Chapter 17 The Empress Dowager will cover the Hundred Flowers Palace Skirt again, and this memorial will be ready...
Chu Yueyuan repeated the movements almost blankly, her ears ringing, unable to hear anything clearly.
She felt as if she were back on her wedding night, the crimson ink in front of her like flowing blood, stinging her eyes and causing a surge of bitter emotions that she couldn't shake off no matter how hard she tried.
Suddenly, the slender arm that was raised high was gripped tightly, and the heavy phoenix seal was thrown out of her hand, crashing heavily onto the terrazzo floor tiles, breaking off a small corner.
Chu Yueyuan raised her eyes in a daze and met the man's cold and aloof gaze. There was not much emotion in his beautiful phoenix eyes, but when he looked down at people from his height, his eyes were deep and indifferent, as if he could see through people's hearts.
She instantly regained her senses.
"If the Empress Dowager covers it up again, this memorial can be used for paper-cutting."
Following the man's consistently indifferent voice, she lowered her eyelashes and saw that the open memorial on the table was covered with countless phoenix seals. Under the blood-red cover, it was difficult to make out the words on the memorial.
Her fingers were trembling slightly uncontrollably from the excessive force she had used.
Pei Muwei frowned, released his grip on the woman's forearm, and let his hand slide down the smooth brocade fabric, naturally covering her hand.
The man's palm was warm, with broad metacarpal bones and long, slender fingers, completely enveloping her hand.
A warm feeling flowed from my cold fingertips to my chest, like drinking a sip of hot tea on a chilly winter day, melting the ice frozen in my limbs.
Chu Yueyuan's hands stopped trembling. She took a deep breath and said softly, "I was distracted for a moment... and ruined this document..."
"And the Phoenix Seal, a corner of it was also broken by me..."
Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, and her face, pale and almost translucent in the sunlight, resembled a beautifully crafted Mohele doll.
Extremely bright and beautiful, yet utterly devoid of any liveliness or spirit.
Pei Muwei stared at the woman's pale face, his brows twitching. He released his hand, his voice unusually gentle: "The Empress Dowager did not sleep well last night. She does not need to come to listen to the government affairs for the next few days. She should rest in Fengqi Palace for a few more days."
Chu Yueyuan nodded slightly. She hadn't slept a wink all night and had only managed two short hours of light sleep after dawn, leaving her feeling groggy. Meeting Shen Zizhan today brought back a flood of memories, both good and bad, as if from another world.
"Then I'll have to trouble you these next few days, Minister Pei."
Chu Yueyuan exchanged a few polite words with the Regent and left the Hall of Diligent Governance with Jin Tong's help.
Eunuch Wang bent down and picked up the phoenix seal from the terrazzo floor tile, carefully putting the chipped corner into the phoenix-carved jade box.
He cautiously glanced at the Regent: "Your Highness, should this memorial still be sent to the Secretariat?"
Pei Muwei's gaze fell on the signature of the official who submitted the memorial, his eyes turned cold, and he said decisively, "Send it back and have the Prince of Qinghe draft another one."
That night, the memorial was sealed in a brocade box and sent to the residence of the Prince of Qinghe.
In the brightly lit Prince's mansion, four Western Region dancers dressed in light gauze skirts were dancing barefoot on a Persian carpet, their waists swaying gently, their suppleness surpassing that of water snakes.
Prince Qinghe embraced two beautiful concubines on either side, opened his mouth wide and bit into a crystal grape offered by one of the concubines, then narrowed his beady eyes and lewdly looked at the dancer covered in sweat.
Tsk, these ordinary beauties are far inferior to the young empress dowager in the palace.
It's a pity, he originally had the chance to experience the life of the young empress dowager.
The mere thought of the woman's captivating, alluring eyes, shimmering with water, stirred a surge of heat within him, causing him to tighten his grip on his concubine's waist.
Amidst the soft sounds of string and wind instruments, the steward of the Prince's residence strode over and whispered a few words in the ear of the Prince of Qinghe.
The Prince of Qinghe's narrowed, beady eyes widened suddenly. He waved away his concubines and dancers, then personally went to the door to greet them, smiling broadly.
"What brings Eunuch Wang here so late at night?"
Eunuch Wang bowed and smiled broadly: "The memorial submitted by the Prince was accidentally damaged by the Empress Dowager in the Hall of Diligent Governance today. The Regent has instructed me to inform the Prince that he would be grateful if the Prince could rewrite the memorial and send it to the Secretariat."
The Prince of Qinghe smiled without fading: "Of course, of course. Since the Empress Dowager acted unintentionally, I will submit another memorial."
Not long ago, he became the first opportunist among the Xiao clan, fully supporting the Regent's reforms in the court.
In return, the regent promised to expand the permanent lands under his name.
Therefore, in his memorial to the throne, the Prince of Qinghe made an outrageous demand, not only asking for hundreds of acres of fertile land, but also secretly seizing the paddy fields of more than a hundred households on two hilltops.
He has done the Regent such a great favor, he should naturally expect to recoup his debt a thousandfold in interest.
After politely seeing off Eunuch Wang, Prince Qinghe smiled and opened the gold-threaded brocade box, slowly taking out the memorial, intending to copy it exactly and submit a copy.
Unfolding the memorial, his gaze fell upon the phoenix seal on the paper, which read "blood flowing like a river." He was so frightened that his hands trembled, and his mind instantly cleared of most of the drowsiness.
This... the little empress dowager had her soul stolen by the judge of the underworld, who then used her memorials as a book of life and death to scribble on them!
Unable to fathom the Regent's thoughts, the Prince of Qinghe narrowed his eyes and carefully counted the phoenix seals on the memorials. The more he counted, the more cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and a chill ran down his spine.
With 186 phoenix seals, excluding servants and stewards, the Qinghe Prince's Mansion had a total of 186 people.
It matched perfectly, not one more and not one less.
Could it be that the Regent Prince was annoyed by the excessive amount of land the Empress Dowager was demanding and was deliberately using the young Empress Dowager to send him a warning?
If he is insatiable, he will exchange the lives of 186 people in the Prince's mansion for it.
The Prince of Qinghe broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly rewrote his memorial overnight. The words were full of sincerity and earnestness. He not only properly reduced the expanded Yongye land to ten mu, but also handed over three years' worth of land to support the Futu Army fighting on the front lines.
Once the Prince of Qinghe's petition was issued by the Secretariat, this noble act was immediately praised by the upright officials, while the Xiao clan members jumped up and down in anger.
———
On the eve of the Flower Festival, the Imperial Wardrobe finally delivered the Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress that Chu Yueyuan was to wear to the palace banquet to the Phoenix Perch Palace.
The Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress is intricately crafted, requiring gold and silver threads, hammered 30,000 times, to be twisted into silk and woven together. The collar, wide sleeves, and flowing skirt are embroidered with precious peony, peony, and magnolia patterns, among others. The embroidery is exquisite, with the flowers arranged in a harmonious and orderly manner, almost indistinguishable from real flowers.
Under the moonlight, the flowers on the skirt create a magical, shimmering effect as the light shifts. Legend has it that if you then scent the skirt with fresh flowers, butterflies will even land on it.
This exquisitely crafted floral dress would require at least six months of work by a highly skilled embroiderer.
Granny Xu and Jin Tong worked together to take the long dress from the gilded cloud and dragon tray, and a musty smell instantly filled the air.
Granny Xu, though composed and steady, managed to keep her composure. Jin Tong, young and impetuous, immediately furrowed her brows, pointed at the wrinkled Hundred Flowers Immortal Dress, and questioned:
"Is Eunuch Zhao mistaken? This floral dress is clearly not newly made..."
Chief Eunuch Zhao of the Northern Division, holding a whisk, wore a smile as ambiguous as his own and the man's, and said in a high-pitched voice:
"Oh dear, Miss Jin, please be careful what you say! This Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress took the ladies of the Imperial Wardrobe more than half a year to make..."
Jin Tong persisted, "You're talking nonsense! The Empress Dowager has only been in Fengqi Palace for less than four months. Who was the Hundred Flowers Dress that Xiu Niang embroidered half a year ago for?"
With a forced smile, Eunuch Zhao said, "Tsk, since Miss Jin also knows that the Empress Dowager's investiture was less than four months ago, why make things difficult for this servant?"
It goes without saying that the owner of this Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress is none other than Consort Chun, Chu Wanxi, who was almost made Empress by the late Emperor.
"Eunuch Zhao...you..."
Granny Xu stopped Jin Tong, her gaze calm and her tone unhurried:
"Four months is a short time, but it is enough for the Imperial Wardrobe to quickly make a Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress. Although the Empress Dowager and Consort Chun are sisters, their heights are quite different. If the Empress Dowager loses her composure in front of the palace banquet tomorrow because of this ill-fitting dress, thus damaging the Emperor's prestige, can Eunuch Zhao bear the consequences if the Regent blames her in the future?"
These words from Granny Zhao made Eunuch Zhao drop his fake smile.
He immediately put on a troubled expression and complained bitterly, "Granny Xu, you and I are old acquaintances, you should know that I, Zhao Zhongxian, am not a sycophantic person. But the Imperial Wardrobe has more than a thousand ladies-in-waiting. Just the palace robes that the Regent and the Emperor will wear on the Flower Festival have been made day and night for four months. How can the ladies-in-waiting have time to tailor a new Hundred Flowers Fairy Dress for the Empress Dowager..."
Granny Xu frowned, about to speak again, when she was interrupted by a woman who gracefully stepped out from behind the purple bamboo curtain:
"The banquet at the palace should naturally be presided over by His Majesty."
The woman had a serene expression, her black hair was simply held back by a jade hairpin with a lingzhi and bamboo joint pattern, and her face was free of makeup, yet it shone with a warm luster like a bright pearl.
Chu Yueyuan said calmly, "My figure is not much different from my sister's. With a little alteration, it should be able to fit."
Eunuch Zhao hurriedly bent down, lightly patted his right cheek, and said in a glib tone, "This servant has failed in his duty, please punish me, Your Majesty."
Chu Yueyuan didn't say anything more. She asked Jin Tong to grab a handful of silver melon seeds and give them to Eunuch Zhao.
Although Jin Tong felt resentful, she obeyed Chu Yueyuan's words, grabbed two handfuls of silver melon seeds, and coldly stuffed them into Eunuch Zhao's hand.
Eunuch Zhao smiled so broadly his eyes were crescent-shaped: "This servant thanks Your Majesty the Empress Dowager for the gift."
Chu Yueyuan asked a few perfunctory questions about the Flower Festival banquet, and then had Granny Xu escort Eunuch Zhao out of the palace.
Her gaze was calm as she gently brushed her fingers across the exquisitely embroidered "Hundred Flowers and Immortals" dress draped over a sandalwood frame. When she raised her hand again, her fingertips were covered in a layer of dust.
Seeing this, Jin Tong quickly dampened a handkerchief and wiped her fingers clean, unable to contain her indignation as she said:
"Why does Your Highness tolerate that eunuch? Eunuch Zhao is negligent in his duties and disrespectful to Your Highness. In my opinion, even if this matter were presented to the Regent, the Prince would surely side with the Empress Dowager..."
Chu Yueyuan smiled, unconcerned.
"His Majesty grows quickly, and his clothes for the Flower Festival have to be remade every year. This is the first time the Regent has attended the Flower Festival since taking office, and there is no room for the slightest mistake. With only four months, the Imperial Wardrobe could not finish clothes for three people, so they had to do their best to please those they could not afford to offend. Eunuch Zhao is not slacking off; he is just a smart man doing smart things."
Although Jin Tong understood some of it, she still couldn't help feeling wronged for Chu Yueyuan.
When Xu Mama, who had returned to Fengqi Palace, heard the conversation between the two, a fine line appeared at the corner of her eye: "Before entering the palace, this old servant was always worried that Your Highness would not be able to adapt to life in the palace. Now it seems that this servant was not as insightful as Your Highness."
After speaking, Granny Xu picked up a measuring tape from her sewing basket, her gaze sweeping over the woman's voluptuous and slender figure. She sighed, "Her Majesty the Empress Dowager's waist is more slender than Consort Chun's, so altering it won't be difficult. It's just that this area around her chest... I'm afraid it will be a bit tricky..."
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com