All Hail Cousin Brother

"I heard that if you read too much, you will become a nerd." Yu Youyao felt that his cousin just read too much. He was so mature at such a young age, and had no fun at all.

Zhou Linghuai didn't know whether to laugh or cry, the girl who was in love with him was disgusting him for being boring: "But she has grown up, and now even my cousin dislikes it. It seems that you won't need the notes that my cousin will study in the future."

Yu Youyao's eyes widened, her face innocent: "When did I despise my cousin? This is what my cousin said, but I don't recognize it." She looked at his cousin with a smile, and changed the topic: "I'm not I feel sorry for my cousin. I stay in the house all day reading, stay alone and don’t talk, and it hurts my eyes, so I want my cousin to read less, go out for a walk when I have nothing to do, and keep my spirits up, yes How is your health?" After she finished speaking, she also looked at her cousin aggrievedly: "I'm also doing it for my cousin's sake, and my cousin is not allowed to wrong me."

The little mouth babbled, coaxing people, it was terrible, but Zhou Linghuai laughed.

Seeing his cousin smiling, Yu Youyao squatted in front of his cousin and looked at him eagerly: "I really like the notes my cousin wrote for me."

Zhou Linghuai shook his head, took out a thick book in her hand, and put it back into her hand: "Women don't take the imperial examinations, and the "Four Books and Five Classics" is limited, so only one study, this book must be carefully Look."

Yu Youyao looked down. On the blue book cover, there were four large characters of "Zizhi Tongjian". The thick book was as thick as a brick, and even his scalp was numb.

Zhou Linghuai nodded: "Reading history can be widely known and general, knowing the ancients and the present, knowing the mind and seeing the wisdom, looking at the ancients and knowing the actions, this is a book I have read before, and there are annotations and interpretations written on it. It will be too labor-intensive, this "Tongjian of Zizhizhi" is a re-edited edition of the great Confucian of the previous dynasty, and there are many small stories of famous people and famous events in it, so it will not be boring."

Yu Youyao smiled and bent her lips: "Thank you cousin!"

Carefully opened the "Zizhi Tongjian", this book looks a little old, the pages are a little yellow, the ink pen on the top alternates with old and new, and the characters are also old and new: "Is this the book my cousin read before? ?"

Zhou Linghuai nodded: "Well, some of the brush and ink on the top were left by me in the past. Later, when I had a new understanding, I would write it down, so the brush and ink seemed messy. I'll tell you more carefully, but the history books see people's wisdom, and my cousin should also realize it by herself."

Originally, he planned to rearrange it and give it to her after a while, but today she was wronged at the flower fair, and he was inevitably worried, so he brought this book over to make her happy.

Yu Youyao smiled and rolled her eyes as if she had obtained a treasure: "I will definitely read the books that my cousin has read."

Seeing her eagerly flipping through the book, Zhou Linghuai reminded her, "Aren't you hungry? Go have lunch!"

Only then did Yu Youyao think that she was still hungry, and hurriedly went to dinner with her cousin.

Zhou Linghuai had lunch at noon, and accompanied Yu Youyao to eat a few mouthfuls, then put down the chopsticks and chopsticks. Finally, the little girl acted coquettishly and forced him to use a bowl of white jade ginseng soup.

After lunch, Yu Youyao watched with relish while holding "Tongjian of Zizhizhi".

Zhou Linghuai returned to Qingquyuan and went to the study.

Taking a piece of rice paper, spread it on the table, and flattened it with a paperweight. Zhou Linghuai covered his sleeve with one hand and held a pen in the other. With only a few strokes, he could already see the outline of Bodhi.

Beneath the linden tree, a little man with a silhouette, holding a wish-making silk in both hands, lightly on the tiptoes, and the skirt is fluttering, like dancing snow in the air, with a light figure, as if to ride the wind back.

"Young Master, the news has been sent to the palace..."

The dyes prepared with minerals and plants exudes a thick but fragrant smell. In the air, there is only the subtle "rustle" sound between paper and ink.

...

Shouyan Palace!

The empress dowager, who is in her 60s, wears a red silk-engraved gold phoenix robe, a high-cone bun, and a red-gold-encrusted phoenix-spreading phoenix hairpin. On the phoenix's mouth is a polished, rounded, pure-colored ruby. , falling on the forehead.

She reclined on the phoenix couch, supported her forehead with one hand, wrapped an agarwood Buddha bead on her wrist, put one hand on her leg at will, and put a long red-gold tortoiseshell finger cot with red treasure on her tail finger. Close your eyes and sleep.

The incense burnt in the phoenix head incense burner is meticulously rising.

In the huge side hall, the little palace maid who was kneeling on the ground, lowered her brows and closed her eyes, and spoke eloquently about what happened at the Changxing Hou Mansion Flower Festival.

The little palace maid is proficient in ventriloquism, and imitates the words of Yu Youyao, Miss Cao Qi, Mrs. Changxinghou, and even the ladies present.

When it was about a cup of tea, the little palace maid finished speaking and knelt on the ground, not daring to raise her head.

Aunt Shen, who was waiting in front of her, also stood with her head bowed, not daring to take a breath.

After a long while, the Empress Dowager twitched her fingers and slowly opened her eyes. Her turbid eyes showed the compassion of worshipping Buddha all the year round, but in the depths of her eyes, there was a hint of calmness and sharpness.

The Empress Dowager stretched out her hand.

Aunt Shen hurriedly brought the tea, and lightly touched the wall of the cup with her fingertips, and then handed it to her: "The temperature of the tea is just right, Niangniang will use it slowly."

The queen mother took the tea, lowered her head and took a few sips, the phoenix mouth on the forehead trembled slightly, and the pure color flowed with a suffocating majesty.

After running out of tea, Aunt Shen hurriedly took the teacup.

The Empress Dowager folded her hands on her lap and looked down at the Buddha beads on her wrist: "What incense is used in the house today, it seems a little different from the past?"

Aunt Shen glanced at the phoenix head incense burner, and said quickly, "It's also Ning Shen incense, and it burns the same incense as yesterday. Yesterday's incense was made by Aunt Xu before she left the palace. Yesterday was the last one, and it is also The empress dowager is used to smelling the scent. Today's incense is prepared by Aunt Ye. Aunt Ye is trained by Aunt Xu, and she has obtained the true inheritance of Aunt Xu. It is probably different for each person, and the way of making incense is also somewhat different. The taste is also different. There are also some subtle differences, but I didn't expect the Empress Dowager to smell it."

It can be seen that Aunt Xu has served the Empress Dowager for many years, and the relationship between master and servant is also unusual.

The Queen Mother heard this and couldn't help sighing: "Aunt Xu has been out of the palace for two or three months. She served in front of Ai's family since she was a child. During the drought in southern China, the production of Aijia’s favorite Zijuan tea decreased. It was also because she was worried that Aijia would not be used to drinking other teas, so she took pains to make medicinal teas with similar tastes…”

Zijuan tea is a variant of Pu-erh, with purple-black and black-moist color, which is why it got its name. It is produced in Yunnan, and the picking period is only ten days. The output is rare and precious.

The fragrance of Zijuan tea is pure and strong, with a hint of rose and medicinal fragrance. She likes Zijuan tea, and almost all of the new teas offered as tribute every year enter the Shouyan Palace.