Fortunately, Lanqin only asked Wang the carpenter to make about ten miniature hidden boxes overnight, so he stayed up all night and, seeing that the task Lanqin had given him was done, delivered them to the South Courtyard early the next morning.
Li Shubao was sweeping outside when he saw Wang the carpenter carrying a basket, just like last time. He said with a hint of sarcasm, "Oh, so you've come to present another treasure to the princess."
Carpenter Wang chuckled, offering no reply, but simply said, "The Princess ordered me to finish it as soon as possible, and this servant dared not delay. I wonder if the Princess is awake yet?"
Li Shubao said, "Princess, you stayed up late last night and haven't gotten up yet. Why don't you go sit at the gatehouse for a while?"
Carpenter Wang readily agreed. He was a man who made a living through his craft, unlike Uncle Li who needed to rely on his wit and eloquence to excel.
After waiting for an hour, our Comrade Lanqin finally got up. Nianxue informed her that Carpenter Wang had been waiting at the gatehouse for an hour. Lanqin immediately summoned Carpenter Wang, and upon seeing the things he was carrying, immediately ordered him to present them.
What the carpenter handed over was a small, square box made of wooden planks, with a circular opening about the size of a child's fist on top. There was a small hole on each side of the circular opening. Nianxue, who was combing Lanqin's hair, kept looking at this strange object from beside Lanqin, but she couldn't figure out what it was for.
"Excellent, Carpenter Wang, your craftsmanship is truly superb, perfectly meeting my requirements. Nianxue, here's a reward!" Lanqin held the small wooden box, examining it from all angles, her face full of delight.
"This servant thanks Your Highness for the reward!" Carpenter Wang's all-nighter hadn't been in vain; Nianxue had given him a large purse containing five taels of silver. That was almost a month's wages for him.
"Nianxue, quickly help me comb my hair. Xicha, help me change my clothes. Later, all of you, along with Ziran, Huanbi, and Uncle Li, go and put the peaches in the cage!" Lanqin said excitedly.
They didn't know what Lanqin was planning, but seeing her excited expression, they knew that the princess must have some good idea and was going to take them along. So they couldn't help but wonder what the small wooden boxes that Wang the carpenter had brought were for.
Lanqin led everyone back to the peaches from yesterday, and instructed Li Shubao and the others to put down the small wooden boxes. Then she said to everyone, "You all go and find the peaches that are free of wormholes and look good, and then put these small boxes on them one by one. Be careful not to damage the fruit."
No one had ever heard of packing fruit in a wooden box before, and they began whispering among themselves.
“I’ll explain it to you now, but you might not understand. Wait until the results are in, then you’ll understand. Nianxue, you and Xicha go and tie these boxes.” Lanqin turned to Li Shubao and said, “You brought all the patterns you cut out yesterday, right? You, Xicha, Huanbi, and Ziran, wrap these colored papers around the peaches, and tie the paper strips tightly with string so the paper doesn’t come loose. Then slightly adjust the position of the colored paper on the peach so that the patterned part is exactly on the front of the peach. Do you all understand?”
"Yes!" The group immediately split up and took action. Although they still didn't quite understand why Lanqin was doing all this, they didn't say anything more and followed Lanqin's instructions one by one.
Seeing the little peaches all dressed in their "new clothes," Lanqin smiled and silently thought to herself, "I hope the weather will be kind and it won't rain. If these peaches grow like this for ten days, they will surely grow into the shape I want."
After Nianxue and the others finished binding all the colored paper or small wooden boxes, they came to Lanqin and looked at the results of their work, which had taken more than half an hour.
"Princess, these papers won't withstand the rain. If it rains, many of them will probably be torn." Li Shubao thought of this first, perhaps these paper flowers were all made by him.
"Summer usually doesn't rain much, so I hope the heavens won't let our hard work go to waste. Consort De's birthday is in ten days. It all depends on these ten days. Heaven, I hope you won't disappoint my expectations." Lanqin looked up and squinted at the scorching sun before leading everyone back.
Before long, news of Lanqin's commotion spread throughout the mansion, and the servants, out of curiosity, went to the garden to see what was going on.
The news had already reached the main courtyard, where the Princess Consort was having Chunliu massage her shoulders. Granny Li was reading aloud from a similar ledger, line by line.
"A pair of white jade bowls, a red gold censer, a pair of white jade bi discs with double peacock patterns, a jade ruyi, a pair of gold openwork bat and longevity flat vases, a white jade three-sheep ewer, two pairs of agate cups with single dragon handles, a crystal rooster vase, a pair of gold gourd-shaped boxes inlaid with gemstones, a pair of octagonal boxes with openwork floral patterns..." What Granny Li was reading was the gift list stored in the backyard of the Fourth Prince's mansion.
"Alright, let's take the crystal rooster vase and the gemstone openwork floral octagonal box as birthday gifts for Mother. As for Fourth Prince, he should have a separate gift." The Fujin (Prince's wife) had sent Granny Li to clear out the inventory early in the morning. Her inventory consisted of her dowry, gifts from the Emperor and Consort De after she married Fourth Prince, and the annual allowance from the Imperial Household Department to the Fourth Prince's residence. Actually, Fourth Prince had another storeroom where the truly valuable items of his residence were kept, but he hadn't entrusted them to her; instead, the head nanny managed them.
Granny Li glanced at the Fujin (principal wife), responded, and then closed the account book.
"I can't very well send back the things my mother bestowed upon me," the Fujin said, her brows furrowing slightly. The things distributed from the palace first passed through the head nanny's purse, and what ended up in her hands was neither much nor the best.
"Princess, I just heard something from outside. I wonder if you would be interested in hearing it?" Granny Li addressed the princess's daughter by her maiden name.
"What is it?" The Fujin opened her squinted eyes. Now, anything related to Lanqin was constantly on her mind.
"This old servant heard that the one from the South Courtyard took a group of people to the garden today," said Granny Li, feigning mystery.
Upon hearing that it was Lanqin, the Fujin's eyes flashed with coldness, and she muttered, "Doesn't she always go to the garden? What's so strange about that?"
Granny Li handed the account book to Xia He, gave her a wink, and then said, "She brought a lot of strange papers and small boxes made of wooden pieces. She tied all these things to the peaches in the garden. It's really strange. This old servant has never seen anything like it before, and has no idea what she's doing."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
