The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 2
"what?!"

Xue Li's complexion turned pale from the sudden news, she grabbed Su Zixian's hand and asked anxiously.Su Zixian was too tired from running again, panting for a while, before explaining: "After... two months later, it's time for the new family to enter the palace. The new family's children are all below the ninth rank , those of us who entered the palace last time will all be promoted, but, but..."

Su Zixian said in one breath that she had exhausted her strength so far, and after taking a deep breath, Xue Li immediately asked, "But what?!"

"However, the total number of respectful envoys and chief envoys of the eighth rank is 20 fewer than the middle envoys and junior envoys of the ninth rank!"

Suddenly, Xue Li let out a frightened "Ah".

There are not only distinct levels in the palace, but also a strict limit on the number of people.The court ladies of the Daqi Dynasty were selected once a year and released once a year, and they chose two families.In the Shangshi Bureau, 72 new family members are selected every year. At the beginning, they are all junior envoys of the lowest rank. After two months, 32 are selected to be envoys of the ninth rank.

When he was promoted to the eighth rank, there were 24 official envoys of the eighth rank and 28 envoys of the junior eighth rank.In this way, 20 people must be sent to other places to do chores, and the intention is to replace those who are not smart enough to do things in time, but...

In fact, who can stay depends not only on whether they can do things.

"Within a month, the female officer of Shangshi and the Fourth Division will draw up a roster, and the 20 people will leave before the newcomer enters the palace!" Su Zixian frowned more and more as she continued, "I'm not afraid, my cousin will help me no matter what. Yes. But I counted for you, those who have connections in the family at least thirty, and the rest have twenty seats!"

Su Zixian is good at doing these planned things, and when she heard that she had counted so clearly, Xueli suddenly felt her heartstrings tense.White teeth pondered for a while, but Su Zixian said first: "You want to try too?"

"...Ah?" Xue Li was stunned, unable to understand what she wanted to "try" for a while, Su Zixian looked at her, a little anxious: "Let me help you find out if there is anyone who can talk to you?"

In short, it is to find a relationship by stuffing money and giving gifts.

Sydney is not good at this kind of thing, and he has no connections at all, so he hesitates.Su Zixian was not angry, and said in a very loyal way: "I'll ask my cousin for you! It's fine if you can't stay because of poor cooking skills, because it's too wrong, too wrong!"

Three days later, Su Zixian actually found out about it from her cousin in the Shang Palace Bureau.It is said that the female official in charge of the Huanyi Bureau and Shang Gong were close friends, and Shang Gong was almost wronged in the early years.Because of this relationship, this seemingly inconspicuous female officer has been very effective in speaking for many years.

It's not difficult to find her, but you can't leave empty-handed, gold and silver jewelry and the like can't be afforded by the little maids, so Su Zixian had to go to the cousin in the central government for a long time, and after a long time, Finally some useful news...

The female officer likes to eat rose lotus seed jelly very much.

Therefore, on the next day when they were not on duty, the two of them still found an empty small kitchen and plunged into it.

The lotus seeds collected in the summer are not as tender as before after being dried. In a small pot made of purple sand, water is boiled, and the lotus seeds that can be rotten in an hour are boiled for a full two hours, and the taste is finally crispy. cotton.

Put the lotus seeds into a porcelain bowl and let it cool for later use. On the other side, Su Zixian brought rose marinade.

The white porcelain urn is uncovered, and the aroma of red-purple rose brine is tangy, sweet and lingering for a long time.Take out two spoonfuls and put it into a clean porcelain bowl for later use.

After the small casserole was washed, water was added, and a small piece of agar was put into the pot.The small fire was slowly heating up, and Xueli was stirring with all her attention while holding a silver spoon.Until the agar is completely melted and integrated with the hot water in the pot, it becomes a translucent pot.

The next step is the hardest.Stir the rose marinade and lotus seeds with the melted agar - because the rose marinade is cold, the agar will solidify quickly. You can see that the color of the finished product is darker and lighter, or there are lotus seeds on one side and no lotus seeds on the other side, which greatly reduces the appearance.

Most of the ingredients in the side palace are strictly controlled, and there are not many rose brines that they can take at will, so they cannot fail to redo.

Xueli held a thick wet handkerchief in both hands, and looked nervously at Su Zixian who had already picked up the rose marinade and ripe lotus seeds, and took a deep breath: "One, two, three..."

When she removed the casserole from the fire, the rose marinade and lotus seeds were quickly poured into the pot.As soon as the pot was settled, Xue Li picked up the silver spoon again and stirred quickly and steadily.

The rose brine was originally cold, but the agar that melted during stirring condensed again, and soon became thick.

"Huh..." Xueli let out a long sigh of relief, wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand, and finally laughed.

After being poured into the glass bowl, a light floral fragrance filled the crystal clear bowl, and the petals were evenly suspended between the crystals, among which there were several lotus seeds, which seemed to be supported and hidden by the petals, looming.

It only needs to be placed in the ice for another hour. After the agar is completely condensed, it becomes a bowl of flower jelly with a beautiful color and luster. The taste is light and sweet.

When Sydney walked out of Shangshi Bureau with the food box, the sun was already setting.

The glowing red disc was hanging in the sky, so she had to hurry up and go back to Shangshi Bureau before dark.

In the past three years since entering the palace, Sydney has never been to the Huanyi Bureau.All I know is that it is in the extreme northwest corner, separated from the moat by only a palace wall—the outermost circle of the palace, only the Huanyi Bureau stands alone there, and the rest of the palace courtyards are all empty. Few people come.

The moment she stepped out of the Lingxiao Gate, the sudden desolation sent a chill down Sydney's back.

The sky is getting darker, and the deserted palace road and the mottled red wall are particularly creepy.

After walking a few feet, she became more and more flustered.Putting down the food box, he hesitated to look at the road ahead, and then at the Lingxiaomen behind, thinking about slipping back...

Gritting his teeth, he still picked up the food box and continued to move forward.

In the northwest corner, an extremely dilapidated palace gate came into view, and there was no plaque on the gate.

Sydney breathed a sigh of relief and tapped...

There is no response inside.

Knock again, but still no response.

"clang."

Instead, there was a soft sound behind him.

She turned her head and looked at the palace gate on the other side of the palace road.It is also dilapidated and there is no plaque. I was thinking about whether I had gone wrong, and there was another "clang" inside.

Ah, someone would be nice!

Pursing her lips in satisfaction, Xueli wanted to knock on the door, but she was a little puzzled about what was the movement inside—it seemed like the sound of metal colliding?clanging.

She leaned over and leaned against the door to listen, but there was still a constant sound of collisions inside, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Just as she was about to raise her hand to knock on the door, there was a "squeak", and the door opened in front of her eyes.

What came into view was a young man who was nearly two heads taller than her.

The man took a look at her, full of suspicion: "Girl, you..."

But Sydney froze when she raised her eyes slightly.

The silver-gray dress he was wearing seemed to be an official uniform, but it was a style she had never seen before.The hem is as long as the calf, with black boots underneath, with a flat front and neat pleats on both sides.And on the upper body, the delicate embroidered pattern covering the shoulders seems to be...

Dragon pattern? !
Before Xue Li had time to make a closer distinction, her shoulder was yanked violently.

She screamed and fell into the threshold, took two hurried steps before standing still, and the wooden door behind her slammed shut with a bang.

"Master Commander, someone is eavesdropping." The man who dragged her into the door turned around, and following his voice, Sydney looked at the person called "Master Commander" in the courtyard.

The man was about the same age as the person who opened the door, about twenty or so.This outfit was also similar to that man's, except that the background color of dark gold replaced silver gray.

While she was looking at him in horror, his eyes also fell on the food box in her hand, and looked at the man standing by the door: "Wei Chen."

"No." The man in silver-gray clasped his fists and snatched the food box from her hand.

Xueli didn't make any money, and didn't come back to his senses until his hand was empty, and subconsciously wanted to grab it back, anxiously saying: "Give it back to me!"

With a sound of "铛", Xueli's voice stopped suddenly, and she turned her head slightly tremblingly, and the thing nailed deeply into the red-lacquered wooden door came into view.

It was a dart, about two inches long, with a slight silver light, less than an inch away from her right ear...

Any closer and her ears would be gone.Xueli shivered suddenly, her teeth were chattering and she looked at the commander who was throwing darts, not daring to say a word.

The commander sat by the stone table, resting his forehead on his left hand and looked at her indifferently, with no emotion in his eyes.He raised his right hand to touch the case, and picked up another dart.

Sydney was choking on the fear of the row of silver darts neatly arranged on the desk, when Wei Chen next to him asked, "Who sent you here?"

……what?
She was naturally bewildered, but before she could ask further, she heard another "dang".

She gasped for breath and looked sideways, this time, it was near her left ear.

Sydney's mind went blank with a "buzz", and after a while in the dead silence, the words she said were still trembling: "I, I am the maid of the Shangshi Bureau, and I am here to deliver something to the female officer in charge of the Clothes Bureau... ..."

The conductor raised his brows lightly, inspected her pale face with fright for a moment, and moved his eyes to her dress.

The jacket on the front of the breast is simple white, and the skirt on the chest is cherry pink, and there is no decoration. It is the palace dress of a low-ranking maid in the palace.

The little girl looked no more than eleven or twelve years old, and seemed to be the right age.

The commander's frown deepened, and he looked at Wei Chen again. Wei Chen walked over and put the food box on the table.As soon as it was opened, there was a scent of roses.

"What's this?" The commander asked plainly, and Xue Li hurriedly replied, "Rose lotus seed jelly!"

Then it was quiet, and Xueli looked around nervously. The two people sitting and standing by the stone desk were all focused on the bowl of rose lotus seed jelly, as if they couldn't get enough of it.

She was even more apprehensive, they couldn't take the cold, and had to send it to the Clothes Bureau!
It was too far away to talk, so Xueli hesitated to get closer, but just as she lifted her foot, there was another "clang".

The commander made the move too fast, before she could see clearly, the third dart was already nailed to the door!

Xueli suffocated and rolled her eyes to look up, this time...it was rubbing against her head.

Highly accurate!The scraping made the top of her head go numb, and when the numb was poured down, even her feet were soft!

"Who sent you here!"

This sentence again.What the commander uttered was much colder than what Wei Chen had just asked.

"I..." She was completely dumbfounded by the question, she shrank back as if she was about to form a ball, and shouted in her mouth, "No one answered the knock on the door of the clothes washing bureau opposite. Come and ask if there is any movement! No one sent me!"

"clang--"

Another dart was thrown.While moving his wrist, the commander looked at where the dart pierced: it seemed to miss.

It was a little closer to her than expected, brushing past her neck.

Now Sydney didn't dare to move.

She could feel the coolness around her neck, and the skin that touched the coolness would tremble continuously. She looked at them with her white teeth clucking and trembling, her back was pressed against the door panel, and she really wanted to turn around and hug the door and cry.

The commander and Wei Chen looked at each other, and they both felt that they might be overwhelmed.

The little maid in front of her was forced to lean against the door by a few darts, and she didn't dare to move.It could be vaguely seen that the small hands under the sleeves were clenched tightly, the whole body was shaking, and the red eye sockets were already a little wet, as if he was really going to cry from fright.

This way, it really doesn't look like a meticulous work.

The commander and Wei Chen quickly exchanged glances.

Sydney watched Wei Chen approaching step by step with her whole body tense. Every time he took a step, the black boots seemed to fall directly on her heart, which made her tremble again.

He didn't stop until he was less than half a step away from her, squatting down, his smile was warm and warm, but what he said was: "If you don't make it clear, the next dart will have to stab your heart. "

The thin lips of Xueli Cherry Pink kept moving, and she felt that the fear in her heart had reached its peak. As soon as he added these words, the pressure collapsed in an instant.

"Wow——" with a sound, the little girl's unique childish cry echoed throughout the courtyard.Full of grievances and almost collapsed fear poured out along with this cry, which surprised Wei Chen by surprise.

"..." Wei Chen stared blankly at her for a while, seeing her tears and snot streaming down her nose, neither coaxing her nor looking at her, she turned her head stiffly for help, "My lord..."

The commander's eyes darkened, and he stood up with slightly raised brows, walked steadily in front of her, and said solemnly: "Don't cry!"

Xue Li cried in terror and couldn't stop, rubbing her eyes indiscriminately, trying to avoid the haze of tears.

Seeing that the commander was still holding a silver dart in his hand, she didn't have time to think, and rushed over to hold the dart and his hand together, "Plop" knelt down, crying and begging: "My lord! I I really went wrong, no one sent me, please don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The hands that had just wiped away the tears were wet, and the commander was uncomfortable being gripped by the slippery texture. He frowned and looked down, gritted his teeth and said, "Let go!"

(End of this chapter)