Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 395 Plum Blossom Hairpin Part 2

Zhaoqing Hall.

Jingming was standing in a daze under the corridor outside the warm pavilion when he suddenly heard the sound of boots crunching in the snow. Looking up, he saw that Granny Yu had returned from the plum garden. A few red plum blossoms in her arms looked like bloodstains blooming in the snow against her gray-brown cotton-padded coat.

"It's snowing so heavily right now, why don't you wait until it clears up before going to the plum garden, Granny?" Jingming reached out from his sleeve, took two quick steps down the stone steps, his knuckles reddened from the cold, but he still went to catch the flower branch.

Granny Yu stepped aside and pulled the plum branch closer to her chest, saying, "I dare not trouble the eunuch."

Her breath carried the scent of plum blossoms. "The tea room is brewing freshly roasted Yunwu tea. Why don't you go and rest your feet? These plum branches are covered in snow; please gently cool your hands with them."

Seeing this, Jingming paused slightly and sighed softly, "Why are you saying such distant things, Granny? Before, when I followed Jiu..."

He paused abruptly, then changed his words, saying, "When I went to the Duke's mansion with the Emperor, I ate quite a few of your plum blossom cakes."

Granny Yu led him to the tea room, her eyes reddening slightly as she heard this: "It's been more than ten years... Back then, Jing Neiguan was only this high-ranking." She raised her arm to gesture, "...When I was in the official slave quarters, if it weren't for Jing Neiguan's care, I probably would have followed the young lady long ago."

The two entered the tea room one after the other. Granny Yu carefully placed the plum branch on the table, turned around to stir the charcoal fire, and was about to pour tea for Jingming when Jingming, quick as a flash, tucked his whisk into his waistband and grabbed her arm first.

"Please sit down and rest for a while, let me do it."

He rolled up his sleeves, and steam was bubbling and pressing against the lid of the copper kettle.

After pouring the tea, Granny Yu moistened her throat and took out a pair of silver scissors to trim the plum branches: "If Minister Jing wants to eat the plum blossom cakes I make, it's easy. I can make them later and have Amber send them over."

Jingming's eyes lit up. "Then you must make more. It's been years since the Emperor has tasted your cooking."

Granny Yu was also happy, and the wrinkles around her eyes and brows smoothed out.

She deftly trimmed the flower branches, divided them into two bunches, and took the slightly sparser one: "Eunuch Jing is resting here by the fire, and Consort Qing is waiting to admire the plum blossoms with the Emperor. This servant will deliver it to her now."

Jingming looked slightly surprised, his gaze falling on the table—the remaining bunch was even more vibrant, its gnarled branches displaying a proud demeanor amidst the snow.

Inside the warm pavilion, a piece of "Three Variations on Plum Blossom" was being played to the overtones, while the celadon incense burner with ice-patterned patterns emitted wisps of smoke from the agarwood.

The emperor leaned against the soft couch, smelling the mixed fragrance of cosmetics in the warm pavilion, and felt a sudden sense of unease for no reason.

He looked up, his gaze passing through the carved window lattice, staring blankly at the snow falling in front of the courtyard. In a daze, he seemed to see that heavy snow from years ago.

In the plum grove of the Duke's mansion, a figure in crimson was tiptoeing to reach the high branches of flowers. The snow had covered her embroidered shoes, but she didn't seem to care.

He stood at one end of the veranda, watching her fox fur coat slip off her shoulder as she tiptoed, the plum blossom and pearl hairpin he had just given her gleaming in the snow...

The plum blossoms remain, and the snow falls every year as before, but the person is gone, and that plum blossom hairpin is probably lost as well.

Granny Yu carried the plum branch and tiptoed into the warm pavilion. Her knees creaked slightly as she curtsied. The moment she placed the plum branch into the jade vase, a faint fragrance filled the room.

The Emperor glanced at the plum blossoms in the vase and casually remarked, "Granny is getting old; why bother with these trivial matters?"

The pipa music stopped abruptly.

Consort Qing rose and walked to the soft couch, curtsied, and said, "It was my oversight that I didn't think things through. I was only thinking that the anniversary of my elder sister's death is approaching... Every year, Granny Yu would pick a few plum blossoms for offerings. She served my elder sister the longest and knew best how to prune plum branches..."

The Emperor remained silent, his gaze falling on the red-gold plum blossom hairpin that was tucked diagonally into Consort Qing's hair.

"This hairpin..."

Consort Qing reached out and took off the hairpin. "This was made by me, imitating the one my elder sister had made."

She held the hairpin in her palm. "Pink pearls are hard to come by, so I just used these freshwater pearls to make do. The style is only about 70-80% similar to yours, and it's far less exquisite than yours, sister."

Granny Yu lowered her eyes and brows and stepped aside, her fingers unconsciously stroking the hem of her clothes.

The Emperor reached out and took the hairpin, his fingertips tracing the five plum blossoms on the hairpin's head, a soft light appearing in his eyes.

After a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Is Tong'er's weapon... with you now?"

Upon hearing this, Consort Qing trembled slightly, knelt on the ground to beg for forgiveness, and her lowered eyelids were filled with tears: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was detained in the palace that day and heard the joyous news of Consort Meng's promotion to the rank of Consort. I thought that she was beautiful and that this hairpin was a perfect match for her, and that Your Majesty truly liked her. In a moment of confusion, I... I took it upon myself to present it to her as a congratulatory gift."

Her voice lowered: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. But at that time I thought... if this hairpin could be cherished by the new lady, it would be better than it gathering dust here with me."

The warm pavilion was so quiet that one could hear the sound of snow pressing down on plum branches. The Emperor's gentle gaze suddenly froze.