Imperial City

Wei Qi moved out of the house where the three lived.

The next day, Wu Jiacai and others were assigned to various errands in the palace, and the three of them went their separate ways without even being able to say goodbye.

Wu Jiacai was assigned to the imperial dining room because of his honesty and prudence. Although this assignment was not the best, it was not bad either. At least it was much better than being sent to the Shangyi Bureau, Yeyouting and the Inner Court Supervisor.

Although it is hard work, there is still oil and water to be fished if the head is boiled.

Now that the Holy Majesty ascended the throne not long ago, the harem is empty, because before the general election, a few court ladies were fortunate enough to promise to be here, and now is the time when there is a shortage of people to serve.

Eunuch Zhang saw that Chen Agou was clever but still considered his duty, so he arranged for Chen Agou to go to Shen Xu, who had just entered the palace. This could be regarded as the best job.

Although most of the new masters are low-ranking now, but there are not many people in the harem now, this is a good time to win the holy family. If you grasp the opportunity, even newcomers will be able to leave one or two points in front of the holy man when they enter the palace. impression.

The whereabouts of Wu and Chen have been determined, but Wei Qi has not yet been found.

Because of the injury on his lower body, he could only stay in the Supervisor of Rituals for a longer period of time, which is strange to say, if this injury were someone else's decision, Eunuch Zhang would send him to Ye Youting.

However, Wei Qi was lucky, not only did Eunuch Zhang not send him out, but he also specifically pointed to a remote side room in the Prison of Rituals to house him and let him recover from his injuries.

There have been a lot of rumors and gossips in the Supervisor of Rites these days, all about the Wu Jiacai incident a few days ago. Wu Jiacai has been transferred away for five or six days.

He was lying on the bed thinking about something when the little servant of the chief of ceremonies opened the door and came in.

"Wei Qi, dinner." The waiter threw the red lacquer tray to the side of the bed, lifted the hem of his robe and sat down at the Eight Immortals table before the collapse.

"Hurry up, kid, I'll clean up after I'm done." He said unkindly.

Wei Qi came back to God and thanked his father-in-law, propping himself up on his side to eat with his right arm. For dinner, there was a bowl of clear porridge, two steamed buns with butter and two small dishes of pickles.

He intentionally and slowly scooped up the porridge with a spoon. The little eunuch told him to eat it quickly, but in fact he wished he could waste more time.

The first time Wei Qi brought food here, he didn't know the way to do it, he was called to hurry up, and he really huh lala finished the food in half a cup of tea, almost choking on himself, but instead of talking, he was so angry that the little eunuch blew his beard Staring at him mockingly.

After people slammed their things away and slammed the door, Wei Qi turned the corner and thought to himself that he was too stupid.

But it was also after this incident that Wei Qi understood the twists and turns in the words of the servants in the palace, and sometimes what was said on the surface did not actually mean that, and the key to this was to ponder it slowly.

The little eunuch drank the pre-brewed tea in Wei Qi's house, and swayed with Erlang's legs: "Wei Qi, you were living in the same room as the Wu family."

"If you go back to Eunuch, the slave was originally in the same house as Wu Jiacai. Eunuch, what's the matter, but what happened?"

The little eunuch looked at him strangely: "Yo! You kid doesn't know about this yet."

He got up and sat down beside the bed, leaned over to Wei Qi's ear and sneered, "Your roommate asked Eunuch Zhou to accept him!"

With a bang, the spoon in Wei Qi's hand fell into the bowl.

He grabbed the little eunuch's skirt: "Just now... what did you say.. It's accepted." His voice was trembling, and it was very difficult to say these words.

"What are you dragging me for? Let go! You son of a bitch, I tell you to tear me apart!" The little eunuch pushed him away, stood up and stroked his clothes, condescendingly looking at the collapsed man Wei Qi sneered.

"If you accept it, you will accept it. Why, don't you understand the newcomer?"

Where Wei Qi doesn't understand is because he didn't understand before, and he understands everything he should understand and what he shouldn't understand during the past few months in the palace.

He raised his head and gritted his teeth to stare at the little eunuch in front of him, his eyes were red, and the veins on his forehead were bulging.

The little eunuch saw Wei Qi looking at him so hatefully, sneered with disdain, and said mockingly: "If you want me to say, you are actually much more annoying than that Wu Jiacai. In a few years, you must be It is also this fate."

He leaned down and caressed Wei Qi's cheek carefully, raised his chin, looked around, and sighed in admiration: "It's really good-looking, but it's a pity, I'm not good at it."

Wei Qi pursed his lips, clenched his fist and slammed it towards his face, who knew that the little eunuch grabbed it and threw it on the bed, and slapped him on the face.

He was already injured, and he had never hit anyone before, so he didn't have the strength to fight with others. After being slapped, he collapsed on the ground and couldn't move.

"Bitch! My hand hurts from beating you."

If it wasn't for the orders from above, I would beat you to death today, it doesn't matter.The little eunuch thought to himself, took the things and slammed the door and left.

Seeing him leave coldly, Wei Qi tore the cotton and linen mattress under him as if venting his anger.

It's all my fault, it's all my fault, he bit the mattress and knocked his head on the slump, bang, bang, every sound was full of regret.

-------

After Wei Qiyang recovers from his injury, he is transferred to Liangguiji's side as an errand.

In fact, he was supposed to go to the Shoukang Palace where the Empress Dowager Xiaokang lived, but his superiors had already sent a message to Eunuch Zhang, saying that there was a shortage of people in the Shoukang Palace, and they wanted to transfer a boy from the new batch of entrants to the palace.

Eunuch Zhang knew that this was just an excuse to deceive others, but in fact it was just for Wei Qi.

He still respectfully agreed, and after a few days, he sent everyone to be selected by the ancestors.

But who knew that kid Wei Qi had an accident at this juncture, he had no choice but to report it to his superiors.

Sure enough, after getting the news, the higher-ups stopped picking newcomers, and only said it was enough.

Eunuch Zhang thought to himself: This is also a personal fortune.

Wei Qi was more silent during these days than when he first entered the palace, if there was no question from his superiors, he hardly opened his mouth in a day.

At noon, the eunuch next to Liang Guiji sent a message that the eunuch came to be the supervisor of ceremonies, and Wei Qi resigned from his father-in-law, and left behind the man.

The harem of the Forbidden City is centered on the Palace of Qianqing, where the emperor lived. There are three major conference halls, the Palace of Preserving Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the front. The rear is adjacent to the Jiaotai Hall and the Kunning Palace where the empress lives. There are six palaces on the east and west sides. , is the residence of concubines, and the people in the palace collectively call it "East and West Twelve Palaces."

The three palaces and six courtyards in the world's population are Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace and East and West Twelve Palaces.

Concubine Lianggui was a concubine in the former Southwest Palace. Her status was low. According to the etiquette system, she could only be named Jieyu of the seventh rank. However, the Holy Majesty had six concubine sons except the prince, but only had two daughters. Concubine Lianggui gave birth to her Princess Qingyuan is one of them.

The Holy Majesty loves this girl, and the concubine Lianggui's mother is honored by her son, so she made an exception and was promoted to a noble concubine of the sixth rank.

Concubine Lianggui now lives in the Chuxiu Palace of the West Sixth Palace, which is located behind the West Sixth Palace and faces the Imperial Garden to the east.

The Supervisor of Rituals is located in the north of Jingyang Palace, one of the East Six Palaces. Bypassing the Zhongcui Palace on the west side of Jingyang Palace, you will reach the other side of the Imperial Garden. Therefore, Chuxiu Palace is not too far from the Supervisor of Rituals.

So in less than half an hour, the two arrived in Chuxiu Palace.

The main seat of the Chuxiu Palace is the first-rank concubine De, who was the concubine of the former Southwest Palace.

Concubine De is now over thirty years old, her appearance is no longer, but she is loved by the Holy One because of her gentle and obedient disposition, which is why she is the lord of the first palace.

The accompanying eunuch took out the waist tag hanging on the edge of his robe and handed it to the gate guards outside Chuxiu Palace. The guards on both sides let him go, and he led Wei Qi to the side hall on the west side of Chuxiu Palace.

Chuxiu Palace was originally the second entrance courtyard. The former Emperor Ming demolished the Chuxiu Gate and the surrounding wall, and changed the back hall of Yikun Palace into the Chuantang Hall, which is called the Hall of Tihe. It connects Chuxiu Palace and Yikun Palace, forming a connected four into the courtyard.

The front porch of Chuxiu Palace is connected with the front porch of the East and West side halls and the back eaves porch of Tihe hall, forming a corridor.

This palace is on the top of a mountain with a single eaves, five rooms wide, and a corridor in front.

Dougong is placed under the eaves, and Liang Fang is decorated with elegant Su-style color paintings.

The door is a partition door with nanmu carved Wanzi brocade bottom, five bats holding longevity, and Wanfu Wanshou skirt board, and the window is decorated with Wanzi group longevity pattern step by step brocade branch picking window.

The inner eaves are exquisitely and gorgeously decorated. In the Ming Dynasty, there is a ground screen throne in the middle, and five red sandalwood screens inlaid with the word "Shou" in the back, and a "Da Yuan Bao Jing" plaque hanging on it.

On the east side, there is a rosewood carved bamboo-pattern glass partition fan, and on the west side there is a rosewood carved magnolia-pattern glass partition fan, which respectively separates the east and west secondary rooms from the open space.

The east part and the top are separated by a floor-to-ceiling cover with rosewood carvings and grape patterns, and the west part and the top are separated by a rosewood carved Wanfu and Longevity pattern as the frame and a partition fan inlaid with large glass. It is the living room.

The courtyard of Chuxiu Palace is spacious and quiet, and two vigorous ancient cypresses stand in it. A pair of copper dragons and a pair of copper sika deer are placed on the east and west sides of the base of the hall. Three hard hilltop buildings.

The back hall is Lijingxuan, five rooms wide, with a single eaves and a hard mountain top. There are east and west side halls called Fengguang Room and Yilan Pavilion.

Concubine Lianggui lives in the Xufu Hall of the Xibei Hall.

Now it's past the time to pay respects to the eminent concubine De, and the two went straight into the Xu Fu Hall.

Concubine Lianggui is nearly thirty years old, with gentle features and fair skin, her hair is combed twice, decorated with emerald greens, she looks to be in her early twenties.

He wears a light yellow shirt with pink trim, a black vest with a big cloud head, a black embroidered railing on the skirt, and red bow shoes on his feet.

The fingers are long and slender, the nails are round, painted with impatiens juice, without armor.

Wei Qi kowtowed to her three times to pay her respects, Liang Guiji called out in Wenyan, without any embarrassment, and asked her name.

Wei Qi respectfully replied: "In the words of the master, the slave's name is Wei Qi."

Concubine Lianggui saw that she had delicate features, her head was slightly lowered but her waist was straight, she was still young, but she spoke in an orderly manner, gracefully and calmly.

I don't know which rich family sent their children to the palace in a downturn, which is also a pity.

Because Wei Qi has lost a lot of weight since entering the palace, and his skin is not as delicate and fair as before, Liang Guiji guessed that he was the son of a merchant.

"The name Wei Qi is easy to remember, there is no need to change it, it will still be called Wei Qi in the future."

"Hey, slave thank you for your kindness."

"Wei Qi, can you read? Have you ever read a book?" Looking at this demeanor, he should have read a book of ideas.

Wei Qiwei thought for a while, and he couldn't tell the truth or lie.

"Returning to the master, the slave can only know a few words, and went to school for a year when he was six years old."

"En." Concubine Liang Gui was satisfied, because her status was low, she used to be just a concubine of the palace, unlike other concubines who had dowry maids and servants, no one in Xufu Palace could read or write.

This child looks calm and reliable, and he can read a few words. If he is carefully cultivated, he will become her right-hand man in a few years.

"How old are you?" She became more and more amiable.

"If you go back to the master, the slave is nine years old."

After hearing this, Liang Guiji's fingers trembled slightly, showing a little grief.

Nine years old, if her Yuner is still there, she should be this old now.

She looked at Wei Qi, he might be stronger and more lively than this slave.

Although Wei Qi lowered his head, he could still feel the abnormality of his new master. He lowered his head even lower for a while, and said nothing.

The first-class personal servant girl next to Concubine Liang knew that the master must have remembered the eldest son who had passed away, so she hurriedly asked someone to lead Wei Qi to retreat first to clean up, and to go with everyone to pay her respects to Concubine De in the morning.

Wei Qi withdrew, followed the little eunuch to the back of the Xu Fu Hall, and he frankly tidied up the bed.

The population in Xufu Palace is simple, and Wei Qi has a total of eight slaves.

There are four eunuchs and maids each, one is the seventh-rank leader eunuch, one is the teaching mother, three are the little eunuchs who sweep and spread the word, and three personal maids.

The chief eunuch named Liang Ju, aged [-], is in charge of all accounts and human relations in Xufu Hall.

The little eunuch who led Wei Qilai was named Liangxi, he was seventeen this year, with long hands and feet, and a calm person, who was in charge of sending messages and handling errands.

Another young eunuch named Liang Xing, fourteen years old, was in charge of sweeping the hall. Sometimes Liang Xi went out on errands, and when he couldn't find anyone to pass on the message, Liang Xing replaced him.

Most of these people are old people in the palace, only Wei Qi and a court lady are newcomers.

The room he lives in is very spacious, originally Liang Xi and Liang Xing lived together, now counting Wei Qi there are only three of them, Liang Ju has a separate residence.

The bed is very big, enough to accommodate six people to sleep together. There is a large square table and three carved bamboo chairs in the room. In the west corner stands a four-story bamboo shelf with two copper basins and several A handkerchief, and to the east is a beech column cabinet next to the bed Kang, and there is even a small bronze mirror table next to the cabinet.

Liang Xi said that he still had some errands, so he told Wei Qihao to clean up, and he would do it himself.

Wei Qi was the only one left in the room, he slowly approached the bronze mirror stand, bent down to look carefully at the person in the mirror.

She has lost a lot of weight, her face is very sharp, her cheeks are protruding, not as fleshy as when she was at home, and her eyes are dull and dull.

is this me?Wei Qi asked himself, is this the Chen family Xiaoyi?He reached out to touch the cold dark yellow mirror.

No, he asked himself and answered, this is not Chen Xiaoyi, this is Wei Qi.

He didn't dare to blink, tears were about to flow, so he raised his head and held back, left the mirror stage to tidy up the place.

In fact, there was nothing to tidy up, the house was spotless everywhere, and the bedding was new, so it was rolled into a pile on the side of the kang.

He didn't have much luggage either, just a few old clothes.

Wei Qi made the bed, and put on a new palace attendant's uniform, which was different from the blue-gray jacketed jacket worn by the chief of ceremonies, while the palace uniform worn by concubines was dark blue satin-coated cotton-padded gown.

The satin material is slippery to the touch, and for the sake of convenience and pleasing to the eye, the palace gown is not as thick as the one worn by the Supervisor of Ceremonies, but a little thinner.

But the room was warm and didn't feel cold.

The clothes are thin, but the boots are much thicker. The navy blue short boots have solid soles, and the boots are velvet inside. I don’t know what kind of fur is used to wrap the outside. .

Wei Qi packed up and opened the door to find Liangxi by himself.

Who would have thought that Liang Xing, the cleaner, was the first to see him in the courtyard. He saluted and said hello, and Liang Xing asked him what was the matter.

Wei Qi thought about it, if he told this person to look for a good practice and a job, then he would be dissatisfied, and felt that he didn't take him seriously.

Forget it, he has the least qualifications and the lowest status in this Xufu Palace.

"Back to Mr. Liangxi, the little one has packed up the house and wants to find some work to do."

Liangxing little Liangxi is three years old, and he has always been overwhelmed by him. Now that the younger Wei Qi has come, this call of Liangxi's father-in-law made him feel calm.

"You're pretty clever, but you're still young, and the master can't send you to do the work in front of me, so just sweep the yard for me."

Wei Qi responded, took the broom honestly, was satisfied with his virtue, and went to please his master without mentioning it.

The good man watched from the dark corner of the corridor, and saw Wei Qi sweeping carefully with a broom in his hand, even removing the dozen or so potted plants in the courtyard one by one, and sweeping the bottom clean.

A thin layer of dust had accumulated under the potted plant, and he struggled to move it with his thin arms and legs, frowning slightly, with a serious expression as if he was doing a great event.

Liangxing nodded secretly: he is a serious seedling, unlike that bastard Liangxi who is used to being lazy and slippery.

Liangxi turned and left, Wei Qisong breathed a sigh of relief, and his men didn't stop.

Fools don't know that he will be stared at by everyone on this first day.

Just when Liangju came back from the Shangyi Bureau, Liangxi stopped going back and forth, and reported Wei Qi's actions after entering the palace and afterward. Wei Qi was even more satisfied.