Chunman Palace

Chapter 3
In Fengyi Palace.

Empress Liu Xunyan was dressed in a bright red peony brocade dress, sipping Biluochun on a carved red nanmu chair. The pattern embroidered with gold thread shimmered in the room, setting off a beautiful face like jade, with autumn veins cut in her almond eyes The pulse is moving, but the pupil light is very small, as if hiding something on his mind.

She looked at the plate in front of the table covered by a porcelain plate, and seeing a hint of worry appeared on her brows, she opened her lips and called out: "Ning'er."

A court lady immediately came to her after hearing the words: "What orders does your empress have?"

"Did you go to invite the emperor?" She slowly put the green teacup aside, and the moment she raised her eyes, there was an invisible sense of oppression.

"Yes... already invited." Ning'er's voice was like a mosquito, and there was a bit of trill at the end of the sentence.

The aunt in charge, Shuxiang, was entering the door with a brocade box. When she heard the words, she put the things aside, stepped forward and scolded: "Since I have already invited you, why hasn't the emperor come yet? You must be lazy, girl!"

Ning'er's face was pale, and she knelt on the ground in panic, shouting out her injustice, and begging the queen for forgiveness.

The queen shook her head, sighed and said: "How dare she? Some people have been favored for several years, even if the emperor stays in her palace today, it is reasonable."

Shu Xiang was a little annoyed: "But...today is my mother's birthday!"

"Forget it, anyway, the emperor celebrates my birthday once a year, and this one is missing." The queen glanced at the maid who was kneeling on the ground, raised her hand to signal her to step back, and took a light drink from the teacup.

Shu Xiang changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor has sent someone a birthday gift, do you want to see it?"

The queen let out a muffled "Hmm", and waited until Shu Xiang opened the brocade box, and then looked at it casually, her eyes widened in disbelief, and half of her body seemed to be frozen.

Inside was a set of spring-colored jadeite tea sets, but unlike the new ones, they were all covered with a layer of dust.

She stared blankly for a long time, then suddenly burst out laughing.

Shu Xiang thought she was too annoyed, so she quickly spoke up to comfort her: "Your Majesty, the emperor's previous affairs are too busy, and it is very likely that the birthday gift of your Majesty was prepared by Concubine Min, and there are countless things to do."

The queen couldn't stop smiling, and said "Yes", she took out a handkerchief embroidered with spring birds and catkins and twisted it vigorously, "The newcomer is about to enter the palace too? Alright, I have to take care of these things for the emperor."

The surrounding palace people held their breaths and remained silent, fearing that thunderbolts would erupt under the gloom in the next second.

Fengyi Palace was suddenly very quiet.

She looked at the tea set with cold eyes, threw the crumpled handkerchief aside, and broke the silence with a flat voice: "What are you still doing in a daze, the "emperor" thinks so, so I will replace this set of new tea sets." Bar."

Shu Xiang winked at Ning'er on the ground, pointing her to change the tea set.

At the same time, Lin Qingyu was making preparations before entering the palace. She divided the bag of silver into several shares in advance, and rented a maid to follow her to handle affairs.

She has no relatives or friends in Beijing, so she had to temporarily stay at the Fengzhu Inn on the East Street, thinking that it would be a shame to stay in the inn after receiving the decree in the future, she couldn't help feeling worried.

Clothes need money for daily food and lodging expenses. In the future, the people in charge of the palace must not be too shabby. It is inevitable that the harem will talk about it. Listening, how will I gain a foothold in the harem in the future?

So she simply retreated from the inn, and asked Yinzi to find out that a family on the west street was going to travel with the whole family in the near future, and would leave a few maids and servants to guard the mansion, and she only said that it was a family named Lu.

If it can be leased for a few days, it can also solve the urgent need.

When she came to the gate of the mansion, she saw two vases of lifelike bluestone lions standing on both sides of the pear wood gate. She took a careful look inside: there was an osmanthus tree the size of a well mouth planted in the gate, and the fragrant buds were hanging from the branches. With a string of ground, you can smell the fragrance of flowers in a trance. Under the shadow of the trees, the bluestone tables and stools, and the tea sets are all in place.

A nursing home saw her at the gate of the mansion, so she said to the housekeeper inside, do you want to ask the eldest lady at home to ask if she is a relative.

Soon, a graceful and rich woman came out with her maid.

As soon as she went out, Lin Qingyu felt a strong fragrance rushing straight into her nostrils, almost coughed out, raised her hand slightly to cover her nose, stepped back cautiously, raised her eyes timidly to meet the person, and said slowly: "Qingyu I've seen Mrs."

Lin Qingyu thought to himself: This woman's fragrance is too strong, it looks gaudy and pungent, it is quite different from the faint fragrance of Angelica dahurica on Mu Pingting's body, she looks like an ignorant rich gentry.

The woman yawned lazily, then looked at Lin Qingyu with eagle-like sharp eyes, eyes full of doubts, and asked lightly: "What's the matter, girl?"

Lin Qingyu bowed slightly and saluted, "Ma'am, my daughter was entrusted by my father to find a relative, but the capital is so big, I'm afraid this matter can't be done quickly. I heard that Madam's house will be vacated in the next few days, so my daughter wants to rent it for a while. Day." In fact, Lin Qingyu had already given up the idea after talking about it later, but he had already reached this point, so he simply finished speaking before leaving.

That Mrs. Lu's waxy and dull eyes did not reply to her for a long time. She knew it was hopeless, so she thanked her and left.

"Girl, what's your name?"

The voice came from behind, and she turned her head in disbelief, "The little girl's surname is Lin."

"The surname is Lin..." Mrs. Lu murmured, smiling as if thinking of something: "That's it! Miss Lin, my master will take his family to Suzhou tomorrow, and will leave a few servant girls to take care of the family affairs , anyway, the house is free, if you don’t dislike it, you can stay at home today, right?”

Lin Qingyu suddenly felt embarrassed, and said with a slight smile, "Thank you so much, madam." He took out the money purse and handed it to the person, "I don't know how many days the money will last... Otherwise..."

Mrs. Lu blinked, and took the purse with a smile, "It doesn't matter, it's useless anyway, there are people living on the left and right, and the girl has added to her popularity." After Madam Lu said, she opened the purse and took out a few taels of silver. The rest was returned to her.

Originally thought that Mrs. Lu would take all the silver taels from her, so she kept the rest in advance, but she didn't expect that today's events were unexpected.

Mrs. Lu patted the stunned boy sideways, and said, "Still stunned! Hurry up and help Miss Lin get the salute, and then ask Xian'er to clean up the east wing for Miss Lin to stay in."

"Yes, yes." The boy nodded in a panic, took the big and small behind Lin Qingyu to salute, and ran in first.

Mrs. Lu smiled at her, stretched her sallow arms towards the room, and a few gold bracelets that were hard pressed together slammed together, "Miss Lin, please."

She nodded and followed slowly.

After Lin Qingyu entered Lu's mansion, he followed his servants around and around for a while, and stopped in front of a peach tree that was full of blooms. On the side of the house, the words "Peach Fragrance Courtyard" are printed on the white rockery.

"Is it Miss Lin?" A young female voice came out of the room, the voice was thin but not sharp.

Lin Qingyu looked around and saw a girl in a pink shirt and skirt smiling innocently at her, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Lin Qingyu looked at the girl at the door and nodded, and the person hurriedly opened his mouth to reveal his identity, and went over to help take the things behind her to salute.

"Miss, you can call me Lingqiao. Leave these things to me. Please go to the back room to use some peach blossom cakes. The hot water will be ready before dinner." She pointed to the maid who took care of the flower beds at the courtyard gate and said: "Look at you, you have no eyesight, the girls are here, why don't you hurry up and fold some flowers and send them in."

The maid who was longer than Lingqiao actually listened to her words honestly and went to pick those fragrant flowers.

Seeing this, Lin Qingyu was amazed that a girl of this age handled things so smoothly, but she was extremely clever and sensible, so she couldn't help feeling a little more fond of her.

During dinner, she specially bought Lingqiao from Mrs. Lu to be her personal maid.

Mrs. Lu agreed without saying a word, and Lingqiao also smiled and said yes.

Although Lin Qingyu wondered why Mrs. Lu was willing to let out such a smart and capable maidservant, she also thought that everyone in the Lu family probably has no shortage of people.

At Haishi, Lingqiao told her that Mrs. Lu would go out with her family tomorrow, and she had specially left someone to take care of her at home. After learning about it, Lin Qingyu made a few embroidered handkerchief patterns under the lamp, and this hanging heart was at ease. Follow her into dreamland.

The next day, following a sound at the door, the inner eunuch of the palace came to read: "On April [-]th of the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the Office of the Chief of Internal Affairs was copied from the Respect Room, and it was ordered: Lin Qingyu, the daughter of the county magistrate, wrote the letter as a promise. , entered on May [-]th, hereby!"

Lin Qingyu humbly thanked her for accepting the order.

The maid at the side, Lingqiao, stepped forward and took out the gift she had prepared in advance, only to hear a smile that could not be hidden: "Thank you, little master", and led the people back.

At this time, an older looking palace lady came forward, she looked honest and gentle, she smiled at Lin Qingyu and saluted: "My servant continues plum blossoms, and greets the young master. Before entering the palace, the etiquette and etiquette that the young master should learn are very important." The servants are in charge."

Lin Qingyu said softly: "I'm sorry, Madam." Another maid was called to arrange a place for Madam Rites, Mammy thanked her again, and went down.

Lin Qingyu learned quickly. Three days before entering the palace, she had already learned all the etiquette. When the palace servants came to pick her up, she deliberately left some money for the housekeeper, and only brought Lingqiao into the palace.

What catches the eye is a palace full of red walls and green tiles, or beautiful flowers and leaves, or a long and endless green brick road. After turning around and turning around, the palace people who guide the way say: "My lord, this is you. My residence is Yaohua Pavilion, "

As soon as Lin Qingyu entered the palace gate, she saw two rows of court ladies and eunuchs kneeling inside, about four or five people, all kneeling on the ground respectfully to greet her, Lin Qingyu nodded and said: "Get up."

Everyone said in unison: "Thank you, young master." Then they all got up.

A court lady couldn't wait to introduce herself at this time: "Young master is auspicious, my servant Qiang Huan has seen the young master, if the young master has something to do, you can tell the servant."

Lin Qingyu glanced at her indifferently and said nothing, "Do your work first, I'm a little tired, so come and talk to me after lunch."

The court lady named Qiang Huan had a gloomy expression for a moment, but she quickly responded: "Yes, this servant obeys."

Lin Qingyu raised her eyes slightly, and suddenly saw a court lady kneeling far away in the corner behind the crowd and did not get up, she glanced at her lightly, thinking about it.

(End of this chapter)