Imperial City

The emperor took a sip of tea before suddenly remembering that the servant who spoke just now seemed to be Wei Qi.

He raised his eyes and glanced indifferently, the slave was facing him and would retreat to the front of the Eight Immortals table.

The emperor took a closer look, lowering his head, unable to see the expression on the face.

He turned his eyes back to the notebook again, and said casually: "Wait a minute."

Wei Qi didn't know that he had just been scrutinized by the emperor, and was stepping back cautiously step by step, when he heard the Holy Majesty calling him, his heart skipped a beat.

However, after being a slave for so many years, the rules have long been engraved in his heart. Although Wei Qi felt scared, he stopped immediately.

He took the tray he was carrying with his right hand, and with his arms close to his sides, he responded respectfully, "The servant is here."

The emperor was writing and marking the papers, and asked him: "The injury is healed." The voice reached his ears through the silent air, slow and deep, full of orders and oppression from the superior.

Wei Qi tried his best to restrain his trembling, and tightly pinched the tray with his right hand hanging by his side. The protruding and delicate tendons on the back of his hand were hidden under the wide cuff, and only the scarlet lacquer left by his fingers could be vaguely seen. Deep scratches.

The other eunuchs who were standing against the wall in the distance lowered their heads lower after hearing this.

Wei Qi's face was flushed, he pursed his lips, and finally said: "If you return to the Holy Lord, the slave will be fine."

The emperor heard that he deserved it plainly, and waited for a while, but he didn't hear the following sentence, the slave thanked the saint for his concern.

For a moment, I just felt that this slave was extremely dull, and I didn't know that in the past, I would think that he cleverly transferred him from Shoukang Palace to Qianqing Palace.

"Well, step back." The emperor lost his interest in teasing, and waved away people.

"Hey." Wei Qi's back was already wet with sweat, he was relieved after hearing this, and slowly backed out.

This day, Wei Qi in the study looked like he used to be an errand, guessing that the teacup in front of the emperor was too cold to drink, so he went to replace it with a new one.

Serving tea seems simple, but in fact there are some tricks in it, let alone the temperature of the tea, the timing alone must be grasped.

If you change too often, it will disturb the majesty's approval of the papers, and if you change too little, the tea will be cold or empty, and it will be considered a bad job.

On the first day when he was doing this job, he had deliberately noticed how long it would take for the Admiral to drink a cup of tea, whether the Holy Majesty frowned when drinking the tea, and how far the Holy Majesty used to stretch his arms when holding the tea cup.

After three days of careful observation, you will find out the habits of the Holy Majesty.

After that, he was able to handle the errands with ease, but whenever it was his turn to serve tea, the sage never scolded him.

Two hours later, the Holy Majesty drove to the study to meet the Minister of Internal Affairs, and Wei Qi and others changed shifts.

After he got off duty, he walked to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and was suddenly summoned by the foreman eunuch Quan Gonggong, and there was another young eunuch standing beside him, Wei Qiyuan took a few steps and looked like the eunuch delivering the message in Shoukang Palace.

When he got closer and saw his face clearly, it was indeed Xiao Anzi from Shoukang Palace.

When Grandpa Quan saw him coming in, the Empress Dowager Dao announced him, saying that his brain hurts badly recently, and the imperial doctor came to see him but he didn't feel better. He wanted to ask Wei Qi to massage him, maybe it would make him feel better.

"You can follow this little eunuch to Shoukang Palace to pay respects to our ancestors." Eunuch Quan smiled flatteringly at Xiao Anzi.

"This slave is on duty, and he has nothing to do. If the ancestor likes it, the little eunuch can tell him to stay longer."

Xiao Anzi didn't talk much, just nodded slightly, and said thankfully.

The two bid farewell to the foreman eunuch, left Qianqing Palace, and headed for Shoukang Palace.

Wei Qiyi was a little bit concerned when he heard that the Empress Dowager was not good. He also had some friendship with Xiao Anzi when he was working in Shoukang Palace.

At this moment, the two of them were walking in the quiet corridor, Wei Qi asked him in a low voice when he saw no one was around: "Why does the ancestor have such a severe headache?"

The servants in the palace are not allowed to talk casually when they are on business. Xiao Anzi walked half a step ahead of him, and when he heard his inquiry, he didn't turn his head. Not quite sure.

However, I heard from others that I drank a few sips of tea a few nights ago, and I couldn't sleep well at night, presumably because of this. "

Wei Qi felt strange in his heart, that is, such and such imperial doctors would look down on him.

But this time is not the time to ask more questions, the way he said it, the two of them were speechless all the way.

Shoukang Palace is located on Neitingwai West Road. It is the residence of the Empress Dowager, and on the east side is the Palace of Compassion and Ning.

Shoukang Palace is a courtyard with three entrances from north to south. Outside the courtyard wall, there are corridors on the east, west and north sides, and there are several rooms outside the corridor on the west.

Shoukang Gate is a glazed gate, on which is engraved a couplet written by the Holy Master himself: Phoenix gathers tung flowers to Jiangque; crane carries peaches from Danshan.

The main hall inside the Shoukang Gate is the Shoukang Palace. The hall faces south from the north. There are four sill windows with three intersections and six water chestnuts. In the hall, there is a plaque written by the late emperor "Ci Shou Ning Jubilee".

Between the east and west ends is the Nuan Pavilion, and the East Nuan Pavilion is the Buddhist hall for the Empress Dowager to worship Buddha every day.There is a platform in front of the hall, and there are three steps in front of the platform. There are imperial road stones in the middle, and there are one step on the left and right sides of the platform.

The east and west side halls of Shoukang Palace are three rooms wide each, with yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain, and the front corridors.

To the north of Shoukang Palace is the second entrance courtyard, and the back hall is the sleeping hall of Shoukang Palace. The forehead says: "Changle Fuhua".Changle means long-term happiness in Chang'an, and Fuhua means flourishing and blooming. The name of this hall means that the ancestors live in peace and longevity, and the royal family has many sons and grandchildren.

The sleeping hall is connected with the Shoukang Palace by a corridor.The hall is five rooms wide and three rooms deep, with yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain.

Wei Qi followed Xiao Anzi to the front of Shoukang Gate, and showed his badge to the guards guarding the gate. Seeing that the badge did not stop them, the guard let them enter the hall.

The two walked through the front porch and entered the courtyard, then went straight to Le Fuhua, the dean of the second entrance. The little eunuch guarding the gate of the hall saw them from a distance, then turned and went in to communicate.

After waiting outside the door for a while, he was invited in soon after.

After entering Changle Fuhua, walk through the nave to the right, open the pearl, jade and emerald curtains, and then go around the twelve screens with red borders carved with cranes and birthday pictures, and you can see the whole picture inside.

In the open lotus stove in the center of the hall, Ruinao was being burned, and thin smoke rose in strands.

In the huge palace, the maids in light blue palace attire knelt and knelt under the bed of arhats with golden silk nanmu waists, shaking round fans with peacock lacquer handles.

An old woman in a moonlight satin jacket embroidered with a magnolia butterfly pattern lay sideways on the bed.The old woman was kind-hearted and calm, she looked about fifty years old, she didn't wear many hairpins on her head, she only combed her hair in a bun with white jadeite hairpins.

This is Empress Dowager Xiaokang who is over seventy years old today.

Wei Qi followed Xiao Anzi and stopped by the screen with his hands down.

Standing next to the Empress Dowager, the Chief Eunuch Wan Renxiang of the Shoukang Palace, Wan Renxiang, leaned over and whispered something in the old ancestor's ear. The old ancestor slightly opened his eyes and looked at Wei Qi and the two, saying, "Come ahead."

The two of them went forward to kneel down and salute three times to pay respects to their ancestors: "The servant who serves tea in front of the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty, Wei Qi pays respects to our ancestors, the ancestors are auspicious."

"Let's get up." The ancestor said, stroking the cuffs inlaid with bright yellow dragon patterns.

"Hey." Wei Qi raised his head from the felt booth covered with beige chrysanthemums and double lion play balls, and stood up.

He didn't open his mouth at this time, according to the rules, he should hurry up with Xiao Anzi to return to his errand. "Old ancestor, the servant Anshun returned to the old ancestor's errand."

"Well, back off."

"Hey." Xiao Anzi withdrew.

Wei Qidao: "Slave Wei Qi has not come to pay respects to our ancestors for a long time, and our ancestors are well now."

The old ancestor looked at him and said, "It's okay, but the brain has been hurting a bit recently, and the imperial doctor didn't see any improvement after seeing it. I think you are good at massaging your hands. I called you here today because I wanted to give you a massage."

"Hey, the old ancestor only summoned the servant to pay his respects because of the pain in his head. Although the servant is sad in his heart, he should do his best." He seemed a little aggrieved.

"Look, look." The Empress Dowager pointed, then turned her head to the servants around her and said, "Everyone in Ai said that even if this kid is moved to the Qianqing Palace, he will definitely not be able to get rid of his slippery tongue!"

On the surface, there was accusation in these words, but there was a smile in his tone.

Everyone echoed a few words, Wei Qi took two steps forward, and a maid brought a spring stool for him to sit on.

"The slave has been with the ancestors since he was ten years old, even the slippery tongue is your favorite slave."

He moved his hands closer and rubbed the temples on both sides of the Empress Dowager's forehead, with moderate strength and skillful technique.

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and sighed again, and said softly: "It's interesting that you are the only slave in Shoukang Palace, how can the Ai family not like it."

Hearing this, Wei Qi thought about it for a moment, thinking whether to follow the words and let the old ancestor be transferred back to him, but the next moment he felt that it was still abrupt.

He kept moving his hands, but he heard the old ancestor say again: "The Ai family heard that you went to the inner court prison a few days ago, can there be such a thing?"

The Empress Dowager still had her eyes closed, and her voice was calm as if she was asking an ordinary question.

Wei Qi lowered his head, his face changed drastically, but he didn't dare to show it.

He replied with some hesitation: "Back to the ancestors, slave... I walked there a few days ago."