The Maid's Strategy in the Red Chamber

who are you?

After the imperial decree was read out, Mrs. Liu smiled at the eunuch who announced the decree: "I haven't seen you for many years. Eunuch Xu is still so handsome."

The man called Eunuch Xu chuckled: "Our family is old, but I never thought that after so many years, the little maid in the Forbidden City has now turned into a second-rank lady. No wonder even the empress dowager praised you It's a blessed one."

Mrs. Liu said with a smile: "The flower hall has prepared some refreshments, and I would like to ask Eunuch Xu to give me a face."

Eunuch Xu waved his hand and said: "Madam's kindness is appreciated by our family, but I still have an errand here, so I won't bother you here. Madam is now ordered to go to the palace to pay her respects to the empress, and we will inevitably meet in the future opportunity." Then he walked out.

Seeing this, Liu hurriedly followed, personally sent him to the second gate and gave him a thick red seal before turning around.

In addition to the rewards, they also brought the crown clothes of the second rank imperial order.Mrs. Liu looked at Daiyu calmly, then smiled at Daiyu: "I will deliver a message to the palace early in the morning, and the palace will not let us wait too long. You are the eldest daughter of our family. Your empress will definitely summon you too. I have taught you the etiquette and rules in the past, so you can just follow me and watch me wink and act."

As he said that, he looked at Xueyan again: "You have always been in charge of the girl's clothes. You took the whole night to make two big clothes for the girl. You don't want to be novel and outstanding, but you must be dignified."

Xueyan hurriedly nodded in response. Fortunately, the end of the new year was approaching, and she had already prepared a large dress for Daiyu to wear for the New Year, and the embroidery of a jacket was half done, so she was not too passive.

When Zijuan heard the word "entering the palace", Zijuan once looked at Mrs. Liu expectantly, and then saw that she was only talking to Xueyan, and her eyes darkened: Madam has always liked Xueyan before, and this time entering the palace may be I have nothing to do with myself.

Two days later, someone from the palace came to inform Liu Shi and Empress Daiyu to call.Daiyu immediately ordered Xueyan to accompany her into the palace, at that moment Zijuan felt a little unwilling.But thinking of what the girl said last time, she had to accept her fate.The girl said last time that if she wants to get away with Xueyan for her own benefit in the future, she will give herself back to the old lady.Not to mention how the old lady will despise herself for being useless at that time, even if she does not despise herself, how can the Jia family still have a foothold now?

No matter how reluctant she was, Zijuan still restrained those careful thoughts to help Daiyu arrange things for entering the palace.

I thought it would be a good eye-opener after entering the palace, but when I arrived at the gate of the palace, there were female officials waiting there, welcoming them all the way to the side hall of Fengning Palace where the queen lives, and said with a smile: "The empress is handling palace affairs Please, Mrs. Lin and Miss Lin, please wait for a while." After speaking, he specially explained the rules of meeting with them.

Under such a situation, Xue Yan had the nerve to look around.After walking for a long time, Liushi and Daiyu mixed a cup of tea anyway, and the two sisters, Yancao and herself, had no choice but to bear it in vain.It was so easy to hear what the Empress called, but the maid only brought Liu Shi and Daiyu and said to them: "The idlers just wait here."

Well, I'm going to be an "idler" now, if I knew that going to the palace would be so boring, I might as well give this opportunity to Zijuan, to save her from always looking at me with very resentful eyes recently.

Fortunately, after Daiyu and the others left, there was no one else in this side hall, and no one was guarding outside in such a cold day.

There are many eunuchs and maids standing under the corridor of the main hall.

Seeing the two chairs on the side, Xueyan gently pulled Yancao's hand, motioning her to sit down and rest.Yan Cao hesitated and opened her eyes wide, Xue Yan saw that she couldn't be dragged, so she went to sit on the chair by herself.By the way, he picked up the teapot and found that there was still half a pot of tea in it. He was overjoyed, picked up two clean teacups, poured tea and drank it.

Yancao on the opposite side saw how bold she was, so she couldn't help showing her teeth and beckoning to wipe her neck.Xueyan didn't respond, and continued to drink tea in a leisurely manner.Today she got up before dawn to get ready, not only to take care of herself, but also to help Daiyu dress up.Because she was about to enter the palace, she didn't dare to drink porridge, but only ate a silver silk roll the size of a palm and a piece of peanut crisp.Then he waited outside the palace gate for more than half an hour, and after entering the palace gate, he walked for another half an hour before arriving here.I was already tired, hungry and thirsty, so I didn't even think about rules and etiquette.

After three cups of hot tea, Xue Yan always felt much more comfortable in her stomach. After all, she didn't dare to drink too much, for fear that she would want to go to the toilet.Even though this is the most noble place in the world, it is not easy to find a latrine, and it will make people laugh.

So, even though the tea tasted good, she still couldn't drink it anymore.

And Yancao saw her moist and shiny lips after drinking the tea, then licked her very dry lips, quickly ran over to pick up the teacup and drank it.Xueyan smiled lightly, then picked up the teapot and filled it up for her when she finished drinking.Although there is a charcoal basin in this side hall, but it is freezing outside, the tea has already become a bit cold, but at this time it is good to have saliva to moisten the throat, it doesn't matter whether it is cold or not.

After drinking tea and resting for a while, Yancao carefully wiped off the water stains on the cups the two of them had used with a handkerchief and put them back away, then dragged her to continue standing.Xueyan also knew that she couldn't live in Longwangshu, especially the place where she was staying now was a bit special, so she followed Yancao

stand up.

The two of them stood for about a stick of incense, and then saw the main hall's gate being opened, and then Daiyu and her two walked out under the guidance of a female official.

Xueyan and Yancao hurriedly opened the door and walked out, then followed Liushi and Daiyu to the outside of the palace.

Just after walking out of the gate of Fengning Palace, a group of people came to meet them, and the female officer who led them out immediately greeted them: "Aunt Mo, if you have something to do, just ask the servant to pass on a message, why did you come here in person?"

The person named Aunt Mo showed a smile on her face: "The Empress Dowager heard that the fifth princess is not feeling well, so she specially sent me over to take a look." Then, she turned around and saw Mrs. Liu, and said with some surprise: "This lady It looks kind of nice."

The female officer covered her mouth and smiled: "Auntie forgot, she was the one who served Concubine Ning before."

"No wonder." Aunt Mo suddenly realized that Concubine Ning was the most popular among the emperor's concubines besides the empress, but it was a pity that Fang died young.It's still embarrassing to think about it now.

She sighed with emotion, then looked at Liu Shi's imperial attire and said, "Your child can be considered a blessing."

As he spoke, he glanced behind her inadvertently, just in time to see the snow goose with its head lowered halfway, and seeing her inexplicably familiar side face, he couldn't help exclaiming: "Who are you?"