Lu Yun was puzzled and murmured to herself: "Why did she become more beautiful..."
The last time I saw Concubine Chen, she looked tired, like a pearl covered with dust; this time when I saw her again, she was radiant and shining.
Just when Lu Yun was puzzled, the emperor on the throne stood up and the hall suddenly became quiet.
It’s time for the tribute.
Li Yuanjing gave the empress dowager a jade ruyi, which symbolizes long-lasting blessings.
Next was the Concubine Chen, who gave the Empress Dowager a glass lamp, which she placed at the head of the bed. The light was soft and not harmful to the eyes, and it was very practical.
Concubine Lu Xuan presented the Empress Dowager with a 500-year-old ginseng; Concubine Yu Zhang Miaoyu presented the Empress Dowager with a top-quality fresh longevity peach sent as tribute from Jiangnan; and Concubine Mei presented a painting of "Ink Plum Blossoms" that she had painted herself.
When the Queen Mother saw the painting of "Ink Plum Blossoms", her eyelids twitched.
Concubine Mei Liu Ruyan has always been a cold person and never gets involved in palace fights. The Liu family is loyal to the emperor. Although the empress dowager is dissatisfied with Liu Ruyan, she did not get angry on the spot.
When it was Concubine Lan Xie Fanglan's turn, she stood up with a smile and bowed respectfully to the Queen Mother: "It's your birthday, Queen Mother. I have specially prepared a great gift for you!"
After saying that, Concubine Lan clapped her hands.
Two eunuchs came in pushing a cart, and the items on the cart were covered with a big red cloth.
When the big red cloth was lifted, a piece of Taihu stone with a unique shape appeared in front of everyone.
It has an ancient aura and is extremely magnificent, with the beauty of wrinkles, leaks, thinness and transparency.
Lanpin said proudly: "Empress Dowager, I know that you love Taihu stones, so I specially gave you a hundred Taihu stones, which symbolize longevity. This is just one of them. Tomorrow I will ask the palace servants to move all the Taihu stones to your courtyard, and put the extra ones in the imperial garden."
Concubine Lan is from the Xie family and the Empress Dowager's niece.
At the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, Concubine Lan racked her brains to please the Queen Mother. She wrote a letter home to ask her family and learned that the Queen Mother liked the "Taihu Stone" in Jiangnan very much.
Concubine Lan catered to the Empress Dowager's wishes and asked the Xie family to purchase one hundred pieces of Taihu stones from Jiangnan and send them all the way to Yanjing along the canal to please the Empress Dowager.
"Empress Dowager, I wish you a long life like the Taihu stone." Concubine Lan bowed with a smile.
The gifts given by other concubines were not valuable, but her gifts were the most expensive and rare.
The Queen Mother sat behind a pearl curtain with a gloomy expression.
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