The Empress Dowager looked gloomy at the little eunuch who buried her face. Her tense face made it hard to see what was going on in her heart. Was she angry from shame, angry from shame, or angry from embarrassment...
After all, Emperor Chongde was a dutiful son. He couldn't bear the Empress Dowager's embarrassment, coughed lightly, and asked majesticly, "What's going on? How is the Su Palace now?"
The eunuch replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, this is the news sent by the steward Qin of Su Wang's mansion, and the slave is not very clear about it."
Emperor Chongde asked some more questions, but the eunuch didn't say anything in detail, so he waved him down.
In the Chonghua Palace, there was once again silence.
Emperor Chongde looked at the Queen Mother, showed a faint smile, and said, "Queen Mother, let's let go of choosing a concubine for Ba Ning for the time being." Emperor Chongde knew the Queen Mother's knot, so he didn't let her give up immediately the meaning of. Although, as a good brother, he actually hopes that his younger brother can hug him left and right, and enjoy everything a man has. But more, I hope he lives happily.
The queen mother's expression tightened, she squeezed the round fan in her hand, and said displeasedly: "What is this? It was just an accident! What does it have to do with my son?!" The dead maid died at an inappropriate time, isn't this embarrassing? (Empress Dowager, life and death are fate! It is wrong to blame a dead person!)
Emperor Chongde sighed in his heart, the empress dowager's stubbornness made him helpless. She and Chu Baning were not the ones making such a fuss, Emperor Chongde felt that it was really unnecessary. However, after a few words of persuasion, Emperor Chongde saw that the Empress Dowager did not change her mind, so she stopped talking and left Chonghua Palace on the grounds that there were still memorials to be approved.
After Emperor Chongde left, the more the Empress Dowager thought about it, the more she felt uneasy. Amidst the chilling silence of a group of court ladies and nuns, she angrily swept the pictures of ladies on the table to the ground, rubbed her chest and gasped for breath, feeling both angry and angry. Anger, and some disappointment.
The queen mother really couldn't figure out what evil Chu Baning had done to bear such an ominous fate, it was as if she had slapped her in the face.
Perhaps, she should be thankful that the eldest son has become the emperor now, and no one dares to shame her, otherwise if the late emperor was still there... the queen mother shuddered, and quickly threw away this idea, and asked the mother to bring the prayer beads and start to chant Come, seek peace of mind.
The Empress Dowager originally wanted to invite Ananda into the palace to ask for clarification, but when she remembered the rumors that King Su "kept his wife" was circulating outside, if she did this, wouldn't it make those gossips more talkative? So he put out that thought very quickly, and decided to wait until Princess Su enters the palace on the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year to greet her.
Coincidentally, Concubine Shu's birthday will be in a few days, Ananda, as a younger sister, will definitely enter the palace to give Concubine Shu a birthday gift, and will come to pay her respects at that time. In this way, the queen mother suppressed the urge to recruit people.
On the other side, after Emperor Chongde left Chonghua Palace, he summoned Eunuch Liu, the eunuch in charge, and ordered, "Go and find out what's going on, and come back and report to me!"
Eunuch Liu snorted and left.
When Emperor Chongde sat in the main hall of Zichen Palace and read the scriptures for a while, Eunuch Liu finally came back.
"Your Majesty, the matter is like this..." Eunuch Liu said what he knew.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongde smiled lightly and said, "Another coincidence?" He pondered for a while with lowered eyes, and then asked again: "Is Princess Su okay now?"
Eunuch Liu bowed and replied: "Concubine Su looks very good. Butler Qin said that she can eat and sleep, she is in good spirits, and is very healthy!"
Emperor Chongde pursed his lips and smiled, "It seems that Princess Su is indeed a blessed one! Eunuch Liu, do you think I want people to go to the gambling house to place bets again so that I can make more money?"
Eunuch Liu also smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Su will be angry if he knows."
When Emperor Chongde heard this, he thought of his younger brother's serious face, and immediately dismissed the idea.
"It's just that I don't know how long this blessing can last." Emperor Chongde knocked on the table, sighed, and said: "Continue to protect Princess Su, if Princess Ruosu has something... Tell them there is no need to live. "
"Hey!"
***********
The accidental death of a little court lady did not change anything in the palace, no matter if it was the master or the servant, they could do whatever they were supposed to do.
In the days when the autumn wind suddenly blows, the sun is dim and the sky is gray.
Ru Cui was wiping the table with a rag, looked at the sky outside the window, and muttered: "It's really bad luck, why choose this time to die, isn't it against us..."
Ananda glanced at her, lay comfortably on the chaise longue, turned over and continued reading.
Ru Cui wiped it for a while, and when she felt bored, she put away the dishcloth and put it away, and said in front of Ananda, "Hey, miss, the game outside has changed again, do we want to place another bet?"
"What did it become again?" Ananda was already unable to think about what kind of gamble those idlers had played. Every time she listened to it, it always made her feel pained.
Ru Cui said with a smile: "Of course we bet on when the remaining two women will die~Miss, shall we bet on their death or their survival?" Ru Cui chattered for a while, and then proposed with great interest : "Miss, let's bet on them too! Little three and little four are too shameful, they should be thundered!"
Ru Lan just came in at this time, and when she heard Ru Cui's words, she scolded: "What nonsense are you talking about?! Be careful, the mother in charge, tie your mouth, and see if you dare to chew your tongue."
Ru Cui hurriedly stood up properly, with a serious expression on her face. Rucui is not afraid of Ananda, but is more afraid of Rulan. She thinks Rulan is too serious, and her beautiful eyes stare, which always makes people feel frightened.
Ru Lan came in with a tray, on which was a medicine cup.
"Sister Rulan, what is this?" Rucui asked curiously.
Ananda also put down the scroll, curious as well.
Ru Lan glanced at the curious expressions of both master and servant, pursed her lips and said, "Cook Liu from the kitchen made the medicinal meal for the princess."
Ananda looked surprised: "Medicinal diet? Is it for me? If you are not sick or in pain, what kind of medicinal diet should I take?" One of the things Ananda is most proud of is that he was a healthy baby since he was a child. After the age of seven, she has never been sick, not even a small cold, unlike those pampered boudoir girls who suffer from dizziness or neuralgia every day! In fact, it can be said that this girl is too nervous, even if she becomes an ancient boudoir lady whose personal freedom is restricted, she still eats and sleeps well, and is extremely healthy.
Ru Lan twitched the corners of her eyes, and tried very hard to suppress the feeling of powerlessness, and felt sincere sympathy for their prince in her heart: how sad it is to be so obsessed with a rough-headed bastard!
"My servant heard from Butler Qin that Chef Liu was awarded by the emperor to His Royal Highness King Su's royal cook. He used to be very popular with women in the palace. It is said that he can make various health-preserving medicinal meals, and the taste is also full of praise. Concubine, you have worked hard these days, you should make up for it, there is no harm anyway, right?" Ru Lan added clearly.
Ananda blinked, when did he work hard? It is her family's prince and husband who have worked hard.
"Princess, eat it while it's hot!" Rulan quickly filled a small bowl and brought it to Ananda.
Chef Liu deserved to be an imperial cook, the medicinal food he made didn't have the slightest medicinal taste, but rather delicious. In his previous life, Ananda's stomach, fed up with various modern diets and various seasonings, could hardly accept these relatively monotonous foods in ancient times. Although it is natural and pollution-free, there are only a few kinds of seasonings, and it is really impossible to make much food.
When Ananda ate half a bowl, he finally came to his senses and asked, "Is that what the prince meant?"
Ru Lan nodded, feeling relieved, and sighed: It's really not easy! The rough-natured person finally reacted.
Ananda lowered his head to drink the soup, his face was full of black lines, and he roared in his heart: Isn't it clear that he was afraid of the girl's death, so he hurriedly stuffed her with medicinal food? It's really so special that it makes people feel awkward and godlike!
After eating the medicinal meal, Ananda felt his stomach was full, and he probably didn't need to eat at noon.
Ananda was full, and was afraid that he would have a small belly if he sat down to rest, so he took the maids to the yard to have a snack.
Ananda walked around a tall hazel tree in the yard, looked at the hazelnuts on the tree, and thought that when it was ripe, let the servants pick it off and taste the taste. The hazel tree is also called mountain chestnut, sharp chestnut, beetle, etc. The fruit of the hazel tree, the hazelnut, is a good thing. The nuts are fat, white, round, fragrant, and contain a lot of oil. They taste particularly delicious and have a lingering aftertaste. One of the most popular nut foods, it has the title of "King of Nuts", and it is also called "Four Big Nuts" together with almonds, walnuts and cashews. Every year when the hazelnuts are ripe, Ananda will have a delicious meal.
When Ananda was yelling at Hazelnut, Madam An came over, stood one meter away from her and bowed respectfully. Ananda cried out quickly, and looked at Nanny An strangely. Nanny An is the nanny who serves Chu Baning, and can be regarded as the nanny who took care of Chu Baning when she grew up. Before Ananda married, Nanny An was responsible for Chu Baning's food and clothing. Even now that Ananda is married, Nanny An still enjoys a high level of leadership, and even Ananda has to respect her a bit.
"Nurse An, what's the matter?" Ananda asked kindly, and she wanted to give good looks to the old people around King Su.
Nanny An nodded, and said, "Princess, the two girls in Dongzang Courtyard wanted to find you, please be the master for them. But the slaves stopped them."
Hearing the word "Dongzangyuan", Ananda was a little nervous, because the dead Shiqing lived in Dongzangyuan, needless to say, the two girls who wanted to ask her to make decisions were the only ones left. Two court ladies.
"What do they want me to be the master of?" Ananda frowned and asked, and then found the flash of anger on Nanny An's face, which made her extremely surprised. Nanny An, like King Su, kept a straight face all day long, looking very calm, as if there was nothing she couldn't solve, and the standard standard was that there are slaves as there are masters. Therefore, Ananda felt that the rare things that made Madam An angry must be very annoying.
Mother An's face was expressionless, and her voice was extremely serious: "The two girls want to ask you to be the master and let them come to serve you. They said that it's fine to be a slave or a handmaid, and they don't want to stay in the yard and be the master."
When Ananda heard this, his face darkened, the two of them clearly felt that they would be crushed to death, and they would rather be a maid than take on the identity of a Su Wang's woman. In this era of strict hierarchy, many servants try their best to climb up, just hoping to have a decent status, which is better than being a slave who can be beaten and killed. And the fact that those two maids were sent here shows that they also have the heart to climb up, but because of the death of a court lady, they panicked and made a fuss, which is really annoying.
Ananda hated him very much, and said angrily, "Nurse, go and tell them that they were given by the queen mother, they are not ordered by slaves, just stay well!" Ananda was very depressed, very sad for Chu Baning, If he knew that those two had made a fuss, he wouldn't know how uncomfortable it would be.
"Also, mammy, you send a few nanny to guard the Dongzang courtyard, so that they don't come out to wander around when they have nothing to do! Also, let the guarding mammy know the rules and don't talk nonsense. Who dares to talk nonsense Rubbish gossip everywhere, Ben Gong was directly beaten to death."
Nanny An responded, bowed to Ananda and left.
Anan was out of breath, lost his mood and turned to the courtyard, took Rulan Rucui back to the room and spread it directly on a chaise longue in the room.
Ananda sat on the imperial concubine chair and asked Rucui to bring her memorandum book. This is a memo written by Ananda before she learned the characters of this era. It uses modern simplified characters to write down some important things she thinks, such as the names of her family members in her previous life, and the names of novels or movies she found interesting in her previous life. , the streets I liked to walk in the previous life... and the names of relatives in this life and their birthdays, what happened on the road of growth... It's just a few strokes, but it's almost a book.
Ananda flipped through the page until she found the page of her relatives and sisters in this life, and then her eyes stayed on the birthday of her eldest sister in this life, and murmured: "It turns out that the day after tomorrow is my eldest sister's birthday... Well, we should prepare for her birthday." It's a gift."
Ananda asked Rulan to remember this matter, thinking of entering the palace to give Concubine Shu a birthday gift, she would inevitably go to pay her respects to the queen mother-in-law, and then be picky about her birth and appearance by the noble mother-in-law, Ananda blocked her Tone—Birth and appearance are not something she can choose! Since you don't like her background so much, why did you insist on marrying her? Isn't this tossing around
Ananda despised the empress dowager's unkindness, and quickly left it behind. After all, without the queen mother's cross-cutting, she would not be able to marry a prince and husband who made her very satisfied. Seeing Chu Baning's face, Ananda decided to be a filial daughter-in-law, so she didn't want to run on her mother-in-law's inconsistent behavior in her heart .
Ananda flipped through the memo page by page, looking at the above records, as if he saw the well-behaved girl in the previous life, the well-behaved and quiet concubine daughter of the prime minister's mansion in this life...
After looking at it for a while, Ananda asked Ru Cui to grind the ink, picked up a Langhao pen, and solemnly wrote the three characters "Chu Baning" on a clean sheet of paper.
The fine sandalwood ink smudges on the paper, exuding an ancient ink fragrance.
The ink dries slowly, and the name remains clearly on the yellowed paper, as if it is also printed on her heart.