Siheyuan: Pushing Huairu, the Prime Minister admits defeat

After finishing the Ukiyo-e for the dinner, it was already the second watch. Lin Chaosheng stretched tiredly and looked at his work with satisfaction.

Although the conditions are simple, people should be content with what they have. It is a big taboo to be greedy and never satisfied.

It's like Ukiyo-e, which tries to cover up but also reveals, so that those well-fed and optimistic dignitaries will buy into it.

"Hiss! There should be no one other than me who uses this kind of thing to draw ukiyo-e, right? Then should I add the title of founder of the Ryori Ukiyo-e Association to my name in the future?"

Lin Chaosheng laughed to himself, dipped his finger in the unused sesame oil and smacked his lips. It was spicy but also a little sweet and sour. It should taste good when used in tripe hotpot.

"Hey, Xiao Lingying, why don't you wake up? It's already midnight. Be careful not to catch a cold if you lie down on the kitchen wall and sleep."

The girl was so sleepy that she could hardly open her eyes. She stood up in confusion and said, "Ah? So soon, Xiao Linzi, have you finished your drawing? Let me see it."

In the dim light, Xiao Lingying looked at her originally snow-white dress in disbelief and rubbed her eyes.

There are many vividly painted figures on it, some leaning against a building and smiling, some with their chests bare, revealing their bright red mandarin duck bellybands.

As for the rest, it is beyond description.

"Lin, Lin Chaosheng, is this the Ukiyo-e you mentioned? The Queen Mother likes to look at this? And she spent a lot of silver to buy it?"

The instigator was confused by these three questions. He scratched his head and said, "I never said that the Queen Mother likes to watch this. You said it. It has nothing to do with me."

Seeing him being naughty, Xiao Lingying curled her lips and said, "I hope we won't make a fool of ourselves at the dinner tomorrow. If so many people in the harem see us, it will be so embarrassing!"

"What are you afraid of? Purple jade eggplants can be sold in the palace, but why can't my Ukiyo-e? I'm tired, so I'll go back to my room and rest. I have a piece of clothing to wash tomorrow, so I'm busy."

Yawning, Lin Chaosheng asked Xiao Lingying to hold the lantern and walk in front, while he followed slowly behind her back to the side room.

In Yongle Palace, there were only a handful of eunuchs and palace maids in total, and basically every palace maid and eunuch had her own exclusive side room.

There are few people and the rules are simpler, without any restrictions.

Otherwise, if the two of them stayed up all night and wandered around, they would be taken to the Music Bureau and severely punished.

Xiao Lingying lived very close to Lin Chaosheng, so she went back to her room and brought over bedding, lamp oil and other things for the winter.

Lin Chaosheng didn't hesitate to light the coal stove, took off his boots and put them on it to dry.

Then he just lay down on the bed with his clothes on, not even bothering to take off his gauze stockings. He was a rough man at heart. That day he helped the empress dowager take a bath, and stayed up late by candlelight to paint Ukiyo-e.

I don't want to move my whole body, I just want to rest.

"Hey, lazy guy, you don't even take off your socks..."

Xiao Lingying pinched her nose and helped take off her socks with disgust. The moment she bent down, she accidentally caught a glimpse of a corner of the small clothes tucked into Lin Chaosheng's sleeve.

She just felt that it looked very familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before: "Wake up, Lin Chaosheng, don't fall asleep yet, what's that stuffed in your sleeve?"

"It's just stuff. If you want to look at it, just look at it. It's not a treasure..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Chaosheng suddenly realized something and hurriedly tucked his sleeves in.

"There's nothing to see, it's just a handkerchief, a small handkerchief for wiping nose..."

"Blowing your nose with a handkerchief?"

Xiao Lingying was a little bit unconvinced. She thought about what happened tonight and suddenly felt that there was something fishy.

While the two were laughing and joking, the door was pushed open from the outside.

It turned out to be Cao Ade, the eunuch who brought him into the palace. He was a little waiter in the Queen Mother's palace before Lin Chaosheng came. Yang Feng didn't want to guess casually, but he really hoped to pull a few strands of beard from Zuo Ji. This guy was covered in rain. After seeing that there was another outsider in the room, he smiled and said, "Lin Chaosheng, I thought it would be difficult for you to integrate into the environment as the top scholar of this dynasty, but I didn't expect you to adapt so quickly."

Lin Chaosheng took a deep breath and put on a fake smile: "Oh, is it difficult to adapt to the environment? In this deep palace, no matter if they are the top scholar or the eunuchs, they are all miserable people. How can there be any saying of high or low, noble or humble, or three, six, nine, or five?"

Cao Ade was silent for a moment: "Xiao Lingying, I have something to talk to Lin Chaosheng, can you please step aside for a while?"

Having said that, Xiao Lingying knew she had to avoid suspicion, so she went out without saying a word and returned to her side room.

When he was sure that the person had gone far away, Cao Ade suddenly took two steps forward, grabbed Lin Chaosheng's arm with great force, and asked quietly: "Can Mr. Lin meet the Queen Mother tonight?"

"Of course I have seen it..."

"Then the Queen Mother shouldn't have noticed your abnormality, right?"

"You mean, I'm not a real eunuch?"

Lin Chaosheng thought back to the scene at that time: "It's hard to say."

He had no intention of concealing it on purpose. It was mainly because the scene was too exciting, Empress Dowager Xiao was so graceful, and they were in the same room and had seen it up close, so it was hard to guarantee that he would not have a normal reaction.

It’s hard to say what would happen if Empress Dowager Xiao noticed the sudden change.

Hearing this, Cao Ade said dissatisfiedly: "Lin Zhuangyuan is too cautious. In this palace, apart from the constant servant and Your Majesty, I am the only one who knows this secret. If the Queen Mother finds out that a fake eunuch has sneaked into the palace, she will blame Your Majesty and drag someone out to take the blame..."

Lin Chaosheng said indifferently: "Your Majesty asked you to take the blame, so you took it? Wouldn't it be very embarrassing for you? Kneeling for too long is not good for your knees."

Cao Ade was so angry at this nonsense that he felt dizzy: "What face do I, a eunuch, have in the palace? Besides, is there a place for kneeling in the world? Even the emperor has to kneel down and greet the Empress Dowager, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager."

Cao Ade talked in a long-winded way about the hardships of life in the palace, especially working in Yongle Palace. Not only was the monthly salary low, but he also had to endure the exclusion and cold stares from other palaces.

When you go to get charcoal for winter and incense for summer, you will be given a lot of trouble. Even if you finally get some, they are just a few leftovers from others.

He keeps saying a lot of the same things over and over again, the last thing he wants to do is to carve "You have to trust me" on his face.

Lin Chaosheng just ignored these complaints and continued to boil water and make tea.

Cao Ade’s idea is quite good. Being alone in the palace would bring many inconveniences, so many palace maids and eunuchs would support each other and overcome difficulties by gritting their teeth.

But Cao Ade was a person Lin Chaosheng couldn't trust. Moreover, the thought of opening his heart to a eunuch gave him goosebumps. He still preferred Xiao Lingxiang.

Innocent and pure as a blank sheet of paper.

Cao Ade had been observing Lin Chaosheng and found that he was always looking at him with a faint and indifferent look. He had no choice but to bite his back teeth and leave.

Bah, this Lin Chaosheng is simply a well-read bastard!

After listening to so many words from saints, I still have so many tricks...