Chapter 334: The Empress recalls the past. [Thank you all for your support! Bowing again!]

The spring sun is warm, and the spring breeze is gentle.

The tent in front of the Linshui Palace is open on three sides.

Brightly colored silk ribbons are tied all around the Linshui Palace.

Under the gentle breeze, these ribbons stretch and flutter, reflecting the brilliance of the pots of spring flowers brought in for decoration.

Whether it be the imperial guards, eunuchs, and court ladies standing by, or the officials and their families, all are wearing flowers in their hair.

At the head of the table, the Emperor and Empress sit on the dais, looking out at the beautiful scenery, with a faint fragrance drifting about.

The Emperor smiles and beckons to the Grand Eunuch beside him. The Grand Eunuch hurriedly flicks his horsetail whisk, walks over, and bows his head to listen.

"Was this Jinming Pool decorated by your Directorate of Palace Servants today?"

Hearing the Emperor's question, the Grand Eunuch bows and says:

"Replying to Your Majesty, yes! We also invited the master craftsmen of the Wensi Academy to offer their advice."

"Haha, you have put in the effort!"

"Thank you for the praise, Your Majesty. This is my duty."

"Hmm!"

At this moment, Zhao Fang whispers from the side: "Father Emperor, where is that official you mentioned who writes such excellent calligraphy?"

The Emperor looks at the Grand Eunuch beside him, and the Grand Eunuch hurriedly says: "Your Majesty, Your Highness, he is right there!"

As he speaks, he points to Sheng Hong, who is standing near the tent entrance.

The opening of Jinming Pool on the first day of the third month,

is meant primarily to share the joy with the people.

Therefore, today, the Emperor, Empress, Imperial Prince Zhao Fang, and Princess Zhao Yue are all wearing casual attire.

And the officials and their families who accompanied the Emperor's procession into the garden earlier naturally could not dress too ostentatiously.

These accompanying officials and their families have lived in Bianjing for a long time,

and knowing that their clothes should not be too extravagant today, they put their effort into the details to show off their status.

For example, the buttons woven onto their low-key clothing are mixed with gold thread, gemstones, and fine jade;

for example, what looks like small flowers or butterflies pinned in their hair are actually jade ornaments meticulously carved by master craftsmen.

Of course, the most low-key of all is the Empress.

Because the string of inconspicuous beads she is wearing, which Princess Yue in her arms is curiously playing with, is worth about twenty thousand guan!

Just a moment ago, Wang Ruofu still had the leisure to look at the jewelry of a certain Duke's family member and secretly click her tongue with Liu Mama.

But when Sheng Hong was summoned by the Grand Eunuch to the Emperor's side, she became somewhat nervous and didn't know what to do.

It was Liu Mama who caught the eye of the Marquis Yongyi's Madam Sun and reminded Wang Ruofu to stand up.

At this moment,

Sheng Hong is standing right in the middle, having just finished listening to the Emperor's praise for his "work attitude."

After listening, Sheng Hong bows to the Emperor and Empress at the head of the table and says in an excited tone:

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty! Your Majesty's words—this subject is unworthy of such honor!"

The Emperor, sitting at the head, is about to speak, but Imperial Prince Zhao Fang suddenly stands up from the Emperor's arms and whispers a few words into the Emperor's ear.

The Emperor listens to Zhao Fang's words while looking at Sheng Hong in a very good mood.

Sheng Hong stands bowing in the middle, not hearing the response he expected from the Emperor, and feels quite at a loss.

The Emperor beckons to the Grand Eunuch on the side, gives two instructions, and the Grand Eunuch walks toward the back.

The Emperor smiles slightly and says:

"Official Sheng, rise. Do not be nervous! I have read your memorials several times! Your calligraphy is quite good! I happen to have a few writing brushes here contributed by Xuancheng..."

As the Emperor speaks, a eunuch holding a tray walks toward Sheng Hong, the tray holding several long wooden boxes.

Sheng Hong hurriedly bows deeply. After receiving the tray from the eunuch, he says in a trembling voice, with a hint of tears:

"This subject, Sheng Hong, thanks Your Majesty for the favor!"

Seeing Sheng Hong's tearful gratitude, the Emperor nods slightly and says: "Good! Go!"

"This subject obeys the decree!"

Watching Sheng Hong take a few steps back and then walk toward his seat, the Emperor says to Zhao Fang beside him: "Fang'er, this reward is not bad, right?"

Zhao Fang smiles and nods, giving the Emperor a thumbs-up.

Just when the Emperor and Sheng Hong were talking, Wang Ruofu was standing respectfully behind the table.

When she heard Sheng Hong's words of gratitude, and the Emperor didn't reply for a long time, Wang Ruofu held her breath nervously and gripped her handkerchief tightly.

It wasn't until the Emperor's laughter came that Wang Ruofu swallowed hard and let out a long sigh.

Sheng Hong walks behind the table and sits down. Hearing the Grand Eunuch summon other officials to talk with the Emperor, he finally relaxes his emotions.

After Sheng Hong picks up the teacup on the table and takes a sip,

he looks at the reward on the table with deep emotion, unable to help but recall the days of practicing calligraphy hard since he was old enough to understand:

When Sheng Hong was young and living with his biological mother, Chun Wei Xiaoniang, he was often framed and punished innocently by the concubine favored by his father.

At that time, his legal mother, the only daughter of the Marquis Yongyi Xu family who was once prominent, had a proud and fierce personality.

At that time, she had almost turned into an enemy with his father, the Tanhualang, and was often ignored and squeezed into the main mother's courtyard. In despair, she pinned her hopes on her legal son, Zhen Dalang, and ignored the mundane affairs of the family.

Perhaps it was retribution, but his father the Tanhualang's favored concubine had no children!

But every time Sheng Hong thought of the look that favored concubine gave him back then, and the bamboo stick she used to whip him, he would shiver.

Because even now, he still remembers that when his father, then a Tanhualang, was in a rare good mood, he would guide him in writing with a warm smile.

Therefore, in the bitter winter, kneeling on the cold ground of the cold ancestral hall,

Sheng Hong's only pleasure was to copy the handwriting of his father the Tanhualang in the ancestral hall.

Sometimes he used his fingers frozen like radishes,

and sometimes he used the fire poker used to stir the paper money in the ancestral hall.

When writing, it seemed as if that warm father was right beside him.

Sheng Hong's biological mother's family was powerless, and she could only kneel at the door of that favored concubine's courtyard night after night to plead for him.

Pleading was, of course, useless.

It was Fang Mama beside his legal mother who would secretly send him some pastries, warm water, and clothes, so he was able to survive.

Later, his father, his biological mother... many people passed away.

He was raised under his legal mother's knees, and after he started using a brush, he fell even more in love with calligraphy.

This love for calligraphy allowed him to write a hand of good characters that few could compare to, which helped his official career a lot!

Looking at these imperial-bestowed Xuancheng brushes, Sheng Hong thought of his third son, Changfeng, and he curled the corners of his mouth slightly. Right, and Seeing Mo Lan!

Thinking of these, Sheng Hong smiles slightly.

Wang Ruofu blinks her big eyes, smiling so broadly her teeth show, her eyes full of pride and joy.

She strokes the brushes and says:

"Official! One of these brushes must be given to Changbai!"

Sheng Hong is stunned. Thinking of his eldest son, who studies hard and whose words and deeds are like his father-in-law, he nods with some shame and smiles: "Madam is right."

Wang Ruofu continues to touch the smooth brush box made of precious wood, looks at Sheng Hong, and adds:

"Official, now my nephew from my maiden family, You Ge'er, is studying. We must also save one for him!"

"And my own sister's son, Jin Ge'er from the Kang family, we can give him one too!"

"And, the one in Hualan's belly, it must be a boy, we must save one for him too!"

Hearing Wang Ruofu's words, Sheng Hong's face becomes uglier and uglier.

Sheng Hong grinds his teeth, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath:

This is in front of the Emperor, we cannot make a loud noise!

So tired!

When we go back, I'll just give this thing to Mother and let her distribute it.

Wang Ruofu on the side looks at Sheng Hong and says: "Official, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"

Sheng Hong adjusts his facial muscles: fake smile.

Wang Ruofu continues to look happily at the brushes on the tray.

Just as she is about to continue speaking, a young eunuch walks to their side and whispers:

"Official Sheng, Da Niangzi, I am Qingyun, a eunuch from the Directorate of Palace Servants, here to take this tray."

Sheng Hong immediately puts on a sincere smile: "Eunuch, please!"

Qingyun smiles, bows, and takes the things away.

While the couple was talking,

in the large tent, officials stood up from time to time to walk to the middle and speak a few words with the Emperor, but few received rewards like Sheng Hong.

After a while, a eunuch walks into the tent with small steps and whispers a few words to the Grand Eunuch.

The Grand Eunuch comes to the Emperor's side and whispers: "Your Majesty, everything is ready!"

The Emperor smiles and says: "Then let's begin!"

The Grand Eunuch hurriedly agrees.

After speaking, the Emperor says to the officials and nobles in the large tent:

"My dear subjects, no need to be restrained, let us enjoy the performance of the young men together!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Everyone in the tent hurriedly stands up and agrees.

Wang Ruofu also came to Jinming Pool last year, but she was in a very bad position near the north side of the pool.

She didn't expect to be sitting in the royal tent in front of the Linshui Palace this year.

Wang Ruofu watches as the people in the tent scatter to positions near the pool to watch the performance in the water.

Sheng Hong also puts away his smile from listening to the imperial teachings, glares at Wang Ruofu beside him, and stands up to walk to the side of several colleagues and superiors to talk.

Wang Ruofu follows suit and stands up, preparing to walk toward the pool.

But after standing up, she doesn't know where to go.

In the few years Wang Ruofu has been in Bianjing, she has attended many gatherings such as incense clothing elegant gatherings, Double Ninth Festival flower viewing, etc.

Although she sees a few Da Niangzi she knows at a glance,

the ones she is more familiar with, such as Wu Daniang and Bai Daniang, are not in the tent.

Liu Mama beside her gently tugs at her clothes and whispers: "Cough, Da Niangzi, look inside the tent."

She didn't dare to look much at the position near the Emperor and Empress.

Wang Ruofu looks inside as told, and her eyes light up!

She sees Madam Sun, her daughter-in-law's mother, beckoning to her.

Just as Wang Ruofu is about to wave her hand to decline, she sees the Empress sitting there also smiling at her.

Not only that, Princess Yue in front of the Empress is looking at her ignorantly, and the Imperial Prince beside the Emperor is also looking at her.

Not knowing whether to cry or laugh, Wang Ruofu can only curl her lips and walk toward the inside of the large tent with Liu Mama.

Although Wang Ruofu can shout loudly that "my father deserves to be worshipped in the Imperial Ancestral Temple,"

she grew up in her uncle's house in the countryside since she was a child, and she was not young when she came to Bianjing.

She didn't stay in Bianjing for long before she reached the age of marriage, so Wang Ruofu really had never entered the palace, let alone seen the Emperor and Empress.

At this time, walking near the Emperor and Empress, she doesn't even know what to say, so she can only bow and say:

"Greetings to Your Majesty, greetings to the Empress! Greetings to the Imperial Prince and Princess."

The Emperor smiles slightly: "Are you the youngest daughter of the Wang family?"

Wang Ruofu is very nervous, nodding repeatedly and saying: "Replying to Your Majesty, yes!"

Hearing this, Zhao Fang nods, and there is a solemn look in his eyes.

The Emperor nods: "Good! Fang'er, Wang Da Niangzi is also the mother of the second Da Niangzi of the Xu family."

In the look Zhao Fang gives Wang Ruofu, besides solemnity, there is a hint of warmth.

The Empress scans Wang Ruofu up and down and smiles: "Wang Da Niangzi, please sit!"

After the Empress finishes speaking, a court lady on the side moves an embroidered stool and places it beside Madam Sun.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Ruofu says and sits down.

After sitting down, the Emperor smiles and glances at the boats performing in Jinming Pool in the distance, then turns back to Wang Ruofu and says:

"Wang Da Niangzi, how is your mother in your maiden family doing now?"

Wang Ruofu: "Replying to Your Majesty, she is well!"

The Emperor puts away his smile and says: "Hmm, when you go back, bring some things for the elderly to your mother."

The Grand Eunuch on the side hurriedly bows, indicating he has received the order.

Wang Ruofu also puts away her smile: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The Empress on the side waits for the two to finish speaking, then whispers:

"Da Niangzi, is your mother-in-law in good health?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, she is in very good health! After she came to Bianjing, she often climbs mountains to worship Buddha!"

The Empress nods upon hearing this and smiles: "I don't know if I will be as healthy as your mother-in-law when I reach her age!"

Wang Ruofu hurriedly says: "Your Majesty! You certainly will!"

Madam Sun also nods in affirmation.

The Empress smiles: "Then I will borrow your auspicious words, Da Niangzi!"

Wang Ruofu: "I dare not, I dare not!"

The Empress looks at Wang Ruofu, then at Madam Sun, and continues with a look of reminiscence in her eyes:

"When I was still in the boudoir, I participated in polo matches, incense gatherings, flower viewing elegant gatherings, etc., in the capital, and I often met your old lady."

"Thinking back now, your old lady was truly generous, graceful, and elegant!"

"On the polo field, she was vigorous and unrestrained, and her ball skills were superb. Her heroic bearing was enviable!"

"Although I was young at the time, even now, I still remember the feeling of amazement when I saw your old lady use a 'Phoenix Following the Meteor' on the side of the polo field!"

When Madam Sun married into the Xu family, the old lady had already married out. She had never seen the old lady's heroic bearing. Listening to the Empress's words, her eyes were full of longing.

And Wang Ruofu, who was listening on the side, nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Although Wang Ruofu had never seen her mother-in-law's heroic bearing when she was young, she had seen her mother-in-law riding a horse when she first entered the Sheng family. That heroic bearing of controlling the horse was truly extremely unrestrained and extremely good-looking.

Listening to the Da Niangzis' words, the little princess in the Empress's arms looks around, her eyes still full of curiosity.

The Empress puts away her look of reminiscence and asks:

"Da Niangzi, does your old lady still play polo now?"

Wang Ruofu smiles and replies: "Replying to Your Majesty, when the weather is warm, she does go to the villa outside the city to stroll around, and she will also ride a horse and swing a few times!"

The Empress sighs and nods:

"Oh? At the old lady's age, that is truly rare!"

"It is the greatest blessing for children that the elderly are in good health!"

"Your Majesty is right!"

Wang Ruofu and Madam Sun reply.

At this moment, the Empress narrows her eyes and beckons not far away.

Madam Sun and Wang Ruofu look over,

and see a little girl dressed in green walking to the Empress's side.

Madam Sun recognizes this little girl; she is the Empress's niece, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis Tuoxi Cao family. Before Anmei's wedding, this girl even came to help press the bed.

Seeing Wang Ruofu's confused look, Madam Sun explains in a low voice.

Seeing the little girl from the Marquis Tuoxi Cao family bow to the two, Madam Sun and Wang Ruofu hurriedly stand up and nod.

The Empress pretends to be angry and waves her hand: "Why are you two still standing! Sit down quickly!"

After speaking, the Empress looks at her niece lovingly: "Where did you go to play just now?"

The little girl squats down, greets Princess Yue, smiles slightly, and says:

"Replying to Aunt Empress, over there! I played for a while with the little brother who went to the Huyan family that day!"

"Just now I saw him skipping stones, he was amazing!"

The Empress is stunned. The one who went to the Huyan family? Then she looks at Madam Sun with confusion.

Madam Sun shakes her head: "Your Majesty, my two grandsons are on Quyuanjie."

Hearing this, the Empress looks at her little niece again: "Do you know which family that little brother is from?"

The little girl points into the large tent and says: "It's him, it seems to be the Lu family of the Duke of Lian!"

The Empress glances at Lu Zezong, who is following his grandfather, and looks at Madam Sun, saying:

"Da Niangzi, that is the sworn brother of your little fifth, right?"

Madam Sun nods.

After the Empress finishes asking, she looks at Lu Zezong and her niece not far away.

At this moment,

the people watching the performance in the large tent near the pool suddenly let out an exclamation.

This causes the Empress, Madam Sun, and others to look over.

It turns out that the water soldiers performing the "water swing" in the pool swung to a very high point on the swing and were doing somersaults while jumping down.

Changbai's book was not read after all,

because he was pulled out of the Xu family tent by Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, who had finished looking at the horses, to watch the water soldiers' performance in the pool.

Watching the soldiers swinging on the large boat,

the teenagers around Xu Zaijing also made sounds: "Wow! Why is it so high!"

Xu Zaijing says:

"Listening to my second brother-in-law, this kind of skill is very useful when jumping onto ships in water battles!"

"Of course, it won't be so flashy!"

Everyone nods.

The water soldiers did somersaults and fell into the water, kicking up white waves, causing the crowd watching by the pool to cheer.

After these performances ended,

just like last year, the large dragon boat was pulled out from the Aowu by small dragon boats.

The gorgeously decorated large dragon boat sailed in front of the Linshui Palace, and the Emperor took everyone in the large tent onto the large dragon boat.

After the large dragon boat sailed to the center of Jinming Pool and stopped steadily,

Wang Ruofu watched the water battle formation performance of the small dragon boats and tiger-head boats without blinking.

She saw the small dragon boats and tiger-head boats sailing toward the Five-Room Palace in the pool.

Unlike previous years, these small boats did not immediately prepare for the competition, but all changed to flags with different surnames outside the Five-Room Palace.

Looking around, one could see flags such as "Shuichan Qiao," "Yongchang Liang," "Ningyuan Gu," and single-character flags like Pei, Qi, Lu, etc.

Wang Ruofu leans toward Madam Sun with some confusion, asks a few questions in a low voice, and nods after getting the answer.

At this moment, in front of the Five-Room Palace, all the small dragon boats and tiger-head boats are ready.

The Jinming Pool prize-snatching, which the surrounding audience loves to see, is about to begin.

On the shore,

several noble teenagers beside Xu Zaijing whose families had spent a lot of money to charter boats to snatch the prize look at each other.

After all, this is the first prize of the first day!

The prize should be the work of a master craftsman from the Wensi Academy of the Directorate for Palace Manufactories.

Xu family's fourth daughter, Anmei, received a peony jade carving just like this.

It's like the first incense stick in a temple.

In everyone's hearts, the effect is different from the second prize or the prize of the second day.

By the Jinming Pool,

in front of the Duke of Qi's tent,

Tingyi stands there with Chai Zhengzheng, and beside them are two legitimate daughters of the Dou family.

Following behind is the beautiful girl behind Wu Daniang.

Chai Zhengzheng glances at this girl from the corner of her eye.

Just now in the tent, Wu Daniang introduced her to the Dou family's Da Niangzi.

This Miss Wan is the daughter of the concubine of the cousin of the wife of Wu Daniang's eldest concubine-born son.

Zhengzheng shakes her somewhat dizzy head, looks at the hopeful look in Miss Wan's eyes, and whispers to Tingyi in a voice only the two of them can hear:

"What is this Miss Chunge looking at?"

Tingyi glances at Miss Wan. Seeing Wan Chunge looking over, Tingyi smiles.

Then Tingyi whispers to Chai Zhengzheng: "Liang Han?"

Zhengzheng turns her head to look at Tingyi, full of surprise and gossip: Ah?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 335 =====