Leader Lan Palace

Chapter 2424 Thirst

Yongqi rushed into Zhaoxiang's house excitedly, intending to go to Hu's room first.

But in the end, he still stood at the entrance of the Dongpian Hall first.

Yingyuan and Hu's, one east and one west, live separately in the side halls on both sides.Yingyuan has a good family background and gave birth to an elder brother, so she lives in Dongtouer.

Yongqi raised her eyes and fixedly looked at Yingyuan's palace gate.

Ever since the incident last time, both of them have had knots in their hearts, and Yingyuan has been lukewarm towards him these days.Even when he went to see his son, Yingyuan would just sit beside him and accompany him, not talking if she could, let alone take the initiative to make out with him.

Since Hu Borong came back last year when she was pregnant with a child, Yingyuan became even colder.

After Hu Borong's daughter was born, he came into Yingyuan's house again, saying that he was to see her son, and Yingyuan always beat him with words, saying, "Big Gege just landed, and I need you more." Elder brother's love. Elder brother is standing here, so let's go and see Da Gege and accompany Hu."

"My son is in good health, so it's fine; the child is grown up, so I don't need to worry about it."

Yongqi herself finds it boring to be pushed by Yingyuan with such sneering words, and gradually it becomes less and less.

But in fact, he still hasn't let Yingyuan go in his heart. Every time he walks to the door, he wants to step up, open the curtain and go in... However, when he thinks of Yingyuan's cold appearance, his heart feels inexplicable If you are timid, you will never move forward.

As soon as San De saw Elder Brother like this, he had a plan in his heart, so he hurried forward and reached out to summon the woman in Yingyuan Hall.

Both Huang Liu and Zi Wan were there, and they looked at each other, then the more serious Huang Liu came down, bowed to Yong Qi, but said in a low voice, "These days are really dry and dry, which makes people feel uncomfortable." Following the troubles, Ge Ge felt a little restless in her heart. Therefore..."

Yongqi closed her eyes and said, "I see. You can fetch more fruits for Gege and tell her to drink the soup. I'll come back to see her tomorrow."

Yongqi was excited at first, but now she is not interested, so she went into Hu Borong's hall and stood there, looked at her daughter, then pulled out the curtain and went back to the main hall.

In fact, how big is Zhaoxiang's house, but the three yards and the women in the back house all live together.So E Ning had been quietly watching through the window.Seeing Yongqi standing outside Yingyuan Hall and then entering Hu Borong's room, her heart was always a little sad.

Unexpectedly, elder brother just stood in Hu Borong's room, then came out, and then walked towards the main room...

E Ning was so happy that she was in a hurry, she hurriedly took off her robe, and hurriedly went to the door to meet Yong Qi.

"My elder brother is back? Are all arrangements for the ceremony of praying for rain as entrusted by the emperor?"

Yong Qi shook her head, "No."

E Ning became worried, "The day is coming soon, why hasn't Elder Brother arranged it? Isn't Huang Ama going to..."

E Ning's worry was beyond words, Yong Qifang stopped and looked at E Ning.

These days, E Ning has also haggarded a lot.

As long as Yingyuan neglected Yongqi, Yongqi also neglected E Ning.E Ning knew she was wrong, this time Hu's daughter was born, and it was less than a month, E Ning took care of herself for the first few months...Yong Qi didn't understand, this is E Ning desperately trying to please him .

Yong Qi sighed softly, and finally stretched out her hand to gently shake E Ning's hand, "Don't worry, it's not that I didn't make arrangements, it's that Huang Ama happened to be away from the garden, and I didn't see Huang Ama."

E Ning breathed a sigh of relief, and because of Yong Qi's long-lost closeness, her eyes turned red instantly.

She hastily lowered her head and hid her eyes, "So that's the case, but I'm just worrying about it. Elder brother is sure to do things properly. He has never failed to handle any errands assigned by the emperor. He is always the first among friends." One piece!"

Yong Qi nodded, and then softened her tone, "Are you going to say hello to Er Niang in the past few days?"

E Ning quickly blushed and responded, "Look at what elder brother said, where will the concubine not go? Although the palace is not as good as ordinary people outside, the daughter-in-law can have a happy day and night in front of the mother-in-law; Xiao'an, five days and one day's peace, this is the rule of a concubine, I will strictly abide by it, and I will never dare to neglect it."

Yong Qi nodded in satisfaction, took advantage of the situation and took E Ning's hand, and the two entered the hall together.

Yong Qi asked as she walked, "How is Er Niang? What did Er Niang say?"

The couple sat down on the edge of the Kang, with the Kang table between them.

Because the sunlight outside was really strong, E Ning hurriedly ordered, "Drop down the reed curtain on the porch, and let Elder Brother carefully dry it."

The little eunuch outside responded and lowered all the reed curtains hanging on the outer eaves of the porch.The reed curtain separates the sun, and the corridor outside the window is quiet, and the inside of the window is even more refreshing.

Yong Qi couldn't help staring at the reed curtain again.

E Ning didn't know, so she explained, "My elder brother blamed the concubine for making her own decisions, and lowered the curtain so early? It's indeed not the time of midsummer, but this year there is too little rain. It's just April. , the sun is already so poisonous."

Yong Qi shook her head with a smile, "You are naturally in charge of such an idea, how can I blame this?"

Yongqi lowered her head, and weighed the thoughts in her heart. She couldn't help but seemed to be talking to herself, or said to E Ning, "Tell me, why do you use this reed curtain to block the sun? This reed was originally the most beautiful. Easy to light, isn't it?"

E Ning Leng was surprised that Yong Qi asked such a question, and was also taken aback by the question, then smiled, "This is an old rule for thousands of years, we just followed it, but we never asked, 'Why? '. I also feel a little puzzled when I say that it is called elder brother. Isn't it true that the reed is easy to light, so why has it never blocked the sun?"

As E Ning said, she thought of the fire that broke out in Shou'an Palace on the fourth day of September in the 26th year of Qianlong.That fire was also caused by the sunshade curtain. To be honest, the water leaked many times in this palace, but it all happened on the sunshade curtain.

Everyone in the palace knew the hidden dangers of the sunshade curtains, but the palace couldn't do without them to shade the sun.It was already September, and it was said that the sky was already cool, but the sunshade curtains could not be removed yet.

"What are you thinking?" Yong Qi looked at E Ning distractedly, and there was an unpredictable smile at the corner of her mouth, so she asked anxiously.

E Ning then told Yong Qi about the fire in Shou'an Palace.

"Listen, elder brother. Originally, as long as the guards were called into the palace to put out the fire, nothing could be extinguished. But it was the eunuchs who were afraid of being held accountable, so they closed the gate of the palace tightly to prevent outsiders from coming in to put out the fire. Just relying on their few half-stretched men, how can they be used, and this only makes the fire expand."

Yong Qi's heart skipped a beat when she heard it.

E Ning raised her eyes and looked at Yong Qi, "...But since for thousands of years, knowing that reeds are easy to catch fire, but still using this sunshade, firstly because it is light and easy to move, and secondly, maybe I always feel these things Reeds are born near water, so they are naturally watery. Water can overcome fire, so you don’t have to worry about reeds catching fire, right?”

Yong Qi smiled, "Well, that makes sense."

Yong Qi hid her thoughts deeply, but E Ning didn't hear anything else.Seeing that Elder Brother didn't speak for a long time, he turned around and talked about Concubine Yu again.

"...Er Niang, she is in good health, but when I look at it, it seems that there is still a stone in my heart." E Ning said intentionally, "I think, I am afraid that Er Niang misses Hu's wife and daughters Come on, I don't want to ask further. After all, Hu and I always hide our minds, and I took care of her for a few months, but she didn't even ask me to hug her as a aunt."

E Ning glanced at Yong Qi as she spoke, "I couldn't help but think too much, I always wondered if she took advantage of going to Rehe with Elder Brother last year, so she pestered Elder Brother? That’s all for Ge Ge, why did my brother’s legs hurt after he came back from Rehe?”

"The doctor always said that my elder brother was affected by the wind and cold, and the external cold was invading... I thought that my elder brother was in good health, so why would I be afraid of the wind and cold? I was worried, it must be the Hu family who was pestering my elder brother Grandpa is too extreme, it was at that time, when it was the most emptiness, that Elder Brother was stolen by the wind and cold!"

Yong Qi couldn't help frowning, "...what are you talking about! My leg is already healed."

The lack of rain this spring has improved his legs.

E Ning had no choice but to bear it, and gave a wry smile, "Okay, well, my elder brother is protecting the Hu family, so I won't talk about it. It will save my elder brother from being troubled again."

Yong Qi's eyes fell to the ground, "Er Niang...but what is it that bothers you?"

E Ning sighed, "Oh, Er Niang, she is really worried about the fifteen elder brothers...they sent empress pox so smoothly, Huang Ama also gave Wufutang to fifteen Brother lives."
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The meaning of Wufutang, Yong Qi knew it clearly.Besides, in the 24th year of Qianlong, the emperor himself made it clear enough in the imperial poems!
Yong Qi lowered her head deeply and didn't speak for a long time.

——Since the 13th year of Qianlong, after Yong Cong, the son of Empress Xiaoxian, died young, he knew that Huang Ama was already interested in him!In those years when she visited the ancestral mausoleum, she went with her fourth brother and sixth brother, and he was the leader, which is enough to show that he is already the most important prince in Huang Ama's heart!

Even after the birth of another son, Yongzhen, Huang Ama did not lessen his respect for him because of Yongzhen.

But everything, unknowingly, has changed quietly since the 21st year of Qianlong, when the imperial concubine was able to give birth...

But fortunately, in the 21st year of Qianlong, the first concubine to be born was only a princess; however, after 22 years of Qianlong, princes were born one after another—Huang Ama's attitude towards him gradually changed. changed to go.

From the 13th year of Qianlong to the 22nd year of Qianlong, for nearly ten years, he was the prince who was most concerned by Huang Ama.But everything changed so slowly; when he became more vigilant, the situation became worse and worse. No matter how hard he tried to restore it, he couldn't stop it!

Especially in the 25th year of Qianlong, especially after the birth of the little fifteen, Huang Ama's words and deeds became even more uncharacteristic!
Not only did he publicly say that Xiao Shiwu resembled him the most in appearance; he even made such a big poster for Xiao Shiwu and posted it in the bedroom, as if he wished he could see it every morning and night!
Now, that little fifteen has finally succeeded in inoculating the pox, and Huang Ama simply gave him the Wufutang to live in!
Does that mean that although Huang Ama once cared for him, she paid him the most attention in the past ten years... But when the imperial concubine was able to give birth and gave birth to the prince, Huang Ama's thoughts , after all, has been removed from him, and placed on Ling Guifei's child!
At this moment, he was like a person sitting by the water, holding dust in his hands.He watched the grains of sand slide down from his fingers bit by bit, and gradually became a stream, he could only stare blankly, watching everything intensify...
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E Ning was a little worried, so she quickly stood up and walked over to Yongqi, and stretched out her hand to hold Yongqi's arm, "But the leg hurts again? Elder brother, I'd better listen to my concubine and invite some imperial doctors to come here." Consultation, take care of this disease!"

"No!" Yong Qi raised her hand to stop her, "...you can't let outsiders know that my leg is wrong, absolutely not! Otherwise, what's the difference between me and the lame old man?"

Yong Qi raised her head and stared at E Ning with determination, "I can't do anything bad anymore, let Huang Ama know. I have to be a perfect and perfect son... I want to let Huang Ama I can't ignore my kindness, I want Huang Ama not to bury my existence!"

E Ning was also sad, squatted down, and hugged Yong Qi's arm.

"My elder brother's heart, why don't I understand? But elder brother, if this disease is not treated carefully, if it drags on for a long time, and it enters the bone, what should we do?"

Yong Qi slowly raised her head, her eyes were already filled with firm light, "No way. I am so young, so what if I suffer from the wind and cold! The future will be long, just be careful and take care of it, that's it."
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Yong Qi came out of E Ning's room with a strange light in her eyes.

He went to the outer study in the front yard, walked down the corridor, and saw through the latticed window on the wall that in the garden across the yard, Yingyuan was sitting on a swing, holding her son in her arms, and was telling stories to her son.

Yingyuan is worthy of being a girl from the Sochaoluo family. Her family has a long history of education, so she taught her son character early on.

Young Won is telling the story of "24 Filial Piety".

Such a heartwarming scene made Yong Qi stop again and listen carefully.

Yingyuan told her son, "Lying on the ice and begging for a carp".

Yingyuan spoke softly, "...there is a filial son named Wang Xiang. His biological mother has passed away long ago, and only his stepmother is the only one. In winter, his stepmother said that he wanted to eat fresh carp and asked him to go fishing. This It was originally a stepmother's trouble, but Wang Xiang didn't hesitate, went out to the ice, untied his clothes and lay down on the ice, melted the ice with his own body temperature, and jumped out two carp!"

Yong Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Young-won went on to talk about "mosquitoes full of blood".The story is that Wu Meng, a native of the Jin Dynasty, had a poor family without a mosquito net, and his father could not sleep peacefully because of mosquito bites. Every summer night, Wu Meng would always sit naked in front of his father’s bed and let the mosquitoes bite him, so that his father could sleep peacefully.

The two stories of supreme filial piety are both about being a son who does not hesitate to make himself suffer in order to win the favor of his parents.

Yong Qi couldn't help but think of the empress dowager's 24th birthday celebration two years ago, the emperor led the princes and grandchildren to perform dances in front of the empress dowager... What the emperor did happened to be the "drama entertainment" in "[-] filial piety". Dear" allusion.

The emperor practiced this "24 filial piety" story personally, and Yongqi's heart that was already bubbling has finally found a safe place to rest.

He stepped forward resolutely, no longer lingering on the warm scene between Yingyuan and her son, and went straight forward to find his own future.
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On April [-], the emperor prayed for rain in Heilongtan after the yu sacrifice just twelve days ago.

In half a month, the emperor prayed for rain twice, which shows the urgency of the emperor to alleviate the drought this year.

When saluting, all the ministers and clan members were a little worried. They were afraid that if God didn't send rain after praying for rain this time, the emperor would definitely be unhappy, and their ministers would naturally tremble with fear.

Especially a group of officials of the Qin Tianjian, they were all so nervous that they shivered in this early summer when the sun was extremely poisonous.

——Since the emperor is praying for rain, the ministers of the Qin Tianjian have to calculate the weather for a few days in advance. It is best to arrange for the emperor to salute before a rainy day, just to go with the will of heaven.

But after all, the ministers of the Qin Tianjian are also mortals with naked eyes, even if they can know astronomy and geography from the bottom, and they can watch the stars at night from outside, but after all, no one can guarantee that people can definitely understand the will of heaven, right?Therefore, it was the Emperor Qizuo who could salute today, but they were not sure whether it would rain within a few days.

If the second praying for rain still doesn't work, others will be fine, they themselves will definitely be warned by the emperor.

Therefore, Yongqi also participated in the previous preparations, so he became acquainted with several ministers of the Qin Tianjian.Yongqi then asked, "My lords, look, can the emperor's prayer for rain come true?"

The ministers of the Qin Tianjian also thought that Yongqi was worried about the emperor, so they all hurriedly said, "...the ministers have done everything they have learned, and it should rain in the next few days. Please also ask Wu Ah Brother, don't worry."

Yong Qi raised her eyes and looked at the sky in a disinterested manner.

"Is it really going to rain? Don't lie to me."

Yongqi snorted softly, "I'm still asking you, the emperor will hold the yu sacrifice on the fourth day of April. Didn't you say that there was rain around the [-]th day of April? But it's been so many days since the emperor's yu sacrifice, why hasn't there been a single drop of rain?" come down?"

Several ministers were about to kneel down, "How dare you lie to fifth elder brother? My minister seriously calculated that there should be rain in the past few days. It's just... this year's sky is like this, and fifth elder brother has also seen it. I dare not say, God willed him..."

Not only was Yong Qi not annoyed, but the corners of her lips curled up slightly, "Hmm, if you don't want to go down, don't go down, you're so frightened! It didn't rain after the fourth day of April, and the emperor didn't take your hats off. !"

"You are right. It is God's will whether it rains or not. How can a person control God's will? Even the emperor, the son of heaven, shouldn't this be a big ceremony and pray to heaven?"

Several ministers hurriedly pulled up their robes and knelt down, "...in front of the fifth elder brother who is a true god, I dare not lie. I think that there may be rain in these few days, but really, it is not Dare to be sure."

"If the emperor inquires about the crime, I will ask the fifth elder brother to turn around, persuade the emperor for my servants, and pass on the difficulties of my servants to the emperor on my behalf."

After hearing this, Yong Qi became more relaxed, "Well, I made a note. Get up, all of you."
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In the Old Summer Palace, Wanxi invited Qing Zao to visit once, planning to outsource the bamboo forests, lotus ponds, and fields from the Old Summer Palace, and now save the income in her hands.

The two of them worked on their abacus, worked out the accounts, checked them, and handed them over to Qingzao from Wanxi.

"I'm in the palace and it's not appropriate to come forward, so I asked Yongxuan to come forward and hand over all the saved money to the 'Wucheng Congee Factory', and asked them to add 'cooking food' to it."

The porridge factory is the place where the government runs a relief porridge.At the beginning of the ninth year of Shunzhi, the "Five Cities Congee Factory" was originally set up in the inner city (one city in the east, west, north, south) and outer city, and there was nowhere to set it up.Later, it was gradually not limited to the five cities, and by the time of Kangxi, there were dozens of them.Later, according to the specific needs of refugees, disasters, etc., the number of porridge factories will be increased.

The rice, stone and firewood needed by these porridge factories are all allocated from the Ministry of Households and belong to public funds.

Due to the drought this spring, Zhili and Jingzhong have opened porridge factories to provide porridge relief.Due to the long time, many porridge factories have been closed as usual.If it is reopened, the silver taels required will not be a small amount.

Wanxi and Qing Zao made a plan to give up all the deposits in the garden, so as to alleviate the shortage of public funds of the Ministry of Households, and to help the victims of the disaster.

Qing Zao also sighed softly, "The porridge factory cooking relief is only a temporary relief after all. If you want the people to live and work in peace and contentment, you have to rely on Huang Ama to pray for rain."

Wanxi has seen the emperor worry about the drought these days, and she is also worried.

If the sky does not rain, the people will think that it is punishment from heaven.As the Son of Heaven, he has to shoulder this responsibility on both shoulders.

Although she was worried in her heart, Wanxi still smiled with relief on her face, "Don't worry, just believe that your Huang Ama is. Your Huang Ama, if you pray for rain so sincerely, God will definitely give you grace."

Wanxi shook Qing Zao's hand, "Ask Yongxuan to come with you, and give you a letter of greetings under the joint name of Huang Ama. You are a girl born in Jiangnan, and you have a good name. There is water in 'Zao' It's silly, let your Huang Ama read it, and you can feel more at ease, right?"

Qing Zao felt grateful and hurriedly said, "That daughter-in-law would dare to sign Ling Erniang's title together! Huang Ama must like Ling Erniang's title even more after seeing Ling Erniang's title!"

Wanxi felt embarrassed, and patted the back of Qingzao's hand, "You must have watched "Dream of Red Mansions" too much, and you have learned to be glib."

Qing Zao giggled, "The daughter-in-law is not glib, it's really a good name to make Er Niang take it seriously!" - "The Book of Songs" says: "There are vines in the wild, and there are zero dews."

There is a beautiful person, clear and graceful'...Look, there are water and grass in Ling Erniang's honorable name, Huang Ama will surely relieve the drought in her heart when she sees her! "

Just as they were talking, Xiao Qi from outside led Jiu Jiu with one hand and Xiao Shiwu with the other.

The children grabbed all kinds of flowers and plants in their hands.

It's almost the Dragon Boat Festival, and all kinds of headwear flowers and purses will be made in the palace. These flowers and plants are all necessary.

Only Xiao Shiwu held up his white and fat little hand, and spread it out as if offering a treasure in front of Wanxi's eyes—but what he grasped was different from others.

(End of this chapter)