After Huanbi was reborn, she became the prince's favorite

In Jingren Palace, laughter could be heard from far away.

"I congratulate the Empress. Ever since that bitch Zhen Huan left, the Emperor has been visiting the Empress every now and then. I heard that Concubine Xin used all her power to summon the Emperor to Chuxiu Palace last night. As a result, the Emperor came to Jingren Palace late at night under the pretext of discussing the winter solstice ritual with the Empress."

Qi Chang kept talking, with a look of pride in his eyes and eyebrows.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Since I entered the palace, I have seen many concubines being favored. But no matter who they are, the Emperor will only favor them for a few days and then forget about them. Only Your Majesty and I have a deep love for each other for many years!"

Xia Dongchun also followed suit.

After Zhen Huan left the palace, the Emperor became disgusted with An Lingrong and Shen Meiyu because of her. It was not until An Lingrong gave birth to the prince that the Emperor began to care more about her. But in the eyes of everyone, it was only for the sake of the Sixth Prince. How could the Emperor have any true love for her, who came from a humble family?

"You two are really good at talking!" The queen took a sip of tea calmly, but her eyes were full of pride.

"Empress, I have taken a lot of tonic medicine recently. Tonight..." Before Qi Changzai finished her words, the Empress understood that she wanted the Empress to recommend her so that she could regain the Emperor's favor.

"I have already made arrangements for you two, but the one originally scheduled for tonight was Concubine Xia... Concubine Qi, you just have to wait a moment!" The Queen gently touched the corner of her mouth and observed the two of them quietly.

A month ago, Xia Dongchun and Guaerjia Wenyuan came to Jingren Palace to show their goodwill to her and repeatedly assured her that the two of them had now reconciled and all past misunderstandings were over. They wanted to ask the Queen for favors.

The queen looked at them coldly, wondering which of them was easy to get along with! But she still agreed.

At this moment, Xia Dongchun's eyes were shining, the corners of her mouth were raised high, and her eyes and eyebrows were full of smiles. However, Qi Changzai was different. She lowered her head slightly, glaring fiercely at the person sitting opposite her, but she did not dare to express her dissatisfaction blatantly.

"Qi Changzai, why are you silent? Are you a little dissatisfied with my arrangement?" The Queen looked at her with a smile, as if she was enjoying a good show.

Qi Chang thought about it for a moment, and quickly put on a flattering smile, "Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. I dare not disobey your arrangement. I understand that your arrangement is reasonable. I am not in a hurry."

The Queen smiled with satisfaction and glanced at Jianqiu. "I've long said that you are a reasonable person. By the way, in Penglai Island... have you completed all the tasks I asked you to do?"

Qi Chang looked around and made sure there was no one else around. Then he came up to the queen and said, "It's all done. We're just waiting for the weather to get a little cooler before we start."

The Queen picked up a jade ruyi and gently rolled it across her face, "Zhen Huan, Zhen Huan, do you think you can give birth to a child safely if you escape from the palace? How ridiculous!"

When Xia Dongchun and Qi Chang heard this, they were both a little surprised, but they felt it was reasonable and didn't say anything else.

After leaving Jingren Palace, snowflakes suddenly started falling from the sky. The snowflakes were not big, but they fell very quickly.

Xia Dongchun said provocatively with a lazy and complacent look: "Xue Liu, go back to the palace and dress up for me. The emperor is coming to my place tonight!"

Xueliu leaned forward and said one word: "Yes!"

When Qi Changzai heard this, he put down the hand that had just lifted the curtain, clenched his palm into a fist, turned his head suddenly and snorted coldly:

"I just told you to be proud in front of the Empress. Let me tell you, even if the Emperor goes to your place tonight, it won't mean anything. At most, the Empress has seen that you haven't seen the Emperor for a long time, and she's afraid that the Emperor has almost forgotten what you look like, so she's just pitying you!"

Although Xia Dongchun was stupid, she could not stand any humiliation. She and Qi Chang were just pretending to shake hands and make peace in front of the Queen. Once they left Jingren Palace, she would not be nice to her anymore.

While fiddling with the jade ruyi that the empress had just awarded her, she replied, "Yes, in terms of family background and status, you are above me, and you just begged the empress in person, but so what, the empress still gave me the opportunity and gave me this jade ruyi as well."

Qi Chang was furious and seemed not to intend to sit in the sedan chair. He stepped on the bottom of the flower pot and took two steps forward, pointing at her and said:

"My Guarjia clan has everything you need. If you like it, you can take it when you sleep with me tonight!"

Xia Dongchun felt that this was familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before. However, she did not have time to think about it. She raised the jade ruyi high and said teasingly, "What you said was because your father was rewarded by the emperor, but mine was taught by the queen herself. Do you mean to use the emperor to pressure the queen by saying this?"

Qi Changzai was left speechless by what she said. She didn't know how to respond and stood there in a daze. When she came to her senses, the sedan chair that Xia Dongchun was riding in had already gone far away.

As winter deepened, a thick layer of ice had formed on the surface of the lake between Penglai Island and the Old Summer Palace. The ships that traveled back and forth had long since stopped operating, and in the past few days, ships had been brought in by horse-drawn carriages from outside, wading through the thick ice.

Prince Guo wanted to see Huanbi from time to time, so he sent Ah Jin to the shore of Penglai Island to pick her up. Over the past month, the two of them met from time to time, sometimes going to teahouses in the city to drink tea and chat, sometimes going to the mountains to take a leisurely walk, and sometimes going to shops to buy some things they needed...

But it had already been seven days, and Prince Guo had not sent any letter in for seven days, nor had he sent anyone to pick up Huanbi or bring in anything.

Zhen Huan stroked her belly, put one hand on Huanbi's shoulder and said, "This year, there are many things going on. I'm sure that the prince not only has to take care of the affairs of the palace, but will also be summoned to the palace by the emperor from time to time to talk or ask him to do something else. Well, don't worry anymore."

Huanbi didn't want Zhen Huan to worry about her while she was pregnant, but she had made an agreement with the prince some time ago that they would send carrier pigeons to each other every two days to confirm that the other was safe. This was also a way Huanbi came up with to protect Zhen Huan and prevent anyone from reaching out of the palace to murder them.

It has been seven days since she sent the letter, but she still hasn't received a reply. How can she not be anxious?

"Yes, Huanbi, the prince might have been tripped up by something and couldn't leave for the time being." Jinxi helped Zhen Huan sit down, picked up two heaters and gave them to the two of them, and took another one for herself and placed it in her palm.

It was already the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The charcoal was almost burned out, the flour and rice were almost gone, and the vegetables and meat had been gone for two or three days, but there was still no sign of anyone delivering the food.