Qing Palace - Biography of Concubine Wan

Chapter 58 The Swallow Awakens to Fly (2)

On the seventh day of October, it was an extremely fine day. The autumn air was crisp and clear, and there were occasional flocks of wild geese flying south in the blue sky. On such a day, the night would definitely be a night full of stars and moons. Today The meteor shower at night will definitely be very beautiful!

Qing Ru was leaning on the corridor, her heart was filled with anticipation for the night. From a distance, Yue Ling saw Qing Ru leaning on the pillar and bowing her head as if in thought. Ru woke up from his own thoughts: "Hey, sister, why are you here?"

Yueling withdrew her hand on Arlene's arm, and came to sit next to Qingru: "Just now I did some embroidery in the palace, but the more I stabbed, the more annoyed I became, and I couldn't calm down, so I came out to walk around. I went to sister Xi's place, but I didn't know that she happened to be away, so I came to bother you."

Qingru sat sideways with her, and warmly held hands and said, "Why bother me, I'm too happy for you to talk to me!"

The two sat together and chatted about the daily life, mostly talking about their respective days at home. When they got excited, they laughed together, and the pair of pearl earrings the size of little fingers on Yue Ling's earlobe followed her movements to draw out in the air. Strings of pearls, although they were just simple ornaments, did not damage her charming beauty, she was as delicate as a dodder flower, such a woman could most easily arouse a man's desire for protection, but the water in the palace It's too deep, the emperor hasn't found her piece of jasper hidden in the deep palace.

"Sister, don't leave either, just stay with me for dinner, and then we sisters will go to the observatory together!" Qingru's inadvertent words made Yueling's originally happy mood suddenly sink down, she silently Standing up and walking a few steps, I picked a small light blue flower from the vine climbing into the corridor and slowly twirled it in my hand: "The emperor... the emperor didn't call me to go!"

A faint sorrow floated in the air together with the flowers in her hands. She had no prominent family background, no stunning beauty, only a good dancing skill, but no chance to show it before the king.And the mother at home is still looking forward to her daughter being favored by the king, and she will be prosperous and rich from now on.

Qing Ru was worried about how to comfort her, Yue Ling suddenly turned around and said with a half smile and half hurt: "Sister, you don't have to be sad for me, I'm not sad, really! I can still watch shooting stars here if I don't go to the observatory, I can also make a wish on the shooting star, and ask it to bless my family and my sisters in peace!"

"Who said you can't go to the observatory, Sister Ling?!" Suddenly a weird voice broke into them, and they looked away, but saw Rixi at the end of the corridor winking at the two of them, happily Shaking the veil, there was a smile that could not be concealed between her crooked eyebrows and eyes. Behind her were Wei Jia and Lan Xiang, who had served her since childhood.

After approaching, Yueling first bowed to Zhao Rixi and called out to Sister Chun, after all, Rixi's current status is much higher than her.

Ri Xi hurriedly helped her up and said: "We sisters don't need to do these vain rituals, we don't have to show our status. You see, if someone is like a sister, he is not as formal as you."

After hearing this, Qingru pretended to make a joke and joked: "Oh, so our concubine Chun is waiting for me to salute her!" Qingru lowered her body with a smile, and said in her mouth: "Qingru I’ve met Empress Chun Concubine!” Before he finished speaking, a smile spilled from the corners of his lips.

"Sister Ru...huh! I won't be with you guys!" Rixi Zhiqing made fun of herself deliberately, but she couldn't keep her face off, so she couldn't help playing with her temper, stomped her feet and turned around to ignore them.

Seeing this, Qingru and Yueling glanced at each other, and laughed at the same time, the original sad atmosphere was diluted a lot by the appearance of Rixi.

Rixi saw that they just laughed and ignored him, and their mouths were so pouty that they could hang pork: "It's a pity that I came to tell you the good news in a hurry. Not only did you not appreciate it, but you also joined forces to make fun of me. If I had known it would be like this, I would not come It's gone!" She said as if she was going to leave, seeing that she was really angry, Qingru and the two quickly stopped laughing and apologized, Rixi then turned her anger into joy.

After some laughter, Qing Ru asked her what she meant by the first sentence. After she asked, Ri Xi remembered the main purpose of her coming here, and she beamed and said: "I know that sister Ling was not named by the emperor to go with her." , so I specifically went to the emperor and begged him to let Sister Ling go with us, guess what the emperor said?"

"How do you say it?" Yueling asked nervously, but she was as clear as watching the sun and the evening, and she had already expected seven or eight points in her heart. She interrupted and said, "Sister, don't worry, look at Xi'er, this matter is definitely going to happen." right?"

"Yeah!" Rixi nodded happily, and then said something that surprised Yueling even more: "Not only that, I also mentioned to the emperor that you can dance, the emperor was very interested when he heard it, and said to wait. Whenever you are free, ask Yue Ling to dance for him!"

Fulin treats the day and night really well, not only calling for bed many times, but also rewarding every now and then. Although the favor he received cannot be compared with Dong Exianglan, but it has gradually surpassed the concubine Zhen and approached Concubine Tong, so exposed to everyone Rixi in his eyes is undoubtedly extremely dangerous, but fortunately now with Fulin's grace to protect him, nothing will happen for a while.But having said that, the palace has indeed been a bit too quiet recently. This kind of tranquility can't be said to be a good thing or a bad thing, but it always makes people feel a little uneasy.

Qing Ru wanted to express the uneasiness in her heart, but seeing Yue Ling weeping with joy, she couldn't bear to spoil her interest, so she decided to swallow the words after several struggles.

Rixi comforted Yueling and turned to Qingru, "Sister Ru, let's tell Sister Yin the good news together, she will be as happy as you when she finds out!"

"You guys go first, I still have something to do, come back later, then the four of us will go to the observatory together!" After hearing Qingru's words, Rixi happily pulled Yueling to leave, and she took a few steps Suddenly remembered something again, stopped and looked back one by one: "Sister Ru, have you drunk the plum blossom wine I sent yesterday? I asked Yueling, and she said it was delicious. What do you think?"

She seemed to be very confident in the wine she brewed, but Qing Ruke didn't have much confidence in her, so she asked Yueling suspiciously: "Is it really delicious?"

Hearing this question for the first time, Yue Ling's face froze, not knowing how to answer, after a fierce battle between heaven and man in her heart, she finally nodded her head with great difficulty under Rixi's extremely expectant eyes, as clear as seeing her hiding After a drop of cold sweat in her hair, she immediately understood the taste of this wine, I am afraid it will definitely not be much better, presumably Yue Ling couldn't bear to hurt Ri Xi's heart, so she agreed against her will.

Qing Ru hurriedly said before Ri Xi asked again: "I don't have much to drink, I'll tell you after I drink it, sister Xi, you'd better go to Sister Yin and tell her the good news!" Gan Xin wanted to say more, but was dragged away by Yue Ling who was at the side, so she could only call Qing Ru to drink earlier.

It wasn't until the two of them left that no one could be seen, Qingru breathed a sigh of relief, this day and night was really hard to deal with her, she really shouldn't come to this palace full of traps like this.

As clear as walking slowly along the covered bridge, the Forbidden City under the setting sun looks mysterious. The faint light shines on people like a tangible and invisible rope, leading them to the predetermined direction. Is it the gate of hell?Is it the way to go?Let's see how artificial this is!

Strolling back to the Bilin Pavilion, a group of servants had already been waiting inside, all with smiles on their faces, under Qingru's gesture, Zijin waited for her to change the lake-blue flag uniform she was wearing , changed into a set of willow leaf-colored flag outfits, with upper and lower skirts, although the whole set of clothes is not decorated much, but they are all beautiful touches, especially the rows of moon-white star dots embroidered on the skirt, which become more and more sparse as they go up, Like water droplets steaming upwards, there is a dusty elegance in the gracefulness.

As the sky was getting dark, even with candles lit, the light in the room was still dim, so Mianyi moved the bronze mirror to the open window, taking advantage of the unsettled sky outside as clear as a bun.

Leave some bangs on the forehead first, then separate the hairline from the middle, and fix it on the top of the head together with the remaining hair after combing into a flying swallowtail, then coil it into a vertical fan shape and fix it.

The tassels, which are similar in color to the clothes, hang down obliquely from the left side. When the wind blows, the tassels brush against the face, making it slightly itchy.In addition to a few pearl hairpins and velvet flowers of various colors in the whole hair bun, the most outstanding one is the one on the right temple, which uses rubies as stamens and gold threads as leaves. In general, shake it when you move it!

While combing her hair in a bun, the face was also reapplied with powder and daisy. Looking in the mirror, it was as if portrayed with fine brushwork. The exquisite and unparalleled face was as clear as a moment of absent-mindedness and confusion. What exactly did the beautiful appearance bring to the woman? What?And what can women get by virtue of it?
Mianyi looked carefully for a while, and after confirming that there was nothing missing, she took back the tray containing the jewelry and put it away. She was about to take back the bronze mirror, but when she looked up, she saw a small spider hanging from the Hanging from the window, it just missed touching the mirror.

"Huh? Where did the spider come from? It's really scary!" As he spoke, Mian Yi found something to break the filament spit out by the spider, but when he didn't want to, Mian Xiu held his hand next to him: "Silly Mian Yi , Spider Hanging Silk, this is a good sign, how can we destroy it!"

What she said immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the room, including Qing Ru, who had never heard of such a saying before, and asked curiously, "What kind of good omen is this?"

Mianxiu replied: "Master, there is indeed such a saying in the hometown of my servant, that if a spider hangs down its thread, good things will come soon! As for why this spider hangs down from the master's window, it must be the master. Something good is coming."

"So that's the case!" Qing Ru nodded in understanding.

Zipei on the side interjected: "That's right, the emperor will call our lady to watch the shooting stars tonight, maybe the lady will not come back tonight, and maybe the lady will become a concubine tomorrow, isn't that just Is it a great thing?!"

Seeing this, Zi Jin echoed and booed at the side, as for the others, they looked like they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, as if their faces were blushing because of their trouble, they yelled at Zi Pei: "You two are the most talkative. How dare you make fun of me, if that's the case, don't go tonight, just let Mianxiu go with me." Saying that, she ignored Zijin's protest and took Mianxiu out.

At this moment the sun had completely set, and the sky after sunset was a bit colder than before, and the wind blew on the body, making people feel cool. Seeing this, Mianxiu folded back and took a cloak again, so as not to catch the cold when the master came back at night.

After they left, Zijin Zipei tidied up the house and retreated, leaving the window open for fear of hurting the spider. They didn't notice that the spider hadn't moved since it hung down, so Hanging there so quietly.

The wind surged from the flat ground, and rolled a few branches and leaves that had just fallen from the branches and poured in through the window. After blowing off the spider threads, they circled and rolled the broken spiders and fallen leaves out of the house, until they reached the edge of the abyss. Chishang Kong ran out of energy and fell down. The spider was floating on the cold water with the fallen leaves, its belly up, and its eight legs were pointing at the sky. It turned out that it was already dead. It's a long dead spider...

The observatory is located in the east of the Forbidden City. It is ten feet high and about three feet wide. It is the highest place in the Forbidden City. It is covered with a yellow glazed tile roof and has no walls on all sides.

Standing on it, you can really feel the feeling of "the dangerous building is a hundred feet high, and the stars can be picked by hand" in the poet Li Bai's "Night in the Mountain Temple".

The platform is high and there are naturally many steps. Each step is more than three feet high, and there are 99 steps. It is not an easy task for the concubines who are always taken care of by others.

It was as if a group of people were panting after walking up the steps. On the observatory platform, eunuchs and maids had already set up chairs, and there were various snacks and fruits beside them. Maybe they came too early. The concubine has gone outside, but the others have not yet come.

Except that there is no need to salute during the day and night, the rest of the people follow the etiquette, and the concubine waved their hands to let them get up without ceremony.Since Rixi learned from Qing Ruchu that the concubine Zhen had helped her to be wronged, she had a good impression of her, and the concubine Zhen has always been kind and doesn't care about dividing up the grace between the two of them. It's a good match, and it's a joy to talk on the sidelines.

The three of Qingru chatted on the other side, approaching the railing and looking down, Yueling felt dizzy for a while, she took a step back timidly, not daring to look any further.

"It's really high!" Shui Yin didn't dare to look too much.At this moment, stars have begun to appear in the sky, bright, twinkling, clear as if leaning on the railing and stretching out a hand to pick the star that is so close to the top of the head. After hearing Shui Yin's words, she withdrew her hand and said with a smile: "It's only now that I know why people in the world still try to go up when they know that the high place is extremely cold. It turns out that the scenery on this high place is really beautiful. It's no wonder that the late emperor wanted to build an observatory in the palace!"

The concubine looked sideways at her words, and said, "Then do you know who built this star observatory?"

"This..." This Qingru really couldn't answer, and the other people also looked puzzled. The concubine lowered her head and stroked the smooth jade-like railing and spat out two words: "Concubine Chen!"

Rixi answered quickly: "It's the concubine Hai Lanzhu who was so favored by the late emperor that even the queen mother couldn't compete with her?" Ru and Shuiyin looked at each other helplessly, they really didn't know what to do with the day and night, but fortunately the concubine Zhen didn't care, she just nodded in answer.

The observatory a hundred feet above the ground suddenly fell silent, and everyone imagined in their hearts the scene of Huang Taiji and Hai Lanzhu enjoying the moon and stars together.At this moment, the ceremonial officer guarding the stairs said loudly: "The empress has arrived! The concubine Tong has arrived! The empress mourning concubine has arrived! The concubine Shu has arrived!" The five people on the stage hurriedly straightened their clothes and walked up All blessings to the one empress and three concubines of the observatory.

The empress is wearing a flag dress with a dark gold Zhai pattern today, and the oriental pearl held by the phoenix mouth on the top is shining brilliantly in the dark night. Although the empress does not want Fulin, she is the master of the harem after all, so Fulin still let her come up.

The empress did not live comfortably in the palace, and the women who came out of the grassland seemed to have a bad life in the palace. Concubine Jing was like this, the empress was like this, so why not the queen mother? !
Followed by Concubine Tong, she is dressed gracefully and dignifiedly today, the embroidered pattern on the crimson flag dress hovers upwards, forming a circle of smoke and clouds, her eyebrows are lightly drawn, and the brilliance of her red phoenix eyes is flowing between opening and closing, between looking and looking She was so brilliant again, and her appearance was extraordinarily gorgeous, she was overshadowed by the Concubine Shu and even the Empress.

The queen was about to get Qing Ru and the others to get up, but Concubine Tong said to her first: "Empress Empress, come and see if there are any deficiencies in the concubine's arrangement today!" They walked by without even looking.

The queen has never had any opinions, so she looked at it for a while and said: "Concubine Tong's arrangement is very good, the emperor will be satisfied when he sees it, I have no objections!" A burden that makes people unable to straighten their backs.

After hearing what the queen said, Concubine Tong smiled in satisfaction, and after seeing the queen looking back at the few people who were still squatting uncomfortably, she suddenly said: "Oh, look at this palace's memory, I only focus on talking to the queen, I actually forgot that the younger sisters are still saluting, but it’s not my fault, so hurry up and invite them!” Only after receiving her words, the concubine Zhen and Qing Ru could straighten their slightly sore legs.

What a concubine Tong, her methods are serious and powerful. She did this to let everyone understand that even the most honorable queen is also for her.Although they were dissatisfied with Concubine Tong's arrogance, they didn't dare to show it in public. Concubine Jing and Concubine Ning also arrived one after another during the conversation. Concubine Jing was originally the empress, and she was also the aunt of the current empress, so the courtesy was neither fish nor fowl.

Concubine Tong saw Fulin's car slowly approaching from a distance, and the sound of the wheels rolling across the ground was carried to her ears by the wind. She turned around while supporting Hongxiao's hand, and sent an order: "Light up the lights!"

Following her words, the inner eunuchs who had been waiting for their orders lit candles one after another. Hundreds of lights were lit from the bottom of the steps to the top, one light for three steps, one light for five steps, and the long steps were lit up. Under the brilliance, it is like a brocade pavement.

As for the stargazing platform, the lights are even worse. Not only are all kinds of lights hung on the eaves of the four sides, but also a huge palace lantern is hung in the middle, like stars holding the moon. I think Concubine Tong has spent a lot of thought on this.

Everyone who was amazed or disdainful or unmoved did not calm down until the ceremony officer sang "The emperor is here! The imperial concubine is here!", and they all stood up according to their positions and waited for Fulin to appear.

Fulin took Dong Exianglan's hand and walked slowly towards the stargazing platform under the lights. Dong Exianglan walked extremely hard with her belly that was about to give birth. It took twice as long to get to the top.

Seeing them appear, the empress and all the concubines bowed down to greet Fulin. The empress was among those who saluted, and Dong E Xianglan, who came up with Fulin, was of a lower status than her. How could she accept this gift, so she wanted to retreat She took a step to avoid it, but Fulin held her hand tightly and refused to let go.

The queen had already bent over after this delay, so Dong E Xianglan had no choice but to accept the gift of the queen side by side with Fulin.This time it was really an upside-down, no distinction between top and bottom, not to mention the empress' grievance, Dong E Xianglan's embarrassment, even the other concubines were also stunned there, and there was no sound in the field for a while, except for the sound of shallow or heavy breathing.

Fulin seemed to like what he did very much, he smiled and said: "The empress and all the concubines are free!"

The queen straightened up, the veil in her hand had already been crumpled, her eyes were so red that she was about to cry, but she didn't know what else to do besides forbearance.

After supporting Dong Exianglan to sit down with all the concubines, Fulin looked around at the brightly lit and orderly arrangement, and said to Concubine Tong with satisfaction: "My concubine, after your skillful arrangement, this place is really big. It's different, it's really hard work for you!"

For Fulin's appreciation, Concubine Tong was very grateful, she rolled her eyes and replied with a smile: "The emperor has praised you, this is the job of a courtier and concubine, there is no such thing as hard work!"

Fulin nodded and stopped answering, and caught a glimpse of Rixi sitting in the back row laughing at something, waved her hand to let her come to his side, and asked with a smile: "Chun'er, what makes you so happy?" Day and night, Fulin is always unconsciously infected by her happiness.

Ri Xi smiled and said: "What's the matter, it's just that Yue Ling brought some plums, the concubine enjoyed eating them, Your Majesty, would you like to try it, it tastes very good!" She immediately opened the handkerchief in her hand. There are a few pickled plums inside.

Fulin picked one up and put it in his mouth as he said, and the body fluid immediately melted in his mouth. Fulin nodded and picked another one and handed it to Dong E Xianglan, saying: "Try it too!" Dong E Xianglan said with a sigh: "Sour Moderately sweet, very refreshing!"

Fulin frowned and said, "Yueling? Is that the Ling Changzai you mentioned to me during the day?"

Rixi hurriedly nodded and said yes, and called Yueling to come over to see the emperor, Yueling didn't want the emperor to see her suddenly, hurriedly came over and knelt down in fear: "Slave Yueling kowtows to the emperor!"

The voice was pleasant, but she lowered her head too low to see her face, so she ordered her to lift her head up. Seeing this, Fulin was impressed, stroked her chin and said, "I seem to have seen you before, just this time I can’t remember.” At this time, the concubine Zhen who was behind him leaned into Fulin’s ear and said, “Your Majesty, you forgot that it was the night that Concubine Chun was poisoned, and she came with the concubine.”

After her reminder, Fulin finally had an impression, nodded and said: "Yes, I also remembered that Ling Changzai cares about Concubine Chun very much, no wonder she asked Zhen to allow you to come with her today, you should get up first !"

After Yueling Xie En got up, Fulin pointed to the plum and said, "You pickled this by yourself?"

"Yes!" Yue Ling replied timidly.

"You did a good job, next time bring more for me and the imperial concubine!" Fulin said.

"Your servant obeys!" Yue Ling happily replied, not wanting that these mere plums would attract the emperor's attention to her.

"Okay, step back first!" After Fulin finished speaking to Yueling, he turned to Rixi and said, "Chun'er, can I have someone move your chair to the imperial concubine's side?" The faces of other people are not so good-looking, but the only ones who can be in the front row with Fulin are the queen, imperial concubine and concubine Tong.

Ri Xi was still unaware, and when she was about to clap her hands in agreement, she saw Qing Ru shaking her head slightly at her from behind, frowning tightly.Seeing this day and night, I had no choice but to refuse: "Chen Qie should stay with sister Ru and the others, anyway, the meteor shower will not start until Xu time, Chen Qie wants to chat with them for a while!"

Hearing Qingru's name, Fu Linping couldn't help but look back. It happened that Qingru was also looking at him. The two eyes met in the air and then parted. : "Since that's the case, you can peel and eat some kumquats with Rugui and the others!"

Just now she clearly saw that there were only a few apples by Qingru's side, it didn't seem like there were a lot of things on their side, and she was embarrassed to ask someone to take it by herself, so she had to borrow Rixi's hand, and sure enough, Rixi happily took the kumquats back to her seat up.

(End of this chapter)