Chapter 315: Princess Caiyi
Leaving Consort Zhang’s quarters, Jiang Yu had gained quite a few gifts.
Consort Zhang had gifted her a very precious headpiece, encrusted entirely with pearls.
Her own daughter-in-law had wanted it before, but she hadn’t given it to her.
One had to admit, the concept of “affinity at first sight” was truly marvelous.
This Little Madam Meng was just too adorable.
It had been a long time since Consort Zhang had laughed so heartily from the bottom of her heart.
The laughter felt as if it had scattered all the pent-up knots within her body.
It was so much fun.
It was worth it!
She felt very happy giving the gifts.
Although the Emperor had also instructed her to give them, she gave them willingly.
After receiving a wave of gifts here, she went to see the Emperor.
When the Emperor saw Meng Qingshe, he felt quite envious; Meng Qingshe looked like the type who didn’t have much brainpower but had plenty of muscle. When he was young, he looked down on such people, but as he grew older, he envied them.
The Emperor asked, “Did you sleep well yesterday?”
Meng Qingshe shook his head and sighed, “I didn’t sleep well. Father and Shaoxia have both rushed to the battlefield, so I really couldn’t sleep. As soon as dawn broke, I went to see my two grandsons. Only after seeing my grandsons did I go back to take a nap, so I only slept for four hours.”
The Emperor:…
The Emperor, who struggled to sleep and could only manage two hours at most, really wanted to punch him. If he could sleep for four hours while still having things on his mind, wouldn’t he be able to sleep forever when he had no worries?
He looked down, did some mental math, and decided to let it go. Continuing the topic of sleep would only bring humiliation upon himself.
Although the inner palace was full of women, the Emperor, who didn’t want to sleep with any of them, decisively ended the topic.
After some idle chatter, the Emperor still didn’t want to talk to Meng Qingshe.
Every conversation somehow led to him feeling unhappy.
If it weren’t for the fact that he had a good Father… or now, that he had a good son…
Forget it.
The Emperor summoned Madam Meng, Little Madam Meng, and the two little Mengs.
One had to kneel and kowtow when seeing the Emperor.
Jiang Yu had practiced this.
Just bow the same way she would to her ancestors or parents.
Jiang Yu’s aesthetic was the very festive kind; she was dressed in a riot of colors.
The colors weren’t exactly garish, but wearing them made her look very lively.
The Emperor was also a gossip.
He had seen Madam Meng before, but had no impression of her.
She had no distinct features, mainly because there were too many beauties in the palace; having seen so many, the Emperor felt nothing for an average pretty face.
When he saw Little Madam Meng, his grand-niece-in-law?
How should he put it.
The Emperor felt that the people spreading gossip nowadays were becoming increasingly absurd.
They even called her a “Second Daji.”
Could it be that these big, round-faced girls were popular outside now?
As everyone knew, a woman who had given birth, especially if she was still nursing and eating well, would be full of collagen, with a very round face, looking extremely well-nourished, and her figure would be quite plump.
Her skin was undeniably good.
But this was completely different.
Princess Huiyun’s beauty was such that whenever she appeared, her every word and movement made it impossible for people to look away.
This young girl was considered good-looking, but it was just a normal kind of good-looking.
A rather festive appearance.
It seemed that girls who knew how to live a good life just looked like this.
Cheerful and festive.
Taking a very good foundation and growing into the look of someone who knew how to manage a household.
“Rise.”
The Emperor finally spoke.
The other party stood up nimbly.
Then, a face full of smiles turned toward him, her eyes round.
Her whole face was written with curiosity.
“What are you looking at?”
Jiang Yu turned her head to look at Aunt Yin.
Aunt Yin did not signal her.
So she spoke naturally.
“Looking at what the Imperial Great-Uncle looks like.”
“Did you see clearly?”
Jiang Yu nodded, then shook her head.
“Not too clearly. Imperial Great-Uncle, you are shining golden from head to toe, like a Bodhisattva. It’s dazzling, so I didn’t see too clearly.”
The Emperor was stunned for a moment.
He was prepared to hear people praise him.
When your position is high enough, everything you hear is pleasant words and flattery; few people would voluntarily seek trouble.
It was the first time he had heard someone say they couldn’t see clearly because he was shining like a Bodhisattva—hahahaha.
Complimenting people was truly an art.
Complimenting the Emperor on being handsome, dashing, and majestic—the Emperor had heard such words countless times.
At first, he was a little happy, but later it became more and more ordinary.
As he grew older, he even felt that repeated praise was hypocritical.
The Emperor felt as if he could detect lies, able to see through truth and falsehood at a glance.
But this was the first time he’d heard that he was like a Bodhisattva.
He wasn’t satisfied with just being an Emperor; now, he most wanted to become an immortal.
Someone more powerful than an Emperor didn’t exist in the human world; one could only find them in the immortal realm, and a Bodhisattva was an immortal.
“Then come closer and take a look.”
“Alrighty.” Jiang Yu walked forward briskly.
She didn’t forget to help her mother-in-law along with her.
Madam Meng:…
She didn’t really want to get that close.
She often heard her husband complaining about the Emperor under the covers, calling him an old geezer who was very wicked…
She was very worried that she would slip up and reveal something unusual.
Jiang Yu, having walked closer, really scrutinized the Emperor carefully.
She also saw Eunuch Yan behind the Emperor.
Her eyes widened again, looking very cheerful.
Jiang Yu, who was scrutinizing the Emperor, felt a bit disappointed in her heart: Is that it?
How could the Emperor look like this?
He seemed just like a normal person.
If he took off his golden robe and hat, he seemed about the same as a landlord in the village, and he was even a bit too thin.
The landlords were all chubby from eating well.
Jiang Yu felt that being a little fat was a sign of good fortune; he was too thin.
His cheeks were sunken.
It couldn’t be that the Imperial Great-Uncle didn’t have enough to eat; it must be that he didn’t have enough good fortune.
Of course, she hadn’t had time to say these words yet when she saw her Godfather.
When she arrived in the capital, she knew her Godfather was still alive, but she just hadn’t had the chance to see him.
She didn’t expect to see him just like this.
She said with a face full of pleasant surprise, “Godfather! Look at me, am I impressive? Now you don’t have to worry about not having anyone to see you off at the end of your life. I also gave birth to two more kids, so the funeral procession has two more people now.”
The Emperor had wanted to ask what she thought of him.
But he ended up hearing this.
Indeed, she was the girl who made Wen Xin’s mouth curl into a smile whenever he thought of her.
She was remarkably blunt.
The first thing she said upon meeting was about seeing him off to the grave.
The Emperor himself was quite superstitious about this, but hearing it from this girl’s mouth, it was quite interesting.
Attendant Yan Wenxin looked at Sister Yu. The little girl who used to love wearing flowery skirts and tying a red string on her head, even needing to run around the whole village twice to show it off, had grown up and blossomed. Yet, her personality hadn’t changed much; that was truly wonderful.
Reflecting on the bitter days of the past, they were truly bitter. There was no guarantee of the next meal, living like a stray dog.
But looking back, he thought of the tall trees in the village, the fragrant wildflowers on the side of the road, the sunlight shining on that slope, and walking up the slope to Jiang the Second’s house, where there would be the delicious wild vegetable porridge made by his sister-in-law.
The barking of dogs in the village was crisp, the chirping of birds was crisp, and the crying and laughing of children were crisp.
Recalling the past, even with such bitter days, everything he remembered was beautiful, as if those were the best days of his life.
His straw sandals were broken, his toes were exposed, but he didn’t care.
The world was vast, and he was the greatest.
Now he lived in luxury, never going hungry again, but he could no longer find the feeling of eating with such relish.
He had gained a lot, but lost even more.
However, he didn’t regret it.
Only after taking that step did he know that he had also been happy in the past.
Only after experiencing things did he know what was good and what was bad.
The path in the human world was not easy to walk, but he had walked it.
Hearing Little Sister Yu’s words, he felt as if that distant past was only yesterday.
“Good, that’s great. If you can all come to see me off when I go, then I haven’t lived in vain,” Eunuch Yan said with a smile.
Jiang Yu had initially been a little scared and nervous.
But seeing her Godfather right in front of her, even though he was sitting, it was as if she had returned home.
She let out a breath of relief, feeling very lighthearted.
“Great-Uncle, Godfather, do you want to hold my babies? My Father-in-law goes around saying my babies are blessed. I think the two babies are indeed very blessed. They’ve seen the big world at such a young age, even entering the Imperial Palace. My Great-Uncle, their Great-Great-Uncle, and their Godfather, their God-Grandfather—this is several generations together, the blessings are huge!”
And so, the Emperor was muddledly handed a Little Square Face baby.
Eunuch Yan was handed a Little Goose baby.
The babies weren’t big, but they were heavy.
They stared with curious eyes.
Their hands were clenched into fists, waving gently.
No matter how fierce a person was, they couldn’t help but feel tenderness when facing a human cub.
Moreover, the Emperor was holding this Little Square Face, who actually shared a blood relation with him. Thinking this way, he felt much more reassured about the Meng Family.
The most reliable relationship was, after all, blood and marriage.
Eunuch Yan held the cub with the round face, thinking of when he left Kaner Village; Mianmian was only this big, time flew by.
He gently touched the child’s hand, saw him with his diaper open, proudly exposing his little pee-pee, and he laughed too. Good, very good.
The Emperor held the child for a moment; he was quite heavy, and he couldn’t hold him anymore.
The Emperor’s health was actually very weak.
Just then, Little Goose just peed directly.
Everyone else was panicked.
Jiang Yu laughed out loud.
“Great-Uncle, you will definitely have good luck all year next year; the boy’s pee has been sprinkled on you.”
The Emperor also laughed out loud.
“I am the Emperor, what other good luck could I have?”
Jiang Yu thought for a moment and said, “Then I wish that Great-Uncle walks in the Imperial Garden and steps on gold, and when you eat dumplings, you find money in them. I wish my husband and Elder Brother and their grandfather and the others return victorious.”
“Good, good, good!”
The Emperor, who hadn’t slept well, was very happy because of this last sentence.
This was also the reason why he had summoned the Meng Family in the first place.
The originally hypocritical favor, under Jiang Yu’s influence, felt like chatting about family matters.
And so, when Jiang Yu entered the palace, she was still Little Madam Meng, but when she left the palace, she had the additional status of Princess Caiyi, along with a fief and a salary.
It excited Jiang Yu to no end.
She vowed, “Great-Uncle, I originally wanted to bring you food when I entered the palace, but they said the Emperor can’t eat outside food, so I didn’t dare to bring it. But now that I’m a Princess, I should be considered one of your own, right? I’ll go back and make food for you; it’ll count as homemade food. I guarantee you’ll like it.”
The Emperor’s smile deepened, adding many more wrinkles.
Eunuch Yan also laughed along.
When Sister Yu entered the palace, she had brought him food—food from Kaner Village, black flour buns. They were hard to chew, but if you broke off a piece and chewed, it became more fragrant the more you chewed.
He wasn’t chewing the buns; he was chewing on the passage of time.
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