324. They Look the Same

For some reason, after sitting down, Ye Xiaoxian found that many people were looking at her.

She got strange looks, surprised looks, astonished looks. It seemed she always got looks like this every time she went out, even the State Preceptor’s wife who she just met when she went out gave her that look .

She had no idea what was going on, so she just smiled at those officials’ wives who were looking at her.

However, those wives didn’t stop. After giving her that look, they whispered to each other for a while.

Ye Xiaoxian could only ask the Vice Minister’s lady who was sitting beside her, “Why are they looking at me? Do you know what’s going on?”

The Vice Minister’s lady said bluntly, “Madam Xiao, you look a little like the Empress Dowager.”

“The Empress Dowager?” Ye Xiaoxian was surprised.

She had never heard about the affairs between the Empress Dowager and the State Preceptor, but since others said she looked like the Empress Dowager, she was confused.

She looked like Empress Dowager. Would that cause any trouble? Was the Empress Dowager old?

The Vice Minister’s lady carefully examined Ye Xiaoxian and continued, “The more I look at you, the more you look like her, especially the makeup the clothes you are wearing today, which are all the same styles that the Empress Dowager likes. She also likes to wear clothes with blue lotus leaves.”

Ye Xiaoxian thought to herself, “This dress is given by the Empress. Did the Empress give me these clothes on purpose?”

Her intuition told her that she might be in trouble.

She might be punished for being disrespectful to the Empress Dowager.

……

The Empress also came out at that time.

After the Empress arrived, she sat down on the master’s sit and glanced at the people below.

Everyone rushed to pay respects to the Empress, and Ye Xiaoxian followed them.

The Empress looked dignified. She said, “Since everyone is here, let’s officially begin. Today, I invite you to come mainly because there are a lot of rare and interesting items handed in from various places. On the one hand, I hope you can admire these curiosities with me. On the other hand, I will reward some ladies whose husbands have rendered meritorious service in the government with some of these. Because only when you manage your family well, can the men focus on the state affairs.”

Then the Empress added, “Tonight, we have a few new faces. Let me introduce them to everyone. The first is the lady of Director of the Ministry of Rites, who just got married. Her name is…”

It was the first time that this lady had the opportunity to attended such an event. Clearly, she was a little nervous, but she was not panicking at all. She bowed to the Empress alone, and then to the other officials’ wives.

The Empress then introduced Ye Xiaoxian to others, “This is General Xiao’s wife. As everyone knows, we are winning in the north. It is General Xiao who is fighting at the front to protect the country, so Mrs. Ye contributes a lot as well.”

This time, everyone looked at Ye Xiaoxian unscrupulously.

Ye Xiaoxian imitated the lady of Director of the Ministry of Rites, standing up to greet others in the room one by one.

At this moment, after Ye Xiaoxian finished her curtsey, one of the ladies present finally couldn’t help but say, “I look at Madam Ye and find out she looks like a person we know, that is our Empress Dowager!”

After she says this, the rest of them could not help but agree.

“Yeah, they do look the same.”

“Isn’t Madam Xiao looks just like the twin sister of our Empress Dowager?”

“I noticed that before, which surprised me a lot.”

“…”

That was exactly what the Empress wanted. Seeing that she had achieved her goal, the Empress also said, “I haven’t noticed it if you didn’t mention it. But now I do agree that Madam Xiao does look like Mother, the Empress Dowager. Could they knew each other in previous life?”

Another person added, “I’m afraid they didn’t know each other in previous life. It is possible that Madam Xiao is actually the Empress Dowager’s lost sister?”

Then someone asked Ye Xiaoxian where she lived originally.

They knew that the Empress Dowager was from Jiangnan area and she got in the palace twenty years ago.

Ye Xiaoxian could only answer, “I am from Qinghe County, in the southernmost area.”

Everyone then felt that Ye Xiaoxian has nothing to do with the Empress Dowager. They just looked like each other.

The empress tried to draw everyone’s attention back and said “Look at you! Though Madam Xiao and Mother look like each other, it must be a coincidence. There’s no relationship between them. Don’t be suspicious anymore. Next, we will enjoy our tributes while eating our food.”

The dishes were served with some royal snacks and drinks. In Ye Xiaoxian’s eyes, these foods were not that good. It was just that they were all placed in exquisite saucers, which made the food looked luxurious.

Next was the tributes, and the first one was a glass vase. There were five kinds of decorative marking pattern on the vase, which made the vase look glorious when the patterns were put together.

Everyone who saw this vase was amazed, saying that this vase was really valuable.

Only Ye Xiaoxian didn’t think it was a big deal. It was just glass. They thought it valuable just because glass vase was uncommon in that era. In modern society, this was just a bottle that could not be any more ordinary.

The bottle was given to the lady of a minister by the Empress. The lady couldn’t help but smile when she got the bottle.

Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t help but sigh. This vase was seriously worthless.

The emerald bracelet which served as the second tribute made Ye Xiaoxian feel surprised.

Even if she was not an expert in jade, she could tell that this one was pure and nice. On wearing it on the hand, one could immediately feel the jade become the same temperature as the body.

This kind of jade was pretty valuable in modern society.

However, the other ladies obviously got used to such material. They did not act like it was a precious thing. At that time, the emerald was pure and had various types. They must have got used to it.

Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t help sighing in her heart, ‘It is apparent that we are from different eras, since we have different values.’

Later, some combs made of pure sheep horns and some rare luminous pearls were served.

During the banquet, the Empress asked the servant to bring up a delicate box. She asked, “Guess what is it in this box?”

This box wasn’t transparent. Who would have guessed what was inside?

Even so, a group of people still spoke one after another, expressing their views .

“I guess it must be a treasure!”

“It is definitely something extraordinary.”

“That’s right, after all, it’s the grand finale.”

“…”

The Empress smiled. “This is the lotus of Tianshan Mountains from Tianshan tribe of Baoning City. The Tianshan Mountain lotus grows on an extremely cold land, at the mountainside of the Tianshan Mountains. It only blooms once in five or six years. It is a panacea for females. Even though it is true that there are enough Tianshan Mountain lotuses in our Imperial palace, but we can only see dried ones. However, this lotus flower is fresh which was sent over with ice. It is extremely rare!”

After finishing her words, the Empress opened the delicate box. When everyone looked at it again, they found that there was indeed a fresh Tianshan Mountain lotus lying inside.

The Empress added, “I want to give this Tianshan Mountain lotus to Madam Xiao as a award, as General Xiao is so hardworking to fight in the front, so only Madam Xiao can enjoy this glory.”

Ye Xiaoxian had seen Tianshan Mountain lotus in Tianshan tribe. She didn’t actually regard it as a treasure. First of all, the lotus should be used to treat illness and she was not sick. Secondly, although the lotus at the present was fresh, it still had to be brought to the imperial physician’s operation room to dry out if anyone wanted to use it as medicine.

She actually would rather have that green emerald bracelet.

However, as it was bestowed by the Empress, she had no choice but to accept it. And there was no way that she could exchange it with other gifts in private. Otherwise, this kind of action would be a serious crime.

Ye Xiaoxian went up to get her reward.

As she walked forward, everyone stared at her again, and then someone started to gossip.

“They really look the same!”

“Exactly, even their ways of walking are very similar.”

“Apart from Madam Xiao is not as enchanting as the the Empress Dowager, they look exactly the same.”

Ye Xiaoxian ignored everyone’s gossip and went to get her reward.

When she got the box from the Empress, she saw the Empress reveal a mysterious smile at her.

Her smile made Ye Xiaoxian’s heart tremble for a bit. She felt that the Empress was plotting something behind.

In ancient times, especially in the imperial palace, as long as there were many women, there would be conspiracies. Ye Xiaoxian had always felt that if she had traveled through time and space and had become an imperial concubine in ancient times, she probably wouldn’t outlive the time of an episode of a TV play.

She now had this feeling of fear.

……

The banquet went on and it was 8 or 9 clock in the evening, people at that time were used to sleeping early. Many of the ladies were already yawning at this point.

The Empress had bestowed most of her treasures to others, so she let everyone go home.

When Ye Xiaoxian was also about to leave, the Empress stopped her. “Madam Xiao, wait for a moment. There are still some things I want to say to you.”

Ye Xiaoxian was confused, so she temporarily stayed.

Her intuition told her that the Empress was up to something awful.

Almost everyone else had left. There were only the Empress and Ye Xiaoxian in the palace, and the servants waiting beside the Empress.

The Empress appeared to be friendly, “Madam Xiao, you don’t have to be nervous. The reason why I keep you here is that I think that your husband is fighting in the front, and I, as the Empress, should take good care of the general’s family, nothing more.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Ye Xiaoxian said.

The Empress added, “Have you been living in the State Preceptor’s residence recently? In fact, you could have lived in the general’s mansion. Why did you stay in the State Preceptor’s residence the whole time?

Ye Xiaoxian sneered, “I have no idea. This is arranged by the State Preceptor.”

“Oh?” the Empress clearly acted like she was confused when she exactly knew what happened.

The Empress smiled again. “Are you used to living in the State Preceptor’s residence?”

“I have got used to it.”

“As long as you’re used to it, it is great. I’m afraid you won’t get used to it. If you need anything, you can also ask someone to pass a message to me. As long as it is something that I can get, I will help you.”

The Empress was suddenly so enthusiastic that Ye Xiaoxian was very confused.

‘Is the everyone’s character in the palace so unpredictable?’

Ye Xiaoxian could only say, “Thanks for your concern, Your Highness.”

Then the topic was brought to the Tianshan tribe. The Empress asked Ye Xiaoxian, “I heard that you’ve been in Baoning City for a while, right?”

Ye Xiaoxian nodded. “It’s been two or three years.”

“How is the environment over there?” The Empress asked.

After being trapped for so long, Ye Xiaoxian naturally missed the life there. She said, “There is Tianshan Mountains, water, and cows and sheep weeping on the grass. People are happily riding horses on farms, and life is comfortable.”

The Empress suddenly sighed and said, “That explains a lot.”

Ye Xiaoxian was confused.

Ye Xiaoxian didn’t understand why the Empress would say that.

The Empress asked again, “When you were there, did you often see the Sixth King and the Seventh King?”

Ye Xiaoxian was confused and thought that the Empress was trying to prey for their gossip, so she said, “We don’t meet often. We only see each other once a year or so, during the Kaisheng festival, when the Seventh King would come over to ride horses and do some archery.”