At this time, Liu Chengyin, who was responsible for combing the hair of the Empress Dowager Cixi, was waiting outside the palace gate early. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Now seven or eight years have passed, and only Liu Chengyin has come to serve the Empress Dowager Cixi to comb her hair and give the Empress Dowager Cixi this errand, and no one else has ever replaced him.

Liu Chengyin is the most favored old eunuch in the palace now, he is gentle, docile, gentle, polite, always from the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes to reveal a happy smile, serving people is not impatient, just right, so that the people being served feel very comfortable. All the palace maids were very affectionate with him, and sincerely called him "Uncle Liu". He often brought some needlework and thread to the palace maids, which was lacking in the palace maids, but he was not for one person, anyone could use it. When the palace maids saw him, they sometimes greeted him and asked him for good luck, and he always returned the salute very modestly, no matter who he was dealing with. The Empress Dowager Cixi knew that he was popular, and often said: "Go down and let them make you a cup of tea!" "This is a big face, which can make the palace maid enjoy tea, which is a very decent thing in the palace. When encountering such a time, Liu Chengyin asked to kneel down again and again, and said in his mouth: "Slaves dare not bear it, slaves dare not bear it!" "The more the Empress Dowager Cixi gives face, the more modest and cautious Liu Chengyin becomes, which is the reason why he has been favored for a long time.

The palace maid lifted the curtain of the palace gate for Liu Chengyin, Liu Chengyin walked in with the burden of Huang Yunlong's set on his head (inside is a combing tool), and asked for kneeling down with his legs to the main seat, and asked the burden to come down from the top of his head, and lifted it upward, and the palace maid took it, and then shouted crisply: "Lafayette is auspicious, the slave Liu Chengyin will give you Wan'an!" The palace maid shouted in the bedroom, "Come in, Liu Chengyin!" This is a message for the Empress Dowager Cixi, and it is also a special kindness, because eunuchs can often enter the Empress Dowager's bedroom, and Liu Chengyin is the only one.

The difference today is that Liu Chengyin is waiting to comb his hair, as well as the second manager Li Lianying.

After Liu Chengyin entered the house, he kowtowed (most of the eunuchs kowtowed when they saw the Empress Dowager for the first time in the morning to show respect), opened Huang Yunlong's baggage, took out the hairpin, comb, grate and other tools for combing her hair, and began to comb the Empress Dowager Cixi's hair.

"Liu Chengyin, did you hear anything new outside? Tell me about it! Empress Dowager Cixi was obviously in a good mood today, and asked casually.

Liu Chengyin had long expected this question, so he told the Empress Dowager Cixi one after another the stories he made up about the auspicious appearance of the dragon and phoenix, and the wind and rain. The Empress Dowager Cixi smiled brightly, and the palace ladies couldn't help laughing.

Li Lianying waited carefully on the side, admiring Liu Chengyin in her heart.

"The day before yesterday, there was such a bizarre thing in the porridge factory, and the steward of Shuntian Mansion went to see the situation of the porridge. First go to the Nancheng porridge factory to see, and see an old lady, clean and clean in an old cotton jacket and cotton pants, the color of the blue cloth has been washed to the white ground, the nails on the clothes are neatly repaired, there is no dust on the body, the body is very tough, and she is queuing up to make porridge there. The steward of Shuntianfu didn't pay attention to it, and when he turned to the porridge factory in Deshengmen, the steward was stunned, and saw the old lady queuing up here to make porridge. Because this old lady is very conspicuous, the steward has to pay attention to the inattention, and privately ask the eunuch on the errand of the porridge factory, is this old lady a person close to the left? Do you come every day? The people in the porridge factory said that they would come once in ten days and eight days. The person in charge of Shuntian Mansion said, 'You have to serve the old lady well, this is a living immortal, I just saw her in the Xuannan Porridge Factory, I came on horseback, and trotted all the way to Deshengmen, but she can walk in front of me, this is not a mortal. 'Look! The ancestors set up a porridge factory, and kindness touched the heavens and the earth, and the gods also 'rushed to the meeting'! ”

Liu Chengyin combed the Empress Dowager Cixi's hair while speaking slowly. The maid who sleeps on the side hands things to her, and the attendant makes up the things on the bed and under the bed. At this time, the old eunuch sent a bowl of rock sugar white fungus to the door of Chuxiu Palace with a box and handed it to the palace maid on an errand. The palace maid handed the bowl to Li Lianying again (there was no such procedure before, today it can be said that Liu Chengyin specially arranged), and the Empress Dowager Cixi placed a low coffee table of rosewood in front of her, and she scooped the white fungus with a silver spoon and ate it gently. This is the most comfortable time of the day for the Empress Dowager Cixi, and it is also the happiest time for the palace maids and eunuchs. Everyone was grateful to Liu Chengyin, because he was happy to serve the Empress Dowager Cixi early in the morning, and the other people's errands were easy to handle.

Liu Chengyin is different from other eunuchs, he is not partial to anyone, except for errands, he does not gossip, and he does not compete for merit and face, he speaks the longest in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and never speaks ill of others. It is because everyone in the palace loves and respects.

Today's Li Lianying finally understands why Liu Chengyin is the chief manager, and she can only be the second manager.

After combing her hair, the Empress Dowager Cixi retraced her eyebrows, brushed her sideburns, and applied pink and rubbed red. Although she has been widowed for many years, the Empress Dowager Cixi is still extremely attentive to the decoration of her appearance. When she looked in the mirror back and forth, Li Lianying and the palace maids who were sleeping in the room all praised her left and right, coaxing her to be happy. And this kind of work that the Buddha is happy with is always done by the people who serve in the bed, and others can't stand it. After the Empress Dowager Cixi dressed up, she stood up and aligned her feet to see if the shoes and socks (socks made of ayako, with a line in the middle to match the cuffs) were correct, and then Fang walked out lightly. At this time, Li Lianying and others knelt down together and shouted: "Lafayette is auspicious!" ”

After smoking two pipes of hookah, the milk tea offered by the eunuch was served. The breakfast in the court also retained the habit of the Manchurians in the Northeast, drinking milk to make tea, called milk tea. At the same time, there are all kinds of porridge, such as rice porridge, Yutian red rice, fragrant glutinous rice from Jiangnan, barley rice, etc., as well as eight treasure lotus seed porridge; There are various tea soups, such as almond tea, fresh soy milk, beef bone marrow tea soup, etc. Cover it with a large carrying box and cover it with a yellow cloud dragon set. It's time for Li Lianying to be courteous. Li Lianying held the food box in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi and opened it, and there were more than 20 items in the food box. In addition to all kinds of porridge, there are sesame sauce baked cakes, shortbread baked cakes, white water chestnut, radish shredded cakes, clear oil cakes, coke rings, sugar packets, sugar cakes, incense balls, there are also halal fried sprinkles, fried back, there are soybean products, there are also marinated products such as braised duck liver, braised chicken breast and so on.

The Empress Dowager Cixi used a few things for breakfast, and when she had eaten two incense balls with white glutinous rice and black fillings, she suddenly seemed to remember something, and asked: "Li Lianying, have you sent this 'chocolate' stuffed incense ball to Zhong Cui Palace?" ”

Li Lianying was thinking about how to tell Cixi about Beijing, but she couldn't prevent Cixi from saying a word, and she actually hit a spirit.

"Back to Lafayette's words, send it over. The East Buddha ate and boasted about it. Li Lianying replied immediately.

Only then did he remember that this exotic food called "chocolate" was offered by the governor of Fujian named Lin Yizhe.

"Li Lianying, I see that you are always disobedient these days, is there anything embarrassing?" Empress Dowager Cixi smiled and asked.

It was as if there was a thunderbolt ringing in her ears, and Li Lianying was about to kneel down as soon as her knees became weak, but he knew that at this time, it was the time not to make the Queen Mother angry or unhappy.

"Back to Lafayette's words, no matter how difficult it is, the slave will bear it himself, and it can't be said to make Lafayette annoyed, right?" Li Lianying's mind spun quickly, she was only slightly stunned, and blurted out naturally when she answered, "Lafayette is sympathetic to the slave, the slave has a warm heart, no matter how difficult it is, he can do it!" ”

After listening to Li Lianying's answer, Liu Chengyin couldn't help but secretly applaud in his heart.

"Okay, you Li Lianying, this mouth, you are getting better and better at talking." The Empress Dowager Cixi smiled, "Also, what's the matter, it's rare to stay with you Li Er." ”

As soon as Li Lianying heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi said that she had changed from "Li Lianying" to "Li Er's manager", she knew that something was wrong, and immediately knelt down on her knees and kowtowed again and again.

"Damn it! Please Lafayette please! ”

Cixi seemed to have expected Li Lianying's reaction, and asked unashamedly: "Say, what's going on?" ”

At this time, Liu Chengyin said with a smile on the side: "Lafayette is blessed with all the blessings, and the people have been blessed, and they have done things with half the effort. He looked at Li Lianying, who was kneeling there, and said, "Second Manager Li, why don't you ask Lafayette to dial a little?" ”

"Back to Lafayette's words, since the slave contracted this garden project, thanks to Lafayette's blessing, everything is going well, and now it is ...... It's the wood of this golden silk nan, and I'm a little nervous......" Li Lianying knew that Liu Chengyin was helping herself to warp, so she hurriedly said.

The Empress Dowager Cixi snorted, and Li Lianying's heart couldn't help but feel a chill.

"Second Manager Li, isn't this project almost finished?" Liu Chengyin asked pretending to be surprised.

"Yes...... It's almost finished, but I still need some wood from Jinsinan......" Li Lianying replied tremblingly.

Hearing the hint in Liu Chengyin's words and Li Lianying's answer, the Empress Dowager Cixi's heart suddenly calmed down, but there was still not much expression on her face, but Liu Chengyin still observed the subtle changes in the expression on Cixi's face, and a hanging heart also relaxed.

"Have you thought about it?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked quietly.

Hearing the words asked by the Empress Dowager Cixi, Li Lianying was greatly relieved.

He was familiar with the temper of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and he knew that since Cixi asked himself "have you thought about it", it was tantamount to preparing to not blame the past. What she needs now is a solution, to get the garden completed on schedule, and as long as she comes up with a practical solution, she will not blame herself.

"Back to Lafayette, the slave wants to ask the shipmaster to purchase this golden silk nanmu from abroad." Li Lianying's mind calmed down for a moment, and her answer became sharper.

"How did you get to the shipmaster?" The Empress Dowager Cixi ate another incense ball and asked.

"Back to Lafayette, the timber used by the shipmaster is purchased from many places, and I know very well what kind of wood is produced in a certain place, and I want to ask the shipmaster for help as a minion." Li Lianying replied with her head down.