Prince Bao Cheng lowered his eyes, carefully examining the embroidery in front of him. He looked at it from left to right but couldn't see how it resembled a duck, let alone a mandarin duck. In the end, Bao Cheng decisively replied, "It's clearly a pheasant."
His words were filled with determination.
Wan Fu, hearing the sound, also curiously stepped forward. However, after observing for a moment, he couldn't see any difference. He simply looked up at Bao Cheng and asked, "Brother Crown Prince, how did you figure it out?"
“Although I have never hunted, I have seen the prey that Khan has hunted.” Bao Cheng said confidently, explaining in detail: “The male wild duck has an oily green head and neck with white rings, a dark brown upper body and a black tail, while the female is mainly brownish-yellow. Wan Chang’s embroidery only has a little bit of green, yet she still wants to pretend to be a wild duck.”
Wan Anran fell into deep thought.
Wan Fu exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
Looking at his younger brother's adoring eyes, Crown Prince Bao Cheng felt extremely proud. He didn't stop but continued to describe the characteristics of the pheasant: "The pheasant is also called a pheasant. Its feathers are gorgeous and brightly colored. Not only does it have brown, blue, purple and green feathers, but it also has long tail feathers. The feathers on officials' hats are made of pheasant tails!"
Wan Fu had never heard of these things before.
He looked at the Crown Prince with longing in his eyes, having never heard of this before: "I also want to study hard so that I can be as smart as my Crown Prince brother in the future!"
Crown Prince Bao Cheng was even happier.
He was like a smug little rooster, proudly holding his head high. All the hardships and frustrations of starting school vanished in an instant; his diligent studies had finally paid off—look how much his younger brother admired him!
Bao Cheng was overjoyed to experience this for the first time. He secretly resolved to continue studying hard and strive to be a role model for his younger brother.
Of course, the most important thing before that is the struggle between the mandarin ducks.
Crown Prince Bao Cheng's piercing gaze swept over Wan Anran, and he coldly snorted, hands behind his back: "Wan Changzai, do you admit defeat?"
Wan Anran tried to struggle: "And, there are mandarin ducks too, mandarin ducks look so much like pheasants—"
Bao Cheng: "...Completely different."
Seeing that Wan Changzai was still unconvinced, he delivered the fatal blow: "The male mandarin duck has snow-white eyes, a bright crest, and a pair of chestnut-yellow fan-shaped feathers on its wings. Your colors are correct, but the problem is that while the female mandarin duck has white around its eyes, it doesn't have any chestnut-yellow fan-shaped feathers at all. You could say Wan Changzai embroidered mandarin ducks, but unfortunately, it's two male birds flying side-by-side."
Wan Anran lowered her head guiltily.
Perhaps because she was so engrossed in embroidery, she didn't look closely at the part where the two mandarin ducks were touching, and used the same lines all the way through. Doesn't that make it look like two male mandarin ducks flying side by side? If this were presented to the Emperor, he would probably laugh himself to death.
Ah, this...
Wan Anran reached out and quickly stuffed the insoles into the basket.
If you can't give it away... then why not modify it for your own use?
Since Consort Xu had already sent them, there was no need to rush to think about it. Just as Wan Anran was feeling dejected, Zisu suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness, why would Consort Xu send insoles? I clearly heard before that Consort Xu had prepared a whole set of trinkets."
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
The work was clearly finished, but it was suddenly changed to shoe insoles? This seems suspicious, and the underlying reasons are even more doubtful.
The Emperor spoke from the east wing.
When it happened, only Wan Anran and three maids were present; the rest were palace servants serving the Emperor. If Consort Xu had the ability to bribe the servants of Qianqing Palace, would she have ended up in Xianfu Palace, the least favored and most neglected palace? If the information didn't come from Qianqing Palace, wouldn't only Haitao, Zisu, and Jubai be suspects?
The three looked at each other in bewilderment.
The relaxed and cheerful atmosphere in the east wing gradually froze, becoming inexplicably awkward.
Prince Bao Cheng pulled Wan Fu back.
He watched Wan Changzai with great interest, wanting to see how she would handle the matter.
Surprisingly, Wan Anran did not ask the three people.
She sent Ju Bai to ask Granny Xia if she knew anything: "Have you all forgotten? Granny Xia came later to point this out, so of course she was also in the know." Even Wan Anran didn't think Granny Xia was the type to gossip.
The three of them suddenly came to their senses.
Ju Bai quickly retreated to find Granny Xia and ask what had happened. She was still a little uneasy. Ju Bai liked the cheerful atmosphere in the east wing, and she also liked her two older sisters, Hai Tao and Zi Su… To be honest, Ju Bai herself was starting to have doubts. Of the three, she was the most talkative; could it be that she had blurted something out in her excitement?
Wan Anran didn't take this matter to heart at all.
Upon hearing that Consort Xu had already sent the insoles, Wan Anran's lips curled into a slight smile, and she happily stuffed the basket back into Haitao's hands: "Since His Majesty already has the insoles made by Consort Xu, he naturally doesn't need ours! This task can be skipped!"
The sound was incredibly cheerful.
Even Crown Prince Bao Cheng and Wan Fu could hear the excitement in his voice.
The corners of their mouths twitched.
They looked at Wan Changzai with disdain, but couldn't resist asking out of curiosity, "Wan Changzai, what do you plan to give as a birthday gift?"
Wan Anran's hand paused.
She silently took the basket back, sighed with tears in her eyes, and said, "Then let's make it. We can give it as a gift on the Emperor's birthday."
There's no need to make it like this for the Emperor's birthday celebration, is there?
Wan Anran held the insole, looking it over from left to right, and decided to... make a pair of slippers? Since she was going to give it a try, she decided to try it. The cashmere insole was already thick, and no matter what pattern was embroidered on it, as long as she added a piece of fur, it would be a plush slipper.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, simple slippers appeared in Wan Anran's hands. Bao Cheng and Wan Fu had never seen such strange shoes before, and their eyes widened in surprise.
The only downside was that the bottom was a bit slippery, but luckily we still had some old shoe soles in the warehouse. Haitao took two and carefully put them in, and they actually looked quite decent.
Wan Anran was about to take off her shoes.
Not only did Hai Tao cry out in alarm to stop her, but Bao Cheng and Wan Fu also took a big step back at the same time, covering their eyes in unison: "Wan Changzai, how can you take off your shoes?"
I forgot.
In this era, a woman's feet were like a woman's breasts in later generations—no! Even more outrageous than a woman's breasts. At least the latter could wear a bikini at the beach, but the former, apart from being shown to her husband, could never be shown to anyone else on a daily basis.
Even children are the same.
So these slippers can't be used after they're made? Wan Anran felt a pang of regret, and her gaze couldn't help but drift towards Bao Cheng and Wan Fu's feet.
If I can't do it, my two little princes can!
She took the shoes apart again and made Bao Cheng and Wan Fu take them off. The two little ones, forced to take off their shoes, looked bewildered, sitting blankly in the high-backed chair, their little feet swinging casually, almost causing the silk tabi bags to fall off.
Children's shoes are much smaller.
Wan Anran quickly drew up the blueprints according to the dimensions, and the group busily got to work, not even noticing when Ju Bai returned.
Ju Bai hurriedly entered the house.
She looked serious, eager to inform her master of this matter as soon as possible, but the scene before her was truly bewildering. In Ju Bai's imagination, everyone should have been anxiously awaiting her return, and the atmosphere in the room should have been extremely awkward.
What's going on here?
The young master was seen lying on the table drawing blueprints, while Haitao and Zisu were busy unpacking the insoles they had made. The Crown Prince and the Ninth Prince, with their short legs swinging, looked around curiously.
Several question marks popped up on his orange-white forehead.
In the end, everything boils down to one sentence: "This place is really strange, my lady!"
Wan Anran was busy.
She asked Haitao to bring out some cashmere fabric. Black cashmere was used for the ears, off-white for the face, and two small balls were made with a tuft of black fur in the middle for the eyes. A pair of sheep slippers was made in half an hour.
With the first successful product, the second one was even faster. When two identical pairs of lamb slippers were placed before them, Bao Cheng and Wan Fu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
This is so cute!
After the palace servants helped them change, the two couldn't resist running around the room. The cute and soft lamb slippers were much more popular than the stiff boots, and most importantly, they were wearing exactly the same ones!
Bao Cheng and Wan Fu were extremely excited.
Wan Anran was quite pleased, her only regret being that the work was rather simple due to the short time available. She gestured for the two of them to take it off, saying, "I'll alter it and send it to you later."
Wan Fu, you're so lucky!
Bao Cheng, however, was reluctant to part with it. He shook his head and said, "I really like it, and I intend to wear it!"
Wan Fu saw that his elder brother, the Crown Prince, refused.
He immediately changed his attitude, squatted down on the ground and hugged his feet: "Then I won't take them off!"
Wan Anran was both amused and exasperated.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Fine, fine, if you don't want to take them off, then don't. I'll make a couple more pairs and send them to you later."
Compared to the elaborate embroidery for Emperor Kangxi, that was much better.
Wan Anran felt that making these things for the young princes would please her even more. Besides, fluffy slippers would be cute on the feet of the Crown Prince and Wan Fu, but on the Emperor's feet—just imagining Kangxi wearing lamb slippers made Wan Anran shudder.
After seeing off the excited Crown Prince and Ninth Prince, Wan Anran finally turned her gaze to Ju Bai: "What did Granny Xia say?"
Ju Bai said softly, "My lady, Consort Xu is clearly doing this on purpose!"
Wan Anran frowned slightly: "What's going on?"
Ju Bai recounted the matter in detail.
Not long after Wan Anran became a concubine, she fell seriously ill and was bedridden. Hai Tao was busy taking care of Zi Su and serving the Dowager Consort. Ju Bai was also a newcomer to the palace. The four of them, master and servant, had always had low status in the palace and were unaware of the palace's unspoken rules.
To prevent similar situations from occurring with birthday gifts, the concubines in the same palace would inquire with each other beforehand to avoid receiving the same gift. For example, Consort Xuan sent a screen, Noble Lady Nara sent an inner garment, and Consort Xu decided to send a work item.
However, after hearing that the Emperor had ordered Consort Wan to deliver insoles, Consort Xu disregarded the embroidery she had already completed and changed it to insoles.
When Ju Bai asked Granny Xia, Granny Xia could not hide her anger. You must know that the gift lists of each palace were sent in advance, and Xu Changzai's last-minute changes were not only going against Wan Anran, but also slapping Xuan Pin in the face.
Ju Bai gloated, "Your Highness didn't see Xia Mama's expression, but Xu Changzai is probably in for a rough time!"
you do not say!
That afternoon, a reprimand was delivered to the west wing. Consort Xuan didn't care about the concubines vying for favor in the courtyard, but that didn't mean they could humiliate her. She flew into a rage and ordered Consort Xu to copy a hundred volumes of scriptures in the room. If she couldn't finish, she shouldn't leave Xianfu Palace and embarrass herself.
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