Imperial Garden.

The opera troupe from the countryside came with great fanfare and set up a stage in an open area in the Imperial Garden.

The first person to come on stage was the animal trainer, who drove a tiger with its teeth pulled out onto the stage. As soon as he appeared, he attracted the attention of almost everyone in the audience.

The tiger with its teeth pulled out is tall and mighty, its roar is deafening, and it is still as majestic as ever.

The animal trainer saluted Emperor Yanqing and began his performance.

Emperor Yanqing was surrounded by many beautiful concubines. He lazily lay on the soft couch below, eating a piece of fruit handed to him by a concubine from time to time, or kissing a concubine's beautiful and smooth little face.

Because Xiang Fei was pregnant, she could not step forward to compete for favor, for fear of hurting the dragon seed in her belly. She sat below the emperor on the left, gently stroking her slightly bulging belly with her slender jade fingers, and the expression on her face was unfathomable.

Shi Qian was just a small concubine, so naturally the seat she could get was not very near the front. She sat in the same row with the other maids and concubines.

But her position was the farthest away, and in front of her were many palace maids standing to serve their masters, blocking Shi Qiang's view. She sighed secretly, realizing that it would be difficult for her to enjoy the performance.

However, before the performance began, when Emperor Yanqing slowly approached, Shi Qiang saw from afar a bright yellow figure surrounded by concubines.

Emperor Yanqing is old, he is fifty-three years old this year.

Shi Qiang had originally prepared herself to see an old man, but when she saw the real person, she realized that Emperor Yanqing looked younger than his actual age. His skin was well maintained and he looked to be around forty-five or forty-six years old.

Although his skin was well maintained, Emperor Yanqing was old after all. In addition, he indulged in pleasure and sex too much, and the dark circles under his eyes were very obvious.

Shi Qian did not observe the old emperor for long, just a few quick glances. Then the old emperor walked to the front and sat down surrounded by the palace concubines. The old emperor was drowned in the crowd and even his back could not be seen.

Hong Xing stood quietly behind her mistress and also saw the true appearance of Emperor Yanqing.

The first time she saw the old emperor, she subconsciously compared the old emperor with Xiao Wuzi in her mind.

One is old and ugly, the other is in youth, it is obvious who is stronger and who is weaker.

Hong Xing's heart unconsciously tilted towards Xiao Wuzi, thinking that no wonder the old emperor liked young people so much, if it were her, she would also choose a young one...

No, what was she thinking? An emperor and a eunuch, how could they be compared?

Hong Xing gently touched her face and removed the messy thoughts from her mind. After all, whether it was Emperor Yanqing or Xiao Wuzi, it was estimated that her young master would never have the chance to be together in this life.

Among all the maids and concubines, only Shi Ying-ying had never been picked by the emperor. They felt that they were superior to Shi Ying-ying and looked down on her from the bottom of their hearts.

Even when they were sitting together, no one paid any attention or agreed. They all gathered together and laughed and discussed the performance on the stage.

In front of them, no palace maid dared to block their view, and the performance they could see was so complete.

While no one was paying attention to her, Shi Qian took a piece of cake with an expressionless face and handed it behind her.

Hong Xing understood very well and quickly took it and threw it into her mouth to chew slowly. In the past, when she was in Shi Mansion, Shi Qian also liked to secretly feed the little maid behind her when she was having a banquet.

The familiar scene made Hong Xing miss her previous life.

Shi Qian didn't think too much about it. She fed the baby several different flavors of food. When she thought it was about right, she secretly handed Hong Xing some tea.

On the stage, the tamer and the tiger finished their performance, and the next show was juggling, swallowing knives and spitting fire, which was so spectacular that it attracted everyone's attention.

...The excitement belongs to them, not to Shi Qiang.

She was like an outsider and could only see the backs of the palace maids in front of her.

After a while, Shi Qiang was full, so she stood up silently and left with Hong Xing. There were too many people at the scene, so even if someone left, almost no one would notice.

"Okay, you guys move back over here." Qing Chang, who was sitting closer to the front, was holding an embroidered handkerchief and ordered the palace maids on the right to move back a little.

They were the ones who blocked Shi Qian’s view.

When Qing Chang entered the palace for the selection of concubines, she once laughed at Shi Qiang's dress, making fun of her for being too simple and coming from a poor family. Shi Qiang retorted in a light tone, and Qing Chang almost attacked Shi Qiang, but was stopped by another concubine.

At this point, Qing Changzai had grown disgusted with Shi Qian. However, Shi Qian usually kept a low profile and stayed quietly in Chuxiu Palace. She would never hang out in other places unless she had nothing to do.

Qing Changzai couldn't go out of his way to go there just to humiliate Shi Qian, so he slowly forgot about Shi Qian as time went by.

Today is Xiang Fei's birthday banquet. Qing Chang sees Shi Qiang and thinks of the grudge between them (the one she picked on unilaterally). She gets angry and keeps thinking about making trouble for Shi Da Ying, so she lets the palace maid block Shi Da Ying's view.

Poor Shi Qiang had no idea that she was being deliberately targeted. She thought that all the marginal promises were treated so badly. She was even feeling lucky that she just couldn't see the performance and didn't lack food. There were plenty of cakes, tea, and fruits in front of her.

Before leaving, she picked up a bunch of sweet green grapes and hid them under her wide sleeves. From the outside, there seemed to be nothing wrong.

Because all the palace people were busy watching the performance, there were not many people in the Imperial Garden. Shi Qiang was not in a hurry to return to Chuxiu Palace. She and Hong Xing took a rare opportunity to stroll in the Imperial Garden and appreciate the winter flowers.

There were a lot of cold-resistant flowers in the palace, but Shi Qiang preferred peonies.

Peony flowers are large and colorful, with overlapping petals in a beautiful pink-purple color, making them extremely ornamental.

*

Chu Qi was not interested in the opera troupe, but Shi Qian would also be there today, so she joined the eunuchs who were watching the fun and watched Shi Qian's back from afar.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!