The Concubine's Survival Manual

Chapter 184

For the next ten days or so, the mansion was very peaceful.

The autumn harvest in the north is late, and it will not be harvested until August. The so-called settlement after autumn means that the farm heads will sell the grain to settle the cash and settle the account with the main family after the autumn of the year.Qin Niangzi wants to settle the accounts before autumn, and she will not take over the housework until the beginning of August. Counting the beginning and the end, there are still four months.

Up and down the Pingguo mansion, there were not many people who could not hold their breath. Of course, no one immediately changed a flattering face to Qin Niangzi. Everyone still lived peacefully, and Mrs. Wu still went to Leshan every day. As a director, the days seem to have not changed much.

On the other hand, Xu Fengjia was free. The emperor has been suffering from the cold for a while, and he lived in seclusion in Qianqing Palace all day long. He only discussed matters with the cabinet in Huagai Palace on the next day, and the meetings ended in just one or two hours.Although there were still disputes in the imperial court, because the emperor's health was not getting better and there were many frictions, they all calmed down for a while.

At the end of April, Concubine Xu's birthday also arrived, so the Xu family naturally looked for expensive gifts to send, because it was not a serious birthday, and the emperor was not in good health, and there was only a small banquet in the palace to celebrate, and there was no big event. The Xu family all entered the palace on the second day of their birthday to pay their respects and congratulate the concubine on her birthday.

Since Ping Guogong has already spoken, there is no room for Mrs. Wu to enter the palace this time—the palace is strictly forbidden, unless it is the New Year's Eve when all the women are ordered to go to the palace to worship, otherwise they usually visit the palace, even as the Xu family, That is to say, the mistress of the house can enter the palace on behalf of the whole family. Generally, it is rare for daughters-in-law who don't care about the family to enter the palace.

On the early morning of April [-]th, Seventh Lady was called up by Xu Fengjia. His young master went to dance swords and boxing by himself, but the maids waited until Xu Fengjia was out of the house before rushing in and surrounded Seventh Lady. Go into the clean room to freshen up, and then come out to dress up: I also specially borrowed the handy little Pearl River from Qingpingyuan to comb Qiniangzi's hair.

Little Pearl River came early, and waited for a stick of incense in the Xici room before being dragged into the Xisan room by Li Xia. While combing Qinianzi's hair, he whispered curiously to Li Xia. "My sister is also a diligent person on weekdays. Why don't you come into the house to call for someone at this hour... If the son didn't get up early, maybe the young lady would miss the time."

Qiniangzi blushed immediately when she heard her question, Lixia glanced at Qinianzi, waved her hand at Xiaozhujiang with a smile, and said softly. "My good sister, you didn't know it was too late when you entered the mansion...We don't go in when the Shizi is in the house! In case we see something we shouldn't see..."

Little Zhujiang was still puzzled, looked at Qiniangzi in the mirror, blushed again, and didn't dare to say much, but carefully combed Qiniangzi's hair and put it on.Seeing that the maids were all scattered and doing things on their own, they apologized to Qin Niangzi in a low voice.

"The servant can't speak, so he bumped into the young lady."

Although Qin Niangzi was also very embarrassed, she knew that Xiao Zhujiang was not familiar with her temper, so she was even more afraid. She waved her hand and said with a smile, "Your hair is combed very skillfully—is it a handicraft handed down from your family?"

Combing hair is also a subject of knowledge, especially the hair bun that a married woman needs to comb when entering the palace. The middle-level families often have a few maids who specialize in combing hair in each courtyard to help, that is, the Yang family and the Xu family are big families, so there are one or two skillful maids in each courtyard to help. Comb your hair.

Seeing that Seventh Lady was friendly, Little Pearl River let go, nodded and smiled, "When my mother was a little maid, she combed her hair next to Mrs. Wu'an. A few years after the old lady passed away, she combed her hair next to her. The slaves were replaced by the servants after combing their eyesight a few years ago. The elder sisters of the slaves also specialize in combing hair. The eldest sister followed the young lady and combed her hair. The second sister was asked by the concubine She was combed in the palace for a few years before she was released, and the concubine rewarded her with a box of jewelry... Madam let her go out again, life is very happy now."

Duke Wu An was the grandfather of Duke Xu Heng of Pingguo. Since that era, the Xiaozhujiang family has specialized in combing hair, which can be regarded as a specialty.Qin Niangzi's heart moved, she looked at Little Pearl River and asked with a smile, "Then you have younger sisters in your family? If so, how do you comb your hair?"

Little Zhujiang laughed happily, "Yes, yes, there are six sisters in the servant's family, and now there are two more at home."

She leaned into Seventh Lady's ear and said sincerely, "This is what I said to the young lady. Although the elder sister is older, she is fifteen or sixteen years old this year. But the younger sister is more dexterous and calm..."

Seventh Lady smiled knowingly, she nodded, "Okay, then find a day, call your little sister in, and let me comb her hair."

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This time when entering the palace, Qin Niangzi did not enter the Kunning Palace to pay her respects, but was directly guided by the palace servants sent by the clan's mansion, and walked straight into the Ningshou Palace.

Concubine Xu was wearing casual clothes and was taking a walk in the courtyard. When she saw the figure of Seventh Lady coming in, she immediately smiled.

"My niece and daughter-in-law came early today!"

Compared with the first meeting, Concubine Xu was much more enthusiastic this time.

Seventh Lady hurriedly greeted Concubine Xu with a smile, and then raised her head to explain to Concubine Xu.

"It was the second sister who came in with her for the first time, so naturally she had to go to Kunning Palace first to pay her respects. This time Xiao Qi came in by herself, so she didn't go to Kunning Palace to bother the empress. Those who knew said we were very polite, but those who didn't know, instead If we say that we are greedy for the high position and power of the empress...it is not beautiful."

She would not have explained it in such detail, but Concubine Xu's character is full of control, and she explained her intentions clearly, which is very convenient for the old man to give her guidance on how to handle things.

The two said as they walked that they had already entered the inner hall and took their seats in the East Nuan Pavilion. Naturally, someone served the two noble ladies with boiling hot tea.

As expected, Concubine Xu immediately educated Seventh Lady.

"You can't be wrong about your thoughts. You entered the palace to see me. If you enter the Kunning Palace, what kind of decent is it? If you spread it outside, people think that the empress is too arrogant, and even our elders She's going to steal the limelight, and she won't be happy if she knows." She took a sip of hot tea and put down the tea bowl again. "However, when you leave Ningshou Palace later, you will inevitably want to visit your sister in Jingren Palace, so you have to go to Kunning Palace first—" Xu Taifei dragged her voice. "This is also for your Sixth Sister's sake!"

Seventh Lady immediately lowered her eyebrows and satisfies Concubine Xu's desire to preach. "Auntie is still so sophisticated... If you don't tell me, I'm going to enter Jingren Palace directly—won't I have to ask my aunt to send someone to inform me first?"

Concubine Xu smiled comfortably, and patted Qin Niangzi on the shoulder. "You child can be taught by others, and this is better than others. Don't worry, just sit with me and tell me about the family affairs."

So he questioned Qin Niangzi about the housework of Xu's family, and asked about the safety of everyone in Xu's family.

It seems that the last time she asked so carefully, it seemed that she was not just trying to numb Qin Niangzi, but just caring about the Xu family's internal affairs out of habit.

Seventh Lady also felt somewhat emotional: If Sixth Lady had no children, she might care about the Yang family in the same way after more than ten years.

Without the slightest bit of impatience, she answered Mrs. Xu's questions carefully, and told Concubine Xu some interesting stories about Shiro and Goro.Concubine Xu was really happy to hear that, and said that when the children were older, they would bring them into the palace to show her.

Her attitude towards Qin Niangzi naturally became more and more kind.Although these concubines are very beautiful, but they have lived in the deep palace for a long time, I am afraid that there are not many people who even talk to them on a daily basis, and it is rare for someone to come in to visit them.

After talking about the family affairs, Seventh Lady turned her attention to Concubine Xu. "How is Auntie's health? The emperor will come in and visit her often..."

Concubine Xu smiled as if she had eaten candy.

"I'm fine." She waved her hand. "The emperor used to come in to see us from time to time. It's just that he's not in good health recently and he's hard to recover from the cold, so he seldom comes into the harem."

She paused, then glanced at Qinianzi again, and remained silent for a moment, as if she was weighing something.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

(End of this chapter)