Qin Huaiqiu had another sleepless night.
One could say that since he entered the palace, he hadn't had a single peaceful night's sleep.
Right now, Qin Huaiqiu was holding his head, his eyes blurred, and his heart filled with utter despair. "What did you say? Say it again."
Hearing this, Ziyun had no choice but to repeat outside the door, "Empress Dowager invites you to have lunch with her."
Qin Huaiqiu leaned against the head - board for a while before resigning himself to getting up. He sat in front of the dressing table, allowing Qin Lan to apply all kinds of cosmetics on his face. Every pore on his body was screaming in protest.
"Still haven't found Qin Huailian?" Qin Huaiqiu said with a long face. He really didn't want to deal with such things anymore. Just yesterday, he had faced off against the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Noble Consort Shu. In this palace, they would surely meet often in the future. Just thinking about it annoyed him to no end.
Qin Lan knew he was feeling pent - up, so she could only say, "Master has sent all the forces of the mansion to look for her. As soon as there is news, he will inform you, Young Master."
Qin Huaiqiu snorted and gritted his teeth without saying a word.
Since the Empress Dowager had invited him to lunch, she must have also invited other concubines. When Qin Huaiqiu arrived at Cining Palace, the other three concubines had just taken their seats.
Qin Huaiqiu took a quick glance. He saw that there were two concubines sitting close to the Empress Dowager. One was the Noble Consort Shu he had already met, and the other looked gentle and refined. She should be the Virtuous Consort mentioned by Qin Lan. The other woman was sitting in a lower seat. Judging from her clothes and jewelry, she was of a lower rank than the other two. She should be the Lady Zhang he hadn't met before.
"Your servant pays respects to Mother." Qin Huaiqiu really didn't want to sit at the same table with these concubines. He behaved in a proper and respectful manner, not daring to overstep at all. He just hoped to maintain his low - key image.
When the Empress Dowager saw Qin Huaiqiu coming, she waved with a smile and said, "Lian'er is here. Come quickly and sit here."
Qin Huaiqiu looked at the seat the Empress Dowager was pointing to beside her, and then at the Noble Consort Shu sitting on one side with a dark face looking at him. He immediately felt like he had needles on his back. But he couldn't refuse the Empress Dowager's order. So he bowed slightly and sat down reluctantly.
The Empress Dowager was in a rather good mood today. After seeing Qin Huaiqiu sit down, she ordered the servants to serve the dishes.
The Empress Dowager said, "Today's lunch is mainly for you to get to know each other better. After all, the Emperor has just ascended the throne and has a lot of political affairs to deal with. Naturally, he doesn't come to the harem as often. I thought it was rather boring, so I invited you here to chat and relieve the boredom."
The concubines all thanked the Empress Dowager. The Noble Consort Shu was the first to speak, "If Mother feels bored, why don't I accompany you to see the cherry blossoms in the imperial garden later? It's just the beginning of spring, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom."
The Empress Dowager smiled and said, "Good, good. Let's go and have a look after the meal. Do you all want to go with us?"
The Virtuous Consort and Lady Zhang both agreed, but only Qin Huaiqiu lowered his head and said nothing.
It was already uncomfortable to have lunch together, and now they wanted to go and enjoy the cherry blossoms together?
He didn't want to go.
"Lian'er? Why aren't you saying anything? Are you not feeling well?" The Empress Dowager noticed Qin Huaiqiu's strange expression and asked softly.
"Ah..." Qin Huaiqiu came back to his senses and said, "Replying to Mother, your servant..."
Before Qin Huaiqiu could finish speaking, the Noble Consort Shu interrupted, "Oh... Sister is in poor health. It might not be suitable for her to go on a tour later. Why don't you go back and rest first, Sister? I have some tonics in my palace. I'll send them to you later."
Qin Huaiqiu thought, "Who said I'm in poor health?"
The Empress Dowager frowned and looked at Qin Huaiqiu worriedly, saying, "What the Noble Consort Shu said makes sense. Do you want to rest, Lian'er?"
Qin Huaiqiu was too lazy to argue with the Noble Consort Shu. Let others think he was weak. Maybe in the future, he could use this excuse to decline invitations to various activities.
Thinking of this, he immediately pretended to cover his mouth and cough a few times, saying, "Thank you, Mother. Your servant will go back and rest after the meal."
The Empress Dowager nodded and said to the eunuch beside her, "By the way, the Emperor will come later. Xu Fu, go and prepare some tea and fruits."
Xu Fu bowed and said, "Yes."
Great! Thank you, Noble Consort Shu. Qin Huaiqiu was extremely happy when he heard this. He really didn't want to see Sikong Ting, who always had a stinky face.
The Empress Dowager seemed very eager to go and enjoy the cherry blossoms. After a few words, she announced the start of the meal. Thinking that he could avoid the Emperor later, Qin Huaiqiu was in a great mood and couldn't help but pick up a few more mouthfuls of meat. Just as he was enjoying his meal, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up and saw that the Virtuous Consort was looking at him, with a look in her eyes that he couldn't understand. After their eyes met, the Virtuous Consort didn't seem embarrassed at all. Instead, she gave him a charming smile.
Qin Huaiqiu was a bit confused. He also smiled at the Virtuous Consort as a greeting and then continued to bury his head in his meal. Qin Lan had previously told him to be more on guard against the Virtuous Consort. Although he knew that the Virtuous Consort had a complicated background, he couldn't figure out what that smile meant for a while.
Never mind. Let's fill my stomach first.
Qin Huaiqiu didn't think about anything else and focused on his meal.
After the meal, Qin Huaiqiu let Qin Lan support him out of Cining Palace. After bidding farewell to the Empress Dowager and the others, he walked back to his palace.
When the Empress Dowager's sedan chair disappeared around the corner, Qin Huaiqiu immediately let go of Qin Lan's supporting hand. Seeing that there was no one around, he stretched and said with a smile, "Haha, that Noble Consort Shu is really hard to deal with. But thanks to her, I don't have to see Sikong Ting later. Great."
Qin Lan said with a smile, "Young Master, your coughing just now was quite convincing."
Qin Huaiqiu lifted his chin and said, "It's just that I'm too lazy to argue with her. I know she was deliberately trying to mock me."
Qin Lan said, "That's good. In the future, Young Master can use the excuse of being unwell to decline many trivial matters."
"Yes, but this palace is so boring! Is there anywhere else to have fun besides the imperial garden?" Qin Huaiqiu asked. In fact, just yesterday, he was already extremely bored. In the past, at the border, he spent his days in the racecourse and the drill ground, and sometimes even went into the city to have fun. He was never one to sit still. Now, being confined to his small Kunning Palace, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
Qin Lan shook her head and said, "I don't know." Qin Lan also knew that Qin Huaiqiu couldn't sit still. But the capital was different from the border, not to mention in the Forbidden City, where the security was so strict. She didn't even dare to explore the layout of the palace, let alone know where there was fun.
Qin Huaiqiu sighed, put his hands on his hips and thought for a while. Suddenly, he said, "Forget it. Since I have nothing to do now, I'll just take a stroll around."
--------------------------------------------------
Sikong Ting put down the memorial in his hand and said irritably to the person outside the door, "Come in!"
The door creaked open, and a civil official in the court robe of the first rank walked in. He glanced at Sikong Ting in front of the desk and said, "Oh, Your Majesty, still reviewing memorials?"
"Get out." Sikong Ting hated being interrupted when he was busy, especially when he was dealing with official business. If it weren't for this person, with Sikong Ting's temper, he would probably have directly removed the person's official position and even had him flogged with fifty boards.
The person didn't seem to care about Sikong Ting's anger. He walked up to Sikong Ting, looked at the memorial Sikong Ting was reviewing, picked up one at random and flipped through it, laughing, "Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the position of the Empress is vacant, and there are no children... Hahaha, a memorial from the Minister of War? When did this matter come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War?"
Sikong Ting snatched the memorial back and stared at him fiercely, saying, "Dou Yuan, the Left Prime Minister, you'd better have something important to say, or I can't guarantee that you'll get out alive."
Dou Yuan wasn't afraid of him at all. He had known the Emperor since childhood and was also a disciple of the former imperial advisor. Among all people, besides the Empress Dowager, he was the one who could tolerate the Emperor's bad temper the most. Over the years, Dou Yuan had risen all the way to the position of Left Prime Minister with his own talent, being second only to the Emperor. With this kind of relationship, the Emperor could tolerate Dou Yuan's casual personality. Although Dou Yuan behaved properly on the surface, in private, he and the Emperor were like friends. Sikong Ting even allowed him to enter the palace at any time - because he knew this guy had a thick skin and was too lazy to care about him.
Hearing this, Dou Yuan raised both hands, still wearing that cynical expression on his face, "Your Majesty, I'm wronged. I wouldn't come to you if I didn't have something important to say."
He nodded towards the pile of memorials on the table and said, "Just throw these meaningless memorials away. I really have something important to report."