Chapter Thirty-Eight: Meeting the Empress Dowager

  Qin Lei bid farewell to the Empress Dowager and followed the beautiful female official with the picturesque eyebrows out of Cining Palace. The female official led Qin Lei to the gate, where a female official from Concubine Jin's palace was already waiting.

  Leaving the range of Cining Palace, the female official who accompanied Qin Lei was visibly more relaxed, carrying a lantern in front and whispering to each other, occasionally stealing glances back at the sixteen-year-old son she hadn't seen for sixteen years.

  Qin Lei didn't get annoyed and waited until they had looked their fill before opening his mouth to ask, "May I ask the sisters, are we going to Kun Ning Palace?"

  A female official turned around and saluted Qin Lei, slightly depressed: "To report to Your Highness, it's not necessary to go to Kun Ning Palace anymore. The Empress Dowager and the Imperial Consort have both sent messages saying that the sky is already dark and they are tired. They asked you to pay your respects tomorrow instead."

  Qin Lei nodded and smiled: "Alright." Then he didn't say anything else. Shen Qing behind him looked at him in surprise, thinking to himself, So the prince gets nervous too.

  The imperial system of the Great Qin, the empress is the emperor's legitimate wife and is in charge of the harem. However, when the empress dowager is still alive, the empress often can only be listed as second in the harem. Below the empress are the four consorts: the noble consort, the virtuous consort, the moral consort, and the wise consort. Among them, the noble consort is the most honored, while the other three are equal. Next below are the nine imperial concubines, twenty-seven palace women, and eighty-one imperial wives. Except for a few emperors who were excessively indulgent, most would not use up all these positions.

  Emperor Zhao of Song was on the throne for sixteen years and had one empress, four consorts, eight pin, and six shi. The number is still moderate.

  The title of Concubine Jin is Xianfei, because she lived in the Jin Yu Palace, so she should be called Concubine Jin Xian. However, in general cases, she will be referred to as Concubine Jin.

  Jingyu Palace and Cining Palace are far apart. Qin Lei and his party left the courtyard where Cining Palace was located, and after sitting in the sedan chair for a while, they finally arrived.

  As soon as Qin Lei got off the sedan chair, he saw a group of palace maids surrounding two palace-dressed ladies with excited expressions coming towards him.

  On the left, a woman in a sapphire blue cheongsam dress looked younger, with a stunningly beautiful face that still took one's breath away, and tears glistened on her cheeks. She rushed towards Qin Lei, stretching out both hands, and called out in a sorrowful voice: "My Lei'er..." Her expression was mournful, her voice like the cuckoo's cry of blood.

  The purple-robed lady who had been walking with her earlier rushed a few steps forward, then stopped, her eyes brimming with tears, her whole body trembling. If it weren't for the palace maid supporting her, she might have fallen to the ground.

  Qin Lei was flustered. At first, he had indeed been half true and half false in front of the old dowager empress, but facing his own mother, even if only nominally, he couldn't pretend at all.

  He stood there, his expression changing from sunny to cloudy. Watching the woman rush over in tears, all his original plans were cancelled. He didn't know what attitude to use when facing his first mother.

  Qin Lei had been an orphan since his previous life and had never seen his own parents.

  The woman drew closer, and in the dim light, her distant mountain-like eyebrows could be seen clearly, as well as the crystal tears falling from the corners of her eyes, and her slightly trembling lips.

  Qin Lei sighed silently in his heart and prepared to try to accept his mother.

  Just as he was about to open his arms to catch the woman who was falling towards him like a swallow, she stopped in front of him. With an infinitely sorrowful gaze at Qin Lei, she said hoarsely: "Lei'er, do you dislike Mother that much?" Tears fell pitter-patter.

  Qin Lei knew he had indeed reacted too slowly and hurt the woman's heart. He sighed silently in his heart, shook his head and said: "It's not that, actually when the child sees her mother, she is also very happy in her heart. It's just that I don't know how to express it, it's all messy."

  At this time, the purple-robed woman finally walked forward, took a deep look at Qin Lei, and wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes. She spoke warmly to the blue-robed lady: "Your Ladyship, after all, this child has never seen his own mother since he was aware of things, so it's normal for him to be a bit awkward. Let's go inside to talk if there's anything to say." As she said that, she gave Qin Lei a signal with her eyes.

  Qin Lei nodded and accompanied the purple-robed woman into the courtyard with Jin Fei Niang Niang, who was crying with tears streaming down her face.

  As they entered the house, they saw that the whole room was lit up by eighteen palace lanterns hanging on the walls, making it as bright as daylight. The room was sumptuous and magnificent, beautiful and elegant.

  Qin Lei's mind was in a mess, but he didn't have the mood to look at these things. He and the purple-robed woman helped Princess Jin sit down on the couch, then retreated two steps and knelt down on the ground.

  Tears blurred, Jin Fei saw him kneel down and shook her head to let him get up, muttering that she was not worthy of being his mother. The lady in purple clothes on the side softly persuaded her, and Jin Fei finally stopped crying after a long time.

  Qin Lei saw that she had finally stopped crying, and his heart was slightly calmed. He respectfully knocked three times and bowed to the ground, saying in a hoarse voice: "The child is disobedient, and as soon as he sees his mother, he makes you sad. Please punish me, Mother." His head was deeply buried in the carpet, refusing to lift up.

  Jinfeng princess called him to get up, he shook his head and didn't get up. The princess went forward again to pull him, how could the delicate Jinfeng princess possibly move him? After pulling several times without seeing any movement, she instead knelt down on the ground with soft legs, hugging Qin Lei's shoulders and crying uncontrollably.

  The mother and son hugged each other and cried for a long time, then stood up together and sat down to talk. The queen's eyes had become puffy like peaches from crying, and Qin Lei's eyes were also red.

  The woman in purple saw the two getting along, so she wiped away her tears and forced a smile: "This is right, family members should be like this. Your Highness hasn't eaten yet, has he?"

  Thanks to her reminder, Qin Lei really felt a little dizzy with hunger. After vomiting everything in his stomach, he had been uncomfortable and hadn't eaten anything since entering the palace until now.

  He smiled awkwardly, rubbed his belly and said, "I'm really a bit hungry." Then he stood up to greet the woman, and asked his mother, "Still don't know who this elder is..." He had a very good impression of this gentle and elegant purple-robed woman.

  Jingfei pulled the hand of the woman in purple clothes, smiling lightly: "You were so busy crying that you forgot to introduce your sister-in-law." She also smiled at Qin Lei, with tears in her eyes. "This is Mother's sister from her natal family, you should call her Aunt."

  Qin Lei thought to himself, indeed it was Mrs. Shen, and he bowed again with great respect.

  Madam Shen smiled and accepted his bow, then turned around and pulled him along with Concubine Jin towards the side hall.

  The large dining table in the side hall was already filled with eight meat dishes, eight vegetarian dishes, and eight desserts. There were also four soups, four stews, and four preserved fruits. Dozens of exquisite and luxurious dishes of all sizes crowded the table to the point where it was full to bursting.

  There were also palace maids lining up to serve dishes, and for a time they couldn't put them down, so they held the trays and stood aside.

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