Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 14

When Liu Qingtang returned to Ci'an Palace, she stayed alone in the study and wrote. She didn't say that she wanted someone to take care of her. The three of them, Qin Shuyi and Taoye, just stayed outside and didn't dare to go in and disturb them.

Seeing noon, the snowflakes outside didn't show any intention of stopping, instead, they fell bigger and bigger, and soon covered the flower and tree courtyard in Ci'an Palace.The sky is gloomy, but it looks like evening.

Zhui Yi glanced at the sky, went into the inner room to light the lamp for Liu Qingtang, while Tao Ye walked into the yard, and softly told the little maids and eunuchs who were sweeping snow at the door to be gentle and not to make any noise.

Only Qin Shu stood quietly outside, waiting for the Queen Mother to order.The small hand stove in his sleeve was almost cold, and there was only a little warmth left.Qin Shu rubbed the stove and was in a daze. He thought of this morning, before he went to the morning court.In the same way, he was waiting for the empress dowager outside, holding in his hand the hand stove that the girl in the dress had ordered for the empress dowager.

But until he followed the empress dowager's phoenix chariot almost out of the gate of Ci'an Palace, the empress dowager didn't let him take the stove over.Holding the hand stove, he quietly asked Auntie Xiuyi, but she heard her say: "The Empress Dowager never used to use a hand stove, but this morning she asked me to prepare it, and even asked you to take it."

Speaking of this, how could Qin Shu not understand.The empress dowager specially prepared it for him, probably because she saw his frostbitten hands.

Qin Shu was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help sneaking glances at the empress dowager in front of him on the way to Qinzheng Hall.Even though the Empress Dowager was sitting on the phoenix chariot and could only vaguely see her figure, he couldn't take his eyes off it.Because of the hand stove in his sleeve, he felt warm all over his body in the howling cold wind.

These days, the empress dowager is special to him, different from the aloof empress dowager he saw in the past many years, she looks more lively and vivid.Let him have the illusion that as long as he moves forward, he can touch her.And today in the Hall of Qinzheng, he saw the empress dowager from more than a month ago again, unattainable and no one can get close.

In the past, he secretly fell in love with the empress, and felt that a noble person like her should stand in a high hall and be awe-inspiring.But today, standing behind her, looking at her straight back and high head, he felt a strange soreness in his heart.

Such a queen mother may be very tired, he thought.Even if she didn't show weakness at all, and dealt with Feng Shoufu's son and Shang Judicial neatly, so that the ministers and even the emperor didn't dare to say a word, Qin Shu still felt that the queen mother was not happy.

Although the empress dowager didn't say anything, she stayed there alone practicing calligraphy after she came back, which shows that she is really unhappy.He didn't know why she was unhappy, or why she was distressed, and he couldn't do anything for her at this time.

He seemed to have a bigger wish than "staying with the empress dowager and watching her", which was slowly sprouting.He wants to be a person that the empress can rely on, and he will do for her whatever she has to do but is unwilling to do, and he will solve for her first anything that she finds embarrassing.Let her no longer have to stand upright and face those alone.

The snow slowly eased up again. Liu Qingtang in the inner room finished writing the tenth frame, and finally stopped the pen with a long breath and kneaded her wrist.

She is used to practicing calligraphy whenever she is in a bad mood or she can't figure out something to settle her mood.Today was the first time she saw those two Chief Assistants after her rebirth, and she was even more restless than she imagined.

If her death was because the emperor didn't like her and she kept suppressing him and controlling him, then the death of her father and elder brother was because the two chief assistants were afraid that they would hinder them from taking the emperor to control the government.Although his father has always kept a low profile, he is very prestigious in the army. Several generals are his disciples. How can he not be afraid of those two.

No matter in the previous life or in this life, what Liu Qingtang can't stand the most is that the people he recognizes and his relatives are hurt.So this time, she may not hurt the emperor, but she must let all those who hurt her father and brother in the previous life get the punishment they deserve.Since she was devoted to serving the emperor and the government, but ended up being accused of treason and drinking doves and died in the end, then this time she simply sat down for the crime, controlled the government in her own hands, and prevented people from hurting important people. every bit.

Taking a step back and sitting on the chair, Liu Qingtang turned his gaze to the outside room.Through the hollowed-out carved shelf, she could see Qin Shu standing there, looking out at the yard outside in a daze.Taoye Zhuiyi was not there, she should be busy with their affairs, and she probably knew that she was in a bad mood, so she even told the little eunuchs and maids around to stay away so they wouldn't disturb them.

Liu Qingtang simply stepped out and followed Qin Shu's gaze while asking casually, "Qin Shu, what are you looking at?"

Qin Shu immediately came back to his senses, turned to her and replied, "Slave, I'm looking at the snow-covered flowers and trees in the courtyard."

There was indeed a camellia bush where he was looking, the branches bent by the snow.There is a little bright red under the white snow, which is the late-blooming red camellia.

"The one who takes care of the flowers and trees is dedicated, looking at the camellias in the snow is very interesting." Liu Qingtang said this, looked up at the sky and said: "The blood sprinkled on the snow is probably as gorgeous as the camellias blooming in the snow. "

Qin Shu understood that the empress dowager was thinking of Feng Shoufu's beheaded son at the Meridian Gate, and wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words.Just feeling embarrassed, a eunuch in dark blue robes came from a distance.

The eunuch in dark blue was the chief eunuch who could only be used by the emperor, empress dowager, Qin Shu just took a look and immediately took a step back, standing respectfully obliquely behind Liu Qingtang.

The eunuch came forward after a while and saw Liu Qingtang salute first, and then said: "Empress Dowager, there is news from General Wei that Feng Shoufu's son has just finished his execution. Feng Shoufu has already taken the body back."

"Really." The smile on Liu Qingtang's face when he was talking to Qin Shu just now disappeared long ago, and he replied coldly, looking at Eunuch Ning, the chief eunuch of Ci'an Palace in front of him, wondering what he was thinking.

This Eunuch Ning was the one who stayed by her side when she first entered the palace. Before that, he was the chief eunuch in the former queen's palace.Later her elder sister went and she came into the palace, and this Eunuch Ning was ordered to come to her side to help her.

It's more like helping her than watching her for my sister, maybe it's also meant to guard against her.On weekdays, as long as he doesn't do anything that will harm the little emperor, this Eunuch Ning won't take care of him. Such an old fox is very slippery, and people can't make mistakes in the things within the scope of his duty, but if there are any other requirements, he will Absolutely will find all kinds of reasons to refuse.

From this point of view, in the previous life, Qin Shu, who could do well without saying a word, no matter what she asked for, even if it was something outside his duty scope, was really very kind to her.But speaking of it, the current Chief Eunuch really doesn't need to do so many things. The habit of leaving everything to the Chief Eunuch to handle started with Qin Shu.

"Empress Dowager, this old slave just came from where the Emperor is, and seems to see that the Emperor is worried about Empress Dowager."

"Oh? Worried about me?" Liu Qingtang's expression slowed down, but he couldn't help snorting inside.The real master of the current chief eunuch of Ci'an Palace was her sister before, and later her sister's son, never her.In his previous life, he told her from time to time how the emperor cared about her like this, and she actually believed it.

"The emperor regards the empress dowager as his biological mother, so he is naturally concerned about being filial to her."

Liu Qingtang just smiled and waved him down.In her previous life, she would think about how kind her sister was to her when she was a child, and how she would be a relative after all. Like her father, she would sympathize with her little nephew who lost her mother in childhood, and be strict and kind to him.Even if she knew about her elder sister's careful thought of putting Eunuch Ning by her side, she would treat it as if she didn't know.Now she can't bear it, because she has resentment in her heart, and there is no way to untie this knot.Even though nothing seemed to happen on weekdays, she was still oppressed by the nightmare of her previous life.

Since having such a person by her side would make her unhappy, maybe she should replace him earlier and let him retire early.Liu Qingtang watched Eunuch Ning's back, and began to think about when to replace him and let Qin Shu replace him.

Three years later, Qin Shu became the chief steward of Ci'an Palace. She was 23 years old and Yuanning was seven years old.

In that year, a plague broke out in Yujing.Eunuch Ning died of that plague, and it was at that time that Qin Shu began to enter her sight, allowing her to gradually understand that vague shadow.Because of the outbreak of the plague, many people died in the palace, and people were in panic. Especially at that time, she and the little emperor were infected with the plague at the same time. Ci'an Palace had almost no principals. It was Qin Shu who stepped forward to arrange many things.

Later, Physician Yang Sushu and Yang Taiyi developed the method of diagnosing and curing the plague in time, and she got better. Later, she felt that although Qin Shu was not pleasing, he was careful and thoughtful, and it was easy to use this, so he simply made him the chief eunuch of Ci'an Palace. , until she died.

That plague also planted a big hidden danger for her.Because she was also sick and unable to take care of the emperor, the two chief assistants took the opportunity to arrange some people around the emperor.Those servants who had shared adversity later won the emperor's trust. Wang Shoufu secretly sent a young granddaughter of his concubine into the palace as a little maid by the emperor's side, and took care of him during the plague, so he was awarded The emperor's trust, and later even favored the harem.

That woman was also the cause of more and more rifts in the relationship between the emperor and her.Those servants and that woman, beside the emperor, gradually influenced his thinking, let him know how to be affectionate to her on the surface and hate her on the inside.

The two Chief Assistants Wang and Feng could use this method to control the emperor. Of course, she could also use this method to completely turn the emperor into a "blind and deaf" person who has eyes and ears.

Thinking of her plan, Liu Qingtang laughed.Yes, she doesn't need to be afraid, because she won't repeat the same mistakes.

Simply lifting her skirt and going down the steps, Liu Qingtang went straight to Cong Shan Cha.Seeing this, Qin Shu, who was still trying to figure out what the empress dowager suddenly meant by laughing, stepped forward and pulled up his big sleeves to cover her head.

"Empress Dowager, it's still snowing. Why did you step on it? Your embroidered shoes will get wet." Seeing that Empress Dowager did not hear his words, she shook off the snow from the camellias and broke off the flower branches. Qin Shu said again: "The empress dowager wants to see flowers, so how about the servants give them to the empress? You should go back quickly, don't suffer from the cold again."

Every time Qin Shu said this to Liu Qingtang, he pretended not to hear him, and walked back after choosing a few camellias.Walking and walking, I found that Qin Shu was holding his sleeves to cover her in an awkward posture, and after a closer look, he found that he was still holding a small hand stove.It should be cold now, do you still hold it?Thinking about it, Liu Qingtang walked into the room and said to Qin Shu, "The hand stove is already cold, why don't you put it down?"

Qin Shu, who was shaking the snow dust on his sleeves, hesitated for a moment before answering: "My lord is sympathetic to the slaves, but the hand stove slaves of the Empress Dowager follow the rules of disobedience."

"I didn't use it for you. Didn't you hear that my order was 'prepare the hand stove for the Ai family'? It's just that the Ai family doesn't want to use it for you to hold it for the time being." Liu Qingtang began to argue with Qin Shu when he saw Qin Shu's appearance.

Qin Shu was choked upright, and it took him a long time to say: "Yes."

Liu Qingtang chuckled: "I'm really here for you, but so what, can you still refuse? As I said before, it doesn't matter what the palace laws are, as long as I say yes. That's right. , Didn’t you see those ministers praising your ink stain today?”

Recalling the scene where all the ministers tremblingly praised the painting at that time, Qin Shu also found it quite interesting.Just like what the empress dowager expressed, as long as you have the right, you can decide the rules.This made him yearn for that right even more, so that one day he could tell himself that he was not the empress dowager's "stain".

"Perhaps in the near future, someone will imitate the empress dowager and deliberately make ink stains." Qin Shu said a rare funny word, but his tone was still so serious that it didn't look like a joke.So Liu Qingtang didn't realize that he was actually joking at all, only thought that he probably really thought so, and nodded in sympathy.

After a while, Qin Shu returned to his residence with a warm novice stove and a vase with a bouquet of camellias in it.Holding the hand stove all the time, he couldn't bear to put it down, so he kicked it in his clothes, making his stomach very hot.

As for the vase, Qin Shu began to place it under the window, but after a while he felt that it was inappropriate, so he picked it up and put it on the table, where he could see it while practicing calligraphy.After practicing a few words, he felt bad again, so he carefully walked around the room with the vase, and finally hid it in the curtain on the bed.

"Since you like it, take it back and have a look, isn't it that you can't see camellia over there?" That's what the Empress Dowager said when she gave him the flower.

As Qin Shu recalled, he wanted to laugh unconsciously, but wiped his mouth only to find that he just twitched the corners of his mouth.

(End of this chapter)