The years I was in the human world

Zhao Lan lived in the main hall of the cold palace. At first, she would bribe the palace servants outside with gold and silver, asking them to pass a message to the emperor on her behalf so that the emperor would remember her and come to see her. As long as they met, their old love would be rekindled, and she would not worry about getting out.

However, her gold and silver were accepted by the palace servants with a smile, but the emperor did not come. Moreover, when she had spent all her money, the eunuchs, who had been fed with big appetites, still stretched out their hands to ask her for more. Zhao Lan could not help but raise her eyebrows and cursed, "Silver? You haven't even finished what I asked you to do, and you still want silver?"

"No money?" The eunuch's expression suddenly changed, becoming sinister. He looked at Zhao Lan with a fake smile and said, "Calling you Madam is flattering you. Do you still think you are a powerful concubine? I tell you, if you pay the money yourself, you can still have some dignity. Otherwise, don't blame me for being merciless!"

The eunuch was actually going to snatch it away. Zhao Lan was shocked and stuttered, "You, you are so bold! Even though she is a deposed concubine, she has served His Majesty. How dare you do this? You dare to be rude to me, aren't you afraid that His Majesty will punish you?"

"Your Majesty is in charge of the former dynasty, but the harem is still under the control of Madam Du. Since Madam Du has repeatedly warned you to learn a lesson, how can you bring this to your Majesty?" The eunuch said mockingly. Seeing the anger and humiliation on Zhao Lan's face, which used to be so high and mighty, he felt relieved.

"There are so many people serving His Majesty in this palace, you should not take yourself too seriously." After the eunuch finished speaking, he ordered the eunuch beside him to search the palace, "Go, search our house carefully and see if our 'Concubine Zhao' has left any other things that should not be kept."

"All the gold and silver hairpins, rouge and powder, should be confiscated. You won't need them in the cold palace anymore. It's better to collect them as soon as possible to avoid the thought of making a comeback and causing trouble for others."

The eunuch led people to search the palace, and it seemed that Zhao Lan's energy and spirit were taken away as well. The palace gate was closed again. She sat down on the ground dejectedly, looking up at the sky divided into squares by the palace walls. She felt a sense of despair in her heart. Is this how her life will end?

She became well-behaved and no longer made a fuss about going out, nor did she provoke Su Qing or the crazy deposed concubine again. She moved out of the main hall and found a relatively intact side hall to live in, and she and Su Qing managed their own lives without interfering with each other.

"What are you doing?" After finishing his studies as usual one day, Su Qing would lie back on the bed for a nap, but on this day when Lu Zhouxue came back from outside the palace, he saw him sitting in the corridor with a piece of light blue cloth on his legs and embroidering a pattern on it with an embroidery needle in his hand.

"Teacher." Su Qing raised her head and smiled at him, then quickly lowered her head to continue embroidering, while explaining cheerfully. He looked very happy, his eyebrows and eyes were relaxed, "Next month is my birthday. A son's birthday is a mother's hard day. Please make a dress for my mother."

"Your idea is quite an odd one." Lu Zhouxue said as he sat down next to Su Qing and tilted his head to look at the flowers embroidered by the latter. The more he looked at it, the more familiar the embroidery seemed to him. It was very similar to the pattern on the clothes that Xiao Fengzhuo had made for Peacock back then. He looked up suddenly and looked at Su Qing with a look of surprise and doubt.

"Teacher? What's wrong?" Su Qing asked puzzledly.

"It's okay." Lu Zhouxue shook his head, thinking that he had thought wrong. Su Qing had a paranoid personality, and he and Xiao Fengzhuo were two completely opposite extremes. They couldn't be the same person in any case. Perhaps he missed him too much, so he was in a trance and recognized the wrong person.

A few days later, the governor of Jiangzhou mentioned in his memorial that the crops were growing well and there would be a good harvest in autumn. The emperor was very pleased and replied with a flamboyant "good" in his reply. Suddenly, he thought of the governor's only daughter in the palace.

So he went to the cold palace that night. Zhao Lan was very beautiful. She had only stayed in the cold palace for half a month, but her appearance remained the same. On the contrary, she looked a little more fragile due to the many days of torture. It was another night of favor.

At that time, Su Qing was sitting in a side hall next to Lu Zhouxue, studying the art of war. The cold palace had not been repaired for many years, so the soundproofing was not good. Listening to the obscene voices from the other end, he frowned and said with a little disgust: "Teacher, everyone says that the royal family has high moral character, but look at him, how can he be virtuous?"

"Girl, why aren't you ashamed? Instead, you're making it up?" Lu Zhouxue patted Su Qing's head helplessly and closed the book in her hand. "I've finished what's in the book. That's all for today. I'll find some war records to show you tomorrow. Don't think too much and go to bed early."

After Lu Zhouxue finished speaking, he cast a soundproofing spell so that Su Qing could sleep peacefully.

The emperor spent a night in the cold palace. Before leaving at dawn, he hugged Zhao Lan tenderly and said, "Please bear with it for a few more days. The autumn harvest is coming soon. If it is a good harvest, your father will have done a great deed. Then I can take you out of the cold palace."

"As long as Your Majesty still cares about me, I will wait no matter how long it takes." Zhao Lan thought that there was no hope in her life, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. She couldn't help but cry for joy and curled up in the emperor's arms. While thanking the emperor, she did not forget to flatter the emperor and praised him so much that he was overjoyed.

After receiving the emperor's message, Zhao Lan became arrogant again. She punished the palace maid who cheated her of money. Looking at the clothes hanging out to dry in the wind, she remembered the pain of washing clothes with cold water. She angrily tore down the clothes that had just been washed and stepped on them twice as if it was not enough.

Su Qing, who felt sorry for her and wanted to send her some food, was furious. The man washing clothes by the well became angrier and angrier, and tore two pieces of clothes in a row. While washing clothes, he angrily said to Lu Zhouxue, "Teacher, I am so stupid. She almost beat me to death, and I still felt sorry for her."

Zhao Lan never received the imperial edict to be released from the cold palace. Before the autumn harvest, the governor of Jiangzhou was exiled to the southwest. It turned out that the memorial he submitted reporting the good growth of crops was presented to the emperor, and the accusation of impeaching him for embezzling money fell into the hands of Prime Minister Du.

"Jiangzhou is within the fief of Prince Poyang. The princess of Poyang's family is surnamed Du, and the princess of Poyang's crown prince is also related to the Du family by marriage. However, the governor is the emperor's man. If the aristocratic family wants to take control of Jiangzhou, they must first make moves in the court. Zhao Yi is a big shot, but unfortunately he doesn't know how to play tricks."

Lu Zhouxue would occasionally go to listen to the emperor's court sessions, and when he came back he would report the court affairs to Su Qing. After reading, he shook his head and sighed, "Jiangzhou is rich, and the court and the noble families all want to compete for their interests in Jiangzhou. This time, the emperor lost."

The governor of Jiangzhou was dismissed, and Jiangzhou became the Jiangzhou of the aristocratic families. The emperor was busy fighting for power with the aristocratic families in the previous dynasty, so naturally he had no intention of caring about the life and death of Zhao Lan, the abandoned concubine in the cold palace. She wanted to see the emperor, firstly to plead for her father, and secondly to get out of here.

She waited night after night, and finally received a cup of poisonous wine that would pierce her intestines and a three-foot-long white silk. The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict looked at her with a smile and said, "Madam, our Madam Du is kind and generous, and will let you make your own choice. Please."

"No, no, I want to see His Majesty, I want to see His Majesty! His Majesty can't just ignore me!" Zhao Lan cried out sadly, staring at the ray of light coming through the crack in the door of the cold palace. Seeing a corner of a bright yellow dress there seemed to be all her hope, but she saw nothing.

After the poisoned wine went down her throat, her life was over. Her body was wrapped in a straw mat and carried out. The palace servants carrying the body walked busily across the stone slabs of the cold palace with their heads lowered. The dust on the soles of their shoes flew up and down. Su Qing stood in the corridor and watched them pass by, keeping silent, which was unusual for her.

"What are you thinking about?" Lu Zhouxue touched his hair and asked softly.

"I don't know." Su Qing said, his voice was so soft that it seemed like it would be blown away by the wind, carrying his hidden fear, "Teacher, do you think that one day I will die quietly like her?" The body was wrapped in a straw mat, and it became a nameless ghost in the mass grave.

"No." Lu Zhouxue said, and a little golden light of merit entered Su Qing's brow, "Our Su Qing will live a hundred years."

"Live a long life?" Su Qing looked back at Lu Zhouxue and gradually began to smile, "Is this the teacher's blessing?"

"Yes, blessing." Lu Zhouxue nodded. Just treat it as a gift from God to this lonely princess. May he have a smooth life and live a hundred years without worries - God can be merciful as long as he does not exceed that limit.