The hot July is over, and August has just entered. Several autumn rains fell in the capital, and the temperature in the Forbidden City dropped sharply.
August 15th, it’s the beginning of the afternoon.
"Ah Qiu~"
In the main hall of Chuxiu Palace, the imperial concubine, who had rarely found a leisurely moment, had an open blue book covering her face. She was lying on a soft couch made of carved chicken wing wood under the glass window on the south wall, closing her eyes and meditating, almost nine months old.
The older twins sat side by side on the inside of the soft couch playing with toys.
The two little brothers were lowering their heads and playing with the wooden dragon-shaped puzzle with their chubby little hands. When they looked up, they saw that their mother had stopped looking at them. They looked at each other, immediately threw away the puzzle in their hands, and then the little brother in red clothes
At fourteen, he grinned happily
, crawled under the glass window, stretched out two small white hands to hold on to the wall, tried hard to pull the edge of the mahogany window sill above his head, and stood up tremblingly with his two short legs.
Sitting next to him, Little Thirteen raised his little head and watched his brother's series of smooth and coherent movements. When he saw that Little Fourteen could stand up with his own arm strength, his big eyes lit up, and he was about to imitate Little Yinzhen's appearance.
I also tried to stand while holding on to the wall.
However, before Little Thirteen could start to move, he could only be handsome for three seconds. Little Fourteen poked his furry little head and stood on tiptoes to take a look at the scene in the front yard outside the window. He saw a flash of lightning that looked like a silver-white streak.
As slippery as a little dragon
Passing through the gloomy sky, at the same time, there was a "rumbling" sound of thunder in the sky. He was instantly frightened. He couldn't help but wrinkled his little nose and sneezed in a sweet voice, and then "
"Plop", he suddenly sat back on the soft couch like a soft steamed dumpling, and he was completely stunned.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Little Thirteen's eyes widened as well, and he and Little Fourteen looked at each other in confusion. Neither twin seemed to be able to figure out what was going on outside. It was a bit scary!
When Qingyan heard the noise, she raised her hand to take the book off her face. She raised her eyelids and saw the twins next to her, clinging to the wall and leaning on each other like two little quails.
"Yeah!"
When Xiao Si saw E Niang awake, he immediately crawled to her side on hands and knees, pointed out the window with his little finger, furrowed his light yellow eyebrows and spoke eagerly to the imperial concubine.
Spring was sleepy and autumn was tired. On a comfortable autumn afternoon, Qingyan yawned lazily before following her youngest son's gesture and sitting up straight. She turned her head and glanced out the window. She saw the fruit trees in the front yard being blown around by the autumn wind.
Silver-white lightning occasionally appeared in the sky, and the sound of thunder could be faintly heard, so I understood what Xiao Shisi meant.
She simply moved her body and sat cross-legged by the window. She stretched out her arms to hold the twins who crawled beside her into her arms so that they could clearly see the scenery outside. She raised her arms and pointed softly outside the window.
The voice said:
"Little Thirteen, Little Fourteen, that white thing is called 'lightning', and the sound of 'bang, bang, bang' is called 'thunder.' Weather like this means it's going to rain heavily in the sky. You two, take a look at the yard.
The fruits inside have been blown off the branches by the strong wind. We must not go out at this time. We have to stay indoors to be safe. There is no shelter from the rain under the big tree, do you understand?"
The two brothers looked up at their mother, then at the fresh fruits falling on the bluestone outside the window, and nodded their little heads in seeming understanding.
After a while, "wow, wah, wah, wah", a fast and heavy autumn rain fell with crackling sounds.
Qingyan looked at the autumn rain outside the window, couldn't help but sigh, and said with great regret:
"Oh, it's really God's fault. It would be nice if it rained two days later. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It seems that we won't be able to see the bright moon at night."
Carrying a plate of steaming small mooncakes that had just been baked, Bai Lu walked across the threshold and happened to hear the imperial concubine's words. She couldn't help but smile and said:
"Master, the moon is fifteen and sixteen yuan. I guarantee that you will be able to enjoy the moon tomorrow night. My slave has brought over the mooncakes that Master Bai has just made. You and your two little brothers can come over and have a taste."
"
"That's right."
Qingyan replied with a smile, put an arm around a baby, hugged the twins, put on her indoor slippers, got off the soft couch and walked to the yellow rosewood table.
The mother and son wiped their hands with wet white sweat towels. Qingyan picked out a sweet, soft-skinned small mooncake with banana and white sesame filling from the plate. She broke it in half and stuffed it into the hands of the twins.
The two brothers ate slowly, grinding their teeth, and then handed Bai Lu a piece of her favorite five-nut mooncake. They also picked up a piece of lotus seed mooncake and were about to put it in their mouths to eat. At this time, Yinreng and Xiaosi brought
He Zhuer and Su Peisheng hurried in holding oil-paper umbrellas.
"Eniang!"
"aunt!"
"Yeah! Ge Na!"
"Why did you two come here in such heavy rain? Come in quickly."
When Qingyan saw her nephew and eldest son coming, she quickly put the mooncakes in her hands on the plate, hugged the twins and stood up from the carved chair.
Bai Lu was also very discerning. She quickly stuffed the remaining small mouthful of five-nut mooncake into her mouth, smiled at the two masters and two servants standing at the door, and immediately walked quickly across the threshold to the small kitchen to order the palace.
I made ginger soup for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Si Age to dispel the cold.
"Mother, fortunately, my brother Prince and I brought umbrellas with us when we went out. It rains so easily."
Xiaosi took out the handkerchief from his arms, wiped the rainwater that accidentally fell on his face, raised his head slightly and said to the imperial concubine with a smile.
When Qingyan heard this, she couldn't help crying or laughing and said:
"The weather is not good, you two just stay in the East Palace and South Third Institute and don't come over. It's easy to catch a cold in this kind of autumn rainy weather."
"Aunt, it's okay. Gu and Xiaosi are both wearing thick clothes. It's mainly because we happened to have some good stuff, so we chose this time to come here."
Yin Reng also wiped the rain off his face with a handkerchief, and then pointed to the small mahogany box held by He Zhuer next to him. Seeing the twins smiling with festive faces, he raised his arms itchyly.
He gently pinched the soft flesh on Little Thirteen's and Little Fourteen's cheeks one by one, and replied with a smile.
The twins who were held in the arms of the imperial concubine were bored because they couldn't go for a walk in the imperial garden next door on a rainy day. When they saw the prince brother and the fourth brother coming together, they both beamed with joy.
After Yin Reng took his hand back, Xiao Si was interested in extending his right hand to touch the prince's brother's face in courtesy. Unexpectedly, as soon as his little hand loosened, there was a "snap" of the hand he held in his right hand.
Half of the small moon cake with banana filling fell to the ground.
"ah"
Xiao Shisi was dumbfounded. He lowered his head to look at the mooncakes and grasped his empty little hand twice. He found that his mooncakes were really gone. His defense was broken instantly. He pouted his mouth and wanted to close his eyes and cry in grievance.
.
The imperial concubine, Xiao Si, and Yin Reng didn't expect this kind of thing to happen. Xiao Shisan looked a little bit indifferent to his stupid brother, and hurriedly broke off half of his mooncake with his little hands and stuffed it into Xiao Fourteen's hand.
Seeing that he had mooncakes to eat again, Little Fourteen quickly opened his mouth and stuffed the mooncakes that Brother Thirteen handed him into his mouth in one breath. His cheeks on both sides were bulging like little hamsters. Little Fourteen still
As if he was worried that the mooncake would fall from his mouth again, he "smartly" covered his mouth tightly with his little hands, narrowed his big eyes, and slowly chewed it with a few deciduous teeth in his mouth.
Yinreng and Xiaosi saw all the actions of the two little ones, and they couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The corners of Qingyan's mouth couldn't help but twitch. She felt that God was really fair. He gave Little Fourteen the strong physique of a Hercules, but failed to fill his little head with wisdom. Compared with the steady Little Thirteen
, Little Fourteen seems a bit simple-minded and has well-developed limbs.
After Xiao Shisi finished eating the mooncakes in his mouth, Yinreng moved the mooncake plate on the huanghuali wood table so that He Zhuer could place the mahogany box in his arms on the table.
"Aunt, come and take a look."
Yinreng waved to the imperial concubine with a mysterious face and said.
Qingyan hugged Little Thirteen curiously, and Little Fourteen walked to the table. When she saw her little nephew opening the lid of the box and taking out something, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Did our craftsmen make this themselves?"
Qingyan asked excitedly as she looked at the wooden chiming clock made of a house shape and the milky white cubes of Western soap with the small words "Ministry of Internal Affairs" engraved on them.
"Yes! Before my mother-in-law, didn't you still want to make a chiming clock and a Western soy sauce? Later, I found a chance to tell Brother Prince about it. Brother Prince asked Master Huang to study for almost two years before making it.
I have already written down the production method in a folder and presented it to Khan Amma."
Xiaosi, who was wearing a green round-neck robe, puffed out his chest and said proudly.
"You are so considerate."
Qingyan was extremely moved when she heard this. After she said this in the Chuxiu Palace, she happened to encounter Yi Fei giving birth to Xiaojiu with dystocia. Later, when she was busy with other things, she forgot about this incident.
I thought that the two children would keep this in mind and keep working in private.
The two brothers, who have grown up to be grown-up children, have long known how to be reserved. Now when they hear their aunt praising them as sincerely and straightforwardly as they did when they were children, they can't help but feel a little shy, but they feel happy in their hearts.
Qingyan put the twins on the carved chair on one side, then picked up the chiming clock and looked at it carefully, and then put the milky white soap on the tip of her nose and smelled it. I have to say that the craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty are really good at their craftsmanship.
, as long as you know how to make something, you can make it with better quality than foreigners.
She put the two things back, and then said with emotion to her nephew and eldest son:
"Baocheng, Xiaosi, I think our Four Books and Five Classics are good, but among all the other schools of thought, I think the tools made by the Mohists are the ones that can be most directly used in daily production and help us improve our lives. Nowadays
Look, these Westerners are making things that we don’t have in the Qing Dynasty, and they are frantically amassing money among the people. Whatever they make, we imitate it, but we always feel that we are one step behind."