The concubine entered the palace and the concubine was very attractive

On the third day after the "Yushi Huang Mansion" was raided, midsummer came to an end, and the hot weather was replaced by the coolness brought by the autumn breeze.

In front of the Pingcheng execution ground, the Huang family, including Concubine Huang, had more than 20 people. Except for the elderly, women, and children who were pardoned by the emperor and exiled to the north city, the rest were wearing prison uniforms with the word "Tian" on them, with dirty faces and messy hair. They were shackled and stood in rows, waiting for the presiding judge Li Huaisheng to give orders.

In addition, the virtuous concubine had bad conduct, bringing shame to the royal family, and was demoted to a commoner. She was not given a posthumous title and was not included in the ancestral temple...

As for those relatives who were related to the Huang family, as long as they were not from the head of the Huang family among the nine clans, they were exiled by the emperor's order.

The emperor's edict stated that the execution would be carried out at 3:30 pm.

Therefore, these people were brought out for public display at noon.

The people of Pingcheng have long suffered from the prestige of the Huang family, the imperial censors. Now that the Huang family is in trouble, the people are throwing rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at these people...

Originally, no one was allowed to interfere at the execution ground. Li Huaisheng knew the people's sentiments well, so he turned a blind eye.

The virtuous concubine Huang, who was shackled with heavy iron shackles, stood at the front of the execution platform, with the midday sun shining directly on her face.

She no longer looked as radiant and beautiful as before, and was closing her eyes to enjoy the last rays of sunshine.

"I was originally the legitimate daughter of the Imperial Censor Huang family. I was married to Gu Junshen for nine years and entered the palace for six years. I am only twenty-six years old now! I will never see the sun tomorrow!"

Suddenly, she heard several familiar and clear voices of discussion. She opened her eyes slightly and looked in the direction of the sound.

I saw a woman in a pink gauze dress, with an elegant makeup, chatting freely with another woman in a white gauze. She smiled from time to time, and small dimples were faintly visible on her cheeks.

When it fell into the eyes of Concubine Xian, it had already turned into the opposite scene.

"If only I were as free and easy as she was back then!"

This person was none other than the Imperial Noble Consort Song Nanxiang, who had been allowed to leave the palace by Gu Junshen.

At the invitation of Mu Wanxi, the remaining daughter of the Mu family, he came to watch the execution of the Huang family.

Nan Xiang didn't want to come at first. She didn't want to see the bloody scene and was afraid that it would pollute her eyes. She just wanted to go out of the palace and stroll around. She couldn't resist Mu Wanxi's invitation.

So he agreed and came.

However, when the execution comes, she will cover her ears and eyes, and cannot see or hear anything.

"My sister is in a good mood today! Instead of inviting me to her newly opened rouge shop, she brought me here to see this bloody scene!"

Nanxiang said this, covering her mouth and nose with a light blue handkerchief with great disgust.

"It's your fault! I forgot that Her Majesty's precious body should not be exposed to such a filthy scene. I only thought about my own pleasure, but made Her Majesty suffer!" Mu Wanxi smiled faintly through the white veil and said in a slightly joking tone.

"You! When did you become so eloquent?" Nan Xiang glared at her in pretended anger.

"Things are different now! The Huang family has finally gotten their retribution!" Mu Wanxi sighed in a sad tone, as if she had endless pain to express.

"As the saying goes, good things happen in return!"

"Okay, let's not talk about the Huang family. I invited you here today mainly because I want to do business with you."

As Mu Wanxi spoke, she raised her hand slightly and took off the white veil on her face under Nan Xiang's surprised gaze, revealing a face with less scars, and the scars became similar in color to the rest of the skin around her face.

Now, her face has recovered 30% of its appearance thanks to the effect of Nanxiang ointment.

Kikuhei and Caiyun, who were standing next to Nanxiang, were also slightly surprised.

They had all seen Mu Wanxi's disfigured face, with three large and eye-catching scars. Now it no longer had the hideous look it once had, and looked a lot softer.

"Oh my God! This change is too big." Kikuhei covered his mouth and sighed slightly.

"This is all thanks to your mother's ointment! It has such an amazing effect. It really gave me a new life."

As Mu Wanxi spoke, she looked at Nan Xiang, who did not show much emotion, with some excitement. Seeing this, her admiration for her grew even stronger.

"This is a reward for your obedience, it's nothing!" Nanxiang smiled slightly, and was naturally very confident in her ointment.

"I wonder if you would like to sell it as a commodity? With such medicinal effects, there will be no shortage of buyers."

"You are good at business. You actually set your sights on my plaster!"

"I spoke out of turn. If Your Majesty does not agree, just think of it as nonsense from your servant!" Mu Wanxi said immediately after hearing this.

"It's not that I don't want to! It's just that quality is more important than quantity! And how do you calculate the share?"

Nanxiang would certainly not do business that would result in a loss.

Just as the two were chatting animatedly, time quietly came to the third quarter of the afternoon.

"The time has come! Execution!"

Li Huaisheng spoke almost at the exact time.

Hearing this, Nanxiang quickly got up and took the two people behind her into the attic room.

"I'll go first!"

Mu Wanxi's eyes were fixed on the direction of the execution ground without blinking.

As heads fell to the ground one by one, Mu Wanxi's eyes began to turn red.

……

Three months flew by.

The first snow of winter finally fell in the Northern Dynasty's imperial palace, covering the entire Northern Dynasty harem in white snow.

The bitingly cold wind blew through every long alley, and the plum blossoms in the courtyard of Yanxi Palace gradually revealed blood-red buds. Some of the flowers had already experienced the pleasure of being weighed down by the thick snow, adding a touch of bright red to the white imperial palace.

"Caiyun! Is this how many winters have we spent in the palace?"

Nanxiang, wrapped in a thick fur cloak, stood in front of the bedroom door and stretched out her hand to catch the falling snowflakes. When they fell into her palms, a chill passed into her heart.

"Your Majesty! This is the fifth one!" Caiyun stood aside, silently watching the snow falling on the plum blossoms.

"The fifth one?" Nanxiang was surprised and turned to look at Caiyun. This answer was different from what she remembered.

"That will be our first winter in the palace!" Caiyun smiled with her eyes slightly narrowed, like a blooming flower.

"Yes! I forgot about that! If I hadn't been successfully selected, I don't know if I could have survived that winter in the Song Mansion!"

"Your Majesty, you are blessed by heaven, how can you not survive?"

Upon hearing this, Nan Xiang just shook her head and chuckled without saying anything. According to how unappreciated she was in the Song Mansion, she would either starve to death or freeze to death.

At this moment, Kikuhei ran into the courtyard in the heavy snow with an umbrella and shouted to Nanxiang who was standing in front of the hall.

"My queen! The queen mother has passed away!"

Hearing this, Nanxiang was stunned at first, but when she recalled the pale face she saw when she visited the empress dowager a few days ago, Nanxiang knew that the empress dowager would not survive this winter.

But I didn’t expect that just a few days into winter, news came that the Queen Mother had passed away.

It's true that if you do too many bad things, the retribution will come so quickly.

"Caiyun! Follow me to Changshou Palace! Juping, send people to the various sleeping halls to inform the ladies!"

"Yes!" they both answered in unison.

After a long time, Nanxiang came to the Queen Mother's bedroom with the help of Caiyun.

As soon as I walked in, I saw two brothers, Gu Junshen and Gu Jintang, guarding the Queen Mother's bedside.

Compared to the tears in Gu Jintang's eyes, which were unable to hide the sadness and sorrow in his eyes, the complexity in Gu Junshen's eyes made Nanxiang pause.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty!"

"No need to be so polite!" Gu Junshen turned around and glanced at Nan Xiang and said casually.

……

A quarter of an hour ago.

When Gu Junshen received the news from Chuntao that the empress dowager was dying, he rushed over immediately.

Looking at the Queen Mother whose eyes had lost their spirit, whose lips were pale and whose voice was extremely weak, Gu Junshen took her hand and called out, "Mother!"

"Shen'er is here!" When the empress dowager heard Gu Junshen's voice, her gradually blurry consciousness became a little clearer, and she called softly to the person beside the bed.

"Ok!"

"My Queen Mother is probably dying! She can't breathe!" The Queen Mother spoke with increasing difficulty.

There was a hint of red in Gu Junshen's eyes.

"I guess you already know this. But all these years, I have always treated you as my own child and never neglected you!"

The empress dowager's eyes gleamed with a kind smile as she looked at Gu Junshen.

"I know everything, mother!" Gu Junshen said, his nose felt sore and he held the empress dowager's hand even tighter.

The scenes of him and the Queen Mother when he was young began to emerge in his mind.

"Cough, cough..." The Queen Mother coughed softly a few times.

Upon hearing this, Gu Junshen immediately shouted to the imperial physician standing nearby, "Imperial physician!"

"Chen is here!"

"Show it to the Queen Mother."

"No need. Mother is no longer alive. The imperial physician has examined her."

"After my mother leaves, I hope the emperor can see that she treats the queen well in person! Treat... the Chen family well!"

The Queen Mother held Gu Junshen's hand tightly and said this solemnly. Her consciousness became increasingly unclear and her eyelids slowly closed after blinking a few times.

The moment Gu Jintang rushed into the Empress Dowager's bedroom, the Empress Dowager finally closed her eyes.

“Mother——!”

He shouted loudly, hoping that the Queen Mother, who had just closed her eyes, could hear his final call.

Then he quickly walked to the bedside and took Gu Junshen's place.

He tightly grasped the Queen Mother's hand, and said in a tearful tone, "Mother! I am late!"

……

Not long after Nanxiang arrived at the Queen Mother's bedroom, the Queen arrived shortly after.

Although she felt a little resentful towards her aunt, the Queen Mother, she still respected this elder from the bottom of her heart.

The reason why we didn’t see each other for a while was just to calm the complicated emotions in my heart and review the past years.

Now that the Queen Mother has passed away, she realized that if the Queen Mother had not silently helped her behind the scenes all these years, her position as Queen would probably have been lost, let alone getting pregnant.

She knew very well that she would never be able to compare with the Queen Mother in her entire life, nor could she be as decisive and ruthless as her to win the position of Queen Mother.

All she can do now is to keep her position as queen and the last glory of the Chen family.

Seeing the queen kneeling behind the emperor, Nanxiang followed suit and knelt behind her.

But I really couldn't squeeze out even a single tear from my eyes, so I could only hold the handkerchief and hold it in the corners of my eyes to pretend to shed tears.

Not to mention that the Queen Mother almost killed her back then, and they had no contact at all over the years. It was not sadness at all, but rather a hint of gloating.

Soon, all the concubines and masters in the harem whom she had sent people to notify arrived outside the Empress Dowager's bedroom.

Unfortunately, there was only a tiny space in the bedroom, and it certainly couldn't accommodate the nearly twenty concubines in the harem. Only those with slightly higher status were allowed to come in, and the rest could only kneel outside the bedroom in the snow, holding umbrellas.

Just as Nanxiang saw the princess and several other nobles coming in, she heard mournful and gentle crying coming from outside. It was so moving and sad.

At 4 p.m. on the same day, the Empress Dowager issued an edict to posthumously confer the title.

In the 51st year of the Northern Dynasty, the current empress dowager passed away.

The Emperor is grateful for the Empress Dowager’s kindness and benevolence, for her assistance to the late Emperor, for nurturing the people, and for her contributions to the country.

The empress dowager was posthumously named Empress Dowager Xiaocirenxuan and was enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, where she will be forever respected by future generations.

He also ordered the Ministry of Rites to discuss the funeral rites in detail to honor the Empress Dowager's virtue and comfort her spirit in heaven.

A few days later, the empress dowager's funeral was held as scheduled, and heavy snow fell in the Northern Dynasty Palace again.

The concubines and ministers standing in front of the Taichen Palace, wearing mourning clothes, braved the heavy snow and cried together.

Gu Chenyu and Gu Jinxuan, who were standing on both sides of Nanxiang, cried so sadly, with tears in their eyes and sobbing from time to time.

"Mother! Will we never see the Imperial Grandmother again?"

"The Imperial Grandmother will always be watching over us from heaven. So Chen'er and Xuan'er must be obedient and study hard!"

"Uh-huh!"

……

In the early spring of the 55th year of the Northern Dynasty, the snow on the eaves of the Northern Dynasty Palace began to melt, but the weather was still cold.

The occasional cold wind blows right after me, making me shiver.

Nan Xiang held the heater in her hands, and when her hands were warmer, she checked the account book that Mu Wanxi had sent in from outside the palace, and then she picked up her pen to copy down the details of the prince's enthronement ceremony half a month later.

Originally, Gu Chenyu's crown prince ceremony was scheduled for the early spring of the second year after the empress dowager's death. Unfortunately, the empress dowager died suddenly, and the Northern Dynasty had its own etiquette and laws.

If a high-ranking and powerful person in the palace passed away, a three-year mourning period was required before various ceremonies could be held, so the prince's ceremony was postponed to the early spring of the fourth year.

Gu Junshen followed the Empress Dowager's will and treated the Chen family well. In the second year, he reinstated Chen, the Tongpan of Pingcheng, who had performed well. He also lifted the Queen's house arrest, but still let Nanxiang manage the harem.

Nanxiang had no choice but to work diligently and do a good job of managing the harem.

Gu Chenyu is now eight years old. He is already as tall as Nanxiang's shoulders. He has picturesque eyebrows and eyes and a cold temperament. He inherited the looks of Nanxiang and Gu Junshen. He is noble and extraordinary, not like an ordinary person.

Under Nan Xiang's careful training over the years, Gu Chenyu has become more polite and has learned many advanced modern ideas from her. He may become a wise ruler in the future, but his cold and stern aura is just like his father, which makes people intimidated.

Gu Jinxuan also grew into a graceful and elegant lady, five points more beautiful than Princess Yong'an of Chengqian Palace.

Of course, the two of them still often played around in front of her, but the boy's freedom and ease were indispensable.

But for some unknown reason, Gu Junshen's health was no longer as good as before.

She has done her best to take care of him, but the disease does not seem to be new, but rather a disease that has accumulated over many years.

Of course, Gu Junshen is still much better than ordinary people, but compared to him eight years ago, he now seems to be unable to do what he wants. It is no problem for him to live for more than ten years.

Half a month passed in a flash, and Nanxiang had already arranged all the affairs of the prince's enthronement ceremony.

Now it’s just a matter of following the process.

……

After a series of procedures, Liu Sheng, who presided over the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince, shouted loudly: "The ceremony of enthroning the crown prince is complete!"

Gu Chenyu in front of him was wearing a yellow prince's robe and kneeling in front of Gu Junshen with a respectful posture. He held the imperial decree and seal tightly in his hands, and his eyes were flashing with determination and awe.

Nanxiang sat down aside, watching the scene with gentle eyes. The joy in her heart was beyond words. There was a smile on the corner of her mouth, but her almond-shaped eyes were filled with crystal clear tears.

'Many years later, I will also become that powerful queen mother!'

(End of book)