ebookland Chapter 434: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 38
Chapter 434: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 38
Urged to leave by Nian Shilan, Prince Guo had to leave in disappointment even though he wanted to stay and talk to his sweetheart for a few more words. But soon after he left the palace, Prince Guo hid aside with his personal servant A Jin, and watched with his own eyes as Nian Shilan took Songzhi and Baicao out of the palace, mounted their horses and galloped away before he got up.
"Your Majesty, that, that is Concubine Hua?"
Ah Jin was a little panicked. The palace stipulated that concubines could not leave the palace at will. He and Prince Guo might have discovered some unimportant secret today. Everyone knew that Concubine Hua was very powerful. If Concubine Hua found out that they had not left and discovered the secret of Concubine Hua leaving the palace late at night, what would they do?
"Your Majesty, should we inform the Emperor of this? Concubine Hua's leaving the palace late at night must be no small matter."
After the emperor ascended the throne, although he openly favored Nian Gengyao and Longkodo who supported him, Ah Jin, as Prince Guo's personal servant, naturally knew why his own prince always pretended to be devoted to nature and not interested in power in front of the emperor.
If Prince Guo could help the emperor find something to hold against the Nian family and help the emperor resolve his biggest concern, he might be able to go to court to perform his duties.
"No, we will pretend we don't know about this."
Prince Guo, like A Jin, believed that Nian Shilan must have left the palace late at night for Nian Gengyao, and did not think about Nian Shilan herself at all. Although he knew that what A Jin said was right, as soon as he thought of Nian Shilan, Prince Guo lost any mood to inform on her.
At this moment, he had only one question in his mind, which was why Concubine Hua left the palace so late at night?
Apart from this doubt, there were only some speculations and joy. Prince Guo guessed that Concubine Hua had some reservations about the Emperor because she left the table early in order to leave the palace late at night. He was delighted that Concubine Hua was not as deeply in love with the Emperor as the Emperor said.
In this case, does it mean that Concubine Hua does not truly love the Emperor? Do I...do I also have a chance?
"Your servant pays respects to His Majesty. Long live the emperor."
The beauty in the Plum Garden has stopped dancing and is kneeling gracefully before the Emperor to pay her respects.
"Stand up. Where are you from?"
The fact that the emperor was immersed in Chun Yuan's memories did not mean that he had lost his mind. As soon as he saw the beauty's dress, he guessed that this matter must have been deliberately arranged by someone. As the emperor, he was not surprised to face this situation.
"I am Rou'er, a maid in Jingren Palace. I came here to pick red plums in the name of the Queen. But after I arrived, I was so overwhelmed by the red plums that I danced on a whim."
"Jingren Palace, Rou'er?"
The emperor had no idea what to do now. Who else could have arranged this person in front of him except the queen? Well, if it wasn't the queen, there was no one in the palace who looked like Rouze.
Forget it, forget it. Since it is the Queen's "good intention", I can't offend the Queen.
"Okay, get up."
"Su Peisheng! Send this Rou'er back. I will go to Jingren Palace tonight."
Su Peisheng heard the emperor's order from not far away, and immediately trotted forward to answer: "Yes, I understand."
As soon as the emperor left, the dancing palace maid Rou'er and Su Peisheng and others quickly disappeared in the Yime Garden, leaving only Yu Ying'er, who witnessed this "climbing up the tree and turning into a phoenix" with her own eyes, feeling both shocked and envious.
"This way, I can rise from a palace maid to the top and be favored by the emperor. Does that mean I can do the same?"
Thinking of the appearance of the palace maid Rou'er, Yu Ying'er's ambitions grew wildly. She was not much worse than Rou'er in appearance. She could dance and she could sing Kunqu Opera. If the emperor liked Rou'er, maybe he could also like her...
Zhen Huan came out to get some fresh air, but she didn't dare to walk too far. She only saw Prince Guo from a distance, glanced at him casually, and then ignored him. When she returned to the banquet after getting some fresh air, she found that the emperor and Concubine Hua, who were sitting at the top of the table, were gone.
"Sister Mei, did the Emperor leave with Concubine Hua?"
Shen Meizhuang looked back at Zhen Huan's lost expression, knowing that she really had the emperor in her heart and couldn't get over it. She felt a little sympathetic and comforted her, "Huan'er, don't worry. The emperor went out by himself."
"Tonight is the day of the palace reunion. According to the rules, the emperor must go to the queen's palace. Even if Concubine Hua is favored, she is just a concubine. The emperor will definitely not go."
"Yes, Noble Concubine Hua is just a concubine." For some reason, only by saying that Noble Concubine Hua is just a concubine can Zhen Huan feel better, as if by saying this she can prove that there is no difference between herself and Noble Concubine Hua.
But when Zhen Huan was deceiving herself, she completely forgot that even though they were all concubines, she was just a noble lady, not even a concubine, while Concubine Hua was the only noble concubine after the Queen, her position was higher than that of a prince, and her rank was higher than that of Prince Guo.
Nian Shilan rode for half an hour and finally arrived at a secret stronghold, where many marginal officials from various departments had already gathered. Most of them were minor officials of the sixth or seventh rank, and the highest was no more than the fifth rank.
They had already gotten to know each other before Nian Shilan came in. The interesting thing was that everyone knew that they were "disciples" of the Nian family and had accepted the olive branch from the Nian family, but it was not clear why and whose orders they were following. Some said that they were following Nian Gengyao's orders, some said that they were pulled here by Nian Xiyao's subordinates, and some said that they were recruited by people around Concubine Hua in the palace. It was hard to tell what was true and what was false.
When Nian Shilan came in, everyone was shocked, even those officials who said they were recruited by people around Concubine Hua were equally shocked.
Everyone was stunned by Nian Shilan's dazzling beauty for a while. After they came back to their senses, those who reacted quickly knelt down and saluted, and the others who reacted slowly followed suit.
"Your subordinate pays respects to Her Majesty Hua Guifei. May Her Majesty live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years."
"Well, get up."
"I believe that although you have accepted the recruitment of my Nian family and are sincerely willing to become my Nian Shilan's people, I know that many of you still don't know why I came to you."
"I'm telling you now, I came to you because I want you to do something for me. The palace has strict rules and it's inconvenient for me to leave the palace. I want to reassure you and let me see your abilities."
"I will naturally reward you based on your merits after I accomplish my mission."
The officials below looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing what Nian Shilan said, and finally chose to obey Nian Shilan's orders under the influence of the family system. As for the "success" that Nian Shilan mentioned, almost everyone thought she meant that she would become the queen or queen mother.
"Yes." Everyone said in unison.
"Okay, now I'll make it clear. If you do things for me, I won't punish you. But there are two points I must emphasize. One, you must serve for the sake of political achievements and the people's livelihood. Two, you must not commit crimes and oppress the people."
"As for the rest, I won't interfere, but you have to be careful about the degree. If anyone is bold enough to disregard my orders for money or power, I have plenty of ways to make you suffer a fate worse than death!"