The First Empress - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Undercurrent
In less than three moments, Perrin drew the curtain and came out of the inner hall. She smiled and bowed to Bu Linglong, “Little Lord Bu, the Empress is awake. Please follow this servant inside.”

Bu Linglong had never thought of entering the Empress’ inner hall twice in a day. But since she had made her decision, she must not allow herself to shrink back.

As soon as she entered the inner hall, Bu Linglong knelt down on both knees towards the Empress who was sitting in front of the dressing table and bowed solemnly, “This concubine is from the Bu Clan. She has come to pay her respects to the Empress.”

The Empress looked at her makeup in the shiny bronze mirror and did not look back at Bu Linglong. She simply said, “Coming?”

Bu Linglong respectfully crouched on the ground and replied steadily, “Yes, this concubine is here.”

The Empress paused for a moment before smiling. She ordered the palace maids beside her, “Bring a chair over for Little Lord Bu.”

Bu Linglong stood up, but did not dare to sit down immediately. Instead, he walked to the side of the Empress and waited on her like a palace maid.

The Empress watched as Bu Linglong took a scarlet peony hairpin from the palace maid’s hand and carefully inserted it into her hair. She did not move and only said faintly, “How can I concede to a concubine and do the palace maid’s work?”

Bu Linglong hurriedly smiled and said, “Your Majesty, please give me a compliment. Serving Your Majesty is my blessing. But now that Your Majesty has rewarded me with this grace, I’ve always thought that I’m not as good as the palace maids in Your Majesty’s Palace. I can still serve Your Majesty every day.”

Seeing that Bu Linglong was only humble, the Empress finally nodded in satisfaction. He stood up and sat down on the main seat of the inner hall. She ordered Bu Linglong to step forward and carefully sized it up from beginning to end. Fang said, “The smell of wine is also afraid that the alley is deep. My younger sister is small and considerate. This palace looks at her and finds that she is more suitable to the Emperor’s taste than those who are favored now. In the past, I was wronged younger sister.”

Speaking of this, Bu Linglong could not help but modestly say, “If this concubine is not nurtured by the Empress, how could she dare to ask for the Emperor’s favor?”

The Empress drank a mouthful of tea and did not continue to be polite with Bu Linglong. She simply asked, “Apart from her neat handwriting, what other specialties do you have? Have you read any books?”

Actually, when Bu Linglong was at home, Because his father loved books, She was quite familiar with writing, but before she answered, she suddenly remembered the scene when she met Lan Beauty in the morning-the Emperor ordered Ruan Ding to invite Lan Beauty to the Imperial Study to serve Bi Mo. In that case, Lan Beauty must also be a woman who read poems. Why would she tell the Empress that this was no longer an important advantage when Lan Beauty was in front of Zhu Yu?

Thinking of this, Bu Linglong felt a little ashamed and replied, “I’m stupid and haven’t read any books. It was also when I was at home that my father asked my husband to teach me how to practice calligraphy. I took it with me and let me learn it.”

As expected, the Empress did not show any signs of disappointment. “Oh,” she said faintly, “a woman without talent is virtue. It’s fine if she doesn’t understand these things. What about other aspects? Can she sing and dance? What kind of instrument do she know?”

This question stumped Bu Linglong.

It wasn’t that Bu Linglong didn’t have anything special about her body, from zither, chess, painting to singing and dancing, and embroidery. Because of her parents’ love and intentional nurturing at home, Bu Linglong understood a bit. However, Jiangzhou was still far away, and she couldn’t find any master teachers at all. Therefore, Bu Linglong was only familiar with the various skills of everyone’s daughters. She wasn’t particularly good at all.

She lowered her head and pondered for a moment, but she was suddenly stunned, and an idea flashed through her mind like lightning. She glanced at the Empress and her heart skipped a beat. She asked in a soft voice, “This concubine dares to ask the Empress, what does the Emperor like?”

The Empress suddenly smiled, and her gaze towards Bu Linglong was filled with praise, “Sister is indeed a bit intelligent, unlike those people who always flatter and flatter her. Since Sister has asked, I will naturally show you a bright path-Your Majesty, you like to listen to flute.”

Listen to the flute? Bu Linglong was stunned. He couldn’t help but ask doubtfully, “But this concubine has lived in the palace for a year. It seems that she has never seen a musician playing the flute. The sisters in the six palaces don’t seem to be particularly good at the flute …” Halfway through her words, she reacted inappropriately and hid the last sentence-there were even more songs and dances, especially the Hu Xuan Wu, which the Emperor watched every time he went home for dinner.

“Our emperor is very thoughtful, so in the future, our younger sister must not just look at things like a floating watch,” the Empress said slowly. A bright light flashed in his eyes. “It’s like that poem, song, and prose. Let’s talk about the scriptures and history. Looking at it, it seems like it can be used to chat with the emperor. The emperor likes it like a flower of explanation. In the future, it’s unknown whether he will be guilty of saying more or saying the wrong thing.”

‘”It’s like that whirlwind. I know what you’re thinking,” continued the Empress. “Every time the Emperor hosts a banquet, he looks at Hu Xuanwu, “Many concubines thought that the Emperor loved this dance and spent a lot of effort to learn it. However, the Emperor only laughed at it after reading it. He did not pamper it-in fact, the Emperor only liked those honey dancers from other lands. It was just a fresh picture at the banquet. It was really a dance by a Han woman, but he lost the only pleasure among them.”

Bu Linglong listened carefully one by one, at the same time, she firmly remembered it in her heart, and humbly said, “Your concubine, thank you, Your Highness.”

The Empress smiled reservedly and tilted her head to look at Perrin, who was standing beside her. “Go to the library and find that jade-screen flute and give it to Bu Cai Ren.”

However, in a short while, Pei Lan took out a thin bamboo flute with Chu Hong’s complicated cloud embroidered patterns. Its surface was smooth and exquisite, and its workmanship was exquisite. It was obvious that it was not an ordinary object at a glance.

“This is the Yuping Xiao that came from Gonggong this year. It’s not something valuable. Let’s get it here first. When I complete my studies in the future, I will naturally give it to you as a gift.”

Bu Linglong stood up in horror and knelt down again. She said gratefully, “Your concubine thanks Your Highness for nurturing me.”

“You’re welcome, Bu Cai Ren,” said the Empress. She personally pulled Bu Linglong up. “This palace naturally has its reasons for nurturing you. After saying these words, this palace is a little tired. Sister, follow this palace to the outer hall to use some refreshments.”

Bu Linglong followed the Empress to the Outer Palace. However, the tea and cakes had already been prepared by the maids of Zhaoyang Palace. Bu Linglong looked around and saw sixteen snacks neatly placed on the red sandalwood coffee table. All of them were placed on plates with scarlet golden phoenix patterns. Apricot pancakes, fresh coconut crisp, southern rose pancakes, osmanthus flower Gaza … all of them looked extremely exquisite and adorable. He couldn’t help but be secretly speechless-it was just an ordinary refreshment, yet it was also so solemn and complicated. The Empress’ palace was indeed extraordinary.

Bu Linglong sat down under the Empress. The Empress picked up her teacup and took a sip. She casually glanced at the pastries on the coffee table. She gracefully picked up a piece of crystal osmanthus cake with her slender jade fingers and smiled at Bu Linglong, “I’m tired of the pastries that were prepared all those days. This crystal osmanthus cake seems to be specially delivered by the Imperial Cuisine Room today. It’s a bit fresh.”

Bu Linglong took a piece from her table. She thought that she had also received the cake in her palace. Most likely, the Imperial Cuisine Room thought that osmanthus flowers were rare in spring, so she sent one to the palace. Just as he was about to bite down, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Surprised, Bu Linglong couldn’t help but shout, “Your Highness, don’t eat this cake!”

With a “pa” sound, the translucent cake fell to the ground, instantly shattering into a disgusting mass of substance.

The Empress looked at Bu Linglong with a calm expression on her face, “Why did Concubine Bu say that?”

Bu Linglong saw the Empress staring at her, “This concubine also ate this in the morning. This cake in the Empress’ palace seems to have a stronger fragrance. I just heard the Empress say that this cake was also sent by the Imperial Cuisine Room, so it should be the same batch. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be any different from the Osmanthus Cake in the Imperial Concubine Palace.” “Perhaps … I’m just being overly concerned,” he said unconsciously.

When the Empress heard this, she picked up another piece of crystal osmanthus cake and examined it carefully. However, for a moment, the corner of her mouth hooked up with a cold expression, “It’s not that Sister Bu is too thoughtful. Look carefully, there are a few tiny black dots hidden beneath the black sesame seeds. If it weren’t for the fact that she had a heart, she wouldn’t have been able to tell that this pastry has really been tampered with.”

“Azure Bamboo,” said the Empress, raising her face to summon a maidservant dressed in jade. “Pass down the order and investigate carefully who has passed this crystal osmanthus cake from the Imperial Cuisine Room to this palace!”

However, in the span of an incense stick of time, Qing Zhu had already returned to Zhao Yang Palace and reported respectfully, “Back to the Empress, the people from the Imperial Cuisine Room said that only Wei Lan from Soft Concubine Palace had touched those pastries when she went to the Imperial Cuisine Room to instruct them this morning, and had also taken away the portion from Soft Concubine Palace. Other than that, there was nothing suspicious about it.”

Concubine Rou? !

This name exploded in Bu Linglong’s ears. She was stunned, but under her surprise, a secret pleasure slowly rose from the bottom of her heart. She pushed the poisonous pastry far away and deliberately pretended to be anxious, “Imperial Concubine Rou actually dared to murder the Empress. This …”

The Empress also had an angry expression on her face, “I only scolded her a few times that day, but she actually harbored such malicious intentions. You really can’t let her go lightly. Bu Cairen, you go back first. Thanks to you for today’s matter.”

Seeing this, Bu Linglong tactfully bowed and left, “Then this concubine will go back first. Your Highness, take care of the phoenix body.”

She lowered her eyebrows and walked out of Zhaoyang Palace. The corner of her mouth couldn’t help but curl into a faint smile. Great Xiamen had fallen for it, but I never thought that Concubine Rou’s retribution would come so quickly.

What she did not see was that the Empress of Zhaoyang Main Hall was also smiling.

It was a triumphant smile-the net was woven, and the first victim was in place, but it was just a small appetizer, and the big show was yet to come.