Chapter Ten Xiao Yu

  As soon as he came out of Guan Yu's palace, a black shadow rushed towards him and suddenly scared Shen Zhong into jumping back, and he hastily dodged to the side.

  This is a heavily guarded imperial palace, who dares to openly assassinate him?

  As he looked closely, it was a eight-trigram ball tied with a colored ribbon, which brushed past his face and flew straight to the back of a person, more than one meter high, a mountain and water figure qinghua porcelain vase.

  No good!

  Sister was pregnant, couldn't be frightened, a thought flashed, Shen Zhongge's body suddenly leaped backward, a somersault grabbed the Eight Trigrams disc in his hand.

  The palace maid who sent him out let out a cry of surprise.

  "...Thank you, General." Seeing Shen Zhongge, the little eunuch who had run over to pick up the ball, panted and bowed repeatedly.

  “…Is this yours?” His gaze fell on the little eunuch, and Shen Zhongjie's face suddenly turned a few shades colder. “...Why are you playing around here!?” His sister had just become pregnant, and her fetus was unstable, she couldn't withstand any shocks.

  This man actually dared to trample on the chrysanthemum at the gate of his sister's palace, obviously intentionally!

  The air suddenly turned cold, and the little eunuch's face turned white. "This... this..." Shen Zhongge and his sister were both big shots in front of Wan Si, not someone a small eunuch like him could afford to offend.

  "What's the big deal, even picking up a ball is such a chore!" Just as he was muttering to himself, a little girl in a yellow satin palace dress appeared from the Moon Gate not far away. She looked lovely and her beautiful eyes sparkled when she saw Shen Zhongge, "......Big Brother Shen!" She ran over as soon as she lifted her foot.

  Six Princesses?

  Shen Zhongbo was startled and hastily bowed his head in greeting.

  This little girl is the beloved pearl of the current Wan Sui, the Sixth Princess Li Yan, who has gathered countless doting loves in one body. She looked at Shen Zhongge with sparkling eyes, "How did Big Brother Shen end up here?" Suddenly remembering, "...you're here to see Concubine Shen!"

  "...The Empress has obtained a dragon pulse, I have been ordered to come and offer congratulations." Shen Zhongge's expression was solemn, his eyes not daring to glance sideways.

  Younger sister Shen Zhongru is thirteen years old, she entered the palace last spring and was initially a cairen. She was promoted to guiren the following year. Yesterday, after a diagnosis by the Imperial Hospital, it was found that she had become pregnant with an imperial child. The emperor immediately conferred upon her the title of fei, and specially allowed her mother and son to enter the palace to offer congratulations.

  "Hmm..." Li Yan nodded, "Shen Guiren was promoted six ranks in a row and became a consort. The empress dowager said that this is the greatest honor since the founding of our great Zhou dynasty. Brother Shen should really celebrate!" Her tone clearly showed her excitement for him, with a hint of trying to please him.

  The imperial harem was divided into twelve ranks: Empress, Imperial Noble Consort, Noble Consort, Consort, Imperial Concubine, Concubine, Beauty, Female Attendant, Female Official, Talented Woman, Lady of Honour and First Class Female Attendant. Generally, the ladies-in-waiting would be promoted one rank at a time, occasionally serving the emperor would bring great joy to him, and being promoted two ranks was also possible, but for most beauties, it would take several years to be promoted by just one rank. However, this Consort Shen rose from a sixth-rank Female Official directly to a second-rank Noble Consort, which is unprecedented in history.

  The imperial edict immediately caused a great stir throughout the court and the country.

  Sister is not really the best of the six palaces, but Shen Zhong Xiao has a feeling of awe and trepidation at this honor. His expression becomes even more solemn, "...I have already received the imperial edict to congratulate Princess Shen."

  Looking up at Shen Zhongge's serious face, Li Yan was greatly disappointed. She rolled her eyes and also put on a princess's airs, "General Shen, come over and play cuju with me!" The term of address for Shen had changed to General, and her tone was very stern, carrying an air that did not allow any questioning.

  The little eunuch beside Li Yan trembled with fear.

  A noble princess, how can she be mixed up with an outsider... if this gets out... He nervously looked at Shen Zhongge.

  "The princess ordered me and I dare not disobey......" Shen Zhongge bowed respectfully, then changed the subject, "But the emperor is waiting for me to report back."

  How can this be disobeyed!

  Li Yan's face suddenly fell, and just as she was about to speak, a small eunuch came forward to report, "......The Emperor is waiting for General Shen's reply in the Taihe Hall."

  Li Yan let out a cold snort and turned her head to leave.

  Only after watching the back of Sixth Princess Li Yan disappear did Shen Zhongge secretly let out a breath, turned his head and lowered his voice to instruct the palace maid beside him, "......Sixth Princess is playing cuju in the adjacent courtyard, tell the eunuchs of Guan Yu Palace to be spirited and carefully hit the ball flying over to startle Her Majesty and Old Madame." He entered the palace with his mother, who had an imperial edict allowing her to stay overnight in the palace for one night.

  The little palace maid responded with a "yes" and hastily walked away.

  ……

  Out of the Taihe Hall, it was already late in the morning. He ran into Xiao Zhongting and smiled as he made a fist to greet him, "Congratulations, Imperial Uncle." Shen Zhongru used to be just a noble, not worth mentioning to outsiders. Now that she had been promoted to imperial consort and was pregnant with an heir, Shen Zhongru could be considered a true imperial uncle.

  Xiao Zhongtang's name is Xiao Yu, he was appointed as the Minister of War, Junior Preceptor to the Crown Prince, and Deputy Chancellor. He was the youngest Grand Councilor in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He and Shen Zhongjie were both top scholars in the same year, they can be considered half-fellows, and are also close friends and mentors.

  Shen Zhongge had always disliked scholars, thinking they were too pedantic. Especially those so-called "men of integrity", who couldn't even fight properly but were experts at causing trouble. At the drop of a hat, they would invoke their ancestors' rules and the teachings of sages to mix with others, making people feel like nothing could be done and that great ambitions were impossible to achieve.

  Xiao Yu was different, this person was a natural talent, his views and opinions often surprised people, especially when it came to enemy strategy. He completely abandoned the scholar's high-mindedness, always advocating that there was no such thing as good or evil, only what was useful, and if it could defeat the enemy, it was a good plan. This coincided with Shen Zhongjie's thoughts, and before each expedition, he would visit Xiao Yu to discuss strategy. Therefore, although Xiao Yu had never fought in battle, Shen Zhongjie always regarded him as his military advisor.

  Seeing him joking about himself, Shen Zhongke couldn't help but smile wryly, "......Others are fine, but even Xiao brother is coming to tease me?"

  Seeing him speak seriously, Xiao Yu suppressed his smile and looked at Shen Zhongge deeply, "...the emperor is willing to abandon the old customs and use us new people, it can be said that he is a wise ruler who appears once in a hundred generations. You can understand his profound meaning, don't disappoint him."

  Shen Zhongbo was taken aback for a moment, he didn't understand what Xiao Ye's words meant.

  Dare to use his own ability, he can understand, but for his biological sister, she was promoted six levels in a row, except for pushing her to the forefront and making her the public enemy of women, Shen Zhong could not think of any deeper meaning behind this.

  One careless move and my sister can't even protect the child in her womb!

  Although he was puzzled in his heart, he also knew that the palace gate was not a place for conversation. Shen Zhongjie changed the subject, "Brother Xiao has also entered the palace?" He didn't see Xiao Ye in Taihe Hall.

  "Today is the day for the Crown Prince to attend school, I didn't go to Taihe Hall." Xiao Yu explained, and the two walked shoulder to shoulder out of the palace gate to the horse carriage. Xiao Yu hesitated for a moment, asking, "Did Brother go to Taihe Hall? Did His Majesty mention anything about the Sixth Princess's marriage? What does Brother think?"