Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

Zhao Qing held up the wine glass and said with a smile: "Is this wine from the palace? No wonder it smells so good."

She grew up in Liangzhou City and drank the coarsest grain wine. Zhao Qing was excited and sipped the wine in the white jade cup carefully.

Sweet, mellow and fruity!

So delicious!

It is worthy of being the imperial capital of Daqing. The remote Liangzhou City is not even one-tenth as good as the imperial capital.

Shen Wei remained silent, secretly observing Zhao Qing's every move. Just now, when Shen Wei said "Palace Jade Wine", Zhao Qing's eyes did not show any surprise.

Shen Wei watched Zhao Qing finish a glass of wine and said with a smile: "Princess Zhaoyang is the beloved daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Daqing, so there is no shortage of fine wine in her mansion. It is said that this fine wine costs 180 taels of silver to buy a glass in the Yanjing market."

"One hundred and eighty taels per cup, so expensive." Zhao Qing was surprised. Everyone in Yanjing really knows how to do business.

Shen Wei carefully observed Zhao Qing's expression, and she secretly concluded that Zhao Qing was either not a modern person, or she was particularly good at playing dumb.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Wei pretended to be envious and couldn't hide her praise: "Pingyang County Princess, I heard that you are quite good at making weapons. This is really amazing."

Zhao Qing raised his head with a proud look on his face.

With the precious "Taihua Notes" in hand, Zhao Qing was full of confidence. Zhao Qing pretended to be modest: "I was born in a cold and bitter borderland. I watched my father do carpentry work since I was a child and learned some superficial skills."

This was an excuse Zhao Qing had deliberately made up. When they were in Liangzhou City, Shangguan Xuan and Shen Mieyue had asked her about her past, wanting to know why she knew how to make these wonderful weapons. Zhao Qing always used "my father taught me" as an excuse.

Her father was a carpenter and had been dead for many years. Even if outsiders wanted to investigate, there would be no evidence.

Shen Wei seemed to agree with her words, raised her hand and fumbled in her hair, taking out a gold hairpin inlaid with emeralds. Shen Wei said: "The county lady and I hit it off right away. We met in a hurry at the Marquis's residence a few days ago, and met again at the Princess's residence today. It is really fate. This hairpin is a gift from the prince, and I give it to the county lady today."

Caiping, who was serving at the side, understood what he meant and took the hairpin and handed it to Zhao Qing.

Zhao Qing was shocked at first, then politely accepted the hairpin. She was no longer a herbalist in Liangzhou, she was a distinguished county lady and the future mistress of the Marquis's mansion. Shen Wei was a concubine, and she took the initiative to please him, so Zhao Qing accepted it as a matter of course.

Zhao Qing looked closely at this exquisitely shaped hairpin. It was made of pure gold, and the head of the hairpin was shaped like a half-peacock screen, which was very luxurious and beautiful.

Shen Wei narrowed her eyes and reminded her: "County Lady, this hairpin was made by a skilled craftsman in the palace in half a month, and it has a secret hidden inside."

Zhao Qing took a closer look and saw a soft green light in the center of the peacock shape on the hairpin.

What an exquisite design, worthy of being made by the craftsmen of the Imperial City of Yanjing. Zhao Qing praised: "It hides green light and imitates the eyes of a peacock. It's really interesting."

Zhao Qing accepted the hairpin without hesitation.

Shen Wei watched Zhao Qing's every move, thinking. This gold-inlaid turquoise hairpin has an inlay structure. A small net is woven with gold thread in the hairpin head, and an emerald is inlaid in the net pocket. You only need to turn a small mechanism in the hairpin to open the gold wire net and see the emerald inside.

Zhao Qing can conceive of ingenious weapons, but he can't even detect a small hairpin hiding a mechanism...

Shen Wei thought of the "compound bow" mentioned by the King of Yan. The King of Yan once said that Zhao Qing, the military advisor, only provided blueprints and never participated in the specific production of weapons.

Is he unwilling to participate in the production? Or is it that Zhao Qing simply doesn't know how to produce?

Shen Wei silently took a sip of the hot drink. If her guess was correct, Zhao Qing should not be a modern person. Zhao Qing probably had good luck and got the knowledge of modern weapons from somewhere.

Maybe it's a book, or a mural, or a scroll.

Shen Wei secretly decided that she had to find some time to check and find out where Zhao Qing got his modern knowledge from.

...

...

On the other side, in the study of the princess's mansion, Zhaoyang asked the maid to grind ink, and she picked up the pen and quickly wrote two IOUs.

Zhaoyang wrote as he said, "Dowry is a woman's private property. Only a spineless man would use a woman's dowry. Your mansion still owes Sun Qingmei 12,000 taels of silver. Sun Qingmei asked me to act as her agent. The Marquis must return it this year."

Write the IOU quickly.

The maid handed the IOU to Shangguan Xuan. Shangguan Xuan's face turned pale. He actually knew that his mother was willing to raise Sun Qingmei because she valued her huge dowry. Sun Qingmei's father died in the war and her brother died of illness. She was the only child left in the Sun family. All the rich family property accumulated by the Sun family belonged to Sun Qingmei.

Marrying Sun Qingmei is like marrying a bag of money.

Everyone in the Marquis' Mansion knew this tacitly, and they all lay on Sun Qingmei to suck her blood. But today, when Zhaoyang exposed it in front of him, Shangguan Xuan still felt embarrassed.

Zhaoyang was just a princess without real power, relying on the favor of the emperor and empress to bully others in Yanjing. Shangguan Xuan had made great military achievements, guarding the border for the Li family of Qing State and defending the country. Who wouldn't regard him as a hero who protected the country?

He was really unwilling to accept such insult from Zhaoyang after returning to Beijing.

"Okay, I'll sign." Shangguan Xuan was full of resentment. He held the brush and signed his name.

He has military achievements and a smart wife like Zhao Qing, so the Zhennan Marquis Mansion will surely regain its former glory.

A mere ten thousand taels of silver can be paid back quickly.

Zhaoyang was satisfied and put the IOU back into the box. "I know your mansion is poor, and I won't force you. From now on, on the 15th of every month, I will send someone to the mansion to ask for 1,000 taels. You can pay it back in one year."

After putting away the IOU, Zhaoyang took a sip of the hot drink handed to her by the maid and asked leisurely, "You said you had an important letter. Take it out and let me have a look."

Shangguan Xuan took out a letter from his sleeve.

This was given to him by Yan Yunting.

Yan Yunting is now an official in Liangzhou City, assisting Shen Mieyue in the war. The journey is long and the sky is high. Being too far away from home, Yan Yunting can't help but miss his lover in Yanjing. He wrote letters to both Tan Tairou and Zhaoyang.

Tan Tairou would reply to every letter, her words were full of love, and she even asked someone to send boots and a fur hat to Yan Yunting. But Yan Yunting has not received a single letter from Zhaoyang yet!

The letter that Yan Yunting asked someone to send to Zhaoyang also fell into oblivion.

Yan Yunting suspected that Zhaoyang was still angry with him. Zhaoyang had been holding a grudge against him for a long time because he did not keep the appointment at Luoyue Lake. So Yan Yunting wrote a letter to Shangguan Xuan and asked Shangguan Xuan to present it to Zhaoyang in person.

"Your Highness, you will be very happy to see this letter." Shangguan Xuan handed over the letter.

Everyone in Yanjing knew that Princess Zhaoyang was deeply in love with Yan Yunting.

After Yan Yunting left Beijing for his new post, Zhaoyang had not had any contact with any other men for the past six months. She had been behaving herself well, as if she was waiting for Yan Yunting's return.

The maid took the envelope and handed it to Zhaoyang.

Zhaoyang's beautiful almond-shaped eyes glanced casually and saw the eight neat characters on the surface of the envelope: "Written by Yunting, personally addressed by Zhaoyang". Zhaoyang's eyes widened: "A letter from Yan Yunting?"