[Qing Chuan] Qing Chuan Wu Shi

After mid-April, since the tribute roses in the suburbs of Beijing, the palace began to make rouge.

In previous years, there was a special old eunuch who was in charge of watching, and the maid made it.This year, Wu Ning had a whim, and Chunxi Palace specially asked for flower petals to make rouge by himself.

Sitting in the palace, she watched the maids wash their hands and began to pick rose petals. The color of the petals is very particular about making rouge. If it is too light, it won’t work; The color of the petals is the same color from the bottom to the tip of the petals, neither thick nor light, the rouge made will look brighter without looking like a monkey's butt.

Therefore, the first step in making rouge, picking petals, is actually a job of eyesight and patience.It is not only necessary to examine a person's vision and judgment, but also requires a certain amount of patience and care.

After Qingming took a few young maids to choose, she went through all of them to ensure that the selected color was correct, and only then began to use stone mortars.Pour layers of petals into it, mash it into puree, and then filter it with fine gauze—the gauze must be washed and ironed in advance, and no burrs are allowed to prevent the fuzz on it from mixing into the rose juice and causing pollution .

After making such clean and pure rose juice, Wu Ning couldn't sit still, and couldn't help but go forward, smelling the fragrance that filled the palace, she stretched out her hand to dip a little on her finger, the bright red and delicate Wanting to drip, Qingming said with a smile: "Your Majesty, it's not enough yet, you can't paint and fix the color."

It turns out that her so-called coloring refers to pouring rose juice into the rouge cup, and then adding some alum appropriately.In the words of the nuns, "after this, the color will easily bite the flesh." Wu Ning thought that alum contains aluminum, which is easy to accumulate in the human body and cause damage to the kidneys and other organs, so he told them to reduce it Some.

He Tian was puzzled, and carefully explained to Wu Ning: "Your Majesty, the nuns said that all the rouge in the palace is made in this way. If you only use rose juice, the color will not last long. It’s okay in the palace, if it’s elsewhere, it’s inconvenient for us to touch up the empress’ makeup in a short while, then it won’t be…”

Wu Ning shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter if it's not easy to wear makeup, it's just right, and it saves you the trouble of taking off makeup at night." He Tian still wanted to say something, but Qingming grabbed his sleeve and sat down.

The whole table was covered with rouge cups that were as clear as jade. Looking over them in a row, they were white and shining. There were still some rose petals that were not completely smashed in the rose juice. , Wu Ning already felt that the beauty was pleasing to the eye.

But the next procedure is far less poetic: first cut the silk cotton into small circles, fold it into five or six layers and soak it in the rouge cup.In order to ensure that each piece of silk floss is fully absorbed with a sufficient amount of rose juice, it needs to be soaked for more than ten days, then taken out, placed on a tray, and then covered with light and almost transparent soft smoke to avoid ash, Put it in the yard to dry.

April is the best time in the world.

At this time, the temperature of the sun is just right, warm and gentle, and the temperature of the sun is much lower than that of the fire, which avoids the worry that the rose juice will change color due to burning.

When it was finally ready to use, Qingming brought the finished rouge box to Wu Ning. Wu Ning dipped his fingers in warm water, then sprinkled it lightly on the rouge, and after it melted, dipped it in his hands , rub gently in the palm of your hand, and use the temperature of the palm to faint. When the palm of your hand is a light pink with the fragrance of roses, face the mirror and gently press on both sides of the cheeks, a very natural blush makeup It was formed.

The color is like spring flowers.

Wu Ning looked at himself in the mirror, and saw that his cheeks immediately looked peachy because of the two touches of pink, so he couldn't help smiling with satisfaction.Qingming was afraid that she might not be able to see clearly, so she came forward and bent over, specially adjusting the angle of the bronze mirror.

Then, Wu Ning saw clearly the white hair shining in the sunlight in the mirror.

Not much, just one.

The winter in the fourth year of Yongzheng seemed to be much colder than in previous years. The sky and the earth were covered with catkin-like heavy snow. On the human face, it hurts like a knife cut.The wind whistled through the gap, making a frighteningly high-pitched sound in the long and narrow corridor.There are snowflakes all over the blue brick floor.

He Tian came back from somewhere else, holding a hexagonal lantern with moon and clouds in his hand, and walked along the foot of the palace wall with his head lowered. Just after passing the Changchun Palace, the snow hit her head and face so hard that she couldn't open her eyes.

He Tian stretched out his hand to cover his face, turned his back to the palace wall for a while before turning around, but just bumped into a sedan chair coming against the wind, she didn't recognize which palace master it was, so she quickly turned her head and avoided facing the wall .

Hearing that the sedan chair was about to pass by, suddenly a low and hoarse voice said: "He Tian?" He Tian never expected that any master could recognize him, he turned around in surprise, and saw the person in the sedan chair. The man lifted the curtain, revealing a withered and yellow face, looking down at him, it was the Mao concubine Song.

When the eunuchs carrying the sedan chair saw Maopin's words, they quickly stopped the sedan chair. Maopin sat in the sedan chair and turned slightly sideways to look at Hetian. Then Hetian realized that he hadn't greeted him, and quickly bowed down and said, "Slave Hetian Greetings to Madam Maopin." Maopin nodded, and Hetian thanked him again, then got up, seeing Maopin's complexion was abnormally haggard, blue veins appeared on the back of her hand, she stroked her chest and coughed lightly, and the sides of her cheeks drooped. The pearl earrings kept trembling, unspeakably weak, and I couldn't help but felt a little sad for her, and said softly: "Is there something you want the slave to bring to the master?".

The concubine Mao coughed and said softly, "Is your master all right?".

He Tian thought for a while, and said: "Go back to Madam Maopin, the master is very good, and she always misses Madam Maopin." Maopin nodded lightly, with a faint smile on his face, and said softly: " In a few days, I will go to your mother's place." He Tian lowered his head and said: "Yes.".

The two of them just said these few words, and the snow-poured wind and snow crept into the curtain of the paternal concubine's sedan chair, and the palace maid Taozhi couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, it's freezing carefully." Signaling the eunuch to pick up the sedan chair, He Tian bowed his head and stepped back to the side of the road to avoid it. When the sedan chair was far away, he raised his eyes to look at the light, blinked, and went back to Chunxi Palace.

The curtain of the tea room was raised, and He Tian came in with a cold air. Inside, several young ladies were baking cakes and eating. Seeing her, she quickly stood up and shouted: "Auntie!", and gave up the seat to serve tea, and said: "Auntie, do you want to eat cakes?" ?”, He Tian took off the hood first, dusted off the snow foam on the hat, and then said: “Your Majesty is generous, you are really lazy? Do you still eat? Is this time for eating?”, those little palace ladies Then the leader laughed and said, "It's my mother who told us to go out, so we don't need to wait." He Tian didn't say anything more to her, but looked around, and saw Qingming bent over sewing clothes, then The lights on the table flickered on and off.

He Tian walked over, flipped the lamp holder in front of her, and said, "I'm not afraid of spoiling my eyes! Are you just in such a hurry?" Seeing her coming, Qingming said, "Just right!", turning her head from the side He took a thin needle from his sewing basket, pinched it between his two fingers, and said, "Help me put it on." He Tian stuck out his tongue and said, "What? How old are you? You can't even see clearly." up?".

Qingming lowered her head, slightly lost in thought. She had lowered her head for a long time, and the back of her shoulders felt sore, so she raised her hand and rubbed it lightly, saying: "Perhaps I have done a lot of needlework these days, and I always feel that my eyes are blurry." , one person looks like two people." He Tian smiled and waved two fingers in front of her after hearing this, and said, "You owed me so much money a while ago, when will you pay me back?" , Qingming turned her head slightly and said, "Don't make trouble."

Seeing that there was no joy on her face, Hetian suddenly felt flustered, sat down and held Qingming's head in his hands, and looked into her eyes carefully.Their faces are very close, they smell each other's breath, Qingming is not used to being so close to people, slightly raised his hand to resist, He Tian said forcefully: "Don't move, don't move, let me see." He raised his hand and said: "It doesn't look like there is any problem, so relax. If you are really worried, change when the empress will call the imperial physician tomorrow, and you will follow the empress to ask for grace, and let the imperial physician help to look.".

Qingming immediately said: "Bah bah! But you talk like that, and you still ask the empress to ask the imperial doctor?" He Tian argued: "It's common for the empress in the palace to ask for a peace pulse, so what's the matter, besides the emperor I value our empress very much, even if she doesn't mention it, the imperial doctor will come next month."

Qingming listened, put down the needle and thread in her hand, stared blankly, and said: "Next month? Next month will be the Chinese New Year!" He Tian took away the needle and thread basket beside her, sat down next to her, and said: "But No, next month will be a new year, and the days go by so fast!" Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he said in a low voice: "The beginning of next year, I'm afraid there will be a draft." Qingming listened The movement of his hands froze, he tilted his head back, looked at He Tian and said, "I didn't choose in the second year.",

Knowing that the second year she was talking about was the second year of Yongzheng, He Tian shook his head and said, "Can it be the same? At that time, the emperor was keeping a filial piety for the late emperor, so naturally he couldn't be drafted. This time, it's time to choose." Seeing that Qingming was silent, He Tian bumped her elbow and said: "Don't worry too much. Although our mother has no little master, after all, we have followed the emperor for so many years. If there is a day, the emperor will not treat the empress. Even if you look at the past love, you will definitely not treat your mother badly." Qingming sighed softly, and said in a low and inaudible voice: "I hope so."