All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

Since it was an oral order from the emperor and summoned by the queen, Shen Lingxi could not refuse it no matter what.

She originally planned to go to the palace to find out what was going on, but she went along with the flow and agreed.

However, there are too many pregnant concubines in this palace now. If you are not careful, it is not worth being charged with murdering the emperor's heir.

Shen Lingxi brought Xiaodouzi with her for the first time, and Chu Yan also asked Ning Fu to accompany her.

The sun is scorching outside, but the main hall of Kunning Palace is very cool.

Shen Lingxi followed Aunt Liu into the hall and glanced at the ice basin in the corner of the hall.

Ice is added to each palace every hour.

It's not the end of the season yet, but the ice in the ice basin has only melted a little.

You can see how cool it is in the main hall.

Aunt Liu asked Shen Lingxi to take a seat, asked the palace servants to serve tea, and said with a smile: "The empress is changing clothes in the inner hall. I would like to ask the princess to wait in the hall for a while."

After saying that, he glanced at Ning Fu and Xiaodouzi beside Shen Lingxi, then bowed and walked into the inner hall.

In the huge main hall, there were not even any maids to serve, only three masters and servants, Shen Lingxi.

Shen Lingxi picked up the tea cup, lowered her eyes to the tip of her nose and took a sniff. A faint smile with unknown meaning appeared on her lips, and she put the tea cup back on the table intact.

The rustle of skirts was heard from behind the screen. Shen Lingxi raised her eyes and saw Shen Yuyao, whom she hadn't seen for a long time. She was wearing a loose white chest-length skirt with a matching blouse on top. Although her hair was styled in a ponytail, there was a white hairpin made of Butterfly Love Flower in her hair.

Her appearance was already petite and lovely, and her plain body made her look even more charming, which made me feel pity for her.

Whether it is Concubine Zhao, Li Yuejiao or today's Shen Yuyao, any woman favored by the emperor has this hexagram in temperament and appearance.

However, compared to Concubine Zhao and Li Yuejiao, Shen Yuyao's expression was a little more sad.

When she saw Shen Lingxi, she stepped forward and bowed, and said to Shen Lingxi in a friendly tone, "It's been a long time, my fifth sister, how are you doing?"

"It's acceptable." Shen Lingxi reminded politely, "Now that you have entered the palace, you should abide by the palace rules and call me the Crown Princess when you see me. Although I don't care about this with you, it's just that you live in Kunming now. In the Palace of Ning, if the Empress knew this, she would still think that Marquis Xuanping was incompetent in teaching his daughter and did not even understand these rules."

With these few words, Shen Yuyao had a rather complacent smile on her lips.

She calmly put away her pretentious expression, tightened the handkerchief in her hand, raised her chin slightly, and looked at Shen Lingxi, "Do you know that even though you are the Crown Princess now, I am no longer the one who is stepped on by you?" The concubine at your feet."

Shen Lingxi smiled.

"Everyone in the capital knows that Marquis Shen loves the Fourth Lady Shen the most. He has never treated you as a concubine, and he will never allow others to treat you lightly..."

"Although my father-in-law didn't know much about literacy, he taught me, 'Those who respect themselves will be respected by others, and those who despise others will despise themselves.' I have never stepped on anyone, nor have I judged a person's origin as a descendant. Madam, there is no need to be so arrogant."

Shen Lingxi's matter-of-fact tone contained no hint of ridicule.Those clear apricot eyes were as pure and innocent as when Shen Yuyao first saw her.

Shen Yuyao felt a little ashamed of herself from the bottom of her heart.

She turned her face away, avoiding Shen Lingxi's gaze, and said in an almost arrogant tone: "You don't have to preach like this in front of me. I call you fifth sister because I care about our friendship as sisters. I kindly remind you to rein in your nosy temperament. The palace is no different from other places, so don’t meddle in nosy things that you shouldn’t, so as not to get into trouble. Even the crown prince may not be able to protect you!"

This was the first time Shen Yuyao spoke to Shen Lingxi in this tone.A flash of surprise flashed in Shen Lingxi's eyes, and he took the time to look at her profile and asked meaningfully, "Then tell me, what's the matter that I shouldn't take care of?"

Shen Yuyao twisted the handkerchief tighter, moved her lips, and was about to speak——

Suddenly, she seemed to hear the sound of jingling footsteps coming from the inner hall. Her face changed slightly, and she hastily took out a big red purse embroidered with gold lotus from her sleeve and stuffed it into Shen Lingxi's hand.

"This is what you gave me when Erlang and I got married." Shen Yuyao looked at her with an eyebrow, raised her voice a bit, and said with a fierce voice: "I thought you were blessing me with good intentions, but now Erlang and I are both yin and yang. I can't tell you that you tampered with this purse or performed some shady magic that caused me to end up like this. I don't care about this dirty thing anymore, so I'll give it back to you."

As soon as the purse entered Shen Lingxi's hand, it was heavy, and it was obvious that something was stuffed inside.

Her eyes showed a questioning look, but Shen Yuyao had already turned around in a hurry, walked towards the visitor, and said respectfully, "Empress."

Shen Lingxi knew something was wrong. She only thought for a moment and then quietly put the purse into her sleeve.

The queen was supported by Aunt Liu and walked out of the inner hall.

Shen Lingxi hadn't seen her for many days, and she looked much better than before.

But there was no makeup on her face, and the half-worn homely dress she was wearing was very plain, but it lacked the gentle and graceful temperament she had before.

Shen Yuyao stepped forward and supported the queen's arm enthusiastically. She looked submissive and careful, without the arrogance she had shown just now in front of Shen Lingxi. "My queen, be careful on the steps."

When the queen sat down, Shen Yuyao familiarly stood with Aunt Liu on the left and right, standing on both sides of the queen.

Shen Lingxi saw her reaction in his eyes and stepped forward to greet her.

The queen asked her to sit down, her face was as usual, and she greeted her with a few friendly words. She said with a look of embarrassment on her face: "It is not my intention to call you into the palace today, but the emperor wants to help you do something in the palace." .”

Shen Lingxi's eyes drooped slightly.

When the emperor asked her to do something, he not only used the queen's name to announce her entry into the palace, but also used the queen's mouth to tell her.

Interesting.

She pretended to be puzzled and asked with a smile: "The emperor has an order, and the ministers and daughters-in-law should obey it. The emperor sent Eunuch Cao to pass an oral order. I don't know why it is such an important matter that you go to so much trouble and ask the queen to tell the ministers and daughters-in-law personally?" "

The Queen waved her hand towards Aunt Liu, "I'll have a few words of respect with the Crown Princess, and you can take Yao Niang to the inner hall first."

Aunt Liu took the order and led Shen Yuyao to the inner hall.

Before turning around the screen, Shen Yuyao reluctantly turned back and glanced at Shen Lingxi before disappearing behind the screen.

When Shen Lingxi saw this, she also glanced at Ning Fu and Xiaodouzi behind her.

The two of them also bowed and exited the hall.

After they left, the Queen sighed, as if she had made up her mind, "I have always regarded Liulang as my own. When I was in Yunjiang, Huai'an also took care of you. With the relationship between our aunt and nephew, I will not hide anything from you." is you."

She looked solemn and said seriously: "After the emperor returned to the capital from the imperial mausoleum, for some reason, his temperament suddenly changed a lot. Especially after nightfall, he was always impulsive and irritable, and he was still in bed, especially... …If you don’t know how to control yourself, it’s like you’re a different person…”