After lunch, it was still raining outside. It seemed that it couldn't stop for a while, so Pei Yan played Shuanglu with the sixth princess for a while.
After playing three rounds, the sixth princess was sleepy, so Tao Ti asked the nanny to take her to the side hall for a rest.
It was raining continuously in spring, and Tao Ti was lazily leaning against the window, staring at the dense raindrops.
Pei Yan came over at some point, and said softly, "Where are you appreciating the rain?"
"... Mmm." Tao Ti turned her head and saw him sitting down, so she also sat up straight, and poured him a cup of tea with the pot.
The air was a bit cold, and the fragrant jasmine tea formed a cloud of white mist, and Pei Yan's handsome face became more and more fairy-like in the hazy white mist.
"Thank you." He took the cup steadily with his cold fingers, and the warmth of the cup wall seemed to enter the blood from the skin and pour into the heart.
Taking a sip of tea slowly, he said softly, "I didn't expect Xiao Liu to be so close to you."
"Feifei is very cute, I like her very much." Tao Ti shrugged helplessly, "I just didn't expect to cry after eating a dessert. It really shocked me at first..."
Pei Yan slowly raised his eyes, his eyes were gentle and calm, he said a few words of comfort, and then said, "Xiao Liu's concubine passed away three years ago."
Tao Ti's hand holding the teacup suddenly stopped, and the tea almost spilled out.
She looked at Pei Yan in disbelief, saw that there was no sign of joking on his face, and his expression gradually became serious, and she said after a while, "How could this be..."
No wonder when she told the sixth princess to go back to the palace to find her mother, the atmosphere suddenly became so weird——
Ahh, I really want to hammer myself to death! Didn't what I said stabbed the sixth princess in the heart
Thinking of the pitiful appearance of the little girl with tears in her eyes, Tao Ti only felt guilty.
With a light glance, Pei Yan guessed what she was thinking, and Linglong told him everything from the beginning.
"Those who don't know are not guilty." He sat with his back straight, his slender jade-like fingers lightly rubbing against the wall of the cup, and said softly, "You have only been to the East Palace not long ago, and you have only seen Xiao Liu twice in total. I don't know her. His life experience is also normal."
Tao Ti lowered her eyes, remained silent for a while, then raised her head again, and asked solemnly, "Can you tell me about her life experience?"
Her bright and dark eyes are not curious, but full of concern.
The eyes were too clear, like a clear spring in the mountains passing through Pei Yan's heart.
He turned his face to the window, casually looking at the rain outside the window. After a long while, the thin lips parted slightly, telling the story of the sixth princess.
"Concubine Su was drafted into the palace nine years ago, and she was not particularly favored. The emperor only summoned her a few times when she first entered the palace. Later, she became pregnant and gave birth to Xiao Liu. Because Xiao Liu is the father The youngest child of the emperor, the father would occasionally go to sit with concubine Su... Later, it seemed that on such a spring day, concubine Su contracted a serious illness and passed away..."
His voice was very nice, amidst the pattering rain, there was a hint of melancholy and sadness, which made one's heart calm down.
"At that time, Xiao Liu had just turned five years old. On the day of Concubine Su's funeral, Xiao Liu disappeared, and the whole harem was looking for her. Gu went to the library to find an ancient book, and found her crying in the corner behind the bookshelf. …”
He even stretched out his hand and made a gesture, "At that time, she was sitting on the ground with her knees hugged, a small ball, like a kitten. Later, Gu put her to sleep and carried her back..."
As if caught in the memories of the past, Pei Yan's voice revealed a trace of cold calm, "What's the use of crying."
No one can accompany anyone to the end, save the strength to cry, and work hard to live is the real thing.
When Tao Ti heard his fluttering emotion, she suddenly remembered that Pei Yan also lost her mother when she was five years old.
She quietly looked at the man in front of her. He had a sideways face, a straight nose, and a well-defined jawline. From this angle, his eyelashes are getting longer and longer, they are not curled up, they only hang down slightly, like a small carefully woven fan, covering the secretly floating emotions in his deep black eyes.
The corners of his lips are naturally upturned, I don't know if it's natural, or it's the habit of laughing in the past twenty years, the muscles are formed naturally.
His smile is still beautiful, like a white feather gently falling in the white snow, so gentle, with a bit of sadness.
The sixth princess told her on the way that among the brothers and sisters, she likes the elder brother the prince the most. The prince's brother cared about her very much, and she could feel that the caring was sincere, not acting or fake.
Pei Yan is so kind to the sixth princess, could he see himself in this little girl who lost her mother since childhood
Thinking of how little Pei Yan fell into the frozen lake after losing his mother, and from then on, he was accompanied by one illness after another, bowl after bowl of bitter-smelling soup... Tao Ti looked at Pei Yan with more and more sympathy.
The room fell silent, only the sound of rain could be heard.
After a while, as if making a summary, Pei Yan said, "Xiao Liu is young, and he misses his biological mother for a while, and he can't control his emotions well, so you don't need to blame yourself."
Seeing that he still didn't forget to comfort herself, Tao Ti smiled at him, lifted the pot and poured some hot tea into his cup.
The slender wrist was slightly exposed, and the white jade bracelet was shining brightly in the dim light. Her gesture of adding tea was gentle and elegant, as if time was becoming longer with every move she made.
"Your Highness missed the former queen very much when you were young, right?" She said abruptly.
"..."
Pei Yan's fingertips trembled undetectably.
Quiet, very quiet.
After Tao Ti asked, she regretted it. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to know about his childhood, and for a moment forgot that the relationship between them was not close...
Maybe it's okay to ask friends, but the two of them... Are she and Pei Yan friends
It's hard for her to define it, and she won't think about it for now. Anyway, no matter what, it is a taboo in interpersonal communication to communicate lightly and deeply! I'd better apologize to myself-
"Isn't it..."
"Hmm." That pleasant voice sounded at the same time.
Tao Ti was taken aback, "...?"
Pei Yan seriously nodded and said, "I will think about it."
When I was young, I wanted to think about it very much, but when I grow up... try not to think about it.
He originally thought that the memory of the queen mother would gradually fade away with the passage of time, but he did not expect that the bond between mother and child could be so deep and so long.
Every time I think about it inadvertently, my heart will always become heavy and tormented, which is a bitterness that no bowl of soup in the world can match.
"The former queen must also miss you very much, Your Highness." Tao Ti comforted, and after a little thought, she told Pei Yan that "people will turn into stars and fly to the sky after death".
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Pei Yan laughed softly, looked at her with a pair of peach blossom eyes, and curled up her thin lips, "Gu is not a child, you should tell Xiao Liu this... maybe she will believe it."
Tao Ti, "..."
Well, she also felt that this comforting routine was too old.
Pei Yan changed the subject calmly, "Speaking of which, how did Jiang Zhuangnai do it? It made Xiao Liu cry so much that I'm a little curious."
When talking about eating Tao Ti, she has something to say, she said, "This dessert is actually very simple. Squeeze out the juice from the old ginger, cook fresh milk with sugar and rose petals, cook until small bubbles appear, and then quickly put the milk Pour it into the ginger juice, let the two ingredients collide and blend naturally. Finally, cover the bowl and wait for a quarter of an hour, then open it and it’s ready.”
Pei Yan raised his eyebrows, "From your description, you use milk to bump ginger juice, so it should be called milk bumping ginger, why is it called ginger bumping milk?"
Tao Ti, "..."
Little brother, you chatted to death again, you know.
After pondering for a moment, she explained without confidence, "It's probably called fluently, just like Roujiamo is not called Mojiarou."
Pei Yan, "What is Roujiamo?"
Tao Ti, "..." Broken mouth, this broken mouth!
She smiled mischievously, "It's like a kind of pie, I'll make it for you next time I have a chance."
In order to prevent this "curious baby" from asking any more weird questions, Tao Ti got up and said, "Let me make you a bowl of ginger milk and try it first. It's been cold and rainy recently, and ginger juice has the effect of warming the stomach and superficial heat, warming the middle and stopping vomiting." You can drink a bowl to warm your stomach, and it’s good for you.”
Pei Yan smiled lightly, "Alright, I'm sorry to trouble you."
Not long after, Pei Yan tasted the sweet, tender and smooth taste of Jiang Zhuangnai.
"The aroma of milk neutralizes the spicyness of ginger, the unique taste of ginger moderates the sweetness of milk, and the rose adds fragrance...it really is very good." He commented seriously.
The rain outside became lighter, and Pei Yan was about to leave after finishing a bowl of ginger milk.
But before leaving, he suddenly said to Tao Ti, "After the spring tax work is over, I will take you out of the palace."
Tao Ti was stunned for a moment.
Pei Yan said, "Don't you remember Gu promised you last time?"
Tao Ti nodded hurriedly, smiling, "I remember." I just didn't expect you to remember.
Pei Yan smiled at her and left.