concubines

Qi Yunruo stood up and patted his clothes, Qi Yunying rubbed his forehead and said, "I didn't see the road clearly, I'm sorry."

Qi Yunruo shook his head.

Su Ge heard the movement, but he couldn't hear what they said from a distance, so he went back and said, "The three young masters of Ziyangbo's residence are talking."

"It's cold outside, let them come in." Li Chen said casually.

Qi Yunruo was about to leave, but when he heard what Su Ge said, he walked over slowly with some unhappiness. The three brothers were speechless. After seeing them, Li Chen realized that he had said something wrong.

Qi Yunruo's reluctance was evident on his face, Uncle Ziyang coughed dryly, and said, "Ruo'er is here, I haven't seen you for a long time."

Qi Yunruo was a little overjoyed recently, sitting on the side without saying a word, Uncle Ziyang became more and more embarrassed, and motioned to his two sons to say something.

Su Ge figured out the reason as soon as he thought about it, and asked with a smile: "Master Xiao Qi came to help Feng Yuan?"

"Yes."

Su Ge said to Li Chen: "My lord doesn't know, Mr. Qi is the most patient, and he can write well. These days, he often comes to the warehouse to help Feng Yuan with his work."

Li Chen said: "Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Qi, what do you fancy in today's congratulations?"

Qi Yunruo thought for a while, and said, "I like a set of seven glass cups of different sizes."

Li Chen gestured to Su Ge with his eyes, Su Ge nodded and said: "The servant will go and tell the warehouse to pick up and send it to Young Master Qi later."

After a while, Li Chen looked at Qi Yunruo and said, "Xiao Qi seems to have grown taller. I saw that you were far behind my brother-in-law that day, but today the difference is less."

Qi Yunruo said: "I eat well these days."

Qi Yunshan saw that Li Chen and Qi Yunruo were asking and answering, getting along well, and looked a little hesitant, while Qi Yunying remained expressionless.

It was getting darker and Mrs. Zhao was about to leave. If Qi Yun saw her this time, Mrs. Zhao was taken aback for a moment, and then her face darkened.

Qi Yunruo lowered his head and yawned lightly.

Mrs. Zhao said: "Why have you come to the palace for so long, but still don't understand the rules, and you have this attitude when you meet your aunt?"

Qi Yunruo felt a little cold and didn't speak.

Uncle Ziyang smoothed things over, and said, "Ma'am, don't blame me, Xiao Qi is taciturn."

Madam Zhao smiled, "That's how it is. I'm still the housekeeper of the third young master. I'm so capable that no one cares about me anymore."

Li Chen frowned slightly, Mrs. Zhao was in front of him, did these words be said deliberately?

Qi Yunruo shrank back silently like a quail beaten by frost, Madam Zhao was furious in her heart, but she couldn't say anything more, she flicked her sleeves and left.

After Uncle Ziyang and his party left, Qi Yunruo suddenly smiled.

Li Chen was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help laughing. He looked at Qi Yunruo curiously. Qi Yunruo seemed to be inexplicably happy today.

Last time, making autumn clothes caused a lot of troubles. Now it’s time to make winter clothes. Qi Yunruo was talking to the people in the sewing room, and Yu Yu, the sewing room nurse, stood at the bottom with a complicated expression. What happened last time was ultimately caused by them. When they came out, they saw people serving dishes, which raised Concubine Ji's heart, and then they changed the specifications for Concubine Ji all of a sudden, Concubine Ji made a big fuss to visit He Tingzhou, Young Master Qi was seriously ill, but no one asked afterward However, Nanny Yu never felt relieved.

Qi Yunruo said: "It's been so cold this year, Mammy hastened her hands these few days and made the most important clothes first, um... Concubine Wei needs to add a rabbit fur cloak and a fox fur jacket, Eldest Miss and Eldest Young Master have to hurry up, the children don't need to freeze."

"Yes, the slave has written it down."

Qi Yunruo sat and continued to watch, Yu Yu smiled and said: "Master, you miss others, but you don't think about yourself. Don't you want to make a big sweater this year?"

Qi Yunruo thought for a while, then said with a smile: "What do you mean, what do you think I want?"

Mother Yu's heart fell to the ground, and she smiled and said, "Young master is fair, you can wear any color, and any material is suitable for you. That mink fur is not something ordinary people can wear well, but you are the most suitable one."

Qi Yunruo nodded, and wrote a note to her, "You send someone to the warehouse to get the materials."

"Yes."

Afterwards, the workshop sent a few new jewelry shapes, Qi Yunruo didn't know what to look at, so he asked someone to take them to various courtyards to choose.The person from the builder also sent a picture of a hollowed-out gold crown. Qi Yunruo saw that it was for himself, and wrote small words on the side, saying that not much gold was used to make this small crown, and only one sapphire was embedded. It is estimated that it will take manpower but not much At least, it only took materials to melt and cast the prototype, and then carved layer by layer, at least half a month.

Qi Yunruo didn't want to use the crown at first, but Lu Lan said: "Men can use the small crown when they are fifteen years old. This small crown looks very light, and the hair doesn't fall down. My son, you don't have a decent headgear yet. .”

Qi Yunruo smiled and said, "I'm not a woman, what do I need too many jewelry for?"

Lu Lan didn't speak to him, but said to the waiting mother with a smile: "Just do as Master Lu said, when you do well, our son will reward you."

It was approaching midwinter, and General Situ Xu was already fighting on the front line. The military department and the household department were so busy that even Li Chen, the supervisor of the household department, hadn't returned home for many days.

The Ministry of Households is in charge of the taxation and food of the whole country, and it transfers military and food affairs together with the Ministry of War. There are also various subsidies for sergeants. Li Chen has always been concerned about the frontier wars. He can't go by himself, so he can only do his best in the rear.

The Qiang people were entrenched in the west in the early years, and they have moved further north in recent years. The northern oasis Xinyuan Kingdom has a lot of exchanges with the Qiang people. It is probably because of the common enemy that they have an alliance. It is just that the Qiang people themselves are divided into several tribes. Among these tribes There are disputes from time to time, and some languages ​​​​are also incompatible, but every few years when they attack the Li family together, they will wholeheartedly support the co-lord Aguermu. Aguermu chooses beauties from various ethnic groups as concubines, mostly the daughters of the leaders. , his main wife, the Yan family, is the eldest daughter of the chief of the He tribe, the most powerful tribe.

There was nothing wrong with the winter clothes, but Qi Yunruo's headache was that the winter clothes were ready, and the sewing room began to prepare clothes for the New Year again.

Qi Yunruo started to have a headache, is Li Chen's annual income enough to cover the expenses of these girls in the backyard?

The annual ceremony was prepared years ago. In the past, there was no mistress in the mansion, and the congratulatory gifts were mostly for men to socialize. This year, the palace has to communicate with other female relatives in various mansions, and Princess Qing is also a bride. The first year's ceremony needs to show importance.

While having a headache, Li Chen went back to the mansion.

Qi Niqun's month is getting heavier and heavier, the palace has found a few stable women to stay in the mansion early, there are also several female doctors, four wet nurses, and the weather is cold, Qi Niqun sometimes gets up and walks around the house instead of going out , this is her first child, she values ​​it very much and cannot be careless.

Qi Yunruo and Su Ge were discussing the annual gifts for each government and the gifts for the palace. Li Chen was unshaven, and after a long silence, he said: "I married a princess this year, and these things should be taken care of by the princess. Thank you for your hard work, little Qi." gone."

Qi Yunruo smiled and said, "It's okay."

For the matter of the annual ceremony, the royal family pays less and earns more, but those who offer it to the palace have to think over and over again, Qi Yunruo said: "I and Eunuch Suge have prepared eighty-nine points for offering to the emperor and queen. It's just the empress dowager..."

Qi Yunruo paused.

Li Chen said indifferently: "Every year, the offering to the Empress Dowager is prepared by the king himself."

Su Ge hurriedly said: "It's because the slave didn't make it clear to Mr. Qi that the Empress Dowager's kindness to His Highness in nurturing him, His Highness would copy a volume of scriptures by hand every year, and would not send them off."

Qi Yunruo was stunned for a moment, he didn't see it in the previous brochures, so he thought it was an omission.If Qi Yun resigned, Li Chen didn't say anything.

It's just that after he left, Li Chen shook his head and smiled wryly, what to do with other people's anger about his own affairs.

Qi Yunruo walked back slowly, but he was thinking in his heart that the queen mother raised the prince and the princess, and the princess married the leader of the Qiang tribe, Aguermu, six years ago, and a year later, the queen mother closed the palace and never saw anyone again.Heavy snow suddenly came whistling with the wind, Qi Yunruo looked up and stopped walking with some pleasure.

"Master Qi—"

"Master Qi, your clothes!"

Hearing the voice, Qi Yunruo turned around and saw a little eunuch running over with clothes in his arms, holding his mink fur cloak. Qi Yunruo waited a little before seeing Li Chen coming out.

Qi Yunruo put on his clothes and looked at Li Chen from a distance. Li Chen was not wearing a coat, and behind him was Su Ge holding an umbrella. Behind him was another little eunuch holding a black fox fur coat.

Li Chen walked up to Qi Yunruo and said, "Come with me."

"Hey, good."

Li Chen swung Su Ge back, Qi Yunruo said: "My lord, you should put on the fox fur, it's very cold, don't you want to get sick from the cold."

Li Chen chuckled, "Come out for a walk, it won't be so tightly packed."

Qi Yunruo took the fur coat from the young eunuch, put it on Li Chen on tiptoe, and said, "It's better not to freeze."

Li Chen was noncommittal, and signaled Qi Yunruo to follow him, Qi Yunruo followed silently, all the way in silence, until before the water corridor, Li Chen said: "I saw you here for the first time that day."

Qi Yunruo looked at the frozen lake and said with a smile, "I don't know if I can go up there for a walk."

Li Chen laughed lightly and said, "It's better not to try."

The two were walking on the corridor, with snowflakes passing by on both sides, Qi Yunruo said: "If this corridor is frozen, it will be difficult to walk."

"Ah."

After a while, Li Chen said: "I'm afraid I won't be able to copy scriptures for the Empress Dowager this year."

"Is it because of the Northwest War?"

Li Chen said: "I discuss things with the people in the Ministry of War every day, and I receive reports about the lives and deaths of soldiers every day. My heart is restless and I can't copy the scriptures."

Qi Yunruo smiled, and said to Li Chen: "My lord has your heart, the empress dowager will naturally receive it."

Li Chen shook his head and often sighed, "Grandma hasn't even seen me for many years."

Qi Yunruo was silent and didn't know what to say for a while.

Li Chen's face was full of sadness, Qi Yunruo looked at him sideways, stretched out a hand from the cloak, and held Li Chen's hand, "My lord, I am a person with few relatives, but your parents are all elders, and the empress dowager I don't know why I didn't see you, but the Empress Dowager is in good health, and there will always be a day when you can clear up your grudges."

Li Chen looked at his hands, smiled and shook his head.

Walking down the corridor, Qi Yunruo walked back and forth for a while, Li Chen looked at it, and said: "It really grows taller, I didn't see it clearly last time, but today it looks really tall and straight."

Qi Yunruo smiled.

Qi Yunruo found that Li Chen was looking in the direction of Guanhe Tingzhou, counting nine cold winters, the side of Guanhe Tingzhou was covered with snow and ice, there were several stoves in the house, it was not cold, just standing in the yard, looking sideways at the lake, Always feel more severe cold.

Li Chen also frowned slightly and said, "Should I change the yard for you?"

Qi Yunruo said: "No need, I think this is the best place. Although the lake is frozen, it looks better than the bare ground."

Li Chen nodded, and said as he walked, "What are Xiao Qi's future plans?"

"...Why does the prince ask this?"

"You will be sixteen in the next year, a 16-year-old man, even if he doesn't want to start a career, he should have something to do." Li Chen looked at Qi Yunruo, "If it was in the past, did you think about it? "

Qi Yunruo lowered his head and said: "I used to be unbound, and I read books by myself when I was free. I want whatever Uncle Ziyang gives me. I have to get on with my life."

"You don't want to come to the palace." Li Chen said calmly, but his voice was surprisingly firm.

Qi Yunruo said: "I wouldn't have dared to say this a year ago, and it's useless if I said it. My background doesn't allow me to be picky. Since the prince and concubine asked me to take care of the palace's internal affairs a few months ago, I also After experiencing some things, some things suddenly come to mind.”

Li Chen stopped in his tracks, with an indescribably strange expression on his face, "Thinking about it?"