My Lady is well

The diamond-shaped lattices of the stained glass windows broke up the sunlight, casting mottled shadows on the cold floor.

Shen Yueyao lay sideways on the window, her figure graceful. The plum blossoms under the palace eaves broke through the ice and snow to reveal their beauty. The gorgeous red walls set off their icy and snowy appearance, which was extremely beautiful.

She exhaled deeply, drooping her brows, watching the white mist dissipate in the sunlight.

There are flowers in spring and moon in autumn, cool breeze in summer and snow in winter.

If there is nothing to worry about, it is a good time in the world.

Unfortunately, she had no time to appreciate the snow. Her beautiful shoulders drooped, and a hint of frustration appeared in her pretty eyes. She sighed, turned back to hold the pen and continued to write hard.

Xu Niannian came in and shook off the few flakes of snow on her cloak, then untied the cloak and casually draped it on the white jade screen given by the empress dowager. She curled her palms together, blew a breath, and sat down by the charcoal fire.

"Sister Shen, why are you writing on the low desk?"

Shen Yueyao sat elegantly, writing without stopping. In the incense burner, some incense was burning, and wisps of fragrance were floating in the air.

The complex sounds suddenly ceased, leaving behind the elegant and clear melody.

“Here you can occasionally look up and see the scenery.”

"Sister Shen is such a wonderful person. She never wronged herself even when she was punished for copying books."

Shen Yueyao heard her tone was a bit depressed, frowned slightly, paused for a moment and then continued.

"What's the matter? You sound like you're worried about something?"

Xu Niannian paused, his eyes lingered on her for a moment, then lowered his head and said.

"No, I was thinking about what Sister Shen said before."

"What?"

"..."

Xu Niannian stood up and walked to her, stuck her head out of the window to look around for a while, sat down in front of her, put her hands on the low table, leaned close to her and whispered.

"Sister Shen, do you think we can really make it out of the palace?"

Shen Yueyao stopped what she was doing, put down the long pen, and looked at Xu Niannian's serious expression. She felt a little curious.

"Why are you asking this suddenly? When I told you that day, you didn't seem to care so much, but what happened?"

Xu Niannian withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and rubbed the embroidered handkerchief with both hands. There was a fish embroidered on the rouge-colored handkerchief. The lines were delicate and the fish scales were vivid.

"...I just think the palace is too boring."

Shen Yueyao nodded and said, "It's boring to be trapped in this small place in your prime years. But Nian Nian, you can do something, or learn something, do something you like, don't let yourself feel empty and have crazy thoughts."

Xu Niannian blinked and thought for a while.

"I don't seem to be good at anything except eating. I know a little bit of the eight arts, but I'm not very proficient in any of them."

Shen Yueyao looked at her embroidered handkerchief and smiled.

"Who said you are not proficient? I think the fish on this handkerchief is better than those embroidered by the embroiderers in the clothing bureau."

Xu Niannian subconsciously covered her face with the handkerchief, lowered her eyelashes and spoke in a low voice.

"That's different. I put a lot of effort into embroidering this."

"What's the difference? Isn't it just spending more time? It's better to spend time on these things than to spend time on vying for favor like them. Thinking about vying for favor all day long will make you mentally abnormal after a while."

Xu Niannian tilted her head and looked at her: "Sister Shen, what you said is not quite the same as what my father said."

Shen Yueyao snorted and asked the question even though she knew the answer.

"What did your father say?"

"When my father found out that I was chosen to enter the palace, he was so happy that he went crazy. He told me that I must strive for success and must do whatever it takes..."

Her face turned red and her voice got lower and lower.

"She climbed onto the dragon bed by any means necessary, and said that as long as...as long as she served the emperor well in bed, she would definitely...definitely have a bright future."

Although Shen Yueyao expected that this would definitely go against her ideas, she still couldn't help but sigh after hearing it.

"Niannian, everything is divided into yin and yang, and people are divided into men and women. In fact, there is no difference between men and women. They are not born nobler than women. Even in... bed, uh... you don't need to serve him, just be loyal to yourself."

Xu Niannian was confused and asked, "Should men and women be... the same? Aren't men nobler than women?"

No one had ever said anything so perverse to her before.

She only knew that the king was the leader of his subjects, the father was the leader of his sons, and the husband was the leader of his wife.

Since ancient times, men have been respected and women have been inferior. Before marriage, women obey their fathers, after marriage, they obey their husbands, and after their husbands die, they obey their sons.

After hearing what Shen Yueyao said today, I felt for a moment that the moral principles in my mind were shattered.

Shen Yueyao didn't know whether she had listened or not. She frowned slightly and picked up the pen again to continue copying the "Instructions for Women" which she had already copied eighty-nine times.

Logically speaking, having copied it so many times, she should have been able to recite it by heart.

But for some reason, I still have to copy every sentence I read.

Maybe he really wasn't paying attention, or maybe he wasn't interested in the content.

Anyway, I didn't remember many sentences.

Xu Niannian kept his head down silently, digesting her words secretly. After a long time, he suddenly said something.

"How about...I go learn how to make pastries?"

Shen Yueyao nodded and smiled softly: "Then I will have to rely on Nian Nian to provide for my internal organs in the future."

Xu Niannian said with some embarrassment: "I would like to learn, but the chefs in the small kitchen of Yingxiu Palace are very average. And I can't go to the imperial kitchen."

Shen Yueyao raised her head, blinked slowly, her eyes turned, and she curled the corners of her lips and said.

"How about this, next time I'll take you to Lady Meng's Chengfeng Pavilion. She has the best imperial chef there."

Xu Niannian suddenly looked up at her, the light in her eyes brightened, and suddenly there were some ripples.

"Sister Shen, I have never met anyone as nice as you. You are my biological sister. No, my biological sister is not as nice as you. She only acts like an elder sister and belittles me."

Shen Yueyao shook her head and said, "Hey, you haven't seen me when I was bad. Someone as simple as you is not suitable to play the game of fighting for power with them."

Shen Yueyao stopped writing again, thinking that if she really left, she didn't know whether Xu Niannian could survive here.

Taking her away is unrealistic.

I haven't figured out a way to get out of this yet.

So he put down his pen, gently raised his eyelids, slightly raised the corners of his lips, and spoke to her half-jokingly, pretending to be profound.

"Nian Nian, I see that you have a unique bone structure and a special talent. I have a set of "Secrets of Survival in the Deep Palace". I would like to teach it to you today, okay?"

Xu Niannian found what she said interesting and started to giggle and agreed with her.

"I would like to take Sister Shen as my teacher. I hope you can teach me the secrets."

"Since you are sincere in becoming my disciple, why don't you add more tea to show your respect to my master?"

Xu Niannian really obediently poured a cup of tea and brought it to her.

"Master, please have some tea."

Shen Yueyao took the tea and joked.

"Since you are sincere, I will pass on all my life's skills to you."

She tore off a piece of rice paper and spread it on the low table, then put away the copied "Instructions for Women" and put it aside.