Amid the rumbling of eight hundred evening drums, a crow that had long been indifferent to the sound folded its wings and half-closed its eyelids, landing high on the roof of a tall palace. The glazed green tiles reflected the evening light, making the lacquered feathers on the bird's back also shimmer with a layer of golden and crimson light.
"Didn't Painter Zhou finish his painting today?"
A young palace eunuch in gray clothes sat with his knees hugged in the corner of a stone staircase in front of the Chongtian Hall. He squinted his eyes and looked at the half-moon of sunset that was about to disappear behind the palace wall in the distance, and asked a question to his companion beside him.
The setting sun shone obliquely, covering most of the palace steps. In the light of the sunset, the silhouette of the palace on the steps looked even more majestic and magnificent. Just as its name suggests, when the palace is opened, it will be like the stars in the sky, towering over Chang'an, receiving worship and admiration from all around. The figures of the two palace supervisors who took a lazy rest here in the evening were even smaller than two tiny ants in front of this palace.
However, this large area of red light that looks like a furnace fire feels cold when it shines on people.
Just like Chang'an in winter, people can't feel any warmth at all.
Another eunuch sitting with him pinched his cold fingers, turned his head to look at the half-open palace door with cloud and dragon patterns behind him, and said in a complaining tone: "That's right! I guess I will have to paint until the middle of the night again!"
From morning to night, no matter what time it is, if the painter who is painting the murals inside does not leave, the palace supervisors on duty here cannot leave either and must be ready to respond at any time.
Because the princess attached great importance to it, she treated the painter with great courtesy. The order was passed down from above, and the importance of the matter was self-evident. Therefore, since the painting of the murals began, the offerings here have been extremely meticulous and thoughtful.
Of these two eunuchs, one is in charge of charcoal, and the other is in charge of tea.
Originally, this was their duty. However, Painter Zhou had a rather aloof character. Although he did not boss these little palace slaves around, he showed contempt for them. He would always speak from a distance and would not even look them in the eye. Not only did he treat these insignificant little eunuchs like this, he also ignored Cao Huan, the palace manager.
Although it was natural for eunuchs to be looked down upon, when they thought about the princess's demeanor and treatment of her servants when she was a painter, it was inevitable that the little palace slaves would complain in private.
"Have you heard anyone say that the Saint might cancel his birthday celebration?"
"I heard about it, but I don't know if it's true or not."
"I noticed that Vice-Director Zhou seemed a little uneasy these days, and even his painting became slower. Could this be true? He finally gained the princess's appreciation and had this opportunity to show up. If the longevity celebration is really cancelled, wouldn't it be a false alarm?" The Palace Supervisor of Tea lowered his voice to a very low level, with a tone of gloating.
The eunuch in charge of charcoal was a bit timid and didn't dare to talk about this. He just said, "Let's go, this has nothing to do with us. It's getting dark, don't sit here! I'll go check on the charcoal stove and add some charcoal. The weather is getting colder, and I don't know when the first snow of the year will come. If Painter Zhou's hands are frozen and Eunuch Cao finds out, I won't be able to bear the consequences!"
He stood up first, brushed his buttocks which had become icy cold from the chill of the stone steps, and called his companions to go inside, but found that they were not following him. Turning around, he saw that he had already knelt down towards the west. Looking further, he saw that the chief eunuch Yang Zaien was coming towards this side with a small sedan chair carried by two people. The person in the sedan chair seemed to be the princess.