Call me Mother."Reporting to Princess, this is Red Ginseng."
The palace maid who cooked the soup carefully replied. Qian Jiujiu acknowledged her and then ignored her. However, she felt that something was wrong.
The palace maid looked at Qian Jiujiu in puzzlement. She didn"t know why the w.a.n.gfei had suddenly become interested in Red Ginseng.
Qian Jiujiu thought for a while and finally remembered what it tasted like. It was the taste of a red ginseng, but the medicinal taste was light, and since it was a red ginseng, Qian Jiujiu did not care about it.
He had originally wanted to go to the kitchen to make some food, but he was no longer in the mood now. He returned to the courtyard and looked at the people inside. It was really difficult to see such a scene in the imperial household.
Qian Jiujiu was unable to explain her feelings at the moment, but the food was quickly prepared. Qian Jiujiu and Mu Yexiao accompanied the Emperor, Empress and Qing Guifei after they finished their meals.
The empress"s gaze was fixated on Qian Jiujiu"s body, moving back and forth. It was unknown what she was thinking, but Qian Jiujiu reckoned that the emperor had told her that she might be able to cure the Fifth Prince"s illness.
Looking at the empress and Qing Guifei, Qian Jiujiu smiled. "Concubine Mother, do you still have the mask that your daughter-in-law gave you a while ago?"
Qing Guifei was startled for a moment, he then looked at the palace maids by his side, and the palace maids standing by his side stood up and replied, "Reporting to consort, you"re asking at the right time!"
"This servant is still worried. The Imperial Concubine"s Mask is the last bottle."
Qian Jiujiu blinked his eyes, "So it"s the last bottle, then tomorrow when my daughter-in-law does the cooking, she will send it over to you."
Qian Jiujiu then looked at the empress. "If the empress likes it, your daughter-in-law will send some to the empress tomorrow."
The Empress thought for a moment. Tomorrow was the fifteenth of the first month, and on this day of every month, she could meet with the Fifth Prince. Tomorrow would be the perfect day for Qian Jiujiu to meet with the Fifth Prince.
As she thought about the emperor"s words, she knew that Qian Jiujiu had said them on purpose and felt a layer of grat.i.tude towards Qian Jiujiu, "Since it"s an imperial concubine"s favor, then I will accept it."
"That daughter-in-law will definitely deliver it tomorrow."
Seeing that Qian Jiujiu had finished, Mu Yexiao brought Qian Jiujiu out of the palace. The two sat in the carriage, Qian Jiujiu would glance at Mu Yexiao from time to time.
Actually, she was a little surprised by Mu Yexiao"s words. That man didn"t desire the highest position in the world, but the man beside him wasn"t like that.
However, there was still some doubt in her heart. However, for now, she could only suppress this doubt within her heart. Mu Yexiao entered the palace to brush up his presence.
Initially, he was still in a good mood, waiting for news of Mu Yexiao"s death, but the result was that he waited for a month.
There was no news of Mu Yexiao"s death in a month, but he had to wait. For the time being, he was fine.
How could he bear with this news? On that very day, he flew into a rage in his own prince"s mansion, smashing several vases. After smashing it, he looked at the broken pieces of the vase on the floor.
His heart ached to death. These were all silver taels.
No, he couldn"t let Mu Yexiao live. As long as Mu Yexiao lived, he would not be able to rest easy.
Mu Yexiao had to die, and the Third Prince frowned. Could it be that he had to send people to a.s.sa.s.sinate him again?
Moreover, his royal father had never set his eyes on him. If he got the chance, perhaps he would kill him. And Third Prince did not think of the Qian Shang Shu this time either.
Instead, he went to find his grandfather, the mighty general, Liu Zhentian. That night, the two of them had a long private conversation. No one knew what they had discussed in detail.
He only knew that on the morning of the second day, after the morning a.s.sembly was over, he happily went to Qian Shang Shu"s residence. At this time, Qian Jiujiu was already wearing the two masks that he had made the night before.
After going to Qing Guifei"s palace and putting away the mask Qian Jiujiu had given him, Qing Guifei took Qian Jiujiu to the empress palace to pay his respects.
Qian Jiujiu pa.s.sed the mask she made to the empress. "Empress, look, this is the mask your daughter-in-law made for you. It"s different from the mask in Concubine Mother.
"Concubine Mother"s mask can make her skin even more tender than water, and Empress your mask can make your skin once again shine with radiance, pure white like jade."
Looking at the mask, she smiled towards Qian Jiujiu, "Jiu Er, thank you for your concern. You can call me mother from now on."
Qian Jiujiu glanced at Qing Guifei, who chuckled, "You foolish child, hurry up and call me mother. The Empress is your mother to begin with."
Qian Jiujiu then shouted out, "Jiu Er greets Imperial Mother."
The Empress nodded her head in satisfaction as she looked at Qian Jiujiu, "Since that"s the case, Jiu Er, you can stay here for lunch and teach me how to use these mask."
Qian Jiujiu had come to deliver the face mask today with the same intention in mind. Naturally, she did not delay it and just bowed, "My daughter-in-law will do as you command."
The empress looked very happy as she glanced at the consorts. "Alright, all of you can leave now, Princess Xiao will stay behind. Come in and we"ll talk."
Only then did the imperial concubines stand up and look at the empress. "Your consort takes her leave."
After saying that, the group of people all left. When they reached the door, Consort Xian glanced at Qing Guifei: "Big sister imperial concubine is really magnanimous, you even gave up your daughter-in-law."
Qing Guifei scoffed, "My Jiu Er is able to get the Empress"s liking because of her good fortune. Other people wouldn"t even be jealous of her if they were jealous."
Consort Xian choked to death by Qing Guifei"s words, but she couldn"t find the words to go back and forth with Qing Guifei, so she could only leave in anger.
Sometimes, it was Consort Xian who was angered by Qing Guifei, and sometimes it was Qing Guifei who was angered by the Consort Xian who was angered by the Consort Xian.
In any case, with these two people, the imperial harem would never be at peace, and Qian Jiujiu, who was left behind, had already followed the Empress into the inner room.
When Qian Jiujiu saw the way the Empress looked at her, she couldn"t help but feel a sense of benevolence, causing him to feel like a Alexander. He was still not sure if he could save the Fifth Prince.
He actually looked at her benevolently. It couldn"t be that he had placed all his hope on her, right? If she couldn"t be saved, wouldn"t she be offending someone?
The empress looked at Qian Jiujiu without knowing what she was thinking, and only smiled, "Jiu Er, I heard from your Concubine Mother that you can ma.s.sage?
Qian Jiujiu suspected that she saw wrongly. Why was there some hope in the Empress"s eyes? Why did she want him to ma.s.sage her? There"s something wrong with the empress"s head, right?
He coughed twice, "Imperial Mother and Concubine Mother are really familiar. Concubine Mother will tell you everything, then find a chair. Before the Fifth Prince comes, your daughter-in-law will make a mask for you."
The Empress thought for a moment. It just so happened that her Fifth Prince would only come over when it was time for lunch, so they still had time. The empress immediately got someone to bring over a recliner.
She laid on the bed and allowed Qian Jiujiu"s hands to move around her face. After applying the mask, Qian Jiujiu began to ma.s.sage her face again.
Qian Jiujiu was now in an awkward position. She was still a palace maid at the empress"s side as she looked at Qian Jiujiu, "Esteemed w.a.n.gfei, don"t disturb the empress."
"The Empress has not been able to sleep these past few days. This servant has not seen the Empress sleep so soundly in a very long time."
Qian Jiujiu was stunned for a moment. She already said that seeing the Queen"s skin wasn"t good, so she must have slept for a very big reason. She took a glance at the palace maid.
The court lady looked very loyal to the empress. She couldn"t help but ask, "Does the empress often lose sleep?"
The palace maid nodded. "That"s right, the empress always sleeps poorly in the middle of the night, and sleeps for less than a day. Especially the previous month, and the time when the Xiao Prince was in trouble."
Qian Jiujiu was stunned. Was the Empress worried about Mu Yexiao? He couldn"t sleep because he was worried? He coughed twice. "I have a secret recipe here."
"When the Queen Mother can"t sleep, you make the Queen Mother some ginger tea and give it to her to drink. If Mother doesn"t want to drink it, you can also let a few slices of ginger grow under Mother"s pillow. "
"This will make the Queen Mother sleep better."
The palace maid immediately began to thank her. "Thank you, esteemed w.a.n.gfei."
The two of them spoke in a low voice. Only when Qian Jiujiu saw that the time was up did she carefully clean up and wash the empress"s face. In the end, the empress still woke up.
Looking at her somewhat moist skin, the empress nodded her head in satisfaction. She then glanced at the palace maid and asked, "What did you do? Did you see it?"
The palace maid immediately knelt down, "Your Highness, this servant has already learnt it."
This made the empress satisfied. "Alright, go take a look at the kitchen, Xing"er is coming soon, Jiu Er, you can accompany me here for lunch."
Qian Jiujiu nodded: "daughter-in-law understands."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard a eunuch call out from outside, "Xiao Prince has arrived."
The empress was stunned for a moment, she looked at Qian Jiujiu, then laughed: "I didn"t know, that by leaving you here, I would be able to take the initiative to attract the Xiao Prince. It just so happens that you two can stay here at noon. "
Qian Jiujiu laughed, seeing Mu Yexiao who was pushed in from the outside, she walked over: "Why are you here?"
Mu Yexiao laughed: "I went to Concubine Mother Palace first, Concubine Mother said you are here, so I came to take a look."
Qian Jiujiu rolled his eyes, "I"m at Imperial Mother"s place, so there won"t be any problems. Who asked you to watch it?
When Mu Yexiao heard this, his mouth curved into a smile. "Imperial Mother isn"t an outsider, how can she be a joke?"
As he spoke, he heard another shout from the door: "The Fifth Prince has arrived."
The Fifth Prince came bounding in from the outside, "Imperial Mother, Imperial Mother, your son has come to see you."