June is the hottest time of the year in midsummer, and it is extremely hot even at night.
The third-class maids of Tingyuxuan would fetch two buckets of ice-cold well water from the deep well in the backyard every once incense stick of time and sprinkle the water all over the yard, using the evaporation of the ice-cold well water to lower the temperature.
There were seven or eight basins of ice in the room, especially in the study. When the ice was about to melt, a maid would bring new basins to replace it.
Zhu Ping'an and Li Shu were playing chess in the study to cool off, with several plates of fruit at hand. The fruits near Zhu Ping'an were all drained with cold water from a deep well and then cut and served on the plates. The reason why they were not iced was because chilled fruits were bad for the stomach.
The fruit plates next to Li Shu are all at room temperature, and contain warm fruits such as oranges and peaches.
At the beginning, the two played chess normally, but as the game progressed, chess began to take on a fantasy color.
"Uh, how come you flew both the bishop and the pawn at the same time?"
Zhu Ping'an watched Li Shu holding the elephant in one hand and the pawn in the other, and taking a step at the same time. He smiled speechlessly.
This scene was not unfamiliar. When he had just passed the imperial examination, he played chess with Li Shu. Li Shu even recited the mantra of rebirth to revive the chess piece that was eaten by Zhu Ping'an.
"Because mine is elephant cavalry, specially brought from Annan."
Li Shu held her cheeks with her slender hands, looked at Zhu Ping'an, blinked innocently, and acted very cute.
"Uh, okay."
Zhu Ping'an took one look at Li Shu, and was completely defeated and surrendered at once. From Zhu Ping'an's perspective, he not only saw Li Shu blinking and acting cute, but also saw a pair of cute little things that were about to pop out from under Li Shu's goose yellow tube top.
Why do I feel bigger again...
"Hey, it's your turn..."
Li Shu urged in a soft voice, without noticing Zhu Ping'an's eyes, otherwise Zhu Ping'an would have been given the cold shoulder again.
Zhu Ping'an was dazzled by Li Shu's exposed beauty. Hearing Li Shu's urging, he made a bad move out of fear and placed his cannon right in front of Li Shu's muzzle.
"Hehehe... I want to fire... a cannon." Li Shu smiled as beautiful as a flower. She stretched out her slender jade hand, picked up the cannon and fired Zhu Ping'an's cannon.
I want to fire... cannon
Li Shu certainly didn't know the modern significance of this sentence, but Zhu Pingan knew it very well. After hearing Li Shu's words, Zhu Pingan immediately thought of some scenes that were not suitable for children. In addition, Li Shu's body shook when she laughed, and her spring scenery was even more exposed... ... Zhu Pingan felt warm in his heart when he heard it, and also felt warm in his heart when he saw it... ...
This little goblin!
For a moment, Zhu Ping'an's heart was beating wildly, his whole body felt like it was on fire, and his throat was a little dry.
I recited the Great Compassion Mantra several times in my mind before I put out the fire that was burning in my heart.
"Hey, it's your turn again."
Li Shu playfully stretched out her little feet and gently kicked Zhu Ping'an's thigh under the table.
With one kick, the fire in Zhu Ping'an's heart, which had been extinguished after he recited the Great Compassion Mantra several times, was reignited.
Auntie, don’t you realize you kicked in the wrong place?!
"Ahem... OK."
Zhu Ping'an slightly arched his waist, coughed twice with a red face, and made a move casually.
One gains while the other loses.
Li Shu took advantage of her own home field, plus the advantages of elephant cavalry and expert pawns, and after a few rounds, she defeated Zhu Ping'an.
"Idiot, if you had done this earlier..."
Li Shu thought Zhu Pingan let her win on purpose this time, and couldn't help but think of the last time they played chess. That time, Zhu Pingan passed the imperial examination and came home to borrow books. She played chess with him and won two games in a row, forcing her to use Dumbo and the master pawn. This idiot didn't let her win... ... If this idiot had learned to let her win earlier... ... maybe, maybe he would have... ...
Thinking of this, Li Shu couldn't help but give Zhu Ping'an a look with her big watery eyes, and her cherry lips curved up into an upward arc.
Well
So early
Zhu Ping'an was startled and thought that Li Shu had discovered that he was peeking, but after seeing Li Shu's reaction, he realized that was not the case.
After a little thought, he realized that Li Shu mistakenly thought that he was giving in to her.
fine.
Zhu Pingan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come again."
After winning a game, Li Shu excitedly set up the chessboard again, as if she wanted to win back all the games she had lost to Zhu Ping'an before.
When the two were playing the second game of chess, the chubby little maid Huaer came in stumbling from outside.
"Master, Miss, the concierge just sent a message saying that someone from the palace has come and brought two large baskets of fruit to you."
Baozi, the little maid, said excitedly.
"Someone from the palace is delivering fruit at this time?"
In the palace? Zhu Pingan was startled when he heard this. Was it a reward from Emperor Jiajing? Why reward fruit in the middle of the night? There should be a curfew outside right now, right? !
"What's so strange about this? The fruits presented by the south are sent to the capital at full speed. They are sent as fast as possible, not to mention now, even in the early morning. They have to be sent to the palace while they are fresh, and the curfew will not stop them. At this time every year, the emperor will reward some of the presented fruits to his ministers. Yesterday morning, the emperor rewarded meritorious military generals with fresh fruits, and our mansion was given a basket of Jiangnan peaches."
When Li Shu heard that the palace was sending two baskets of fruit to Zhu Ping'an, she couldn't help but smile.
Yesterday morning, the mansion received peaches from the palace. The old lady and the eldest aunt were so happy that they kept saying thank you for your grace and for remembering these heroes...
The Third Miss and the Sixth Miss were also very proud. They felt very superior in front of Li Shu and kept saying that the peaches in Jiangnan were the most delicious, especially the Imperial Peaches, which were the most delicious. Only officials above the third rank had this benefit. Others couldn't even eat them. They only ate them once last year and couldn't forget them.
Showing off my superiority all morning...
What's there to show off
After returning from paying respects yesterday, Li Shu casually threw the peach she was given to the maid who accompanied her.
Soon, several strong women carried two large baskets of fruits into Tingyuxuan, one basket of Jiangnan peaches and the other basket of Annan longans.
The basket is big and solid, and can hold about five or six baskets of fruits.
I understand it clearly.
The fresh fruits tributed from Jiangnan were delivered to the palace before today's curfew. Emperor Jiajing was very pleased after tasting them. He ordered the eunuchs to give some of the fruits to the two princes' teachers, giving each prince's teacher a basket of fresh fruits.
Zhu Ping'an is giving lectures to the two princes today. He can be considered as the two princes' teacher, so it just so happens that he also has a part in it.
Also, because each prince's teacher was given a basket, Zhu Ping'an took advantage of the situation and got one basket as the teacher of Prince Yu, and another basket as the teacher of Prince Jing. In total, he got two baskets.
"We were just talking about Annan, and the longans from Annan have arrived. At this time, the longans from Jiangnan will take more than a month to ripen." After looking at the fruits, Li Shu's pretty face was even more smiling. She waved her hand and told a few maids to pick up a basket each of peaches and longans and send them to the old lady and the aunt respectively.
"Oh, by the way, since this is a royal gift, Second Sister, Third Sister, Fourth Sister, and Sixth Sister should also send a basket over to try it. Doesn't Sixth Sister love to eat Jiangnan peaches? Tell her that if it's not enough, ask her to send someone over to get more."
Li Shu clapped her hands and instructed the maidservants below, her eyes curved into two sweet crescents.