Just after noon, Madam Su and Concubine Jia came out of the Xunkun Palace and walked together to the Cining Palace.
Mrs. Su saw from afar two boys in brocade sleeves chasing a colorful feather shuttlecock, and their laughter echoed crisply against the vermilion palace wall.
"Luan'er, are those two the eldest prince and the second prince over there?" Madam Su suddenly pressed Concubine Jia's wrist.
Concubine Jia lazily lifted her eyelids, her coral bead earrings dangling gently on her cheeks. "The one on the left is the eldest prince Yu Mo, and the one on the right..." She wrinkled her nose slightly, "is Concubine Chen's son Jiang Jiang."
"You took Mother to visit the Imperial Garden," Madam Su chuckled, covering her lips with silk, "Isn't our Luan'er that respectable?"
The tips of Jiafei's ears turned red instantly.
She hated provocation the most and immediately shook off Madam Su's support. "What are you talking about, mother? This palace is my daughter's home. Let's go."
She raised her chin, and the golden phoenix holding a pearl on her temples trembled as she walked.
Madam Su said, "You are just relying on your aunt's influence. If she dies, what will you do? The emperor just doesn't like you. What do you say..."
Concubine Jia stamped her feet in anger, "Mother, what are you talking about? Does the Emperor dislike me alone? That vixen Concubine Chen is monopolizing the Emperor. Aside from her, aren't all the other concubines in the palace sitting on the bench?"
Mrs. Su coaxed, "Yes, mother was wrong, don't be angry." She took out the rose water she brought with her and stuffed it into Concubine Jia's hand, "Mother was wrong, moisten your throat quickly."
The two walked to the central garden, where the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle floated.
Mrs. Su squinted her eyes and looked carefully.
Yu Mo wore an indigo robe with cloud patterns and was smaller than his peers.
Jiang Jiang was dressed in silver-red with gold all over. He had two black grape-like eyes embedded in his round face. When he ran and jumped, the mutton-fat jade belt around his waist did not get out of place at all.
Jiang Jiang was leading a snow-white hunting dog.
The hound was half a man's height, and it stuck out its tongue as it pounced on the bow and arrow in Yu Mo's hand.
The Chow Chow and the Pekingese circled around the two children, stirring up the fallen petals on the ground.
"General, let me lead the hound for a while." Yu Mo handed over the turquoise-studded horn bow in a flattering manner, "Would you like to play with my bow and arrow?"
Jiang Jiang tilted his head and thought for a while, then advised like a little adult: "Then you have to hold it steady, there are a lot of people around here." Then he handed over the reins, took the bow and arrow and started practicing.
Madam Su said sarcastically, "This is truly outrageous." Her voice was neither too loud nor too low, just enough for the concubines admiring the flowers nearby to hear, "A prince asks a servant for something to play with, and yet I have to look at his face."
Concubine Jia stared at the fingers that were just about to draw the bow, and remembered the night-shining pearl the empress dowager had awarded the child for reciting the Analects last month. Her teeth clenched with a sour feeling: "My aunt praised him for his cleverness, but I think he's just eccentric."
Not far away, Rong Guiyi hurried over holding a water bag with a lotus pattern, and the hem of her lilac skirt swept across the newly opened peonies.
The woman was delicate, with almond eyes and cherry lips, but she always hunched her chest when she walked, like a crabapple tree wilted by the rain.
"Your Highness greets Consort Jia." As she bowed, the silver tassel in her hair drooped down to her cheek. "This must be Madam Su."
Gao Guirong and Lin Jieyu passed by, holding two branches of winter jasmine in their hands, and muttered, "The rules in the palace are getting more and more interesting. The emperor's concubine is the sovereign, and she is polite to the women outside the imperial family as if she were meeting the master."
Rong Guiyi's ears flushed red, but she still smiled as she approached Concubine Jia: "No wonder the queen is so beautiful, it turns out that Madam Su was born a beauty."
Mrs. Su's mouth twitched - Concubine Jia was an abandoned baby she adopted, this sounded really ironic.
She turned her gaze to Yu Mo, who was struggling to control the hound, and suddenly smiled, "Young Master Rong has raised His Highness Mo very well."
"Yumo has made great progress recently." Rong Guiyi looked at Concubine Jia and unconsciously straightened her back. "Yesterday, the Grand Tutor praised him for his good recitation of the Thousand Character Classic!"
Concubine Jia suddenly turned around and broke off a branch of the weeping crabapple tree. The sound of the branch breaking startled Rong Guiyi.
Madam Su stared thoughtfully at the dragon-patterned jade pendant dangling from Yu Mo's waist. After they left the Imperial Garden, she suddenly whispered, "Luan'er, that Rong looks like a pushover. Why don't you take Yu Mo home and raise him? He'll be a support in the future."
"My aunt has to make the decision on this matter." Concubine Jia tugged at her handkerchief irritably, thinking that the child's timid look was annoying.
Madam Su's gilded armor suddenly pinched her daughter's wrist: "You have to make your own decision! Are you going to wait for your aunt..."
She suddenly fell silent because the gilded bronze animal ridges of the Cining Palace came into view.
The sandalwood in the Cining Palace was filled with mist.
The Queen Mother leaned on the Fengluan couch, the jade Buddhist beads turning slowly between her fingers.
As soon as Concubine Jia entered the room, she seemed like a different person. She knelt obediently beside the couch and massaged the empress dowager's legs, even her breathing became slow and gentle.
"Your Majesty, Yunfu's marriage..." Madam Su couldn't help but speak after taking a sip of her pre-rain Longjing tea. "Although Yuanming didn't pass the imperial examination, he was at least a juren. Could you please arrange an official position for him, so he could receive a court salary and save face..."
The empress dowager suddenly opened her eyes and slammed the teacup on the table: "Do you think the court is run by the Su family?" The tea splashed on Madam Su's skirt, leaving a dark mark.
Concubine Jia chuckled, "Mother, please stop embarrassing yourself. If Yuan Ming is truly talented, how come he can't even make it into the top three?"
Mrs. Su's chest heaved violently.
She stared at the filigree golden phoenix hairpin in Concubine Jia's hair - that was the one she gave as a dowry when Concubine Jia entered the palace!
This fake girl, if she hadn't been chosen by her to be raised as the Queen Mother's daughter, who knows where she would be suffering! She worked so hard to raise her, but now she doesn't speak up for her family at all. What an ungrateful person!
Ungrateful bastard!
But this secret has been lurking in her heart like a poisonous snake for more than ten years, biting her so hard that her internal organs are in pain, but she dare not say a word.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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