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Chapter 109 Asking for a Sachet
Dayu country attaches great importance to farming and weaving, and the farming and weaving festival has been around for a long time and has long been a tradition of Dayu country. The emperors of previous dynasties also paid special attention to this festival.
On the day of the Cultivation and Weaving Festival, Emperor Qing took several princes and his ministers to work in the farmland near Lijing. Inside the palace, when the hour passed, officials’ family members drove to the front door, where rows of embroidery racks for the girls had been arranged in advance, and beside them were baskets of thread. The young girls were seated in front of their respective embroidery racks. The new robes that were intended to be donated to poor areas had been cut and sewn in advance. Now the embroidery is the last one to be compared.
A few years ago, Empress Bai hosted the weaving and embroidery conference, but everyone gathered together, talking and laughing to make some new robes, and there was no embroidery, because the embroidery was too time-consuming. Now, since there are more embroidery, the tailoring of new robes is done in private beforehand.
Qin Jiu originally didn't want to participate, but since Imperial Concubine Hui had spoken, she naturally wouldn't refute her intentions, so early in the morning, she also took a carriage to the palace.
Not long after Qin Jiu sat down, Shang Sisi and Shang Chuchu arrived. When he saw Qin Jiu, Shang Chuchu took the initiative to come over, sat on Qin Jiu's right side, and smiled playfully, "Sister Qin, what do you want to embroider today?" He blinked at Qin Jiu, apparently he had revealed to Shang Sisi the method Qin Jiu had told him quietly.
Qin Jiu smiled and said, "I plan to embroider—a pig!"
When Shang Chuchu heard this, he laughed out loud, "Sister Qin, you really want to embroider pigs, then we just coincided."
Qin Jiu raised his eyebrows and said, "What do you want to embroider?"
"I want to embroider a few dull geese." Shang Chuchu smiled.
Qin Jiu couldn't help smiling. Most embroidery likes to embroider flowers, grass, birds and fish, and most of the animals embroidering are mighty gods, such as tigers, leopards and horses. There are really few things like embroidered pigs, sheep and poultry.
Shang Sisi followed his sister and sat on the left side of Qin Jiu. She looked pretty good, her eyes were firm, and she was clearly confident. Fang sat there and ordered the maid to start dividing the silk thread.
Qin Jiu lifted his eyes and glanced around, and saw Su Wanxiang leading two maids slowly coming. Because of the special nature of this festival, in order for the women in the palace to experience the difficulties of the common people, no matter what weaving and embroidering, they must wear common clothes and skirts. Su Wanxiang is wearing a moonlight sarong today, her black hair is combed into a simple bun, with only a wooden hairpin on her head, which looks simple and dignified. She sat down in front of an embroidery stand in front of Qin Jiu, one of the maids following her stretched the cloth on the embroidery stand, and the other bent over and began to squat down on the identity line.
After a while, Imperial Concubine Hui walked out in a light dress surrounded by court ladies. She and Emperor Qing's concubines sat in front of the embroidery shelf in the front row and embroidered herself.
After the hour, no one spoke in the square of Nuo Da, all the women bowed their heads and started embroidering.
The lychee had divided the silk threads, and Qin Jiu grabbed the embroidery needle and began to embroider.
Embroidering is a delicate task and it takes a lot of time. At noon, Imperial Concubine Hui ordered the Imperial Dining Room to prepare meals in Chongren Hall and set aside meals for everyone. After eating, the ladies rested for a while, then went over and started embroidering.
It was not until the afternoon of the application that Qin Jiu finally finished embroidering. She embroidered a pig in matte color, and in front of the pig was a cluster of molan. She uses double-sided embroidery. The front view is a pig, but the back view is a flaming red fox and a bunch of yellow wild chrysanthemums. The naive pigs and the cunning foxes have gorgeous colors on the front and back, with sharp contrasts, which are extremely unique.
Although double-sided embroidery is not a novel embroidery method, it is extremely difficult to master. Generally, it is a relatively simple thing to embroider. It is rare to embroider Qin Jiu.
Shang Chuchu embroidered a few big white geese playing in the water, and she had finished embroidering. Seeing Qin Jiu finished embroidering, she leaned over to watch.
"Sister Qin, I thought there was nothing to embroider pigs, but I never thought you embroidered so cute. I really like it. When will Sister Qin embroider another one for me." Shang Chuchu praised, and finally forgot Can't ask for it. She smiled happily, and her eyes rolled around, like black mercury held in two white mercury.
Qin Jiu curled his lips and smiled and said: "What kind of embroidery do you want for a grand princess of a country? It's also worth asking for."
Shang Chuchu stretched out his finger and touched the pink piglet embroidered by Qin Jiu, his eyes gleamed, "Sister Qin, I really like this piglet. I never knew it could be so cute."
Qin Jiu glanced at the white geese that Shang Chuchu had embroidered, and said in a meaningful way: "It looks pretty dull and sometimes really cute. If you like it, I'll turn around and embroider a sachet for you. "
"Great, thank Sister Qin." Shang Chuchu smiled happily, his eyes curved into crescent moons.
"Jiuye, can you embroider a sachet for this princess as well?" A delicate voice came.
This voice Qin Jiu couldn't be more familiar, it was the voice of Zhaoping Princess Yan Shuixuan. She couldn't help but be surprised, and when she looked back, she found Princess Zhaoping was sitting in front of the embroidery frame not far behind her.
She wore a sky-blue cloth skirt, combed a flying updo, and a silver hairpin obliquely. She had an embroidery needle in her hand, but on the embroidery frame in front of her, only a chrysanthemum was embroidered, which was not obvious yet .
Qin Jiu wasn't someone who didn't pay attention to her surroundings. She remembered that there was no one behind her before. Who knew that after a lunch, Zhaoping didn't know when she actually sat behind her, nor when Zhaoping came over. Ordinarily, she doesn't have much friendship with Zhaoping now, just met at the Snow Praying Festival. As a person of Zhaoping, I would never ask a person who is not familiar with this kind of purse-bag sachet that only friends in the boudoir would give each other. In particular, she was still a member of the Tianchen Sect that Zhaoping would not wait to see.
Could it be that she saw something?
Qin Jiu couldn't help being a little frightened, but after thinking about it, she didn't seem to have done anything that might arouse Zhaoping's suspicion.
Qin Jiu got up and bowed to Princess Zhaoping, caressed the embroidered hair on the forehead, smiled enchantingly at Zhaoping, and said politely: "Princess thank you for me. If the princess likes it, let alone embroider. The bag is embroidered on a screen."
Princess Zhaoping stared at Qin Jiu's face for a moment, and then smiled: "This princess thinks that Jiuye can embroider such ordinary vulgar objects so attractively, it is extremely powerful. I want to ask Jiuye to do an embroidery for me. A sachet full of worry-free flowers, I wonder if Ninth Master is willing?"
"I can't help the princess, I can't ask for it." Qin Jiu smiled and agreed, and sat back in front of the embroidery frame.
Princess Zhaoping wanted a sachet full of worry-free flowers, which she once gave to Zhaoping. Now, she suddenly asked herself what action she had made when embroidering by herself, which made Zhaoping feel familiar.
When she embroiders, she has some habitual movements, such as the movement of the fingers holding the embroidery needles. Although she has changed a lot in the past two years, once she engages in her body and mind, it will inevitably be revealed. This is also Zhaoping, and it is impossible to see if someone is changed, because she often embroiders with Zhaoping.
Although Qin Jiu was a little worried, but soon he was relieved. The things she embroidered now were completely different from before. She embroidered a sachet for Zhaoping, and she couldn't see much.
"Princess, what kind of sachet do you want?" Qin Jiu asked Shang Chuchu, turning his head.
Shang Chuchu flashed a pair of big eyes, tilted his head and said: "I want an embroidered piggy."
Qin Jiu smiled and said, "It's okay, but you have to embroider a goose for me." She gave it to Durian.
Shang Chuchu was also an exquisite, and he knew what Qin Jiu was paying attention to, and his face turned slightly red.
It's almost time, and all the ladies are almost ready to embroider. Due to the limited time, so the selection is not large embroidery, so the embroidery is fast. Some people from the palace came over and collected everyone's embroidery. The women embroidering officials in the palace gathered together to judge the top ten.
To Qin Jiu's surprise, the first two are tied, namely Su Wanxiang and Shang Sisi. It is said that both of them used their own original embroidery methods. The second is Qin Jiu. It is said that she was second, but it is because she embroidered piglets, which is extremely novel, and her embroidery skills are also good. It was the farming and weaving festival, so the pig raised as a farmhouse was very suitable, so she was given second place. Shang Chuchu's Big White Goose is in third place. Since Emperor Qing's concubines were not among the candidates, the following ones were all embroideries of the daughters of the courtiers. Princess Zhaoping was not selected because her bunch of chrysanthemums had not been embroidered.
Emperor Qing’s Luanjia had already returned to the palace and had arrived at Chongren Hall. The Imperial Concubine Hui sent the palace staff to present the top ten embroidery products. After a while, Emperor Qing and Li Ying, the chief eunuch in front of him, came to pass on a message, saying it was the holy Ask a few of them to come and receive the reward.
In Chongren Hall, Emperor Qing was sitting on the dragon chair in the middle. On the chair on his right, there were several veteran officials facing the center. On the chair on the left, several princes sat. On the table in the middle, there were several dishes, all of which were used by the farmer's people. It seemed that the Emperor Qing wanted his courtiers not only to experience the suffering of the people's farming, but also to taste their daily food.
After Qin Jiu entered, after giving a salute to Emperor Qing with the other girls, he glanced at him and saw that King Yan Yan Yu was holding a sweet potato in his hand, frowning, raising his neck, swallowing with extreme difficulty. The little eunuch who stood behind him and waited on him, cautiously patted him on the back with some fear. The other little eunuch held the tea cup in his hand and whispered quietly: "Master, you can drink smoothly!"
Yan Yu glared at the eunuch, and said in a voice: "No need."
Qin Jiu almost wanted to laugh, but she held it back very hard. Shang Chuchu, who was standing in front of her, couldn't hold back, and laughed out loud.
Emperor Qing's face sank, frowned, and snorted coldly, "King Yan!"
Yan Yu agreed and hurriedly took the tea and drank it.