Seeing off Guo Yan and his wife, Nianyun turned around and heard a commotion outside.

Nian Yun ordered the green pothos to go and see what was going on, and Fennel came back and said: "It is a young offspring, who is clamoring to see the housewife outside, saying that he is too poor to live, and he wants to come to our East Palace as an internal servant." Menzi wanted to drive him away, so he made a noise. ”

The people outside are suffering from the people, and Nianyun knows it. Although Chang'an City is prosperous, the rich and noble families spend a lot of money. But every time I went to give porridge outside the city gates, there were always poor people who were unkempt, holding broken dishes that never seemed to be washed, and receiving a day's rations, and they were glad that they did not have to starve to death today.

There are people outside who specialize in purifying people's bodies, picking out those who are desperate, tricking them into writing IOUs and purifying themselves into the palace. Although the palace does not have to worry about food and clothing, the sins suffered will inevitably be doubled.

If you encounter a bad-tempered master or steward, it is common to fight several times a day. The head of the palace has his own way of beating people, focusing on invisible places, and his clothes are covered well, but the pain will cost half his life. Not to mention the humiliation suffered by those who purified themselves to serve as internal servants and could no longer live like normal people for the rest of their lives.

If a good child wants to be served by this knife, he must have some heart. Nianyun sighed in his heart, feeling pitiful, so he ordered: "Call him in, I'll take a look at him." ”

After a while, Fennel led a young man in, and the young man walked in a strange manner, as if he was limping a little, about sixteen or seventeen years old, and wearing a coarse cloth shirt of no color.

He was thin, very thin, and a thin garment hung fluttering on his body, making people feel that the person in front of him was just a big skeleton wrapped in it. And because he was too tall, when he stood in front of Nian Yun with his head down and his hands down, he felt like a hunchback.

Fennel said to him, "This is our county lady, see the lady and salute!" ”

The young man bowed deeply: "I've seen the county lady." ”

Nian Yun glanced him up and down, and said, "You stand up straight, raise your head and let me see." ”

When the young man heard this, he straightened up, not hunched over, and Nian Yun realized that he was very tall, more than a head taller than Nian Yun, and he was very tall.

His hair seemed to be slightly curled, and it didn't feel so good when it was tied back at the back of his head. There are some acne scars on the sides of the cheeks, which have not completely healed. The face is not very delicate and handsome, but the facial features are very upright and pleasing to the eye.

Although he was thin, he did not look pale or weak, just thin.

Nian Yun looked at him for a moment and asked, "What's your name, how old are you, and where are you?" ”

"Mrs. Hui's words, the little name is Renzhen, he is seventeen years old, and he is from Qingzhou."

"What's the last name?"

"I don't have a surname, and I don't know what the surname is, but the former head of the family was surnamed Xue, even if it followed the surname Xue."

It's not called a cat or a dog, a fortune or something like that, and he is also articulate in his answers, and he speaks a good official language, which makes Nianyun have a good impression.

"How many years have you been in Chang'an?"

"It's only been a year."

"For a year, I can speak the official language so well, but I am also very smart."

"The little one who used to be the head of the family in Qingzhou was originally a Chang'an family, and he was doing business in the Qingzhou area, and the family spoke official dialect, so he learned some."

Nian Yun nodded: "I see." Why did you leave Qingzhou and come to Chang'an? ”

Renzhen bowed his head and said: "The head of the family is in the middle of the road, and he can't support us anymore, so he dismissed us." We are the slaves of the family, and we have nowhere to go, so we heard that Chang'an is prosperous and wealthy, so we came. ”

It's also pitiful. When I came to Chang'an, I found that Chang'an was indeed prosperous and rich, but the poor still had no place to stand.

"Then why do you have to come to the East Palace?"

His expression was a little melancholy, "As a waiter, you have food to eat and clothes to wear." I can't get in the palace, and I can't see them without my father-in-law willing to carry me, and I've been beaten out seven or eight times. But I've ...... I think...... It's only the East Palace that needs an inner servant, so I'll give it a try......"

Nianyun thought for a moment and asked, "Have you ever read a book?" ”

"In the past, I followed the little master and studied the "Four Books", and I can calculate a little account."

Nian Yun was not too surprised. At first glance, I felt that he was a little more bookish than an ordinary slave, so I asked him like this, and sure enough, he had read a little book.

"You stay. It just so happens that we also have a father-in-law surnamed Xue here, so you will follow Father-in-law Xue to learn first. Nianyun thought for a while and said: "Your name is Renzhen, this name is not good, too civilized, and you have committed Zhenyuan's ridicule." Since you're here, let's change it. ”

When Renzhen heard her tell him to stay, her joy overflowed. I heard her say that she didn't like his name, and hurriedly said, "Please give her a name!" ”

Nianyun said lightly: "You can go down the six blessings and call it Qixi." Fennel, ask someone to take him down, go talk to Gonggong Xue, and teach him well. ”

Fennel agreed, and arranged it. When Nian Yun saw his back, he still hunched his back slightly, walking with a limp.

Nianyun stopped him and asked, "Qixi, do you have a wound on your foot?" ”

He seemed a little embarrassed, and suddenly his face was red and his ears were red, and he stammered: "No, no." ”

Nian Yun suddenly understood that he must have cleansed his wounds before he was clear. Nian Yun instructed: "Give him a string of money for pocket money first." Ask the doctor to show him, and if there is an injury on his body, he does not have to rush to work, and he will take care of the injury - go! ”

"Yes, Mrs. Xie." Xue Qixi turned around and glanced at her, bowed down and saluted again, this salute made people feel real, thank you from the heart, not just etiquette.

After three days, Nianyun remembered that the new little eunuch had come and asked Fennel, "How is he injured?" ”

Fennel replied: "On the day I came, I asked the doctor to show him, saying that it was not a long time, and it was a shame that he could bear it." I asked someone to boil medicine for him, and if his health is good, he will be completely cured in more than a month. ”

Nian Yun said: "I think he is also a clever person, and it is rare that he can read and write." Don't be in a hurry to ask him to do anything, since he can settle accounts, you just ask them to take some account books every day for him to check the accounts in and out, which can be regarded as understanding our internal affairs. ”

Xue Qixi learned quickly, Nian Yun originally ordered him to review the account book, not only did he calculate the numbers quickly and accurately, but occasionally he would raise questions about the reason for the incoming and outgoing funds in a timely manner, and Nian Yun was very satisfied with his performance.

Later, because of the lack of manpower in the division's bedroom, he was assigned to the division's bedroom to use, and together with a little mute chamberlain, he was in charge of the fire and candles in each courtyard. is different from the older Xue Gonggong before, everyone in the house calls him Xiao Xue Gonggong, and some people directly call him Qixi.

Xue Qixi's body has already recovered, and Nianyun also ordered the dining room to add food to him. It was noted that he put aside all the pork, even the food in which the pork was put in, and he would not even touch dishes with lard.

Nianyun asked Fennel to ask him, only to know that he was a Muslim and did not eat pork. After that, Nianyun ordered that no more pork appeared in the food he was given.

Aside from pork, he is not a picky eater and eats a lot. But he was still thin, so thin that he couldn't hang up the loose clothes of the inner prison, like a slender bamboo pole, sticking out his head and arms only in the right places.

And, for some reason, Nian Yun always felt that he rarely smiled, and his thin cheeks were often hidden in the shadow of his hat, with a strange melancholy.

He is an unhappy person, Nianyun secretly thought, maybe because he has read books and has a certain amount of knowledge, so he will have deep sadness about his life.

She has seen too many people, illiterate, without her own ideas, experienced natural and man-made disasters, separation of flesh and blood, and then lived numbly, numbly rejoicing in a piece of dry bun.

In the evening, 7-Up would take the little mute to each courtyard to light the lamp. Where the crown prince Li Yu and the prince Li Chun of the county are resting, the secretary will tell him in advance.

When he lit the lanterns, he would send six pairs of red lanterns to the courtyard, light them with a fire fold, and hang them one by one under the eaves with bamboo poles. The candles in the lantern are neither long nor short, and they burn until the end of the third watch.

In ten days, there are always eight or nine days when Qixi and Little Dumb will carry the six pairs of big red lanterns and hang them under the eaves of Nianyun.

The chamberlains in the East Palace are all relatively old, and they are all old people who have served in the East Palace since the prince Li Yu was a child. Nian Yun has long wanted to cultivate a group of his own forces in the inner servants, but he has never had the energy to manage it.

Fennel knew that Nianyun intended to cultivate Qixi, and when she had free time, she often talked to him. Fennel also often felt that he was very submissive and would never argue or disobey, but he just seemed to be in a bad mood all the time, and promised anything with a blank face.

In the evening, I heard Qixi shouting at the top of his voice: "Light the lamp-", and then he would take the fire fold and lamp oil, starting from the Cheng'en Palace, and knock on the door one by one.

Coming out of the Cheng'en Palace, the second one went to Yiqiu Palace, and the sky was not yet completely dark. With his head down, Qixi walked out of a patch of light, with a patch of light, but it seemed as if he could never illuminate his own darkness.

There was three knocks at the courtyard door, followed by a shout: "Light the lamp—"

Nian Yun could hear Qixi's voice. He was nearly an adult when he was cleaned, with a bulging Adam's apple and a thick but short beard, and the acne scars on his face that could never be erased.

His voice was not as sharp and unpleasant as those who had been purified into the palace since childhood, but it was a deep, but not coarse, one, between a teenager and an adult man.

Fennel went to open the door for him and lure them in, even though Qixi was too familiar with the yard to be more familiar. Seven Joys in front, little mute in the back, a long bamboo pole hung a large row of bright red lanterns.

The little mute lifted the bamboo pole on his shoulder and held the fire fold in one hand. Because Qixi was much taller than the little mute, the bamboo pole was sandwiched under the creaky nest, and the lamp oil was held in one hand.

Fennel walked ahead and suddenly stopped. Qixi walked in front, walking with his head down, seemingly a little distracted, one was unguarded, almost stepped on the heel of fennel, and the other stumbled, and the lamp oil in his hand almost spilled out.

Fennel hurriedly supported him and grinned: "What are you thinking, I don't seem to have a heart on me today." ”