This palace comes back in this life, only to be Nian Shilan

Chapter 74: Apricot Blossoms in the Sky

Suiyuxuan, it is a nice spring day with bright sunshine.

Zhen Huan, Shen Meizhuang, and An Lingrong asked the palace maids to move a stool and sat under the crabapple flowers in the Sui Yuxuan to embroider.

Now Shen Meizhuang is four months pregnant, and she finally noticed some changes in her body.

Just now, Doctor Wen checked the baby's pulse in Xianfu Palace and said that the fetus was safe and stable. Shen Meiyu could no longer sit still and went to Suiyuxuan to talk to Huan'er. Coincidentally, An Lingrong and Zhen Huan were embroidering a bellyband for Shen Meiyu's unborn child under the crabapple tree.

"Rong'er's skillful hands made this little tiger look so lifelike." Shen Meizhuang was pregnant. When she saw the tiger head embroidered by An Lingrong, she also wanted to make some clothes for the child, but An Lingrong took away the scissors.

An Lingrong said that pregnant women should not handle sharp objects such as scissors as it was unlucky, so she handed Mei Jie a ball of silk thread and asked her to sort it out.

"Now that I'm pregnant, it's fine that I'm being controlled by the palace maids and aunts, but you two are also staring at me and not allowing me to do this or that. It's so boring." Shen Meizhuang complained while holding the silk thread.

"You are so ungrateful for what you have. The child hasn't even been born yet, but you already have two godmothers making clothes for him. When the child is born, he will be loved by everyone." Zhen Huan said to Shen Meizhuang coquettishly, "Sister An's craftsmanship is much better than mine. She is even better than me, a clumsy godmother."

An Lingrong's embroidery work was indeed outstanding. Zhen Huan was not really angry.

"You're still blaming me. The child isn't even born yet, but you're already jealous." Shen Meizhuang was "bickering" with Zhen Huan as usual. The three of them were laughing when the sound of Yu Ying'er singing Kunqu opera came from outside the Sui Yuxuan. However, the sound was not very clear as the Sui Yuxuan was far away.

Hearing that voice, the three people fell silent involuntarily at the same time.

"I heard that Yu has been accompanying the emperor in recent days. I'm afraid she has been summoned by the emperor again now." Shen Meizhuang said while lowering her head to sort out the silk threads.

"Drinking tea, playing chess, and listening to music, I also love such elegant things, not to mention the emperor~" Zhen Huan interjected.

"Even so, the emperor has neglected Lingrong." Shen Meizhuang said angrily.

When An Lingrong heard this, she was neither angry nor unhappy.

Taking advantage of the days when Yu was favored by the emperor, An Lingrong flipped through several ancient books and developed two new recipes for spices. She also made some adjustments to the ratios of the spices in the recipes according to her own ideas. She just asked Baoque to secretly submit them to the Yiku Palace last night. Together with the recipe she wrote down when she made the goose pear tent incense, she didn't know how much silver she could earn from these three spice recipes.

“I heard that Yu once met the emperor in Yime Garden. The relationship between them must be deeper than that of others. Sister Mei doesn’t have to be angry.” An Lingrong was still embroidering the tiger head in her hand.

Upon hearing the few words she encountered in Yimei Garden, Zhen Huan paused what she was doing, but no one noticed.

"Isn't it? That Yu Shi is indeed luckier. First, she was favored by the Emperor when she delivered something to the Yangxin Palace, and then she ran into the Emperor by chance in the Yimei Garden. Even if that Yu Shi secretly harmed me, she was only confined to my home for three months. The Emperor really has feelings for that Yu Shi."

Shen Meizhuang was a little annoyed. She was angry that the emperor did not stand up for her and that he was too sentimental. He loved herself and others, but this love was really cheap.

"We met by chance in Yimei Garden. What happened?" Zhen Huan asked.

"During the New Year's Eve banquet, the emperor was in a good mood and left the table to go to Yimeyuan to appreciate the plum blossoms. He met a woman reciting poems in the plum grove. The emperor asked about it and found out it was Yu. This time the emperor was confined and favored again, I'm afraid it's because he still cares about the friendship they had that day." Shen Meizhuang said gloomily.

"No matter who is favored, it is not as important as the one in your belly. Child, you must grow up quickly and come out early to make your mother happy." Zhen Huan put down the work in her hands and said while touching Shen Meizhuang's slightly pregnant belly.

An Lingrong laughed out loud when she heard Zhen Huan's joke. Spring had arrived, and the sunshine in the Forbidden City had become much brighter.

"You~" Shen Meizhuang rolled her eyes at Zhen Huan, "Rong'er has been favored for so long, why is there still no movement in her belly?"

Shen Meizhuang is really going to be a mother. She keeps mumbling about this and that.

"Maybe it's not my destiny to have children yet." An Lingrong also had doubts in her heart, but she didn't say it out loud to upset the two of them. She decided to wait until she found out the truth before saying anything. She changed the subject and said, "Look, Sister Mei is really going to be a mother. She just worried about her sister being ignored, and now she's trying to have a child again."

This time, the palace maids behind the ladies, Liuzhu, Huanbi, Caiyue, Zhusheng, Baojuan and Baoque all laughed.

It's warm and full of joy.

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Plants in spring are the most vital. After a few days, the treetops of apricot flowers in the Imperial Garden were in full bloom.

When the wind blows, the petals rub against each other slightly, making a rustling sound, which is really bright and beautiful.

Seeing that Zhen Huan had been depressed for a long time due to her illness, Huanbi and Liuzhu coaxed Zhen Huan out of Shuiyuxuan with words.

On that day, Zhen Huan happened to be wearing a plain pink dress. She sat on a swing and played a song called "Apricot Blossoms in the Sky" on her flute. The melodious sound of the flute swirled among the apricot blossoms and floated into the ears of Yongzheng who was strolling in the Imperial Garden.

Yongzheng walked out of the rockery and saw a beautiful woman sitting on a swing, playing the flute with her eyes lowered. A light rain had just passed and there was still some warm moisture in the air. A ray of sunlight shone through the pink and white petals and fell on Zhen Huan's plain pink dress, which was particularly soft.

It was Zhen, the concubine of Wan. I haven’t seen her since the last time I met her in Mei’er Palace.

Yongzheng walked out from behind the rockery with his hands behind his back.

Zhen Huan heard someone approaching and looked up, only to find it was the emperor in casual clothes.

"I am the concubine Zhen, and I am honored to meet the Emperor." Zhen Huan lowered her body to salute the Emperor and tightened her grip on the flute. What was to come would eventually come.

"Are you feeling better? Why don't you put on more clothes when you go out?"

"Your Majesty, the weather is getting warmer and I am feeling better now."

"The piece you just played, Shadows of the Sky with Apricot Blossoms, fits the scene very well."

"Is the Emperor familiar with this music?"

"If it were played on a spring night, the sound would be even more beautiful and graceful. Now playing it with the flute alleviates the melancholy in the song, and adds a bit of the cheerfulness of snow blowing in the wind."

"I have shown my ugliness, and I hope Your Majesty will not blame me."

"Just now when I played the line 'The grass is all over the bank, but I can't go home', the sound of the flute was a little stagnant, with a sobbing feeling. Are you missing home?"

"There's a mistake in the music, Zhou Lang Gu, the emperor's hearing is comparable to Zhou Gongjin." Seeing that the emperor could recite the music score effortlessly, Zhen Huan relaxed a little.

"I haven't heard such a beautiful flute sound for a long time. Since Queen Chunyuan passed away, there has been no such beautiful flute sound."

Yongzheng looked at the woman in front of him who looked like Chun Yuan. His heart was excited and a little nervous. His heart was beating like thunder.

Just for a moment, he really thought it was Chunyuan playing the flute in the shadow of the apricot blossoms.