The most beautiful lady in the harem

Chapter 370 Sable Fur

The princes and princesses in the prince's residence and princess' residence all followed the eldest prince, their elder brother. Wherever the eldest prince went, a bunch of younger brothers and sisters would follow him.

At this moment, the eldest prince stopped in front of a craftsman who was making sugar figures, and the princes and princesses also ran over.

All the little ones followed him around, chattering and reporting their zodiac signs, asking the craftsman to draw one for them.

In the outer circle, surrounding the group of princes and princesses were their mothers and wet nurses.

Qin Liuse looked at the Second Prince next to Princess Anle and smiled at Concubine Zhang, "In the blink of an eye, the Second Prince has grown so big."

Nowadays, Concubine Zhang lives a carefree life. With the Second Prince to worry about, her life is simple and fulfilling.

Because of the good mood, the whole person looks more plump and the complexion is particularly good.

She smiled and said to Qin Liuse, "Children of this age are most fond of making trouble and being disobedient. They jump up and down every day, which makes me very worried." She said she was worried, but she was happy in her heart.

Zhou Jieyu, who was watching the Fourth Prince, also laughed and said, "I heard from the Imperial Concubine Sister earlier that children of this age are the most disobedient. If you tell them to go east, they will go west. If you tell them to go west, they will go east. But there is always a stage like this when growing up. After a few years, maybe they will miss it."

"Who said it wasn't true?" Concubine Ning shouted. She had the most say in this matter.

Because her two children are several years apart in age, Princess Changle is now over that age and has started to learn to read and write. She has become obedient and follows a teacher every day. She also has her own little sisters and they play together all day long.

Sometimes, she missed the princess who used to stick to her.

……

The eldest prince was the first to arrive, and his sugar figure was the first to be made.

The children couldn't stop, so the eldest prince took his sugar man and ran away again.

The other princes and princesses had not yet had their turn. Looking at the sweet candies, they were drooling. They could only wait here and temporarily gave up following their older brother.

Qin Liuse's two children, the little prince and the little princess, were not as interested in sugar figures as their older brothers and sisters. When they saw the eldest prince running away, they also twisted their chubby little butts and followed their eldest brother away.

Qin Liuse naturally couldn't chat with them anymore, so he followed them out.

The eldest prince is the leader among the children and is the best at finding fun on his own.

He was licking the candy man as he walked and stopped under a tree in the garden. After he finished eating the candy man in his hand, he saw a date fall above his head.

The eldest prince was quick-witted and quick-handed. He took three or two steps forward, caught the date firmly, wiped it with his sleeve, and began to eat it directly, like a little monkey.

This scene stunned the little prince and princess, who felt that their older brother was so awesome.

He immediately looked at his mother, ran over and pulled Qin Liuse's skirt, and said in a baby voice, "Yes~"

"want!"

The wet nurse and the maid went forward to try, but although the date tree did not look tall, they were too short. Even if they stretched out their hands, or jumped, they could not reach it.

At that moment, no dates fell and they could not be picked up.

The little prince and the little princess below frowned, as if saying, how could he be so useless that he is not even as good as his eldest brother.

The maid shook her head and said, "Master, please wait. I will go find a taller eunuch, or ask someone to bring a wooden ladder."

Having said this, the maid immediately turned around and went to ask for help.

The little prince was impatient and still pulled Qin Liuse and shouted, "Mom! Yes, Mom, Brother Rui wants it!"

The maids and wet nurses were not as tall as her. Qin Liuse shook her head helplessly, walked forward, looked at the height, and thought that if she jumped, she might be able to pick the dates.

He stood on tiptoe, stretched out his hand, tried a few times, jumped on the spot, and almost touched it.

Just when Qin Liuse was about to try again, he saw a man walk out from the side, stretch out his hand, and without jumping or standing on tiptoe, he just stood there and picked the dates easily.

After picking the dates, Emperor Yongjia glanced at the little prince and princess, who immediately came up to him and started eating the dates.

But Emperor Yongjia did not give them the meat. Instead, he gave it to the wet nurse next to him and told the two children, "Wash it and cut it into small pieces before eating it."

The little prince and the little princess pouted, because what Emperor Yongjia said was not pleasant to the ears, so they did not look at their father well.

Qin Liuse, who had not seen Emperor Yongjia for many days, was somewhat surprised and indifferent when he saw him.

After all, the imperial city is so small, and we will see each other again one day.

Qin Liuse had not spoken for a long time. She was well-educated and well-mannered. Now Emperor Yongjia was standing in front of her. She was surprised and her first reaction was to greet him. "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yongjia hummed, said nothing more, and left with Zhu Wanxi.

Qin Liuse had no idea what Emperor Yongjia meant.

You could say she had fallen out of favor, but apart from the fact that Emperor Yongjia did not summon her to sleep with him, everything else was no different.

You could say she is still favoring him, but now he is so cold and doesn't want to talk to me at all. Compared with his gentle voice before, it doesn't seem like she is favoring me at all.

While she was lost in thought, Aunt Mingyue beside her couldn't help but remind her, "My Lady, it's time to go."

At this time, Emperor Yongjia came over, which meant that the banquet was about to begin.

So, after Qin Liuse finished packing and tidied up her appearance, she also went to Langyue Hall.

Liu Yiyi stood behind the moon gate at the back, gritting her teeth, silently watching everything that had just happened.

It was obviously something that could be solved by having a servant bring a ladder, but Emperor Yongjia insisted on going over to help her pick it.

He pretended to be unable to pick the fruit in order to attract people.

Liu Yiyi could see clearly from here that Emperor Yongjia had just walked over from the other side and could have gone directly to the Langyue Hall. He was walking along that path and was obviously heading for the Langyue Hall.

But Emperor Yongjia turned a corner at the flower bed and walked here on purpose...

Qin Liuse and the maid had their backs to each other and were unaware of the situation, but she saw it all clearly, and it made Liu Yiyi's eyes turn red. She really didn't know what kind of magic potion this man had given Emperor Yongjia.

……

Qin Liuse followed closely back to the Langyue Hall. The Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager Dong had already arrived and taken their seats. The maids went around asking the concubines and ladies of state to come back and sit down, and the banquet began.

They still ate at a small table, and Qin Liuse sat next to Emperor Yongjia.

However, this time, during the entire meal, neither of them spoke much. Only when the little princess and the little prince occasionally made a fuss about asking for their father would Emperor Yongjia respond twice.

The Empress Dowager Cixi originally wanted to give the two of them a chance to interact at the Qianqiu Banquet, but she didn't expect that even after sitting together, they still couldn't say a word to each other.

The Empress Dowager Cixi sighed in her heart and looked at the Grand Empress Dowager. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law shook their heads slightly, not knowing what these young people were doing.

But the old man was open-minded. Although he couldn't say a word, at least he had a smile on his face. He managed to get away with it and didn't get angry.

……

After a while, the banquet was almost over, and the Grand Empress Dowager and the Eastern Empress Dowager returned to their own palaces first. The Western Empress Dowager stayed here because she was the host of the day.

The guests in the Langyue Hall dispersed. Some left the palace first, some wandered around the garden to digest their food and watch a play, and some remained in the Langyue Hall, drinking and chatting with the nobles.

It was early October now, and the ground was covered with yellow flowers. Winter was coming soon. Concubine Xiao De and Qin Liuse were the ones who handled the matter, and they were talking to the Empress Dowager Cixi about the fact that the Empress Dowager would be going to a mountain villa outside Beijing to spend the winter in the near future.

There are hot springs on the villa, which are as hot as spring all year round.

The Empress Dowager was afraid of the cold, and the winter in the capital was longer than that in the south. All in all, it was freezing cold for five months.

Even though there are underground dragons in this imperial city, they cannot compare to the heat from the hot springs.

That's why the Empress Dowager decided to spend the winter in the suburbs of Beijing this year.

Old people are afraid of cold. At her age, if the Empress Dowager Cixi had not been strong and healthy when she was young and had not done a lot of work, her body would have been weakened a lot, but she was able to endure it. She would probably be afraid of cold like the Grand Empress Dowager.

She smiled and said, "It's good to spend the winter near the hot springs. With the heat, you can stretch your body. If it's too cold, you'll curl up. Once you warm up, walk around more. It's good for your body."

Concubine Xiao De smiled and said, "Who says it's not true? These past few days, the Shanggong Bureau has been preparing items for the Grand Empress Dowager to take with her in a few days."

"The villa is warm, but it is remote after all. We need to prepare more things in case we don't have them when we need them." The Empress Dowager Cixi said worriedly.

Qin Liuse nodded, "It's all in accordance with the Queen Mother's wishes. I dare not reduce the amount if there is too much. I will have to select a lot of people from the Shanggong Bureau to serve. If there is any shortage, they can come back at any time to use it."

The Empress Dowager thought for a moment and said, "It's warm in the manor, but if he goes out for a walk, it will be even colder in the mountains. We need to prepare more warm clothes for him."

Qin Liuse nodded and said, "That's right, it should be. Both I and Concubine De have been included in the list of the Shanggong Bureau. Ordinary cotton-padded jackets are heavy and thick for the old lady to wear. We should prepare some clothes made of animal fur for the Empress Dowager, so that she can wear them warmly without being bulky and troublesome."

"I think the white fox fur cloak that the emperor gave you before is quite warm." The Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly brought this up, perhaps intentionally, to praise the good things about Emperor Yongjia in front of Qin Liuse.

Concubine Xiao De nodded and said, "It's hard to find good-looking white fox fur, but the Clothing Bureau has prepared a few fox and mink coats for the Empress Dowager, along with fur vests and scarves. They're not white fox fur, but the color and texture are also excellent. The Empress Dowager can choose which one she wants..."

Liu Yiyi, who had been sitting nearby, suddenly spoke up at this moment, "During the last autumn hunt, the emperor shot several white foxes and even the finest sables!"

Qin Liuse looked at her, and Liu Yiyi smiled and covered her mouth and said, "I was so shameless that I begged the emperor to give me some fur to make clothes."