On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the princes and ministers saluted Yinzhen in the Hall of Yangxin, and Zhonghe Shao music was played in the Forbidden City. Zhonghe Shao music originated from ancient elegant music.
Peace in the world, blessings from all nations to Xianning.
This set of palace ceremonial music was established in the eighth year of Kangxi's reign. Yinzhen listened to it for many years. After he ascended the throne, he continued to use this set of music unchanged.
At this time, the soft sound of music floated into the harem.
In Chengqian Palace, because he slept late last night, Ji Ling didn't wake up until three o'clock in the morning.
After washing, Qixi tied a braid loosely on the back of her head and pulled it to one side. She paired it with a palm-sized lake blue beaded flower. She also wore a thick cotton robe and cheongsam of the same color.
Ling simply put on a pair of flat embroidered shoes and went out to the front hall to see the third princess and the sixth prince.
Children are the most energetic. Although when they came back yesterday, the third princess was already very sleepy lying on her mother's body. Now she has woken up early and is in great spirits. Ji Ling has not yet entered the Nuan Pavilion, but she has already heard her.
Talk to the wet nurse.
The wet nurse was feeding the sixth elder brother rice cereal, and the servants were waiting beside him. The fragrant smell filled the entire Nuan Pavilion.
The third princess watched beside him, and then she held the sixth brother's back in a serious manner.
Now when she touches her brother's little head, Hongxin is no longer so resistant.
While he was eating, he allowed his sister to touch her - tacitly agreeing to this action.
Probably the third princess has taken great care of him recently, and she no longer treats him like a big toy, holding him in her arms and playing with him like before.
Ji Ling felt relieved when she saw the situation of the two siblings. She retreated quietly and made a gesture to tell the slaves to be quiet - otherwise the two children would definitely pull her and make her
Play along.
She just came over to take a look.
Returning to the warm pavilion in the back hall, Qixi directed people to put the breakfast on the table and said: "Master is relieved now, do you want to sleep for a while? I see you are still sleepy!"
Ji Ling sat at the small dining table.
In addition to sweet japonica rice porridge, the breakfast includes osmanthus cake, crab apple cake, plum blossom cake, sugar rice cake, eight-treasure cake, and sponge cake. There are six kinds of cakes in total, which means the six or six fortunes, rising step by step, and the plate platter is arranged.
It has the shape of a plum blossom and is really beautiful when placed on the dining table.
Ji Ling likes the Dingsheng cake very much - the taste is sweet, pine and glutinous. It is made from the best glutinous rice. The grains are fine and even. It has been soaked in the rice wine in advance. The glutinous rice absorbs the fragrance of the rice wine, making it sweet and delicious.
It is not greasy; the plum blossom cake is decorated with sticky bean paste, nuts, date paste, jam, small yuanxiao, pine nuts, roses, white sugar, and red and green melon shreds, which is delicious and beautiful.
After Ji Ling had breakfast, he pointed several plates of untouched pastries to Qixi and drank a pot of fragrant tea.
It was very warm in the Nuang Pavilion. She had eaten and drank enough, and she felt increasingly sleepy, so Qixi took care of her and went back to sleep.
As Ji Ling lay down, he said: "I was busy a year ago, but now I have nothing to do. I was late last night. If you are tired, you should go and take a nap."
Qixi closed the window for her, pulled up the window cover, and then said with a smile: "My slave is used to sleeping late and keeping watch, so it won't be a problem."
She carefully packed away the washing things and took the pastries, then closed the door of the Nuan Pavilion and went back to the palace maid's room.
The master had told her yesterday to prepare the purses that would be given to the slaves on New Year's Day, and she quickly prepared them.
Bixue was in the palace maid's room, sitting on the edge of the charcoal basin, holding a plate of melon seeds and eating them. When she saw Qixi coming back, a burst of cold air from outside came in as soon as she opened the door. Bixue's shoulders stooped, she folded her arms and stamped her feet.
: "Sister Qixi, close the door, close the door!"
Qixi came into the house, pushed the door closed, and put down the things on her hands while saying: "The master has gone to bed. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the emperor will definitely not have time to come over. You slept late last night.
How about taking a break too?"
As she spoke, she put the pastries on the plates used by the first-class maids, then brought them over to Bixue and said, "It's still hot. Eat some. Those melon seeds will hurt your teeth, so don't chew them."
As she spoke, she took the plate of melon seeds from Bixue's hand.
The cakes were still warm, so Bixue ate a few pieces. Seeing that Qixi didn't move, he pushed the plate toward her and said, "Sister Qixi, you can try it too."
Qixi shook her head and said with a smile: "It's only a few pieces, so just eat it, I know you're greedy!"
Bixue stuffed the cake into her mouth, chewed it a few times, and said with a smile, "I know Sister Qixi loves me the most!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Qixi saw Qixi put another plate of pastries aside, found a deep-mouthed plate and turned it over to cover it, and whispered: "Leave this plate to Evian. When she comes back, remember to call her
Eat it early while it’s hot.”
The smile on Bixue's face suddenly faded a bit.
After Qixi finished her work, she walked to the locked old wooden cabinet aside, took out a small package, and shook it gently on the table.
Three-color purses suddenly rolled out of the parcel, with fine stitching, auspicious patterns, and equal sizes.
Bixue understood it after just one glance.
She walked aside, wiped her hands with a towel, and said, "Sister Qixi, let me help you."
Qixi took out another bottle of hair oil from the cabinet and handed it to Bixue: "It's okay. I've been doing this every year. I'm used to it. I can do it all by myself. I'll give you this hair oil."
, it’s rose-flavored, and it smells much better than the one we usually use.”
Bixue took it and played with it a few times.
When Qixi saw it, she pointed and said: "Put it away! It's just a small bottle. If it breaks, I won't be able to give it to you."
Bixue obediently held the small bottle tightly, put it into the box under her bed, and suddenly asked: "Did Sister Qixi leave it for Evian?"
Qixi had just pushed aside the sundries on the desk, sat down and started loading her purse. Hearing this, she turned to glance at Bixue and said helplessly: "Are you jealous of her?"
Bixue walked over with a smile, dragged a bench, and came close to Qixi. She sat down and leaned on the table with her arms folded. She looked at Qixi's profile and said nothing.
Qixi loaded a few purses, which made a clanking sound. When she saw the opening of the purse, a stray thread often dragged out, causing a slight prick in her hand. Qixi picked up the small silver scissors and carefully repaired the gap.
Bixue lay aside and watched in a daze, and suddenly said: "They are all rewards for the slaves in our own palace, why should they be so delicate?"
Qixi put down the small silver scissors and said slowly: "Master has always been careful - just because she doesn't say it doesn't mean that she doesn't see it, let alone that she doesn't know what to do in her heart. As slaves - we must do all the tasks assigned by the master.
Just do it well, if we wait until the master sends a message to remind us, then we will be passive."
She paused, glanced at Bixue, and whispered: "Don't blame me for talking too much, Evian is better than you at this point. Why didn't the master mention anyone else, but did he mention Evian to come into the house and become a first-class palace maid? All of them.
There is a reason. Bixue, you are good at everything, but if you can focus on serving the master seriously and don't hold on to others for nothing, the master will naturally value you."
Bixue lowered her eyes and fell silent.
Ji Ling was already late for breakfast, and with the sleepiness after the meal, the whole time was completely confused.
She didn't have lunch until three o'clock in the afternoon.
It is said to be lunch, but in fact, at this point - dinner is not a bad idea.
Dinner in the Forbidden City should normally be served at this time.