Concubine, please respect yourself

Chapter 290 Hush Cold
At dawn the next day, the news that the Empress Dowager died in the northern suburbs spread throughout the streets and alleys of Beijing.

A generation of virtuous queen mother passed away, and the whole city mourned.

All the red silks and satins hanging in front of the doors of each house were taken down and replaced with mourning banners, and there were elegiac couplets hanging on the banners, all of which were words of condolence in memory of the old queen.

On the way back to Beijing, the Empress Dowager suddenly traveled westward on a crane. The people accompanying her knew that this matter might have something to do with Princess Na Yingyan, but they also tacitly did not dare to say more.

Not everyone can talk about the Tian family scandal behind their backs.

Sometimes this secret is known to everyone, but it has to be rotten in the stomach.

When the Empress Dowager passed away, Emperor Zhao was very heartbroken, and within a few days after entering the palace, he also fell ill.

Emperor Zhao fell ill, so the empress dowager's funeral was fully entrusted to the queen mother, and she was extremely instructed that a rich funeral was required.

At the end of autumn, Queen Wang ordered the whole capital to observe the mourning for 49 days.

Marriage and banquets are prohibited, silk, satin, gold and jade are prohibited, drums and sheng are prohibited, morning markets and evening markets are prohibited from gathering to chat and laugh.

Empress Dowager Yide set an example for women all over the world, and specially asked the officials, families and noble daughters to kneel down in the Hall of Praying for Prolongation from the first day to the third day of the first month of the first lunar month, and guard the spirit with the princes and princesses for three days.

The end of autumn is sad and desolate, the branches all over the city are bare, and half of the flowers, red willows and green are not visible.The west wind blows most strongly in the morning and at night, and it blows across the face like soft autumn water knives.

On the first day of the lunar new year, before the sky was bright, the carriages in the palace had already arrived at every household to pick up the noble daughters into the palace to pray for blessings.

In front of Duke Lu's mansion, Lu Ziyu was wearing coarse mourning clothes, standing on the steps with his face down, waiting for the carriage to come.

Her coarse sarong was fluttering in the wind, and her bun was a little messy and loose.

The noble daughters of other families waited for the eunuch to knock on the door and urged them for a long time, and then reluctantly followed into the palace to guard the spirit.

I gave the Empress Dowager a three-day vigil. I heard that she could not come out of the palace. She only ate two meals a day and night, and they had to be vegetarian.Which delicate and precious woman can bear this hard life?
But there is no other way, who would dare to disobey the order given by the empress?

A few days ago, the second girl of the Fang family didn't want to go to watch the spirit, so she deliberately pretended to be sick and lay down on the couch in an attempt to hide the incident. Unexpectedly, the next day, there would be a maid in the palace who came to "teach the rules", and it was completely tossing people to death. Go to the palace to guard the spirit.

The old lady in the palace was vicious and ruthless. She said she was sent by the queen to "teach the rules", but in fact she used some small tricks, such as burying embroidery needles in the futon to pierce her legs, and putting her hands under the hot teapot to scald her. Yes, but it's just one of the rules.

The second girl of the Fang family was tortured until she was half dead, so she was released from going to the palace to guard the spirit.

The noble ladies in Beijing who wanted to imitate her and pretend to be sick were frightened and disturbed when they heard about it, and they stopped talking about pretending to be sick. They were very well-behaved, and they ate more meals three times a day.
No one else was willing to watch the spirit and suffer, so her fourth mother of the Lu family had already been waiting at the door.

In Qingshui Alley, the wheels of the car creaked on the stone pavement.

The carriage from the palace to pick up the people has arrived.

The little eunuch driving the car saw someone standing at the door, he was stunned for a moment, and when he got closer and saw someone, he asked softly with an unsure look, "Our family is here to pick up someone, may I ask you, Miss Lu Si?"

Lu Ziyu hummed lightly, carrying his own baggage, and was about to get into the carriage.

"Si Niang, Si Niang—" Li Qiong chased him out of the house.

She was holding a pastry box in her hand, and the aroma was overflowing from it. Looking at the fragrance and warmth, it seemed that the pastry had just come out of the oven.

Li Qiong was already married, so the hard work of keeping the spirit of this noble lady would not fall on her shoulders, but her sister-in-law was miserable.

Since returning from the northern suburbs that day, Si Niang hugged her and cried with Wan Wan, who was extremely sad, but she just asked and didn't say anything, it really made people anxious to death.

After returning to the mansion, he locked himself up for several days.

Luo Ning and Jing Zhe went to the room to have a look, the charming lady was full of remorse, standing in front of the window lattice in a daze, not knowing what was going on in her heart.

It is strange to say that both Si Niang and the princess went into the water, Si Niang was safe and sound, but the princess was ruined, why is this man still depressed in the end?
It is said that Queen Wang asked the noble daughter to go to the palace to guard the spirit, and the candles in Lanyue Pavilion were brightly lit in the middle of the night.

Si Niang changed into her mourning clothes early and stood in front of Duke Lu's mansion, she didn't even have breakfast.

Afraid that she would be hungry on the road, Li Qiong hurriedly went to the kitchen to make a few pastries for someone to take on the road for two bites. As soon as she got out of the steamer, she put them in a food box and quickly brought them over.

"Sister-in-law?" Lu Ziyu turned around and called out in confusion.

Her voice was calm, but there was a trace of sadness hidden in it.

Li Qiong caught up with the man, and passed the food box forward, "You take this, and you can eat two bites on the way."

Lu Ziyu's heart warmed, but he didn't reach out to take the food box in front of him, "Si Niang is not hungry, so let's stop eating now!"

"Why aren't you hungry? You didn't eat much last night. If you don't eat any more this morning, you might faint from the vigil."

"Okay, then I'll take it first." Seeing his sister-in-law's stubbornness, Lu Ziyu didn't argue with her anymore, took the food box and got into the carriage.

She has been falling into self-blame and guilt for the past few days, how can she have the heart to fill her stomach?
As soon as I got into the carriage, I put the food box in the corner and didn't open it to take a look.

Although Li Qiong didn't know why Lu Ziyu was troubled, but she had a delicate mind, and she could feel some clues at a glance.

Walking forward, he greeted the little eunuch who came to pick him up first.

When sending people away, he fumbled out a purse from his cuff, "My sister has to take care of her on the road!"

The little eunuch took the purse and said goodbye to Li Qiong with a smile on his face.

When the carriage arrived at the gate of the palace city, Lu Ziyu came down with the food box and lifted the curtains.

She pulled the tip of her lower lip and thanked the little father-in-law, "Elder-in-law drove the carriage very steadily along the way." After finishing speaking, she handed over the food box in her hand, "My sister-in-law is thinking about Si Niang, and she specially prepared some snacks when she went out. Pad it. But Si Niang didn't have much appetite, so she borrowed flowers to present Buddha, and gave this thing to my father-in-law to taste."

The little father-in-law is a sensible person, taking the money is considered a benefit, if he asks others to eat, he will feel a little embarrassed.

"Si Niangzi, let's keep some for myself, this wake is not easy." The little eunuch waved his hand and declined.

"You can take it, leave it to me—"

Just as Lu Ziyu was about to stuff the food box into the little eunuch's arms, he suddenly stretched out his hand from the side and pulled the food box away forcefully.

"Why are you chattering at the gate of the palace?" Ying Su's voice was as cold as jade, and his face was gloomy.

When the little father-in-law saw the person coming, his face turned pale with fright. After giving a salute, he hurriedly drove the carriage to hide away.

Who doesn't know that the Ninth Prince has an ambiguous relationship with the Lu family's wife, if he dares to stay longer, it would be like looking down at the latrine - looking for shit!
Lu Ziyu drooped his head, not daring to look up at the people beside him.

"Thin."

As soon as these words came out, the beautiful eyes held back the tears and suddenly fell down.

Why did he just say this when he saw her?

Shouldn't blame her, complain about her?Why did you care about her first?
Lu Ziyu wiped his tears and raised his head, seeing his master's handsome face.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his cheeks were full of tiredness.

The Empress Dowager passed away, Emperor Zhao was sick on the couch, and he had to take care of most of the affairs of the court temporarily.

Thinking about this period of time, it was really hectic.

"Grandfather is also thin"

(End of this chapter)