Mountains and rivers pray for peace

After the banquet was over, the Queen, Concubine Shu and other concubines were carried back to their palaces, and the wives of each family left together. As for Yan Hanxiu, under the guidance of the young eunuch, he went to the side hall to help Lu Xingping, who was already drunk and unconscious.

The cups and plates in Zhiyang Palace are in a mess, and the soup remains are cold.

Zitan was arranged by Huo Qi to see off the guests. At this time, except for the maid led by Huo Qi who was busy walking around, there was no one else. At this time, with Usnea helping her keep an eye on people, Huo Qi could find an opportunity to exchange a few words with Wang Qin, who also came to the banquet today.

Wang Qin held Huo Qi's hand and looked at her from head to toe.

The girl's gentle smile and subtle fragrance caused Wang Qin to have an extremely absurd illusion - her daughter had left her for many years. Even though Huo Xian has been away from home for three years, there are always traces of his youth on him. Huo Qi, who had been raised by her side since he was a child, had grown up in a subtle way and looked unfamiliar to her.

This made her happy, but also sad.

Wang Qin's eyes suddenly turned red: "Look, I have only been in the palace for less than three months, and I have lost a lot of weight. But have I endured hardship?"

"Mom, everything is fine with my daughter." Huo Qi held Wang Qin's hand with her backhand and pressed his palm like she did when she was a child. "Is your home okay these days?"

"Don't worry, your father, your eldest brother, and the two girls in your room are all fine."

Wang Qin's smile stagnated for a moment, but she quickly came to her senses, took a peace charm from her sleeve and stuffed it into Huo Qi's hand: "Today is your sixteenth birthday. In the past years at home, my mother would give it to me with her own hands." You make longevity noodles, but there is nothing you can do this year. My mother went to the temple to pray for this peace charm a few days ago. If you take it with you, you will be able to turn bad luck into good luck in the palace and be safe."

Huo Qi lifted the lanyard above and looked at the peace charm carefully. It is half the size of a palm, square and square, with a red silk base and gold powder engraved with the four characters "Changle Yong'an" on it.

After looking at it for a long time, she heard Wang Qin say with a smile: "You can keep it when you go back and look at it again. It's almost time, and it would be against the rules to stay any longer. Mom is gone, you have to take good care of yourself."

Huo Qi put the peace charm into his sleeve like a treasure and watched Wang Qin leave. When Wang Qin's back was no longer visible, Huo Qi turned around and helped the maids clean up the mess in the palace.

Seeing that no one was looking towards her, she went to the seat where Yan Hanxiu was sitting, took out her handkerchief, and tried to wipe the blue and white teapot containing plum tea.

This pot is actually a mandarin duck incense pot. On the surface, it looks like any other wine pot at the banquet, but there is a lot going on inside, with two independent inner pots hidden inside. One pot was filled with ordinary plum tea, and the other pot was also filled with plum tea, but it was mixed with poison that would seal the throat when it sees blood. Four hours after drinking it, you will be poisoned and die without even making a sound of pain.

The tea that Yan Hanxiu drank was non-toxic, but the cup of tea that Yan Hanxiu gave to his concubine was adulterated with poison.

A thousand-mile embankment collapsed in an ant nest. Concubine Shu calculated for a long time, but she didn't expect that the person she arranged was guided to use this mandarin duck rotating incense pot from the beginning. It's a pity that those stupid servants didn't know the secret and only added colorless and tasteless amaranth powder into one of the inner pots containing plum tea.

A jade hand took away the blue and white teapot from Huo Qi's side.

"Sir, this teapot should be cleaned by your servant. It would be better for you not to get your hands on it."

Huo Qi turned around and saw a palace maid in green smiling at her.

She was stunned for a moment, and then quickly said: "...Why haven't you left yet?"

According to the plan, Lu Xingping was so drunk that he fell unconscious, and Liu Qi was supposed to be pretending to be a maid, following Yan Hanxiu out of the palace.

The palace maid in green clothes smiled slightly, and the smile seemed very sincere and relieved: "Call me Ah Qin. Once tonight is over, there will no longer be a concubine Zhen. I'm here to say goodbye to you. Don't say anything. Just Listen to me. After saying these few words, I will leave."

The hall was filled with chaotic shouts. Liu Qi spoke in a very low voice. Huo Qi tried hard to hear, but it was still difficult to hear. Her hands were not idle, and she quickly cleaned up the mess on the table. When others look at it, they will only think that Huo Qi is watching the maids under him doing things. Huo Qi stopped moving, and then heard her continue: "Without your planning today, everything would not go so smoothly. I will do what I promised you. But, before I tell you the clues about that matter, I hope you can promise me one last thing."

Huo Qi was not frustrated by the bargaining, so he could only smile and said: "Do you really believe that I will continue to help you? If I add insult to injury now, I'm afraid you won't be able to get out of this palace."

But Liu Qi gave a rare smile: "You can't do it. I'm always very accurate in judging people. Aqi, you are very soft-hearted, and you are the only one who has the ability to help me."

Although she and Huo Qi had known each other for a short time, in this cooperation, she proposed a plan, and Huo Qi helped her fix the unreasonable loopholes in it, which made her inadvertently regard Huo Qi as her confidant.

"Let me find a way to send Chunxiao out of the palace for you?"

"Yes, Mr. Huo is really smart."

Huo Qi retorted: "It's not because I'm smart, but because you are also soft-hearted."

The smile on Liu Qi's face became more obvious: "That's all. I have told Chunxiao the rest of the matter. When everything is settled, she will tell you the clues. Of course, I am not asking you to do this in vain. I I know that Concubine Shu has made trouble for you many times and even wanted your life. So before I left, I left her a big gift. Although it cannot shake her foundation, it can make you pure for a while. How about it? "

"make a deal."

※※※

As the night grew darker, a dead silence filled Shuchunxuan, and all sounds were blocked by the thick curtains. It was still bright inside, with red candles burning everywhere, and the flames jumped and imprinted on the hibiscus face of the beauty on the couch. The beauty's cheeks were red and her eyes were closed tightly, but she seemed to be unable to hear her breathing.

A palace maid in yellow clothes walked out of the house.

The palace girl had a cute square face, a bit of cunning hidden in her eyebrows, but she walked very steadily. It was Chunxiao who Zhenbi relied on the most and spoke with the most weight in Shuchunxuan.

She told the palace maids and eunuchs who were guarding outside the house in a familiar manner: "I drank too much and wanted to take a rest early. Your work is neat and tidy on weekdays, and I see it. Today is my birthday, and each of you should go there." Receive one or two rewards from the storehouse. Also, the empress has ordered that no one is required to keep vigil tonight, so you should go to bed early."

You will be rewarded for working less. After hearing this, the eunuchs and maids were all overjoyed.

A young eunuch glanced at the light coming from the window lattice in the room, and suggested in a reciprocal manner: "Since your Majesty wants to go to bed early, do you need a servant to come into the house and put out the candles for your Majesty?"

Chunxiao sighed and said seriously: "No need. Your Majesty is keeping the light for Your Majesty."

After the eunuch listened, he understood immediately.

Today is Concubine Zhen's birthday. Logically speaking, Emperor Xiaowen should accompany his master. Unfortunately, Emperor Xiaowen stayed at Concubine Shu's place tonight. Changle Palace is far away from Shuchunxuan. No matter how bright the house is, the master is destined not to be seen by the emperor. It's quite sad to say this.

The young eunuch smiled bitterly: "The slaves understand. Then the slaves will retreat first."

Chunxiao looked back at the tomb-like room behind her and smiled deeply: "Go down. I'll go back to the house to rest."