Six years later.

Another spring has arrived. The March sunshine is bright and shining, willows are swaying, flowers are blooming, and the scene is full of vitality with birds singing and flowers blooming.

The streets of the capital are bustling with all kinds of shops and stalls on both sides. In the center of the street, there is a constant stream of people and traffic. The shouts of hawkers, waiters and peddlers are heard one after another, attracting passers-by to stop from time to time.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

In the distance came the sound of loud gongs, each one louder than the last, accompanied by the man's excited shout:

"Good news! The Queen has given birth!"

"The eldest princess was born, and the emperor just issued an edict saying that he would grant amnesty to the entire nation and exempt taxes for a year!"

This good news made the people of the entire capital excited and overjoyed.

Some waiters in restaurants and shops quickly took out the firecrackers they had prepared long ago. The streets were filled with the deafening sound of firecrackers. Many children gathered around the shops that were setting off firecrackers, covering their ears and cheering, shouting, and laughing.

Several teahouses even set up tea stalls at their entrances, generously distributing free coarse tea for passers-by to rest and quench their thirst.

After the waiter called out a few times, three or five pedestrians immediately came over to ask for a cup of tea. Some people simply went into the lobby to sit for a while. The guests in the lobby and the passers-by outside were all talking to each other, and it was very lively.

"So the eldest princess was born. No wonder the sky was filled with rosy clouds yesterday!"

"Yes, yes. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard heavenly music. In my opinion, Her Highness the Princess must be a goddess from heaven!"

"The beginning of spring is a good omen. This year will be a good year."

“…”

A middle-aged woman with a round face politely asked the waiter for a cup of tea and listened silently to the conversations of other people around her for a while.

After she had rested enough, she continued on her way with the basket, looking happy.

She was in a good mood and walked quickly. After an incense stick of time, she returned to her house in the northwest corner of the capital.

"Goudan's father, I just heard someone on the street say that the Queen has just given birth to a princess, and taxes will be exempted for a year!" the woman said happily to the man in the family.

At the door of the woodshed in front, a dark-skinned man in his forties was sitting on an old little stool chopping wood, with piles of freshly chopped firewood piled at his feet.

“Bang!”

He chopped a piece of firewood nearby, put down the hatchet, and said with a simple smile: "A son and a daughter make up the word 'good'."

The middle-aged woman walked to the man's side in two steps and said with a smile: "The Queen has done so many good things, good people will be rewarded."

"I went to Jishiditang and bought another bottle of Zhibaodan today." The woman took out a small green porcelain bottle from her sleeve pocket. "Your Majesty is really kind-hearted. She made so many miraculous medicines that can cure diseases, and she sells them at such a low price."

As she spoke, the woman's face showed emotions of gratitude, reverence, and sighing.

Last August, her husband suddenly fell to the ground in a coma, motionless and silent. She tried every possible means to find a cure, so she fed him this pill, and he recovered as soon as he took it.

Afterwards, she sent the man to Jishidiang, where Doctor Liu said that she was treated with the right medicine by accident, and that no medicine could cure all diseases, and using the wrong medicine would only make the disease worse.

At that moment, the woman let Doctor Liu scold her, but she felt that she had done nothing wrong. If she didn't try her best at that time, would she have to watch her man die and become a widow again?

Thinking of this, the woman felt more and more grateful besides being afraid.

"That's right!" The man felt the same way and took the small porcelain bottle as if he was holding some rare treasure.

The woman took out a green handkerchief and carefully wiped the sweat off the man's forehead, muttering, "I told you not to get too tired, but you didn't listen. You chopped so much wood at once again. Can't you chop a little bit every day?"

The woman couldn't help but talk about the man, her eyes full of concern.

She is thirty-seven this year. She lost her husband eight years ago and has no children with her husband. When her husband died, the family's land was taken away by her husband's uncle and uncle, and she was left with nothing. Her parents-in-law did not allow her to remarry, and asked her to remain faithful to her husband for the rest of her life. She had no food to eat every day, and she was so hungry that she looked pale and thin. It seemed that she could not survive.

Fortunately, three years after she had been a widow for her deceased husband, the county magistrate sent someone to the village to ask her if she wanted to remarry, saying that if she did she would get five taels of silver as a dowry. He also introduced several men to her, including a widower and an old bachelor.

She met three or four men before choosing her current man.

Her husband is a retired veteran. He was not married before he was conscripted by the imperial court. Later, his parents died, and there was no one to arrange a marriage for him. He served in the army for decades. It was only after the current emperor ascended the throne that some veterans retired from the army. He took a share of the money given by the imperial court to settle down, and only then did he have the confidence to marry a wife.

The woman thought he was honest and wanted to live together with him. She was not young anymore and had not gotten pregnant when she was young. Now she had no hope of getting pregnant for the second time. But she got pregnant two years ago and her son Goudan is now two years old.

Now she has a husband and a son, and her life is prosperous. When she thinks back to the time when she was scolded by her mother-in-law and villagers as a hen that can't lay eggs, it seems like a lifetime ago.

The woman couldn't help but put her hands together, chanted "Amitabha", and praised the Queen's medicine in her heart. If Goudan's father was gone, how could she, a widow, live with her son who was not even one year old at the time! Who knows how many people would say behind her back that she was unlucky! "If there were no emperor and queen, how could we have such a good life now!" The woman said gratefully, "Goudan's father, should we ask for a piece of patchwork clothes for the eldest princess? With the blessing of a hundred families, the eldest princess will definitely have fewer illnesses and disasters!"

"That's a good idea!" The man smiled innocently and clapped his hands in agreement.

Even if the emperor and empress have everything and lack nothing, this is the love of ordinary people like them. It is because of the emperor and empress that we have the good life of peace and prosperity now.

When the woman thought about what she could do for the emperor and empress, she became excited and all the fatigue from being busy for half a day was swept away.

She did not rest, but got up in a hurry. She ran out in less than a cup of tea after arriving home, leaving only one sentence: "I'm going to ask for cloth!"

The woman first knocked on the doors of her neighbors one by one. When the neighbors heard that she wanted to make patchwork quilts for the eldest princess, they all responded. Many even volunteered to go back to her parents' home to ask for the money.

It is called a "quilt from a hundred families", but these women worked together to make a tower from more than a thousand families, and several clever women pieced these scraps of cloth together and sewed it into a quilt from a hundred families.

This patchwork quilt was delivered to Duke Mu's residence one day before the eldest princess's full moon, with a note left asking the Duke Mu's wife to deliver it to the palace.

After some twists and turns, the patchwork clothes were finally delivered to Shen Qianchen.

On this day, Shen Zhi and Shen Qianhuang, who entered the palace later than the wife of Duke Mu, also saw this "Hundred Family Clothes" of extraordinary significance.

"This patchwork quilt is so well made!" Shen Zhi carefully unfolded the colorful patchwork quilt and looked at it carefully.

When she got closer, she could smell a faint scent of soapberries on the patchwork quilt. It was obvious that it had been carefully washed and kneaded. The small piece of clothing was soft, and every stitch was neat, fine, and uniform.

"That's indeed thoughtful of you." Shen Qianhuang also leaned over to take a look, her eyes slightly narrowed.

She could tell that the scraps of fabric on the patchwork quilt were not pieced together at random.

She turned her eyes, then smiled, took the patchwork quilt, and said to Shen Zhi: "Mom, please stand further away and look at this patchwork quilt."

Shen Zhi was confused, but she still followed Shen Qianhuang's instructions, took two steps back, and looked at the patchwork quilt again.

Then, she blinked quickly, smiled, pointed at Baijiayi and said:

"blessing!"

"Patchwork quilt" is made up of so many pieces of cloth, which are made of different materials, colors, and are of different ages. Generally, the size and pattern of the pieces are not important. Anyway, when they are pieced together, it will definitely be fancy.

The special thing about this "patchwork quilt" is that the maker formed the Chinese character "Fu" when piecing together the pieces of cloth. When people get close to it, they are easily dazzled by the patterns of the pieces of cloth and cannot see the tricks. But as long as you stand far away, you can see it.

"This is probably what is called 'I don't know the true face of Mount Lu because I am in it.'" Shen Zhi said as she sat back down with a deeper smile, "Sister Huang, you are so thoughtful!"

Shen Zhi felt both emotional and proud.

Shen Qianhuang moved out of the Pei Mansion when she was eighteen years old and lived alone in the Shen Mansion.

When she made this request, Shen Yunmu made a fuss about it, Shen Zhi was also worried, and even went to discuss it privately with the wife of Duke Mu and Shen Qianchen... In the end, she still followed Shen Qianhuang's wishes.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Of course, Shen Qianhuang is not really alone. There are guards in the Shen residence, and she also has several maids who know martial arts around her. The Shen residence can be said to be impregnable.

In a few months, Shen Qianhuang will be twenty-one years old.

Now in her twenties, she has fully grown up, with delicate and soft features, sparkling black eyes, and a slender figure. She is more beautiful than before, with an elegant yet dignified temperament, and a gentle yet tough demeanor.

She is like a camellia growing towards the sun, full of vitality.

The person who has changed the most in recent years is Shen Qianhuang.

Her girls' school has been running for five years. It was not big at first, but now it has become as big as the Imperial College, and it has twice as many students as the Imperial College. She lives a fulfilling life every day.

Shen Zhi looked at the radiant Shen Qianhuang with a smile on her lips. Her sister Huang was really good! "Second sister," Shen Qianhuang turned to look at Shen Qianchen and said in an affirmative tone, "You can see it too."

Shen Qianchen nodded and smiled.

Shen Qianchen was about to finish her confinement, so she didn't lie on the bed anymore. Today she wore a light purple silk shirt, her hair was tied up in a loose bun, and she didn't wear any jewelry.

One month after giving birth, her body shape has not yet fully recovered to its pre-pregnancy shape. Her figure has become two points fuller, but her facial features have become softer, and her look has become more charming and beautiful.

This pair of twin sisters, who were born only a few hours apart, are very different in temperament, appearance, and life experiences. The two sisters are not very similar, but when they sit together, there is a wonderful sense of harmony.

As the mother and her two daughters were talking, the little baby girl next to them suddenly started whimpering restlessly.

Shen Zhi thought they had woken up the baby, so she hurried over to take a look.

In the small cradle, the baby's face is fair and delicate, and his chubby and round face is chubby. He is as beautiful as a jade doll and as soft as a glutinous rice dumpling.

Her eyes were still tightly closed, and her petal-like little mouth smacked twice, as if she was having a sweet dream, which made Shen Zhi's heart melt.

"She is so beautiful." Shen Zhi sighed softly from the bottom of her heart.

Shen Qianhuang nodded in agreement.

In the eyes of mother and daughter, the eldest princess is the cutest and most beautiful baby in the world, and they can never look at her enough.

If she wasn't afraid of disturbing the baby's sleep, Shen Zhi really wanted to kiss her on the face a few times.

After showing her presence, the little baby girl continued to sleep quietly, seemingly unaware of the visit from her grandmother and aunt.

Shen Qianchen laughed and tapped the little girl's forehead, sighing: "This girl, she looks well-behaved now, but she has a bad temper!"

"Let her sleep." Shen Zhi was afraid that they would disturb her granddaughter's sleep, so she pulled the two sisters to the window to talk.

The mother and daughter chatted about family matters. They talked about Shen Yunmu who had been away from home recently, and then they talked about Chu Yunyi: "...In the blink of an eye, Brother Yi is already 19 years old."

"I mentioned marriage to him several times, but he was not interested." Shen Zhi frowned slightly, thinking that these boys were troublesome and not as considerate as her daughter.

Shen Qianhuang silently picked up the teacup and did not respond to the conversation.

Shen Qianchen cleared his throat and advised: "Mom, since he is not in a hurry, let him do it. Marriage can only be successful if he is happy."

The Chu family has no elders now, and Shen Zhi was worried that Chu Yunyi would not be able to arrange his own marriage. She was also afraid that he was a young man and was shy, so she mentioned it to him several times. Now, after hearing what Shen Qianchen said, she felt that it was true.

Shen Qianhuang slowly used the tea lid to remove the foam on the tea soup, sometimes, sometimes. When she raised her eyes to secretly glance at Shen, she met two pairs of very similar phoenix eyes, both of which said -

What do you know?!

"Sister Huang." Shen Zhi called out with a smile, her eyes half-closed, which made Shen Qianhuang's heart alarm bells go off.

As the saying goes, it is better to let my friend die than to let me die.

Shen Qianhuang didn't want to be urged to get married, so she made a decision immediately and coughed dryly: "Actually, Brother Yi has been to... Huixin Garden recently."

Shen Zhi and Shen Qianchen certainly knew that Huixin Garden was the girls' school opened by Shen Qianhuang. From teachers to students, including the doorman, cooks, and maids, all the people in the school were women.

"Then..." Shen Zhi urged.

Shen Qianhuang sorted out his thoughts and explained the situation in general.

In girls' schools, students are not only taught to read and write, but also to ride and shoot.

Not long ago, the Women's School and the Imperial College jointly held a horseback archery competition, to select the top three female and top three male students. Not only students from the Women's School and the Imperial College could participate, but all men and women under the age of 20 in the capital could sign up as long as they could pass the preliminary selection.

Shen Qianhuang also wanted to further enhance the popularity of women's education, so she chose to cooperate with the Imperial College.

There was some trouble on the day of the horse riding and archery competition. A female student was frightened by her horse. Later, Chu Yunyi and a female teacher from the Imperial College teamed up to rescue the female student.

"Which one?" Shen Zhi and Shen Qianchen asked almost at the same time, their similar phoenix eyes sparkling.

Female student or female teacher? (End of this chapter)