Chapter 829: The Two Concubines (Part 2)
Facing the mercury mirror on the dressing table, the Crown Princess's black hair was tied up high. Zou Qingyun, a lady-in-waiting of the Eastern Palace, reached into the makeup box and fiddled with it for a few times. Then she picked up a hairpin with three white fingers and gestured on the cloud-like bun.
"Change it."
The Crown Princess shook her head: "This one is a bit too vulgar."
"My lady."
Zou Qingyun crouched down, half of his face was squeezed into the mirror, and he said with a grin, "It was fine in the past, but today you look so good that even the most colorful hairpin can overshadow you!"
I saw two faces in the mirror. Although both of them were fair and delicate, even if I didn't look closely, the Crown Princess was obviously brighter.
She was originally very beautiful, and her every frown and smile showed her grace and elegance, but it also concealed the charm that a young woman should have.
But the face reflected in the mirror today has rosy cheeks without makeup, tender eyes without eyebrows, and for no reason an extra hint of laziness and naivety.
This kind of sentimental charm should be in conflict with the original graceful demeanor, but the scene reflected in the mirror at this time can't help but remind people of Liu Yuxi's poem "Appreciating Peonies":
The peony in front of the yard is wild and unrestrained, the lotus in the pond is pure and emotionless.
Only the peony is the true beauty of the country; the capital city is moved when it blooms.
Hearing Zou Qingyun's admiration, the Crown Princess's eyes, as clear as water, seemed to turn to the bed intentionally or unintentionally. It was unknown what she was thinking about, and her cheeks became even redder.
But in a flash, a trace of loneliness appeared on her face again. She stretched out her hand to push away the golden, pearl, jade and phoenix hairpin and said calmly, "Let's change it to the ones we usually wear."
After a pause, he couldn't help but add, "I'm not showing it to anyone anyway."
Just this one sentence made even Zou Qingyun feel melancholy. She silently changed into a plain headdress to decorate her cloud-like black hair.
The Crown Princess then applied a light powder in front of the mirror to cover up the extra blush. After looking herself thoroughly, she was about to go out to eat with Zou Qingyun, but halfway through, she suddenly froze.
Glancing towards the bedside again, the Crown Princess suddenly ordered, "I want to be quiet for a while, please go out first."
Although Zou Qingyun felt a little strange, he still obediently left the bedroom and closed the door again.
The Crown Princess sat in front of the dressing table for a while, then quietly locked the door and quickly walked to the golden nanmu bed.
She groped under the mattress and found a black and purple item with lace cutouts and decorated with tiny jade pieces.
As if she was stabbed by the luster of the jade piece, the Crown Princess subconsciously turned her gaze away, her eyes full of shame.
Yesterday, when she heard that Sun Shaozong was going to deliver Lord Xu's gift, the Crown Princess tossed and turned, thinking about it for a long time.
Naturally, what I thought about at first was the situation in the imperial court. But when it was late at night and I was lonely and alone, I don't know why, but the loneliness that had been accumulating for so long suddenly flooded into my heart.
Finally, in a daze, I dug out this long-lost thing from the bottom of the box and vented my emotions in a mixture of fear, excitement, repression, and wantonness.
If not for this, she would not have woken up an hour later than usual, and would not have looked so lazy and charming.
Because she got up late, she didn't have time to put the object back to its original place, so she had to hide it under the mattress for the time being. Fortunately, it was early winter and the mattress was very thick, so there was no need to worry about it being exposed.
But the Crown Princess was still uneasy in her heart, so she dismissed Zou Qingyun so that she could take the opportunity to suppress her "inner demon" again.
But when she finally emptied the cabinet and wanted to put the item at the bottom of the cabinet, she suddenly felt a slight dampness on her fingertips.
The Crown Princess's hands paused, and then her cheeks turned red as blood, and even the powder she had put on could not hide it.
I stayed in this state of embarrassment for a long time.
The Crown Princess finally came to her senses, sighed helplessly, took out a pair of small silver-backed scissors from the dustpan where she kept her needles and thread, and pointed them at the object.
Even if I could quietly wash this shameful thing, how could I dare to take it out to dry in the sun?
I have no choice but to cut it into pieces along with the delusions in my mind and then burn them to avoid having any unnecessary thoughts in the future.
But even so, the scissors kept moving around but were reluctant to come down.
Knock knock knock~
Suddenly, there were a few noises outside the door, which frightened the Crown Princess so much that she almost cut her wrist.
Without giving it time to think, she hastily stuffed the object into the bottom of the cabinet and filled it up with other things.
"What's up?!"
Even though I took a few deep breaths, how could I easily calm down the throbbing in my heart?
The response was so low and hoarse, and trembling.
Fortunately, Zou Qingyun could not hear clearly because of the screen and door outside, so she only reported respectfully: "Your Majesty, Princess Beijing is here, and is waiting in the flower hall now."
Wei Ying is here?
After a brief thought, the Crown Princess guessed that she was most likely following her husband's orders to come and inquire about the gift from Lord Xu.
Since this matter concerns the Beijing Prince's faction - especially the attitude of Right Censor-in-Chief Zhao Rongheng, it would be difficult not to meet him.
Therefore, the Crown Princess tried hard to calm herself down, and then, accompanied by a group of palace maids, rushed to the flower hall.
In contrast to the Crown Princess's unconcealable charm, Princess Beijing Wei Ying has lost a lot of weight recently, and her speech is not as fluent as before, but rather sounds listless.
Although there had been some unpleasantness in the past, Wei Ying, as the bond between the two families, had visited them frequently in the past two years. Not only had the relationship between the two sisters returned to normal, but they had even become closer.
So seeing her like this, the Crown Princess couldn't help but ask with concern: "Sister, are you sick? Have you seen the imperial physician?"
"It's not that I'm sick, it's just... I just haven't had much ."
Naturally, this evasive speech made the Crown Princess even more confused. She was about to say a few half-truthful and half-false reprimands, but she was forced to tell the truth.
Wei Ying changed the subject first: "I heard that Lord Xu brought a gift to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when he came to Beijing this time. Is that true?"
Hearing her asking about serious matters, the Crown Princess naturally didn't want to delve into trivial matters, and hurriedly said solemnly: "I only heard about this matter, as for whether it is true or not..."
She turned around and asked Zou Qingyun, "Go to the front and ask if Lord Sun has come to visit."
"Reporting to the queen."
Zou Qingyun bowed and said, "I just got the news that Lord Sun has indeed come with gifts, and is now discussing matters with His Highness in the front hall."
Hearing that Sun Shaozong had come to visit, the Crown Princess thought about what happened last night when she was half asleep and half awake, and her face felt hot again. Fortunately, she put on some powder before leaving so as not to reveal her true identity.
She forced herself to suppress her thoughts and turned back to continue the previous topic, but suddenly she saw Wei Ying's face was as pale as rice paper, without a trace of blood. She was immediately shocked and said, "Sister, what are you doing..."
“Ugh~!”
Before she could finish her words, Wei Ying covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and retched for a while.
But she came here this time on orders to inquire about the relationship between Lord Xu and the Crown Prince. Who would have thought that she would run into the evil star in her destiny again?
When I suddenly heard the three words "Mr. Sun", the scene of that day immediately came to my mind again. I felt as if there was something dirty stuck between my lips and teeth, causing my stomach to churn.
Although she didn't vomit anything, her painful appearance still made the Crown Princess feel distressed. She hurriedly ordered, "Quickly get some of the almond juice I usually use to help Sister Wei suppress it!"
Unexpectedly, when the almond juice was served, Wei Ying felt like she had seen a snake or scorpion, and she vomited even more violently.
After a while of chaos, Wei Ying finally stopped retching and explained with a forced smile, "Don't blame me, Madam. I...I have been having some indigestion lately. I always...always retching like this, but I can't vomit anything."
When the Crown Princess heard her say this, a strange look suddenly flashed across her face. She slowly lowered her eyes to stare at Wei Ying's flat belly and asked tentatively, "Could it be that Sister is... pregnant?"
"impossible!"
As soon as these words came out, Wei Ying felt as if someone had stabbed her in the heart. She jumped up in anger and panic, and flatly denied it: "Absolutely impossible!"
The Crown Princess was startled by her intense reaction and felt a little puzzled. Prince Beijing had no children, and if Wei Ying could get pregnant, it would be a great joy, but how could she...
Wei Ying also felt that she had overreacted at this time, so she sat back down and said with a wry smile: "Don't blame me, Your Majesty. I just... just..."
For a moment, how could she think of a suitable reason?
This hesitation to speak only made him seem even weirder.
Fortunately, at this moment, a palace maid rushed in and resolved the embarrassing situation for her - but what the palace maid reported made Wei Ying at a loss as to what to do.
"Your Majesty! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Lord Sun have arrived outside the courtyard gate. It seems that they are going to have a banquet here!"
This evil thief!
But why can't I avoid him no matter where I go? !
