Madam Hou

Chapter 66

The third prince's three baptisms, according to the second prince's example, were neither overpowering nor low-key.

On the day of the three rites, because Yan Niang was still confinement, she did not come out to see the ceremony.Among the other wives, Bai Guifei wrote to ask for leave on the grounds that she wanted to take care of the sick second prince. It seemed that Bai Guifei was unwilling to give the third prince a face, but the reason was absolutely true.A few days ago, Concubine Bai Gui neglected her own child because she paid too much attention to the birth of the other palace's children, and the maids who served her did not take good care of her for a while, which made the second prince suffer from the cold and develop a high fever. The night before yesterday, the imperial doctor almost They all issued critical illness notices, but the second prince was lucky enough to survive.For this reason, Li and Gong Zhang killed the three court ladies, and it is heard that the smell of blood has not dissipated yet.

Since Concubine Shu was deprived of the right to be in charge of the Sixth Palace, and her mother's family was ordered by the emperor, she has become much more low-key in the harem. She usually stays in Ronghua Palace and does not go out. When she comes out occasionally, she will be low-key and virtuous. There is a way, and the arrogant arrogance like a peacock has long since disappeared.But because of this, Concubine Shu made the emperor feel more sympathetic, and occasionally went to sit in Concubine Shu's palace.She also attended the third baptism of the third prince today, but she used herself as a background board in a very low-key manner. She didn't take the initiative to summon the foreign wives to speak, and she also showed little interest in the foreign wives who came to strike up a conversation.

On the other hand, some newcomers, because they were more curious about how the three baptisms in the palace were done, and because they were the queen's adopted son, they couldn't attend, so they came very neatly.

The queen took the third prince out to meet the married woman, and performed three baptisms.The wives also know that the prince's name as the son of the Tian family is basically a matter of iron nails, so he is praised with all his strength. In short, it is all the good things you can think of in this world. They will be said by the wives in turn.The queen embraced the third prince, and listened to others' compliments on the third prince. No matter whether the praise was accurate or not, she really felt the honor.

The third prince was born healthy, and after opening his eyes, his appearance gradually opened.Her eyes are dark, her skin is pink and healthy, except for a mole at the corner of her eye that looks like an emperor, other places look like Yan Niang. ——In short, our third prince is definitely the most beautiful among all the princes since the founding of Dayan, not one of them.

Who doesn't love beautiful children, even the emperor, because the third prince is raised in Fengyi Palace, the number of times he comes to Fengyi Palace has increased.

That night, the queen and the nanny coaxed the second prince to sleep, then went out of the inner room and sat on the kang, took a cup of hot tea from Qingzhu, and took a sip.At this moment, the maid guarding the door suddenly came in to announce that the concubine Chen was asking to see her outside Fengyi Palace.

The queen thought that Yanniang was still in confinement, and it was freezing outside, so she hurriedly said: "Please come in quickly."

Yanniang came in supported by painted pottery. The queen saw that she was wearing layers of jackets, almost wrapped herself into a ball, and she was also covered with a white mink fur coat, a hood, and sable clothes on her hands. Zhaojun set made by Mao.After entering, Yanniang took off the Zhaojun cover in her hand and handed it to the painted pottery next to her, and took off the hat on her head, revealing two pale faces.Yanniang walked up to the queen, smiled and bowed her knees to say hello: "Greetings to the empress."

The queen said: "Come here and warm up on the kang. It's freezing outside, and you're still confinement, so you don't have to worry about the evil wind entering your body and hurting your body. If you have anything, let the maid come and tell me." , why come out in person.” Although there was some reprimand in the tone of the words, they also contained deep concern.

Yan Niang asked someone to take off her big coat, she was supported by Cai Tao and walked over to sit on the kang, then she smiled at the Empress and said: "Because I have something to ask Niang Niang, naturally it is sincere to come here in person."

The queen said: "What's the matter first? I won't agree to anything related to foreign courts."

The queen knew that Yanniang always cared about her body, and usually she would not even be willing to compete for favor with other concubines with minor illnesses and pains, but she didn't know what she asked for today, even her body was ignored.During confinement, I braved the cold wind and came to Fengyi Palace.

Yanniang said: "The concubine wants to ask the empress for a favor. My sister's wedding will be in a few days. I want to ask the empress to spend some jewelry to add makeup to my sister so that the wedding will be more dignified."

After hearing this, the queen understood what Concubine Chen was thinking. She was just afraid that her husband's family would bully her precious sister, and wanted to use her power to intimidate the Yongning Houfu.After all, it is because of low background and lack of confidence.But this kind of thing is nothing to her, and she is happy to give Yanniang a favor.

The queen said: "I don't know what it is, it's simple." Then she said to Qingzhu who was waiting beside her: "I remember that there is a jade pomegranate carved from suet jade in the warehouse, which was carved from a whole piece of suet jade. The one the size of a washbasin, you go find it."

A jade pomegranate the size of a washbasin carved from a whole piece of mutton fat jade is really unusually precious, and the value is different. It is such a thing carved from a complete piece of mutton fat jade, which is like a treasure house. Home, that is also very rare.Yanniang didn't expect the empress to export such a precious thing, she was flattered and said: "Your Majesty, this is too precious, I feel ashamed to accept it."

The queen waved her hand and said indifferently: "I put these things here and piled them up in the warehouse to create dust. I also like Yinniang's child. Pomegranate means many children and blessings. It is also appropriate to give it to Yinniang to add makeup."

The empress has already mentioned this point, Yanniang couldn't postpone it any longer, so she had to thank the empress again: "I thank empress for the reward on Yinniang's behalf."

The queen said: "After the wedding, let Lin Shizi bring Yinniang into the palace for me to see, maybe I haven't seen her for a long time."

Yan Niang said: "Definitely let her personally show some kindness to your mother."

The two talked for a while, and were talking about some matters in the harem, the third prince suddenly woke up in the inner room, and then burst into tears.When Yanniang heard the crying from the inner room, she was stunned for a moment, but she quickly came to her senses and said goodbye to the queen: "Your Majesty, the concubine has been out for a long time, the little princess is afraid that if she wants to look for it, the concubine will come Say goodbye first."

The queen nodded and said: "Go, remember to put on the big coat."

After Yanniang left, the queen returned to the inner room.He took the third prince who was still crying from the nanny's hand, and gently shook it.It's strange to say that the third prince is less than ten days old, and it's not time to recognize someone, but once he got into the queen's hands, he stopped crying, closed his eyes and rubbed against the queen's arms, and then continued to sleep, letting him The queen looked at it, her heart almost melted.

Qing Zhu looked at the queen, she had not seen such a gentle and tender look, such a cherished expression for a long time, and she had only seen it when she was still in the mansion and when the master was still pregnant with the little prince.These years, although the master is the queen and the mother of the world, enjoying the top glory, wealth and power in the world, but she can't feel her happiness, as if her heart is cold, and she even loses her sense of life. pleasure.It is really good to have the third prince by the empress's side.

Among the palace roads, painted pottery followed Yanniang slowly away from Fengyi Palace. In front of them were two maids with octagonal palace lanterns. The lights of the palace lanterns illuminated the long shadows of a group of people. on the ground.The crying of the child from behind gradually became weaker and weaker, until finally it disappeared.Caitao watched Yanniang turn her head back, and looked at the tall and majestic Fengyi Palace in the distance, she heard her sigh in a low voice, the voice was so low that she almost thought she heard it wrong.

Cai Tao looked at Yanniang with some distress, and said involuntarily: "Your Majesty, since you miss the little prince, why didn't you ask the queen to meet the little prince, after all, you are the little prince's biological mother, and the queen will always give it to you if you bring it up." You look so good."

Yan Niang shook her head and said: "Cai Tao, you can't be too greedy, you can't want this and that, since I promised to give the emperor's son to the queen, then he is the queen's child." After speaking, she looked directly at Cai Tao and said seriously: "You have to forget that I am the third prince's biological mother in the future. You just need to remember the third prince's queen's child." Who would like to be close to the biological mother, as long as she stays away from the third prince, it is best for him of.

On the night before Yinniang got married, Yinniang leaned against the window and looked out the window with her chin in her hands.On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, the moon only has a narrow white line.It was pitch black outside, only the bright red lanterns in the porch shone red.Because it was winter, there were neither frogs nor crickets.But the whole yard is bustling and bustling, without the silence that should be there in winter nights.

Today is the day when the Marquis of Yongning comes to lift up the make-up, and Yinniang's room has been moved to emptiness, leaving only some toiletries, bedding, and the wedding dress to be worn tomorrow.Several little maids were surrounding the table, one of them was holding a corner of her wedding dress, checking for loose stitches or other irregularities.When we get married tomorrow, if there is a problem with the wedding dress, it is a trivial matter whether we will lose face, but the omen is always unlucky.

Perhaps it was because she was too nervous before, but today, Yin Niang is calm instead.It's like a prisoner sentenced to death, who is always afraid of being beheaded on weekdays, but when the day of beheading really comes, the fear of death in his heart is gone.

Marry, marry, Yin Niang murmured in her heart, she just felt like a dream.After tomorrow, she will live a completely different life from now.

Yinniang was still in deep thought, when suddenly someone pulled her sleeve, Yinniang turned her head and found that it was Pingniang who was looking at her with a smile on her face.When Pingniang was growing her body, her head grew fast, and now it has reached her chin.Yinniang asked Pingniang, "You're here, where's mother?"

Pingniang also imitated Yinniang and leaned on the window, looked outside, and replied casually: "Mother was stopped by Daddy on the way, I saw that they had something to say, so I came first."

Pingniang looked at the window for a while, but she couldn't see anything interesting, so she turned her head, looked at her older sister with a smile on her face, and asked, "Second Sister, are you afraid?"

"Well, I was a little scared before, but not now."

Ping Niang shook Yin Niang's hand, reluctantly said: "Second Sister, I really miss you!"

Yinniang was also a little sad by her words, but recovered quickly, pinched Pingniang's nose and said: "Little fool, the Hou Mansion is so close to here, I can come back to see you often."

Pingniang continued to frown and said, "It's different, it feels different."

"What's the difference?"

"..." Pingniang couldn't describe what was different, but she felt that it was different, so she reiterated: "It's different, it's just different."

While talking, Mrs. Chen came in from the outside and asked the two sisters, "What are you talking about differently?"

Yinniang and Pingniang both called mother.Mrs. Chen came over, patted the head of the little daughter, and finally looked at the second daughter who was already as tall as her. Holding her hand, she couldn't help but sighed in her heart. In her hands, the child who was the size of a kitten in the blink of an eye , are going to get married now.

(End of this chapter)