In the early morning, the sky of Shendu, which had been hazy for many days, finally showed a ray of bright sunshine. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the courtyard, Princess Taiping held a little baby in her arms and walked softly. It seemed that she was in a good mood today, but only the Linlang sisters who were nearby could notice that the little smile on the princess's face could not hide the sorrow in her heart at all.

Today is a special day, Princess Taiping's birthday.

In the past, at this time of year, Princess Taiping's mansion was even more lively than the New Year. Because Xue Shao has always attached great importance to the princess's birthday. At this time, Xue Shao, who has always disliked publicity, will make an exception to invite guests and friends to a banquet, and use all the means he can think of to celebrate Princess Taiping's birthday.

But today, the house is calm. There is no singing and dancing, there is no guest crowding, and there is no trace of its different scene from the past. The only thing that can make the Linlang sisters feel a little relieved is that Princess Taiping, who has been living a very depressed and painful life recently, can finally show a hint of a smile occasionally. The reason is the child she is holding in her arms.

In the words of Princess Taiping, Yu Hongye is really a blessed person, and she "lived up to the trust" to give birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix twins to Xue Shao. The two little dolls, one is an elder brother and the other is a younger sister, and they all look as beautiful and cute as pink balls. There are too many troubles and helplessness in the outside world, but only when holding Yu Hongye's newborn child, Princess Taiping can taste some of the beauty of human nature and the joy of life from their innocent and immaculate eyes.

"Back then, my mother hugged me like this, right?"

"Did she ever think that in a few years, our mother and daughter would be each other's biggest troubles?"

Thinking of this, Princess Taiping sighed involuntarily. The child in his arms seemed to have a heart, and suddenly began to cry.

"Lin'er, take it and hand it over to the nurse to take care of." As soon as the child cried, the last bit of good mood of Princess Taiping was ruined.

Lin'er hurriedly took the child away, and Lang'er stepped forward to ask for instructions: "Your Highness, is it time to start the banquet?" ”

"No need." Princess Taiping said lightly, "I don't want to celebrate this year's birthday. Just let it pass quietly as usual! ”

"This ...... Not okay? Lang'er said cautiously, "If you let your husband know, you will be blamed." ”

"If you can't take care of many important things, who still has the heart to entangle such trivial matters?" Princess Taiping sighed again, "No need to mention it again, just do it!" ”

"Yes."

The two of them wandered around and walked to the vicinity of the mansion gate. Seeing the armored soldiers standing at the door, Princess Taiping's brows couldn't help but wrinkle.

The guards of Princess Taiping's Mansion have all changed.

Since the beginning of the Second Sage Era, Princess Taiping's guards have all been served by carefully selected Imperial Forest Army, all of them are heroic and well-equipped, and it is an extremely beautiful scenery to put out the guard of honor and go out. Once upon a time, these guards were one of the symbols of Princess Taiping's favor by the emperor. But since the right guard mutiny and Princess Taiping persuaded her to retreat, Wu Zetian changed all Princess Taiping's guards and doubled the manpower.

To put it nicely, it is the turbulent situation that the empress wants to better protect Princess Taiping; To put it mildly, Princess Taiping is now under layers of surveillance, and even "semi-house arrest".

was reprimanded for meritorious service without reward, and was treated as a thief afterwards, which is no longer a grievance that can be described. If it was the former Princess Taiping, she would have been turned upside down. But today, Princess Taiping's performance is completely unfazed. Even Linlang, who accompanies her day and night, often secretly sighs that the princess is really becoming more and more like her husband, and she has learned to forbear. And this kind of inextricable forbearance is not weakness, it is as quiet as Mount Tai; If you move, you will be like a prairie fire!

The years have not left a few traces of old age on Princess Taiping's face, but it has precipitated too much life wisdom in her heart. How much Xue Shao influenced this, Princess Taiping herself can't say. She just felt more and more that although the two were thousands of miles apart, it seemed that Xue Shao had never left her side. Because invisibly, she has already used "Xue's thinking" to think about many problems. She believed that if Xue Shao was by her side at the moment, he would face everything in front of him in the same way. This may really be the fulfillment of the sweet words of the two when they were newly married, husband and wife are the other half of each other's lives.

"Your Highness, I have a visitor."

Princess Taiping was about to turn around and go back, when she heard the sound and looked back, her heart was in her heart - you shouldn't have come!

On Gongren, he took his wife Xue and brought gifts to the mansion to celebrate Princess Taiping's birthday.

Seeing this, Lang'er's expression also changed slightly, and she whispered: "Your Highness, how is it good?" ”

Princess Taiping's eyebrows sank slightly, and she raised her hand decisively, "Treat guests to a banquet!" ”

"Yes!"

On Gong Ren came in, and the tiger walked in the clouds. These Royal Forest Soldiers at the door were all his subordinates, and they didn't dare to question out loud.

"On so-and-so, see Your Highness." On Gongren, who was dressed in civilian clothes, did not change the style of a soldier, and hugged his fists and bowed, "Neiko reminded that today is His Highness's birthday, so he took the liberty to come to the house to congratulate him, and hoped that His Highness would forgive his sins!" ”

Princess Taiping nodded and smiled, "On the general, today you are the only person who came to the palace in person to celebrate the birthday of the palace." This palace is very rewarding! ”

"Unique?" On Gongren was slightly stunned, and glanced around, it was really quite deserted.

"Yes, the only one." Princess Taiping smiled.

On Gong Ren grinned nonchalantly, "Then I will trouble His Highness and give a banquet to Lun alone." ”

Princess Taiping was immediately happy, and said in her heart that the fierce general from the plateau was really different from the doctor in the Central Plains. Not to mention the cunning and snobbery of a politician, he doesn't even understand the slightest politeness.

"On the general, please have a banquet in the main hall!"

"Thank you, Your Highness! Your Highness, please first! ”

Princess Taiping made an exception and held a banquet in the main hall to entertain the Gongren couple. On Gongren's wife, Xue Shi, is Xue Yuanchao's daughter, and this marriage was facilitated by Xue Shao in the middle. Counting up, Gong Ren is also the son-in-law of the Xue family in Fenyin, and is the cousin-in-law of Xue Shao and Princess Taiping.

After the ceremonial push of the cup and the exchange of the lamp to present the congratulatory speech, the Gong Ren explained the intention. He said: "Your Highness, in fact, when you come here today, in addition to congratulating Your Highness on his birthday, there is also a layer of meaning. ”

Princess Taiping probably guessed what he wanted to say, so she waved her hand to rebuke the musicians and maiko idlers on both sides, and then said, "General, please speak." ”

"That's straightforward." On Gongren hugged his fists and bowed, and said: "On a certain heard, I still have blood relatives in this world. And she happened to be in the princess's house. I want to ask Your Highness, is this true? ”

Princess Taiping smiled slightly, "It's true." ”

On Gong Ren's eyes widened suddenly, "Really?!" ”

Princess Taiping nodded slightly.

On Gongren stood up excitedly, pulled his wife up and saluted Princess Taiping together, "Thank you, Your Highness, tell me the truth!" ”

Princess Taiping smiled silently, only thinking in her heart, now at this extremely sensitive juncture, almost everyone is deliberately keeping a distance from me, but Gong Ren still dares to go to my mansion to ask for confirmation of the matter of the moon slave, it is really bold. He must not be stupid, and it is impossible not to even understand the truth of "avoiding suspicion". Because of this, it can be seen that Gong Ren is a person with a frank temperament.

"Your Highness, there is one more thing to ask for!"

Princess Taiping looked at him curiously, "General, please speak?" ”

On Gongren said: "On the Shaolin Temple of Songshan several times and wanted to ask to see Master Wu Ming. However, Master Wu Ming has been avoiding it. Therefore, I have never been able to see my little nephew Dingguo. I hope that His Royal Highness will be able to persuade Master Wu Ming to meet me? ”

"I'm sorry, but this palace can't help you in this matter." Princess Taiping said, "Wu Ming has a special identity, he and his husband are called master and servant, and they are really like master and apprentice. Even his husband has an unusual respect for him, and this palace is naturally not good at forcing him. And he is a master of the world, and he has his own reasons for what he wants to do. I advise the general, since blood is thicker than water, why rush for a while? ”

“…… That's right, too! On Gongren smiled with relief, "Just wait for Xue Gong and Miss Yuenu to return to Beijing, it's not too late to cook!" ”

Princess Taiping nodded and smiled.

"Thank you, Your Highness, on a certain farewell!"

Without waiting for Princess Taiping to speak out, Gong Ren pulled up his wife, and walked away with joyful strides.

Princess Taiping almost lost her voice and laughed, she was really a big man.

After a while, before the banquet was withdrawn, Shangguan Wan'er came in from outside the door, stepped forward with a look of surprise on her face and said, "Your Highness, I seem to have seen Gong Ren and his wife?" ”

"Yes." Princess Taiping replied, "The two of them came to the mansion to celebrate my birthday and asked about the moon slave. ”

Shangguan Wan'er became more and more stunned, "Now that the government and the opposition know that the relationship between Princess Taiping's Mansion and the Middle Palace is very stiff, all the civil and military ministers are avoiding suspicion and dare not get too close to us." At present, Gong Ren is the most respected and trusted commander of the Imperial Forest Army by His Majesty, and even Li Duozuo has been overpowered by him. But he did not shy away from going to the house to celebrate His Highness's birthday in person...... This is too bold! ”

"At first, I also thought that Gong Ren was indeed too reckless, and regarded the future and life as child's play." Princess Taiping said, "After thinking about it carefully, I seem to see that he did it deliberately. ”

"What's the explanation?" Shangguan Wan'er asked.

Princess Taiping said: "First of all, Gong Ren is definitely not stupid. ”

"Of course."

Princess Taiping continued: "Everyone is avoiding suspicion, but Gong Ren is a maverick. Perhaps, he just wanted to deliberately touch the mold. ”

"Oh?" Shangguan Wan'er was surprised: "Why is he like this? ”

"On Gongren is sandwiched between His Majesty and his husband, and it has always been difficult to be a person." Princess Taiping said, "Because Gongren is a general, and he doesn't have half of his foundation and connections in the court, my mother has special respect and trust in him." But everyone knows that Gong Ren was invited by his husband from the plateau. He was able to survive and have the status he has today, most of which is due to the blessing of his husband. Moreover, the matter of the moon slave will also affect his mind to some extent. On this side is the emperor's grace, and on the other side is personal favor and family affection, which will make Gong Ren in a dilemma. The last time the right guard mutinied, my mother sent Gong Ren to lead troops to suppress it, I saw the contradiction in his heart. Therefore, I suspect that Gong Ren came to celebrate my birthday today because he wanted to get out of his current embarrassing situation. ”

Shangguan Wan'er suddenly realized, "Your Highness means that he is deliberately making a mistake so that His Majesty will demote his official position?" That way, he doesn't have to be caught in the middle? ”

"Why not?" Princess Taiping sighed lightly, "This method is stupid, but it is also very effective. Now I'm only worried that with my mother's character, I'm afraid that Gong Ren will not just lose his official position! ”

"I hope not!" Shangguan Wan'er's brows also furrowed, "Otherwise, today's banquet will be the price of Gong Ren's ...... It's too big! ”