On the day of the Thousand Autumn Festival, foreign ministers, married women, and concubines offered their birthdays. It was a big scene. The Cining Garden outside Cining Palace was filled with banquets. The osmanthus trees that had just sprouted green were covered with bright silk ribbons, and the ground was paved with brocade, which was luxurious.
Incomparable.
The emperor's birthday is called the Wanshou Festival, and the birthdays of the queen, queen mother, and empress dowager are the Qianqiu Festival, which are all festivals celebrated by the whole country. What's more, this year is Xiaozhuang's 70th birthday! People are rarely in their seventies since ancient times.
If someone dies at the age of seventy, it is considered a "happy loss".
Ling Pu, the new general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, held the gift list in his hand and read loudly in person the seventieth-year-old gift from Kangxi to the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang: "A three-foot sapphire carving of Fushou Songshan, and a red jade carving of Fushan and Longevity Hai! Jade carvings
A landscape and pavilion ornament! A jasper ornament of good fortune and longevity! A topaz ornament of an old longevity star!????"
"A pair of Penglai wonderland bonsais inlaid with malachite and jewels, a pair of golden peach tree bonsais for longevity, a pair of golden iron tree bonsais for longevity and health, a pair of nine spring bonsais inlaid with gemstones, a pair of phoenix peony bonsais inlaid with silver gilt jade and gemstones, and coral gemstones
A pair of bonsais filled with wealth and wealth, a pair of cloisonné enamel bonsais with hundreds of treasures! A red sandalwood frame inlaid with red pictures of hundreds of treasures and ancient poems with imperial inscriptions on the screen, and a red inlaid screen with pictures of eight treasures celebrating birthdays!
Two pairs of red inlaid jade carved wall vases with entwining lotus patterns, a pair of white jade bowls with eight auspicious patterns, and two pairs of gold enamel bowls with longevity patterns!??????"
"????A pair of sandalwood inlaid with Shoushan stone carvings, the first pair of filigree gold enamel for longevity and longevity, a pair of five blessings for longevity and longevity???Sixteen sets of coral beads, ten strands of clam bracelets???Jasper pine
A pair of evergreen pendants for cranes, a pair of peach and jade pendants for auspicious clouds and phoenixes????"
Just listening to Ling Pu's birthday gift list, Wen Xi listened for half an hour! Kangxi's Qianqiu Festival dedicated to Xiaozhuang this year was undoubtedly more than double that of previous years. Wen Xi knew that Kangxi had already given birth to a gift at the end of last year.
I asked the manufacturing office to purchase it. It took so long, countless jades donated by Lantian and Hotan, and jewelry donated by various places to finally make up a huge gift!
Even Xiaozhuang couldn't help but said: "The emperor spends too much money."
After the emperor presented the gift, he kowtowed to Xiaozhuang and said some auspicious words according to his status. The person who presided over this Qianqiu Festival birthday ceremony was Zhang Ying, a talented man who looked quite young and had done great work in disaster relief in Shandong last year. His nickname was Zhang Ying.
He spoke in a straight and clear tone, with sonorous and forceful speech, and shouted: "The Emperor and his concubines wish the Emperor and the Queen Mother a happy birthday——"
The leader was of course Kangxi, followed by the concubines. They knelt three times and kowtowed, saying, "My grandson wishes the Queen a long life, good fortune and good health!"
"Concubine (concubine) I wish the Empress Dowager a thousand years of happiness and eternal happiness!" Kneeling behind Kangxi were Wen Xi and Concubine Tong. In the third row were Concubine Rong, Concubine Hui and Concubine Yi, and in the fourth row were Concubine Rong, Concubine Hui and Concubine Yi.
Concubines. Finally, there are two rows of nobles. No one below the nobles is worthy of coming to celebrate his birthday. When he opened his mouth to say birthday wishes, he said them all in unison. That was because Kangxi had called him to rehearse in advance. The emperor only needed to kowtow once.
That's it. The concubines have to kowtow a second time, shouting according to the master of ceremonies: "Concubine Wen Xi, Concubine Tong, kowtow to the Empress Dowager!" The concubines bow together, then the concubines together, and finally the concubines together.
It is not necessary for nobles with lower status.
"The Crown Prince and other princes congratulate the Queen Mother on their birthday -" This sentence is a summary, and there are parts after the summary. Basically everyone who wishes a birthday has to read it, so it is particularly troublesome, "Prince
, eldest elder brother, third elder brother????? (read until eighth elder brother) kowtow to the great empress dowager!" More details are needed, read "Kneel down once, kowtow, then kowtow three times". Then "get up"
! Kneel down twice, kowtow again, kowtow three times.” “Get up! Kneel down three times, kowtow, kowtow again, and kowtow three times!” Kneel down three times, kowtow again, and kowtow three times!” Kneel down three times, kowtow again, and kowtow three times!” Kneel down three times, kowtow again, and kowtow three times!” Kneel down three times, kowtow again, and kowtow three times. The birthday celebration is over, just like shouting one, two, one when running.
It makes people's movements more consistent. In short, emceeing is a hard job that tests people's throats, but it is very honorable. I don't know how many people broke their heads by force! The emcee must not only be handsome and handsome, but also have to look worthy of the audience and have a good voice. He cannot lead
Don't even think about those with local accents and eloquent speech.
The prince's elder brother congratulates his birthday, with the prince as the leader, followed by the eldest elder brother Yinzhen, the third elder brother Yinzhi, the fourth elder brother Yinzhen, the fifth elder brother Yinzhen, followed by the sixth elder brother Yinzuo, and the seventh elder brother Yinyou. , the eighth prince Yinhu was held by the wet nurse and kowtowed to celebrate his birthday. After the prince, naturally came the princess, the second princess of Concubine Rong, the third princess Shu Shu of noble Zhaojia family, and the fourth princess Shulan of Guo noble family in the arms of the wet nurse.
"The Aisin Gioro clan—the prince, the prince, Beile, and Beizi wish the Queen Mother a happy birthday—"
Among the men of Aisin Gioro, naturally the emperor's brothers Prince Yu Fuquan and Prince Gong Chang Ning are the first, followed by the iron hat kings: Prince Jian, Prince Zheng, etc., other princes, county princes, Baylor??? according to their status Arranged, they all knelt down three times and kowtowed nine times, saying auspicious words for birthdays: "My ancestors have unparalleled blessings and longevity, and may you live long and happy!"
"Fujin and Princess of the clan congratulate the Empress Dowager on their birthday -" Immediately followed were the wives and daughters of these men. Fujin of the clan, Heshuo Princess, Duoluo Princess, and Gushan Princess came forward in order of status. Kowtow to celebrate his birthday. Wen Xi took a closer look inside and found the new Prince Gong, Fujin Ni Chu'e, whom he had not seen for a long time, as well as Prince An's direct descendant Fujin and Prince An's ladies and gentlemen. Presumably among them was Guo Luoluo's mother-in-law. It's just that Prince An has too many daughters, and Wen Xi doesn't know which one she is.
"Mrs. Wai Chao Ming congratulates the Empress Dowager on her birthday -" Who and who's wife has to be read out one by one, called out according to batches, and kowtowed one by one. It's really hard. Zhang Ying stood up straight and didn't speak at all. Not messy.
After the clan, it was the turn of the wives of the foreign ministers. The last ones were the largest in number. First came the wives of the Duke and above, including the gentle E Niang Shu Shujueluo, and some of the clansmen below Beizi. The wives of the Duke of the country, the Duke of Fu, the General of Zhenguo, the General of Fu, etc., the first-class, second-class, and third-class Dukes are also among them, and Yi Bilong It was during the reign of Shunzhi that the first-class Duke Chengen and the first-class imperial concubine of the Shu Shujue Luo family were conferred the title by Xiaozhuang, who was the Queen Mother. At that time, Ye Bilong was not yet the Duke of the country. Therefore, the Shu Shu Jue Luo family was mentioned. Naturally, her identity is that of a first-class duchess and a first-class imperial concubine.
Aunt Shu Mulu was in the third wave of birthday congratulations. Who said that the third uncle was just a second-class marquis? Although the marquis is also a high-ranking official, he is not enough to be seen in today's birthday congratulations procession!
Fortunately, it was only the birthday banquet of the Empress Dowager. If it were Kangxi's Longevity Festival, it would have required more than one kowtow from all the foreign ministers of the court, which would have taken more time. Even so, so many people came to celebrate their birthdays. , it was already noon, and Wen Xi was already hungry. Fortunately, the concubines kowtowed early, and after they kowtowed three times and kowtowed nine times (one time for the nobles), they could sit down and wait.
After kowtowing, it’s time to eat longevity noodles. The bowl looks quite big, but unfortunately there’s only one noodle. There’s a rule that you can’t bite it off and eat it, so you can only pick out one end and put it in your mouth to suck it—and then Holding one hand in front of the head, you can't let others see the indecent look! It's very depressing~~
After the birthday noodles, there are various exquisite snacks such as birthday cakes, birthday peaches, birthday cakes and so on. Unfortunately, they are all cold. In order to prepare a birthday banquet for so many people, they can be prepared in advance. The dim sum had been prepared early, and it was basically just for the sake of eating. Not many people actually ate it. There were 108 Manchu and Han banquets at the birthday banquet, and the dishes were served and removed like a flowing stream. Fortunately, there were still more dishes at the end. There are hot dishes, so you won't be hungry all the time.
The birthday banquet started at noon and lasted for two hours. During this period, the gifts from the clan and foreign ministers were continuously received by special eunuchs, and they were moved from the side of the birthday banquet to the side hall of Cining Palace in one day. It was painful.
Those people could only eat in the open air and freeze from morning to evening, until the Qianqiu Banquet was over, the foreign ministers, clan members, Fujin, Princess, and married women left in order. Only Kangxi, concubines, princes and princesses
They all stayed in Cining Palace to accompany Xiaozhuang.
The concubine, the prince and princess's gift was arranged at the end. The prince presented the words "ten thousand years old" written by his own hand, and his sweet mouth made the queen mother laugh. Then the eldest brother presented a blue peacock (
Male), under the comments of many concubines in the palace, they opened their tails - this is also a normal situation. Seeing so many women wearing bright clothes, peacocks love to show off, so they naturally opened their tails to compare. Immediately,
The concubines jumped out to compliment Xiaozhuang for free, and Concubine Hui's chin was raised twenty degrees! Yinreng's face was very ugly.
The Cining Palace was crowded, and it was time for the concubines to present gifts to please Xiaozhuang. Concubine Tong also seized this opportunity and asked people to bring the gifts, but she asked them to cover them with bright red silk.
Zhuang revealed it himself.
Xiaozhuang also heard that Concubine Tong was busy preparing birthday gifts these days, and he gave her some respect in front of others, saying: "Concubine Tong is different from others, she wants to whet the appetite of the Ai family."
With a smile on his face, he removed the silk cover, revealing two pots of colorful peonies.
Concubine Hui couldn't help but be surprised and said: "How can there be peonies in this season?" Once such an out-of-season thing comes out, it will be as good as the elder brother's peacock!
Concubine Rong took a careful look and said, "It should be a peony made of silk, right?"
Concubine Tong was very satisfied with everyone's surprised looks, and said with a bit of pride: "Go back to the Emperor, go back to the Empress Dowager, this flower is made of the finest Suzhou cloud silk, the stamens are made of tiny rice beads, and the branches are
The stems are real peony branches, the leaves are made of jasper, and the flower pot is also a fine black jade pot."
Kangxi nodded slightly. Although Yiwan had shortcomings, she was still extremely filial and said: "You still have the intention. Although I have asked people to present many bonsais, they are more than luxurious and luxurious. They are not as good as your two bonsais, which can be confused with the real ones.
"
Xiaozhuang couldn't help but stretched out his hand to touch the peony petals and said, "If you don't touch it with your own hands, I'm afraid it's hard to tell if it's a fake! Concubine Tong is really interested!"
"Being filial to the Empress Dowager is the duty of a concubine!" Concubine Tong said, looking at Kangxi tenderly. Then, with a hint of provocation in her smile: "I don't know.
What good things has Sister Wen Xi prepared that you are not willing to take out now?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation.)