TPNCQ CHAPTER 9.2
When the Emperor is not at home, each palace claims to be the King 9.2
In the courtyard of Yongshou Palace, three pear trees were in full bloom, their white petals fluttering in the air.
Su Limo put on the palace attire that Chen Guiren had helped embroider a few days ago. Under the sunlight, the silver threads and tiny rice beads shimmered, perfectly matching the scene.
In the morning, Imperial Physician Luo came to check the health of the Su Limo. Seeing that her condition had improved significantly, he prescribed a new treatment plan and recommended alternating medicinal diets. During the two-month postpartum period, Imperial Physician Luo visited daily, but now he came every three days.
Dongxue took the medicinal diet prescription to the imperial kitchen, instructing them to prepare it carefully every day. She also followed the Gufei Niangniang’s orders to distribute some silver melon seeds as a reward and gave an additional five-tael silver ingot to the eunuch who tested the meals to ensure they were safe.
As a Gufei, Su Limo received a monthly allowance of sixty-two taels of silver. For the past two months, she divided it into three portions: twenty taels for rewarding the staff of the imperial kitchen and the internal affairs office, twenty taels for her own meals, medicine, and tips for Imperial Physician Luo, and twenty taels for her three children. Each of her sons and daughters had a fixed allowance, and this extra money was used for additional food, clothing, and rewards for their wet nurses and nannies.
The remaining two taels were split between Shuangjiang and Dongxue, and any clean leftovers from daily meals were distributed among the palace staff.
In the afternoo, the sun was shining brightly and its was warm.
Su Limo went to the side hall to see Jingshun. The little baby was soft and adorable, blowing bubbles with her small mouth. With the extra rewards, the wet nurses and nannies took even better care of her. The little baby was growing fast, already wearing the newly made clothes from a few days ago.
Sitting by the cradle, Su Limo played with the baby. At just over two months old, she was already aware enough to smile happily, waving his tiny fists and kicking his little feet, utterly endearing.
Remembering the instructions from the Lady Bai Yueguang, Su Limo took the opportunity of the emperor’s absence from the palace to send the wet nurse and two nannies with the Fourth Princess to Changchun Palace to greet the Empress.
She then took a few palace maids to organize the small storeroom, taking stock of her belongings.
Due to her pregnancy and childbirth, she had received many rewards and gifts over the past year. These included various clothes, fabrics, and jewelry. Although not top-quality items, they were decent enough given her status. On the day of her delivery, the emperor rewarded her with two hundred taels of silver, and another two hundred taels at the full moon banquet. Including the silver and money originally stored in the small storeroom, she had about seven to eight hundred taels. It wasn't abundant, but it was more than sufficient.
Some fabrics that had been stored for five or six years had developed mold spots. However, washing them and making new clothes for the maids was better than letting them go to waste.
The maids received only one new set of clothes each season, and those who did rough work often had their sleeves worn out and repeatedly patched.
After giving birth, although Su Limo’s temperament had changed slightly, she treated the palace staff better, and everyone was grateful, working even harder.
Among her possessions, a small box contained various beads, including jade, agate, pearls, amber, turquoise, and more. For Su Limo, who loved collecting and playing with beads, this was a delight.
Before her time travel, she enjoyed stringing together bracelets, and now these rare beads were even more enticing. Her favorite pastime was finding the best combinations of beads to make bracelets for play and appreciate.
Su Limo had Shuangjiang bring the small box to her bedroom, sorted the beads into ten brocade boxes by category and color, and asked Shuangjiang, Dongxue, and Bailu to twist threads of different thicknesses to prepare for stringing the beads.
For the decorative collars that matched the palace gowns of the concubines in the imperial harem, the Household Administration Bureau would mostly string together pearls and gemstones that were appropriate for the concubines' ranks. The popular braiding techniques were only those two, which were very similar. Moreover, to avoid mismatching when changing clothes, mostly versatile colors were used, with practicality as the primary consideration and beauty as a secondary one. In Su Limo's opinion, it was indeed somewhat monotonous.
In the future, she would string them together according to her needs. When there were joyous occasions in the other palaces, she would give these as gifts. They were both unique and did not cost any extra money. After all, her monthly allowance had already been allocated, and there wasn't much money in her small treasury, so she couldn't easily use it. It was best to save up little by little, the more she saved the better.
As it was time for dinner, Su Limo had just put down her chopsticks and rinsed her mouth with Shuangjiang help. Then she instructed her to take the remaining half of the steamed fish, the stir-fried beef slices with assorted mushrooms, and the mixed vegetables to the eunuchs who were on night duty and guarding the gates. Because she was thinking of giving it to the palace maids, Su Limo would always take food from the side of her plate at each meal and leave the clean portions for the others.
“They are on night duty. If they don't have these foods, they will be cold and hungry at night, which will be uncomfortable,” Su Limo said before she finished speaking. She heard a series of footsteps entering the inner hall.
Dongxue knew she was in a hurry, so she quickly retracted her feet and walked forward in accordance with the rules. “Niangniang, there is a commotion in Chunxi Palace.”
The mention of Chunxi Palace made Su Limo’s heart skip a beat.
"It's not Chen Guiren, but Xiu Guiren from the East Hall of Yanxi Palace. I heard that for the past two days, she has been summoned to Chunxi Palace every day to embroider a hundred-blessing quilt for the fetus in Jia Fei's womb. She is not called to go during the day, but is summoned every evening. She embroiders for two or three hours at a time, and each 'Fu' character must be embroidered in a different font and color. Just now, Xiu Guiren fainted on the embroidery frame, and the palace maids who were personally attending to her started making a fuss. It was quiet at night, and a few heart-wrenching cries were extremely mournful. Even the Empress was alarmed, and Xian Gufei has sent someone to carry Xiu Guiren back to Chunxi Palace in a soft sedan chair and summoned a Imperial Physician to examine her." Dongxue recounted the whole story.
“Xiu Guiren received her title because of her exceptional embroidery skills. If they really valued her embroidery, they could call her during the day. Summoning her only in the evening is clearly intentional harassment.” Dongxue continued.
The next news came at a quarter past nine in the evening. Su Limo yawned, rinsed her mouth, and was about to go to bed with a hot water bottle.
“Xiu Guiren has been pregnant for over a month.”
This news would undoubtedly cause many sleepless nights in the palace, but certainly not for Su Limo, who preferred to go to bed early and wake up late, enjoying her life of leisure and comfort.