Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Zili lowered his head, listening to the grandson greet the queen mother and queen, but curled his lips in contempt: "Hmph, it's for industrial alcohol, you just want to see the little girl!" The queen mother looked at her jokingly to herself Please An's great-grandson, his smiling eyes were bent: "Get up! Why are you here at Ai's house at this time? Didn't the emperor tell you to go see the ministers?"

If the prince and grandson are not surprised, they are the future heirs of the country, and it is common sense for the emperor to ask the prince and grandson to meet the ministers.The queen said without knowing it: "Why did they disperse over there? Why does my palace hear that the emperor wants to see officials above the fifth rank in Jiangnan, so it's okay to meet in a short while?" Jiangnan was originally a rich place, and the court was generally All the tax money depends on the south of the Yangtze River, so the emperor will naturally not meet the ministers hastily.

The crown princess was a little uncomfortable, she said to the queen: "Your Majesty's ministers and workers in the south of the Yangtze River are talking, Dalang hasn't studied government affairs yet, your majesty told him to come back first." The queen immediately understood that the emperor didn't want to see the prince, and often reprimanded her son with raised eyebrows, and the prince was depressed and could only take his son to vent his anger.It seems that the crown prince must have lost his temper with his grandson, and the empress felt sorry for her precious grandson, who had suffered in vain. The emperor's anger at the crown prince must have been written by King Wei.What good things can Concubine Dong give birth to!If the king of Wei didn't go to the fiefdom, he would only flatter the emperor.Don't think you don't know what Concubine Dong and her son are planning.

"Dalang hasn't studied government affairs yet, and the crown prince is too anxious. When I come to grandma, I feel sorry for the child who just reads every day, and I have to get up early and late to study with your father. I have lost a lot of face in the past few days." The queen said. watching baby grandson talking in front of her.

The crown prince and grandson greeted the queen mother and queen, and then it was the turn of the old lady of the Wang family to bring the family members to greet the crown prince and grandson.The crown princess hurriedly asked the maids beside her to support the old lady: "Madam excuse me, how can I accept your courtesy when I am young. Back then, you were in front of the queen mother."

Naturally, the old lady of the Wang family would not hold her back. She said seriously: "Although I am getting old, I can't mess up the status. One-year-old master, hundred-year-old slave, I am the queen mother's slave, and the crown prince's concubine is mine. Young master, how can I not know what is good or bad?" The old lady of the Wang family still wanted to salute the princess.

"I know you are the most particular, and you can't neglect others easily. It's just that Ai's family wants to talk to you today, and there are no outsiders. The princess is young, so you should be exempted from the salute." The queen mother spoke, and the old lady That's all.Mrs. Tang took her two daughters to salute the princess and grandson.

The Crown Princess' eyes fell on Zili and Ziqian, she smiled and waved for the Ziqian sisters to approach, "Oh, the old lady is so lucky, two children are rare in heaven and earth." Said the Crown Princess Ask Ziqian Zili if he has read books at his age.A court lady came up with a plate and there were two identical gifts in it. The princess looked at it and frowned slightly dissatisfied: "It's too thin, I'm making you laugh, take it home and play." Zili It looks like when it was found, there were two gold and jade rings and two purses.The two sisters thanked the reward and took the plate in person.

Originally, the atmosphere was quite relaxed with all the female relatives, but His Royal Highness Taisun came rashly.The pavilion used to have quite a large space, but the empress dowager, the princess, three chairs, and many waiters, the space is already narrow.Another grandson of the emperor who sat next to the queen and refused to leave or speak appeared. There was not enough air in the pavilion.At some point, Ziqian's face turned crimson. She suddenly lost the aggressive manner of the past few days, and suddenly became a delicate and shy girl.

Zili stood next to Ziqian, Ziqian wished he could lean on her body, Zili was dissatisfied that he quietly moved down and stood sore, and wanted to distance himself from Ziqian.It's a pity that the space inside the pavilion is too small, she can only stand there honestly.With the emperor grandson present, the atmosphere became awkward. The old lady just praised the grandson's good looks to the princess and the queen: "I am lucky to have met the grandson. His highness came in just now to scare me. It really came out in the same mold as the Taizu. I heard my old man say that this time the emperor went south, the matter of picking up the driver in Hangzhou was directed by the emperor grandson, and it was done in an orderly manner. The officials in Jiangnan praised his highness grandson for his talents."

The words of the old lady of the Wang family really tickled the empress dowager's itch. The empress dowager said with a smile: "Don't praise him. This child is sincere and will never be opportunistic in front of others. If he is like this, he will still be judged by his grandfather." Put eye drops on me."

An imperceptible smile flashed across the Empress Dowager's face when she heard what the Empress Dowager said, but she said, "Don't praise the old lady, we are all old people, and the children don't like to listen to long gossips. You also come in for a while." Come on, don't lower your head and be bored, Huang Quan'an, take the ladies of the Wang family around."

Zili heaved a sigh of relief after hearing the queen's words, she and Ziqian resigned and followed the servant out.Zili carefully observed Huang Quan'an's service. He looked about fifty years old, with a crown of Wusha Yishan on his head and apricot-yellow sprinkles on his head. Zili knew that this Eunuch Huang was the eunuch in charge of the queen.Huang Quan'an held the counting beads in his hand, and said to the two little girls with a smile, "Miss, please follow the miscellaneous family."

Zili was busy making a blessing to Huang Quanan: "Our sisters are meeting with the Empress Dowager and Empress for the first time, please ask Grandpa Huang to give some advice if there is anything wrong." Ziqian finally came to his senses, and followed Zili to Huang Quanan Respectful, she yelled at Grandpa Huang with sincerity and sweetness.It's a pity that Huang Quan'an is an old man who has been in the palace for many years. He was the emperor's companion since he was a child, and he followed the emperor from the vassal king to the emperor, from the fiefdom to the capital.What things have not been experienced and no one has not seen, facing the character of the two girls of the Wang family, they really judged immediately on a trivial matter.

To Huang Quanan, he bowed his hands to the two girls of the Wang family and said modestly: "You two ladies don't need to worry. The Queen Mother, Empress Dowager, and Crown Princess are all kind people. Speaking of which, this garden used to be the private garden of King Wu. Your Majesty He rejected the proposal to build another palace, and asked someone to repair the old palace of King Wu and make it a palace. The most famous thing in this garden is the water feature." Huang Quan'an waved his hand, and immediately came two young maids and two young ladies. A group of them surrounded Ziqian and Zili and walked towards the lake.Zili listened to Huang Quan'an talking about the origin of the palace and the beauty of the scenery along the way, and she kept Huang Quan'an's words in her heart silently. Although the scenery was pleasant, she didn't dare to just focus on the scenery.Zili devoted half of her energy to quietly paying attention to Huang Quan'an and the little maid and eunuch who followed her.

There was no expression on Ziqian's face, she seemed to have something on her mind, and the beautiful scenery couldn't attract her attention.Zili peeked at Ziqian, and after thinking about it, she swallowed the words reminding her abruptly.Even if the scenery of the palace is not good, you can't show a lack of interest in front of Huang Quan'an if you dismiss it.Today, every move of her and Ziqian must be watched by countless eyes and ears. Ziqian's high-cold look might make the queen mother and empress think.No matter how old the two men of the Wang family become officials, they are no bigger than the emperor.The young lady of the Wang family actually showed her face to the scenery of the palace when she entered the palace for the first time. Doesn't that mean that the Wang family is too rich and the garden at home is better built than the palace!It seems that the Wang family is really rich!Wouldn't that be too bad!Zili wondered if he should remind Ziqian to pay attention to his attitude.It's a pity that Huang Quan'an and the four palace people are watching her, what else can they say?

Zili had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​communicating with Ziqian, and listened to Huang Quanan's talk about the scenery and anecdotes in the palace.Huang Quanan pointed to Shanshui and said he was happy, and Zili gradually became familiar with it, and became less restrained.She interjected a few words about Huang An'an's words at the right time, and the two of them talked happily.Huang Quan'an seemed to have never read a book when he was a child, but he also read a few books when he was a servant in the palace.However, the less learned people are, the more they like to quote classics. Zili pretended not to notice when he told Huang Quan'an a wrong allusion, but he could make a proper point when he couldn't continue.

"Miss Er is really well-versed in poetry and books. When this place was built, it was in line with the artistic conception of fields of lotus leaves." Huang Quanan pointed to a lotus pond in front of him, and Zili smiled modestly and said, "I just read a few books with Mr. Books, just be a blind person. But my brother and the others still study with the master. Our girls are still learning needlework and weaving from the elders and nuns. Grandpa Huang praised it."

Huang Quan'an said with a smile: "Second Miss is modest. In fact, the miscellaneous family has never read a book, but they just listened to a sentence or two while serving the master. You go and take the second lady to have a look. Fish food is not good. Get ready. This place specially breeds red carp, and the red carp here are specially bred to be golden-red carp, with a red spot on their forehead that they hit when they jumped the dragon gate." Huang Quanan suddenly invited Zili to go To feed the fish, the little girl who had been following her bent her knee slightly to Zili with a plate of fish food.Zili looked at the small bright yellow dish in the maid's hand, then at Ziqian who was thinking about something, she smiled and said, "It's really royal style, but it's just like feeding the fish with such a dish, and it's delicious, It actually tastes better than dim sum."

As Zili said, Ziqian, who was still wandering in the sky, just followed the maid.The little maid walked with Zili for a while, waiting for the place where Ziqian and Huang Quanan could not be heard, she held the plate and said to Zili, "Second Miss, watch the fish here." Zili looked at She was holding the fish food dish and stood beside her, Zili felt sore feet even after walking for a long time, so she just sat on the rock by the lake.She took the plate from the maid's hand and said with a smile: "Sister also worked hard all the way, I just sit and rest by myself, I don't need anyone to serve me."

The court lady didn't refuse and handed the dish to Zili, she knelt slightly towards her and went to the side, Zili was not in the mood to feed the fish, she casually took a piece of fish food and put it in the water, soon a group of shining golden fish The red carp swam over, floated to the surface of the water and kept hitting the water surface.No matter how interesting things are at this time, Zili can't enjoy them with peace of mind. She really wants to look back and see what Huang Quanan and Ziqian are doing over there.But her rationality told her not to look back, the fish food in her hand exudes a sweet scent of osmanthus, Zili looked at the plate of fish food curiously.

Each fish food is the size of a little finger, the color is bright yellow, and I don't know what it is made of.It's just that each fish food has a delicate pattern. Zili picked it up and looked at it carefully, and found that each fish food has a different pattern.Hey, it’s really something in the palace, more delicate than the dim sum at home!Zili picked up a Wufu holding longevity fish food and brought it to her nose to smell it. It seemed to be scented with sweet-scented osmanthus. She picked up a Double Happiness one, and it smelled like roses!Zili peeked at the little palace maid, wondering if she wanted to open it to see if it was filled with stuffing.

The little maid's attention was not on Zili, she was standing by the edge of the flowers staring at a pair of butterflies, fascinated, Zili's curiosity still overcame her cautiousness.She chose a fish food with a light red double happiness pattern and put it in her mouth.

"That's raw and can't be eaten!" A voice holding back laughter suddenly remembered, Zili was taken aback and almost threw the plate in his hand on the ground.

She turned her head and saw His Highness Taisun leading an inner eunuch, standing not far away and looking at her like a panda.This little fat man!You have never seen a woman!Shameless!Zili had already stabbed His Royal Highness with countless needles in his heart, but he showed a respectful expression on his face. He stood up quickly, followed the usual Qin mother's instructions, and first cleaned up his spirit, lowered his eyes and stabilized his body Go down: "The courtier has met His Royal Highness the Emperor Taisun."

Zili's face was stern, he didn't expect to panic or something, His Highness Taisun was a little disappointed, he waved his hand casually: "It's because I didn't want to scare you, get up. That fish food is It’s made by Yushanfang, and it’s filled with stuffing made of flowers, but the outer skin is made of raw soybean flour and glutinous rice flour, and it’s buckled out of the mold. If we eat it, it will be steamed.”

Said Taisun turned around and said: "You go and get some snacks!"

Hey, what do you mean!Zili raised his head in surprise, expressing his dissatisfaction with His Royal Highness the Emperor Taisun's self-assertion.The eunuch next to the prince gave the little maid a wink, and the little maid immediately ran to pass the snacks.Taisun was a little dissatisfied with the actions of the eunuch beside him, and gave him a blank stare.In fact, the grandson of the Wang family discovered that the second daughter of the Wang family was very interesting as soon as the female family members entered the palace. In the past few days, he has seen a lot of ladies, and they all entered the palace cautiously. Every step they took was like stepping on the tip of a knife. , dull and uninteresting.On the contrary, this little girl looks silly and playful. Just now, when she was in front of the queen mother, the grandson took a good look at the two little girls of the Wang family.The elder sister of their family was dressed too exquisitely, but apart from the exquisite attire, the eldest daughter of the Wang family had a rigid face, and her indifferent expression was as lifeless as the clay sculptures in the temple.On the contrary, the youngest daughter of the Wang family is more interesting, but the grandson will not be able to think of any words to describe her for a while.

Finally, he found an excuse to come out in front of the queen mother, and the grandson caught an eunuch and asked where Huang Quanan took the two little girls. Xiao Zhongliang, the eldest companion beside him, immediately said empathetically, "Master, I heard that the salt in the south of the Yangtze River is Shang entered a Biyun Mountain Pavilion with a one-man-tall chime clock placed by the lake, why not go and see what’s new.” The one-man-tall chime clock in the palace is not a new thing, and the grandson cast a glance at Xiao Zhongliang: “Hmph, shallow-skinned You haven’t seen anything? Still envious of that? Let’s go!” He kicked Xiao Zhongliang and went to the Biyunshan Pavilion to “watch the Western chiming clock”.Of course, the chiming clock is a fake, but it's true to have an unexpected encounter with the little girl from the Wang family.

Zili didn't know how to refuse, she could only comfort herself, maybe the little fat man was hungry, and he didn't want to treat her to eat.He is the grandson of the emperor, and others have always surrounded him. Such a person would think for others.Zili was in a state of agitation, she couldn't say anything to the grandson because of the difference between men and women, and was thinking about whether she wanted to resign.Taisun looked at Zili who was silent, why didn't she talk to him?Still keep your head down and ignore yourself?

"Well, you've been in Hangzhou, do you know what's interesting here?" Taisun decided to break the silence and speak first.

When the superior spoke, she couldn't pretend to be deaf and dumb, so Zili could only bless the grandson slightly: "Returning to Your Highness, the best scenery in Hangzhou is the West Lake, and the Hupao Spring and Huqiu Mountain beside the West Lake are also good. It is also an elegant thing to brew Longjing tea with Hupao spring water."

Grandson became interested in Zili's answer, he raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Do you like drinking tea? Where can I find good Longjing tea, ask someone to bring you some!"

Mother, hey, someone is going to die!Is he pretending to be stupid, or is he really stupid!Giving and receiving in private, speaking out is the rhythm of my life!Seeing the enthusiasm of His Highness the Grandson, Zili's face turned green!She was about to rush forward and grab Taisun's neck and sing ten thousand times: "I have a grievance with you, so sad, you don't even give 100 yuan, my necklace is more than 2000!" No, it should be "I Do you have any grievances with you, and you are so sad, you want to kill me like this, I don’t want tea, do you want soap!”

Zili was finally overwhelmed by the grandson's nonsense, so she simply gave him a wink of "Whether you can talk, or shut up if you can't".The grandson gave Zili a supercilious look innocently, and he wondered why she was suddenly upset.Why shouldn't she be happy to give thanks immediately when she rewards things by herself?

Standing on the sidelines, Xiao Zhongliang watched the Taisun interacting with the second daughter of the Wang family, and sighed helplessly. The Taisun grew up in the deep palace, and the women he came into contact with were only the queen mother, the queen and the princess.He doesn't know how to deal with girls at all!

Taisun rubbed his nose aggrievedly, but fortunately, the Imperial Dining Room was very powerful, and they showed up at the right time.Zili looked at the group of people stupidly, is this the so-called snack?More than a dozen people carried two tea tables and two chairs, and the people behind were holding food boxes and tea sets. The most exaggerated thing was that there was a small charcoal stove at the end of the line!Here and there, I want to have some snacks. This obviously brought the kitchen here.

"Didn't you say that the water from Hupao Spring is the best in Longjing? Later on, you have to taste the difference between the tea they run and the one you drink at home." Hearing Taisun's calm words, Zili's jaw dropped. I was almost shocked, I wipe it!How dare you play with my old lady, you fat man!

"Grandfather is in a good mood. We've been away for a long time. You're welcome, Second Miss!" Huang Ping'an appeared at some point and looked at Zili kindly.