Imperial City

When Chen Xiaoyi entered the palace for the first time at the age of eight, he was confused and afraid of the road ahead.

He left the Chen Mansion through the small corner gate in the backyard of the Chen Mansion with a palace man dressed as an ordinary citizen.

The man in the palace showed a badge hanging around his waist, and the official who guarded the back door immediately let him go.

Before leaving, Xiaoyi turned her head and cast a last glance at the once crowded century-old gate, as if she wanted to engrave it firmly in her mind.

In the past, there was a lot of joy and harmony, but now the laughter and laughter seem like a lifetime away.After that, he will no longer have a home.

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The Forbidden City is located in the northeast of the Big Dipper, and the world believes that "the emperor Taiping sits among the emperors, and the officials are divided into four seas".

The residence of the Son of Heaven is the center of the world. Since it is the center of the world, Feng Shui is naturally the best.

The Forbidden City is surrounded by layers of outer city, inner city, and imperial city, and a man-made moat is built outside to keep it safe.

The Inner Jinshui River enters the Forbidden City from the moat through the downstairs of the northwest corner, and flows into the front of the Taihe Gate, which is the gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The interior of the Forbidden City is divided into the outer court and the inner court according to the rule of "the front court sleeps in the back".

The inner court is centered on the "Host Three Palaces" Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, which is the residence of the emperor's family.

The emperor handled government affairs, lived and ate in the Qianqing Palace.

The Jiaotai Hall is the residence of the queen, and there are 25 seals symbolizing imperial power inside.

Behind the Kunning Palace is the Imperial Garden, which is also a part of the Forbidden City.

There are six palaces in the east and west, and the palace is called "East and West Twelve Palaces", where all the harem concubines live.

There are many gates in the Forbidden City, including four major gates.They are the main entrance, that is, the Meridian Gate.Its plane is concave and magnificent.

After the Meridian Gate, there are five exquisite white marble arch bridges leading to the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

The east gate is named Donghuamen, and Donghuamen and Xihuamen are far away from each other.

The west gate is called Xihua Gate, which has the same shape as Donghua Gate. It is rectangular in plane, with a red city platform and a white jade Xumi seat.

The north gate is called Shenwu Gate, and Shenwu Gate is generally a city gate tower like the Meridian Gate, which is the daily entrance and exit of the palace.

Chen Xiaoyi and the official sent from the inner city to the Imperial City through the Di'an Gate, and then entered the Forbidden City through the Shenwu Gate. Now they are stopping in front of the Shenwu Gate to wait for investigation.

The official took out a jade token from the inside of his chest, which should be specially reserved for entering and exiting the palace. The guards searched the two of them and quickly let them go.

Chen Xiaoyi knew very well that it would be difficult for him to be free after crossing this high walled palace gate. Thanks to the protection of the Empress Dowager, he would stay beside his master. It is to be trapped in this resplendent cage for a lifetime.

He paused, and looked back at the imperial city where the royal family lived behind him, his eyes showed nostalgia.

The official sent him one or two steps ahead, and when he saw him standing still, he urged: "Boy, come with me quickly."

Chen Xiaoyi responded, and followed him into the depths of the forbidden palace.

From now on, except for his parents and relatives, no one in this world will call him Xiaoyi or Juan, even he himself has to call himself Wei Qi.

The two walked along a bluestone path on the right side of Shenwu Gate. There were many trees and flowers along the road. Wei Qi lowered his head and didn't dare to look at it.

Before entering the palace, his father had repeatedly warned him to be careful. There are many rules in the palace, and if he didn't pay attention, he would lose his life.

The official had also repeatedly told him that after entering the palace, he must not look around, make loud noises and behave casually.

Wei Qi knew that these words were related to his own life, so he kept it firmly in his heart and did not dare to relax.

After a cup of tea, the two came to a remote palace annex, where thirty half-grown children of his age were already standing there.

I saw that all of these children had beautiful features and slender figures, but their faces were thin and yellow, and there was no expression in their eyebrows and eyes.

Although Wei Qi had already changed into gray and rough linen clothes, it was not difficult to see that his flesh and blood was fine, and his skin was fair and delicate. Moreover, he was born in a family, he was enlightened at the age of four, learned the etiquette of a gentleman, and had already cultivated a bearing that was different from others.

For a moment everyone looked at him strangely.

This thing is really strange, those who can appear here are either poor families who can't get rid of the pot, or orphans who have no one to rely on and their parents have died.

Anyone who can live a decent life will not send their children to the palace to be slaves and eunuchs. Royal slaves are still slaves no matter how nice they are.

When you are out of the palace to run an errand, everyone respects you and calls you father-in-law, which is flattering on the surface.The queen may spit, point at your back and scold the eunuch, ashamed of the things of the ancestors, neither male nor female.

Looking left and right, Wei Qi doesn't look like he came from a poor family.

The chief eunuch in charge here came over to exchange greetings with the officials next to Wei Qi, and the officials resigned, so the chief eunuch in charge led Wei Qi and the group of children to stand together.

"What a handsome boy, what a pity."

"Yeah, yeah, my family can't think about it. I'm afraid that such a handsome boy can survive even if he begs along the street. A good boy must be sent here to be a slave who is neither male nor female like us!" Two young men standing beside him The eunuch looked at his appearance and whispered to each other.

The lady listened to the words and coughed a few times, and the room fell silent for a while.

"You are Wei Qi" the eunuch asked him.

"Back to the father-in-law, the boy is Wei Qi." Wei Qi lowered his head and lowered his eyes, and saluted.

The eunuch took a brush and scratched the roster in his hand, closed the book and put it in his sleeve.

"Well, it's still my duty." The eunuch was satisfied when he saw that he behaved well when he answered, and he answered whatever he asked, without talking too much.

"Today, let's change clothes and retire to rest, so as to save some energy. Tomorrow, regardless of food, you will have to starve for a day, and the next day, there will be a purification master who will perform the castration for you."

As soon as these words came out, all the boys turned pale, their teeth trembled, and even the younger one wet his pants.

Although they knew this would happen, but now that it is imminent, no one can not be afraid, not to mention that the oldest of this group of boys is only thirteen or fourteen years old.

The eunuch ordered the left and right to take the boys down to resettle them.Wei Qi and the others bowed to the father-in-law and then retreated.

The little yellow gate led them to a row of shorter and narrower side houses not far away, where six people lived in one room for the time being.

The five people who lived with Wei Qi were all born in ordinary poor families, the youngest was only six years old, and the oldest was only about fourteen.

Everyone briefly reported their family and said a few words, and then fell silent.

The castration to be carried out the next day made no one have the leisure to chat and laugh. Several people each fetched some water, cleaned their faces hastily with the utensils that were just delivered, and fell asleep one by one.

However, Wei Qi couldn't sleep well. He is the son of a noble family, and he was well-clothed and well-fed since childhood.Every day before rest, there are maids serving to wash and change clothes.I slept on a carved pear wood Arhat bed made of silk and satin. In summer, there was an ice basin, in winter there was silver charcoal, and there was a warm Tang Pozi under the quilt.

It is now December, and there has been heavy snow a few days ago, and the winter solstice will be here soon, although the north wind is not strong, it is bitingly cold.

There is only one person and one quilt on the bunk, and a thin mattress under the head. The other five people are used to it, and even the family is not as good as it is now.

Wei Qi was so cold that he shivered in the bed, his skin was delicate, and the mattress and quilt were all rough, which made him restless, tossing and turning, and couldn't gather the heat.

After tossing and tossing for a long time, it was not until the middle of the night that I was exhausted and fell asleep with the snoring of the person next to me.

When they got up early the next morning, they really didn’t have any food, but they were not asked to do anything. They only wanted to let them enjoy this last day’s blessing, and then they would have to step into a sea of ​​suffering.