Reborn Concubine Queen

Chapter 19
For more than half a month, Shi Yiqing ran to the old lady Meng's yard three times a day at fixed times, and when he was free, he just held a pen and wrote in Ningxie Hall, very well-behaved.Even if the third lady wanted to entangle and make trouble, she dared not act easily because of the face of the old lady Meng.

The sun was very good that day, and the black chrysanthemums carefully cultivated by the old lady Meng's family bloomed proudly against the gradually bleak autumn wind, which made her feel very good, and called the three wives and the young wives of each house to watch the top-quality black chrysanthemums.After admiring all the chrysanthemums in full bloom in the garden, and after the old lady had passed her mood, she was willing to return to Chunhui Hall.

Several wives were sitting upright, and Shi Xuanxin, who was wearing a crisp green long dress, had a shy smile on his face, and walked up to Mrs. Meng with a vermilion lacquered wooden tray, and said in a soft voice like the sound of heaven: " The granddaughter heard that her grandmother likes drinking tea the most, so she found her husband to learn this craft, she doesn't expect to be able to surpass Sister Zhuxi, but only hopes that her grandmother will be able to take a sip, that would be her granddaughter's blessing."

The old lady took the tea bowl from the wooden tray with a smile, held the lid of the bowl to brush off the floating tea leaves in the warm tea soup, sniffed it under her nose, and suddenly felt a freshness coming to her nostrils. Shi Xuanxin, who was in front of him, couldn't help nodding, and smiled admiringly. Then he put a mouthful in his mouth, savored it carefully, and said with a smile: "Well, this brown color is right, and the taste is not bad. It's refreshing to drink."

After finishing speaking, the old lady Meng looked at the lady sitting below with a smile, and said slowly: "Xin'er will not be so stingy, there are so many people present, why don't you give me a bowl of tea?"

Shi Xuanxin lowered his eyes and smiled shyly, and said innocently and cutely: "If grandma didn't nod and say hello, how could Xin'er dare to serve it to everyone? Now Xin'er wants to ask grandma, but it's delicious?"

Shi Yiqing, who was standing down with his hands hanging down, noticed the old lady's lowered eyes, she just smiled and waved her hands, without saying a word. Shi Xuanxin, who was on the other side, seemed to have received some great favor, and happily called the maid The tea bowls were sent to each lady, looking at everyone with anticipation, waiting for the expected appreciation.

The eldest lady said: "It is said that the old lady's bamboo breath cooks good tea, now I look at it, it seems that we are going to give up the number one position in this mansion to our new son."

The second lady kept nodding, and said to the third lady Yang's face: "I think only Xin'er can make such a fragrant tea soup. It really gave me a lot of insight."

"That's right, I didn't expect that our Xin'er's craftsmanship has become more and more sophisticated." These are the words of the second young lady of Dafang who is good with Shi Xuanxin.

"Sister Xin'er, if you are free when, can you teach me too?" The delicate little girl is combing the double-ring comb and pestering Shi Xuanxin to talk.

Sure enough, no matter it was the snarky eldest lady, the mean second lady, the young ladies who were wearing young women's buns, and the young ladies who were combing their hair, they couldn't stop praising Shi Xuanxin for his good craftsmanship.

Shi Yiqing turned to look at the smile on the third wife Yang's cheek, and smiled thoughtfully.In the Great Yan Dynasty, not only the skill of making tea was regarded as an elegant activity, but even the ability to taste tea was regarded as a quality by the famous families in Beijing. If you don’t know how to taste tea in such a rich family, you will definitely be ridiculed .

I still remember that Li Chi was a master at the time. In order to please Li Chi, she was even more afraid of being ridiculed. She did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to find Mrs. Lu who had retired from the world to teach, until she was interrupted by Li Chi and thrown into the cold palace. One night, she even invited Mrs. Lu to the palace, cooked a pot of tea for her, and quietly waited for her tragic fate.

Shi Yiqing took a sip of the tea soup, and slowly felt the fragrance slip down her throat and into her internal organs, with a slightly burning feeling as she glided all the way, causing her to frown slightly, with a look of Complicated looking at Shi Xuanxin who was wrapped in praise.

If she guessed right, there are two mistakes in Shi Xuan's new bowl of tea soup. One is that the dew collected from the petals of the previous year was used. Although it can bring a little floral fragrance into the tea soup, it still conceals the beauty of the green tea itself. The second is the water temperature, which directly affects the speed at which the taste spreads.

Smiling lightly with downcast eyes, Shi Yiqing placed the teacup in his hand on the table beside him, turned his eyes to look at the old lady Meng Shi who was sitting on the soft couch and smiled silently, recalling the indistinguishable smile she saw at the corner of her mouth before. , more and more affirmed his own ideas.

Thinking about ordinary people like the old lady Meng who loves gold and silver things, if they openly admit that they don't know how to drink tea in such an exquisite mansion, these ladies will not be able to say any sarcasm on the surface. They also have to be ridiculed behind their backs. If you don't want to be ridiculed, then you have to pretend you don't understand.Originally, Shi Xuanxin either just wanted to use this bowl of tea soup to accept the praise of everyone, or wanted to earn face in front of the old lady, but he didn't know that Meng Shi didn't understand at all, and her tricks just hit the spot. But I don't know where the old lady is hurting.

The eldest lady put the teacup aside in an elegant manner, and said with a gentle smile: "Xin'er, the gentleman who wanted to ask you to make tea is really a master, he can make the tea soup taste so graceful, it is really good very."

Shi Yiqing noticed that although Da Furen expressed her approval, she never touched that bowl of tea soup again.

Even the second lady agreed, "Except for the retiring Mrs. Lu, only Mrs. Dong from Yunzhou has such a skill?" What he said gave Shi Xuan new face.

The third lady smiled reservedly, and said: "Xin'er is not very talented, so I have to work hard to make up for it, so that I can live up to this superb Emei Xueya."

Miss Di Qi raised her eyebrows and was about to speak, when she noticed the warning in Da Furen's eyes, she changed the words when she came to her mouth, and said in a charming voice: "After all, Sister Xin'er is the most powerful, even this top quality is defeated by you!" I found it. Let’s take a look again, this bowl of tea has a delicate aroma, the color is also tender green and oily, the soup color is even brighter green, the taste is mellow and elegant, the bottom of the leaves is tender green, it really is the best Emei Xueya.”

Shi Yiqing, who was on the sidelines, raised his eyebrows in surprise, and wondered to himself, when did the eldest lady become so generous and tolerant, able to endure the praise of Shi Xuanxin from everyone without saying a word of ridicule?When she turned her eyes and saw the old lady Meng Shi who was on the soft couch with her eyes slightly closed and silent, she lowered her eyelashes to hide the mockery in her eyes.

The old lady Meng's family background is not noble, she doesn't like to see other people have good things, but today she intends to let everyone come to enjoy the chrysanthemum, which can be considered as a good face for herself, but to make a wedding dress for Shi Xuanxin, by the way She also stepped on the most favored bamboo breath beside her.As narrow-minded as Meng Shi, how could she swallow this breath?

Da Furen's gesture is a compliment, but it is actually a clever way to intensify conflicts.

Sure enough, the old lady Meng dilutes the smile on her cheeks, puts the tea bowl aside casually, and said in a seemingly indifferent sentence: "After all, Xin'er's craftsmanship is better than the bamboo breath around me. It's just that I have been a little bit sick recently. Discomfort, poor sleep, and the imperial doctor often told me not to drink too much tea. I have received Xiner’s kindness, and the old woman has nothing to reward you here. I just found a gemstone hairpin recently, which matches yours. This dress is just right. Zhuxi, go and get the hairpin and put it on for Xiner."

Shi Xuanxin never expected such a result, although his face was still a little dazed, but he finally came to his senses, leaned over to thank him pretending to be happy, and stuck a vulgarly carved jewel hairpin into it with the breath of bamboo. at the temples.

The old lady Meng raised her eyebrows and smiled comfortably, nodded and said: "If you really match, you don't want to take off your new son, just wear it. Look at your age, you are as beautiful as a flower. It’s really not good-looking to make it so bland, as if you don’t have any flowers on it, but look, it’s much more pleasing to the eye now.”

Everyone didn't want to disobey the old lady Meng's words, so they all nodded their heads in a stumbling manner, and praised that it was beautiful.Shi Yiqing curled his lips into a slight smile, and turned his eyes to look at Shi Xuanxin's stiff smile, feeling more and more cheerful.

The old lady Meng found Shi Yiqing from the crowd, and said slowly: "Qing'er, everyone in the capital said that Master Jingxin's calligraphy is hard to find. Since you have been serving Shitai for many years, I think you have learned some tricks and half-styles." Yes. It’s rare that everyone is here now, so don’t hide it, just splash ink and make an ink painting now.”

Shi Yiqing never thought that the old lady would ask her to draw by name, so she got up and stood in the sight of everyone, but she couldn't refuse her face to face, so she had to walk in front of everyone with a look of embarrassment on her face, and said, "Grandmother, Although Qing'er has been serving Master Jing Xin for many years, although he has learned this ink painting, but Qing'er has entered the Buddhist school, and he is a lay disciple of Buddhism, so he is not very familiar with ink painting."

The old lady waved her hand and said with a smile: "You don't have to be polite in front of everyone. Zhuxi, let someone prepare your things and bring them up. Let's all look at my ink chrysanthemum with Qing'er's ink painting. , tasting Xin'er's tea soup, it's really pleasant."

Zhu Xi led the order, and not long after, he took the people to prepare the things, handed the ink-stained Langhao brush to Shi Yiqing, and Shi Yiqing, who was standing in the sight of everyone, had no choice but to bite the bullet and walked over, took the brush, and settled down. Calm down, he looked up at the black chrysanthemum stretching in the wind in the veranda outside the window, and swung his wrist with confidence.

After the last stroke was collected, Shi Yiqing walked up to the old lady Meng with the ink chrysanthemum picture that had not yet dried up, smiled shyly and timidly, and said softly: "Grandmother, Qing'er's painting is not good, I hope grandma can't be blamed." It is."

Everyone looked at the ink painting in Shi Yiqing's hands with complicated expressions, and they could tell that this painting was a masterpiece, and it was highly praised by the old lady. mouthed.

Just when the wives in the audience were smiling and wanted to praise Shi Yiqing, they heard a coquettish cry, and Jian Shi, the second daughter-in-law who had always been at odds with Shi Xuanxin, exclaimed as if seeing something serious: "Sister Xiner, What's the matter with your sleeve?"

(End of this chapter)