At night, the rain began to fall again. The sound of raindrops hitting the tiles woke Xu Lanyin up.
Thinking about what happened in the past few days, Xu Lanyin was filled with joy. This was much smoother than she had expected.
The rain was still heavy the next day. Xu Lanyin took her son to the main courtyard and talked with Chai all day. They rested there for lunch.
It rained for two days in a row, and it finally cleared up on the 13th. Chai took Xu Lanyin and her son to the Princess's Mansion to pay their respects to Princess Nanyang.
The princess smiled and said, "I was just about to send someone to deliver a message to you. The Empress Dowager has given me a message saying that she heard the Fourth Prince praise little Mingxi and that she likes him very much. She wants me to bring Yin and little Mingxi to the palace for her to see. I'm thinking of sending the message today, and Yin and her son will accompany me tomorrow."
This was too unexpected. Xu Lanyin herself was eager to see the Queen Mother, but she was unwilling to bring Zhao Mingxi with her. Zhao Mingxi's meeting with the Queen Mother was a double-edged sword. He looked too much like his grandmother, and the Queen Mother would undoubtedly like him. But if the Queen Mother had any relatives of the Pu family around her, and if they got the news, would they think too much?
Xu Lanyin pretended to be very happy even though she was unwilling in her heart. She said, "I would like to see the Queen Mother, but I'm afraid Mingxi is too young. If she goes there and cries all the time, or suddenly poops or pees, the Queen Mother might not be happy."
Chai thought so too and looked at the eldest princess worriedly.
The eldest princess waved her hand and smiled, "You may not know, but the Empress Dowager is kind and gentle, and she particularly loves children. Not only do she often invite the little grandchildren and nephews to visit her, but she also sometimes invites the wives of ministers she knows to bring their children to visit her. As for babies crying and wetting themselves, that's inevitable, and the Empress Dowager has never blamed them."
Xu Lanyin had no choice but to agree.
Not to mention Xu Lanyin, even Chai had never entered the palace. The eldest princess asked two maids from the palace to go to the side room to tell Xu Lanyin and Qian Mama, who was going to bring the child into the palace, about the etiquette for female relatives entering the palace and the preferences of the Empress Dowager.
After they had lunch here, Xu Lanyin said she had to go back to prepare for entering the palace tomorrow, and then they went home.
After arriving home, he immediately sent someone to Zhao's house to invite Li Luo to discuss the matter.
Li Luo and Xu Qingyan arrived home one after another, and they had a secret discussion in the study.
After some discussion, they finally decided to go. If they claimed illness this time, there would be another time. They had to face it anyway. They wanted to give the Queen Mother a heads-up so they could recognize each other later, once the truth was revealed.
As for whether the Empress Dowager had spies from the Pu family, the same old saying applies: there are millions of people in the world, and many look alike. On the surface, Zhao Ying and her descendants are dead. If there were spies, they and the Pu family wouldn't necessarily target Zhao Ying's descendants. If they were still afraid, they would surely resort to desperate measures. This, too, is evidence.
After Zhao Mingxi came out of the palace, Xu Lanyin took him to live in a secret courtyard. Chai then went to talk to Princess Nanyang about Zhao Wu and Wen. At the same time, she also sent a letter to Zhao Wu, asking him to pay attention to his safety.
The situation is special now. Regardless of whether there is any situation or not, Ma Zi will travel between Ningzhou Prefecture and the capital once every two days to facilitate communication between the two sides.
Xu Qingyan also said that there are more and more memorials impeaching Wen Yan, and the Wen family is about to fall.
Li Luo had thought he would be very happy when this day came, but he couldn't smile. It was the Wen family that fell, not Wen Yan...
Li Luo did not return to the Zhao family today. After discussing matters with Xu Qingyan, he stayed in the guest room in the outer courtyard.
Xu Lanyin first returned to the Languo Courtyard to prepare things for the palace tomorrow, and also prepared some things to take to the other courtyards. She thought to herself, if only she could hear those people's thoughts and find the spy.
The next day, Xu Lanyin donned a bright red brocade jacket with gold embroidery, applied heavy makeup, and wore the twelve-piece headdress that Chai had bought her for her wedding. Zhao Mingxi wore a brocade embroidered dress and split-crotch pants, wrapped in a large red quilt. Mama Qian also wore a festive maroon silk dress, applied makeup, and sported a gold hairpin. The two adults and one child boarded a carriage and departed for the Princess Nanyang's residence.
They waited at the corner gate without getting off the carriage. A little over two quarters of an hour later, the eldest princess' sedan chair came out, and everyone took the carriage to the palace.
The layout of the palace was somewhat similar to the Forbidden City in their previous life, so they went directly to the Cining Palace. After the eunuch passed the message, he invited them into the hall.
Xu Lanyin supported the eldest princess and walked in front, while Mother Qian followed behind with Zhao Mingxi in her arms as they entered the main hall. Xu Lanyin didn't dare to look up, and when the eldest princess stopped, she stopped too.
The eldest princess knelt down to salute, while Xu Lanyin and Mother Qian knelt down and kowtowed.
Queen Mother Pu nodded to Nanyang, then smiled at Xu Lanyin and said, "Is this Nanyang's granddaughter? Good girl, get up."
Xu Lanyin stood up and helped the eldest princess sit on the first chair on the left. At the suggestion of the palace maid, she sat below the eldest princess, and Mother Qian stood behind her holding Zhao Mingxi.
Liu Zhaohou had already arrived and sat on the chair to the right. He smiled and said, "Grandmother, isn't Sister Xu very beautiful?"
This made everyone in the hall laugh.
Queen Mother Pu looked at Xu Lanyin and smiled, "She is indeed a beautiful child, handsome and lovable."
Empress Dowager Pu was in her sixties. Although a generation older than Princess Nanyang, she was only three or four years her senior. She wore court attire, had a kind face, and was in excellent spirits, revealing the charm of her youth.
Xu Lanyin blushed and remained silent, feigning embarrassment at her compliments. Here, one should speak as little as possible; too much talk can lead to mistakes. Furthermore, she was far from the Empress Dowager, so she couldn't even hear what Aunt Zhang and Eunuch Guo were thinking, let alone what she was saying.
Empress Dowager Pu continued, "Bring the child here for me to see."
Mother Qian walked over and half-knelt in front of the Queen Mother so that she could see the child clearly.
Xu Lanyin murmured fearfully, "Good boy, don't cry." Her eyes followed Zhao Mingxi with a frightened look. In fact, she wanted to get a closer look at the expression of the person behind the Queen Mother.
Nanyang frowned and thought to himself, I saw this girl acting so gracefully before, why does she act so petty as soon as she came to the palace?
Zhao Mingxi had been sleeping in the carriage, but now he was awake. He didn't recognize anyone, and the large, gleaming green pearl on the Queen Mother's head was dazzling. He stared at it with wide eyes, his hands waving, as if trying to grab it. What the Queen Mother saw was not that he wanted to grab the pearl, but that he wanted her to hold him.
Another pretty little face appeared in front of Empress Dowager Pu. It was thinner than this child, with a pointed little oval face. When it was not smiling, its eyes were round like two black grapes.
It looks like them. They really look like them.
Empress Dowager Pu's eyes softened, and her hands involuntarily took the child in her arms.
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