At the end of July, the emperor returned to Beijing. At the same time, the Ministry of Rites also reviewed Shen Han's qualifications to enter the palace as a companion. Shen Han entered the palace in August to serve as the eighth princess's companion.
When Shen Huan entered the palace to accompany the reading, she naturally had to pay her respects to the queen first. When she came to the middle palace, the Yiming woman saw Shen Huan coming and said with a smile: "This is the young lady of the Shen family? The empress is waiting in the palace, please come with me. "
In the past, Shen Huan had always been in front of Concubine Rou when entering the palace, and rarely went anywhere else, let alone the middle palace. Therefore, this was the first time she came back, and she couldn't help but want to take a good look at the palace. However, the concubine in front of her walked away very fast, and she didn't even think about it. I didn't have time to observe carefully, so I could only lower my head and follow the fateful woman into the palace.
"Miss, please wait here. I'll go in first and let you know." After saying that, the lady went in to make the call. Shen Huan stood there alone, and then she looked around confidently and boldly.
The main hall is empty, with eight magnificent jade pillars standing on both sides. The jade pillars are engraved with the Phoenix, the King of Birds. At the end of the pillars is the queen's throne. The throne is high above, and below are six steps. The golden floor tiles have been wiped. It's so bright that it can make people's silhouettes shine through
A nameless impulse suddenly surged in Shen Huan's heart, but she quickly realized her gaffe and immediately lowered her head and sighed.
How could she know at that time that she would become the hostess here in the near future?
At this time, a woman in brightly colored palace clothes came to her and said with a smile: "My slave Azhu, please come with me, the queen is in the Jiaofang Palace."
Shen Huan then followed the palace maid named Azhu and walked through several corridors before arriving at the entrance of Jiaofang Palace. Then a palace maid with a higher rank came to help her and brought her into the palace.
As soon as she entered the hall, Shen Huan smelled a fresh fragrance. She felt that her groggy head was finally sober. For some reason, she who was usually very courageous, when she got here, she only dared to look at the red carpet on the ground. He walked until he walked outside a string of colorful bead curtains, then stopped and knelt down to salute.
A few steps behind the bead curtain was the queen's bed. She was leaning on it, seemingly fiddling with something. Shen Huan heard the sound of metal colliding, which was particularly harsh in the quiet palace.
"Oh, you're here, no need to be polite, come in and sit down," the queen said gently and approachably.
Then a palace maid came forward and helped Shen Huan into the curtain, pointing her to sit on the stool next to the queen. Shen Huan held her breath and leaned forward slightly, so that she could listen carefully to the queen's instructions.
The queen looked extremely gentle and said to the girl who was about ten years old beside her: "Dechang, this is the second young lady of the Shen family, and she will be your companion from now on."
Shen Huan raised her head slightly and saw the appearance of Princess Dechang. This Princess Dechang was two years older than Shen Huan and ranked eighth. Her biological mother died young, so she was raised by the Queen. She wore a yellow satin skirt with deep embroidery on it. Big red flowers and a pair of big black eyes are looking at Shen Huan curiously.
As soon as she saw Shen Huan's appearance, she was shocked and exclaimed: "It seems that some of the rumors are indeed true. It is really a country-wide beauty!"
Shen Huan lowered her head in embarrassment, and the queen smiled and said: "Looking at your surprise, I'm afraid that when you are together in the future, others will look at her more and think of her as a serious princess."
Shen Huan's heart skipped a beat and she didn't understand the Queen's intention. However, she vaguely guessed the hostility in this sentence and said humbly: "How can the beauty of a common girl be compared with the princess's body of ten thousand gold, my empress?" Absolutely ridiculous”
However, Dechang was a straightforward person and did not hear the implication of the Queen's words. He stepped forward and took Shen Huan's hand and said with a smile: "No, the Queen Mother is telling the truth. You are really much more beautiful than me."
Shen Huan raised her head and smiled at her. Dechang liked her more and more. He turned around and said to the queen, "Mother, can I take Shen Huan out for a walk?"
The queen smiled gently and said: "Okay, you go, be careful not to fall."
So Dechang happily took Shen Huan's hand and walked out. Shen Huan still did not forget to think of the queen and saluted: "The daughter of the people retires."
When they got outside, Dechang immediately said happily to Shen Huan: "It's great now. I was just thinking about you coming to the palace. There are too few daughters in the palace. In two years, the sixth sister will leave the palace. I Then I will lose another piece of fun. Now you come to the palace to accompany me, that would be the best."
Shen Huan hurriedly said: "Princess loves and cherishes, Shen Huan really doesn't dare to accept it, she must study well with the princess."
Dechang sighed, shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter whether you study or not. Anyway, my mother also said that it is enough for my daughter's family to know some female celebrities. But as a princess, I still need to learn etiquette."
When Shen Huan heard this, she thought that the eighth princess didn't like reading, which was exactly what she wanted, and then a smile appeared on her face.
He didn't notice that Dechang was staring at her. When he saw her smile, he couldn't help shouting: "Shen Huan, you look even more beautiful when you smile."
Shen Huan was really embarrassed by her, but she didn't know what to say, so she could only smile shyly.
But I heard someone over there almost collapsed and yelled: "Oh my God! Shen Huan, is this still you? You actually smile like that? You're so shy!"
Princess Dechang turned her head and saw the Eighth Prince, the Ninth Prince, the Tenth Prince and the Twelfth Prince walking towards this side together. It was the Tenth Prince who was shouting just now, so she asked them with a smile: "Are you free today?"
The tenth prince said: "No class, I heard that Shen Huan is entering the palace today, so I came to take a look."
Shen Wen glanced at the Twelfth Prince while no one was paying attention, and then asked Lao Shi with a smile: "What are you yelling about? Why am I not me? Can't I still be shy?" After saying that, he deliberately wrinkled his little nose.
The tenth prince laughed loudly and said: "It's you, it's you, now it's you"
The twelfth prince was glared at by her just now. The good impression he had when he saw her smile suddenly disappeared. He refused to pay attention to her and simply folded his arms and looked away.
The eighth prince asked with the most concern: "What's wrong, cousin? Did the Queen say anything?"
"Of course I was asked to accompany Her Highness the Princess well."
Dechang also said: "If nothing else, let us get along well. Haha, I have heard that you two get along very well. Seeing how casual you are, I feel relieved." He then said to Shen Huan: "From now on. We are all in the same place, I will talk to the queen mother and let you come and live in the palace."
Shen Huan said hurriedly: "This is absolutely impossible."
Dechang asked with a smile: "Is it possible that there is a tiger in the palace and I'm afraid it will be eaten?"
Shen Huan glanced sideways at Twelve and said: "There are no tigers, but there is one monkey."
Everyone was surprised, and Twelve said coldly: "I didn't mess with you today!"
"Humph!" Shen Huan ignored him, feeling relieved that she had finally avenged him for saying she was a wild cat that night!
The tenth prince covered his ears and said, "I'm most afraid of hearing you quarreling, as if you can't live in peace without quarreling for a day!"
The Ninth Prince sighed faintly and said: "It seems that I will need to prepare more cotton pads for my ears in class from now on."
Princess Dechang asked curiously: "Why?"
The Ninth Prince said: "If we want to stop the old master from chattering, and we don't want to listen to his noisy quarrels, shouldn't we prepare a few more?"
Everyone except Shen Huan and Twelve laughed, but Shen Huan said: "You only have two ears, so what's the use of extra preparations? Is it possible that you and the monkey are from the same family, and you are a six-eared macaque?" "
The people laughed harder this time. The Ninth Prince blushed and muttered: "Aren't they just his brothers?"