The door, with its peeling red paint, creaked and was pushed open a crack.
A palace maid with a disheveled face and shabby clothes stood in the door, with surprise in her eyes.
Behind her is the desolation and ruin that is incompatible with the splendor of the palace.
"Second Prince, isn't there a big banquet in the palace today? Why are you free..." The palace maid is no longer young, but her appearance is still beautiful.
"Aunt Mei, I'm here to see mother." The second prince said and walked in the door.
He came alone, carrying a big food box in his hand.
Every time he came to Suxin Palace to visit his biological mother, Jiang Cairen, he was alone, without even accompanying him.
This palace maid named Mei is Jiang Cairen's maid. She has been serving Jiang for so many years.
Although there were several opportunities to leave the palace, she gave up.
Therefore, the second prince respected her very much and did not look down upon her.
The yard is large and open, and the square tiles on the ground are cracked and even broken due to the changing seasons of cold and heat, making them bumpy when you walk on them.
Turning around the screen wall, I saw the jujube tree growing in the stone well fence.
The dark branches shrank in the cold wind, and there were a few dark red and shriveled dates hanging on the treetops.
Every time the second prince sees this tree, he will remember the time when he was a child picking dates under the tree.
At that time, his mother, like other concubines in the harem, was gorgeously dressed and surrounded by many servants.
But there was almost no smile on her face, like a beautiful bird locked in a golden cage with gorgeous feathers but refusing to sing.
But when that happened, she was relegated to the sidelines.
After many years, the second prince could meet her again.
But he found that there was always a faint smile on her face, and it was not forced.
"Uncle Gui, please put the carbon here!" Aunt Mei's words brought the second prince back to his senses.
Uncle Gui is an old eunuch, and there are only two servants in the palace: he and Aunt Mei.
"Greetings to the Second Prince." The old eunuch dragged his remaining leg and was about to kneel down.
"Don't kneel, get up quickly." The second prince went to help him.
"No, no, this old slave is very dirty." Gui Bo dodged, "Don't get your hands dirty."
"Second Prince, please go in, your Majesty is inside!" Aunt Mei said, pushing open the door and lifting up the heavy cotton curtain, "This curtain is in charge, it can block a lot of wind."
Because there were so few people, the room seemed particularly deserted and empty.
Jiang Cairen's bedroom is the smallest among these rooms. Being small has its advantages. A smoker cage and a charcoal basin are enough.
Jiang Cairen was sitting on the edge of the wooden bed, wearing an autumn-colored cotton-padded jacket and a emerald-colored armor. Her dark cloud-like hair was tied into the simplest bun without any decoration.
Her skin was like white jade, and her eyebrows seemed to be painted.
Nowadays, everyone in the palace thinks that Concubine Li is the most colorful among the concubines, but the older people know that this Jiang Cairen hidden in the cold palace is the real beauty.
If the Queen is a peony and Concubine Li is a poppy, she is the orchid in the empty valley.
Beauty does not know itself, but it is hard to find it in times of trouble.
Even though she is older than the Queen and Concubine Li, she looks about the same age as them.
"Mother," the second prince stepped forward, "how are you these days?"
Jiang Cairen only asked him to call her mother, just like ordinary people.
"I'm fine. I told you earlier that you don't have to worry about it." Jiang Cairen put down the needle and thread in his hand and asked the second prince to sit next to him.
"I came over from the dining room and brought some of your favorite snacks." The second prince put down the food box.
"Are you hungry too?" Jiang Cairen touched his head lovingly, "I asked Hongmei to make tea."
Just such simple words and a gentle touch made the second prince unable to hold back tears.
He is a prince, but no one really cares about him.
Although Ma is his wife, she never pays attention to these trivial matters of food and daily life.
She only cares about whether she can make the queen happy and earn some benefits for the family.
The tea Aunt Mei brews is very light in color, with only a few tea leaves, but she puts two dates in it.
It's from the jujube tree in the yard.
This is the second prince's favorite tea, but he can't drink it often.
Jiang Cairen also mentioned bringing some back to him, but the second prince didn't want it.
He would rather come here and drink this tea with his mother.
"Mother, are the cotton clothes on you and Aunt Mei still thick enough?" the second prince asked, "I just saw Uncle Gui taking out the carbon. Is it done once a day?"
"Don't worry, we won't be cold." Jiang Cairen said, passing a piece of plum blossom cake to the second prince's hand, "With you taking care of me, life will be easy."
"My son is really ashamed of his mother. All he can do is trivial things." The second prince felt truly guilty. How many times he dreamed about it at midnight, he felt painful because his food and clothing expenses were much better than his mother's.
"This is already very good, I am very satisfied." Jiang Cairen has never complained in front of his son, "I know your filial piety, and I also know your difficulties."
Whether the second prince or the queen, their care for Jiang Cairen must be limited.
Because loyalty to the Emperor must always trump everything else.
No matter whether it is sympathy or filial piety, this criterion cannot be exceeded.
Otherwise, not only cannot it be called good, but it can also be considered disobedient.
Going against the emperor's wishes is not disobedience.
Who dares to let a woman who has been abandoned by the emperor live in fine clothes and fine food?
"What big thing happened today? Did the banquet get spoiled?" Jiang Cairen asked.
The second prince smiled bitterly. He didn't want his mother to know these things, and he didn't want her to worry, but his mother was too smart.
The second prince then briefly explained the matter, and then said: "Ma Feiyan will go to the ancestral mausoleum tomorrow. I think it would be good to kill him."
Although the second prince didn't want something like this to happen, she felt a lot more relaxed when she thought about Ma being away from her for several months.
"Fei Fu has always been a good person," Jiang Cairen lowered his eyebrows slightly, revealing his infinite charm, "I'm afraid I can't hold it back anymore.
It can be seen that few people in this world really fight for each other. It only depends on who they are for and whether it is worth it. "
After hearing this, the second prince felt extremely sad in his heart.
If his mother was willing to fight for him, things wouldn't be like this.
Everyone kept Jiang Cairen's background a secret, just because she was the favorite concubine of King Dongchuan.
King Dongchuan is the emperor's half-brother and a prince with military exploits.
One year, he was ordered to go on inspection in Wudi and met Jiang, who was a lotus picker.
Jiang's beauty is enough for any man in the world to fall in love with her at first sight.
King Dongchuan is no exception.
He brought Mrs. Jiang back to the house and pampered her in every possible way, even neglecting the main concubine and the side concubine.
Although Mrs. Jiang had no intention of fighting for anything, her exclusive favor had already made her a thorn in the side of all the female relatives in the house.
Finally, at the spring banquet in the palace, Mrs. Jiang was also taken.
The emperor saw her, and you can imagine what happened next.
