box of hearts

Chapter 213 Broken Marigold (1)
1.
The turmoil during Qingming had just subsided, and the Dragon Boat Festival had already passed.The summer heat in May welcomes people, durian flowers shine in the eyes, and it is a summer scene.

The nightmare of Qingtian dissipated with the ebb and flow of the sun and the moon. Every day, I looked at Shichahai Shichahai's Qingbo and Wanhua, living like a lotus, with a pure heart and a simple elegance.And Qi She also lived with her every night, just like when he was in Ruyuan before.Although it was not publicized, the news spread quickly, and the government and the public were all shocked, and they looked at Qingtian even more, especially the dignitaries and female relatives from all walks of life speculated and discussed in private, giving rise to many absurd claims.Those who had established friendship with Qingtian in the early years, a few came to hear the news, and shed a few tears of reunion, and more pretended that they had never heard of it, and when they mentioned it, they just rolled their mouths, "It turns out that he is from a humble background. , I did such a disgusting thing again, why didn't I take her to soak the pig cage? If I go to her door again, I will only get my feet dirty. Besides, the emperor is going to get married at the end of the year, and the regent is about to step down Now, go run to serve his wild concubine what to do!"

Regime change is like a strong wind from the sea, and everyone in the officialdom feels it increasingly clearly.The young emperor, Qi Hong, showed his talents for the first time. In addition to the usual schoolwork, administration and bow horse training, he often read books and waited for the day.The regent Qi She is gradually withdrawing his sharpness, he speaks less and less, and more and more only one sentence: "Your Majesty's order." Like a new sailor who is about to replace the old captain to take over the steering wheel, Qi She knows, The young man will lead the boat to break the waves and set sail until stars that have never appeared one after another rise above the sea level; and he will retreat to the corner of the ship's side, and can only touch the hand that has worn him hard in his memory. cables and sails.

Qi She stared at his hand, the dazzling imperial cinnabar pen in his hand.The sun was shining outside the window, and there were many large and small ice basins in the value house of Chongding Courtyard. Behind an ice sculpture of the five-poisonous tiger, Zhou Dun appeared and reported: "My lord, Eunuch Ying is here, saying that the emperor has a will."

Qi She threw away the pen and sighed, "Please."

The handprint of the supervisor of ceremonies should be Xi, with his stomach shy, and his hands clasped in front of him, "The emperor rewards Uncle Regent with a bowl of goose meat dumplings, a bowl of mutton crystal dumplings, a bowl of steamed eel with five flavors, a plate of pork and spinach buns, and a bowl of old duck. A pot of porridge and a pot of mung bean soup will be served by the imperial dining room, no thanks." Then he bowed his waist and smiled, and said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor is concerned about your obedience, so I specially asked the old servant to tell you My lord, the weather at noon is very bad, my lord has eaten and rested, so I don't have to do everything myself, but I have to take care of myself."

The white summer light pours down from the branches of the Jujube tree in the courtyard, straight to the front of the eaves.Qi She was standing under the eaves, and responded with a burst of laughter: "I always bother the emperor to remember, how dare I call my ministers? I also need to thank my father-in-law for running this journey in person. Zhou Dun——"

Zhou Dun immediately handed over the prepared red envelope, Ying Xi took it in his hand, and said humbly: "I have to pay the prince every time, it is really disrespectful and I am ashamed to accept it."

Not long after Ying Xi left, the Imperial Dining Room came into the Chongding Courtyard for lunch.Qi She moved a few chopsticks for a reason, and the rest was rewarded to the office staff.

I don't know what's wrong, there's always something heartless.Immediately, I asked to pass a message to the Qianqing Palace, saying that I could not meet the audience as usual in the afternoon, please forgive me.Then set the car out of Xihuamen and go north to Beifu.

Arriving at Fuzhong, just handing in the application card, the shadow of the sun is shining on the east wall, and the flowers bloom all the way from the second hall, peony, peony, magnolia, Daphne, camellia, crape myrtle, hydrangea, poppy, butterfly... and there are sheds Fenced roses, wood fragrance, rose, thorn plum, hibiscus, Lingxiao, tumi, pearl orchid, Yueyuehong... Several pairs of egrets wading and playing in the water, surrounded by flowers and water, on the forehead there is a pair of big gold letters on azurite ground. On the plaque, the three characters "Jiuhuaju" on the plaque, the vigorous and round brushwork goes straight to the heart, making people's full of worries disappear invisible.

Qi She didn't call Tong Chuan, and crept into the quiet hall at the northernmost end of Huaju.The wind wheel rustled in the hall, blowing the ice urn in front of it, and jasmine blossomed on the ice, filling the room with a cool fragrance.On a bench inlaid with mahogany and marble under the gable, Qing Tian is leaning on his body to embroider. His bare feet are half exposed in the magnolia-colored silk skirt, and the toes are dyed with ten spots of delicate red. Instead, his hands are clear and colorless, and the healed fingers of his left hand are newly born. With a little fingernail, it looks like a baby's deciduous teeth, and her black hair can be rolled up a little at the back of her head, and there is a pomegranate flower in season in her heart.

Qi She looked at it quietly for a while, and then laughed aloud, "I used to be too lazy to move the horizontal needle instead of the vertical line, why did you become more virtuous this time?"

The seven or eight maidservants who were waiting around had their heads drooping in sleepiness, but now they all woke up.Ziwei sat on the step stool and played the fan, turned her back, and picked the handle of the fan at the root of her hair, "Yo, the prince is back."

The parrot Feiqing hanging under the truss quacked: "My lord is back."

Qingtian lowered the embroidery work in his hands, with an uncontrollable smile on his face, "Why are you so busy at this time? Yingzhi, go and pour another bowl of honeysuckle dew."

"No, it's enough to have you as a blessing." Qi She grabbed several imperial kiln porcelain bowls and poured two sips of Qingtian's leftover iced drink.That head of Xiao Jing led the maids Qin Yu and Qin Meng to take off his robes for him, took off the lace-up boots under his feet, took another pair of Chenqiao shoes with puli cloth, and then gave everyone a big mouth , and retreated to the outer hall together.Qi She only had her close-fitting green pleats and clear water socks left, and leaned back on Qingtian's lap as a pillow.

"What's the matter, came back suddenly in the middle of the afternoon?" Qingtian wiped off a little sweet water on Qi Shecai's beard with his fingertips, put it on the tip of his tongue and sucked it, "Don't you go to Qianqing Palace to teach the little emperor to read folds? "

Qi She lazily closed her eyes halfway, and grunted in the bottom of her throat: "It's nothing, I'm too busy."

Qingtian bent down and picked up the small Qingluo fan that the maid had thrown away from the pedal, shook it with one hand, and wiped the perspiration from the man's forehead with the other hand.The slight moisture changed into a golden color under the light, as if his entire face was made of gold, and when he touched it, it would be stained with glittering gold flakes.

"Too busy, or upset that there is nowhere to be busy in the future?"

Her words made Qi She open his eyes again, he stared up for a moment, and then raised his hands to reach her face, "They all say 'roundworms in the stomach', no one has really seen it, today it is a See, this roundworm is quite cute in appearance."

Qingtian smiled and tapped Qi She's face with the fan, he moved on her leg, and snorted: "In the blink of an eye, half of the year has passed, think about this time next year, I will not be able to deal with all the government affairs of the country. Smell, I can only stay here all day long to groom my horses and tidy you up."

Qingtian was startled, "I didn't offend you, what are you going to do with me?"

"Nonsense, the so-called 'much ado about nothing', a man like me is idle at home, if I don't find fault with you, how can I live?"

"Look at what you said, it's not that the little emperor asked you to be dismissed and returned to the farmland as soon as he took power. There are so many things inside and outside, and your help is indispensable."

"My lord is on the stage. If I don't know what to do, if I don't know how to do it, I will point and point at the side. It's still light to be disliked. If I don't do it, I will lose my family and lose my life at the end of the festival. While the emperor still believes I, respect me as an uncle, I hurriedly retreated bravely, and since then I have not heard anything outside the window." He sighed heavily, and closed his eyes again, "I am 34 years old, so I am not too old, right? But this life has come to an end, if you see nothing at first glance, the rest of your life will be a poor and settled family, when the time comes, you will play foolishly, get sick, and drink away your sorrows, don't look down on me."

Seeing Qi She's lost look, Qingtian felt a pang of pain in his heart, but he just smiled at him with the same joy, and said: "When I was just sold into Huaihua Hutong, the first lady in the "Ruizhu Immortal List" She is from the Liufu class, named A Zhu, and nicknamed "Ye Mingzhu" because her skin was so white that it was extremely white. At that time, a famous talent stayed with her all night and wrote a little poem for her. Ling, I can’t remember the rest, but I only remember one sentence: “Wake up and sleep in the snow.” [1] This is not an exaggeration of words, then Ah Zhu is really so white and so bright. It’s a pity that God is jealous Hongyan, later a guest's wife was not used to seeing her, so she bribed the maid around her to put something in her diet, and within half a year, her whole body was covered with big and small bruises. Although the dark spots on my face could not reach the point of disfigurement, my beauty was greatly reduced, and the business was naturally gone, so I was resold by the mother in charge to the third-class hall, and I never heard from him again. After many years, I have already debuted as a Business, I made a note one day, I met a middle-aged woman in front of the restaurant, she spoke to me, and I recognized her as Sister Ah Zhu, she had already changed beyond recognition. She was selling melon seeds in a basket, by the way Soliciting customers on the street is a secret trick. I couldn't bear it and told her not to do it. From now on, I would help her with a few taels of silver every month, which was enough for her to live. Sister Ah Zhu said, "It wasn't for money either. I was born well before, and when I walked People stared at me everywhere, and a lot of men surrounded me. Later, my face was broken, and no one would look at me again. If I don’t do this, no one will accompany me, and I can only sit in the room Who wants to face such a face in a daze inside? When you get old, you will understand, what, it is better than facing yourself.'”

(End of this chapter)