Tangled

"Your Majesty, it's time to get up." Jin Qing called softly through the curtain.

"Well, what time is it..." Su Qingwan turned over and opened her eyes, full of drowsiness.

"It's already the hour and the moment." Jin Qing replied, "The ointment is already warming on the stove, Aunt Luoluo said, please get up quickly, lest the ointment loses its flavor."①

"Where's Luoluo?" Su Qingwan sat up slowly, and motioned Jin Qing to open the curtain.

"My aunt is cooking for my mother in the small kitchen." Jin Qing replied with a smile, and then called out to the little maid who was waiting outside the door, "Your majesty, get up!"

When Su Qingwan came out, the hot ointment had already been placed on the table, and there was a plate of silk cages beside it, one could tell it was the handicraft of the Imperial Dining Room. ②

Su Qingwan was sitting at the table, tapping her fingertips on the table in boredom, when she suddenly heard a restrained noise in the yard.

"What happened outside?" Su Qingwan raised her hands to support her head, and asked Hu Po who had just opened the curtain.

"It was the Inner Court Secretary who brought the reward for the Lantern Festival. There was a little servant girl who clumsily lit a glazed lamp. The slave girl reprimanded her a few times. Unexpectedly, she disturbed the empress, and asked her to forgive her." Hu Po replied.

"Forget it, it's just a glazed lamp, I don't know how many there are in the warehouse." Su Qingwan waved her hand, "Is there anything rare?"

"That's all right, but there is a pair of vertical blue and white porcelain vases that are quite unique." Hu Po replied.

"Have someone go to the storeroom to look through it, and replace all the agate plates and silk-wrapped plates in this room." Su Qingwan pointed to the museum shelf, "Look at the old ones, there is no need to keep them."

"Yes." Amber replied.

"Concubine Shu is really rich and powerful." Mu Luoluo came in with a food box and said with a smile.

"After waiting for you for so long, the ointment should be cold." Su Qingwan said angrily.

"You eat first, so why wait for me." Mu Luoluo sat down opposite Su Qingwan, and took out the food in the food box, "I made some jade beam cakes and jiao xiao chai, the moths seemed too greasy, I didn’t prepare it, if you want to eat it, you have to order someone else to do it.”③

"Is Silkworm God ready?" Su Qingwan got up and filled Mu Luoluo's ointment, then sat down and took a piece of Yuliang cake, took a bite, and handed it to Mu Luoluo's mouth.

"When I got up early in the morning, I first made cocoons to sacrifice to Empress Silkworm Flower." Mu Luoluo took a bite out of Su Qingwan's hand, then frowned slightly, "I put too much cane pulp."④

"It's still bearable." Su Qingwan blinked pretending to be wronged, with the attitude of a little daughter-in-law who swallowed her anger.

Mu Luoluo smiled and shook her head, pettingly raised her hand and flicked Su Qingwan's forehead.

·

"It's really cold outside." Jin Qing opened the curtain and came in, put down the bamboo basket in her hand, hurried to the ground dragon to drive out the cold, and kept breathing on her hands.

"I don't know what you are in a hurry to do, but you went out wearing such thin clothes." Su Qingwan put down the scroll and looked at Jin Qing, "What is this?"

"This is the bamboo strips and various colored silks that Aunt Luoluo ordered the servants to go to the inner court to ask for." As soon as Jin Qing finished speaking, Mu Luoluo came in with a porcelain bowl.

"You want to make lanterns?" Su Qingwan reached out to take the porcelain bowl in Mu Luoluo's hand, it was a bowl of paste.

"En." Mu Luoluo untied the bundle that Jinqing brought back, and took out all the materials, "What kind of lantern do you want?"

"I didn't know that Luoluo could tie lanterns." Su Qingwan smiled, and reached out to play with a bamboo stick.

"Your Majesty injured her hand carefully, this bamboo strip is very sharp." Jin Qing reminded her aloud.

"Two years ago, you thought the style of the lanterns rewarded by the palace was monotonous. I went to the Inner Court Department a few years ago and found a master to learn how to tie them. I thought I could have some new tricks this year." Mu Luoluo turned around and went to the cabinet to take out a few patterns. , spread out in front of Su Qingwan.

"This white crane is really interesting to look at." Su Qingwan looked at each one carefully, and finally picked out a few. Just hang it in the house."

"You can't be idle." Mu Luoluo looked at the ones Su Qingwan selected, most of which were animals.

"Aunt Luoluo really spoils my mother to the core." Jinqing helped Mu Luoluo measure and cut, and couldn't help laughing.

"That's natural." Su Qingwan got up and went to the desk to get the inkstone and ink ingots, and after thinking about it, she went to the dressing table to get rouge and black ink.

"I don't think this girl can be kept any longer, so she should find a good family and send her out." Mu Luoluo smiled and smacked Jinqing's waist with the bamboo strip in her hand.

"That can't be done. The slaves are used to being lazy, and don't want to go out to serve people." Jin Qing put the cut plain silk aside, and under Mu Luoluo's command, weaved it according to the gourd painting.

"Since you came, the maids in the Nuan Pavilion have become more and more lazy." Su Qingwan got up again, brought the inkstone over, and said loudly, "Amber, bring some gold powder."

"Miss Luoluo wished she could surround the empress with a curtain, even if the servants tried their best to serve her, they would not be able to get close to the empress." Hu Po came in with gold powder and smiled.

"That's right, Hu Po was also serving in the Nuan Pavilion, but now she's been assigned to the outside room." Jin Qing agreed.

"Being more and more eloquent, you should be punished." Su Qingwan smiled, dipped her hands in rouge, and wiped it on the faces of the two maids.

At this moment, Su Qingwan couldn't let Su Qingwan ruin it, the two of Violet Green and Amber naturally wanted to avoid it, but they bumped into each other unexpectedly, their foreheads were red instead of rouge.

While playing and playing, Mu Luoluo's men had already tied out the lamp bone of a lantern, dipped it in the paste, and pasted the oraxanthin silk on it, and a lapdog looked like it.

Su Qingwan took the lantern from Hu Po's hand, looked at it for a moment, dotted her eyes with black rouge, painted her tongue with rouge, and it came to life in an instant.

"Although it's not as exquisite as the inner one, it's more to my liking. The inner one is too regular, which is always meaningless." Su Qingwan looked up and down, unable to put it down.

"Tie a few tricks to play with, and then tie a few palace lanterns to hang out." Mu Luoluo handed the cut moon white plain silk to Su Qingwan, "These will be used to paste octagonal lanterns, whether it's writing poems or painting, it's up to you That's what I want."

"What are you writing..." Su Qingwan took the wolf hair and put it on her chin in thought.

Mu Luoluo raised her head and glanced at Su Qingwan, smiled lowly, then lowered her head again, focusing on the work in hand.

·

"Go to the right, to the side, to the right." Jin Qing stood on the porch, raised her head and directed the little maid to hang lanterns on the porch.

"Pass, go back to the left." Standing in the yard, Amber commanded Yao Yao.

"Just pass there, obviously you have to keep to the right." Jin Qing turned her head and glared at Hu Po, then raised her head again and said to the little maid, "Listen to me, move to the right."

The little maid holding the lantern was at a loss and stood there with her hands and feet tied.

Su Qingwan stood aside, holding an octagonal palace lantern, teasing the cat with the tassels under the lantern, totally oblivious to the little maid's plight.

"Come and see for yourself, if it's over, I said I would move back." When the little maid finally finished hanging up, Amber waved to Jin Qing, signaling her to come to the yard to have a look.

"It's indeed a bit biased." Jin Qing pondered for a moment and had to admit.

The little maid who just got off the high chair was about to cry when she heard the words.

"Okay, let's hang up the one on the left side, so it's symmetrical." Mu Luoluo turned out from the back room, holding the last lantern, which was a red koi.

"The Lantern Festival hasn't even started yet, and juggling has started in the empress's palace. It's really lively." When Ruan Meiren came in, it was the two of Violet and Amber who were directing the dazed little maid Hang Second. When there was a lantern, it was said that one person ordered two people to quarrel and three people to fight hard, and this is exactly the situation now.

Princess He Hua followed behind Ruan Meiren, her right hand tightly clutching the corner of Ruan Meiren's clothes, timidly sticking out her head.

"It's still in the middle of the year, so it should be more lively." Su Qingwan raised her head and replied with a smile, her hands were not paying attention, and the cat bit the tassel, fell down suddenly, and almost lost her hand.

"This little bastard also wants to win some prizes." Ruan Meiren squatted down, picked up the cat, and pinched its ears in her arms, "The lanterns in the Empress Palace are unique, I don't know where they came from ?”

"These lanterns are all made by Luoluo." Su Qingwan raised her chin slightly, feeling complacent and complacent, far more happy than those made by her hand.

Princess Hehua first bowed to Su Qingwan, and then reached out to touch the cat in Ruan Meiren's arms. Seeing this, Ruan Beauty put the cat in Princess Hehua's arms.

"If Hehua likes it, how about Madam Su giving you this cat?" Su Qingwan squatted down, reached out and touched Princess Hehua's cheek, her eyebrows and eyes were seven or eight points similar to Concubine Zhang De.

"How did this happen." Ruan Mei said humanely, "If I remember correctly, this cat was rewarded by the Queen Mother, there is absolutely no reason to give it to He Hua at will."

"It's okay, the queen mothers don't often come to Shangqing Palace." Su Qingwan stood up, looked down at the joy in Princess Hehua's eyes, and the corners of her mouth slightly raised, "If you don't tell me, I don't tell you, who can tell the story to the queen mother?" in the ear."

Mu Luoluo stood aside, taking in all of Su Qingwan's expressions. Su Qingwan liked children and felt guilty towards Concubine Zhang De, so she naturally cared more about Princess Hehua than other princesses.

"If that's the case, thank you, Concubine Shu." Ruan Meiren slightly blessed her body.

Princess Hehua couldn't put it down holding the cat, raised her head and said crisply, "Hehua thanked Madam Su."

"The maid hanging lanterns outside is very messy. The beauty came in and sat down for a while. There is a new snack prepared this morning. The princess will also try it." Mu Luoluo laughed.

"That's right, I was too busy talking, but I forgot to invite my sister into the house." Su Qingwan handed the rabbit lantern in her hand to Jin Qing, and told her to make a pick stick later to make a portable lantern.

"The year is so busy, I never cared when Princess Hehua came to my sister's knee." Su Qingwan pushed the jade beam cake in front of Princess Hehua.

"When I was in front of you, Your Majesty went to the Qingyou Pavilion. I made some snacks for the princess that day. When Your Majesty asked, I answered truthfully." Ruan Meiren saw that there were various dried fruits on the side, so she reached out and took some, carefully "Your Majesty felt ashamed of Sister De Concubine in his heart, and thought that he was miserable under my knees, so he allowed me to raise the princess. On the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, he could take her back to the house for reunion."

"It's a good thing, there is always something to look forward to in this palace." Su Qingwan nodded, and inadvertently saw Princess Hehua staring at herself, "What is the princess looking at?"

"My concubine always said that Empress Su is the most beautiful woman in the world, and she is one of the few immortals. Her smile is even more stunning, but Empress Su doesn't like to laugh." Princess Hehua tilted her head slightly, and said crisply, "But I think mother Concubine is wrong, Su Niangniang loves to laugh, when she smiles, there are stars in her eyes."

Su Qingwan was taken aback for a moment, then turned her head to look at Mu Luoluo, just as the latter raised her head, and the moment their eyes met, a smile filled her brows.

"Your mother and concubine are right." Su Qingwan didn't turn her head, looked at Mu Luoluo, and said softly to Princess Hehua, "When she told you this, my heart died, but now, I am resurrected for the love in my heart. "

Princess Hehua looked at Su Qingwan half-understood, Empress Su's smile was prettier than other empresses in the palace.

Ruan Meiren covered the peeled dried fruit with a handkerchief, and placed it in front of Princess Hehua. Su Qingwan's smile did not float on the surface, but penetrated directly into the bottom of her eyes. It was really shining.

The author has something to say:

① Paste Mi: "Tang Liu Dian" records: "There are also festival food... the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the dark day Paste Mi". "Gao Mi" is meat porridge.

②Silk cages: "Wenchang Miscellaneous Records" records: "Tang Dynasty seasonal objects...there were silk cages in Shangyuan". "Silkong" is a cake-shaped food made of wheat flour.

③Yuliang Cake, Huo Moer and Jiao Yangzhui: "Yunxian Miscellaneous Notes" records: "On the fifteenth day of the first month of Luoyang New Year's Day, fire moths are made and Yuliang cakes are eaten." According to textual research, fire moths should be a kind of Fried food, Yuliang cake may be a pastry made from rice flour or wheat flour.

"Shanfulu" records: "Bianzhong is on a diet, and Shangyuan is chasing it." Judging from the records in "Taiping Guangji", this kind of thing is similar to modern fried Lantern Festival.

④ Jade cocoon: "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" records: "Duzhong makes noodle cocoon every [-]th day of the first lunar month". Noodle cocoon is a cocoon-shaped food made of glutinous rice, which can also be used to worship the silkworm god.