Snowflakes rustled against the window, and the cold wind blew away the snow on the plum branches, startling the clear ringing of the copper bells in the palace.
Shangjing, the Imperial Palace.
The Queen Mother looked at Shen Jin opposite her and advised earnestly: "I called you here for no other reason. I heard from the Queen that you postponed the palace banquet on tomorrow's New Year's Eve and did not want to attend."
Shen Jin only added a cup of tea for her, and said in a cold voice: "Please don't embarrass me."
What does embarrassment mean? The Queen Mother
laughed angrily.
"Your palace is deserted. Except for a few red lanterns hung by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how can it look like the New Year at all?"
"But you don't want to see your father and brother?"
"You can keep this in mind. Although they are hateful, they can only pay their respects and greet you honestly in front of you. They are not on the list of people attending the banquet, and even if they are, they can only sit at the last seat."
How can the Shen family be qualified to attend the banquet?
In addition to the royal relatives, the list also includes important officials in the court.
Gu Fuju was not even qualified, but Jiashan was able to come, but it was because of the Empress Dowager.
Shen Jin lowered her eyes.
How could she be afraid of seeing the Shen family.
If it really counts, she is indeed afraid of seeing one person.
However, it was all in the past, and there was nothing good to see.
She was a concubine, and he was powerful and influential. In the future, the family would find a new wife for him, and it would be a happy marriage. They
are no longer the same kind of people.
If one of them lives a good life, it is God's mercy.
"Ah Jin." The Empress
Dowager was very troubled to see her silent.
"Do you know why I was listed as the new queen after the late queen passed away?"
Shen Jin's lips moved: "You have no children, and you don't have your natal family to support you, so you don't have to be feared by the late emperor. The new emperor will be registered in your name, and he is not your biological son, so you can't raise him well."
The Empress Dowager:...
Don't you understand it very well!
She glared at Shen Jin unhappily.
"I have no children. The emperor calls me his mother, and the grandson calls me his grandmother, but they are not my blood relatives. In this palace, you are the one closest to me."
Shen Jin said nothing.
She was no exception.
Shen Jin: "Knowing that you are afraid of cold, I sewed a warm coat with mugwort from the south mountain and cotton from the north. I came in a hurry this time and forgot to bring it. I will ask the maid in the palace to send it to you later."
"If there is anything that is not suitable, I will change the size later."
Shen Jin looked at the maid beside the empress dowager again, and gently reminded: "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and there will be many ladies toasting. The empress dowager has just recovered from a cough, but she is greedy for wine. You have to watch her carefully and don't let her drink." The empress
dowager heard this and sighed: "Are you really not going?"
"How many years have you not shown your face in public since you entered the palace? You usually only come to visit me when you go out. I know you don't like the hustle and bustle, so you can just keep me company?"
Staying in the palace like this all the time, without a pleasant person to talk to, will make you sick.
You can't live like that for the rest of your life, right?
"No."
The Queen Mother: ...
I can't be persuaded.
It's like talking to a cow.
"You weren't like this before."
She still remembered that before Shen Jin entered the palace, he was also very noisy with Jiashan.
Shen Jin: "Old."
The Queen Mother: "Then I..."
Shen Jin: "Even older."
The Queen Mother: ...
Okay, okay, I called you here to piss me off.
"Go, go, go back to your palace!"
Shen Jin stood up and saluted respectfully: "Thank you, Queen Mother." The
Queen Mother looked at her back and slammed the table in anger.
"She is not noisy anymore, but her temper is still the same. Look, she still cares about me."
The nanny said from the side: "Master Shen is showing filial piety to you."
"Do you know that jacket, Master Shen has been sewing it for more than a month. The embroidery and stitches on it are impeccable. Even the embroiderers in the palace can't compare to it." The
Queen Mother stood up, her expression faded.
"Is this a good thing?"
"Among those who have to endure in this harem, I am still lucky. At least I have Jiashan Xuran outside the palace. What does she have?"
"Look at her. How can she be as bright and charming as before she got married? She is cold and lonely, without any human touch."
"I want to help her."
"But she doesn't want to."
————
The palace road is not easy to walk on and it is easy to slip.
Shen Jin walked very carefully all the way.
New snow added to old snow, and the palace road had long covered the traces of previous footsteps.
One step down would sink to the ankle.
She walked straight forward without stopping. When she returned to the palace, it was dark.
Her shoes and socks were already wet.
Her feet were also numb from the cold.
In fact, as long as Shen Jin gave an order, the servants would shovel the snow and clear the way.
It is better to say that Shen Jin did not care about her own body rather than being unwilling to mobilize a large number of people.
"Your Majesty."
The palace slaves serving in the palace came forward.
"Master Shen fell this morning. He asked a doctor to see him. He said it was nothing serious and prescribed some medicated oil. But in the evening, he started to feel severe pain and it was difficult for him to even get out of bed. I'm afraid he was injured. Madam Shen was so anxious that she sent a message to ask you to help invite a doctor."
Master Shen is Shen Jin's father.
Madam Shen is her mother.
How ridiculous.
Shen Jin: "Last time, Sister Yi caught a cold and it took a long time to get better. I was worried when I found out, so I asked the doctor to come."
She went to find the doctor because she was worried about Shen Zhiyi.
The Shen family probably thought that she was trying to reconcile and break the ice with them in this way?
Beg?
She begged before. She kowtowed
until her head was broken.
But who cares if she lives or dies?
Her father only cares about his career and sells his daughter for fame.
——"What are you dissatisfied with?"
——"That's the emperor!"
——"You can't be willful! This is a great blessing to bring honor to our family!"
——"My father has endured in the court for twenty years, and this is all he needs! I have raised you for many years, and it's time to change your future for me!"
What about the mother?
She cried and said that she had no choice.
Let her accept her fate.
——"Jin Jieer, mother has also advised, but your father didn't listen, and your grandfather also..., mother knows that you are sad, the emperor is old after all, and you have been wronged.
——"But think about the good side, entering the palace as a concubine, the honor and glory that others can't even hope for. You are young and beautiful. If you are favored by the emperor in the future, as a daughter of the Shen family, remember to help the family. "
——"Listen to your father, the people in the palace are unpredictable. If you want to be well, you have to take care of your family. Only when your family is well, you can be well."
Maybe he really wants to do good for her.
But... Mother cares more about her father and brother.
They should know better than anyone that it is useless to ask for this word.
"Is he dead?"
Palace slave: "... No."
Shen Jin smiled, but there was no smile in her eyes: "It's just a small matter, why are you looking for me?"
Her voice turned cold.
"It's not too late to report the death."
————
The sky is like rice paper splashed with ink, hidden in the darkness.
Shen Jin's menstruation came in the middle of the night.
She has always slept unsteadily, and she woke up when she felt heat from under her body.
She rarely came in the middle of the night.
In her memory, except for this time, it was many years ago.
That time...
Shen Jin's eyes flashed with trance.
That time, the Wei family army returned to the court, and it was the Lantern Festival. There was no curfew in the city at night, and the lights were bright.
After Wei Fengyuan reported to the palace, he met her in a restaurant.
Old friends reunited.
Wei Fengyuan listened to her complaining for a long time.
She also cared about the injury Wei Fengyuan suffered at the border. She
really cared.
After all, the injured part was quite sensitive. If
a good man was injured there, he would become a half-eunuch in the future and would have to treat her as a sister.
Wei Fengyuan laughed angrily and broke the window paper directly.
——"Who wants to be a sister with you? Do you think I am free because I send you letters every month? My brother doesn't have this treatment."
——"Shen Jin, what do you think of me?"
——"I don't want to make do with you. Do you want me to make it clearer? I want to have a long future with you."
She was scared at the time.
But it is undeniable.
She was happy in her heart.
The love that a girl dare not express to others does not want him to see through, and her reserve is even more impossible to agree.
She tried her best to stay calm and look into Wei Fengyuan's eyes.
——"Is that so?"
——"It's too sudden."
And she was stubborn.
——"It's really embarrassing for me."
——"How about this, let me think about it?"
Wei Fengyuan looked at her steadily at that time.
——"How long will it take?"
——"Wait for my news."
——"You have to tell me something for sure, right? I'm in a hurry."
He was really in a hurry. He
broke into Shen's house that night.
It happened that Shen Jin had her period that night, so she got up to change and wash, and the lights in the house were turned on.
Before she could call someone to bring some hot water.
There were two knocks from the window.
——"Who?"
——"Me."
Shen Jin:?
——"Come here late at night and ask me to drink?"
——"I wanted to ask you how you think about it."
With a creak, the window was pushed open by him, and the man jumped in.
Shen Jin:? ? ?
No!
After all, she was an unmarried girl, she was only wearing pajamas, and she took a step back in shock.
——"Why are you barging in?"
——"I know your answer."
Wei Fengyuan was not as fierce as he was in the military camp, with a smile on his face.
——"Miss Shen couldn't sleep because of me most of the night."
Isn't that done?
——"I don't care about so many etiquettes."
As soon as he finished speaking, he realized something was wrong.
Shen Jin's face was red.
And there was a faint smell of blood in the air.
In the end, that person fled in a panic, and she really couldn't sleep. Thinking of the past. Shen Jin closed her eyes fiercely. She was the last person to think of that person at night.
After all, the long night is more corrosive than the day. Shen Jin got up, sat up straight without panic, turned on the light, and went to the closet to find a menstrual belt. Just then, there was movement at the window. ——"Knock knock" Shen Jin looked over and saw the moonlight, which made the window paper pale. There was no one in sight. She thought she had heard it wrong. She ignored it. But the sound came again, once, twice, very distinct in the quiet night. Just like the tapping of an old friend's fingertips. She was not very sensitive, so the servants dared not do the same.
For some reason, Shen Jin's heart was beating fast. She
felt it was absurd and unbelievable.
She stood there in a daze.
The hand holding the menstrual belt was tightening, and her fingers turned white.
She heard someone calling her.
"A Jin."
The moonlight stretched Wei Fengyuan's figure very long. After not getting a response, the fingertips were raised and lowered several times, and finally knocked twice, with years of bitterness in her voice.
"It's me."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
