On the wooden round table in the open hall were seasonal cherries, two plates of translucent glutinous rice desserts, and a pot of spring tea. The cherries were washed and placed in a finely woven bamboo basket. They were bright red and crystal clear, and very beautiful, although Guo Shao did not eat any. He was talking seriously with Fu Jinzhan about some state affairs of the past two days.
Guo Shao was very careful with his words, and naturally couldn't let go here. He turned his head slightly, and he could see teams of palace maids walking on the street under the red wall outside the Zide Hall, holding lanterns and lighting the lampstands on the roadside. The light gradually dimmed after the sun went down, and the lights in the palace were lit one by one; this scene was a bit novel, with lights slowly appearing in large areas, and the lights seemed to be spreading. People were doing their own things, but Guo Shao knew that those people could see the people above, just as he could see them.
The Zide Hall was built on a platform, and you can see far away from here. The double-eaved roofs of the palaces in the west give you a sense of vastness, and there are many low houses under the imperial city wall in the distance; but the walls and towers of the imperial city are higher, and you can't see the scenery outside. This is almost a completely closed place. It is difficult for ordinary people to go out, let alone see the outside. I guess if you climb up the higher rockery in the imperial garden, you can see outside the palace.
Guo Shao looked away and found that there were still some eunuchs and palace maids in the dining room where they had just eaten. Although they were far away, they must have been paying attention to him and Jinzhan. The emperor and the empress dowager were people who attracted people's attention. So Guo Shao and Fu Jinzhan spoke politely. Fu Jinzhan's voice was soothing and gentle. The soothing rhythm might be to keep a sense of proportion at all times so as not to say the wrong thing in front of others.
As night fell, the light from the lanterns gradually dimmed and became a little ambiguous. Guo Shaodu had been busy all day, so it was easy for him to relax in this scene. He gradually became bolder and said, "Actually, we are talking here, so no one can hear us."
I can't hear it. Fu Jinzhan looked around with bright eyes and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, what do you want to say?"
Guo Shao exhaled, leaned forward, put his elbows on the table, and said: What can we do to be alone together
Jinzhan smiled and said: Aren't we alone now
Guo Shao was stunned and said: You know what I said, it’s not like this in public.
Fu Jinzhan said softly: That's difficult. There are tens of thousands of people in this palace. Their biggest responsibility is to take care of the daily life of the royal family. There are people watching over Your Majesty and us every moment of the twelve hours of the day. If they don't know where Your Majesty has gone, they will definitely panic; if they know where you have gone, where do you want to go
She paused and said softly: At this time, you'd better not act rashly.
After hearing this, Guo Shao sighed and said, "It turns out that Jinzhan lives in the Forbidden City, and it's rare to see her. Now that I've moved in, I thought I was very close, but it turns out that it's even harder to get close than before."
Fu Jinzhan looked at his face and asked calmly: "Aren't there thousands of beauties in the palace? Are you still not satisfied?"
Guo Shao instinctively knew that he shouldn't give a random answer to this question. If he thought that she meant to remind him to abide by etiquette and ethics, he was wrong. Thinking back to the previous incident, there was one time when he brought Fu Ermei into the palace and only ignored her on the surface because everyone had their own duties and identities. Fu Jinzhan was very unhappy, but she behaved in a dignified and polite manner most of the time and never took the initiative to speak nonsense.
After a while, Guo Shao said: Today, a minister wrote to you to give you a title of honor.
Fu Jinzhan did not dwell on the previous question, and immediately asked with interest: Who submitted the letter first
Guo Shaodao: Privy Councilor Wang Pu.
Fu Jinzhan nodded thoughtfully.
Guo Shao smiled and said: "They said a lot of good things about Jinzhan, her family background, her virtue, and her wisdom. I can't remember a lot of things, but they said everything that can be used to praise a woman. Such a good person, of course, should be honored."
After he said that, he felt slightly relieved. Fu Jinzhan should be satisfied with this. After all, no matter what status a woman is, she would still like others to compliment her and say that she is good.
At this time Fu Jinzhan said softly: What I want to hear most is not what the ministers think of me, but what you think is good about me.
Guo Shao was startled, and then he thought about what was so good about Fu Jinzhan. He had known her for a long time, so he naturally wouldn't think about these things every day. As he was thinking, Fu Jinzhan continued: I want to know what you think about every day.
Guo Shao pondered for a moment, and the trivial thoughts at a certain time in Jinxiang Hall emerged in his mind, and he smiled and said: I really don’t think about what’s good about Jinzhan, but there are some things he thought about. There was a back view of you, wearing very loose clothes, talking with your back to me, and I couldn’t see your face. There was the sound of a wooden fish, but you tightened your skirt when you knelt, and the outline of your hips
Fu Jinzhan's face turned slightly red, and her voice became softer. I should have seen you again in Daxiangguo Temple, where there was the sound of wooden fish. Only there, it has been many years. But I didn't expect that you would dare to think like that at that time. I am the queen, and you are just a direct guard in the inner palace.
Guo Shao pondered again, "The sun shines in through the window. When you turned around, your eyes and lips were particularly smooth under the light. I can't remember exactly when and where it happened. The ring dazzled my eyes, and I saw your fingers. The handkerchief was wiping my face, padding with silk, and I felt your nails. The handkerchief had a very faint fragrance, which I couldn't tell what it was."
Fu Jinzhan's eyes were blurred, and she said softly: All you think of are these things.
Guo Shao nodded.
Before he knew it, night had fallen and lanterns were lit everywhere. Guo Shao sat here looking at Jinzhan, and she was looking at him. He suddenly felt that this moment was very strange, they were so close but could only look at each other.
Guo Shao suddenly smiled, and Fu Jinzhan was also infected by him, with a smile as soft as the moon in her curved eyes. Guo Shao gestured with his hand to indicate the width of the round table, and said with a smile: We were very far apart before, but now there is only this distance left, from this side of the table to your side. But it would be very troublesome to walk such a short distance, and it would require a lot of work to complete.
Fu Jinzhan smiled and said: Indeed, I thought you hadn’t thought about those things.
What were those things? Guo Shao asked casually.
Fu Jinzhan smiled and said: I won’t tell you.
Guo Shao suddenly felt that he had heard this sentence before, but he couldn't remember it for a moment.
Guo Shao had been waiting for the coronation ceremony these days. After finishing his duty the next day, he no longer went to the Zide Hall to see Fu Ermei. He just heard that Li Yuaner had also entered the palace. Every day after the twilight hour, he found a familiar pastime: blacksmithing.
Strictly speaking, it is not blacksmithing, because the material metals are gold and silver.
To the west of the Wansui Palace, there is a courtyard called the Xu'en Palace. Guo Shao asked the eunuch Yang Shiliang to build a full set of facilities for a blacksmith shop here. The things are very complete. The place in the imperial city that is better than the Guo family mansion is here. It is relatively large and you can easily find space to satisfy his various activities. This Xu'en Palace is really a courtyard, and it is a small courtyard. There is a corridor after a door, and then there are several houses in a circuitous shape, one with two or three rooms. Guo Shao saw that one was only about 100 square meters. Compared with the magnificent main hall, the courtyard here really has a homely atmosphere, but the greening is not as good as that of the Guo family mansion. There are only a few lonely trees in the courtyard.
Guo Shaoxian drew a picture of a man in heavy armor holding a sword and a lock. He planned to make one with gold and one with silver.
In fact, Guo Shao felt that being a good blacksmith was not an easy task. First of all, you need to have strength. Then, from the object shape to the design steps, you must have certain ideas, and it must be realized from the craftsmanship, not just fantasy. Maybe some nobles in high positions may not be able to be good blacksmiths, but they inexplicably think it is too easy and unwilling to do it. If you can't be a good blacksmith, how can you rule the country by slapping your head...
Guo Shaoxian didn't ask anyone to light the fire and start working. He was thinking about how to make it beautiful and exquisite. After all, it was a toy, and it would have no value if it was not ornamental.
He picked up the pen and wrote the first step on the paper, casting. Use sand casting, pour the melted gold and silver into it and cool it down. Because the object is small, it is not difficult to do, but the later processing must be done by hand. There are tools such as grindstone, saw, drill, etc. The drill looks very advanced, but the hardness does not seem to be enough, because this drill is a tool for processing wood. It is made of hemp rope and wood: the twisting force is used very cleverly, and it can be converted into the circular motion of the drill by just pulling it up and down. This is something made by the ancients themselves. Anyway, Guo Shao felt that he might not be able to create this thing.
But he still felt that something was missing: a vise. How could efficient processing be performed without firmly fixing the parts? Guo Shao didn't know how the ancients did it, but it seemed that they didn't process metal parts in this way. The fine processing of gold and silver wares depended entirely on craftsmanship.
Guo Shaoke didn't have that kind of superb craftsmanship, so he planned to make a vise first. Most of the structure of this thing is not difficult, it can be polished after casting; the most difficult part is the thread, without which the width of the jaws cannot be adjusted.
Guo Shao thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out how to make threads on iron. For external threads, perhaps he could use a wood core to make a sand mold and then cast it. But for internal threads, he thought for a long time that it was impossible to manually machine threads in iron and it would have to be cast.
So he divided the model into two parts, prepared to cast two halves of the internal thread first, and then connect the two parts with rivets. This method requires a small tolerance, otherwise the two halves of the thread cannot become a whole. Ordinary measuring tools are not enough, so he plans to make a vernier caliper and set the standard length precision himself. What material should the vernier caliper be made of? Wood is too easy to wear.
Guo Shao worked on it for a long time and thought to himself: See, it's not easy to be a good blacksmith.