The Empress Arrives: Rebirth of Concubine Hua

Chapter 389 Surprised

Ulanara concealed her sad expression and sneered.

"Why does she want to see me? And she wants to use those old-fashioned excuses to trap me?
I have been able to spare her life until now only because she is the mistress of the Ulanara family.

Otherwise, based on what she did to my mother, I would let her die ten thousand times!"

Jianqiu knew that what Ulanara said was not just an angry remark.

If it weren't for the fact that the old lady had to be kept around to preserve the family's dignity, the honorable old lady would have "died of illness" long after the ceremony of crowning Ulanara as Queen.

Ulanara's father, General Fei Yanggu, was a cold-hearted man. He fought on the battlefield all year round. Whenever he returned home, he would bring a concubine on his left and a young mistress on his right to his house.

The old lady didn't dare to vent her anger on Fei Yanggu, so she waited until he went out to fight again and then tortured the concubines and illegitimate children in the mansion.

When Fei Yanggu returned victorious, he would inevitably have another quarrel with the old lady over these things.

Then two concubines were brought in.

So even if Ulanara caused the old lady to "die of illness", Fei Yanggu would not say anything.

But Ulanara said that the old lady is still useful.

Concubine Duan has been feeling uneasy since she returned to Yanqing Palace.

Jixiang took out the string of beads given by Ulanara and presented it to Concubine Duan.

"I see that Your Majesty seems anxious, so please smell this bead to calm your mind."

Ever since Concubine Duan got the pearl, she discovered that the pearl had a miraculous effect of calming the mind.

Whenever she felt anxious, the special fragrance emitted by the beads would always soothe her mind.

Concubine Duan took the beads and put them on her wrist first.

He took the beads off again, held them in his palm, and sniffed them gently.

The special fragrance wafted into her nose, and Concubine Duan gradually calmed down.

After a while, Concubine Duan calmed down and smiled at Jixiang.

“It’s strange to say, this gift from the Queen is really excellent.

It is actually more effective than the medicine prescribed by the imperial doctors.

But I am worried that the fragrance of this bead will fade away one day.
What should I do?"

Jixiang smiled.

"The things given by the Queen are naturally the best. I don't know what kind of jade this bead is made of.
It smells so good, and it has been so long, but the smell has not dissipated yet. "

Concubine Duan stroked the beads in her hand and took a deep breath.

"Yes~ I have never seen such jade before.
Wait, that's not right."

Concubine Duan's face suddenly changed, and Jixiang hurried forward.

"What's wrong, my lady? What's wrong?"

Concubine Duan stared at the beads in her hand and asked for good luck.

“You have been with me since you were little, and you have seen a lot of good things.

Besides the golden fragrant jade, have you ever heard of any kind of jade that has a fragrance?"

Jixiang was stunned and shook his head in confusion.

“I have been following the Majesty for so long, but I have only seen the golden fragrance and jade stone at the birthday banquet of the old lady in the Anding Marquis’s mansion that year.

But I remember that the scent of the gold and jade was the scent of flowers, like the scent of your pearl necklace.
Let alone seeing such jade, I have never smelled it anywhere else."

Concubine Duan said.

"Yes, I have never heard of it either. When the Queen gave me this string of beads,
"You said it was a treasure sent as tribute from a foreign land? Do you remember where it was sent as tribute?"

Jixiang continued to be confused.

"The Queen only said that it was a treasure sent as tribute from a foreign land, but she didn't elaborate.

I guess it's just the Arabs, Russians, Ryukyu or Goryeo?

I remember that only these foreign nations paid tribute after autumn."

Concubine Duan said. "No, Daqin and Luosha do not produce jade, but small places like Ryukyu and Goryeo do.

They couldn't even support themselves and had to rely on the imperial court's annual silver and grain.
Those two small places are barren and cannot produce such fine jade."

Jixiang shook his head.

"Then I don't know. Does your Majesty think there is something wrong?"

Concubine Duan stared at the string of beads in her hand. There were a total of twenty-four blood-red jade beads on the string.

She knew that Ulanara had often gone to Baohua Hall to burn incense and pray in the past two years.

When Ulanara gave her the red jade bead necklace, she said that the twenty-four beads represented twenty-four merits, which were also the twenty-four kinds of purity of Buddhahood.

It is also said that because these beads are blessed by Buddha's fruit and have the fragrance of the jade itself, they can make the wearer calm and peaceful.

But today, Concubine Duan suddenly discovered that she had never smelled any fragrance from any kind of jade except the golden fragrant jade.

"Go find someone to check the scent of this string of beads. I feel like there's something wrong with it.

This fragrance has such a calming effect that it shocked me."

Jixiang immediately responded "yes" and said again.

"Today is New Year's Eve. After the fifteenth day, I will find a chance to send this string of beads out of the palace for that doctor to have a look."

Concubine Duan wanted to put the beads into Jixiang's hands, but she sniffed them reluctantly.

Finally, with reluctance and doubt in his heart, he handed the beads to Jixiang who had been waiting beside him.

And Concubine Wan was alone in the Suiyuxuan, watching over the brightest lamp. She cut her heart with a pair of scissors and then ordered someone to help her wash up and go to bed.

Cui Jinxi helped Concubine Wan lie down and said with a smile.

"My lady, please go to bed. Tomorrow morning you will have to pay your respects to the Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager.

I have prepared the clothes for you to wear tomorrow, it is your favorite color, morning sun red.

The jewelry is the set of gold filigree nipple-patterned headpiece that the emperor gave you last month."

After lying down, Concubine Wan looked at Cui Jinxi and said.

"Change your jewelry to the set of jewels with kingfisher feathers that the Empress gave you."

Although Cui Jinxi was puzzled, she always obeyed her master's orders.

"Yes, this year's New Year's Eve should have been lively and exciting. According to what I had originally thought,

This should be the time for the Emperor and his concubines to celebrate the New Year together.
It’s a pity, my lady, please go to sleep. I will prepare the jewelry you want.

By the way, in the palace, only Concubine Hua loves to wear kingfisher feathers.
Now my young master, you often wear kingfisher jewelry, and I am a little worried."

Lady Wan turned over and slept on her side facing the inside of the bed.

He only left one sentence for Cui Jinxi.

"What are you afraid of? It's just jewelry. Anyone can wear it."

Cui Jinxi said nothing more. She just gently lowered the bed curtain for Concubine Wan, and told the palace maid on night duty to keep watch carefully, and then she went to rest.

A long time after Cui Jinxi left Wan Guiren's bedroom, she saw Luoyu coming in with a pot of tea.

But she did not enter the house. Instead, she gently placed the tea on the small table outside the door and left.

The little eunuch who was guarding the tea stove was sleeping soundly with a quilt in his arms.

In the middle of the night, Concubine Wan was awakened by thirst. The palace maid on night duty brought her tea. She drank it and went back to sleep.

When Concubine Wan woke up the next day, she scared the palace maids.

The palace maid's knees went weak and she fell to her knees with a plop.

"My lord, my lord's face,"

Concubine Wan sat on the bed, looking at the kneeling palace maid who had been on duty last night in confusion.

"What happened to my face?"

Cui Jinxi and Luo Yu, who had rushed to serve Wan Guiren after hearing that she had woken up, came in. They were also shocked when they saw Wan Guiren!