As the weather grew colder, the sounds of mahjong tiles being rubbed echoed throughout the Yonghe Palace mahjong parlor. As soon as Lüzhu entered, she was enveloped in a wave of heat; the entire place was warm and cozy, just like springtime.

Inside, Mingxiu, Xiaohesheli, Huipin, and Rongpin each sat in a corner, excitedly playing mahjong.

Mingxiu played a four of circles and looked up at the growing number of people playing mahjong with her.

Consort Hui was her old partner, and Lady Hesheli had been secretly observing her since the last time. She thought she was alright, so she would occasionally take her along to play together.

As for Consort Rong, she was truly an accident.

Mingxiu looked up and glanced at Consort Rong, who was wearing a moon-white qipao embroidered with begonia flowers.

Consort Rong seems to be even more of a homebody than Mingxiu. At least Mingxiu would occasionally visit Consort Hui's palace and stroll around the Imperial Garden.

However, it seems that Consort Rong really doesn't come out much. She usually just lives in the palace with Rong Xian and is always quiet. If it weren't for the fact that she also has the Third Prince Yin Zhi, it would be easy to overlook her.

However, it could also be just Mingxiu's feeling, since she herself doesn't go out often.

Mingxiu had never dealt with her before, nor did she want to, but one day Yinzhi brought Consort Rong over.

When Mingxiu heard what Lüzhu said, she was surprised and quickly got up and went to the door to see Consort Rong holding Yinzhi's hand, standing gracefully at the entrance of Yonghe Palace.

Since they had already arrived, it was impossible to send them away without any reason, so we hurriedly welcomed them in.

Mingxiu was still wondering what Consort Rong wanted to see her about. The Imperial Noble Consort had assigned palace affairs to the other consorts, so shouldn't she be very busy now? How come she had time to come to her Yonghe Palace?

Then Yinzhi, who was standing next to her, spoke up, "Mother Ming, it was I who brought you in. I was just missing the food here, and since you're staying in the palace with nothing to do, I thought I'd bring you here to chat with me." Yinzhi scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

Mingxiu smiled at Yinzhi's obedient appearance. "Alright, it just so happens that Mother Ming is bored in the palace. You can keep me company and chat with me."

Consort Rong, standing apologetically beside her, said, "I'm sorry to bother you, sister. It's just that this child saw that I was alone in the room and insisted on dragging me out." As she spoke, Consort Rong glanced tenderly at Yin Zhi beside her.

Yin Zhi grinned broadly, clearly enjoying himself.

Mingxiu smiled knowingly; having a thoughtful son is truly wonderful.

After that, you had some food served, and Yinzhi happily ate it all.

Mingxiu sat on the couch and chatted with Rongpin. Unexpectedly, the conversation went quite well, and the two began to visit each other frequently afterward.

After all, in Mingxiu's impression, Consort Rong was a very gentle person, both before and in the historical records she had read. Moreover, they got along very well now, and Mingxiu didn't mind having another friend in the palace.

Then one day, when Consort Rong came to visit, Consort Hui and the others happened to be there as well. Mingxiu looked around and simply called over Little Hesheli as well, and after that, her mahjong partners became stable.

They spent a lot of time playing mahjong together that winter, which actually brought them closer together.

Before we knew it, it was time for the palace banquet.

This year's palace banquet was still held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Mingxiu sat in front of the mirror and let Yulan and Yuqing do her makeup.

Huan is now over seven months old and can crawl around everywhere on her own. She's currently crawling all over the bed, and her wet nurse is watching over her, afraid that she might fall off.

Mingxiu looked at Chenghuan, who was climbing happily, and sighed. The more she attended the palace banquet, the less interesting it became.

Mingxiu didn't want to participate, but she had no choice but to.

"Your Highness, someone from His Highness the Crown Prince just came to say that everyone should prepare a gift, wrap them up, and put them together. Then, when the family banquet is over, everyone can gather together to open the gifts."

Hmm? Mingxiu's interest was piqued immediately, and she looked up at the green bamboo.

This brat's been up to something lately. It's like when everyone draws a present at Christmas, and whoever gets it is the one who gets it.

Mingxiu was quite interested in thinking about what gift to prepare later.

Because of this incident, Mingxiu and the others happily went out after finishing their makeup. Chenghuan was still young, so they didn't take her with them.

Yu Qing and Yu Lan stayed in the palace to look after Cheng Huan, while Ming Xiu took Lu Zhu out.

Stepping outside and seeing the row of red lanterns, Mingxiu felt even better.

Before glass existed, lanterns were made of red paper or silk, and candles were placed inside, but they weren't very bright.

So the road wasn't very bright. It was fine at other times, but during holidays like Chinese New Year, a row of red lanterns in a slightly darker place looked rather frightening.

Oh dear, this kind of Chinese horror is mainly because others can't understand it; only she knows what makes it so terrifying.

So Mingxiu was in a lot of pain at that time, and there was nothing else she could say but reduce the time she spent out at night.

Thankfully, there's glass now, making the whole place much brighter. You can tell it's nighttime except for the sky, and the streets are brightly lit.

The snow on the road had been cleared away. Mingxiu put her hands inside her sleeves and walked forward with Luzhu.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony wasn't far from them, so they didn't walk very far and arrived in no time.

Mingxiu entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where there were already quite a few people. Touching her cheeks, which were a little hot from walking, Mingxiu let out a long breath and went inside.

As soon as I walked in, I saw Yinreng and the other princes gathered together, talking about something.

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