At this moment, the two of them were not alone, but in front of the Mingfeng Palace, under the eyes of everyone, Shen Zhiyi's loud slap could be said to have no intention of saving Xiao Shu's face at all.
She should be embarrassed.
Even Xiao Shu herself thought that she would feel embarrassed, but there was only a kind of peace of "it should be" in her heart, she gently raised her hand to support her cheek, and her voice was as faint as haze: "If you can not be cheap, who wouldn't?" How about living with dignity? This concubine also has something she wanted to say to His Highness a long time ago."
Shen Zhiyi almost looked at her with pity.
Xiao Shu didn't feel that she had anything to be ashamed of. When she put her hand down, she spread her palm and looked at it. The anger in her eyes disappeared completely, and said: "From a very young age, I thought that such a spoiled and willful princess I can do it for me. You are so high up that you don’t know the sufferings of the world, so naturally you don’t know the difficulties of being a minister and a slave.”
Shen Zhiyi didn't speak.
Xiao Shu smiled at her: "Let's go, Your Royal Highness."
Emperor Shen Lang and Empress Dowager Xiao had indeed been waiting for a while.
Shen Jie, king of Linzi, was also there.
Maybe it's because the result of choosing a concubine a month ago was not satisfactory. Although he won't get married until next month, his complexion is already a little depressed, and he doesn't look very happy.
The palace people communicated first before Shen Zhiyi came from outside the palace, she was uncharacteristically lively and pampered, saluted and greeted according to the court's etiquette according to the rules.
Xiao Shu came in behind her.
The slightly flushed palm prints on the cheeks are not eye-catching but are very obvious.
Sitting on a high place, the sleepy-faced emperor saw clearly at a glance, raised his brows, and glanced at Shen Zhiyi again, but there was a smile on his lips, but he didn't ask a word, as if he didn't see anything Talk to Shen Zhiyi as usual.
Empress Dowager Xiao also occasionally took care of her.
It's just that she didn't even look at Xiao Shu.
The previous dynasty was full of turmoil, and Xiao was overwhelmed because of the re-investigation of the Ganzhou disaster relief case. All kinds of evidence jumped out as if he had eyes, which made the Empress Dowager Xiao suspect that Xiao Shu left her Mercy Ning Palace that day. Later that night, she was named Concubine Xian because she had some kind of deal with the emperor.
In such a big royal family, people sat in the hall, talking about caring and blessings, but they all seemed grand and innocuous.
The only one with a touch of humanity is probably Shen Jie.
Ever since he saw Shen Zhiyi coming in, his brows had been frowning, worrying about the wind and sand on the road for a while, ordering food and drink along the road for a while, and opening his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something, but look at the expressions of the emperor's elder brother and his mother , In the end, I still hold back and let it go.
He is not the eldest son of the royal family. He grew up under the protection of his father, mother and elder brother, and he has nothing to do with winning the heir in the past. Passionate qualifications.
But affection is also limited by his cowardice.
In the past, Shen Zhiyi only thought that it was fun for this brother Wang to be close, but today, although he was in the middle of the game, he watched with cold eyes. Instead, he noticed some things that he hadn't noticed in the past, and saw clearly some details that he hadn't seen clearly in the past.
As soon as the narration was over, they invited incense to worship the gods, read out the imperial edict, and awarded the Dagan Festival Talisman, so that Shen Zhiyi could reconcile the conflicts between the two countries as the princess of Dagan after she arrived in the Huns.
After all the rituals, it's past Meridian.
Among the rich and noble families in Beijing, there are those who have good friends with Shen Zhiyi, such as the many companions of Yangzhizhai in the past, or the pure-minded playmates like King Pingnan, all come to the palace to see her and travel with her garden.
Although Xiao Shu was studying with Yang Zhi Zhai, she did not follow, she just watched from a distance by the rockery, and ordered the palace people beside her: "The original guards of Mingfeng Palace will be withdrawn, and the two palaces in the northwest and northeast will be retreated. If there is no order from the palace, no one is allowed to move it. Another person should be sent to watch carefully, and if the second girl from Jiang Shilang's house comes, please report to me first."
The palace people are really a little confused.
Xiao Shu lowered her eyes and narrowed her eyes, and she stopped looking at everyone in the imperial garden, and returned to her palace.
Jiang Xuening arrived late.
Passing through several palace gates along the way, I feel that there is no difference from every time I entered the palace before except for the lights and festoons. In the previous life, when Shen Zhiyi was married, she had already been selected as Princess Linzi, and she stayed in her mansion just waiting to get married, and Shen Zhiyi hated her for teasing her and was not close to her. Good morning, why would you come to the palace to see her off? Therefore, there is no way to compare the difference between the previous life and this life.
But there is Zheng Bao in the palace.
After passing through two palace gates, before entering the imperial garden, he saw Zheng Bao coming from the direction of Qianqing Palace. When passing by, he quickly said: "Concubine Xian, mobilize the guards, please enter the urn. The substitute has secretly hidden Mingfeng Palace, Princess Feng drives out of the palace at the third moment of Youzheng, and the girl must finish her work at the second moment of Youzheng, so that the princess will pretend to be a palace servant and go through the Shunzhen Gate, and the girl also asks you to leave the palace as soon as possible."
The third moment of Youzheng is the auspicious time for Qintian supervision.
The length of day and night in spring is similar, and the third quarter of Youzheng is the day when the sun is hidden and the beginning of the month is changing from yang to yin.
But Jiang Xuening thought about it, it was probably the same as being exiled in the middle of the night in the Yongyihou Mansion, the folks were quite critical of the marriage, the court was afraid that there would be too many people in the daytime and there would be troubles that would be difficult to deal with, so they simply made up a high-sounding reason to change the time to night.
She only nodded when she heard the words, without saying anything, and walked over as if nothing had happened.
The palace people led her to the imperial garden.
When Shen Zhiyi saw her, she complained nonchalantly that she came too late.
Jiang Xuening said with reddened eyes, then punish the servant girl to stay with the princess more.
Everyone knew when they entered Fengchen Palace that Princess Leyang had a preference for Jiang Xuening. Jiang Xuening was naturally reluctant to leave such a big backer, and there was nothing suspicious about such hypocrisy. She should stay and talk for a while. But they came early, and the two of them were not allowed to say something personal, when the sun was setting, they all said goodbye together, saying that they would see the princess off outside the city gate.
When everyone was there, Jiang Xuening was still able to hold her face tightly and prevent tears from falling.
As soon as everyone left, she took Shen Zhiyi's hand and called out in mourning, "Your Highness."
Late spring has arrived, and there are actually not many flowers left in the imperial garden.
Thick shade is everywhere, and the afterglow shines obliquely.
The palace people stood far away, Yan Yan's friends who had just laughed at her just now also dispersed, leaving only the deserted garden.
Shen Zhiyi was wearing luxurious clothes, but the heavy ornaments were a bit too cumbersome, pressing on her head and shoulders, swaying tremblingly.
She smiled at Jiang Xuening: "Earlier when Su Shangyi said she wanted you to put on my makeup, I told Ningning that I was going to cry when I saw you. I thought I was wrong when I saw that you weren't crying. I didn't think about you at all." Disappointing."
The end of the day is unitary.
How could Jiang Xuening have the heart to answer her jokes, she didn't have time to wipe away her tears, she just pulled her to get up from the pavilion, and said: "Your Highness, there is not much time left, come with me, go back to Mingfeng Palace first Bar."
Shen Zhiyi was startled: "What?"
Jiang Xuening looked around, only to see a little **** poking his head over here from a distance, guessing that it was someone from the palace to watch, she sneered in her heart, and said decisively: "The first thing has been arranged, you come back with me In Mingfeng Palace, you can leave the palace after changing your identity. For the matter of getting married, the best people will take care of the aftermath. As long as you can leave the palace safely, everything else will be guaranteed!"
She held Shen Zhiyi's hand and walked forward.
But after walking two steps, she felt a resistance coming from behind her. When she turned her head, she saw Shen Zhiyi standing where she was, looking at her with a confused expression.
At this moment, Jiang Xuening's heart skipped a beat.
Shen Zhiyi repeated: "Leaving the palace?"
Jiang Xuening felt that her heart was suspended high in the air by a fragile string, and even her voice trembled: "Yes, Your Highness, don't you remember? I asked you that day."
Shen Zhiyi seemed unable to remember.
She felt something was wrong.
Shen Zhiyi's answer that night was still vivid in her ears, and she repeated it to her, reminding her: "On my birthday, when I was drinking in Your Highness's palace, I asked His Highness if I didn't go and escape far away with my relatives, Your Highness replied He even said that he hates the emperor's family..."
It was getting dark.
The palace lanterns in the imperial garden were on.
There is some hustle and bustle of birds and insects in the distance, but it makes it even more desolate at this moment.
Shen Zhiyi was in a trance for a moment, one palace lantern after another was reflected in her pupils, but they were just meaningless shadows that didn't bring much warmth.
Blinking, the petal of cherry pink under the corner of the eye trembled slightly.
Like a drop of pink tears.
Did she remember it, her heart was moved, her eyes were red, but when she smiled, she felt bitter, she raised her hand to gently caress Jiang Xuening's slightly cold cheek, and said with tears in her eyes: "Silly Ningning, you even said It's drinking, those words are drunk words! How can you take it seriously..."
There was a "snap", the string was finally broken by this light and fluffy sentence, Jiang Xuening's heart hanging from a high place fell down, the fall hurt, woke up, and fell numb.
She could hardly believe what she heard.
My mind is a mess of chaos.
After reacting for a long time, she took a step back uncontrollably, and said like a dream: "How could it be? His Highness clearly doesn't want to go to Tatar to get married. You shouldn't go, You can't go either. Since you don't want to go, why do you want to go? I have made all the arrangements, you just need to go back to Mingfeng Palace, and you can escape from this square palace wall. Why don't you go, why don't you go Woolen cloth?"
Shen Zhiyi didn't think about it, she took her drunken words seriously, and after suppressing it several times, tears still boiled in her eyes.
Try to raise your head, not to let the tears fall.
Shutong was hung on the corner of the missing moon, and the cold frost covered her originally pale face, but there was a strange blush due to the delicate layer of rouge on her cheeks.
The wind blows, and the wide sleeves hunt.
She thought that she shouldn't disappoint Ning Ning's preparations that took so much painstaking effort, and she should let her innocent and indulgent temperament go away, but there was something heavier and deeper, pressing on her shoulders, weighing heavily on her shoulders. into her heart.
At this moment, Jiang Xuening couldn't see her face clearly, and couldn't see her eyes clearly.
Only her hoarse voice.
Shen Zhiyi said slowly: "Everyone in the world is qualified to escape, but I can't, and I am the only one who can't."
Jiang Xuening was very puzzled.
However, Shen Zhiyi stood on the steps, laughing at herself with a sad smile. The moonlight covered her body, adding an unspeakable heaviness: "People often say that eating the king's salary is a matter of being loyal to the king. In fact, it should be said the other way around. Food for the people is the livelihood of the people. The throne of the emperor and the reverence of the royal family do not fall from the sky. The taxation of the world, the corvee of all the people, the provision of fine clothes and jade food, worship in order to worship, treat yourself as a cow and horse, and regard the royal family as a God. I am in the palace, I am arrogant by nature, and I don’t know much, but you are in the market, you grow up in the countryside, and you should know how sad you are. If there is a war, the state has a big thief, and there is no loyalty. The overthrow of the royal family is a small matter, but the suffering of the people is a big crime. No matter how corrupt the court is, I am the princess of this empire after all..."
Jiang Xuening was completely stunned.
An idea that she had never had in her previous life finally popped up in her heart.
Shen Zhiyi slowly closed her eyes, as if she wanted to suppress the turbulent emotions in her heart, or to keep the courage she mustered up from retreating, and continued: "Ning Ning, I didn't do it out of any profound sense of righteousness. Just scared, terribly scared."
Jiang Xuening's throat was blocked and she couldn't speak.
Shen Zhiyi stared at her, and there was a bit more coldness and perseverance in his eyes than before: "I'm afraid, I'm afraid that I will run away when fate comes today, and I will lose without fighting from now on, and become a timid coward; I'm afraid, I'm afraid I dodge when the responsibility comes, and I will be miserable in the future, and I can't straighten my spine when the baby is crying!"
In the last life, Jiang Xuening didn't know how Shen Zhiyi went to Tartar to marry her, but only knew that the former bright princess was sleeping in the coffin.
She never thought of the possibility—
This spoiled and pampered princess in the past voluntarily went!
In the previous life, she disguised herself as a man, which made Shen Zhiyi fall in love with her by mistake, and then hated her again; in this life, when she came into contact with Shen Zhiyi, she said it was true love, but in fact it was more out of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages to curry favor.
She wanted to save Shen Zhiyi, but she just wanted to repay the kindness he had given her.
But until this moment, I didn't realize how ridiculous I was, how ridiculous I was, and how much I missed...
At this point, Jiang Xuening felt that he should not be persistent or forceful. After all, a person's thoughts are set, how can others change?
But just unwilling, just unwilling.
Do you want to watch her go to her fate without stopping her?
She took her hand and said almost beggingly: "Don't do this, Your Highness, don't do this. Whether it's drunk or not, you promised me, I will take you out of the palace, I will take you away!"
Shen Zhiyi's tears rolled down: "Just treat it as an extravagant wish that will never come to fruition."
She turned and left.
I'm afraid that if I look at her for a while, I will soften my heart and repent.
But Jiang Xuening chased after her, and finally shouted uncontrollably: "Tartar wolves are ambitious, getting married is only a way to slow down the army, this shouldn't be the price His Highness has to bear! Do you know that you might-"
Shen Zhiyi stopped in her tracks.
She didn't dare to say that word, she was afraid that if she said it, it would become true. Looking at her back, she said dejectedly: "Your Highness, I have traveled thousands of miles, and the return journey is long. I am just, just afraid that you will go for too long. You can't see me from time to time."
The flowers in the courtyard are all gone, and the shadows of the trees are mottled.
The precious green plum tree in the corner of the garden has jagged branches, resembling the bones of the dead outside Yanmen Pass.
There is a sweet fragrance of gardenia in the air.
Shen Zhiyi turned her back to Jiang Xuening, looked at the waning moon in the dark blue sky, looked around, and after a long time, looked back at her, but didn't say much, just leaned over and picked up the soft soil under the tree , walked back to her.
Then put the soil into her palm.
Can't tell whether it's light or heavy.
She smiled at Jiang Xuening, her eyes were as bright as stars: "Ningning, don't send me off. Someday, when Yan Lin leads a group of people to step through Yanmen with iron hooves, he will bring this old homeland with him to welcome me back to my homeland and return to my hometown. Old capital!"
Tears suddenly blurred his vision.
At the second quarter of Youzheng, Shen Zhiyi didn't stay any longer, and walked past the bright line of palace lanterns.
When her figure was about to disappear, Jiang Xuening stumbled forward and chased after a few steps, but in the blink of an eye, she couldn't see anything clearly in the darkness: "Your Highness, I promise you!"
The hoarse voice pierced the darkness.
Your Highness, I promise you—
When the iron hooves break through Yanmen in the future, I will take this old land and welcome you back to the old country and the old capital!
I promise you.