Emperor Jin

Chapter 77 Encounter

What is going on here?

Bao Jin was also thinking carefully.

She gently stroked the strange and beautiful pearl shell mask, feeling the special coldness of her fingertips, and seemed to hear Huo Ming's gnashing of teeth whispering in her ears——

"I still remember this mask..."

Does he know his sister? !

Bao Jin couldn't help shaking his head - Huo Ming was the puppet emperor's confidant when he raised his troops, and when he invaded the capital, he also led the army to support him, so there should be no relationship between these two people.

The cold morning wind blows in from outside the curtain, Ji Xin comes in with breakfast, sees a faint shadow in front of her eyes, knows that she has just returned from another night, she can't help frowning and persuades: "Miss, why do you have to work so hard?"

"If you don't hurry up, you can't do it. If you delay it any longer, if they lead an army to the south, half of the splendor in the south of the Yangtze River will be wiped out."

Bao Jin smiled coldly, stretched out his green and crystal-clear hands, stared carefully in front of his eyes, and sighed: "These hands... are already stained with blood—killing those few people is enough to delay Nan Tang's time."

Her voice was low, almost bored, she looked at the non-existent blood in her hand, finally sighed deeply, and took the lacquer box from Ji Xin.

"I just passed by the alley and heard the palace people whispering..."

Ji Xin whispered beside her.

"Oh……"

Bao Jin responded, drank snow rice porridge slowly, and asked nonchalantly, "What's new in the palace?"

Ji Xin leaned close to her ear, and said mysteriously: "The emperor had an argument with the empress last night, and in a fit of anger, he left in the middle of the night. This matter has spread throughout the palace."

Baojin smiled slightly, but still didn't care and said: "How can there be no quarrel between husband and wife. There is a folk saying: If you quarrel at the head of the bed and make peace at the end of the bed, these people are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, so it's really boring to gossip about it."

"It's different this time, miss."

Ji Xin recalled the anecdote she just heard, and continued: "I heard that the emperor didn't share breakfast with the empress today, and went to court early in the morning, and the Zhaoyang Palace was brightly lit all night, even the empress is very anxious! "

As she spoke, she picked up the small dish from the bottom of the food box—this tiger eye cake was too sweet, and Bao Jin would never touch it as usual, so she ate it for her. The next moment, she let out a cry He whispered, "Here's a note!"

Baojin's eyes lit up, and he suddenly turned around and said, "Bring it to me."

A small piece of paper, only three inches wide, with nothing else on it, only a common short poem——

"The thread in the hands of a loving mother, and the clothes on the wanderer's body. Before leaving, the seams are densely packed, and I am afraid that I will return later. Whoever says that the heart of an inch of grass will be rewarded with three springs."

Ji Xin saw it at a glance, and didn't have any scruples. She read it softly, and wondered: "I thought it was a secret report, but I didn't expect it to be this song "Wandering Zi Yin". Could it be that someone misplaced it?"

"It's impossible."

Bao Jin shook his head resolutely, looked at the carefully folded note, and asked ponderingly: "Did you meet anyone when you went to pick up breakfast?"

"I haven't met anyone... We are in this palace, we don't know each other well, who would strike up a conversation with me..."

Ji Xin thought about it carefully, and suddenly her eyes lit up, and she said: "I was getting a few plates of snacks in the dining room, and an old palace lady in the Queen's Palace came to ask for egg custard. We looked at all the food boxes, and then we gave up."

If Baojin realized something, he asked anxiously, "Is there a scar at the corner of the eye?"

"Yes, Miss, how do you know?"

"That's my mother's dowry maid, Aunt Ren who brought me up when I was young."

Bao Jin sighed, unfolded the note in her hand, and smiled sadly: "This poem by Meng Jiao is my mother's favorite handwritten work..."

She thought of the only mother's handwriting she kept, which was accidentally lost when she fled Goryeo in a hurry, and she couldn't help but feel pity.

"She wants to meet me."

Bao Jin's smile turned warm, and he said, "I'll just go there at night when I find time."

****
The speculation in the palace was not groundless, the cold war between the emperor and the empress did not stop at night, the emperor was uncharacteristically, he did not have a meal with the empress again, he ate a few mouthfuls, and went for a walk in the imperial garden to relieve his anxiety of boredom.

It was late at this time, the flowers and leaves were sparse, the plum fragrance was dark and cold, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the path by the lake.

The emperor paced steadily, thinking of Huo Ming's sad news, he was still shocked and angry.

Long before he met the queen, Huo Ming was his confidant general. He has extraordinary martial arts skills, but he has always followed him around, it can be said that he will never leave.

Such a loyal minister, General Bi, was killed suddenly, and he was inseparable from the queen? !
There was a burst of resentment in his heart, and he felt that he was becoming more and more unable to see through his beloved wife's mind——

I will share these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains with you, what more do you want? !

You know that he is my confidant, yet you do such a horrible thing!

Furious, he couldn't help breaking off a long branch and flicking it back vigorously.

Under the movement and stillness, I saw the shadows of the trees whirling in the forest, and a figure loomed leisurely, and let out an exclamation.

"Who's there? Come out!"

The emperor was furious, so he shouted in a deep voice.

"It's a concubine..."

With an elegant and soft voice, but without any affectation, a girl in palace costume stepped out of the forest with a slight surprise on her face.

She was dressed in a blue cloud dress, fresh and delightful, but also elegant and refined. Standing under the plum tree, she stood gracefully, just like the dawn of the moon, bright and pure.

But it was Xu Yinghua, Xu Jieyu.

"It's you."

The emperor glanced at her lightly, but he also secretly admired her beauty, and asked, "It's getting dark, what are you doing here?"

"If you go back to the emperor... Concubine Xian has not been sleeping well recently, I'll pick some plum blossoms for her and put them in a bottle, it's very elegant."

Xu Yinghua saluted calmly, then got up, and lightly gathered the plum branches in her arms. Under the cover of the flowers, she looked more and more peaceful and beautiful.

"what is that?"

The emperor pointed to the kit pouch in her hand, and saw that it was densely embroidered with the word "Fu", and the needle corners were free and delicate.

"This is embroidered by the concubine herself..."

Xu Yinghua replied with a smile, blushing a little, and said with embarrassment: "I want to collect some rest for my mother, so that she can sleep well."

"You are filial."

Looking at her calm and respectful figure, the emperor sincerely admired her.

Xu Yinghua's face was even redder, and he saluted and was about to leave, but the emperor smiled and said: "Why, don't you invite me to sit with you?"

(End of this chapter)