Golden branches and jade leaves

Chapter 5
Su Mi poured out the medicine, emptied the dregs of the medicine, threw it back into the stove, and carried the medicine into the house.In the past few days, Wei Qing'er has been so sick that she can't drink water and rice, and her mind is not clear.Although such a day has long been known, Su Mi is still uncontrollably sad.

After entering the room, Wei Qing'er was sober for a rare occasion. When she saw Su Mi coming in, she turned her head with difficulty and tried to get up, "A Mi."

"Are you feeling better? Do you want something for dinner?" Su Mi rushed to support her.

Before Wei Qing'er could answer, there was a "boom" outside, and the originally dark night suddenly brightened.

"It's fireworks. There are fireworks going off in the palace." Seeing the doubt in Wei Qing'er's eyes, Su Mi explained.

In order to celebrate Concubine Yun's birthday, the emperor ordered craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to make exquisite fireworks a month ago.

"It's fireworks, help me out to have a look, Mi."

Su Mi thought that her body wanted to stop her, but seeing Wei Qing'er's pleading eyes, she couldn't say anything.She picked her up and walked out into the yard.

In the vast darkness, countless luxurious stars twinkle, bright purple, sky blue, orange, rose red, making the originally dark palace like a man-eating monster vivid.

Feeling the soft and warm body around her, at that moment, Su Mi even had the illusion that she had returned to the palace of Weiguo. Weiguo also had fireworks during the New Year, but unfortunately it is a small country, so it is impossible to have such a big ostentation .

At that time, I will be with Wei Qinger, shoulder to shoulder, holding hands...

"I remember when we were young we went to the fireworks workshop to steal fireworks," Wei Qing'er was surprisingly in good spirits today.

"Yes," Su Mi held back tears, she knew that this might be her last flashback.

At that time they were still young, and it was the first time they saw such a novel thing in the palace. They wanted to steal it out to play, but they really got one, unfortunately, before they had time to set it off, they were discovered, the fireworks were confiscated, and the two were severely scolded by Concubine Rou.

"Ami, do you hate me?"

When Su Mi heard this, she couldn't help being shocked.

Wei Qing'er leaned on her, looked at him sideways, her eyes were surprisingly bright, "Our Wei family is sorry for you, if it weren't for your Gu family, we would have..."

"Stop talking, I didn't," Su Mi couldn't help saying, she lowered her head, she couldn't lie under these eyes.

"I know you are resentful in your heart. You hate my father and my brother. We are the ones who are sorry for your family. Ah Mi, you promise me to let my father and them go. I know that since the country died, their life is also the same. Life is better than death."

"Life is better than death? After all, you are still not dead!" Su Mi couldn't help but want to cry out, something in her body that had been suppressed for a long time was frantically screaming, and was about to burst out, "You still have life, and glory Wealthy, honored to return to the south?! Yes, you have lost your country, you have lost your status as a royal family, don’t you still have the wealth of Lord Daqi? All of this, all of this is because of my father, my mother, It was built on the blood and tears of our Gu family. You traitors, how can you still live well, father, he failed to save his loyalty to the country, but he couldn't even save his whole body. Mother, sister, sister, they were punished Such humiliation, they don't even have a place to bury them, they..."

But she didn't shout, maybe because she hated it for too long and was too tired, maybe because she remembered the companionship when she was a child, and the righteousness of sharing weal and woe, her heart suddenly softened.

Wei Qing'er's eyes are so desperate, bright eyes hurt. "Promise me, let father and the others go, A Mi"

"Okay." Su Mi felt that her voice was so ethereal that it didn't seem to be her own.

The fireworks all over the sky exploded, falling down like meteors, overflowing with brilliance, just like daytime, Wei Qing'er had no breath at all.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

It has been almost an hour since Su Mi stood outside the palace gate with her hands down.

Finally, she heard the long summons from the eunuch in charge, "Come in."

Su Mi closely followed the steps of the little eunuch in front, and walked into Fengyi Palace, the palace of the Queen of the Great Qi Zheng Palace.

The palace is resplendent and magnificent, and the layout is gorgeous, but what is more eye-catching is the beauties of all colors sitting in it, with countless beautiful clothes and radiant brilliance.

Sitting on the throne in the middle is the current empress of Daqi, wearing a water-red court dress with gold and silver silk mixed with a hundred birds and phoenix patterns, and wearing a golden phoenix with filigree beads on her head, which is graceful, luxurious, demure and elegant.He was listening to what the concubine in the lower right seat was saying.

"...After forcing out the rouge juice, I used red gold leaf as rouge, four parts of real pearl powder, four parts of red coral powder, three parts of blood emerald, one part of plum blossom ice flakes, and gold leaf. Pound the forced rouge into mud. Put the juice into a fine magnetic bowl and divide it into [-] points. Divide the gold foil into [-] points, dissolve it in the rouge juice, stir it evenly and put it under the hot sun until it is half-dried, then put it in a clean bamboo vessel. Mix it. Put it into cold spring water, put some fresh and fragrant flowers in the water, and move it under the moonlight to absorb the moonlight. Wait until it is extremely dry, and then seal it with silk and take it out one by one." The woman sitting on the lower right side of the queen, dressed in light yellow The palace dress, the skin is delicate, elegant and moving.She smiled while shaking the Jinpa lightly.

"It's rare, Concubine Wen, that you came up with such a complicated formula for rouge. If you use it really well, it will be a great contribution to the sisters in the palace." The queen nodded slightly and smiled, with a kind and dignified demeanor.

"Huh," the woman sitting on the left hand side of the empress snorted imperceptibly. Her eyebrows were blue and her lips were like painted red. , with bright tortoiseshell earrings hanging by her ears, and the bead pendant swayed slightly with her movements.Wearing a red double-breasted palace dress, with purple and gold silk embroidered with exquisite patterns of butterflies and flowers, it makes her plump and glamorous.

Concubine Wen's laughter froze for a moment.

At this time, the queen had seen Su Mi come in, and said, "Are you the maid next to Wei Cairen of Caiwei Palace?"

Su Mi bowed her head and said yes.

"Oh, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has already reported the matter of Wei Cairen this morning. I have pity on her at such a young age. Why..." The queen gently held the tea cover and said unhurriedly: "Since she has left , let the Ministry of Internal Affairs follow the rules, since she is a talented person, I will make the decision to promote her to a higher level, and let her be buried according to noble ceremonies, sisters..." The queen turned to the bottom and asked.

"I'm afraid this is inappropriate," Concubine Ni said immediately without waiting for the Queen to finish speaking. "Since Wei entered the palace, she has never been favored, and she has done nothing to the emperor's heir. Besides, the House of Internal Affairs moved up and down a few days ago in order to arrange the birthday of Concubine Yun's younger sister. It will be the end of the new year soon. What else can I use now... In my opinion, when you change to frugality, you should be a little more frugal."

"Oh, what's your opinion, sisters?" The queen was not angry at all when the words were interrupted, she still turned to the concubines and asked kindly.

Everyone is obedient, how dare they respond.Everyone in the palace knew that the empress came from an honorable royal family, one of the most prestigious families in the whole country. But we all know,
Concubine Wen smiled and said, "The empress and the imperial concubine are extremely wise, which is beyond the reach of us stupid people. We are just here to listen to the teachings of the two empresses. What insight."

Everyone quickly said yes.Ni Yelin felt depressed for a while.

The Ni family was originally an aristocratic family of the Liang State. More than 20 years ago, the Qi State destroyed Liang, and the Ni family surrendered to Da Qi. Afterwards, they made many achievements. However, life as a subjugated minister was not very satisfactory at the beginning. Canonized and dignified, but not trusted by the late emperor, it is difficult to have real power.Not long after knowing that the new emperor Qi Long had succeeded to the throne, she began to promote their Ni family. In recent years, her father and brothers have made military achievements repeatedly. Now her father Ni Yuanguan is worshiped by the Minister of the Ministry of War and General Feng Zhenwei. The deputy head of the guards is highly relied on by the emperor.

Since she entered the palace, the emperor has treated her differently from others, and she has always been the most favored by the holy family, and she became pregnant not long after, which is the icing on the cake.

It's a pity that I don't know if prosperity is bound to decline. Not long after, Qu Yiran entered the palace, and when she was pregnant with Liujia and could not serve the emperor, he seduced the emperor, and the emperor's heart for her gradually faded. Miscarriage.At that time, there were rumors in the palace that it was because Concubine Yun's fate was too hard and it was in conflict with her fetus. She felt even more angry and couldn't help but go to Concubine Yun's place to make a scene. Who knew that the emperor didn't care about her at all. The grief of just losing her child instead reprimanded her and ordered her to shut up and think about her mistakes.It wasn't until she pleaded guilty on the table that Longyan turned around.

Since then, she hated Qu Yiran even more.

Her status is noble, second only to the empress, and the emperor ordered her to assist the empress to manage the harem together. Although she and the empress were in charge of the harem in name when she was favored, the empress always took advantage of illness and didn't take care of it. The entire harem was almost dominated by her alone.

Although the emperor has not forgotten her now, he still stays with her two or three days a month, but after all, it is not as good as before.Moreover, the queen's "illness" suddenly recovered, and she no longer cared about her face when she was acting.

"Sister Ni also makes sense," the queen put down her teacup and said, "In this case, this girl will not be promoted. It's just a matter of being a sister, so you can tell the Ministry of Internal Affairs that you will still be buried according to the nobleman's ceremony, and the expenses will start from It will be deducted from the monthly case of this palace."

Su Mi immediately thanked her, and then the little eunuch led her back to the side.All the concubines began to praise the queen's virtue.

Ni Yelin's face darkened. She objected just now, but she just wanted to suppress the Queen's arrogance and remind everyone that it is not only the Queen who has the power to assist the harem, but also Ni Yelin.But at this moment, comparing the two, she was a villain for no reason.

At this time, there was a sound of fine footsteps, and a court lady walked in with the help of a concubine.Su Mi looked up and saw that it was Liu Qiyan.

But in just three or four days, her appearance is quite different, she is wearing a light red curly train skirt, the hairpin is trembling slightly, her pink face and peach cheeks are just like a lotus in water;As soon as she stepped into the gate of the palace, a palace official had already led her to bow down in front of the queen.

"Liu promises to still be wounded, so there is no need to perform this great gift." The queen raised her hand and smiled.

Seeing her salute, the faces of the concubines were all different. The concubines had to pay respects to the queen the next day after attending the bedtime, and bowed down according to the rules.Looking at Liu Qiyan's etiquette in front of her, didn't the emperor favor her last night.But last night was Concubine Yun's birthday, yet the Emperor didn't stay at Concubine Yun's place?
Ni Yelin's face was startled, and she immediately left her seat and took Qi Yan's hand affectionately, saying, "What a pretty face, he really compares us to others, I can't help but love her when I see her, alas, Sister Yun is actually able to do it."

"Concubine Yun is also doing it for Qiyan. Qiyan violated the palace rules, how can she not be punished?" Qiyan replied with a low eyebrow.

"Is your injury better? Is the medicine I sent over available?" Concubine Ni asked again.

"Qiyan, thank you for your concern, the concubine, the injury is no longer a hindrance." Qiyan lowered her head and replied, she glanced slightly, and immediately saw Su Mi standing beside her, her face changed immediately, she wanted to say something, looked at it around, but did not dare to speak, so he had to lower his head.

"Speaking of which, my Xifu Palace has always been deserted and deserted. I have long said that I should invite a few sisters to live in it. Unfortunately, I have been busy with chores, so this matter has been delayed. I think sister, you live in Juhe Palace. It's not very satisfactory, why don't you move here, I'm afraid sister Yun won't let you go." Ni Guifei said.

"Since Sister Ni likes it, how could Yiran spoil her interest? Liu promises to move in." As soon as Concubine Ni's voice fell, a soft and elegant voice came in, and everyone looked towards the door, jingling their rings, The fragrance was pleasant, and a woman with radiant glass walked in, it was Yunfei Qu Yiran.

This is the first time that Su Mi has seen this current favorite concubine so closely.

She is wearing a silver-white long skirt decorated with magnolia flowers, with a slender figure and a slender willow waist. She wears a silver phoenix titled jade silk on her head, and her black hair is tied into a flowing bun. A hairpin made of pearls.Black eyebrows like distant mountains, exquisite and elegant nose, exquisite cherry lips, and a pair of bright autumn eyes are even more radiant, looking forward to flying.She is indeed a rare and stunning beauty, not only the facial features are exquisite and meticulous, but what is even more rare is that compared with the wealth and magnificence of the concubines in the harem, she has an elegant and charming demeanor.It's no wonder that in the harem full of beautiful women, she can be favored for more than a year, but how long can this kind of favor last?
In the harem, white and black are unlucky colors that have always been taboo, but Concubine Yun prefers white. The emperor granted her permission to not have to taboo these old rules, and specially ordered the Weaving Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to cut fabrics for her with silver thread. It is plain, but it can reflect all kinds of brilliance under different lights, especially when moving, it will flow with the movement of the delicate body, which is not inferior to the colorful brocade, so it is named "Yunjin".It is said that there are imitators among the people whose price is more expensive than gold.

"In that case, my sister thanked my sister." Ni Yelin said with a charming smile.

Concubine Yun's expression remained calm, she did not look at the two of them, and bowed to the queen herself.

Qi Yan didn't say anything, after she found out about Su Mi, she couldn't stop looking at Su Mi secretly, she was absent-minded, and she didn't have the right to speak because her status was too low.

(End of this chapter)