Finding joy amidst hardship, Qin Weixi fell into deep thought. Little Xing loves to eat…
Back at Wansong Pavilion, Luo Ling, Tao Qingyun, and Jiang Yuanjun were chatting animatedly with the Empress Dowager.
Of course, most of these words came from the mouth of that dashing young man in blue. When he got emotional, he gently wiped his tearless eyes with his sleeve, which made the Empress Dowager laugh and tilt her head back. All the palace maids in the room also smiled with pursed lips.
"Grandma Zhao, are you happy or not?"
The Empress Dowager nodded repeatedly: "Of course I am delighted." She hurriedly instructed Baozhu beside her: "Go and get my private savings and reward this storyteller, Mr. Tao, with one string of silver."
Baozhu smiled and agreed, then hurried out of the dining hall to collect the reward money. Looking up, she saw the two young masters entering the main hall one after the other.
Chu Yening, who was behind, suddenly said, "Please trouble you, Aunt, to fetch the medicine."
Baozhu was taken aback. She glanced at the red swelling on Qin Weixi's forehead and quickly replied, "His Highness the Crown Prince has already told me about this. I have ordered people to prepare it in advance."
Seated in the dining hall, the third young master, the composed one, took a sip of tea. The gentle one lowered his eyes, a mild smile playing on his lips. The very elegant one, however, kept glancing between the two. Finally, he teased, "You two went boating on the lake? Can that old boat even sail?" He looked Chu Yening up and down, his gaze finally settling on his brocade boots: "Or did you slip on them?"
Chu Yening seemed not to hear, bowed to the Empress Dowager, and calmly sat down in the empty seat.
"It just so happened that we ran into each other."
"What? You can't bear to part with me after only half a day? Black-beaked grouse."
Tao Qingyun immediately flew into a rage: "Chu..." But before she could finish speaking, she remembered the kind-faced old lady sitting beside her, a large woman.
The Empress Dowager chuckled, pulled Qin Weixi to sit in the empty seat next to her, and then glanced at the bump on her forehead, comforting her: "Ajun has already told me. That plum vase is older than me, and after nearly a hundred years, not a single corner is missing. This is called 'seeing joy upon looking up,' a good omen."
The Empress Dowager spoke each word with force and conviction, showing none of the sickly pallor she had displayed when they first met yesterday.
Qin Weixi stared at her intently and smiled, "Grandmother is right."
The Empress Dowager wore a kind smile. Many years ago, there was a little girl who, when she was ill, shed tiny, crystal-clear tears by her bedside, her voice still innocent, asking, "Grandma Zhao, Grandma Zhao, what's wrong?"
The Empress Dowager continued, "A-Fu has already taken her medicine and rested. I always said her temperament is just like your grandfather Jiang's—she's a woman of her word. Who can do anything about her?"
Jiang Yuanjun, who had been silent until now, suddenly said, "Grandmother." He choked up and shook his head again, "Grandson is alright."
The Empress Dowager sighed almost imperceptibly, but Qin Weixi, who was standing close by, sensed it keenly.
Baozhu went back and forth, leading a little palace maid with her head down, carrying a wooden tray, into the dining hall.
Under the urging of the matriarch, Baozhu carefully applied the medicine with her. Qin Weixi suddenly felt a burning gaze fall on her head. She glanced at the palace maid with her head down as if by chance, and suddenly remembered the maids who had been picking peach branches by the Xia Guang Lake earlier.
A thought struck her. Feigning confusion, she said coolly, "Peach branches are easily broken. Flowers that don't bloom are unlikely to bloom again."
The people around the table were all bewildered by this sudden, seemingly random remark. Several pairs of eyes looked at them suspiciously. Only Chu Yening leisurely picked up a piece of roasted mutton and began to chew slowly.
The palace maid felt a sudden pang of fear, her face turning deathly pale. She realized she had spoken out of turn. Her inappropriate words outside the Bright Moon Pavilion must have been overheard by this young mistress who had just returned to the capital.
This was, after all, the imperial territory. The ancestor's benevolence didn't mean the noble lords would also be merciful or soft-hearted, nor did it mean the ancestor could ignore everything. But she instantly realized that the "mysterious person" beside the Marquis of Jingning must be her. Her hand holding the wooden tray began to tremble slightly. She slightly raised her eyelids, only to see that the gaze directed at her was as cold and piercing as the Lake of Sunset Glow.
She felt as if she had fallen to the bottom of a lake.
But the girl in the pale yellow brocade dress smiled brightly and said, "Just now, when I came out of Mingyue Pavilion, I saw some people going to Xiaotaoyuan to pick peach branches. The peach blossoms are blooming very beautifully. This morning, Pu Niang and Feng Hua even picked a few branches to take to Guanheyuan." After saying that, she didn't look at her again.
The palace maid breathed a sigh of relief, quickly curtsied to her, and retreated with her head bowed.
The Empress Dowager nodded and looked at them, saying, "Eat quickly. After you finish eating, have a bowl of almond tea. Ah Fu is sick, so stay here for now. As for you mischievous monkeys, go down the mountain. I'll get some peace and quiet, and maybe in a couple of days my old body will naturally get better."
But they all vaguely sensed that this seemingly energetic Grandmother Zhao seemed to be secretly exuding a resolute aura.
None of them moved.
Seeing this, the Empress Dowager smiled again, "Don't I know my own body? I haven't even seen you all get married and come of age." With her aged hands, she grasped Qin Weixi's hand in one hand and Luo Ling's hand in the other, saying, "Excellent." She then waved to the three seated Chu, Tao, and Jiang, and grasped all five of their hands together, laughing, "We're missing little Afu."
She beckoned to Baozhu and Dingwei behind her and showed them, "Look, even my hands are so small I can't hold them anymore!" Then she turned back to them and said, "You must continue this friendship forever, just like your grandfather Jiang."
The group smiled together, pursing their lips.
Luo Ling said, "Grandma Zhao, we are family."
Tao Qingyun said, "Grandma Zhao, we're all adults now, but you still treat us like children!"
Qin Weixi looked up casually and saw that Tao Qingyun had two more inconspicuous mouth ulcers on the corner of her mouth.
Her brows furrowed unconsciously, but she said nothing.
The Empress Dowager suddenly said, "But speaking of which, what is the meaning of that... black-beaked grouse that Ye Ning mentioned?"
The remaining four immediately looked at Tao Qingyun. They saw him standing there with his head held high and a smile on his face, revealing a row of white teeth as he looked at the Empress Dowager.
But now he was filled with rage.
"Chu Yening!" Tao Qingyun shouted angrily, making a move to get up and hit him.
Chu Yening immediately leaped lightly towards the slightly open window and flipped out.
The room inside Wansong Pavilion burst into laughter.
Each of them was preoccupied with their own thoughts and didn't want to eat much, but under the Empress Dowager's watchful gaze, they still managed to finish most of the dishes on the table. The group surrounded her, intending to escort her back to the inner chambers of Wansong Pavilion. The Empress Dowager, however, said, "I'm going to the small Buddhist hall to pray for you children."
None of them were willing to comply. Two men took her arms, one on each side, saying that she would leave after she drank the medicine.
That afternoon, the summit was filled with laughter and joy; everything was peaceful and serene.
Qin Weixi glanced through the small window at the waterside pavilion behind Wansong Pavilion. The Empress Dowager already understood and said with a smile, "Afu is still asleep. You should leave quietly, otherwise you'll wake her up. She'll want to come down the mountain with you, and I can't control these mischievous monkeys." Then she went to shoo them away, looking increasingly tired: "You monkeys, hurry up! You're making so much noise you can't even hear me!"
Qin Weixi turned back every few steps, but the Empress Dowager had already lowered the bed curtains and didn't even look at them.
In the end, she put the cluster of peach blossoms that Pu Niang had picked that morning into a lantern bottle and asked Zi Shu to take it back to the waterside pavilion where Jiang Yuanfu lived, placing it in a place where the sun could shine when it rose, as a hint that she would get better soon.
Inside the carriage, Feng Hua was blowing on a clump of dandelions she had picked from somewhere, while Qin Weixi stood beside her, gazing at the towering mountain pavilion before her with complex emotions. She untied the purse from her waist, took out a piece of Tongling crisp candy, and put it in her mouth. Suddenly, Baozhu came quickly, carrying a hexagonal food box made of rosewood.
She was taken aback.
Baozhu said, "It's chestnut cake. It was my favorite when I was little. The Empress Dowager opened it, tasted one, and said to take it down the mountain so that Little Star wouldn't go hungry."
Qin Weixi fell into deep thought. Does Xiaoxing like this chestnut cake?
Despite not finding a solution, Qin Weixi still smiled and thanked her. After seeing Baozhu walk away, she was about to lower the curtain in front of the window when Feng Hua suddenly exclaimed "Eh!" Following Feng Hua's gaze, she saw Cui Lu standing under the eaves, peeking in their direction.
A thought struck her.
She then looked back and saw Chu Yening and Tao Qingyun each riding a horse, their backs to her as they gazed at the distant mountains. Luo Ling and Jiang Yuanjun had already gone ahead.
With no one around, she beckoned to Cui Lu, who hesitated for a moment but then trotted ahead of her. She whispered, "Eunuch Cui, I'm truly worried about the Empress Dowager. Please keep a close eye on her." She rested one arm on the windowsill of her horse, clutching a small, turquoise purse in her hand. She then opened her other palm, revealing several pieces of sweet candy with the fragrant aroma of osmanthus and sesame. She smiled gently and said, "Have some candy, Eunuch!"
Cui Lu was taken aback again, clearly not expecting anyone to offer him candy. He had been in the palace for many years, and in his first year alone, he had endured countless beatings, but he found joy in the hardship, just so that his monthly allowance could buy medicine for his parents and ensure they had enough to eat.
During festivals, when the emperor bestowed sweets upon him, even the older men wouldn't leave him a single piece. He could only secretly take a few home. He had never tasted sweets before, but as a child, he had seen the neighbor's infants stop crying instantly and turn from tears to laughter. He knew that the sweets must be incredibly delicious, very sweet indeed.
So he gritted his teeth, kept one, carefully peeled off the sugar coating, and put it in his mouth.
It was so sweet, so very sweet. Sweet enough to make him forget the bitterness. But at dawn, he would still be met with endless beatings.
Cui Lu snapped out of his daze and looked at the purse. He felt a sudden jolt in his heart.
Many years ago, on a snowy night when the clouds blocked the moon, he was on the verge of death in the wing room, but in the end, he was reborn.
He leaned against the creaking wooden door of the side room, and by the dim light from outside, he could vaguely see a young woman in elegant clothes carrying a bright palace lantern in the snowy twilight, with a young man beside her draped in a dark cloak. The young man's gaze was sharp, and he had one foot on one of the eunuchs who had beaten him half to death, while the young woman seemed to be rummaging through her waist for something.
Then she opened her palm and offered it to the boy, who shook his head but took it with one hand. The girl walked around in the snow, then stepped on the eunuch's already frozen fingers, saying, "You look down on people! You treat people like dirt! How is he inferior to you?"
The little eunuch cried out in pain and repeatedly kowtowed, begging for mercy.
Finally, he heard the girl's clear voice: "He looks even younger than Eunuch Bao. Send him to Cining Palace. Grandmother Zhao is the kindest of all; she'll surely protect him!"
Finally, he was assigned to tend the flowers in the Cining Palace, where he lived a comfortable and carefree life, and was no longer subjected to beatings. He later learned that it was several young masters who frequently visited the palace who had saved him. One day, he kowtowed to them from a distance.
His injuries hadn't healed, but he was preoccupied with the small bundle he'd brought with him when he first entered the palace, a pair of shoes his mother had specially made for him before he went in. Taking advantage of the eunuchs being on duty, he secretly slipped away to retrieve it. But his bundle was gone. He searched high and low, and a plum-green purse fell out of the chest, embroidered with a pair of tangerines. He suddenly realized—it must have been lost by those young noblewomen that day, and hidden away by the young eunuch who had been punished.
Without a second thought, he quickly put the purse into his sleeve, returned to the greenhouse, and when no one was around, he found a charcoal brazier, threw it in, and burned it to ashes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
