This was Xiaoliu's first time out of the palace. Before leaving, the imperial concubine didn't say anything, but Xiaoliu's wet nurse, Mrs. Mao, didn't care about the details.
It is impossible for every prince to have only one nanny, but as he gets older, the number of nanny will gradually decrease, and eventually there will be only one nanny left. After the princes are five years old, they need to move to Ganxi No. 5. At this time, there must be a proper person to take care of them. This person is not a second person except for the wet nurse of the eldest prince, so the status of the wet nurse can be imagined. Know.
Now Xiaoliu has only one nurse by her side, and it is the Mao family, so although she is not a nurse, she is like a nurse.
Feng Sheng didn't plan to take her with her, which surprised Mao very much.
"Your Highness has to be accompanied by a servant to fall asleep every day. Let him sleep alone, he must not be used to it. Besides, your Highness needs to breastfeed every day, so I can't do without my servant."
These words seem to be speaking to Feng Sheng, but in fact she is looking at the imperial concubine.
The imperial concubine frowned slightly, seeming a little embarrassed.
Feng Sheng smiled and said: "Mother Concubine, don't you think it would be nice for Xiao Shiliu to have dinner with brother Ping today. Since she wants him to quit breastfeeding and eat more, the nanny will not take it."
Hearing this, the honest-looking Mao couldn't sit still.
"That's not right. Your Highness won't be able to sleep without a meal at night."
Her words were presumptuous, no slave would talk to her master like that, but she is Xiaoliu's nanny, and she is usually respected by the maids and eunuchs of Xianfu Palace, Qianru frowned, and resisted saying nothing.
"Concubine Wei is right." The imperial concubine looked at Xiao Shiliu and asked him: "Since you plan to go with your third brother and third sister-in-law, don't eat milk at night. If you don't want to, then don't leave the palace."
Xiao Shiliu was still quite conflicted. He looked at Mao, then at Feng Sheng, and then at Little Pang Dunpin. Brother Ping was also wondering at the moment, why did he let the little uncle go and didn't move, he tugged at Xiao Shiliu, his big eyes were full of doubts.
There are not many children in the palace, even the fifteenth prince is nearly five years older than the little sixteen, brother Ping is the only playmate of the little sixteen, he is very reluctant.
Anyway, milk can be eaten at any time, but only once out of the palace, Xiao Shiliu quickly made a decision.
"I'll go with my third brother and third sister-in-law, without a nanny."
The imperial concubine nodded in satisfaction, but the Mao family over there had a mournful look on her face, but she still had to cover up to avoid being seen.
"Your Highness, you won't be able to sleep without the servant at night, why should the servant go with you?"
Feng Sheng and Imperial Concubine didn't speak, King Wei frowned, and Qianru scolded: "Don't go down, you have a place to talk here?!"
Mao immediately went down, but looked at Xiao Shiliu as he walked.
But Xiao Shiliu is only so old, how can he understand these tricks, he only heard his concubine mother agree to let him out of the palace, holding Brother Ping's little hand and laughing.
After Wei Wang Fengsheng took Xiao Shiliu and brother Ping away, the imperial concubine frowned: "This Mao family can't stay, and I just took advantage of Shiliu's absence for a few days to send her away."
Qianru replied: "Yes."
…
On the carriage back, Feng Sheng was still thinking about it.
The imperial concubine didn't want to wean Xiao Shiliu from breastfeeding for a day or two, and she gave her orders, but things didn't work out. Xiaoliu still ate very little, and she still had milk. She guessed that what Mao said just now was probably not only said to her.
The sentence "Your Highness can't sleep without eating a meal at night" can indeed perfunctory many people, and they can't starve to death if they eat less food. Only when there is a real gap will people pay attention. This Mao is really stupid and hateful.
"What's the matter, what are you thinking about?" Wei Wang asked.
Since Xiao Shiliu was nearby, Feng Sheng just blinked and didn't speak.
"This slave should be killed. There are many slaves like this in the palace. The concubine mother has never experienced such a thing before, so she resorted to her tricks."
Not to mention this, the group quickly returned to Wei Wangfu.
This is the first time Xiaoshiliu has seen the outside of the palace, everything is very novel, brother Ping is also a smart ghost, he likes to show off, seeing the little uncle coming to his place, he dragged him to his house inside.
Ever since he was born, Brother Ping slept by himself, only when King Wei was not in the mansion, Feng Sheng kept him to sleep beside him, so he had a room of his own.
There are a lot of his toys and all kinds of treasures in his collection. These treasures include but are not limited to a rotten branch, two small sticks, and two worms that he dug up in the mud before. starving.
Brother Ping is still extremely restrained in the palace. Since he can walk, he is the king of destruction who can walk in the palace.
Seeing that the uncle and nephew went to the East Chamber hand in hand, with Dewang watching from the side, Feng Sheng felt relieved. Something happened in the front yard, King Wei went to the front yard, and she took advantage of the gap to get busy with the matter at hand.
After finishing her work, she went to the East Wing to have a look. The two children seemed to be tired from playing and had already fallen asleep on the bed.
The two little guys had eaten, but she hadn't eaten yet. Seeing that it was almost noon, she asked someone to go to the front yard to ask King Wei if he would come back for lunch. I have some food to eat.
After eating, she also went to take a nap, and when she woke up in the afternoon, she heard the laughter of children outside. Packed up and went out to watch, the two of them played like mud monkeys. In view of his childhood experience, Feng Sheng didn't stick to his elder brother's play, as long as it wasn't dangerous, he didn't have to worry about getting dirty. Anyway, there are so many servants in the mansion. Just wash it if it's dirty.
So in the eyes of wealthy people, playing with mud is not prohibited in the Wei Palace. Feng Sheng recalled her earliest memory, it seems that she was playing with sticks and mud with children of the same age in the clan to dig bugs.
Feng Sheng stood aside and watched for a while, then turned and went to the study to look at the account book.
The account book was sent by Uncle Yu. After Feng Sheng let Uncle Yu get involved in the textile industry, he not only bought a mulberry garden, but also set up several weaving workshops. Now the accounts in various places are becoming more and more complicated.
It's not that she can't understand, but too much energy is wasted. Unfortunately, besides Zhiqiu, there are not many helpers around her that can be used. Feng Sheng was thinking, should he cultivate a few people, firstly, they can help manage the accounts, and secondly, the local accountant is a confidant, so as to avoid the occurrence of collusion and greed for money.
Although Feng Sheng was in the capital, he learned from Uncle Yu that similar incidents had happened in several places, but the incidents were not serious, and Uncle Yu found out and solved them in time. There is also the official salt store. In order to buy the salt merchants, Feng Sheng adopted a combination of government and private means. On the surface it is called an official salt store, but in fact the salt store itself is owned by individuals.
Salt merchants help the court sell salt. In order to prevent random price changes, the Salt Transportation Department will approve a uniform price every year. There is not much fluctuation in various places, and it can be regarded as mutual supervision. But as far as Feng Sheng knows, there have been incidents of selfishness. To say so much is due to ineffective supervision, and even some people in the salt department don't even understand simple audits, so how can they do a good job of supervision.
Feng Sheng thought a lot, and every time she had an idea, she would write it down, then consolidate a large number of ideas, and pick out suitable ideas from it.
Unknowingly, it was getting late, and Brother Ping's yelling came from outside, Feng Sheng stood up from behind the desk, tidied up the desk and went out.
Both Xiaoliu and Brother Ping were hungry. Although they had snacks in the afternoon, the children were too active, so they naturally became hungry quickly. King Wei also came back from the front yard, and the family of four had dinner together.
The dinner is very rich, in addition to taking into account the tastes of Wei Wang and Feng Sheng, but also take care of the two younger ones.
King Wei's taste is a bit heavy and he likes salty and spicy food, while Feng Sheng's taste is light and he likes it sweeter, so Brother Ping usually eats it with his mother.
Under the leadership of Brother Ping, Xiao Shiliu chose to eat by himself.
A small bowl of Japonica rice, a few refreshing side dishes, brother Ping likes to eat cherry meat, and can eat more than a dozen yuan at a time, Feng Sheng is afraid that he will eat greasy food, so he will hold him, five small yuan at a time, this time as well. There is also a stewed fish tofu soup. The fish has been stewed, and the soup is milky white. The tofu floats in it, trembling, and it is very tender at first glance.
Brother Jue has a good appetite, even Feng Sheng can eat two more bites when he eats with him, let alone Xiao Shiliu.
Xiaoliu ate half a bowl of rice, ate three pieces of cherry meat, and drank half a bowl of fish soup. He wanted to eat more after eating, but was stopped by Feng Sheng. Fearing that the two children would accumulate food, she and King Wei took the two children out for a walk.
After walking back for a while, thinking about Mao's saying that Xiaoliu couldn't sleep without breastfeeding at night, Feng Sheng was particularly vigilant. Asking the servants to bathe the two children, she asked someone to bring a book and planned to put the two children to sleep.
The weather was hot, so Brother Ping wore a small red apron, and his arms and legs, which looked like lotus root joints, were so fleshy that he wanted to be pinched no matter how he looked at them. On the contrary, Xiao Shiliu is a bit older than him, and seems to know how to be shy, Feng Sheng specially asked someone to get a small apron like brother Ping's, in case he would lift the quilt at night and catch cold in his stomach, he didn't want to wear it, and even made fun of brother Ping Bare buttocks, walk the little sparrow.
The uncle and nephew went crazy for a while, and then got sleepy.
Brother Ping yawned all the time, and Xiao Shiliu was too sleepy, but he tossed and turned, as if he couldn't fall asleep.
Feng Sheng has been watching them by the bed, seeing this and asked him: "Xiao Shiliu can't sleep?"
"I want a nanny." He seemed a little shy, and said with a blushing face, as if he knew it was a bit shameful, because none of the brothers wanted a nanny.
"Xiao Shiliu has grown up, he has to learn to sleep by himself. Look at brother Ping, he just sleeps by himself."
"But..." Little Sixteen muttered and stopped talking.
Feng Sheng wanted to divert his attention, and asked, "Is today's cherry meat delicious?"
Thinking of the melt-in-your-mouth, sweet but not greasy cherry flesh, Xiao Shiliu nodded. He had never eaten this in the palace. He didn't like to eat very much, and things like cherry meat were too greasy. Raising children in the palace is a meritorious service. The reason they eat.
Because children are too young, many foods are not easy to digest. Once food accumulates, the child is too young to take medicine. Milk is the easiest to digest, and it is a good thing to drink milk from birth.
Of course, Xiaoliu has never given up breastfeeding, not only because of this reason, but also because of the selfishness of the nanny. The prince gave up breastfeeding too early, and the relationship with the nanny will be weak. She naturally feels that the longer the better, the better the prince is sensible. Breastfeeding and not eating, however, hindered Xiaoliu's body.
"Do you still want to eat? Then let the kitchen make it for you tomorrow. Your third brother asked someone to hire a cook from Jiangnan, and he will cook a lot of delicious food. It's just that you didn't eat often before, and the third sister-in-law is afraid that you can't eat it." It can't be melted, so I can't eat too much at one time." Feng Sheng said this to Xiao Shiliu at the dinner table before.
"Then what else is there to eat?" Little Sixteen asked after swallowing.
"There are stewed lion's head, squirrel mandarin fish, crystal squid hoof, three sets of duck, soft eel, crab roe soup dumpling, thousand-layer oil cake, hibiscus crucian carp, green snail shrimp, fried whitebait..."
Feng Sheng read the names of the dishes, Xiao Shiliu fell asleep while listening. Brother Ping next to him had already gone to bed, and seemed to hear his mother reading the name of the dish, so he babbled and said something delicious.
She suppressed her laughter, covered the two children with quilts, and stood up, but when she turned around, she bumped into King Wei.
"Is that how you put people to sleep?" Wei Wang whispered.
"I can't help it either, he's going to eat it." She smiled and spread her hands.
In fact, it proved that the imperial concubine really knew Queen Chen, and they really did what the imperial concubine said.
After the eldest prince and concubine entered the door, the husband and wife had a few incidents that made people have different opinions, but the eldest prince soon corrected it. It seems that having a reliable mistress not only brings a new look to the house, but also has a great influence on her husband.
The eldest prince changed his habit of drinking and became obedient and diligent. He would go to the palace every day to greet the empress and Emperor Jianping. When I returned to the mansion, I stopped drinking and having fun, but read poems and books hard. Most of the concubines in the mansion were dismissed, and the Sun family did not say that they were in love with each other, at least they respected each other as guests.
Many people were speculating whether the eldest prince had really changed, or just put on a show, and even Feng Sheng and Wei Wang couldn't help but say a few words in private. But whether it is true or not, as long as you can persist, there will always be changes.
Even Emperor Jianping was moved. From an outsider's point of view, the eldest prince went from being unable to enter the gate of Qianqing Palace to being able to enter, and then being able to stay for a while after entering. , and even occasionally praised. King Wu and the others couldn't sit still anymore, but their small actions could only pass the sword to the eldest prince, which made the eldest prince stand out.
On the contrary, Empress Chen has been silent all the time. She lives in seclusion in the name of recuperating from her illness, and no longer interferes with palace affairs. This kind of her, on the contrary, got Emperor Jianping's moderate attitude.
In the thirty-second year of Jianping, the Eldest Prince was conferred the title of King Hui. Since then, he has finally changed his previous situation of being a bald prince, and he is considered to be on an equal footing with all his brothers.
During this period, although such and such incidents inevitably occurred in Beijing, they were only small twists and turns, which did not cause any waves. However, Jinjiang Academy is becoming more and more prosperous. Nowadays, no one knows the name of Jinjiang Academy. After several years of operation, although there is no number one scholar in the academy, there are a few Jinshi scholars. Feng Sheng and Wei Wang are also worried It is clear that the opening of the academy has to be done slowly, and there is no need to rush.
Unlike the men's hall, the women's hall has undergone tremendous changes in the past few years. Except for the twenty or so female students, the women's hall has recruited many students in recent years. It is not as prosperous as the men's hall, but it is still thriving. .
Feng Sheng also set up a learning hall outside the academy, and there are only two halls in the academy for now, the Needlework Hall and the Pao Cuisine Hall. The reason for doing this is that there are always some female students who enter the academy because they don't really want to study, or they don't have talent in reading.
Feng Sheng can't do anything else but help them find another way out.
For this reason, she opened several large weaving workshops and mulberry gardens in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and opened many dim sum shops and embroidery workshops in various prefectures and counties in Beizhili. The weaving workshop, the embroidery workshop and the dim sum shop recruit workers from the academies, as long as they graduate from the academies, they can work.
At the beginning, the first batch of female students who graduated from the teacher were recruited directly, but it caused quite a stir. The weaving workshop and the embroidery workshop cannot do without some weavers and embroiderers. It occurred to me that there is still such a school, which actually teaches people the ancestral crafts, and also can do work.
The news was spread widely, seeing that the recruited female workers could indeed get the money, many people were moved. They heard that this school does not care about age, and even many married women come to study.
Due to the popularity of the academy, Fengsheng has set up two more branches in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Suzhou-Hangzhou. It is no longer limited to the two halls of needlework and cooking, and has set up accounting halls. Feng Sheng had thought about this idea a long time ago, but it was not easy to implement it, and she spent a lot of energy on it.
But it was not without gains, because she took advantage of this idea to carry out some extensions. Even in view of the prosperous commerce in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou, but relatively speaking, there is a shortage of accounting offices, so she asked the branch to come forward and reach cooperation with other local shops to provide The other party provides labor for the accountant.
And the expansion of these branch libraries also made Feng Sheng feel that the Men's Hall could also set up branch libraries, which are specially used to cultivate talents such as documents and masters.
This is the inspiration given to her by the Shaoxing master circle, and even the idea of setting up these women's branches is based on this. Since the master can form a gang, can teach by precept and example, can pass on from father to son, and can form his own system, why can't others? The road of the imperial examination is so narrow, there are always some people who fail the exam, why not change the road.
Naturally, the king of Wei was busy with the affairs of the men's hall, and while the husband and wife were so busy working on the academy, many other things happened.
For example, King Hui finally entered the court again to run errands. For example, King Wu and Zhao Wang often stumbled and fought with each other. For example, Princess Liang finally gave birth to a son after giving birth to two daughters, such as the thirteenth prince. Marrying and becoming king and so on, but all of this has nothing to do with Wei Wang and his wife.
Time flies, and four years have passed in a blink of an eye.
And Emperor Jianping, as the imperial concubine said, has always been in peace. On this basis, Emperor Jianping had no intention of setting up a heir, and the princes began to show the harmony of the world, brothers and friends respectful, father kind and son filial.
From Feng Sheng's relationship with the sisters-in-law, it can be seen that there used to be tit-for-tat confrontation, but now there is much harmony, at least on the surface. Especially as there are more and more children in each family and house, it is inevitable that some will be greeted and sent off, and it is even more harmonious.