As soon as it was dawn, Xin Zheku was busy, and the maids yawned and began to wash and clean up, ready to go to work.
The door was suddenly pushed open with a creak, and a person stumbled in.
"Mingyu?" Wei Yingluo stopped combing her hair and looked at her in surprise, "Why are you here?"
As a maid of Changchun Palace, Mingyu pays great attention to her image on weekdays. Now, not only is her hair messy, but her clothes are also disheveled. If you look closely, you can see the reddish brown on her skirt, which looks like dried blood.
"Yingluo, come with me!" Mingyu pulled Wei Yingluo out, and the two walked to a place where no one was there. Mingyu turned around, licked her dry lips, and said to Wei Yingluo, "Last night, the queen mother was in Yujing. The pavilion held the Double Ninth Festival, and for some reason, a large number of bats were attracted, the crowd was in chaos, and the empress unfortunately fell on the road..."
"What did you say?" Wei Yingluo's face changed greatly, and she grabbed Mingyu's arm tightly, "The Empress has fallen to the road? She, how is she now?"
"The entire Imperial Hospital is being treated in Changchun Palace, but the maiden is still in a coma..." Mingyu said, and suddenly burst into tears, "I didn't mean to, there were too many people at the time, I don't know who pushed me. , I'll let go of Empress's hand!"
Wei Yingluo lowered her eyes, and there was an extremely gloomy light in her eyes.
"...Who is it?" She slowly raised her head and asked word by word, "Who was the first to notice that the Empress fell on the road?"
Mingyu was still crying uncontrollably.
"Think about it!" Wei Yingluo shouted.
She almost shouted this in Mingyu's ear, Mingyu finally came back to her senses, and responded with a conditioned reflex: "It's Concubine Hui, she was the first to call out, saying that the Empress had fallen down the road. "
Wei Yingluo's face became more and more gloomy: "...I knew it was her."
"You suspect it's Concubine Hui?" Mingyu shook her head, "No, it's impossible, Concubine was holding the Empress, and her arm was dislocated, everyone could see it! If she had the intention to do something, why would she still save people? "
"Have you been saved?" Wei Yingluo interrupted her.
Mingyu was stunned.
"Since the rescue was not successful, it means that what she did was mostly a cover for others." After Wei Yingluo finished speaking, she lowered her eyes again, not knowing what was going on in her mind.
"No matter how much, you go to Changchun Palace with me first, let's go!" Mingyu suddenly took Wei Yingluo's hand, and seemed to be worried, and said helplessly, "The queen... needs you!"
The two walked a few steps, and were suddenly stopped by a thick arm.
"She can't go anywhere." Madam Liu stopped in front of the two of them, yin and yang angrily said, "She is from Yongxiang, not from Changchun Palace, Miss Erqing, if you want to take her away, do you have an order in hand?"
"This..." Er Qing was speechless.
"If there is no adjustment order, please don't embarrass your old body." Madam Liu smiled coldly, "Wei Yingluo, come over and work soon!"
On this day, she handed over the hardest work to Wei Yingluo.
The rain poured down, and everyone else went back. Wei Yingluo squatted in the rain and pulled weeds. From morning to night, from one end of the garden to the other, until evening approached, the weeds on the ground were not finished. Wei Yingluo But it was already top-heavy, and suddenly it became dark in front of him, and he fell to the ground.
"Wreaths!"
In her sleep, someone kept calling her name, who is it
Wei Yingluo opened her eyes slowly, and a hand slowly came into her eyes. It wasn't the queen's pampered hand, or Fu Heng's hand holding the sword cocoon, but a hand full of old scars and calluses due to hard work. hand.
"Awake?" The hand placed the wet towel on her forehead.
"...Yuan Chunwang?" Wei Yingluo coughed a few times and looked at the unfamiliar environment around her, "Where is this?"
"Mother Liu thought you were sick and moved you to the warehouse... Drink the medicine." Yuan Chunwang hugged her halfway. Although Wei Yingluo wanted to refuse, she didn't have any strength in her body, so she could only slump in Yuan Chunwang's arms like mud. , let him feed himself the medicine with the medicine bowl, and wipe the medicine stains from the corner of her lips with his sleeve.
Halfway through the wipe, Yuan Chunwang suddenly lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at himself.
"If you hadn't formed an alliance, who would care about you." Yuan Chunwang looked down at her and said lightly, "You are under my care, yet you still call me Yuan Chunwang?"
Wei Yingluo was stunned. I didn't expect him to take the covenant seriously. In fact, after the sentence "I'll be your lover too", Wei Yingluo didn't take his words seriously, thinking that he was taking himself. make fun of…
"Change your name." Rough fingers rubbed her chin, Yuan Chun Wang said, "Make me happy, after all, I have taken care of you all day and night... Except me, no one else comes to see you, you are only me ."
Wei Yingluo was not the only one sick on the couch.
"Concubine Hui." The Empress Dowager sat beside the bed, "How is your arm recovering?"
With a white cloth wrapped around one arm, Concubine Huigui smiled at the queen mother with a pale face: "I'm sorry to worry about the queen mother, the hand of the concubine is better. It's a pity that the concubine was useless and could not save the empress."
The queen mother shook her head: "the queen mother: how can you blame you? I know, you have tried your best."
If her arm was not injured, the queen mother would still be somewhat suspicious, but the imperial doctor had already come over to see it. Concubine Hui Gui's arm was really dislocated, and she suffered a lot for bone setting.
Concubine Huigui sighed and said, "In this period of time, not only the queen mother is worried, but the emperor is also hard to see happy face. After a while, it will be the queen mother's birthday, but the concubines and concubines have the intentions and make good preparations."
The queen mother laughed: "It's still half a year before the birthday, you are too anxious, what's more, now that the Changchun Palace has become a gloomy cloud, how can I have the intention to celebrate!"
Concubine Hui Gui hurriedly said: "It is precisely because of this that the concubines specially invited a team of folk stunts to perform for the queen mother and the emperor, and have a good time to drive away the sullenness in the palace, so as to avoid everyone's frowning and panic..."
Before the words were finished, a palace maid came in from outside and blessed the Empress Dowager: "Empress Dowager, Concubine Xian is here."
"Oh?" There was a hint of joy in the Queen Mother's eyes, "Please come in."
Concubine Hui Gui did not miss the joy in her eyes, and immediately frowned, a sense of precaution rose in her heart.
As soon as the door opened, Concubine Xian walked in. She was not coquettish, and her demeanor was dignified and unobtrusive. Except for her appearance, which was not comparable to the Queen, she was very similar to the Queen.
"My concubine respectfully invites the Empress Dowager Sheng'an." Concubine Xian blessed the Empress Dowager.
The queen mother smiled and nodded: "You came just right. I have read the account book you sorted out yesterday. Can you be sure about opening the moat?"
Concubine Huigui was stunned when she heard the words: "Open the moat, what do you mean by this?"
Concubine Xian explained: "Since the 16th year of Emperor Kangxi, lotus roots and water chestnuts have been widely planted in the moat, but only a quarter of the meals are used in the palace, and the rest is wasted. All are sold, and fish and waterfowl are raised in the moat, and the proceeds of silver are recorded on the account."
The more rational and well-founded what she said, the more jealous Concubine Huigui felt in her heart, but she smiled unintentionally: "How much money can you get, is it worth so much trouble?"
Concubine Xian said sternly: "The white fur is not like the skin of a fox, but it is just a collection of armpits into furs and sand into a tower. The easiest way is to rent out the lotus land. The concubine has calculated it, and can receive one hundred and twenty-five taels per year. Nine coins for rent is always an income."
Concubine Huigui said coldly, "As soon as Concubine Xian was in charge, she changed the old rules in the palace, I'm afraid it's not right!"
In the face of her tit-for-tat confrontation, Concubine Xian still smiled calmly: "The old practice may not be all good, for example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs used to manage 26 pawnshops. This year, the emperor closed 15 of them, and lent all the money to merchants, and the interest was far away. The profit of the pawnshop is better than that of the pawnshop. There are also some that cannot be managed by the old rules. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the official estate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was only 570,000 mu, and now it has doubled.
Concubine Hui Gui refuted her intentions, but her strength was never on this.
The look of her racking her brains fell into the eyes of Concubine Xian, Concubine Xian smiled in her heart, and said slowly: "To sort out the finances, it is not how much money you make, but to let the palace see that the Qing Dynasty is completely different from the extravagant Ming Palace. The cost of food and clothing has been reduced to one or two from the top ten, and even the source of income and expenditure has been implemented everywhere. In this way, from top to bottom, it is a real good thing for everyone to follow suit.”
The queen mother saw that she was more satisfied, smiled and nodded and said: "In the past, the queen was in charge of affairs, and she spent most of her efforts on throttling money, but it caused the palace to have a lot of criticism. Since Concubine Xian has managed the palace affairs, everything is proper and meticulous, and everyone in the harem is respectful. Do it according to your plan!"
Concubine Xian replied respectfully: "The queen mother trusts, the concubine will do her best. Recently, Zhili, Tianjin and other places have suffered floods, and many displaced refugees have poured into the capital. The concubine asked me to open a porridge shed outside Di'anmen. One is to help the victims, and the other is to pray for the queen."
Although Concubine Huigui couldn't think of any way to increase income and reduce expenditure, she was good at making people stumble. Before Concubine Xian finished speaking, she interrupted coolly: "It is indeed a good thing to open a porridge shed for disaster relief, but food and money are both problems. , it is inevitable to use the silver from the internal affairs treasury, so the life in the palace will be even more difficult, everyone's morale is already low, isn't this embarrassing for Concubine Xian?"
"Don't worry, Concubine Xian." Concubine Xian smiled, "According to the usual practice, you can mobilize the capital's business gentry to donate. Please ask the Queen Mother to issue a decree to open the 'Leshan Good Practice', and the city will definitely respond, and this problem can be solved without using the treasury of the internal affairs. ."
"Concubine Xian is really thoughtful. It can not only accumulate blessings for the empress, but also comfort the refugees. It is really a good thing that kills two birds with one stone. If you let it go, I will fully support it!" The queen mother raised her hand and summoned her to her side. He clapped her hand and said, "Concubine Xian, I usually see you silently, but at a critical moment, all the concubines and concubines are in a mess, even the queen has no opinion, only you, the first to react, Steady the overall situation, and now handle things in good order..."
Speaking of this, the queen mother suddenly shook her head and said: "The queen recommended two people to me that day. To be honest, Concubine Chun is far inferior to you. When I see a bat, I'm scared to death, but you are more than men. Decisive and persevering, I am more assured to entrust everything to you, don't let me down!"
There was something in her words, and there was a faint intention to put aside Concubine Chun and hand over all the power of the harem to Concubine Xian.
Concubine Xian's eyes flashed, and she said with sincerity and fear: "Please rest assured, the empress dowager, the concubine will definitely do her best."
The Queen Mother nodded with satisfaction, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's a good Double Ninth Festival, how could it become like this!"
Concubine Xian looked at her and lowered her eyes slowly.