"As spring arrives and the weather warms up, I plan to hold a peach blossom banquet in the palace. You have beautiful handwriting, so I'll have you write the flying flower orders and the flower name cards for me."
"I am willing to share the Empress Dowager's worries." Chen Jin responded respectfully.
After Chen Jin left, Chang Bao skillfully lit the benzoin in the bedroom.
The funny expression on his face made Lu Fengqing laugh, and the fatigue of the whole day seemed to dissipate a lot.
"What's wrong with you, you naughty boy? You get jealous just because I praise him a few words?" Lu Fengqing joked.
"How dare I be jealous," Chang Bao responded humbly. "With my clumsy hands, it's a great honor for me to have the opportunity to comb your hair. Anyone who can do a good job for you, the Empress Dowager, I naturally treat him as a member of the Ci'an Palace."
Chang Bao is also a shrewd man. He started out as a hairdressing eunuch and served Lu Fengqing all the way to the present day. Now he has finally become the chief eunuch of Ci'an Palace.
He knew that the affairs of the palace were complicated and that he could not shoulder such a heavy responsibility, so he never thought of entering the Imperial Household Department.
He just focused on serving the Queen Mother and now has his own place in the palace.
"Everyone has their own abilities. You have yours, and Chen Jin has his own abilities. But I want to see if my cousin can keep the Xingyuan Marquis Mansion stable."
Chang Bao said with a meaningful smile: "Can we hold on? It depends on whether the Queen Mother is willing to help behind the scenes." As he said that, he helped Lu Fengqing up and walked towards the phoenix couch in the bedroom.
"Ever since I was little, my family has always said that my cousin is blessed. Now it seems that's indeed the case." Lu Fengqing began to recall, "Take my father for example. He served in the Jiangnan Circuit for over a decade. It was said to be a prosperous place, but he wasn't very good at being an official. We even had to rely on my mother's dowry to support our family. Later, he worked so hard to control the floods that he died in office, leaving only my mother and me."
She sighed softly and continued, "The relatives of the Lu family only gave us some silver as a favor because my mother didn't give birth to a son to carry on the family line, and I, as a daughter, couldn't inherit the family business. They didn't even allow us to live in the old house."
"Later, my mother had no choice but to seek help from my aunt. At that time, my uncle, Hong Hanwen, was already the late emperor's tutor and came from a distinguished family. During the years I lived in the Hong residence, I truly experienced the prosperity and wealth of the capital. Seeing my cousin Yingrong, I realized that girls could be so pampered and cared for."
Chang Bao knew that the people of the Lu family were short-sighted, but no one could have expected that the daughter of a brother from a side branch would one day become the empress dowager.
As expected, as soon as His Majesty ascended the throne and Lu Fengqing became the Empress Dowager, he immediately accused two of Lu's uncles of corruption and sentenced them to death with a two-year reprieve, which was a way to vent his anger.
Chang Bao comforted her softly, "Even though your mother experienced some setbacks in her childhood, you are a very blessed person after all. Otherwise, how could you have entered the palace and given birth to the crown prince?"
Lu Fengqing smiled bitterly, "But I still can't compare to Hong Yingrong. She has three sons and two daughters, all of whom are in her care."
Chang Bao gently lowered the curtain. "As for grandchildren, the harem has already given Your Majesty four little princes, and the recently favored Consort Liu is also pregnant. Regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, it's icing on the cake. In this regard, the old lady of Xingyuan Hou is far inferior to you, the Empress Dowager."
Lu Fengqing nodded, gently covered herself with the silk cotton quilt, and was about to lie down to rest when she remembered something.
"Because of the mourning period at the Xingyuan Marquis' Mansion, Imperial Physician Zhang hasn't been to check Ping's pulse this month, right? Go and inform him and ask him to come to the mansion in a few days. There must be no delay."
Upon hearing this, Chang Bao immediately put away his playful smile and said seriously, "Doctor Zhang knows what's going on. He calculated the efficacy of the medicine and went to the Marquis' Mansion to check the Crown Prince's wife's pulse."
Lu Fengqing's voice suddenly cooled, as if carrying a chill: "We have changed three or four imperial physicians in the past few years. We must make them be careful with their words and actions and not say the wrong thing."
Chang Bao replied, "The people in the Imperial Hospital are all smart people. They know what to say and what not to say. Besides, the Crown Prince's wife has been taking medicine for years, and her health is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Even they themselves don't understand the ins and outs of it."
"That's good." After Lu Fengqing said this, a deep tiredness swept over her. She seemed to be drawn into a dream and slowly fell into a deep sleep.
Seeing this, Chang Bao quietly left the bedroom, leaving only silence.
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