The night was already very late, and Niu Hulu and Cuizhi hadn't fallen asleep yet.
After the master and servant came back from Qianqing Palace, they walked directly into the inner room of the main hall. They stayed there for several hours and other palace people were not allowed to enter.
The dressing lady who was busy in the main hall saw the moon rising into the sky, and there was no order from the inner room for her to go in and help remove the young master's makeup. After much hesitation, she cautiously approached behind the beaded curtain and asked softly: "I don't know, young master." Does the Lord want to take the makeup off?”
Cuizhi, who was sitting on an indoor armchair, holding a small pair of scissors in her right hand and lowering her head to cut something, heard the inquiry from the dressing maid in the outer hall. She turned to look at the messy silk fabrics scattered on the high-leg round table to her left, and then I looked at my little master who was still wearing the makeup he wore during the day, sitting on the bed with his legs wrapped around his knees, as if he was in a daze.
He sighed slightly in his heart and shouted outside: "Master, I'm here to serve you. After you finish your errands, go back and rest."
"Yes, then it will be Sister Cuizhi's fault, little master."
After listening to what Cuizhi, the palace maid in charge, said, the dressing lady bowed respectfully and bowed through the bead curtain, then covered her mouth with her hand and yawned twice, then hurriedly walked out of the hall and went to the back room to rest.
Cuizhi got up and looked in the hall outside, and found that except for the palace guards who were keeping watch, there was no one else.
He waved away the two little maids who were standing watch outside, and after making sure that she and the young master were the only two people left in the main hall, he hurried to close the door of the main hall tightly.
Nowadays, the Yikun Palace is not only occupied by the master. If she didn't want other little masters to find something strange, Cuizhi would have sent these minions away long ago. Why wait until now?
But it was indeed getting late now. After Cuizhi closed the door, she bent down and picked up a copper three-legged incense burner placed on the cabinet in the main hall and quickly ran into the inner room.
First, he reached out and closed the two carved wooden windows in the east and west tightly, and then took out two pieces of thick silk cloth from the huanghuali wooden box behind the bed to cover the wooden windows tightly so that nothing could be seen. A ray of light.
Niu Hulu, who was sitting on the bed, raised his head slightly and saw Cuizhi who was busy working non-stop.
Cuizhi first opened the copper lid of the incense burner, then turned around and carried all the silk fabrics scattered on the high-legged round table to the side of the incense burner, and carefully lit them one by one with the candles on the lotus candlestick. When flames appear, throw them into the incense burner and let them burn on their own.
Cuizhi looked down at these silk fabrics embroidered with slender bamboo leaves, being engulfed bit by bit by the bright tongues of flames in the incense burner. The flickering firelight shone on her face, and she could clearly see her tightly knitted brows. .
She knew that her master was in a bad mood today, but there were some things that she couldn't tell.
She had always thought that her master was an extremely smart and sober person, and she had always been worried about her master's health and the fact that she had inadvertently lost the emperor's favor because she was busy with palace affairs.
But she never expected that her master would have such a secret thing. She used the tip of the scissors to fiddle with the remaining fabrics in the incense burner from time to time, trying to make everything burn as clean as possible.
After tonight, the matter of her young mistress, Xinyi Nalan, must be kept in the stomachs of their master and servant. If this matter was accidentally spread, she would not dare to think that the master would be beaten by the emperor. What kind of good ending can there be outside the cold palace? Maybe it will drag down the Niu Hulu clan and Mr. Nalan. That would be really miserable!
The only thing she was glad about now was that her master was not mentally ill. After returning from Qianqing Palace, he took the initiative to ask her to get rid of all these handkerchiefs and sweat towels embroidered with dark patterns of slender bamboo leaves.
These bamboo leaves are all embroidered with silk threads of the same color as the silk fabric. They are actually invisible at first glance, but this kind of thing that is related to the head must not be left to chance. If someone discovers it one day, The bamboo leaves look very similar to the dark patterns on Master Nalan's body. If you use this to make a fuss, there will definitely be an uproar!
Burning things is very taboo in the palace. If there were few dark lines on these bamboo leaves, Cuizhi could just use small scissors to remove the silk threads one by one. But there were too many bamboo leaves, so she could do it alone. There was no way anyone could dismantle it, so Cuizhi decided to take the risk.
The room was extremely quiet late at night. Except for the occasional extremely subtle "thunderbolt" sound coming from the incense burner and the sound of silk fabrics exploding, no other sounds could be heard.
I saw that these silk fabrics were about to be burned out.
Mrs. Niu Hulu slid off the bed, put on indoor flat shoes, unbuttoned the delicate collar of her collar as she walked, walked to the incense burner, took off her pink and white flag outfit and threw it into the incense burner. middle.
Cuizhi was shocked by her little master's sudden move: "Master, what are you doing? Don't you like this dress the best?"
She looked with pity on her face as the orange-red flames swallowed up the extremely realistic embroidered magnolia flowers one by one.
"I don't know why, but I suddenly got tired of this magnolia flower today." Niu Hulu looked at the flag uniform that had been burned for most of the time, and said with a self-deprecating smile: "I will inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs tomorrow. Ask those minions to send another batch of silk fabrics to our palace, and in the future, all objects sent to me will no longer have magnolia patterns on them."
Hearing her mistress say this in a slightly hoarse voice, Cuizhi realized belatedly that maybe this magnolia flower was somehow related to Master Nalan. If that was the case, then It’s good not to have to use it…
After everything was burned to ashes, Cuizhi did not dare to pour the ashes outside casually.
After walking around the room, under the guidance of Mrs. Niu Hulu, I pulled out the flowers from a large flowerpot by the table, poured all the ashes from the incense burner into it, and then put the flowers into the pot. After burying it in again, and finally picking up the teapot on the table and pouring the dirty water from rinsing the inner wall of the incense burner, the work was finally finished.
Cuizhi raised her arm to wipe the beads of sweat from her forehead, went outside to get a basin of water, and helped Niu Hulu to remove her makeup and cleanse her face. After lying on the bed, she did a simple cleaning. He himself, yawning dizzy, returned to the penthouse where he lived.
·
The next morning, Mr. Guo Luoluo, who lived in the side hall of Yikun Palace, was sitting in front of the bronze mirror wearing snow-white pajamas. He held a strand of black hair in his left hand and gently combed it through with a jade comb in his right hand.
A little palace maid in blue clothes hurried in and bent down to whisper a few words in her ear. Guo Luoluo paused with her hand holding the comb, and then threw the strand of black hair behind her back.
"If you don't care about our affairs, just pretend you don't know."
Guo Luoluo, who was as beautiful as a peach and plum, looked at her own appearance in the bronze mirror, and gently blinked her peach blossom eyes that seemed to contain love, and the beauty in the mirror also followed suit and made the same playful movements.
Hearing what her mistress said, the maid hurriedly shouted "yes" and then retreated.
After dressing up, Guo Luoluo changed into a cherry red flag suit embroidered with pomegranate patterns, making her look more relaxed and free.
She has a clear understanding of herself. Although she and the concubine Niu Hulu now live in Yikun Palace, and their status is the same on the surface, sometimes she even enjoys far more pampering than she lives in.
The one in the main palace, but based on her background, even if she has contributed to the birth of the prince, she will only be the head of the first palace.
Concubine Niu Hulu, the concubine in the main hall, has palace power in her hands, and is likely to move to Kunning Palace in the east in the future.
Since they were not competitors on the same level, she didn't bother to care about what happened to this one yesterday!
She actually hopes that this person can become the successor soon. Then she may not be able to compete for the vacant head position of Yikun Palace!
·
In the blink of an eye, almost half a month has passed, and there are only a few days left before the Longevity Festival.
Qingyan has been working as the supervisor of the Chuxiu Palace construction team for nearly ten days. As soon as this person gets busy, her time seems to be running at double speed.
Watching this "Dream Courtyard" taking shape every day, even if she still hasn't received the news from Amma outside the palace, it doesn't hinder Qingyan's good mood.
Such high work efficiency can be attributed to the fact that the craftsmen sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs are rare and honest people with superb skills and quick hands and feet.
Originally, the rest of the finishing work could be completed today, but the weather was unfavorable. It started to rain lightly when the sky was bright. Qingyan was not a shady contractor. In order to ensure the safety of the construction, she sent the palace early.
A young eunuch from there went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to inform the craftsmen that they should have a good rest today and not come to Chuxiu Palace for now.
The light rain gradually stopped until noon. Qingyan, who had had her dinner, stood under the eaves outside the main hall, smelling the fresh air after the rain and looking at the extremely clean large bluestone slabs washed away by the rain in the front yard.
There were scattered pieces of brown soil about one square meter in size. Even though the sky above her head was still gloomy and gray-white, it did not hinder Qingyan's passionate desire to do something in the imperial garden.
After almost waiting for a cup of tea, there was still no movement from Bai Lu. Qingyan had no choice but to turn her head and shout towards the main hall: "Bai Lu, are you okay? Hurry up and bring me the shovel!"
Bai Lu, who was leaning on the red painted pillar inside the hall, heard her master calling her for the third time and knew she could no longer pretend to be deaf.
In her right hand, she held a rectangular semi-circular-headed shovel that was about as high as her armpit and left behind by the craftsmen from yesterday's work. She moved towards the outside of the temple with very small steps like a turtle crawling.
"Lu, if you wait any longer, it will be almost dark today." Qingyan teased Bai Lu when she saw Bai Lu coming out after calling for a long time.
Bai Lu: ...I want to get dark as soon as possible, but I don’t want to do something out of place!
Qingyan stretched out her right hand and signaled Bai Lu to quickly hand over the delicate and smooth wooden pole in her hand, and the iron shovel head with a faint metallic sheen.
Bai Lu looked at her mistress's excited face and was about to rush out, and she didn't even want to hand her the shovel in her hand.
Qingyan couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, and now she understood completely. This girl who was so sentimental didn't want to do this at all.
She looked behind Bai Lu, with a frightened expression on her face. She pointed sharply behind Bai Lu and shouted: "Oh, my God, Bai Lu, look, look, what is that!"