At this moment, Kang Yubin came in to report,
"Noble Consort Chen, Qingzhu Auntie from the Empress Dowager's side has arrived."
"Oh?" Noble Consort Chen quickly closed the painting album beside her, "Why did she come in this snowy weather? Please invite her in quickly."
After Qingzhu came in, she dusted off the snow and paid her respects to Noble Consort Chen,
"Noble Consort Chen, good fortune and safety. Today is the first snow. Every year on the first snow, the late consort would go to Plum Garden to pray for blessings. The Empress Dowager said this year she wants you to be in charge of this matter. Lately the Empress Dowager's health has improved, and she also wants to join in the fun."
Praying for blessings in Plum Garden had always been handled by the Empress. Now that this matter fell into the hands of Noble Consort Chen, she was naturally overjoyed. She smiled at Qingzhu,
"It's troublesome for Auntie to convey my words to the Empress Dowager. I will definitely make proper arrangements for this."
Qingzhu smiled with a nod, then looked at Yi Concubine Song Zhao beside her, and added,
"Since Concubine Yi is also here, it saves this old servant another trip. The Empress Dowager said she misses Crown Prince Yi very much as she hasn't seen him for a long time. She asked Concubine Yi to bring the Crown Prince with her tomorrow and told her to dress the Crown Prince warmly."
Upon hearing this, a hint of loss flashed through Noble Consort Chen's eyes.
Chenghuan was raised on her knees, he should have been Xiao Jinghuang's eldest son,
But Xiao Jinghuang did not recognize this child. The servants also acted as if this child did not exist, and only addressed Song Zhao's Chengyu as the Crown Prince smoothly.
Song Zhao just smiled and said, "Of course. And Chengyu has never seen snow before, he will surely be delighted."
After Qingzhu left, Noble Consort Chen said unpleasantly to Song Zhao,
"Alright, you can go back for today too. Since the Emperor wants you to assist in managing the six palaces, I'll hand over the miscellaneous chores of sweeping and preparing for tomorrow's plum garden viewing to you. The Empress Dowager will also go tomorrow, you must make proper arrangements for everything, don't disappoint me or make the Empress Dowager laugh at you."
Song Zhao bowed respectfully to Noble Consort Chen, "This concubine is grateful for Noble Consort's guidance."
On her way back to the palace, Song Zhao was quietly thinking to herself, leaning against the sedan curtain.
She heard Yun Shan muttering outside,
"The miscellaneous chores have always been done by the servants of the Imperial Household Department. When Noble Consort was in charge of the six palaces, she didn't even manage these things. Why is it that when it comes to Concubine, she nags about this and that, finding faults in everything?
Just now she even forced Concubine to drink ginger tea, and placed a brazier by Concubine's desk to warm her. How could she be so considerate? I suspect she deliberately made things difficult for Concubine after noticing Concubine was wearing thick clothes!"
Song Zhao did not respond to Yun Shan's words.
Because even she herself did not know,
whether Noble Consort Chen did this to deliberately make things difficult for her after noticing her thick clothing,
or for some other reason...
In any case, Noble Consort Chen handed the cleaning of Plum Garden to Song Zhao. Song Zhao did not dare to be negligent.
She had Yun Shan prepare hot water bags for the consorts, with realgar wine inside to dispel snakes and insects most effectively.
After the snow stopped at night, she also asked Xiao Fuzi to bring people to Plum Garden to spread salt on the accumulated snow,
to ensure the snow would not freeze into ice after melting, so no one would slip and fall in Plum Garden tomorrow.
All these preparations were already in place,
but unexpectedly it started snowing again the next morning at dawn.
When Song Zhao arrived at Plum Garden with the wet nurse, the Empress Dowager and the others were already there.
The Empress also came out today.
She followed beside the Empress Dowager, constantly fawning over her with smiles,
but the Empress Dowager did not seem to want to pay much attention to her, her expression remained plain, only responding with a word or two occasionally.
It was only when she saw Chengyu that a warm smile appeared on the Empress Dowager's face.
The wet nurse brought Chengyu in front of the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager breathed into her palm to warm it before touching the child's tender cheeks,
"Little Chengyu, do you miss your Grand Empress?"
Chengyu got along very well with the Empress Dowager. Every time the Empress Dowager teased him, he would laugh gleefully.
Seeing this, the Empress also smiled from the side, "It is said that children are closest to kind and compassionate people, this is indeed true. Look at how happy the Crown Prince is to see the Empress Dowager!"
The Empress Dowager just smiled faintly, and casually said, "When your Jinghe and Yang are on my knees, they cry at the sight of me, as if I look fierce and sinister, scaring them."
"... "
The Empress was at a loss for words for a moment. She wanted to ask the Empress Dowager why she didn't bring Jinghe and Yang out today, but could only keep silent for now.
Everyone walked towards Plum Garden.
The Empress stood to the left of the Empress Dowager, while the Noble Consort stood to the right, not wanting the Empress to gain any advantage.
Chengyu was being held by the wet nurse at first, but the Empress Dowager was so fond of this child that she said,
"Come, let Grand Empress hold you."
The wet nurse respectfully complied and handed over the swaddling clothes to the Empress Dowager.
As Chengyu's mother, Song Zhao was naturally more anxious about her child than anyone else.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager was holding him, she wanted to walk over to stay close to the Empress Dowager, so as to be vigilant at all times.
But she had just taken two steps forward when she saw Consort Hui hopping over to her happily, still clutching a vibrant red plum blossom in her hand,
"Sister Song, this is for you!"
Song Zhao smiled as she received it. She also noticed the snow fox fur collar around Consort Hui's neck today.
The fur was snowy white and translucent, very beautiful.
It also protected her neck tightly, not letting in any wind.
Song Zhao said, "The fur collar looks very good on you today, it makes you look very lovely."
Consort Hui stroked the fox fur and smiled cutely, "Hehe, I really like it too!"
She was like a child who never grew up.
After speaking, she hopped and skipped into Plum Garden again.
But she was too focused on playing around and not watching her steps. The new snow had fallen on the old muddy snow. Consort Hui leaped up and stepped down, accidentally slipping. She fell hard on her bottom and started crying.
Song Zhao was the closest to her and immediately went over to help her up.
Her cries also caused the people walking ahead to stop and look back.
The Empress Dowager asked sharply, "What happened?"
But she did not know if it was because she had turned her head too quickly, or because her health was still unstable with lingering illnesses,
the Empress Dowager suddenly felt dizzy and unsteady on her feet.
The swaddling clothes she had been holding tightly in her arms also slipped from her hands, causing Chengyu to fall head first towards the ground.
"Chengyu!"
Song Zhao watched in horror as her child was about to crash onto the ground.
She was so shocked that her heart almost jumped out of her throat.
But she was helping Consort Hui up, and was at a distance from the Empress Dowager.
Even though she had already thrown herself into the mud, there was no time to save Chengyu in this split second.
At this critical moment, everyone exclaimed in shock.
But Song Zhao noticed that a slightly stout figure had jumped out without any hesitation.
She steadily caught Chengyu in midair, while twisting her own foot and falling to the ground herself.
This person was none other than the...
Noble Consort Chen, who was five months pregnant!
