"That's good." The Queen Mother nodded slightly, still with her eyes closed.
"There are only the Imperial Guards in Ningguta now," Bi Qiao looked at the Queen Mother's expression. After a pause, she added, "They are all His Majesty's men. Naturally, there will be no villains who will do evil. The eldest prince will surely be safe and sound. Queen Mother, don't worry."
"What's the point of me worrying?" The Queen Mother sighed. She opened her eyes and placed the emerald glass Buddhist beads on the small table. She turned her head to look at the compassionate Guanyin on the altar. She sighed, "I used to hope that he would win the throne and rule the world. Now I just hope that he can be healthy."
"The Crown Prince is blessed by the Queen Mother. Everything will go smoothly for him. Don't worry, Queen Mother." Bi Qiao stepped forward to comfort him. As she spoke, her voice became slightly hoarse. She turned away and wiped her eyes.
"I have to protect him. As long as I am here, he can live in peace for a day. Even for him, my old bones have to endure for a few more years." The Queen Mother said in a deep voice, taking the teacup and taking a sip of tea.
"Queen Mother, you say..." Bi Qiao bit her lip for a long time before continuing in a low voice. "Do you think His Majesty really wants to kill the eldest prince?"
The Queen Mother said nothing, staring at the Guanyin statue absentmindedly, and after a long while she let out a long sigh: "What a sin."
July 7, the 32nd year of Jiasheng
Ningguta.
In the past, Ah Chou only knew that July 7th was the Qiqiao Festival. The laundry bureau did not celebrate this festival, but the needlework bureau did. She had followed someone to have a look and saw that all the embroiderers and palace maids in the needlework bureau bowed to the statue of the Weaver Girl in a proper manner that day. It was said that they were praying to be as clever and dexterous as the Weaver Girl. Ah Chou did not believe this and she had never worshipped the Weaver Girl or the Cowherd. However, she was good at embroidery, which was all taught by Madam Xiang. Therefore, it was better to have a good master than to worship any temple or goddess.
But from this year on, July 7th has another more important meaning for Achou.
That day, early in the morning, Ah Chou got up half an hour earlier than usual. She put on her clothes in the dark, tied her hair into a bun, then tiptoed into Zhong Mingwei's room, changed the cushion for Zhong Mingwei, and then went into the kitchen in the dark.
Today, Achou was generous enough to light candles in the kitchen, and then she started kneading the dough. In the past, Achou used water to knead the dough, but today she used duck eggs, and only duck eggs, without a drop of water, a total of nine duck eggs. Achou didn't even frown, and then she began to knead the dough. The scattered sticky dough gradually formed a ball under her hands, and became smoother and softer. Achou was happy when she looked at the yellow and orange dough in her hands, and kneaded the dough more vigorously.
After kneading the dough, Achou took out the rolling pin. Achou didn't know how to roll noodles at first, but she learned it at the Duan family. Now she has become an expert at it. Zhong Mingwei likes to eat harder noodles, so Achou's noodles are a little harder. It is quite difficult to roll such harder noodles. After a while, Achou was already sweating from exhaustion. Achou stopped and drank a large bowl of water, then continued to bend over and roll the noodles. When she finished drinking three bowls of water, the noodles were finally rolled out, and Achou was busy cutting the noodles.
She didn't know how people made longevity noodles with only one long noodle for a bowl, so she could only use the stupid method. She connected the thin noodles end to end and kneaded them carefully. When they were finally about the length of a bowl, Ah Chou's wrists were so sore. It turned out that this delicate work was much more tiring than chopping wood. Fortunately, she got up early.
…
Zhong Mingwei woke up very early. It was no wonder that Achou woke him up. Since he could remember, he always got up very early on this day. He was always woken up before dawn, and then went to Baohua Temple in the dark. He knelt in front of the tablet on the altar all day long as the monks chanted scriptures.
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