Summer is over, and by the end of September, the weather is gradually cooling. The sun is high and the clouds are light, a few thin wisps of colorful glow hang on the distant mountains, the birds and finches outside the window are fluttering their wings and crying, and there are three or five white chrysanthemums on the case, and there is a dark fragrance in the wind.

Qingcheng embroidered a brocade handkerchief in her spare time, and she was quiet, like a deep pool of flowing water.

Hai'an lifted the curtain and entered the house, took a bowl of lotus seed soup and rested it on the kang table, and said with a smile: "The slave maid just went to the kitchen to serve a snack, and I heard the person in front of Master Lu say that it will be the Longevity Festival in a few days, and the queen mother has drawn up a lantern riddle, as long as it is the harem concubines, the riddle can be solved, and then the emperor will personally know the riddle at the palace banquet on the Longevity Festival. ”

She looked at Qingcheng's face carefully, but she didn't move, and couldn't help but sigh lightly: "Little master, it's good that you are stable and peaceful, but in the deep palace, how can you not take the world to heart so much?" Well, this is also a chance to face the saint. ”

Qingcheng hung his head for a long time, his neck was sore, he put down the needlework and thread, and said with a light smile: "I didn't enter the palace for a day or two, and I couldn't see it, but now I can see it." I am a Han Chinese, if it weren't for the emperor who entered the submarine residence before he ascended the throne, I am afraid that I would not even have the identity of the draft. Even if I am holy and favored, what can I do? ”

Hai'an said: "The noble concubine Niangniang was originally a Han cloth, but she was favored by the saints, not only did her mother's family carry the flag and enter the yellow flag, but she was also named a noble concubine as soon as she entered the palace, and the front and back harems were very noble." ”

Qingcheng picked up the blue and white porcelain small-handled plum blossom pattern spoon, scooped the soup in the bowl leisurely, and said gloomily: "The father of the noble concubine is a scholar, who is valued by the emperor and has a power for half of the dynasty. What am I? My father is just a Bapin County Cheng, if you talk about the family background alone, I am afraid that even the palace maid who serves in front of the concubine is not as good! ”

Haian still wanted to persuade again, but seeing that Qingcheng's face showed a trace of impatience, he held back in the end and hung his head in silence.

On the second day, sure enough, the little eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent the lantern riddle of the queen's mother, Qingcheng spread out the plain paper, read it hastily, felt that the heart was stuffy and quite uncomfortable, so he casually threw the lantern riddle under the vase, walked along the palace corridor alone, and returned to the house at noon to rest. When I woke up in the evening, I felt dizzy and groggy, afraid that I had contracted a cold disease.

Seeing that her face was not good, Hai An stretched out his hand to wipe her head, bluffed, and said, "Why did you suddenly start a fever?" "Busy sent someone to return to Master Lu, Master Lu returned to the queen, the queen was kind-hearted, not only ordered the imperial doctor to come to diagnose the pulse, but also rewarded a few catties of bird's nest down.

Qingcheng was crooked on the bed, and there seemed to be several silk threads hanging in his head, pulling and pulling, and he had a splitting headache. She was short of breath and weak, and she wanted to drink saliva but couldn't even shout. Ling Rong picked up the seal of Youjin and ran to Xianfu Palace every day, but there was no trace at this time. There was only Hai'an left in front of her, she could take care of the front, but she couldn't take care of the back, and now she was standing at the gate of the hospital waiting for the imperial doctor.

It was getting dark, and the room was silent. Qingcheng slept vaguely, vaguely remembering that when he was fourteen years old, he had just come to the capital from Suzhou, temporarily lived in his grandmother's house, and had a serious illness in the spring. In the house, she has a girl named Hanxue, who is very clever, and always likes to call from afar: "Young Master, Miss Cousin has a fever, come and take a look." Suddenly, the sound of boots came, he lifted the curtain into the outhouse, stood outside the green gauze around the screen, and the warm voice came into his ears, "Are you better?" ”

Qingcheng was startled and suddenly opened his eyes.

Hai'an twisted Liangqin's towel and put it on Qingcheng's forehead, and when she woke up, a smile rose on the corner of her lips, and said, "Little master, do you feel better?" ”

Qingcheng nodded, feeling thirsty, and said, "I want to drink water." ”

Hai'an was about to get up and pour it, but when he saw that Ling Rong had already brought tea into the house, he said with a lot of guilt: "It's that the slave is not good, and she didn't take good care of the little master." ”

Qingcheng's face was pale and pale, smiled slightly, and said, "I was careless, I don't blame you." Then he struggled to sit up, took the tea and took a sip. She heard a foul talk outside, and asked, "Why is it so noisy?" ”

Hai An replied: "Just now the imperial doctor diagnosed your pulse, and I was writing a prescription outside..." ”

Ling Rong walked to the outhouse to take the prescription, and said prettyly, "There is Lord Lao Jian." ”

Jian Yuheng hugged his fists and said, "The girl is polite." After a pause, he made a compilation into the curtain and said: "The minister has important business, so he won't disturb the little master, and the minister will retire." The voice was very familiar, Qingcheng clutched the blue lotus pattern silk quilt in his palm, and almost blurted out and called him, "Brother." "In the end, he is now the hot imperial doctor in the imperial hospital, and she is the unfavored person who is imprisoned in the deep palace, although she is a brother and sister of the same father and mother, but she has already passed to his uncle's family as a son-in-law, changed his name and surname, and from the perspective of outsiders, he is no different from cousins. What's more, since I was separated from childhood, my feelings are also very unfamiliar.

The green orange lingered on the bed for two or three days, and on the day of Wanshou Day, I finally had some spirit. Early in the morning, Hai'an boiled water to wait for the green orange to bathe and change clothes, carefully curled his hair in a bun, put on a dragon pattern auspicious suit, put on a golden silk coral pearl, lined with a pair of lotus Dongzhu earrings, slightly applied rouge, and went to the court to stand up, with a little bit of nobility.

Just as she was about to go out to the imperial garden for a palace banquet, Ling Rong suddenly said: "The queen has made a decree to let the palace masters guess the riddle, if the little master does not hand in the answer sheet, I am afraid it will not be good." ”

Hai An only cared about dressing, and forgot about this for a while, and hurriedly said: "Ling Rong is right. ”

Qingcheng groaned slightly, and said, "Ling Rong, you go to the box where I collected the paintings and take a lotus picture." ”

Ling Rong hurriedly said: "Little master, don't be confused, the queen wants a mystery, not a painting." ”

Qingcheng smiled and said, "If I guess correctly, the painting will be presented, and the emperor will be wise and will naturally be able to understand it." If you guess wrong, what if you write a hundred answers? Ling Rong knew that Qingcheng was brilliant in thinking, which was by no means comparable to the women in the palace, and seeing that she was firm and calm, she seemed to be very sure, so she picked a painting of "Lotus in the Rain" from the box and wrapped it up.

There are many ceremonies for the longevity festival, the emperor is worshiped and offered by hundreds of officials in the Taihe Hall all day long, and he will drive the imperial garden to drink with the concubine at night. Qingcheng's seat was at the bottom, and there was the sound of the qin and flute endlessly, what the emperor said in front, she couldn't hear it at all, and when she saw others getting up to toast, she also raised a glass and drank it all.

At one point, the wine was half-drunk, the singing and dancing were over, and everyone got up and went to the edge of the imperial pond to look at the lights.

The queen sent people to hide the answers of the concubines in lanterns and hung them high on the colorful trees, and the emperor chose whichever one he picked. The autumn moon is hazy, the stars are bright, the lights on both sides of the imperial pond are colorful, and the lanterns like a long dragon are reflected in the blue wave pool water, sparkling and shining, it is still a fairyland on earth.