After the beginning of winter, the weather becomes cold.
On the day of Concubine Pei's birthday party, it snowed for the first time.
The snow was not heavy, and there were little stars that turned into water droplets when they hit the ground.
Mingwei entered the palace and found that there were not as many people as expected.
Princess An whispered to her: "This year, even the Longevity Festival will be simple, so the imperial concubine refused to make it grand, so your majesty had no choice but to agree."
Ming Wei understands this. Concubine Pei has always disliked making unnecessary limelight. The Crown Prince and King Xin have only been deposed for a long time. Although she has arranged such a big deal, even though it is the emperor's will, in the end the reputation still falls on her.
In the past, the imperial concubine did not care about reputation. Now that she has hope in her heart, her thoughts are different.
However, the so-called no big deal means that the pomp is not that big. Everyone knows that the imperial concubine is very favored, but it is not clear from the outside. They all know it in their hearts. The reason why the two princes were deposed was because they collided with the imperial concubine Pei. Who would dare to give in?
Is she unhappy?
The concubine's face is the emperor's face. Who dares not to come if you are qualified? The birthday gifts are also extremely expensive and novel.
Among them, the birthday ceremony of Prince Yue's Mansion is the most amazing. The coral, which is as tall as a person, is actually of seven colors. When it is carried into the main hall, it is full of light and dazzles the eyes.
Yang Shu was very proud: "I got this from a merchant in the south. Such colorful corals can only be found in the shoals of the South China Sea. And they are so big and in such complete appearance that you can't find many of them even in the south."
"
The emperor pointed his finger at him and said: "You are quite proud. The news was spread a few days ago, and all the merchants in the capital were moved by the news. I heard that you have increased the market price by 30%. You kid, can't you do something good?"
"
This sounded like an accusation, but the emperor had a smile on his face and it was obvious that he was in a good mood, so everyone laughed together.
Concubine Hui, who was sitting under Concubine Pei, smiled and said, "The King of Yue is also very filial."
Concubine Hui was also dressed up today, but she looked very haggard.
Ever since the second prince was deprived of his title, Concubine Hui had become ill.
She is a former member of Qiandi, about the same age as the emperor, and is almost fifty. This disease makes her look much older, and she is almost the same generation as Concubine Pei.
Talking about Concubine Hui, there were times when she was favored in her early years. When the emperor was still King Zhao, because he couldn't get along with Princess Zhao, he preferred several of his concubines.
Concubine Hui had a docile temperament and was always by her side, so she gave birth to a second son as soon as King Zhao's legitimate son came out.
However, the love around the emperor did not last long. When King Zhao ascended the throne and Concubine Pei entered the palace, Concubine Hui took a back seat.
As we age, our appearance fades and our grace becomes less and less.
However, the emperor still missed his old love. There was nothing he could do without her. Even if the second prince committed such a thing, he would just reprimand her.
After she finished laughing, she said: "Your Majesty, I have a birthday gift here. It may not be very expensive, but it is better than ingenuity. I wonder if it can make the imperial concubine smile."
Concubine Pei said warmly: "Sister, you are interested. You are not in good health, how can you work hard?"
Concubine Hui said with a smile: "It's not me who's doing the hard work, it's my niece." She smiled and patted the wrist of the girl next to her, "Thanks to Xiuyi these days, I heard that I was going to prepare a birthday gift for the concubine, and she thought hard day and night.
, that’s why I came up with such an idea."
Everyone looked over and saw that she was a delicate and frail girl. She was sixteen or seventeen years old, with fair skin and elegant facial features.
She was so quiet all the time that everyone thought she was a maid serving Concubine Hui, but they didn't expect she was her niece.
The girl was watched by everyone, and she smiled sheepishly and whispered softly: "My aunt is ill, and the imperial concubine always orders people to visit her. I can't help but feel the kindness of the empress. I am afraid that my talent and knowledge are not enough, and I will not be able to repay the concubine in case anything happens."
Concubine Pei's eyes were gentle: "Miss Wen is too polite. I'm just doing my duty."
Concubine Hui's surname is Wen, and her niece is Miss Wen.
The emperor asked: "But I don't know what the birthday gift is? Concubine Hui said this, it seems a bit strange."
Concubine Hui looked at Wen Xiuyi with a smile.
Wen Xiuyi stood up: "Your Majesty, wait a moment, I will show you now."
Two palace maids came up from behind Concubine Hui, holding a scroll in their hands.
They opened the scroll in the hall and found a picture of hundreds of flowers.
But in the picture, you can see the colorful flowers, red, blue, yellow and green, layered on top of each other in different shades, so beautiful that it seems like in the blink of an eye, the flowers inside will become real.
When everyone took a closer look, they found that this was not a painting, but an embroidery.
The emperor smiled and said: "Miss Wen is really skillful. She has such skills at a young age. If I didn't look carefully, I would have thought it was a painting. It is really amazing that the embroidery has such charm."
Concubine Pei also praised: "If I hadn't told you, I would have thought it was done by an embroiderer with decades of experience."
Yang Shu looked at the painting, then at Concubine Hui, and said, "This picture of hundreds of flowers is beautifully embroidered, but when it comes to ingenuity, where do we start?"
His look was provocative, quite a bit like "How dare you compare yourself to me?"
Wen Xiuyi half lowered her head and replied: "His Royal Highness the King of Yue, wait a moment, the embroidery of the courtier is actually only half completed, there is still a little bit left."
"oh?"
Wen Xiuyi whispered: "With hundreds of flowers, how can there be no bees and butterflies?"
The emperor was surprised: "I thought you had neglected this point. Is there something else involved?"
Wen Xiuyi replied softly: "Your Majesty, please allow me to use my needle and thread in front of you."
The emperor nodded: "Yes."
Wen Xiuyi took the needle and thread handed over by the palace maid and embroidered the flower stamens in front of everyone.
But seeing that her movements were skillful, she embroidered the delicate core with just a few stitches. One by one, she embroidered quickly. After a while, she stopped the needle and thread and asked the palace maid to come to the door of the palace with the embroidery picture.
"Your Majesty, please wait a moment with your Majesty."
Her confident look made everyone curious.
Not long after waiting, I suddenly heard a buzzing sound in my ears.
Everyone looked up and saw several bees and butterflies flying in from outside, circling around in a circle, and finally landing on the stamens of the flowers!
"There really are bees and butterflies!" King An shouted, "It's so strange, where did it come from?"
They say sex is like life, but it's winter now! It's still snowing outside, where are the bees and butterflies coming from?
Wen Xiuyi was embarrassed to be looked at. She blushed slightly and offered her congratulations to Concubine Pei: "Your Majesty's birthday is in the early winter. Although there was auspicious snow to celebrate it, it was lost in glory. Xiuyi was bold and used a picture of hundreds of flowers to attract bees and butterflies to come and celebrate her birthday.
Happy birthday."
Concubine Pei came back to her senses, and the emperor was already stroking his hands and laughing: "Interesting, it is indeed an ingenuity! Ayan, this gift is indeed much better than you, are you convinced?"
Yang Shu looked unwilling, but was speechless.
In the corner, Mingwei looked at Wen Xiuyi with a serious expression.
How can there be such a thing in this world that a woman attracts bees and butterflies when she is born? There must be some ingenuity in this embroidery thread. (To be continued)