At that time, Youshi and Sister Feng had arranged everything in the garden and came to invite them for a Yuan Chun outing.
Jia Lian was about to retire, but Yuan Chun called him to stop him and said, "I just heard from my grandmother and mother that when we first planned to build this garden, it was Brother Lian who was fully responsible. I think Brother Lian was also responsible for this. He has put in a lot of effort and understands the profound meaning of the various constructions in the garden better than others. Therefore, I would like to ask brothers Lian and Baoyu to come with me to the garden for guidance. I wonder if brother Lian will agree?"
Jia Lian laughed when he heard this and said: "My eldest sister has a destiny, but I dare not obey it."
When Shan Ziye designed the blueprints for the construction of the Grand View Garden, it was indeed Jia Lian who had full authority to build it. supervision. But later, Jia Lian sent Princess Zhaoyang out of the customs first, and then was ordered to go south to the south of the Yangtze River to work. This delayed the supervision and layout of the garden.
The reason why Yuanchun proposed this was not because she really wanted Jia Lian to be her guide, but more simply to show everyone that she cared equally for Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu, and there was no distinction between them. Naturally, Jia Lian could not fail to see this, so he agreed.
So Jia Mu, Jia Lian and others stood up to support Yuanchun and walked into the garden together.
Early in the day, I saw all kinds of lights in the garden among the trees.
The group first started from places such as "You Feng Lai Yi", "Red Fragrant Green Jade", "Apricot Curtain in the View" and "Hengzhi Qingfen", etc., climbed the towers and pavilions, walked along the mountains and waded in the rivers, and wandered around in all kinds of views. , the layout is different everywhere, and the embellishments are novel, which makes Yuanchun highly appreciate it. But he couldn't help but persuade her again not to be so extravagant in the future.
Stepping into the palace from the west gate, when Fang came in, he saw a huge waterwheel lying across the pond. Yuanchun looked sideways.
Waterwheels are not a rare thing, either for farmers to facilitate irrigation, or for manors to divert water to high places, but they all need rapid water flow to be powered.
The pond weir here is clearly dug manually, and the water flow is slow. The waterwheel is placed in it, almost motionless, but I don’t know what its purpose is? Not to mention Yuanchun, even Jia Baoyu, Jia Mu and others were a little surprised for a while. They looked at each other and realized that they were not the only ones who were confused and found it strange, so they all glanced at Jia Lian.
It turns out that from the day when the garden was about to be completed, in order to show respect for the imperial concubine, Jia Zheng had already sent a special person to guard every plant and tree inside and outside the palace to prevent idlers from visiting.
Therefore, although Jia Baoyu and others visited various places in the garden every day, they knew very little about the layout of the palace.
In addition, the fortifications here were temporarily added after Jia Lian returned from Jiangnan and after discussing with Jia Zheng, so even Jia's mother and others did not know about it.
Jia Lian faced YuanChun bowed and then pointed to a bright side corridor next to him: "This is a place for nobles to bathe and change clothes in their free time. As for this thing and the nearby balcony, they are used for collecting water."
If Yuanchun realizes, "Since water is used for fetching water, how can we drive it away from still water?"
"It can be driven by human power."
Yuanchun understands on the surface, but in his heart The confusion is even worse. Since it is driven by manpower and wooden barrels are used, why build such a large-scale fortification? Is it just for aesthetics and beauty?
Seeing Yuanchun's thoughts, Jia Lian smiled and said: "This waterwheel is slightly different from ordinary waterwheels. Because it uses the mechanism of turning the axis, even if there is only one person, it can easily turn the water in the pond. The clean water is brought up from this high platform and poured into the turret.
There are several boilers in the turret to heat the water, and then the hot water is poured into the large bathing pool in the middle of the building through bamboo pipes and ditches. , in order to achieve the effect of a human-powered hot spring. In this way, even if you bathe here in the cold weather, you can still feel happy."
Looking at the construction in front of you, Jia Lian added a few simple explanations , who among the people does not understand the principle?
After thinking about the affairs of Jia Baoyu and others, he became very interested.
It’s not that people didn’t think of pool bathing at that time, but it was just too laborious, expensive, and space-consuming. Therefore, if you weren’t a first-class enjoyment person, how dare you build a pool bathing place? Just take a look at Huaqing Pool in the Tang Dynasty, and you can see how many literati it attracted to praise it.
However, considering that this place was specially built for the bathing of my concubine and sister, I probably wouldn’t have the chance to go in and try it out.
Seeing new things, not only Jia Baoyu and others suddenly became daydreaming, but even Yuanchun suddenly gathered his energy.
You must know that even her Fengzao Palace does not have a pool bath. In the entire palace, it seems that only the Chonghua Palace of the Supreme Emperor has a bathing place. According to rumors, every time the Supreme Emperor bathed in the pool, he had to have hundreds of eunuchs and maidens to serve him at the same time...
By This is evident.
It’s not that the royal people don’t know how to enjoy themselves, it’s just that the palace has strict rules, and every plant, tree, and brick is more noble than anywhere else. Without the emperor’s will, who would dare to touch it?
But within the royal estate, there is no such concern. There are even many manors with hot springs in the royal family's name.
I am just a concubine in the harem, how can I get out of the palace and enjoy it easily?
Therefore, Yuanchun has never experienced a pool bath until today, but he does not want to have a pool bath in his own home, in the palace built by his family for himself.
Although I haven’t gone in to watch it yet, I can guess what’s going on inside just by Jia Lian’s few words.
"It just so happens that eldest sister is going home today. She must be tired from traveling and traveling, so why not go to this building to take a bath first. We have prepared a banquet and several viewing programs for eldest sister. After eldest sister takes a bath and changes clothes, we will come and watch. Not too late." Jia Lian suddenly bent down and asked for instructions.
"This..."
Yuan Chun looked hesitant, glanced at Jia Mu and others, and said: "That's it for tonight, let's talk about it when we have the chance in the future. ."
It was a rare trip home for her. She wanted to stay with her relatives for a while and didn't want to waste time taking a bath.
Jia Lian gave Sister Feng a look. Sister Feng, who had long been unable to hold back her words, saw this and hurriedly knelt down and said, "My queen, don't worry too much. I have already arranged the decoration in the building. Hot water has also been poured into the pool. The empress can enter the palace to take a bath, which will not delay much time."
Jia Mu and others also noticed Yuan Chunming's intention, and they knelt down and said: "Please The empress enters the palace to take a rest."
Yuanchun had already supported her mother, and when she saw everyone was so sincere, she nodded and sighed: "In that case, I will follow your wishes."
Everyone in the Jia family almost didn’t sleep last night in order to welcome the Yuanchun family visit. How could this not be the case for Yuanchun?
But there are many rules and noble people in the palace, and today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Therefore, after she got up early in the morning, she first went to the Queen, the Queen Mother, the Dowager Princess, etc. to greet them, then went to Baoling Palace to worship Buddha, and then went to Daming Palace to receive a banquet. After that, she could ask for orders and leave the palace.
She was eager to return home, so she did not rest for a day. She was so tired all day long, especially when she was accompanied by Jia Mu and others, and visited various places in the garden for more than an hour. I also feel a little sweaty.
On the contrary, although she changed clothes several times, at most she just changed her outer clothes.
Seeing Yuanchun's promise, Zhaorong and others behind her immediately ordered the attendants to file into the palace to arrange bathing matters.
Yuan Chun also nodded with Jia Mu and others, looked at Jia Lian specifically, then turned around and stepped into the hall with gentle steps.
After Yuanchun left, Jia Mu and other female relatives immediately relaxed a little, and finally dared to talk to each other and express some opinions.
"This place was your idea again, right?"
Daiyu walked up to Jia Lian at some point and whispered in a low voice.
Jia Lian turned his head and glanced at her. Seeing how smart and cute she looked, he wanted to touch her head. Then he remembered that this was not the case at this time, so he held back and just looked at her with a smile. .
Daiyu felt a little embarrassed, glanced at him, and wanted to leave.
Jia Lian's words As soon as they landed, Li Wan, who had been watching them from the side, laughed: "This is what the imperial concubine gave to the old lady in her house just now. What does it mean... The empress said that this is a meeting gift given to her in advance... "
Li Wan smiled and spoke, but Daiyu had already blushed.
She took back her little hand and hid behind Baochai on the side.
Jia Lian smiled, even if Li Wan didn't explain it clearly, Jia Lian understood. Come on, a meeting gift from the future eldest aunt to the future sister-in-law.
Seeing Daiyu’s attitude of wearing it on her hand, Jia Lian was very happy.
She remembered that Daiyu was the one who truly looked down upon the powerful. The string of beads given to Jia Baoyu by King Beijing was treated as a treasure by Jia Baoyu, who kept it specially to offer it to Daiyu, but was thrown away by Daiyu like rubbish.
Unexpectedly, she did not dislike the gift that Yuanchun gave her. In her heart, Jia Lian attributed all the internal reasons to herself, feeling that Daiyu cared too much about him, so she accepted Yuanchun. blessing of.
Daiyu ran away, and Jia Lian did not pursue the matter. Instead, he opened his eyes and looked at Li Wan. But seeing Li Wan's beautiful face and clear eyebrows, he suddenly felt that he was very different from the previous "dead wood and gray" image.
Looks particularly gorgeous.
Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was probably because of the makeup. Thinking that it was normal for Li Wan to change his usual bare-face style on an occasion like today, he didn’t think too much about it.
The little episode here fell into Jia Baoyu’s eyes. With a lonely look on his face, he turned and looked to the north... To the north was the sloping building where Yuanchun bathed. People inside were flashing and the lights were bright. He was stunned for a moment, fearing that others would suspect his intentions, so he lowered his head.
Mrs. Wang also saw it, but couldn't pay attention to it, so she said to Jia Mu: "Old lady, let's go to the back hall and wait for the empress."
"That's fine."
So everyone walked around this building and headed towards the main building behind the main hall.
It was naturally difficult for Jia Lian to follow the ladies, so he turned around alone and went to the front yard to look for Jia Zheng and others.
…
In the slanted building, Yuan Chun came in under the guidance of Sister Feng. As expected, he was able to see the scenery of this place, which was a different world.
The decoration and layout are no different from other palaces, except that in the middle, there is an extra bathtub made of white jade that is three feet long and more than one foot wide.
Seeing the large pond here, Yuanchun finally understood why water trucks were needed to collect water and then supplemented by such engineering. If we simply use wooden buckets to fetch water, I am afraid that just filling the pool with water will require countless people to exert their energy.
At this time, the water mist in the pool rose up, covering the entire hall like a fairyland.
He heard the gurgling sound of water again, and upon closer inspection, he found several steaming streams of water flowing out from the west wall of the pool and falling into the pool. Judging from its location and the bamboo pipe that discharges water, it can be seen that it is drawn from the west turret mentioned by Jia Lian.
No wonder the entire hall can be filled with such a warm and fragrant fragrance even in such a cold weather. It turns out that there is a steady supply of hot water.
Seeing the satisfied look on Yuan Chun's face, Sister Feng immediately said to her, "My Majesty, I don't know that when this place was first built, it was only used as a side hall. Later, our Marquis came to take a look and said There is still a lack of a palace for the Queen to bathe in the palace, so this place was chosen for construction.
Even the construction plan was designed by him personally. Because it was not far away from the date of the Queen’s return to the province, in order to quickly He came up with the plan, so he stayed up for several nights in a row, just to build this place before his wife came to the wedding..."
Sister Feng was deliberately taking credit. In fact, As long as you have money and people, and the site is ready, it is really simple to build such a project, and it will be completed in less than ten days.
But after Yuanchun heard this, he felt more and more regretful in his heart, because he glanced at Sister Feng and sighed: "Brother Lian is a knowledgeable and talented man. You can marry him, which shows that you are also talented. Blessed."
When Sister Feng heard this, she suddenly remembered that she had made a fool of herself in the palace. Yuan Chun was also fully aware of it. She felt weak in her heart and shrank her neck and retreated.
Speaking of which, Sister Feng is Mrs. Wang’s niece, and she and Yuan Chun are direct cousins.
He is only two or three years younger than Yuanchun, so he was naturally familiar with her when he was a child.
It’s just that time has changed, Yuanchun is now a noble concubine, and Sister Feng respects authority the most, so she can’t help being a little reserved in front of her.
However, Yuanchun had no intention of controlling Sister Feng. He just sighed from the bottom of his heart.
Seeing her like this, it was not easy to say anything. He just said: "Brother Lian's feelings for me are appreciated by me. Please turn around and thank her properly for me. Okay, please step aside. ."
After saying that, Yuanchun came to the edge of the pool under the guidance of Baoqin, spread out his slender arms, and four maids came forward to undress Yuanchun.
Gorgeous robes are taken off one by one from the noble and beautiful body. This scene is like a human being.A scene in between.
Sister Feng has never been an honest person. Before she retreated into the outer room, she couldn't help but look back. But when she saw this, her heart skipped a beat.
I said to myself that it was lucky that the heartless person couldn’t see this scene, otherwise...
Bah, bah, bah, what are you thinking about? It’s really getting more and more useless, why? Thinking of all the good things about him?
Smiling secretly, Sister Feng sighed again. I don’t know when she will be able to behave like Yuanchun, showing the ultimate grace and luxury?
Shaked her head, Sister Feng was still self-aware. Forget about Yuanchun's status, she would never be able to achieve it in her life. Let's just say that she herself was not suitable for taking the elegant route.
If you really want to force imitation, in unscrupulous terms, the general idea is: imitate others?
Bah, even if I am inferior to her, I am not "Dong Shi". In terms of appearance and figure, I should not be inferior to her... right?
After thinking forcibly, Sister Feng retreated into the outer hall and waited quietly.