Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 54 Wind and Rain
After an eight-day trek, on the fourth day of May in the 48th year of Kangxi, Shengjia arrived at the Rehe Palace.

The famous summer resort in later generations is still only in a rough scale at this time, the buildings are not dense, and it is far from the splendor of later generations.

The name is Cao Yong, who is the imperial guard and accompanied by the prince, and now he is back at the camp of the guards.Originally the sixteenth elder brother asked Cao Yong to settle with him, but he was the prince of the undivided mansion, and he shared a small house with the fifteenth elder brother, and there were eunuchs and maids who accompanied him.Cao Yong really didn't want to join in the fun, so he greeted Shu Ming and returned to resettle here.

*
The fifth day of May, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Kangxi held a small banquet in the palace, and the accompanying princes, clans, and officials all went to the banquet.Shuming and others went to the palace to be on duty, Cao Yong was named as the prince's companion, so he was exempted from the guard's duty.Stealing Fusheng half a day's leisure, he is not obsessed with cleanliness, but he is also used to cleanliness.Now, I just took advantage of the fact that there was no one in the tent, so I could wipe myself off.

After a while, Xiao Man came over with a kettle of hot water. Cao Yong undid his braids and washed his hair.It was also windy these days, Cao Yong put on his clothes at attention, asked Xiaoman to open up the curtain of the tent, and sat upwind, the chill was very comfortable.

Xiaoman was holding a large towel to help Cao Yong twist his hair. A little Sula came outside the tent and hurriedly urged to return the kettle, but it was a festival today. They sent little Sura out to urge the kettles everywhere.

This little Sula seemed to be in a hurry, her face was covered in sweat from running, and she immediately ran to the next place after passing on the word.

Cao Yong took the towel from Xiaoman's hand and said, "Go and return the pot first, and braid your hair when you come back." Looking at the dark clouds gradually gathering outside, he said again: "Take an umbrella and go. If it rains heavily Where to hide, come back when you are young, it's okay to be around me."

Xiao Man agreed, took the umbrella and went out with the tin pot.

Cao Yong was drowsy when the wind was blowing, his hair was not dry and he was afraid of getting the bedding wet, so he dozed off with his head on his hands and elbows on his knees.

When I was drowsy, I heard a clear and crisp Mongolian language outside - but I couldn't understand a word.Cao Yong opened his eyes and saw a little girl who was only eight or nine years old, dressed as a Mongolian maid, standing at the door of the tent and asking him questions.

Cao Yong woke up and asked a few questions in Chinese and Manchu respectively, but the little girl frowned and continued to speak Mongolian.Cao Yong sighed. He has learned Manchu, but not Mongolian. Although he is about to go to the grassland, Chinese and Manchu are still the mainstream. Most Mongolians from nobles to guards can speak Manchu, so he never I have never worried about language problems, but this is the first time I have encountered a communication barrier.

Really can not communicate, Cao Yong had to shake his head, indicating that he did not understand.Seeing him shaking his head, the little girl was anxious and annoyed, stomped her feet, turned her head and ran away, making Cao Yong a little embarrassed - it seems that it is still necessary to learn another foreign language.

It is destined that this afternoon nap will not be able to fall asleep. When Cao Yong was about to fall asleep again, a soft Chinese sounded in his ear: "Master guard, I am bothering you..."

Another Mongolian maid, about seventeen or eighteen years old, was a little taller, but very thin. She was wearing an old Mongolian robe that didn't fit well, and looked a little empty. There was a three-layer food box at her feet.Seeing Cao Yong looking up at her tiredly, the maid hurriedly saluted and said, "I hope you will forgive me for disturbing my lord's sleep. Is this the tent of lord Cao Yong?"

Cao Yong heard that the woman in front of him had a good conversation, and she said it politely. He thought it was the maid of some Mongolian prince, so he didn't want to be too rude. He stood up and said: "I am Cao. What can I teach you, girl?"

The maid hurriedly bowed again, and said: "It turned out to be Mr. Cao. The servant is paying his respects to Mr. Cao. The servant was sent by Tana Gege to deliver things."

*
The Tana Gege mentioned by the maid is the daughter of Urgon, the king of Borzigit, and Princess Rongxian of Heshuo, the king of Zhasakdoruo County in Bahrain.This Princess Rongxian is the third princess of Emperor Kangxi, the same mother as the third prince He Shuocheng, Prince Yinzhi, and the daughter of Ma Jia, the concubine Rong of the harem.

Tana has been living in the capital for the past two years. Because of her noble background, her parents dote on her, her grandmother and uncles are used to her, she is inevitably a bit domineering.Bao Yagege from Pingjun Wang's Mansion is about the same age as her, and both of them love to be top-notch. Whenever they get together, accidents will happen.

This time, the two Gege were both serving outside the Great Wall, and there was another accident in the station a few days ago.In March, Bao Ya was defeated by Tana in a horse race, and this time she was out of Beijing, she held her breath, and begged her brother to spend a lot of money to find a good horse.When they were stationed on the way north, the two Grids began to compete.

Baoya took advantage of the good horse, and naturally won easily and happily.Tana lost face, and vented all her grievances on the mount, whipping her own horse severely.As a result, she accidentally drew the horse's eye, which startled the horse. She was thrown off the horse, but her foot got stuck in the stirrup.The situation is very critical. Fortunately, Cao Yong came to find Bao Ya to take the family letter sent by his sister. Seeing such a change, he immediately shot and killed the startled horse.

Seeing that Cao Yong was dressed as a guard, Tana asked someone to reward him with gold and wine, and her attitude was extremely arrogant.

Cao Yong was worried because he didn't know whether the news in the capital was good or bad. How could he have time to deal with this unruly little girl and left with Bao Ya.Tana was so angry that she jumped up and down, looking at Cao Yong's back, her face was uncertain.

Nothing happened in Beijing, Cao Jia's eagerness to send people over was not just to deliver letters from the family, but mainly to deliver food to her husband, younger brother and sister-in-law.

*
Thinking of Tana, Cao Yong really did not like it.Although he shot the frightened horse to save people, he was still shocked when he saw the welt marks on the horse. It was drawn by a 14-year-old girl, and the attack was so vicious.He looked at the food box on the ground, feeling unhappy. Yesterday, he was rewarded with silver and wine, and today he is rewarded with vegetables. Are you becoming more and more a slave?

Seeing Cao Yong's face darkened, the maid hurriedly waved her hand and said, "Your Excellency misunderstood, this is not the one sent by the slave... To tell you the truth, it's not the servant's job. Because the sister said just now that the master She doesn't understand Mongolian, and that sister doesn't understand Manchu and Chinese, so she asked a servant to take her place." He took out something from the sleeve and offered it respectfully, saying: "This is the Habu that Ge Ge gave to the lord. Teg, it contains the best spices traded from the West."

It was a gourd-shaped pouch with five-color embroidery on indigo satin.

Cao Yong's face became even uglier when he saw it, don't worry about what's in it, how can this purse be something that can be sent indiscriminately?Although it is appropriate to send this on the Dragon Boat Festival, it is not something I can accept.As a man with good health, he might have longed for an affair, but he has no interest in provoking such a savage princess.He didn't have any tendency to be abused, and he didn't have any good feelings for aggressive and domineering women, so he said coldly to the maid: "Please pass on the message for me, Cao Yong can't be a reward from Ge Ge. Please bring back the things too!"

The maid was still awkwardly holding her purse on the spot, and after a while she said timidly: "My lord, forgive me, slave... slave..." She didn't know what to say for a while, she was very embarrassed.

When Cao Yong saw it, he said, "It's not that I want to embarrass the girl, it's really impolite. Girl, please go back!"

The maid hesitated for a moment, put away her purse, bowed and left, picked up the food box and turned to leave.She hadn't gone far when suddenly a gust of wind came over, thick clouds billowed, and the sky suddenly darkened.She knew that the rain on the prairie was coming very fast, so she ran back without even thinking about it, and entered Cao Yong's tent out of breath, and said apologetically: "I'm bothering you, it's really raining so fast, slave girl She brought up food again, and wanted to use an umbrella to hide..." Before she finished speaking, a bright lightning bolt split the cloud curtain, and then a series of thunderstorms came down, drowning her voice.

Outside the tent, large expanses of rain stars fell, extremely hard, kicking up the misty dust with clanging noises, and the sky and the earth were dimly lit.

Although the maid was standing in the tent, she was close to the door, because the curtain was not closed yet, raindrops came in with the wind and hit her on the back.Because of the cold wind and rain, her body trembled slightly, but she hugged the food box tightly to her chest, as if afraid that a little water would fall into it, her already thin body seemed more and more slender, her eyes were full of pleading, A look of timidity.

It's useless to open an umbrella this day, and she is such a fragile girl. Cao Yong couldn't bear it when she saw it, and said: "If the girl doesn't mind it, please come in and take shelter from the rain for a while!"

The maid saluted gratefully, walked a few steps inside, put the food box in the middle of the ground, and stood with her hands down.Cao Yong looked at her with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, don't have a delicate attitude, thinking about working under the savage princess, it may not be an easy job, and pointed to the little girl next to him, "Girl, it's okay to sit."

The maid was stunned for a moment, then thanked her, went over and moved the little scorpion to the place where she was standing before, then straightened her clothes and sat down.

It's really embarrassing for a lonely man and a widow to live in the same room, you can't stare at each other, right?Cao Yong held the lamp in his hand, took out the book, and sat upright to read it.

The wind bumped east and west in the tent, making the lights jump and shaking Cao Yong's eyes.He had no choice but to put down the book, closed his eyes and rubbed the acupuncture points around his eyes, and then tapped the back of his head.After touching his hair, he remembered that he hadn't combed his hair. He met the maid with disheveled hair. He was a little embarrassed, and hurriedly gathered his hair with his hands. He couldn't braid it, but at least it had to be neatly gathered.

When the maid saw it, she hesitated for a moment, and asked softly, "Servant...serving your lord to comb your hair?"

Cao Yong hurriedly waved his hands and said: "No, no." The ancients said a lot about combing their hair, and she is not his maid, so how can they comb their hair casually?This Mongolian Gege master and servant are really inexplicable masters.

The maid let out a "hmm", clutching her skirt tightly with both hands, and said in a low voice: "My lord, forgive me, it's the slave who has overstepped..."

Seeing the humble expression on the face of the man in front of him, Cao Yong stopped holding his hair and said, "I don't dare to bother the girl." Seeing her lowering her head and clenching her hands tighter after hearing this, Cao Yong felt in his heart I couldn't bear it, so I comforted myself thinking that it was just combing my hair, as if he was visiting a barber shop and she was a female hairdresser, so he said: "Then... I will trouble the girl." Spread out the box containing wooden combs, red ribbons, falling feet and other things.

The maid raised her head sharply, she bit her lower lip with her braided glutinous teeth, nodded, walked over quickly, straightened Cao Yong's head, picked up the comb and slowly ran through the hair, then parted the strands, fingers Fan Fei finished braiding quickly, and finally said timidly: "What do you think, my lord? If it's not good, I will braid it again."

Cao Yong stroked his hair and sighed inwardly. After all, it is better for a woman to comb her hair. Although Xiaoman's braiding skills have improved by leaps and bounds in the past ten days, it is far behind these official maids. He couldn't help but praise: " Good workmanship."

The maid lowered her eyelids in embarrassment, and said, "Your Excellency's praise."

Cao Yong heard her speak elegantly, and said with a smile: "You speak Chinese well."

The maid smiled lightly and said, "The servant is Han."

Only then did Cao Yong take a serious look. Although the woman's face was black and red from the scorching sun like the grassland girl, her eyebrows and eyes were indeed not like a Mongolian.The dimples of this smile were shallow, but it carried some Jiangnan taste. The lights flickered, and Cao Yong was in a trance for a while.

(End of this chapter)