It’s Better to be the Empress Dowager

The next day, Tang Shishi got up early, put on a new fashionable white gold woven long coat in Jinling, wearing a lotus-colored horse dress underneath, and went to Miyagi to greet the Queen Mother.

The Empress Dowager Yao is the grandmother of the current emperor and should be called the Empress Dowager according to etiquette. However, Empress Dowager Yao gave the emperor’s birth mother to death. She was not called the Empress Dowager, but she was still the Queen Mother, and she was still in charge of the court as the Empress Dowager. Both the ruling and the opposition are also called the Queen Mother Yao.

Master Tang handed over her name tag, and soon someone came to pick her up. That aunt looked twenty or so, dressed in a green palace dress, her hair was very tight, and she gently blessed Master Tang.

Question: "Dare to ask but Princess Jing?"

Master Tang leaned sideways to avoid her aunt and nodded and said, "It's a concubine body."

"The queen mother has been waiting for the princess for a long time." the aunt smiled and stepped away and said, "the princess, please come with the servants."

Master Tang followed his aunt to Ci Ning Palace. Master Tang is no stranger to Ci Ning Palace. When she first entered the palace five years ago, she lived in Chuxiu Palace with many beautiful women, practicing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and etiquette every day. Chu Xiugong is a beauty and serious internal fighting. If you want to have a good life among the many show girls, the performance is the next best thing. It is the most important thing to please the Queen Mother Yao.

I don’t know how many times Master Tang walked the corridor in front of Ci Ning Palace, but this time, Master Tang took another path and entered Ci Ning Palace from the outer court.

In the Cining Palace, Queen Mother Yao was teasing Que'er, and Feng Qu'e stood outside the curtain and reported: "Niang, Princess Jing is here."

"Yeah, here it is." Queen Mother Yao slowly retracted her nails, washed her hands under the service of the court lady, and said unhurriedly, "Proclaim it."

Master Tang stopped in front of the Ci Ning Palace, the palace people opened the thick curtain, and a heat wave swept out, and the ambergris inside made people feel dizzy. Master Tang settled down and stepped across the threshold of entry. She kept her eyes down, vaguely watching the figure swaying in the carved floor hood, and immediately bowed and saluted: "The concubine sees the empress dowager."

No one in the hall answered, and Master Tang was not in a hurry, staring down at the cracks in the bricks on the ground, maintaining his Wanfu movement steadily. After a while, there was a gentle and slow female voice in Nuan Pavilion: "Princess Jing is here, why didn't you report it? Please get up."

"The concubine dare not." Tang Shishi still lowered his eyes and said, "The concubine has admired the queen dowager for a long time. Fortunately, the queen dowager was promoted and returned to Jinling this year. The concubine arrived in Beijing yesterday and asked to see him today. I was very worried, please. The queen mother pardons sins."

"You're right, what's the crime to be forgiven?" Queen Mother Yao said slowly, "It's cold outside, go into the Nuan Pavilion and talk."

Master Tang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and said again: "Thank the Queen Mother."

Shishi Tang walked into the floor-to-ceiling hood and passed through the carved door. The fragrance inside was more rich, and the servants and maidservants also increased significantly. The ladies of the palace, Yan'e, saw her, and they all smiled: "Princess Jing."

Teacher Tang responded with a smile: "Aunt Feng, Aunt Sulan."

In front of the Kangkang at the west window, a middle-aged woman wearing a navy blue jersey and a long ocher green jacket leaned in front of the kang, peeling chestnuts, kneeling several court ladies under her feet, and quietly beating the woman's legs. Master Tang immediately recognized that this was the famous Queen Mother Yao. She bowed her head and greeted the Queen Mother Yao: "The concubine sees the Empress Dowager, and the mother is lucky."

Queen Mother Yao's long nails pried open the chestnut shell, slowly peeled off a piece of skin, and said: "Princess Jing is a rare visitor, sit down."

The little palace lady moved to the embroidered pier. After thanking Master Tang, she gently sat on the edge of the embroidered pier, occupying less than one-third of the space: "Time flies so fast. In a blink of an eye, the concubine has been away from the palace for more than two years. In the past two years, how has everything been going well?"

"Everything is good in the Ai family." Empress Yao put down a piece of chestnut skin and smiled. "Speaking carefully, there are only two things that can't be taken care of. One is the emperor and the other is King Jing. Both of these people are in the hearts of the Ai family. Meat, it's a pity, all of them don't have a lot of heirs. This will make the Ai family go down to Jiuquan in the future. How can I see His Majesty Sejong?"

No one dared to respond to the Queen Mother Yao’s words. Master Tang smiled and said: "The Queen Mother is too worried, you are vigorous, and the emperor is also full of spirits. Your grandparents and grandchildren have been together for a long time. What's more, the emperor and the queen’s childhood sweethearts, The relationship is deep, and after the new year, the queen mother will be able to hold the great-grandson."

The Queen Mother completely peeled off the chestnut shell, carefully cleaned up the crumbs on it, and sighed: "The Aijia is really hoping for good news next year. It's a pity that the emperor is not in the mood for love. It's really sad and sad."

Teacher Tang followed his persuasion and said: "The hero is a young man, the emperor has a grand plan to dominate his career, and he has become a man of martial arts. In fact, he is a generation of emperors. What is there to worry about the empress."

The Queen Mother Yao was said to have laughed, and said: "Wencheng martial arts, the Aijia does not expect him to do much. As long as the Aijia worry less, the Aijia will burn incense and recite the Buddha. I don't know when the emperor will grow up. Just like his uncle Jing Wang, you can get married and become famous."

The words of the Queen Mother today are full of thorns. Master Tang did not dare to take it hard. She smiled and said: "The Queen Mother has wronged the emperor. The emperor is the king of a country. No matter how trivial or small, the emperor must decide on all matters in this world. And Jing. The king is just a vassal, just follow the arrangement of the emperor and the queen mother, how can you compare with the emperor?"

Queen Mother Yao laughed. She put the chestnuts on the jade plate and said: "You are a good eloquence. You have not changed at all in the years since you left the palace. Give this chestnut to Princess Jing to eat."

Feng | winnowed, bent over to hold the jade butterfly, and placed it in front of Master Tang. Master Tang stood up and thanked him, holding chestnut kernels with his nails, and putting small pieces into his mouth.

The things that the Queen Mother Yao peeled by herself would not be poisonous, right? But Master Tang changed his mind and thought that even if it was poisonous, she had to eat it too, so she immediately relieved and put the chestnut in her mouth with confidence. The Empress Dowager Yao didn't hesitate to see that Master Tang was eating, her lips smiled slightly, and she asked, "Why are you the only one here today?"

Queen Mother Yao stopped talking about high-sounding clichés, and started chatting with her. This is a good thing, at least it means that Master Tang has passed the first few hurdles. Master Tang covered her mouth with her hand, swallowed the chestnut completely, took up the tea to moisturize her throat, and said: "The concubine also wants to bring Zhao Zigao to be blessed by the mother, but this child is sick and troubled and crying all the time. Yesterday, I cried all night. The concubine was afraid that he would pass on the sickness to the empress dowager, so she asked him to raise him in the house, and waited for him to be stronger before coming to see the empress dowager."

After all, Queen Mother Yao was a person who had given birth. She said, "Perhaps she has changed the soil and water, and she is not used to it. Children are sick and disasters when they are young, and they will get sick if they are unhappy. It will be fine when he gets used to the climate of Jinling. Up."

Master Tang looked relieved and said, "Thank you, the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother is the most blessed person in the world. I hope he will get better sooner if he accepts the words of the mother."

Queen Mother Yao and Teacher Tang talked about parenting again. You come and I meet, and it's very harmonious. Although the Queen Mother Yao summoned Zhao Chengjun and Tang Shishi to return to Beijing in the name of Zhao Zigao, she actually didn't care about Zhao Zigao's situation. It's not her grandson, what's the matter with the Queen Mother Guan Yao?

Queen Mother Yao asked Teacher Tang: "How have you been in the Jing Palace these years?"

Master Tang sighed softly and said, "Thanks to the blessing of the empress, the concubine is lucky enough to be spoiled. But the other sisters have not been able to survive, and they are ashamed of the empress."

"What's to be ashamed of?" The Queen Mother leaned on the Kang table and said casually, "Life and death are fate, wealth is in the sky, whether they can be favored, three points depend on themselves, and seven points depend on luck. They can't be favored, it can be seen that it is. There is no blessing in life, and no one can blame others."

Teacher Tang should be, and I can't help but feel sad. She originally wanted to find out what happened to the beauties who were sent back to Jinling, but now listening to the Queen Mother Yao's words, she doesn't seem to need to inquire. The ten young girls who are right in their youth and ten lively lives are completely destined in the mouth of the Queen Mother.

She, Zhou Shunhua, Ren Yujun and Ji Xinxian lived well enough, so they survived. If you don't survive, it deserves it.

Queen Mother Yao asked again: "How did King Jing treat you? The Ai family remembered that when King Jing was still the prince, he had eyes above the top and was very picky and dismissed anything. The Ai family had sighed with Nanyang before, no Knowing what kind of woman can enter King Jing's eyes."

Nanyang in the mouth of the Queen Mother of Yao is the princess of Nanyang, the daughter of the Queen Mother, and the biological mother of the current queen. Later, Princess Nanyang married back to Yao's family, and she and the Queen Mother were completely in the same boat.

Teacher Tang deliberately said: "For the sake of a child, King Jing is kind to his concubine."

Queen Mother Yao smiled and said: "Don't be humble. The Aijia heard from Feng Didi's diary mentioning that King Jing loves you very much, holding it in his hand for fear of falling, holding it in his mouth for fear of melting, and pampering him very much. It can be seen that Jing When Wang grows up, he will hurt people. If he had the cold temper when he was still a teenager, I am afraid that Ai Jia would have a headache."

Master Tang docilely said: "The empress dowager is absurd, and the concubine dare not be ashamed. The concubine has a humble background, can rely on the support of the queen dowager today, and can now become King Jing's wife. The concubine is already content, and more dare not expect it.

"Why don't you dare to have extravagant expectations?" Queen Mother Yao said lightly, "You are his regular wife, and you deserve to enjoy the honor of Prince Jing's Mansion. I remember that your son finally decided on his words, right?"

Tang Shishi's heart moved, it turned out that this word was picked by the Queen Mother Yao. Master Tang became more alert and replied, "Yes."

"That's right. This is the righteous eldest son. He should be the seat of the eldest son. The son of a peasant woman of unknown origin, what right does he have to stop in front of your son?"

Teacher Tang thought that the Queen Mother Yao and Zhao Chengjun were indeed from the same group of palace fighting squads. Mrs. Yao wanted to continue to use Master Tang to monitor Zhao Chengjun, but she was afraid that Master Tang would rebel, and she even thought of hanging Master Tang with her son. Being a mother naturally hopes that the child will be good in every possible way. Who can look at the ready-made titles not tempted?

With the capacity of Master Tang, Zhao Zixun's position was completely incapable of shaking Zhao Zixun's position, so Master Tang could only rely on the Queen Mother Yao. With Zhao Zigao, the Empress Dowager Yao has no worries about Master Tang's disobedience.

In addition to admiration, Master Tang couldn't say anything else. Master Tang showed hesitation in a timely manner, saying: "But after all, the elder son grew up with the prince, and he has been an elder son for more than ten years. There has been no mistake in these years...

"What's the matter then?" Empress Dowager Yao dismissed and sneered, "To put it bluntly, but an adopted son is not worth mentioning. Although the person who is the son of the world depends on King Jing's meaning, he must also seek the court's consent. You understand the sorrow. Do you mean home?"

Master Tang lowered his eyes and said, "The concubine understands it. But the concubine is stupid and doesn't know how to do these things. The concubine is loyal to the Queen Mother and has no two minds. Please enlighten the Queen Mother."

Queen Mother Yao smiled with satisfaction and said: "Don't worry, anyone who is born will be able to do everything, just learn slowly. Men are unreliable, only the son is his own, and only your son becomes King Jing. Only in the future will you be able to enjoy your twilight years, life and death. Isn't it just a matter of your words to take care of the business of the Tang family?"

Teacher Tang should say: "What the empress dowager said is that the concubine is taught by herself."

"You were born with good fortune, and you are destined to be Wangjiawang's brother and father." The Queen Mother Yao changed her voice, changing from intimidation to inducement, "The Tang family has moved to Jinling close-up. You haven't seen any family members yet, right? In the future, I have time to visit my family. It’s a pity that Qi Jingsheng didn’t pass the exam last year, but he is still young, and he will settle for another three years. It will be no problem to participate in the next time. At that time, Tang’s family will have you, the princess, and another Jinshi. Son-in-law, Feihuang Tengda, in your generation."

It's really a bright prospect, but there is no fluctuation in Tang Shishi's heart. The Tang family is prosperous, what does it matter to her? Could it be that the Tang family should be able to work hard with good students, continue to support the Tang family, and finally let the Su family's son inherit a large amount of family property?

What kind of spring and autumn dreams do you have, don't even think about it.

Master Tang couldn't help rolling his eyes, but on the surface he looked sincere, um, yes. The Empress Dowager Yao put her clan as the most important thing all her life and regarded herself as one with the Yao family. She never expected that there would be a selfish person like Master Tang in the world. The Empress Dowager Yao gave both kindness and power, feeling that she had completely grasped Master Tang, she held up the tea cup, revealing the intention of seeing off the guests.

Master Tang was very acquainted, so he took the initiative to resign without waiting for the Queen Mother Yao to speak. After Tang Shishi walked out of the palace gate, he found that it was still early, and the sun had just hung in the air, and there was still a long time before the noon that she and Zhao Chengjun had agreed upon.

Today, Zhao Chengjun was handing over in the staff department, and the time to come out was too early. Master Tang looked at the sky and was too lazy to wait any longer, so he sent someone to Liu Bu to send a letter to Zhao Chengjun, instead of coming to the palace gate to pick her up. After that, Tang Shishi boarded the carriage of the palace and told the coachman: "Go to Beimen Bridge."

The dynasty is strict in ethics, and women are not allowed to show their faces, and they must be accompanied by men when they go out. But there is not so much attention to going back to her natal home, as long as she has the consent of her in-laws. Master Tang's parents-in-law were in the Taimiao, and the grandmother had just seen her. Anyway, no one dared to say that the Empress Dowager Yao was not, and Master Tang didn't care about the rules, and planned to go back by herself.

The coachman responded and asked: "Wang Hao, why are you going so far?"

Jinling City is surrounded by mountains and rivers. The Qinhuai River traverses east and west. Along the western section of the inner Qinhuai River is the residence of heroes and relatives. There are many princes, princesses, and dignitaries on both sides of the bank. The Palace of Prince Jing is near the new bridge with the best scenery. The Beimen Bridge is a bit remote.

The Tang Master was noncommittal, and gave the address of the Tang family, and said, "That's it."

"Yes." The coachman replied, and the driver turned the horse around and said diligently, "The princess sits down, and the younger one will leave."