Su Jinli had no choice but to let Jiang Yan support her as she followed the eunuch to the Cining Palace. The floor heater in the warm room was burning brightly. The empress dowager, wearing a deep purple cloak woven with gold and holding a string of agarwood Buddhist beads, immediately placed the beads on the table upon seeing her enter. The white fox fur on her cloak rippled with a wave of her hand. "Jinli, I heard you've performed great deeds again today? Come quickly and let me see you."
"I'm sorry to have worried the Empress Dowager," Su Jinli bowed, the hem of her dark blue palace dress sweeping across the scarlet carpet. "It's just a small matter."
"A small matter?" The Queen Mother smiled, her eyes narrowed into slits. She pulled her hand and sat her down on the soft couch, the jade armor on her fingertips knocking against the black jade bracelet on her wrist. "Anything that can make that woman, Consort Shu, embarrassed is no small matter!" She looked Su Jinli up and down, and suddenly lowered her voice. "Jinli, I think your brain is more useful than those of the Imperial Censors. How about... I talk to the Emperor and ask him to let you become an official?"
Su Jinli was startled and almost stood up from the couch: "Your Majesty, you are joking. I am just a woman. How can I be an official in public?"
"What's wrong with being a woman?" The Queen Mother snorted, picking up the Buddhist beads on the table and winding them up again. "Thinking back to when I was still the Crown Princess..." She suddenly stopped talking and patted the back of Su Jinli's hand. "Anyway, I think you can do it!"
As he was speaking, the emperor rushed in holding a scroll, the hem of his dragon robe still stained with willow catkins: "Mother, your son has appointed Jinli to an official position!"
The Queen Mother raised an eyebrow. "What kind of official position? Don't give him some weird title again."
The emperor proudly unrolled the scroll. On the bright yellow, gold-sprinkled rice paper were four large characters written in cinnabar: "The Imperial Envoy for Defending Injustices." He pointed at the words, spit flying from his lips. "See? From now on, anyone in the palace who has a grievance can come to Jinli for redress! I'll reward you with a hundred taels of gold and a hundred rolls of silk!"
Su Jinli looked at the four crooked characters and recalled the emperor's appearance when he was writing in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. She couldn't help laughing: "Your Majesty, what kind of official position is this? He doesn't even have a seal."
"Why not?" The emperor stiffened his neck. "I'll have the Ministry of Rites engrave it right away! I'll give you this to hold it in place!" He stuffed the scroll into Su Jinli's arms, the edge of the rice paper rubbing against her belly. "Jinli, from now on, you'll be my 'Judge Bao'!"
The Queen Mother clapped her hands and laughed, "Great! This position is great! Jinli, just accept it and show those old stubborn people that we women can still do things!"
Su Jinli looked at the emperor and the empress dowager's expectant eyes and nodded. The scroll in her arms exuded a faint scent of ink: "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty."
Jiang Yan stood aside, looking at the helpless yet amused expression on his wife's face, and couldn't help but curl his lips: "Madam is really amazing, she has become the 'Imperial Defender'."
"Isn't it your emperor who's making trouble?" Su Jinli rolled her eyes at him, but when she lowered her head, she saw Princess Shou'an running in with a pearl hairpin in her arms. The little girl still had the Nine Phoenix Pearl Hairpin on her hair, but it was worn upside down, with the phoenix's head facing downwards, like a bird that had fallen headfirst.
"Sister Su!" The princess raised her little face, "Where is the official seal that the emperor gave you? I want to see it!"
The emperor scratched his head, and the pearl pendant on the dragon crown shook: "Oh! I forgot to ask the Ministry of Rites to carve the official seal!"
Laughter erupted in the warm room. Su Jinli took in the lively scene before her, her palm unconsciously resting on her belly. The fetus within her seemed to sense the joy, moving slightly, as if stretching. She suddenly felt that, despite the turmoil of life in the deep palace, with these people around her, it didn't seem so difficult.
Willow catkins were still drifting outside the window, landing on the window lattice of the warm room, reflecting the laughter and joy inside, like handfuls of honey. Su Jinli leaned back on the soft couch, watching Jiang Yan gather her cloak, watching the emperor and the empress dowager bicker, watching Princess Shou'an fiddle with her pearl hairpin, and suddenly felt that in this life, she must not only protect herself, but also pass on this warmth, so that those around her could live a prosperous life.
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