But the bright moon shines on the ditch

Extra* An Nineteen

The only thing An Jiu was grateful to An Gan was that he taught him a truth - there are usually only two situations in which to live in the inner courtyard of the palace, either on the food table or on the food list.

If you don't eat people, people will eat you.

The first time he experienced this unwritten rule in the inner court was not long after he entered the palace.

He was less than ten years old at that time and had only a vague nickname, Sanquan. He was a prostitute at home, and because he was not loved by his parents, he became the first child to be sold after the natural disaster. The resellers changed hands several times, and finally sent him to the Vermilion Wall at a high price.

He was thin and short, and could not do much at first glance. He was assigned to the direct palace supervisor, where he was mainly responsible for sweeping the halls and corridors, and was the cleaning staff of the palace.

Although sweeping is a hard job, the Zhidian Prison is still in the Twelve Prisons and cannot afford daily food and clothing. Occasionally there are large-scale events in the palace, and they are temporarily assigned to guard near the Meridian Gate, which is the closest to the outer court. place. Sanquan could often see officials in purple robes coming in and out of the Meridian Gate, stopping to laugh and chat in front of the white marble steps. Such people and their lives were a sight he could never hope to achieve in his lifetime.

The ordinary days were broken by a meal rewarded by the nobles. The reason was that Sanquan cleared the snow in time to avoid the nobles in the harem from wrestling. The supervisors who were assigned to several other places on the same day as him were not so diligent. There were young masters who slipped and fell while playing and were injured. The noble man severely punished them. It coincided with the Laba Festival and gave him an additional reward of Sanquan. A set of banquets to show appreciation.

When Sanquan first entered the inner court, he didn't understand the ways of the world and was filled with only joy. Because there was too much food for one person to finish, even though he was extremely reluctant to part with it, Sanquan still shared it with his companions.

Of course the punished eunuch didn't think he had good intentions, and such a table was beyond the imagination and tolerance of a lowly palace official like him. The nobleman jumped over to the imperial eunuch and rewarded him alone. Instead of humbly accepting it, he accepted it. Did he take the eunuch seriously?
Therefore, with the acquiescence of the chief eunuch who turned a blind eye, Sanquan was excluded and isolated by the alliance. Not long after, the chief eunuch randomly found an excuse and sent Sanquan and the retired palace officials to Huan. Clothes Bureau. The old palace man looked at San Quan and turned around three times, feeling really pitiful and innocent. He told him about the rules and human hearts within the high wall.

The Huanyi Bureau is not in the Imperial City. It would be difficult to come back after leaving.

Sanquan asked the old palace man, why did you tell me now? Why didn't you tell me earlier!
The old palace man said, I want to tell you, now it is not to go to the clothes bureau to retire, but to be wrapped in a broken straw mat and thrown into the moat.

Sanquan was unwilling to give in, and the old palace man tried to persuade me, but it was useless. The four divisions, eight bureaus, and twelve prisons had ups and downs. I was trapped here for the rest of my life. Unless I died, I would never think of escaping. In this case, it is better to live a good life there in poverty, at least to live comfortably.

In this way, Sanquan started a new life in Huanyi Bureau.

It was not as good as Zhidian Prison, it was a real Qingshui Yamen. It was hard and tiring. There was endless laundry and endless buckets to clean every day. All meals were eaten by snatching, and not even the dregs of the soup were left behind. The most important thing is that it is not as painful as the old palace people said, and life is simple. On the contrary, the more obscene the place, the more dirty it is.

Sanquan managed to gain a foothold in the Huanyi Bureau with his ability to talk sweetly. This time he learned from experience and lessons, followed the current situation and behaved well, which made the eunuch very happy. Unexpectedly, the eunuch fell in love with a palace maid and insisted on letting him. The other party did what he wanted to do, but the palace maid refused, and the eunuch insulted her again and again. Sanquan endured it again and again, but finally couldn't bear to help the palace maid. In this way, she completely offended the eunuch.

The eunuch assigned the hardest and most arduous work to Sanquan and the palace maids. They washed the floor day and night, their hands were bald and their feet were covered with chilblains. The skin was cracked and cracked, and the cold wind blew. , years of pain seems to penetrate into the bones.

Fortunately, the palace maid was a reciprocal person and used old things in exchange for ointment to heal Sanquan's wounds little by little.

Sanquan asked her where she came from, and the palace maid told her about her situation. She was sold by her family just like him. The difference is that the palace maid works at home. In order to let her younger brothers and sisters survive, she actively asked her parents to sell herself for money.

The family was so poor that they couldn't open the pot, so her parents gritted their teeth and agreed to choose a wealthy family in the city for her. Unexpectedly, that family was attacked by a vendetta, and the palace maid took advantage of the chaos to escape. She did not dare to go home for fear of dragging her parents down. When she wandered, she was arrested. Human teeth were kidnapped and trafficked, so they accidentally ran into the palace.

The palace maid's nickname was A Yuan, and the noble named her Hong Jia. Gradually, Hong Jia forgot her parents' original intention of naming her A Yuan.

Hongjia was born in the south of the Yangtze River, spoke Wu Nong's soft language, had beautiful and picturesque features, and was a woman as gentle as water. The facial features alone are not outstanding, but the beauty lies in her slender figure, coupled with her soft and graceful appearance, her temperament is completely natural, and she is unique among the palace ladies.

Originally, Hongjia was protected by a noble man, and Hongjia's life was relatively clean, without those short-sighted people insisting on getting together with her. Until one day, the eyes of the Nine-Fifth Supreme Lord passed over her inadvertently, and the noble man mercilessly looked at her. Sweep her out.

Remembering that Hongjia had been favored by nobles, the supervisor of the Huanyi Bureau did not dare to push him too hard, fearing that one day Hongjia would turn around and come back to cause trouble for him. It was just that seeing Sanquan hanging around in front of Hongjia all day long was an eyesore, so he planned to put him in trouble. Sanquan was transferred away.

In fact, no matter where he is transferred, it will not be worse than the Huanyi Bureau. What's more, this is an excellent opportunity for Sanquan to return to the imperial city. If it is done properly, he may be able to go to a better place than Zhidian Prison. Due to his past experience, Sanquan had already placed chess pieces around the supervisor, so he received the news in advance, but after much thought, he gave up and left.

Sanquan couldn't understand why Hongjia was willing to be sold, nor could he understand the warmth Hongjia brought to him. Sanquan, who was only ten years old, had many doubts about the world, but he had already developed the ability to stand on his own without even realizing it.

Sanquan told the eunuch that his great-grandmother had given him a dream that Hongjia would be canonized as Concubine Li in the future and enjoy all the honors and favors. Originally, he didn't plan to tell anyone this secret. After all, if one more person knew it, one more person would take the credit. But if you think about it, there are still three years before Hongjia is promoted to a nobleman. In these three years, the eunuch will inevitably take care of him in Huanyi Bureau, so he thought carefully and decided to share this glory with the eunuch.

The chief inspector saw that what he said had a nose and an eye, and it was difficult to tell whether it was true or false.

Sanquan immediately said: "Don't blame me for not reminding you. You have done a lot of disrespect to the empress before. It's too late to admit your mistake now, but it will be too late when the empress is welcomed back to the palace."

Sanquan had an expression on his face that said, "You wish for your own good, so you can take care of yourself." The eunuch was really frightened this time. After all, the matter of gods and ghosts has always been very mysterious. If Sanquan had no confidence, how could he dare to be so arrogant!

It happened to be a coincidence that when Sanquan was resold, he had been entrusted to a fortune teller, and he knew the tricks very well. He didn't expect that this set of deceptive tricks would be very effective in the imperial city.

From then on, life in Huanyi Bureau became easier for Sanquan and Hongjia.

Hongjia didn't know that Sanquan had missed an opportunity to leave the Huanyi Bureau for her. The fate of a person is indescribable. Even if you go to the highest place, you may fall down, and you may not be unable to see flowers blooming at the lowest place. Precisely because the Huanyi Bureau was excluded from the Imperial City, such a scam could be maintained.

No matter how good the life in Huanyi Bureau was, he was still miserable, but Sanquan felt happy. With Hongjia accompanying him every day, he was carefree. Slowly, Sanquan felt that something warm was growing deep in his heart.

Occasionally when the eunuch becomes suspicious, Sanquan will fool him with his fortune-telling tricks. In the third year, seeing that the lie is about to be exposed, Sanquan plans to follow the same pattern and delay it for another three years. He does not want to accidentally give Hongjia to the harem nobles. On the way to deliver the clothes, I met the Ninth Five-year-old again.

Not long after, Hongjia was welcomed back.

The eunuch was very happy and said that Sanquan was lucky and they would follow Hongjia's chickens and dogs to ascend to heaven. Unexpectedly, they waited and waited, but they waited for the news of Hongjia's sudden death. By the time Sanquan came to find him, he had been wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into the moat.

The old palace man's reminder echoed in Sanquan's ears, and Sanquan felt furious. Why? Why can't he die well even though he has already left the imperial city? Until that moment, Sanquan truly realized that the problem was not within or outside the imperial city, the problem was only with them.

Because they are too lowly, there are some things that they cannot bear in their lifetime, such as the banquet back then and the favor of the emperor today. But do you just give up? Do you want to wait to die in the laundry department like a dog all your life?
Sanquan is unwilling to give in.

No matter who came to lobby this time, Sanquan was determined to return to the imperial city to fight for himself and Hongjia. Later, he was actually asked to wait for an opportunity. The chief eunuch was so harassed that he had no choice but to find out through various trust relationships, and he finally found out that the chief eunuch wanted to adopt a godson.

Is there still a need for a godson among those who serve as supervisors of ceremonies? The eunuch couldn't explain it all, he only said that there were already eighteen in front of them, many old ones died, and the rest were either reused in the outer court or worked hard to establish their own business.

All in all, this "little nineteen" is an extremely dangerous position. Those who are not brave enough should not take it.

From the eunuch's hesitation, Sanquan roughly understood the meaning of "danger". He thought that the eunuch Bingbi, the chief eunuch, was not easy to get along with, but since he wanted to climb up, it would be best to reach the sky in one step. So Sanquan stepped forward resolutely.

On a snowy winter day, after passing the Jiuzhong Palace, Sanquan returned to that precious and precious place that everyone envied.

He was taken to An Qian's house by the eunuch who led the way. The house was filled with an irreversible rancid smell that was so unpleasant that it was nauseating. Sanquan tried his best to hold it back and kowtowed to An Qian.

After a while, a rough and old hand came from the seat and lifted Sanquan's chin.

A pair of cloudy eyes glanced back and forth across the three bodies, staring at them until their whole bodies were numb and their skin trembled. Sanquan lowered his eyes, resisting the nausea that surged in his chest, gritted his teeth, raised his head and forced a smile at the old eunuch.

The three are fully grown, and although the dough is tender, it is a rare good color. The old eunuch was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "He is a good boy. Please stay in my room tonight."

That night, Sanquan didn't know how he got here.

He closed his eyes countless times and prayed that the sky would light up soon, but it was extremely dark, the windows on all sides were covered with black cloth, and incense was burning in the house, making it hard for him to breathe.

He shed tears silently and completely threw himself into the past that he could not pursue. That short period of time in the past was an unforgettable time in his life. He lit a candle and, from morning to night, day and night, Hongjia applied medicine to him. Hongjia helped him wipe his sweat. Hongjia made a snowman for him. Jia took care of him who had a fever. Hong Jia smiled and said to him, my name is A Yuan, Yuanyuan, you can call me Sister A Yuan...

Sister Ayuan.

With the calls from the bottom of his heart, Sanquan survived that night.

Later, Sanquan became Anjiu.

Later, An Jiu found out the whole story of Hongjia's sudden death and eliminated everyone involved one by one. After being discovered by An Qian, An Qian not only did not blame him, but also appreciated his killing.

An Qian said to An Jiu: "You are lucky to have the opportunity to sit on the dining table."

His subtext is that this luck was given by him, but will a person who has changed his position still miss the days when I was the fish on the menu? An Jiu asked him: "Can I always be like this?"

An Qian was surprised by the young man's greed and ambition, "Then you have to work hard not to fall off the table."

If you fall off the table, you will become Hongjia.

Anjiu didn't want to end up like Hongjia.

So he worked hard to live in the imperial city that ate people but did not spit out their bones. As he lived, he also forgot the beginning of his dependence on sister A Yuan.

At that time, Sanquan was just grass growing from the cracks in the cliff. He knows that his life is low, and he does not seek wealth, but only a happy life.

A consummation with sister A Yuan.

That thing that once puzzled him but felt warm, he slowly came to appreciate it later. Unfortunately, Ah Yuan was gone, and Sanquan was dead. Anjiu did not share wealth with others, and no longer needed perfection.

He couldn't get that thing, and he didn't want it.

However, how can God allow people to fulfill their wishes? His parents sold him, and when he hated them, he met Sister Ayuan. Sister Ayuan died, and when he hated the world to death, he met Liang Peiqiu again.

Those people, those friendly people, those people who stick to justice and innocence, are really stupid!

Anjiu hated them.

But he finally understood that he would never be able to get rid of his desire for that thing in his life. Sanquan wants to be loved, and Sanquan also wants to love. Those few years in Huanyi Bureau were Sanquan's life.

As for An Jiu, An Jiu died long ago.

On that snowy winter day.