Chapter 487 Cheng Feng
At this moment, Hongxiu personally poured Cheng Feng a cup of tea and placed it in front of him, then stood respectfully to the side, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
The moment Cheng Feng saw Hongxiu, he was stunned. He tried to pick up the teacup, but the tea was so hot that he couldn't swallow it at all.
Cheng Feng wondered: Did she deliberately pour him a cup of tea that he couldn't drink at all?
Cheng Feng raised his teacup and then put it down again, hurriedly saying, "This humble official came to report to Her Majesty the Empress on the Ninth Princess's wedding arrangements..."
By the time Cheng Feng finished his report, the tea on the table had gone cold. Hongxiu stepped forward and replaced it with a cup of piping hot tea. "Please have some tea, Steward Cheng."
Cheng Feng quickly accepted it, "Thank you, Miss Hongxiu."
Jiang Fenghua saw that Hongxiu was deliberately making things difficult for him, and thought that it must be because Cheng Feng was putting on too much airs when he came to Chenxi Palace.
"Hongxiu, go and get busy. You don't need to serve us here anymore." Jiang Fenghua dismissed her directly. There was no need to offend her just to save face. Her father was the Empress Dowager's man, but Cheng Feng was Xie Shang's man. The fact that the Emperor allowed Cheng Feng to manage the Imperial Household Department showed that he trusted him.
Hongxiu bowed respectfully and left. As soon as Hongxiu left, Cheng Feng's soul followed her away.
Jiang Fenghua pretended not to see him and continued to discuss official business with him, only leaving after he finished his work at the Imperial Household Department.
Cheng Feng came out of the main hall but did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he stood in Chenxi Palace for a while, which attracted the attention of the palace maids. "That's Chief Steward Cheng. He looks quite dashing."
"Besides being energetic, he's also quite shrewd. I heard he's the emperor's confidant, and the emperor entrusts him with all sorts of tasks. His future prospects are limitless."
Cheng Feng brought his servant into the palace. The servant was waiting outside with a lot of snacks in his hands, but Cheng Feng did not present the snacks to the Empress.
He stepped forward and asked, "Is Hongxiu here?"
The palace maid said, "Chief Steward Cheng is looking for Lady Hongxiu. She and Lady Lianye have taken the little prince and princess for a walk over there."
Having received directions, Cheng Feng then gave two packets of pastries to the palace maids, saying, "These are pastries from Cheng's Pastry Shop. Please enjoy them, ladies."
The two women were inexplicably happy, but they were still delighted. When they saw Granny Wang arrive, they placed the pastries on the stone table next to them and bowed respectfully, saying, "Granny Wang."
Granny Wang glanced at the pastries and said, "Keep a close watch on them!" The guard arrangements at Chenxi Palace have become even more stringent recently.
"Yes," the palace maid replied.
Little did anyone know that the sweetness of the pastries instantly attracted several bees from the flowers in the courtyard, and the pastries were also contaminated with venom.
Granny Wang knew that Steward Cheng and his son were both people of the Empress Dowager. She had been passing on messages between them before, so she naturally knew that the Empress Dowager had people keeping an eye on the Emperor. At that time, the Empress Dowager didn't trust the Emperor to be alone, so she kept a close watch on him.
Cheng Feng led his servant in the direction the maid pointed.
Lin Yu and Ao Xue were also by Cheng Feng's side. When they saw Cheng Feng come over, they guessed that he was here to see Hong Xiu.
Hongxiu glanced at Cheng Feng, then said to Lianye and the others, "Let's take the little prince and princess back first!"
She also made a move to leave. Since Cheng Feng entered the palace, she had never seen him, but she had heard a lot about him from other people. The place Cheng Feng went to most often was to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager at Cining Palace.
Cheng Feng called out, "Hongxiu."
Hongxiu's voice attracted a crowd of onlookers. Hongxiu glanced at them, and the group tactfully led the little prince and princess away.
Hongxiu asked frankly, "What does Steward Cheng want with me?"
"Don't call me a servant, we're friends. Just call me Cheng Feng. I even brought you your favorite pastries." Cheng Feng still really liked Hongxiu. Apart from her, he felt he could never like anyone else in his life.
"Thank you, Steward Cheng." She didn't accept the gift; they were tired of the pastries outside the palace and didn't want any more.
She didn't want to have anything to do with Cheng Feng, or even give him any wrong ideas, so she said directly, "I'm quite content staying by Her Majesty the Empress's side, so I have no plans to get married. Hongxiu thanks Steward Cheng for his kindness."
With just one sentence, she shut Cheng Feng down, leaving him no choice but to watch her leave.
As soon as Hongxiu caught up, Lin Yu gave her a thumbs up. In her opinion, men were all unreliable. Lianye and Lin Feng had also been getting close lately, which seemed like a bad sign.
If Hongxiu and Lianye both get married, Jiang Fenghua will have no one she can trust and knows well by her side.
In the few days since she entered the palace, the Emperor has not visited Chenxi Palace even once. Jiang Fenghua seems to have gotten used to it. This is how she has lived in this life. How did she survive in this cold palace in her previous life?
Lin Yu looked up at the sky and saw that someone was flying kites in the palace to seduce the emperor.
Immediately, Lin Yu also came up with an idea, and in an instant, all kinds of kites floated in the sky above the Morning Light Palace.
Xie Ziyan and Xie Hongyou were overjoyed to have their wish fulfilled by flying kites.
Consort Lan and her maids were also flying kites in the Imperial Garden. As they looked towards the direction of Chenxi Palace, many kites took flight. Before they knew it, the strings in their hands came loose. With a gust of spring wind, the kites in the sky flew off to who knows where.
Upon seeing this, Wuxin, who was guarding the Imperial Study, quickly reported, "Your Majesty, it seems that kites are being flown from the Chenxi Palace." They also knew that Consort Lan was trying to seduce the Emperor every day.
Xie Shang didn't even look up. "It's the Empress's palace flying kites. The Empress probably doesn't have time. She's busy copying scriptures."
Wuxin was speechless. Since the Empress was being stubborn and refusing to go, he even sent someone to inquire what she was doing. "Your Majesty, go and see if the Empress is flying kites. The little princess and the little prince are also clamoring to fly kites."
"I'm too busy." He hadn't visited Jiang Fenghua and the children for many days. He calmed himself down and buried himself in reviewing the memorials.
On the very day he agreed to the marriage alliance with the Hu people, he sent a secret letter to Jiang Zhiqin at the border.
The secret letter instructed him to accelerate the training of elite troops, so that Jiang Zhiqin could demonstrate his true ability to subjugate the Hu tribe once the Zhou wedding procession arrived.
Unexpectedly, even his mention of the little princess and the little prince failed to entice the emperor to go to Chenxi Palace.
Consort Lan was frequently sent to the Emperor's side because she was favored by the Empress Dowager. We need to find a way to make Consort Lan make a mistake.
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