peasant young lady

Chapter 291 Kunning Palace

"The empress asked me to enter the palace? What are you doing?" Cheng Xia didn't think she had anything to do with the empress, except for the accidental meeting that day when she entered the palace, she had nothing to do with the empress.

Shao Chen shook his head, "I don't know either, but when the court came down early, Liu Jin told me according to His Majesty's oral order that you should enter the palace through the Xuanwu Gate tomorrow at this time, then Liu Jin will pick you up at the gate of the palace and take you directly You go to the Queen's Kunning Palace."

Seeing Shao Chen's obviously sleepy look, Cheng Xia didn't ask any more questions, or Lihua just told him something that he couldn't accept or digest for a while.Cheng Xia sighed, this capital city is full of secrets.

When returning to Shao's mansion, Shao Chen went to Wanfeng Pavilion first, but he didn't have dinner, so he only stayed for a while before returning to Lengcuixuan.

Cheng Xia saw that Shao Chen was not in good spirits, so he made his favorite rose fried dumplings, and specially prepared some crystal shrimp dumplings to let him eat more, but Shao Chen only tasted two mouthfuls before putting down his chopsticks, saying After bathing without appetite, I went to bed and rested.

Cheng Xia's mind was always in a battle between heaven and man, she told herself not to ask what Yang Lihua said, but she couldn't hold back her curiosity.But she also knew that Shao Chen would not be willing to say it. In the end, Cheng Xia just breathed a sigh of relief, forget it, let's talk about it when he wants to.

After the lights were turned off at night, Cheng Xia folded her hands behind her head and listened to Shao Chen's sound asleep, which made her feel a little more relaxed.She is thinking about opening a hot pot restaurant. She has no experience in opening such a large-scale restaurant. It is not difficult to open a restaurant casually, but if you want to make a new idea, you need full preparation and hard work.

The key point is that what she wants to rely on most is chili peppers, but right now there are only ten large porcelain jars of bean paste that can be used. If used properly, it can last for two or three months, but what about after that?It will take time to grow peppers, and it is the twelfth lunar month of winter, so we have to wait until late January or early February next year to grow peppers. If we wait a few more months to mature, we will get May.

What a trouble!
Cheng Xia turned over irritably, facing the wall with her back to Shao Chen, suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in her head, she can use the greenhouse.

Cheng Xia was overjoyed, turned over and sat up suddenly. Greenhouses are not a modern patent. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, there were records about greenhouses in "Han Shu Xun Li Zhuan", but this technology required a lot of labor. Financial, material and manpower, plus many pedantic ministers believed that off-season planting was against the laws of nature, and they wrote to the emperor to forbid it, so the development of this technology was not perfect.

But Cheng Xia knows how to use a greenhouse. She can try it. There are only about [-] acres of peppers that need to be planted urgently, and it won't cost too much money. She can try it.

After solving a big problem, Cheng Xia's mood improved a lot in an instant, and her drowsiness immediately came up. Just as she was about to lie down again, she saw Shao Chen in his sleep frowning tightly, waving his hands unconsciously, like It's like a nightmare.

"No, no, don't, don't do this," Shao Chen shouted while waving his hands, Cheng Xia was startled by the loudness of his voice.

She hurriedly held Shao Chen's hand, and kept patting his shoulders to make him calm down a little. There were fine beads of sweat on his forehead, and his frowning had not been relieved. Fortunately, he spoke loudly. The cry turned into a small moan.

Cheng Xia listened to him, only to hear him muttering to himself constantly, calling Shao Jian and Shao Yuan's names.

Cheng Xia's expression froze. Did Yang Lihua tell Shao Chen about his brother and sister?That's not right, how could Lihua know?

"Don't leave me," Shao Chen continued to murmur.

Cheng Xia held him tightly in her arms, gently stroked his forehead, saw him nervously clutching her hand, begging him not to leave him, Cheng Xia's heart softened instantly, he felt sorry for Shao Chen up.

"I won't let you go!"

The sound of Shao Chen's gnashing of teeth reached his ears, and the more Cheng Xia thought about it, the more he felt that things were not so simple.Shao Chen has always said that his enemies are only Wang Yue and Wang Zhi, and now that Wang Zhi is dead, he only has one Wang Yue to deal with, but why did he say 'I won't let you go'?Besides Wang Yue, is there someone else?

Cheng Xia spent the whole night in wild thoughts, and Shao Chen talked in his sleep from time to time, Cheng Xia couldn't fall asleep even more.

In the early morning of the second day, after Shao Chen went to court, she at least took a short rest.But she got the Xuanwu Gate at nine o'clock in the morning, and she couldn't sleep for long.After tidying herself up, Cheng Xia carefully looked at herself in the bronze mirror, as if she had grown up a lot.Even the light blue clothes on her body didn't seem very delicate. It seemed that she also needed to go to the countryside to buy some decent clothes for herself.Dahua has been wearing her original clothes since she came to the capital, and it seems a bit outdated and old now, so she just came out of the palace to buy some necessities and dress up Dahua well.

Cheng Xia hired a carriage, went to the house first, and asked Dahua to wait for her at Zuihonglou, so she could go there directly when she was free.

Arriving at the Xuanwu Gate, Cheng Xia looked at the north gate of the Forbidden City that had become the Shenwu Gate in modern times, and suddenly felt a little emotional.In the modern Forbidden City, there is a plaque directly above the gate, on which there are five characters of "Forbidden City Museum" written by Guo Moruo himself, but what you see now is still empty. There was a sigh.

When Cheng Xia got off the carriage, he saw Liu Jin waiting at the small door on the right side of Xuanwu Gate. There was a side door on both sides of the gate, which was for concubines, officials, guards, eunuchs and craftsmen to enter and exit. Xiunu entered the palace through the side entrance of Xuanwu Gate. As for the main entrance, only the emperor and empress are eligible to enter and exit.

Liu Jin's attitude was very respectful, and Cheng Xia followed him all the way south from Shunzhen Gate to Chengguang Gate, passed Qin'an Hall, and arrived at the Imperial Garden.However, it is not called the Imperial Garden at the moment, but the Gonghouyuan, which was changed to the Imperial Garden during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty.

The imperial garden is connected to the big and small palaces of the harem. Going east through the east gate of Qiongyuan, you can go directly to the East Sixth Palace, and going west through the west gate of Qiongyuan, you can go directly to the West Sixth Palace.Cheng Xia followed Liu Jin along the road to the west, passing Yanhui Pavilion, Qianqiu Pavilion, Yangxingzhai, Sishen Temple, Lutai, etc., and then directly arrived at Kunning Gate. palace.

Just south of Kunning Palace is Jiaotai Palace, and further south of Jiaotai Palace is Qianqing Palace.The so-called three halls of the Forbidden City refer to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. The Palace of Qianqing, the Hall of Jiaotai, and the Palace of Kunning are the last three palaces.These are all buildings located on the central axis of the Forbidden City. Therefore, the Kunning Palace is the queen's residence, and the east and west six palaces on the left and right are home to various concubines. It is also intended to show the supremacy of the queen's identity through the palace.

Liu Jin went in and gave a pass, and when she came out, she respectfully led Cheng Xia in, and went directly into the East Nuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace.

Cheng Xia respectfully asked the palace to welcome him, and then carefully looked at the layout of the Lower East Nuan Pavilion. The red sandalwood carved dragon and phoenix table, the yellow pulu floor mat, and the empress sat on a red satin cushion embroidered with a picture of a hundred sons. Cheng Xia could see it. Come out, the emperor and empress have not been married for a long time, and the newlywed appearance can be seen everywhere.

The East Nuan Pavilion of the Kunning Palace itself is used for marriage between the emperor and empress, and for marriage.Although everything is full of jubilation right now, Cheng Xia still feels a little shivering, because if she remembers correctly, in the late Ming Dynasty, when Li Zicheng led the peasant army to conquer Beijing, the Empress Zhou, the Empress of Emperor Chongzhen, hanged herself in Kunning Palace And die.

Empress Zhang waved her hand to let Liu Jin go out, and then beckoned Cheng Xia to sit on the warm table next to her, Cheng Xia quickly retracted her wandering mind.

Seeing Cheng Xia's tense body, Empress Zhang suddenly smiled, "Are you wondering why I called you into the palace?"

Cheng Xia nodded sincerely, "I'm a little curious."

The palace maid brewed the fine Biluochun, and the small East Nuan Pavilion was immediately filled with the fragrance of tea. This fragrance made Cheng Xia relax, her body was no longer tense, and she felt much more at ease.

Empress Zhang smiled, "I called you into the palace because I wanted to thank you."

Cheng Xia waved her hands hastily, "The empress is serious, there is nothing I need to be thanked by the empress."

"You don't need to be modest," Empress Zhang took a sip of the tea cup before saying, "Yesterday, His Majesty posted the imperial list all over the country, announcing that he will not accept concubines in this life. I wonder if you have seen it."

It turned out that it was because of this. Cheng Xia knew why it happened, and she immediately relaxed a little, "I did see what you said when you returned to the empress. Although the four reasons listed by your majesty are well-founded, in the final analysis, can your majesty make such a decision?" The reason for my determination is because I have a deep relationship with the empress and my wife, and I don't allow others to intervene."

Hearing Cheng Xia's words, Empress Zhang smiled brighter in an instant, "You are really eloquent, and I feel very comfortable when you say it. But I know that His Majesty summoned you in Qianqing Palace that day, and everything you said These words really speak to His Majesty's heart."

"Your Majesty." Cheng Xia was terrified.

Empress Zhang raised her hand to stop her next words, "Okay, I understand that although Your Majesty once had the idea of ​​accepting a concubine, it has stopped now, and it has completely stopped. It's intentional, otherwise he won't listen to you no matter how much you say, but I still want to thank you, after all, you woke him up last."

Cheng Xia nodded, Empress Zhang is an open-minded person, such a person is not easy to get into a dead end, and will live a happy life.

Empress Zhang pushed the teacup in front of Cheng Xia towards her, "I asked you to come, and I have one more thing to say, the [-]th of next month is my birthday, Your Majesty means Make arrangements, let the palace sing and dance to add to the fun and invite the officials to have a banquet. I think that instead of letting the musicians and dancers in the palace perform, it is better to give this opportunity to perform to you talented people like Concubine Shao did last time. Everyone, no matter if you are a lady or Mrs. Hou Men, as long as you have talent, you can participate. Your Majesty has already promised me that the one who wins the first place will be rewarded by His Majesty himself. This is a golden opportunity."

After Queen Zhang finished speaking, she glanced at Cheng Xia with a smile, and said her ultimate goal, "I hope you can also participate."

(End of this chapter)