Chapter 1 — The Eastern Palace Can No Longer Hold Me

In a previous life, at the Queen Mother's banquet, an envoy from another country presented a nine-piece set. No one in the whole dynasty could remove it. I only used half a cup of tea, then took off each jade bracelet. The Queen Mother smiled and said I was clever and clever, the Eastern Palace was lacking someone who could manage like that. Sister A tightened her handkerchief again and said: "Since childhood, my sister has never given up. If she enters the Eastern Palace, I'm afraid she will want to appear smarter than Your Highness in everything." The Crown Prince was silent for a long time. The holy edict was given to me, and I was only given the title of concubine. Later, when he was troubled by the courtiers, I took his place to break up the situation; When the kings set a trap for you, I will take your place. But after he ascended the throne, he made her his queen, just because she had never made him feel embarrassed. When I opened my eyes again, the Nine Links were once again brought to my hands. I deliberately plucked it twice, and the jade bracelet made a "crack" sound, falling into two pieces. The whole palace exclaimed. I quickly knelt down: "My goddess is clumsy." "I really don't dare touch such delicate objects." The broken jade bracelet rolled on the yellow tile floor, making a clear sound. Everyone in the palace looked over. I knelt on the ground, my fingertips still resting on the broken ring. The jade color is warm and the cracks are still new. Tiny white pieces pierced my fingertips, causing so much pain that I slightly curled my hand. In my previous life, I also touched this nine-link set. At that time, the foreign envoy stood in the middle of the palace, laughing and saying that this object was made by skillful craftsmen in their country. If Dai Luong has someone who can untie it, they are willing to offer a hundred more handsome horses; If no one can remove it, it will be considered that Dai Luong is one level behind them. The whole court looked at each other. A few old gods tried it and were at a loss. Several princes tried it, and the more they wrapped the jade bracelet, the tighter it became. Crown Prince Quy Canh Hanh also stepped forward and picked up half a cup of tea. Finally, his face darkened and he placed the cup back on the tray. At that time, I sat at the end of the row of women, far away from the pearl curtain, making my heart itch. Since childhood, I have liked to remove organs. The bronze lock in my father's study, the box that senior brother Lu Ban brought home, and the jade button stuck in my mother's jewelry box, were all removed by me to pieces. The Queen Mother saw me staring intently, so she smiled and called out to me: "Second lady of the Khuong family, come and try." When I stood up, sister Khuong Minh Duong gently pulled me. She said: "Lanh Nghi, don't be forceful." Her voice was gentle, but her eyes carried a bit of tension that I didn't understand at the time. I just thought she was afraid of losing face. So I smiled and said: "Don't worry, sister." I received the nine chain, looked at the ups and downs of the lock, and took off half a cup of tea. The whole electricity was buzzing. The Queen Mother was delighted and immediately took off the gold bracelet on her wrist to reward me. "Such a smart and clever child, the East Palace is lacking." At that moment, my heart beat very fast. I secretly glanced at Quy Canh Hanh. He is also looking at me. The silence in those eyes disappeared, bringing with it a bit of surprise and laughter. I thought it was my luck. Until the older sister tightened her handkerchief and sighed in a low voice: "Since childhood, my sister has never given up. If she enters the Eastern Palace, I'm afraid she will want to appear superior to your Highness in everything." Her voice was very soft. Yet the Crown Prince heard it. The smile on his face slowly faded. A few days later, the decree gave a marriage to the Khuong family. Sister A became the Crown Princess. I make trouble. My mother advised me, saying that if we go to the Eastern Palace together, we can also take care of each other. Father was silent all night, only telling me not to let myself feel angry. At that time, I did not feel angry. I also thought that Quy Canh Hanh was just being polite, and in the future he would understand my heart for him. Later, he was forced by court officials to use an old tax case until he could not get off the stage, so he stayed awake all the time

At night, he flipped through the files and found errors in the books from thirteen years ago, helping him counterattack on the court. The princes used the Southern District flood to set a trap, wanting him to take the blame for his inability to provide natural disaster relief, so we took out each translated version of the newspapers from the continents, based on the waterways and food transportation routes, and calculated that there was someone in the middle of the road who changed food boats. He held my hand, smiling both tiredly and sincerely. "Lanh Nghi, I'm lucky to have you." I believed that "lucky" sentence. But after he ascended the throne, the phoenix seal fell into her sister's hands. He told me: "The queen must be dignified and obedient, so that the harem can be at peace." "You are smart, of course I will use you." Respect. It's like a sentence to reward a god. I replaced him, broke the rules, untangled him, stayed up until his eyes were red and swollen, and in the end I only changed the sentence "too smart, easily makes people lose face". After that, I was sick for a long time in the heavenly palace. When Quy Canh Hanh came to see me, his body still had the scent of agarwood from his sister's palace. He said: "Lanh Nghi, if you were a little more gentle, that year you wouldn't just be a concubine." I looked at him, not saying a word. A little softer. It turns out that my whole life was besieged, just because I took off the bracelet that was supposed to be taken off too quickly. Now, I return to enjoy the Queen Mother's banquet. The envoy's nine chains were brought before me. The whole palace waited to see me take action. Sister A was still sitting in the row of ladies, her fingertips pressing on the corner of the towel, her eyes lightly falling on my wrist. Quy Canh Hanh also looked at me. I bowed my head and plucked twice. Crack. Broken jade bracelet. I knelt on the ground, bowing my head very low. "The goddess has clumsy hands." "Such delicate objects, the goddess really does not dare to touch." The palace was silent for a long time. The foreign envoy was the first to speak: "Ladies of Dai Luong, did you touch my king's treasures like that?" The smile on the Queen Mother's face faded. The Emperor also frowned. I heard my sister take a soft breath. Perhaps she did not expect that I would destroy this road to such an extent. The envoy refused to let go. He said that the Nine Links were made by skilled craftsmen in their country for three years. The jade material was taken from deep in the snowy mountains. He originally wanted to offer it to the Queen Mother to wish her a long life. Now that I have destroyed it, it is Dai Luong's disrespectful envoy. The atmosphere in the palace was immediately tense. My father stood up from the row of chairs and knelt down next to me. "Young lady is disrespectful, it is because I did not teach you strictly." My father is a civil servant, and usually has the gentlest temperament. In my previous life, when I was in the palace on behalf of Quy Canh Hanh to turn over the old salt tax case, my father once secretly sent me a box of ointment for the eyes. In the letter, there were only two sentences written: "The court cannibalism." "If you can't resist, go home." But at that time I was locked in the Eastern Palace, I could no longer go home. Now that I hear my father confessing my sins on my behalf, my heart is extremely bitter. I bow my head even lower. The emperor respected his father for his efforts in repairing the river and dyke over the past few years. In the end, he did not impose a heavy punishment on the spot. He only said in a deep voice: "Khuong Lenh Nghi was embarrassed in front of the palace, destroyed the tribute, and was fined for copying Nu Gioi a hundred times. After the banquet, he closed the door for a month." The envoy still wanted to say more, but Quy Canh Hanh suddenly opened his mouth: "Father, the Nine Links has been damaged, how about ordering Hong Lu Tu to prepare a ceremony and compensate the envoy." These words were like relieving the envoy. ta. In my previous life, he always pulled me at times that were neither heavy nor light. Makes us mistakenly think that we are different in his heart from the person next to us. The envoy laughed coldly: "Tributes can be compensated, but how can we compensate for face?" The palace was quiet again. At this moment, someone in the row stood up. "Your Majesty, can I take a look at the broken part?" I raised my eyes. The speaker stood behind the military generals,

wearing a dark blue court uniform, with a narrow sword hanging at her waist. His eyebrows and eyes were handsome, not like the pampered gentlemen in the capital. His skin color was a bit dark, and his fingers also had thin calluses left by holding a knife all year round. I recognize him. Bui Van Chu. Young Khanh Hong Lu Tu, when he was young, he accompanied his father on a mission to the Western world, understood the words of foreign countries, and also understood the regulations of weapons of other countries. In my previous life, he and I didn't communicate much. Just remember that after Quy Canh Hanh ascended the throne, the Western envoy presented a torn map that no one in the court recognized. It was Bui Van Chu who immediately recognized the gate sign on that map, helping Dai Luong avoid a border crisis. But the credit in the end fell to Quy Canh Hanh. Because I stayed up all night to fix that torn map for you. Bui Van Chu just quietly looked at me on the court. Those eyes were very deep, as if knowing what I had done. Now he stepped forward, holding the broken nine chain, looking at the crack. The envoy was not happy: "What do you mean by Lord Bui?" Bui Van Chu calmly said: "The broken tribute in our court, of course we have to check whether it was originally damaged or not." The envoy's face changed slightly. My fingertips moved slightly. In my previous life, I only worried about removing the bracelet and didn't pay attention to the cracks at all. This time I intentionally used force, but also realized that the jade bracelet cracked too lightly. It's like there's already an underlying wound. Bui Van Chu held up the broken ring under the light. "Your Majesty, please look, the color of the inner layer of the crack is a bit dark, the outer layer is white." "This place previously had a small crack, it was just filled with jade powder and glue. When Second Miss Khuong plucked it, the strength was not stable, and it completely broke." The palace immediately rang out a soft discussion. The envoy's face was unsightly. "Does Lord Bui want to escape the crime on behalf of Lady Dai Luong?" Bui Van Chu looked at him, his tone calm. "If you really take broken things to present to the Queen Mother, the envoy should explain first, is this careless negligence, or intentional probing?" With one sentence dropped, even the Emperor's face changed. The envoy immediately knelt down and said he had absolutely no such intention, it was just that the distance was long and the jade energy was damaged, and they were unaware. After a tirade of blame, Bui Van Chu forced him back with three sentences and two words. I knelt on the spot, suddenly a bit lost. It turns out that in this life, I didn't undo the Nine Links, and there are people who can see the loopholes in it. It turns out that in Dai Liang court, Quy Canh Hanh is not the only one worthy of my help. The Queen Mother opened her mouth to calmly say: "If you were harmed on the road, then it cannot be considered the entire responsibility of the Khuong family girl." She looked at me, her expression faded a lot. "But the little girl is too hasty, the punishment cannot be waived." I bowed my head in gratitude. When I stood up and returned to my seat, my sister extended her hand to support me. There was worry in her eyes and her voice was gentle: "Lanh Nghi, you scared me just now." I looked at her. She was also like that in her previous life. Every time she used a sentence to push me down, she was the first person to come and help me. I withdrew my hand from her palm. "Don't worry sister, I'll only copy it a hundred times, it won't break." Her fingertips stopped in mid-air. Quy Canh Hanh just looked over. There was still doubt in his eyes. Perhaps he also didn't understand, since childhood, the young lady of the Khuong family liked to remove her organs the most and liked to win the most, so today she was so clumsy that she broke the jade bracelet. I lifted the cup of cold tea on the table and slowly took a sip. The tea is bitter. But it's more sobering than the sweet soup in the Eastern Palace in my previous life. After the banquet ended, I followed my father back to the palace. In the carriage, mother wanted to say it several times.