Since the Empress Dowager said she wanted to tour the garden, the tour was bound to happen.
The late Emperor loved flowers. Among them, he had a special fondness for cherry blossoms. Therefore, there were many cherry - blossom trees in the imperial garden. They were well - cultivated and properly pruned. Every year after the New Year, as soon as the spring breeze blew, the cherry blossoms would start to peek out. In just one day of spring, they would be in full bloom.
As cherry blossoms only bloomed for five to ten days each year and were extremely precious, the cherry - blossom viewing season was never to be missed. Even Sikuo Ting, a workaholic who only knew how to review memorials, would take a stroll in the imperial garden during this time.
Moreover, since the Empress Dowager took the lead this time, the cherry - blossom viewing group was even larger. A large group of people walked grandly into the imperial garden. The Emperor accompanied the Empress Dowager at the front. Behind them were the Virtuous Concubine and the Elegant Concubine. At the end were Concubine Zhang and Qin Huaiqiu.
Actually, according to the normal protocol, as the concubine that Sikuo Ting had married into the palace with the ceremony of a queen, Qin Huaiqiu should have walked beside the Empress Dowager and the queen. However, on one hand, Sikuo Ting didn't want to walk side by side with her, and on the other hand, Qin Huaiqiu was determined to be a low - key person and was willing to walk at the end.
Concubine Zhang was an ordinary - looking woman. She walked properly beside Qin Huaiqiu. Compared with the Elegant Concubine, she lacked a bit of arrogance, and compared with the Virtuous Concubine, she lacked a bit of virtue. In Qin Huaiqiu's eyes, she was just an ordinary concubine with no special background and a plain personality, a complete transparent person in the harem.
Thinking of this, Qin Huaiqiu couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for Concubine Zhang.
After crossing the white marble bridge, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager stopped on the bridge to take a closer look. Qin Huaiqiu and the other concubines also stopped and enjoyed the cherry blossoms under the bridge.
Qin Huaiqiu saw Concubine Zhang pick up two branches of cherry blossoms from the ground and play with them. Since the branches were too thin to hold easily and she didn't want to hold one in each hand, she seemed quite distressed and seemed to be looking for something to tie them up. Seeing this, Qin Huaiqiu reached out and felt around on his silk outer robe, secretly tore off a bit of red ribbon, and handed it to Concubine Zhang.
That ribbon was originally the feather of an oriole embroidered on the clothes by the master silk weavers from the south of the Yangtze River. The whole court could only get three bolts of such fabric each year, but he just tore it off without any hesitation.
Anyway, he was going to throw this clothes away when he got back.
Concubine Zhang naturally didn't know where he got the ribbon from. After taking it, she gave Qin Huaiqiu a shy smile and said, "Thank you, sister."
Actually, Qin Huaiqiu still wasn't used to being called sister, but there was nothing he could do.
He also smiled and said, "The cherry blossoms are quite beautiful. Sister can put them in your hairpin."
Concubine Zhang tied the cherry - blossom branches together and made a very beautiful knot. She held them up to her ear and asked, "Like this?"
"Yeah."
Concubine Zhang stretched out her hands. Her fingers were very dexterous. She twirled them a few times around her hairpin and firmly fixed the bunch of cherry blossoms behind her ear. It looked quite charming.
"Do I look good?"
Qin Huaiqiu nodded. "You look quite good."
Concubine Zhang covered her mouth and shyly thanked him again.
Qin Huaiqiu felt that their roles as transparent people in the harem seemed to be more firmly established. He couldn't help but start chatting with Concubine Zhang.
Sikuo Ting, who was standing on the bridge accompanying the Empress Dowager to enjoy the cherry blossoms, suddenly caught a glimpse of Qin Huaiqiu and Concubine Zhang at the end of the group, smiling and chatting. For no reason, anger welled up in his heart.
She had only met Concubine Zhang once. Was she already trying to win people over so quickly?
"Ah, whose ducks are those?" the Empress Dowager pointed to two little white ducks leisurely swimming by a small lake not far away and asked.
Xu De replied, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, the imperial kitchen was going to stew them for your ladyship's nourishment last time. But since you were fasting, the imperial kitchen didn't know what to do with them, so they released them into this lake."
The Empress Dowager smiled. "I see. Let's go and take a look."
The group followed the Empress Dowager to the lake. Since the ducks were afraid of people, they swam to the middle of the lake. So the people just craned their necks and watched from the lakeside.
"Mother, be careful not to fall in," Sikuo Ting held the Empress Dowager back and reminded her.
"Don't worry," the Empress Dowager said with a smile.
Qin Huaiqiu had no interest in watching the ducks. He stood by the lake, boredly kicking the water with his toes, causing ripples after ripples.
He was extremely bored and naturally didn't notice that the Elegant Concubine had quietly approached him.
Qin Lan was standing at the end of the group. Although she noticed it, before she could give a warning, she only heard the Elegant Concubine suddenly shout, "Ah! What's this!"
Then the Elegant Concubine leaned to one side and directly bumped into Qin Huaiqiu at an angle that others couldn't see. Qin Huaiqiu, who had one foot hanging in the water, lost his balance after being bumped and directly fell into the lake.
This was an artificial lake. Due to the limited space in the Forbidden City, to ensure the viewing effect, the water was very deep near the shore. With the Elegant Concubine's push, Qin Huaiqiu fell into the lake with a "plop" and immediately gulped down several mouthfuls of water.
"Your Ladyship!" Qin Lan shouted. She rushed through the crowd and was about to jump in.
But suddenly she thought of something. She looked at Qin Huaiqiu struggling in the water, suddenly stopped, stood by the lake, and turned to look at the Emperor.
She realized - the young master was using this incident to test Sikuo Ting.
As children from the border area, Qin Lan and Qin Huaiqiu had been able to swim since they were young, but it was different in the Central Plains. The female family members in the Central Plains always advocated being gentle and ladylike and generally couldn't swim. Among the people following and serving them, there were only maids, and the only eunuch was Xu Fu, an over - fifty eunuch beside the Empress Dowager.
So the only people who could save Qin Huaiqiu were Sikuo Ting and Qin Lan who were present.
Qin Lan knew that Qin Huaiqiu could swim, so she definitely wouldn't go down to save him, but Sikuo Ting was different.
He didn't know whether Qin Huaiqiu could swim or not.
Qin Lan clenched her fists and observed Sikuo Ting's actions.
If he remained indifferent like this, she would immediately take the young master away from this man - eating palace.
"Someone has fallen into the water!"
"It's Concubine De. Concubine De has fallen into the water!" Everyone was in an uproar, and everyone was panicked.
Some people were shouting to find the imperial guards, but the imperial guards were on the city wall of the palace, far away from here. By the time they arrived, Concubine De would have drowned.
"What should we do? What should we do!" The Virtuous Concubine was already crying anxiously.
Sikuo Ting watched Qin Huaiqiu floundering in the water with a dark face. He knew he should go and save her, but for some reason, whether it was because of his fear of women or something else, his feet seemed to be rooted to the ground and he couldn't move at all.
"Go and save Lian'er quickly!" the Empress Dowager slapped Sikuo Ting on the arm and cried and scolded, "If anything happens to Lian'er, you'll be killing your mother!"
Qin Huailian was the concubine that the Empress Dowager had specifically asked the imperial astrologer to calculate. Sikuo Ting's horoscope was in conflict, and he was afraid of women. She had sent people all over the country and only found Qin Huailian as a suitable girl. Moreover, Qin Huailian was smart and was the daughter of the veteran general Qin Feng. She loved her very much. How could such a thing happen?
"Go quickly!" the Empress Dowager cried sadly.
Qin Lan's face became even more solemn.
Sikuo Ting moved. He took off his dragon robe and without saying a word, jumped into the lake and swam towards Qin Huaiqiu.
Qin Huaiqiu floundered for a while and finally couldn't flounder anymore. He waved his hands on the lake surface for a moment, and then his whole body sank into the lake.
Seeing this, Sikuo Ting took a deep breath and swam over with all his might.
"Concubine De!" He reached out to grab, but caught nothing.
He looked at his empty hands, stunned. His heart felt like it had fallen into an ice cellar. He roared, "Qin Huailian!"
There was no response. Even the bubbles of her breathing disappeared.
Sikuo Ting panicked.
What had he done? What had he done!
Sikuo Ting suddenly dived into the water, opened his eyes and searched everywhere.
Nothing! Still nothing!
Damn it!!!
He took another breath and dived in again. His vision swayed in the water for a circle, but he still didn't see anything.
The Empress Dowager had already cried into a tearful mess. Supported by others, she watched Sikuo Ting floating up and then sinking again on the water surface. She only felt dizzy and couldn't believe it.
"Qin Huailian!" Sikuo Ting didn't know how many times he had floated to the surface. His shout was almost desperate, filled with a flood of guilt and self - blame. He dived into the water again.
This time, the search took a very long time. He felt that he had swum very far in the water, but he didn't even see a corner of Qin Huailian's clothes.
His movements gradually became strenuous and slow. When he finally couldn't hold his breath and floated to the surface, he had already swum to the other side of the lake.
There were no his concubines, his mother, or the maids here.
There was only Qin Huaiqiu.
He was soaking wet, squatting by the lake, staring at him coldly with his eyes.