Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 21

As soon as the dawn dawned, the palace was already bustling, and the palace ladies and eunuchs could be seen hurriedly everywhere on the palace road.There was already a continuous stream of carriages slowly approaching outside the palace gate, and there was a long row of carriages parked on one side.The ministers in official uniforms entered the palace together with their female relatives, and then separated in front of the dredging pond.

The ministers still have to go to court today, today is New Year's Eve, the founding emperor of the Southern Dynasty has decided that every year today will go to court as usual.However, the court meeting on this day does not talk about political affairs, but summarizes what everyone has done throughout the year, and the emperor praises or reprimands. Often on this day, the emperor himself has to reflect on himself in front of his ministers.The emperor was like this, and those ministers were even more so.

Most of the ministers and wives can only enter the palace once a year, so they are somewhat restrained. They gather together and go through the dredging pond to the harem under the leadership of the eunuchs.The female relatives were naturally received by the master of the harem, and Liu Qingtang was basically the only one left in the harem, so this matter naturally fell on her.

Ci'an Palace is located in the West Palace, which is the second largest palace complex in the imperial palace.The largest area is of course the Nankun Palace where the emperor lives, but the difference between the two palaces is not much different.

According to the habits of the first emperor, this banquet should have been held in the palace of the person hosting the banquet, because the queen has always been in charge of this matter.

But when it comes to Liu Qingtang, the main hall and garden used for banquets in Ci'an Palace are all in several palaces inside Ci'an Palace, which are very similar to her living quarters.She didn't like having so many people making noise there, so she changed the location of the banquet to a palace near the imperial garden in the northwest in the first year she started hosting this kind of banquet.

It just so happens that there is a large plum garden there, which also gave the annual New Year's Eve banquet a nickname, "Plum Banquet".This plum garden is called Xiangxueyuan. There are only two kinds of flowers, pear and plum, which bloom alternately in winter and spring. From a distance, the branches of the whole yard are covered with plain white clouds.

The courtyard had already been prepared by Peach Leaf one month in advance. This morning, a group of people came to decorate it before dawn, and stood here early to welcome the arrival of the female relatives.

When the female relatives came here in a mighty way, the little maids brought tea and snacks, so that the wives and ladies in the room could kill some time before the empress dowager came.Tao Ye is one of the big maids in charge serving Liu Qingtang, and she is also a person with some dignity in this palace, so naturally she doesn't need to serve these ladies and ladies herself, she just watches from the sidelines and takes care of things in case something happens to them suddenly .

Liu Qingtang also got up early that day, and the Mei Banquet had just begun. Although she was the empress dowager, it was not easy for people to wait, so she also had to get up early to prepare.Especially the clothes and makeup she will wear today are more delicate and gorgeous than usual, and it will take a lot of time.

After a quick breakfast, she put on the heavy court dress of the Empress Dowager under the service of the dressed maids.The background is black, with large peonies embroidered with silver thread. From the front skirt to the wide sleeves and the long skirt at the back, everything is exquisitely done. The whole dress is gorgeous and dignified.

Since ancient times in the Southern Dynasties, the queen mother's court dress has been embroidered with silver thread on a black background, the emperor's dress has been embroidered with navy blue gold dragons, and the empress's dress has been embroidered with gold thread patterns on a white background.When she first entered the palace, the late emperor's disease did not last long before she died, so she put on the empress dowager's court dress before she could put on the empress dowager's court dress.

At that time, she was only fifteen or sixteen years old, she was young and loved to laugh, and she looked without any imposing manner in that court dress. Later, she forced herself to be expressionless, keeping her face up and her chest up at all times, without showing the slightest timidity, It's ridiculous to think about it now.

It is said that it takes dozens of embroiderers three years to make just one set of this kind of court clothes. The beauty is indeed beautiful, but this set of clothes is really heavy, and only one outer robe is held up by four people for her to wear. On the top, there is also a skirt with cloud patterns embroidered with silver thread on the inside.Putting on the inner three layers and the outer three layers, Liu Qingtang felt that she could hardly move.

Fortunately, she has been used to it for more than ten years, and she only wears this kind of court clothes on the days before and after the year and when she worships the heavens, and she can wear it as she pleases on other days.

After all, there is no one in the emperor's harem at the moment. Apart from her, there is only one invisible person left in the former emperor's harem, who seems to be sent to guard the imperial tomb by her. She can do everything. A lot of freedom.Don't say that there is no one in the harem, even if there are people, they dare not say anything about her now.It was like that on weekdays, and she only dressed a little more formally when she was in charge of government. Otherwise, if she had to dress like this every day, she really couldn't bear it.

After tossing and finishing the clothes with great difficulty, Liu Qingtang let out a sigh of relief in her heart, and the two of them supported her to sit in front of the mirror and asked the maid to tie her hair.The maid who combed her hair on the days when there were banquets was called Bai Wu, a second-class maid in Ci'an Palace.

As the empress dowager, Liu Qingtang not only holds power in the harem, but also has great influence in the previous dynasty, so there are definitely many servants around her.Except for Taoye Zhuiyi, the two big court ladies who had served her in the palace since childhood, there were more than a dozen second-class court ladies alone, not to mention the third-class and lowest-ranked court ladies below.There are also as many eunuchs as the maids, bustling with nearly [-] people.

When I first came here, I saw many people approaching me every day, and they all came to fawn on me.She looked really bored, so she waved her finger to more than half of the people to go to the outer hall, the garden, and the side halls that are not often seen. Yes only a dozen.

These people have been well trained by Taoye Zhuiyi in recent years. They are usually quiet and not talkative, they will not come to her without summons, and they are practical and winky.The most important thing is that they all know very well about her master, they must keep their mouths shut, and they will never see or speak when they should be deaf or blind.

The matter between Qin Shu and her may not be a secret in the eyes of those in the inner hall of Ci'an Palace, but they will only regard themselves as blind and will not reveal the matter even a little bit.Because she is still the empress dowager who "covers the sky with one hand".Therefore, as long as she still holds the power in her hands, she can have countless such "loyal" minions.

These people are different from Zhuiyi Taoye and Qin Shu.In her previous life, she only trusted Taoye Zhuiyi, but in this life she added Qin Shu.This is enough, as long as she can protect them and her father and elder brother in this life, she thinks it is enough.

This time, she will never let herself fall into the situation in her previous life.She is already tired of being a dignified queen mother before and after, but there is nothing wrong with acting recklessly.

"Niang Niang, do you think this is feasible?" Bai Wu asked taking a step back while holding the comb.

Liu Qingtang only glanced at the bronze mirror and hummed lightly. Anyway, it looks like that almost every year, and I feel bored looking at it.The hair bun and the various hairpins on it made the head extremely heavy.

Bai Wu retreated, and replaced another court lady, Yuping, to clean her face and apply those lipsticks.Knowing her preferences, Yu Ping just shaved her eyebrows a little bit, twirled some fine hairs, and then applied a thin layer of powder and a little rouge on her face, and that was it.

Zhui Yi had been watching from the side, and at this time, he handed her a box of ointment at the right time.Liu Qingtang didn't like people to touch her lips, and whenever she wanted to apply lip gloss, she would do it herself, using her fingers to put some dots on the jade box and smudge it on her lips, just sip it.Seeing that she had finished painting, Suiyi wiped off the red ointment on her hands with a wet towel.At this time, the other two maids who were waiting at the side stepped forward and squatted beside Liu Qingtang, and each of them held her hand to give her nails.

The boiled flower juice has added a lot of special formulas made by the palace, and the color that blooms is like clouds in the sky, and like soft flowers in full bloom, lightly layered on top of each other.

By the time Liu Qingtang put on her makeup, it was almost time for the plum banquet to start, so the maids in the inner palace embraced her and walked out of the inner palace.There were more than a dozen court ladies and eunuchs standing in the outer hall, and Qin Shu was among them.Before the Empress Dowager got up, he had been waiting here for at least two hours.He hasn't shown any expression since he stood there, he looks just like the potted plant next to him, without moving his head.

Waiting didn't make him feel impatient at all, after all, this little time was nothing to him.And as long as he thought that it was that person who was waiting, even if he was asked to wait here for another day, he would have no complaints.

Last year, the year before, and the previous few years, he could only wait in the aisle outside the hall, and the black hat on his head would often be wet with dew.At that time, he waited for a long time, but he could only see the Empress Dowager passing by in her dress from a distance.And now, they are so close.

Seeing the figure of the empress dowager coming out of the inner hall, Qin Shu suddenly seemed to come alive, and walked forward a few steps to greet the empress dowager together with the people from the outer hall.Looking down, you can only see the hem of the empress dowager's dragging clothes, the jade pendant on her waist, and the toes of the shoes that are slightly exposed at the bottom of the skirt.Just seeing these made Qin Shu feel extremely satisfied.

"Get up." Liu Qingtang said lightly, then turned around and walked out surrounded by everyone.Everyone followed behind her, Qin Shu also followed silently after saluting, and quietly raised his eyes to look at her back greedily.The empress dowager walked slowly, the cloak rolled slightly with her steps, and the pure white fur trim wrapped around her neck. From Qin Shu's angle, only a little bit of snow-white cheeks could be seen, covered by the soft The fur lining is like porcelain and jade.

After walking a few steps, Liu Qingtang suddenly heard something, stopped again and turned to look behind, and sure enough, she saw Qin Shu standing among the crowd behind her, and she didn't even have time to look back at her.

"Qin Shu, come forward." Liu Qingtang caught his eyes with sharp eyes, and for some reason, she felt a lot better in an instant, and couldn't help feeling that it was worth spending so much time on this makeup.At least... Now she also has the mood to be watched by someone.

Seeing the empress dowager stopped and waiting for him, Qin Shu hurriedly replied yes and hurried forward.

Liu Qingtang stretched out her hand, and Qin Shu reached out to hold her hand in satisfaction, and carefully helped her move forward.There is a little distance from here to the entrance of the inner hall, Liu Qingtang will only get on a soft sedan there, and she still has to walk for a while before that.

Zhuiyi had served Liu Qingtang for so many years, so he naturally understood what she meant. When he saw Qin Shu supporting her, he took most of the maids and eunuchs with him, holding some things and lagging behind them a few steps.Only two well-trained maids who have served in the inner palace for several years were allowed to pull the skirts that dragged the floor for the empress dowager.

"How long have you been waiting outside today?"

Qin Shu was still holding his cuffed hand nervously, when he heard the Empress Dowager ask.Without the slightest hesitation, he replied truthfully: "Two hours to answer your mother's words."

"No wonder your hands are all red." Liu Qingtang said softly, took off the fluffy sleeve of her right hand that covered her wrist and whole hand, and held Qin Shu's red hand with her white jade-like hand. As cool as she thought.

Qin Shu could not conceal the tenderness in his eyes because of the empress dowager's little move.He moved his fingers, and then let her hold it.His hands were bigger than hers, and there were many calluses on them, which looked very rough, completely different from the Empress Dowager's hands.But put together like this, there is a strange sense of harmony.

Walking slowly on the bluestone-paved road, both of them looked at the overlapping hands from time to time, and then turned their eyes away pretending to be natural, feeling very happy in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)