"Yes, yes, we'll go after school." Ertai was already feeling quite smug. He couldn't wait to see the princess, even though it was only a short day.
Indeed, the words in the book are accurate. A day apart feels like three autumns—that's truly true!
"What's your rush? My cousin isn't going anywhere." Yongqi scoffed at Ertai's anxious look.
Ertai chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head, offering no further explanation. Indeed, he wanted to see the princess!
Yongqi didn't say anything more, and the two of them stepped into the study one after the other.
*
Cining Palace
"Your Majesty, the wife of Lord Fu has arrived. She is waiting outside the Cining Palace!" Upon seeing the wife arrive and hearing her purpose, the young palace maid at the gate hurriedly came to announce her arrival.
The old lady kept her eyes closed and didn't answer. She chuckled inwardly; the Fu family was quick to admit their guilt. Their eldest son had just been punished yesterday, and today they were already coming to beg for forgiveness. It seemed they had made their stance clear.
Qing'er waved her hand, dismissing the young maid. The maid glanced gratefully at Qing'er. She was new, recently transferred to the Cining Palace. She had originally worked in the flower room, tending to plants, and had never seen the Empress Dowager before. Now, seeing her, she felt only the Empress Dowager's imposing and solemn presence. Thankfully, Qing'er had come to her rescue; otherwise, she didn't know how long she would have had to stay there. Looking at the Empress Dowager, the maid felt a sense of oppression.
"Your Majesty, why don't you bring the Princess Consort in first? Letting her wait outside all this time will only make the noblewomen uneasy," Qing'er suggested softly, massaging the Empress Dowager's shoulders.
She didn't really sympathize with the Fu family; given Fu Erkang's attitude yesterday, 50 strokes of the cane were already an exceptionally lenient punishment. Today, she was just seeing what the Fujin's attitude would be.
The Empress Dowager understood Qing'er's unspoken meaning. She opened her eyes and patted Qing'er's hands, which were resting on her shoulders. "Then let An'an come and listen with us. You go and wake that girl. None of the maids around me dare to wake her." That girl has a terrible temper when she wakes up, and since no one she knows well wakes her, no maid dares to blindly go forward and wake her.
"Yes, Qing'er will go right away." Qing'er knew immediately that An'an was definitely being grumpy when she woke up.
After watching Qing'er's departing figure, the Empress Dowager coughed at Granny Zhi beside her. Granny Zhi immediately understood. Let the acting begin!
Granny Zhi walked to the entrance of Cining Palace and saw the Princess Consort waiting outside in her auspicious robes. The sun was gradually rising. The Princess Consort, dressed in her auspicious robes, inevitably felt a little hot. She gently wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief and then waited patiently.
Granny Zhi put on a smile and stepped forward to bow to the Fujin. "The Empress Dowager has just finished washing up. It's really kind of you to have kept Fujin waiting outside for so long."
How could the Fujin dare say that the Empress Dowager had made her wait outside for so long? No matter how unwilling she was, she could only reluctantly put on a smile. "It was my fault. The Empress Dowager was washing up and it was not appropriate to disturb her."
"The Empress Dowager summons the Princess Consort in." Granny Zhi didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. Let's get straight to the point!
"Yes!" The Fujin walked a small step behind Zhi Mama on the right.
"This humble servant greets Your Majesty, may Your Majesty live a thousand years!"
"Rise," the Empress Dowager said, taking a slow sip of a freshly brewed cup of tea. "What brings you to the palace today, Madam?"
Empress Dowager: I know, but I'm not saying. Hey, it's just for fun.
"I have come to apologize to the Empress Dowager and Princess Yong'an on behalf of my unfilial son, Erkang." The Fujin, who had just stood up, immediately knelt down again. Her words became even more sincere. "It is my fault. I have failed to discipline my son properly. He has offended Princess Yong'an. My husband and I feel deeply uneasy in the manor. We have come here to apologize."
"Oh?" This surprised the Empress Dowager. She had originally thought that the Fujin (principal wife) would come to ask An'an to reduce Fu Erkang's punishment. After all, a mother's love is strong! Then she thought again and realized that Fu Lun had probably already taught the Fujin how to say it since she entered the palace, and that the couple must already be in cahoots.
He found it somewhat amusing and thought that once An'an arrived, he would hand over the decision-making power to her. After all, he, Fu Erkang, had offended Princess Yong'an.
No sooner said than done.
I thought An'an would take a long time to arrive, but she came so quickly.
Hearing the hurried footsteps outside, no one but An'an would dare to do such a thing in Cining Palace.
Sure enough, the girl's voice was heard immediately. "Grandmother, what is it? Why did you call An'an over?" An'an was still rubbing her sleepy eyes.
As it turned out, the kneeling princess was immediately startled awake and her spirits lifted.
"What is this?" Upon seeing this scene, An Ke immediately put on her princess-like airs.
Upon hearing Princess Yong'an's voice, the Fujin immediately turned towards her. "This concubine greets Princess Yong'an. May Princess Yong'an be blessed."
"You don't need to do this, Madam. Get up and answer!" As soon as An Ke waved her hand, two maids helped the Madam up from the ground and placed her in a seat to the side.
The Fujin (Prince's wife) became somewhat uneasy, feeling that the Princess shouldn't be behaving this way. After all, it was her son who had angered the Princess, and even when Fu Lun went to court, he had instructed her to simply stand by and endure whatever the Princess said or did. The Princess's actions made the Fujin uneasy.
"I wonder what brings you here to see me today, Madam?" An Ke took a sip of tea to moisten her throat. Then, she looked up at the person opposite her.
"I have come for my son. Fu Lun and I learned that Er Kang acted disrespectfully in the palace yesterday. We are very worried, fearing that Er Kang might have offended the Princess, so we have come to apologize." After saying this, she tried to kneel down again, but the two palace maids beside her were not to be trifled with. They managed to keep the Princess from kneeling down and made her sit obediently in her chair.
"So that's what it was about," An Ke said casually. "He is him, and you are you. Although you are his mother, I won't hold a grudge against you because of him. As for apologizing, he was already punished yesterday, so there's no need for him to apologize. I'm not in the mood today, so I won't keep you here for lunch." Having just been woken up, she was already in a bad mood, and hearing this upsetting matter only made her feel worse. An Ke didn't want to see anyone related to the Fu family right now.
"This," this was completely outside of the Princess's plans, and she quickly replied, "I know that the Princess lacks nothing. So I brought a luminous pearl for the Princess to admire. There is also a black stone inkstone. I heard that the Princess loves the black stone inkstones from Wenxizhai the most. I have nothing else to bring the Princess, so this is just a small token of my appreciation."
An Ke knew that if she didn't accept, the princess consort might keep talking for who knows how long. She gave Xingxing a wink.
Xingxing understood, immediately stepped forward, and respectfully bowed. "Please trouble you, Madam, to leave it to me."
When the Fujin saw that it was Xingxing, the maidservant of the Princess, who came to fetch her, she breathed a sigh of relief. The gift had been delivered, and the apology had been made. Seeing the expressions of the Empress Dowager and the Princess, the Fujin understood and decided not to disturb them any further. "Then this concubine will take her leave."
"Granny Zhi, see the Princess off." The Empress Dowager, who had been silent for a long time, assigned Granny Zhi to see her off. This was considered to have done everything in terms of appearance and manners.
After all the outsiders had left, the Empress Dowager looked at her granddaughter with great interest.
An Ke naturally noticed the Empress Dowager's gaze. "Grandmother, is there something on my face?" she asked, wiping her face as she spoke.
This amused the Empress Dowager, who beamed with joy. "You little rascal, if I hadn't sent Qing'er to wake you, who knows how long you would have slept? You did very well today; it wouldn't be good for others to find fault with you."
An Ke immediately deflated. "I thought the Empress Dowager was going to praise me, but it turns out it was just to prevent others from finding fault with me."
"Isn't that so?" the old lady replied meaningfully.
“No, I was annoyed that the Fujin (principal wife) kept coming here, apologizing over and over again. This matter had nothing to do with the Fujin; it was Fu Erkang's fault to begin with, so why should I take my anger out on someone else?” An Ke picked up a pastry, put it in her mouth, and chewed it. “Besides, my granddaughter got a little annoyed and didn't want her to continue. After accepting the gift, she just left. Isn't that right?”
"I see. I thought you'd finally figured it out." The Empress Dowager nodded affectionately in An Ke's direction from afar.
Before Anke could fully relax, another announcement came from the doorway.
The same young palace maid rushed in, flustered. "Your Majesty, the Fifth Prince and Second Master Fu are waiting outside to pay their respects!"
"Oh, Yongqi is here? And he brought Fuertai with him." The Empress Dowager was also caught off guard by the arrival of the mother and son at Cining Palace one after the other.
The Empress Dowager was baffled, but Qing'er was. Qing'er, yesterday she not only witnessed Princess Yong'an "showing off her power," but also saw someone's deeply affectionate gaze.
So, he looked in An'an's direction with a teasing expression. An'an seemed a little confused.
Qing'er could only sigh silently for Ertai. It was truly a case of one party being willing while the other was daydreaming.
"Bring them in!" An Ke said to the young palace maid. She also wanted to know what the mother and son were here for. Driven by curiosity, she had them brought in.
Qing'er: Getting close to shipping couples? (?^o^?)?
As expected, Ertai's eyes were glued to Anke as soon as he entered the room.
"Grandson greets Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be well." Yongqi bowed respectfully to the Empress Dowager. The Qing Dynasty placed great emphasis on filial piety. Moreover, with Emperor Qianlong setting an example by leading by example, this was especially true!
"Your subject, Fu'ertai, greets the Empress Dowager, Princess Yong'an, and Princess Qing. May the Empress Dowager be blessed, Princess Yong'an be blessed, and Princess Qing be blessed." Aside from glancing at An Ke upon entering, Fu'ertai dared not look at her openly now.
An Ke doesn't need to bow to the Fifth Prince. However, Qing'er needs to give Yongqi a standard bow.
"Get up, all of you." The Empress Dowager raised her hand. "Sit down and we'll talk later."
Yongqi also sat properly to the left of the Empress Dowager, while Ertai naturally sat in the same row as Yongqi.
"What brings you here today?" Anke looked at her fifth brother, sensing that he must have something important to discuss. She glanced at Fu Ertai, who was grinning foolishly at her. She looked once, then looked away.
Yongqi stood to the side, secretly chuckling to himself. His cousin's IQ had blossomed early, but her emotional intelligence seemed to have matured way too late.
Is it like Benjamin said? That God opens a door for you, but closes a window for you?
However, my cousin is indeed quite perfect. So what if her emotional intelligence develops a little later? It's not a big deal. She can't have all the good things in the world, can she? It's just a pity for Fu Ertai, who's the first to realize it; the person he secretly loves hasn't even figured it out yet. What kind of situation is this?
"It's nothing serious, just that the weather's nice today. How about we go for a few laps at the horse ranch?" When they were little, Yongqi often took Anke to the horse ranch to ride horses. Thinking back on those times together, it's truly full of memories. Back then, he always thought about growing up, getting taller, and sharing his father's burdens. Now, he feels that those times were simply the most beautiful moments of his life.
Anke's intuition told her something was wrong, very wrong. But going horseback riding was so appealing, she was torn between the two.
Qing'er naturally noticed An Ke's hesitation. However, for the sake of her own shipping, she came up with a perfect excuse for An Ke. "Your Majesty, Qing'er doesn't know how to ride a horse yet! Qing'er read the story of the heroine Hua Mulan in a book a few days ago. Qing'er really admires her. An eagle on its head and a fine horse under its saddle are also customs of our Manchu people! Why don't you let An'an teach Qing'er to ride a horse?" Qing'er pleaded with the Empress Dowager first.
Although the Empress Dowager was somewhat puzzled, she couldn't resist the pleas of her granddaughter and grandson. So she stopped restraining them and waved her hand. "Alright, go, all of you. But don't forget to send a few guards. Qing'er, you've never ridden a horse before, go to the horse farm and pick out a gentle one."
"Grandmother, with An'an here, aren't you worried?" An Ke proudly patted her chest. "I promise Qing'er will learn something today, and I will absolutely not let a single hair on her head get hurt."
After hearing Anke's assurance, Qing'er felt that she probably wouldn't be able to ship the couple today, and she also had to learn to ride a horse.
"But she still needs guards with her, otherwise I won't feel at ease." How could the Empress Dowager not understand her granddaughter's abilities? But no matter what, her granddaughter was a precious member of the imperial family, how could she allow her to get hurt? Bringing a team of guards was still imperative.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com