Facing the concubine who came forward to bow down, the Empress Dowager finally cheered up a little,

Seeing Wu Jie and Lu Pingting, she smiled and said, "These are the two noble concubines of the emperor Xinna who came up to show the Ai family."

Wu Jie and Lu Pingting hurried forward to pay their respects.

Empress Dowager Hong looked at the two of them carefully, and said with a smile, "It looks like two sisters, they are so pretty." Then she said a few words about serving the emperor Yunyun well, and ordered the female officer to give each of them a set of pearls.

The two of Wu Jie withdrew, and Empress Dowager Hong turned her eyes to Empress Gao again, "A while ago, the emperor came to Ai's house and said that this year's draft will be suspended, and it will be postponed until next year. Does the empress know about this?"

Empress Gao lowered her head with a gloomy expression, "The emperor mentioned something to my concubine."

"Nowadays in the palace, the children are difficult and the world is stable. It is time to choose a woman from a good family to enrich the court and spread the branches and leaves for the royal family. The empress has always had a good reputation. Since she knew it a long time ago, why didn't she persuade the emperor? Is it serious?"

Hearing the Empress Dowager began to reprimand the Empress, all the concubines bowed their heads in unison, watching their noses, noses, noses, and hearts.

Empress Gao frowned, she knew very well that if she answered that she didn't know just now, then the queen mother would definitely reprimand her, how did she serve the emperor, and she didn't ask about such a big matter in advance, which shows that she doesn't care about the draft

When a person dislikes someone, everything she does is thankless.

In the eyes of Empress Dowager Hong, the queen's throne should belong to her good niece, so I, an outsider, naturally disliked her no matter what.

Empress Gao has had a heart knot with the queen mother since she was too tired to serve the queen mother and caused a miscarriage. Originally, she was born in the Gao clan of Lingbei, and possesses powerful soldiers in the world, not inferior to the Hong clan, so she doesn't have to depend on anyone's face to live.

Today, she has long lost the previous respect for Queen Mother Hong, replaced by a cold and alienated hatred. Regarding the empress dowager's accusation, she said softly, "What the empress mother taught is that the concubine will write it down later."

Anyway, she is the empress who was personally bestowed by the late emperor, and no one can shake her position.

Empress Dowager Hong snorted coldly when Empress Gao acted like a trouble maker, "Since you know the mistake, I will leave this matter to you. You must persuade the emperor to change his mind."

"The concubines have tried their best to persuade them, but the emperor said that two people have already entered the palace this year, so there is no need to choose again. The emperor is stubborn, and no concubine can criticize them. Why don't you ask the queen mother to teach the emperor and urge him to change his mind."

Empress Dowager Hong said with a gloomy face, "The empress is unwilling to persuade you."

"It's not because I don't want to, but there's really nothing my concubine can do."

The two go back and forth arguing. The concubines were all happy when they heard that, this year there is no need for a draft, that is, there is no need to enter newcomers who are an eyesore, everyone is naturally happy, but the queen mother is still sitting on it, not daring to show joy.

After talking for a while, the topic reached a deadlock. It was Li Chongrong who had a wink and stood up to smooth things over.

Concubine Hongshu also took the opportunity to join the Empress Dowager Hong, and made some jokes.

At last, the Empress Dowager Hong's attention was attracted. Everyone in the hall also breathed a sigh of relief.

After chatting for a while, a court lady came over with a silver tray. It was the signature that the Empress Dowager Hong had asked for before and the explanation was completed.

Empress Dowager Hong personally picked up the white silk on the silver plate and opened it for a closer look.

Without even looking twice, the Empress Dowager Hong's complexion suddenly changed, and she yelled angrily, "Who solved this paperwork?"

In the middle of speaking, she suddenly stopped again, with deep thought on her brows.

All the concubines were inexplicably surprised, could it be that the Queen Mother begged someone who would not be able to become Chongsheng Temple under the contract, so it is impossible for her to be so ungrateful.

Concubine Hongshu couldn't help standing up, "What happened, Auntie, didn't you ask for a good auspicious lottery?"

The Empress Dowager Hong's eyes were serious, and she said in a deep voice, "It's the Ai family's signatures that are rare, you all go down. There are too many people and it's noisy."

Empress Gao led everyone to get up and leave.

Concubine Hongshu still wanted to stay, but seeing the empress dowager's dignified face, she didn't dare to say anything more.

Before leaving, Wu Jie took a sneak peek, different from the anger when she was arguing with Empress Gao just now, what appeared on Empress Dowager Hong's face was an inexplicable fear.

She was at the end when she heard the female officer's low voice explaining from behind, "Master Shenrun said that's the explanation, the outside of the auspicious wall has a wall, and the circumference is three and one is missing, it should be the word Zhou"

Wu Jie quickly put these messes behind her, she never believed in these things.The signatures of White Deer Temple were very famous before. When she was a child, she followed Prince De to find Master Guangxin, and secretly went to check the reels.Just know that these are just nonsense, but some people treat them like treasures.

But looking back on her previous life, the Empress Dowager Hong became more self-willed two years before her death, she was obsessed with alchemy, she listened to the supernatural powers of sorcerers, and summoned many strange men in an attempt to break through her destiny, turn the dead back to life, and make the palace a mess .

I believe it is not unusual to sign anything.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with her.

After returning to the palace, Wu Jie soon realized that she was wrong. The matter of Empress Dowager Hong had a lot to do with her, and even affected her life.

Because Empress Dowager Hong fell ill after returning to the palace, and was very ill.

Now, not only the emperor and empress, but also the concubines of the six palaces have to serve the sick, who makes the royal family less.

Wu Jie helplessly kept up with the large army. Fortunately, she has a low rank and only gets her turn once in a few days.

On this day, she stayed up all night, and finally it was Li Chongrong's turn to change shifts. She handed over the work and took Chi Rui to Bixiao Palace.

After walking halfway, she remembered that she forgot the hand stove in the Compassion Palace, so Chi Rui hurried back to get it.

Wu Jie walked alone on the path paved with white stones.

A white light has just appeared in the sky, reflecting the ground as cold as new snow. The trees in the imperial garden are all bare, only the plum grove in the east is in full bloom.

The faint fragrance floated, making people feel refreshed, and Wu Jie couldn't help slowing down her pace.

This piece of plum blossom is a rare red golden stamen, and its flowering period is the latest, so it is still in full bloom at this time of year.

Thinking back to this winter, I have experienced too many twists and turns, and I have not fully appreciated the beauty of winter.

Wu Jie raised her hand, intending to pick a plum blossom and bring it back to put in a vase.

After folding it twice, she found that the plum blossom branch was very hard. She couldn't get it off after tossing for a long time.

He could only withdraw his hand resentfully, and looked at the branch unwillingly.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, suddenly a gust of wind passed over his head.

Wu Jie looked up, and it turned out that a small stone flew across the sky, hitting the plum blossom branch above her head.

With a crisp sound, the plum blossoms broke and fell down. It was the branch that Wu Jie couldn't get by climbing and breaking it.

Wu Jie stretched out her hand, and the plum blossom just landed in her hand.

At the same time, a sneer came from behind, "You are as strong as an ant."

She turned her head, and it was Chen Jiao who was sitting on the trunk of a plum tree behind her, looking at her with a mocking face.

The morning sun shone from behind him, as if his whole body was glowing.

Wu Jie looked over and was stunned. She always knew that Chen Jiao was born beautiful. Ever since she first saw her in Prince Fu's Mansion, she was amazed by her, but she never thought that she would be so amazed.

It is as beautiful and illusory as an elf walking out of the light.

She suddenly remembered the discussion of Concubine Hongshu and the others that she had heard a few days ago. The Da Zhou family was lost in the forest, and she was so graceful that people and beasts couldn't help but think that the gods descended and bowed their heads.

If this is the beauty of the world, then the scene in the story can also be understood.

It's a pity that as soon as someone opened his mouth, the beautiful illusion was shattered.

"Did you use too much force just now, and you were so tired that you were stupid?" Chen Jiao asked angrily after seeing Wu Jie's answer after a long time.

Wu Jie clapped her hands, retracted her awkward posture, and returned a gentle smile.

"I'm not tired, Madam, you are the one who is tired. By the way, the Queen Mother has all the frost and snow that the Queen Mother needs today."

These days, because the weather is getting warmer and there is no snowflakes, the inner palace can only use cold frost and flower dew instead, but these two things are scarce in the garden, and the workload has suddenly increased significantly.

Empress Dowager Hong's temperament, no matter how embarrassing you are below, you can have as much as you want. The head of the inner government has grey-haired, so he can only step up the deployment of manpower and continue to work hard.

All the palaces dispatched many maids, and everyone complained.

According to Chi Rui's observation, Chen Jiao's work is quite neat, he leaves early and returns late, and has never been lazy. The last time people from the Inner Palace sent something to Bixiao Palace, they even praised it a few words.

But no one likes this kind of work, and Chen Jiao is no exception, he snorted coldly, "Isn't that old woman dead yet?"

Wu Jie was stunned for a moment before realizing that she was asking about the Queen Mother. She was secretly amazed at her rudeness, and said with a smile, "I've let you down. The Queen Mother is in good health."

Chen Jiao's expression was indeed very disappointed, and he clicked his tongue twice, "No way, didn't you say that the old woman is very timid. I even specially scared her. Forget it, let's find another opportunity next time."

Wu Jie was surprised, "What did you say?"

Chen Jiao jumped down from the tree, "Didn't that old witch go to the temple to ask for a lottery last time? I secretly moved a little bit. I heard that the old witch is superstitious. I thought you could scare her to death." Chen Jiao said with a disappointed face.

Wu Jie recalled how the Empress Dowager Hong's face changed suddenly when she saw the document signed a few days ago, and she couldn't help being surprised and angry, "You actually did such a thing."

If I had known that she was going to Chongsheng Temple, I wouldn't have taken this guy with me. Originally, in order to avoid him causing trouble, I put it in front of my eyes and stared at it.

"What did you scare the Empress Dowager Hong?"

"It's nothing, just tell the old woman that she is going to die soon." Chen Jiao said with a cheerful smile.

Wu Jie was speechless, and the Empress Dowager Hong only had more than a year left to live, so he was playing the right game.

"It was just a whim." Chen Jiao said, "It won't happen in the future." While the two were talking, Chen Jiao kept on collecting the dew.

He didn't go to the side of the flowers to collect carefully like those little maids, but he found a dewy flower branch and shook it vigorously, and the dewdrops sprinkled and fell like rain. The white porcelain urn in his hand flicked left and right, and the dewdrops were all in it. No wonder the people in the inner palace praised him for his neat work.

Wu Jie watched from behind, then thought again, he was the one who frightened the Empress Dowager Hong's illness, and she had to stay up all night to attend to the sickness.

Holding the plum blossom branch in her hand, Wu Jie said slowly, "Thank you for the flower branch. As a reward, I will also send you a message."

"I don't need to collect frost dew today. When I was serving the sick last night, I heard people from the Imperial Hospital admonishing the Empress Dowager. Now that she is weak, she can no longer use this cold stuff."

Chen Jiao paused, and turned to stare at her, "Why didn't you say earlier, I just finished collecting today's records?"

"That's really hard work, anyway, it's useless, just throw it away." Wu Jie ignored his resentment, turned around and walked back angrily.

The two walked out of the plum blossom forest one after the other.

After passing the palace under the hillside, Wu Jie suddenly stopped.

The palace in front of me is not big, but its construction is extremely exquisite. Its location is very remote, surrounded by dense forests with flowers and trees, and it is almost isolated from the outside world after closing the door.

There is a three-story attic on the east side of the palace. Outside the attic is a winding stream with clear water. Behind the attic, the water surface becomes open, with white rocks on both sides.

It was Changqiu Pavilion, the place where she lived for a long time in her previous life.

Wu Jie couldn't help but lift her foot and walked towards that path.

At this time, Changqiu Pavilion should be empty.There are few concubines in the harem, and the palaces near Qian'an Palace are not full, and such remote places are even more uninhabited.

When Wu Jie arrived at the gate, the palace guards didn't know where to go, so she pushed open the palace gate with ease.