C319 Chalcedony (8)

Aunt Zhong flipped through her old calendar and intentionally helped Mu Fengchai dress up on the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar. She was dressed in pink with a bun, and through her contacts, she had long since found out Su Ruirui's itinerary and planned how he would make his move today. She had already planned this beforehand so she naturally would not go and make an appointment with Guo Xiufen and Zhang Shuya.

Of course, the two of them had already accepted his favor.

"Hehe, Xia Ye, quick, look, those chrysanthemums are blooming so beautifully!" Mu Fengchai, whose slender waist was covered by a fan, looked at a bunch of chrysanthemums. The corner of her mouth curled up into a gentle smile, and when she lowered her head to smell it, she revealed a fine jade like neck.

"Xiao Sangsang!" Just as Su Ruirui was passing by the imperial garden.

Fan Yingde was so worried that his eyebrows were scrunched up as if he was about to pinch a mosquito to death.

Su Ruirui turned the thumb ring, and walked towards the young lady.

"Xiao Sangsang!" He reached out and grabbed the girl's arm.

The girl's face turned pale with fright as she looked back at him. She then smiled and replied cheerfully, "Your majesty!" Then she smiled mischievously at him.

Su Ruirui's eyes flashed with a look of loss, and then he said: "We were wrong, you are Sang'er's cousin?"

Mu Fengchai could feel his gaze on her face. She was obviously looking at her, but she knew that he had only seen her cousin through her.

He sighed lightly in his heart and put away the admiration he had for him. He slightly blessed his body and said, "Greetings, your majesty. This concubine's cousin's name does indeed have the word mulberry in it."

The more she understood, the more she understood why her cousin was so angry at the time. This kind of man had said that he was born without any intentions, but he had the heart to say that he had feelings, and it was the most heartless of all.

"Your majesty was in Jingyuan before, but your concubine has seen your majesty before."

"Tranquil Garden?" Su Ruirui thought back to it, then realized, that the little girl was only eleven or twelve years old at that time, just a few years old, yet she was as pretty as a jade now.

His gaze landed on her beautiful bun, which was still girl's hairstyle. Suddenly, he seemed to see Mu Rousang standing in front of him, and smiled at him.

"Fan Yingde."

"Your servant is here!" Fan Yingde walked out from behind him, walked to Mu Fengchai and smiled: "Baolin Mu, congratulations, go back and pack up, we will be sleeping at the Qing Gong Palace tonight."

Mu Fengchai turned and left with her body once again. Seeing him turn around and leave, the corners of her mouth curled up even more.

Aunt Zhong extended a hand to help her up and whispered, "Baolin, congratulations."

"This is only the beginning. We still have a lot to do." The clarity in Mu Fengchai's eyes had disappeared, there was only a flicker of light.

"It's good that the Baolin is like this. This servant has seen the friendship in the emperor's eyes." Aunt Zhong smiled.

"Aunt, the Emperor looks at someone else." Mu Fengchai was very disappointed.

Aunt Zhong stopped smiling and said: "Baolin, in the palace, the thing you can't trust is friendship, and the thing you can't rely on is kindness. The thing you can't lose is your own heart, you … Baolin's older cousin is really smart. "

Mu Fengchai's smile became more genuine as she replied, "That's why she became a cinnabar mole."

"Baolin is fine too, do you want me to continue being your substitute?" Aunt Zhong asked again.

Mu Fengchai replied with a smile, "No matter how much you like him, he's just an image, there's no place for him. I've never thought of replacing him.

Aunt Zhong could not understand what Mu Fengchai was thinking.

"Auntie only needs to understand that I want to ascend to the position of a concubine. Only then will Aunt's life be better." The more Mu Fengchai saw, the more she understood that in her heart, only her cousin was good. In this huge imperial harem, she would have even more of a chance to climb up and sit in the position of a concubine. Only then would she be able to take care of her family.

After receiving her kindness, Mu Fengchai did not end up like the previous Li Yulan, who was pampered, like a small stone thrown into water, which only created a few water droplets. In the following days, Mu Fengchai lived like a sheep, and the emperor Su Ruirui also seemed to have forgotten about her.

Only Mu Fengchai knew clearly that it was impossible for Su Ruirui to forget her. That night, she had always heard Su Ruirui calling her cousin's name.

In her heart, there was always a trace of bitterness flowing, but she no longer made an extravagant request.

When the snow fell on the yellow glazed tiles to form a thick flocculation, the winter solstice has approached.

Since the day of Mu Fengchai's grace, she had been carried into the Palace again. She could not be considered to be favoured, but the Emperor still remembered her.

The people in the imperial harem saw that she was not being pampered, so no one came to pick on her.

On this day, she was embroidering flowers next to the smokebox in her room. Ever since winter, she had been working as a woman ever since.

Xia Ye brewed a cup of warm tea for her, while Mu Fengchai embroidered some flowers on it and chatted with them for a while.

"Baolin, tell these servants about what happened to you when you were in the south." Xia Lu was a true person from the Northern Lands. Growing up in the Northern Lands, she could not imagine how vivid the four seasons were in the south. She could not imagine how beautiful the spring days were, how hot the summer days were, how happy the autumn days were, or how idle the winter days were.

As a result, whenever she was free, she would always pester Mu Fengchai and talk about the matters in the south the most.

"That's right, it's almost the winter solstice, right? Summer night, get someone to prepare some three fresh dumplings. Speaking of dumplings, not only do the people of the north love to eat them, but also the people of the south."

Mu Fengchai thought of the delicious dumplings she had eaten for the first time and laughed: "Speaking of dumplings, I like the one that my cousin personally packaged the most. I don't know why, but I keep having the feeling that her hands are so clever.

Xia Ye quipped: "That's because Baolin has special respect for Mme Marquis Wen."

"That's not the reason, it's because my cousin is very good at cooking." Mu Fengchai remembered her dumplings and felt his mouth becoming full of saliva. Now, in the palace, even the birds in cages couldn't go to his elder cousin's place to act coquettish and make her make him a dumpling with her own hands.

Thinking of this, her mood became even more gloomy.

When I was young, my family was very poor, and my mother was still fine, so she would always feel sorry for us, just that my father didn't need to be mentioned. At that time, I often hoped that my cousin would have some free time and could make some dumplings, then ask my brother to take me over.

Hearing that, Aunt Zhong pursed her lips and smiled: "No matter what Baolin says, no one would be able to tell that he came from a poor and poor family."

Mu Fengchai replied: "Speaking of which, it's all thanks to my elder cousin, I don't know which god gave birth to her, but she is much smarter than the average person. At that time, my uncle and aunt had passed away a long time ago, and my cousin's life was very popular with her, it's just a pity that my uncle and aunt Fu Bo."

Aunt Zhong continued, "I originally only knew that Baolin was from the countryside, but I also knew that Baolin's cousin was Master Zuo's niece. Never would I have thought that Baolin suffered a lot when he was young."

She finally understood why the Baolin in front of her was so much more composed and intelligent than the average person.

"I am considered good, but my big sister who pitied me... "It's a good thing that my brother did his best."

When Mu Fengchai mentioned the not too deep impression of Mu Feng'er, she felt a wave of pity.

"Baolin, the Aunt Cui in the empress dowager's palace is here."

Outside, a small figure lifted the curtain and called softly into the room.

Mu Fengchai and Aunt Zhong looked at each other, she immediately put down the embroidery shed in her hands, and shouted towards the outside: "It's too cold outside, quickly invite Aunt Cui into the house to warm us up."

Without her permission, Xia Ye and Xia Lu hurriedly poured tea and moved stools over.

With all this work, the steward of the palace, the Aunt Cui, had already entered.

Aunt Zhong quickly went up to welcome him.

"Aunt Cui, may I ask why Esteemed Empress Dowager is looking for my Baolin?" Without leaving a trace, Aunt Zhong took out a purse from her sleeve and handed it over to her.

Aunt Cui was the first to not make a sound. She squinted her eyes slightly and secretly pinched the small bag. She estimated that it was about two taels of silver.

She was slightly surprised in her heart. Even though this Mu Baolin was the wife of the Wen Bo Hou, she really couldn't see that she was a person who kept her words to herself. Her actions were actually so generous.

The people of the palace watched as the dishes were served the most. Aunt Zhong's actions immediately drew the Aunt Cui closer to them, and the smile on her face became more genuine.

"Speaking of which, it's also a joyous occasion. This is why when the empress dowager heard that the cousin of the Wen Bo Hou who saved the emperor at that time had some similarities with him in this harem, she wanted to invite the Baolin to visit the empress dowager's palace and tell her how the Mme Marquis Wen saved the emperor all those years ago."

The Aunt Cui glanced at Mu Fengchai again and reminded him, "The empress dowager was happy when she said that, but unfortunately, the Mme Marquis Wen was still young then, and the emperor was a roasted man. It was only after listening to the rumors for the past two days that the empress dowager realized that such a place existed."

The empress dowager didn't know that it was Mu Rousang who saved Su Ruirui, so she must have known. It was just that for some reason, she pretended not to hear him, and didn't mention him at all.

Or could it be that the world was already at peace, or perhaps the words Mu Fengchai said to Zhang Shuya that day was really in accordance with her elder's heart?!

Mu Fengchai guessed in her mind as she replied with a smile on her face, "I will pack up and go pay respects to the empress dowager."

She was just a Baolin and didn't have the qualifications to follow those concubines to the empress dowager's palace everyday to pay respects to this old man.

The Aunt Cui was probably because she was generous and was in a good mood. She said, "Baolin has seen the empress dowager, so he shouldn't say anything to coax the empress dowager into being happy. Naturally, you have your own benefits."

Mu Fengchai's bright eyes flashed slightly, before she continued to smile bashfully, "The empress dowager is the current emperor's biological mother.

The Aunt Cui expressed praise on her face as she smiled more amiably. "Baolin can go over after cleaning up. This servant will first go back to report to Esteemed Empress Dowager."

Mu Fengchai answered and asked Aunt Zhong to send Aunt Cui out.

From time to time, Aunt Zhong would return to the room, where she saw that Mu Fengchai was only wearing a woolen robe with a bottom of grass embroidered with orchids, her hair was stuck in a rose-red ruby, pink pearls were stuck in his ears, his waist was covered with dark green palace sash, it was hollow like a chrysanthemum pendant, his eyes were like clear spring water, beautiful yet unattractive.

Aunt Zhong nodded in approval. "Baolin's dressing is very good."

He had a good sense of propriety.

Even the most respected woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty would not like the seductive woman beside her son.

Even if that person was the current emperor, that wouldn't do.