The next afternoon, Mrs. Niu Hulu, who had just had dinner, was in an elegantly decorated small study room in the main hall of Yikun Palace, looking through the detailed records of all aspects of the Longevity Festival prepared by Mr. Hesheli in previous years.
Nowadays, the war between the three vassals in the south is going on hard, and many tribes in Mongolia are also ready to make a move. The country is unstable, and the national treasury and the emperor's internal reserves are not rich. Last year, the Wanshou Festival in the 14th year of Kangxi was not held.
The emperor originally did not plan to hold a Wanshou Festival this year, but the Empress Dowager said that things have not been going well for the previous dynasty and the harem in the past two years. The Wanshou Festival is a rare and good day in the year for everyone to celebrate, and the more difficult it is in this difficult time, no one will
In the event of chaos, the royal family must show its composure and calmness. The more panic there is, the more efforts must be made to stabilize it. The Wanshou Festival palace banquet is not held for the emperor, but to stabilize the hearts of the courtiers.
The Queen Mother, who is already over 60 years old, even suggested that even if she does not celebrate the Holy Birthday Festival, she should celebrate the Emperor's Longevity Festival properly this year.
After hearing what the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager had said, the Emperor had no choice but to compromise, but he also ordered that during the withdrawal of the Three Feudatories, everything at the Wanshou Festival palace banquet should be kept simple.
Such a simple sentence created a big problem for the person in charge.
It is not difficult to host a large-scale palace banquet in a lively and grand manner, but it is not easy to host it with intention and embody the royal spirit and perfection in every aspect when the budget is small.
For this reason, Mrs. Niu Hulu racked her brains for several days and overturned several plans, just hoping that the Wanshou Festival Palace Banquet in half a month would be successfully held, not to mention giving people a sense of novelty that shines upon their eyes.
But at least it must make people feel that it is not inferior to the previous arrangements. At the same time, this is also a good opportunity to prove to the emperor and the harem his ability to handle palace affairs. Therefore, the Niu Hulu family takes it very seriously.
Although the emperor originally ordered him to discuss and prepare this errand with the Empress Dowager Qiqige, the Empress Dowager's character of being lazy and afraid of work simply exceeded her imagination.
When she went to the Shoukang Palace to greet the Empress Dowager with a palace banquet arrangement filled with several pieces of rice paper, the Empress Dowager refused to read it when she saw the full text.
Carefully considering the fact that the Empress Dowager did not understand Manchu and Chinese, she deliberately transcribed it neatly in Mongolian. She did not expect that the Empress Dowager was still unwilling to read it, and because she saw that her attitude was too serious, she was moved by herself.
He is such a busy person.
On the spot, she also left all the things she was responsible for to herself, and the Queen Mother's original leading position also changed her mind to assisting.
In order not to make herself feel that she was at a disadvantage, the Empress Dowager also paid herself very considerately. Not only did her confidant Sister Wu Ren send her several pieces of fine jewelry, but she also sent someone to deliver her products from Shoukang Palace on time every afternoon.
The Mongolian delicacies carefully prepared in the small kitchen, this out-of-the-box approach made Niu Hulu feel dumbfounded.
But then again, it is indeed very easy to get along with the Queen Mother, who has such an easy-going personality, and what the Queen Mother does is also a happy and win-win situation for both of them.
The Empress Dowager grew up on a horse since she was a child. She has a lively personality and does not like to get in trouble. She likes to live a leisurely and relaxed life. Now that she has retired behind the scenes and become an assistant, it saves the Empress Dowager a lot of effort.
Her personality is more assertive. What she likes most is to be in control of the overall situation in a matter. Being able to take the lion's share of an errand means that she can be more flexible and use her skills to the fullest.
In order to allow her to separate her errands from rest, two days ago, Cuizhi specially brought a few clever little maids to prepare a quiet study room for her to use in the main hall.
Mr. Niu Hulu sat on a chair with soft cushions, smelling the faint and elegant incense coming from the incense burner not far away. He held the wool brush in his hand tightly and wrote down his thoughts on the rice paper one by one.
Various arrangements for the Wanshou Festival palace banquet.
She likes this kind of peaceful and peaceful atmosphere very much. No one disturbs her, and she can do what she likes wholeheartedly.
The most important thing is that there are busy things to squeeze out your time and life during the day. After a whole day, when night falls, you are so tired that you touch the pillow and fall asleep. It is true that you don't think much about those things that you don't have.
The content of the program for the palace banquet was almost arranged. Niu Hulu raised his head slightly and drew a few characters "rice" in the air to soothe his cervical spine. Then he raised his right arm and picked up a thick pile of ledgers.
I took the meal list that had just been delivered from the imperial study room this morning and carefully compared it with the dishes that had been arranged at the palace banquet.
At this moment, Cuizhi, who was wearing a blue palace maid's uniform, lifted up the exquisite bead curtain made of pink and milky white pearls with her left hand, walked into the study in a hurry, and faced Niu Hulu who was sitting behind the long table.
He leaned over and saluted: "Master, Manager Liang from Qianqing Palace has come to announce that you have come to Qianqing Palace to accompany you. Now you are still standing in the main hall of our palace!"
Cuizhi said as she stood up and stepped forward to help Niu Hulu from the chair. She wanted to help her change into a more beautiful flag dress and let the skillful dressing maid give her mistress a good touch of makeup.
Her tone was full of obvious excitement, because the emperor had not turned over the little master's green card for nearly ten days. She was originally worried that the little master had seized the power but inadvertently lost the emperor's favor.
, I was secretly worried about my little master. I didn’t expect that it was still early in the morning, and the emperor would summon my little master to accompany him to Qianqing Palace!
Compared to Cuizhi's excitement, Niu Hulu just had a faint smile on her face.
"A woman should look after the one who pleases her."
The emperor is not the one she cares about, and she does not value the emperor's favor as much as the power in her hands.
Mrs. Niu Hulu lowered her head and glanced at the pink and white flag dress she was wearing today, which was embroidered with magnolia flowers in silver thread. She looked at the bronze mirror and saw that her little hair was still neat and neat. She waved her hand to reject Cuizhi's idea.
He wanted to ask the grooming maid to clean up for him again: "Mr. Liang is busy with affairs, and it is not good to make parents wait. Let's go to the Qing Palace first."
"Yes, I obey my master." Cuizhi heard what Niu Hulu said and quickly nodded in agreement.
She is still a small steward next to her master and she feels extremely busy all day long. Not to mention that as Eunuch Liang is the chief eunuch of Qianqing Palace, her time is definitely more precious. She stepped forward to help Niu Hulu cross the threshold. , and went to see Liang Jiugong in the hall.
Liang Jiugong, who was standing in the hall with two young eunuchs, saw Mr. Niu Hulu appear. He quickly took a few steps forward, bowed his hands and saluted, saying: "I would like to pay my respects to Mr. Niu Hulu. Your Majesty wants to go to Qianqing Palace." Let’s have a chat with the young master here. If the young master has packed up, why not follow the servant to the Qianqing Palace.”
Liang Jiugong's waist was bent very low. Seeing his behavior, Niu Hulu was stunned. It was not like she had never been summoned by the emperor to sleep with her. How could Liang Jiugong talk to her so much on ordinary days? I'm afraid the emperor was indeed the one today. He had something to talk to her about, not just sleeping with her as he and Cuizhi had originally imagined.
"Mr. Liang, you're welcome. Let's go now." Niu Hulu turned around and dismissed the other maids and eunuchs following behind her. She took only Cuizhi with her and prepared to move forward.
"My lord, please go first." Liang Jiugong turned sideways, and after Niu Hulu passed by him, he took a step forward and followed Niu Hulu diagonally behind him, nearly three meters away.
This young master Niu Hulu is indeed a smart man. Today the emperor turned over the green-headed card of Concubine Guo Luoluo who lives in the side hall of Yikun Palace. He estimated in his mind that after the emperor and Concubine Niu Hulu finish talking, Guo Luoluo will be the one who lives there. Concubine Luoluo would come to Qianqing Palace to sleep in the Fengluan Chunen Car.
These two people both live in Yikun Palace. It would be fine if they were ordinary concubines, and the young master Niu Hulu will be the successor in the future. If the two young masters meet and fall in love with each other, they will be the successors. If they were dissatisfied with each other, one was powerful and the other was favored, then Liang Jiugong, who was caught in the middle when he went to pick up someone, would be in trouble. In order to prevent such an embarrassing scene from happening, he secretly mentioned it to the young master Niu Hulu. Sorry, I didn’t expect people to be so smart!
Remembering that in the main hall of Chengqian Palace a few days ago, because she had listened to the emperor's words in advance and could not tell Concubine Tong why she wanted to take away Aunt Sui, the delicate and beautiful Concubine Tong was so angry that she trembled all over and wiped her tears while pointing at her big head. He scolded the slave as a dog, and at the same time said that the emperor was ruthless in front of him. The chaotic scene really made his head full of black threads. No wonder when Concubine Tong wanted to carry the prince to play in her inner room, his apprentice He Zhuer couldn't stop him. Here, I can barely withstand Concubine Tong’s nonsense!
Looking at the elegant and dignified Concubine Niu Hulu in front of her, Liang Jiugong couldn't help but sigh in his heart again. As dignified and clever as Concubine Niu Hulu is, she can surpass Concubine Tong by several blocks. As long as the emperor and the concubine If the Empress Dowager is not blind, there is no way that the position of successor will fall to Concubine Tong!
Mrs. Niu Hulu walked steadily on the palace road on her high flowerpot-soled shoes, looking straight ahead, and in her mind she kept thinking about what the emperor wanted to do when he suddenly came to her at this time.
Since Ama's death, the family members have become more restrained in doing things in the court. Nothing happened to the Niu Hulu family, and the concubines must not get involved in court affairs, so only the Wanshou Festival Palace is left. After the banquet, I'm afraid this is what the emperor asked about.
Niu Hulu, who carefully thought about it in her heart, couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she had been working on this matter seriously these days, and when she got to the Qianqing Palace, she had something in her stomach that she could talk to the emperor in detail. One word.
With the knowledge in mind, Niu Hulu gradually calmed down.
Since the beginning of spring this year, the weather has been very dry, with very little rain. At this time, the bright sun hanging above the head is emitting heat. Niu Hulu felt a little hot while walking, so he couldn't help but speed up his pace, hoping to Hurry and rush to Qianqing Palace.
The group of people walked hurriedly along the palace road, while Niu Hulu was walking quickly in front. Just as she turned around and was about to enter the Yuehua Gate on the west side of the Qianqing Palace, the two gatekeepers bowed down and saluted her in unison. , Mrs. Niu Hulu just shouted: "Get up", but she didn't expect that her feet slipped in the next second, and she stumbled forward, just in time to bump into the man who was about to go out.
Smelling the faint fragrance of bamboo leaves on the visitor's body, and seeing the duck egg blue robe embroidered with familiar dark patterns of slender bamboo leaves, Mrs. Niu Hulu couldn't help but stiffen, filled with all kinds of things from the Wanshou Festival Palace Banquet My mind was suddenly empty of details.