Consort Li regretted her words as soon as she finished speaking. If the emperor really had a problem, how did Consort Cao give birth to Princess Wenyi?
But she had been in the palace for quite some time, and thinking of this, Consort Li said with some annoyance,
"If there's nothing wrong, why can't you get pregnant!"
"Go to the Imperial Hospital and invite a gynecologist who is an expert in gynecology. Since we can't go to the Yuanmingyuan, I'll take good care of myself for the next few months."
"Once the Emperor returns from the Old Summer Palace, he must give birth to a son!"
Consort Li exuded an imposing aura, but Mingyan felt it was unlikely. If the older imperial physicians couldn't do anything about it, these young doctors from the Imperial Hospital would probably be even less effective.
However, having hope is better than having no hope at all; what if it comes in handy?
"Yes, Your Highness, this servant will send someone to invite her right away. Your Highness is still young, she must be pregnant."
*
The distance between the Old Summer Palace and the Forbidden City is only a dozen miles. In the future, it will be easy to get there by subway.
But this was the Qing Dynasty, and travel was only possible by horse-drawn carriage. There were also ceremonial guards, bodyguards, and palace maids and eunuchs attending to them, totaling tens of thousands of people.
The first group had already reached the outside of the Yuanmingyuan, while the last group had not yet left the palace gates.
The road was cleared of civilians before the procession set off. However, many heads still peeked out from the shops and houses on both sides, secretly watching the royal procession.
Sun Miaoqing sat in the carriage, curiously lifting the curtain to look at the scene outside.
Those people dared not look up and meet the imperial majesty directly. Most of those they could see were men, wearing grayish-brown jackets with grayish-brown or pure white long gowns underneath.
A small number of women were holding children, dressed in plain clothes, with fresh flowers or embroidered headbands on their heads.
Having spent so much time in the palace, she had almost forgotten that ordinary people at that time had no color.
Brightly colored fabrics and exquisite embroidery were the exclusive domain of the wealthy.
"Everyone says that the past two years have been blessed with good weather and abundant harvests, and that people are living in peace and contentment. But why do most of these people's clothes have patches on them?"
Linglan looked outside and it was indeed the case. Not only that, most of the people outside were also slender. She wanted to find someone a little plump, but after looking around for a while, she couldn't find one.
"Your Majesty does not know, it is already a blessing to be able to eat your fill and stay warm. When Heaven does not grant us food, countless people starve to death."
When Liuli entered the palace, she was just a few years old, and she has never left the palace since.
I only heard from the eunuchs that there are many shops outside the palace, and every day a large group of people crowd into them to buy things. They sell all sorts of pretty hair accessories and novelties.
They often saved up money and had the eunuchs bring things in for them.
Seeing the outside world now, they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The emperor was traveling with his harem, so those shops wouldn't be able to do business today.
Upon hearing Sun Miaoqing mention people's attire, Liuli recalled hearing similar things before and explained,
"Your Majesty is unaware that the most prosperous area in the capital is the inner city, where the Eight Banners descendants reside. Dongzhimen Street, in particular, is bustling with all sorts of shops."
"This is already the outer city, or even near its edge. It's inhabited by Han Chinese, so it looks like this."
The more she looked, the more listless she felt. Everything was dusty and gloomy. Sun Miaoqing lowered the curtain and endured the jolting of the carriage. For some reason, she felt completely listless.
Linglan asked, "Your Highness, you've been in the carriage for so long, are you tired? We still have an hour to go, why don't you lean on me for a moment?"
Sun Miaoqing said, "It's nothing. I just feel that if it's like this in the capital, I don't know what it's like in other places."
Liuli said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. The Emperor is a wise ruler, and the people's lives will definitely get better and better!"
Sun Miaoqing replied dismissively, "I hope so."
After a bumpy ride of several hours, they finally arrived at the Old Summer Palace. Sun Miaoqing felt like her back was about to give way.
Linglan helped her down and onto another sedan chair, while Qiangwei led Hongzhou onto yet another. They were carried by eunuchs from the Yuanmingyuan to her residence.
Upon arriving at the destination, Sun Miaoqing looked around and saw that the area was surrounded by water, with wooden bridges providing access. Standing outside, she felt a refreshing breeze, which put her in a good mood.
As the eunuch Xu Lai led the group inside, he explained in detail,
"Your Majesty, please look, this is your Changchun Immortal Residence. It is a rare and wonderful place. It faces the Zhengda Guangming Hall to the east, Rugu Hanjin to the north, and is backed by the garden wall to the south. Surrounded by mountains and water, it can be called a garden within a garden."
"The place is quiet and cool. There are also imperial kitchens, imperial tea rooms, and imperial pharmacies built on the west bank. If Your Majesty has any instructions, it won't take long."
“Look over here. Since it’s the Empress’s residence, and the Emperor knows you’re sensitive to heat and the Fifth Prince is delicate, he specially instructed me to make the walls of the bedroom hollow so that we can fill them with ice whenever it gets hot.”
"This way the room will always be cool, and there won't be any cold air from the ice that could affect your and the Fifth Prince's health."
Xu Lai led everyone into the sleeping quarters, pointed to a pile of fresh fruits on the table directly in front of the main entrance, and said...
"Your Majesty, look at these. His Majesty said that it is not advisable to burn incense in the summer. These fruits are for you to smell."
"It's more comforting than using spices, and it's also good for your health."
"And these gauze curtains are all made of moon shadow gauze. The summer sun is scorching and it gets light early, and your place is in the east."
"Ordinary gauze curtains might disturb your rest, but with moon shadow gauze, the sunlight filtering in will be as soft as moonlight, and will definitely not disturb your peaceful sleep."
Sun Miaoqing touched the light pink moon shadow gauze, which was thin and soft, making the whole room seem to become hazy.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
