Qingxi Palace, Zhaoyang Palace.
Empress Chen sat on the Arhat bed with sour branch wood and rattan surface, reclining on the Luo Yin pillow, with unrolled scrolls of pictures in hand. Each painting depicts a beautiful girl with beautiful willows and flowers. They have different postures and various expressions. The only thing in common is that they are all in their young age.
Empress Chen looked back and forth over and over again, and said to Mother Qiu beside her, "Is this the only girl with a good family background and rich heritage?"
Nanny Qiu knelt on the footrest, nodded for Empress Chen and said, "It's all here, don't you think it's embarrassing?"
Empress Chen seemed a little disappointed, so she had to read it again, but there was still no one she liked. She sighed, took out one of the paintings and handed it to Mother Qiu and said, "Although the daughter of the Minister of Rites is beautiful, but the distance between her eyes is too wide, it looks strange at first glance..." After finishing speaking, she shook her head , and picked up another one for Madam Qiu to look at, "And this granddaughter of Taifu Liu, do you think she is too thin? She is so weak, her front and back are flat, she should not be convex, and she should not be warped. It is not easy to give birth at first sight.”
Empress Chen commented on each of them one by one, either this one was thin or that one had a bad face, anyway, she didn't like any of them. Mother Qiu was sweating profusely listening to it, not knowing how to respond.
Mother Qiu secretly sighed: The empress sees many beautiful girls, so she looks down on these less outstanding girls. Like Gao Danyang, Gao Qingyang and Wei Luo beside her, which one of them is not a good embryo of Shui Lingling. Especially Wei Luo, the Fourth Miss of the British government, she is really good-looking, I can't describe it in words, but it's pleasing to the eye no matter how you look at it.
Empress Chen tossed and turned and couldn't find the one that could close her eyes, and finally said sadly: "Changsheng doesn't even like Danyang, and these things won't catch his eyes. What should I do? Do I want to be a bachelor for the rest of my life?"
After hearing this, Mother Qiu comforted her again and again: "Mother, don't worry, His Highness Prince Jing may just have not met a girl who can make him fall in love. If you bring these portraits in front of him, maybe His Highness Prince Jing will fall in love with one of them." Woolen cloth?"
If this was the case, Empress Chen would not have to worry.
I'm afraid that her son doesn't like women, not to mention that he can't give birth to a fat boy, and even starting a family will be a problem.
Just in time, Zhao Liuli walked in from outside the hall with her skirt in her hand, and opened her mouth in surprise when she saw the scrolls of paintings covering Luohan's bed: "What is the queen mother planning to do, why are there so many portraits?"
Empress Chen was worried that she couldn't find anyone to help her as an adviser, so she quickly called her to her, took her hand and asked, "Quickly help empress mother to see, do you know what kind of girl Yu'er likes? I picked one." There is no one pleasing to the eye in the circle, and the eyes are almost dazzled."
Zhao Liuli paused, vaguely understanding what Empress Chen meant.
This is desperate, want to find a wife for her brother
She stepped forward, sat next to Empress Chen, and pretended to read over a dozen paintings, then shook her head and said, "They're all pretty."
Empress Chen nodded in agreement.
However, Zhao Liuli's next words rekindled hope in her heart. Zhao Liuli said: "Brother Huang doesn't like this..."
Empress Chen regained her spirits immediately, and asked curiously, "Do you know what he likes?"
"I know." Zhao Liuli bent her big watery eyes and smiled, sketched Wei Luo's appearance in her mind, and deliberately said: "Brother Huang has picky eyes, the girl he likes must be beautiful...and not It’s generally pretty, and you have to be so pretty. Secondly, you have fair skin, a small and exquisite face, a rich face, and a good personality... If the voice is nice, then it’s even better.”
Empress Chen was originally in high spirits, but the more she listened, the more she felt that Zhao Liuli was fooling her. She nodded Zhao Liuli's forehead and said, "Look at what you said, with so many demands, where can I find such a person? Will your brother be a bachelor for the rest of his life?"
Zhao Liuli felt a little wronged, how could she be blamed? Brother Huang likes Wei Luo, she said it according to Wei Luo's conditions, not bad at all!
The strange thing is that Empress Chen had so many girls in her mind, but she forgot Wei Luo who used to be Zhao Liuli's companion. He probably thought that Wei Luo was still engaged and didn't know the news of her divorce with Song Hui, so he didn't think of her for a while.
Zhao Liuli pursed her lips and stopped helping her as a consultant. She lowered her head and fiddled with the hollow sachet with sapphire hook and lotus pattern on her waist, with a light smile on her lips, she looked very intently. When she lived in Ziyu Mountain Villa, Yang Zhen bought it for her when he went down the mountain. The petals inside were dried one by one by himself. It is hard to imagine what a clumsy martial artist looks like drying petals. As soon as Zhao Liuli imagined that scene, she couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth.
Empress Chen saw that she was giggling again, so she couldn't help calling out to her: "Liuli, where did you get that sachet? I see you've been wearing it for the past few days, and you don't seem to have seen it before."
Zhao Liuli quickly raised her head, blinked and said, "Ah Luo gave it to me, and the petals inside were also sun-dried by herself."
Empress Chen knew that Wei Luo had a small flower house, and she had nothing to do to grow flowers and water, so she had no doubts. "Pretty chic."
Zhao Liuli handed the sachet in front of her, and asked with a smile: "The scent is also very good, do you want to smell it?"
Empress Chen waved her hand and refused. Thinking of another matter, she pondered and asked: "I heard that you met the third son of Duke Ding's Mansion in Ziyu Mountain Villa?"
Zhao Liuli thought for a long time before remembering who she was talking about, so she nodded because she didn't know.
Empress Chen asked again: "Do you remember him? You played together when you were young, and he even gave you a small windmill. You liked it very much at the time."
Empress Chen didn't like to go out, she only went to the imperial garden occasionally, and stayed in Qingxi Palace most of the time. When she is free, she loves to worry about her children's marriage the most. One Zhao Jie was enough for her to worry, and she had to spare her time to think about Zhao Liuli once in a while. It was the greatest blessing in her life for Zhao Liuli to grow up safely to the age of fifteen. Originally, she was reluctant to marry her off, but it would be best if she could stay by her side all the time, so that she could take care of her at close range for the rest of her life. However, the daughter grows up and will eventually get married. It's like a folk saying that goes well, if you don't stay in a female university, if you stay or stay, you will become enemies. She didn't want Liuli to hate her, even if she didn't want to, she still wanted to find a good marriage for her.
Zhao Liuli lowered her head, touched the lines on the sachet, and muttered, "I don't remember."
Empress Chen was not at all discouraged by her words, as if she had opened up the chatterbox, she continued to chatter: "I met the third son last time, I didn't expect that after so many years, he has grown into a handsome and handsome young man... He still remembers you, talking about the interesting things about you when you were young, things that I have forgotten, I didn't expect him to remember so clearly... "
"Mother's Queen." Zhao Liuli interrupted her, pouted and said, "I don't want to hear this. Let's not talk about it, okay?"
She is not a fool, so she naturally knows what Queen Chen's words mean.
When she reached the marriageable age, she was going to get married anyway. But how should she tell her mother that she doesn't like Gao Congxun, nor does she like others, but only brother Yang Zhen
Zhao Liuli was very distressed.
Fortunately, Mother Qiu at the side helped her out.
Mother Qiu tucked her hands and said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Jing has come to see you."
Empress Chen said "Oh", she was indeed attracted and looked outside the hall. Not long after, Zhao Jie walked in from the door wearing a black and green embroidered gold ganoderma lucidum dress, with a jade belt on his waist, and dark-colored gold embroidered boots with dark patterns on his feet. He came to Empress Chen and saluted, "I will see my mother."
Empress Chen called him to her, looked him up and down, and asked curiously, "Why are you dressed so neatly today? Why, do you want to meet someone?"
Zhao Jie sat on the pine red forest palace stool opposite her, bent his lips, and said in a calm manner: "Who else can I see when I enter the palace besides my mother?"
Empress Chen didn't believe his words, and said coolly: "You still know that you should visit your mother? I don't know what you are busy with these days, and you don't go to the palace. I thought you forgot about my mother."
Zhao Jie stood up, smiled and said, "I dare not."
Before Luohan could put away the picture scroll on the bed, he could see it as soon as he raised his head. The first painting is the young granddaughter of Liu Taifu's family, named Liu Ying, just now Empress Chen said she was too thin. The girl in the painting is standing by the willow on the bank, wearing a lake green crepe skirt, holding an origami wicker, and smiling. The face is good-looking, but it is not round enough. It feels like there are only a handful of bones left in the whole body, without the slightest sense of beauty.
Empress Chen noticed his gaze, followed her gaze, and suddenly realized, and finally remembered something serious, "It just so happens that you are here today, take these paintings over and have a look, is there any girl who likes it? If so, tell me , I will propose a marriage for you. If not, I will find another girl for you."
This is determined to force him to marry.
There was a smile on Zhao Jie's thin lips, this time he did not refuse for the first time, instead he stepped forward to hold those paintings in his hand, and looked at them seriously.
Empress Chen looked at him in astonishment, she thought he would definitely be disgusted, but now that he honestly agreed, she was very surprised.
Zhao Jie ordered people to present pens and inks. Holding a Zihao Xuan brush, he looked at the paintings one by one, and put a cross on each painting after seeing one. Finally, after seeing more than a dozen paintings, he marked each painting with the same mark.
Empress Chen frowned, and was about to ask a question, but he put down the scrolls, stood up and said, "I'll tell my mother, these girls and I don't like it."
Empress Chen felt that she was happy for nothing just now, he didn't want to take a serious look, it was clearly to refuse! Empress Chen was very annoyed, and deliberately asked: "Then where is the girl you like?"
He narrowed his eyes and smiled: "It's not on the painting."
Is there really? Empress Chen's eyes lit up, she thought that sentence was used to fool her, didn't it? She couldn't wait to ask: "Who is it? Where is it?"
Zhao Jie's phoenix eyes were soft, and after a long time, he said slowly: "In the British government."