Ever since Empress Du ascended the throne again, Lin Dan's business has grown bigger and bigger. He has recruited many embroiderers and weavers, all of whom are the top talents in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. He also built a large-scale weaving workshop. In addition to keeping the brocade embroidery technology secret, he gradually mastered the weaving techniques of Shu brocade, silk, satin and other fabrics.
Meng Zhong had a very miserable life under her relentless pursuit. His embroiderers and weavers were frequently poached, and the business in the shop became increasingly bleak.
At the same time, the emperor's health deteriorated day by day, and he was often unable to get out of bed for two or three months. This caused him to become increasingly suspicious, and he rarely interacted with concubines, princes, or princesses in the harem. Once he fell ill, he would not allow anyone to get close to him, not even his trusted eunuchs. Only Empress Du could stay by his bedside, and all the accumulated government affairs were handed over to her to handle. At first, the court officials felt that this was against etiquette and tried to persuade and even impeach Empress Du several times. However, when Empress Du really gave up on her, the chaos in the court forced them to accept this arrangement.
When the emperor was seriously ill, Empress Du stayed by his side and managed government affairs on his behalf; when the emperor recovered, she immediately locked herself in a Taoist temple and stopped caring about worldly affairs. As time went by, the emperor had become obedient and trustful of her, and the court officials had also become accustomed to her sitting behind the pearl curtain and listening to government affairs. After she was crowned queen, she never helped the Du family, nor did she retaliate against those who trampled on her. Instead, she quietly and bit by bit infiltrated her influence into the imperial power.
Unlike Empress Du who sat on the throne with confidence, the concubines who had given birth to children felt that the emperor's time was up and began to fight openly and secretly. The princes each had their own supporters and were vying for prominence in the court. Watching them fighting each other like black-eyed chickens, the emperor's fatherly love for them was also wearing away.
One day, the eldest prince was assassinated while on the march and blinded in one eye. The captured assassin confessed that the mastermind behind the incident was the third prince. The third prince refused to accept the grievances and went to the imperial study to present his grievances. He also took the opportunity to expose the scandals of the second prince, the fourth prince and other brothers who sold official positions and titles and formed cliques for personal gain. Several princes immediately stood up to fight back, and all the intrigues and conspiracies hidden in the undercurrent broke out in an instant.
The court was in chaos, and the emperor was exhausted and fell ill again. This illness lasted for four or five months, and Empress Du had to leave the Taoist temple and go to the imperial study to help handle state affairs. At first, she hung a pearl curtain to separate herself from the court officials. Later, the pearl curtain became more and more in the way, so she simply took it down and met the court officials openly. The red spider lily between her eyebrows was so fiercely beautiful and enchanting that the court officials felt so oppressed that they dared not even breathe loudly.
Her image of being dignified, indifferent, wise, brave, and decisive gradually took shape in the minds of civil and military officials.
A few months later, a large-scale typhoid fever broke out in Kyoto. Except for the eldest prince who stayed indoors, four adult princes were infected with the disease. The queen isolated the patients with lightning speed and sent imperial doctors to study a prescription for curing typhoid fever overnight, thus keeping the disaster under the smallest scope.
She did not interfere with the treatment of the four princes, but sent their mother out of the palace and took care of them personally. In order to protect the emperor, she also sealed off the Yangxin Palace. After all, the emperor's health was getting weaker and weaker. A little cold could take his life, let alone typhoid fever?
Unfortunately, none of the four princes survived. The concubines were heartbroken and ran to the Yangxin Palace to ask to see the emperor. When they were stopped by the empress, they burst into tears and made a fuss, accusing her of plotting treason. Not only did the emperor not think that the queen's behavior was inappropriate, he felt very relieved. If it weren't for the Queen's protection, he would have probably fallen seriously ill long ago. Instead of being considerate and caring about him, these women came to disturb his rest. Their hearts are simply despicable!
Thinking of this, the emperor immediately sent guards to drive away all these outsiders, allowing only the empress to enter and exit the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, and also gave the command of the Imperial Guards to the empress.
After a few months, the epidemic was gradually brought under control and the emperor's health gradually improved. The queen immediately handed over all government affairs to him and returned to the Taoist temple to practice. After a few days, the emperor had relaxed his vigilance and summoned the seventh prince, who was kneeling outside the Yangxin Palace and asking for an audience, to talk. Not long after the father and son said goodbye, the emperor fell ill again. After taking his pulse, the imperial physician knelt down tremblingly, kowtowed, and dared not speak.
Half a month later, the emperor, who had contracted typhoid fever, had become so emaciated that no medicine had any effect. He held the Queen's hand and cried silently, feeling regretful and ashamed, and hating the Seventh Prince to the core. Since then, the eldest prince lost one eye, the third and eighth princes were demoted to commoners, the second, fourth, fifth and sixth princes all died of illness, the seventh prince was abandoned, and in the end, only the five-year-old ninth prince was left to inherit the throne.
Looking at the terrible situation before him, no matter how much the emperor regretted, it was too late and he could only hastily arrange his own affairs after his death. He called four cabinet ministers to his bedside, issued an abdication decree, ordered Empress Du to act as regent, and promoted Concubine Li to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort.
He did not trust his subjects or his women, but he had complete faith in Queen Du, because she had no maternal family to rely on and no children of her own, so she had no other way to survive except to assist the Ninth Prince.
After arranging all this, the emperor closed his eyes unwillingly. The ninth prince, who was only five years old at the time, ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty. Empress Du was honored as the Eastern Empress Dowager and ruled the country from behind the curtain. Li Min was honored as the Western Empress Dowager and was responsible for taking care of the little emperor's daily life, but she did not have any real power.
Li Min was an extremely ambitious woman, so she was naturally very dissatisfied with this. She frequently instigated the censors to impeach Du Fangge, and ordered the Li family to recruit court officials on a large scale to serve her. But unfortunately, Du Fangge's prestige had already been established among the civil and military officials, and the emperor had already excluded the Li family from the center of power in order to prevent the monopoly of power by external relatives. Their commotion only made others see their ambitions clearly and laughed at their jokes, but it was completely useless.
After the late emperor was buried in the imperial mausoleum, the coronation ceremony was also intensively prepared. In order to embroider formal dresses for the young emperor and the two empresses dowagers, officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to select the most skilled embroiderers from all over the country and purchased large amounts of silks and satins.
Suzhou and Hangzhou have been known as the "hometown of mulberry silkworms" since ancient times, and were naturally the first stops for the selection. Moreover, the Empress Dowager Cixi's brother was the governor of Zhejiang Province, and his tribute of embroiderers and fabrics was also a favor from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the day of the selection, the top embroiderers from all over Suzhou and Hangzhou gathered together and displayed their best works, which were judged by several officials.
Meng Si, who had not appeared in public for a long time, also came and was carefully placing an embroidered screen on the table. Li Xiudian stood aside and looked at her, his eyes full of pride.
"The composition is exquisite and the needlework is superb. Very good." An official looked at Li Xiudian and immediately nodded in praise.
"The needlework is indeed exquisite, but it is not the best. There are already several similar works on this table. If you can't excel, how can you be qualified to embroider dragon robes and phoenix robes?" Another official looked in Du Ruyan's direction and denied it. Before the two Empress Dowagers actually started fighting, the officials below had already lined up.
Meng Si smiled slightly, then walked forward confidently and turned the round embroidered screen over.
Everyone in the venue suddenly gasped. On the front of the embroidery is a lady combing her hair in front of a mirror. Her hair is visible and her beautiful facial features are lifelike. Some flesh color can be seen under her gauze clothes, which seems to have body temperature. This is not a painting at all; it is clearly a window through which one can spy on the maid's every move.
The vivid painting skills and exquisite needlework are already amazing. What’s even more amazing is that the back of the embroidered screen also depicts the same scene and characters, but from a different perspective. The maid who used to face everyone now had her back to everyone, and her beautiful face could only be vaguely seen through the mirror in her hand.
An embroidery painting has two sides, and the patterns on the two sides are different. This kind of needlework is simply unseen in the Great Zhou Kingdom.
When everyone was stunned, an old embroiderer exclaimed, "I remember now. This is the long-lost double-sided embroidery, and it is the most difficult double-sided embroidery with the same color but different patterns! I saw it in an ancient book and thought it was just a legend, but I didn't expect that someone could really do it! I have studied it all my life and have not been able to restore this embroidery technique, but Meng Xiuniang did it! How old is she this year? It's really amazing! The young are to be feared!"
The old embroiderer paced around the table, looking extremely excited.
The official who supported the Empress Dowager Cixi immediately said, "Sir Qian, this is the legendary double-sided embroidery. In terms of embroidery skills, who among the people present can beat Meng Xiuniang? If she can't be chosen, I don't know who to choose."
Lord Qian stroked his beard and was speechless for a moment. Seeing that the situation was clear, the other officials agreed, "Yes, Meng Xiuniang's embroidery skills are really amazing. Who else can we choose if not her? I think this matter should be settled like this."
The other embroiderers looked at each other, but no one stood up to object. The embroiderers who had already presented their works retreated silently, while those who had not yet presented their works hid the packages in their arms behind their backs, feeling ashamed of themselves.
Seeing this scene, Meng Si bit his lip secretly, feeling excited. After this incident, she will definitely be able to regain the title of the best embroiderer in Zhejiang Province. When she embroiders the dragon robe and the phoenix robe in the future, she may even be able to gain the title of the best embroiderer in the Great Zhou Kingdom. After entering the palace, she would serve the Empress Dowager Cixi well, win her favor, and then try to make her agree to her marriage with Master Li. By then, everything will be fine, and Meng's Embroidery Shop will be able to dominate the weaving market in Zhejiang Province and even the entire Great Zhou Kingdom as before.
Thinking of this, she raised her head and looked at Lin Dan, revealing a rare, proud smile.
Lin Dan didn't even look at her. She just ordered someone to carry a half-foot-tall screen covered with black cloth behind her into the hall and said slowly, "Lin Dan from Danyan Embroidery Shop is here to participate in the competition. Please take a look, gentlemen."
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