After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 141 Xiangyun Visits Daming Palace in Qinghe
Day two.

After Chu Yan got up, Qin Keqing was still fast asleep. Ruizhu and Zhuzhu slept in the west bedroom because the bed was too small.

Chu Yan didn't disturb her. After getting out of bed, he went outside to take a shower. After he finished showering, he opened the door to ventilate the room, and it was just getting light.

"Your Majesty," a palace maid announced, "Miss Yun requests an audience."

"She got up so early? Call her over."

Chu Yan said.

A moment later, Xiangyun walked in from outside. Upon seeing him, she smiled and asked, "Imperial brother, are you going to court later?"

Chu Yan nodded and asked, "Yun'er, do you want to go to court with me too?"

Xiangyun chuckled and said sweetly, "I only get to say a word to you when I see you're away at court all day, and you're still teasing me."

Oh, so it's because Sister Yun misses him. It's clear that last night's events left a deep impression on her.

Chu Yan chuckled softly, pulled Xiangyun into his arms, and did nothing but embrace her.

Xiangyun didn't say anything, but leaned against him.

After a while, Xiangyun looked up and smiled at him, saying, "I made an appointment with the princess yesterday to play at the Daming Palace, and I won't be back until this afternoon."

Where is your sister Lin?

"She thought it was too far and refused to take the palanquin."

"Let her be as stubborn as she wants, you all go and play."

After chatting for a while, Chu Yan went out and walked from the passageway to the front hall to attend court. Xiangyun followed behind to see him off, and said with a smile:

"My Emperor brother is so lazy. He attends court in the front and then sleeps in the back. My second and third uncles used to get up very early to attend court. Attending court in winter is the hardest. It's still dark and snowing, and it's so cold that it chills you to the bone!"

Chu Yan, dressed in a round-necked robe with a dragon pattern, smiled and said, "How could the emperor not be able to come to court every day? It is a blessing for officials to be able to attend court every day."

Xiangyun shut up in embarrassment. Her second and third uncles were now commoners, which was something that couldn't be helped.

Chu Yan saw through her thoughts and said, "If your Shi family wants anyone to serve in court, you'll have to wait until the imperial examinations are held again." He reached out and stroked her face, and smiled, "Even if you are favored, no one from the Shi family can serve as an official in court again."

Xiangyun hurriedly asked, "Can people in our family also take the imperial examinations?"

"Yes, but the imperial examination system will be changed. You'll find out later."

Chu Yan walked into the front hall through the back door, and Xiang Yun stopped and watched him go in.

A moment later, one could hear officials from the Ministry of Ceremonies announcing the rites, ordering all civil and military officials to kneel before them.

Xiangyun looked inside again before turning around and leaving to find Sister Lin in the west wing, asking her if she wanted to go to the Daming Palace together.

Daiyu also got up, but she was a little lazy and refused her: "You can go. I'll rest in my room for a while today. I just came to the palace yesterday."

At this moment, several palace maids came carrying medicinal herbs and a stove, and reported: "Miss Lin, we have retrieved your medicine from the storeroom."

Daiyu got up and accepted the money, then asked Zijuan to bring half a string of coins as a reward for them. The palace maids smiled, thanked her, and left.

Shi Xiangyun watched with envy and said, "Sister Lin gives people money as a reward, which I have never done before."

These words stirred up Daiyu's sadness again, and she said, "Although you and I also lost our mothers when we were young, you at least live in your own home, which is different from me."

Seeing that she was about to cry, Xiangyun smiled and comforted her for a few moments before bidding her farewell and heading out to the inner palace to find Princess Qinghe.

Cuilu followed behind, accompanied by several palace maids and eunuchs. They listened to the two women chatting. They heard that Cuilu was doing most of the talking, while Miss Yun was only responding to her.

Then Cuilu exclaimed how big the palace was, and wondered what the Daming Palace was like. Once she started talking, she never stopped.

As they were walking, Cuilu suddenly said, "Miss, there's a palanquin ahead!"

Xiangyun looked ahead and saw a beautiful woman sitting on a palanquin, accompanied by more than twenty eunuchs and palace maids. The procession was grand and impressive, but she didn't know where they were going.

The two stood by the wall, but the palace maid behind them whispered, "Your Highness, Consort Yun, do not need to make way for her. She was Consort Zhou of the previous dynasty, but Your Highness is destined to be made a Consort."

Consort Wu and Consort Zhou were quite favored before Consort Qin entered the palace, but after His Majesty took Consort Qin as a concubine and summoned the young ladies of the Jia family, they quickly fell out of favor in the palace.

Xiangyun ignored her and continued walking along the wall. When she met the other person, Consort Zhou raised her hand to stop her and asked her from her palanquin, "Are you a girl from the Jia family?"

Xiangyun replied, "I am from the Shi family, and I also live in the Ningrong State Duke's Mansion."

Consort Zhou stared at her for a while before reluctantly leaving.

Xiangyun continued on to Yuqing Palace, and Cuilu whispered, "Miss, the emperor has many concubines."

Xiangyun laughed: "Silly girl, you should say there are many concubines in the emperor's palace."

Cuilu said, "I'm not stupid. People often say 'the new bride laughs while the old one cries.' I just noticed that the concubine doesn't seem happy. What will happen to you in the future, Miss?"

Xiangyun replied, "We'll talk about the future when it comes. How can anyone predict what will happen decades from now? Ten years ago, my third uncle was just ennobled, but ten years later, my brother the emperor confiscated his property. How can we think that far ahead? Thinking too much will only make us cry all the time, just like Sister Lin."

Cuilu thought for a moment and sighed, "What you say makes a lot of sense, Miss. I am no match for you. We're going to Daming Palace later to have lunch there?"

"We'll talk about it when we get there. The princess knows what to do."

Xiangyun arrived at Yuqing Palace but did not see Princess Qinghe. Upon asking, she learned that Princess Qinghe had led a group of young princesses to pay their respects to her mother, the Empress Dowager. After waiting for a while, Qinghe returned with the young princesses.

Seeing four or five princesses following closely behind her, Xiangyun smiled and said, "Princess, it looks like you've come back from outside with some chicks. How interesting!"

She genuinely found it amusing, not mocking the princess for resembling a hen.

Qinghe covered her mouth with her slender hand and smiled, saying to her, "My nieces were terrified the other day. They followed me around all day long, just like chicks hiding under their mother's wings."

The little princesses also laughed, because they knew she was going to play at the Daming Palace, and they all clamored to go too.

"None of you are allowed to go!" Qinghe put her hands on her hips and adopted the airs of an aunt. "Those of you who want to go out and play every other day, remember that you are princesses. Even if the country is destroyed, you must maintain the dignity and upbringing of the princesses of the Shun Dynasty. How can you not study?"

So he ordered them to go back to their rooms to read and practice calligraphy.

Xiangyun asked, "Don't they have any teachers?"

“I was their teacher, and the Empress Dowager and the imperial concubines also taught them some things.”

"Many of the ladies-in-waiting are literate; why not invite them to teach?"

A look of embarrassment crossed Qinghe's pretty face as she whispered, "We're not princesses, and my sister-in-law isn't the empress..."

Although they still held status, they were ultimately from the previous dynasty and dared not act too freely.

Xiangyun understood, and turned to the palace maid standing to the side to ask, "Can I call a few female officials to teach them to read and write?"

The palace maid hurriedly replied, "His Majesty has decreed that everyone in the palace should treat Miss Yun as a concubine. Giving orders to a few female officials is a trivial matter. Of course, you can give the order, and we dare not disobey."

Xiangyun nodded and smiled, "Then please invite a few female officials to teach the princess's nieces. I'll tell my brother the emperor tonight."

The palace maid agreed and hurriedly summoned someone to relay a message to several fifth-rank female officials in the palace, asking them to arrange for someone to come.

"Emperor brother?"

Qinghe pondered for a moment. No wonder the palace maid agreed so quickly; one could tell how favored Miss Yun was just from the way she was addressed.

Qinghe thanked her, but Xiangyun urged her to hurry up and change her clothes so she could go out.

After a while, the two boarded a palanquin and headed towards Lingxiao Gate together.

The two were not accompanied by many people, only about ten palace maids and eunuchs. Neither of them paid any attention and chatted and laughed all the way.

Upon arriving at Daming Palace, Xiangyun sat upright in the palanquin, gazing at her emperor brother's garden in the distance. Overjoyed, she hurriedly ordered the eunuchs to put down the palanquin and, holding Princess Qinghe's hand, ran forward.

Where in Qinghe had she ever been so "wild"? The usually gentle and demure girl was running like this for the first time, and she was panting heavily, but she was also very happy. She and Xiangyun enjoyed the lake view in a pavilion.

"What a huge lake!"

Xiangyun looked around and saw the lake water sparkling, the wind blowing through the willows on the shore, and a mountain on the opposite bank with a temple on it. The lake was surrounded by pavilions and waterside terraces. This scenery alone was far superior to that of the Grand View Garden!

"I really want to go boating on the lake!" Xiangyun exclaimed.

Qinghe laughed and said, "There is a painted boat on the shore, but it is three stories high and too big for us. If you want to go boating, you can ask someone to bring a small boat and we can sit on it for a while."

Xiangyun nodded hurriedly, and the palace maid sent someone to the dock on the shore to order a small boat to be rowed over.

When the small boat came close, Xiangyun exclaimed in surprise, "This is called a small boat? How big must a painted boat be?"

The boat can seat about ten people, and there was plenty of room for them.

Qinghe covered her mouth and chuckled: "The emperor's things are all very extravagant. That painted boat can carry about a hundred people, and two opera troupes can play music and sing. A few years ago, on the Mid-Autumn Festival, I went on the boat with my father, brother, and sister-in-law, and we admired the moon until dawn..."

As she spoke, her voice sounded somewhat disappointed.

Xiangyun knew why, smiled at her, and said, "This Mid-Autumn Festival, we'll invite your emperor husband to come and admire the moon on the boat!"

Qinghe blushed and complained, "I'm feeling sad, and you're making fun of me."

The girls were having a great time, and their slight unhappiness was quickly forgotten. Their laughter echoed around the lake.

The two played until the afternoon, but had only seen about 30-40% of the scenery in the Daming Palace's rear garden, so they had to agree to come back another time.

Just as they were about to leave, an old eunuch suddenly knelt before Qinghe.

"Princess!" the eunuch kowtowed, weeping, "His Majesty is seriously ill, please go and visit him!"

Qinghe looked at him in surprise and hurriedly asked what was going on.

The eunuch said, "After the old emperor was banished from the Eastern Palace to the Moon Gazing Tower, his health deteriorated day by day. The imperial physicians just gave him random medications, which did not improve his condition at all. He has not been able to get out of bed for five days now, and he is about to pass away."

Qinghe was stunned, and Xiangyun quickly said, "Let's go see your father."

Qinghe hurriedly grabbed her, shook her head violently, and then turned to the eunuchs behind her: "Go and report to the Emperor that Lord Chongle is seriously ill, and this servant requests permission to enter Wangyue Tower to visit him!"

The eunuchs raised their eyelids, glanced at the kneeling old eunuch, memorized his appearance, and then sent someone back to the palace to report.

About fifteen minutes later, an imperial decree arrived, granting permission for the princess and Miss Yun to enter the Moon Gazing Tower to visit Duke Chongle.

(End of this chapter)