After an eight-day long journey, on the fourth day of the fifth month of the 48th year of Kangxi, the holy car arrived at the Rehe Palace.

The famous summer resort in later generations was only a rough scale at this time, and the buildings were not dense, far from the glorious style of later generations.

Cao Hao, who was named the imperial guard and the prince's companion, returned to the guard camp at this time. Originally, the sixteenth elder brother asked Cao Hao to settle on his side, but he was the prince of the undivided mansion, and he and the fifteenth elder brother were divided into a small xuan, as well as the eunuchs and palace maids who accompanied him. Cao Hao really didn't want to join in the fun, so he greeted Shuming and still went back here to settle.

*

The fifth day of the fifth month of May, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Kangxi held a small banquet in the palace, and the accompanying prince, the clan, and hundreds of officials went to the banquet. Shu Ming and the others all went to the palace to be on duty, and Cao Hao hung the name of the prince's companion, and he had already been exempted from the rotation of the guards. Stealing a half-time of leisure, he has no cleanliness habits, but he is also clean and accustomed. Now, it's time to take advantage of the fact that there is no one in the tent to wipe your body.

After a while, Xiao Man brought a kettle of hot water, and Cao Hao scattered his braids and washed his hair. It was also windy for a while, Cao Hao put on his clothes upright, asked Xiaoman to open the tent curtains, and sat upwind, which was very comfortable.

Xiao Manzheng took a big handkerchief to help Cao Hao twist his hair, and a little Sula came outside the tent and hurriedly urged him to return the kettle, but it was a festival today, and there were many cleansing and cleansing people everywhere, and the kettle was not enough, so Xiao Sula was sent out to urge the kettle everywhere in the water room.

This little Sula seemed to be really in a hurry, and ran with sweat all over his face, and immediately ran to the next place when the word was delivered.

Cao Hao took the handkerchief from Xiaoman's hand and said, "You go and return the pot first, and then braid your hair when you come back." He looked at the dark clouds that were gathering outside, and said, "Bring an umbrella." If the rain is heavy, take shelter from it, and come back when it is smaller, and it will be okay for me to do anything. ”

Xiao Man responded, holding an umbrella, and went out with a tin pot.

Cao Hao, who was blown by the light wind, was drowsy, his hair was not dry and he was afraid of wetting the bedding, so he put his elbows on his knees and held his head and took a nap.

When I was drowsy, I listened to the crisp Mongolian language outside for a while—but I couldn't understand a word. Cao Hao opened his eyes and saw a **-year-old girl, dressed as a Mongolian maid, standing at the door of the tent and muttering at him.

Cao Hao woke up and asked what was going on in Chinese and Manchu respectively, but the little girl frowned and continued to speak Mongolian. Cao Hao sighed, he had learned Manchu, but not Mongolian, although he was about to go to the grassland, but Han and Manchu were the mainstream, and the Mongols from nobles to guards could probably speak Manchu, so he never worried about the language problem, but he didn't expect that it was the first time he encountered a communication barrier.

couldn't communicate, so Cao Hao had no choice but to shake his head, indicating that he didn't understand. The little girl shook her head vigorously when she saw him, she was anxious and annoyed, she stomped her foot and turned her head and ran away, and Cao Hao was a little embarrassed - it seems that it is still necessary to learn one more foreign language.

It was destined that he couldn't sleep this nap, and when Cao Hao was about to fall asleep again, soft Chinese sounded in his ears: "This guard, ...... disturbed"

Another Mongolian maid, seventeen or eighteen years old, a little taller, but very thin, a washed Mongolian robe that did not fit very well, looked a little empty, and a three-layer food box was placed at her feet. Seeing Cao Hao looking up at her with tiredness, the maid hurriedly saluted and said, "I disturbed the adult's good sleep, and I hope to forgive my sins." May I ask if this is the camp of Lord Cao Hao? ”

Cao Hao listened to the woman in front of him talking well, and said politely, thinking which Mongolian prince's maid was not too rude, he stood up and said, "It's Cao Mou down there." What does the girl have to say? ”

The maid was busy and saluted, and said, "It turned out to be Lord Cao." The slave maid asked Lord Cao for peace. The slave and maid were sent by Tana Gege to deliver things. ”

*

The Tanagge that this maid said was the daughter of Urgon of Borzigit and Princess Heshuo Rongxian of the Bolzigit clan of Zasakdoro County of the Bahrain Ministry. This Princess Rongxian is the third princess of Emperor Kangxi, the same mother as the third prince and Prince Shuocheng Yinzhi, and the harem concubine Ma Jia.

Tana has lived in the capital for the past two years, because of her noble birth, pampered parents, grandmother and uncles are used to it, and her surname is inevitably a little domineering. Bao Ya Gege of Pingjun Wangfu is the same age as her, and they both love to catch sharp children, and every time the two of them get together, they will have accidents.

This time, both Gege were outside the blockade, and a few days ago, there was another accident at the station. In March, Bao Ya was defeated by Tana because of a horse race, and this time she held her breath when she went out of Beijing, and specially begged her brother to spend a lot of money to find a good horse. On the way north, the two began to compare.

Baoya occupies the light of a good horse, and naturally wins light-heartedness. Tana lost face and took all her anger out on her mount, whipping her horse fiercely. As a result, she accidentally pulled into the horse's eye, startling the horse, and she was thrown off the horse, but her foot got stuck in the stirrups. The situation was very critical, but fortunately, Cao Hao came to Baoya to get the letter sent by his sister, and when he saw such a change, he immediately shot the startled horse.

When Tana saw that Cao Hao was wearing the clothes of a guard, she asked someone to reward him with gold and wine, and her attitude was extremely arrogant.

Cao Hao was worried because he didn't know whether the news in the capital was auspicious or vicious, where would he have time to deal with this rude little girl, and he and Bao Ya left together. Tana jumped to her feet in anger and looked at Cao Hao's back, her face cloudy.

There was nothing to do in Beijing, and Cao Jia's family was so eager to send people over, not just to deliver letters to the family, but mainly to send food to her husband, younger brother and sister-in-law.

*

Thinking of Tana, Cao Hao really didn't have a good impression. Although he shot the frightened horse in order to save people, he was still shocked when he saw the whip marks on the horse, which was actually drawn by a fourteen-year-old girl, and how vicious it was. He looked at the food box on the ground, and his heart was unhappy, yesterday he said that he would appreciate silver and wine, and today he would appreciate food, and he became more and more a slave?

The maid saw Cao Hao's face sank, and found that he was looking at the food box, so she hurriedly waved her hand and said, "My lord misunderstood, the slave and maid didn't send this...... Don't hide it from your lord, this is not a slave's fault. Because the sister said that the adults were not in harmony with the Mongolian language just now, and the sister did not understand Manchu Chinese, she asked the slave maid to replace her. As he spoke, he took something out of his sleeve, offered it respectfully, and said, "This is the Habteg that Gege gave to your lordship, and it contains the best spices that have been exchanged from the west." ”

It was a gourd-shaped purse with indigo satin embroidered in five colors.

Cao Hao's face became even more ugly when he saw it, don't care what is inside, how can this purse be something that can be sent indiscriminately? Although the Dragon Boat Festival sent this is also appropriate, it is not something that I can receive. As a man with no physical problems, he had never dreamed of an affair, but he had no interest in provoking such a rude county lord. He didn't have any masochistic tendencies, and he didn't have a good impression of the spicy and domineering woman at all, so he said coldly to the maid: "Please ask the girl to pass the word on your behalf, Cao Hao can't afford to be a reward." Please bring things back with you, too! ”

The maid was still embarrassed on the spot with her purse, and only after a while did she say timidly: "My lord, forgive me, slave and maid...... The slave maid ...... "I didn't know what to say for a while, and I was very embarrassed."

Cao Hao saw it and said, "It's not that I want to embarrass the girl, it's really rude." Girl, please go back! ”

The maid hesitated, put away her purse, gave a salute, took the food box and turned away. She hadn't gone far when suddenly a gust of wind came, thick clouds rolled, and the sky suddenly became dark. She knew that the rain on the grassland was coming very quickly, so she ran back without thinking about it, panting into Cao Hao's tent, and said slightly apologetically: "I'm bothering my lord, it's really the rain that is urgent, and the slave and maid have brought food again, and want to borrow an umbrella to avoid ......" Before the words fell, a shiny lightning split the cloud curtain, and then a series of rolling thunder came down, drowning out her voice.

Outside the tent, a large area of rain and stars fell, extremely hard, smashed up the dust, and there was a sonorous sound, and the sky and the earth were dark.

The maid was standing in the tent, but she was near the door, and before the curtain fell, raindrops came in and hit her back. Because of the cold wind and rain, her body trembled slightly, but she hugged the food box to her chest and hugged it tightly, as if she was afraid that a little water would fall into it, and her already thin body looked more and more delicate, her eyes were full of pleading, and her face was timid.

It's useless to use an umbrella on this day, and it's such a weak girl, Cao Hao couldn't bear it, so he said: "If the girl doesn't like it, please come in and take shelter from the rain for a while!" ”

The maid saluted gratefully, walked a few steps inside, put the food box in the middle of the ground, and stood with her hands down. Cao Hao looked at her with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, and had a strange attitude, thinking that it was not easy to do things under the hands of that unruly county lord, and pointed to the small pestle on the side of the short, "Girl, it's okay to sit." ”

The maid was stunned, then thanked her, and went over to carry the little pestle to the place where she had stood, and then arranged her clothes and sat down.

It's really embarrassing for a lonely man and a widow to be in the same room, you can't stare at each other, right? Cao Hao put on the lamp, took the book, and sat down to read it.

The wind crashed east and west in the tent, blowing the lights and dancing, shaking Cao Hao's eyes. He had to put down the book, close his eyes, rub the acupuncture points around his eyes, and tap the back of his head. After touching his hair, he remembered that he had not combed his hair, and he met the maid with a cloak of hair, and was a little embarrassed, so he hurriedly put his hands together and put his hair together, he couldn't braid, but at least he had to put it together neatly.

When the maid saw this, she hesitated for a moment, but still asked softly, "Slave maid...... Waiting for adults to comb their hair? ”

Cao Hao hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No, no." "The ancients combed their hair and said, she is not his maid, how can she comb her hair casually? This Mongolian master and servant are really inexplicable masters.

The maid said "um", grabbed the placket tightly with one hand, and said in a low voice: "My lord forgives the sin, it is the slave and maid who trespass ......"

Cao Hao saw the humble look on the face of the person in front of him, and the hand holding his hair also paused, and said, "I don't dare to bother the girl." Seeing that her head drooped lower and lower, and her hands became tighter and tighter, she felt a little unbearable, so she comforted herself and thought that she was just combing her hair, just as if he was visiting a barber shop and she was a female hairstylist, so she said, "That...... It's bothering the girl. As he spoke, he turned out a box full of wooden combs, red silk pendants, etc., and spread it out.

The maid raised her head suddenly, bit her lower lip with her braided glutinous teeth, nodded, walked over quickly, straightened Cao Hao's head, picked up the comb and slowly penetrated her hair, and then divided her strands, and quickly braided her hair with her ten fingers, and finally said timidly: "What do you think, my lord?" If it is not good, the slave and maid will fight again. ”

Cao Hao touched his hair and sighed in his heart, in the end, it is still a woman's good comb, although Xiaoman's braiding skills have improved by leaps and bounds in the past ten days, but it is still 108,000 miles worse than these genuine maids, and he couldn't help but praise: "Good craftsmanship." ”

The maid lowered her eyelids in shame and said, "My lord praises it." ”

Cao Hao listened to her elegant and smiled: "You can speak Chinese well." ”

The maid smiled faintly and said, "The slave is Han." ”

Cao Hao took a serious look at it, although this woman's face was as black and red as the grassland girl, her eyebrows and eyes did not look like a Mongolian. This laughing pear vortex is shallow, with some Jiangnan flavor, the lights are swaying, and Cao Hao is also in a trance for a while.