concubines

Early in the morning, Liusu walked into Qi Yunruo's room with a stack of books in his arms. Qi Yunruo was still not sober, and Liusu was vigorously wiping his face.

"Copy scriptures?"

Liubai smiled and said: "The concubine is preparing to hand-copy Buddhist scriptures for the empress's birthday to show her filial piety. The empress thinks this is a good thing for accumulating virtue, so she also found a few copies for the third young master to copy, and after a while, find a temple that will be effective. Serve up."

Liusu immediately understood the reason, and looked at Qi Yunruo worriedly.

Qi Yunruo took it over calmly, and said, "Thank you, Princess Wang, for taking care of me, and thank you sister for making this trip."

Seeing him take it, Liu Bai smiled and left.

As soon as she left, Liusu pinched her waist and said angrily: "I'll just say it! I'll just say it! Missy has long been unhappy."

Qi Yunruo was also a little disappointed, he turned to Xiaoshan and said, "Ask someone to tell Brother Ji that I can't go, because we agreed yesterday to read together today."

Xiaoshan nodded and left, Liusu angrily went to read the Buddhist scriptures brought by Liubai, and said: "There are so many, at least one or two months of copying."

Qi Yunruo thought for a while and said, "At least it gave me something to do."

Qi Yunruo's handwriting was taught one by one by his mother, so it was a bit feminine, but he couldn't feel it. Qi Yunruo had never respected gods and Buddhas before, but he felt that he should respect the copying of scriptures. But he did it cautiously, so he washed his hands carefully first, and it was only before he started to write that he realized that he didn't have a suitable pen and paper.

Qi Yunruo looked at the direction of Qi Niqun's main room with some headaches. He felt that Qi Niqun probably didn't want to bother her with these trivial matters, so he looked at Xiaojiu and said, "Go to Brother Ji and borrow it for me." Some pens and paper."

"Hey." Xiao Jiu nodded.

Liusu was taken aback, quickly stopped Xiao Jiu, and said angrily, "Why do you still want to touch the eldest lady's brow?"

Qi Yunruo said: "Tell Xiao Jiu to go secretly, the princess may not know."

"As soon as our people go out, the eldest lady will know."

Qi Yunruo said distressedly: "If I knew it earlier, I would have let Xiaoshan make it clear when I went."

Li Chen thought too much about things yesterday, and woke up this morning with a headache. Yesterday, the affairs of the yamen were almost handled, and he also got annoyed by those people who tried to make friends with him, so he simply asked for leave and rested in Ji Huan's house.

Xiaoshan knocked on the courtyard door and went in, went in and found sister Yue Ya'er, and told Qi Yunruo about copying Buddhist scriptures, Yue Ya'er said: "It's hard for you, come so far, I'll tell our young master to go, these Take the fruit and eat it."

Ji Huan got up early, heard the movement outside, went out lightly, and heard Xiao Shan say it again.Ji Huan's expression didn't change, he smiled and said: "I see, go back and tell Xiao Qi, let him copy the book with peace of mind, I have prepared a lot of things for him, and I will bring them to him in a few days."

"Hey, I made a note of it."

Ji Huan knew that if Qi Yun was in short supply, he might not have something to reward these little girls, so he asked Yue Ya'er to wrap a few taels of money for Xiao Shan, and told her to go back and share with Xiao Jiu.

Xiaoshan got the silver and went back happily.

Ji Huan carefully returned to the bedroom, Li Chen was sitting up, and asked in a deep voice, "What's the matter?"

Ji Huan couldn't help hesitating.

Li Chen heard the words "copy scriptures", "can't come", and "money", and asked in confusion, "Xiao Qi? He wants to copy Buddhist scriptures?"

Ji Huan sighed lightly: "I'm afraid that the side concubine offended the concubine and the concubine and implicated little brother Qi."

Li Chen said: "It's still a half-grown child. It's the time when it's lively. Copying Buddhist scriptures requires patience. It's really unnecessary for him at his age."

Ji Huan shook his head and smiled wryly, but did not speak.

Li Chen lay down with his arms under his pillow. He was still observing Wang Hao's reaction to the housekeeper. He had been waiting for Wang Hao to speak to him, or she could come up with a good solution on her own, but Wang Hao still did not move. As for Xiao Qi, now Still under the jurisdiction of the princess, he has no reason not to copy the scriptures.

"Where's Suge? Have you found out the twelve zodiac signs?"

Ji Huan went out to inquire, and came back and said: "I found it, should I send it to Xiao Qi now?"

"Send it." Li Chen said.

After breakfast, Li Chen asked someone to go to the outer study to discuss matters. Ji Huan sat at the desk with a calm expression.

Xiao Qi is different from himself. He will leave His Royal Highness Chun sooner or later. His sister and mother proposed to come to the palace, but Ji Huan himself also nodded. He has great ambitions. Time to be a cabinet minister, this road is too far and too long, and there are too many variables, he wants a road to the sky, it is impossible to spend his whole life by a man's side.Xiao Qi belongs to the prince, and what he needs is the protection of the prince.

Ji Huan looked at the undelivered Pixiu paperweight beside him, and sighed softly.

It's less than a year away from Chunwei, and it's time for me to return to the capital after studying abroad.

Without a suitable blank album, and not enough pen and ink, Qi Yunruo decided to sharpen his knife first, and read the Buddhist scriptures sent by Qi Niqun seriously.

Some of the Buddhist scriptures had jerky teeth, and some had so many characters that he didn’t know. He read it with guesswork. After half an hour, Tassel, who was wiggling at the side, suddenly heard the movement outside and stood up to open his mouth. window.

After a while, Liusu said: "It seems to be Mr. Su Ge from the prince's side, go to greet the princess... hey?"

"what happened?"

"Why did you come to our place?" Liusu hurriedly closed the window, went to the door and opened it. Su Ge was followed by two servants, each holding a small box in their hands.

Su Ge had a gentle smile on his face, "Girl, is Mr. Qi here?"

Liusu blessed himself, and said, "Yes, what orders does Eunuch have?"

Su Ge brought people in, glanced left and right casually, Qi Yunruo, who was sitting on the couch, had already put on his shoes and walked over.

Su Ge smiled, and glanced at Qi Yunruo without a trace. His hair was tied up casually, with a dark green headband, a half-worn moon white thin shirt, and his feet were covered with silk embroidered cloud pattern shoes. Childish, like the handwriting of a little girl in the room, he is good-looking, with big eyes, a small nose, thin lips, and a slightly pointed chin——Su Ge withdrew his gaze and said with a smile: "What are you doing, young master?"

Qi Yunruo said: "I'm reading Buddhist scriptures."

Su Ge nodded, motioned for the servant behind him to come forward, opened the first box, and said: "This is a reward from the prince, a set of glazed zodiac ornaments." He opened the second box again, "What's inside It was sent by the servants, and the prince thought it would be good to keep them. They are all interesting legends. If the young master thinks they are good-looking, there are many more in the front yard."

Qi Yunruo smiled crookedly. He looked at the ornaments first, picked up a brown rooster and said, "This is my zodiac sign." He flipped through a few legendary novels, and said with a smile, "Thank you, father-in-law."

Qi Yunruo was heartless, but Liusu was a little flustered. She asked politely: "Thank you, father-in-law, for making a trip in person. This servant thanked the lord for the reward on our lord's behalf. It's just... lord, why, why suddenly..."

The smile on Su Ge's face faded, "Girl, we are servants, so we can't figure out what the master means."

Liusu's face froze, and he said: "Your maidservant is wrong, this maidservant is happy for our young master."

Su Ge nodded, and said to Qi Yunruo: "Your servant will not bother you anymore."

"Hey, go away." Qi Yunruo said.

Su Ge nodded again, and left with the two servants.

Liusu's complexion was not good. She glanced at the direction of the main room, and then at Qi Yunruo. Qi Yunruo didn't want to read Buddhist scriptures if he had a new book with interesting legends, but he knew that he still had to copy it, so he said helplessly: "Still no pen and paper."

In the main room.

Qi Niqun said: "...what does your lord mean?"

Nanny Song said angrily: "What else do you mean? The old slave has already said that that kid is not a good person. He runs out all day, wondering what kind of dirty things he is thinking about?"

Su Ge came to Dongmeiyuan, first came here to meet Qi Niqun, explained the purpose of coming, but did not explain the reason, just said that the set of decorations is simple and cute, the princess Qi here is young, so he must like it.

Qi Niqun asked Tassel to prepare a thick seal for Su Ge and the servant, but Su Ge took it without any excuses, respectful to himself, but didn't say much.

Even if Qi Niqun didn't ask, Liubai still asked people to stare carefully at the two rooms opposite the garden. Su Ge didn't stay for long, not even enough time to say hello to himself, but Qi Niqun still felt uncomfortable Great, this is different from the prince who went to find a male pet to spend the night on the first day he left here. Ji Huan can be considered to have stayed in the palace for more than a year. In her mind, he is no different from the concubines of the prince. If Qi Yun is himself People in this yard!

Nanny Song said: "Miss, what kind of roots a person has, what kind of sprouts will grow. You have to find a way to suppress that kid before he shakes up."

Qi Niqun said indifferently: "I asked him to copy the scriptures, and the prince will send the script. This is the prince's intention."

Nanny Song still wanted to speak, but Qi Niqun waved her hands and said, "Forget it, let's talk about the child first. In the afternoon, ask Concubine Li Shu to come and talk with me."

Nanny Song thought for a while, and it was indeed more important, she nodded and said: "This old slave knows."

After Nanny Song left, Qi Niqun took a deep breath, closed her eyes and thought for a while, then called Liufang and said, "Go to the warehouse and find some brightly colored materials," she said slowly, with a gentle voice, "Green green, light green, water green, Ai Qing...there are concubine color, light yellow, ask someone to cut more summer clothes for the third young master."

Liufang nodded and went away, Liubai hesitated for a while, a little puzzled and said: "Miss is going to flatter the third young master?"

"...Whether to be flattering or not, it depends on what the prince wants," Qi Niqun said lightly, "But since the prince has made a show, I have to show it." No matter what, she didn't want to bear the responsibility of treating the younger brother harshly.

In the afternoon, Concubine Li Shu brought the young lady to Dongmei Courtyard. Concubine Li was a little worried. She did something wrong after giving birth to the eldest daughter, and the prince hated her. It will be difficult for the prince to think of her in the future. There is no way out, she will probably only have this one daughter for the rest of her life, but she has no choice but to find a way to make the princess fall in love with the eldest sister even though her heart aches.

The eldest sister is three months old and has never been in any pain. Qi Niqun looked at the little baby with satisfaction, and said softly: "Since you entrusted the child to me, I will treat her well. We used to They are all shouting 'big sister', 'big sister', even though they are calling each other dear, they should be named, and when the prince comes, I will mention it to him."

The eldest sister has not seen the prince a few times because she is not favored by the prince. Concubine Li Shu thanked her, "I thank the concubine."

Qi Niqun guessed right, Li Chen came to her yard at night, Qi Niqun had something on her mind, so she asked Liu Fang to stand in the yard and watch, during the dinner, Liufang said softly: "After entering the yard, the lord directly entered your yard. In the main room, I didn’t look over there, and the doors and windows were tightly closed on that side.”

Qi Niqun's mood slowed down a bit, and after the meal, he asked someone to bring the young miss out, hugged him intimately, and said to Li Chen: "Our eldest sister doesn't have a name yet, what does your lord think?"

Li Chen touched the round face of the eldest sister, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, and said: "I hope she is well-behaved, gentle, and beautiful. Let her be called Yan'er."

Qi Niqun said: "This word is very good."

Li Chen was not very interested, but he still took the eldest daughter and hugged her, and gave it to the nanny after shaking her gently.

Silent all night.

When the concubine came to pay her respects the next day, Qi Niqun spoke softly to Concubine Li Shu about the eldest sister, "The prince personally took the word 'Yan' and hugged her for a long time."

Concubine Li Shu was both missing and happy, and said with tears: "I am grateful to the princess for taking care of my elder sister."

Concubine Wei smiled and said: "Sister Li's blessing has come, the eldest lady is favored by the prince, and your biological mother will also enjoy the blessing in the future."

Concubine Li Shu said with a smile: "I don't dare to think like this, it's because the concubine loves my eldest sister, I don't dare to have delusions."

Concubine Ji took a sip of tea and didn't say a word.

Concubine Ying smiled and said: "How can our palace be compared to Wangfei's place? The waiters are thoughtful, and the prince also comes here most often. In the future, brothers and sisters will grow up together, and they will naturally be close when they grow up."

Qi Niqun glanced at Concubine Ji, and the corners of her lips curled up.

Concubine Ji's expression was dull, and she said goodbye and left soon after.

Concubine Ji is public. Apart from the fact that she has been in charge of the inner house for three years and that she gave birth to the prince's eldest son, Qi Niqun believes that as long as Brother Jing stays with her, Concubine Ji will settle down.

Qi Yunruo didn't know about those wars without gunpowder smoke. He had a sense of "tomorrow and tomorrow" in copying the scriptures. He read the stories in the new book obsessively. , you can’t get it back.

He also likes the twelve zodiac signs, but he didn’t show them to read. He put them in the box and put them away properly. Three days later, he finished reading all the books and lay down on the desk to copy the scriptures. He understood Qi Niqun didn't want to go to Ji Huan by herself anymore, copying the scriptures was just an excuse, she didn't have any blank album pages, so she started writing on ordinary rice paper, and after finishing writing one sheet, dried it and stacked it up, and wrote a decent one in half a day a stack.

Uninteresting copying is hard work, especially after a few pleasant days.But Liusu was always very nervous these days, and always closed the doors and windows when Li Chen came.

Qi Yunruo looked at her silently and never stopped.

He was bewildered.

He couldn't see the way ahead.

His path has never been decided by himself, since his mother gave birth to him in the yard of Qingzhi Hutong, his life is not his own, he belongs to his mother, uncle Ziyang, and Qi Niqun, but not It's your own, it's not yours for the rest of your life.

Sometimes when Qi Yun thinks of these things, he always feels extremely terrified, as if a big hand is grabbing him firmly, strangling his neck, making him unable to breathe.

"...It's like that big cloud. It rains on all the flowers, trees, forests, and herbs. It's like the nature of its species. It's full of moisture. Everyone can grow. The Tathagata speaks the Dharma. One feature and one taste. The so-called liberation from the separation of the phase and the destruction of the phase..."