Little Cardamom

It was mid-winter, and the snow in Shangjing was like goose feathers. The cold wind swirled around the lanterns at the corners of the corridor. In the fifth watch, the outside was faintly silvery white.

Jing'an Hou's Mansion, in the Zhaoshui courtyard, green plum branches are covered with fresh snow.

The sound of clappers that disturbed people's dreams before has gradually faded away, and the hurried steps of the servants and maids in the mansion can be heard again in this silent night.

After a while, there were two knocks of "Duk Tuk" outside the main room door, and someone whispered: "Miss."

It was Mama Zhang who was serving by Mrs. Hou's side.

Su Xin was laying out her breakfast, seeing Ming Tan sitting down and not responding, she gave Lu E who was standing behind Ming Tan a look.

Lue understood, put down the horn comb in her hand, and walked lightly to meet people outside Mingjian.

It was probably the door opened by the **** duty. When Lue arrived in the morning, Zhang's mother was leading the lady from Jinxiufang and a group of little girls holding drawers to enter.

Through the dim candlelight, the light green skirt of the second-class maidservant of Jing'an Hou Mansion seemed to form a neat arc around the door.

"Mother Zhang." Lue was bright and greeted with a smile.

Zhang's mother rolled her eyes, quickly reached out to help, and looked at the other side of the screen. She just looked around, and saw that Lue was here to meet her, which meant that the little lady would not come out.

She and Lu'e are fairly familiar, and after a few words of greeting, she attracted the lady from Jinxiu Workshop to introduce the new clothes and tops for the banquet this time.

"...The leather that Mrs. Hou sent is shiny, smooth, and flawless. It is a rare and high-quality product. I heard that it is an imperial gift during the autumn hunting. It is a great sin if it is not done well. No, you can put us The shopkeeper is so worried!

"After thinking about it, our shopkeeper went to invite Mrs. Zhang to do needles in person. Miss Lue, you know that Mrs. Zhang doesn't usually do needlework after she gets married. The shopkeeper spent a lot of money to invite her to do needles." It took a lot of work. Look, this embroidery pattern, this stitch."

As the lady of Jinxiufang introduced, the little girl behind her brought the neatly ironed silver fox cloak to Lue, and let her hold her eyes.

Lue approached, looked carefully for a while, and admired slightly in her eyes: "It is full of embroidery, and the silver satin is also very good, and the leather is not spoiled."

She checked it inside and out, and after confirming that it was correct, she said with satisfaction: "This time the palace banquet came suddenly, and the lighting of the lights was so exquisite. Your shopkeeper has a heart."

The mother-in-law humbly smiled, and her heart finally settled down.

The little ancestor served by Miss Lue is Ming Tan, the youngest daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an. Since she was a child, she has been favored by thousands of people, and she has seen many good things, and she is very picky. Even for ordinary things, it is not easy to get the green calyx beside her to nod.

It just so happened that this little ancestor was kind to the shopkeeper of his house, and before dawn today, the shopkeeper sent her to deliver clothes from the Jing'an Hou Mansion, and specifically told her that she had to go to the little lady's place in person.

Thanks to Lue's "careful" words, she was finally able to go back to get a good job and sleep peacefully.

On the side of Zhaoshuiyuan, Lue collected her clothes, stuffed her rich purse, and politely sent Mama Zhang and her party out of the Chuihua Gate.

On the other side of the Fenghe Courtyard, another line of women and maids delivering clothes slowed down and just entered the main room.

Mama Huang, who was also serving Mrs. Hou, saluted and introduced clothes and jewelry to Shen Hua, a cousin girl living in Hou's mansion, with a smile.

Shen Hua listened, and glanced at the brocade costume gemstone hairpin in the drawer, and finally softly and softly said: "Thank you Mama Huang for making this trip, Ah Hua thank you Madam."

Immediately, he gave another wink to the personal maid.

The maid understood, stepped forward with small steps, and stuffed Mama Huang with an exquisitely embroidered purse.

The purse is exquisite, but there is not much money in it.

After leaving the Fengheyuan, Madam Huang rolled up her sleeves to find out the reality.

She didn't care about the slightest reward, but just happened to meet Zhang's mother and her party who came out of Zhaoshuiyuan, and it happened that she and Zhang's mother didn't get along very well.

"I've heard that there is a lot of rewards for going to the young lady's business. It's true. When I leave the house another day, I can buy the rouge I saw in Lancui Pavilion before."

Behind Mama Zhang, a round-faced little girl who had just been promoted to the second class and returned to Zhaoshui Courtyard was discussing with her companions.

The tall girl behind Madam Huang couldn't help but sneered when she heard this: "It's just an ordinary reward. When you go to buy rouge, don't say that you are from our Hou's mansion. Don't let people think that Jing'an Hou's mansion came out." They’ve never seen the world before.”

The little girl with a round face rose from the third class to the second class in just half a year, and her verbal skill should not be underestimated.

She hurriedly acted surprised: "Such a reward is not unusual... Could it be that the reward given by the cousin girl can buy a rouge shop?"

"you!"

"Okay, don't be as knowledgeable as her." Someone grabbed the tall girl, "We are all from the wife's courtyard, and we only care about one thing when we go out on business, and nothing else matters."

The tall man was persuaded to lose his temper, and followed the words to think of the key point, and smiled instead of anger: "Yeah, running errands is all about smoothness, and the whole family, I'm afraid there is nothing more smooth than going to the cousin's place to do errands." It's gone."

She didn't tell the little lady about the cumbersome errands, but the little round face pretended not to know and didn't respond.

The tall girl said again: "Speaking of which, it's rare, the cousin girl is gentle and beautiful, with excellent talents and sentiments, and she treats the servants so kindly."

"I think it's even more rare to have a good brother." Another girl behind Mama Huang interjected.

The tall girl agreed: "That's right, with Little General Shen around, Cousin girl's future will definitely not be bad."

The little round face smiled: "The two sisters are concerned, the madam and the young lady are our serious masters, the future of the cousin girl is the fate of the cousin girl, but it has nothing to do with the two sisters."

The tall man choked back without even thinking about it: "Biao girl lives in the Hou's mansion, and the Hou's mansion of Qiancheng has a reputation, so why can't she care? Maybe after today is over, she will fly to the branch and go to Changyu. The street has moved."

It seems that there is a sudden cold wind passing through the corridor. The East Garden corridor, which was still lively just now, suddenly became quiet because of these words—

Everyone in Shangjing knows that there is only one mansion on Changyu Street.

The one who lives inside is not something everyone can mention in Daxian.

The two mothers who didn't hear these arguments stopped suddenly, turned around and scolded: "What are you talking about! The one on Changyu Street is also something you can arrange? Who gave you the courage to gossip here? root!"

The girls were startled, knowing that they had said something wrong, they all held their breath, their heads wishing they could hang down to their toes. The **** Changyu Street just mentioned her face turned pale with fright, and the sandalwood end in her hand was shaking.

"...Someone mentioned Changyu Street, and the two mothers became very angry. After following the East Garden, the servants were afraid of being discovered, so they dared not follow again."

In the Fenghe Courtyard, Shen Hua stood in front of the window of the main room, listening to the maidservant's report of her eavesdropping.

After listening, the corners of her lips curled up, and she looked in the direction of Zhaoshuiyuan, with a trace of contempt in her eyes that did not match her usual gentleness.

"So this lady is neither gentle nor beautiful, not as talented as her, and she is not kind enough to you. Oh, this lady's brother is not as brave and good at fighting as little general Shen, and his future is not good enough."

In Zhaoshuiyuan, Ming Tan sat at the table with his chin resting, repeating slowly.

The fragrance of Yinsheng tea is soft and light, hidden in the aroma of the morning meal, which seems to be absent. That face, as white and clear as fat jade, was hidden behind the curling white mist rising from the boiling tea, making it somewhat unclear.

"Don't worry about that naughty young lady with a bad mouth. The young lady's appearance and temperament are outstanding among the ladies in Beijing."

Lue couldn't stop her in time, so the little girl who answered said the whole thing, and now she had to change the topic to make up for it: "By the way, Miss, the servants have read all the things Madam sent, and today I enter the palace, just How about wearing this?"

Lue specializes in clothing in Zhaoshuiyuan, and has some insights into the matching of clothes and jewelry. After a while, she started talking about the cloak embroidered with white fox and silver satin from the character "Tan" specially engraved on the hosta.

There was no response after saying everything, Lue couldn't help raising her eyes and peeking: "Miss?" Her voice was a little more cautious.

Su Xin, who served the meal, filled a bowl of porridge and put it in front of Ming Tan, and also helped to remind: "Miss, you have to look at the clothes."

Ming Tan raised his head and glanced at the drawer in Lu'e's hand: "Just this one, it doesn't matter what you wear."

Immediately, he changed his hand to rest his chin, and fiddled with the porcelain spoon in the porridge bowl with the free hand.

Just after five o'clock, she was wearing pajamas embroidered with pear blossoms and white branches, and a soft fox cloak, hanging down her waist like a waterfall of blue silk, and only a lock of broken hair restlessly rested on her thin cheeks.

She didn't know what she was thinking, but her crow-feather eyelashes trembled from time to time, as if responding to the flickering candlelight reflected on the wall of the bowl, looking at her with a bit of beauty like jade.

It's a pity that the beauty has a bad appetite at the moment, and the heat of a bowl of white porridge has dissipated without moving a second time.

Seeing her like this, Su Xin, who is always quiet, couldn't help persuading her: "White porridge nourishes the stomach, Miss, you should use some more, you have to enter the palace today."

Palace banquets are well-regulated, not as comfortable as dining at home, Su Xin is also kind. It's okay not to mention it, but when it was mentioned about entering the palace, Ming Tan felt even more congested in his heart.

Usually, there was no palace banquet in Shangyuan, but the noble family knew the reason for the special palace banquet this time. In the palace, there is still a need to cover up, even someone like her who already has a marriage contract has to go to the banquet together.

If it was normal, it would be fine to join in the fun, but now her mind is full of the bad news that her fiancé-in-law had **** with his cousin and had an illegitimate child long ago!

Although this matter was covered up to death, even her personal servant girl didn't know about it, but the illegitimate child was already two years old, and he would call him "Daddy" when he was alive and kicking. ironclad evidence.

Thinking of the fact that this marriage, which everyone envied her and was quite proud of in the past, would most likely end in a way that is not decent at all, Ming Tan felt that the silver charcoal in the charcoal basin made her internal organs blaze. I also felt that the porridge, which had lost its heat, became cold all the way from my throat to the bottom of my heart.

"Don't eat." She was upset, put down the porcelain spoon, got up and walked into the inner room.

Su Xin looked at her back and sighed, without any further persuasion, she directed the little girls to remove the almost untouched breakfast table.

"Miss, what's the matter the past few days, if you think those girls are talking behind their backs, you can tell Madam to send them away, so you don't even look at the clothes."

The young lady of their family cares most about her attire, every time she goes out, she has to go from the delicate hair to the pattern of the soles of her shoes, no wonder Lue is suspicious, she leans close to Su Xin and whispers to her ear.

Su Xin didn't know either: "I asked when I was on duty yesterday, but the lady didn't say anything, maybe she just wanted to be quiet. Alright, I'll go to the kitchen to cook a bowl of shredded chicken porridge. Don't bother Miss."

Su Xin is a bit older and meticulous and steady, which Ming Tan values ​​the most. Lue pursed her mouth, didn't dare to refute, just twisted the silk sash around her waist and watched Su Xin go out.

But when Su Xin's figure disappeared outside the hanging flower door, she turned around immediately and walked into the inner room lightly.

The inner room of Zhaoshuiyuan is elegantly and exquisitely furnished, from the large carved couch to the small silver hook, each of which can tell a twists and turns, and the incense in different seasons and weathers is also particular.

Today, there is a faint pear fragrance in it, which seems to be absent, sweet and slightly cold. Ming Tan was sitting in front of the dressing table, still half-supporting his head, with a sluggish look.

"Miss, will this servant continue to comb your hair?" Lue stepped forward and asked cautiously.

Ming Tan didn't respond, so she took it as a default, and while combing Ming Tan's hair with a corner comb, she thought that she was caring to solve her worries: "Miss is worrying about my cousin, and the girl is going to enter the palace today? Don't worry, miss, what is that master?" Status, how can you really fall in love with the cousin girl. Even if you like it, because of the cousin girl's family background, being a side concubine is very reluctant, how can you compare with you, miss, and the lady will be a serious and serious wife of the prince's family in the future. "

Ming Tan: "..."

"Besides, our eldest son has a dignified appearance and outstanding literary talents. Who in the whole capital would not envy you and the eldest son, a golden boy and a beautiful girl, a perfect match!"

This sentence is very low, but the tone of honor is like a needle piercing to Ming Tan's ears.

Who wants to be a natural match with that faceless and skinless? He deserves it too!

She was afraid that if this girl said a few more words, she would vomit blood out of anger, so she closed her eyes and raised her hand to signal to stop: "Bring the mirror."

Lue didn't know what she said wrong, but fortunately her brain turned quickly, she hurriedly took off the small bronze mirror, and changed her tone in a sensible way, standing aside and praised Ming Tan's appearance of falling geese and sinking fish.

Ming Tan looked at the person in the mirror carefully, but didn't answer. It's just that from the corners of her lips that are gradually raised, it's not hard to see that she takes Lue's praise very seriously.

— This girl Lue's outrageous words and deeds often pierce her heart, but there is one sentence that is right: with such a face, you can use a few more bowls of rice alone.

After taking a selfie in the mirror for a while, her anger that day also inexplicably subsided, and there was only one thought in her mind: why is this lady so beautiful!