Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 373 Heavy Makeup

As the sun rose high in the sky, ladies from the imperial court began to come to the Yanjia Palace in twos and threes to kowtow to the empress dowager and wish her a happy new year.

Normally, everyone should go to the Queen's palace with the ladies of honor to wish her a happy new year, and then, led by the Queen, go to pay New Year's greetings to the Empress Dowager.

The common practice of the previous dynasty was when there was no retired emperor.

The empress dowager would not live in a separate palace from the emperor and empress.

The situation in this dynasty is extremely special. The Ministry of Rites reluctantly drafted a procedure, but it was rejected as unrealistic.

In the end, everyone turned a blind eye and let the Supreme Lord and the Emperor discuss and handle things according to their whims, as long as it did not delay their work.

From the Queen Mother's perspective, she hated being restricted and the empty bustle of social events. In addition, she had a strong personality all her life and could not tolerate any injustice.

So after only one year of patience, the audience of the ladies of the imperial family was changed to a meeting with everyone at the New Year's Eve banquet. On the morning of the next day, the "close" families went to the Yanjia Hall to kowtow and drink tea, and then the meeting ended.

This time was originally intended to be fixed, but the imperial edicts who were qualified to enter the Empress Dowager's Palace sometimes had to consider the face of those who could not come, so they went around in circles, so it was hard to get rid of it.

In the end, the Queen Mother set a time limit: from the beginning of Chen to the end of Si, only these two hours.

So now that the hour of Chen is approaching, the officials of imperial decree appear one after another in the long corridor of the Taiji Palace.

The affairs of the Jia family can only be touched upon briefly and cannot be discussed in depth or detail.

So the empress dowager just let Daiyu cry until half of her skirt was wet, and then she pushed her up and went back to the bedroom to wash her face and apply pressure on her eyes.

He changed into auspicious clothes, tied his hair into a bun, and wore a golden crown with nine phoenixes before going back to the main hall.

Daiyu's eyes were swollen from crying.

Fortunately, among the fresh fruit snacks sent from the kitchen, there were cucumbers grown in the greenhouse. Qingwen hurriedly picked one, cut it into slices and applied it to Daiyu's eyes to reduce the swelling.

Tanchun heard that Daiyu had returned to her room. Just when she was about to come over to ask her what she was talking about with the Queen Mother, she was told that she should still wear decent wedding clothes.

She had no choice but to sit back in front of the dressing table, then turned back to look at Hongchang and smiled, “The Queen Mother asked me to find some casual clothes for you to change into.

"You agreed on the spot, but you took off your court robes and crown, but refused to put on ordinary makeup. Did you know that you couldn't wear ordinary clothes?"

Hongchang was only wearing his inner garments and wrapped in a cloak, lying on the bed and yawning, "There are rules for meeting outsiders, and we must not break them.

"In previous years, the Empress Dowager always wore auspicious clothes. The imperial edicts who came also wore auspicious clothes. So it has basically become a precedent.

“But this case only happens in the Yanjia Palace.

"I don't know how to change it when I return to Daming Palace in a few years!"

When Tanchun heard the word "rules", her movements slowed down.

She suddenly remembered the two words that Daiyu inexplicably mentioned when she replied to Taishang: "no blessing" and "disappointment".

Tanchun only felt a sinister premonition in her heart beating wildly.

"Are you okay? I'll get up when you're okay." Hongchang was almost asleep and curled up in his warm cloak.

Tanchun came to her senses and hurriedly quickened her pace, smiling and saying to her, "Why don't you get up and put on your clothes first? Your hair is messy and needs to be re-tied. Hurry up!"

Both of them are of the rank of county ladies and can change into their auspicious attires.

Hongchang picked out a brightly colored dress from Tanchun's pile of wedding dresses, and said with a chuckle, "My mother doesn't like to wear brightly colored dresses for me. Today I'm borrowing my aunt's wardrobe to indulge myself."

Tanchun laughed and said, "Then I'll wear something different from you!" and chose a simple and elegant one.

Aunt Jiang looked at the two dressed-up girls in front of her and smiled, "How nice! They are as pretty as flowers! The Queen Mother really knows how to choose people!"

When they came out, they found that Daiyu had not come out yet.

Hongchang smiled and said, "Aunt Zhaoqing has always been very attentive in her makeup, which is both exquisite and not anti-corruption, simple and elegant but not dull.

"Especially when they are willing to use the finest materials to make small jewellery, which looks particularly noble when paired with clothes and shoes!

"I always say how she manages to dress so well.

“It all depends on time!

"Aunt Yimin and I have been dressing up for two hours, but she herself is not dressed yet?

"Wait till I go and make trouble for her!"

As she said this, she pretended to lift up her skirt and walk towards the west side hall.

The Queen Mother hurriedly stopped her, "Stop right there. It's the first day of the new year, and your Aunt Zhaoqing is being vented by the Queen Mother. She must be scared. Let her calm down."

Hongchang said "oh" and stopped, looking at the ground, his fingers trembling. Then he rolled his eyes and laughed again:

"Queen Dowager, do you think the Emperor has clairvoyance? How does he know that His Majesty is using the issue of raising the Seventh Prince as an excuse to compete with Aunt Zhaoqing?"

The Queen Mother sneered: "How can the Emperor see so far? It should have been Xiaoer who took Xiaoqi back.

"Having Xiao Qi looked at her enemy like that, Jia Shi must have lost interest in raising her. If the Emperor hadn't known this, he wouldn't have allowed Xiao Qi to study with the Crown Prince.

"When they were greeting each other just now, I saw it clearly. Jia saw Zhaoqing's imperial crown and was frightened. So she lost her manners and peeked while paying her respects. It's obvious that she was jealous of Zhaoqing.

"This is what made me so angry, so I kept the princes. I wanted to use the opportunity of testing the princes to scold Jia and vent my anger on Zhaoqing.

“But when the emperor heard that the Grand Master wanted to keep the prince, he probably thought of the evil couple Xiao Qi and Jia.

"Why not just find a chance for someone to come and tell us that we can let Xiao Er take care of my brother first and lock up Jia first?"

Hongchang was stunned: "Is Concubine Jia locked up?!"

"On such an important day, if you do something like this, you must be confined. What should I do if I get into trouble during the New Year?"

The Queen Mother finally saw Daiyu coming out, and she hastily ended the topic. She just looked at Daiyu, who was wearing a crabapple red wedding dress, with loving eyes as she walked out gracefully.

Hongchang was surprised and shouted, "Ah! Aunt Zhaoqing, you put on makeup!"

The Queen Mother's eyes showed even more pity. She sighed barely audibly, but smiled and said, "I've never seen you with heavy makeup. You look good today!"

At that moment, Daiyu carefully smoothed her face, applied powder, drew her eyebrows, and applied rouge on her lips and cheeks. She also lightly pressed some color on her eyelids and eye corners to cover up her swollen look from crying.

It just looks more tender and juicy, and softer and more rosy.

"On the first day of the New Year, dress up nicely and entertain the Empress Dowager." Daiyu said with a smile as she sat above Tanchun.

The Queen Mother nodded approvingly.

Someone outside spread the rumor: "Princess Duncheng and Princess Anchang, Princess Kejin, Princess Tongyi and Princess Shouchang, Princess Leping and Princess Yongchang... Crown Prince Consort Zhongshun, Crown Prince Consort Duncheng... Crown Prince Consort Dongping, Crown Prince Consort Nan'an, request to see the Queen Mother."

Is this for so many people?

Daiyu couldn't help but look at Cheng Qian, and asked in a low voice in surprise: "This, you've been here for a long time?! You've been waiting?!"