The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 66
The emperor's birthday is on October 28.At the beginning of October, Chen Jijiang went to the imperial dining room to send a message: "Your Majesty said, there will be no birthdays."

It's not "not much to do", but "not to do".

Sydney is so happy to hear this!It's a trivial matter for them to be less busy. The important thing is that there will be no palace banquet to celebrate, and the day will probably be peaceful, so that she will have the opportunity to send the paper-cut.If at the palace banquet there were a lot of cups and cups, and courtiers kept coming forward to celebrate birthdays and offer congratulatory gifts, it would not be her turn to speak as a court lady!
In mid-October, the paper-cut was completely completed. Compared with the "Immediately Blessed" cut by Dousha before, this one is a little rough, but it is also very eye-catching. Sydney is very happy.

On October [-]th, she couldn't be happier.

It turns out that the birthday of "no birthday" is like this...

As usual, she was on duty from morning to evening. When she arrived at the Zichen Hall, the emperor had just come to court in the morning, and she was usually very quiet. But this day, as soon as she arrived at the bottom of the long steps, she saw that it was full of people.

Xue Li went up the long steps dumbfounded and crossed the threshold, only to realize why there were so many people outside—there was no room for the outer hall.

There were too many courtiers and family members who came to congratulate His Majesty on his birthday, but the audience came one by one, and the rest were waiting outside.

In the side hall on the east side, several important ministers sat and drank tea, but the space here was not too big, those who were not of high status could stand and wait in the outer hall, and those who came later had to wait outside.

The side hall on the west side is used for congratulatory gifts. Xu Shishui is waiting at the entrance of the hall in person. Any adult who comes will greet him, and many of them will inevitably tell him a few more things about the congratulatory gifts, such as how well they are doing. How thoughtful, how rare the item is - the meaning is very simple, I just want him to mention a few more words to His Majesty at that time, if His Majesty likes it, it will be a good thing for the gift giver.

Xu Shishui has been nodding and bowing and laughing in apologetic way for an hour, his face is stiff from laughing.He really wanted to drag someone over to push him for a while, but Chen Jijiang said he had to watch him personally, so he had no choice but to hold on.

He caught Xueli, who came over to look around, and he quickly stopped her and asked her to go in to help record the files, because she was too busy inside.

"There is still something to do in the imperial dining room!" Xue Li said.

Xu Shishui wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to her, "I'll send someone to call back there, and you're not missing from the imperial dining room. Here... I'm not a trustworthy person, so I dare not let him in to help."

It's not that he's afraid of stealing things, he's too daring to steal His Majesty's congratulatory gift, Xu Shishui is mainly afraid of being messed up, if it breaks, whose fault is it?Sydney is young, but after all, he cooks the imperial meals every day, with a careful heart.

So Xueli went obediently, and there were older court ladies and eunuchs who were moving things and tidying up. She helped to take a booklet and write down who gave what.

After memorizing only a few lines, tears were about to fall.

He clenched his sleeves unconsciously.The paper-cut was kept in her sleeve, and she put a piece of rice paper on top and bottom of the paper-cut, and then carefully folded the rice paper together in two, for fear of accidentally breaking it.

Now, even if it is well preserved, I don’t have the courage to send it away.

The adults are too generous...!
The screen presented here is made of golden nanmu from top to bottom, the kind with so many gold threads that it is dazzling; the incense burner offered is made of a whole piece of jade carving, and its color is crisp, even the warehouse of Zichen Palace is common. The well-informed female officials of allusions are full of praise.

After finally hearing that the Four Kings had sent a "blessing", Xue Li smiled relievedly, and looked up again—it was inlaid with Nanhong beads, each of which was persimmon red.Oh my god, shouldn't this thing be carried around every day to play with? Doesn't it feel wasteful to put such a word on it? !

While remembering inside, there are still new ones coming in from outside.Either way, it's worth a lot, or else it's extraordinarily original.

For example, a general brought in a sword. It looked worthless, but it was a sword he took from an enemy general ten years ago when he was fighting...

Xueli was injured enough, the more she remembered, the more she felt that she really couldn't do anything with that paper-cut.Although it was prepared with care, but in terms of value, it is not as good as gold and silver, and in terms of thought, it is not worth mentioning among those "ingenious" ones.

"Ah, Your Majesty the Seventh Highness personally carved a seal for His Majesty?" The maid over there who was packing up various small items smiled and took out the square seal in the wooden box to look, and there was something vaguely visible on the end of the engraving. The traces of unevenness can be seen that it was not engraved by a craftsman.

As soon as she said this, several people around her also gathered around to look at it, one said "Your Highness the Seventh Prince really has a heart", and the other said "Your Highness the Seventh Prince is really good at craftsmanship".Sydney looked up and saw that it was also made by herself. The Seventh Highness is made of ivory...

Hers is paper.

The emperor didn't catch his breath until late in the evening, sighing in his heart that every birthday seemed like a catastrophe.

Fortunately, he is 21 years old, so he will not do it if he insists on not doing it. Although he has dealt with the audience all day, he can take a good rest at night-it will be different if he catches up with the tenth day. Dare to try to persuade him with three memorials every day, it is necessary to make him have no time to rest from morning to night on the day of his birthday, and in the evening he will have a palace banquet to celebrate until midnight.

Looking back on last year, I almost died of exhaustion.And the younger brothers also came, and at the palace banquet, he was poured with open water, and when he returned to Zichen Palace, he drank medicine to induce vomiting twice before he recovered a little bit, and his head was still dazed until the morning court the next day.

——Not only is it uncomfortable, but it also delays the business!
Therefore, comparing the two, Xie Zhao took a deep breath and felt that this year's birthday was quite easy.Chen Jijiang saw that His Majesty was in a good mood, so he casually mentioned the congratulatory gift from the side hall. If he could persuade His Majesty to go down and see it for himself, he would be considered a tribute to the adults.

The emperor thinks about it, let's go, anyway, it's not troublesome to be in the side hall, just change your mood.

When he entered the side hall, the few people were almost done with their work, and they gave a big gift and retreated to the side. Then Xu Shishui stepped forward and picked out a few things that might be eye-catching and presented them to him.

The first thing is the little seal of His Highness the Seventh Prince.Xu Shishui held it in his hands and presented it to him, leaned over and smiled, "When I went to Zhengzheng Palace a few days ago, I saw His Highness Seventh His Highness was covered with white foam, and wondered what His Highness Seventh was interested in recently. To engrave this for Your Majesty..."

Hearing what he said, the emperor turned the chapter over and smiled: the engraved name is mostly engraved, but the horizontal line in the middle and bottom of "Xie" is engraved too well, and it must be blurred when printed.But it's okay...Anyway, you can't use this to stamp your seal on business. Occasionally write a word or draw a picture by yourself, it's okay if it's a little blurry.

"Go and tell Seventh Brother that I really like it, so I'll keep it." The emperor said with a smile, "If he wants, he can come over for dinner and ask the imperial dining room to prepare a few more dishes he likes...forget it , Let him order it himself when he asks."

Xu Shishui promptly agreed to the promise, turned sideways, and signaled his subordinates to go to the Zhengzheng Palace to deliver a message, and then glanced at Sydney, meaning to tell her to tell the Royal Dining Room that His Royal Highness the Seventh Highness is coming tonight.

"No." Xue Li bowed, bowed her head and stepped back.

The voice startled the emperor—why does it sound so dull?

He moved his eyes away from the small print on his hand, and looked up, she was indeed drooping—he couldn't tell where this feeling came from, anyway, he thought she was listless.

"Sydney?" When the emperor called, Xueli hurriedly stopped, and stood quietly with her head bowed, waiting for orders.

The emperor walked up to her and took a closer look. He felt that she was really unhappy, so he raised his hand and snapped his fingers on her forehead: "Why are you unhappy? Who bullied you?"

"No." Xueli shook her head immediately, looking very determined, and then smiled, "The servant first goes to the imperial dining room to pass the message!"

The voice sounded so crisp, and the smile in his eyes was so far-fetched.Xie Zhao raised his eyebrows and squatted down, suppressing his smile: "Who are you perfunctory?"

"..." Sydney didn't dare to speak anymore.

He was shorter than her after he squatted down, so she couldn't avoid him even if she lowered her head, and unconsciously lowered herself even harder, her chin almost reached her chest, and she still met his gaze when she moved her eyes a little. .

Xie Zhao had a panoramic view of her flickering expression, and saw that she was very guilty, so he deliberately lowered his tone: "Say."

Xueli's heart trembled and her feet became weak. After a moment of stiffness, she suddenly knelt down. Hearing that the other palace people around her were afraid to speak out, she panicked even more. She lowered her head and gritted her teeth. After all, she reached out to touch the sleeve something.

It's better to be ashamed than to make him think she's hiding something bad!
Xie Zhao didn't urge her, and waited quietly without saying a word, watching her take out a small square of white paper from her sleeve, slowly open it with trembling hands, and then handed it to him.

"What?" He glanced at it and saw that it was two pages.Suspiciously took it, flipped open the one above, and was taken aback for a moment.

Sydney felt extremely embarrassed, her face turned red.If she hadn't changed the word "Fu" to "Shou", she could still say that she was just playing around with herself. Now that the word "Shou" is written, she can't admit that it was a gift for him.

Then sneak a peek at the pile of congratulatory gifts next to her—the six words "I don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth" refer to her, woo...

"You did this?" The question from the top of the head was casual, and it sounded very indifferent.Xue Li didn't even have the courage to nod, and forced herself to say "um" from her throat.

Xie Zhao still squatted casually without getting up, tilted his head and said calmly: "Everyone go out."

Others hurriedly withdrew, while Chen Jijiang closed the door outside while muttering in his heart: Did I make a mistake?His Majesty thought she was offended?Probably not...

Inside the door, Xue Li was terrified, and took the initiative to explain: "The servant has no other intentions! Just, just want to celebrate His Majesty's birthday!"

"Let me tell you what you want!" Xie Zhao was so angry that he stretched out his hand to pat her forehead again, gnashing his teeth, "You dare to choke envoy Luo Wu in front of me, just like this in front of me? After preparing the gift, the birthday star himself Force you to take it out?"

If he doesn't ask, will he lose sight of him?

Sydney's forehead hurts from being bounced!
She rubbed it with the back of her hand, but the other side of her forehead was hit again: "Heartless! I treat you better or the Luowu people treat you better?"

Well, that must be Your Majesty, hello...

Xue Li looked up at him tearfully, Xie Zhao, who was about to hit her again, landed on the bridge of her nose before he could stop.

Xie Zhao: "..."

Xueli's nose was sore that her eyes were red, the emperor stopped, and glared angrily, "I haven't had any snacks for a month!"

Xueli looked up at him with trembling eyelashes, Shensi couldn't react for some reason, she didn't realize the matter of "no snacks" for a while, she just stuttered and asked what she wanted to ask most: "That, that... Your Majesty Do you like it?"

The emperor who thought that taking snacks would definitely beat her felt that he had punched the cotton, and was pissed off by her dumbfounded expression.

"...Chen Jijiang!" He shouted decisively, and Chen Jijiang hurriedly opened the door to obey his orders. He saw the emperor's face turned livid at the first glance, and he was so frightened that he didn't even dare to say "Your Majesty, appease your anger".

"Find someone to frame it! Hang it in the dormitory!" The emperor stood up, walked out vigorously, and handed the paper-cut to Chen Jijiang viciously—it's not enough to shove it to him to vent his anger!This thing breaks easily!

angry!

(End of this chapter)