Chapter 77 Dragon Boat Festival
As May came, the weather gradually became warmer, and people finally took off their heavy winter coats and put on light skirts.
Today was the day when the palace tailor came to take measurements of Yuying and Kangxi. This was a fixed day every year, and after the masters were measured, they also had to measure the palace maids and eunuchs.
These are the only two days each year when the palace maids and eunuchs have new clothes. The other time is after the Golden Award Festival. These two times are also the days when they change into new work clothes.
After all, if you really count the eunuchs and maids in the palace, they are not very old. Every year, they grow taller, and often the old clothes made last year no longer fit them. But if they don’t fit, there are no extra ones to replace them. They can only wait until the palace uniformly measures the body to change into clothes that fit.
So on this day, all the palace maids and eunuchs were extremely happy.
Yuying was happy at first.
Although she no longer counted on having new clothes every two days, Kangxi rewarded her with a lot of precious fabrics. She even kept the fabrics given to her in the warehouse, and later even made clothes into them and sent them to Kangxi.
Now her wardrobe was filled with new clothes that she could never wear again. But she recalled the past three years when she wore clothes even when they turned white after washing them. On that day, she was no different from the other maids and eunuchs in the palace.
Yuying followed the tailor out of the inner room with a sad face.
Kangxi had just finished measuring Yuying and was now sitting on the couch outside drinking tea. Seeing that Yuying was unhappy, he put down the cup, took her into his arms, and asked, "What's wrong with Yuying?"
Yuying was already accustomed to Kangxi's action of pulling her into his arms whenever he had the chance. She did not resist but found a comfortable position and stayed there without moving.
Yuying looked unhappy.
"I've gained weight!" She felt incredible and turned around to ask Kangxi, "How could I have gained weight?"
I thought something was wrong, but it turned out to be about this matter. Kangxi finally let go of his worry and stretched out his big hand to measure Yuying's waist.
Yuying glanced at the hand on her waist.
Kangxi cleared his throat slightly and said seriously: "Has Aying gained weight? Why don't I feel it? I think Aying is still too thin."
Yuying stared at Kangxi with shocked eyes, "Your Majesty, no matter how you say I'm fat, I'm fat. The tailor just measured my waist and it was two fingers wider than last year."
Because the clothes of the Qing Dynasty were made to be wide, even if Yuying was fat, she would not feel it when she wore ordinary clothes. Fortunately, the clothes were made to be large, otherwise Yuying would not be able to wear the clothes she wore before.
"Don't be afraid, Aying. I will still pamper you even if you get fat." Kangxi wanted to comfort Yuying.
Yuying stepped out of his arms and stared at Kangxi.
Kangxi was at a loss for what to do when she stared at him, and thought he had said something wrong.
[What kind of illusion made Kangxi think that I was afraid of getting fat because I cared about whether I was favored or not?]
[Are all emperors so shameless?]
Kangxi's heart sank.
He knew that she didn't love him, and he didn't insist that she fall in love with him. But she didn't even care about his favor?
He couldn't accept that when he was becoming more and more addicted, and even thought that it would be nice if it was just the two of them in the future, she still just wanted to be the outsider.
Kangxi looked at Yuying's clear eyes and pulled her into his arms again, "Aying, what are you doing getting up?"
Yuying didn't respond, and instead asked something else, "Is the Dragon Boat Festival coming soon?"
Seeing Qingtao walking along the corridor outside the window holding a bunch of mugwort, Yuying suddenly remembered something.
Kangxi followed Yuying's line of sight and nodded, "It is indeed the Dragon Boat Festival. It seems that they are going to hang mugwort to ward off evil spirits and disasters?"
The Dragon Boat Festival is also a big day that comes once a year and needs to be prepared long in advance. In addition to hanging mugwort, people also need to wear sachets. In addition to eating rice dumplings, there are also dragon boat races organized by the court. On this day, the concubines in the harem can also call on the opera troupe to perform.
When talking about the Dragon Boat Festival, Kangxi couldn't help but be moved, and thought of the three identical birthday sachets. Later, he made some inquiries and learned that they were all made by her maids.
"Aying, would you be willing to embroider a sachet for me? I will definitely wear it every day."
When Yuying heard Kangxi asking her for a sachet, her expression became complicated. Thinking of the purses she had embroidered for Concubine An, she politely refused: "Your Majesty, I am not very good at embroidery."
But Kangxi seemed not to understand and said, "I don't want a beautifully embroidered sachet. What I care about is Ah Ying's feelings."
Now that it was said, what else could Yuying do? Of course she could only agree.
On the day of Dragon Boat Festival.
Early in the morning, Yuying smelled the fragrance of rice dumplings.
Yuying got up, Qingtao and Luchen helped her dress up and then put on the sachet that Qingtao had embroidered herself.
When Yuying left the house and was going to Wanshuhongxia, a eunuch came to Qingxi Study to fumigate moxa, and Luchen stayed in Qingxi Study to look after her.
The concubines gathered among the red clouds of thousands of trees.
Seeing Yuying coming, Concubine Yi took care of Yuying.
"Happy Dragon Boat Festival."
Several people congratulated each other.
A small mountain of rice dumplings had been placed in the center of the hall. Kangxi would not be present today, only the concubines and princesses from the harem would be present.
Kangxi, along with the Crown Prince and other princes, held a banquet in the Nine Classics and Three Affairs Hall.
Seeing that everyone was present, Concubine Niu Hulu invited everyone to take their seats. Without Kangxi, the concubines were full of laughter and joy, and from time to time you toasted me and I toasted you back, it was really lively.
There are not many varieties of drinks on the Dragon Boat Festival table, and everyone drinks realgar wine.
Yuying took a sip and found the realgar wine to be mellow and full of flavor. As soon as Yuying took a sip, her face flushed.
Yuying quickly put down the cup and picked up a zongzi. There were four plates of zongzi in front of Yuying, each with a different filling. From left to right, they were candied date zongzi, red bean paste zongzi, fresh meat zongzi, and abalone and pork zongzi. Two sweet and two salty, Yuying hesitated for a moment which one to take.
Since she couldn’t choose, Yuying decided to try them all.
Yuying took one from each plate and unwrapped them. The dumplings were wrapped very well, and the whole dumpling was only a few bites long. For Yuying, even if she unwrapped four dumplings, she would not be afraid of not being able to finish them.
After eating four zongzi, Yuying could no longer eat anything else. She could only watch the other people sitting in the hall, opening a zongzi and eating it in small bites.
When everyone had almost finished eating, they moved to the theater to listen to a play.
The babbling music echoed in the garden all afternoon.
The play at that time was a bit boring to Yuying. She didn't know how many yawns she had to yawn to avoid falling asleep.
Qingtao, who was following her, was afraid that she would fall if she lowered her head.
After Concubine Niohuru left, everyone started to listen to their favorite plays.
Yuying did not want to argue with them, and when she saw Concubine Niohuru left, she quickly ran away with her.
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