In the Qianqing Palace, noble sons and officials were summoned one after another, some stayed for a while, some stayed for a long time. The Qingning Palace was much quieter. However, it was not like usual. Most of the time, there was only the empress dowager, and few concubines came to accompany her. At most, Zhu Ying came to the palace and talked about everything. But there were two more princesses and two more county ladies.
However, even Zhu Ying sat with her head down, looking unhappy. Others either didn't like to talk, were not in the mood to talk, or didn't dare to talk, so the atmosphere naturally became stiff and stagnant. The Queen Mother had been in the palace for so many years, but she was the one who could sit still the most. She didn't care about this kind of silence, so the palace servants had to be more cautious and light-footed.
"Queen Mother, the eldest son of Duke Qin, Zhang Chen, and the second son of Duke Zhao, Zhu Tingjie, have entered together. They are the last two."
When the female official Yuquan's quiet report came from outside, Zhu Ying, who had been sitting there like a statue, suddenly came to life. She sat up straight and asked impatiently, "Aunt Yuquan, shouldn't we meet each one at a time? Why did the rule change when it came to my second brother and Zhang Chen's turn? Do you know what the emperor and Ah Shou said?"
Zhu Ying stood up while she was talking, but when she moved, a book beside her fell to the ground with a snap. Seeing Princess Yongping looking at her strangely, Princess Deyang looking as if she couldn't bear to look at it, and the two princesses staring in amazement, she picked up the book as if nothing had happened and put it directly into her sleeve.
It turned out that she was not in a daze with her head down just now, but was using this dazed posture to secretly look at a book that she brought into Qingning Palace from somewhere!
Even the Queen Mother was amused by Zhu Ying's audacious behavior. She immediately scolded her with a smile: "You are such a grown-up girl, yet you still act like a child. When you were taught by the teachers in front of Grand Tutor Ge, you, a little girl, dared to read comic books. How dare you act like this in front of me now!"
I didn't say anything to you when I saw you just now, but you actually revealed such a flaw in public. Aren't you asking for trouble
Zhu Ying then laughed awkwardly, then whispered, "I came to the palace today and wanted to go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to watch the fun, but my grandmother said that the Empress Dowager would definitely not let me go, so I was afraid of being bored, so I brought a book to read. In fact, I have already finished reading it, it has been more than two hours, and I have read it three times!"
"You still blame me for not letting you go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to watch the fun?" The Queen Mother was simply furious at Zhu Ying's audacity. As for the fact that Mrs. Zhao knew that she would not let anyone go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, she was not surprised. At the moment, she did not bother to ask about the situation in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, and just shouted with a stern face, "What kind of messed-up book are you reading? Bring it to me and let me see it!"
"That won't do!" Zhu Ying hid her right hand behind her back without saying a word, and said in a naughty manner, "You would definitely scold me if you knew! Besides, it's just an outline, the story isn't even complete yet!" If the empress dowager knew that she had sent someone to trick the Twelve Rains in Tingyu Cottage into giving it to them, and that they had each written a draft of Peach Blossom Fan, telling the story of the head of a brothel, wouldn't they be scolded to death