On the third day after the folk artists entered the palace, the koi sent from the south were also brought into the palace and released into the Cheng Lake in the Imperial Garden.
"Xiaobai, do you still remember the poem your mother taught you to recite yesterday?" Jiang Changning asked.
"The ice of the Forbidden Pond has melted and koi are jumping around. The warm wind in the Imperial Forest is causing the orioles to sing. Before the golden carriage leaves the Yingchun Pavilion, all the famous flowers have been plucked." Xiaobai recited aloud.
"It's exactly the same. Very good. Come on, mom will take you to see the live koi." Jiang Changning said.
The mother and her two children dressed neatly and headed for Chenghu Lake.
The spring is bright and the breeze is gentle, it is a good season for traveling.
It’s a pity that I live in the palace now and cannot go out at will. The only thing I can enjoy is the scenery of the palace.
When they arrived at Cheng Lake, the young eunuch brought fish food and asked Jiang Changning and Xiaobai to throw it into the lake to feed the fish.
Xiaoqian is still young, so he can only watch and cannot try it himself.
"Mother, the yellow croaker is biting the red fish." Xiaobai said.
Jiang Changning looked carefully and saw that the golden koi was chasing and biting a small goldfish. Then she remembered that there was a group of goldfish raised in Cheng Lake.
I vaguely remember reading an article that said goldfish and koi cannot be raised together.
It seems that koi will bite goldfish and compete with goldfish for food.
"Hurry up, have someone pick up the goldfish and put them in a tank." Jiang Changning ordered.
Everyone didn't understand why the Queen did this, but as servants, they could not question their master's decision and had to do as she said.
Soon, the eunuchs rowed their boats and fished for goldfish on the lake.
Jiang Changning took her two sons to watch the excitement for a while, and then she felt that the sun was too hot. "Xiaobai, you take your brother to watch. Mom is tired of standing. Let's go sit in the pavilion over there."
"Please do as you please, mother. I will take good care of you." Xiaobai answered obediently.
Jiang Changning touched his head, told Xiaochun and Banqin to keep an eye on the two of them, and then walked to the pavilion by the water to sit down and rest.
After sitting for a while, a few butterflies flew into the pavilion. Jiang Changning suddenly became interested, "I haven't chased butterflies for a long time."
"I'll ask them to get the butterfly net." Xiulan said quickly.
"Don't bother, I'll use a handkerchief." Jiang Changning didn't really want to swat the butterfly down, she just wanted to move around. After all, she had been lazy for too long and was almost like a salted fish.
It is basically impossible to catch a butterfly with a handkerchief, and it will only make the butterfly fly away.
The butterflies didn't fly too far. They flew to a bush and landed on a flower.
Jiang Changning unfolded the handkerchief and was about to cover it when he heard a voice, "Is Chaoyun really beautiful?"
Chaoyun
Jiang Changning had seen this name on the list of folk artists entering the palace. She should be a dancer.
She turned around to Xiulan and the others, made a gesture to keep quiet, and stood beside the flowers.
"Very beautiful, worthy of being the best dancer in the capital." This palace maid had obviously seen Chao Yun.
"Is she more beautiful than the Queen?" The curious palace maid asked a question that made Xiulan and others frown.
Jiang Changning smiled and used her eyes to stop Xiulan and the others from taking any action, as she wanted to continue eavesdropping.
Maid No. 1 was silent for a long time before she said, "You shouldn't ask that. How can a dancer be compared with the Queen?"
"I'm not comparing her with the Queen, it's just that the Queen is the most beautiful person I have ever seen." Maid No. 2 defended.
Palace Maid No. 1 was silent again. "They are different. The Queen is so beautiful and noble, like a fairy. Chao Yunmei is beautiful, but she is just an ordinary woman."
"I understand." said Maid No. 2.
The two palace maids chatted for a while and then left with the flower basket. They came here to cut flowers.
"It was my negligence. I'll check it right away." Xiulan bent her knees and left first.
Jiang Changning returned to the Cheng Lake and saw that the eunuchs had already fished out all the goldfish and placed them in the Taiping tank. He called his sons and said, "Xiaobai, Xiaoqian, we are going back to the palace."
After returning to Qiyuan Palace, Jiang Changning asked Xiaobai to write for a while, and then hugged Xiaoqian and told stories to his two sons.
At this time, people from Ciren Palace came and took the two little guys away.
Jiang Changning took the account book and started looking through it.
Half an hour later, Xiulan came back, "Madam, I found out that it was a maid in Gantang Palace who accepted money from Chaoyun and helped her praise her beauty in front of several other maids."
Jiang Changning smiled, "You've met her. Isn't she beautiful?"
"It's not beautiful, it's ugly." Xiulan said in a muffled voice.
Anyone who is not stupid would know the purpose of Chao Yun asking the palace maids to publicize her beauty.
"Xiu Lan, it's not good to tell lies. Miss Chao Yun is such a stunning beauty." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"Who is the stunning beauty?" Emperor Xuanzhi walked in.
Xiulan's expression tensed. It's over. His Majesty's interest has been aroused.
Jiang Changning smiled, "It's about a dancer who was summoned from the public to perform on the Wanshou Festival. It is said that she is extremely beautiful and beyond compare."
Xiulan was shocked. Why was the Queen praising Chaoyun
"The rumors are not credible. What's more, she is just a faded dancer and has no right to be called a beauty." Emperor Xuanzhi said as he picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.
Jiang Changning did not continue discussing Chao Yun with Emperor Xuanzhi, but instead talked about what happened earlier. "Koi and goldfish cannot be placed in the same lake. Koi will bite off the heads of goldfish. I had people fish out all the goldfish and keep them in a tank."
"Well, okay." Emperor Xuanzhi said nothing in front of Jiang Changning.
When he returned to the imperial study, he scolded Chang Youzhong, "How do you do things? You didn't even know that the koi were biting the goldfish, and you still want the queen to worry about it."
Chang Youzhong accepted the scolding respectfully, turned around and called the eunuch who raised the koi and goldfish, and scolded him, "Take good care of them. If anything goes wrong, we will skin you alive."
Several young eunuchs were frightened by him and knelt on the ground, "We will take good care of him."
But in previous years, koi would not last long before they would get sick, turn white and die.
I hope they can die slower this time.
The maids in Gan Tang Palace were replaced. Chao Yun immediately noticed this. In the evening, she asked the maid who brought in hot water, "Where is the previous maid?"
"She didn't learn the rules well, so she went back to the palace slave house to learn them again." The maid replied.
Chao Yun supported his chin with one hand, leaned on the table, and seemed to be thinking about something.
Her posture was alluringly beautiful, but the maid ignored her and left with the empty bucket.
After Chaoyun took a bath, she returned to her room. Seeing that she was smiling and in a very happy mood, Yaoniang asked curiously, "Chaoyun, did anything good happen?"
"I succeeded." Chao Yun said with a smile.
Yao Niang was stunned. "What success? What did you do?"
Chaoyun didn't want to talk to her in detail. He just lay down on the bed, covered himself with the quilt and went to sleep.
Yao Niang looked worried, "Chao Yun, we are just lowly dancers, and we are pissed off."
"Shut up and don't bother me." Chao Yun interrupted her impatiently.
Yao Niang thought about it, threw off the quilt and got out of bed, put on her outer clothes, and went to another dancer's room. She couldn't just watch Chao Yun die.
(End of this chapter)