The maid of the Yellow Palace took a sip of tea gently.

Hongluan understood that this was the Yellow Palace Maid urging her: the Yellow Palace Maid didn't have so much time and patience to wait for her, so she had to take off her jacket and put it on the table now, just like when she gave her coat, so that the Yellow Palace Maid would not be angry.

It's just that he won't be angry, and he won't be happy or be nice to Hongluan; Hongluan knew the Yellow Palace Maid's thoughts very well, because she had already learned from the beggar head: no matter what benefits the Yellow Palace Maid received, she would think that it was what she deserved.

Hongluan knew that she couldn't drag it out any longer, so she squatted down and saluted the maid of the Yellow Palace: "Thank you aunt for your compliment, the handiwork of the jacket is indeed good, it was made for me by the slave's mother the day before the flood, it is a birthday gift from my mother to the slave maid, and it is also the only thing that my mother left for the slave maid." ”

Hongluan replied to the words of the Yellow Palace Maiden, her voice getting softer and softer the further back, with endless sorrow; This is the only way she thought of in her eagerness not to hurt the face of the Yellow Palace maid and to keep the jacket.

Since the beginning of the fight, the Yellow Palace Maid did not say that she wanted Hongluan's jacket, and Hongluan did not say that she would not give the Yellow Palace Maid's jacket, but the meaning of the two people's words was understood by the other party. A lot of things in the world are like that, and you can't say it without saying it.

After Hongluan finished speaking, her heart was raised high, her eyes were fixed on her toes, and both ears were propped up to listen to the movements of the Yellow Palace Woman; Her gaze went up and up uncontrollably, and rested on her jacket: the jacket, though old, was fine cheesecloth; She now regrets why she didn't think to get a tattered jacket in the first place.

The jacket was indeed her original clothes, but it was not made by her mother, but by her nurse.

After listening to Hongluan's words, the yellow palace maid's eyes flashed, and she glanced at her jacket again: "So that's the case, then you have to cherish it, I didn't expect you to be a filial child." She agreed with Hongluan to keep the jacket, but she bit the word "filial piety" a little hard, and at the same time, her eyes swept through the unhappiness.

It is an unwritten rule in the palace for the new palace slave to give benefits to the palace maid after entering the palace, and even now all the better things on the new palace slave must be owned by the palace maid: of course, the new palace slave must be sent by himself.

Hongluan left the jacket, which naturally made the Yellow Palace maid unhappy: even if the jacket was sent out and sold, it would only cost a few pennies - the Yellow Palace Maid was unhappy not for the few pennies, but because Hongluan's refusal hurt her dignity as a palace maid.

After accepting the other things of the new palace slaves, the yellow palace maid waved her hand: "Okay, you can go to the residence and settle down; The rules in the palace, there is nothing that cannot go out of our palace, my rule is not to go out and walk around if there is nothing to do, sleep for a while or learn to embroider flowers, be a female celebrity or something, it is better than going out to hang out and provoke right and wrong. ”

Hongluan didn't need to look at the Yellow Palace Maid to know that she was dissatisfied with herself, and she was thinking about how to eliminate this matter: it was not a wise move to offend the Yellow Palace Maid; In response to the instructions of the Yellow Palace Maid, she withdrew from the main room after giving a salute with all the palace slaves, and she quietly exhaled a breath.

As soon as she entered the palace, she was a little uncomfortable, which made her heart feel as if she was pressed with a stone, and it was a little heavy.

The small courtyard here is divided into two parts, in addition to the four main rooms in the front, there are several rooms in the east and west compartments; Compared to the main house, the east and west wings of the house are a little dilapidated.

Hongluan looked at both sides and chose the West Chamber, which was a little farther away from the Yellow Palace Maid, she really didn't have a good impression of the Yellow Palace Maid, and she was even more wary.

There were only two palace slaves who walked with Hongluan, one was older than Hongluan, and the other looked a little younger than Hongluan: Hongluan's body had barely grown taller because of begging, and he looked younger than his actual age. The rest of the palace slaves chose the East Chamber, where the sunshine was better.

Hongluan was also happy to see that there were few people, and nodded to the two of them and walked up the steps, the door of the west chamber opened without waiting for Hongluan to knock, revealing a small face: "The three sisters are new, right?" Come on in. ”

The person who opened the door was a little taller than Hongluan, but he was so thin that he only had a pair of big eyes, and Hongluan trembled in his heart: Fortunately, this is during the day, otherwise she would really be scared.

"I don't know what my sister is called?" Hongluan gave a salute first and then spoke, holding the idea that many people were not strange.

In a completely unfamiliar court, the first thing is to be kind to others, so that you can avoid evil and be auspicious: this is of course also experience, and if you can get the reminder of the older generation who are still alive now, she can at least be safe; Being a beggar and being a palace slave are almost the same for Hongluan, anyway, they all look at people's faces and eyes to beg for life; Therefore, she was extremely polite to the old palace slave, and even brought three points of respect. The palace slave who opened the door turned sideways and returned the salute: "Sister is polite, sister has no serious name, everyone who knows me on weekdays is called a big girl." ”

Hongluan knew that girls from poor families did not have serious names: "The three of us are newcomers, and we will have to trouble my sister to mention more in the future." She gave another salute and followed the big girl into the house.

Facing the wall was a long earthen pit with bedding and the like, but it was very shabby; There is a square table and a few stools by the window.

"I slept against the wall on the south side, there are not many people in this house, you can watch and sleep casually, if anyone comes again, you will have to squeeze it; At its peak, nine people slept. After the big girl finished speaking, she sat down where she slept.

Hongluan looked left and right and walked over and sat down next to the big girl: "Sister, our bed?" Although she saw the unused covers, she still had to ask and take them again.

The girl nodded: "That's it, you can pick it yourself." Now it doesn't matter how many people there are, if there are more people, you can only have one bed for one person. ”

Hongluan didn't pick out any quilts, and then asked, "Sister is alone in this house?" "Although the palace doesn't accept palace slaves every year, there will always be one time in three or five years, no matter what, there shouldn't be only one big girl here in the West Wing.

Hearing this, the girl glanced at the other two people, then looked at Hongluan with a long sigh and said softly: "They have all left here." ”

Hongluan was shocked when she heard the words and looked at the big girl, and her body trembled slightly: because the tone and demeanor of the big girl when she spoke told Hongluan that those palace slaves didn't get out alive!

There is sadness, fear, despair and a trace of resentment on the face of the big girl, if those palace slaves get out alive, only she is still in the palace to lead the errand, even if she is looking forward to leaving the palace, the face of the big girl will never be the look she is now.

Dead, those people are dead? How can it be.

Hongluan came back to her senses for a long time, her hands and feet were already cold, she looked at the big girl and asked softly: "Sister, you said that there were nine people living here at most, then, did they enter the palace with their sister?" ”

"There are those who are together, and there are those who are half a year or a year late; There are a lot of officials and dependents in the palace slaves who have committed crimes, and they don't come in on a yearly basis like us. It can be seen that the eldest girl doesn't want to say more: "My sisters will clean up and rest for a while, and there will be an errand tomorrow night." ”

"How many years has my sister been here?" Hongluan still asked, she couldn't help but ask, she had to ask.

The big girl looked at Hongluan, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Three years." It can be seen that my sister is a clever person, but if she wants to live longer in the palace, only cleverness can't do it; Remember Aunt Hua's words, talk less. After finishing speaking, after a brief pause, she gently patted Hongluan's cold hand: "You have to ask less questions." ”

After finishing speaking, she looked at Hongluan fixedly, she picked up the cloth that she had bandaged and began to embroider, indicating that she would not answer Hongluan's words again.

****

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