Chapter 1198 504 Tamamakura

The auspicious time is coming.

The ladies of other houses avoided the side hall next door. The birthday gifts of these houses were already presented in the front yard.

Xiao Ni and others, who had been entertaining girls from Beppu in the side hall, also came to the open hall, and all the relatives of the palace were waiting to pay their respects to the king of Zhennan.

After a short while, Mother Luo respectfully led King Zhennan in.

King Zhennan was still wearing that bright red engraved silk robe, but his face was not as red as before.

Although King Zhennan still had a smile at the corner of his mouth at this moment, many people were keenly aware that his smile was a little stiff, and exchanged glances with each other secretly. The ladies of the Xiao family vaguely guessed that it was Aunt Niu's secret. Dai Dongzhu's incident disturbed his good mood.

The Xiao family girls who were in the side hall before were confused and didn't know what was going on. Immediately, the nimble maid went to inquire about it, and quietly came to tell her master.

After they found out, they all looked at each other, and for a while, the atmosphere in the open hall, which should have been beaming, became a little weird.

The King of Zhennan walked into the open hall with strides, Xiao Luan followed behind him, and several maidservants in Tsing Yi walked at the end.

After King Zhennan sat down on the chair, Xiao Luan waited by the side.

Following that, Nangong Yue, the highest-ranking female family member, stepped forward and gave her blessings: "My daughter-in-law is celebrating the birthday of the father! I wish my father the blessings of the East Sea!"

Several maids beside her were busy offering birthday gifts, a screen illustration of a crane carved from purple purlin and ivory, and a pair of shoes embroidered with dark patterns of blessing.

Afterwards, the side concubine Wei, several Xiao family girls and relatives of the Xiao family ancestral hall also stepped forward to celebrate their birthdays, and the maids presented birthday gifts.

"My concubine congratulates Wang Ye on a boundless long life!"

"Daughter congratulates father Wang Shou Yu Tian Qisong is not old!"

"My niece congratulates my uncle every year to have a present day and a present day every year!"

"..."

In the open hall, there were waves of birthday wishes one after another. The female family members presented carefully prepared birthday gifts one by one.

It took more than half an hour for the female relatives to pay their respects and send birthday gifts.

After that, King Zhennan said a few words briefly, and asked Nangong Yue to greet the guests, and then walked away in a hurry, still not in high interest.

After counting the birthday gifts, the maidservants in green clothes carried them away together.

The birthday prayer was over, and the female family members who had avoided before returned to the open hall, and took their seats in their original seats with a smile.

After the steward asked Nangong Yue for instructions, she opened the meeting with a loud voice, and the meeting was about to begin.

Then, from both sides of the open hall, the maids in blue and blue robes walked in, holding trays full of dishes in their hands, walking lightly and steadily... After a while, one after another was full of color and fragrance. The delicious food was put in front of the guests.

The bowls, dishes, cups and cups that serve the dishes are all made of blue and white porcelain of the same color, which is quiet and elegant.

This dish is even richer than the previous small banquet in Bixiaotang. All kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas and seasonal vegetables are available from all over the world. All of them are delicious and delicious.

The ladies' seats were placed in the open hall, and the three-table seats of the girls were placed in the side hall. Before Xiao Fei had chatted with Miss Zhou, she simply ordered the maid to arrange her and the girls from the Zhou family to a table. , and by the way, let the girl on Tuesday and the girl on Wednesday dipped in the light.

Xiao Fei and Zhou eldest girl Zhou Roujia were eating and talking softly.

"...The residual score is a piece of qin and xiao ensemble?" Zhou Roujia asked in a low voice.

"That's right," Xiao Fei nodded, "My sister-in-law and I deduced according to the remnants, that there are three qin and xiao ensembles that have slightly different tunes. We have thought about it carefully for a long time, but the progress is still slow... However, it has been completed. The parts are fantastic!"

Zhou Roujia hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Miss Xiao, I don't know if you can lend me a..."

Before she could finish her words, Zhou Rouhui, the girl next to Tuesday, suddenly whispered, "Ouch!"

Zhou Roujia subconsciously turned her head to look, Zhou Rouhui had a bitter round face, bit her lower lip and exclaimed, "Big sister, I'm sorry!"

A small bowl of soup on the table was knocked over, and a small half of the soup was spilled. The soup flowed on the table... and part of it splashed on Zhou Roujia's sleeve, and the honey-colored soup was stained on the green fabric. especially prominent.

Zhou Roujia couldn't help frowning slightly. This new dress was specially made by her mother for her coming to the prince's birthday banquet. It was the first time she wore it. This soup stain should still be washable, right?

"Big sister, it's my fault that I accidentally splashed the soup on you! Big sister, don't be mad at me!" Zhou Rouhui spoke hurriedly and quickly, looking at Zhou Roujia timidly, twisting her hands nervously handkerchief.

Zhou Rouhui's maid hurriedly knelt down and tried to dry the soup stains on her clothes with a handkerchief.

There was such a big commotion at this table, not to mention the girl at the same table, the girls at the next two tables also put down their chopsticks and turned around to look.

Zhou Roujia smiled slightly, the clouds were light and the wind was light, and her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze: "what is the second sister saying, you and my sister, a piece of clothing is just a trivial matter."

The girls at the same table smiled, ate their meals on their own, and chatted.

Xiao Fei glanced at Miss Tuesday lightly, and said to Zhou Roujia, "Miss Zhou, why don't I ask the maid to take you to change your clothes. We are about the same size, so you can probably wear my clothes too."

Bai Zhou, who was beside her, stepped forward with a smile and said respectfully, "I'll trouble Lady Zhou to go with the servant."

Zhou Roujia also understands that the birthday banquet has just begun, and wearing such stained clothes will only make her more conspicuous, so after pondering for a while, she stood up and thanked Xiao Fei: "Thank you, Miss Xiao."

On Tuesday, the girl let out a sigh of relief, patted her chest, and thanked Xiao Fei.

At the same time, the two maids came up to clean up with neat hands and feet, sucked up the soup, and took away the knocked-over bowl. In the blink of an eye, everything was in order again.

No one noticed that Zhou Rouhui's maid quietly retreated.

Seeing that all the girls had almost finished eating, Xiao Fei gestured to the maidservants beside him, and immediately two rows of maidservants walked into the side hall, and a group of people neatly collected some empty dishes and bowls , another group of people served the girls with all kinds of snacks.

Rose rice cakes in the shape of roses, golden horses rolling, carved plums in the shape of plum blossoms, rose taro in light purple honey juice, egg flower wine dumplings overflowing with wine...

The girls who thought they were 80 percent full not only moved their index fingers, but couldn't help but taste these delicate and beautiful snacks, and commented on each other from time to time.

It didn't take long for Bai Zhou to lead Zhou Roujia back to the banquet in the side hall. Miss Zhou changed into a brand-new blue-blue woven gold hibiscus flower-cut silk robe. This color matched her complexion very well, making her look skin-friendly. Light as snow, delicate and moist.

The two walked to Xiao Fei again, and Bai Zhou bowed his knees and said, "Miss, this servant is afraid that the soup will be stained for a long time and it will not be easy to clean, so she has already sent Miss Zhou's clothes to the washing room, waiting for them to be cleaned and washed. , and then send Miss Zhou to the General's Mansion."

Xiao Fei responded and greeted Zhou Roujia to sit down and start together.

When the banquet was over, it was already halfway through, and everyone moved to the Dehe Building one after another.

The Dehe Building is a theater built in the southwest corner of the inner courtyard of the palace. The old town Nanwang and his wife are not interested in watching theaters, so the location of the Dehe Building is a bit biased. On weekdays, the female relatives of the mansion would rather watch the theater in the small garden. Build a simple stage.

However, this kind of stage is only suitable for singing literary opera. If you want to watch martial arts, you still have to go to the theater.

After walking through a few chao-shou verandas, around a small lake, through a few Ruyi gates, and down a bluestone path is the Dehe Building.

The Dehe Building is a two-story building. The hall on the first floor faces the stage to the south. The front stage and the backstage are separated by a carved purple hardwood partition. There are two-story corridors on the surrounding three sides, and there are carved low railings next to them.

As soon as you enter the door, you can see a large plaque hanging above the stage with three large gold lacquer characters "De He Lou".

Under the guidance of the servants of the palace, a group of female relatives climbed the stairs on three sides to the second-floor corridor, which had long been lined up with armchairs and tables for the guests to sit.

These seats were also arranged in advance according to their status and relatives, and the female relatives quickly took their seats.

The girls were all very excited. A little girl wearing a pomegranate red lotus patterned Beizi said excitedly: "I heard that today is the Chengjiaban. Chengjiaban is now Luoyue City, no, the most famous in the entire southern Xinjiang. I heard that their little student Cheng Zisheng has both civil and military skills. From being a young student to acting as an actress, all of them are vivid, and no one can stand out in a martial arts drama. They all applauded after watching it... Last time my grandmother had a birthday, I also thought about it. I invited Cheng Jiaban to sing over the house for a whole day. Who knew that Cheng Jiaban said that they had been booked by other houses in the past two months, and finally had to invite Man Tangchun to come over, hey, singing and singing is just babble. Those few episodes were very boring."

The girl in yellow beside her smiled and said, "That's good, finally, as you wish, you can listen to Cheng Zisheng sing today!"

The little girl in the pomegranate red dress was overjoyed.

Another girl said, "Cheng Zisheng is really talented. I watched Cheng Zisheng sing in General Yao's Mansion last year. It was really amazing..."

"..."

The girls were talking with each other, and they all took their seats on the porch on the second floor of the theater.

Soon, with the sound of clanging gongs and drums, a female general wearing a military uniform with heavy oil paint on her face appeared on the stage. As soon as she appeared on the stage, she played a wonderful long spear. The guests were dazzled and their blood boiled. , they all applauded and applauded. As soon as the show opened, the atmosphere was heated up. The guests were all refreshed and watched the play with concentration...

At the same time, a gilded playbook has been handed over to Nangong Yue. After Nangong Yue ordered "Mulan Joins the Army", she handed it over to Mrs. Wei, followed by Mrs. Tian, ​​Mrs. Xiao San, Mrs. Qiao... …

By the time the playbook was delivered to Mrs. Fang Sitai, it was already a stick of incense, and the stage below had begun to sing the second play, which was exactly "Mulan Joins the Army" by Nangong Yuedian.

Mrs. Fang Sitai looked at Xi Zhezi absentmindedly, and beside her sat a girl wearing a pink butterfly and a flower-cut silk robe. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Two deep pools.

It's just that although she was laughing at this moment, there was a trace of anxiety in her eyes, she glanced in the direction of Nangong Yue quietly, and looked around the theater with a feigned curiosity.

Seeing that Mrs. Fang Sitai stared at the playbook for a while without moving, the girl in pink gently tugged on Mrs. Fang Sitai's sleeve and called out coquettishly, "Grandma..."

Mrs. Fang Sitai glanced at her granddaughter and said, "Sister Man, don't worry, wait for grandma to finish watching this show first... What show do you want to watch, grandma can help you."

Fang Ziman's eyes widened and he pouted, looking innocent and weak. She rubbed her handkerchief and said, "Grandma, it's better for you to order some scenes you like."

Mrs. Fang Sitai glanced down at the stage below and said meaningfully: "Sister Man, grandma remembers that you like "The Jade Pillow"? Grandma will help you with a discount."

Fang Ziman's eyes flashed, she bit her lower lip and nodded, a faint blush appeared on her pretty face.

After Mrs. Fang Sitai ordered the play, she passed on the playbook.

On the stage downstairs, several actors are singing to the climax. Mulan has changed her hair and changed into a heroic men's clothing. She also bought a horse and a saddle, trying to convince her father to let her go on the expedition for him...

One by one, the girls subconsciously tightened their handkerchiefs, and their beautiful eyes couldn't stop watching.

Only Zhou Roujia seemed a little restless, adjusting her sitting position from time to time, her eyes wandering.

At this time, Xiao Fei felt dry in his mouth, turned half of his body to get the tea cup on the table, but saw that Zhou Roujia's expression was a little wrong, and asked quietly, "Miss Zhou, what's wrong?"

A hint of hesitation flashed in Zhou Roujia's eyes, after hesitating for a moment, she finally made up her mind. She looked at both sides and saw that no one was paying attention to them. She lowered her voice and said reluctantly: "Miss Xiao, the ring pen that I used to hold the corners of my skirt is gone. Maybe it fell off when I was changing clothes. Will Zhou accompany me to find it?"

When she sang the first play just now, Zhou Roujia found that her ring was missing. The master and servant were panicked for a while, and the maid searched all over her body, but still could not find it.

The master and servant were almost a little scared, and they had no intention of watching the play.

The private property of the girl's family can't be thrown away. If it is not done well, it is used by someone with a heart, or it falls into the hands of some men, it is possible to be accused of privately granting and accepting it, and its reputation will be ruined. What's more, this jade pendant is also Lady Zhou's dowry.

Xiao Fei was startled when she heard the words, and hurriedly comforted: "Miss Zhou, don't panic, I'll ask Bai Zhou first..."

Xiao Fei hurriedly motioned to Bai Zhou to hook her ears, and asked in a low voice if she had seen Zhou Roujia's ring pendant.

Bai Zhou couldn't hide his astonishment. Knowing that this matter was of great importance, he tried his best to recall it and whispered, "Miss, the slave servants don't remember much before, but the slave servants served Miss Zhou in Qingran Residence and changed her clothes. At that time, the ring should be gone."

This time on the birthday of the King of Zhennan, there were many guests, and the elderly ladies were more prone to fatigue. Nangong Yue specially ordered two small courtyards to be cleaned up so that the guests could rest. One of them is Qing Ran Ju.

At that time, Bai Zhou took Zhou Roujia to Qingranju, and asked a second-class maid to go back and get Xiao Fei's clothes and put them on for her.

That is to say, Zhou Roujia's ring pendant most likely fell on the way from the side hall to Qingranju...

There are other guests here, and Xiao Fei, as the host, can't walk away, so he can only instruct: "Bai Zhou, follow the old lady Zhou to find it again."

Zhou Roujia looked at Xiao Fei gratefully, thanked her in a low voice, and went with Bai Zhou.

Soon, the other two girls from the Zhou family also noticed that the eldest sister was gone, and the two smiled at each other with a hint of meaning on their faces.

"girl."

At this time, Zhou Rouhui's personal maid called her softly. Zhou Rouhui hurriedly raised her head and glanced at the north side of the theater. She seemed to notice something, her eyes lit up, she stood up gracefully, and walked along the corridor. ...

After the singing of "Mulan Joins the Army" on the stage, the next "Havoc in Heaven" kicked off again. The Monkey King, dressed in golden armor and glittering, appeared on the stage, with a few neat somersaults, showing the monkey's naughty and agile nature. Compared with the previous "Mulan Joins the Army", the style is much more lively and lively.

The madam and the girls were teased to chuckle from time to time, and Nangong Yue and Thrushi's maids also watched with relish, and they all smiled happily.

"Prince Prince..." Mrs. Zhou, who was sitting at the next table, suddenly spoke to Nangong Yue.

"Cousin-in-law." Nangong Yue turned her head to look at Mrs. Zhou, and saw that Mrs. Qiao left the table at some point, and a young girl with a round face sat on Mrs. Qiao's chair. It was the girl on Tuesday.

Zhou Shi bit the bullet and introduced the girl next to Tuesday, saying: "Princess Shizi, this is my mother's cousin, Sister Hui, and I have always gotten along well when we were in the boudoir. My cousin is knowledgeable, filial, virtuous, She is gentle and demure, and she knows everything about piano, chess, calligraphy and painting..." Zhou tried her best to use all the words she knew on the girl on Tuesday, hoping to impress Nangong Yue.

The more Zhou Shi said, the stiffer Zhou Rouhui's face became. She also knew that this cousin was not a quick-witted and quick-witted sister, but she didn't want to marry for many years, and she still didn't make any progress. The mother is really trustworthy!

Zhou Shi's heart was bitter and unbearable, why did she want to get into this mess, but she married into the Qiao family for a few years and had nothing to do, and her mother-in-law, Mrs. Qiao, was sneering every day, not to mention that her mother-in-law had already given up the last half a month ago. The ultimatum, if he still has no news within half a year, he will stop the concubines and concubines in the house.

Zhou Shi was flustered in his heart, so he went back to his mother's house to ask his mother and sister-in-law for an idea. Who would have thought that the second aunt of the Dingyuan General's Mansion happened to be there that day, and asked her if the first concubine was helping the second son of Xiao to see each other. I vaguely heard Mrs. Qiao talk about it, and said it. The second aunt immediately asked her to help and make peace to see if she could marry Cousin Hui into the palace.

Speaking of it, the Zhou family was born in the Zhou family's main family, and the Dingyuan General's mansion was actually a partial house. However, because the Zhou family's uncle, father and son had made great military exploits on the battlefield, and even that uncle died in the battle because of it, this was the case. With the seal of General Dingyuan. As a girl from the family, Mrs. Zhou actually didn't want to rely on the Dingyuan General's Mansion, but the second aunt said that she could not write two "Zhou" characters in one stroke. If the two families could support her together, Mrs. Qiao would not dare to be too Embarrass her.

Zhou Shi was really desperate, so he gritted his teeth.

Nangong Yue glanced at Zhou Rouhui. Although the Zhou family didn't mention marriage at all, after a little thought, Nangong Yue guessed what the Zhou family was drawing.

It was her intention to let Xiao Luan Xiang see it, so when she inquired about the girl, if she cared about Xiao Luan's concubines, she could also express it in a subtle way.

She would not comment on whether the Dingyuan General's Mansion and the two houses were in line with the rules, but the Zhou family was not in her consideration, which was certain.

Nangong Yue also pretended to be confused and smiled lightly: "Miss Zhou is indeed dignified, what do you like to do on weekdays?"

Seeing Nangong Yue's questioning, Zhou Rouhui bowed gracefully, and replied softly, "Returning to Concubine Shi, I also read some scriptures and history in addition to piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and women's red." Zhou Rouhui thought that Concubine Shi was from Nangong's aristocratic family. The direct daughter, from a scholarly family, and Miss Xiao is also a well-known talented girl, that's why she said it as she liked it.

"Learning history is wise." Nangong Yue seemed to praise, holding up the blue-and-white porcelain bell cup beside him, and sipping a sip of hot tea.

Zhou Rouhui thought that Nangong Yue would teach herself a few sentences, but she didn't want to write any more.

Zhou Shi was a little cramped from beginning to end, and looked up at Madam Qiao's seat from time to time. She took advantage of the fact that her mother-in-law went downstairs to the clean room just now, so she quietly brought Zhou Rouhui to see Nangong Yue.

Counting the time, my mother-in-law is probably coming back soon. Zhou shi was anxious and worried. If her mother-in-law came back and saw that she was involved in these matters without her consent, she didn't know how she would be angry.

Zhou Rouhui saw that Nangongyue was no longer speaking, and it was not good to take the initiative to speak too diligently, she gave Zhou a wink and motioned her to ask Nangongyue to pick another topic.

But she threw her wink to the blind man, and the restless Zhou Shi didn't receive it at all.

From the corner of Zhou's eyes, he saw a person wearing pea-green clothes entering the theater, his heart jumped, and without thinking, he said to Zhou Rouhui: "Sister Hui, I see your sister is looking for you, maybe there is something wrong. …”

Is this an expulsion order for yourself? ! Zhou Rouhui blushed with anger, but she was helpless. In the eyes of all the people, she couldn't be cheeky and insisted on staying, so she could only walk away sadly, thinking: I must tell my mother about this when I return to the house. This cousin is so useless, she can't help at all!

Nangong Yue didn't take Zhou Rouhui's little thought to heart at all, and continued to watch the play.

After performing "Havoc in Heaven" and performing two or three martial arts dramas in succession, the style of a certain drama suddenly changed, from a martial arts drama to a literary drama. Some ladies and girls like to watch this graceful water-sleeve dance.

For a while, the theater was quite quiet, and the sound of gongs and drums and cheers were all suppressed.

The play is called "The Jade Pillow", and it is about a scholar and his wife who have been married for several years and have no children, so the scholar took two concubines under the control of his parents. In the next ten years, his concubine gave birth to three sons and three daughters. On the day of Xiucai's 60th birthday, the mansion suddenly received a newspaper from the residence saying that Xiucai's eldest grandson had won the first prize. Xiucai was overjoyed. She fell asleep on a jade pillow, with only her old wife in her sixties by her side. Only then did Xiucai realize that all the beautiful things in his dream were just a dream of Huang Liang. The real he only married an old wife, and the old wife had nothing to do, so that the husband and wife were lonely all their lives, even if they died, no one fell into the basin. The old scholar suddenly burst into tears, regretting the beginning!

At this time, it is the last fold of "The Jade Pillow". The opening is the 60th birthday of the old scholar. The descendants rushed to the house to celebrate the old scholar's birthday. The atmosphere was happy...

At this age, Mrs. Tian is no longer like a young person who likes to be loud and noisy, and she is fascinated by a literary play.

When the performers on the stage sang wonderfully, Mrs. Tian couldn't help but patted her hands and praised: "This Cheng's class is really good at singing, although his martial arts opera is more famous, but according to the old man, their literary opera is also better than that of 'Full House Spring'. Not bad."

"What Mrs. Tian said is true." Mrs. Yao nodded and said, "I have also heard the song 'Man Tang Chun' in this "Jade Pillow". His singing skills are not as good as Cheng Zisheng's."

Ladies and gentlemen, you have a lively chat.

Seeing the lively scene of the grandchildren of the old scholar on the stage celebrating his birthday, Mrs. Fang Sitai seemed to be touched and sighed: "The wife and concubines in the family are harmonious, and the children and grandchildren are prosperous.

Saying that, Mrs. Fang Sitai looked at Nangong Yue and asked, "Prince Prince, what do you think?"

This book was first published by Xiaoxiang Academy, please do not reprint!