Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 43
One morning, the queen mother had just finished washing and was about to go to court, when a eunuch rushed over and said solemnly: "Queen mother, my servant has just returned from visiting Hei Baoyu, and she has successfully given birth to four puppies, and everything is in good condition. I came here to report to the Empress Dowager!" After hearing this, the Empress Dowager's expression suddenly became lively, she seemed very happy, and she spoke at a much faster speed.

The black treasure jade that the eunuch said was the name of a dog.The Queen Mother has many hobbies on weekdays, and dogs are one of them.Since it is something the queen mother likes, it is natural to keep it in the palace, and it must be properly fed.The queen mother's dog raising is naturally different from that of ordinary people. She took this matter very seriously and specially ordered some eunuchs to take care of it.In addition, the queen mother also asked people to collect a lot of books on raising dogs, and practiced according to the books in her spare time. Looking at her serious posture, it really makes people think that she will let the queen mother go. Improperly ran to get a dog.The dogs raised by the queen mother are all famous dogs, and each one comes from a famous family.

When I first entered the palace, the queen mother asked me if I had a good impression of dogs, and if I liked keeping dogs. At that time, my answer was yes.I don’t mean to be flattery in these words. On weekdays, I really like keeping dogs. Until now, I still have an indescribable sense of intimacy with dogs.Of course, the dogs I raise cannot be compared with those of the Queen Mother. The dogs of the Queen Mother are not only cute, but all of them are expensive. Justified, but not expensive.However, these small breeds of dogs also have an advantage, that is, the coat color on their bodies is not single, and often they are a combination of various colors.Because I like dogs, when the queen mother heard the news of Hei Baoyu's birth, she immediately said to me: "After the morning court, you can accompany me to the kennel, where there are four more puppies, and it will be more lively in the future. "

The queen mother has a wide range of interests, and she is easily obsessed with many things, and she rarely fails to do what she decides to do, which makes many people feel envious.But at the same time, a lot of things were delayed. For example, today's morning court is almost deserted.At the court today, no matter what the ministers have to say, the queen mother will definitely not pay attention to it. Unless you say that foreign troops have arrived outside the city of Beijing, don't try to divert her attention from those cute puppies. move away.Like her, my mind was full of dog shadows, looking forward to the end of the morning court. As for what those ministers said, I didn't care at all.Although it has been a long time since I entered the palace, I have never been to the empress dowager's kennel, which is also the imperial kennel.I have stayed with the Queen Mother for a long time, and I very much hope that the Queen Mother can take me to new places from time to time. Every time I go to a new place, she will tell me many things. This is the place that makes me most satisfied.

In the past, accompanying the Empress Dowager in the morning court, I didn't feel hard at all, on the contrary, I found it very interesting.His Highness has many princes and ministers, and they came over one by one, announcing their names while bowing their heads respectfully, with a very respectful attitude.The official uniforms on these ministers are so gorgeous that they look like flowers from a distance.Originally, I thought that no matter how many times I looked at this kind of scenery, I would never get bored, but today I felt a sense of anxiety in my heart, and I wanted to urge them.While annoyed that they delayed me from seeing the dog, I sneaked a glance at the Queen Mother from the corner of my eye, and found that the Queen Mother, like me, was also in a state of anxiety. Take it apart to see, only let the eunuch put it away and take it back.Even so, the morning court would take quite a long time, and when the morning court was finally over, we immediately surrounded the Queen Mother and returned to the inner palace.

The Empress Dowager hurriedly changed into a set of lighter clothes, and was supported by everyone and walked towards the imperial kennel.The royal dog stables are located on the left side of the craft workshops, very close to those silk workshops, but there is still a distance of one or two hundred steps between them.On the way to the Royal Dog Stables, the Empress Dowager told us about the situation there. This is what I am most eager to know, so I listened very carefully.

"Don't underestimate that place," began Her Majesty's speech, which she often said, as if everything about her deserved special attention. "My dog It has a long history. At first, they followed our ancestors from outside the pass, and we Manchurians gave them a local name: pug. This name is rarely mentioned now. This kind of dog has a very small body, Their physique is not very good, so they are not suitable for night watch or other work. They can only be held in people's arms and treated as toys. This is also the most suitable way of survival for them. After the Manchurians entered the customs, almost every noble lady We all have this kind of dog around, and our Manchurian nobles all live in Beijing, so this kind of dog has a new name: Pekingese dog. Later, the name of Pekingese dog spread farther and farther, and gradually replaced the name of pug dog. Feeding Although their royal kennel is not a deep palace compound, it is definitely much better than ordinary people. The kennel is built in the style of a palace, but it is a little shorter. In addition, the material used to build the kennel is not wood but Bamboo slices. In order to raise these dogs, a total of four eunuchs were assigned, one of whom was regarded as the general manager, and the other three were his subordinates. These people were not responsible for other affairs in the palace, and only took care of the dogs all year round. Although nominally These dogs are managed according to the order, but these eunuchs have the courage to manage them, at best they serve those dogs, they dare not beat and scold them easily, they can only serve them carefully."

When we were still some distance away from the kennel, an eunuch saw us and immediately turned around and ran in, shouting: "Lafayette is here!" He shouted loudly, but very slowly, so everyone could hear clearly .Before his shout could hit the ground, there was a great commotion, and suddenly many dogs ran out of the kennel. They ran towards this side, growling in a low voice, and at the same time, their tails were still desperately moving. Shaking, this obviously means to welcome the Queen Mother.Her Majesty was very happy to see these dogs, and she seemed to like the homage of these dogs more than other people's homage to her.Among the many dogs, the Queen Mother liked the dog named Hai Long the most, and that dog was also the only one approved to follow us to Fengtian.I didn't think there was anything unusual about this dog at first, but I didn't realize its specialty until today.After it ran in front of Lafayette, it stood up, and squeezed its two front legs tightly, as if bowing.Among these dogs, its performance is indeed outstanding, and other dogs are far less intelligent than it, so it will please Lafayette.Watching its performance, I couldn't help laughing out loud, it turns out that animals also know the art of flattery!
No matter how dexterous Hai Long is, this posture is still too strenuous for it. After four or five minutes, it gave up standing upright and jumped down.It was only then that I realized that this kind of behavior of the beast is not innate, but the result of deliberate cultivation the day after tomorrow, so it cannot last.At this time we were very close to the kennel, and the eunuch on duty began to check on the dogs that had escaped.For those dogs who were crowded behind and refused to come out, he had to yell at them loudly to make them come out quickly.So the dogs ran out together.After all the dogs had come out, the eunuch gave the first order: to play in circles.After the order was issued, I saw the dogs running together in the open space in front of the kennel, spinning around while running, with their bright red tongue sticking out of their mouths from time to time.Several big dogs kept turning somersaults, like a group of naughty children messing around in the open space, which made people feel very comfortable.Of course, the dogs themselves are pretty darn cute.

After playing like this for a while, the eunuch gave another order.With the sound of "stop", the dogs immediately calmed down and formed a very neat line in an orderly manner, as if to compete with the line of attendants standing behind the Queen Mother.If you compare carefully, the teams formed by these dogs are really a bit neater than ours.The weather was fine that day, and under the sunlight, their eyes shone like two small light bulbs.The eyes of these dogs are very round, and all of them protrude out of the eye sockets, giving people the feeling a bit like the sunspots in Go.While queuing up, their eyes were all fixed on Lafayette.All the details show that these dogs have received very strict training on weekdays, so they can perform in such a uniform manner today.If it is normal, it is not easy to see the eyes of these dogs clearly, because the hair on the top of their heads is so long that it almost covers the eyes. Only under the conditions like today, when they are exposed to sunlight, their eyes will be seen by people.As for whether the eyes of these dogs will be covered when they look at things by themselves on weekdays, I have no way of knowing.

(End of this chapter)