The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 7: The difference between high and low

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》Yanxi Gonglue

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 7: The difference between high and low

   “The hour is up!”

   Whether they had finished embroidering or not, the palace maids stopped their hands and looked at Zhang Momo with anticipation and anxiety, just like students waiting for their results on the day of the examinations.

   It was Zhang Momo who was supposed to check the standard of the embroidery but now that Wu Shulai was there, she gave up the right to do so and respectfully said to him: “Please Manager Wu.”

   “How can I overstep my bounds, it's better for you to do it.” Wu Shulai smiled.

   “It's a blessing for these palace maids to have Manager Wu comment on them.” Zhang Momo complimented.

   “All right.” Manager Wu stroked his polished chin and said with a smile, “There's nothing pressing right now, so let's see.”

   Zhang Momo immediately said to the court ladies, “Don't you thank Manager Wu?”

   “Thanks Manager Wu!”

   Wu Shulai raised his hand to silence the voices of the women and then walked with his hands folded, assessing the embroideries in their hands, one by one.

   He said he was commenting but mostly he just shook his head and nodded and it was only when Jinxiu's turn came that he made a rare remark: “Well, the embroidery is fine.”

   She was about to take this opportunity to have a few words with Wu Shulai when she heard an eep and looked up to see that Wu Shulai had walked past her and stopped in front of Linglong.

   “This is ...” Wu Shulai said with a surprised face.

   Jinxiu glanced at it and thought sourly: it's just a wild cat, what's so special about it?

   Embroidered by Linglong with a cat in a bush, the leaves of the flowers sparse, red and white, a civet cat with a variegated pattern peeking out from the bush in a delicate manner, especially the fur on the cat's body, which at first glance appears to be a real cat sewn into an embroidered bandage.

   In terms of stitching technique only, it is not much different from Jinxiu's picture of a begonia sleeping in spring, yet Linglong reverses the handkerchief and says with a smile, “In reply to Manager Wu, it is double sided embroidery.”

   Only to see that on the reverse side of the handkerchief, there was actually a cat as well.

   The same bush probe, the same dainty demeanor, even the fur on its body, is identical to that of the cat on the front.

   “Good, good.” Wu Shulai handed the embroidery bandage to Zhang Momo and said, “What do you think?”

   Zhang Momo squinted at it, she had been working at the Embroidery Workshop for a long time and her eyes were different from Wu Shulai's. She only found that the stitches were not fine enough and there were some mistakes in the colors, which were suspected of being rushed but she didn't point them out either, she just smiled and said: “Since Wu said it was good, it must be. Manager Wu said it was good, it must be good.”

   Jinxiu looked unhappy at her words, she only got one good word while Linglong got two, one from Manager Wu and another from Zhang Momo, just a village cat, what makes her better than her?

   Wu Shulai did not linger too long in front of Linglong, he is a very powerful man and has seen many good things.

   Nope.

   Wu Shulai stopped in front of Jixiang and stared at the embroidery in her hands for a long time without saying a word.

   His silence brought endless pressure on Jixiang and as time passed, Jixiang's nostrils gradually became heavy and even her knees were a little weak, ready to kneel down to him at any moment.

   “This peony is vivid and realistic, the form and the spirit are all there, good, good, good!” Manager Wu spoke again, saying three good things in a row and then said with finality, “I've been in the palace for many years but I've rarely seen such extraordinary embroidery work, it deserves the first place, it deserves the first place!

   Two good words already made Jinxiu pale and when three good words came out, she laughed coldly and said: “Why don't you take a look at Wei Yingluo's embroidery first, as I can see she is the slowest, so it must be the best!

   Wu Shulai frowned and Zhang Momo took in the change in his expression and immediately spoke up and reprimanded, “Who told you to speak!

   Jinxiu's face went white and she hung her head.

   “No harm done.” Wu Shulai said faintly, “Who is Wei Yingluo.”

   The crowd looked in unison towards Wei Yingluo.

   Wu Shulai walked slowly up to Wei Yingluo and said with a faint expression: “What is the embroidery, let me see.”

   “Yes.” Wei Yingluo unclipped the back buttoned embroidery bandage and a brightly colored picture of a brocade chicken caught the eye.

   The golden carp, which Jixiang had half embroidered, was transformed into a golden feathered brocade rooster in just half an incense stick, with its long plumes stretched out behind it, all of them glowing with golden sunlight.

   --and this punctuation is precisely where the previous one failed.

   Only a few people in the room knew that the reason the cock’s crown was so bright as blood was because of the real blood seeping through it, the blood Jixiang had previously wiped on the embroidered cloth, which Wei Yingluo had cleverly transformed into a splash of red on the crown.

   Even Zhang Momo, who has always been very critical of the embroidery, praised it with a rare comment: “A clever idea and good stitching skills, this year’s court ladies are really talented!”

   Jinxiu was not convinced, she had not deliberately led Wu Shulai to Wei Yingluo so that she would be looked at differently by Noble Lady and her thin lips opened to complain but Linglong pulled her back.

   “What are you doing ...” Before Jinxiu could finish her sentence, a small maid not far away from her suddenly spoke up and said, “Chief Steward, Wei Yingluo is cheating on behalf of someone!”

   At these words, the entire the Embroidery Workshop was silent.

   The mountains are high and the waters are low and there is always a struggle between people, as with the court maids and the Draft women.

   “Naran Chuxue, daughter of Squire Naran Yongshou, aged sixteen!”

   The Draft Selection continues in the Royal Gardens Yanhui loft.

   “Speaking of which, that little maid ... What was her name again?” Naran Chuxue stopped thinking and said to herself, “Now is not the time to think about that, Naran Chuxue, it's your turn.”

   She collected her somewhat troubled thoughts and, bowing low, went up to Hongli and said, “I, Naran Chuxue, meet His Majesty.”

   He stared at Naran Chuxue without speaking and the silence was like a dark cloud overhead, making everyone in the hall afraid to leave the room.

   “What's going on with your ears?” Hongli suddenly said.

   The crowd was emboldened by the fact that earlier he had asked something similar, saying both, “What's going on with your feet?”

   After that Wuya Qingdai was in deep trouble and her blood still remains on the stone steps outside the door, two long streaks, which the palace people are hastily rinsing with water, lest the sun should come up later and attract insects and flies.

   Naran Chuxue naturally sensed that the atmosphere was not right and it would be a lie to say that she was not afraid but she was a different person and the more times like this, the calmer she became.

   “Back to His Majesty's words.” She stood in her place with dignity and grace and said back, “My Ama used to say that a woman with three pincers in one ear and wearing flower pot shoes is a rule left by the old ancestors and that if one were to abandon it and follow the example of a Han woman with one ear and one pendant, one would be forgetting one's ancestors.”

   The Draft female five in a group, with her in the door with four other candidates, she said this, three unconsciously dropping their heads and one could not help but raise her hand to touch her earlobe, on which only an earring dangled.

   Of the five, Naran Chuxue is the only one who wears three precious earrings in one ear, red, blue and white, which at a glance are different from the others.

   When she was asked earlier why she was so dressed, she smiled and did not answer but it turned out that it was not that she did not answer but that she had to answer in front of a particular occasion, a particular person.

   “Well said!” Hongli was so pleased that he slapped his hand on the table and said, “The Qing Dynasty has been in the country for many years and the old Manchurian customs have gradually fallen away, I told them to learn Chinese and know the rituals but I did not tell them to forget who they are!

   With those words, he nodded towards the Grand Eunuch.

   The Grand Eunuch would agree and said in a loud voice: “Leave the sign!”

   Naran Chuxue blessed, her posture as skillful as ever, with a calmness that was not arrogant, not happy, not worried.

   “Lu Wanwan, daughter of Lu Shilong, Young Secretary of the Guanglu Temple, aged sixteen!”

   With Naran Chuxue in front of her, it makes Lu Wanwan a bit of a nonentity.

   She was so timid and nervous that she forgot how to walk for a moment and walked with one hand and one foot all the way to the imperial court and before she could look up and reveal her beauty, she was met with a soft smile from Hongli.

   “I have some letters to approve.” Hongli got up and said, “I'll leave first.”

   “His Majesty!” the Fucha Empress said, “What about here?”

   Hongli stretched out and walked absentmindedly past Lu Wanwan, dropping a note saying: “Empress, watch what you do, I trust your eye!

   With that, he strides off without looking back, leaving the crowd staring at him.

   Noble Consort Hui lifted her hand lazily to her side, put it in the hand of the maid and let her help her up: “Since His Majesty has gone, there is nothing to see, so I shall retire.”

   With that, she left without waiting for the Empress to open her mouth.

   The Fucha Empress sighed and looked at Lu Wanwan in a conciliatory manner.

   She had a maternal aura about her, especially her gaze, which was as gentle as a mother looking at her children and under such a gaze Lu Wanwan drew a long breath and gradually calmed down.

   The change in her expression fell on Naran Chuxue's eyes and the words, “She's no match for me ...” could not help but come to mind.

   Lu Wanwan is one of the most beautiful women in the Draft but she doesn't know how to use her strengths and lets opportunities pass her by. She is a timid girl who is always looking for a tree that will shelter her from the elements.

   And don't think about what this place is, it's a harem.

   To rely too much on one person is to place one's fate in the hands of the other.

   “She is no match for me. Who could my opponent be?” Naran Chuxue couldn't help but see a cyan figure in front of her eyes when she thought about it.

   Cyan was the dress she was wearing--the color of the new maid's dress.

   “How could I have thought of her?” Naran Chuxue couldn't help but let out a laugh and said to herself in her heart, “I am Draft woman who has kept her license, she is a lowly maid, she doesn't even have the qualification to sit on my level, how can she have the chance to compete with me?

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS