Leisure days in the cold palace

Chapter 3
"Why is this? Even if you live in the cold palace, the lady is still your master, and before coming here, the lady was one of the three wives, her status is also unusual. Even if you accidentally made a mistake and came here, once The consumption of food and clothing should be reduced according to the usual practice, and it should not reach this level!"

"Oh, my Chunxi, look at what you said, it seems that we deliberately withheld your monthly schedule? It is true that your wife was one of the three wives before she came here, but don't forget, Chunxi, this lady However, His Majesty personally decreed to withdraw the title. Withdrawing this title, the status of your wife is a bit delicate. On the one hand, she is not a concubine, but on the other hand, she cannot be called a court lady. Let alone you , even those of us who are in charge of the month are a bit big-headed...

"The things sent here a while ago were all in accordance with the rules of talented people. This was purely out of fear of hardship in the cold palace. Madam couldn't get used to it for a while, so we kindly raised Madam's grade to the moon. But Rules are rules after all. We can change the rules for a while, but we can’t change the rules for a lifetime! In the past five months, all the extra money was collected by us people with good intentions, and we saved it all by ourselves Post your own money! It’s not easy to save this little money in the palace, Chunxi, you’d better do yourself a favor and give us a way to survive!”

"Bah! Who doesn't know that all of you who are in charge of the money in the inner palace are so rich that you come to me to pretend to be poor! You are still pretending to be good! Do you think who doesn't know? No matter which concubine who was favored in the past If the concubine loses her power, the monthly rules you send will remain the same for a few months, and then wait until five or six months later that this person is indeed no longer favored, then you will lower the monthly rules as much as you can!"

"Oh, it seems that you are a sensible person, Chunxi, and that will save me a lot of tongue. Your wife has been in the cold palace for five months now. At first, your majesty never came to see her. After that, she strictly abides by her duty. It didn't make His Majesty much gratified. We stayed in the palace for a long time, and we understand the truth of it the most. According to me, Chunxi, you should find another job! Why waste your life here with a living dead?"

After drinking the last sip of fish soup on the food table, I savored the umami taste with gusto, and at the same time happily listened to the quarrel in the yard outside.

Just listening to the content of the quarrel, I knew that the eunuch who delivered the monthly case in the past had come again.

In the past few months, the number of monthly cases delivered there has been less and less each time, and each time Chunxi's face has become darker and darker, but she has never had an outburst.Judging by the current situation outside, I am afraid that the monthly rate of this month has been low to a certain extent.

Thinking that she was afraid that I would be emotionally affected by the scene, Chunxi kept the voice of the argument extremely low, trying not to let me hear it, but still couldn't hide the anger in every sentence.But the eunuch who delivered the monthly case was arrogant. Just listening to his voice, I could imagine his facial expression looking at people with his nostrils.

I don't dare to say how calm I am, it's just that I've seen such a villain's face a lot, and it's hard to be angry about it.As for those cynicisms, in my eyes they are nothing more than childish things, I just laugh it off when I hear it.

But Chunxi is different, he is still a half-grown child after all, how can he bear this?
Sure enough, Chunxi's voice trembling with anger was heard outside: "Luo Xiang, be careful what you say! Who said that our wife will definitely not be favored in the future? It's only five short months, how can we be sure?" What the hell is going on? You have spoken so thoroughly here, have you never heard that dead ashes can be revived?"

Hearing the eunuch named Luo Xiang sneer, he taunted extremely arrogantly: "Even if the dead ashes can be revived, I can also urinate to extinguish it!"

As soon as he said this, he heard a burst of laughter from the courtyard, mixed with a lot of flattery, presumably it came from the people who followed the eunuch to deliver the monthly case.

I couldn't hear Chunxi's voice for a while, so I couldn't help but feel a little worried in the room. I'm afraid the child is going to panic from anger today.

Sighing, I simply got up and straightened my shirt.

The sage also said that we should repay our grievances directly. We ordinary people naturally have no reason to blindly bear.

Pushing open the door, I felt a warm spring coming towards me. I raised my head and squinted to face the direction of the sun, and the spring on the branches was really strong.

He smiled slightly, then lowered his head, and sure enough, he saw the eunuch named Luo Xiang standing at the bottom of the steps in a blue soap coat. He was somewhat surprised when he saw me.

I took a random look at the monthly cases they sent, and found that they were much less than before, but I am not too worried. Spring is here, and there are more things to eat in the imperial garden. Are you afraid of starving to death? ?
Chunxi was standing on the side at this time, her eyes were slightly red, but she desperately didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of these people, so she endured it very uncomfortable.Seeing me coming out, he was also a little taken aback.

"Master Luo is in a good mood, bickering with others all morning, showing off his might?" I looked at Luo Xiang and smiled.

Originally, Luo Xiang was hesitant to salute me, and what kind of method he should use to salute, but when he heard my provocative words, he naturally accepted those false salutes.

In his eyes now, I have already been a grasshopper after autumn for a few days, so he laughed ironically again, and said: "It seems that the emperor's punishment for the madam is not severe enough. A mouth is still more than a knife." Still tough! It seems that when you have free time, you should go to the Emperor Ming, so that your punishment for Madam will be deeper."

I was too lazy to listen to his illusory threats, so I smiled lightly and said, "I just heard that Mr. Luo is brave, and you can do whatever you want, and you can wipe out the ashes of the resurgence..." I narrowed my eyes and looked at Luo Xiang, covering it up. He smiled and said: "So I really didn't know, our Master Luo... Heh, it turned out to be the one who peed standing up."

As an eunuch, what I am most afraid of is that others will point out his physical defects. I did not shy away from telling the truth, which naturally made Luo Xiang furious, and the little eunuchs behind him were all dumbfounded stand up.

Chunxi was also a little dazed, her eyes widened in astonishment.

I didn't take it seriously, although the words were vulgar, they directly hit Luo Xiang's sore spot.After all, to deal with this kind of people, even if you write a large satirical article in a polite manner, he will not understand at all. How can such vulgar remarks be directly used against such vulgar people.

The courtyard was quiet for a while, and everyone's eyes almost met on Luo Xiang's face.I also looked at him with a faint smile, and saw his face turn from white to red, and then from red to black, which was very interesting.

"Li Shuangwu, don't be crazy, don't think that you were originally one of the three wives, and you still have the ability to show off your power at this moment! Which concubine who was thrown into the cold palace died of illness within a year or two? I, Luo Xiang, want to be wide-eyed." Open your eyes and see, when you Li Shuangwu died, your mouth was still so sharp!"

Luo Xiang was trembling with anger, and screamed out these words in a sharp voice, and he stretched out his finger to my fingertips, also brewing thick resentment.

"Luo Xiang! How dare you call your wife by her first name!" Chunxi took a step forward, looking like a little rooster cuddling with righteous indignation.

"So what if our family shouted?" Luo Xiang glanced at me and Chunxi with eyes full of resentment, and said with a sneer: "Our family wants to see what good end you can end in this cold palace! Let's go." !"

Seeing Luo Xiang turn around and leave, Chun Xi still wanted to catch up with her and argue with her, but I stopped her.

After several changes in expression, until Luo Xiang and the others had gone far away, Chunxi finally nestled in my arms and cried out loud.

I sighed slightly, patted his shoulder like taking care of a child, and comforted him in a warm voice.

I'm not afraid of Luo Xiang coming to trouble me. I'm not afraid of being bitten if there are too many lice. No matter how bad the situation in this palace is, it's not worse than Lenggong.What's more, the reduction of monthly cases is inevitable. My words and deeds today are just to speed up the process.

Then it's worth the price to give Chunxi a sigh of relief...

After all, Chunxi is a half-grown child, I led him into the main room who was crying like a cat, and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep crying.

The child followed me, and really suffered.

Instead of quarreling with him, I tiptoed into the yard and cleaned up the monthly cases sent by Luo Xiang as quietly as possible.

Corn is mixed with sand and gravel, but even so, it will only weigh ten catties.There are already some white cattails on the only piece of meat that is the size of a fist, and it will probably break down in a short time.Some of the vegetable leaves have rotted, and the oil and water in the oil pot are even less pitiful.The only good thing is that there are a lot of condiments like onion, ginger and garlic.

The cloth used to make clothes is the coarsest linen.The soles used for replacement are also the cheapest things that can be bought on the street.

I have already guessed these things, so I am not annoyed when I see these things, I just throw away all the useless things, and then simply classify the rest and move them to the ear room.

Although the matter was simple, it took me half an hour of effort.

Then Chunxi ran out of the main room in a panic, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and smiled at him.

"Woke up? Then come help. While the sun is good today, let's dry the firewood quickly, otherwise it will be so wet that it will be difficult to cook in the future."

The firewood was also delivered monthly, so little that it was enough for a month, but it was so damp that it was impossible to start a fire at all.I smiled and waved to Chunxi, and saw that his eyes turned red, he bit his lip again, finally nodded heavily, and ran over to help without a word.

"lady……"

The little guy hesitated to speak, and his face looked a little aggrieved, mixed with a little fear.

"What's the matter? Could it be that Luo Xiang was frightened just now?"

I touched his forehead in surprise, it wasn't hot, but slightly cold.

Chunxi bit his lip hesitantly, lowered his head and twisted his fingers, and after a while his face flushed, and he said in a voice not much louder than a mosquito: "Ma'am, do you despise Chunxi, this, this kind of unmasculine..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" I was stunned for a moment, and then I remembered that when I scolded Luo Xiang just now, I did say some unpleasant things.At that time, I wanted to give Luo Xiang some color, but unexpectedly it hurt the child's heart.

Seeing Luo Xiang's aggrieved appearance on the verge of tears, I took him into my arms with some distress.

He looked up at me in astonishment, his blinking eyes were full of crystal.

"Chunxi, tell me, if I despise you, can I get close to you like this?" I grabbed his slippery little face, "Tell you, the person in this world is the skin that I value the least. Some People's disabilities can be seen, but others' disabilities are in their hearts. People like Luo Xiang are actually the most pitiful, dilapidated inside and out. Like my Chunxi, there is always such a clean heart. A clear heart..."

I don't know if he can understand my words, but he can feel the warmth in my arms.

The poor child blinked his eyes, raised his hand and wiped away his tears and snot with his sleeve, said crisply "Chun Xi is going to work", and ran away from my arms.

I watched him carry firewood with a smile, rolled up my sleeves and joined him.

Finally, looking at the rows of firewood against the wall, I laughed out of breath.In fact, this kind of life does not seem to be as bad as imagined.

But soon, God played a joke on me...

(End of this chapter)