He sounded humble and polite, but he couldn't help showing off. E Mei pursed her lips to stifle her laughter.
The Empress walked in front of him and nodded in agreement. "The Land of Purgatory is indeed dangerous. I heard from your family that you found a place in Hell and dug a deep hole to hide there for a hundred years. It's obvious how dangerous the Land of Purgatory is."
Xiahou Longcheng said emotionally, "Yes! Aunt, out of 1.8 million people, only 300,000 came back alive. Luckily, I wasn't reckless, or I really wouldn't have been able to see you. "
The Empress slowly tilted her head and squinted at him. Her gaze was a little weird, like she was looking at a pig.
At the side, E 'er's eyebrows and cheeks twitched. She almost laughed out loud. Actually, the Empress' words were very obvious. Xiahou Longcheng, you dug a hole and hid for hundreds of years. You didn't do anything, so how did you get ninth place? However, Xiahou Longcheng was still as smart as always. The Empress was obviously speechless.
The Empress didn't want to put on airs in front of her nephew. After all, it was rare for her family to come, so she was more tactful with her words. She wanted her nephew to explain himself, but Xiahou Longcheng didn't understand at all, so she could only point it out. "You really weren't rash. You dug a hole and didn't come out. The moment you came out, you got ninth place in the exam. Even good results fell from the sky and fell on your head. How capable is that?"
With that, Xiahou Longcheng finally came around. His exaggerated smile froze on his face and his expression twitched.
The Empress turned around and sat behind the long table. "Long 'er, I don't want to see you lie to me. Tell me! Tell me how you got ninth place. "
Xiahou Longcheng wanted to lie, but he had already been exposed. He didn't know how much his aunt knew, so he didn't dare to lie anymore. He hesitated and stuttered before confessing honestly, "Niu Youde gave it to me …"
He told her about how he was planning to rob Niu Youde and bumped into him.
"I see!" The Empress nodded in understanding. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Don't you have a grudge with that Niu Youde? I heard that you signed a contract to fight to the death with him. Do you still want to fight? "
Xiahou Longcheng puffed out his chest again and said, "How can a man hold such a small grudge? Let bygones be bygones. The contract has been broken, and Niu Youde and I are brothers now …" He rambled on about how friendly his days with Miao Yi were.
Do you really think you're that charming? The Empress stared at her nephew speechlessly. She did not know what to say to him, so she changed the topic and encouraged him with a few words of encouragement. Then, she rewarded him with a few things and ordered someone to escort him out of the Heavenly Palace, sending him away.
In the evening, in the Sunset Garden, the palace maids danced lightly and gracefully. The Qing Master stroked his beard and enjoyed the view in the pavilion. Around him, several beautiful concubines surrounded him, fighting for his favor, causing the Qing Master to chuckle from time to time.
Outside the moon gate at the end of the pavilion, the Empress of Heaven, Xiahou Chengyu, who was leading a few attendants in, paused in her steps. Her bright eyes swept across the situation in the Sunset Garden, and her cold gaze fell on the beautiful concubines surrounding Qing Zhu.
One thing had to be admitted. Xiahou Chengyu's looks were indeed average. He could not compare to the concubines in the harem. Perhaps it was because of the Xiahou family's bloodline. There were no good-looking men or women in the Xiahou family, such as Xiahou Longcheng.
However, those concubines could not compare to Xiahou Chengyu's family background. How could anyone compare to one of the five great clans? When they saw Xiahou Chengyu appear, a trace of panic flashed across the concubines' eyes, and they hurriedly withdrew their coquettish expressions.
They voluntarily gave up the seat beside the Qing Master, afraid that it would cause Xiahou Chengyu to misunderstand.
"Your Majesty!" Xiahou Chengyu stepped forward and bowed. Seeing that the Qing Master was engrossed in the dance and did not say a word, she walked in uninvited and sat beside the Qing Master. In the entire Heavenly Court, she was the only one qualified to sit beside the Qing Master.
"Empress!" The concubines bowed, but Xiahou Chengyu only gave a slight nod.
Seeing that the Empress' expression did not seem too happy, the concubines tactfully found an excuse to leave.
They had to be tactful. Daring to compete for the Empress' favor was simply courting death. The Empress had the backing of the Xiahou family. Although the Xiahou family could not directly do anything to the concubines in the palace, they could sweep away the forces behind them.
Once one lost the support of strength, it meant that no one in the palace would speak up for them. No one would offend someone with a powerful background for the sake of someone without a powerful background. If that happened, the result could be imagined. The Empress only needed a glance and a large group of people would appear to find fault with you, easily killing you. And once you lost the support of a powerful background, the Sky Emperor would not disturb the harem for an insignificant person. Even if the Sky Emperor asked about it, you would be a person who deserved to die for a crime. There would not even be a single person who would help you redress your grievances.
Thus, whether or not a woman in the harem could gain a foothold in the harem depended on the people outside the palace. The palace was only the Sky Emperor's pleasure grounds. The people who helped the Sky Emperor control the world were the ministers outside the palace, not the women in the harem. If the Sky Emperor placed a concubine's family in an important position outside the palace, then no one in the palace would dare to touch that concubine. Otherwise, if the matters inside the palace were to ruin the Sky Emperor's plans outside the palace, the women in the harem would not be able to bear the responsibility.
Thus, many women in the harem hoped to obtain the Sky Emperor's favor, so that the Sky Emperor would favor their family members and stabilize their position in the harem. As for those women without any background, they hoped to have a good relationship with the ministers outside the palace. If they encountered any trouble, a single sentence from those ministers in front of the Emperor would be more than a thousand words from them.
From this, it could be seen that the position of the Sky Empress was not for just anyone. Without considerable strength and background, one would not be able to sit in this position. Beauty or ugliness was not important.
Xiahou Chengyu did not disturb Qing Zhu's enjoyment of the song and dance. He gently refilled Qing Zhu's cup with bejeweled nectar.
"I heard that your nephew entered the palace today." Qing Zhu, who was watching the song and dance intently, suddenly said.
Xiahou Chengyu knew that such a thing could not be hidden from him. He smiled and said, "Yes, Xiahou Longcheng came. I have something to ask him. If I don't ask clearly, I will not feel at ease."
Qing Zhu said, "Xiahou Longcheng … is the one who went to the Purgatory to participate in the examination?"
"Your Majesty has a good memory. That's him."
"I heard that he got ninth place. His results are not bad."
"This concubine wanted to ask him about this matter. How could a brat like him be able to get ninth place in the exam? If I didn't ask, I wouldn't have known, but after I did, I was very angry. So his result was shared with him by Niu Youde … "After explaining the situation in detail, Xiahou Chengyu still had an angry expression on his face as he said," I've already made arrangements to remove him from the ninth place. After all, the examination was presided over by me, how could I not do my job properly! "
"You!" Qing Zhu finally smiled and turned his head to look at her. "There are many people with the same rank in this examination. Do you really think I don't know what is going on? I just don't want to cause too much backlash if I do things too ruthlessly. After all, Gao Guan has already beheaded so many people, so Gao Guan stopped investigating further. Xiahou Longcheng can be considered half a nephew of mine. It's just the position of commander of Tianjie. Just give it to him. There's no need to use him to prove anything to others. If someone talks about this, just say that it's my idea. I'd like to see who dares to say anything. "
He did not care about the position of Sky Avenue's commander. What he cared about was Xiahou Chengyu's attitude towards this matter and whether he would hide it from him.
And Xiahou Chengyu clearly had a good grasp of Qing Zhu's situation. In fact, she could figure things out through the Xiahou family's people. She purposely stopped Xiahou Longcheng here to show Qing Zhu what was going on.
Xiahou Chengyu smiled bitterly and said, "Since Your Majesty is speaking up for him, it is that brat's good fortune. I will follow your orders. However, I am still worried that the officials will react too much in the following examination. I want to ask for Your Majesty's opinion. "
"Go ahead and do it. With me supporting you, you don't have to worry about anything. I plan to turn a blind eye to the matter of ranking in the same examination. However, if anyone objects, then first see if their own butts are clean. Who should be investigated and who should not be investigated, it is up to me! "Qing Zhu said lightly and reached for the bejeweled nectar at the side to drink slowly.
Xiahou Chengyu suddenly understood. It turned out that not allowing Gao Guan to continue investigating was a way to pave the way for the next assessment.
Just as she understood this, Qing Zhu asked again, "What do you think of that Niu Youde?"
Xiahou Chengyu did not know why he suddenly asked about this matter, but she did not say anything definite. "To be able to directly listen to Sky Avenue, his reputation is not small. I have only heard about it and do not know why. What does Your Majesty mean?"
Qing Zhu smiled faintly. "It's just that a few old fellows mentioned it to me. Teng Fei, who came back to attend the court meeting, was even more eager to take him over. They all felt that such a general would be buried if he was left to die in Tianjie. Sigh! Even Gao Guan spoke to me, wanting to send him to the Right Supervisory Department. This has put me in a difficult position. It is not suitable for anyone. I have already said that this is someone from the Sky Avenue system. Whether or not to release him is up to you. Let them discuss it with you. I reckon that they will send someone to pass the message to you soon. You should be mentally prepared. "
"Gao You Emissary also spoke?" Xiahou Chengyu asked with a face full of surprise.
Qing Zhu nodded. "It seems that at the beginning of the examination, Gao You Emissary mentioned it once. At that time, I also said that as long as you have no objections, it is fine. At that time, I did not know if that Niu Youde would come back alive, so I temporarily put it aside. Who would have thought that Gao Guan would mention it again this time. This has made me somewhat interested in that Niu Youde. "
Xiahou Chengyu's eyes flashed anxiously. So many people had spoken to ask for him, even Gao Guan had spoken twice … He immediately smiled and probed. "Hearing Your Majesty say this, I am also interested. Besides, what do you mean by leaving him in Sky Avenue to live and die and be buried? What kind of words are those? I am not happy to hear that. I am afraid I will have to embarrass Gao You Emissary this time. "
Emperor Qing couldn't help but laugh. "A mere Golden Lotus cultivator isn't worthy of my concern. Let's wait until he's fully grown. He's not of much use at the moment. He's your subordinate, so do as you see fit."
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