In the second year of Qianlong, the palace of nourishing the heart.

Dark clouds overwhelmed the city, thunder rolled, and in an instant, the heavy rain poured down like a stream. The wind blew on the eaves of the windows, and the Hunan bamboo curtains swayed and crashed into a "popping" sound. Hongli slept very lightly, and when he heard the sound of rain, he woke up and got up and sat on the cool floor. Jing Tao gestured to the eunuch on duty outside, pulled up the bright yellow curtain, bent his knees, and knelt on the pedal to wait for the emperor to put on his shoes.

Hongli was tired and did not speak.

The eunuch in Shangyi walked in with his clothes, and Hongli put on a robe with a round neck and a big placket, and pushed the window to look, the fog in the court was boundless, and the rain was raging. Chen Jinzhong held up the vermilion lacquer imperial plate and presented a red gauze silk hat, and Jing Tao held the hat in both hands, and was about to serve the emperor to wear the crown.

Hongli turned around and went straight out of the hall.

Jing Tao was stunned, put the imperial crown back on the lacquer plate, exchanged expressions with Chen Jinzhong, and everyone quietly retreated together.

In the afternoon, there are few things, Hongli stands under the corridor to watch the rain, Wu Shulai leads the guard of honor to follow behind, seeing that the emperor's face is displeased, it is expected that there is something troubled in the court, and he is very frightened, and he does not even dare to come out of the atmosphere. There are obviously a large group of people, but there is no half-dead murmur except for the sound of rain.

The rain was so strong that it was like a bamboo, Wu Shulai thought that the royal driver would not go to the harem, but he didn't want Hongli to suddenly say in a loud voice: "Go and prepare a sedan chair." ”

Wu Shulai asked: "With such a heavy rain, I'm afraid it's not easy to walk." ”

Hongli glanced at it lightly, and his face was colorless.

Wu Shulai was half bluffed to death, and hurriedly took three steps back before turning around and commanding.

Out of the heart gate, go straight to the west. If there is wind under the feet of the eunuch who carries the sedan chair, although it is raining heavily, he does not relax at all. Wu Shulai held an umbrella and followed the side of the sedan chair, and the sleeves of his shoes and robe were all drenched. When they arrived at the gate of the Changchun Palace, the Fujin Fucha clan was hugged by the palace maids and waited at the bottom of the steps.

Hongli got off the sedan chair, and the Fucha clan hurriedly bent his knees to say goodbye, and said: "The concubine respectfully invites the emperor to be safe." ”

Hongli said "exempt", walked through the courtyard, and went straight into the hall. After changing his clothes and cleaning his hands and face, Hongli sat cross-legged on the kang, and Fucha sat opposite him, seeing that he was silent, he didn't dare to speak. Aunt Shanrou presented the Qingxin lotus seed tea, and Hongli casually rested on the rosewood openwork moire kang table, and said slowly: "It has been twenty-seven months since I ascended the throne, and the filial piety period has expired, so I should be canonized as a harem." ”

Fucha's chest jumped, and when the emperor was still Prince Bao, she was ordered to get married and became Prince Bao's concubine. It has been two years since the death of the first emperor and the accession of the new emperor to the throne. Although she is in charge of the six palaces, she has not been officially canonized as the queen. Hearing the emperor say this, he was naturally overjoyed, but he didn't dare to show it in front of the emperor, so he only lowered his eyebrows and said respectfully: "Yes." ”

Hongli groaned for a moment and said, "You are the queen, you should be beyond reproach." ”

Fucha hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed, and said, "Thank the emperor for Longen." Hongli stretched out his hand and said, "Get up." Fucha got up and sat back down opposite the emperor, becoming more and more meticulous and listening to the holy words.

Hongli said again: "The Gao family of Fujin is a noble concubine and lives in Xianfu Palace. On the side of the Fujin Wulanala clan is a concubine and lives in Jingren Palace. The concubine Lu is the Qing concubine, Niu Hulu is the concubine, and the Jin, Wang, and Chen are nobles, and the Corriette is always in the sea, and the queen arranges it. "The matter of the harem is also the previous dynasty, he thought about it for a few days, changed it again and again, and then set the title grade.

Fucha first responded respectfully, "Yes." After thinking about it for a while, Fang cautiously said: "There is also a Su family who entered the palace from the hidden mansion, and his father is Cheng Su Zhaonan of Bapin County, Suzhou. She didn't know if the emperor had forgotten, or if she didn't want to be canonized, and she didn't dare to say more, so she waited quietly for the emperor to give an order.

Hongli's eyes showed a confused look, and then he said: "Then the same seal is always there." ”

There is a small courtyard in and out of the corner of Zhongcui Palace, the patio is paved with bluestone bricks of a width of a zhang, it is in disrepair, and no one takes care of it, and thick moss has grown in the gap between the walls, and sometimes it has a faint fishy smell.

Ling Rong sat on the small table in the outhouse, holding the colored thread in her hand, and sighed lamentingly.

Cai You glanced at her, and whispered: "Be quiet, let the little master hear it, and Bai Tian will be sad." ”

The two faced each other and braided the silk with their hands and feet, Ling Rong pursed her mouth and said, "What can I do if I hear it, her temperament, others don't know, don't you know it yet?" Last time, Master Chen pointed out that Sang scolded Huai and said that she had been talking about her for a long time, but she didn't understand and didn't reply anything. It's like a stuffy gourd, no wonder he is not treated by the emperor..."

Cai You couldn't stand Ling Rong's arrangement of the little master like this, and said angrily: "If you don't want to stay in this house, just ask someone to take it out, why bother with your mouth and no hand, chew non-stop." ”

Ling Rong said: "Why don't I want to go out, Master Chen, who lives in the same courtyard, was named a nobleman and moved to the Xianfu Palace of the noble concubine, I sent two taels of silver to Gong Li under Master Chen, and he didn't accept it, only said that there were enough people." Besides, he is the same Shun master in the Qiandi, and he can't see the master a few times a year, but he has also been given the title of concubine, and now he lives in Jingren Palace, where he is a concubine, and he is not allowed to give birth to a prince one day, are you afraid that he will not be favored? After a pause, he threw the braided silk in his hand into the engraved vermilion lacquer box, straightened up, and said hatefully: "Partial to her, only sealed and always there, even if you can't see the emperor, she still stays in the house every day, and doesn't go out for activities, dragging us down and having no future." ”

She looked at the sky and said, "Oh, don't talk about it, I'll go to the kitchen to get food, and you can tell the little master to wash his hands and eat snacks." ”

When Cai You heard Ling Rong say this, she quickly collected the needlework ribbon, her neck had been held for a long time, and it was a little sore, she stretched out her hand and rubbed it heavily, and said with a smile: "It's okay to talk about it in front of me, don't talk nonsense outside, be careful of causing trouble." ”

Ling Rong laughed and said, "I still have that measurement." After saying that, as soon as he turned around, he hid behind the curtain.

As the sun sets to the west, the blood-like sunset is reflected in the room, as if dyed with a layer of half-true orange. Cai You lifted the green silk curtain, went into the inner room, and saw the lady wearing blue pigment lines standing on the table in front of the kang and drawing ink, she wore a round bun, pressed a plain silver flat hairpin, the round chin was as smooth as greasy, and the lips showed two shallow pear vortices.

Cai You bent his knees, stood beside the desk and looked at it, and said with a smile: "The little master's painting skills are getting better and better, this lotus flower is really beautiful." ”

Su Qingcheng smiled lightly and said, "It would be nice if you could personally appreciate the lotus once, every time you ask someone to fold it and put it in a bottle to draw, you always feel that there is something missing." While the two were talking, Ling Rong came back with a snack, went straight into the house with the food box, bent her knees slightly, and said, "Let's eat lotus seed cake, steamed cheese with sugar and mung bean soup today." ”

Cai You cleaned up the green orange pen and ink, spread the picture scroll on the kang, and smiled at Ling Rong: "Why is it so fast?" I haven't gone to fetch water yet. ”

Ling Rong said: "Zhiyan, the palace maid of the sea master next door, went to the kitchen to get snacks, and saw that we hadn't gone to get it yet, so she brought it back by the way." As he spoke, he took out the food and put it on the table. Cai You turned around and went out to fetch water, and waited for Qingcheng to wash his hands and face, and then started.

After the master used it, Ling Rong and Cai You didn't bother to go to the kitchen again, so they ate the rest of the green oranges and filled their stomachs indiscriminately.