flstandardbreds Chapter 275: Meet in the Back Mountain
Chapter 275: Meet in the Back Mountain
The emperor and empress were arranged to live in Yong'an Hall, while Concubine Wen and Empress Xu lived in a courtyard not far from the emperor and empress. As for the ministers and their families, they were divided according to their official positions, but they all lived in the outer courtyard.
So as not to disturb the emperor and empress's rest.
The next day, the ladies of honor who came with her and the wives of the ministers all came to pay their respects to the queen.
Gu Jianchu was afraid of disturbing the emperor from handling official business, so he went to the side hall to meet these people.
Xie Qingzhi and Wen Zhaoyi naturally would not miss the opportunity to watch the fun, so they came together. However, every time Wen Zhaoyi came, she would bring some cakes as an excuse.
After the ladies had greeted Anhou, Gu Jianchu invited them to sit down and chatted with them for a while.
Her gaze naturally swept over the girl at the back. The girl was wearing a pink dress today, but her face looked a little ugly, with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Gu Jianchu had seen the girl before. She was the girl in Lord Rong's family who was deceived to death by Gu Geng.
[It seems this little girl is still thinking about Gu Geng. She didn't even fall asleep last night.]
[No, wait a minute.]
Xie Qingzhi looked at Gu Jianchu with hesitation.
Something is wrong.
It wasn't that Lord Rong forced his daughter to come here. It was that Lord Rong and Rong Zhi had the same idea. Lord Rong was afraid his daughter would run away while he was away, while Rong Zhi felt that if she came to the palace with her father, he wouldn't be able to confine her to his room all day. This would give her a chance to secretly contact Gu Geng. After all, if her father continued to be so arbitrary and authoritarian in the palace, he would be laughed at by the other adults.
Besides ending his daughter's thoughts, Lord Rong also wanted to help her choose a husband during the hunt, to quickly finalize her marriage to avoid any future complications. After all, any capable man would surely come with her to the palace.
【Master Rong is calculating.】
[However, the abacus beads of this father and daughter were clattering loudly, and it was unclear who would outsmart the other.]
Rong Zhi wrote a letter to Gu Geng last night, bribed the young eunuch in the palace, and sent the letter outside the palace to a maid who had been waiting outside. The maid then followed her mistress's instructions and delivered the letter to Gu Geng. This established contact between the two, with the maid and the young eunuch acting as their messengers.
After being dealt a hard time by Lord Rong, Gu Geng had almost given up on Rong Zhi and had already started targeting those wealthy ladies. However, after reading the letter Rong Zhi wrote to him, Gu Geng decided to target both girls at once, taking whichever he could get. Compared to those wealthy ladies, Gu Geng valued Rong Zhi more. After all, Rong Zhi was from an official family and would be of great help to his future development.
[Wow, Rong Zhi actually asked Gu Geng to meet him tonight in the back hills of the palace.]
[This is quite interesting. Are these two still planning to elope? ]
Gu Jianchu's mind was pulled back by the wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat. "I heard that the Queen has lost her appetite recently. I made some appetizers in the small kitchen. I hope the Queen will not mind."
As the Minister of the Central Secretariat's wife spoke, she stood up, took the food box from the maid, and naturally handed it to Gu Jianchu.
Zhu Xia immediately stepped forward to take the food box, and together with Yun He, they took out the bayberry soup inside. To be cautious, Zhu Xia did not forget to test the poison in front of everyone, "Madam, please don't be offended."
"It's my duty. Otherwise, if something happens, I will be held responsible." The wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat naturally understood that the Empress needed to be careful about her diet.
"Madam is so thoughtful. Bayberries are rare in this season, yet you still use them to make soup for me." After testing the poison, Gu Jianchu picked up the bowl and drank it while it was still hot.
The wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat smiled and explained, "As long as the Empress likes it, it's good. These bayberries are originally picked in the summer, dried and stored. If you take them directly, I'm afraid they will be inedible. However, they are still good when cooked into soup. With the addition of plums and rock sugar, it is very good for stimulating the appetite and strengthening the spleen. When I was at home, I often cooked this way for my mother-in-law to drink."
"I didn't expect that Madam has such skillful hands. It's really a blessing for Madam's mother-in-law to have a daughter-in-law like Madam." Gu Jianchu couldn't help but praise her.
The wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat immediately said modestly, "Your Majesty, your compliments are too kind."
"The wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat has never been so flattering to me before. Why do I feel like something strange is going on?"
Xie Qingzhi: ...
Something was wrong, how come she couldn't see it at all?
[There is indeed a problem.]
The wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat knew long ago that the man her concubine's daughter married was a problem. She's trying to curry favor with me now, not to get her concubine to divorce, but to use me to suppress the concubine after the truth is exposed. It must be said that the wife of the Minister of the Central Secretariat had this idea in mind long ago, otherwise she wouldn't have allowed her concubine to run rampant to this extent.
Not long after the concubine's daughter married Zhou Han, Zhou Han's true nature began to show. He would either beat or scold her. He had learned his lesson, hitting her in places she couldn't see anyone. Even if she went home, she couldn't cry to the Minister of the Central Secretariat, so she could only endure it silently. A few days ago, the concubine's daughter found out she was pregnant, and Zhou Han accidentally aborted the baby. He simply claimed that the concubine had accidentally fallen and the baby was lost.
When Zhou Han beat someone, he didn't make any noise, and even the servants in the mansion didn't know about it. During the day, he acted affectionately towards his concubine's daughter. Everyone just thought Zhou Han was very kind to his concubine, and even the Zhongshu Ling's family thought the same. The concubine was even smug about finding such a good son-in-law.
[Under the current circumstances, even if the concubine told others that Zhou Han had abused her, no one would believe her. After all, Zhou Han had established an image of a good husband.]
For Gu Jianchu, there is no need to deal with this matter in a hurry.
Everyone gathered together and talked for a while, and then the ladies went their separate ways. Gu Jianchu left the wife of Marquis Nanping and Gu Jianyue alone.
Xie Qingzhi had eaten melons before, and now she could guess that Gu Jianchu probably wanted to ask about the woman that Gu Jianbai brought back. She also wanted to stay and eat melons, but it seemed a little inconvenient for her to stay for such a personal matter, so she could only leave the side hall, looking back every few steps.
Those who didn’t know would think that she was reluctant to leave the queen.
After everyone had left, Gu Jianchu asked Yunhe to guard outside the door to prevent anyone from breaking in.
Now that everyone had left, Mrs. Gu had the chance to take a good look at Gu Jianchu. "You've looked a little thinner recently. Maybe you haven't been eating well?"
This can't be blamed on her. In the past two months, Xie Ci'an has been having sex with her all day long under the pretext of having a child, which has made her so tired that she has no appetite for delicious food. Isn't that why she has lost weight?
"It's delicious, don't worry, mom." Gu Jianchu returned and held his mother's hand.
"I remember that you love the pies made by mother the most. When we get back, mother will make them for you." Mrs. Gu touched Gu Jianchu's face lovingly.