Daily life in the academy

The snow came heavily but did not last long. When the six of them left Xiyun Tower at 10:00 p.m., all drunk, the snow had stopped, leaving only the crunching sound of the wheels pressing on the snow.

Yan Qingchen sent Mu Bailian and Wenzhe back to their residence one by one, and arrived at Prince Ning's Mansion around midnight. It was already late and the two were drunk, so they went back to their respective courtyards to rest.

It is difficult to get up early in winter, so the Ning Wang Mansion had changed its rules earlier, only eating two meals a day, so that the servants in the mansion no longer have to suffer so much.

On the second day, after Yan Qingchen and Bai Zhi had breakfast, Princess Ning dragged them to play mahjong for two hours. Prince Ning said his waist was not feeling well, and Princess Ning let them go reluctantly.

Yan Qingchen and Bai Zhi returned to the guest house where she lived, walked straight to the round table and sat down. He tapped the table with his finger, and Bishui hurried forward to pour two cups of tea for them.

"You go down first. We don't need anyone to serve us here for the time being." Yan Qingchen picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Yes, Your Highness."

After Bishui left and closed the door for them, Yan Qingchen put down the teacup in his hand and said, "Tell me about the dream you had that day."

Recalling the scene of the first dream, Bai Zhi glanced at Yan Qingchen and secretly organized her words, "There were two dreams in total. The first one was that I dreamed that Prince Qi and Ling Luo were having a relatively 'intimate' communication. It basically said that many dignitaries in the court would go to Tianxiang Pavilion. Among them was a man named Yang Sheren. After getting drunk, he said some nonsense and claimed that Prince Qi was not as good as the prince. What kind of official was this Yang Sheren?" She explained the main content concisely and asked by the way.

"A Sheren surnamed Yang..." Yan Qingchen repeated, as if searching for such a person in his mind. After a moment, he curled his lips into a smile, "There aren't many people surnamed Yang in this court, and there's only one Sheren Yang. He's the Sheren of the Secretariat, a subordinate official of the Secretariat. He's primarily responsible for deliberating memorials, drafting imperial edicts, and writing imperial seals. He has some authority, and is a fourth-rank official, neither higher nor lower."

"Drunkenness leads to mistakes. Doesn't this mean that Sheren Yang will be hated by the King of Qi? He will definitely be in trouble."

"Not really. The King of Qi hasn't taken up his official position yet, so his reach isn't that far."

"But I heard that the Prince of Qi is very favored by His Majesty. Like Prince Gong and other princes in history, they were only allowed to leave the palace and build their own residences when they were eighteen, but the Prince of Qi had his own residence at only sixteen."

"In their early years, the Emperor and Empress were in love, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince occupied the Eastern Palace. Perhaps His Majesty wanted to compensate the King of Qi. As for the real reason, who could know?" Yan Qingchen didn't want to continue discussing this topic, so he asked, "What about another dream?"

Bai Zhi shrugged. "The second dream was also about the King of Qi. He took on a task to compile a geographical record of the State of Yan. At the end, I saw Xue Huaiming telling the King of Qi that information on Jiumen and Yishui was scarce. I later looked it up and found out that these two places were two cities on the border between the State of Yan and the State of Di. The dream ended abruptly there. There's definitely a connection between the two dreams, but I don't know how much time passed between them."

"Compiling a geographical gazetteer?" Yan Qingchen sneered, "It seems our King of Qi has big plans."

So the King of Qi actually wanted to fight for the throne? It makes sense. When you can reach the stars with your hand, who wouldn't want to reach for them?

...

The first snow in Sheng'an City came and went quickly, so many people did not take the notice of the winter government office seriously. It was not until five days later when the second snow fell that people woke up in the morning, opened the windows and found that the snow outside was as deep as their calves. Then they suddenly realized and hurried to the market to stock up on food. If heavy snow blocked the roads in a few days and there were not enough supplies transported into Sheng'an, this winter would be very difficult.

Fortunately, the Winter Office had already reported this to Emperor Shengwu Yan Yunrui, who waved his hand and ordered the Ministry of Revenue to quickly transport more winter grains, vegetables and fruits from various places and store them in warehouses for emergency use.

The people did not have to worry about their food supply, but bad news came from the palace.

The continuous winter snow made the already weak Queen Murong unable to bear it any longer. In the Daming Palace, apart from a group of palace maids and eunuchs, only the fifth prince Yan Jian was guarding her side. His small palm tightly held Queen Murong's big hand.

"Mother, you will definitely get better. Xiaowu will be obedient. Please don't abandon Xiaowu, okay?" Yan Jian cried, his eyes already red and swollen.

Queen Murong looked sideways at him, wanting to reach out and touch him again, but she was powerless. Her eyes were filled with reluctance. She was still hanging on to her last breath, wanting to see her other two sons, but despite her desperate wait, there was no sign of them. With her last bit of strength, she said to Yan Jian, "Jian'er, my good child, you must be safe and happy in the future. Can you also convey this message to my eldest and fourth brothers on my behalf?"

Yan Jian nodded while sobbing, "Okay, mother, I will definitely tell my eldest and fourth brothers."

it is good.

On her deathbed, Empress Murong's thoughts drifted, as if she had returned to the Murong family, still the carefree, innocent young lady... But in the end, she got married. Everything was originally beautiful, the emperor and empress lived in harmony and had deep feelings for each other, but beauty fades and people's hearts change... Desires are always endless. It would have been better if she had not followed any family mission.

In her next life, she would rather be a child from an ordinary family than be trapped in the deep palace for decades and end up with nothing.

"Mother...Mother..."

Queen Murong seemed to hear the calls of her two sons. She wanted to tell them that there must not be any rift between the brothers, but in the end it was too late.

Because the road was blocked by heavy snow, when the Crown Prince and the King of Qi hurriedly arrived, Queen Murong had already passed away.

"The Queen has passed away."

The loud and mournful proclamation echoed throughout the Daming Palace.

After a long time, Yan Yunrui slowly appeared in the Daming Palace. He looked at the remains of Queen Murong from afar, not daring to get close, and even more unable to believe that the queen who had accompanied him for more than twenty years had passed away so suddenly. His legs and feet became weak and he fell backwards. Fortunately, Wang Changqing behind him supported him in time.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry."

Yan Yunrui closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said as if he had exhausted all his strength: "Come, prepare pens and ink. I want everyone in the city to mourn for the queen together."

"Today, we have Empress Murong, a virtuous and kind woman who assisted the Emperor in governing the country, working tirelessly day and night. However, Heaven was jealous of her beauty, and she has tragically passed away. The Emperor has suspended court to mourn, and all the ministers mourn. The Empress's virtue will be forever remembered; her kindness will be etched in our hearts. Funeral rites will be conducted according to established customs. I hope all the subjects will share in this grief for a month."

The eunuchs did not dare to stay for a moment, and the notice was immediately sent to the city defense camp to post it in every corner of Sheng'an City.

From then on, Sheng'an City was in a state of solemnity, with everyone mourning for Empress Murong.