The end is approaching

August [-]th, the month of mid-autumn.

The palace banquet, which has been called for a long time, is finally coming.

On behalf of Tianhe Emperor, the regent held a grand feast for the ministers in Fengtian, Huagai, and Jinshen halls to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together.The banquet this time was extremely grand, even surpassing the usual New Year's dinner in the first month.

One is because Daqi originally paid more attention to the Mid-Autumn Festival because of the history of Taizu's fortune; the other is because this is the first foreign celebration held in a real sense since the regent took office.

In the eyes of many people, this is no longer as simple as a small Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, but a celebration after the regent took power.Guanglu Temple, which hosts various major state banquets, strives for perfection, performs diligently, and achieves everything to the extreme.

The slogan is, spend the least money and have the wildest feast.

Cough, Qi Yifei thought of this, and he said it casually when he was talking to Minister Guanglusi.

The surname of Guanglu Temple is Chen, and Mr. Qi used to be his teacher.Before the accident happened to the Qi family, Fu Li and Zhang Zhen were ashamed of his diligence in coming to the Qi family. After the accident, he never even sent a letter, and just disappeared completely in the Qi family. vision, as if it never existed.

Mr. Chen is actually quite interesting. Although he has spent his whole life in business and wanted to be an idiot in the ups and downs of the officialdom, he always insists on being from a famous family and is only willing to take up a noble position. It is very contradictory. .

In such a major reform of the court before, there was only the romantic position of Mr. Chen, and no one was attracted or interested in it.Afterwards, it is rare for him not to be promoted or demoted from his official position, as if this battle for the throne has nothing to do with him, or he lives in a different dimension from the entire Daqi officialdom, and no one takes him to play.

After finally waiting for the regent to be in charge, the regent did not like extravagance and waste. In the name of Emperor Tianhe's serious illness, he avoided all forms of entertainment and continued to leave Guanglu Temple idle.

Master Chen is so lonely.

It's hard to look forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet today.

When everything was in order, Mr. Chen was a little worried about gains and losses, and he was afraid that the regent would not like it.So he licked his face and thought of the goodness of the Qi family again.Feeling cramped, he went to the door, intending to invite Qi Yifei, a well-known celebrity of the two dynasties, to give him details and see if there are any details that need to be changed.

Qi Yifei and Fu Li looked at each other, and thought tacitly at the same time, isn't it a coincidence that someone will give you a pillow when you doze off!

After satisfying Mr. Chen's appetite, Qi Yifei considered it embarrassingly after he asked Mr. Chen for a while, sat on the head, lowered his eyes, and said softly: "After all, we have known each other for so many years. Although your previous behavior broke Grandpa's heart, but you are not benevolent, we cannot be unrighteous."

"Yes, yes, I am not a person, I am not a thing, I have eyes that do not know Mount Tai, and I would like to ask His Royal Highness the county king to save the life of the official." There are all kinds of officialdom, and the ugliest ones are the best.

"Well," Qi Yifei pretended to ponder for a while, "I can't tell you clearly, I'll go directly to the palace in the afternoon to help you take a look."

"This..." Mr. Chen was taken aback for a moment, hesitating a little, always feeling that this operation was wrong.

"What? You asked me to do something, and you still have to choose?" Qi Yifei raised his eyebrows, pressing every step of the way, without giving Mr. Chen time to think, glaring at him, and immediately wanted an explanation from the other party.

"Don't dare, I'm just afraid of delaying your participation in the banquet at night."

"No problem, I will stay in the palace and sit directly at the table at night." Qi Yifei tapped on the armrest, as if hitting Master Chen's heart, he learned this trick from Wen Zui, "This is your last chance , Mr. Chen, don't let my grandpa down."

Until Master Chen left full of doubts, he couldn't figure out what Qi Yifei was looking for.

It's actually very simple, Qi Yifei just wants to enter the palace ahead of time.

Qi Yifei wanted to see Tianhe Emperor, he didn't just talk about it, he had been preparing secretly all the time, but because he didn't even have the chance to enter the palace, he couldn't talk about it.As long as he can catch a little bit, he will do it.

This Mid-Autumn Festival banquet mainly assisted Qi Yifei, and of course it was not a grassroots like Mr. Chen who followed the wind.

And the deadly enemy of Guanglu Temple-Shangshan Supervisor.

Mr. Chen is so active that he even pulled his face down to beg Qi Yifei. He just wanted to take advantage of the regent's dislike of eunuchs, and after this battle, completely put Shangshan Supervisor back into the ground!

Daqi Imperial City has always had two catering teams, one is Guanglu Temple and the other is Shangshan Supervisor.

The difference between the two, to put it simply, is the state banquet and the small stove.The state banquet looks down on Xiaozao's wild way, and Xiaozao looks down on the flower stand of the state banquet.

During the period of Tianhedi, he preferred to use eunuchs, and he relied heavily on these people who had grown up with him. As for Tianhedi, everyone knows that he is a bit indiscriminate between public and private. Let Shangshan Supervisor do it.For Guanglu Temple, this move is undoubtedly an insult to their professionalism and a slap in the face.

Guanglu Temple didn't dare to hate Tianhe Emperor, so it hated Shangshan Supervisor, thinking that they were deceiving and flattering the Lord.

This shameful history must be washed away with the downfall of the Shangshan Supervisor!

Compared with Guanglu Temple's high-spirited and sharpened knives during this period, the Shangshan Supervisor was a little panicked all day long, for fear that after Guanglu Temple turned over, they would even take away their job of cooking small stoves for the emperor.In this palace, the most feared thing is not to be busy, but to be useless.

The palm print eunuch of the Shangshan Supervisor did not know how many times he had been tempted overtly and secretly, but he still remained motionless.

This palm print is surnamed Zhang, and it is a rare palm print that has not been removed in the previous storm of political struggle.

No one knew why this eunuch was able to survive, and everyone could only secretly guess that this eunuch had secretly joined the regent before.Think about Concubine Qi's fragrance disappearing jade, Tianhe Emperor's sudden stroke, I dare not think about it, the water in the palace gate is really too deep.

Eunuch Zhang has been an honest man all his life, but he has a big tongue. When he suddenly heard the rumor and was splashed with dirty water, he practiced speaking and scolding hard, only thinking that one day he would spray the other party to death!It's so aggrieved that I have to take the blame for something I didn't do.He really hadn't been bribed by the regent, he wanted to hug his thigh, but unfortunately he couldn't.

As for why the regent is so fond of Eunuch Zhang, Eunuch Zhang is not as clueless as Eunuch Ding, so he has some guesses.

Although this conjecture is made out, it will probably make others laugh out loud, thinking that he can't even make up a good lie.

But Eunuch Zhang really felt that way, the regent kept him in order to repay his kindness.To repay the kindness that Eunuch Zhang did not deliberately starve to death when he first took over the palm seal of Shangshan Supervisor. Regardless of whether the food is good or bad, cold or hot, but at least Eunuch Zhang never thought of giving the empress seven meals in the old palace. Your Highness is out of food.

Of course, Eunuch Zhang didn't do anything particularly good, so he just didn't do any good, and continued to be left as his Shangshan supervisor.

As for Eunuch Ding, the luckiest eunuch among all the eunuchs, Eunuch Zhang privately thought that Eunuch Ding might have helped the Seventh Highness one or two before he knew about it, so that he got his current status.

It's a pity that before Eunuch Zhang's "magic skills" can be completed, he will argue for the regent.The source of those "problems" was completely solved by the regent.

Eunuch Zhang has turned back into the eunuch who can cook but stutters. He never thought about arguing with anyone in the past. He really has never been bribed.

The only time he was bought off was today.

Bribe: him.

The briber: Qi Yifei, king of Zhengnan County.

Eunuch Zhang didn't seem to be anxious about the palace banquet at all, naturally it was because he had bigger things in mind.Fortunately, he is a rootless person, and he has long been separated from his family. He is a bachelor, so he is not afraid of hurting anyone.But he was still afraid, even if he made up his mind to do it, he was still afraid that his stomach would hurt for many days.

All of this begins with the Twelfth Prison's visit to the king of Qi Xiaojun to make an apology.

The Twelfth Prison was set up as a model by the Regent because he neglected the King Zhengnan County. This is already a laughing stock that everyone in the whole Daqi knows.

But what everyone doesn't know is that the cause of all this is just a season of clothes.

There is no such thing as Eunuch Zhang who is in charge of food, but the Twelve Prisoners are all connected, and not all of them may have it when they are rewarded, but they will definitely be thought of to go together when they are punished.

This should have been led by Eunuch Ding, the supervisor of ceremonies, but Eunuch Ding is responsible for the most important chapters. He has to serve the regent every day, and the regent obviously did not assign Eunuch Ding to be responsible for this matter. Among the eunuchs, Eunuch Ding would naturally not take the initiative to wade into this muddy water.

Eunuch Zhang was afraid that the new palm prints would not be able to do the job, so as an old senior, he could only grit his teeth and admit to this drudgery.

Eunuch Zhang brought people to the door every day, but he couldn't even see the face of the county king every day. As time went by, a group of eunuchs who didn't have a sacred heart at all became more and more afraid, and they didn't even dare to complain. also.

It was at this time that Qi Yifei's most trusted maid, Jiake, secretly contacted Eunuch Zhang.

Jiake was looking for Eunuch Zhang for Qi Yifei, just for one thing - is there any way to let Qi Yifei try to meet Tian Hedi during the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Don't ask for anything else, just ask for a chance to see each other.

Eunuch Zhang is clumsy and tongue-tied, and he really wants to ask, what benefits can miscellaneous families get?The miscellaneous family is determined not to take bribes!

Then there is no more then.

Eunuch Zhang still agreed, he is neither good nor bad, he would pity the Seventh Prince when he was young, and naturally he would be so pitiful that he has no one to rely on today.

For the sake of Tianhedi, who had never treated him harshly, he went all out.

Eunuch Zhang suggested that Qi Yifei couldn't go to see Tianhe Emperor during the banquet, that would be too big of a goal.At that time, the palace will definitely be covered with the eyeliner of Jin Yiwei and Dark Guards, and the security will be unprecedented. Qi Yifei may not even be able to get close to the outside of the Hall of Wuwei, and he will definitely be discovered.On the contrary, when preparing for the afternoon, there are many people in the palace, and it is easier to fish in troubled waters.

As for how to enter the palace ahead of schedule in the afternoon, it depends on Qi Yifei's ability.In this regard, Eunuch Zhang is also helpless.Today's imperial city is as solid as gold, and others cannot easily enter and exit, it is much stricter than in the days of Emperor Tianhe.

All Qi Yifei can ask for is Fu Li.

This is also the reason why Qi Yifei talked to Fu Li yesterday. Fu Li told Qi Yifei the news that Tianhe Di fainted again.But Qi Yifei insisted.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Fu Li walked up and down the room irritably, "I told you, His Majesty fainted, and he may wake up when you see him What's the use of one side? Hmm? Tell me, is it useful to see a comatose person?!"

"It's useless." Qi Yifei knew this well, "But I can't stop seeing him."

"Don't hesitate to risk everyone's future?" Fu Li deliberately said that the consequences would be serious, just hoping to scare Qi Yifei, "That His Highness's towards His Majesty... Cough, emotions are obvious to all, you are afraid that you will not be able to provoke them him?"

The most important thing is that the Prince Regent is very suspicious, he will feel that it is impossible for Qi Yifei to enter the palace just to see the sky and the emperor.

In fact, no one would believe it.

If you hear the crime, you will!

Qi Yifei retorted in his heart.Of course, it is impossible for him to reveal such unfounded secret thoughts, and he has prepared other back-ups, cryptically reminding his friends: "The Regent will forgive everyone, after all, he owes me..."

a life.

The grace of saving his life, no matter what, is enough to offset Qi Yifei's not implicating others, and there will even be a surplus.

At the same time, there is also a little bit of feeling in it, wanting to take the initiative to return the kindness.

Sometimes making a big shot feel that he owes you a life that is not clear is not necessarily a good thing.If the kindness is too great, the person who is bestowed will have subtle psychological changes instead.Rather than waiting for the other party to feel that you are threatening to repay your kindness, it is better to "use" this kindness earlier, and use it skillfully and not deliberately. In this way, maybe the important person will remember you more.

Fu Li understood what Qi Yifei meant, and heaved a long sigh. He was strangely persuaded by Qi Yifei.

The regent is moody and angry, far away smells near near, although he suddenly went crazy recently, but no one knows how long it can last, it's better to stay away.

But it was really difficult to enter the imperial city. Just when Fu Li was at a loss and was thinking about whether to ask his senior brother to have a luthier, Master Chen from Guanglu Temple sent him to his door.Pie from heaven.

"You are not really a lucky star, are you?" Even Fu Li was shocked.

But this is not the most coincidental, the secret guards who have been responsible for following Qi Yifei, but will not report his whereabouts, are the ones who know how coincidental it is-the regent who should have paid close attention to Qi Yifei and the palace, just now This afternoon, something happened and got stuck.This matter is really important, so important that when Wen Zui heard the news, only this matter remained in his eyes.

This is also the first thing Wen Zui did after he became the regent—to repay his kindness.

Wen Zui's character is so amazing.

Different people react differently when they gain power.Some choose to take revenge immediately, some choose to be promoted to family members as heroes, and some choose to show off directly.Wen Zui was different from all the mainstream, he chose to repay his favor one by one.

What he could get in the past was really too little, so he remembered everyone and every thing, and it didn't take much time to find them one by one, because the list of gratitude was really too short after all.As big as Qi Yifei's life-saving grace, as small as Shangshan Supervisor Zhang Eunuch's grace of a meal.Even the blind grandma who didn't know anything back then, only thought that she had taught a little eunuch, and had passed away, was honored after death.

But as Qi Yifei and Fu Li said, small favors are easy to repay, but big favors are hard to repay.

He has not figured out how to return his life to Qi Yifei until now, he can only listen to his heart for the time being, and try his best to treat Qi Yifei well.

And there is another kindness that has been weighing on Wen Zui's heart, which has never been repaid.

That was what he dreamed about last night, the scene where he was almost burned to death in his mother's old palace ten years ago.In fact, it wasn't the first time he dreamed of that scene, but last night was the first time he dreamed that his benefactor had Qi Yifei's voice.

This probably indicates something, Wen Zui thinks so.

Sure enough, in the afternoon of the next day, before the mid-autumn banquet was about to start, Wen Zui had been sending people to investigate the past, and finally had a clue.The clue was in the harem, waiting for him to reveal it himself.

Daqi's harem is square and square, with twists and turns, and is divided into nine east and west palaces along the meridian.

The concubine lived in the East Nine Palace, and the heirs lived in the West Nine Palace.

Tianhe Emperor superstitiously believes that only if he does not separate his family can he be able to live forever.So he left all nine children, male and female, in the palace.When the children grew up, he didn't let them go out to start a family and build teeth alone. Even the married princesses kept their own palaces.

One person, one house, couldn't be more fair.

But Tianhedi seems to have forgotten that he actually has ten.

Wen Zui is the tenth child, he doesn't worry about being few but about being uneven, don't talk about it, if you give him a life, it's over.It is better not to live than to live without nourishment.Fortunately, this person, Wen Zui, was probably broken somewhere when he was born. He has no heart and doesn't feel pain at all.

The West Nine Palaces are named after the nine sons of the Dragon.

Prisoner's Cow Palace is at the top. This place belongs to the First Prince. He was not born by the Empress, but was raised by the Empress. The Empress placed high expectations on him.He was once the prince who was most likely to become the heir apparent, living in the most magnificent palace, nothing wrong with him.

It is said that the people who wanted to curry favor with His Majesty in the past broke through several thresholds of the Cattle Palace.It's a pity that such a lively and grand occasion will never be related to the sin, and he is not even allowed to come to the emperor's palace, so as not to dirty the other party's eyes.And when no one can stop Wenzuo, and he can go wherever he wants, the Prisoner Cow Palace is already deserted at the door, deserted like a haunted house.

And His Royal Highness, who was loved by thousands of people, was beheaded according to the law because he failed to kill the king.

As a father, Tianhedi really failed. The son he hated, wished that he would die early, and the son he doted on... also wished that he would die early.

Next door to Prisoner's Palace is the Yazi Palace of the Second Prince.This lunatic is crying and howling: "The orphan is the master of this world!", "You all deserve to die! Die!", "Mother, tell me, mother, speak up!"

The second prince even went crazy, and this mother Baonan's character design has not collapsed yet.

After passing through the vermilion gold-lacquered gate of the Prisoner's Cow Palace, the courtyard behind the screen wall is already full of people kneeling.

These are all the eldest prince's concubines, except for the first prince's concubine who went with the first prince in three feet of white silk after the failure, what is left now is such a group of concubines who only know how to cry day and night.

Wen Zui really doesn't understand, why are they crying, because they will die at any time?Because there's a lunatic living next door?

But all of this in front of him was full of intimacy for Wen Zui.The Qiwu Palace where he grew up has always been like this, the people inside are crying and laughing, crazy and stupid, what is there to be afraid of?

Among the children and relatives in the courtyard, only Xiao Qi did not cry, because crying was useless.

From her surname, this little Qi family can tell that she does have some relationship with the Shoufu family.She is Qi Yifei's elder sister, and she came to join her when she was very young. Mr. Qi no longer has any immediate family members, and has always treated Xiao Qi like his own granddaughter.

But just two years ago, because the little Qi was dissatisfied with the marriage arranged by Mr. Qi, she made her own proposal and committed herself to the eldest prince as... a concubine.It can be said that it has completely disgraced Mr. Qi. The clansman who is the chief assistant of the court is not even a side concubine, so he hurriedly went to make a name for the eldest prince.

Since then, the little Qi family has completely broken with the Qi family, but she thinks it's worth it, at least she lived a comfortable life after arriving in the Prisoner's Cow Palace.The eldest prince is handsome and handsome, with great grace, and is especially good at loving others. Apart from being older, he has no shortcomings.

Unexpectedly, there will be unexpected events, the prince failed to force the palace, and his political career will be over with his life.

But it is probably because Xiao Qi's life should not die, and the final winner of the political struggle is the Seventh Prince that no one thought of.When hearing Wen Zui's name, little Qi's eyes flashed with uncontrollable frenzy.Because her chance to fight back has come!She doesn't know if the seventh prince still remembers ten years ago, even if he forgets a lot, it doesn't matter, she will let him remember!

As a result, it is now that the regent has personally arrived at the Prisoner's Cow Palace.

For whom?It can only be her!

Wen Zui is now sitting on a rosewood chair with five screens. The chair is made of heavy material, solemn and solemn, and the embossed dragon pattern is faintly visible in the "clouds and mists", which complements the empress soil on the footsteps.

Wen Zui didn't have the habit of talking nonsense with others, so as soon as he came up, someone called Xiao Qi to the front row.

Little Qi was shaking with excitement, she really made the right bet, she can always seize the opportunity to climb up desperately, she believes it will be the same this time!

After all, she had "saved" the regent's life.

To be precise, she didn't save her, but the regent didn't know about the lawsuit.

Back then, the old emperor didn't like the seventh prince, and he loved to vent his anger. He longed for the death of the seventh prince.But the Seventh Prince was rescued.The Qi family spent a lot of effort to suppress this matter, and finally even the imperial concubine was alarmed.Don't say that the time has passed today, even at that time, it was impossible to find out who saved him after he was almost burned to death!

"Where were you on the Lantern Festival ten years ago?" Wen Zui asked.

Xiao Qi suppressed all the calculations in his eyes, and replied "accurately": "Sin slaves and brothers and sisters are watching the lanterns in the palace."

The Qi family has some relationship with Concubine Qi's kinship, and Concubine Qi's real relatives have long since passed away, so whenever there is any reunion festival in the palace, she especially likes to invite the children of the Qi family to accompany her in the palace.

"The brother of the family is stubborn, the sin slave accidentally separated with him, searched to no avail, and strayed into a side hall..." Xiao Qi said vaguely, but he did his best to suggest, "At that time, what happened It caused a lot of trouble in the palace, and the sin slave did something that the concubine and empress would not like, so he never entered the palace again."

The story itself is true, but no one knows whether it was intentional to separate, where the little Qi family went by mistake, and what he did to make the imperial concubine angry.

But no matter how you investigate the crime, you can only find out what happened back then.

It just happened to be used by the little Qi family for grafting.

"What clothes were you wearing and what incense were you wearing?" Wen Zui asked again with a blank expression, his hand was still on the handle of the faucet, but it was already tightly gripped.

"Watching the moon, Pei Lanzhi." Xiao Qi became more and more determined as she spoke, as if she was really like this back then.

"Do you have a token?" Wen Zui was not so easy to fool.

Xiao Qi was taken aback for a moment, and unconsciously looked down to the right, finally retrieving a past event from her memory.She didn't know if this was the token, but she could only gamble again: "Yes!"

She took out a bunch of [-] pieces that had been hidden in her purse for two years, and handed them to Eunuch Ding.

Wen Zui still looked so calm, but his eyes did not leave Shibazi for a moment.Until he got the string of crystal clear white jadeite bracelets from the tray, the classic rosary beads of eighteen sons, tied with golden silk ribbons, and pendant with blessing beads.The orb is hollow, like a lock like a pendant, and it is priceless at first glance.

And the string that Wen Zui has treasured for many years, the beads have been worn out of shape, and is now being compared...

……exactly the same.

'It's done! 'Xiao Qi's heart skipped a beat, if it wasn't for the wrong occasion, she would have laughed out loud.The thing she stole from Qi Yifei in a crazy way has really become her current life-saving straw!

Then, I heard that Zui pulled the orb from the bracelet and fell to the ground on the spot.

The whole place was silent.

Just now, the eldest prince's family members who thought that the little Qi family might not be lucky, knelt down and begged the regent to calm down, and at the same time couldn't help showing a gloating smile in their hearts, no one can get out of the sea of ​​suffering!

The orb was made of emerald, it was very fragile and would break if dropped.

After the orb was shattered, the regent stepped down from his seat, leaned over to pick up the shattered orb, patted it and touched it without feeling dirty at all, and finally settled down. Heart, holding it up again as if it were a treasure.

This lunatic's behavior is not only not surprising, but it makes people who have heard the urban legend of the regent feel that it is nothing more than normal. It is the regent who is uncertain.

After getting what he wanted, he held the eighteen sons in his hands and was ready to drive back to the palace with satisfaction.

Little Qi, who was almost caught by this series of operations, froze in place, she couldn't accept such a gap anyway, no matter how hard it was to think about the consequences, she yelled at Wen Zui's back: "Wen Sin, is this how you repay your savior?!"

Wen Zui was about to pass by the screen wall, and had to stop because of such a sentence, turned around and looked back, looking at Xiao Qi with a blank expression: "Of course this is not my attitude towards my savior..."

"...but you're not."