Chaos in the Chu Palace

Chapter 68
Ouyang Ruogong sent her away, then secretly sneered, you and I are united, it's just a cover to deceive each other, it's true that you use me, I use you.

In this way, Chuning and March of the second year passed slowly.The flowers and trees have sprouted buds, and grow into whirling green leaves, and the flowers are rushing to open.Ouyang Ruo has been pregnant with the dragon fetus for two months, and it is going well.As usual, Chu Huotian listened to government affairs in the court every day. There was a lot of heavy snow in the winter of Chu, and the auspicious snow heralds a good harvest. The beginning of spring is very good.Chu Huotian reduced the tax by one-third again, and paid lightly to support the people.

From the sidelines, Ouyang Ruo saw that he was really a virtuous monarch, and that Chu State really needed to recuperate for a few years because of the years of war.After the busy farming period, around April and May there will be national drafts.Ouyang Ruo didn't think much of it, the concubines in the various palaces started to think about it, and everyone's niece and sister began to think about how to enter the palace.

Ouyang Ruo didn't make a sound, but someone also begged her to take care of Yunyun, spoke earnestly, and brought a lot of gifts.Ouyang Ruo also accepted, smiling brightly, listening more than talking.

Wan Hui looked at the warehouse full of cloth, satin, gold and silver, and said with a smile: "In less than a year, the empress will have to find another warehouse."

Ouyang Ruo smiled when he heard the words, but asked Dexuan on the side: "How is it? How is Eunuch Wu going?" Dexuan's delicate face was a little pleasant, and he said in a low voice: "Listen to Eunuch Wu, how are you doing?" Yes, that jade shop has opened five stores, and the business is doing very well. When the situation in the south stabilizes, we plan to open to the south."

To the south... Ouyang Ruo looked at the spring scenery all over the courtyard, and the green water in the south of the Yangtze River floated in his heart...

If it is said that the day of the draft has shocked all the concubines in the harem, the news of that news has shocked Ouyang Ruo, who was originally calm.That day Chu Huotian went to rest at Ouyang Ruo's place after finishing his political affairs. It was still early, so he played chess with Ouyang Ruo.He still holds the black stones, and Ouyang Ruo holds the white stones.At the beginning Chu Huotian was on the offensive, but Ouyang Ruo was more relaxed and only focused on the defensive, and gradually lost to the point where he lost his helmet and armor.

Seeing that he had lost miserably, Ouyang Ruo tossed the white piece in his hand, drew a beautiful arc and fell into the jade box, and said with a charming smile, "Your Majesty, today is not as good as in the past, isn't there something happy about it?"

Chu Huotian laughed, hugged her lightly, leaned his chin on her shoulder and smiled, "That's right, Zixuan is coming back. He is finally willing to come back."

There was a "buzz" in Ouyang Ruo's head, and he could no longer hear other words he said.He repeated his sentence in his heart, "Zixuan is coming back"...

When Ouyang Ruo was pregnant, she didn't often go to Chu Huotian's imperial study to attend her, but just stayed in Yunxiang Palace to recuperate. Ever since she knew that Su Yanqing was going back to Chujing, she was even more restless and just waited for her every day. Read a book or do needlework in your own room.It was so boring for a day or two, but one day it was Li Jing who came to ask for Chu Huotian's call.

Ouyang Ruo felt strange, took a shoulder ride, and went all the way to the imperial study.When I arrived at the imperial study room, I saw Chu Huotian looking at scrolls of scrolls.When he saw her coming, his handsome face showed a faint smile, as if he had found someone to help him solve his troubles.

"Come here, Ruo'er, how are these women doing?" He beckoned to her and ordered him to come forward.Ouyang Ruo was puzzled, but he had no choice but to look forward, and saw pictures of beauties of various colors placed on the entire large dragon table, all of them charming and charming.Next to it, the name, age and birth date of the woman in the painting are written in small letters.

Ouyang Ruo looked at them one by one, saw Chu Huotian Ruyu's handsome face beside him with a serious expression, suddenly smiled and said: "Does the emperor want his concubines to choose suitable women for the emperor to enrich the harem?" After speaking, she stared at him with a half-smile.

Her smile contained sarcasm, but also contained a hint of inexplicable meaning.Chu Huotian looked a little dazed, and suddenly came back to his senses, patted his forehead, and said with a smile: "It's my fault, I didn't make it clear. You should be hit." Then he patted his forehead again.

Ouyang Ruo was confused by him, picked up the scroll and said to him, "Aren't these beauties the show girls to be selected this year?"

She has stayed in the Hua Palace, so she naturally knows that when there is a draft, senior officials will draw a picture of a girl of their own age, and then write the girl's birth date in detail, and present it to them one by one, so that there will be a bigger chance during the draft. chance to be selected.Now it seems that Chu State must be the same.

Chu Huotian laughed, spread out the pictures of the woman one by one, and said with a smile: "Yes, these are all handed over by those pedantic old officials. I was impatient to look at this at first, but I think Zixuan is getting older. , How can it be done without finding a good wife, the old mother in his family is still waiting for her to open up branches and leaves for his Su family."

Ouyang Ruo's expression froze, but Chu Huotian didn't notice her strangeness, and hung up as if she was an assistant, and carefully commented.

Chu Huotian showed Ouyang Ruo one by one, and said a few words to those who knew him, and skipped those who didn't.Ouyang Ruo looked carefully, all of them were fat, swallows and thin, youthful and attractive, because they were presented to the royal audience, so each one was very beautifully drawn, and the little daughter was either idiotic, naive, or charming.

Every time she looked at a picture, her heart was astringent. She looked at it silently for a while, and suddenly made up her mind and said with a smile: "Since the emperor wants the concubine to refer to it, why don't the concubine take it back and take a good look? Speaking of it General Su is the concubine's savior, so such a big matter cannot be neglected."

Chu Huotian laughed and nodded.Suddenly he hugged her and kissed her gently on the face.His kiss was light and shallow, passing her cheek like the wind, carrying his unique breath.Ouyang Ruo was stunned again, Chu Huotian seldom made any intimate gestures towards her in the imperial study room, at most he hugged Lou's waist and shook hands.

"It's nothing, just seeing that you seem to have something on your mind, so I suddenly want to kiss you." Chu Huotian smiled lightly, he still didn't understand what was on her mind, which always made him feel very frustrated.

He still felt sensitively the disengagement and alienation in her expression.How deep does her heart hide, and how many secrets does she hide under her gentle appearance?It's just that at this moment he suddenly doesn't want to know.He would rather believe that she is beautiful, gentle as water, with eyes full of him, willing to leave home and follow him to Chu State, willing to bear and raise children for him.As long as he pampers her and loves her, her heart will be firmly tied to him.

But why did she scare him for that moment just now? She looked at the women in the paintings and smiled wryly, so alienated, so ethereal...

Ouyang Ruo caressed her face, smiled slightly, leaned on his chest and said, "The concubine is ashamed of seeing these official girls looking beautiful."

Only then did Chu Huotian feel relieved, he put his arms around her and said with a smile: "What are you afraid of, you are different from them. Only on your side, I love you, nothing else, but they are different, behind each of them is Packs of tigers and wolves are staring at me."

Ouyang Ruo is silent, yes, she is just a woman without a country and a home, in a lonely palace, without any power, without any background, but the irony is that she has won the true love of the emperor of Chu because of this .

When Ouyang Ruo returned to the palace, a few servants followed behind him, holding a large scroll.Wanhui was confused, and Ouyang Ruo didn't explain, and ordered Dexuan to come and make a roster, and told him to go out of the palace to find Eunuch Wu, and check the conduct of these women.

Ouyang Ruo looked at his next errand with a wry smile.Since you have to choose, then you can't live up to the emperor's wishes and choose a virtuous and virtuous wife for Su Yanqing.Let her live the happiest and happiest life with him.Let her guard him well and take care of him.

After two or three days, Dexuan presented Ouyang Ruo with a full booklet in detail, and Ouyang Ruo would look through it in his free time.Although there were many women with good family backgrounds, they only picked out five or six of them.

Finally, he rubbed his forehead and said with a wry smile: "Forget it, people who look at these paintings don't know what kind of temperament they are, or when the time comes, you hold a banquet in Yunxiang Palace and invite these official women into the palace for a while." Come on, let’s just say... let’s talk about the flower viewing feast, when the time comes, I will take General Su to go with me and ask him to pick it himself. You can also help to see.”

Ouyang Ruo's eyelids twitched, and he responded respectfully.

Seeing that she was well-behaved, Chu Huotian felt a little bored for some reason, so he pulled her to sit beside him, stroked her slightly protruding belly, and sighed softly.

"What's wrong with the emperor, are you tired?" Ouyang Ruo asked with a smile.Gently helped him rub the temples on both sides, the strength was gentle and gentle, and the pinching was very precise. It took a long time to hear Chu Huotian exhale.

"It's nothing, I just think I still like to see you talking and laughing, not like a puppet like this. I feel uncomfortable watching it." Chu Huotian said softly.

Ouyang Ruo touched his face, is there any?Like a doll?Didn't he pretend to be good, and there was no flaw in the slightest, but unexpectedly, Chu Huotian saw the clues.

"Your majesty is too much, the concubine is very good, but..." Ouyang Ruo forced a smile.How to explain?She lost her tongue in a hurry.

"Just what?" Sure enough, Chu Huotian asked following her words, looking at her with a pair of ink-like eyes, searching every expression on her face.

"It's nothing, I just feel panic... The emperor is too kind to his concubines." Ouyang Ruo lowered his eyebrows and said.

"Great?!" He smiled silently, and lightly pressed his thin lips against hers and pecked lightly: "I still don't think I treat you well enough."

Ouyang Ruo smiled wryly and said nothing more.

After a few days, Ouyang Ruo finished the banquet and ordered the palace staff to send invitations to the official ladies on the list.

On that day, the weather was rare and fine.Ouyang Ruo's Yunxiang Palace is full of flowers, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs got the order, so it is natural to put all kinds of exotic flowers and plants everywhere in the entire Yunxiang Palace.Many palace people were called in to serve.Ouyang Ruo, Wan Hui and Ming Ying discussed and decided on the dishes a few days ago, and ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to do the same.

In the early morning of this day, Ouyang Ruo ordered the palace staff to prepare quickly, and when the time came, people entered her Yunxiang Palace one after another to pay their respects.

The first one is Pei Lingling, the youngest daughter of Zuo Xiangguo who has "the most talented woman in Chujing".When Ouyang Ruo saw it, she was really gentle and generous, full of bookishness, and well-bred, so she couldn't help but add a little bit to her.

The second one is Qian Yancui, the second daughter of Mr. Qian, the servant of the Ministry of Officials. She is also a generous and smart girl. Ouyang Ruo slightly checked the picture scroll presented, but she did not overly beautify her.

The third is Li Mingqian, the daughter of Minister of Rites, she is also very beautiful, but among the three, she is the one who left a deep impression on Ouyang Ruo. There are also specializations.

Gradually, more and more wealthy and famous ladies came, so Ouyang Ruo naturally not only picked out the few people on the roster individually, but also invited more daughters of important ministers.In this way, all parties will not be offended.The ladies of each family had heard that Rou Fangyi in Yunxiang Palace was the favorite concubine of the emperor, and thought that this flower viewing feast was specially for the emperor to choose a woman he liked, so this time they all dressed up very decently Generous, took a lot of skill.

Ouyang Ruo looked at the young woman in front of her, and felt that the originally quiet palace was much more lively.The sound of warblers and swallows, the fragrance is tangy, like being in the country of many flowers.Ouyang Ruo ordered people to lead the ladies to their seats, and urged the meals in the back to be arranged properly.

While he was in a hurry, he suddenly heard the little servant come in and report: "I'm telling you, General Su is here."

Ouyang Ruo was stunned for a moment, he arrived so soon, and his heart was filled with excitement.

"Please." She tried her best to control her voice and said calmly.

After a while, the shadow of a young man in a dark blue long gown broke into her eyes.

He has lost weight but his tall and straight figure remains the same, his handsome face may be a little bit more vicissitudes due to being sharpened outside, it is no longer a jade face, but has a dark bronze color.She watched him approaching step by step, and the guests on both sides were whispering, buzzing with praise and doubts, but she couldn't hear anything, only his boots stepped on the ground, One after another, it exploded in her heart like rolling spring thunder.

There was hesitation in Su Yanqing's bright eyes, he looked at her and paused for a moment, then stepped forward to cup his fists and knelt down and said, "The last general, Su Yanqing, sees Your Majesty Rou Fangyi, wishing her good fortune and peace." His voice stopped The past day was clear and bright, with a slight hoarseness, which made Ouyang Ruo feel a sharp pain in his heart.

"General Su, please." Ouyang Ruo still looked at him.When Su Yanqing got up, some palace servants stepped forward to lead him to the table.Sitting in the banquet, he looked at his nose with his eyes and his heart, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

Ouyang Ruo sat on the side seat of the main hall, and to her right was the place paved with bright yellow brocade pier, which was reserved for Chu Huotian.The bright yellow color stimulated her nerves, Ouyang Ruo suddenly came to her senses, and said to Wan Hui, "Go and see if anyone else hasn't arrived?"

Wan Hui spread out the brochure and said with a smile, "They're all here."

Ouyang Ruo listened silently, and was about to say something when the servant suddenly stepped forward to report: "I want to tell you, Madam, all the young masters have arrived together."

Just as he was talking, the people outside the hall burst into laughter, and several young masters in brocade clothes also came to him.The ladies in the palace all exclaimed, the style of Dachu is open, and men and women often sit at the same table, but these ladies were repeatedly taught by their elders how to obey the rules before the draft, and now they suddenly see a group of well-dressed young men. measures.The group of young gentlemen also obeyed the rules, one of them was the first to go up to Ouyang Ruo, knelt down and said to Ouyang Ruo: "Xiaosheng Cha Boqing pays homage to Miss Rou Fangyi, I wish you good health."

He raised his head, his eyes were piercing, as if he wanted to see her clearly in the high position.Ouyang Ruo glanced at him lightly, and it really was Cha San Shao.Several other people also knelt down to pay their respects.Ouyang Ruo smiled and ordered them to stand up, and ordered the palace servants to lead them to the table. Third Young Master Zha did his part to sit in the first seat on the left, very close to Ouyang Ruo.Ouyang Ruo glanced at him slightly annoyed, but saw that he smiled at her brightly, his brows and eyes were all coquettish, and his handsome face was carved out of jade. The ladies on the opposite side had noticed him a long time ago, and they were even more fascinated seeing him smiling. Fascinated, they cast winks at him one after another.But he just stared at Ouyang Ruo as if he didn't realize it.

Ouyang Ruo looked at him, then at Su Yanqing, who was dark and thin sitting in the last seat, and felt pain in his heart, how could such a dude have suffered as much as General Su.They just got the shade of their ancestors, and they grew up rich and well-clothed, ignorant of the sufferings of the world.

"The emperor is here--" the servant preached in a long voice.

Ouyang Ruo hurriedly got up and walked quickly to the door.She has a graceful figure, and the long skirt behind her is spread out, like the most beautiful bird spreading its wings.The ladies on both sides were a little dazed.They have never seen such a woman who can sway gracefully every step of the way.

Ouyang Ruo greeted the palace gate, when the bright yellow figure appeared, she knelt down and said: "My concubine welcomes the emperor."

Chu Huotian laughed, helped her up and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Concubine Ai." As he spoke, he took her hand and stepped into the main seat.

The bell rang faintly, and the banquet began.Firstly, toast to the emperor, Pei Lingling, who was seated first on the right, held up a jade bottle and made a toast to Chu Huotian and Ouyang Ruo with a smile.Chu Huotian took a look at her, and seeing her calm expression, he couldn't help but nodded and said with a faint smile, "Zuo Xiangguo is a very good teacher, and he behaves well. He is worthy of being a lady." After he finished speaking, he looked at Su Yanqing who was seated at the last seat.

Ouyang Ruo knew that Chu Huotian's words were obviously meant for him.But Su Yanqing only looked at the wine bottle in front of her, as if she didn't hear it at all.Chu Huotian sighed in his heart, and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

Seeing that Chu Huotian praised her, Pei Lingling couldn't help drinking the noodles in embarrassment, and then sat down.The move was so effective that other ladies followed suit.Chu Huotian was quite patient, and everyone praised him a few words.Ruoyou Ruowu glanced at Su Yanqing, but seeing that he was not moved at all, he felt annoyed in his heart.

(End of this chapter)