Recently, I saw several bloggers recommend this maid-in-waiting talk! I like it very much. It took me 4 hours to read it!

This book was dictated by Cixi's personal maid-in-waiting. I like Qing history very much, and I have heard a little about the maintenance of Cixi!

In the book, I am more interested in the palace's attention to food, Cixi's skin care, and the way to keep fit by going to bed early and getting up early!

This way of being dictated by others is more interesting than normal books, and it won't be boring to read!

This book is roughly divided into four parts.

First, the life of ladies-in-waiting;

Second, the daily life of Cixi;

Third, Guangxu anecdotes;

Fourth, other trivial matters

Here are some of my favorite sentences in the book:

Sleeping posture

There are three biggest difficulties in the palace. "The first is to sleep. There is a very strict rule in the palace. Maids are not allowed to sleep on their backs. They must punch sideways. " She got up from the low bench and went to the wooden bed to perform for us. Lie on your side, with your legs curled up, one hand on your side and the other hand sticking out horizontally.

If you don't have enough to eat, you are afraid of eating empty. She sat by the door, staring blankly into the distance, saying something as if she were meditating. "The second and third difficulties are eating and modesty. It is not easy to serve the old lady. From head to toe, no hair is allowed to be messy, but it should be clean, neat and tidy. Don't smell evil, let alone dirty. We haven't eaten fish for several years, for fear that it will smell fishy. If you are a policeman at the top and suddenly smell dirty, it is called' disrespect'. You will definitely lose your job, and maybe your aunt and the person in charge will be involved. The only way is to strictly control your diet and eat only 80% of a meal. Out of the corner of my aunt's eye, she had to leave work at once. It's night. Although I was a little worried at night (the palace called extra food), no one dared to eat it until dawn. We have an example of the month in which we arrived. For example, in summer, from midsummer solstice to hot summer, everyone enjoys a watermelon every day, but maids are afraid of the cold, and no one dares to eat more. She stood on the stone steps in the next room, threw it high and smashed the watermelon to pieces, which made the little sisters laugh.

Diet in Four Seasons "We eat in the palace in strict seasons." This is a new topic, which made her chat with me with great interest. "Take the Lunar New Year for example. It was thirty the night before, and we called it resignation. This day is an exception in the palace, and you can stay up late. 1 1 Before the handover, we will kowtow to the old lady and say,' Good luck to the old lady and all the best to the old lady'. Spring cakes, commonly known as spring cakes, are eaten on New Year's Day, and each table is put with a big box, so it is also called a box dish, which is round and square. There are 12, 16 or 18 enamel boxes, which contain shredded pickles and smoked vegetables, such as green sauce meat and spiced tripe. There are plenty of things in the palace, and eating chickens and ducks is already rough. At this time, we eat a pot every day, so we don't need a big casserole. Because we are not free on duty, we can't all eat at the same time. We can also eat hot dishes in a pot. After eating spring dishes, those who love soup go to the pot and those who love porridge drink two or three kinds of porridge. " She said a lot in one breath. "On the first day of May, there were all kinds of jiaozi, with all kinds of fillings and shapes-square, pointed and steamed stuffed buns. There are all kinds of moon cakes in August Festival and flower cakes in Double Ninth Festival. From1October 15, add pots for every meal, including assorted pots and instant-boiled mutton. In the northeast, we like to mix sauerkraut, blood sausage, white meat, chicken slices and belly slices. We often eat this kind of pot. Sometimes we eat pheasant pot. Anyway, we eat pots for three whole months a year. On the sixteenth day of the first month, the pot and casserole are served. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, there are pea yellow, kidney bean cake and Aiwowo. In the long summer, there are mung bean porridge and red bean porridge; On the solstice of summer, we should eat crystal meat, crystal chicken, crystal belly and so on. In summer, it is also served in cold bowls, such as white gourd lotus root, lotus seed powder, almond tofu and so on. We often eat lotus leaf porridge, which is iced. Melon, pear and peach have an example by season and month. The Qing court pays attention to the discretion of eating, and it is not appropriate. " She recalled her life in those days, showing a sad tone from time to time. Now that she is poor, it is natural to be sad.

The old maid-in-waiting said, "No one who visits the Forbidden City does not visit the West Road, and no one who visits the West Road does not visit Palace of Gathered Elegance, because that's where the old lady lives. The courtyard in Palace of Gathered Elegance can be divided into two parts, the ladder and the temple in the south and the Palace of Gathered Elegance in the back. A simple sentence: Cixi lives in Palace of Gathered Elegance and eats in the topic and hall. " Palace of Gathered Elegance said first. Palace of Gathered Elegance is a five-room structure, divided into Sanming and Darkness. Three bright rooms are where the old lady and Queen Yan live. In the middle of the room, there is a sitting room for worship. Don't sit here easily except for a short holiday. The middle room in West Palace of Gathered Elegance is connected with the bedroom, which is equivalent to the outer room of the bedroom. There are often some odds and ends in the bedroom, such as tarpaulins and kettles. Wake up and come back here to change clothes, then fold them up by the responsible maid-in-waiting and send them to the West Temple for temporary storage. There is a kang in the south window to the east. It is very bright here. The old lady often sits at the east end of the kang, with the big glass by the window. When she looked out, the whole of Palace of Gathered Elegance was unobstructed. The old lady likes to have a good eye for everything. Drink tea, smoke, have breakfast, talk, meet with emperors, queens, concubines, etc. Most of them are here. Besides three bright rooms, there are two dark rooms. "The easternmost room is the east darkroom, which is what we usually call, also called the quiet room. It is the place where the old lady worships Buddha and thinks about things. The most conspicuous decoration here is a statue of a man in white on a shelf in the north. When the old lady encounters unpleasant things, she always lights some Tibetan incense, her eyelids hang down, her hands are folded and she is silent for a while. This is a great event. She can take the place of the old lady's unique position and sit facing south, and the queen mother's respect for her can be imagined. There is only one Buddha statue in the whole bedroom where the old lady lives. The old lady is very superstitious. She believes in Buddhism, and she believes in our Manchu shamanism. She often says, "The divine son of heaven helps us." When she was upset, she also came to this room, sitting here silently with the throne in her hand, without moving her eyes for a long time. "The one on the west side is her bedroom and dressing room. There is a kang near the western end of the north wall, which is bigger than a double bed. The bedding on the kang changes with the seasons and systems, such as laying three layers of seats in winter and one layer in summer. The mouse curtain is hung on the solstice in winter, and the gauze curtain is hung on the solstice in summer. There is a dresser in the southeast corner of the window, which is the old lady's favorite thing. Her own cosmetics are all here, and she will stay here for two or three hours in the morning, evening and evening. The old lady is a person who loves beauty and teaches others to love beauty. She often says,' What's the point of living if a woman has no intention of dressing herself up? The boxes in the west are filled with the old lady's favorite jewelry. The biggest difference between this room and other palaces is that the bedside where the old lady sleeps is a big transparent glass by the fan in the north of the dressing room. The old lady sleeps with her head facing west. When she leans on the kang and lifts the curtains, she can see everything outside. This is the old lady's favorite place. No matter what little things, the old lady should observe them in detail. "

The old ladies-in-waiting outlined Palace of Gathered Elegance and introduced these. But she said, "This is not the real Palace of Gathered Elegance, but the shell of Palace of Gathered Elegance. The real Palace of Gathered Elegance has the taste of Palace of Gathered Elegance. " The old maid-in-waiting spoke slowly, her voice gradually dropped, and she may have sunk into the dream of her youth again. None of us asked questions. The moonlight shone on the glass window, all white, and we couldn't help thinking of Bai Juyi's Pipa Trip: "The East Boat is quiet in the west, watching the white autumn moon enter the river." The atmosphere at this time has such a taste. The old maid-in-waiting heaved a sigh of relief slowly, and then said, "As I said before, in Palace of Gathered Elegance, including gymnasiums and temples, there are several empty jars beside various tables, on the coffee table or under the table, which are used by old ladies to embalm temples. The old lady didn't like incense and things like that, so she used southern fruits to fumigate the temple. After lunch in the gym, I will go to Palace of Gathered Elegance to change fruit first. The eunuch carried it with a box, dumped the old fruit and replaced it with a new one. The technique of changing cans and pouring fruits is very skilled, and it will be finished in a short time. Tihetang is waiting for the queen mother to take a nap to exchange fruit. Therefore, the temple of the Empress Dowager is always fragrant and refreshing. If in summer, the smell penetrates the bamboo curtain and the whole porch is full of fragrance, take a deep breath, and you will feel particularly comfortable in My Sweetie. If it's winter, when the curtains in the hall are lifted, the heating will smell and feel soft and crisp all over. This is the smell of Palace of Gathered Elegance.

She thought for a moment, and then continued, "Tihe Hall is also a five-room structure, which is suitable for Palace of Gathered Elegance. However, one of them is a hall door, which is reserved for people who appear in court and serve; The two rooms in the east are connected together, and there are two tables in the middle, which is where the old lady delivers rice. If there is a holiday, every hall door will have a table, which is called catering. The dining style will be great, provided by heaven, earth and people. Tianyi table, in a room at the east end; A table, at the door of the hall; A table is the second room in Palace of Gathered Elegance East Hall. It is often the old lady who eats in the East Second Room. There is a virtual fan between the two rooms in the west, which is where the old lady rests, drinks tea and smokes after dinner. In winter, a large charcoal basin is placed in the middle of the ground, and a copper wire cover is placed on the ground to prevent charcoal explosion sparks from popping out and burning clothes. The old lady has a habit, that is, she doesn't like to smell the greasy food after dinner, so she often comes to the West Second Room to rest after dinner. The first room in the west is equal to the reserved room, where you can urinate after meals. In short, the old lady used it early in Palace of Gathered Elegance, with two meals at noon and evening, mostly in the gym. To put it bluntly, the body harmony hall is equivalent to the old lady's outer study and dining room. " The old maid-in-waiting said a lot of things like running water. In fact, Palace of Gathered Elegance and the gym can see more clearly with their eyes closed than I can with my eyes open. That was decades ago, and I admire her memory. Her speech is soft and crisp, and her mouth is full of Beijing films, which are sent to her ears sentence by sentence, which shows that she is quite well trained. If you close your eyes and listen to her conversation, it is also a kind of enjoyment.

"When it comes to" screaming ",I'm going to praise the old lady again. After the old lady, she talked about spirit. So many important things have to be taken care of by the old lady all day. Every day, she still swims freely, controls her time freely, and pays attention to eating, dressing and playing. She is always full of energy and doesn't feel tired. Just say "wake up" No matter whether it is windy or rainy in winter or summer, it is not easy to get up on time and go to hall of mental cultivation for decades. "She is always convinced of the old lady, full of praise. "It's almost Yin Shi (from three to five o'clock), and there's movement in the old lady's bedroom. The ladies-in-waiting on duty are about to get ready for their posts, which is a big party for ladies-in-waiting. As soon as the light in the Queen Mother's room is lit (the veil covering the light is opened), two night-shift maids are waiting at the door of the bedroom, and the two night-shift maids at the door of the palace are dealing with other maids. Andrew's palace door has been locked, and the maid-in-waiting doing menial work calls a bucket of hot water from outside the palace and prepares it outside. The ash-free wood stove in the southwest corner glowed faintly. It was the first time that Zhang Fu, an old eunuch, got out of bed to give a dedication after cooking tremella for the old lady. It is said that eating this often can keep you young. Waiting for the maid-in-waiting to climb on the ground and kowtow (usually the maid-in-waiting doesn't kowtow, because we meet every day and kneel down. Only after the first day, the fifteenth day, or the absence of two or three days, or the queen mother is well, can she kowtow), when she deliberately shouted' lucky ancestor' (this is also a signal), she knew that the old lady had sat up and started to go down to the fields, and the two ladies-in-waiting at the door dared to start letting other ladies-in-waiting into the bedroom threshold, the half-closed door of the bedroom was opened, and the martial law of the palace door was lifted. The maid-in-waiting on duty at night, together with the maid-in-waiting on duty that day, went to the dormitory and knelt down to do what they should do. When the curtain of the queen mother's bedroom is half opened, it implies that people can enter the bedroom. The maid who goes first is the waiter. After folding the quilt for the queen mother, she will carry a basin of hot water and hold it in a silver basin. After Empress Dowager Cixi came out, she would wrap her hands in a hot towel and soak them in a hot water basin for a long time. Changing two or three pots of water and soaking hands and fingers is one of the fitness methods of Empress Dowager Cixi. The old lady's hands are delicate, round and soft, just like those of a girl of 18 years old, which is the result of proper maintenance. This kind of soaking is a must-do lesson every day. Then washing your face, rather than washing your face, can reduce wrinkles on your face. All finished, sitting in front of the dresser, the maid gently brushed her sideburns, put some powder on her cheeks and palms, and put some rouge on her cheeks and palms (it should be noted here that rouge and powder were developed by the old lady herself), and then gave them to the eunuch to comb her hair. The old lady has a big temper and will never let the servants see her unkempt.