Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 474 Shouldn't I smile when I'm happy?

"Yes." Ruichu nodded and said, "Many concubines really don't see the emperor all year round."

"I only heard about it before, but I didn't expect that the nobles in the palace are no different from the concubines of ordinary families. Instead of this, it is better to marry into an ordinary family and be the wife." Minglan said.

"Madam, you want to ask me why I want to marry you, right?" Ruichu said.

Minglan was stunned. She did have this intention, but she didn't expect Ruichu not only saw it, but also pointed it out directly.

But after thinking about it carefully, she felt relieved. The palace is a very complicated place. Ruichu has lived in the palace for many years, so she is naturally not ignorant of the ways of the world.

"My husband told me what happened last night. When I came in just now, I smelled medicine. You were applying medicine, right?" Minglan said.

Ruichu felt a little embarrassed when she heard this, and smiled miserably, saying, "Madam, are you here to see me laugh at your joke?"

"No." Minglan shook her head slightly and said, "I'm not the kind of person who wants to hold an umbrella for others just because I've been caught in the rain, but I won't laugh at others for being caught in the rain just because I've been caught in the rain. You should know my background, right?"

"Yeah." Ruichu nodded.

"My mother was a concubine. In order to avoid being bullied by the wife and the concubine, my mother would choose to tolerate it even if she was bullied by the servants at home.

When I was a child, I was ignorant and didn’t understand this. My mother just told me not to stand out. I didn’t understand why she didn’t go to my father to complain.

Later I gradually understood my mother's good intentions. At that time I told myself that I would never be someone's concubine even if I married someone from a lower social class. I would rather die than do that.

You have seen a lot of things like this in the palace. With your status, you had no choice.

But now you are obviously already a county lady, with a noble status, and you don’t need to be a concubine, but you insist on marrying the official as his equal wife.

The master has always had doubts about you." Minglan said.

"I see." Ruichu smiled bitterly and said, "Madam, can you listen to a story?"

"You say." Minglan nodded.

Ruichu began to tell the story slowly, starting from how she entered the palace, and went all the way to when she forgot to prepare tea for the emperor, and the emperor forced himself to go to the Queen's palace to have tea.

“At that time, I was very grateful in my heart, but I was just a palace maid and could not repay the late emperor’s kindness.

When Prince Yan rebelled, the late emperor asked if anyone was willing to deliver the blood edict for him. I was very scared at that time, but thinking of the late emperor's kindness, I stood up.

The palace was in chaos at the time, and I was not even familiar with the roads in Bianjing City. I never thought that I would be able to deliver the blood edict alive.

But the official showed up and helped me get out of the city. If it weren't for him, I would have died."

"So you're just thinking about repaying a favor? But there are many ways to repay a favor, and it doesn't require the above promises, right? And the master has already married me, you should know that." Minglan said.

"I know." Ruichu said, "Repaying a favor is only one aspect. In fact, I also have my own selfish motives. Madam, if I don't marry the master, who will the master marry me to?"

Minglan thought about it and said, "She will probably be betrothed to a general who made contributions in suppressing the rebellion."

"That's right." Ruichu nodded and said, "My title of county lady is just an empty title. In essence, I am just a palace maid. If I were betrothed to a meritorious general, he might not treat me well."

"But how can you be sure that the master treats you well?" Minglan asked.

"When you were riding a horse and taking me out of the city, there were pursuers behind us. Because you were carrying me, you were almost caught up by the pursuers. In that situation, if you had left me behind, your chances of escaping would have been much greater, but you didn't.

I am just a palace maid, I don't have any foresight, I just simply think that he didn't abandon me under such circumstances, even if I become his concubine, it would be good." Ruichu said.

Minglan fell silent upon hearing this. If it were her, would she do the same?
"Madam, don't worry, I have no intention of competing with you for favor. I will serve the master and the madam as a concubine." Ruichu said seriously.

Minglan was silent for a while, then said, "The reason why the master treated you like that was, on the one hand, because you insisted on marrying him, which made him a little disgusted, and secondly, because of what you said to him last time. The master thought you were sent by the Queen Mother."

Minglan kept looking into Ruichu's eyes while she spoke.

She couldn't see anything wrong with Ruichu's previous words, either in her tone or her expression.

However, Minglan did not believe her. This was her first test on Ruichu.

Ruichu was stunned at first, then smiled bitterly and said, "I see."

Minglan said nothing, waiting for Ruichu's explanation.

Ruichu said: “At first I went to ask the Queen Mother for help, but she didn’t care about me and agreed directly.

But after a few days, the Queen Mother often asked me to come over and talk to her, and she always brought the topic to the emperor.

I felt something was wrong, but I didn't know the Queen Mother's intention, so I met the official and wanted to remind him. "

Minglan thought carefully about what Li An had told her the last time he came back from seeing Ruichu.

Ruichu did indeed only mention it once, saying that the empress dowager had said that the late emperor had asked the emperor to make use of Li An and Gu Tingye, and she didn't say anything else.

This statement is somewhat ambiguous, so Ang Lee is suspicious.

"Do you know the Queen Mother's real purpose now?" Minglan asked.

Ruichu said, "Perhaps the Empress Dowager was afraid that I would not understand her meaning. Before I got married, she met me again and asked me to talk to the Master and ask him to persuade the Master to follow the rules and not change the strategy set by the late Emperor."

After hearing this, Minglan basically believed what Ruichu said.

…………

After Minglan left, Li An lay down for a while, feeling even more irritated, so he went to the study and started writing.

Minglan walked into the study and saw the word "Jing" written all over the desk and the papers on the floor.

"The official is upset."

Minglan bent down to pick up the fallen paper and said, "Your handwriting is not as good as before. Since you feel guilty, why don't you go talk to Ruichu?"

Ang Lee put down his pen and opened his mouth, not knowing how to start.

"Sir, do you want to ask how Ruichu is doing, or do you want to ask how my chat with her went?" Minglan said with a smile.

"I'm so annoyed, stop beating around the bush with me." Li An said.

"I think the master has misunderstood sister Ruichu." Minglan recounted what Ruichu had said to her.

After listening to this, Li An fell silent.

If this is the case, it can be explained. After all, the emperor and the empress dowager only have different opinions on the Liao Kingdom’s military deployment, and there has not been any major conflict.

Given his status and the fact that he already knew Zhao Ceying, if the empress dowager really wanted to compete for power with the emperor, she would not try to win him over.

On the contrary, he could be of some use in persuading the emperor, after all, he had a good relationship with Shen Congxing and Zhao Ceying.

They can completely influence Zhao Zongquan through their words. Even if they cannot change Zhao Zongquan's decision, a subtle influence will be good.

"Sir, please go and meet Sister Ruichu." Minglan said.

"Okay." Li An nodded.

He was reluctant to go before, on the one hand because he felt guilty, and on the other hand because he had a prejudice against Rui Chu and didn't know how to face her.

Now that he knew he had misunderstood her, Li An also wanted to meet her.

It’s not that I like her, but after how I treated her last night, I had to go and see her.

Danju saw Li An go out and asked in confusion: "Madam, why do you want to help Princess Anyang? What if..."

"It is better to guide than to block. The Princess of Anyang County has already come in. Even if I don't tell her, you will know it sooner or later." Minglan shook her head.

Guilt is the most terrible thing.

If Li An continues to feel guilty towards Princess Anyang, the longer he delays, the deeper his guilt will become.

When the misunderstanding is resolved, the long-suppressed guilt will only be better for Princess Anyang.

Although Li An still feels guilty towards Princess Anyang, he will treat her well.

But while Ang Lee was grateful for her magnanimity, he also felt guilty about it.

This is the correct way for couples to get along with each other, instead of just quarreling.

Given the relationship between her and Li An, Li An would definitely not be disgusted by this at the beginning, but what would happen over time?
…………

Li An didn't know what Minglan was thinking. He came to the west courtyard and stopped at the door.

"What's there to be afraid of? Li An, you're a man." Li An encouraged himself, pushed open the door and walked in.

The maid who was cleaning the courtyard in the courtyard saw Li An coming in, and hurriedly stopped and saluted, saying, "Master."

"Ah."

Li An nodded slightly and walked in.

"Lord."

Xia Chan and Dong Xue outside saw Li An coming in and hurriedly bowed.

"Where is the county princess?" Li An asked.

"The county lady has fallen asleep. I will go and call her now." Xia Chan said hurriedly.

"Need not."

Li An called Xia Chan, gently pushed open the door of the inner room and walked in.

"Sister Xia Chan, what should we do now?" Dong Xue asked anxiously.

"How should I know? Just watch first." Xia Chan said.

After seeing Minglan off, Princess Anyang went to bed.

She was very exhausted last night and didn't get any rest at all.

I lay on the bed and fell asleep soon.

Li An came to the bed, opened the curtains, and saw the sleeping Princess Anyang.

Because of the weather, even though there were a lot of ice in the room, Princess Anyang only wore her undergarments with her hands on her abdomen without covering herself with anything.

On the exposed skin, you can still see the marks he left last night.

Although Princess Anyang fell asleep, her brows were still slightly wrinkled and there was some sweat on her forehead. It was not known whether it was because of the heat or because she had thought of something bad in her dream.

Li An sighed, took a palm-leaf fan, sat down on the edge of the bed, and fanned himself gently.

"Sister Xia Chan, the master has been in there for so long, why don't we go in and take a look?" Dong Xue said in a low voice.

Li An had been in there for so long and there had been no movement. Xia Chan felt a little worried. After thinking for a while, she made a cup of tea and walked in with it.

When he entered the room, he saw Li An sitting by the bed, fanning the Anyang County Princess, and his mouth opened slightly in surprise.

Li An saw Xia Chan come in, put down his fan and walked over.

"I was afraid that my master was thirsty, so I made him a cup of tea." Xia Chan said in a low voice.

"I won't drink the tea. Please take good care of the county lady. I'm leaving first." Li An said.

"Yes."

Li An took two steps and stopped, saying, "Don't wake her up, let her sleep."

"Yes." Xia Chan replied.

…………

During lunch, Li An told Liu and the others that Princess Anyang would not come for lunch because she was not feeling well.

Liu and the others didn't care after hearing this.

After dinner, Li An and Minglan went back to their room for a nap.

It was a hot month in July and I sweated a lot in the morning.

They took turns taking a bath and lying on the bed.

The summer temperature in ancient times was not as hot as it is today. After taking a bath, with a lot of ice cubes placed in the house, it was still quite cool.

"Minglan, thank you." Li An said while hugging Minglan.

If it weren't for Minglan, he would probably have continued to hesitate.

"My lord, you always say that there is no need to be polite between husband and wife. Why are you being polite to me now?" Minglan said with a smile.

"I was wrong." As Li An spoke, he hugged Minglan tighter.

"Sir, be gentle and don't squeeze the child." Minglan said.

She is now more than three months pregnant and her belly is slightly bulging.

Li An was startled when he heard this, and quickly let go of Minglan, saying, "My wife, are you okay?"

"It's okay, it's just that my husband hugged me too tightly and I felt a little uncomfortable." Minglan said.

Li An breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You scared me."

The couple talked in low voices, and soon Minglan fell asleep.

But Li An was not sleepy.

Minglan now has a child, and the child was born after the New Year.

It is definitely not possible to release it abroad next year.

After all, the child had just been born, and the infant mortality rate was already high in ancient times, so how could anyone dare to take the child around?

Originally, Li An was a little worried that the Queen Mother had set her sights on him, and that he would be implicated in the fight between the Emperor and the Queen Mother.

Now that he knew that Princess Anyang was not sent by the Empress Dowager to win him over, he felt relieved.

Given his official position, he was nothing in the court, and he would be of no use if the emperor and the empress dowager fought.

…………

Princess Anyang woke up in a daze. When she opened her eyes, she saw Dongxue sitting beside the bed, fanning herself and dozing off.

"hiss…"

She propped herself up and tried to sit up, but her injury was agitated and she gasped.

Dongxue woke up after hearing the noise: "County Lady, are you awake?"

"What time is it now?" asked Princess Anyang.

"I don't know either, but it should be past the hour of Wei." Dong Xue said.

"what?"

Princess Anyang was shocked when she heard this, and she didn't care about the pain in her body and got up quickly.

"Didn't I tell you to call me around noon?"

"Don't worry, County Princess. It was the master who ordered you to rest for a while." Dongxue explained hurriedly.

"Huh?" Princess Anyang was stunned and couldn't believe it, "Are you telling the truth?"

At this moment, Xia Chan heard the noise and walked in. Dong Xue seemed to see a rescuer and said in surprise: "Sister Xia Chan, the county lady has woken up. It's my fault that I didn't call her. Come and tell the county lady."

"County Lady." Xia Chan bowed and told her about Li An coming to see her and how he fanned the flames for her.

After hearing this, Princess Anyang was stunned for a moment and tears started to flow.

"County Princess, are you okay?" Dongxue asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." Princess Anyang wiped her tears, sat down, and smiled, "I'm happy."

"Shouldn't you smile when you are happy?" Dongxue asked curiously.

"This is called crying of joy, what do you know? The county princess hasn't even had lunch yet. Hurry up and tell the kitchen to make something for her." Xia Chan said.

(End of this chapter)