In Changchun Palace, Princess Yongning has just returned to the palace.
Her expression was a bit unusual, her face seemed heavy and her brows were furrowed, but her steps felt a little brisk.
The two personal maids beside her were much more natural, and they both couldn't help but smile.
When they returned to the back hall and there was no one else around, one of the palace maids blinked her eyes and said: "Your Highness, if you want to talk about our queen, that would be very good for you. Not only was she unmoved by what happened outside the palace today, , but I also gave you the Palace Forbidden Phoenix Card of Kunning Palace. I thought about it, maybe this is the first time for us in the Ming Dynasty."
Princess Yongning did not answer immediately, but walked to her seat on the upper left side of the palace and sat down. Another palace maid with a round face said: "Yes, Your Highness, with this phoenix plaque, you just want to live in the princess mansion." Now, no one can stop me."
Who knew that it would be better not to mention the Princess Mansion? As soon as the Princess Mansion was mentioned, Princess Yongning's face darkened and her tone became stiff: "Don't mention that place."
The palace maid knew that she had said the wrong thing and quickly stopped talking. The previous palace maid immediately took over the conversation for her, and said with a chuckle: "What His Highness said is that there is nothing good about this place... If you want to ask who has the most beautiful residence in the divine capital, I think it must be High School Prime Minister’s White Jade Tower.”
At the mention of "High School Prime Minister", Princess Yongning's eyes suddenly became more lively, but her red lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to ask something, but in the end, she forced herself to hold back the words.
The palace lady pursed her lips and smiled, pretending to talk to herself and said: "I heard that the White Jade Building is the new main building after the expansion of Jian Xinzhai Villa, but this building is different from all the buildings we have seen. Eighteen thousand miles away, the style left by the ancient Qin Dynasty.
This White Jade Building is actually not just a building, it is a "connected building" with three or four floors high, extending from left to right and east to west. I heard that there are hundreds of large and small rooms. If the high school prime minister is willing, there will be I'm afraid it can't accommodate two to three thousand people. "
Princess Yongning finally couldn't help but interrupt this time and asked: "But he doesn't seem to live there very much. Why did he build such a big house?"
"Who knows? The prime minister from the left and right high school is the richest in the world. Maybe he can build it for fun." The palace maid said with a smile: "I heard that the White Jade Tower has some particularly peculiar structures that no one has ever seen before. Not amazed.”
"Really?" Princess Yongning asked, "How many places are there?"
"From the outside to the inside, firstly, the garden courtyard is different from usual, and secondly, the hall of the main building, which I heard is also called the 'dance hall', can accommodate hundreds of dancers..."
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Princess Yongning's smile became slightly stiff.
The palace maid didn't seem to feel anything, and continued: "Of course it is. All the noble ministers and relatives who have been there say so, but this place is not worthy of its name. I heard from the father-in-law of King Lu that although the high school prime minister is so big It’s a dance hall, but there are no maids in the house at all. The servants living in Baiyu Tower are almost all men, and only the main building has a dozen maids sent from Xinzheng’s hometown.”
Princess Yongning's face suddenly brightened, and she smiled slightly and said: "That's it. The late emperor and his brother both praised him as a gentleman. I think the craftsmen from the Qin Dynasty built this ballroom and other things on their own initiative."
The palace maid smiled and said mysteriously: "This slave doesn't know, but I heard... There is a long corridor leading from the ballroom to the north room where the high school prime minister lives. This corridor is beautifully decorated and splendid, but the most important thing is There is a group of statues on display that are said to be from Da Qin. These statues are incredible..."
Princess Yongning smiled: "What's so great about the statue?"
The palace maid looked around, then carefully lowered her voice and said, "Is this serious? I heard that those statues...are not even wearing clothes!"
"Ah!" Princess Yongning was shocked, her face almost horrified: "How is it possible? If the science and technology officials find out about this, they will not be allowed to participate in it, which is offensive to their morals?"
The palace maid shook her head and said: "This slave doesn't know... In fact, this slave only heard about it from hearsay. Anyway, there are so many rumors about the White Jade Tower. They are true and false. I can't tell which ones are true and which ones are false."
Princess Yongning breathed a sigh of relief: "That's okay. I'm afraid this rumor is spread through false rumors. How could he...how could he be like this?"
The palace maid said: "In short, although the White Jade Tower is not as majestic and vast as our Forbidden City, in terms of the uniqueness of its architecture, it can be said to be the best in the sacred capital. Your Highness, you now have the Forbidden Phoenix Tablet of Kunning Palace, and you have the same relationship with the High School Prime Minister. We are old acquaintances. If you have the chance, you must go to the White Jade Tower to see it. It would be better if the slaves could take advantage of His Highness and go and see it."
Princess Yongning smiled and shook her head: "You are so beautiful, why should I go to his villa?" As she said this, she thought of her status as a widow, and felt sad for a moment. She unconsciously stopped smiling and bowed her head silently.
The palace maid disagreed, shook her head and said: "Your Highness, I am not a slave to talk too much, but you are wrong to think so."
Princess Yongning was a little surprised, raised her head slightly, frowned and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
The maid said: "The Queen has just summoned you to Kunning Palace. Although I don't know what she said to you, but her intention in giving you this Kunning Palace Forbidden Phoenix Tablet, can't your Highness see it?"
Princess Yongning shook her head and said: "The queen can't stand some officials looking for trouble without having anything to do, and she also feels that I am bored in the Changchun Palace all day long. She looks pitiful, so she gave me the phoenix card and asked me to take advantage of the recent spring. It’s a good time, so I’ll find a chance to go out of the palace and relax, just to relax.”
The palace maid smiled and said: "Your Highness, do you really think this is the Queen's original intention? Or, is this really the Queen's intention?"
Princess Yongning shook her head: "I don't want to think about it."
This is somewhat interesting. It's not that I can't understand it, or that I'm too lazy to think about it, but that I don't want to think about it.
But the palace maid said: "Does Your Highness really want to let down the Queen or... the kindness?"
Princess Yongning was silent for a moment and sighed softly: "No, I just don't want to force others into trouble."
This answer may have been somewhat beyond the palace maid's expectations. She was silent for a moment, and then glanced at the round-faced palace maid next to her who had said the wrong thing before.
The round-faced palace maid hesitated for a moment and then said cautiously: "Your Highness, it's just a day out, isn't it?"
Princess Yongning still shook her head, and her tone became more determined: "If I go to the White Jade Tower, he is the master, so it is impossible not to accompany me, but I... am an ominous person, and I will cause trouble for him every time I see him. I, I don’t want to be annoying anymore.”
It was hard to say this. The two palace maids looked at each other, feeling helpless, and immediately fell silent.
There was silence in the hall, and you could hear a needle drop.
After an unknown amount of time, Princess Yongning stood up expressionlessly and said, "Let's go to the Buddhist hall." She turned around to leave.
The two palace ladies had no choice but to follow her. However, before he had taken three steps, a eunuch suddenly reported from outside: "Your Royal Highness, the eldest princess, the Chief of Ceremonies sent someone to ask for an audience. I wonder if Your Highness is free?"
Princess Yongning was a little surprised, because although the Chief of Ceremonies was the head of each prison, his authority was basically unrelated to that of a widowed princess, so it was relatively rare for the Chief of Ceremonies to directly send someone to see her.
She stopped and hesitated for a moment, then turned around and walked back to her seat, sat down and said, "Let the person in charge of the ceremony come in."
There was a response from outside, and not long after, a eunuch wearing a flying fish suit came in. When he saw Princess Yongning, he first bowed to Princess Yongning, then took out a letter, held it in his hands, and said in his mouth: "The ancestor of the palm seal ordered me to be a slave." Send a letter to His Highness, please check it."
Huang Mengyu?
Princess Yongning was startled for a moment, then she motioned to the maid next to her who had just spoken a lot to pick up the letter.
The palace maid stepped forward to take the letter, and subconsciously glanced down. Unexpectedly, the envelope of the letter had no words on it, and it turned out to be white. She couldn't help but be startled.
But she was not in a daze for long. She came to her senses after a moment's confusion and sent the letter to Princess Yongning.
Princess Yongning took the letter and was a little surprised when she saw that there was no word on the envelope, but she didn't think much about it and didn't open the letter immediately. Instead, she turned to the eunuch and asked, "Does Huang Palmprint have any other messages for you to convey?"
The eunuch bowed and said, "The ancestor of Palm Print said, 'It doesn't matter.'"
"It's okay?" Princess Yongning was a little confused, but still nodded: "I understand, you can go."
The eunuch returned the salute, bowed and retreated.
Princess Yongning opened the envelope and took out the letter. She found that the words inside were densely written in standard Taige style for a whole page, but she could only read less than one line, so she stuffed the letter back into the envelope, got up and walked towards Nuange. The two The personal maid followed.
Walking to the door of Nuan Pavilion, Princess Yongning said: "You guys wait here." Then she entered Nuan Pavilion.
The two palace maids looked at each other, a little confused, but still stood outside waiting for each other.
After a while, Princess Yongning came out of the Nuan Pavilion and asked, "I don't remember. Are you Dianzheng or Sizheng now?"
The palace maids of the Ming Dynasty were also called female officials, and their system was almost copied from the female official system of the Tang Dynasty. Dianzheng and Sizheng were both positions of female officials in the palace, and they also had corresponding grades.
Among them, Dianzheng and Sizheng are assistants below the palace chief. They are usually the confidants of a certain palace master who are in charge of precepts, corrections, bans, and punishments. The owner of a certain palace is the "lord of a palace". For example, Princess Yongning lives in Changchun Palace, and she is the owner of Changchun Palace. This is what it means.
Generally speaking, each palace has one person who is responsible for the fifth rank. There are two people, Sizheng, who are in the sixth grade. The two Dianzhengs are the seventh grade. There are also four female historians. The rest are ordinary palace maids.
The two palace maids were very surprised when they heard this question, because there were only five female officials with the word "zheng" in the palace. Except for Gong Zheng, who was usually sent by the queen, Sizheng and Dianzheng were the next ones. The four of them are generally close confidants of the "Palace Master", so there is no reason why His Highness can't remember clearly.
But the two palace maids still replied: "Your Highness, both servants are Canon. The two ministers are Sister Zhou and Sister Chen who have been receiving and instructing the newcomers in the front hall."
Princess Yongning nodded and said calmly: "The two of them have done a good job. The Queen said last time that she wanted to go to them, and I agreed. When they go to Kunning Palace, you can propose them."
The two maids hurriedly thanked them, but were afraid of appearing too snobbish, and also congratulated "Sister Zhou and Sister Chen on their promotions."
Princess Yongning ignored this question and just said to the palace maid who introduced Baiyu Tower before: "Wei Min, you seem to know something about Baiyu Tower. Please accompany me to go there tomorrow."
The palace maid named Wei Min was stunned for a moment, and then said happily: "Your Highness, have you figured it out?"
Princess Yongning smiled slightly, but shook her head, and said with neither sadness nor happiness: "It's not that I have thought it through, it's because the high school prime minister invited me, and I...have some things that are troublesome for him to do, so I can't refuse."
The palace maid Wei Min chuckled: "It's all the same, it's all the same, as long as His Highness is happy."
Princess Yongning glanced at her and chuckled, but said nothing.
Nothing happened that night.
Early the next morning, before dawn, the lights in Changchun Palace were already on.
Princess Yongning was wearing an ordinary coat and skirt without golden clouds and phoenix patterns. She looked carefully in front of the mirror and looked up and down before saying, "Okay, let's go."
Next to her are still the two palace maids from yesterday. Wei Min is dressed similarly to her, except that she has a hairstyle common to maids from wealthy families, while the palace maid with a round face still looks like a palace attire.
At this time, Wei Min was a little worried and said: "Your Highness, it is not close to leaving Changchun Palace. You don't have a phoenix chariot today..."
Princess Yongning said calmly: "If you can walk, I can also walk. Besides, it only needs to be out of the palace. The high school prime minister should have arrangements."
Wei Min thought about it and said, "Then please be careful, Your Highness. If you feel tired, just tell your slave. It's still early now, so I won't be busy at this moment."
Princess Yongning nodded, and the two quietly left the Changchun Palace and headed north towards the Xuanwu Gate. The harem is located to the north of the palace, so it is closer to the Xuanwu Gate to the north. Moreover, people in the Ming Dynasty believed that the Meridian Gate in the south had the most positive yang energy and was not suitable for women to enter and exit. Therefore, except for the empress who could go there once when the emperor married and canonized the queen, no woman in the world could go there.
The round-faced palace maid seemed a little worried and suggested: "Your Highness might as well walk slower, but don't sweat too much and wear makeup."
Princess Yongning burst into laughter and asked, "Have you ever made such a mistake?" But before she could answer, she added, "Okay, okay, I remember."
So the two girls went out and walked really slowly along the way. It wasn't that far, but it took nearly half an hour to get there.
When we arrived at Xuanwu Gate, naturally a palace guard came forward to inquire. Princess Yongning took out the palace-forbidden phoenix tablet from Kunning Palace and claimed that she had gone out to buy jewelry according to the queen's order.
Unexpectedly, the guard looked suspicious and asked, "You two female officials are not afraid of losing your silver or jewelry when you go shopping?"
Princess Yongning was stunned. She had never thought about this. In fact, even if she left the palace to buy other things, including rouge, gouache and other things, the palace maids were generally not allowed to leave the palace. Most of them were sent to the corresponding supervisors. The eunuch is in charge. Even if a palace maid leaves the palace, there will be eunuchs accompanying her. If the items purchased are of high value, there will even be soldiers accompanying them.
It is really inappropriate for two "female officials" like Princess Yongning who have changed into folk costumes to go shopping for jewelry.
Fortunately, an officer came down from the tower at this time and asked, "What's the fuss about?"
The guard explained his doubts. The officer looked at Princess Yongning and said to the guard: "This is Si Zhen in front of the Queen. Before you come to exchange, there is already a group of soldiers waiting for them outside. Let's go." Bar."
Sizhen also held the position of a female official, with a rank of six, possessing treasures, just like a princess.
Since Shangfeng said there was no problem, the guards naturally didn't ask any more questions. They immediately opened the side door and asked Princess Yongning to leave the palace.
After leaving the palace gate, Wei Min said in surprise: "Your Highness, is it possible that the military master's eyesight is wrong?"
Princess Yongning glanced back at the tower, shook her head and said, "I think he has really good eyesight."
Then, as soon as the two of them crossed the bridge, they saw an ordinary "Beijing-style" carriage parked in front. An ordinary-dressed driver stepped forward, nodded and bowed, and asked: "I wonder if there is an aunt with the surname Guo among the two of you? "
Princess Yongning said: "I am...I am."
The driver of the car hurriedly kowtowed and said, "My master's surname is Gao, and I have been ordered to pick you up."
Princess Yongning didn't say anything. Wei Min took a look at the mediocre carriage and said disappointedly: "Did your master arrange such a shabby carriage?"
The car handler quickly explained: "My aunt, please calm down. This place is still within the imperial city, and it is not convenient for my master to mobilize troops... Don't worry, after leaving Di'anmen, there will be a good car to transfer to."
Wei Min's face softened slightly, but Princess Yongning didn't mind this. She just said: "Okay, okay, what are the two 'little maids' in front of the high school prime minister? Let's go now, don't keep the high school prime minister waiting."
The driver asked them to get into the car, and he opened the door, lowered the curtain, and drove away in a polite manner.
Wei Min in the car whispered to Princess Yongning: "Your Highness, do you take the sachet with you?"
She didn’t know what kind of sachet she was talking about. Princess Yongning’s face turned red after hearing this, and she whispered: “Take it with you, I haven’t opened it yet.”
Wei Min said hurriedly: "Of course you can't open it now. Although the thing is good, it is not valid for more than a day. You have to wait until you meet Gao Cheng... It is best to open it when you are alone."
Princess Yongning nodded, hesitated for a while, and then couldn't help but ask: "Will it really have such an effect?"
Wei Min immediately patted his chest and said, "Isn't that right? I heard that Concubine Wang Gong relied on this thing to attract the emperor to favor her."
Princess Yongning was startled: "It's not that this thing will only make... make people feel..."
"Yes, of course it just makes people think that the woman in front of them is particularly beautiful." Wei Min explained: "But Concubine Wang Gong was only a member of the same family at the time, and the emperor thought she was beautiful, so naturally he was lucky enough to do so. But you and the high school Prime Minister Why...why doesn't he know how to behave? Don't worry, Your Highness, Prime Minister Gao Gao will only think you are extremely beautiful and won't dare to force you or anything."
Princess Yongning was a little relieved, but still a little hesitant. She touched her waist quietly and said hesitantly: "How about you take it back, I..."
"Oh, my princess, it is rare for you and Prime Minister Gao to meet each other. I heard yesterday that the war in Yunnan is going well... Prime Minister Gao may be returning to Liaodong at some time. You really don't want to. Do you want to leave a better impression on him?"
Princess Yongning hesitated for a moment and finally said nothing more.
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Thanks to the book friend "Single Rider Zhao Bixin" for the reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Ling Qi Zhao Bi Xin", "willwolf", "Wow 23333", "Glowing Tiger", and "athulla" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
