Chapter 272 Jiang Liangdi who likes painting
Zhao Xing was stunned when he heard this. He had actually forgotten about this.
Generally, when a girl from a wealthy family gets married, the nanny she brings as a dowry will have strong knowledge in preserving the fetus, caring for the baby, and taking care of the woman during the confinement period after delivery, among other abilities.
After all, for women, children are the most important.
If there is no child, it will be of no use even if you and your husband are in love.
"Okay, let's do as you say." Zhao Xing said.
He was not worried that Zhang Guifen would harm Li Yunchu.
Other concubines might threaten Zhang Guifen's position, but Li Yunchu was the only one who could not.
Given Li Yunchu’s status, her son would never have the chance to seize the throne unless he was Zhao Xing’s only son.
Besides, with Zhang Guifen's personality, she would not do such a thing.
"Well, I'll go over and take a look later." Zhang Guifen said.
Zhang Guifen returned to Chunhe Palace, while Zhao Xing went to visit other concubines.
The Chinese New Year was a relatively quiet time for the royal family, but Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen could still go to the palace to celebrate the New Year with their father, the emperor, and their mother, the empress.
The concubines could only stay in the Eastern Palace to celebrate the New Year alone.
Those who have good relationships can get together and have fun, otherwise they can only spend the time alone, which is no different from usual.
But during the Chinese New Year, it seems too deserted.
Zhao Xing first went to Yu Yanran's yard. Before he entered the house, Yu Yanran, who had learned the news, came out to greet him with a happy face.
"Your Highness!" Yu Yanran saluted.
"It's so cold outside, come inside quickly. I would be sad if you were cold." Zhao Xing said with some blame.
The clothes Yu Yanran was wearing were not thick, and she didn't have time to change clothes in a hurry, so she just put on a cloak.
"I'm not cold." Yu Yanran was very touched by Zhao Xing's concern.
Zhao Xing took Yu Yanran's hand and walked into the house. Hearing this, he said unhappily, "Why are your hands so cold?"
Yu Yanran smiled and did not argue. She took off Zhao Xing's cloak and hung it up, then took off her own cloak and said, "Your Highness, please sit down first. I will make you a cup of tea."
Zhao Xing came and sat down on the couch, watching Yu Yanran who was busy.
Yu Yanran had a smile on her face, and it was obvious that she was in a good mood.
"I was away from the East Palace these two days. How did you get by?" Zhao Xing asked.
"I, Concubine Li, Ruolan and Minglan and others gathered at Sister Shulan's house to have dinner." Yu Yanran talked about what happened that night with a smile.
They gathered together to eat and called dancers to dance.
Shulan and Li Yunchu had to go to bed early because they were pregnant, so she, Ruolan and Minglan asked Jiang Liangdi to play mahjong together until late at night before going back to their rooms to sleep.
"How come you guys are playing together with Jiang Liangdi?" Zhao Xing was a little surprised when he heard that.
"I had no contact with Jiang Liangdi before. It was Rulan who asked Jiang Liangdi to play with me. Rulan said that she had a good relationship with Jiang Liangdi and often went to borrow storybooks from Jiang Liangdi. I didn't believe it at first, but Rulan sent someone to invite Jiang Liangdi, and she came. Jiang Liangdi lost a lot of money that night." Yu Yanran said with a smile.
"You look so happy, you must have won," Zhao Xing said with a smile.
The concubines in his harem, who did not enter the palace through selection, all had certain family backgrounds.
Before they entered the Eastern Palace, their families prepared some farms and shops for them to live on.
Even though Minglan had no official status, Old Madam Sheng prepared something for her.
Therefore, no one is short of money.
They don’t usually play big and they don’t care about winning or losing, but they will feel happy if they win a certain amount.
"I did win a little bit." Yu Yanran said a little embarrassedly.
Zhao Xing smiled and said nothing when he heard this.
"It's just that Concubine Li has severe morning sickness. Sister Shulan didn't have this before. This makes me a little scared."
Yu Yanran held the teacup and placed it on the low table next to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing pulled Yu Yanran to sit in his arms, lifted her chin and said with a smile: "Are you afraid that if you get pregnant in the future, you will have the same reaction as her?"
"Yeah!" Yu Yanran nodded with a blushing face.
Zhao Xing joked, "That requires you to get pregnant first. You'll have to work hard in the future."
"Your Highness!"
Yu Yanran was thin-skinned and could not stand Zhao Xing's teasing. She was extremely embarrassed.
"Ha ha…"
Zhao Xing chatted with Yu Yanran for more than half an hour and then left.
There are so many concubines, it will take a lot of time to sit with them one by one.
Zhao Xing did not go to Rulan and the others because he got the news that they went to Li Yunchu's place.
After leaving Yu Yanran, Zhao Xing went to Shulan's yard.
Shulan has been pregnant for more than nine months and has a big belly.
Speaking of which, Shulan and Minglan have a lot in common in terms of figure.
Both of them are the kind of women who look petite and thin, but actually very voluptuous.
Zhao Xing doesn't like women who are too thin. Women like them are good enough.
Shulan is pregnant now and is well taken care of. Her complexion is rosy and her body looks plumper.
She was very attractive to Zhao Xing, but unfortunately she was about to give birth, so Zhao Xing didn't dare to do anything rash.
Afraid that he could not control himself, Zhao Xing did not dare to stay any longer.
Next, he went to the courtyards of the three concubines, Li, Li, and Chen, and sat for a while.
The three of them must have dressed up deliberately after learning that Zhao Xing had returned to the Eastern Palace. They looked gorgeous and charming.
It's a pity that Zhao Xing didn't want to have too many feelings with too many women.
After all, Zhao Xing had limited energy, and his concubines would increase in number, so he didn't have the time. Moreover, each of them had their own thoughts, and the better he treated them, the more they would think.
It may not be a good thing for them.
So he sat for a while and then left.
Finally, Zhao Xing came to Jiang Liangdi's yard.
Jiang Liangdi is very pretty, but she usually looks dull and unlikable.
But when he got on the bed, he changed from his usual dullness and became very relaxed.
This contrast actually attracted Zhao Xing even more.
She entered the palace at the same time as Li Liangdi, but among them, Jiang Liangdi was the one favored by Zhao Xing the most times.
However, Jiang Liangdi looked dull after the incident. Apart from some in-depth exchanges, Zhao Xing did not have much communication with her on weekdays.
The reason for this is that Jiang Liangdi not only had a dull expression, but also spoke in a dull manner.
No matter what Zhao Xing asked her, she would either nod or say "hmm". Before he favored her, she was very talkative.
Just like now, Zhao Xing asked her how she had been spending the past few days.
She just hummed with a dull expression. How could he communicate?
Zhao Xing was about to leave when he suddenly remembered that Zhang Guifen or someone else had said that Jiang Liangdi liked to paint in addition to reading storybooks. So he said, "I heard that Jiang Liangdi is good at painting. Would you mind letting me see her?"
To Zhao Xing's surprise, Jiang Liangdi blushed after hearing this and stammered, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
I was stuck for a long time and couldn't say it.
However, her reaction aroused Zhao Xing's interest.
No matter what Zhao Xing said to her, she always looked dumbfounded. Except when he favored her, she always had the same expression.
If he hadn't favored her and knew she didn't have facial paralysis, anyone looking at her normal appearance would have thought she had facial paralysis.
"What? I can't see it?" Zhao Xing said with a stern face.
"No... not... yes..."
"Why don't you go and get it?" Zhao Xing frowned.
Seeing Zhao Xing's expression, Jiang Liangdi was also a little scared. She responded and went into the inner room.
After a while, he came out holding something that looked like a few books.
"Your Highness... This..."
Seeing that she was having difficulty speaking, Zhao Xing took the book from her hand without waiting for her to finish.
The book was hand-bound. When Zhao Xing opened it, he saw that it was filled with drawings.
It’s not quite right to call it a painting; it looks more like a comic book from later times.
Zhao Xing flipped through a few pages, was stunned, then read it carefully, raised his head and looked at Jiang Liangdi with a strange expression.
Jiang Liangdi lowered her head, but her neck was red and she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Zhao Xing finally understood why Jiang Liangdi's face turned red when she heard that he wanted to see her paintings.
The paintings she drew were stories from some vernacular novels.
But some of these paintings are actually colored.
What made Zhao Xing laugh and cry the most was that the male protagonist was actually her, and the female protagonist was Jiang Liangdi herself.
Zhao Xing knew that some ancient vernacular novels were colourful.
For example, there are many descriptions of that aspect in "The Golden Plum Vase".
In his previous life, Zhao Xing saw some illustrations of golden plum bottles on the Internet, and they completely refreshed his worldview.
The scale is larger than some pictures on the Internet in later generations.
After all, vernacular novels are more of a form of entertainment for common people. Although ethics and morals were strict in ancient times, ordinary people still liked these tunes.
But who would use themselves as a template when drawing this thing?
"you…"
Zhao Xing was about to say something, but suddenly stopped and waved his hand to the palace maids and eunuchs standing in the room, saying, "All of you leave!"
"Yes!" Upon hearing this, the palace maids and eunuchs bowed and retreated.
"You..." Zhao Xing opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say for a moment. He rubbed his head with a headache and asked, "Has anyone else seen these paintings?"
"No...no!" Jiang Liang Di shook her head repeatedly and said, "No one was there when I was painting. I locked it up after I finished."
"Why did you think of drawing this kind of thing?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Before I entered the Eastern Palace, the maid at home brought some paintings... picture albums for me to see. I felt that the storybooks were just words, so I thought of drawing the stories in the storybooks like those picture albums." Jiang Liangdi said.
Zhao Xing actually felt relieved when he heard this. The picture album that Jiang Liangdi mentioned should be a collection of erotic pictures.
In ancient times, before a woman got married, the government would teach her using erotic pictures, fearing that she would not know how to serve a man.
If Jiang Liangdi had started drawing these before, Zhao Xing would have found it hard to accept it.
Who knows who the male protagonist was at that time.
But if you think about it carefully, it seems unlikely. Girls in the boudoir have no access to those things unless they are about to get married.
How could she imagine some things she had never seen before?
Putting these aside, Zhao Xing was not disgusted by this, but rather felt vaguely excited.
Zhao Xing flipped through the remaining books, put them down and said, "Come here."
When Jiang Liangdi came closer, Zhao Xing pulled her into his arms, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "I don't think I've ever used some of the poses in your album on you. How did you draw them?"
"I...I...it was based on erotic paintings. The figures in erotic paintings have no faces, so I painted it based on the appearance of Your Highness and me." Jiang Liangdi said with a flushed face.
(End of this chapter)