Man Bao carefully selected in the mall, and finally selected a long piece of paper that was pretty good. After dinner, she took it to Bai Shan.
The bottom of the paper is printed with chrysanthemums, which corresponds to the current season, and chrysanthemums represent longevity, so it is appropriate to congratulate the Queen Mother on her birthday.
Bai Shan's calligraphy is pretty good now, of course not as good as those of calligraphers, but birthday wishes are all about one's heart, right?
Especially for someone like the Queen Mother who is not short of money or food and clothing.
So he opened the paper and figured out how to write the word "longevity".
Mr. Zhuang helped them make the layout and taught them how to arrange the characters for longevity into a big circle. From a distance, it looks like a chrysanthemum, and when you look up close, it looks like the characters for longevity.
Mr. Zhuang smiled and said: "We are pressed for time, so we will keep it simple and just write a circle, that is, a flower."
He looked at the length of the paper, and gently smelled the aroma wafting out, wondering slightly, "Why have I never seen this kind of paper before?"
Bai Shan quickly covered up for Man Bao, "Sir, rich people have a lot of good things. We only got to know many of them after we went to the Yin family."
This is true. Although he has lived long enough, his knowledge is still limited. There are still many things in this world that he has not seen.
Mr. Zhuang didn't pay much attention to this piece of paper. Instead, he looked at it, folded it some, and said to Bai Shan, "Cut some of it so that it can be laid out better."
It was getting dark, and Zhou Lijun also came back from the restaurant. She ran in to join in the fuss. Seeing that they were busy, she helped them light the lamp, and then went to wash up.
Now the Zhou family's restaurant is gradually getting on the right track, with more and more regular customers, and occasionally strangers passing by will come in to eat, so she is also very busy.
Wu Lang and Liu Lang lived in the shop with their two nephews, but Zhou Lijun still lived here, but there was an empty room. She also moved out of Man Bao's room and had her own room.
She gets up earlier than Man Bao and the others every day, eats breakfast and dinner outside, and usually can only talk to Man Bao a few words a day.
But just like this, Man Bao could always know what was going on in the restaurant, and the Zhou brothers could also know what was going on on her side.
Knowing that Man Bao was going to the palace to attend the Queen Mother's birthday banquet tomorrow, Zhou Lijun yawned and spoke to Man Bao after washing up, and went into her room to find clothes for her to wear tomorrow.
Zhou Lijun rummaged through boxes and cabinets and found a dress that Madam Liu had made for Man Bao after she came to Beijing, but after comparing it, she found that it might be a bit cold to wear in this kind of weather.
She scratched her head and turned out the dress that her eldest aunt had made for her sister-in-law. The material was good, although it was not as good as the one made by Mrs. Liu, but it was thick.
Zhou Lijun hesitated for a moment between looking good and keeping warm, and finally folded up the beautiful dress and stuffed it back.
She folded the clothes she took out and put them aside. She yawned and said, "Sister-in-law, I put the clothes you will wear tomorrow on the stool."
Man Bao lowered his head and thanked him, and continued to work hard with Bai Erlang.
The two of them are preparing to make borders for the words.
You can't just write it and take it directly to the palace, right?
It still has to be framed, rolled up, and packed in a nice-looking box.
They measured a piece of paper of the same size and used it as a mold. After Mr. Zhuang and Bai Shan finished writing the words and drying the ink, Man Bao and Bai Erlang also finished the materials.
They often do this kind of work. After all, the master’s good calligraphy was framed by three of his disciples. The other three people who thought they were good calligraphers also secretly framed and put them away, deciding to take them out when they were older.
Come out to brag to future generations.
So these things are readily available at home.
The four masters and apprentices put a lot of effort into preparing the birthday gift. Manbao ran back to the room, rummaged through it, picked out a gift box of about the same size and put it in it.
Recently, the Yin family, the Su family, the East Palace, and the imperial palace all gave her gifts, including many good pieces of wood or beautiful boxes, which are full of treasures.
Several people put the rolled scroll in, closed the box, and watched happily together.
Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Okay, it's getting late. You go and wash up and go to bed. You have to get up early tomorrow."
Man Bao looked at the time and saw that it was indeed very late. She was a little puzzled, "Does the banquet in the palace last from morning to night? Why do you have to go so early?"
Although Mr. Zhuang has never been to the palace for a banquet, he has heard about it. He smiled and said: "Get up early tomorrow, eat more, and bring some snacks in your purse. When you enter the palace, if you want to eat, then
There’s still more to wait for.”
The three of them responded with confused expressions.
But because they slept late, they were unwilling to get up the next day. In addition, the weather was a bit cold now. After Daji called them, the three of them lingered for nearly a quarter of an hour before getting up.
Among them, Bai Erlang took the longest, so Man Bao and Bai Shan confidently put the blame on him.
Mr. Zhuang chased them away and said: "It's too late. If you don't go, I'm afraid you won't be able to catch up with the Yin family's motorcade. I'll have someone bring you food. Just eat on the road."
Then they packed the three children into the car.
Daji took them to the palace with two guards.
There was a food box prepared by Mr. Zhuang in the car. When he opened it, he saw that it was full of steamed buns, steamed buns and naan pancakes.
The three of them were looking through the food boxes and exclaimed, "There's no porridge at all, or maybe noodles. Are we just going to eat naan bread this morning?"
Daji replied while driving the car: "Eat quickly, the Yin family will be here soon."
The three of them reached for food, but they didn't have such a big appetite to eat so much early in the morning, so they only ate small steamed buns and steamed buns, but they hadn't finished yet.
There were also three large purses in the car. The three of them picked them up and took a look and found that they were full of snacks. They put them into their sleeves and were curious.
Especially Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who had never entered the palace, both looked at Man Bao: "Is there no food in the palace?"
Man Bao shook his head in confusion, "No, I have something to eat every time I enter the palace, and I am never hungry."
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang looked down at the purses in their hands and sighed: "Sir, you have never been to the palace before, so you are too nervous."
Man Bao nodded with deep understanding.
Bai Erlang rolled his eyes, feeling that it was too heavy to carry such a big bag, so he opened it, picked through the snacks, picked out the snacks he didn't like and put them on the food box.
Bai Shan took a look and opened his own wallet.
Man Bao also weighed his sleeves and felt that they were a bit heavy, so he picked them up too, leaving only three snacks he liked in his purse.