Chapter 20: The Selection (IV)
Style Qian Hall in the emperor's hand holding the white jade carving, enameled copper furnace burning Canaan incense instead of the emperor's mind, he got up in the temple wandering back and forth.
"Emperor, what is wrong with you?" Liu Yi asked in a timid voice, Liu Yi has been waiting for ten years at the emperor's side, most know the emperor's temperament, seldom see the emperor so agitated.
"Prepare the horses! I'm going out of the palace to get some air!" The Emperor said with a long beard.
"Your Majesty can't make it ah! This is not the year not the festival of the emperor out of the palace, if the Empress Mother knows, the old slave ..." Liu Yi wants to say and stop.
"You're afraid she'll punish you? Then I will reward you with twenty lashes now!" The Emperor's face had appeared to be sulking, and Liu Yi couldn't tell if the Emperor's sulking was real or not at this point.
"I dare not, I know I am wrong!" Liu Yi said and walked out with the emperor.
The Emperor changed into civilian clothes and ran with Liu Yi and ten guards all the way to the forest east of the Imperial City.
"Your Majesty! We have a royal garden, it seems too dangerous for you to come to this wild forest!" Liu Yi was quite worried about the Emperor's capriciousness.
"Dangerous? There is no king's land under the sky, are you saying that I am so uneasy in my governance that I am in danger at the foot of my own king's city?"
Liu Yi see the emperor's words have a full flavor of gunpowder also do not dare to persuade, had to prohibit tight driving horse to follow the emperor, in case the emperor is in danger.
Yuan Xi along with Yin Ruotang also arrived at this woodland, all kinds of trees in the forest, but in the cold winter, most of the trees are only left with bare trunks, only the pine and cypress that upright posture and dark green pine needles branches and leaves look verdant. The trees in the forest are so dense that they can't run, so the two of them have to ride slowly.
Yin Ruotang lured Yuan Xi to the deep pit dug in advance, wanting to impress Yuan Xi again with the plan of saving the beauty of the hero. Along the way, Yin Ruotang is looking for words and flattering Yuan Xi.
And the emperor side has also run to the forest, four guards in front of the road, six guards and then wait. The forest is dense, and there is snow yet to be cleared, the horses can not run up, Gu also leisurely and slow.
Suddenly, with a thud, the guards in front of the emperor planted themselves with their horses, and the crowd fixed their eyes on them, and it turned out that they had fallen into a shallow pit.
"Luckily, someone went ahead to scout the road again! It's good that His Majesty is unhurt!" Liu Yi said turned over and dismounted, stood in front of the imperial seat to hold the horses under the emperor. Suddenly raised his eyes and saw a man and a woman in the distance, a man and a woman two figures, a closer look, the woman on the horse is that day at the market, the emperor misses the person.
Then he joyfully kowtowed, "Your Majesty, look, is this the woman on the sheep's white jade?"
The Emperor followed the point of his hand and fixed his eyes on the woman in the distance, who was the very person he had been thinking about day and night.
He looked at the horse and guards that fell into the deep pit, suddenly the plan came to him, even directly reached out and pulled out the guards that fell into the pit, immediately said: "You including you Liu Yi, pull your horses are hiding, can not be found by her two, otherwise I take you to ask for punishment."
"But leaving the Emperor alone is dangerous." Liu Yi couldn't help but sharply redden his face when he saw the Emperor come up with this ploy.
Looking at the two of them as they drew closer, the Emperor's mind became more anxious and he sternly said, "Those who disobey orders, behead." The crowd did not dare to speak again, pulling their horses away quickly, hiding a hundred meters away, striving not to be discovered.
Seeing the guards and Liu Yi walking away, the Emperor jumped into the pit and shouted for help towards Yuan Xi and Ruotang.
Ruotang keeps looking at Yuan Xi, who has been concentrating on riding his horse, until he hears cries for help and Yuan Xi and Ruotang realize that someone has fallen in the pit. Ruotang immediately had mixed feelings, not realizing that the hero failed to save the beauty, but instead dragged others down. Seeing the emperor pretending to be injured, he is very ashamed, so he and Yuan Xi team up to pull out the emperor and the horse.
The emperor was naturally happy to see the beauty he had been thinking about day and night, but the Yuan Xi in front of him seemed to be different from the previous one, and for some reason there was a new wound on her forehead. But even so, it is difficult to hide her natural beauty.
The Emperor took the opportunity to feel grateful for the duo's life-saving kindness, and deliberately condescended to say, "Many thanks to the gentleman and the lady, dare I ask how the gentleman and the lady are addressed?"
Yin Ruotang did not deny it, but Yuan Xi said, "I am not his wife."
See Yuan Xi said so, Yin Ruotang quite feel lost a few points of face, busy smile and said: "Today is not yet, in a few days is, my father has proposed marriage."
Although Yin Ruotang has said to propose marriage, but the emperor heart is still happy, as long as not married to their own will have the opportunity, so continue to condescend to talk: "Dare to ask the gentleman, Miss where to stay? I would like to thank you some other day."
Yin Ruotang replied with a smile, "My name is Yin Ruotang, and I live in the residence of the Left Minister of Shangshu in the capital. She is Hu Yuanxi, the daughter of Uncle Wu Shi."
"So it's Prince Yin and Miss Hu, thank you, thank you." The Emperor slightly clasped his fists in acknowledgement.
"A show of hands, no need to say thank you." Yin Ruotang said.
"If today is cold and the road is slippery, I don t know that the two of you are here ..." The emperor tried again.
"Originally, it was to be a hunt, but just as Your Excellency said, it was cold and did not see any prey." Yin Ruotang said.
Seeing Yuan Xi's reticence to speak, and seeing that she was carrying an arrow basket behind her, the Emperor smiled and said, "Seeing that the young lady is carrying an arrow feather on her back, could it be that she has also practiced archery?"
Yuan Xi was unwilling to talk, but since others were talking to him, out of politeness, he had to reply, "I'm slightly good at it."
"The girl is really great!" The Emperor exclaimed.
When Yin Ruotang saw that the Emperor was riding alone and stuck in this place, he asked, "Why has Your Majesty come here?"
"I came from outside the city, wanting to find a shortcut through the forest to Kyoto, who would have thought I'd be stuck here. I don't know the way through the forest, I wonder if you two can take me out?"
"Naturally." Yin Ruotang replied cheerfully.
So the three of them rode out of the forest on three horses, and Ruotang first sent Yuan Xi back to Ronghua Temple, then helped the emperor find an inn to settle in.
After Yin Ruotang left, the emperor returned to the palace under the escort of ten guards and Liu Yi. On the same day in the style Qian Hall, the pen wrote the imperial edict: "Hu's daughter, with a handsome face and tranquil character, is now named Cheng Hua, special access to the palace half-drive!"
The imperial edict copied two copies, one sent to Huai Lin Hu House, one sent to Ronghua Temple, the emperor personally decided, will receive Hu's daughter Hu Yuanxi in the double two of the festival in the palace to accompany the driver.
The holy decree was the first to reach Ronghua Temple, after receiving the holy decree, all the people including Master Jindan were shocked, not knowing the reason why Yuan Xi, who had already lost the election, suddenly entered the holy decree to enter the palace again.
Yuan Xi, although reluctant, but also can not disobey the will of the Holy, after all, she is now Hu Yuan Xi, if really disobeyed the will of the Holy, will drag Hu Yuan Xi's family, even if the damned concubine mother and weak and incompetent father do not have to take into account, but after all, there is still a house in the house and her bloodline, with the same father, same mother, his own brother.
After Yin Ruotang learned of this, he sat in silence for three whole days and nights. Separation was not scary, because one was prepared for it; but to have it taken away again after it was lost and found was unbearable.
Huai Lin Hu House, really big fall and rise. First is the election, then the Yin family to propose marriage, and now even received the imperial decree, sealed Hu's Cheng Hua, so that the double two of the festival into the palace half-drive, which for Hu Gong is simply as happy as the sky falling.
The news spread and soon spread all over Huai Lin City, and all the rich and noble families in Huai Lin City, big and small, who could be related to Hu House, came to congratulate them.
The imminent appearance of an imperial concubine in Huai Lin was not only the honor of the Hu family, but also the honor of Huai Lin. The only people in Huai Lin who hated the idea of Hu Yuanxi entering the palace as a concubine were Lu Jin and the others.