don't blame you for this matter." The emperor sighed softly, pushed the clear porridge in front of her, and put the chopsticks on the bowl, "I'm disturbing your meal, let's talk about it later."

Concubine Hui nodded but did not respond, he stood up and looked around, his eyes fell on the bamboo basket on the couch.

It is a bamboo basket for needlework, and there is an unfinished safety knot in it, and a small safety buckle hangs under the bright red safety knot.He had a vague impression of this safety buckle, knowing that it was worn by Concubine Hui from her natal family, it seemed that she had been wearing it around her neck since she was a child.

His eyes were fixed slightly, and he was about to turn his head to ask her, when a sudden sound came from behind: "Ugh—"

The emperor turned his head abruptly: "Uncomfortable?"

"No..." Concubine Hui hurriedly took out the handkerchief to cover her mouth and said, "I had a cold a few days ago, and my appetite is not very good."

Her back was straight, and she occasionally trembled upon closer inspection.The emperor's heart dimmed, and he said again: "I told the imperial doctor to come and take care of you?"

"No need!" Concubine Hui flatly refused, and said after a while of silence, "Thank you Your Majesty for your kindness...the concubine is fine."

The emperor gave a short smile, sat back at the table and looked at her for a long time, and said word by word: "When Xueli is upset, it's much more than your reaction."

Concubine Hui was shocked, and forced a smile on her face: "Your Majesty, what are you talking about?"

The emperor smiled softly, "Last July, a ranger escaped from the city after injuring the envoy of Fanbang. He went up the mountain and disappeared. The imperial guards searched the mountain for you. You met them in person and said you didn't see anyone." .”

"Your Majesty suspects that the concubine hid him?" Concubine Hui looked directly at him.

The emperor ignored her and continued on: "When the imperial guard reported back, I guess you showed kindness and let them not have to look for it. Two days later, the imperial guard reported again that he saw him coming from the back door of the temple. leave."

Concubine Hui gritted her teeth tightly: "Yes...he has injuries, and my concubine left him to recuperate for two days."

"And then?" The emperor looked at her with a smile, "A month later, he went up the mountain again from the back door path, didn't go anywhere else, and came straight to you. Tsk... the imperial guards also entered the palace immediately to report So, I thought he might have come to thank you, so I didn't let them take care of it."

Concubine Hui took a breath and regained her composure: "Yes, he came to thank you."

"Thank you many times." The emperor chuckled, "He came three or four times in August, and the number of times became more and more every month after that. Since October, he would occasionally leave until the next day—are you Don't you really think that he is so good at avoiding the eyes of the next Baihusuo?"

Concubine Hui only felt that every inch of her skin was oozing cold air, her heart trembled with her body, and she froze in panic for a while: "Your Majesty, I..."

"You suddenly begged for death, I thought you were sober and knew you were guilty, but it turned out to be..." His eyes moved down, and he smiled sarcastically, "It turns out that you even have a child, and you are afraid that you will never hide it again after you are born." Can't help but plan to die, so as not to implicate him?"

"I didn't!" Concubine Hui tried her best to refute, but her words were so powerless that she felt guilty, "I didn't! I've always been here by myself..."

"He left here more than a month ago and went to Luo'an City to find a kind of tea. He didn't find it, but he only found it in Xifeng——you asked him to find it, didn't you? You want to send him away, yourself Get over these things."

He said the last sentence clearly without any doubts, and said it with great conviction.The sound of fingers tapping on the desk seemed to knock on her heart, breaking out her cold sweat!
Concubine Hui looked at him in disbelief: "You caught him..."

"No." The emperor denied it with a smile, "but at that time, the west was about to send tributes, so I asked them to add more tea. Then let the wind go out, let him know that Linheyi has that kind of tea for sale. "

Linhe is only 30 miles away from here.

The wind outside the window picked up a bit, and Concubine Hui looked at him like a weak animal seeing a natural enemy without daring to move, the tremor in her eyes became more and more obvious.

Another gust of wind.

Xie Zhao heard the soft sound of the tree branch snapping, and took off the sword at his waist and put it on the case: "Kill yourself, I don't think I know about it. The crime is as you said, because the eldest son of the emperor."

Concubine Hui's face suddenly brightened, and she reached out for the sword without hesitation.Before the sword was pulled out, there was a crisp sound from the window, and a gust of wind poured in at the same time!

Concubine Hui raised her head in shock, but the emperor who was sitting across from her had already dodged away, went around behind her and snatched it with his hand, and came out of the sheath with a "shua"!
The two long swords were placed one foot above Concubine Hui, and they stood facing each other, separated by her and the table.

"Your Majesty..." Concubine Hui burst into tears, staring intently at the person in front of her, and said to the person behind her, "My concubine listens to Your Majesty, Your Majesty let him go..."

The emperor looked at the person confronting him with great interest: "He didn't know you were pregnant, right? He only heard that I was going to send you off, so he came here to kill you?"

The room was full of horror, and the three of them stood still for a while, Xie Zhao frowned: "You may not be able to beat me."

The ranger only stared at Concubine Hui: "Maybe he can fight."

"It's useless if you can beat it. There are four imperial guards with hundreds of households at the foot of the mountain, and another six thousand households, and the commander is also there." Xie Zhao said in a relaxed tone, "You didn't see it when you came up because they temporarily I don’t care about you, why don’t you try taking her down the mountain? The arrowheads newly prepared by the imperial guards are not bad.”

The atmosphere in the room was even colder than before, except for the sound of slow and careful breathing, there was only the sound of the wind coming from the window.

The emperor looked at Concubine Hui with a faint smile: "He is willing to lay down his life to save you, this is the only person you will meet in your life."

"The concubine doesn't need it!" Concubine Hui trembled more and more, her teeth kept touching each other, and there were constant "clucks".

She took a deep breath: "Your Majesty just said to let the concubine commit suicide, so just pretend that Your Majesty doesn't know about it..."

"Don't block me with 'You have no jokes', I just joked today, how about it?"

Concubine Hui was startled, speechless.

The emperor looked at the ranger again: "I won't let her commit suicide, and I haven't been here today. It has nothing to do with you taking people away."

The two were startled at the same time, Concubine Hui unconsciously turned her head to look at him: "Your Majesty?"

"Tsk." The emperor clicked his lips and sighed, "I wanted to be more exciting, to see if he can really risk his life to save you or he will 'enough'. But since you are pregnant, I still don't want to scare you."

He spoke with a little interest.It's true that he didn't enjoy himself to the fullest, he originally arranged many layers, first to see if this person dares to come, then to see if this person dares to do something, and finally to see if this person can protect her with all his might.As a result...

Wei Chen and the others were all ready. There seemed to be no one outside the courtyard. In fact, a general banner was set up waiting to perform this good show together. It never occurred to me that the hero who went wrong was not the hero, but Concubine Hui.

"Your Majesty..." Concubine Hui stared at him blankly, her tone of voice was still unbelievable after her chest heaved a few times, "You Xu Chenqie and others..."

Xie Zhao laughed, "You don't like me."

Concubine Hui retorted subconsciously: "No..."

"Obviously, it's just like I don't like you." The emperor said very clearly, "Knowing that you won't be seen, I still force you to stay? Let you go."

He thought, just because Concubine Hui had helped him take care of the harem for so long before, he had to fulfill her wish - after all, even he had thought about it so many times, thinking that it would be fine if Concubine Hui hadn't married him.

Besides, since he is trying to stay with Xueli forever, why should he ask Concubine Hui not to be tempted by the man next to him?

We are all human beings with the same heart.

"It's getting dark, suitable for robbing people." The emperor said with a smile, put his sword back into its sheath, and walked out, "There will be imperial guards fighting with you, you can hurt people but you can't kill people, otherwise I will catch you back life for a life."

Under the darkening sky, the small courtyard was completely quiet.When the emperor walked out of the courtyard, Wei Chen was slightly puzzled when he came up to meet him: "Your Majesty?"

Why did this come out?Isn't there a lot of things planned?
"...It's all right." The emperor sighed, "Arrange your people to withdraw, and give them two hours to chase. Otherwise, if you really catch up and hesitate to catch them face to face, it will be embarrassing."

Wei Chen responded to the "No" with a smile, and after snapping his fingers, several black shadows outside the courtyard rushed down the mountain from different directions, and there was a sound of branches from near to far.

"puff--!"

In the Wei mansion, Su Zixian squirted tea, wiped her mouth and widened her eyes and asked the imperial guard in front of her, "What did you say?!"

"I said... Eldest Brother told me to tell Mrs. Sister-in-law that he won't be coming back tonight."

"No, no, next sentence!" Su Zixian didn't even bat an eye.

"Oh..." Yu Lingwei laughed dryly, "something happened outside the city, Mrs. Concubine Hui was robbed by gangsters and disappeared, Mr. Wei must be busy investigating this matter."

Did she hear correctly? ? ?

Su Zixian was dumbfounded. She looked at Xue Li next to her. Xue Li was even more stupid than her.

Concubine Hui...was robbed?He was practicing in the temple well, but was robbed suddenly? !

Sydney didn't quite understand, so she tried her best to think about the "big picture", wondering if some powerful person had something to blackmail His Majesty, so they took a hostage?

Then I thought that was not right!If you think about it, you will know that Mrs. Hui Concubine is not very useful... Although Mrs. Hui Concubine is famous, but she is out of the palace. It is obvious that she does not have that deep relationship with the emperor.
Besides, the prince Diji is also outside the palace now, if they are really hostages, wouldn't they be more important?Although the guards on her side may be tighter... But I heard that there is also a hundred households at Mrs. Hui's place!
Xueli thought about the sour plum and ebony's report last night, and felt that there was something wrong with it, but she couldn't figure it out, so she asked the imperial guard: "Tell me in detail, what's going on?"

"I don't know..." The imperial guard looked embarrassed, "It's just that a bandit was killed suddenly. His martial arts seem to be quite high, and he injured dozens of people in a row. He tied up Mrs. Hui and took him away. Listen It is said that Master Wei was so angry that he threw the glass, and His Majesty was so angry that he scolded Master Wei that it was useless..."

Before he finished speaking, his voice weakened, and after seeing Su Zixian's expression, he knew that he had made a slip of the tongue.

Su Zixian gritted her teeth and looked sideways at Sydney, with the words in her eyes: Is this Wei Chen's fault?Why does your husband scold my husband?
While joking and apologizing to her, Xue Li thought with lingering fear, this man is really... so skilled in martial arts!
She has seen some of the imperial guards' skills. An ordinary martial artist can be considered very powerful if he can fight one against one. Can he fight against dozens with one? !This is no ordinary "bandit"!This looks like an expert in the world!
Xue Li was gasping for air. While worrying about Concubine Hui, she had to consider whether there would be a change that would involve herself, Xie Zhao, or the child. Su Zixian, on the other hand, relaxed and yawned to tell the imperial guard that she knew. After that, she went to the bed to coax Ah Jin to sleep.

Sydney, who came here with the feeling of "accompanying Zixian to make her feel at ease", made her feel hairy on the way home - a master who dared to tie up Mrs. Hui is now near Luo'an and even in the city ah!Who knows what his ultimate goal is!
And how is Madam Hui now?She and Mrs. Concubine Hui are not in love, but the current situation really makes people have to worry - after all, if they are no strangers, if they are robbed and die in Huangquan...

Sydney shivered involuntarily!

Distraught, she entered the gate of Ruan's house, but she didn't notice how quiet the yard was.She turned left and right subconsciously, entered the small courtyard where she lived, pushed the door open and entered her own house...

Sydney heard Ah Yuan shouting happily: "Father, Father! Teach me to throw darts!"

... "Royal Father"?
She looked into the room in astonishment, Xie Zhao was lying casually, with her legs hanging down.A Yuan was bouncing around on his left, while A Cong and A Ling were sitting on his right, stretching out their little hands to scratch his face.

A Yao is still good, A Yao sits on the side of the couch and pulls A Yuan's hand: "Don't jump, don't jump, father is tired!"

Xueli smiled, walked in and said, "Ah Yuan is out to play, mother has something to tell your father."

A Yuan stopped jumping for a while, looked at her mother and then at her father, sat down and said: "Father, give me the dart!"

Xie Zhao knocked on his forehead: "No, you will hurt yourself if you play by yourself. Be good, go out with your sister for a while."

A Yuan: "Then why don't younger brothers and sisters go out?"

... Aren't they still unable to understand too many words, and can't remember things?
Xie Zhao thought so, and said along the way: "Take your younger siblings out together, and have supper together later."

The four children went out together.Both A Yao and A Yuan knew that their younger siblings would sometimes have trouble walking, so they slowed down and patiently led them.Of course, the nanny is still unavoidable, but this scene still made Sydney appreciate it for a while.

After their figures disappeared completely, she lay down on the couch and looked at him with her chin in her hands: "I heard that His Majesty is not in a good mood."

"Ha...no." Xie Zhao patted her on the back, "I'm in a good mood, and I've taken care of an urgent matter."

"What's the matter?"

"I let Concubine Hui go."

Xueli's arm resting on her chin trembled in shock, her neck didn't react, and her chin hit his chest with a bang!

"You said... what?!" She looked at him in surprise, and asked eagerly, "Then that... that thing about being robbed by the bandits..."

"The bandit is the father of the child in her womb." He said briefly.

Oh my gosh... there's so much in that sentence!
Xue Li finally cleared her mind, and stared at his expression for a long while, but she still couldn't get out of the shock of this earth-shattering shock.

"Hey, Dali?" Xie Zhao's eyelids drooped, he looked at her and patted his shoulder, "How about I tell you in detail tonight? I'm hungry and I haven't eaten dinner."

Sydney: "..."

She temporarily shifted her thoughts from Concubine Hui to "It's so pitiful that Your Majesty didn't eat", and then asked seriously: "What do you want to eat? Shall I make it?"

"No, you can rest." Xie Zhao smiled, and thought again, "When I came here, I seemed to smell the smell of steamed stuffed buns, which are quite fragrant..."

Oh, that's steamed at home. It's a business started by my second brother recently. The one-foot-large steamer can sell more than a dozen boxes every day, because my second sister-in-law is very good at making steamed buns.

Xue Li thought that he was no worse than him in eating, so she was happy to satisfy his craving on the premise that the buns had thin skins, big fillings, soft and delicious noodles.

She poked her finger on his chest: "What do you want to eat? The big buns include pork and mushrooms, pork and cabbage, carrot eggs, leek eggs, roasted pork with preserved vegetables, and barbecued pork; the small steamed buns include crab powder, minced chicken, and mushrooms. There are three delicacies... The flour used for the skin of the buns is grown and ground by my family, it is delicious!"

(End of this chapter)