Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Six

I made another pot of tea, raised my cup and said with a smile, "I saw my sister today, and we talked for a long time. Thank you! Replace the wine with tea, and I propose a toast to you." He laughed and said, "It's time I should pay homage to the birthday star." However, he still had a drink as he spoke.After drinking, I said seriously: "I am not the one you really want to thank." I looked down at my teacup silently, without speaking. Fourteen looked at me for a while, saw that I hadn't made any movement, sighed slightly, and asked, "Ruoxi, what are you thinking in your heart? Has the mynah not done enough for you these years? Aixinjueluo's family is old Infatuated kind, starling is like this now!" I was shocked, and sighed in my heart, it's a pity that he is not infatuated!He is not Dorgun, nor Shunzhi, they can give up the country for the beauty, but can the eighth prince?

He said: "Before you entered the palace, the myna asked me to beg Erniang, and tried to exclude you from the list and asked you to serve in Erniang's palace. Myna's good master, Erniang, could not understand because of his limited status. I'm trying to get ahead, but I must have set up a way in the dark." He hummed slightly: "But I don't want to take credit for this matter, the fourth brother also begged Er Niang for the thirteenth brother, Er Niang looked at the two of us It’s rare that there was an unanimous agreement, and I readily agreed.” When I heard this, I couldn’t help asking: “Then why did Concubine Hui want me?” Fourteen said: “I thought you really didn’t plan to marry me in this life. Are you asking about these things?" I smiled, but didn't reply.

He said: "The elder brother of the ten Fujin is the companion of the elder brother, and the concubine Hui wants you. I think it is the idea of ​​the eighth and ten Fujin. They don't want you to be chosen by the emperor. But it is a blessing in disguise. Concubine Hui Helping, it saved Erniang a lot of effort. It's just that I didn't expect that you went to serve Huang Ama because of it." Only then did I understand. Seeing the sudden realization on my face, Shisi couldn't help laughing, and said, "You don't know, when I first heard that you went to Huang Ama to serve, the starling was anxious and angry, until later when I came to see the emperor. Ama doesn't care about you at all, and it's all about being careful and careful." I listened, but remained silent, and after a while, I asked: "Later, Concubine Hui didn't feel sorry for me, did you Is it also related to Eighth Master?"

Fourteen nodded and said: "The starling was raised by Concubine Hui for a while, so it's not that difficult to ask for mercy, besides..." He stopped, frowned, and didn't continue.I knew in my heart that because the elder brother later supported the eighth elder brother to compete for the crown prince, naturally there would be no embarrassment.Then I thought of the current situation of the elder brother, and what he once said in front of the emperor, "I am willing to help the eighth brother with all my heart".Can't help but feel uncomfortable. The two sat silently for a while, Shisi took another cup of tea, I hurriedly said: "This is cold, let's make another pot." As I spoke, I made another pot.Fourteen Eyes followed my movements and said, "Ruoxi, do you really have a starling in your heart?"

I quietly poured the tea and finished a cup slowly, because it was the fourth course, the taste was already light, but it was very bitter in my mouth.After a long while, I hardened my heart and wanted to say 'no', but somehow it turned into: "I don't know." Hearing this, Shisiyi stood up abruptly, stared at me with anger on his face, and said, "You still don't know? Over the years, how many things have secretly arranged for you in the palace for fear that you will be wronged? Otherwise, do you really think that life in the palace is so smooth? I don’t bother to talk to you about these things in detail! But think about it, myna has only been surrounded by Fujin Fujin and your sister Fujin who married in the early years, two servants. The concubine is also serving him from a young age. Which elder brother in the Forbidden City has such a concubine? I now have four Fujin and one concubine. The thirteenth brother has three Fujin. The tenth brother also accepted two concubines two years ago .Did you know? All the men in the Forbidden City said in private, 'The eighth elder brother is afraid of a fierce wife and dare not marry again'!" He was talking, short of breath for a while, stopped, finally took a deep breath, and angrily said He shouted loudly and asked, "Maertai Ruoxi, what exactly do you want?"

I was sitting facing the gate of the courtyard, watching the outside of the door and listening to Shisi's words, I just felt miserable in my heart, what do I want?Even if I tell you, can you understand?Can he give it again?Suddenly looking not far away, the fourth elder brother and thirteen were walking slowly, trying to make him stop, but he asked loudly, "Maertai Ruoxi, what do you want?" 'Obviously the fourth elder brother and thirteen have heard it, and both of them paused. I hurriedly stood up, looked at Fourteen and said, "The fourth elder brother and the thirteenth elder brother are here!" Fourteen looked back at the two people who were walking, looked at me and said in a cold voice: "No wonder you don't know What!" After finishing speaking, he no longer looked at me, turned around and left, and ignored Si elder brother and Shisan Shi, just passed by quickly.The fourth elder brother and Thirteen looked at each other and stopped. Thirteen called out, "Brother Fourteen." But Fourteen pretended not to hear, and hurried away.The two turned to look at me again.

I followed closely for two steps, trying to call Fourteen to stop, but seeing Si and Thirteen who had already arrived at the gate of the courtyard, I swallowed back the "Fourteen Brothers" again.Just stand still and bow down to say hello. Thirteen looked calm, looked at the tea set in the courtyard, glanced at me, walked over and sat on the low chair, put the wooden box in his hand on the table and said: "We also come to ask for a cup of tea from the birthday star." drink." I had no choice but to smile wryly, and asked Fourth Master to sit on another low chair, squatted down and poured out the remaining tea in the pot, scalded the cup with boiling water, filled new tea leaves, and brewed a cup of tea. pot.After pouring out the tea, I stood up and said, "Fourth Prince, Brother Thirteen, please have some tea." Thirteen didn't go to get the teacup, but looked at me with a smile and said, "You can find a chair to sit on!" Said: "Slaves don't dare!" Hearing this, Shisanyi stood up abruptly. Before he could speak, the fourth elder brother stood up and said, "I'm here, she's too reserved, so I'll go first!" Walk.Thirteen grabbed him, looked at me and said with a lazy smile, "I want you to sit today." After speaking, he quickly walked into the room and came out with a stool.

I don't want to refute Shisan's face, he came here specially to celebrate my birthday, I can't let him leave with a stomach full of displeasure.He leaned over to the fourth elder brother and said, "Thank you, my lord, for your seat!" Then he sat down.Shisan just took a cup of tea, took a sip slowly, and then said slowly with his eyes slightly closed: "The 'Dahongpao' on the rock wall of the Jiulong cave in Wuyi Mountain has been a tribute for generations, and the output is very small. Seven taels and eight dollars." Opening his eyes, he looked at me and sighed, "No wonder the fourteenth brother is drinking tea here, it really is good tea! Huang Ama really treats you very well, even the tea leaves he rewarded are top quality!" Then He looked carefully at the tea set again and said: "You really took the trouble to collect the tea set used by Fujian and Cantonese people. But to drink "Dahongpao" tea, you really have to use the "Kung Fu Tea" small pot and small cup Only by carefully sipping and drinking slowly can you really taste the charm of rock tea." I saw that he knew the goods, and smiled at him knowingly.

After drinking a small cup of tea, Shisan put down the teacup, looked at me with a smile, and said imitatively: "Ma Ertai Ruoxi, what do you want?" Shisian asked with anger at that time, but he asked softly , quite funny, my heart was bitter, but I couldn't help laughing, and said: "I want a birthday gift!" After speaking, I stretched out my hand towards him, looked at the wooden box on the table, and said, "You have eaten What about my tea?" Shisan smiled and reached out to slap my hand, saying: "No!" I withdrew my hand, gave him a look, and said, "No!? How dare you come to ask for tea?" He smiled and ignored me.

I was silent for a while, looked at Thirteen, and said, "Thank you!" Thirteen was stunned, and asked with a smile, "You have a lot to thank me for, but I don't know what you are thanking me for today? "I pursed my lips and smiled, and said: "For you to help me speak in front of Empress Defei." He looked at the fourth elder brother and smiled and said: "Then you should thank the fourth elder brother, I am not the one who spoke." I stood up, Facing the fourth elder brother, he turned around and said: "Thank you, my lord!" The fourth elder brother looked indifferent, and only asked me to get up, but Thirteen was stunned for a while, unexpectedly I was so solemn.

After I sat down, I still looked at Shisan and said, "My lord spoke for me because of you, so I still have to thank you." After speaking, I raised the teacup to him, and he smiled and served the tea to drink.After drinking, he looked at me and said with a slight smile, "I can't help you talk! You've even said things like 'I'd rather be broken than broken'. I can't just watch!" I slightly After thinking about it for a while, I remembered that yes, when I first entered the palace and was waiting for election, Thirteen visited me and asked me what would happen if I was favored by the emperor.I did say, 'It's better to have broken pieces of jade than to have everything broken'.Thinking about it, my heart warmed up, I just looked at Thirteen and smiled slightly, and Thirteen also looked at me and smiled.I sighed in my heart, it's not about personal relationships, but they treat me like this!Back then, Thirteen was only half a boy, and he had no influence, so he did not hesitate to ask for the only trustworthy person for me.A confidant is enough! The fourth elder brother looked at Shisan and I and smiled at each other, drank another cup, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, looked at Shisan, and then at me. I was about to make another pot of tea, and when I was carrying the kettle sideways, I saw Yutan approaching. She approached the courtyard gate, and suddenly saw who was sitting in the courtyard, her face was startled, and she stopped in her tracks .I put the kettle back on the stove, stood up and looked at her outside the door.She quickly walked a few steps, bowed to say hello to the fourth elder brother and thirteenth elder brother, and the fourth elder brother said indifferently: "Get up!" Everyone was speechless for a while. I saw that Yutan was very cramped, so I smiled and said to her: "You go into the room and rest!" After hearing this, she hurriedly said another blessing, and went into her room.The fourth elder brother and Shisan stood up, and Shisan smiled and said: "The tea is finished! Let's go now!" After speaking, he picked up the wooden box on the small table and handed it to me. I reached out to take it, smiled and said thank you.Thirteenth smiled, glanced at the fourth elder brother and said: "This is what the fourth elder brother asked Li Wei to bring back from the northwest when he was on a business trip. After looking at it, I felt that there was no better one, so I simply didn't give it away. One copy!" I glanced at Brother Si and wanted to say thank you, but I opened my mouth but made no sound, and lowered my head. The fourth elder brother took a look at me and walked out. Thirteen chuckled twice, then turned around and walked away quickly.I stood in the yard, holding the wooden box for a while.The box is ordinary, ordinary peach wood, neither carved nor inlaid.After looking it over, I opened it casually, and inside were three glass bottles of different colors, which are very common in modern times, but it is extraordinary to be able to achieve such exquisiteness in ancient times. I couldn't help being excited, went to the table and sat down, first pulled out the cork of a small milky white bottle, sniffed it in front of my nose, I couldn't help being surprised, it was "Elimu" gum, I controlled my astonishment , Hastily opened another bottle, the color is bright red, it really is the juice of "Hainai Guli".Putting it down quickly, I opened the last black ink vial. In fact, I already guessed in my heart that it was "Ottoman" juice, but I couldn't help sniffing it lightly. It was really good! The mood is immersed in the joy and sadness of being able to see these things again after so many years. How many years have I not seen these things?I haven't seen them for thirteen years.Thirteen years!These are my childhood memories.From the moment Uyghur girls are born, their mothers will paint their eyebrows with "Ottoman" juice, so that they will have crescent-like black eyebrows.And "Hainai Guli" is our little girl's favorite. It is wrapped on the nails and removed after a few days to have beautiful red nails. "Yilimu" is an indispensable thing when we comb our pigtails. When we were young, stereotyped gelatin and these things were still rare. Only the gum of "Yilimu" can make our pigtails spin and jump quickly. After that, it is still neat and beautiful. I looked at the small bottle on the table, my heart was surging, I was immersed in a mixed mood of joy and sorrow, and suddenly realized that these were given by the fourth master, and the feeling in my heart was even more complicated, thinking that he was so careful.Just because Ma Ertai Ruoxi grew up in the northwest border, he gave these things away.But I don't know that it really fits my heart.Although things are not expensive, it must take a lot of thought to travel thousands of miles. He stared at the bottle with complicated emotions for a long while, and finally put it back into the wooden box slowly.Pick it up and walk into the house and put it away.After leaving the house, she began to pack the tea sets, tables and chairs, and Yutan came out to help.There was no previous surprise.I saw that she looked normal, so I didn't say any more.The two quietly packed their things. When having dinner in the evening, I said to Yutan: "Today is my eighteenth birthday, brother Thirteen came here to give me some gadgets." My sister and I are really destined, I didn't expect it to be on the same day!" After speaking, I stood up and wished me a blessing, and said: "Congratulations to my sister's birthday!" I sighed with a smile: "What a coincidence!" After eating, I said that I wanted to go outside for a walk, Yutan said with a smile, she also felt that she had eaten too much, so the two went out together. Because it was the end of the month, there was only a waning moon hanging in the sky, but the moonlight was very clear. We were sharing flowers and caressing willows, and Yutan and I walked quietly.All the way without words. After a while, I asked: "Yu Tan, what are you thinking?" Yu Tan was silent for a long time, and then said softly: "I think of my mother and younger siblings at home!" Eldest daughter." Back then, she was considered to be a bit more mature than others despite her young age. Her hands and feet were nimble, her heart was also meticulous, her mouth was usually tight, and she never discussed other people's rights and wrongs with other court ladies, so she was specially kept in the around. After hearing this, Yutan said: "My sister is too praised, but it's just that 'the children of the poor are in charge of the family early', and without Ama, she has a little more experience than others, and understands a little bit more about the world." Glancing at her, I have always maintained the habit of not inquiring about other people's private affairs in modern society, so although Yutan has been with me for a year, I only know that she is Manchurian and was born in "Baoyi". Although 'coating' has a low status, sometimes there are dignitaries, such as the eighth elder brother's biological mother Liangfei is 'coating', the most famous Nian Gengyao is also Yongzheng's slave for coating, and the author Cao Xueqin's superior Zu was also born in the Han army of Zhengbai Banner.At this time, when she heard her mentioning her family, she realized that she was still very poor.Whether modern or ancient, the word poverty is far away from me.I didn't know how to comfort her, so I had to walk with her silently. Seeing me silently, Yutan hurriedly laughed and said, "Today is my sister's good day, but I said such irrelevant things, I really deserve to be hit." I looked at her and smiled slightly: "I think it's better to say these things, but it's a good day." It seems that we are close. If you don’t dislike it, just treat me as your older sister!” After I finished speaking, I sighed softly, thinking, although it’s difficult for you to see your parents, you can always be the empress after you are released from the palace. I saw them, and I am afraid I will never see them again, said in a deep voice: "I miss my parents too." Yu Tan sighed: "Yes! Ever since entering the palace, who is not parents and brothers rarely meet each other!" She After a pause, he said again: "To tell the truth that I am not afraid of my sister's anger, my sister is much better than us. Lord Babeile is my sister's brother-in-law, and all my brothers treat my sister very well. Some people think about her birthday." After finishing speaking, I was silent for a long time, and then sighed softly, "There are all masters in this palace, who can remember a slave's birthday?" I was speechless after hearing this. I looked up at the moon in the sky and said: "We are under the same moon as our parents!" After finishing speaking, I asked myself in my heart, can my parents see the same moon as me? Yutan followed me and looked up at the moon. After looking at the moon for a while, she looked at me and said, "Sister, I want to kowtow to the moon. I want to kowtow to my parents!" I nodded, and both of them knelt down. I prayed three times. While prostrating, he suddenly heard soft rustling voices behind him, turned his head quickly, and saw Li Dequan coming with an ox horn lantern, followed by Kangxi.Both Yutan and I were startled, we quickly retreated to the side and knelt on the ground.After Kangxi approached, he stood still, looked down at the two of us, and said gently: "Get up! I want to be quiet, and I didn't let anyone clear the road in front of me. I don't blame you for driving!" Yutan and I kowtowed and stood. stand up. Kangxi asked: "What were you worshiping just now?" I hurriedly replied: "The servants thought of their parents for a while, and thought that they were under the moonlight together, so they bowed to the moon, which is considered to be in front of their parents. .” After Kangxi finished listening, he looked up at the moon and didn’t speak for a while.I sighed inwardly, thinking that saying this would definitely make Kangxi feel uncomfortable, but if I didn't tell the truth, I couldn't make up any good lies for a while.Besides, Yutan is on the side, even if there is a lie, he can't commit the crime of deceiving the emperor. Kangxi silently looked at the moon for a while, let Li Dequan still hold the lantern, and the two left slowly.Yutan and I knelt half-kneeling until Kangxi was far away before we got up and turned back.I couldn't help but look back again, but I couldn't see the candlelight of the lantern anymore. I sighed in my heart, maybe the son or grandson of ordinary people walked with me, but this lonely man was accompanied by an eunuch.The dragon chair is like the hosta of the queen mother, and he and his twenty sons have been rowed at both ends of the river casually. After returning to the house, I opened the jewelry box. Some of these jewelry were prepared by Martai General Soldier for Ruoxi, and some were given by my sister over the years.After searching for a long time, I picked out a jasper-carved hairpin and a set of matching earrings. The handmade jade color is top-notch.After packing, I left the house. Yutan was unloading her clothes and her hair was loose. I smiled and handed her the things and said, "It's a late birthday gift! Don't blame my sister!"I said with a straight face: "Since you call me 'sister', how can you not accept my gift?" Yutan then accepted it embarrassingly, without opening it, just said: "Sister's birthday, I will Haven’t sent anything yet?” I said with a smile, “I don’t know how to embroider, let me know how to draw a few patterns, you muster up your energy and embroider some handkerchiefs for me, I just want these! "Yu Tan hastily agreed. I walked out the door with a smile. Yu Tan kept sending me to the door and wanted to send it out, but I stopped him with a smile: "The door is next to the door, do you still want to sit in my room for a while? I'm going to rest !” She just stood still and watched me go back to the house.