"Yingguiren is blessed with Jin'an." Li Quan shook off the dust and saluted neatly.

"Father-in-law Li, hurry up." Hua Ying personally helped Li Quan, and said with a smile: "The weather is getting hotter and hotter, Grandpa Li will drink a cup of herbal tea first?"

Li Quan secretly said that this noble man was on the road, and his smile was sincere: "Don't dare to be, the emperor specially asked the servants to come and send you something." ”

As he spoke, a few minions walked in with some things: "Niangniang, look, this is the pigeon's blood ruby that was paid tribute by the Western Regions last year, which is extremely precious, and the emperor specially asked the minions to show you if you like it or not."

Hua Ying's hand gently caressed the full amount of gemstones, if it was an ordinary ruby, there was no shortage in the palace, but such a complete piece of ruby, the size of a pigeon's egg and the stone body was hard and luster, the color was gorgeous, the texture was beautiful, and it was the first time she had seen it.

"My father-in-law told the emperor for me, I like it very much." Hua Ying is also a woman, so she naturally likes such dazzling things, and she does not hide the joy in her eyes at all.

You know, the ruby in the palace is generally an ordinary gemstone, the color is average, but the reason why this one is called pigeon blood ruby, is because the color is very transparent, red as pigeon blood, the emperor has not moved after receiving it, and he didn't want to give it to a nobleman.

Thinking of this, Li Quan naturally didn't dare to slack off: "Noble Ying, rest assured, the emperor will come to Yuqing Pavilion for lunch today, and the little master will prepare some." There are still some emperor's rewards here, and the servants will retire first. ”

Hua Ying no longer stopped him, knowing that he had official business, so she sent Lan Yu to send him out.

"Little master, the emperor ordered lunch to come to us, what else does the little master want to eat, the slave maid goes to the imperial dining room to inform the little master?" Lan Yu walked into the back room with some excitement, not to mention the things that the queen rewarded this morning, only the emperor's reward was dazzling, thinking that the little master was really going to be favored.

They don't have a kitchen, they have to tell the imperial dining room to cook whatever they want to eat, and the emperor has a specified number of meals every day, but the concubines can also order something else to please the emperor, which is why the harem concubines want a kitchen.

Hua Ying was sitting at the table and watching Qingxu count the rewarded objects, put the gold-inlaid jade earrings rewarded by the emperor on her ears, and looked in the mirror: "Help me ask for more mussel bacon soup, E-Niang used to be very good at soup, I haven't drunk it for a long time." ”

Afraid that the little master would miss his family again, Lan Yi didn't mention it anymore, and immediately took someone to the imperial dining room to send the recipe, in fact, Hua Ying is not a psychologically fragile person, she just misses the delicious dishes, this little girl thinks a lot: "Hui Xin, you also instructed people to prepare tea after eating." ”

At lunchtime, the emperor's guard of honor came over, followed by a group of people standing outside the door, and there were several people in Hua Ying's own palace maids, although they were a little unaccustomed, but Hua Ying was born in a big family after all, and she would not be particularly uncomfortable because she stood a few more people, otherwise the etiquette teachings she received since childhood would be in vain.

The emperor took her hand: "I found that the Ying nobles can look good in any color." "Today, Hua Ying changed into a royal blue flag suit, her skin is white and tender, and she is also pretty to wear, if she wears it by a person with black skin, it must be unsightly. I also noticed that the earrings on her ears were given by herself, and they matched her body.

The two sat down and began to eat, originally unable to speak when eating according to the rules, Hua Ying paused and scooped a small bowl of mussel bacon soup with a spoon and handed it to the emperor, this is a dish that is generally loved to be made at home, and the emperor should not have tasted it.

The emperor also drank the soup for face: "Yes, the river mussels are delicious, the bacon is mellow, and there is a clear tofu in it, which has a different flavor." As he spoke, he handed it to the eunuch next to him, and filled another bowl.

"This is what the concubine's mother often does, and the concubine has liked it since she was a child, but I didn't expect the emperor to love it too."

Seeing Hua Ying happy, the smile in her eyes couldn't hide it, and the emperor was not in a bad mood: "That just means that I am destined for you." ”

Seeing that Xiao Nizi lowered her head to eat with some shame, but with a smile on the corner of her mouth, the emperor felt that she had a good appetite today, although there were ten dishes plus Hua Ying's two dishes, and the two of them must not be able to finish eating, but each dish was ordered a little, and two bowls of bistem rice were used, which was already good in the eyes of the waiting people.

After lunch and tea with Hua Ying for a while, the emperor went back to the imperial study to be busy and sent him away, and Hua Ying could finally start the matter of the queen mother's birthday gift again.

Today's waiter is no longer Hua Ying, she finally turned over the brand of Ming Changzai, Hua Ying has nothing in her heart, since she regards Ming Changzai as a friend, she will not be jealous of Ming Changzai's favor.

The day of the Queen Mother's birthday has arrived in a blink of an eye, and the emperor and queen and all the concubines and princesses have gone to Jinhua Hall to celebrate the birthday of the Queen Mother.

The queen mother is not the emperor's biological mother, the emperor's mother Concubine Chun heard that she was given a glass of poisoned wine for murdering the emperor's heir, the emperor was young at the time, and she was raised by the queen mother at that time, or Concubine De, and finally the queen was down, the seventh prince ascended the throne, and the concubine also became the queen mother.

Because she didn't like the messy scene, the Queen Mother didn't prepare too many song and dance repertoire to perform, just talking, the scene was a little boring for a while, Hua Ying ate a few bites of food by herself and put away the chopsticks, the taste didn't match, it was not hot from the imperial dining room to this, fortunately it was in the early summer season, otherwise it would be even more unpleasant. Soon it was time to offer birthday gifts, and everyone offered birthday gifts, and Hua Ying was no exception.

Needless to say, the birthday gift given by the emperor is a valuable mutton fat white jade Bodhisattva, and the queen mother looks at it tightly, so that people can take it down and keep it.

The queen over there also sent a similar Buddha statue, and the queen mother nodded to this daughter-in-law with a kind smile, but Hua Ying looked at it and felt that the smile was not true at all.

The other concubines sent their own gifts, and finally it was Hua Ying's turn, she cleared her throat and got up:

"The concubine wishes the Queen Mother a better life than Nanshan, and sends the Queen Mother a picture of her own painting of the fairy deer to celebrate her birthday, I heard that the Queen Mother is benevolent and happy with the Buddha, and the concubine also copied six volumes of scriptures. Hua Ying lowered her head obediently, and the things she sent were all done by herself, which took a lot of effort and effort, and it depended on whether the Queen Mother liked it or not.

A trace of appreciation flashed in the eyes of the queen mother, she is an old and expensive emperor, and she has seen a lot of good things, although the things given by others are inevitably worth thousands of gold, in the end, they are not necessarily their own intentions, and they can be bought by sending individuals outside.

This noble person Ying is sincere, and he suddenly has a much deeper impression of her: "You have a heart, go back and sit." The Queen Mother looked at the vivid fairy deer on the painting, and felt that it was auspicious and blessed, and her tone was much more relaxed than others.

The people present are not stupid, especially the concubines, at this time, seeing that Hua Ying was jealous and unwilling to please the Queen Mother, they thought that the things they gave were the most precious, so they looked at Hua Ying's eyes with unwillingness.

Especially that Qian nobleman, her family is average, there is not so much money for herself to squander, this time gritted her teeth, intending to leave a good impression on the Queen Mother, and spent a lot of silver to buy a silk jade jade cup to give to the Queen Mother, but I didn't expect the Queen Mother to look faint, just raised her eyelids, and replaced it with the next personal gift.

This person is Hua Ying, the two are compared one after the other, who the Queen Mother likes is immediately superior, and the Qian nobles couldn't help but glare at Hua Ying.

Not to be outdone, Hua Ying looked back, anyway, this Qian noble person always has to talk to Mai Mang, she doesn't need to pretend to be stupid, a woman who has been in the palace for a few years is still a nobleman, and if she is not offended by the queen, it doesn't mean that she is really afraid of the Qian noble.

Seeing her look back at her directly, Qian Guiren seemed to have disdain in her eyes, and suddenly became angry in her heart, but because the big people were not good at being present, she turned her head away angrily.

Hua Ying couldn't help but be a little amused when she saw her like this, which one of them came from, I really don't know how this kind of heart spent so long in the palace.