Escort Jia Mu and others into the palace wall, while Jia Lian, Jia Zhen and others only wait outside the inner palace.
Unexpectedly, Xia Shouzhong, the eunuch of the Sixth Palace, came out and announced: "The Queen Mother has decreed that Jia Lian, the second-class Zhenyuan general, should come to Weiyang Palace to have an audience."
When the Empress Dowager heard the summons, not to mention Jia Zhen and others, even Jia Lian himself was full of suspicion.
"May I ask Mr. Xia, why did you summon the Queen Mother?"
As the most noble woman in the world, anyone would be stunned if she was suddenly summoned by the Queen Mother.
Moreover, Jia Lian has never even seen the golden face of the Queen, let alone the Queen Mother.
As one of the most prestigious eunuchs in the palace, Xia Shouzhong naturally knew a lot of inside information, but he would not explain it to Jia Lian. He just smiled and said: "General Jia, there is no need to be nervous. General Jia has a great fortune and a promising future."
The limit is limited. When the time comes, don’t forget to take care of one or two slaves.
Let's go, old slave, lead the way for General Jia."
In this way, Jia Lian could not ask any more questions. Under the shocked and suspicious eyes of Jia Zhen and others, he followed Xia Shouzhong into the inner palace.
The layout of the harem is indeed very different from that of the previous dynasty.
The buildings are compact and the palace walls are deeply locked. Compared with the grand and open palaces of the previous dynasties, it looks much more deserted and secluded.
He followed Xia Shouzhong and other chamberlains for an unknown amount of time. According to Jia Lian's estimation, they should have almost crossed the entire Sixth Palace and arrived at a relatively open area.
Seeing Jia Lian staring blankly at the magnificent palace wall in front of him, Xia Shouzhong explained with a smile: "In front of you is the Chonghua Palace, where the old emperor and the queen mother live."
Jia Lian nodded, he knew this.
Who would have thought that the Forbidden City, which represents the central imperial power, would have the same fate as Rongguo Mansion!
The garden on Rongguofu East Road was once separated and became the East Cross Courtyard where Jia She lived alone. The palace, most of the section behind the East Road, was also separated and became the Chonghua Palace.
However, the people who lived in Chonghua Palace were the Supreme Emperor, the Queen Mother, and the concubines. Naturally, their status was not the same as that of the East Cross Courtyard of Rongguo Mansion.
Rumor has it that any deacon and eunuch from the Chonghua Palace, commonly known as the East Palace, would dare to quarrel with the chief eunuch of the Sixth Palace, but the other party would not dare to show off...
At this time, it can be seen that Xia Shouzhong looked pious and respectful when he talked about Chonghua Palace.
"Who is coming?"
The outer palace road of Chonghua Palace is lined with three posts, one post and five steps, guarded by imperial guards in dignified uniforms.
"By order of the Queen Mother, I will bring General Zhenyuan into the palace for an audience."
In fact, as Xia Shouzhong, he did not need to be questioned when entering and leaving the Chonghua Palace. However, at this time, he was accompanied by Jia Lian, a guard who had been taught strict rules, but he still conducted an interrogation as usual before letting him go.
Chonghua Palace is a huge palace complex surrounded by a single high wall, which is also divided into the front dynasty and the harem.
However, Xia Shouzhong and Jia Lian did not go through the main entrance, but passed through the side entrance to Weiyang Palace, so they did not have to pass through the main hall of Chonghua Palace, which was the emperor's bedroom.
Finally, we arrived at Weiyang Palace. The buildings and the layout of the courtyards here were brand new. Compared with the places nearby, they were a little less depressing and solemn, and a little more fresh and elegant.
Xia Shouzhong asked Jia Lian to wait a moment. He would go in first to report, and then another group of servants would come out and lead Jia Lian to the main hall.
Jia Lian had entered the Yangxin Hall where Emperor Ningkang rested, so he had some knowledge of the decoration style of the inner court. Compared with the Yangxin Hall, this place had a slightly more fragrant fragrance. The eunuchs and maids who served him were the opposite of the Yangxin Hall.
Most of them are eunuchs.
When they came to the main hall, it was difficult to see clearly what was going on inside through the dense bead curtain. Jia Lian did not dare to take a closer look. Instead, he went to pay homage to the head of the inner hall: "Jia Lian, a humble minister, comes to pay homage to the Queen Mother.
"
Jia Lian's voice was broad and clear, spreading slowly in the quiet main hall of Weiyang Palace, so that both those who could see Jia Lian and those who could not see Jia Lian knew that the person coming was a young lord.
And judging by his voice, he is probably very handsome.
Gu Yi
But those palace maids only dared to raise their heads and glance quietly, not daring to do anything else, let alone say anything.
Therefore, after Jia Lian's greetings, there was a brief silence.
After a while, Fang heard a plain and beautiful voice saying: "Get down."
"Thank you, thank you Queen Mother..."
The moment he heard the Queen Mother's voice, Jia Lian frowned involuntarily.
First of all, the Queen Mother's voice sounds too young... Besides, there are also older women with nice voices, but why does it sound so familiar?
Jia Lian, who was surprised in his heart, took advantage of the opportunity to stand up and looked forward from under the bead curtain.
A pair of red embroidered boots are lightly exposed under the beautiful, golden and flowing palace skirt. Apart from this, no other scenery can be seen.
Going up along the palace skirt, a woman with a graceful figure and a simple yet noble phoenix crown was also sitting high up looking at him.
Perhaps when she caught a glimpse of his prying eyes, the woman's face darkened, and Jia Lian was suddenly shocked and quickly stood up.
But Jia Lian couldn't calm down after all.
Sure enough, his guess turned out to be true!
It turned out to be the woman I met in the Prince's Courtyard that day. That mysterious and beautiful woman was actually the legendary Queen Mother!
Jia Lian felt a little incredible, because from the beginning to the end, he had never told him from any channel or anyone that the Queen Mother was a young woman.
This dynasty has only had one Queen Mother for decades, and this Queen Mother is actually so young!!
Jia Lian felt a little hard to accept for a while. After all, Emperor Ningkang was fifty years old, and his aunt was still so beautiful?
This is a bit unscientific.
It seems that this woman should be twenty-five...thirty...forty?
Well, he couldn't guess.
I didn't take a good look at her that day. Maybe I was just confused by her first sight, thinking she was Princess Zhaoyang, so I didn't take a closer look. Maybe she had taken better care of her, and maybe the wrinkles on her face were...
They were all covered up by her superb "evil magic - makeup".
Jia Lian, who was always accustomed to looking at these ancient people from a superior perspective, rarely encountered things that he couldn't understand, so it was inevitable that he would think about something randomly in his mind.
He stood there in a daze, not moving or speaking, but the Queen Mother inside could see his expression completely.
This kid must be slandering me in his heart...
The Queen Mother naturally remembered that when they first met that day, Jia Lian recognized her as the eighteen-year-old Zhaoyang.
Even if he later found out that there was another person in Zhaoyang, I'm afraid he would only classify her as a member of the royal family and princess.
Now that he found out that she was actually the Queen Mother, he definitely couldn't calm down in his heart. He just didn't know what he was thinking about...
Thinking of this, the Queen Mother's deliberately tense face showed a little smile, but she immediately restrained it and continued to say in her usual voice: "Jia Lian, do you know why I have called you here?"
"Wei Chen doesn't know."
Jia Lian is a straightforward person, and the Queen Mother is just the Queen Mother, so she should just treat the Emperor as an old and dishonest person, an old cow eating young grass.
Anyway, he did not offend her that day. On the contrary, he sacrificed his life to save her. As long as the Queen Mother was not mentally abnormal, she should not be disadvantageous to him.