The moonlight is like water, and silver waves fall to the ground.
In the courtyard of Ciqing Palace, where the fragrance of early osmanthus floats, Zhu Youzheng, his brother Zhu Youjian, and his sister Zhu Huiyan sat around the table, eating crabs brought as tribute from the south via canal clippers.
At the beginning of the lunar month, the crab roe is not thick enough, and the meat in the crab body and legs is not full enough, but Zhu Youxiao prefers soft crab shells.
These slightly elastic shells can be pinched and cut with "eight pieces of crab" and are less likely to break into powder and will not stick to the crab meat.
Zhu Youxiao didn't want the help of the little eunuch and the maid. He moved his fingers dexterously, and in a moment, white and brown crab meat and light golden crab roe were accumulated in the two green-glazed sunflower petals.
Zhu Youxiao poured a few drops of Zhejiang vinegar into it, pushed it in front of Youjian and Huiyan, and smiled at his younger siblings, who were like two kittens, tasting the seasonal delicacies.
The three of them all lost their biological mothers when they were very young, and they grew up together. Zhu Youxiao had a deep affection for his younger siblings.
New crabs arrived today, but Empress Xili did not have dinner at Ciqing Palace, but went to Qianqing Palace.
Before the banquet started, Mr. Hakka quietly told Zhu Youxiao that after Concubine Zheng sent a beautiful palace lady to Lord Long Live, Xi Li couldn't say anything on the face of it, but in fact, she had been angry for half a month and had not been summoned to bed by Lord Long Live. Now, I should be arguing with Long Live Lord in Qianqing Palace now, maybe I will have to stay in Qianqing Palace tonight.
Zhu Youxiao has become accustomed to the fact that Xi Li is not afraid of the name of arrogance and takes advantage of his father to vent his anger.
He sighed softly and said, "Long live the Lord, it would be great if I made Lady Li a queen," but he felt really happy in his heart.
The mean and brutal Xi Li is not here, and Youjian's adoptive mother, the cold-tempered Empress Dong Li, is also resting in her palace due to physical discomfort.
In the courtyard with the bright moon and pleasant evening breeze, Zhu Youxiao felt that for the first time he had become the lord of the first palace. He could relax and have a delicious meal with his brothers and sisters. It was really comfortable and refreshing.
When you are in a good mood, you become more skillful with your hands. In a moment, Zhu Youxiao put the peeled crab shells together into a complete crab on a porcelain plate and showed it to his younger sister Zhu Huiyan to make her happy.
"Brother's hands are so skillful," Zhu Huiyan pursed her lips and praised, then asked with a smile, "Brother, in the Crystal Palace in Huiyan's courtyard, there are stone carvings of fish, shrimps, crabs and shells, but there is no water curtain. Brother is the best at ingenuity, how about making a dragon palace water curtain for Huiyan?"
Zhu Youxiao washed his hands in warm water with chrysanthemums soaked in it. While drinking the soup, he softly discussed with his sister: "How about water curtain curtains for half a month? My brother wants to go with Youjian as he enters the Wenhua Palace." Lecturer Fu, be the boatman for water battles."
Zhu Huiyan killed her own mother when she was a child, and she was just a princess. Her father never interfered with her upbringing. She had learned to look at the faces of her mothers and eunuchs since she was sensible, and her temperament had been polished to the point where she no longer had the habit of acting coquettishly.
She nodded simply: "Okay, master's lessons are more important."
Then he looked at Zhu Youjian with admiration: "You are only one year older than me, so you can go to Wenhua Hall. Does your master teach you how to make interesting things in addition to the books written by the master? ah?"
Zhu Youjian ate the last crab leg and said seriously: "There are several instructors, and the interesting one is Master Zheng. Well, she is a woman. In fact, when Master Zheng is on duty, Huiyan can really Let’s go together.”
Zhu Huiyan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Before she could ask further questions, Ke Yinyue, who was standing behind Zhu Youxiao and waving a fan to drive away autumn insects, spoke in a soft voice: "Even if Master Zheng starts giving a lecture, His Highness Ningde cannot go."
Unlike her two brothers who have not yet been crowned kings, Zhu Huiyan was named "Princess Ningde" not long after she was born because she could not be the heir to the throne, so Ke Yinyue called her by the title.
Zhu Huiyan raised her round almond-shaped eyes and stared at Ke Yinyue: "Why?"
Keshi smiled and said, "Although Master Zheng is a woman, she brought a jade-faced young man with her. How can Your Highness meet a man outside the palace?"
"Oh..." Zhu Huiyan responded lightly.
Zhu Youjian's anger surged. The wet nurse of the emperor's brother is getting more and more outrageous. how? Today, Xili is not here. She actually thinks that she, a slave, can be the talker of Ciqing Palace?
It was disrespectful to interrupt casually, and the implication of what he said was to slap him in Zhu Youjian's face.
But Zhu Youjian didn't fight back as bluntly as he did during the day.
In the young man's mind, Master Zheng's trick of hiding the needle in Yinyue's cotton emerged in his mind.
Confronting this fly-like slave and losing her temper made her even more proud, feeling that she could make the fifth prince angry.
Letting her go is the key.
Zhu Youjian then picked up the handkerchief and wiped the crab roe from his mouth, looked at the guest Yinyue and said: "Mommy, Eunuch Wei went to the small kitchen to burn some incense, right? The lotus root cake and chestnut antler dumplings are not ready yet?" Mom, go and have a look."
The fan in Ke Yinyue's hand froze.
Zhu Youxiao was not stupid, and he knew that his nurse had contradicted Zhu Youjian. He was afraid that his younger brother would reprimand the Hakka family, but when he saw that not to mention the wind and rain, not even the dark clouds appeared, he felt relieved and turned to tell Ke Yinyue: "Yes, mama, go take a look. If the people below are not careful, please ask Eunuch Wei to be more lenient and don't punish them."
The corners of Ke Yinyue's lips, which had been flattened, finally turned up again. She responded, bowed respectfully to the three princes and princesses, and then walked towards the back of the main hall.
…
Beside the small kitchen of Ciqing Hall, at the end of the narrow and deep corridor where charcoal blocks and scattered firewood were piled, in a dark corner where the moonlight could not reach, the gasping sounds of the man and woman, which they tried to suppress, finally stopped completely.
Wei Zhongxian put on his trousers, tied up his belt, straightened his robe, and caressed the guest Yinyue's cheeks as smooth as tofu with satisfaction, and whispered: "How about it? I'll feed you a meal and let your anger subside." ?”
Ke Yinyue raised her eyes and looked at the figures reflected on the window paper in the kitchen. The three little palace maids were all there, so she rubbed her hair on the back of her head with relief, but she still had a bit of anger when she said, "You don't even have a crown." The erect little cock has been staring at me and pecking it since this year. How often have I ever been so angry?"
Wei Zhongxian comforted her: "Okay, my dear, if that little cock hadn't driven you here tonight, how could you and I be so happy like this?"
Ke Yinyue leaned over, sucked the man's Adam's apple, and muttered: "Well, speaking of it, my brother's appointment as the crown prince is a sure thing. It's a happy event for you to be transferred back from the inner treasury to be the father-in-law in charge. But for the two of us, It’s not convenient to do this.”
Wei Zhongxian said: "Don't worry. When I become the prince, we will tell him that since the Wei Dynasty became enemies with you, he will always torture you in places where outsiders can't see. I will definitely feel sorry for you." , let’s push him and beat Wang An, so that we can be together, and then we can legitimately sleep on the same kang.”
After hearing this, Ke Yinyue let out a cry and said bitterly: "How courageous do you think my brother is? How timid do you think that old guy Wang An is? Don't even think about taking Wang An's route. Wang An is the most displeased with me. When I went to the Wenhua Palace yesterday, the old man treated me like a maid in the palace and taught me a lesson."
"Then, who told you that you are neither a father-in-law nor a female official? It is not natural for him to show off to Qiao in front of you?"
Ke Yinyue rolled her eyes, remembered another section, and complained: "By the way, there is also the Zheng family who is giving lectures to my brother. I heard that she was also a servant of a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River, and she dared to make my mother miserable. That despicable way of slapping me with a knife out of spite, I am really, really..."
"Okay, okay," Wei Zhongxian tugged on Hakka's sleeves, indicating that the two of them should leave here, while continuing to comfort her, "No matter how illiterate I am, Old Wei, I still listen to those eunuchs who are used to adjusting book bags. However, a little impatience will ruin a big plan. Just treat all the rags around your brother as dogs and cats. Don't offend them and be driven out of the palace. After enduring this for a while, who knows? Next year, shall we move to Qianqing Palace?"
Ke Yinyue's eyes lit up: "What's wrong? Lord Long live your health is not good?"
Wei Zhongxian smiled obscenely: "Lao Cui on Concubine Zheng's side has the Royal Pharmacy make up pills for fun every day and send them to Qianqing Palace. Even the breeding boars can't bear it, right?"
Ke Yinyue punched him sweetly and angrily: "You have become successful, and you finally dare to think about this. Then I will tell you, my dear brother, please hurry up and put on the dragon robe, then we will really have a good life." "
"No, let's go to the kitchen and eat some dumplings first."
…
Before the hour was over, Zheng Haizhu took Hua Er and gifts to Baoxu Temple near the Imperial College to look for Taoist Master Jingzhao.
That day, after completing the lecture in Wenhua Hall for the first time, Zheng Haizhu and Lu Xiangsheng had just left Donghua Gate when a young eunuch hurriedly caught up with them, saying that Mr. Wang An wanted to talk to Master Zheng.
The next day, after meeting Wang An at his house outside the palace as promised, the prince told him openly that he and Yang Lian both felt that the turmoil in front of the three palaces was not like what Eunuch Xue had said about deceiving Long Live the Lord. , but Yao Zongwen, a minion of the Zhejiang Party, ordered his subordinates to set up a trap, which not only avenged Chongming's loss of troops, but also made Donglin infamous for introducing a woman who was like a famous woman to be the prince's official official.
However, while Wang An agreed that Zheng Haizhu was calm, he also mentioned that Concubine Zheng had a good relationship with the Zhejiang Party, but Taoist Priest Jingzhao, who often ran to her palace, came to her rescue that day.
Zheng Haizhu analyzed that it was possible that Jingzhao was really just an outsider. Although he was in contact with the imperial concubine, he did not know that Huke was controlled by the Zhejiang Party, so he meddleed in things that he should not have done.
It is also possible that after the new king ascended the throne, Dong Lin gained power, and Fang Congzhe left the cabinet overnight, Concubine Zheng simply made it clear to her cronies that Yikun Palace should show its alienation from Fang Dang, so as to gain favor with Zhu Changluo and Dong Lin. , Concubine Zheng’s title as empress dowager may be turning around.
Wang An thought it was reasonable, so he asked Zheng Haizhu to take advantage of the warm words of thanks to come to Baoxuguan as soon as possible and take Jingzhao's pulse.
After the explanation, Wang An couldn't help but sigh, Yang Lian's words were really good at the beginning. It worked if he had someone of his own who could smoothly communicate with people inside and outside the palace, and she was also a woman.
(End of chapter)
