The Virtuous Concubine of the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 38 Velvet Flower (2)

Seeing Jiaorong's actions, the consultants hurried forward to stop them: "Hey, Miss Jiaorong, you don't have to be so restrained. These are the meals bestowed by the emperor, so you can enjoy them as you like. The servants are guarding here because of Eunuch Liang. order, so that the girl won’t feel any more uncomfortable.”

Jiaorong heard the sound and glanced at the consultant line, standing with chopsticks in her hand, either sitting or not, hesitated for a long time, and then slowly sat back, very helplessly said: "Okay."

She had been hungry for too long, and now she couldn't care less about other things. She took a bowl of chicken soup and drank it. After eating the warm soup, she felt like a wild flower buried in a snowdrift in winter when it saw the sun. Much more comfortable.

Ersen heard that something happened to Jiaorong, so he had to cook everything by himself. The dishes on the table were quite to Jiaorong's taste, and she ate a lot of them in a short while.

Jiao Rong gently put down her chopsticks, realizing that as a court lady, she was not paying attention to her image in front of so many eunuchs, so she coughed lightly, stood up politely and said to the consultant, "Eunuch Gu, I'm done eating." , share the snacks on this table with everyone, and take it as a thank you for taking care of your slaves when they were unconscious."

"Girl Jiaorong, this is not very good..." The consultant line never thought that Jiaorong could still respect them so much after receiving the emperor's grace, and was a little dazed for a while.

"There's nothing wrong with it. I don't know if I can still work in Qianqing Palace. If we say goodbye today, it may be difficult to see each other again in the future." Jiao Rong's voice was clear. Although she looked cold and distant, it made people feel very comfortable. "These snacks are all made by the servant Mafa himself, and his craftsmanship is the first in the Forbidden City. I hope all the father-in-laws have received the kindness of the servant."

In fact, Jiaorong didn't think too much about what she did, she just felt that it was too frightening to receive the favor of the emperor alone, and it would really make people jealous if it was spread out.The eunuchs in front of the imperial court are all human beings, the more humble she is at this time, the more good eyesight she can sell.

The consultant line looked at each other with the eunuchs standing behind them, and sighed softly: "Then I would like to thank Miss Jiaorong. By the way, Eunuch Liang just came over and said, let you go to the main hall after eating, the emperor asked busy."

"Your Majesty?" Jiaorong subconsciously frowned, somewhat resisting, "What is he doing looking for slaves?"

The consultant spread his hands, and couldn't understand the temper of the little maid in front of him, "These servants don't know."

Jiao Rong lowered her eyes and pondered for a few seconds, then gave a reluctant "hmm" and politely responded, "I see."

After arriving at the main hall, Jiao Rong spent a long time brewing emotions at the door, and then with great reluctance made her face look less stinky.When she walked into the hall, the emperor was drawing a picture of flowers and birds on the table with a brush.

"My servant pays my respects to the emperor." Jiaorong curtseyed in the middle of the hall, lowered her eyebrows and bowed her waist, and did not even look at the emperor. As a court lady, she was quite self-conscious.

The emperor focused on the paintings on the table, lightly dipped the thick ink on the inkstone, and connected the flowers on the rice paper with vigorous and powerful branches.After an unknown amount of time, the emperor stood up straight, glanced at Jiao Rong lightly, and said in a gentle voice, "Come here."

The corners of Jiaorong's brows frowned even more, but she could only obey the order and walk forward, until she stood by the table, she stopped silently, still silent.

The emperor lightly pointed at the words on the table, and asked Jiaorong, "Do you know this flower?"

Hearing this, Jiaorong slightly raised his eyes, and carefully looked at the painting on the table.Although Jiaorong had no good impression of the emperor from the bottom of her heart, this painting really caught her eyes, the ink color was suitable in shades, the water smudges were just right, the branches were tough, and the colors were elegant, which matched them very well.

However, Jiaorong still restrained the appreciation in her eyes, and said lightly: "The servant girl has always been not interested in these poetic and picturesque things, I am afraid that I can't appreciate the beauty in the painting, and I don't know what kind of flower this is."

The emperor looked at her and snorted, but didn't pierce it, and said softly: "This is Albizia julibrissin, also called velvet flower, so it is naturally beautiful."

After finishing the words, the emperor lightly put the pen on the stand, sat on the dragon chair behind him, stared at Jiaorong for a while, and said "tsk", "The beauties who are all over the world don't have any beauty or endowment to match. Pity."

Jiao Rong glanced at the emperor for no reason, not sure if the emperor was praising her.However, when Jiaorong looked at the emperor, the emperor had already withdrawn his gaze, and his tone became a little more serious: "From now on, you don't have to go back to Yanxi Palace, just stay in Qianqing Palace and be a maid in front of the imperial court."

Upon hearing this, Jiaorong refused without thinking, "No!"

Regarding this, the emperor looked at Jiaorong, his expression was a little stunned for a moment.Jiaorong realized that her reaction was a little too hasty, she quickly lowered her eyes and took two steps back, her eyelashes trembling slightly, she said: "Sorry, this servant is rude, please don't blame the emperor."

The emperor looked at her humble look, squinted his eyes slightly, and said in a flat tone, "Why not? All the maids in the Forbidden City are overwhelmed by the thought of Yuqian coming, and you are not happy?"

Jiao Rong bit her lower lip, not knowing how to explain it.She has never had any ambitions about how high she can climb, and she is also a slave, so what if she becomes a royal maid?It's better to be down-to-earth, at best, you will leave the palace after ten years.What's more, after what happened yesterday, Jiaorong really doesn't want to be the target of public criticism anymore. She just wants to keep a low profile and be the most ordinary maidservant. There is nothing right or wrong every day, just washing clothes and sweeping the yard.

Thinking about it, Jiaorong took a few steps back and knelt down on the ground with a very sincere expression: "Back to the emperor, this servant has only been in the palace for half a year, and she has already become the grand maid of the Yanxi Palace. , will definitely be discussed indiscriminately. The slave is just an ordinary woman, and I don't want to be refuted by others."

The emperor stared at her face, and calmly continued: "If anyone criticizes you, I will deal with it severely."

Jiaorong raised her head, and what caught her eyes was the emperor's burning and firm eyes.Jiao Rong pursed her lips, she really couldn't figure out why the emperor was so obsessed with transferring her to the imperial court.Is it really like what others said, the emperor is really interested in her?

Thinking of this, Jiao Rong wanted to refuse immediately for no reason.She knew that she couldn't hide the reasons she was looking for from the emperor, so she could only tell the truth slowly: "Your Majesty, please don't force your servants, your servants really don't want to be promoted, and just want to live a mediocre life. The foot of the emperor is also the top of a mountain, and your servants Terrified, unwilling to be in danger."

Seeing Jiaorong's resistance in every possible way, the emperor couldn't help but also frowned, and asked again: "Are you planning to resist the order?"

(End of this chapter)