The Biography of Concubine Wen Xi in Qing Palace

Chapter 764 Empress Xiaohui ([-])

After dismissing the two of them, Wan Yanxin stepped into the bedroom.

She watched the emperor lying flat on the couch, moaning weakly, and felt a little bitterness in her heart for a moment.

Such a man, soaring above the nine heavens, towering on the top of no one, was also tortured by illnesses to the point where he was unable to fight back.

The so-called son of heaven is still the sky above and the son below. No matter how beautiful he is, he can't resist the destiny.

She approached the emperor step by step, the closer she got to him, the more chill she felt, so cold that she couldn't help shivering.

Over the years, it had been a long time since she had been harsh to the emperor. Even if there was a dispute, she would quickly apologize and admit her mistake, and would not distinguish half a point from him.

She faced the emperor with a warm smile for twenty years.

Every day and night, how did she suffer through it? She didn't even dare to look back.

There is hope in my heart that such forbearing days will be better after all.

At this moment, the emperor's eyes met her.

She smiled again.

The smile is so warm, like the sun in early spring, just a little glance, and the tiredness will disappear.

The emperor supported the bed with both hands and sat up, leaning on the edge of the bed, looking directly at Wanyu with slightly tired eyes: "You are busy taking care of the queen mother, I have someone else here to take care of you, you don't have to work too hard."

"Where is the emperor's words?" Wanyu took the soup that was simmering on the stove nearby, filled a bowl, opened her red lips lightly and blew, and only brought it to the emperor when it was warm and not hot: "The empress dowager rested. The ministers and concubines are worried about the emperor, so they have to stay by the emperor's side so that they can feel at ease."

The emperor took two mouthfuls of medicine, looked at his legs and feet swollen like lotus roots, and sighed in disappointment: "I am really old."

This sentence, infinitely bitter, accompanied by the gloomy sky outside the window, made the atmosphere in the hall gloomy.

Wanyu pressed her fingers lightly on his calf, and with a little force, a round vortex was formed.

"Physician Bai said that the emperor is taking good care of this disease, and it will be cured in less than a month." Wanyu let out a breath slowly, and said softly: "Insufficient kidney qi caused this problem, and the emperor will have to treat it a little bit later. Restrain yourself."

The emperor seemed to have something difficult to say, his expression was cramped, and he changed the subject and asked: "There is one thing that I have never asked you. That day the emperor's mother fell ill in your palace. As I remember, she seldom goes to your palace."

Wan Lai nodded sadly, her eyes were slightly red, and said: "The Empress Dowager originally cared about her concubines, and in addition to the cold weather, she might have been caught in the wind all the way here, and the inside and outside of the palace were hot and cold, which made her sick. After all, it’s all the concubine’s fault.”

As she spoke, her tears couldn't stop falling: "That day the Queen Mother got a new Bi Dongzhu, and she was thinking about my concubine, so I sent it to give it to you. The concubine chatted with the Queen Mother for a long time, but who knows how to send the Queen Mother out?" In the palace, that happened."

She whimpered even more, and couldn't speak a word.

The emperor took her hand, held it firmly in his palm, and comforted him: "It has nothing to do with you, don't blame yourself."

Wan Yu wiped away tears, shook her head and said: "During these days when the Empress Dowager was seriously ill, the ministers and concubines waited in Ningshou Palace during the day, and at night they went to the Fengxian Hall to pray for the blessings of the ancestors and the ancestors, so that the Empress Dowager and the Emperor are in good health. .The concubine has no possessions, but hopes to move God with a pious heart and pray for the emperor and the queen mother."

"I can see it all." The emperor raised his hand to touch Wanyu's dry cheeks, and slowly moved it down along her skin: "You have endured a lot, and you look haggard."

Wanyou caressed her dimples in self-pity, and smiled wryly: "As long as the emperor and the queen mother are well, no matter how haggard the ministers and concubines are, I will be happy from the bottom of my heart."

Talking to the emperor like this, suddenly there was a thunderstorm, there was a sound of crackling and falling beads outside the window, and it rained heavily.

Wan Yu closed the slightly open gap of the Ling window and sighed: "In winter, there are very few thunderstorms."

Another lightning bolt pierced the sky, making Wanyan's complexion pale.

The next moment, Li Jian was covered in water droplets, stumbled into the bedroom, and knelt down in front of the two masters: "The emperor, the queen mother, she is not good!"

The emperor was shocked when he heard the words, and ordered people to prepare the sedan chair as if in a daze.

But it hurts his heart when his feet touch the ground, how can he move Ningshou Palace?
Seeing his impatience, Wan Lai took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the emperor's feet, and ordered Li Jian to find someone to carry the emperor into the sedan chair, and then followed him all the way to Ningshou Palace.

When she arrived, the Empress Dowager's breathing was already very heavy.

Like an old crow that is getting old, every breath takes away the breath of life.

The emperor knelt in front of the empress dowager's bed, held the empress dowager's hand in both hands, and said, "Emperor mother, your son is here."

Wannai, who was standing next to her, knelt down and said in a solemn voice when she saw this: "Queen Mother, you will be fine."

The empress dowager stared at Wanyu with hatred in her eyes, which made her panic.

But she knew that at this moment, she couldn't say a word.

Perhaps the queen mother also understood in her heart, so she stared at her for a long time, struggled to open her mouth but couldn't utter a complete sound, so she tried her best to give up.

She exhausted her remaining strength, held the emperor's hand tightly, and looked at him for a long time.

Her eyes kept moving between the emperor and Wanyu, only hoping that the emperor could read her mind.

But the emperor was heartbroken and ignorant, how could he discern the meaning behind that look?

On the contrary, Wanyu wept and shouted: "The concubine understands the Queen Mother's intentions, and she will take good care of the emperor's dragon body for the queen mother, and keep everything safe for the emperor. The queen mother can rest assured!"

In response to her falling, the Empress Dowager seemed to hold a mouthful of resentment in her chest, gasped for a few rough breaths, and then fell silent.

The emperor threw himself forward and shook the queen mother's body vigorously, and the imperial doctor at the side comforted him, knelt down and cried: "The emperor's condolences, the queen mother has already gone west!"

As soon as the words fell, the emperor's wailing sounded suddenly and lasted for a long time.

The death of Empress Dowager Renxian meant that no one of the emperor's eldest relatives survived.

On Bingxu on the sixth day of December in the 56th year of Kangxi, Empress Dowager Renxian died in Ningshou Palace at the age of 77. ①
After the death of Empress Dowager Renxian, the emperor moved into the Ningshou Palace Fujin's Cangzhen Gate in order to personally organize the funeral ceremony of the Empress Dowager, but did not return to the Qing Palace.

On December [-]th, the emperor personally went to Ningshou Palace to drink wine and offer sacrifices. The posthumous title of Empress Dowager Renxian was called Empress Xiaohuizhang.

Reminiscing about the past, I was overwhelmed with grief, and even cried bitterly when I read the sacrificial text, which shows that I have a deep love for the mother and child of the Empress Dowager Renxian.

All this is seen in Wanyu's eyes, she only looks at it with a smile, she doesn't dissuade her, and she doesn't cry along with it.

Ordering the wife to enter the palace for the funeral, Yuanyuan saw the emperor like this, so she asked Wanyu a lot: "I heard that the current empress dowager is not the emperor's biological mother, but the former emperor's empress, the emperor's aunt. He is very filial."

"Filial piety?" Wanyu smiled calmly: "I have never seen him argue less with the Queen Mother before I was alive. I have exhausted all the disrespectful words. As for today's affairs, it is not long before you become a relative of the emperor, and the days to come After a while, you will know. No matter who the harem's family members are, only when they die can they be cherished by the emperor. I am used to seeing them, and I don't think they are rare anymore."

　Remarks ①: In December of the 56th year of Kangxi, Empress Dowager Renxian was seriously ill. Emperor Kangxi was also exhausted by the abolition of the crown prince. His head was dizzy, his feet were swollen, and he could not walk. Emperor Kangxi knelt under the bed, holding the queen mother's hand and calling: "Mother, the minister is here." The ceremony of cutting the braids (cutting the braids was originally only used for the emperor's funeral) to express grief is no less than the death of Xiaozhuang;
　　
　
(End of this chapter)