Chapter 219 Twin Orchids
In a courtyard to the north of the East Palace's backyard, there were lights and decorations, making it look very festive.
In the main room, there are red candles and the decoration is no different from the bridal chamber during a wedding.
Although taking concubines is not like marrying a wife and requires a grand ceremony, there is nothing wrong with decorating the courtyard where you live.
In the main bedroom, Rulan was wearing a green wedding dress and Minglan was wearing a red dress.
In ancient times, men wore red wedding clothes while women wore green. As a dowry, Minglan was not qualified to wear wedding clothes.
In addition to the two people in the room, there were also their personal maids Xi Que and Xiao Tao.
When the two of them entered the Eastern Palace, they brought with them, in addition to their personal maids, two old nannies.
This is a bit over the line, but when the Crown Princess married into the Eastern Palace, she only brought two nannies and two maids with her.
The rest of the concubines, except Yu Yanran, had a nanny and a maid.
The reason why Yu Yanran is special is that she entered the palace first and there is no comparison.
Zhang Guifen was the principal wife, and the other concubines certainly could not surpass her.
If you count carefully, Minglan was a maid as part of the dowry, and the servants who came with her all belonged to Ruolan. The number of people she brought exceeded that of the Crown Princess, so it was naturally considered an overstep.
However, Zhang Guifen specially sent someone to inform the Sheng family that Minglan could also bring a nanny and maids into the Eastern Palace like the concubines.
Rulan was a little nervous and spoke to Minglan in a low voice.
Minglan was actually also feeling confused, and she was talking to Rulan in a nonsensical manner.
The two of them were talking incoherently, but because they were both nervous, they were talking just to relieve their tension.
Just then, Mother Cui came in hurriedly.
"Girls, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has sent someone here."
Upon hearing this, Rulan and Minglan quickly stood up.
Mother Hua led the way, and several palace maids came in carrying trays.
On the tray held by the palace maid in the front was a folded wedding dress.
On the tray held by the palace maid at the back were some jewelry.
A palace maid who looked like a female official folded her hands in front of her belly, squatted slightly and saluted, "Greetings, Concubine Sheng!"
"No gift."
Rulan had learned etiquette from Nanny Kong before. Before entering the palace, the palace sent a Nanny to the Sheng family to teach her for more than a month. Although she was a little nervous, she knew how to deal with it.
"This wedding dress was sent to Sixth Miss Sheng by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and these jewels are for Concubine Sheng and Sixth Miss Sheng."
After the female official finished speaking, she looked at the palace maids carrying trays and said, "Help Concubine Sheng and Miss Sheng Liu change their clothes and put on their makeup."
"For me?" Minglan asked in surprise.
"Replying to Sixth Miss Sheng, it is true. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince specially ordered it to be sent. Sixth Miss Sheng, please sit down and let them help you change clothes and do your makeup." said the female official.
"Sorry to trouble you, lady-in-waiting. My sister and I have maids. We can just ask them to help us dress and put on makeup." Minglan said.
"In that case, the servants will withdraw first."
The female official did not insist upon hearing this and bowed.
"Xiao Tao, quickly take some silver and give tea to the female official and several palace maids." Minglan ordered hurriedly.
"Yes!" Xiao Tao responded, ran to the box and took out some silver, and gave it to the female official and several palace maids.
The female officials and palace maids thanked for the reward, took their leave, and left.
Mother Hua shook her head slightly, her own daughter was far inferior to the Sixth Girl.
Rulan was so nervous that she didn't know what to say, but the Sixth Girl knew to give her a reward.
Rulan didn't know what Mother Hua was thinking. After the palace maid left, she went forward, picked up the wedding dress and unfolded it. She was a little disappointed and said, "I thought the wedding dress made in the palace was very gorgeous, but I didn't expect it to be worse than what I'm wearing."
After all, she was just a concubine, not the principal wife.
If it was a normal wedding, the wedding dress would probably be even more gorgeous.
I didn't expect that the things His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had specially prepared were not even as good as what she had on.
After that, he stuffed it into Minglan's hand and said, "I told you that the Crown Prince likes you and he made you a wedding dress. Try it on and see if it fits you."
Minglan held the wedding dress with mixed feelings.
Zhao Xing was able to remember to have someone send her a wedding dress, and he also knew not to make it too gorgeous, which shows how thoughtful he was.
However, the better Zhao Xing treated her, the more frightened she became.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and change your clothes. I'll choose these jewelry first." Rulan urged and went forward to choose jewelry.
Minglan came back to her senses, shook her head slightly, and asked Xiaotao to help her change clothes.
After changing into the clothes, Minglan felt them and found they fitted her very well.
Zhao Xing probably didn't know her size, and he probably asked Yu Yanran.
She and Yu Yanran had learned women's work, and Yu Yanran had even made clothes for her. Although that was a thing of the past, the last time the Crown Princess invited them to the East Palace, Yu Yanran had asked about her current size.
By the time the two of them had finished dressing up, it was already dark.
Wearing the jewellery sent by the palace maids and dressing up carefully, she looked even more charming against the backdrop of red candles.
At this time, the palace maid outside came in and bowed, saying, "My Lady, the food has been delivered by the Imperial Kitchen Bureau. Shall we serve it?"
The Eastern Palace has six departments in charge of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the Shangshan Bureau is in charge of supervising the preparation and supply of meals.
"Please serve the food. I'm a little hungry too." Rulan said.
"Yes!" the maid responded and walked out.
After a while, several eunuchs came in carrying food boxes.
After paying his respects, he came to the table, opened the food box, took out the food and placed it on the table, then paid his respects and left.
As soon as the people left, Rulan pulled Minglan to sit down and eat. Although food was delivered at noon, Rulan didn't eat much because she was nervous.
After a day of relaxation, she was already very hungry, so her eating manners were a little uncivilized.
Mother Hua was helpless. After reminding the child several times, it was useless. She could only let the magpie go to guard outside.
Otherwise, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince comes over and sees Rulan eating like this, he would probably have a bad impression.
After Lan Minglan finished eating, Hua's mother and the others started eating the leftovers.
The good thing about having personal maids is that they basically eat whatever the master eats.
Of course, it has to be the master’s leftovers.
After Hua Mama and Cui Mama finished eating, they called the palace maids to clean up the food and asked Xiaotao and Xi Que to open the windows for ventilation.
"Mother Hua, when can I take a shower? I've been sweating a lot and I feel so uncomfortable."
Rulan took out an ice cube from the basin and played with it in her hand, feeling a burst of coolness.
"Don't be anxious, girl. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince hasn't come yet. Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince may not come tonight, you still have to wait. Girl, do you remember everything I taught you before? If you forget, I'll ask Xi Que to bring the picture album for you to take a look at." Mother Hua said.
Rulan blushed when she heard this and said, "Remember that, Mom Hua, why did you bring the album?"
Mother Hua knew that Rulan was shy, so she didn't say much. Instead, she looked at Minglan and said, "The Sixth Miss will serve by the side when the time comes. As for Xi Que and Xiao Tao, if His Highness doesn't say anything, you can also stay and serve by the side."
Generally speaking, after a woman gets married, her personal maid will first become a companion and then a concubine.
Because they have to serve on the side during sex, and if the mistress can't bear it or has her period, they have to take over.
Minglan was brought in as a dowry and her job was just this.
"Yeah." Minglan blushed and nodded softly.
Mother Hua wanted to give a few more instructions when a palace maid came in to report that the Crown Prince had arrived.
"Hurry up, tidy up the two girls." Mother Hua urged.
Although Minglan was only a dowry, Mother Hua, as an elder by Madam Wang's side, was later assigned to Rulan Courtyard, so she knew a few things.
What's more, the prince specially sent someone to send wedding clothes to Minglan. She naturally understood what this meant.
Therefore, Minglan cannot be regarded as a real dowry.
Xi Que and Xiao Tao hurriedly checked and adjusted the clothes for their daughter.
Hearing the footsteps outside, they stopped and stood behind their masters.
Zhao Xing walked around the screen and entered the inner room, where he saw Rulan and Minglan in wedding dresses.
There was no phoenix crown nor round fan to cover her face. After all, it was not a formal marriage, but just a concubine.
If Zhao Xing hadn't had someone send some jewelry over, the two of them would have worn even less jewelry.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Rulan Minglan bowed and saluted.
Zhao Xing looked at the two of them and said, "No need to be polite!"
The two men then straightened up, lowered their heads slightly, and did not dare to look at Zhao Xing.
"I'm going to take a bath first."
After Zhao Xing finished speaking, he went into the bathroom. The palace maids who had accompanied him followed him in, leaving Rulan and Minglan feeling uneasy, unable to sit or stand.
About an incense stick later, Zhao Xing walked out of the bathroom. He was wearing trousers on the lower body and a thin silk coat on the outside, exposing his chest.
Rulan and Minglan saw this from the corner of their eyes and their faces turned even redder.
"You two go take a shower." Zhao Xing came to the bed and sat down.
"Yes!"
The two of them responded and went into the bathroom with the maid.
Zhao Xing smiled and lay down on the bed, feeling a little expectant.
The wait was extremely long. Zhao Xing didn't know how long it had been before he felt a little drowsy. When he heard footsteps, he instantly regained his spirits and looked towards the direction of the bathroom.
Rulan and Minglan were wearing undergarments, with their heads lowered. It was unclear whether it was because they had taken too long to wash, or because they were shy, or perhaps because of the red candlelight, the skin on their arms looked very rosy.
The two of them lowered their heads and came to the bed, not knowing what to do for a moment.
"You all go down." Zhao Xing said to Hua's mother and the others.
"Yes!" Mother Hua and the others bowed and left.
"You guys go down too."
Zhao Xing looked at the palace maids who accompanied him. These people served him personally. Usually when he was bathing or summoning concubines to sleep with him, they would stay in the room, ready to serve him at any time.
However, Rulan and Minglan had just entered the palace and were very shy. If there were other people around, it would only make them more nervous and shy.
"Yes!" Upon hearing this, several palace maids bowed and retreated.
When he heard the door closing, Zhao Xing could feel that their tense bodies relaxed a little.
"Come up." Zhao Xing said.
Rulan climbed onto the bed hesitantly after hearing this, but Minglan did not move.
"You come up too." Zhao Xing said to Minglan who didn't move.
"Your Highness, this servant..."
Minglan wanted to say something when she suddenly felt someone grab her hand.
Zhao Xing exerted a little force and Minglan fell into his arms.
Zhao Xing put one arm around Minglan's soft waist and the other around Rulan.
That night, two orchids bloomed, and the orchid fragrance was particularly charming.
(End of this chapter)