Chapter 46 After Marriage
Later that evening, Fulin originally intended to have a meal at Yongshou Palace, but as soon as he stepped out of Qianqing Palace, he learned that the Empress Dowager wanted to invite him over.
The security guard stood behind the emperor, looking at the kneeling eunuch on the ground with a slightly surprised expression.
The Empress Dowager rarely invited the Emperor over at this time, and it seemed that she specifically waited until the Emperor had finished his affairs of state before inviting him.
It shouldn't be anything serious.
Fu Lin let out a silent sigh, turned to look at the security guard, and said to him, "Tell the Empress that there is no need to wait for me to have my meal."
"yes!"
Security was naturally assigned to accompany the Emperor. He instructed the eunuch behind him to make the arrangements, then reported to the Empress before following the Emperor to Cining Palace.
At this moment, the sky was about to clear in the distance, and half of the sunlight slanted across the entire Forbidden City.
The palace was majestic and imposing, with layers upon layers of eaves, and even the path beneath our feet exuded a sense of gloom.
Right where the sun rose today, gray-white clouds slowly rolled in.
Fulin strode into the Cining Palace, where the Empress Dowager sat on a couch, her expression somber.
Fu Lin stepped forward and greeted him.
"Your subject greets Your Majesty the Empress."
Mubumutai smiled slightly and said, "Get up quickly."
"Please sit down. It's been a long time since my son and I have sat together like this."
Fu Lin got up, a smile on his face, and sat on the other side of the couch.
The mother and son looked quite similar, but Fulin resembled Huang Taiji.
With his handsome features, Mubumutai even imagined how handsome her son would be after Singles' Day.
However, her relationship with her son gradually came to an end.
She felt guilty towards her son. After his birth, Huang Taiji's indifference saddened her for a period of time.
Later, she found her own way, stabilizing the court and the harem, and her son rarely saw her anymore.
Later, when the child became emperor, she taught him the ways of an emperor, but forgot that he was still a child.
Later, he discovered Dorgon...
Even now, she is about to do something that her son will absolutely hate.
But which emperor wasn't a lonely figure?
What action doesn't involve weighing the pros and cons?
How could a mother and son from the imperial family be like ordinary mothers and sons?
Sumala said she was too hasty, but she had personally witnessed Huang Taiji's frighteningly deep affection for Hailanzhu.
For Hailanzhu's sake, he could disregard the court and the ancestral legacy, as long as he could make Hailanzhu's infant son the crown prince.
Fulin was even more stubborn than his father.
If the Emperor truly favors Jialuo, Jialuo's personality is also unrestrained.
Will the Qing Dynasty only have one son left in the future?
Or what if there are no offspring...
Looking at the Emperor again, he seemed to have gained some weight in the past few days, and his expression had become more relaxed.
Could it be that the Emperor has truly developed feelings for Jialuo?
Just thinking about this made Mubumutai feel a chill run down her spine.
Some things should be prevented from happening before they occur.
"To be honest, it has been quite some time since His Majesty dined with me."
"Let's have a meal together today, mother and son."
"This afternoon, I specially instructed you to make some pastries and cook a nourishing soup. Your Majesty, please taste it and enjoy something new."
Upon hearing this, Fulin smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you seem to be in such high spirits today. Could it be that something good has happened?"
Mubumutai did not speak, but Sumala, who was standing to the side, said with a smile: "The Empress Dowager married the late Emperor on this very day."
Fulin was clearly taken aback. He turned to look at Mubumutai and, seeing the woman's calm face, sighed, "Empress Mother, it is my fault. I was unaware that today's time had such significance."
After speaking, Fu Lin stepped forward and took Mu Bu Mu Tai's arm, helping her to sit on the stool in front of the table.
"It's nothing, it's a trivial matter, and I never paid any attention to it. But I suddenly thought of it today, so I asked the Emperor to dine with me."
Fu Lin sat opposite her, and upon hearing this, he seemed to have thought of something and said, "The Empress was also eleven years old when she married into the family, only one year younger than you. It is good for your son to accompany the Empress Mother today, but if we can have a heart-to-heart talk, the only one who can make the Empress Mother happy is probably the Empress."
"Why don't we invite the Empress over now, so our family can have a proper get-together?"
After speaking, Fulin glanced at Mubumutai and prepared to have the security guards waiting at the door invite the Empress.
But before he could speak, Sumala stopped him.
"Your Majesty, it is so late today. The Empress has probably already eaten. Today is a time for you and the Empress Dowager to get together. It would be inconvenient to summon the Empress at this time."
When Sumala said this, Fulin glanced at Sumala and raised his eyebrows slightly. Sumala's meaning must be that of the Empress Dowager.
Although he found it strange, he naturally wouldn't force Galo to come.
So the mother and son began to eat, and after they finished their meal...
Mubumutai then had someone serve the emperor a bowl of nourishing food, saying it was specially prepared to relieve his fatigue.
After finishing his meal, Fulin spoke with the Empress Dowager for a while, but perhaps because of the nourishing food, he felt increasingly drowsy. Mubumutai then told Fulin to rest in the side hall for a while.
Fulin wanted to leave, but when he stood up, he felt dizzy and had no choice but to agree to let the Empress Dowager rest in the side hall first.
Upon entering the side hall, Sumala saw that the security guards were keeping a close watch on the Emperor, so he felt reassured and left.
After a while, Sumala came and said that the Empress Dowager had something to ask Anbao.
The security guard glanced at the emperor, who was fast asleep, and then Sumala said, "You may go on your own. I will stay here and watch over the emperor."
Sumala was not an ordinary servant; she was practically half a mistress of the Cining Palace.
However, the security guard was still somewhat uneasy. He smiled obsequiously at Su Ma La and said, "When the Empress Dowager summons a servant, the servant would rather crawl on all fours to get there. But when the Emperor goes to bed, it is always a few servants who are used to serving him personally who attend to him."
"Wait for me to immediately send Xiao Anzi to relieve you, and I will go to pay my respects and apologize to the Empress Dowager."
After speaking, the security guard bowed to Sumala to apologize, but his demeanor was extremely natural.
Upon hearing this, Su Mala said with a half-smile, "So, it seems we can't persuade our Chief Steward An to come?"
The security guard immediately knelt down in the direction of the Empress Dowager's room, his voice ringing out: "This servant's life is as light as a dog's hair; even if this person's head is plucked, it will be as light as a feather."
"If the Empress Dowager wants to ask me any questions, she will surely ask me whether I have served the Emperor well. Now that the Emperor is asleep, if I don't even leave one of the servants by the Emperor's side, I will go directly to the Empress Dowager's side."
"The Empress Dowager asked me a question, and I answered. Does the Empress Dowager still believe me?"
"Whether this servant lives or dies is not important. What I fear is that if I do not serve His Majesty well, the Empress Dowager will also worry about His Majesty's daily life, won't she?"
After the security guard finished speaking, he kowtowed several times towards the Empress Dowager's main hall before getting up.
Sumala stood to the side, smiling as he said, "Eunuch Anbao is indeed capable."
The security guard chuckled and said, "This servant has no skills, only unwavering loyalty."
Sumala and Anbao waited, and only after the eunuch called Xiao Anzi arrived did Anbao leave.
As soon as he entered the main hall of Cining Palace, he saw the Empress Dowager with her back to him, flipping through a book.
After paying their respects, the Empress Dowager remained silent, while the security guards knelt quietly on the ground.
The longer it went on, the more uneasy the security guards became.
Just as he was about to speak, the Empress Dowager spoke.
"How long have you been serving the Emperor?"
The security guard paused for a moment, then replied, "Your Majesty, this servant has served His Majesty for nine years."
"Well, he can be considered one of the older members of the palace."
"Tell me, how has His Majesty's diet and sleep been lately?"
The security guard tensed up, then began to speak slowly and deliberately. The room was completely quiet, filled only with his voice.
He had only spoken halfway when he suddenly heard some noise from the side room.
He paused subconsciously and looked up at the Empress Dowager.
He naturally dared not look into the Empress Dowager's eyes, but only noticed her tightly closed lips.
"Your Majesty, this servant..."
"continue."
The security guard trembled, ultimately lacking the courage to defy the Empress Dowager, and whispered, "Yes."
At that moment, Fu Lin, who was in the side hall, slowly opened his eyes on the bed and sensed that someone was lying next to him.
He turned his head and saw that Jialuo was lying next to him.
………
Yongshou Palace had received news that the Emperor was coming to dine.
But as darkness approached, they suddenly heard that the Emperor had been summoned by the Empress Dowager and would probably not be able to dine at Yongshou Palace that night.
Jialuo paused, looked at the lights gradually being lit outside the window, and then ate her meal.
But for some reason, she felt somewhat uneasy tonight.
Jade used a secret palace-made jade ointment to gently caress her entire body, making her skin even more delicate and fair.
Sometimes even Galo has to admit that being fairer does make one look more delicate.
In the stillness of the night, amidst sweet dreams, Jialuo suddenly awoke with a start, clutching her heart, which was beating violently for no apparent reason.
She exhaled slowly, and was about to get up to drink some water to calm herself down when she suddenly heard someone knocking loudly on the door.
Jialuo was startled and quickly helped Emerald, who had also been awakened, up from the bed.
The courtyard immediately became lively.
As soon as Jialuo put on her soft shoes, she saw a young eunuch from Cining Palace run in. As soon as he reached her, he knelt down at her feet, his legs giving way.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please go to Cining Palace quickly! The Emperor is in Cining Palace..."
He seemed afraid to speak, his lips trembled, and he kept kowtowing to Jialuo.
Jialuo frowned deeply. Seeing the eunuch's terrified expression, she thought that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager had some kind of conflict.
So she glanced at the jade, and without even changing her clothes, she put on her cloak and got into the sedan chair that was going to Cining Palace.
She thought about many things along the way, but she never expected to see such a scene as soon as she entered the Cining Palace.
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