When their carriages entered Guanchun Garden, all the great stewards in the garden were already kneeling at the entrance.
"Congratulations to Your Majesty and the Empress." Steward Liang showed a flattering smile, Meng Eqi glanced at him, and waved him to get up.
Sheng Jiayan still had a pair of cold eyebrows, and others did not dare to talk to him more.
Concubine Shu felt that it was her chance to express herself at this time. She quietly squeezed into Meng Eqi's side from behind, and smiled very gracefully and gracefully: "Mr. Liang has been working hard, and your Majesty's residence has been arranged?"
Steward Liang immediately nodded and bowed: "Of course, Your Majesty, Niangniang, please come here."
Guanchun Garden is built on the mountain, and it is covered layer by layer along the hillside. From the outside, only a gorgeous outline of Guanchun Garden can be seen. In the beautiful doorway stood two children with scorpions. They walked through the layers of flower gates and corridors. Meng Qiqi could see the white cranes and deer raised in the courtyard, and the koi in the pond wandering with their tails. Five steps, one tree, ten steps, one pool.
Guanchun Garden has gone through three dynasties, and every emperor attached great importance to it and continued to renovate it, so that it was expanded to the present grand scale. There are a total of 132 rooms in the park, countless large ponds, flowers, birds and trees, rare birds can be seen everywhere, and there are countless promenades. Steward Liang led Meng Eqi and the others to the deepest part of Guanchun Garden.
Dragon Court.
The two characters dragon flying and phoenix dance were written on a black background and gold lacquer plaque. There were two pink-carved dragon pillars at the door. The gold-carved dragon heads were staring at Meng Qiqi and others with a pair of beaded eyes. .
Meng Qiqi was a little surprised, this was the first time she had seen a dragon pillar in the mortal world.
According to legend, in the human world, anyone who draws a dragon or sculpts a dragon building, no matter how well a dragon is drawn, cannot draw a pair of eyes for it. If the painting is finished, the dragon will be able to communicate with the gods, and it will be the channel through which the gods peep into the world. And the people who were peeped by the dragon, the great things, the good and the bad, that they did in their lives were all recorded in the book without exception. Since ancient times, people who have been monarchs did not like the taste of being peeped and grasped, so in the imperial palace in the capital where Meng Qiqi and the others lived, neither the flying dragon on the eaves nor the group dragon on the table were put on the spotlight.
But in this Guanchun Garden, there are actually two dragon pillars.
Just as she was looking at the two dragon pillars with great interest, Concubine Shu next to her had pretended to be virtuous and took care of the servants of Guanchun Garden. She ordered her maid to reward her with a lot of money to go out. Seeing everyone please thank her, Concubine Shu proudly glanced at Sheng Jiayan, who had never given a good face.
Meng Eqi had arranged for Sheng Jiayan to live with him in the same hall long before he came, so when Manager Liang took Concubine Shu away, Concubine Shu reluctantly looked at Meng Eqi and found that she did not speak. He let himself stay, and left angrily.
After they left, Meng Qiqi pointed at the two dragons on the dragon column and said in a low voice, "Ayan, are you dragon looking at us?"
Sheng Jiayan glanced at him, without words, he only expressed his opinion with his eyes. He looked at Meng Qiqi with disgust.
Sheng Jiayan grabbed Meng Qiqi's wrist and was about to go in. The dragon on the dragon column suddenly opened his mouth, and a strong and round voice suddenly appeared: "Emperor—"
Meng Qiqi was shocked: "Dragon, is the dragon talking?"
She rubbed her eyes and rushed over to observe the two dragons closely, only to find that it was just her illusion. The two dragons were brightly colored, only staring at the auspicious clouds, as if they would fly away from the clouds at any time. go.
Just now... it's all your own hallucinations
Meng Qiqi pulled Sheng Jiayan unwillingly: "Ayan, did you hear that? This is the dragon talk just now!"
Sheng Jiayan frowned: "Don't make trouble, how can there be dragon talk?" He turned around and glanced at the maids standing under the steps: "If you act like this again, you will be suspected."
Meng Eqi was still in disbelief, she looked at the Panlong Pillar for a while and didn't see it before she spoke. Looking at Sheng Jiayan's calm expression, he really didn't seem to hear it. Meng Qiqi fell into deep doubt, and followed Sheng Jiayan into the Dragon Pavilion to rest.
Before Sheng Jiayan turned around and closed the door, his cool eyes like waves swept to the dragon column at the door. Those eyes that should have been waveless suddenly flashed a sharp blade-like light, and then disappeared like a star falling into the water.
…
The next day, Meng Eqi started trouble with the roster of all the maids in Guanchun Garden.
One thousand four hundred and twenty-six names, where should she start
There are three hundred and sixty-two people named Green alone, and excluding those who are too old, there are one hundred and eighty-one. Does she want to call all of them and question them one by one in front of her
Sheng Jiayan watched Meng Eqi almost pull Zhou Xing's hair out, and put down the file in his hand: "The Guanchun Garden, the nobleman Meng Yong, went to when he was sixteen years old. According to this time, Meng Yong is now Twenty-four, that green has served in Guanchun Garden for at least the past eight years. This is the investigation."
Meng Qiqi slapped her forehead: "Yes! Why didn't I think of it!"
She turned two pages, suddenly stopped, and thought of another thing: "There are one hundred and eighty-one green names here. If I start from scratch, I will really be exhausted."
Sheng Jiayan said lightly: "Do you still want to find someone to help you?"
Meng Eqi shook her head: "Too many people know that this is not good, but—" She smiled slyly: "There is one person, she will definitely handle it well."
Seeing her sinister smile, Sheng Jiayan narrowed his eyes.
After a stick of incense, Concubine Shu came to the Dragon Pavilion.
"Your Majesty..." Concubine Shu was wearing a large hibiscus pink robe, her delicate and fair wrists showed a section, and below it was a pair of overlapping and slender jade hands.
What a beauty, Zhou Xingyanfu is really not shallow.
Meng Qiqi coughed twice, and hurriedly entered the topic: "Aifei, I called you this time to discuss something with you. In a few days, I want to entertain all the officials here in Guanchun Garden. According to the rules in the palace, the general banquet is left to the concubines to take care of. I want to give you and the queen this opportunity."
When Concubine Shu looked happy, she was about to speak.
"However," Meng Qiqi stopped her words: "It's a mere banquet. You and the queen are both working together to handle a big problem. So I just want to give one of you this chance. I'm calling you here this time. , I just want to see who has this ability between you and the queen."
Concubine Shu smiled: "Your Majesty, the Empress did not manage the palace affairs when she was in the palace. Usually, the concubines helped to take care of them. The concubines didn't want to steal the limelight of the Empress, but they were entertaining here. Officials, you can't make any mistakes to make your Majesty shame you, so I still leave it to the concubines to do it."
Meng Qiqi nodded, pretending to be right: "Of course I don't doubt your ability, but, I have given you and the queen a problem this time, who of you can solve this problem first and do it? If there is no mistake, I will hand over the right to handle the banquet to someone."
Concubine Shu thought this was a good opportunity for her to regain favor in front of the emperor, not to mention that in her cognition, that stupid Meng Yong knew nothing and made frequent mistakes in managing palace affairs, not to mention things like banquets. Concubine Shu raised her head confidently: "Please, Your Majesty, tell the concubine, what is the question?"
Meng Eqi knew that she was hooked, and held back her lips that were about to be lifted up: "To organize a banquet, it is inevitable to have a certain understanding of the servants in Guanchun Garden. So I asked you to find a name from this roster. Green people, and they have served in Guanchun Garden in the past eight years. There are a total of 1,426 names on this roster, do you have any confidence?"
When Concubine Shu heard this, she hesitated for a while. One thousand four hundred and twenty-six names, how long does she have to find
Meng Qiqi resorted to aggressive tactics: "Today, the queen doesn't know what's going on. After hearing the question I gave, she agreed immediately, and she is still working hard to find it in the side hall. If the queen can have this confidence, I am truly moved. "
Of course, Concubine Shu would not allow herself to lose to Meng Yong, who she always thought was stupid, so she complied: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the concubine will definitely live up to your expectations, and I will give you an answer before tomorrow."
She didn't even have time to wink at Meng Eqi and show her shoulders, so she left in a hurry with the roster in hand. Presumably because she was afraid that the queen would find out the answer before her, Meng Qiqi looked at her hurriedly leaving figure, and couldn't help but lie on the table and laughed a few times.
Sheng Jiayan came out from behind the screen: "You use her?"
Meng Qiqi was noncommittal: "Concubine Shu is vying for strength. She knows that she can't stand hearing that the queen is better than her, so she will work hard to find it, so that I can sit back and enjoy it."
Concubine Shu's ability was astonishingly high, and when Meng Eqi was still sleeping soundly on the bed the next day, she was pushed awake by Sheng Jiayan: "Concubine Shu was waiting outside early in the morning."
Meng Qiqi rubbed her eyes and sat up: "Is she so early?"
After Meng Eqi finished getting dressed and washed, and went out to meet Concubine Shu, she saw blue marks under her eyes and the two maids behind her.
Concubine Shu didn't see the haggard expression on her face. She was holding two files, one was the roster that Meng Qiqi gave her yesterday, and the other was the transcript she made.
"Your Majesty, the matter you gave to the concubine has been completed." After that, she glanced proudly at Sheng Jiayan beside Meng Eqi.
Meng Qiqi asked her to present it, and opened the transcripts made by Concubine Shu, which clearly wrote the age of each green and when she entered the Guanchun Garden, row by row, in graceful script.
While Meng Eqi was still looking at it, Concubine Shu smiled and said, "The emperor would make fun of his concubine. In the past eight years, there was no such person who entered Guanchun Garden and called Lu."
Meng Eqi was startled: "There is no such person?!" She quickly flipped through Concubine Shu's record, almost every one named Lu entered Guanchun Garden eight years ago.
Concubine Shu thought that the emperor was questioning her ability, so she said, "You can't be wrong. The concubine checked it three times yesterday, and she was called Lu within eight years. It is true that there is no such person in Guanchun Garden."