PFC Chapter 334 Why did Zi'an go ashore?
Chapter 334 Why did Zi'an go ashore?
These days, their "battle" with lychees is more elaborate than the etiquette of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi at a palace banquet. Every time they pick the fruit, Zi'an would first hold the gold-inlaid jade fruit plate with both hands, kneel down and perform a kowtow to present it, and only after Sizi nodded in acknowledgment would he dare to step back three steps.
As they peeled the lychees, the two were more focused than candidates transcribing their essays for the imperial examinations. Their jet-black fingernails moved rapidly under the cover of bright yellow fans, like they were secretly practicing a lost art of "flower-picking finger technique." The white, wriggling "protein surprise" at the lychee's stem was even more startling than any breach of etiquette before the emperor. Occasionally, a young eunuch carrying an ice chest would pass by, and seeing Zi'an accompanying the little princess as she peeled lychees, he would stop to stare intently, holding his breath, wondering if it was some newly bestowed palace secret technique.
Si Zi laid out the pits one by one: "You know what? These days in the palace, eunuchs gain power like a summer thunderstorm—it comes on suddenly! Look at the current emperor, though he sits on the dragon throne, he doesn't have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. When he's reviewing memorials, he wishes he could weld the vermilion pen to his hand, and when he's touring the imperial garden, he's afraid of being startled by a wild cat that might dart out from behind the artificial hill."
Zi'an nodded: "Hehe, at times like this, all the civil and military officials put on airs of 'the words of the sages,' but only these 'rootless' servants around us are the most considerate. Take last time when the imperial kitchen ruined the ginseng soup, everyone was waiting to see the chief eunuch make a fool of himself, but twenty eunuchs knelt in a row in unison: 'We servants will take the blame for the chief eunuch!'"
"I know that scene; it was even more orderly than the scene on the stage where 'Seventy scholars offer birthday wishes, and Minister Zhou Qingchen presents a eulogy.'" Si Zi, getting carried away, reached for Zi An's forehead with a lychee leaf stem: "Think about it, these people have been tied together since they came out of the castration room. If anyone is rewarded with a jade pendant by the master, wouldn't they get up in the middle of the night to share the sweets with all their brothers in the palace? Yesterday, Eunuch Li was rewarded with a bowl of rock sugar and snow fungus, which he immediately shared with Xiao Zhu, who sweeps the latrines—this isn't like colleagues in the court digging pits for each other; they're clearly brothers who grew up wearing the same pair of open-crotch pants!"
Zi'an, clutching the gilded tortoise-shaped talisman at his waist, stood beneath the roof ornament of the Hanyuan Hall in the Daming Palace—the sun shone brightly, making the glazed tiles of the roof gleam like gold and silver, so dazzling that it made one squint, much like the fish-shaped pouches carried by the newly appointed eunuchs of the Inner Palace, gleaming under their robes.
He suddenly remembered what Si Zi had said the other day. His tone was like the honey-soaked flasks sold by the foreign merchants in the West Market, with a sweet and sour taste: "Look at these scheming eunuchs. They can even calculate the 'path to success' just by looking at the reflection of the roof tiles. Aren't they just like foreign dogs that have seen cheese, wagging their tails like prayer wheels?"
After all, with the emperor's left hand reciting imperial edicts and his right hand holding the Imperial Seal, he must have a free hand to pat the hem of his trusted advisor's robe, right? The force of that pat is like the weather vane, a metaphorical indicator from the astronomical stations of the Southern and Northern courts!
As he got excited, Zi'an lowered his voice and said, "Once that scoundrel Wang Maozhong falls, we brothers from the Inner Palace will stand taller than the stone archway of the Dragon Head Canal!"
Si Zi was using gilded silver tweezers to pick up a crystal dragon and phoenix cake from a plate when she heard this, she raised an eyebrow: "Speaking of Gao Lishi, he was really like a soft golden ball in his early years—his face was as white as powder, his voice was like a young nightingale, and he could recite books. So I took him in as my young master. Who would have thought that 'a dragon hiding its pearl will eventually show its brilliance'? Once he showed his talent, I sent him to the Yeting Bureau to temper his character."
"Your Majesty has discerning eyes," Zi An said, bowing respectfully. This was no longer Li Shimin's child, but Li Longji's Imperial Observatory Lady. The auspicious brocade pattern on his sleeves swayed slightly with his movements. "It is indeed the skill honed by the Holy Emperor Wu Zhou. You can see people as clearly as if they were looking through a mirror, even the finest hairs are visible!"
Si Zi placed the silver tweezers into the Yue kiln celadon plate and continued, "Later, he was adopted by Gao Yanfu and thus acquired the name 'Gao Lishi'. That fellow was as cunning as an old fox from Lishan, and he went to Wu Sansi's mansion every day to deliver his name card, circling around like a whirling whirlwind. I took a liking to him again—well, since he's a piece of jade, I'll take him back to the Shanggong Bureau to polish him."
"Speaking of this eunuch Gao, his tight-lipped nature surpasses even the highest deity of Jinglong Temple," Zi'an tapped the peony pattern on the corridor pillar. "Yesterday, when the Emperor issued an imperial edict, it was he who rode a three-maned horse at breakneck speed to deliver it. What's even more remarkable is his sworn brotherhood with the Grand General of the Dragon Martial Army. The gatekeepers of the Xuanwu Gate of the palace, as well as the opening and closing of the water clock, are all jointly managed by the two of them. When the princes of the imperial clan meet him, which one doesn't call him 'Old Man Gao'?"
Upon hearing this, Si Zi smiled and twisted his shawl: "Isn't that right? This man is as cautious as the water clock of the Astronomical Observatory, as meticulous as the brocade pattern of Yizhou, and yet he can befriend military generals—just watch, once Wang Maozhong surrenders his seal of the Imperial Guard, the chess game in the Ziwei Palace will finally reach the 'center'!"
At this moment, the bells and drums of the Imperial Academy were striking Shenshi (3-5 PM), and the roof ornaments of Hanyuan Hall, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, stained the figures of the two people below the steps with amber color.
Si Zi stroked the four divine symbols on the tortoise talisman. “I suddenly realized that life within these palace walls is like the glutinous rice cakes sold in the West Market—a crispy crust on the outside, but a world of surprises inside. One bite is full of the spicy aroma of pepper and mutton, but you also have to be careful that the small bones inside don’t hurt your teeth!”