Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 320 How dare you say such things?!

Daiyu hummed a little tune as she returned to Yanjia Palace. When she entered, she saw the Empress Dowager and Tanchun drinking soup and eating noodles together, chatting and laughing.

Daiyu curled her lips and whispered to Qingwen, "Look! This is how you try to irritate a motherless person like me!"

Qingwen sighed softly and whispered, "Young lady, you can't be so heartless! The Grand Master, the Queen Mother and the Emperor, who doesn't love you? You have taken advantage of everything, what else do you want?"

"If it were me, I would have already knelt down on Mount Tai and prayed to God! How dare the princess say that?!"

Daiyu was so blocked that she couldn't say a word. She turned around and grabbed Qingwen's face, gritting her teeth and said, "You are so sharp-tongued! Let me see how I will deal with you!"

Qingwen dodged quickly: "Good girl, I was wrong! I won't say it again! Please forgive me this time!"

Daiyu laughed and said, "No way!"

The master and servant ran into the hall, playing and joking.

The Empress Dowager and Tanchun looked at the two of them with smiles on their faces.

Seeing the two people walking around the hall for several times, Zijuan and Xueya, who were serving beside them, also smiled when they saw the joyful laughter and happiness in the hall.

"Okay, stop chasing. Don't be afraid of spraining your ankle! Sit down quickly!" The Queen Mother smiled and waved her hand, and Daiyu and Qingwen stopped panting.

After running a few steps in the warm hall, Daiyu felt a little hot, so she took off her cloak, looked around, and wondered:

"Where's Aunt Meng? She's been complaining about being hungry for a long time, but why doesn't she eat the noodles? They won't taste good if they get cold!"

The Queen Mother knew Aunt Meng's whereabouts very well. She lowered her eyes and said, "Who knows where she went! Anyway, she won't die from starvation. She deserves it for not having food!"

Daiyu frowned and said, "How can that be possible? If you stay hungry for too long your stomach will feel uncomfortable!" She turned around and ordered Qingwen to go find Aunt Meng.

Just as Qingwen agreed, Aunt Meng came running out from the back hall with a smile: "Do you have any more face?"

Snow Crow quickly responded, "Yes! Yes! There are plenty! But the noodles are a little cold. I'll serve Auntie a bowl of hot chicken soup and they'll just need to soak in it!"

Aunt Meng thanked her with a smile, and ate the noodles heartlessly, finishing two bowls in one breath.

After everyone finished eating, they walked around the hall for a while, chatting and laughing, as if to take a break from the meal. When they saw that it was almost the second watch, they went to sleep.

Only Cheng Qian sat alone in a daze on the porch behind the rear hall until three o'clock in the morning. She was shivering with cold and sneezed. Only then did she come to her senses and go back to her room to sleep.

The next morning, Zijuan woke Daiyu up and whispered to her, "Aunt Cheng sat in the back corridor for a long time last night and had a fever at five o'clock in the morning. She has now moved to the west side hall."

Daiyu heard it vaguely, uttered an "oh", sat up and rubbed her eyes, leaned on Zijuan and asked her to help her put on her clothes, and asked vaguely:

"You have to take care of me and serve the Queen Mother. Sister, you must be exhausted, right? Do you want me to ask the Queen Mother to let you take a leave to go back and see your parents? And rest for a few days?"

Zijuan whispered, "Let's wait until Aunt Cheng is well. The Queen Mother is in need of someone around her right now. It would be better if you could get Xiaohong and Xueyan into the palace right away."

"With the two of them by your side, I will feel more at ease serving the Queen Mother."

Daiyu suddenly sobered up with laughter: "If Qingwen heard you say this, she would start to make a scene again!"

Zijuan smiled and quickly dressed her. After taking a closer look, she hurriedly called Qingwen, "Aunt Cheng is sick today, so I won't be in charge of your side. Thank you for your hard work!"

Qingwen was pleasantly surprised: "Great! It's finally my turn! From now on, I will be the most important maidservant beside the princess!"

Aunt Meng outside raised the curtain and asked, "Princess, when are we going to the Jia Mansion today?"

Lin Daiyu paused and said, "Let's go in the afternoon! Let's go when the Queen Mother is taking a nap!"

After washing up, Daiyu came out and saw Tanchun also walking out, so they went to the Empress Dowager's bedroom together.

The Queen Mother was combing her hair, and Daiyu came up mischievously and picked and chose in the Queen Mother's jewelry box. Finally, she picked out a plum blossom jade hairpin and handed it to Zijuan: "Wear this!"

Zijuan had a headache: "The Queen Mother wore her hair in a bun today, and she was planning to wear a phoenix crown!"

The Queen Mother took the hairpin in her hand, looked at it carefully, and couldn't help laughing: "I didn't even know there was this in the box! It looks good, just wear it! If the bun doesn't fit, just change it!"

"...Yes." Zijuan smiled, took off her hair bun, and whispered, "But today we have announced that the Queen Mother and the Princess of the Northern King will enter the palace. Will the Queen Mother really not wear the Phoenix Crown?"

The Queen Mother snorted, "No! I can be as beautiful as I want. I can be as happy as I want!"

"Do you think that when I promised Tao Xingjian yesterday to 'persuade' those two, I really meant to 'persuade' them?

"Humph! What a shameless, hypocritical and arrogant family!"

At this point, the Queen Mother glanced in the mirror and saw that all the girls were curious, so she stopped talking and only ordered Zijuan: "Change your hair into a lively bun!"

Zijuan agreed, but eventually changed to a similar, dignified and elegant Yuanbao bun.

After having breakfast together, the empress dowager took Daiyu and Tanchun to the garden behind the palace for a walk and some food.

After walking back and forth for only two times, someone came to report: "The Queen Mother and the Princess of Beijing have arrived and are waiting outside the palace."

"Announce him." The Queen Mother pulled herself together, flicked her long robe with wide sleeves, and strode back to the palace.

The Queen Mother and the Princess of Prince Beijing bowed their heads and when the Queen Mother called them up, everyone saw that both of them looked haggard and had dark circles under their eyes.

The Queen Mother looked at him and asked calmly, "What's wrong? I told you last night that if you come to Taiji Palace today, I will give you an explanation. Why are you still not sleeping well?"

The two of them knelt down again and sobbed, "Shui Rong passed away, but the news of his death was kept secret. We really can't figure it out, so we can't sleep."

"Oh? I see." The Queen Mother raised her hand and asked, "Go, bring two bowls of ginseng soup."

The two of them hurriedly thanked him.

The Queen Mother did not respond. She just watched the two of them slowly sip the soup before she said, "You didn't say anything because you couldn't figure it out and couldn't sleep. I thought you were acting like this just to show me!"

The two were stunned.

The Queen Mother of Prince Beijing had always been afraid of the Queen Mother, so she quickly looked at her daughter-in-law.

The princess' heart sank immediately. She stood up immediately, weak and powerless: "Your Majesty the Queen Mother, you are too kind. Shui Rong died tragically in the wilderness. As your biological mother, I am your first wife. How can I not be heartbroken..."

The Queen Mother raised her hand impatiently: "I heard about the quarrel between you two yesterday! This is the Xuanzheng Palace, where the Emperor holds court! Just because I feel sorry for you, you have turned the place upside down!

"That's the only way a village woman would act like that, right? I have a bad temper and I'm old, so I don't need you two to act it out again in front of me!

"What if I can't help but slap you in the face? That would ruin the emperor's generosity!

"Besides, I called you here because I have something to tell you, not to listen to your malicious speculations!"