A middle-aged emperor, childless, was blessed with a beautiful and pregnant concubine who entered th

Consort Chen stopped breathing.

She looked at her daughter, seventeen years old, in the prime of her life, with a fearless and open-minded look in her eyes.

She was actually very familiar with that expression.

Chaoyang was actually very precocious. She didn't need any extra teaching; she knew who to please in the palace.

This made Consort Chen very proud.

Although she gave birth to a princess who was of little use, as His Majesty's only heir, she knew how to be charming and please His Majesty and the Empress Dowager.

Because of her, His Majesty and the Empress Dowager have always treated her well.

Yes, although Consort Chen was not clever, she knew very well that if it weren't for Chaoyang, not only would His Majesty not remember her, but the Empress Dowager would also never have treated her with such kindness.

She also recalled that more than twenty years ago, when she entered the harem of the current Emperor, who was then the Prince of Qin, she had received a similar look.

At that time, she also thought that she could live the life she wanted in the Prince of Qin's mansion.

"The rising sun..."

Her voice suddenly became very low, as if afraid of waking something.

"What exactly... do you want?"

Princess Chaoyang stood up.

She walked to the window and looked out.

Outside the window, the spring sunshine was bright, and in the distance, the glazed tiles of the palace shimmered in the sunlight.

"Mother," she said, "do you think there's ever been a precedent in history for a princess to ascend the throne?"

Consort Chen suddenly stood up.

"The rising sun!"

Princess Chaoyang turned around, her smile radiant.

"I was just asking casually, Mother, please don't take it seriously."

As she spoke, she gracefully straightened her clothes.

"I have other matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now."

She bowed to Consort Chen and turned to leave.

Consort Chen watched her retreating figure, opened her mouth, and wanted to call out to her.

But she didn't shout out.

Because she suddenly realized that her daughter wasn't asking her.

Her daughter was telling her.

She finally revealed her ambition.

She told her mother about this person, whom she considered a fool.

Princess Chaoyang also knew that Consort Chen, as her mother, had no choice.

Even knowing her ambition, would she still report her to her father, the Emperor? Would she bring her down?

This does her no good at all.

She believed that her mother would understand.

Her deep desire to have another child for her father was simply to secure her position and become the one who had the last laugh in the palace.

But in reality, as the only woman in the entire harem with a child, she had already won over everyone else.

However, she was still not satisfied; she hadn't quite come to that conclusion yet.

It's alright. If Mother can't think of it herself, then I'll help her.

After Princess Chaoyang left, Consort Chen sat alone for a long time, but her mind remained a complete blank, and she kept replaying Chaoyang's words in her mind.

"A precedent of a princess ascending the throne..."

"The princess ascends the throne..."

"Your Majesty?"

Consort Chen had been sitting by the window in a daze for a long time, so long that Chen Mama was a little worried.

She leaned closer and asked in a very low voice, which still startled Consort Chen.

Her face showed annoyance at being disturbed, but even more so, a thunderous fear.

Having served Consort Chen for many years, Granny Chen knew her too well, so she was also frightened by that look in her eyes.

"Your Majesty!"

She let out a soft sigh, and Consort Chen's expression had returned to normal. "You've been with me for so many years, and you still haven't learned how to serve someone?"

Granny Chen turned deathly pale with fright and knelt down with a thud. "Your Majesty, spare me!"

Consort Chen looked down at Granny Chen from her high position, and suddenly remembered her daughter's rebellious remarks. She took a deep breath, waved her hand, and said, "Never mind."

"Get out of here."

Granny Chen hurriedly went downstairs.

Consort Chen looked out the window again. The wintersweet outside was in full bloom, and its faint fragrance drifted in with a breeze.

Chen Fei's daughter's words came to mind again.

It never ends, like a demonic possession.

How dare she? How could she have such unorthodox ideas? Consort Chen couldn't understand it.

How could my own daughter have such a rebellious idea?

Who exactly led her astray?

Or is this His Majesty's tacit approval?

The thought that it might be His Majesty's tacit approval made Consort Chen's heart beat faster involuntarily. She stood up abruptly and then sat down again.

I just sat down too quickly, causing the embroidered stool to shift to an off-center position.

Consort Chen sat down on the ground immediately, exclaiming in surprise as she suddenly remembered what her daughter had just said.

"Peixi!"

The voice was shrill, carrying a hint of fear and impatience.

Granny Chen rushed in and was startled to see Consort Chen sitting on the ground. "Your Highness, the ground is cold. Why are you sitting on the ground?"

Consort Chen could not stand steadily and almost clung to Granny Chen. Her body was weak and trembling uncontrollably.

"you go."

"Find everything Chaoyang has given me over the years!"

Granny Chen was stunned.

Princess Chaoyang is the Empress's biological daughter and His Majesty's only child. Over the years, she has been the apple of everyone's eye in the Forbidden City.

Although the palace bestowed more gifts, the princess was filial and would send a portion of anything interesting she saw outside the palace to Chang Le Palace.

Throughout the palace, who doesn't know the deep bond between the Empress and the Princess?

Although the items bestowed by the palace were more precious, the things that Princess Chaoyang had painstakingly collected were more meaningful, and Consort Chen carefully preserved each and every one of them.

Upon hearing this, Granny Chen was somewhat puzzled.

"all?"

Consort Chen frowned. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

Granny Chen immediately lowered her eyes and said, "Yes."

Granny Chen and her team spent most of the day in the storeroom, finally managing to organize all the interesting trinkets that Princess Chaoyang had collected over the years.

Many of these items were used by the princess when she lived in the palace.

Granny Chen hesitated, unsure whether she should include all of these things in the calculation.

"Move all of these to the main hall; Her Majesty wants to see them."

The palace maids and eunuchs looked at each other, but didn't ask any further questions.

As a servant, one has no right to question one's master, even if the master's behavior is somewhat strange.

All they could do was obey.

Perhaps the Empress was looking for some of the Princess's old belongings, wanting to reminisce over them, or perhaps something else entirely.

Together, everyone moved all the novelties that belonged to Princess Chaoyang, or that she had specially sent to the palace, to the main hall.

Soon, it was piled up as high as a small mountain.

Consort Chen sat there, looking at those things with a complicated expression.

Her hand reached out and touched a slightly worn cloth tiger.

That was when Chaoyang was five years old; she sewed it for her herself.

Consort Chen's needlework wasn't very good; the stitches were rough, but Chaoyang liked it very much.

She always slept with that cloth tiger in her arms.

Later, His Majesty gradually stopped coming, and she couldn't sleep night after night. So Chaoyang gave her a cloth tiger, saying that the tiger should replace her father and keep her company.

How naive!

How can a cloth tiger replace His Majesty?

Her fingers slid across the cloth tiger's faded ears, but she quickly withdrew her hand as if she had touched a flame.

This tiny wooden box, no bigger than the palm of your hand...

Consort Chen opened it, and inside was a bunch of dried osmanthus flowers, the fragrance long gone, leaving only brown, withered stems.

She remembered that year, when Chaoyang was twelve years old, she went to Jiangnan to collect folk songs for the first time with the palace servants.

When he returned, he mysteriously handed her this box, saying that he had picked it himself from the best osmanthus tree in Suzhou and that he was going to dry it to make tea for his mother.

Consort Chen couldn't bear to soak it and kept it.

Chaoyang later asked her if the osmanthus tea was good, and she smiled and said it was.

Chaoyang was very happy and said he would pick them for her again next year.

Next year, the year after, and the year after that... every year there will be osmanthus blossoms, but they won't come from Suzhou anymore.

Every year, the gardeners in the capital would send the best osmanthus flowers to the palace, and Chaoyang would ask her about it every year, and she would nod each time.

But in the end, I couldn't bear to soak the osmanthus flowers from Suzhou.

Consort Chen put down the wooden box and picked up a sewing kit.

The embroidery on the needle and thread kit was crooked and uneven, with stitches of varying sizes, and in some places the cotton wadding inside was showing.

That was when Chaoyang was fourteen years old. He learned it from somewhere and secretly embroidered for more than half a year, saying that he wanted to embroider a unique sewing kit for his mother.

After the embroidery was finished and delivered, she was still hesitant and embarrassed to say that it was embroidered by a palace maid who served her.

But Consort Chen knew that the palace maids around Chaoyang were all highly skilled. Needlework was a basic skill, and even the worst maid around her could embroider much better than that.

Consort Chen's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

This child has been pampered since childhood; has he ever held a needle and thread?

Countless needle marks were pricked on my fingertips before I could embroider this little thing.

Her hands gently stroked the crooked stitches, one stroke at a time.

Suddenly, she laughed.

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An exquisite glass bottle containing some grayish-white powder.

Consort Chen was stunned for a moment before she remembered that this was the pearl powder that Chaoyang had given her when she was fifteen.

That year, Chaoyang followed the imperial merchant to the East China Sea and watched as people harvested pearls, ground them into powder, and brought them back in this small bottle.

They say that pearls from the East China Sea are the most nourishing, so they told her to use them as a face mask.

Consort Chen used it once, but couldn't bear to part with it, so she put it away.

Later, I heard that the voyage was actually quite dangerous; the ship encountered storms and almost didn't make it back. When Chaoyang returned, he didn't mention a word about it, only smilingly showing off his treasure.

There was also a small clay doll that Chaoyang bought at a temple fair when he was sixteen.

She said the baby looked like her mother when she was young and insisted on buying it. Consort Chen looked at it for a long time but couldn't see the resemblance, but she still accepted it with a smile.

The little baby was wearing a red bib, with two rosy cheeks, and grinning foolishly.

Below that was a stack of letters.

This letter was written by Chaoyang after he moved to the Princess's residence.

Every three to five days, I would receive a letter, all about trivial matters.

What delicious food they ate, where they went for fun, and what interesting little gadgets they acquired—all of this has already been sent to the palace.

The letter paper was folded neatly, and the handwriting progressed from childish to neat, from crooked to beautiful.

Consort Chen didn't throw any of them away; she kept them all.

She randomly picked out a letter.

"Mother is well. Today I saw a dough figurine maker on the street, and he made a little rabbit that looked just like the one I had when I was little."

"I bought it and had it sent to the palace. Mother, do you think it looks like me? I miss you, Mother. I will come to the palace to pay my respects in a few days. I bow to the morning sun."

Consort Chen held the letter in her hand, her fingertips trembling slightly.

She remembered the dough rabbit.

The body was sculpted from white dough, and the eyes were dotted with red dots; it was incredibly lifelike.

She also said at the time, "Chaoyang is so old, yet she still likes these children's toys."

Chaoyang smiled and said, "This is not for my daughter, but for my mother. She can put it on the table and enjoy it."

The dough rabbit had long since dried and cracked, and she kept it in a brocade box.

Granny Chen stood to the side, watching Consort Chen flip through the pages one by one, her heart aching with sorrow.

Your Highness is missing the princess, but didn't the princess just leave?