The sedan chair suddenly stopped. Jiang Changning was startled. The emperor actually blocked her on the road!
"Princess, it's the Queen." Xiaochun reported.
Jiang Changning breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did she realize that the queen was sitting in a pavilion not far in front of her on the left. She frowned slightly, got off the sedan chair, and walked towards the pavilion.
"Jiang from Prince Jin's Mansion meets the Empress Dowager and pays her respects to the Empress Dowager." Jiang Changning suspected that the Empress and the Emperor were birds of a feather and were playing tricks by calling themselves names instead of using the usual ways.
Although this is not very useful, it can still annoy people.
She is unhappy, so why should the other party be happy
“There’s no need to be so polite, Princess Jin.” The Queen held her hands in support.
Jiang Changning stood up straight, smiling calmly, his eyes cold.
"This palace is too spacious. Princess Jin rarely comes to the palace. I'm afraid that she will get lost and go to a place where women shouldn't go. I came here specially to accompany her. She won't refuse, right?"
The Queen's words made Jiang Changning startled at first, then delighted, with a faint smile in his eyes. He had to use the help that came to him voluntarily. "With the Queen accompanying us, no one will lead us astray."
Jiang Changning, accompanied by the Queen, entered the Fushou Palace.
"The Queen is here!" The Queen Mother did not like her daughter-in-law. The Queen was not chosen by her, but by the meritorious officials who pushed the Emperor to the throne.
"I heard that mother got a painting by a famous artist, and I also want to take a look at it to broaden my horizons," said the queen with a smile.
The Queen Mother summoned Jiang Changning to the palace to appreciate famous calligraphy and paintings, but it was just an excuse. She mainly wanted to ask about the situation in Prince Jin's Mansion.
The Queen's interference made it impossible for the Queen Mother to speak out some words. She held her anger and ordered the palace maid to bring a painting.
There were many things in the Empress Dowager's storeroom, so the maid picked up a painting at random and brought it in.
When he unfolded it, Jiang Changning almost couldn't help laughing out loud.
This painting, "Pine and Crane for Longevity", is clearly a birthday gift presented by the Prince of Jin's Mansion to the Empress Dowager on the Qianqiu Festival.
Taking the gift sent by Prince Jin's Mansion and summoning Princess Jin to the palace to taste it, what is the purpose
"This painting." Jiang Changning deliberately looked at it for a moment, "It looks familiar to me."
"It doesn't look familiar. This is a birthday gift from the Prince of Jin's Mansion to my mother." The Queen also disliked the Queen Mother. She was the master of the harem, but the Queen Mother was above her and interfered in palace affairs everywhere.
The Queen Mother's expression was quite interesting.
It was Gao Yanyun who came to her rescue. "The queen has been admiring this painting these days. When the palace servants heard that the queen wanted a painting, they mistakenly thought that the queen wanted this painting."
The Queen Mother's expression softened. "Go and get that painting of Hibiscus and Peacock."
"Yes, your majesty." Gao Yanyun went to the storehouse to find the "Hibiscus and Peacock" painting.
"Hibiscus and Peacock" was painted by Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. It depicts hibiscus, pheasants, butterflies and chrysanthemums.
There is also a poem written by Huizong on it: The autumn is strong and resists the frost. The chicken with a tall crown and colorful feathers has all the five virtues. It is more comfortable than ducks and herons.
In the painting, a hibiscus branch extends from the left, with a golden pheasant perched on the branch, two colorful butterflies chasing and playing in the upper right corner, and a bunch of autumn chrysanthemums dancing in the wind in the lower left corner.
Two hibiscus flowers were half-opened gracefully. A golden pheasant suddenly flew to the branch of the hibiscus, bending the branch and breaking the tranquility.
The branches trembled slightly, but the golden pheasant paid no attention to it and turned its head to look at the pair of dancing butterflies.
The whole painting has clear layers, alternating between sparse and dense, and is full of the vitality of autumn.
Although Song Huizong was a foolish and incompetent emperor, he had profound attainments in calligraphy and painting, much better than a certain emperor who was known as the Ten Perfects.
However, history changed in the middle period of the Liao Dynasty. Due to the rebellion of the brothers, the Liao Dynasty was divided into three parts, and then it was unified by Gui Jun, who established the Gui Kingdom.
At the end of the Gui Kingdom, people were living in poverty. The Helian clan rose up and seized power, which led to the end of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties that Jiang Changning was familiar with.
"Chun'an, what do you think of this painting of Hibiscus and Peacock?" asked the Queen Mother.
The Queen also praised it: "The colors are bright, elegant and noble, showing the royal grace and wealth."
"This peacock is beautifully painted, with gorgeous feathers," said the Queen Mother.
The queen continued, "Yes, the chicken's feathers are really well painted. Look at the yellow feathers on the chicken's head. They look fluffy. The feathers on the tail are long and hard, dense but not messy."
The Queen Mother frowned, but continued as she meant to say: "A chicken is a chicken. Even if it has gorgeous feathers, it is still a chicken. It is not like the phoenix, which is the king of birds."
These words were meaningful, and Jiang Changning understood that they were a warning to her.
She is a human being, not a chicken, and she disdains to be a phoenix.
But she knew that if she didn't respond, the Queen Mother would continue to nag and would keep summoning her to the palace.
"Chickens have chicken coops and phoenixes have phoenix nests. Although chickens are ordinary, they are virtuous birds. As the saying goes, it is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
The Queen Mother's expression changed slightly. She didn't expect Jiang Changning to be out of control.
At this time, the queen even agreed, "The chicken is a lucky bird, this poor phoenix is not as good as a chicken."
Jiang Changning doesn’t want to enter the palace, this is a good thing!
The shameless old man helped his son do such a dirty and despicable thing. He is indeed a despicable person who uses his sex to please the king.
Jiang Changning was out of control, the Queen Mother was already furious, and the Queen's words were just adding fuel to the fire.
What does it mean that a fallen phoenix is worse than a chicken
Don’t you know that the emperor is a dragon and the queen is a phoenix
The Queen Mother said angrily, "If you can't speak, just shut up."
The Queen was now even more certain that the Queen Mother was helping the Emperor to pimp. She felt ashamed and said stubbornly, "That's what people often say."
What I mean is, she didn't say anything wrong.
Seeing that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were about to quarrel, Jiang Changning happily withdrew and watched the show from the side.
"The phoenix is a divine beast, while the chicken is just a domestic poultry. How can they be compared?" The Queen Mother concluded that the phoenix was nobler than the chicken.
When she was a concubine, what she envied and wanted to wear the most was the queen's bright yellow phoenix robe.
After she became the empress dowager, all her clothes were embroidered with phoenix patterns.
The Queen thought that the Queen Mother was trying to persuade Jiang Changning to enter the palace. Concubines could not wear the phoenix robe, only the Queen could.
Does the Queen Mother want Jiang Changning to replace her and become the Queen
In the previous dynasty, there was a married woman who changed her name and entered the harem and became an imperial concubine.
The queen was angry. She had been managing the palace affairs diligently for all these years as queen. Even if she had no merit, she had worked hard, right
The Queen Mother wants to seize her position as Queen, no way!
"Chicken and phoenix are the same thing with two names. In the Biography of Filial Sons, it says, 'Shun's father dreamed of a phoenix that named itself chicken while sleeping at night.' And the Correct Law also says that in the time of Emperor Huangdi, the phoenix was called chicken." The queen quoted from the classics.
The Queen Mother's face turned completely cold, and she said sarcastically: "The Queen has read a lot of books."
"My grandfather once said: Reading can make you wise, understanding the truth is to cultivate oneself, and cultivating oneself is to be a good person." The Queen pointed to the Queen Mother.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law talked to each other, and they both hated each other from the bottom of their hearts. Jiang Changning became calm, and in order to prevent them from remembering her, she quietly looked at the paintings aside.
(End of this chapter)