The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 96 Sad
Xue Li really couldn't stop crying, there was a thought in her mind telling her that she was being hugged by him now, but she didn't have any more time to make her think "this is embarrassing" - all she was thinking about now was After crying, he told the matter, and then let An Jin in, and then An Jin liked him with her, and was liked by him with her!

Besides, An Jin is so beautiful, and she came here when she was choosing a family member, her family background is better than her, she must have read more books than her, and she must be smarter than her...

When Xue Li thought about it, she felt that she was out of control. He would definitely not like An Jin when he saw An Jin!
But I already fell in love with him...

As she thought this way, she cried harder, and at the same time wished that she could cry longer, anyway, she could delay for a moment, and she didn't want to tell him about An Jin at all.

Xie Zhao was very puzzled holding her in his arms. After thinking about it, he didn't know what kind of unpleasant things happened to him - he just returned to the palace this morning, so it was only a few hours.She was happy all the time before getting off the carriage. Didn't she sleep in the room these few hours?
Looks like it's still about her new friend?

With doubts in his heart, he let her cry happily, while stroking her back with his hand to give her comfort.

The palace people next to him didn't dare to look too much, even the eunuchs who served the meal retreated far away and bowed their heads to wait.On weekdays, those who serve near me are almost laughing. I have never seen His Majesty coaxing anyone like this. Fortunately, she was held in His Majesty's arms and cried once when Mrs. Lu passed away when she was still young. After a few years, he simply sat on his lap and completely shrunk into His Majesty's arms...

This girl's skills are getting more and more admirable!
After sobbing and sobbing for a little while, Xueli finally finished crying, just like that, she still squeezed her eyes and tried to cry for a while.

Xie Zhaoteng came out with a hand to wipe her tears, and then said softly: "Okay, tell me what's going on, can I help you?"

It was the first time for Xue Li to be so clear that she didn't want to leave him, and she still refused to get up when she realized that her face was blushing after being hugged by him, so she continued to shrink into his arms "shamelessly" according to her own temper, looking up at him. Looking at him: "An Jin was sent to the imperial court by Madam Hui. She came in during the selection process this year. She said that she would serve His Majesty with the servants. Let the servants help her first, and then she will help the servants..."

Chen Jijiang who was next to him managed to avoid dropping his chin on the ground: Oh my god, how can you say that directly?Aren't all these twists and turns hidden in my stomach!
After hearing this, Xie Zhao also snickered in her heart at her stupid appearance of "you will sell people if you are not careful". After thinking about it carefully, she couldn't understand: "Then why are you crying? Did she lie to you or bully you?" ?”

nothing.

Xueli numbly rubbed her head into his arms, feeling particularly wronged: "My servant knows what she said is right, but, but this servant doesn't want His Majesty to like her, she...she is so beautiful! This servant can't compare to her!"

Poor Chen Jijiang slammed his chin back as soon as he retracted it: Is this [-]% more stupid than usual after crying?
Xie Zhao didn't bother to think about her "outspokenness", and asked after hearing a little confused: "What' she said is right'?"

Want to serve him with her?What is wrong with this statement?
Sydney just told what An Jin told Zixian, and Zixian told her again, why there are so many young girls in the palace and there will always be new ones coming in, why no one can always be favored, what After falling out of favor, I can only live alone for the rest of my life...

Halfway through hearing Xie Zhao's expression, he didn't know how to look at her with a complicated expression: what was going on in her mind?

She hasn't even served her bed for the first time, but she is already worried about "living a lonely life" after falling out of favor?It should be said that she is planning for a rainy day or being mediocre!
Listening to her continue, it has already reached the step of "if we get along well now, we can be a companion after falling out of favor, and the two of us will not be alone".

Finally, Xie Zhao couldn't help but let out a "chi" laugh.

Xue Li, who was analyzing seriously, stopped talking, looked at him with puzzled eyes and blinked, not understanding what was so ridiculous about it.

Xie Zhao looked serious: "Is that all?"

She frowned: "Isn't this a big deal?"

Hey, he really couldn't say that it wasn't a big deal, and thinking about how seriously she felt sad about it, he thought her idea was ridiculous and couldn't help but stop laughing.

The emperor called Chen Jijiang: "Go and send people to Concubine Hui. You don't need to say anything, just say that the imperial court does not add people for nothing."

Chen Jijiang responded with a "promise", took the order and went out on business.Without thinking about it in my heart, I know that His Majesty has never seen this person, and sent him back suddenly without even charging him with a crime. After returning to Roujia Palace, there must be no good fruit to eat.

Maybe even Mrs. Concubine Hui will be having a hard time recently.Who made her do such a stupid thing?
Xueli panicked all of a sudden: "Your Majesty, you...don't!" She also pointed out that the future will be difficult and she will have a companion!
The emperor frowned at her: "What 'don't'? Do you really want her to come and see me?"

Sydney nodded immediately!Very sincere!
——Thinking that the words "lonely and lonely" will be posted on her forehead sooner or later, she is really afraid!So it was true that he didn't want him to like An Jin, but it was also true that he wanted An Jin to be favored.This contradictory thought made her feel bad, but she was serious about which side she picked out!

Xie Li still had a dignified face here, Xie Zhao suddenly copied a pair of clean chopsticks and knocked on her forehead: "You still dare to nod?"

She rubbed her forehead, looked at him with teary eyes, and felt that everything she said was telling the truth, and she didn't understand why he was unhappy.

Xie Zhao was furious!
With a cold face, he asked the maid to bring in water, took the veil by himself, and wiped off her little face crying like a cat little by little.She didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, and only asked her after wiping, "Are you still crying?"

Sydney shook her head.

He asked again, "Are you tired from crying?"

Sydney nodded.

So he hugged him without changing his face, and carried him directly into the bedroom.Not letting others follow, he closed the door with his knees, and then put her directly on the edge of the couch and sat down.

Sydney has always been afraid of his stern face, and now that he squatted in front of her with a stern face, she really wanted to hide in the bed, but thinking that this was his bed, she really didn't dare to crawl around casually.

Xie Zhao pointed at her and gasped helplessly: "You are so stupid!"

Sydney didn't dare to react.

"Do you believe what she says? When she says that she will support you and you think that's the case? Do you think about it yourself?" He was annoyed and wanted to laugh, and asked her directly, "Is it better for her to treat you better?" Hello?"

That must be you treating me well!
No need to think about Xueli, she immediately said: "Your Majesty treats your slaves well."

"This is serious?" He frowned, "Then why would you rather believe her words of 'lonely and lonely' and 'mutual support' than that I can always treat you well?"

Sydney was dumbfounded by his question.

She looked at him blankly, not knowing why.

It's really strange... It seems that until now, she feels that An Jin's words are very reasonable, saying that she can be spoiled for a lifetime, but she has no confidence at all-how is this possible?There are only two men in the palace, he and His Highness Seventh, and His Highness Seventh is about to leave the mansion, so he is the only one left, and the rest are... eunuchs.

There are many women, from concubines to court ladies, there are thousands of people.Every three years, a new batch of palace maids will come in—there will be new palace maids coming in next year, and the youngest maid in the palace will be six or seven years younger than her. She is no longer the youngest, and she will be slow Slowly become "not young".

Under this premise, let her pat her chest and say to herself, "I will definitely be a favorite forever"...Why does she have that kind of confidence?

Xie Zhao looked at her, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and after a while, he asked her word by word: "We have known each other for three years, do you think... I am a hungry ghost?"

Xue Li stared at him blankly: "No..."

"At least in the past three years, you have seen with your own eyes that I have never been interested in anyone in the harem, right? If I am greedy for beauty, how good it is to enjoy the harem with peace of mind, and save others from persuading me!"

There was a bit of annoyance in his tone, the feeling of being questioned was naturally uncomfortable.Especially... He has been taking care of her and not urging her or forcing her, and then she still comes to question this? !
Xie Zhaojing calmed down, and then said: "I have been in the palace since I was a child, and I know better than you how many things will happen as an emperor who is greedy for beauty. You want me to treat you alone, how do you know that I don't want to find you?" A woman you like and stay with her for the rest of your life?"

Sydney could hear the unhappiness and frustration in his words, she lowered her head and dared not speak.After hesitating for a while but still full of contradictions, she murmured again: "Ms. Concubine Li..."

Concubine Li was obviously favored for a while, and then fell out of favor.

The emperor's eyebrows twitched, and his smile was weak: "This...you don't believe me when I explain it to you, right? That's all..." He turned his head and called, "Chen Jijiang."

At that time, Chen Jijiang was lying outside listening to the movement inside, feeling that Sydney would really poke His Majesty's weakness.As soon as Dou listened to the call, he hurriedly opened the door and went in, and then he was dumbfounded.

——His Majesty asked him to explain to Sydney about Concubine Li.

For a moment, Chen Jijiang felt that this was the most difficult job he had encountered in so many years. If it is not good, His Majesty must kill him?
But before he could refuse for a while, His Majesty strode out, closed the door for him, and let him tell the story of the past with peace of mind!

Chen Jijiang swallowed hard, just say it...

It turned out that it was a coincidence that Concubine Li "appeared" in the East Palace.It happened that the first emperor was seriously ill, and the burden of the court fell on the crown prince for the first time. At that time, the crown prince was very busy every day, but the queen was strict, she only picked on him, and didn't know how to encourage him.At that time, Concubine Hui Shu, who was also the prince Liangyuan... was also in the same way. When the prince was under a lot of pressure and needed comfort most, the two of them still liked to behave in a respectful manner and warned him that he was the heir apparent. Carrying the burden of family, country and world on your body, don't feel tired at will.

This caused him to be under pressure when he opened his eyes, surrounded by pressure, and everyone was putting pressure on him. Want to find someone to talk to?Hehe, I'm sorry, Your Highness does not have such a person by your side...

Therefore, the charming Concubine Li Liu naturally became a bright light in the East Palace.I dare not talk about other advantages, but at least she can comfort him a few words - he doesn't expect her to be able to comfort him at all. At that time, a few words of encouragement were really better than nothing. In this way, Mrs. Liu was favored naturally. , first granted Fengyi, and later promoted to Liangdi.

But then that was not the case.

Chen Jijiang sighed as soon as he thought about this: "You don't know, this Concubine Li's ability to make trouble for no reason didn't come out after she fell out of favor, it has always been there!"

To put it simply, when the prince first started doting on her, because he had to see her every day, she had no room for unreasonable troubles, so he didn't show it.But then it was not the case soon - how busy is the prince?Family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, there will always be times when we are too busy to get away.The first time Liu Liangdi encountered this kind of situation was during the Chinese New Year. There was a banquet on New Year's Eve in the palace, and the courtiers continued to see him after that. At that time, the late emperor's health was already failing, so the task fell to the crown prince, who was in the palace. I stayed here for seven days and didn't return to the East Palace...

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the Crown Prince, who was exhausted and wanted to sleep well after returning to the East Palace, left Liu Liangdi to complain.

Chen Jijiang still clearly remembers how Liu Liangdi cried and made noise in the prince's room at that time, and how the prince was so tired that he couldn't open his eyes and coaxed her.

So Liu Liangdi fell out of favor very quickly, and since then His Highness the Crown Prince has been avoiding her a little bit - this can't be offended!
But occasionally I would still look at it, and Liu Liangdi would restrain herself a bit when appropriate, and then calmly until the first emperor passed away and the prince succeeded to the throne.

She really deserved her position.In fact, according to Chen Jijiang's thinking, the relationship between the Liu family and His Majesty at that time was no longer enough to lift her to such a high position, but it may be that His Majesty felt that there should be a harmonious relationship after all, so he generously bestowed on the nine concubines first. Among them, she was later promoted to the concubine position.

So far it is Li Fei.But she is also really short-sighted. How many things happened at the beginning of her succession?If there are unfamiliar government affairs, you have to gradually become familiar with them, right?There are untamed courtiers who have to settle down slowly, right?His Majesty was so busy thinking how normal it is for him to sleep in Zichen Palace?
Concubine Li dares to come and cry...

After hearing Chen Jijiang's words, Sydney froze.

She imagined the scenes he mentioned, and felt that His Majesty was so pitiful at that time. It must be very sad that no one around him was really considerate and thoughtful of him, right?

However, he can only stand upright. If the minister can't bear it, he can say that he resigned, but he can't... How miserable!
So, Xie Zhao waited angrily outside the bedroom, and when he finally heard the door knock, he turned around, and before she could get a foothold, she slammed into his arms.

Xie Zhao: "...?" Why did you throw yourself into your arms all of a sudden?What did Chen Jijiang say?

He looked at Chen Jijiang in a daze, and pointed to Sydney silently, meaning: "What's wrong?"

Chen Jijiang lowered his head immediately, with the words on his face: "I'm not talking nonsense!"

Xue Li wrapped her arms tightly behind his back, and buried her head in his arms for a long time, not knowing whether to cheer him up or herself.In short, it took a long time before she raised her head, looked at him with bright eyes full of tears, and said seriously: "Your servant will never think about it again!"

"Huh? Oh..." Xie Zhao couldn't react for a while, and his face became hot when he looked at her with pity. After a long time, he coughed lightly: "The food is cold, what do you want to eat?" ? Let them send something else."

"Anything is fine." Xueli suddenly became very well-behaved, smiled at him, and said, "What does Your Majesty want to eat? This servant will do it!"

That's it again.

Chen Jijiang saw that it was very good.This Sydney is really amazing.

Since then it has settled down again.An Jin was not considered a very important person in Yuqian, and no one asked much about her when she sent her back. Sydney also quickly put this matter behind her. It has nothing to do with her about "mutual support" or "lonely".

In mid-August, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wei Chen came back to report the matter with Qianhu who went to Xia'an Town to investigate the matter.After entering the palace, he pushed back the others, and he handed up the memorial in his hand. After the emperor turned two pages, his expression was shocked.

"How do you arrange it now?" the emperor asked him with a frown.

Wei Chen said: "Only the two ministers have come back, and the thousand households are still there, and the other two hundred households are on the way. No one dares to do anything wrong."

Only then did the emperor breathe a sigh of relief, and he was able to continue to see what the imperial guards had found in Xia'an Town.

It turns out that the patriarchal preference in that place has reached an astonishing level. In recent decades, it has developed to the point where a baby girl is drowned, strangled, and beaten to death. The small place is relatively closed, and it becomes noisy after a long time. There are not many women among the seven or eight hundred people.Naturally, it is difficult for a man to get married. If he can't get married in this town, he has to go outside to get married.

But in the words of Wei Chen: "This place is so patriarchal to the point where there are not many people who can treat their wives well, and those who know a little outside are unwilling to marry their daughters, so they have to find a place farther away from Xia'an Town. and find more poor people, and give more dowries to settle the matter. There are also people who go directly to traffickers, but after all, the government is strict and it is not easy."

As for the step of sending someone into the palace to be a palace maid, Xie Zhao couldn't laugh or cry - what he originally thought was that the people who came out of the palace were more educated and reasonable than the country women in the folk, and he thought that Zhang Dongsheng was a picture like this A sensible wife helps him run the house.

The result was completely different from what he thought.What people are planning is actually... Firstly, the women who are released from the palace on the 25th day of the month are already old, and it is difficult for those who are engaged before marriage to find a husband; "Disgusting" things like running away or elopement.Reluctance and reluctance will sooner or later be forced into reluctance, and then someone will be able to pass on the family line to their family.

Seeing this, Xie Zhao already felt that such calculations were outrageous, and it was a hundred times more disgusting than the conspiracy in the court.But turn to the next page and continue reading, huh...

In this way, most people who do this still feel that they are taking risks.Because the dowry has already been paid, if he dies in the palace after entering the palace or is favored by some prince or nobleman, the money will not come back, so the poor can only gamble like this, and the rich will mostly order more. Several households were saved from "grain failure".

Zhang Dongsheng, who was engaged to Sydney, booked three marriages at one go, one in Ruanjia Village, and two girls from villages further away. One is now in Luo'an's Shangfu Bureau, and the other is in Linhe. the palace.Wei Chen checked, and they were all girls of the same age as Sydney.

The emperor trembled even with a sigh after reading it, and he really didn't dare to think about how many terrible things were going to happen to Sydney.

"That is to say..." He looked so serious that he couldn't continue.

Wei Chen answered the interface very politely: "That is to say, the Ruan family sold Sydney for 20 taels of silver. If she leaves the palace, she will only be forced to give birth to the Zhang family. If she refuses to accept..." He laughed hoarsely , "They will subdue her."

But she didn't know anything, and when she talked to him, she was just worried that it would hurt his reputation as the emperor.

Xie Zhao punched the record hard, Wei Chen sighed lightly, and said: "I have checked, and there are 130 girls who are engaged but not married, and 87 of them are in the palace, and 250 of them will be married next year." They are about to be released from the palace. Another 30 or four have been married, more than [-] of them have died, the reason is unknown, and there are more than [-] crazy ones, who are said to be possessed by demons, but..."

More like driven crazy.

The emperor couldn't breathe.For the first time, he felt that the peaceful and prosperous world in front of him seemed like an illusion, and even the court ladies could pull out so many things.

He never knew this.Even though he knew that there were always things he couldn't care about in this vast territory, he never thought that such a shocking thing would happen.

And the place in Xia'an Town...isn't too far from Luo'an City. Just over 200 miles.

He immediately thought, he, the emperor, didn't know about it, and the local parents and officials didn't know about it?
"Go and investigate strictly," said the emperor.

"The things that need to be checked are almost the same. It is inconvenient for me to carry them. In a few days, my subordinates will sort them out and send them." Wei Chen cupped his hands and bowed deeply, "I have a question, and I need to ask His Majesty for instructions."

The emperor nodded: "You say."

Wei Chen looked serious: "After the 'strict investigation', is it 'the law does not punish the public'?"

(End of this chapter)