[Qing wear] Harem promotion expert

Jiang Heng woke up from a dream.

She dreamed of the familiar workstation.In winter, the company's central air-conditioning and heating are fully turned on, making people feel a little dry and thirsty.There was a small chinchilla humidifier on her table, and a stream of water mist sprayed out from the top of the chinchilla's head, like smoke coming from the top of the chinchilla's head when it was angry.

"Here you are, your mango glutinous rice cake."

Jiang Heng turned his head.It should be lunch break, only she and her pregnant colleague are in the whole office.

She looked at the other person's stomach, feeling confused, and blurted out: "I always feel that your child has already been born."

The colleague smiled and said, "You must be dizzy from work. I won't give birth until a month later."

Jiang Heng took the mango glutinous rice cake she handed over.On this day, they ordered Thai food takeaway.On the takeaway tin paper box containing the cold mango glutinous rice cake, there is a ring of water droplets formed by the heat of the air conditioner.Jiang Heng took it, but always felt like he had forgotten something.

The colleague had already started to eat, and said helplessly: "I actually wanted to have a caesarean section, but the doctor refused to let me, saying that I have no indication for a caesarean section, and I can give birth by myself." She signaled Jiang Heng to eat quickly, and said: "Oh , It had to be like this. Naturally, it’s like running [-] meters on the track by yourself. No matter how tired you are, you have to grit your teeth and persevere. Others can only cheer up by the side, and at most pass a bottle of water or a towel. "

Jiang Heng felt that the image she described was perfect, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

Just when Jiang Heng was about to put a spoonful of mango flesh in his mouth, he woke up.

When she first woke up, she couldn't tell where she was.

There was even a bite of mango glutinous rice cake that I couldn't eat in my mouth for a moment - shouldn't I be greedy?The local citron skin is thick and durable, and can be transported from the south for thousands of miles.But fresh mangoes are as difficult to transport as lychees, and mangoes are far less admired in this palace than lychees, so mangoes are even rarer than lychees.

Many people don't know what a mango is.

Even Emperor Kangxi wrote a booklet to ask the then governor of Fujian and Zhejiang to send him a box of mangoes. Because he had never eaten them before, it was probably because the long-distance transportation had made them so ripe that they lost their most delicious taste. Kangxi said: Fresh mangoes are nothing more than that, so there is no need to send them away.

Since then, the mangoes in the palace have disappeared, and occasionally some dried mangoes appear.

Craving for fresh mangoes...

"Niangniang! Niangniang!"

Since it entered December, Jiang Heng has moved to live in the delivery room of the East Side Hall arranged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.The East Side Hall has been tidied up in the past few months, and the layout and utensils are not arranged according to daily life, but according to the convenience of the concubine's delivery day.

Now the palace is empty, with no decorations—on that day, the midwives and palace servants will come and go to deliver water or food, and the fewer roadblocks the better.For example, the main hall of the Yonghe Palace is full of rare gadgets, and the maids are afraid to run, for fear of breaking something, which will definitely delay work efficiency.

The doors and windows of the East Side Hall are also specially sealed to ensure that the heat will not be dissipated in winter. At the same time, the ventilation system has also gone through an extra step, and the smoke from the charcoal basin and charcoal stove is trapped in the upper part of the house by copper pipes.Without Jiang Heng's reminder, the palace staff checked countless times - the doors and windows were closed too tightly, charcoal gas poisoning caused dizziness, nausea and even death, many things happened in the court, and everyone paid special attention to them.

The delivery room in the palace is warm and safe, and no less than five groups of people have come to check it.

And before Jiang Heng moved in, the four midwives slept in this room for a few days.

And after Jiang Heng moved in, it was not only Mammy Yu and Qiu Xue who kept watch outside the delivery room, but two people kept watch at the same time, just because he was afraid that one person would sleep too hard and not be able to hear anything.

And that night, Qiu Xue and Nanny Yu woke up at the same time.

Qiuxue sat up after throwing off the quilt, and quickly confirmed with Nanny Yu in a low voice: "Mommy, I heard you right, it's your mother crying for pain!" Then both of them immediately put on their jackets and wanted to go into the inner room to have a look.

The candlelight shone on Jiang Heng's face, Qiuxue ran faster than Nanny Yu, and came to the bed first: "My servant heard that the mother was humming in pain in her sleep, what do you think?" Is it about to give birth!

Jiang Heng first said in a daze, "I want to eat mango."

Qiuxue had never heard of mangoes, but when she heard that the lady wanted to eat rather than any discomfort, she relaxed and smiled: "It turns out that the lady is hungry. The servant will bring you some snacks first? It will be a while." It's three o'clock, when the time comes, the slaves will go to the dining room to get you... fruit." Jiang Heng is used to using Western clock, and Yonghe Palace gradually got used to it.

Qiu Xue was inexperienced, but Nanny Yu, who rushed over, looked at the candle in Qiu Xue's hand and knew that Concubine Xin was definitely not awake from starvation.

Although Concubine Xin's complexion was fine, and she didn't cry out in pain, thin beads of sweat had already oozed from her hair.

There was no cry of pain at this moment, probably because he was sleepy and still not awake.

Nanny Yu took out a box of extremely rich peppermint and clove ointment that had been prepared in her purse, and quickly put it under Jiang Heng's nose: "Mother! You have to wake up, is your stomach hurting?"

Jiang Heng was so smoked that tears came down, and he immediately woke up.

I remembered where I am now.

She felt it, then shook her head in confusion: "It doesn't hurt."

Madam Yu is very experienced. For women who have just given birth, the abdominal pain is not frequent at the beginning, and the pain may only last for a while after a cup of tea.Concubine Xin Xin fell into a deep sleep just now, the pain may have passed.So Mammy Yu didn't leave, but sat down, took out a dark veil, wiped it lightly on Jiang Heng's forehead, and looked at the candle, there was an obvious scar on the dark veil. Water marks.

"Your Majesty must have been in pain in a dream just now, and that's why I'm sweating."

At this time, Qiu Shuang and a midwife who were guarding on the outer floor also heard the voice inside and hurried in.

"Qiu Shuang, go and ask the other midwives to get ready!" This kind of thing is better prepared for mistakes than not to prepare, not to mention that Yu Yu believes in her own experience, and she probably won't make mistakes.

"Qiu Xue." Nanny Yu issued orders calmly, as if she had thought about it a thousand times in her mind: "You control the palace people in this palace, don't panic and make trouble."

Qiu Xue hurriedly said: "Slaves, don't you want to report to the Hall of Mental Cultivation? Long Live God has ordered that the empress should report to the Hall if there is any movement!"

Nanny Yu looked at the clock: "Wait another half an hour! The woman's first labor was delayed for a long time. Maybe there was no movement during the whole day, or maybe the abdominal pain this time was just a fake labor, but in fact, I still have to wait. It was born two days ago——if the Yonghe Palace becomes noisy and disturbs the emperor and the queen mother, although the masters will not blame it, it will not be good."

"In another half an hour, we will know whether the master is going to give birth, or whether he is throbbing occasionally."

Jiang Heng also said beside him: "Exactly, wait until 04:30, when the Hall of Mental Cultivation will be lit."

So Qiuxue hurriedly went out to make everyone whisper - the Hall of Mental Cultivation was far away from the Palace of Compassion and Ning, but the Palace of Chengqian was next door, and if there was a commotion, the Queen's Office would have to send someone to ask.

Given the importance the emperor attaches to the Yonghe Palace and the empress' dedication as the lord of the sixth house, once the Yonghe Palace reports that the concubine is due to give birth, the empress must get up immediately. will be happy.

When the pain became more and more frequent and clear, Jiang Heng recognized it: It seemed that he was about to start the 'personal version of the marathon' mentioned in his dream.

When Jiang Heng woke up again, he felt the light was dazzling.

When she opened her eyes, she felt that the room was bright.

Qiuxue stood by and saw her open her eyes, and immediately said happily, "Your Majesty is awake!"

Jiang Heng subconsciously glanced at the clock first: she was still a little numb.But then I remembered the whole production process.

To sum it up in one word, pain.

It was a long pain, from morning till night—the actual birth was quick, but the previous bouts of abdominal pain that became more and more sharp were really tormenting.

But this is all very lucky.She still remembered that Mammy Yu's joyful voice sounded in her ears: "Your Majesty's birth is really smooth! It can be seen that the little princess loves her!" The beautiful pink swaddle was quickly brought to Jiang Heng by the midwife.

Jiang Heng was very tired, so he only asked, "Didn't she cry?" She remembered that babies always cry when they are born. This is the beginning of the baby leaving the mother's body and starting to breathe as an independent person.

Nanny Yu said happily: "I cried twice, and the crying sound was very good, the empress was too tired to hear it!"

Jiang Heng felt relieved.

"The emperor, the empress dowager and the empress have all arrived at the main hall, and the slaves will send the little princess there." Jiang Heng hesitated for a moment, would the emperor like it?Anyway, she took a look, and with her own mother's eyes, she didn't see that this red baby looked like an emperor.

Does the emperor feel that there is a gap?

Mammy Yu only thought that the concubine Xin was reluctant, so she let Jiang Heng look at it for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, rest first, and this servant will take the wet nurse to send the princess to meet the emperor's grandmother and Huang Ama. Don't worry, your empress, the princess is still young." , the servant will send the princess back soon."

Jiang Heng thought, he couldn't run away anyway, so let the emperor see him.

Facts have proved that the eyes of a real mother are not as good as those of a real father, let alone that of a real grandma.

When the pink swaddling baby was held in front of the eyes of the three giants in the harem, before the emperor saw it clearly, the queen mother said firmly: "It is very similar to the emperor when he was a child." It's very similar, but on such a happy day, the queen mother didn't mention her daughter who is no longer there, and only remarked that she was very similar to the emperor.

And the emperor didn't even need to look at it to feel like it.

He first glanced at Nanny Yu who followed in.

Nanny Yu, who had received the emperor's secret order, of course knew what the emperor's look meant, so she nodded repeatedly through her words.

The intention is to tell the emperor that the concubine Xin is very good.

The emperor looked down at the red ball of children carefully.It is humane to say that children are the heart and soul of their parents, probably because they are so soft and red when they are born, it makes people feel very soft.

"Emperor Niang, why don't you send the child back, the main hall is not as warm as the East Side Hall."

The Empress Dowager got the news today that she even changed her clothes before going out. She didn't wear the big clothes woven with gold thread that are popular during this year's festival, but changed into a clothes made of very soft homely fabrics that have been soaked in water.

At this moment, the Empress Dowager was taking off her cloak, and then took her granddaughter from the wet nurse to hug her.

Hearing what the emperor said, she reluctantly hugged the child for a while, and ordered the nurse to send the child back to the Dongpei Hall, and the queen mother asked how the concubine Yu Xin was doing.

As soon as I opened my mouth to ask a question, I saw the emperor also walking out.

The queen mother was startled, and couldn't help saying: "Emperor." You can't go to the delivery room where you just gave birth.

She didn't say it, but the emperor also understood the meaning of the empress dowager's words, so he shook his head and said: "Emperor mother, I don't come in, I just talk to her through the window."

You can't rest assured if you don't listen to the sound.

Su Peisheng lifted the curtain, and the emperor saw crystal clear snow flying all over the sky.

The nurse followed behind, not daring to pass the emperor, the emperor turned his head and said: "Go back quickly, the princess is still so young, how can she stand the cold outside."

Then the nurse walked around the corridors and carried the princess back. After winter, the corridors and corridors of the Yonghe Palace were already covered with coarse cloth, and the four corners were firmly pressed with bluestone slabs to prevent frost in winter and avoid concubines. Empress slipped and fell.

The emperor walked slowly through the corridor and stopped under the window.

Thousands of words didn't know where to start, and after a while the emperor said through the window: "It's snowing outside."

The people who were serving in the Dongpei Hall at this time had already heard from the wet nurse that the emperor wanted to talk to the concubine Xin through the window, and they all held their breaths and kept their voices down.

So the emperor's voice was clearly transmitted to the inner room.

Hearing what the emperor said, Jiang Heng asked, "Isn't it cold for the emperor to stand outside?"

From Nanny Yu to Su Peisheng outside, these two conversations were impossible: Your majesty, shouldn't you be condolences to the concubine Xin who just gave birth to the princess?And empress, shouldn't you quickly express the hardship and difficulty of giving birth to the dragon heir?What kind of conversation is this.

Fortunately, after these two strange words, the two got on the right track.

The emperor comforted Jiang Heng through the window for a while, heard that her breath was a little weak, and she tried to answer, and said: "I said you just listen, you don't have to answer." He said happily: "Minmin is very beautiful, very similar to I."

Jiang Heng was surprised: How did the emperor miss you, this newborn little girl?What kind of filter eyes are these? I can only hope that Minmin's eyes don't look like yours.

The emperor asked her to rest well and let the palace guards take good care of her before returning to the main hall.

"Emperor Niang is too tired from waiting today, my son will take you back." He said to the queen: "The queen has worked hard, so I should go back earlier to rest."

The queen mother waited anxiously for a day, and finally hoped for a good result and her granddaughter, but she was also a little tired and exhausted: "It's already night, so let's all go back first. The emperor will go up and down the court tomorrow, and the queen will be with you." Get up at the Palace of Compassion and Ning—it’s time to discuss the little princess’s funeral!"

The emperor and queen all agreed.

Jiang Heng was so tired that he wanted to fall asleep, but he waited for a while, and after hearing that the three gods had left the Yonghe Palace, he let Nanny Yu carry the child over.

She had already discussed it with Nanny Yu.Newborn babies always have to feed themselves for a few days. Modern science shows that there are irreplaceable antibodies in breast milk, which can strengthen the baby's physique.Especially the mother's colostrum.

Although Jiang Heng couldn't teach Nanny Yu the scientific principles, Nanny Yu was not a stickler for palace rules. She only thought that Empress Xin's first child was distressed, so she could feed it for a few days if she wanted to.Moreover, the empress is in good health, and she is full-term, so it is good for the little princess to breastfeed for two days.

Nanny Yu has also heard rumors of the folk remedies that children fed by biological mothers are stronger. Concubines always listen to any folk remedies for their children.

The children in this palace are well-raised. From birth, a prince and princess has four wet nurses and four nannies to take care of them. Don't go by yourself.

But the children in the palace are always sick. Some concubines inquired about the affairs of the village households outside, and heard that the women outside raise their children rough, and they don't need a wet nurse. They think that maybe the village women feed themselves, so the children are healthy.

This is a rumor, and there are folk remedies, saying that it is to drink deer milk and leopard milk, there are really all kinds of methods.Drinking breast milk for only a few days is not out of the ordinary.

So Jiang Heng waited for half an hour after the baby was born, and then fed it himself, so he couldn't hold back and fell asleep.

On December [-]th, Jiang Heng finally woke up and remembered everything from last night.I also looked at the clock and it was only past seven o'clock. It is said that it is the time when the morning light is faint in winter, and it will never be so bright outside the window.

"Did it snow all night yesterday?" The light was reflected from the window, illuminating the room brightly, like her current state of mind.

"Yes, there is a thick layer of snow outside." Qiuxue's complexion was even more ruddy than the red lanterns hanging outside in the twelfth lunar month. Jiang Heng couldn't help but also smiled when he saw her face that couldn't hold back a smile: "Take Min Bring Min and let me have a look."

Before the child is full moon, he will not move to live in the back hall, but live in the east side hall.

Soon the nurse took the baby over.

Jiang Heng poked her forehead very lightly, he was so busy yesterday that he didn't have time to say hello to his daughter Haosheng: "Minmin, how are you?"

After a year and a half, I finally saw the gate of the capital again. No matter how steady the guard was, I couldn't hide my excitement—finally, I finally got home.

In particular, he still had one thing on his mind: his daughter was pregnant, and she was going to give birth in December, and he was afraid that he would not be able to make it in time for the three baptisms.

If it hadn't been delayed for some time due to the wind and snow on the road, he should have returned seven or eight days earlier.

At this moment, I really want to return home, I can't wait to go home immediately and ask my wife how my daughter is doing in the palace.After all, I can only talk about the correspondence in the past year or so, and I am afraid that if something goes wrong with the letter, it will fall into the hands of the staff, and I can only talk about the official language.

It's just that Guanbao is like an arrow to return to his heart, just like Dayu, passing through the house and not entering, first go directly to the gate of the palace to pass the booklet, and see if the emperor summons him.

If the emperor summons him, he will go inside and play right. If the emperor asks him to go back first, he can return to the mansion.

As early as yesterday, Guan Bao asked the servant to rush home first, and asked the family to prepare a carriage to pick him up at the gate of the city: it's not that he is arrogant, but that he needs a carriage to tidy up his official uniform and look good.

The governor has his own escort within the regulations.There is also a separate passage for entering the city gate, and it quickly enters the capital.

The carriage of the mansion was already waiting inside the city gate.

"Why did you come to pick me up? There are a lot of things at home next year." Guanbao couldn't help being surprised when he saw the person who jumped out of the carriage to pick him up.

The mansion sent to pick him up was the second steward, a very shrewd and capable person, Guan Bao reluctantly took him with him when he went out, because he felt that his wife at home supported the family independently and worked hard, and Ama was also old, and she was already a retired official. It's not easy for the old man to worry about the internal and external affairs of the family, so he left the most useful person, and only brought a few more family members.

The second steward proceeded to salute in a down-to-earth manner, and his voice was full of joy: "Congratulations to the master!"

Guan Bao's heart skipped a beat: Could it be... Originally, it looked like the red envelopes that the second manager still wore when they passed the age. I knew it must not be for the Chinese New Year.

Sure enough, the steward said: "The master is overjoyed! The empress in the palace is overjoyed! The empress gave birth to a princess yesterday, and the news from the palace is that both mother and daughter are safe!"

People say that the snow does not turn the snow into cold, Guan Bao thought it must be because the coldness after the snow today was too severe, which made him feel too hot and humid in his eyes.

He barely calmed down, cleared his throat again, and then saluted in the direction of the Forbidden City with a solemn expression: "It's all the blessings of the Lord Long Live."

Then he quickly got into the carriage and packed himself: The emperor must be summoning him today.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the emperor personally wrote three fate cards for the princess, and handed them to the House of Internal Affairs, the Palace of the Clan, and the Qin Tianjian respectively.

Then I sat down to critique the papers.

One day yesterday, the emperor forced himself to approve some papers, but he didn't dare to approve any important papers. He only approved all kinds of trivial matters that Zhang Tingyu and others had read and needed his final approval.

The emperor was replying to Prince Lian's note before the guard's request to see the note was handed over.

First of all, he praised Prince Lian for his good work. The success of the coup d'état in the Annan Plan was beneficial to the Qing Dynasty's management in Annan.

After that, I started to ask Prince Lian for something: let him try to transport some local mangoes to the capital.

In the early hours of yesterday, when Jiang Heng woke up and was still not sure if he was going to give birth, Nanny Yu chatted with her to distract Jiang Heng from his nervousness, and naturally asked what kind of mango was the mango that the concubine Caixin was talking about just now. .

Jiang Heng said: "It turns out that Nanguofang sent a kind of dried sour fruit from Southland before. It is said to be dried mangoes sent to Beijing by the governor of Fujian Province. The taste is sour and sweet. I dreamed about it just now. , I suddenly wanted to eat this. But there should be only dried fruit in the palace, no fresh fruit, so that’s fine.”

If there is any, the empress wants to eat it before giving birth, and Nanny Yu must go and ask.So when it was dawn, Mammy Yu sent someone to the dining room to ask for it.

Before the empress is in pain, eat something first.

Sure enough, the chefs in the north of the dining room had never heard of mangoes at all, but the chefs in the south knew a lot, especially Chef Annan immediately said: "Hey, we often eat mangoes too! I made glutinous rice rolls for my mother before." In fact, I wanted to put mangoes in it, but unfortunately there are no fresh mangoes in the capital of your country. It’s not easy to transport these things.”

In the end, the dining room only made the sour pastry next to it and sent it up.

Yonghe Palace couldn't ask for anything from the dining room, so Chang Qing hurried back to the emperor.

The emperor asked Ming what kind of fruit it was, and he remembered it in his heart.Annan has?That's not right, write to Lao Ba to ask.Wanting mangoes is the next best thing, and I have to tell Lao Ba that I have a new princess, who looks very much like me.

Speaking of these brothers, only he and Lao Ba have no daughters under their knees.

Now that such a happy event happened in the palace, of course we should tell Lao Ba quickly.

As soon as the emperor finished asking Lao Ba for mangoes, he heard Su Peisheng's report, and Guanbao came to Beijing to ask for an audience.

"What a coincidence! Let him in."

After Guanbao entered the door to greet him, he congratulated the emperor.

Among all the courtiers who congratulated the emperor, the emperor and Guan Bao could be said to be "same happiness".I also saw that Guan Bao had been away for nearly two years, hei had lost a lot of weight, obviously he was doing his best in office.And Guan Bao also wrote down all the important matters during his tenure, and submitted to the emperor face to face with the details of the officials in the places he inspected along the way.

The emperor only looked at the thickness of these two books, and knew that he was not idle on the road: "Okay, I will stay and take a closer look, and you go back to the mansion to rest for two days, and then come to attend the princess's third baptism!"