On that day, the emperor summoned Minister of Industry to enter the palace, had a secret talk for half an hour, and issued a secret decree. Minister of Industry had a solemn expression when he left the palace.
On the first day of the vertical day, the Jinglu army dispatched 5,000 people to blockade the 30-mile radius of Xishan, including the royal hunting ground.
In the afternoon of the vertical day, Su Fengnuan discussed with Wei Ke, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and Zhou She, the military supervisor, in the Nufang Office for half a day, and finally decided on the entire projected plan for manufacturing the machine-crafted crossbow.
Minister of the Ministry of Industry had no complaints about the emperor's secret order to Su Fengnuan to make crossbows, but he was not very optimistic about it, but half a day later, he completely changed his view of Su Fengnuan, and he admired Su Fengnuan. Assist Miss Su to do this well.
After the three reached an agreement, Zhou She recruited military craftsmen overnight to start work.
Su Fengnuan ordered people to tidy up three rooms, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhou She, and her. The three have lived in Xishan since then, supervising the work day and night.
Don't hear about foreign affairs, don't ask about foreign affairs, keep news from inside and outside, time is like running water, and six or seven days pass by in a blink of an eye.
In six or seven days, the Military Weapons Supervision Department and the Crossbow Workshop Department had only just put together a decent appearance, and the large military machine crafted crossbow arrows made by the military craftsmen had just taken shape, but they were not yet delicate and powerful enough. From Nuan's point of view, her requirements were not met, and she was ordered to work harder.
On this day, came the Empress Dowager's Hundred Flowers Banquet.
Su Fengnuan agreed to the Queen Mother early in the morning, so of course he had to attend the Hundred Flowers Banquet.
The night before, she left the Xishan Nufang Office and returned to the city.
As soon as she stepped into the gate of the palace, the housekeeper said, "Miss, you are finally back. I haven't seen you in the past seven or eight days. The old lady has asked you several times."
Su Fengnuan asked with a smile, "Why is grandma looking for me?"
The housekeeper said, "For the Empress Dowager's Hundred Flowers Banquet, the old madam wants to make you new clothes and let you choose the color and style, but I don't see you coming back, so I can only ask Mrs. Su to make the decision."
Su Fengnuan laughed, "For such a small matter, grandma and my mother are the ones to decide. What do they do and what do I wear."
The housekeeper added, "Miss Sun of the Prime Minister's Mansion sent someone to deliver a letter to you the day before yesterday, and now it is kept at the old lady's place. I am afraid that the old lady will forget to tell you that you will want to ask the old lady for it later."
Su Fengnuan nodded, "I see."
The housekeeper said again, "Master is in the study, you should go quickly."
Su Fengnuan stopped talking and went to the study.
Seeing her coming back, Wang Lu looked her up and down, and said, "I've lost a lot of weight, how are things going?"
Su Fengnuan sat down, leaned lazily against the table, and replied like a boneless, "I have picked up some of the dilapidated parts, but I haven't made much progress. The military craftsmen of the Military Weapons Supervision are not satisfactory. The things I made made me Unsatisfactory and needs further polishing.”
Wang Lu nodded, "Just six or seven days ago, it's good to have a little appearance, don't be impatient."
Su Fengnuan nodded, and asked, "Grandpa, how is the situation in the court these days when I'm in Xishan? What's the situation in Beijing? Nothing happened, right?"
Wang Ludao, "No big trouble happened, but small things happened one after another, and I couldn't handle it."
"Huh? It's a trivial matter, grandpa will talk about it." Su Fengnuan was quite interested.
Wang Lu glanced at her, waved his hands and said, "You look ashamed, go back and clean up quickly. Although you are just going to join in the fun tomorrow, you can't be less polite."
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Su Fengnuan pouted, stood up lazily, and left the study.
When I came to Mrs. Wang's residence, Mrs. Wang was sitting in front of the mirror unloading the Zhuchai jewelry. Seeing her coming back, she stood up quickly and said angrily, "You child, you have been away for six or seven days. Where did you go? Let me ask you Grandpa, that old guy doesn't say anything either."
Su Fengnuan walked in, took Mrs. Wang's arm, and said with a smile, "Grandma misses me?"
Mrs. Wang reached out and tapped her forehead, and said angrily, "Why have you lost so much weight?" After finishing the sentence, she touched her arm, "Look, this arm is so thin." After finishing speaking, she touched her face again, "The face is too thin." Thin."
Su Fengnuan was funny, "Is it a lot thinner? It's not so obvious, is it?"
"Obviously, why isn't it obvious?" Mrs. Wang looked at her, "Where have you been out of Beijing to play like crazy again? Your old grandfather told the outside world that he was keeping you from learning the rules and copying scriptures, but he was a fool. Let you go out and run. You have already returned to the capital, so why can't you be down-to-earth in the boudoir like a boudoir lady? Learn how to embroider, do embroidery, play the piano, and paint?"
Su Fengnuan coughed, thinking that this time she was really wronged, she didn't play at all, and she didn't have enough time to sleep, so how could she care about playing? How many days have you stared at him day and night, and how many days have you not looked in the mirror? She must have really lost weight, so her grandparents said she was thin when they met.
After Mrs. Wang finished talking, she leaned her head on her shoulder, hugged her arm and said lazily, "Grandma, I heard from the butler that Miss Sun from the Prime Minister's Mansion sent me a letter the day before yesterday? Where is it?"
Mrs. Wang slapped her forehead, "Oh, I almost forgot. It's in the makeup box, I'll get it for you."
Su Fengnuan let her go and nodded.
Mrs. Wang took out the letter from the dressing box, handed it to Su Fengnuan, and said, "I don't know what Miss Sun wrote in the letter. After all, it is a private matter of your little daughter's family. I didn't open it to read it. You can read it yourself."
Su Fengnuan reached out to take it, opened it, and saw the beautiful and neat handwriting, not much content, and the signature was Sun Qingxue's boudoir name. After watching it, she smiled and said, "Ms. Sun invited me to the Hundred Flowers Banquet to go to the Hundred Gardens together."
Mrs. Wang hurriedly said, "Oh, I've been pressing you for two days, but I haven't replied to anyone. You should send someone to reply."
Su Fengnuan took a look at the sky, nodded, picked up the pen from the table, and wrote a short reply letter, apologizing that she was not in the capital for the past two days, and the reply was late, please forgive Sun Qingxue, etc., and said Early tomorrow morning, she went to the Sun Mansion to find her, and picked her up to the Hundred Gardens.
After she finished writing, she sealed the wax, and Mrs. Wang called the butler to come, and asked the butler to send someone to the prime minister's residence.
After the housekeeper left with the letter, Mrs. Wang opened the closet, took out a set of pink and hazy cloud gauze brocade inlaid flowers and embroidered soft smoke skirt, and unfolded it for Su Fengnuan to see, "Little girl, come and take a look, I will wear this dress tomorrow. How about it?"
Su Fengnuan glanced at it, even though it was dark and the lights in the room were dimmed, the clothes were bright and bright. The corners of her mouth twitched, "It's too gorgeous, and too cumbersome, grandma, are you sure I won't trip up my clothes?"
Mrs. Wang said angrily, "Tomorrow, the ladies from various mansions in Beijing will gather together, and it can be said that there will be a hundred flowers competing for beauty. It is estimated to be a little more delicate than the flowers in the Hundred Flowers Banquet. If you don't wear brighter clothes, won't you be punished?" Comparing?"
"Let's compare. It's a Hundred Flowers Banquet. It's just for viewing flowers, not a beauty pageant." Su Fengnuan thought about what she told the housekeeper earlier about what clothes her grandmother and mother made, but she didn't expect to do it either. With such tedious layers, she shook her head, "I'm..."
"Don't wear it." Mrs. Wang interrupted her, "Your mother and I hired an embroiderer and rushed to work day and night to make it for you. How can you ignore our hard work?"
Su Fengnuan choked, "You and my mother have already made a lot of clothes for me after I returned to Beijing, and I still have a lot of new clothes to wear. There is no need to make any more."
Mrs. Wang glared at her, "Daughter's family, why do you dislike beautiful clothes?" After finishing the sentence, she said, "Originally, we didn't plan to do it, but after the Queen Mother released the news of the Hundred Flowers Banquet, all the mansions in Beijing were closed. After getting ready, after inquiring, I found that every mansion attaches great importance to this Hundred Flowers Banquet, which is much more grand than in previous years. Whether it is a young lady or a young man, they all have new clothes, and the patterns are too complicated to count. , when everyone wears them to the Hundred Flowers Feast, they will definitely compete in the show. Those new clothes of yours are still too simple, and by then, they won’t be enough to look at.”
Su Fengnuan raised his forehead, "It's just a feast of flowers, what about it?"
Mrs. Wang reached out and tapped her forehead, "Why not? It has been spread outside. This year, Ye Shizi from the Rong'an Palace, Xiao Guojiu from the Guozhang's Mansion, Feng Young Master from the Fengyang Security Bureau, and the second son of the Chong'an Lin family are Lin Zhixiao who proposed marriage to you, the sons of the prime minister's residence, the sons of An Guogong's residence, the princes of Jingyanghou's residence, the princes of Prince Jin's residence, etc., all participated. None of these people have proposed marriage."
Su Fengnuan was speechless, "It turns out that there are too many masculinity, which attracts the young ladies in the boudoir in Beijing."
Mrs. Wang laughed when she heard the words, "You child, any good thing comes out of your mouth, and if you say it, it will change your taste."
Su Fengnuan looked at the clothes in Mrs. Wang's hands, and asked, "Grandma, you just said that the princes of all the mansions have also made new clothes? Then Prince Rong'an also made new clothes?"
Mrs. Wang thought for a while when she heard the words, "I haven't heard of it. During this period, your mother went to the Rong'an Palace twice. When she came to this mansion, I didn't hear her mention it. I forgot, Ye The prince is injured and bedridden, so no one should care about it."
Su Fengnuan nodded, took the new clothes in his hand and said, "Grandma, I'm going back to Su Mansion."
Mrs. Wang was taken aback, "It's so late, you want to go back to Su Mansion? Go back tomorrow."
Su Fengnuan shook his head, "I miss my mother."
Mrs. Wang laughed, and said lovingly, "Okay, go back if you miss your mother." After saying that, she told her, "You must wear clothes. Your mother was the most beautiful woman back then. You are her daughter, so don't give it to you." Mother is ashamed. If you dare not wear it, I will let your grandfather train you."
Su Fengnuan twitched the corners of his mouth, "You are really my good grandmother, I understand." After saying that, she left the main courtyard with her clothes in her arms.