After leaving Zhangliu Palace, the further west you go, the quieter the place becomes. The wind blew through the palace alleys, leaving behind a humming sound, indicating that they had passed by here.
Covering the shivering cat with his sleeves, King Chen turned his head to look at Jiuzhu: "Little pig, are you cold?"
Jiuzhu shook her head: "The cloak that the queen prepared for me is very warm. Your Highness, this place looks so desolate."
Whenever Aunt Xiangjuan took her around the palace, she never brought her here.
"The ones living here are the concubines of the previous emperor." Prince Chen slowed down his pace. "Most of them are of low rank and have no children. They entered the palace when they were young and only saw the emperor a few times in their lives."
He vaguely remembered that when he was very young, a palace maid who was only fifteen years old died in a well on the third day after being favored by the late emperor.
"According to the ancestral system, these concubines without children should be sent to the nunnery in Chong'an Prefecture to pray for the late emperor until they die." Prince Chen pointed to the high wall that separated the palace of the dowager concubines: "In fact, the life of the old dowager concubines who have no children, no favors, and no support from their natal family in the nunnery is worse than that of ordinary people."
"Don't the people who sent them there know this?" Jiuzhu clutched the cloak on her body tightly.
"So what if they know?" Prince Chen looked down at the kitten in his arms: "No one will care."
"Then why do these concubines stay in the palace now?" Jiuzhu asked curiously, and felt fortunate for them.
"It was my mother who decided to keep them here. To avoid being talked about, my mother even had a high wall built to separate the dowager's palace from the harem." At this point, Prince Chen suddenly laughed: "Do you know why my mother was called a demon concubine by the civil officials for the first time?"
Jiuzhu shook his head.
"It's because of this." Prince Chen smiled sarcastically, "Some ministers think that keeping these concubines to be taken care of is against the ancestral system. Mother does not follow the ancestral law and is a demon concubine who brings chaos to the harem."
"But the Queen is helping these concubines."
Chong'an Prefecture is hundreds of kilometers away from the capital. These old concubines live in a nunnery, so even if they are bullied, no one will know.
The ministers who opposed the empress saw the ancestral rules, but the empress saw the women who could not decide their own destiny.
"In fact, there has never been a clear rule in the ancestral precepts of the royal Yun family that concubines must be sent to a nunnery after the emperor's death." Prince Chen raised his chin proudly: "Back then, I accompanied my father and mother to review the Yun family rules and precepts three times. In the end, those ministers had to accept the matter with a pinch of their noses, and even praised my father for being filial."
Those ministers who lost the argument did not dare to scold the emperor, and they only dared to say a few words behind his back, such as Concubine Su was bewitching the emperor.
"Wow." Jiuzhu looked at him in admiration: "Your Highness, the Queen, and His Majesty are all so amazing."
"Then..." She turned her head to look at the palace maids and eunuchs following behind her, moved closer to Prince Chen, and asked in a low voice: "My family didn't quarrel with you, did it?"
"Why do you think those ministers had to hold their noses and praise the emperor for being filial?" Prince Chen guessed what she was thinking and said with a smile, "The three adults of the Ming family also contributed to this."
"Tell me quickly, tell me quickly." Knowing that his family and His Highness were on the same side, Jiuzhu immediately became alert: "What did my father and uncles do?"
"The three masters of the Ming family found the list of officials in Daqing who were selected as filial and honest officials, and found those officials who were praised for their kindness in supporting my stepmother." Prince Chen couldn't help laughing: "Especially your second uncle, who is eloquent and has unparalleled eloquence. With his sharp words, he made those opposing officials speechless and almost burst into tears."
"Second uncle is so powerful." Jiuzhu heard from her mother that second uncle is currently the governor of Huaizhou and the whole family has moved to Huaizhou to live. The letters that my second uncle sent back were always humorous and amiable. She couldn't imagine how such an uncle could make the court officials cry by scolding them.
"We're here." Prince Chen pointed to a closed red door and said, "Go through this door and you'll reach Jing'an Palace where the concubines live."
"Your Highness, please wait for a moment with the county lady." A young eunuch came forward and knocked on the door. Soon someone came to open the door. It was an elderly eunuch. When he saw the young eunuch, he bowed and asked cautiously, "What can I do for you, young eunuch?"
"Eunuch, I work in the Zhangliu Palace, and now I serve His Royal Highness Prince Chen. I heard that an old concubine lost her cat, so His Royal Highness Prince Chen personally sent the cat here."
"Your Highness Prince Chen?" When the old lady heard the word "Prince Chen", her expression was shocked and she hurriedly came out to greet him: "I didn't know it was Prince Chen who came in person. I am sorry for not coming to greet you from afar. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
"Don't be so polite, sir." Jiuzhu gave the old eunuch a false support and said, "Please take us to see the old concubine."
"This is Lady Ming, the daughter of Minister Ming." The young eunuch was afraid that the old eunuch would make a fool of himself by not recognizing her, so he reminded her quietly, "She is also the fiancée appointed by His Majesty for His Royal Highness Prince Chen."
"Mr. Ming's daughter..." the old eunuch murmured in a low voice, looking at Jiuzhu with cloudy eyes: "The two nobles, please come in quickly, and follow me over here."
Stepping through the red-painted wooden door, there is a large garden with a palace built on each of the three sides. The gray-haired concubines sat together in twos and threes. Some were talking and chatting, while others were holding embroidery needles, slowly poking two stitches on the embroidery cloth, and tilting their heads to listen to what the other old sisters were saying.
Those who looked younger were arguing about calligraphy and paintings around the table. When they noticed outsiders coming in, their expressions suddenly became tense.
"Is he from the Palace Department?"
“No.”
"Maybe they want us to go...to Chong'an Prefecture?"
"Don't scare yourself. Look at their attire. It's obvious that they are from a certain prince and his..." The concubine paused and said, "That's not right. Why are they wearing their hair in a girl's bun?"
Isn't she an unmarried girl?
"Don't guess randomly. I saw the prince holding a cat. Didn't Sister Zhao from Jing'an Palace lose her cat? I think they are here to give Sister Zhao a cat."
"The cat was found?" A concubine breathed a sigh of relief: "That's great. Zhao cried all night last night and I didn't sleep well."
"Say less, that prince looks familiar to me, maybe his Royal Highness Prince Chen." The embroidering concubine was not sure. So many years have passed, and the child back then must have changed a lot.
"Your Highness Prince Chen..."
The chattering concubines quieted down. They all knew that without Concubine Su, they would not have the peaceful life they have now.
"There are three palaces here, Jing'an Palace, Ningkang Palace, and Fushou Palace." Prince Chen whispered to Jiuzhu, "Several concubines live in Jing'an Palace, and the other two palaces are for some old concubines of lower ranks."
Jiuzhu noticed that there were cloth tigers, cloth rabbits and other things hanging on the trees in the yard. The stitches were not very fine. She thought that it was because the old people's eyesight was not very good, so the stitches were a little crooked when they were sewn.
However, these toffees were all dressed neatly, had rosy complexions, and were healthy, and they lived a good life.
She stood on tiptoe and touched the cloth tiger hanging from the branch with some curiosity.
"Girl, do you like this?" An old voice sounded behind her.
Jiuzhu withdrew his hand, turned to look at the old lady who was speaking, and bowed to her.
"If you like it, take it away." The old lady walked up to her, her gray hair neatly combed. "I made these when I was bored."
"Thank you." Jiuzhu wanted to refuse, but seeing the expectation in the old man's eyes, she reached out and took the cat away from Prince Chen's arms: "Your Highness, can you help me take it down?"
Prince Chen raised his eyebrows, looked at Jiuzhu who was only as tall as his chin, and reached out to pick up the little tiger.
"Meow." The kitten lay in Jiuzhu's arms and made a soft cry.
"Oh, what a little thing." The old lady laughed when she saw the cat. "I asked someone to look for it all night and finally found it."
When the kitten heard its owner's voice, it lazily swung its tail and turned its head towards the old toffee.
"It turned out to be your cat, Toffee." Jiuzhu touched the kitten's furry head and returned the cat to the Toffee: "This cat's foot is injured. I have asked the imperial physician to check it out."
The eunuch of Zhangliu Palace brought out the medicine and said, "This is the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician. Change it every morning and evening."
"Thank you, young lady and Your Highness." The old concubine took the cat into her arms and put her face against its head. "Little thing, I told you not to run around, but you didn't listen and got hurt. It hurts so much. Let's see if you dare to run around next time. If you dare to run around again, I will not care about you anymore."
The old concubine said she didn't care, but her actions were extremely gentle, not even touching the wound.
"Your Highness and Miss have worked hard to bring this little rascal back." The old concubine looked at the two of them gratefully and said, "Please come in and have some tea before leaving."
There was a hint of pleading in her tone, as if she was afraid they would refuse. Jiuzhu turned to look at King Chen, but did not agree immediately.
"Then I'm sorry to bother you." The Prince of Chen placed the little tiger in Jiuzhu's hand, put one hand behind his back, and supported the old concubine's arm with the other hand awkwardly: "Let's go."
The old concubine looked at the young man's hand on her arm and smiled: "Except for the palace maids and eunuchs, there have been no other young people here for a long time."
Walking into the inner hall, Jiuzhu smelled a very faint smell of medicine.
"Is someone sick?" Prince Chen helped the concubine to sit down and looked around.
"We are all old, so it's inevitable that we have some headaches and fevers." The concubine said gratefully: "Fortunately, the imperial concubine asked the imperial hospital to arrange for the imperial physician to check the pulse of us old ladies every five days, so we don't have any serious problems."
As she spoke, a maid who was about forty or fifty years old came in with tea and snacks. She glanced at the Prince of Chen, lowered her waist even lower respectfully, and placed all the tea and snacks on the table.
"If I am not mistaken, your Highness should be the Imperial Concubine's child, Yun Duqing?" The old concubine pointed to a plate of cakes on the table and said, "This tastes good, try it quickly."
"Thank you, Concubine." Jiuzhu grabbed a piece of dessert before the King of Chen, broke it in half, tasted it twice, and nodded with a smile: "It's delicious."
While chatting and laughing, she put the other half into Prince Chen's hand.
Prince Chen put half a piece of dessert into his mouth. The taste was neither good nor bad, but it suited the old man's taste.
"Your Highness has a good name. He is a blessed person." The old concubine stroked the kitten's head lovingly. The kitten purred and soon fell asleep.
Jiuzhu looked at the man and the cat and smiled while eating snacks.
"What are you laughing at?" Prince Chen looked at her with a smile.
"I just think that His Highness and His Majesty are amazing." Jiuzhu looked at Prince Chen, her eyes curved into crescents with a smile.
How could there be such good, such nice people in the world?
Prince Chen raised his eyebrows and nodded: "Well, you have a good eye for this."
"Your Highness, I will be going home tomorrow." Jiuzhu's smile faded a little: "Mother wrote to say that the day after tomorrow, the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, is a good day. My uncle has asked someone to go to the Zhou family to propose marriage to Brother Fuliu."
"Then, after New Year's Eve, I'll ask my mother to pick you up."
Concubine Zhao looked at the two young men whose heads were almost touching each other, and a kind smile appeared on her face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
