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

...

The Mansion of Marquis Zhennan.

In two days, the Marquis of Zhennan will marry the Princess of Pingyang County. The servants in the mansion are busy and festive ribbons are spread all over the mansion.

Zhao Qing closed the door of her temporary residence in Luofangyuan, walked to the corner of the wall, and took down a brick. Inside the wall, her "Taihua Zhaji" was hidden. Zhao Qing flipped through two pages and her brows slowly frowned.

There were many words in this little notebook that she couldn't understand, and there were also some crooked and distorted symbols. Although there were many weapon drawings, Zhao Qing often had to spend a lot of time to understand the content of one of the drawings.

Zhao Qing turned to a new page. On it was a strange thing with two wheels and an iron pipe, and next to it was a note saying "mechanical cannon". The handwriting was sloppy and unrestrained, and it was difficult to read. Zhao Qing didn't know many words, so he had a headache reading it, so he simply stuffed "Taihua Notes" back into the wall.

Putting the drawings aside, she now has to prepare for her wedding.

Studying the blueprints of new weapons, or wait until after the wedding. Zhao Qing returned to the dressing table and began to dress up happily.

There were very few jewels on the dressing table, and most of them were not expensive. The most expensive one was the gold hairpin given to her by Concubine Shen from Prince Yan's Mansion.

But Zhao Qing was not discouraged. When she became the mistress of the Zhennan Marquis' Mansion, her dressing table would naturally be filled with things.

"Miss." The maid who served Zhao Qing knocked on the door and said outside, "Concubine Shen and Miss Yao from Prince Yan's Mansion are here."

Zhao Qing put down her pearl hairpin and went to the gate of the courtyard to greet him.

The weather was cold in winter, Shen Wei wore a fox fur cape to keep warm, and held an exquisite copper flower hand warmer in her hands. The red plum blossoms in the mansion were blooming beautifully, and Shen Wei stopped under the red plum tree, admiring the red plum blossoms attentively.

Cai Ping served Shen Wei quietly, occasionally helping her to clear away the tangled branches of red plum trees.

Zhao Qing saw Shen Wei from afar under the red plum tree. The flowers were beautiful, and she was even more beautiful. Zhao Qing suppressed his envy and walked up to her politely and asked, "Concubine Shen, what do you want to see me for?"

Shen Wei turned around and smiled at Zhao Qing: "The county lady will be getting married in two days. Since ancient times, when a woman gets married, her hair crown must be exquisite. It just so happens that the prince gave me a box of South China Sea pearls, and I specially sent it to the county lady today to add to the wedding hair crown, which will be sparkling and brilliant."

Caiping, who was standing next to her, took out a rosewood box and opened it in front of Zhao Qing.

In the box, there are twelve South Sea pearls, which are round and have almost no flaws. They are obviously top-quality products.

Zhao Qing had never seen such beautiful pearls before, and his eyes were wide open.

"This, this is not good." Zhao Qing wanted to take Zhenzhu into his arms immediately, but he still pretended to refuse verbally.

At this time, Cai Lian came back with the jumping Li Yao. Li Yao was only eight years old this year, and was at the age of being lively and active. She followed Shen Wei to the Marquis' Mansion. Li Yao ran around happily, and Cai Lian stayed behind her to protect her.

"Aunt, look at this plum blossom rabbit." Li Yao held a peculiarly shaped rabbit in her little hand.

The rabbit is made of bamboo strips, and two bright red plum blossoms are inlaid on the rabbit ears, which looks extremely delicate and beautiful.

Li Yao couldn't put it down.

Cai Lian came over and reported the whole story to Shen Wei: "Young Master Yao went to the Marquis's garden to pick plum blossoms just now, and happened to see a maid weaving a rabbit. The maid was very skillful, and she made a rabbit for Young Master Yao in less than a cup of tea."

Li Yao happily raised the little rabbit in her hand and said excitedly: "Auntie, Yaoer wants the maid to make another rabbit. I will take it home for my sister Leyou."

Shen Wei nodded happily, turned around and said to Zhao Qing with a smile: "County Lady. How about this, I will give you this box of pearls, and you give me the maid in the Marquis's Mansion who can make rabbits, just to make the children happy."

It was a great bargain to exchange a lowly maid for a box of precious South Sea pearls.

Zhao Qing knew that Shen Wei was actually looking for an excuse to give the pearl to her in a reasonable way.

There is no reason not to accept a gift that is delivered to your door. Zhao Qing almost did not hesitate and asked the maid to accept the box of pearls: "I appreciate Concubine Shen's kindness."

Shen Wei casually instructed Cai Lian, "Cai Lian, take the maid who can make rabbit toys to the Marquis's office and take her indenture away."

Cai Lian lowered her eyes and replied calmly, "I will do it right away."

The maid who could act like a rabbit was naturally the one that Shen Wei asked Cai Ping to plant in the mansion to gather information. The maid was clever and found out that Zhao Qing had hidden something in the cracks between the bricks in the corner.

Shen Wei couldn't leave the maid in the Marquis' Mansion, so she had to find a clever excuse to bring her back to Prince Yan's Mansion and keep her under her watch.

"The plum blossoms in the Marquis' Mansion are in full bloom, and are a beautiful sight. Could the Princess accompany me to enjoy the flowers?" Shen Wei took the initiative to invite.

Zhao Qing received a generous gift and naturally would not refuse it.

Shen Wei kindly reminded, "These South Sea pearls are easily damaged. Do not place them in the hot sun or in drafty places. Caiping, you personally deliver the pearls to the county lady's boudoir. Then tell the county lady's personal maid in detail how to maintain the pearls."

Cai Ping held the pearl box and said, "I obey your order."

Zhao Qing didn't think much about it and asked the maid to accompany Cai Ping to her boudoir. Zhao Qing herself, as the hostess of the Marquis's mansion, led Shen Wei to appreciate the blooming red plums in the mansion.

...

Caiping held the pearl box and followed Zhao Qing's personal maid into the boudoir.

Caiping was not here to deliver the pearls. She came to the house to search for things in the corners on Shen Wei's orders.

Zhao Qing's boudoir was not too big, and there were some jewellery on the dressing table.

Caiping put the pearl box on the table and pretended that she didn't put it down firmly. The box fell to the ground with a thud and the twelve round pearls rolled everywhere.

"Oh! Pick up the pearls quickly, don't let them break." Caiping pretended to be surprised.

The maid was also frightened.

Cai Ping grabbed the maid's hand and said anxiously, "Good sister, let's look separately. You go to the east floor to pick up, and I'll go to the west wall to pick up. Look carefully. If we miss one, we won't be able to compensate even if we sell ourselves!"

The maid was also new to the mansion and was timid and cowardly. She followed Caiping's advice and lay on the floor to start searching.

Caiping ran to the corner and squatted on the ground pretending to search. Caiping had sharp eyes and quickly found the brick in question.

She quickly and skillfully removed the brick, felt into the crack in the wall, and pulled out an old parchment book.

Caiping served Shen Wei for a long time. Shen Wei paid attention to "eliminating illiteracy" and all the maids and eunuchs in the courtyard had to learn to read. Caiping also learned a lot of words under the influence of Shen Wei.

She quickly scanned the cover of the parchment book, identified the words on the cover, flipped through a few pages at random, and tried hard to remember the thickness and structure of the parchment book.

"Sister, how many pearls did you pick up?" the maid asked softly from the other side of the room.

Cai Ping stuffed the parchment book into the wall, put the brick back, and answered loudly: "I picked up five."

Caiping remembered Shen Wei's instructions. Now was not the right time and she couldn't steal things from the wall, otherwise Zhao Qing would immediately suspect Shen Wei.

Caiping squatted on the ground to pick up the pearls. After a while, the two finally found all the pearls. Caiping wiped the dust off the pearls with a handkerchief and carefully put them in the box.

After putting the pearl away, Cai Ping held the maid's hand, with a look of sympathy on her face: "My dear sister, we must not let the master know that the pearl has fallen. Otherwise, if the master blames us, we will be in big trouble."

The maid's face was pale. She had not served Zhao Qing for a long time, but she knew that Zhao Qing was not an easy master to serve.

Zhao Qing had a bad temper and loved gold and silver jewelry the most, so she would not allow her maids to touch them. If a maid touched her jewelry, Zhao Qing would beat or scold her.

The maid nodded timidly, keeping the fact that the pearl had fallen to the ground to herself.

...