Yuan Zhaorong, who was the same age as Isabella, originally just regarded taking care of this Western woman as an ordinary task, hoping to get more attention from Chongzhen.

But since handing over Isabella to her, Chongzhen seems to have forgotten about this Western woman, which makes Yuan Zhaorong a little disappointed.

However, Isabella's innocence and the overseas strange stories she told gave Yuan Zhaorong, who was locked up within the high walls, a lot of joy.

Although the Forbidden City is large, there are always high walls that obscure the scenery from sight.

As a 17-year-old girl, although Yuan Zhaorong tried her best to pretend to be mature, she couldn't help but feel lonely in her heart.

Isabella's appearance has also become a little bright color in her lonely life. In particular, after listening to Isabella's story that the whale, which is like a hill in the sea, can actually jump out of the sea and make a low, melodious call, she thought that it would be good if she could go to the sea with her own eyes.

When the two of them took a few palace maids to pass the Qianqiu Pavilion from the west walkway, they heard a sound of musical instruments from Le Zhizhai in the east, which they had never heard before.

There is a small pond between Qianqiu Pavilion and Lezhizhai, and there is a side road along the rockery made of Taihu Lake stone masonry in the south.

Yuan Zhaorong was listening attentively, trying to distinguish what kind of instrument it was, Isabella beside her was already excitedly pulling her arm and said: "It's Hapsicord, I didn't expect that in the imperial palace in Beijing, there is also a Hapsicord." Let's go check it out, my Hapsicord is playing well. ”

"You slow down, what's Hapsicord?" Yuan Zhaorong, who was dragged by Isabella's arm, involuntarily followed, and couldn't help asking.

Isabella didn't slow down, she looked ahead and her eyes lit up and said, "It's a musical instrument, we also call it a harpsichord." Maybe I'll be able to play a piece for you later, the Concerto for Bible Stories, it's a very interesting instrument..."

Tian Xiuying was sitting next to a strangely shaped musical instrument, listening to a 4 or 50-year-old eunuch play the instrument.

This eunuch may have not played for a long time, and often made mistakes, and his forehead was covered with sweat for a while.

"Forget it, let's stop. That's all for today, you can go back and remember how you played. Tian Xiuying finally couldn't listen to it anymore, and stopped the eunuch with a voice.

The other eunuch who was standing next to the eunuch hurriedly pleaded guilty to Tian Xiuying: "The slave and maid have not done this for many years, and they really have a bad memory, and they have failed to meet the expectations of His Highness. Please also ask Your Highness for forgiveness. ”

"Madame, can you let me try it?" A voice suddenly came from behind Tian Xiuying.

Tian Xiuying turned around and saw Isabella, who was eager to try, and Yuan Zhaorong, who was standing at the door with a quiet face.

She was about to refuse, but she thought that if she wanted to show her piano skills in front of Chongzhen on New Year's Day, she had to find someone who was familiar with the piano to guide her.

So after Tian Xiuying got up and saluted Yuan Zhaorong, she pretended to be casual and asked, "What, do you know how to play this piano?" Then give it a try. ”

Isabella was allowed to move on to the instrument, and she said, "It turns out that the people of the Ming Kingdom call it the piano, and our hometown calls it Hapsicord." ”

After Isabella tried a few keys, she said happily: "This piano is well maintained, let me play a song for you." ”

Isabella played a piece of music for the consecration of the church she studied in Macau, which had a grandiose and sacred feeling, but there were no genius musicians in Europe at this time, so there was no complete chapter of the hymn written specifically for the church.

When Isabella was playing, Tian Xiuying's eyes were half-closed, and her white teeth gently bit her bright red lips, feeling the music with devotion.

When Isabella finished playing, she opened her eyes and said with regret: "Very good instrument, beautiful tone, but unfortunately lacking some variations..."

Obviously, among the three women present, Tian Xiuying's musical attainments can be said to be at the expert level. Yuan Zhaorong only has an ordinary level of music, while Isabella can also talk to Tian Xiuying with European religious music.

Seeing that Isabella was actually impressed by Tian Xiuying's musical talent, this made Yuan Zhaorong a little unhappy, she stroked the piano and interrupted the conversation between the two, and interjected: "Is this piano also brought by those Westerners to His Majesty?" ”

The conversation with Isabella made Tian Xiuying think about how to compose music for this instrument, which made her feel very happy, so the little hostility towards Yuan Zhaorong in the past also subsided a lot.

"No, this is a Western musical instrument presented to Emperor Shenzong by Matteo Ricci, a former Western missionary. A few days ago, when His Majesty ordered an inventory of the items in the palace and made a register, this musical instrument was discovered.

His Majesty said that this was the predecessor of the piano, and asked me to try to design a real piano based on this instrument using the twelve equal temperaments of Duanjing Shizi. An instrument that contains all the notes and can express the strength and weakness of the high and low tones..."

Seeing Tian Xiuying, who became radiant as soon as he talked about music, Yuan Zhaorong suddenly felt a sense of frustration.

She stroked her forehead with her right hand, and said with an unnatural expression: "I seem to be a little uncomfortable, so I won't disturb you talking about music." ”

Tian Xiuying said nonchalantly: "Sister Yuan, you can go back to rest first, and I will send Isabella back later." ”

Yuan Zhaorong walked to the door, quietly turned around to look, and found that Isabella and Tian Xiuying were talking happily, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, then turned around and walked out hurriedly with his head down.

"Ahh When Yuan Zhaorong walked quickly with her head down, she slammed into a person's arms, and she fell backwards in fright.

But Zhu Youzhen, who was soon hugged in his arms by someone who came and wanted to take a break in the "Palace Garden", looked at Yuan Zhaorong, who was beautiful in his arms, and couldn't help but say funny: "It seems that this is the second time you have bumped into my arms, Lu Dongbin is a white peony in three plays, is it possible that you want to hit Zhu Youzhen three times?" ”

Chongzhen's ridicule suddenly made Yuan Zhaorong a little embarrassed, looking at the tearful appearance of the beautiful woman, Zhu Youzhen remembered that it seemed that the current woman was very thin-skinned, and what he said just now seemed to be frivolous.

"Ahem, ahem. Concubine Yuan is planning to go there, why is she so flustered. Zhu Youzhen subconsciously cleared his throat and asked seriously.

After hearing that Chongzhen no longer teased herself, Yuan Zhaorong's mood stabilized a little, and after she gave Chongzhen a blessing, she lowered her head and said: "The concubine is coming out of Le Zhizhai, but she doesn't want to go anywhere, she just wants to walk around the back garden." ”

Zhu Youzhen faintly heard a burst of music coming from the front, and couldn't help but stop and listen for a while.

Seeing Chongzhen's appearance, Yuan Zhaorong's eagerness suddenly became cold again, and she couldn't help but say coldly: "Sister Tian is playing the piano in the fast, Your Majesty can do your own thing, please ask Concubine Rong to retire." ”

Seeing that Yuan Zhaorong seemed to be a little jealous, Zhu Youzhen also touched his nose a little embarrassed. For this beauty, he does not care enough about it on weekdays.

Zhu Youzhen likes to be with Tian Xiuying the most, because he can forget about tiresome political affairs. As a balance, he couldn't let Empress Zhou Yufeng be wronged, after all, in this era of strict etiquette, it was also the sin of the emperor to favor one person by the officials.

But in this way, Yuan Zhaorong seems to be marginalized by him. Seeing Yuan Zhaorong's appearance of walking away in a negative mood, Zhu Youzhen subconsciously grabbed her hand.

"Since Concubine Tian practices piano skills, I won't bother her. I don't know if the concubine is willing to accompany me to relax? ”

Thinking that the beautiful woman in front of him might not be able to leave the palace in her life, Zhu Youzhen felt full of apologies in her heart.

Zhou Yufeng, Tian Xiuying, and Yuan Zhaorong are three women, if they are in the future, maybe none of them will have anything to do with him, but now they are all vying to please him, which makes Zhu Youzhen feel both happy and a little afraid.

Having grown up in the republic, he really couldn't treasure these women as objects, which made him feel guilty, because he always wanted to get along with the three of them, and God knows how long such a quiet day would last.

Being held by Chongzhen and strolling in the back garden, the emperor's behavior made Yuan Zhaorong feel very shy, thinking about whether this would cause criticism from the palace people, but she was not willing to let go of Chongzhen's hand like this.

The Emperor's hands were much larger than hers, and they were warm, though they were slightly prickly. "Stinger?" Yuan Zhaorong felt a little strange, she used a little force.

Chongzhen glanced back at her, and also held it tighter. Yuan Zhaorong blushed a little, she just wanted to make sure that the emperor had calluses on his hands, and she was not Xiang Chongzhen**.

Yuan Zhaorong, whose face was crimson, lowered his head and thought, "It seems that the rumors that His Majesty has set up a wrestling room in the Qianqing Palace are indeed true." ”

Hetian Xiuying and Yuan Zhaorong are in a different mood now, and Queen Zhou Yufeng is feeling a headache.

In the Xinuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace, Zhou Yufeng was talking to his father Zhou Kui, the newly canonized Jiadingbo.

originally thought that he was coming to visit his father, but from the beginning he kept chattering, the emperor's son-in-law was too unkind, the field was too small, and he was not given a position, and the poor family could only buy moldy rice to eat.

And Tian Hongyu, who was also a royal prince, became the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and he was arrogant in front of him, which really made him sad.

All in all, the Ming Dynasty is the emperor's son-in-law, how can he watch his father-in-law's family suffer poverty?

Seeing her father crying to her all the time, wanting her to intercede with the emperor, reward the Zhou family with a field, and give her brother an official position, Zhou Yufeng felt a little numb.

Since entering the palace, Chongzhen seems to have changed a person. The distinction between public and private is very clear, and it has become very assertive.

Although Zhou Yufeng didn't know what the world of Daming was like before, after following Chongzhen's instructions and accompanying the emperor's sister-in-law Empress Zhang, he learned a lot of the truth about Daming from Empress Zhang.

In this case, how dare she and don't want to let Chongzhen feel upset about her family affairs anymore.