Fourth Lord's Black Moonlight Queen

Chapter 3

In the 18th year of Kangxi, when she was only one year old, she was selected from the inner circle of Tong Jia's mansion and sent to the Forbidden City.

It was originally intended to be a personal maid and playmate for the Eighth Princess who was born out of Empress Xiaoyiren.

But he didn't want the princess, who was less than three years old, to die of smallpox shortly after entering the palace.

Afterwards, she was sent to Concubine Tong Jia to wait on the tenth princess who was born by the noble concubine, but she didn't want the tenth princess to also die of smallpox.

After tossing and turning, she was sent to the fourth elder brother in front of her to serve her.

Tong Jia didn't treat the fourth elder brother as if he was his own, as rumored by the outside world, but did the same in front of the face and the other behind the back.

Xu in the eyes of the imperial concubine, the fourth elder brother is just a gift from Lord Long Live and Empress Xiao Yiren to comfort the pain of the bereaved daughter.

The fourth elder brother's biological mother, Depin, has a humble status. Although her surname of Wu Ya has been restored now, she still comes from the family-born slave of Tong Jia's mansion.

Compared with other princes who rely on the influence of the mother clan, it is easier to control.

The body and bones of the noble concubine have long been weak and unable to give birth to an imperial heir, but with the four princes firmly favoring her knees, Tong Jia's family will surely continue the glory of Tong Banchao.

Over the years, the two masters and servants have lived behind closed doors. It is not an exaggeration to describe them as poor.

Not to mention anything else, even the meals of the master and servant were extremely shabby. At this time, there was only a large bag of yellowed old rice, and a small amount of grain, oil and meat, all piled up in the side hall.

Every time I go back to the dining room of Zhongcui Palace to get food, I will be made things difficult by the steward.

She has no money to please those slaves, so she can only do some rough and dirty work for the small kitchen in exchange for some food.

Even so, after she was exhausted and busy all day, the promised round-grained rice had long been secretly replaced with yellowed old rice, and the grain, oil and meat were even more pitiful.

Thinking of today's special day, she deliberately found the little eunuch she knew in the dining room yesterday.

After begging and begging for nearly half a day, he finally dug out a basket full of tender lotus root that the empress wanted to eat for the little eunuch with bare feet, and only then did he beg for a small handful of noodles and a small, pitiful egg.

The fourth elder brother has a light taste, and he always eats very little on weekdays. In order to let him eat more, Li Jingui always racks his brains in different ways, and cooks some delicious dishes for him from time to time.

After a while, there was a burst of index-finger-stimulating aroma from the kitchen.

At this time, Yinzhen was almost busy, and the small open space was filled with loofahs, pumpkins, leeks, radishes, etc.

Yinzhen also casually trimmed the vines leaning against the corner of the wall. After finishing all this, he stretched his waist and let out a long sigh of relief.

Although the years in the palace were bleak, Li Jingui always made this lifeless place interesting.

She likes camellias, so Yinzhen piled up pebbles to form a crescent-shaped pattern.

When the mountain flowers are in full bloom, a few camellias are surrounded by various flowers and plants that change in four seasons, which is also pleasing to the eye.

"Jingui, I want to take a bath and change clothes!"

"Master, the hot water is ready! The newly cut winter clothes have also been brought back and placed on the right side of the screen."

The slaves of Zhongcui Palace are the ones who see the wind and turn the rudder into trouble. They dare not take away the prince's court clothes that the fourth elder brother should have. If others see it, it will be a face to Zhongcui Palace.

But the inner clothes, which are invisible to others, have been replaced with ordinary cotton materials, and the outer robes worn outside are not much better, they are all gold and jade.

They actually quietly replaced the fox fur inside with thin cotton batting.

No one would believe it, the ink fox cloak that the fourth elder brother usually wears when he goes to Wuyizhai to enter school, may be the most respectable outer robe.

But this is not a problem for Li Jingui, who is ingenious and ingenious. Her female celebrities have always been the most exquisite made in Zhongcui Palace.

For the fourth elder brother's new shirt, she has been doing a lot of embroidery work since early summer.

Even if this is the case, it can only be exchanged for a thick cotton robe and a not too thick quilt.

When taking a bath and changing clothes, the newly dressed Yinzhen stepped into the small kitchen, looked up, there were several gaps and plates of different colors on the table.

After a small plate was cut open, the neatly arranged roasted duck legs were only a small piece of duck leg, but they were still carefully arranged into a pleasing fan shape.

A few pieces of exquisitely styled pumpkin crisps must be made from the freshly harvested pumpkins in the yard this year.

Only four or five pieces are scattered, but they are also placed on the plate in an orderly manner.

Inside the bowl was steaming hot noodle soup, on which lay a golden poached egg.

He sat down gracefully with a smile on the corner of his mouth. The longevity noodles had to be cooked by the elders himself, and she was the only one who prepared it for him every year.

Er Niang comes to Zhongcui Palace every year to give longevity noodles, and she always emphasizes over and over again in private that she is his real Er Niang.

But never asked him if he was well fed and warmly dressed.

Every year, Li Jingui, the maid of honor who depended on him for life, was the only one left who sincerely wanted to celebrate his birthday.

Lifting the corner of his clothes to wipe away the warmth from the corners of his eyes, he stuffed the noodles into his mouth.

It's strange that he will eat it next year, but he always feels that this ordinary longevity noodles is the best longevity noodles he has ever eaten in his life.

He only felt warm steam on his face, but he didn't know if it was soup or tears.
Before he knew it, a whole plate of eggs fell into his mouth.He ate several pieces of duck meat with unsatisfactory appetite.

I wanted to pick up a few more chopsticks, but suddenly remembered that the palace stipulated that slaves must wait for their master to eat before eating.

He hurriedly put the duck legs he had picked up back on the plate, got up and went back to the front hall.

"Jingui, I'm full, take away the leftovers."

"My lord, wait a moment, my servant is going to make tea."

Hearing the movement, Li Jingui quickly went to the small kitchen to take out the tea.

Naturally, these teas are not good teas, with a strong musty smell, not as good as the rough tea that palace people drink every day.

So she simply brought a pot of rough tea that palace people drink.

"Drink this, the taste is not bad!"

Yinzhen waved his hand, motioning for her to put down the tea and leave.

After a busy day, Li Jingui was already hungry and his chest was stuck to his back, so he was in a hurry to eat the leftover noodle soup from the fourth elder brother.

It wasn't until all the leftovers were swept away that he began to clean up the dishes with a smile on his face.

Today coincides with the Empress Dowager's Thousand Autumn Festival, the entire palace is singing and dancing, and the magnificent fireworks embellish the dark night sky brilliantly.

Today is also the anniversary of the death of the little princess. Lord Long Live took pity on the noble concubine Tong Jia who had been ill for a long time, so the noble concubine did not attend the Empress Dowager's Qianqiu dinner tonight.

And the fourth elder brother Yinzhen, who needed to take care of Er Niang's sickness, naturally did not attend.

At this time, in Zhongcui Palace, Tong Jiashi was personally burning scriptures written in blood in front of the brazier, praying for disaster relief for the little princess who died young.

"Your Majesty, this servant has carefully investigated the smallpox that year, and found many suspicious things. After thinking about it over the years, this servant always feels that there is something strange about it."

"The smallpox originated from Koizumi, the eunuch who sweeps the house in the Xiefang Palace."

"The daily life of the nanny was under the sole responsibility of the Wu Ya clan. A young eunuch once saw a maid who was similar in stature to the Wu Ya clan going to the Xie Fang Hall."

"It's just that this bitch is cautious, but she couldn't find any evidence related to her."

Over the years, Tong Jia has spent almost every day burning some scriptures to pray for the little princess.

At this time, her eyes were slightly red, and those scriptures were burning fiercely in the charcoal basin.

Even if I use the best rice paper, I can't avoid coughing and choking from the smoke.

　explain:
　　There are two Tong Jia clans here, the first is the imperial concubine Tong Jia clan, who was posthumously named Empress Xiaoyiren after her death.

　　The imperial concubine died at the beginning of the chapter.

　　Tong Jia who appeared later was her younger sister, Concubine Tong Jia,

　　Little Tong Jia was only a noble concubine during the Kangxi period, so I know.

　　Concubine Huihui (1668-1743), Tong Jia, concubine of Emperor Kangxi, Manchurian inlaid yellow banner, was the concubine daughter of Tong Guowei, the uncle of Duke Chengen, who led the guards, and the half-sister of Empress Xiaoyiren. The cousin of Emperor Kangxi, but also his wife and sister.Born in the eighth month of Wushen in the seventh year of Kangxi, at the age of 39 in the 32th year of Kangxi, she was first conferred the title of noble concubine, the third noble concubine of the Kangxi dynasty, honored as the imperial concubine of Huang Kao in the Yongzheng dynasty, and honored as the emperor Shouqi Huanggui in the Qianlong dynasty toffee.In the eighth year of Qianlong, in the first year of April of Guihai, he was 76 years old; in May, he was posthumously named the imperial concubine Huihui;

　　
　
(End of this chapter)