Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 157 Qingbai and Miaoyu meet for the first time
On the third day of the second lunar month, Yuan Qingbai went alone to worship in Fengxian Hall.

On the fifth day of February, Yuan Qingbai came to Fengxian Hall again, but this time he brought Yuan Qingsong, Yuan Qingshu and others with him.

On this day, Yuan Qingsong and Yuan Qingshu were both promoted to the title of prince.

After being promoted, Yuan Qingsong and Yuan Qingshu became Prince Suqian and Prince Surui respectively.

In the past, the titles of princes conferred by Emperor Jing'an all began with the word "Yi", and the titles of princes conferred by Emperor Chengtai all began with the word "Zhong".

Yuan Qingbai personally chose the character "Su" as the first character of the prince he conferred upon himself.

"Su" can mean solemn and serious, respectful, or to organize and put in order.

On the sixth day of February, the day after Yuan Qingsong and Yuan Qingshu were promoted to princes, Yuan Qingbai accompanied Empress Dowager He and moved from the imperial palace to Yuanzhao Garden.

On the fifth day of September last year, Yuan Qingbai accompanied Empress Dowager He back to the Imperial Palace from Yuanzhao Garden. Five months have passed since then.

Not to mention Yuan Qingbai and his concubines, even Empress Dowager He felt that continuing to live in the palace was torture.

Despite the majesty of the imperial palace, Empress Dowager He did not like living there.

The imperial palace was built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, and it has been three hundred years since then. Although it has been renovated many times during this period, such a building that has gone through the vicissitudes of time inevitably feels old.

During the three hundred years, countless people died in this palace. It was still better during the day, but the atmosphere would become gloomy at night.

Let's not talk about anything else, just the Jingren Palace where Empress Dowager He lived. Many people died during the three hundred years, including concubines, palace maids, eunuchs, etc.
Although the imperial palace was large, the scope of activities for the women in the inner court, including the empress dowager, was very limited.

In comparison, the living environment of Yuanzhaoyuan is much better.

Therefore, when Yuan Qingbai proposed to Empress Dowager He that, except for special circumstances, they should live in Yuanzhao Garden in spring, summer and autumn every year, and only move back to the palace in winter, Empress Dowager He decisively agreed.

……

……

The seventh day of February, the day after Yuan Qingbai moved to Yuanzhao Garden, was a warm and sunny day.

The torrential, freezing rain a few days ago seemed to be the last hurrah for the last bit of winter. Today, a warm sun has brought the climate back into spring.

Returning to Yuanzhao Garden after five months, on such a warm spring day, Yuan Qingbai felt relaxed and happy. He wanted to visit the garden and relax his mind which had been strained by state affairs.

So, after waking up from his nap, Yuan Qingbai went to visit Yuanzhao Garden and strolled in the garden, but he did not make a big fuss, only accompanied by a close and trusted eunuch.

But the sun was shining, the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly.

The huge Yuanzhao Garden has more than 30 scenic areas, various buildings, more than 100 kinds of trees and flowers, and various animals, all bathed in the bright sunshine and shining brightly.

Many trees and flowers appear vibrant in the sunshine.

But there are exceptions.

For example, Dongmei.

At this time, Yuan Qingbai had walked deep into Yuanzhao Garden and stood by a waterway. Across the waterway was the "Ritian Linyu" scenic area.

He saw a plum forest over at Ritianlinyu, consisting of hundreds of red plum trees.

He saw a patch of pink, not the scene of plum trees in full bloom, but the scene of plum trees withering. Countless pink petals spread out on the ground like scattered beautiful clouds.

This plum forest is full of winter plums, but now is spring, and it is the time when the winter plums are withering.

Yuan Qingbai did not wander here accidentally, but came here intentionally. His purpose was to go to Ritian Linyu, or more precisely, to see Miaoyu.

Although Yuan Qingbai had sent people to secretly keep an eye on Miaoyu a long time ago and later arranged for Miaoyu to live in Ritianlinyu, he had never seen Miaoyu in person.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to see her. As someone who has read the original novel carefully and traveled through time to this world of the Red Mansion, how could he not want to see Miaoyu, the golden hairpin in the official book?
He had wanted to see her for a long time, but had been holding back.

Because it was inconvenient to see Miaoyu, and also because to him, seeing Miaoyu was just a trivial matter.

Now the time is ripe for him to meet Miaoyu.

So he took advantage of today's garden tour and came to Ritian Linyu.

At this moment, there was a wooden bridge over the waterway in front of Yuan Qingbai. He stepped onto the wooden bridge, crossed the water, and entered the Ritian Linyu Scenic Area.

Suddenly, he discovered a woman's figure among the withered plum trees.

The woman had a beautiful appearance and a temperament like orchid, but she was a nun who practiced Buddhism with her hair untied. She was wearing a moon-white cloak, a Miaochang bun on her head, and a dust-tail rosary in her hand.

She was in the woods, looking down at the pink petals spread all over the ground, lost in thought, not knowing what she was thinking about.

"Could she be Miaoyu?"

Yuan Qingbai pondered secretly.

In order to cover up the fact that he deliberately arranged for Miaoyu to live in Ritian Linyu, Yuan Qingbai not only asked Master Huichen from Muni Temple to live in Ritian Linyu as the abbot, but also selected eleven people from Muni Temple to accompany him, and pointed out that monks with hair could be selected.

Today, there are dozens of nuns living in Ritian Linyu, including four monks with untied hair, and a group of old women and maids.

Now that Yuan Qingbai saw the nun with long hair in the plum forest, with outstanding appearance and extraordinary temperament, he naturally guessed that she was Miaoyu, but she might not be, because there were three other nuns with long hair in Ritian Linyu.

Yuan Qingbai ordered the eunuchs who were accompanying him to stop, and he walked into the plum forest alone, towards Miaoyu who was looking down at the flowers in a daze. This attracted Miaoyu's attention, and she looked up at Yuan Qingbai.

Once before, when Miaoyu was admiring plum blossoms outside the Muni Courtyard, she found Yuan Qingsang walking towards her. She immediately felt displeased and wanted to avoid him.

But now, when Miaoyu found Yuan Qingbai walking towards her, she was not displeased.

This is because Yuan Qingbai's appearance and temperament are far better than Yuan Qingsang. Although Miaoyu is a nun with untied hair, she is also a young woman, and men with outstanding appearance and temperament are attractive to her.

Moreover, Miaoyu immediately became curious.

Yuanzhao Garden was originally a heavily guarded forbidden area. The Ritianlinyu in the garden was where the nuns lived, so usually only palace maids and eunuchs came here.

Suddenly, a noble young man with extraordinary bravery and imposing manner came in front of her, which made Miaoyu really curious, who is this noble young man and why is he here?

Considering that the current emperor moved to Yuanzhao Garden yesterday, at this moment, Miaoyu even had some doubts as to whether the other party was the current Emperor Tianlong?
It was just a little doubt, but it was not a big one, because Miaoyu didn't think that she would suddenly meet the emperor today. But if the other party was not Emperor Tianlong, who could he be?

Miaoyu stared at Yuan Qingbai and saw him getting closer. She lowered her head and then stepped back. It was not that she wanted to run away, but she was using this action to signal the other party not to come any closer.

Yuan Qingbai understood what he meant, and stopped walking. Looking at Miaoyu who was only a few steps away, he asked with a smile, "I guess you are a cultivator living in Ritianlinyu?"

Miaoyu hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly. She wanted to ask who the other person was, but she found it difficult to open the mouth, both because of her reservedness and her aloof and arrogant personality.

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Yuan Qingbai stared into Miaoyu's bright eyes and asked with a smile again, "May I ask what is the nun's name?"

Miaoyu hesitated again, and did not answer directly. She could not help but ask back: "Who are you?"

Yuan Qingbai said with a smile: "In this heavily guarded Yuanzhao Garden, a man like me can leisurely walk to this Ritianlinyu. Can't you guess who I am?"

Miaoyu is a smart person. Originally, she just had some suspicion that Yuan Qingbai was the current emperor. But when she heard Yuan Qingbai's words, her suspicion suddenly became stronger.

Even though she was aloof and proud, her expression of surprise and suspicion was still evident in her words. Her eyes widened and she opened her red lips slightly: "Could it be that you...you are the current emperor?"

Yuan Qingbai nodded slightly to show his affirmation.

Oh my God, he is really Emperor Tianlong, and I suddenly have the honor to meet him today!

Miaoyu was stunned for a moment, and after she came to her senses, she quickly straightened her body, performed the Buddhist etiquette, and said respectfully: "Buddhist monk Miaoyu greets His Majesty!"

Even Miaoyu couldn't help but feel the majesty of Emperor Yuan Qingbai.

"It's really Miaoyu!"

Yuan Qingbai sighed in his heart. Although he came to Ritianlinyu specifically to see Miaoyu, he did not expect to meet Miaoyu in this plum forest. It was good that this was the case, as it saved him a lot of trouble.

Yuan Qingbai lowered his eyes to look at the pink plum blossom petals scattered all over the ground, then raised his eyes to gaze at Miaoyu again, and asked gently: "Why are you looking at the withered plum blossoms all over the ground?"

Miaoyu was not very reserved, but just responded shyly: "I have always loved plum blossoms. Since I moved into the garden of Your Majesty, I often come here to admire the plum blossoms. Now I see this plum forest withered and the fallen flowers all over the ground, I can't help but feel a little sad."

Yuan Qingbai thought with a smile.

In the original novel, the two golden hairpins, Lin Daiyu and Miaoyu, are quite similar.

Both of them have the character "玉" in their names.

Both of them are from Suzhou and are fellow villagers.

Both of them were born weak and sickly. The difference is that Miaoyu became a nun because of illness when she was young, and although a bald monk wanted to persuade Lin Daiyu to become a nun, her parents were unwilling.

The two men have similar personalities, both are aloof and proud.

Both of them have a good impression of Jia Baoyu.

If Lin Daiyu had become a nun since she was young, her life would have been similar to Miaoyu's.

Yuan Qingbai felt interesting at this moment. He thought of Lin Daiyu when he heard Miaoyu's sadness about the withering plum blossoms.

In the original novel, Lin Daiyu was sad about the withering of flowers, so she buried the flowers and even composed and chanted the classic poem "Song of Burying Flowers".

Thinking of this, Yuan Qingbai smiled and said to Miaoyu: "Since you are sad about the flowers withering, why don't you give these withered flowers a place to rest?"

Miaoyu looked at Yuan Qingbai in confusion.

Yuan Qingbai continued with a smile, "It would be bad if we just let these petals scatter on the ground and be trampled by people. Why don't you sweep up all the petals, bury them with soil, and make a flower grave. After a long time, they will just turn into soil. This is called 'burying flowers'. This way, it will be clean and show your sincerity to this plum forest."

If it were in his previous life, ten out of ten women would probably think he was a hipster and a psychopath if he said this.

But Miaoyu was very fond of this and liked the words very much. Her eyes lit up and she was happy in her heart. She was happy about burying the flowers and also about the fact that the current emperor Yuan Qingbai was such an elegant and extraordinary person.

Miaoyu couldn't help but smile: "Your Majesty is right, I will bury the flowers later."

Yuan Qingbai nodded: "I am going to visit Ritian Linyu."

After saying this, he turned and walked away, heading towards Ritian Linyu's temple.

Miaoyu looked at his back, stunned for a moment, and decided to return to the temple immediately.

She couldn't help wanting to see him more...

(End of this chapter)