Jiuzhu had seen children cry and old people cry, but she had never seen anyone cry so... beautifully?
She wanted to go forward and comfort her, but the other person's crying was so beautiful that she couldn't help but stand on the steps outside the pavilion and listen for a while longer.
Liu Cairen thought Jiuzhu would come forward to comfort her, but after waiting for a long time, there was no movement from the other party. The atmosphere gradually became awkward. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, as if she had just discovered Jiuzhu, and smiled with a strong expression: "Miss Ming."
Jiuzhu looked at the woman, guessing that she was a concubine of low rank in the palace. She bowed to her, lifted her skirt and walked into the pavilion: "It's cold, please take care of yourself."
"I am just an unpopular talent in the palace. I dare not let Miss Ming address me as a noble lady." Liu Cairen stood up and said, "Miss Ming, please sit down."
She noticed the cloak embroidered with red plum blossoms on Ming Jiuzhu, which looked very familiar.
Noticing Liu Cairen's gaze, Jiuzhu touched the embroidery on the cloak and asked impatiently, "Isn't the embroidery on it beautiful?"
"Very beautiful." Liu Cairen nodded, feeling vaguely that the other party was deliberately showing off the cloak.
"You have good taste, I think she is beautiful too." Jiuzhu smiled with curved eyebrows and eyes: "The Imperial Concubine gave it to me."
Liu Cairen: “…”
"Her Majesty said that this cloak is warm but not heavy, beautiful but not frivolous, so she gave it to me specially." After finally finding someone to show off to, Jiuzhu immediately became interested: "Her Majesty is always so gentle, and I don't know how to repay her love and care."
"Although the winter wind is cold, as a woman in the harem, there are many things I can't do anything about. I didn't mean to disturb you, young lady. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." Hearing the word "gentle", Liu Cairen felt extremely uncomfortable both physically and mentally.
How could a human being brag about how good a favorite concubine is in front of a poor woman who had just cried?
No wonder he could win the favor of Concubine Su, it turns out they are birds of a feather.
After saying this curious sentence, Liu Cairen stopped talking. She was waiting for Jiuzhu's follow-up question.
“Oh.” Jiuzhu kept in mind the teachings of her masters. If she met someone who was sad and crying, she should never ask the reason. This was a kind act.
Liu Cairen looks at Jiuzhu, Jiuzhu looks at Liu Cairen. After a short silence, seeing that Jiuzhu had no intention of continuing to ask, Liu Cairen gritted her teeth and said, "Miss, do you know who is the most beloved lady in the harem?"
"The Imperial Concubine Su." Jiuzhu said as a matter of course: "The Imperial Concubine is so beautiful, kind-hearted, and has a nice voice. His Majesty must like her the most."
Liu Cairen fell silent again. Would the Ming family teach their daughter a lesson? Why were the words she said so unpleasant to listen to?
"Yes, His Majesty has favored Concubine Su for many years." Liu Cairen smiled bitterly: "Since His Majesty ascended the throne, there has been no newcomer in the palace. We old people in the palace are even less worthy of His Majesty's eyes."
"Miss Ming probably doesn't know that in such a huge harem, concubines who are not favored and have no children are even more worthless than the grass on the ground."
"You mean..." Jiuzhu lowered her voice and asked in surprise, "Your Majesty doesn't give you money to spend?"
Your Majesty doesn't look like someone who would be stingy with his concubines.
"No, no, you misunderstood." How could Lady Liu dare to say anything bad about the emperor? "Your Majesty is kind and generous to the concubines. The Palace Department sends cloth and silver every month."
Liu Cairen did not lie. No one dared to embezzle the expenses of the concubines in the harem. Their lives were much better than those of the unfavored concubines in the harem of the previous emperor.
"Young lady, do you know how many days the Imperial Concubine has been asking the concubines to copy scriptures?"
Jiuzhu nodded: "It seems that it is less than ten days? In fact, according to the great ceremony, it must be copied for at least 49 days to be solemn. If it is a hard practice, it is normal to copy for 81 days. But the ladies are not practitioners, so there is no need to be so particular."
Seeing that Liu Cairen stopped talking, Jiuzhu looked at her in confusion: "Why is Cairen not talking?"
Liu Cairen had nothing to say. She didn't expect that Ming Jiuju, at such a young age, could be even more ruthless than Concubine Su.
Forty-nine days?
Ninety-nine eighty-one days?
Is this copying scriptures or observing mourning?
"No, nothing." Liu Cairen stood up and said, "I suddenly remembered that I haven't finished copying the scriptures for today, and I feel a little uneasy."
She was afraid that if she continued talking, she would really have to copy the scriptures for eighty-one days.
"That's true. When copying scriptures, you should avoid being dishonest." Jiuzhu agreed: "Copying scriptures is to accumulate virtue and blessings for yourself. The Imperial Concubine is kind-hearted. Not only did she provide pens and ink for you ladies, she also carefully prepared a meditation room for you ladies. You ladies must be very grateful to her, right?"
"Haha." Liu Cairen laughed with gritted teeth: "Of course I am grateful."
She covered her chest, which was a little short of breath, and took two deep breaths: "Thank you Miss Ming for chatting with me. I should go back now."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt his vision go dark and his feet staggered.
"Is Cairen okay?" Jiuzhu held Liu Cairen's arm and said, "I'll take you home."
"No, thank you Miss Ming." Liu Cairen took two steps to the side as if struck by lightning, and wanted to jump out of the pavilion immediately and stay away from Jiuzhu: "Goodbye."
Jiuzhu looked at the talented Liu who was leaving in a hurry with small steps, and sighed: "The sincerity of the empress in the palace when she copied the scriptures is really touching."
Even she, who grew up in a Taoist temple, could not compare to their sincerity. She felt so ashamed.
After witnessing everything that happened, Liu Zhongbao smiled and saluted to Prince Chen: "Your Highness, I will go to the harem to announce the emperor's order. I will take my leave first."
Prince Chen raised his hand to signal Liu Zhongbao to do as he pleased. He broke off a leaf and walked behind Jiuzhu, preparing to scare Jiuzhu with the leaf.
"Ha!" Jiuzhu suddenly turned around, and her cloak lightly hit Chen Wang's calf. It didn't hurt, but it was a little itchy.
"It is indeed His Highness." Jiuzhu laughed softly.
Looking down at his calf, Prince Chen threw the leaves aside and asked, "When did you find mine?"
"I heard footsteps." Jiuzhu smiled proudly: "Your Highness's footsteps are different from others. I can tell right away."
Prince Chen was slightly startled: "What's the difference in the footsteps?"
"It's just different." Jiuzhu thought for a moment and said, "I don't know how to describe it, but I can tell it anyway."
"You have such sharp ears. Are you born in the year of the dog?"
"Your Highness is so smart. How do you know I am born in the year of the dog?" Jiuzhu rummaged in her purse, took out two mints and gave one to Prince Chen.
Smelling the minty scent of the candy, Prince Chen remembered that he loved eating candy when he was a child. When he was thirteen years old, he had a severe toothache and gave up his habit of eating candy. He didn't expect that after so many years, there were still people who shared candy with him like a child.
"Your Highness... don't you like it?" Jiuzhu found that the candy was still in the palm of the King Chen. She held the candy in her mouth, puffed up her cheeks, and said vaguely: "It tastes like mint."
Eight years ago, when His Highness rescued her from the river, he gave her mint candy. She still remembered that the young lady next to His Highness said that it was His Highness' favorite candy.
"I haven't eaten candy for a long time." Prince Chen returned the candy to Jiuzhu: "Keep it for yourself."
"Oh." Jiuzhu lowered her head and looked at the mint candy that King Chen returned to her. She sucked the sweetness of the candy in her mouth from time to time, as if even the dragonfly hairpin on her hair bag had become powerless.
"But it's okay to taste it occasionally." Prince Chen took the candy back and put it in his mouth.
"How is it?" Jiuzhu raised her head and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
"Not bad." Seeing the little girl looking up at him, Prince Chen's heart moved slightly: "It looks like a kind of candy I ate when I was a child."
Jiuzhu smiled happily.
"What are you laughing at?" Prince Chen poked the dragonfly hairpin on Jiuzhu's hair bag. The dragonfly's wings fluttered, looking very energetic.
Jiuzhu took the small bag of candy from her waist and said, "Your Highness, all of these are for you."
Prince Chen really wanted to tell her that just because you ate something as a child, it doesn’t mean you will still like it when you grow up. But when he thought that if he told the truth, the other person might give him a look of a wronged puppy, he reached out and took the purse.
It's not that he's soft-hearted, he just doesn't want to coax a child.
"Why did you come here alone without asking the maids to follow you?" Prince Chen looked around and found two maids standing outside the pavilion. He frowned and said, "In the future, when you are in the palace, you must have servants follow you closely."
Although Jiuzhu was confused, she nodded.
Tying the purse of sugar around his waist, Prince Chen looked at the embroidery on it, pulled his cloak to his chest with disdain to cover the purse, and said with a half-smile: "Some women in the harem like to fall down when they walk. If there are palace maids here, they can help you hold on to others."
"The ladies in the palace are all very thin." Jiuzhu waved her little arms. She could lift them up with her bare hands.
Seeing her white wrists exposed, Prince Chen grabbed her sleeves and smoothed them down: "The wind is strong, your hands are frozen."
"Your Highness, is it going to snow soon?" Jiuzhu put her hands back into her sleeves: "It's beautiful when it snows in the capital, isn't it?"
It rarely snows in Lingzhou in winter. Even if it snowed, it was only a thin layer and would melt before you had time to appreciate it.
Prince Chen looked up at the sky, but couldn't see anything, so he could only respond vaguely: "It should be...soon?"
It snows in Beijing every winter, so what is there to look forward to?
The cold wind was howling. Seeing that the young lady had fallen asleep, the maid in the Sun mansion blew out the candle in the room and tiptoed out. I don’t know what’s going on, but recently the young lady always needs candles lit in the room before she can fall asleep.
The bedroom was dim. Sun Caiyao pushed open the door and found Ming Jiuzhu sitting under the candlestick with a cold expression.
"You and the Su family ruined all my plans?!" King Qi pushed the door open and walked in. "Why did you do this?"
The candlelight flickered. Ming Jiuzhu stood up and closed the doors and windows. Her eyes were darker than the night. "Did the prince harm His Royal Highness Prince Chen?"
"What?"
"I ask you, who harmed Prince Chen?!" She walked to the incense burner and lit the incense with a fire stick: "Was it you, or Concubine Ning, or... Prince Huai who has been demoted to a commoner?"
The King of Qi seemed to have heard something absurd: "You and the King of Chen are strangers, what does his life or death have to do with you?"
"Your Highness." Ming Jiuzhu stared at the lingering smoke above the incense burner. "Tell me, if you and I were poisoned and died in this room at the same time, which prince would the emperor suspect?"
"Prince An, Prince Jing?"
"You want to kill the king?"
"ah!"
Sun Caiyao woke up from her dream, rushed to the window, and pushed it open with trembling hands.
The sparkling snowflakes fell on her trembling face, turned into mist, mixed with cold sweat, and dripped to the ground.
"It's snowing." Jiuzhu opened the window and saw the yard covered in white. She happily put on her shoes and socks, climbed over the window, jumped onto the thick snow, leaving a pair of deep footprints.
Carefully pulling her leg out, she bent down and picked up a ball of snow, looking at it curiously.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen is really amazing. He said yesterday that it was going to snow, and it snowed today.
"I forgot to ask His Highness if he liked the picture of koi playing with lotus that I drew for him." Jiuzhu sighed to herself. She was so busy giving His Highness mint candy yesterday that she forgot about this matter.
I heard from my father that the Ministry of Rites is closed today, so His Highness... should be at home too?
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