Chapter 18: Cover

Hearing the sound, Concubine Song put down her red tassel spear and walked out. A thin layer of sweat appeared on her smooth forehead, which she wiped with a handkerchief without paying much attention.

The dim morning light made it difficult to open one's eyes. Concubine Song raised her hand to block out the light and said to Tuantuan, "You deserve it. Who told you to disturb my sleep?"

Tuan Tuan cried out in resentment.

Pei Tingyue felt relieved after taking revenge, so he didn't make things difficult for Tuantuan. He patted its butt twice and let it go.

Concubine Song stretched her body and said, "I want to eat peach blossom cake today."

Peach blossom cake was developed by Pei Tingyue. First, peach petals are picked, washed, and crushed into juice. Then, they are mixed with glutinous rice flour, yam, and milk. When steamed, the cake is soft, sweet, and full of the aroma of peach blossoms.

She found the food delicious, so she sent some to the front hall. Unexpectedly, Concubine Song fell in love with it.

After hearing what Concubine Song said, Pei Tingyue's eyes lit up, "Then I will have breakfast here with Your Majesty today!"

Cairen's breakfast was always the same, and she was tired of it.

The imperial concubine's breakfast was so full that the large round table painted in gold and red could not even accommodate it, as it contained all kinds of rare delicacies.

Pei Tingyue couldn't forget it after eating it once.

"Okay." Concubine Song agreed readily.

"When I go to pay my respects, I'll pick some peach blossoms from the Imperial Garden!"

Pei Tingyue returned to the back hall. She had to go to Fenghe Palace to pay her respects later, so she had to wash and put on makeup first.

After tidying up, seeing that it was still early, she took Yunshu and another young palace maid Chunqi to the imperial garden.

Changle Palace is not far from the Imperial Garden and we arrived there quickly.

The Imperial Garden covers a large area, and the flower beds in front are planted with precious flowers and plants, which bloom vigorously in this spring.

There are also several ponds with koi swimming around in them, which is very interesting. Behind them are several flower forests, including peach forests, pear forests, plum forests, etc.

In order to make it easier for the masters to appreciate the flowers, there is a pavilion every five steps and a pavilion every ten steps. Pei Tingyue has been here many times and is already familiar with this place. She led her people to take a shortcut and soon arrived at the peach blossom forest.

As April approaches, many peach blossoms fall, covering the ground with pink and white.

Pei Tingyue chatted while picking flowers, "It seems that this year, this peach blossom cake will only be eaten once."

Yun Shu lamented, "The peach blossoms fall so quickly."

Every time the master steamed peach blossom cake, she would let her eat her fill. She felt a little reluctant when she couldn't eat it anymore.

Pei Tingyue knew why she sighed like that and comforted her, "I'll make you some other snacks later."

Yun Shu regained his strength and said, "Okay, okay."

The master and his two servants picked for a while, and when they saw that it was almost done, Pei Tingyue led his men back.

She instructed the young palace maid Chunqi, "Take these peach petals back to our palace, wash them twice with clean water, and prepare glutinous rice flour and other things. After I have finished greeting you and having dinner, start making them."

Chunqi was a timid and quiet palace maid. When she received the order, she timidly replied, "I understand."

Pei Tingyue nodded and asked someone to return to the palace. She then took Yunshu to Fenghe Palace.

Before leaving the Imperial Garden, I saw a beautiful woman approaching.

It’s Yan Baolin.

Yan Baolin naturally saw her as well and was the first to salute, "Sister Pei."

Pei Tingyue smiled faintly, "What a coincidence, I met Sister Yan."

The joy on Yan Baolin's face was self-evident. She was just worrying about how to find out what happened last time, and now it was no coincidence.

After a few pleasantries, she quietly pulled Pei Tingyue over and said shyly, "A few days ago, my elder sister said she would say a few good words for me in front of the emperor. How's that going?"

Pei Tingyue smiled and said, "I promised Sister Yan, so I will not forget it. I mentioned Sister Yan's good reputation in front of the emperor."

Mentioned, reverse mentioned.

"Thank you, sister." Yan Baolin felt a little disappointed after hearing this. Since the emperor had mentioned her, why hadn't he summoned her yet?

Pei Tingyue guessed what she was thinking, patted her hand and comforted her, "Don't be discouraged, the emperor has been busy with state affairs recently. When he has some free time in the future, he will definitely think of Sister Yan."

Yan Baolin thought so too.

A smile broke out on her face and she said a lot of nice things.

However, she felt a little disdainful in her heart, thinking that this Pei Cairen was just as the rumors said, a brainless idiot who gave her such a huge benefit after a few words of her deception.

After a few more insignificant words, it was almost time to pay respects. Pei Tingyue said, "Sister Yan, why don't we go pay respects to the Empress together?"

Yan Baolin didn't want to be with her. What if someone saw her and mistakenly thought they were close? She smiled awkwardly and said, "Sister, I just realized I lost my handkerchief and wanted to go back and look for it."

Pei Tingyue didn't expose this lame excuse: "Sister Yan, go quickly."

Yan Baolin said goodbye quickly.

Seeing her hurried back, Pei Tingyue sneered and turned to Fenghe Palace.

Before reaching Fenghe Palace, they were stopped by someone on the road to the palace.

The person who came was a beautiful woman with a gorgeous appearance and charming demeanor, but at this moment her willow-shaped eyebrows were tightly furrowed, which destroyed her beauty and made her look more domineering.

She looked at Pei Tingyue with great disdain.

"This is Pei Cairen, why don't you greet her?"

Yun Shu had never seen anyone so rude to her own master. The look he gave her as if she were looking at commodities made her uncomfortable.

After confirming again and again that he had never seen this beauty in the palace, and that this beauty had a girl's bun and was not wearing a palace dress, Yun Shu scolded her sternly.

"She is not worthy of paying her respects!" said the beautiful girl coldly.

"Yunshu, please step back." Pei Tingyue said. She looked at the person blocking the road and asked, "Excuse me, young lady, why are you blocking the road?"

The girl snorted, as if disdainfully, "Come and see what the most favored woman in the harem looks like. Now it seems she's nothing more than this!"

She turned around and left without stopping.

Yun Shu was so angry that she wanted to stop her, but Pei Tingyue shook her head.

"Talented lady, why are you stopping me?"

"You can't teach her a lesson." Pei Tingyue ignored Yun Shu's surprise and analyzed in a deep voice, "Did you see the hairpin on her head? It's a golden phoenix holding a pearl. In this palace, only the Queen Mother and the Empress are qualified to wear it."

"The fact that she can be rewarded means that this girl is of great importance."

"Let's go. Maybe we'll know who she is when we get to Fenghe Palace."

After this delay, when Pei Tingyue arrived, most people had already arrived in the hall.

Soon, Queen Cui came out.

She was particularly happy today, and one of the concubines boldly asked, "Why is the Queen so happy today?"

Empress Cui had a warm smile on her face. "Two great joyous events have occurred in the palace, so I am so happy."

She looked at the concubines in the six palaces and said with a smile: "The first thing is that the Queen Mother is now well again."

The concubines looked bewildered.

Whose body?

The Queen Mother's body?

I haven't heard that the Empress Dowager was ill, so how come she is well now?

The concubines were a little confused.

Only Concubine Xie Xian remained calm as she continued the Queen's words, "This is a happy occasion. The Queen Mother is ill, and the two girls have made great contributions in preparing the medicine. Has the Queen Mother said how she wants to reward the two girls?"

The Queen continued to smile, "How can I reward you? The two girls are of the right age. Mother means that the two girls do not need to leave the palace and can stay here."

At this point, even the dumbest concubine would react.

The Queen Mother's illness was just a pretext.

It's just a cover-up for the newcomer to the harem!