Old things in the Red Chamber

The inner eunuch in the palace came to Zhongwuhou's mansion to announce the decree, ordering Mrs. Tong to serve medicine in the palace today and tomorrow.

After Jia Xun inquired, she found out that the concubine Jia in the palace had moved her fetus.

Madam Tong was so distressed that she didn't fall asleep all night, "Why did you move your fetus when you said it was fine?"

Jia Gu was fast asleep.Mrs. Tong wanted to shake him awake, but seeing that he now had gray hair, she could bear it, but she was more in awe of the palace.

The procedure for a foreign woman to enter the palace is to meet the queen mother and empress first, and now the fourth concubine is in charge of the palace, and she must first meet the fourth concubine before she can meet the empress she wants to see.

Mrs. Tong's body is strong, and she strode like a shooting star. First, she went to meet the queen mother. Since she became the queen mother, she doesn't like to take care of this mess in the palace.The wives of foreign orders meet according to their own moods, meet them when they are happy, and disappear when they are not happy.

Mrs. Tong's daughter-in-law is the queen mother's granddaughter. When Mrs. Tong enters the palace, the queen mother will summon her and say a few words. This is an honor that many people envy.The one they can chat with is the little girl at home, Xuan'er. The queen mother has only heard of her, but she hasn't seen her yet, so she said to Madam Tong, "Go back and tell Anyang to bring Xuan'er when you enter the palace next time. See you too."

The queen didn't see anyone, so the fourth concubine sent someone out early to block it. When Mrs. Tong reached the Pixiang Hall, the sun was already high.

There are guests in the Pixiang Palace, and the imperial concubine's full set of ceremonial guards are parked outside the door. Jia Yuanchun has been here for a long time. After all, when I went to see her just now, the people in the imperial concubine's palace said that she was not there.

When Madam Tong saw Jia Yuanchun, she immediately bowed down and was helped up by the zither. Before she saw Jia Yingchun, Jia Yuanchun, the guest, treated guests with the hospitality of the master.

"Madam, please sit down. Come and serve tea to Madam. You must have been waiting outside the palace gate before dawn. Come to visit my sister. Madam has worked hard."

Mrs. Tong said it was not hard, and expressed that she wanted to see Jia Bin.

As soon as Jia Yuanchun heard about it, he took the initiative to take Mrs. Tong there, "Madam should also come to see, my sister had a congestive gas yesterday, the imperial doctor came to see, and said a lot, only let me drink medicine, a little bit of food is fine." Not allowed to eat, said to be angry, first starved for two days to lose the fire. I am so anxious, she still has a small one in her stomach, if the adults don’t eat, what should the small one do? I took the initiative to ask for an order to take care of my younger sister .”

Jia Yingchun was lying on the bed, her small face was becoming thin like an awl, and she had no flesh on her body, which made her belly look very big.

"Your Majesty" Mrs. Tong quickly called her. Jia Yingchun opened her eyes and looked at Mrs. Tong, "Auntie."

Jia Yuanchun found a stool and sat on the side, even if Jia Yingchun had something to say, he couldn't say it.Holding Mrs. Tong's hand, tears flowed out.

A little eunuch replied from outside, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty's medicine is here, would you like to bring it in now or later?"

"Madam is here to serve the nobleman to take medicine, of course it is brought in now."

After Jia Yuanchun finished speaking, Jia Yingchun's hand immediately clenched Mrs. Tong's hand, and her whole body began to tremble.

Mrs. Tong knew that this noble concubine was the culprit for her niece becoming like this.She took the medicine bowl from the hand of the maid, and while stirring it with a spoon, she talked to Jia Yuanchun, "Your Majesty looks pretty good."

After taking a sip of the medicine, the bitter Mrs. Tong almost threw away the bowl. How many coptises were put here.

Jia Yuanchun smiled, "Madam looks good too."

Mrs. Tong continued to stir a few times, "I saw that the face of the empress really resembles the second master Bao of your mansion. No wonder the second master Bao is also handsome. Last time, the fourth master of the Gu family...looked at me and said What's the matter with this, my lord, I'll give you a taste of whether it's hot or not." He took another sip, bitterly doubting life.

Jia Yuanchun looked at Licorice and helped Jia Yingchun to sit up, and said, "My sister will drink the medicine first, and my sister will go to the front and come back soon." Holding the arm holding Qin, he went out.

A court lady immediately brought a vase and motioned Madam Tong to pour the medicine into the vase.

As soon as he hid the vase, Jia Yuanchun came back and asked in surprise, "Has my sister finished drinking?"

Licorice was feeding Jia Yingchun with clear water, and replied, "If you get bored in one breath, spoon by spoonful, it will be more bitter."

"Good medicine tastes bitter, and bitter taste is good medicine."

A court lady broke in and whispered a few words in Jia Yuanchun's ear. Jia Yuanchun stood up and said apologetically, "My lady will accompany my sister first, and I will come whenever I go."

Jia Yingchun grabbed Mrs. Tong's hand, covered half of her face with a handkerchief, and watched Jia Yuanchun go out in a hurry. After a while, an old eunuch came and said that the Queen Mother invited a noble concubine, and Jia Yuanchun had to let go The guard of honor left.

As soon as Jia Yuanchun left with her people, Jia Yingchun burst into tears. Licorice took a few pieces of snacks from the cabinet and fed them to Jia Yingchun, and the maids in the room also slowly withdrew.

"The emperor came here for a meal yesterday, and told me that I will not be in the palace for a few days, let me take care of myself and protect the emperor. I wondered what was wrong, but suddenly an imperial doctor came to me at night and said I can't drink the medicine to reduce the fire when I get angry. I have to starve for a few days to fight the fire. He also said that I had gas in my fetus and asked me to take medicine. How dare I take medicine indiscriminately? I'm going to die. I didn't dare to drink the medicine yesterday, but today she came early in the morning, and I pretended to just wake up. Fortunately, my aunt came."

Just as he was talking, there was a commotion outside the hall, and a few elderly nuns here scolded the little maids not to run around, and asked the little eunuch to close the door of the hall.

Madam Tong felt that today was really unusual.

After a while, there was the sound of orderly footsteps outside the main hall. Madam Tong raised her head in surprise. This is because the footsteps are so heavy when people are carrying heavy loads. Coupled with the impact of armor, Madam Tong felt that at this moment the palace There must have been a palace change.

My Lord Marquis is the minister of the bodyguard. There was nothing unusual yesterday. Today, when the palace came in, it was still calm. Madam Tong didn't dare to think about it, so she coaxed Jia Yingchun to sleep for a while.He and Licorice looked at each other in blank dismay.

No one brought food here at noon, and everyone in the hall performed their duties. Two very old nuns stood in the hall, and Jia Yingchun, who woke up, felt that something was wrong.

"The two nuns usually don't come close to me, and they don't show their face when the emperor comes. They usually just sweep the yard outside."

Madam Tong clapped her hands, "Don't think about anything, I'm still here, if something happens, I'll give you my own advice."

There are still some fruits, bring them and give them to Jia Yingchun to eat. Madam Tong is sitting on the edge of her bed, feeling very anxious.She is worried about the inside of the mansion, but now she can't get out here.Looking at Jia Yingchun again, other people raised their children in vain and fat, but when they came to her, they became even thinner.

While patting her, he generally coaxed her to sleep.

In the afternoon, when the sun was about to set, someone knocked on the palace door, and an old man with a white beard was carrying a medicine box, and came to ask for the pulse of Concubine Jia.

The two nuns asked people to welcome him in, and Licorice relaxed, "It's the doctor Zhu who usually asks for our master's pulse."

After shaking Jia Yingchun awake and helping her out, the old doctor felt her pulse tremblingly, and said a couple of words that others could not understand, and finally said, "You don't need to drink medicine, you should eat more food, medicine is not as good as food."

On this day, Mrs. Tong was tossed in a cloud of mist. Seeing the sun go down, it was time to go home. Mrs. Tong was reluctant to part with Jia Yingchun, and wondered what would happen at night. In this way, the people sent by Concubine Xian to take Mrs. Tong out of the palace kept urging her again and again, and almost pulled Mrs. Tong out.

When Mrs. Tong's carriage got out of the palace gate, the sound of chains sounded, and the two palace gates, which were as thick as the city gates, were closed. Madam Tong lifted the curtain on the carriage, and looking back, the palace city was already in darkness under the afterglow of the setting sun. Among them.

The wheels of the carriage were pressed against the bluestone slabs in the inner city, and Cai Ling kept beating Madam Tong's legs, while Madam Tong was completely dumbfounded. The carriage quickly entered the gate of the Hou Mansion and stopped at the second gate. Jing'an brought people to pick up Mrs. Tong, and Lin Daiyu followed behind her. When Mrs. Tong saw Lin Daiyu, she thought of Jia Yingchun, and finally realized the meaning of the words "where the people I met".

Immediately, I couldn't control it, I had two tears in my eyes, waved my daughter-in-law and niece to go down, went back to the room by myself, closed the door firmly and cried first.

"What a big deal, we were in the Northland back then, and thousands of troops charged and shouted, and I didn't see you so frightened." Jia Gu put a bowl of porridge on the table, "Come and taste it, I think it tastes good. "

"How can this be the same? You can see thousands of troops and horses, but you can't see them in the palace. You can only hear the sound of heavy armored infantry. Why don't you let me think about it. I'm afraid to think too much about it. I am now I understand, something must have happened in the palace." She stood up and pulled Jia Gu to sit beside her. "I heard the nobleman say that the emperor is not in the palace... You are still the minister of guards guarding the palace... There are heavy armored infantry in the palace, and you will be held accountable..."

"I'm guarding the gate of the palace. I'm guarding the front court. I'm not guarding the gate for ladies. The harem is not under my control. As for which palace gate the heavy armored infantry entered through, to be honest, they entered through the secret passage. It has nothing to do with me, and it doesn't come in through the palace gate. The emperor's most important thing is his mother and children. Jia Bin's stomach is almost ripe, and he must have arranged everything well. This morning, the loyal prince's eldest son died suddenly. The eldest son of the eldest son in Concubine Zhen's palace also died suddenly, and I heard that the Supreme Emperor had a stroke again, I told you, you have to keep your mouth shut so that everyone in the family can also keep their mouths shut."

Jia Gu went to the window to look, and came back to stick it next to Mrs. Tong, "A few years ago, I asked you to make jewelry for my niece and nobles, and made two gold hairpins, do you remember?"

"I made a lot of golden hairpins, inlaid with various kinds of orbs, which one did you say?"

"The kind with Dongzhu."

"I remember that there are only three or four kinds of East Pearls inlaid..."

"Don't worry about these, one of the two golden hairpins fell into the hands of Concubine Jia. A few days ago, the Jia family sent people to Jiangnan to buy them in order to build a villa. I heard that the Jia family had tens of thousands of taels of silver in the hands of the Zhen family. , the children of the Jia family went directly to pick up the silver, but the Zhen family asked the Jia family to send a message to the emperor, saying that a few years ago, there was a corrupt official who hid 10 taels of silver in one place. It was planned. Seeing the sudden death of the father and son today, it is not a good thing. After Jia Guifei found out, she had a plan to kill two birds with one stone. I still can't find out how it works, but I heard that in order to drag her cousin into the water, Just tell the emperor that the pearl hairpin is the certificate for taking the silver..."

"Wait, how did a niece, a boudoir girl, get involved with a corrupt official? Isn't this nonsense?"

"If Xun'er and I are involved, Xun'er went to the south of the Yangtze River the year before last, and it's not a big deal to get a sum of money and hide it. Besides, I heard that there seems to be armor or horses in it, Xun'er In the Taipu Temple, the management is all about military horses and ordnance, and in the past two years, due to the plague and climate, thousands of military horses have been killed. As long as someone speaks slander in front of the emperor, the emperor will definitely have people investigate the military horses. No matter what How about it, during this period of time, our family has to retract our heads into our stomachs, trembling, and even wearing a sinful body. Concubine Jia not only wants to knock Jia concubine down, but also wants to swallow our house. I listen to the imperial prequel The letter back, such a good plan, was broken on the key gold hairpin. I heard that the emperor was furious, but when Jia concubine brought out a similar gold hairpin, the emperor changed his face, and our family didn't care about it. Worse this catastrophe. You make people keep their mouths shut. Our family has only made one bead hairpin. It has always been one, and never made two. Concubine Jia is plotting against us, and I will stay with you to the end. The one in Concubine Jia's hand is for the emperor to believe that it was imitated by them, the purpose is self-evident."

Mrs. Tong nodded, got out of bed immediately, went to find the account book in the next room, and turned to the previous few years, "I remember that I have a deposit here, and here, the Phoenix spreads its wings and makes two pearl hairpins, and shares them with each other. 24 beads, eight taels of gold, no inscriptions, no labor costs and consumables. I remembered that this was made by Zhao Liu of our family. Their family is my dowry, and they were brought out of our Tong family’s Wubao. Carpenter, Zhao Liu disappeared three months ago, and now his two sons are making goldware. In this way, it must be that the hairpin in the niece's hand has disappeared. I'm talking to Dai'er now, you keep it first it's here."

Jia Gu watched Mrs. Tong go out, put away the account book, and thought about making a fake account book now, and this account book had to be old, not afraid of [-], but just in case.He stood up with the account book and went to the courtyard where the staff lived.

On the second day, Mrs. Tong entered the palace and first went to Tianhou Palace to pay her respects. The queen mother was in a good mood and called her daughter, Princess Anyang, over early in the morning. The mother and daughter were talking, and it was reported that Mrs. Tong had arrived.

Princess Anyang was the first to greet her, and after a few words with her company, she sent Mrs. Tong out of the queen mother's bedroom.

The queen mother couldn't see her daughter's attitude like this, "You are a princess who was born in the first place, and the emperor is also close to you. All the concubines in the palace have to salute first when they see you. Why bother to make a face for a married woman."

Princess Anyang smiled wryly, "I am not for her, I am for my daughter, I heard from the imperial doctor that there is another girl in Jing'an's wicked belly. Let me tell you, if I marry, I will give birth to two girls in three years , are you in a hurry, not to mention that their family is looking forward to having a grandson. This is also the fate of that evil, thanks to her uncle who found her a good husband's family, and did not let her go to the mother-in-law to set rules, and did not make a fuss Give the uncle a room and aunt. Among other things, the girl from my third sister’s family, after marrying, she has to serve her mother-in-law sooner or later. Before the son is born, one on the left and one on the right will arrange aunts. Huang Lian is still suffering, my third sister feels distressed like something, she can't say it, she is also an important minister, and the family is looking forward to a boy inheriting the title, if I talk too much, my child will be blinded, alas."

The queen mother also sighed, "When your grandson gives birth to this child, you take her to worship the Bodhisattva, even if you have many girls in your life, please ask the Bodhisattva to be considerate, send a boy here first, and you will not be afraid of several girls in the future. "

Princess Anyang couldn't laugh or cry when she heard this, but she still followed the old lady's wishes and promised to take her daughter to the temple to worship after the child was born.

Mrs. Tong went to the Queen's Palace this time, thinking that the Queen was still practicing, but who knew that she saw the Queen this time. Then changed clothes.

Mrs. Tong has never met Queen Gu a few times. This time she knelt down in front of the Buddhist hall with the maid. Queen Gu was chanting scriptures. After the chanting, the nuns helped her to stand up. Queen Gu looked at Mrs. Tong for a few times and left directly. .

A court lady put a tray in front of Mrs. Tong, "It was obtained by the Empress before the birth of the First Prince, and now it is given to the Ninth Prince. Take it, Madam."

Mrs. Tong hurriedly thanked her, holding a small wooden sword in the tray, she couldn't figure out what happened, the queen has been ignoring the affairs of the palace for the past two years, what does this mean now.

Thinking that the next stop would be Concubine Jia's palace, Madam Tong felt annoyed again, who knew that Concubine Jia sent someone to say that there was no need to go to pay her respects, and the same was true for the fourth concubine before she walked there.Mrs. Tong had no choice but to go to Pixiang Hall with the small wooden sword.

Jia Yingchun seems to be in a good mood today, looking forward to Mrs. Tong's coming soon. Mrs. Tong must tell the origin of the little wooden sword, and asked her several times, saying that the family has arranged the matter of the golden hairpin, so that Mrs. Jia Don't overthink it.

Jia Yingchun knew even less than Mrs. Tong. Now that she heard some news, although not all, she felt uncomfortable. "At the beginning of spring, there was a court lady who sang in the imperial garden, which attracted the emperor to stop. Then she disappeared inexplicably. I heard that several court ladies in the same room were also implicated. No one here discusses this matter. Go out and talk to other concubines When a concubine meets a concubine, it is inevitable to be scraped a few times with an eye knife and stabbed with a few words. Compared with the emperor's rewards and the number of the emperor's visits all day long, you cut off the beard on the way the emperor came to me this month. I’ll let you taste what it’s like to offend me within a month... Auntie... This is still my cousin. The only thing I can make her miss now is the prince who has not yet been born in my stomach. Otherwise, she is a noble concubine , I am a concubine, I will not talk to me when I am idle."

Mrs. Tong can't help it. What can I do?If it was an ordinary family, let alone Jia Gu, even Mrs. Tong would be able to put on a suit and come to the door to make trouble, no matter how noisy the palace is, how noisy it is.I could only sigh and comfort her, "Think about what's in your stomach. As women, we have endured so much and suffered so much, and it's not all for the sake of our children."

Jia Yuanchun sat blankly, watching Baoqin come back, and hurriedly asked, "Who will pass the message?"

"No one came, Madam, no one came to send a message. You lie down and rest for a while. From yesterday to today, no one came. You haven't closed your eyes all night. Go to sleep for a while, maybe you are thinking too much."

Jia Yuanchun muttered to himself, "Why doesn't the emperor believe it? Why doesn't the emperor believe me? The golden hairpin belongs to Jia Yingchun, and Jiangnan also spread the word that the 10 taels of silver are real. How can the emperor believe it?" I don’t believe it. At the time when Jia Xun swallowed the Lin family’s wealth, there was not only 10 taels of silver in Jiangnan, but also other things.”

"Your Majesty, you should sleep for a while, and sleep for a while. The emperor is in the front court now, and he will come in the afternoon. You should lie down first, and when you get up at noon, have a full meal, and wash up, you can go down with the emperor." Chess talk."

Jia Yuanchun slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep, hugged the piano and took a breath, just outside the door of the bedroom, a little eunuch came over from outside, "Auntie, Mr. Lu from the Imperial Concubine Zhen's palace is here, he seems to be angry gone."

How could she not be angry, it is estimated that Concubine Zhen will swallow the empress's heart, and the empress made a wrong move and every step was wrong.Baoqin clenched his fist, turned around and saw an old eunuch standing proudly in the yard,

"Grandpa Lu, Wanfu Jinan."

"Girl Baoqin, the master is uneasy, and our servants can't rest easy. The concubine is waiting. I have invited the concubine. Let's go."

"Grandpa Lu, our empress is sick now, wait for the concubine to pay her respects when she recovers."

"Hmph, why, the imperial concubine has forgotten who is the master, right?"

"Eunuch Lu said who is the master in this palace. Naturally, the emperor is the master. Yesterday, the blood in front of Zhaoyang Palace should have been washed away. The noble concubine is the emperor's noble concubine, so Eunuch Lu should understand."

The old eunuch twisted his face, snorted, turned and left.

After Baoqin watched him leave, she was so frightened that she couldn't stand still and fell to the ground. She didn't know if the empress was going to tear herself apart with the Zhen family, but today, she must have violated the taboo of the empress by making her own claims, and she couldn't hide it.Holding the piano, she got up and stumbled back to the bedroom. Before Jia Yuanchun woke up, a maid at the door called her, "Aunt Qin, there is news from Zhaoyang Palace."

Concubine Zhen lived in Zhaoyang Hall, she hugged her piano and hurried out, "What's wrong?"

"The Empress Dowager just ordered Concubine Zhen's belongings to be moved to the side hall of the Supreme Emperor's palace. I heard that she is under house arrest."

Baoqin breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that his life was saved.