The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 32 Calling for Help
Sydney finally succumbed to the "excessive power" of the Seven Kings.

She pondered secretly in her heart and felt that there was nothing wrong with doing errands in the palace to get rewards, why not just do errands?Going to the Seven Kings' place is obviously more money than just taking salary in Shangshi Bureau!

Many little maids have recently felt that their lives are too poor.Especially during the Chinese New Year period, palace maids with ample cash can ask the Shangfu Bureau for half a piece of cloth to make a new dress, or ask the Shanggong Bureau for a hairpin that is currently fashionable—although they can’t usually wear it, but they can’t wear it. Happy!

They can only "firmly believe" to take delicious food to make themselves happy, and they can't afford anything else.If it weren't for the errands in front of the Zichen Palace to fill the purse these days, it would be impossible to uncover the pot after the Chinese New Year.

Therefore, the temptation of Seven Kings' good job delivered to their door is really not small.Xue Li nodded in agreement, and Zhang Kang, who was beside the Seven Kings, came to say hello to Zou Shangshi. Of course, Zou Shangshi couldn't disobey the Seven Kings' wishes, so he privately told Xue Li to be careful, and even stuffed some broken silver out of his own pocket. She, said to her: "In case something happens, let's take care of it first."

One day later, on the evening of the fourth day of the first lunar month, when the people from Zhengzheng Palace came to pass on the meal, Sydney followed them.

Stepping into the palace gate, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old maid greeted her, and said "You are here" with a smile—pretending to be an old acquaintance, and then said in a very low voice: "My name is Dingxiang. "

Xueli was led by her to sit in the side hall. Seeing that the palace servants did not go to the inner hall, Ding Xiang took the initiative to explain: "Your Highness said that we will have dinner in the study today."

After waiting for a while, the palace servants of Bu Shan withdrew from the side room, and Ding Xiang invited her to the study.Xue Li went out of the palace gate and followed her to the west, when she got to the corridor, two brightly dressed women were coming from the south side of the corridor.

Ding Xiang murmured, "What a coincidence", then leaned down and said, "Goodbye, Lady Liangyuan, and Goodbye, Lady Fengyi."

Xue Li didn't react for a while, which was just right in Ding Xiang's eyes.So when she was about to salute, Ding Xiang got up "just in time", shook her hand lightly, stopped her salute without a trace, and said with a gentle smile, "This is Chu Liangyuan."

Sydney took a look at the woman in the black chest-length skirt, and was blessed: "Good morning, Mrs. Liangyuan."

"This is Yi Fengyi." Ding Xiang said again.

It can be regarded as the venerable master who staged the "never tired of eating" on the first day of entering the palace!
Sydney swept her away with curiosity, Yi Shi looked younger than Chu Shi, and her apricot-colored bust-length skirt looked more tender, and she was also looking at her curiously, she nodded and said, "Good morning, Mrs. Fengyi. "

"This is..." Mrs. Chu was a little puzzled. Just as Ding Xiang was about to answer, Seven Kings, who had already listened to a few sentences in the study, walked out.

Seeing Sydney, he was also very happy, "Are you here?"

"Your Highness the Seventh Prince." No matter how blessed Xue Li was, the Seventh King turned his head and said a very straightforward sentence: "I have guests, you can use them yourself when you go back."

I don't know if it was the first time seeing the Seven Kings "have guests" or the first time they were sent back by the Seven Kings. In short, the Chu family and Yi family were obviously stupid, and they stood there for a long time, and finally cast their eyes on Ding Xiang.

Ding Xiang's smile didn't change at all, and she "fooled" the two of them away with kindness, roughly meaning "It's okay, Miss Sydney often comes to sit, it's not your two faults that the Queen Mother asked about serving meals."

They walked away, and the Seven Kings were obviously relieved.

He smiled at Sydney: "Come in."

This is the first time for Sydney to get close to the dining table of the Seven Kings - the breakfast last time is not counted, and the rules of preparing meals when sick are different from usual.

I watched her stay for a while.It turns out that so many dishes put together are so imposing?Although she has been preparing meals at Shangshi Bureau, she has never seen what it looks like when a table is full of delicacies.

The seat of the Seven Kings is set at one end of the long table. Six cold dishes are lined up on the right hand side, and hot dishes are placed in the middle and left hand side. There are [-] dishes in total. There are two kinds of soup between the hot dishes.Somewhere farther away, there are a few snacks, although there are only a few, but the styles are all there, crispy, soft, sweet, and salty.

Not only the Chu family and Yi family left, but also the other palace people in the study were driven away.Xie Han felt very comfortable in his heart, stretched his waist and went to the seat, and said to Xue Li, "Sit."

...He really wants her to eat with him? !

Xue Li looked at Qi Wang in surprise, he had already sat down, and seeing that she couldn't come over, he went to drag her to sit down.After being forced down by him, it was inappropriate for Sydney to not move her chopsticks.

The Seven Kings' words were also sincere: "I ask you to help me, can I let you go back hungry?"

This meal was good... She was a little cautious at first, but she was not so afraid after eating happily.Although there is never a shortage of food in Shangshi Bureau, she still hasn't eaten many things on the Seven Kings' table!It's all the handiwork of the female officials, and it's very well done!

From then on, she came back every other day, and then came back every other day. After three times, she found that she seemed to be really becoming a "friend" with the Seven Kings.

The Seven Kings seemed to be particularly afraid of losing her because of her coming to "help". He always stuffed vegetables on her plate, saying "you try this, it's delicious" on the left, and "you try it, this is delicious" on the right.After the main meal, they had to taste the snacks together. After several observations, Xueli found that if she showed that she liked which one, he would not eat it himself. He sat next to him and held his chin to watch her eat, and he still looked satisfied!
It's a pleasure to help...

But even so, when it was heard that the Empress Dowager would return to the palace on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Sydney still received amnesty.

After all, the Seven Kings are princes!No matter how good the relationship between the two is now, she would occasionally worry a little about what to do if she offended the Seven Kings one day—would she still be in trouble then?That is absolutely!
It's better to hide.

Therefore, while eating and having fun in the Zhengzheng Palace and saving money, Sydney prayed from the bottom of her heart, "Queen Mother, you old man, go quickly, so that His Highness the Seventh Highness and the Chu family and Yi family can relax a little bit."

Before I knew it, it was the fourteenth day of the first month.

The people from the Zhengzheng Palace came to pass the meal, and she followed them as usual. On the way, Zhang Kang even joked with her that she was "a little fat" recently, and she behaved after being stepped on by her hard.

Stepping into the gate of Zhengzheng Palace, Zhang Kang shrank his neck suddenly.

This atmosphere is not right!
Their eunuchs are very sensitive to these atmospheric matters. Although everything looks normal now, they still feel a sense of chill. Zhang Kang frowned and said to the people behind: "You go to the study to prepare meals first, I will Go inside and have a look."

After saying that, he just took a step forward, looked up at the person who was coming out of the hall, and knelt down as soon as his knees softened: "Queen Dowager Wan'an!"

The palace people who were planning to set the meal in the back knelt down on the ground.Of course, Sydney responded quickly enough this time.

Xie Han came out together on the right side of the queen mother, and the Chu family and Yi family were all on the left side, with their heads bowed tightly, not daring to say a word.

A court lady in Sydney, she is particularly eye-catching among the eunuchs in front, back, left, and right.The Empress Dowager swept her lightly, looked at the Chu family and Yi family, with displeasure on her face: "Just such a little girl, why are you two crying in such a hurry?"

"The queen mother..." Yi Fengyi wanted to say, neither of us was much older than her.After being pinched by Chu Liangyuan, she had to kneel down with her, Chu said: "The Queen Mother calm down!"

"That's it." The Queen Mother took a deep breath, her eyes slowly flicked across the courtyard, and she did not linger on Xueli, "Those who should serve His Highness should serve His Highness, and those who should kneel should kneel by themselves."

Xue Li couldn't even understand these words, her body trembled, and she said "No", the Empress Dowager had already led the people to the study.

She raised her eyes secretly, and all she saw was a luxurious figure surrounded by everyone.The whole phoenix was embroidered on the back of the scarlet shirt with large sleeves, and the patterns outlined by the gold thread were so complicated that she only had to glance at it for a moment before she dared not look any further.

I dare not say even half a sentence that is superfluous.

In the study, Xie Han almost exploded with anger.

Sitting on both sides of the long desk with his mother staring at each other, he didn't intend to eat a single bite, and he didn't even intend to give Chu's and Yi's good looks.

What is this? !
Seeing his mother drinking tea in a calm manner, Xie Han scratched his neck and said fiercely: "Don't listen to their nonsense! Erchen and Ruan have nothing to do with each other!"

"Well, the Ai family knows." The empress dowager put down the teacup without changing her color, and Fang added a smile, "If you really like her, it is not impossible for the Ai family to give her a title."

"Then you..." Qi Wang was angry, and he wanted to say: "Then what are you doing here?" !
The empress dowager's smile faded, she waved her hands to let Chu and Yi retreat to wait outside, and said slowly: "You are a prince, and you think it's not a big deal for that maid of honor to be transferred to you or to be given a title. But you'd better remember the dignity of a master and a servant, and if there is such an unruly thing as sharing a meal with another case, it's not as simple as punishing her to kneel for two hours."

"You still plan to punish her to kneel for two hours?!" Xie Han blurted out, met the Empress Dowager's eyes, rolled her eyes and leaned back on the chair, out of temper.

Well, he endured it, he couldn't hold back his mother, it would have been worse if he insisted on being strong, and the first unlucky one would be Sydney, who had helped him for a few days.

But fortunately, he reacted quickly, and when he saw his mother coming aggressively, he knew it was not a good thing. Thinking about the red eyes of Chu Liangyuan when he was dismissed at dinner the day before yesterday, it was a grievance, and it took a long time to say hello to his mother today...

He turned around and sent Ding Xiang out to ask for help, and let her go through the back door, so his mother's people should not have stopped her.

If it's not busy over there, people should come.

Xue Li had just knelt outside for a while before feeling unspeakably uncomfortable on her knees.

Stiffness and numbness coexist, itching and coldness rushing up the bones at the same time, and the whole leg hurts when I move a little; if I don't move, the stiffness becomes more severe after another.

This is bad.Zou Shangshi was afraid that something would happen to her, so he stuffed money for her to prepare for emergencies, but at the moment, she couldn't even "do something", and she didn't know what the consequences would be.

The Queen Mother seems... very angry.It was the Chu family and the Yi family who filed a complaint again, and Sydney felt that she was going to be a fish on the chopping board.

I don't know if His Highness the Seventh Highness can help you with a good word?Would it work if he said it?Not at all.

Xueli was thinking wildly, the more she thought about it, the more her heart was agitated.

There seemed to be footsteps outside the courtyard suddenly, and it was very obvious.

She wanted to turn her head to see what was going on, but she didn't dare, so she continued to kneel with concentration.

At first glance, "Your Majesty is here-"

Sydney had never had such an experience before, and was suddenly at a loss.

Hastily wanted to turn around and bow down, but as soon as he moved, he was shocked by the numbness of his legs and his whole body froze.She gritted her teeth hard and slowed down, the eunuch who cleared the way had arrived at the gate of Zhengze Palace.

When the two eunuchs saw a maid kneeling in front of the door blocking the way, they immediately shouted in shock: "Don't move out!"

She was still unable to move, the two eunuchs looked at each other and hurried forward to pull her.

With the strength of the two eunuchs, Xueli got up, and just moved a few steps aside, the black robe appeared a few feet away from the threshold, and the purse hanging from the silver palace sash came into view.

The purse was embroidered with the eagle's wings, Xue Li was taken aback: Isn't this the purse she made for Commander-in-Chief?
(End of this chapter)