concubines are respected

Chapter 38
When the three of them got together, the warmth was even stronger, Suxian suddenly felt dizzy, she sat up slightly and distanced herself from the two of Xiangcao, and said to Cuiya, "The charcoal fire is too hot, I feel a little dizzy from the heat, Go and open the window to let some air in."

Cuiya immediately stepped forward and pushed the window out a crack, and a ray of fresh air seeped into the room. Although there was a hint of coolness, Suxian obviously felt that her mind was much clearer. This made her doubts in her heart more firm. , "Open it bigger, the room is too stuffy."

"But, it's windy outside, what should Second Miss do if she catches cold?" Cui Ya said hesitantly.

"Hmph, it's nothing to suffer from the cold, as long as it doesn't hurt my life." Suxian sneered, her eyebrows frowned, and she squeezed out a sentence from between her teeth.

"What? Second Miss, what do you mean by that? The servant is confused..." Xiang Cao was shocked when she heard this.

Suxian stopped talking, glanced at the burning fire lightly, and said in a low voice, "It's not only you who are confused, but even I am confused a lot these days." After speaking, Suxian struggled a little He sat up from the couch, walked slowly to the wide-open window, breathed the fresh air outside the window greedily, and said in a broken voice, "I thought I was smart, but I almost got scolded by others when I didn't want to." Son, if the parrot brought by Shujian hadn't reminded me today, I'm afraid I would follow in mother's footsteps in a few days."

"Ah! Second Miss, don't scare your servants, how did you say that?" Cui Ya nervously took Su Xian's arm, her expression became more and more horrified.

"Xiangcao, do you still remember the strange behavior of the parrot today? Ever since Shu Jian brought it into the room, the parrot has become extremely irritable, changed its usual docileness, and even pecked the hand of the second brother. And when you added charcoal just now, the birds that had calmed down became uneasy again, you know, birds are much better at recognizing odors than humans." Suxian's eyes suddenly brightened, and her voice sounded The pressure was adjusted much lower, "It can be seen that if my guess is correct, I have been sleepy recently because of the fact that this charcoal fire has been tampered with." Su Xian turned her head and stared at the bright red charcoal fire , with an unusually stern expression on his face.

"Charcoal fire?" Xiang Cao De Suxian explained for a while, and immediately revealed a look of surprise, and said eagerly to Cui Ya, "Hurry up, Cui Ya, the charcoal fire must have been tampered with, put it out soon!" While speaking, Vanilla has already picked up the remaining tea on the table and is about to pour it into the stove.

"No!" Suxian hurriedly stopped him, "The charcoal fire will definitely produce a lot of smoke when it meets the water. If it is really poisonous, it will make the toxicity worse. Besides, it has not been confirmed who has tampered with the charcoal fire. Right now, we can only fake it." If you don’t know, you must not scare the snake, let the charcoal fire in the stove go out by itself, and don’t add it for a while.”

Xiangcao stopped what she was doing, strode forward and pushed open the other window, then turned and said to Suxian, "Second miss, third aunt has repeatedly prevented the second young master from coming to play in Yixiang Pavilion, today Cuiya heard her again Speaking those strange things to the second young master, it can be seen that this matter must have something to do with her, so there is no need to prove it!"

Cuiya also realized that this matter was no small matter, and immediately took the conversation, "Second Miss, the silver charcoal is distributed in the front yard, and the slaves only took one basket at that time, and then Xi'er brought a basket. Could it be possible? Xi'er and Third Aunt are colluding secretly, playing tricks in another basket of charcoal?"

Xiang Cao, who was pushing the window, froze when she heard the words, glanced at Suxian nervously, and was about to speak, but there were soft footsteps outside the door, thinking that Xi'er was walking towards this direction.

Suxian glanced at the two of them with a calm demeanor, then returned to the couch and sat down, and stopped talking.Xiang Cao also immediately came to the couch, picked up the celadon teapot and poured tea into the cup on the side table, as if the three of them hadn't talked about anything just now.In contrast, Cuiya was a little nervous, so in order not to show her flaws, she came to the desk where Suxian usually copied scriptures, pretending to arrange the rice paper on the table, and looked at the door from time to time.

"Second Miss, the parrot has just been brought to the back room by this maidservant, and it has calmed down." Xi'er lifted up the curtain happily, and walked in with a smile. When she entered the room, she saw the window was wide open, and the temperature in the room dropped. Many, a little surprised said, "Why is the window open, it's very windy outside, the second miss is careful to catch the cold." After saying that, Xi'er came to the window and was about to close the window.

But Xiangcao took the lead and said, "No need, there are a few wintersweet blooms in the yard, I opened them specially for the second lady to smell the fragrance."

Cuiya also put down the rice paper in her hand, and said to Xi'er, "Miss Er is in good health, how could she catch the cold with a little wind. I think back when we lived in Bird Garden, there was no charcoal fire in the room. , the cool breeze can't stop coming through the window, and the second lady doesn't feel any discomfort. So, it's okay to blow some wind. "

Seeing that Xiangcao and Cuiya spoke like this, Xi'er no longer insisted on closing the window, and said to Suxian in a respectful tone, "Although this servant has not been in the mansion for a long time, the second lady's life was also a little bit different for this servant." I have heard that the second lady, as the daughter of an official family, has survived such a difficult time with strength, and the slaves are really obedient."

Before Xi'er could finish speaking, Vanilla interrupted her words with a smile, "Okay, those hard days are gone forever. Let's not talk about these useful and useless past events, and I want to tell you some good news, Second Miss just now Said that the share of silver charcoal distributed this year is quite a lot, even if it is burned all day in the main room, it will not be used much. Just now I refilled the old stove, maybe it can still be used. room, so as not to be frozen at night.”

Suxian raised her brows slightly when she heard the words, and although she didn't speak, she glanced at Xiangcao in amazement.She thought to herself, what kind of medicine is sold in the gourd of vanilla, now it is clear that there is something wrong with the silver charcoal, and the three of them live in the same dormitory, if they take the silver charcoal to burn, what should they do if they are really poisoned?Even if it's to test Xi'er, there's no point in making a joke of your life.

Seeing this, Cuiya's nervous look also flashed quietly in her eyes.

When Xi'er heard this, she was overjoyed, and excitedly asked Suxian, "Second Miss, did you really reward the slaves with silver charcoal?"

Suxian had no choice but to reluctantly nodded, "Of course it's true, it's cold, I'll go get some silver charcoal and go back to the room to burn it later."

"Hey, my servant thanked the second lady." Xi'er didn't show any uneasiness on her face, she thanked Suxian with gratitude, and because of her joy, a pair of beautiful dimples appeared on her round face.

Seeing that Xi'er looked the same, Xiang Cao continued, "You don't have any work in hand now, why don't you go to the charcoal room to get some silver charcoal and go back to the room."

"Yes, yes, I'll go get it right away." Xi'er responded with a smile on her face, blessed Suxian again, turned and walked towards the charcoal house.

"Vanilla. You are." Xi'er left, and Cuiya complained slightly.

At this time, Suxian fully understood the meaning of vanilla, and asked Cui Ya with a smile on her lips, "Cui Ya, do you still recognize the silver charcoal you brought back?"

"Of course my maidservant recognizes it. The silver charcoal brought back by the maidservant was put in the wicker basket in our Yixiang Pavilion, and the silver charcoal brought back by Xi'er was put in the rattan basket in the front yard. Although the two baskets of silver charcoal were placed in the charcoal room , but you can recognize it at a glance." Cui Ya thought for a while and replied.

"Okay, go and help Xi'er get the charcoal, and notice which basket she gets the charcoal from." Su Xian said softly.

"Oh. I understand." Cui Ya nodded thoughtfully, "Second Miss, what do you mean, if there is something wrong with the silver charcoal that Xi'er received, then she will definitely take the basket brought back by the slave? .”

"Yes, you go and have a look." It seems that Cuiya is not too stupid, Suxian nodded in satisfaction.

"But Second Miss, if we misunderstood Xi'er and she didn't know about it, the silver charcoal she picked up casually, or if there were problems with those silver charcoals, what should we do?" Cui Ya was still a little uneasy.

"Hehe, where do you get so many 'or's? You can follow and watch with confidence. No matter which basket she takes out of the silver charcoal today, she won't be able to use it tonight." Vanilla laughed, and at the same time glanced at Suxian, Turning around, she said to Cui Ya, "Although I repaired the stove today, it still can't light the charcoal fire. Just now I just deliberately led her to fetch the charcoal. Tonight, we should sleep or sleep no matter how crowded we are." It will be warm. Hehe!"

"Pfft," Cui Ya relaxed, and laughed softly, "I'll tell you how dare you make decisions for the second young lady and hand out silver charcoal, it turns out you're just a slut." After speaking, Cui Ya walked briskly Go out of the room.

Looking at Cuiya's back, Xiangcao said with a smirk, "Hey, you heartless girl, you only care about yourself and don't think about it, there is still silver charcoal burning in the second lady's room." Then she turned and went to the stove Next to him, he hooked the carved lid on the stove, put the copper clip into the stove, and gently patted the burning silver charcoal. Soon, the red and bright silver charcoal darkened, and the temperature in the room also fell. Then it decreased a lot.

"Ah." The charcoal fire was extinguished, and the cold wind continued to pour into the room from the window. Suxian stroked her slightly chilled shoulders, sighed, and said in a low voice, "As expected, although the main courtyard is luxurious and rich, But it is unavoidable to be plotted by people everywhere, and it is not as peaceful as in the Sparrow Garden. I don’t know whether it is right or wrong for me to follow my grandmother’s wishes and move to the main courtyard.”

"Second miss, don't say that. You are a dignified daughter of the Lin family. How can you live in the lonely place of Queyuan forever? The servants will take care of the cost, and they will definitely not let people with ulterior motives find them again." Xiang Cao fiddled with the extinguished charcoal, and said to Su Xian comfortingly.

At this time, Cui Ya went back to the room again and again, and said to Su Xian, "Second Miss, it's very strange, the servant rushed to help, and saw that Xi'er took the silver charcoal she had brought back at the beginning. To put it bluntly, the second lady is sympathetic to the servants, and it is a great blessing for her to serve the second lady. The servants can't see anything wrong."

"In this way, there is no problem with silver charcoal, so where is the problem?" When Cuiya said this, Suxian was also a little confused. Could it be that she was just being supercilious?
When Suxian was wondering, Xi'er walked in from the room with a chuckle, blessed Suxian behind her, and said to Xiangcao, "Sister Xiangcao, I just looked at it, the incense burner you repaired is not good. But Our family used to make a living by forging iron and casting copper, and these small jobs are not difficult for me. I have already repaired the incense burner, and now the burning in the shed is booming."

As soon as this remark came out, Vanilla and Cuiya looked at each other face to face, and after a short moment of astonishment, Vanilla's expression quickly returned to normal, and she praised, "Xi'er is really smart, it seems that Cuiya and I will entrust you tonight, we can Have a good night's sleep."

Xi'er covered her lips and smiled lightly, her eyes were full of joy, she turned her head to look at the wide open window, and said with a light smile, "The wintersweet in the yard is really fragrant, if Second Younger Sister likes it, this slave will cut some branches Enter the house and put a vase, and it will save the second miss from freezing for nothing because of the fragrance of the flowers." While talking, Xi'er fetched the scissors, and happily walked out of the courtyard.

(End of this chapter)