Golden branches and jade leaves

Chapter 22
Wuyi Lane

Duke Ding's Mansion

Not far to the west of the Daqi Imperial Palace, only half an hour away by carriage, is the bird clothing alley where rich and powerful families gather.The entire Daqi has the longest history, and most of the residences of the most prominent families are concentrated in this area.

Turning into the alley from the corner of the street, a kind of aura of wealth and nobility rushes towards us. On the wide street, there are tall walls enclosing far-reaching courtyards on both sides. The black and gold gates are inlaid with bright copper rings. The lion bared its teeth and danced its claws, in a ferocious state.Although ordinary pedestrians are not expressly prohibited from entering and exiting here, the gates of each house and the wide streets are full of arrogant maidservants and extravagant children in fancy clothes wandering through. Ordinary civilians will probably choose wisely when they see this scene. Stay away.

In the whole Wuyi Lane, the mansion with the most luxurious decoration and the largest area is the current king's house, Duke Ding's house.

At this time, in the inner courtyard of the palace, in a quiet palace room, stood an elderly man about fifty years old. She has a luxurious air, long beard and fluttering hair, and she looks like a fairy. Unfortunately, a pair of radiant triangular eyes destroys the overall handsome image, giving people a feeling of deep scheming.

It was Wang She, the Duke of Dingguo and the great Sima, who was a high-ranking and powerful man in Daqi.

At this time, he gently twisted the three long beards under his chin, and asked a lady in a palace costume beside him: "After all this work, how do you look?"

"Returning to the master, that concubine Su is really a fairy-like character," Mrs. Dingguo laughed, clapping her hands and said: "I took a closer look at the queen mother today. The Concubine Yun of the past few days also did not give way too much, although compared with that Concubine Yun, she lacked the freshness and elegance of a poetic woman, but she had more..." Mrs. Dingguo didn't know what to do at this time. After the description was finished, he thought for a moment and said, "It's like a kind of spiritual energy emanating from all over the body... like a spiritual rain from the empty mountain."

"In this way, I am afraid that Daqi will find it difficult to find a few of such stunning looks," Wang She said with a hint of worry on his brows, "The old lady Yun has also seen it a few times, it is really hard to find in the world. Beautiful."

"That's not necessarily the case." Mrs. Dingguo laughed.

"Oh," Wang She raised her eyebrows, and said with great interest: "From what you said, I must have someone to compare with. These days, take a look at the circle of powerful and powerful families in our Daqi, and tell me quickly. Say what can be gained?"

"My lord, in my opinion, there are many noble ladies among the courtiers who are united with us, but there are not many who can compare in beauty. There is only one person, no matter compared to that concubine Yun or The current Concubine Su is not inferior."

"Oh, there is such a person? Who? Which family's daughter?" Wang She became interested.

"It's Shi Rou'er, the youngest daughter of Shi Qian's family, the commander of the inner guards." Mrs. Dingguo said with a smile: "Master must also know about it, right? Is there anyone in the capital who doesn't know the name of Shi's daughter in the past few years?" , I didn't believe it at first, thinking that the rumors were always exaggerated, but yesterday, taking advantage of New Year's greetings, I specially asked Mrs. Shi to bring me over to the house, and I just took a look, oops! I really can't take my eyes off me, this woman I can't help but be moved by pity when I see it, and not only the appearance, but also the manner of speaking, the facial expressions, and the charm are all first-class."

"It's so touching," Wang She couldn't help but said, "This matter has a lot to do with it, so don't exaggerate because of your friendship." Wang She knows that his wife and the Shi family's wife have always been on good terms, so it can be regarded as a Turn of the handkerchief.

"Oh, master, am I the kind of person who doesn't know the importance? How can I talk nonsense about this matter," Mrs. Dingguo argued for herself: "This time, the master let me see all the close and noble daughters of our officials, I haven't checked door to door. From my point of view, among the girls who will be selected in the next year, only Shi Rou'er is the top one. Most of the rest are either not good-looking, or Behavior is insignificant, and entering the palace is also for nothing, so you will definitely not be favored. Although there are still a few stunning ones, their speech and demeanor are not as good as this Shi Rou'er. Compared with that Su concubine, they are far inferior, I'm afraid that even if you enter the palace, your love will be limited."

"Well, that's good," Wang She nodded, then suddenly remembered something, and asked thoughtfully, "Huh? No, I remember hearing that Shi Qian's daughter seems to have someone else, right?" ? I've heard from someone that it seems that they have been married since childhood."

"There is such a thing," Mrs. Dingguo said: "When I was young, it was given to the son of the Mu family at that time, but now the Mu family has declined, and only orphans and widows are left. Speaking of my wife, I often heard her complain, saying that her master was too reckless back then, but now that her daughter is born like this, ordinary people can afford it. Besides, when Commander Shi thinks about what happened back then, it is quite How regretful."

"Besides, I tested it at the banquet the day before yesterday. I saw that Shi Rou'er's speech and behavior are also ambitious, and she must not be willing to marry a small guard. She also wants to enter the palace, otherwise..." Ding Mrs. Guo covered her mouth and said with a smile: "Their mother and daughter don't have to bring them here for me to see."

"Yeah." Wang She was a little moved, then became vigilant again, and asked hastily, "How did they know that I asked you to secretly check on the ladies of each family? You didn't leak the news, did you?"

"I heard what the master said, am I the kind of person who doesn't know the importance?" Mrs. Dingguo said with a bit of complaint: "Although we didn't say it clearly this time, I have been going in and out these days. Daughter and sister are going to the inner courtyard of the official residence of the faction that has made good friends with the master, if there are caring people, there will be no clues."

"That's right," Wang She nodded and said, "It's been hard work for you these days, and it's not a secret. But it's not good to spread the word. As foreign ministers, we are suspected of interfering in the inner palace. It's taboo. You should be careful these few days."

"Oh, you don't need to worry too much, master. It's just a normal behavior of us women and Taoists who visit the house. Who can take this kind of thing out and write it in the memorial? Who else would do it? Taboo this." Mrs. Dingguo smiled disapprovingly.

"You have to be more careful when you are at home when you are sick." Wang She rolled her eyes, ignorant woman, don't spoil my event: "I am afraid that I will recover soon, so of course I must be careful at this time." , don’t stumble because of such a trivial matter.”

"What? What does the master mean?" Mrs. Dingguo exclaimed, "Resurrection?! Could it be that the emperor wants to use the master again? It must be the empress dowager who interceded in front of the emperor."

"Where is the empress dowager's persuasion? It's not like you don't know what the emperor's temperament is. If it's really my sister, it will only have the opposite effect. So when I was sick back then, my sister didn't have the slightest intention to keep me. It's just to reassure the emperor." Wang She sighed, and then said with a bit of indignation: "The emperor's fear of our Wang family is no longer a matter of a day or two."

This time, after falling out of favor due to his crimes, he was sick at home and was in a half-retirement state. Although he still controlled the government remotely, he always felt aggrieved in his heart. In the world of Daqi, it was not like I was bleeding and sweating with swords and guns. Those who were beaten down, now that the world is stable, they have to worry about their Wang family.

"The news about the recovery, the master means..." Mrs. Dingguo wondered.

"It's just deduced from the news from Nan Chen that I got recently." Thinking of the news just heard, Wang She couldn't help showing joy on his face: "Nan Chen was scared by us Da Qi before, and Chen The emperor has re-appointed Prince Cheng Chen Qian as the guard of Jianye City. I don’t know what Chen Qian’s thoughts are. From this point of view, there must be a big battle in the beginning of spring. Then it will be the time for me to recover. Ni Yuan was seriously injured by the assassin a few days ago, and I heard that he can’t even get out of bed. , but which one is worthy of the important task of commanding the whole army?" Wang She laughed, "It must be the time for me to show my ambition."

It's just that those assassins are so incompetent that they can't even solve a single Ni Yuan.If I can get rid of this serious trouble, I can also go to war with peace of mind.Wang She secretly thought.

"Then the master will be ashamed." Remembering that her husband was forced to retire because of his defeat in the battlefield, and now that he had such an opportunity, Mrs. Dingguo couldn't help showing joy.

Hearing Madam's words, Wang She's originally smug smile faltered, and a trace of anger suddenly appeared on his face.

Mrs. Dingguo's words touched his sore spot just now. The so-called former shame refers to the fact that he led the army to attack and defend the country. Back then, he was under the command of the late emperor. Pingliang destroyed Shu with repeated victories. After the death of the first emperor, he was the head of the country, and he was also the important minister of the first emperor. He had unparalleled power. The little Weiguo, a Gu Qingting, unexpectedly caused him to be defeated twice, and his reputation was discredited.

For the first time, it can be said that he underestimated the enemy too much. Although he knew that the defender of Wancheng was Gu Qingting, a famous contemporary general, but he only wanted to attack the city with all his strength, but he was killed and returned in defeat.

The second time, he made a detailed plan, conspired and arranged, and finally completed the plan, thinking that he would definitely capture Gu Qingting alive, who made him lose face, but who knew that guy was extremely cunning, and actually saw through his plan, and instead used his plan to defeat the Qi army. , This time was worse than the last time, he was beaten to the ground, threw away his helmet and armor, fled in embarrassment, and almost lost his life, less than 20 of the [-] elite soldiers who went out to follow him back to Qi.

Back in Qi Jing, although everyone was concerned about his high power and dared not criticize him, Qi Long, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, did not have such a good temper.

In fact, according to the laws of Qi State, like Wang She, the tragic defeat of losing nearly 20 elite soldiers of Daqi under the city of Wanzhou is enough to ransack their homes and exterminate them.

Fortunately, he saw the opportunity early, lowered his posture, quickly retired from illness, handed over power, and coupled with the intercession of the Queen and Queen Mother, he was not held accountable.

However, it is inevitable to become the laughing stock of everyone, especially after Ni Yuan succeeded in the first battle, destroyed Weiguo, and killed Gu Qingting. Few people died in the battle, but seeing the cars of Wei Guo surrendering and offering prisoners, the forgetful Qi people quickly forgot all the heavy losses on the battlefield, and praised Ni Yuan's resourcefulness and decision-making.

All this made Wang She very angry. In his opinion, Ni Yuan was just in his favor. If it wasn't because of his previous two massive sieges that frightened King Wei, how could it be so simple and fast? surrendered?This can be regarded as a fact, in fact, Lian Ni Yuan said so when he asked for his resignation and award.However, those who heard these words only affirmed Ni Yuan's humility and courtesy, not taking credit for himself.As for his hidden achievements behind Wang She, of course, it is not as eye-catching as the death of the 20 troops and the two consecutive defeats. On the contrary, it made him the laughing stock of everyone.

"Ah, these days, when I go in and out of various mansions, wouldn't I fall into the eyes of others and attract criticism from the courtiers, what should I do?!" Mrs. Dingguo said in panic.

"Hmph, ignorant woman, it's okay if the courtiers criticize me, but I'm afraid that the current majesty will not be happy when he hears the news. Although the current emperor is not very scheming, he is already quite afraid of our royal family. , it’s just that the Empress Dowager is here, and because of the word filial piety, it’s not easy to have a seizure.”

"Although he is still afraid of my sister's face and the kindness of nurturing, he dare not do anything to us. Alas, but my sister's health is getting worse every year. Who knows when... when the time comes, our Wang family What will happen?" Wang She shook his head, his brows filled with gloom. "That's why I started with these heretics, hoping to cultivate manpower for Ning Qiu and compete for favor in the harem."

"You don't need to worry about other things now, just win over these promising girls and tell Ning Qiu to cultivate them well. The key is to leave a prince who belongs to our power as soon as possible." A ruthless look flashed across.

"That's good," Mrs. Dingguo felt relieved, but still hesitated, "It's just..."

"Just what?" Wang She cast a glance at her, and said, "Just talk if you have something to say, why bother talking like this."

"It's just...it's just that I haven't talked to Ning Qiu about this matter, but I tested her a little today, I'm afraid she won't agree with this matter." Mrs. Dingguo said anxiously.

"Hmph, I don't agree. If her stomach is willing to live up to it, do I need to take such pains?" Wang She snorted coldly with a bit of hostility, which shocked Mrs. Dingguo.

Seeing Madam's expression of fear, he let out a sigh of relief, with a sad look on his face: "Oh, Ning Qiu has been a proud and arrogant child since she was a child, and I know that too, if it wasn't for her belly that was always disappointing, I would Why bother to choose from among the retainers and noble daughters to find help for her? Even though that concubine Su has taken refuge in her, Concubine Yun's lesson from the past is there, and it is convenient for her own people to use. You and her Let's talk about it carefully, Xiao Yi is a smart child, so she can understand our painstaking efforts."

"Yes," Mrs. Dingguo promised submissively. In fact, she was really not sure about convincing her daughter. Although Ningqiu's child was her own, he had a cold temper since he was a child. After becoming a queen, as the mother of a country, I feel that I don't know what she is thinking, and only the queen mother can say a few words. Alas, it seems that I should go to the palace to ask the queen mother.

(End of this chapter)