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Empress Dowager Zhuang went to attend the morning court.
Gu Jiao asked Eunuch Qin about the multicolored ta.s.sel which she brought with her,“Eunuch Qin, have you seen this ta.s.sel?"
Eunuch Qin shook his head, "This old servant hasn’t seen it before."
"Eunuch Qin, there is a place to collect honey in the palace, isn"t there?" She asked.
Eunuch Qin responded, "Yes. There is a bee garden in the southwest corner. Does Young Miss Gu want some fresh honey? This servant shall have somebody collect some for you."
"No, I"ll go there myself." Gu Jiao paused. "Can I?"
Eunuch Qin said with a smile, "Naturally."
Eunuch Qin took a jar and handed it to Gu Jiao, saying, "There are beekeepers over there. If Young Miss Gu gets tired of collecting honey, you can leave it to them."
"Alright." Gu Jiao took the jar.
Eunuch Qin was worried that she would get lost, so she specially asked one of the eunuchs of Renshou Palace to lead the way for her.
Gu Jiao decided to stay there, guard the tree-stump and wait for the rabbit.
However, after waiting all morning, no one pa.s.sed by except the gardener and beekeepers.
Just as Gu Jiao was about to leave, several women suddenly appeared at the end of the path.
At the head of the group was Ning w.a.n.gfei.
Ning w.a.n.gfei was accompanied by two eunuchs carrying flower baskets, followed by four palace maids.
Ning w.a.n.gfei had a miscarriage a while ago, and her face was still a little puffy. She was wrapped in a cloak despite the hot weather of the sixth month.
Rui w.a.n.gfei had mentioned that this was the third miscarriage of Ning w.a.n.gfei.
Every miscarriage did great harm to a woman. Not to mention that she had gone through it three times, in ancient times where medical conditions were not developed, it might really be difficult for her to get pregnant again.
She lived at the prince’s residence of Ning w.a.n.g outside the palace, making Gu Jiao wonder why she would come to such a remote southwest corner of the palace.
Could it be that... She was the one she was waiting for?
Gu Jiao was within a cabin, but she could see Ning w.a.n.gfei through the window.
"w.a.n.gfei, it would’ve been better to just leave this matter to this servant. Why bother to come in person to such a place?" A palace maid asked.
Ning w.a.n.gfei replied, "You all don"t understand these things. If you go blindly, you’ll be wasting a good honey. Call the beekeeper."
"Yes!"
The palace maid answered, went to the bee garden and called the beekeeper on duty.
The beekeeper saluted Ning w.a.n.gfei respectfully, "Greetings to Ning w.a.n.gfei."
Ning w.a.n.gfei asked, "What honey have you collected today?"
The beekeeper replied, "Responding to Ning w.a.n.gfei, there is jujube honey and locust honey, and half a jar of hundred flowers honey."
"Let me try it." Ning w.a.n.gfei said.
"Yes!" The beekeeper poured a small cup of each of the three kinds of honey.
Ning w.a.n.gfei tasted them in turn with a spoon and said, "It"s still the jujube honey that I like best."
"How much does Ning w.a.n.gfei want?" Asked the beekeeper respectfully.
"Two jars." Ning w.a.n.gfei said.
The beekeeper filled two empty jars with honey for Ning w.a.n.gfei, and the junior eunuch beside Ning w.a.n.gfei took it. After that, the group went to the flower garden to pick some potted plants.
Seeing Ning w.a.n.gfei"s departing figure, Gu Jiao came out of the cabin and said to the beekeeper, "I picked up a ta.s.sel on the ground. Is it Ning w.a.n.gfei"s?"
"Oh." The beekeeper took the ta.s.sel and caught up with Ning w.a.n.gfei.
Gu Jiao saw the beekeeper present the ta.s.sel to Ning w.a.n.gfei, but Ning w.a.n.gfei shook her head, and she didn’t seem to be lying.
"Young miss, Ning w.a.n.gfei said it’s not hers." The beekeeper returned the ta.s.sel to Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao was dressed neither as an imperial concubine or a palace maid, but since she was from Renshou Palace, the beekeeper still dared not neglect her.
Gu Jiao took back the ta.s.sel and asked, "Has anyone else been here?"
The beekeeper said with a smile, "Because there are many bees here which make it easy for people to get stung, few people generally come over."
Was that famous courtesan of Heavenly Music House just fooling her?
Gu Jiao pondered the words ‘Imperial Palace, Southwest Corner’ in her mind once more.
Apart from the bee garden, there was only the flower garden in the southwest corner of the palace, and she had also been keeping an eye on the flower garden the whole time, but there wasn’t any movement at all.
Gu Jiao stroked her chin.
Just as she was puzzled, someone came over again.
This time it was the Crown Princess.
the Crown Princess had been recuperating in the East Palace since she was beaten by Gu Jiao in a sack. She was completely healed yesterday and walked out of the East Palace again this morning.
The beekeeper was terrified. Not only Ning w.a.n.gfei came, but also the Crown Princess? What was up with today?
The beekeeper hurried forward and performed a salute, "Greetings to the Crown Princess!"
The Crown Princess nodded faintly.
Gu Jiao was standing at the entrance of the bee garden and was about to go back to the cabin, but before she could do so, the Crown Princess caught sight of her.
The Crown Princess knew Gu Jiao. After all, she had seen Gu Jiao from a distance.
And Gu Jiao also knew the Crown Princess. After all, she had beaten up the Crown Princess before.
It was just that in their impression, the other party should not know themselves.
It was the first time they had officially met.
As a woman who could charm the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess’s appearance was undeniably impeccable. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she was a beauty who could cause the downfall of a country.
In contrast, Gu Jiao, who had a red birthmark on her face, looked much inferior.
At least in the eyes of others.
The Crown Princess was the moon in the sky, even several beauties of the harem could be overshadowed by her appearance, not to mention this girl with a flawed face?
"Who are you? Why aren’t you kneeling when seeing the Crown Princess?" Asked the eunuch around the Crown Princess.
If it were the Crown Princess"s court lady, she would probably have recognized Gu Jiao.
It was a pity that this eunuch had never seen Gu Jiao before.
The beekeeper said in a low voice, "Eunuch, this girl is from Renshou Palace."
The expression on the eunuch"s face changed, but it was only for a moment as he raised his voice again, "People of Renshou Palace are the most polite and well-behaved. Even Young Miss Zhuang has to bow respectfully when she meets the Crown Princess!"
He was obviously telling Gu Jiao that even Empress Dowager Zhuang"s first niece had to salute the Crown Princess, regardless of her status. Was it possible for her to be more precious than Zhuang Yuexi?
The Crown Princess stared at Gu Jiao.
Suddenly, a feeling of wanting to see this woman salute her arose within her heart.
But Gu Jiao refused to salute her.
As someone from the East Palace, the eunuch naturally couldn’t deal with the people of the Renshou Palace, but even if he couldn"t go forward and punish Gu Jiao, he could still use the palace rules to suppress her, "Does the Empress Dowager know that you have such a rude behavior?"
"Is it any of your business whether the Empress Dowager knows or not?"
It was Eunuch Qin’s voice.
The eunuch’s expression took a drastic change and his head dropped by quite a degree.
He was also the chief eunuch around his master, but he couldn’t compare with Eunuch Qin at all. Only Eunuch Wei could compare with Eunuch Qin in ident.i.ty.
The Crown Princess also showed a puzzled look when she saw Eunuch Qin.
Eunuch Qin came up to Gu Jiao and made a respectful salute, "Young Miss Gu, the Empress Dowager has finished the morning court and asked why you haven"t returned to Renshou Palace for a meal yet?"
Only after saying this did he turn around and salute the Crown Princess, "This servant greets the Crown Princess."Raz P."s Thoughts
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