The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 186 Preparation
When the weather got warmer, Sydney suddenly realized that in a few months, the period of filial piety would be completely over.

In the Jiuge Courtyard, there are already a lot of books every day, A Yao and A Yuan are both studying, and next year, A Cong and A Ling should also start studying.

In early summer, the emperor mentioned to her again: "What you said earlier about choosing a playmate for A Yuan is almost done——A-Cai from the Seventh Brother's Mansion can come to accompany him in the coming spring, and the Fifth Brother is also willing to let the eldest son come in." And pick four more guards for him, eleven or twelve years old."

Hearing that four more guards would be added, Xue Li was taken aback: "Can't accommodate so many people?"

The Jiuge Courtyard is such a big place. Although all the palace people have moved to the six courtyards at the back, Acong and Aling are getting older, and the nanny's residence can also be moved there, but four more guards can be added...that is There is really no place to live!
——It is very inappropriate for an eleven or twelve-year-old boy to meet her often, and he is not related.Besides, the lintels who can be selected to be the prince's bodyguards are not low, and they can't sleep in a room with several people crowded together like palace people, which takes up more space.

Xueli thought to herself, with a small wonton wrapped in her hand: "How about I let them make a yard in the back? When the guards come to the front with something to do, I just don't show my face..."

She raised her head while talking, met his smiling eyes suddenly, and was taken aback again: "What's wrong?"

Xie Zhao said, "Is there anything you can't live in? You're going to Changqiu Palace soon."

Sydney: "..." After arriving at the Changqiu Palace, it is indeed spacious.

Adding up the front and back of the Changqiu Palace, it is at least the size of four Jiugeyuan, and there are no accompanying concubines.She could make everyone live well if she wanted to.

But she thought about it, and then said: "That's... not appropriate? The Changqiu Palace is considered a harem, and the four guards come in and out every day. Is it convenient?"

You can't be castrated and become a eunuch, can you? !

Xie Zhao snorted, glanced at the thirty or so small wontons she had already wrapped, and casually ordered the bean paste to be cooked.Flicking the folding fan in his hand: "When you enter the Changqiu Palace, A Yao and the two younger ones will follow first, and I will take A Yuan for you, how about it?"

……ah? !
Sydney was dumbfounded, Xie Zhao told her seriously about his plan.

He said that when the prince is five or six years old, he will almost leave his mother, and there are some who will not leave - such as his seventh brother, but those are the ones that the mother dotes on too strongly, which is a rare exception.

This separation was not deliberately ruthless, but as she had realized just now, many things were inconvenient.

After the prince grows up, he will have companions and guards. If he grows older, he may be happy to meet the literati in Luo'an City to chat about learning.If the mother is next to her, especially if she is the queen, it is not appropriate for these foreign men to visit or not.

Even if this etiquette is directly set as "no need to go", what if the queen comes out and accidentally bumps into each other?Could it be that the mother was locked in the palace and not allowed to go out just because the son was seeing people?No reason!
Xie Zhao told her: "Generally, the princes leave their mothers and live in the west, and a piece of palace over there is prepared for this. They can live until the fifteenth or sixteenth, and then leave the palace to open the house, or live in the east—— East Palace."

"Oh..." Xue Li should be a little sad.

Xie Zhao looked at her with a smile, closed her fan and tapped her forehead: "I know you are reluctant, but I have no intention of letting Ah Yuan go."

"Then what should we do?" Sydney asked with relief.

Xie Zhao: "Let him live in the Zichen Palace. I will take advantage of this year to repair the side hall, and give it to him, and Ah Cong can live in it in two years. The Jiuge Courtyard is also reserved. If I want to see the courtiers at night, don't you?" It’s convenient for them to stay there, let them go back to Jiugeyuan to sleep.”

Sydney's heart suddenly brightened up!
She felt pitiful for her son to live in the west by himself at a young age.But it is only natural for a son to follow his father!

In this way, it is convenient for them to go to see her alone without bringing guards, and it is not wrong for her to meet outsiders when she comes to Zichen Palace. Other things, to be honest, when it comes to the matter of "the Pope's son", he is naturally more suitable than her!
She smiled after thinking about it, very satisfied.Xie Zhao reached out and dabbed some flour on the tip of her nose: "Since you think it's okay, let's do it like this. After the filial piety period is over, I will file with the Ministry of Rites. After you move in, A Yuan will stay in Zichen Palace directly? "

"Okay, okay!" Xueli agreed very simply, wiped the flour on the tip of her nose, and said, "Then I'll tell Ah Yuan in advance, so that he won't be unhappy if he suddenly finds out!"

"Yes, that's fine." Xie Zhao nodded in agreement.As soon as the bead curtain rang, Dou Sha came in with cooked wontons.

Small wontons have thin skins and large fillings, but the so-called "big fillings" are not that big - after all, they are small overall.

Generally, it can be eaten once it is boiled in the pot, and it is convenient and fast to eat in Sydney. Recently, it is made every three to five times. When the children are tired from reading, they can eat it anytime they want to cook it.

The thirty or so people at present are divided into two bowls, each of them gets a bowl.There were scallions, dried shrimps and seaweed floating on the surface of the soup. Xie Zhao took a sip of the soup and praised how delicious it was, then Xue Li brushed his hands off, planning to eat it before continuing to wrap it.

While eating wontons, Xie Zhao suddenly said, "Ah Yao's husband's family can also start picking."

Sydney choked on a mouthful of soup!

"Cough!" As if a piece of dried shrimp had been choked into her throat, she coughed several times, her face turned red before she recovered, and looked at him in amazement, "A Yao is only seven years old!"

"I know, I just picked it slowly." Xie Zhao said with a relaxed smile.

Xue Li was stunned: "How old do you plan to marry her off?"

Xie Zhao frowned.

"I said 'just pick slowly'. It's too early to get married, and the folks get married in the [-]th and [-]th, so it's okay if we keep her until the [-]th or [-]th." He said, and fed her a wonton from his own bowl, " Don't be nervous, I would be reluctant to let her marry early."

Hey... But after all, we are starting to talk about marriage!
Xue Li suddenly felt that time passed so fast, as if one moment Ayao was still softly hugged in her arms, and the next moment she was about to start picking her husband's house.

Outside the palace, the Palace of Seven Princes.

The Seventh King didn't hide the matter of asking for a seal for the Yi family, and the brothers didn't hide it from their own female family members, so the Seventh King's Mansion has been very lively these few days.

Today, the concubines from all the palaces even got together. After congratulating, chatting, tasting tea and eating snacks for a while, the second concubine looked at everyone's expressions, cleared her throat and said, "This... the seventh younger siblings are from the palace. The one who walks around the most here, I will go in to see you after the ceremony, can you say something nice for us?"

What happened more than a year ago has made all the governments feel weak even now!

Originally, he had just figured out what the emperor meant, and he planned to get acquainted with the relationship before Lady Ruan became empress, so that he could handle things when he asked for something in the future.In the end, they didn't mention anything, and the palace suddenly checked the account.

It's okay to just check the accounts, but after such a check, a lot of relationships are revealed.Later, a group of eunuchs and female officials were dispatched from the palace. Thinking about it now makes people linger.

To be honest, if the palace is involved, the concubines really feel a little wronged - they are just ordinary social management, as for eunuchs and women who take this line and hack things in the palace to give gifts... They really don't like it. I know those rituals are not clean!
His Majesty has not said anything, and the governments have been a little flustered about this.As for crimes, if someone holds them in their hands, they will always be punished quickly to make people feel at ease-otherwise, who knows if he is planning to settle accounts after the fall?
Besides, even if His Majesty didn't plan to settle accounts after the fall, what if the queen takes office as a new official and comes out to punish these wives?
Most of the princesses are worried about the latter. After all, as long as the queen wants to stand up, the mistakes that have been caught under her nose are the easiest to be cited.For a whole year, except for the third concubine and the fifth concubine who had their daughters studying with the emperor in the palace, the rest of the people panicked when they thought about it, and they couldn't figure out Ruan's temper.

Now that the second princess mentioned this, the others also said a few words in twos and threes.Yi smiled and listened patiently, Fang heaved a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "Since your highnesses are willing to call me brother and sister, I will also call you sister-in-law. If you want me to say, sisters-in-law, don't worry about this, Mrs. Ruan is young and energetic , "The new official takes office three times" is probably unavoidable, but she will not take the sisters-in-law to the knife."

Mrs. Yi guessed in her heart, not to mention whether His Majesty would agree to this, even Mrs. Ruan would not do it herself!
"She checked the accounts last year and cleaned up the maids and eunuchs. In the final analysis, she cleaned up her own servants. But when it comes to the palace, she won't do it between the sisters-in-law." Yi Shi paused, "Isn't she going to do it just to gain power for herself?" A person who takes advantage of other people's good life. His Royal Highness also said that after Ruan Niang's wife is registered, it is more important for her to become His Majesty's legitimate wife, not the title of empress."

Is that true?
Everyone seemed to feel more at ease in their hearts, but they didn't know whether they should believe it or not.

Mrs. Ruan has too many children—His Majesty has adopted all of them with her. Once she becomes a queen, the children alone are enough to make her confident.What will happen then, who knows?

But anyway, since the phrase "who knows" is put here, it doesn't make any sense to let Mrs. Yi explain why.It's nothing more than taking one step at a time. If the empress really wants to make a move at that time, they really can only kneel in front of Changqiu Palace to confess their crimes.

In the middle of the night, the room was brightly lit, and the pair of walnuts Chen Jijiang held in his hand turned round and round.

The soft sound of walnuts rubbing against each other was endless, and Xu Shishui sitting beside was disturbed by this sound and became more and more annoyed and couldn't wait any longer.

But he didn't dare to ask, the master was obviously thinking about something right now.

Chen Jijiang himself was also sleepy, he yawned, and continued to think again.

What happened to Luo An recently... It's not right!

Although His Royal Highness Seventh Prince's request for a seal to Mrs. Yi has not yet been sent in, this matter is still on the table - all the princes of the mansions know about it, and the palace has also heard about it.He reckoned that His Majesty had probably heard about this matter, and when the memorial was sent in, all that was left was to approve or "no".

It is rare for a prince to seal the concubine and make such a big fuss—most of them congratulate after the seal!Please don't mention anything before the seal, just quietly hand in a memorial.

Isn't His Royal Highness afraid that His Majesty will not allow this matter?Will it be embarrassing when the time comes?How can Mrs. Yi be a man?
Chen Jijiang was thinking, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he figured out some ways.

——Is he sure that His Majesty will definitely play it?

Gee...

The matter of asking for a seal, together with the situation under his nose, went back and forth in Chen Jijiang's heart, and the way became clearer and clearer.

According to the principle of filial piety, such things are not allowed to be mentioned.In fact, when it comes to rules, Your Majesty and His Highnesses shouldn't even have sex—it's just that the courtiers are willing to turn a blind eye, so His Majesty can still toss Miss Ruan from time to time, and His Highnesses may not be obedient Follow this rule.

But even so, in the past two years, no one has heard of anyone who dared to take a concubine.The fact that His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince wants to register as a legal wife is obviously bigger than taking a concubine!

Is he really planning to be pointed at and scolded for being unfilial, or is he planning to pave the way for His Majesty?

As soon as the walnut in Chen Jijiang's hand stopped, he suddenly understood!

Others couldn't point their noses at the Seventh Highness and scold His Highness for being unfilial, because he didn't hand in the memorial, so the matter was not mentioned seriously.

Then he really has other plans!Right now, this is for others to see!
Hey... When did the two brothers discuss this matter?Why doesn't he, the superintendent, know?

Chen Jijiang scolded himself for being slow to react, took a breath, and told Xu Shishui: "Don't talk to the outside world, the palace can handle the matter of welcoming the queen."

Xu Shishui: "...Huh?"

"Changqiu Palace has been unoccupied for more than ten years. Let the eunuchs take a look. What needs to be trimmed and cleaned. Ask the Shangfu Bureau to measure the auspicious clothes for Mrs. Ruan. Don't make too much noise." Chen Jijiang spoke leisurely, with a calm breath, "It's time to get ready for the pearls and hairpins that should be prepared by the Shanggong Bureau, as well as the palace maids to be added to the Changqiu Palace - you should keep an eye on them yourself, and pick them one by one for the mother to take care of." Madam, everyone must be sensible."

"No... promise!" Xu Shishui replied a little confused, just about to ask a question, Chen Jijiang said conveniently: "Go."

He obviously didn't want to talk much, so Xu Shishui had no choice but to swallow his words, salute and leave.

The more Chen Jijiang thought about it, the more interesting it became.

It is inconvenient for His Majesty to say a lot of things directly, for example, after the funeral has to be announced, it cannot be done.So he used the hands of the Seven Kings to imply that "although it cannot be mentioned, it is possible to prepare in advance."

This may not seem like much use, but it is actually quite useful.

——From auspicious costumes and jewelry to repairing the Changqiu Palace, it takes a lot of time.It's easy to write down the book, but you have to wait slowly.

If you have prepared all these in advance, then you can choose a very near auspicious day, and the rest of the book will be completed soon.

Chen Jijiang thought about it and had fun: As for it?Your Majesty, are you in such a hurry?The eldest son of the emperor is four years old, are you two considered "old husband and wife"?Do you still have to be anxious for this moment, wishing that it would be good to put Miss Ruan in the back seat one day earlier?

She is not a queen and no one is in the way of you two!
Chen Jijiang laughed from the bottom of his heart and shouted "serve".

The little girl who was wearing a white cloak like a little hairball was going to be a queen.

Did he expect it?It seems to have been predicted early in the morning, but it seems that there are many links that are quite different from what was expected.

(End of this chapter)