Chapter 700: Inside and Outside the Palace (Part 2)
The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the doors and windows of the warm room, creeping and extending on the bluestone slabs, and just barely crawled to the imperial desk, but suddenly turned into a patch of red.
At the same time, eight eunuchs holding sixteen tallow candles as thick as a child's arm quietly walked into the warm room and lit each candlestick one by one.
When seven of them bowed and left the warm room, the last blush on the ground disappeared into thin air.
When Qiu Shian saw that there was someone left alone, he immediately stepped forward, tilted his head and leaned over to extend his ear.
The young eunuch whispered a few words to him, Qiu Shian nodded, then waved his hand and asked him to leave the warm room.
When he returned to the left side of the imperial desk, Qiu Shian did not rush to speak, but only respectfully served the pen and ink.
It was not until Emperor Guangde had finished reviewing more than a dozen memorials and stretched his muscles a little tiredly that he reported in a timely manner: "Your Majesty, Rong Fei went to the Imperial Concubine's place this afternoon and stayed for about half an hour before returning."
Emperor Guangde seemed not to hear it. After stretching his muscles, he began to review the remaining memorials.
About half an hour later, he stood up from behind the imperial desk and said casually, "Go to Yuyun Courtyard."
Yuyun Courtyard was exactly where Jia Yuanchun lived. Firstly, because she loved the art of playing the zither, the name "Yuyun Courtyard" was taken from this place; secondly, it also implied the homonym of "imperial pregnancy".
It was only a short walk, so there was no need to display the carriages in a grand manner. The reason why he specifically asked to "go to Yuyun Courtyard" was actually to notify Jia Yuanchun in advance so that she could prepare to receive him.
However, when Emperor Guangde walked into Yuyun Courtyard, only Concubine Cai came out to greet him, holding a zither and leading several palace maids and eunuchs.
Emperor Guangde stopped in the middle of the courtyard, put his hands behind his back, and asked calmly, "Where is Concubine De?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty."
Baoqin hurriedly replied respectfully, "Your Highness was a little tired this afternoon and is now taking a nap inside. Because Your Highness is now in a state of exhaustion and cannot stand the tossing and turning, I took the initiative and did not wake Her Highness up."
As he spoke, he lowered his body and said, "Your Majesty, please punish me."
"There is no need to punish me. Wait until your wife is well, then ask her for a reward."
As Emperor Guangde spoke, he went straight into the inner room.
Walking around the screen in front of the door, I saw Jia Yuanchun lying in bed with a thin quilt and her clothes on. Her dignified facial features were relaxed under the light, revealing a charm and laziness that was rarely seen in ordinary days.
Unfortunately, Emperor Guangde didn't care much about the sight of the sleeping crabapple blossoms. He just glanced at them and then focused his attention on Jia Yuanchun's lower abdomen.
He walked a few steps to the bed, gently placed his slightly dry big hand on it, and slowly stroked it through the brocade quilt and palace skirt. His lips and teeth kept opening and closing, as if he was telling something to someone, but there was no sound at all.
At this moment, Jia Yuanchun's body suddenly trembled, and then she called out suspiciously: "Your Majesty? When did you come?"
As he spoke, he was about to turn over and sit up.
Emperor Guangde held her shoulders with his backhand and said with a smile, "I just arrived too. My beloved concubine, if you feel tired, just lie down. Things are different now. If you tire the baby in your belly, I will not allow it."
After hearing this, Jia Yuanchun became even more uneasy - the emperor was so eager to have a prince, if the baby was a daughter, she didn't know whether the emperor's grace would turn into thunder.
But she didn't dare to tell the emperor this, so she said softly, "This is my fault."
Emperor Guangde smiled indifferently, lifted the quilt, put his hand on Jia Yuanchun's belly, and whispered: "If you can give birth to a prince smoothly, I will definitely make him the crown prince!"
Although the voice was soft, it sounded like thunder to Jia Yuanchun's ears. All her anxiety and fear were completely dispelled by this promise.
Even with her shrewdness, she couldn't help but breathe faster and her face flushed.
In order to avoid being disrespectful in front of the emperor, Jia Yuanchun pointed to a package on the dressing table and said, "Oh, by the way, Rong Fei was very nervous this afternoon and asked me to pass these things to His Majesty."
"For me?"
When Emperor Guangde heard that it was going to be handed over to him, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised. Although Rong Fei's favor was slightly less than Jia Yuanchun's, why would he need to entrust someone else to present something?
So he stood up, walked forward, untied the bundle, and saw several colorful and strange-shaped clothes inside.
"What is this?"
Emperor Guangde picked up , and saw two large bowl-like outlines, strung together with a string, covered with brocade patterns, light gauze hollows, and inlaid with a lot of broken jade and colored glaze, reflecting blurry colors under the light.
Jia Yuanchun took the opportunity to stand up and said with a smile: "It is actually a small garment for women to wear next to the skin. I heard that it is mostly worn by prostitutes nowadays. Sister Rong Fei was born different from others, so she always has inconveniences, so someone recommended this item to her."
"snort!"
Emperor Guangde snorted coldly and said unhappily: "If it is a filthy thing worn by a prostitute, how could anyone in the palace know about it? That nosy person is probably not a good person!"
While saying "whore, filthy bitch", his hands clenched even tighter and his eyes kept searching inside the package.
Jia Yuanchun smiled, but did not continue the conversation. Instead, she said, "Sister Rongfei was originally thinking about using this thing to practice the secret recipe of praying for a child, but when the servants brought the thing back, she heard that this kind of bra was actually made by Prince Yi Zhong in the past."
"Why is it him again?!"
Emperor Guangde's face darkened and he threw the bra on the ground.
"When Sister Rong Fei learned about this, she was extremely panicked and immediately sent the things to me, begging me to present them to Your Majesty."
As Jia Yuanchun spoke, she came closer in her embroidered shoes, bent down to pick up the bra from the ground, and put it back into the package. Then she smiled and said, "I think Rong Fei is making a fuss about nothing. Your Majesty is rich and generous, and you can tolerate such a huge country, let alone a few indecent items."
Emperor Guangde's reaction just now was also a conditioned reflex, and now he felt that he had overreacted.
Of course, he was unwilling to expose his weakness, so he found another excuse and sneered, "I will not bother with a 'lonely ghost', but this thing is after all used by prostitutes, how dare Rong Fei bring it into the palace to wear?!"
When talking about wandering ghosts, Emperor Guangde seemed to have thought of something, and his tone became a little vague.
Fortunately, Jia Yuanchun did not think too much about it, and just smiled and said: "I heard that the wives and concubines in Prince Yi Zhong's mansion are also used to wearing this thing. It is not made only for prostitutes."
"Is this true?"
Emperor Guangde didn't know what he was thinking of, his eyes unconsciously turned to the package again, and a bit of "nostalgia" appeared on his face.
"His Majesty."
Seeing this, Jia Yuanchun immediately went with the flow and said, "Why don't you give these things to your sister Rong Fei to wear, so that she won't have to worry about it."
Emperor Guangde: "This..."
"Anyway, I am unable to serve Your Majesty at the moment."
As Jia Yuanchun said this, she tied the package again and stuffed it into Emperor Guangde's arms, teasing playfully, "Sister Rong Fei, wearing this will be like adding wings to a tiger."
Emperor Guangde's eyes flickered, and he was obviously moved.
But he was not an impatient boy after all. Although he was a little agitated, he still put the package back on the dressing table.
Then he took Jia Yuanchun's arm and said, "It's just a small matter, what's the hurry? I have an important matter to discuss with my beloved concubine."
After the two of them sat back on the bed hand in hand, Emperor Guangde continued, "After two whole years, only my beloved concubine is pregnant. I think there must be some problem. Therefore, I intend to ask the immortals and arhats to read the fortune and select a few more fertile women in the palace..."
Although he didn't finish his words, the meaning of replacing the old with the new was clearly revealed.
Moreover, the emperor obviously did not put the burden of giving birth to a son entirely on Jia Yuanchun alone, but instead planned to continue to cultivate more blessings.
While Jia Yuanchun breathed a sigh of relief, she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
But given her shrewdness, she wouldn't reveal any clues.
However, she still frowned and said softly, "Your Majesty has few children, so it is natural for him to want an heir. I will not obstruct him. But the three sisters have done nothing wrong, so please do not neglect them."
"My beloved."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Guangde immediately put his arm around Jia Yuanchun's shoulders and praised her, "Although there are many concubines in this palace, apart from the Empress, you are the only one who has the bearing of a mother to rule the country."
Then he promised again: "Don't worry, as long as you can give birth to Long Er, the position of Crown Prince will never fall into the hands of anyone else!"
"His Majesty!"
"My beloved!"
The two looked into each other's eyes, filled with indescribable tenderness and love.
Then……
Emperor Guangde took the package of bras and went to Rong Fei to have fun.
Jia Yuanchun accompanied him all the way out of Yuyun Courtyard. When she returned to the house, the smile on her face was already covered by a look of sorrow.
She walked to the bookshelf, took out a book of poetry from among several collections, and turned the page with a note on it. What was written on it was Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow".
Jia Yuanchun stretched out her spring onion-like fingers, skimmed through each word and line, and finally stopped at the end of the sentence.
On July 7th, in the Changsheng Palace, in the middle of the night, when no one was whispering.
I wish to be a pair of wings in the sky and a pair of branches on the ground.
The end of the world may come, but this hatred will last forever.
After a long while, she sighed and collected the poems, stroking her belly and muttering to herself: "I don't know whether you have brought blessing or disaster to me..."
