Chapter 30 Laba
By the time Yuying recovered from her illness, it was almost Laba Festival.
Yuying was able to catch up with Laba, thanks to Kangxi's daily clocking in and feeding her medicine. Yuying suspected that Kangxi did it on purpose, because the medicine tasted much more bitter if she drank it mouthful by mouthful than swallowing it all at once, but Kangxi insisted on feeding her.
What did Kangxi mean? Of course, Kangxi was secretly happy! Looking at her miserable face, Kangxi felt a kind of revengeful pleasure.
I want you to look down on my Qing Dynasty! I want you to secretly curse me in your heart!
Seeing that the disease was about to be cured, what could Yuying do? Since she couldn't die, she could just live well.
These days, we just have to endure them one day at a time.
In a blink of an eye, it was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The aroma of Laba porridge wafted through the palace early in the morning. The palace maids and eunuchs everywhere had obvious joy on their faces. The lifeless Forbidden City seemed to have come alive.
Changchun Palace is also lively.
After recovering from her illness, Yuying returned to her heartless state. As soon as Laba Festival came, she excitedly ran to the main hall and borrowed Concubine An's small kitchen, saying that she wanted to cook Laba porridge by herself.
At this time, Laba porridge is made with various grains as the basic ingredients, and then slowly boiled with lotus seeds, dried lilies, almonds, melon seeds, etc., and finally rock sugar is added, and a bowl of thick and sweet Laba porridge is ready.
When Kangxi arrived, Yuying was already drinking a bowl of Laba porridge.
As soon as he walked into the yard, Kangxi smelled a fragrance that was different from the Laba porridge cooked in the imperial kitchen, and he could not help but quicken his pace.
Kangxi came here every day during this period. He was the emperor and was used to doing things his own way. He used to dislike Changchun Palace, but now he came here happily every day, regardless of what the other people in the harem thought.
It was also thanks to Kangxi's daily visit. On the first day he came, he was disgusted by the emptiness of Yuying's territory. Then he sent rewards one after another to Yuying's small west side hall, ranging from antiques, jade, porcelain, valuable calligraphy and paintings to furs, silks, rouge and powder, as well as rare flowers in winter, all of which were moved to Yuying.
In just a few days, Yuying's originally plain palace was transformed into a golden nest. Yuying was not as bold as before when she walked around, for fear of accidentally breaking something, after all, these were all real antiques!
When Kangxi walked into the room, he felt the warmth inside the hall. He took off his cloak and handed it to the servant beside him. Then he saw the little noble lady he had been thinking about sitting on the couch, drinking a bowl of porridge.
The couch was covered with a whole fox skin.
Since Kangxi learned that Yuying was weak, he sent her countless furs, some large pieces were used to make cloaks, and small pieces were used to sew clothes. This fox fur was specially ordered by Kangxi because Yuying often liked to curl up on the couch.
Yuying was happily drinking porridge, with a charcoal fire burning beside her. She felt warm all over, and her face was not as pale as before. Seeing Kangxi coming, Yuying waved to him, "Your Majesty? It's better to come at the right time than to come early. Just in time for you to try the Laba porridge I made."
After spending these few days together, the relationship between Yuying and Kangxi was not as stiff as it was at the beginning, and things between them became more and more natural.
To her, Kangxi was no longer just a thin piece of text in the history textbook, but a living person standing in front of her, embodying all his joys, sorrows, anger and happiness.
Seeing that Yuying had no intention of standing up to greet him, and that she had such an unruly behavior, the servants of the two men were already used to it. Kangxi naturally had no intention of blaming her, after all, all this was the result that he was happy to see.
Hearing Yuying's call, Kangxi did not hesitate, strode over and sat on the other side of the couch.
Pei'er, who was waiting on the side, handed over a bowl of Laba porridge with a hint of courtesy, and Kangxi took it.
In fact, Kangxi had already drunk Laba porridge before coming, but looking at Yuying's expectant eyes, Kangxi was not able to say it out loud. He could only pick up the spoon and feed himself a mouthful. It was easier to swallow than he thought, and Kangxi couldn't help but drink a few more mouthfuls.
After putting down the bowl, looking at Yuying's wet eyes, Kangxi knew what she wanted to hear, so he was not stingy and praised her a few words.
Yuying was happy to hear the praise, and asked the servants guarding the house to go and taste the porridge she cooked, so there was no need to keep anyone to serve them.
Qing Tao and the others withdrew, leaving Liang Jiugong staring at Kangxi with an embarrassed look on his face.
Kangxi glanced at him and asked, "Why? Didn't you hear what your noble master said?"
Liang Jiugong got permission and then withdrew.
Kangxi and Yuying were the only ones left in the room.
Kangxi looked at Yuying who seemed to be hesitant to speak, and did not urge her, so the two of them remained in a stalemate.
Finally, Yuying couldn't sit still anymore, so she stood up, squatted beside the charcoal brazier, and fiddled with the charcoal fire in the brazier.
Kangxi looked at her with her back to him, looking conflicted, and couldn't help laughing.
"What's wrong? Just tell me what you want to say. Why can't you open your mouth in front of me?"
When Yuying heard Kangxi's voice, she approached him with a fearless attitude and said, "Your Majesty, why are you so kind to me?"
Yuying always felt that Kangxi's kindness to her came all of a sudden. At first, she thought Kangxi liked her face. She was not exaggerating. Her face was one of the best among the three thousand beauties in Kangxi's harem. Moreover, Kangxi had been dragging her to do that kind of thing every day since the beginning.
But slowly, Yuying found that Kangxi was not such a beauty-seeking person. Even if he didn't do that, Kangxi was still very good to her. But Yuying thought that apart from her face, she was not good at anything else, such as music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and songs, and there was really nothing that Kangxi would like.
Could it be that she really has some kind of charming aura?
When Kangxi heard Yuying's question, he was stunned for a moment, then he pulled her up and held her in his arms.
Why are you so nice to her?
Okay?
Kangxi reflected on his actions and felt that it was not a good thing. After all, he had ulterior motives towards her and wanted to use her. Everything he did was just to make himself feel at ease.
When he learned that day that she only wanted to go home, he felt a little depressed. He spent a long time alone in the Qianqing Palace thinking about how to make her stay willingly.
But he saw that she seemed to have no other desires, which really made him at a loss. She didn't care about offspring and family background, which were the concerns of ordinary concubines.
He had never felt so difficult with a person. She wanted to die and go home at every turn. If it were someone else, Kangxi would have fulfilled his wish long ago. But she, he could not hit or scold her, he could only go along with her and pamper her, so that she could live a comfortable life here and no longer think about going home every day.
From her inner voice, he knew that her parents were loving and that she had a safe life. He could not replace her parents, so he could only be better to her.
Kangxi glanced at the little girl who was nestling in his arms and patted her head. "Really? Is that enough? I will treat Ah Ying better in the future!"
Yes, Yuying really couldn't accept the title of "beloved concubine". After much persuasion, Kangxi finally changed his name. But Kangxi refused to call her by her real name and insisted on calling her "Aying". Yuying had no choice but to let him call her that.
Yuying raised her head and saw that Kangxi didn't look like he was joking, then lowered her head again.
[Whatever, just accept it. You can’t refuse it anyway.]
Listening to the little girl's heartless voice, Kangxi laughed out loud.
It’s better to be heartless!
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