Chapter 367: The Empress Dowager’s Birthday
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Xiao Jin made a jade bangle appear in his hand like conjuring a magic trick. Before Su Ying could react, he put the jade bangle on her hand. “Can I use this to compensate you?”
Su Ying looked at the jade bangle on her hand. It was probably made of mutton fat jade. There was even a lotus flower motif engraved on it. It looked particularly pure and saintly, but the jade bangle seemed to be quite old.
“Is this more valuable?”
Xiao Jin held her hand with a solemn expression. “You can’t sell it if there’s no pressing need. This is what Consort Mother left for her future daughter-in-law.”
Su Ying looked at the bangle on her hand under the light, and her heart felt as if it was being gently tickled by a feather. She smiled and said, “Alright.”
Xiao Jin’s warm palms spread her palms wide open and their fingers intertwined.
Su Ying turned around and was kissed on the lips by him. As she lost herself in the moment, Su Ying heard him muttering her name over and over again.
“Yingying, Yingying, you are mine…” Every utterance sounded like he wanted to carve her into his bones.
The sun was already high in the sky, but Su Ying was still lying under the blanket.
She lazily opened her eyes and met Xiao Jin’s two dark eyes.
She closed her eyes again and turned her face to the other side. “It’s early in the morning. Don’t even think about touching me again.”
As soon as she opened her mouth, she realized that her voice was a little hoarse. She didn’t know if Xiao Jin had gone crazy last night, but he kept going on and on endlessly. He wasn’t even worried that he would exhaust himself completely overnight.
Xiao Jin’s warm palm landed on her waist. Su Ying felt a warm sensation on her waist, and the fatigue on her body instantly eased a lot.
“Don’t move. I’ll give you a rub.”
The two of them ended up rubbing against each other on the bed for quite a while before getting up.
Bai Shuang smiled like an old granny as she helped Su Ying wash up.
Su Ying looked at Bai Shuang, who was almost grinning from ear to ear, and couldn’t help feeling curious. “What are you laughing at?”
Bai Shuang did not evade it. “Your Highness and Prince Qi are so loving. I am happy.”
“It’s not like I’m in love with you. What are you happy about?”
Bai Shuang was speechless.
The master and servant did have some feelings for each other, but it was not a lot.
After breakfast, Jiang Yang walked in. “Your Highness, we’ve investigated the details of that teahouse,” he reported to Xiao Jin.
Through Ming Yu, they had caught the person who contacted her. However, the other party was only a middleman. From the middleman, they found out who were some of the buyers. One of the teahouses appeared very suspicious.
“Tell me.”
“On the surface, this teahouse is conducting teahouse business, but behind the scene, they were grooming skinny horses. However, the teahouse is only responsible for receiving those women. The actual party grooming the skinny horses is someone else, but we have not tracked him down yet.”
“Don’t alert the enemy. Continue to investigate and dig out the person behind this.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Feeling puzzled, Su Ying asked, “Skinny horses?”
Jiang Yang explained,” Skinny horses are women who are sent to various residences to please men. These women will undergo special training to become proficient in music, chess, poetry, and painting. They are also considerate and docile. Therefore, they are very popular with influential families.”
Su Ying frowned when she heard this, but she didn’t say anything.
Later, Xiao Jin told her that these skinny horses were also a form of spies.
Those skinny horses that were sent to the various residences were very likely someone else’s informants.
Then this place that trained the skinny horses was very likely an intelligence bureau.
After Jiang Yang left, Zhang Shuming arrived.
“Your Highness, this is the birthday gift that I have prepared for the Empress Dowager. Please have a look to see if it is appropriate?”
Zhang Shuming came forward with a brocade box. Inside was a painting.
He unrolled the painting, and on it was a painting of a hundred children and a thousand grandchildren.
Xiao Jin nodded after taking a look. This was a masterpiece by a famous artist. Although it wasn’t outstanding, no one would be able to find any fault with it since it still conformed to the norms and etiquette of society.
“I’ll take it.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
On the day of the Empress Dowager’s birthday, the Emperor invited all the officials to celebrate it grandly to show his filial piety.
Due to Xiao Jin’s injuries, the commander of the Imperial Guards was put in charge of patrolling the palace banquet’s venue.
The commander of the Imperial Guards did not dare to be negligent. After Xiao Jin was injured, he began to strengthen the defenses of the capital, especially inside and outside the Imperial Palace. He even made sure that all aspects were taken care of so that no one could take advantage of any loophole to sneak in.
The banquet was held in the evening. When Su Ying and her group arrived, the area outside the Imperial Palace was already parked full of horse carriages.
As a member of the Imperial Family, Xiao Jin entered the palace through a different entrance from the ordinary people. After getting off the horse carriage, a palace maid led them to the hall where the banquet would be held.
It was still the same palace hall as last time, and they were sitting in the same seats as before.
As soon as Su Ying and her group entered the hall, they attracted countless gazes.
Su Ying lifted her eyelids slightly and glanced back at them indifferently. Those people became so frightened that they quickly withdrew their gazes.
Xiao Jin held her hand and sat down on a chair with the children.
The palace maids then served tea and snacks.
When they arrived, it was already late, and the palace hall was full of seated guests.
Before long, almost everyone who was supposed to show up had arrived.
“The Emperor has arrived. The Empress Dowager has arrived.”
Everyone stood up and bowed.
Emperor Kangze helped the Empress Dowager to a chair to sit down before gesturing for everyone to rise.
Su Ying noticed that the Empress did not show up.
Emperor Kangze’s gaze quickly swept across the faces of the officials, and a happy smile hung on his face. “Today is the Empress Dowager’s birthday. I am very happy, not only because the Empress Dowager is presently in good health, but also because Prince Ma, whom I haven’t seen for many years, has returned.”
The smile on the Empress Dowager’s face froze slightly. When her gaze fell on Prince Ma, a conflicted expression flashed across her face.
Upon hearing this, Prince Ma stood up. “Your humble servant wanted to return to the capital many times over the years, but the Princess Consort was really in poor health, so I could only give up. Now that the Princess Consort’s health has improved slightly, I could not wait to return. I wanted to personally apologize to Your Majesty.”
With that, he walked to the center of the hall and knelt down.
Sima Chen also got up and knelt down beside Prince Ma. “Consort Mother’s body was weak, and we couldn’t leave her side. Please forgive us, Your Majesty.”
Emperor Kangze waved his hand nonchalantly. “Now that the Princess Consort’s health has improved, I also feel relieved. All of you rise. I don’t blame you.”
“Your humble servant thanks Your Majesty.”
Emperor Kangze was the first to raise his cup to toast the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager took a sip from the teacup in the palace maid’s hands and considered it as returning the toast.
Su Ying sat in the lower-ranking seats. The Empress Dowager had not shown her face ever since they returned to the capital. Today, when she observed these few people, she felt somehow that the interaction between these people was a little odd.
“The Empress Dowager is not the Emperor’s birth mother?”
Xiao Jin whispered, “Yes, she is.”
What a pervert. He was even second-guessing his own mother.
Emperor Kangze started the ball rolling, and the princes, grand princes, nobles and aristocrats came forward to offer birthday wishes to the Empress Dowager and present her with birthday gifts.
The Empress Dowager’s expression remained indifferent throughout. No one could tell whether she was happy or angry.
As her grandson, Xiao Jin also stood up and presented the birthday gift he had prepared.
The Empress Dowager’s gaze only paused briefly on him before moving away.
After the Imperial Family and nobles presented their gifts, Emperor Kangze summoned the dancers to liven up the atmosphere.
Su Ying felt very bored as she watched the singing and dancing in the hall. She became so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open.
Outside the palace, an Imperial Guard quickly ran up to the commander.
“Something has happened, Commander. All the Imperial Guards patrolling the palace today suddenly suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. They can’t stand on their feet now..”