Traveling through the harem: the favorite concubine

Chapter 86

After the general examination, the candidates who went to Beijing to rush for the examination did not slack off because of this. If they passed the general examination, then the palace examination would follow immediately, and that would be the real battlefield.

If you fail, you will have to study hard for another three years when you go home.

With such a sense of urgency, on the contrary, many candidates worked harder than before the exam.

Chen Wenhan has been staying in the inn for the past few days, studying hard with books. Even the three meals a day are brought by the book boy from downstairs. Occasionally, he sits by the window and looks at the inn gate.

Huang Zongbao has been in bad luck for the past few days. Ever since he left his hometown, no one has been watching him. Back at the Prime Minister's Mansion, the rooster started to crow, and before the sun came out, Huang Wenren, who was about to go to court early, asked his servants to ask Huang Zongbao to have breakfast with him.

Huang Zongbao protested weakly, but Huang Wenren squinted and said coldly: "I won't be able to get up now. If you really pass the exam in the future, what will you do when you go to court!"

Even if he passed the exam to be an official, he wouldn't be qualified to go to the morning court so soon!
Of course, when he saw Huang Wenren's cold face, he swallowed it back a long time ago, dozed off obediently and finished his breakfast, and then was carried back to the study to read and finish the homework assigned by Huang Wenren. Head back to check.

After spending three or five days like this, he felt like crying. Isn't his third uncle the prime minister? Shouldn't he be taking care of every day?How could he stare at him all day long.

After finally counting the days with his fingers, when it came time to make an appointment with Chen Wenhan, Huang Zongbao changed his clothes in a hurry, and ran out of the prime minister's mansion with the book boy, suddenly felt the sky was blue and the ground was green, and his mood suddenly became brighter.

He wandered around, he couldn't let himself live on the street, but he still remembered to help Chen Wenhan find his sister in the bottom of his heart, so he finally arrived at the inn.

When Chen Wenhan saw Huang Zongbao, he was also slightly surprised. He only thought that Huang Zongbao would not come.

Huang Zongbao didn't notice his strangeness, he pushed the door open with a smile and walked in, and said, "Brother Wenhan, today is the day when the palace is open, let's hurry over there!"

Chen Wenhan might as well be taken aback for a moment, but Huang Zongbao laughed again: "So I wanted to come to you a long time ago, but my third uncle just kept me locked up. Fortunately, he didn't really ground me, otherwise How pitiful I am!"

Chen Wenhan had a gentle smile on his face when he heard this, and said in a gentle tone: "Your third uncle is also doing it for your own good, and wants you to study hard and pass the exam!"

When Huang Zongbao heard it, he shook his head helplessly, and said repeatedly: "You and my third uncle have a common language, so forget about introducing you someday!"

Chen Wenhan's heart skipped a beat, but he heard that Huang Zongbao seemed to be joking, so he didn't continue, but urged: "Hurry up, or you won't be able to see your sister if it's too late!"

Chen Wenhan knew that some things should not be rushed, so he stood up helplessly, and went out with Huang Zongbao with his usual face.

Here, when Chen Wenhan and Huang Zongbao rushed to the place they had heard earlier, there were already many people standing in front of the large palace gate.At the corner of the palace gate, there were many people dressed as eunuchs and guards standing, as if to maintain order.

Huang Zongbao looked left and right but did not see the two eunuchs he saw last time. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but soon, his attention was attracted by a group of young girls dressed as court ladies walking out from the slightly opened palace gate. attention.

"I'm coming!"

Chen Wenhan's face was calm, and he stood there waiting reservedly, but Huang Zongbao was more excited than Chen Wenhan. He took Chen Wenhan's hand and wanted to squeeze forward, but they didn't come early in the first place, and at this time the front was full of people. people.

Fortunately, the maids registered one by one, and they were released from the palace gate after being called out by name, and when most of the palace maids' family members heard the shouted names, they found the girls they sent into the palace one by one. .

The maid who had found her relatives did not stop at the gate of the palace, but led her family to the side and started talking.

The originally crowded palace gate slowly began to vacate.

As fewer and fewer people walked out of the palace gate, fewer and fewer people stood guard outside.

Every time the name of a court lady surnamed Chen was called out, Huang Zongbao always asked Chen Wenhan in a hurry?But Chen Wenhan always shook his head.

Until the end, when there were only a few people left inside and outside the gate, the people who registered at the gate of the palace also put away their pens and ink.

Huang Zongbao saw that the middle-aged couple they met when they went to register earlier also failed to find anyone like them.But Huang Zongbao didn't bother to go up to say hello, he went directly to the gate of the palace and asked the registered eunuch: "This father-in-law, will you let the maid come out to see the family tomorrow!"

"Just today, after an hour, the maids will be returning to the palace!"

The eunuch had a gentle attitude and patiently answered Huang Zongbao's question.

"Have all the maids come?"

"This...Of course it's impossible. There are no servants around the master, and not all the family members of the maids come to visit." The eunuch said this, but asked strangely, "Is there no one here?" ?”

"Yes, can I trouble my father-in-law to check it out!"

Huang Zongbao wanted to ask the book boy to hand over the money, but the eunuch waved his hand with a smile, and said, "You can find it yourself, the maids who haven't found their families are all here, if not, then I will There is nowhere for you to find it."

Huang Zongbao was about to say something, but the other people behind him who were also looking for him came up and asked hurriedly.The one with the loudest voice was the couple that Huang Zongbao and the others recognized at the time.

Shao Yaoniang shouted eagerly: "Why didn't my Shaoyao come out? She is serving the imperial concubine, and she is the most capable person around the imperial concubine..."

Huang Zongbao was squeezed to the outermost edge. Seeing that Chen Wenhan was just looking at the palace gate absent-mindedly, he thought he was looking for his sister, so he pulled him to the closest place to the palace gate, and said: "Look carefully! Look, is there your little sister inside?"

Chen Wenhan felt a little helpless, he just watched, but he didn't care about it in his heart, even if the little girl was standing in front of him, he probably wouldn't recognize him at this moment.

The younger sister was only six years old when she entered the palace, now it is almost ten years, her appearance may have changed a lot.

But seeing Huang Zongbao's enthusiastic look, he just took a careless glance, only saw the dozens of maids standing at the gate of the palace wiping their tears, he hurriedly looked away, and said, "I'll see Nobody knows anyone."

"Hey……"

Huang Zongbao sighed, and was not surprised by Chen Wenhan's answer. He suddenly thought of something, and shouted to the inside: "Is there someone named Chen Liuya here, who used to be called this name at home!"

Huang Zongbao's voice was very loud, and quickly attracted the attention of these dozens of maids, but they all shook their heads, and no one agreed.

Seeing this, Huang Zongbao was a little disappointed.When he was about to comfort Chen Wenhan, he suddenly heard a voice from behind: "Chen Wenhan...you are the second son of the Chen family..."

Chen Wenhan turned his head in a strange way, only to see an old man dressed as a farmer not far away looking at him, and standing beside him was an old woman who looked as simple as he looked, and another But she is a delicate girl dressed as a court lady.

"You are……"

Chen Wenhan asked warmly, but he didn't have the slightest impression in his heart.

"So it's really you! The old man is from the same village as you, and you are the first one in our village. The old man remembers you!"

"Hi old man!"

Chen Wenhan was a little impatient when he heard the words, but he still smiled and said hello.

"My lord, you are..."

"From a village?" Huang Zongbao suddenly thought of something, knocked on the girl dressed as a court lady standing next to the old man, and said with a smile: "This girl, did you enter the palace with brother Wen Han's younger sister back then? Have you entered the palace for almost ten years?"

"Yes!"

The court lady smiled and responded, glanced at Chen Wenhan and then at Huang Zongbao, with a bit of shyness on her face, but she answered freely, "My name is Tian Qiaoqiao, and I was Wenhan... brother's sister back then. We entered the palace together."

Back then, only five people were selected in their village, so they naturally had some impressions.

And Tian Qiaoqiao's father, Old Man Tian, ​​couldn't help but wiped away tears, and said, "Yes, my Qiaoqiao has been in the palace for almost ten years. Back then, the family really had no food to eat, so there was no way to sell her to In the palace, over the years, her mother's eyes are almost blind from crying, and her family is poor, so she can't come back to see her, only once every two years."

Huang Zongbao didn't expect that his words would cause the three members of Tian's family to wipe away their tears. Their faces were a little embarrassed, but they still bite the bullet and said: "Then... that Qiaoqiao sister, do you know that Brother Wenhan's little sister is here now?" Where is the duty, how is it?"

"This……"

Tian Qiaoqiao wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, her face was a little embarrassed, she just bit her lips and said, "This... We all learned the rules together for two years when we entered the palace, I only know that two years later She seems to have been selected by the small kitchen of Jiaofang Palace, but I don’t know now, and she is not assigned to work in the same place!”

There are many rules and restrictions in the palace, not just one job, and rarely have the opportunity to meet each other, Tian Qiaoqiao naturally doesn't remember the people he hasn't seen in the past seven or eight years!
The reason why she could remember that the younger sister of the Chen family was chosen to go to the small kitchen of Jiaofang Palace was because she was there when the palace people came to pick someone, and they chose the younger sister of the Chen family. She and the others were secretly envious and jealous!

"This way..." Huang Zongbao was a little disappointed when he heard the words.

Seeing this, Tian Qiaoqiao suddenly said, "I'm in the palace, ask other people to find out!"

"really?"

Huang Zongbao was overjoyed when he heard the words, and hurriedly greeted the book boy, stuffed a purse full of silver into Tian Qiaoqiao's hand, and said, "Then trouble Qiaoqiao sister!"

"This one……"

Tian Qiaoqiao's face was already flushed, but she looked at the purse stuffed in her hand with some hesitation.

"Sister Qiaoqiao also needs to open up relationships when inquiring about people. We can't let Qiaoqiao sister work hard for us and have to pay for it myself!" Huang Zongbao shook his fan and smiled very warmly.

"it is good."

Although Tian Qiaoqiao had a monthly salary as a errand in the palace, her life was tight. When had she ever seen such a large sum of money? Now, being told so, she accepted it disrespectfully.

The money was accepted, but she was a little embarrassed: "If I find out about the sister of the Chen family, how can I tell you! Maids are not allowed to leave the palace."

When Huang Zongbao heard the words, his face was not very good. He couldn't wait until the next year when the palace maids were released to find out the news. By then, the day lily would be cold!
Huang Zongbao was thinking about whether to use his third uncle's private power for some profit, when suddenly Tian Qiaoqiao said, "It's not like this, if I find out the news, I will entrust the father-in-law who bought it from the palace to pass the news to you, just , you have to tell me the place."

"It's simple, when you ask that father-in-law to come to the prime minister's mansion to look for me, just ask the young master Tang in the mansion!"

Huang Zongbao replied bluntly when he heard the words, but Tian Qiaoqiao looked at Huang Zongbao again with a little bit of surprise in his eyes.

"Okay, son, wait for my news."

A sweet smile appeared on Tian Qiaoqiao's pretty face.

Huang Zongbao didn't notice anything unusual, he just made a series with a smile, "Then please trouble Miss Qiaoqiao, I won't disturb your family reunion right now, brother Wen Han and I will bid farewell first!"

"Okay, son, go slowly."

Tian Qiaoqiao replied, and turned around after watching Huang Zongbao leave.Just seeing her father looking at her hesitantly, she smiled slightly and said, "Father, what's the matter?"

"Qiaoqiao, it's not easy for you in the palace. Will this trouble you?"

"Father, look at what you said. Didn't you hear the identity of that son just now? Besides, Brother Chen is a Juren. If I help him reunite with his sister, it will be good for our family." Tian Qiaoqiao smiled slightly , and finally comforted: "Father, don't worry, I have a sense of proportion. By the way, mother, didn't you say to cook something delicious for me, take it out!"

"Good! Good!"

When Tian Qiaoqiao's parents heard the words, they naturally put aside their previous worries, and quickly took out the food they had brought in the bag.

The family reunion outside the palace gate is full of tears, smiles, and longing, but inside the palace is as calm as ever.

After Ruyi drank the tonic soup sent by Shaoyao, when she saw that more than half of the people in the hall were missing, she couldn't help smiling, and said to Shaoyao, "Today is a good day for many people!"

"It's the empress' kindness."

In fact, not all palace people are able to see their family members. After all, the masters still need someone to serve them, and it is impossible for the masters to accommodate the slaves.However, Ruyi generously gave everyone a holiday. As long as there are parents and relatives who come to visit, they don't have to stay in her palace today.

As a result, most of the people below have gone, only those whose hometowns are too far away, or who really don't have any relatives to visit.

"It's great to have loved ones thinking about it!"

Ruyi forced a smile, trying to hold back the sadness welling up in her heart.

"If you want to see your relatives, you only need to tell the emperor!"

Shao Yao couldn't help sighing when she thought of the situation at home, but she comforted her softly.

"There is no need for this. My relatives are only the emperor and Aman!"

Ruyi said something to herself, Shaoyao stood beside her and could hear it clearly, but she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, she forced a smile and said, "Mother, I asked the nanny to bring His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Alright!"

Ruyi smiled, suppressed the emotions in her heart, and agreed with a warm voice.

Ruyi is pregnant now, so naturally she can't hug Aman, so she asked the nanny to put Aman on the small bed, and sat on the side to watch him turn over, and occasionally let Shaoyao help him sit up.

Aman now has a small white rice spot on his teeth, it's not uncomfortable, he just likes to use that little white rice spot to chew on things, and Ruyi teased him here, so he just grabbed Ruyi's hand and stuffed it into himself. mouth.

"Little filth!"

Ruyi took her hand out of Aman's mouth and wiped off his saliva, but she took out her own chubby hand that Aman turned his head and put it in his mouth again, and while holding it, she told the nanny: "In the future, more Keep an eye on the prince, don't let him gnaw his hands all the time, and clean his hands more often."

The hands are so unhygienic, Aman's teeth are just showing here, what if he gets infected with bacteria.

Aman was not allowed to gnaw his hands, but Aman was not happy, and kept yelling, until Ruyi teased him with a hydrangea with a small bell hanging on it, and then giggled.

The time spent with children always passes quickly. When Ruyi handed the hydrangea to Aman and stood up with the support of Shaoyao, she found that the palace people who had gone to see her family had all returned, and Fangcao also smiled and held the ball. A bowl of tonic soup came in.

"time flies!"

Ruyi couldn't help sighing, and this sound probably expressed the aspirations of all the palace people present, Fangcao only felt her nose sour, and almost shed tears.

Life in the palace is difficult, survival is difficult, and relatives are difficult to see.It's hard to see my parents and relatives, but it's only a short gap.

Tian Qiaoqiao returned to her resting room and saw her little sister Bi He sitting on the bed embroidering a handkerchief, but asked cautiously, "Bi He, did your brother and sister-in-law come to see you?"

The two are from the same hometown, and now they are assigned to work in the same place, so they have a very good relationship.

Bihe's parents died early, her brother was many years older than her, and married a sister-in-law early. Although the family conditions are good, but she is not used to treating her as a free-spirited girl. This palace has to choose a maid , So he decided to sell her to the palace.Afterwards, I never came to see it, I just thought it was to let her die in the palace.

"Anyway, I don't expect them to come and see me!"

Bi He put down the embroidery in her hands, smiled and sniffed Tian Qiaoqiao's scent, and said, "Your parents brought you delicious food again, that's great!"

"Yes!" Tian Qiaoqiao couldn't help showing a smile on her face, but said with regret, "It's a pity that the inspection at the door is strict, otherwise I would bring some for you to eat!"

Speaking of this, Tian Qiaoqiao remembered what happened just now, and hurriedly said: "Do you know who I met outside?"

"Who?"

Bi He asked casually, anyway, every time Tian Qiaoqiao goes out, he always meets a few fellow villagers who come to visit.

"It's the one named Chen Liuya who has the same surname as yours. The brother of Chen Liuya who entered the palace with us back then, her brother is a Juren!"

After hearing this, Bi He couldn't help but look at Tian Qiaoqiao: "You mean..."

She frowned, but Tian Qiaoqiao couldn't wait to say: "Her brother didn't find anyone, just happened to meet me, and asked me to inquire about her sister for her, Bihe, do you know where she is now? "

(End of this chapter)