The Moon Over Tang Dynasty

Chapter 112 Uninvited guest, a beautiful woman

When Pei Xingjian arrived home, Liuli was painting a fine painting of peony. The lines had been drawn, and the calyx, petals, and leaves were dyed using different shades of ink.

Pei Xingjian stood behind her and watched for a long time before sighing, "I have never seen anyone painting like you. It is even more detailed than embroidery. This ink peony is really both beautiful and beautiful."

Liuli put down the pen, took a long breath, and felt strangely at peace. She turned around and said with a smile, "It's not ink, it's red peony, the most beautiful and authentic red peony."

Pei Xingjian was a little confused, "Then why are there so many ink marks?"

Liu Li smiled and said, "The more stable the ink is, the brighter the red will be after it is dyed."

Pei Xingjian smiled and shook his head, "I'll look at it after you finish the painting. I really can't think of it now. How many more days will it take to get it?"

Liuli did the math and said, "Today is already the second day of the Lunar New Year, so it must be after the Orchid Bathing Festival."

Pei Xingjian lowered his head in surprise and looked at the three-foot-wide silk painting, "Why does it take so much longer than the one you painted for me?"

Liuli rolled her eyes inwardly. Your figure painting is freehand in light colors, while this peony painting is meticulous and heavy in color. Can it be the same? After thinking about it for a while, I could only explain, "There is a difference between painting and drawing. It took me ten times as long to paint the "Ten Thousand Years Palace" as this painting."

Pei Xingjian nodded and saw that Liuli had put down her pen. He rolled up his sleeves and helped her clear the desk. He asked, "Did Madam Lu Jin come here today? What did you entertain her with at noon?"

Liuli said, "I haven't made gourd heads for a few days, so I used this to entertain her today. The rest are just some ordinary things like cold tao, fish dumplings, and lettuce mixed with melons and fruits."

Pei Xingjian smiled and asked, "I've heard that the gourd heads you make are excellent. Did you leave some for me?"

Liuli shook her head, "Nothing left." Seeing that Pei Xingjian was obviously startled, she smiled and said, "Only fresh ones, do you want the kitchen to cook them freshly?" But Pei Xingjian's eyebrows were raised and he jumped up in a hurry. He dodged to one side, but was immediately hit by his index finger in the middle of his forehead. "How brave, you are teasing me again!"

Liuli rubbed her forehead and glared at him, "A gentleman talks but doesn't do anything. Who can blame you for not listening to what you said?"

Pei Xingjian took a step closer, looked at Liuli and smiled, "Okay, I will do what you said and be a gentleman." Liuli suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing and wanted to run away, but there was no time. Pei Xingjian put his arms around her, lowered his head and kissed her. After a long time, he slowly let go of Liuli, looked at her blushing face, and asked in a low voice, "Did you miss me today?"

miss him? Naturally I thought about it. In fact, since Lu Jinniang left, she has been wanting to ask him, did the pavilion in the backyard originally exist, or did he build it himself after he took over? But looking at his gentle eyes at this moment, I suddenly felt that this question seemed meaningless. Not to mention that the pavilion was originally of an ordinary style, so what if he just liked to build a pavilion like that again? So what if the pavilion was Lu Qiniang's favorite place to entertain relatives and friends? Liuli smiled and nodded, "Why did you come back later than usual today?"

Pei Xingjian sighed, "Not only is it late today, but I'm afraid I won't be able to come back tomorrow. In half a month, I'll be busy with farming. Last year, the weather was good, but this year there's less rain. I'm going out to the city tomorrow afternoon. Please help me prepare." Two pieces of thicker clothes, I will probably spend the night outside the city, but I will definitely come back during the Bath Orchid Festival!" As he spoke, his face slowly darkened, "The shopkeeper and the head of the village from Luoyang said he would come to see me during the Bath Orchid Festival! ”

those people? Liuli frowned, then smiled and said, "Then we'll wait until you come back. You're probably hungry too. How about letting the kitchen start frying the gourd heads now?"

When she was preparing clothes for Pei Xingjian in the evening, Liuli looked through the suitcase and couldn't help but shook her head: Pei Xingjian's clothes were mostly silk robes for daily wear, and then there were a few natural linen clothes. They probably hadn't been worn for many days, and their tentacles were quite rough. It was so hard that I had to go to the courtyard and pound it carefully. Looking at the little maid making clothes under the moonlight, she suddenly missed the cotton that was still almost invisible on the market at this time. "There is a moon in Chang'an, and the sound of thousands of households pounding clothes." When I read this beautiful poem, how could I have imagined that the reason why people in Chang'an pounded their clothes under the moon was because the linen clothes at this time were too piercing, and they had to be worn before putting them on. How about making it softer?

In the morning of the second day, before the morning drum sounded, Pei Xingjian got up quietly as usual, put on his robe, turned around and kissed Liuli on the cheek, but Liuli closed her eyes and put her arms around his neck. Pei Xingjian laughed softly and said, "If you sleep a little longer, I will try to come back as early as possible. If you are bored at home these two days, go out and take a walk."

Liuli hummed, let go of her hand, and watched his back disappear at the door in the morning light. The deep sleepiness suddenly disappeared completely.

Just after breakfast, Ayan took the list as usual and reported the things she wanted to buy today. In addition to daily sundries, there were also Perrin, gourd leaves, cattail wine and other items, but she was preparing to celebrate the Bath Orchid Festival. After calculating that it would cost more than ten bolts of silk, I asked if there was anything else I wanted to add. Liuli thought for a while, there would be no guests coming in the past two days, so there was no need to spend time preparing special meals. She shook her head and picked up the pen to check out the order.

Seeing Ayan go out with the order and go to the warehouse to get the silk and silk to be purchased and delivered to the outer courtyard, Liuli couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. This gift from her aunt is really great. She works meticulously and thoughtfully. These matters related to the purchase of money and silk I've taken care of everything for her these days, so she doesn't have to worry at all. She was thinking that the lady in charge of the inner courtyard came to report how she had allocated people to make life-saving ropes, wrap rice dumplings, and thoroughly clean the courtyard door in the past two days... It took Liuli more than half an hour to handle all the chores. Suddenly I remembered that I would post the Five Seasons Picture and the Five Flowers Picture at home the next day, so I hurriedly turned to the study, sharpened my ink and picked up my pen, and first started to draw the "Five Season Picture" with five poisonous things: snakes, scorpions, lizards, centipedes, and toads. ”, it’s just that I haven’t painted these snakes and insects for a long time, and I was not satisfied with the first two paintings. It was not until the third painting in the afternoon that I felt that it was decent. I was thinking about what color I should use to paint the pomegranate flowers in "Five Flowers" , but Xiaotan suddenly ran in, "There is a visitor at the door, saying that he is the wife of the prince of Hedong!"

 Mr. Cui comes to visit? Liuli couldn't help being surprised, and hurriedly ordered Xiaotan and A'ni to greet the people, while she washed her hands and changed clothes. However, she didn't have time to comb her hair again, so A-yan turned around and took a slightly more gorgeous gold hairpin and tied it in her bun. superior. Just after finishing cleaning up, Ms. Cui had arrived in the yard.

Liuli hurriedly walked out the door, only to see Mrs. Cui dressed in elegant clothes, with six or seven flowery maids behind her. She came over with a happy face. When she saw Liuli, she smiled and said, "It's really right to come and disturb the house so presumptuously." I can’t live with my sister-in-law.”

 Sister-in-law? Liuli trembled silently, and a sincere smile appeared on her face, "What are you talking about, madam? It's too late for Liuli to be happy that you can come to the humble abode as a guest. It's just that the furnishings in the humble abode are crude. Madam, please don't dislike it."

As Cui and Liuli walked in, they said, "Now we are all members of the same family, and calling me Madam is too foreign. Just call me Atui."

Liuli could only smile and nod, "Liuli is now disrespectful. I hope Atui won't be polite either."

The two of them went to the hall and sat down separately. Liuli was ready to greet Pei Anshi's two daughters-in-law. She talked nonsense with the prince's wife, but she only drank two sips of buttermilk and praised her a few times. The hall was elegantly decorated, and he smiled and said, "Actually, I am here because it has been a few days since you two got married, and I have not visited here before, which is really rude; and secondly, today the eldest princess heard about you. Although the house has been tidied up, there are still a few servants, and there are only a few decent maids, so I was ordered to send a few more maids immediately! "

Liuli almost laughed in shock, is this okay? The so-called natal family’s road to dowry is deadlocked, so today we have to force the cow to have its head pressed without drinking water? After thinking for a while, he knelt down and said, "Liuli thanks the eldest princess for the reward. The princess originally felt sorry for Shou, but Shou's temperament was really weird. When she lived in Changxingfang, she didn't need maids at all. After we got married, I originally said that I would buy more maids, but he was not happy, saying that he was not used to it. There were originally seven or eight maids in the upper courtyard, but in the end he only allowed five to stay. …”

Mrs. Cui hurriedly said, "Auntie, I don't know. No matter how good-hearted you are at keeping promises, now that you are married, you will have to entertain his colleagues and friends in the future. How can you manage these few maids in the house? It's too degrading!" Others don't know that it's because of your prudentness in keeping the promise, but they will suspect you of being narrow-minded! In my opinion, you might as well keep two of them with better colors, and it will make sense on the scene. Why bother letting others talk about it? If you don’t accept the kindness of the eldest princess, how will Ah Cui return the favor? Is it possible that you don’t want to repay the princess?”

Liuli turned around and looked at the young maids standing in the hall, with a look of helplessness on her face. She lowered her head and sighed, "Liuli doesn't dare."

Ms. Cui nodded and smiled, "That's it!" She turned around and said to everyone in the hall, "Xue Nu, Yu Nu, come up and see Mrs. Kudi."

The two maids standing at the end bowed their knees in response, bowed their heads, walked up, and bowed respectfully to Liuli, "My maid has seen Madam."

When the two stood up, Liuli took a closer look and couldn't help but secretly exclaimed: These two maids were both seventeen or eighteen years old. One was wearing a light green shirt, with a graceful and slender figure, elegant and delicate facial features, and a slight The inseparable state of her eyes made people forget about the beauty, but it was a pity that as long as anyone took one look at the woman wearing a silver and red shirt next to her, they would no longer notice her. The woman in the red shirt has a slightly plump figure, but she is just right plump. She has a bright face. She is just standing there, with slightly lowered smoky eyebrows and lightly watered eyes, but there is an extremely charming charm flowing through her red face. The word "invitation" seemed to be written on the water chestnut's mouth, and Liuli felt her heart skip a beat when she saw it.

Ms. Cui said with a smile, "The one in the green shirt is called Yu Nu. He is just good-looking, but he can write well. However, the Xue Nu in the red shirt is good at cooking tea, making incense, playing music, playing chess, singing and dancing, especially playing the flute." Well done." Then he said to the two maids, "You will serve Mrs. Kudi well in the future. If you are not attentive in the slightest, the eldest princess will definitely not let you go!"

The so-called flute at this time actually refers to the Xiao. Liuli glanced at the green six-hole flute hanging on Xue Nu's waist, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in her heart. Such a charming beauty was actually a multi-talented person with math skills. , where did the eldest princess find it? The worth of these two maids would probably cost all the servants in the mansion now, and they might not be able to raise enough... Hearing the awe-inspiring tone in the last sentence of Cui's instructions, I couldn't help but feel a move in my heart.

When Mrs. Cui turned her head, a soft smile once again appeared on her face, "The eldest princess grew up watching Shuu Yue, and she had that fate, so she couldn't help but be extra considerate, and personally pick a thousand picks. If I choose these two, I am afraid that I will fail to keep my promise or lose my dignity. I just hope that they can help you in the future. "

  Is this implying that she must never treat these two maids badly? Liuli smiled gratefully, "Exactly, thanks to the eldest princess's thoughtful thinking, if it weren't for the princess's teachings, Liuli would never have thought that in the future, distinguished guests would come to her house and she would have to use decent maids to entertain them. Now that she has this person personally selected by the princess. You two maids will not be rude even if you have another distinguished guest. They have really helped Shou Yue and me. Thank you very much, Princess Liuli, for your gift!"

Ms. Cui couldn't help but be stunned.

Liuli smiled sheepishly again, "I wonder who these two servants are, did Atui bring them here?"

I continued to surf the Internet at my relatives' houses and found that I had received so many pinks again. I was very happy. Thank you dear Gu Xiaoyan, Cao Hui, Luo Luo Jiutian, lindajiones, star-1999, Chengcheng Baby, Sunshine Sour Plum, KISS in the Deep Sea, verycooldog, Yi Ran999, Xiao Xiaoaijie, Lin Ah Shui, Tudou Ruyue, Yinyin Shancao, Yingwen, rainjin, Book Friends 100311200107202, zqchen, Kanfeng DM, vincent77777, Shuiyi and Fengyestar classmates.

 (End of this chapter)