The Empress Arrives: Rebirth of Concubine Hua

Chapter 53 Impatiens Box
"Put this ginseng away. It may be of great use to you in the future."

After Nian Shilan finished speaking, she stretched out her hands lazily and looked at Xiaoman who was kneeling in front of her.

Xiao Linzi received the order and took the brocade box containing ginseng and went downstairs.

The Impatiens flowers were in full bloom in June. In front of Xiaoman was a four-grid wooden box filled with four-color Impatiens petals.

There are pink, purple, bright red, and a pink-purple color.

While Xiaoman was gently polishing the surface of Nian Shilan's nails with a nail file, she quietly asked Nian Shilan which color of petals she liked.

Nian Shilan looked at the wooden box and said, "Let's use the bright red one."

Xiaoman lowered her head and polished her nails carefully. She thought for a moment and said, "The concubine is as beautiful as a fairy. In my opinion, any color you use will look great. But a few days ago, I saw that the concubine also used bright red. How about changing to a more beautiful color?"

Guyu was fiddling with a small clay pot with a small piece of alum in it. She was crushing the alum with a wooden pestle.

Nian Shilan looked at Xiaoman, who was lowering her head, for a long while before she chuckled and spoke.

"You are a good talker, girl. You are just afraid that if my wife and I use the same color, people will say we are overstepping our bounds, right? But I don't care about that much. I just know that red looks good, so I'll use it."

Xiaoman stopped talking and did the task at hand more seriously and carefully.

Guyu ground the alum into powder, picked up the wooden box containing the petals, put all the bright red Impatiens petals into the pottery jar, put them together with the alum, and continued to grind them gently with a wooden pestle.

By the time Guyu had mixed and ground the flower petals and alum, Xiaoman had also polished Nian Shilan's nails.

Xiaoman took a fingernail-sized amount of floral mud and gently covered Nian Shilan's nails.

She also took some wild hemp leaves and wrapped the nails with the Impatiens paste one by one, tying them up with cotton thread neither too tight nor too loose.

Nian Shilan had impatiens wrapped on her nails, and she was fed and served by the servants throughout the day.

Dinner was served by Mangzhong and Hanlu. Mangzhong was responsible for feeding the concubine with chopsticks in small mouthfuls, while Hanlu was responsible for serving tea.

Nian Shilan took a bite of the lotus and chicken slices and said with a smile that it was okay to dye her nails once every half a month, but if she had to dye her nails every two or three days, she would rather have bare hands for the rest of her life.

Mangzhong picked up another piece of asparagus with chopsticks, and Nian Shilan shook his head.

"I won't eat this today. It's all gone."

Hanlu, who was serving tea at the side, covered her lips and smiled secretly.

"My master really loves beauty." Nian Shilan had stopped eating and drinking at this time, and was lazily waiting for Mangzhong to wipe the corners of her mouth before she said this.

"Women love beauty. Don't you girls love beauty? Then I will tell my master that you will stop using rouge and powder from tomorrow."

Nian Shilan was talking with a smile on her face.

The maids serving in the room knew she was joking and relaxed their tense hearts.

Hanlu has always been the bravest among the servants, she said with a smile.

"Master loves to joke with us servants. Master, you are only seventeen years old, and you are naturally beautiful. Even if all the servants in this mansion are added together, they are not as beautiful as one finger of yours. We servants know that we are crude and can only try our best to decorate ourselves with some external things, but we are just monkeys in human clothing. Master, why don't you give us some alms and help us become more beautiful?"

When Nian Shilan listened to Hanlu's words, he had a new idea in his mind.

This girl is clever in her words and I heard she can read a few words. Right now, the only maid she needs is Songzhi, which is far from enough.

If I let the housekeeper select the useful ones, I'm afraid there will be spies involved. It would be better to observe and train a few useful maids in my own courtyard, who will be useful in the future.

Nian Shilan suddenly realized that she was only seventeen years old in this life, and when she looked at those girls who were fourteen or fifteen years old, she was addressing them based on the memories and habits of her previous life.

She couldn't help but laugh and shook her head. She had to be more careful in the future. She should be arrogant and spoiled now. If she was too old-fashioned, Yinzhen might be on guard against her.

Songzhi came in with an exquisite box in her right hand. Hanlu took it and opened it. It was a box of spices.

The spices are made into several small plum blossom-shaped cakes, and the color is like red plums.

A box full of spices, exuding a rich fragrance like blooming flowers, was Nian Shilan's favorite smell when she was in her boudoir.

Hanlu brushed away the smell of spices with her hand, took a deep breath and sighed.

"It smells so good, but not greasy. Look, my master, this is also exquisite. Would you like me to light one for you? I will fumigate your clothes with this scent."

Nian Shilan just took a look and sent Hanlu to close the box and put it away.

Before going to bed at night, Xiaoman and Guyu took off the marigolds and wild hemp leaves that had been wrapped on Nian Shilan's hands for a day, and helped her wash her hands and face, and apply facial cream before she went to bed.

But others didn’t know that Nian Shilan closed her eyes and fell into dream again.

This time the dream was not only real, but also frightening. In the dream, she vaguely caught a glimpse of something she had never thought of in her previous life.

(End of this chapter)