Zhuang Yuyan felt that this noble lady had some inexplicable hostility towards her, but she did not show it on her face. The three of them walked towards Yu Garden together, just talking about some unimportant things.
"I didn't expect the crabapple trees to still be so gorgeous now," said Lady Qian, looking at the crabapple trees in front of her, and seemed to sigh with emotion: "Not long after I entered the palace, the crabapple trees began to bloom."
"When I entered the palace, it was snowing heavily in the capital, so there were no beautiful flowers to see," Zhuang Luyan said with a smile, "The palace maid led me to Taoyu Pavilion, and I happened to see a red plum blossom blooming from the wall. Before I had time to take a closer look, the maid scolded me. I still remember what the maid said. Does Miss Qian know what the maid said?"
Qian Guiren shook her head lightly.
"That nanny said, Master Zhuang, don't look around. Although the red plum blossoms are beautiful, not everyone can look at them. You have just entered the palace, so you should look less, move less, and listen more." Zhuang Yuyan smiled when she said this. "I was young and energetic, so I didn't take this advice to heart, but I fell into a big fall."
Jiang Guipin knew about Zhuang Yuyan's fall from favor, and upon hearing this, she said, "Your Highness is in a high position now, why bother thinking about the past?"
Zhuang Yuyan glanced at Qian Guiren and said, "That's right. How can I say these things in front of Qian Guiren? I don't want to ruin the fun."
Concubine Jiang smiled and responded, then continued speaking along the lines of Zhuang Yuyan's words.
Qian Guiren followed behind the two of them, looking coldly at Concubine Jiang trying to please Concubine Zhao Xianrong, with a bad look on her face. She was not a fool, so she naturally understood that Zhuang Yuyan was talking to her, but they were all women serving the emperor, and who was more noble than who was just a matter of who was favored.
She was favored yesterday, you are favored today, and it is not certain who will be favored tomorrow.
"What's wrong with you, Lady Qian? Are you stunned by all these beautiful flowers?" Concubine Jiang suddenly turned around and looked at her. "There are beautiful flowers in the Yu Garden one after another. This one is beautiful today, and that one will be more beautiful tomorrow. Don't be dazzled by the flowers."
Concubine Qian looked up and seemed to see the mockery in Concubine Jiang's eyes.
After touring most of the Yu Garden, Zhuang Yuyan returned to Xihe Palace with the respectful farewell of Concubine Jiang and Concubine Qian.
While the palace maids were helping her change out of her rather luxurious silk dress, she said, "Let the kitchen prepare a magnolia soup for us later."
Yunxi helped her take off the tassels on her temples: "My queen, you have to go to the emperor to watch the swing dance later, why are you taking off your hairpins now?"
"What kind of me has the emperor not seen?" Zhuang Yuyan's lips curved slightly, and she lay down on the beauty couch, "Come and give me a massage. This Yu Garden is full of nothing but flowers, and you keep talking about flowers all day long. My eyes are almost blinded."
Yun Xi glanced around and asked the maids to leave before she sat down on the footstool and gently patted Zhuang Yuyan's legs: "I know that your Majesty is impatient, but those poets and lyricists love to use flowers to describe us women, and the masters in the palace also use flowers to covertly mock us."
"Forget it, I'll take a break." Zhuang Yuyan closed her eyes. To use her own words, none of the women in the harem were harmless flowers, but ferocious beasts. If they really had to be described by flowers, only the carnivorous plant would be appropriate.
After lunch, she changed into a wide-sleeved silk dress with scattered flowers, tied her hair into a simple bun, and had someone carry her on a sedan chair to the Qianzheng Palace.
Although she had been in the harem for a year, Zhuang Yuyan said that she had only spent a few years in the imperial harem. From her observation, Emperor Chengxuan was not fond of summoning concubines to his bedroom. This showed how defensive Emperor Chengxuan was and how determined he was.
Even in modern society, such a man would not be easily attracted to women, let alone this is the ancient harem and the man is an ambitious emperor.
They walked silently all the way to the outside of Qianzheng Palace, where Zhuang Yuyan saw Gao Dezhong standing on the stone steps.
"I have seen Zhao Xianrong. The emperor is waiting for you," Gao Dezhong stepped forward and bowed to Zhuang Yuyan, smiling and said, "Your Majesty, please come in quickly."
"Thank you, Eunuch Gao," Zhuang Yuyan supported Tingzhu's hand and walked out of the sedan chair. After smiling at Gao Dezhong, she said, "Have you kept the emperor waiting for a long time?"
Seeing the annoyance in Zhaoxianrong's eyes, Gao Dezhong hurriedly said, "Don't worry, your Majesty. The Emperor just finished his lunch a while ago. It's just the right time for you to come over now." After saying that, he bowed slightly and led Zhuang Yuyan inside.
Zhuang Yuyan followed him into the palace gate, passed through the second gate, and then passed through the hanging flower gate. Gao Dezhong, who was walking in front of her, suddenly stepped aside, and Zhuang Yuyan stood there in a daze.
"What's wrong? Are you stunned?" Feng Jin stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Zhuang Yuyan's dazed expression with a hint of a smile on his face.
Zhuang Yuyan was a little excited because she finally got the chance to be a time-traveling heroine.
There was a flower swing in the yard, and there were several blooming peach and pear trees around it. Petals fell from time to time. The emperor stood under the tree in a purple brocade robe, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, and his clothes fluttering in the wind. He was as beautiful as a painting.
Suppressing the countless classic beautiful adjectives from romance novels in her mind, Zhuang Yuyan successfully made her eyes red naturally, like a woman who had lost her mind due to the impact of beauty, forgetting the rules and etiquette, picking up the hem of her skirt and running to the emperor in two steps, then looking up at the flower tree with petals falling, "So beautiful."
A petal fell between her eyebrows, and then fluttered to the ground as she tilted her head to look at the emperor...
The craftsmanship of the palace...is almost...so good that it can be mistaken for the real thing.
Just think about how there are still peach and pear blossoms at this time? They are all fake flowers. How do the Chinese feel about this kind of counterfeiting?
Trying to maintain her elegance as much as possible, she brushed aside a petal and looked at the emperor with tears in her eyes, as if she was looking at the most beautiful person in her life: "Your Majesty, you... I..."
Feng Jian didn't care that Zhuang Yuyan called herself "I" in front of him. He just picked up the beauty with a smile, gently put her on the swing, and then held her in his arms from behind.
"On the Cold Food Festival, I saw you standing alone in the corner, and I thought of you sitting on the swing," smelling the faint fragrance of hair, Feng Jin tilted his head and whispered softly in Zhuang Luoyan's ear, "There are some regrets that I can compensate you for, but there are some regrets that I want to make up for, but I can't do anything about it."
Some experts say that love words whispered into one ear are more touching and memorable than those whispered into the other ear, but Zhuang Yuyan was not very touched at this moment, but rather horrified. This is as scary as an engineering guy suddenly writing a love poem like Qiong Yao.
"I have no regrets being able to be by the emperor's side," the person in her arms raised her head, and her burning eyes were reflected in Feng Jin's eyes. Perhaps because she raised her head too quickly, the tears that had been hidden in her eye sockets flowed down the corners of her eyes.
She raised her hand and wiped it on her face. Zhuang Yuyan turned her head back and said, "The flower petals fell into my eyes. I feel uncomfortable."
Feng Jian was slightly stunned, then suddenly chuckled, let go of Zhuang Yuyan and said, "My dear, please hold on tight." Then he pushed her gently.
"Ah!" The swing swung out, and Zhuang Luoyan turned around in mid-air, with a strand of black hair blocking her cheek. She turned around with a red face and shouted, "Your Majesty, you deliberately framed me!"
Feng Jin watched with a faint smile, and when the swing fell, he pushed it forward again, "My beloved concubine loves to watch the swing dance. In my opinion, there has never been a swing dance that amazes me more than this one."
Zhuang Luoyan pretended to be panicked along with the emperor, but she felt a little emotional in her heart. She had never thought that the emperor would use such a romantic trick. Her various calculations only earned her the emperor's romantic feelings this time. Should she take it or not?
However, if this kind of romantic plot happens a few more times, she will definitely collapse! In order to play this role, she recalled many classic romantic novels in her mind, just to make herself cute, innocent, and lovable. Moreover, the emperor suddenly became so tender, she was more surprised than happy.
There is no free lunch in the world, just as Emperor Chengxuan’s kindness did not come in vain.
The empress entered the Qianzheng Palace with the palace maids and eunuchs. Before they entered the second gate, Gao Dezhong walked in from inside.
"Your servant greets the Empress." Whether it was a coincidence or not, Gao Dezhong happened to be standing in the middle of the two doors.
The queen glanced at Gao Dezhong and said, "I would like to see the emperor. Please let Eunuch Gao know."
"Your Highness, it's unfortunate that the Emperor cannot see you right now. If you have something to say, I will tell him." Gao Dezhong bowed again, "Please forgive me, Your Highness."
"Since the emperor has something to do, I will not embarrass you," the queen smiled, "it's just about the planting demonstration in the fields at the end of this month, it's nothing serious."
"I will report this to His Majesty," Gao Dezhong bowed his head.
The queen nodded and turned to leave, but she seemed to hear the woman's laughter, so she stopped and looked inside. She raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at Gao Dezhong, who lowered his eyebrows and looked pleasant. Seeing that he didn't want to say anything, she asked, "Which palace is this concubine from?"
Gao Dezhong raised his eyelids and said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor may have summoned the dancer to dance on the swing."
The queen was a little surprised: "Your Majesty likes to watch this?"
"I dare not speak rashly about the emperor's preferences," Gao Dezhong lowered his head even lower, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."
"I was just asking casually, eunuch, don't take it to heart." The queen also realized that she had overstepped the line, so she retracted the expression on her face, turned around and continued to walk out.
Gao Dezhong watched the empress's back, his eyebrows moved, and then he lowered his head again.
"Your Majesty, I heard that the eunuch beside the emperor sent a message to Zhao Xianrong this morning," He Yuyi whispered after leaving Qianzheng Palace, "saying that Zhao Xianrong should go to Qianzheng Palace after lunch to enjoy the swing dance. I think it's about this time."
The Queen raised her lips and said, "Zhao Xianrong has suffered such a great crime, it is not too much for the Emperor to love her a little more. I just don't know if Shu Guifei knows about this."
He Yu smiled faintly and said, "I believe that Concubine Shu Gui will know."
After getting off the swing, Zhuang Yuyan looked at the smiling emperor and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, I haven't sat on a swing like this for a long time."
Feng Jin stretched out his hand to twist the petals on her head: "Are you happy?"
"Your Majesty!" Zhuang Luoyan's eyes widened, as if she had not expected that the emperor knew that she was in a bad mood.
"You are my woman," the emperor held her in his arms again, "and I am your emperor."
Lying in the emperor's arms, Zhuang Yuyan's face was filled with shame. Her eyes swept over the petals falling on the ground, and she wondered with some curiosity, what kind of skill is needed to make the petals fall naturally?