mesbooks Chapter 121 Preparing for the Empress Dowager's Birthday
Chapter 121 Preparing for the Empress Dowager's Birthday
As winter approached, fine snowflakes drifted down from the sky, dancing lightly like willow catkins. Su Nuannuan, wearing a white cloak embroidered with delicate patterns, carefully helped the Empress Dowager, along with Consort Qin, as they slowly embarked on their journey back to the palace.
Finally arriving at the palace, the Emperor, Empress, and a host of concubines stood at the palace gate to welcome the Empress Dowager back. After exchanging greetings, the Empress Dowager instructed Su Nuannuan and Consort Qin to return to their respective palaces to rest, and then had the Emperor and Empress escort her back to her palace.
Cuiwei Palace still exudes its usual solemnity and elegance. The palace servants who remained there bowed upon seeing their mistress return, saying, "Welcome back, Your Highness, and Your Highnesses."
"Rise, all of you! You've all worked hard these past few days," Su Nuannuan said with a smile to the palace servants who remained behind.
Then, amidst the palace servants' thanks, Su Nuannuan entered the inner hall.
Despite being away for more than two months, the inner hall was kept very clean, showing how much care they usually put into it.
After settling the two children in, and calculating the time, she got up and headed towards the Empress's Anning Palace.
Before long, Su Nuannuan arrived at the gate of the Empress's palace. She gently smoothed the wrinkles in her skirt, took a deep breath, and walked into the palace with elegant steps. Upon seeing the Empress sitting on the phoenix throne, Su Nuannuan quickly stepped forward, knelt on both knees, and respectfully performed a grand salute, saying softly, "Your subject greets Your Majesty the Empress."
The Empress slightly raised her head, her gaze falling on Su Nuannuan. Su Nuannuan possessed a beautiful face and skin as white as snow; her experiences abroad seemed to have left no trace on her face. The Empress's lips curved slightly, and she said calmly, "Rise! Take a seat."
Su Nuannuan thanked the Empress, rose, and walked to a chair to the side, where she gracefully sat down. Just as she settled in, she suddenly heard a clear laugh coming from outside the door. It turned out that Consort Qin had arrived.
"Consort Zhuang is indeed very fast," Consort Qin said as she entered. Today, she was wearing a light purple horse-face skirt suit, a winter design by Su Nuannuan. She smiled and first bowed to the Empress, then said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects."
The Empress smiled and nodded, then gestured for Consort Qin to rise and take her seat. After thanking the Empress, Consort Qin quickly walked to her seat, gently lifted her skirt, and gracefully sat down.
After the two had settled down, the Empress smiled gently and asked, "Have you both properly put away the things you brought back this time?"
Upon hearing this, Consort Qin quickly replied, "Your Majesty, such trivial matters as tidying up are naturally not something I need to trouble myself with. The servants in the palace are always meticulous and thoughtful, and they will arrange everything in an orderly manner." After speaking, she did not forget to give the Empress a grateful smile.
“Yes, these are all items that we use frequently on a daily basis, so the palace servants naturally know how to organize and arrange them,” Su Nuannuan quickly agreed.
"I entrust the entire matter of the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration to the two of you. After all, I have many affairs in the palace and it is really difficult for me to spare the time," the Empress said directly without beating around the bush.
Because she knew that if she tried to beat around the bush, these two people would act as if they didn't understand and would definitely not respond, so it was better to be straightforward than to argue with them.
Su Nuannuan and Consort Qin never expected that the Empress would go straight to the point right from the start.
"Hmph, why can they go out and enjoy themselves for a while, while I have to be stuck in this deep palace, running around and working myself to the bone? It's so unfair!" the Empress muttered to herself, feeling resentful.
After a slight hesitation, Su Nuannuan quickly replied, "Uh... Your Majesty, I have only been in the palace for a short time and have never been involved in preparing for the Empress Dowager's birthday. I am truly worried that I might inadvertently turn a good thing into a bad one. Therefore, I wonder if I could trouble Consort Qin to take charge of the preparations for the Empress Dowager's birthday alone?" As she spoke, she unhesitatingly pushed Consort Qin forward.
However, Consort Qin smiled slightly and said softly, "Sister Consort Zhuang, don't worry, I will teach you carefully." Seeing the smiling expression on Consort Qin's face, Su Nuannuan immediately understood that this time she probably couldn't refuse no matter what.
Left with no other choice, Su Nuannuan slowly stood up, bowed gracefully to the Empress, and said respectfully, "In that case, I will do my utmost to assist Consort Qin in organizing the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration." Seeing this, the Empress nodded in satisfaction and smiled, "Very good."
Su Nuannuan slowly sat back down in her seat, but her heart was churning like boiling water. She couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Hmph, you're having such a carefree time. You just have to be a hands-off manager. If anything goes wrong at this banquet, the responsibility will fall entirely on our shoulders."
Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Sigh! I still miss the days at the imperial palace so much!
At this point, the Empress had finished explaining the main points and added some details about the banquet preparations. She then waved her hand, signaling the two women to go back and begin preparations.
As soon as the two came out of Anning Palace, Consort Qin's previously peaceful face instantly turned sour. She complained to Su Nuannuan in an annoyed tone, "Sister Consort Zhuang, you really 'sold' your older sister out very quickly!"
Hearing this, Su Nuannuan's lips curled up slightly, revealing a sly smile, and she replied in a sweet voice, "Sister Qinfei, you're wrong about that! How can this be considered 'selling'? This is clearly the principle of 'the capable do more'!"
Her smiling face was truly infuriating, especially her phrase "the capable should do more work," which was particularly infuriating. Consort Qin frowned, thinking to herself: What kind of logic is this? Does it mean that just because I'm more capable, I have to take on more work?
However, before Consort Qin could react, Su Nuannuan seemed to sense her displeasure and quickly softened her tone, gently shaking Consort Qin's sleeve and pleading, "Sister Consort Qin, please don't be angry. Actually, I really don't know anything about this. I'll definitely need your guidance! How about this, I'll be in charge of the desserts needed for the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet? That should appease you, sister!"
"Stop, stop, stop! If you used your coquettish skills on the Emperor, you would surely gain even more favor!" Consort Qin said, while rubbing her arms as if she wanted to rub off the goosebumps that had appeared on her skin from hearing Su Nuannuan's coquettish voice.
Su Nuannuan blinked her big, bright eyes and looked at Consort Qin with a smile, saying coquettishly, "Then I'll take it as Consort Qin agreeing! Hehe..." Before she finished speaking, she lightly stepped onto the sedan chair that had been waiting for her for a long time, like a happy little bird.
As Su Nuannuan's sedan chair drove further and further away until it disappeared from sight, Consort Qin finally snapped out of her daze. She stamped her foot in annoyance and muttered to herself, "Oh dear, how could I have been fooled by that little vixen again? The Empress Dowager's birthday is such a big event, and she just casually took over the simple task of making a few desserts with a few words, leaving all the other troublesome stuff to me!"
However, it was too late for further complaints. Consort Qin sighed helplessly and slowly boarded her sedan chair, instructing, "Let's return to the palace! We need to hurry back and properly arrange the matters related to the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration." With that, the sedan chair swayed gently towards the palace, leaving only a slight swaying and faint sighs behind.