After returning from Huguo Temple, Zhong Yuqing not only failed to untie her knot, but became even more depressed.
Xia Houshu asked her several times, but her mother not only didn't tell her the reason, but also said that there were a lot of things in the house recently and she had to be busy for a while, so she told her not to disturb her when she had nothing to do.
Xia Houshu thought that her injury was not healed yet, and it would inevitably reveal flaws if she walked around in front of her mother too much. Since her mother asked her not to hang around in front of her, she was happy to have less control. In the name of sorting out the music scores, she recuperated at her residence, and also
He also copied a copy of the "Amitabha Sutra" that he had promised before, and personally delivered it to the ancestral hall, waiting for Xiahou Hui to die together when he was born.
The medicine given by the man in purple was miraculous. Within three or four days of use, the wound had already started to scab. After about half a month, there was only a faint scar left. If you didn’t look carefully, it looked like a slight scratch. It was usually bandaged.
Well, if you cover it with your sleeves, it won't hurt.
On the contrary, Yun Xi couldn't be happy every time he saw this wound and became worried.
Yunxi always knew that Xia Houshu took Sun Jiarou to climb the mountain that day on purpose, but then they saw the chaotic bamboo forest. Xia Houshu showed no other words except disappointment and shock. Later, the driveway was repaired.
When they went down the mountain, Xia Houshu still acted as if nothing had happened, which made her feel very uneasy.
In fact, Xia Houshu did deliberately want to forget that extraordinary experience. Only in this way will she stop tracing the identities of those two people. And the best way to forget something is to divert your attention so that you don't
Time to think about it.
Xia Houshu was a lively person. Seeing that the wound on his arm was gradually healing and the piano score was almost finished, he couldn't stand still, so he took Yunxi to have fun in his house.
The Duke's Mansion of the State of Yue was built on the basis of the ancestral home of the Xiahou family. As the descendants of later generations prospered, the home became bigger and bigger. Entering from the solemn and elegant gate, you will see a large sea, about five or six meters deep.
meters, accounting for about one-fifth of the entire manor. The water accumulates in the pool all year round, showing different scenery as the seasons change, becoming a unique scenery in the mansion. In summer, a pool of clear water is fragrant with lotus flowers, with dragonflies dotting the water and butterflies busy; in winter
, the pond is full of nectar and jade liquid, and is as clear as a mirror reflecting the skylight. Especially at night, the stars in the sky are reflected on the water, as if bathing in the pool, so it is named Xingxing Pond.
There is a water pavilion in the center of Xixing Pond. A winding corridor winds from north to south, changing scenery as you move, leading directly to the garden in the north. In the garden, there are many pavilions, staggered rocks, lush vegetation, and clusters of flowers, which are very eye-catching. Behind the garden is a wide
There is a small bluestone square with a row of neat courtyards built along the gardens on the east and west sides of the square. The Muchun Courtyard is in the east and the Longqiu Courtyard is in the west, where many of Xia Houyuan's staff lived.
To the north of the square are three gates, one facing north and two facing south. It is a house with three deep entrances. Inside the main gate are the front hall, the middle hall and the back hall along the north-south central axis. The front hall is the most magnificent, and the house is tall and spacious, elegant and solemn.
, in the middle of the hall hangs a plaque gifted to the family by Emperor Taizong himself. On both sides are neatly placed elegant huanghuali wood furniture and porcelain ornaments. It is a place for discussing affairs and entertaining guests. The middle hall is also called the Songya Hall, which is the place where the Xiahou family
The house where the head of the family lives is elegantly decorated. The left and right wings are the study and private treasury of the head of the house respectively. The back hall is the family temple, enshrining the tablets of ancestors of the Xiahou family. The incense is constantly burning all day long, and you can smell it from a distance.
There is the smell of incense. To the north of the back hall, there is a mountain of soil. Several courtyards have been built on the mountain. With towering ancient trees and vines climbing the walls, it is a popular place to escape the summer heat.
Inside the east side gate are rows of unique courtyards with neat layout, which are the residences of the Xiahou family's descendants. Each small courtyard is arranged according to the owner's preference, so the scenery is different. Behind it is a bamboo forest mixed with cypress trees.
And the small garden is like a natural barrier, separating the residence of the family from the school where the children and grandchildren are educated. There is also a small door behind the school to facilitate the entry and exit of the master who is sitting in the hall.
Inside the west side gate are carports, livestock sheds, warehouses and servants' quarters arranged in an orderly manner, with maids and young men coming in and out, making it lively and full of fireworks.
The most lively places in the entire Yue Kingdom Palace were Muchunyuan and Longqiuyuan where the staff lived.
When he has nothing to do, Xia Houshu likes to go to these two places to watch the aides debating or fighting. Therefore, he often hears some major events happening in the court and rumors and gossip in the capital.
The most heated discussion recently is the great joy of the emperor's joy in having his eldest son and the general amnesty for the whole world.
The current emperor, Dugu Che, has been on the throne for more than seven years and is the fifth monarch since the founding of Nanqi. This young emperor, who is twenty-seven years old, is smart and capable, benevolent and virtuous, and has the support of the people. Under his governance, the government has
During the Qingming Festival, the neighbors will be stable, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment. People say that he has the legacy of Emperor Taizong and is expected to create another glory for Nanqi.
However, as the emperor, who is the most respected person in the world, he cannot get everything he wants.
It is said that since Dugu Che came to the throne, he has recruited beautiful women twice to fill the inner palace. Now there are more than a dozen named concubines in the palace, all of them gentle, virtuous, talented and beautiful. But over the years, except for Queen Xiao of Daxing
The family gave birth to a princess for the emperor, but no one successfully gave birth to an heir.
It is said that Empress Xiao was kind-hearted, virtuous and obedient. She and the emperor knew each other at a very young age, and the relationship between husband and wife was very deep. However, beauties have always been unlucky in ancient times. Empress Xiao encountered a chaos in the palace before giving birth, which caused her to be frightened and give birth prematurely. She passed away soon after giving birth to the princess.
In the human world, the emperor also attached great importance to love and righteousness. He loved his wife deeply but had not appointed a new queen for a long time. All affairs in the inner palace were taken care of by his biological mother, the Queen Mother Yao, and the concubines got along very harmoniously.
After so many years, although the emperor was in the prime of life and in the prime of life, the fact that the emperor's heirs were not prosperous and the throne was empty still made the courtiers worried and criticized. Especially Dugu Che also had two half-brothers who were excellent in all aspects.
One is Dugu Yan, the king of Pu, who has many wives and concubines and has prosperous heirs, and the other is Dugu Zheng, the king of Ji, who has just turned eighteen but is not yet married.
The birth of the emperor's eldest son brought a new dawn to the royal family, but it also broke the original balance inside and outside the palace, setting off an undercurrent between the court and the inner palace, and exposing everyone's thoughts to the sun.
Firstly, the birth mother of the emperor's eldest son, Lu, was from a humble background, and now she was just a beauty, unable to take on the important task of raising a prince; secondly, the emperor was young and powerful, but his position in the middle palace had been suspended for many years.
System cannot balance the Sixth House.
What's more, it is said that no prince has been born in the palace for many years, and even if there is an occasional pregnancy, it is difficult to keep the fetus, which is related to the lack of an owner of the sixth palace. If a virtuous person is placed in the middle palace, the mother will honor the world, and then the ancestral temple will comfort,
As long as the line of succession continues, the country will surely prosper.
In the memorials written by the courtiers requesting the appointment of a new queen, they already had their opinions on the candidates for the new queen.
Among them, the two who have the loudest voices are the gorgeous and flamboyant concubine Yao, who is also the niece of the Empress Dowager Yao and the emperor's cousin. The other is the dignified and humble concubine Tong, the cousin of the Empress Dowager Yang.
My sister's daughter and my biological niece.
The new round of competition for the throne looks like a competition between the Yao and Tong families on the surface, but in fact it is also a struggle between the two queen mothers.
Everyone knows that Dugu Che is not the legitimate son of the late emperor, and his biological mother, Yao, is only the late emperor's concubine. After Dugu Che came to the throne, according to etiquette, he respected the former emperor's first wife, Yang, as the empress dowager, and lived in Jihe Palace; his biological mother, concubine Yao, was the empress dowager.
The empress dowager of the emperor lived in Yushao Palace. Because Jihe Palace and Yushao Palace were located on the east and west sides of the inner palace respectively, the empress dowagers of the two palaces were also called the East Empress Dowager and the West Empress Dowager respectively.
Over the years, Empress Dowager Yang has been avoiding living in Jihe Palace, eating fast and chanting Buddha's name, not caring about anything, and has gradually lost the momentum she had when she was the queen. And Empress Dowager Yao is the biological mother of the emperor, and controls the actual power of the Sixth Palace, so she naturally wants to do everything.
Even though the two concubines Yao and Tong have strong family backgrounds, have been in the palace for many years, and have similar honors and favors in the palace, Concubine Yao has the full support of the Yao family headed by the Empress Dowager Yao.
With many years of experience and methods in assisting Empress Dowager Yao in managing the inner palace, she seems to have an advantage in the competition for the position of the middle palace.
But Concubine Tong Shu is not bad either.
When the late emperor was still alive, Concubine Tong Shu would often go to the palace with her mother to meet her aunt Yang, who was the queen at that time. She played with the princes and princesses in the palace since she was a child, and her words and deeds were exemplary. Moreover, she and Dugu Che's original wife Xiao
She is related through ancestors, so her appearance is somewhat similar to Xiao's, and her temperament is gentle. Even Princess Fule, the daughter of Xiao, is very close to her.
Xia Houshu sat behind the screen with his chin in his hands and listened for a long time, becoming increasingly less interested in what his aides were arguing.
Although the three families of Yao, Tong and Yang hold high positions in Nanqi and have always been related by marriage to the royal family, they have all been civil servants for generations, while the Xiahou family is a family of military generals, so they can be said to be distinct.
Civil and military officials have always had different political opinions, and verbal conflicts are common. They are just officials in the same dynasty and work together under the same monarch, and they have no deep friendship in private. Therefore, no matter who the queen ends up with, it is important for the Duke of Yue to
As far as the government is concerned, the impact will not be significant.
Neither the left nor the right are our own, so it would be better to just be a spectator quietly.
Furthermore, Xiahou women who were born into generals have never been known for being gentle, virtuous, knowledgeable and courteous, and they have never been the best candidates for concubines. Therefore, since the founding of Nanqi, there has been no precedent for a Xiahou woman to marry into the royal family.
Therefore, the Xiahou family can completely stay out of this battle for succession.
The government officials were quarreling and talking here, just to show off their talents and foresight. Xia Houshu, on the other hand, just thought he had read a book that was not that exciting.
"In my opinion, it is more likely to establish Tong as the queen." A staff member named Ding Yunsheng took the advantage of the volume among the voices supporting the appointment of Yao as the queen, and instantly suppressed other arguments.
, "You may wish to think about it, Your Majesty has refused to appoint a new queen after so many years on the throne. Is it because there is no suitable candidate in the palace?"
At this point, Ding Yunsheng paused, and before others could answer, he added: "Of course not! It stands to reason that the Yao family and His Majesty have a bond of blood thicker than water, but the Yao family has been in the palace for many years, and no matter how favored they are, now they are just
She is a noble concubine and has no children. So what is the advantage of the Tong family who is also childless? Naturally, it is her ancestral relationship with Queen Xiao of Daxing. And now His Majesty’s only beloved daughter, Princess Fule, is also close to her, so she
Even if you don’t have children, you still have children.”
Ding Yunsheng's wording was very bold, even a little conceited and presumptuous, but the surrounding audience seemed to suddenly understand the deeper meaning, and some people agreed, and even several people who had previously advocated that Yao had a chance of winning defected.
Those staunch supporters of the Yao family naturally disagreed, and someone immediately retorted: "Even if Princess Fule is close to the Tong family, Princess Fule is a woman after all, and the one who will inherit the throne in the future must be a prince. According to Brother Ding,
Say, if the Yao family raises the emperor’s eldest son, wouldn’t it mean that he is guaranteed to win?”
Ding Yunsheng disagreed and said: "Now that the emperor's eldest son is not yet one month old, the court has already made a fuss about the establishment of a queen. At this time, your majesty will not entrust the emperor's eldest son to anyone except the prince's biological mother to raise him.
, otherwise you and I wouldn’t be arguing here today.”
"..."
The staff were still competing to express their opinions, but Xia Houshu was no longer interested in listening. She curled her lips, stood up, stretched, and walked out from behind the screen.
Everyone was startled, and someone immediately saluted her.
Xia Houshu glanced at everyone and said casually: "I heard that you guys have been arguing here for a long time and you still can't decide the winner. Why don't you just start a gambling game? I will reluctantly be the banker. What do you think?