The Changchun Palace team travels back in time to Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Anxiang Xiaozhu is a secluded courtyard with a skylight.

A young woman, dressed in a bright orange gauze dress embroidered with magpies and plum blossoms, leaned lazily against a balustrade in the courtyard. Her left hand idly fiddled with the crystal tassels hanging from a silver pomegranate hairpin inlaid with gemstones beside her hair, while her right hand, painted with daffodil foil, picked up a black chess piece and placed it carelessly on the chessboard. Apart from the hairpin, she wore no other adornments on her head, her hair slightly loose, and she wore wooden clogs barefoot. Because she was leaning against the railing, her feet were not firmly planted, and only the shadowy outlines of her white toes, clinging to the silk ribbons on the clogs, could be vaguely seen beneath the embroidered hem of her skirt.

The phrase "walking on clogs as if covered in frost, without wearing socks with black hooves" describes a breathtakingly beautiful woman, but the prince opposite her remained unmoved, focusing intently on the chessboard.

Nen Cai sighed, "Fifth Prince, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but do you really need to think for so long to play a game of Connect Four?"

Hongzhou impatiently stroked the embroidery on the hem of his pink embroidered robe, saying, "Don't disturb me as I ponder a solution!"

Soon after, Hongzhou was defeated.

Nen Cai had the chessboard cleared away and joked, "If the primary wife and secondary wives were to ask you to play chess or cards, they would definitely get bored because you win too quickly."

Hongzhou picked up his teacup with annoyance, took a sip of tea, and said, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. They love to play mahjong with me! They always win a lot of money! Hmm, the pre-rain tea this year is pretty good."

Nen Cai smiled and continued to fiddle with the tassel. Only then did Hong Zhou notice the hairpin in Nen Cai's hair: "Mother Shui's hairpin looks like an old item, but the silver color is not bright, and the inlay does not look expensive. It is quite different in quality from the jewelry that Mother Shui has worn before."

Nen Cai said, "This servant knows a young princess who received a bequest the other day. She is a compassionate person and remembered my old acquaintance, so she gave half of it to me."

She straightened up and chuckled lightly, "Sometimes I think that the pomegranate is truly an interesting fruit. There are so many seeds in one fruit, and each seed is only covered by a thin layer of juice, yet it still attracts birds to peck at it, helping to disperse the seeds. Compared to those fruits with thin skin and thick flesh, it is not at a disadvantage."

Hongzhou laughed along, "I knew all along that Mother Shui was not one to suffer losses. The money for this game of chess will still be paid, but the information will be charged separately." As he spoke, he took out a box from under the table, opened it, and inside were neatly stacked gold ingots.

Hongzhou said, "I want to inquire about someone."

He deliberately obscured the man's name, only revealing his identity: "Mongol Banner, he used to be a minor official, but he was dismissed. His name was Keliyete Erjitu. He didn't have many relatives, besides his own children, he only had a nephew. Do you know this nephew?"

A shadow crossed Nen Cai's eyes. She lowered her gaze and said, "Fifth Prince, you've come to the right person. This beast was the first customer I ever served."

The debauched banquets were more like the bodies of beasts than human beings.

Her eyes were blurred by blood flowing from her forehead, and half of her vision was blood red.

She quickly calculated that there was no way to escape, and the person who rescued her was also under the control of the Ulanara clan and could not help her; and a disfigured girl could not accept the Ulanara clan's customers, and might be sold to a brothel as the lowest of sexual tools.

The only option now is to take a risky approach.

She gracefully walked towards the festivities and took a riding whip from a man's waist—she had seen this man a few times before. He had only recently entered such a place through his despicable and shameless ways. He used to be a lowly retainer who would sometimes verbally harass pretty maids. If he was refused, he would whip his horse even harder when he left.

She raised her riding whip, knelt down, and held it high above her head: "Please, my lord, have mercy on this lowly concubine."

When Hongzhou saw that she rarely showed displeasure, and when he thought of the person in the secret report that Guiduo had rarely shown such extreme hatred when he asked Guiduo about him, calling him a "beast," he guessed that this person must have left Nencai with very bad memories.

He then decided to skip over the person himself: "Is it possible that this person understands spices?"

Nen Cai said, “This man comes from the countryside, but his sense of smell is more sensitive than that of ordinary people. His family used to be wealthy, so it’s not surprising that he studies this. Speaking of spices, I do remember something.”

She had her maid put on a veil and bring her a brocade box.

The box is divided into two compartments. One compartment contains half a pink bait, and the other contains a prescription and a small pile of similar bait.

Nen Cai instructed the maid to move the box further away and reminded her, "Your Highness, this item has a very strong aphrodisiac effect. Although it is more than ten years old, it may still be effective. Please be careful."

Hongzhou silently moved a little further away.

Nen Cai said, "About ten years ago, this man got drunk at a banquet and showed off a fragrant bait to me. He said it could help him climb higher, and that he had gone to great lengths to get a little of this good stuff, so he couldn't bear to use it on himself or me. I was careful and, while he was drunk, I secretly used my fingernail to cut off a small half of it and kept it for myself. Later, I found a doctor outside who could smell the fragrance and identified several of the spices. It turned out that in addition to cardamom, dogwood, and cistanche, the fragrance also contained a large amount of ylang-ylang and cnidium monnieri. If a little of it was mixed with other fragrances and burned, it could make men and women infatuated and happy, and it would be difficult to detect afterwards."

Hongzhou tried his best to suppress his surprise: "Where did he get this?"

Nen Cai said, “This humble woman dares not speculate, but the fragrance of the orchid is not common, and the blending of incense is difficult to make. Even if one follows the incense recipe, it is sometimes difficult to achieve the desired fragrance effect. These on the right are all things that this humble woman tried to imitate later, but she never succeeded. This shows how rare this incense is. The raw materials required to make this are far beyond his means. And since he is a member of the Ulanara clan, the Ulanara clan at that time was like a centipede that does not die easily. They may not have not had this incense.”

Hongzhou thought for a moment and chose a way to ask that wouldn't arouse suspicion: "What kind of incense, when burned together, will have an aphrodisiac effect?"

Nen Cai said, "According to pharmacology, ylang-ylang alone, when burned with blended incense such as pear-scented incense, also has an aphrodisiac effect, but it is still not as good as this incense."

Hongzhou fell into deep thought.

The Goose Pear Incense is made by adding agarwood and sandalwood powder to cored goose pears and then steaming them. Goose pears are used for their sweet taste, but the incense itself mainly relies on agarwood and sandalwood.

The embroidery workshop in the Prince's Mansion often used blended incense to fumigate embroidered items and clothing, and some incense also contained these two ingredients.

Fortunately, he had come in alone through the back door today. He calmly took out the box and said, "You must not reveal a single word about my visit today. Otherwise, you know what will happen."

Nen Cai said, "I haven't seen Your Highness since the day you gave me that antique."

The next day, Hongzhou entered the palace, cautiously concealing the source of the information and only telling what he had learned.

He had expected the emperor to be furious, but to his surprise, the emperor merely pinched the bridge of his nose weakly and said, "Do you know why I sent you to inquire about this matter?"

Hongzhou knelt down: "Your Majesty is wise beyond words. This matter is really not suitable for elders and outsiders to know. Therefore, you did not hand it over to the Imperial Household Department or the Imperial Clan Court."

The emperor sighed inwardly. When he saw that name in Gui Duo's secret report, he immediately realized that there was someone who, like Hailan, was from the Keliyete clan. Following the trail further, he discovered that this person was Hailan's cousin, and it was he who sent Hailan into the palace.

Back in Prince Bao's mansion, when he and Ruyi were deeply in love, he knew that Ruyi liked agarwood as a symbol of stability and sandalwood as a symbol of Buddhism. So he specifically instructed the embroidery workshop to burn a kind of incense made primarily of these two spices to scent the embroidery.

If this person truly possessed the aphrodisiac fragrance that could cause uncontrollable passion in those two spices, then what exactly happened when he drunkenly went to the embroidery room and inexplicably favored Hailan? Besides Hailan's family, who else was behind it? Ruyi, are you aware of this matter?

He twirled the prayer beads in his hand and said, "This matter has been over ten years in the past, and there are only some rumors, which may not be credible. Further investigation would only be based on hearsay and would be harmful to my reputation, so let's leave it at that."

Hongzhou bowed and took his leave. Jinzhong entered and said, "Your Majesty, news has come from Zhongcui Palace: Consort Chun is about to give birth!"

That night, Su Luyun gave birth to a daughter, just as she had predicted.

Although the delivery date came earlier than the imperial physician had predicted, the delivery went smoothly.

When the princess was born, her left hand had webbed fingers, resembling a Buddha's hand, which was considered auspicious by everyone in the palace.

Yuan Yi explained that this condition is actually a common hand deformity. In the main world, one should see a hand and foot surgeon and undergo corrective surgery as soon as possible to ensure the aesthetics and function of the hand. However, the medical level in this small world is far from sufficient to perform such surgery, so let the little princess continue to live with her auspicious reputation.

The emperor chose the character "妍" from the names submitted by the Imperial Household Department for the princess's name, and issued an edict to confer upon the princess the title of Princess Heshuo Hejia, and promoted Consort Chun to Consort Chun. At the end of the year, the emperor and Yanwan went together to the investiture ceremony.

The emperor and empress both visited Zhongcui Palace and bestowed upon him gifts such as tonics.

Yongzhang was overjoyed to have a younger sister, and every day after school he would return to Zhongcui Palace to be with Su Luyun and her daughter.

When the emperor saw this, he was also moved and said that although Yongzhang was not particularly talented, he was kind and honest, filial to his mother and loving to his younger siblings. Therefore, he valued him more than usual.

Su Luyun was overjoyed, feeling that now that she had a son and a daughter, everything was perfect, and her anxiety about her son not being valued was relieved.

A few days later, Consort E felt a loss of appetite and dizziness. She thought it was just a seasonal illness, so she summoned the imperial physician, who unexpectedly diagnosed her with pregnancy.

Physician Bao was both happy and worried: "As for the first pregnancy, Consort E is a bit old, so this pregnancy will be more difficult, and we must be careful."

Rongyin remembered that Granny Tian was quite experienced, so she sent her to take care of her.

That year, two princesses were born in the palace, two imperial concubines were promoted, and Consort E became pregnant again. Apart from the quiet and deserted Cuiyun Pavilion, the palace was filled with a festive atmosphere.

At the beginning of spring, the emperor bestowed upon Yonglian the title of Prince Duan and granted him a mansion. In August of that year, he married Aodeng. The emperor also bestowed upon the Duke of Fu, Cherdengzhabu, the title of Prince Doruo and promoted him to First-Class Imperial Guard.

Yonglian is now sixteen years old, and his first title is that of a prince. His fiancée's family is also treated so well, which shows how much the emperor values ​​him.

However, the emperor refused to give him a job, citing that he was not yet married.

At that time, Prince Yonghuang had already handled several matters related to ceremonies and mausoleums in the Ministry of Rites, but the emperor did not allow him to participate in important tasks such as sacrifices and receiving vassal states. Instead, he praised Yonghuang, saying, "Yonghuang is indeed worthy of being my eldest son," and then gave him a job in the Imperial Clan Court, seemingly determined to make him the next head of the imperial clan. However, now that Yonglian has obtained the title of prince, he does not have the corresponding official position, which inevitably leads to speculation.

Yonglian, however, did not seem to care. Since he had no official duties, he continued to visit the Emperor and Empress frequently, and also taught Yongzhang and Yongqi to read, in addition to worrying about his own wedding.

The Fucha clan remained unmoved. Even Fuheng and Cherdenzhabu, who were originally superior and subordinate and now related by marriage, had even less contact after Yonglian was enfeoffed as a prince.

On this day, Yonglian returned to the palace to tutor his two younger brothers. After school, Yongzhang had a palace servant bring a food box prepared by the small kitchen in Zhongcui Palace and generously distributed the pastries inside to Yonglian and Yongqi.

Yonglian thanked him, took a piece of snowflake cake and tasted it. It was indeed sweet and delicious, so he smiled and praised it.

Yongqi also had the palace servants bring him the pastries that the Dowager Consort had given him, so that his brothers could have a taste.

The food box was opened, and Yonglian and Yongzhang each took a piece. Yongzhang was more impatient and took a bite, but his expression changed several times. He hurriedly picked up the teacup next to him and drank tea.

He recovered after drinking the tea, and said with a wry smile, "Fifth Brother, these pastries are way too sweet!"

Yonglian also took a bite, and sure enough, it was cloyingly sweet, with an unknown amount of sugar added, making his throat feel nauseous.

He secretly thought that this was given to Yongqi by the Dowager Consort, and quickly stopped Yongzhang with a look, saying, "As people get older, they tend to like sweet and soft foods. It's just that the Imperial Kitchen usually provides light food for the Dowager Consorts' health. The Dowager Consorts usually ask the small kitchen to add more sugar when making the pastries, so they can eat a piece or two to satisfy their cravings. The Dowager Consort is spoiling my fifth brother by having him bring her own pastries."

Yongqi was a little embarrassed, but when Yonglian tried to smooth things over, he forced a laugh.

In the afternoon, he returned to Shou Kang Palace and said to his personal eunuch, "I'm going to Cuiyun Pavilion to see my mother. Make arrangements so that the Empress Dowager doesn't find out."

Since sending the clothes last time, Hailan has not set foot in Shou Kang Palace again.

In the past few days, there have been successive happy news from the concubines in the palace, which makes Ruyi unhappy. Hailan, who is always anxious about what her mistress is anxious about, is also very worried and therefore cannot spare the time to look for Yongqi.

When Yongqi arrived, Ruyi was leaning to one side, lazily fiddling with the dishes in front of her, with a wine pot and cups in front of her.

Hailan took the heated dishes off the stove, went out of the kitchen, and saw Yongqi in the yard.

Her heart was entirely with Ruyi, and when she saw Yongqi, she was more impatient than happy.

But considering that Yongqi still harbored some affection for her, she patiently asked him what was wrong.

Yongqi was filled with both trepidation and anticipation. He hesitated before asking, "Mother, could you make some pastries for me to take to the Imperial Study?"

Hailan was puzzled, but after Yongqi explained the whole story, a plan formed in her mind.

Now that the Second Prince has been granted the title of Prince and is about to get married, the First Prince has been childless for some reason. If the Second Prince has the Emperor's first grandson after his marriage, wouldn't he be even more favored by the Emperor? Having an heir early on would also make the Second Prince ambitious. At that time, even if the elder sister gives birth to a child, it will be difficult for her to compete with him!

But now, a ready-made opportunity is right in front of us.

A few days later, when Yonglian entered the palace again, Yongqi excitedly took out a food box and took out pastries such as milk water chestnut flour cake, brown sugar cake, and auspicious cake, asking Yonglian and Yongzhang to share them.

Yongzhang hesitated for a moment, but finally ignored Yonglian's disapproving look, took a bite, and his eyes lit up. He said to Yonglian, "Second brother, try it! This time it tastes just right!"

Yonglian was puzzled and asked, "Who did this?"

Yongqi wanted to proudly say, "This was made for me by my mother!", but remembering her instructions, he only said that she had specially instructed a palace maid to make it.

Yonglian said, "Is that so? Then, Fifth Brother, could you give Second Brother a few more pieces? Second Brother thinks these pastries are exquisite and lovely, and wants to take them to Empress Dowager and your Sister Jingse to try."

Although Yongqi was somewhat reluctant, he remembered that Hailan had told her not to compete with her second brother, so he could only nod.

Yonglian took one of each and had a palace maid wrap them up in a handkerchief.

Yongzhang joked, "Second brother didn't even mention bringing it for second sister-in-law. I'm going to complain to her about it later!"

Yonglian slapped him: "Such a young age, spouting nonsense!"

Upon arriving at Changchun Palace, Yonglian informed Rongyin of the matter and took out several pieces of pastry.

Rongyin summoned several imperial physicians to come and examine the pastries one by one, confirming that they were not poisonous and were not made with any ingredients that would harm the Second Prince's constitution.

Mingyu said, "That's true. If Hailan really wanted to take action, there's no reason for her to do it so obviously. Besides, if the pastries were poisoned, wouldn't the Fifth Prince also suffer?"

Just in case, the trio advised Yonglian not to eat them, and if possible, to take a few pieces of the pastries to Changchun Palace without alerting Hailan.