Li Yuanjing's fingers were cool, and there were thick calluses between his fingers from years of martial arts practice.
The fingertips stroked Shen Wei's nose, bringing a slight itch.
Shen Wei smiled and pushed Li Yuanjing's hand away. She looked at him with her dark eyes and raised the corners of her pink lips: "Your Majesty, please don't touch me, or I will sneeze again."
Li Yuanjing hooked Shen Wei's nose and said jokingly, "What are you afraid of? I don't mind."
Shen Wei smiled coquettishly.
After soaking my feet, the heat spreads from the soles of my feet to my whole body, and I feel warm and comfortable all over. Li Yuanjing held Chen Wei in his arms to rest. Moonlight was shining in the yard, and clusters of tender green seedlings were still growing vigorously.
...
...
The next day, Li Yuanjing went to court refreshed. Before leaving, he did not forget to take a walk around his vegetable garden.
After breakfast, Shen Wei checked the newly transplanted mulberry trees in the courtyard of Yongning Palace. The leaves of the mulberry tree are slightly wilted. They have just been transplanted and have not yet fully adapted to the soil, so the leaves look listless.
Fortunately, the Imperial Household Department has the best gardeners, and the soil in Yongning Palace is the most fertile, so the mulberry trees will surely be able to adapt to the environment quickly.
Shen Wei’s hay fever hasn’t recovered yet, so all the flowers in the yard have been moved away. She chose to plant mulberry trees, firstly to prepare for the upcoming silkworm-weaving ceremony; secondly, when the mulberry trees were lush and leafy, she would get some silkworms to eat the mulberry leaves.
After the silkworms spin cocoons, the silk is used to make a silk quilt. She then used the leftover fabrics to make a comfortable set of pajamas for Li Yuanjing to show her care for him.
In addition, she also wanted to spread the stories of her harem raising silkworms and making clothes to the public.
In the minds of the common people, the concubines in the palace are all heavenly concubines, who are detached from the mundane world and wear gold and silver jewels very luxuriously. Shen Wei wants to establish a good image of being close to the people and narrow the psychological distance between herself and the people of Qing.
The reputation of Concubine Chen for her virtue has to be built and spread by herself. Gold and silver cups are not as good as word of mouth among the people.
If she and Li Yuanjing break up completely in the future and Li Yuanjing wants to kill her, the people will plead for her and the loyal and upright officials in the court will speak for her.
This is called a war of public opinion.
After inspecting the mulberry trees in the courtyard, Shen Wei returned to the palace to study the itinerary of previous Mulberry and Silkworm Ceremony.
Cai Lian came in with soup for hay fever. Chen Wei drank half a bowl and told Cai Lian, "Go to the storehouse and get a piece of floating brocade to send to Meipin. At the banquet last night, Meipin rebuked the envoys from Nanchu and enhanced our country's prestige, which can be considered a merit."
Cai Lian: “Yes.”
Cai Lian took Fu Guangjin to Yuxiu Palace.
Shen Wei continued to drink the remaining half bowl of soup.
Shen Wei has always believed that there are no useless people in the world, only people who are not used in the right place. For example, Liu Ruyan, who prides herself on being noble, has very poor popularity in the harem.
She has a sharp tongue, which has both advantages and disadvantages. In important occasions, Liu Ruyan could use her expertise to scold the Nanchu envoys with elegant language so that they could not raise their heads.
Chen Wei gave Liu Ruyan the floating brocade in the hope that Liu Ruyan could understand a truth: “There is no reward without hard work.” 】
No one in the world will be nice to you for no reason. If you want something, you have to pay the corresponding value.
Shen Wei continued to look through the itinerary for the Silkworm Ceremony, committing every detail to memory. The Silkworm Ceremony is an important national ceremony, which consists of three parts: offering sacrifice to the first silkworm, cultivating mulberry trees, and presenting cocoons and reeling silk. There is no room for error.
Half an hour later, Cai Lian came into the room holding the box containing the floating brocade and said, "Master, I delivered the floating brocade to Meipin as you ordered. But she refused to accept it, saying that she didn't want charity."
Shen Wei was speechless.
Chen Wei wanted Liu Ruyan to understand the truth that "there are rewards for your efforts", but Liu Ruyan just didn't accept it at all.
If you don’t want to accept it, then don’t accept it!
It was impossible for Chen Wei to go to Yuxiu Palace in person and kneel down to beg Liu Ruyan to accept the floating brocade.
Chen Wei said calmly: "Forget it, send the floating light brocade to Concubine Yu."
...
Zhang Miaoyu jumped for joy when she received the precious floating brocade.
She immediately asked the embroiderers in the Shangyi Bureau to start working, and in just two days, she made a gorgeous plain silver brocade spring skirt. The remaining small portion of the lusterless brocade fabric was used to make two beautiful cardigans for Li Nanzhi.
Zhang Miaoyu couldn't wait to put on the clothes and look in the mirror. Under the bright sunlight, the floating brocade glows with gorgeous silver light, just like rippling water waves, dancing nimbly on the brocade.
"Nanzhi, do you think my clothes look good?" Zhang Miaoyu asked Li Nanzhi excitedly.
Li Nanzhi tilted her head and frowned, "It's beautiful, but Madam Yu, you seem to have gained weight again. How many times have you used the diet recipe that Madam Chen gave you? The old lady urged you to exercise every day, have you done it?"
The embarrassment on Zhang Miaoyu's face flashed away, and she scratched her head: "I'll lose weight after a while, there's no rush."
Losing weight is impossible, and I don’t want to lose weight in this life!
There is nothing to desire except eating.
Zhang Miaoyu pinched Li Nanzhi's face and changed the subject: "It's time to go to Guangwenguan to study. I'll take you there."
The big and the small walked out of the palace holding hands.
The spring sun was shining brightly, and the warmth was felt on her body. Zhang Miaoyu squinted her eyes comfortably, planning to return to the palace later to have a nice nap.
As soon as I walked out of the palace, by chance, I ran into Liu Ruyan from the Yuxiu Palace next door. Liu Ruyan was wearing a plain white dress, followed by two palace maids.
Li Nanzhi lowered his head and greeted Liu Ruyan in a low voice. Liu Ruyan ignored Li Nanzhi, and stared at Zhang Miaoyu's gorgeous brocade spring dress with her beautiful eyes for a long time.
"Hey, where are you going?" Zhang Miaoyu greeted him enthusiastically, deliberately showing off the glittering brocade on her body, making her plain silver satin skirt ripple with light.
Liu Ruyan said calmly: "Such a good piece of fabric, it's really a waste of talent to wear it on you."
Zhang Miaoyu shrugged, not at all discouraged, and said confidently, "I want to wear it if I like. I also want to make socks and insoles with the remaining brocade. What's your business?"
Liu Ruyan felt a little regretful.
At that time, Chen Wei sent someone to give her a piece of floating brocade, but she pretended to be reserved and refused. But now seeing Zhang Miaoyu wearing the shiny brocade, Liu Ruyan felt a little unwilling.
If I had known this, I wouldn’t have refused.
Liu Ruyan concealed the bitterness in her eyes and left with the palace maid.
Zhang Miaoyu sighed, took Li Nanzhi's hand, and continued to walk towards Guangwenguan.
"Strange, the flowers on both sides of the palace path are gone, and they are replaced with non-flowering potted plants." Li Nanzhi held Zhang Miaoyu's hand and looked around curiously.
In the spring of previous years, the harem was full of flowers, and the beautiful scene was breathtaking.
This spring, the flowers were moved away overnight before they had finished blooming.
On the long palace road, there was not a single flowering potted plant to be seen, and everything was green.
Zhang Miaoyu said helplessly: "Your Madam Chen has hay fever, and the Emperor is very distressed. He ordered all the flowers in the palace to be removed and only the flowers in the imperial garden should be kept."
Li Nanzhi blinked and exclaimed: "Father is so kind to Empress Chen!"
Zhang Miaoyu stared at the clusters of green plants, a look of melancholy on her chubby face, and muttered, "I hope the emperor can always be good to Concubine Chen. With Concubine Chen in charge of the harem, we can live a peaceful life. My right eyelid has been twitching recently. God bless me, and I hope everything goes well."
The palace path is long, and the green plants on both sides are full of vitality, with leaves swaying in the wind.
It's windy.
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