Harem: Biography of Concubine Qin

Chapter 70

Before the twelfth lunar month was over, news came from the palace that Prince Yu was passing away.Coincidentally, the Seventh Princess of Depin also died young.

The seventh princess died before she was one year old, the emperor was furious, and punished all the palace servants around the seventh princess.

Debi was so sad that she was bedridden.

Chen Wenxin wondered if he should visit Debi, after all, she is the fourth elder brother's mother-in-law.The two had quarrels about buying the small chair before, and later she was promoted to concubine, and the concubine congratulated her with generous gifts, so it was considered as intentional to make friends.

She should go and have a look both emotionally and rationally. She is also afraid of Debi's illness, and the fourth elder brother has no one to take care of her.

But Bai Lu said: "Ms. De Concubine may not be really sick. The Seventh Princess died young, and De Concubine is suspected of not taking good care of her. Her illness is probably for her own sake."

That said, it's really possible.

"Then I won't go in person, you can say hello for me, it's considered a gesture of friendship. Remember to take a look at the fourth elder brother, if he has anything to do, you can pick him up to sit in Yikun Palace."

The emperor only has an elder brother like Prince Yu, and he treats him very kindly.Prince Yu's original wife, the princess, passed away, and the emperor issued a decree of kindness to compensate him.He also set up many road sacrifices for Princess Yu to express his grief.

The ministers of the DPRK and China followed suit one after another, and the funeral ceremony of Princess Yu was extraordinarily grand.

Compared with Princess Yu, Princess Seven who died before her first birthday had a much simpler funeral.

According to the rules of the palace, it is considered unlucky to die young.Whether it is a prince or a princess, they are all buried in Jinshan.

Only the prince and princess who left an heir behind can be freed from the ominous statement and get a decent burial.

The matter of the Seventh Princess has been understood hastily, and the palace has already begun to prepare for the Spring Festival.In the words of the Manchus, they prefer to call the Spring Festival of the Han people New Year's Day, which means the beginning of the year.

Chen Wenxin is not used to it, there was another New Year's Day in the society of her previous life.That is a small festival with only one day off, how can it compare with the Spring Festival?

In the twelfth lunar month, gifts from various countries and tributes from all over the country were sent into the Forbidden City.There was an endless stream of envoys in the palace, and everyone was talking about those foreign devils with red hair and blue eyes.

The emperor picked out a pocket watch inlaid with colored gemstones from the Western tributes.

In the past, when Chen Wenxin was still around, he rewarded her with a pocket watch, which she wore every day.The one in front of me is more delicate, just for her.

This day the emperor summoned Chen Wenxin to Qianqing Palace to practice calligraphy, she thought she could see the fourth elder brother just to see if the death of the seventh princess had any effect on him.

Unexpectedly, the fourth elder brother was not there, the emperor only summoned her.

"Because the Seventh Princess died early and the concubine De was sick, the fourth elder brother had no time to practice calligraphy for the time being." That's what the emperor said.

She knew there was another reason, and that was that the year was approaching and the emperor himself was very busy.

"The emperor wants to receive so many foreign envoys here, why did he call his concubines here?"

Chen Wenxin was scribbling on the paper with her pen in her arms. The emperor said that the fourth elder brother was about to change his pen, and her pen was so brand new that it hadn't been used a few times.

"Nan Huairen will come later, I want him to paint a Western portrait."

Nan Huairen was a Belgian who served as the deputy envoy of Qin Tianjian in the Qing Dynasty.The emperor was interested in the Western calendar and asked him to preside over the observation of astronomical and astrological phenomena.

In addition to observing the stars, Nan Huairen could also paint western paintings, so the emperor called him to paint for him and Chen Wenxin alone.

Not long after, a foreigner with a feather on his head and curly brown hair came in and gave the emperor a slap.

"Slave Nan Huairen invites His Majesty Shengan."

Nan Huairen's appearance was different from the blond hair and blue eyes that Chen Wenxin imagined. His hair was brown, and his pupils were also brown.The skin is not as white as imagined, but yellowish brown.

He has a high nose and deep eyes, and looks about thirty.Hearing that he called himself a slave, one knew that he was quite a scheming person.
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Among the courtiers, the Manchus called themselves slaves, and the Han people called themselves ministers.He is not full of non-Chinese, and he calls himself a slave in order to get closer to the emperor.

Nan Huairen also saw that a woman was sitting on one of the two desks next to the emperor.

The young woman with snow skin and beautiful appearance seemed to have sized him up when she saw him.In her eyes, she didn't have the surprise and fear of foreigners from other Qing women, but she was a little curious.

The emperor introduced to him, "This is the concubine Qin."

She is also the emperor's concubine.

Nan Huairen was a little disappointed, and praised: "Please concubine Jin An."

He knew that if there was an emperor character in front of the name, he said please Sheng'an.Like the emperor, empress dowager, empress dowager, empress, imperial concubine...

What kind of empress is in the name, then say please Jin An.If there are no such words in the name, it is almost the same to say hello.

Chen Wenxin listened to his greetings, far less fluently than when he came in, please the emperor Sheng'an.

She thought that Nan Huairen spoke Chinese very well, but it turned out that he was only fluent in the emperor's words.

"My lord, no courtesy."

Chen Wenxin smiled back, this smile almost made Nan Huairen blink.

It was the first time he saw such a beautiful woman in the Qing Dynasty for nearly ten years.

"The western painting that Aiqing showed me last time was very good. If you have free time today, you can draw a picture for me and Concubine Qin."

The last time the emperor saw the Western paintings that he paid tribute to, he said that the figures were drawn more like real people than in Chinese paintings.

To make fun of it, Nan Huairen drew a portrait of himself for the emperor to see. The emperor thought the painting was very realistic, so today he thought of asking him to paint portraits of himself and Chen Wenxin.

Nan Huairen said: "The servant's painting box is outside, little Eunuch Li keeps it."

The emperor wanted to change into court clothes, and asked Chen Wenxin to wear only a home-style short jacket of moon white carved silk, and a plum blossom skirt of the same color.If he changed his clothes, the two would not match each other in the painting.

Chen Wenxin smiled and said, "Your Majesty, where shall we paint?"

Seeing that she seemed to have made up her mind, the emperor asked, "What do you think is better?"

Because of the two funerals of Prince Yu and the Seventh Princess, it is not suitable to play in the palace.The emperor was busy with government affairs, so Chen Wenxin didn't go out much.

This year's first snow has already fallen, and she hasn't appreciated it carefully yet.

"It snowed again last night, and the red plums in the plum garden also bloomed. The scenery must be pleasant."

The scenery of white snow and red plums is beautiful and simple, much better than the magnificence of this hall.Nan Huairen quickly answered, "Your Majesty, my slaves can only paint plum blossoms."

The emperor treats this concubine so amiably and pleasantly, presumably he won't take her for granted.

Sure enough, the emperor nodded, "Then it's up to you, I won't have to change clothes again."

The emperor was wearing light blue casual clothes pinched with gold and clouds, which matched Chen Wenxin's moon-white dress.

Seeing Bai Lu hugging her white Tibetan antelope cape, the emperor waved his hand, "Bring my Tibetan antelope cape too."

Chen Wenxin's piece was newly rewarded by the emperor this winter, and Chen Wenxin likes that the leather is thin and windproof.Two white cloaks, one big and one small, and the two sat on the imperial cloak and went to the plum garden of Yikun Palace.

This plum garden is next to Yikun Palace, which originally belonged to a corner of the imperial garden.When the emperor renovated the Yikun Palace, he also renovated the plum garden, adding varieties such as white plum and wintersweet.

There is no closed palace wall in the plum garden, but everyone knows that it was renovated by the emperor for his concubine Qin, and ordinary people would not come here.

The plum garden is like the private garden of Yikun Palace. Last time, the Chen family father and son visited it in the water pavilion in the plum garden.

When I got off the sedan chair, my eyes were full of bright red plums blooming in clusters on the branches.

The ground was covered with thin snow, the emperor held Chen Wenxin's hand tightly, lest she slip and fall.

The red plum blossoms are like the cheeks of a young girl in love, with a shyness, like a painting, and tenderness like water.

The two of them are in it, pleasing to the eye, and lingering.

Wintersweet is golden yellow, and the petals are not as plump as red plums, which has a special charm.

On the contrary, Baimei became inconspicuous in this snow-covered field.

"Yao knew it wasn't snow, because there was a dark fragrance. If it wasn't for the clear fragrance of plum blossoms, I really would have overlooked this white plum."

Looking closely, the white plum's posture is elegant and refined, with icy muscles and bones, which is even better than the red plum.

"Naturally, red plums look the best in the snow. If you like the white plums, then ask someone to fold some and put them in a bottle. It will smell good when placed in the house."

The emperor also liked white plums better than red plums. The Han people regarded white as unlucky, but the Manchus were just the opposite.

Therefore, the emperor personally wrote the word "blessing" and distributed it to the ministers during the festivals, all using paper with a white background.The Spring Festival couplets posted in the palace during the Spring Festival are also black and white on a white background.

"I'll ask them to break some branches in a while, and I'll put a bottle in for the emperor. I remember that in the emperor's palace, there is a pair of crimson bead vases idle?"

The emperor smiled and said: "Okay, I dare to make an idea of ​​things in my palace!"

Chen Wenxin took the emperor's hand and shook it coquettishly, "Actually, the pair of bottles are white plum, and one is inserted for the emperor to put in the Qianqing Palace. The other is sent to the Cining Palace. It is the emperor's filial piety to the emperor. Queen Mother, is this okay?"

It turned out that she didn't want the emperor's Lianzhu bottle, but wanted to do filial piety to the empress dowager on behalf of the emperor.

Others may think of giving the Empress Dowager some gold and silver jewellery, antique calligraphy and paintings, jade decorations, and plum blossoms, but Chen Wenxin is the only one who can think of giving the Empress Dowager a bottle.

It seems simple, but in fact it is serious.

The emperor thought that if he was the empress dowager, he would be more happy to receive such a gift than any rare treasure.

(End of this chapter)