012 “Drunken Bones (Guyan 1v1 High H)” Temple

A few days later, Aunt Yumin, who was close to the Queen Mother, came to Fengyi Palace in person and brought her a message that the Queen Mother wanted to take her to live with her at Longju Temple for a few days to pray for blessings.

The Queen Mother said that the escape from this catastrophe was actually due to the Bodhisattva’s protection of our court, so she decided to take Yan Zhaozhao to Longju Temple, the most popular place in Chang’an, to pray and chant sutras.The news was somehow known to the concubines in the harem, and they all begged the Queen Mother to take the concubines with her.Some lower-ranking concubines could not see the Queen Mother, so they expressed their piety in front of the emperor to pray for the country. The Emperor was very happy and asked the Queen Mother to bring more concubines with her.

The emperor was obsessed with beauty and did not realize that these concubines were just using prayer as an excuse. In fact, they wanted to take this opportunity to show their faces in front of the Queen Mother, hoping to become concubines valued by the Queen Mother, and their status in the palace would be guaranteed in the future.Although the emperor couldn’t see it, the queen mother knew it well. She didn’t want to cause more trouble when chanting sutras, so she asked the emperor to accompany her, so that the thoughts of the concubines would return to the emperor.

Even when the Empress Dowager opened her mouth, the Emperor could not refuse, so he agreed and ticked off a few concubines he had recently favored on the list of entourage handed over by the Chamberlain, and then added a few more because he could not bear the nudges of several beauties.What was originally a simple prayer finally turned into a grand journey. The servants, attendants, maids and eunuchs leaving the palace could not be seen to the end, and the carriages leaving the imperial city came one after another in an endless stream.

When they arrived at Longju Temple, the emperor’s eunuch would allocate a wing to live in.Needless to say, the Queen Mother, the abbot had prepared a quiet and elegant wing for the Queen Mother to live alone, while the Emperor lived in the east courtyard. All the concubines who came with her lived in a wing close to the Emperor, except the Queen Yan Zhaozhao.

Although the emperor said this, Yan Zhaozhao was the mother of a country after all, and the place to live could not be too bad. However, with the emperor’s instructions, she was assigned to the west wing, which was far away from the east wing.

After Yan Zhaozhao found out, he didn’t look displeased. He seemed to be very satisfied with the arrangement of the inner chamber supervisor. When he left, he ordered Bi Luo to give him a bag of reward money.

The emperor didn’t want to see her, and neither did Yan Zhaozhao. Even looking at him made her feel sick. She wished she could be as far away from the emperor as possible.

After a tiring day, the Queen Mother asked everyone to rest early tonight and pray with the abbot early tomorrow morning.

That night, Yan Zhaozhao had put out the candles in the west wing and had a rest early, but in the east wing, candles were lit throughout the room, and laughter continued until midnight.

The next day, the sky was still bright.

Yan Zhaozhao had already asked Bi Luo to inquire about the work and rest of the monks in the temple the day before. Today, he got up early and dressed a little plainly. He only put a few silver hairpins and a queen’s phoenix hairpin on his hair. Then he took Bi Luo to the inner room where the abbot served them breakfast.

Not long after she sat down, Aunt Yumin helped the Queen Mother to the inner room.Seeing that Yan Zhaozhao was sitting here earlier than her, eating the breakfast prepared by the monks, she nodded secretly, and she became more and more pleasing to her heart, and even her sharp eyes became a little warmer.

“My concubine, I wish my mother the best.” Yan Zhaozhao stepped forward to say hello.

The Queen Mother raised her hand and touched her hand lightly, “Get up.” She looked up and saw that there was no one else in the inner room except her, which further highlighted how rare she was, but unfortunately she was not favored.”You have a heart.”

Yan Zhaozhao instantly understood what the Queen Mother meant, and smiled sweetly, showing her humility.”This is what a concubine should do.”

The Queen Mother was even more satisfied and sat next to her to have breakfast.

After the Queen Mother turned her back, Yan Zhaozhao instantly suppressed her smile.In the eyes of the Queen Mother, she was a sensible person, but she was the only one who knew that this was just a way for her to survive in the harem. If she hadn’t always handled things cautiously, the harem would have been unable to accommodate her.

After breakfast, the other concubines still did not show up, and even the emperor was nowhere to be seen.The Queen Mother was angry, so she asked the monks to remove all the breakfast, leaving only the emperor’s share.

It was not until the abbot was doing morning prayers that he was about to recite sutras that a group of well-dressed concubines arrived belatedly and smiled sweetly to pay homage to the Queen Mother.Although the Queen Mother had some complaints, she could only restrain herself in front of the Bodhisattva and suppress the anger in her heart.

After everyone was gathered, Yan Zhaozhao raised his eyes and looked around, only to see that the figure sitting next to the emperor on the other side was actually the regent, thanking Ciyan.She was slightly stunned, wondering why Xie Ciyan was here, she had never heard that he also wanted to pray together.

Her thoughts were slightly confused, and when she was dazed, the abbot’s loud and kind voice suddenly brought her thoughts back.Master Kongshan, who was sitting at the front, told them about the Buddhist theory of cause and effect in previous lives.Yan Zhaozhao was listening intently when a rustling sound suddenly came from behind. The master’s lecture voice happened to pause at this moment, allowing Yan Zhaozhao to clearly hear the voice of a concubine speaking from behind.

“This queen is too desolate. She is dressed so plainly without even a decent piece of jewelry on her head and face. It is really sad and deplorable.” The concubine’s tone was full of ridicule, and she did not notice that the abbot’s voice had stopped.

The abbot’s voice was loud, and with the sound of his sermons as a cover, those in front could not hear clearly what those behind him were saying. Unfortunately, the abbot had stopped, and the Queen Mother, who was kneeling next to Yan Zhaozhao, could also hear the concubine’s words clearly.

She turned her head and glanced at the concubine, who looked a little unfamiliar. She must be a newcomer who had just been canonized recently.When Xu Shi was worthy of being favored, everything she wore was extremely luxurious. It seemed that she wanted to wear all the things the emperor had given her on her head to show that she was in the prime of being favored and that she was the most favored woman by the emperor.

After just one glance, Yan Zhaozhao withdrew her gaze, and couldn’t help but secretly thought to herself that she was stupid. She was truly a woman that the foolish emperor could fall in love with. She was only beautiful, but her brain was a useless decoration.

The Queen Mother saw Yan Zhaozhao’s behavior in her eyes, and felt more and more that she knew the general situation.With her jewels in front, the Queen Mother was even more dissatisfied with the concubine behind her. She called Yu Min in a low voice and asked her to pull the concubine behind her out so as not to pollute the hall.

The concubine still looked confused when she was pulled out, obviously not knowing what mistake she had made.

After lunch, Yan Zhaozhao took a nap in the side room for a while.Not long after she woke up, a palace maid came to invite her to the Queen Mother’s chamber, saying that the Queen Mother wanted to chat with her.

Yan Zhaozhao did not doubt that he was there, so she packed herself up a little and walked to the Queen Mother’s yard with Bi Luo.Passing by an elegant and deserted long bridge, a familiar figure was walking towards her.

Bi Luo also saw the figure on the opposite bridge, and held Yan Zhaozhao’s hand slightly tighter.

Compared to Bi Luo’s nervousness, Yan Zhaozhao stopped calmly, bent slightly and bowed to the man.”I’ve met the regent.” Xie Ciyan couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at the dignified and etiquette that couldn’t be faulted at all. It was completely different from that late spring night.It seems that as long as she wants to, she can be charming and passionate, or she can be indifferent and ruthless.

Judging from Yan Zhaozhao’s mood that night, Xie Ciyan thought that she would change after that night, and even vaguely expected that she would rely on him. But that night was like a dream, disappearing in Yan Zhaozhao’s mind. She was still the respected queen.

There was a hint of mockery in his eyes.Thinking of everything he had done to include her in his plan in the past two days, it became extremely ridiculous at this moment.

Xie Ciyan suppressed all these emotions in an instant and bowed to her, “I’ve met your empress.” His voice was low and cold, but his words seemed to be a bit colder than usual.

Yan Zhaozhao could certainly hear it, her red lips parted slightly, and when she was about to speak, the words suddenly stopped in her throat.Forget it, in what capacity would she ask this question?Isn’t this what she wants to see now?Each returned to his own place, each having nothing to do with himself.

Xie Ciyan seemed to have nothing to say to her. After seeing the ceremony, he walked past her and walked forward.The breeze blew slightly, and the cold cedar fragrance from his body entered her nose. Her thoughts instantly returned to that night when she hugged him tightly.

Yan Zhaozhao suddenly turned around. The man walked quickly and was already several steps away from her. After hesitating through gritted teeth, she called him softly, “Prince Regent.”

The man’s steps paused slightly, and his hands at his sides suddenly clenched into fists.He was stunned for a moment when he heard her voice, but it was only for a moment.He came to his senses in an instant, and continued to move forward as if he didn’t hear her call.Xie Ciyan lowered his eyes, gently exhaled a breath, and suppressed all the thoughts that had arisen from seeing Yan Zhaozhao just now.

The wind gently blew through his hair hanging down on his shoulders, as if the wind messed up not only his hair, but also his silent heart.

“Empress…”

Yan Zhaozhao knew that he was pretending not to hear on purpose, presumably because she was worried that she would get entangled with him because of what happened that night.

That’s all, there’s nothing wrong with that.

“Let’s go.” She turned around and walked off the bridge.

The elegant stone bridge returned to its former lonely appearance, as if those two people had never been there.