[Red Mansions] Lord Hou's daily routine

Empress Dowager Shen and King Duan returned to Beijing, and Emperor Chengsheng personally led the prince and civil and military officials to welcome them outside the city.

Back in the harem, Yu Guifei had already brought the harem concubines to welcome the Queen Mother Shen in front of the palace gate.

Civil and military officials greeted the Empress Dowager and Queen Duan outside the city, and then dispersed outside the palace. Emperor Chengsheng and the crown prince sent the Empress Dowager Shen to Shou'an Palace together with Concubine Yu and the concubines in the harem.

Empress Dowager Shen talked with Concubine Yu, the Crown Prince, and the concubines in the harem for a while, then said that she was tired and wanted to rest, and sent everyone away, saying that she would call them to talk again the next day when she had rested.

Everyone left, and Empress Dowager Shen also sent Wang Duan and Concubine Shen back to Concubine Shen's palace to talk to the mother and son, but she left Emperor Chengsheng alone here.

Empress Dowager Shen looked at Emperor Chengsheng's eyes with emotion: "For the sake of fulfilling the wish, the Ai family and the emperor have not seen each other for ten years."

"Even though I made sufficient preparations when I left, I can't come back easily. Although there are letters every ten days, it can be seen that we don't see each other. Aijia still misses the emperor very much. Looking at the emperor now, it is different from ten years ago. gone."

When Empress Dowager Shen left, Emperor Chengsheng was only in his 40s. He was in his prime, and he looked naturally energetic. Ten years later, government affairs were laborious. After spending a lot of effort, Dowager Shen saw her son now, only to find that the past ten years had not only made Emperor Chengsheng much older, but even his temples and black hair had been whitened by the passage of time.

Emperor Chengsheng let Empress Dowager Shen hold his hand, he smiled and said: "I see Empress Mother, she is still the same as before."

The Empress Dowager Shen laughed when she heard the words, and she stretched out her hand to caress her temples: "I can't do it, my hair is all white. How can anyone not be old at all after ten years? You, now you have learned to coax like them I'm sorry."

To be honest, Emperor Chengsheng looked at Empress Dowager Shen, she was indeed older than ten years ago, and the fine lines around her eyes had increased a lot.But Queen Mother Zongshen's hair was all white, but her temperament and demeanor were no different from ten years ago.

The Buddhist temple in Mount Wutai is quiet. The Empress Dowager Shen practiced there for ten years. Even if she has not lost contact with the capital, it is a quiet place of Buddhism. People feel the changes of the four seasons in it, and it is much quieter than being in the chaos of the world. Empress Dowager Shen's serene and calm demeanor has settled there for ten years, and it has become more and more tranquil.

Emperor Chengsheng was afraid that Empress Dowager Shen would have to work hard all the way, so he accompanied Empress Dowager Shen, mother and son, to reminisce about the past for a while, and wanted to ask Empress Dowager Shen to have a good rest.After all, Empress Dowager Shen has already returned to the palace at this moment, the days to come are long, and there will be many opportunities to speak in the future.

Empress Dowager Shen refused to let Emperor Chengsheng go, and said that she was like talking to Emperor Chengsheng alone.

Empress Dowager Shen laughed and said, "Just now Aijia told them that they were tired, it was just an excuse. If they didn't say that, they would have to stay here with Aijia all the time. How can Aijia talk to the emperor alone?"

Empress Dowager Shen smiled, and ordered the nuns who served her personally to fetch the things she had prepared.

Emperor Chengsheng saw the maid who was serving Empress Dowager Shen go to the room and carefully brought out a tray. The things on the tray seemed to be quite heavy. When the nurse put the tray in front of Emperor Chengsheng, Emperor Chengsheng He heard the sound of the tray being tapped on the table.

The tray was covered with delicate yellow silk cloth, Emperor Chengsheng couldn't see what was placed inside, but the things inside were still piled up very high, Emperor Chengsheng thought it was like a book or something.

After the nun carefully lifted off the silk cloth covering the top, it was the true face of the thing that caught Emperor Chengsheng's eyes.

——It turned out to be a booklet made of stacks of exquisite rice paper.

There was a dark indigo cover on the outside of the booklet, Empress Dowager Shen picked up the top booklet, opened the cover, and Emperor Chengsheng saw the writing inside.In the booklet are scriptures.

Empress Dowager Shen glanced at it, and then showed the booklet in her hand to Emperor Chengsheng: "At the beginning, Aijia sincerely prayed for the safety of the late emperor in front of the Buddha, and the Buddha responded to Aijia. , the Ai family is looking forward to the safety of the emperor and the harmony and stability of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"When Ai's family is meditating in the mountains, they often copy scriptures with Yan'er. Ai's family copied scriptures with him to pray for the emperor and the people of the world. Three hundred volumes of scriptures have been copied for the people of the world. The Wutai Mountain Buddhist Temple is here. There are [-] volumes of scriptures copied by Aijia and Yaner for the emperor. They are all written by Aijia and Yaner. You can take a look. Bring it back, and it will be sent to the royal Buddhist temple for worship."

The Yan'er that Empress Dowager Shen spoke of was the fifth prince who was conferred the title of King Duan.

Emperor Chengsheng went to take a closer look. After seeing it once, he was most distressed by Empress Dowager Shen: "The queen mother is clean, but she still misses her son. The queen mother copied the scriptures for her son. The son really cannot afford to be the queen mother. If the mother suffers from this What kind of injury, my son feels too sorry."

When Emperor Chengsheng thought that Empress Dowager Shen would have to copy scriptures carefully in the mountains for him at such an age, Emperor Chengsheng felt sore and astringent in his heart.

Empress Dowager Shen smiled and comforted Emperor Chengsheng: "The emperor should be happy. Aijia is at this age, his hair is white, but his eyes are not bad. It is a bit of comfort. Besides, when copying the scriptures, he can calm his mind. After ten years of copying the scriptures in the mountains with the Ai family, grinding down every single word, this temper has become much quieter."

"The emperor saw him today, how do you feel?"

Emperor Chengsheng went to look at the scriptures copied by King Duan again, and after reading it for a while, he and Empress Dowager Shen praised the words of King Duan really improved: "Lao Wu has always treated me and Concubine Shen with filial piety, and Lao Wu is here After taking care of the mother in the mountains, the son is also very relieved. The son has only spoken a few words with him, and there is no chance to talk alone, but the son looks at him, and he is much calmer than before."

When Empress Dowager Shen talked about King Duan, she looked a bit sad: "When Yan'er left with Ai's family, he had just got married. In order not to separate their husband and wife, he took his concubine with Ai's family. .In the mountains, the husband and wife served together in front of Ai's family, these ten years were really not easy."

"Yan'er is really filial. Before he left, he didn't do a few decent errands for the emperor. Now he came back with his wife and children, but he has experienced a lot in the past ten years. The emperor is willing to give him a few errands." , Tell him to practice and practice. Anyway, he is also a prince, and he must not be too backward than other brothers."

Emperor Chengsheng said it was natural, and said that Empress Dowager Shen should rest assured.

"The queen mother loves the fifth child, and the fifth child is also my son. Is there any reason why I don't care about him? It's just that he hasn't entered the court for ten years, so I have to start with small things slowly. When things go through a lot, I will naturally think highly of him. of."

Empress Dowager Shen waited for Emperor Chengsheng to read the hand-copied scriptures, and then waved to the nurse who was waiting beside her. The nurse understood, covered the scriptures with silk cloth again, carried them outside, and someone rushed to send them to the Royal Buddhist Temple enshrined in it.

Empress Dowager Shen asked Emperor Chengsheng to use the spring tea she brought back from Wutai Mountain.

Empress Dowager Shen laughed and said: "The Ai family thinks the tea in the mountains is too harsh, and the tea that is used to it is sent from Beijing for a long time, and the tea taste loses its flavor after a long delay, so I asked Yan'er to find tea seeds and plant them myself. This tea was planted in the courtyard of Ai’s family, and it grew in one or two years. At the beginning, I only had a small pot of new tea. This year is ten years old, and I got ten pots of new tea, and Ai’s family gave them away. Everyone knew that the emperor didn't like to drink this, so they didn't give it to the emperor."

"But now there is only one pot left at Ai's house, and the emperor is here again, so let's go often together. This spring tea tastes mellow, and it's still very good."

Emperor Chengsheng obeyed, tasted the tea, and said with Empress Dowager Shen that the tea was very good.

Empress Dowager Shen laughed: "Ai's family sent a jar to the king of Xining County. He wrote to say that he also likes this tea and asked Ai's family to ask for it. But Ai's family returned to him. There is no such tea this year. Yes. If he still wants it, he will have to wait until next spring, then ask someone to go to Mount Wutai to collect it, and then give it to him.”

Emperor Chengsheng seldom drinks clear tea, but he really thinks this tea is good.

Hearing Empress Dowager Shen mentioning the words Xining County King, Emperor Chengsheng's expression did not change at all, but his heart moved.

Emperor Chengsheng was not at all surprised that the Empress Dowager Shen would talk about the Xining County King. He had originally thought that the Empress Dowager Shen's decision to keep him was not just for talking.

Empress Dowager Shen looked relaxed, and chatted with Emperor Chengsheng: "In the letter written by the king of Xining County, it was not just to ask for tea from Ai's family. At that time, Ai's family was on the way back. Sad."

Empress Dowager Shen paused, and Emperor Chengsheng asked why Empress Dowager Shen was sad.

The Empress Dowager Shen sighed: "He begged Ai's family to be the master of his son. He said that Shen Qiao had done a good job as a general in Lingnan, and he never dared to slack off in military affairs these years, let alone go beyond the rules. Be cautious, self-denying and diligent, but even so, there are still people in the court who impeach Shen Qiao. He is complaining for his son. Aijia returned to him and told him that Aijia would not interfere in political affairs."

"He is also an official. He is an official in the court. How can he not be talked about? Aijia told him to be relieved. Shen Qiao was impeached. The emperor will deal with it fairly, and the procuratorate will also investigate. It's clear. If there is evidence for Shen Qiao's incident, he will naturally be held accountable. If he is framed for no reason, the emperor will also make decisions for him."

"The emperor said, is Aijia right?"

Emperor Chengsheng said: "The queen mother is right."

Empress Dowager Shen said again: "When Ai's family was in Wutai Mountain, it was very quiet around them. Without these things, my heart was quiet. But the way Ai's family came back, the closer they got to the capital, the more rumors of this mess. Ai I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it, but the wind blows in my ears, and some words come to Ai's family inadvertently. Even if Ai's family doesn't want to know, they know it."

"Emperor, in the past half a year, the government and the public have not been at peace. This general was originally used to protect the country, to protect the territory of the Great Zhou and protect the people of the world. He also learned from those crooked thoughts and planned in this court. Calculated, to disrupt this stable and harmonious court?"