Chronicles of the Empress
“Sir, the article you are going to talk about today is not considered an article written by ancient sages, right?”

The elementary school student of the Imperial Academy wore a blue and white school uniform, and had two bright black eyes like glass chess pieces, so white and cute.

The Master stroked his long beard and said, “Today I will talk about your Majesty’s life and compile it into this article. Although I am not a sage, it is still very interesting!”

The story begins in the spring of the third year after the emperor was deposed.

Her Majesty, who was Princess Xuancheng at the time, had the entire town of Da Chong covered with arrest warrants.

On a stormy night, the distinguished guest stepped on the fallen petals on the ground and knocked lightly on the door of a secluded house in the south of the capital.

“Who?”

The housekeeper rubbed his eyes and opened the door. He saw a man wearing a bamboo hat with his head bowed, which covered his face and made it difficult to see clearly. He was wearing a set of ochre shorts, and his boots were stained with mud. He stepped on the stone bricks in front of the threshold and left a series of footprints.

The butler thought preconceivedly, “Excuse me, who are you looking for?”

The man didn’t answer.

It’s really strange, the housekeeper frowned, why would such a person come to the door in the middle of the night.

Don’t you know whose house this is?

The man was silent for a while, then he took out a wooden sign from his pocket and showed it to the butler, “I want to see General Gu.”

The housekeeper was stunned.

Gu Shouchun, the General of the Central Army of the Jinwu Guard, was living here.

The wooden sign was of unusual design, with intricate patterns carved into it, and it looked like the emblem of some noble family.

He took the wooden sign, but he was still doubtful, “Who are you?”

Before he finished speaking, a knife stabbed into the door in front of him with a buzzing sound. The knife light was bright and clear, reflecting half of the housekeeper’s panicked face.

“Don’t ask any more questions. Go and pass the message quickly.”

The two lanterns at the gate of Gu’s residence gradually brightened and dimmed in the cool rainy night.

Waking up from his dream, Gu Shouchun put on an outer coat, clutched the wooden sign, and quickly came to the gate of the mansion.

“Please come in.” Gu Shouchun, the host, stepped aside and stretched out his arms. Without asking any questions, he invited the person into his house.

The housekeeper’s guess was correct. The pattern on the wooden plaque was exactly the Chen family’s emblem.

Gu Shouchun was once a student of the Chen family, and he was very familiar with this wooden sign that allowed him to enter the Chen family without any hindrance. However, the Chen family had long since declined, and now there were no close relatives or retainers.

Who could it be that visits at night?
Gu Shouchun dismissed the servants and stood opposite the visitor in the hall. The steam from the hot tea curled up, separating the two people who had their own thoughts.

The hat was easily taken off, and when the face was raised, Gu Shouchun suddenly realized.

“Your Highness!”

Cui Yi brushed away the loose hair on her forehead, revealing her smooth forehead.

After many twists and turns, it turns out that Princess Xuancheng, who was rumored to have escaped from her marriage, is still in the capital!

After pretending to be a man for more than half a month, Cui Yu became more and more adept at it. She sat down on the chair in front of Gu Shouchun with her legs apart, which shocked him.

“I am no longer Your Highness. Now the situation has changed. General, you can just call me Ah-yi.”

She came here with great ambitions.

On the eve of her escape, Cui Yong told everything to the Shangshu Furen Cui who raised her. After much deliberation, Cui gave Cui Yong the last words of the late Queen Chen and the key to her private vault.

Cui Yu thought that she had not been loved by her parents since she was born, so she was thrown out of the palace when she was young and given to be raised by Madam Cui.

But when I learned the truth of the matter, I finally understood my biological mother’s painstaking efforts.

So after Cui Yi had hidden in the suburbs for several days and the troops pursuing her had left the capital, she paid homage to her mother at the Chen family’s ancestral tomb and vowed to wipe out the entire Shen family who had harmed her.

“Your Highness, the current emperor is unkind and not a wise ruler. Ever since the Chen family was persecuted by the previous emperor, I have long been disappointed with the court.” After hearing what she had seen and heard in the past few days, Gu Shouchun sighed and said, “Since you have decided to rebel, I, Gu Shouchun, have been deeply indebted to the Chen family for decades. I will definitely serve Your Highness as my master and obey your orders!”

Cui Yi straightened her back. The person in front of her was the first minister who was willing to kneel before her and submit to her.

So what if I am not a man?

Shen Cong cares so much about his ancestral temple, so let him see how she, as a woman, destroys his ancestral temple.

Gu Shouchun’s troops were all from the Jinwu Guards. This meant that even if he was under Cui Yi’s orders, it was not appropriate to raise troops right away.

So, at his suggestion, Cui Yong went to Yuanzhou alone, thinking about the relationship between the late queen and the wife of Li Chongxuan, the general of Yuanzhou, and planned to lobby Li Chongxuan first.

Gu Shouchun stayed in the capital, so if anything happened, he could immediately communicate with her, thus becoming a thorn in the side of the new emperor.

Yuanzhou, located in the northwest, is a thick and heavy place.

At the beginning of summer, there are still sandstorms.

Outside Qing County, Yuanzhou, there is a Mobei Inn built on the mountain wall.

Cui Yi still disguised herself as a man, put a handful of copper coins in her palm, counted a few of them, and walked into the inn.

Unlike what is written in any storybook, the owner of this inn is a strong man who looks like he has some background.

“Stay at the hotel.”

She deliberately lowered her voice, her face was sallow and dark, and she had applied face-shaping powder and charcoal ash. Her long eyebrows had not been trimmed for several months, and now they were growing wildly, and they looked a bit thick and sharp.

The shopkeeper is indeed from a prominent background.

A few years ago, he was the general Wei, admired by everyone in Kezhou. He was a young talent, brave and extraordinary. But all this is in the past. Since he left for the northwest in frustration, the name of General Wei has disappeared in the dust, just like the yellow sand burying bones.

Yuan Chengxin glanced at the person who was about to come and saw him.

The man was slender, with his chest high. His finger joints were even and not rough, and he didn’t look like the man he dressed up to be, doing rough work like he did.

“There has been continuous dust storms outside the Great Wall for days. Where are you from, sir?” The abacus beads made a clear sound. Yuan Chengxin didn’t look at him, but just accepted the handful of copper coins from her.

Cui Yan paused before she could withdraw her hand. She quickly thought about it and replied with a smile, “Oh, yes, this windy and sandy weather is really unbearable. I came from the capital to Yuanzhou City to deliver a letter for my brother, and by the way, I had a job there.”

The best answer is to answer truthfully.

No matter how clever the people chasing her were, it would be difficult for them to guess, for she openly revealed her whereabouts and cleverly disappeared among the countless people traveling to and from the capital.

She really did want to find a job in Yuanzhou.

Raising an army to rebel is a matter of life and death. Everything in life can be repeated except life and death. Therefore, it is not a good idea to persuade Li Chongxuan with just a little friendship and words.

You have to put in some effort.

“I see.” Yuan Chengxin didn’t ask any more questions.

Because today’s inn is different from the past, I want to know what this person does. Maybe I can get the answer at night.

“Sir, please go upstairs. Turn left on the second floor and go to the third room.”

“Thank you.”

“Master, this is our third time here. General Wei has always turned a blind eye. What should we do?”

In the wing at the right end of the second floor, steam was rising from the hot tea on the Eight Immortals Table.

The man addressed as the Lord calmly picked up the tea and shook it lightly.

“He has made up his mind, don’t rush.” ​​The voice was like sweet wine, clear and pleasant. Looking up, although half of his face was covered by the posture of drinking tea, the exposed eyes were like the deep water of a cold pond, and it was difficult to tell the depth.

The wooden stairs creaked as people stepped on them. Yun Cheng, the guard who had just asked, immediately became alert and tightened the dagger in his sleeve.

“Why would anyone come to the second floor?”

This area is sparsely populated, and except for paying extra money to get a bigger house, ordinary guests should live downstairs.

Besides, the weather is unpredictable, so there are not many people in the inn today.

Hengzhi is the son of the Marquis of Kezhou. The Marquis of Zhao is seriously ill, and even though he is running out of time, he still spends his days in a woman’s bed, living a life of drunkenness and debauchery.

Kezhou is located on the northern border, and is connected to Youbei by Wuling Mountain and Yandang Mountain. It has a dangerous terrain and is an important place.

If Kezhou is lost in the future, Da Chong’s kingdom will be in danger.

But Hengzhi doesn’t care about these.

It didn’t matter to him who sat on the throne. But if Heng Qi died, if anyone in Kezhou wanted to cause trouble, they would have to ignore him, which would have touched his reverse scale.

This Kezhou is also half of his deceased mother.

Even if Heng Qi is a bastard, the family property cannot fall into the hands of others.

But he lacked a good knife, so he withdrew from the chaos and came here three times to look for this good knife.

At three o’clock in the morning, Cui Wei went out.

Having been sleeping in the open air for days, not to mention washing my face, even my clothes were stained with sand and dust, and my hands were covered with dust when I touched them.

She really couldn’t bear it, especially since she was going to Yuanzhou to see Li Chongxuan the day after tomorrow, so she had to dress neatly so as not to look like she was fleeing here.

She took off her hat, remembered the shopkeeper’s words, and seeing that there was no one around, she slowly went to the kitchen in the backyard.

There was indeed a well in the courtyard.

Thinking that it was now the time and the chickens were all asleep, and probably no one would come out to wash, he felt relieved and fetched a bucket of water.

Although Cui Yong had never lived a life of luxury, she had no worries about food and drink in the Shangshu Mansion. It took her some effort to carry a bucket of water as high as her calf, and to carry the weight of the wooden bucket. Cui Yong leaned down, spread her legs, grabbed the handle of the wooden bucket with both hands, gritted her teeth, lifted it up, and staggered forward.

At the same time, a light laugh came from the eaves.

She immediately let go, letting the water spill all over the floor, and looked up sharply, “Who?”

On the eaves, with the crescent moon as the background, a man is sitting on the tiles with his legs bent and holding a wine gourd, looking very handsome.

“Brother, your strength is really not enough.”

If she ignored the mockery in his tone, Cui Yi could still reluctantly classify him as a handsome young man based on his voice and his figure under the moonlight.

Because when he turned half of his face to the side, his outline reflected by the moon behind him was really sharp.

After looking at him for a few times, Cui Yi didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so she ignored him. Carrying the half-empty bucket of water, she patted her clothes, silently passed his sight, and prepared to go back.

I heard a sound behind me, and the man actually used the force to jump down from the eaves.

Although Cui Wei did not look back, she felt something clear in her hands the next moment. It turned out that the man had snatched the bucket from behind without any explanation.

This is so unreasonable, why don’t you let her go?
Cui Yi turned back angrily and was about to ask him a question, but she saw him walk to the well, bend down, let down the rope, and fill her half bucket of water again.

Cui Wei narrowed her eyes and thought this person was really strange.

Could it be that he realized that she was not a man?
That’s not very likely. On a night like this, there are no lights in the backyard. What can you see clearly with only a little moonlight?

“Brother, what do you mean?” She lowered her voice and asked as briefly as possible.

Cui’s skill in pretending to be a man was not very reliable. Also, because she originally had a clear voice, she deliberately lowered her voice to speak, which made her attempt to hide something even more obvious and more easily exposed.

The brother was very tall, carrying a full bucket of water. He walked towards her in a few light steps as if it was not an effort.

It was then that Cui Yi realized that her biggest flaw in pretending to be a man was her stature.

My brother stood in front of her, almost blocking out all the meager moonlight.

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was his breathing as he lowered his head.

She had never been in such close contact with a man before, so she took two steps back. She was tripped by a raised brick and her body immediately fell backwards.

It’s over.

Not only was he mocked for having no strength in his hands, but he also fell down on the ground. He was so embarrassed!
Cui Wei closed her eyes and thought about these things helplessly, but the expected pain did not come.

The body remained in an upward position, but it was suspended in mid-air.

Cui opened her eyes again, and someone hugged her waist and back. The man’s beautiful features were right in front of her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the man’s bright eyes.

Bright, but not approachable.

Just like the moon.

He was terrifyingly steady. He supported her body with one hand, with his center of gravity leaning forward for her, and held the bucket steadily with the other hand, without even a drop of water spilling.

Cui Yi swallowed with a feeling of half admiration and half fear, and quickly adjusted her posture, leaving the place on his chest.

“Thank you for your help, brother.”

“Easy to say.”

Hengzhi went out in the middle of the night just to see who the guest who could come up to the second floor today was.

No matter whether it was the spies who followed him all the way or those who wanted to intercept Yuan Chengxin, they would all become his fallen dead souls on this night.

Who knew that it turned out to be a woman who couldn’t even lift the bucket and was walking like a duck.

Yes, this is a woman.

If a quick glance was not enough to confirm it, then the hand that happened to support her just now, which hit her right on the back, and the undulating touch must have been covering her breasts without a doubt.

This is a woman.

There seems to be something familiar between the eyebrows.

Where had I seen her before?
“Since you drew the water, I’ll leave it for your own use. Bye.”

There was no chance to recall. Hengzhi looked at the figure in front of him that was quickly leaving and collected his thoughts.

Forget it, let’s get down to business.

On the second day, the sandstorm finally dissipated.

Yuan Chengxin had someone prepare a table of breakfast early in the morning and placed it downstairs waiting for guests to take it.

Based on his understanding of Hengzhi, although he was a young master, when he was in the army as a child, he was fed with dry biscuits all day long in order to save food. Later, he never had the chance to see him again, but now that he saw him again, he didn’t want to treat him badly.

Regardless of whether she agreed to him in the end, she could not bear to do that to the prince who had grown up under her care.

“Did you two sleep well last night?” He leaned back in his chair and slowly asked the two people who came down from the second floor.

Heng Qi was wearing a long indigo robe with tight sleeves, and he looked very distant when he didn’t speak. Cui Yi followed behind him, thinking only of the fact that the shopkeeper had said he would deliver breakfast yesterday, and he had delivered it early.

No one paid any attention to him, and Yuan Chengxin didn’t care. He looked at the account book and continued talking.

“Our area is so deserted that even news is much slower than other places.” He pointed to a portrait on the table and said, “Look, the princess is missing, such a big thing, but the documents are only being sent here now.”

Cui Wei immediately clenched her fists.

But she couldn’t show any sign of abnormality. This inn had no front or back connection, and if she ran out, it would be a wasteland. If someone was chasing her, she would be trapped in a jar and would not be able to escape.

Without waiting for her to respond, Yuan Chengxin continued, “The world is in a state of flux. In neighboring Kezhou, it is said that the old marquis is seriously ill, and the only prince is still somewhere enjoying himself.”

Hengzhi sat at the table, picked up a bun and took two bites without paying any attention.

Suddenly, the aroma of the bun filling spread and accurately penetrated into Cui Yi’s nostrils.

She seemed to have gained knowledge and also walked to the table without paying any attention, took a bowl of porridge and started eating the buns.

The chopsticks were extended, and the four ends of the chopsticks hit each other. The two men raised their heads at the same time.

“Oh, he is a precious princess, and he is also a unique prince. No matter which one, they are both noble people.”

When their eyes met, there was a hint of inquiry in each of them.

The shopkeeper is not a fool. His seemingly irrelevant words sounded to have a deeper meaning.

However, Cui Wei had no intention of investigating further.

Her portrait has been sent to Qing County. Qing County is remote, and if we calculate that if it is known here, then Yuanzhou must also know about it, it is just a matter of time.

She wanted to leave here as soon as possible and rush to Wonju immediately.

Otherwise, it would be much more troublesome if the pursuers really arrived in Yuanzhou.

While she was drinking porridge and not noticing, Hengzhi glanced at the portrait on the table and then looked at her.

After eating and drinking her fill, Cui Qian spent a few dozen coins to buy a few buns from the shopkeeper and then prepared to leave.

“slow.”

Heng Qi bit a bun in his mouth and stopped her in a vague voice, “There are only three buns left. You took them all away. What should I eat?”

Cui Wei was stunned for a moment and then snorted and laughed.

“You are already a noble, and you still need some buns?”

Yuan Chengxin found it very funny and watched the man leave with the buns in his pocket.

He walked slowly back to where Cui Yi had sat just now and sat down opposite Heng Qi. “Sir, aren’t you afraid that my buns are made by a shady shop?”

It would be better to say bluntly that they are human meat buns.

Heng Zhi didn’t care. “I’m surrounded by enemies. If I don’t eat buns, I’ll be made into buns. If you were in my place, what would you choose?”

When he raised his eyes, he saw the silence after the bloody murder.

Yuan Chengxin chuckled twice and went to the backyard to find someone to serve the buns to this person.

Hengzhi was the only one left in the hall.

After taking two sips of porridge, he glanced at the portrait again.

Just a few strokes, very rough.

Hengzhi shook his head, as if blowing on the porridge that had long gone cold.

Not like.

(End of this chapter)