The Biography of Concubine Wen Xi in Qing Palace

Chapter 17
The sun rises very early in midsummer, Wan Yu got up late today, and now she is slumbering in front of the bronze mirror, with Yun Shan and Shuang Ruo diligently waiting for her to put on makeup.

Spruce was dipped in gouache made by Jasmine, and applied layer by layer under Wanyu's eyes, but it couldn't cover the bruises under her eyes.

Shuang Ruozan put her hair in a bun and put her hands together, took light-colored rouge and applied it under Wanyu's eyes, and then applied gouache, and the black and blue color faded by half.

"Auntie's hand is so clever." Yun Shan took a closer look, and the complexion of Wan Yu who covered her black and blue eyes has improved by a large part: "The little master woke up several times last night, and the pajamas were soaked in sweat and changed twice, don't be hit. Heat." She put her hand on Wanyu's forehead, and then compared her own forehead to measure the temperature, and she felt relieved when she saw nothing unusual.

Seeing the dead body of the court lady yesterday, Wanyu was really scared. Concubine Yi hugged her tremblingly and sent her back to the palace. When she was about to leave, she also asked her not to think about the bad luck, and remember to ask Li, who was pregnant, to agree.

Wan Yu sat in Li Ying's side hall for half the night, and then she said goodbye when she saw that the night was getting dark.

When she fell into a dream at night, the horrific death of the court lady kept flashing before her eyes, and she woke up from the nightmare and was haunted by drowsiness to fall asleep. This happened several times, and Wannao felt sore when she woke up in the morning, as if she had been whipped all night. , There is an indescribable discomfort.

Yun Shan and Shuang Ruo waited for Wan Lai to finish dressing, and sent her out of the bedroom together.

In the main hall, Dong Wenyin was still waiting outside. When she saw Wannai come out, she saluted with a smile on her face.

Wanyu returned the gift, and went out of Yanxi Palace together with Dong Wenyin to greet the queen, but before leaving, Xuerong came out from nowhere, screaming 'meow meow', wanting to get close to Wanyu.

Wan Lai leaned over to pick it up, seeing the cuteness of the cat, Dong Wenyin felt pity for it, she couldn't stop stepping forward to stroke the cat's fur, praising it repeatedly for its exquisiteness and cuteness.

Wanyi Ren Xuerong licked the back of her hand, moved it to Yunshan's hand for a moment of teasing, and told her carefully: "Yesterday Li promised to talk to me, I heard that she is the most afraid of cats, and now she is pregnant, you and Shuang Ruo told other people in the palace to be more careful, and don't let Xue Rong walk around the yard again, so as not to surprise Li and agree."

When Wan Lai and Dong Wen Yin rushed to Kunning Palace, the concubines were already seated, they hurriedly knelt down to pay respects to the Empress, the Empress had a happy expression, and ordered them to sit down flat, and there was no blame in words.

After being seated, Wanyu fixed her eyes and saw Rongyue and a woman sitting side by side, presumably it should be the concubine Borzigit who served the Empress Dowager yesterday and will pay her respects to the Empress in the future.

Concubine Hui cast her eyes on Wanyu, nodded with a smile, and Wanyu returned the salute.

Ma Jia, who was at the side, often served refreshments at the table. Seeing the two sitting next to her, she looked them up and down, put down the pastry in her hand, and joked: "Did the Palace of Yanxi Palace move away from the palace? The imperial concubine talked for a long time, and she changed a cup of tea. It was a long time before Wangui and Dong promised, and Li promised that no one was seen at this moment, so I want to talk about this."

"Ma Jia is always here." Ma Jiachang was in the middle of talking, but was interrupted by Concubine Yi calling out her name: "Eat as you please, you don't have to keep talking, the cake crumbs splashed all over the floor, polluting the boundary of the empress."

"The empress hasn't spoken yet, Concubine Yi, how dare you become the master of the empress?" Ma Jiachang raised her head and smiled at the empress without fear that Concubine Yi was superior to her: "Empress, what do you think?" ?”

The queen shook her head and nodded gently: "It's all my sisters, it doesn't matter." After pausing for a moment, she raised her eyes to look at the crowd, and said in a serious voice: "A strange thing happened in the palace yesterday, I thought I should tell you about it. "

"Yesterday, an eunuch came to report that a palace lady died in the waste pavilion." After the empress said this, she observed everyone's expressions, except that Wannai and Yifei were the ones who discovered it, and the other concubines, except Ma Jia, were always there , looked a little uncomfortable.

"It's been tested. The court lady was whipped and hit the back of the head with a hard object. She was beaten to death and dragged away to be buried."

After the queen finished speaking, Ma Jiachang slapped the table with an angry expression on his face: "It's unreasonable, such a wicked thing happened at the feet of the emperor, the maids are also human, you must thoroughly investigate, empress, if you find out who did it, you must not do it." Appease."

The queen looked at Ma Jiachang, and lowered her voice: "He is the Fu'er in your palace, and Ma Jiachang didn't know it?"

"Fu'er?" Ma Jiachang recited his name and pondered for a moment: "Yes, there seems to be such a person in the concubine palace."

Qingyue sneered, and bowed to Ma Jiachang in salute: "Ma Jiachang is here, there are only five serving maids in your palace, if you say that there is one missing and you can't see it, the servants will not believe it."

"The concubine is strange. The concubine is busy taking care of the elder brother day and night, so how can she have time to distract herself and see what she is doing as a court lady. Besides, she is a living person with hands and feet. some."

Ma Jiachang paused for a moment, and then said in a strange tone: "If the empress doesn't mention it, the concubine will almost forget that there is such a person in the palace. After all, the empress is careful, and even the name of a concubine maid in the palace can be remembered. as clear."

The queen's body shook, seeing Ma Jia often looking at her with a smile on her face, she couldn't help tightening the palm of her hand holding the armrest of the phoenix seat, and her complexion also sank: "I am the queen, so naturally I will do what you can't do."

She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Ma Jiachang, then let go of the hand holding the armrest, sat upright with her sleeves brushed, and said to everyone in a solemn voice: "I have ordered the Dali Temple Minister to enter the palace to thoroughly investigate this matter. I will be severely punished to rectify the palace!"

Everyone voted for the queen one after another, and they must not lightly indulge the lunatics who act privately in the palace, but Ma Jiachang was alone, looking at the crowd's agreement with cold eyes, covered his mouth and snickered.

The queen ignored her and inquired about Concubine Hui's condition in detail, and introduced new concubines from various palaces to Concubine Hui.

Concubine Yi told Wanyu in private that Concubine Hui was the only concubine in the palace who had a good relationship with her, so Wanyu had a little more affection for her when they first met.

Concubine Hui and Rong Yue are both concubines, originally she promised, Chang Zai, and the nobleman saluted, but she didn't have to return the salute.

But she is gentle by nature and considerate in etiquette. Everyone responds with courtesy, and the voice of praise is endless.

After the Queen had finished introducing others and Fang mentioned Wanyu's name, Wanyu got up on her own and greeted Concubine Hui with a blessing.

Concubine Hui got up to return the gift, and looked enviously at Wanyu and Concubine Yi again: "The concubine is very envious when she sees that Concubine Yi's elder sister can get together with her younger sister in the palace."

She waved at Wanyu, signaling her to sit down, and then continued: "Nala and I agreed to live in the Changchun Palace together. If my younger sister is free on weekdays, I can find Concubine Yi to go to the Imperial Garden with me."

"Your Majesty Wan, I'm afraid it will be hard to be free."

Before Wanyu could reply, the queen said with a smile: "Yanxi Palace Li promised Yuxi, Mrs. Wan, you have a high status and live with her. Concubine Yi often mentions that you are alert and careful in front of the Palace on weekdays. Bengong is thinking that this matter that Nu Li promised to Zhou Quan must be entrusted to you to be at ease."

Concubine Yi's face darkened when she heard what the queen said. If the queen forcibly placed the responsibility of taking care of Li Ying on Wanyu, if something happened to the fetus in Li Xu's womb in the future, Wanyu would not be able to get rid of it. She smiled and said: "The empress is flattering, Wanyu is still a child, how can she take care of others?"

"It's okay."

Concubine Yi hadn't finished speaking, the queen said with a smile: "I asked the emperor what he meant, and the emperor agreed." Then she looked at Wanyu: "Your Majesty Wan, what do you mean?"

It's a foregone conclusion, although Wanyu doesn't want to take this hot potato, but at this moment she can only bite the bullet and take it.

　Note 1: Dali Temple, official signature.It is equivalent to the modern Supreme Court, which is in charge of hearing criminal and prison cases. The chief is named Dali Siqing, one of the nine ministers.It was Ting Wei in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and Dali Temple in the Northern Qi Dynasty. Because of it in the past dynasties, it was called the "Three Law Departments" together with the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)