Wu Mu murmured to the wood carving for a long time, then slowly put away the wood carving and started eating.
As he ate, he frowned in thought.
Pei Xiuyan rebelled in Dianzhou, and the south of Dafeng was unsafe. Since he came out of Kyoto, he has been walking north all the way and arrived at Licheng unknowingly.
This is already the Dafeng border.
Should he continue heading north to Beirong, or turn around and head east of Dafeng?
At the table back to back with him, there was a group of big and thick men. They were changing glasses and making a lot of noise.
One of the burly men took a sip of wine and pretended to be mysterious: "I tell you, Emperor Beirong is going to do something earth-shattering again."
Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, the originally noisy table suddenly became quiet, and they all listened carefully and waited for the next words.
Emperor Beirong, Na Sheng, had only been on the throne for less than a year, but he had already done countless horrific things.
For example: making his prince brother into meat cakes and forcing the ministers to eat them, and killing all the people with that surname in the royal family.
In Dafeng Kyoto, in order to watch a woman dance a sword, he gave Licheng to Dafeng.
The rebels were cut into pieces and fed to the dogs, forcing the people to watch.
Raising tigers in the palace and feeding disobedient eunuchs and maids alive to the tigers...
Everyone wants to know what crazy act this new emperor of Beirong has done.
The man deliberately took another sip of wine, paused, and then said slowly: "I heard that he built a golden house in the palace, hid a beautiful girl of unknown origin, and planned to make the girl a queen."
The people at the table burst into laughter.
Someone said scornfully: "I thought it was a big deal."
It is not unusual for Emperor Beirong to do this.
Many city residents here felt that they were a blessing in disguise after learning that Licheng was given to Dafeng.
Although Emperor Dafeng Pei Ye was not a benevolent and virtuous emperor, at least he would not do the crazy things that Emperor Beirong did.
Now that they heard that the beautiful girl in the Shengjin House was going to be established as a queen, everyone just felt that it was business as usual.
So what if the origin is unknown?
Which minister dares to object?
According to Na Sheng's temperament, as long as someone dared to say that this woman could not be established as Queen Beirong, he would definitely cut that person into pieces on the spot and feed it to the tiger.
Seeing that his words had no encouraging effect, the man who spoke scratched his head in disbelief.
"Aren't you curious about what kind of woman could be favored by Emperor Beirong?"
These words succeeded in making the people at the table excited.
Curious indeed.
After Na Sheng ascended the throne, he consecrated more than a hundred concubines, all of whom were daughters of court ministers.
Rumor has it that he never touched these concubines. Some concubines tried to seduce him, but he carried them and fed them to tigers on the spot.
From then on, no concubine dared to approach him again.
He has not mentioned the matter of establishing a queen so far, and the courtiers dare not say anything. The position of Queen Beirong is still vacant.
What kind of woman must Na Sheng like to hide and make her his queen?
The man smiled when he saw that everyone was finally excited.
"The tenth day of October is the Beirong Ten Thousand Lanterns Festival. Na Sheng will definitely take that woman to the city tower to put out lanterns. We will know when the time comes."
These words ignited the excitement of the people at the table, and they started talking loudly.
There is a tradition in Beirong that on the tenth day of the tenth lunar month every year, the emperor and his queen ascend the city tower and personally read the book of prayers to heaven.
Pray that God will bless Beirong with good weather and peace for the country and the people.
If the queen has not yet been established, the emperor will be chosen by the queen to ascend the city tower.
After the emperor reads the Book of Prayer to Heaven, he will order people to release ten thousand Kongming Lanterns. At that time, ten thousand Kongming Lanterns will rise into the sky at the same time and wander in the sky like a galaxy.
Strangely enough, it has not rained in Beirong for decades on the tenth day of October, so the Lantern Festival can be held smoothly every time.
As the Star City of Beirong Imperial City, on the tenth day of October every year, many people flock in to watch the excitement and pay homage, including people from all over the West Sea.
If Na Sheng must make this girl of unknown origin his queen, he will definitely take the girl to the city tower during the Lantern Festival.
At that time, the people can see the girl in person.
The people at the table became more and more excited as they discussed, and they all started to guess who this girl was. What's the origin? What kind of temper?
As beautiful as a flower, charming a country?
Gentle as water, charming and charming?
Or is he as cruel and cruel as Na Sheng?
The discussion among these people was very exciting, but Wu Mu was moved behind the scenes.
He had no interest in the matter of hiding the beauty in the Shengjin House, but he had a deep memory of the Lantern Festival in Beirong.
He knew that this Ten Thousand Lanterns Festival is also called Lantern Festival among the people of Beirong.
When he was traveling in the West, he attended one in person. Even though he had been traveling around for several years, he was still shocked by the scene at that time.
When thousands of lanterns are lifted into the sky, the night becomes the best background. The sky lanterns are dotted on it, and the star city instantly becomes a fairyland, unlike the human world.
Wu Mu suddenly bent the corners of his lips and touched his heart.
"Ayan, let me take you to see the thousands of lanterns rising into the sky."
Today is the last day of August. If we set out from Licheng now, we can reach Star City in early October.
※
In the morning, Na Sheng woke up refreshed and ready to get up and go to court.
Seeing that Ye Chuyan was not sleeping, but lying on his side with his eyes wide open, his whole body was as stiff as a clay sculpture.
The girl's shoulders and waist were hidden under the loose pajamas. They were extremely slender, and her exquisite curves could already be seen.
However, her eyes were empty.
After Na Sheng changed into the dragon robe, he asked the palace maid to bring a set of red palace clothes for Ye Chuyan to change into.
Ye Chuyan didn't want to guess or ask what Na Sheng was going to do.
Just let the maids dress up for you.
After washing up, Ye Chuyan sat quietly on the chair.
Na Sheng walked around Ye Chuyan and found that Ye Chuyan was really suitable for wearing red.
The rich red color complements her valiant eyebrows, coupled with the girl's tenderness and cuteness, she is so beautiful that people can't take their eyes away.
He sat down, held Ye Chuyan in his arms, and carefully traced her entire face with his hands.
Na Sheng's skin color was unusually white, and his slender fingers were like white jade carvings.
Ye Chuyan felt as uncomfortable as being scalded by boiling water when Na Sheng touched her like this.
In the end, he couldn't hold it back and turned his face slightly.
Na Sheng smiled with satisfaction.
"I knew you had feelings for me."
Ye Chuyan clenched his fist, then loosened it halfway.
Forget it, don’t be annoyed anymore.
Na Sheng could always easily pull out all his emotions and emotions and knead them again and again.
Na Sheng is a demon in the world, and she can't fight him.
Na Sheng noticed the clenching of Ye Chuyan's hand and happily put her down, holding her hand and walking out of the house.
The sedan chair outside was ready, and Na Sheng hugged Ye Chuyan and got on the sedan chair.
Ye Chuyan sat on the sedan chair and was silent for a while.
When the sedan was first driven to the inside of a palace, Na Sheng led her into the front hall, and she was shocked to discover that this was the palace where political discussions were held in the previous dynasty.
The officials have been waiting for a long time. Although their emperor is unpredictable and cruel, he is never late for court. For some reason, he has not arrived today.
Finally, the eunuch's voice came: "The Emperor has arrived -"
All the officials knelt down and saluted.
"Long live my emperor, long live, long live—"
The shouts were deafening and lingered in the hall.
After waiting for a long time, the officials did not dare to move and could only continue to bow to the ground.
Ye Chuyan looked at the scene in front of him and felt it was magical and weird.
Na Sheng held her in his arms and sat on the high dragon chair, looking down at the officials below, watching them prostrate themselves at their feet, shouting long live.
Na Sheng didn't respond, they just knelt on the ground humbly, not daring to raise their heads, like ants.
This situation made Ye Chuyan couldn't help but turn his head to look at Na Sheng.
Na Sheng was wearing a golden dragon robe and a beaded crown.
His double pupils were obscured by black beads and could not be seen very clearly. Only his tall nose and tight thin lips were revealed on his face.
At this moment, he looked solemn and coercive. He had completely become an unfathomable emperor, and there was nothing unusual about him.
However, Ye Chuyan clearly knew how crazy this person was.
As the majestic head of a country, he actually brought a woman of his own class to the morning court! He even sat on the king’s exclusive dragon chair!
Seeing that Ye Chuyan's expression finally changed, Na Sheng whispered in her ear: "Do you like this feeling of being above ten thousand people?"
Na Sheng's breath was as hot as his body temperature, so hot that Ye Chuyan froze in place.
She didn't like it, she just felt sad.
I feel sad that the people of Beirong have a crazy king like Na Sheng who does not abide by etiquette and rules.
Na Sheng didn't get a response from Ye Chuyan, so he turned to face the officials and said, "My beloved concubine won't allow you to lie flat on your back, so just kneel before the court today."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Chuyan and all the officials were shocked.
The atmosphere in the hall was a little subtle for a while.
Ye Chuyan was shocked because Na Sheng's words and deeds once again exceeded her imagination.
All the officials were shocked because their emperor once again did something unbelievable.
No matter how frightened they were, the officials still shouted "Thank you, Lord, for your kindness" according to the rules.
After they saluted, they knelt on the ground and raised their upper bodies. Only then did they see clearly that the concubine Na Sheng was talking about was a girl in his arms wearing a bright red palace dress.
The girl has a noble temperament, bright eyes and white teeth, and is famous.
The concubines in the harem, except the queen, are not allowed to wear bright red palace clothes. It seems that this is not a concubine, but a woman that their emperor has been hiding in his golden harem recently.
But the girl's expression was even more shocked than theirs.
Everyone did not dare to protest against Na Sheng's behavior of bringing a woman to court, so they had no choice but to kneel on the ground and start discussing politics.
Ye Chuyan was forced to sit on the dragon chair and listen to reports on government affairs.
An old man with a thin white beard kneeling at the front spoke first.
He respectfully raised a stack of documents and said loudly:
"Your Majesty, the case of Li Chengbao's corruption has been investigated. This is his evidence and confession. Your Majesty, please review it."
The eunuch took the document and handed it to Na Sheng, who read it calmly.
Ye Chuyan was sitting in Na Sheng's arms, and it was hard not to look at him.
She glanced casually.
I saw one sentence: Li Chengbao from ten thousand households embezzled a total of 1.277890 taels of silver.
After Na Sheng finished reading, he raised his head and stared at the white-bearded old man who played the performance, and said sternly:
"Huan Zhengqing, are the evidence you presented us true?"
"Back to the emperor, these are the results of three months of personal investigation by Wei Chen. They are all true evidence and there is absolutely no falsehood."
When Na Sheng heard this, he threw away the document in his hand and smashed it on the ground.
The documents were spread out and fell all over the floor.
The officials were startled and fell to the ground in a hurry.
