Chapter 3 Two concubines contend for favor

The early spring sunshine in the west, through the gaps of the bamboo bushes outside the window, spreads the mottled shadows on the plum blossom curtain.Whenever the green bamboo is shaken by the breeze, the broken shadows will flow back and forth like a stream.The thick red on the floor sets off the brown carved window lattices and rosewood tables and chairs, making the basic tone of the room very harmonious; The warmth and tranquility of the bedroom; the unique frame of figures painted by the Northern Song Academy on the powder wall, which hints at the master's taste and family background; The spotless thread-bound books; a cloisonne Boshan stove decorated with animal figures, is exhaling the smoke of heavy sandalwood, and the faint, vague fragrance is floating in the room... This small, The tidy and comfortable boudoir, although it is decorated with silk brocade and gold and jade vessels, looks luxurious and rich, but still maintains an elegant atmosphere.There is not a single redundant decoration here, and there is nothing that can be missing. Even a sparrow feather and a few green leaves have been carefully selected and compared repeatedly, and placed in the most appropriate position.

Lying on the canopy bed with a moon-hole-style door cover hung with tassel brocade curtains, Liu Rushi leaned on the white satin and red flower soft pillow, staring sideways at the curtain of bamboo shadows, gradually feeling dizzy.She closed her eyes again for a while, and slowly stretched out a snow-white arm from under the scarlet cloud satin quilt, and then stretched out the other, leisurely stretching her body. Fourteen-year-old maid Hongqing heard the noise, and tiptoed out from behind the screen.She has a small round face like an apple, and a pair of flexible eyes.Seeing that the hostess was about to get up, she approached, gently helped Liu Rushi up, took off a green velvet dress from the warm cage, and put it on the hostess' body; then, she walked to the inside of the door Beside the Eight Immortals table, I carefully brewed a cup of strong tea with a tea cup imitating the pattern of Hua Dou Cai grapes, and sent it to Liu Rushi, and said with a smile:

"Ma'am, you are awake, did you sleep well?" Liu Rushi did not answer.She glanced at a rosewood desk in front of the window from a distance.I do not know when a piece of poetry was placed on it.She lifted the lid of the teacup absently, blew hot air gently on her lips, and asked: "My lord—you're composing poetry again?" "Ah, the master wrote two more Qilu poems. It's great! Someone brought them in a while ago. The servant girl saw that the lady was asleep, so she didn't dare to disturb her, so she put it on the desk—madam, do you want to read it now?"

Liu Rushi shook her head and took a sip of tea.This is the blue snow tea she likes to drink on weekdays. When brewing, a little pineapple tea is added to make the scent of jasmine a little bit off, and the tea taste is stronger.With tea in her mouth, she rinsed her mouth in the spit pot that Hong Qing held, hugged her knees, lost her mind for a while, finally lifted the brocade quilt, and let her legs hang down on the edge of the bed.After Hongqing helped her put on her clothes, bound her feet, and put on a pair of thin red embroidered shoes for her, she supported Hongqing's shoulders, stepped on the rosewood pedals, and walked gracefully. come down.

She is a beautiful twenty-five-year-old woman, who looks younger because of her petite appearance--a head of black and shiny satin-like rich and soft long hair, an oval, extremely fair and delicate face, a pair of Gu Pan's affectionate slender eyes, under the curved eyebrows like distant mountains, flowed with beautiful and moving waves.The smooth and flat forehead made her face look elegant; the slightly opened nose wings and tightly closed small lips gave her a resolute and rebellious expression.She is cold-tolerant by nature, even though it is the chilly spring weather, she is only wearing a thin purple velvet dress with dark flowers, which makes her look more light and pretty.Since last winter, she has been suffering from illness, and her behavior always shows a fragile appearance.

She walked unhurriedly to the red sandalwood desk under the window, picked up the page of poetry, and saw that it read: There is a note after the poem: Signed by: Qianyi, Chongzhen 15th Year Renwu New Year's Day Liu Rushi's eyes lingered on the last few notes, and finally snorted, put the poem aside, and then sat down in front of the desk.She tilted her head first, and looked at her own reflection in the mirror, especially the corners of her eyes and the sides of her mouth.She didn't feel relieved until it was confirmed that these places were still smooth and smooth, without even a single wrinkle. She stretched out two slender fingers and gently rubbed the bright red mark on the small piece of pillow cover on her face. While turning his neck, his own face was reflected in the mirror with various angles and expressions.At the end, she seemed to be amused by her still charming and charming charm, so she tilted her head and said to Hongqing:

"Well, come on!" At first, when Hongqing heard the hostess's "hum", her heart couldn't stop jumping, she couldn't figure out whether it was good or bad, and she was a little uneasy.At this moment, she quickly agreed, moved a dressing box inlaid with mother-of-pearl and agate on the table, and started to untangle the messy bun for the hostess, and carefully held the rich long hair that was pouring down like a waterfall. In his arms, he picked up a large ivory comb and combed it.She was afraid of hurting the hostess, so she combed very lightly and slowly. While combing, she said with a smile:

"It's not that the servant girl likes to talk again, Madam's hair is really getting more and more beautiful, it's black, dense, and even. When you comb it down, it seems to be in the water, and it will naturally go smoothly. It doesn't take much effort. The servant girl has seen many people, but I have never seen such beautiful hair as my wife!" As she spoke, she peeked into the mirror secretly, and found that the hostess half-closed her eyes, as if she was in deep thought, and didn't seem to pay attention to her compliments.Hong Qing guessed that the sneer just now probably wasn't aimed at herself.She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and shut up.

However, when she was about to look away, she suddenly found that the majestic gaze of the hostess was staring at her suspiciously from the mirror. "Well, what are you doing?" Liu Rushi asked. Hongqing's face flushed immediately, "No, I didn't do anything!" She said in panic. "Just now, what did you say?" "Just now? Oh, just now, the servant girl said that Madam's hair...is beautiful..." So, she quickly repeated what she said just now. Liu Rushi listened silently, and her expression gradually calmed down.But only for a moment, she frowned again.

"Well, that's all." She said, "I asked you, I asked you to inquire about it, did you go?" "Ah, the maidservant has already made inquiries and is about to report to Madam." Hongqing said hastily. "How about it?" "I heard that Aunt Zhu was still making trouble. After lunch today, she called the young master to the back upstairs, crying and screaming, swearing a lot of nasty words, and threw a lot of guys." "What did she yell at?" "This... the servant girl may, but I don't know." "Hmph!" Liu Rushi stared, turned her head suddenly, but accidentally pulled her hair, and Hongqing hurriedly staggered a step in a panic.However, when she regained her footing, Liu Rushi had already controlled herself.She realized that what Aunt Zhu said when she scolded her could be imagined without asking. No wonder Hongqing didn't dare to repeat it in front of her.

"So, what about the others? What do they say?" She asked angrily. Hongqing was in shock for the first time, she was afraid of being blamed by the hostess, and she didn't dare to hide any more, so she reported all the news she heard.She said that due to the intensified rivalry between Liu Rushi and Aunt Zhu of the third room recently, especially a few days ago, when Liu Rushi went to Gusu for "medical treatment", he asked the master Qian Qianyi, the former right servant of the Ministry of Rites, who is now dismissed from office, to stay at home. ——After proposing that Aunt Zhu must be expelled from the mansion, Qian's mansion has now been divided into two factions.One faction supported Aunt Zhu, and the other supported Liu Rushi; besides, there were quite a few people who stood aside and watched the excitement without helping anyone.Naturally, the master is wholeheartedly protecting Liu Rushi, as are the master's followers and those in the house who have enmity with the Zhu family.However, because Aunt Zhu has been in the mansion for a long time, she is familiar with everyone, and she is the biological mother of the only young master of the Qian family, so generally speaking, most people support her at the moment.People like the chief executive, He Siyu and his wife, grand nephew and young master Qian Zeng, and the eldest maid, Yue Rong, all belong to the Zhu sect.The eldest wife, Mrs. Chen, is said to be impartial on the surface, and it is said that she also supports Mrs. Zhu.Under her influence, the group of relatives of the Chen family also became Zhu faction.It is precisely because of these reliance that Aunt Zhu dared to tear her face and make a scene.In addition, there is news that those squires in Changshu City who have always had conflicts with Qian Qianyi, and especially disapproved of the combination of Qian Qianyi and Liu Rushi, are now staring at this battle in Qian's mansion, threatening that if Qian Qianyi If Qianyi dared to expel the Zhu family, they would jointly write a petition, denouncing Qian Qianyi for being immoral, shameless, and ruining his reputation... While Hongqing was speaking this time, Liu Rushi listened quietly and never interrupted her again.However, she still raised her eyebrows more than once, her eyes widened, and her face flushed with anger again and again.It took quite a while until Hongqing finished speaking, she still gritted her teeth and showed a vicious expression. Seeing the hostess like this, Hong Qing became frightened again.She knew very well that the hostess was short-tempered, and she was worried that she would be angry with herself, so she was about to say a few words of apology.However, before she could say anything, Liu Rushi stood up abruptly.This time, Hongqing was prepared, and when Liu Rushi tried to regain her hair, she quickly let go. Liu Rushi clenched her hair tightly in her hands, and began to walk up and down quickly like a wild animal trapped in a cage, asking angrily: "And what about the master? How is the master?" "Oh, sir, sir..." "Forget it!" Hongqing's nonchalant expression aroused Liu Rushi's anger even more.She gritted her teeth and said, "What's the meaning of 'Focus on this feeling, it's the heart', hum, it sounds good! Fortunately, he still has the face to write it on the paper and send it to me! I don't even ask, who is the old lady, Will believe this! Go—" She grabbed the piece of paper on the case and threw it to the ground forcefully, "Give him back this torn piece of paper, and tell Mrs. Ben that she doesn't want it!" "Yes!" Hong Qing quickly agreed, but hesitated. "Go!" Liu Rushi shouted with wide eyes. Hongqing trembled for a moment, not daring to disobey again.She quickly picked up the poems and walked out in a hurry. Hongqing walked through the garden with sparse flowers and trees, and just walked to the door of the moon cave, but unexpectedly found that Master Qian Sun'ai, a fourteen-year-old boy, was looking inside alone without anyone following him for some reason.At the first sight of red, his anxious face suddenly showed a look of rescue. "Hey, Mrs. Liu—are you up?" He asked hastily. This young master Qian Sun'ai was born to Aunt Zhu, Liu Rushi's rival, and the only young master of the Qian family.It goes without saying that there are rich clothes and jade food on weekdays, and all kinds of treasures.Logically, he should be fat and strong; but unfortunately, this young master has been weak and sick since he was a child. When he grows up, his pretty face is always lacking in vitality, and his shoulders are narrow and small. The body still seems a little rickety.For some reason, Hong Qing couldn't help laughing whenever she saw a dangling little head on his long and thin neck.However, she was not in the mood at the moment. "Hey, young master, why do you dare to come here? Aren't you afraid that Aunt Zhu will know too much?" Hong Qing stood still and asked in surprise.She knew very well how much Aunt Zhu hated her son coming to my room, let alone at this moment. "Don't worry about it!" Qian Sun'ai shook her head, "I just want to ask you, is Mrs. Liu up yet?" "Well, you want to see her?" Qian Sunai nodded. "What are you doing?" "It's something!" Qian Sunai said impatiently. As usual, Hongqing would have informed him.But today, when she saw that Qian Sunai was not followed by anyone, she became more courageous: "Tell me first!" "No!" "Then I won't report it to you!" Hongqing proudly raised the poem note in her hand, "Madam sent me to do something!" "Hey, don't, don't..." Seeing that Hong Qing was about to leave, Qian Sun'ai panicked, stopped her quickly, then lowered her head, hesitated for a while, and finally said in a low voice: "I, I want to beg her, don't, don't drive my mother out..." Hongqing had already put on a teasing look, but after hearing this, her expression suddenly changed.She stared blankly at Qian Sun'ai, sighed softly for a long time, and said, "I'm afraid, I'm afraid she won't agree." "Ah, why?" Hong Qing moved her mouth, but changed her mind temporarily. "Okay, I'll report it for you!" she said, turning around and walking inside. Qian Sun'ai stared blankly, and gradually became nervous again.His eyes widened, and his face became even paler; then, he began to walk back and forth nervously... After a long time, Liu Rushi's terrifying roar came from the boudoir with plum blossom curtains: "No, no! No one, let him go!" Qian Sun'ai trembled all over, and froze like a frightened rabbit.His round eyes gradually showed a look of fear.Suddenly, he hugged his head and ran away as if fleeing.

---

Notes: