[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

The two daughters, Lin and Shi, went to drink tea in the pavilion in the garden of the scholar's mansion. Seeing the lotus in the pond of the scholar's mansion bearing lotus seeds, Shi Hui couldn't help but be eager to try it.

Daiyu covered her mouth with a smile and said, "Why are you like the elder sister? Last year in Yangzhou, we went to live in Zhuangzi. There were also lotus seeds in the lotus pond. She wanted to go down to the field by boat to pick lotus. Fortunately, the mother stopped her and was escorted by the guards." I'll do it for you."

Shi Hui smiled and said: "There used to be a lotus pond in Panxiang Temple, that year I saw my elder sister go down to pick lotus roots, but the nuns didn't allow me to go down."

Daiyu said with a smile, "I'm covered in mud, but you don't mind it." Daiyu is a secluded person by nature, and if she could choose, she would not be willing to go to the fields.

Shi Hui asked the maids to go down again and secretly talked about meeting Xing Xiuyan yesterday, Daiyu was surprised: "Eldest sister actually came out of the palace to play?"

Shi Hui nodded, and said: "The sage brought him out to play. I saw the sage yesterday. He is not old at all. But the elder sister said he was an uncle. It's a shame she was able to tell. She looks about the same age as my brother."

Hearing about the men and women, Daiyu couldn't help blushing, and said: "It's good for you, each of you has a chance to go out to play, but I stay in the house alone."

Shi Hui said: "I thought the sisters from your grandmother's house would come to play."

But Daiyu said: "Grandmother wants to take me there again, but there will be a lot of troubles, so I will say that the illness is not gone."

The trouble Daiyu said was just that Mother Jia was concentrating on getting her and Baoyu together. Now that Daiyu has gained insight, she is pursuing rebellion and freedom, but she has also learned to think more maturely. She knows that although Jia Baoyu has his advantages, Definitely not a good match.

Shi Hui groaned, and said, "Second Sister, besides seeing you, I will stay here for two days, and my mother also asked me to pick you up to my house. After a few days, it will be my aunt's cousin's wedding ceremony, and my mother said Let's go play together. I don't know if this will bother you."

Daiyu remembered that they both had mothers, and that Jiji would be presided over by someone, but she didn't know what to say next year, feeling a little lonely and sad, and said casually, "Your cousin is also pretty good."

Shi Hui has always been smart, knowing that the second sister is talented, but she is naturally sensitive when she treats people with sincerity, so she said with a smile: "But my cousin is still a bit worse than me, isn't she?"

Seeing Shi Hui's complacent look, Daiyu couldn't help covering her mouth with a handkerchief and laughing: "The monkey that jumped out of the rock that Eldest Sister said was you, and you are so shameless."

Shi Hui smiled and said: "I am Hou'er, you are Hou'er's sister and also Hou'er."

Shi Hui got close to Daiyu, and took Daiyu to live in Shi's house two nights later, and then went to Zhang's house for a banquet, let's not mention it for the time being.

……

However, after Qixi Festival, it is no longer a well-known secret that Lord Tuhun only favored the Xing family in the harem. Few people in the harem can see Xing Xiuyan in the Luoxia Pavilion. drive.

Tu Yuanyi got busy again. When accompanying the driver, he read the memorial and she wrote the manuscript. Later, regarding the audit of his factory accounts, Tu Yuanyi shamelessly threw it to her to read it, and then reported to him .This matter was so happily decided, and the objection was invalid, deeply destroying her dream of writing?Is it easy to cultivate a few loyal readers?

She finally started to serialize her modified version of "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness", which is more polite and less romantic. Several maidservants rushed to pass it around. Luoyang paper was expensive, which greatly satisfied her vanity. ("Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness" is a Qing Dynasty novel, which is not yet available in Dazhou.)

On the thirteenth day of the seventh month, Tu Yuanyi was going to Beiying for a three-day military parade to hold a big exercise in the Beijing camp. She lived in the imperial tent and did not return to the palace, so she lived in Luoxia Pavilion.

In the absence of Tu Yuanyi, Xing Xiuyan rested in Luoxia Pavilion of course, and got up early in the morning to greet the queen.

And the queen took her to pay her respects to Empress Dowager Liu. Xing Xiuyan only met Empress Dowager Liu once a few days ago, and she also came here to pay her respects with the queen.Because the queen is in charge of the palace affairs, she has to listen to the reports from the various bureaus and supervisors of the inner palace, and also accept the concubine's greetings, so it is not necessary to come to the queen mother every day to greet the queen mother, usually once every three days.

The last time Xing Xiuyan saw Empress Dowager Liu, she had a very strange attitude, full of politeness and apprehension, and Xing Xiuyan also stood aside and talked for a while.

The queen led the concubines into the main hall of the Palace of Mercy, and Qi Qi bowed down to Empress Dowager Liu: "The concubines pay their respects to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager is auspicious!"

"Stay flat." Empress Dowager Liu waved her hand.

Empress Dowager Liu happens to be 40 years old this year, and the Empress Dowager's Thousand Autumn Festival will be in half a month.

Unlike Liu Jingru, who is brainless and impulsive, Empress Dowager Liu is much deeper, with a dignified appearance. You can tell from her facial features that she was also a beauty when she was young.

Now those who come to greet the Queen Mother are the Queen, Concubine Wu Ping, Li Fangyi, Zhao Fenyi and several old people, as well as the "lucky" new concubines Liu Xiaoyi, Shen Xiaoyuan, Zhang Meiren, Li Guiren, Zhao Xiaoyuan, and of course there are also talented people who are favored. Xing Xiuyan of the crown harem.

Concubine Cui Shun was ill, so she didn't come. She had been ill for ten days, and the cruel Tu Yuanyi never visited her. Thinking about it, he knew how much he hated Concubine Cui Shun in his previous life.

Originally, many of the emperor's preferences needed to be concealed. Tu Yuanyi could tolerate all kinds of faults in his subordinates when employing people, but he was merciless towards Concubine Cui Shun.

But the Cui family really had a lot of trouble in the previous life, and now he doesn't remember any old love at all, and he completely ignores the second princess.

The concubine who was born as a concubine didn't come, and the four newcomers who came with him, Liu and Shen, didn't look very well, and Zhang Mei was like a gentle little white flower.

Empress Dowager Liu said: "The empress is busy with palace affairs, so there is no need to come to my palace so frequently."

Empress Yang said: "This is the duty of a daughter-in-law. The health of the Queen Mother is the blessing of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

Empress Dowager Liu let out a long sigh, and Empress Yang asked, "I seem to have something on my mind when I see the Empress Dowager, but I don't know why?"

Mama Ma, who was beside Empress Dowager Liu, said: "The Empress Dowager doesn't know something. Recently, the Empress Dowager has a headache. The medicine prescribed by the imperial doctor doesn't work. She can't sleep at night."

Empress Yang said in surprise: "There is such a thing? Which imperial physician saw it?"

Mama Ma said: "Principal Zhang, Physician Wang, Physician Zhao, and Physician Shi have all seen it, and some said it was a deficiency of qi and blood, but taking medicine and calming down did not work."

Liu Jingru suddenly said: "So many imperial doctors are useless, the Empress Dowager's aunt is about to celebrate the Thousand Autumn Festival."

Mother Ma said: "On weekdays, it would be better for the Empress Dowager to chant scriptures and recite Buddhist scriptures."

Empress Dowager Liu sighed, and said: "Actually, it's just for the emperor and his old man to pray for blessings. The emperor has been ill for so long, and it has always been a heart disease of this palace. Recently, this palace has been fasting and chanting scriptures every day. Now the emperor's body is always a little sick. Improvement. Ever since the emperor knew what happened two years ago, he followed Concubine Zhen Gui and went again, so the emperor didn't want to see people. Although the emperor has improved now, it is not very good, but this palace will not be able to chant scriptures for the emperor's recovery in a thousand years. He An?"

Concubine Wu Ping smiled slightly, and said: "The Empress Dowager is sincere, the Buddha will know, but there is no need to do everything by myself."

Liu Jingru said: "That's right, there are substitutes outside the palace who become monks on their behalf. The Empress Dowager's aunt has already recited sutras for so long in person. Now it's enough to find a substitute and continue to chant sutras for the emperor's recovery."

Mother Ma said distressedly: "That's what I said, but who can be the empress dowager and chant scriptures for the emperor? The empress dowager is busy with palace affairs, and the princess is still young and going to school. How can I help the empress dowager?"

Empress Yang thought about it, and said: "I remember that in the talent show, Xing Cairen painted a statue of Guanyin with fairy brushwork. According to my palace, only Xing Cairen is worthy of being the empress dowager's substitute for the sisters in the harem."

Xing Xiuyan secretly said: Stand in for your sister, see that Tu Yuanyi is not thinking about punishing my mother, so just say it.Although you are a big wife, it's wrong for me to sleep with your husband, but I wasn't the one who wanted to enter the palace at that time. I blame you for the harem system and the philandering husband. What does it mean to have trouble with me?

Xing Xiuyan smiled and said: "Originally it is such an honor to be the empress dowager to pray for the old saint, but firstly, the concubine's position is low, which may insult the dignity of the empress dowager; It's Taoism."

Empress Yang couldn't help being dumbfounded, Empress Dowager Liu was dumbfounded, and the corners of the concubines twitched.Of course, only her favored concubine with the gold medal for avoiding kneeling on her body has the confidence to say so, if it is someone else, she should be careful.

Xing Xiuyan suddenly said: "Xiuyan Taoist religion, it is inevitable that the heart will be impure when chanting scriptures. If the Queen Mother's important affairs are ruined, the old sage would have recovered faster, but because he asked a concubine, a Taoist concubine, to chant the scriptures, he would die. Slow down, isn't this implicating the empress dowager?"

According to the common sense of women in the back house, the Empress Dowager Liu did not do anything really excessive, but she was dissatisfied that her niece was not favored, and she did not like Xing Xiuyan to some extent.With such a tactful attitude, normal concubines would also want to accept this, but no one like Xing Xiuyan found such an excuse.Because of the emptiness of women's inner palaces, no one would copy Buddhist scriptures, and the only way for aristocratic women to go out is in temples except for enjoying flowers and birthday banquets. Ordinary women will never refuse such a title.

That's why everyone was so surprised. Xing Xiuyan was not unreasonable, but in his heart he didn't want to force himself to let people use any fancy names to grind him down and treat him like that miserable little cabbage.

Liu Jingru said: "Who will believe your nonsense? You said that you can follow any religion, but you just want to disobey the Queen Mother!"

Xing Xiuyan said: "I can prove it. I can recite the Tao Te Ching. Do you want to recite it to you? If the empress dowager converts to religion now, no one will compete with me to be the empress dowager's substitute."

Everyone couldn't help being dumbfounded.

Liu Jingru said: "How can the empress dowager change religion at will? You are relying on being favored by saints, lawless, and criminals are disrespectful!"

Xing Xiuyan said: "Concubines don't lie to the Queen Mother, so they tell the truth that they don't believe in Buddhism. Is it disrespectful to tell the truth?"

Empress Dowager Liu made up her mind about the plan, and she was a bit embarrassed. When she summoned the Xing family before, she was being "grounded", and her eunuchs could not enter Beiyuan, which was blocked by the emperor.And the Xing family also gave the tenth princess no face, relying on the saint's favor, it is really lawless, and Empress Dowager Liu can't help being very annoyed at this time.

Empress Dowager Liu endured so many depressing things in the harem before, she only had one daughter. Back then, Concubine Zhen not only had a son, but was also unparalleled in honor and favor.

She was a bit of a display, but she forbeared it all, and took the title of "di", and in the end when the new emperor ascended the throne, she was still the empress dowager.

It is said that the Queen Mother is the ultimate goal of the women in the harem, and she also thinks that she will have the last laugh and her cultivation should be completed, but she is still not satisfied.How can she be free from resentment?