Concubine Rou smiled brightly, and proudly stretched out two slender white fingers to Queen Zhu.

"Two thousand taels?"

Concubine Rou withdrew her fingers, covered her lips and smiled, "It's 20,000 taels of silver, to be precise, 23,000 taels of silver." ”

Empress Zhu was shocked and asked, "You actually saved so much?" ”

The concubines sitting there also showed surprised expressions. They live in the deep palace and have no shortage of food and shelter, which is already a lot compared to their meager Fengyin.

"That's it. The concubine instructed the palace bureau to shop around when purchasing, not only to keep the price down, but also to ensure the quality of the goods......"

Ziwan came back from outside the hall and coughed and said, "Niangniang, Imperial Physician Wei and Imperial Physician Qi are here and are waiting outside the hall." ”

Empress Zhu nodded, waved her hand to Concubine Rou and said, "Let's talk about it later, let the imperial doctor come in and treat them first." ”

Concubine Rou nodded slightly, picked up the teacup and stopped talking.

"Imperial Physician Wei has been taking care of the body of the fifth princess, so I will directly ask Imperial Physician Wei to go to the side hall." Empress Zhu said to Zi Wan, "Let Imperial Doctor Qi come in." ”

Zi Wanfu went out and invited Imperial Doctor Qi in.

After Imperial Physician Qi came in, he first asked Empress Zhu for peace, and then took Empress Zhu's pulse.

After a while, Imperial Physician Qi put down the hand on Empress Zhu's wrist and said, "Queen Mother, when did your cough start to attack?" ”

Empress Zhu retracted her hand back into the sleeve of her vermilion phoenix robe, and said with a slight frown, "I had a head attack in this palace a few days ago, and I ate a lot of bitter medicine juice, but the day before yesterday was already well. This cough only happened last night. Hongu remembers that he was reading a book at the time, and suddenly he wanted to cough, and his nose was very sore. ”

After speaking, Empress Zhu raised her sleeves to cover her lips, pinned her head to the side and coughed lightly a few times.

Ziwan coughed on the side and said, "Imperial Doctor Qi, but the dragon in the palace is burning too dry?" ”

Imperial Physician Qi didn't reply, got up and came to the side of Xian Gui Concubine who was coughing, and asked after saluting, "Xian Gui Niangniang, please let Wei Chen diagnose your pulse." ”

Xian Guifei stretched out her left hand and put it on the table, and Miao Yue was busy putting a thin silk handkerchief on it.

Concubine Xian glanced at Empress Zhu, and said softly, "The symptoms of this palace and the queen's mother are similar, and I started coughing last night, and the root of my nose is sour......"

Imperial Physician Qi nodded, and gave Concubine Xian and Concubine Yu to check the pulse, and then Concubine Xin, Xue Jieyu, and Qingmeiren......

When the Qingmei people were treated, Imperial Physician Wei was led in from the outer hall by the little palace maid.

Empress Zhu asked Imperial Physician Wei what the cause of the illness of the fifth princess was, and Imperial Physician Wei pondered for a while and said, "Queen Niangniang, let's wait for Weichen and Imperial Physician Qi to check on all the ladies and sisters, and then talk carefully with Niangniang." ”

Empress Zhu's eyes showed a hint of doubt, but she still allowed it.

In about half an hour, Imperial Physician Qi and Imperial Physician Wei diagnosed all the coughing concubines in the Weiyang Palace.

Among the concubines, except for Xue Jieyu and Qi Baolin, who began to cough on the night of the thirteenth, most of the rest started on the night of the fourteenth. The symptoms are the same, all of them are dry and itchy throat, sore nose, and some people have a slight headache and weakness.

Imperial Physician Qi raised his sleeves and wiped the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, and after glancing at Imperial Physician Wei, who also had a bad face, he knelt at the feet of Empress Zhu.

Imperial Physician Qi is over fifty years old this year, and since Emperor Yonghe, he has been the palace concubine of two dynasties in the harem. He can be reused by Queen Zhu among many imperial doctors, which shows that his scheming and wrists are not shallow.

When Imperial Physician Wei saw Imperial Physician Qi kneeling, he also knelt down, but the difference was slightly farther than Imperial Physician Qi's kneeling.

Taiyi Wei was about forty years old and entered Tai Hospital in the second year of Yong'an. Because of her pediatrics expertise, she was sent by Queen Zhu to take care of the body of the fifth princess, and she worked weekdays, and she didn't care about the palace affairs in the harem.

Empress Zhu sat up straight and coughed lightly, "Imperial Physician Qi and Imperial Physician Wei can just stand and reply." ”

Imperial Physician Qi kowtowed, and Imperial Physician Wei also kowtowed.

Imperial Physician Qi raised his head and replied, "Queen Mother, according to Weichen's check, the illness of all the mothers and the little princess is not caused by the cold. ”

"Not in the cold?" Empress Zhu raised her eyebrows, her eyes showing doubt, "What's the reason?" ”

Imperial Doctor Qi said, "Please also ask the queen mother and all the ladies to think about what things were used before coughing yesterday, or where they had been." This might be able to find out what is going on. ”

"The head of the main palace is just right, and I haven't been anywhere. If you say that you have used anything, it is also the same thing that you use on a daily basis, so there is nothing wrong with it. Empress Zhu said.

The other concubines also nodded their heads frequently, living in the deep palace, where could they go in such cold weather?

Yan Meiren clutched her chest and coughed for a while, with tears in her eyes, she looked at Queen Zhu and said, "Queen Mother, if you say that there are any new objects used here, the concubine only changed the red candle last night." But this red candle is newly received from the palace bureau, and it is also used on weekdays, so there will be no disclosure of this, right? ”

"Of course not." Concubine Rou sneered and said, "The red candles purchased at the end of this year are incense candles with a much higher price than in previous years. Didn't the palace bureau tell you that this incense candle will emit different fragrances such as jasmine, lily, and peony when it is burned. This palace thought to himself, first burn this winter to see how the effect is, if it is good, maybe the palace can save a lot of money to buy a spice house. This candle is used every day......"

"Concubine Rou is right." Concubine Ren chuckled and said, "I heard that the palace maid also replied like this, but I just thought that it was useless before I reached twenty-five." ”

Concubine Ying also nodded and smiled at Concubine Ren, "In this case, I should also light two incense candles to try the taste of this incense candle when I go back." If it can really replace the spices that are burned on weekdays, it will be a good thing. Concubine Rou Niangniang found a way to save and made a great contribution. ”

Concubine Xin coughed violently and said loudly, "There are a few burns in the concubine's palace, and it was also last night that the palace people were ordered to replace them because they were greedy for freshness." But I didn't smell any special fragrance, it was still the fragrance of flower dew burning in the concubine's hall. ”

"Of course you can't smell the spices you burn so much." Concubine Rou shook her handkerchief, glanced at Concubine Xin and said, "You stopped the spices in your palace, and you can smell it again." The incense candle has been lit in the main palace since the previous time, it smells of jasmine, and it smells like walking into a jasmine garden in the summer......"

Concubine Yu coughed and said, "Concubine Rou said this, the concubine's curiosity was really hooked. When the cough of the past few days is cured, I will replace it with the incense candle and light it. ”

Imperial Physician Qi suddenly asked, "Is there also that incense candle burning in the queen's palace?" ”

Empress Zhu looked at Ziwan, and Ziwan replied, "Niangniang, yesterday was burning incense candles, and the little princess's palace was also burning incense candles." ”

Empress Zhu looked at the concubines again and asked aloud, "You, have you also burned incense and candles in the past two days?" ”

"What do you mean, Queen?" Concubine Rou had an angry look on her face, although she endured it and didn't lose her temper, but her tone was already quite indifferent, and she didn't have any respect for Queen Zhu.

"Presumptuous!" Empress Zhu suddenly raised her eyebrows and shouted to Concubine Rou, "When will it be your turn to interject when this palace speaks?!" ”

The anger in Concubine Rou's heart was originally high, but she couldn't help but tremble when she was frightened by Queen Zhu. I don't understand why Queen Zhu, who was smiling like the warm sun in summer just now, suddenly became a cold wind in winter, and her gaze at her was also bone-chilling.

Concubine Rou's right hand in the wide sleeves was clenched, and her palms hurt when her nails were dyed with Kolan. She wanted to resist and go back, but she found that she was very weak.

After swallowing a mouthful of spit, Concubine Rou chose to silence, and an inexplicable panic rose in her heart.

Empress Zhu's angry shout was like a thunderbolt in the hearts of the concubines seated. Smart people immediately reflected it, and there was another good show to watch today.

After the concubines were silent, several concubines who were coughing heavily got up one after another, proving that incense and candles were indeed burning in their halls.

After listening, Empress Zhu lowered her head and asked Imperial Physician Qi who was kneeling on the ground, "Imperial Physician Qi, everyone is coughing, can it be related to this incense candle?" ”

Imperial Physician Qi lowered his head and said, "Queen Mother, please bring the incense candle for Weichen to check it out." ”

Ziwan hurriedly walked into the inner hall, and after a while, she took out a candlestick, and the incense candles on the candlestick were already half burned.

After Imperial Physician Qi took the candlestick, he broke the half-burned incense candle and crumpled it, put it under his nose and sniffed it carefully.

Imperial Physician Qi suddenly tightened his nose and couldn't help sneezing. After hurriedly taking out a handkerchief and wiping his nose and tears, he asked Ziwan for an incense candle and a fire fold.

On the top of the main hall, Imperial Physician Qi lit the incense candle and carefully watched the flame of the incense candle.

Suddenly, Imperial Physician Qi pointed to the wick of the incense candle and said to Queen Zhu, "Queen Mother, you see that the core of this incense candle burns bluer than usual. ”

"You talk nonsense!" Concubine Rou finally couldn't help it, and shouted angrily at Imperial Doctor Qi, "Which candle is not blue-tinge when it is burned?" Why did it go wrong with you? ”

Imperial Physician Qi blew out the incense candle and kowtowed to Concubine Rou, "Concubine Rou is angry." Weichen didn't dare to talk nonsense, but the core of this incense candle burned deeper than usual, and I don't believe that Niangniang can compare it. ”

Ziwan went to find an ordinary red candle that was burning on weekdays, and lit it together with the incense candle.

Under the candle flame, when the wick of the incense candle emits a more dazzling blue light than the ordinary red candle, a faint wisp of light smoke rises from the candle flame.

The smoke was fragrant, but the people around the incense candle covered their lips and coughed lightly, the root of their nose was sour, and even their eyes were astringent.

Concubine Rou's face was already pale, she looked at the incense candle that emitted blue light, and said with horror in her eyes, "Impossible, this is impossible." The incense and candles are burning in the main palace, and the main palace ......"

Empress Zhu slapped the table and shouted angrily, "Bold Rou Concubine, you still don't kneel!" ”