PART 2
It wasn’t for the Empress Dowager, but for her. The Empress Dowager rarely prepared anything for her, so Zhao Yiyi’s heart tightened, staring at the tonic.
But this soup…
A prescription from the imperial physician… For women’s health…
Combining these words, Zhao Yiyi quickly deduced the purpose of the stew. A palace attendant had already served a small bowl on the desk. After thanking the Empress Dowager, Zhao Yiyi trembled as she reached for the stone-green bowl.
Up close, the smell was even stronger.
Zhao Yiyi had heard that many women in the folk, whether compelled or voluntarily, used all kinds of methods to conceive. She couldn’t help but feel fortunate that the Empress Dowager in the deep palace didn’t have access to those strange prescriptions. This was a proper tonic soup, to replenish Qi and blood, not something strange.
It was probably due to the stimulation at the banquet.
Watching her sip the soup slowly, the Empress Dowager hummed disdainfully, “I’m not saying this to you, you’ve been married to the emperor for so long, why haven’t you had any news yet?”
“You even wish me long life and happiness! What is there for me to be happy about? Everything else is secondary. Hurry up and give me a grandson, that’s the real deal!”
The Empress Dowager, coming from a prominent family, usually paid attention to her speech and behavior. Once angered, however, she would completely abandon her etiquette and decorum, saying anything that came to mind.
Zhao Yiyi dared not retort, sipping the soup with a spoon while softly responding.
A beautiful woman in a peach-red dress with colorful floral patterns beside her said softly, “Sister, don’t worry, the Empress is still young. After all, there’s no one else in the emperor’s harem. After a few more years, when the time for children comes, what should be there will be there.”
“A few more years?” The Empress Dowager raised her voice angrily, “She’s been married to the emperor for several years, when I was her age, the emperor had already almost given birth!”
It was one thing for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, but the Empress was almost twenty, how could she still be considered young?
Zhao Yiyi looked up at the woman who had spoken, meeting a pair of smiling peach blossom eyes.
This beautiful woman was the late Emperor’s Consort He. Because she was the Empress Dowager’s half-sister, she was very influential with the Empress Dowager. Zhao Yiyi suddenly remembered that it was Consort He who had mentioned the little prince and princess at the banquet.
As Consort He spoke, the Empress Dowager also thought of her son who was engrossed in government affairs and had an empty harem, and suddenly felt a terrible headache.
Consort He whispered a few words of comfort, but failed to soothe the Empress Dowager. Instead, it made her even angrier, and she scolded Zhao Yiyi for a long time.
After drinking a bowl of hot tonic soup, Zhao Yiyi had a slight sweat on her forehead, and rose to her feet according to the Empress Dowager’s instructions, “Mother, rest well, your daughter-in-law will take her leave.”
Stepping out of the door, a gust of cold wind rushed towards her. Unlike the residual snow piled up in the grass beside Jiao Fang Palace, the residual snow in Wanchun Palace had been swept away, and the setting sun shone on the glazed tiles, reflecting a golden light.
There were some vines climbing on the gray palace walls.
Zhao Yiyi walked out with Yunzhu’s support, and a cold laugh came from the hall behind her, “Look at her, she’s still like this. Your mother is really anxious.”
“Mother, why do you care so much, she doesn’t appreciate it,” Lin Chuan said casually, “Isn’t it like what Aunt said, Imperial Brother doesn’t have anyone else in his harem, when the harem is full, she will naturally know how to worry.”
The Empress Dowager’s heart stirred, nodding, “My son is right, she’s just too comfortable.”
Zhao Yiyi’s heart suddenly clenched, she quickened her pace and quickly walked out of Yuehua Gate and out of Wanchun Palace.
Only then did she feel a little relieved.
Consort He, following closely behind, also came out of Wanchun Palace, bowed, and sighed to Zhao Yiyi, “The Empress Dowager has a straightforward personality and speaks bluntly. Empress, please don’t take it to heart.”
Because she was a concubine of the late emperor and the Empress Dowager’s half-sister, Zhao Yiyi stepped aside, only half-bowed, and replied softly, “Thank you, Consort He. It is the duty of us younger generations to please our elders.”
She subtly rebuffed her. Consort He said with a smile, “Your Majesty is right, I was just thinking that Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager are mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and you can’t have a rift because of a few words. I just mentioned it casually, Your Majesty, please don’t take it to heart.”
Zhao Yiyi responded politely, thanked her, and then boarded her sedan chair and left.
Back in the palace, as she was removing her hair ornaments in front of the dressing table, the maid Mangcao sighed, “Consort He is a nice person. Today, she spoke up for Your Majesty and then comforted Your Majesty. If only the Empress Dowager were as understanding.”
A nice person?
Zhao Yiyi looked at herself in the mirror, and a cold smile suddenly appeared on her lips, neither cold nor warm, “Is that so?”
Although the Empress Dowager was not kind to her, Consort He’s words outside Wanchun Palace just now, besides inciting discord, she couldn’t think of any other explanation.
Her attitude made Mangcao hesitate, “Your Majesty…”
Yunzhu turned her head and suddenly knocked her head with a hair ornament, “Fool!”
Mangcao cried out in pain, holding her forehead and muttering, “Sister Yunzhu, it hurts.”
“It hurts, does it?” Yunzhu glared at her, “What is so good about her? At noon, she talked about those things for no reason. If you go outside Jiao Fang Palace, you would be eaten alive!”
Hearing their argument, Zhao Yiyi smiled softly, “Alright, alright, the two of you are so noisy.”
After bathing, a little palace maid brought out the Zhan Tang incense again, intending to burn it in the study, but Yunzhu stopped her.
The little palace maid hadn’t gone to Wanchun Palace today and didn’t know the reason, so she whispered, “Didn’t Your Majesty say that this should be burned these days?”
Since it involved the Empress’s reputation, Yunzhu didn’t want to say more, she just pointed to Zhao Yiyi and said, “Your Majesty doesn’t like it today.”
Zhao Yiyi glanced at the two of them and said softly, “Put it away, this incense… Don’t take it out in the future.”
Su He incense was rekindled in the study. Recalling the events of the day, Zhao Yiyi suddenly felt short of breath.
She closed her eyes, her hand holding the writing brush losing strength, and she couldn’t finish the last stroke.
Because she was preoccupied with many things and various thoughts intertwined in her mind, she felt exhausted before she had finished half of the post.
Zhao Yiyi reluctantly finished writing, put down her brush and rubbed her wrists. Yunzhu quietly entered and said softly, “Your Majesty, it’s so late, go to rest?”
Looking out through the half-open window, the moonlight was bright, like a crescent moon. Zhao Yiyi stared for a while, about to get up and return to the bedroom, when she suddenly noticed Yunzhu fiddling with her hair.
Her hair was loosely tied in a side bun, adorned with a jade hairpin.
Only when Zhao Yiyi returned to the bedroom in a thin gauze robe and saw the man half-reclined on the couch reading did she understand Yunzhu’s intention.
After being stunned for a while, Gu Zhen suddenly put down his book and looked up at her. The beauty’s hair was half-tied, and she was wearing a soft dress. Her face was like a peach blossom in spring, and her skin was like the finest white porcelain.
He raised his eyebrows, “What are you staring at Me for?”
Zhao Yiyi seemed to have only come to her senses, walked over slowly, and softly said, “Your Majesty came over, why didn’t you let anyone know?”
Looking at the man in front of her, Zhao Yiyi, who was usually not very talkative, suddenly had a strong urge to confide.
The embarrassment of being regarded by the Empress Dowager as someone who needed a tonic, Lin Chuan’s disdain and humiliation when leaving Wanchun Palace, and the subtle discussions of the ladies-in-waiting during the banquet were still echoing in her ears.
Now that it was late at night, she wanted to tell her husband her grievances, to tell him of her hardships and difficulties. She knew that Lin Chuan was protected by the Empress Dowager, and the ladies-in-waiting were only sighing and couldn’t be blamed.
But Zhao Yiyi still wanted to tell him, to let her husband know.
Gu Zhen raised his hand to rub his temples, his face full of fatigue, and said lightly, “Hmm, I was too lazy to have someone announce it. Come here, I’m a little tired today.”
He said he was tired.
Zhao Yiyi knew that he had been busy with government affairs these days. Hearing this, the ideas she had just built up suddenly crumbled.
She thought uncertainly, maybe, tomorrow… tomorrow would be better?
Author’s Note:
It’s a long chapter! Praise me!!!
I update at 9 pm every day, and any changes will be notified.