Harem: Biography of Concubine Qin

Chapter 29 Touring Tsinghua Garden

The weather in Beijing in the eighth month of the lunar calendar is already a bit chilly.The emperor said that he was busy with government affairs this year, so he couldn't take the harem to Rehe to escape the summer heat.

So before the weather had completely cooled down, he wanted to take everyone in the harem to the outskirts of Beijing.

Immediately, the emperor's decree came, except that pregnant Yigui should not move around, Concubine Tong Guifei is in charge of the harem and also takes care of Yigui's fetus, so she does not accompany her.

The rest of the concubines, big and small, are all on the accompanying list, even the grounded Ding Chang is there, except for the concubine De.

The reason given by the emperor was that Concubine Tong Gui had worked hard, and the consort De stayed behind to help her manage the affairs of the harem.

When Debi heard the news, her face was ashamed. She had been lucky earlier.Now the emperor doesn't even take You Xing with her, it can be seen that he despises her.

All the concubines and concubines in Hegong have gone, Concubine Tong and Yigui are both excused, only her reason is inexplicable.

What does it mean to help Concubine Tong Gui manage the harem?
In the past, when everyone was there, Concubine Tong Gui didn't need help in managing the harem.Now that most of the masters in the palace have gone, Concubine Tong needs her help instead?

The reason given by the emperor was like a slap in the face that slapped her hard.

In addition to the concubines, the emperor's four elder brothers and one princess also followed, only the seventh princess of De concubine was still in her infancy and did not take it with her.

The princes and ministers also followed the emperor, and the military affairs of various places were transferred to the newly built Tsinghua Garden in the suburbs of Beijing.

The main hall of the Yonghe Palace was deserted and deserted, but Chen Wenxin's West Side Hall was busy packing things for the Tsinghua Garden.

She let Bai Lu and the others get busy, and sent the small table to talk to Eunuch Sun in the small kitchen to make a lot of her favorite rose balls and take them with her.

Eunuch Sun is a very good chef. Not only can he imitate the imperial meal to perfection, he can make all kinds of dim sum even more delicious.

He can not only make dim sum in the palace, but also make some special ones under Chen Wenxin's guidance.

Like this rose ball.

For some reason, Chen Wenxin wanted to eat purple potato balls one day.

She called Eunuch Sun and described it to him based on her own memory. It was the kind that boiled purple sweet potatoes and mashed them, mixed with glutinous rice flour, and then kneaded into small balls that could be preserved for several days.

When you want to eat, take it out and cook it, pour some milk, sprinkle red beans and raisins or something.

Eunuch Sun asked her, "What is a purple potato?"

she:"……"

Although he didn't know what purple sweet potato was, according to Chen Wenxin's description, he already had a little understanding of what she wanted.

Using sweet potatoes instead of the purple sweet potatoes that Chen Wenxin said, Eunuch Sun successfully made sweet potato rounds.Feeling that the taste was a bit monotonous, he brought in other sweet things and made taro balls, grape balls, milk balls, rose balls...

Chen Wenxin tasted it after cooking it, but the taro balls and rose balls were the most suitable for her appetite.

The emperor said that you can go hunting in Tsinghua Garden.There are not only forests in the suburbs of Beijing, but also grasslands.

The sky is gray, the wild is vast, and the wind blows the grass to see cattle and sheep.

In such a wonderful environment...

Roast a lamb, how delicious it should be.

Three days later, Yujia left the Forbidden City in a mighty way, heading west to the outskirts of Beijing.

The streets they passed along the way were all covered with bright yellow curtains.Curious people did not dare to make mistakes under the obstruction of the guards, and only took a sneak peek when they knelt down and saluted.

My dear, the emperor's palanquin is as big as a house!

The emperor's bright yellow imperial sedan chair is in front, followed by all the concubines and princes and princesses in the harem.

The Empress Dowager has not been out of the palace for many years because of her old age, and in the first few years the Emperor had to persuade the Empress Dowager to go and relax.

Later, even the emperor felt that the empress dowager was indeed too old to move around.Every year when he went out of the palace to escape the summer heat or hunt, he only reported the trip, and no longer invited the Empress Dowager to travel with him.

Chen Wenxin's sedan chair followed Concubine Rong closely, but there were only Bai Lu and Bai Shuang who were serving her personally, staring at each other.

And Chen Wenxin herself was half-lying comfortably on the emperor's lap.The emperor was flipping through the books in the spacious imperial sedan chair, while Chen Wenxin was peeling the grapes, eight out of ten were fed into his mouth.

When Chen Wenxin was about to put grapes in his mouth again, the emperor gave her a dissatisfied look.

Chen Wenxin's hands stained with grape juice came closer, the emperor quickly moved his book away, for fear that Chen Wenxin would drip the grape juice on it.

She retracted her hand in embarrassment, and put the peeled grape into her mouth.

The emperor's mouth moved up.The situation is stalemate, and the two sides are fighting in full swing.

She lost.

Chen Wenxin pouted and looked at the emperor with dissatisfaction until the emperor wiped his hands and peeled the grapes for her himself.

"Ah—" She opened her mouth exaggeratedly.

"feed me!"

The team set off from the Forbidden City and traveled for an hour before arriving at Tsinghua Garden in the suburbs of Beijing.

When getting out of the carriage, the emperor proudly said to Chen Wenxin: "This royal team is long-winded, and there are so many cars and sedan chairs behind it. If I ride a horse by myself, half an hour is enough!"

Chen Wenxin felt more and more that the emperor actually liked to tease him very much.

A group of concubines, princes and princesses got off the sedan chair first, and waited for the emperor outside the imperial sedan chair.

The princes and ministers were waiting outside the gate of the garden. Only some ministers who were trusted by the emperor were given residences in small gardens around Tsinghua Garden.

The rest of the courtiers had to serve outside the Tsinghua Garden during the day, and then returned to their homes in the capital at night.

It is really miserable to run around like this, but what is even worse is those people who have no chance to serve them.

"The next time the emperor takes his concubine to ride a horse, I don't know how to ride myself..."

As she spoke, Li Dequan lifted the car curtain and continued outside with his hands in his hands.She supported Li Dequan's hand and got off the imperial sedan chair.

Everyone saw a hand as clean as jade stretched out from inside the emperor's sedan chair, waiting for the man to lean out--
She was dressed in a light and plain dress, but it was colorful. It turned out to be Chen Changzai.

What she is wearing today is a flag dress that separates the top and bottom, and uses the silk that was rewarded by the emperor.

The material of celestial silk is extremely precious, and when it is woven, it has a moist silvery luster.Dyeing the color would destroy the luster, so Chen Wenxin only kept the original color and embroidered some colorful patterns of flowers.

Even Concubine Tong and others didn't have this material, except Chen Wenxin, who was Yigui.

People in Yigui ordered people to dye it a bright water-red color, and everyone saw it and didn't think it was any different from ordinary silk.

After seeing Chen Wenxin's incident, I realized the difference.

Fortunately, Mr. Yigui is not here today, otherwise it is possible that the fetal image would be unstable due to anger.

The same material, she looks ordinary when she wears it, but Chen Wenxin looks brilliant when she wears it.

She is the one who can't stand others being more dazzling than her, let alone someone whose status is lower than hers.

Those who have something good to do suddenly think about it, thinking that when they return to the palace, they will pass the news on to Yigui.

Chen Wenxin got off the sedan chair and waited for the emperor on the side.After the emperor got off the car, he pulled her sleeves, and she followed the emperor all the way in.

It turned out that this Tsinghua Garden was a garden left by Li, a relative of the Ming Dynasty, and it was abandoned for a long time after the fall of the Ming Dynasty.I don't know when the household department remembered this garden and presented the layout plan.

When the emperor saw it, he praised the garden very much.So he ordered a renovation, and also renovated several small gardens nearby.

Chen Wen thought, could this be a part of Changchun Garden and Yuanmingyuan?

She vaguely remembered that when she traveled to Beijing in her previous life, the former site of the Old Summer Palace was in this direction.

Everyone passed through the courtyard and entered the tall and majestic main hall.

The main hall is naturally reserved for the emperor to listen to the government, and the residence of the concubines is still behind the second gate.

The emperor ordered Concubine Hui to take the fifth princess to live in Chunhui Hall, and Concubine Rong and Wei promised to live in Chunyong Hall.Zhang Changzai and Dingchangzai live in Ruijingxuan, while Chen Wenxin lives in Guanlan Pavilion, which is far away from everyone.

The eldest prince and the second prince lived in Chengluxuan by the lake, and the third and fourth princes lived in the Douyuan Bookstore.

Guanlan Pavilion is also by the lake, just across the lake from the residence of the princes.

Going out this time, according to the emperor's wishes, at least one month stay, at most may stay here until the Chinese New Year.So Chen Wenxin brought almost all his belongings, and the five servants also brought out.

The emperor asked her, don't you need someone to watch the house?

Chen Wenxin smiled boldly, I moved out all the valuable things hahaha...

The emperor thinks that this girl's nerves are really rough, but there are indeed too few people around her to serve her.So quietly asked Li Dequan to send someone to watch Chen Wenxin's house in case someone made trouble.

Chen Wenxin entered Guanlan Pavilion, and saw a simple two-story wooden building standing by the lake, surrounded by a whole set of single-story solid wooden buildings.

Interestingly, all houses have a covered verandah with decorative thatch hanging from them.

Chen Wenxin ran up to the second floor and found that there were even outside the second floor!
Isn't this a modern balcony?It turns out that it existed in the Kangxi Dynasty, and it can be made so beautifully!

She leaned on the edge of the guardrail and looked down. The lake and mountains are in a panoramic view, which is really as beautiful as a picture scroll.

The distant mountains are like Daisy, the lake is clear, and the girl in plain clothes is as beautiful as a fairy, admiring the beautiful scenery.
-
But she didn't know that there was someone admiring her behind her.

The emperor stood at the corner of the second floor, watching her excited appearance with a smile on his lips.

Suddenly, she was hugged from behind.Looking back, it turned out to be the emperor.

"Do you like Guanlan Pavilion?" the emperor asked.

"I like it, the scenery here is just right."

"Only you feel good."

The emperor's voice was soft, he bent his body slightly, leaned his chin on Chen Wenxin's shoulder, feeling a kind of peaceful beauty.

He missed two words in that sentence.

Only you...and I feel good.

About one or two years ago, after he saw the layout of Tsinghua Garden, he liked the buildings beside the small lake, especially the Guanlan Pavilion.

This place is both quiet and elegant, and the scenery is moving, although it is simple and not clumsy.

Concubine Rong was waiting by his side at that time, so he asked casually, "Do you like Guanlan Pavilion?"

Concubine Rong came up to take a closer look, and said: "This place is remote and narrow, and it's far away from the main hall. I don't like it."

What she likes is a magnificent place that is closer to the emperor.

It's not about being close to the emperor, but about the power he symbolizes.

It's not just Concubine Rong, which woman in the palace is not like this.

There is only one Chen Wenxin, which is very precious.

Chen Wenxin vaguely understood what the emperor meant, but she didn't understand. Before she had time to ask, the emperor led her down the stairs.

"There's another good place you haven't seen!"

The emperor turned on the mode of love and slander again.

It turns out that behind the small building, there is a small lake beach.Because the soil on the lake beach is thin and soft, it cannot be built, so the garden was left there when it was originally built.

The emperor saw this small piece of lake beach and had a whim, and built a water pavilion with hanging feet next to the building.

Wooden piles were nailed deeply in the silt of the lake beach, and then the foundation was built on these dense wooden piles, and a water pavilion almost attached to the water surface was built.

When the lake water comes up, people touch the lake water by the side of the waterside pavilion, as if they are in the lake.

Chen Wenxin really liked it very much, and made plans to hang gauze curtains of various colors on the ventilated waterside pavilion.

The breeze in early autumn blows gently, and the gauze dances wildly, which is even more beautiful.

After thinking for a while, he said: "It's just that I can't hang it for a few days. The weather is going to be cold, and it will be too cold here at that time."

"What's the matter."

The emperor said: "You only need to hang cotton curtains densely around, and then put a layer of cotton on the floor, smoke the stove inside, and keep it warmer than outside."

"The emperor is really thoughtful!" Chen Wenxin praised him without hesitation.

The emperor really smiled triumphantly, and nodded her forehead.

"Little sycophants."

(End of this chapter)