This faraway trip not only made the noble young masters, who were usually surrounded by maids and nuns waiting for them, reaching out for clothes and opening their mouths for food, a lot more independent, but the relatively poor environment in the temple also made them less
A lot of attention has been paid to it.
Although there were quite a few maids, maids, and eunuchs who came out of the palace at that time, due to the limited number of rooms in Qingliang Temple, almost all the logistics staff stayed at the inn at the foot of the mountain with Prince Yu Fuquan, such as Bai Lu and Liang Jiugong.
The powerful palace servants who followed up the mountain had to serve the emperor, the empress dowager, the imperial concubine, and a few young brothers.
In the previous class, older children like Yinti had almost no palace attendants to call upon, so most of the things they did were done by themselves.
At the end of the unitary hour, the sky outside was so dark that no one could be discerned, and the outdoor temperature changed from the warm and sunny days during the day. The howling north wind carried several faint wolf howls throughout the mountains.
The temperature in Qingliang Temple dropped sharply.
Changquan, who had just had dinner, was wearing a silver-gray winter robe and a dark blue warm hat on his head. He used a copper basin to fetch a pot of hot water from the stove, hunched his neck, and quickly walked into the inner room of the wing.
, when he turned sideways and pushed the wooden door open with a creak with his right elbow, he saw the seven and a half year old
Cousin Yinzhen put on a thick dark blue pajamas, holding a wool brush in his right hand and sitting in front of the long pine table under the glass window on the east wall of the chamber, with a tall candlestick in the upper left corner.
In the flickering candlelight, I was writing and drawing on the spread out straw paper.
Chang Quan couldn't help but was slightly stunned. First, he turned slightly sideways and raised his right foot to gently close the wooden door. Then he walked a few steps to the three-legged poplar washbasin stand next to the west wall and placed the copper basin in his hand.
On the shelf, he then walked to the long table and saw that Yinzhen had stopped writing. Instead, he raised his head and looked at the dark window above his head in a daze.
He followed his cousin's gaze and looked up, finding that it was dark outside without even a trace of bright moonlight.
There was a warm charcoal basin in the center of the wing, and the indoor temperature was high. As soon as the breath they exhaled came into contact with the cold glass window, it liquefied and turned into small water droplets. The transparent glass window was covered with white, which was even more...
I can't see anything clearly. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow morning, beautiful window grilles will be formed on the windows, and long ice skates will be formed under the eaves.
"Xiaosi, what are you doing? Hey! Come to your senses quickly."
Changquan saw that he was standing next to Yinzhen, blocking most of the candlelight, but his little cousin was still stupid and didn't respond. He couldn't help but stretched out his right hand and shook it a few times in front of Yinzhen, and asked in a low voice.
After hearing his cousin's voice, Yinzhen reacted, turned his head and glanced at his little cousin, touched his hungry, gurgling and shriveled belly with his hands, clasped his face, and said feebly:
"Cousin, you are back."
"Yes, after dinner, Madam Huang and the others went to rest, so I came back to fetch water and wash up. What are you drawing on this paper?"
Changquan asked curiously, pointing to a large circle with even black dots on the brown-yellow straw paper and an oval filled with small circles.
Yinzhen placed his left elbow on the long pine table and held his cheek with his left hand. Although his face had clear lines at the age of eight, the baby fat on both sides of his cheeks had not completely disappeared.
The soft flesh was squeezed out. He pointed the pattern on the papyrus paper with his right index finger while introducing his fresh painting to Changquan.
"Cousin, this big round cake is the sesame pancake that Master Bai just baked out of the pan. There are several layers of puff pastry on the surface. It is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. When I took a bite, the crumbs fell to the ground first. Well~ Chapter 1
It takes two mouthfuls to taste the chewy core inside.
It is soft and chewy. Look at the sesame seeds sprinkled on it. They are all carefully selected by the people in the dining room. Without exception, they are plump. They are all new sesame seeds grown on the imperial farm this year.
There is still a thin layer of oil under the candlelight."
Changquan was dumbfounded when he heard this, and then he put his head around and took a closer look at the "big cake" lying softly on the paper, unable to be pulled up. He had to admit that Xiaosi's abstract painting skills and the girl's forehead were really good.
Coming from the same family, if it hadn’t been for my little cousin’s words, he wouldn’t have believed that this big round shape could be the golden-colored signature sesame cake baked by Bai Yuchu!
He suppressed his smile and pointed to the oval on the side and asked:
"Then what is this?"
"Sweet and sour sweet and sour pork is a specialty dish of Chef Bai. When you cook it with your eyes closed, it can be made sour, sweet and fragrant. When you take a bite, the rich soup bursts out from the meat."
Yinzhen pulled the straw paper up with his hand and explained to Changquan casually.
"Well, Xiaosi, you have cakes and meat, but they are better than the vegetarian meal we had in the evening. Don't you still need a bowl of porridge? You only eat cakes and vegetables. Don't you think you'll get choked up?"
"Oh, isn't it? A bowl of sweet and thick wolfberry, millet and pumpkin porridge can warm your body and stomach in the winter." After saying this, Yinzhen closed his eyes and lay on the long table.
He continued weakly:
"But I am really hungry and have no strength in my hands, so I can't draw anymore."
"Cousin, I tried this method of drawing cakes to satisfy your hunger. It's useless. On the contrary, the more you draw, the hungrier you get."
"Oh, this is also the first time I have experienced the feeling of starvation. This feeling is so uncomfortable and uncomfortable. Thinking of the poor and hungry people, I finally know their daily life.
It’s so hard, no wonder Master Xingchi wants to take the young monks to plant sweet potatoes together, and he has been researching and improving vegetable seeds and grain seeds for ten years.”
Changquan didn't notice the pause in Yinzhen's words. Seeing his little cousin like this, he couldn't help feeling a little distressed. He hurriedly took out a white cloth about the size of his hand and handed it to Yinzhen, whispering:
"Xiao Si, this is the steamed sweet potato I brought to you from the plate at the dinner table when the emperor was not prepared. It has the skin on the outside and is clean. Eat it quickly. Your stomach will be full after you eat it."
Yinzhen, who was hungry and kept making "gulu gulu" noises in the temple of the five internal organs, smelled the sweet smell coming from the tip of his nose, and could not help but salivate in his mouth. He almost subconsciously raised his hand from Changquan.
He took the steamed sweet potato in his hand and glanced at the hourglass on the side.
He remembered that it was four o'clock in the morning when the group of them followed Khan Amma back from Khan Mafa's Zen room. It was at least half an hour after dinner, but the steamed sweet potatoes were still warm. Yinzhen knew that Tang
Brother, this must be steamed rice
When the potatoes were just put on the table, I quickly gave him one. Even though the winter robe was thick, the underwear underneath was thin. It would be very uncomfortable for my cousin to have such a hot thing in his arms all the time.
.
Realizing this, Yinzhen was deeply moved. He felt that cousin Changquan was indeed a good brother who had grown up with him since he was a child and only wore a pair of pants.
He hurriedly peeled off the white cloth layer by layer, but when he saw the red-skinned sweet potatoes inside, his movements stopped again.
Changquan lowered his head and folded up the narrow horse-hoove sleeves on his left and right arms. When he saw Yinzhen holding a sweet potato but not peeling it, the confusion in his head deepened.
"Xiaosi, where did you go in the afternoon? Why didn't the emperor let you have dinner with the eldest cousin, the prince's cousin, and the fourth cousin? When I woke up from lunch break, I found that you had disappeared, so I asked Xiaosi
Wu, Xiaoliu and the others don’t know where you went."
"Well, cousin, as long as you know that we did something in the afternoon that made Khan Amma very angry, and that's why we were punished, I can't say more about the rest."
Sitting on the chair, Yinzhen shook his head and whispered to Chang Quan with a mysterious look on his side.
When Changquan heard this, he scratched his head with his hand suspiciously. He was not the one to break the casserole and ask the truth. Seeing the embarrassed look on his little cousin's face, he very considerately walked to the washbasin shelf.
A casual sentence:
"Okay, then you should eat the sweet potatoes quickly. Eat early, wash up and rest early."
Yinzhen turned to look at his cousin who had already picked up a toothbrush and dipped it in a few grains of coarse salt, leaning over to clean his teeth. He then looked down at the sweet steamed sweet potato in his hand.
His stomach growled with hunger. Of course he wanted to eat the sweet potatoes while they were hot, but when he thought of his eldest brother, his second brother, the prince, and his fourth sister, they were all starving in the wing. The bad thing was that the four brothers and sisters did it together.
Yes, wouldn't it be too unloyal to eat sweet potatoes secretly here alone? And if Khan Amma knew about it, would he double the number of 300 arrows he shot?
The instinct of hunger and the rationality of being a human being were like two thick yarns, struggling desperately in Yinzhen's mind. Just when he was extremely entangled and didn't know what to do.
There was a sudden "bang bang bang" knock on the inner door.
Yinzhen saw that his cousin who was closer had already started to wash his face with a sweat towel, so he put the steamed sweet potatoes and white cloth in his hand on the long table, stood up from the chair by pressing the edge of the table, and pulled up the
He walked to the door in his indoor slippers, and when he opened the door with his hand, he saw Bai Lu wearing a green winter robe, holding a small tray and looking at him with a smile.
Yinzhen's Danfeng eyes lit up, he hurriedly turned aside to clear the way for Bai Lu, and smiled happily:
"Aunt Bai, why are you here at this time?"
"Here, Fourth Brother, I am here to bring you a bowl of green vegetable and egg noodles as ordered by the empress. You should eat it quickly, otherwise the noodles will become lumpy later."
Bai Lu walked to the center of the room as she spoke, carefully took out the steaming noodle soup from the tray, placed it on the square table in the center of the room, turned around and waved to Yinzhen with a smile.
Yinzhen walked to the square table in a few steps and saw that the soup noodles contained his favorite fresh spinach, a yellow poached egg, and a few slices of shiny green onion. His stomach growled even louder in an instant.
"Auntie, Khan Amma said that I won't be allowed to have dinner, please take it away quickly."
Yinzhen forced himself to look away from the hot soup, and said with his head hanging down in frustration.
"Hahahaha, Brother Si, are you so hungry that your brain is running out?"
Hearing Bai Lu's joking laughter, Yinzhen couldn't help but look at her in confusion.
Bai Lu reached out and pushed the young master onto the chair, handed a pair of bamboo chopsticks on the tray to Yinzhen, and explained with a smile:
"Brother Si, don't think about it. The emperor just didn't let you have dinner, and he didn't say he wouldn't let you have supper. The dinner time has already passed. This is the noodle soup that the empress personally cooked in the dining room. You
"Eldest Brother, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Princess Kejing each have a bowl. Eat it while it's hot. After you're done, just put the bowl outside. I'll come and clean it up tomorrow morning."
Changquan had also washed his face at this time, and while wiping his neck with a wet sweat towel, he echoed Bai Lu's words and urged:
"Yes, Xiaosi, it's already past dinner time. Why don't you listen to Aunt Bai and eat the noodles quickly? The soup noodles can't stand it, and they will stick together after a while, making it impossible to eat."
"Yeah, thank you, aunt."
After hearing this explanation, Yinzhen felt completely relieved. He quickly picked up the noodles with his chopsticks and ate them.
The imperial concubine's cooking skills are very average, and she can only cook simple noodles.
This bowl of noodle soup had some salt added at most. The ingredients were light and the taste was even lighter. But Yinzhen felt that the clear noodle soup was as delicious as the seafood noodles made by Bai Yuchu. After a while, he ate the noodles in three or five bites.
When he finished eating, he picked up the poached eggs with chopsticks. After finishing two or three mouthfuls, he held the edge of the bowl with both hands, raised his head and drank the noodle soup cleanly.
When Bai Lu saw Si Age like this, she knew that Yinzhen was so hungry that he didn't even care about the strict dining etiquette he had when he was a child. If it were normal, Si Age would use chopsticks to divide the poached eggs into several pieces evenly and take a bite.
A bite of noodles, a bite of eggs, and a bite of green vegetables. How can I eat them all in one go like now?
She put the empty bowl and chopsticks on the tray and teased Yinzhen with a smile:
"Hahaha, Fourth Brother eats so fast. It seems that the slave doesn't have to wait to come over tomorrow to collect the tableware. He can just take it away."
When Yinzhen saw the empty ceramic bowl, he scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled with his thin lips.
At this time, Chang Quan, who was standing not far away, poured the washing water from his copper basin into the foot basin on the ground, intending to use the waste to soak his feet.
When he had just pulled up a chair and sat down, took off his boots and socks, rolled up his trouser legs, and dipped his feet into the warm water, he seemed to suddenly remember something and stood in front of him.
Bai Lu walked to the door of the inner room with the tray and asked:
"Aunt Bai, do you know when my Ama will go up the mountain?"
When Bai Lu heard Chang Quan's words, she stopped, thought for a moment, then turned to Chang Quan by the west wall and smiled:
"Prince Changquan, I heard from your empress that the emperor planned to stay in the temple for five days and come down on October 19th. We just moved in last night. Well~ I guess Prince Yu is probably
You can’t come over until the day after tomorrow.”
Chang Quan thought about the meaning of Bai Lu's words and realized that his Ama should have brought the guards and palace people to Qingliang Temple to pick them up the day before going down the mountain, so he nodded to Bai Lu and said with a smile:
"Okay, I understand. Aunt Bai, please go back and rest soon."
Bai Lu nodded and smiled at the two people before going out from the inner door.
In line with the principle of not wasting anything, Yinzhen finished the small sweet potatoes brought back by his cousin in several mouthfuls, and then he hurriedly carried the copper basin to fetch hot water. After a simple wash, he turned off the lights and went to bed with his cousin.
Go to sleep.
On the west side of the two brothers' room, in the wing of the emperor and the imperial concubine.
After washing, Qingyan was wearing orange pajamas, with smooth black hair, and was applying skin care balm on her face in front of the bronze mirror on the dressing table. Kangxi was wearing a black pajamas, holding a hand in his hand.
A book, leaning on the bedside, murmuring to the back of the imperial concubine:
"Yan'er, this is how a loving mother loses her son. I didn't know that the four of them have grown so big. Is it possible that they can't stand even one hungry meal?"
"How long have you been hungry, and you rushed to the dining room to serve them hot soup noodles!"
"I didn't have much to eat at night, didn't you? You didn't even think about giving me a bowl." Kangxi rolled up the book in his hand and silently complained in his heart to follow up with the last sentence.
Qingyan didn't know that Kangxi was jealous of the children, and she felt unbalanced. She didn't mind hearing that such a big man like Kangxi was acting like an old man because of a few bowls of noodles.
"I have been talking about this topic over and over for nearly two quarters of an hour.
He was not tired. She was a little tired after listening. She dipped her fingertips into some rose-flavored milky white eye cream prepared for her by Imperial Physician Zhang. While massaging the skin around her eyes, she closed her eyes and spoke to Kangxi behind her.
reason:
"Your Majesty, I didn't say you shouldn't punish the four of them."
"They have done something wrong. Of course you have to teach them a lesson and let these four people remember it. But I don't agree with the corporal punishment of not letting people eat. Originally, there is no oil and water in the vegetarian meals in this temple. The four of them are
The face has lost a lot of weight after the hard and bumpy road, and everyone is growing up, so how can they withstand hunger? "
"Moreover, haven't you already punished them to copy books, write notes after reading memorials, shoot arrows and embroider handkerchiefs? That's almost enough. The concubine and the Queen Mother really knew they were wrong when they looked at the four brothers and sisters. They don't have time to do this.
If it’s too short, it’s not worth it if you don’t let them have something to eat at night. They’ll be hungry all night and not be able to sleep well, and they’ll have no energy tomorrow.”
Kangxi saw that the imperial concubine not only did not understand his thoughts at all, but also raised the empress dowager to speak. He was already upset by the matter of Western learning, and when he heard this, he felt even more blocked, and he handed the book to her with a "snap"
Throwing it on the table aside, he said loudly, "A woman has long hair and short knowledge, and I can't explain it to you." After saying this, she lay back on the bed with a "bang" and put the brocade in her hand.
He was pulled to his chest, closed his eyes and turned over to go to sleep.
Qingyan watched Kangxi's continuous movements in the bronze mirror. She didn't know how crazy this dog man was. Her hair was as long as his braids, but it couldn't be any shorter! Is she short-sighted? She will spend her whole life.
He has seen and heard more than even Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty!
The imperial concubine rolled her eyes, screwed the lid on the round white porcelain box containing the ointment on the table, put it back on the dressing table with a soft "click", then stood up and put a few extra candles on the candlestick.
I blew it out, yawned and crawled to the inside of the bed to close my eyes and rest.
Have a good night's sleep.
When the sound of morning bells and the crisp chirping of birds came from outside the window, the imperial concubine lying on the bed slowly woke up and turned around to find that there was no one beside her.
She lay on the bed for a while, hugging the brocade quilt, leaning on the head of the bed, yawning and sitting up.
Bai Lu, who was outside changing two improved diapers for the twins who woke up early, heard the noise inside, hugged Little Thirteen and Little Fourteen, pushed open the cotton curtain and walked in.
"Uh, cool, cool~"
When Xiao Yinxiang saw E Niang, he happily kicked his short legs twice in Aunt Bai Lu's arms, squealing.
Xiao Yinzhen was obviously not fully awake yet. He yawned one after another, and his furry little head covered with swarthy fetal hair drooped.
After Qingyan saw the two little brothers, she hurriedly leaned forward and moved to the bed, took the twins from Bai Lu's arms, and stuffed them into her warm bed again.
Little Fourteen kicked his chubby little feet comfortably in the quilt and lay next to E Niang. He smelled the faint fragrance of roses, closed his big eyes and fell asleep.
Little Thirteen was lying in E Niang's arms, making milky sounds and talking inarticulately, while Qingyan smiled and communicated with Little Yinxiang.
Bai Lu looked at the mother and son who were leaning together so early in the morning, and said with a smile:
"Master, the emperor has already gone to the Zen room to have breakfast with Master Xingchi. He said that if we want to go to the Mahavira Hall to listen to the morning lectures, after breakfast, we can go there and listen. If you don't want to go, you can come later.
Take a look around the mountain."
Qingyan nodded, turned her head and glanced out the window, and found that it was still dark. Listening to the sound of the cold wind whistling against the window, she couldn't help but softly asked Bai Lu standing by the bed:
"Lu, is it a bad day today?"
"Yes, there is a strong wind blowing outside, and I still feel that the air is very moist, as if it is about to snow."
Bai Lu bent down and tidied up the quilt Kangxi had slept on, and then pulled up the brocade quilt covering the imperial concubine, mother and son. She could not hide the worry in her tone.
After Qingyan listened to Bailu's weather forecast, she couldn't help but frown.
Their itinerary has been planned. If it really snows in the mountains, they will have better luck. The mountain roads are just muddy and difficult to walk. But if they are unfortunate enough to encounter a bad weather with heavy snow closing the mountains, then their group will have to go down.
Instead of going to the mountains, we are all stuck in Qingliang Temple.
What's more, there is little food in the mountains in winter. The vegetation in Wutai Mountain is dense, and there are wolves deep in the mountain forests. On snowy days, hungry eyes glow green, and the skinny wolves will run out to find food, even if
There are many secret guards around, but there are too many young children in their group. If they really encounter a pack of wolves, there will still be safety risks after all.
She thought seriously for a while, then sighed and said:
"Bai Lu, later you go call Xiaoqi, Xiaoba, Xiaojiu, and Xiaoten when they get up, and tell them not to run into the back mountains. They will just stay in this temple for a while."
Bai Lu nodded and walked out.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she walked out of the room, under the dim light of the lanterns under the eaves, she saw a few familiar figures standing in the corridor outside.
Bai Lu squinted her eyes for a long time before she recognized that these people were actually the palace maids Mang Zhong, Xiao Han and Nanny Liu who stayed in the inn with Prince Yu.
She couldn't help but be extremely surprised, and hurriedly walked towards them.
After seeing Bai Lu, Aunt Liu and others also walked quickly towards the door of the wing.
"Mama Liu, why did you guys go up the mountain so early?"
Bai Lu saw that the water vapor on several people's bodies was very heavy, and it was not yet dawn, so they were standing here. They probably started climbing the mountain last night.
Aunt Liu and others had been climbing the mountain for almost a whole night, and their bodies were very warm from the climb. After hearing Bai Lu's words, Mang Zhong hurriedly explained:
"Sister Bai Lu, we went up the mountain with Prince Yu. The prince is now going to the Zen room to look for the emperor. We don't know what happened. When we were getting ready to go to bed last night, the prince suddenly sent someone to call us over and let us know.
We are here to help you bring the young masters down the mountain."