The queen has four sons and six daughters, and she can call the wind and rain

Yun Zhining herself also liked storybooks. In addition, she had wandered around after her last death and had seen a lot of grievances, love and hatred, joys and sorrows, all of which came in handy now. While Empress Dowager Xiaoci was writing, she was guiding her.

The two of them used all their melodramatic skills to write a story that was both melodramatic and exciting. As they were writing, they couldn't help but burst into tears, and the palace maids even thought that something had happened to them.

As she was crying, there was a knock on the door, followed by the nervous voice of the palace maid.

"Empress Dowager, Lady Ming, something bad has happened. The Emperor and Concubine Zhou are here with the eldest prince."

Yun Zhining & Empress Dowager Xiaoci: ???

What's the matter, little brother, why do you speak in that tone?

We just got together to study storytelling techniques and didn't do anything sneaky. You make it seem like we are having an affair.

We are all women, all women, okay?

Having said that, Empress Dowager Xiaoci still took Yun Zhining to quickly put the written notebook into a box and hid it secretly.

Yun Zhining was doing this for the first time and had no experience. In a panic, she knocked over the inkstone, and the ink flowed all over the table and onto the corner of her skirt. She and Empress Dowager Xiaoci looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

"Oh!"

Before the two of them could think of a countermeasure, the palace door was violently pushed open. Qi Yejing walked in hurriedly, and then saw Empress Dowager Xiaoci looking at him with dissatisfaction. Yun Zhining turned sideways to him, looking a little uneasy.

Qi Yejing took a deep breath and said slowly.

"My son, please send my regards to your mother. May your mother be blessed with peace and blessings."

Concubine Zhou and the four-year-old eldest prince behind him also paid their respects to Empress Dowager Xiaoci.

Empress Dowager Xiaoci waved her hands and said speechlessly.

"How come you have time to come to Xiaohe Palace to pay your respects to me today?"

"I miss you, mother, so I came to pay my respects to you. Is there anything wrong?"

"No problem, it's just that I came at a very unfortunate time."

If he came again in the evening, or simply didn't come, maybe she could finish a short story with Yun Zhining today.

Qi Yejing didn't know that Empress Dowager Xiaoci cared about the storybook, and thought that she felt that his arrival would affect her in dealing with Yun Zhining, so he quickly spoke.

"Ming Guiren has just entered the palace and doesn't know many things. If she does something wrong, please tell me and I will teach her a lesson."

"Ming Guiren, why are you still standing there? Hurry up and apologize to the Queen Mother!"

Yun Zhining glanced at the corner of her skirt stained with ink and sighed silently in her heart.

"My concubine is rude, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"Hey, what's wrong with Ming Guiren? Why don't you dare look directly at the Empress Dowager and the Emperor?"

"In reply to the Imperial Concubine, I am a little rude and I am afraid that I will offend the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, so I can only do this. Please forgive me, Imperial Concubine."

Concubine Zhou pursed her lips and did not speak. Instead, she glanced at her son, and the eldest prince immediately understood what she meant.

"The Grand Tutor taught us that we should be upright and honest. When talking to others, we should look them in the face. Otherwise, it would be very rude. So, I hope that Noble Ming can respect us and look at us in the face."

"But, but I really can't face you."

Yun Zhining was almost crying with anxiety.

The eldest prince glanced at Qi Yejing, and seeing that he had no objection, he continued speaking.

"It's okay. I can assure you that no matter what happens later, we won't laugh at you."

"really?"

"A gentleman's words are more important than Mount Tai."

"Ok."

The eldest prince has already said so much, Yun Zhining can no longer be shy.

She pulled her skirt and turned around slowly, and then Qi Yejing saw that her eyes were red and the corners of her skirt were stained black by ink. She looked very embarrassed. No wonder she was unwilling to look at them directly.

Qi Yejing didn't dare to ask Empress Dowager Xiaoci what had just happened, so he could only ask indirectly from Yun Zhining.

"What were you doing just now? Why did your clothes become like this? And why are your eyes red?"

Yun Zhining pursed her lips and smiled embarrassedly.

"The Empress Dowager just said she wanted to practice calligraphy, so I volunteered to help her. As I was grinding, I heard the Emperor, the Imperial Concubine, and the First Prince come to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. I panicked and accidentally knocked over the inkstone, and then, it became like this."

"So, you are crying because you are afraid that I will punish you for this?"

Of course Yun Zhining couldn't say that she was moved to tears by the notebook she had written. She could only nod and attribute her red eyes to this not-so-nice misunderstanding.

Seeing that her red eyes were due to her own fault and not because of the bullying of Empress Dowager Xiaoci, Qi Yejing could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay, it's just a trivial matter, why would I bother with you?"

"Dong Ling, go out and tell Concubine Ming's maid to go back and get Concubine Ming a set of clean clothes."

"Father, I think this is inappropriate."

The eldest prince spoke suddenly, and Concubine Zhou was startled and quickly covered his mouth to stop him from speaking.

Qi Yejing glared at her, with some dissatisfaction in his eyes.

"My Lady, what are you doing?"

"The child doesn't understand anything and speaks nonsense. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The eldest prince pushed his mother's hand away and spoke seriously.

"I say, it's not appropriate for Father to do this."

"you,……"

"Shut up!"

Qi Yejing interrupted Concubine Zhou and looked at his eldest son gently.

"Ming'er, tell me, what is wrong with what I did?"

"Since Father has asked, I will tell you the truth."

"Xiaohe Palace is far away from Furong Pavilion where Concubine Ming lives. It takes at least an hour to go back and forth. Since we are here to pay our respects to the Empress Dowager, we can't stay in her bedroom all the time. We should go to the main hall to have some tea and chat. If we go out, Concubine Ming won't be able to stay here alone. Otherwise, if something is lost in the Empress Dowager's bedroom, wouldn't Concubine Ming be the first to be suspected?"

"So I think the most urgent thing is to find a suitable piece of clothing for Ming Noble."

After being reminded by him, Empress Dowager Xiaoci suddenly thought of something.

"Yan'er left behind a few clothes when she left. They are new and have never been worn. They are both of similar age and body shape, so they should fit well. I'll ask someone to bring one for her to try."

"Mr. Ming, what color do you like?"

"Blue or purple will do."

Empress Dowager Xiaoci was stunned for a moment, and took a long while to speak.

"Yan'er's clothes are all red, yellow, green, etc."

"Does it come in smoky or lotus pink?"

"There is a smoky color one. I'll have someone bring it over for you to try."

"In that case, thank you very much for the reward, Her Majesty the Queen Mother."