Chongfei Manual

Chapter 99

Inside Qing Xi Palace’s Zhao Yang Hall, Empress Chen was sitting on a rattan, arhat couch and reclining against a pillow. She was opening and looking through picture scrolls. Each painted picture had a young woman with a refined appearance that was as lovely as a flower. They each had a different posture and expression. Their only similarity was that they were all in the prime of their youth.

Empress Chen looked through these pictures several times and said to Mama Qiu, “Are these the only girls that have good family backgrounds?”

Mama Qiu was kneeling next to the couch. As she was massaging Empress Chen’s legs, she said, “They’re all here. Does Your Majesty not like any of them?”

Empress Chen seemed slightly disappointed. Without a better option, she looked through the pictures again, but in the end, she didn’t like any of them. She sighed, took out one of the paintings, showed it to Mama Qiu, and said, “Although the Director of Board of Right’s daughter looks pretty, her eyes are too far apart. At first sight, it looks slightly strange…”

Then, she shook her head and held out another painting to show Mama Qiu. “And, this Taifu Liu’s granddaughter, doesn’t she look too thin? She looks too fragile. Her front and back look equally flat. The areas that should be curved and raised aren’t. She won’t easily be able to give birth.”

One by one, Empress Chen commented on all of the paintings. If they weren’t too thin, then their physiognomy wasn’t good. Anyways, none of them were good. Listening to this, Mama Qiu sweated profusely. She didn’t know how to respond.

Mama Qiu secretly sighed. These girls had to be extremely outstanding for her to like any of them. Empress Chen had seen too many beautiful girls like Gao Dan Yang, Gao Qing Yang, and Wei Luo. These three young women were full of life, especially Duke Ying’s family’s Fourth Miss, Wei Luo. Mama Qiu didn’t know how to describe Wei Luo’s appearance in words. She could only say that Wei Luo was truly good-looking and very pleasing to look at.

Listening to Empress Chen speak, Mama Qiu could only repeatedly comfort her, “Your Majesty, don’t be anxious. Perhaps, His Highness Prince Jing just hasn’t met a girl that he likes. If you bring these portraits to him, perhaps, Prince Jing might like one of them?”

If this were true, then Empress Chen wouldn’t have to worry.

She was worried that her son didn’t like women. When the time comes, it might even be a problem to get him to marry someone. It would be even less likely for him to have a chubby child.

By chance, Zhao Liuli walked into the hall at this time with her skirt lifted as she passed through the entrance. Seeing that the rattan, arhat couch was covered in picture scrolls, she opened her mouth in surprise, “Imperial mother, what are you preparing? Why are there so many picture scrolls?”

Empress Chen had just been worried over not having a person to help her. She hurriedly called Liuli to her side. She pulled her hand and asked, “Help imperial mother look. Do you know what type of girl Jie-er likes? I looked through all of these scrolls and didn’t like any of them. I looked at them to the point that my eyes feel blurry.”

Zhao Liuli paused. She vaguely understood Empress Chen’s intention.

She was at an impasse. Should she be looking for a wife for her older brother?

She moved closer, sat down next to Empress Chen, and put on act of looking of looking through the painted scrolls. In the end, she shook her head and said, “None of them look good.”

Empress Chen nodded in agreement.

However, Zhao Liuli’s following words let her have hope again. Zhao Liuli said, “Imperial brother doesn’t like this type…”

Empress Chen immediately became spirited. She curiously asked, “Oh, do you know what type he likes?”

“I know.” Zhao Liuli curved her limpid eyes. In her mind, she imagined Wei Luo’s image and deliberately kept Empress Chen in suspense for a moment before saying, “Imperial brother is really picky. The girl that he likes must be beautiful… And, it can’t be an ordinary beautiful. She has to be unreasonably beautiful and exquisite. Her skin has to be white and her face has to look rich and noble. Her personality can’t be bad… It would be the best if her voice also sounded pleasant.”

Empress Chen had originally been in high spirits. The more she heard, the more she felt that Zhao Liuli was joking with her. She poked Zhao Liuli’s forehead and said, “What are you saying? You listed so many requirements. Where should I go to find a person like that? Do you intentionally want your imperial brother to be single for the rest of his life?”

Zhao Liuli felt like she was being wronged. How was this her fault? Imperial brother liked Wei Luo. She was only describing Wei Luo’s attributes. Wei Luo wasn’t lacking in any aspect.

The strange thing was that Empress Chen had considered so many girls, but she hadn’t thought about Zhao Liuli’s previous study companion, Wei Luo. It was probably because Wei Luo was already engaged. Empress Chen hadn’t heard the news about Song Hui and We Luo’s engagement, so she momentarily hadn’t considered Wei Luo yet.

Zhao Liuli flattened her mouth and didn’t continue to offer advice. She lowered her head and seemed to be focused with fiddling with the green sachet embroidered with lotus flowers on her waist. There was a faint smile on her lips. When she was staying at Zi Yu Vila, Yang Zhen had left the mountain to buy her this sachet. He had dried all of the flower petals inside the sachet. It was hard to imagine a warrior clumsily drying out flower petals in the sun. As soon as Zhao Liuli thought of that image, she couldn’t resist smiling.

Empress Chen saw that Liuli was smilingly foolishly and called her name, “Liuli, where did that sachet come from? You’ve been wearing it every day, but I haven’t seen it before.”

Zhao Liuli hurriedly looked up, blinked, and said, “Ah Luo gave this to me. She also personally dried the flower petals inside.”

Empress Chen knew that Wei Luo grew flowers in a greenhouse in her free time, so she didn’t have suspicious. “It’s very unique.”

Zhao Liuli brought the sachet in front of her and smilingly asked, “It also smells very good. Imperial mother, do you want to smell?”

Empress Chen waved her hand to refuse. She thought of something else and asked, “I heard that you met Duke Ding’s Third Young Master at Zi Yu Villa?”

Zhao Liuli had to think for a long time to remember that person. Confused about this question, she only nodded.

Empress Chen continued to ask, “Do you remember playing with him during your childhood? He had also given you a small pinwheel when you were young. At the time, you really liked it.”

Empress Chen didn’t like going outside. She would only occasionally walk around in the imperial garden and spent the rest of the time in Qing Xi Palace. When she was bored, the thing that made her worry the most was her children’s marriages. Zhao Jie alone was already enough to worry about. She would also occasionally think about Zhao Liuli. For Zhao Liuli to safely grow up to fifteen years old, this was Empress Chen’s greatest fortune in this lifetime. Originally, she wasn’t willing for Zhao Liuli to marry. It would be the best if she could always keep her at her side so she could take care of her.

However, her daughter had grown up. In the end, she still had to get married. There was a phrase that the common people said that was very good. If you keep a daughter that had grown up at home, she will grow to hate her parents. She didn’t want Liuli to hate her. Even if she didn’t want to part with her, she still had to start looking for a good husband for her.

Zhao Jie lowered her head, traced the pattern on the scented bag, and mumbled, “I don’t remember.”

Empress Chen wasn’t discouraged by her words. Instead, she became talkative and continued to chatter, “I recently saw House Gao’s Third Young Master. After not seeing him for so many years, he’s already grown into a handsome young man… He still remembers you. We talked about interesting stories from your childhood. Unexpectedly, he still clearly remembers things that even I’ve forgotten…”

“Imperial mother.” Zhao Liuli interrupted her. She pouted and said, “I don’t want to listen to this. Could we not talk about this?”

She wasn’t an idiot. Of course, she understood why Empress Chen was saying these words.

She had reached a marriageable age and had to get married. But, how should she tell imperial mother? She didn’t like Gao Cong Xun or anyone else. She only liked older brother Yang Zhen.

Zhao Liuli was very distressed.

Fortunately, Mama Qiu helped her out of her dilemma.

Mama Qiu bowed with both hands and reported, “Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Jing is here to see you.”

Empress Chen said, “Oh.” As expected, this attracted her attention and she looked towards the entrance. Not much time later, Zhao Jie walked inside. He was wearing a deep black robe with a lingzhi mushroom pattern, a jade waist accessory, and ink-colored boots with golden embroidery. He walked in front of Empress Chen, saluted, and said, “Imperial son greets imperial mother.”

Empress Chen called him closer, carefully looked him over, and very curiously asked, “Why are you so neatly dressed today? It couldn’t be that you’re meeting someone important?”

Zhao Jie sat down on a pine stool, curved his lips, and leisurely said, “Other than paying respect to imperial mother, who else would your imperial son meet in the palace?”

Empress Chen didn’t believe his words and coldly said, “You still know to pay respect to imperial mother? I don’t know what you’ve been busy with lately. You haven’t entered the palace in a while. I thought you’ve already forgot about me.”

Zhao Jie stood up, smiled, and said, “Your Imperial son wouldn’t dare.”

She hadn’t had time to close the painted scrolls on the couch. As soon as he looked up, he saw them. The first portrait was Taifu Liu’s granddaughter. Her name was Liu Yin. Empress Chen had recently said she was too thin. The smiling young woman in the painting was wearing a green, crepe robe and holding a folded willow basket. Her face looked good, but it wasn’t full enough. It felt as if there were only bones left in her body. There wasn’t the slightest sense of beauty.

Empress Chen noticed his gaze, quickly followed it, and suddenly realized something. Her mind finally went to serious matters. “Since you’re here today, take these paintings to look. Do you like any of these girls? If there is, tell this empress. This empress will advocate for your marriage. If there isn’t, this empress will look for other girls for you.”

She had made up her mind to force him to marry.

There was a hint of a smile on Zhao Jie’s thin lips. For the very first time, he didn’t refused. Instead, he walked forward, picked up that painted scroll, and seriously looked at it.

Startled, Empress Chen looked at him. She had thought he would definitely refuse and was extremely surprised that he would obediently agree.

Zhao Jie ordered a servant to bring a brush. Holding a purple brush, he looked at the paintings one by one and marked a cross as he looked through them. After looking at more than ten painting scrolls, he still made same mark on each of them.

Empress Chen furrowed her eyebrows. Just as she was about to ask, he put down the painted scroll, stood up, and said, “To respond to imperial mother, your imperial son isn’t interest in any of these girls.”

Empress Chen thought her recent happiness was a waste. He didn’t look serious at all. He had clearly only said those words as an excuse! Empress Chen was very angry and intentionally asked another question, “Then where’s the girl that you like?”

He looked and smiled, “She’s not one of the scrolls.”

Could he be serious? Empress Chen’s eyes brightened. She had originally thought he was only trying to fool her. Was she wrong? She impatiently asked, “Who is she? Where is she?”

Zhao Jie’s phoenix eyes softened. A long time later, he slowly said, “She’s from Duke Ying’s family.”