Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 509 The Golden Hairpin

postscript
Ten golden hairpins
On the [-]th day of March in the tenth year of Wu Zheng, Chuxiu Palace was the residence of Xue Baochai.

"My good concubine, why did you drive away all the other sisters?" Seeing Xue Baochai clinging to the bed with an aggrieved look on her face, Zhou Yang smiled and stepped forward to hug her, "Now you are a twin again. , how can I do without someone to take care of me? I know that Yinger is very good, but she needs someone to talk to, what if she is suffocated by herself?"

"It's all you, it's all you!" However, Xue Baochai avoided his embrace and instead waved his small fist to blast him, "How dare I let other sisters come over? They didn't say anything, they looked like that Who can’t tell it yet? If you want to laugh, just go back and laugh by yourself. If you hold it back while I’m here, you’ll offend others for nothing!”

"Okay, baby, be good!" Zhou Yang himself showed a smile-holding expression, and quickly hugged his sister, because sister Bao had already raised her fists again, "You and Shuying are pregnant now and live together. Isn’t it more convenient?”

"Is it for your Majesty's convenience?" Ying'er, who was coming over with a tea tray, said angrily, "Your Majesty, it's true that both our girl and my wife are you, and you still want to abuse others. My wife said back then that I don't want to be a debt collector anymore." Making trouble, but don't want to suddenly change his mind, it's okay now, both of us are doing this. How can this make us girls meet people?"

"You guys, at least think about Shuying." Zhou Yang lowered his head helplessly and kissed Sister Bao softly and said, "She was born in the 16th year of Longwu. The emperor's reign lasted 50 years, and then Changxing. Years, and finally my Wu Zheng ten years, she is now 45. She promised not to have children before to take care of your face, but her temper in recent years is not yours."

"Brother Zhou!" Xue Baochai's eyes turned red and she couldn't help crying on Ai Lang's chest.

After so many years, Zhou Yang himself has already reached the age of 32, and the ages of the girls will naturally not stay the same. For example, Sister Bao in his arms is now 29. He gave birth to a son for him a few years ago. If according to modern times, According to the standard, this age should be the most beautiful time for women, but in the feudal era, people after thirty could call themselves "old women".

Under such circumstances, Wang Shuying, the eldest member of the family, sees herself getting older day by day. How can she remain stable?After turning forty, her temper became worse day by day. Even Xue Pan, whom she wanted to protect every hair of her hair, had been beaten miserably in the past few years. Whenever there was a little mistake, Ci Ning Gong's female guard carried a board to the Xue family to "teach" him, and beat the Xue family uncle, who had low IQ and EQ, until it was painful.

However, there is one thing that shocked Zhou Yang, or the whole world, and that is that not all girls have "grown up". To be more precise, all the "gold hairpins" are all "gold hairpins" in the literal sense. It left no trace on them."

Whether it is the "primary gold hairpins" like Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai in his memory, or the "secondary gold hairpins" like Xue Baoqin and Zhen Yinglian, or even the "secondary gold hairpins" like Qingwen and Ying'er, the years are passing by. They really seem to have stagnated. Xue Baoqin and Xichun, the youngest and most playful, can still "secretly" dress up as girls and go "touring" around the capital.

These things even added a lot of mystery to the royal family, because Zhou Yang habitually followed modern rules and invited people to take part in some important occasions, such as New Year banquets, imperial examination banquets, military school graduation ceremonies, or when receiving foreign envoys. The family members also brought girls along for the occasion. Rumors that the royal family members "never grow old" are circulating throughout the Greater China region.

In particular, Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu, who appeared most often, were chased by all the court ladies for "maintenance secrets" because many of these people met for the first time at the imperial examination banquet and military academy graduation banquet in the early years of Wu Zheng's reign. Nearly ten years have passed for these two. When they both look old, they find that these two girls have not changed at all, and even their clothes have not been updated much!

However, the "nobile hairpin" girls including the two of them are very helpless, because they don't have any "secret recipe" at all!
The Zhou family, or the entire imperial court, knew that someone hated the smell of all kinds of makeup and powder. Nowadays, the girls in the palace only use some skin care products, and rely mostly on medical methods such as food supplements and conditioning. They thought the effect was very good. , until Xue Baoqin was lazy and secretly stopped various medications, the girls were surprised to find that they really would not grow old!
However, not all girls are like this.

In addition to the just-mentioned Wang Shuying, there are also Queen Mother Li Hong who is not much younger, Princess Guo Rong of Yongchang, Princess Guo Xuan of Yongjing, Dongfang Bing, Zhao Qiying, Zhao Yanling and other sisters. They have not escaped the "dressing up" of the years. Now the palace The people with the worst temper and the most sensitive are Li Hong and Wang Shuying who live together in the Compassion Ning Palace.

Under such "pressure", the two of them invariably remembered the ancient motto of "raising children to guard against old age". Li Hong, who already had a pair of twins, was fine, but spent most of her energy on raising the children. Some of them continue to serve someone in order to be "blessed" again. Wang Shuying, who originally gave up having children after entering the palace, couldn't help but become pregnant this year.

"Good sister, don't worry. Our affairs are no longer a secret now. Does anyone still dare to gossip?" Zhou Yang is actually not too worried about Wang Shuying, because even in modern times, 45 years old is considered an older mother. , but couldn't hold back her crying and begging, so he let it go, "Shuying is at her most nervous right now. If you continue to have a cold war with her like this, I'm worried about her."

"Hmph!" Xue Baochai didn't want to speak, but just raised his hand and punched someone.

"I also said that before you came over today, our girl and the slave went to Cining Palace to say goodbye." Ying'er rolled her eyes at someone, but still let her hug her honestly, "The slave also said I don’t know why the Madam and the Queen Mother are the most obviously old, but isn’t it possible for both men and women in this world to escape? Maybe we are just a few years late."

Well, it's not that Zhou Yang himself is ageless, it's just because he's in good health and takes good care of himself, so it's usually not noticeable.

"How about this, Sister Bao, let's go to Cining Palace together and have a meal with the two of them. We are a family after all, and we can't make things worse." After thinking about it for a while, he still felt that he couldn't delay it like this. He said, "Ying'er, you, the palace judge, and Ke Qing should work hard on the Chu Xiu Palace matters today, and don't forget to take care of the children."

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I'll save you this!" Ying'er smiled, bowed and watched Zhou Yang go out with Xue Baochai.

Cining Palace.

"You're here?" Li Hong, who was looking through recent children's schoolwork in the main hall, raised his head and glanced at Zhou Yang and Xue Baochai who came in. After saying hello, he lowered his head and continued working, "Mrs. Xue lives in the side hall. You can go and have a look. I Oops, what are you doing here, Your Majesty?"

Zhou Yang was too lazy to speak and signaled Xue Baochai to go to the side hall. He picked up a certain queen mother and dragged her with her.

"I've met your Majesty!" Wang Shuying, who had heard the news earlier, had already sent her maid to greet him at the door.

"How come there are so many people in the family? Let's come in and talk." Zhou Yang then put down Li Hong and entered the side hall with two "old women" in his arms, "Sister Bao and I also came here specially to have a look today. You It’s inconvenient to carry two bodies now, but fortunately it’s not the first time. How are you these days?”

"Your majesty, please take care of me." Wang Shuying obviously still has a temper.

"Mother!" Xue Baochai hugged Wang Shuying's arm anxiously and said in a stern tone, "Your Majesty is willing to take care of her. That is our blessing. How can we be like this?"

"Baby girl, I'm sorry for my mother." Wang Shuying said a few words and couldn't help crying.

"Okay." Zhou Yang reluctantly let go of Li Hong, took the two of them into the bedroom and sat down, "It's been so many years, how can there be so much embarrassment? You are both my women, why don't you give birth to a child for me? Should I? When I came, I had a table of wine and food delivered to me. Today we don’t follow the rules and just treat it as a family dinner.”

"Oh? What about the 'outsider' I am?" Li Hong couldn't help but tease.

"Empress Dowager, do you want us all to eat together later, or do you want to kneel under the table and serve us alone while we eat?" Zhou Yangcai didn't like it and glared at a certain arrogant queen mother. "Brother Zhou!" Not to mention the rosy-cheeked Li Hong, Xue Baochai also blushed at someone's "charisma" who was always racing. She gave someone a light blow and said, "You said that the whole family is eating. This Gongyuan belongs to Sister Hong, is it possible to kick her out?"

"That's pretty much it." Zhou Yang then stood up with the two of them in his arms, and called Li Hong to the main hall, because the maids had already filed in with trays and brought lunch.

Fengzao Palace.

"Sister Lin, look, I asked Sister Qingwen to help me make this. I heard it is the most popular style outside. How about it?" Queen Guo Xuan smiled and turned around gently, showing the clothes to Lin Daiyu next to her, " Speaking of which, although the sisters at home know a little bit about red needlework, they are still not as good as Sister Qingwen’s craftsmanship."

"This is what we need to do to get His Royal Highness Yongchang and the third sister of the Zhao family out first." Lin Daiyu joked with a smile, stood up and helped the Queen to sort out a few folds and nodded, "Yes, Sister Qingwen is the most popular female celebrity in the world, and she is probably the most outstanding. There are a few people here, just be a little slow, otherwise none of the sisters in the family will like outside things."

"That's right, why can't Sister Qingwen hurry up?" Xue Baoqin walked around Queen Guo Xuan enviously, and couldn't help but complain, "I asked her to make two pieces of clothing last time, and she said she had too much work to do. Come on, I don't even want to talk to people, if it wasn't for her status not being higher than mine, I would be worried that she might drive her away."

"Do you still have the nerve to talk about 'status'?" Lin Daiyu twisted Xue Baoqin's little ears helplessly and dotingly, "My dear Concubine, no matter how you count the sisters in the palace, you are ranked fifth. , not to mention His Majesty's favor, but why can't I remember clearly who was the one who was punished to recite the "Female Ring" five times last time?"

"She is a mother of two children, yet she still dares to dress up like a little girl and sneak out of the palace to watch the temple fair. Fortunately, the imperial sister keeps a close eye on her, otherwise no one in the palace would have thought that the majestic Concubine De is actually Take Concubine Tian to climb over the wall and go out to play." Queen Guo Xuan hit Xue Baoqin angrily, "If Your Majesty hadn't stopped me, I would have hit you!"

"My good sister, how many times has this happened?" Lin Daiyu also hit her angrily.

"Sister Queen, Sister Lin!" Xue Baoqin blushed and lay in Lin Daiyu's arms, "Isn't it too boring in the palace? Every time I talk to His Majesty, he says it's okay on the surface, and then arranges for a bunch of people to come over and watch. What's the point of talking about 'protection'? If I really take so many people out and don't scare the temple fair away, then what's the point.

Besides, Sister Xichun and I were not careless. I still don't understand the principle of the 'White Dragon Fish Suit'. If we hadn't sent all the four female guards of Xianfu Palace in advance - oh, how could I be discovered by Sister Rong'er? They are so fast. Although these four female guards are under the control of the third sister of the Zhao family, they may have the manpower of secret guards. Next time I will definitely - Oops, Sister Queen, I was wrong! "

"How could you, Concubine De, be wrong?" Empress Guo Xuan gritted her teeth and twisted the ears of a certain princess, and pulled her to her side. "You still have the nerve to say that Sister Qingwen won't make clothes for you. She worked so hard last time." The palace outfit she made is still at the bottom of Xianfu Palace's wardrobe. Fortunately, she has a low status. If I were the palace, I wouldn't be able to spread your ass!"

"Palace clothes are too troublesome." Xue Baoqin covered her already red ears and threw herself into Guo Xuan's arms to complain, "Just putting it on requires three people to wait on me. After putting it on, I have to be careful even when walking, for fear of catching or getting out of shape. , except for big gifts and the like, which sister in the family - well, except the Queen!"

"You!" Guo Xuan, who has always been dressed in the Queen's Palace attire, shook her head helplessly, "It's also my fault that Your Majesty indulged the sisters in the family so much that all of you were about to rebel. Except for Sister Lin and Sister Bao, who needed to be in a lot of places. When you appear on special occasions, you should be more particular about it. Even Sister Yuanchun doesn’t wear palace clothes much anymore.”

"Sister Queen, it stands to reason that every time His Majesty needs a sister at home to come forward, no one can get around you, right? Why do you... every time in the past few years?" Xue Baoqin asked puzzledly.

"Girl Qin!" Lin Daiyu interrupted her hastily, but unfortunately it was too late.

"How can I, an old woman, compare to the two imperial concubines who 'will never grow old'?" Guo Xuan complained leisurely, but while speaking, she leaned into Lin Daiyu's arms, "There are even many people with ulterior motives. To sow discord, they said that the two of them deliberately seduce me as the queen, but no one in the family knew, and they never had any 'maintenance'.

Looking at it now, other people can still say "young" at least, but the Li family's Wan sister was born in Longwu 24 years ago, and she is almost forty now. There are only twenty people who go out without mentioning her—— Well, it’s been more than ten years since I first met Sister Wan at the Imperial Sister’s house, and she seems to have really not changed. At that time, I still hugged her and called her sister. Now, who is the sister? I’m afraid it’s It's hard to tell from the face. "

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baoqin looked at each other. Neither of them knew how to comfort them, so they had to hug the empress with a complicated expression on one side and try to express some sympathy.

Chuxiu Palace.

"Three queens, the meal is served." Ying'er, Heping'er, Suyun, and Zhen Yinglian finished the dishes with a smile, and then called on the three people who were busy in the "office area" of the side hall - well, two people, and one more... The literate person was envious, jealous and resentful - before dinner, "Your Majesty went to Cining Palace with our girl just now and won't be back at noon."

"I know." Wang Xifeng's impatient voice came, "That cruel person is really enough. My aunt is still working so hard now. Now she's fine. It's obviously a happy event, but she still has to hide it, fearing that the time will come. Sister Bao is about to give birth to twins, why do you think he doesn’t care at all—you prude, why are you dragging me along?”

"Concubine Jin, I'm afraid you have forgotten the meaning of your title. Do you want the empress to send someone over to explain it to you again, and let you kneel down and listen to "The Female Ring" a few times?" Li Wan said in a lazy voice. Blocking the unreliability of a certain hot pepper, "Also, sister Qiao is eight years old now, and the empress took her away angrily, and took care of her own upbringing. You don't want her to embarrass you, do you?"

"This little heartless guy has made ten months of my hard work in vain!" Wang Xifeng muttered, but she still didn't dare to continue.

This was an old case three years ago. Of course Qiaojie, who was already five years old, followed Wang Xifeng at first, but it turned out that the girl herself couldn't read. When Qiaojie learned how to read and came back to show off to her, she was regarded as "pointing at the monk." "Call me bald", the slap made her daughter cry. Queen Guo Xuan took the little girl away in anger. Now Qiaojie doesn't even want to come back to see her, and she calls Guo Xuan "Queen Mother". Wang Xifeng, the "mother concubine", is almost gone.

"Okay, Sister Feng, please take it easy." Qin Keqing smiled and smoothed things over, "Although His Majesty said he was reluctant to do anything to you, he always dealt with you every time he came here. We four sisters in Chuxiu Palace, just You don’t even have a brother by your side, don’t you think you are too unreliable, and are you afraid that you will teach your children bad things?”

"Eat!" Wang Xifeng muttered and followed the two of them out, not daring to continue causing trouble. "That partial man always asks me to serve you. I'll see him again next time."

"That also depends on whether you are lying down or kneeling." Li Wanke had never been used to Feng Lazi's habit, and he knocked his opponent to the ground with just one sentence, "Okay, let you learn something honestly. You just say it’s not necessary. It’s been so many years. When I asked you to supervise me, you can’t even read the account books. What’s the use of complaining?”

"Who says I can't understand? It's not that he insists on promoting 'double-entry accounting' all over the world, which makes people confused." Wang Xifeng complained again, and happened to see Ping'er who was preparing tableware for her. , couldn't help but start to troll again, "Ping'er's hoof is okay, my original care was in vain, and now he doesn't even want to explain the account book to me."

"That's true. Thanks to grandma, who insisted on letting me remain innocent to serve Your Majesty. Otherwise, where would I be today?" Ping'er was fed up with a certain spicy guy's unreliability, and threw her away. Pressing on the chair, he sat down next to her and started eating, "Okay, if grandma continues to be like this, I'm afraid she will have to rely on the two little guys to take care of her when she gets old."

"I" Wang Xifeng really didn't dare to beep again this time.

(End of this chapter)