This year, the Emperor personally celebrated Concubine Rong’s birthday. On the first day of the birthday banquet, Lan Ning came to the palace, as she did in previous years.
Concubine Rong likes Lan Ning the most among her grandchildren. Because she is pregnant this year, she specially told her not to be formal and just come to the palace on the official day.
But Lan Ning refused to be lazy and came anyway.
First, I spent half a day chatting with Concubine Rong in Tong'an Palace, and then followed Concubine Fu to Furong Palace.
Although the weather is much cooler than in mid-summer, it is still quite hot at noon.
Concubine Fu saw that Lan Ning was sweating more than others, so she ordered: "Get warm water for the fifth princess to clean her hands and face, and then come over for two fans."
Lan Ning hurriedly said that there was no need to bother, and Concubine Fu said: "Now the baby in your belly is getting bigger every day, and it has probably started to grow hair. It is the most intolerant to heat at this time.
But you can’t eat raw or cold food. I happen to have some melons shipped from Xinjiang here. Ask them to cut a few pieces for you to try. It will quench your thirst very much.”
As soon as Concubine Fu finished speaking, the baby in Lan Ning's belly moved twice.
Lan Ning said with a smile: "This little thing is very greedy. When he heard the melon, he kicked me twice. I have already eaten one of the two melons that my concubine sent out yesterday. I feel that it seems to be more delicious than in previous years.
Delicious."
"Okay, okay, this child has a strong mouth. If he is raised well in your belly, it will be easy to give birth to him, so as not to trouble you." Concubine Fu smiled and said, "But don't raise him too fat, otherwise it will be difficult to give birth and he will suffer.
It's you."
She is not like other mothers-in-law who insist on telling their daughter-in-law to eat more so that the child will grow fat and big.
Xue Hengzhao and Danyue came in with a basin and a towel.
The maids Zi Yan and Fang Nian in front of Lan Ning rolled up her sleeves and covered her front with a handkerchief.
Lan Ning was wearing a string of bodhi beads on her hand, and Fangnian also took them off and put them aside.
After serving Lan Ning and cleaning her hands and face, Zi Yan and Fang Nian applied balm on Lan Ning's hands.
Xue Hengzhao saw Fangnian with his back to the table, thinking that he would need to put on the string of Bodhi beads later, so he first picked up the bracelet and held it in his hand, preparing to hand it to Fangnian later.
But as soon as she got this bracelet, she felt something strange, because when Tong'an Palace was making Bodhi bracelets a few days ago, there were not enough people.
Then he told Concubine Fu and called several people from the palace, including Xue Hengzhao.
These Bodhi beads are carefully selected and have the same color and size as jade.
There are eighteen beads in each string. Men use big beads, women use small beads, and the younger children wear the smallest bodhi seeds.
Lan Ning's string is slightly heavier and the color is somewhat darker.
But it's not obvious. It would be difficult for others to notice it, but who is Xue Hengzhao? She is as meticulous as her hair and has a sharp gaze. Even such subtle differences cannot be hidden from her.
She used a little more force to pull the string apart, and when she saw the gold and silver threads on the beads, she was even more certain that this string of Bodhi beads was not the one they wore.
At this time, Fangnian had already turned back to pick up the string of beads. When he saw it in Xue Hengzhao's hand, he reached out to take it.
Xue Hengzhao was lost in thought, and his hand was so tight that Fang Nian didn't even take it.
Xue Hengzhao immediately came back to his senses. He held the bead string in both hands and handed it over. He said with a smile: "I am rude, please forgive me."
Of course Lan Ning didn't care about this, and just asked her casually: "Do you like this very much? I have it at home, and others have given it to me a lot. I will bring it to the palace one day to reward you with two bunches."
"Thank you to the fifth prince for the reward. This servant is in a trance just now. It's not because of this." Xue Hengzhao explained, "It's just a little strange."
At this time, Fangnian had already taken the Bodhi string and put it on Lan Ning's hand, and asked her puzzledly: "What's so strange about this? Every year, the Dowager Empress will give a reward, and other empresses and princes will also receive it." p>
"What's strange, slave, is that this bracelet is not new this year." Xue Hengzhao said.
"How could it be? Eunuch Meng personally delivered this to our house yesterday." Since Zi Yan personally took it over that day, she knew best, so she refuted it.
"Boss and Sister Danyue have helped the Dowager Empress put on bodhi beads this year, so we know each other." Xue Hengzhao didn't think this was a trivial matter, because often there is a big conspiracy behind an abnormal trivial matter.
"Isn't this a mistake? The Dowager Empress rewards her every year, and it seems to be the same." Fu Fei said.
"This will never happen. We, the princess, have been wearing the string from last year on our hands. The concubine replaced it with a new one as a reward. The old string was put in the box by the slave. There is absolutely no chance that it will go wrong.
"Zi Yan is also a very careful maid, "Besides, last year's string broke once, and one bead couldn't be found, so I put a coral bead on it, which couldn't be more obvious."
"Your Majesty, I also have a bunch here. Let's compare them and you will know." Xue Hengzhao walked up to Concubine Fu, bowed, held up his hands, and brought over the string of bodhi beads on the Empress's wrist.
Several people came over and looked at Xue Hengzhao's hand.
The two strings of Bodhi beads look similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, one string is indeed older in color.
If the bodhi bracelet is worn all the time, it will look more moist and shiny, as is the case with Lan Ning's previous one.
Although Fu Fei's string is new, it looks brighter because it has just been polished.
Only Lan Ning’s new one looks the bleakest.
It would be fine if the beads were of different quality elsewhere, but these were carefully selected in the palace, and such a thing would never happen.
It used to be that it wasn't obvious just by looking at that string, but now when you compare it with Fu Fei's string, you can immediately see the difference.
Looking at the gold and silver threads that penetrate the beads, the difference is even greater, because this year's threads are denser, with more gold threads and less silver threads.
"How could this happen? Did someone in the palace make a mistake?" Concubine Fu also felt very strange.
"Your Majesty, you can't be wrong. We checked everything at that time and put it directly into the brocade box. There is a sign on the outside of the brocade box, indicating which house it should be sent to." Tan Yue said, "It's all taken by a dedicated person.
It was given as a gift, how could something go wrong?"
"Yes, I still have some left over from what I used. It's not that I don't have enough, so I used last year's stuff to make up." Xue Hengzhao said.
"A Bodhi bracelet is worth nothing, and there is no need to lie about it." Lan Ning was confused, "I really can't figure out what went wrong."
"I dare you to say something," Xue Hengzhao looked at Concubine Fu and Lan Ning and said, "I'm afraid this matter is unusual."
Lan Ning didn't know Xue Hengzhao well, she just knew that she was from a good family background and was knowledgeable about books and etiquette.
But Concubine Fu knew that Xue Hengzhao was extraordinary. If she said this was unusual, then there was probably something wrong with it.
So he said: "Tell me, what could be happening here?"
"This matter shouldn't have gone wrong. The fifth prince's concubine should have received the same bracelet as everyone else. But in the end the bracelet changed. This can only be said to have been exchanged halfway." Xue Hengzhao looked solemn, "If not
For a certain purpose, who would go to such trouble to do such a thing?"
I changed the second half of the previous chapter so that it looks smoother. I have been ill recently and my brain seems to be unable to turn. Friends who read the previous chapter yesterday may wish to go back and read it again so that they can connect