Early spring is a relatively comfortable season of the year, with all things reviving, flowers blooming, and willows turning green.
After her confinement period, Consort De finally returned to her previous lifestyle, and she began to dress up with extra care.
The supplies provided by the Imperial Palace and the royal merchants often matched the season.
For instance, in the inner palace, jade ornaments were more common in spring and summer, while gold ornaments were more prevalent in autumn and winter.
The clothing materials used were also bright and fresh in spring and summer, and solemn and dignified in autumn and winter.
When Ruan Rensui woke up one day, he found his sleeping chamber had turned into an ocean of rainbow colors.
Bolts of fabric were hung on the screens, in colors such as madder red, crimson, goose yellow, willow green, and moon white…
His mother flitted about among them like a butterfly, looking very cheerful.
At that moment, she had a piece of fresh green fabric draped over her shoulders, with a light pink lining inside.
The red and green complemented each other, making the outfit especially vivid.
The wet nurse, Lady Qian, seeing him staring intently, picked him up and brought him closer.
Consort De noticed him and asked, “Wearing two opposite colors together looks particularly nice. Sui Sui, do you think it’s better to have the green outside or the light pink outside?”
Ruan Rensui was still thinking about which one was better, but Consort De didn’t really expect a response from him; she had just asked casually.
The Lady-in-Waiting in charge of clothing stood by with a smile, watching Consort De happily turn around several times in front of the mirror, and then she said joyfully, “Make one of each style!”
People in the palace had different preferences.
The Empress Dowager rarely paid much attention to her clothing, and every year the ladies of the Qianqiu Palace would handle it according to tradition.
The Emperor was like his mother in this regard; he didn’t place much importance on these things either.
Consort Xian preferred light and elegant colors.
Consort De favored bright and vivid colors.
Empress Zhu liked luxurious and splendid ones.
By March, when the birds began to sing, the maids of the Fengyi Palace all had a jingling gold hairpin in their hair, which made a clear, tinkling sound like a spring stream when they walked, and could be heard from several paces away.
Consort De felt a little envious and whispered to her son, “She’s really rich!”
Once the gold hairpins were given to the maids, they were considered a gift and there was no reason to take them back.
Fengyi Palace had so many people, and Empress Zhu not only bestowed the hairpins on the maids but also generously gave gifts to the eunuchs.
A quick calculation would reveal how enormous the sum was.
Since the money didn’t come from the palace but from Empress Zhu’s own pocket, no one could say anything.
Consort De was also wealthy, but compared to Empress Zhu, who came from the Dingguo Duke’s mansion, she still fell short.
Ruan Rensui agreed with Consort De’s words because Empress Zhu was indeed quite wealthy.
When the founding emperor established the nation, he set up twelve ducal houses, which were hereditary and irreplaceable.
The first four, Zhen, An, Ning, and Ding, held particularly high status and were known as the four pillars of the empire.
Although the Dingguo Duke’s mansion, from which Empress Zhu originated, was ranked fourth, it was the most coveted among the four pillar ducal houses.
This was because the Dingguo Duke’s mansion was famous for producing beautiful women, a fact known throughout the land…
Ah.
Thinking of this, Ruan Rensui’s mind began to wander.
It had to be said that being good-looking really had its advantages.
In his previous life, when he was choosing a princess consort, Zhu Zhengliu, Empress Zhu’s brother, was also there.
Many of the young ladies present were looking at Zhu Zhengliu…
His mother didn’t get along well with Empress Zhu, and whenever she attended the palace banquet and saw Empress Zhu’s parents, she couldn’t help but take a few extra glances…
Ah!
The spring clothing was light and soft, with a texture completely different from the fabrics of autumn and winter, and its colors were bright and airy.
When worn, it made one feel inexplicably relaxed.
The concubines, according to their status, had a certain amount of fabric allocated to them by the Imperial Palace.
Various regions of the country, especially the Jiangnan area, would also present tributes to the court.
And the royal merchants in the capital city, who didn’t need to show their respects to the imperial consorts?
The fabrics in the palaces of the high-ranking concubines were always in abundance, never in shortage.
Consort De had the most.
She loved beauty and was favored by the Emperor.
The number of tributes she received privately was so great that even Empress Zhu couldn’t compare.
The Emperor also doted on her, and he often let her take from his own share.
Consort De had spring clothes made for each season, not just for herself but also for the Emperor.
She would use the same bolt of fabric to make an outer garment for herself and a robe for the Emperor, or perhaps cut a piece to make a belt for him, so that the two of them could wear matching outfits, showing their affection and tenderness.
This year, with the addition of a child, Consort De also allocated some leftover fabric to her son, but she felt a bit regretful and said:
“It’s a pity that our Sui Sui is still too young to fully use them… How fun it would be for the whole family of three to wear matching clothes!”
Ruan Rensui lay on the couch, smiling at her.
Consort De made a funny face to scare him: “Boo!”
Ruan Rensui wasn’t scared at all and just lay there, giggling foolishly.
Consort De buried her face in his swaddling clothes, inhaling the milky scent on him, feeling as if she would melt:
“Our Sui Sui is the cutest child in the whole world!”
When Ruan Rensui was a bit older, he began to show differences from other infants.
He wasn’t fussy and didn’t cry incessantly.
He would only call out a few times after wetting or soiling himself.
The rest of the time, he was either sleeping or lying there idly, thinking about things.
As a first-time mother, Consort De didn’t know how rare this was, but the two wet nurses who fed him did.
They would quietly discuss in private, saying,
“The young master is much easier to take care of than ordinary children.”
After saying this, they both fell into a momentary daze.
When they came to their senses and looked at each other, they shared a knowing and tacit smile.
April, with orioles flying and grass growing, was a wonderful season.
Empress Zhu invited renowned Buddhist and Taoist scholars to the palace to lecture, and she also held two reading sessions in between.
A young lady-in-waiting was pulled by her colleagues to listen to the master’s sermon.
Hearing the master talk about loving others as oneself, she suddenly remembered that she hadn’t loved herself yet today, so she indulged in a roasted duck…
Amitabha!
As flowers bloomed, the Imperial Palace began preparing this year’s soap, not only for the use of the nobles in the palace but also to be bestowed upon the meritorious officials by the Emperor.
For a while, the air seemed to be imbued with a scent, either strong or faint.
Consort De’s body had recovered almost completely, and she picked up her old hobby again.
In her spare time, she had people cut various flowers from spring to arrange in vases.
It was strange that although Consort De was not proficient in poetry and literature, she had a natural talent for flower arranging.
Even the ladies-in-waiting who had received professional training often couldn’t match her.
The Emperor loved flowers, both tending to them himself and enjoying watching Consort De arrange them in vases.
Now that Consort De had come out of her confinement, he stayed more often in the Pianxiang Hall.
When he was not busy with state affairs, he would sit on the kang in the east hall, have a kang table set up, and while Consort De arranged flowers, he would paint.
On this day, Lady Qian, following orders, carried the imperial heir to pay respects to his father.
She happened to arrive just as the Emperor and Consort De were enjoying themselves with flowers.
Ruan Rensui peeked in and saw on the rosewood tray on the table several branches of Hu Hong peonies and a section of slightly rugged pine branch.
The Hu Hong peonies were very beautiful, with bright, cheerful pink petals that were layered and overlapping, looking fresh and graceful.
Consort De was holding a pair of flower clippers, trimming the pine branch.
She glanced over a few times with ease and said,
“Using only peonies would be too feminine. Adding a section of pine branch to balance it makes it look much more harmonious. And we can’t use an ordinary vase either, or it will look too common. Using a black, round-bellied clay pot would be very solemn and dignified…”
Since this was in the consort’s palace, the Emperor was only wearing casual clothes and his posture was very relaxed.
He listened with a smile as Consort De spoke.
Seeing Lady Qian bring her son over, he reached out his hand and said, “Come.”
Lady Qian quickly moved forward with the prince in her arms and carefully handed him over.
The Emperor took his son into his arms and then mischievously dipped his hand into the nearby palette, pressing a red dot on his forehead…
Ruan Rensui thought to himself: Father, you are really boring!
He remained expressionless and unresponsive.
The Emperor didn’t expect him to have no reaction and was very surprised.
He shook him a few times as if testing a broken appliance (not really): “Sui Sui?”
Only then did Ruan Rensui give him a little face and smiled with his mouth wide open.
The Emperor also laughed, then noticed something and turned his head to see Lady Qian leaning a bit towards them, focusing intently on the peony painting on the kang table.
The attendant noticed and coughed.
Lady Qian was startled awake and hurriedly tried to kneel to ask for forgiveness.
The Emperor was quite amiable, told her to get up, and asked,
“Have you read books? Can you also paint?”
Lady Qian didn’t expect the Emperor to speak to her.
She was frightened and very anxious, and whispered,
“Your servant only knows a few characters. When I was at home before, I used to draw flowers on clothes.”
The Emperor took a bit of interest and had someone move the kang table a bit to let her draw and see.
Ruan Rensui didn’t expect this to happen and was also curious to watch.
Consort De glanced over but didn’t seem to care much and continued with her own work.
Lady Qian said she “only knows a few characters,” which was apparently not an understatement.
When the palace attendant handed her the ink brush, her hand holding it was very awkward.
In the end, she put it down, apologized, and then used a charcoal pencil to draw a few flowers on the paper, along with some patterns she used to draw before entering the palace.
Ruan Rensui was not very proficient in painting, and he didn’t have much feeling about what Lady Qian drew.
However, the Emperor was somewhat surprised and said with approval, “You have talent.”
He had someone fetch a painting album to reward Lady Qian, and also gave her some additional paper and pigments.