Chapter 143: Hiring a Slave
Xia Miaoyuan suddenly hugged the little orange cat tighter.
[Hmph, don't even think about letting this princess put it down, I must take it home.]
The queen just thought it was funny, but she was afraid that people would notice, so she had to pick up a handkerchief and pretend to wipe her mouth to hide the corners of her mouth.
"Miao'er, be good, listen to your mother first." The queen gently stroked Xia Miaoyuan's head.
"It's not as simple as taking a kitten home. You have to choose a day and give a betrothal gift."
Xia Miaoyuan looked at the queen with a puzzled look: "No!"
[My mother, are you kidding me?]
"Miao'er, your mother is right." Concubine Shu smiled.
"Bringing a kitten home is called betrothing a kitten. Betrothing a kitten must be done according to the rules. First, choose the cat, and then pick an auspicious day to pick up the cat."
"On the day of picking up the cat, bring the betrothal gift and sign the betrothal letter before you can do it."
[Oh my god, it was so troublesome to bring a kitten home in ancient times!] Xia Miaoyuan was a little confused.
Concubine Shu had already asked the palace maid to bring the almanac.
"Auntie, let's choose an auspicious day for betrothing a kitten together with your mother, okay?" Concubine Shu asked Xia Miaoyuan softly.
"Okay, okay!" Xia Miaoyuan replied in a baby voice, then ran to the table, blinking her big eyes at Concubine Shu and the empress.
The empress smiled helplessly and flipped through the almanac.
The fifth prince also walked up to Xia Miaoyuan, hugged her shoulders and coaxed her: "Sister, don't worry, I've seen other queens in other palaces do the same thing to marry cats."
Soon, the queen and the concubine chose a date, and three days later would be an auspicious day for marrying a cat.
"Miao'er, let's go back and prepare the things for marrying a cat, and then come to the concubine's place to pick up the cat in three days."
Xia Miaoyuan nodded sensibly, and reluctantly handed the little orange cat to the fifth prince.
Back in Kunning Palace, the queen immediately took Xia Miaoyuan to prepare.
The queen first asked someone to bring a bag of osmanthus candy.
This was a few months ago, when the queen took the second prince and Xia Miaoyuan out of the palace to meet Yin Xizi, and when they encountered an osmanthus forest on the way, the mother and the children picked osmanthus together.
After returning to the palace, the queen had the osmanthus flowers dried, and took Xia Miaoyuan to make a lot of osmanthus oil, osmanthus powder, and osmanthus candy.
Afterwards, the queen prepared a bag of salt, a box of fine Longjing tea, and a box of sesame.
All these things were packed in an exquisite brocade box, and a red paper note with "cat engagement gift" was written on it and pasted on the brocade box.
"These four things, sugar, salt, tea, and sesame, are the cat engagement gifts we are going to give to the cat owner."
Xia Miaoyuan stood in front of the table, tiptoed to look at the four gifts, and touched them curiously.
[Haha, it seems quite interesting. It feels so ceremonial to bring a kitten home. 】
The queen asked Yingxue to find a few wax scrolls with cloud dragon patterns, spread one on the table, picked up the brush, and dipped it in ink.
Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help but stretch out her little hand and gently touched the paper: [What a nice paper! Mother is so grand that she even took out such precious paper. 】
The queen pondered for a moment, picked up the brush and wrote the five big characters "Na Mao Er Qi Shi" in the middle of the top of the paper.
Below it was another big circle, and in the center of the circle, the queen drew a small orange cat.
Then, with the small orange cat as the center, the queen wrote a few lines of words in a circle.
At the bottom of the paper, two lines of vertical words were written on the left and right.
One line was "The Queen Mother of the West testified that she would not travel to the north.
" The other line was "The King of the East testified that she would not go to the south." "
Miao'er, look." The queen picked up Xia Miaoyuan and pointed at the paper for her to see.
"This is the cat engagement book. Signing the cat engagement book means that the cat has officially become a member of the family."
"As the cat's owner, we must take good care of it and not let it get cold or hungry. It must also be obedient and not run around or act naughty."
[So that's how it is!] Xia Miaoyuan looked at the queen in surprise.
Everything was ready, and Xia Miaoyuan was looking forward to the day of the cat engagement.
Although she was born with the memory of her previous life, Xia Miaoyuan was still just a little kid after all, and she still had many of the behavior habits of a child.
[Hey! Why hasn't it come yet? Why hasn't it come yet?] Xia Miaoyuan looked at the almanac again and again.
By the next day, he couldn't wait any longer, so he moved a stool over, stepped on it and tore off the two pages of the almanac, and then pulled the corner of the empress's clothes to let her come over to look.
"Mother, take it! Take it!"
The empress looked at the sloppy remnants of the two pages of the almanac and laughed.
"You kid!"
The palace maids in the room also covered their mouths and laughed.
It was not easy to wait for the day of the cat engagement.
Early in the morning, Xia Miaoyuan and the empress dressed up, took the betrothal gifts and the letter of engagement and went out.
When they arrived at Fuyang Palace, Concubine Shu was already ready and cleaned up the little orange cat.
Xia Miaoyuan used all her strength to take down the four betrothal gifts one by one and handed them to Concubine Shu.
Then he took out the letter of engagement.
The queen dipped one of the cat's front paws into the ink and solemnly stamped a paw print on the engagement letter.
"Okay, we can take it back now," the queen said gently.
Xia Miaoyuan was about to hug the cat, but was stopped by the queen.
Yingxue came over with a wooden barrel, and Concubine Shu put the cat into the barrel. Yingxue covered the barrel with a piece of red cloth.
"Take the cat back, and use a wooden barrel to hold it." Concubine Shu looked at Xia Miaoyuan's dazed expression and explained with a smile.
After that, she turned around and took a pair of exquisite chopsticks, put them in the barrel, and said softly, "Don't forget this."
[There are so many rituals! ] Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The queen and her entourage finally took the cat back to Kunning Palace.
When they arrived at the palace, the empress took Xia Miaoyuan to the small kitchen.
Xia Miaoyuan was completely confused: [No way? The ceremony isn't over yet?]
A picture of the Stove Prince had already been posted in front of the stove in the small kitchen. A
palace maid had taken out a candle, lit it respectfully, and placed it before the Stove Prince.
Yingxue took the little orange cat out, let it face the Stove Prince, and symbolically pressed its head to show kowtow.
[The ceremony should be over now, right?]
Xia Miaoyuan stretched out her little hand and reached for the little cat in Yingxue's arms.
The queen smiled and said, "Wait, we haven't worshipped your deer yet."
So the group came to the courtyard again and let the little orange cat worship Maomao.
Finally, Yingxue stuck the pair of chopsticks given by Concubine Shu in a corner of the courtyard. After doing so, she said to the little orange cat, "This is your toilet from now on. Don't pee or poop here."