Chapter 133 Chapter 133
[Chapter 133]
Dongdong was carefully placed in the Empress's arms by the wet nurse. Seeing someone he was not very familiar with, Dongdong was indeed exceptionally obedient as Ruan Yun said.
The queen took off the armor on her hand and wanted to touch the moving little face, but it was obvious that there was no movement, and the queen's hand withdrew first.
Ruan Yun looked at the empress in confusion, but the empress just said, "I am not in good health, don't let the third prince get infected."
After saying that, Dongdong was put back into the wet nurse's arms. The queen gave a wink, and Ran Xia took the wet nurse to the side hall.
The queen looked at Dongdong's departing figure with tender eyes, and said with a light cough, "I asked you to come here today because I have something else to ask you."
Ruan Yun smiled, but when she looked at the Queen's appearance, she pursed her lips and said softly, "What does the Queen want to ask?"
The queen pushed the celadon plate of pastries a little closer to Ruan Yun with a faint smile on her lips.
It was clearly just a small action, but it made Ruan Jun feel upset for no reason.
The queen seemed not to notice and said softly, "I have not been feeling well. After discussing this with the emperor, I think it would be most appropriate for you to assist in managing the six palaces."
Ruan Jun quickly looked at the Queen in surprise, and when she saw that there was nothing wrong with her expression, she immediately understood that the Queen had planned this all along.
She took a deep breath and twirled her handkerchief to protest, "Your Majesty is the master of the harem. No one can manage it better than you."
The Queen pressed her lips with a handkerchief when she heard this, "I know you are sweet-talking. No one else can make me happy like you."
Ruan Yun felt a little embarrassed by the empress's praise, and lowered her head and said, "I didn't, what I said is true."
The Queen patted the back of her hand and wanted to speak, but suddenly she started coughing violently. Ruan Jun stood beside the Queen with a teacup, but the Queen raised her hand to stop her. Tears flashed in her tired eyes and her beautiful face showed a lot of fatigue.
"You have seen how I look." The Queen's eyes were still gentle. "Don't say anything else to comfort me. I know best how I have been doing in recent years. I just think that you have the third prince now, so you have to consider him. There are too many intrigues in the harem. Now that you have the Emperor's favor, you don't have to worry. But if you are like Concubine De, how are you going to live in the future?"
Ruan Jun's heart shuddered. She naturally wouldn't think that the Empress' mention of Concubine De was just a casual remark.
The Queen was right. She really couldn't always rely on the Emperor's favor. Dongdong was still young. If she lost favor and had no power, what would she do with Dongdong?
She didn't want to, but she just didn't want to believe that the Empress was really about to run out of energy and burn out.
Ruan Yun's almond-shaped eyes were filled with mist, and she looked at the empress helplessly.
But it was just this one glance that reminded the queen of her younger sister. When she got married, everyone in the family was happy, but her younger sister was the only one hiding in the room. When she passed by, her younger sister stood up from the stool and looked at her in the same way. The first words she said when she jumped into her arms were:
"Sister, I'm worried about you."
She had already forgotten what she said to her sister. She only remembered that her sister was very small and lay in her arms crying very sadly.
Later, she got on a bridal sedan, married to Shangjing, and entered the royal palace.
From then on, there was no longer a younger sister who would sweetly call her "Ajie", nor was there a second daughter of the Mingdu Yang family.
The queen wiped away the tears from Ruan Yun's face with a handkerchief and said, "You are already my mother, stop crying, or you might hurt your eyes."
The more the queen acted like this, the sadder Ruan Yun became.
She understood that the Empress was kind to her only because she looked like the Empress's sister. But ever since her mother passed away, she had been transferred from the Cui family to the palace. The palace was not a good place to get along with others. Even though she was just a maid, she had to live in fear every day, fearing that she would bump into a master and never see the sun again tomorrow.
During the time when she worked as a maid beside Lady Du, she was not only worried about herself, but she was also afraid that Tingxu would be coerced by Lady Du.
Even after she became a concubine, the empress was the first person who treated her well. Ruan Yun could never forget the box of cakes she brought back from the empress's palace.
She was originally wary of the Queen, but later on she discovered that the Queen was extremely kind-hearted and was good to everyone.
Ruan Yun sniffed, unable to say anything to comfort the empress, and could only stand there with red eyes.
The Queen waited patiently for Ruan Yun. For a while, the inner hall was exceptionally quiet, and neither of them spoke for a long time.
Ruan Yun said after a long while: "I am willing."
The Queen's smile widened and she nodded, "I will do my best to teach you."
…
September 1st
The summer was sweltering, and unless one went to the palace to escape the heat, the palace seemed lifeless.
The concubines would of course not leave the palace if they could, as it would be boring to leave. The concubines who had attempted to compete for the emperor's favor had all been demoted, so who would dare to do anything else?
Ying Ning took the account book away and said, "The emperor asked the people in front of him to come and say that he would come to Xuan Palace for dinner today."
Ruan Jun's face immediately turned slightly red. Was the emperor going to have a meal or something else? Ever since she was able to serve him in the emperor's bedchamber, she had been tormented every day.
Looking down at the table, Ruan Yun's face felt hot.
Several times, they went to the outer hall, on the desk where she usually looked at the account books, and the emperor was really vulgar.
Yingning noticed the Empress's mood and couldn't stop laughing.
Ruan Yun glared at Ying Ning unhappily, but Ying Ning was not afraid and followed the Empress's instructions:
"The Yellow River burst its banks recently, and the emperor is in a bad mood. He asked the kitchen to send some appetizers."
Yingning ordered someone to do it. When she reached the door, she bumped into Tingxu. Seeing Tingxu rushing in in a panic, she couldn't help but ask, "Is there something wrong, Madam?"
Tingxu nodded, pulled Yingning's sleeve, and said, "Come in too."
Yingning patted Tingxu's hand with some soothing words, "Don't worry, you go first, I'll go in later."
After hurriedly explaining what had just happened to the palace maids below, Tingxu in the inner hall could not wait to tell Ruan Yun everything:
"According to the instructions of the Empress, I went to Madam's place on the pretext of making autumn clothes for the palace ladies and stayed there for a while. After I left, I ordered Chunqing to take people to guard in the dark. I didn't expect that someone would actually take action. But when Chunqing was about to go in to rescue Madam, someone else rescued her."
Ruan Yun was startled and the brush in her hand fell onto her red dress, staining a large area.
However, Ruan Yun seemed not to notice it at all, and her voice was tinged with a hint of anxiety that she herself was not aware of. "We didn't alarm them, did we?"
Tingxu shook his head, "No, Chunqing is smart and knows that the queen just wants to lure out the person behind the scenes, so he didn't show up."
Ruan Yun's thoughts were in a mess. She put her hand on the corner of the table and felt for the handle of the fan next to her. She picked it up and fanned herself impatiently.
When the Queen Mother asked her to help manage the six palaces, she was only concerned with her sorrow, but did not notice the other meaning in the Queen Mother's words.
Thinking back carefully later, it turned out that the Empress was talking about Concubine De. But why did the Empress suddenly mention Concubine De? Could it be that the Empress knew something?
Ruan Yun tightly grasped the round fan in her hand, looked outside and said, "The osmanthus and hibiscus flowers in Yu Garden are in bloom. Go ask Ji Zhaoyi if she is free today. I want to go to Yu Garden with her to enjoy the scenery."
Tingxu would not delegate such a big matter to others, so he went to Xihua Palace in person.
Ying Ning helped Ruan Yun sit down and said comfortingly: "It seems that your majesty's plan is correct. Madam must be the most important person."
Ruan Jun held his forehead with his hand, unable to understand how someone could want to force the nanny to death and then rescue her.
These two groups of people certainly do not obey the same master, but what on earth could have caused them to fight for such a long time?
After an incense stick of time, Tingxu entered the inner hall and said, "When I left just now, the little princess was making a lot of noise. When she heard that the queen had asked Ji Zhaoyi to go to see the flowers, she said she wanted to go together."
With the little princess around, the two were not so suspicious when they met. Ruan Yun just changed into a clean dress, chose some hairpins and earrings to wear, and sat on the ceremonial procession to go to the Yu Garden.
Ji Zhaoyi brought the little princess to the pavilion early in the morning. Ever since the little princess went to Ji Zhaoyi's side, the little princess's temperament has become much more lively than before. Now she acted coquettishly towards Ji Zhaoyi and said that she wanted to eat Sushan.
Ruan Yun stood far away and watched Ji Zhaoyi deliberately frowning. The little princess ran away in anger, and Ji Zhaoyi immediately told the wet nurse to follow her.
As soon as she stood up, she saw Ruan Yun standing not far away. The little princess knew the rules, but she was so angry at the moment that she ran away directly behind Ruan Yunfu.
Seeing this, Ji Zhaoyi and Ruan Yun laughed out loud at the same time, and both shook their heads helplessly.
"Sister Ying." Ji Zhaoyi walked out of the pavilion and saw that Ruan Yun was uneasy. She asked softly, "What happened? Why do you look so bad?"
Ruan Jun patted Ji Zhaoyi's hand to reassure her, but how could Ji Zhaoyi feel at ease?
From the moment Sister Ying came to see her, Ji Zhaoyi knew that something must have happened. Now seeing Ruan Jun's appearance, she became even more worried.
Ruan Jun told Ji Zhaoyi what happened with the nanny with a pale face, and Ji Zhaoyi also looked solemn after listening.
Ruan Yun and Ji Zhaoyi had already discussed how to deliberately get close to the nanny by making autumn clothes and put on a show for others to see.
The empress taught Ruan Yun everything she knew without reservation, but the affairs of the harem were complicated and Ruan Yun always needed some time.
By the time she really figured out some tricks, it was almost September, and Ruan Yun and Ji Zhaoyi came up with this idea together.
If the nanny is really an extremely important person, then there must be someone watching her from behind. If they just pretend to want to get closer, that person might not be able to resist taking action.
After all, the nanny is a lunatic. Why would anyone want to keep an eye on her if there is nothing wrong with them?
When that person makes a move, she will directly send Chunqing out and catch him in the act. Then everything will be easier than expected.
But what happened last night had obviously gone beyond the countermeasures she and Ji Zhaoyi had discussed.
Ji Zhaoyi's eyes also revealed confusion, "So, is there anyone who is like us, guarding Madam to prevent her from getting into trouble, and also knows what Madam might know?"
Ruan Yun paused as she waved her fan, thinking the same thing.
If Ruan Yun was asked about the person who could do this, the first person he thought of was the Empress.
Could it be that the Empress knew about this earlier and that's why she sent people to rescue the nanny?
But why has the Empress never mentioned it in all these years? Concubine De has kept the nanny for so many years, so why must she kill her now?
Ruan Yun and Ji Zhaoyi looked at each other, both of them were quite confused.
…
The little princess ran exceptionally fast. During the year that Ji Zhaoyi took the little princess with her, the little princess' former lively personality had returned a lot, with only a little less naughtiness.
The nurse ran after the little princess and said, "Slow down, little princess. Don't fall."
But now, after hearing what the nanny said, the little princess just ran faster, not paying any attention to anything else.
The Yu Garden was large, and the little princess was too young to recognize the roads, so she left her wet nurse and palace maids behind and headed for an unknown place.
The little princess was naturally not afraid in broad daylight, and walked forward curiously to see if there were any places she had not been to.
But the further forward they went, the clearer the palace became in the little princess's memory.
She clutched the hem of her skirt, thinking of the stories Ji A'niang had told her, and left feeling scared and sad.
Shen Chongyi, who was imprisoned in Yuechun Palace, had not seen the little princess for an unknown period of time.
Except for the beginning, she cried every day. Later, when she was able to walk out of the palace, the thing she wanted to do most was to stand there and look at the outside through the slit in the palace door.
She did not forget that Xin'er used to love coming here to play. If she could see Xin'er again, Xin'er might still be willing to acknowledge her as her mother.
Shen Chongyi's face was full of sorrow, but she had never seen Xin'er once in such a long time.
Today she had no hope at all, and her eyes, looking at such a small scene every day, were no longer as clear as before.
But she saw her Xin'er, appearing in front of her alive and kicking.
She stood up excitedly. Although she couldn't see clearly, Xin'er had grown a lot taller and her cheeks were not as chubby as before.
She was too far away and wanted to get closer, but as her emotions got agitated, the nanny behind her noticed that something was wrong with Shen Chongyi and hurried over.
The maids had no good face for this concubine who had lost favor and was banished to the cold palace:
"Don't waste your energy trying to see the emperor, and don't even think about going out. Do you really think you are still the noble Empress Chongyi?"
Another maid also said sarcastically, "Yes, it's been so long. I'm afraid the emperor kept your identity just because you were the little princess' mother. Now the little princess' mother has long been replaced. Don't start dreaming in the daytime. It's better to save your energy."
The concubines wanted to come to the fore, and so did the maids.
The maids were sent to look after this concubine who was no different from a deposed concubine, and they had no idea how much resentment they had accumulated.
Shen Chongyi couldn't stand the maids' cold words at first, but after hearing them so many times, she actually started to get used to it.
Maybe it was because she met the little princess today, but Shen Chongyi's eyes were cold. Her face was no longer as beautiful as before. Her cheeks were sunken on both sides and her eye sockets were bulging. She was no longer the pampered concubine in the palace.
The maids usually mocked Shen Chongyi, but when Shen Chongyi looked at them like this, they were inevitably frightened.
They were still powerful in their words, but their stuttering revealed their nervousness.
But they soon discovered that Shen Chongyi was just trying to save face, and that she was actually the same as before, so they also became bolder.
"What? Do you still think you are a high and mighty queen? I'm afraid that even if you die in Yuechun Palace now, no one will shed a tear for you."
Another maid also said with disdain: "It's really unlucky to have such an assignment."
After saying this, the two maids went straight back to their own side rooms. To them, as long as Shen Chongyi didn't run out of Yuechun Palace, it would not be a big deal.
Just as the two maids had expected, Shen Chongyi stood quietly at the door crack again.
It's a pity that Xin'er's figure is no longer there. There is only the wind blowing up the dead leaves, which eventually fall into the water and soil.
Shen Chongyi squatted down in sorrow, and tried to stretch out his dry hands, but was blocked by the heavy palace door.
…
September 15th is the Mid-Autumn family banquet. It is the first time that Ruan Yun has hosted such an important banquet. During this period, she will go to the Queen's palace.
The Queen took a sip from her teacup and listened to what Ruan Yun said to her. Her face looked particularly good as she had recovered a lot of energy in the past two months.
"I think this is the best."
The Mid-Autumn Festival family feast was not a difficult task, and Ruan Yun learned very quickly. Looking at the Empress's appearance, Ruan Yun put aside the affairs of the palace and asked softly, "Have you felt much better these days, Your Majesty?"
The Queen didn't say it directly: "It is indeed much better."
Ruan Yun was also very happy to hear this, "That's great!"
The queen was touched by her lovely appearance and said softly, "You have been busy these days. Go back and have a good rest."
Ruan Jun did not refuse, but there was something that had been weighing on her mind for a long time, and she felt uncomfortable if she didn't ask it out now.
The Queen noticed Ruan Yun's concern, patted the back of her hand through her handkerchief, and said, "You don't need to be so concerned in front of me."
Ruan Yun glanced at Ran Xia, who immediately understood what she meant and led all the palace maids from Fengyi Palace to leave.
Since Concubine Ying Gui came to Fengyi Palace more often, the Empress was in much better spirits than before. As the Empress's maids, they were also happy for her.
Ruan Jun was biting her lips at this moment, obviously not knowing how to start.
The queen glanced at Ruan Yun indifferently, then picked up the teacup in her hand and never put it down.
Seeing Ruan Yun's appearance now, the Queen couldn't help but laugh. Even though she was a mother now, she still had the mentality of a child.
"I want to ask how I was able to have a small child in the past?"
Ruan Yun almost knocked the teacup on the table to the ground. Under the Queen's concerned eyes, Ruan Yun tightly pursed her lips.
She really wanted to know whether the Empress knew the truth of the matter back then.
However, Ruan Jun did not want to see such a bloody wound revealed like this.
The queen didn't mind what Ruan Yun was thinking. She took another sip of the tea in the cup and then spoke, "Actually, I don't know either. I've already told you everything I know. I don't want to pursue the rest."
Ruan Yun's eyes widened, not caring about anything else, and she said directly: "Have you ever thought about investigating?"
The Queen's eyes fell on Ruan Yun's face, which was slightly red due to anger, and she said softly:
"So what if they checked? My child can't come back, but I'm still the princess, the emperor's first wife."
"What you can never have is your own joy, anger, sorrow and happiness."
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