Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 1135 - 1132_1

This year, the Imperial City was in a season of great joy, starting with five new members added to the royal lineage, followed by the birthday of the Empress Dowager, then the celebratory parade of the top scorer, and finally the wedding of the Fifth Princess. The people certainly had their fill of spectacles to watch!

At a season when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the wedding of the Fifth Princess proceeded as scheduled.

The evening before the Fifth Princess’ grand wedding, Xiao’er and Shangguan Xuanyi had already brought their four children into the palace.

They first paid their respects to the Empress Dowager in the Cining Palace.

Seeing that Xiao’er and Shangguan Xuanyi each had one child in their arms and two maids following them with a child in their hands, and just as the two of them were about to pay respects, the Empress Dowager hurriedly said, "It’s inconvenient to perform such formalities with the children in your arms. What if you accidentally drop them!"

It wasn’t often that the Empress Dowager spared her formalities, so Xiao’er decisively abstained from performing them!

After all, in the past when she performed formalities, one session lasted as long as one hundred others. It was always nice to skip one whenever possible.

"Quickly bring the children over to me. Let me see if my little great-grandchildren have put on some weight!" The Empress Dowager said, with a pleased look on her face.

The Empress Dowager was quite fond of the twins borne by Xiao’er. They were born on a day that was blessed with auspicious omens, demonstrating that these great-grandchildren of hers were individuals of significant fortune.

As a result, she had recently stopped looking at Xiao’er in such a displeasing way.

Seeing this, Xiao’er brought the children over to the Empress Dowager and placed them on the couch next to her for a closer look.

If the Empress Dowager didn’t give her a hard time, Xiao’er wouldn’t bicker too much with her either. Many would think unkindly of her if she were to disrespect an elderly woman in such a way.

The children had just awakened. The four of them, placed side by side, had their eyes rolling around as they aimlessly waved their arms and legs. Their innocent expressions brought joy to those who saw them.

"You’ve taken very good care of these children. They’ve grown heavier and now they actually look like Wei Fan’s older brothers and sisters."

Shangguan Weifan is the name of Shangguan Ruixi’s child. Although the four children were almost half the size of Shangguan Weifan when they were born, they had grown rapidly in the last two months under Xiao’er’s diligent care.

Now each one of the four children was a bit taller and heavier than Shangguan Weifan, much to Shangguan Xuanyi’s delight!

He figured his children wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best!

The Empress Dowager played with the children, who made her even more delighted by laughing merrily at her.

Xiao’er let the Empress Dowager play with the children for a while before saying, "Honorable grandmother, you should rest a bit. We have just arrived in the palace and haven’t yet paid our respects to the Emperor and Empress."

On hearing this, the Empress Dowager waved away the suggestion. "Go and pay your respects to your parents first. Both of you will be very busy over the next couple of days. I am too old to offer any practical help to Xiao’er, but I am still capable of looking after the children.

In a while, when Ruixi’s child arrives, I want him to leave the children here so they can all play together!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao’er was a little worried. Nevertheless, she needed to help the Fifth Princess with her makeup and had all her blessings to count. With the Empress being busy and the Empress Dowager’s newfound fondness for her great-grandchildren, Xiao’er found it difficult to reject her kind offer to watch over the children in the Cining Palace.

Besides, Xiao’er knew that although the Dowager Empress was not kind to her daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law, who had no blood ties to her, she was genuinely good to her own sons and grandsons. The Empress Dowager held her great-grandchildren close to her heart and occasionally they would receive gifts from her.

Xiao’er glanced at the Empress Dowager, who had aged significantly after being ill all winter. She appeared less spirited than before and seemed to be nearing the end of her life. With the specter of death looming over her, Xiao’er saw no reason to refuse and agreed.

Therefore, Xiao’er smiled and said, "It’s indeed a blessing for our children to be under the care of their honorable great-grandmother. We appreciate your kindness."

The Empress Dowager had not expected Xiao’er to agree, and this delighted her even further. She smiled at Xiao’er for the first time, "I will take good care of them. You can go about your duties without worry. If the children are hungry, I will send for you to come and feed them."

Xiao’er nodded her head, and she left the Cining Palace with Shangguan Xuanyi.

After paying their respects to the Emperor and Empress, Xiao’er went straight to the palace of the Fifth Princess, while Shangguan Xuanyi attended to his tasks.

When Xiao’er arrived at the palace of the Fifth Princess, she found that the princess was still bathing.

The entire bath was filled with fresh flowers and the Fifth Princess had been soaking in it for an hour.

Xiao’er remembered how she herself had been soaked to the skin on the night before her own wedding.

The Fifth Princess was no exception.

After the Fifth Princess finished bathing, Xiao’er began to do her makeup.

The skin of the Fifth Princess was very good, full of collagen, just like an eighteen-year-old girl. Although she was over twenty-five, her high status as a princess allowed her to eat bird’s nest, fish maw, and other beauty supplements every day. With nothing else to do but take care of her own beauty, how could her skin not be good!

Most importantly, she had Xiao’er as her helpful sister-in-law and a good friend. Every month, Xiao’er would send her free beauty treatments from the salon that others spent thousands on. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the princess to even try to have poor skin with Xiao’er’s help!

Xiao’er was fast at applying makeup and the Fifth Princess was naturally gorgeous to begin with. Xiao’er just had to conceal a few minor flaws and enhance the princess’s best features.

When Xiao’er finished applying makeup for the Fifth Princess, everyone in the room was astonished!

"Fifth Princess, you look exceedingly beautiful today. I suspect the Prince Consort will be mesmerized the moment he lifts your veil tonight!" Ruan Weizhen joked.

"You look so beautiful! I can’t take my eyes off of you!" Gu Qiqi also joked.

Even the Fifth Princess was surprised by her reflection in the mirror!

"So beautiful! I thought the Fifth Princess was already beautiful enough that makeup wouldn’t make much a difference. I didn’t expect that with Princess Rui’s skill, when the makeup is finished, the Fifth Princess would be so astonishingly beautiful that it would make people’s hearts pound unusually fast!

This is genuinely surprising! Princess Rui, could you do my makeup as well?" The one who spoke was Gu Qiling, who was only thirteen this year. Her appearance was very beautiful, almost otherworldly. However, her character didn’t quite match her appearance and she always felt her look didn’t reflect her personality.

"Of course! What kind of makeup would Miss Qiling like?" Last night, the Imperial Master had hinted to Shangguan Xuanyi that he wanted to betroth the young lady to Jinghao, but he was concerned that she was too young and that the people from the Marquis Shengping’s mansion would rush to marry her off as soon as Jinghao earned his rank. Therefore, he wanted Xiao’er to go back to her mother’s house to inquire.

Seeing the way Jinghao acted the other night, Xiao’er knew there was no need for further inquiry!