As before, in the Guanghan Palace, the tables prepared for the concubines in the harem were divided into two sides, and the one at the top naturally occupied the most honorable position.
Starting from Queen Ulanara, go down.
Ji Ling's position is naturally ranked second.
In the past, when she was a concubine, every time she sat side by side with Concubine Yu, she always had to give in to the concubine. But now she is the unique concubine in this palace.
Concubines such as Yu Fei and Xi Concubine, even though they have children and are of senior concubines, they all have to sit in the back row.
Seeing Concubine Chen coming over, a group of female members of the clan immediately squatted down to bless her. After Ji Ling called her, two palace attendants hurriedly led her to the seat in front of the concubine.
Ji Ling sat down.
As soon as she sat down, the queen arrived, and everyone bowed and said hello.
As Ulanara sat down, he glanced at the throne on his lower left: Ji Ling was wearing a sapphire blue imperial concubine's uniform. It was obviously a very stable and rigorous color, but it happened to be worn out on her body.
Chuchen has a peaceful temperament, and the auspicious crown she wears on her head is also made of the same color gemstone. The dong bead on it is round and crystal clear, and its brilliance is almost better than the dong bead on her head as a queen.
Rong promised to stand nearby and saw it.
The beads were so eye-catching that one almost suspected that the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave the best quality to Concubine Chen in order to please her.
Look at her complexion again - it stands to reason that a woman's vitality and blood should be at their weakest just after giving birth.
But Concubine Chen's eyes were like stars and her skin was as white as snow. In her early years, her features could only be described as "upright and beautiful". Now, with the blessing of her noble aura, she has become more and more careless and noble.
For a moment, Ulanara almost lost his temper with jealousy.
In the past, she only felt that women were skinny, but as time goes by, beauties age easily.
But how come Concubine Chen was favored by God in everything, giving birth to a daughter and two sons in succession, without looking any trace of haggard or embarrassed?
In fact, not only the queen, but also the concubines present could not hold back. They all looked at Ji Ling's clothes carefully with envious eyes.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, we went to the theater to watch a play in the afternoon.
In fact, the Dragon Boat Festival customs in the Qing palace are similar to those among the people. Activities such as eating rice dumplings and dragon boat races were held during the Kangxi Dynasty. Emperor Kangxi, who liked to recite poetry and paint, would also write some seasonal poems or paintings to sing and enjoy with his courtiers.
But in the reign of Yinzhen, the dragon boat race was canceled directly. He changed it to simply taking a boat trip to Xiyuan with his ministers, landing at the North Bridge, and feasting on Nantai until late spring, when the concubines' opera also came to an end.
, and then gathered at the Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace Banquet.
The scripts accepted during the Dragon Boat Festival include "Invitation to Eliminate Demons and Eliminate Evils to Meet the Festival", "Zhengze Becomes an Immortal Fisherman's Talk and Music", "Collecting Medicines to Conquer Demons", "Pu Jian Frees Evils", "Hunyuan Box", and "Mazu Weighs Wine".
, "East Lake Preserve Drink", "Xunfeng Yazou", etc., are all for the Dragon Boat Festival. There are not many truly good-looking operas.
Ji Ling sat in the imperial concubine's seat on the back left side of Ulanara's family, eating small pastries out of boredom while listening absentmindedly to the opera singing on the stage.
After hearing the end, watching the sun go down little by little, it was probably around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, Ji Ling propped her head on her elbows, and Qixi stood beside her and used her as a human cushion.
Ji Ling leaned against her and almost fell asleep.
Ulanara looked back at her several times, his expression getting uglier each time.
Zhang Guiren was sitting behind Ji Ling. At this time, he quietly reached out and poked Ji Ling through the gap in the chair to remind her to sit down.
Ji Ling sighed inwardly and sat up straight again, but then heard Xibi smile and say: "Ma Changzai also knows this aria, why not let her try it."
When she said this, everyone's attention was drawn to Ma Changzai, and they all turned to look at her.
Ma Chang stood up with a look of fear on his face, his face flushed red, and he waved his hands desperately: "Queen, my concubine is not... my concubine is not..."
Xi Bi smiled and said eloquently: "I don't know how to sing this part. Ma Changzai can change to a aria that he is good at - what? Concubine Chen has heard such a good voice, but she is reluctant to let the empress hear it."
?”
When Uranara heard this, his eyes swept over him seriously.
Ma Changzai quickly knelt down in front of Uranala, his face so red that he was almost bleeding. He didn't dare to say yes, but he also didn't dare to say no.
Xi Bin looked at her indifferently, her eyes showing four parts of hatred, four parts of happiness, and two parts of disdain.
Ma Changzai looked at the queen's face, agreed to watch her words, and said a few words to the eunuch next to him. The eunuch walked over and gave a few instructions to the troupe. Suddenly, the troupe finished singing the song, and as expected, he gave way.
Come on.
Everyone looked at Ma Chang.
Ma Changzai stood stiffly on the spot, looking at the queen and pursing his lips.
She knew very well in her heart: Empress Xi was blaming her for being useless, and specially made her perform on the stage like an actress in front of the public. She only took it as a way to vent her anger by showing her ugliness.
Xi Bin smiled sweetly and said: "Ma Chang is here, and the stage has been vacated. Since we are singing, we might as well go up and sing well!"
Ma Changzai didn't dare to disobey, lowered his head, moved in front of the queen, and then sang the first line like a mosquito humming: "Treading on the Tianmen leisurely..."
She has a clear voice, and is indeed not much worse than the famous actors in the troupe. She is just dressed in the attire of a palace concubine, and she sings like an actress, which is really no different.
All the concubines whispered to each other, and they all covered their mouths and laughed.
Amidst the low laughter, a voice suddenly said with a smile: "It's time, Queen, we should go back to Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace. I think it will take some time on the way here."
Ma Changzai looked up with tears in his eyes and saw Concubine Chen turning her head and speaking respectfully to the Queen.
Everyone was startled, then came back and exchanged glances, slowly fading away the smiles on their faces.
…
When everyone arrived at the Qingyan Hall in Jiuzhou, the Duanyang rewards and the "Duanyang tribute" from various places also began.
The palace people each held gauze, kudzu, fans, fragrant cakes, sachets, sachets, palace robes, purple gold ingots, toad cake ingots, salt water ingots, etc. and walked towards the concubines - these were considered gifts from the Jiuzhou Qingyan Palace.
For example, it is different from other places.
In addition, rice dumpling offerings have been placed in the Jiuzhou Qingyan Hall (eight plates per table, totaling 388 rice dumplings), as well as milk-skinned Aoerbuhaduo plates, a dazzling array of items.
Just as Ji Ling sat down in the imperial concubine's seat, suddenly the little eunuch who came to announce the good news ran up in front of him. He kneeled out of breath in front of Concubine Xi and Concubine Yu, saying that the emperor had announced in public just today in the Zhengda Guangming Hall.
In accordance with the decree, they both named the fourth elder brother and the fifth elder brother as Prince Heshuobao and Prince Heshuohe.
"really?"
Xi Bin stood up immediately. Due to the shock, her sleeves knocked over the tea cups on the table, and the tea flowed all over the table. She didn't notice at all and just stared at the little eunuch.
The little eunuch knelt down and said: "How dare you talk nonsense in front of the Queen and other ladies! Prince Bao and Prince He are currently in the front accompanying the Emperor and all of you. When the banquet is held in the evening, Queen Xi will naturally know about it.
!”
Concubine Xi was overjoyed and couldn't help but grab the hand of the maid next to her.
Concubine Yu looked shocked, and then her face gradually turned pale.