After Ji Ling called all the concubines, he saw that it was the auspicious time that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had announced in advance to the Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace. There was a court orchestra next to the shopping street, and at this time, the tunes of Qinglong Dance and Desheng Dance were played in a low voice.
, the sound of music was clear and clear to his ears, and he led everyone into the shopping street, where the imperial concubine Caiyi was waiting outside.
At this time, the sky is dark, the full moon is rising, and a silver plate shines on the world. It is the night market on the shopping street. The vendors are standing behind the vendors on both sides of the street, and the sound of selling is endless, and there are also shouts from the shops behind.
The concubines gradually dispersed in twos and threes.
Since the Kangxi Dynasty, starting from the first day of the twelfth lunar month every year, and throughout the Spring Festival, the emperor would write many pieces with the word "福" and post them everywhere in the palace for good luck and good luck. Naturally, the shopping street of Yuanmingyuan was not left behind - directly opposite
At the position of the main hall of Qiuyue in Pinghu, a huge gold-sprinkled six-backed brocade blessing character hangs high on the lintel where the north and south of Buying Street meet. Dozens of huge golden moon lanterns hang next to it, illuminating the surrounding area.
It's as bright as day.
There are many kinds of shops on both sides of the street, including silk shops, cloth shops, porcelain shops, bookstores, antique shops, and shops selling rouge, gouache, and various hairpin rings and jewelry, which is full of human fireworks.
The small vendors in the shopping street are all young eunuchs with loud and articulate voices organized by the Yuanmingyuan Internal Affairs Bureau. There are also a small number of people recruited from the palaces of various palaces and concubines to play the role of storekeepers, shopkeepers, and waiters.
Zhang Guiren accompanied Ji Ling all the way. The three princesses skipped to a flower stall and stopped. Their eyes were fixed on a large handful of golden emerald calyxes. The flowers were often seen in the cold weather in the north, and the petals were probably just sprinkled on them.
After passing through the water, there are still crystal clear dew rolling around, making the pale yellow petals look like jade, bright and lovely. The flower stems are carefully tied five or six times with light green brocade ribbons, and inserted into several huge pottery jars.
inside.
There were two ladies in palace clothes standing in front of the stall, and the palace maids who were waiting behind them were holding a lot of rouge, gouache and other things in their hands. The two people were talking and laughing, and they didn't realize that Ji Ling came over, and the servants beside them followed them and bought them.
He put down the broken silver coins next to the flower stall. When he turned around and saw Ji Ling, he immediately knelt down and said, "Concubine Chen!" and tugged on the sleeves of the two people.
When the two men turned their heads, Ji Ling saw it was Li Guiren and Ma Changzai.
Li Guiren and Ma Changzai were also startled. They leaned down and said, "Concubine, I have seen Concubine Chen, Concubine Chen..." After they finished speaking, they saw that they had blocked the third princess from seeing the flowers. Ma Changzai
He quickly stepped aside to avoid it.
The third princess took hold of the golden emerald calyx, tried hard to pull it out, handed it to the servant beside her and said, "Take it carefully." She turned around and went to the candy man stall next to her, hands behind her back.
Bixue, Grandma Chen and others quickly followed.
As soon as she ran away, Li Guiren and Ma Changzai immediately scrambled to pay the third princess.
The vendors at the candy man stall were all eunuchs in the palace. How could they not recognize Princess Heshuo Duanrou? When he saw her coming, he immediately walked out from behind the stall, bowed to apologize, and put the most complicated and colorful candies.
Everyone helped her pick them out. Seeing that the third princess was still not satisfied, they took a look at the bouquet in the princess's hand, immediately spread out an iron plate, picked up a spoon, and poured the sugar juice from the iron bucket on the iron plate.
Above it, within a moment, a lifelike flower appeared in my hand.
The third princess was happy, stretched out her hand to take it, and said casually: "What is your name and where do you work?"
The little merchant was flattered and quickly knelt down and said: "Reply to the third princess, slave..."
Ji Ling reached out and patted her daughter on the shoulder. Zhang Guiren pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Third princess, there are still many interesting shops!"
A few people walked forward, and sure enough, after passing the corner, six or seven more shops appeared in front of them, but they were selling small Western toys, all imported. Yinzhen usually gave a lot of rewards, and the third princess was used to seeing the palace.
It was luxurious and rare, but I was not interested in it. I walked around in a circle for a while, walked out, and went to a clay figurine stall that is common in folk markets.
The mother and daughter walked for a while and finally got tired. There were many stone benches and tables placed along the street for the nobles to sit down and rest at any time when they were tired. However, the third princess walked straight into a cake shop on the street.
shop.
A circle of slaves quickly followed and crowded in.
When the waiter saw that Concubine Chen and the third princess were coming, he immediately knelt down to say hello. Ji Ling raised his hand to signal him not to leave. There were already people from the harem in the shop. When he saw Concubine Chen coming, he immediately stood up, lowered his hands and stood in greeting.
Ji Ling was wearing flowerpot-soled shoes and was indeed a little tired after standing for a long time. She saw that Zhang Guiren had accompanied the third princess to pick out various pastries. Since there were concubines in the palace who were vegetarians and Buddhists, the pastries were also separated according to meat and vegetables.
, both sides are very far apart, and in the middle are all kinds of fragrant teas, the fragrance of tea curls up.
Qixi had already wiped the tables and chairs clean and helped Ji Ling sit down.
The third princess had picked out dozens of colorful pastries in a short time. Six or seven waiters dressed as eunuchs followed behind with plates in their hands. Almost everyone in the shop was surrounding her. Ji Ling's attitude
, then said with a smile: "Xi'er! I can just get one of the various pastries, why buy so many?"
The third princess turned around and said, "Mom, look at these snacks. The patterns and colors are so beautiful. I'll take them back and study them!" As she said this, she took a lotus-shaped cake and showed it to Ji Ling.
Just as Ji Ling was about to speak, she felt her shoulders sink slightly, a hand was placed on her shoulders, and she heard a low voice saying with a smile: "Lingling."
Ji Ling turned around and looked into Yinzhen's deep eyes.
She stood up, and while about to bend her knees, she blurted out and asked with a smile: "When did the emperor come here? How did he find me and Xi'er?"
Yinzhen stretched out his hand without letting her go, directly supported her elbow, and then said with a happy expression: "I finished cooking the dumplings, and thought that today is the day of visiting the Sixth Palace, so I came over to take a look."
When he said this, Ji Ling remembered: Yes, when the princes, ministers, and envoys from foreign vassals visited the garden a few days ago, didn't Yinzhen already participate?
That said, in fact, this trading street has nothing new in his eyes.
He just came here to find her and the third princess.
Ji Ling held Yinzhen's hand with her backhand and turned around to call her daughter over. However, she saw that the third princess was surrounded by servants and had already walked to the other end of the store and was picking out pastry packaging boxes. She was very busy. Zhang Guiren was there.
The man next to him turned around and was startled when he saw Yinzhen, and quickly came over to say hello.
Yinzhen casually raised his hand to let her get up, and then said to Ji Ling: "Let Xi'er go play, there are people watching, it's rare for her to have fun."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to hold Ji Ling's hand and said, "Lingling, come with me for a walk."
Ji Ling's eyes were still fixed on her daughter, but Zhang Guiren had already knelt down, flicked the veil, and said loudly: "Concubine, I send you to your Majesty, and I send you to Concubine Chen!"
Ji Ling:……
The two of them came out and walked on the long street. Yinzhen put on his casual clothes and walked forward looking for the dim light, his face hidden in the shadow of the half-dark lamp.