The Return of An Lingrong in Legend of Zhen Huan

The next day, An Lingrong went to Shoukang Palace again with the prepared incense and copied Buddhist scriptures.

After handing it over to Aunt Zhuxi, she waited outside. After a while, Aunt Zhuxi came out and said to An Lingrong: "My dear An, the Empress Dowager invites you in for a cup of tea."

"I dare not. Thank you, aunt." An Lingrong followed Aunt Zhuxi into Shoukang Palace without changing her expression.

"Your concubine, An, the maid of Yanxi Palace, comes to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager be blessed with good health." An Lingrong came before the Empress Dowager and bowed politely.

The Queen Mother looked at An Lingrong and nodded: "Well, you are a person who knows the rules. Get up, Zhuxi, serve tea, and take a seat." "Thank you, Queen Mother." An Lingrong stood up and bowed again.

The Queen Mother was very pleased with An Lingrong's attitude: "I smell that An Changzai's incense is good. I didn't expect An Changzai to have such a skill."

An Lingrong knew she was being tested the moment she heard this. The Queen Mother had already checked everything about her, so she stood up, bowed, and said, "Your Highness, my father was a spice merchant before he became an official. I have been interested in spices and flowers since I was a child."

The Queen Mother nodded: "Sit down."

"Thank you, Queen Mother." An Lingrong sat back in the chair. She could not find any fault with the whole thing.

"Who is your mentor aunt?"

"Her Majesty, my aunt is the maidservant of the Emperor, Aunt Fangruo."

The Queen Mother said doubtfully: "I remember Fang Ruo was the aunt taught by Concubine Wan."

"To your Majesty, that's right. When I came to the capital for the selection, I happened to meet Sister Wan. When Sister Wan heard that I had no place to live, she invited me to live with her. So Sister Wan and I are the same aunt."

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "Not bad, honest, not arrogant or impatient."

After chatting for a few more sentences, An Lingrong saw that the empress dowager looked a little tired, so she stood up and said that it was getting late and she would go back first, asking the empress dowager to have a good rest. The empress dowager nodded and asked Aunt Zhuxi to bring An Lingrong a box of bird's nest before leaving.

Before leaving, the Queen Mother said: "You made a good incense. After I use it up, I will trouble you to make some more."

An Lingrong hurriedly bowed: "Thank you for your praise, Her Majesty the Queen Mother. It is my blessing that my incense is appreciated by Her Majesty the Queen Mother." The Queen Mother nodded and said nothing more.

After Aunt Zhuxi escorted An Lingrong out of the palace, she bowed and said, "This servant respectfully sends Miss An off. The Empress Dowager Xiang likes you very much. I hope you can come to Shoukang Palace more often to accompany the Empress Dowager in the future."

"Of course. Serving the Queen Mother is my duty. If the Queen Mother does not mind, I will come often." An Lingrong was very happy. She had hugged the Queen Mother's thigh to her feet, and she would slowly hug her way up from now on.

After returning to the Yanxi Palace, An Lingrong opened the bird's nest gifted by the Empress Dowager. As expected, there was a bag of silver in addition to a few bird's nests.

An Lingrong took it out and saw that she had put in a lot of money this time, about 100 taels. Considering that she needed to give gifts to the ladies in the palace, An Lingrong called Bao He in and said, "Bao He, go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to get some fabric. I plan to embroider a gift for each lady in the palace. Remember to take it according to your rank."

Then he took out fifty taels of silver and gave it to Bao He, saying, "You must do it well. Don't worry, we are not short of silver now."

After Bao Yu left, An Lingrong began to think about what kind of patterns she should give to each of the ladies and what she should embroider. She couldn't just give them all sachets.

An Lingrong planned to use Suzhou embroidery to make these gifts. The delivery date would be around December. If it was winter, she would make some hand warmer bags and cushions.

After An Lingrong made her plan, she started to draw the blueprints to see what kind of pattern the person should embroider. An Lingrong suddenly thought of Xia Dongchun, what kind of pattern would she like?

Forget it, she might not live to that time yet, let's talk about it later. Although I intend to protect her, it will only give her an extra slash of scars. If she is still so stupid later, then An Lingrong will not be able to help her.