On this day, there was a new tribute of lychees from Minzhou. Xuan Ling asked Li Chang to bring a basket. I was holding it with Yu Rao and Yu Yao when I saw Xuan Ling coming in with a smile.
What do you think of Huanhuan’s beloved thing?”
I peeled off one and put it in his mouth, and said with a smile: "It's juicy and delicious, but I think it's too sweet. If you give so many baskets every year, I'm afraid the horses in the place will run to death."
The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and every flicker of sunshine outside is filled with white heat. Xuan Ling has already changed into a home-made lake blue jade cloud singlet, and lay down on the cool mat, "You are usually afraid of the heat.
I should have taken you to Taiping Palace to cool off."
I smiled and said: "How can you know that food and rice are difficult if you are not a family? The Queen Mother is not happy and it is not suitable to travel far. It will not be easy if all the children around me are taken away. The mother-in-law and nanny are a lot of people. If we make further arrangements
The clothes, carriages, and horses needed to be transported, and the palace over there needs to be rearranged, and a lot of money will be spent on it."
Xuan Ling smiled and nodded my forehead, "You are frugal. I looked at the amount of money paid out by the Moon Palace this month and found that it saved more than 10,000 taels compared to last month. This is the benefit of your diligence and frugality in running the house."
"Where did the emperor think that more than 10,000 taels of silver were saved? Mrs. Ni and Mrs. Guan were demoted to dressers, and Lady Zhao Jieyu and Lady Yu Rong were short of a monthly amount of silver from their fines. Concubine De passed away, and according to the Queen Mother's wishes, they were
The amount of money was three times more and was spent on Run'er. However, the Emperor rarely went to Madam Yu Rong and An Zhaoyuan, and the two palaces drew less money, which saved a lot. And because Sister De Fei had just left, the concubine
Many of the new clothes made by the concubine don’t need to be embroidered with gold twists. Thanks to the concubine’s sister who knows how to handle accounts, I can save these." I smiled and glanced at him, "The next year is the year of the draft again, the emperor will choose a few more people.
When my sister comes in, even an extra hundred thousand taels of silver will not be enough to cover expenses."
Xuan Ling took a peacock blue feather fan and fanned it, "I am very sad to hear this. You want to save money on this. I will tell you a wonderful lord. I will only bring a few beautiful women to your palace."
When the palace maids are concubines, their monthly salary will be deducted from your monthly salary. Your monthly salary of one thousand taels is enough to support a few dressing gowns and choose attendants."
I gestured and raised a translucent hand-painted gardenia fan and patted him on the shoulder, and spat: "The emperor can take whomever he likes? I heard from several maids that the dead Fei Wen just had a wish."
It was Guan who recommended him as an attendant, so he was determined to frame his concubine. The emperor wanted to change his clothes, so what's so strange about choosing an attendant? If there are really people who can see it, it would be better to make them nobles in one fell swoop! It would also wake them up.
Wake up, if you don’t have the ability, just keep to yourself.”
Xuan Ling leaned on the couch, pointed at Huanbi who was putting the peeled lychees into the crystal cup, and said: "If you are so generous, I will take your most caring Huanbi today, what do you think?"
"
I looked at him sideways with a half-smile but not a smile, "I only have Huanbi as my concubine's maid. We are as close as sisters. Does the emperor want to win my love?"
He casually took a lychee from the table and ate it, then vomited the core and said: "Because she is your confidant, I will not treat her poorly. Just like you did back then, how about making her a noble person?" He turned his head and thought,
He laughed again, "How about being named Xi Guiren?"
Huanbi was suddenly startled, and a crystal cup she was holding in her hand was smashed to pieces with a bang. Xuan Ling and I were both startled. Huanbi didn't care, and hurriedly knelt down and said: "I don't dare! I'm already here."
She is a twenty-six-year-old woman, how can she be qualified to serve the emperor and ask the emperor to spare this slave?"
Xuan Ling straightened up with interest and said with a smile: "This is strange. Ordinary palace maids would be so happy to worship Buddha if they had such great honor and favor. You are reasoning that you are old, so what if you are old? In fact, twenty-six
Not too old either.”
Huanbi huddled into a ball, kowtowed several times, and said in a whisper like a mosquito, "I'm guilty, I already have a sweetheart."
My heart skipped a beat and I was about to get up. Xuan Ling held me down and laughed and said, "You have a sweetheart. Is it a guard or an eunuch from some palace? Or an imperial physician who often comes and goes?" Huanbi's face was flushed, and she became more and more excited.
I lowered my head and was silent for a long time. Xuan Ling asked me again, "Do you know?"
I hurriedly said: "I don't know, I don't know."
Xuan Ling ordered her to look up with a smile and said, "Speak up and I will make your marriage possible."
Huanbi's forehead turned red in embarrassment and she just shook her head and said nothing.
I laughed and said, "Your Majesty, just make fun of me. It's not enough to take the red peony root from sister Zhen. He also came to try to get rid of my concubine Huanbi. Are you as virtuous as my concubine Zhen? The eight-carriage sedan chair carried Huanbi."
As a nobleman, you are not allowed to take concubines, so you can just be a legitimate jealous person. Huanbi has to keep my concubine, and I will marry her in person someday." I pulled Huanbi up, "You don't have to get up.
Pay attention to the Emperor."
Xuan Ling grabbed my wrist and said with a smile: "Why are you such a domineering person, even ignoring my words? I have one more thing to ask you. Last time Lao Liu was sick, why did you ask Huanbi to take care of him?
?She is your personal person, but you are willing to let her go for so many days?"
I took off the silver arm-wrapped bracelet on my wrist and handed it to Huanbi, "The color is no longer bright. I'll take it and ask the craftsman to fry it later. I have to get it back quickly. My sister left not long ago, and I still need to use silverware."
." Seeing Huanbi gone, we said, "There are only a few people left around me. Jinxi can't get away, Huayi is not sensible yet, and the few left to serve the prince, Diji, are not enough.
"I wish Huanbi could go out. She is getting older and the prince is ill. There will be many people from all over the country coming to visit her. If there is a suitable boy, it will be a good thing."
"You only worry about others. You have been unhappy since Concubine De was gone," Xuan Ling said, gesturing at my wrist, "Look at how much weight you have lost. I will ask Wen Shichu to take care of you someday."
I raised my eyes and looked at him, "Your Majesty, doesn't he suspect that Wen Shichu had an affair when he came to visit his concubine in private?"
He smiled slightly and said apologetically, "Caiyue has already told me that it was Concubine De who asked him to visit you." He coughed dryly, "Besides, he is no different from Li Chang and the others now, and no one needs to do more.
talk."
I lowered my eyes and said: "Because of the matter between my concubine and Sister Mei, Mr. Wen, both as a man and as a doctor, suffered severe physical and mental injuries. Now, in addition to coming to check Run'er's pulse three times a month to compensate for Sister Mei's untimely death, I said
Besides, his heart is mostly broken."
Xuan Ling was silent for a moment, "I know this matter has wronged you."
I felt pity in my heart, "It's fine that I feel wronged, but what's wrong with Sister De Fei? If it wasn't for Guan's trouble, how could she have been frightened and had difficulty giving birth, leaving her young Run'er behind. Now compared to my sister,
It's a waste of time. Although Guan lives in Yongxiang, she is still a palace concubine with fine clothes and fine food..." I felt sad in my heart, and I lowered my head to wipe my tears.
"I don't know that you are resentful of me. In order for me to demote Guan's position, her brother even wrote a letter to ask, but I refuted it." He held my shoulders, "Don't worry, sooner or later I will
Just give you an answer."
I stood up, took a stick of incense and lit it, "I hope this is the case, otherwise my sister will not be able to rest in peace even under the weight of the nine springs."
He nodded, "I want to tell you something. This morning, Guan Lu mentioned that I have four sons. We can choose the eldest to be the crown prince to consolidate the foundation of the country."
I put the incense in the stove and sneered: "If you say this, you should immediately pass the imperial staff, and it would not be an exaggeration to kill him! The emperor is in his prime, and now he has four sons. I don't know how many more princes there will be in the future? Why?
It’s so shameless to talk about the origin of the country so early!”
Xuan Ling shook his head and said: "I have told him that among our four princes, except for the eldest son, who is older, the second and third children are only nine months old, and Run'er is even younger. I have come to respect the virtuous and not the eldest.
Why bother talking about elders and younger ones?"
I lay on his knees, my fine silver needle bead earrings falling down in a graceful posture. Sadness enveloped my cheeks like a mist, "I just became angry. In fact, Guan Lu's suggestion is not wrong. If
When it comes to sons being valued by their mothers, the biological mother of the emperor's eldest son, the imperial concubine, was born in a prince's family, and the queen was her adoptive mother who carefully raised her for many years. The concubine's father was still a criminal, and sister Zhen's background was not comparable to that of the empress and the imperial concubine. Poor Run.
Since my son has lost his mother, it is natural for him to suggest that he should become an elder."
He stroked my hair and said, "How can you belittle yourself when you are so good? The princes are still young, so there is no way to judge the wise from the foolish, and Yu Li's qualifications are indeed mediocre." He thought about it, "It was Prime Minister Zhong Xiuzi who mentioned it.
A compromise suggestion is to make the king first, and then establish the prince after the princes are older."
I was slightly surprised, "Feng Wang is about to open his palace and leave the palace."
Xuan Ling said with a smile: "Isn't Yuli sixteen? It's time to get married. It doesn't matter if it's just a few young ones. I always feel that I'm sorry for Concubine De, and more importantly, I'm sorry for you. This time
The incident has become known to everyone in the palace. The blood test will always hinder Han'er's future reputation. I'm afraid there will always be more criticism in the future. So I want the four princes to be crowned kings together, and not to separate each other.
.”
I lowered my head with a gentle expression, "Han'er is still young, I'm afraid I won't be able to bear such a blessing."
He smiled bitterly, lowered his head and kissed my cheek, "I also have my concerns. If I only ban Yuli, I'm afraid that this matter will cause more talk about the crown prince's affairs in the future, so we have to deal with it together."
I sighed leisurely, "I felt uncomfortable after hearing Concubine Min's words that day. After all, the Queen is a kind-hearted person. Why would she take such a trick and add alum to the blood test water to confuse the audience? It was probably because the Emperor loves his young son.
Because of this. Even now I think about it, I still feel scared, so I would like to ask the emperor to be less painful to Han'er."
He put his index finger on my lips, "Stop talking." He said quietly, "There is no need to mention the queen's matter, I know it well. There is no rush to crown the king. I have to wait until the children are one year old.
He tilted his head and leaned on the bean sprouts and ten-scented pillow, "I have to think about it carefully. It's time to make arrangements for Li's marriage."
The maids serving in the palace all retreated. In the late afternoon, a few rays of sunlight filtered through the low hanging brocade curtains, and the surrounding walls were silent. There was a green-glazed incense burner with a rosette-covered body beside the couch.
A lotus flower is held out from the top, and the lotus pod in the center of the flower is made into the lid of the incense burner. On the top is a sitting lion playing with a ball. High-quality agarwood incense is burned in the furnace, and a few wisps of snow-colored smoke slowly escape from the mouth of the sitting lion.
The cool and calm fragrance lingers in this silent palace without any trace, and the fragrance is full of fragrance.
Xuan Ling was quite sleepy and slowly closed his eyes. I had something on my mind, and after thinking about it for a while, I gradually became a little tired. In the hazy moment, I suddenly heard the sound of a child crying. I was still stunned, but Xuan Ling had already woken up and put on his clothes. He stood up and said, "Who is crying? Come hug me!"
Within a moment, Hua Yi had already brought the child over and said, "His Majesty the Third did not sleep peacefully, as if he had a nightmare."
I hurriedly hugged the child, patted and coaxed her. Probably because she was snoozing, Han'er pouted and fell asleep again. The child's face was the cutest when he was sleeping. Xuan Ling couldn't help but kiss her again and again. I felt something in my dream. I took up my fat white fist and scratched my cheek twice. It was really naive.
My heart moved, and I said as if unintentionally: "Your Majesty, does our child look like that child?"
He said casually: "Which child?"
I was silent for a moment and said, "Queen Chunyuan has also made great achievements. It's just a pity for that prince."
Xuan Ling's eyebrows suddenly twitched, and his expression almost froze there. He was sad and happy, worried and sad, complex and profound.
The light smoke from the incense burner spread out in all directions, standing between me and Xuan Ling. Looking out hazily, his face was as cloudy as the drizzle of March rain, the gentle mist, and unspeakably moist.
After a long, long time, he whispered: "That child has no breath since he was born." He smiled silently, and that smile was as sad as the frost. I glanced at it for a moment, and it seemed that my whole body was sad, "My that one." The child is very lucky and does not need to leave his mother, so he goes together with her."
I didn't know what to say for a moment. I was quiet for a moment and then I said what I had planned. However, the tip of my tongue was numb and bitter. "I heard that my appearance is similar to that of the late empress, so I thought to myself." , perhaps the child of my concubine and the emperor can be three-thirds like the child of the late empress. It can also be regarded as God's mercy, and it can comfort the emperor's fatherly heart."
How could I be willing to say this in my original self?
It's just that the child was born not long ago, and already such turmoil has occurred. The changes in the Queen's Palace have greatly stimulated me. For the future of this child, for his safety, what does it matter for me, a mother, to lose a little dignity.
Xuan Ling was greatly shocked, and the love and pity in his eyebrows became stronger and stronger. He already liked this child. Now that I said this, he was even more moved.
He turned around and took me into his arms, and said softly: "Our child has suffered such great grievances, and it's not because of me, the father. Wanwan's child died so early, this child - our child must be Blessed and long-lived, I swear by the power of an emperor to take good care of our child, and he will definitely live up to my expectations for him."
My heart softened. I was not unmoved, but I was more shocked and comforted. What shocked me was that Queen Chunyuan held such a heavy weight in his heart. I just mentioned her prince who died young, but Xuan Ling actually I value my child so much. What is comforting is that my child's status in Xuan Ling's mind is unbreakable and cannot be compared with other princes and princesses.
I lay in Xuan Ling's arms, biting my gums until they were so sore that they almost burst into blood. My mind was still turning like a wheel - Queen Chunyuan may be the best amulet for me in the future.