Chapter 45 Chapter 45 "Tonight... okay?"

Tian Jiarou and Yueshu were startled by her fall and quickly got up to help her.

Li Shuyao waved at them in a daze. The luster in her always bright almond-shaped eyes disappeared. Her face was wrinkled, and she was still immersed in her own thoughts, no one knew what she was thinking about.

Tian Jiarou and Yue Shu sat back down and looked at her worriedly.

It was unknown how long it took before Li Shuyao came back to her senses. She reached out to pick up the teacup and drank from it, as if thinking about something was enough to make her thirsty.

After finishing her tea, she put the cup down with a thud and asked Tian Jiarou in a serious tone, "So what is Madam Lin going to do?"

Tian Jiarou was stunned for a moment when she asked this question.

I mean, isn't the person Madam Liang is investigating... you? What happened to Madam Guan Lin?

Why did the girl suddenly ask about Nanny Lin’s plan?

She was very puzzled.

Li Shuyao saw that she didn't answer immediately and blinked her eyes, so she knew that she didn't understand what she meant.

So she patiently explained to Tian Jiarou, "Hasn't Nanny Lin already noticed something was wrong? Otherwise, she wouldn't have checked on Nanny Liang's movements and realized she was investigating me."

"Madame Lin, and the maids in the Palace of Heavenly Purity are all very capable people. They will definitely be able to come up with a solution."

There is no way and no experience.

So what Li Shuyao has to do now is to stay in her room obediently and not go out and get framed.

In short, she still needs to cling to the thighs of a few maids and let them take action. She is only responsible for waving flags, cheering and encouraging them from behind.

Li Shuyao didn't feel useless at all.

She is a modern person and is not born with the talent for palace fighting. Even if she realizes that others want to harm her, she doesn't know how to react or fight back.

This does not mean to say that modern people are bad. There are still many smart people in the world.

But, she is not like that. She is not smart at all.

She couldn't think of those complicated things, nor could she guess what tricks others would use.

The only thing you can do is be careful with your words and actions, and then find a hole to hide in.

It's already amazing to make sure you don't fall behind.

Another thing...she is about to become someone's concubine, and the emperor hasn't had enough of her yet, so how could he be willing to let anything happen to her?

So she has many protectors. Eunuch Liang is one, the four maids are four, there is Qingyao, and the emperor. Maybe even the palace maid who is passing by her room door is sent by the emperor to protect her.

Li Shuyao thought so, and glanced out smartly with her clear apricot blossom eyes.

Then I saw the palace maid who was carrying a copper basin to pour water. After pouring the water, she shook the copper basin seriously, then took a look at it and shook it again.

After shaking, he put away the copper basin, picked up another copper basin at his feet, and continued pouring water.

Li Shuyao:?

Who pours water like this?

How strange! Let me take another look.

She turned her head and stared at the palace maid intently.

After pouring the water, the palace maid looked around casually. When her eyes met Li Shuyao, she was so scared that she trembled all over. She didn't even leave the basin and hurriedly "rolled" back to her room, closing the door with a "bang".

Li Shuyao: ...

So is she the one who is following me?

Li Shuyao was a little confused.

In order to understand this problem, Li Shuyao began to carefully observe the actions of everyone in the yard.

The two palace maids sitting under the tree embroidering purses were obviously not like that, because their attention was completely focused on the purses, and while they were embroidering...

Hiss, they felt like they were pricked by a needle.

It's probably a coincidence...right?

Oops, I got pricked again...

Hey, why did they leave?

Li Shuyao was stunned for a moment, then realized belatedly that these two people must be the ones arranged by Eunuch Liang.

So, is there anything else?

Li Shuyao looked towards the other side of the yard, where several palace maids were flirting and talking.

After watching for a while, they hurried back to their rooms one by one as if they were being chased by dogs.

The courtyard suddenly returned to peace.

Li Shuyao: "..."

She was a little surprised. How many people did Eunuch Liang arrange?

And, were they here to protect her, or... were they afraid that she would run away?

The originally sunny expression on Li Shuyao's face instantly fell, and a light rain began to fall above her head.

The whole person looks gloomy and melancholy.

Tian Jiarou and Yue Shu, who were standing by, were a little confused. After looking at each other, they curiously asked Li Shuyao what was wrong.

Li Shuyao whispered her discovery to them.

After saying that, she thought they would gently comfort her that Eunuch Liang was not such a boring person, but she must have been overthinking it.

But who knew...

Li Shuyao waited for a long time but didn't hear them speak.

Li Shuyao's alertness suddenly reached the highest point. She raised her eyes suddenly and looked at them with a puzzled look. The more she looked, the more she felt that they were guilty.

Otherwise, why wouldn't you dare look back at yourself?

Moreover, Tian Jiarou and Yue Shu are also...

She, has she fallen into a pig-killing scam chat group?

Is there no good person besides her?

Thinking about this, Li Shuyao slammed the table angrily and said, "Tell me the truth, what's going on!"

Tian Jiarou: “…”

Yue Shu: “…”

The two looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

Tian Jiarou told her about Nanny Lin's previous instructions, but Yueshu said that she was actually instructed by Qingyao and was worried that Li Shuyao would be nervous and scared, so she went to her room more often in the past few days.

After saying this, Yue Shu added, "Even this jar of green plums was given to me by Qing Yao first, so that I could bring it here and eat it with you."

It is now mid-July, and the enthronement ceremony in August is approaching.

Although the imperial edict had not yet been officially issued, everyone in the palace already knew the specific contents of the list of enthronements.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been very busy these days. The first and most pressing task is to arrange the venue and all necessary procedures for the ceremony of conferring the empress. The second is the ceremony and ceremonial for conferring the title of imperial concubine. Then there are the seven concubines and other noble ladies and maids.

Qingyao has also been very busy recently and cannot accompany Li Shuyao every day.

After listening to Yue Shu's explanation, Li Shuyao tilted her head and said, "What about Qingyao now..."

"I heard her say before that she was going to pay her respects to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager today."

Oh, the Cining Palace.

The palace people in Cining Palace are all very kind, and the two ancestors have good personalities and tempers. It is likely that nothing will go wrong when Qingyao goes to pay her respects this time.

Li Shuyao put aside her worries about her best friend.

His slender fingers, like scallions, scratched the edge of the porcelain jar twice, and he decided to ask Jiarou to clean the porcelain jar and collect it later.

Speaking of Jiarou...

Li Shuyao quietly raised her eyelids and glanced at the restless female doctor next to her, remembering that day, her actions actually did not help her out of the predicament.

The person who really pulled her out of the quagmire was Nanny Lin.

So it was normal for her to listen to Nanny Lin. Besides, Jiarou and Nanny Lin did not harm her.

Why should she care about them having little secrets behind her back?

...Just don't lie to her in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Shuyao generously took the initiative to sit next to Tian Jiarou and told her what she was thinking.

Then he successfully won two tears from the young female doctor.

...She was so moved that she seemed to want to marry him.

Oh no, she was originally his!

Thinking of this, Li Shuyao puffed out her chest with a strange sense of confidence, raised her pinky finger towards Tian Jiarou and said, "Let's make a promise. You promise not to hide anything from me in the future. I'll be the first to know. Okay?"

Tian Jiarou nodded repeatedly, suppressing the excitement in her heart that she could hardly control. She imitated Li Shuyao and awkwardly stretched out her little finger to hook it around Li Shuyao's. Then she was led back and forth and swayed a few times, with her thumbs facing each other, and stamped and signed!

…

After solving the "pig killing scam", oh no, the matter of the spies sent by Eunuch Liang.

Li Shuyao realized belatedly that she had asked Nanny Lin what she thought.

Tian Jiarou shook her head and said hesitantly, "Madame Lin told the young lady not to worry about it, she will handle it herself."

Li Shuyao asked again, "Can I leave my room? Can I go to the outer room to find Qingyao?"

"And there's the Qianqing Palace," she paused, then continued, "I'm not talking about the tea room, I'm talking about the Zhaoren Hall. Can I go to the Zhaoren Hall and talk to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Zhaoren Hall is where the young prince lives.

She wanted to take advantage of these last few days to fulfill her promise to the little prince.

Otherwise it will be too late.

The Hesheli family outside the palace might not care about the interaction between a little palace maid and the little prince in the tea room, but it would be different if it was an official girl.

After hearing her request, Tian Jiarou looked a little hesitant.

Yue Shu said, "Why don't we go and ask Eunuch Liang what he thinks?"

Li Shuyao immediately waved her hand and shook her head, "No, no, no, if it's inconvenient, then forget it. It's not necessary to go."

She paused and said, "I'd better listen to Aunt Lin. I can't let Aunt Lin hold me back."

She said this as if she would be put into a sack and taken away as soon as she left the house, but she completely forgot that she was still within the territory of the Qianqing Palace. Uya and Liang Ma, who were secretly eyeing her, were in the Yanx Palace and the other had left early and returned to the Cining Palace.

Yue Shu and Tian Jiarou looked at each other and gained a new understanding of Li Shuyao's cautious nature, like a little hamster.

*

The three days that the emperor gave Li Shuyao to think passed quickly.

Before going to bed the day before, Li Shuyao was still thinking about the process of conferring an official title on a woman.

...Will there be an imperial edict?

Or does she need to go to the Qing Palace herself to receive the order?

Would she return home after receiving the imperial edict? What would become of her treasured possessions? Would anyone come to help her pack and move to her new home? Or would she have to fend for herself, like a toiling ant, carrying them back and forth to the outer room?

…

She almost lost sleep over it.

It took me a full quarter of an hour later than usual to fall into a sweet dream.

Early the next morning, before she could even open her eyes, Tian Jiarou hurriedly pulled her out of bed.

After finishing her wash and dressing in a daze, Li Shuyao sat down in front of the dressing table. She really wanted to lie down on the table and ask Tian Jiarou to put on some makeup for her.

But after a while, Li Shuyao suddenly heard a few more voices.

It sounds strangely familiar.

Li Shuyao suddenly woke up, opened her eyes and turned her head, and saw that several maids from the Qianqing Palace had all come over and were standing behind her with a smile on their faces. Each of them was holding a few pieces of Manchu clothing in their hands, gesturing at her from a distance and muttering something.

Seeing that she turned her head, several maids pulled her up from the chair with great force without saying a word, and waved her around like a clothes hanger.

In the end, they really couldn't decide which one to wear, so they simply stuffed several Manchu dresses into Li Shuyao's hands and asked her to try them all on.

Li Shuyao: “?”

She looked down at the cheongsam in her hand and found that it had all kinds of colors, pink, yellow, green, blue, purple... There were more colors than the rainbow in the sky.

The embroidery is gorgeous, the colors are bright, and the style is a hundred times more beautiful than the grayish green palace maid's dress.

Li Shuyao instantly felt less sleepy, picked up a set and ran happily to her inner room.

——She loved shopping even when she was still in modern times. She would pick out more than ten sets of clothes every time, change them in the fitting room, look at them again and again, and take many beautiful photos.

Unfortunately, her pocket money at that time was strictly controlled by her parents. Every time she bought clothes, she could only choose her two favorite sets. If she bought more, she would have to eat instant noodles for half a month...

Unlike now, after trying it out, everything is hers!

Li Shuyao wished she could keep trying until dark.

Li Shuyao cooperated enthusiastically, without a trace of impatience on her delicate little face. Every time she put on a piece of clothing, she would actively turn around in circles to show the maids, and then make some dancing and jumping movements to express her love for the Manchu dress.

She wore whatever jewelry Mammy told her to wear, closed her eyes, and put on lip balm.

Like the most obedient and cute rag doll in the world.

The maids were so happy that they never really opened their eyes.

Finally, it was Liang Jiugong who was outside the house. Seeing that the sky was gradually getting brighter, he thought that the Emperor should have finished his morning court session and should be eager to see Li Shuyao. So he walked to the door, knocked lightly a few times, and coughed heavily a few times as a reminder.

His coughing sounded into the room, and everyone in the room felt regretful to varying degrees.

In the end, it was Matron Gong who made the decision first. "Let's go with this scarlet one. It's festive and beautiful, and it makes you look energetic."

Nanny Lin followed closely behind: "Let's use this set of jewelry inlaid with pink jade. I think Shu Yao likes it very much."

Li Shuyao nodded repeatedly. She liked everything she liked.

I like the pink jade, I also like the mutton-fat jade, and the set of Hetian jade is also good.

These are all national treasures, how could she not like them?

It's good enough that they like her.

——Li Shuyao was so surprised by the overwhelming wealth that she became a little confused.

After nodding, he watched as Tian Jiarou carefully put away the several sets of headgear in the wooden box.

She suddenly felt reluctant and reached out to tug at Madam Gong's sleeve, suggesting softly, "How about... pick again?"

She suddenly felt that the Lantian jade set was also good...

Matron Gong glanced at her, clearly reading the reluctance and longing in her eyes. She was stunned for a moment, then shook her head helplessly, "These are all gifts from the Emperor. Someone will deliver them to your residence later. It doesn't matter if you can't wear them today. There will be plenty of opportunities to wear them in the future."

It turns out it’s not a choice of seven!

But these seven sets of national treasure-level jewelry and head ornaments are all hers!

Li Shuyao suddenly acted even happier than when she received five hundred taels of silver a few days ago. She jumped twice on the spot, clenched her fists, and was so excited that she couldn't express it in words.

Suddenly, I no longer felt that being someone else's concubine was such a difficult task.

She can do it!

…

So we arrived at the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

However, the emperor did not meet her in the imperial study, but in the eastern warm room on the other side.

It makes sense. The Imperial Study is such an important place. Why would the Emperor meet a court lady there?

Li Shuyao suddenly remembered that every time Qingyao accompanied the emperor, she always waited in the east warm pavilion.

Li Shuyao had originally thought she would have to wait too, because this was usually the busiest time in the tea room. After the Emperor finished his morning court session, he would immediately begin meeting with ministers from the previous dynasty to discuss state affairs and the wars in the south and northwest. Right now was the most crucial time to quell the Three Feudatories Rebellion...

By the way, when was the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories put down?

Li Shuyao shook her head, as if she couldn't remember clearly. She only vaguely remembered that the turning point seemed to be with a man named Wang Fuchen... What did he do?

Li Shuyao thought as she walked into the east warm room.

There was a pleasant scent of flowers burning in the east warm room, and there were a few snacks and two plates of fruit on the table.

Li Shuyao first stood at the door and looked around vigilantly. After finding that the emperor was not there, she suddenly relaxed and began to study the furnishings in the east warm room and the snacks on the table... No, it was the furniture in the east warm room.

No one even knows when Liang Jiugong passed away.

Li Shuyao first strolled around casually, touched the thin-necked porcelain vase on the treasure rack, and glanced at the snacks on the table; she picked up the travel notes on the bookshelf and flipped through them, and the aroma of snacks filled her nostrils.

...It must be because the windows are closed and the air in the room is not circulating.

Thinking about this, Li Shuyao put down her travel notes, strode to the couch, kicked off her shoes, and lay down in front of the window frame with great concentration, studying how to open this window...

It was at this time that the emperor quietly came behind Li Shuyao.

When Liang Jiugong brought the person over, he was reviewing memorials in the imperial study. After he learned that the person was already in the East Warm Pavilion, the words in the memorials suddenly became unfamiliar to him.

But he still restrained himself and finished reviewing the last memorial. Then he left the imperial study with slightly hurried steps and walked to the door of the east warm room.

He had expected to see a shy little palace maid, but instead he saw a delicate figure hunched over the window, laboriously trying to figure out how to open it...

Well, he shouldn't have expected too much from Li Shuyao.

The emperor slapped the lively little rabbit in his heart to death, lowered his eyelashes, and pinched his eyebrows with a headache.

After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "What are you doing?"

"——Ah!" Li Shuyao was so frightened by the sound.

At that time, she had already figured out how to open the window of the East Warm Room. First, she had to press a button, then quickly open the window leaf, and then take the handle next to it to secure it.

Li Shuyao originally thought that opening the window was a piece of cake, but after she opened the window flap, she discovered that the window was really heavy...

Made of solid wood, right?

While struggling to hold up the window leaf, she reached out to grab Xuanjue which was placed on the other side. Her white fingertips hooked it and it was just a little bit away from being able to grab it.

Suddenly, a male voice came from behind her. How could she not be startled?

She was so frightened that she let go immediately, and when the window leaf bounced back, it was less than a centimeter away from her fingertips.

After a gust of wind, there was another "pop" sound. Li Shuyao didn't have time to look at who was behind her. She subconsciously lowered her head to look at her other hand that was supporting the window frame, and then -

It was a close call, my hand was almost swollen from being pinched.

The person behind her was probably startled by her sudden release of her hand, and he jumped up without even taking off his shoes. His warm body pressed directly against her back, and he hugged her in his arms.

He lowered his head and began to examine her fingers.

Li Shuyao: "..."

Li Shuyao blinked, feeling that the progress bar seemed to be moving too fast.

She never expected that the emperor would suddenly come back at this moment. At this time in the past... shouldn't he be in the imperial study listening to the officials quarreling?

By the way, has he gone to the Cining Palace to pay his respects to the two ancestors?

And what about the pile of memorials in the Imperial Study? Is he not going to approve them?

Li Shuyao froze in place, her mind not on her fingers, but on the outside... It was still broad daylight outside!

She wouldn't start serving you in bed in broad daylight, would she?

Li Shuyao suddenly became nervous again and felt that she still needed to struggle.

At least... at least we have to hold on until the sun goes down, otherwise it would be too... too embarrassing.

Thinking of this, Li Shuyao blinked again, and tried very hard to muster up her courage to look at the man behind her.

At this time, the emperor was still frowning and checking her fingers. He had no romantic thoughts in his mind. He just turned the soft and boneless white little hand in his palm back and forth, squinting his eyes and looking at it again and again. Finally, he confirmed that her hand was intact, without even the slightest red mark.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the little girl was fine. Otherwise, with her delicate nature, she would cry for a whole day and night if she suffered any injustice.

By then, I'm afraid I won't want him to touch me at all.

After examining Li Shuyao's fingers, the emperor placed them in his palm and rubbed them unconsciously a few times with his fingertips.

Before I could even feel the emotion, I suddenly remembered something and felt that I had to teach him a lesson.

But before he opened his mouth, the little girl in his arms took action first.

——She turned her head and blinked her pair of watery almond-shaped eyes. After looking at him shyly, she puffed up her tender cheeks and fixed her gaze on his face.

As if she had made some big decision, she came up to him unexpectedly and gave him a big kiss on the face with a very crisp "boji".

Then, with her face flushed and eyes veiled in shyness, she spoke to him boldly yet nervously, "Your Majesty, it's still light outside. Can we wait until nightfall?"

The tall and slender man felt a "boom" in his head.