When I walked to the side hall, I saw the first person sitting upright. One was the concubine I had seen before, and the one on the other side was wearing a green dress with a green hairpin and looking elegant. I guess it was Princess Yu.
After several people bowed, the concubine gave them seats.
Cheng Rui suppressed his voice and said to Ruan Yuyi, "Sister Yi'er, I was talking about her yesterday. The grandma sitting on the left, her pastries here are delicious."
His voice was low, and he thought he was speaking quietly, but in fact everyone around him heard clearly, and all of them suddenly looked strange.
Cheng Zhu also heard this. She was excited, stood up immediately, and bowed to the concubine, "My queen, please forgive me, but my child is not well-informed and therefore not good at speaking."
The concubine waved her hand casually and motioned for her to sit down, "It doesn't matter, the Yi family knows."
Yesterday, she was sitting around in the courtyard. She asked the people in the kitchen to make cakes according to the taste of Jiangnan. However, she made several copies, but they were not as authentic as the ones made by the girl in the New Emperor's Courtyard before.
When she was worried, she saw a young man breaking in at the side door. She was startled, thinking it was a thief who had sneaked in while there was no guard at the small door. But the child came up and asked if there was a fairy sister here.
Seeing his confused eyes and dull expression, she realized that he was an idiot. So she entertained him with snacks, and she felt very happy when she saw that he was eating happily.
So when she finally made a decent pastry in the morning, she rushed to send it to Ruan Yuyi and Cheng Rui to try.
Seeing that the concubine didn't care, Mrs. Cheng Zhu sat down with peace of mind, "Thank you, empress, for being so generous. Today we are here specifically to thank you for taking care of your son. If you hadn't left him here to stay, we don't know what would have happened to him."
The tiger and leopard ate it.”
Although the concubine smiled gently, there was a distant look in her eyes, "He is indeed very pleasing, so there is no need to say thank you."
She looked at Cheng Rui's ignorant eyes and thought of how she had wasted most of her life in the palace, erasing her appearance and friendship with the country party, leaving only a false name.
She had lived a complicated life, so she couldn't help but feel more loving when looking at Cheng Rui.
Mrs. Cheng Zhu took Cheng Rui's hand and said to the concubine, "If the empress feels that she is close to him, I will ask my son to come over and accompany you. I don't know, the eldest princess Zhaorong and our eldest son of Cheng Mansion."
——”
Hearing this, Ruan Yuyi frowned slightly, but her aunt was confused. She also used this relationship to get married, but she didn't know that Zhaorong became pregnant before marriage, which inevitably had a bad reputation. Even the royal family wanted to hide it.
Although the concubine was not close to the princess, she immediately interrupted and said, "Bring me some tea, Madam, I'm afraid her mouth is dry."
It was rumored that the eldest princess was pregnant, but it turned out that it was not just a rumor, and the concubine sighed secretly.
The maid on one side hurriedly came forward to pour tea. However, the cup in Zhu's hand still contained more than half of the tea, so there was no need to add more, so the maid poured a few drops for show.
Knowing that the concubine would not let her talk any more, Cheng and Zhu couldn't get married, and felt embarrassed. She seemed to be really thirsty, so she picked up the porcelain cup and drank half of it.
The concubine noticed that Ruan Yuyi had her head lowered and her face was a little gloomy. She thought she was feeling bored listening to the elders' conversation, so she said, "Miss Ruan, you can go and walk around in the backyard as you like. You don't have to stay here."
Jiang Huaiyang happened to come to visit her, and she was probably at the Huxin Pavilion in the backyard at the moment.
She didn't deliberately check Ruan Yuyi's identity. She didn't know that she was still married, and she had always misunderstood her relationship with Jiang Huaiyang.
Looking at Cheng Rui again, he was smearing pictures on the table with his fingers dipped in tea, enjoying himself, so the concubine did not send him away so as not to disturb the two of them.
Ruan Yuyi suddenly heard the concubine asking her to go to the backyard. She didn't know why, but she still leaned forward and said, "Yes."
She didn't know, but Princess Yu on the side did. She glanced at her mother-in-law in surprise, knowing that her mother-in-law never interfered in these matters. Even when she married, she was chosen by Prince Yu himself.
After Ruan Yuyi left, the concubine casually chatted with Princess Yu about common household topics, with the intention of leaving Cheng Zhu alone.
After leaving the side hall, they realized that this courtyard was much larger than the one they lived in temporarily.
Ruan Yuyi walked slowly and looked around. Although she looked left and right, she also moved her eyes in conjunction with her movements. The profile of her face seemed unhurried, and even the beads on her hair only swayed slightly.
Those who don't know may think she is admiring the scenery.
But Mu Xiang understood it, and she asked with a smile, "If the prince is not here, it will be really hard for the lady to search in vain."
Ruan Yuyi's face turned red after being exposed. She secretly twisted Mu Xiang's waist and whispered, "You know better, so please be more careful."
Muxiang dodged and answered again and again.
The corridor was winding back and extended to the backyard. In the pavilion in the middle of the lake not far away, she saw a man dressed in black clothes, with black hair tied up high, half-leaning on the pavilion pillar, flipping through the books in his hand.
She walked over to Jiang Huaiyang and calmly bowed, "I have met His Royal Highness."
The layered skirts of the young lady came into his eyes. He raised his eyelids, closed the page of the book, and put a finger between them as a mark.
"Why are you here?"
She is so persistent that even the concubine has to find a way to get in.
"Come here with my aunt to pay my respects to the concubine." Seeing that he still looked cold, Ruan Yuyi felt a little discouraged unconsciously. Thinking of the conversation between the two maids that she accidentally overheard, her eyelashes lowered even more, as if she didn't want to.
To see him.
She has known since she was a child that her good skin can bring her many advantages. Every villager who met her at that time would not praise her.
It seems that this romantic prince is not moved, and he would rather take Qiuniang than let her go.
She lowered her head and her hair fell down, covering a little of her face. In Jiang Huaiyang's eyes, she looked like she was filled with grievances and was holding back because of her identity.
He was confused, and he didn't drive her away now, so what happened?
When Wen Zhi saw this, he planned to prepare tea for the girl. A servant happened to pass by, so he casually asked her to bring it.
Without the prince's permission, Ruan Yuyi did not dare to sit down casually and just stood there.
Although Jiang Huaiyang opened the book again, he noticed from the corner of his eye that she was standing. He fiddled with the pages of the book and read each sentence several times without getting it.
He suppressed his annoyance and said, "What are you doing standing there? It's an eyesore."
Ruan Yuyi then found a bench on the side of him and sat down. While he was reading with his head down, she pursed her lips and quietly moved a little closer, then moved a little further, thinking that he would not notice.
Until the maid brought the tea, Ruan Yuyi was almost sitting side by side with him.
Yuesha was originally going to go out with Jiang Qi, but she didn't know that the prince didn't plan to take her with him this time. She clenched the handkerchief tightly in frustration, thinking to herself that she was probably looking for that Qiuniang again.
She was the prince's personal maid, and no one would come to send her. She just took a break in the backyard. She didn't want to be caught by Wen Pheasant when she was passing by the Huxin Pavilion, so she had to go there in anger.
.
Seeing Ruan Yuyi with pink makeup, she couldn't help but think of Qiuniang, who was also devoted to dressing up. She felt disdainful and secretly cursed Hua Zhizhaozhan.
Seeing her almost cuddling with another master confirmed her thoughts.
She had never seen the face of the new emperor, she only thought he was a junior from the concubine's mother clan.
When Yuesha approached Ruan Yuyi with a porcelain cup holder, she secretly resented the injustice of her fate. We were both women, so how could one be the master and the other be a maid? If she had a better background, wouldn't she have it now?
Now I can be in Prince Yu’s arms.
Thinking about it, she glanced at Ruan Yuyi and saw that she was sitting quietly, not paying attention to herself.
Then she pretended to trip and dropped the cup and tray. Most of the tea inside poured onto Ruan Yuyi's dress, and the rest was blocked by Jiang Huaiyang.
It happened so suddenly that even if he wanted to pull her away, it was too late, so he had to reach out to block her, but unfortunately it was still a step too late.