Greetings

Author: spicy pen Xiaoxin

Chapter 193 Greetings

Early morning three days later.

Xu Ruqing got up very early today. The reason was that the palace sent someone to deliver a message, saying that the Queen Mother had been thinking about her since she returned home for her last birthday. She wanted to see Xu Ruqing come into the palace to talk, but Xu Ruqing never came to say hello. The Queen Mother then

As a last resort, he sent his Aunt Yun to invite her to the palace. Immediately afterwards, Deacon Su, who was next to Concubine Guo, also came and said that Concubine Shu had invited her to come to Huaqing Courtyard to have a talk.

Helpless, Xu Ruqing was forced by Zhiqu to get up from bed early and sat in front of the dressing table to dress up early.

"Although the princess is the official wife of His Highness Prince Wei, the rules in the palace still have to be followed. I don't need an old slave to teach the princess how to do this when greeting the elders, right?"

Xu Ruqing took a sip of the tea handed over by Zhiqu, and suddenly felt a little more awake: "If someone else heard what Aunt Yun said, they would think that I was putting on airs, and even the Queen Mother would not pay attention to it.

That’s it. I’m sorry, Aunt Yun, please go back and tell the Queen Mother that I already know about it, so I’ll go into the palace to pay my respects to the Queen Mother.”

"In this case, the old slave went back to reply to the Queen Mother."

Xu Ruqing lowered her eyes and stopped looking at Aunt Yun: "I am going to inform the prince later, so I won't have time to go to Concubine Shu's place anymore. I would also like to ask Deacon Su to inform the empress. Deacon, please go slowly."

"yes."

After seeing Aunt Yun and Deacon Su walking away, Zhiqu came forward and asked doubtfully: "Princess, doesn't the Queen Mother like Yan Ji but hate you? Why did she suddenly declare your presence this time?"

Xu Ruqing smiled after hearing Zhiqu's words. "In your opinion, what do you think the Queen Mother's purpose in calling me would be?"

"My slave thinks that the narrative is false and the temptation is true. This might be a Hongmen Banquet."

"Hongmen Banquet..." Xu Ruqing chewed these two words carefully, and then said with a smile: "Not bad, the little girl seems to be stupid, but she is not too stupid, and she also knows about Hongmen Banquet."

"So we can't go to this Hongmen Banquet. It will most likely be detrimental to the princess. The princess should think twice before doing so."

Xu Ruqing did not respond, but half-closed her eyes to search her original memory, and only found some sparse facts about Empress Dowager Huiwen.

Xu Ruqing breathed out and thought for a while, I'm afraid it won't work if I don't go: "The soldiers are coming to block the water and cover up the soil. You might as well freshen up and go with me to see the mice in the hole, and then make some secrets."

What kind of conspiracy."

Zhiqu took the order: "Yes."

…

The Imperial Palace, inside the Qiankun Palace.

"The Queen Mother, Princess Wei and others have been waiting in the side hall for a long time. Look..."

Queen Mother Liu was lying on the bench at this time, with her right hand resting on her face and dozing off intently. After hearing what Grandma Yun said, she didn't even raise her eyelids, as if she didn't hear her.

She was wearing a red and black brocade robe. The fabric was exquisite and smooth, and the embroidered gold threads gave off a warm light. It looked like it was valuable at first glance.

Another half hour passed, and Xu Ruqing and Zhiqu were almost out of patience with waiting. Now she had come to pay her respects as requested by the Queen Mother, but the old woman had not summoned her for a long time. Even smart people could see that she had made it clear.

Giving Xu Ruqing a show of confidence.

"Princess, it will be noon in a little while..."

From early in the morning to now, the master and servant have had nothing to eat. They hurried to Qiankun Palace to wait for breakfast before they even had time to eat. They waited from sunrise to the scorching sun now. If they keep waiting like this, they don’t know how long they will wait.

when.

"The Queen Mother may have something important to attend to at the moment. There's no rush. Let's wait."

"Don't be surprised if the princess is strange."

Hearing his voice before seeing the person, Xu Ruqing raised her head and looked out the door, only to see an old woman wearing a gray-black jacket, long trousers and black cloth shoes walking towards them quickly.

Xu Ruqing put down the already cold tea in her hand, "It turns out to be Aunt Yun. I wonder if there is any news from the Queen Mother?"

"The princess did not know that the Queen Mother was chanting sutras in the ancestral hall to pray for the country. Her old lady had ordered that no one should be disturbed at a time like this, so the servants also waited for a long time. The old lady just said

Now, I’m going to send this old slave to lead the way for the princess.”

There was an apologetic smile on her face, but Xu Ruqing knew that those were just polite words.

"Then Aunt Lao Yun will lead the way."

After walking through the twists and turns of pavilions and corridors, and taking a long and narrow garden path, the three of them finally arrived at the main hall of Qiankun Palace as they wished.

In the main hall, Queen Mother Huiwen was taking a nap with her eyes closed. She was sitting on the main seat with a string of Buddhist beads in her hand. She moved her lips lightly as if she was reciting something. The beads were round and clear, with a warm reddish-brown color. From a distance,

You can also smell the fragrance emanating from the beads.

Xu Ruqing nodded slightly and knelt down in a formal manner: "My concubine, Xu Ruqing, would like to express my regards to the Queen Mother."

Xu Ruqing maintained this kneeling posture for about ten seconds, but there was no response from Liu.

Afraid that the Queen Mother was too selfless in reciting sutras and missed her, Xu Ruqing repeated it again, raising the volume a notch: "My concubine, Xu Ruqing, would like to send my regards to the Queen Mother."

There was still deathly silence, and the only response to the Queen Mother was the nervous breathing of the three people in the huge space.

Xu Ruqing's temperament was not the kind to be manipulated by others. Seeing that the Queen Mother had not moved for a long time, she simply stood up without waiting for Mrs. Liu to excuse her courtesy. "I think my concubine came at the wrong time and disturbed the Queen Mother's peace. In this way,

I have to come back to pay my respects another day, and I will leave."

Just kidding, I'm very busy, okay? I've been waiting for you old bitch in the side room for several hours, and you still have to wait here?

According to this rule, whoever wants to respect whom should be respected, I say goodbye!

Just as Xu Ruqing was about to turn around and leave with Zhiqu, a slightly sullen voice suddenly came from behind: "Stop."

Xu Ruqing paused and turned around slowly.

The Queen Mother slowly opened her droopy eyelids. The powder on her face was very thick, and none of the rouge, gouache, and flowers used on her face fell off. It could be seen that although Mrs. Liu was already in her sixties, she still cared about herself.

That face is still very important, even every strand of hair is exquisite and just right.

It's a pity that time loses beauty. No matter how gorgeous she is, she can't hide the age in her eyes. The sagging skin has left the texture woven by time, and the long hair is no longer as green as black ink... Xu Ruqing, through looking at

The bones of the human facial features reveal the various charms of the Queen Mother when she was young, and how she now seems to have faded away.

The Queen Mother sat upright and looked down at the two people below: "You are impatient. You just came to my Qiankun Palace and you want to go back soon?"

"The Queen Mother has misunderstood. Since I came here to pay my respects to you, how could I leave just like that?"

"Have a heart? If you had a heart, would you choose to come here at noon to say hello? The Ai family thinks that they don't treat you harshly on weekdays. What's the matter? Have you learned all the rules from the dog's belly!?"
Chapter completed!