The next day, the King of Jin brought back three birds, a red-cheeked macaw, a yellow and green canary, and a sunflower-crested cockatoo with a pure white body and a yellow crown on its head.
The red-cheeked macaw was given to the Concubine Dowager, the canary was given to Princess Kang Ren, and the cockatoo was given to Jiang Changning.
After asking Chang Youzhong to send the canary to Princess Kangren, the Prince of Jin took the red-cheeked macaw to the Liuxuan Courtyard and said, "This parrot can mimic speech. Mother, please keep it to entertain yourself."
"Okay." The toffee nodded with a smile.
After chatting with the concubine for a few words, Prince Jin returned to Rujing Courtyard and went into the room carrying the birdcage.
"Ningning, this parrot can talk." Prince Jin fed the parrot some millet, "Tell me quickly, the princess is the most beautiful."
The parrot turned its head away and ignored King Jin.
Jiang Changning chuckled, "This short-haired little thing is disobedient, let's use it to make soup."
"No, no, there's no meat." The parrot said in a strange tone.
Jiang Changning was surprised, "How smart! He understands what I say and can respond to it."
"Then don't make soup, just keep it." Prince Jin said with a smile.
The parrot repeated, "Keep it, keep it."
With this talking parrot, the maids had something to do, and whenever they had free time every day, they would teach the parrot to speak.
This one teaches: "Long live the princess."
The one who taught: "Greetings to the princess."
When Jiang Changning had nothing to do, he would read from a collection of poems: "I slept through the spring without knowing the dawn, and heard birds singing everywhere. There were sounds of wind and rain at night, and how many flowers have fallen?"
The parrot was confused by their teachings, "I slept through the spring without knowing the dawn, hoping that Zhou Lang would look back. I pay my respects to the princess, and I hope you will pick more."
Jiang Changning laughed so hard that he fell down. "What a mess."
Princess Kangren, who received the canary, came to Rujingyuan specially to thank Jiang Changning.
"As long as you like it." Jiang Changning did not say that there was no need to thank her. She liked people who were grateful.
"Aunt, I don't know how to raise a bird. I'm afraid I'll kill it." Princess Kang Ren said uneasily.
"That's easy. Just find a servant in the mansion who knows how to raise birds." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"Thank you, aunt." Princess Kangren smiled.
Jiang Changning asked the maid to call the maidservant over, "Find three people in the mansion who know how to raise birds."
"Yes, Princess." The old woman obeyed.
There were many servants in the mansion, and the old woman immediately found a dozen maids who claimed to be bird raisers.
Jiang Changning, who was bored, called the equally idle concubine, and Princess Kangren, who practiced the piano every day, and said, "Let's test them and choose a suitable bird-raising maid from among them."
The concubine thought this matter was very interesting and she and Jiang Changning hit it off immediately.
Therefore, the women of three generations in the Prince of Jin's Mansion held a unique "recruitment meeting" to select three bird-raising maids.
When the King of Jin learned about this, he jokingly asked Jiang Changning, "Do you need me to be present?"
"Your Highness, please go to the court to handle important matters. I won't bother you with such trivial matters." Jiang Changning refused.
Although it was just to kill time and for fun, Jiang Changning still carefully read the books and wrote a bunch of questions in preparation for the test.
"What are the requirements for bird cages?"
After hearing the maids' answers, the concubine asked, "Who of them is right?"
Jiang Changning pointed to a few people and said, "What they said, if added together, is correct. The bird cage should be free of burrs and cannot be painted. If varnish is possible, don't even apply it. Just polish it smooth. Keep it clean so that the bird won't get sick easily."
"I was wondering, the birds that the old Prince Jin raised were always sick. It turned out to be because of the bird cages." said the concubine.
Princess Kangren also asked a question, "What do the chicks eat?"
The maids gave different answers. Some said they ate millet, some said they ate broken rice, some said they ate tofu, and some said they ate chopped insects.
Princess Kangren asked a question but didn't know the answer. "Aunt, who is right?"
The little maid was thin and small, and looked to be about ten years old.
Jiang Changning frowned slightly. What was the Qiao family up to? They sent such a young child to work in the mansion
"Princess, my grandfather used to work in the Birch Room in the palace, and later followed the old Prince Jin to the palace. I have listened to my grandfather talk about raising birds since I was a child, and he even raised a few birds." The little maid tried to explain to show that she was not talking nonsense.
The little maidservant has lived in the palace since her ancestors, and she is a family-born child.
The age at which a son born in a family could enter the palace to work could be very young, but in order to enter the palace to work at the age of six or seven and receive a monthly salary, he had to ask others for help and also had to give money.
Among the more than 200,000 taels of silver that Qiao had, there were the “respects” from these servants.
"How old are you? What's your name?" Jiang Changning asked.
The maid replied, "To answer your question, Princess, I am nine years old this year, and my name is Bai Xia."
Nine years old is considered child labor, but it is not a big deal here.
"Why feed tofu to the baby birds?" Jiang Changning asked.
"The chicks are too young, and eating anything else will cause bloating. Tofu is soft and tender, nutritious, and easy to digest. The chicks won't have diarrhea after eating it."
"Besides tofu, what else can birds eat?" Jiang Changning continued to ask.
"When the birds grow up a bit, they can eat mung bean powder, grains and live insects. Every seven days, feed them two egg yolks. Birds cannot eat egg whites."
Hearing Bai Xia say this, I knew she knew how to raise birds.
Princess Kangren made a decision, "Aunt, let's choose her."
Bai Xia followed Princess Kang Ren and served the canary.
After asking a few more questions, the Toffee chose the thirteen-year-old Erxi.
Jiang Changning hired the ten-year-old Juanzi, and the recruitment was successfully completed.
After handing the parrot over to Jing Juanzi for care, Jiang Changning told Xiulan, "Junzi is young, so you should take better care of her."
Although Mrs. Qiao is gone, there are still three concubines, and people outside are also eyeing them covetously. What if Juanzi is a spy planted by someone else
Xiulan understood what Jiang Changning meant and said, "I will have someone keep an eye on her."
"Let's also check into her family affairs," Jiang Changning continued.
"yes."
The days passed one by one in this leisurely way of entertaining birds.
It was March, the weather was pleasant, and every government was busy preparing wedding banquets, with gifts being sent out in droves.
Because he was in mourning, Jiang Changning didn't need to go out for social events.
March 27th is the Empress Dowager’s 45th birthday, and the court will hold a Thousand Years Festival in her honor.
Half a month in advance, the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Works and other government offices began to get busy.
That day, the King of Jin did not send anyone back to say that he would not be back for dinner, but Jiang Changning kept waiting, but the man still did not come back.
"Princess, please have a bowl of soup to fill your stomach." Xiulan brought over a bowl of fish soup.
Jiang Changning took the bowl and said, "Send someone to the government office to see why the prince hasn't returned yet?"
"Yes." Xiulan found Chunlai and asked him to send a servant to the yamen.
Jiang Changning finished his soup and waited for another quarter of an hour. It was already completely dark when the King of Jin came back from outside.
Note: The author has never raised birds. It’s mainly because everything I raise dies, including goldfish and cacti, which are the least likely to die.
All the information about raising birds is from Baidu. If there is anything wrong, please point it out and I will correct it.
(End of this chapter)