Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 47 Boating on Kunming Lake (1)
Today is a fine day, neither hot nor cold, and what's even better is that the Queen Mother is also in high spirits.After getting older, the queen mother is usually very gloomy, as if there are many things suppressed in her heart.Today's situation is a bit different. From her sparkling eyes and smile from time to time, it can be seen that the Queen Mother is very happy at this time.This is indeed a rare good phenomenon. As long as the Queen Mother is happy, our life will be much easier.When she was in a happy mood, the queen mother seemed to be 20 years younger, and she really seemed to have returned to her girlhood, and the look on her face became much brighter.If the Queen Mother wears the earrings sent by Zhang Zhidong at this time, it will surely add a lot of color, but this is just a thought in my heart, and I didn't dare to say it out, for fear of causing unnecessary troubles.The Empress Dowager also seemed to have forgotten about Zhang Zhidong's gift, and never mentioned it again.Why did the Queen Mother become so happy?The reason is very simple. In the past few days, all the affairs of the DPRK have been handled smoothly, and there is nothing that makes her feel uncomfortable. In addition, she is very free today, so it can be said that there is nothing that requires her to take care of herself. .For these reasons the Empress Dowager spoke and acted with an unprecedented briskness which we had not seen before.

Since everything is going so well, Lafayette will never sit around all day. We know that when Lafayette is not talking, he must be planning where to go to play.Sure enough, not long after, the queen mother said: "The weather is so good today, we must come up with an interesting way to play, let's go to Kunming Lake."The queen mother seemed to be afraid that we would not like it, and then said: "In such a fine weather, it must be very comfortable to stay on the boat, even if we have lunch, we must let them bring it on board, otherwise it will definitely weaken our pleasure of having fun." .” Actually, there is no need to say these words at all, each of us is willing to follow her to the lake.Before departure, we eight female officers got together for a meeting, reminding each other and agreeing to make Lafayette happy all day long, and no one can say disappointing words or do things that make Lafayette feel unhappy.This suggestion has been unanimously approved by everyone. If Lafayette's happy mood can last for a few more days, we will definitely live a particularly comfortable life.

They say they want to go to the water, but they don't really want to go to the beach, but go boating on Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace.Although Kunming Lake is artificially carved, its area is large enough for the Empress Dowager to float.The queen mother has her own special pleasure boat, which is called "Royal Boat" according to the convention.But she seldom has leisure time like today, and she only goes boating in the good days of late spring or early autumn every year, so this royal boat is rarely used.After the Empress Dowager decided to go to Kunming Lake, someone sent a message to her servants to prepare boats, utensils and other things for sightseeing.The style of Yuzhou is very ordinary, it is a big boat with a canopy, and you still need to use sculls and pennies to move forward.As usual, there is a cabin in the middle of the royal boat, but this cabin is very large and high.Dragons and phoenixes are embroidered all over the roof of the cabin, and the carved birds and animals are all lifelike. It looks like a real palace from a distance.It is for this reason that I prefer to call this royal boat the "Floating Palace on the Lake".The roof of the cabin of the Royal Boat is made of the finest wood. These woods are carved into the shape of glazed tiles and painted with bright oil paint on the outside.Her Majesty chose me and three other female officers from among the eight of us, and she was going to let us accompany us closely, and the others had to follow closely behind.

Not long after, everything was ready and the only thing waiting was for the Empress Dowager to board the boat.The Queen Mother ordered to leave, and a large group of us surrounded the Queen Mother and walked towards the pier where the imperial boat was moored. From a distance, we saw several young eunuchs had already arranged the oars and stood in their own positions.The four of us female officers carefully helped the Empress Dowager to board the imperial boat and let her sit on the throne.Then, someone opened the two tall and large dock doors, and slowly let the royal boat out.The little eunuchs who punted the boat have undergone strict training to minimize the vibration during the journey.When leaving the dock, you need to pass through a narrow waterway. After walking for about 5 minutes, the royal boat arrived at the mirror-like Kunming Lake.After leaving that waterway, the beautiful scenery on the whole lake is presented one by one.Since then, the smile on the Empress Dowager's face has never disappeared.The sun in the sky is shining warmly, making the lake water golden.The air on the lake was particularly fresh, and the Queen Mother's mood was relatively smooth, and we became very happy with the smooth mood of the Queen Mother.

As the boat travels on the lake, we can see many different scenery.Kunming Lake is very clean, the blue sky is reflected in the water, and even the lake is blue.Sitting on the boat, we can directly see the bottom of Kunming Lake through the water surface, and we can count the lotus stalks that just came out of the water.The air is so fresh and the scenery so attractive, even if you just stare at the lake for a long time, you will feel that your eyes are much brighter.Goldfish swim through the transparent lake water from time to time, adding a dynamic effect to the lake water.A few larger goldfish jumped out of the water from time to time and then fell down again, making crisp sounds during the period, and the ripples they caused were also very beautiful.Everywhere can make people feel energetic, as long as you come here, all the worries and troubles in the world can be temporarily put aside.

The palace leaning on the Longevity Hill is facing us. Looking from the boat, there is the Qionglou Yuyu in the fairyland.Can't believe we live in that kind of place.There are many plants and trees planted in the Summer Palace, especially along the shore of Kunming Lake, it can be said that all kinds of trees can be found.The breeze blows, standing on the boat and watching the branches swaying with the wind, it has a special charm.Along with the breeze, there is also the fragrance of flowers. Although it is late spring, many flowers have just opened. The rich fragrance of flowers and the sweet spring breeze combine together to form the fascinating spring scene of the Summer Palace.In addition, there is a very special spectacle that must be explained. The glazed tiles on the roof of the palace reflect dazzling golden light due to the sunlight. From a distance, it looks like golden light projected from mid-air. .This is really a rare beauty. Even if you just take a look at it, you will never regret coming to the Summer Palace.

The Queen Mother has prepared two yachts. Since we are taking the Royal Boat, we might as well call the other one the Secondary Number of the Royal Boat.The shape of the sub-ship of the Yuzhou is similar to that of the Yuzhou, but the scale is slightly smaller, and the fake tiles on the top are not yellow, but green. As for the decoration inside it, I don’t know, because every time I ride Yu Zhou, I don't have a chance to go inside the sub-account to see for myself.Every time we swim in the lake, our eight female officials will be divided into two groups, one group sits on the royal boat, and the other group sits on the auxiliary number.Apart from the four female officers, there were also some close followers on board the sub-ship.Every time he swims in the lake, Yuzhou's sub-number will follow closely behind Yuzhou, about five or six feet away, so that it can not only ensure that it does not affect the Queen Mother's sight, but also can obey the Queen Mother's call at any time.

In addition to these two big boats, there are four small boats, on which are the band and the people from the imperial dining room.The Empress Dowager likes music, even when she is on the lake, she is not immune to vulgarity, but what these people play is fine music, not rough music that is noisy in the temple.Xiyue is very pleasant to hear, and it is even more special when it is played on the lake.There are about 20 people in this band, and they play in shifts, because according to the queen mother's request, the music cannot be stopped.The melodious sound of silk and bamboo, together with the soft sound of wind and the sound of broken jade-like water, makes people feel very pleasant.The sound of the music was originally very soft and soft, but now it has a soul-stirring feeling when you listen carefully. This kind of comfort is not something you can experience all the time.

The band occupied two small boats in total, and the other two small boats were occupied by people from the imperial dining room. There were several small stoves on the boats. If the Queen Mother wanted to eat something, she only needed to give orders, and someone would be there soon. make it out.

Li Lianying is always indispensable in every outing. No matter what the queen mother does, or whether the action should be undertaken by him, he will pass it on.To a certain extent, he is the commander in chief of the outing, and he is naturally indispensable this time.In addition, Zhang De, the great eunuch who was in charge of tea and meals, was also on the imperial boat, and he also brought two young eunuchs as attendants.The Empress Dowager sat on the throne in the middle gracefully, and the four of us female officials stood behind us in awe-inspiring manner.The queen mother always likes to talk, how can she keep her mouth shut when she gets here? "Look, this place is so beautiful, you must have never seen it before." This sentence was said by the queen mother countless times, she seemed to be muttering to herself, and she seemed to be boasting to us, "So, One can’t do things all the time, one has to find time to go out for a walk, otherwise one day the body and spirit will collapse.” For the Queen Mother, every minute here is precious, and in the rest of her life, such days Certainly not much, if you don't enjoy it, it will be too late.I think the Empress Dowager must also understand this truth, just look at the expression on her face.

(End of this chapter)