There is only one day left in the time agreed by Queen Mother Guo. But before that, Qin Liang will attend a court meeting on July 25th.
This visit to Tai Chi Hall should be his last time this year. He has no plans to come again after that. He will only wait for the trip to the southeast and avoid Luoyang, a place of right and wrong for the time being.
Sometimes people want to get attention and a sense of presence, but Qin Liang now hopes that all the princes will ignore him. But this is impossible. Today, more people are looking at him and paying tribute.
Already.
As usual, Cao Shuang walked into the east hall with a grand gesture as if he was not acknowledging his relatives.
Many officials on both sides bowed to him, including Qin Liang.
The defeat in the Battle of Shu did not seem to have much impact on Cao Shuang's reputation, at least on the surface it seemed that way.
Today Cao Shuang specially nodded to Qin Liang.
Linghu Yu, who was following behind, immediately said to Qin Liang: "I first submitted a letter to ask for merit and reward for Zhong Ming, but it didn't work. It was the general who came forward in person to ask for the order from His Highness."
Linghuyu had already said these things at the Wang family banquet. Qin Liang understood and said this to Cao Shuang.
Qin Liang also cooperated and said: "I feel so kind to you, the general."
Cao Shuang made a "hmm" sound from his nose and moved forward to his first position.
Qin Liang's feelings towards Cao Shuang, a fat man, are really complicated. He often wants to scold him, but sometimes he thinks his character is okay.
After a while, Zhongshu ordered Sun Zi to pass by and actually came up to say hello. This was the first time Qin Liang spoke to Sun Zi.
It's really not a good thing! Liu Fang and Sun Zi guarded the Central Secretariat and mastered the secrets. They were indeed important figures in the court. But now Qin Liang cannot influence major affairs of the court. It doesn't feel good to be paid attention to by these people.
When Sima Yi passed by, he turned around and looked at Qin Liang. This time his gaze even stayed longer, looking Qin Liang up and down!
The eyes on Sima Yi's old face are quite small, and they usually look ordinary, but after focusing the light, they are quite penetrating. The intelligence shown by this gaze alone is not comparable to that of Guo Huai, who only has a certain bearing.
A stable official authority.
Even though Qin Liang was a man of two generations, Sima Yi saw it and almost lost his composure. He inexplicably felt like he was being stripped naked and exposed to the public, as if his clothes were exposed.
However, Qin Liang's reason still defeated his emotional mentality. He kept hinting to himself: Old people have no imagination and cannot think of such strange and tortuous situations.
Moreover, the Guo family of my maternal cousin is a family that favors Sima Yi, and the relationship here is too complicated.
Every time Cao Shuang and Sima Yi arrived late, this was probably the behavior of those with great power, because noble people are so busy. As long as these two people who "oversaw all the Chinese and foreign military forces" arrived, the emperor and queen mother would also arrive soon.
However, no matter how powerful they are, they still have to do the same as Qin Liang, kneeling on the ground respectfully, bowing their heads and shouting: "Your Majesty, long live your Majesty!"
The eleven-year-old emperor's voice was still childish as he said: "All your ministers are equal."
Emperor Cao Fang hardly spoke during court meetings, sitting like a clay Bodhisattva in the middle. The speaker was usually Queen Mother Guo.
But today Cao Shuang talked about the emperor's wedding. Once the emperor gets married, it will be Cao Fang's turn to speak.
Since it was brought up by someone from the Cao family, Empress Dowager Guo naturally could not object to the wedding. She also praised: "I heard that Empress Wen Zhao's grandniece Zhen is a virtuous, quiet, knowledgeable and courteous person, so she asked all the ministers to discuss it and make a decision."
After all, the great-nephew of Empress Wen Zhao Zhen Mi was in a ghost marriage to Princess Pingyuan. The adopted son of the ghost married couple, Zhen De, was actually the cousin of the Empress Dowager Guo. Now the quasi-empress Zhen was nominally a relative of the Empress Dowager Guo.
It seemed okay for Queen Mother Guo to call the thirteen-year-old queen-to-be aunt.
Queen Mother Guo's voice was still dignified, calm and gentle. When Qin Liang heard the tone of her voice, he even didn't believe that Queen Mother Guo would have a tryst with him tomorrow.
Qin Liang has discovered that Queen Mother Guo is actually a very patient and restrained person. When conditions do not allow, she can behave completely without any clues.
Moreover, Queen Mother Guo's patience was different from that of Wang Xuanji.
Wang Xuanji can also control her emotions, but she seems to use a self-hypnosis-like method. When Wang Xuanji does not want to show extreme emotions, her whole person is sluggish and her reaction is very slow. People who know her can actually notice it a little bit.
Strange.
But Queen Mother Guo is different. She can deal with the situation in front of her as usual and make appropriate judgments and responses.
After the court meeting, Qin Liang became irritable again because he heard Queen Mother Guo's voice and saw the figure behind the curtain.
Probably because of the high mental pressure, Qin Liang developed some rebellious psychology. Not only was he not intimidated, but he even wanted to disrespect his authority! At this time, he felt fear, threat, and risk, but at the same time he wanted to find a way to resist.
exit.
The agreed time this time is not noon, but in the morning.
Because Queen Mother Guo could not always use the excuse that she was too drunk and needed to rest, it should not be a common situation for her to sleep in the Guo Family Courtyard during the day.
Therefore, Qin Liang had to go early to meet the Queen Mother Guo while the Queen Mother Guo was waiting for her uncle. And this time, Qin Liang went over and met directly in the Guo family courtyard.
He would rather take the risk and come under the eyes of the palace attendants than make Queen Mother Guo's itinerary look a bit strange and make people think too much.
Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Qin Liang had already driven his carriage alone to the yard in the narrow alley.
However, the sun should not be visible today. It started raining early in the morning and there was still wind.
The autumn wind blows in waves. Whenever the wind blows, it seems that the rain will become heavier. The dense raindrops will blow diagonally towards the treetops, making a "wow" sound of rain, and the sound suddenly becomes louder. When the wind blows,
After a while, the sound of rain resumed its "rustling" sound, shrouding the space between heaven and earth.
The scene in the courtyard is not stable, the wind blows at an uneven rhythm, and the wind and rain will blow at once without knowing when.
Like last time, Qin Liang came to the back room two doors away. He opened the tunnel entrance and sat at the banquet to wait.
The furnishings in the room have not changed, only the torn curtains and cloth cushions have been taken away by Qin Liang. The light is also much darker than last time. There is no sunshine outside today. At this moment, Qin Liang is a little bit human.
An extraordinary illusion.
Looking at these familiar furnishings, Qin Liang seemed to see light and shadow. The shadow of Queen Mother Guo was appearing in various postures in the room, and her voice seemed to echo in his ears.
But Queen Mother Guo will not appear here today, let alone make too much noise. In the courtyard behind, there will be eunuchs and maids from the palace.
Empress Dowager Guo did not bring any ceremonial guard when leaving the palace this time, but when she came out in a car, she should not have to hide her identity. She would probably wear the Empress Dowager's regular clothes normally, which would be more intimidating to the attendants around her. Qin Liang couldn't help but take a deep breath when he thought of this, and then