Aunt Lian took Zi Ning and the two of them all the way, and found a mother-in-law she knew outside the Hanging Flower Gate, and explained the reason clearly. The mother-in-law looked at Zi Ning and Lu Huan, and saw that their appearance was clean, so she ordered: "Since the two girls are the daughters of Dongyuan, then go in, but Aunt Lian can't." As he spoke, he summoned a little maid in red and told her to lead the way to Zunhua Courtyard.

The little maid was accustomed to serving in the inner house, and when she saw that it was two maidens, she didn't care much, so she pouted and said, "Come with me, don't make a noise on the road." ”

The three of them walked quietly all the way, Green Ring had never been to Zunhua Courtyard, and he was nervous in his heart, holding Zi Ning tightly with one hand, and his eyes were looking around. I saw a few young maids flashing out of the verandahs on both sides from time to time, ring and wearing Linlang, holding all kinds of brocade boxes in their hands and passing through the corridor.

Those slender waists swayed, and the broken steps under their feet were stacked on top of each other, and when they saw Zi Ning and Lu Huan dressed up, they all showed surprised looks, and then pouted, lowered their heads and snickered.

Zi Ning held the food box in one hand and pulled up her skirt with the other, lest she step on the corner of her skirt and fall. I thought to myself: "In ancient times, women didn't show their feet and didn't smile like this, such days are really depressing." No wonder these people walk like quails, and they are so diligent in small steps, it's hard to understand how they can walk so fast!"

I looked down and saw a pair of feet exposed under my skirt, and thought, "If I take such a big step and take such a big step, I'm afraid that others will laugh and lose their big teeth when they see it." Then he thought again: "Whatever, this girl walks like this, so don't learn those quails!" Here are winding paths everywhere, willow smoke and wind flakes, flowers are charming and charming, the fragrance is rich and lingering, and I can't feel enough to suck it to my heart's content.

After walking about half a pillar of incense, I came to a magnificent, graceful and luxurious courtyard. The carved beams and paintings are clear and exquisite, full of roses, and a faint fragrance is very comfortable. Zi Ning was secretly surprised, this is just a courtyard, it is so extraordinary, and along the way, he felt the magnificent momentum of the Huajun Palace, which shows the dignity of the Huajun King.

The red-clothed maid stood still and said, "It's here, you wait here, and I'll go and report it." Dusting off the clothes on his body, straightening his collar again, he walked to the moon hanging flower gate of the Zunhua Courtyard, and shouted respectfully: "Mamma is here, the maiden girl of the East Garden has sent food." ”

A mother-in-law came out of the door in a moment, glanced at Zi Ning and Lu Huan, frowned and said, "Even the maid came in, who let it go, so I don't understand the rules." The little girl in red hurriedly explained, and said with a smile: "This lady said that the new dish has an appetizing allusion, and it has to be served in front of the eldest princess." ”

The woman's face was cold, she walked up to Zi Ning, circled around her and the green ring, and said for a while: "Come in." Zi Ning secretly exhaled, the rules of the palace are stricter than those of Dongyuan, and it is not easy to deliver a meal.

The mother-in-law took them into the courtyard twice, the two sides were full of carved beams and painted houses, and there were cages of various birds hanging in the winding corridor, and several big maids sat beside the vermilion lacquer beams and pillars under the cages. Zi Ning saw that these maids were brightly dressed, all of them were handsome, and they were all dressed exquisitely, like fairies wrapped in light veils.

Seeing her mother-in-law coming, a big maid went up to ask the reason in detail, and then said, "Go and tell Sister Xuezhi that the eldest princess's lunch is here." Then he ordered a maid in a gauze dress to lead the way, and the mother-in-law turned around and withdrew.

The gauze maid had a waist swing, and she stepped on the soles of her feet, swaying in front of the two. Zi Ning followed behind her, and saw that her hair was coiled up high, with a flower-headed golden hairpin inserted, and two locks of loose hair hanging down on both sides of her ears, revealing a neck as white as jade. The deep collar is turned around the neck, and the palace silk around the waist is fluttering, and the rings are clanging, which makes it even more slender and moving.

Seeing her dressed like this, Zi Ning felt ashamed of herself for the first time. Looking down at his clothes, although it was a new style that Mama Qing sent someone to make for the girls, she had been busy in the dining room all morning, and then ran to the field to pick perilla leaves, and cooked and smoked them several times in front of the stove, and the sleeves and skirts were already wrinkled.

Sniff the cuffs carefully, the goose-yellow satin cloth is stained with two pieces of lamb leg greasy, and there is a strong smell of stir-fried smoke. Zi Ning thought to herself: "The big girls in the inner mansion are much more expensive than the maids, and they don't have to work, and they all have the fragrance of flowers on their bodies." My clothes also have a fragrance, but they are the smell of oil stained by stir-frying. ”

It was easy to enter the third courtyard, Zi Ning couldn't tell the direction for a long time, and she only felt that her head was dizzy. His eyes looked left and right, and he thought, "Who lives in these houses, and how can they live there?" Green Ring only lowered his head and didn't dare to look at the road, muttering to the gods in his mouth, and hurriedly delivered the meal.

This birch courtyard is really not where they came, and it is more domineering than Dongyuan.

The backyard of the three entrances is different from the first two, and when you look up, there are fewer carved beams and paintings, and there are more quaint bluelime tiles. Lined with the shadow of the leaves of a bamboo forest of pines and cypresses, a clump of plum branches winds up the eaves, passes through the overlapping stones on the rockery, and emerges the bones of new leaves on the branches at the tip.

When he came to the door of the five main rooms, the sartorial maid who led the way went in to report. After a while, a slender hand lifted the curtain. Immediately, a beautiful face was revealed behind the curtain, in the shape of a goose egg, with the corners of her eyes slightly raised, wearing a homely peach flower skirt, which was the eldest girl Xuezhi next to the eldest princess.

Xue Zhi lightly lifted the corner of her skirt and walked down the steps towards Zining. Zi Ning and Lu Huan stood at the bottom of the steps, smelling a fragrant fragrance, as far as the eye could see, they saw a flowing peach-colored skirt and a pair of emerald green lotus embroidered shoes, "Bring the food box, you follow me in." Xue Zhi pointed at Zi Ning, and Lu Huan quickly bowed respectfully and handed over the basket containing the food box in his hand.

Xue Zhi took it, her lips coated with vermilion rouge moved, and she said lightly: "How to do things, grind and grind, the eldest princess is to blame, can you bear it? ”

Green Ring was stunned for a moment, his face turned red suddenly, and he lowered his head and did not speak. Zi Ning didn't expect the eldest girl of Zunhua Yuan to be so powerful, and wanted to come forward to defend herself, but she thought that it was important to send food to the eldest princess, and she didn't want to worry about anything else in advance.

Xue Zhi snorted coldly, her face full of disdain, and then Lianbu moved lightly, turned around and walked into the room with the food box. Zi Ning glanced at the green ring and said softly: "Don't be afraid, wait for me, I'll be here soon." He picked up the basket of food boxes and went up the stairs and followed Xuezhi inside.

Inside the house, the faint scent of sandalwood and the thick smell of books filled the room, and by the door was a beautifully carved marble case with pear pattern. On the case, there is the pen and ink of the eldest princess, and there are ten treasure inkstones and an ink-colored pen sea, and the interpolated brushes are like trees, which is awe-inspiring. There is a two-person high ebony bookshelf behind the table, and under the various scrolls, the guqin is horizontal in the corner, with a chic and elegant atmosphere.

On the west wall hangs a large "Fuhu Picture", directly facing the hollow carved window, through which speckled and fragmented sunlight enters. Zi Ning took a closer look, and there was a couch below, and the eldest princess leaned on the couch with a picture scroll in her hand.

The eldest princess's face was pale, her hair was loosely tied up in a bun on her head, she did not wear a hairpin ornament, and even her lips were slightly white, losing her usual brilliance. A small bronze four-legged incense burner was placed on the long tables, and light smoke wafted from the hollowed-out and carved lid of the stove.

Two plainly dressed maids gathered scrolls of paintings on the side, neatly arranged on the ebony shelves against the wall. There was also a maid on the front end of the water, changed the spices in the bronze furnace, although a few people were busy, but there was no sound at all, and the room was quiet and the needles could be heard.

Xue Zhi carefully took out the carved green jade bowl from the food box, and said softly: "Princess, the Dongyuan dining room has brought lunch to see if you need to taste it." ”

The eldest princess closed her eyes and waved her hand. Aunt Xu, who was waiting on the side, hurriedly stepped forward, took a mattress with a silver heart and gray satin, and spread it on the side of the tea table for her to lean on.

Xue Zhi persuaded softly: "Princess, it's better to take a look, you have lost a lot of weight recently, so it's better to get in." As he spoke, he uncovered the lid of the green jade bowl, prepared a silver spoon, and poked into the bowl to try it. After waiting for a while, it was brought to the tea table in front of the eldest princess.

When she landed, the quiet aroma slowly wafted and diffused, and the eldest princess's lazy eyes had a hint of light, and the boredom of the past few days made her feel bad, but the faint sweet aroma wafting from this bowl shocked her spirits, and the dark gray black color on her face was swept away.

The eldest princess put down the scroll in her hand, put it on the low couch, looked at Xue Zhi and asked, "What is this, the fragrance is so sweet." ”

Xue Zhi shook her head: "The slave maid doesn't know, this is just sent from Dongyuan, the slave maid has never seen it before, this fragrance is indeed different." ”

"Serve a bowl of Hongu and try it. The eldest princess spoke, Aunt Xu hurriedly removed the mattress that leaned on her arm, and Xue Zhi carefully took some small white porcelain bowls, placed them in front of the princess, and handed over the silver spoon.

The eldest princess cleaned her hands in the copper basin served by the little maid, wiped it with a handkerchief, and then picked up the bowl. I saw the crystal clear porridge in the bowl, like a little yellow and red flower blooming one after another. Put it on the tip of your nose and sniff it, and suddenly feel that you are being served by a wreath of flowers, and it smells good. Suddenly his appetite was great, he held a small spoon in his hand, scooped up a spoonful of porridge, and tasted it gently.

The entrance is tender, warm and sweet, with a minty aroma. The eldest princess couldn't help but eat a few more bites, and after eating a small bowl of thick porridge, she was still unsatisfied.

Xue Zhi on the side saw that the eldest princess liked this thing so much, and secretly wrote it down.

After Zi Ning entered the house, she had been standing in the backlight by the door, and the eldest princess couldn't see her face clearly, thinking that she was an ordinary maid, and she didn't care. Zi Ning breathed a long sigh of relief, since the eldest princess likes to eat, she didn't waste all these thoughts in vain.

Stretching the basket in his hand forward, he took two steps, and said with a smile: "There is a new dish here, the eldest princess can try it." The eldest princess was stunned for a moment, and when she saw that it was Zi Ning carrying the food box, there was a smile in her eyes, "This kid has a heart and sent it over in person." ”

Zi Ning hurriedly opened the food box, took out the perilla lily mutton inside, and sent it to the eldest princess with both hands, and said with a smile: "This dish is specially made by me, and it must suit the appetite of the eldest princess." ”

Seeing that it was mutton, the eldest princess was tired of it, but she didn't want to brush off Zi Ning's kindness, so she reluctantly smiled: "Such a bright color, this palace looks at it and likes it, so give it a try and see how Zi Ning's craftsmanship is." ”

Zi Ning also cleaned her hands in the copper basin and said seriously: "I teach the eldest princess to eat like this." As he spoke, he picked up a perilla leaf from the side of the plate, sandwiched the mutton, lily and green peppers with chopsticks, and placed it neatly on the perilla leaf. The ten fingers were closed, wrapped into a small ball, and handed it to the eldest princess, "Open your mouth, and eat it all in one bite." ”

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