Chapter 33 The Thirty-Third Chapter of Shangyuan Wonderful Flowers

Generally speaking, the concept of beauty is indeed stronger and more common for women, so women cherish and appreciate flowers especially; especially our queen mother, apart from power and wealth, flowers may be Yi's most precious hobby.Although not enough to be qualified as a "nymphomaniac", but the obsession is already very deep!In our upper garden, there are so many kinds of exotic flowers and plants collected in autumn, and all the flower seeds that can be obtained or bought have to be found before resting; fortunately, there are some in the palace. The eunuchs are dedicated to performing the duties of gardeners, and they have extensive gardening knowledge. No matter what kind of flowers and trees can be properly cultivated by the Queen Mother, none of them will grow unsuitably.What's more, the Empress Dowager will take three days and two days to go to various places to inspect, let alone allow them to be lazy or negligent!

Whenever she felt like it, the Queen Mother would take a small pair of golden scissors and lead us into the flower garden to learn how to be a gardener; of course, she would never try the work of dredging mud and carrying water. , I just help each other to catch insects and water them.Occasionally, I saw that there were too many buds growing on a flower stalk. For fear that the flowers would be too small, I picked those buds that hadn't matured and cut off some of them. .Besides, Yi only had to use the gold scissors to pick out the flowers she wanted and cut them back. I still remember that one day late at night, when the time clock was about three o'clock, it suddenly started to rain outside, and the thick raindrops danced on the roof ridges of various palaces in bursts, ringing , finally woke up the Queen Mother in her sleep.

"Ah! It's not good! How did our newly grown chrysanthemums get such a heavy rain?" Yi shouted urgently on the pillow: "This rain must destroy them all together! Who is on duty here at night? Hurry up and inform the eunuchs, " This night, it happened to be my turn to be on duty in the Empress Dowager's bedroom. As usual, we dare not sleep soundly during night duty, so as soon as the Empress Dowager spoke, I stood up on the ground.After Shi Yi had finished speaking, I rushed out before it was too late.The eunuchs on duty at night didn't dare to go inside, they all stood or squatted on the porch outside, and some of them just leaned against the wall and took a nap like us.I then said to a eunuch who was awake:

"Lafayette has a decree: I want you to rush to the garden immediately, and immediately wake up those who are in charge of planting flowers, and brave the rain to cover the newly grown chrysanthemum seedlings with reed mats, and don't let the heavy rain beat them. Bad!" That listened to my words too much, how dare you hesitate, so you ran out in the rain. After about ten minutes, he hurried back again. "They have already covered those chrysanthemum seedlings with reed mats!" This is a very satisfactory report he brought back. It turned out that those eunuchs who were working as gardeners also knew that the Queen Mother cherished Yi's flowers and trees very much, and based on their experience, they knew that the newly grown chrysanthemum seedlings would never withstand the heavy rain. So without waiting for notice, they have already automatically covered them with reed mats.Judging from this incident, among the palace supervisors, those who are capable are indeed very capable, and those who are capable should not be despised!

The night passed peacefully, and the Empress Dowager turned around without any worries, and found Huang Liang again. When Yi woke up from a good dream the next day, she saw that the window screens were already full of sunlight; Yi knew that last night The heavy rain has stopped, and I feel very happy in my heart. After washing up, I decided to go to the garden to see those lovely flowers in the garden, and see how they look after the heavy rain. scene.Our group of people naturally had to line up in an irregular team and walk with the driver.Everyone wore very bright clothes, piled up their faces with joyful faces, and followed Elder Yi step by step.When it comes to walking, the Queen Mother is a very strange person. Although she seldom walks and is very slow; but when she is happy, she walks surprisingly fast, and she has a length longer than ours. There is no shortage of strength.

"Don't be surprised if you tell me!" When we were walking all the way, the Queen Mother said to us: "Guess how many pots of chrysanthemums we plant in the Summer Palace alone? Let me tell you: there are three or four thousand pots together. The number is not small!" These few words were the harbinger of the Empress Dowager's talk about all the chrysanthemums with us; after that, Yiguo gave me many valuable explanations.No matter what, as long as it is worthy of being called beautiful, the Empress Dowager admires it very much; but seeing how particular about Yi's own make-up and clothes, it is not difficult to prove Yi's temperament!Chrysanthemum is indeed a very beautiful flower, and it has many names, at least eighty or ninety. Part of it is missing!

Looking carefully, gardening is not an easy task, especially those eunuchs who work as gardeners in the upper garden. Strength, how much painstaking effort, and they also have some knowledge in their stomachs, often inscribe many extremely imperial names on ordinary flowers and trees, in order to win the Queen Mother's favor.For chrysanthemums, they can name more, of course some of them are old names, but generally they are very appropriate and interesting, but it is really thanks to them!However, their value is not limited to this end!It turns out that although ordinary chrysanthemums all bloom in autumn, because there are too many types of chrysanthemums, their properties are quite different. The early ones will bloom in August and September, and those late blooming Lian Beilei They didn't even mature, until the end of September and the beginning of October, the late ones bloomed, but the early ones have already been transferred!There is a difference of forty or fifty days between the earliest one and the latest one, and the difference between the earlier and later ones is also half a month or twenty days apart. This is the case everywhere.Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager's gardeners had the ability to take advantage of nature. They used a heating room with very imperfect equipment, and only relied on experience to adjust the temperature inside. At the same time, beautiful flowers bloomed.

The most beautiful among chrysanthemums, in my opinion, should be the Danfeng Chaoyang.The flower itself is very light yellow, but it is covered with a layer of purple; the purple layer around the center of the flower is still very light, similar to ordinary red, and it gets darker as it goes outwards, reaching the end of the petals. At that time, it becomes pure purple.Their petals are neither very wide nor dense, but very sparse and well arranged, so although the colors are very bright, they are by no means alluring, and they can be called the top grade of chrysanthemums.It is said that there were no such flowers in the palace before, but later a minister in the south of the Yangtze River did not know how to touch the temperament of the Empress Dowager, knowing that she loves flowers and trees, he managed to find dozens of very unique and famous flowers, one of which is the so-called The chrysanthemum of "Danfeng Chaoyang" is the most favored by the queen mother, so she rewarded an alternate way to the minister's son.

In addition to Danfeng Chaoyang, other more expensive chrysanthemums include Bailongxu, Zijinling, Xueqiu, dozens of kinds of chrysanthemums, and it is too late to list them; All omitted! The Empress Dowager's hobby of flowers is very scientific. Yijue not only takes ornamental flowers as her hobby; she wants to make full use of all kinds of flowers.For example, it is very meaningful to pick all kinds of flowers and use them as specimens for embroiderers, and to make cosmetics from the sap of roses and impatiens.So how did the Queen Mother use the chrysanthemum?This Yi is used as food, and the eating method is as follows:

First, I picked a white chrysanthemum called Xueqiu, probably because the petals of Xueqiu are short, dense, and very clean, so they are especially suitable for cooking; food.After picking, pick off the petals together, pick out those petals that are browned or stained with dirt and throw them away together, and then soak the remaining petals in warm water for ten or twenty minutes, then take them out, and put them in the place where they are. Rinse them in warm water dissolved with dilute alum, and finally pick them up, put them in a bamboo basket and drain them, so that they are considered tidy.The second step is of course the beginning of cooking.Whenever the Queen Mother wanted to try this special food, she was always very excited, just like a countryman who is about to go to a banquet.When eating, a small silver hot pot was brought out to Yi from the imperial dining room; because it was always autumn when there were chrysanthemums, hot pots were about to become a necessity at the banquet, although it seemed that it was still early, But it is not surprising enough, what pays more attention is the relationship between chrysanthemum and hot pot.It turned out that the hot pot was already filled with more than half of the original chicken soup or broth, and the lid on the top was made very tightly, so it was extremely difficult to lose the temperature, even the delicious smell would not escape.At that time, Zhang Dean, the chief eunuch in charge of meals, had already prepared a small dining table slightly larger than the tea table in front of the Empress Dowager's seat. There was a round hole in the center of the table, which just happened to be able to put the hot pot in the middle safely. ; it turned out that this table was specially designed for this meaning.Along with the hot pot, a few shallow dishes were brought out of the imperial dining room, containing thinly sliced ​​sashimi or chicken slices with the skin and bones removed; , Sometimes only fish fillets are prepared, with a little sauce and vinegar.

Naturally, the washed chrysanthemums were also piled up on the small table.So Zhang De reached out to lift the lid of the hot pot, but did not put it down, just held it in his hand and waited. The Empress Dowager personally picked up a few slices of fish or meat and put them into the soup. Zhang De hurriedly put the lid on the pot again. cover.At this time, those who ate—the Queen Mother herself—and those who watched—our group—waited solemnly and quietly, and dozens of eyes shot at the hot pot together.After waiting for about five or six minutes, Zhang Decai went to lift the lid again, and asked the queen mother herself or one of us to grab the amount of chrysanthemum petals and throw them in. Then, the pot was still covered and waited for another five minutes. , this special food is cooked.All the time when the lids were removed and the chrysanthemums were casted, the Queen Mother had to give instructions; in fact, we and Zhang De were already proficient, so Yizhen didn't need to worry too much! The taste of fish slices boiled in chicken soup is already fresh enough, and with the fragrance of chrysanthemums, it is very delicious; and the chrysanthemums themselves are not very tasty, so they are delicious. Once rendered with chicken soup and fish fillets, it is also very delicious.When the queen mother is happy to eat, she often eats a lot without a mouthful.We stood next to Yi and smelled the fragrance, but felt very uncomfortable.Occasionally, the Empress Dowager was merciful and asked us to share the leftovers from Iraq, and we couldn't help being overjoyed. No one would say any more humility, wishing to swallow it alone. The Empress Dowager not only likes to use chrysanthemum as a delicious food, but also likes to use it to replace soap to wash her hands; the so-called no hand washing here does not mean washing hands when there is any dirt on them, but washing them at any time for fun.Every time Elder Yi picks an unopened belei from the chrysanthemums that are placed in vases or pots, he breaks them up and puts them in his palms, rubbing them vigorously until the flowers and leaves turn into slag. I just discarded it, but instead of washing my hands, I just opened my palms and let them dry themselves; after a long while, I washed it off with warm water, but the scent of chrysanthemums remained on my palms, and my skin seemed to be stained. Her Majesty would often raise her hand, look at it with great interest, and smell it with her nose, never tired of it for a long time.Not only does she like this herself, but she also wants to teach us to learn from her; however, we can't feel any interest like Yi, and only pick some after going to the toilet or when we get something smelly on our hands. Wipe the green leaves of chrysanthemums to counteract the bad smell, and no one is happy to spoil those flowers in their spare time. Among chrysanthemums, it is said that there is a rare species called "green peony", which is green in color; not light green, but dark green.Among the flowers, the green ones are the least, and chrysanthemums are not alone in this, and among the chrysanthemums, the green ones seem to be very unique.Although I have heard of such a kind of chrysanthemum as "green peony" for a long time, I have never seen it.Naturally, the Queen Mother had known about this species for a long time, so several years ago, she sent people out to search for it. Of course, there is no reason why the orders issued by Jing Yi, an upright female politician, have no effect at all. ?Before long, many people offered dozens of pots of chrysanthemums marked "Green Peony". Can you be satisfied?So they continued to search, and later someone sent Liao Liao's four pots. At first glance, the color of the flower was as green as green jade, but after being displayed for a few days, the color suddenly faded again; It is known that people dyed white chrysanthemums with green color to fake it.This naturally made Yi very angry, and the person who entered the flower almost fell into the iron window because of this.But thanks to his pretense, the queen mother came up with an idea; when the new chrysanthemums began to be planted in the second year, Yi ordered the gardener to set aside another open space as a test field for cultivating green chrysanthemums.First use a lot of high-quality green color pigments to make a very thick slurry, mix all the soil on the small open space with this slurry, and then pick a few white chrysanthemum seedlings that are well-planted and plant them in it. Then water it with water mixed with green.According to the Empress Dowager, after all these hard work, the flowers on these branches must undoubtedly be green; but I don’t know that the green pigment is still absorbed by the leaves, and there is still only a very faint layer on the petals. In the green air, it is a miracle to find a few darker green fine spots by chance.After all these failures, the Empress Dowager was discouraged, and from then on she tried her best to slander green chrysanthemums for their lack of value, and the famous species of "green peony" never entered the Shangyuan; I myself never saw it elsewhere. However, it may be that my eyesight is too bad! When the Empress Dowager and I were chatting, there was often a kind of expression, thinking that although the beauty of color is the main condition for choosing various flowers, we should not neglect its other functions too much.The beauty of color can only make people feel refreshed visually, and there is no benefit; so we must find ways to make full use of it to make it practical.The Empress Dowager put chrysanthemum petals into the hot pot to cook with fish fillets, which is the realization of this idea; in addition, Yi also invented a sweet sauce made of roses and sugar, which has an excellent taste and fragrance. It's a pity that it was not easy to get baked bread in Beijing at that time, otherwise we would really have to eat it every morning! In the past, ordinary rich and noble families were always very particular about drinking tea. The best tea can be bought for one or twenty taels of silver a catty. It can indeed be regarded as a kind of luxury, but it is a luxury. Happy to use it.I don't dare to say whether the tea that Yi drinks is really better than the ones outside. I only know that the price of them is horribly high, and there is no such thing as one or twenty taels of silver for one or two catties.The queen mother has to change new tea leaves every time she drinks tea, and she also likes to mix all kinds of dried flowers, roses, jasmine and so on, into the tea leaves to get their fragrance; Thanks to the Empress Dowager's appreciation, Yi's tea bowl must have a few asparagus flowers floating on it almost every day. The petals of the lotus are also a favorite food of the Empress Dowager. In summer, many fresh lotus flowers are picked in the imperial dining room of the Changjiao. They pick off the most complete petals and soak them in the flour mixed with chicken to taste sweet and salty. Two kinds, add some chicken soup or refined sugar, put them in a pan and fry them thoroughly, making a very delicious snack.Also in spring, around the Ching Ming Festival, when those tall magnolias are in full bloom, the queen mother has to pick them, and fry them into sweet and crisp magnolia slices according to the method of using lotus flowers, and eat them anytime for leisure . Since there are so many flowers and trees planted in the upper garden, and each flower and tree must be taken care of from time to time, the work of the eunuchs who act as gardeners for the Empress Dowager is indeed extremely complicated!As far as the chrysanthemum is concerned, it is only a seasonal flower, and it only needs to be tended in the autumn. autumn. ——It seems that you can not be so busy, but in fact, once the autumn order is passed, there are dozens of gardeners who are responsible for taking care of the chrysanthemums, and there is no one who is not so busy that he does not do anything else all day and still cannot have a moment of free time up.For example, watering, fertilizing, replanting, covering the mats in case of scorching sun or heavy rain, and removing the mats after the rain and at night, so that they can fully absorb the dew.In addition, there was no insecticide foam invented at that time, so the work of deworming took up a lot of time. There are many insects that can reproduce on chrysanthemums and carry out destructive work, but among them, a kind of small caterpillars that specialize in making troubles in the hearts of flowers are the most terrifying. When the leaves are green, there are still no shadows to be seen. When the beilei grow up and are about to bloom, they will come uninvited and gather on the stamens, chewing day and night. Nibble all the flowers on a branch.Therefore, in a certain period of time, the work of catching insects was really extremely tense.More than 20 gardeners were divided into ten groups, two people in each group, one holding two special tin cups, squatting on the ground, waiting for the other to shake off the small caterpillars on each branch of flowers; Shaking is not yet reliable, you have to separate Huaxin and search carefully before you can wipe them out.Therefore, it takes six or seven minutes to grow each flower.Let's imagine: there are more than 3,000 pots of chrysanthemums in the Shangyuan. How long will it take to inspect them all?No wonder those gardeners are so busy every day! Is it worthwhile to spend so much manpower on the gardener's work?Besides that, what else is there for those eunuchs?These two questions are not easy to answer.But in my opinion: the answer to the first question should be positive; because without so much manpower, how could there be more than 2,000 pots of colorful and pleasing chrysanthemums blooming?What's more, these chrysanthemums can always win the favor of the Queen Mother, which is very worthwhile!