The prince is very fierce

In the side hall, Xu Buling breathed steadily, and the whispers of several palace maids echoed in his ears:

"Sister Qiao'e, Prince Xu is so handsome, much better looking than the second young master Xiao. In comparison, the second young master Xiao looks like a monkey that just came down from a tree..."

"Shh~ Don't let the queen dowager hear you, otherwise you won't be able to leave the palace in your next life..."

"Hehe... Didn't the queen dowager tell us to sleep with her?"

"No... Don't have any bad ideas. If you sneak onto the prince's bed tonight and the prince is unhappy tomorrow, don't even think about staying in Changle Palace, let alone going to Suzhou with him..."

"Alas~ What a pity... Otherwise, sister Qiao'e, ask him, maybe the little prince wants you..."

Chirp, chirp.

Xu Buling felt someone reaching out to him. It should be the empress dowager's personal maid Qiao'e. While she was unbuttoning her robe, she leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Young prince, do you want me to arrange a bed warmer for you..."

Qiao'e was able to enter the palace with him because she was used to serve the emperor when his master was not convenient. She was carefully selected and trained by the aristocratic family since she was young, and her appearance and temperament were not bad. It is estimated that she knew that she would accompany the empress dowager to die alone in the future, and she met Xu Buling, so she was instigated by the palace maid to have some small thoughts.

Xu Buling was not a heartless monk. He was a little itchy by Qiao'e's seductive tone, but he had something important to do tonight, so he naturally couldn't appreciate it. He had to put on an appearance of "I like to kill people in my dreams", snorted coldly, and turned over drunkenly to face the inside.

Qiao'e was startled and dared not speak again. She turned back and glared at the palace maids who gave bad ideas, then she retreated with a red face and closed the door.

The house became quiet, and the footsteps gradually faded away.

Xu Buling covered himself with the quilt, pretending to be asleep, and patiently waited for the alcohol to pass. During this time, a palace maid came in and looked at him for a few times, then went out. The queen mother seemed to come once, holding his wrist to feel his pulse, and then left.

About two hours later, it was past midnight.

The sparsely populated Changle Palace was completely silent, with only the "whoosh" sound of the cold wind blowing through the palace.

Xu Buling's drunkenness also disappeared, he opened his eyes, sat up silently from the bed, untied the belt around his waist, took off the white robe, revealing a dark nightgown inside, and took out the black cloth and the "human skin mask".

The "human skin mask" is a disguise used by the underworld, but the real one has long been lost. Now all you can get is a piece of skin that can be pasted on the face, which looks like a piece of yellow cloth.

After putting on a crude mask, Xu Buling covered his face with a black cloth, took off his boots and wore only black cloth socks, locked the door and cleaned up the traces of the bedding, then opened the window of the room and jumped out silently.

Dayue relied on military power to build the country, and there were many masters. The best of them could not be stopped by a palace wall. If there were no strong men guarding the palace, Ning Qingye could enter the palace and kill the emperor and leave.

Xu Buling didn't know how many masters were hidden in the imperial city, but the king of a country must have a stronger appeal than the Su Wang Mansion. The Su Wang had dozens of retainers under his command, and it was not uncommon for hundreds of masters to emerge in the imperial city, so he was very careful.

Changle Palace was the residence of the empress dowager. It was sparsely populated and the location was not important, but the empress dowager's status was here. If she was caught by a flower thief, the emperor would probably have to commit suicide to apologize to the late emperor, so there must be masters hiding in the dark.

If it were an ordinary jianghu, he would definitely not dare to sneak around like this, but Xu Buling was obviously not an ordinary person. At the age of sixteen, he was famous for his martial arts, and it was not just talk.

Although he was poisoned and could not use his energy and his fighting power was only one tenth of what it was, it was obvious that sneaking did not require much strength, and he relied on his perception and alertness.

Xu Buling was like a ghost, and his toes stepped on the snow without making any sound. He moved like the wind in the dark, gradually passing through the Qianbu Corridor connected to the harem, and from time to time he glanced at the top of the Taiji Hall in the distance, where a lucky beast squatted for many years, overlooking everything in the imperial city.

There were many rumors about eunuch Jia in the jianghu, such as "immortality, killing people like flies, practicing evil skills with babies", etc. He had a very bad reputation and was almost a standard template for the evil villain in chivalrous stories.

However, according to Xu Buling's understanding, Eunuch Jia has never left the imperial city alone. Wherever the emperor is, he is there. He shouts once in court and once again after court. The rest of the time he stands on the roof, and he probably has no time to deal with people from the underworld. As for how good Eunuch Jia's martial arts are, there are different opinions. No one has ever seen Eunuch Jia take action, and those who have seen it probably have no chance to tell others.

As the saying goes, 'there is no false person under a great reputation'. According to Xu Buling's estimation, when Eunuch Jia was young, he was definitely the top warrior in Dayue. Now that he is old, it is hard to say whether his martial arts have regressed or improved. After all, 'fists are afraid of young people, and sticks are afraid of old wolves'. It is difficult to make a conclusion about a person's martial arts attainments based on age alone.

While Xu Buling was carefully observing, he had already passed through the Qianbu Corridor from the dark and entered the harem. The palace complex in the harem is very large, with thousands of palace maids and the emperor's concubines living there, and there are also many eunuchs. At this time, there are many people on night shift, and people can be seen walking around faintly.

The reputation of the Emperor Song Ji for his diligence was known to all officials. He usually stayed in the Imperial Study and rarely came to the harem. He should be in the Imperial Study tonight.

Xu Buling moved quickly between the palace and the courtyard. His speed was not fast, but his goal was clear. After Dayue conquered Chang'an, he directly moved into the former palace of Daqi and did not rebuild it. Most of the buildings in the imperial city have existed for hundreds of years. The location of each room is not a secret. Xu Buling has memorized it thoroughly in the past few days.

Since Jia Yi was guarding Lizheng Hall, he must have lived in it. Lizheng Hall was the residence of the queen, located in the center of the harem, and should have been as important as the emperor's residence. However, Queen Cui died of illness a few years ago, and Song Ji had always refused to re-establish a queen, so Lizheng Hall was still Queen Cui's former residence, and no other concubines dared to move in without permission.

Xu Buling came to the vicinity of Lizheng Hall, listened carefully to the surrounding movements, and after confirming that there was no one, he flashed across the outer wall and entered.

Compared with the palaces of other concubines, Lizheng Hall was much more deserted, and even had a sense of depression in the cold winter. There were no red lanterns hanging, but strips of white silk were hung between the flying eaves and corridors. There was no figure, but it was not gloomy.

Xu Buling looked carefully for a few times, and found that every corner of Lizheng Hall was spotless, without even snow.

The courtyard was full of peach trees, and white flowers were tied on the bare peach branches. Even in the winter, it was like being in a peach forest.

The paper flowers tied to the peach branches were spotless and new, not eroded by the wind and snow. It seemed that they were tied not long ago. I am afraid that they would be changed every few days, and Queen Cui had been dead for four or five years.

Thinking of this, Xu Buling could not help but secretly admire the infatuation of the current emperor.

The two biggest regrets in the world are "watching heroes grow old and watching beauties grow old".

And the saddest thing in the world is "dying before fulfilling ambitions, and dying before being old".

Compared with the former sigh of time, the latter is often more unforgettable. The most admired and obsessed person in the heart suddenly stopped at the most glorious moment of his life, leaving regrets and grief to the living, which those who have not experienced it cannot understand at all.

Dayue Jianghu still misses the "Xuanhe Eight Kui" of the previous generation. It is not that there are really no beauties in the world, but the sad endings of beauties fall into the eyes, just like the Red Mansion, which makes people feel sad every time they think of it.

Xu Buling had heard Lao Xiao talk about the Jianghu stories of the past. In the storyteller's mouth, Cui Xiaowan, the daughter of the Cui family in Youzhou, was a bookish beauty who was "fragile, sickly and worried". She did not have the deeds of the chivalrous women in the Jianghu, nor the fame of the officials. Since she was fourteen years old, she has been staying in the peach garden of the Cui family. She is three parts shy and seven parts delicate, and never goes out.

Originally, the Jianghu market did not know that the Cui family had such a beauty hidden, until one day Xu Danqing, who liked to play Jianghu, rashly broke into the peach blossom forest to enjoy the scenery. At a glance, he was shocked by her beauty.

It is said that countless Cui family guests rushed with knives, but what they saw was Xu Danqing holding rice paper in one hand and a brush in the other, chasing the Cui family daughter in the peach forest, and kept shouting "Wait until I finish painting and then kill me..."

After hearing that it was Xu Danqing, the head of the Cui family felt sorry for his talent and was reluctant to kill him. He drove Xu Danqing away from the peach blossom forest after he finished painting, and took the painting away.

Xu Danqing was a wanderer with a strange personality and was very demanding about his paintings. After escaping death, he not only did not learn his lesson, but instead felt that the hasty painting in the peach blossom forest was a failure. He risked being hunted down and killed by the Cui family and secretly painted two more paintings. Unfortunately, they were not as good as the one in the peach forest. In the end, he sighed, "It's better to die in the peach blossom forest."

It was because of Xu Danqing's words that Cui Xiaowan's name became famous overnight, to the point that everyone knew it. Countless wanderers and literary talents came to the Cui family to propose marriage, almost squeezing through the memorial archway of the Youzhou Cui family. This craze gradually faded until the words of Miss Tang of Youzhou, "It's hard to paint a beautiful woman in the world."

Daughters of aristocratic families would never marry into a poor family, and most of them were arranged marriages between families of equal status.

Later, the previous emperor passed away, and the new emperor ascended the throne, and needed a queen who would rule the country. The court officials were looking for a daughter among the legitimate daughters of the aristocratic families, and originally had their eyes on Miss Tang, who was praised as the "national beauty of the ages".

The Tang family was originally a family of rivers and lakes with a long history, but after serving Dayue for many years, it gradually evolved into a family of generals. Its status in Dayue cannot be underestimated, and this move can also officially make the Tang family a top family.

Unfortunately, the sky did not fulfill people's wishes. After the wedding team arrived at the Tang family, they found that Miss Tang had escaped from the marriage and disappeared.

The consequences of escaping the emperor's marriage can be imagined. The head of the Tang family was furious. While apologizing to the court, he drove this unfilial daughter out of the house and sent people to hunt her down until Miss Tang hid and ran to the foot of Wudang Mountain to become a Taoist nun, and was protected by Wudang Mountain and escaped.

The new emperor had already ascended the throne, and all the civil and military officials in the court were waiting for the wedding. The wedding envoy could not carry an empty sedan back. Seeing this, the nearby Cui family sent Cui Xiaowan to the sedan and she became the queen of Dayue.

There were few rumors about what happened afterwards. The next time we heard about Cui Xiaowan was the imperial edict of the court. Queen Cui became ill due to long-term treatment and died in the deep palace.

And the emperor of Dayue has been devoted to government affairs all day since then. He rarely goes to the harem and has not appointed another queen.

Xu Buling saw the peach blossoms in the garden, and he didn't know what to say except sighing.

Tap tap -

When Xu Buling was thinking, a barely audible footsteps suddenly appeared. He was startled and quickly hid in the dark.

He looked up and saw a eunuch in a red robe, holding a white lantern, walking slowly through the corridor of the palace...