Holding the Piano in the Red Chamber

That day when Jia's mansion was convicted, the Ningrong and Rongfu's two mansions added up to thousands of people, and there were only three people left free: Jia's mother, Li Wan and Jia Lan. Standing in front of her today is Li. white silk.

Baoqin shivered, broke out in a lot of cold sweat, half woke up, hurriedly got up and half leaned on the bed, in case there was something sharp in her hand, her legs curled up in front of her, and she even took the quilt to protect her chest and abdomen. place.

"You are..." Baoqin looked Li Wan up and down. It is said that Li Wan is not very old, and at most he is not in his thirties. And the younger one, who was much emaciated, "Sold yourself into slavery?"

Li Wan's expression turned ferocious in an instant, "It's all because of you being a whore!"

your sister!

"Come here, come here!" Baoqin called, but it was very quiet outside, and Baoqin was alone in a courtyard. Two of the four maids who brought him were not acclimatized, and they were lying on the bed with vomiting and diarrhea. Why haven't the two court ladies and the rough envoy sent by the local officials come yet!

Li Wan said: "God opened my eyes and let me meet you. The old lady is dead, and Lan'er is also dead. My father said that there are no descendants who are not worthy of me." A trace of sadness flashed on her face, and then she said viciously: " I have been eating vegetarian food and praying to Buddha for so many years, and the Bodhisattva has always sent you into my hands."

The old lady and Jia Lan are both dead?The old lady was old, but Jia Lan... no wonder, it was said that there were only three of them, and none of them knew how to take care of others. There were no maids, maids, and servants, so Jia Lan naturally had no one to take care of.

The outsiders haven't arrived yet, and Baoqin doesn't dare to stimulate her too much. The so-called barefoot is not afraid of wearing shoes. Li Wan is that barefoot now. She was terrified.

"I voluntarily sold myself to be a nanny in Mrs. Gao's house. Hmph! They naturally welcome a servant like me who is well educated and sensible, but has no worries at all. The emperor came to the south of the Yangtze River and specially asked me to be in charge of the rough envoys in the palace. An errand. Don’t shout, I gave you laxatives for those two maids, and the three women sent me away.” Li Wan stretched out his hand and said: “And look at my hands, they are full of calluses, and I have no strength. It's also very big, do you think your weak Liu Fufeng, a court lady who can seduce men like you, can deal with me?"

But when Li Wan stretched out his hand, what Baoqin saw was not a cocoon, but that she didn't have a sharp weapon in her hand, and Wen Jing at the door also came in quietly holding a teapot.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Baoqin first asked in a soothing tone, and then immediately became strict: "You startled me, and I was a capital crime, not to mention your majesty, even the nine clans are not enough. Don't Said that your father who drove you out of the house, even Mr. Gao who took you in, and the mother-in-law who worked with you, must go to see the Bodhisattva together! So it seems that what your father said is indeed right, you are really an unbelievable descendant!"

Li Wan yelled and rushed forward!

The quilt in Baoqin's hand shook, and it covered Li Wan's head completely, and the teapot in Wen Jing's hand also fell down, but he missed the right place when he was nervous, and it hit Li Wan's neck, but that was enough.

Li Wan gasped, lay on the ground and whispered: "I'm still irritated by you, but do you think I came quietly? I've counted the time right, and the emperor is now at the gate of your yard."

Baoqin broke out in cold sweat again, and subconsciously wanted to cover Li Wan's mouth, but it was a pity that she still said one more sentence.

"Your Majesty, for the sake of your relationship with Master Zhu, please forgive me!"

With a bang, the door was kicked open by the emperor! "How is this going!"

Li Wan came prepared, reacting much faster than holding the piano, and shouted in a sharp voice: "Your Majesty, save me! I came here to catch up with the concubine and empress, who would have heard that the only serious illness of Master Zhu's flesh and blood To die, to kill me, and even threaten to kill my nine clans!"

Baoqin didn't say a word, she was already at a disadvantage, and besides the three of them, there were palace maid Wenjing, His Majesty's two eunuchs Xiao Hongzi and Zhongyong, and there were many people in the room.

Ruicheng was also sweating in a fit of anger, and panting heavily, he gave Zhongyong a wink.Zhongyong stepped forward to look left and right, picked up the small china plate of dim sum on the table, poured the dim sum aside, went up and smashed the porcelain plate on Li Wan's mouth.

Baoqin was very close to her, and she could see flesh and blood flying everywhere, four or five teeth fell out, and she broke out in cold sweat again, completely sober from the wine.

"Take people down and cook!" Ruicheng said angrily.

When Zhongyong dragged the semi-conscious Li Wan down, Ruicheng looked around at the people in the room again, his words were very depressed, "You all go down!"

"Who is Master Zhu!" After the person left completely, Ruicheng felt a little dizzy and asked while sitting on the edge of the bed.

Baoqin knelt on the ground, half bowed his head: "It was Jia Bin's elder brother who died when Jia Bin entered the palace for a draft."

Only then did Ruicheng recall, it seemed that because of this matter, Jia Bin had been a female official in the former empress's palace for almost a year.

"You and him..." Ruicheng thought of the woman's nonsense just now, and his heart twitched.

Before Ruicheng could say any bad words, Baoqin hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I am his sister's maid!"

This explanation is also useful, the son can take the maid from his mother, and the unruly family can even take the maid from his father, but the elder brother can't take someone from the younger sister, especially the maid who is the first to be used by the younger sister.

Ruicheng was restless, although he knew that the woman was probably out for revenge, but when it came to this kind of thing, he always felt unhappy.Immediately stood up, said: "You take a good rest, I'll go to Gao Bin's room."

Baoqin knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, just now that person was wearing the clothes of a palace servant, and she also said that the two maids in my courtyard were not acclimatized because she had given medicine, and she was able to come in so usually because of her. Sent away some rough envoys. Please be careful, Your Majesty!"

Ruicheng was a little bit broken and said: "I'm going to sleep alone today! Call all the guards here!" Ruicheng walked towards the door while talking.Just now when Li Wan came in, Baoqin was already asleep, not a single candle was lit in the room, a series of things happened, and the room is still dark up to now, Ruicheng is still half drunk and half awake, falling apart within two steps. Get on the bench that fell to the ground just now.After staggering two steps, Ruicheng raised his foot and kicked it.

With a bang, I heard Baoqin crying.

"Why are you crying! Why are you crying!" Ruicheng turned his head, his tone extremely fierce.But the person couldn't help but went to the bed again. In the years since Baoqin entered the palace, he saw Baoqin crying twice, one time when her father died, and the other time when the queen mother died.

"Your Majesty, you don't believe me..." Tears dripped down, crystal clear under the reflection of the moonlight.

The sound of holding the piano became distant, as if recalling something, and said: "That person is the widow of Master Zhu... Earlier, Master Zhu had four concubines, and she gave him two housemaids. She taught us embroidery, but after Master Zhu died, she sold them all!"

"I have been studying the palace rules with my mother all day long in the mansion, and I have never even met her a few times. Just now when she came in, her tone was so fierce that I was scared to death. Fortunately, there was Wen Jing, and the two of us worked together. People subdued." Baoqin wiped away tears, "Your Majesty didn't give any comfort, not even a compliment, and just listened to other people's slander." The sobbing became louder.

"It's alright, alright, don't cry, it's cold on the ground, be careful that your knees hurt when you get older." Ruicheng waved his hands, a little impatient and embarrassed.Carrying the qin into the palace was checked, and that Jia Zhu died in less than [-] years old, so it can be seen that he was a tuberculosis ghost. On the day of holding the qin, he didn't even like the prince who was in the sky, and even entered his mansion. Well-behaved, how could he have a relationship with that sick ghost?

"I've been with you for almost ten years, and my son can already write, but now you're doubting this!" Baoqin still knelt on the ground without moving.

Hearing Baoqin's rebuke, Ruicheng felt that the wine just now was getting better, "Hurry up, this is an imperial decree!"

"The legs are numb and I can't move." Baoqin complained in a low voice.

Ruicheng laughed out loud, and staggered to help him up in person.

Baoqin half leaned against him and stood up, twisted his foot after two steps, and the two of them fell onto the bed together.

Holding the piano, she suddenly sat on Ruicheng's body, unable to speak well, and stammered: "Does Your Majesty want to punish me? Dreaming!" With her eyes spreading, she put her hand on Ruicheng's chest, "The concubine wants to have a full house of children and grandchildren. At the end of your life, I will be carried into your mausoleum dignifiedly in the future." Baoqin leaned over to Ruicheng, and said in a soft voice, "Except for the empress, your majesty will let me be as close as possible..."

Before the rest of the request was spoken, it was covered by another voice.

On the second day, the two of them woke up almost at the same time, blinked their eyes while hugging the piano, shrunk down, and said in a low voice, "I drank last night, I'm not usually like this."

Ruicheng laughed again, "No wonder Aifei seldom drinks alcohol on weekdays." After speaking, she leaned into Baoqin's ear and whispered, "Let's have a good drink when we get back to the palace."

Hearing movement in the room, Zhongyong came in with his head down, "Your Majesty! There is an urgent report from the capital, the Xuanqiong Palace is on fire, and the princes are all frightened. Please return to the palace quickly, Your Majesty!"

The Sky Treasure Hall is a place in the palace for offering sacrifices and praying for blessings, next to the North Five.Ruicheng felt that Baoqin was holding his hand tightly, and asked: "Are the princes in serious trouble?"

Zhongyong shook his head while saying: "The person who reported the letter only said that the prince has a high fever, and the empress has asked the imperial physician to take care of him, nothing else was said."

From the capital to the south of the Yangtze River, it takes two days to reach the eight hundred li urgently.Baoqin became more and more worried, "Your Majesty!"

"Go back to the palace! Get up and drive back to the palace immediately!"

The trip to the south of the Yangtze River ended so hastily.

Speaking of going back to the palace, it's already afternoon when I really packed my things.Ruicheng took a Baoqin and set off with two-thirds of the honor guards and guards.

Although Gao Bin also missed her son, but because her father did something stupid, she and the two were often together, and she was arranged in the slow-moving team the next day.

After hearing Li Wan's slander, Ruicheng was only in a mood for a while, and when he sobered up, the first thing he cared about was the safety of the palace.The court lady was drugged, the poor woman was sent away, and the nanny in charge harbored evil intentions. Ruicheng immediately called Gao Bin's father to scold him and suspended him from his position.

Only a few people knew what happened last night, and no one would tell Mr. Gao, so what he saw was that his wife's extremely respected woman in charge was pulled out with blood all over her face, and Eunuch Zhong watched and took care of him personally. .

As for how unreliable the news came out, you can see that Mr. Gao is running around like a headless chicken and has nowhere to ask for help.

Ruicheng also wanted to send soldiers over to guard the palace, but he cared about his sons, so he put this matter aside for now and waited until he returned to the capital.

The convoy had just traveled for three days when the second batch of people from Jingzhong News arrived, and this time they brought a little more detailed good news.

The lives of the princes were not in serious danger, but the third prince Chongying suffered a burn on his back, the eldest prince Chongying was frightened and blew the cold wind, and developed a high fever again.

Seeing that there was no name of Chong Hao in the news of the servant, the heart that held the piano was half relieved, no news is good news.

I was in a hurry on the road, and I remembered the people in the imperial city in my heart, so the back pain was not so unbearable anymore.I walked for 30 days when I came here, and arrived in the capital in less than 20 days after returning.

But the closer you get to the capital, the more intense the heartbeat of Baoqin is. The person who reports the letter is basically once every three to five days, but there are news from Chongying every time. Some wounds are starting to scab, or the fever has subsided. And so on, but there has been no news since he said he had a fever.

Baoqin revealed his worries to Ruicheng a little bit, and found that he also had the same concerns, so when he was still a day or two away from the capital, Ruicheng sent Zhongyong back first.

After the emperor's carriage entered Yonganmen, Zhongyong came back with a worried expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, the First Prince had a high fever for seven days, and after the fever subsided... he lost his hearing." Zhongyong knelt on the ground and replied.

"What!" Ruicheng slapped the table, "Where's the imperial physician, what did the imperial physician say!"

"The imperial doctor said that the high fever lasted too long and hurt his ears. He is currently drinking medicine. When the First Prince recovers, he plans to try blood pricking and acupuncture again."

Still don't worry.

Zhongyong waited for a while, and then delivered the second news: "The empress fainted after hearing the news, and now she can't get out of bed!"

"Quick! Quick!" Ruicheng opened the curtain and shouted: "Hurry up and go back to the palace!"

At this time, Zhongyong whispered to Baoqin: "Madam, the fifth prince is living in your palace now, Aunt Rongxi is watching, and the slave met the fifth prince in the imperial garden."

The palace is already in chaos.

The first thing Ruicheng did when he returned to the palace was to rush to the Queen's Palace. After getting off the carriage with the piano in his arms, he didn't have the energy to walk on his own, so he got on the sedan chair and rushed to Qixiang Palace.

The news of the emperor's return to Beijing came three days ago, all the maids and eunuchs in Baoqin Palace were waiting in the courtyard, but Baoqin only saw the small figure standing in the middle.

"I'm so anxious." Baoqin pulled the Chong number, "Are you okay?"

Chong Hao grinned, "It's okay, I have a loud voice, and they came to rescue me as soon as I called."

"You silly boy!" Baoqin patted Chonghao's back, "You scared me to death!"

Holding her son tenderly for a while, seeing that he is really fine, physically healthy, and mentally tough, she said to Rong Xi: "Wen Jing is back with me, you can arrange for her to rest for two days, this time... , and the other three have to wait a few days to arrive."

"I'm going to see the empress." Baoqin said.

It was still passed on the sedan chair, and when we arrived at the Kunning Palace, the emperor hadn't come out of the palace yet, holding the piano and watching the Kunning Palace, almost everyone's face was gloomy, and seeing the sad expression on Chong's face I have to shed tears.

Huiyan saw her, with an expression of joy and worry on her face, hesitated for a long time, and invited Baoqin to the side hall.

When Baoqin sat down, Huiyan knelt on the ground, "Mother, when you and His Majesty walked for a month, that is, on the night of August No. 14, the Xuanqiong Palace caught fire."

"The treasure hall is next to the North Fifth Institute. Fortunately, there is no one living in the Fifth Institute, so except for a few princes who were frightened, the third prince accidentally tripped while escaping, and his back was stuck to the hot wood, and that's why he got burned."

Baoqin knew all these things, but seeing Huiyan hesitated and her tone was not very firm, she had an intuition that Huiyan might want to say something to her, but she hadn't prepared herself well yet.So Baoqin didn't make a sound to interrupt, didn't even drink tea, didn't make any sound, only Huiyan's voice in the side hall.

"... Your Majesty was lucky enough to deal with palace affairs, but later the Eldest Prince had a burn and hurt his ears. In the imperial hospital, there was an imperial doctor who was well-known to your Majesty's family. He whispered in private, saying that at best, he could only hear the buzzing sound." , the chances of recovery are slim.”

Baoqin tightly pinched the armrest of the chair and said nothing.

"This happened about ten days ago, and then Concubine Chang came." Huiyan looked up at Baoqin quickly, and said with determination: "I think you are... the few of us came out together. Years of affection, I believe you are not that kind of person."

Baoqin was very upset, but felt that Concubine Chang could say something, she and Shulan were like a family, how could Concubine Chang separate her.

"When Concubine Chang came, she said that she had a secret matter to report to the empress. The empress turned her back. I was the last one to come out. Later, I took the opportunity of serving tea to go in a few times. I only heard Concubine Chang say: The palace can mobilize the maids. Concubine He is the only one, you are the only one who can make such a big deal, and you also have a son, and His Majesty the Emperor dotes on him, so naturally he will see the Eldest Prince as a thorn in his side!"

"What!" Baoqin stood up suddenly, "My son also lives in Beiwu! How dare she."

Having said all this, Huiyan naturally wants to tell the whole story, "I don't believe the empress, but when Concubine Chang goes out, the empress also tells me: I didn't find out whether it was man-made or not. What's more, if you can do something after Concubine He is gone, you are afraid that she will see something. Concubine He is in charge of the maids, if she is still in the palace, those people might not dare to do it."

Hugging Qin anxiously walking back and forth in the hall, Huiyan still knelt and said, "Concubine Chang tells me every day that the empress is already exhausted, and she can't even get out of bed under the stimulation. The imperial doctor said that the empress is depressed. In my heart, I lost my vitality..."

"I'll keep watch." Baoqin said, hurried out of the side hall and waited at the gate of the main hall, the emperor hadn't come out yet.Chong Xi sat on the steps with his eyes wide open, looking at the busy palace people, his eyes were confused and helpless.

Baoqin felt sad again, took his hand and sat down beside him.

When Ruicheng came out, the first thing he saw was the backs of his eldest son and his concubine. The two were leaning against each other. Ruicheng coughed and turned his head while holding the piano, but Chong did not move. "Go in and see Shulan, and talk to her well..."

Ruicheng sighed and wanted to say something, but in the end he put his hands behind his back, his back was not so straight, and he walked away a little desolately.

Baoqin tightly held Chong's wrist, and dragged him into Shulan's bedroom.

Shulan's face was sallow, and when she saw Baoqin and her son coming in, she showed a slightly bleak smile, "You're back. Just now when His Majesty came in, I knew you were waiting at the door." After a pause to catch her breath, Shulan said again : "I deliberately didn't say anything to him, so that he would be impatient earlier. I can't speak two words a day now, so I don't have the time to deal with him."

Holding the piano and playing the song, she sat beside Shulan's bed.

Shulan reached out her hand to touch Chong's head, and said to Baoqin: "My father is a military general and has three older brothers. My mother died early, and I was raised as a boy from childhood. My father said that I would be grateful if I could get married. Thank goodness." Shulan smiled, "Who would have thought that I would become a queen."

"...When I was young, I liked horse riding the most, and I followed my father to the northern prairie. If I were a man, I would be able to gallop on horses and make contributions like my brothers. I wouldn't have to stay in the palace for the rest of my life. If in my next life... ..."

"What are you talking about now? Are you confessing your last words for no reason?" Baoqin hurriedly interrupted Shulan, and said with a smile on purpose, but she shed two tears.

Shulan smiled, and put her hands on the hands held together by Baoqin and Chong, "I'm just such a son, you take good care of him."

Hearing this, Baoqin suddenly exploded.

She pulled him to the front, rolled up his sleeves, and said: "Look! You are not dead yet, someone dares to trample him!"

There are two big bright red handprints on Chong's wrist, as if someone pinched them not long ago.

"If you're gone, who do you expect to help you look after him! How can I protect him when you're gone!" Baoqin said while crying, "Okay, you let go, you After becoming the former empress, I was carried into His Majesty's underground palace, and I and I became thorns in the eyes of others, not to mention living a good life, whether we can die well in the future will be a problem."

"Tell you, I almost can't come back when I go to Jiangnan this time!" Baoqin's tears fell faster and faster, and the earlier fear and distrust of the emperor also broke out, "Okay! You can go to Jiuquan with a smile on your face." ! I’ll take the Chong’an number to drink the medicine, so you don’t have to worry about it!”

As Baoqin said, he stood up viciously, and pulled the crotch again, wanting to go out.

Shulan coughed violently. Seeing that Baoqin hadn't taken two steps to go out, she shook it twice, and she was so soft that she fell to the ground.

"Huiyan! Huiyan!" Shulan yelled loudly, "Hurry up and call the imperial physician!"