Stacks of dishes made of lychees are delivered to the table like running water.
There are lychee shrimp balls, egg fried lychees, fresh lychee salad with roast duck, lychee red rolls, lychee pork balls, etc. The queen scooped up a spoonful of white soup, a snow-white lychee was rolling in the soup, and a few bright red wolfberries. The redness, like one or two red plums flying in the snow, is really cute.
"Empress Empress, this is the white snow red plum specially made by the royal chef." Er Qing explained while seeing her curious expression, "The lychee is easy to get angry, so I soaked it with warm salt water, and specially added wolfberry to neutralize it. "
"The tea restaurant is quite thoughtful. Just this appearance is very elegant." The queen smiled, "Your Majesty, you can try it."
Hongli looked absent-minded, looking around, not knowing who he was looking for in the crowd. It was not until Bai Xuehongmei brought it to him that he smiled at the queen: "The queen has a heart."
A glint of jealousy flashed in Concubine Huigui's eyes, she stroked her tortoiseshell nails and smiled: "Lychee cooking is very common. After all, dried lychees are delivered every year, but if you add seasonings, it won't taste like that! You really know how to eat lychees. The people who are here are most interested in fresh lychees. Empress, don’t you want to pick lychees in person today, why haven’t you seen any news!”
The queen also found it strange. It stands to reason that the lychee tree should have been moved up at this time, but for some reason, there was no movement.
"Speaking of which, who is in charge of this..." Concubine Huigui smiled meaningfully, "I think of it, it's the palace maid named Wei Yingluo."
Hongli's hand with the lychee meat suddenly froze.
The queen didn't notice it, but she frowned because of Concubine Hui's smile. After dealing with each other for so long and being an enemy for so long, the empress can be regarded as the person who knows Concubine Hui the most in the world. Kindly, what does she want to do? What can she do
"It's not too early." Hongli suddenly said, "Let that maid named... Wei Yingluo bring the lychee tree up."
The queen was startled, although she was a little uneasy, but since the emperor had already spoken, there was no reason to dismiss it in public, so she could only say: "Where's Yingluo, let her bring the lychee tree up."
The words passed on, but no one came.
Gradually, discussions began to spread.
"Yo, that Wei Yingluo is such a big arrogant that she actually let so many concubines and the emperor wait for her to be a servant." Concubine Huigui smiled even deeper, "It's the Queen who can teach such servants in your palace, hehe."
The queen frowned. With what she knew about Wei Yingluo, Wei Yingluo would not be able to make such a mess, neglecting so many nobles in the palace, what good would it be for her, something must have happened unexpectedly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Concubine Huigui, and seeing the other party's appearance as she was waiting to see a good show, the queen sighed in her heart: "I'm afraid this has something to do with her..."
The queen had the intention to put this matter away, but the arrow was on the line and had to send, the emperor, Concubine Hui, Jia Concubine... so many pairs of eyes stared at her, waiting for her to reply.
How should she respond...
"Niangniang!" While the queen was in a daze, Erqing's voice suddenly sounded in her ear, "It's Wei Yingluo! She's here!"
Wei Yingluo is here
Everyone looked at each other, wanting to see what this daring palace maid looked like.
At first glance, her dress was no different from other palace maids.
At second glance, she felt that she was different from all palace maids.
This appearance... is a bit too iconic.
Exhaled like a blue orchid, as clear as a lotus flower, not to mention the palace maids, even among the beautiful girls selected from the layers, there are not many who can compete with her in terms of appearance. The queen is also big-hearted, and she actually puts such a beauty by her side, and is not afraid of being favored by the emperor
In contrast, the woman who was supported by Wei Yingluo was eclipsed, haggard like a failed flower. The only thing that could compare to Wei Yingluo was the dress that belonged to the master.
"Master Yu, why are you here?" the queen asked in surprise.
The woman who was supported by Wei Yingluo was the noble person who was supposed to raise a baby in Yonghe Palace.
She smiled at the queen: "The queen's concubine is hosting a banquet, and concubines should be present. The concubine is considerate, and concubines and concubines can't be lazy."
Hongli's eyes moved slowly from Wei Yingluo's face to Yu Guiren's face: "Yu Guiren's illness, are you getting better?"
Mr. Yu hurriedly blessed him: "Thank you for the emperor's concern, the spirit of the concubine is much better."
"That's good, you have to pay more attention to your body, and don't let the queen worry and be burdened." Hongli nodded, "Sit down."
Yu Guiren just sat down in his seat, and when he was seated, he exchanged a knowing look with Wei Yingluo.
At almost the same time, Concubine Huigui and Jia Concubine also exchanged the same look, and Jia Concubine said, "Empress Empress, when will you start picking lychees? The concubines are greedy and are still waiting to taste the fresh lychees that are full of color and fragrance. !"
The queen was stunned, and looked at Wei Yingluo worriedly.
"The masters have been waiting for a long time." Wei Yingluo gave her a reassuring smile, and then said loudly, "Send it up!"
As soon as the words fell, the two eunuchs jointly carried a wooden barrel up, covered with a piece of red silk, covering the lychee tree from head to tail.
"The Empress." Wei Yingluo delivered a tray with a pair of gold scissors, "Please come and pick it yourself."
The queen had already seen that this time was unusual, and she couldn't think of a way to deal with it for a while, but she believed in Wei Yingluo and believed that the other party had already figured out a way to deal with it, so she took the golden scissors with a smile, walked to the wooden barrel step by step, and then Slowly stretch out your hand to uncover the red silk…
"Wang!"
The queen took a step back in shock, and when she saw the situation in front of her, she couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "This, this is..."
I saw under the red silk, the branches and leaves of the lychees withered, and there were only a few lychees left in the tree.
Everyone looked at the snow-white hairball under the tree in unison.
Seemingly sensing the unkind gazes of the crowd, the hairball shouted a few more times, then quickly jumped out of the basin and ran towards Concubine Huigui.
"Ah!!" Yu Guiren screamed suddenly, hugged Wei Yingluo's arm beside him, and kept hiding behind him, "Don't come here, don't bite me, don't bite me!"
She shouted so piercingly, as if the dog's teeth were digging into her throat, gnawing at her flesh.
Hongli glanced at her: "come here, grab that dog."
The eunuchs pounced on them, and with all their hands and feet, they finally caught the hairball. The hairball was obviously pampered and used to being treated so rudely. shouted.
"You guys are lighter..." Concubine Huigui looked at Hongli with an ugly face, "Your Majesty..."
Before she could intercede for Mao Tuan, Mr. Yu had already burst into tears: "Concubine Hui, one time is not enough, there will be a second time, do you have to kill your concubine?"
Hongli frowned: "What's going on?"
"Report to the emperor." Wei Yingluo replied respectfully while patting the back of the noble man, "A month ago in the imperial garden, this dog named Xueqiu suddenly broke out and startled the noble man. When someone was injured, the empress was magnanimous, so she didn’t pursue it, she just suffered for the noble person, she had to drink shock soup every day to fall asleep, I didn’t want to be in a good mood today, and I bumped into it again!”
"Bold servant!" Concubine Hui Gui said sharply, "What do you mean by that, do you suspect that Ben Gong ordered that beast to be scary!"
In order to protect herself, she no longer called Snowball little darling, and instead called it a little beast.
"Slaves don't dare." Wei Yingluo lowered her head, "Slaves are just telling the truth."
Yu Guiren suddenly broke away from her embrace and threw herself at Hongli's feet, choking: "Your Majesty, save your life, Your Majesty, save your concubine! If this continues, the concubine will not be able to hold on, and will end up with one corpse and two lives!"
Hongli looked down at her, like a god and Buddha in a temple overlooking the mortals kneeling on the ground.
"Come here, help the noble person to get up." He said slowly, "Don't worry, I will make the decision for you in this matter."
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Huigui hurriedly said, "Could it be that you really believed her nonsense? Take a closer look at the lychee tree, it was obviously scalded to death by boiling water, but you insist that it was caught by a dog..."
Burned to death by boiling water
The queen thought, "Okay, you haven't looked at the lychee tree carefully. How do you know that it was scalded to death by boiling water?" I'm afraid it was you who called someone secretly, right
"Concubine Hui!" The Empress didn't give her a chance to defend herself, and immediately said sternly, "It's not enough for you to disturb Mrs. Yu over and over again. Today, at the lychee banquet in this palace, you have to deliberately make trouble, and you almost scare Mr. Yu again. What do you want!"
"Xueqiu is always well-behaved and has never been in trouble!" Concubine Huigui gritted her teeth, "This time, I'm afraid someone deliberately framed it and used it to frame a concubine!"
"Framed and framed?" The Queen shook her head, "The last time this vicious dog attacked Mr. Yu in the imperial garden, today it didn't bite, but instead focused on the tribute from Fujian, a gift specially given to this palace by the emperor!"
Concubine Huigui was speechless.
If there was no previous attack in the Imperial Garden, everyone would still believe her words.
But since the attack has already happened, how could such a vicious dog be as well-behaved as she said and not cause trouble on weekdays
"Concubine." Hongli's indifferent eyes swept over, "Do you have anything else to explain?"
In the palace, if you want to live and live well, you must learn to look at people's faces, especially the emperor's face.
Concubine Huigui thumped and knelt at Hongli's feet, crying, "It's all to blame for this beast, Snowball, the concubine must have peeled its skin..."
"Husi came out of the scorpion, and the turtle jade was destroyed in the scorpion, whose fault is it?" Hongli suddenly interrupted her.
"The tiger and rhino ran out of the cage, and the tortoise shell and beautiful jade were destroyed in the box. Naturally, it was the fault of the caretaker." Wei Yingluo suddenly knelt down beside her, "Today, when the lychee tree was transported, the snowballs were scurrying around under her feet. The servants did not dare to chase the dog of the noble concubine, but when such a thing happened, it was the servant who did not take good care of it and was willing to be punished! It’s just…”
Out of the corner of her eyes, she glanced at the man who was crying, and said in a low voice, "This servant dares to ask one more question on behalf of the noble man. The lychee guard has already been punished, but what about the one who destroyed the lychee?"
"Bold!" Jia Concubine slapped the table, "There's no place for a servant like you to speak!"
"... She asked for the concubine." Yu Guiren sighed and raised her face wet with tears. Everyone else was fat when she was pregnant, but not only did she not grow fat, but her cheeks were sunken inward, like a Gu Skeleton, "The concubine also wants to know, is there a place for the concubine in this palace?"
Jiabi was speechless for a moment.
"The empress is merciful, the emperor is merciful, please forgive the rudeness of the servants!" Wei Yingluo said outright, "The noble man is pregnant with a dragon heir, and his status is precious; the lychee is an annual tribute from Fujian, and the emperor's royal gift; the queen is magnanimous, but her status is respected, There is no room for repeated provocation! Every piece is related to the snowball, but after all, the vicious dog is a livestock. It does not understand etiquette or rules. If you want to blame it, blame its owner. Repeated troubles! Minions dare to ask the emperor to judge!"
Hongli looked down at the woman kneeling in front of him for a long time, then turned his head slowly, his voice was light, but he had a condescending and irresistible majesty: "Concubine Hui."
There was no joy, no anger, and no blame in that voice, but it made Concubine Hui Gui's body tremble slightly.
"...Yes, Xueqiu made a mistake in his discipline." Concubine Huigui grabbed her hands into fists and suddenly said, "Jiabi! Come over and apologize to the emperor!"
Abandon the car to protect handsome!
This word flashed through everyone's mind.
Including the concubine.
I secretly complained in my heart, but I knew that I couldn't escape this encounter. After all, it was my own idea for Concubine Huigui, and I made a mess of it myself.
"Your Majesty, it's all the fault of the concubine and concubine." Jia Concubine got up and knelt down to Hongli, "The concubine was afraid that Snowball would be too naughty and ruin the banquet of the empress and concubine, so she specially told the concubine to be optimistic about Snowball. It has nothing to do with the imperial concubine! If the emperor wants to punish, just punish the concubines!"
Hongli's fingers tapped on the table. He didn't really believe what Jiabi said, but Concubine Huigui was so powerful that it was impossible to punish her severely because of a few trees. The board fell on Jiabi, and she fell. Everyone was overjoyed, so he said lightly: "The lychee tree is a tribute from Fujian, and it was transported all the way to the capital. I personally sent it to the queen, just to make her happy, but your negligence has caused my efforts to beat. You should not ask me for forgiveness now, you should apologize to the queen!"
"Yes!" Jia Concubine gritted her teeth, took two steps on her knees, and kowtowed heavily to the Queen: "The concubines are incompetent and weak in restraint, please forgive the Queen!"
After causing such a big disaster, how could she forgive her for just a few words
Seeing that the queen didn't say a word, Jia Concubine couldn't, so she had to continue to kowtow to her. For a while, there was no other sound at the banquet, except for her bang bang bang kowtow.
"...Okay." Dozens of heads kowtowed, and the queen finally said, "Bengong just ruined a banquet, but Mrs. Yu was very frightened! One is bad and hurts Long Si, what are you going to do? compensation!"
This is to ask her not only to kowtow to herself, but also to kowtow to Mrs. Yu to admit that she was wrong.
Jiabi felt a humiliation in her heart. It was nothing to kowtow to the queen. After all, she was the lord of the harem. Anyone who was in front of her would be three points shorter, but what was that noble person? Is it worth letting her kneel
"What?" The Queen said coldly, "You have a grudge in your heart and refuse to admit your mistake?"
"… Concubine dare not." The situation is stronger than people, and the matter has come to this point, Jia Concubine can only grit her teeth and kowtow in the direction of noble man Yu, "Master Yu, I was negligent for a while, and almost got into trouble, please adults, please, Forgive my sister this time!"
This head is knocked down, like water poured out, and it is difficult to take it back.
From now on, anyone in the palace with better information will know that her concubine knelt down and kowtowed to Mrs. Yu.
Yu Guiren looked at the woman kneeling in front of him, and seemed to say to her, and also to Concubine Hui Gui who was standing behind her: "I hope you truly repent, and don't allow evil animals to hurt people!"
"Wang Wang, Wang Wang!" Snowball seemed to think that someone had mentioned it, so he called out.
"Okay, I don't want to see this dog again!" Hongli glanced at it in disgust, and made a final argument, "Jia Concubine was negligent for a while, caused a big disaster, was reduced to a nobleman, and banned for three months! The master of Chuxiu Palace, if you can't manage people or dogs, you're really incompetent, you will be punished for one year in the palace, and you should think about it behind closed doors!"
After finishing speaking, I don't want to see these women intrigue any more, so I just walked away.
I don't know if it was Wei Yingluo's illusion. Before leaving, Hongli seemed to look back at her. That look was quite complicated, and Wei Yingluo couldn't understand the meaning.
And when Hongli left, the rest of the people were absent-minded and thought to go. The queen saw it, and did not force them. After persuading a few glasses of wine, she ended this off-topic lychee feast.
At the end of the song, the people dispersed, but Yu Guiren stayed.
Knowing that she had something to say to herself, the queen opened another seat with a few plates of fruit and tea on the table. She smiled and said to him, "Why are you here today, aren't you recuperating in Yonghe Palace?"
Recuperating from illness is just an excuse. The two of them knew very well that Yu Guiren would not come because they were afraid of meeting Concubine Hui Gui.
"Yingluo asked me to come. She persuaded me. The more I am afraid of Concubine Hui, the more Concubine Hui will torture me. Even if it's not for me, I have to breathe for Yi Concubine..." Yu Guiren stroked herself With a slightly bloated belly, he said with a smile, "Even if I don't speak enough, but with this child, it's barely enough..."
The two chatted for a while. Perhaps it was because of her pregnancy that Yu Guiren showed a hint of fatigue on her face. When the queen saw her, she asked Er Qing to send her back to the palace to rest. As soon as she left, Yingluo knelt down beside her with a plop. On the side: "The slaves make their own claims, please forgive the empress."
The queen didn't mean to blame her at all, instead she pointed her finger affectionately and touched her forehead: "You, you, you can come up with such an idea, Concubine Hui Gui used the snowball to scare the noble person, the unsettled account is just right Moved to today, it's not wrong to her."
Wei Yingluo replied to her very sincerely: "It is a trivial matter for a servant to confess his guilt and be punished. What Concubine Huigui and Jia Concubine did was to make the concubine lose face, so how could they succeed? But compared to Concubine Hui Gui instigating the vicious dog to harm the noble people, destroying the Fujian Sui Gong, and destroying the Queen's banquet, it is much lighter."
The queen smiled suddenly: "You know, the emperor has seen that you are using him."
Wei Yingluo was taken aback and looked up at the queen almost immediately.
The silly look on her face seemed to please the Empress, and the Empress smiled cheerfully: "But you don't have to worry too much, since the Emperor sees it out and is willing to let you use it, it means that he also thinks Concubine Hui Gui has done too much. Take the opportunity to beat her."
Wei Yingluo breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little cold on her back.
"Yingluo." The queen asked her suddenly, "What kind of person do you think our Lord Long Live is on weekdays?"
Wei Yingluo didn't know why she asked herself this question. After thinking for a moment, she gave a satisfactory answer: "Diligent in politics and loving the people."
The queen shook her head: "I'm not talking about this, I'm asking you about his temperament."
Wei Yingluo said several words in a row, and the queen shook her head until she hesitantly said one: "Killing decisively?"
"Yeah!" The queen slapped her hands like a child, "Who is the emperor, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the ruler of the world, as long as he doesn't like the person, he clicks and his head falls to the ground, it's not over! What more! Leaving people behind, doesn't this make me feel angry?"
Wei Yingluo felt a little cold on her back again, and the sweat washed down her back like a waterfall. She forced a smile and said, "This... Maybe the emperor has any concerns?"
"No!" The Empress said decisively, "What concerns does the Emperor have, what kind of grace is Eshan, how many officials plead for mercy, and kill him without blinking an eye!"
"Then...then..." Wei Yingluo cried and grimaced, "Miss, does the emperor really know how to settle accounts after the autumn, and want the head of a servant?"
She looked pitiful, like a cat in trouble, always ready to jump on the mistress's lap, rolling and meowing coquettishly, seeking the mistress's protection.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." But the Queen smiled meaningfully, "You are a girl, a beautiful girl."
Although she said it would be fine, but after hearing the last sentence, Wei Yingluo only felt that not only her back, but her whole body was cold, as if she had fallen into a well.