Chapter 83 The Empress' Thoughts

Fengluan Palace.

Ever since Xiao Jingheng left last night, the Queen hardly slept a wink all night.

She watched the snow outside the window fall more and more densely, watching it pile up on the wall little by little.

It was like it was piling up in her heart, chilling her to the bone.

When Shuang Ruo got up in the morning and went in to help the queen wash up, she saw the queen standing in front of the desk, neatly dressed, copying Buddhist scriptures with a pen.

She didn't dare to mention what happened last night, fearing that she would upset the queen, so she just said:

"Your Majesty, the snow has stopped outside. Please excuse us from paying respects to the six imperial concubines today."

The Queen was silent for a while, waiting for the next line to be written before she said:

"It's freezing and snowy, so don't ask them to run back and forth. Send someone to inform the six palaces that from today until New Year's Eve, they don't have to come to pay their respects to me."

Shuang Ruo took the order and quickly ordered people to do it.

When she turned back again, she brought back someone.

"Empress, Eunuch Jiang is here."

The queen raised her eyebrows and glanced at Jiang Deshun, then said in a friendly manner, "Why are you here at this time, Eunuch Jiang?"

Jiang Deshun bowed and said, "My queen, the emperor said that this winter is cold and he wants to pack up and go to the hot spring villa to spend the winter. He sent me to inform you. The emperor said that you will be the one to arrange the places for the hot spring villa."

He slowed down and added with a slightly awkward tone: "Just one thing, the emperor wants to bring Concubine Song with him this time."

The Queen paused with her pen.

The Buddhist scripture, which was originally filled with a whole page of beautiful handwriting, was abruptly covered with a glaring stain of ink.

However, her expression did not change. She nodded to Jiang Deshun imperceptibly and said in a gentle voice:

"I understand. The weather has been cold lately, so you should serve the Emperor. Remember to give him a cup of ginseng tea every morning and afternoon to replenish his blood and warm his body."

Jiang Deshun smiled and said, "The Queen is kind and caring towards the Emperor. I will follow the Queen's instructions and take good care of the Emperor."

After finishing his talk, he did not stay long. He just said that he had other things to do in the emperor's presence, and then bowed and left.

After Jiang Deshun left, Shuang Ruo moved the destroyed Buddhist scripture in the Queen's hand aside and slowly rolled it up, muttering,

"I didn't expect that the emperor would think so highly of Concubine Song. The honor of accompanying the emperor to the hot spring villa is only available to concubines and above. Concubine Song is of low rank, so it is obviously against the rules for her to accompany him."

She lowered her voice and reminded the Queen, "The Queen Mother must go with us on this trip to the Hot Spring Villa. The Queen Mother attaches great importance to rules and etiquette, so she will have to say a few words. Will the Queen remind the Emperor?"

The queen spread out a new piece of paper and wrote the Buddhist scriptures fluently while saying casually:

"Didn't you hear Jiang Deshun say that the emperor wanted me to draw up a list of people to go with him? Think about it, if the empress dowager gets angry about Song Changzai going to the hot spring villa, when she asks me about it, can I still say that it was the emperor who insisted on taking Song Changzai with him?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. How can a Son of Heaven make mistakes? If the Queen Mother asks, I can only say that I arranged all of this. In this way, the person who does not follow the rules in the eyes of the Queen Mother can only be me."

Shuang Ruo's eyes darkened when she heard this, and she said helplessly: "In this way, the Queen will be wronged again."

"Why am I aggrieved?" The Queen picked up the newly written Buddhist scripture, and after looking at it with satisfaction, she handed it to Shuang Ruo and said, "As the head of the harem, I naturally have to fulfill the emperor's wishes. Go and get the layout of the hot spring villa and show it to me."

After Shuangruo put the Buddhist scriptures in place, she quickly took out the layout of the hot spring villa and presented it to the queen.

The queen took a quick look, then pointed to two palaces inside and asked:

"This Yingchun Pavilion and Tingyu Pavilion, I remember that after the emperor's birthday, the people in the manor reported that they wanted to repair them. It's only been a month, I guess they are not finished yet, right?"

Shuang Ruo nodded in agreement, and the Queen looked at the cloth map in a dilemma.

Kyoto has always had warm winters, and a cold winter like this year's is rare in decades.

Therefore, compared with the Summer Resort, the number of times the hot spring villa can be used is pitifully small.

For example, this is the first time Xiao Jingheng will go there since he ascended the throne.

Because the hot spring villa is rarely visited, Zhuangzi advocated keeping everything simple when building it.

There are only eight palaces that can accommodate the master.

Now Yingchun Pavilion and Tingyu Pavilion are being renovated, so there are only six palaces left that can be used by the master to live in.

Moreover, these palaces have no auxiliary halls, so several masters cannot live together.

Shuang Ruo counted on her fingers, "The Emperor and the Empress will definitely go, and the Empress Dowager will also go with them. The Emperor also specifically asked Song Changzai to go with him, so there will only be two palaces left for the remaining concubines, right?"

The Queen shook her head. "Not two, but one. Concubine Xiao is pregnant, how can we leave her in the palace?"

Shuang Ruo thought for a moment and said, "Since the emperor asked you to choose, you can just choose one of the three concubines, Ying Fei, Yun Fei or Shu Fei. Yesterday, on the fifteenth day, the emperor should have stayed in your palace, but Chen Fei didn't know the rules and tricked the emperor into going! She likes to invite favors, so you left her in the palace and let her invite as much as she wants! Let's see who can still pay attention to her!"

Shuang Ruo's tone was a little anxious, and the Queen couldn't help but scold her, "After all, Concubine Chen is also a concubine. Do you think it's appropriate for you to talk about your master behind his back like this?"

Shuang Ruo hurriedly said: "The Queen is teaching me that I spoke out of turn..."

The Queen did not argue with her and continued, "You said that I should not allow the Concubine Chen to go, but I will let her go anyway. Otherwise, the Emperor will think that I am just like the Concubine Chen, a narrow-minded vulgar person."

"But if she goes with you, she will often take risks and overstep her boundaries, and the Emperor will turn a blind eye to it. Wouldn't Your Majesty have to endure her anger every day?"

"Why can she make me angry?" The Queen sneered, "I didn't plan to go with her at all. Shu Fei lost her child and is always in a bad mood. I want to make room for myself and ask Shu Fei to go with Chen Fei, just to relax."

Shuang Ruo felt even more upset when she heard the Queen say this:

Xiao Jingheng went to the hot spring villa to spend the winter.

It's only the end of October now, and he won't be back until at least New Year's Eve.

If the Queen didn't go with her, she would not be able to see Xiao Jingheng for nearly a month and a half.

But she was just a slave, and no matter how much she loved her master, she couldn't say many words of advice.

So he could only say to the queen with a distressed look on his face: "Your Majesty, you are too kind-hearted. You always think of the overall situation. Compared with you, the concubine should be ashamed of herself."

The queen laughed it off.

"I am the queen, the emperor's legal wife. Why would I bother with a concubine like her?"

Then he handed the layout of the hot spring villa to Shuang Ruo and said, "Go and have someone tell Xiaoyu and Liugong about this news."