"Your Highness," Chang Mama stood beside Princess Royal De Ning with a hesitant expression. "Why didn't you tell Marquis about this?"
"The grudges of the previous generation should be settled in my generation." The Princess Royal De Ning looked at the dim candlelight in the room and took the pill Chang Mama handed to her. "My husband and I let him down. We didn't teach him to grow, we didn't teach him literature and martial arts. I don't want to teach him hatred."
"Your Highness," Chang Mama's palms were empty. There was a heater in the room, but she felt cold in her heart. "Marquis will understand your painstaking efforts, and he has never blamed you."
"He's a good boy." Great Elder Princess De Ning smiled. At this time, she was not the Great Elder Princess of the royal family, but an ordinary mother. "I've devoted half of my life to the royal family. The only happy days are the time when I'm with my husband and when I'm with my child."
"Your Highness," Chang Mama knelt in front of the Princess Royal De Ning and said with a trembling voice. "You must take good care of your health. Marquis and Madame are so filial. The Princess and Shizi have also grown up. You haven't seen them get married and have children. You …"
"A 'Chang," The Princess Royal De Ning suddenly smiled and interrupted Chang Mama's words. "Tell me, among my juniors, who is the most like me?"
Chang Mama held the Princess Royal De Ning's hand and said with red eyes: "Madame is beautiful and intelligent. She has some of Your Highness's courage."
"No," The Princess Royal De Ning slowly shook her head. "In the Ban Family, the one who is the most like me is Huahua."
Chang Mama looked at the Princess Royal De Ning in amazement. In her opinion, the Princess Royal De Ning was more like the Prince Consort. How could she be like the Princess?
The cold wind whistled outside, but not a trace of the cold wind blew into the room.
"When I was young, I was the most beautiful among all of Imperial Father's children. Because of this, Imperial Father favored me the most." The Princess Royal stroked the gorgeous robe on her body. "Beautiful clothes, delicious food, gold, silver, jade, and unparalleled favoritism. This made the other princesses hate me so much that they even plotted against me. This Consort loves to see them rack their brains and use all sorts of methods, but they just can't shake this Consort at all. "
"The late Emperor was this Princess's elder brother, but he wasn't favored by Father Emperor. Father Emperor even said that if he wasn't worried that the other princes wouldn't take care of me, he might not have chosen my elder brother to be the Crown Prince." The Princess Royal closed her eyes and recalled the days of her youth. "At that time, everyone had to be courteous to this Princess."
After marrying the prince consort, she was still the most honorable princess of the current dynasty. However, she had to protect her father as he passed away. The one who sat on the throne was her brother from the same birth.
The reason why her brother was able to sit on the throne was all because of the prince consort's military power, helping him stabilize the court. It was a pity that when the birds were gone, the bow was put away. In the end, like the other emperors, her brother became an Emperor who got rid of the donkey after it had left the millstone. Fortunately, he still remembered their sibling relationship. Although he let people plot against the prince consort on the battlefield, he didn't take his life.
He thought that his plan was flawless, but he forgot that there was a saying in the world, "If you don't let others know, don't do it."
After learning that her husband, who was incomparably considerate to her, had been plotted against by her twin brother, she sat in the room for an entire day.
"She's like me when I was young," The Princess Royal coughed a few times. Chang momo hurriedly brought a cup of honey water to her.
"No need," The Princess Royal pushed the cup away and said faintly, "This Princess was born in the Imperial Family. Even if I die, I should die there."
Chang momo's hand trembled and a few drops of the honey water splashed onto the back of her hand. In the end, it slid down the carpet and disappeared.
The wind and snow didn't stop for an entire night. When Ban Han woke up the next morning, she saw the servants outside the yard sprinkling salt on the ground. Her face was red from the cold. She said to the yahuan beside her, "Ruyi, don't care about the snow outside. Wait for the snow to stop before sweeping."
"Yes." Ruyi smiled and went out to tell the servants. The servants were overjoyed and repeatedly thanked Ruyi. Then, thinking of the mercy of the junzhu, they gratefully retreated.
"I know that Junzhu cares for these people," Ruyi and several yahuan helped Ban Han dress and said in a small voice, "This snow probably won't stop."
"They're all raised by their parents. It's pitiful if they freeze to death," Ban Han washed her face, hands, and teeth before saying, "The snow this year seems to be especially heavy."
Ruyi looked at the heavy snow outside the window and nodded, "It does seem to be heavier than in previous years."
When the snow was heavy, there weren't many people on the streets. The wealthy families were fine. Their storehouses were filled with all kinds of meat and vegetables. The poor families had a hard time. Although the court would give out a sum of money every year to the local yamen to help the common people through the cold winter, after layers of exploitation, there wasn't even a fraction of the money that was actually used on the common people.
But even if people froze or starved to death, the local officials wouldn't report it. In the bustling Jing, everyone was happily welcoming the arrival of New Year's Eve. They didn't know that the money allocated by the court wasn't used on the common people.
"Boye," When Du Jiu walked into Rong Xia's study, he saw the overly bright umbrella in the corner of the study and asked casually, "Are you not going to return the umbrella?"
Rong Xia raised an eyebrow. He didn't understand why he said that.
"This subordinate heard that the homonym of umbrella isn't very auspicious. So when borrowing someone's umbrella, it must be returned," Du Jiu saw that Boye's expression didn't change and immediately added, "Of course, this is a rumor from ignorant women. It doesn't mean anything. This umbrella is quite …"
"Du Jiu."
"What orders do you have, Boye?"
"What about the information I asked you to investigate?" Rong Xia put down the letter in his hand. His tone was subtle, "Is the Princess Royal's health really failing?"
"The people in the Grand Royal Residence are very careful. Most of the time, people in the Grand Royal Residence take pills. Even if there are dregs, they won't let ordinary servants interfere. Instead, the Princess Royal's subordinates will handle it personally." Du Jiu frowned, "The Princess Royal's daily habits haven't changed much. But this subordinate still feels that something is wrong."
If there really isn't a problem, why are they so careful that they don't even want others to find the dregs?
The study was silent. Rong Xia looked at the court lady's flower umbrella in the corner. After a while, he said, "Send a letter that I personally wrote to the Grand Royal Residence. I want to pay a visit to the Princess Royal."
Du Jiu was stunned. He clasped his hands and left.
After Du Jiu left, Rong Xia walked to the corner and bent down to pick up the umbrella.
"Click."
The umbrella was opened. On the umbrella was a woman in a splendid dress with a peony hairpin. Her face was bright with a bright smile.
The Princess Royal died of illness. Where should the Jingting Marquessate go?
Rong Xia stared at the umbrella for a long time. It was until footsteps came from outside the study that he slowly came back to his senses.
"Boye, the paper and paint you asked for are ready." The butler's voice came in, "Do you want to use them now?"
"Bring them in." Rong Xia walked back to the study table and put away the "Zhongcheng Lun" on the table.
The steward asked the servant to stand outside the door while he personally brought in the items one by one. When he closed the door of the study, his eyes swept over the umbrella that was not put away. Then, he quickly withdrew his gaze, bowed, and left.
Many people knew that Rong Xia was a master of calligraphy and painting. He was proficient in poetry and was talented in helping the world. When he was young, his talent spread far and wide. But many people also knew that Rong Xia had never painted a person. He had painted flowers, birds, fish, insects, mountains, rivers, plants, and trees. But no one had seen him paint a person.
Some people said that he was not good at painting people. Some people said that no one in the world could make Rong Xia paint. But no matter what the truth was, at least Rong Xia had never painted people. This was recognized by many scholars.
Heavy snow, red peonies, a person holding an umbrella, and a luxurious hall. Every one of them was beautiful. But when these four scenes were combined, it was strange.
There was no need to open an umbrella in the hall. On a cold snowy day, how could there be peonies in full bloom? There was also the woman with her back to the hall. One could only see her back but not her face. Just her back was enough to make people's imagination run wild. They completely forgot about the strangeness of this painting.
After finishing this painting in one breath, Rong Xia picked a brush from the brush rack and wrote two lines of poetry in the blank space.
Only the peonies are truly beautiful. When they bloom, they move the capital.
Putting down the brush, Rong Xia put away the umbrella and untied the ruby pendant on the umbrella.
The ruby was ground into a water droplet shape. The color was excellent. It was like a woman in her prime, exuding its most beautiful moment.
He chuckled and put the gemstone into his arms.
"Sister," Ban Heng knocked on the door. When he did not hear Ban Han's refusal, he pushed the door and walked in. With a helpless expression, he said, "Today, three families of ice people came to talk about marriage."
Ban Han was lying on the couch covered with fox fur. She yawned lazily and reached for the snacks next to her, revealing half of her white and tender arm.
Ban Heng pulled down her sleeve to cover her arm and said, "The Chen Family, the Wang Family, and … the Yin Family."
"The Chen Family is a scholarly family. How could they be interested in someone like me?" Ban Han wiped the corner of her mouth and frowned with dissatisfaction, "And that son of the Wang Family. He looks like a crooked melon. Why did he come to join in the fun?"
Ban Heng was speechless, "That son of the Chen Family seems to be quite good-looking?"
"It's not fun to marry into such a scholarly family. Also …" Ban Han curled her lips, "Don't be fooled by their words of benevolence, righteousness, and morality. When our family loses power, they will be the first to change their face."
Ban Heng thought carefully and said seriously, "Sister, how about we don't marry?" Who knew what kind of people her husband's family was? It would be better for her to stay at home and live a comfortable life for five years. That way, she wouldn't have come to this world in vain.
"Okay," Ban Han nodded, "Anyway, no matter who I marry, my life won't be better than staying at home."
"The Yin Family has the nerve to send someone to our family to propose marriage." Ban Heng didn't have the slightest good impression of the Yin Family, even though it was only their maternal family, "With Yin Feng's character, how could he be worthy?"
"The Yin Family?" Ban Han sneered, "Did mother pay attention to them?"
"Don't you know mother's character?" Ban Heng coughed, "Iceman, who was invited by the Yin Family, has already left."
Even if his mother could tolerate it, he couldn't tolerate this family.
Ban Heng felt that some scholars in the capital were really interesting. For example, the son of the Chen Family once said that his sister was too extravagant. Now, his family invited Iceman to be the matchmaker. He didn't know what they were thinking.
Could it be that when a scholar goes back on his word, it's not going back on his word?
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