Saturday, August 22, 2020

Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife Chapter 157

~ It’s Jingling City Again ~ 

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the citizens began to clean the houses and offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God. In the Palace, the Emperor had already sealed off his imperial brush and held a banquet to have fun with his subjects.

Just as the banquet was in full swing, Xu Li, the head of the internal servant, and two guards with scrolls in their hands walked in. “Your servant greets the Emperor.”

“Hmm?” The Emperor looked at the guards behind Xu Li and immediately sat up straight. All over his face filled with joy. “Were those two guards sent by Grand Princess Yi De?”

Xu Li hurriedly bowed in reply. “Reporting to Your Majesty, the two of them are from the Grand Princess’ side. Today, they’ve especially sent two people to deliver a present to Your Majesty.”

The joyous expression on the Emperor’s face deepened as he stood up and walked down the steps himself, “The Grand Princess has always cared for me. Now that she is at Huguo Temple praying for the fortune of the Dali Dynasty, she has not forgotten to present me with such gifts. It really makes me touched.”

The court officials hurriedly chime in, “Yes, Grand Princess Yi De has a deep relationship with the Emperor. Naturally, she’s always worried about His Majesty.”

“The Grand Princess Yi De is personally praying for the blessing of this country. It is truly a model for all the women in this world!”

The Emperor delighted when he heard that. Grand Princess Yi De was his own sister. Before he ascended to the throne, she had saved his life many times, and the relationship between the two of them was close. Later on, when he ascended to the throne, he originally wanted to give her unparalleled honor. However, she retreated in a hurry, burning incense and worshipping Buddha all day long, ignoring worldly things.

“What gift did the Grand Princess send over?” The guards quickly and carefully opened the painting in their hands. It was about seven feet long and four feet wide. It had painted with people of various colors. There were all sorts of people drawn on it, and if one looked carefully, one would see that the buildings were all in the style of Jiangnan. The scenery selected a street as the mainline, and thousands of people have different clothes and look lifelike. They all had various expressions, but they all have a smile on their faces. Through the screen, they seem to be able to see the happy scene at that time.

The Emperor was really shocked as he looked at it, “The painting of Laba porridge festival in Jingling City? Li Chong ..., This ..., Is this Grandmaster Li Chong’s painting?”

One of the guards quickly reported, “Reporting to Your Majesty, this is a letter personally written by the Grand Princess.”

The Emperor hurriedly received the letter and read it carefully. The court officials on the side felt anxious in their hearts. During this time, which city was mentioned the most frequently in the Imperial Court? It was Jingling City. First, at the time of the Emperor’s birthday banquet, Cao Yunnian’s wife sincerely prayed for the Emperor and attracted colorful butterflies to fly in the air. The Emperor was so happy. As a result, Cao Yunnian got promoted to an official. Later on, the spread of the embroidery needle technique in Jingling City counted as a magnificent achievement in educating the people, and the Emperor personally bestowed his reward. The embroidery workshop spread the embroidery needle technique set on fire, and then the Emperor rewarded his handwritten calligraphy once again. It caused the name of Ni Yun Fang and Bu Xian Lou to rise to prominence. Wasn’t the tea that the Emperor drank was delivered by Bu Xian Luo? Now they had come up with a picture of the Laba porridge festival. In their opinion, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which city does not have anyone porridge? How come the Laba porridge festival in Jingling City painted as a picture and sent to the Emperor? If not for the painting painted by Grandmaster Li Chong, they would all suspect that it was from an official in Jingling City.

In order to show your face in front of the Emperor, all of you intentionally used this move. The Emperor had already finished reading the letter sent by Grand Princess Yi De. When he went back to look at the painting, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat different. “My dear officials, come forward and take a look as well. The common people don’t have much in mind. If you can live and work in peace and contentment, the people will be obedient, and many businessmen will work for the people, but many officials will be dead and fed, which is really a pity in my heart.”

“This official is guilty.” Hearing this, all the officials kneeled down and begged for forgiveness quickly, feeling very terrified in their hearts. The Emperor muttered to himself for a moment before sighing. He carefully put away the letter from Grand Princess Yi De, “Imperial Elder Sister Yi De wrote this letter to remind me to remember my responsibilities as a ruler. Xu Li, you go and send the gift that I have prepared together with ten pearls, ten jades, and ten brocades, also with the pigeon blood precious stones and rhinoceros horn aloes, which were paid as tribute a few days ago. I will also write a letter to the Grand Princess. You can take it to her to see if anything is missing from her, and you will report it to me carefully. I will personally choose and send it to you.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Xu Li was agitated in his heart, but his face restrained. He knew that this was his own fate. When the Emperor gave gifts to the Grand Princess in the past, he bound to send his personal attendant, Eunuch De. He hadn’t expected that today, it would be his turn to run errands. The officials kneeling on the floor did not dare to make a sound. They all said that the heavenly family has no affection. But over the years, the relationship between the Eldest Princess and the Emperor as siblings had grown more profound. If there is something delicious in daily life, they have to send it to the Eldest Princess. Now the Chinese New Year, the gift prepared is about to empty the Palace, which is really incomprehensible. The head of the internal servant had ordered people to clean up the things on the table. He then brought out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for the Emperor to write letters. When it finished, the Emperor looked at the court officials kneeling down and said, “Alright, get up. Go and take a look at the paintings that the Grand Princess has sent over. You have to look at yourself carefully so that you can introspect and understand the responsibility of being a court official.”

“Yes, this subject and others shall obey Your Majesty’s instructions.”

The officials in the crowd hurriedly went to admire Master Li Chong’s painting according to the rank of the official. After they finished looking at it, they were all somewhat moved. This picture was extremely vivid, causing those who looked at it to be engaged in it. However, although those officials who had always used words as blades similarly moved, they were also worried that the matter wasn’t real, so they all thought to write a notice tomorrow. If they could urge the Emperor to send an imperial envoy to investigate the specific situation in Jingling City, it would be best. If it is real, it is natural to give a good reward, and if not, we must suppress this boastful and impulsive work style.

But then again, this painting was sent by Grand Princess Yide, and with that person’s temperament and style, there was a 90% chance that it was true. Alas, other officials have to rack their brains if they want to get some political achievements. As for the officials in Jingling City, they seemed to have done nothing. The credit and reputation jumped directly into their arms. It really made people jealous!

Mu Yunyao didn’t know that an unintentional act had actually set off another wave in the Capital.

Every single day during the upcoming New Year holiday is full of different opinions. Thus, she directly made Ni Yun Fang and Bu Xian Luo close their business, and a group of people gathered in Jin Xiu Garden to discuss what they should buy for the new year.

In the past half-year, Mu Yunyao had been exceptionally careful with every step she took. Su Qing saw it in her eyes and felt pain in her heart. When She saw that Mu Yunyao had become livelier and lively these days, she urged Jin Lan, Jin Qiao, and the others to play with Mu Yunyao in the garden. Everything went according to plan and went smoothly. Mu Yunyao was also extremely happy in her heart, so she solely let go of her temper to play around. Swing, archery, throwing the kettle, taking the ball, ice hockey…, The entire Jin Xiu Garden filled with laughter.

3 comments:

  1. excellent chapter, thank you for translating!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I still can't believe that Mu Yunyao just turned 14 years old...

    ReplyDelete
  3. “……which city does not have anyone porridge?” huh? I feel like something is missing in the sentence.

    ReplyDelete