Liu Ruyan turned her head, the cold wind blew up the black hair at her temples, her face was so beautiful that the white plum blossoms blooming behind her lost their color in front of her.
Shen Wei felt sad that it was inconvenient for her to serve King Yan during her pregnancy. Prince Yan stayed in Liuli Pavilion half of the day every month. In the remaining half of the month, apart from going to the Prince's Mansion to discuss official business, he visited Liu Ruyan more often.
Liu Ruyan has a withdrawn personality, but she is really beautiful. In the entire Yanwang Mansion and even in Yanjing, Liu Ruyan is definitely the most beautiful woman. Before marrying Prince Yan, she was known as "the most talented woman in Yanjing", with both great beauty and talent.
Not to mention King Yan, even Shen Wei was moved when she saw it.
Winter is the season for Liu Ruyan, her beauty blooms in the snow.
Liu Ruyan replied to Li Yao in a cold tone, "After the heavy snow, the plum blossoms fell and withered, which was really pitiful. Pick up these petals, grind them into plum powder, and make them into incense, which can also extend their life."
Xuemei squatted on the ground silently picking up petals.
She hates winter the most. Every time Liu Ruyan came up with a strange idea, Xuemei, the maid, had to run around to help her.
Today she picks plum blossoms to make incense, tomorrow she prunes the plum trees, and the day after tomorrow she sweeps the snow off the plum trees. She is so busy that her hands are covered with frostbite, but her monthly salary has not increased yet.
Seeing that Liu Ruyan was wearing thin clothes, Shen Wei kindly reminded her, "It's freezing cold, Concubine Liu should wear more clothes. It's hard to recover from a winter illness."
Liu Ruyan glanced at Chen Wei indifferently.
The snow was white, and Shen Wei was dressed plumply. Due to her pregnancy, Shen Wei's face was also rounder, like a furry and rich cat in the snow.
Liu Ruyan didn't like Shen Wei's tacky outfit, and said calmly: "I'm in good health, you don't have to worry."
Faced with Liu Ruyan's distant tone, Shen Wei was not angry at all, but rather felt quite surprised. Oh, this Liu Ruyan looks so beautiful when she looks so cold and unapproachable.
Chen Wei couldn't help but take another look. Liu Ruyan's face was so white that you couldn't see her pores. Her nose was high and her eyes were beautiful.
Li Yao was afraid that the two concubines would have a conflict, so she quickly opened the food box and handed over a piece of steaming hot plum blossom pancake: "Concubine Liu, Yao'er and Concubine Shen made plum blossom pancakes, and I'll give you one to try!"
Looking at the small plum blossom pancake in front of her, Liu Ruyan's beautiful face was slightly angry.
She frowned, turned around and questioned Chen Wei with disgust: "As the old saying goes, when the world is quiet and the rain stops, it takes several lifetimes to cultivate plum blossoms. You actually made plum blossoms into cakes! It's so, so vulgar!"
The plum blossom is noble and aloof, and is the most beautiful flower in the world.
This Shen Wei actually made plum blossoms into tacky scones.
Shen Wei was scolded for no apparent reason and was speechless for a while.
You grinding plum blossoms into powder to make incense is no better than me making plum blossoms into scones!
"Xuemei, let's go!" Liu Ruyan felt very uncomfortable. She didn't want to see Chen Wei's round face again.
In Liu Ruyan's opinion, Chen Wei was beautiful but not knowledgeable.
Xuemei raised her head from the snow, carrying a basket full of plum petals, and followed Liu Ruyan with difficulty.
Xuemei's legs were numb from squatting in the snow picking plum blossoms for too long. After taking two steps, he almost fell down, fortunately Cai Lian helped him up.
Cailian and Xuemei were once colleagues and were on good terms with each other. Cai Lian looked at her increasingly thin face and the chilblains on her fingers and could not help but say, "Xuemei, you have worked hard."
Cailian secretly put her frostbite cream into Xuemei's hand. It was cold in winter, and Chen Wei sympathized with the servants working in Liuli Pavilion, and specially rewarded them with frostbite cream and a lot of warm cloth.
It can be said that in the entire Prince Yan's Mansion, the servants working in the Glazed Pavilion have the best and most comfortable winter.
Xuemei's smile was uglier than crying, and she quietly put away the frostbite cream: "I'm not tired."
Woohoo, she is not suffering, she has a hard life.
...
After leaving the palace garden, Shen Wei and Li Yao continued to visit Zhang Miaoyu.
As I was walking, I saw two servants in the distance carrying a mat wrapped in layers, walking quickly towards the backyard.
The ground was slippery in winter and the servant accidentally fell. The mat rolled down twice, revealing the emaciated body of a woman inside. The corpse was thinly clothed, skinny, and the exposed skin was blue.
With eyes wide open, he died with his eyes open.
Li Yao screamed in fear, and Shen Wei quickly raised her cloak and protected Li Yao in her arms.
"Master, please forgive me. I will carry the body away right away!" The two servants hurriedly got up, rolled the concubine's body into a straw mat, and carried it out through the back door.
Li Yao trembled, tears filling her eyes: "Auntie, I'm scared..."
Shen Wei comforted her: "Don't be afraid, let's go to Huaxiangyuan and sit down."
Chen Wei held Li Yao's hand, glanced at the rolled straw mat out of the corner of her eye, and sighed in her heart. This year's winter is exceptionally cold, but Chen Wei has no worries about food and clothing, as she has a warm room and warm clothes.
The concubines of low status in the palace had a hard life. The charcoal and monthly salary were withheld, and they had to weave and embroider in the freezing cold, relying on manual labor to earn money to survive the winter.
Several unfavored concubines would freeze to death every year.
Concubines like Liu Ruyan can still live well and have distinct personalities without the favor of Prince Yan, because they have good family backgrounds and confidence.
But those concubines who had no family background were helpless and were trapped in a square courtyard all their lives, living on the charity of others. When he died, a roll of straw mat was thrown away and no one knew where he was buried.
Li Yao asked innocently, "Aunt, the aunts living in the southwest courtyard also have charcoal fires in winter. Why don't they use the charcoal fires? Have they used up all the charcoal fires?"
Shen Wei had no way of telling an eight-year-old girl about the cruelty of the palace's backyard, so she could only gloss over it casually.
Seeing that Shen Wei avoided the question, Li Yao secretly made up her mind to go to the princess tonight and ask her mother to send more charcoal to those concubines so that they would not be frozen to death.
...
It was dark and snowflakes were falling. A layer of white snow soon accumulated in the yard.
The room was cozy and warm. Prince Yan was still staying in the Glazed Pavilion tonight. The two of them had not fallen asleep yet and were snuggling and chatting on the soft couch in the warm pavilion. There was a plate of plum blossom pancakes on the table. Prince Yan ate several pieces when he first entered the room. He liked the taste of the pancakes very much.
King Yan's big hand covered Shen Wei's pregnant belly, feeling the activity of the baby in her belly. King Yan smiled and said, "This child is kicking me again. He has the same personality as me. He will definitely be a naughty child in the future."
During Shen Wei's pregnancy, she had been working tirelessly to make the presence of her unborn child felt in front of King Yan in order to inspire his fatherly love.
King Yan watched Shen Wei's belly grow bigger day by day, and felt the baby's fetal movement for the first time. He was surprised and moved. The child seemed to have a soul bond with him even before he was born.
King Yan couldn't wait for the birth of the child and wanted to hold this lovely child in his arms.
Prince Yan was feeling the baby's movements when he heard Cai Lian's footsteps outside the house. Cai Lian hurried into the warm room and told King Yan through the gauze curtain:
"Your Highness, Xuemei from Qixue Pavilion is here. She said Concubine Liu suddenly had a high fever and fainted. Xuemei asked Your Highness to come over."
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