Chapter 1: Sunny and snowy
"When I was very young, Wanniang told me that the most honorable woman in the world is the queen, and the palace where the queen lives is called 'Kunning Palace'. I asked Wanniang what the Kunning Palace is like."
"Wanniang said that she didn't know either.
"I was sitting under the leaky eaves in the countryside, and I thought, if I could turn into a swan goose flying by that day, fly to the bustling capital, fly to the Forbidden City, and see what the Kunning Palace looks like, it would be wonderful. How good is it?"
The gate of the palace is claustrophobic, only a window on the left is left open.
The sky was overcast and the light was dim.
In the bustling Kunning Palace in the past, there is no one in the palace at this moment.
Only Jiang Xuening was left kneeling in front of the table, holding the chopsticks with her white and slender fingers, and fiddled lightly in the wrong Jinboshan stove on the table, and the smoke like wisps of smoke floated up slowly from the pores , her robes woven with gold and rusty phoenix spread long behind her, and the complicated moiré pattern floated faintly in the darkness with little brilliance.
"Later, I really went to the capital. God played a big joke on me. He gave me a delusional mind that I shouldn't have, but let me grow up in the countryside. I didn't raise the famous ladies in the capital and the ladies With such a magnanimous attitude, you still put me in this bustling place, the arena of battle, and only give me a good skin..."
Jiang Xuening's appearance is extremely bright, burning like a flower.
The crescent eyebrows are tactile, the tails of the eyes are slightly raised, and the sandalwood lips are tinged with vermilion, which is a natural charm, and because of holding the Phoenix Seal and being in a high position these years, she has developed a rare grace and dignity.
When you lower your eyebrows and narrow your eyes, it can make people's heart skip a beat.
You Fangyin stood quietly behind her for a long time, listening to her faint voice, and thinking of her life in the eyes of the world, where she was full of tricks and fame and fortune, she suddenly became a little dazed.
There is a kind of sadness that arises from my heart.
They all knew that she could not escape.
Jiang Xuening suddenly smiled: "Fang Yin, during this period of time, I have been thinking, am I really wrong?"
When she was a child, she was brought up by Wanniang, not knowing her own background, and she roamed wild in the rural landscape outside Zhuangzi. She was a bird that no one could control, and only Wanniang's rouge and gouache could bring her home.
Wanniang was born on a thin horse, a woman among women.
She said that the world is dominated by men, and only men can conquer it; while women only need to conquer men to conquer the world.
After going back to Beijing, she got to know Yan Lin, the young master of Yongyi Hou's mansion. He took her to disguise herself as a man, and played around in the capital. Even her parents didn't dare to discipline her too much. meaning.
Later, the Yongyi Hou Mansion was implicated in the rebellion case of King Pingnan.
Yan Lin's family was exiled for thousands of miles.
The young man who had not yet reached the crown climbed over the high wall of the Jiang Mansion to find her at night, with a hoarse voice, he squeezed her hand vigorously: "Ningning, wait for me, I will definitely come back to marry you."
But Jiang Xuening said to him: "I want to marry Shen Jie, and I want to be a queen."
I still remember that when Yan Lin was a teenager, he looked at her with a piercing gaze, like a struggling animal, his eyes were red, and his teeth were clenched.
That night, the boy faded away all his youthfulness, let go of her hand, turned around and escaped into the darkness.
Five years later, she was Shen Jie's queen.
The road to the next position was not so smooth, so in her short life, there were still many people like Yan Lin.
For example, Xiao Dingfei, the servant of the Ministry of officials.
For example, Zhou Yinzhi, the commander of Jinyiwei.
Even, it was Shen Zhiyi, the eldest princess of Leyang who died in Yidi later...
However, no one expected that the boy from the past would make a comeback one day. After making military exploits at the border, Yan Lin voted for Xie Wei, and under the banner of "the side of the Qing emperor", returned in armor, led the army to surround the capital, took control of the entire Forbidden City, and put her under house arrest.
Shen Jie was poisoned, lingered on the sick bed, and ignored the government.
He entered and exited her palace in a grand manner, and often shunned the palace people when he came.
Inside and outside the court, no one dared to speak.
Everyone knows that he is Xie Wei's right-hand man.
When Xie Wei slaughtered half of the palace, he was the one who led the soldiers to guard the gates of the palaces to prevent anyone from escaping; young and old catch...
Now, he is standing outside the gate of her palace with that former imperial teacher Xie Wei.
Shen Jie has passed away, leaving an imperial edict ordering her to listen to the government behind the curtain.
However, the crown prince, who was inherited from the clan, had not yet been supported and ascended the throne. On the way to the capital, his head was cut off by the uprising Tianjiao rebel party and hung at the city gate.
Now, it's her turn.
Jiang Xuening blinked lightly, and her thick and curled eyelashes cast a faint shadow under her eyelids, which made her look a bit desolate with the unpredictable changes in the world.
You Fangyin looked at her with some regret.
But she had already put down the incense chopsticks, covered the incense burner, took the big boxy brocade box on the table, and opened it. Inside were the Jade Seal of the Chuan Kingdom, and a letter of imperial edict that she had written and sealed an hour ago.
It is written in Yizhi that she voluntarily died for the late emperor, and asked the prince and grand teacher Xie Weikuang to help the country, assist the government, and select a virtuous monarch to succeed her.
Jiang Xuening suddenly raised her head and glanced out the window.
At some point, the snow that had fallen all night had stopped.
The blinding sun came through the gloomy clouds, and shone through the windows of the gloomy palace, casting a bright beam of light.
She murmured: "If I had known it would be the end of today, why bother to spend a lot of time? It's better to travel thousands of miles, see the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and be like a free bird. In this life, I just entered the palace by mistake. The wall, the bustling cocoon..."
You Fangyin remained silent.
Jiang Xuening then asked: "Fangyin, if you were given a chance to choose, would you still come?"
You Fangyin is the strangest one among all the people Jiang Xuening has ever met.
She was originally a concubine daughter of the uncle's mansion, clumsy and pitiful, once she fell into the water, she changed her temperament drastically. From then on, she showed her face, became rich in business, opened a billing account, established a chamber of commerce, and became the leading businessman in Jiangning Mansion in just a few years.
Calling her "You Bancheng" is not an exaggeration.
It's just that she was unlucky. In this court battle, she was on the wrong team first. Although she also surrendered to Xie Wei later, she has been guarded these days and is under house arrest in this palace.
The two were so miserable together that they became confidants who talked about everything.
Jiang Xuening heard her talk about her self-made experience, many of which were novel, and she also heard complaints that the overseas barbarians she went to when she was doing business didn't even have a steam engine.
Jiang Xuening didn't know what a steam engine was.
But You Fangyin always said that she was not from here, but from a place far away from which she could no longer return.
She also said that the former court had a huge secret, if they knew it, anyone with a little brain would not make mistakes in this battle.
It's just a pity that she knew it too late.
You Fangyin sighed faintly, and smiled bitterly: "In this era when the birds don't **** and are only angry, whoever wants to wear it will wear it!"
Jiang Xuening hadn't heard such vulgar words for a long time, she was in a daze for a while, but when she remembered the time, she suddenly raised her voice and shouted: "Thank you, sir!"
The vermilion palace walls are covered with white snow.
There was a crowd of people outside the palace gate.
Yan Lin pressed his sword to his side.
The leader stood tall, but did not answer when he heard the words.
Jiang Xuening knew he could hear it.
This is the most scheming person in the whole Daqian Dynasty.
The skin of a saint, the heart of a devil.
The emperor of the two dynasties, the prince and the grand master, how many people respected him, respected him, and admired him? Little did they know that under this noble and clean appearance, there was a heart full of rage and murder: Shang Fang's sword, bestowed by the emperor, was covered with the blood of the royal family, killing the moat. The water turned red; in the hands of the Fuqin writer, the lives of Xiao's family were tightly held, and the corpses of those implicated were piled up like a mountain.
This was the only one she couldn't please with all her might.
"You killed the royal family, the Xiao family, and the Tianjiao. You are the one who holds the power and my life. It stands to reason that I have no right to negotiate terms with you." Jiang Xuening's eyes suddenly shed a tear, burning On the back of her hand, "In my life, I have used many people, but after careful calculation, I betrayed Yan Lin, and Yan Lin also took revenge on me; I used Xiao Dingfei and Zhou Yinzhi, and they also borrowed me to take the position; I plotted against Shen Jie, and now I also want to be buried for him and go to the underworld together. I don't owe them..."
The ups and downs of life's fate, just like this.
The dagger was in her sleeve.
She pulled it out lightly, the blade surface shone with cold light, reflecting her eyes and the gorgeous golden step rock on her temples.
Jiang Xuening's body trembled, her voice trembled, her eyes were full of tears, but she didn't have the right to cry, she just said every single word like tears of blood: "But there is only one person who has been upright all his life, with strict laws and regulations, It was I who coerced him, made him go astray, and ruined his reputation for half a lifetime. He is a good official, and I sincerely hope that Mr. Xie would take care of you when Xue Ning gave you blood on the way to Beijing, and exchange my life for him One life, let him live..."
Who would have expected that the empress, who is so heartless and heartless, would one day be exchanged for a servant of the Ministry of Punishment by her own life?
Is it because she has no heart, or is it that others have failed to warm up this heart?
The man outside the palace gate stood still for a long time.
It took a long time before I heard the plain word: "Yes."
What a nice voice.
It's like a long time ago.
Jiang Xuening smiled in relief, and decided to raise her hand—
"Pfft."
When the sharp dagger pierced the blood on the slender neck, there was a sound like cracking paper, and it seemed to be accompanied by the clang of a long sword falling to the ground outside the palace gate.
She also fell.
The delicate golden steps smashed to the ground, and the deep ruby inlaid on them shattered and splashed out. The warm blood slowly soaked along the steps on the cold ground, just like the shallow stream she used to step on and play with bare feet when she was young.
Entering the palace wall by mistake, the prosperity becomes a cocoon.
This Kunning Palace eventually became a tomb where her bones were swallowed and her life was buried.
The sunny sun came out of the window and shone on the snow, bit by bit, it slowly melted...
It was a long dream, in which the karma of the whole life was chaotic, only the feeling when the blade touched the neck was extremely clear.
It hurts.
Jiang Xuening thought, if I knew it earlier, I should choose a painless way to die.
"cough."
There seemed to be something pressing on her chest in the dream, making her breathless, so she coughed and finally opened her eyes with difficulty.
But this look was scary.
She was lying on a messy couch, or rather, between two men. Close at hand, there is a handsome and elegant young man's face, which almost intersects with her breath, and even raised a hand to embrace her carelessly.
Jiang Xuening's scalp exploded.
This scene reminded her of how Yan Lin put her under house arrest after returning to the court, and always quietly stepped into her palace, making her sleepless...
She shook off the man's hand, turned over and stood up from the couch.
The young man opened his eyes in a drunken dream, surprised by her behavior, half sat up, and stretched out his hand to pull her: "Well, Brother Jiang, let's continue to sleep—"
"presumptuous!"
At any rate, he was a queen and even commanded hundreds of officials. Jiang Xuening heard his rude words and saw his unrestrained behavior, so she slapped him in the face completely subconsciously!
"Snapped!"
The sound was so loud that it finally disturbed the young man in black robe who was sleeping soundly with his sword on his pillow on the other side of the couch.
When he opened his eyes, he had long eyebrows, straight nose and thin lips, with a vigor of his own. Looking at this scene, I was at a loss for a moment, but then I caught a glimpse of the messy robe of the young man in Chinese clothes, five reddish finger prints on the right cheek, and Jiang Xuening's surprised and angry face.
With a sound of "Zheng", the young man came to his senses, stepped in front of Jiang Xuening in an instant, drew his sword out of its sheath, and pressed the tip of the sword on the young man's neck!
The face that was still a bit green was covered with frost.
He asked coldly: "What did you do to her?!"
On the one hand, the young man was surprised that he dared to draw his sword at him so impulsively. On the other hand, he was aggrieved and innocent, so he couldn't help covering his cheeks: "What can I do? This king doesn't stop!"
The young man frowned, looking at him suspiciously.
My king...
Jiang Xuening suddenly froze.
It wasn't until this time that she belatedly noticed that she smelled of alcohol, and realized that she was wearing a green robe embroidered with bamboo patterns in silver thread, dressed as a teenager, and there was a burning pain from the palm of her beating hand just now.
Dress up as a man.
Not in a dream.
And the face of the young man pointed at by the sword, and the figure of the young man standing in front of her, finally gradually emerged from her memory: one was Shen Jie, the king of Linzi who later became the emperor, and the other was the figure of the young man who later became the emperor. Yan Lin, the young master of the rebellious minister!
Is this the "rebirth" that You Fangyin often talked about?
In her previous life, she was cautious and coaxed men around, but in this life, she slapped the future emperor at the very beginning...
Is it too late to kneel down and apologize now?
【Wash your heart, the old friend is here】