In the spring of the twenty-seventh year of Huiqing, Zhou Youchen is about to usher in his fifteenth birthday. In the past few years, although Zhou Shixian has been treating him well, every time it comes to his birthday, he is evasive, and only orders the Internal Affairs Office to prepare a rich gift list and send it to the East Fourth Institute.

Zhou Youchen is the youngest of the nine princes, and he should be the most favored. It's just that he has a withdrawn personality and doesn't like to interact with people, except for Meng Xilan, he treats everyone coldly and indifferently, neither near nor far.

Back then, in order to have one more prince by her side, the queen would be Zhou Youchen's nominal adoptive mother. Although Zhou Youchen is raised under her name, however, except for the routine greeting on the fifteenth day of the first day of each month, Zhou Youchen almost never takes the initiative to step into her Kunning Palace.

Queen Su was displeased, but on the surface, she still had to do enough, and she asked her mother, the Su family, to collect a lot of treasures from outside the palace. Queen Su personally chose two things and ordered someone to send them to the East Fourth Institute. The gifts were sent the same, piling higher and higher, but Zhou Youchen's face did not see half of the joy, Xiaoyuanzi opened the gift list and recited it aloud.

Who knows, he only read three sentences, and Zhou Youchen raised his hand impatiently and said, "Stop, stop, I have a headache when I hear it." ”

Xiao Yuanzi silently closed the gift list, looked at the master and said, "Master, why are you unhappy again?" ”

On such a festive day, I can't help but be happy.

But this is not the first time, at this time of year, the master will be unhappy, so they are also extra careful.

It's just that no matter how many gifts there are, the only thing that can make the master happy is Meng Xilan, the princess of Wenning. The palace is full of people, and the master will only be happy when he sees Her Royal Highness the princess.

Zhou Youchen was very generous, and waved his hand to let the palace people around him pick some of their favorite gifts from their pile of gifts and take them away.

When everyone heard this, they were naturally happy. However, the people who work in the palace are all discerning, and they know how to speak and do things. It's a good thing for the master to be generous, but they also have to know the depths. Those precious and valuable treasures, they did not dare to touch them, only reached out to take a few silver ingots, gold ingots, and then kowtowed to thanksgiving.

Seeing that the rewards of each palace have arrived, only Cining Palace has not moved. The Queen Mother is not in good health, so she can't take care of these things for a while, but Meng Xilan will never forget it.

Due to the illness of the Queen Mother, silk and bamboo vocal music is strictly forbidden in the palace, extravagance and waste, so Zhou Youchen's birthday banquet is simple, and only the imperial dining room is fully responsible.

After lunch, Zhou Youchen's mood became worse, and after a long time, Meng Xilan still disappeared.

He couldn't sit still, and was about to get up and go out, but he heard a report from the eunuch outside: "Doctor Jiao has arrived." ”

Zhou Youchen sat down a little deflated when he heard this, only to feel a headache.

This Jiao Changqing is like a lingering black shadow, wandering around him for three days.

"Nine Masters, Ten Thousand Blessings, Jin'an." Jiao Changqing carried the medicine box on his back and bowed to Zhou Youchen, who was not good-looking.

Zhou Youchen sat back in his chair, shook his head and said, "Why are you bothering me today?" ”

Jiao Changqing smiled faintly: "Today is the birthday of His Royal Highness the Nine. Therefore, the minister must come to check the pulse of peace for you, so that His Royal Highness's birthday can be lived in a down-to-earth and stable manner. ”

In the past three years, he has been conditioning Zhou Youchen's body and nourishing his heart and pulse. The cold poison in his body is not solved for a day, and he can't feel at ease. Fortunately, half a year ago, Jiao Changqing found another way and let Zhou Youchen start practicing the martial artist's internal skills, so that he could build a foundation. His body began to gradually improve, which was what made him and Meng Xilan the most gratifying.

"Please stretch out your wrist and let Weichen diagnose your pulse." Jiao Changqing put on a serious expression and spoke.

Zhou Youchen rolled up his sleeves and reluctantly obeyed.

Jiao Changqing condensed his eyebrows, nodded with a half-loud smile: "Ninth Master is all safe." ”

Zhou Youchen glared at him: "I'm fine, it's all your own fuss." ”

Jiao Changqing looked at him and said, "It's not that Weichen is making a fuss, but Her Royal Highness the Princess is very worried about your body." ”

Zhou Youchen's eyes flashed slightly when he heard this, so he stopped talking back to him.

Jiao Changqing put the filled pill on the table, and reminded him not to forget to practice internal strength and breathing diligently.

Zhou Youchen nodded: "Got it." ”

What Meng Xilan explained, he never coped with. Including those study notes, he will finish them seriously every time. Thinking of this, Zhou Youchen stood up again and looked outside the courtyard, but she still didn't come.

At this time, Meng Xilan was still by the side of the Queen Mother, and she couldn't leave for a while. As for Zhou Youning, she couldn't count on it, and after hearing the palace maids, she went out of the palace again.

Meng Xilan could guess where she had gone, and he was not the only one who had behaved abnormally recently.

The palace maid who beat the legs of the Queen Mother did not have a good grasp of the strength, so that the Queen Mother could not sleep steadily.

Meng Xilan frowned and gave her a look, asked her to get out of the way, and then personally massaged the Queen Mother's legs.

After the Queen Mother fell asleep, she quietly got up and continued to prepare gifts for Zhou Youchen back to the house.

Seeing that she hadn't eaten lunch, Zhulu brought a bowl of bird's nest porridge and said, "Master, you can eat something." ”

Meng Xilan is threading needles and threads, she uses all gold threads, and she can't waste an inch.

"I'm not hungry yet, so I'm not going to eat yet."

Zhulu put down the tray: "Master, you haven't eaten for most of the day." That's not going to work. ”

"I'm only a few stitches away." Meng Xilan was a little anxious.

She has been sewing this cloak for a whole month, in order to give it to Zhou Youchen as a birthday gift. It's a pity that in the past month, she has been able to spare very little time, so she hurried to embroider this cloak in a hurry, but unfortunately there is still one petal left to embroider.

Zhu Lu felt uneasy, and suddenly said, "Master, you don't have to be so good to the Ninth Master. ”

Meng Xilan was stunned when she heard this, and raised her eyes to look at her, as if she was puzzled: "What do you mean by this?" ”

Zhulu knew that she had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly said, "What does the slave mean...... The ninth master has grown up, is an adult, and can take care of himself. ”

Meng Xilan knew her very well, knowing that she was not telling the truth, her eyes sank, and then she said: "Fifteen years old is indeed not small. But his mental character is different from others, so I don't feel at ease. ”

Zhulu reined in her thoughts, lowered her head and said, "The slave understands." The master never moves the needle and thread easily, and after entering the palace, you have only made three clothes, one for His Royal Highness the Prince of the World, and one for the Young Master Yun Ge'er. And this one is for the Ninth Master......"

She seemed to have something to say again, Meng Xilan embroidered the last stitch, locked the stitches, picked up the scissors to cut the gold thread, raised the cloak with both hands, and examined it carefully.

"His Royal Highness the Prince is the heart of the crown princess, and Brother Yun is the future of my Meng family. And the ninth master ......" Meng Xilan stretched her tone slightly, and said quietly: "He is the person I can't let go of in my heart." ”

The battle for succession is becoming more and more intense. The vicious fight between the crown prince and Prince Xian is estimated to start in a few days. And she also had a long time to worry about him anymore.

Now, he looks like he has grown up, but his heart is still the same as back then, he doesn't know how to be flexible, and he doesn't know how to calculate.

Zhu Lu was slightly stunned when she heard this, then pursed her lips and stopped talking.

"It's embroidered, let's prepare a sedan chair outside."

Meng Xilan knew that Zhou Youchen would definitely wait for her.

"Yes." Zhulu exited the door, but saw Gao Fuli standing outside, looking at her seriously, and whispered, "What did my sister say just now?" Be careful in the future. ”

Zhu Lu also regretted it a little, but when she remembered what the Ninth Master did to her master that day, she felt uneasy.

"Okay, the master is going to the East Fourth Institute, I won't talk any more."

Zhou Youchen, who had been waiting and waiting, saw Meng Xilan, and immediately got up to greet him, and said with a little dissatisfaction: "Why did you come?" ”

Every year she is the first, but this year she is not.

Meng Xilan smiled slightly, didn't say anything, only opened the burden in Zhu Lu's hand, took out the dark purple satin embroidered golden plum blossom cloak inside, personally draped it on his body, and tied a ribbon for him.

Zhou Youchen was stunned at first, and then bowed his head obediently.

A smile gradually appeared in his eyes, and he didn't ask, knowing the gift she had given him.

Meng Xilan asked him to turn around for himself, so that he could take a good look, and nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, it just fits." ”

Zhou Youchen himself also looked down and wondered: "Why purple?" ”

He never wears purple clothes, usually only black, white and gray clothes.

"Purple air comes from the east, and auspiciousness comes. I hope this cloak will not only keep you out from the cold and wind, but also bring you good luck. ”

Among the princes, the only person who usually dares to wear purple clothes is Zhou Youlin.

Zhou Youchen raised his hand, and then looked carefully at the golden plum blossom on the cuffs, still puzzled: "Why is this plum blossom golden?" ”

"Didn't you say that your biological mother, Concubine Xiao, liked plum blossoms the most in her life, so I embroidered plum blossoms to add color to you. After the golden plum blooms, it will not wither again, just to relieve your mother's feelings. Meng Xilan explained softly that she had put her mind to everything, and she only hoped that he would like it.

"How? Do you still like it? ”

Zhou Youchen looked directly into her eyes and nodded heavily: "I like it." ”

He obviously used a lot of strength, but his voice was very low, as if he was suppressing some kind of emotion.

"It's good to like it. I know you're not afraid of the cold, but now it's cold in the spring, so don't always be cold. Meng Xilan pursed her lips, looked at him with a smile, and admonished again.

"Hmm." The more Zhou Youchen was emotionally fluctuating, the more he talked less, very deep, and introverted.

"The Queen Mother is not in good health, I can't stay longer. Today is your birthday, you can relax your day and do whatever you want. Meng Xilan patted him on the shoulder and said.

Zhou Youchen grabbed her hand, put it in his palm, and said, "I want to be with you......" He deliberately pulled a big long tone: "Let's go visit the Queen Mother together." ”

His sudden move made Meng Xilan's heart jump slightly, his eyes flickered a little, and he subconsciously moved his fingers, but he held them tighter.