In autumn, an autumn rain and a cold, the golden fan leaves of the two ginkgo trees in front of the peach orchard where the first peach lived fell to the ground, spread a thick layer on the ground, like a soft Persian wool blanket, and the first peach was not allowed to be swept away by the servants. It was raining, and the air smelled of earth, Chu Tao came back from playing outside with a coat on her body, and while untying the coat on her body and entering the door, she instructed Xiaohong and Xiaozi: "The outer Hang Baiju is open, you pick up half of it and pick it back." ”

Xiaohong was embarrassed: "Miss wants to use chrysanthemums to insert a vase?" I don't think it's ...... right."

Chu Ju shook the water on the hat three times, making a new plum blossom felt deep and shallow, she waved her hand: "Who wants to take the chrysanthemum in the vase?" I'm going to eat chrysanthemum water snake soup, you can just pick the chrysanthemums and send them to the kitchen. ”

took off the rain gear, Chu Tao rushed to the inner room, and saw Xiao Lu who was guarding the inside making a booing motion, and then Liu came out with a sad face, and scolded: "It's raining so hard, where are you going to play?" ”

Chu Tao said stiffly: "Where is it to go out to play, my daughter went to say goodbye to the ancestor." "It's true that I'm asking for peace, but I'm just playing for a while on the way back.

Liu's eyes were sharp, and he asked, "What good thing are you holding in your hand?" ”

Chu Tao's hand shrank into the cuff and whispered, "It's nothing." ”

Liu said angrily: "Take it out!" I see what! ”

Chu Tao timidly stretched out her pink fist and stretched out it to see that it was three or four crumpled ginkgo fruits. Liu's relaxed brows furrowed again, and said: "There are many Baiguo families, you send someone to find me, and you can pick up the dirty fruit that fell on the ground yourself." ”

Chu Tao replied truthfully: "The last time my daughter told Sun Shaomin that the ginkgo was stinky before it was peeled, she didn't believe it...... I chose it for her to smell, and she couldn't rely on it. ”

Liu Shi was angry and funny: "Do these naughty things all day long, don't take the girl of the Sun family, and when you turn around, Sun Lao will come over with thorns to clean you up, and I won't help you stop you." I hurriedly went to change my clothes, and when I turned around, I was caught with a cold again. I changed my clothes, and my mother has something to say to you. ”

Chu Tao changed into a regular dress, and drank a bowl of thick ginger soup under Liu's supervision, and the two sat on the soft floor of the concubine and talked. Liu Shi said worriedly: "Your eldest aunt is very sick, you will enter the palace in two days to see her, your ancestor has not been feeling well recently, I have to take care of it, you can enter the palace by yourself." ”

Chu Tao was surprised: "What disease does Concubine Zhen have?" Does it matter? She thought of Xue Zicheng's difficult guy, and asked again, "Are Sister Ying and Sister Ju going?" ”

Liu said: "As soon as the Mid-Autumn Festival is over, the two of them will enter the palace to read the draft as companions, in order to avoid suspicion, don't take them into the palace during this time." The doctor said that Niangniang was too worried and hurt her liver, she couldn't sleep at night, her limbs were sore, she didn't want to eat, and she was fine, but she was so thin that she lost her appearance. You go to see your aunt, pick up some interesting things to tell her, enlighten her, your aunt treats you really well, you have to be a filial child, you know. ”

Hatsu Tao nodded and agreed. Liu added: "When you enter the palace, you must first go to meet the queen mother and Princess Chang'an, and then go to meet Concubine De and Princess Xile." ”

Chu Tao asked, "The queen doesn't see people easily, right?" Liu said: "It's her business if the queen doesn't see you, but you want to do the whole of the etiquette and save the people." ”

"I know, that daughter can't see the queen, and she can go to Princess Chang'an." Hatsu Tao said with a grin.

Liu stopped: "No, you just go to play with Princess Xile." Don't you like to play with Sun Shaomin? Concubine De is still Sun Shaomin's aunt! ”

Chu Tao promised: "My good mother, I remember, I will return after entering the palace to visit the sick, and I will never cause trouble." ”

Chu Tao entered the palace the next day, first went to see the queen's mother, the queen said that she had an eye disease, did not let Chu Tao come in to ask for peace, rewarded Chu Tao a pair of golden steps, Chu Tao went to see Concubine De again.

Chu Tao entered the palace today, dressed very generously and decently, with a powder blue short top, white silk folded finely, and a white sweat towel pinned to his waist. Combed a neat butterfly bun, each inserted a thin white jade inlaid emerald tourmaline hairpin, and seven or eight blue coral flowers were pinned behind the ears. There is a faint layer of blush on the face, showing the cleanliness and pure beauty of the girl. When I arrived at Concubine De, I found that there was an old man and two rows of eunuchs standing respectfully outside, Chu Tao didn't know who it was, so she was polite and blessed first, and then thought that there could be such a big pomp and circumstance, except for the prince is the emperor, so she was ready to turn around and go to Concubine Zhen's Xiaoxiang Palace.

After walking more than ten steps, she suddenly heard her father-in-law who she met just now calling her, saying that the emperor asked her to go in. Chu Tao trembled twice and didn't dare to shirk it, so she had to tremble and move with her husband to Concubine De's Huaqing Palace.

Chu Tao saw a middle-aged man wearing a yellow robe of two dragons playing with pearls sitting on the couch, with the same wide square face as Princess Changle, looking very generous, and his sideburns were all white, slightly tired. The first time Chu Tao faced the saint, he was so nervous that he didn't even dare to come out of the air, so he hurriedly knelt down and said a beautiful word.

Sitting next to her is Concubine De, holding a jade Ruyi in her hand, a melon seed face, a greasy nose goose fat, and a pair of charming peach blossom eyes slightly raised, but the fine lines at the corners of the eyes still betray age, and the twilight of the beauty is the most sentimental. She wore a honey-colored dress, wore a crimson double-petaled palace flower, a red ruby on her forehead, and three strings of warm and delicate hanging beads around her neck hung down to her chest.

Concubine De's voice came from the top of Chu Tao's front: "Before, Xile told me that this doll looks exactly the same as Concubine Zhen, I still don't believe it, but now when I see it, I know that Xile didn't lie to me!" ”

"Well, it's like, and Shiwen does look alike. It is indeed my aunt and nephew, you look up. The emperor said to Chu Tao.

Chu Tao hurriedly raised his face, but his eyes still didn't dare to look directly at the emperor. The emperor praised: "Out of the mud but not stained, clear ripples but not demons." What is your name? ”

Chu Tao said seriously: "Emperor Xie praised, the courtier's name is Jiang Chu Tao." ”

Concubine De took over with a smile: "Why did you come up with this name?" Chu Tao explained: "The peaches grew when the courtiers were born, and the day after my mother gave birth to me, I saw the peaches hanging on the tree as soon as I opened the curtains, and I felt that there was fate and providence, so I called me Chu Tao." He also gestured to the shape of a peach.

The emperor saw Chu Tao explain seriously, and the two pink little hands were gesturing in the air, thinking that she was honest and cute, "hahaha" laughed three times: "You Nizi is interesting, and the name is also interesting." Reward! ”

Chu Tao hurriedly said: "The courtiers don't dare to accept it, today to be able to enter the palace to see the true dragon Tianzi and the beautiful concubine Niangniang is already a reward from heaven, how dare you be rewarded again." Besides, my mother often said that the courtesy is still exchanged, and the emperor wants to reward the courtiers, and the courtiers naturally want to thank them in return, but the first peach came empty-handed, so she was even more embarrassed to be rewarded. After speaking, he bowed his head and kowtowed.

The emperor smiled heartily and said, "This little girl knows the rules, and she still has to deal with me. My daughter and son see me like a mouse sees a cat, why are you so bold, aren't you afraid of me? Concubine De smiled with the emperor on the side, and glanced at the palace maid next to her, and the palace maid got the look and hurriedly slipped out.

Chu Taoxin said, I'm afraid, why am I not afraid, my mother said that if I am not careful in the palace, I will lose my head, but I still mustered up the courage and said: "The courtiers are not afraid, the courtiers feel that the emperor is very amiable." The princesses and princes are afraid to see the emperor, probably because the emperor is the same as the father of the courtiers, and they always teach the courtiers to dance and read, and the courtiers are so panicked when they see their father. ”

Concubine De said gently: "Even in the royal family, being a father is in the same mood, just looking forward to the well-being of the child." "The emperor is also a father after all, and when he heard Concubine De say this, his eyes became softer and softer.

"I really love this child, he is handsome and smart. Speaking of dancing, Wei Xin, who is next to the concubine, is still half of the child's master! She learned the dance with my niece. Wei Xin said that the third lady of the Jiang family danced and was talented. The concubine thought-" Before she finished speaking, Concubine De's words were interrupted by the emperor.

The emperor said: "Oh? I would like to know what Allure's dancing looks like. ”

Chu Tao gritted his teeth, thinking that he couldn't escape this time, but he couldn't lose the face of the Jiang family in front of the saint! Concubine De looked at Chu Tao deeply and did not speak again. This Wei Xin is Aunt Han, who once taught Chu Tao and Shao Min to dance, but later Shao Min's foot was injured, and the two stopped learning. Chu Tao Luo said generously: "Can the concubine find a pair of dancing shoes for the little girl?" ”

"It's good to wear this princess!" As soon as Chu Tao's voice fell, she heard Princess Xile's delicate voice, and it turned out that the palace maid was looking for Princess Xile just now. Princess Xile is decorated with tortoiseshell on her head, wearing a narrow-mouthed riding dress, a sweat scarf embroidered with pea green embroidered gold flowers, brown trousers with scattered flowers, and rose-red embroidered shoes with flat soles.

"I don't know the rules, and I don't know if I come in." Although the emperor's tone was reproachful, there was a smile on his face.

Princess Xile invited An, and Concubine De smiled and said, "Are you going to learn to ride a horse again?" I've been studying for more than half a month, and I still don't dare to ride it myself. Xile is like an emperor and likes to ride horses. ”

The palace maids found a pair of soft satin shoes inlaid with pearls for Chu Tao, and after Chu Tao changed into them, she said to the emperor: "The inner room is too small, and the courtiers are not easy to perform, so let's do the simplest action." ”

She spread her arms outstretched, her toes pushed to the ground, then her left leg straightened, her right leg lightly rested on her left leg, then her left leg exerted force, and her right foot touched the ground and quickly lifted it, and she spun ten times on the ground with her toes. After turning around, he didn't frown, and thanked him properly.

I saw that the emperor's face was full of smiles, and he applauded gently, and the tiredness on his body gradually disappeared, and said to Chu Tao: "You don't want a reward, what should I give you?" ”

Chu Tao knelt down again and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, the courtiers don't want to ask for anything for themselves, because the courtiers have no ambitions, and they are already very satisfied if they don't have to worry about food and clothing." But the courtiers wanted to ask for a matter for Concubine Zhen, and the courtiers heard that Concubine Zhen had lost a lot of weight recently, although she had not seen her, but she was also anxious. After saying that, he kowtowed again.

"I know your filial piety." The Emperor nodded. Concubine De took the opportunity to say: "Your Majesty, it's better to let this child enter the palace to accompany Xile, not only to be able to read together, but also to teach Xile to dance." ”