Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 1 Using pregnancy to ward off disaster
During the Lantern Festival in the 13th year of Chongzhao, Zhuque Street was crowded with tourists and the lanterns looked like the sea.

Xue Sui was leaning against the wall on the second floor of the Misty Rain Pavilion. On the small red clay stove in front of her, tea was bubbling and steaming. She half-closed her eyes and stroked the exquisite picture album with her slender fingers, her movements very slowly.

"There will be a punishment from the heavens during the Lantern Festival. It's time to pay back the debt you owe me."

The woman with a bright smile in the album is Princess Pingle of the current dynasty.

A gorgeous dress, woven with peacock feathers. It is said that it takes a hundred embroiderers three years to make one. The gold thread is the base, and every inch of brocade is worth a lot of money. The cost of a feather dress can provide a county with enough food and clothing for ten years...

Xiao Zhao whispered, "Girl, it's going to rain."

Xue Sui pretended not to hear Xiao Zhao's voice, nor did he look at her nervous expression, and flipped through the picture album carelessly.

——Lu Xi, granddaughter of Prince Taifu Lu Kefu.

——Xie Weilan, daughter of Xie Yanzhan, the Minister of Dali Temple.

——Guo Zhaohuai, grandson of Guo Pi, Duke of Zheng.

——Yao Wei, son of Yao Hong, the Minister of Internal Affairs.

——The son of You Zhu, the Minister of Taichang Temple, is You Zhimu.

The finger stopped at this page.

Xue Sui raised the corners of his lips slightly, smiling, "It's good to have rain."

Bang! The loud noise shook the teahouse.

The wine flag on the platform was knocked to the ground by a dark shadow.

Screams were heard everywhere, and Zhuque Street was crowded with people. The frightened crowd fled in all directions, knocking down the street vendors. The vendors were frantically protecting their goods, cursing...

"Dead!"

"Sanlang from You Taichang's family fell from Qionglou and killed an old maid!"

The old maid was helping a young lady out of the rouge shop when she was hit on the head by a man who fell from the sky. Her neck was broken and she died on the spot.

The lady was so frightened that her face turned pale. She looked at the sky decorated with colorful lanterns, holding the maid's hand, and couldn't stop trembling.

"Here it comes again! Here it comes again!"

Opposite the second floor.

Xiao Zhao stretched his neck to look outside and was shocked.

"Dead, dead. Girl, will Princess Duan believe our trick?"

Xue Sui looked up at her.

Xiao Zhao clapped her lips and said with a smile: "I know I was wrong. The young lady did not use tricks, but justice."

As she spoke, she clasped her hands together and bowed to the album.

"I wish you all a bad death. Xiao Zhao wishes you all a bad death."

Xue Sui slowly stood up and put the album in his arms.

"Let's go and enjoy the lanterns!"

It's really raining.

Fine rain shrouded the Lantern Festival.

This was the first spring rain in the 13th year of Chongzhao.
-
Xue Yuechen returned to Prince Duan's Mansion, still in shock.

The wet nurse just died right under her nose.

The yamen runners of Jingzhao Prefecture said that You Sanlang fell from the railing of the flying bridge of Qionglou when he was drunk. He crashed into the wet nurse and luckily survived, but his hands and feet were broken and there was not a single healthy bone in his body. If he didn't die, he would have been a disabled person...

Xue Yuechen was in a state of confusion and paced back and forth in the room.

"Fei Cui, go to Xue's Mansion immediately and tell mother to find Sixth Sister and send her to Prince Duan's Mansion before the prince's birthday..."

Jade said in embarrassment: "Princess, the eldest lady will definitely not agree to it."

Xue Yuechen was uneasy, "Just say that I have been childless for many years after marriage, and I need my sister to serve the prince and add a child to the palace..." Feicui hesitated: "The sixth girl was born unlucky and has a lowly body. How can she serve the prince? Besides...besides, she was injured so badly that she is probably gone."

Xue Yuechen clutched the handkerchief tightly, looking distraught.

"I told you to go, so go! Do you have to wait until the ghost finds me?"

Ever since the Queen Mother's birthday banquet last month, Xue Yuechen had been having bad luck one after another, as if he had been possessed by an evil spirit.

First, on the day of her birthday banquet, she was bumped into by someone for no apparent reason, causing the carefully prepared birthday gift to fall to the ground, which displeased the empress dowager and she lost face in public.

On the way back home, the carriage suddenly lost control and she was thrown out, feeling dizzy and with multiple abrasions on her body.

Then the plum blossoms in the garden withered overnight, dying in the season when they should have bloomed...

She went to Lingyun Temple to burn incense and ward off disasters, and Master Jingkong told her.

"You are destined to be childless, with little luck and a shallow fate. If there is no change, there may be bloodshed."

She asked Master Jingkong how to resolve the situation, and Master Jingkong gave her a tip.

"The princess has little luck with having children. It's all because of evil spirits that the child can't be reborn. If you want to change your fate, you need your blood sisters to ward off disaster."

Jingkong calculated with his fingers and gave the woman's birth date and horoscope.

"This woman has a strong destiny. With her entering the palace to ward off disasters, the princess was able to escape."

Xue Yuechen remembered it very clearly. She had many sisters, but only one of them had the same fate.

Born in a yin year, yin month, yin day and yin hour.

It was the sixth sister who was thrown out of the house that year, the lowly daughter born to her father after he got drunk and had an affair with a dancer.

"Eldest sister, save me, elder sister, save me..."

Xue Yuechen could not forget that childish voice.

The eight-year-old child was tied upside down by her feet and hung upside down on a tree branch in Lixiangyuan. Her head looked unusually large because of her thin body. Her body was covered with wounds and some old purple-black scabs, which looked like rotten bark attached to her body.

Very ugly.

This made her twist and turn, like a worm, spasming from time to time in the cold wind, occasionally uttering a few dull groans of pain...

A group of boys and girls gathered under the tree, laughing and playing.

"Look at her! She looks like a centipede."

"Beat the centipede, kill the stinking centipede!"

Fists and sticks were thrown at them, and the snow on the branches fell down in the midst of laughter, red and white mixed together. The wind in the yard changed its tone, whimpering like crying.

At that time, a thought flashed through Xue Yuechen's mind that a lowly child like her should not have to live in this world. If she died early, she would suffer less sins.

But she was stubborn and wanted to live. She would crawl out of the snow, the toilet, and the stinking ditch again and again, struggling to live.

Xue Yuechen didn't save her.

All of those half-grown children were noble sons and daughters from famous families. Among them was His Majesty's favorite little Princess Pingle, who was discussing marriage with Prince Duan at that time and would not bring trouble to herself.

Ten years have passed...

Xue Yuechen still clearly remembered the way the child was dragged out. His body was covered with scars, his dry yellow hair was soaked in blood, his head was tilted to one side, his shrunken belly was exposed, and his eyes were open, staring at her darkly...

Xue Yuechen couldn't help but shudder.

If she had died that year, who would have protected her from the disaster?
Who else can she find to give birth to a legitimate son for the royal family?

　My dears, I, Jin Hansan, am back again. Are you still here? !

　　Welcome to the world of "Ask the Nine Lords". In the days to come, I will continue to accompany you and tell stories every day, hahahaha...

　　Xue Sui

　　
　　(End of this chapter)