Chapter 41 Chapter 41 Palace Maid Forty-One Days
After that, until the first heavy snow of winter fell, Ji Chen never came to see the eldest prince again and seemed to have forgotten about the incident.
Shen Qing was uneasy for a while, then he let the matter go. This winter was exceptionally cold. His nanny said that with such thick snow, who knows how many of the poor people's houses would collapse. It was truly a sin.
Shen Qing thought of the Shen family. Since she entered the palace, due to the inconvenience of communication, she and her family only sent letters once every three or four months. The letters did not say much. Shen Qing said that everything was stable in the palace, and the people in the Shen family also said that they were living well.
But Shen Qing sensed something was wrong when he saw the quality of the letter paper he sent back had dropped drastically. He thought life at home might not be easy.
Before Shen Qing entered the palace, her father, as the third son of the Shen family, separated from his family and set up his own business. He received several shops, a house in the west of Beijing and two thousand taels of silver from the Shen family.
The Shen family was a well-known wealthy family in Beijing. That was before Shen Qing's mother married the third son of the Shen family. Otherwise, the Shen family might not have allowed Shen Qing's father to marry Shen Qing's mother.
But a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Shen Qing studied in the Shen family when he was young, and at that time he could still get a glimpse of the Shen family's luxury in the past.
The Shen family had too many descendants, and this was not the first time the family had been divided. Before Shen Qing entered the palace, she happened to have killed off her father's branch and gave them some things to get rid of them. From then on, she no longer had to bear the burden.
For an ordinary family, these things can allow a whole family to live a rich life, not to mention that there are a few shops that can generate some income. Whether they continue to operate the shops or sell them, they can earn another enviable sum of money.
But unfortunately, Shen's father had been influenced by the Shen family since he was a child and had the intention of doing business. In the Shen family, there were still people to take care of the aftermath for him, but after the separation, he would have to bear the profits and losses himself, and because the family had lived well in the past, the living standard would not drop in a short time after the separation.
From the first time Shen Qing received a letter from home in the palace, he knew it just by looking at the ink and smelling the faint fragrance on the letter paper.
But this time the letter paper was so rough that it rubbed her hands. The paper was snow-white but uneven, worse than the last time, and even worse than the paper her family used to write letters when she first entered the palace.
Shen Qing sighed. There is a saying that people from the same family are not the same. They are the type to report good news but not bad news. Shen Qing only mentioned to her family that she was promoted to a high-ranking queen - the queen is also a queen. She never mentioned her past sufferings and never asked for money from her family.
The attitude of the family is exactly the same as hers. No matter what, it is all good, very good. The second brother is smart, the third and fourth sisters are healthy, and the fifth brother is strong... Occasionally when they mention the grandparents, they also say that the grandparents are strong and can lift a knife to chop meat.
He didn't reveal a single word about Shen's father's business, perhaps because he felt guilty.
As for Shen Qing's winning the favor of the Empress in the palace, her family's reaction was indifferent. How could a slave be less miserable just by following a concubine?
Shen Qing and her family had a tacit understanding to wait until she was released from the palace when she was 25 years old.
Shen Qing sighed again and changed some of the silver into banknotes and stuffed them into the reply letter. She hoped that her father would suffer less loss this time. Although her father was not a good businessman, he was very good to his family.
She still has to take care of this family. Once she is released from the palace, she will be the eldest aunt of the Shen family.
But it is uncertain whether she will leave the palace. After all, she is following the eldest prince now. When the eldest prince is five years old, he will go to the study room to study. If she is not needed by then, she can leave the palace to live out her life in glory.
If we don't let her go, there will be delays.
After sending the letter, Shen Qing brushed the snow off his body before entering the eldest prince's room, and stood outside until his body warmed up before going in.
When she went in, there was only a wet nurse beside the eldest prince. Usually, there were two people looking after him. She went to check on the eldest prince and saw that he was sleeping soundly, so she felt relieved and picked up the embroidery frame on the table next to her to continue working on the unfinished item.
Because she was not good at needlework, she did not embroider underwear for the eldest prince directly. Instead, she embroidered a little tiger the size of a fist, stuffed it with cotton, and made it into a small toy to amuse the eldest prince.
Shen Qing was holding the embroidery frame and preparing to sit on the couch, but she found that the curtain on the other side of the couch had been lowered for some reason, and she could not see anything inside. She wondered what could be in the eldest prince's place, so she lifted the curtain and went in without any precautions.
It turns out that the eldest prince has his father.
Ji Chen was dozing on the couch with a book in his hand. There was no servant from the Palace of Heavenly Purity around him. Xing must have been driven out by him.
When Shen Qing came back, he didn't look carefully, but just walked away. He didn't know whether Qian Ji and others stayed in the yard.
The moment Shen Qing saw the emperor, her breathing became lighter. She felt that she would rather stay by the eldest prince's side than laze around on the couch.
However, Ji Chen suddenly opened his eyes and completely put an end to her thoughts.
It is definitely not okay to meet the emperor without greeting him. Shen Qing held the embroidery frame in her hand and tried her best to perform a perfect greeting: "Your servant greets the emperor. May the emperor be well."
Ji Chen raised his chin, meaning that he wanted people to come closer.
Shen Qing took two steps forward, and seeing the person half lying down, he leaned over and listened.
"Let me see my beads." His voice was hoarse and seductive.
I don’t know how long I dozed off, but it must have been quite a while.
Shen Qing's face suddenly flushed. Ji Chen's sharp eyes stared at her neck. It was that kind of voice again. Anyone would have reacted.
Especially in this relatively closed space, with only the two of them, any loud noise would be heard by the wet nurse.
Perhaps Ji Chen knew that this matter was somewhat shameful, so he lowered his voice slightly, making it seem more private and ambiguous.
Shen Qing put the thing in his hand on the ground and reached to his neck to feel for something under his clothes.
Yesterday she was still pondering whether to slack off for a few days. After all, the emperor had not come to the eldest prince's place for a long time, let alone remember this matter. But in the end, due to the imperial power, she did not dare to do so.
These are the rules of feudal society, and she can only follow them.
Ji Chen took the beads off his neck and stretched out his hand at the right time. Shen Qing pursed her lips and handed the beads to him, then lowered her eyes and didn't look at them again.
Because they had been worn for so long, the beads had their own temperature, and Shen Qing noticed it. Ji Chen also noticed it the moment he took them in his hands.
"How long has it been since I last came to see... Can'er?"
Shen Qing didn't understand why Ji Chen asked this, so he answered honestly, "One month."
Ji Chen sighed.
He was a calm angler. He had let out the fishing line for a month. He was worried that the fish would retreat again, but he didn't expect the fish to remain the same and to take ownership of the bait he had spread.
When he held his own things, he felt his palms getting hot and extremely uncomfortable, as if they didn't belong to him.
Ji Chen gathered the beads into his palm, as if he was trying to tame the beads that were tainted with the scent of the little palace maid, as if only in this way could he leave his mark on the beads.
In fact, if Shen Qing looked up, he would sense the ambiguous meaning of fusion.
As soon as I took it out of her body, I held it in my palm...
But Shen Qing felt that his blushing was strange, and he lowered his head unconsciously.
A finger was placed on Shen Qing's forehead, prompting her to raise her head and look at Ji Chen. Ji Chen said expressionlessly, "Press my head."
There have been a lot of things going on in the court recently, and reading the memorials made him dizzy, otherwise he would not have fallen asleep while waiting for someone. He did not notice it until someone came in, and he happened to have opened his eyes. Otherwise, he was sure that Shen Qing would have turned around and left quietly.
It is a basic skill for the palace servants to keep quiet.
Shen Qing's eyes were innocent, and she said softly, "I can't do that."
The concubines in the harem are still young and will not have headaches. Since they will not have headaches, why should they learn these things?
"But I can go find Eunuch Qian Ji and ask him to serve the emperor." Shen Qing stepped back and prepared to call Qian Ji in.
Ji Chen's head swelled even more when he heard this. If he let her go, wouldn't the half day he had specially reserved be wasted? So he grabbed the little palace maid's wrist without saying anything, and pulled her onto the couch with force.
Shen Qing closed his eyes in shock.
His breathing became unstable and his mind started to wander.
No way, no way, doesn’t the emperor hate her?
In such a hurry, she couldn't think of any other possibilities and just thought that Ji Chen wanted to sleep with her here for excitement.
After all, the palace maids have lowly bodies and can be played with at will compared to the empress in the palace.
Ji Chen held her hand, placed it on his forehead, frowned, and said, "Just pinch it as you like."
Why?
Shen Qing opened her eyes suddenly and found that she was indeed pulled onto the couch, occupying a corner on the inside. It was not an illusion that someone had just pulled her arm and moved her like a kite. However, Ji Chen's ultimate goal was not to sleep with her. He was simply so bored that he couldn't wait to call Qian Ji and asked her to help him relieve his headache.
A pair of soft lips fell on both sides of Ji Chen's temples, and Ji Chen's expressionless face relaxed slightly.
Shen Qing gently rubbed both sides of Ji Chen's forehead, with his legs curled up on the couch looking aggrieved.
Her eyes fell slightly on Ji Chen's face. Now it seems that he is not a bad person.
After calming down, she realized that she had just overthought.
Since the emperor ascended the throne, there has been no news of him having sex with any palace maid, or any palace maid becoming a court lady... Perhaps he was not willing to let the palace maids sleep on his throne, otherwise there would not have been no news.
Then when she left Du Baolin, Xuancao personally added a palace maid for Du Baolin, the one who missed the general election and caught up with the small election, and entered the palace as an official's lady and became a palace maid. Isn't it ridiculous to want to use this to become a concubine?
Now there is no more sound from that palace maid in the palace. She must have faced the reality and kept quiet.
Shen Qing thought aimlessly and would no longer guess whether the emperor was interested in her because it was too unreliable.
Ji Chen said, "Heavier."
Shen Qing came back to her senses and quickly increased her strength. Seeing that Ji Chen had closed his eyes, she quietly moved her legs. Unexpectedly, when she moved, Ji Chen also moved his head to a more comfortable position.
Compared to Ji Chen's ease, Shen Qing moved very little. His legs still felt uncomfortable, so he moved again silently.
…
At some point, Ji Chen's head had already rested in her arms, and what was even more terrible was that he seemed to have fallen asleep.
When Shen Qing was lazy and put down his sore wrist, Ji Chen didn't react at all.
She waved her hand in front of his eyes, but there was no response.
Shen Qing: “…” It was terrible. She was being pressed down by Ji Chen. Although he only pressed down on a part of her and it wasn’t heavy, she couldn’t walk.
The only way is to wake or shake the person awake.
"emperor?"
Not awake.
But if she were asked to just hold the other person's shoulders and shake him left and right, she definitely wouldn't have the courage to do so.
However, the fact that he couldn't be woken up showed that the emperor was indeed sleeping soundly. Shen Qing's troubled eyes fell on Ji Chen's profile.
As long as she moves gently, she shouldn't wake up.
After a moment, Shen Qing tiptoed down from the couch, cleaned up the traces she left, and walked out without taking a single cloud with him.
Beside the eldest prince, the wet nurse was still taking care of him diligently and responsibly, and her eyes turned to Shen Qing.
Shen Qing said softly: "The one inside is asleep too."
The wet nurse understood and didn't ask any more questions, and Shen Qing didn't need to explain too much.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
