Before the press conference of “Red Actress” was held, the recording of the next episode of “Travel with History” started first.

This issue told the story of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was a very special dynasty in the history of China, because it was the first dynasty to show signs of a constitutional monarchy. The military power and the royal family were governed by three parties. Although the Ming Dynasty had only a short history of 30 years, it had become the focus of study of many historians.

Of course, the reason why the Ming Dynasty was very famous among the masses was that there was a very famous beauty, Rong Qi, who appeared in this dynasty.

Her story was not only widely renowned in unofficial history, but also had a place in recorded history.

It was said that she was originally just a dancer who was loved by the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and was granted the title of Madam Rong. Unfortunately, she became a concubine less than two months before the emperor died of illness. Because she was favored, she was envied by the imperial harem and dragged to be buried.

However, before the first seven days of Emperor Xian’s mourning passed, the rebels revolted, washing the palace in blood. Several princes, empress dowagers, and concubines of Emperor Xian died in the rebellion. But Rong Qi who was to be buried, was asked by the empress dowager to bathe and fast, so she was locked in a poor Buddhist hall and by luck escaped with her life.

By the time the general came to rescue, there were few people still alive in the palace.

There was only one emperor’s son still left in the palace and he was only an infant, who was still swaddling and drinking milk, while the concubine of the highest position was Rong Qi.

Therefore, under these circumstances, Rong Qi was released from the Buddhist hall and became the little prince’s caretaker. Now she became the new emperor’s adoptive mother and the new empress dowager.

The general’s army, as the one who supported the puppet mother and son, controlled almost the whole court. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the loyalty of the ministers to the emperor was not high enough. Moreover, the one who was sitting on the throne was still a baby puppet, so it was even less likely to get their loyal support.

Under such circumstances, Rong Qi and the little emperor were just the meat on the chopping board. Their lives were dependent on the whims of others, so it could be said that there was hardly any possibility of survival.

However, Rong Qi not only survived, she even raised the little emperor and became the first empress dowager to participate in politics in the dynasty. She almost accomplished what everyone thought impossible.

Although there were records about her in official history, it was unclear how she did it. So people gave full play to their imagination in unconfirmed history, thinking that she deceived the most powerful general and several important ministers with her beauty, which let the royal family survive in this gap, and even extend the history of the Ming Dynasty for another 20 years.

Over time, Rong Qi was called the first beauty in ancient and modern times.

Shortly after Rong Qi’s death, the short history of the Ming Dynasty ended in a fire that almost burned down the whole imperial palace.

Because most of the data were destroyed in that fire, there were very few historical materials about the Ming Dynasty in later generations. This meteor-like dynasty, like the first beauty herself, exuded a mysterious and attractive light.

Until five years ago when chinese archaeologists discovered the mausoleum of the secretary of the Ming Dynasty, who was responsible for recording the daily life in the court. This mausoleum was well preserved and a large number of books found in the tomb were of great archaeological value. What was more important, the archaeologists found the court notes secretly preserved by the person resting in the tomb.

This made all archaeologists studying the Ming Dynasty ecstatic, and after several years of research, they finally restored the situation of that dynasty.

No one would have thought that Rong Qi, who had always been regarded as deceiving people with her beauty, turned out to be such a bold and knowledgeable woman. She listened to the general’s advice and contacted several important ministers, proposing to form a cabinet, and dividing most of the political power, and with this, she balanced the situation at a delicate point, and gained the time to breathe. Later, she secretly supported her new family, and gradually gained the right to speak. Unfortunately, after her death, the young emperor who was still immature and energetic and unwilling to accept the status quo, started a war, upset the balance that Rong Qi had painstakingly maintained for many years, and destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

This discovery shocked the whole world. No one thought that at such a time, China already had the onset of a constitutional monarchy. If it wasn’t for the young emperor, who was too radical, no one knew where this dynasty would eventually have lead to.

This also explained why the official history of later generations was so vague. After all, in feudal times, the monarch paid attention to the centralization of power. So naturally, they could not let people know the possibility of ruling the world together with their subjects, which made them write about Rong Qi’s love affairs for so many years.

The role of Rong Qi was very difficult to act. After all, she had been called the first beauty for so many years. No matter what she looked like in reality, in this story, she must be a beauty, preferably a unique kind of beauty.

In this program, it was Chu Mei Bo who played Rong Qi.

Meng Honge and Qiu Jie were regular guests of “Travel with History”, and had already recorded many episodes with Chu Mei Bo, so their relationship had gradually become much better.

They had already acknowledged Chu Mei Bo’s ever-changing acting skills, and they were curious how she would act as Rong Qi this time. After all, although Chu Mei Bo was also beautiful, Rong Qi was no ordinary beauty. She was called the first beauty of ancient and modern times. If her portrayal was different, people would laugh at Chu Mei Bo.

However, for the sake of mystery, the program team never let others see the supporting actors before the recording started, so the three guests could only be curious by themselves.

Meng Honge glanced at Xu Anqi, who was dressed as a palace maid. Seeing she was a little distracted, he comforted her by saying, “Anqi, don’t worry, just think of it as a panoramic interactive stage act, we will take you with us.”

Xu Anqi looked back and smiled at Meng Honghe. “Thank you, Mr. Meng.”

Qiu Jie also leaned over and after chatting for a while the recording began.

Three people stood in front of a magnificent gate, and four people greeted the audience first. Meng Honghe said with a smile, “This time we finally have a female guest on our new historical adventure, I believe everyone has already guessed who it is.”

“Yes, what we are about to see is Rong Qi, who is called the most beautiful woman of ancient and modern times. I’m still a little excited to think about it this way.”

Qiu Jie deliberately interrupted Meng Honghe impatiently, “Mr. Meng, let’s start now. I can’t wait to see my dream lover.”

Meng Hong said with a smile, “OK, as per our usual old rule, let our special guest Anqi open the door to the past.”

As his voice fell, Xu Anqi stepped forward and gently pushed the door open.

Who knew that as soon as they walked in, they would see a fight. The soldiers stabbed the swords into a palace servant’s body. Even if they knew it was fake, the four of them were still shocked.

Professor Yan Zhenxiong, who was responsible for the educational content of the whole program, immediately said, “The time we’ve come here should be the time when the rebels attacked the palace. We should quickly hide.”

The four of them immediately entered their roles, following Yan Zhenxiong, while simultaneously hiding and listening to his popular narrative on the palace building.

This part was full of jokes and Qiu Jie almost ran into a background actor who played a soldier. Fortunately, the other party reacted in time and pretended not to see him.

However, the whole group hid for more than half an hour and was already sweating all over, but they hadn’t even seen Rong Qi’s shadow. 

Qiu Jie couldn’t help saying, “The program group have gone too far this time! Do we have to find the plot characters ourselves?”

Yan Zhenxiong slowly pushed his glasses and said, “If I’m not wrong, it’s getting more and more desolate here. It’s time to enter the cold palace. It seems that the Buddha hall should be around here.”

As soon as his voice fell, the other three pushed open the broken wooden door. There was a faint smell of sandalwood inside. The four of them fell refreshed and immediately went inside.

The courtyard looked very desolate and dilapidated and the Buddha hall looked very dark. There were many prayer flags floating inside which looked a bit scary.

Just as the four of them bravely walked in, suddenly a voice came from inside. With a trace of laziness it asked casually, “Are you here to pick me up?”

Meng Hong and the other three were stunned because the voice they heard seemed to be Chu Mei Bo’s, but at the same time, it was different from Chu Mei Bo’s voice.

However, Xu Anqi could not contain herself and followed the sound. The camera turned in her direction and soon revealed the situation in the Buddha hall.

Under the solemn Buddha statue, a woman in plain clothes was half kneeling on a futon. When she heard the noise, she slowly turned her face.

All four of them froze.

In Meng Honghe’s mind a sentence popped out untimely – “Want her to be pretty, and show filial piety.”

The woman in front of them was not as beautiful as they imagined. Her long black hair was tied up with a wooden hairpin, her face was free of powder and her eyebrows were slightly frowning. Even in such a dark environment, her eyes were still as moving as water waves. Her thin body was wrapped in plain clothes, and a belt was used to hold them. With her waist and legs wrapped tightly, she looked even more frail and delicate.

There was no trace of emotion on her face.

But while the few of them were still in a daze, the other party actually stood up, her small chin lifted lightly, and she said naturally to Xu Anqi, “Come here and help me change clothes.”

She ordered it so naturally like it was her daily routine. 

Xu Anqi almost subconsciously walked over. It took her two steps before she regained her mind, making her whole face turn red. At that moment, she really entered the act, and subconsciously obeyed the other party’s instructions to change her clothes.

Xu Anqi was angry and annoyed, but she didn’t dare to make trouble. Just let her act a one-person show.

Rong Qi looked at the maid, her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. She seemed to want to teach her a lesson, but she felt sorry for herself at the moment, and in the end she just smiled mockingly.

Meng Honghe had been secretly looking at her. When he saw this scene, his heart seemed to be slightly pricked by a needle and without thinking, he blurted, “We were ordered to pick up my lady and leave.”

The other three people: “???”

When was this plot arranged? Why didn’t we know about it?

Director Yu, who had been watching in front of the monitor, was also confused. “What’s going on with Meng Honghe?! How could he suddenly add this drama by himself?”

Only Qiu Jie had this problem before. When did the most reliable Meng Honghe catch it?!

Director Yu could only give orders to speed up and get rid of this bug as good as possible. After all, it was better for them to focus on the shooting, and not on acting.

Meng Honghe in the Buddha hall also realized the matter and almost hit himself on the head. At that moment, he was like possessed and didn’t want to see the woman in front of him suffer, so he almost told her the rest of the plot. 

Qiu Jie was a bit gloating. He secretly bumped in Meng Honghe’s arm, and was glared at by him.

But Rong Qi didn’t seem to notice the small movements between them, and said lightly, “Who gave this order?”

Meng Hong and Qiu Jie immediately got stuck, but fortunately, Yan Zhenxiong said in time, “It’s the order of the general.”

“General?” After thinking for a moment, Rong Qi raised her head. “I see. Let’s go.”

Only then did Meng Honghe signale to Xu Anqi to help her leave.

Xu Anqi reluctantly helped Rong Qi walk out of the Buddha hall.

At that time, the sounds of shouting and killing could no longer be heard from the outside. They didn’t know when, but the originally gloomy weather had disappeared, revealing bright sunshine.

The four guests who had suddenly walked out from the dark environment, all squinted uncomfortably, but Rong Qi looked up at the sun and slowly showed a smile.

Qiu Jie, who just turned his head and saw that smile on her face, almost blurted out a “Shit!”. 

Is this the f*cking Sister Chu Mei Bo?!! Excuse me, have you changed your head?!

Edited by : LuLu

Proofreader: Taalia

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