Chapter 82 From then on, the king no longer held court early
After breakfast, Gui Zhi and Gui Xun, who were guarding outside the hall, went in to help Jiang Zhen wash and dress. Xie Fei leaned against the desk and read with great interest. He didn't feel bored at all. Even when Gui Zhi held the paintbrush to add makeup to Jiang Zhen's eyebrows, he stepped forward and took the paintbrush.
Jiang Zhen looked at his actions in surprise and asked doubtfully, "Your Majesty knows how to draw eyebrows?"
"Of course." Xie Fei raised his eyebrows, curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and smiled proudly, "There is nothing I can't do."
"Yes." Jiang Zhen nodded very seriously, tilted her head and smiled, "Your Majesty is the most powerful and capable person in the world. Such a small matter as drawing eyebrows will definitely not be difficult for Your Majesty."
Xie Fei was very satisfied with Jiang Zhen's flattery. After she finished speaking, he immediately leaned closer, pinched her small chin with one hand, rubbed it for a few times, and then lifted it slightly. With the other hand, he held the paintbrush and began to trace along her faint eyebrows.
He lowered his eyes slightly, pursed his thin lips, and looked focused and serious, but his hands moved more and more gently. After painting twice, he would occasionally stop to examine it carefully, sometimes frowning and shaking his head, and sometimes showing joy on his face, which made Jiang Zhen and the palace maids who bowed their heads beside him very curious.
After a long time, Xie Fei looked around Jiang Zhen's face twice, then he put down his brush with satisfaction and clapped his hands: "Very beautiful."
Hearing this, Jiang Zhen's heart was filled with anticipation. She looked at Xie Fei and smiled gently, stroking her hair a little embarrassedly, and said, "Really? Then I'd like to appreciate the eyebrows that the emperor drew for me."
After saying that, she turned around and looked at the bronze mirror on the table. The mirror reflected a stunningly beautiful woman with a delicate nose, pink lips, and bright eyes. Every part of her was exquisite except for her eyebrows, which were a little disappointing.
The eyebrow shape was not bad, but it should have been as slender as a willow but instead it became as thick and long as a branch. The color was also much darker, and one was on the left and the other on the right, one was dark and the other was light, which greatly reduced Jiang Zhen's beauty.
Jiang Zhen was stunned at first, then she couldn't help but turned her head and laughed quietly. The palace maids beside her took the opportunity to see it, and they all covered their mouths and laughed secretly, and even whispered while laughing.
Seeing their reactions, Xie Fei knew that he had made a fool of himself. He felt a little awkward, so he glared at them, waved his sleeves, put his hands behind his back, and asked sternly: "What are you laughing at, Guizhi, tell me, is my painting bad?"
Upon hearing this, all the palace maids immediately knelt on the ground. Guizhi raised her eyes and glanced at Jiang Zhen's eyebrows again. For a moment, she didn't know how to start. If she said it was painted well, then her queen would have to bear these eyebrows all day long and be laughed at by the concubines in the harem. If she said it was not painted well, looking at the emperor's expression, she would probably offend him, right?
Just when she was in a dilemma, Jiang Zhen reached out and pulled Xie Fei over, motioning everyone to leave. When they were the only two left in the room, she smiled and said softly, "I really like the emperor to draw my eyebrows for me. No one in the harem has this honor."
"Do you really like it?" Xie Fei held her small hand and rubbed it carefully, "Aren't you trying to coax me?"
"Really." Jiang Zhen nodded, but secretly thought that she was not lying, she really liked the emperor's affection for her. As for his eyebrows, she couldn't say she could compliment him.
Xie Fei saw the twinkle in her eyes and understood her thoughts. He turned his eyes and smiled leisurely, "Since the Queen likes it so much, I will draw eyebrows for you every day."
"Ah?" Jiang Zhen was stunned, blinked, frowned and said hesitantly, "This, this is not necessary. Your Majesty is busy with government affairs. It is better to leave this kind of small matter to Guizhi and others, so as not to delay Your Majesty's time..."
Xie Fei uttered a noncommittal “hmm” and said calmly, “It didn’t take up much of my time.”
Seeing this, Jiang Zhen suddenly became anxious. She bit her lower lip nervously and stammered, her brain working rapidly to think of a solution.
Seeing her anxious look, Xie Fei smiled faintly. He stretched out his hand to scratch her nose, coughed lightly, pursed his lips and smiled: "Look how scared you are. I still have self-awareness. From now on, just treat it as a pleasure in the boudoir. When I practice well, I will draw eyebrows and lips for you."
Jiang Zhen glared at him, smiled sheepishly, and nodded obediently, "I will follow the emperor's wishes."
"Then this eyebrow... I will wipe it off for you, and you can draw it again."
Xie Fei took the handkerchief from her hand. Jiang Zhen quickly covered her face with her hands and hesitated for a moment before whispering, "This is the first time Your Majesty has drawn eyebrows for me. I really like it. I'll keep it. At most... I'll change it a little bit."
Xie Fei curled his lips slightly, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, he lowered his head and kissed her forehead: "I'll do as you say."
…
The two of them were being affectionate with each other, but they didn't know that the concubines in the harem were in chaos. Everyone received a major news from the palace maids who were sent out - the emperor and the queen suddenly reconciled, and the queen even stayed in the imperial study last night and hasn't returned to Kunning Palace yet!
In Changle Palace, Concubine Gao was so angry that she smashed things and said angrily, "Shameless vixen! I don't know what magic she used to trick the emperor into seeing her! When I went to deliver ginseng soup, the emperor avoided me. Why did he let her in? The emperor is too partial. I am really mad at him!"
On the other side, in the Xilan Palace which had just been lifted from the ban, Xi Helan had just heard that the Queen and the Emperor had fallen out. Before she had time to be happy for long, she heard that they had reconciled and the Queen even stayed overnight in the imperial study.
That was the Imperial Study, an important royal place that no one was allowed to enter. Even if the Emperor summoned his concubines to sleep with him, it would be in the Ganlu Palace. After serving the Emperor, the concubines would be immediately carried back to their own palaces by the eunuchs. But the Empress actually stayed in the Imperial Study and hasn't come back yet!
The more Xi Helan thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. She found that things were no longer under her control. Since she had not supplied the system for more than a month, she could no longer count on it for help. She had to rely on herself for everything.
She had wanted to hide behind the scenes and make plans carefully, but too many changes had happened in the past month or so. First, the emperor broke his appointment inexplicably, then the queen became the most favored concubine in the harem, and then she was punished by the empress dowager for offering advice. All these things were too unusual, and she had a vague guess in her heart - since she could possess Xi Helan, then was the emperor's abnormality also because he was possessed by someone?
Thinking in this way, everything made sense, but this speculation made her a little restless. After hesitating for a moment, Xi Helan resolutely decided to step out from behind the scenes. Whether it was for her own plan to unify the world or to find out the truth of the matter, she had to step out of Xilan Palace.
Since you have decided to step in front of the stage, you can't hide your incompetence, nor can you be content with being ordinary. So you have to prepare well and make everyone in the harem amazed, ashamed and envious.
Xi Helan curled up her lips and smiled slowly, with pride flowing between her brows and a determined look on her fair face.
…
On a summer afternoon, the room was very stuffy with the windows wide open but no ventilation. Hearing that the newly built octagonal pavilion beside the lotus pond would provide cool and comfortable shade, the concubines from various palaces invited their good friends to go boating in the lake in groups of three or four to cool off.
The concubines chatted all the way to the imperial garden. Through the dense branches, they saw from afar several palace maids and eunuchs standing around the pavilion. The queen, who had been missing all morning, was now standing by the pavilion feeding the fish.
She was wearing a golden queen's dress and had her hair in a dignified and elegant flying phoenix bun. She did not have too many head ornaments, only a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin with red gold pearls and two peony hairpins with emerald green pearls. Below them were ear-length strings of small silver tassel beads, which swayed and collided gently as she moved, making pleasant and light sounds.
Everyone looked at each other, then slowly stepped forward, knelt down and saluted, saying in unison, "May the Queen be blessed with good health."
Jiang Zhen turned around after hearing this, handed the fish food to Gui Zhi, wiped her hands with a handkerchief, walked to the table and sat down, smiling sweetly, "Sisters, you are here to enjoy the cool air, come in quickly, it's too hot outside."
Everyone stood up and thanked her. They noticed that the Queen had some strange eyebrows. Some were surprised, some were confused, and some covered their mouths and laughed, but no one dared to ask about it directly.
After they walked into the pavilion and sat down, Concubine Hui took a sip of the herbal tea handed to her by the little palace maid and said with a smile, "Yes, it feels particularly hot this summer. I can't wait to put some ice cubes in my mouth to cool down."
As soon as she said this, everyone couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh.
At this time, Gao Baoxi came over in a sedan chair. After everyone greeted each other, she walked straight to the queen and sat down. She frowned and looked at Jiang Zhen's face for several times. She chuckled with a little mockery and said, "The queen has drawn her eyebrows very uniquely today. If you don't know, you would think that the queen is deliberately playing a clown to make people laugh."
Jiang Zhen showed a faint smile on her face, with an indescribable sweetness in her slightly curved mouth. She said with a smile: "Really? I think this eyebrow is really beautiful."
Gao Baoxi was stunned for a moment, then she covered her mouth with a silk handkerchief and smiled, with an irrepressible smugness flashing in her charming almond eyes: "The Queen's taste is really getting more and more vulgar."
Jiang Zhen shook her head and smiled. Gao Baoxi couldn't stand her pretending to be virtuous and generous. Just as she was about to speak, Xie Fei's cold voice came from the steps of the pavilion: "Noble Concubine Gao, how can your taste be so vulgar? Please explain it to me."
Everyone was concentrating on watching the fight between the Queen and Concubine Gao, and did not see Xie Fei coming in from the other side of the stairs. It was not until they heard his voice that everyone stood up and greeted him joyfully.
This was the first time the emperor had set foot in the harem in the past ten days, and I met him.
Thinking of this, everyone's faces showed expressions of surprise and joy. They secretly thanked themselves for coming out to cool off, and tidied up their appearance without leaving any trace.
When Gao Baoxi looked up at Xie Fei shyly, Xiangtan quietly pulled her own queen's sleeve and reminded her in a low voice: "My queen, the emperor is asking you a question."
Gao Baoxi came back to her senses immediately, and was delighted. She was thinking about how to put eye drops on Jiang Zhen in front of the emperor. She rolled her eyes and was about to speak, but she found that Xie Fei didn't even look at her. He sat down next to Jiang Zhen, pulled her up and sat down side by side. He held her hand with one hand and pinched her chin with the other hand. After carefully looking at her for a few breaths, he smiled and said, "The more I look at it, the more I think my painting is very good. It looks beautiful!"
Hearing this, Gao Baoxi's face turned pale. She moved her lips but couldn't utter a word. Layers of sweat suddenly appeared on her smooth forehead, and cold sweat broke out on her back. In this hot summer day, she felt as if she was in an ice cellar.
The atmosphere was a little cold for a moment. Everyone looked at the pale-faced Concubine Gao with their own thoughts. Jiang Zhen glared at Xie Fei coquettishly - your taste is indeed not very good.
Are you saying that you are not good? Xie Fei also responded with his eyes.
Jiang Zhen paused, turned her head away and ignored him, saying, "Your Majesty, the weather is hot, let the sisters get up first."
Xie Fei laughed softly and said, "Get up."
Everyone then thanked him and stood up. Gao Baoxi also stood up and took a seat. She was just feeling relieved that the matter was over. Unexpectedly, the next moment, she heard Xie Fei say, "Noble Concubine Gao does not know the difference between high and low. Her words were inappropriate. When you go back, you must copy the female precepts and female virtues twenty times each."
Although Gao Baoxi was dissatisfied, she did not dare to cause trouble again. She just stood up, replied "yes" softly, and sat down again obediently.
The author has something to say: ??Xie Fei: I drew straight eyebrows. The ancients with fish lips don’t understand its beauty╮(╯▽╰)╭
Jiang Zhen: Hehe :)
Xi Helan: I have been in modern society, don’t lie to me and say I am not well educated. This is clearly Crayon Shin-chan!
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