Sending off the holy car, Qingcheng was not allowed to welcome the king and nobles into the house to greet him. She has never socialized with people very much, and Wang Guiren and others rarely enter Yikun Palace to enjoy playing. Although there are many rumors in the palace, I never thought that it was so extravagant. The white jade and topaz carvings that can be seen everywhere, the gold lampstand, the glass-inlaid walls, and the sparkling lights all around, there is no place that is not exquisite, and there is no place that is not noble.

Qingcheng's face was tired, and everyone did not dare to sit for a long time, so they thanked and retired. Er Qi took the milk and waited for the green orange to drink, and then presented the shaved noodles stewed with black chicken, the green orange ate most of the bowl in one go, and said, "Withdraw." After a while, Hai An entered the house and said, "Master, the warm soup has been prepared." Qingcheng snorted and got up to bathe in the side hall.

In the middle of the day, Mama Jiao Yin led Yongzhang to come over to ask for peace, Yongzhang grew up very fast, the placket was half an inch shorter, Qingcheng ordered Hai'an to re-measure the size, and said: "Ming'er called two embroidered girls to the side hall and made a few spring robes for Yongzhang, I don't stare at them, I always feel at ease." Hai'an agreed, Qingcheng picked up Yongzhang and sat on the side of the kang, and said with a smile: "Is it okay to sleep with Eniang today?" ”

Yongzhang immediately smiled and said, "Okay! ”

Qingcheng listened to the joy, ordered Hai'an to bring his bedrobe, and while helping him change his clothes, he smiled and said, "It's really a little baby of Eniang." Yongzhang said: "There are two little treasures!" Qingcheng asked, "Who else?" Yongzhang smiled: "One baby is a little brother, and another baby is Eniang." Qingcheng's heart was as sweet and greasy as honey, holding his face and kissing him.

Early the next morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent six embroidered girls for the selection of green oranges. Qingcheng has a heart, doing things in her palace, it is inevitable that she will often bump into the emperor, so she first screened two with charming faces, and the other four took out embroidery to compare, Qingcheng felt good, and did not know how to choose to stay for a while, Wang Jinbao looked at the look, bowed down and flattered: "If the master likes it, although he keeps it." ”

Qingcheng said: "This is very good, I will only borrow it for five or six days, and when Yongzhang's clothes are ready, I will let them go back." Wang Jinbao smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were piled up layer upon layer, and said, "Although the master is envoy, the slave is not in a hurry." When he finished speaking, he knelt down and withdrew. Cutting clothes is not an easy job, Qingcheng's embroidery work is not bad, and the moire on the shoulders and cuffs of Yongzhang's shirt are all sewn by herself. The four embroidered girls and the green orange foil were busy for six days before they rushed out two sets of elder robes. Yongzhang was very happy when he wore new clothes, and he wanted to show off when he met people, saying that he was sewn by his own hands.

One afternoon, Qingcheng made silk flowers with Hai'an and Erqi under the window, all of which were leftovers from making robes for Yongzhang. Because it is the spring satin of the imperial tribute, the green orange is reluctant to throw it away, so he wants to make some hairpin flowers for the girls below. On the small wooden table in the side hall there were half a box of various colors of satin, and the emperor picked up the flowers they had made and looked at them, and said with a smile: "There is also a generous reward for everyone's silk in front of me, and now I will hide in the house and pick up leftovers to make silk flowers, why bother." ”

Qingcheng said: "I don't know how much effort it took to weave a few high-quality satins outside, it's a pity to throw them away, and it is also a good use to make silk flowers." The palace maid fetched warm water, washed her hands with green oranges, and waited for the emperor to change out of the dragon robe, wearing a homely black blue glove robe.

The two were gossiping crookedly on the soft couch, and the emperor was already sleepy-eyed, so he said for no reason, and said: "In a few days, I will hike to the mound to worship the sky." Qingcheng said softly: "There is a lack of rain in Shangjing every year, and if you calculate carefully, it has not rained for dozens of days." She paused, squeezed into his arms, and said, "When?" ”

The emperor had already squinted, and said vaguely: "It's really hot. With that, there was no more sound. Qingcheng stood up, carefully unscrewed the dragon button around his neck, crept up again, opened the cabinet and took the silk flower and bird tooth handle carved silk fan, leaned high on the pillow, half sat beside him, and shook the fan for him. Outside the window, the spring is deep and bright, the verdant flower branches are swaying and broken, and occasionally birds and finches fly by, chirping and chirping. The palace people ran away from afar, and the air seemed to stop, condensed for a moment.

The room was so quiet that Wu Shulai didn't dare to wake up, so he had to wait and paced back and forth under the porch. The emperor was conscious in the end, and he woke up almost an hour later. Looking up, I saw Qingcheng half-leaning and half-sitting, leaning on the bed beam and napping, holding a fan in his hand and resting on his stomach, and couldn't help but smile. He got up quietly, carefully took the pillow, and helped her to lie down.

Qingcheng was frightened, and suddenly opened his eyes, the emperor's face was close at hand, and before he could speak, the emperor said first: "Sleep, just don't sleep too late, so as not to have a headache." Then he stroked the broken hair from her cheeks and said, "I am gone." Qingcheng hummed lazily, watching Mo Lan's figure disappear behind the curtain, Fang closed his eyes and fell asleep.

It was already evening when I got up, and the Qingcheng Destiny Sect led Mama to hold Yongzhang, Er Qi held the lion, and the group went to the imperial garden to relax. The lion was not as lively and active as before, hanging his head and tilting his head on the fake stone to bask in the sunset, no matter how the green orange teased, he only glanced at it lightly, and then closed his eyes to recuperate.

Qingcheng called out to the eunuch who was waiting and asked, "What's the matter?" You won't get sick, will you? ”

The eunuch bowed his head and said, "Enlighten the master, the lion is not sick, but... It's just..."Qingcheng was anxious and shouted, "Just what? The eunuch said, "Spring is getting warmer, and the lion... Be... Si Chun. As soon as these words came out, even Qingcheng laughed and said, "In this case, let the dog department of the upper courtyard pick a few female dogs with pure blood and good appearance." The eunuch responded, Qingcheng took the lion back into his arms, and said with a smile: "You will have two more daughters-in-law, and you can keep whichever one you like." ”

The dog breeding department of the upper courtyard deliberately selected for most of the day, and found four beautiful female dogs, two pure white and two pure yellow. The lion is an infatuated beast, sticking to a white dog with blue eyes, and never leaving the left. The white dog was very arrogant, and treated the lion as if he was ignorant of it, even if the lion took the best bone and sent it to her, she would hesitate for a long time before eating. Qingcheng thought that he might not be able to give birth to cubs in the white dog, so he simply asked someone to build a small wooden shed in the woods for future use.

The emperor was discussing politics in the front hall, and Wan'er had nothing to do, so she spent time playing silk in the lower room. The little eunuch with a face knocked on the door under the porch, Wan'er put down her work, opened the door and asked, "Who are you?" The little eunuch took out a purse from his cuff and handed it to her, and Wan'er recognized that it was Shanrou's work. She understood in her heart and asked, "But what does the queen's master command?" ”

The little eunuch lowered his head and said, "You follow me." ”

Wan'er said: "There is labor." Then he walked through the wall and alley behind him, and went to the imperial garden, but he didn't know that the deeper and deeper he went, the flowers and trees were overgrown, making it difficult for people to distinguish the direction. When he arrived at a fake stone, the little eunuch paused and said, "The girl is waiting here." Wan'er wanted to ask something, but the little eunuch had already turned the rockery and disappeared. Half an hour later, no one came. Wan'er was bored, holding the purse given by the little eunuch and playing with it in her hand, putting it on the tip of her nose and smelling it, there was also a fragrant fragrance of flowers.

Just about to tie the purse around her waist, she suddenly heard a dog barking, and before she could come back to her senses, a black shadow rushed to her, she instinctively reached out to block, and three blood marks were scraped out of her hand by sharp claws, as if she was roasted by charcoal, and it hurt hotly. The sound of green orange came from behind, and the lion still ignored it, threw himself at Wan'er's waist, ripped off her purse, and tore it on the ground.

Wan'er screamed in fright, she fell to the ground, picked up the stone at hand and smashed it at the lion's head. The lion snorted, and the pain was so painful that it was spinning, and blood flowed from his head. She wanted to throw it again, but she heard a scolding and said, "Stop!" Wan'er looked back and saw that it was a pure concubine with a big belly, and she hurriedly got up, knelt down and said, "Pure master Wanfu." ”

The two little eunuchs hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the lion and retreat to the side to bandage the wound.

Qingcheng also knew that the lion had gone crazy just now, but he didn't know why, so he asked, "What's the matter?" Wan'er thought that the dog was a plaything given by the emperor to the pure master, and hurriedly replied: "The slave and maid passed by here just now, and the dog pounced on him without saying anything, and the slave and maid were afraid, so they hit it by mistake for a while, and asked the pure master to forgive him." ”

Erqi stepped forward a few steps, slapped Wan'er on the cheek, and Qingcheng said, "Erqi, what are you doing?" Er Qi said: "This slave is really ruthless, beating the lion's head and bleeding, if the master doesn't arrive in time, I'm afraid she will have to do it." Qingcheng raised his face and said, "It was the lion who went crazy first, how to blame others!" He personally helped Wan'er and said, "Are you okay?" ”

Wan'er was helpless, where did she dare to be strong, so she had to hold back her tears and said: "The slave is fine, Master Xie Chun cares." Qingcheng recognized her and asked, "You are not on an errand in the Palace of Heart Cultivation, but in the Imperial Garden, is there something wrong?" Wan'er felt more and more that something was wrong, and lied: "The slave maid has a sister who works in the imperial garden and comes to talk about it. ”

Qingcheng was worried about the lion, nodded, didn't ask any more, and helped Hai'an back to the palace to report the veterinarian.

Wan'er looked at the ripped purse, which contained many colorful petals, she didn't understand fragrance, but she also knew that some smells could make cats and dogs in heat. She wrapped the tattered purse and flower petals in a handkerchief and tucked them in her sleeve pocket. When I walked back, I realized that my ankle was also injured. She limped to the Heart Cultivation Palace, worrying that the emperor should return to Xinuan Pavilion on the one hand, and thinking about what happened at the right time, which was really weird. When twilight fell, I returned to the heart gate to take a look from afar, and saw the black and dark outside the Xinuan Pavilion, knowing that the emperor had not returned to the palace, and his chest was loosened, only to realize that his feet also hurt, his hands hurt, and his face hurt, and he couldn't help but feel astringent at the corners of his eyes, his throat and nose were sour, and his whole body was weak and weak, and he slid and sat on the ground along the palace wall, and couldn't help but bury his arms and cry anymore.

I don't know how long I cried, but suddenly a warm voice came from the night, asking, "Why are you crying?" ”

Wan'er raised her head with teary eyes, he stood tall, with two Minghuang Palace lamps at his feet, and the nine-clawed dragon body embroidered with gold silk on the imperial robe was dazzling. She panicked, knelt on the ground, and trembled: "Damn it, slave maid, disturb the holy driver!" The Emperor looked at her and asked, "Why don't you answer me?" Wan'er was stunned, and her mind turned a thousand times, but she couldn't and didn't know how to say it.

Wu Shulai said: "Long live the Lord to ask, it's not fast..."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "If she doesn't want to say it, forget it." And he said, "Don't kneel, get up." Wan'er thanked her and wanted to get up, but her ankle suddenly hurt, like a needle prick, she rushed to the front without defense, but fortunately, Wu Shulai reached out to help her, so as not to fall. A sneer overflowed the emperor's lips, he was used to this kind of trick, and he suddenly became bored.

Wan'er also felt panicked, knowing that the emperor was afraid of misunderstanding, and when serving tea, she made a mistake, deliberately exposed the scars on her hands, and asked Wu Shulai for leave, saying that her feet were injured. The emperor was silent, and she was secretly deadlocked. After two or three days, the emperor stayed in Changchun Palace overnight, and when he got up in the morning, the queen waited to comb her hair and braids, and asked softly: "Is Wan'er not serving well?" ”

The emperor smiled at her in the mirror and said, "Why did the queen say this? ”

The queen blushed slightly and said, "The concubine thought that the emperor liked her, so she ordered her to go to the tea department on an errand." But..."The boudoir affair is not easy to put on the surface. The emperor became more and more convinced that what Wei Wan'er did that night was instructed by the queen, so he said: "I understand what the queen wants." But Queen, you are wrong not to try out the holy will. ”

He spoke softly, tactfully, even with a smile. The queen was already frightened, her flesh trembled, and the eight treasure combs in her hand fell to the ground, and she said with trepidation: "The concubine is guilty." The emperor sighed and said, "You are my wife, the mother of the Qing Dynasty, you shouldn't be so afraid of me." He added: "That's it, I don't want others to look at your jokes, I will look at Wei Wan'er's affairs." After a pause, he said, "It's not too early, comb your hair." ”

The queen was full of sourness, and she didn't know where to start, so she had to respond shallowly.

In the great drought in Beijing, Qin Tianjian set up an altar to pray in the Qianqing Palace. The emperor decided to kneel for three days and three nights, and then hiked to the Temple of Heaven to pray for rain. Er Qi said in front of Qingcheng: "Dinner prepared rouge goose breast, duck strips and sea cucumbers, red oil vegetarian belly, clear soup dragon mustard..." You prepare two baskets of tofu buns in advance, pick two baskets of fresh roses, and cook two bowls of dew in the well water. ”

When the emperor came to take a lunch break, he said that he was not full, and Qingcheng hurriedly asked Erqi to present tofu buns, and the emperor ate two and a half, and drank a large bowl of cold-soaked rose dew, and let Qingcheng rub his calves and knees on the couch, and he really felt hearty. After resting for half an hour, the holy driver still knelt down to pray for blessings to the Qianqing Palace to show his piety. After three days of this, early in the morning of the fourth day, the emperor personally led the princes and ministers out of the noon gate and walked to the Temple of Heaven to pray for Ganyu.

There is no need to discuss the cumbersome etiquette, in fact, Qin Tianjian has already watched the sky at night, predicting that there will be rain on this day, so Fang Song invited the emperor. When the emperor arrived at the Temple of Heaven, clouds came all over the sky, and within a moment, it rained heavily. The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty all knelt on the ground and shouted in unison, "Long live the emperor, long live, long live..."

The emperor was dressed in a sacrificial robe, wearing a crown of Dongzhu, a four-piece tile square sacrificial belt with gold inlaid beads and amber around his waist, and wearing blue satin cool soap boots, standing majestically on the steps, overlooking the world. At that time, it was pouring rain, dark clouds pressed the city, the fog was soaring like a fairyland, and the air contained the smell of dust and flowers, which made people confused, intoxicated, and happy to surrender. His heart softened, and he said secretly: I don't know what Qingcheng is doing at this time? Thinking about it, I looked at the dark clouds rolling in the sky, and was stunned.

When the royal driver returned to the palace, it was evening. The emperor's boots and robes were half wet, he changed his clothes to the Palace of Nourishing His Heart, cleaned his hands and face, closed his eyes slightly for a while, and then took a sedan chair to Shoukang Palace to greet the Queen Mother. Concubine Xian was also waiting in front of her, and when she saw the emperor's appearance of dusty servants, she knew that she was tired, and said: "The emperor is eating outside the palace, and he must not eat well, but he needs to use some more snacks and fruits?" ”

The emperor was indeed hungry, so he smiled and said, "Don't talk about it, ask someone to bring a bowl of three fresh dumplings." Concubine Xian responded, and hurriedly instructed Mama to pass the meal. The Queen Mother has never liked to eat pasta, and the kitchen of Shoukang Palace only kneads the dough every few days. The emperor suddenly wanted to eat, and it was too late to re-knead and ferment the dough, so he had to wrap a large bowl of meat and three fresh dumplings with shrimp, leek, and pork with the dough of the day before yesterday. After two bites, the emperor always felt that something was wrong, far from the taste of Yikun Palace, and he missed the green orange more and more.

After all, it was in the Empress Dowager's Palace, and the emperor swallowed half a bowl like chewing wax, and said: "I'm full, let's withdraw the meal." After chatting with the Queen Mother for a while, he got up and said goodbye. The Queen Mother said: "Concubine Xian has been serving in the mourning palace for most of the day, and she is also tired, so you can send her back to Jingren Palace." The meaning of the queen mother is self-evident, the emperor is benevolent and filial, glanced at Concubine Xian, and said with a smile: "My son obeys." ”

The two knelt down together and retired.

In the heavy rain, Luo Qing learned that the saint was lucky, and led the palace people to hold an umbrella and wait for Jingren Gate to greet him. The night was bleak, and the palace lamps swayed in the wind, reaching deep into the temple. The emperor hurried into the house, changed into clothes, shoes and socks, and sat cross-legged on the kang to drink tea. The tea is fragrant, it is the first-class daughter Longjing that Emperor Suri loves to drink, and there are hundreds of pink roses inserted in the royal blue folded branch pattern long-necked bottle on the table, and the emperor looks at it, and thinks of the rose dew of Yikun Palace.

The emperor took a sip of tea and smiled for no reason.

Concubine Xian said with a smile: "The rain falling from the sky is a great joy of the country and a credit to the emperor." He asked again: "Does the emperor want to bathe?" I've been out for a long day, and I guess it's very uncomfortable. As if he hadn't heard, the Emperor was still in deep thought. Concubine Xian called softly: "Your Majesty?!" The emperor came back to his senses, hummed, and asked, "What did you say?" Concubine Xian repeated: "Does the emperor want to bathe?" ”

The emperor sighed, sat up straight, bent down and picked up his boots again, and said hurriedly: "I suddenly remembered an important note, and I must give instructions tonight." Concubine Xian was stunned, and then said virtuously: "Government affairs are important." He also helped put on the rain crown and personally held an umbrella to send it off. But the emperor took her hand and said, "The rain is very heavy, the ground is slippery, I have a bunch of people waiting for me, so you can stay in the house." In this way, Concubine Xian only walked to the bottom of the corridor and bowed down to see her off.

Wu Shulai thought that the emperor wanted to return to the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, so he sent the palanquin man to the southwest. When he arrived at Xichang Street, the emperor waved his hand to get off the sedan chair, Wu Shulai didn't know what he meant, leaned over by the sedan curtain, and asked, "What does the master command?" The emperor had lifted the curtain and left the sedan chair, Wu Shulai was busy holding up the umbrella, and he was drenched in the rain, and his eyelids were almost unable to open.

The emperor said: "You take people back to the Heart Cultivation Palace, and I go to Yikun Palace." ”

Wu Shulai finished his sentence, and only after a while did he sneer: "Your Majesty, aren't you embarrassing the slave?" Let the Queen Mother know, you have to break the minion's legs. The emperor's eyes were crossed, and he said: "If you want to break the dog's leg, go and tell the queen mother, I won't stop you!" With that, he turned around and walked back. Wu Shulai followed his side in small steps, and said with a sad face: "Master..."

The emperor stopped and said, "You go and arrange for Wei Wan'er to stay in Xinuan Pavilion, and in the middle of the night, send her to sleep in the room for one night." After a pause, he said: "In the morning, I will pass on my message to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and seal Wei Wan'er as a promise." Wu Shulai was shocked, and vaguely guessed the emperor's intentions, which was nothing more than wanting to use the queen as a shield, and he couldn't persuade him anymore, so he had to respond.

Qingcheng opened the window and listened to the rain for a long time, and then held a brush to practice calligraphy in the study, the room was quiet, only the heavy rain outside. Hai'an and Er Qi sat on their knees and played tapestry, sometimes saying a few words, most of the time, they were thinking about their own thoughts. There was a rush of boots, Er Qi looked at the door curtain, and said softly: "It can't be the emperor coming, right?" ”

Hai Anxin was refreshed, hurriedly put down the objects in his hand, lifted the curtain and went out to see. Er Qi packed up the things in his hand, brushed the hairpin on his sideburns, and went out of the house. bumped into the emperor head-on, and screamed "ah" in fright. The emperor was in a good mood, so he didn't care about her, and said with a rhetorical smile: "Reckless, where is it like a girl who is waiting in front of the master." He said, "Go, cook a bowl of three fresh dumplings!" ”

Erqi hurriedly agreed to go down and order.

Qingcheng casually brushed the pen and ink, went out of the study, and walked to the hall, just as the emperor entered the room, saw that his clothes were soaked, and first blamed him finely, and said: "Why don't you sit in a sedan chair, such a heavy rain..." The emperor raised his eyebrows and smiled, and said: "How do you know that I didn't sit in a sedan chair?" The Si Gong people had already presented their robes, and Qingcheng led him into the bedroom and waited for him to change his clothes, while saying, "Can the sedan chair be wet like this?" The rain leak on the top is almost the same! Then he asked, "Why don't you see Wu Shulai?" ”

The emperor stretched out his arms, let her unbutton and take the rain crown, and casually said about ordering Wu Shu to go back and forth to the Heart Cultivation Palace, and said: "Don't talk about those who don't have it, I'm really hungry, is there still the rose dew?" Qingcheng nodded and said, "I know that you love to eat, so I will prepare it in the morning." He called Hai An again and said, "You go and ask someone to boil water and prepare for the emperor to bathe." ”

Seeing that the palace people were busy left and right, the emperor tilted on the kang with satisfaction and said, "You are still comfortable here." "It's really inconvenient for Qingcheng to have a big belly, so he sat opposite the emperor and gossiped after assigning things. After a while, Er Qi served two bowls of vegetarian dumplings, accompanied by four plates of hot and sour side dishes, and a large bowl of mutton bone broth, which was steaming and appetizing.

The emperor devoured it and wiped it clean, and said comfortably: "Sure enough, it is - the people take food as the sky!" ”

Qingcheng smiled with crooked eyebrows and eyes: "Can you still eat rose dew?" The emperor said, "It's rare to think about it in my heart." Qingcheng teased him and said, "Quit meat for three days, but it's really bitter for you." ”