Man Bao took out his hand and carefully rubbed it on the mud to make it smoother.
She took out her hand, looked down at the already turbid stone jar, turned to smile at Mingda, "Wait a while for the mud to settle, and the water will be clear."
Mingda stood on tiptoes and took a look, but he could only see a little water on the top, which looked very turbid.
Man Bao jumped off the bench, took down the benches that were stacked together, and gave one to her.
Mingda also stepped on the bench and saw that the water was not turbid.
She was worried, "Can the water really become clearer? Do I need to change the water?"
"No need," Man Bao said confidently, "When we were children, we went to the river to play. There was a lot of sediment in the river. If you step on it and play, it will become muddy. If you come out and wait for a while, the water will be clear."
She said: "The sediment is heavy. As long as there is enough time, it will settle down."
Man Bao put down her sleeves and realized that she had been too close to the stone vat and her clothes were already a little wet. So she thought about it and wiped her wet hands on her skirt, wiped them dry and then rubbed her hands.
After rubbing his hands to warm them, he said, "Let's go over there and take a look."
The emperor, who had been silent all this time, coughed lightly.
The two people who were still standing on the bench turned to look to the left. The emperor asked with a straight face, "Mingda, what are you doing?"
Princess Mingda jumped down from the stool happily, returned the tuber to Manbao, and went straight to the emperor, "Father, why are you here?"
As soon as Mingda rushed forward, the emperor couldn't keep his face straight. He couldn't help smiling, holding her hand and saying, "I came here with Prince Feng to relax, and I saw you two making mischief here."
Man Bao had already walked aside and saluted, "See Your Majesty."
The emperor waved his hand to ask her to stand up and asked with a smile, "Zhou Man, why did you dig up my lotus?"
Manbao:……
She glanced at the tuber in her hand and hesitated: "Should I plant it for you again?"
Now it was the emperor's turn to be speechless.
Mingda shook the emperor's hand and said coquettishly: "Father, I want to give it to Zhou Man."
The emperor tapped her nose and said, "It's very cold in spring, and the water is still ice cold right now. How can you touch the water?"
"I didn't touch it, Zhou Man touched it."
The emperor turned to Zhou Man and said, "I have also heard that you are good at growing flowers and plants. If you like it, I will reward you with a jar."
Gu Zhong on the side took note of it and asked someone to send Zhou Man a vat of lotus flowers.
Man Bao quickly thanked him.
The emperor then led everyone down the corridor and walked to the stone vat to look at it. When he saw the stone vat which was still turbid but with floating soil, he shook his head and smiled and said: "This vat of lotus has suffered a serious crime, so just leave it here."
Go ahead and choose a better tank to send to her later."
Gu Zhong responded.
The emperor looked at the vat of lotus and didn't know what he thought of. After being silent for a long time, he suddenly turned around and asked Zhou Man, "If you break the lotus tuber into two and leave only this little lotus for it, can it still survive?"
"
Man Bao was stunned and knew that he had been watching her for a long time. After all, it was someone else's flower. She was a little embarrassed and said, "Okay..."
She was thinking of good things to say, "Not only does the lotus emerge from the mud unstained, it is also very strong. I think that as long as we interfere less with it, it will survive on its own and maybe even grow better."
Woolen cloth."
There was soaking liquid buried beside the tuber. As long as no one thought of changing the water and mud, she could guarantee that after one night, it would be a vibrant lotus flower again.
The emperor stared at the wilted lotus in the stone vat and pondered, "Aren't you going to intervene?"
Man Bao nodded repeatedly and saw that the lotus branches and leaves in the stone jar were a little wilted because they had exerted too much force just now. She immediately said: "This is temporary. As long as you don't move it, it will be fine in a day or two."
Maybe the longer it can be, the better.”
The emperor thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile, "Okay, then I'll wait for two days and see."
The prince standing behind lowered his eyes and glanced at the lotus in the stone vat.
Feng Shangshu, Yin Li and others looked at each other and stopped arguing.
Yes, they were quarreling in the study just now, and almost got into a fight in front of the emperor.
Last night, a thief visited the Criminal Department. However, the Criminal Department failed to catch the thief, but the Jingzhao Mansion did.
Feng Shangshu had lost face and had been upset all morning, but because Tang He persuaded him, he also felt that the Ministry of Punishment was too negligent, so he endured his anger.
As a result, after he went to court, not only the imperial censor impeached him, but also the Dali Temple came to join in the fun, stripped him of his clothes, and trampled his face on the ground, so Feng Shangshu couldn't help but quarreled with others, and by the way, Yin
Li was pulled in to make the water more turbid.
In addition, the prince wrote a new self-reflection letter, so everyone changed positions and started arguing in the study room.
The prince has never been a gentle person. Not only did he join in, but he also stirred up the flames. Before they came, Feng Shangshu and others were arguing so hard that they almost started fighting in front of the emperor.
What Zhou Man said may have been unintentional, but it was exactly what the prince meant. The life and death of the lotus in this vat was now of great importance.
Manbao and Mingda knew nothing about this. Seeing that the emperor and the ministers looked serious, they felt that they were not fun at all, so they took the opportunity to say goodbye and slipped away quietly.
Sneaking back to the imperial garden, Chang Yu and the others' guests had already arrived, including Princess Yunfeng, who was sitting alone with a sullen face.
She and Chang Yu had a quarrel just now. Of course, it was her and Chang Yu who quarreled, but Chang Yu didn't quarrel with her.
The queen had already told them that she would not let them have any conflict with Yunfeng.
Her nanny told her privately, "Today is different from the past. In the past, when you and Princess Yunfeng quarreled, she had the support of the Queen Mother, and you also had the Queen to deal with it. No matter how fierce the quarrel was, it would be okay. But now if you quarrel with her again,
If word spreads, it will inevitably make people think that you are bullying her."
Mammy said: "The princess is old, and she will choose a consort in the next two years. She is a tile now, but you are a jade. Why bother to touch the tiles with jade?"
Chang Yu thought she was right, so even if Princess Yunfeng was looking for trouble, she would not quarrel with her even if she was angry.
The girls invited by Changyu and Mingda were not all their friends, at least they were decent on the surface. They didn't like playing with Yunfeng either, so they left her aside.
The little girls could talk and play together as they liked, but the Crown Princess could not, so she sat next to Princess Yunfeng and talked to her with a smile.
In the end, after she said a few words, Man Bao and Ming Da came back holding hands. When Princess Yunfeng saw it, her face darkened, she glared at Zhou Man fiercely, then stood up and left without even talking to the prince.
The concubine resigned.
The Crown Princess's face darkened, but she put on a smile for a moment, waved to Mingda Manbao who ran over, and asked with a smile: "Look at you, your clothes are all stained with mud, where did they go?"